Life of the Venerable Optina Elder Anthony (1795-1865)
Our Reverend Father Anthony (in the world Alexander Ivanovich Putilov) was born on March 9, 1795 in the city of Tutaev (then the city of Romanov) of the Yaroslavl province. His parents Ivan Grigorievich and Anna Ivanovna Putilov were pious and God-fearing people, they raised their children in the fear of God and in the spirit of strict Orthodoxy. In childhood and youth, Alexander was very quiet and modest. He felt the calling to monastic life as a child, which was also served by the example of his older relatives and brothers who devoted themselves to monastic life.
During the invasion of the French in 1812, Alexander ended up in Moscow and suffered severely from them. He fled to Rostov to his relatives, and from there after some time he went to the Roslavl forests, where his elder brother Timofey, the future abbot of Optina Pustyn, had been asceticizing for five years. Moses. Having endured a four-year trial, on February 2, 1820, Alexander was clothed in an angelic image on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord and was named Anthony. Fulfilling the will of the God-loving archpastor, Bishop Philaret of Kaluga, Rev. Moses and Rev. Anthony on June 3, 1821, went to Optina Pustyn to found a secluded monastery at this monastery.
The location was chosen 170 fathoms east of the monastery in a dense forest. Having cleared the place itself from the forest, the hermits built a small cell and built a church in the name of St. John the Baptist, and then they began to build fraternal buildings. In 1825, after the appointment of the Monk Moses as rector of Optina Pustyn, Rev. Anthony was appointed head of the monastery. Fathers who were wise in monastic life and strong in spiritual exploits began to flock to the newly built silent monastery from different directions...
To the voluntary labors and deeds of monastic reverends. Anthony soon suffered from a severe, long-term illness.
In December 1839, His Grace Nicholas, Bishop of Kaluga, unexpectedly installed him as abbot of the Maloyaroslavets Chernoostrovsky Monastery. Managing the monastery in a painful state, Rev. Anthony laid a solid foundation for the organization of the monastery, and also completed its external organization begun by his predecessor. From time to time Rev. Anthony traveled to Moscow on monastic affairs, where he received the archpastoral blessing and the attention of Metropolitan Philaret. Seeing the deteriorating health of the Maloyaroslavets rector over and over again, the saint decides to petition the Kaluga bishop to dismiss him from unbearable obedience. And Rev. Anthony returned to retire to his beloved Optina Pustyn.
In a strict feat, Rev. Elder Anthony began to spend his new residence, which is why the illness in his legs intensified to the extreme - they were covered with wounds up to the knees and sometimes bled profusely. Many, seeing his always bright face and hearing his animated conversation, did not understand what kind of sufferer they saw before them. As a great lover of silence, Rev. Anthony desired a solitary life, spent in prayer, reading and contemplation of God. But his spiritual gifts attracted many visitors to him who wanted to receive blessings and spiritual edification. There were good reasons to assert that Rev. Anthony had great boldness in prayer to God and was granted spiritual visions and other grace-filled visits.
On March 9, 1865, when the elder turned exactly 70 years old, after three years of self-examination, he accepted the great schema. Due to the illness of the elder, the tonsure was performed privately by the abbot of the monastery, St. Isaac.
In July, his dying illness began in full force. Blessing everyone with images, Rev. Anthony said: “Take it from the dying man for eternal memory.” The elder was singled out 17 days before his death, when his bodily strength had not yet completely abandoned him.
Recently, he received the Holy Mysteries every day and remained in unceasing prayer.
On August 7/20, 1865, the last day of the life of the long-suffering reverend came. Antonia. In the evening, during the all-night vigil, the dying man suddenly demanded that the abbot be invited to him. As a true novice, he did not want to set off on his final journey without the abbot’s blessing. Fulfilling the will of the dying man unquestioningly, the rector, Rev. Isaac blessed him and said goodbye to him forever. A few hours later, our reverend father Anthony quietly and peacefully sighed twice and with a third, barely noticeable sigh, peacefully surrendered his pure soul into the hands of God.
REVEREND ANTONY OF OPTINSKY
Life of St. Anthony of Optina
Reverend Anthony (in the world Alexander Ivanovich Putilov) was born on March 9, 1795 in the city of Borisoglebsk, Yaroslavl province. His parents, Ivan Grigorievich and Anna Ivanovna Putilov, were pious and God-fearing people, they raised their children in the fear of God and in the spirit of strict Orthodoxy. In childhood and youth, Alexander was very quiet and modest. He felt the calling to monastic life as a child, which was also served by the example of his older relatives and brothers who devoted themselves to monastic life.
During the invasion of the French in 1812, Alexander ended up in Moscow and suffered severely from them. He fled to Rostov to his relatives, and from there after some time he went to the Roslavl forests, where for five years his elder brother Timothy, the future abbot of the Optina Hermitage, the Monk Moses, had been asceticising. Having endured a four-year trial, on February 2, 1820, Alexander was clothed in the image of an angel on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord and was named Anthony. Fulfilling the will of the God-loving archpastor - Bishop Philaret of Kaluga, the Monk Moses and the Monk Anthony on June 3, 1821 went to Optina Pustyn to found a secluded monastery at this monastery.
The place was chosen 170 fathoms east of the monastery in a dense forest. Having cleared the place itself from the forest, the hermits built a small cell and built a church in the name of St. John, the Forerunner of the Lord, and began to build fraternal buildings. In 1825, after the appointment of the Monk Moses as rector of the Optina Hermitage, the Monk Anthony was appointed head of the monastery. Fathers who were wise in monastic life and strong in spiritual exploits began to flock to the newly built silent monastery from different directions...
The voluntary labors and monastic deeds of St. Anthony were soon joined by the cross of a severe, long-term illness.
In December 1839, His Grace Nicholas, Bishop of Kaluga, unexpectedly installed him as abbot of the Maloyaroslavets Chernoostrovsky monastery. Managing the monastery in a painful state, the Monk Anthony laid a solid foundation for the organization of the monastery, and also completed its external organization begun by his predecessor. From time to time, the Monk Anthony traveled to Moscow on monastic affairs, where he received the archpastoral blessing and attention of Metropolitan Philaret. Seeing the deteriorating health of the Maloyaroslavets rector over and over again, the saint decides to petition the Kaluga bishop to dismiss him from unbearable obedience. And the Monk Anthony returned to rest in Optina Pustyn, dear to his heart.
The Venerable Elder Anthony began to carry out his new residence in strict asceticism, which is why the illness in his legs intensified to the extreme - they were covered with wounds up to the knees and sometimes bled profusely. Many, seeing his always bright face and hearing his animated conversation, did not understand what kind of sufferer they saw before them. As a great lover of silence, the Monk Anthony desired a solitary life spent in prayer, reading and contemplation of God. But his spiritual gifts attracted many visitors to him who wanted to receive blessings and spiritual edification. There were good reasons to assert that the Monk Anthony had great boldness in prayer to God and was granted spiritual visions and other grace-filled visits.
On March 9, 1865, when the elder turned exactly 70 years old, after three years of self-examination, he accepted the great schema. Due to the illness of the elder, the tonsure was performed in private by the abbot of the monastery, the Monk Isaac.
In July, his dying illness began in full force. Blessing everyone with images, the Monk Anthony said: “Take it from the dying man for eternal memory.” The elder was singled out 17 days before his death, when his bodily strength had not yet completely abandoned him.
Recently, he received the Holy Mysteries every day and remained in unceasing prayer.
On August 7/20, 1865, the last day of the life of the long-suffering Reverend Anthony came. In the evening, during the all-night vigil, the dying man suddenly demanded that the abbot be invited to him. As a true novice, he did not want to set off on his final journey without the abbot’s blessing. Fulfilling the will of the dying man unquestioningly, the abbot, the Monk Isaac, blessed him and said goodbye to him forever. A few hours later, the Monk Anthony quietly and peacefully sighed twice and with a third, barely noticeable sigh, peacefully surrendered his pure soul into the hands of God.
Choosing a path
Meanwhile, the older brothers went to Moscow to work, and after some time, secretly from their father, they went to the Sarov Hermitage, intending to devote their lives to God in monasticism. Alexander corresponded with them, learned from them about spiritual literature - as soon as he learned to read, it became his favorite pastime - and consulted with his brothers. From his adolescence, he began to think about the advantages of monastic life. Here is an excerpt from his letter to his brothers: “I really liked one of the books you sent, and I want to follow one example from this book, that is: “to despise the world and go to the Heavenly Kingdom is the highest wisdom; in silence and stillness a reverent soul accomplishes much and understands the mysteries of Scripture. So, whoever withdraws from the world, God comes to him with His holy angels."
But the father, as already described in the life of Elder Moses, was categorically against the children going to the monastery. When the eldest son Timothy arrived from Sarov and admitted that he had been laboring in the desert for a year and wanted to become a monk, this news struck his father like a bolt from the blue. He had to come to terms with what had happened, but he was very angry. Therefore, Alexander was afraid to confess his intention to his father. When Ivan Grigorievich became seriously ill in 1809, his mother, who did not decide any family matters without consulting her husband, turned to him with the question: “Where are you blessing Alexander?” He answered briefly: “To God.” She, knowing her son’s desire, asked again: “What position do you order him to live in? With your brothers? Ivan Grigorievich answered: “So that you fear God.” He died soon after. “I was extremely pleased,” wrote Father Anthony, “that my parent entrusted me to God, and not to anyone else... I understand his last saying to me in this sense: that no matter where you live, you must always fear God. This is his last testament to me."
The notes preserve an interesting description of Alexander's time in captivity during the French invasion. In 1812, he and his brother Kirill ended up in Moscow on business. When the French entered the city, Alexander fell behind his fleeing relatives and was captured; he later recalled that he spent those days as if “in some kind of hell.” The prisoners were forced to carry the loot, beaten, and humiliated in every possible way. Finally he managed to escape and reached his relatives in Rostov, where he remained to live.
In Rostov, among everyday affairs and worries, Alexander continued to correspond with his brothers, his secret desire to leave the world became stronger and stronger. He often visited the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery and prayed at the relics of Saints Demetrius and Jacob of Rostov. But it was not easy to decide on the last step; he was overcome by doubts whether he was ready to withstand the unusual way of life. Finally, Alexander was about to carry out his intention. Secretly from his family, he first went to Moscow, where he completed the necessary documents, and then to his brother Timofey in the Roslavl forests. A break with the world is always painful: “...and it was not easy for me to part forever with my pious and much-loving parent; then to part with all my brothers and all my sisters, with all my relatives, with all my neighbors, with all my friends, with all my lures and passions, and go to a place that I have never seen, and take upon myself such a way of life that seemed unbearable to me,” Father Anthony later recalled. His brother, telling him in a letter how to get to the desert, encouraged him: “God grant that you do everything safely. Get ready, brother (I repeat again), on the praiseworthy path of Christ, do not hesitate and do not be afraid of anything. God will be with you and will correct all your needs for the organization of your life - believe this without a doubt.”
Alexander hired a guide who took him to the village closest to the desert, and then he went on alone. As the first biography of the elder tells: “Having prayed to God, he let go of the reins, the horse walked on its own and... brought him straight to a log hut hidden in the thickets. This was the cell of Elder Athanasius, with whom Timothy lived in obedience. Everything around was covered with snow...” Thus, in 1816, Alexander Ivanovich Putilov laid the foundation for monastic exploits.
Living in the world
The Putilov family has already been described in the life of Elder Moses. We know about this wonderful family mainly from the notes of Father Anthony, in which he talks in detail about his childhood in his home. Alexander Putilov was born on March 9/22, 1795, on the day of remembrance of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste, in the city of Romanov, Yaroslavl province. He was a weak and sickly child; it took a lot of effort for his mother to bring him out. The youngest of the six children of Ivan Grigorievich Putilov, he, like all children, was brought up in strictness, attended divine services from an early age, and sang with his father in the choir. In his father's notes, Anthony is struck by the accuracy with which he reproduces his childhood impressions.
He describes how respected the Putilov family was, peace reigned in the house, there were never any disputes between the parents, let alone quarrels, they lived in perfect harmony. Noting in his memoirs the complete agreement between father and mother, Father Anthony writes: “I don’t know who was a participant in the matchmaking, but one thing I know for sure is that God combines people.” He talks with love about his mother - meek, patient, she was a prayer book for her family and children, she attended church almost every day, and often, waking up at night, the children saw their mother bowing in prayer before the icons. She raised her children strictly, without indulging their whims. “One day they began to praise her for raising children, whose politeness and modesty were liked by many, and my mother said in response: “Thank God, my children are good, but, unfortunately, they have not yet reached the level of being good,” recalled the father Anthony.
In the pious family of the Putilovs, Alexander stood out for his love for the temple and worship; he recalled: “At that time I had an unusually sensitive ear, so that every night I woke up at the first strike of the bell for Matins, and woke up my parents and brothers for it, saying: “ Don-don! The angels are singing, get up and pray!” - which lasted several months. But when I saw that some brothers began to be angry with me for this and did not get up, then I, looking at them, began to neglect and, like them, fall into sleep and sleep without waking up all night.” He loved to go to church; the priest, noticing his zeal for the service, let the boy into the altar and always gave him a prosphora or an antidoron. Alexander got used to the structure of worship, even in games he loved to portray the priest: “... when I played at home with children my age, I dressed up as a priest, that is, instead of an epitrachelion, I put a towel around my neck and a loose scarf on my shoulders - instead of a robe; and instead of a censer, he took a ball and tied a cord to it and censed everyone. And when they gave me a gingerbread or an apple, I cut them into small pieces and, putting them on a plate, handed them out instead of the antidor and blessed them with my hand...” When his father asked what he wanted to be, little Alexander replied that he would be a priest.
