The Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism held a meeting of those responsible for working with monasteries in dioceses

Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism

- a division of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Carries out the functions of a coordinating and supervisory body in cases of developing and reviewing internal and civil statutes of monasteries, in resolving administrative and legal issues related to the return of monastic buildings and structures to the Church, in petitioning government bodies to assist monasteries in carrying out restoration work, in dismantling conflict situations in monasteries and personal affairs of monastics according to the recommendations of the dioceses with the knowledge and blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.

Composition of the department board

Current lineup (according to the official website)[2]

• Archbishop of Sergiev Posad Feognost (Guzikov), Vicar of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius - Chairman
• Hegumen Stefan (Tarakanov), resident of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, - deputy chairman
• Abbess Juliania (Kaleda), abbess of the Conception Convent in Moscow, - Deputy Chairman
• Metropolitan Pavel (Swan) of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl, abbot of the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
• Archbishop of Novogrudok and Lida Gury (Apalko), Holy Archimandrite of the Assumption Zhirovichi Monastery
• Metropolitan of Pochaev Vladimir (Moroz), abbot of the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra
• Bishop of Trinity Pankraty (Zherdev), abbot of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery
• Bishop Arseny (Yakovenko) of Svyatogorsk, abbot of the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra
• Bishop of Kronstadt Nazariy (Lavrinenko), Vicar of the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra
• Archimandrite Alexy (Polikarpov), abbot of the St. Danilov Monastery in Moscow
• Bishop of Pavlodar and Ekibastuz Varnava (Safonov)
• Bishop of the Resurrection Savva (Mikheev), abbot of the Novospassky stauropegial monastery in Moscow
• Archimandrite Paisiy (Chekan), abbot of the Ascension Novo-Nyametsky Kitskansky Monastery
• Archimandrite Porfiry (Shutov), ​​abbot of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery
• Archimandrite Tikhon (Secretaryov), abbot of the Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery
• Abbess Varvara (Tretyak), abbess of the Vvedensky Tolgsky convent
• Abbess Evdokia (Levshuk), abbess of the Polotsk Spaso-Ephrosyne Convent
• Abbess Elizaveta (Zhegalova), abbess of the Holy Trinity Stefano Makhrishchi Convent
• Abbess Margarita (Feoktistova), abbess of the Mother of God of Smolensk Novodevichy Convent in Moscow
• Abbess Paraskeva (Kazaku), abbess of the Paraskevi Khynkovsky convent
• Abbess Raphaila (Khilchuk), abbess of the Holy Trinity Koretsky stauropegic convent
• Abbess Sergia (Konkova), abbess of the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevo Convent
• Abbess Sofia (Silina), abbess of the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent in St. Petersburg
• Abbess Philareta (Kalacheva), abbess of the Assumption Pyukhtitsa stauropegial monastery

Monastery Bakery

At all times, monasteries in Russia have been centers not only of spiritual life, but also of economic life; Russian culinary traditions have also been carefully preserved here. For centuries, monastery cuisine was famous in Rus', and any monastery always had its own bread. Each monastery had its own baking secrets, such as the world-famous Borodinsky. Nowadays, when many monasteries remember old recipes for baking bread, they decided to revive this tradition in the Danilov Monastery. Thus, in the spring of 2009, a new bakery was consecrated at the Moscow Stavropegic Monastery of St. Danilov and the production of bakery products under the “Monastic Traditions” brand began. After several months of intense preparatory work, we managed to obtain bread with unique taste, sourdough, which is blessed twice a year in the monastery church. All Danilovskaya baked goods are made by hand. For baking bread, high-quality raw materials are carefully selected, some ingredients are delivered from the monastery farmstead, and to this we must add three more components of success: ancient monastery recipes, the latest production technologies and modern baking equipment. High demands are placed on sanitary standards in the bakery.

In addition to a large assortment of yeast and yeast-free bread, Danilovskaya Bakery offers various types of pies (with cabbage and potatoes, fish and apples, cherries and other fillings), buns, puff pastries, pies, lean and butter cookies, various gingerbreads and muffins, traditional monastery gingerbreads. In addition to baked goods, we have something else to surprise customers with: for example, “Danilovskaya pastila” can compete with the famous “Belevskaya” in its taste. It is handmade from domestic seasonal apples. Danilovsky honey is also well known. First of all, we are talking about honey from the monastery of St. Sergius of Radonezh, in the Ryazan region, part of which goes to the needs of the monastery, and the other for sale. Of course, one apiary cannot satisfy the great demand of buyers, and this is due not only to its quantity, but also to the assortment. At eight apiaries located in the Belgorod, Voronezh and Ryazan regions, the Krasnodar Territory and Altai, local beekeepers procure various types of honey for us at our request.

People come from all over Moscow and the Moscow region for Danilov’s baked goods and honey. All products can be purchased in shopping pavilions on the territory of the monastery and near the entrance to the monastery, in the “Honey Spas” store at Danilovsky Val building 10, and in other Moscow churches.

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Evangelical monasticism

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The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is good and joyful news, bringing to the world not just teaching, but new life in place of the old. The old life is enslaved by sin, passions, corruption, death and is controlled by the devil. Despite all the “natural” joys, it leaves a bitter aftertaste, for this is not the true life for which man was created, but a corrupted, unhealthy life, marked by a feeling of paradox, emptiness and confusion.

New life was given to the world by the God-man Christ as a gift available to all people. The believer unites with Jesus Christ and thus partakes of His holy immortal life - eternal and true.

A necessary condition for the believer’s unity with Christ and his revival is his death as the old man through repentance. The believer must first crucify the old man (that is, selfishness, passions and self-will) on the Cross and bury Christ in the tomb in order to be resurrected with Him, “that we may walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). This is the work of repentance and taking up the Cross of Christ. Without repentance - the constant crucifixion of the old man - a believer cannot gain the faith of the Gospel and completely surrender to God and love the Lord God “with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

Therefore, the Lord made repentance the foundation of the gospel preaching and a prerequisite for faith. “Repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). He did not hide the fact that the path of repentance is difficult, but leads upward. “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life” (Matthew 7:14), and to step on it means to lift the cross of repentance. For the old man does not leave you without difficulty, and the devil is not defeated without a hard struggle.

The monk promises to follow the narrow and narrow path of repentance throughout his life. He withdraws from the world in order to achieve his only desire, to die to the old life and begin the new life that Christ gives us through the church. A monk achieves perfect repentance through constant asceticism, vigil, fasting, prayer, cutting off his own will and unquestioning obedience to the elder. Thus, he forces himself to renounce his selfish aspirations and love the will of God. “The monk is the everlasting compulsion of nature.” Thus he fulfills the words of the Lord, “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and those who use force take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). In the agony of repentance, a renewed man, like God, is gradually born.

The struggle of repentance also includes constant observation of thoughts, with the goal of cutting off every evil demonic thought that seeks to defile a person. Observing thoughts helps to keep the heart pure and become a reflection of God, as it is said in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Victory over selfishness and passions makes the monk meek, peaceful and humble, truly “poor in spirit” and a participant in all the virtues and beatitudes, as well as a “child” whom Jesus glorified and called on everyone to become like him if they wish to enter His Kingdom.

The entire life path of a monk becomes a desire for repentance, and his morality becomes the morality of repentance. A monk is an “expert” in repentance, “depicting the life of repentance” (canon 43 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council) for the entire Church. Sorrow and tears of repentance are the most eloquent sermon.

The whole image of a monk (the image of voluntary death) judges this world. The world, silently judged by the monk, indifferent to monastic repentance, turns away from him, despises him, hates him and considers him unreasonable. But “God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the strong things” (1 Cor. 1:27).

The monk, being wise for God and foolish according to worldly criteria, remains a stranger to this world, just like the Son of God, Who “came to his own, and his own did not receive Him” (John 1:11), not understanding Him, even being church people, wise and active.

The mystical and silent life of a monk is a sealed secret for all those who are not involved in his spirit. The monk is considered socially useless and missionarily inactive. Thus, his life is a mystery in Christ God and “when Christ your life appears, then they also will appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4).

Only the heart of a person, constantly cleansed by repentance from selfishness, selfishness and passions, can truly love God and neighbor. Selfishness and love are incompatible with each other. Often an egoist believes that he loves, while his “love” is only hidden selfishness, self-interest and the search for profit.

The penitent monk glows with Divine love. The love of God embraces his heart, prompting him to live not for himself, but for God. His soul-bride constantly demands her Groom with pain and longing and does not calm down until she unites with Him. The monk is not content to love God as a slave (out of fear) or as a servant (for the reward of Paradise). He wants to love Him like a son, with pure love. “I no longer fear God, but I love Him,” said Anthony the Great. And the more he repents, the more his desire for God’s love increases, and the more he loves God, the more he repents.

Tears of repentance kindle the flame of love in a monk. He fuels his desire for God with prayer, first of all, intelligent and unceasing prayer, constant invocation of the sweetest name of Jesus and the short prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.” Prayer purifies him and ensures his union with God.

The monk also devotes himself to church service with love for God, and God devotes himself to him. The monk spends many hours every day in the temple, praising his beloved God. His participation in divine services is not a duty, but a need of his God-hungry soul. In the Athonite monasteries, the Divine Liturgy is celebrated daily, and the monks do not wait for the end of the service, no matter how many hours it lasts, since for them there is no more useful activity than to be in communion with the Savior, His Mother and friends. Thus, service is joy and celebration, spring of the soul and anticipation of Paradise. The monks live according to the words of the apostle: “All the believers were together and had everything in common. And they sold estates and all kinds of property, and distributed them to everyone, depending on each person’s need. And every day they continued with one accord in the temple and, breaking bread from house to house, ate their food with joy and simplicity of heart, praising God...” (Acts 2:44-47).

But even after the end of the service, the monk continues to live liturgically. His entire monastic life, obedience, meals and prayer, silence and rest, relationships with brothers and receiving pilgrims are offerings to the Holy Trinity. The architecture of the monasteries confirms this.

Everything begins on the holy throne of the cathedral church and ends here. Passages, cells - everything is related to the temple. All monastic life becomes an offering and service to God.

Even the material aspects of worship testify to the transformation of all life and all creation by Divine grace. The bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist, the blessed oil, the incense, the bells and bells marking the appointed hours, the candles and censers lit at certain moments of the service, the movements of the canonarch and clergy, as well as many other movements and actions prescribed by centuries-old monastic typikons - this is not mere dry formulas or psychological stimuli for the senses, but signs, echoes and manifestations of a new creation. All those who visit the Holy Mountain are convinced that worship is not static, but dynamic. This is a kind of movement towards God: the soul rises to God along with everything that exists.

During the Athonite Vigil, the believer receives a unique experience of the joy that the saving mission of Christ brings to the world, tasting the highest quality life given to us by Christ through the church.

The primacy that monasticism places on the service of God reminds the church and the world that unless the divine liturgy and service become the center of our lives, the world will never be able to come to unity, to be transformed, to overcome schism and imbalance, emptiness and death, despite all existing ambitious humanistic systems and programs to improve it. In addition, monasticism reminds us that the divine liturgy and service to God are not something within us, but the center, the source of renewal and sanctification of all aspects of our being.

The immediate fruit of love for God is love for the image of God - man and all God's creations. Through many years of asceticism, the monk acquires “a merciful heart, capable of loving like God. According to Abba Isaac the Syrian, a merciful heart is “the kindling of a person’s heart for all creation, for people, for birds, for animals, for demons and for every creature. When remembering them and looking at them, a person’s eyes shed tears. Because of the great and strong pity that envelops the heart, and because of the great patience, its heart is diminished, and it cannot bear, or hear, or see any harm or small sorrow endured by the creature. And therefore, for the dumb, and for the enemies of the truth, and for those who harm him, every hour he brings a prayer with tears, so that they will be preserved and have mercy; and also for the nature of reptiles he prays with great pity, which is immeasurably aroused in his heart until he becomes like God in this” (Homily 48).

In the Gerondikon - a collection of sayings and writings of the desert fathers - we find examples of sacrifice and love, reminiscent of and revealing the love of Christ. Abba Agathon said that he “would like to find the leper and take his body.” “Do you see perfect love?” – Isaac the Syrian comments on this.

In addition, the structure of the konoviya is based on love, modeled on the first Christian communities of Jerusalem. Like the Lord with His twelve apostles and the first Christians, so the monks have common property and a common life in Christ. The abbot has nothing more than one young novice. No one has money that he can dispose of at his own discretion, except for what he receives as a blessing from the abbot for certain needs.

Common property, equality, justice, mutual respect and the self-sacrifice of each monk elevate cinenial life into the realm of true love and freedom. Those who have had the good fortune to spend at least a few days in true cinema know what kind of grace the mutual love of brothers brings and how it calms the soul. It seems that you live among those like angels.

The founder of cinnovial monasticism, Basil the Great, speaks of the love in Christ that reigns in cinnovial monasticism: “What is equal to this life? But what is more blessed than this? What is more perfect than such closeness and such unity? What is more pleasant than this fusion of morals and souls? People who have advanced from different tribes and countries have brought themselves into such perfect identity that in many bodies one soul is seen, and many bodies turn out to be instruments of one will.

He who is weak in body has many who are sympathetic to him; the sick and the fallen in soul have many who heal and restore him. They are equally slaves and masters of each other, and with irresistible freedom they mutually show perfect slavery to each other - not that which is forcibly introduced by the necessity of circumstances, plunging those captured into slavery into great despondency, but that which is joyfully produced by freedom of will , when love subordinates the free to each other and protects freedom by self-will. God wanted us to be like this in the beginning, and for this purpose He created us.

And it is they who, blotting out the sin of the forefather Adam, restore primitive kindness, because people would have no division, no strife, no war if sin had not cut their natures. They are exact imitators of the Savior and His life in the flesh. For just as the Savior, having formed the ranks of the disciples, even made Himself common to the Apostles, so these, who obey their leader, perfectly observing the rule of life, exactly imitate the life of the Apostles and the Lord. They compete with the lives of the Angels, like them, strictly observing sociability.

The Angels have no quarrel, no strife, no misunderstanding; everyone enjoys the property of everyone, and everyone contains complete perfection” (Ascetic Rules, Chapter 18). In the monastery, monks can, in an apostolic manner, truly live the sacrament of the Church as a sacrament of communion and unity with God and people, live in the unity of faith and communion of the Holy Spirit, which is the responsibility of all Christians. The monk knows from his own experience that the Church is not just a religious institution or some kind of institution, but in Christ a brotherhood, the Body of Christ, a congregation of the scattered children of God (John 11:52), his family in Christ. This ecclesiological experience enables the monk to see the brothers as parts of his own body and honors them as Christ. This explains both the sympathetic hospitality that the monk shows to pilgrims and visitors, and his constant tearful prayer for living and deceased brothers, known and unknown.

Monks express their love for their lay brothers in various ways, in particular by bringing them peace of mind and spiritual support. Many brothers, exhausted and morally tired, come to monasteries, especially to the Holy Mountain, so that their souls can find peace next to the elders and spiritual fathers who have already found peace in God. It is not uncommon for experienced Athonite confessors to go out into the world to reassure and strengthen many Christians in their faith.

St. Seraphim of Sarov, the great Russian hesychast of the last century, characteristically said: “Acquire a peaceful spirit, and then thousands of souls will be saved around you.” St. Seraphim proceeded from his personal experience and the experience of the centuries-old traditions of hesychasm. It can be noted that the further the fathers, reconciled with God, went deep into the desert, the more people followed them to gain benefit.

In extreme cases, monks are called by God himself, as happened with Cosmas of Aetolia, to undertake a significant preaching and awakening mission. However, they are always called by God and do not act on their own. Would Saint Cosmas be able to save and enlighten the enslaved people with his preaching if he himself had not previously been enlightened and inspired by twenty years of monastic asceticism, silence, purification and prayer?

The monk does not set himself the goal of saving the world through pastoral and missionary activities, because, being “poor in spirit,” he feels that he has no prerequisites for saving others until he himself is saved. The monk surrenders to God without any plans or prospects. He is always at the Lord's disposal and ready to hear His call. The Lord of the Church calls upon the workers of His vineyard to work in the way He deems salvific and fruitful. The Lord called Saint Gregory Palamas to stand up for the pastoral defense of Thessaloniki and speak about paternal piety in the spirit of Orthodox theology. He called Saint Cosmas to apostolic preaching, and he admonished Saint Nicodemus the Holy Mountain to preach without going out into the world, through his theological and spiritual writings, which to this day lead many souls to God.

Other monks were called by God to help the world with their silence, patience and tearful prayer, as in the case of the Monk Leontius of Dionysia, who for sixty years did not leave the monastery and lived locked in a dark cell. The Lord revealed that he accepted his sacrifice, giving him the gift of prophecy. After his death, the saint’s body flowed myrrh.

But what makes a holy monk the greatest joy and light of the world is the fact that he preserves the image of God. In the unnatural state of sin in which we exist, we forget and lose sight of the true man. And what man was like before the Fall, deified and bearing the image of God, the holy monk shows us. Thus, the monk remains the hope for people who are able to discern the deep and true human nature, without the ideological prejudices that come with it. If a person cannot become deified and if he has not personally known deified people, it is difficult for him to hope that a person is able to overcome his fallen state and achieve the goal for which the All-Good God created him - to become a god by grace. As Saint John Climacus wrote: “The light of monks is angels, and the light for all people is monastic life” (Homily 26).

Possessing already in this life the grace of deification, the monk becomes a symbol and witness of the Kingdom of God in the world. And the Kingdom of God, according to the teaching of the holy fathers, is the gift of the Holy Spirit indwelling a person. Through the deified monk, the world learns the unknown and sees the unprecedented character and glory of the deified man of the coming Kingdom of God, which is “not of this world.” Through monasticism, the modern church preserves the eschatological consciousness of the apostolic church, the living hope of the coming Lord (maran afa - the Lord is coming), but also His mystical presence within us: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).

Graceful mortal memory and fruitful virginity lead the monk to the future age. As Saint Gregory the Theologian writes: “Christ, Who, deigning to be born for us, is born of the Virgin, thereby legitimizing virginity, which would elevate us from here, limit the world, or better yet, send us from one world to another world, from the present to future” (Tombstone to Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea of ​​Cappadocia, PG T.36, p. 153). A monk who lives in purity, following the example of Christ, overcomes not only what is contrary to nature, but also what is in accordance with it, and, having achieved the supernatural, enters the extraordinary angelic state about which the Lord spoke: “In the resurrection they neither marry nor get married, but remain as the Angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). Like angels, monks keep a vow of celibacy, and not only to bring practical benefit to the church - missionary activity - but also to glorify God “in their bodies and in their souls” (1 Cor. 6:20).

Virginity puts a barrier to death, as Saint Gregory of Nyssa writes about this: “For as in the Mother of God Mary, “death reigned from Adam even before” Her (Rom. 5:14), when she came to Her, she stumbled over the fruit virginity, like a stone, crushed against him. So in every soul leading a virgin life in the flesh, the “power of death” (Heb. 2:14) is, as it were, crushed and destroyed, not finding anything to stick its “thorn” into (cf. 1 Cor. 15:55; Hos. 13, 14). "(On virginity, chapter 14).

The eschatological evangelical spirit, which preserves monasticism, protects the worldly church from secularization and agreement with sinful states that contradict the evangelical spirit.

Living in solitude and silence, but spiritually and mysteriously staying inside the church, the monk preaches from the high pulpit the commandments of the Almighty and the need for an absolutely Christian life. He directs the world towards the heavenly Jerusalem and the glory of the Holy Trinity as the common goal of all creation. This is the apostolic call, which monasticism preaches at all times, presupposing a complete apostolic renunciation of the world, a crucified life and an apostolic mission. Like the apostles, the monks, having left everything, follow Jesus and fulfill His word: “And whoever has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake, He will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29). Having nothing, they gain everything by sharing the suffering, deprivation, misfortune, vigil and worldly vulnerability of the holy apostles.

But, like the holy apostles, monks are worthy to become “eyewitnesses of His greatness” (2 Peter 1:16) and to receive personal experience of the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that, like the apostles, they can say not only that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” “of whom I am the first” (1 Tim. 1:15), but also about “what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, about the Word of life, for life was revealed and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you this eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us” (1 John 1:1-2).

This vision of the glory of God and the sweet visit of the monk by Christ justifies all the apostolic deeds, which makes monastic life the “true life” and the “blessed life”, which a humble monk would not exchange for anything, even if through the grace of God he only knew it for a short time.

The monk mysteriously radiates this grace to his worldly brothers, so that everyone would see, repent, believe, be comforted, rejoice in the Lord and glorify the merciful God “who gave such power to men” (Matthew 9:8).

From the book “Evangelical Monasticism”, publishing house of the sacred Monastery of St. Gregory, Saint Athos, 1976.

Translation from modern Greek: editors of the online publication “Pemptusia”.

An excerpt characterizing the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism

– Makarka (that’s what they called Makarina), this one will selflessly go through fire and water for you. Well, the score is over,” said Dolokhov, showing him the note. - So? “Yes, of course, so,” said Anatole, apparently not listening to Dolokhov and with a smile that never left his face, looking ahead of him. Dolokhov slammed the bureau and turned to Anatoly with a mocking smile. – You know what, give it all up: there’s still time! - he said. - Fool! - said Anatole. - Stop talking nonsense. If only you knew... The devil knows what it is! “Come on,” said Dolokhov. - I'm telling you the truth. Is this a joke you're starting? - Well, again, teasing again? Go to hell! Eh?...” Anatole said with a wince. - Really, I have no time for your stupid jokes. - And he left the room. Dolokhov smiled contemptuously and condescendingly when Anatole left. “Wait,” he said after Anatoly, “I’m not joking, I mean business, come, come here.” Anatole entered the room again and, trying to concentrate his attention, looked at Dolokhov, obviously involuntarily submitting to him. – Listen to me, I’m telling you for the last time. Why should I joke with you? Did I contradict you? Who arranged everything for you, who found the priest, who took the passport, who got the money? All I. - Well, thank you. Do you think I'm not grateful to you? – Anatol sighed and hugged Dolokhov. “I helped you, but I still have to tell you the truth: it’s a dangerous matter and, if you look at it, stupid.” Well, you take her away, okay. Will they leave it like that? It turns out that you are married. After all, they will bring you to criminal court... - Ah! nonsense, nonsense! – Anatole spoke again, wincing. - After all, I explained it to you. A? - And Anatole, with that special passion (which stupid people have) for the conclusion that they reach with their minds, repeated the reasoning that he repeated to Dolokhov a hundred times. “After all, I explained it to you, I decided: if this marriage is invalid,” he said, bending his finger, “then I don’t answer; Well, if it’s real, it doesn’t matter: no one abroad will know this, right? And don't talk, don't talk, don't talk! - Really, come on! You will only tie yourself up... “Get to hell,” said Anatole and, holding his hair, went out into another room and immediately returned and sat down with his feet on a chair close to Dolokhov. - The devil knows what it is! A? Look how it beats! “He took Dolokhov’s hand and put it to his heart. - Ah! quel pied, mon cher, quel regard! Undeesse!! [ABOUT! What a leg, my friend, what a look! Goddess!!] Huh? Dolokhov, smiling coldly and shining with his beautiful, insolent eyes, looked at him, apparently wanting to have more fun with him. - Well, the money will come out, then what? - What then? A? – Anatole repeated with sincere bewilderment at the thought of the future. - What then? I don’t know what’s there... Well, what nonsense to talk about! – He looked at his watch. - It's time! Anatole went into the back room. - Well, will you be there soon? Digging around here! - he shouted at the servants. Dolokhov removed the money and, shouting to the man to order food and drink for the road, he entered the room where Khvostikov and Makarin were sitting. Anatole was lying in the office, leaning on his arm, on the sofa, smiling thoughtfully and gently whispering something to himself with his beautiful mouth. - Go, eat something. Well, have a drink! – Dolokhov shouted to him from another room. - Don't want! – Anatole answered, still continuing to smile. - Go, Balaga has arrived. Anatole stood up and entered the dining room. Balaga was a well-known troika driver, who had known Dolokhov and Anatoly for six years and served them with his troikas. More than once, when Anatole’s regiment was stationed in Tver, he took him out of Tver in the evening, delivered him to Moscow by dawn, and took him away the next day at night. More than once he took Dolokhov away from pursuit, more than once he took them around the city with gypsies and ladies, as Balaga called them. More than once he crushed people and cab drivers around Moscow with their work, and his gentlemen, as he called them, always rescued him. He drove more than one horse under them. More than once he was beaten by them, more than once they plied him with champagne and Madeira, which he loved, and he knew more than one thing behind each of them that an ordinary person would have deserved Siberia long ago. In their revelry, they often invited Balaga, forced him to drink and dance with the gypsies, and more than one thousand of their money passed through his hands. Serving them, he risked both his life and his skin twenty times a year, and at their work he killed more horses than they overpaid him in money. But he loved them, loved this crazy ride, eighteen miles an hour, loved to overturn a cab driver and crush a pedestrian in Moscow, and fly at full gallop through the Moscow streets. He loved to hear behind him this wild cry of drunken voices: “Go! let's go! whereas it was already impossible to drive faster; He loved to pull the man's neck painfully, who was already neither alive nor dead, avoiding him. "Real gentlemen!" he thought. Anatol and Dolokhov also loved Balaga for his riding skill and because he loved the same things as they did. Balaga dressed up with others, charged twenty-five rubles for a two-hour ride, and only occasionally went with others himself, but more often he sent his fellows. But with his masters, as he called them, he always traveled himself and never demanded anything for his work. Only having learned through the valets the time when there was money, he came every few months in the morning, sober and, bowing low, asked to help him out. The gentlemen always imprisoned him.

ANDREEVSKY STAUROPYGIAL MONASTERY

Published: 08/23/2017

Archimandrite Melchizedek (Artyukhin), rector of the Moscow metochion of the Vvedensky stauropegial monastery of Optina Pustyn, press secretary of the Synodal Department, answered questions from the portal “Monastic Bulletin” about the round table in St. on monasteries and monasticism.

— This week, the discussion of the topics of the round table “Peculiarities of the structure of monastic life in urban monasteries,” held in the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent of St. Petersburg, took place in the media space along with a discussion of the topic of pilgrimage to monasteries. Tell me, are pilgrims really a serious problem in modern monasteries? How much can the laity interfere with the spiritual life of monks?

— The problems that we talked about at the round table, of course, concerned not only pilgrims. Although receiving pilgrims is an integral part of the Christian service provided by monasteries. What then is the meaning of the Christian life for us if we push away those who seek God? The Apostle Paul tells us: he who sows good will reap good, and he who sows evil will reap evil. Good attitude towards pilgrims is returned by helping the monastery, but more importantly, by transforming the human soul: We strengthen brother from brother, like a strong city (Proverbs 18:19).

When visiting Holy Mount Athos, I am always amazed at how many pilgrims the Athonites receive. Small monasteries daily host from 30 to 100 people who arrive in the monastic republic. I once asked the monks if this obedience was difficult for them? After all, each guest must be provided with clean linen and lunch, and all this, of course, is not easy for a monastery where there are few brethren. One of the archondariki - the man who is responsible for receiving pilgrims (the place where pilgrims are received is called archondarik) - jokingly answered me: “All the machines do this.” Machines wash, it’s true, but the laundry has to be collected, loaded, dried, ironed, re-laid - and so on every day.

Not every person who visits the monastery on Mount Athos will go to confession, since there are few hieromonks on the Holy Mountain and confession for the laity is limited; or a conversation with an elder. But it is not confession or conversations that leave the strongest impression of the pilgrimage, but the general mood of monastic life, worship and the behavior of the brethren, who are in the same spirit.

There is a proverb in Georgia: a guest is from God. It is known that in Georgia it is customary to offer all the best that is in the house to guests. The inhabitants of monasteries are also guided by this as a spiritual principle. And, of course, not only Georgian monasteries are known for their hospitality. I myself have more than once witnessed manifestations of extraordinary cordiality in monasteries where no one knew me. Once I had the opportunity to visit a convent on Lake Skadar, where the abbess herself set the table for the guests in the archondarium, although there were about 20 sisters in the monastery and there was someone to do this. At first I didn’t even realize that it was the abbess. And when I understood, I wanted to know the reason for such goodwill, and I asked her: “Mother, why do all your sisters have such joyful faces?” And she answered at first jokingly: “Sun, sea, fruit...” But then she still explained: “Our confessor is Metropolitan Amphilochius, we often receive communion, and the general mood of the sisters in the monastery is this: we must fulfill the commandments of Christ in our lives. Prayer and fasting are the means, not the end, to achieve this. The goal is to fulfill the commandments of love for God and neighbor.” The cordiality and goodwill that I saw from these sisters has great power and is capable of transforming the soul of a person who comes to them.

Sometimes a few phrases spoken with love by a brother behind a candle box, a friendly answer to the question of who to light a candle or how to get to the source, simple human attention are no less edifying than the words of the Holy Scriptures and patristic works. There is such an example in one of the Patericons. The disciple came to the elder’s cell; the cell was open, and upon entering, the disciple found the elder reading the prayer rule. Seeing the guest, the elder left the rule and began to talk with him. When the student received answers to his questions, he began to ask the elder for forgiveness for tearing him away from an important matter. To which the elder answered him: “My job is to accept you with love and let you go with love.” This is the rule that the inhabitants of monasteries adhere to or should adhere to: “Receive with love and let go with love,” because “words edify, but deeds attract,” as the proverb says. It is not so much the nourishment as the benevolent and sympathetic spirit of the brethren, generosity and hospitality that attract people to the monasteries.

- This is true, but it is obvious that the flow of pilgrims in the city monasteries of Russia is incomparable with the number of lay people who visit the city monasteries of Montenegro, Serbia and even Greece... One must assume that this can really interfere with the solitude and prayer of the monks?

— And not only urban ones. The Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, it seems, is not located in the capital, but there are several thousand pilgrims and tourists in the monastery per day. Optina Pustyn is also not a city monastery, but on weekends and holidays there are more people there than in any city monastery. People have always been drawn to monasteries, and monasteries, throughout their existence, have added new churches, buildings, and lands to provide a place for everyone who wanted to pray in them. The monastery of St. Sergius began with a temple and two huts, and turned into a monastery. Construction there went on continuously, and someone, of course, might not like it, just as they might not like the flow of people visiting the monastery. But if a person decides to become a monk, then expecting that the correct spiritual life will begin only when favorable external conditions are created for this is a dead end. One of the wise people said: “In order to start something, you don’t have to be great. But if you start something, great things can happen.”

I remember the story of how the monk was looking for a secluded place. One monastery seemed crowded to him, another, a third... Everywhere something irritated him. Maybe the same pilgrims or builders. In the end, after changing many different monasteries, he ended up in the Egyptian desert. He built himself an adobe hut, got up at night to pray and found himself disturbed by the noise of the reeds blown by the wind. Only then did he come to his senses and say: “Wherever I go, conditions will not be ideal.”

The Monk Nikon of Optina said: “There has not been, is not and will not be a peaceful place in this world. The only place of peace we can find is our heart, purified by repentance and loving God.”

Monks are given the privilege of constantly being in monasteries, enjoying the benefits of the monasteries - living within these walls, breathing the air of eternity. This is an advance from the Church and it must be shared! In her recent interview, the abbess of the Novodevichy Convent in St. Petersburg, Abbess Sofia (Silina), told how two future bishops tried to create a monastery themselves, began to build cells, acquired a household, but all this was beyond the strength of two young people and they only lost on it health. And we come to monasteries and use what the Church gives us: we live in places of prayer, we serve in churches that were built by our predecessors. The saints have already done everything for us, and we are only using what is left to us. But we must understand that this was given to us in advance; we must thank God for the fact that people are drawn to monasteries. We are only working off through our service what we have received for free. We provide Orthodox believers with the most important thing - worship. The temple is for the people, and prayer in the temple is for the people. And the monk’s personal feat is in a cell where there are no and should not be pilgrims. But if the soul is corrupted, then the cell itself can turn into a bazaar. It is not the pilgrims who are the cause of the monk’s despondency and ill will, but spiritual disorder. There have always been, are and will be pilgrims in men's monasteries, just as there were, are and will be builders, engineers, security guards in women's monasteries... A person who has taken the path of monasticism is called to take care of acquiring the correct internal structure, and not to complain about the lack of favorable conditions.

Someone wise said that a ship sinks not when it floats on water, but when water gets inside. The ship of the Church sails on the sea of ​​life. There are always people around the monks, like water around a ship. But until the world begins to penetrate the monk’s heart, people pose no danger to him. You can be among this world and not be damaged, but be its helper. Elder Paisios, now glorified as a saint, offers the following image of a monk: “A monk, he says, is not a light bulb that hangs over the city sidewalk and shines on pedestrians so that they do not stumble. The monk is a distant beacon, established high on the rocks and illuminating the seas and oceans with its radiance so that ships go the right way and reach God - their destination.”

— Father, you lead the life of the monastery in Moscow. Tell me, how different is the spiritual life in the courtyard from the spiritual life in the monastery itself?

— When I found myself in the courtyard of Optina Pustyn, I wrote a letter to Father John (Krestyankin) about this, and the priest answered me that the courtyard is a continuation of the monastery in the city. What was the way of life, mood and routine in the monastery, so it should remain in the courtyard. Guided by this advice, for 20 years now we have been serving the fraternal midnight office with the monastic rule every day in the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. But, both in the monastery itself and in the monastery courtyard, everything depends on the internal structure of the brethren. A bee will be able to find flowers and collect nectar everywhere, and a fly will find a dung heap in a flowering garden.

— What topics that were discussed at the round table in St. Petersburg would you like to continue discussing at upcoming monastic forums?

“I would like to wish the participants in monastic meetings to pay more attention to the practical side of the problems discussed, to share positive experiences, talk about what conclusions were drawn from what they had to endure as a temptation, and voice more recommendations for organizing monastic life. I would like to learn how solutions to complex problems were found. At the last round table, everyone was very impressed by the story of Metropolitan Arseny of Svyatogorsk about how the Svyatogorsk Lavra accepted 30,000 refugees during the crisis in Ukraine, how the residents of this country, who were on opposite sides of the barricades, rallied to help those who were left homeless and livelihood and came to the Lavra for help, because there was simply nowhere else to go.

— The participants of the round table also liked the example that you gave as an answer to the question of whether to help everyone who asks for help from the monastery. It’s no secret that often those who ask for tickets and treatment deceive residents.

— Yes, I remembered how once, summing up the results for the reporting period, the employees of the accounting department of the compound discovered that the amount of our donations to those in need amounted to 300,000 rubles, and the amount of funds donated to us was 3,000,000 rubles. In other words, we received exactly ten times more money than we distributed to the poor. This is in no way a tip about giving in order to increase, but rather simply an illustration of how following the principle of spiritual life—what goes around comes around—reaps benefits a hundredfold. As Archimandrite Lavrenty from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra once said: “If you have the opportunity to help, help so as not to miss Christ.” Prosperity is given into the hands of monasteries and the Church, so that it can be distributed wisely, heartily, and graciously. And we all would like to recall the words of John Chrysostom, who said that our alms must correspond to our condition, otherwise it may happen that our condition begins to correspond to our alms. And one of the fathers said that when God comes first, then everything else is in place.

Interviewed by Ekaterina Orlova

Patriarchy.ru

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