Letters to Saint Moses (Putilov)

Contents Letter No. 74 Letter No. 75 Letter No. 76 Letter No. 77 Letter No. 78 Letter No. 79 Letter No. 80 Letter No. 81 Letter No. 82 Letter No. 83 Letter No. 84 Letters of St. Moses to St. Ignatius Letter No. 85 Letter No. 86 Letter No. 87 Letter No. 88 Letter No. 89 Letter No. 90 Letter No. 91 Your Reverence! God-loving Father Moses! Your most pleasant lines, enclosed with the official package, and the very delivery of it was for us new evidence of that Christian love and that sincere and straightforward goodwill, under the protection of which we lived in your God-saved monastery. There is no need to explain our gratitude to you in lengthy words; your own heart can assure you much better than any words. With the help of your prayers, we completed our journey safely, the sick man from the Trinity Lavra began to walk, and arrived at his place almost healthy. We ask you to humbly testify our sincere respect to Fr. Anthony and gratitude for his love. Do me a favor, say our most ardent bow to the monastery's father. Leonid and Fr. Gabriel, who also helped us a lot with our cell needs with your blessing, Fr. Mitrofan. And finally, commending ourselves to your prayers and wishing you all the best, with heartfelt devotion and respect, we have the honor to remain your most humble servants Dmitry Bryanchaninov and Mikhail Chikhachev October 26, 1829 Your Reverence! Most Honorable Father Moses! The wandering brother Demoutier said his greetings to me from you. I thank you very much and I am very glad that both you and the other elders are safe and healthy. You know that the robed monk John, who lives in the Optiisk Skete, stayed with you only for my sake, that I had a special love for him, and he also had a special love for me. And therefore I ask you convincingly to release my child to me, let him go in peace! I am absolutely sure that if you, together with his elder, release him to me, then he, being a pet of obedience, will fly to me as if on wings and with his arrival will greatly console me. Perhaps I can be useful to you in some way, then I will try to serve you with all my zeal for your favor. O. To Anthony, your brother, my sincere bow, and as a sign of memory I ask you to accept the seal sent by this same mail, just as I have an enamel image from him. Having wished you all the best and asking for holy prayers, I have the honor to be your humble servant and Bogomolet. Archimandrite Ignatius July 27, 1834 Most Honorable Father Builder Moses! I had the honor to receive your letter. I'm ready to try as hard as I can. But it is necessary for the Kaluga Treasury Chamber to give decisive direction to this matter. Why aggravate your efforts in this public place. I was greatly consoled by the arrival of Father Ioannikios; I would very much like to visit Optina and be consoled by the sight of all my old acquaintances, but until now it was in no way possible - we’ll see what the Lord will arrange in the future. Wishing you good health and all the best, asking for Holy prayers, both yours and all for the Lord of the brotherhood, I have the honor to be your most humble servant Archimandrite Ignatius 1837 September 15th. Your Reverence! Most Reverend Father Hegumen Moses! I don’t know how to thank you enough for dismissing Fr. Joseph, who arrived to me on the third evening and will write about himself to you with his own hand. Demid, who was in St. Petersburg, asked for a petition from Princess Saltykova, one of the first local ladies of the court, before the Minister of State Property to endow Optina Pustyn with land and forest. The answer from the Minister, which followed the Princess, was delivered to me by her; and I forward it to you. From this answer it is clear that the Kaluga Chamber does not have the proper favor towards your monastery, which if 6 you had acquired, then your monastery would be with forest and land. If one is missed, then you can still avert the omission of the other by gaining the favor of the House, just as Jacob gained the favor of Isaac. Hieromonk Evangel, known to you, who wanted to get into the Lavra, but did not get there, now asks me to dismiss him to Optina Pustyn. Finding this last desire more suitable to his morality, I agree to dismiss him from my monastery. But if he is fired, it is unlikely that Moscow will seduce him. Asking for your Holy prayers, with sincere devotion and respect, I have the honor to be your most humble servant and prayer partner Archimandrite Ignatius 1842 February 24 Most Reverend Father Archimandrite Moses! I bring you my most ardent congratulations on the great Feast of Holidays, wishing you all true blessings and greeting you with an all-joyful greeting: Christ is Risen! According to my preliminary explanation with the authorities, I hope to be dismissed in the spring for a stay in Optina Pustyn, where I expect to arrive at the end of the Maya. Do not refuse a gracious welcome to a wanderer! Let me ask you to take me to a cell in a Skete or monastery, if the hotel does not have a separate cell; for I would not like to stay in a common corridor with secular people. The last two weeks of Lent and this Easter week I have been dealing with a severe cold, due to which I could not attend church services even on the first day of Easter. Committing myself to Your Holy Prayers with a feeling of excellent respect and perfect devotion, I have the honor to be Your Most Reverend obedient novice P.S. Take the trouble to convey to Fr. My deepest bow to Abbot Anthony and congratulations on the Holiday. Your Reverence, Most Reverend Father Archimandrite! Please accept my most sincere congratulations on the upcoming Feast of Holidays and at the same time my sincere gratitude for your congratulations to me, a sinner who is in dire need of resurrection from the spiritual sleep and despondency that constantly dominates me. I am very happy about the granting of the staff to the Skete. This grant of the state, apparently, is also the statement of the Skete: for hitherto it existed as an episcopal church. A very important circumstance for the monastery and monastery! You say very thoroughly that your presentation alone and that of your Diocesan authorities would have been insufficient without a special petition, arranged as if by a wave of God, to provide staff to the Skete. By the will of God, for the services of your Monastery to the entire Christian Society, the Moscow Metropolitan, the St. Petersburg Metropolitan, the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, the kind Count Tolstoy, as if at the same time, agreed to give the Skete a staff. Papers are a shady business; living intercession has enormous and beneficial power. Committing myself to Your Holy Prayers, with a feeling of sincere devotion, I have the honor to be Your Reverence’s most humble novice P.S. The rector has been presented as the first candidate in Tambov Kyiv Academy; pray that it will be approved. Second the candidate is a despicable and unfit man in all respects. Your Reverence, Most Reverend Father Archimandrite! I bring you my sincere gratitude for your congratulatory letter and ask for the Holy Prayers of yours and the brotherhood entrusted to you, so that my service to the Holy Church will be pleasing to the Lord God. Invoking God's abundant blessing upon you, with a feeling of sincere devotion and respect, I have the honor to be Your Reverence, my most humble novice Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea November 15th day 1857. (O. Moses: Received November 24, 1857.) Although your letter brought me the most sad news, I sincerely thank you for notifying me of the dangerous illness that befell the most venerable Elder, Father Macarius. Upon receiving this news, I immediately ordered that in my church of the cross they pray daily for his recovery. I understand into what grief the brotherhood, guided by the advice of the elder, must plunge when there is suddenly a danger of losing it; I also understand the disappointment of Your Reverence. I heartily participate in this sadness and pray to the merciful Lord to extend the earthly days of the sick person for the benefit and consolation of many. Committing myself to Your Holy Prayers, with a feeling of perfect reverence and sincere devotion, I have the honor to be Your Reverence’s most humble servant Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea 1860 September 21st Your Reverence, Most Reverend O. Archimandrite! Today I received your letter with the news of the death of the venerable hieroschemamonk Fr. Macarius ordered that a forty-day commemoration of the deceased Elder be celebrated in both churches of the Caucasian House of Bishops. God's will be done! but one cannot help but regret the departure from our midst of the Father, who brought benefit and comfort to many. I understand your grief and fully sympathize with it. Then: Wishing you all the true blessings and consolation from the Lord in the sorrow that has befallen you and the Abode, I have the honor to entrust myself to your Holy Prayers and with a feeling of sincere devotion and respect, I have the honor to be Your Reverence’s most humble servant Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus 23 September 1860. (O. Moses: Received October 16, 1860.) Your Reverence, Most Honorable Father Archimandrite! I bring you my sincere gratitude for your memory of me and your congratulations on the Feast of Holidays - the Resurrection of Christ. Congratulating you on this, I most earnestly wish you all true blessings and greet you with an all-joyful greeting: Christ is Risen! Truly Christ is risen! Father Anthony 1 also informed me about his elevation to the rank of Hegumen. Vvedensky Monastery, in which the parents of the Rev. rest. Alexander Svirsky, has a decent monetary income (up to 4 thousand rubles), 800 acres of land with very good arable farming. The navigable river Oyat, on which the monastery stands, abounds in beautiful fish. Material resources of the monastery, probably under Fr. Anthony will become stronger: it remains to wish him a numerous and well-behaved brotherhood. The location of the monastery is secluded, and communication with St. Petersburg by water is the most convenient for 300 miles. Committing myself to Your Holy Prayers, with a feeling of true respect and devotion, I have the honor to be Your Reverence’s most humble servant (O. Moses: 28 – received.) Most Reverend Father Archimandrite Moses! I bring you my sincere gratitude for your congratulations and your good wishes to me, a sinner. I equally congratulate you on the upcoming Holidays and the New Year, asking you to humbly convey the same congratulations to all the Fathers and Brothers of your Holy Monastery I know. Last summer and autumn I felt my health extremely disturbed, especially when traveling from the Caucasus; in Moscow I suffered a severe attack, the consequences of which could have been very unpleasant if they had not been prevented by copious bloodletting. I barely managed to drag myself here and here I felt very unwell, it seems that now I’m starting to get better, but I’m not leaving my cells yet. I am very pleased with my position and recognize it as arranged by the special grace of God. Committing myself to Your Holy Prayers with a feeling of sincere devotion and respect, I have the honor to be Your Reverence’s most humble servant Bishop Ignatius January 1, 1862. Letters of the Venerable Moses to Saint Ignatius 2 Your Reverence, Most Revered Father Archimandrite! Having been honored to receive your most pleasant letter dated 27 July and a specially sent seal, I cannot adequately thank you for such fatherly favor towards my unworthiness. But having been greatly honored and comforted by the person of Your Reverence, together with my brother Anthony, by Your merciful favor, I am prompted by duty to offer my most sincere and most sensitive Gratitude in these poor lines. Wishing from the bottom of my heart that the Lord God may give you His help in the improvement and spiritual edification of the monastery entrusted to you, to such a goal, in accordance with your request from the Brotherhood of the local monastery, I am ready with spiritual pleasure to let anyone wish. Without in the least violating the freedom of the monk John, which you demanded, I submitted to His will to consider your proposal to him and answer you according to His own feelings. Thus, expressing my zeal, I most humbly ask your saints. prayers and continuation of your fatherly love for the Lord, with true reverence I have the honor to be Your Reverence's most humble servant and prayer worker unworthy Builder And Moses with Anthony and all the Brethren in Christ August 15, 1834 Optina Pustyn. Your Reverence, Most Honorable Father Archimandrite! Our Optina monastery and its position, in which you deigned to be for some time, and the disadvantage of seeing it, are not unknown to Your Reverence. According to the position entrusted to me, having the care of bringing it into the Improvement and bringing the necessary peace to its inhabitants, I began to build a stone fence around the Monastery and, due to the cramped conditions of the Cathedral Church of the Presentation, to spread it; At the sight of the Almighty, with the help of some Charitable Persons, in the past three years, two walls of the fence with towers were built, and two chapels were added to the church on both sides in place of those that were in the meal. But to complete this begun building, a lot more is required. On this occasion, as well as on the petition concerning the monastery matter, I deliberately send our monk Ioannikis to St. Petersburg to ask for assistance from those who are zealous for Charity. Moreover, keeping in mind your Favor, I accept the boldness to most humbly ask for your beneficent assistance to Him through a good recommendation to the Benevolent Christ-loving Persons known to you, for, without knowing anyone, it is difficult to find help; Your assistance for the monastery will be an unforgettable monument for us, who owe your love. With the desire for peace, health and salvation for you, I entrust myself, together with the brethren entrusted to me, to your holy prayers and with the deepest reverence, I have the honor of Your Eminence, your humble servant and prayer leader unworthy Builder And Moses November 28, 1835 Optina Pustyn. Having learned from our co-inhabitant, Father Ioannikis, about your fatherly acceptance of Him and your participation in our petition for the endowment of land 3 by Royal Grace for the maintenance of the monasteries granted. Having accepted this Your Benevolent zeal as a sign of Your Beneficence and Christian love to the monastery, I bring to Your Reverence my and all fraternal most humble Gratitude and most humbly ask for the sake of God to complete this Benevolence with His help, both through Your personal intercession and by admonishing our Brothers where and from whom to seek protection for them in this case. There is a considerable need for the endowment of this desert land to strengthen and in the future the maintenance of the Brotherhood with a reliable source. By doing this, grant your significant benefit to the monastery, which will remain forever a monument for its inhabitants, both present and future; and it will remain unforgettable before God. In the hope of continuing your love and goodwill towards us in the Lord, entrusting myself and the Brotherhood entrusted to me to your holy prayers, with my lowest Highest Reverence, I have the honor to abide with your Most Reverend Most Reverend Father, most humble servant and prayer leader, the unworthy Builder I. Moses with all the Brethren in Christ. March 11, 1836 Optina Pustyn. Your Reverence, Most Honorable and Beneficent Father Archimandrite! While serving in my leadership, I tried, according to my strength, to be useful for the monastery and for the Brotherhood living there, without seeking a local reward; I don’t dare say that I can fully manage and achieve my real goal, except that my desire is known to the One who searches hearts. But the authorities were pleased to honor me with the award of the Abbess. I accepted this with a reverent feeling, but also with fear of punishment: much will be given to him, and much will be required of him. It is not the title of dignity that can save at the second coming of Christ; they are often a stumbling block; Moreover, someone from the Saints philosophizes, as soon as the moss to bear honor is found in men. Having brought you my most sensitive Gratitude for your two writings and congratulating me on this award, I most humbly ask you to send your prayer to the Heavenly Lord, so that I may bear this dignity without condemnation, and in the passage of my service He will grant me His help. You, never ceasing to care for the Good of our monastery, deigned to send a note about our earthly work, with your useful advice about it. Let me tell you that I never imagined that the Chamber could make a statement about our case so soon; I was assured that after collecting certificates from all the monasteries they would make a presentation to the Department. Knowing that they had not yet been collected, I hoped for it and was in no hurry, but instead something else happened. The refusal to do so is not for government benefits, but is evident for one’s own; Now I will make efforts to sow about the Blessing, when it may, having sprung up, bear fruit, it is only unknown whether the request will soon come from the Department and in what strength. Let me ask your Pavel Petrovich to know about this, since you deigned to write to Father Leonid, pointing to his face. My gratitude cannot correspond to your efforts and concern for our benefit, but the Lord himself will reward you with his mercy and may he bestow upon you peace, health and salvation, which I wish for you from the sincerity of my heart. At the same time, I still nourish myself with the hope of having the happiness of seeing you at my place, when the Lord is pleased to arrange the path according to your intention. Committing myself to your saints. prayers, with my deepest reverence, I have the honor to remain Your Eminence, most humble servant and unworthy person of prayer The departure of our Brotherhood to the boundaries of the Capital obliges me to bring you my deepest respect, and at the same time congratulations on the upcoming New Year: now accept my sincere desire that the Lord will preserve your health for many years to come, sending down his spiritual gifts to the consolation of your soul. The memory of Your Benefits to our monastery, shown through the patronage of our Brothers, is unforgettably preserved both by me and by our other desert inhabitants. Having expressed to you the feelings of our gratitude and gratitude, I again dare to bother you with the most humble request and at the present time of the Brotherhood’s stay in St. Petersburg, out of obedience to the monastery - to honor your patronage, intercession and fatherly love, in the hope of which I undoubtedly remain and, entrusting myself and the Brotherhood of the Monastery entrusted to me to your Holy prayers, I have the honor to remain unworthy Abbot Moses Carrying in my soul a feeling of gratitude to you for the most pleasant writing I received, with which you deigned to honor me, unworthy; and our brothers Fr. Ioannikiy and Fr. Hilarion, having returned safely from St. Petersburg, at the monastery explained to me about the provision of Your Fatherly Favor and peace to them in Your Holy monastery. Having accepted these mercies of yours for our entire monastery, including for me, I consider it my duty to bring you my most humble gratitude. And at the same time, bearing in mind the approaching joyful day of your Angel and the all-joyful Feast of the Nativity of Christ our Savior, I bring you my most ardent congratulations on them. And from the bottom of my heart I wish that the Lord God may bless the days of your life with peace, health and the sending of HIS RICH GIFTS. I dare to entrust myself and the monastery entrusted to me, the Brotherhood, to your holy prayers and have the honor to remain with my deepest respect. Your Reverence's humble servant and prayer worker I had the good fortune to receive your fatherly writing from the 18th of this January and, in accordance with your proposal for the dismissal of Hieromonk Joseph, I express my agreement with my spiritual pleasure, having this pleasant opportunity, at your service I release Him with joy. Entrusting myself and the Brotherhood entrusted to me in Christ to your St. prayers and Fatherly Benevolence, with my true high reverence, I have the honor to abide Your Reverence, your humble servant and Bogomolet Father Anthony (Bochkov) - since 1859, rector of the Vvedensky Ostrovsky Monastery; On March 31, 1861, he was elevated to the rank of abbot and in April transferred to the abbot of the Cheremenets St. John the Theological Monastery. See also p. 540 RSL OR. F. 425. K. 4. No. 3. Father Ioannikiy, in a letter to the rector of Optina Pustyn, Father the Builder Moses, dated January 14, 1836, wrote: “...on the advice of good people, on the 24th we went to the Sergius Monastery, where Father Archimandrite Ignatius received us kindly and joyfully, he kept us until the 29th, promised to work for the land...” (RSL OR. F. 213. K. 92. No. 26). RSL OR. F. 213. K. 91, 92. Venerable Moses (in the world Timofey Ivanovich Putilov, 1782–1862), Elder of Optina. His two brothers, Alexander and Jonah, later also became monks. In 1805, Timofey and Jonah entered the Sarov monastery. From 1811, he lived for 10 years in the Roslavl forests as a desert dweller and there he was tonsured a monk with the name Moses; in 1812 he lived briefly in the Svensky Monastery, and then for another 8 years in the Roslavl forests. June 6, 1821 Fr. Moses and four desert dwellers, with the blessing of His Grace Philaret of Kaluga (the future Metropolitan of Kyiv), settled in the monastery apiary of Optina Pustyn and founded a monastery there in the name of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John. In 1826 he was appointed builder of Optina Pustyn; in 1837 - abbot; in 1854 - archimandrite. On July 12, 1853, he was tonsured into the schema, leaving his former name. During his reign, large construction work was carried out in Optina Pustyn. He treated his brethren with great love and trust. He himself was distinguished by extreme non-covetousness and mercy. Glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000 Here and below the letter numbers are given in the original numbering. ed. ABC of Faith portal