Theodosius of the Caucasus: elder and saint of our time

Many trials befell the elder’s life. He was born in the north of Siberia, but ended up in the south of the country - in the Caucasus; he was the abbot of a monastery, but became a holy fool.

According to researchers of the saint’s biography, he was born around 1862 into a poor peasant family of the Kashins, and at birth had the name Fedor. His parents were believers and churchgoers; they raised their children in faith and piety. However, even the birth of the future saint was already marked by the unusual character of the child for this family. The woman who had already delivered the baby, the midwife, predicted to the parents based on some signs that the boy would become a priest. As a child, he asked his mother to sing psalms, and he listened and memorized them. Then, from an early age, the future elder fell in love with praying in the forest: according to legend, he said his childhood prayers at a stone, and a certain heavenly voice said that this stone was called Raev (Paradise).

Many people saw that the baby was God’s chosen one. His joke was called Father, thus reminiscent of the midwife's prediction. Fyodor’s parents witnessed a miracle: during a shared family dinner, a white dove appeared from behind the icons and flew straight into the boy’s hand. Having stroked it, the future elder sent the dove up, and it again disappeared behind the images.

According to various sources, when the saint was either 9 or 19 years old, he secretly left for Athos from his parents: just walking along the river bank, he boarded a barge and sailed away from the village unnoticed, and then with pilgrims reached Athos. The Holy Mountain is one of the most fertile places on Earth, a Greek peninsula inhabited by monks since ancient times and under the special protection of the Mother of God.

In the Iverskaya monastery, known for keeping the great Orthodox relic - the Venerable Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos - the young man, burning with the desire to devote his life to God, remained for the time being. He was accepted into the monastery when he called himself an orphan - usually they were taken into the monastery only after receiving a parental blessing. However, he did not receive any discounts or pity; on the contrary, he worked in the most menial jobs, growing in humility and obedience.

Even before being tonsured as a monk, he performed a miraculous healing of the sick wife of a Russian general. As you know, women are not allowed on Athos to avoid temptations for monks. This custom was started by the Most Holy Theotokos Herself. The general came to the monastery because his wife was possessed: she was possessed by a demon, and they could not drive him out for a long time. One day in a dream she was told by an Angel or the Lord Himself that only a young Athonite monk of the Iveron monastery would help her. Among the monks, the general did not recognize the savior described by his wife, and only by chance saw Theodore - they considered it impossible that he had spiritual gifts so quickly, since he had not yet been tonsured. It was he who was shown in a vision to the general’s wife, and through his prayer the demon came out of the woman.

According to legend, after this the brethren of the monastery began to envy him. Having learned from somewhere that Theodore was not an orphan, they conveyed this to the abbot, who sent the novice home for his parental blessing. However, the hardships of the journey did not break the ascetic: he returned from his native Urals with the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, blessed by his parents, and was tonsured a monk with the name Theodosius. For several decades he worked in the Iveron Monastery, and became the abbot of a cell - a small skete belonging to the monastery, a place where only a few brethren lived - and the confessor of the monastery, despite the fact that in Greece such obedience is given only to experienced elderly monks, called " Geronda" ("elder"). He represented the Iveron Monastery in Constantinople, where he lived for a long time, and in Jerusalem, where he made pilgrimages to worship at the Holy Sepulcher several times.

In 1913, the saint in the rank of hieromonk (a priest tonsured into monasticism) returned to Russia. There is no information about what prompted him to do this, nor is it clear why he left for the Caucasus. It is known that by that time he already spoke many languages, was an experienced leader, and a spirit-bearing monk. It is possible that he foresaw the trials that awaited Russia during the war and revolution. There is evidence that a certain military man arrived in Jerusalem, where he was staying, and persuaded him to leave for Russia, promising to help create a monastery in his native land.

In the North Caucasus, the saint settled in one of the villages, where he first set up a nursing home with a hospital and a small church, and after the revolution he founded a convent near the village of Temnye Buki, not far from the city of Krymsk. (Similar cases of the founding of monasteries from female admirers of the elder were in the Russian Orthodox Church, for example, St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. Ambrose of Optina). This region was in many ways not enlightened by the light of Christ's faith, but the rumor about the new hieromonk, who helped many with advice and miraculous prayer, spread so quickly that people began to visit the newly formed monastery in large numbers.

With the help of pious people, a church and cells were created in the monastery. The monks made their living by teaching children. During these years, the saint accepted the great schema (the highest rank in monasticism with the imposition of great responsibility for exploits), becoming a hieroschemamonk. Before Easter in 1925 or 1927, the monk unexpectedly said that they would celebrate without him: and indeed, on Holy Saturday they came to arrest him. He told the officers that he had been waiting for guests for a long time, and even bowed to the ground before the persecutors.

It is unknown where the father served his six-year sentence - probably in the terrible Solovetsky camp, which became the site of martyrdom for many saints of the Church. After his release, he was able to return only to the city of Mineralnye Vody. It was here that a number of the elder’s famous miracles took place, here he took upon himself the feat of foolishness, and in the same city he rested in 1948.

Prayers to Theodosius of the Caucasus

First prayer

There he remained in holy orders for many years, and made fervent prayers for the Russian Land, for the Orthodox Church and for the Russian people.

When the hard years of atheism befell Holy Rus', you left Athos and Jerusalem and returned to your Fatherland, sharing the grief and suffering of your people and our holy Church, as a monk and clergyman, even before imprisonment.

Your faith, meekness, humility and patience touched the hardened hearts of those who were imprisoned with you.

During the years of war, Father, you helped the Orthodox people to overcome the enemy and adversary, and you saved many from despondency, grief and despair who wanted to end their lives.

With your help, the faithful were strengthened in their hope that the Lord will not abandon our Fatherland, the Mother of God will preserve Her inheritance, and God’s wrath will be transformed into mercy by Her prayers.

Your difficult feat of Christ for the sake of foolishness surprised, father, not only us on earth, but also the inhabitants of heaven who appeared to you.

This is what the prayer of a righteous person, aided by strong faith, can do.

You know our needs and sorrows, Reverend Father Theodosius, and you know our desire to be with Christ.

Having walked the narrow and thorny path of earthly existence, you carried a heavy yoke from your brothers, from infidels and fellow tribesmen.

Remember us, Elder of God, at the throne of the Lord, for you promised to help everyone who turns to you.

The memory of you in the Caucasian land, father, does not fade to this day: with faith and hope, Orthodox people flock to your resting place, asking for intercession and help.

We ask you, Reverend Father Theodosius:

help us in the difficult hour of life, in moments of sorrow and suffering, beg the Chief of Peace, the Lord, to soften the evil and hardened hearts of men and pacify the peoples of the Caucasus.

May the wicked councils of schismatics and heretics, rising up against the Russian Holy Church, be destroyed.

Through your prayers, Holy Saint of God, may the Lord forgive us all our sins, may the arrows of the enemy and the machinations of the devil pass us by.

Ask the Creator and Provider of our Lord for time for repentance, for deliverance from destruction, for the sick - health, for the fallen - restoration, for the sorrowing - consolation, for children in the fear of God to be educated, for those departing to eternity - a good preparation, for those who have departed - rest and inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom.

Be, Father Theodosius, the patron and helper of all the faithful of the Caucasian land.

May Holy Orthodoxy be strengthened and multiplied there and throughout Great Rus'.

We, strengthened by your holy prayers, will glorify the Life-Giving Trinity and your name, sanctified by God, now and ever and unto ages of ages.

Amen.

Second prayer

Oh, reverend and God-bearing Father Theodosius! Look upon us sinners who bring this prayer to you, and beg for us the Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother, the Mother of God and the Ever-Virgin Mary, that we may be delivered by healing from various ailments of the flesh and spiritual, and ailments, and damage, and that we may receive from The Lord God forgives our sins, and acquires the Holy Spirit, the Life-Giving Lord, to help us fight against the enemy and guarantee the Kingdom of our Heavenly Father. About Starch the mysterious and wonderful! Stretch out your prayer rod, so that with your prayers you will lead us away from mental wolves - from the hell of sins and lewdness, disobedience and our resistance, which we do every day and night, lewdness, as you are a strong intercessor before the Lord and the Queen of Heaven. We pray to you, the living, and for the dead, as you snatch away the holy one from tartarus by the power of your prayers, so that they may be numbered among the right hand of the sheep of Christ our God. Instruct us, holy fool Theodosius, to remember, in the knowledge of the Most Holy Trinity, the One Lord our God, merciful and saving, and the One Pure and All-Sung Mary the Virgin, our Sovereign Lady and Mother. May the Comforter remain with us through your prayers, to deliver us from all filth and make us partakers of the Kingdom of our Heavenly Father. Let us bow to Him, the All-Honorable and All-Desiring King, Creator and Lord our God, for He is Good and Lover of Mankind, and give glory, and extol His Most Honorable and Magnificent Name, the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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It's time to pray to our saint, Russian, almost our contemporary (died in 1948), for the well-being of our Russian Land.

Oh, holy servant of God, Rev. Father Theodosius! You, who from your youth loved Christ and followed Him alone, withdrew to the Holy Mount Athos, to the inheritance of the Mother of God, and from there you flowed to the Holy Sepulcher. There he remained in holy orders for many years, and made fervent prayers for the Russian Land, for the Orthodox Church and for the Russian people. When the hard years of atheism befell Holy Rus', you left Athos and Jerusalem and returned to your Fatherland, sharing the grief and suffering of your people and our holy Church, as a monk and clergyman, even before imprisonment. Your faith, meekness, humility and patience touched the hardened hearts of those who were imprisoned with you.

During the years of war, Father, you helped the Orthodox people to overcome the enemy and adversary, and you saved many from despondency, grief and despair who wanted to end their lives. With your help, the faithful were strengthened in their hope that the Lord will not abandon our Fatherland, the Mother of God will preserve Her inheritance, and God’s wrath will be transformed into mercy by Her prayers. Your difficult feat of Christ for the sake of foolishness surprised, father, not only us on earth, but also the inhabitants of heaven who appeared to you. This is what the prayer of a righteous person, aided by strong faith, can do.

You know our needs and sorrows, Reverend Father Theodosius, and you know our desire to be with Christ. Having walked the narrow and thorny path of earthly existence, you carried a heavy yoke from your brothers, from infidels and fellow tribesmen. Remember us, Elder of God, at the throne of the Lord, for you promised to help everyone who turns to you. The memory of you on the Russian land, father, does not fade to this day: with faith and hope, Orthodox people flock to your resting place, asking for your intercession and help.

We ask you, Reverend Father Theodosius: help us in difficult times of life, in moments of sorrow and suffering, beg the Chief of the World, the Lord, that he will soften the evil and hardened hearts of men and pacify the peoples of Russia. May the wicked councils of schismatics and heretics, rising up against the Russian Holy Church, be destroyed.

Through your prayers, Holy Saint of God, may the Lord forgive us all our sins, may the arrows of the enemy and the machinations of the devil pass us by. Ask the Creator and Provider of our Lord for time for repentance, for deliverance from destruction, for the sick - health, for the fallen - restoration, for the sorrowing - consolation, for children in the fear of God to be educated, for those departing to eternity - a good preparation, for those who have departed - rest and inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom.

Be, Father Theodosius, the patron and helper of all the faithful of the Russian land. May Holy Orthodoxy be strengthened and multiplied there and throughout Great Rus'. We, strengthened by your holy prayers, will glorify the Life-Giving Trinity and your name, sanctified by God, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Venerable Theodosius of the Caucasus

Life, miracles, akathists

With the blessing of Metropolitan Gideon of Stavropol and Vladikavkaz

Another bright lamp lit up in the church horizon of the ancient Caucasus. For his bitter tears and sighs, he found a prayer book, marvelous among the saints, dear to our land and the people living here - the Venerable Elder Theodosius, who lived and died in Minvody. The voice of the people is the voice of God. Believers have long honored this elder, make pilgrimages to the place of his burial, and many, very many receive what they ask for.

Unfortunately, recently, seeing the popularity of Elder Theodosius among the people and trying to make money on his memory, some representatives of the non-church writing brethren began to publish lives and akathists in different versions without the blessing of the Mother of the Church. But they cannot be considered plausible, salutary and useful.

This same work - what the diocesan commission for the canonization of saints managed to do - is offered to our pious people for soul-saving reading, moral edification and prayer.

Gideon, Metropolitan of Stavropol and Vladikavkaz

THE LIFE OF THE REVEREND THEODOSIUS OF THE CAUCASUS

Hieromonk Theodosius (in the world Fedor Fedorovich Kashin) was born on May 3, 1841 in the Perm province. His parents, Fyodor (he worked as a printer at the Demidov factory) and Ekaterina, were pious and deeply religious Christians and, despite poverty and having many children, they taught their children to live piously. The whole family attended church services, followed the morning and evening rules, never sat down at the table without prayer, never left the threshold without prayer, began every task with prayer, relying in everything on the will of God. With his mother's milk, the future great ascetic absorbed the words of psalms and chants.

At Fedor’s birth, the midwife received him “in his shirt.” “He will be a great priest - he was born in a monastic kamilavka,” she told her parents. The words turned out to be prophetic. The child grew and developed unusually quickly. From his mother’s womb, the Lord made him His chosen one and bestowed him with special grace-filled gifts, so that at a very young age, barely learning to walk and talk, he loved his Creator with all his pure childish soul and, being an infant in years, his mind far exceeded his age.

The fertile region, adorned with forests and rivers, had a beneficial effect on the boy’s soul. Already in infancy, as an adult, he went into the forest to pray. In the forest there was a large stone, to which little Fyodor came, climbed on it and prayed for a long time, like a child, fervently. One day, while he was praying, a voice came to him: “The stone on which you pray is from heaven.” That's what he called it - "Heaven's Stone."

It is not surprising that, possessing such a deep religious mood and desire for an ascetic life, Theodore Kashin directed his steps to the stronghold of monasticism - the holy Mount Athos. In the Iversky Monastery, over the course of several decades, he went from a novice to the rector of the cell of the Position of the Precious Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos subordinate to this ancient monastery and was ordained to the priesthood.

This is what the certificate of ordination of “a Russian native, the Most Reverend Theodosius, who firmly adheres to Orthodox teachings and leads an immaculate life and is recognized by everyone as such,” says, which was performed on December 12, 1897 by Metropolitan Nile, formerly Carpathian and Kassky. “Since the above-mentioned priest has all the qualities required for a confessor, we therefore give him permission to confess the thoughts of those who wish to begin confession /.../; and those elevated to the rank of priesthood, he is obliged to test and examine in detail, as required by the Apostolic and Conciliar Law. He is allowed to take monastic vows and test them and be their successor.”

In 1906, at an old age, the Elder returned to Russia, where he visited his parents’ home, but still chose the Caucasus as his place of residence, not the Urals, where he lived in the village of Kavkazskaya.

After 1917, Hieromonk Theodosius settled near the village of Temnye Buki (Gorny farm), 27 kilometers from the city of Krymsk, where a female monastic community gradually formed. In the vicinity of Krymsk, rumors about the extraordinary old man spread instantly. People began to come to him for blessings and advice, since he possessed the gift of spiritual insight.

He denounced some, healed others from illnesses, and healed others with words. He treated everyone with compassion and directed them on the path of salvation. He knew in advance who would turn to him and with what request, and foresaw the future life and death of his interlocutors. Here, in the desert, through the prayers of Father Theodosius, a source of spring water, which has the property of healing the afflicted, began to flow.