Alexey Molebnov
On the eve of Christmas, we decided that many of our readers would be interested in last year’s conversation with Hieromonk Tikhon, executive secretary of the Krasnoslobodsk diocese. He told us about the significance of this holiday for every Orthodox Christian.
They say that monks are special people who dedicated their lives to serving God. Every day people rush to them to get spiritual advice in difficult situations, and they help. Hieromonk Tikhon is a man who has risen from a novice to the abbot of a monastery, the executive secretary of the Krasnoslobodsk diocese.
- Father Tikhon, where did your path to God begin?
Firstly, I’ll start with the fact that I was born on August 16, 1980 in the city of Penza. I grew up as an ordinary child: I played, had fun, and studied at multidisciplinary gymnasium No. 13. The family was believers: on Sundays and holidays we went to church and received communion. Then my path to God began; It’s good that times outside were favorable: the authorities did not prevent people from confessing Christ.
- Father, why did you decide to become a priest, and at what point did this happen?
The decision to devote his life to the priesthood came in 1995. It was an anniversary year - the year of the 50th anniversary of the Victory over fascism, and this year the media very widely covered the life of the church during the war. For some reason, this had a great effect on me, I wanted to imitate these people - the priests who performed their ministry in those years or took holy orders after going through the fire of war. I remember very well the moment when this decision matured in my soul. I was a religious person before, but then the decision was finally ripe. I was 15 years old.
- What influenced your choice to become a monk?
This choice was influenced by the story of N.S. Leskov’s “The Enchanted Wanderer,” which shows a man’s path to the monastery. For some reason, having tried on the role of the main character, I decided that monasticism suited me very well. Then a lot of ascetic literature began to appear, which I really liked. Later, having gone through the monastic path from a novice to the abbot of a monastery, I saw that much was not at all as it was written in the books, and today for those who, like me then, were eager for this path, I advise you to very deeply check your feelings, comparing them with life according to the Gospel. I propose to live a monastic life without taking monastic vows. I decided for myself that it would be like this at the age of 13, and I became a monk at the age of 22. 9 years have passed in testing my decision.
- How was your life after tonsure?
After tonsure, I was ordained to the priesthood, first as a hierodeacon, then as a hieromonk, and from 2002 to 2008. headed the brethren of the Preobrazhensky metochion of the Tikhvin Monastery. Now it is an independent monastery of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery in Penza. These were my formative years as a pastor. I see a lot of mistakes, but also a lot of good moments from those years. The Lord helped me! At first it was difficult to manage the brethren, but through the prayers of the saints I was admonished and the matter progressed.
Was it difficult to lead the Nizhnelomovsky Kazan Bogoroditsky Monastery in 2010? What was done during the ministry?
Of course, it is difficult to be a viceroy - always responsible. It is necessary to resolve administrative issues and provide care for the monks. Much was done by my predecessors and I did not have to revive it. I came with everything ready, and I cannot say that I left any significant mark on the history of the Nizhnelomovsky Monastery. We have a holy spring, which we managed to ennoble and build baths for pilgrims. For me this is a good, good period of service and prayer. Some kind of spiritual relaxation.
- What are the usual everyday life of a monastery?
I can judge everyday life from the experience of those monasteries in which I lived, and I can say that they are everywhere filled with something of their own. No two places on earth are the same, and people live there differently. In our monastery, the morning began with the Divine Liturgy. They prayed and got to work. Everyone had their own obediences (assignments). In the evening there was an all-night vigil, then we went to bed. In any case, the main activity in the monastery is prayer, to which both weekdays and holidays are dedicated.
You headed the missionary department of the Penza diocese. What were his tasks? What did you encounter in practice? What problems were there?
- It was one of the most difficult things in my life. I had to encounter the “St. Michael’s Monastery”, see how, to the sound of its bells, our flock passed by the Orthodox church, giving their souls into the hands of false shepherds. It was very painful, but, unfortunately, this wound is very deep and I managed to heal it at least a little. I know that this schism exists to this day, continuing to lead many souls into temptation. Then I collected a lot of material and passed it on to my successor, Father Alexei Roy, when I moved to Krasnoslobodsk. I hope that the time will come, and my native Penza land will be freed from this leprosy.
- Why did you have to leave Penza and continue serving in Krasnoslobodsk?
A lot of circumstances just came together here, I can only say one thing: the decision was not easy, I knew that I was taking on a lot of work and responsibility, but I decided, relying on the will of God.
- What is the daily work of a secretary?
The secretary is the person in whose hands all the affairs of the diocese are concentrated. He decides which of them should go to the bishop’s decision, which he can decide himself, which ones he can pass on to other authorities. Communication with clergy and laity. I have a deanery, a parish, a church under construction, prisons, which I also have to visit and communicate with prisoners and pray with them, and perform the Sacraments. There are a lot of things to do. In small dioceses like ours, the secretary is not a clerical worker at all.
- Father, tell us about the upcoming holiday of the Nativity of Christ.
The holiday of the Nativity of Christ is one of the simplest in its content - it is the Birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth. And the meaning is very deep, since God incarnate came to earth to give people salvation.
- Why is catalytic Christmas celebrated before the New Year, and ours - after?
Not only Catholics celebrate Christmas before the New Year, but also many Orthodox Churches that keep the new calendar. They are the majority, and they have already celebrated Christmas. Some churches have a different calendar, including ours - so there is a difference.
- How should an Orthodox Christian celebrate the holiday?
All Christians receive communion at Christmas, this is an ancient rule. And then - a holiday in the family, breaking the fast, gifts. Everyone has their own traditions.
- What is the reason for your success?
The main secret is to live according to the words of the Savior and the holy apostles. The Lord has never left me! I consider this the main reward. It’s easy for me when it starts with prayer.
- What would you wish to the people of Penza?
First of all, health, peace, goodness. May every day be filled with joy and happiness. God bless you!
- Thank you for the interview.
All the best.
Photo from the personal archive of Fr. Tikhon
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Archimandrite Tikhon (Agrikov)
The Trinity is inspired
Memories
From the publishers
...In the ancient patericon there is an image of monastics in the form of three birds: monks of the early centuries of Christianity, middle and last times. The first two birds had enough vulture to, avoiding temptations, reach the Kingdom of Heaven; the third bird, representing the image of a monk of recent times, either soared to the sky, then fell exhausted to the ground, then rushed upward again.
In the modern world, where temptations are becoming more diverse and sophisticated, the experience of the latest ascetics who lived next to us, who went through the “temptations of the world” and reached the Kingdom of Heaven, is very important for us.
The book “Inspired at the Trinity” includes two of three parts of memoirs about the Trinity-Sergius Lavra during the period of its post-war restoration, from 1950 to 1960.
The author of the memoirs is Archimandrite Tikhon (Agrikov), a former teacher at the Moscow Theological Academy and a resident of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. A true Orthodox ascetic, a man of high spiritual life, he enjoyed the love and respect of the Academy students and spiritual children. Father Tikhon suffered difficult trials in his life and has now been in seclusion for many years.
The book is of great importance for today's Christians, since it contains the spiritual experience of our contemporary ascetics of piety.
Part I. 1950–1955 From the author
These memoirs were written by me as a result of observing the lives of good people. Written in order to show that in our time there were and are people who with all their souls strive for God, for Eternal life, for the blessed Jerusalem above. After all, now many say that it is as if we cannot be saved: times have become different, vanity obscures our eyes like morning fog, there is no grace anywhere - neither in monasteries, nor in churches, nor in people. And so many say - and they only harm themselves, they create despondency, and the fog of sadness thickens even more over our souls. But speaking like that is not only harmful, but also sinful. It is true that our times are difficult and foggy, and even stormy and formidable, but in a storm the Lord is closer to the sinful and weak soul - and closer, and more merciful, and more tender. Just as a mother is more tender and attentive to a sick and thin child, so our Lord and Savior is closer to us in difficult and dangerous times.
So I want to show with all clarity in my memoirs that even now good people are saved and achieve high spiritual maturity and even holiness. They describe the life of people who monasticated in the House of the Holy Trinity - in the Lavra of St. Sergius of Radonezh - for fifteen years: from 1950 to 1965, that is, during the period of my personal observation of the grace-filled life under the sacred roof of St. Sergius the Venerable. I hasten to make it clear that this is not an essay, or even a fictional narrative. No, this is simply a memory of kind, good people with whom I lived, prayed, worked, rejoiced, grieved, cried, and was consoled. Moreover, they live in my heart to this day. They, these good fathers and my brothers in spirit, have already died, they are no longer in the earthly House of the Holy Trinity. They moved to the Heavenly Trinity, eternally shining, eternally illuminated by rainbows of heavenly radiances. They are now where we raise our sad, tear-stained gazes. But their good deeds still live and are remembered within the sacred walls of the Sergius Lavra. In order for other believers to know about these deeds, I am writing these memoirs. “Winged at the Trinity” - that’s what they are called. This name has a symbolic meaning, the explanation of which the reader will find further - in the introduction.
And now I will only say that this book is divided into three parts. The first part (1950–1955) describes the lives of eight marvelous husbands; in the second part (1955–1960) the fates of thirteen elder workers are revealed, and in the third part - eleven people. In total, the book gives a biography of thirty-two people.
To all this I will add: let the reader not be embarrassed or offended by me because of the paucity of information about these persons. Moreover, I have no intention of describing the full biography of this or that elder. I can't do this. And you won’t find such information “with fire” now.
In my memoirs, I will touch only on the last years of the lives of these people, that is, the time they spent in the earthly House of the Holy Trinity with St. Sergius. I will tell my kind readers about these last years of their lives, without touching on childhood and youth.
I would like to say that I do not pursue any other goal when writing these memories, except for one, the most cherished, the most holy, the highest - to somehow help my dear and dear readers to be illuminated with a bright desire to heavenly life, to take inspiration, to warm up with the gracious warmth from the holy people who, like all of us, just recently lived with us, walked, suffered, endured, rejoiced, were sad, but now they are no longer among us, they have left, soared into another world. I would like the reader to thoroughly understand the vanity of this earthly life and with great desire and energy take up the salvation of his soul. If these poor lines of mine touch someone's soul closely, if they evoke in anyone's heart a burning desire for salvation, if they evoke in anyone's gaze tears of tenderness and quiet sighs of grace - the goal of my day and night's labors will be achieved, and for the best I don't need any reward.
Introduction
It was a quiet moonlit night. The dense forest seemed to fall asleep, doze off. Only the tall pines quietly shook their caps, showing that the forest was awake, that it was not sleeping on this wonderful, mysterious night. At the edge of the dark forest there nestled a small cell; it seems very tiny compared to the mighty pines and spruces. The cell modestly pressed itself against the forest, as if afraid that no one would see or discover her. There was a light shining in a small lonely window. You know, someone was awake here too, not sleeping at such a late, inopportune hour. The light then froze, as if going out, then again its weak light was reflected on the twigs and branches of the old forest. A splinter... Yes, it was not even a wax candle, but a simple wooden splinter, quietly crackling, casting its smoky rays on the ancient leaves of the Holy Psalter and on the hermit bending over it. Who is this ascetic who spends his life so lonely and tense? He is no longer young. Strands of snow-gray, white hair fell on his senile, thin shoulders. He read on his knees, completely engrossed in prayer. Dead silence reigned in the wretched cell. From time to time he raised his gray head and fixed his gaze on the ancient icon of the Mother of God. The elder prayed like this for a long time, and it seemed that he would never finish his solitary prayer. Apparently his request was great; He probably asked the Queen of Heaven for something big and significant. She looked with a quiet Motherly gaze at the praying elder, and it seemed that Her virgin lips were about to open, She would hasten to console Her saint. The elder felt in his soul that She heard him, and that is why new abundant warm tears ran down his thin, senile cheeks.
Suddenly there was a quiet cry outside the window: “Sergius, Sergius!” The old man became wary. “Lord, Jesus Christ...” his colorless lips quietly whisper. – You know, again the adversaries are disturbing the silence of this holy night. How they like this, the lawless ones,” thinks the ascetic. "Sergius, Sergius!" – as if even closer, right under the window, a soft and quiet voice is calling. A beam of bright light, like lightning, illuminates the surroundings. And in the wretched cell it becomes quite light. The elder feels that this ray penetrated even into his heart, and it began to play, lit up with inexplicable joy and bliss. He gets up, quietly approaches the small window and... opens it... “Sergius, your prayer for your students has been heard,” the voice rushes again. “Both with you and after you there will be as many of them as these pigeons...” The old man cannot believe his eyes: pigeons are flying in the rays of heavenly light - so many of them, so many, as if the whole huge forest is filled with them! And what wonderful pigeons these are! “No, these are not ordinary doves,” the elder thinks, “they are heavenly angels, that’s why they are so beautiful and indescribable.” And white, like pure bright snow, and gray, like the sky, and soft orange, like the color of a fragrant rose. Pigeons of different colors. They flutter, fly, play, and everyone seems to be striving to get closer to the Reverend’s cell. Sergius could not get enough of this wondrous heavenly vision. He went quietly to another cell, which was hidden deeper in the forest, and called Archimandrite Simon. When they returned, the vision began to fade, and soon the forest, cells and people were plunged into the cool darkness of the night...
About six centuries have passed since then. How many holy people, these earthly angels, these wondrous meek “doves”, were raised and inspired by the House of the Holy Trinity - the monastery of St. Sergius! Saints Nikon, Dionysius, the humble Micah, Simon, Isaac - and is it possible to count them, write them down, or describe them, or talk about them?.. Like stars in the quiet night sky, the wondrous names of the Sergius disciples shine.
It was not for nothing that he prayed so fervently on that sacred night; it was not in vain that he shed hot tears for his students.
Over the course of 600 years, the holy monastery of Sergiev suffered many formidable storms. Waves of violent bloodshed, civil strife, hostility, famine, and pestilence violently rushed against the centuries-old pillars of the monastery. More than once it was scorched by fire, more than once it was devastated. At times, not one stone remained of the ancient shrine. But again and again she rose from the ashes, like the mysterious Phoenix bird, to live, shine, warm, and inspire more and more students of St. Sergius the Venerable. Like a mighty lighthouse in the midst of the sea of life, this stronghold stands to this day, crushing and repelling the forces of evil.
In our difficult era, the holy monastery of the Life-Giving Trinity also suffered many trials. It was simply closed. Sealed. Stored as monument of ancient culture. And so it was for many years. Nevertheless, even during these years, the blessed light did not cease to radiate from the mighty lamp hidden under a bushel. Eyewitnesses say that the path to the holy relics of St. Sergius the Monk was never overgrown during these sad years - neither in summer nor in winter. Lonely pilgrims filtered through the closed doors of the monastery and quietly and tremblingly walked to the eastern side of the Trinity Cathedral, where the holy relics rested Great Sorrowful Man Russian land. They say that when approaching the wall, people cried quietly. They reverently applied themselves to the white stone, as if to the very shrine of St. Sergius, and, asking for his blessing, just as quietly left.
I had to see one elderly nun, who at that time lived not far from the closed holy monastery. In a snowstorm, on a rainy night, and in the most impassable bad weather, she always quietly went to St. Sergius for a blessing. And then one day I got sick and spent several days at home without leaving. At night, when she was lying in her cell, she suddenly heard: someone quietly opens the door (and the door was closed with a hook because the hour was late)... A quiet, meek old man enters. Having taken three steps from the door, he stopped. Turning to the frightened nun, he affectionately asked: “Why, mother, have you stopped visiting me? After all, when you come to the wall, I bless you through the window.” He said and quietly disappeared, just as he had come. Rising from her knees, she cried for a long time with joy, and a few years later she told me about it. Thus, the grace of the Holy Trinity through St. Sergius never ceased to pour out on the souls of the near and distant disciples of the Sergius.
I would also like to tell you about a miraculous event that happened during the opening of the Lavra of St. Sergius in 1945. Everyone knew that the Lavra was being opened. The rector of the holy monastery, Archimandrite Gury (later Metropolitan) received permission from Moscow to serve on the holiday, it seems, of the Holy Trinity. But there was no bell in the bell tower to ring for the service. Then the order was given to raise the large bell to the bell tower. They quickly set up the scaffolding, rolled up a winch, tightened the cables and began to lift the bell. But then suddenly Father Superior was called to Moscow, and he urgently left. The workers spent the whole day lifting the bell, but could not lift it into place. They lowered the bell to the ground ten times or more, then pulled it up again. The bell reached halfway and did not want to go further. No force could pull him higher. The cables were steel, there were no knots anywhere, but the bell did not want to rise higher. Ten times or more he reached a certain place and stopped, as if chained. The workers were exhausted and could not understand the cause of this misfortune. Evening came, and the abbot was returning from Moscow. From a distance he saw how the bell slowly walked, walked - and stopped. He was told that the workers had been struggling with the bell all day and could not lift it into place. Archimandrite Gury silently got out of the car and quickly went to his cell. Entering, he said a prayer and threw the stole over himself and put on the brace. Then he took the missal and read the prayer in it “ To raise the bell" Before he could finish this prayer, joyful cries were heard from the courtyard. The governor looked at the bell: it was slowly and solemnly already reaching the window of the bell tower, where several hands took it and pulled it inside. So the bell was raised and the Lavra was opened.
I will tell you about that immutable truth, quite comforting not only for the monks of this holy monastery, but also for all believers who are prayerfully connected with the Lavra of St. Sergius, visit it, confess to the Lavra confessors: St. Sergius considers them his children and disciples. And they are very dear and dear to him, and for them he constantly lifts up his prayers to God. It is appropriate here to recall an incident that occurred in the Lavra recently.
One deeply religious girl, who had ardent faith and love for St. Sergius, came to the holy monastery in great sorrow. She wanted to pour out her grief here to the hieromonk-confessor she knew, but he, as if on purpose, was ill by this time and did not come to confess. The girl, killed by double grief, went to the Trinity Cathedral, hid behind a column of the temple and began to cry bitterly. In a fit of acute spiritual grief, she even began to grumble at the Reverend that he had taken away her last support in life and she had no opportunity to tell anyone her sorrows.
So she cried and cried behind the column, from time to time casting her sad glance at the sacred shrine of the saint of God.
Suddenly she clearly noticed that the sacred shrine suddenly became covered with a white haze, as if a cloud or white cover had risen above the coffin of the Reverend. Following this, St. Sergius himself rose from the shrine and quietly, as if gliding through the air, walked towards the grieving maiden. The girl got scared and fell face down on the floor. She trembled with fear all over her body and could not even pray.
But then she felt as if a light hand had fallen on her head, and after this a soft voice was heard: “Don’t grieve so much, my child; when there is no one to tell, then I myself accept your sorrows.”
No matter how scared the girl was at that moment, she could not restrain herself from the words of the Reverend himself and began to cry bitterly, trembling with her whole body. Those around her calmed her down, not knowing the reason for her extreme upset, but she did not want to see or hear anyone, only the words of the Reverend sounded in her ears: “Do not grieve, my child... I myself accept your sorrows.”
Having calmed down, she stood up. Indescribable peace and unearthly joy filled her soul. Without looking at anyone, she quietly left the Trinity Cathedral...
Yes, St. Sergius honors everyone as his disciples: not only his monastic brethren, but also everyone, everyone who comes to him from all over Mother Rus'. And with what impatience he waits for pilgrims to come to him, fatherly helps them overcome all obstacles and come to the Holy Lavra to pray, confess and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ! One poor old woman had been planning for a long, long time to visit the holy monastery of St. Sergius the Venerable, but she still could not get ready. Either her senile infirmity did not allow her, or the weather: in winter - snow, blizzard, in summer - rain, slush; but still she gathered for Trinity. “How will you go, grandma? - the neighbors told her. “And you don’t even have a travel companion.” “I don’t have anyone, my dears,” the old woman said, crossing herself. “I know that St. Sergius himself will help me get there.”
She took her shabby little purse and her gnarled staff, crossed the door of her rickety hut three times with a wide cross, and quietly went out onto the road. Before she had even taken five steps, a cart rattled from behind. The boy was apparently driving to a regional village, carrying jugs of milk. “Grandma, are you ready for the train? Sit down, I’ll take you,” he said sympathetically. “Yes, killer whale, before the train,” answered the old woman and, crossing herself, climbed onto the cart. All the way she sat and quietly whispered a prayer, but she was still amazed at how quickly St. Sergius sent her a kind travel companion. They drove like this for almost fifteen miles and, when it was time to go, she asked the boy: “What is your name, dear?” “Seryozha,” he answered, smiling. “Seryozha, Seryozha,” the old woman repeated quietly, thinking of something, and, bowing, wandered towards the train.
She had not taken more than ten steps here when a young military man caught up with her. “Grandma, grandma, are you on the train? I'll help you sit up." Before she even had time to come to her senses, the military man almost carried her through the doors of the carriage and sat her down on an empty shelf. And there were so many people! Where should she, old and feeble, board the train? She drove and kept peering into the young and kind face of the military man. They had to travel together all day. When the soldier began to get ready to go out in the evening, she quietly tugged at his sleeve and said: “Thank you for everything, dear; What’s your name?” “My name is Sergei Sergeevich,” he answered. - Goodbye".
For a long time the old woman could not come to her senses from these words. “My God,” she whispered quietly, “Seryozha is there, Sergei Sergeevich is here. I know, St. Sergius himself is taking me to his place.” But she was constantly worried by the thought: how will she now find the holy monastery, because the autumn night is coming, it’s raining outside the window, and the monastery, they say, is far from the station... She sits and quietly prays: “Reverend Sergius, don’t leave me, help me get to your holy monastery.” The people began to fuss: the train was approaching Zagorsk. It's dark, rainy and muddy outside. A respectable man approaches, either a doctor or a priest: “Grandma, you’re apparently going to the Reverend, but all alone, let’s go, I’ll take you.” - “But how are you, son?” - the old woman tried to speak. “There’s a car waiting for me here,” her benefactor reassured her. “I’ll take you by car straight to the monastery.” She was seated on a soft seat, and she, without even coming to her senses, instantly found herself in the holy monastery. When she got out of the car, her kind well-wisher helped her, and then said: “Mother, pray for me from the Reverend.” “What about yours...” the old lady stuttered. “My name is Father Sergius, I am a priest...”
It was the eve of a big holiday. The refectory church was open to pilgrims. The old woman stood in a corner of the temple and... tears, tears, copious tears flowed in a stream from her old eyes. “Father, Saint Sergius,” her lips whispered inaudibly, “you yourself, you know, rode with me all the way...”
After this story, how can we not all rejoice that the Reverend is waiting for us to come to him and helps us come to his holy monastery. Therefore, when we give our memories the title “Inspired at the Trinity,” we mean not only those good monks who through the feats of fasting and prayer “were inspired” and grew spiritually under the roof of St. Sergius, but also all believers - his children scattered throughout to the entire face of the Russian land, and not only Russian, but also other Slavic and Eastern Orthodox peoples: Bulgarians, Romanians, Serbs, Arabs... The sons of these peoples study here, in our Moscow Theological Academy, and have the most reverent holy feelings for St. Sergius.
When I write these memoirs, my heart is literally bursting with cramped desire: how I want every Christian soul, dear, sweet soul, purchased by the priceless Blood of Christ, and especially the one who has been entrusted to me by the Lord Himself, - took wings, strengthened, perked up, feeding on the prayers of St. Sergius! So that not a single person, who has visited the Sergius Monastery at least once in his life, perishes in enemy networks, but so that as many people as possible are saved and achieve Eternal Life.
I have to write these lines on the days of Holy Pascha and the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ to Heaven. The heart aches: a feeling of sorrow covers it. The sadness of Christ’s disciples from their separation from their Beloved Teacher is somehow transmitted to the heart. The Lord ascended to Heaven to His Father, and the disciples were left alone in the midst of an evil, sinful world. Inspired by the hope that the promised Holy Spirit would be sent down to them, they still suffered in their souls because their beloved Lord was not with them. They no longer see Him with their own eyes, although invisibly He promised to be with them until the end of the age. This feeling separation worries my poor heart too. The thought is transferred to those with whom the Lord united me with spiritual ties. They are not here with me. They are scattered around different edges. What's wrong with them now? What sorrows and dangers beset their dear souls? And just as the Lord promised to always be invisibly with His disciples, so I am comforted by the consciousness of an invisible constant prayerful spiritual connection with the souls dear to me. It must be said that the power of suffering in separation is closely related to the power of love. If the heart knows how to love a lot, then it suffers a lot, and if the heart loves little, then the suffering of love is completely incomprehensible to it. St. John Chrysostom could not live alone during the day, without his flock, and when he became physically ill and could not be in the Temple, he suffered at home, yearning and suffering, like a mother whose child was taken away.
But my thought goes further. I remember with horror about another separation, about a separation that is not temporary, but eternal, when there, in the afterlife, sins will separate us from each other forever. I cannot calmly write these lines. Burning tears blur my eyes. My God, is it possible to endure such a state!.. Is it possible for the human soul? But eternal separation from each other certainly leads to another terrible state. Trembling and horror seizes the soul. The blood in the veins freezes, the thought refuses to realize - this is eternal separation from the Lord... The Holy Fathers did not know and did not know a more terrible thought, like the idea of eternal separation from the Lord. They were ready to bear all the torment, suffering, sorrow, they even agreed to be imprisoned in the depths of hell, the underworld, but only there they would not be separated from the Lord. I write a little about this so that we fear sin like poison. For sin leads us first to temporary, and then to eternal separation from each other and from the Lord.
“...Remember your flock, which you yourself shepherded, and do not forget to visit your children. Pray for us, holy father, for your spiritual children...” this cry of grieving souls can be heard incessantly before the sacred shrine of St. Sergius the Venerable. And we believe that he hears these prayers, and they are not in vain.
I want to express in the introduction another important thought that prompted me to write these memoirs: the thought of the inevitability and unknown of death. After all, all these people, who labored in the last days of their lives under the roof of St. Sergius, died at different ages. Some of them are elderly, others are middle-aged. Some are young, and there are also very young novices. This position calls on us all not to delay in any way in our exploits of salvation. Don’t put it off for the future, they say, I still have time, I will repent, I will prepare. This is a great mistake that the devil instills in us, trying to destroy our souls. Even now I am in awe from the memory of how one of our young novice, as if nothing had happened, went to rest in his cell in broad daylight, and an hour later he was found, already cold, lying motionless on his poor cell bed. So when we talk about inspired souls that soared from the earthly Trinity to the Heavenly Trinity, we mean people of different years of life - both young and old, young and old - in order to remind ourselves of the constant readiness for death, for the afterlife. And among us there are young, there are elderly, there are healthy, there are sick, and for everyone it’s a mystery transition completely unknown: when will the Lord call, on what day and hour? That's why blessed are those who are always awake(Matt. 25:1-13) and cheerful, fighting and unrelenting. The enemy - the devil - does not sleep. He, like a lion, roars and walks, looking for someone to devour.
I remembered one incident from my life, which speaks perfectly about the enemy’s irreconcilable anger towards us and about our constant readiness for death.
One day on a quiet sunny day I was walking through the courtyard of our Lavra. There was complete silence. All the brethren after the service rested in their cells. The sky was blue-blue and very clear, a light breeze blew white clouds like pure fluff. Suddenly, overhead, something rustled, whistled, and groaned pitifully, like a strong gust of a whirlwind on a winter night. I didn’t have time to raise my head when something snow-white flashed before my eyes and... hit the stone path. My God! Lying on the stones, with its wings outstretched, was an unusually white dove, as if a radiant angel had flown from the sky. A mortal wound gaped on the white feathers of the chest. He was dead...
I stopped dead in my tracks and involuntarily raised my questioning gaze to the heavens... A predator was circling right above my head, at a considerable height. He slowly made a circle and the black dot went further and further... I felt tears rolling down my cheeks one after another and falling on the innocent, pure victim. I felt sorry for the poor defenseless pigeon. But how infinitely sorry are those dear and infinitely dear souls who, due to their carelessness, are just as defenseless, just as unexpectedly mortally killed by the insidious and eternally embittered soul killer and enemy of our salvation - the devil!.. Then I especially felt obliged to work tirelessly and to pray for everyone who is so dear to me and for whom I must give not only my strength and health, but also my very life. And how clearly this incident tells us about the unexpected death of our earthly life!
Before finishing my introduction, so that it most fully reveals to my dear reader the main theme of the entire work, I will offer one more story-memoir, which, I think, will closely lead us to the main description.
The point is that the theme of this book is those who are inspired and ascended to heaven, and I will write about them further. But I would like to give a small example of how souls come here, to St. Sergius, tortured and almost killed, or still infants and fledglings, and receive mental and physical strength, are inspired by the prayers of St. Sergius, and then fly away again to unknown lands, into difficult times. and dangerous earthly life.
One very sick girl came to the holy monastery. Although the weather was calm and clear, it walked and almost fell, like a blade of grass bends and falls from the breath of the wind. The girl was seventeen or eighteen years old, small in stature. The pallor of her face showed a rather poor state of health, and her dull gaze spoke of hopelessness, of a lost young life. She is just a chick, thrown out of a warm nest. A fledgling tiny bird among the stormy waves of life.
But they began to see her often in the Trinity Cathedral. She usually stood in the shadow of a column and listened carefully to the singing of the prayer service. How many new things she saw and heard here! It was as if a completely different world had opened up to her on the land of the holy monastery of Sergius. She sees, she feels a living force, some new life, accessible to her, abandoned, sick, deceived. For several days she prayed or did not pray, but simply looked closely at this new life.
And then one day, when the great funeral hieromonk was reading the akathist to St. Sergius with particular clarity and feeling, she suddenly felt that she was crying. What a shame, what an absurdity - to cry when there are strangers around! Yes, she had never cried for anything in her life. How many insults, bitterness, lies, humiliations she had to endure - she never cried. No. But now she’s crying. Why, why? And these tears are so sweet, joyful... Why are they like that? And when the hieromonk began to read the Holy Gospel and reached the place where the Lord says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28), the poor girl began to sob out loud. You could hear the words falling from her trembling lips: “Lord, Lord, where have you been, how come I didn’t know you before? How little I have lived, but how much evil I have done, and You are calling me to Yourself...”
After this she was seen as a communicant. She was unusually quiet, meek and bright, like a clear day. New life now blazed in the previously extinct eyes. Even the pale cheeks were covered with a pink blush. When they carefully asked her: “How do you like it, Lida?”, she paused, quietly brushed away the uninvited guest-tear and quietly, somehow shyly, answered: “I didn’t know that life with the Lord was so good... Several times I I tried to commit suicide, but then...” she faltered. Excitement filled her heart. Tears of joy of renewed life streamed down her cheeks. People were also crying, old women were wiping themselves with the tips of their headscarves. The girls, in order not to cry, shyly turned away.
Having calmed down, Lida firmly said: “At the Reverend I was reborn again, I was inspired... Now I am again flying into the world to atone for the sins of my previous life.” And, inspired, strengthened by the power of God, inspired, she left the holy monastery of St. Sergius the Venerable with tears and... flew away... Where is she now, this poor lonely bird? To what lands did the stormy wind of life take her?..
That's all. My introduction is over. Now comes the main work about souls inspired by the Trinity and ascended to the heavenly world.
Portal "Shepherd" was ordained a priest. On behalf of the site's Editorial Board, we congratulate our dear priest on this significant event!
Many clergy and laity from different parts of the Russian Church go to Father Valerian for pastoral advice. When people from somewhere in central Russia came to visit Father Nikolai Guryanov, a close friend of Father Valerian, he told them: “Why are you coming to me? You have a father, Valerian!”
Father Valerian spoke about his becoming a priest and his spiritual mentors in an interview with the Shepherd website.
— Father Valerian, you have been serving as a pastor for 50 years. We would like to talk with you about those people who, over these half a century, influenced you as a priest, about your spiritual mentors. But first, let me ask - how did you come to the priesthood?
“You know, one servant of God once asked me: “How did you come to Church?”, and I answered her: “I didn’t come, they brought me.”
I can also answer about the priesthood. I grew up in the Church. When I was a child, it was natural for me, just starting to speak, to calmly recite the prayers by heart before Communion. This often happens: children see how adults act and try to imitate them. Therefore, for me, the priesthood is natural and the highest thing I could imagine: it’s being with God!
To be a priest is the only thing I could wish for
There was a war. After the occupation, the older children went to school, but it was still too early for me [father Valerian was born 4 years before the war - April 14, 1937 - editor's note]. Where should I go? Mom was a psalm reader and took me to church. There I slept, and ate whatever they gave me, prosphora there... I took communion every service, and of course on an empty stomach - in the morning I still had to run to church and there was no time to eat. Moreover, in those years there was nothing to eat at all... But when I was in the temple, people sometimes asked to remember one of their soldiers or those who were in the hospital. They will give you a piece of bread - and what a delicacy it was! Therefore, I felt only peace and protection in the church.
Later, as a boy, when I walked alone, the boys sometimes pounced on me, shouting: “Pop! Monk!". I tried to run away from them and felt that there, in the gateway, demons were guarding me. I directly felt it, that in the temple there were God and angels, and here there were demons. The picture was absolutely clear.
So from infancy, one might say, I grew up in the temple, and for me, being a priest is the highest thing I could ever desire. While still a child, in our city of Zaraisk, before leaving the Annunciation Church, I fell before the icon of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos and asked the Mother of God: “Make me worthy to serve Your Son and our God,” and asked for nothing more. You could say this was the goal of my life.
When I grew up, my father [Archpriest Mikhail Krechetov], who went through the Solovetsky camp from 1927 to 1931 and only entered the seminary at the age of 49, after the war, told me: “If you are going to become a priest, get ready for prison.”
And my brother and I thought: if it’s a prison, then it means he’s logging afterwards. And both entered the Forestry Institute.
[Father Valerian’s brother is Archpriest Nikolai, dean of the Zamoskvoretsky church district of Moscow - editor’s note]
I think it turned out just as the Lord said: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you”(John 15:16). So, it was, as they say, a calling. "He chose me from my mother's womb"(Gal. 1:15).
When I was still a student, I listened to my father, who, in turn, received instructions from teachers of the century before last - Father Dimitry Bogolyub, Father Sergius Savinsky. These were elder teachers, they were already over eighty years old (my father studied in 1950). They were, of course, humorous. One of them was invited to some institution like Lubyanka and asked: “Will you serve?” (they meant “Will you work for us?”), and he calmly answers: “Where is your temple? In honor of whom?
With parents - Archpriest Mikhail and Mother Lyubov Vladimirovna
I had the opportunity to communicate with that generation of spirit-bearing people who had real faith in God’s providence
From the old generation I found Father Mikhail Sinitsky, who was released from prison and, as soon as the opportunity arose, served continuously. And Father Alexy Rezukhin, still young, it’s true, but very zealous. These people valued worship. They showed me a living example of priestly service. Especially Father Alexey. He preached without fear or embarrassment. I heard the Soviet authorities say about him: “You can’t build communism with such a priest.”
At one time, I met with Father Misail (Tomin), who later became Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim, cell attendant of Metropolitan Nestor (Anisimov), a public missionary. So, when he was sitting in certain places at one time, they said: “You keep talking about Paradise, but we will create a paradise on earth,” they meant communism. And he replies: “It’s a useless exercise.” - “Are you against Soviet power?” - “No, all power comes from God.” - “So, we...” - “It’s useless, nothing will work.” - "Why?" “And such an experience already existed: the first Christians had everything in common, but they did not last long. So it’s all experimental.” That's what he said simply.
“If you lead a life worthy of the title of Christian and priest, the grace of the Sacraments will pass through you, sanctifying you every time. And if you behave unworthily, the Sacraments will pass through your rank, but by you.”
By the way, I later heard confirmation of these words from Father Nikolai Golubtsov, my wife’s confessor, to whom I also confessed. When I met him and said that I was going to be a priest, he replied: “Get ready, prepare all your life.” And then I heard one person’s recollection of him. You know, when a service in a multi-staff parish ends, one begins to serve a prayer service, another begins a memorial service, and he ran with the question: “Are there baptisms?” - “Yes” - “Give it to me!” I have many sins." He was joking, of course; he was a man of holy life. Why did he want to baptize? Because in the secret prayer that the priest reads before the Sacrament of baptism, there are these words: “Wash away my bodily defilement and spiritual defilement, and sanctify me entirely by Your all-perfect invisible power and spiritual right hand, so that you do not proclaim freedom to others, and give this through perfect faith, Your ineffable love for mankind, as a slave of sin, I will be unskilled.”.
That is, in the Sacrament of Baptism, the priest, when he treats what is being done with reverence, combines grace, and it sanctifies him every time. That is why this wonderful prayer is read: “Divine grace, always healing the weak and replenishing the impoverished.”
And I heard about this grace from all my spiritual fathers whom the Lord appointed for me - they constantly reminded me that the Lord rules over everything.
Bishop Pitirim (Nechaev), who came to confess to Father Sergius (Orlov) [Father Sergius (hieromonk Seraphim in secret tonsure) was the rector of the Intercession Church in the village. Akulovo, where Father Valerian has been serving for the last 48 years - editor's note], said: “We need to learn not to disturb God.”
I once asked Father Sergius if I could send demon-possessed people to him, and he said that I should receive them myself. I was surprised: “Father, can I?” - “Yes, but on one condition: that there is not a shadow of a hint that it is you who are doing something.” After all, in the words of the Apostle Paul: “by the grace of God I am what I am... I have labored more than anyone else: not I, however, but the grace of God, which is with me...”(1 Cor. 15:10).
This, in fact, is what needs to be remembered when a person solves problems - whether personal, social or even world problems. At different times, different problems arose and were resolved. The Lord is above everything, and how He rules is His holy will. It is most important.
Father Sergiy Orlov (right) and Father Valerian Krechetov in Akulov, 1974
And I had the opportunity to communicate with this generation of such spiritual people who always had this faith, who remembered God first of all. So was my father. When we started to tell him something, he would listen and then say: “What about God? Have you forgotten about God, or what?”
Everything must be placed on the altar of peace
At the beginning of my ministry, I had the opportunity to communicate with Father Alexy Zuev and Father Tikhon (Agrikov) - they gave me a lot of instructions on how to conduct the service. I remember that I arrive, brought up in the spirit of the Rules of Divine Services, and I see: this one will omit something, that one will also reduce something. And at that time there was a father-inspector, the late Metropolitan of Ryazan and Kasimov Simon (Novikov). I tell him: “What is this? Compound, monks!..” - out of naivety, he was young, and young people are always so zealous. And Father Simon asks: “Father Valerian, why are you fighting there?” - “What are they? That’s not the case, that’s not the case here.” And he says: “Everything must be placed on the altar of peace.”
Then I asked Father Tikhon (Agrikov) about this, he said: “We ourselves sometimes stand in church, miss half of the service, and keep thinking about something. And we are indignant that others missed something there. Well, we missed it, and you missed it too! Sometimes you miss so much in the service that there is nothing left of it. But, of course, at the first opportunity you need to try to do everything.”
I remember how once, when I was young, I lay down during the day before the evening service and fell asleep. He jumped up - “My fathers!” - It’s already six o’clock, and the service is at five. I fly into the altar, and Father Sergius sits calmly. I’m so uncomfortable, and he: “Don’t rush, because they won’t start without us” - in such a very calm tone. Do you understand? He didn’t reproach them for being delayed because of you, but simply “don’t rush,” he says, “they won’t start without us.”
Or, I remember how Father Nikolai Guryanov said. You know, I can't even convey his tone. When I told him about Catholics, that, trying to somehow cheer up the people, they even celebrate Mass on the beach... Can you imagine what that is? This is on a European beach... It’s impossible to imagine! Father Nikolai shuddered, and then in a peaceful, peaceful tone he said: “Well, maybe I wouldn’t do that...”
Father Valerian visiting Father Nikolai Guryanov
The life of a priest is based on repentance and worship
He paid special attention to confession. And he conducted the so-called general confession like this (Father Tikhon Agrikov later told me): “What is the main idea of the Gospel, remember? How did John the Baptist begin his sermon? - “Repent!” And where did the Lord Himself begin? - Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17). And with what words did He admonish the apostles? — "Preach the gospel of repentance and remission of sins to all nations" And “...he blew and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit.” Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven; on whomever you leave it, it will remain on him."(John 20:22−23).”
That is, he spoke about repentance and remission of sins. This is what Father Sergius Mechev once said: “A parish is a liturgical and repentant family”; it is based on worship and the spirit of repentance.
And Father Tikhon (Agrikov) told me: “You should have a sermon as a confession, and a confession as a sermon.” That is, the basis of the sermon, its core, should be repentance. Everything should come down to “Repent!”
And the so-called “general confession” is not yet a confession, but only a call to repentance, so that people think about what is right and what is wrong. And then everyone must confess himself.
I was recently given someone’s sermons, in my opinion, Father Pontius or some other ascetic of piety, and so they all ended with a call to repent and somehow improve.
Father Tikhon (Agrikov) after one of my sermons (at that time I preached sermons every service), and he was humorous and said: “Father spoke such a sermon, such a sermon! What did you say? And I don’t remember what I said. But he spoke well!” Therefore, now, when I preach, I make sure to give examples; examples are well remembered.
And then, of course, the basis of the entire life of a Christian, especially a priest, should be worship. I once met Bishop Stefan Nikitin (by the way, he blessed me for marriage). And when I began to ask him theological questions, ask and ask (and he was an interesting person), he said: “Study worship, all theology is there.”
The most important thing is continuity
— Father Valerian, please tell me, how was your connection with Father Sergius (Orlov) as your confessor? How did he convey his priestly experience to you?
- He is a hereditary priest: both his father was a priest and his grandfather. His maternal grandfather was ordained by Metropolitan Filaret (Drozdov). His father served for 45 years, and Father Sergius himself for 29 years.
The most important thing is continuity. Living succession sets an excellent example. For example, the way my father did it has become a habit for me, I can’t do it any other way, only the way he did it. I read or heard the following words somewhere: “The sign of spirituality is that a person does not change anything according to his understanding, but tries to keep it as it is.” Hence the concept of traditions.
Moreover, once Vladyka Yuvenaly, God save him, even supported me in this and also told me his personal story. When Metropolitan Nikodim, the Kingdom of Heaven be upon him, blessed him for episcopal service, he said: “When you come to the pulpit, do not move the chair from place to place; as it was, so let it be.”
Why, when [the newly appointed rector] begins the sorokoust, . Unless something is completely wrong... and even then not even right away.
The elders always set a living example - the very Spirit of love and peace, so that there is economy. But there must also be akrivia, otherwise everything will fall apart. There must also be rigor. If you don’t do everything, do at least something, it’s all very important.
— On what issues did you consider it necessary to consult with Father Sergius when you were a young priest?
- Well, what questions did I ask... Then it was even easier: for example, people occupy some position at work, so we secretly married them, little by little. And now they openly live at random, they believe that this is how it should be. That's why it's more difficult now. What to do in such situations? This is probably what you can ask about.
It's harder to serve now. Previously, if people went to church, they took a risk. Someone was a secret servant of God - there was a whole layer of such in society. “Many believed, but did not confess, so as not to be expelled from the congregation”(John 12:42) - everything is written in the Gospel. The Sanhedrin is against the Savior, but Nicodemus was among them. How is that?! But this is a common occurrence. The prophet Elijah said: I am the only one left (1 Kings 18:22), and the Lord says: “Seven thousand remain, and you have not seen a single one” (1 Kings 19:18). So much for you!
When the sky is silent, there is no need to do anything
As Father Vasily Serebrenikov, rector of the Jerusalem metochion (he also went to see Father Sergius (Orlov)) so well told me: “I like it in spiritual matters when you don’t understand anything.” In other words: “I am afraid to limit the providence of God. Who knows, how could it be?”
Sometimes, when I asked my father about something, he suddenly said to me: “How can I say, anything can happen,” and he wouldn’t really say anything. In this way, I think, he taught me not to be categorical. They say: “Don’t be right.” Here he is: “Who knows.” Such instructions are also very useful, I think.
— What to do in this case if the spiritual mentor says: “Who knows…”
- Here - pray.
There was such a father, Innokenty (Prosvirin). We talked with him, he also came to Father Sergius. He was the spiritual son of Vladika Pitirim, and Vladika Pitirim was, one might say, the spiritual son of Father Sergius. He told me this spiritual formula: “When the sky is silent, there is no need to do anything.” Therefore, when they ask me something and I don’t know, I say: “I don’t know.”
When I was working in the Urals, I encountered such work circumstances that I was confused and didn’t know what to do. I was neither a pioneer nor a Komsomol member; and was, naturally, non-partisan. Then it was always possible to plant. Later, when I arrived from there to Father Kirill (Pavlov), and was with my brother, Father Nikolai, in confession, I asked: “Father, which path is best for me to choose?” And he says to me: “The Lord will show you. Wait." And they brought my future bride to me. True, I didn’t immediately pay attention to her, but then it dawned on me: “The Lord showed it to me even then, but I didn’t understand.”
Then we got married, and I ended up in such a golden place - the Maroseya environment [father Valerian’s mother, Natalya Konstantinovna, was from the Marosei community, founded by St. right Alexy Mechev - approx. ed]- and a new stage began.
— Tell me, please, do you have your own spiritual children-priests, and how do you pass on to them the spiritual experience that you received from your mentors?
- How do I convey it? They just come and look. In general, being a spiritual father is a special service and the highest responsibility.
When I, as a confessor in the Moscow diocese, came into contact with the confession of priests, I was sometimes in great despondency... If the worldly is trembling, then our brother, as they say...
As schema-abbot Gabriel (Smirnov), then still Father Vasily, said: “One demon follows the worldly, but a hundred follow the monk.” And behind the priest, I think, there are at least a thousand...
That's why there are so many temptations! But, of course, the grace of God protects.
In a word, I came into contact with all this and realized how complicated everything is.
I generally have a cautious attitude towards categorical advice, especially to young people. I do not dare to say: “Do this and that,” but I say: “As the Lord directs.”
When Father Alexei Mechev was asked about something, he answered: “What do you think?” - "So like this". - “It’s possible, yes. But you can do it like this.” That is, he seemed to offer a thought to a person, but then did not force him to act in such a way that it would not be without the participation of the person himself.
Once a servant of God came to me and told me that one of these so-called spiritual fathers blessed her for something that she was not ready to do, and to her objections he said: “But I don’t want to because of you.” go to hell!
Soon I traveled to Athos and met there with a monk who had been cared for by Elder Paisius the Holy Mountain for 20 years. When he found out that I was the confessor of the diocese (and for them, a confessor is almost higher than a bishop), he began to ask me to tell me about something, but I said: “Yes, I came to listen to you. Please tell us what Father Paisiy said?” And the most interesting thing is that I didn’t say a word about that woman, but I received a direct answer from him. Elder Paisios said:
“Only a priest who is ready to go to hell for his spiritual children can be a spiritual father.” If you are not ready to go to hell, then you cannot be a spiritual father.
This is the responsibility that lies with the confessor.
In conclusion, I would like to summarize this way. We must remember the spiritual truth about which the prophet David speaks: I have seen the Lord before me, as he is at my right hand (Ps. 15:8). That is, constant remembrance of God is necessary. You must remember that you are not alone, that there is the Lord. Then everything will be in its place.
And when you start with your mind... Remember how St. Seraphim was asked: “Father, are everyone’s hearts open to you?”, and he answered: “What are you, my joy! All hearts are open to God alone, and man will come, and the heart is deep” - “But how do you, father, say so precisely?” - “Yes, if the Lord touches my heart, and I listen, that’s exactly what I say, but with my mind I’m wrong.”
They say that two kinds of people are not mistaken: idle people and dead people. When you do anything, you can make a mistake, we are not saints. You shouldn’t always consider yourself to be right, but try to feel the will of God. After all, the Lord wants everyone to be saved and to come into the understanding of truth (1 Tim. 2:4). As the mother of Joseph Potapov’s father said: “The Lord loves us and spoils us like little children,” and this is true, I tested it on myself.
Archpriest Valerian Krechetov
“This is how Russia is being reborn”
Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (Nozdrin)
Father Valerian and I have known each other for a long time; I myself was still in Optina at that time. He is very well read. And he himself wrote many books. He feeds many. It is probably impossible to count how many spiritual children he has: like the stars in the sky (Gen. 22:17). Likewise, he will soon have countless heirs: he now has 35 grandchildren with seven children. That's how rich he is!
The Lord blesses man for all good things, but at the same time, everyone was given their own will at creation. Man was created free. God could make all people as He pleases, but if He does everything without human will, then man will no longer be a child of God, will cease to be a human being, and will become inferior. God wants us to develop in freedom and love. Father Valerian did not bury the talents God gave him. His whole life is an increase in love.
Archpriest Valerian and Schema-Archimandrite Iliy
Father Valerian has a very strong spiritual school: he was born into the family of a priest who served time in Solovki, was cared for by Father Sergius Orlov (he was tonsured as Hieromonk Seraphim), here, in Peredelkino, he served with Father Tikhon (Agrikov; in the schema Panteleimon) and was acquainted with many confessors from Soviet times. In our time, a temple has already been built in memory of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church there, in Otradnoye.
Father Valerian is very active and active. His spiritual life manifests itself outwardly like rays. He lives by the traditions of our Russian Orthodox Church - in many ways he preserves those that the Bolsheviks and Communists tried to destroy in Soviet times. Thus, through the preservation of these traditions, he strengthens faith among the people. How many of his spiritual children he has already ordained and blessed for heroic deeds into monasteries! Others, with his blessing and example, create strong families. He has countless spiritual children. This is how Russia is being reborn.
May God grant him to live longer in good health. And above all, I wish, of course, the salvation of the soul!
"Yakov, Yakov..."
Hieroschemamonk Valentin (Gurevich), confessor of the Moscow stauropegial Donskoy Monastery:
– It is not we who bring people to the Church, but the Lord. He touches the human heart with His grace.
There was such a case. This happened even under Soviet rule. It so happened that I had the words, and people came to Church. And one person who was very dear to me resisted all the time. It was very difficult for me to go through this.
Archpriest Valerian Krechetov and Hieroschemamonk Valentin (Gurevich)
One day I simply explained everything so clearly that it was no longer possible to contradict. And then this man simply screamed: “Why,” he said, “is there such pressure being put on me? You spoke the word and planted it in me. It must ripen inside me, germinate and bear fruit. And you show such violence. Leave me alone!" It was truly a cry from the soul.
On the same day, I was driving to the Otradnensky church for an evening service and met a parishioner of our church on the way. We continued our journey together and I told him about my grief. And he says that he recently read “The Screwtape Letters” by Lewis, this is a fairy tale in letters, a correspondence between two demons. The elder writes to the younger about Christ: “He is incomprehensible to me. He says that he loves a person - and at the same time leaves him free. And for me, loving you means holding you tighter in my claws!”
Then, the next day, I was at the liturgy. Father Valerian Krechetov served and gave a sermon. He talked about Andrew the First-Called, who preached within our borders. And after the apostle’s sermon it did not happen that the country immediately became Christian. Centuries passed, and it was as if not a trace remained after the apostolic labors...
- Why is that? - asked the priest. - It couldn’t be like that! Is it really nothing?
Even in those regions where there was writing, many monuments of that time were later destroyed, and there was almost no evidence left that could confirm the gospel events. However, all the same, the apostolic preaching could not pass without leaving a trace. Some communities and students must have remained. Maybe they were secret because the country was pagan.
People are different. Somewhere, like a flooded sea, the teaching about Christ is immediately spreading. In other places it is some kind of river, as after the sermon of the Apostle Thomas in India. Somewhere else, as, for example, perhaps in our country after the sermon of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, undercurrents are formed. Such an invisible leaven was probably already active among the people and testified to Christ.
Perhaps this leaven was the reason that, when the Baptism of Rus' took place under Prince Vladimir, we did not have the martyrdom that accompanied the Baptism of other nations.
Father Valerian has this quality: in his sermons, he often answers precisely those painful questions that concern those present in the church. He accurately interacts with the flock during the sermon and at the same time conducts a dialogue with the Upper world. He even voices the thoughts of those who listen to him. In a word, when the priest stands on the pulpit, the collective co-creation of the Heavenly and earthly Church takes place, and the priest is that sensitive “organ” that synthesizes the thoughts of the parishioners, his own and the inspiration from above. If someone has pain in their heart, they receive answers like a balm for the wounds of the heart.
So, concluding his sermon, the priest said that just as each ethnic group is like a person, so a person is like an ethnic group. And only the Lord knows who, how and when to turn to Himself. Because the Lord knows that for one person professing Christianity is possible from childhood, but for another the Lord knows that he will not bear it. Because there may be persecution, some kind of sorrow, and he will renounce Christ. It will be worse. Some people can only believe on their deathbed. The Lord knows to whom and when to open your heart. We should not put pressure on anyone.
We just have to say the word, and for it to be accepted and bear fruit is God’s work.
Speaking about this, the priest used literally the same words that were spoken to me by the person whom I “churched.” About the “sown word”, which must “ripen” inside, “germinate and give fruit”, about the fact that it is necessary to wait patiently until all this happens, since it takes time, about the fact that “pressure” cannot be applied in this case .
There was no doubt in my mind that this was said specifically for me. These words of his completely reassured me, satisfied me and became a lesson for me for the future. There was no trace left of mental turmoil.
Subsequently, I had to witness similar cases with other parishioners. I was intimately familiar with many of them.
And so, I had to watch more than once: the priest preaches a lengthy sermon. He clearly pursues the main theme, but from time to time it is “overgrown” with related considerations that resonate with this theme. And in these discussions, the preacher manages to answer the “painful” questions of those present.
During the sermon, a late parishioner enters the church. I know him closely, and I know his everyday troubles and spiritual difficulties. I know specifically what his main painful problem is. And the thought flashes through my mind: “Now the priest will touch upon this very problem.” And indeed, when a latecomer appears, the flow of the sermon suddenly changes, and the priest speaks very clearly on this sore point - a balm for the heart wounds of a late parishioner does its job...
And further. In the sermons and conversations of Father Valerian, the theme of kindness and love of Christ and the rejection of enmity and hatred runs like a red thread. He was closely acquainted with Father John (Krestyankin), Father Nikolai Guryanov, with the destinies of St. Athanasius (Sakharov), Father Arseny, who is narrated in the book of the same name, compiled by his mother-in-law’s brother, and with many others. And he fully assimilated the spirit of the Russian new martyrs and confessors, who suffered and confirmed the need to fulfill the commandment of love for enemies, and did not allow anger into their hearts even against their executioners. Without this, it would be impossible to maintain grace in one’s heart, that is, God’s help, ensuring the Godlikeness of the soul in the inhuman, extreme circumstances of Soviet persecution of the faith of Christ, the ability not to break under conditions of extreme psychological and physical pressure, not to slander one’s friends and not to renounce Christ .
In this regard, he often mentioned the case of Patricius, who was subjected to extreme torment and was not broken, but, having allowed a paroxysm of hatred towards Nicephorus in his heart, he immediately lost the grace of God that strengthened him and immediately renounced Christ.
The Bolshevik revolution and post-Soviet permissiveness led to a massive renunciation of Christ. Instead of God, people began to worship comfort, which is incompatible with having many children.
This picture of degradation and extinction is so amazing that we do not notice one phenomenon that still gives us hope.
We are talking about the fact that, for example, some direct descendants of the new martyrs and confessors, the flock that was nourished by spirit-bearing shepherds who went through the fiery trials of the new Babylonian captivity, differ from the majority that has lost its vitality. They are characterized, for example, by opposition to abortion, contraception and large families. As one famous modern missionary said, “atheists will die out like mammoths of their own accord.” While the pious minority will multiply according to the law of “chain reaction”. And here the prophetic words of the Psalmist are miraculously justified: the seed of the wicked will be consumed (Ps. 36:28), while the meek will inherit the earth (Ps. 36:11).
We know many such examples. Among them is the family of the priest revered by the church people, Father Valerian, the son of a priest who went through Solovki, and his wife, the daughter of the spiritual children Alexy and Sergius Mechev, who went through camps and exile, and who herself was in exile. Father Valerian and mother Natalia Konstantinovna are the parents of eight children, who, in turn, acquired large families.
One day, on his namesake day, we prayed at the altar of the temple of which he was the rector. Together with him, twelve more priests served there, who became his spiritual children even at the time when they were laymen. That is, he, one might say, is a father of many children, not only in the ordinary, but also in the spiritual sense of the word; not only his carnal offspring multiply according to the law of “chain reaction” in geometric progression, but also spiritual ones. Because these spiritual children-shepherds themselves have abundant both ordinary and spiritual offspring. Not to mention the fact that among his own children, some themselves became priests and mothers.
Thus, other words of the Psalmist come true on it: The righteous shall flourish like a phoenix, and like a cedar in Lebanon he shall multiply (Ps. 91:13).
One day he heard the following phrase from one of his spiritual children: “Father, the number of your household has already reached half the number with which Jacob came to Egypt. And then it will be like the sand of the sea.” Father immediately became serious, thought about it and said that when he was still young, and he did not yet have a large family, one old man looked at him and, shaking his head, said: “Yakov, Yakov...”.
Wisdom of parents
Priest Tikhon Krechetov
Priest Tikhon Krechetov, senior cleric of the Martha and Mary Convent, son of Father Valerian, graduate of Sretensky Theological Seminary:
“At first, the child simply absorbs the church service, but then I began to notice how much dad lives by the service and loves it. And so - I just grew up in the family, like a blade of grass. Our parents never even argued with each other; we never even saw them disagree with each other on anything. They were always in harmony.
Even my teenage years, it seems to me, passed without any particular protest moods. Although as a child I picked up a lot of dirt. I remember they brought me to school from under my mother’s wing; at that time I didn’t even know the word “fool.” “What, you don’t know? We’ll explain it to you,” and in two weeks all the foul language fell on me. Then, realizing it, you begin to squeeze all this filth out of yourself drop by drop.
In the summer, our whole family went hiking, lived in tents, and rafted along the Osetr River - this is in the homeland of Valerian’s father, near Zaraisk. One day, the scoop, which was in the boat in case of water, fell into the water and floated. And then a motorboat passed and made waves. I think: “The scoop will drown!” - and cursed. “What are you doing?! – my father turned me 180 degrees. “You don’t even notice what you said!” This means that this word has entered into you. Who are you calling?" I even got scared - I began to realize who and what we were communicating with through our words.
In high school, I became interested in martial arts; I had four training sessions a week. The parents, of course, were worried. Their wisdom was manifested in the fact that they did not interfere, seeing how interesting I was in all this, they allowed me to study.
Then, for example, I watched enough films about martial arts. And my father invited the late Levan Davidovich Rondelli, associate professor at VGIK, to talk with us. He talked about the impact of film art on how people are processed. We are simply captivated by all these special effects, and he explained how people are controlled with the help of this seduction. So, having received admonition, you begin to think.
Then, when I opened the Philokalia, the East faded for me. Often when raising children - I judge this from my own experience - the temptation to veto arises: to ban and that’s it. But my parents didn't do this. We grew up internally free. Dad and mom prayed, and for me in due time everything fell into place.
We have never had a separation between fathers and children. My parents might not accept something close to me—for example, the music that I listened to. But I always knew that they, even if they disagreed on something, would understand me.
Various people came to our house, whoever was there: Protestants, Baptists, and atheist-communists - albeit only half-heartedly, but we heard what kind of discussions were unfolding, what a powerful defense of faith there was. These conversations were not arranged specifically for us, but we absorbed this too, realizing our position.
This was already useful to me at school - when they said: “Join the Pioneers,” I answered: “No.” When I was accepted into October, they didn’t let me go to school under the pretext of being “sick.” Although then they still arranged a special line and pinned this badge on everyone who was “sick.” I never wore badges, I was walking down the street, my jacket unbuttoned so that everyone could see this bright badge. He came home, his father immediately unhooked him and said: “You know, this uncle is so... not very good. He did not like the Orthodox, and the Russian people in general. When the First World War happened, he happily emphasized the number of Russian people killed, and then he himself shot even more, giving orders, and spread rot in prisons and exiles. And your grandparents suffered...” I haven't worn the badge since then.
Therefore, when the question arose about joining the pioneers, I immediately familiarized myself with the Komsomol Charter, which directly stated: “We must fight religious prejudices.” And if I am a believer myself, how to fight? With myself? Or will you order with your father? No, it doesn't suit me. About pioneers it was always written: “A pioneer is the younger brother of a Komsomol member.” “No, thank you,” I say. - “Are your parents putting pressure on you?” - they asked me. - “No, I myself.” - “Well, just like that myself.”
We drew a lot from our father's sermons. Therefore, my spiritual children, I think, heard no less from him than we did. When, already in my student years, I began to sing in the choir, I began to somehow particularly delve into our Otradnensky service, such a peaceful one... This all in itself nourished you, guided you. I remember one priest came and said: “How good it is here in Otradnoye. You stand there, thrilled. Nobody is in a hurry." All this simply remains in a person’s heart and preserves it.
Parents’ prayers, of course, were also taken care of. Now, sometimes, I tell someone who has come to confession: this is how you need to live as a Christian. A determined man, cross himself - and go into battle! He begins to try to live according to the commandments, and then everything rebels against him! Everything begins to collapse. And then you understand that my parents’ prayers protected me; it was not by my own merits that I was free and remained unharmed. What is it like for those who do not have this rear.
By their fruits you will know them(Matt. 7:16). Each of us, brothers and sisters, walked our own path through life, but the main thing is that, thank God, we are in the Church. Two of us are priests, one sister is a mother. For us, the parent's word has always been law. We tried to be completely obedient in some important matters: our parents said, so it will be so.
Now we see our father very little. He is traveling, sometimes I may not leave the church until midnight to confess. But you still know that you can always come to your father if a difficult spiritual question arises, and receive admonition, strengthening, and consolation.
“The first place for my father was always the priestly service”
Archpriest Fyodor Krechetov
Archpriest Fyodor Krechetov, son of Father Valerian, rector of the Church of the Great Martyr George the Victorious in Gruziny:
– Father has always been an example for us children. In my eyes, he was the image of an ideal shepherd. Later, when we grew up, took orders ourselves and became heads of families, we began to understand how difficult it is - among the worries and concerns about our spiritual children, bearing the full weight of priestly responsibility, not to miss our own.
In the film that has now been filmed for the anniversary - “Love does not look for its own” - my mother said: “You see, the priest does not belong to himself or his family.” On Saturday and Sunday he is at work, on weekdays we were at school. My father served in Otradnoye, we lived in Moscow. Sometimes he would come home late, and sometimes during the day, but he got up very early, you start talking to him, and he says: “I should lie down,” he answers and answers and falls asleep.
But his arrival itself was always a great joy. The girls brought him slippers, we all immediately gathered, trying to surround him with care.
The only time that was, as a rule, given entirely to us was vacation. Then the whole family went out into nature. We went fishing with my father. Dad grew up on the river bank. He always - this is even outwardly noticeable - feels better in the countryside than in the city. He also tried to instill in us a love for the land and also an interest in all sorts of practical skills, so that we would be busy with something.
Since childhood, I have deeply felt such a spiritual concept as humility - this is when it is impossible to offend you. You set yourself up in such a way that you are worse than everyone else, and nothing can hurt you. I remember the brothers started arguing and swearing among themselves, and I came up: “If you need to scold someone, then swear at me,” and they stopped. In all controversial issues, dad said: “Whoever has more humility, let him give in.” “Vaska has humility!” – one day my sister screamed. He, of course, was flattered and let go of some kind of toy.
All these spiritual attitudes towards patience, obedience, humility, and repentance were embedded in us from an early age. All this is easily absorbed by a child's soul. For a person who becomes a church member at a conscious age, if he had no idea about anything like this since childhood, it is much more difficult for him to perceive all this later.
Father punished us only when we were very small, not yet aware of anything, and then I remember that this only happened once. He always brought it to his senses some time after a child’s fight, for example. In the evening, when we had already prayed before going to bed.
For some reason I remember this incident from childhood. One day, my older brother Andrei and I were literally leaving, going to school for exams, he was in the 10th grade, and I was in the 8th, and my father blessed us: “I bless you to get an A!” And we actually got an A! My brother is in literature, and I am in geometry. I was then struck by the power of his priestly blessing. But this didn't happen often.
Of course, my mother worked with us more. Grandmother helped her. There was always a very peaceful atmosphere at home. We read aloud a lot. During the meal, mom quickly eats and reads the lives of the saints aloud to us. We also read some of the classics: Pushkin, Dickens, Gogol, good children’s books – “Baby and Carlson”, “Dad, Mom and 8 Children”, “Little Lord Fauntleroy”. One of us children could have replaced her.
I remember everyone celebrated the holidays with the family. Our tree always appeared on Christmas, not on New Year. On Forgiveness Sunday, we all gathered together, and there was a pancake meal, and then, before going our separate ways, we bowed at each other’s feet and asked for forgiveness. Since childhood we have fasted. Of course, everyone celebrated Easter together.
On holidays there was always singing at home - the pope sang akathists about Saints Seraphim of Sarov and Sergius of Radonezh, about Valaam and Athos, etc. This made a very strong impression. All children in our family received primary musical education; we had a piano teacher. But only I also graduated from a five-year music school in flute class.
We always had a lot of interesting people in our house. There were Baptists and parapsychology researchers, and it was interesting to listen to how my father spoke to them. Moreover, if a council of fathers was meeting: so, I remember, Archpriests Vladimir Vorobyov and Alexander Saltykov also happened to be at our house, and then a man came who was an atheist... So the three fathers talked with them, and it was very interesting and instructive.
But there were also deeply religious people, many from VGIK. For example, Nikolai Nikolaevich Tretyakov, Levan Davidovich Rondeli and others. They sometimes held conversations with us.
They also came from far away. Later, when I served in the army and ended up in Ukraine, while on leave I visited my father’s friends near Zhitomir.
Dad, of course, communicated with many spiritual mentors without us. But sometimes he took us, for example, to Father Nikolai Guryanov. I remember that in the presence of the elder, nothing sinful could simply appear in you, even in your thoughts. There the soul feels such a spiritual aroma that you want to breathe deeply into yourself and be saturated with it. One day, I remember, Father Nikolai was sitting and suddenly said: “How happy you are, you will live forever.”
The father treated the elder very reverently. Why, I think, Father Nikolai chose him to receive communion, because my father never brought anything of his own. Carefully guarded Father Nikolai. For example, in order to take one of us children with him - which happened rarely, I was only on Zalita twice - he always asked the priest in advance, and Father Nikolai already decided: “It’s possible,” he said. Or not".
My father always convinced by example. As a child, I did not think about serving, that I would serve in the Church myself. But, as far as I can remember, we were in church every week and on all the main holidays that did not coincide with school. Some kind of addiction inevitably formed. Some kind of internal change must necessarily occur in a person when you consciously and responsibly choose faith and service.
My father said: being a priest is a ministry; you also need to have a profession. That's why I went to college. Then he served in the army. My friend, also the son of a priest, now a priest himself, Father John Borisov - we entered the Moscow Automobile and Highway Institute together, and he was also called up - having already served in the army, he went to the seminary. And so he offered me to join the company, but I was not yet mature enough.
But a year after the army, I read the book “Elder Silouan,” and suddenly the reality of spiritual life was revealed to me in a completely different way. Previously, I simply lived within the church tradition, was formed, but still did not realize much. And then I suddenly understood the meaning and my responsibility for how much I had received from God since childhood. How could I go to work as an engineer after that?
Although Father Valerian gave his blessing to finish his studies at the institute: “You never know, what if you change your mind? Challenge yourself to the end. A calling is a calling: if you really have it, you can’t escape it.”
My father instructed that the most difficult thing is pastoral service, namely caring for people. He also gave a clear instruction: “Never rush. In the altar - under no circumstances. Do everything reverently. When you perform a service, as soon as you move, something can happen.” Indeed, life later convinced me: if a person is impetuous by nature or simply out of inexperience rushes to the altar, something always happens.
My father taught reverence and humility, and if you perform the service with reverence and humility, then this is expressed outwardly, in particular, in leisurely manner. We know that the saints were never in a hurry. Even when circumstances required a quick response, they did not fuss. Also the elders. A person who walks before God and trusts in Him is calm. This can only be experienced: if you are with God, then you are sure that everything will always be fine.
Father has given us a lot, but then everyone must follow the Lord themselves, carry their own cross.
“Hold on, hold on to the holy fathers!”
Priest Theodore Kalinin
Priest Fyodor Kalinin, cleric of St. Nicholas Church in the city of Melekess, Melekess and Cherdaklinsk diocese:
– Father Valerian has one rare gift: in his sermons, answering questions that are of particular concern to those listening to him at the moment. He speaks fairly extensive sermons: they can last 40 minutes, or maybe an hour or more, and during this time almost everyone who comes to him with some questions that have not yet been voiced miraculously receives answers to them. I think many can confirm this.
At the very beginning of his ministry, Father Valerian met Vladimir Petrovich Sedov, a distant relative of Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov). He gave him communion and unction. There is a well-known story about how Saint Philaret appeared to Vladimir Petrovich twice in reality, telling him to take care of his mother’s grave, and promising at the end: “Everyone who hinders you will deal with me personally, and everyone who will help you, and so I will help you.” Father Valerian providentially found himself among these helpers. I think that Father Valerian’s gift of preaching is somehow connected with St. Philaret. And that's why. In the 19th century there were two remarkable metropolitan preachers: Filaret (Drozdov) and Platon (Levshin). Their difference is that the recorded sermons of Metropolitan Plato do not make the same impression as they did when he delivered them, influencing those listening with his spirit and energy. But Metropolitan Philaret acted deeply through the mind on the soul, and his recorded sermons do not lose their grace-filled power. That’s how it is with Father Valerian’s sermons; even when they are written down, they do not lose their effectiveness.
I remember one young man, now a priest for a long time, once very much lamented that, being cared for by Father Valerian, he did not have the opportunity to at least talk calmly with him. “You have a strange attitude,” I tell him, “towards your spiritual father. Do many children learn from their father by engaging in long conversations with him? They basically just watch their father, how he behaves, and thus, imitating him, learn. We have such an opportunity!” He listened and was then very grateful for the advice. I began to more carefully observe how the priest served, talked with people, and in general how he usually behaved, and this turned out to be more useful than many pieces of advice. As for the success of the sermon, Father Valerian, at the beginning of his ministry, Archimandrite Tikhon (Agrikov; in the schema Panteleimon), with whom Father Valerian had the opportunity to serve together in Peredelkino almost immediately after his ordination, said: “Remember two words. If you remember them while preaching, then your words will achieve their goal; even if you talk about the most lofty topics, but forget about them, you will remain fruitless. These two words are repentance and humility.”
At one time we had an altar server, Yura Ladokha, later hieromonk Dionysius, he often said: “Father Valerian differs from many priests in that he tries to speak not from himself, but to find out the will of God.” At one time, Archimandrite Innokenty (Prosvirnin) conveyed the instruction to Father Valerian from Mount Athos: “You should not do anything when the sky is silent,” and then we always heard this instruction from Father Valerian. And when “the sky is not silent,” you can act with God’s help, listening to this quiet voice of heaven. It is clear that constant sobriety and the unceasing Jesus Prayer are very useful for this, in order to stand before God with mind and heart and cleanse them from the “noise” of addictions to earthly things. Father himself was always careful, and taught us this prayerful composure. “The first sign of darkening of the mind is a reluctance to pray,” he said. I was almost never categorical. And he instructed us: “Don’t be right, the fathers say.” He said only when asked: “He who answers without questioning is mad.” He himself was the first to carry out what he taught. But sometimes, especially in confession, he could denounce so briefly and harshly that it was forever remembered.
The community in the Otradnensky church somehow formed on its own. Many of those who came to the Church in the late 1970s and early 1980s came through the “back door” - from yoga, bioenergetics, and Eastern cults. It was precisely this kind of turning to God that the elders predicted at these times. And gradually in the temple, with participation in the Church Sacraments, the former yogis and “psychics” “came to their senses”, were pacified, purified. It is known that no one believes so strongly as the one who knows about the existence of demons from personal experience.
Our parishioners formed two friendly choirs - “upper” and “lower” - according to the place where we sang (on the balcony with Valentina Nikolaevna - “upper”, and below at the right pillar with Lyuda, now nun Lavrentia - “lower” ). Father Valerian joked about us: “A choir of fasters, prayer workers and miracle workers.”
Following the example of Father Valerian, we, of course, were passionate about the Rule and liturgics. At that time, the troparion about the increase of love was always sung at the liturgy (included, so to speak, in the “unchangeable part” of the service).
Once I went to St. Petersburg, where in October the Liturgy of the Apostle James is sometimes celebrated in the academic church. The exclamation sank into my soul: “Let us love one another, let us kiss each other in Christ, and let us confess with one mind.” I arrived, began to share my impressions with the priest and said: “We are almost ready to fulfill the exclamation - to give each other a kiss of love in Christ.” - “Oh-oh-oh, you can’t even imagine how far we are and how unprepared we are for this!” - that’s how he sobered me up. At that time, we supplemented many of the statutory liturgical details. After all, even now you rarely come across parishes where, say, all three sedate antiphons are always sung at the Sunday all-night vigil - and these are the brilliant poetic and dogmatic instructions of St. Theodore the Studite.
And I also remember something that has become so firmly ingrained in “flesh and blood” that it has become almost unnoticeable - this is probably the love instilled by Father Valerian for the Church Slavonic language of worship, with its expressiveness and depth. Once, back in the first year of churching, we were singing the Menaion in the choir, and I suddenly began to think, trying to understand (while singing): what language was the text in front of me in - Church Slavonic or Russian script - and I could not understand, haven't finished singing yet. And then, later, we published the Chetya Menaion of St. Demetrius of Rostov in Church Slavonic.
Father Valerian knows and loves the Rule and liturgical texts very well, and this is probably the basis of his sermon. He said more than once that in reality we are united with the saints, with the holy fathers through divine services, liturgical experience, through prayer texts.
And, by the way, knowledge of the Charter helps everyone understand how the Church teaches to behave in everyday situations. For example, someone asks what to do if a birthday falls on Lent: should you celebrate or not? And he answers: well, look how, according to the Church Rules, the Annunciation of the Mother of God is combined with fasting. If it falls during Holy Week, then even fish is not allowed.
Therefore, looking at how the Church proposes to celebrate certain events from the life of the Mother of God or the saints, we can understand how we should behave prudently and pleasing to God.
When I was just baptized, one priest gave me a book by L.P. Karsavin “Holy Fathers and Teachers of the Church: (Disclosure of Orthodoxy in their creations).” I showed the book to the priest, and he immediately - either joked or seriously - I did not immediately understand that this was said seriously, albeit with a smile (I think because we still understood little of what we were reading) : “Oh, holy fathers! Hold on, hold on to the holy fathers!” He himself, of course, knows the patristic tradition very well, and applies it to his life and instructs others. In relation, for example, to illness, he could set us the highest patristic standard: “Are you sick?” - “I’m sick, thank God!” We are used to complaining, but the saints had a perfect, evangelical dispensation. In general, he often repeated to us the words of Father Sergius Orlov (hieromonk Seraphim, who was the rector of the Otradnensky church before Father Valerian): “The main thing is to tune the soul to the gospel order,” apostolic words: Bear each other's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ!(Gal. 6:2).
Once I returned from a trip to Father Nikolai Guryanov, this was even before their close personal acquaintance, and retold Father Nikolai’s sermon to the priest, and it was traditionally about love for God and neighbor. To which he smiled and said: “And it’s also about love...”.
We need to talk directly to God
Archpriest Vyacheslav Kulikov and Mother Tatiana
Archpriest Vyacheslav Kulikov, cleric of the Church of St. Nicholas of Myra in Zayaitsky:
– I studied at graduate school at MIPT. He worked on ocean acoustics and communications between satellites and submarines. When I first entered the university, it seemed to me that exact science would give me answers to all my questions, but over time I became disappointed. Graduate students attended special courses to pass the candidate minimum. Philosophy was taught to us by an employee of the Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Genrikh Stepanovich Batishchev. He spoke about God in Aesopian language. And once he sent me “to the embassy of an extraterrestrial civilization.” It turned out - to church. So I ended up in the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Akulovo. First, I went to confession with Elder Tikhon Pelekh. He simply hugged me and said as if he had been waiting for me for a long time: “Thank God that you came!” Then he asked me if I was married to my wife, I made a promise to get married. At home, of course, a scandal awaited me: it was all so sudden and unexpected, but two weeks later we arrived in Otradnoye to get married. So they began to go to church on Saturdays and Sundays, and on weekdays.
German Stepanovich told me: “If you want to understand something in spiritual life, you need to confess, take communion, listen to sermons.” Then it was difficult to get hold of the Gospel, and for the first two years of our churching, my wife and I learned it from the sermons of Father Valerian. Then he blessed us, the youth, to gather in the evenings and together serve Vespers and Matins in the secular rite, to master the following Psalter, then we began to read the Bible, the Old and New Testaments, in such a conciliar manner.
I learned everything about church life from Father Valerian. I didn’t even know that it was possible to serve in any other way: not so reverently, cutting something short in a hurry. When for the first time on Easter I found myself not in the Otradnensky church, I even felt somehow uneasy: the contrast was so striking.
I remember asking the priest something, and he answered: “You need to pray.” I, like my parishioners often now, understood this in a neophytic way: probably the priest should give me some specific prayer, so many akathists to such and such a saint, a pilgrimage to such and such a shrine, etc. And that's not what he meant at all. To pray means to talk directly to God - that's what he meant! And how it will be is the tenth matter. I understood this after several years of churching and being cared for by him. Although it surprises me now when people ask me what canons to read, what monasteries and how many times to go, what sources to plunge into.
One day I was getting ready to go to the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius: I had a desire to go to the elders Kirill (Pavlov), Naum (Baiborodin), Zosima (later Selafiel in the schema). I went to Father Valerian for a blessing, and he so simply asked me: “What question do you have for them?..” Thus putting me in a dead end: I don’t have and never had any questions that my father couldn’t resolve Valerian. I thought and thought so - and did not go for this purpose, because I realized that it was curiosity and a tribute to fashion. Now I myself ask parishioners who come up for a blessing on such trips: “What do you need to decide?”
One of his answers stuck with me for the rest of my life. I kept asking how to raise children. He said that the most important thing and practically the only thing is to love them. And it’s also good that, besides you, there is some person in their life who is authoritative for them, to whom they could turn for advice on important issues. By the way, I received most of the answers to my questions from him not in a personal conversation, but during a sermon. Problems accumulate over a week, you go to Otradnoe to get them resolved, you think about approaching the priest, but while you listen to the sermon, all your questions are resolved. It seems that he is saying this to you personally. Yes, he himself noticed that it often happens: a new person enters the church, and suddenly the topic of the sermon begins to deviate in a new direction.
In the early 1990s, somewhere in 1992-93, a group of our parishioners from the Otradnensky church was offered several cottages for housing by a director of a state farm in the Vladimir region, and a newly built turnkey dairy plant for work. This director told us that he was afraid, as he put it, “to leave this plant to his drunkards.” We have already seriously considered this proposal. Let's go to Father Valerian for a blessing. I was not yet a priest then. He asked everything in detail. He likes to delve into things and not just formally answer questions. He clarified how many people there are. I answered: “500 people.” He said: you won’t be able to “make the weather” there with your small forces, it’s better not to start, you won’t last long there. So we stayed in Moscow. Here I was ordained a few years later.
"Everything will be fine. Just take communion every week.”
Mother Tatiana Kulikova, wife of father Vyacheslav:
I came to the temple to pick up my husband. He is such a person that, having crossed the threshold of the temple, he never left the Church, and when he returned home that evening, he immediately announced to me that we must get married, otherwise you are not my wife. I was not ready for such a turn of events. But there was nothing to do. Although at first I was very afraid. But when I came to the temple in Akulovo, I somehow immediately felt that this was a place where you would not be deceived.
“Salvation requires a feat,” the priest often says; one of his books is even called that. But for some it is a feat to simply give up your place in the queue: if you see that a person is persistently pushing forward, you, a Christian, step back a little, half a step - this will already be your confession of Christianity. Father’s words, for example, “Don’t be right,” help me a lot, I immediately somehow beat myself up with them. His attitude was deeply ingrained: to be attentive to yourself, and not to others.
My husband and I didn’t have children for four years. Doctors gave me no more than a 1% chance that I would be able to give birth, and when I became pregnant, the district clinic even refused to observe me: they said that they did not need deaths in the statistics. They forced me to have an abortion. We came to the priest, and so and so, I cry... And he says: “Everything will be fine. Just take communion every week.”
He always speaks briefly, but with such firmness, clarity and clarity that you simply rely on his words and move on. I gave birth to six children.
It always amazed me that whenever you come to Otradnoye, in any crowd of people he will immediately see you, smile, and always be so happy! Although later, when we already had a lot of children, we went somewhere to churches closer to home, and could show up a few years later. Since we began to travel to Akulovo less often, I constantly read books of his sermons and conversations. Even reading his advice helps me build relationships with people.
It is very important for our family that we immediately, literally a year and a half after the wedding, went to the same confessor. We resolved all the issues that we had within the family only with Father Valerian: not with relatives, not with friends, but only with our confessor. This is what became the key to the strength and harmony of our relations. We never argued, we had a custom: whatever Father Valerian says, so it will be.
Father Valerian was never a dictator. He always said just a few words. But they had to be listened to very carefully. If you start to somehow resist, wince, he immediately retreats, never breaks anyone, does not insist on anything. He led our family very delicately.
We tried to follow the example of his family in everything. I watched how Mother Natalia behaved, how she came to church with her children, how she communicated with them. Despite the fact that our parents were believers, in essence, we did not know church life in Soviet times and joined the tradition through the experience of Father Valerian, who was the son of a priest, and Mother Natalia, the daughter and spiritual heir of three saints - Alexy and Sergius Mechev and Afanasy (Sakharov).
Our church childhood was spent in Otradnoye. One cannot help but remember Father Tikhon Pelikh. He was always so joyful. Laughed so hard! He's talking to someone in confession - and suddenly he bursts into laughter! A completely extraordinary, somehow childish, infectious laughter. Just as children absorb a lot from childhood, not so much words, but some sensations that shape you for the rest of your life, so we were raised there and strengthened in the faith. This is a temple that has never closed. This more than three-century tradition of real spiritual life is so palpable there. It cannot be learned from books. You can only absorb this experience, passed on and stored from generation to generation.
What happened to all of us then through the prayers of Father Valerian?
Dmitry Delov, VGIK graduate:
Dmitry Delov with Vladyka Tikhon (Shevkunov)
– In the late 1970s, young people from all over the Soviet Union gathered at VGIK. Yesterday's schoolchildren, we, one might say, have seized upon freedom: the capital, parties, a prestigious university. But we were drawn to the Church!
We had a wonderful teacher, our beloved teacher Nikolai Nikolaevich Tretyakov, a front-line soldier who went through the entire war as a soldier. He himself was a regular at Otradny. He taught Russian fine arts here. And he conveyed its essence to us - the world of faith began to open up to us. Some of us got there first, the rest caught up.
We had a classmate Olya Nifontova. She started disappearing somewhere on Sundays... I asked: where? “I go to church.” - “Can I come with you?” - "Can". When I arrived there, in Otradnoye, still unbaptized, I went into the church - and immediately felt like I was at home! So I felt good there. “Do you want to be baptized?” “Yes, yes,” I answer. Olya became my godmother. And Father Valerian baptized me. It was January 18, 1978 - Epiphany Eve.
Father Valerian baptized us without asking us for money or requiring documents. He came to meet us, and it was only thanks to him that we were baptized. Me, in my first year, at the reckless age of 19, for sure. We were cash-strapped students back then. We studied at an ideological university. If information about our baptism had leaked somewhere, we would have been expelled.
Outwardly, we continued to live a vibrant bohemian life. But every Sunday at 6 o’clock in the morning we invariably got up and went from VDNKh to the Belorussky station, and from there by train to Otradny. There we walked along the path to the Intercession Church. Every Sunday!
Can you imagine what time it was like then? Of course, they didn’t shoot anymore. But you could still get yourself into so many problems. Young people were not allowed into the Church. On Easter, the vigilantes made a cordon, and in order for the young man to break through this cordon, when asked: “Where?!” – you should have blurted out: “To the temple of God!” - so that they would only be amazed at something that they themselves are clearly deprived of.
Then about 15 of us from VGIK were baptized there, in Otradnoye. Moreover, the Tajik Tolib was baptized, in Epiphany Tarakh, the Turkmen Batyr, in Epiphany Boris, the Azerbaijani Ayaz, in Epiphany Alexander, the Jew Borya, in Epiphany also Boris. This was a real brotherhood of peoples, always hoped for in Russia. And everyone kept the faith, although they dispersed in all directions. Tolib and Ayaz were generally from traditional Muslim countries. Ayaz returned to Azerbaijan, lives in Muslim Baku, is a very respected person, and does not hide the fact that he is an Orthodox Christian. Borya lived in Israel for 11 years, despite the fact that he himself is a Jew. He also professed Orthodoxy among the Jews. Now - in Canada. Then, at VGIK, a Catholic converted to Orthodoxy: there was a Croatian, Darko, who later became ordained and served in Latin America.
Moreover, we didn’t even preach anything in particular to anyone; we ourselves didn’t know much at that time. It’s just that we probably had such happy faces that everyone else wanted to experience for themselves: why. I remember one day we were sitting at the table celebrating Easter. Tolib and Ayaz come - well, you can’t kick them out! And they sat with us, sat, and then Tolib said to me: “Dima, I want to be baptized!” What happened to all of us then through the prayers of Father Valerian, that it was obvious to others and was passed on to them?
Father Valerian gave us all a ticket to the Christian world. Vladyka Tikhon (Shevkunov), then still Georgy, studied with us in a parallel course in the screenwriting department. He was also in our company. We all went to Otradnoye together. Then, in my third year, he suddenly disappeared. It turned out that he had gone to Pechory. Of all of us, he took the most direct path to God.
But each of us, thanks to Father Valerian, already knew the path and goal in our youth. Father Valerian received us, then students, with such love. I remember him as my dearest person. Then, in 1981, he married my wife Olya and me. Also without money and without presenting documents. With God's help, we have been together for 40 years (we got married 4 years before our wedding). We have six children. We are now expecting our 13th grandchild.
Father Valerian cannot be separated from other Otradnensky fathers. From the same father Tikhon Pelikh. Through the prayers of Father Tikhon, a miracle happened - our son was healed. He had terrible meningitis. The doctors said there was a 10% chance that he would live. I arrived in Otradnoye. He knelt before Father Tikhon. I still get goosebumps. Father Tikhon was very quiet, sometimes you won’t hear a word from him. And then he gets up - and in such a sonorous, distinct voice, echoing every word:
- Holy Mother of God! Help Dimochka.
We arrived from Otradny, I immediately rushed to the first machine on the street and started calling the hospital. When I was in the temple, my son was undergoing a puncture, and they answered me: “No meningitis!”
I have the brightest, warmest memories of Otradnoye, and of the fathers who served there. I just bow to them. My wife Olya and our entire family endlessly love Father Valerian, we constantly pray for him, we remember Father Tikhon. These are very, very dear people to us.
I also remember the sons of Father Valerian from Otradny. Then, when I entered Sretensky Seminary, we studied on the same course with Father Tikhon. This is how the Lord brought us together.
My daughter then went to see Father Valerian and conveyed to him the lowest regards from my wife and me. She and I traveled to Otradnoye from 1977 to 1982. The last time was the year of my thesis defense. We made a documentary film “Restoration” about the Sretensky Monastery, which was still closed at that time. They were one of the first to find footage of the destruction of churches in the Krasnogorsk archive; now they have already been replicated everywhere. Then we moved to St. Petersburg, the children came, and it was already difficult to get out. But I constantly read Father Valerian’s sermons and follow where he speaks.
There are probably so many people left who are so strong in faith that you can count them on the fingers of one hand. Times are turbid now, there are temptations on the left and on the right. And Father Valerian stands there like a beacon. Father John (Krestyankin) was the same. What he said is true. Whatever happens, we know that the priest is there, and we are calm. Father Valerian is one of the last rocks that stands in this stormy sea. A solid Orthodox man. You can absolutely trust him. A wonderful ascetic. What a pity that we are so far from him.
He didn’t always go to confession then, but you could approach him to talk. I remember how he scolded me for smoking. We were all very bohemian, highly educated. I came to him with some kind of hyperaesthetic problem from the field of either literature or painting: “Father!..” - and I expressed to him some of my creative yearnings. And he listened to me for several minutes, then he turned away and said: “Well, brother, you stink!” Killed. Landed. You really have to backhand it like that!
Yes, all of them there, in Otradnoye, their fathers were so different and so wonderful. There was such a father, Vladimir Shibaev, very educated, smart, you could talk to him interestingly. And Father Tikhon Pelikh had just begun to appear. There is a huge line to see Father Vladimir - everyone is eager. And there, I see, the old man is sitting, his face is so kind, but no one comes to him. I felt ashamed and switched sides. When he just stroked me on the head and hugged me a little for the first time, I felt such delight! There was such a tangible feeling of the presence of grace! It was as if I was returning from Otradnoye on wings. I will remember it for the rest of my life. And we, sinners, do not have many such obvious revelations of the reality of the spiritual world. A month passes, I see: there are several people to see Father Vladimir, and there is already a huge line lining up to see Father Tikhon. It was such a source of love! I was simply one of the first to discover this spiritual power of his.
In Father Valerian, his extraordinary love could at the same time be combined with firmness and even then tangible power. He spoke as if he had authority. Although then, almost 40 years ago, he was not yet an old man in age. He was relatively young, but he already had such charisma. This was given to him. He could speak the truth about power directly and without hesitation. I wasn't afraid of anything. This amazed us and charged us with some kind of internal resource of standing in the truth. I remember how he spoke in his sermons about how the Bolsheviks moved the calendar so that the ugly holidays that should not coincide fell on the same day: the memory of St. Boniface, the patron saint of sobriety, and January 1, when all of once Orthodox Russia lies drunk.
Father Valerian admonished us, set boundaries in our lives that should not be crossed. He instilled some fundamental things. He showed: this is the road, this is the side of the road. You will fall here, you will drown there. Go straight along this path, and that’s it. The road, thank God, is clear to us from a young age.
“I want to be baptized!”
Tarakh Khamidov
Tarakh Khamidov, VGIK graduate:
– In the early 1980s, a group of young people was formed at VGIK who were drawn to faith. Directly from my course: Dima Delov, Olya Nifontova, the late Sasha Karpushev, Sasha Sidelnikov, who was killed when the White House was shot in 1993 - although he was just filming as a cameraman, he was mistaken for a sniper. In parallel with us, Georgy Shevkunov studied screenwriting.
We all talked together. The guys started going to Otradnoye before me. And although I didn’t even know what was happening to them yet, they were all already somehow unusual. They clearly stood out on the course. I began to somehow listen to what they were talking about. I was going through a very difficult period in my life, and one day I took Dima Delov aside and said: “Dima, that’s it, I want to be baptized!” We went to Otradnoye. We hoped to find Father Valerian, who baptized Dima, but I was baptized on Palm Sunday, April 19, 1981, by Father Vladimir Shibaev.
I come from a Muslim background. My father, already a party worker himself, did not accept my choice for a long time. And then his grandfather appeared to him in a dream. The father wants to go into the mosque, but something seems to be blocking his way, people are leaving the mosque, and the father cannot enter. And suddenly the crowd that is moving towards the father partes somewhat, and the grandfather comes to him and says: “Don’t touch Tolib. He's going the right way." After this, my father became so confident that he not only did not reproach me in any way, but also protected me from the KGB officers and his party leadership, who tried to influence me through him. “My son is on the right path! Leave him alone! We are all mortal,” he said.
Tolib is my name before Baptism. Although since childhood my name was Tolya. I thought I would be Anatoly in Epiphany. And when Father Vladimir asked: “What name will you be baptized with?” - I suddenly answered: “I don’t know.” They began to watch the holy calendar. He asked me when my birthday was. the 25th of October. And this is the memory of the martyrs of the 4th century: Provos, Andronikos and Tarakh. So I was baptized with the name Tarakh (this is the same as the Ukrainian name Taras) - also, like, with the letter “T”, like Tolib and Tolya. Father, I remember, was delighted: “You will revive the name of the martyr!”
Father Vladimir was then perceived as soft, and Father Valerian, in contrast, as firm, confident, power itself. I even remember Dima warning me: “He’s a former boxer!” You used to stand in a church, there was a whole crowd of us there, and Father Valerian was on the salt, and he had such power in his gaze that you simply felt awe: “Now he will look into your eyes and understand everything about you,” and from this alone It’s as if all your sins have been peeled away from you. It was felt that he saw all your ulcers, and from this look they, as if treated with some kind of healing solution, began to heal. This is not just my feeling, many admitted this to me later.
When he preached, there was absolute silence in the temple. He has a very powerful word. To be honest, I was even afraid to confess to him. Somehow I kept approaching Father Tikhon Pelikh for confession; he received everyone so carefully, quietly, tenderly, and attentively. Only once did I go to confession to Father Valerian - and I realized that all these fears were in vain.
Then it was impossible to squeeze into the Otradnensky temple, and even now. The spirit then, I remember, was felt there physically. It was almost tangible. You just felt Father Valerian approaching you and, as if A rum, removes your sins. We then experienced every sacrament as a miracle. Such was the grace. Some very deep mystical feeling gripped the soul in those days after each confession and communion.
We were so drawn to Otradnoye then. Other Moscow churches definitely did not exist for us. I once even walked from the Belorussky station to Otradnoye. Arranged this kind of pilgrimage. Although I still made it to several stops at the end. I approach the temple - it’s closed. I started looking for my father. I didn’t even see any actual bell, I just touched the gate and heard a bell ringing somewhere inside. Some mother appeared, walking as if in a haze, either on the ground, or her legs suddenly seemed to be lifted off the ground. “I would like,” I admit, “to talk to the priest.” “Now is not the time,” she replies and disappears.
I go out, there used to be just a field behind the temple in front of the railroad tracks, but now everything there has been built up with houses. It was summer, and at that time there was some withered grass there. Suddenly it lit up around me in a semicircle. I stand in this ring of fire, turn to the temple, begin to cross myself, and this ring itself flares up and goes out. My soul felt lighter too. It was as if all the temptations that surrounded the soul had gone out.
Then, 15 years later, I met a Turkmen in the VGIK dormitory; he was an assistant to many famous directors - the same Pavel Lungin. We got to talking, I told him about my experience of Baptism, and he said to me: “I want to be baptized. Will you be godfather? I agreed. Now I don’t even remember his Turkmen name, I’m used to calling him by the name with which he was baptized: Gregory. We went with him to the Sretensky Monastery to visit Father Tikhon at that time. He accepted us, but sent us to Father Valerian.
I kept thinking: “Why is this not the first time he’s sending me to Father Valerian?” Apparently, given that we studied together, it was more edifying for me to turn to the priest who was an indisputable authority for us even then.
Then, when I wanted to get married and came to Father Tikhon with a request to marry us, he initially agreed. I asked how long we had known each other. Having learned that it was six months, he proposed to perform the sacrament shortly after the Nativity Fast. And then he asked: “Who is she?” I replied that I graduated from the Faculty of Theology at PSTGU and was going to a monastery... “To a monastery?!” – Father Tikhon concentrated. “Then we’ll have to wait another six months.” After Lent, not before.” - “Father, we know each other well...” - “If you don’t believe me, go to Father Valerian.” “Well, why don’t I believe it,” I answered and took the blessing. We waited until Lent, and a year later Father Tikhon married us. Now we already have four children.
And then Gregory and I nevertheless purchased a white baptismal shirt to the toes at the Sretenie store. So then, when the sacrament of Baptism had already begun, Father Valerian saw him and proclaimed so that even the screaming babies quieted down: “How nice it is to see a person in a real baptismal robe!” About the kids who began to roar again, he said: “Don’t pay attention to the fact that they are screaming, we’ll baptize now, everyone will stop.” And indeed: by the time Father Valerian spoke, as always, a brilliant sermon, all the kids were silent, as if they were also listening to him.
“You have a father, Valerian!”
Hegumen Alipiy (Medov)
Hegumen Alipiy (Medov), rector of the Kazan Monastery of the Shuya Diocese of the Ivanovo Metropolis:
“I first heard about Father Valerian from one servant of God, Evfemia Ivanovna, who then labored at the church in Yudino, now there is the Patriarchal Metochion, where the Pukhtitsa nuns live. She knew the priest and told me a lot about him. Following her instructions, I went to Father Valerian for confession in the early 1990s. I immediately felt a unity of spirit, as if there were absolutely no barriers between us. Since then, I turned to the elder on all the most difficult issues. With his blessing I went to the monastery. Father, thank God, has already come to us several times.
Father Valerian is a man of a very broad soul who will always understand, instruct, console, and help in all troubles and sorrows. I was honored to go on pilgrimages several times with my father. He and I traveled to Mount Athos, and we had a chance to travel around Russia with him, and we were on the island of Zalit together. Whenever you communicate with Father Valerian, you always receive spiritual reinforcement. Meetings with him become entire milestones of the inner spiritual path. He always suggests the most accurate direction. Gives patristic advice. All that is required of us is to do everything exactly as he said.
Last fall, Father Valerian and I were in Astrakhan, where our former ruling bishop of Ivanovo, Metropolitan Nikon (Fomin), is now there. Father did not spare himself at all for the sake of people. During the five days that we were there, I spoke publicly every day, not to mention personal meetings. Moreover, for one of the conversations with the people it was necessary to travel many kilometers to Volgograd. Father is an ascetic, he endures all the hardships of the journey for the sake of others. Many people, through his prayers and blessings, receive spiritual healing. I remember when people from somewhere in central Russia came to see Father Nikolai Guryanov, he told them: “Why are you coming to me? You have a father, Valerian!”
The material was prepared for the 80th anniversary of Archpriest Valerian Krechetov, Olga Orlova for
THE TRINITY IS INSPIRED "THE LAST HOLIDAY" I had to read the story of the Book of Archimandrite Tikhon (Agrikov) before. But today I read a wonderful story and received an answer to my question. After moving to another city, everyone who decides to take such a brave step turns out to be a newcomer to the new parish. I had been to the church of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky before, when I came to visit my son, but now, I have become his permanent parishioner, which has its own rules and its own rules, and they in no way coincide with the orders that reigned ( in church) in the city where I lived before. Anyone who has found themselves in a similar situation will understand me, because no one can avoid this temptation of comparison; it is not for nothing that they say: “everything is known by comparison.” But here is a question that stuck in my head and did not give me rest, every time after the next Divine Liturgy, leading my soul into confusion, the Lord saw and sent the answer in the story, Glory to You, Lord! Reading a lot of spiritual literature, I noticed that there are a lot of disagreements between confessors on the question of how often one can approach the sacrament of Communion? Everyone has different answers and, basically, everyone refers to the discretion of the spiritual father or confessor from whom the saving soul is nourished. But I haven’t read anywhere that you can come to communion every week. During Lent, especially Great Lent, there is such a practice for regular parishioners, whom the parish rector knows as flaky, and he gives a blessing for this, but not during Lent, but every week... Anyone who takes this issue seriously knows how PROPER preparation for the Sacrament is important (although we are NEVER worthy and receive communion by the grace and love of God, we are simply obliged to put in a little effort) and, if we take communion every week, then as everyone’s favorite Father Flavian (A. Torica) said, then the person will be in constant fasting, but is this possible for a weak person? Hardly. So, I am in no way going to judge everyone who still dares to take such a bold action, but after reading the story there is something to think about. The story is very necessary, read it and perhaps you will get answers to your questions.
Hierodeacon Daniel (Pavel Ivanovich Malanin) (1926–1956) Of all those who joined the ranks of the Lavra brethren, of the newly arrived young people, Hierodeacon Daniel is remembered, in the world Pavel Ivanovich Malanin. It was impossible not to notice him in those years. Bright, conspicuous external characteristics - tall height, almost black hair, large and expressive facial features - harmonized very well with an enviable voice - a powerful, very pleasant bass timbre. He loved to serve and served collectedly, seriously, without preventing each soul from expressing in prayer, connecting with the litanies, its innermost things - directly, directly, simply. But how great is the temptation for a young strong voice to drown out everything and everyone, to enjoy its range and shades of sound! When Hierodeacon Daniel sang greatness, I couldn’t help but remember the writer Turgenev: “The Russian truthful, ardent soul sounded and breathed in him and grabbed you by the heart, grabbed you right by its Russian strings.” And again: “He sang, and from every sound of his voice there was something familiar and immensely wide.” Of course, in such a situation it is especially difficult to keep your soul from corrosive thoughts of vanity, from infatuation with your own importance, from the desire to insist on your own in the face of any injustice. It is difficult for anyone, and even more so for a serious monk who takes his vows with full responsibility. In the photo: A fragment of a general fraternal photograph of the late 40s of the 20th century. In the center is Hierodeacon Daniil Malanin.
Father Daniel, according to the reviews of those who knew him, tried to work on himself and strengthened these efforts with prayer. Early in the morning, together with all the inhabitants of the monastery, he hurried to the Venerable Hegumen Sergius for a blessing. It's still dark in the cathedral. Only the monk on duty lights the lamps. Until Father Vicar arrived, all the pilgrims stood in the vestibule, leaving a narrow corridor for the monks to pass through. As soon as the primate’s exclamation “Blessed is our God” sounds, multi-colored chandelier cups will flash, and a mighty stream of “Heavenly King...” will flow. After the fraternal prayer service, Father Daniel went to the Liturgy. When he was not serving, he sang in the choir. Church singing was his element. Even on vacation, desired and necessary for his painful condition, he went to sing. He went to Kyiv, sang in the ancient cradle of Russian Orthodoxy - the Lavra of Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Kiev-Pechersk. Less than ten years had passed from the moment Father Daniel entered the Lavra, when the end crept up - silently, unexpectedly, inevitably. They say that in the morning he served, in the evening he read evening prayers after the meal... And the next morning the news of his death had already spread around everyone. He died the year he turned exactly thirty years old. Since ancient times, Christians have been praying for sudden, in Church Slavonic expression, in vain death, asking the Lord to save them from this misfortune. And yet sometimes this happens: someone suddenly dies. But this is not always a problem. It seems that the Lord, “build everything humanely with the depth of wisdom and give what is useful to everyone,” sometimes allows such a decisive measure, knowing in advance what a person may encounter on the way and whether it will be to his benefit. Just as an experienced gardener cuts off a blossoming bud just in time so that the aroma does not fade and the petals do not fall off before the time, so sudden death sometimes kills a person at the best time of his flowering. Understanding and confidence in this can comfort and reconcile all troublesome issues. The psalmist also speaks about this: “I have seen the end of every death; Your commandment is wide” (Ps. 119:96)... It must be added here that Father Daniel was seriously ill. Outwardly, he looked like a strong, strong, even respectable person. But his young body suffered from an incurable illness - epilepsy, which is popularly called epilepsy. I had to see a rather terrible moment in the life of Father Daniel. He served the festive Liturgy. At that time I was still a hierodeacon (the worst). The service was solemn and graceful. Father Viceroy presided. The Assumption Cathedral was full of people. The singers (students of the Theological School) sang “Blessed...” on the choir, then the troparia of the holiday, all the clergy in the altar moved to the high place. Hierodeacon Daniel also crossed over with them. When the choir fell silent and it was necessary to say to one of the hierodeacons, “Let us take in, let us take in wisdom...”, suddenly a terrible thing happened. An inhuman, heartbreaking scream of terrible power was heard in the altar... Everyone shuddered and became numb. At that moment, Hierodeacon Daniel fell, as if cut down, dead on the church floor... As he fell, his raised hands touched the altar's seven-branched candlestick, three or four lamps fell to the floor, oil spilled from them... And he lay face down on the floor completely motionless , in full hierodeaconal vestments. Many thought that he was dead, but he was alive, only a deep fainting state took over him. Coming to their senses from surprise, two young priests dragged Father Daniel by the hands to the side, into the chapel. The service went on as usual. But personally this event made an amazing impression on me. I have never experienced such cases in my life. Moreover, this cry, bursting from the sickest heart, was somehow extraordinary, terrible, tragic. This cry rang in my ears for a whole month and again and again wounded and tormented my soul. After lying in the chapel for about an hour, Father Daniel stood up, shook himself off, somehow painfully, smiled guiltily, then quietly undressed and went to his cell. His appearance was clearly painful, the pallor of his face and the relaxation of his whole body showed that he had undergone an acute physical and mental crisis and needed complete rest. The next day he again served the Divine Liturgy, although they were quietly watching him, protecting him from possible falls and bruises. *** In the “Trinity Letters” (this is such a small book that describes special miraculous events that took place in the Lavra of St. Sergius) there is a similar story about how one, also from the Lavra, hierodeacon (I don’t remember his name) wanted to perform a divine service, being unprepared. He came to the altar, took the surplice, orarion and bridles and was about to approach the holy altar to kiss it, as the clergy do before vesting. But as soon as he approached the throne of God, he suddenly stopped, turned pale as a white sheet, screamed in fear and fell to the floor... When he woke up, he told the following terrible story with tears. He did not prepare to serve at all: he did not read the monastic rule, he did not read the prayer for Holy Communion, he did not go to confession. And so, when he entered the altar and wanted, with vestments in his hands, to venerate the holy throne, he saw an Angel standing at the throne in the form of a bright young man, dressed in a blue surplice. The angel, looking angrily at the hierodeacon, quickly approached him, with a sharp movement snatched the vestment from his hands and said menacingly, pointing at the corner with his hand: “If it weren’t for his prayer for you, I would have struck you on the spot with this fiery sword... " A flaming sword was burning in his hand, shimmering with lights. The hierodeacon instantly noticed that in the corner, kneeling, the Guardian Angel was praying for him, and he was wearing a white surplice. The hierodeacon did not remember anything else. All his limbs shook from fear, and he fell to the ground, fainting. It’s so scary to approach a shrine in an unworthy manner, but how often, often do we do this! God You are ours! And you endure everything! You are waiting for us to properly serve You, the Terrible God... *** I in no way admit the idea that the incident with Hierodeacon Daniel also happened due to unworthiness, as a punishment. No. This is completely different. Father Daniel always carefully prepared for divine services, and always served with a feeling of deep contrition and repentance. And what happened to him was solely due to his illness. The Lord loved his soul and, still pure, not defiled by worldly sinful dirt, took it to Himself, into the Heavenly holy chamber. And how good it is to die at such a young age! Young rose, you are transported to the mountain heliport to bloom and smell even more. How good it is to die at a young age! How good it is not to see all this earthly torment, untruth, grief, tears, dominance, all kinds of evil, deceit!.. *** I had to see a young girl (Natasha her name), this flower withered on the ground, lying in a new coffin. How much unearthly beauty, innocence, tender purity shone in the frozen, light features of her face! Is it possible to think that she died, that she will no longer live? Is this life really a random joke, the fate of an unfair fate, a fleeting gift, a flower trampled into the dirt? Oh no! A thousand times no! She lay there as if alive, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep. And the holy virgin beauty spoke of the immortality of her soul. Lord, how happy they are, these holy souls, who went to You in infancy, childhood, and youth! And how unreasonably do those people who kill themselves, grieve inconsolably over the loss of their children, brothers, sisters, who went into Eternity as young people. *** I remember another holy young soul (her name is Annushka), who, in the very flowering of her virgin beauty, suddenly withered, like an early flower on a frosty morning. I ask my dear readers to remember their names in your holy prayers. *** His parents, who now live in Moscow, reacted quite Christianly to the sudden death of Hierodeacon Daniel. Humbly, resignedly, even with thanksgiving to the Lord, they accepted this terrible lot. Father Daniel's parent, Father John (he accepted the priesthood after the death of his son) still visits the Lavra, but is already weak due to old age and leg disease. The bright image of Hierodeacon Daniel on the feast of the Entry of the Mother of God rises again and again in our memory. After all, he especially loved this holy day. It should be noted that Father Daniel generally loved the holidays of the Mother of God and always tried to serve on these days. And the Feast of the Entry was the favorite day of his life, like a second Easter. And he served this festive Liturgy in 1956 for the last time... Undoubtedly, his heart felt that he would no longer have to serve this holiday on earth. And there were special experiences in his soul. Last holiday. The last one... And now, when I pick up his skufa (it remains as a keepsake), I remember that the one who wore it wore it on the last holiday. But will it be the last time?.. “Yes,” people who are not enlightened by faith will say. But we, believers, will say “no.” Hierodeacon Daniel still serves the feasts of the Mother of God. And now he loves to celebrate them, and even more. Just not here - on the sinful earth, but there - in Heaven, where there is no illness, no sorrow, no sighing, where life is endless, where our Lord reigns and all His saints. A month and a half after the death of Father Daniel, one of the Lavra brethren (a man of pious and holy life) saw the deceased in a vision. Dressed in a light deacon's surplice, he stood in the middle of the Refectory Church. There were many, many little angels around him. Everyone was singing. Marvelous heavenly melodies filled the temple. But what kind of singing was that! Who can deliver it? Tears, tears of tenderness! The one who saw it spoke about it and cried. And when I remember and write about this, tears also roll down my cheeks... When Father Daniil was alive, he really loved to act as regent in the choir, although he was not very good at this job: either his strong voice he scored the rest, and there was no harmony, or haste prevented him from being a good regent - in a word, he did not go well with the regency. And it is there, in Heaven, that, apparently, all our best desires come true, and Father Daniel improves his singing and regency abilities. He sings, and even came to sing with his heavenly choir to us here, in the Refectory Church, in his native Lavra. And how joyful and comforting all this is for us sinners! How joyful it is to realize that our earthly ministry will be improved even more there in Heaven! Excerpt from the book “Inspired at the Trinity” Archimandrite Tikhon (Agrikov) - former teacher of the Moscow Theological Academy and resident of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra
