| St. Macarius of Optina |
Macarius (Ivanov)
(1788 - 1860), hieroschemamonk, Optina elder, venerable Memory of September 7, in the Councils of the Venerable Optina Elders, Bryansk and Kursk Saints
In the world, Mikhail Nikolaevich Ivanov, born on November 20, 1788 into a family of Oryol nobles, grew up as a quiet, sickly boy. He loved books, music, solitude. He lost his mother early, who loved him and distinguished him from other children: “My heart feels that something extraordinary will come out of this child.”
After the death of both parents, Mikhail, dividing the inheritance between his brothers, left his service in the financial department and settled on his estate. However, worldly life did not interest him.
In 1810, Mikhail went on a pilgrimage to the Ploshchanskaya hermitage and never returned to the world. In this desert, the Monk Macarius met Elder Athanasius, a disciple of Elder Paisius (Velichkovsky), and found in him a sensitive spiritual mentor. As the closest disciple of the Monk Paisius, Elder Athanasius was engaged in research and translation of patristic literature. Having brought many texts from Moldova, he introduced his student, Venerable Macarius, to this important work. Later, already in Optina, where the Monk Macarius moved in 1834, he continued the work begun by his teacher.
His spiritual mentor in Optina was the Monk Leo, to whom the Monk Macarius completely entrusted his will, not daring to undertake anything without his blessing. Thanks to the Venerable Elder Macarius, the manuscripts and translations of the Venerable Paisius (Velichkovsky) collected in Optina were published. He received great help in this from his spiritual children - the Kireevsky spouses. Under the influence of St. Macarius, a whole school of publishers and translators of spiritual literature, which Orthodox Russia so needed, arose, and the connection between the Optina elders and the Russian intelligentsia was strengthened. A.K. came to St. Macarius for confession and blessing. Tolstoy and A.S. Khomyakov, N.V. Gogol and A.N. Muravyov.
For seven years the venerable elders Leo and Macarius led the spiritual life of the brethren and many thousands of people. The following case is known: a demoniac was brought to the Monk Macarius, who previously knew nothing about the elder and had never seen him. The possessed man, rushing towards the approaching old man, shouting: “Makarius is coming, Macarius is coming!”, hit him on the cheek. The monk immediately turned his other cheek, and the patient collapsed on the floor unconscious. He woke up healed. The demon could not bear the great humility of the elder.
The Lord also granted St. Macarius the gift of spiritual reasoning. To everyone who came to him for the revelation of his conscience, he gave medicine suitable for infirmity. His humble word was also an effective word, a word with power, for it forced the unbeliever to obey and believe. Humility was manifested in the appearance of the monk, in the form of his clothes, in every movement. His face was bright from the constant Jesus Prayer he performed; it shone with spiritual joy and love for his neighbor.
Two years before his death, the Monk Macarius accepted the great schema. Until his death, the monk received spiritual children and pilgrims, instructing and blessing them.
He died on September 7, 1860, an hour after receiving the Mysteries of Christ.
THE ELDERS, WHO ARE THEY? SCHIARCHIMANDRITE MAKARIUS - Film 3. HEAVENLY JERUSALEM. (Video)
Schema-Archimandrite Macarius (Bolotov), is also known to many by his name in the minor schema - Father Vlasiy. Father Macarius was born in 1932 in the Voronezh region, into a family of former nobles. He came from the Bolotov family, great for the Russian Church. His relatives were the professor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy Vasily Vasilyevich Bolotov, an outstanding Russian theologian of the 19th century, as well as the first abbess of Shamordina, the spiritual daughter of the Optina elder Ambrose, schema-abbess Sophia; The icon painter who painted the icon of the Mother of God “Spreader of the Loaves” was also a relative of Father Macarius. Father told his spiritual children a lot about his outstanding family. The short life of Fr. Macaria went through illness and persecution.
He began his monastic life in the famous Glinsk Hermitage - the spiritual sister of Optina. But soon the Glinskaya Hermitage was closed and some of the brethren, including Father Macarius, moved to Pochaev. In Pochaev he became a participant in the famous Pochaev confrontation. During the Khrushchev persecutions, most of the monasteries were closed. The time has come for the Pochaev Lavra. However, only in this monastery, which has ancient traditions of fighting Uniatism and Polish persecution, did the monks, unexpectedly during the anti-Christian “thaw,” resist the excesses of the authorities. Having closed the gates, they stood up to defend the monastery. The authorities had to give in, but the “activists” were subjected to repression. They were either expelled (like Father Macarius) or sent to other monasteries. Father Macarius was tortured, demanding to leave the Pochaev Monastery and renounce Christ. Seeing the priest’s inflexibility, the angry investigator threw him out of the second-floor window, then fired, but the bullet bounced off the pectoral cross and tore off the shooter’s index finger. In addition, Father Macarius had to endure the following torment: it was winter, in severe frost. He was placed in a container with cold water for more than a day, but a miracle happened: the priest did not freeze.
After Pochaev Fr. Blasius spent a long time under the spiritual patronage of a wonderful old man, a former Glinsk monk, Schema-Metropolitan Zinovy (Mazhuga) in Abkhazia. Schema-Metropolitan Zinovy became a true spiritual mentor for Father Blasius, and it was he who tonsured the still young monk into the great schema. Seeing his path of long-suffering and suffering.
After the death of Bishop Zinovy, Father Macarius moved to the Voronezh diocese, closer to his native place. Here, too, sorrow and persecution awaited him. One day he was so brutally beaten that, barely groomed by his spiritual daughters, it was as if he had risen from the dead. However, the old man’s health was completely undermined. Father Macarius recalled that in his youth, helping his mother, he dug up a huge vegetable garden with a shovel in a day. At the end of his life, the elder was constantly ill and had difficulty walking.
Even in his youth, for his long-suffering in suffering, Father Macarius was awarded the gift of foresight. Father Macarius considered schema-nun Serafima (Belousova) from Michurinsk, Tambov region, to be his spiritual mother. Mother Seraphima had long predicted to the young Father Vlasiy that Optina would be opened and he would become its inhabitant, adding that “if you have a father in the holy monastery, you will live in a monastery, and if you have a stepfather, then it will be close to your eyes and to your feet.” walking is slimy: jealousy will eat them up.”
Father Macarius purchased an abandoned house in Nizhniye Pryski (across the Zhizdra River from Optina). This house previously belonged to the priest of the Pryskovsky temple. This house itself was a shrine. At one time, Elder Ambrose of Optina stopped there several times on his way to Shamordino; with his blessing, a well was dug in the courtyard of the house, as well as Emperor Nicholas II himself, who visited Optina. The Lord chose Father Macarius to become the custodian of not only this, but also many other things that once belonged to Elder Ambrose. All of them (the ladle, the staff and others) were transferred by Father Macarius to Optina after its opening.
But even here the enemy of the human race did not leave the priest. “Blessed are you when they deprive you and say all kinds of evil things against you, lying to Me,” the Savior commands. And Father Macarius got to taste both exile and “every evil person is a liar.” The Jews accused the Savior Himself of healing with the power of Beelzebub. The elder was accused that the gifts given to him by God were charm and witchcraft. In Optina, a bad reputation began to spread about the “elder sorcerer who fell into delusion.” The elder was forbidden to appear on the territory of the Optina Hermitage and the Shamordino Monastery, and he never violated this ban, remembering the words of the psalm: “Get away from evil and do good.” Once again, Father Macarius had to move to the Pryskovsky house. Many of his spiritual children were also tempted by him. The most “old-obedient” went to the island to visit Father Nikolai Guryanov. “You can use the spiritual advice of Father Macarius,” answered Father Nikolai, “the elder was slandered”!
The priest taught his spiritual children to meekly bear the burden that the Lord gave. “The will of God must be fulfilled without shaking and without fear, so that we can be bearers of the will of God.” “The main thing,” said the priest, “is not to be torn from the Lord, but to be torn from man - this is everything human, everything earthly. Fierce is the suffering, but sweet is heaven.” “Here is the temporary, the fleeting, to endure for the sake of eternal life.” Father Macarius called on us to show Christian feelings to our personal enemies - to pray for them, no matter whether they pray for us or not.
The post-Soviet era brought Father Macarius not only Optina sorrows, but also great spiritual joy. He was able to visit the Holy Land several times, including the relics of the Holy Great Martyr Elizabeth in the Holy Magdalene Hermitage, one of the first inhabitants of which was the elder’s great-grandmother. The elder said that “now the Russian people, Mother Russia, are experiencing the most difficult trials and suffering, but we are not faint-hearted, but trust in the Lord and are waiting for this grace-filled moment when Russia will arise from spiritual sleep. Russia will rise again. As the holy elders said, we will not live, but you will live. There will be such joy!”
His spiritual children came to the elder and he greeted everyone with love. Each elder was given not only spiritual, but also physical food. He seated everyone at the table and fed them abundantly, serving everyone himself. But illness took its toll. Lately, Father Macarius had difficulty moving, received people mostly lying down, and sometimes gave advice only over the phone. But he was always cheerful in spirit and rejoiced at the sorrows sent. Father Macarius often repeated the words of the holy elders: “Do not be discouraged, do not grieve, but pray more, and when you pray, you will rejoice even in sorrow.” Father instructed to always trust in the will of God: “Why should I grieve (i.e. grieve)? In the Heavenly Office, everything is accepted for me, ready - fulfilled. And if I endure something - through my sins, I am a sinful person. It is better to suffer for sins here than there in the future.”
On May 26, after a long illness, Schema-Archimandrite Macarius died peacefully in clear consciousness in the military hospital named after. Vishnevsky in the city of Krasnogorsk. Before his death, he received the Holy Mysteries of Christ. The elder humbly asked everyone for forgiveness and forgave everyone himself. Father repeated that he would like to die, like St. John Chrysostom, with the words “Glory to God for everything.” The elder was buried in the cemetery in Nizhnye Pryski, and at his grave many received gracious help.
Can we really be sad? Let the Mohammedans be despondent, let the Catholics be despondent because they have all departed from the Truth, but we are Orthodox Christians, the Catholic Church, the true, Catholic, apostolic, unharmed and infallible Church, we are children, how we should rejoice! How we should thank the Lord! I always look at our history and think: if there had been no holy Prince Vladimir, what would we have done? - We would die in paganism. And Prince Vladimir learned the true Faith, and planted this truth among his people. What kind of love he had - he was a pagan, a polygamist, but he knew the Lord, how he loved Him, and Mother Russia became enlightened, sanctified, why is it called Holy Rus'. Everything is dotted with the domes of temples and holy monasteries. And in terms of faith in people, there was such simplicity! After all, our first Christians, who received baptism under Prince Vladimir, after all, they were all saints - when they received baptism, they were pure as diamonds, and now we have crap ourselves with passions, vices, and are also dissatisfied with the Lord, dissatisfied with life, we don’t know ourselves - what we do... let’s pray, let’s ask the Lord, then we’ll see ourselves more clearly.
Macarius of Optina
Recording of the program from September 20, 2021.
Video from the website of MUP RTRP “Noginsk” - www.tvnoginsk.ru
From
today the memory of Rev.
Macarius of Optina (1860). The path
of the Monk Macarius to monasticism was simple and direct.
He remained a novice in the Ploshchanskaya Hermitage monastery, arriving there as a pilgrim at the age of only 22. The Lord, apparently, from the very beginning destined his young and pure soul for the monastic path, and he had neither hesitation nor doubts. It was as if he had been prepared for this path from infancy. After
coming to the monastery, Mikhail refused his share of the inheritance in favor of his brothers, asking only to build a chapel on his father’s grave.
In the monastery he found the joy of his soul. In
1834, Rev.
Macarius moves to the Optina Hermitage and becomes a disciple and companion of Elder Leo. From
the age of seven, the venerable elders Leo and Macarius led the spiritual life of the brethren and many thousands of people.
Compared to Father Leo, Father Macarius was of a softer soul. He was also extremely modest. His children testified about him: “One can say about him without hesitation the same thing that was said about his namesake ascetic Abba Macarius the Great: “He, like God, covers everyone with love.” And the power of this love so attracted everyone’s hearts to him that we were ready not to leave him, in order to always enjoy his bright sight and the sweet conversation of his God-speaking lips.” Together
with Father Leo, they “nursed” the great elder Ambrose.
After the death of Father Leo, the entire burden of spiritual leadership fell on Father Macarius. Quiet joy in the Lord never left him. The Lord gave St. Macarius the gift of spiritual reasoning. To everyone who came to him for the revelation of his conscience, he gave medicine suitable for infirmity. His humble word was also an effective word, a word with power, for it forced the unbeliever to obey and believe. Humility was manifested in the appearance of the monk, in the form of his clothes, in every movement. His face was bright from the constant Jesus Prayer he performed; it shone with spiritual joy and love for his neighbor. How
his children remembered him at that time: “The old man was of enormous stature, with an ugly face, with traces of smallpox, but white, bright, his gaze was quiet and full of humility.
His character was extremely lively and active. He has an excellent memory: after the first confession, he remembered the person for the rest of his life. But tongue-tiedness and shortness of breath when speaking embarrassed him all his life. He was always poorly dressed. But he was perspicacious: when he saw a person for the first time, he sometimes called him by name before he introduced himself. Sometimes he answered written questions before receiving them, so that the writer received an answer to a letter sent an hour ago.” The
letters did not leave his table.
Having finished the morning skete rule, he began to write, but the doors of the cell were open to everyone who came, and from time to time they announced that they were asking him to go to the gate. The elder came out; Having returned, he again took up his pen. The elder’s letters contain instructions on the path of salvation, consolation in sorrows and solutions to perplexities in a wide variety of spiritual issues. We can affirmatively say that with these letters alone the elder left an eternal memory! Reverend
Macarius led a group of scientists and writers (monks and laymen) who translated, processed and translated into literary language the writings of the greatest ascetics of antiquity: Isaac the Syrian, Macarius the Great, John Climacus (mainly in the translations of Elder Paisius Velichkovsky).
He received great help in this from his spiritual children - the Kireevsky spouses. Under the influence of St. Macarius, a whole school of publishers and translators of spiritual literature, which Orthodox Russia so needed, arose, and the connection between the Optina elders and the Russian intelligentsia was strengthened. For this task, the elder sacrificed his short rest. A.K. Tolstoy, I.S. Khomyakov, N.V. Gogol, A.N. Muravyov came to confession and blessing to St. Macarius. before
his death, the Monk Macarius was tonsured into the great schema without changing his name.
Until his death, the monk received spiritual children and pilgrims, instructing and blessing them. The
relics of St. Macarius of Optina are located in the Vladimir Church of Optina Hermitage, next to the relics of his mentor, spiritual friend and co-secretary, St. Leo.
As in life, the Monk Macarius hears the prayers of the suffering and helps them with his prayerful intercession. bless
everyone!
Source:
Daily television program “Church Calendar” on MUP RTRP “Noginsk” dated September 20, 2021
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St.
Macarius of Optina (1860). Mikhail Nikolaevich Ivanov - this is the worldly name of the Monk Macarius . He was born on November 20, 1788 into a family of Oryol nobles, and grew up as a quiet, sickly boy. He loved books, music, solitude. He lost his mother early, who loved him and distinguished him from other children: “My heart feels that something extraordinary will come out of this child.” After the death of both parents, Mikhail, dividing the inheritance between his brothers, left his service in the financial department and settled on his estate. However, worldly life did not interest him. In 1810, Mikhail went on a pilgrimage to the Ploshchanskaya hermitage and never returned to the world. In this desert, the Monk Macarius met Elder Athanasius, a disciple of Elder Paisius (Velichkovsky), and found in him a sensitive spiritual mentor. As the closest disciple of the Monk Paisius, Elder Athanasius was engaged in research and translation of patristic literature. Having brought many texts from Moldova, he introduced his student, Venerable Macarius, to this important work. Later, already in Optina, where the Monk Macarius moved in 1834, he continued the work begun by his teacher. His spiritual mentor in Optina was the Monk Leo, to whom the Monk Macarius completely entrusted his will, not daring to undertake anything without his blessing. Thanks to the Venerable Elder Macarius, the manuscripts and translations of the Venerable Paisius (Velichkovsky) collected in Optina were published. He received great help in this from his spiritual children - the Kireevsky spouses. Under the influence of St. Macarius, a whole school of publishers and translators of spiritual literature, which Orthodox Russia so needed, arose, and the connection between the Optina elders and the Russian intelligentsia was strengthened. A.K. Tolstoy and I.S. Khomyakov, N.V. Gogol and A.N. came to St. Macarius for confession and blessing. Muravyov. For seven years the venerable elders Leo and Macarius led the spiritual life of the brethren and many thousands of people. The following case is known: a demoniac was brought to the Monk Macarius, who previously knew nothing about the elder and had never seen him. The possessed man, rushing towards the approaching old man, shouting: “Makarius is coming, Macarius is coming!”, hit him on the cheek. The monk immediately turned his other cheek, and the patient collapsed on the floor unconscious. He woke up healed. The demon could not bear the great humility of the elder. The Lord also granted St. Macarius the gift of spiritual reasoning. To everyone who came to him for the revelation of his conscience, he gave medicine suitable for infirmity. His humble word was also an effective word, a word with power, for it forced the unbeliever to obey and believe. Humility was manifested in the appearance of the monk, in the form of his clothes, in every movement. His face was bright from the constant Jesus Prayer he performed; it shone with spiritual joy and love for his neighbor. Two years before his death, the Monk Macarius accepted the great schema. Until his death, the monk received spiritual children and pilgrims, instructing and blessing them. On September 7/20, 1860, an hour after receiving the Mysteries of Christ, the Monk Macarius peacefully departed to the Lord.
