Nikolai Makedonov grew up in a peasant family of believers
The future Archimandrite Avel Makedonov, Nikolai Nikolaevich Makedonov, was born on June 21, 1927 in the village of Nikulichi. He came from a peasant family. The parents were distinguished by piety, and therefore raised in their son the love of God.
The child was distinguished by such zeal for Christian activities that he received the prophetic nickname “Kolya the Monk” among the locals.
Abel Makedonov in his youth
With the general support of those around him, he hardly had any reason to doubt his chosen path, and therefore he never rushed between worldly and spiritual life and strictly followed his goal.
When Father Abel was a child, he had to walk several kilometers to church
Even the fact that many churches were closed under Soviet rule did not stop him, and he had to walk several kilometers to the nearest functioning one (Sorrow Church, Ryazan).
Archimandrite Abel (Makedonov, in schema Seraphim)
December 6, 2021 will mark 10 years since the repose of Archimandrite Abel (Makedonov), a native of Ryazan. Throughout his entire earthly life, Father Abel carried the unquenchable fire of the faith of Christ and he passed on the flame of this faith to all those who served next to him, for whom he became a mentor, who resorted to his spiritual help, prayer support in difficult periods of their lives, to his large flock .
Archimandrite Abel (Nikolai Nikolaevich Makedonov) was born on June 21, 1927 into a family of pious peasants from the village. Nikulichi near Ryazan (now the village is part of the city). In 1942 he graduated from seven-year school. In those years, as Father Abel recalled, he walked on foot from his then suburban village to services at the Ryazan cemetery church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”, at that time the only one operating in Ryazan - all the others were closed. Since childhood, he dreamed of becoming a monk, and his desire pleased the Lord. As a teenager, he was a subdeacon with Archbishop Alexy (Sergeev) of Ryazan. Then, in 1944, Bishop Dimitri (Gradusov) was appointed to the Ryazan See. The young man also began to serve as a subdeacon with the new bishop, together with his friend Boris Rotov, the future Metropolitan Nicodemus of Leningrad and Novgorod. Vladyka Dimitri became their spiritual mentor. On November 6, 1945, the bishop ordained Nicholas to the rank of deacon, and on November 23 of the same year he was tonsured as a monk with the name Abel - in honor of the righteous Abel. On January 24, 1947, Hierodeacon Abel was ordained as a hieromonk with the laying on of the gilt and appointed second priest to the St. George Church in the village of Gorodishche, Rybnovsky district, where he served until February 1950.
St. George Church in the village of Gorodishche The persecution of the Church continued, and the young hieromonk Abel was forced to leave the Ryazan diocese: he transferred to the Yaroslavl diocese to his spiritual mentor, Archbishop Dimitri (Gradusov). Thus, in 1950, a 10-year period of Father Abel’s ministry began in the ancient Yaroslavl land.
At first he received the position of rector of the temple in the name of St. Tsarevich Dimitri in Uglich (February - June 1950), then - the Smolensk Church in the village of Feodorovskoye (1950 - 1955), later was a cleric of the Yaroslavl Feodorovsky Cathedral (1955 - 1960). Father Abel's heart was always filled with love for his neighbors, and the people who knew him - fellow clergy, parishioners - responded to him with the same sincere love. His zealous service in the field of the Lord was noted by church awards: in 1953 he was awarded the rank of hegumen, in 1958 he was awarded the club. On Yaroslavl land he became a schema-monk.
On April 4, 1956, Abbot Abel, together with the Bishop of Uglich, vicar of the Yaroslavl diocese, Isaiah (Kovalyov), tonsured Archbishop Dimitri, who had been retired since July 31, 1954, and whose health had sharply deteriorated, into the great schema with the name of Lazarus. At the same time, hegumen Abel was tonsured into the great schema - with the name Seraphim - in honor of St. Seraphim of Sarov.
On April 10, 1956, Schema-Archbishop Lazar (Gradusov), spiritual mentor Fr. Abel, died quietly and was buried in the Yaroslavl cemetery on Tugovaya Mountain. The funeral service for the deceased hierarch was performed by Archbishop Benedict of Ivanovo, Bishop Isaiah of Uglich, 25 priests and six deacons; among them was abbot Abel (Makedonov), who escorted the blessed bishop to eternal life.
The years in which Fr. Abel served in the Yaroslavl diocese, there was a period of “Khrushchev’s” persecution of the Church - a new fierce atheistic wave against the Russian Orthodox Church: Khrushchev promised to “show the last priest on TV.”
The fruitful pastoral activity of Abbot Abel did not go unnoticed by the relevant bodies of Soviet power.
The fruitful pastoral activity of Abbot Abel did not go unnoticed by the relevant bodies of Soviet power. A slander campaign was organized against him in the Yaroslavl press. She did not achieve her goal, but the commissioner of the Council for Religious Affairs of the Yaroslavl Region demanded the immediate removal of Fr. Abel from the Yaroslavl diocese.
In April 1960, Abbot Abel returned to his native Ryazan land and almost until the end of the year he was a cleric of the Church of the Nativity of Christ. A wrestler in the Sarajevo region, and in December he was appointed cleric of the Boriso-Gleb Cathedral. In 1963, Abbot Abel was awarded the Patriarchal award - a cross with decorations; in 1965 - the rank of archimandrite; in 1968 - the rights to serve the Divine Liturgy with the Royal Doors open until the Cherubic Song. In 1969, Archimandrite Abel was appointed rector of the Boriso-Gleb Cathedral.
On February 17, 1970, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow and All Rus' sent Archimandrite Abel to Athos to carry out monastic obedience in the Russian Panteleimon Monastery. The next day, February 18, Fr. Abel was awarded the right to celebrate the Divine Liturgy with the Royal Doors open until the prayer “Our Father.”
Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos
On January 18, 1971, after the repose of Archimandrite Ilian, abbot of the Panteleimon Monastery, Archimandrite Abel was chosen by lot as the new abbot of the monastery. The official enthronement with the participation of representatives of the Holy Kinot of 20 Athonite monasteries and civil officials of the Holy Mountain took place 4 years later - in 1975.
In the 1970s, Archimandrite Abel continued to serve on the Holy Mountain (this obedience for Father Abel lasted almost 9 years). Then he was awarded the Order of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church of St. Clement of Ohrid, the Order of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir II and III degrees.
In 1979, Archimandrite Abel left Athos in order to see off Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad and Ladoga, his friend from childhood, on his last journey. But he was not destined to return to Athos: the “authorities” did not let him out of the USSR. On June 29, 1979, Archimandrite Abel (Makedonov) was again accepted into the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, returned to the Ryazan diocese and was appointed to the Boris and Gleb Cathedral in Ryazan as an honorary rector; he also became the diocesan confessor.
In 1980, Archimandrite Abel was awarded the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh III degree; in 1985 he was awarded the right to serve with a baton; in 1987 he was awarded the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh II degree. Archimandrite Abel twice participated in Local Councils of the Russian Orthodox Church (in 1988 and 1989). Since 1988, he has been a permanent member of the Diocesan Council.
Archimandrite Abel (Makedonov) – abbot of the Panteleimon Monastery
On May 16, 1989, Archimandrite Abel received a new obedience: by resolution of the Holy Synod, he was appointed vicar of the St. John the Theological Monastery in the village. Poshupovo, Rybnovsky district, Ryazan region, which has just been returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Most of the monastery buildings of the once flourishing monastery lay in ruins at that time. Over the next 15 years, one of the most ancient monasteries of the Ryazan land was transformed: monastic life was revived, long and splendid divine services were established, churches were restored, decorated and consecrated, which became the location of many Orthodox shrines - the holy relics of God's saints, both Russian and universal, revered icons, including those painted in the 19th century on Mount Athos, and other church and historical relics; All residential and outbuildings on the territory of the monastery, as well as the holy spring, which attracts Orthodox Christians from all over Russia, were put in proper order. The holy monastery became the center of numerous pilgrimages.
Archimandrite Abel devoted a lot of effort to the revival of the monastery and its prosperity. His diligent service during the period of management of the St. John the Theologian Monastery was noted by the Hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church with many awards, including: the Order of St. blgv. Prince Daniil of Moscow III degree (1993); Patriarchal charter (1995); Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh III degree (2003). August 11, 2000 Fr. Abel was awarded the state award of the Russian Federation - the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree.
On March 25, 2004, the Holy Synod granted the request of Archimandrite Abel for his retirement due to old age and health reasons, expressing gratitude for the work he had done to revive the St. John the Theological Monastery. The year 2005 was marked for him by an important anniversary - the 60th anniversary of service in the priesthood. In May 2006, Archimandrite Abel was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of Ryazan.” The elder was very fond of his native land of Ryazan and the people living here.
Archimandrite Abel (Makedonov, in the schema Seraphim), a resident of the St. John the Theologian Monastery, peacefully reposed in the Lord in the 80th year of his life at 5 a.m. on December 6, 2006, after a serious, long illness. The death of everyone’s beloved and respected father Abel plunged his many children into grief, as well as everyone who was lucky enough to meet him on their life’s journey. Many relied in their spiritual life on his experience, deep worldly wisdom, and unchanging love for others. In him they all had both a mentor and a prayer book.
On December 9, the clergy of the Ryazan diocese, numerous spiritual children of Archimandrite Abel, all those who knew, loved, respected him, the Ryazan flock came to the St. John the Theological Monastery to give the last kiss to the deceased elder, to see him off on his last earthly journey, to pray for the repose of his soul in the abodes of the Heavenly Father.
Archimandrite Abel went through a difficult path of serving the Church and the Fatherland. A good memory of him will always be kept in the hearts of people. Everyone believes that the feat of his life in Christ granted the Lord blessed repose for the ever-memorable Ryazan elder.
Nun Meletia (Pankova),
Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation
The family abandoned Abel's father for fear of persecution by the Soviet authorities
Although there were many prerequisites, 1944 can be considered the actual beginning of the spiritual path. Then the fateful meeting between Nicholas and Archbishop Dimitri (Gradusov) took place. This acquaintance was also important because the young man was orphaned by that time, had four brothers and sisters and needed consolation for his soul. This is what he found in the person of Bishop Demetrius.
Archbishop Dimitri (Gradusov) - mentor of Father Abel
Their communication prompted the young man to take monastic vows (minor schema) at the age of eighteen. This event, alas, was greatly overshadowed by the attitude of the family. The brother was afraid of the intervention of the relevant authorities and asked the monk to leave his home so as not to expose his relatives to attack.
Subsequently, Father Abel recalled this act without offense; perhaps he understood his family even then. But this did not change the fact that he had nowhere to go. I was lucky that an elderly believer, a rather stern woman, invited me to stay with her. Despite her bad temper, she still became pitiful at the sight of the lonely priest. Isn't this a miracle?
Childhood
— I was baptized in infancy.
My mother baptized me. But I started going to church consciously only in the sixth grade. Before that, I remember my grandmother brought me to church several times, and my mother took me to pray when my cousin got sick. And the first experiences of entering church life and becoming a church member began in adolescence. After fifth grade, my parents sent me to an Orthodox camp near Shatsk. Father Vitaly (Utkin) was in charge of our upbringing there. He looked after us, talked to us, organized prayer services. At that time, he and I made a pilgrimage to Diveevo.
And immediately after this camp, at the beginning of the sixth grade, my mother transferred me to study at the Orthodox gymnasium in the name of St. Basil of Ryazan. I didn’t really want to transfer there, because we had a good, friendly class, but the transfer took place. And from that time on, my church life became more active.
Sixth grade of the Orthodox gymnasium in the name of St. Vasily Ryazansky, 2001.
The authorities did not allow Father Abel to serve in one place for a long time, but he still became an archimandrite
But Hieromonk Abel was an undesirable person for the Soviet government. The parishioners loved him, and therefore local influential people did their best to expel the hieromonk from the village of Gorodishchi, where he served.
But fate turned out well. In 1950, Hieromonk Abel began to perform obediences to the rector of the temple of Tsarevich Dimitri in Uglich. True, even here the Soviet authorities reached him and demanded that he leave his post.
Then Father Abel began to serve in the Smolensk church in the village of Fedorovskoye, where he remained until 1955 and raised his spiritual child, Sergei Novikov, who is now known as Ryazan and Kasimovsky Simon.
Father Abel - cleric of the Yaroslavl Cathedral
For the next five years, Father Abel was a cleric of the Yaroslavl Cathedral. But propaganda in the regime media damaged the priest’s reputation, and he had to move to another region.
The change of duty stations did not hinder his growth in rank. In 1969, Father Abel became archimandrite, rector of the Ryazan Cathedral.
At the altar
I found out that some guys, my classmates, served at the altar. And I also immediately wanted to help at the altar. I went to the courtyard of the St. John the Theologian Monastery in Ryazan in the Nikolo-Yamskaya Church, the rector of which was the same hieromonk Vitaly (Utkin), our camp confessor, and told him:
- Father, I would like to serve at the altar.
Father Vitaly replied:
- Well, no, it won’t work that way. We need to go to church first, then we’ll see. I can't take you right away.
I agreed and began going to church. I walked, prayed, sometimes helped on weekends to light candles and put them out. And a few months later I was led into the altar. It was in 1999 on December 13, on the day of remembrance of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called. I now regularly remember this day, because it is also the day of the resumption of monastic life on Valaam.
That is, the 30th anniversary of the Valaam Monastery coincided with the 20th anniversary of my service to the Church, so to speak.
Father Abel was the abbot of the monastery on Mount Athos, but he was not allowed to return to the monastery from the Union
Although the family turned away from Father Abel, he had new close people. One of them was Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov). They were brought together by a common acquaintance with Bishop Demetrius. The Metropolitan became an excellent example of virtue and asceticism for Father Abel.
Times were difficult, and Metropolitan Nikodim suffered a lot, made mistakes, and repented of them. But still, could anyone blame him for doing the wrong thing? At least not Father Abel. He had to suffer a great loss when Metropolitan Nikodim died at forty-nine years old from another heart attack. Experiences due to problems with the Soviet regime took their toll.
But the consolation was what the holy fathers said about the blood shed in obedience. In their words, this is the blood of a martyr, which means that God sees everything and will reward everything.
Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, where Father Abel was abbot
Under the influence of Metropolitan Nikodim and other prominent church leaders, Father Abel decided in 1970 to go to Mount Athos, Greece. There he served as a monk, and in 1975 he became rector of the St. Panteleimon Monastery.
But then Metropolitan Nikodim died. Abbot Abel came to the funeral, but was unable to return to Athos because, as they claimed, he lost his passport at customs.
Father Dionysius
And two years later, when I was in the eighth grade, Bishop Joseph had a need for subdeacons. Before this, subdeaconal duties were performed by the brethren, as here on Valaam. And then they took monastic vows, ordained someone, someone left, and this need arose, and I and several guys were taken to the team.
Vladyka Joseph, Hierodeacon Dionysius and subdeacons. George is on the far right. 2003
The senior subdeacon then was Father Dionysius, now he is Metropolitan of the Resurrection and holds the position of manager of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate. God bless him! He taught us the wisdom of this matter and liturgical aesthetics: what, how, why, what significance it has...
You could say he is my teacher. It was then that my taste for liturgical services was formed. And all my life from that time on I served in one way or another, and I always liked it.
And now I can say the same thing: “Serving at the altar, standing before the Throne of God (now in the rank of deacon) is the best thing in my life, what I love to do most.”
At the request of Metropolitan Nikodim, Father Abel did not return to Greece and began to serve in the Union
Of course, there are no insurmountable obstacles, especially if God is on your side. The bureaucratic tricks of the Soviet authorities could not contain Father Abel forever. Someday he would break free and return to the Greek monastery. But one circumstance held him back.
The fact is that Metropolitan Nikodim, before his death, declared his last will regarding Father Abel. He asked him not to return to Holy Mount Athos, but to concentrate on activities in the Soviet Union.
This order was supported not only by respect for the highest clergy, but also by a strong feeling of friendship, so Father Abel fulfilled it unquestioningly. Moreover, he now had something to share with his compatriots. The priest’s spiritual experience increased significantly on Athos. He regularly had dreams about the Holy Mountain, and this supported Father Abel on his spiritual path.
Father Abel had an amazing memory and was sensitive to divine services
In 1979, Father Abel was appointed rector of the Borisogle Cathedral in Ryazan.
Priest Dimitry Fetisov later recalled Father Abel:
Dimitry Fetisov
priest
The elder, as far as possible, managed to convey the spirit and continuous thousand-year tradition of Athonite monasticism to his tonsures and spiritual children.
The elder did not miss a single daily monastic Liturgy, receiving communion almost every day and being present at all akathists and polyeleos. Often, especially on major holidays, he himself led the Divine Liturgy. I was honored to serve as a subdeacon at his services and cannot forget how he always, with tears in his eyes, celebrated the Eucharistic Canon - the main part of the Liturgy, during which bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ the Savior.
In 1989, Father Abel became the abbot of the St. John the Theologian Monastery. He devoted fifteen years of his life to serving in this place, and did it with the utmost conscientiousness. According to the recollections of contemporaries, the building then lay in ruins, but it blossomed, was filled with shrines, and since then has attracted dozens of pilgrims.
Father Abel had an amazing memory. He knew the troparia by heart, which were performed only once a year. It was not difficult for him to hear an incorrectly pronounced word in prayer, after which the priest immediately reproached the clergy for the mistake.
He was very scrupulous about liturgical traditions and, although he was a rather gentle person, he strictly reprimanded people for mistakes.
Father Abel with a parishioner
Another interesting quality of Father Abel is his reverent attitude towards commemorations. He used to pray for everyone he ever knew, no matter how hard it was. Father kept notes in which he was asked to mention other people in prayer, and did this at every mass.
Father Abel treated the people who surrounded him warmly, as priest Dimitry Fetisov recalled:
Dimitry Fetisov
priest
Managing a large monastery, being a seriously ill, elderly man, he knew how to remember everyone, even the most insignificant people. On my birthday or angel’s day, he always invited me to his abbot’s house and certainly gave me a kind word and a gift. Once the priest learned from a monk, my friend, that financial problems had arisen in my parents’ family, and, having invited me, he asked me not to be shy and, if I had a need, to come to the monastery accounting office and take it (which he immediately said ordered) how much money is needed for food, clothing or some other needs.
If life brought the priest into contact with someone once, then even after forty years he easily recognized this person.
On December 6, 2006, Archimandrite Abel (Makedonov), schema Seraphim, reposed in the Lord. Born into a peasant family near Ryazan, the priest took monastic vows at the age of 18 in those years when there were no existing monasteries around and subsequently became the abbot of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Holy Mount Athos, a gracious spiritual father and elder, a renewer of monastic life. on Ryazan land.
Report by the resident of the St. John the Theologian Monastery of the Ryazan Diocese, Hieromonk Melchizedek (Skripkin) at the conference dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the Russian presence on Mount Athos “Family as the basis for the formation of a future ascetic” (Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery in Moscow, May 18, 2021)
Archimandrite Abel (Nikolai Nikolaevich Makedonov) was born into a large peasant family even before collectivization, in 1927, in the village of Nikulichi near Ryazan. The family was very hardworking, Orthodox, with traditions. We went to prayer services both at the Nikolo-Radovitsky Monastery and at the St. John the Theologian Monastery. My grandmother, my father's mother, had seven children, then she took four more. Her husband died young, but she did not break down, she managed the entire household. Father Abel, and then simply Kolya, had never heard anyone respond rudely to his grandmother. Everyone showed friendliness and love. There were even affectionate names: Nastyushka, Grunyatka. Father Abel said that the best teacher is family. Sometimes it seems that you speak to a child, but it falls on deaf ears. But he puts it away like in a piggy bank. He remembers how things work in the family. When the priest went to school, he began to come into contact with the children. And there are different ones. He didn't want to be a black sheep. I thought: “I’ll be like them.” But he never learned to smoke or swear. Once during the war, when
I was 14 years old and this incident happened. There was hunger. The guys called him to the state farm. They say the carrots there are very good, sweet and large. He gave in to temptation, pulled it, went home, and knocked. The father opened the door. The boy thought that he would praise him and say: “Well done!”, but he took this carrot and the boy with this carrot - this way and that! And then he threw her into the nettles and said: “This is the first and last time. Don't disgrace our family. No one in our family ever took anything from anyone else. You can sell, buy, exchange – you can, but you can’t take without asking.” During the war, Abel's future father, Kolya Makedonov, spent his days busy around the house, taking care of his younger brothers and sisters. His father worked in a hospital; Mother was busy at work all day. And he worked around the house: he baked, and washed, and sewed - he trimmed his brothers and sisters. His relatives gave him food in rations, and Kolya thought: “Now they’ll eat, and Easter will come - and there will be nothing to put on the table.” He poured flour and sugar and took it all into the chest in the hallway. And Holy Week came, my mother said: “I thought they would give rations, but it turned out that they postponed it, only by May they will give it. How will things be for us by Easter?” - “Mom, it will be by Easter!” He brought it, and she: “Where did you get it?” - “You brought everything.” - “How did you have the strength to sit hungry, and yet ...” - and fell silent. And here is another remarkable, striking incident from the life of Father Abel and his family.
When the war was going on, his mother was 38 years old. My father was drafted into the army. She was pregnant and, as they say, pregnant. But the birth came before the hospital.
When contractions started at home, she sent Kolya for her father: “Go get your grandfather. I'm already in labor." He ran to the village council, to the collective farm, while the horse was found - the child was frozen, it was winter. She caught a cold and got sick.
When Theodosia died, her sister came. She was such a sister - she didn’t love Kolya. No matter how it comes: “Have you read the whole Gospel? The Gospel will not give you bread, you need to read newspapers, read magazines”... She came and said: “If only your mother had listened to me, she would have been alive.” - “Why didn’t she listen to you?” “I told her: why do you need it, there are plenty of guys like that.” And she said: “Duska, you Duska, if you had visited the St. John the Theologian Monastery, seen the picture of the Last Judgment, what torment for killing your children... No, I will die, but I will not have an abortion.”
His life was a life in the bosom of the Church, in the mainstream of Church Tradition and was based on a deeply Christian attitude towards himself, the people around him and events. Father Abel studied the essence of this Tradition, as well as the traditions that help to obtain it, from childhood. Having not studied at the seminary, he knew the Holy Scriptures and the Lives of the Saints very well. He could tell the life of almost any saint - where this or that saint lived, when he suffered, what his exploits were. He remembered many, many saints and their inner structure, and tried to imitate their virtues.
All the saints strove to live in a repentant disposition of mind and heart and to constantly remember Christ, to call upon Him for help in every good deed: and above all, in the fight against their passions, against their “old man.” This is the will of God “that is good, acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). This is a solid foundation of piety for both monastics and laity, although the outer forms of life are different in some respects for both. For those who have chosen the monastic path of life by calling, obedience, celibacy and non-covetousness serve as the most convenient aid for deification. And Father Abel was one of these people. Having responded to the call of God, he wished to bear the burden of these three monastic vows, and the Lord, having taught him the art of a truly spiritual, repentant life, including on Holy Mount Athos, gave him to taste the fruits of this art in abundance.
While the overwhelming majority of our compatriots lived in dreams of a bright future, which they understood exclusively as earthly mental and physical well-being, Father Abel took monastic vows in 1945. And this was a very important step that made his future stay on Mount Athos possible.
In 1948, the Administrator of the Ryazan diocese, Archbishop Dimitry (Gradusov), whose young father Abel was a subdeacon, was transferred to the Yaroslavl see. With him he takes Father Abel, who by that time had become a hieromonk, and his other subdeacon, Boris Rotov, for whom the Providence of God subsequently prepared the service of metropolitan.
The time for priestly service on Yaroslavl land begins. The young, zealous, sensible priest, to whom the people came, irritated the authorities, and a slander campaign was launched against him in the local press. Father Abel was transferred back to the Ryazan diocese to a remote parish. In 1969, he was already an archimandrite, rector of the Boris-Gleb Cathedral in Ryazan. At this very time, Father Abel’s childhood friend, Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Nikodim, together with Patriarch Alexy I, began to work to replenish the number of brethren of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos.
Having learned from Metropolitan Nikodim about a group of eighteen monks, whose departure to Mount Athos His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I was going to intercede with the Soviet government, Father Abel only sighed: “How happy they are!”
“Are you serious, old man?” – asked Bishop Nikodim. – Would you like to be on Athos?
- Every monk can only dream of ending his life in the lot of the Most Holy Theotokos. Father Abel was included in this list. But ten years passed before he was able to travel to Athos. Of those nineteen people, only he and Hieromonk Vissarion (Ostapenko) were able to arrive at the Holy Mountain. The reason for this is the unfavorable political situation in both the Soviet Union and Greece. In the Union there is an attitude towards godlessness, in Greece there is a junta in power, “black colonels” who do not favor the Russians. And for a long time the Patriarchate of Constantinople was not inclined to allow Russian monks to Athos. At a meeting in the Lavra of St. Athanasius on Athos on June 24, 1963, Patriarch Kirill of Bulgaria, addressing Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople, exclaimed: “Your Holiness, the Lord will punish you, and history will condemn you, if during your patriarchate the Slavic lamps on the Holy Mountain go out!” And Patriarch Athenagoras replied: “All Churches can send as many monks to Athos as they see fit.” First of all, of course, the Russian Church was meant. But more than one year passed before the trip became possible. Arriving on Athos, Father Abel had the opportunity for almost a year to communicate daily with the amazing elder, abbot of the St. Panteleimon Monastery, Archimandrite Ilian (Sorokin), a representative of the pre-revolutionary brethren. Every day after the service, he accompanied Father Ilian to his cell and often talked with him, eagerly absorbing everything he heard from him about the monastery, the brethren and the monastic tradition. Those virtues that Father Abel cultivated in himself before arriving on Athos - love of prayer, reverence for shrines, the art of spiritual and administrative leadership - matured on the Holy Mountain. Having received the graft from the Garden of Athos, they became more reliable, more beautiful, and more fragrant. Father Abel taught the tradition of attentive prayer in general and smart-hearted Jesus Prayer in particular using the example of his own life. Many people who knew Father Abel well noted a peculiarity inherent in him: during the service he was always extremely focused and even seemed strict and unapproachable. But in an ordinary setting he was so kind and friendly that it seemed that he was a completely different person, not the one who had just been seen dressed in priestly robes, performing divine services.
His ideal of prayer is to always remember that God is near and sees everything. This image of unceasing prayer, which St. Basil the Great speaks of, was inscribed on the heart of the blessed priest. When Father Abel served the liturgy, he was completely absorbed in prayer. When I prayed, I walked away from everything, especially when the Eucharistic canon began. Father taught: “The main thing is inner prayer and inner content in any person.” The question of attentive prayer is pressing for both monastics and laity. How to focus on the words of prayer? Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) wrote that the only altar on which people are allowed to offer prayer sacrifices to God, the only altar from which prayer sacrifices are accepted by God, is humility. A person who sees himself as a sinner, mourns his sins and calls on God for help, so that He, with His grace, will cleanse him from the filth of sins and passions, follows the path of salvation. Lord, help me see my sins and passions. Lord, give me strength to mourn them. Lord, send your cleansing grace so that I can get rid of them. With these and similar prayerful sighs, a person’s soul, with God’s help, is placed in the correct position in relation to God and the world around him. Man gradually begins to think and experience himself as a sinful creature, weak, unable to achieve salvation and inherit Paradise without God’s help. God becomes for him the Source of all good, the Doctor of doctors, the only one who can give eternal life. From the humble disposition of the soul, aroused by the above (or similar) preparations, it is good to call on the Name of God for your sins and passions, praying against them with the words of the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner,” i.e. deliver me from vanity and pride, lack of faith and unbelief, lustful and blasphemous thoughts, gluttony and other filth. Walking along the path of humility, it is convenient for a person to pray not only with the Jesus Prayer, but also with the words of various church prayers and chants that he hears in church or reads on his own. Listening - to hear and experience them.
Being on the path of humility, he strains his weak human strength, turning to the meaning of the prayer words. However, he does not limit himself to this and asks the Lord to help us understand the meaning of these words - but in the way that pleases Him and only Him; so that He would send His helping grace and help to experience these words in the heart - and again, in the way that pleases Him. Such a person begins to perceive the words of prayers and chants as medicines, with the help of which God tries to heal his soul: comforting, enlightening, stimulating him to fight against his “old man.” Attention and composure during prayer were a striking distinguishing feature of Father Abel. Once, in the mid-70s, during one of his visits from Mount Athos to the Soviet Union, he was driven by a taxi driver who turned on loud secular music inside the car. She played for a long time, and Father Abel sat and prayed the rosary. The driver was remarked that Father Abel was a clergyman, a Russian abbot from Mount Athos, and secular music should not be played in his presence, to which the driver replied: “This is not the first time I’m driving him. He prays and still doesn’t hear anything.” According to the memoirs of Metropolitan Benjamin of Orenburg, Father Abel, having received the Holy Mysteries of Christ at the end of the Divine Liturgy, constantly read a certain number of Jesus prayers. At the same time, no external circumstances, conversations or actions distracted him.
In 1978, the priest came from Athos to Leningrad for the funeral of his spiritual friend, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov). In the cathedral church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, he had the opportunity to read a prayer of permission over the deceased bishop.
Soon after the funeral, he complained of feeling unwell and was forced to go to the hospital for examination. The results of the medical examination turned out to be disappointing, and Bishop Yuvenaly (now Metropolitan of Krutitsky and Kolomna), then acting chairman of the DECR, said: “Father Abel, I have to sadden you...” So the priest remained in his homeland. And this was the undoubted Providence of God. Having gained the experience of Svyatogorsk life, Father Abel was returned by the Lord to the Russian flock in order to lead them with even greater prudence along the path of salvation in the conditions of the then difficult atheistic time, in order to subsequently revive the St. John the Theological Monastery of the Ryazan diocese, our native monastery.
It is noteworthy that even on Athos, when Father Abel had a long conversation with Schema-Archimandrite Ilian, asking him about Svyatogorsk life, he, by the way, often told Father Abel the same story about a certain priest who came to Athos to die there, but The Lord judged differently and blessed him to return back to Russia. Father Ilian recalled this incident very often, and it began to seem to the priest that the abbot was probably forgetting that he had already spoken about this more than once. And only when Father Abel had to return to his homeland did he understand the meaning of this repetition. When the St. John the Theologian Monastery was returned to the Church in 1989, Father Abel was appointed its vicar. The tradition of zealous service to God and people, which tempered his good zeal on Athos, was clearly manifested in him in the Theological monastery. Father Abel recalled: when he arrived on Athos, in the Panteleimon Monastery the service was going on in parallel in two places... and the brethren were only 14 people, and most of them were motionless. “It got to the point where I served alone for three years without a shift, and the service there was early, at night. We have to serve at night, and then the evening service. And then there are the brethren who are sick and unable to walk. You walk around everything with a cross, return from service to your cell, change into dry clothes and think: well, maybe at least today there won’t be anyone... Lo and behold, they’re coming: from the governor, from the ministry, then ambassadors, then someone else. You say goodbye to some - others will immediately appear. And there they struck the bell - you have to go out for Vespers, and then into the night...” As the abbot of the St. John the Theologian Monastery, the priest also had to face considerable difficulties: everything was ruined, the churches were in disarray, there was almost no housing... but the experience of overcoming difficulties on the Holy Mountain It certainly helped him. Father Abel said that the ruling bishop, Bishop Simon, understood how difficult it was here and told him: “Father, you already live at home. All the amenities are there. And you’ll only come here for the holidays.” And Father Abel answers: “Then I won’t be able to be your governor. How can I not know what the brothers are doing? How do they live? Maybe they will walk here? I will arrive on Saturday, and they will all appear in front of me, line up. I can’t do it on a rotational basis.”
Here is another example from his life at that time. On the eve of the consecration of the Theological Cathedral, which took place on May 20, 1989, intense work was carried out to erect a cross on the dome. They ended literally a few hours before the arrival of Archbishop Simon, who, in the co-service of the governor and clergy, consecrated the altar of the temple and celebrated the first Divine Liturgy on it. But by this time, doors and some of the windows had not yet been installed in the temple, and when the bishop was escorted out, Father Abel, instead of going to rest, remained sitting in the temple, guarding the throne from random passers-by, rural goats and sheep, which then roamed freely around territory of the monastery. First of all, Father Abel took care of the internal monastic affairs of the brethren.
At the service, all the brethren came up to him for blessings. He greeted everyone, asked everyone: “How are you doing? Why are you so gloomy today, what happened to you? Where is this one? Why isn't he there? Where did he go?” - “Father, he left.” - “Where did you go?” - “He left to study.” - “What does he have there? Exam? Well, let’s pray, let’s pray.” He took obedience very seriously. For him it was sacred. He said that you should never feel sorry for yourself, never. This is the worst thing, self-pity, when a person begins to feel sorry for himself and rely on his own strengths and capabilities. Another tradition that Father Abel learned from his Svyatogorsk life is to form the brethren of the monastery from novices and tonsures of his monastery, and not to accept monks from other monasteries.
The basis for this decision was, apparently, memories of the unpleasant objections of newcomers to Athos: “But this is how it is with us” (letter dated June 14, 1977). He told the newcomers: “We came to the Holy Mountain in order to perceive ancient traditions, to understand them!” Before Athos, he himself was only a parish priest - there were practically no monasteries in the Soviet Union, and Athos traditions were perceived by him without any internal obstacles. Of course, this important rule had and has its exceptions both in Russia and on the Holy Mountain, but, I think, in many cases it is true and justified. Let’s also talk about the influence of Father Abel on the formation of the liturgical tradition of our monastery.
Father Abel introduced the spirit rather than the letter of Svyatogorsk worship into the liturgical structure of the Theological Convent. Everything was done and is happening slowly, measuredly, solemnly... Imbued with special love for the Mother of God, the Abbess of the Holy Mount Athos, Father Abel in the days of Her memory blessed to serve all-night vigils, which are performed in the monastery to this day. From the Athonite Rule, the priest completely borrowed the Order of prayers before and after meals.
Archimandrites Abel, Hippolytus (Khalin), Iliy (Nozdrin), other Holy Mountain fathers who came to Athos to join the ranks of the Russian brethren... In their person, Russia returned to Athos, so that Athos would again sprouted in Rus' with new shoots - deepened, sanctified, in somehow transformed the spiritual life of many, many of our compatriots.
≈ Hieromonk Melchizedek Skripkin
Father Abel was consulted because of his gift of insight
In the process of serving the Lord, Father Abel acquired the gift of clairvoyance. He saw right through people, seemed to read their thoughts.
He could approach one of the priests and tell him directly:
“I know your thoughts, but you shouldn’t do this.”
Every fleeting phrase of the priest, which was not paid attention to at the time, could turn out to be prophetic. So, for example, one day Father Abel spoke sharply to a certain parishioner. She came to ask to ordain the elder of her parish as a priest. Father answered sharply:
“It’s not for you to decide who should be a priest and who shouldn’t be.”
It would seem to be a completely appropriate phrase in those circumstances, everything is essentially, nothing can be added here. But the words of Father Abel were remembered years later, when this woman took another priest, who had four children, from the family. So Father Abel uttered a prophecy, the essence of which became clear over time.
And many such events happened.
St. John the Theological Monastery, where Father Abel was rector for fifteen years
Father Abel always communicated closely and warmly with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, and in those years this was perceived as something unusual. After all, they began to establish communication at the official level later.
The priest communicated with parishioners with great pleasure, he always knew what to suggest. There were legends about his prudence; for many, his opinion was the voiced will of God.
Father Abel answered questions before they were voiced.
At the same time, Father Abel could simply immediately give an answer to a question that he had not even been asked yet: he somehow felt what was eating a person. It happened that he used indirect methods. Thus, one monk recalled that the priest asked him to help with correspondence and dictated answers to questions that were precisely troubling this very monk, as if Father Abel was speaking specifically to him and not to an unknown addressee.
In 2004, Father Abel asked to be released from service because he began to feel unwell. He died on December 6, 2006 at the age of eightie.
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Pravkrug.rf
About Lyubov Petrovna. People, so to speak, determined the time of year by it. They say: “Well, the cold weather has arrived - Lyubov Petrovna has already been put on the stove.” And she never left the stove all winter. And they served her food there, went to the toilet there, and that’s it. And she sat on the stove all the time. How did she have the patience? And then they say: “Well, it’s spring, Lyubov Petrovna has already been removed from the stove.” Well they were like that...
Lord, what simplicity there is, they were truly holy people! They had a small hut, they had a large family, this was the psalm-reader’s. There were a lot of children. The son was the regent, he was shot, one son died in the war. But the girls didn’t get married, then they have two orphans - her grandchildren, and for these girls nephews. And here everything is in a small hut. Here is the mother on the stove, who are they? And they will bring a pile of straw for the children, they will be on the floor. And since there was no yard, it was bad, but they were kind people, compassionate, everyone felt sorry for everyone - and the goat was with them in the hut, and the pig was in the hut, and everyone with the boys was under the straw.
Yes, and I loved going to them. Firstly, why I loved it - the church was closed, but it was still standing, and they won’t always let you into the church in the city, and you won’t go there yourself - there’s a snowstorm, you have to cross a field for 3 kilometers, and you’ll get lost there. Then in the evening, at 6 o’clock, I will go to them. They will always clean up at this time and light the lamp. And so they did what they could (they were all in the choir, their brother was the regent), and they all sang, all of them with voices. And there they will sing “Bless, O soul...”, and “Quiet Light”, “Now you let go”, “Theotokos”, “My soul magnifies”, “Having seen the Resurrection of Christ”, “Praise the name of the Lord” - well, everything that the singers sing. They already knew for many years. They will sing all this, and I look out the window at the church and feel as if I have been to the church. And then when she tells something. She always told stories very well, she always spoke colorfully. There was no electricity then, they didn’t light large lamps, they still spared a lot of kerosene, but here’s a torch, or with one lamp. She talks on the stove, and you sit, close your eyes, it’s still dark, and it’s as if all this is being imagined.
HP: What did she say? From life?
O. Abel: Yes, all sorts of incidents from life... Well, let’s say, she told, her mother told her how our church in Nikulichy burned in 1860. Well, then it was 1940. And she said that her mother saw a fire, they lived in Ryazan then, the houses were low, and they saw that there was a fire in Nikulichi. And you can see above the fire, above the smoke, the Mother of God stretched out her arms. And not only her mother saw her, but others too. And they said: “Oh, oh, there is a fire in Nikulichy, or a church is burning, or a person is burning, because the Mother of God has stretched out her arms.”
H.P.: What was the dedication of the temple like?
O. Abel: Tikhvin Mother of God.
Well, she told a lot of stories. She even told some historical incident. Somewhere there was a priest, a missionary, and there was either the wife of some general, or someone else... He died, and she was threatened that they would abuse her there. And he, the priest, gave her away - that this was my wife. And just like that, wife, wife, and he took her out of there. And they even demanded some kind of document... And he even went to the priest: get married, give us a certificate. And when he brought her, he said: “Well, now you are free, and I’m going to the court of God, to the bishop’s court. So I did this, but whatever the bishop judges, maybe he will punish me, although I didn’t touch you, but still they got married.” Yes, yes. Or they didn’t get married, but only gave a certificate that they were married... so that’s it. She told many such incidents. She spoke very colorfully.
But here’s what I mean: Porlyusica didn’t sit on the stove. This is how she lived - small in stature, blind.
O.K.: We were told that she knew the Psalter by heart?
O. Abel: Yes! And a lot of akathists. So she read to the Savior every day and to the Mother of God, and to St. Nicholas, and to St. Seraphim. She read them every day. And at least check it in the book.
Kh.P.: These, apparently, were the saints most revered by her, such as St. Seraphim and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker?
O. Abel: Yes, yes, yes, yes. Venerable Seraphim. And she all: “Like a father.” So I ask her, and she: “Like a priest.” Well, she didn't tell everyone. So you ask her: “Polyushka, how do you pray?” She: “Well, when I pray like this, like everyone else prays, but when either he [St. Seraphim] will come to me, I’ll talk to him.”
Kh.P.: Father, I also wanted to ask, we were here in Ryazan, in the Church of Sorrows - did you also have Elder Ekaterina Mikhailovna here?
O. Abel: This is not in Ryazan. I don't know anything about her. I'm talking about those I saw. Well, I heard that they go to see her, but how, what, what kind of spirit she is... You see, now we also have a sick Natasha there near Skopin. They also go to see her. Ours was the only one who went. She received them there... But now everyone is sick, who has something in pain. Who has a stomach, who has what, is not healthy now. Well, she gave an armful of grass: this is for you, you will be treated. "Oh! So she found out that I was in pain!” So what - give the grass to whoever you want. It’s harmless, what is there – oregano herb... And let’s get treatment, I have blood pressure, some have heart disease, some have heartburn, some have what... This doesn’t say anything.
But one came, on the contrary, he said: “I’m disappointed.” And I: “Why?” “Firstly, I began to tell her about my problems, and she: “Yes, I know everything, I know everything, I know everything... Well, if you know, then don’t ask.” Or like others, like Porlyushka - she, you still won’t open your mouth, but she, it seems, will tell everything about someone else, or about herself, and you just listen. That is, she says all my problems. And if she is sitting: - Well, what do you say? Why have you arrived? And if you start to say, she: “I know all this, I know all this.”
I tell him: “Well, you know what! You're wrong. You can’t even look at these people as super-perfection. The Lord alone is holy. There is a popular saying, and they are all very wise sayings: “No, they say, a prophet is without blemish.” Therefore... This may not even depend on her, but on you. If you have a bad conscience, the Lord has hidden from her, and she cannot tell anything. It’s not about her, but about you: how you walked, with what feeling, and why you have a problem, maybe you yourself know.”
Like this... Such a case. A Moscow merchant, very rich, almost of the first guild, decided to build a temple to perpetuate his memory. And so he built and built, but as soon as the vaults were erected, it collapsed. This means the calculations are wrong, the architects are to blame. Another architect, the best... And the temple is collapsing and collapsing. And then someone advised him, well, that’s what I heard: “Go to the elder.” And then someone else told me - almost to the Moscow Blessed Basil (Blessed Basil lived in the 16th century - Ed.). Well, it doesn't matter. The important thing is that he comes to this blessed one, and he sits, rocking the empty cradle. He turns to him, but he does not answer. He was louder, I thought - he was deaf. And he says: “I don’t have time, I’m doing a responsible job.” "And what are you doing?" “I’m paying off an unpaid debt, I’m rocking my mother. She didn’t sleep with me at night, with the little one, and now I’m rocking her,” and the cradle is empty. So, he understood. He realized that he, it turns out, had kicked out his mother once and no longer helped her. And the Lord did not accept. And then, when he went to his mother, he asked her forgiveness and brought her to his place. And she came from a simple family, he came from a simple family, almost from a peasant background. Yes. She already says: “Son, I’ll be with the servants in the kitchen, it’s more and more popular for me there.” He: “No, no.” Then he had a holiday there, some guests, he brought his mother, sat her down with him, and said that this is my mother. All. And everything went well for him - he rebuilt the temple, and everything, and everything. And I felt joy and lightness in my soul, otherwise there was a lot of everything, but my soul was constrained. Do you see how to understand these blessed ones?
And this one says that: “I already brought her this and that... [that is, brought it, helped].” I say: “Don’t regret what you brought to her.” If there is an opportunity to help again, help again. It’s not like: you give her, and she gives you a ticket to heaven. And we must help. This is our goal in life - not to live for ourselves. And when we live for others, then the Lord will give to us.” This is how the late Patriarch, God rest upon him, Alexy I, once spoke a word before the New Year, before a prayer service, about thanksgiving. He said that our thanksgiving to God is like extending our hand for a new mercy of God. If we thank God, he will give more. And if we don’t thank him, he won’t give anything. So here it is.
You see, different people have different ways. […]
Kh.P.: Father, you are an expert in local pious customs. Do you remember anyone talking about, say, walking to Kyiv...?
O. Abel: We walked, we walked!
Kh.P.: Everyone tells me too, they went, but how did they go, through what points, this is very interesting, in more detail?
O. Abel: Well...? Well, if you asked me, do they go now? Maybe you gave a blessing? That's one thing.
One day our neighbor, a woman, came, I was a boy. She: “Kol, will you go to church?” It was the eve of Candlemas. I will go". “Oh, take my dad. Daddy came to me. He is so divine - they are both a believer and divine - he loves the church, but he doesn’t know the way to church here.” I say: “Okay.” “He’ll come in then.” I say: “Why will he come in, he doesn’t know where I live, it’s up to you to bring him to me again. I'll come in myself. I know what time to go, how long to walk to the church, I’ll go get him myself.”
And such a handsome grandfather. He, you know, looks like St. Saraphim. He has such short hair, such a full beard, such blue-blue, radiant eyes and such a pink face, like the reverend’s. Well, from the first time, somehow - he’s old, and I’m small, I’m still a child, and he... well, we somehow became friends. Well, then he already knew without me - once I showed him the way... And he is a very believer, a very believer. He is not her father at all. “Daddy” she called him, and these are his two nieces. They were left orphans, two girls, he raised them, and that’s what they called him daddy. He got married. One came out here, onto our street. Before, when they had a church there, he was the elder there.
Kh.P.: And - there, where is it?
O. Abel: And in our Ryazan region, I forgot what it’s like... And the Ryazan region. There, behind the Builder.
And so, then we went with him, we always went. And somehow I wanted to be with him, and he somehow... Not to boast, but apparently, the souls had already become close. And on the road, after all, it was 3 kilometers to walk, after all, they weren’t running, and he kept telling a lot. He visited Kyiv on foot, he also visited Jerusalem - on foot to Odessa, and then by steamship. He was on Athos.
The same thing - through Odessa. He was on Solovki, he was on Valaam. You see, he didn’t have any children of his own, but he was such a sober person, so to speak - he didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, and wasn’t lazy, he was hardworking. His farm was in good working order. He, you know, it’s already spring, they, the peasants, are just starting to prepare the plow, but he does everything in advance. And as soon as the land was ripe, he plowed, sowed and, after all, for a long time there, he will go to Kyiv. And then in the fall he’ll clean it up, while it’s still winter there... (that is, before winter sets in - ed.), he’ll go somewhere else. And in winter he sewed boots, a good shoemaker.
On the Assumption he tried to be in Kyiv, because the Assumption Lavra. And so, as he was there, there were so many people that not a single cathedral could accommodate. The Metropolitan of Kiev served the all-night vigil right in the open air, there was a lectern right there on the porch, everything was there...
Kh.P.: This, father, was the beginning of the century, before the revolution?
O. Abel: Yes, before the revolution, at the beginning of the century, I think so, for his age.
And there were so many people... And I saw it myself, I saw: the nights at this time in the south are already dark, it gets dark at 9 o’clock, and there until 11, until 12 the all-night vigil goes on, it’s already dark. And so my grandfather said, I imagined, and when I was already on Mount Athos, I would go out - the sky was dark, dark! And the stars are bright, bright, as if they were right close, above your head. This is what he said. And so, he says, during the singing, when instead of “Most Honest...” they sing “The angels saw the Dormition of the Most Pure One, and were amazed at how the Virgin ascended from earth to Heaven,” here is an asterisk, a small asterisk - that’s how far it moved above their heads. And so he marks one time and another, and bypasses someone like that. I say: “Grandfather, what is this?” “Yes,” he says, “my dear, I don’t know, I don’t think it’s the Queen of Heaven. But maybe an Angel, as if by Her command”...
Well, I don’t impose it on everyone, but whoever asks that, I say. So, they say, is it a sin to work on a holiday? I say, you see, if a person doesn’t go to church, he bakes pies, fries something else, and says: “It’s a holiday. I cooked” - this is sinful. Today is a holiday - a holiday of God, and you were preparing a holiday for mammon, for the demon of gluttony. But you have to go to church. And if this is how grandfather did it. He never missed a service, as long as it was in the village church. He was always the first to arrive and the last to leave. But on holidays, of course, not on Christmas and not on Easter, and not on the Assumption, but on Sunday, or on some other holidays, he worked after lunch in the winter. I sewed shoes. But he says: “I had two money-boxes: these are the ones I worked on weekdays, I lived on this money in one money-box; These are mine, I had the right to dispose of them. And those that I sewed on Sundays and holidays, for this work I lived in another little money, I considered them - God's money. And then I used this money to buy leather, well, cheaper, and then I sewed shoes for the poor and gave them away.”
Here you see. Yes. Such a simple person, pleasant and pleasant. And I didn’t brag to anyone. So they come, he says, some of them are there: “Pyotr Stepanych! help out! The little one doesn’t have shoes to wear.” Well,” he says, “even on Sunday you have to sew after mass.” But I already put the money in because it wasn’t mine. And then I used this money to buy and sew shoes again. So on holidays it’s for the poor.
Kh.P.: But, father, how he walked, how he prepared for this, he didn’t tell? Did you take crackers with you, for example...?
St. John the Theologian Monastery. Photo from the magazine “Russian Pilgrim”.
O. Abel: Of course! Ryazan - 25 versts - The Theological Monastery, they were drying crackers anyway, it’s only a walk here... Everyone walked to Nikolo-Radovitsky and to St. Sergius. Yes, only on foot. It was even considered a sin to travel. Here comes some kind of cart, and then he sees a wanderer coming, they have some kind of clothes, such a canvas handbag: “Sit down!” “No, killer whale!” Some were tempted, and some refused: “No, orca, thank you, I want to come to the monk not as a guest, but as a family member.” They said this: if you come to the monastery on foot, they, the saints of God, accept you as if they were your own. And if you come, then - as a guest. Yes. Of course, we were preparing, and even more so for Kyiv. Or maybe some people will be allowed to spend the night, but maybe they themselves have nothing to eat. He will treat them there from one of his own.
H.P. Well, if they stayed overnight, did they treat them for free, or did they pay for it?
O. Abel: I don’t think so. This didn't exist then. Then they were just wanderers... Well, my dear, they didn’t even come with me, that wasn’t the case. But still, beggars walked around, wanderers walked around, they were allowed to spend the night. And some even considered it an honor. And they tried to treat them there, feed them, something better. Better than yourself, like God's people. And everyone is happy about it. There were no merchants then like there are now. Well, how can it be that a pilgrim is coming, a pilgrim of pilgrimage! On the contrary, they will give him more.
A wanderer in the Seraphim-Diveevo convent. 1904
Again, I didn’t notice this anymore, they didn’t come with me anymore, but my grandmother, Natalia Nikolaevna, my grandfather’s sister, she loved beggars.. And she was married on our street. And she had a lot of paintings. This is a lithograph of Sarov, a view of Diveyevo, Jerusalem, and some others. I say: “Grandma Natalia,” I loved her very much, and she loved me, because this is again the spirit - I loved the church, and she was very religious. Very religious. Her lamp burned every day. So she says: “These wanderers brought this to me. So they go there, they come in, I’ll feed them, give them some with me and send some more for candles, they go there, and they immediately go back, along the same route. And so, some brought me - so - pictures, some shrine, some pebble.”
Kh.P.: So your village was just on the way to Sarov when they walked?
O. Abel: Approximately, yes. Because she had these pictures. It’s not that she traveled, but that the wanderers who walked brought them. Therefore, what I mean is, who accepted the wanderers, why would they take the strangers for lodging and food. On the contrary, they welcome you as God’s guests, and they will give you some with them, and maybe even for a candle there.
Kh.P.: And they probably didn’t know how to write, but maybe there were some notes, they asked to remember, maybe someone, was it like that?
O. Abel: Well, I don’t know that. Well, even if I were 10 years old, it would have occurred to me to ask: “Grandma Natasha, did they give you notes?” Well, if I were like you, I would ask her everything in detail. And what am I saying: “Grandma Natalya, these are your pictures, were you there?” “No, but they brought it to me, and they brought it like this - they went there, came in, I fed them, gave it to them, and so on.”
O.K.: Father, I have other questions. Do many spiritual children come to you, or just from the area for advice? What is your circle of care?
O. Abel: Yes, apparently the circle is indefinite.
The day before yesterday three people came up with questions. I told them there that I could. And then I asked one, where did this supposedly happen? - This is supposedly in Voskresensk. So, from Voskresensk. And one says: “What a pity that it’s so far away, you won’t ask again.” And I: “Where do you live?” “I live in Moscow.” I say: “Well, there are very good priests in Moscow.” “But I don’t know anyone, I just arrived here.” I say: “You’ll have to wait and find out.” And from Ryazan, yesterday from Skopin. Well, as the Lord said: “A prophet has no honor in his own country.” Here are the locals, they don’t come for advice. They don't even go to church.
Kh.P.: Local, do you mean the Poshupovsky ones?
O. Abel: Poshchupovskys. And so, people come from all directions. But again, you see, yesterday I said it as if it were a joke. Three people came: “Father, we’re in trouble.” I say: “Darling, if you came and said: Father, everything is so good with us that we came to ask you, thank God, serve a prayer of thanks, because everything is so good with us! When everything is fine with you, you don’t remember God or anyone. But if it’s bad, you go. Well, thank God, at least that’s the case. You understand that you need to ask God and thank God and not abuse him. God will help you, and instead of thanking Him, keeping gratitude in your heart, you attribute everything to yourself: how well I did some business there. That's all. Or someone there - Ivan Petrovich helped, or Ivan Mikhailovich there... Well, how will the Lord then destroy it all..?”
O.K.: Do you have many spiritual children?
O. Abel: I have not. You see, at one time, when there were no monasteries, it was different, there were many... Still, monasticism is tenacious. Of course, there were fewer men, but it is also more difficult for men. Because they are drafted into the army, but girls cannot go into the army. She has a profession, she will get a job as a medical worker, or just as a nurse, and will be a secret nun. He will fulfill the rule, serve his neighbors, and perform his service. So there were a lot of monastics, especially in churches - a cleaning lady and a psalmist, that’s all. And I had a lot, a lot, but now there is little left. Maybe a dozen whom I consider my spiritual children, now they are all old.
O.K.: Do they all live far away?
O. Abel: Yes, you see, in Ryazan there are, in Moscow there are several people, in Vladimir there is one altar attendant, Schema nun Alexandra. Now she just comes to church and sits, she’s old, sick, retired. Now I refuse anyone...everyone. You see, in order to have spiritual children, this is necessary... Well, like a mother, when she wants to have a child, she must doom herself to sleepless nights: the child cried at night, get up, feed, rock. But now I can’t. So I came from Athos... well, that, and so many people to turn to. And so, whoever came, if they turn, if the Lord puts it on my heart what to say, I will say it. Well, here too, one came: “They sent me to you.” I say: “What is it?” “The child is sick. A boy of about five, shaking all over. He needs to be told off. They did this to me.” I looked at her like that, and rather rudely, and said to her: “Who did this to you? You and my husband did it. Here. But no one did it for you.” And went. She then caught up: “Well, you don’t understand! It was my husband’s mistress who did this.” I say, “Okay. But how long ago did this happen to the boy?” “He was born this way.” I say: “Well, why are you making a fuss? Then the husband didn’t have a mistress?! You were and he was. And he was born like this - because of your sins. And why are you ascribing to someone now?” “What should I do?” I say: “What? Be patient. Your cross. Is it your child? No one is to blame, and no one will help you. What now, you will break the cup into pieces, and then bring it, so that God will perform a miracle so that the cup will be new! Take care of her and don’t demand a miracle, something extraordinary. The Lord works miracles where they are needed, and not just at any whim.” This is what happens. That also happens.
