Hegumen of the Valaam Monastery, Archimandrite Pankratiy, consecrated Bishop of Trinity

Pankraty (Zherdev)
(born 1955), Bishop of Trinity, vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, abbot of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky stauropegial Valaam Monastery, chairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, member of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church. In the world Zherdev Vladislav Petrovich, born on July 21, 1955 in the city of Perm. From 1970 to 1980, he studied first at the architectural department of the Perm Construction College, then at the architectural department of the Tajik Polytechnic Institute in the city of Dushanbe, where the family moved. After graduating from the institute, he worked as an artist in a publishing house, then began to live and work at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Dushanbe.

In 1986 he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary, and in the fall of the same year, after a terrible fire in the Moscow theological schools, he entered the brethren of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

He was tonsured a monk on July 3, 1987, with a name in honor of the Monk Pankratiy, the recluse of the Kiev Pechersk, on July 18 of the same year he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on June 8, 1988 - a hieromonk.

He carried out obediences related to the holding of the Anniversary Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', then the obedience of an assistant economist, and then the economist of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and supervised the resumption of the Lavra's publishing activities.

On July 17, 1988, he was elevated to the rank of abbot, and on May 4, 1990, to the rank of archimandrite.

Viceroy of the Valaam Monastery

On January 18, 1993, he was appointed abbot of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery. Since Archimandrite Pankratius assumed the position of governor of the Valaam monastery, the number of brethren of the monastery has increased significantly. Six monastic farmsteads were opened: in Moscow; the second (historical) on Sinopskaya embankment in St. Petersburg; in the city of Sortavala; in the Kolomensky district in the village of Bortnikovo; in the village of Ozerki, Leningrad region; in the Adler district of Sochi.

Under him, monastic life was resumed in eight monasteries: in Nikolsky, Predtechenskoye, in the monastery in the name of St. Alexander of Svirsky on the Holy Island, in Gethsemane, in Sergievsky on the island of Putsaari, Konevsky and Ilyinsky, where the lost churches and cell buildings were completely restored. In 2005, Patriarch Alexy consecrated the Transfiguration Cathedral. The temple in the name of the Valaam Icon of the Mother of God (formerly Nikolsky) in the eastern part of the inner square was restored and painted. The temple of the Resurrection Skete was restored, and in the northern part of the outer square - the hospital temple of the Life-Giving Source and the Life-Giving Trinity. The restoration of paintings was underway in the Church of All Reverend Fathers, who shone through fasting and heroism, at the Igumenskoe cemetery.

All of the above restoration work, which required significant funds, was carried out thanks to the creation in 2002 of the Patriarchal Board of Trustees for the restoration of the Valaam Monastery, as well as the infrastructure organized by the monastery, including the monastery fleet of 8 ships. In 2001, a 60-apartment building was built to resettle local residents in Sortavala. A building was also built for the local Administration of the village of Valaam, which vacated the cell building. The premises of the Outer Square and the Workhouse were returned to the property of the monastery. Water supply and sewerage systems for the Central Estate of the monastery and a complex of wastewater treatment facilities were built.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on April 20, 2005, Archimandrite Pankraty was elected vicar of the Moscow diocese with the title of Trinity.
The consecration to the episcopal rank took place in the Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow, and the consecration was performed by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' on June 2, 2005. Since July 27, 2009 - member of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church.

On March 22, 2011, he was also appointed chairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints.

“What you have, the brethren should have”

— Vladyka, modern monasteries are often compared to prisons. How do you like this comparison?

“I haven’t heard such comparisons, but if anyone thinks so, then he certainly hasn’t been to prison.” This can be said by people who are alien to monasticism, who do not love it, or who are disappointed in it. People do not come to prison voluntarily and do not leave voluntarily. And from the monastery, if the life there is not to your taste, you can pack your things and leave. There are plenty of problems, but one cannot think that everything was always wonderful or everything was terrible in all monasteries. On the other hand, something needs to be changed, including the story of this former novice should also make someone think.

Now, to be honest, I don’t think about household things, there’s a tumbler for that. Of course, he upsets me when he brings me a huge bill for the annual purchase. I really don't want to sign. But I understand that the brethren need to wear something, put on shoes and clothes, and what to do - I sign, although money is tight! I rejoice when the brethren have good, solid things, they have everything arranged in everyday life. But it happens that some brothers, out of humility, out of their imaginary feat, right or wrong, imitating the ascetics of the ancients, walk in rags and have no underwear.

So, the handyman is charged with keeping an eye on their clothes and what condition they are in. We have one such brother, and the boss brother, to whom I buy and give things and shoes. A lot of money passes through his hands, he could buy himself the best shoes, but he wears old shoes until he wears them out. When I see that his toes are almost sticking out of his shoes, then I go and buy him normal shoes, a sweater or a jacket. I also gave an unbreakable phone for Angel Day. It didn't last long for him, though...

Photo: monk Anastasy / valaam.ru

— This is good, but in the “Confession” the author writes that the monastery gave out clothes depending on how the mother treated the sisters. You could get this in stock...

- I'll tell you a story. We were friends with Father Simon, and were then in the Lavra. And so we go to the warehouse to get flashlights, the usual ones. It was a difficult time, the end of perestroika, somewhere around 1989 - beginning of 1990. That’s it, our petition was signed by the steward, or who, I don’t remember, maybe even the governor himself. In general, we came to the warehouse with this paper. He gives us two flashlights. And how many batteries do you think? Two! One per brother - save, they say! We say: “Father, how can we use it with one battery?” He gave us a whole lecture about how difficult the situation is now in the Lavra, in the country, in the world, and you can use batteries one at a time.

When I already became an assistant housekeeper, I already wrote a request to the warehouse there for five bags of cement. He gave out three! Father, well, we need five, not three, five! This was the man’s dispensation, and the governor was not his decree; he humbled the entire Lavra for many years. I don’t know what happened in this monastery from “Confession”; I didn’t go to their warehouse...

- And so all the time?

- Well, yes, you endure it, you humble yourself.

- It seems to me that this is a different story. It’s one thing to depend on the economic crisis, another thing to depend on your mother, whom you have to please. If you please, you get new clothes, if you don’t please, wear patches.

- It’s okay, you can wear patches, some people wear them voluntarily - they imitate the ascetics. Then someday the bishop will see them and instruct the abbot properly.

- He may not see it.

- You may not see it. It is clear that such things are unacceptable. We must, of course, provide the brethren with everything they need. This is one of the duties of the abbot. This is completely clear and obvious. What you have, the brethren should have. So I was on Mount Athos with one deceased elder, Elder Joseph, he says: “What the brethren have, so do I. I have nothing else." Indeed, they sat on simple cheap plastic chairs. He sits and we sit. Very simple furnishings in the house. He has a watch, a plastic alarm clock, just a penny. Everything is very simple from the monastery warehouse. But he looked after one of the largest monasteries on Mount Athos. There are million-dollar restoration programs there, and a huge monastery has been raised from the ruins.

- Let's talk about Athos. You wanted to go there, but ended up on Northern Athos out of obedience, right?

- Yes, and I don’t regret it at all. I have never regretted it once in my life, never, and I still don’t regret it. I think, thank God. I am confident that this principle of obedience is correct. Only the person who leads, of course, must understand that he has a huge responsibility. His words and deeds should, indeed, be as consistent as possible with the will of God. We must strive for this. We cannot say that our every deed would be done according to the will of God. It would be delusion and self-deception to believe so. But we must strive for this.

There are ascetic works of the Holy Fathers, monastic traditions, there is the Gospel, there is Christ. Put Christ in your place, what would the Lord do in your place? And do so. Like in the Gospel. The Gospel is also the Image of the perfect Man—the God-man Jesus Christ. He shows us how we should live, especially monks, if we strive for perfection. And God is love. That's all.

—If obedience goes beyond common sense, what should a monk do?

- You know, classic examples, also from patristic literature, patericons, they did not arise out of nowhere. Someone walked several kilometers away to water a dry stick, with difficulty, taking water from some source. Another was planting something with its roots up. It wasn’t all born out of nowhere. Of course, the novice always has the thought that he is doing something senseless, that something is wrong and needs to be corrected. Here, what is more important - the work that he does, or is it more important for him to cut off his will?

— In the end, anything can be called cutting off the will.

“I don’t accept abuse, there shouldn’t be any.” None. Cutting off one’s will through obedience is necessary for growing in humility, for gaining spiritual peace. Our spiritual father Kirill said that you should always do everything with a peaceful spirit, so that you have peace in your soul. And without peace, do nothing. There is no need to raise any questions or change anything when your soul is uneasy, when you have some kind of seething.

It is clear that there are things that are obvious. For example, I told the novice - go somewhere and bring something there. I’m not saying that you should slow down at this turn, but your speed should be no more than 40 kilometers per hour. I trust him and assume that he has his head in the right place, he thinks and understands where to turn, where to slow down, where to press the gas. This is already his business. But I won't lift it in the middle of the night and put it at risk of an accident. This is already the responsibility of the abbot, his respect and love for his brother.

Everyone should be in their place. Someone runs the service and knows how to do it correctly. Someone cooks food and also knows everything about it. I am glad that my cellarer at the monastery is a doctor, he prepares food correctly. Some brothers grumble at him. This also requires patience. This is also some kind of small, funny, but also sorrow. The brothers want, for example, foods that are harmful. Relatively speaking, fried potatoes, smoked fish and milk at the same time. This is harmful!

For some reason, unhealthy foods are tasty, but all healthy ones are not so good. However, he is doing the right thing. I'm glad about this, because the brothers' health is more important than their taste preferences. We give them a discount by cooking something once a week, not very healthy, but tasty.

Bishop Pankratiy of Trinity: “A good monk is the same as a good Christian”

The revival of the Valaam Monastery - one of the most famous and revered in Russia - seems like a real miracle. Moreover, after half a century of neglect in the monastery, it was necessary to restore not only the walls (temples, cells, outbuildings), but also the internal way of life, the traditions of monastic life.

We talk about monasticism, revival and the present day of Valaam with the abbot of the Valaam Transfiguration Monastery, Bishop Pankratius of the Trinity.

"Gospel and Love"

— Vladyka, you entered the seminary as an adult, mature person. How did this decision come to you?

“Indeed, I joined the Church as an adult, after graduating from college, and my churching was accompanied by such joy in Christ, such an abundance of grace... Then, of course, I didn’t understand this - I was just happy and could not understand why all people don’t go to Church, why are there so few parishioners: I come to the temple every day in the morning and evening, and there are only three or four old women standing there...

- Still, how did this happen?
What contributed to this? “I read the Gospel and realized that this is exactly the book that leads to God, which really speaks about the Path, Truth, Life. Other books that were in circulation at that time in samizdat: “Frank stories of a wanderer to his spiritual father”, “Elder Silouan” (by the way, he just turned me over). And after that I decided for myself - that’s all, only the Church, nothing more. He was baptized and began going to church. The abbot saw my zeal for the service of God and began to gradually attract me to it. I even lived at the church at that time: I quit my job because I couldn’t live without the Church, I simply couldn’t physically. I was given a tiny guardhouse, probably two by three meters. And I lived there, prayed, guarded it, restored and painted icons, and tried to sing and read in the choir, and painted the roof... You could say that the monastery for me began in the world, at my parish.

I thought about monasticism, but, to be honest, I didn’t even think about the seminary: it seemed like some completely different world. But when they told me that I had to enter the seminary, I took the blessing from the abbot and began to prepare. And by the way, the rector, Father Nikolai, then told me an interesting thing: “You will be a bishop.” We recently met with him, and I “remembered” this to him and said: “It turns out you have the gift of prophecy.”

— Vladyka, you said that you were thinking about monasticism. 1980s, it would seem that there are practically no monasteries in the USSR...

- They told me that there are desert monks in the Caucasus, they invited me to the Caucasus: please, you can be a monk there, find yourself an elder and live with him. But, thank God, I didn’t get there. I visited the Caucasus at one time and I know that not everything was so simple and easy there, especially in those years. And they arrested and persecuted the monks. But even among the hermits themselves, to be honest, there were all sorts of people; a newcomer could fall into the wrong hands. Therefore, thank God that I ended up in the Lavra, that it became my monastic cradle, one might say, it nursed me.

Before entering, I came to the Lavra and went to confession. One Lavra father confessed, I asked: “What should I do? I’m just torn between Lavra and the Caucasus.” And he says: “Enter the seminary, and if you enter, it means that it is God’s will for you to study and live in the Lavra.” Simple and wise answer.

— Did you, a person with a higher education, have any difficulties when entering the seminary?

- In terms of admission, nothing: it was 1986 - the second intake, when people with higher education were admitted without hindrance. And if I, say, entered in 1984, then most likely I would not have been accepted: “Higher education? No, the Motherland did not teach you for this, so that you would then wave the censer”... I acted quite simply, quickly, easily and understood that God’s will is to study and serve the Church.

In the fall of 1986, a tragic event occurred - a fire in the seminary dormitory killed five seminarians. Everyone was very shocked. I and several other people wrote petitions to the Lavra brethren, and they took us in immediately. So already in the first year of study I ended up at the Lavra.

— What do you especially remember about the Lavra of those years?
“I remembered everything, I liked everything, I was completely delighted. As in the first year of joining the church - one continuous joy, despite any difficulties, the first year in the monastery is my best monastic time.

Father Kirill (Pavlov) became my confessor. I loved him... I don’t know how to say - like God, probably. If you read an ancient patericon or Athonite authors, it says: the elder must be loved as Christ. That's how I loved Father Kirill.

— Did you have the opportunity to communicate with him often?

“We talked every day, because the priest at that time had a custom of reading the monastic rule together before lunch. And in the evening every day there was a Bible reading. In my presence, they probably read both the Old and New Testaments from beginning to end twice.

— Then Father Kirill was the confessor of the brethren?

- Yes, it was a wonderful time. There were many wonderful monks and elders, unfortunately, most of them have already left.

— What distinguished Father Kirill as a confessor?

- Love. This is the most important quality of a priest. You see, he represented love, and even just looking at him, communicating with him, you yourself were imbued with this feeling to some extent. I don’t really believe the talk about some kind of special insight of the priest or miracles, although maybe something like that happened, according to people’s faith, of course. We even had an incident with my friend, also a monk. We found ourselves in a foreign city in a difficult situation, it was very difficult for us. We sent a telegram to Father Kirill, and our situation was resolved literally within an hour. Is that how it is? Father somehow felt it, prayed? This telegram had not yet reached him physically, but help was provided. It was probably the same for other people. But the most important miracle that he showed was, of course, love.

And this was necessary, important - more important than the Typikon, the Charter, some of the most important rules and the most beautiful traditions. The gospel and love - that’s what I saw in the priest, and it’s really real.

And then the Lord allowed me to come to Athos for the first time in 1992. And there, too, I found many ascetics: the disciples of Elder Joseph the Hesychast and other elders. Some of them were theologians in the true sense of the word, others were very simple. Of course, I communicated with them through an interpreter, but just seeing such people was useful.

When our monks say that they are not doing well with prayer or that the Lord does not give something else, I often cite as an example our Lavra fathers, who lived a very simple, modest monastic life. It cannot be said that they did any great things, achieved the unceasing Jesus Prayer... They were simply good, honest monks. And when their earthly journey was already over, it was clear how the Lord fulfilled the petition that we pray every day - for the granting of a painless, peaceful death and a good answer at the Last Judgment of Christ. The Lord gave such a painless, peaceful death to many, and I witnessed it. And when you see that a person leaves without any sadness, melancholy, or tears, as usually happens, but on the contrary, with Easter joy, you understand that he has completed his earthly path, has worthily fulfilled his Christian, monastic destiny and is walking as prepared for his Heavenly Father. This is wonderful. And God grant that our new, young monasticism comes to this measure of our fathers.

— Vladyka, excuse me, but what does “good monk” mean?

- Isn’t it clear? This is a monk fulfilling his vows that he made to God. A monk who honestly and conscientiously fulfills his monastic duties, his rule, his obedience, tries to humble himself and live according to the commandments of God. In fact, a good monk is the same as a good Christian. They are only in slightly different conditions and lead different lifestyles.

Therefore, it is a great consolation and help for the people of God who come to monasteries to simply see a successful person, without even having to talk to him. The soul somehow guesses that this person is gracious, that he is really with God. Then something changes for the better in your own soul, you also want to be like that.

Valaam's legacy

— At the end of the 1980s, the revival of the Valaam Monastery began practically from scratch: not only the buildings here were desecrated and destroyed, but monastic life itself was interrupted.
What caused the revival of the monastery? - Yes, of course, nothing happened. The first brothers who arrived on Valaam were forced to live in a hotel. The first cells were the kind of premises in which local residents stored firewood; they were simply not suitable for anything else. And of course, the brothers were real ascetics. I remember that time, I saw him too. It was very difficult, especially since we lived mixed with the local population. We had a very strict charter at that time, we tried to follow it to the letter according to the Typikon, sometimes forgetting the Gospel, but still the Gospel is more important. And when they came from hours-long services, all-night, all-night vigils, which actually took place at night with us - and behind the wall there was, so to speak, another all-night vigil, another vigil... It was very difficult. I probably wouldn’t be able to bear this a second time. But somehow the Lord strengthened, sent His grace and helped.

— Usually, if a person finds himself in difficult conditions, he tries to make them easier for himself. In particular, we lay people often justify to ourselves that we don’t have time to pray if, for example, we were on the road or there was a lot of work...

— It’s the other way around for us: we somehow tried to take more with prayer. One of the features of our monastery is that it was precisely those brethren who went there who were zealous for a strict life, for regular long services, without any abbreviations. They, of course, read books about old Valaam. The legacy of old Valaam meant a lot to us - the spiritual, prayerful legacy of those fathers who were on Valaam before.

On the other hand, it was a reaction to the “lighter” version of monastic life that, say, existed in the capital’s monasteries. That's why we tried to pray more. And I think that this is what helped us, because without prayer you simply cannot survive in such difficult conditions.

— How were the relations between the monastery and local residents? Are there still any lay people left on Valaam, those who lived there before the monastery was returned to the Church?

— Yes, there are still some, but there are much fewer of them. The “non-monastic” population of Valaam has decreased almost five times over these 20 years. Two 60-apartment buildings were built on the shore in the city of Sortavala, and people from Valaam moved there. There are relatively few left: about a hundred people. Some of them are elderly people who simply do not want to leave anywhere or change their usual life. I think 10–15 years will pass, and Valaam will, as of old, be called Northern Athos, because there will be no secular population on the island.

Of course, for us this was a serious problem, because it was necessary, on the one hand, to behave in a Christian way, to somehow attract people to the faith, to the Church, and on the other hand, to convince that Valaam should be a monastery, and not a tourist center where you can earn extra money.
Most of the conflicts were precisely on this basis - the monastery interfered with those who wanted to make money on Valaam. And we have good relations with those who remain now. We help the elderly, including financially, we work with children - we have a spiritual and educational program.

— Today the Valaam Monastery is one of the largest in terms of the number of inhabitants. Do you, as abbot, manage to pay attention to every resident of the monastery?

- No, of course, it is personally impossible for me to pay attention to everyone, in the sense of confessing every monk, talking to each one in detail on spiritual topics. We have this system: there are several older brothers, hieromonks, who are my assistants and confessors. Other brethren can choose between them: with whom contact has been established, understanding, trust - they begin to go to confession. And I ask, if possible, the brethren to come to me, too, about once a month, because I want to know what problems, what moods, what difficulties they have, in order to understand what is happening in our monastery.

— Over the past decades, has the number of people who attach their hearts to the monastery and want to become a monk on Valaam changed?
Are they getting more or less? — Maybe a little less, but I would not say that the number of people who want to become a monk has decreased significantly. Previously, say in the early 1990s, more people came to the fraternity, but more also left, I must say. But now many come from those who were churchgoers since childhood, studied in Sunday schools or even in Orthodox educational institutions. Because it’s one thing when a person has been through, as they say, “fire, water and copper pipes” and often tries to come to a monastery as a disabled person, when he is sick, crippled both mentally and spiritually, and sometimes physically. And it’s another thing when a pure young man comes from a church family, an Orthodox upbringing. Such young people are, perhaps, the best.

But on the whole I am pleased with my brethren. And I am glad that the Lord sent me to Valaam through the Patriarchal blessing of the late His Holiness Patriarch Alexy. I don't want any other place.

— In the summer, up to one and a half thousand people come to Valaam per day. Vladyka, how does the monastery cope with such a number of pilgrims and tourists?

- Yes, I don’t know, is he coping? - With great difficulty. We are often asked: “How are you here in winter? How hard it is for you here!” - and I say: “Yes, winter is the best, most monastic time for us.” From September to May we can really live a full life - monastic, monastic, one might even say, Athonite. But in the summer it’s sometimes hard, especially in July, when there are a lot of people.

— How do you try to preserve the internal life of the monastery in the face of such an influx of guests in the summer? Do you feel like in the summer some kind of whirlwind comes and sweeps away everything?

- Yes, there is such a feeling.
But, on the other hand, when pilgrims come, it is joyful. Everyone who comes wants to confess and receive communion. And this is, imagine, hundreds of people. It is not easy, of course, for the brethren and hieromonks to confess everyone in a good way, to talk with everyone, to devote even a few minutes to a person. Sometimes confession goes on until late at night. But this is a problem for every large monastery, since all our monasteries are open to the world. Therefore, we are happy to work with pilgrims; they are, after all, family. It’s more difficult with tourists, but there are also believers among them. At one time we tried to limit the entrance to the temple, for example, so that at least during the sacred moments of the Liturgy, tourists would not enter. And people get offended: “We want to pray. We want to venerate the shrines. We want to light a candle and write a note.” And people change: it happens that at first a person comes as a tourist, and then, perhaps, he becomes a pilgrim.

- Monastic life is impossible without great zeal and love of a person for God. Meanwhile, it is precisely the rapid decline of jealousy, “first love” (see: Rev. 2:4) that modern Christians, as a rule, complain about. Please advise how to preserve (or return if it has become scarce) this living feeling for God?

— Such impoverishment of jealousy also happens in the monastery. There is even such a word - God-forsakenness: this is a state when a person feels that the Lord has abandoned him. And prayer doesn’t work, and everything is bad, and despondency overcomes, even reaching despair. This is not such a rare occurrence in the monastery either.

What does it say? About the fact that grace has left the soul. I always say: “Brothers, if you feel that you are beginning to lose heart, you have such an internal state, it means that somewhere there was sin, we sinned in some way, and grace left us. So we need to return grace.” How does she return? Through repentance, prayer, through confession - frank, good, deep, through church sacraments. And, of course, through faith. You cannot lose faith in these trials! So I understand that now I don’t have such grace that would really inspire, make my life bright, joyful, the way it should be, but on the contrary - everything is bad, sad, hard, dry, I don’t want to pray... But I believe in the fact that in the Church, not only earthly, but also Heavenly, it exists. There is the Lord, and the Mother of God, and all the saints - St. Seraphim of Sarov, Sergius of Radonezh, Righteous John of Kronstadt... And only my sin, some kind of obstacle erected by sin, separates me from this Church, from this joy, grace, from life in Christ. We need to find this obstacle and try to get rid of it. That's all.

***

Pankraty, Bishop of Trinity, vicar of the Moscow diocese (Zherdev Vladislav Petrovich), born July 21, 1955 in Perm.
From 1970 to 1980, he studied first at the architectural department of the Perm Construction College, then at the architectural department of the Tajik Polytechnic Institute in Dushanbe. In 1986 he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary, and in the fall of the same year he was admitted to the brethren of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. He was tonsured a monk on July 3, 1987 with the name Pankraty - in honor of the Monk Pankraty, the recluse of the Kiev-Pechersk. On July 18, 1987, he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on June 8, 1988, a hieromonk.

He carried out obediences related to the holding of the Anniversary Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', the economist of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and supervised the resumption of the Lavra's publishing activities.

On July 17, 1988, he was elevated to the rank of abbot, and on May 4, 1990, to the rank of archimandrite.

On January 18, 1993, by decree of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Alexy II was appointed abbot of the Valaam Transfiguration Monastery.

On June 2, 2005, in the Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II consecrated Archimandrite Pankratius (Zherdev) as Bishop of Trinity, vicar of the Moscow diocese.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 22, 2011, he was appointed chairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints.

Valaam Spaso-Preobrazhensky stauropegial monastery

The Transfiguration Monastery on the island of Valaam - one of the most revered in Russia, formerly called Northern Athos - was revived in 1989. In 1990 it received stauropegial status.
The monastery is located in the northern part of Lake Ladoga, the largest in Europe, on an archipelago with a total area of ​​36 square meters. km. The traditions of monasticism in the Middle East and Byzantium were adopted in Rus' along with Epiphany in the 10th century. To this time, a significant part of historians attribute the lives of St. Sergius and Herman, the founders of the Valaam Monastery, while others believe that the monastery arose in the 14th century. It is known that the Saints came “from the eastern countries” (probably from Greece), had a holy rank, and possessed the gift of clairvoyance. It is possible that they lived in a cave on the island. Saint. With their feat, Saints Sergius and Herman converted pagan Karelians to Christ and established Orthodoxy in the North of Rus'.

The monastery, located on the border of Russia and Sweden, was attacked and destroyed, burned to the ground several times over the course of ten centuries, but each time it was restored.

After the revolution, the Valaam Monastery ended up in Finland. In the 1920s it became the center of the spiritual life of the Russian diaspora. During these years, writers N.V. Amfitheatrov, B.K. Zaitsev, I.I. Savin, A.N. Tolstoy, E.N. Chipikov, M.A. Yanson, Finnish statesmen, for example Marshal K G. Mannerheim. At the end of the 1930s. Valaam was visited twice by a priest from Tallinn, Father Mikhail Ridiger, and his son Alexei. Many years later, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' said that his “spiritual life path was determined by... two pilgrimage trips to the Valaam Monastery /.../ Valaam struck me with his greatness, his spiritual life. Every inch of this land is consecrated by feat, prayer and labor.”

With the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939–1940. The gradual evacuation of the brethren began to the mainland deep into Finland. The monastery suffered the greatest destruction on February 2 and 4, 1940, when Valaam was bombed by more than 70 Soviet planes. The northern wing of the monastery square with the farmhouse, hospital and church burned down, the upper part of which was destroyed. During the evacuation, the brethren managed to remove the sacristy, 20 thousand volumes of books and manuscripts, almost the entire archive, the shrine of the Venerables, part of the icons, utensils of the upper church and bells. The large bell struck the last 12 strokes of the funeral bell for the monastery. On March 19, 1940, the deserted Valaam was handed over to the Soviet command, which placed a boatswain school and a company of cabin boys here. Since 1949, there was a state farm here, since 1952 (until 1984) - a boarding house for war invalids and the elderly.

On December 13, 1989, on the day of remembrance of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, the first monastics arrived in Valaam - the revival of the Valaam Monastery began. From 1989 to 1995, most of the real estate that previously belonged to it was transferred to the Valaam monastery - churches, utility buildings and structures, etc. Large-scale restoration and restoration work continues in the monastery and monasteries to this day.

Now the Valaam Spaso-Preobrazhensky Stavropegic Monastery has about 150 inhabitants. In addition to the dormitory, monastic life has been revived in 12 monasteries. In Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sortavala and Priozersk there are metochions of the island monastery.

“Why are there leaves?”

—
Many have read in Confession about such a thing as the revelation of thoughts.
In the monastery, according to the author, revelation was actually replaced by denunciation. Is it necessary to open your thoughts at all and how should this happen? “Revelation is definitely needed.” Only everything must be done with reasoning, based on the real circumstances that exist in a given place, among these brothers or sisters, so that it does not turn into profanation, but is done with trust and for spiritual benefit. If there is no trust, you cannot force. I don't force anyone.

I consider the revelation of thoughts correct and necessary, since I know from experience that tempting thoughts go away or weaken. The enemy does not like revelation; he confuses the mind with his web unnoticed, secretly. But revelation of thoughts requires experience, common sense and trust. It is difficult for the abbot to open up directly. Now, I simply cannot accept the thoughts of all the brethren, no matter how much I want, I simply physically cannot do this. That’s why we have older brothers, my confessor-assistants, whom I trust. If something serious happens to us, they send this brother to me. Or they warn me that this brother is not doing well, I need to pay attention to him.

— Have you made this a rule? It’s just that this book describes how the sisters are obliged to bring these thoughts on a piece of paper, then before the meal the text is read out in front of everyone.

- Lord have mercy! For what? I don't think this is right. Under such circumstances, I would not have spent even a day in such a place. I don’t understand adults, if they are forced to do this, write on a piece of paper, and then it’s all read out publicly, then this is some kind of horror, I just can’t even imagine that this could be. This is profanation!

If this really is the case, this is a profound mistake. Revelation is a deeply personal matter, you won’t open up to everyone... I actually doubt it, I just don’t believe it. I hope that this is some kind of untruth, slander. Such ideas, of course, are just some kind of absurdity... this is something unthinkable! I can’t imagine this in my monastery. I can’t imagine in the Lavra, in Optina, or anywhere else where the people are adequate.

valaam.ru

—
How do you experience revelation of thoughts?
“A person simply comes to a confessor or abbot and says what is bothering him, sometimes at the same time confessing to him. But it may not be in the temple. The point is not to keep constant thoughts or temptations within yourself.

-
Are there any such leaves?
- Of course not! Why leaves? I don’t like them, they deprive me of live communication. There is no need for these artificial, far-fetched methods, I once saw a person confessing on a smartphone, I probably downloaded a list of sins from an Orthodox website. This is profanation. It’s just hard for me to even understand, to be honest. Why is this? If the revelation is a thought, then it must be a revelation of a thought. I know that in monasteries it is simpler: there is a confessor, an abbot, or, like ours, several confessors. In women's, of course, it is more difficult.

I know that in some monasteries, Greek sisters come right to the service. At the service she came up, said a few words, and that was it. There’s no need to go inside out, down to the smallest detail—that’s also wrong. Something is bothering you, someone has offended you. She came and said that I was grieving for one sister, don’t call it Martha or Mary, but just say that I was grieving for one sister, she insulted me. That's all. Leave it alone, God will forgive you.

—Can
mother determine spiritual life, what do you think?
Excommunicate from communion, for example? - Of course, it should. The spiritual state of the community is the responsibility of the abbot. We try to ensure that all the brethren receive communion on Sundays, and at least, naturally, on holidays as well. This is clear, there is no need to even talk about it, that the liturgy is our main common cause, what connects us with Christ and with each other, this is the main thing that exists in the monastery. Therefore, we try to take communion at least once a week, as a whole brotherhood.

- And excommunicate from communion?

“If a person has sinned, then, of course, they can excommunicate him for a short time.” A long excommunication is dangerous; a person can become hardened and rooted in sin. Excommunication, like any penance, should be a means of education, not punishment. Great penances, both in relation to monasticism and in relation to pilgrims, only I can impose. In severe cases, the confessor sends a person to me, and I decide what to do.

Should we love our enemies?

— Do you watch movies or TV?

- I haven’t looked for a long time. And he forbade the brethren, saying: “We didn’t come here for this. And if someone still looks, then he has no right to commune with me from the same cup...” And it worked. And after some time the brother comes again: “Vladyka, can I watch at least some of the most Orthodox films?” The person is still weak. For example, I don’t drink and I punish my brothers the same way - so that they keep the dry law. And if I don’t follow it, how can I demand the same from others?

“But many priests break the commandments, and demand obedience from their flock...

“Christ also said about this: “Listen to what they tell you, but do not act according to their deeds.” Christ said this to everyone, for all times. Pharisees, hypocrites, scribes - all these religious types exist today.

— Some clergy not only write blogs, but also preach via the Internet: for example, Father Hilarion or Andrei Kuraev. They convey their vision to others through the Network, as if from a pulpit. Do you think this is unnecessary?

“I consider this unnecessary and even harmful for monks.” The monastery can and should conduct educational and preaching activities on the Internet. We do this, we have pages on Facebook and other social networks, and our own website. The same is true in other Orthodox monasteries, for example in Optina Pustyn. This is what the brethren do, this is their obedience, but not their personal whim. A monk is allowed to conduct activities on the Internet with the blessing of, for example, the abbot. But you can’t do it of your own free will.

Valaam Monastery. Photo: RIA Novosti/ Alexey Druzhinin

— In an interview with AiF, responding to the reproach that the monks on Valaam force the laity to live by their own rules, you said: “We impose only the ringing of bells on people.” Does it reach the majority in consumer society today?

“I think it’s still getting there.” Another thing is that this is being fiercely resisted. There are those who try to suppress it, and it often happens that those looking for a reason find it. We really don’t have a blessed picture. Yes, of course, many pilgrims come to us, but there are also many who hear voices from the opposite side - anti-church and, in fact, anti-Russian. Often there is nothing behind it, everything is inflated. But people are used to believing, and many are fooled and fall for the bait.

Peter Romanov:

Stolypin. “The Last Roman of the Russian Empire” Although, of course, we ourselves need to give fewer reasons for attacks. Recently, for example, there was a very strange statement by one very famous priest that a too comfortable, peaceful, calm, well-fed life harms society, and God leaves it. He expressed the hope that calm and peace will soon end, God will intervene in history and send suffering that will benefit society.

This statement caused many angry questions from the laity: “Do you all really think so?!” It shocked people. You can't say such things! This is a very big mistake, if not catastrophic. It may simply push someone away from the church. That church that prays for our country, the authorities and the army and calls for love even towards its enemies. The Apostle Paul teaches to pray for the authorities precisely in order for peace and tranquility to be preserved, and then suddenly they declare that we do not need peace, but suffering and upheavals... But the great Russian statesman Stolypin clarified: “We do not need great upheavals , we need a great Russia.”

Our country has already lost tens of millions of lives in the war. It is enough to go to Donbass to remember this. I met there with Archbishop Mitrofan of Gorlovka and Slavic , whose diocese is divided: part of the flock is on the Ukrainian side, the other in the DPR. And he was already searched naked at checkpoints 8 times, and once he was almost shot after he tried to explain something, they directly threatened: “We’ll kill you all here now!”

Balaam. Photo: www.russianlook.com

Therefore, God forbid any shocks. There are already so many of them in the world. In 10–20 years of peaceful, calm life, Russia will truly become a great country. Moreover, if there are more honest and believing people in power, like, for example, Yevgeny Primakov , more real leaders and entrepreneurs, ministers who do not steal. It is clear that even very decent officials are forced to play by the rules that are imposed on them, and they have to look for a compromise. But at least they don’t take bribes, they don’t buy fountain pens covered in diamonds for crazy millions of dollars. These are people who work, looking back at the centuries-old foundations of Russia, and not at liberal “colorful” Europe, and do not strive to be oligarchs at the people’s expense.

“It is important not to lose interest in spiritual life”

—
Should monks work until they drop?
- Of course not.

—
What should an ideal day look like?
- Let's look at Athos, where spiritual life was not interrupted. Thousand-year-old traditions have always been preserved there. It is believed that the main work of a monk is prayer. We did not come to the monastery to set records for harvesting or making something. We came to transform the soul, to pray for the whole world, this is the main thing. Naturally, they should not be parasites, they should work.

This is also necessary for the person himself. He cannot pray all the time. If he does not work, it means he will be idle; if he is idle, this will lead to his degradation as a person. There is also a saying that prayer and work are like two oars. If you press both correctly at the same time, you will swim straight. If you focus on only one thing, you will spin in place. This is conditional, but there is some truth in it.

Therefore, a monk must have time, strength and desire to pray. On the other hand, there are people who are more prone to an active life; it is difficult for them to spend much time in prayer. They are more active, more active, they need to work more. This is how, of course, we find such obedience that he prays, of course, goes to church, but he spends more time and energy on obedience than other brothers. It also happens the other way around. We have a brother - no matter what you entrust to him, he cannot cope with anything. Let him pray, thank God. You already give him the kind of obedience that would allow him to pray more.

—And during the day—how many hours for prayer, work, and rest?

- 8 hours of work is even a lot, taking into account the service and the cell rule. On Athos they work, in my opinion, for 4 hours in most monasteries, because every single one of them spends several hours in the temple, plus cell prayer. On Valaam they usually work for about 6 hours. It depends on what kind of work it is. We have different ways. It happens that on one day they work for many hours, and on another day they rest - taking turns. Such obedience that it requires several hours in a row, you can’t do anything, you can’t change it, they themselves ask to work in shifts.

— If 6 hours of work, then how much is prayer and rest?

- In different ways too. It’s also impossible to say that everyone needs 6 hours of sleep, some people sleep 6 hours, but for others that’s not enough, let them sleep 8 hours, for God’s sake! It's all individual. Or how long he will pray. Someone can pray for half an hour, that’s good, but someone can pray for two hours. Everything is different, it depends on people. The main thing is not to be idle, not to sin, to correct your life, not to lose interest in spiritual life - this is the most important thing.

Photo: monk Anastasy / valaam.ru

Bishop Pankraty (Zherdev) – Myrrh-streaming: a sign or a deception?

On the eve of the Week of Orthodoxy, there was a friendly uproar on the Internet about Natalia Poklonskaya’s message about the streaming of myrrh in the chapel in the name of the Royal Passion-Bearers.

Bishop Pankraty (Zherdev). Chairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints

Not only atheists like Nevzorov competed in “wit,” but also Orthodox bloggers. The mildest epithet for this is “cliques.” Some attacks border on blasphemy.

If we talk about cases of tears, peace, and blood flowing from the icons of the Mother of God in Holy Rus', which have been preserved in the Tradition of our Church, then there are quite enough of them to confidently say: this phenomenon occurred from ancient times, sometimes was accompanied by numerous healings, and sometimes was perceived in itself as a miracle, as a sign of God - this is exactly what they began to call the famous Novgorod icon of the Mother of God - “The Sign”. Another famous icon, “Tolga”, exuded myrrh during Matins on September 16, 1392. The Mirozh Icon of the Mother of God also exuded myrrh.

There are lesser-known icons: the Vladimir-Oranskaya Icon of the Mother of God - streaming myrrh in the 17th century, the Ilyinskaya Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God (flow of tears) and others.

Russian people have perceived these phenomena as signs of God for centuries, so why should we now make fun of them, like medieval superstitions? Their relative scarcity probably indicates that these phenomena were carefully tested before being accepted. In any case, some descriptions contain references to verification of miracles by a commission specially sent by the ruling bishop.

Now a little about our time. Everyone remembers what a significant role the myrrh-streaming icon of Nicholas II played in the popular veneration of the murdered Royal Family. This icon was transferred to many monasteries and churches of our Church in the late 90s. I was told by the then members of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints that there were documented cases of healings through prayers to the Royal Martyrs.

This icon also visited Valaam. I must say that I do not consider myself to be a gullible person and always try to explain an unusual phenomenon first by natural causes. But something happened before our eyes that was inexplicable by natural causes. When we transported this icon on a horse-drawn carriage, it was in the hands of the hieromonk sitting next to me.

The small paper icon, tightly closed in a glassed wooden icon case, was easily visible from all sides. Fragrant myrrh usually appeared inside the glass, sometimes on the outside of the glass. But when we approached the Cathedral with the icon, Father Benjamin, who was sitting opposite me, cried out: “Miro!” and pointed to the icon. Before our eyes, a drop of thick aromatic liquid swelled on the upper end of the varnished wooden surface of the icon case. Then there was so much of it that it began to flow first along the upper end of the icon case, and then poured down along the surface of the icon case. When we brought the icon into the Cathedral, laid it on the lectern and began to sing a prayer service, the people standing opposite the large ancient icon of the Savior at the right pillar suddenly became agitated and made noise. It turns out that right before their eyes, from the blessing right hand of Christ on the ancient image, fragrant myrrh also came out from the fold of fingers and flowed down in several streams. Then the same phenomenon was repeated at the Smolensk monastery, which was historically associated with the Romanov family (until 1940, some of the jewelry of Empress Alexandra was kept in the monastery church, transferred to the schema-hegumen Ephraim who lived there by Anna Vyrubova). It was there that Anna Vyrubova received from the hands of Fr. Ephraim was tonsured as a monk.

None of the brothers or pilgrims doubted that a miraculous sign had occurred, confirming the holiness of the Royal Passion-Bearer.

Someone may consider what is told to be delusion, mass psychosis, or say that this has nothing to do with the Christian faith, but in my opinion, the mass veneration of the murdered Royal Family by the church people, manifested, among other things, in the worship and recognition of the miraculous, myrrh-streaming icon of the Sovereign , could not but affect the Fullness of the Church.

National veneration, along with the enormous research work done by the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, ultimately led to the adoption by the Council of 2000 of a historic decision to glorify the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, including the Royal Passion-Bearers. Without this decision, the no less historical overcoming of the schism with the Church Abroad would have become impossible.

Remembering this, I think that in cases of myrrh streaming or other similar unusual phenomena associated with the Church, contemptuous mockery or, on the contrary, enthusiastic exaltation is completely inappropriate. Of course, careful verification of these phenomena is required. But before official confirmation or refutation, we must follow the wise advice of the holy fathers: do not accept and do not reject... The Lord Himself will show us the truth if it pleases Him.

Facebook of Bishop Pankratiy (Zherdeva) of Trinity

You can applaud the author (at least 10 times)0

“I don’t think it’s right to limit the abbot’s power”

—
But the regulation on monasteries and monastics - what is its fate?
This project has been discussed for a very long time, what's going on with it now? — It’s a complex document and an important one. If I’m not mistaken, individual topics are being worked on, individual parts are being improved, finalized, and then adopted by the Inter-Council Presence. There will be another meeting in mid-November. I'll know better.

- Does anyone else need it?

- Of course, it is needed, especially for those monasteries where there are the disadvantages discussed. Or to those monasteries that are only in the period of formation. What else is our problem? We have few experienced monks who can lead the monastery. I told you that our monasticism as a whole is young, I mean spiritually, by their years there may be mature people, but there is not enough monastic experience.

According to spiritual monastic experience, according to wisdom, there are still few such people who could lead other people. Of course, it is necessary to establish a framework, or something, within which this should happen. Confession and spiritual guidance on how to organize, for example, the time of work and prayer, the general structure of the monastery, the rights, responsibilities of the commanders and ordinary inhabitants. Some basic provisions must be reflected and become the basis for the charter of a particular monastery.

—What do monasteries focus on then?

— Usually they take some kind of statutes from large, well-known monasteries. From the Trinity-Sergius Lavra most often. Historical monasteries are trying to get closer to their charter. It happens differently. Either the confessor can become the initiator of the revival, or the abbot. I don't even know. I do not monitor this situation in all monasteries.

- So this document is needed?

- Of course, we need it. I think it is necessary. The main thing is that it should not be so strictly binding and constraining.

- Whom are they chaining?

- Everyone. Let’s say that we have accepted one thing and it’s been like this for a long time, and suddenly they say that it’s not like that now, but do it differently. For example, in our country, and not only in our monastery, in many monasteries Matins is served in the morning. As usual: Midnight Office, Matins, Hours, Liturgy. The order of worship, for example, has developed in our country, and has always been so. During the revival of the monastery it was installed.

In other places, Matins is combined with Vespers. Somewhere else there are some peculiarities. Sometimes there are features that are quite strange for us, for example, they insert an akathist into Matins. I'm not giving a rating now, I'm just talking about diversity. I respect the right of these brothers and sisters to have their identities preserved, just as ours would be preserved.

And suddenly they will now tell us: no, now it’s different, and that the service should be no more than two hours, and only in the evening, and so on. I'm talking for example. Of course we will be against it. On the other hand, it would also be wrong to impose our charter on everyone. Therefore, the charter needs to indicate some of the most basic things that must be observed.

— Maybe we should also spell out the rights of monks, for example, that you can’t take away your passport?

— These things are so obvious, it should not be at the level of the position, but at the level of the bishop’s order. This is not a position level. It is not serious to write such obvious things. Don't break the law! Write that everyone must comply with the laws of the Russian Federation? This breaks the law. Criminals take away the passports of modern slaves to prevent them from escaping. This is absolutely unacceptable! God gave man freedom, who are we to deprive him of this God-given right?

Photo: monk Anastasy / valaam.ru

— What if they write down the possibility of moving to another monastery? Or will they limit the power of the abbot?

- They won’t register it. I think it is wrong to limit the power of the abbot. Not because I am the abbot, but because there should not always be complete democracy in everything. There should be Christian brotherly love in the monastery, not democracy. We had a period in our monastery, in the year 17, when the February revolution took place, the revolutionary upheavals affected, oddly enough, the brethren too. A revolutionary ferment began, so to speak. In the Church, reforms also took place, not all of them were good. The chronicler of the monastery describes the curious forms that appeared in this fermentation. Some brothers demanded that positions be made elective, money divided equally, governed by a council, and so on.

This is unacceptable, of course, it leads to idiorhythm, there is such a term. It’s easier to say - to arbitrariness, which led to the disintegration of monasteries even on Athos. Only one thing is permissible - the election of an abbot. Now on Mount Athos, in the Panteleimon Monastery, they elected a hierodeacon as abbot, wonderful. I would like to take this opportunity to cordially congratulate Father Evlogiy; we started together at the Lavra in the eighties. I'm glad for him and for the monastery.

Island

Vladyka, tell us the most important news about the life of your monastery: how many inhabitants are there, how is the restoration of the monastery and monastic life itself going?

Vladyka Pankratiy: The best news for a monastery is when there is no news. When there is a calm, measured monastic life, and nothing bothers her. Events, of course, happen, such as the arrival of the Patriarch, the President, and other distinguished guests. This summer, His Holiness the Patriarch consecrated a house church in a hotel restored after a fire. But these events relate to external life. And the main thing is what all monasticism is aimed at - this is life in Christ. You can’t really count our inhabitants. Our brotherhood is located in different places, the inhabitants live not only on Valaam, but also on farmsteads in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Priozersk, and Sortavala. In total there are about 160-170 people. And on Valaam itself we now have 8 monasteries, a farm on which the brothers carry out obedience. We get together on big holidays, and only then can we see that there is a great brotherhood. And so, about 40 people permanently live in the Central Estate. I think there are twice as many workers - about a hundred.

Can the monastery be considered restored?

Vladika Pankratiy: No, of course. It is physically impossible to restore in just over 20 years what was built in 200 years. Even if there were all the necessary funds for restoration. And if we take into account that restoration work must be combined with the life of the monastery (construction noise, inconvenience - all this affects the human condition), then we do not strive for the maximum pace, we do not force it. We do everything gradually. The monks came here in the winter of 1989, and restoration began in 1990. Now all the main monasteries have been practically restored, only 2-3 remain on the outer islands. But it is not enough to restore the monastery, it is necessary to restore the monastic life of the monastery. Hermitage life, especially on remote islands, is special; it is impossible to send any brother there; you need an experienced person who knows how to fight temptations and how to pray. A person simply cannot live without prayer on an island, far from the monastery, from the brethren.

Is the desire for solitude rare among monks?

Vladyka Pankratiy : In principle, monasticism implies solitude. Community life in a monastery is rather the first stage. But for some, this stage can last a lifetime. People achieve a very high spiritual life in the hostel. Both our Valaam elders and our modern ones - the same Father Kirill from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, who lived all his life in a hostel - is an example of this. That's how God judged them. And for many it is useful to be in solitude, away from temptations, where there are fewer worries of all kinds, and there is more opportunity to devote oneself to God. To live in such a way that your whole life is permeated with communion with God - the monastery was created for this. And in the old days we also had hermitage on Valaam. But this is an exceptional feat; we haven’t had it for 150 years. People don't reach the level to accept this lifestyle.

But in the 70s of the last century there were hermits in the Caucasus mountains.

Vladyka Pankratiy: I myself spent a year there together with my friend Father Simon; he then lived in the mountains for almost another 10 years, writing wonderful spiritual poems in solitude. Now he lives on Athos, he is known as a spiritual writer who writes under the pseudonym Simeon of Athos.

Caucasian hermitism in Soviet times arose mainly because there were few monasteries. There are only four for men in the entire Soviet Union. And you had to go through very large obstacles to get into them. Admitting people with higher education to the monastery was especially difficult.

Therefore, some people striving for monasticism went to hermitage in the Caucasus mountains.

I was invited there at the very beginning of my church journey, when I came to enter the seminary of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. And I was faced with a choice: either go to the theological seminary and then to the Lavra, or go straight to the Caucasus into the “desert.” It was a very difficult choice for me. I really liked life in the monastery, the wonderful Lavra services, obediences, life with experienced elders. In addition, I understood that I was still a beginner, and it was spiritually unsafe for me to go to the Caucasus. And you don’t know who you’ll end up with.

And what did you choose?

Bishop Pankratiy: The Lavra confessor said that you should enter the seminary. And if they accept, it means it is God’s will to study at the seminary and enter the Lavra. And if they don’t accept it, then it’s God’s will to go to the Caucasus. I was accepted. But then, anyway, from the Lavra, I went to the Caucasus. And as it usually happens, a year later I also had to face considerable temptations. In the Caucasian “desert”, mainly in Abkhazia, lived a variety of people: those of high spiritual life, and ordinary people who would do well to live in a communal monastery so that learn humility, obedience, patience, qualities that are necessary for a person in order for real prayer to be born. If a person strives for prayer and even strives a lot in prayer, but it is not dissolved in him by humility, this means that he is on a dangerous path. In addition, prayer must be combined with labor. An ordinary person cannot devote all his time to prayer, only when he is in a state of grace. Prayer and work are two oars, one elder said, you will press evenly, and the boat will float straight. And if you press harder on one oar, the boat will begin to spin in place. In the Caucasus, among the hermits there were, unfortunately, people who were clearly seduced (spiritually damaged).

A year later, I came to my confessor, Father Kirill, for advice, and he told me that I should stay in the Lavra. To be honest, I was very upset. I wanted to go back. But soon a war began there. A communal monastery is the formation of monastic life, harmonization of the soul and preparation for more complex temptations and higher spiritual states. The most important thing here is the struggle with passions (and they are very well revealed in the community) and growing in humility through obedience. One of the fathers very successfully compared the life of the brothers in the hostel with pebbles on the seashore. They roll around in waves, rub against each other and become smooth, round - even a brick. And the brothers collide with each other and, humbling themselves, “smooth out the rough edges.” It doesn't happen quickly. A person continues to study even at 60 years old. Some people are starting to get discouraged: how can this be?! Holy ascetics achieved very high spiritual states - real holiness, their life was a grace-filled life with God, and why am I so bad? The main thing is to eliminate despondency. And then this will be the correct view of yourself. If you realize your bad condition, correct yourself. If you are many years old and have not yet corrected yourself, do not despair. If you go to the Lord in the struggle for Christian life, then He will have mercy on you. Even if you have not achieved what every Christian is called to - holiness.

Many of my secular acquaintances like to repeat: “If there are elders in the Church, then let them come out and make themselves known. And louder. So that we hear not only official voices”…. So you say that the highest level for a monk is hermitage, and the world demands them to “come out.” What do you say about this?

Vladyka Pankratiy: The world needs monks. Because monks are the light of the world. And the light of monks is angels. This is what the holy fathers said. Of course, serving the world is the duty of a monk. But in order for a person to find something with which he can truly serve the world, he first needs to escape from sin, from the evil with which the world is filled. And most importantly, you need a feat, overcoming sin in yourself. This is why there is asceticism, prayer, fasting, vigil. This is not an end in itself. This is the path to acquiring God's grace.

Seraphim of Sarov, before becoming as we know him, spent many years in a monastery, in solitude and in the desert - in a difficult struggle with himself, with his sins, passions, with the “old” man inside himself. The same can be said about St. Sergius of Radonezh and other saints. It is difficult to name someone who would immediately become a holy elder among the city noise. Although there are, of course, exceptions. But still, the monastic path primarily involves leaving the “world.” Or even flight, as Arseny the Great said, “run away from people and you will be saved.”

People need elders, so they need conditions for “escape” from the “world.” And today the “world” is invading more and more monasteries. Especially through such convenient modern things as the Internet. It would seem that a person is completely alone on Mount Athos. But if he has the Internet, the whole world is in his cell.

Do pilgrims also bring “peace” to you?

Vladyka Pankratiy : Of course, but to a lesser extent. Moreover, shepherding is useful and necessary for monasticism. But first you need to strengthen yourself, and for this you need solitude. What's good about Valaam? During the winter months we are in a solitary state. I often hear: how do you live here in winter? It's so difficult! But all the difficulties pale in comparison with the benefits we receive. Winter is the time for real monastic life. In the summer we distribute, in the winter we collect...

Let's return to the topic of restoring the monastery.

Vladyka Pankratiy: Now all of Russia is helping us: from Moscow to the Urals. Most of the funds come from philanthropists. This assistance has been going on for a very long time, two decades. But there were also years when we found ourselves on the brink of survival. Imagine, we maintain a large farm, we incur expenses, we pay people salaries every month, we bring in food and fuel for the winter, not to mention construction and restoration, but whether there will be funds or not is unclear, you are in the hands of God.

The federal grid company provided us with enormous assistance by laying an electric cable along the bottom of Ladoga. We now receive electricity from the unified energy system of Russia, but before we had dilapidated diesel generators that worked intermittently in winter. It was very difficult. In winter, the most popular item on Valaam were hand-held lanterns. Many hours are complete darkness. Now there are no problems with electricity, restoration work is carried out without interruption.

The late Patriarch Alexy II was predicted to become the Patriarchate while still a boy on Valaam. The writer Ivan Shmelev left us a wonderful story “Old Valaam”. How do you connect modern life with the spiritual and cultural history of the island?

Vladyka Pankratiy: We do not make special efforts to this. Although, of course, we know the history of the holy islands, and each brother has books about Valaam. But the very life of the monastery - ideally - implies unity with the brothers who lived before us and who will come after. There is a certain Spiritual, Heavenly Balaam, and we can be in it. We can separate, move away from life within this ideal - due to mistakes, personal sins, deviations from the principles of monastic life, or, conversely, draw closer.

The Valaam elder - is he special?

Vladyka Pankratiy: No. The Monk Antipas of Valaam first lived for a long time on Athos, then with us, and essentially nothing in his life changed. Therefore, you should not focus on the place. Although each monastery has its own character, direction, spirit, location features, service and statutory traditions. And what unites us with those who lived before us and who will come after us is prayer and the grace of God.

Yesterday at the service the longest line for confession was to Father Naum. Everyone whispered that he was the most experienced.

Vladika Pankratiy: For a priest, the most important thing is participation and love. If this is the case, there will always be a queue for confession.

Monks from different countries gathered on Valaam?

Vladyka Pankratiy : Yes, Father Seraphim was originally from France, lived in England, in Essex, and was a cell attendant for Father Sophrony Sakharov. Father Methodius and Father Naum are from Macedonia. An Orthodox monk from any country can come to us.

Is Valaam today a center of spiritual attraction and nourishment for believers and seekers?

Vladyka Pankratiy : Of course. Although some come and just relax. But he can feel something unusual, come into contact with the inner beauty and harmony of Orthodoxy. And next time he will come with more serious intentions and begin to grow spiritually.

Are there enough workers on Valaam?

Vladyka Pankratiy: We don’t have enough workers. Help is always needed. Thank God, a volunteer movement arose several years ago. Many young people come to us from different countries - Russia, America, European countries and even from Japan. Among them there are both Christians and people completely far from religion. They organize themselves, come and work. The monastery receives free assistance, labor sacrifice, and the volunteers themselves are spiritually reborn, strengthened, and grow. Someone comes to the Orthodox faith, to the Church.

Are there many pilgrims?

Vladyka Pankratiy: Yes, a lot. Pilgrimage is also a certain amount of work for a person. The pilgrim has his own difficulties and temptations. But if they are overcome properly, then a person receives considerable spiritual fruit. But pilgrims make up only a fifth of all those who come to Valaam. Previously, we tried to hide from tourists, to perform divine services so that they would not get into them and would not disturb those praying. And now we are going to meet them halfway, because there are many believers among them. It happens that priests also come with groups of tourists.

Is it true that Valaam can be closed to women?

Vladyka Pankratiy: This is not true. We have monasteries, for example, All Saints, where visits by women are limited to once a year. But completely closing Valaam to women is hardly possible, and even necessary. You can rest assured.

The President of Russia visited Valaam several times. What attracts top officials to monasteries?

Lord Pankratiy: The same as the others. They also feel and experience everything. The need to be in a holy place may be even more important for them than for an ordinary person. They have a huge workload, responsibility, and severe stress. And the soul, of course, seeks strengthening. When Putin came to us, he stood in the church and prayed with everyone, confessed and received communion.

Does Valaam have a special status?

Vladyka Pankratiy: The Valaam archipelago is located in a specially protected natural area. This status is insufficient for the full protection of nature and monuments of Valaam. However, none of the statuses established by law is fully suitable for Valaam and Solovki, due to the fact that all the features of these and other territories are not taken into account. This is a problem that needs to be solved at the legislative level.

We do not have such a concept as a holy place in our legislation. And there are holy places that are very significant. And not only Christian ones. Perhaps it is worth studying the experience of Athos.

Do all the lands of the island of Valaam belong to the monastery?

Vladyka Pankratiy: No, what are you talking about! Only part of the Central Estate, land under monasteries and other monuments, everything else is forest or agricultural land.

Historically, the land of the archipelago always belonged to the monastery?

Vladyka Pankratiy: Before Soviet times, yes.

You head the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, tell us how it works now. Have the stories of the new martyrs in the twentieth century been adequately studied? Will there be new canonizations of saints from a time distant from us? From close?

Bishop Pankratiy: The basic principles of the work of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints remained the same as they were. We work with materials received from dioceses and make a decision based on the extent to which the materials under consideration correspond to the canonization criteria that existed in the Russian Orthodox Church and confirmed by the resolutions of the Councils of Bishops and the Holy Synods. This fully applies to the new martyrs. Naturally, after the release of a number of state laws and regulations regarding access to judicial investigative cases, and they are the main material for studying the confessional feat of the new martyrs, some difficulties arose, and often the materials sent to the Commission do not fully correspond to the recommendations adopted by the Holy Synod. However, it should be noted that over the past 15 years, the Russian Orthodox Church has glorified more than 1,500 new martyrs and confessors. The volume of materials related to them is so large that we are still making some clarifications.

The Russian Orthodox Church, like the Church in ancient times, does not set itself the task of rewriting everyone from the list of victims into the calendar. It is clear that some diocese or monastery has its own preferences, but now the people of God are faced rather with the task of mastering this enormous heritage - the confessional life and martyrdom of the new martyrs and confessors of Russia, glorified at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. As for our ancient ascetics, the nearest Council of Bishops will, for example, be asked to include in the calendar for general church veneration the Venerable Dalmatus of Iset, who labored in Siberia in the 17th century.

I remember what a breakthrough the canonization in 1988 of Blessed Xenia of Petersburg, Saints Theophan the Recluse and Ignatius Brianchaninov, and Venerable Maxim the Greek seemed like.

Bishop Pankratiy: This breakthrough can be explained simply: during the entire Soviet period, canonizations were practically prohibited. But now it cannot be said that there are significant personalities left in the Church who have always been revered, but for some reason were not canonized. Some names are mentioned, but some sound controversial, others have not been sufficiently studied or do not meet accepted criteria. So we cannot expect “breakthroughs” now.

I remember what a sensation the proposal to canonize Fyodor Dostoevsky was for the secular world. The Church gave an explanation: not everything in Dostoevsky’s life can be taken as a model.

Vladyka Pankratiy: A person is not born a saint. Equal to the Apostles Prince Vladimir, for example, essentially lived two different lives. One - before turning to Christ, and completely different - after. Therefore, if a person once smoked or played roulette, one should not think that he cannot be canonized. The outcome of his life is important. The holy righteous John of Kronstadt, for example, used to smoke cigars on the advice of doctors of that time. But he is revered by the Church, miracles are performed through prayers to him, and his life is impeccable from a Christian point of view.

“About tradition and modernity in church culture... about God’s grace and the purity of the shepherd’s soul...”

Elena Fedotova (hereinafter - E.F.) : Your Eminence, thank you for the opportunity to meet with you and ask questions for the humanitarian almanac “St. Petersburg Environment”. Not being a church publication, our magazine works in the so-called “Orthodox field.” In this regard, we express our absolute readiness to cooperate with the Valaam Monastery and the spiritual and educational monastery in the field of educational activities.

About the restoration of the chapel of St. Sergius of Radonezh...

In 2014, Russia celebrates the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Festive events are held everywhere, the purpose of which is to preserve cultural and moral values ​​and strengthen the spiritual unity of the Russian people. It was announced that more than 700 churches in Russia, which bear the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh, will be restored... We know that in May of this year the regular “Valaam Readings” were held and they were timed to celebrate the 700th anniversary of St. St. Sergius of Radonezh. Are there any plans to restore the Venerable Chapel? (A wooden chapel that originally stood near the desert cell of Abbot Nazarius. After the construction of the Church of the Holy Fathers, in 1880, it was moved to the road to the monastery’s summer farm, to a place 1.5 km northeast of the monastery. In the second half of the 20th century destroyed, the foundation survived. - Note by E.F.)

Vladika Pankratiy : It is planned, and it all started in a very interesting way... One woman contacted me through social networks and offered her help in this matter. But she thought that the restoration of the chapel would cost approximately three hundred thousand, which, of course, is not the case... Although the chapel itself is not large, much more funds will be needed... Moreover, it is located far away from the forest road, not everyone gets there. Therefore, we were in no hurry to restore it. Previously, chapels on Valaam were used for their intended purpose. In ancient times, hermits lived in these places and prayed in these chapels. During the life of Damascus, pilgrimage began to actively develop, and many guests came. Each chapel was prepared for a prayer service, had a cross, a gospel, an epitrachelion... Everything was in order and everything was accessible. Any pilgrim group accompanied by a priest could pray by performing a prayer service. And the groups that were without a priest could, for example, read an akathist... Now the situation is different. Unfortunately, such a tradition no longer exists. Why? Because those programs that are created today for pilgrims are quite compressed - in two days you need to have time to see everything... And if they perform prayer services or read akathists in every chapel and in every temple, then they will not have time to get anywhere...

E.F. : Or they will have to stay here to obey...

Vladyka Pankratiy : Yes, absolutely right... However, I would like to restore all the previously existing chapels. And it’s very joyful that one person was found... And now another person, wealthier, was found, literally on the holiday of Sergius and Herman, who expressed his intention to participate with his personal funds in the restoration of the chapel. And now we have two benefactors. With different, of course, possibilities, but which, nevertheless, exist. We can already begin the project, complete it in the coming months, harvest timber in the winter, find woodcutters so that they can make the log house well... And now we have full confidence that we will restore this chapel, and we will begin in the anniversary year of St. Sergius...

Recently, on Bayonne Island, in the Patriarchal Hermitage, the chapel of the Prophet Elisha was cut down. I believe that a very suitable image has been found. The chapel is relatively small, of good size, tented, in the ancient northern Russian style, which was present here in the old days before the Swedish ruin. In the same ancient Russian style, we plan to restore the chapel of St. Sergius of Radonezh. In our country, both old churches and chapels are being restored, and new ones are being built. You probably saw on the shore of Monastyrskaya Bay, at the berth site for small ships, a new chapel under construction in honor of Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg. People who come to the shore of Valaam will see this chapel first, they will be able to light a candle and pray... Most of the ships with pilgrims come from St. Petersburg, therefore, this connection with St. Petersburg, with Ksenyushka of St. Petersburg is directly visible here...

About the revival of Northern Athos...

E.F. : Vladyka, the Valaam monastery is revered as Northern Athos, can we say that the Valaam monastery is the Russian Athos? How is the restoration of the monastery going and how do you see its future? How clearly are traditional features changing today and how often are new aesthetic moments emerging?

Bishop Pankratiy : Now we have the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch for the active restoration of skete life, which he gave at the Council of Trustees, which took place on the eve of the feast of St. Sergius and Herman. Because skete life, and I will add, hermit life, is a feature of Valaam that is to a lesser extent inherent in other Russian monasteries. For example, in Optina Hermitage there was one monastery, and on Valaam there were, if I’m not mistaken, about thirteen hermitages in which hermits and silent people lived... The entire territory of the Valaam archipelago, which included many islands, belonged to the monastery. This was truly Northern Athos...

What is special about Greek Athos? — The fact is that the Greek government legally recognizes the statutes and rules of the Holy Mountain, those regulations that were once adopted there under the Byzantine emperors. The state not only observes, but also monitors compliance with these regulations... There is a governor there - a representative of the state who does not interfere in the affairs of the monastery, is not some kind of superior over the abbots of the monasteries, but he represents the state at the official level. There are also government services there - police, firefighters, border guards, whose main task is the preservation of Athos, the protection of its internal life, regime, the preservation of monuments... Observance of all this and, of course, the life of the monks, as it was hundreds, a thousand years ago, which has never been interrupted - all this together gives this amazing effect of Athos, creates its uniqueness... There is simply no other place like this on earth...

In the old days, in some ways, of course, Valaam was similar to Athos. All the lands, all the islands where the monks lived, belonged to the monastery. The monastery itself established its own rules, its own regulations, and those pilgrims who came here obeyed them. Thanks to this, conditions were created for monastic achievement, for spiritual growth and the achievement of perfection and holiness. Now, of course, the situation is different. Much has already been transferred to the monastery - almost all the churches, all the main ancient buildings, which have not all been restored yet and not all have even been identified... But, nevertheless, the prerequisites for the true revival of the monastery are arising... The attitude of the state to this, especially in the person of The President of the country Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and the leaders of the Republic of Karelia. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill attaches great importance to the revival of Valaam, precisely as Northern Athos. But there are also obstacles. This is, first of all, unregulated tourism: the number of tourists visiting Valaam is limited only by technical capabilities... That is, if not five ships, but twenty-five could come here every day, then they would come... And we legally could not prevent this... But unorganized , “wild” tourism, of course, has a destructive effect on monastic life, especially on the life of secluded places, hermitages, hermits... All these complex problems must be solved at the highest level... There is one more circumstance - the social sphere that is present here, living on Valaam worldly population. Although this is, let’s say, no longer a village, as it was before... We are now part of the urban settlement of Sortavala, its district. Our vision is that there are state and municipal structures that need to be preserved. First of all, these are the fire department, forestry, energy, construction and restoration services. It is desirable for us to switch these services to a rotational or seasonal method of work, so that there is no permanent secular settlement here.

E.F. : The monastery has already tried to resolve this issue...

Vladyka Pankratiy : Of course, this problem is difficult to solve and it needs to be solved exclusively in the legal field. We are faced with the reluctance of some people to leave here, despite the fact that these people live in very bad conditions, I emphasize - very bad, without amenities... There is no registered residential housing here, no housing stock as such. And there are simply former monastic cells, in which during the Soviet years residents were settled and registered... Since then, these people, or their children, or their grandchildren, have been living here and so it all continues... The monastery has already done a lot in this regard. We built two apartment buildings in Sortavala. Separate apartments and houses were provided in different cities, but mainly in Sortavala. We are, as I already said, part of it and people have already developed a certain habit, so to speak, of it; they are close to the social environment of this city. But some moved to Petrozavodsk, and to St. Petersburg, and to Priozersk, and to other places... In the early nineties, we had more than five and a half hundred registered residents, and now there are no more than one hundred and fifty. That is, we are trying to solve the task set by the Patriarch for us to resettle and resettle the remaining residents in a voluntary manner, of course. I emphasize that we act within the legal framework.

Speaking about the revival of hermitage life, we, again, return to the topic of Northern Athos, which was here, say, in the nineteenth century - early twentieth... Hermitage life is a feature of Valaam. In monasteries, brothers live in solitude, devoting more time to prayer, spiritual work, studying the writings of the holy fathers, and spiritual growth. His Holiness expressed his thoughts, voicing a certain dream that it would be good for our generation to see these islands inhabited by monks... And now, with his blessing, we are preparing a program for the priority restoration of historical hermitages, hermitages, chapels that were here on Valaam... One of The first is the Avraamievsky monastery. It is located, although on an island, but close to Valaam, like the Nikolsky monastery - in the north, and the Avraamievsky monastery - in the south, it is also exactly adjacent to the main island of Valaam... We have philanthropists who have expressed a desire to participate in financing this project . If this can be accomplished, then the south of Valaam will also be decorated with the same monastery... The beautiful tented temple will be visible from afar and will greet those arriving on the island from the southern side... These are the plans we have for the restoration of the monastery, that Northern Athos, as Valaam was before...

Another important, urgent task is the restoration of the Winter Hotel as a spiritual and educational type hotel, modern, following the example of the Slavyanskaya Summer Hotel. Only the Slavyanskaya Hotel is small, and the restored Winter Hotel, of course, would solve all our problems in terms of accommodating both pilgrims and tourists. Previously, traditionally, since Soviet times, large groups arrived on ships from St. Petersburg or on a small fleet from Priozersk or Sortavala. These groups, for example, thirty people, were accompanied by a guide and visited the main attractions, shrines, and they had everything according to the program. Well, now, as we know, individual tourism is developing more and more and this trend is increasing... Using the Internet, people, going abroad or traveling to different places in our country, find and book a hotel for themselves, buy tickets, that is, they There is no need for intermediaries anymore. When I go on a pilgrimage, I do exactly this: if I go in a group, it is a small group of people close to me. We register everything ourselves, book a hotel, purchase tickets, issue visas and go wherever we need... And it will be the same with Valaam... But in order for this to happen, we, of course, need a modern hotel, because the Winter Hotel still has the required conditions doesn't have...

In addition, we plan to set up an icon-painting class and icon-painting workshops, educational and singing departments on the basis of the Winter Hotel... It would be nice to revive the theological school that was in the old monastery. Both children and monks studied here... You probably know that we were visiting the festival "Academy of Orthodox Music", which holds a large program once a year: master classes, concerts in St. Petersburg, but not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Novgorod the Great, and on Valaam... The academy comes to us with final concerts and services... All this is important to do. Where? Namely, the spiritual and educational center will operate in the Winter Hotel. That is, now this is a very large project for us, which is supported by the state. There is already a Presidential order on this matter, sources of funding are being sought, and I hope that we will solve this problem.

About church culture...

E.F. : Vladyka, you head the canonization commission. Let's talk about new, modern iconography... Do you think that it has already been formed, or is it still at the stage of formation? Your attitude to what is currently happening in church culture is interesting, because it’s not so simple...

Vladyka Pankratiy : Yes, absolutely right, it’s not easy... And these issues were even discussed at the last bishops’ council. It was proposed to make some samples of icons of the most revered, most famous new martyrs and confessors of Russian and other saints who were canonized in recent years and decades... Now this is being done, let’s say, due to the abilities, talents, professionalism of the icon painters to whom this work is entrusted. If an icon painter is good, he will paint a good image, a beautiful one, he will feel it, understand what is needed, how to depict this or that saint. And if this is done at a less professional level, then often we just see, as it were, colored photographs... And this, of course, is sad... It should be noted that our church culture now has, I would say, a motley state, heterogeneous... Before the revolution there was more homogeneous picture in this regard. Many wonderful artists were involved. Let's remember the beginning of the twentieth century, when the best artists did this, the best architects of Russia designed churches... But even simple rural churches were built better than now. Today the picture is not so rosy, and there are very sad cases... And even these sad cases, from my point of view, are more numerous than positive examples. Added to this is the use of non-traditional materials, such as, for example, titanium nitride. I mean simply terrible examples of bad taste, which are aggressively advertised, promoted everywhere, are inexpensive, and many are tempted by their cheapness and seemingly external beauty... But there is not enough church taste... Therefore, of course, it is necessary to cultivate good artistic taste in future pastors. This would be very important, because here we have complete inconsistency... I would like to call our era an era of synthesis, because in church art, in any of its spheres, from singing to architecture, virtually all elements are used - from the most ancient before the Synodal period, before the Russian style of the Art Nouveau era. Everything, of course, is oriented towards the past. There is very little new now and everything is not being done very successfully. There are debates among experts about what a temple should be like, its architecture, its appearance... Some people think that it is enough to simply copy and repeat old models. Others believe that it is necessary to return to the moment of that artificial break in church culture, which happened in connection with the revolution of the seventeenth year, and gradually begin to somehow develop further... In principle, this point of view is close to me, because those who are trying to “jump over” "from the Russian style, Art Nouveau style to modernity, no successful examples have been shown yet. There is simply not a single worthy example, not a single one. Recently, the Union of Architects and the Moscow Patriarchate held a special competitive exhibition. It was proposed to present an image of a modern temple, but very few successful examples were shown, although there were two or three projects... There were no more than ten interesting ones... And icon painting is already, so to speak, quite firmly on its feet. But even here there are some problems. For example, there is a special fascination with Byzantine designs. The Byzantine icon has simply become fashionable... And, nevertheless, our icon painting is not bad now. There are good icon painters who paint at a good professional level. I think that in the Orthodox world we have the best icon, better even than in Greece... And in terms of church singing, church music - a search is still underway here. Synthesis is also used: ancient, Znamenny, Byzantine chants. There are, so to speak, some new searches taking place... In my opinion, not a single one of the previous styles, not a single direction can be used today in its pure form. Let's say the ancient Znamenny singing - it is, of course, wonderful, you can listen to it, but it’s hard to imagine that in some parish it will be the only thing that will be constantly performed. We tried, it’s hard even in a monastery...

E.F. :...at the St. Petersburg courtyard of the Valaam Monastery, the courtyard choir practices znamenny chant, they try very hard...

Vladyka Pankratiy : But, nevertheless, they adapt it. I believe that the adapted version, somewhat softened, is easier to understand and more suitable for modern worship. This is where this kind of synthesis arises, which in my opinion is not bad. Although, of course, practicing scientists and specialists interested in pure Znamenny singing reject and do not accept these innovations. The same applies to Byzantine singing. Byzantine singing, again, in its pure form, as it is, will not take root in a Russian church. Especially in such higher forms, their best manifestations, which we can hear, say, on Athos. If they start singing here the way psalt virtuosos sing, then ignorant people will think that they are not in an Orthodox church, but rather in a mosque... But, again, we can use some elements. Something has even become very popular and often performed. There is a hymn “Agni Parfene”, which was written by Saint Nektarios, we also often sing it on the feasts of the Mother of God, it has become very popular in our Church. We are, one might say, in search of compliance with our mentality, our state of mind, our culture. We cannot be compared with people of the sixteenth century, we know much more, everything is more developed with us... We have less purity, sincere simplicity, faith, we do not have roots in tradition and way of life, we do not have true mastery, but we have a common culture and intellectual knowledge definitely more. I think that over time, a good church culture in all its manifestations will somehow emerge. Pavel Florensky also wrote about the temple action as a synthesis of arts... After all, church art is born from worship. And it is the divine service that must correspond to what is in the temple. Now, of course, there are a lot of diseases, a lot of unacceptable, superficial things in the temple. Frankly speaking, there are benefactors and sponsors who do not really understand what is happening in the temple and they need more gold, more all sorts of curlicues, beauty... Therefore, no matter how strange it may sound, it is difficult to find a good temple that, on the one hand, corresponds traditions, on the other hand, reflects the modern state, the modern vision of modern man. This is just emerging...

About the publishing and educational activities of the monastery...

E.F. : What role does publishing and church educational activities play in modern missionary work? The Valaam Monastery previously published the works of the holy fathers of the monastery; will they be republished? For newly-churched people, publications with extensive comments are needed, because in fact they sometimes do not even have superficial knowledge... How is the activity of the monastery developing in this regard?

Vladyka Pankratiy : Our publishing activity is now mainly focused on our Valaam theme, because we do not have the strength to solve broader problems. There are church publishing houses, such as the Sretensky Monastery Publishing House, which publish a lot and work a lot in the areas you mentioned. They have their own personnel, an established system. Then, after all, we must not forget that we are, after all, an island monastery. In the summer we have a lot of people here, but in the winter it’s deserted, you won’t be very puzzled by such questions... Therefore, we limit ourselves to our topic. Initially, in the early nineties, at the Moscow courtyard we had a fairly strong publishing group, more historically oriented. The most famous publication they carried out is the multi-volume work of Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) “History of the Russian Church”. But then His Holiness took this team “under its wing.” Now it is church-scientific. What was once born in the depths of our monastery is now a large church-educational project. It is no longer possible to repeat this experience, therefore, we limit our publishing activities to Valaam topics...

About the talent of faith...

E.F. : There is a philosophical saying that faith requires talent. How would you comment on this opinion?

Vladyka Pankratiy : I would probably agree with this statement, because faith is, indeed, the most important thing in spiritual life, in the life of a Christian... And faith can be different. And we see, especially in the example of the saints, that some people showed such a talent for faith almost from infancy, while others - the majority, unfortunately - are less talented in this sense, and even their own, small, modest talent also goes to earth they bury... But let us remember the Gospel parable, talent must be multiplied, faith grows as a person deepens into it, into the life of the church, into the life of the church itself. Spiritual experience appears and faith increases. A person begins to understand that these are no longer just words, not just some initially incomprehensible actions, liturgical, for example... As he reads the gospel, the works of spiritual fathers, spiritual literature, his eyes begin to open, spiritual vision appears, faith increases and increases more. The Lord facilitates this. If a person takes one step to meet God, then God takes ten steps to meet the person. There is such a concept - the first grace, which is given to a person completely undeservedly. Great grace is given freely so that a person feels how good it is to be with Christ, how good it is to be in church. Often this is facilitated by some kind of sorrow that the Lord providentially sends to a person...

E.F.: As a rule...

Vladyka Pankratiy : Remember, in the Gospel the man said: “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!”? That is, through prayer - and prayer is given to the one who prays - a person begins to live a Christian life, try to keep the commandments and, most importantly, be in church. Through prayer, a person receives grace and gradually approaches God... And there are many examples of this. Before our eyes, people who were completely secular and far from religion and faith were turning into church people, sincere Orthodox Christians. I know many such cases...

About tradition and modernity... About God's grace and the purity of the shepherd's soul...

E.F. : How important is it to incorporate tradition into modern cultural media, is it worth emphasizing on this?

Vladyka Pankratiy : Modern technologies, of course, have many positive components that can bring great benefit to a believer, as well as many that are simply dangerous. Everything that happens in the cultural sphere is in many ways directly related to the Internet. There are fewer and fewer bookstores, fewer newspapers are printed, and people are increasingly drawing information from online sources. We, of course, use the Internet, the monastery has its own website, and we are officially present on social networks. This helps us. Even some brothers come to us after receiving information about the monastery from the Internet. But, on the other hand, the Internet forms a superficial, fractional consciousness in a person... A person, picking up a book, reads it from beginning to end. It’s very difficult for me to imagine anyone reading a book on the Internet. Although there are now so-called “readers”, electronic books, this is still a different form of a traditional book. But, the Internet is gradually reducing everything to “tweeting”, to “Twitter”: briefly “tweeting-tweeting-tweeting” something to someone... This also applies to Orthodox resources, where large, serious articles can be read by some serious specialists who are deeply involved in this. But, let’s say, this is no longer typical for most users. Nowadays on social networks it is common to use only some small quotes and pretty photographs... This, naturally, lowers the overall level. This is some kind of “light food”, “baby food”, which is not enough... We still need to somehow resist and not slide into a fragmented, mosaic and superficial perception of spiritual information. And there is another danger when fragile young people get on the Internet and are faced with completely different information that is actively advertised. For example, if you want to know the weather, you go to the appropriate weather site, and instead an indecent photograph “pops up”. A fragile, young person can get carried away by this... People study in theological schools and all their teaching aids are on the Internet. And this, again, often becomes a problem. This is something that until recently, say twenty years ago, we did not know at all. This problem didn't exist. When I entered the monastery at the Lavra, I had to answer various questions from the older fathers, for example, about what I read, what I was interested in... And, so, one father, as I now understand, with a sense of humor, asked me: “ What will you have in your cell? How do you see your cell?” Naturally, having prepared for admission, having read the works of the ascetic fathers, I answer: “Well, I will have an icon, maybe two or three...” - from St. Sergius, as you know, had two icons - “I will have spiritual literature, books that will bless me, there will be two clothes - one winter, one summer...”. Then this father asks: “Will you have a teapot?” I thought a little and agreed that, yes, it would be difficult without a teapot: “Yes, there will be a teapot, forgive me, father.” “Well, what about the tape recorder, the tiny tape recorder with spiritual chants, with sermons? Well, you have to have a tape recorder like that?” To which I resolutely replied: “No, I won’t have a tape recorder!”, but three years later I still got a tape recorder... So, this was the maximum that the monks of that time could afford... And what now? Smartphones - please, Internet - please... You can be a hermit, live in the desert, and the whole world, including all its vices, is in your pocket... Seriously speaking, monasticism is now much more difficult, much more difficult... And spiritual warfare it's much more difficult now...

Arriving at the monastery, of course, even then I tried to read more spiritual literature. And a person, becoming a priest, a shepherd, especially a bishop, is no longer just a monk. And, it would seem, he needs to be aware of how the world lives... But the main thing, after all, is to think about preserving his soul in purity, chastity and grace... If the shepherd keeps his soul and remains in grace, he, with God with help, will find answers to the most difficult questions. If this is not the case and the person-shepherd, the priest, is immersed in all, so to speak, spheres of modern life - both social and political, but does not care about his soul, then at best he will be able to give advice as a secular person, more experienced in some way... Based on the gospel and Christian teaching, of course... But, nevertheless, this will just be advice from an experienced person. This is also possible. This even happens in most cases. I believe that hearing or even feeling the grace of God is the most important thing. Because God speaks through a person who is close to Him. And this closeness to God is not given by any knowledge through reading, even the most wonderful, secular books, but only by prayer and fulfilling the commandments. If there is grace with a person, then those who turn to him for help or advice can simply be nearby. I've met such people. The Lord sent me meetings with holy people. You didn’t even have to talk to them, just be around them or hear some completely simple words from them. These words may not give you anything intellectually, but in terms of spiritual experience they will give you a lot and help in solving the problems that you have...

E.F. : Your Eminence, we sincerely thank you for the time you have given us, we ask for your prayers and to forgive us if we have upset you in any way. Thank you!

Valaam is a spiritually corrupt “mirror of Russia”

— Rate this article | Ratings: 4 , Rating: 4.00 /5

Loading...

About an obscurantist film with the smell of burning and sewage

With this publication, I, the historian of Valaam, Oleg Yarovoy, candidate of historical sciences, author of many books about Valaam and developer of many projects for the development of the Unique historical and natural landscape territory “Valaam Archipelago”, begin a detailed analysis of the “documentary” film “Valaam”... There will be several parts , from which you will learn my opinion about the film, and what really stands behind it.

Today - part one, where we will talk about the fact that the church concept about the historical past of the Valaam monasteries is one big myth... There were at least four monasteries on Valaam, and they had nothing in common except the veneration of Sergius and Herman of Valaam wonderworkers.

Huge interest in the film “Valaam”, shown on the Russia-1 TV channel on Sunday, January 14 (https://vidvisor.ru/valaam-dokumentalnyiy-film-14-01-2018-smotret-onlayn/) as it turned out, according to reviews , was caused not by the story about the monastery there, but by the political statements of the President in the pre-election situation. The monastery is perceived as a backdrop for V.V. Putin. And I am sure that the president himself serves as a decoration for the rector of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankratius.

Essentially, this is a film about the destruction of the constitutional order on the separate island of Valaam with an interview with the president on this topic.

I am sure that President Putin himself serves as a decoration for the rector of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankratiy

About the actions of Bishop Pankratiy against the residents of the village of Valaam, the school, the kindergarten, the destruction of entire complexes of historical, cultural and natural monuments - residents of the village wrote about all this to the president many, many times. But the president was silent. He is still silent now after the arson of the Winter Hotel apartment building and the deportation of the residents.

People have been asking prosecutors for decades: apply our Russian law to Valaam, restore the rights of citizens, protect them. The answer was: there is no reason. And people were oppressed, monuments were destroyed.

And now this film with the participation of Russian President V.V. Putin.

This is a film about Potemkin villages on Valaam. Now we can safely say: about the internationally famous Potemkin villages of Bishop Pankratiy.

It is also suitable as a report on the work done for the 25th anniversary of the viceroyal activity (1993-2018).

Still from the film “Valaam”

The frame shows a staged scene, 38 seconds into the film. “Mummers”, actors playing monks, picturesquely and wearily climb a rock in Nikon Bay of Valaam, 1989.

Kondrashov: “Here we are closer to God than to the blessings of civilization... This is a special place for special people. December 1989, four hieromonks and two novices land in Nikon Bay in the Valaam archipelago. This steep rocky coast meets them first..."

In other words, what a feat! But in fact, the monks landed on a modern pier for large tourist ships. We got to Valaam on board a chartered ship. Nothing special, just normal. By the way, the memories of those first monks about the appearance of the first monks speak quite casually. And one more thing: none of them stayed in the monastery on Valaam. There are memoirs on this topic (on the Internet), they are easy to find.

The main question arising from this staged scene: who played the roles of the “first monks”, was it really the novices? Workers? In general, artists! "Artistic Artists". Like this whole film: entirely artistry, turning into lies and deception, and very little real, actual.

Sergius and German, Valaam miracle workers, in the light of Christmas statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs 2021

I, a historian of Valaam, listened to the head of state’s story about how the heavenly patron of Russia, Apostle Andrew the First-Called, erected a stone cross on Valaam, and how two monks, Sergius and German, the future founders of the first Valaam monastery, were in the retinue of the baptizer of Rus', Prince Vladimir. I listened to these fairy tales for adults and thought, as in the famous joke about Lenin: “Nadya, everything is lost, we must make the revolution again.” But then Putin said that the information was given to him “in accordance with the ideas of the church” and also: “the patriarch just told me.” And I felt a little better.

(And the day before, the Ministry of Internal Affairs published statistics on attendance at Christmas services in the Russian Orthodox Church, which measure the number of its members, formerly called churchgoers. Those who came to the service on the great Christian holiday, which means: church members, turned out to be 1-2% of all Russians, just like last year Actually, this is that small audience that perceives what “the patriarch just told.”)

Those who came to the service on Christmas 2018, that is, church members themselves, turned out to be 1-2% of all Russians

Regarding the stone cross on Valaam, which was allegedly erected by the Apostle Andrew in the 1st century AD, I inform you that historical scientists, even under Emperor Alexander III, found out that this story was invented by the titular adviser A.I. Sulakadzev, who also held a presentation of the manuscript in the monastery parchment of the 1st century, which supposedly talks about this. (The title of the manuscript was “Mirror of Russia”, just kidding, of course).

The then abbot of Damascus, a man without education, accepted and believed the swindler. And having believed, in honor of the wonderful “apostolic” news, he began to erect stone crosses, 7 (seven) pieces in total. The complex of stone crosses on Valaam now numbers 11 (eleven): 2 (two) new ones were erected by abbots after Damascus, before 1911, another 2 (two) were erected by Pankratiy in the 21st century. Judging by the film, there will soon be another, twelfth cross. It will be the largest and most visible from afar. It is not difficult to guess where this cross will be placed.

Map-scheme of the location of stone worship crosses on Valaam

Regarding Sergius and Herman in the retinue of Prince Vladimir: according to an authentic ancient Russian story of the 1550s. “A short story about the Valaam Monastery”, it was founded in the period 1388 - 1415. Novgorod monk Ephraim of Perekom, whose successor was Sergius, and when dissatisfied monks expelled Sergius from Valaam, Herman was elected abbot. So there was no way they could be in Vladimir’s retinue.

Yes, the historical reality is this: the founder of the Valaam Monastery was St. Ephraim of Perekom. It is not the historians’ fault that the “Tale” about the founders of the Valaam Monastery was discovered only in 1990. It became a turning point in Valaam studies. And Bishop Pankratiy began back in the 1990s. war with historians. The monastery historiographer, Hierodeacon Onuphry (Makhanov), who wrote a book based on the “Tale,” was forced to renounce his scientific views and his work was banned, and then completely expelled from the monastery.

Mr. Makhanov did not renounce “The Legend”; he left the monastery, took off his hair, got married, is engaged in ballroom dancing and works as a research assistant in the library of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The film “Valaam” is a story by Bishop Pankratiy about “his” monastery, “his” Valaam

And now someone has “supplied” V. Putin with all sorts of nonsense, incl. absolutely wild, about the retinue of Prince Vladimir. Who? It is clear that this is Bishop Pankratiy, who was the real director of the film “Balaam”. And he, without a doubt, owns the image “Valaam – the mirror of Russia”, and he is also the screenwriter and the main narrator. This film is Pankratiy’s story about “his” monastery, “his” Valaam. This is the story of a man infinitely alien to Valaam.

About the image of “Valaam – the mirror of Russia”, the President said in the film that “we have many such mirrors.” What did he mean? Vostochny Cosmodrome? Water park in Vladivostok? Syktyvkar governor? In general, wherever facts of rampant corruption and theft are revealed, there is a “mirror”. For me personally, a historian of Valaam, the Valaam mirror is more mirror-like than all mirrors. After all, it is also spiritual.

Wherever facts of rampant corruption and theft are revealed, there is a “mirror” of Russia

In the next part, I will talk about the real number of monks on Valaam with reference to scientific research on the topic “Historical and statistical information” about the Valaam monasteries and why Bishop Pankratiy multiplies this number many times over.

Valaam is spiritually corrupt in the film “Valaam”: in part 2 it will be said about the real number of monks and novices, the reader will be asked to count them on their own; finally, about why public housing was set on fire during the Easter service in 2021.

Three problems that the film solves as conceived by Bishop Pankratiy and Co.:

1. Maximum denigration of the local population, residents of the secular village of Valaam, which was finally liquidated in 2021, and justification of violence against people: so that after the film no one raises their heads.

2. Maximum praise for himself, Pankraty, the creator of monastic decorations at public expense: so that no one would have the desire to ask “where is the money?”

3. Justification by the film with the president of the system of absolute lawlessness created by Pankratiy in relation to the protected area of ​​Valaam, historical, cultural and natural monuments.

Pankratiy’s manic desire to destroy the secular village on Valaam (this is a known painful state of his since the mid-1990s) was finally achieved in 2016-2017. During the Easter service on May 1, 2021, the Winter Hotel apartment building with public housing, 55 apartments and a village school was ritually set on fire. The monument building was under the patronage of President V.V. Putin (Instruction No. 2977, 2013), 322 million rubles were allocated from the federal budget. The monastery forcibly, according to the court, resettled citizens and residents of the village to the mainland. By the standards of international humanitarian law, this was a genuine crime against humanity.

The investigation is still ongoing. The financial support for this crime - only on two orders of President V.V. Putin (2013 and 2021) - amounted to about 1 billion rubles.

Instead of a burned-out residential building and school, Pankratiy is building a “Spiritual and Educational”, so to speak, spiritual center on blood, named after Bishop Pankratiy. There he wants to create a “hotel of the spiritual and moral type” (a new word in the world hotel business), there will be a second museum of the monastery (one already exists), a second icon-painting workshop and a second school of church chants.

Of course, the film does not say this.

Instead of a burned-out residential building and school, Pankratiy is building the “Spiritual and Educational Center “Valaam””, so to speak, a spiritual center on blood, named after Bishop Pankratiy

And that’s another reason why Pankratiy needed V.V. Putin. This man had long wanted to become a bishop, and for this he needed to become famous in church circles. First of all, it was necessary to gather more monks, and modern people are reluctant to go to the monastery, to put it mildly. But they won’t give either money or preferences for a small monastery, Pankraty rightly thought.

And Pankratiy began to say that he had “many” monks, 200 people. And this has been the case for a good ten years. And he talks about this (magic or something?) number “200” in dozens of his interviews. Really, who would guess to check? We also had no doubts until we began to engage in historical and statistical research about the Valaam monasteries.

And these “200” are Pankratius’s “sacred cow,” because it was precisely under this large number of monks that Pankraty received the episcopal rank, which guaranteed to free him from persecution and give him power over local officials.

The Pankratiev number “200” was announced by the President throughout Russia.

The study collected documentary information about the population of the monastery on Valaam in 2003-2017: maximum - 82 people. Half of them are novices

Pankratiy with his “200 monks” did not pass the “lie detector” test: a historical and statistical study of the Valaam monasteries, undertaken in 2021, collected documentary information about the number of monasteries on Valaam in 2003-2017: it turned out to be within 63 – 78 people, possibly up to 82 people. Of these, half are monks, half are novices.

The film “Valaam” also presented evidence of the number: not “200”, of course, as the President confidently said in the film, but 57 people. Those who wish can easily calculate on their own. The entire “soborne” brethren was shown to us in the same film during a staged procession of the cross at Epiphany, filmed from a drone (5 cameramen). Actually, there are about half of the monks there, about 30.

The footage shows how many monks there actually are in the Valaam Monastery

And this is a festive Epiphany bathing in an ice hole (below), where the entire winter population of the monastic religious settlement on Valaam gathered in a staged manner. Approximately 100 people.

Hieromonks with abbots – 16 (sixteen)

Pankratiy, with the help of Karelian officials and prosecutors, liquidated a normal secular village of 500 people, burned it out, for the sake of a small and unviable monastery, which could cease to exist tomorrow simply because people “don’t go to become monks.”

Let us recall these diabolical photo chronicles of the liquidation of the Winter Hotel apartment building and the village school.

"Easter" fire at the Winter Hotel. May 1, 2016

It is strange, however, that the president is interested in Valaam monastic tales, but does not show the slightest sympathy for the residents of the village of Valaam, who suffered a tragedy because of these tales. Very strange. However, the investigation has not yet been completed.

No one is forgotten and nothing is forgotten.

In the next part, I will tell you how, in the film “with the president,” the state television channel, with the help of the Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Pankratiya, presented Russian citizens, residents of the village of Valaam, and, for comparison, how the Finnish journalist Saara Finni saw the faces of the village. I would like to note that I am also a resident of the village of Valaam and cannot be impartial.

Oleg Yarovoy,

Candidate of Historical Sciences, author of many books about Valaam

7×7

Posted by: admin | Date: Jan 28 2021 | Tags: Religion | You can add your comment below. You can send the news to social networks.

More on the topic:

• What Putin asked God for in private - or Russian life as an anecdote (0)
• Why does Putin order “holy fire” from a match for Easter? (1)
• What is behind Kirill’s calls “not to kill children, but to give them to the church” (0)
• What will happen to the Russian Orthodox Church when the Kremlin realizes that it is eating its bread in vain? (0)
• What is hidden behind the meeting of the Patriarch and the Pope (video) (0)
• What does our army need more – churches or missiles? (0)
• The weaker the government, the stronger the authoritarianism (0)
• The Church opposed the House of Romanov in February 1917 (2)
• Hitler's cap, or how the Great Martyr Varvara became the curator of the Strategic Missile Forces (0)
• Mr. Putin's signature dish of political cuisine: duck with noodles (0)
• At the bunker in captivity (0)
• The panties of the Virgin Mary did not help Russia (0)
• Three days: no more problems (0)
• The USA is crying, injecting itself, but continues to chew cactus (3)
• Will renegade Putin be able to defeat the coronavirus by Easter on April 19? (0)