Letters to Count D. N. Sheremetev

The correspondence of Archimandrite Ignatius with Count Sheremetev covers mainly the last years of his abbotship in Sergius Hermitage 1. This is the time of the final restoration of the monastery after a long period of desolation; it has been studied quite well. In recent literature, the point of view has been established that Sergeev Hermitage during the reign of Archimandrite Ignatius not only flourished spiritually, but also materially 2 . Nevertheless, from the contents of the published letters it is clear that the welfare of the monastery was far from so clear. The complex relationship of the future Saint with the highest church hierarchy arose, perhaps, due to the fact that, by order of Emperor Nicholas I, the monastery with all its income, previously given to the suffragan bishop under the St. Petersburg Metropolitan, was transferred to the full management of Archimandrite Ignatius with compensation to the vicar for monetary support from the treasury 3. The land dispute mentioned in the letters was related to the return of monastery land illegally seized by state-owned peasants. Archimandrite Ignatius acted as “the attorney of St. Sergius” in this matter and ceded part of the monastery property to the peasants, not wanting to “cause grief to the peasants by relocating them, which ordinary people obey in no other way than by indulging in inconsolable sadness and bitter tears” 4 . Among the donors of the monastery, the name of Count D.N. Sheremetev, who, according to the Saint, was the largest secret benefactor of the Sergius Hermitage, was still unknown. But much more important is his spiritual connection with the great Russian saint, which has been overlooked by researchers of the life and work of St. Ignatius. Apparently, the reason for this is that this correspondence was not included in the collection of letters from the bishop, of which until recently there were about 800 autographs 5 . Another reason for maintaining the confidentiality of the mentioned texts for a long time was the personality of the count himself, who belonged to an ancient aristocratic family. The letters were found among his papers. Dmitry Nikolaevich was born from the marriage of Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev with the famous serf actress Paraskeva Ivanovna Kovaleva-Zhemchugova. This union was literally suffered through by his parents, who for many years did not have the legal right to get married. The heir who was born as a result of this misalliance soon lost his parents. His mother died on the twentieth day after giving birth, and his father outlived his beloved wife by only four years. Anticipating the orphanhood of his son, Count N.P. Sheremetev entrusted the care of him to the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, the wife of Paul I, who was killed by the conspirators, whom Nikolai Petrovich served faithfully. Sheremetev, perhaps the only nobleman close to the tsar, did not take part in the conspiracy. The father's devotion to the sovereign became the guarantee of the empress's maternal love for his son Dmitry Nikolaevich. The orphan inherited the title of count, and from infancy received the knightly regalia of the Order of Malta, whose commander was his father, as well as the considerable inheritance of Sheremetev Sr. 6 . Raised at the court of the Dowager Empress by her ladies-in-waiting, Dmitry Nikolaevich did not lose that special spirit that distinguished his ancestors. In the last years of his life, his parents worried a lot about responsibility before the Almighty for their sin - illegal (according to the laws of the Russian Empire) cohabitation. Count Nikolai Petrovich addressed letters of repentance to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, having no hope of resolving his issue in the Synod. Forgiveness was received 7! When her mother, a serf actress, died, she left a will, according to which her descendants were obliged to build an almshouse in Moscow and maintain it. She also asked her relatives to give dowries to 30 serf girls every year. From 1803 to 1917 this will was carried out strictly. Over the years, the hospice house welcomed about 2 million people, cured 84 thousand sick people, 2,225 wounded, and gave dowries to 3,000 brides 8 . The son completely inherited his parents' faith, the Christian attitude of his parents, and for all his closeness to the court, he led a rather secluded lifestyle, far from the usual secular court splendor in this case. Whether innate nobility or the blood of generations of serfs influenced this choice. In 1825, as a cavalry guard, Dmitry Nikolaevich avoided participating in the suppression of the Decembrist uprising (the count, according to some evidence, wore an iron ring, such as the members of the secret society where his friends and relatives were members), fell out of favor with Nicholas I, and quickly retired 9 . While living on the estate, he was engaged in patronage of the arts, supported artists and musicians, donated to churches and avoided the court. In those years, the saying “live on Sheremetev’s account” appeared, meaning the use of charity. In the rapprochement of Count D.N. Sheremetev with Archimandrite Ignatius (Brianchaninov), his wife Anna Sergeevna, maid of honor of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas I, played a huge role. The Countess was not only a social beauty, musically gifted, but also a person of strong faith and a rare soul. The great Frederic Chopin, from whom she took music lessons, dedicated his sketch “A Leaf to an Album” to her. F.I. Tyutchev, amazed by the countess’s charm, said about her: “This is truly the best of creatures, she is so unconditionally truthful, so sincerely friendly!” 10. Few knew her piety and piety. Unfortunately, her correspondence with her father, the archimandrite, has not survived. In letters to D.N. Sheremetev, some of the most heartfelt lines are dedicated to her. About the sudden death of the young countess, Archimandrite Ignatius wrote: “In 1849, I considered my health to be irrevocably damaged, I considered myself close to death. Then Countess Anna Sergeevna came to console me - I paid her for her participation by communicating all the spiritual information that I had to learn during my life filled with sorrows. I thought that she would hear the news of my death, but instead I suddenly had to hear the news of her imminent departure from this world” 11. Family legend of the Sheremetevs attributes the untimely death of Dmitry Nikolaevich’s wife to secret poisoning at the hands of enemies of their quiet happiness. The young son of Count Sergei (namesake of the great Russian saint, patron of the Sergius Hermitage!), who lost his mother early, will repeat the fate of his father. He would be raised at the court of Emperor Alexander II, who valued his parent for his firmness of conviction, together with the Tsar’s son, the future Emperor Alexander III. The young count's teachers will be maids of honor, close friends of his mother. A special role in this will be played by Paraskeva Arsenyevna Barteneva, a member of the musical circle of composers Alyabyev, Varlamov, Glinka 12. Much later, Sergei Dmitrievich wrote warmly about her: “She did not bother about being Russian, did not preach Orthodoxy and the Russian direction, but she personified both of them completely and, of course, with greater strength and truth than she manifested among the courtiers of the new style” 13. The sorrows of the Sheremetev house were tamed by the great blessing of their pilgrim, Saint Ignatius. "Please accept my most sincere congratulations," he writes, "on the birthday of your dear angel, Count Sergius. May the Lord protect him, may he guide him on the path of his holy desires, may he be blessed from above" 14 . Sergei Dmitrievich was destined to become an outstanding figure in the twilight years of the Russian Empire. The godson of Alexander II will inherit the talents of his parents. He will be the head of the court singing choir, the leader of the Moscow nobility, and a member of the State Council. Like his father, more inclined to a contemplative life, he will devote his life to historical studies, combining them with chairmanship of the Archaeographic Commission and guardianship of Russian icon painting. He died in 1918 in Moscow on the eve of his own arrest, delivered by the prayers of the saints of God from the yoke of godless power. Truly, the Saint’s promise to repay his debts beyond the grave has been fulfilled! Below are the texts of four letters of St. Ignatius published for the first time. 1. Dear Sir! Count Dmitry Nikolaevich! I am extremely ashamed to disturb Your Excellency with these lines of mine, with which I decide to ask you, but I am forced to do this by absolute necessity and the confidence that I am turning to that person who in the noble feelings of his heart will find more reasons to be attentive to my request than in my words, and generously forgive me if you find my request inappropriate. Having entered Sergeev Pustyn as abbot, I found her in the most upset state. Without a brotherhood, without premises, without a sacristy, without solid sources of support, with the process by which the lands belonging to the monastery were disputed, its only asset. During my thirteen-year abbotship, I tried as much as I could to restore the monastery. My friend, Mikhail Chikhachev, known to you, sold his estate for 40 thousand banknotes and with this benefit the process was completed partly in favor of the monastery, that is, half of the disputed land was given to the monastery; With this benefit, the means were provided to many people to come from distant monasteries to the Sergius Hermitage, and to others, the most orphans who were in extreme extremity, the means were provided to receive dismissal and prosper for the glory of the Church and for the pious consolation of those flowing into our Church. The monk of our monastery, Moses, from the Makarov family of merchants, donated to the monastery a decoration for the icon of St. Sergius and (unintelligible) 25 thousand banknotes for the construction of fraternal wooden cells, and these cells cost 50 thousand. The monastery, in addition to the government salary, consisting of 600 rubles in banknotes for the abbot and 20 rubles for the monks per year, had up to 500 at my entry, and now has more than 1,500 banknotes a year from its estates. Other income from pilgrims and funerals is why it is extremely unstable and sometimes diminishes to the point that there is a compulsion to borrow bread. Such a renewal of the monastery, with extreme shortage of funds, was the reason that the monastery currently owes more than 10 thousand rubles in silver, for which I answer with my honor, not to mention my peace of mind is disturbed by one circumstance from which I have no means of my own to get out. Pious and Christ-loving Soul! Ransom me! I have no benefactors, become my benefactor. I have nothing to repay you with; The Savior of the world, who promised not to forget the cup of ice water, will reward you in the next century. I ask you for the sake of the name of Christ, as one from His poor brethren. Sorry! I can’t continue further!………… I am not asking for money, but if you deign to submit an account of the monastery’s debts and order them to be paid not suddenly, but spread out over time, it will be a perfect deed for me. However, as you wish! In any case, I humbly ask Your Excellency to keep this letter of mine secret. For the debt of this monastery is unknown to any of the authorities, and if it is made public, I could be exposed to all sorts of troubles. Invoking the blessing of St. Sergius on you, with a feeling of sincere devotion and trust, which you inspired in me with your constant goodwill towards me, a wanderer, a wanderer abandoned by everyone, There is forever Your Lordship's most humble servant and 2. Dear Sir, Count Dmitry Nikolaevich! My heart, deeply imbued with the most comforting feelings, pours out in gratitude before God, Who gave you such a humane heart, and before you, before your humane heart! By works of mercy, you sacrifice to God those gifts with which He was pleased to bestow upon you. May God bless you with abundant blessings from above! May He tell your heart His good and perfect will, which is the guarantee of earthly and heavenly happiness! May this blessing be reflected throughout your entire family, like the bright rays of the sun in clean, deep, quiet, transparent waters! I received from the merchant Makarov seven thousand silver rubles, which Your Excellency was pleased to assign to me to get me out of my difficult circumstances, in which an incomprehensible fate had placed me. In 1833, when the Sovereign Emperor was pleased to tell me that He was appointing me to the Sergius Hermitage, I, out of a strange premonition, dared to ask His Majesty to cancel this appointment, as putting me in tricky relationships. But the will of the Sovereign was decisive, all that remained was to obey it. Little by little my premonitions began to come true. As soon as the Sergius Hermitage began to emerge from the ruins, as soon as sources for its maintenance began to form, envy arose along with it, slander began to be whispered, and I found myself in a more false position than I had foreseen. In addition, illnesses came and, keeping me in my rooms for several months without leaving, and constantly in weakness, they deprived me of the opportunity to personally and properly exercise the position of abbot. If now I manage somehow and the business is still flowing, then I owe this to two people loyal to me with noble feelings and rules, my Viceroy and Pavel Petrovich. My illness and my position indicate to me the need to leave the place I occupy. The mood of my soul, in accordance with these circumstances, draws me to solitude, which I will accept as a gift from Heaven. And the merciful Lord gives me this gift through the beneficent hand of Your Lordship! At the same time, you are strengthening the well-being of the St. Sergius Hermitage, which now has renovated churches, decent rector’s and fraternal cells, a sufficient sacristy and church utensils, a significant source of maintenance, in addition to church income - cultivated land. The arrangement of all this involved me in a real difficult situation, which, of course, would not have been such if my hands had not been tied and numerous obstacles to success had not been placed in front of me by my illnesses and circumstances. Forgive me for my verbosity! But with your participation you have opened my heart, and it cannot bear not to pour out before you those feelings and thoughts with which it is so filled. From the very moment I entered the Sergius Hermitage, how pleased I was to see in you your disposition towards a quiet, modest life, towards the churches of God, towards the Sergius Hermitage, your attention to its unworthy abbot. When you visited my cell, you always brought with you to my heart a feeling of calm and some incomprehensible, special trust. Often in solitude I considered the direction of your soul, not (unintelligible) oppressed by the delights and noisy pleasures of the world, which found pleasure in the silence and modesty of home life. This contemplation brought me unspeakable pleasure. I found in my soul that you had chosen for yourself the path of life that was the purest, the most appropriate for you, the most joyful for humanity. When God brought me to know your God-loving wife, I was amazed to see that the direction of her soul converged so closely with yours; I saw the same disposition towards a modest, homely life, the same pure simplicity of an unpretentious heart, which is so accessible to humanity. I consider myself lucky that I received benefits from you! You opened the way for my heart to reach your soul! It will belong to you for the rest of my life! I want to be your debtor beyond the grave, and I want to pay my debt to you in hundredfold increments. My God, who said with His all-holy lips: Whatever you do to the least of these My brothers, do it to Me. I will repay, says the Lord. If God, by His ineffable mercy, leads me to the refuge of solitude, which I crave, if inspiration that loves the inhabitants of solitude visits me there, then my pen, dedicated to the glory of God and the benefit of my neighbor, will especially belong to you, your wife, your son - I will proclaim to you the word of God, the holy will of God, in which lies the guarantee of bliss on earth and in heaven. May the merciful God hear my desires and grant them actual fulfillment! If my health allowed me to travel, then I would certainly be with you to see your face, to personally pour out my gratitude to you! But I don't leave the rooms! And so let yourself be seen, visit our monastery, which in winter is so quiet, so deserted, so peaceful and calm! With a feeling of heartfelt, eternal gratitude, devotion, and respect, I have the honor to be Your Lordship’s most humble servant, a zealous, albeit unworthy, pilgrim 1847 January 16th day of Sergius Pustyn. 3. Dear Sir, Count Dmitry Nikolaevich! Your visit and sincere conversation left a most pleasant impression on my soul. When I thought about you, the words spoken by the Angel to Blessed Cornelius and preserved for us in the book of the Acts of the Apostles involuntarily came to mind. “Your prayers and your alms,” said the Angel, “have ascended to Heaven!” What gift did they bring from heaven to Cornelius? This gift was the word of salvation. “That one says to you,” the Angel continued, telling Cornelius about the holy Apostle Peter, “in them you and your whole house will be saved.” It is as if a soul, prepared by prayer and almsgiving, becomes capable of hearing and accepting the Word of God, which proclaims to it the all-holy and all-good will of God. Knowledge of this will of God brings into the soul indescribable calm, lightness, joy, and consolation. And how not to rejoice, how not to be comforted! With the knowledge of God's will, the soul acquires and clearly sees in itself the guarantee of bliss, heavenly, eternal bliss! These are the most pleasant thoughts that occupied me upon your departure from the Sergius Hermitage. I could not refuse my heartfelt desire - I tell you my thoughts. I hope that you will visit our monastery, where your heart finds an echo, finds harmony with your feelings and desires. When people’s relationships are edified on a solid foundation, on God, then from these relationships both abundant benefit and true, varied spiritual consolation emanate, surpassing all earthly pleasures, as if emanating from itself the fragrance of eternity. With a feeling of heartfelt, sincere devotion and perfect respect, I have the honor to be Your Lordship’s most humble servant and zealous worshiper 1847 January 25 days. Sergiev Pustyn. 4. Dear Sir! Count Dmitry Nikolaevich! God is not subject to the influence of time, as man is subject to it. Before Him, in the books of His destinies, the future is like the present! So! – On the day you were born, the name of the saint that your future wife was to bear was celebrated. The day of your birth was connected with the day of her Angel as a sign that she should be an Angel of consolation for you throughout your life. Those who see chance in everything see incorrectly; - those who see in all the circumstances of our lives the all-wise and beneficent hand of God, reason thoroughly, piously, Divinely! In this connection of the day of your birth with the day of the Angel Anna Sergeevna, the mind, floating in Divine objects, involuntarily encounters a most heavenly, most pleasant contemplation. The name Anna signifies grace. So! As soon as you were born, God, who has poured out so many other gifts on you, is already preparing a special gift for you, assigning Grace as your inheritance. Please accept my sincere, most ardent congratulations! May the merciful Lord increase the years of your life in the longed-for health and prosperity, may He tell your heart His holy will, may He make you a confidant of grace in time and in eternity! Sorry that I dared to put a letter to you and the Countess in one package: I did this because fate itself united the memory of your birth and the celebration of Her Angel on one day. Holy Scripture says: “If God joins together, let not man separate.” Please take the trouble to convey my lines to Her Ladyship. With a feeling of complete, sincere devotion and respect, I have the honor to be for the rest of my life Your Excellency's most humble servant and Bogomolets. / Almanac “Alpha and Omega” RGIA (Russian State Historical Archive). F. 1088. Op. 1. D. 532. Complete biography of St. Ignatius of the Caucasus. M., 2002. pp. 145–146. Works of Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Bishop of the Caucasus. Letters. Biography of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. M., 2002. P. 115. Letter from the Grand Master of the Order of John of Jerusalem to D. N. Sheremetev on his election as a member of the order. 1804 - RGIA. F. 1088. Op. 1. D. 422. Letters of absolution from sins from Polycarp, Patriarch of Jerusalem and Palestine to Nikolai Petrovich and Paraskeva Ivanovna Sheremetev. - RGIA. F. 1088. Op. 1. D. 64. Sheremetevs in the fate of Russia. M., 2001. P. 112. RGIA. F. 1088. Op. 1. D. 532. L. 40. Sheremetev S. D. Memoirs. M., 2001. P. 263. RGIA. F. 1088. Op. 1. D. 532. L. 31.