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About Orthodox witches: (Abbess Theophilus Lepeshinskaya) besides, they are so immaculate. Abbess Theophila (Lepeshinskaya) Lamentation of the third bird: earthly and heavenly in modern monasteries

Abbess Theophila (Lepeshinskaya)

Cry of the third bird: earthly and heavenly in modern monasteries

Religion. War for God
The first edition of this book on contemporary monasticism in Russia was anonymous. Even when everyone found out, after seeing the cover of the second edition, who was the author of "Lament of the Third Bird", passions did not subside. The book was written by the Abbess of the existing Russian monastery Orthodox Church The Moscow Patriarchate, who knows so much about monasticism that she always has something to say with irony or pain, and something to keep silent about. This is an honest, informative, piercing and frank book about monks and monasteries, written from the inside by a man who experienced the revival of monasticism in Russia. The strength of the testimony of Abbess Theophila lies in her constant appeal to the hearth of prayer, to the spiritual height and hidden beauty of true monasticism. The third edition is supplemented with a preface by Olesya Nikolaeva and a section with practical advice for those who gathered to visit the monastery for one purpose or another.

Abbess Theophila (Lepeshinskaya)

Cry of the third bird: earthly and heavenly in modern monasteries

Approved for distribution by the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church

IS number Р17-710-0383

Foreword

Fifteen years ago, in a church bookstore, I came across a small book by a certain nun N. “Dare, daughter” - in short, about the Christian understanding of the place, purpose and role of a woman in the world. Having opened it at random, I could no longer tear myself away, and after reading it in its entirety, I experienced a feeling of joyful discovery. This happens when you meet a living, talented and meaningful phenomenon. And - a completely unprecedented case for me - I immediately bought seven or even ten of these books to give, and, handing them to the chosen ones, I invariably felt that I was giving something very valuable, very important for this person, and looked forward to that spiritual pleasure which he will experience while reading.

Then I was invited to speak to the sisters of the Mother of God-Christmas maiden desert in the village of Baryatino, not far from Kaluga, and I went there with my husband. We were met at the gate by the abbess and her assistant, and we were taken to the refectory, where the nuns and novices were already sitting. I read poems to them and answered questions. Something in the course of this conversation, namely, some important explanations and precise remarks that the abbess inserted, led me to a vague guess, which later, when we were invited to a meal and talked with the abbess, grew into the certainty that before me - the same mysterious nun N., the author of the book that struck me so much. I recognized her by the turn of speech, by intonation, by the intelligent look of penetrating eyes ... And so it turned out. It was Abbess Theophila.

Then she wrote new book, namely this one - “The Cry of the Third Bird”, which she sent to me and my husband by e-mail even before publication. Burning with impatience to read it as soon as possible, we brought it out on paper and sat next to him, passing the pages we read to each other ... Exemplary built, written in magnificent language, saturated with meanings, as Holy Scripture, patristic literature and world culture, and supported by personal spiritual experience, this book is one of those that you don’t want to part with: you want to live with it, reread it, learn from it to penetrate into the essence of the movements of your own soul and comprehend the turns of external events. For it gives the key to understanding Christian life flowing here and now, in conditions modern Russia, at a certain historical moment, and inscribes it in the context of the gospel metahistory that sets the scale.

The amount of erudition of the author is amazing, who easily and freely disposes of it, organically and compactly putting it at the service of the main idea of human salvation. The subtleties of Christian anthropology, Orthodox dogmatics, asceticism, patristics, hermeneutics, moral theology, confessorship, church history, Scriptures and Traditions - in a word, churchness is revealed in this book in an existential light: lofty speculations are reflected and refracted in concrete manifestations of human life, testifying to their relevance. This is our daily bread.

In addition, books let into space and hagiographic stories adjacent here, belonging to different centuries, plots from the current modern church life, as well as theological speculations, elements of Orthodox doctrine, prayer practice, sayings of church leaders of the past and statements of preachers of our time, poetic lines of literary classics taken as epigraphs to each chapter, and even journalistic digressions - all this, intertwined, creates a picture of unity the Christian world, absorbing time and space.

We are talking here, first of all, about monasticism and monasteries as such, and about the monasteries recreated after the collapse of the stronghold of theomachism and atheism - the Soviet empire, par excellence. Staying within this process - the revival of monastic life in Russia - gives Abbess Theophila not only the experience of an eyewitness, but also the power of witnessing how this happened: the book contains many specific cases, situations, examples of mistakes, distortions and breakdowns of novice pilgrims and newly tonsured monks. This is explained primarily - and forever and ever - by human nature, corrupted by the fall, but also by the spiritual and moral damage that the "Babylonian captivity" inflicted on the Christian people. Soviet power: loss church traditions, the fading of faith, the distortion of concepts about a person, the precariousness of moral foundations, the fog of delusions and superstitions, the extreme paucity of genuine mentors of piety. Sometimes it was necessary to start from a scorched field human soul…

However, in describing specific deplorable cases of abuse of spiritual power in monasteries and church parishes, religious imposture, mystical self-activity, pharisaism, as well as the ignorance of those who reached out to monasteries and churches, Abbess Theophila does not at all aim to belittle the religious thirst that has opened up among the people. . It is not at all the piquancy of individual episodes, sometimes bordering on anecdotes, with which she sometimes illustrates her reasoning, is the goal here: the height of the calling, the model, the Image of God - this is the final aspiration of her thought. It is not for nothing that the book does not mention the names and surnames of those whose dubious deeds and statements served Mother Superior Theophila only as a tool for her apophatic method. The subject of denunciation here is not the person himself, but his false words or bad deeds. As an experienced restorer, it is as if she removes from the foundation both the damaged layers of paint, and those that slovenly and inept Bogomazes have crudely smeared on it, in order to expose the innermost Beauty hidden by them, shining in Orthodoxy.

Although The Lament of the Third Bird is a book about monasticism, but in terms of its spiritual outlook it is much more voluminous, just like monasticism, the significance and influence of which is not limited to the walls of a monastery or skete, but extends to the fate of peoples, reaching the very heavens. Monasticism is the destiny of those striving, like a wealthy young man in the Gospels, for perfection, for a life that bears a “reflective of the future age.” And in this sense, it is the very heart of Orthodoxy, the “salt of the earth”, the prayer hearth, near which the chilled heart of a Christian ignites with the love of Christ; a source of living water, drinking from which, the soul comes to life and the mind is enlightened. All the more important for Russia and for Orthodoxy as a whole is what happens to monasteries and in monasteries: spiritual trouble, the impoverishment of faith and the cooling of love, “salt that has lost its taste” - can have the most bad consequences for the life of not only the whole country, but also the whole world.

I know one nun who, having asked me for the manuscript of the book, returned it in complete silence, and then published an angry rebuke to her in the journal, the main pathos of which was to “not wash dirty linen in public.” This image seemed to me false and self-revealing, because monasteries are not a personal hut, but the abode of the Holy Spirit, “gates of heaven”, “the tabernacle of God with people”, “consecrated city”, and there is no more worthy rejoicing here than rejoicing for the Glory of God , and a more implacable battle than a battle with a crafty adversary who is trying to pervert and profane this chosen place.

It is not for nothing that the whole of Russian culture came out of the monasteries and was the leaven that formed the national mentality, which, with all their efforts, neither the Bolsheviks nor the postmodernists could completely change. Abbess Theophilus attaches great importance Orthodox education: the re-creation of man "in the image of God." A Christian, in the words of the apostles Peter and Paul, must always be ready to give an answer to the questioner about his hope and to give an account of himself to God.

The author of the book contrasts Christian enlightenment with the ignorance and self-made mind, which always either blindly and thoughtlessly follows the guide’s pointer and risks getting lost, losing it, or striving to deviate into self-willed proud searches, fraught with schismatic potential or sectarian twist. The faith of the “coal miner and old nurse” rarely passes the crucible of trials without damage.

Spiritual enlightenment, nourishment from gospel and patristic sources, knowledge of Tradition and church history, reading good literature following experience church prayer gather together, center and shape the personality, saving it from the split consciousness and internal confusion, elevate and help to get rid of the power of dark natural instincts.

Not without reason, in her monastery, Abbess Theophila put the enlightenment and education of the nuns entrusted to her as part of her spiritual leadership: in addition to participating in divine services and monastic obediences - work in gold embroidery and icon painting workshops, labors in the field, barnyard and in the kitchen - mother, inviting nuns and novices in the monastic library rich in books, devotes part of his time to lecturing on a variety of disciplines, both ecclesiastical and humanitarian.

It is also surprising that this book has such a property: in it the content does not contradict the form, the meaning of the statement does not contradict its style. Excellent knowledge of the psychology of the human soul is also confirmed by the accuracy of expression. Neatness of thought corresponds to verbal transparency. And the aesthetic persuasiveness of Orthodoxy is expressed in the grace, even artistry, style, which nevertheless remains masculine (monastic) clear and firm. So only a person speaks and writes, who with full responsibility testifies that he experienced, felt, thought through and understood, with the help of God, himself, on own experience, “Working together with God…”: “Shed your blood and you will receive the Spirit.”

In a word, we have a wonderful writer, abbess, whose books can already be ranked among the Orthodox classics. Just as I once, with the feeling of a pioneer, gave it "Dare, daughter," so now I feel joy, anticipating the pleasure and spiritual benefit that the reader will receive from "Lament of the Third Bird." Amen.

Olesya Nikolaeva

Sisters, with love

Three monks were standing on the seashore. A voice came to them from the other side: "Take wings and come to Me." Following the voice, two monks received fiery wings and quickly flew to the other side. The third remained in the same place. He began to cry and yell. Finally, wings were given to him, but not fiery ones, but some kind of powerless ones, and he flew across the sea with great difficulty and effort. Often he weakened and plunged into the sea; seeing himself drowning, he began to cry pitifully, rose from the sea, again flew quietly and low, again became exhausted, again sank into the abyss, again cried out, rose again and, exhausted, barely flew over the sea.

The first two monks served as an image of the monasticism of the first times, and the third - the monasticism of the last times, meager in number and in prosperity.

Memorable legends about the asceticism of the holy and blessed fathers

The holy fathers of Skete prophesied about the last generation, saying: “What have we done?” And, answering, one of them, great in life, named Ischirion, said: "We have made the commandments of God." They also asked: “Will those following us do anything?” He said, "They will reach half of our cause." “And what happens after them?” And he said: “People of the Onago kind will not have anything at all, but temptation will come upon them, and those who proved worthy in this temptation will be higher than us and our fathers.”

ancient patericon

... These people look like birds, my brother!
We also strive for the covenant Light:
Like some strong birds rush,
Behind them are others, although there are no such forces.
Only I perish like a third bird;
I have no strength to fly above the clouds ...
More and more often you have to sit in the waves ...
But, God, do not let sink to the bottom!

Archdeacon Roman (Tamberg). Parable

Black Monk for stone wall

Glory golden glow
Monastery cross from afar.
Can't you turn to eternal rest?
And what is life without a cowl!

Are they Chinese?

This idea about the future of Russia, first expressed, it seems, by Fr. Andrei Kuraev, at first shocking; however, starting to think in a given direction, you gradually get used to: are we better than the Greeks, from whom we received the sacred inheritance, and are we not more cruel than the Jews: those, having found themselves after 70 years of captivity in an unfortunate devastated country, were not concerned about the quality of life, but about returning to a single faith and the restoration of the Temple. Moreover, the rumor has long been circulating that the invasion and subsequent predominance of yellow people definitely predicted either by the Bible or by Nostradamus; and why is it not likely that our slanted brethren will gradually penetrate into Siberia, and then into Tula and Ryazan in small groups of one hundred thousand people with mass conversion to Orthodoxy? After all, the Lord also loves the Chinese.

According to statistics, there are almost 80 million Orthodox in Russia, but provincial priests claim that the church is regularly attended by at most two percent of the population. Nevertheless, Orthodoxy is horror as popular, and especially monasticism, as evidenced by the widespread use of its image in advertising: drinking water“Holy spring”, dumplings “Monastyrskie” (of course, with meat), and even wine and vodka products! " Procession"," Confession of a sinner "(white semi-sweet and supposedly natural); "Black Monk", "Old Monk", "Monk's Whisper", "Monk's Tear", "Monk's Confession", "Monk's Soul", "Chinese Monk" tea, with appeals on labels: touch the secret of ancient monasteries!..

They probably buy well, as well as popular books with enticing titles: Pelagia and the White Bulldog, Pelagia and the Black Monk, Pelagia and the Red Rooster, with a round face in glasses and an apostle on the cover. The church magazine devoted a serious article to the author with a thorough analysis of the distortions of Christian truths and monastic rules; blessed - or naive - pure in heart! The fashionable writer was by no means striving for the truth of life, he set completely different goals, having calculated with the help of TV and a computer the requests of the general public, exhausted by progress: a cozy from afar the century before last, plus a detective story, plus mysterious characters, unknown little animals, some merchants, bishops , schemniki, nuns.

The road, as usual, was paved long ago in the West, after the overwhelming success of the novel The Name of the Rose, flooding the market with similar on the topic, but incomparably low quality bestsellers, up to the mediocre and boring parody of C. Buckley and D. Tierney "The Lord is my broker" ( !) about overcoming the financial crisis in an American monastery, a novelty offered at the book market. Of course, the fantastic demand for the latest temptations, the da Vinci codes, etc., testifies to a steady, unfading, despite the secularism of the supposedly post-Christian era, interest in Christ.

The headlines of articles devoted to monasteries allude to the terrible shameful deeds that are committed in the dead silence of tightly locked cells.

Approved for distribution by the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church

IS number Р17-710-0383

* * *

Foreword

Then she wrote a new book, namely this one - “The Cry of the Third Bird”, which she sent to me and my husband by e-mail even before publication. Burning with impatience to read it as soon as possible, we brought it out on paper and sat next to him, passing the pages we read to each other ... Exemplary built, written in magnificent language, saturated with meanings, both found in Holy Scripture, patristic literature and world culture, and supported by personal spiritual experience, this book is one of those that you don’t want to part with: you want to live with it, reread it, learn from it to penetrate into the essence of the movements of your own soul and comprehend the turns of external events. For it provides the key to understanding the Christian life that takes place here and now, in the conditions of modern Russia, at a certain historical moment, and inscribes it in the context of the gospel metahistory that sets the scale.

The amount of erudition of the author is amazing, who easily and freely disposes of it, organically and compactly putting it at the service of the main idea of human salvation. The intricacies of Christian anthropology, Orthodox dogma, asceticism, patristics, hermeneutics, moral theology, clergy, church history, Scripture and Tradition - in a word, churchness is shown in this book in an existential light: lofty speculations are reflected and refracted in concrete manifestations of human life, testifying to its essentiality. This is our daily bread.

In addition, books let into the space and adjacent hagiographic stories belonging to different centuries, plots from current modern church life, as well as theological speculations, elements of Orthodox dogma, prayer practice, sayings of church leaders of the past and statements of preachers of our time, poetic lines of literary classics , taken as epigraphs to each chapter, and even journalistic digressions - all this, intertwined, creates a picture of the unity of the Christian world, absorbing time and space.

We are talking here, first of all, about monasticism and monasteries as such, and about the monasteries recreated after the collapse of the stronghold of theomachism and atheism - the Soviet empire, par excellence. Staying within this process - the revival of monastic life in Russia - gives Abbess Theophila not only the experience of an eyewitness, but also the power of witnessing how this happened: the book contains many specific cases, situations, examples of mistakes, distortions and breakdowns of novice pilgrims and newly tonsured monks. This is explained primarily - and forever and ever - by human nature, corrupted by the fall, but also by the spiritual and moral damage that the “Babylonian captivity” of Soviet power inflicted on the Christian people: the loss of church traditions, the fading of faith, the distortion of concepts about man, the precariousness of moral foundations. , a fog of delusions and superstitions, the extreme paucity of genuine teachers of piety. Sometimes it was necessary to start from the scorched field of the human soul ...

It is not for nothing that the whole of Russian culture came out of the monasteries and was the leaven that formed the national mentality, which, with all their efforts, neither the Bolsheviks nor the postmodernists could completely change. Abbess Theophila attaches great importance to Orthodox education: the re-creation of man "in the image of God." A Christian, in the words of the apostles Peter and Paul, must always be ready to give an answer to the questioner about his hope and to give an account of himself to God.

Spiritual enlightenment, nourishment from gospel and patristic sources, knowledge in the field of Tradition and church history, reading good literature following the experience of church prayer gather together, center and shape the personality, saving it from split consciousness and internal confusion, elevate and help to free itself from the power of the dark natural instincts.

It is also surprising that this book has such a property: in it the content does not contradict the form, the meaning of the statement does not contradict its style. Excellent knowledge of the psychology of the human soul is also confirmed by the accuracy of expression. Neatness of thought corresponds to verbal transparency. And the aesthetic persuasiveness of Orthodoxy is expressed in the grace, even artistry, style, which nevertheless remains masculine (monastic) clear and firm. Only a person speaks and writes like this, who with full responsibility testifies that he has experienced, felt, thought through and understood, with the help of God, himself, from his own experience, "helping God ...": "Shed your blood and you will receive the Spirit."

Olesya Nikolaeva

Sisters, with love

Three monks were standing on the seashore. A voice came to them from the other side: "Take wings and come to Me." Following the voice, two monks received fiery wings and quickly flew to the other side. The third remained in the same place. He began to cry and yell. Finally, wings were given to him, but not fiery ones, but some kind of powerless ones, and he flew across the sea with great difficulty and effort. Often he weakened and plunged into the sea; seeing himself drowning, he began to cry pitifully, rose from the sea, again flew quietly and low, again became exhausted, again sank into the abyss, again cried out, rose again and, exhausted, barely flew over the sea.

The first two monks served as an image of the monasticism of the first times, and the third - the monasticism of the last times, meager in number and in prosperity.

Memorable legends about the asceticism of the holy and blessed fathers

The holy fathers of Skete prophesied about the last generation, saying: “What have we done?” And, answering, one of them, great in life, named Ischirion, said: "We have made the commandments of God." They also asked: “Will those following us do anything?” He said, "They will reach half of our cause." “And what happens after them?” And he said: “People of the Onago kind will not have anything at all, but temptation will come upon them, and those who proved worthy in this temptation will be higher than us and our fathers.”

ancient patericon

... These people look like birds, my brother!
We also strive for the covenant Light:
Like some strong birds rush,
Behind them are others, although there are no such forces.
Only I perish like a third bird;
I have no strength to fly above the clouds ...
More and more often you have to sit in the waves ...
But, God, do not let sink to the bottom!
Archdeacon Roman (Tamberg). Parable

Black monk behind a stone wall

Glory golden glow
Monastery cross from afar.
Can't you turn to eternal rest?
And what is life without a cowl!

Are they Chinese?

This idea about the future of Russia, first expressed, it seems, by Fr. Andrei Kuraev, at first shocking; however, starting to think in a given direction, you gradually get used to: are we better than the Greeks, from whom we received the sacred inheritance, and are we not more cruel than the Jews: those, having found themselves after 70 years of captivity in an unfortunate devastated country, did not bake about quality of life but about the return to the single faith and the restoration of the Temple. Moreover, the rumor has long been circulating that the invasion and subsequent predominance of yellow people definitely predicted either by the Bible or by Nostradamus; and why is it not likely that our slanted brethren will gradually penetrate into Siberia, and then into Tula and Ryazan in small groups of one hundred thousand people with mass conversion to Orthodoxy? After all, the Lord also loves the Chinese.

According to statistics, there are almost 80 million Orthodox in Russia, but provincial priests claim that the church is regularly attended by at most two percent of the population. Nevertheless, Orthodoxy is awfully popular, and especially monasticism, as evidenced by the widespread use of its image in advertising: drinking water "Holy Spring", dumplings "Monastyrskie" (of course, with meat), and even wine and vodka products! "Procession", "Confession of a Sinner" (white semi-sweet and supposedly natural); "Black Monk", "Old Monk", "Monk's Whisper", "Monk's Tear", "Monk's Confession", "Monk's Soul", "Chinese Monk" tea, with appeals on labels: touch the secret of ancient monasteries!..

They probably buy well, as well as popular books with enticing titles: Pelagia and the White Bulldog, Pelagia and the Black Monk, Pelagia and the Red Rooster, with a round face in glasses and an apostle on the cover. The church magazine devoted a serious article to the author with a thorough analysis of the distortions of Christian truths and monastic rules; blessed - or naive - pure in heart! The fashionable writer was by no means striving for the truth of life, he set completely different goals, having calculated with the help of a TV and a computer the requests of the general public, exhausted by progress: a cozy from afar the century before last, plus a detective story, plus mysterious characters, unknown little animals, some merchants, bishops , schemniki, nuns.

The road, as usual, was paved long ago in the West, after the overwhelming success of the novel The Name of the Rose, flooding the market with similar on the topic, but incomparably low quality bestsellers, up to the mediocre and boring parody of C. Buckley and D. Tierney "The Lord is my broker" ( !) about overcoming the financial crisis in an American monastery, a novelty offered at the book market. Of course, the fantastic demand for last temptations, da vinci codes etc. testifies to a steady, unfailing, despite the secularism of the supposedly post-Christian era, interest in Christ.

The headlines of articles devoted to monasteries allude to the terrible shameful deeds that are committed in the dead silence of tightly locked cells.

And the everyday press does not deny monasticism attention for the same reason formulated by Pinocchio: there is some mystery here. Articles are benevolent, with high-flown descriptions of nature, the daily routine, a delicious dinner and a hearty mother, and, conversely, revealing, depicting a gloomy landscape, cruel discipline, a meager menu, selfish bosses and a flagrant violation of human rights. One metropolitan newspaper directly wrote that the abbesses use young novices in order to attract sponsors, so to speak, in payment for generous donations ... It is a pity sometimes that the Church prefers not to sue.

"Beyond the Stone Wall", "Beyond the Monastery Walls", the beloved "High Security Abode" - the headlines allude to the terrible shameful deeds that are committed in the dead silence of tightly locked cells. But here, it seems, TVNZ"undertook a promising reconnaissance operation, sending a scout to a monastery beyond the Urals. The girl pretended to try her hand at monasticism, was treated kindly, all the doors were opened to her... So what? Yes, nothing sensational; she sent almost enthusiastic reports to the newspaper ... Who knows, maybe someday he will come to the monastery not for fun.

But the usual way for correspondents sent for a couple of hours to go exotic is to fantasize to the extent of their own depravity, composing bizarre explanations of the incomprehensible phenomenon that monasticism remains for everyone alien and even not completely alien to Christianity. Well,

…my business
A little good for you to know.
Can you tell your soul?
M. Yu. Lermontov

In fact, already in the time of St. Ignatius, Moscow magazines called monasticism an anachronism. K. Leontiev quoted the letter he had received: “In our time, an idiot or a swindler can become a monk.” At the beginning of the 20th century, it was considered good form to ridicule monks as stupid ignoramuses, useless for the good of mankind, committing senseless violence against nature. In 1908, in a series with the eloquent title "Religion and the Church in the Light of Scientific Thought and Free Criticism," a book by the Protestant theologian Adolf Harnack, Monasticism. His ideals and his history. With irritation smoothed over by irony, the author exposes the absurdity of the behavior of ascetic fanatics who torture themselves for some unknown purpose, perhaps for the sake of museum storage of long-outdated rituals.

Monasticism even now in Russia, when it breaks like a frail flower through the asphalt, trying to be born again, is criticized from all sides. Those who are open-minded and modern prove, as they did a century ago, that monasteries have outlived their time and it is much more useful to serve your neighbor through charitable and social institutions; pity the miserable monks who have lost the right to simple human happiness lost to the world with its rapid rhythm and colorful fireworks of great and small pleasures; the fate of girls deprived of the joys of love and motherhood is especially tragic; and if there is persecution again, they will kill everyone! And, finally, there is always a topical reproach: those who become monks doom humanity to extinction.

Newspaper writers, ironically about the "cozy myths" about ancient times, when people were more pious, and food is tastier, create other myths on the go: among the monks then, as always, quarrels, theft, neglect of the sick and conflicts with the authorities flourished, but on the other hand, democracy reigned and all the highest church positions were elected ("NG-religions"). A well-known contingent, referred to as "renovationism", more than friendly towards the Old Believers, Catholics, Protestants and Jews, categorically does not accept monasticism, however, it is Russian: Taizé and other foreign shrines adherents Orthodoxy since human face willingly visit and sing.

Others seek and do not find high spirituality: “Monasticism has lost its promise, it does not contain the promises given to us by the Holy Trinity itself.” There is criticism of the Synod, which blesses the opening of new and new monasteries: why so many, if those already opened are so imperfect; Less is better, but better the unforgettable leader of the world proletariat used to say, and long before him - Empress Catherine, who, out of the most sensible considerations, shuffled surplus monastics and achieved the almost complete extermination of monasteries. By the same logic, in the interests of quality, marriages should also be limited - there are too many unsuccessful ones.

Let the world not prescribe the law to the cause of God, said St. Philaret of Moscow. Now on the territory of Russia there are more than four hundred monasteries - but not one, with the exception of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, has reached the age of twenty; it is incorrect to expect triumphant achievements from them, all the more so to pronounce sentences: monasticism is declining ... the monastic spirit is catastrophically falling. The fall suggests a lost height; it is not clear from which bar to count, which monasticism to value as a criterion - Egyptian? Palestinian? Byzantine? Athonite? old Russian? our pre-revolutionary? There have been different situations in history; let us take the phenomenon of the Tavenissian monasteries: they prospered - quantitatively and qualitatively - during the life of the founder, the great Pachomius, and then fell into impoverishment, which meant specifically the decline of the Tavenissian monasteries; monasticism continued to shine and fragrant, but in other places.

As always, the loudest critics of the monasteries are the monks themselves, especially those who stay outside the monasteries. If buildings and temples are being actively built, they grumble that souls should be created, not stones - as if if construction is stopped, souls will grow faster. They let pilgrims and tourists in - a passage yard, and if the gates are locked - egoists live only for themselves. They start vast fields or profitable production - they call them collective farms; if there are no fields and industries - lazy people who do not want to work.

Now on the territory of Russia there are more than four hundred monasteries - but not one, with the exception of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, has reached the age of twenty. It is incorrect to expect triumphant achievements from them, let alone pass sentences.

Cleanliness and order are decorations; social service - shelters, almshouses - vanity and window dressing; few inhabitants - no one goes, many - random people; they accept the elderly - why, they will not understand anything, the young - who and what will teach them; monastic life, they say, today is only an appearance, without meaning and content, since there are no leaders, elders; they refer to the judgments of St. Seraphim of Zvezdinsky and St. Lawrence of Chernigov, referring to the era of total collapse, when it was just as unthinkable to imagine the revival of the Church as the sudden abolition of Soviet power; the abolition of the monasteries was seen as final and marked the extermination of Christianity, anticipating the immediate end of the world.

The apocalyptic motive, intensified with the pandemonium around the TIN, and now feeds the enthusiasm of the supra-Orthodox zealots: they leave the dioceses if the bishop is not in the spirit that pleases them; they send anonymous letters against the Synod to the monasteries and, in published leaflets, call for the sewing of backpacks, the purchase of tents, sleeping bags, stoves, and preparations to go into the forests; such agitation easily falls on the Soviet leaven, the habit of always expecting something terrible; many people live with a hopeless faith not in Christ, but in the Antichrist, intending, however, to somehow hide from him and wait out the end of the world; pamphlets and articles are full of lamentations: in our troubled times... I just want to object, as Leontiev once did: his time, perhaps, is not my time at all.

The reason for the hostile attitude towards monasticism lies, obviously, after all, in the fact that monks live according to the laws of another world. It is known what a wary, hostile attitude is met by dissidents; all the more so, aliens vaguely appear dangerous and cause anxiety that cannot be explained by logic. It is one thing to feel sorry for the stepchildren of fortune, the little sluts who have not found a more cheerful and comfortable place under the sun than a monastery, but what annoyance, even fury, the opposite concept causes: “Everything is mediocre in comparison with monasticism, and every feat in comparison with it is philistinism.”

It is worth mentioning monasticism - and relatives, friends, acquaintances, who have never come close to any monastery, will find many contrary arguments, dissuade, frighten and be horrified ... Maybe those who are in the world are sometimes visited by a crazy thought: what if they are right? Chernorizians and indeed it is impossible, in the words of Alyosha Karamazov, to give instead of Total two rubles, and instead come after me only go to lunch? But if so...they enter first?.. And we?.. And I?..

This is how suspicions arise, from which they get rid of by reading from books or looking in pilgrimages everything is bad in monasteries. This is not difficult: strict, taciturn monks, therefore, do not have love; hide their eyes - hypocrites, look straight - impudent; funny - such frivolous; sad - yeah, it's bad for them; a meager meal - starve, plentiful - wow fasting! poor, with a pine forest, the situation is a barracks, and decent furniture, paintings and carpets - new Russians!

It remains only to conclude: what monasteries right now! they eat and sleep... and they are no better than us! - and then breathe a sigh of relief. It all depends on the point of view: in the old days, say, Gogol, having visited Optina, received a spiritual charge for years and was grateful, while Tolstoy received nothing and blamed both the monasteries and the entire Russian Church for this ...

The SALES rating is what today determines the quality of literature and the professionalism of a writer; but everywhere the light genre wins, because it is supported by promotion, for which the adherents of mass tastes are great masters.

It's only the beginning! A reality show is being prepared on television, exploring the monastery in a series of such closed structures as a prison, a foreign legion, Israeli army: we put our person there and show the system from the inside, - one of the authors of the project promised in print. The idea has long been implemented in the United States.

I would like to compare the current situation with the era of the Milan Edict, when the people saw the president, that is, the emperor, overshadowing himself sign of the cross, and poured into the temples, but conscience warns against excessive optimism.

What myths! Hand on heart, anyone will agree that people were really more pious and food really tasted better - even in not so ancient times.

There, they say, numerous pilgrims are received with love, that is, with a courteous smile. “And I,” shared one abbess, “when I see this crowd for the feast, I’m horrified: will there be enough food, where to settle, and we won’t get bed linen for everyone, but water! and the sewer pit will definitely overflow, and you won’t get pumped out! .. "

L. D. Bitekhtina. East - West, the experience of eldership. Mindfulness of the soul. M.: Peresvet, 2002. The given incomprehensible phrase reflects the style of this thick, more than strange book, which opens with the praise of the "divine intuitions" of Teresa of Avila.

Against the Age of Enlightenment. Biography and works of His Eminence Gabriel (Petrov). Preface. M.: Palomnik, 2001.

Already in early XIX centuries, ascetics left the Roslavl (Bryansk, Zhizdrinsk) forests - for various reasons, including the destruction of forests - and settled in monasteries. There were also persecutions of free monks, with forced eviction. But even in the heyday of hermitage (forced, due to the closure of monasteries), in the 18th century, there was no idyll: monks were pursued by land and forest owners, robbed and beaten, sometimes to death, by robbers; some rogue could, mischievously, set fire to the hermit's house while he went to church. What can you expect in today's forests!

About the monastic feat and the problem of modern monasteries.

Not so long ago, I came across a story about the life of a student at the Moscow Theological Academy, she admitted that literature was not according to the program, something “ideologically wrong”, for example, she reads furtively. How justified is this, in your opinion?

We don’t forbid reading, it’s another matter that few people know Zamyatin now. The entire library of the monastery was compiled by me. I went to all sorts of shops and bought books. I think that all the classics, everything that is called literature - we should have all this. Don't read it now, read it later. And you need to read Zamyatin ...

I have already spoken about the essay about the life of a student of Lavra. As far as I know, after the publication of this material, the author was urged to remove the text from the site. Moreover, the requests came from the press service of the Theological Academy. It turns out that students cannot even talk about themselves, is that good?

Not good. Well, it is clear that this is not good, but different people happen, unfortunately. The Lavra has always had strict limits both in the seminary and in the school. Perhaps the girl told someone that there is such a publication, maybe it was not necessary to do this.

Have you read the book by Maria Kikot "Confessions of a former novice"? How do you feel about her?

"Lament of the Third Bird" was first released in 2008 under the pseudonym "Nun N". The book met with mixed reviews: some readers saw the author's love for modern monasticism and concern for its future, the other part decided that the author was "taking dirty linen out of the hut."

Of course, I read it with burning interest. It was only thanks to her that my book was republished. But the effect of Kikot's book is ultimately negative. You see, in monasteries, no one chains you up. Why did she live there for seven years? This is the first question. The second - more than a hundred people live there. They live, and no one has lost God. But she didn't have God. There is a situation when a person simply has the wrong attitude. She went there out of sheer curiosity. After all, now there are so many monasteries and they are all different, you can choose for yourself. To know the place, you need to stay there for a year. I have no faith in the sincerity of this man.

So you think that there are not so many problems?

The author of the book did not invent anything, but she did not see anything good either. I don't have the right to say anything specific because I don't live there. When I lived there (and I lived there for a short time), I noticed some tendencies of hard management. But since mother Nikolai and I are both from the Shamordino monastery (Kazanskaya Amvrosievskaya stauropegial women's deserts), it didn't apply to me.

What do you see as the problem of modern monasteries?

During the years of Soviet power, we lost continuity. As far as monasticism is concerned, this is a great loss. Because earlier, when the young came to the monastery, they looked at the elders and learned to do the same. But what happened to convents in Russia? None left. Therefore, when we came, there was no one to study with. And so they take you and appoint you abbess, because you went to church, because some priest advised you, and so on. But all the abbesses who then came to the monasteries were just as uneducated as everyone else. What to do? The easiest way out is to behave like bosses.

Just now, talking to other journalists, you said that the persecution of the church is not so bad. Can you explain?

A church without persecution is like a man without roots. If there were no persecution, we would have no theology. After the end of the persecution of the first Christians, there was a period when there was no persecution. There were heresies, thanks to this it became clear that it was necessary to create a doctrine. Any criticism, even if it is completely unfair, helps and cleanses. People are starting to think. There is the Church as an institution of Christ, His creation, which He always looks after, and there is the Church as a system, without this it is also impossible, otherwise there will be chaos. Any system can fail, and criticism in this case is very important.

For many people, Orthodoxy is a broader concept than faith. Few people deny God, there are very few real atheists, like the odious Nikonov. BUT Orthodox people consider themselves, combining two concepts: Orthodoxy and patriotism. Why "Russians do not give up", why Russians know that there is something higher and more expensive than them own life? This is Orthodoxy. I noticed a long time ago that Orthodoxy swims in our blood, in a good and a bad way. Both advantages and disadvantages from here.

Well, as for eighty percent, that's how it's always been. A person remembers God in the most tragic moments of life. Comes to the temple, filled with tears. But the church counts on the heads, sees those who come at least for Easter. And this is still 2% - those people whom Catholics call practicing believers. But on the other hand, until the hour of death we cannot say anything definitive about a person.

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PRIEST

MOTHER OF GOD - NATIVITY

DEVISH DESERT S. BARYATINO

Abbess Theophile (LEPESHINSKAYA)

Dear Mother Theophilus!

On your 70th birthday, I ask you to accept my my sincere congratulations, prayerful wishes of God's abundant help and blessed success in your responsible service for the benefit of the Holy Church.

For 14 years now you have been carrying out the difficult feat of managing the monastery entrusted to you. Your ministry fell on not the easiest years in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church and the monastery. The constantly changing situation in the world around us requires you to special attention and active participation in various aspects of the life of our state, on which the success of the Christian mission in modern society largely depends.

However, thanks to your rich life experience With your inherent modesty, wisdom and prudence, you successfully cope not only with the management of the monastery, where you won the love and respect of the inhabitants, but you can also see that the first persons of the state and many leaders of different branches of government began to seek your spiritual support and advice in solving many issues.

Your tireless service is an example for many Christians who have dedicated their lives to monastic deeds and lay people striving for Christ. Looking at your spiritual labors, people have before their eyes a genuine example of following Christ according to the commandments of the Holy Gospel, which once again speaks of your love and sacrificial service for the good of the Church of Christ.

Therefore, venerable mother abbess, on this joyful day, praying from the bottom of my heart for the many blessings of God and many years of prosperous and peaceful life, I once again want to congratulate you on your anniversary.

MANY AND GOOD SUMMER TO YOU!

Metropolitan of Kaluga and Borovsk

Telegram to Abbess Theophila

Dear Mother,
on the day of your glorious jubilee, accept my low bow, heartfelt congratulations and sincere wishes for many years of serving the Lord in good health and strength.
Unfailingly reverent for your service, loving you
Volodya, Elisa, Marina and Katya

Holy Mother Theophilus!

Let me sincerely congratulate you on your seventieth anniversary!
May the Lord give you joy about the fruits of your labors - about the monastery you created,
united by the spirit of the love of Christ! And also about the fact that the experienced sorrows
already gone, leaving the fruit of wisdom and experience.
God grant that your maternal love warms for many more years
Your spiritual family and all those around you!

We sincerely thank you for accepting us as family, for the warmth and
ease of communication!

With love in the Lord and reverence - unworthy. m. Evstoliya

With great gratitude and wishes of joy in the Lord and in everyone,
who loves you, near and far,

And among them Macarius and Eustolia

From Kaliningrad: Happy birthday!

Bless!

Please convey to mother the best wishes from me, unknown. Let them be a drop in the joy that is in your monastery today. Peace, warmth, joy, united lips to all of you!

I have prepared a small gift, I will try to send it by mail today.
A book about St. Theophilus of Kyiv, Christ for the sake of the holy fool, I bought in the Kitaevo desert, in the spring of this year. It is remarkable that today is the day of remembrance of St. Dositheus of the recluse of Kyiv (her holy relics are in Kitaevo).
On the last page there are lines like this:

Blessed is that wanderer of fleeting life,
Whose life, like a child's heart, is pure,
Who to the borders of the afterlife eternal
Do not murmur under the weight of the cross.

Who was an unchanging servant to his neighbor,
Whose warm prayers are like incense,
Like smoke from Abel's humble sacrifice,
Rushed with a fragrant jet to heaven ...

Insignificant son of the fickle earth,
Not defiling souls with their sin,
At the wedding feast, as a welcome guest,
He will ascend with the Eternal Bridegroom...

The second part of the gift - "named brick" - a request for prayer. It is very necessary for us to close by the winter everything that has already been erected. And they raised a lot. Beginning in spring, walls were erected up to the second tier of the bell tower, and the altar was covered with a metal sphere. There were no sponsors for our church, and there are none. We literally build brick by brick. The Lord does not leave us with His mercy. But how difficult it is for us.

Although our church was consecrated in honor of Sts. Cosmas and Damian of Asia, we honor both the Roman and Arabian miracle workers.

We ask for your prayers! Ask the holy miracle workers Cosmas and Damian for us sinners.

With a bow
Irina

Dear Mother Theophila!

Today, your close, kindred people will gather and begin to speak warm sincere words, confess your love, you will humbly endure all this and still rejoice ... But we really want you to feel our love, hear our words too - their warmth and their truth. There is snow in Yakutsk, and a part (albeit a small one) of its population is discussing how to congratulate OUR mother. Most of us have never seen you, but you are our mother! This kinship is dear to us, we read and re-read your books many times (and some of the lucky ones even personal letters), we pray for you, your family, grandchildren, sisters, we follow the life of your monastery, rejoice at your joys, grieve at your sorrows . We do not ask God that they should not exist at all, but we prayerfully wish that in any circumstances you find the way to Christ and lead us all along with you. We really need you and as a human being we want you to be healthy, full of strength, write more books for us and meet with everyone who is so far from you today, but so close - not here, but in the Kingdom of Heaven. Many happy summers to you! Do you hear? - sing!

Irina Dmitrieva

Dear Mother Theophila!
When I first came to Baryatino more than 14 years ago, I heard
marvelous words: "Here the sky is close." And all next years me invariably
drawn here, where the sky is especially close to the heart. Words can't describe this
a living thread of love that no sorrow could interrupt. It's over.
This is from those very Heavens that do not allow to become stale amidst temptations.
Dear mother! With all my heart I wish on your anniversary that it is easy for you to carry your
the cross of love that calls co-workers, co-thinkers, creators.
Spiritual vigilance to you, wisdom, patience and health for many, many
summer!
With gratitude for everything and love in the Lord - Alla Dobrosotskikh.

Rhymes with joy

Reflections on old age

What is youth? -

First voyage across misty seas

Selection of seeds ... Unknown skill.

What is old age? -

A bright garden filled with fruits,

Shipment delivered safely.

A. Solodovnikov.

Exhortation to the nun Seraphim

Is it good to die young

Disease or pattern?

Is old age a reward?

Traditions and trends

Retirement: right or mercy?

Saving for old age

Forgive me, I feel sorry for the old ladies...

Never give up!

Oh you fool...

Tempora mutantur…

On the benefits of reading memoirs

The Unconscious Doesn't Get Old

Goose trains

Smart is useful

Old age has its own virtue

Defeated nature rank

Long live freedom!

"My holiday is coming soon"...

Gate of eternity

P.S. Saint Gregory the Theologian. An exhortation song.

Literature

Instead of a preface

Exhortation to the nun Seraphim

How to win, overcome anxiety?

Where can I hide from my confusion?

God is merciful - and nothing more

Will not say. Everything, as it is, I entrust to God.

Maria Petrov.

My dear!

When we touch on this topic, I do my best to be an advocate for old age; as you obviously understood, I am trying to encourage not only you, but also myself, focus on the good and try not to be a coward: “he who fears is not perfect in love” for God: old age is included in the Creator’s project, which means that it cannot be just a painful appendage of the previous one life, but has its own purpose, its own meaning, and even more so should not turn into torture, evil, torment for a person.

Fear of old age is common to all people, firstly, because it is followed by death. More frightening than death is the prospect of loss of strength, helplessness, the threat of becoming a burden to others. Actually, everyone makes the same mistake, judging the future from the positions today: they think that physical possibilities will run out, and desires will remain the same as before. However, you must admit, at the age of 60, youthful exploits not only do not attract, but do not even enter the head; we have long abandoned our thoughts, say, of sailing behind the buoys in the sea, of meeting the dawn on our birthday, of working in the garden for sixteen hours in a row, of walking twenty kilometers through the forest, of driving at breakneck speed, driving ourselves, in a car. And remember childhood dreams: jump rope two hundred times, win a classics tournament, overtake Vovka on a bicycle ... thank God, our fantasies are adjusted according to age.

Further, let us be aware: the future is hidden from us, as well as tomorrow; our fears are chimerical, a play of the imagination. We try on other people's illnesses due to a bad habit: bypassing the present, being in the past or future: what if a heart attack happens to me, like with Vera P.? Or cancer, as with Galina A.? Then I remember my neighbor Lyuba, stricken with arthritis, which progressed over the years, completely immobilized her and brought her to the grave; then the dying state of the mother, who did not understand anything, did not recognize anyone; then you fall into terrible anxiety: we are of the same blood, genes, heredity, a nightmare! The tragedy continues to grow, and you forget to catch yourself in time: the enemy is at work here, he can easily hook our mind and hold it in its claws, tormenting us with fruitless anxieties, depriving us of peace, joy and trust in the Creator.

It would seem, well, old age, it is stupid to be afraid of it, because they are afraid of the mysterious, mysterious; we have been constantly, for many years, seeing various variants of it before us and, I hope, drawing useful conclusions. For example, K’s mother surprises, she is close to 90, but she doesn’t seem to be striving for the end, she’s not preparing at all: having long abandoned all activities for the monastery, she carefully monitors her health, takes medicine in handfuls, sleeps for a long time, goes out only to the temple, eats worn in the cell, but walks when the weather permits, breathes fresh air, from time to time asks to the hospital, where she is cheered up with droppers and injections. But Macarius’s mother, even in her mid-nineties, although she overcame ailments, her legs gave out, her heart was barely beating, she still tried to behave like a monk, to be useful, she read the unceasing psalter, even at night, she often cried about sins and asked for forgiveness for her weakness and futility.

Do you remember mother Elena: a very ordinary pretty old woman, named Elizabeth, she lived a hard life: at the end of the war, having sold everything, she went to a foreign city, where her husband was treated after being wounded, she came out, put him on his feet, and he went to another; she invested her whole soul in children, and they grew up godless and voluptuous, the only grandson was found for the most part in prison; in a word, she found consolation only in the temple, in prayer, remember how she stood in the service, leaning slightly forward, not moving, all attention. She took care of us most of all, urban sacks, little capable of physical labor, looking for help, in the fall she called the villagers to dig our potatoes; two weeks before her death, she moved to a monastery, she was tonsured, shone with delight and gratitude, died quietly, meekly, the Lord delivered her from torment, although the disease, cancer of the peritoneum, was conducive to pain and we called a doctor, prepared to get painkillers.

Do you remember mother Nina; long ago, in Soviet times, she received tonsure from the parish priest-monk, lived near the temple, but did not go to the monastery, ran her own household; a woman of good health, gloomy, of a phlegmatic temperament, with a stern character, she seemed to love only the same wayward huge cow Zhdanka. Once I went out into the yard for firewood and fell down by the woodpile: a stroke, paralysis, lay for two weeks, now in our full care; she repented in silence, nodded and shed tears, bequeathed the small amount of money saved up for the repair of the dome, and quietly, meekly departed. Do you remember how they buried you? The coffin, which she had in store for a long time, dried up well, it was easily carried by the sisters themselves, the farewell turned out better than ever. Then we bought five coffins just in case and put them in the attic.

And mother Margarita, whom we took away from her sister a month earlier and brought to the monastery; she was ill, so she did not have the strength to get together, only she took off her beloved icon from the wall, “Joy of All Who Sorrow”; in the monastery they dressed her in a uniform, and, being a woman, she recovered from this holy beauty, she stood all the services. Once, after supper, she went in her turn to the priest for a blessing, and suddenly began to sag and fall; they managed to pick it up, put it on a chair, and so carried it to the cell; She rejected the doctor, was ill for the same two weeks and died - on the day of memory of the icon "Joy of All Who Sorrow".

And Tatiana L., a parish history guide, a treasure trove of humor, optimism, and Christian joy; rural, never went anywhere further than the regional center, she worked all her life on a collective farm: a milkmaid, a calf. A believer since childhood, she always lived with Christ and was not at all afraid of death, on the contrary, she asked for blessings to die, she was tired, only one year remained until 90. During Great Lent on Sunday, she kissed all the icons, took communion, and at dawn on Tuesday quietly left the house, no one heard, sat down on the porch and gave her soul to God.

Our last loss is mother Athanasius, who did not live to be 60; she fell ill while still in the world, suffered long and hard, meekly endured, repented and thanked those who helped her, considered it a great mercy that the Lord allowed her to live in the monastery for eight whole years, during which she comprehended a lot and learned everything; how worthily and beautifully she carried her monastic obediences! Only the hope of meeting there, in future life, but how to replace it here, the one and only?

You are used to being useful, it hurts you to think that someday you will have to burden someone with your infirmity, to expect, and even may ask for someone else's help, in short, to lose independence; It's humiliating. Do you notice that these words - "independence", "humiliating" - are not ours, not the Orthodox lexicon? Friends not only dragged the relaxed one, they dismantled the roof to bring it to Christ! They got their share from God, don't you think? Is there such a strong line between those who are helped and those who help?

Sebastian's mother told how back in Soviet times, according to the will of her late mother, she had to inspect the schema, who began her monastic path in a pre-revolutionary monastery; cautious and suspicious, the old woman at first rejected all help with an imperious hand, but after the second stroke she completely lost her strength, she was forced to allow herself to be turned over, washed and fed, each time she kissed the hands of her mistress and she cried all the time, at first, Sebastian’s mother said, like “from pride”, and after that, it seems, out of gratitude.

Dependence on someone's mercy is the most powerful remedy for humility, right? “When you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and lead you where you do not want to.” These words of the Savior, addressed to the Apostle Peter, prophesy his violent death, but it is permissible to interpret them applying to old age, almost always complicated by the loss of independence and freedom; the body, which was previously only used and neglected, now claims its rights at the top of its voice - pain, stiffness, shortness of breath, exhaustion ...

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