Sergius of Radonezh. What does it mean to be a reverend?

Not to be confused with Reverend, an address to a clergyman, more often used in Catholicism and Protestantism.

Reverend

(ancient Greek ὅσιος) - a special category (face) of saints who pleased God with monastic feats[1].
In other words, the venerables are “the saints of the monks who, through prayer, fasting and labor, strived to be like the Lord Jesus Christ”[2] and succeeded in this likeness[3]. Of course, with other types of Christian feat, likeness to Christ occurs: “ In every rank of saints there are examples of achieving this likeness.
Martyrs, Equal-to-the-Apostles, saints, righteous people - each in his own measure fulfilled the Lord’s commandment to strive for God-likeness ” [2].

But it is monastic life that is distinguished by its “ special, more intense striving towards God.”

"[2], and therefore "
only monks glorified by the Church bear the title of saint
"[2].

Period of persecution

Already during the period of persecution, people appeared who led an ascetic lifestyle, but there was no special reverence for this type of feat in those days. Cases of glorification of such ascetics were associated not with their monastic feats, but with their death for Christ. Currently, those who combined ascetic and martyrdom are called venerable martyrs. Among the martyrs who suffered during the period of persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, we can mention Eugenia of Rome, who suffered in 262.

At the Laurentian Monastery

Of course, sometimes monasticism, despite its otherness and otherworldliness, got along with this world. Imagine the Laurentian Monastery , the spiritual center of Old Belief on Vetka closer to the second half of the 18th century. It would seem that just recently there was a “second expulsion” in these parts, when the relics of St. Vincent , the cave dweller of Vetkovsky, were burned. But different times came: Gomel and its surroundings were transferred by the empress to the famous Field Marshal General, Count Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky . In the Laurentian Monastery, the “boyar” Peter Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, surrounded by huntsmen and servants, is greeted by the abbot with a cross and the brethren. Cheerfully dismounting and making the “fatherly sign of the cross”, the count, taking the blessing of the “fugitive” priest, goes into the prayer room. Everyone knows that he likes the service in the old way, and he has long been the de facto patron of the monastery.

Modern “zealots” will say that along the way he exchanged a cocked hat for a boyar’s hat, an embroidered camisole for a caftan, and leggings and trousers for ports and glued on a beard (let me doubt all this).

However, on Vetka, even in large and well-maintained monasteries, there were hermits in “pechora” (caves). They lived in crowded monasteries as if on uninhabited islands, as in deserts.

First Reverends

The first saints in the Christian church, glorified precisely for their monasticism

feat, the Egyptian and Palestinian hermit monks became:

• Paul of Thebes, who lived in the desert for 91 years († 341 years) [4];
• Pachomius the Great, who is considered to be the founder of cenobitic monasticism († around 348)[5];
• Anthony the Great, who is considered to be the founder of desert monasticism († 356)[6];
• Hilarion the Great, who is considered to be the founder of Palestinian monasticism († 371 or 372)[7].

Subsequently, monasticism began to spread to other countries, and a great number of saints became famous in Egypt, Palestine and other countries. Among them we can mention

• Ephraim the Syrian, creator of the famous prayer (“Lord and Master of my life...”), most often read during Lent († around 373-379)[8];
• Simeon the Stylite, the Syrian founder of a new form of asceticism - styliteism († 459)[9];
• Mary of Egypt, whose unparalleled life is read in Orthodox churches at Matins on Thursday of the fifth week of Great Lent[10];
• Savva the Sanctified, founder of the Lavra of Savva the Sanctified († 532)[11]);
• John Climacus, abbot of Sinai, creator of the “Ladder” - the famous guide to organizing spiritual life for monastics, and not only for them[12];
• and a great many others.

Thanks to the labors of these and thousands of other devotees of piety, monasticism spread throughout the Christian world.

Battle of Kulikovo

However, the calling of monastic feat is not only in prayers and social service. There is plenty of evidence that St. Sergius did not refuse to serve the Fatherland to the extent possible for him as a monk. This became possible after he became famous among the people and acquired moral authority as a Christian ascetic. Not only ordinary people, but also princes and various nobles turned to Sergius, to his moral authority, asked for help in reconciling with the warring parties, asked for his prayers, asked for advice in state and public affairs. Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy became so close to Sergius that he made him the godfather of his sons.

St. Sergius blesses D. Donskoy (Kivshenko A.D.) Photo: Public Domain

According to many historians, the name of St. Sergius is inextricably linked with the famous Kulikovo battle with Khan Mamai, which decided the fate of Russia. A year before the invasion, Dmitry Ivanovich founded the Stromynsky Monastery in the northeast of Moscow, with the help of St. Sergius, to gather zealous prayer workers for victory over the enemy.

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Going to battle with the khan, Dmitry Ivanovich, accompanied by princes, boyars and governors, came to the Monk Sergius to pray with him for victory and receive a parting blessing from him. After joint prayer, the Monk Sergius consoled and encouraged the prince, encouraging him with the help of the Lord God and the Most Holy Theotokos. Dmitry Ivanovich asked the monk for two of his monks - Peresvet and Oslyaba, who, being naturally strong heroes, were well-known warriors before entering monasticism.

The Tatar army numbered about four hundred thousand people. An unprecedented number at that time. Many Russians were gripped by involuntary fear. The Monk Sergius sent his messenger to the battlefield with a letter for the prince: “Without any doubt, Sovereign, go against them and, without giving in to fear, firmly hope that the Lord will help you.” They say that during the battle, at the beginning of which the monk Peresvet sacrificed his life in a fight with the Tatar hero, the monk and his brethren earnestly prayed to God for the victory of the Russian army. Upon returning to Moscow after the victory over Mamai, Dmitry Ivanovich did not hesitate to visit St. Sergius in order to thank God together for the victory.

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Reverends in Rus'

Foundation of monasticism

Monasticism came to Rus' through Holy Mount Athos, where Anthony of Pechersk was tonsured. He and Theodosius of Pechersk became the first reverends of the Russian Church, the founders of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. Although they were not, in the full sense of the word, the first monks in Rus' (traces of monastic life are found before them [13]), they are revered as the fathers of Russian monasticism.

Among the monks of the monastery they founded, they were glorified as saints

• Nikolai Svyatosha, the first monastic prince in Rus';
• Prokhor the Lebednik, who did not eat any bread except that prepared from the quinoa he himself collected;
• free doctor Agapit;
• John the Long-Suffering, who suffered much from the temptations of the flesh;
• the hermits Isaac and Nikita, who became victims of demonic deception, but subsequently achieved holiness;
• Pimen the Many-Sick;
• Moses Ugrin, that is, a Hungarian, who suffered a lot in Polish captivity from the amorous advances of a noble widow;
• Euphrosyne of Polotsk, nun and abbess of an Orthodox monastery, educator;
• and others (see Council of the Reverend Fathers of the Kiev-Pechersk).

Gregory of Pechersk, who accepted martyrdom, is revered as a venerable martyr.

In other places of the Russian land in the pre-Mongol period, the venerable Abraham of Smolensk, Abraham of Rostov, Nikita of Pereyaslavl, Varlaam of Khutyn and Anthony of Rome became famous.

Mongol invasion

After the Mongol invasion, as Georgy Fedotov notes, not only the state and cultural life of Ancient Rus' suffered:

Resumption of monastic life

The resumption of monastic life in Rus' after the Mongol invasion is associated with the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh, the founder of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the spiritual mentor of a great many disciples, many of whom later became the founders of new monasteries. These include, in particular[14]:

• Rev. Abraham of Galicia, who founded four monasteries (the monastery in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the monastery of the Position of the Belt of the Mother of God, the monastery in the name of the Cathedral of Our Lady and the monastery in honor of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary);
• Venerable Athanasius, founder of the Vysotsky Monastery in Serpukhov;
• Venerable Methodius of Peshnoshsky, founder of the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery;
• Rev. Pavel Obnorsky or Komelsky, founder of the cenobitic monastery in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity;
• Rev. Roman Kirzhachsky, founder of the Annunciation Monastery;
• St. Savva of Storozhevsky, who after the death of St. Sergius and the removal of St. Nikon into silence for six years ruled the Lavra of St. Sergius, and then founded a monastery in the name of the Nativity of the Mother of God near Zvenigorod on Mount Storozhe;
• St. Sergius of Nurom, who founded the Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord on the Nurma River;
• St. Theodore, in the world John, the nephew of St. Sergius, founder of the Simonov Monastery.

In turn, monasteries created by direct

disciples of St. Sergius, raised a new, second generation of disciples, among whom there were also many founders of monasteries.

Among them are Kirill and Ferapont Belozersky, natives of the Simonov Monastery. The first of them founded the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the second founded the Ferapontov Monastery in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (in 1398). In 1408, the Monk Ferapont moved to Mozhaisk and founded the Luzhetsky Monastery a mile from the city[15].

The activities of St. Sergius and his disciples marked the rise of the spiritual life of the Russian people. However, in subsequent centuries we see a decline, and by the end of the 17th century, what Georgy Fedotov calls the “death of the Russian soul” begins.

Synodal period

The most important representatives of this period, glorified as saints, are Seraphim of Sarov and the venerable elders of Optina, and the most important spiritual centers are Optina Pustyn and the Sarov Monastery.

Bartholomew

The Monk Sergius of Radonezh, before being tonsured a monk, bore the name Bartholomew and was the middle of three sons of pious parents Maria and Cyril , who lived near Rostov and belonged to the noble class.

Vision of the Youth Bartholomew (Nesterov M.V., 1890, State Tretyakov Gallery) Photo: Public Domain

Bartholomew was born around 1314. According to the biography writer, the boy’s infancy and childhood were marked by miraculous manifestations of God’s grace on him, and the child himself was distinguished by his special, as they would say now, piety. The boy Bartholomew strove for a simple, modest and even abstinent life. He loved worship services, studied the Holy Scriptures and spiritual books.

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A well-known story from the childhood of St. Sergius has reached us, apparently told by him himself. Having begun learning to read and write, Bartholomew turned out to be very incapable of learning, for which he was reproached by his parents and teachers. The boy often secretly prayed with tears to God to give him the ability to learn. One day, while in the field, the boy saw an old man unknown to him, who, having prayed, blessed, kissed Bartholomew, gave him a piece of prosphora (church unleavened bread used during worship) and ordered him to eat it, promising that along with this God would give him the ability to to study. Afterwards, the elder visited the boy’s house and family, where Bartholomew was able to read some psalms in his presence. After a joint meal, Bartholomew’s parents went to see off the guest, but he suddenly became invisible, from which they realized that it was an angel of God.

Around 1330, Bartholomew's family was forced to move from Rostov to the town of Radonezh not far from Moscow. It was there, having reached the age of twenty, that Bartholomew asked his parents for permission to become a monk, but they asked him to wait. When all the children reached adulthood, Vatholomew’s father and mother, in accordance with the tradition of those years, accepted monasticism and soon died. Having buried them, Bartholomew gave a small inheritance to his younger brother and decided to choose his own path - to monk outside the monastery in solitude. This is exactly what his soul has been striving for for many years.

The youth of St. Sergius. (Nesterov M.V. 1897, State Tretyakov Gallery) Photo: Public Domain

Veneration of the Reverends

The veneration of saints is an almost endless topic: there are not many days in the church calendar that do not include the memory of one of the saints. (Moreover, it is not uncommon for several names of saints to appear on one day.) For this reason, it is possible to talk only about the veneration of the most famous and revered saints, but even this is not an easy task, since in different parts of the Orthodox world the list of the most revered saints can vary significantly. Therefore, let us consider the veneration of saints in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Apparently, the most famous saints of the Russian Church are Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov.

Sergius of Radonezh, according to information from the database of the website [temples.ru Temples of Russia] (as of October 29, 2012), in Moscow alone the thrones (not necessarily the main ones) of 67 temples

([temples.ru/names.php?RegionID=41&ID=310 show list for Moscow]), and throughout Russia -
591 churches
([temples.ru/names.php?RegionID=0&ID=310 show list for all regions of Russia ]).

According to information from the database [temples.ru Temples of Russia] (as of October 29, 2012), the thrones (not necessarily the main ones) of 31 churches

([temples.ru/names.php?RegionID=41&ID=309 show list for Moscow]), and throughout Russia -
207 churches
([temples.ru/names.php?RegionID=0&ID=309 show list for all regions of Russia ]).

It should, however, be borne in mind that the statistics of the website [temples.ru Temples of Russia] include those that have survived, those that have not survived, and those under construction

temples and may include temples belonging to
Old Believers
.
In addition, these statistics include data on house churches
(located on the grounds of hospitals and other social institutions) and
chapels
.

House churches include, for example, the Church of Seraphim of Sarov at the Moscow Research Institute of Pediatrics and Children's Surgery, which does not occupy a separate building, but is located in one of the buildings of this medical institution[16].

Notes

1. [interpretive.ru/dictionary/445/word/prepodobnyi Rev.] V. Zhivov. Holiness. A brief dictionary of hagiographic terms
2. ↑ 1234
   [www.zakonbozhiy.ru/Zakon_Bozhij/Chast_1_O_vere_i_zhizni_hristianskoj/Prepodobnye/ Reverends] website “The Law of God”
3. The word “reverend,” according to Dahl’s dictionary, means, firstly, “very similar, similar” (Dahl, 1880-1882). Meanings such as “holy, righteous, saint” or “monk” and, in general, one “to whom the honor of reverence is given,” apparently developed from the first meaning and denote the similarity with Christ of the person to whom the title of reverend is applied.
4. [days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life221.htm St. Paul of Thebes] on the website Pravoslavie.Ru
5. [days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life1070.htm St. Pachomius the Great] on the website Pravoslavie.Ru
6. [days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life6434.htm St. Anthony the Great] on the website Pravoslavie.Ru
7. [days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life4561.htm Venerable Hilarion the Great] on the website Pravoslavie.Ru
8. [days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life6584.htm St. Ephraim the Syrian] on the website Pravoslavie.Ru
9. [days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life6843.htm Venerable Simeon the Stylite] on the website Pravoslavie.Ru
10. [days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life754.htm Venerable Mary of Egypt] on the website Pravoslavie.Ru
11. [days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life6816.htm Reverend Savva the Sanctified] on the website Pravoslavie.Ru
12. [days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life736.htm Venerable John Climacus] on the website Pravoslavie.Ru
13. [pilgrims.in.ua/ru/top-svyatyni/st-zverinets.html History of Zverinetsky Caves]
14. Nikon Rozhdestvensky, Archbishop
    , “The Life and Deeds of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh” (the full version of the title is “The Life, Miracles and Deeds of the Venerable and God-Bearing Father Sergius, Abbot of Radonezh and the Wonderworker of All Russia”), Trifonov Pechenga Monastery, “Ark”, Moscow, 2003, pp. 405–422.
15. Nikon Rozhdestvensky, Archbishop, “The Life and Deeds of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh” (the full version of the title is “The Life, Miracles and Deeds of the Venerable and God-Bearing Father Sergius, Abbot of Radonezh and the Wonderworker of All Russia”), Trifonov Pechenga Monastery, “Ark”, Moscow, 2003, pp. 416–417.
16. [temples.ru/card.php?ID=11788 Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov at the Moscow Research Institute of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery, registration card] Website [temples.ru/index.php Temples of Russia]

About communal life

The change in the structure of monastic life in the monastery must be attributed to the time of the material prosperity of the monastery. Sergius was not only the first to introduce desert living, that is, complete solitude, into Russia, but also the first to introduce so-called communal living in Russian monasteries. Its essence is that the brethren of the monastery have a single charter regulating all aspects of the life of the monks. All property is common, all brothers bear mandatory obedience. A communal monastery is one big family, where the life of the entire community depends on the work and participation of everyone: some perform divine services, others grow vegetables, others build, others provide clothing for the brethren, etc.

Resurrection of the Youth by St. Sergius of Radonezh (Chikunchikov S., 1999) Photo: Public Domain

The biography of St. Sergius testifies that the reason for the change in the monastic dispensation was a letter to Sergius from the Patriarch of Constantinople. There is an assumption that Sergius took the opportunity to ask him for this message in order to make it easier to enter the hostel. The fact is that with the advent of abundance in the monastery and the emergence of lay settlements, that for which the first brothers of the monastery and Sergius himself sought solitude is lost. The natural difficulty of life goes away and the danger of relaxation and even dependency appears. The only way out of this situation is the introduction of a hostel with its strict rules, obedience, and compulsory work for everyone. Of course, not all monks accepted this. Some left the monastery. It was necessary to give such freedom, since it is impossible to accept a hostel against one’s will.

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The introduction of communal living in the monastery required the construction of new buildings in it (a common meal, a cookery, a bakery, etc.) and the establishment of various economic and public positions among the monks: cellarer (in our opinion, caretaker), treasurer, refectories, cooks, ecclesiarch (head of the church and divine services ), sick leave, etc.

The cenobitic charter requires that all the monks of the monastery, not excluding the abbot, participate in exactly the same way in all monastic work. Evidence has been preserved that St. Sergius did not work on an equal basis with everyone else. The charter requires that all monks of the monastery, not excluding the abbot, wear clothes of the same quality and eat together. The Monk Sergius wore robes of the worst quality among the brethren. There is a known case where among the purchased fabric there was, as they would say now, a defective piece. Not a single monk wanted to make clothes from it. However, Sergius himself took this cloth for himself and sewed a cassock from it.

It is important to note that with the beginning of the community, the Sergius Monastery became famous for its zealous charity in the sense of feeding the poor, passing wanderers and poor surrounding residents. In the monastery it was legalized and commanded not to let any of the poor who come to the monastery leave empty-handed, “it is enough to put the poor and the strange to rest.”

Literature

• Karpov A.
  Orthodox saints and miracle workers. Ancient Rus'. Moscow Rus'. Russian empire. - Moscow: Veche, 2005.
• Ostanina S.P.
  Saints and miracle workers. Brief biographical dictionary. — Ripol Classic. — ISBN 5-7905-2366-8.
• Orthodox church calendar. 2013. - Moscow: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, 2012.
• Rev. // Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language: in 4 volumes / author's compilation. V. I. Dal. — 2nd ed. - St. Petersburg. : Printing house of M. O. Wolf, 1880-1882.

Excerpt characterizing the Reverend

- Let's go on the ice! walked on the ice! Let's go! gate! can't you hear! Let's go! - suddenly, after the cannonball hit the general, countless voices were heard, not knowing what or why they were shouting. One of the rear guns, which was entering the dam, turned onto the ice. Crowds of soldiers from the dam began to run to the frozen pond. The ice cracked under one of the leading soldiers and one foot went into the water; he wanted to recover and fell waist-deep. The nearest soldiers hesitated, the gun driver stopped his horse, but shouts were still heard from behind: “Get on the ice, come on, let’s go!” let's go! And screams of horror were heard from the crowd. The soldiers surrounding the gun waved at the horses and beat them to make them turn and move. The horses set off from the shore. The ice holding the foot soldiers collapsed in a huge piece, and about forty people who were on the ice rushed forward and backward, drowning one another. The cannonballs still whistled evenly and splashed onto the ice, into the water and, most often, into the crowd covering the dam, ponds and shore. On Pratsenskaya Mountain, in the very place where he fell with the flagpole in his hands, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky lay, bleeding, and, without knowing it, moaned a quiet, pitiful and childish groan. By evening he stopped moaning and became completely quiet. He didn't know how long his oblivion lasted. Suddenly he felt alive again and suffering from a burning and tearing pain in his head. “Where is it, this high sky, which I did not know until now and saw today?” was his first thought. “And I didn’t know this suffering either,” he thought. - Yes, I didn’t know anything until now. But where am I? He began to listen and heard the sounds of approaching horses and the sounds of voices speaking French. He opened his eyes. Above him was again the same high sky with floating clouds rising even higher, through which a blue infinity could be seen. He did not turn his head and did not see those who, judging by the sound of hooves and voices, drove up to him and stopped. The horsemen who arrived were Napoleon, accompanied by two adjutants. Bonaparte, driving around the battlefield, gave the last orders to strengthen the batteries firing at the Augesta Dam and examined the dead and wounded remaining on the battlefield. - De beaux hommes! [Beauties!] - said Napoleon, looking at the killed Russian grenadier, who, with his face buried in the ground and the back of his head blackened, was lying on his stomach, throwing one already numb arm far away. – Les munitions des pieces de position sont epuisees, sire! [There are no more battery charges, Your Majesty!] - said at that time the adjutant, who arrived from the batteries that were firing at Augest. “Faites avancer celles de la reserve, [Have it brought from the reserves,” said Napoleon, and, having driven off a few steps, he stopped over Prince Andrei, who was lying on his back with the flagpole thrown next to him (the banner had already been taken by the French, like a trophy) . “Voila une belle mort, [This is a beautiful death,”] said Napoleon, looking at Bolkonsky. Prince Andrei realized that this was said about him, and that Napoleon was saying this. He heard the one who said these words called sire. But he heard these words as if he heard the buzzing of a fly. Not only was he not interested in them, but he did not even notice them, and immediately forgot them. His head was burning; he felt that he was emanating blood, and he saw above him the distant, high and eternal sky. He knew that it was Napoleon - his hero, but at that moment Napoleon seemed to him such a small, insignificant person in comparison with what was now happening between his soul and this high, endless sky with clouds running across it. He didn’t care at all at that moment, no matter who stood above him, no matter what they said about him; He was only glad that people were standing over him, and he only wished that these people would help him and return him to life, which seemed so beautiful to him, because he understood it so differently now. He mustered all his strength to move and make some sound. He weakly moved his leg and produced a pitying, weak, painful groan. - A! “He’s alive,” said Napoleon. – Raise this young man, ce jeune homme, and take him to the dressing station! Having said this, Napoleon rode further towards Marshal Lan, who, taking off his hat, smiling and congratulating him on his victory, drove up to the emperor. Prince Andrei did not remember anything further: he lost consciousness from the terrible pain that was caused to him by being placed on a stretcher, jolts while moving, and probing the wound at the dressing station. He woke up only at the end of the day, when he was united with other Russian wounded and captured officers and carried to the hospital. During this movement he felt somewhat fresher and could look around and even speak. The first words he heard when he woke up were the words of the French escort officer, who hurriedly said: “We must stop here: the emperor will pass by now; it will give him pleasure to see these captive gentlemen. “There are so many prisoners these days, almost the entire Russian army, that he probably got bored with it,” said another officer. - Well, however! This one, they say, is the commander of the entire guard of Emperor Alexander,” said the first, pointing to a wounded Russian officer in a white cavalry uniform. Bolkonsky recognized Prince Repnin, whom he had met in St. Petersburg society. Next to him stood another, 19-year-old boy, also a wounded cavalry officer. Bonaparte, galloping up, stopped his horse. - Who is the eldest? - he said when he saw the prisoners. They named the colonel, Prince Repnin. – Are you the commander of the cavalry regiment of Emperor Alexander? - asked Napoleon. “I commanded a squadron,” answered Repnin. “Your regiment honestly fulfilled its duty,” said Napoleon. “The praise of a great commander is the best reward for a soldier,” said Repnin. “I give it to you with pleasure,” said Napoleon. -Who is this young man next to you? Prince Repnin named Lieutenant Sukhtelen. Looking at him, Napoleon said, smiling: “II est venu bien jeune se frotter a nous.” [He came young to compete with us.] “Youth doesn’t stop you from being brave,” Sukhtelen said in a breaking voice. “Excellent answer,” said Napoleon. - Young man, you will go far! Prince Andrei, who, to complete the trophy of the captives, was also put forward, in full view of the emperor, could not help but attract his attention. Napoleon apparently remembered that he had seen him on the field and, addressing him, used the same name of the young man - jeune homme, under which Bolkonsky was reflected in his memory for the first time. – Et vous, jeune homme? Well, what about you, young man? - he turned to him, - how do you feel, mon brave? Despite the fact that five minutes before this, Prince Andrei could say a few words to the soldiers carrying him, he now, directly fixing his eyes on Napoleon, was silent... All the interests that occupied Napoleon seemed so insignificant to him at that moment, so petty seemed to him his hero himself, with this petty vanity and joy of victory, in comparison with that high, fair and kind sky that he saw and understood - that he could not answer him. And everything seemed so useless and insignificant in comparison with the strict and majestic structure of thought that was caused in him by the weakening of his strength from the bleeding, suffering and the imminent expectation of death. Looking into Napoleon's eyes, Prince Andrei thought about the insignificance of greatness, about the insignificance of life, the meaning of which no one could understand, and about the even greater insignificance of death, the meaning of which no one living could understand and explain. The emperor, without waiting for an answer, turned away and, driving away, turned to one of the commanders: “Let them take care of these gentlemen and take them to my bivouac; let my doctor Larrey examine their wounds. Goodbye, Prince Repnin,” and he, moving his horse, galloped on. There was a radiance of self-satisfaction and happiness on his face. The soldiers who brought Prince Andrei and removed from him the golden icon they found, hung on his brother by Princess Marya, seeing the kindness with which the emperor treated the prisoners, hastened to return the icon. Prince Andrei did not see who put it on again or how, but on his chest, above his uniform, he suddenly found an icon on a small gold chain. “It would be good,” thought Prince Andrei, looking at this icon, which his sister hung on him with such feeling and reverence, “it would be good if everything were as clear and simple as it seems to Princess Marya. How nice it would be to know where to look for help in this life and what to expect after it, there, beyond the grave! How happy and calm I would be if I could now say: Lord, have mercy on me!... But to whom will I say this? Either the power is indefinite, incomprehensible, which I not only cannot address, but which I cannot express in words - the great all or nothing, - he said to himself, - or this is the God who is sewn up here, in this palm, Princess Marya? Nothing, nothing is true, except the insignificance of everything that is clear to me, and the greatness of something incomprehensible, but most important! The stretcher started moving. With each push he again felt unbearable pain; the feverish state intensified, and he began to become delirious. Those dreams of his father, wife, sister and future son and the tenderness that he experienced on the night before the battle, the figure of the small, insignificant Napoleon and the high sky above all this, formed the main basis of his feverish ideas. A quiet life and calm family happiness in Bald Mountains seemed to him. He was already enjoying this happiness when suddenly little Napoleon appeared with his indifferent, limited and happy look at the misfortune of others, and doubts and torment began, and only the sky promised peace. By morning, all the dreams mixed up and merged into the chaos and darkness of unconsciousness and oblivion, which, in the opinion of Larrey himself, Doctor Napoleon, were much more likely to be resolved by death than by recovery. “C’est un sujet nerveux et bilieux,” said Larrey, “il n’en rechappera pas.” [This is a nervous and bilious man, he will not recover.] Prince Andrei, among other hopeless wounded, was handed over to the care of the residents. At the beginning of 1806, Nikolai Rostov returned on vacation. Denisov was also going home to Voronezh, and Rostov persuaded him to go with him to Moscow and stay in their house. At the penultimate station, having met a comrade, Denisov drank three bottles of wine with him and, approaching Moscow, despite the potholes of the road, he did not wake up, lying at the bottom of the relay sleigh, near Rostov, which, as it approached Moscow, came more and more to impatience. “Is it soon? Soon? Oh, these unbearable streets, shops, rolls, lanterns, cab drivers!” thought Rostov, when they had already signed up for their holidays at the outpost and entered Moscow. - Denisov, we’ve arrived! Sleeping! - he said, leaning forward with his whole body, as if by this position he hoped to speed up the movement of the sleigh. Denisov did not respond. “Here is the corner of the intersection where Zakhar the cabman stands; Here he is Zakhar, and still the same horse. Here is the shop where they bought gingerbread. Soon? Well! - To which house? - asked the coachman. - Yes, over there at the end, how can you not see! This is our home,” said Rostov, “after all, this is our home!” Denisov! Denisov! We'll come now. Denisov raised his head, cleared his throat and did not answer. “Dmitry,” Rostov turned to the footman in the irradiation room. - After all, this is our fire? “That’s exactly how daddy’s office is lit up.” – Haven’t gone to bed yet? A? How do you think? “Don’t forget to get me a new Hungarian at once,” Rostov added, feeling the new mustache. “Come on, let’s go,” he shouted to the coachman. “Wake up, Vasya,” he turned to Denisov, who lowered his head again. - Come on, let's go, three rubles for vodka, let's go! - Rostov shouted when the sleigh was already three houses away from the entrance. It seemed to him that the horses were not moving. Finally the sleigh took to the right towards the entrance; Above his head, Rostov saw a familiar cornice with chipped plaster, a porch, a sidewalk pillar. He jumped out of the sleigh as he walked and ran into the hallway. The house also stood motionless, unwelcoming, as if it did not care about who came to it. There was no one in the hallway. "My God! is everything alright? thought Rostov, stopping for a minute with a sinking heart and immediately starting to run further along the entryway and familiar, crooked steps. The same door handle of the castle, for the uncleanness of which the countess was angry, also opened weakly. One tallow candle was burning in the hallway.

Asceticism of Russian monks

Let's continue about Russian desert dwellers. Many of them amaze with the severity of their lives. The Monk Nicodemus of Kozheezersky (1644) broke his fast with a turnip, and the Monk Kapito with a red onion. Bulbs and turnips were eaten instead of eggs not only because of asceticism, but also because in the desert, in the thicket of the forest or on a “green” island among the swamps, there are, of course, no eggs or chickens.

Venerable Nikodim Kozheezersky (fragment). XVII century, comes from the Church of the Nativity of Christ in the village of Bolshaya Shalga, Kargopol district, Arkhangelsk region. Since 1965 in the Arkhangelsk Museum

By the way, the Monk Nikodim Kozheezersky was lucky, since he managed to rest before the church schism and remained allowed to be venerated by the New Believers, and was not recorded as a “fanatic”, like some post-schism monks, such as Kapiton and Vavila . Many of the followers of Kapiton, who reposed peacefully in the forest (now the Yaroslavl region, his relics rest “under cover”, or rather on a veneration cross), including the Venerable Martyr Vavila, as well as other Vyaznikovsky fathers and sufferers for the old faith, carried millstones. This attribute then peacefully migrated to the Life of Father Seraphim.

It’s not just a matter of external severity and contempt for one’s own body and everyday life, external and temporary. The Monk Nicodemus was waiting for his cell to once again be flooded by the streams of the spring flood. The same Vavila, before converting to Orthodoxy and becoming a monk, was a Sorbonne intellectual. Asceticism was not an end in itself for them, but a necessary means.

The Venerable Irinarch of Rostov (1616) was shackled in such heavy and unbearable chains that when, during the pogrom of the Boris and Gleb Monastery of Rostov by the Polish-Lithuanian invaders, where he was standing (again returning to the topic of stylites), one of the Litvins pushed him, the venerable one simply did not was able to get up. However, there was a “clearly noble” gentleman, dissatisfied with the savagery of the long-haired slaves, who ordered him to be raised (the monk naturally could not rise on his own). Prince Dimitry Pozharsky , who came to see him, for the Moscow campaign .