Pechersk Monastery Archimandrite Methodius. Conversations with the priest. Centenary of the appearance of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God and the restoration of the patriarchate. “The blessing of the Lord be upon you!”

Father Seraphim was for me the most mysterious person in the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery. He came from the Baltic barons. After graduating from the University of Tartu in the thirties, he came to the monastery to obey Elder Simeon.

Father Seraphim had little contact with people. He lived in a cave, adapted as a cell, very damp and dark. During the service, he stood deep in prayer, bowing his head low, and occasionally, in a particularly light and reverent way, making the sign of the cross. And Father Seraphim always walked through the monastery with the same concentration. It seemed a crime to us novices to distract him. True, sometimes he himself briefly addressed us. For example, when returning to the cell from the liturgy, he always gave the prosphora to the person on duty in the monastery square. Or once one novice - Sasha Shvetsov - was thinking about leaving the monastery. Father Seraphim suddenly approached him and stamped his foot and sternly shouted: “There is no way for you to leave the monastery!” He himself, having lived here hopelessly for 60 years, said: “I never even thought about leaving the monastery.” In 1945, however, as a German, our soldiers took him out to be shot, but then they changed their minds and did not shoot him.

In general, despite his isolation and severity, he was an unusually kind, loving person. And everyone in the monastery endlessly revered and loved him. Although they treated him with fear, or rather with trepidation, as a person living on earth with God, as a living saint.

I remember my observation from those years. For some time I was a subdeacon with the Father of the Vicar, Archimandrite Gabriel, and I noticed that when Father Seraphim entered the altar, the Vicar hastily rose from his place to meet him and greeted him with special respect. He never treated anyone like that again. Every morning, winter and summer, at exactly four o’clock, Father Seraphim left his cave cell, briefly examined the monastery to see if everything was in order, and, returning to the cell, lit the stove, which, due to the cave’s dampness, had to be lit almost all year round. I think he felt like a special guardian of the monastery, or maybe this was really entrusted to him. In any case, the voice of this German baron, a great ascetic monk, a visionary ascetic, was always decisive in the most difficult decisions that the brethren of the monastery had to make.

Father Seraphim rarely spoke any special teachings. In the hallway of his harsh cave cell hung sheets with sayings from St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, and those who came to him were often content with these quotes or the advice of Father Seraphim: “Read St. Tikhon more.”

All the years of his life in the monastery, Father Seraphim was content with the smallest things in everything. Not only in food, in sleep, in communicating with people, but even in seemingly completely ordinary things. For example, in the bathhouse he never took a shower; he always had only one bottle of water. When the novices asked him why he didn’t use the shower, because there was as much water as he wanted, he muttered that washing in the shower was the same as eating chocolate.

Once, in 1984, I had the opportunity to visit Diveevo. And then it was not as easy as it is now: there was a closed military city nearby. The old Diveyevo nuns gave me a piece of the stone on which St. Seraphim prayed. Returning to Pechory, I decided to approach Father Seraphim and give him this shrine associated with his spiritual patron. Father Seraphim stood silently for a long time, and then asked:

– What can I do for you for this?

I was even a little taken aback.

“Nothing…” but then he blurted out the most secret thing: “Pray for me to become a monk!”

I remember how Father Seraphim looked at me carefully.

“For this you need the main thing,” he said quietly, “your own will.”

He spoke to me again about his desire to become a monk many years later, under completely different circumstances. I was already in Moscow at that time in obedience to Bishop Pitirim. And Father Seraphim lived out the last year of his earthly life. He hardly seemed to get up anymore. Arriving at the monastery, I went to see the elder in his cave cell. And suddenly he himself started talking about the monastery, about the current state of monasticism. This was very unusual for him and even more precious. I remember several main ideas from this conversation.

Firstly, Father Seraphim spoke about the monastery with enormous, inexpressible love, as about the greatest treasure:

“You have no idea what a monastery is!” This is... a pearl, this is an amazing diamond in our world! Only then will you appreciate and understand it.

Then he spoke about the main problem of today's monasticism:

– The trouble with today’s monasteries is that people come here with weak will.

Only now I understand more and more how deep this remark of Father Seraphim was. There is less and less sacrificial self-denial and determination for monastic feat in us. Father Seraphim’s heart ached about this, watching the young inhabitants of the monastery.

And finally he said something very important to me:

– The time of large monasteries has passed. Now small monasteries will bear fruit, where the abbot will be able to take care of the spiritual life of the brethren. Remember this. If you are a governor, do not take too many brethren.

This was our last conversation in 1989. I was then a simple novice, not even a monk.

The foresight of Father Seraphim did not raise any doubts in me and my monastery friends. Father Seraphim himself was very calm and even somewhat skeptical about talk about miracles and clairvoyance. He once said:

“Everyone says that Father Simeon was a miracle worker, a visionary. And as long as I lived next to him, I didn’t notice anything. Just a good monk.

But more than once in my life I have experienced the power of Father Seraphim’s gifts.

One day in the summer of 1986, I walked past the elder’s cell and saw that he was going to change the lamp in the lantern on his porch. I went up to him, brought a stool and helped him screw in the lamp. Father Seraphim thanked me and said:

– The bishop took one novice to Moscow for obedience. We thought it wouldn’t last long, but he stayed there!

- So what? – I asked.

- Well, that’s it! - said Father Seraphim. He turned around and went to his cell.

In bewilderment, I went my way. What novice? Which bishop?..

Three days later, the Viceroy, Archimandrite Gabriel, summoned me. He said that today Archbishop Pitirim of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, called him from the capital. Vladyka Pitirim learned that there was a novice with a higher cinematic education in the Pechora Monastery and asked the father governor to send him to Moscow: specialists were urgently needed to prepare a television and film program for the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', the celebration of which was planned in two of the year. The novice in question was me. I think it was the worst day of my life. I begged Father Gabriel not to send me to Moscow, but he had already made a decision:

“I won’t quarrel with Pitirim because of you!” - he snapped in response to all my pleas.

Only later did I find out that returning to Moscow was also a long-standing request of my mother, who hoped to dissuade me from monasticism, and Father Gabriel felt very sorry for her and was waiting for a reason to send me to my inconsolable parent. And harsh language was in his usual style.

Of course, I immediately remembered my last conversation with Father Seraphim about the novice, about the bishop, about Moscow and rushed to his cell.

- God's will! Don't worry. “Everything is for the better, you will see and understand it yourself,” the elder told me affectionately.

How hard it was, especially at first, to live in Moscow again. And it’s hard precisely because, waking up at night, I understood that the amazing, incomparable world of the monastery - with Fathers Seraphim, John, Nathanael, Melchizedek, Alexander - was far away, hundreds of kilometers away, and I was here, in this Moscow, where there is nothing like it!

Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov)

WE ARE ALWAYS UNDER THE WING OF GOD

The life and teachings of Archimandrite Seraphim (Rosenberg), elder of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery

The proposed publication is dedicated to the venerable elder, Pskov-Pechersk Archimandrite Seraphim (Rosenberg). The book includes memories of the priests and brethren of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery who knew him, his own miraculously preserved diaries and teachings about spiritual life, about the fight against passions and about the acquisition of Christian virtues; correspondence with his own sister, as well as recordings of the instructions of his confessor, Fr. Seraphim - Venerable Simeon (Zhelnin), Pskov-Pechersk wonderworker. In this soulful reading, the Orthodox reader will find great consolation and spiritual help.

Here is an excerpt from the book.

A word to the readers

Elder Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) once, I remember, when talking about Archimandrite Seraphim, said: “He will be saved.”

The ever-memorable Father Seraphim sought the salvation of the soul in the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersk monastery during his long 62-year life in the monastery.

He appears before his eyes as a monk walking through the monastery with his eyes downcast and carrying the icon from the sacristy to the temple for worship.

In winter, at exactly 4 o’clock in the morning, the stove in his cell, almost a cave, next to the Assumption Cathedral began to be heated.

In early spring, Father Seraphim with an iron shovel was throwing away frozen snow from the northern wall of his home. In the summer, he pedantically monitored the ventilation of all the temples of the monastery. In the fall, the windows of the churches were closed for the winter, and the elder swept away leaves from the gutters of the roof of his earthly abode.

The inner world of Father Seraphim is known only to God.

He read the lives of saints daily in Slavic. His favorite monastic mentor was the Monk Theodore the Studite.

Walking into his cell, which was fragrant with incense, one could always find him doing handicrafts.

During the evening service, he recited the monastic synodikon with the names written down for prayer in the monastery, and, standing next to the fraternal choir, sang along with the monastic choir.

Thank you for your work to Father Deacon Georgy Malkov and Peter Yuryevich Malkov, who in their work showed the ascetic life of Archimandrite Seraphim - for the edification of modern Christians.

Abbot of the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, Archimandrite Tikhon (Secretaryov)

Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery.

Introduction

Among Orthodox monks, residents of holy monasteries, and devotees of piety, there are sometimes special monks whose Christian path, over the course of many decades of their earthly journey along the road to Eternity, remains a secret, a riddle, a hidden life for those around them.

They do not make a striking external impression on those around them, do not shine with the words of a bright and inspired sermon from the church pulpit, and do not gather around them numerous spiritual children eager to hear their wise advice and instruction. Their feat is quiet and inconspicuous; it seems that their biography does not include anything other than a series of identical days and years filled with monastic obediences and conscientious - without any special ascetic and spiritual achievements - fulfillment of the rules of monastic life.

However, sometimes those around them begin to guess that in the life of such “secret” monks not everything is so simple, that something special, significant, truly important is happening in their heart-spiritual inner work.

A short but precise word, an act filled with special humility, a moment that reveals the image of sublime prayer during church services - all this suddenly visibly reveals to the brethren that such a monk stands before God in the highest way, walks before Him, has great power of prayer in His eyes, is beloved by Him special love - as adopted by the gift of Divine grace. Suddenly it turns out that behind the meager words of communication with others, a stern and seemingly indifferent look at the world around us, behind unremarkable actions, the measured fulfillment of obediences, there is hidden an incessant prayerful and spiritual feat, a fierce struggle for one’s own Salvation, the triumph of victory over temptations , sin, the joy of true, authentic communion with God.

But moments of such involuntary self-testimony to others can be very, very rare. And therefore, in the eyes of the brethren, such a monk, standing before God in the silence of his heart, is most often perceived as nothing more than a “good” monk, whose inconspicuous feat is often hidden in the shadow of the bright ascetic work of famous monastic elders.

Archimandrite Seraphim (Rosenberg) (1909–1994), a resident of the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, to whose spiritual feat and written heritage this book is dedicated, during his lifetime he was just such a “secret” monk. His “work” in Christ, the internal struggle for Salvation, the height of prayer before God were - for many decades of his life in the holy Pechersk monastery - deeply and reliably hidden behind the strong fence of external severity, albeit sometimes softened by a fleeting kind smile, unsociability, and exactingness to subordinates, brevity of speech, contentment with the least in everyday life, complete dedication to obedience blessed by the monastic authorities. Respected by everyone in the monastery for his many years of monastic feat, humility, hard work, love for attending church services, and also for the fact that he was once especially close to the great elder of the twentieth century, the Monk Simeon (Zhelnin) (1869–1960), he, according to Archimandrite Feofana (Molyavko), was... “a “mysterious book” that no one can read.”

The monastic life of the sacristan Archimandrite Seraphim, who labored in the Pechersk monastery for almost 62 years, was precisely such a “mysterious book” for the Pechersk brethren.

This is how Father Seraphim remained in the memory of the abbot of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, Archimandrite Tikhon (Secretaryov), in the last years of his life: “...Father Seraphim humbly continues, already limping, to carry icons and vestments to churches along the steps of the stairs for divine services. In the autumn, he sweeps away yellowed leaves from the roof of his cell, thereby fulfilling his long-standing obedience to Elder Simeon; in winter he cuts wood for the stove into smaller pieces; In the spring he scatters snow from his cell so that it melts faster. He answers questions with a friendly smile. Sometimes he translates letters coming to the monastery from foreign languages. In addition, it is imperative that he attends morning and evening services every day.

Thus years pass until his last illness, and for five years Father Seraphim patiently endures suffering, daily receives communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, reads spiritual books and prays, prays continuously. Sometimes he goes out for a short walk and for any service he does to himself, he says from the bottom of his heart with a bow: “Thank you!”

Not a single superfluous word addressed to others, no long conversations with the brethren, a lonely, secluded life, stubborn silence in response to questions about the historical past of the monastery in the twentieth century, which Archimandrite Seraphim witnessed during his long earthly life - truly a “mysterious book” always closed and hidden from prying eyes...

It would have remained so to this day if, by the Providence of God, the diaries of Father Seraphim, some of his letters and other handwritten notes of the elder had not unexpectedly been discovered.

Of course, these notes only partially reveal to us that heartfelt aspiration for Salvation, that fierce struggle with temptations, with sin, that spiritual burning with love for God and neighbor, and the prayerful ascent up the ladder of spiritual perfection that were inherent in Elder Seraphim. Much about him remains a mystery to this day... We do not learn much from the records of Archimandrite Seraphim and about the history of his life.

In these diaries, Father Seraphim is mostly silent about his “external” self, but constantly testifies to the most important side of his own personality - about the “internal” man, building himself in Christ, building a hidden temple for the dwelling of the Holy Spirit.

These diaries do not describe the “everyday” biography of the elder, but tell us about his thorny spiritual path - from a young man who has just entered the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, overwhelmed by thoughts, to a wise old man - a witness to the truth of Orthodoxy, a guardian and preacher of the treasures of Church Tradition.

Another gift of Divine Providence, of course, is the living voice of his mentor, spiritual leader, the Venerable Elder Simeon, which is constantly present on the pages of the found diaries of Archimandrite Seraphim.

The volume of records of elder Simeon's teachings to young Seraphim (Rosenberg) (most of them date back to the 30s of the twentieth century) is quite large. It is all the more joyful that we now have the opportunity to more fully join the spiritual heritage of this wonderful, newly glorified Pechersk ascetic.

The Monk Simeon speaks with the then young monk Seraphim about ways to combat temptations and sin, about acquiring humility, about love for God and neighbor, about prayer, about patiently enduring sorrows and illnesses. In these records, a treasury of deep wisdom, living faith in Christ, and the sharp and bright words of the great elder opens before us.

From an unexpected side, the image of the inner life and all the originality of the personality of Elder Seraphim is shown to us by his correspondence with his sister, Tamara Ivanovna Rosenberg.

Tamara Ivanovna, together with her parents, ended up in exile in Switzerland as a result of the events of World War II. Unable to visit her brother in her homeland, she exchanged letters with him for more than thirty years. Letters from Tamara Ivanovna Rosenberg to Father Seraphim were also discovered by the authors of the book.

It must be emphasized that Tamara Ivanovna’s letters give us very important additional information about the personality of Archimandrite Seraphim, his character, attitude towards his relatives, and his understanding of the meaning of monastic feat and Christian life. These letters also paint us a very lively and vivid image of the personality of Tamara Ivanovna Rosenberg herself - a sincerely believing Orthodox woman who does not lose her deep spiritual connection with her Motherland even far from it.

Some of Father Seraphim’s letters to his sister also fell into the hands of the book’s authors: partly in the original, partly in fragments, rewritten by Tamara Ivanovna’s hand in two special notebooks (these notebooks also contain other materials dedicated to the personality of Archimandrite Seraphim).

The elder’s letters to his sister reflect many significant circumstances of his life, clearly testify to the special reverent feeling that he felt for the Monk Simeon, contain interesting (albeit brief) characteristics of the former monastic governors, and also visibly show us the deep heartfelt affection that he had Father Seraphim to Tamara Ivanovna. In addition, we find in these letters very bright, spiritually deep teachings of the elder addressed to his sister.

The pages of the book also publish the memoirs of those who personally knew Elder Seraphim: those who received at least some access to the recesses of his soul; those who were honored to witness his meek and humble service to God, intense monastic work and labor for the glory of the holy Pskov-Pechersk monastery; finally, those who were present at the last moments of the elder’s life before his departure beyond the threshold of death - into Eternity...

The Pskov-Pechersk monastery has always been famous for its wonderful elders. Thousands of pilgrims from all over Russia flocked here for everyday advice, consolation, encouragement, and guidance in the fight against sin and on the paths of Salvation. Elder Seraphim during his earthly life was almost invisible to those around him - in this marvelous Pechersk horizon of the local humble elders. All the more unexpectedly and brightly does that treasury of spiritual knowledge of God, that inner spiritual “sacristy” of personal achievement, monastic labor and deep spiritual reflections of Father Seraphim, which are revealed to us in his life and his diaries, begin to shine with an even and wise light. In addition, one should constantly remember that all the Thought of God of Archimandrite Seraphim constantly shines, as it were, with the “reflected light” of the wise instructions of his teacher, confessor and senior friend - the Monk Simeon.

We now invite Orthodox readers to turn to this treasury. May that deep monastic prudence, that serious ascetic experience, those succinct and clear answers to the most pressing questions of the Christian soul that appear before us in the instructions of the Venerable Elder Simeon and his disciple - Elder Seraphim - serve you, dear readers, for your good, in help in the fight against sin, in the acquisition of spiritual perfection and in Salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ.

FROM THE HISTORY OF THE KHOLMSKY DYNASTY OF THE KHOLMSKYS

The numerous Kholmsky family and their descendants were well known in the district and province in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the first half of the 19th century, the priest of the Dankovo ​​Holy Trinity Church was Peter Kholmsky, the father of the future abbot of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. The rector of the Toropetsky Korsun-Bogoroditsky Cathedral in 1841 was Archpriest John Kholmsky.

The priest of the Vodivtsevo Vladimir Church of the Dankovsky volost and the head of the parish school in 1904 - 1914 was Pavel Lvovich Kholmsky, who in 1906 celebrated the 25th anniversary of his priesthood. One of his daughters, Alexandra, subsequently worked at the Toropets Pedagogical School.

The priest of the Morkhov Trinity Church and the head of the parish school was Father Nil Fedorovich Kholmsky, and his daughter Lydia was a teacher at the same school.

In 1924 - 1926, V.N. was a member of the editorial board of the Kholm branch of the Local History Society. Kholmsky.

Pogosts Apolets and Dankovo

The gallery of famous people of the Kholm land would be incomplete without prominent representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church from the Kholmsky dynasty. One of the most famous representatives of this family was Archimandrite Methodius (in the world Matvey Petrovich Kholmsky). To the oldest Pskov local historian, Honorary Citizen of the city of Pskov N.F. Using archival materials, Levin managed to find his service record and establish that Matvey’s grandfather was deacon Vasily Kholmsky.

Matvey’s father, Pyotr Vasilyevich, studied at the Pskov Theological Seminary, but after finishing the first two-year class, for some reason he dropped out of the seminary. On November 26, 1814, he received a position as a sexton in the Kazan church of the Apolets churchyard in Kholm district. Here two children were born into the family of Pyotr Vasilyevich and Evdokia Sergeevna.

After ten years of service in the Apolets church, sexton Peter was ordained a deacon and transferred to the Trinity Church of the Dankovo ​​churchyard, seven miles from Apolets. According to information from 1872, there were 74 villages and 2,276 parishioners in the Dankovsky parish, and there were 9 courtyards in the churchyard.

On May 27, 1826, Deacon Pyotr Kholmsky was elevated to the rank of priest. In Dankovo, in the large family of Pyotr Vasilyevich, on August 6, 1831, a sixth child was born, who was given the name Matthiy (Matvey). In total, there were eight children in the priest’s family: six sons (Lev, Fyodor, Gabriel, Matthiy, Pavel and Ivan) and two daughters - Anna and Tatyana.

The service of Father Peter Kholmsky in Dankovo ​​lasted twenty years until his transfer in 1844 to the Trinity Church of the Volok churchyard on the Seryozha River in Kholmsky district. Here was the estate of the famous Kholm landowner, retired major, participant in the foreign campaigns of the Russian army of 1813 - 1814, Luka Ivanovich Kushelev, father of a participant in the Paris Commune, Elizaveta Dmitrieva (Kusheleva, Tomanovskaya, years of life - 1850 - 1919).

Matvey Kholmsky. Years of study

The sons of the priest Father Peter Kholmsky received their initial education and preparation for serving the Orthodox Church at the Toropetsk Theological School, which was founded in 1833 and until 1867 had a six-year course of study, including a parish school. The building of the former religious school in Toropets has been preserved; it now houses the surgical building of the district hospital.

Matvey entered theological school at the age of ten. Let me remind you that at that time the rector of the Korsun Cathedral in Toropets was Archpriest John Kholmsky

After graduating from college in 1847, Matvey Kholmsky immediately entered the Pskov Theological Seminary. According to the seminary inspector, Matvey Kholmsky “was distinguished by great religiosity, loved church services, studied theological subjects with particular pleasure,” and showed a passionate desire to serve the church.

In 1853, he graduated from the seminary with a first-class certificate and soon got married. As N. Levin found out, his wife was the daughter of the Velikiye Luki priest Father John Shalfeev - Elizaveta, born in 1833.

On July 1, 1854, Matvey Kholmsky, as one of the best graduates of the seminary, was ordained to the priesthood and appointed priest of the Annunciation Church in the city of Toropets.

Priest of the Annunciation Church

In the family of Matvey Petrovich and Elizaveta Ivanovna in Toropets, three sons were born - Peter, Neil and Yakov. Everything was going well. The priest's worship and spiritual and educational activities were highly appreciated by the bishops of the diocese. It is known from his service record that in 1856 he was declared “gratitude and Archbishop’s favor for preaching the word of God with special zeal,” and then in 1861 “Archpastoral gratitude and God’s blessing” for conducting catechetical teachings on Sundays and teaching the Law of God free of charge at the St. Olga orphanage.

But in the ninth year of family life, a dark streak came. At twenty-nine years old in 1862, Elizaveta Ivanovna died suddenly. At 31, Matvey Petrovich was left a widower with three young sons. Sister Anna and mother Evdokia Sergeevna took upon themselves to help care for them and run the household. But it’s not for nothing that they say that trouble doesn’t come alone. Following the death of his wife, two younger sons die.

The priest imposes on himself the rule of serving the Divine Liturgy daily, and fulfills this rule strictly. Prayer and doing good deeds become the only meaning of his life. And he perceives the sorrows that have befallen him as a test of God, without which there is no salvation for the soul and the person himself.

In post-reform times, Father Matthias takes an active part in social and charitable activities: he performs the duties of a dean; opens a parochial school in the parish; elected as a member of the city duma, a member of the district School Council, the first chairman of a charitable society, etc. Twice rector of the Annunciation Church, Father Matthiy was a member of the board of the Toropets Theological School, where from 1874 to 1878 Vasily Bellavin (the future Patriarch of All Rus' Tikhon), whose father, studied served as a priest of the Toropetsk Church of the Transfiguration.

In the year of his 25th anniversary of service in the Annunciation Church, in 1879, Father Matthias was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the third degree. But after this, in 1881, another test followed. Another blow of fate. Matvey Petrovich lost his last son, Peter, a fourth-year student at the Military Medical Academy, and three years later his mother Evdokia Sergeevna also passed away. The shepherd thought about monasticism. But his spiritual leader, Elder Ambrose, said: “The time has not come yet.”

Archpriest of the Korsun-Bogoroditsky Cathedral

Father Matthias served faithfully in the Annunciation Church for thirty years. In recognition of his pastoral merits, on May 27, 1884, he was elevated to the rank of archpriest (senior Orthodox priest) and in August of the same year he was transferred to the position of rector of the Korsun-Bogoroditsky Cathedral, the main church of the city of Toropets.

In the Korsun Cathedral there was a shrine of Rus' - one of the three icons of the Mother of God, painted, according to legend, by the Evangelist Luke during the life of the Mother of God. This icon was presented to the city by the bride of Prince Alexander Nevsky, Princess Alexandra, daughter of the Polotsk prince Bryacheslav, at their wedding in Toropets. And it came to Polotsk from the city of Ephesus - the religious center of Byzantium on the Western coast of Asia Minor - through Korsun (the ancient Russian name for Chersonesus). Currently, there is a copy of the icon in the Toropets Cathedral, and its original is in the Russian Museum.

In his sermons, Archpriest Matthias never tired of explaining the instructions of the ancient elders: “Buy yourself peace with your labor... Have spiritual reasoning, lift up your mind to God, but bring it down and down, thinking that sooner or later we will all return to the earth. Listen to the reading of divine books, lament your sins, speak the truth, open your lips more often to pray, open your hands to give to those in need, keep your heart from anger, keep your body clean, abstain in food, bend your knees to worship God. If you keep this, then you will be a child of light and a son of the Kingdom of Heaven, you will save your soul.”

Sin, evil deeds and thoughts destroy the soul and lead to a person’s death. But the archpriest believed that in order to save the soul and human dignity, it is not enough to limit oneself to avoiding evil and evil thoughts. It is still necessary to do good.

However, the service in the Korsun Cathedral did not last long. In the 55th year of his life, on October 27, 1886, Archpriest Matthias was tonsured a monk with the name Methodius. And immediately after this, the Pskov bishop Gemorgen appointed him rector of the Nikandrov Hermitage near Porkhov.

Thus ended the 32-year period of pastoral service in Toropets, during which Archpriest Matthiy Kholmsky gained the veneration and deep respect of his parishioners and all Toropets.

The reader may get the impression that Matvey Petrovich was more likely a Toropchanian than a Kholmitian. But the main thing is not this, but the fact that such people were born on Kholm land. After all, the hero of Bulgaria Pavel Kalitin and his brother, the hero of the First World War, General Peter Kalitin, also performed their exploits not on Kholm land, but monuments to them were still erected in Kholm. And the Kholm land can only be proud that its representatives, even outside their small homeland, worthily bore the title of Kholmich and, to the best of their strength and capabilities, helped their hometown.

Yes, some of the Kholmsky family worked in Toropets, since there were no clergy of such a high order there. And the Hill generously shared such people with other cities. Moreover, Kholm and Toropets were not strangers. They were cities of one province and one diocese. In turn, the Toropets Theological School trained church ministers for the Kholm district.

Abbot of the Nikandrova Hermitage

The last nineteen years of the life of Father Methodius (Kholmsky) were a period of his monastic obedience. Soon after his appointment as rector of the Nikandrov Hermitage, on May 27, 1887, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

The monastery arose at the end of the 16th century on the Demyanka River, near Porkhov, among impassable swamps in the habitat of the desert dweller Nikandr. After the death of Nikander, a certain monk Isaiah in 1585 gathered the brethren and built a monastery here. A church was built over the grave of the saint in the name of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The church calendar of the Pskov diocese for 2014 notes that in the Nikandrovskaya Hermitage, Archimandrite Methodius continued to serve for the benefit of his neighbors. From the first days of his stay here, “he accepted the feat of eldership and became the spiritual father of thousands of people who flocked to him (general confession).” Through his care, a church was built at the monastery cemetery. In 1892, “for excellent and diligent service,” the emperor awarded him the Order of St. Anne, second degree. That same year, the archimandrite made a two-month pilgrimage to the holy places of Palestine.

Looking ahead, I note that, assessing the activities of the rector of the Nikandrov Hermitage, the Porkhov priest V. Domansky said in his farewell speech at the funeral service: “The Porkhovichi became close to him during his abbotship in the Nikandrov Hermitage and did not interrupt spiritual communication... We can say that for In our area, Father Archimandrite was the same burning lamp as... Shepherd John of Kronstadt is for the entire Russian Church. Father Methodius was for us a model of faith and meekness, a teacher of abstinence, humility, and complacent enduring of everyday adversity, which often occurred in his life. The Pskov diocese has lost one of its best sons.”

After seven years of abbotship in the Nikandrovskaya Annunciation Hermitage, Archimandrite Methodius, by the decision of the Synod of February 4, 1894, No. 316, was moved to the same position in the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. It should be noted that abbots of other monasteries were transferred here as a sign of special recognition of their merits in their previous place.

Historical reference

According to one legend, the founders of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery were monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, who fled here at the end of the 15th century from the raids of the Crimean Tatars.

According to another version, the first desert inhabitant of the “God-created cave”, even before the founding of the monastery here, was St. Mark. And the founder of the monastery on the high bank of the Kamenets River, 50 kilometers from Pskov, on the border with the Livonian Order, was the priest John. The chronicle says this about this: Father John (monastically Jonah) “came to this place, starting to dig together with Mother Maria (monastically Vassa) in the mountain church behind the “God-made cave to the west”...

And in the summer of 1473, “Hieromonk Jonah finished his work - the excavation of a small church in the mountain,” ... which was consecrated on the day of the Dormition of the Mother of God.

In 1523, the Assumption Cave Church was expanded and the chapel of St. Anthony and Theodosius of Kiev-Pechersk was built in it. The temple had only one facade, facing the northern slope of the mountain.

With the beginning of the Livonian War for access to the Baltic Sea in 1558-65, the monastery was fenced with mighty stone walls 810 meters long with nine towers, eight of which remain to this day. With the construction of the fence, the monastery turned into an impregnable fortress.

In the 17th century, the monastery received recognition as the leading spiritual and cultural center of North-West Russia.

In the middle of the 18th century, a church was built on top of the cave Assumption Church in honor of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At the same time, the general facade of the Assumption and Intercession churches was made and five domes with crosses were installed.

By decree of Catherine II of February 26, 1764, the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery was assigned a staff of 34 people, for whose maintenance 1,311 rubles were allocated per year.

Century after century, through the efforts of the brethren and abbots, a unique historical and architectural ensemble has developed around the “God-created caves”.

Abbot of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery

On March 25, 1894, Archimandrite Methodius (Matvey Petrovich Kholmsky) took control of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery. The abbot of the monastery enjoyed enormous authority and veneration from the inhabitants, praying people and pilgrims. Believers sought him for blessings out of respect for his strict monastic life. He was revered as a kind, attentive, simple and accessible person.

In the year of his transfer, the archimandrite turned 40 years old from the beginning of his priestly service. In this regard, a celebration took place, at which he was presented with the archimandrite's staff and a congratulatory address.

In addition to performing his direct duties, he, as before, takes an active part in public and charitable activities. According to the research of N.F. Levin, on June 3, 1894, the archimandrite accepted the title of honorary guardian of the Pskov Theological School, for the establishment of whose house church he spent about two thousand rubles of personal funds. And in 1900, he donated a throne and an iconostasis for the construction of the house church of the diocesan school.

In 1895, the rector was elected a member of the board of the Pskov department of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, one of whose tasks was to maintain Orthodoxy and familiarize believers with the present and past of the Holy Land.

By decree of May 14, 1896, Archimandrite Methodius was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the fourth degree, and by decree of August 28, 1900, the same order of the third degree.

In 1903, Russia celebrated the 200th anniversary of Peter I's victory over the Swedes at the walls of the Pechersky Monastery during the Northern War. In August of the same year, Emperor Nicholas II and his family visited the monastery.

In the year of the 50th anniversary of his priestly service, in 1904, Archimandrite Methodius was awarded the Order of St. Anne, first degree. On July 1, on the day of the anniversary, Archbishop of Pskov and Porkhov Arseny (Stadnitsky), Governor Count A.V. arrived at the monastery. Adlerberg, abbots of all the monasteries of the diocese, delegations from Pskov, Porkhov, Toropets, Kholm and other cities. This celebration was widely covered on the pages of the Pskov Diocesan News and the Pskov City List.

According to the memoirs of E.A. Voronova, “Father Methodius came to St. Petersburg on February 23, 1906 to consult with doctors regarding the state of his health... On the second day, the elder was in the Vorontsov metochion on deanery matters. On the third day, I visited St. Vladimir’s teacher’s school and prayed in the Kazan Cathedral. The next morning, he served the liturgy at the Vorontsov courtyard. On other days, he visited the Theological Academy... While at the courtyard, the elder felt bad...”

He came down with lobar pneumonia. John of Kronstadt visited the patient twice. The best doctors in St. Petersburg observed him, but the disease turned out to be stronger. And on April 5, 1906, at the 75th year of his life, Elder Methodius died in the courtyard of the Vorontsov Monastery in Kholm County. The coffin with the deceased was delivered by rail to Pechory.

Throughout all the days of his life, Archimandrite Methodius faithfully and diligently served the Lord and the people, leaving us an example of a good and godly life. His priesthood and charitable activities have always received high praise and recognition. In his farewell speech in the St. Michael-Arkhangelsk Cathedral of the Pechersk Monastery, Vladyka Archbishop Arseny said: “... in the person of Father Archimandrite Methodius, we have lost a dear elder and spiritual father, an experienced and wise adviser, an exemplary shepherd and monk... The holy monastery mourns for you, now orphaned and seeing off your ashes with tears; the shepherds of the entire Pskov region mourn, who saw in you an example of a true good shepherd and the embodiment of monastic virtues; all your many spiritual children are grieving.”

Years in the Dankov churchyard of the Kholm district of the Pskov province in the family of the priest Pyotr Vasilyevich and Evdokia Sergeevna Kholmsky. In total, there were eight children in the family: six sons - Lev, Fedor, Gabriel, Pavel, Ivan and two daughters - Anna and Tatyana. Nephews of Rev. Peter (1867-1939) and Ilya, teacher at Kostroma Theological Seminary.

On February 4 of the year he was transferred to the position of rector of the first-class Pskov-Pechersky Assumption Monastery. On March 25, 1894, he took over control of the monastery.

On June 3, 1894, at the request of the board and with the permission of the bishop, he accepted the title of honorary guardian of the Pskov Theological School. At his own expense, he purchased an iconostasis with icons, a throne, an altar and other accessories in the capital, spending about 2 thousand rubles.

Under his leadership, significant construction began at the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. On August 15, 1894, during the patronal feast of the monastery, the foundation stone of a vast two-story brick building for a fraternal refectory, several cells and some services took place. Two years later, on the eve of the Dormition of the Mother of God, the consecration of the constructed building took place.

On February 5 of the year, the school church was consecrated in the name of the holy Slovenian first teachers Cyril and Methodius. Subsequently, he took care of the repair of the temple, the renewal of church clothes and other items, and the improvement of the hostel. On April 28, he was appointed trustee of the parish school, which had existed at the monastery since 1886.

On October 1 of the year, he was elected deputy chairman of the Council of the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood, which helped church educational institutions.

In the two-story half-stone building of the monastery hotel, built in 1896-98, he allocated space for school classes and for the residence of some teachers. But he still considered his main task to be communication with believers who needed his spiritual help. And more and more of them came to the monastery.

Father Methodius was highly revered by the people. Often, after very long monastic services, he still had to bless the pilgrims for a long time, who sought him out of respect for his strict monastic life.

He was also respected by the St. Petersburg clergy. Attended audiences with the emperor

The idea of ​​working in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery came to me after reading
the wonderful book by Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov “Unholy Saints”.

I planned to stay in the monastery for 16 days. The big problem for me was
The question is where to get accommodation. First I called the pilgrimage
service of the monastery and asked how he could find accommodation for the night, whether there was any
guarantee that I will not come and I will have nowhere to stay, to which they answered me
that guarantees are given only by the Lord God and they gave Maxim’s father’s phone number. Admit
This answer didn’t inspire me much, but how can a pilgrimage trip
do without temptation. However, when I phoned the monastery’s hotelier, Father
Maxim, he said that I would live in a building for workers which is located
two minutes walk from the monastery. As it turned out, Father Maxim accepts
pilgrims and workers who arrived one or two at a time, for large groups with
The monastery has its own pilgrimage service.

Having collected the necessary things, on September 16, 2013 I went to the railway
station and boarded a half-empty carriage of the Murmansk-Pskov train. Arriving in Pskov, I
without wasting time I went to the bus station, which is literally two
minutes walk from the railway station to catch the bus to Pechory. TO
unfortunately I didn't take my camera with me on the trip, so I don't have
own photographs for this text.

At the monastery they told me where to find the pilgrimage service, a small room
in which Father Maxim receives workers and pilgrims who come to the monastery.
There were 5 or 6 other people in the room with me, mostly older women.
Having taken my wallet with all the documents, Fr. Maxim took me to
the monastery kitchen, where I had to carry out obedience and introduced me to the cook
Andrei, after which he gave me a piece of paper with the number of my cell and entrusted me with
The monastery duty officer Sergei will escort me to my place of residence. Left
without documents, I felt quite awkward for a while, remembering
folk wisdom “without a piece of paper you are a bug, but with a piece of paper you are a person”, and
I grumbled, but later I understood why this order was adopted.

I was moved into a cozy building for workers on the upper utility yard.
The building turned out to be a two-story white brick building with a ground floor on
which houses an assembly hall and a spacious, bright refectory. On the second
floor, a cozy cell with three beds, a wardrobe, a table, a Pochaevskaya
icon of the Mother of God and the Savior Not Made by Hands above the window. The view from the window
to the monastery grounds and green fields, where the shepherd monk drove out in the morning
their cows. On the table are icons and books that previous guests had forgotten
submit to the library, which is located on the first floor of the building. At the moment
When I arrived, the cell was empty. The first day passed with getting to know the monastery:
I walked around the monastery square, visited the Cathedral of Archangel Michael and
Sretensky Church.

I had to carry out obedience in the monastery kitchen, as an assistant
cooks To my surprise, lay people cook in the monastery kitchen, not monks.
In total, five people will obey in the kitchen: the cook, his assistant, two women wash
dishes and the monastery's monk. The cook's shift only prepares food, but not
distributes it. I was strictly forbidden to distribute monastery goods,
only with the permission of the chef. The monastic kitchen is small: there are five wood-burning
fireboxes, above each of which there is a boiler, in one of which we kept
boiling water. Food is cooked on a single large stove. There is also an electric
fryer and an excellent industrial vegetable cutter that can chop into a bucket
carrots and potatoes in half a minute.

The cook and his assistant prepare the food, and an elderly woman also comes into the kitchen.
which prepares the so-called “diet”. Feed pilgrims and guests of the monastery
Monk Blasius arrives. Father Vlasiy in his long work apron and black scarf
on his head with a huge, probably one and a half meter knife for slicing bread, namely
Only with such a knife is it convenient to cut monastery loaves that are 5 times larger than those
what you can see in our stores reminded me of a dashing sea
pirate. However, there was nothing terrible about him, he turned out to be very kind and
a cheerful monk, always came to obedience with his gap-toothed
a smile and a kind parting word “God help you.”

Obedience always begins and ends with prayer before the Pochaev icon
Mother of God and prayer to Euphrosynus the cook, the saint who carried obedience to
kitchen of one of the monasteries of Palestine. Pilgrims are working in the kitchen at two
shifts, the first shift cooks from 6 am to 12, the second – from 1 pm to 5
evenings.

On the first day of obedience I had to work the first shift. Rise to
5:45, greeting each other with sleepy faces and walking to the kitchen in the light of the stars under
cover of night. In the morning we did not read the rule, because... otherwise there was no way to make it in time
set to prepare breakfast. Only after we put the pots on
fire could be prayed in turn, because one person from the shift had to
keep order in the kitchen. Andrey turned out to be smiling and cheerful
a guy from Tambov, as I later found out, he moved to Moscow and from there
arrived in Pechory and has been living here for five months.

Before the shift, we put on a change of clothes (pants, pajamas, hat and apron),
which is jokingly called a surgical suit. Taught all the wisdom
kitchen craft, a cheerful guy from Belarus, Dima, who was the first
assistant cook on our shift and left three days later. As it turned out
An assistant chef has a lot of obediences - the first and most important, of course
obedience to the cook, listen carefully to what he says and do it in a timely manner
carry out, as well as washing cereals, going to the warehouse for groceries, chopping and
cutting vegetables, helping to lift and lower 50 liter pots of boiling and
boiling potatoes or soup, monitoring the supply of firewood and filling the woodpile,
maintaining fire in stoves, pouring boiling water into kettles and tanks in which
water settles, maintaining cleanliness and order in the kitchen, preparing dinner in
refectory of the pilgrimage corps, garbage removal. Oh, I almost forgot
The first shift assistant cleans the restroom every Monday and Thursday.

The most difficult obedience for me turned out to be watching the candlestick near
the central lectern in the church during the service. It's very difficult to concentrate on
prayer and worship, when candles are served from all sides, your hands burn
hot wax and flame blind the eyes, making it impossible to see that someone is passing
next to you and you must give way to a deacon or priest. Now I'm at least a little
I understand how difficult it is sometimes for candle makers in our churches. Cook in
additions brings even more obediences, such as reading the indefatigable Psalter,
cleaning the floor in the pilgrims' building.

During my stay in Pechory there were two twelfth holidays:
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Pre-holiday
the shifts turned out to be the most stressful, as we had to prepare treats for
festive table not only for the brethren and pilgrims, but also for all guests
the monasteries of which a lot come for the holiday, during these shifts I never
sat on a chair except when having lunch.

So, day after day, washing cereals, sorting beans or peas, carrying water and
firewood, chopping potatoes, carrots and onions, passing boiled potatoes to mash,
Burning my hands and face with hot steam from the boiler, I came to the understanding that
we feed Christ in the person of all the brethren and the visiting pilgrims and for me
the meaning of the words from the teachings of Theodore the Studite, which is attached, was revealed to the new
next to the distribution window, in which he writes, addressing the brother carrying
the cook's obedience that he will “have a part with the saints” only if
carry out your obedience with joy and zeal. He must strive like fire
to your obedience. Although before that I thought: “Well, how can you serve like that?
For God’s sake, cooking soup and washing buckwheat?”

One day, I understood why the monastery takes personal documents for storage
pilgrims. A few days before his departure, second shift assistant Pavel,
came to his cell and did not find his neighbor or his things there, but also
as well as their own. His neighbor turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing, he lived for three days in
monastery, after which he ran away, robbing his neighbor. From that day I became
always carry a wallet with you, “Be wise as serpents and simple as doves”
(Matt. 10:16).

After one of the morning shifts, there was a trip to the caves created by God,
created means created by God, none of the inhabitants of the monastery made them
specially. It is necessary to explain that there are near and far caves. In the neighbors
in the caves rest the relics of the venerable Pskov-Pechersk saints: Mark, Jonah, Lazarus
and Vassa's mother. Behind the massive iron door, the iron door begins
distant caves are long underground passages-streets. Buried in distant caves
inhabitants of the monastery, in grooves carved into the walls. At first I was perplexed
why did we take candles at the entrance, only when the heavy door of the distant caves
closed behind me and I found myself in complete darkness, only then did I understand
Why are candles handed out at the entrance? After some time in the caves, I realized that
I was shown a real miracle of God, because... standing in the middle of a cave surrounded
with many buried remains, I did not smell any smell of decay. One of
The streets end with the Church of the Resurrection of Christ. Standing in the middle of a necropolis among
many deceased (over 10,000 people are buried there) you understand when looking at
icon of the Resurrection of Christ, that our place is not here on this earth, but somewhere in
the upper world and you can enter it only through one door and this door is Christ.

One day I was blessed to climb the Holy Hill and walk along
autumn garden. 2013 turned out to be fruitful because the entire garden was covered with
apples that no one picked because the warehouse was completely full. There
there is a small pen in which a small group of people live together
a roe deer, a couple of squirrels and some other animals. The fawn turned out to be a wounded animal and his
someone from the monastery brethren was nursing. From the hill there is a beautiful view of
the monastery seems to be literally a stone's throw away.

Abbot Father Methodius left a great impression. One day he walked into the kitchen
time of our shift and sang a piercing and touching song about a soul going to
that light. This soul had only one request - to remember her. We're talking about the same thing
Andrei regretted that at that moment we did not have a camera or phone to
write it all down.

My first cell neighbor was Sergei from Riga. They gave him to carry
obedience in the poultry house, feeding the monastery chickens. One evening in the cell
Sergei asked if I went to Archimandrite Andrian (Kirsanov). Father Adrian
a famous elder to whom people come to Pechory for spiritual advice. I answered
that the purpose of my trip to the monastery was not to meet the elder, I was just traveling
work for the good of the monastery and on yourself if possible. Sometimes it seems to me
that people become obsessed in their pursuit of miracles, blessed
elders and forget about what is most necessary for salvation and growth among us
already exists - these are the sacraments, the opportunity to read the Gospel. It seems to me before
how to go for advice or have a conversation with such a person, you must be ready to accept
what he says, and if there is no such confidence, then it is better not to go. I'm not in
In no case do I want to belittle the value of advice that an experienced person can give
spiritual person. Of course, people like Father Adrian are a living example
how people who experienced the strongest impact of anti-religious propaganda
Soviet times were able to maintain a living faith in God and not become embittered
the world.

During evening services, pilgrims are given notebooks with the names of people for
commemoration. All these men and women, old and young, healthy and sick
passed before my eyes. “Lord, grant to everyone what he asks for benefit.”

The second neighbor turned out to be Yuri from Odessa. Yura turned out to be a chemistry teacher and graduate student,
who was returning from a conference and decided to stop by Pechory for a couple of days.

During his stay in the monastery, the Lord deigned to visit two more monasteries in the Pskov land:
Krypetsky Monastery and Nikandrov Hermitage.

Pilgrim Olga from
Moscow. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really see the monastery and didn’t see the lake with
crystal clear water, which many people who have visited Krypetsy talk about, because
spent all the time allotted for visiting the monastery at a heartfelt liturgy
in the St. John the Theologian Church. The ceiling of the temple is very low and the walls are painted
frescoes, it feels as if the saints are standing next to you, side by side.
After the end of the service, we had to immediately return back to Pechory,
because our shift began at one o'clock in the afternoon, so after venerating the relics
St. Savva Krypetsky we went to Pechory.

There were more impressions from the Nikandrova Hermitage. Upon arrival we will immediately
handed over the Pechersk gifts to the abbot of the monastery. The first thing that hits you
eyes in the Nikandrova Hermitage - this is the huge white stone Church of the Annunciation,
I think in size it is not inferior to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral of Petrozavodsk,
standing in the middle of the forest. The belfry of the Nikandrova Hermitage was destroyed in
years of Soviet power and now the clock from the belfry is on the building of the regional
administration of Pskov. After we prayed and venerated the icons in
temple, we went to the source of Alexander Svirsky which is located two
kilometers from the desert. The water in the source is an amazing turquoise color.

Now six months later, going through the memories in my memory, I’m trying to answer
the question is why people go to monasteries, I come to the conclusion that for me the main
The value of the monastery was not only the beautiful and soulful services, the decoration
temples, miraculous icons, the most important thing for me is those people whose Lord
sent me to meet. Communication with whom does not devastate you as it sometimes does
happens in our lives, but on the contrary fills and enriches, which, it seems to me,
was originally conceived by God about communication between people, as well as communication with
It changes and transforms us.

Archimandrite Tikhon (Secretaryov), abbot of the Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery

Report on XXII International Christmas Educational Readings, direction “Monastic tradition: from antiquity to the present day”(Sretensky Stavropegic Monastery. January 28–29, 2014)

Your Eminences, Your Reverences, viceroy fathers, brothers, mother abbess and sisters!

On behalf of His Eminence Eusebius, Metropolitan of Pskov and Velikoluksky, Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersk Monastery of the Holy Archimandrite, we greet you in connection with the upcoming festive events dedicated to the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius of Radonezh.

“I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18), said our Lord Jesus Christ, the founder of His New Testament Church. An integral part of the life of the Christian Church over the centuries has been monastic life in all its manifestations: hermitage, hermitage and communal forms. In confirmation of what has been said, it is enough to name the Monks Anthony and Theodosius the Great, Savva the Sanctified, Anthony and Theodosius of the Kiev-Pechersk, Sergius of Radonezh, the Wonderworker of All Russia.

“The spiritual tradition of Russian monasticism, largely formed under the influence of St. Sergius of Radonezh, has given abundant fruit in the field of the Lord...”, wrote His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' in his profound Message in connection with the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius of Radonezh . In the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersky Monastery it was read on January 26, 2014 during the Divine Liturgy.

Indeed, in the history of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery there is spiritual evidence of the leadership of St. Sergius of Radonezh. The discovery of the caves created by God, where the ascetics lived led by the Venerable Hermit Mark, took place in 1392, the year of the righteous death of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh... Thus, the further formation of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery is, as it were, a continuation of the ministry of the Venerable Sergius himself in the North. West of Rus'. And in the year of the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of a pupil of the monastery of Abba Sergius - Archimandrite Alypius (Voronov), abbot of the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersky Monastery in 1959-1975.

Let's return to the Cathedral of the Pskov-Pechersk Reverends. Beginning from the 15th century, almost every century, saints were added to the Cathedral to the Venerable Elder Mark, a desert dweller of Pskov-Pechersk: the Venerable Jonah and Mother Vassa, builders of the Assumption Cathedral (1473); then the Venerable Martyr Cornelius, the forty-year-old constant abbot of Pskov-Pechersk, the builder of churches, the apostle of the Estonian Seto people (XVI century); Together with the Venerable Martyr Cornelius, according to legend, the Venerable Vassian, a learned monk and collector of the handwritten and printed patristic library of the monastery, also suffered; Rev. Dorotheos, envoy of the Pskov-Pechersk and founder of the Yuga monastery in the Yaroslavl diocese (XVII century). Continuing to name the saints of the Pskov-Pechersky Cathedral, let us name Elder Lazarus, who prayed earnestly to God and the Most Holy Theotokos in the 19th century for the salvation of Russia from the invasion of Napoleon and who twice received Emperor Alexander I in his modest cell. ), Bishop of Kharkov, who was abbot of the monastery in 1917–1919.

The named saints of Pskov-Pechersk and their associates revealed the will of God to the coming people of all classes of Russia and taught them to live according to the advice of the elders. To justify their ministry, they cited the words of our Lord Jesus Christ spoken to His disciples and apostles, and through them to all Christians: “He who listens to you listens to Me...” (Luke 10; 16). Also justification for the old man’s instruction are the words of the Wise One: “Salvation is in much counsel...” (Proverbs 11; 14).

In the 20th century, numerous devotees of piety glorified the Heavenly Mother Superior - the Most Holy Theotokos - and decorated the Pskov-Pechersk monastery with their lives. Among them: Hieroschemamonk Theodosius, who met the holy passion-bearers Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra at the monastery on August 5 (old style) 1903; Archimandrite Methodius (Kholmsky), rector of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery at the beginning of the last century, who predicted his death in St. Petersburg and twice received the Holy Mysteries of Christ from the hands of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt; Valaam elders (among whom we name schema-abbot Luka, schema-monk Nicholas), who arrived at the Pskov-Pechersk monastery from Finland from New Valaam at the end of the Great Patriotic War and rested after their spiritual and educational works in God-created caves. The ascetics of that time spoke about spiritual life: “This is the science of sciences and the art of arts,” and about themselves they modestly added: “We are not scientists, but grounded.” Seeking the Kingdom of God in one’s heart, learning the Jesus Prayer, enduring all troubles and sorrows for the sake of Christ constituted the essence of their spiritual science.

There were also representatives of learned monasticism in the monastery, for example, Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov), who ended his life in the monastery and was buried in God-created caves, who left numerous written spiritual heritage. Currently, books by Bishop Benjamin have been published: “God’s People”, “Heaven on Earth” (about the Divine Liturgy and St. Righteous John of Kronstadt), “Notes of a Bishop”, “On Faith, Unbelief and Doubt”, “At the Turn of Epochs” and other. Bishop Veniamin’s opinion about the causes of the upheavals in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, in the center of which he was at the center, is interesting: the loss among the intelligentsia, students, and army of faith in “the one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten, Who was born of the Father before all ages; Light from Light, true God from true God, born, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father, by Him all things were. For our sake, man and our salvation came down from heaven and became incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became human. She was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried. And he rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures." And in the Orthodox Church, according to the Bishop, there was a lack of holiness. Currently, hagiographic materials about Metropolitan Benjamin are in the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints.

It is necessary to name other ascetics of piety of the 20th century in the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersky Monastery: schema-abbot Savva (Ostapenko), schema-archimandrites Pimen (Gavrilenko), Agapius (Agapov), Paisiy (Semyonov), Alexander (Vasiliev); Archimandrites Seraphim (Rosenberg), Feofan (Molyavko), Antipas (Mikhailov), Nikita (Chesnokov), Jerome (Tikhomirov), Nathanael (Pospelov) and many others who survived repressions and wars, which are briefly described in the book “Be Perfect”, compiled by us in 2008.

According to the words of the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 15; 41), the monastic Simeon of Pskov-Pechersky and the elder Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) stood out as bright stars in the monastic and general church horizon in the 20th century.

The Monk Simeon of Pskov-Pechersk was canonized in 2003, and his holy relics are always available for veneration in the Sretensky Church, and by the faith of those who come to them, miracles and healings are now being performed by the Grace of the Holy Spirit: for example, numerous healings from tobacco addiction have been witnessed.

Elder Archimandrite John (Krestyankin), on his visit to the Monk Simeon of Pskov-Pechersk in 1955, received from him a blessing to continue his elder service in the monastery, which he fulfilled from 1967 to 2006. After the aforementioned first meeting, Saint Simeon called Father John “an earthly angel and a heavenly man...” Indeed, all of us who knew Archimandrite John testify to the fact that the priest had the gift of prudence - the main gift of an elder, the gifts of insight and healing... For everyone For those seeking salvation in Christ, it is currently useful to read the “Handbook for monastics and laity,” compiled by Father John, as well as a collection of letters from the elder... We have prepared a book about the pastoral ministry of Father John entitled “Christ’s Shepherd.”

In the preface to one of his books, published in 2005, Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) wrote a will, a fragment of which we will present for spiritual edification:

“And to you, as a request for prayerful memory of me, I leave these notes about life in God and a testament verified by my very life: My dear children of God! Believe God, trust His always good Will for us. Accept everything in life: joy, joylessness, prosperity, and evil - as the mercy and truth of the ways of the Lord. And fear nothing in life except sin. Only he deprives us of God’s favor and gives us over to the power of the enemy’s arbitrariness and tyranny. Love God! Love love and each other to the point of selflessness. The Lord knows how to save those who love Him.”

In continuation of the words of St. Sergius of Radonezh, “we will be saved by love and unity,” St. Seraphim of Sarov pointed out: “The goal of Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.” Similar to the listed instructions of the saints, the words of Elder Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) sound, indicating in our difficult times the path to acquiring the Holy Spirit, to love and unity in the Lord: “The main thing in spiritual life is faith in God’s Providence and reasoning with advice...” By the way, it must be said that Father John also participated in the opening of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra after the Great Patriotic War.

Currently, under the blessed Protection of the miraculous icons of the Mother of God, including the copy of the image of the “All-Tsarina”, brought from Holy Mount Athos in 2002 by Archimandrite Ephraim, the tradition of eldership and spiritual care continues in the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersk Monastery. I will name several spiritual successors of the tradition of eldership: Archimandrite Adrian (Kirsanov); Schema-Archimandrite Nikon (Antonov), who was raised by the elder Archimandrite John (Krestyankin), starting with his service in the city of Kasimov, Ryazan diocese; fraternal confessor Archimandrite Tavrion (Balov), successor of fraternal confessor Schema-Archimandrite Agapit (Agapov); confessor and charter director Archimandrite Methodius (Leontyev), a student of Hierodeacon Anatoly (Semyonov), who was the charter director of the fraternal choir for many decades.

In order to indicate the main meaning of imitation of the elders in the matter of succession to spiritual care and shepherding, we cite the words of the Apostle Paul addressed to his contemporaries: “Imitate me, as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 4:16). Let us recall the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, addressed to us: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). Thus, imitation of the elders and succession consists in the assimilation by their followers and disciples of the meekness and humility of Christ, and not the external “quiet speaking and bowed walk.” The other extreme is the replacement of healthy people, not burdened by family or other circumstances, with prayers and services in church only by listening to liturgical texts and prayers on electronic media. Thus, there is a danger of replacing real spiritual life with virtual addiction.

To preserve the continuity of eldership in the Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery, His Eminence Eusebius, Metropolitan of Pskov and Velikoluksky, Holy Archimandrite of our monastery, passes on his rich spiritual experience acquired during communication with the elders in the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. Also, the vicar, spiritual fathers, dean and all the brethren in Christ make their modest efforts to preserve the continuity of counseling in the monastery. Eldership is not taught in church schools - it flows like precious ointment from vessel to vessel, from heart to heart through succession... The eldership of the Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery is in demand in the 21st century as an integral part of the service to Christ God by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Let me complete my brief report on the Pskov-Pechersk elders and spiritual succession with the words of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', spoken at the opening of the XXII International Christmas Readings on January 27, 2014 at the State Kremlin Palace: “So, everyone who listens to these words of mine and fulfills them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock; and the rain came, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it did not fall, because it was founded on a rock" (Matthew 7:24). –25). We must learn to apply these great Gospel words to our own life circumstances... we still live in the House, one of the great builders of which is St. Sergius.”

Thank you for attention!