A person, having accepted the baptism of Christ, has the opportunity to take the Christian path of saving his soul. Awareness and choice of this path occurs either according to the faith of parents from infancy, or already in adulthood. In order to follow the right vector, an Orthodox Christian is looking for a spiritual mentor.
The Orthodox faith is famous for its confessors. One of these bright shepherds of Orthodox Christianity serves in the Church of the Transfiguration in Peredelkino - Father Iliy Nozdrin.
He is the confessor of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and not only him. Hundreds of thousands of believers are trying to meet him, so many are interested in the question: how to get to Peredelkino when Father Iliy receives people.
The glory of the man of God was bestowed upon the priest by people who received and are receiving help in their spiritual and mental torments, everyday problems and issues that are insoluble for humans.
The biography of Father Ilya Nozdrin began in 1932 on March 8, in the Oryol region, the village of Stanovoy Kolodets. The family was peasant. As the priest himself says, interest in prayer appeared at an early age, about 3 years.
He graduated from school and completed military service. Father Ily was a Komsomol member, but deeply repented of this act and burned his Komsomol card.
It is no wonder that with that non-stop atheistic propaganda, many people were simply deceived by the illusory ideals of communism. At baptism, the future elder was named Alexei in honor of the man of God Alexei, whose memory is celebrated on March 30. In Serpukhov, Alexey Nozdrin graduated from a technical school with a degree in mechanical engineering.
Having received assignment to the city of Kamyshin, Volgograd region, the spiritual formation of the future priest began. The city had the only temple in honor of Nicholas the Ugodnik, where Alexey met his first spiritual father, priest John Bukotkin.
While it was in effect, he sent him to the Saratov Theological Seminary, but Eli received his spiritual education at the Leningrad Theological Academy.
The spiritual formation of Father Elijah
In 1966, on March 13, Alexei took monastic vows with the name Ilian, in honor of one of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste. Father Eli served in many churches of the Leningrad diocese. He spent the most time, 10 years, in the Pskov-Pechersk monastery. There they decided to leave for Athos.
At the beginning of March 1976, the Holy Synod sent the priest for monastic obedience to the Panteleimon Monastery on Athos. The spiritual creations of Silouan of Athos had a great influence on the monk Elijah.
Such spiritual experience required realization. At the end of the 80s, the restoration of Optina Pustyn, famous for its elders, began. It is to this monastery that Father Elijah receives the appointment of the monastery’s confessor. This place is forever associated with his name.
How to get to Optina Pustyn, where Father Eli sometimes holds receptions in 2021, worries many people, because it is not easy to find him there. This monastery, where the priest was tonsured into the great schema, becomes a place for the restoration of a special service in Orthodoxy - eldership. Although he himself says that this is not the goal, but the matter of saving human souls.
At the beginning of April 2010, the priest received the rank of schema-archimandrite. How to get to him now in 2021 in Peredelkino, Father Ily does not have a clear schedule, because under his leadership a large number of missionary services take place in various cities of Russia.
They require the personal presence of an elder, despite his advanced age. Peredelkino has become a place of pilgrimage, where now you can most often meet with Father Iliy. He is a frequent guest in the spiritual church, which is located in the elder’s small homeland - the Oryol region. The elder is the spiritual patron of this spiritual center.
Since 2012, active construction work has been underway here; one of the results has become a temple in honor of the Presentation of the Lord, an Orthodox gymnasium, a livestock farm, a crafts factory, a children's and sports ground.
In the future, further development of infrastructure and construction of a cottage village.
History of the monastery
Optina Pustyn is an Orthodox monastery for men, located two kilometers from the city of Kozelsk in the Kaluga region. According to ancient legend, the monastery was founded at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries by the repentant robber Opta (or Optius), who became a monk under the name Macarius. The Optina monastery served as a haven for elders and elders, living in separate buildings of the monastery, but under the spiritual guidance of one abbot. The first mentions of this monastery can be found in the scribe books of Kozelsk dating back to the reign of Boris Godunov.
At the beginning of the 18th century, Optina Pustyn experienced difficult times due to constant taxes to the state for the war with the Swedes and the construction of St. Petersburg, and in 1724 it was completely abolished according to the Spiritual Regulations and annexed to the Transfiguration Monastery, located in the neighboring city of Belev. Two years later, by order of Catherine II, the monastery was restored, and construction of new churches began on its territory, which continued until the beginning of the twentieth century.
Optina became one of the largest spiritual Orthodox centers in Russia; pilgrims and sufferers were drawn to it from all sides, some of whom settled in the skete, built in 1821. As donations came in, the monastery acquired land and a mill.
In 1918, Optina Pustyn was closed according to the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, and in 1939, on the territory of the monastery, by order of L. Beria, a concentration camp was organized for five thousand Polish soldiers, who were later shot in Katyn. From 1944 to 1945 a filtration camp for Soviet officers returning from captivity was located here.
How to get to Elder Iliy Nozdrin
Reviews of meetings with Father Eli bring so much light, warmth, and grace. These are just the impressions of those who met, what people feel when they are physically close to him. How to get to him, well-known persons in the public media space share their stories: Irakli Pirtskhalava, Evgeny Mironov, Boris Korchevnikov in the TV program “The Word” on the Spas channel.
But this does not mean that only famous people can get to the priest; it only confirms that without God it is impossible for anyone to build a happy life and walk the path on Earth with dignity.
The choice is up to the individual. Father gives an explanation about cancer patients, comparing the universal way of life with a cancerous tumor. A huge number of people come to him with this diagnosis, for healing, relief of the disease. But not everyone has the opportunity to travel distances to meet a seer in person.
Therefore, Father Eli tells not how to get an appointment with him, but how to find God, the way to Him, what needs to be done without delay, without waiting for the opportunity to meet in person.
There is not much time, because a Christian cannot rely on himself; we don’t know whether each of us has this time. This means that we need to correct ourselves not from the next Monday or the first of the month, but now.
Lenten days are a time of repentance, and there is no convenient time for it; it should be here and now, as soon as the awareness of one’s sinfulness and godlessness comes.
Instructions from Father Elijah
Father attunes a person’s soul to God’s Providence, and not to fate, as many people believe. When choosing fate, we choose uncertainty, because it is a consequence of a person’s different choices, which most often leads to the most terrible truth about us. The most terrible truth is sin; each of us has this seed of aphids.
If the law of physics, chemistry, and nature is violated, the entire development process becomes distorted and incorrect.
Even if you break a legal law, there is punishment. But what happens if the most basic law - God's - is violated. What else do we need to prove the existence of this law and recognize the primacy of God’s law in human life?
We hear and see the consequences of a planetary scale every day: in the news, around us, in our lives. Finding Father Elijah in Peredelkino in 2021 is just as difficult as getting to see him now; you can rely on the reviews of those who attend meetings with him.
The official information of the Patriarchal Compound in Peredelkino does not have information about the plans of Father Elijah, here is an example of what the will of God is, if you really have an important spiritual question, the Lord will lead you to it.
If the priest serves the Divine Liturgy, you can take his blessing, so it would be more correct to focus on the schedule of services of the Patriarchal Compound of the Church of the Transfiguration in Peredelkino.
Keep in mind that Father Eli travels a lot, so when organizing your trip, take extra time, plan the pilgrimage for several days, then the likelihood of meeting will increase.
Iliy Nozdrin is an outstanding spiritual personality, confessor to Patriarch Kirill, a true elder, of whom there are so few left in our times.
Biography of Schema-Archimandrite Elijah
The future elder was born into a simple peasant family in the village of Stanovoy Kolodez (near Orel). This significant event took place in 1932. The baby was baptized with the name Alexy (in honor of the man of God Alexy).
At that time, there were few believing families, and atheism was widespread. But Elijah was lucky - his parents were deeply religious. The baby began to learn to work and pray very early. At the age of 3, he already knew the simplest prayers and sincerely cried out to the Lord. Having lost his father early, who died at the front, the boy experienced all the hardships and deprivations of his wartime childhood and became a real help for his mother. In addition to the boy, the family had three more children.
From early childhood, Eli was distinguished among his peers by his extraordinary mental abilities, as well as his enormous diligence. Despite the fact that he was always full of worries at home, he graduated from school with flying colors. Then there was military service, after which he entered a technical school. After successfully completing his studies, Iliy was sent to work at a cotton mill in the city of Kamyshin.
But the young man especially acutely feels the need for spiritual life and spiritual education. Therefore, he enters the theological seminary in Saratov. But Ilya failed to complete his studies. At this time, Khrushchev came to power and persecution of the Orthodox faith began again. The seminary is closed. Ily continues his studies at the Leningrad Theological Seminary, then at the academy.
In 1966, the most important event in Alexei’s life occurs - he takes monastic vows, at which time he is named Ilian. Then Ilian was ordained a hierodeacon, and soon a hieromonk.
10 years: from 1966 to 1976 he spends in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, where he meets and is in close communication with John Krestyankin.
And in 1976, he managed to make his cherished dream come true - to go to Mount Athos. On the Holy Mountain, he lived in a monastery in the mountains and served as the confessor of the monastery brethren.
The 980s are marked by a special spiritual upsurge of our Motherland. At this time, Hieromonk Ilian is recalled from the Holy Mountain to his country. In Russia, he heads to Optina Pustyn, or rather to what remains of it during the years of persecution. It was under him that Optina was revived and became the heart of Orthodoxy in the country.
Since 2009, the elder has carried out the honorable mission of confessor to our Patriarch Kirill.
At the same time, Elder Ilian does not leave his flock and is the spiritual mentor of many ordinary Orthodox people who come to him for advice and help in Optina Pustyn. For most of the day, the old priest, despite his fatigue, receives pilgrims right at the refectory table.
The Elder's Prophecies
In wide circles of Orthodox Christians, the Elder of Optina is known for his predictions about Russia.
Unfortunately, these prophecies are not very optimistic, so the elder calls on all citizens of our country to unite and revive the true Orthodox faith in their souls.
Elder Eli predicted difficult trials for Russia and Ukraine, which, in his opinion, are inevitable and cannot be prevented in any way.
In his predictions, the priest speaks rather vaguely, without naming either specific dates or specific events.
But his words suggest an unambiguous way out - a return to the origins of the holy Orthodox faith, not just in words, but in deeds. After all, it is not enough to simply build churches, decorate them and stand for long services; you need to let the Lord into your heart, love your neighbor with all your soul and live according to the commandments and biblical canons.
Father is confident that the time for the spiritual revival of Russia will definitely come, and then we will be truly invincible.
How to get to the priest in Peredelkino
Elder Iliy is located either in the Optina Desert or in Peredelkino at the Patriarchal Metochion. Many believers ask the question: how to get to the perspicacious priest when he is in Peredelkino.
To do this, you need to come to the service at the Transfiguration Church and wait for the elder to leave it after the end of the service. There is no pre-registration for an appointment with him.
Father Eli, Schema-Archimandrite, spiritual mentor of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill and the Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage.
Father Eli
If God wills
Many people want Elder Iliy (Peredelkino) to talk to them. “How to get an appointment with the elder and will he accept?” - these are the main questions of visiting pilgrims. Of course, the schema-archimandrite will not be able to satisfy all those who suffer, but, as local monks say, if God wills it, the meeting will definitely take place. Usually Elder Elijah receives people in the refectory before lunch, where those who have arrived are seated at tables, and the line moves around these tables. If people make noise in line or argue, he will personally disperse or reconcile the guests.
Closer to 16 o'clock, the elder retires to rest, and when he returns and whether he will return on this day, only the Lord knows. The monastery has its own Internet resource (www. optina.ru), where you can find out where Elder Elijah is now and when the next reception will take place.
Ilya Nozdrin was destined from childhood to become a “man of God”
Family
Alexey Afanasyevich Nozdrin, was born on March 8, 1932 in the Oryol province in the village of Kolodez, into an ordinary peasant family. In a family where faith in God was honored.
Father - Afanasy Nozdrin,
Mother - Claudia Nozdrina.
In addition to little Alexey, the family had 3 brothers and a sister.
Father Elijah's birthday
At the time of Alexei’s birth, his paternal grandfather Ivan was alive. Ivan Nozdrin served as headman of the Church of the Intercession in his village.
In the difficult year of 1942, the Nozdriny family suffered tragic losses. My father died at the front, and my grandfather died the same year.
After the death of Alexei's father, her mother decided to devote herself to her children and family and never remarried.
Alexei Nozdrin was baptized in infancy near the nearby village of Lukino.
From a young age, thanks to the efforts of his mother, the child learned to read books, especially books with prayers were easy for him. Even his boy friends called him “Divine.”
There are always many people around him asking for help. And he doesn't refuse anyone
According to the stories of little Alexey's contemporaries, a case is widely known in his native village: in 1947-1948, Alexey was robbed.
He prayed in tears before the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and found a hot loaf of wheat on the ground
Years of study
1949 - completed his studies at the Stanovokolodez secondary school.
Military service
Father Eli perceived her as a black streak in life, due to forced entry into the Komsomol
As Father Eli himself believes, this time is a black streak for him. This is due to joining the Komsomol by decision of the military authorities.
After the army, he realized that this was a sin against God. Repenting, he couldn’t think of anything better to do to fix it and simply burned the ticket.
1955-1958 - student at the Serpukhov Mechanical Engineering College.
After completing his studies at the technical school, he was sent to work in his specialty in the Volgograd region, Kamyshin.
The city of Kamyshin was one of the rare cities where an Orthodox church operated in the late 50s.
The road to God
John Bukotkin, the first spiritual mentor of Father Elijah
In the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the future Father Elijah met his first spiritual mentor, John Bukotkin.
At the suggestion and thanks to the help of Father John, he enters the Saratov Theological Seminary.
I have already completed my studies at the Leningrad Seminary, and then my studies at the Academy.
There, in Leningrad, Alexey Nozdrin took monastic vows with the name Ilian, in honor of one of the forty martyrs of Sebaste. Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) performed tonsure.
1966-1976. Service in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery.
Pskov-Pechersky Monastery
One of the largest and most famous monasteries in Russia with a centuries-old history.
The name of the monastery is associated with the caves located in it, called “created by God.”
In 1473, the cave church of the Assumption of the Mother of God, excavated by the Monk Jonah in a sandstone hill, was consecrated here.
This year is considered the year the monastery was founded. The hill in which the Assumption Church and the caves created by God are located is called the Holy Mountain.
In the spring of 1976, I already served obedience in the Panteleimon Church, which is located on Mount Athos.
Elder Eli
1989 returns to Russia and, by decision of the Holy Synod, goes to Optina Pustyn to help restore the monastery.
As you and I can see, the biography of Ilya Nozdrin is rich in moving to various churches and monasteries.
In the early 90s, he was tonsured into the great schema with the name Eli.
For 20 years, Father Eli served as an elder in the Optina Pustyn Monastery.
During these years he was called Iliy Optinsky.
Iliy (Nozdrin) served in the Optina Desert for 20 years.
2009 is a new important test; he is the confessor of Patriarch Kirill, with whom he studied at the theological academy.
2010 Archimandrite Iliy Nozdrin became a member of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church and a member of the Commission on the Organization of the Life of Monasteries and Monasticism of the Inter-Council Presence.
In April 2010, Patriarch Kirill elevated him to the rank of schema-archimandrite in the cathedral Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Optina Pustyn today
Only in 1987 did the Soviet government transfer the monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church. From that moment on, active restoration of the monastery began - both material and spiritual. The ideologist and coordinator of the restoration of the Optina Monastery is Elder Eli. It was thanks to this man that the monastery regained its glory as the largest center of Orthodoxy and pilgrimage. Its unique energy and the beauty of its temples attract thousands of pilgrims and tourists from all over the world. There are 7 operating churches on the territory of the monastery:
- Vvedensky Cathedral is the main temple of the monastery;
- Church of John the Baptist and Baptist of the Lord in St. John the Baptist Skete;
- Temple of St. Hilarion the Great;
- Temple of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God;
- Temple of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God;
- Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord;
- Temple of the Icon of the Mother of God “Spreader of the Loaves”.
You can get to the temple in Peredelkino by train and bus
- By bus No. 468 from the Odintsovo station to the Peredelkino platform.
- By train (or bus) from Odintsovo station to Bakovka station. Next - on foot, crossing the Minskoe highway, along the asphalt road connecting the Minskoe and Borovskoe highways.
- By train from Moscow to the Peredelkino station from the Kievsky railway station it takes about 20 minutes.
- By car you can get to Peredelkino along Borovskoye or Minskoye highways. From Odintsovo, through Lesnoy Gorodok, exit onto the Minskoye Highway, turn around at the nearest junction towards Moscow, and in the area of the village of Bakovka, turn left (at the traffic light) onto the Budennovskoye Highway and drive about 2 km to Peredelkino.
To get to the Transfiguration Church from the Peredelkino station you need to walk in the direction of the train along the highway, do not cross the path.
Peredelkino
The dacha village of Peredelkino is located in the Moscow region. The nearest railway stations are Peredelkino and Michurinets. The town is famous not only for the monastery and Elder Elijah, but also for the fact that famous writers and artists lived and worked there at one time. Among them are Alexander Fadeev, Bella Akhmadulina, Valentin Kataev, Bulat Okudzhava, as well as Korney Chukovsky, who held his famous bonfires here, where Rina Zelenaya, Arkady Raikin, Sergei Obraztsov performed. The house-museums of Okudzhava, Pasternak, Chukovsky and Yevtushenko are located here.
Real stories of Elder Elijah helping those in need
Pilgrims write:
The meeting with Father Elijah took place in the fraternal building, behind closed doors.
There were three of us pilgrims, and each of us could talk relatively calmly with the priest.
I had prepared in advance words in my mind about my internal troubles and everyday troubles, which at that period of my life particularly overwhelmed me, giving rise to icy despondency and indifference to everything in my soul.
I wanted to ask the priest for his holy prayers (after all, the prayer of a strong man can do a lot) and find out how to live further.
When my turn came, I, embarrassed by my physical superiority, knelt before Father Elijah and unexpectedly said to myself: “Father, increase my faith!”
“Faith?” - the priest intoned. I was surprised. Then he smiled well, so affectionately that he immediately warmed my heart.
Words and time have lost their meaning.
Everything except one thing has lost its meaning - to stand like this for the rest of your life next to your father on your knees, and bask in his rays - in Greek his name means Sun.
How long did it last? Maybe ten minutes, maybe an eternity.
From that day on, I began to more vividly understand the words of the Apostle - “cover with love,” having experienced the warmth of true love.”
These were real miracles of the priest.
I have to fly to complete the mission, but Father Iliy still won’t let me go... “He begged me off!” - General Ivanovsky admitted
It is believed that the prayer of Elder Elijah has special power.
Here's what those he helped say: once an intelligence officer who was mortally wounded in Chechnya and spent five months unconscious in various hospitals was brought to his monastery.
Schema-abbot Iliy prayed over the officer - and he opened his eyes, consciousness returned to him. After this, recovery began.
Grishin, M. Russian Bulletin from 09/04/2003. Reviews from people about Elijah.
The Power of Prayer
It is believed that the prayer of an elder has double power, because it is the prayer of an enlightened one. They say that if he prays for the repose of the soul, then the soul of a sinner can even be freed from hellish captivity. An amazing incident also occurred in Optina Pustyn. One day, a soldier who was seriously wounded in Chechnya was brought to Elijah’s monastery. The doctors did not know how to save the soldier and did not dare to operate, since he was unconscious and the bullet was a few millimeters from his heart. Elder Elijah’s prayer “May God rise again” made desperate doctors believe in a miracle - the wounded man came to his senses and opened his eyes. After the operation, the soldier began to recover.
Video
In this video there is a conversation with Father Eli about the temptations that a person encounters along the path of life, and how he can avoid them.
Tomorrow begins Holy Week. It is not difficult to guess that the main wave of dirt now pouring on the Patriarch and the Russian Orthodox Church will roll in precisely these days. On days when the majority of Orthodox Christians make their last efforts to celebrate the Easter holiday in a worthy spiritual state.
I really hope and pray to God that my friends and I will manage not to fall apart these days.
And finally, I want to tell you a little about the confessor of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. About Schema-Archimandrite Elijah. Of course, church people all know perfectly well who he is. But, I hope that among those who are now attacking the Patriarch and the Church there are those who do this simply out of ignorance, out of LACK OF...UNDERSTANDING, and this post will help someone understand that, at a minimum, not everything is so simple in life.)
After all, I myself once shouted rude words in the faces of my Orthodox friends “about snickering priests”; I myself was sure that “faith is a personal matter for everyone” and “God should be inside, not in the Church.” Where can He come from inside if the inside is filled with others? How can the sun appear in a room with closed windows? They’ll say, open the windows, what do priest middlemen have to do with it? I’ll answer - let your children acquire literacy on their own, why need intermediaries-teachers? Or learn to drive a car yourself, without these grabby instructors, you are adults, you understand everything yourself!
So, for those who are UNDERSTANDING. For a Christian, the main thing is personal repentance. We all don’t like to repent, and let me tell you, repenting before a priest is not at all the same as repenting inside yourself. Even my meager experience of spiritual life leaves no doubt about the correctness of repentance before a witness.
So why am I doing this? Yes, besides, His Holiness the Patriarch, just like everyone else, goes to confession. And no one confesses him, but this man. Schema-Archimandrite Eli (in the world Alexei Afanasyevich Nozdrin) is an all-Russian famous elder, confessor of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', confessor of the Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage.
Born into a large family in 1932 in the village of Stanovoy Kolodez, Oryol district, Oryol region. Parents - Afanasy Ivanovich and Klavdia Vasilievna - peasants.
Her father died from a serious combat wound in a military hospital in 1942. Klavdia Vasilievna raised four children alone.
In 1949, Alesey Nozdrin graduated from Stanovo-Kolodez secondary school. Then there was military service.
From 1955 to 1958, Alexey Nozdrin studied at the mechanical technical school in Serpukhov, Tula region. Upon completion of his studies, he was sent to the city of Kamyshin, Volgograd region, to build a cotton mill. There he decided to devote his life to spiritual service and entered the Theological Seminary of Saratov.
In 1961, during the so-called “Khrushchev” persecution of the Church, the Saratov Theological Seminary was closed. Alesey Nozdrin continued his education first at the Theological Seminary and then at the Leningrad Theological Academy. There he took monastic vows with the name Ilian.
During his years in the Leningrad diocese, he worked a lot in various parishes.
Since 1966, he spent ten years in the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, an ancient monastery of the Russian Church.
On March 3, 1976, by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, Hieromonk Ilian (Nozdrin), together with four other monks, was sent to carry out monastic obedience on Mount Athos (Greece), to the Russian monastery of the Great Martyr Panteleimon. He was among the handful of monks who helped preserve monastic life here, maintain the monastery’s connection with Russian Orthodoxy, and prevent the real threat of transferring the Panteleimon Monastery to the Greeks. Father Ilian carried out obedience in a monastery hidden in mountain gorges. He was also entrusted with clergy within the walls of the Panteleimon Monastery. On Athos Fr. Ilian had the opportunity to communicate with many spiritual elders and ascetics of the faith, representatives of various Local Orthodox Churches. The prayerful and spiritual feat on the Holy Mountain prepared the priest for the difficult mission that lay ahead of him upon his return to Russia.
In the late 1980s, Fr. Ilian was called back to his homeland and sent to Optina Pustyn, which was recovering after 65 years of desolation. Here he was tonsured into the great schema with the name Eli. For 20 years, schema-abbot Iliy fulfilled his calling at the monastery, reviving the ministry of elders, for which the monastery has always been famous. The priest was distinguished by experience, wisdom, as well as reliability, meekness, humility, kindness and love in relation to the brethren and pilgrims, who began to flock to him in large numbers. Many instances of his insight and the effectiveness of his prayers were witnessed. Over these two decades, Optina regained its former greatness, becoming the spiritual center of Orthodoxy.
On March 13, 1966, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) Alexei Nozdrin was tonsured into monasticism with the name Ilian in honor of one of the forty martyrs of Sebaste. Later, Metropolitan Nikodim was successively ordained to the ranks of hierodeacon and hieromonk. He carried out his ministry in various churches of the Leningrad diocese.
Father Eli spent 10 years in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, and under the influence of a book about Silouan of Athos, he decided to enter the Panteleimon Monastery on Athos.
On March 3, 1976, by determination of the Holy Synod, he was sent to carry out monastic obedience on Athos, where the priest lived in Stary Rusik and served as confessor of the Panteleimon Monastery. Together with other monks, the future elder managed to preserve monastic life here, maintained the monastery’s connection with Russian Orthodoxy, and prevented the closure of the monastery. He carried out obedience in a monastery hidden in mountain gorges.
At the end of the 1980s. sent as a confessor to Optina Pustyn, which was being restored after 65 years of desolation. In those years, the famous monastery was in great devastation; it was necessary to rebuild the monastery from scratch. Here he was tonsured into the great schema with the name Eli in honor of another Sebastian martyr. For 20 years, schema-abbot Iliy revived the elder ministry for which the monastery had always been famous.
In 2009, Father Ily was elected confessor to his fellow student at the Leningrad Theological Academy, the newly elected Patriarch of Moscow Kirill (Gundyaev). On April 4, 2010, on the feast of Easter, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, Patriarch Kirill was elevated to the rank of schema-archimandrite.
Now Schema-Archimandrite Iliy lives in Peredelkino on the territory of the Patriarchal Metochion. But the old man is not there often. Despite his advanced age, the priest leads missionary expeditions throughout the country, and, as we have already written, the elder often visits the Oryol region - his small homeland.
Schema-Archimandrite Eli (Nozdrin) - a living and rare treasure of Russia and the Russian Church
The gray-haired old man has clear eyes/ Like the sky in a forest spring./ The gray-haired old man has clean hands/ Like water in an age-old river./ The gray-haired old man has a soul washed/ of repentance with a crystal tear./ The gray-haired old man has an unforgotten/ Cell with a folk path./ The dear old man , help!/ Dear old man, bring some understanding!/ You lift up my trouble with your hands!/ Take away the black cloud with prayer!/ Dear children, don’t come to me./ Dear children, go to the Lord./ Under the reliable protection of the Mother of God,/ Under the loud security bells call./ And I will pray for you, dear sisters./ And I will fast for you, dear brothers./ And then, God willing, the bitter misfortune will go away./ And then, God willing, the sadness will be light./ I am for peace sinner, I ask Heaven - / Together with Him we will have victory.
There seems to be a turning point in our public life. Moreover, it is still being viewed not so much by deeds as by intentions. This is already good. And my view of this phenomenon seemed unexpected: through the elder.
We have a wonderful - from the word miracle, elder - Schema-Archimandrite Eli (Nozdrin). By the inscrutable ways of the Lord, I had the opportunity to be in his environment, which was far from close, for four whole days in a row. They shocked me to some extent. This was not the first time I came to Father Elijah.
I described the significance of the elders in Russian historical life and my personal trips to them in the chapter “About the Elders” in the book “The Holy Abode - Native Rus'”, in one of the two books “The Holy is Nearby”. Therefore, I have something to compare with - twenty years ago, three years ago and now.
Of course, a lot has been written about the schema-monk Father Elijah, and there is a lot on the Internet, i.e. he is very famous in the church community. But I would like to write not only about him, but also about those who are close to him, and most importantly, about those who come to him. After all, this is very revealing!
It is known, “Save yourself and thousands will be saved around you.” In fact, almost two centuries ago, the commandment from St. Seraphim of Sarov literally sounded like this: “Acquire a peaceful spirit, and then a thousand souls will be saved around you.” Acquires - acquire, but not buy, but earn. Is this even possible in spiritual life? Especially in our immoral time, compared to our spiritually strong ancestors. This is what I want to talk about, a little.
Or maybe Seraphim of Sarov spoke figuratively about thousands? Or for a catchphrase? It’s not for nothing that he was glorified among the saints! But what kind of power of spirit must there be for thousands to be saved around one earthly person!!! Just to think and imagine, one becomes uneasy: what a person is capable of... Yes, because he was created in the image and likeness of God! The main thing for a person is not to desecrate the image of God in himself. How can you compare man and God? No way. You can only find God within yourself. This search is the meaning of human life. Our ancestors believed: each of us came to this world in order to create our own soul for eternity.
Schema-Archimandrite Eli is very thin with his senile body and speaks quietly and little. And it’s no wonder, as an ordinary ignorant person might think, because he eats little, sleeps little, prays a lot. But at the same time, our famous elder travels a lot around Russia and the world and has received a huge number of people for many years!.. He is needed by everyone, everywhere. I, being middle-aged, but at my age much younger than him, unfortunately do not have such working capacity. And we, the worldly ones, cannot fast and pray as much as this old schema-monk, seemingly frail in body and sick in reality. Weak. Spirit or body?
And the old man had already lived for 84 years - the most terrible years in Russian history, along with an ever-changing and suffering country. The future father Iliy, and then a baby named Alexey, was born in 1932 in the village of Stanovoy Kolodez, Oryol district. His peasant family was very religious - they remembered the time of the Tsar, and the time of the God-fighting had not yet spread like poison through Russian souls. The future schema-monk began to pray at the age of three. He also started working early. Not only because peasant children were raised this way, but also because his father died in the war when the boy was only 10 years old. In times of famine, four more children, small or small, were left in the hands of a hard-working mother. The quiet and sympathetic youth Alyosha became a faithful support for the ever-working mother. Like all the women in the village, his beloved mother worked hard for free - for “sticks”, which only indicated the obligatory workdays for everyone, and otherwise - to prison, to hard labor. I really want to eat, the bodies of hungry children are growing... One day, the boy Alyosha, in despair, left home literally wherever he looked - to get food. The only way to earn money was to the city. Unexpectedly, he found warm bread on the rail road and joyfully returned to his family—they had been saved. This is how he came face to face with the invisible world as a child.
Young Alexei, our future Father Eli, during Khrushchev’s time of cruel persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church did not run away from the church in fear for his everyday life, but in 1961 he boldly came to the seminary, from which he later transferred to the theological academy and graduated from it. By the way, it was there that he met the future Patriarch Kirill, who at that time was only at the beginning of his theological education. Further, Alexey, also in a difficult time for the Church, spent 10 ascetic years (1966-1976) in the only Pskov-Pechersk monastery for this atheistic time - a flowerbed that was not trampled by the enemy’s boot and still had the color of Russian monasticism. And the next step in spiritual ascent was the cherished 10 years of life (1976-1986) on the holy Mount Athos of the monk Ilya. In Russia, church life was revived during Perestroika. For a huge call into the army of Christ unprecedented in the world, a spiritual mentor was needed. At once, Orthodox priests-ascetics were needed in the numerous churches polluted by the enemy, who opened their long-rusted doors. Throughout Russia, Orthodox Christians had a desire to finally live a full life, incl. and spiritual, but there was no more experience... Our schema-priest Elijah appeared in the Optina Desert - a spiritual father to priests and laity. And here God’s chosen one stood at the forefront of the spiritual war. So it stands powerful to this day.
But now, everything is fine in our country, it seems... But not everything is good both in the country and in our souls. How to find out what is good and what is bad, how to compare? Based on books, which, thank God, have been published a lot over the past 25 years. That’s how it is, but they also published a lot of harmful books, and they didn’t write about each of our individual everyday incidents. And almost everything hurts for us - both body and soul. It’s good if the sick person himself understands where the main hospital of everything is... So, after all, you want to receive a miracle, without bothering with prayers or working for frequent communion... You want a healer - a mediator between God and yourself. There is a known case when Father Elijah, with his prayer, brought back to life a seriously wounded and already dying soldier brought from Chechnya. They say that this case was widely discussed in medical circles, but no scientific explanation was found. They also tell about other cases of miraculous healings through the prayers of Elder Elijah.
Naturally, there are always a lot of people around Father Elijah. Temptation? Undoubtedly! But how does the elder himself behave?
As the confessor of the Patriarch, Father Eli lives next to the patriarch's house. As a monk, he receives parishioners in the temple estate. Thus, the elder has exactly where to find a convenient place. But as? In Orthodox, in Russian. Anyone can come to the priest’s reception room. This reception room is located in an extension to one of the houses of the temple estate. The extension is one-story and elongated. It is divided into two parts: wide and narrow. In the wide one there is a large long table that occupies the entire room. Twenty people can fit behind it. Near it, at one end, at the entrance, there is also a small table, transverse, on which holy images and books to be given away are laid out. And at the opposite end of the large table, at the entrance, there is another small table, also placed across. Packs of books as gifts are laid out on it. Near the far cross table, on the side, there are two simple, old, shabby high chairs - for the elder and for the parishioner. But most often, parishioners kneel before a slightly bent gray-haired old man with clear and intelligent eyes, bending towards them, and then you can talk to him face to face. And the veneration of the elder among the Orthodox is such that you definitely want to kneel before him; this is somehow natural in itself. There are three large windows on the wall of the already described right-hand bright room, and behind the left wall there are two rooms. The first from the entrance is a large, bright kitchen - very modest and very clean. The second is a small square room with a large window characteristic of this old building. There are large holy images on the walls and shelves with books for distribution, and there are also unopened packages that are stacked everywhere, including. and on the floor. So with Father Elijah everywhere - the hand of the giver never fails. Naturally, there are a large number of holy images everywhere in the rooms.
All those who come, who can be accommodated in the large common room, are seated at a large table by Father Elijah’s caring assistants. The hospitable table is always set for everyone with everything needed for tea. They travel to Father Elijah from afar, often by public transport, and wait for him on the street for hours from early morning, and therefore there is already hot tea and coffee in the house for them, just like for guests, who, again, sometimes wait for hours. Schema-Archimandrite Elijah’s assistants are spiritual children. They are sweet and friendly, helpful and patient. And those who have not yet waited their turn to enter the large hospitable room stand and sit in line in a narrow small corridor. At the same time, in both cases, by order of Father Elijah, someone loudly reads some soulful reading. Like, there is no point in wasting not only time, but also the mind must be kept pure and in prayer - our ancestors had a good spiritual habit.
All these people on the street are very different and their reasons for visiting are also different, but still, to figuratively describe the picture, it is possible to generalize a little, albeit very, very conditionally. For example, there are those who came as if to a clinic - to complain and maybe there will be healing. Approaching the priest, they loudly list their illnesses to him. He listens patiently and silently, nodding sympathetically. Those who hope for a miracle of healing do not always understand that it is not a person who heals, but the Lord through the pure and strong prayer of a special person. True, there are those guests of the elder who come with sick children. The priest certainly accepts them. For example, I saw how a young, very businesslike and “cool” entrepreneur, the one who was building a temple in the village, after solving the temple issue, waited for the absent father Elijah for a long, long time, and then knelt before him and asked for help for his very sick woman. daughters. This assertive Russian guy understands everything correctly and is humble before the will of God and the elder.
In addition, among the visitors there are people who are clearly spiritually sick, i.e. when it is already visible. Although the Orthodox know that without ourselves, no one can destroy or save us. And there are those who are simply curious and come with far-fetched questions.
Once on the Soyuz TV channel they showed a program about Schema-Archimandrite Elijah, and after that for a long time his reception room was surrounded by more than one hundred people at a time. Probably, there were those who were curious, those who wanted to be healed quickly, and others and others. They waited not for hours, but for days. Does this phenomenon really resemble the victims of advertising - a highly suggestible population in Russia?
And only approximately, because... no one has ever considered that a tenth of all lay people come to Father Elijah with spiritual and everyday questions that are truly important. The 84-year-old priest listens to everyone whom he is able to accept due to time and circumstances. After all, everyone has their own wound - the most painful one.
In general, it must be said that the spiritual children of the priests, assistants and people brought by one of them are all businesslike, as a rule, very pleasant and entertaining. While we were all waiting for the priest, I saw many remarkable faces. Someone builds a church in a village with the blessing and according to the drawing of the priest himself, someone works as a mid-level official with people and has great responsibility for his work, someone has clung to the priest for a long time, which is how they are saved. For example, at a small round table I saw a 32-year-old charming, fragile beauty, you won’t believe it, a police lieutenant colonel. Father calls her “my general’s wife.” I thought: God does not leave us with his mercy if there are such women: the second Natalya Poklonskaya is already on the way. It is simply impossible not to love this Alyonushka: there is so much purity and sincerity, goodwill and intelligence in her. She is simple and joyful in communication, so much so that everyone who wanted to take a photo with her from those sitting and coming. The priest’s constant assistants, who were also his reliable guards, entered the room and joyfully recognized the spiritual daughter of Father Elijah. Simple in appearance, they themselves are far from simple. This is the solid, fair-haired Ivan of large build; and modest, thin, with a tenacious, savvy look, Dmitry; and the heavy, dark-skinned Serb G(o)ran with childish, clear eyes. His father once worked in the USSR, Goran himself came from Serbia with his family after the war. His royally beautiful wife and dear daughter have already returned to their homeland, but he remained in Russia with the blessing of Elijah’s father - the spiritual seer knows what he is saying. Goran loves his Fatherland, but he doesn’t like to tell how he fought - it hurts his soul.
All of Father Elijah’s assistants are distinguished by amazing calmness and goodwill.
And no wonder. Father Eli himself is quiet and meek. All his quietest orders are carried out not only instantly, but also unquestioningly by everyone. For example, his omnipresent and tireless assistant Mother Marina, quickly and skillfully managing the household, serving not so much one priest as the countless people who come, may even grumble at one of the guests. At the same time, amazingly, there is order everywhere and all the guests and helpers are fed and watered. And you especially need to carefully feed your beloved priest, but the main thing is that he is allowed to eat in peace. But as soon as the priest looks at her, and even if he makes some rare small remark, the nun, no longer young, but alive in words and movements, instantly humbles herself. And so it is with everyone. Father’s love for people is not a fuss and not a thoughtless all-forgiveness, which can be stupid, but a reasonable feeling, and, if necessary, a strict one. The priest, beaming with all-understanding kindness, can be strict with everyone. At the right time. Everyone loves Father, without exception. It is impossible not to love him because Father Eli himself loves everyone.
Why am I telling everything for so long and in detail? Firstly, so that everyone knows what a living and rare treasure we have in our country, in the Russian Orthodox Church.
What kind of old man is he? It’s so easy to communicate and to live in everyday life. Huge amounts of money pass through his hands - through him they give the tithe, which is indispensable for an Orthodox person, to God, but in his hands there is nothing left, apparently. So much for “butts in Mercedes”! It is well known that Father Eli builds churches, helps monasteries, useful causes and ordinary people, gives away helpful books, and so on, and so on, and so on. I'm not even talking about how much it costs simple and difficult parishioners to provide refreshments. It is noteworthy that St. did the same. John of Kronstadt. At the same time, he was accused of luxury - he wore a silk robe, lived in a large apartment with many of his assistants and rode horses wherever he was called.
But in essence, Father Eli is far from simple, i.e. he is not simple, as the ignorant might think. That is why smart people come to him for advice. It is known that only fools know everything. And what about Father Eli? knows everything, how it turns out?.. He understands everything. It doesn’t matter how much a person knows, what matters is how he reasons, and especially his guidelines. Every person has a multi-component mind: spiritual, emotional, contemplative, cerebral, bodily. A large amount of knowledge relates to good memory, but the ability to sort it into levels and into shelves refers to the ability to think, in the sense of reasoning. The Russian mind is special. It is determined primarily not by nature, but by Orthodoxy. It is this that gives direction and guidance to the spiritual and spiritual mind - the fundamental components of the human mind. But there is also another mind - wisdom. Not every person has it. You can’t buy it from tutors and you won’t get a soft spot in prestigious universities. Why? Wisdom requires two conditions: spiritual purity and spiritual love. Most often, old people and children have wisdom - people who are still or already dispassionate, and therefore close to God. But our native Soviet old people today, for the most part, have been far from God and from the customs of their ancestors all their lives, and therefore are far from wisdom today. Yes, and today’s children in births that have not been cleared for a century are often born with poor spiritual heredity, contaminated with sins not their own and not due to their age. Bright people have a bright mind, but great sinners have fog, darkness in their heads, despite any amount of knowledge.
In our passionate and increasingly polluted moral world, it is incredibly difficult to maintain the purity of the soul. You need to be able to do this from spiritual experience or have it from birth (babies and children). Nowadays, how many are experienced, not in theory, but in harsh life?
Nowadays the schema monk Father Eli, unlike us mere mortals, lives, figuratively speaking, as if in two worlds - visible and invisible. A non-Orthodox person or a person of little faith can say that this happens to spiritually ill people suffering from double consciousness (schizophrenia). Yes, this state is an extreme, which always has two ends, like a stick. The end that is below is spiritual illness, and the end that is above is spiritual ascent. But how to reach heights and at the same time not perish spiritually, he knows the teachings of Orthodoxy and the teachings of the holy fathers, spiritually experienced elders. Thus, Elder Eli is not in division, but, on the contrary, in union: in his consciousness he has merged with God. And when the seer priest hesitates to answer some personal question from a parishioner, it means that he is praying and waiting for an answer in order to tell it to a simple, worldly person. For us, the worldly, such a connection with God is almost impossible due to our great sinfulness, and consequently due to the darkness of consciousness.
Being near the priest is the same as in heaven - calm and joyful. After an extremely short communication, then there is enough grace for more than one day.
That is why the schema monk - the highest degree of tonsure - the angelic rank, is known to everyone and everything in the Orthodox world. Respect for him is high not so much because he is the confessor of the Patriarch, but because he is the confessor of all of us - everyone who wants to.
But the fact is that there is also a third part of the guests who come to him - the smallest and rarest. These are not so much chosen as special, i.e. different from those from the street. These priest's guests also wait for him for hours, but only at another table - small and round, at which eight people can fit. On it are already familiar, one of the many packaging boxes and a table is set for tea. No one knows when the priests will receive both part of the visitors - in half an hour or by the end of the day - unpredictable. Because there is another part of visitors - those who are certainly accepted. It is for them that I am writing this article. These are very important people for all of us: statesmen, politicians, entrepreneurs, creative and famous people. Sometimes it is because of them that Father Eli goes to his home, where he receives them, separately from everyone, as it should be. Why did this seem like an unfair division? After all, everyone is equal in the Church! Yes, before God. But these cannot be compared with us - mere mortals. These sovereign people have a huge responsibility before God and people, for their souls in our most complex and difficult situation. Their time must be protected, because... it does not even belong to them, but to state affairs, i.e., in the end, to us, only to everyone. In their own case, there must be something hidden, especially in our difficult times, I would say, to some extent even military ones.
The house in which Father Eli lives and hosts is small, stone, one-story. Inside, everything is as modest as it is at the dachas of ordinary people, ordinary pensioners. Everything is upholstered in wooden paneling, smelling deliciously of fresh wood. The difference from the worldly is that everywhere there are numerous holy images. Everything is clean and cozy. There is not only luxury, but also pomp, excess, and elaborate decoration. The main room in the house is a large hall, and in it there is a large rectangular table and chairs. That's all. It is always set for tea. On the left is a small kitchen and utility rooms. From the hall there is an entrance to a small room on the left. There are cabinets with books for distribution and shelves. But in the middle, on the floor, again on an island, there are unopened packages of books, which are also for distribution to parishioners. No one will “leave empty-handed” from Schema-Archimandrite Elijah - everyone will be given 1-2 books. Also from the hall, on the right is the entrance to the priest’s cell, in which there is a myrrh-streaming image of the Mother of God. Once upon a time, Father Eli gave this simple Tikhvin image to his spiritual child, the orphan Alexei, and then it became myrrh for him, just like others.
It is not surprising that the “powerful of this world” come to spiritual elders for advice - this has been the case in Rus' since ancient times.
Our ancient princes asked for advice from the spirit-bearing elders, as evidenced by the written monuments that have reached us. And the elders themselves, politely and humbly, but gave instructions to the rulers, taught “those who held power.” The metropolitans had the right to “sorrow” before the worldly rulers for the victims and asked for pardon for those punished.
Somehow, unexpectedly, I finally understood what had been unconsciously tormenting me for a long time: Elder Eli is similar to Elder Sergius, and not only in appearance, which is understandable and explainable!.. If only in the Middle Ages, during the time of Sergius of Radonezh, the princes went to see him more often , before they were tried on by a mediator - the holy abbot of the Russian Land, then the Russians would have thrown off the heavy yoke faster and easier. And also, as I thought, Elder Elijah has a similarity with Seraphim of Sarov. If the so-called liberal officials of the ruling conditional “other Russia” would go to see him alive and listen to Fyodor Dostoevsky, and not Leo Tolstoy and Western “philosophers”, and would turn to John of Kronstadt not only in case of personal trouble, then the Tsarist Russian Empire would not have fallen so quickly and hopelessly. The fact that the state direction of the Romanovs as a whole was anti-Russian is confirmed by the fact that, firstly, it was completely pro-Western, especially in administration; secondly, the State would not have collapsed so easily and freely because it was rotten from within precisely because of lack of faith in God and distrust of the natural Russian people, who made up the overwhelming majority.
By the way, the Orthodox are now trying to return the classics of the Golden Age to the school curriculum, which, of course, is good. But this still needs to be approached from an Orthodox point of view. The historical Russian worldview needs to be known in detail, especially for officials, mainly large ones. Why is that? Saint John of Kronstadt was against Tolstoy’s work and denounced him, but are we smarter than the modern count of the righteous? Tolstoy, a Protestant and destroyer, and at the same time a gifted writer, was a “mirror of the Russian revolution,” according to another ardent destroyer, Lenin, but do we need another bloody revolution? Leo Tolstoy spoke in his works about the godless world of the conventional “other Russia” - pro-Western and alien to the real Russian world. Just look at his vividly memorable “Father Sergius”, which teenagers use in their knowledge... We have many other gifted bright writers, incl. and Soviets from the worker-peasant environment - the main part of the people.
It was no coincidence that I talked for a long time about the life and everyday life of Schema-Archimandrite Elijah. Nowadays our old people are born Soviets; how much wisdom have they gained during their godless and godless age? Many have seen the darkness, but how many have managed to emerge from it? Father Eli saw the most terrible darkness and not so much that of everyday life. This is what he said: “Once I was given the opportunity to feel the stench of Gehenna. If you stay in it, it’s horror, something terrible... There is nothing: no shackles, no pain, but such horror covers your entire being from this stench! Paralyzes, turns inside out. This cannot be transferred. Something so disgusting, incomparable. Our people know what follows atheism! Only rivers of blood, millions of those killed and the souls of executioners in the hell of hell - that’s what brought godlessness to our country in the 20th century. There are no reasonable arguments in favor of unbelief. How can you want this to happen again for yourself and your children? The entire universe testifies to Faith” (Schiarchimandrite Eli (Nozdrin), interviewed by O. Orlova. “The enemies hate our quiet and peaceful life.” Page 22. Orthodox magazine “Parthenon Today” No. 1 (13) 2021).
And this is where the key to writing this article lies. How to do it in long-suffering Russia so that there is no “repetition of this for yourself and your children”?
Nowadays it depends both on us and on officials, especially very large ones. We all, the whole people, will take the broad road of creation only when our rulers and managers pave the way for themselves to the temple and, in particular, to the elder schema-monk. It is wonderful that our President and Prime Minister have their own confessors. By the way, in the common reception room of the Orthodox schema priest, a paired portrait of Putin and Medvedev hangs above one of the doors. This is a sign that the wise old man gives us. It is wonderful that ministers go to visit an Orthodox elder in a traditionally Orthodox country, and I myself have seen one of the cases and testify.
This is not for show or advertising, because... done in secret, not on camera. Communication with the spirit-bearing elder, I dare say, was a personal need for some high-ranking people. This makes us extremely happy for high officials, and ultimately for you and me! Large military and police officers, FSB officers and others on whom our lives depend, go to the wise schema-monk, because... We all depend on the state - whether we want it or not.
May we even wait a long time for the time of meetings of high-ranking officials at the large tea table at Father Elijah’s, soaking up the grace in the space of his habitat. And even wait in vain for your petty personal affairs, if only the Fatherland benefits.
Benefit to the entire Fatherland from some little-known ancient elder? If our high-ranking officials designate themselves, and quietly, and not ostentatiously, as Orthodox, then they will no longer drive the Faith of our ancestors out of public life in a primordially Orthodox country! In addition, in the current morally blurred society, where the boundaries of good and evil are lost or blurred, a wise and loving elder will quietly guide, and therefore correct, a person exposed not only to great power, but also burdened by huge state funds, and sometimes stunned and even stunned from them. Maybe this way embezzlement, bribery and theft will subside?.. Especially if the sovereign understands that he will leave to his children not only material inheritance - accounts of stolen money with large zeros, but also eternal - his spiritual sins. Our ancestors understood this well.
Only in just four days I saw how much work this old man, frail in body and humble in spirit, quiet but wise, had done. Meekly, without fuss, Father Eli helped resolve pressing issues, thereby pushing both public and personal with his advice and blessings. At the same time, he gave not only eternal help - spiritual, but also material! And he has been doing this every day for decades, all over Russia. His spirit is so strong that it holds us all with our prayers and deeds, together with the other elders, with the fullness of the Church. True, we have elders and false ones, to be honest... But in the Orthodox world they are known and experienced priests bow to them and do not bless them for advice. And it seems that we have already experienced the growing pains of infancy, like childhood measles, of our newly-minted post-Soviet army of Christ.
Let our officials, major and minor, big and small, go for advice to Father Elijah and our other wise Orthodox elders rather than for instructions from the State Department in the USA and Europe!
Yes it will be. Many years to Schema-Archimanlirit Elijah! On March 8, 2021, he will be 85 years old.
The Russian soul has suffered, / The Russian river is drying up. / The black water has filled, / The sun has obscured the crows. / Oh, where can the heart go, / Oh, who can I tell to the outside / About the cruel misfortune, / About the illness of the clouded soul. / I I will come with a bow to the elder, / I will spread out my sins before him. / I will sort things out with him in my soul, / I will get rid of the passion-adversity. / I will bow to Christ together with him, / And then I will pray for the evil one.
Svetlana Fedorovna Nelyubina , writer and publisher
| In Novoperedelkino November 17, 2021 |
| Estate in Novoperedelkino |
