We invite you to a two-day pilgrimage trip to our monastery along the route: Moscow - Optina Monastery, Shamordino (Kazan Ambrosievskaya Women's Hermitage).
Departure: at 8:00 on Saturday from the Optina Pustyn courtyard, Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul, Novoyasenevskaya metro station, address: Novoyasenevsky Prospekt, 42
Return: Sunday, around 20:00 to the same place.
Trips take place weekly.
Phone numbers for inquiries and reservations:
+7 +7
Donations for tickets: 1600 rub. (this includes travel, 2 excursions to the monasteries, and lunch). Hotel - 300 rub. (upon check-in).
Ticket reservations begin two months in advance and end one week before departure.
Cooperation in Optina Pustyn
Labor is a special type of pilgrimage, when a person not only prays, but also works in the monastery along with the monks for the glory of God. Orthodox pilgrims who want to live in the Optina Hermitage for an extended period of time and work in monastic obediences, before coming to the monastery, must contact the workers' reception service at the following contact numbers: Pilgrim's House landline: +7 (48442) 50-313 House pilgrim mobile: +7 (953) 339-9767
To Optina Pustyn for spiritual support!
Thank you to the Merciful Lord God for granting us the opportunity to visit blessed Optina on summer days and venerate the celibate relics of the venerable Optina Elders and Optina New Martyrs!
We left Moscow quite early, at 5 o'clock in the morning, since we planned to have time to get to the late Liturgy, which is served in the monastery in the morning at 9 o'clock.
We drove quite quickly. Russian nature in all its glory appeared on both sides of the road. Deciduous forests gave way to pine forests. Wheat grew green in the wide fields. The flat landscape turned into hills, the road rose, fell and turned, making it seem to us that we were driving along a mountain serpentine)
Three hours later we were already approaching Optina Hermitage, which from a distance looked like a beautiful Orthodox island in the middle of vast green forests.
When we arrived at the monastery, it was already 8:30, and the sun had warmed the air temperature to 30 degrees. It was hot. And even the colony of rooks that met us in front of the monastery was hiding in the shadows. The birds, with their beaks wide open, breathed through their mouths and looked at us with curiosity. Maybe they were waiting for something tasty, but there was absolutely nothing in our pockets, not even crumbs...
Deciding to feed the rooks on the way back, we headed to the holy gates of Optina. Along the way we took photographs of two bouquets of flowers. One was in the form of a set of carnations, roses and chrysanthemums, intended for the relics of the Optina elders. And we purchased another bouquet for the Optina New Martyrs in a flower shop, already decorated.
There were 15 minutes left before the start of the Divine Liturgy, and we decided to give flowers to the saints, buy candles and submit church notes with your names for Prayer Services and Sorokoust (which we had prepared and printed on the eve of the trip).
The wax candles in Optina are special – fragrant. Before the Liturgy, we placed them on candlesticks, and during the entire service our candles glowed in the Vedeno Church.
Photography is not allowed inside the temple, so we were not able to take photographs of the Liturgy and the holy relics of the elders, but we were able to take many photographs depicting the territory of blessed Optina.
Having prayed at the Liturgy, we venerated the relics of the Optina elders and attached all your notes to the shrines, asking the great people’s intercessors to intercede for us before the Lord. Give us the advice we need from our hearts. And show active participation in our lives! To consolidate our petition, we began to read an akathist to the Council of the Elders of Optina. We read diligently and took our time. And then we venerated the relics once again and felt the abundant grace that warmed our souls!
Holy elders of Optina, pray to God for us!
Next we proceeded to the Chapel of the Resurrection of Christ, erected over the three tombs of the three new martyrs of Optina - Hieromonk Vasily, Monk Trofim and Monk Ferapont. Yes, here you feel completely different... Having accepted martyrdom on the Day of the Bright Resurrection of Christ, the holy new martyrs seem to want to say to everyone who enters the chapel: “Christ is Risen!”
We believe that it is with this joyful Easter greeting that they greet everyone who enters, which makes their hearts feel unusually light.
Having laid the bouquet, we lit candles and read the akathist with zeal in front of the tombs of the holy brethren. Venerating the tombstones, we asked new representatives to zealously intercede in Heaven for us sinners.
We also visited the holy grave of Hierodeacon Iliodor and other recently deceased monks who lived a virtuous and ascetic life.
After that, we headed to the Transfiguration Church, where you can get holy water. After venerating the icons, we went to the Vladimir Church, then again to the Kazan Church, then to the Church of St. Hilarion, and finally visited the Resurrection Chapel again. Having been blessed by the Optina new martyrs for the return journey, we also asked the venerable elders for a blessing on the way. With a calm soul and a heart filled with grace, we headed home.
Photo gallery of the pilgrimage trip
On the way, we listened to a 3-hour audio recording of the lives of the Optina elders, and this enriched our hearts even more. God bless! Glory to the Most Holy Theotokos, in whose honor Optina is dedicated (the Feast of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple)! Glory to the holy Optina elders: Leo, Macarius, Moses, Hilarion, Ambrose, Anatoly, Isaac, Anthony, Joseph, Barsanuphius, Anatoly II, Nektarios, Isaac II and Nikon! Glory to the holy Optina new martyrs - Hieromonk Vasily, monk Trofim and monk Ferapont!
With their holy prayers, may the merciful Lord strengthen us and fill our souls and hearts with grace and spiritual joy! God bless you!
Description of the pilgrimage trip
I don't want to leave there. I want to come back here. The spiritual pattern of a trip to Optina develops amazingly every time: some special depth and love, beauty and light. And people are selected here as if at an invisible casting, it has been noticed more than once. Almost immediately we are included in a series of awarenesses, in the new, exciting, amazing. A strict monastery, where deep prayer and severity lives, with its monks of inexpressible spiritual beauty, who look more like beautiful birds than people, invariably gives us the opportunity to confess and receive communion. The beauty of these places is extraordinary, capturing the heart forever. The source of Sergius of Radonezh on the banks of the Zhistra is stunning with its beauty. In the middle of the open round bowl is a cross, and streams of holy water flow from the cross. A hotel in the forest, a night of relaxation and nightingale singing, the luxury of human communication and spiritual warmth - it’s still great to escape from your little world! Klykovo. The soul-shattering Church of St. Kuksha, Liturgy, confession and communion. Pleasant, quiet, calm. And then - the museum of Mother Zipporah, where a story about mother awaits us, where you can receive anointing with oil from mother’s lamp in her room, venerate her staff, sit on the sofa in mother’s little room. Be, feel, experience. Mother Zipporah is a great prayer book, to whom people came from other monasteries and cities for advice and instructions. Among her spiritual children are abbots, abbots, monks, novices, and lay people, whom she helped find the path to God, and sometimes start life anew.
