5. «Якоже пришедшии з Святия Афонския Гори»

In letters to P. Kalnyshevsky, Rev. Paisiy partially describes the life of the Dragomirn monastery, giving some details about it: Even when I am weak, I find myself in good health, and I guide God, admonishing me according to the Tradition of the Saints, the father of our communal monastery, great is my strength, which monastery, called Dragomirnu, who came to us with five ten brethren from the Holy Mount of Athos Gori was seen by the Pious Lord Moldovan and His Eminence Metropolitan, as in a decent place in society, existing in perfect possession with the goods belonging to that monastery, and our brethren, as if they came from the Holy Mount of Athos, who also joined us here, of whom the number one hundred and five is ten, live peacefully, serenely, obeying the commandment of Christ 73. According to Tradition, the holy fathers set forth all our communal rules and rituals, which we brought from the Holy Mount of Athos in the monastery we saw. Yet these brothers of ours, one hundred and fifty, live peacefully, undisturbed, without any sedition or embarrassment, humbled by each other 75 . Behold, some of the Christ-loving Lords of Moldova have recently begun to build us a stone hospital with a warm Church outside the monastery fence for the sake of the most spacious structure and the best peace of mind for the sick brethren who happen to be 76. And respectfully bound to each other by the love of Christ, I, too, alone, God admonishes me according to His power, I have the diligence to rule over our entire society and open the Path of salvation to the brethren according to the Tradition of the holy fathers, and I have brought such a pious order from the holy fathers of traditions from the Holy Mountain to our communal habitation, then and to this day it has been preserved intact, just as it would have been. Women should not enter our monastery under any circumstances, least of all the noble ones themselves, this is impregnably and firmly observed, like a sign or seal of the Holy Mount Athos, where our common life began; to all our communal regulations and rituals 77. Il. 13. Signature of Rev. Paisiy Velichkovsky in a letter to P. Kalnyshevsky About how the Dragomirn brotherhood was often replenished by St. Paisius monastics from Ukraine, we find interesting evidence in the materials of the Chernigov spiritual consistory. So, in 1776, the resident of the Pustynno-Rykhlovsky St. Nicholas Monastery of the Chernigov diocese, Hierodeacon Epiphanius, without the blessing of the abbot and the clergy, went to Dragomirna to Elder Paisius, and then to his monastery Sekou. He stayed here until April 1778, but due to military operations in Moldova, he returned back to Chernigov, where he was arrested and interrogated and punished for leaving the Rykhlovsky Monastery without permission 78. Similar cases of monastics fleeing from the monasteries of Left-Bank and Right-Bank Ukraine to monasteries on the territory of Moldova were quite frequent, which contributed to the replenishment of the brotherhood of St. Paisiya by his fellow countrymen. Thus, a native of the Chernigov region was another associate of Elder Paisius - Schemamonk Onuphry, who went to Moldavia to St. Paisius, and then labored in the desert near the Dragomirn monastery (canonized as a locally revered Moldavian saint). The surviving letter of Elder Paisius to St. Onuphrius testifies to the deep spiritual closeness of the two ascetics 79 . Apparently, Paisiy Velichkovsky, who began his monastic path in the Chernigov region, maintained fairly close relations with representatives of the local monasteries, and the fame of him as an elder was already widespread in these parts. TsGIAC of Ukraine. F. 229. Op. 1. D. 166. L. 35. TsGIAC of Ukraine. F. 229. Op. 1. D. 166. L. 47. TsGIAC of Ukraine. F. 229. Op. 1. D. 166. L. 53. GACHO. F. 679. Op. 1. D. 1147. Rev. Paisiy Velichkovsky. Life and selected works. Serpukhov: Heritage of the Orthodox East, 2014. pp. 451–455.