Since there is a church and it is alive, then there are elders, but do everyone need them?
Do you personally need an elder? If you are dismissive of the simplest things around you and want something enthusiastic, then maybe and at the same time, of course not. If you need something, then God will send you a teacher at the right moment, not earlier. For you, he is the best friend you want to listen to, but for others he is just Vasya, who does not stand out from the crowd in anything special. The mentor comes exactly when the student is ready to listen and obey him.
Our Christians, Russian Christians, must be thorough, serious, taciturn, hard-working, and attentive. This is where half of all the questions that arise lie. The remaining “super-problems” need “super-medicines”, which are the elders.
History of canonization[ | ]
- 1988 - by decision of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, the glorification of St. Ambrose of Optina took place.
- On July 26-27, 1996, thirteen Optina elders were canonized as locally revered saints of the Optina Hermitage with a general cathedral celebration on October 11 (24).
- July 10, 1996 - the relics of St. Ambrose were found along with the relics of six more Optina elders.
- 2000 - by decision of the Council of Bishops, the Optina elders were glorified for church-wide veneration.
Literature[ | ]
- Reverend Elders of Optina Pustyn: Lives. Miracles. Teachings. - Moscow ; Riga: Blagovest, 1995. - 416 p. — ISBN 5-87310-031-4.
- Glorification of the saints of the Council of Reverend Fathers and Elders who shone in Optina Pustyn: July 26-27, 1996 - Kozelsk: Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn, 1996. - 79 p. — ISBN 5-86594-041-4.
- Tryfon (Turkestan), Met.
Ancient Christian and Optina elders: monograph. - Moscow: Martis, 1997. - 254 p. — ISBN 5-7248-0041-1. - Venerable Elders of Optina: Lives and Instructions. - 2nd, correct. and additional - M.: Svyato-Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn, 2002. - 512 p. — 10,000 copies.
- Yakovlev A.I.
The Great Elders of Optina Pustyn: a collection of biographical information. — Moscow: Terra-Kn. club, 2003. - 381 p. — ISBN 5-275-00815-5. - Ordina O. N.
The phenomenon of eldership and its influence on Russian philosophical thought of the 19th century; Phil. St. Petersburg Institute of Foreign Economics. connections, economics and law in Kirov. - Kirov; St. Petersburg: Garuda, 2007. - 116 p. — 600 copies. — ISBN 978-5-7320-0991-0. - Optina elders: instructions, letters, diaries. - Moscow: Lepta Book, 2009. - 813 p. — (The Path of Holiness; issue 11). — 5000 copies. — ISBN 978-5-91173-142-7. — ISBN 978-5-9937-0035-9.
- Optina elders. Source of bright joy / author-compiler I. Bulgakova. — Moscow: Eksmo, 2021. — 317 p. - (Joy and hope for the soul). — 3000 copies. — ISBN 978-5-04-107570-5
