Many people first heard about St. Lawrence the Venerable from the speech of Patriarch Kirill when he spoke at the holiday dedicated to the 1020th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'. Many were amazed by his wise sayings, but few know that the saint repeatedly prophesied on the topic of the end times and the coming of the Antichrist so that he was even compared to John the Theologian.
Renaissance
People worked selflessly, and already on the day of the Archangel Michael, November 21, 1941, the first divine service took place, and in 1942 the main altar of the Trinity Cathedral was consecrated. During the service, the elder personally directed the choir.
Venerable Lavrentiy of Chernigov (Proskura)
Moral purity, spiritual height, and inexhaustible love for people aroused an extraordinary affection for him in everyone who was privileged to see him at least once in their lives. The father’s love was special, knowing no partiality, not looking at faces or spiritual qualities. He loved everyone and showed this feeling with friendliness, attention, and advice. Often St. Lavrentiy prevented disaster and saved people from death.
Monastic tonsure
In 1912, at the age of 45, Luke was tonsured a monk with the name Lavrenty. Two years later he was ordained a hierodeacon, and in 1916 a hieromonk. In 1928, by determination of the Exarch of Ukraine, Metropolitan Michael was elevated to the rank of archimandrite, and in 1923 in Kyiv, the Lavra schema-abbot Gabriel was secretly tonsured into the schema. Until the closure of the Trinity Monastery, which followed in the first half of the 20s, schema-arimandrite Lavrenty invariably served as choir director, charter director, and was in charge of the monastery book depository.
Gradually the spiritual authority of Fr. Lawrence. He was a strict follower of the Orthodox religion. Both ordinary people and the Chernigov intelligentsia strove for him. Visitors quickly learned that there was a confessor of high life in the Trinity Monastery, and were glad to see him. His abundance of love, the gift of prudence, the gift of insight attracted not only the laity, but also many clergy; the Chernigov bishops greatly valued his judgment.
Used materials
- Website page of the Kyiv Feodosie-Chernigov parish:
- Life in the calendar on the portal Pravoslavie.RU
: - Website page of the Dortmund Holy Trinity Parish of the Moscow Patriarchate:
- (prayers used)
[1] According to - the glorification took place on August 9/22. This is probably the day the relics were found.
[2] Determination of the Consecrated Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on the church-wide glorification of a number of locally venerated saints
, February 3, 2021, official website of the Russian Orthodox Church, .
During the testing years
When the monastery was closed, Father Lavrenty settled in a small, miserable house, and for twenty years he performed divine services in the small Ilyinsky Church. The time came when this temple was closed. Deprived of the opportunity to glorify God with hymns in church, Father Lavrenty, nevertheless, never abandoned the established rule of church prayer. He carefully preserved liturgical books and an extensive music library. And when they asked him: “Will you still need notes?” - he invariably answered: “Of course, we will still read and sing.”
During the Great Patriotic War, during the occupation of Chernigov, the Trinity monastery was allowed to open, and at the call of the elder, his numerous children, among whom was the future abbess of the revived Yelets monastery Ambrose (Ivanenko), began to restore the monastery.
Craving for monasticism
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Already at an early age, the future Saint Lawrence of Chernigov developed an irresistible craving for monasticism. However, his mother, together with his older brother Bartholomew, asked him not to take monastic vows until his mother died. The boy showed complete obedience to the will of his mother.
After the death of his mother, he was then about 17 years old , he made trips to Kiev and Athos. In Kyiv, Father Jonah, to whom he went with his friend, did not bless Luke to enter the seminary, saying: Your seminary is with you. But the young man was not destined to stay on Athos either: a certain elder told him to return home, since here he would be more needed.
Soon Luka enters the nearby Rykhlovsky Nikolaevsky Monastery, where he immediately becomes a charter director and then a choir director. The choir singing of the Rykhlovsky Monastery under his direction was distinguished by its amazing harmony and prayerful sound, as well as its strict adherence to church regulations.
