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“The ways of the Lord are mysterious” - that’s what the clergy like to say. But they really are right. Even when you are at the top and “rule the world,” you cannot know what will happen tomorrow or in a year. And even if today you don’t believe in God, tomorrow you will have to pray to the Almighty for something important. The only thing that is important is different for everyone.
Punishment, forgiveness and divine grace
I remember a meeting when Slava asked our mutual friend, who was talking about a pilgrimage trip to Diveevo: “What do you have, and look who I am?”, and then added that he did not believe in God, and that this was only his merit and luck.
I don’t know why everything happened: either the Lord’s punishment, or yes – “the ways of the Lord are mysterious,” and you never know where you’ll have to lay the straw.
On the eve of Makovei, Slava was returning home from training in a brand new Mazda, which had been driven from the showroom the day before. What happened is unclear; the car flew into a ditch at speed and caught fire. A minute before the explosion, he was pulled out of the car by people driving behind him.
Lucky or not, since August 14, 2021, he has undergone 8 operations, blood was transfused every day. They gave away everything they had “in the bins”.
I remember how his wife called me and asked for the number of a classmate who goes to Diveevo.
She cried and said that this shrine was the only way to salvation.
So, the man who denied God began to believe and pray.
We went to the Diveyesky Monastery together. Marina begged on her knees for her husband and for her family. As we were leaving, we met a nun. Marina said that they did not believe in God, and He punished them. To which the nun replied that the Lord does not punish anyone, He sends sorrows, He loves everyone and gives Tests according to His strength. And that what happened in Marina’s family gives her the opportunity to ask for forgiveness from the Almighty and take the right path.
Miracle in Diveyevo
At the end of August, I had the opportunity to visit the Fourth Destiny of the Mother of God - blessed Diveevo. After the relatively quiet Sanaksar, the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery immediately surprised me with its large crowd. It was difficult to get into the church during the Sunday liturgy, and the line to the relics of Father Seraphim stretched almost to the bell tower...
“Diveevo will become a Lavra,” prophesied Saint Seraphim. And now this prophecy is coming true before our eyes. And therefore, when I saw frightened goats near the monastery, not knowing where to go from the crowd of pilgrims, for some reason I was no longer upset about the lost former secrecy of this place. Diveevo was recently called a “village” by the great old lady, Blessed Maria of Samara, who came to this monastery more than once. Now the only thing that reminds us of the “village” are frightened goats... In the year of the centennial anniversary of the canonization of Father Seraphim, the monastery was decorated and renovated. It has acquired an almost metropolitan luster, as befits the world center of Orthodoxy. And yet, even that former, hidden Diveevo preserved itself. True, for the most part it moved to the monasteries scattered throughout this holy land. It is still quiet, prayerful, intimate there. An acquaintance from Samara, and in recent years a resident of Diveevo, Marta (baptized Martha) Balabanova, told me that shortly before my arrival, somewhere in a monastery monastery near Arzamas there was an apparition of the Mother of God. Several children were honored to see the miracle. I asked Martha to find out as much as possible about what happened. Due to the nature of her work - Martha works as a driver at the monastery and takes pilgrims to holy places - she knows many of the nuns of the monastery and residents of Diveevo. And she managed to reconstruct the picture of what happened almost down to detail. Here's what she said:
“It happened in the skete of the Diveyevo Monastery, in the village of Pushkarka, Arzamas region. There is the Red House (that's what everyone calls it). Previously, in the monastery monastery in the Red House there was the Church of St. John the Theologian. The nuns of the monastery are now restoring this temple. In the meantime, the Red House houses a vegetable storehouse, a warehouse and cells. I often take various products there at the request of the monastery and know well the people who labor in the monastery. This happened on the evening of August 17, on the eve of the holiday of the Suvorov new martyrs Evdokia, Daria, Darya and Maria (they were shot by the Bolsheviks in the village of Puzo, now Suvorovo, near Diveevo). Adults, led by the head of the monastery, novice Ekaterina, read aloud the lives of these holy martyrs. And suddenly four children ran into the room - 7-year-old Elena Kartseva, 9-year-old Masha Prokopenko and Gelya and Nadya. Excited people run in and begin excitedly, interrupting each other, to talk about the miracle that happened... First, I’ll tell you about the eyewitnesses of what happened. Elena came to Diveevo from Krivoy Rog with her mother. In the summer they lived in a monastery, and now they are in Diveevo. The girl explained to me in detail everything she had seen. Masha is from Astrakhan and now lives in the Red House, in a monastery. Nadya also lives in Pushkarka, but her parents forbade her to talk about the miracle. Gelya (Angelina), the fourth witness to the incident, lives in Nizhny Novgorod. She came to the monastery in the summer and then went home. I was unable to meet her. All the children who witnessed the miracle are from believing families, raised in religious traditions. I spoke with Elena and Masha separately. Their stories coincide in many ways, but there are also significant differences. Thus, Elena was given the opportunity to see the Lord Jesus Christ, the Most Holy Theotokos and Father Seraphim. Whereas Masha saw only “God sitting on a white chair.” But both of them unanimously say that they saw the icon of Tsar Nicholas carried by Angels. I was not bothered by this difference in their stories. Although 9-year-old Masha began to assure me that her friend, 7-year-old Elena, was deliberately embellishing what she saw, I am still sure that Elena (like Masha) was not exaggerating at all, she was simply given the opportunity to see more. Perhaps because she is two years younger than her friend (the Fatima apparitions in Portugal in 1917 were also perceived differently by all the children, although in the main their stories coincided - author
.). This is what the skete children told the adults that evening. The girls were playing near the Red House on this clear summer evening. Suddenly the heavens opened and a bright yellow light poured onto them from the gap... First, all the children in the sky saw the Lord Jesus Christ sitting on a throne - in His hands was a cane that was shining very brightly. His face sparkled. Then some children saw the Most Holy Theotokos - She looked at them kindly and affectionately. Her eyes were almost invisible from the bright light, but only Her lips were clearly visible. The glow was so strong that the children had to cover their eyes with their hands. Then they saw Father Seraphim, who looked at them very sternly (“rudely,” as Lena said). His stern gaze contrasted greatly with the gentle, merciful gaze of the Queen of Heaven. Then the children saw how two Angels carried the icon of Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II over the Red House. The children ran in the direction where the Angels were carrying the Holy Icon and ran to the forest. The angels carried the Icon further, but the children did not dare to go into the forest. We returned home and told the adults everything. The vision lasted, in their opinion, about half an hour. I asked Mother Catherine what this miracle could mean. She answered: “Probably something terrible is going to happen. This is not for good, but for some kind of sorrow.” I don't know if she's right. But I think that this miracle is intended to strengthen us in faith. We have so many intercessors: the Most Holy Theotokos, Father Seraphim, and Tsar Nicholas... Mother Catherine is often sick, maybe this phenomenon happened for her too, so that she would be healed. - Why did St. Seraphim look so sternly at the children? - I ask. “How should I know... Maybe we’re doing something wrong,” Martha answered. Of course, it was no coincidence that in this apparition the children saw both Father Seraphim and the icon of the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas. These saints are not just related to each other (Tsar Nicholas took part in the canonization of St. Seraphim, and the Sarov elder prophesied: “I will glorify the Tsar who glorified me”). Perhaps these two great saints close to us in time have special grace from God to intercede for Russia. So this summer, two greatest holidays: the consecration of the Church on the Blood at the site of the death of the Royal Family in Yekaterinburg and the centenary of the glorification of St. Seraphim of Sarov - became the main events of church life. We need to pray to these saints, we need to ask the Mother of God to have mercy on our country and take away the impending troubles from us. This summer I had the opportunity to visit Yekaterinburg, the site of the murder of the Royal Family. During the few hours that I spent in the Monastery of the Royal Passion-Bearers on Ganina Yama, I happened to witness an unusual event. A newly painted icon was brought to the monastery for consecration, in which Father Seraphim and Tsar Nicholas pray together for Russia. The icon also depicts Tsarevich Alexei and Queen Alexandra. In this holy image one can easily recognize the temples of the famous Diveyevo monastery. On the icon is the inscription: “I will glorify the king who glorifies me.” This icon was intended for the Diveyevo Monastery. To commemorate this event, all those present were given small copies of this newly consecrated icon. And now, a month later, in the sky above the Diveyevo monastery, two great saints of God appeared together in the sparkle of the opened heavens... The Diveyevo land was and remains a place where God’s miracles happen. And I consider it my duty to include this amazing event in this endless chronicle of wondrous miracles.
In the pictures:
Red house in the village
Pushkarka; Lena Prokopenko, eyewitness of the miracle. Next to her is the cassock novice Ekaterina, the elder of the monastery; Icon with Father Seraphim and Tsar-Martyr Nicholas. Anton Zhogolev 09/26/2003
Miracles of the Lord
Marina stood in huge lines every day to see Father Seraphim, went to services, asked and believed in healing, that the Lord would help.
And he helped - on December 29, 2021, Slava was discharged from the hospital. He is still on crutches and will not recover soon, but the main thing is that he is alive, that he is with his family, a complete family...
After all, on January 19, 2021 - on the Great Feast of the Epiphany - Marina found out that she was “in a position.” And these Miracles once again prove that Faith in the Lord does the impossible. After all, Marina and Slava lived in an official marriage for 14 years and they did not have children, nor did they have faith in God.
The guys want to get married in Diveevo after the birth of the baby, because it was the Shrine that gave them the most important thing, and this is far from money and a career, it is Faith and Happiness in the future with the Lord.
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Miracles of Diveevo
The Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery became the fourth “earthly inheritance” of the Most Holy Theotokos, along with Iberia, Holy Mount Athos and the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. And, of course, parishioners of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary could not ignore this holy place on their pilgrimage trips.
We set off on the trip late in the evening and set foot on Nizhny Novgorod land early in the morning. The pilgrims were first brought to the miraculous spring of St. Seraphim of Sarov. According to legend, the source was discovered by the holy elder himself. Now there is a log chapel with baths, which the kings took advantage of: despite the early hour, many not only took water, but also bathed in the holy spring. Looking ahead, let's say that our pilgrims also visited the other three Diveyevo holy springs - the most ancient, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the spring of the Healer Panteleimon and the Venerable Alexandra, the founder of the monastery, who deserves a separate story.
There was a time when the wealthy landowner Agafya Melgunova had a beloved husband and little daughter. But her husband died young, and in 1760 Agafya left with her daughter for the Kiev Monastery, where she became a monk under the name of Alexandra. In Kyiv, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to her in a dream and ordered her to go to the north of Russia to found a monastic monastery. In the village of Diveevo, Nizhny Novgorod province, the Lady appeared to her again and indicated that the monastery would be here. In 1767, at this place, at her own expense, she began the construction of a stone church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which lasted ten years. Soon after arriving in Diveevo, the ascetic’s ten-year-old daughter died, after which Alexander’s mother sold the estate and donated the capital to charity. A community began to take shape around the righteous woman, and cells began to be built. The community was looked after by the Sarov Monastery. Being near death, in 1789, Alexandra’s mother entrusted the guardianship of the monastery to the thirty-year-old hierodeacon Seraphim, the future great Russian saint Seraphim of Sarov, who looked after the monastery until his death. In 1825, the Mother of God appeared to Father Seraphim, who had retired from the affairs of the Kazan monastery, naming eight sisters by name, with whom he was to go to the east of Diveevo, surround this place with a ditch and rampart and build cells there, a windmill, and then the Church of Her Nativity and Her only begotten son. The Mother of God gave the charter for the monastery to the priest Herself.
In the winter of 1826, the foundation of the mill took place, in 1829 the sisters began to dig a ditch around it, about which Saint Seraphim of Sarov said that these were “the piles of the Mother of God, here the Queen of Heaven walked around the monastery, taking it as her inheritance.” A religious procession takes place along Kanavka on holidays, and, of course, royal pilgrims visited it with reverence. But our acquaintance with the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery began with a sightseeing tour of the territory. The remaining time was called “free”, although it was busy to the limit: so many shrines needed to be worshiped! One of the main ones is the relics of Seraphim of Sarov.
The holy elder died in 1833 while praying before the icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness” (now one of the most revered miraculous shrines of Diveyevo). The relics of Father Seraphim, canonized in 1903, were blasphemously opened and taken away from Sarov in 1921 by Red Army soldiers. Their further fate remained unknown, but 70 years later they were discovered in the storerooms of the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism in the building of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The relics were returned to Diveevo, where they rest in the Trinity Cathedral. Here you can also see the elder’s personal belongings.
In order to venerate the shrine of the universally revered saint, it was necessary to stand in a queue for many hours, but this did not deter our pilgrims. In addition, the royals visited the most ancient Kazan church, built by the Monk Alexandra in 1767–1779, and venerated the relics of the Blessed Wives of Diveyevo Pelagia, Paraskeva and Maria. Pelagia was from a merchant family, and Paraskeva and Maria were peasant daughters, but they were related by the holy land of Diveyevo and the difficult feat of foolishness.
Pilgrims also examined the churches of the Nativity of Christ and the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, attached to the Kazan Church. They were built at the expense of Father Seraphim’s faithful disciple, landowner Mikhail Manturov, who donated all his funds to the monastery and was buried in the Church of the Nativity. By the way, his younger sister Elena Vasilyevna, who, according to legend, gave her life for her brother with the blessing of Saint Seraphim, was canonized. You can venerate the reliquary with the relics of St. Helena in Diveevo, as well as the relics of the founder of the monastery, Mother Alexandra, as well as the Venerable Martha of Diveyevo, a young woman who entered the monastery at the age of 13 and was chosen, according to the vision of St. Seraphim, for a special service.
The royals also inspected the Transfiguration Cathedral, the construction of which was completed in 1916 (but it was consecrated only in 1998). People left the monastery full of impressions and in the hope of new significant meetings.
Svetlana Popova
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It is clear to me that the Lord controls us. Without Him we cannot even conceive of good; Therefore, we need to humbly surrender to the will of God, so that the Lord will guide us.* * *
We all suffer on earth and seek freedom, but few people know what freedom is, where it is.
And I also want freedom, and I search for it day and night. I came to know that it is with God, and is given from God to humble hearts who have repented and cut off their will before Him. To the repentant the Lord gives His peace and freedom to love Him. And there is nothing better in the world than to love God and neighbor. In this the soul finds peace and joy.
Oh, peoples of the whole earth, I fall on my knees before you and beg you with tears: come to Christ. I know His love for you. I know and that’s why I shout to the whole earth. If you don’t know something, how will you talk about it?
You ask: “But how can you know God”? And I say that we saw the Lord by the Holy Spirit. And you, if you humble yourself, then the Holy Spirit will show you our Lord; and you, too, will want to shout about Him to the whole earth.
I am old and awaiting death, and I write the truth out of love for the people for whom my soul grieves. Perhaps at least one soul will be saved; and for it I will thank God; but my heart aches for the whole world, and I pray and shed tears for the whole world, so that everyone will repent and know God, and live in love, and enjoy freedom in God.
Oh, all people on earth, pray and cry for your sins, so that the Lord will forgive them. Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is freedom of conscience and love, even if it is small.
* * *
The Lord does not want the death of the sinner, and gives the grace of the Holy Spirit to the repentant. It gives the soul peace and freedom to be in God with mind and heart. When the Holy Spirit forgives us our sins, then the soul receives freedom to pray to God with a pure mind; then she freely contemplates God and is at peace and joyful in Him. And this is true freedom. And without God there can be no freedom, because enemies shake the soul with bad thoughts.
* * *
I will tell the truth before the whole world: I am an abomination before God, and would despair of my salvation if God had not given me His grace of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit taught me, and therefore I write about God without difficulty, for He draws me to write.
I regret, and cry, and weep for people. Many people think: I have sinned a lot: I killed, robbed, raped, slandered, fornicated and did much more; and out of shame they do not go to repentance. But they forget that all their sins before God are like a drop in the ocean.
Oh, my brothers, all the earth, repent while there is time. God graciously awaits our repentance. And all of heaven, all the saints are waiting for repentance from us. Just as God is love, so the Holy Spirit in the saints is love. Ask, and the Lord will forgive. And when you receive forgiveness of sins, you will have joy and gladness in your soul, and the grace of the Holy Spirit will enter your soul, and you will say: “This is true freedom; it is in God and from God.”
* * *
Many people do not know the way of salvation, they have gone into darkness and do not see the Light of Truth. But He was, is and will be, and mercifully calls everyone to Himself: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, know Me, and I will give you peace and freedom.”
This is true freedom - when we are in God. And I didn't know this before. Until the age of 27, I only believed that God existed, but did not know Him; and when my soul came to know Him through the Holy Spirit, it began to eagerly strive for Him, and now, burning, I seek Him day and night.
The Lord wants us to love each other; This is freedom - in love for God and neighbor. This is freedom and equality. But in earthly ranks there cannot be equality, but this is not important for the soul. Not everyone can be a king or a prince; not everyone can be a patriarch or abbot, or a boss; but in every rank one can love God and please Him, and only this is important. And whoever loves God more on earth will have greater glory in the Kingdom. He who loves more, strives more for God, and will be closer to Him. Each one will be glorified according to the measure of his love. And I learned that love varies in strength.
Whoever fears God, so as not to offend Him in some way, is first love. Whoever has a mind clear of thoughts is a second love, greater than the first. Whoever has grace tangibly in his soul is the third love, even greater.
The fourth, perfect love for God is when one has the grace of the Holy Spirit in both soul and body. His body is consecrated, and his relics will be there. This is what happens with great holy martyrs, with prophets, with saints. Whoever is to this extent is inviolable for carnal love. He can freely sleep with the girl without feeling any desire for her. The love of God is stronger than the love of a maiden, to which the whole world is drawn, except those who have the grace of God in fullness, for the sweetness of the Holy Spirit regenerates the whole person and teaches him to love God in fullness. With the fullness of God's love, the soul does not touch the world; although a person lives on earth among others, but from the love of God he forgets everything in the world. And our grief is that, due to the pride of our minds, we do not stand in this grace, and it leaves the soul, and the soul seeks it, crying and sobbing, and says: “My soul yearns for the Lord.”
Elder Silouan of Athos
pray to GOD FOR US!!
I first read his letters in 1984, in the Moscow Patriarchate Magazine..
A dozen sheets of paper xeroxed through the “great pull” are still kept.
In those years, religion was banned.
I went to church secretly, because I worked in the KGB...
Now it’s VVP and others like them standing with candles and we pray with them..
WHILE THERE IS STILL AN OPPORTUNITY... go to TEMPLES, my dear readers.
IN MAY 16, the 8 UNHOLY Cathedral should take place. At it, some dogmas will be abolished
Orthodox faith.. AND THEN it will be impossible to go to those churches..
In DIVEEVO, the LITURGY will remain unchanged until the end of the century..
Well, there will also be persecution of the ORTHODOX FAITH... and war.. first Civil and then WORLDWIDE and FATHER Seraphim will rise again... many prophecies, well, we don’t really need to know them, about SERAPHIM he said: “Know yourself and that’s enough.” DO NOT FEAR for the flesh, it is perishable, but I wish everyone the salvation of their souls!!
WHEN ARRIVING IN DIVEYEVO, walk along the Kanavka with prayer, venerate the relics of Seraphim and ask with FAITH!!
If it is for good, then it will probably come true!!
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Reliquary with relics at the entrance to the TRINITY CATHEDRAL in DIVEEVO.
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