Venerable Zosima of Solovetsky: what a monk can teach us

Zosima (Verkhovsky)
(1768 - 1833), schemamonk, reverend, spiritual writer, founder of women's monasteries Commemorated on October 24, in the Cathedrals of Bryansk, Yekaterinburg, Kemerovo, Moscow saints

In the world, Verkhovsky Zakharia Vasilievich (Bogdanovich), was born on March 24, 1768 in the village of Bulovitsa, Smolensk district, into the family of a nobleman. The ancestor of the Russian Verkhovsky family, Adam Verkhovsky, in 1620 the steward of the Smolensk volosts, received land charters from the Polish kings Sigismund III and John II Casimir for his service. After the capture of Smolensk by Russian troops in 1654, the Verkhovskys converted to Orthodoxy and served the Moscow kings. The saint's father, Vasily Danilovich Verkhovsky (+ 1784), belonged to the fifth generation from the ancestor Adam. Starting from the age of 18, he was called Bogdan, incl. and in the service in the regiment of the Smolensk gentry, where he rose to the rank of colonel. Mother, Anna Ivanovna (+ 1786) came from the noble family of Manevsky. The Verkhovsky family had 3 sons and 6 daughters; Zechariah was the youngest. He received his primary education at home.

On January 1, 1784, he was appointed captain in the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment. After the death of his father, on April 3 of the same year, he inherited two villages.

Around 1786, he first visited the hermits of the Roslavl forests, who labored in obedience to the famous elder of the Ploshchansky Monastery, Hieromonk Adrian (Blinsky). The life of hermits made an indelible impression on the young man.

In 1788, he obtained his resignation (in March 1789 he was still listed as a retired lieutenant), and sold his estate to his son-in-law. Zechariah's entire subsequent life was associated with desert living and old age. When he came to the Roslavl forests, he no longer found Fr. Adrian, who went to the Konevetsky Monastery in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the advice of the monks: “Blessed would you be, good young man, if Father Basilisk accepted you as a disciple. This is our desert star!”

- he turned to St. Petersburg for elderly care. Vasilisk (Gavrilov), who, however, recommended Zachariah to begin his monastic path in a cenobitic monastery.

In the Konevetsky Monastery

In the summer of 1789 he went to the Konevets monastery, where he was blessed to bake prosphora and serve as a sexton in the church.
Having become acquainted with the ascetic tradition of the Athonite elders and others. Paisius (Velichkovsky), Zechariah practiced regular revelation of thoughts to the builder of the monastery, Fr. Adrian, who soon tonsured him to the monastic rank with a name in honor of St. Zosima Solovetsky.

In 1792/, during a trip to Smolensk and Bryansk to collect donations for the monastery, Fr. Adrian invited Elder Basilisk to Konevets Island. Hieromonk Adrian built 2 cells in the forest 3 miles from the monastery - for Zosima and St. Basilisk. The hermits spent 5 days in secluded silence, and on Saturday, after the cell evening rule, they came to the monastery for the all-night service. Elder Basilisk, who acquired the gift of the heartfelt Jesus Prayer, shared his ascetic spiritual experience with his disciple. Zosima began to write down these instructions. Later, from the stories and conversations of the hermits, Zosima compiled a large manuscript - “The Narrative of the Actions of the Heartfelt Prayer of the Elder Desert-Dweller Basilisk”

— a description of the 75 “actions” of the Jesus Prayer, which Basilisk told his disciple about.

In 1797 Fr. Adrian resigned from his position as abbot and settled in retirement in the Simonov Monastery. Left without a spiritual father, Basilisk and Zosima saw an opportunity to fulfill their long-standing desire - to retire to a deeper desert. Zosima’s letter to the Roslavl elder Dosifei dated May 21, 1799 is known, in which he informed the addressee about his plans [1]. Having received the blessing of Metropolitan Gabriel (Petrov) of St. Petersburg, in June 1799 they left the Konevetsky Monastery.

Searching for a place to live in the desert

Three times the ascetics tried unsuccessfully to reach Athos.
Seeing God's providence in these failures, Zosima and Basilisk walked around almost half of Russia in search of a place to build a hermitage. We spent the winter of 1800 in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, examined the mountains of Crimea and the North Caucasus, visited Taganrog, Astrakhan, Kazan, and traveled around the Ural Mountains. We communicated with Hieromonk Vasily (Kishkin) in the Beloberezh Bryansk Hermitage, with the elders of the Sanaksar Monastery.

At the end of 1800, Archbishop Varlaam (Petrov-Lavrovsky) of Tobolsk and Siberia gave the ascetics permission to live on the territory of the Tobolsk diocese.

In the spring of 1801, the elders visited the Ishim, Kain, Tomsk, Yenisei, and Krasnoyarsk districts.

Hermitage

In the winter of 1802 they arrived in the Kuznetsk district. Having moved 40 miles from the last village, they dug a dugout in the forest, in which they spent the winter in the most difficult conditions. Having decided to find another place for permanent desert residence, they settled near the river. Tom in the Three Kurya area. The nearest village, 20 versts away, was the village of Sidorovka on the way to Kuznetsk (now Novokuznetsk), which was about 50 versts away. In other directions there was no housing within a radius of 200 miles. Here they lived for 20 years in 2 small wooden cells, located at a distance of about 100 fathoms from one another. The hermits remained in complete silence, only spending Saturday, Sunday and major holidays together, reading the works of the holy fathers, and talking. We started a small garden and fished in the lakes. During the Assumption Fast along the river. Tom traveled to Kuznetsk to receive Holy Communion. On Easter days, the hermits were visited by a certain peasant Timothy.

According to the Life, initially Zosima was subjected to demonic insurance, struggled with the thought of leaving his hermitage, but after 3 years, by his own admission, he stopped feeling fear and looked at demons as “annoying flies.”

For some time the 20-year-old ascetic St. lived with the elders. right Peter (Michurin). Having witnessed the young man’s “highest passion for the Lord,” Zosima compiled his biography. At the same time, Elder Basilisk continued to record the prayer experience of Elder Basilisk in a special manuscript.

Setting up a nunnery

Around 1820, after 20 years of hermitage, Zosima and others.
The basilisk began to feed the laity. The first to turn to the elders was a bourgeois woman from Kuznetsk, the widow of A.I. Konyukhov, who by that time had lost both her husband and 2 young sons. St. The basilisk blessed the widow to settle in the nearest village of Sidorovka. She was joined by 2 girls: the daughter of the collegiate adviser N.M. Vasilyev and the merchant’s daughter, the orphan E. Romanova. A year later, Vasilyeva’s mother, Anastasia Nikolaevna, who had been widowed by that time, settled with them. In the village of Sidorovka, a small cell building and a fence were built. Zosima wrote a special “Teaching on Obedience” for the community of sisters. The elder took up the spiritual care of his students: he composed special letters for them - “testaments,” as the sisters called them, in which both the mentor and his spiritual children promised before God to be in mutual love, in trust, in responsibility to each other and in unconditional students' obedience to the teacher. Zosima drew up a special charter for the sisters, focused on the communal rules of St. Basil the Great.

At the beginning of 1823, the elder visited St. Petersburg again to present a new charter to the Holy Synod for approval, as well as to regulate the economic status of the hostel. Having finished his business in the capital, he visited his father’s house in the Smolensk province, where he found the orphaned daughters of brother Elijah, Varvara and Matrona. On the way to Siberia, at the Moscow Simonov Monastery, Zosima's nieces were tonsured into the ryassophore with the names Vera and Margarita.

Removal from the monastery

Soon, unrest began in the women's community.
Mother and daughter Vasiliev began to violate the rules of the hostel and finally went to Tobolsk without permission with complaints against their confessor. Accusing the monk of schism, embezzlement of monastery money, oppression of sisters and other “most sensitive oppressions,” they asked the diocesan authorities to remove the elder from the monastery and place an abbess at the head of the nuns. In response to the accusation of violations of “the administration of the office of a priest,” Zosima wrote an explanation to the bishop: “I demand from [spiritual children] not confession, but frankness, so that, knowing each one’s conscience and passions, I can control them without error. But although they reveal themselves to me in everything, I do not take upon myself the right to resolve their sins, but only use them with my instructions.”

[2]. At this time, the elder with his nieces, Anisya Konyukhova and 2 cell attendants were by order of their superiors in Tyumen. Here they learned about the death of St. Basilisk.

By decree of the Synod of January 24, 1825, Zosima was dismissed “from the title of trustee and from any influence on the monastery,” and in the fall of the same year he left for Moscow.

Subsequently, Saint Philaret (Drozdov) spoke about the reasons for “non-peace” in the Turin monastery:
“The enemy of human salvation became enraged and provoked a grave temptation.
He aroused in some the passion of lust; from this arose strife and tricks; they brought the court; the court was damaged by man-pleasing: and the sisters of the hostel, faithful to the leadership of the elder, along with him, were forced to leave .

Organization of the Trinity-Hodegetria Monastery

After arriving in Moscow, he turned to Metropolitan Philaret, who blessed the elder to settle in the Chudov Monastery.
In February 1826, the sisters faithful to their confessor arrived in Moscow and settled in the house of court adviser M. S. Bakhmeteva. In mid-July, Bakhmeteva suggested to the elder that the sisters be moved to their own estate 60 versts from Moscow. Here, with the blessing of Metropolitan Philaret, Zosima organized a women's community in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God “Hodegetria”. On November 20, 1826, the sisters settled in the community's cells.

For three years, the elder often traveled to Moscow, he himself visited benefactors to ask for help, and bought everything necessary for the sisters. At the same time, the thirst for silence did not leave him. Three miles from the desert in the forest, the elder built a cell with a well. He usually lived in a cell five days a week, came to Matins on Saturday, and returned “to silence” on Sunday evening. At this time, he was visited by two certain elders from the Oryol province, from whom he received the great schema.

Zosima cared about the future of the Trinity-Hodegetria monastery, as evidenced, in particular, by letters to the merchant-philanthropist Lepeshkin. Thus, in August 1832, Zosima asked “not to leave” the sisters after his death, and the merchant-philanthropist in his will ordered to take care of the material well-being of the monastery [3].

In October 1833, the elder fell ill, on the eve of his death he ordered a priest to be called with a clergy, he performed unction, confessed, and received the Holy Mysteries. Saying goodbye to his sisters, he bequeathed them to live in love and humility.

“Don’t disagree about my outcome,

- he convinced them, -
the Lord will grant that you will have a church and the monastery will be established.
The Mother of God, to Whom I have entrusted you and the entire monastery, will glorify Her name in this place and send Her mercy upon you .

He died on October 24, 1833 and was buried according to his will “near the chapel, so that rain from the roof, under which the Savior’s Crucifixion, would water the grave.”

.

Honor and glorification

The veneration of the elder began immediately after his death.
Over his grave, with the blessing of St. Philaret (Drozdov) Trinity Church was built. In the early 1880s, the discovery of the elder’s incorruptible relics took place. St. testified to this. Ambrose Optinsky in 1886:

“Recently in the Zosimova Hermitage they noticed that the coffin of the founder of the monastery was in the water, because the place was damp. They carved a coffin out of a whole stone and made a new wooden coffin, and during the transfer they saw that the old man’s entire body was intact, and his feet had given over to decay.”

[4].

In the 1930s, the Trinity Church was turned into a club; it is unknown exactly how and when the crypt of Elder Zosima was opened.

On December 25, 1999, work was carried out in the revived monastery to find the elder’s grave. “On the right side of the central altar, near the wall under the modern floor of the Trinity Church, a crypt was discovered, made of white stone blocks, in which there was a white stone sarcophagus, but it no longer contains the remains of Schemamonk Zosima.” By 2012, the whereabouts of the relics were unknown.

On October 11, 1999, the elder was canonized as a locally revered saint of the Moscow diocese.

On October 6, 2004, by determination of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was canonized as a pan-church saint.

Prayers

[5]

Troparion, tone 8

The zealot of the fatherly teachings, / the Siberian desert, the all-red vegetation, / the vigorous ascetic of deeds and contemplation, / the silence of the zealot, and the builder of the abode of the brides of Christ, / the vessel of the Spirit, / Zosia Reverend,/ pray to Christ God,// may our souls be enlightened.

Kontakion, tone 4

Perveya in the Siberian country/ you have rewarded the desert monastery of the nuns,/ from there we are unjustly expelled,/ you have placed your trust in the Providence of God,/ in whom you are protected even more than your mind,/ as if you were not harmed You have made your journey, / We are guided by the Mother of God Hodegetria, / You have reached the limits of Moscow, / and here again we will take over the leadership of the monastery, / you have left your God-gathered flock for good, / but for us your way of life / and you have left the honey-flowing teaching, like Zosimos, / pray to Christ God // preserve our souls from all defilement.

Persecution of the Saint. Gift of Insight and Healing

In 1920, the Intercession of the Ennate Monastery was transformed into a labor commune, and in 1923 it was completely closed, dispersing the nuns.

According to the memoirs of Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim Tomin from the courtyard of the St. Andrew's Monastery in Orenburg: “When the monastery was closed, the GPU employees took her right into the coffin and took her to the villages. As they drive, the head of the GPU swears: “So-and-so!” Tinkle with her some more!” And she says to him: “Why are you scolding me, I’m lying in a coffin, I’m not going anywhere. And you, son, run home quickly. Now your wife went to fetch water with a rocker, fell and died!” He answered her angrily: “What are you talking about, I just came from home, nothing happened there!” However, his comrade insisted: “Yes, you still run away, look!” And indeed, the wife, as she was carrying water, fell on the threshold, lying lifeless in a puddle next to the buckets.”

After the closure of the monastery, mother settled in the village of Novo-Arkhangelovka (the village of Dema) on the territory of what is now the Orenburg region in a small house built in the courtyard of one pious family. However, local authorities, dissatisfied with her “strange” behavior and the flow of a large number of sufferers to her, constantly secretly transported Mother Zosima with her cypress coffin to different villages. She ended her earthly journey in the village of Sentsovka, Sharlyk district (now Oktyabrsky district), located on the territory of the Orenburg region.

During the hard times of Soviet power, the Lord gave Mother Zosima the gifts of insight and healing. Probably no other hospital brought so many patients as to her. At night she prayed; during the day, lines of people flowed to her not only from the Orenburg region, but also from neighboring regions.

She healed people from various diseases, and through her prayers demons came out of people. People turned to her for help even with sick cattle, and she did not refuse - a cow or a horse in those days were precious nurses, and their loss would put the family in distress.

Both the present and the past were revealed to her. Moreover, they knew the events, actions, thoughts of the people with whom they went to her. She foresaw the future and helped everyone who turned to her.

According to the testimony of the now deceased former secretary of the Samara Diocesan Administration Andrei Andreevich Savin , during the persecution of the Church, when the entire way of life was collapsing, his uncle went to Mother Zosima for advice. Seeing him, the old woman addressed him by name:

- Akim, why did you come to me? - How can we live and be saved, mother?

She answered: “Will we be saved?” Let's buy an akathist and put it behind the chest without reading it.

She gave instructions and he left. Soon, faithful people advised him to leave, because he was on the list for dispossession for his faith in Christ. Having sold the property, at night they quickly began to load the remaining belongings onto the cart. When they moved the chest away, they found an akathist behind it, and my uncle realized that when mother spoke about the akathist, she meant not herself, but him. He, leaving the old woman, condemned her in his soul.

The aforementioned Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim Tomin recalled: “I was born in 1923 into a poor peasant family in the village of Barakovo, Sharlyk district, Orenburg region. He was the first son of his parents - Konstantin Leontievich and Alexandra Grigorievna Tomin. My mother got sick and couldn't breastfeed me. They fed us artificially - there was a special horn through which they gave milk and cereal. He did not take breasts from other nurses either, he cried and spat them out. When I started teething, they started giving me bird meat, but I couldn’t take it either, I spat it out crying.

When I was three years old, my parents said, my legs, like those with rickets, remained crooked. In those years, in the regional center of Sharlyk, Professor Alexander Afanasyevich Barynin, convicted for his faith and expelled from Moscow, lived. Previously, he was the personal physician of many state leaders. After examining my legs, he said that this disease was “not physical,” and, taking pity on me, advised me to contact Schema-nun Zosima from the Yennatsky Intercession Monastery.

Relying on the mercy of the Lord, my family - my mother, grandmother Evdokia Vasilievna and her daughter Fekla, my nanny, decided to take me to the old woman. Having prayed before the road and made a vow not to eat anything along the way: “When we take mother’s blessing, then we will eat,” we set off early in the morning. And all it took was nineteen kilometers to travel, so it was possible to go there and back in one day. The road went through a small mountain, popularly called Pryamitsa. The relatives could not resist and on the mountain, breaking their promise, they ate.

We arrived in Dema and easily found where Mother Zosima lives. When we arrived, the old woman herself came out of her cell to meet us and said reproachfully:

- I won’t accept you! Shameless girls! They made a promise: “Until we take Mother Zosima’s blessing, we won’t eat,” but they themselves stopped the stallion on Pryamitsa and ate. I won't accept you!

My relatives, crying, fell to their knees, asking for forgiveness. And Mother Zosima turned to my mother: “Young lady, come to me with the baby.” Already in the old woman’s cell, the mother hastily began to explain: “Well, mother, my first son is completely unhappy, I didn’t breastfeed him, my breasts hurt, I can’t feed the child...” “How could he drink your milk!” You are milking a cow - the cow is violent, kicking, and you are cursing! The reason your boy did not suckle was because he would be a monk. - Mother, he doesn’t even eat meat, he spits it out. - A monk won’t eat meat, do monks eat meat? He will be on Athos, in high rank, and will die on Athos. “He won’t eat meat at all, just like your last son,” answered the old woman. - Pick him up.

Mother raised me, and Mother Zosima scooped up some water from a cypress tub that she brought from the Jordan from the Holy Land, and sprinkled my crooked legs with this water. She shook me. And what a miracle! They immediately straightened up. - Will stand! Will stand! Will stand! - she said three times. She crossed the top of my head, kissed me and added: “You will breastfeed all your children.” And my mother had fourteen of us.

Still, she forgave everyone and blessed them on their way. And what a joy it was, what a joy it was when I rode the entire way back, standing on my healed legs! That's what mother was like. Everything she predicted then came true. I am a monk and have never eaten meat in my life, and my younger brother, the thirteenth child in the family, has also never put meat in his mouth.

And I also remember well how my mother saved my father from prison . In 1934, my father was the chairman of the village council in Barakovo. As the chairman of the village council, he had a tarantass and a beautiful breeding stallion, which was worth a lot of money. Once, at the beginning of Petrov's fast, he was summoned to a meeting in Sharlyk. After the meeting, he and his comrades drank a little and, returning from the regional center, could not control the horse. At the fork in the roads to Barakovo and Mustafino, he unharnessed the stallion, gave him hay, tied him to the tarantass, and went to sleep under the tarantass. Two Tatars from Mustafino drove past, untied the stallion and took him away.

Waking up and not seeing the stallion, the father immediately sobered up and hurried home. For several days the whole village searched in all the ravines - there was no stallion anywhere. The father lay on the bed and cried. For the loss of such a valuable stallion, he was threatened with prison, and a helpless wife with seven children remained at home. And so my paternal grandmother decided to go to my mother.

It was more than fifty kilometers to Sentsovka, where my mother lived then. I was eleven years old, and I asked my grandmother to take me with her... We walked and cried all the way, prayed, forded the Salmysh River and were very tired. When we arrived in Sentsovka, we saw women winnowing wheat in a church adapted for collective farm purposes. We asked them where Mother Zosima lived, and they showed us that we had to go across the bridge.

Mother Zosima lived separately in a small cell in the courtyard of some pious owners. The entire street in front of mother’s cell was crowded with suffering people. Sick cattle were also brought to her. There were many carts standing on the street, and in one of them lay a possessed woman. And the yard was full of people.

Two nuns led Mother out of her cell arm in arm; she was in the monastic schema. She was small in stature, she was one hundred and fourteen years old, her eyelids did not close due to old age, but her eyes looked at people with extraordinary love. She slowly made the sign of the cross over the people and blessed them. Everyone bowed. People prayed, some cried. Mother addressed us:

- Daria, come to me!

My grandmother Daria, who saw Mother Zosima for the first time, did not understand that it was her name. Mother repeated: “Daria and Mishutka from Barakov.”

The people parted, and my grandmother and I approached. She stands on the porch of the cell and says so menacingly: “Daria!” Daria! What did your son of a bitch Kostya do! Trouble! He faces prison! “My grandmother and I are crying, and she continues: “Well, the stallion is alive, the Tatars are fattening him for meat in Mustafino.” When you come home, tell Konstantin to go to Mustafino late in the evening and in the seventh house on the side of Sharlyk, on the edge of the village, as soon as he comes in, he looks for a stallion, but not from the street, but from the courtyards, behind him, he takes the stallion and leads him away.

We were delighted. Mother Zosima leads us into her cell, there is a table inside, and a coffin on the bench. She takes a mother-of-pearl cross from Jerusalem and says to me: “Mishunka! With this cross you will be tonsured a monk!” - and gives me this cross. She also gave me a very beautiful box of panoramas for viewing as a souvenir - about two hundred picturesque paintings of the Holy City of Jerusalem.

We walked all the way back, crying with joy and praying. Arriving home, my grandmother told my father in detail about the conversation with Mother Zosima. My father took the bridle and at about eleven o’clock in the evening he went to Mustafino. And as soon as he approached the seventh courtyard, the stallion neighed, recognizing his owner. The father untied him secretly and galloped back. But even though my father was not sent to prison, he was removed from the chairmanship and was not accepted into the party. He began to work as a simple machine operator on a combine harvester. And I, with the cross given by my mother from Jerusalem, according to her prophetic words, subsequently, in 1946, took monasticism with the name Misail and I sacredly keep this cross all my life as God’s blessing.”

A resident of the village of Sharlyk, Orenburg region, Valentina Nikolaevna Bobkova shared the memories of her mother, Ekaterina Ivanovna Kulikova , who lived in the village. Karmalka, Sharlyk district and died there in 1999.

My mother said that when she was about 10 years old, she became very ill and had a fever for forty days and nights. We contacted healers and took us to the hospital, but there was no improvement. Someone suggested to my grandmother that they take my mother to the village of Sentsovka to see Mother Zosima. They harnessed the horse, put my mother in the tarantass (from weakness she could no longer walk or sit) and drove off. Mother met them on the porch of the house with the words: “Why didn’t you come for so long, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. Why are you so sick, Katya? Well, let’s go to the house, I’ll fly you.”

Mom was carried into the house in their arms. Mother began to read prayers over her head and gave her holy water to drink. After that, my mother began to shake less and less often. Having blessed them on the road, mother said: “Now she will fall asleep, let her sleep as long as she sleeps, don’t wake her up, everything will pass.” When they drove away from Zosima's house, mother asked grandmother how mother knew her name. The grandmother herself was surprised: “We didn’t tell her anything.” Dear mother fell asleep, they brought her into the house, and she slept for more than a day and a half. When she woke up, she asked for food. This is where her recovery began, the disease subsided.

Another incident also happened in our village. Pashkova Sofia Ivanovna’s daughter Evgenia fell ill; she was 2-3 years old. She cried days and nights. The hospital found nothing. Kind people suggested not to torture the child, but to take the girl to her mother in Sentsovka. As in the previous case, we reached Sentsovka with great difficulty, the horse was stubborn and did not want to go. But thank God, we got there. When the mother read prayers over the girl, she slowly began to calm down and fell silent. After the treatment, mother reminded Aunt Sonya of the incident: “Do you remember, it was at Easter, you gave your daughter a red egg, but she couldn’t hold it and dropped it. And you picked up the testicle, wiped it on your apron and scolded her, and then again gave the testicle into her hands.” Aunt Sonya remembered this incident. And her mother instructed her: “This is the power of a mother’s word! You should never say bad words to children or other people.”

Proceedings

A distinctive feature of the works of St. Zosima is a language - despite the time of writing (the beginning of the 19th century), the elder wrote in Church Slavonic.

• Life of St. Basilisk, Optina Pustyn, 1849 (2nd edition)

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), having read this work, responded as follows:

“The life of Basilisk is evangelical, his wisdom is evangelical, purified and enlightened”

[6].

St. Filaret (Drozdov) testified:

“In the gracious reign of Christ the Savior, one can often see that He, among hidden deeds, shines a gracious light in the souls of the elect, but then acts according to His rule, expressed in the Gospel: not to hide the lamp under a bushel, but to use it to enlighten others through him. This can also be noted in the lives of the elders Basilisk and Zosima. The basilisk was silent in the desert, hopeless. Zosima had to sometimes enter villages to acquire the necessary needs of life and, consequently, enter into relations with people. He met souls toiling and burdened in the world, seeking peace of mind and needing guidance. At strong requests, with the blessing of Elder Basilisk, Zosima accepted them into his leadership. And thus began a hostel in distant Siberia"

[7].

• Narration of the actions of the heartfelt prayer of the elder desert dweller Basilisk
• Notes about the life and exploits of Pyotr Alekseevich Michurin, monk and desert dweller Basilisk and some features from the life of the holy fool mon. Ions / Ed. Optina is empty. M., 1819
• "Treasured Letters"

All famous works and letters of St. Zosima was published in the book “St. Elder Zosima Verkhovsky. Creations", Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 2006.

Venerable Zosima of Solovetsky, abbot

Audio:

Kontakion 1

The chosen saints of the Lord and great miracle workers, the luminaries of Christ's Church of the Most Blessed, shone with piety by the lordships of the desert of Northern Pomorie, and the whole country of Russia, shining with many miracles, Our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane, as having boldness towards the Lord, with their favorable prayers to Him from all Preserve us in troubles and evils, so we joyfully call to you:

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Ikos 1

Angels have truly appeared on earth and people in heaven through your life, our blessed fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germana: in the flesh, as if incorporeal, the angelic life on earth has been completed, all the beauties of the world and temporary pleasures, as they are capable of imputation, but through purity and fasting I will bring you closer to God . Now it is worthy for him to stand with the bodiless, accept from our love the praise brought to you by the sips:

Rejoice, having loved the One God with all your soul;

Rejoice, having served Him with honor and righteousness from your youth.

Rejoice, you who have hated the corruptible beauty of this world;

Rejoice, having escaped the wisdom of worldly temptations and vanity.

Rejoice, having clinged with all your love to doing the commandments of the Lord;

Rejoice, having removed yourself from this world and all attachment to it.

Rejoice, having chosen a monastic life to please God for your own sake;

Rejoice, you who loved the narrow and sorrowful path with all your soul.

Rejoice, seeker of wisdom for Christ, longed for beads and precious stones;

Rejoice, laborious bearer of Christ’s burden, light and good.

Rejoice, thou who imitated mortal flesh as a disembodied angel;

Rejoice, you who showed us the heavenly habitation on earth.

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Kontakion 2

Seeing yourself, Saint Savvaty, for the sake of many of your virtuous corrections, everywhere in your monastic stays you are revered and blessed, and fleeing the vanity of this world of glory, seeking eternal reward in heaven, you rushed to the Solovetsky stream, and there, in secret and visible to no one, you worked invisible and all to the seeing God. In the same way, having obtained what you wanted, we are instructed by blessed Herman to do this, and you joyfully cried out to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 2

Steadily directing your mind from your mother’s womb to God, and taking out the heavenly things, philosophizing and seeking, completely rejecting those below you, God-wise Zosimo, you were jealous of the life of the Venerable Savvatius, and in your empty father, where this God-given man accomplished your deeds, you moved in, so that you would inherit your residence with him. mountainous Jerusalem. Moreover, in both praising the desert lifestyle, we call to you:

Rejoice, love for Christ's sake, love in yourself for the world has trampled down;

Rejoice, having despised all the sinful sweetness of this age.

Rejoice, you who are like Abraham, not only in faith and hope, but also in your voluntary emigration from your family and home of your father;

Rejoice, all-red desert and blessed planting.

Rejoice, most diligent and zealous of silence;

Rejoice, sincere lover of difficult desert feats.

Rejoice, more so in the wilds and mountains than in the villages of the world, who have deigned to wander about;

Rejoice, in the impassable deserts, united in labor and observance of the commandments of the Lord, having loved to strive.

Rejoice like gold, having been tempted in the crucible of desert bitterness;

Rejoice, you who valiantly endured many temptations from demons and people.

Rejoice, the prophet of God Elijah and the baptizer of the Lord John imitated the character of desert love;

Rejoice, for Herman is blessed with the like-mindedness of the companion of love and the silence of the merchant.

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Kontakion 3

The heavenly powers, sent to serve those who want to inherit salvation, have served you wonderfully, O God-loving two. Whenever the inhabitants of the world, chilling your silence, Father Savvaty, wanted to live on an island near you with their wives and children, the angels, with a formidable reprimand and punishment, the fishermen’s wives stopped them from undertakings contrary to God: but for you, Father Zosimo, who remained in the winter except the brush, with angelic service the required food was taught. For this reason, let us sing to God, who saves His saints: Alleluia.

Ikos 3

Having the tide of the sea in his own abode, inhabited by no one, and abiding in it, like in a God-created paradise, outside the rebellions and worries of everyday life, and besides vain worries, he has striven piously and godly for the blessing of God, studying day and night in the law of the Lord, and Every hour, with an untroubled mind and a pure heart, lifting up zealous prayers and supplications to God. For this reason we cry out to you with joy:

Rejoice, you who have always desired to walk blamelessly in the law of the Lord;

Rejoice, having always had your Lord before your eyes.

Rejoice, having protected all your paths with the fear of the Lord;

Rejoice, in sobriety we will spend our entire lives wisely.

Rejoice, you who have completely captured all the thoughts of your mind into the obedience of Christ;

Rejoice, having presented your pure hearts as a dwelling place to the Holy Spirit.

Rejoice, you who did not let your eyes sleep during the all-night vigils of the Lord;

Rejoice, you who endured sorrows in the teaching of death and in heartfelt sighs to the Lord.

Rejoice, you who labored with sincere love to praise God and sing psalmody;

Rejoice, you who have continually raised prayers to God with your heart and lips.

Rejoice, having found the hidden Kingdom of God within your heart;

Rejoice, as the intelligent ones ascend to the heavenly vision.

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Kontakion 4

The storm of this multi-rebellious life has comfortably passed, Reverend Fathers, and the fierce waves of passions and temptations, raised from the world and the flesh and from the spirits of malice, without plunging or shaking the ship of your souls, the sails of unceasing prayer hailed, and alleviated by non-covetousness, guided by the grace of God . In the same way, you have reached the serene refuge of the eternal belly, crying out to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 4

Hearing and leading from the Divine scriptures, as all who labored in piety, I crucified my flesh with passions and lusts, in pious wisdom, about the Reverend, following these feats, I strived to mortify my souls that exist on earth, in fasting, vigils and in all the labors of monastic life, courageously enduring sorrow. For this reason, as good ascetics of piety, we crown you with praises of calico:

Rejoice, your body has withered away through labors and diseases of abstinence;

Rejoice, all carnal wisdom, warring against the spirit, subduing the spirit.

Rejoice, having extinguished the flames of passions with tears of repentance;

Rejoice, having purified your souls in the furnace of abstinence as if they were gold.

Rejoice, you have put away the old man with his passions;

Rejoice, having clothed yourself worthily with the garment of dispassion and the glory of incorruption;

Rejoice, you who have hated the temporary sweetness of sin;

Rejoice, you who have inherited endless joy in heaven.

Rejoice, before death, in the world and crucify your flesh with its sweetness;

Rejoice, having manifested the glory of the future life in yourself before the resurrection.

Rejoice, you have shown us the path of fasting to the inheritance of paradise, lost through intemperance;

Rejoice, having presented to all in a dead and corruptible body the immortality and incorruptibility of the next century.

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Kontakion 5

Bountiful and many-bright stars appeared to nature, Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Herman, luminous in the correction of the commandments of the Lord, illuminating the souls and hearts of the faithful, and floating in the night of sinful darkness in the abyss of the worldly sea, showing the reliable path to the blessed haven of the Heavenly Kingdom. In the same way, we sing to the benefactor of God, who have shown you as leaders and teachers of salvation: Alleluia.

Ikos 5

Having seen the malice of the hater of human salvation, the unclean souls of darkness, your godly life, blessed fathers, I raised up a variety of temptations and fears against you, when in your thoughts and hearts there was overwhelming fear and confusion, but then transforming; in various ghosts of wondrous animals and reptiles, I rush with rage at you, hoping to turn you away from the deed pleasing to God and expel you from the desert: but you, with firm faith in God the Provider, powerfully and with the weapon of prayer and abstinence against your enemies, taking up arms against your enemies, will be victorious to the end and overthrow them power. For this reason, singing a victorious song, we appeal to you:

Rejoice, warriors of spiritual invincibility;

Rejoice, armorers of Christ's good victory.

Rejoice, ascetics, who courageously took up arms against the wiles of the evil one;

Rejoice, strong pillars, not shaken by the attacks of the enemy.

Rejoice, you who destroyed all the arrows of the devil like pride;

Rejoice, you have imputed all the hardships and insurance costs to nothing.

Rejoice, for you are in the flesh, having conquered the incorporeal and invisible enemies;

Rejoice, as you are lying in graves, you are overthrowing the enemy militia.

Rejoice, victors of glory, crowned by the Heavenly Crowned One;

Rejoice, champions of goodness in those who fight against the ruler of the darkness of this age.

Rejoice, for the angels were amazed at your feat;

Rejoice, for the assembly of the faithful rejoiced in your glory.

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Kontakion 6

The will of God preached by the angels about the population of monastics in the Solovetsky outflow has been fulfilled by you, the most blessed fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and German: behold, the desert is barren and uninhabited, and abundantly watered with your sweat and tears, it has appeared like a prosperous heliport and a verbal paradise, where the faces of monasticism have been taught by you. , bearing fruits pleasing to God, they sing the angelic song to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 6

Shine forth, God-bearing fathers, with the light of piety, like a divinely luminous luminary, enlightening everywhere with the luminous rays of your deeds and virtues. Because of this, we, sinners and darkened by the darkness of passions, in the light of your godly deeds flowing towards the day of light and salvation, we praise you, singing to your face:

Rejoice, disciples of Christ's good obedience;

Rejoice, Masters of your rabbi Blasia and Vernia.

Rejoice, most industrious workers of Christ’s grapes;

Rejoice, you who fulfilled the most diligent commandments of Christ.

Rejoice, you who have bowed your heart in submission to the yoke of Christ’s humility and meekness;

Rejoice, in the footsteps of Christ the Lord, who taught about poverty, diligently in the poverty and lack of wealth that followed.

Rejoice, according to the word of the Lord, having traversed the path of this temporary life through sorrowful and cramped paths;

Rejoice, like the rain, having washed away your souls with currents of tears.

Rejoice, O most beautiful Bridegroom who has preserved the beauty of his virginity;

Rejoice, in every holy thing, in all your good deeds that have pleased Him.

Rejoice, having glorified your Lord in your souls and bodies;

Rejoice, from the Lord, according to the inheritance of glorification on earth and in heaven.

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Kontakion 7

Although you would save many, the Most Merciful God will show you to be not just mentors of a host of monastics, but like preachers of God, proclaiming the name of God in the countries of Lapland. For the people who dwell in these places, and who did not know God until then, but who were very fond of idolatry and wickedness, in your lordship, O Reverence, lives, signs and wonders, having seen the first dawn of saving knowledge of God and piety, and from you having learned to sing praises to the true God : Alleluia.

Ikos 7

Having wondrously and gloriously completed the path of your salvation, having founded a wondrous and divine monastery for the salvation of the monastic, blessedly accepting the end of your life, our fathers, Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane, are ever in memory: both, and after your death, everlastingly live us, your children, You never forsake us, not in spirit, but always abiding to us, but also in giving us your whole-giving relics, like a priceless treasure. For this reason, we joyfully please you, calling:

Rejoice, having fought a good deed throughout your life;

Rejoice, having been crowned with glory and honor from your Lord Christ.

Rejoice, for having labored for a time, you have entered into eternal rest;

Rejoice, for having walked the narrow path, you have reached the bliss of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Rejoice, even if not together, but in equal struggles, you fought on earth;

Rejoice, for your equal life, as you enjoy joy and gladness together in heaven.

Rejoice, thou who in the father is empty, like a city, a monastery founded by a monk;

Rejoice, you who have gathered the hosts of monks in Christ the Bose.

Rejoice, guardians of your flock, ever cheerful, and in these days of temporary life, not resting from deeds of charity;

Rejoice, sons of the Kingdom, who live in Heaven and do not leave the earthly.

Rejoice, in your spirit you are with the holy angels, and abiding with us sinners forever;

Rejoice, from your honest relics flowing streams of mercy upon everyone.

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Kontakion 8

Having seen the strange and wonderful, great and beautiful church that appeared in the air, yet this place, in which the monastery of monks was named, seeing the indescribable light shining, you were filled with horror, Father Zosimo, from the wondrous vision. Moreover, having understood God’s revelation in this, encouraging you to build a monastery, and also seeing the future glory of this place, with a tender heart and lips you sang to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 8

All orthodox Russian people, glorifying your holy and equal-angelic life, in all kinds of needs and sorrows flow to your help and intercession, most wonderful fathers: for grace has been given to you from God to pray for us, to deliver and save us from all the troubles and evils that come to the reliquaries of your venerable relics, and calling on your holy name in every place. Moreover, confessing your wonderful good deeds, we write a note of gratitude to you, calling:

Rejoice, sources of inexhaustible Divine gifts;

Rejoice, vessels of mercy and love for people who do not depend on you.

Rejoice, as you offer fragrant incense to God for peace;

Rejoice, for through your silent intercessions every blessing from the right hand of God has been brought down upon us.

Rejoice, for those who are in sorrow and need have received the knowledge of a helper;

Rejoice, in the circumstances and misfortunes of the speedy accomplice.

Rejoice, healers in the sick, and helmsmen and deliverers in the storm of the afflicted;

Rejoice, intercessors and comforters in all troubles and temptations.

Rejoice, faithful, piously honoring you, for your opposing supporters;

Rejoice, all Russian lands, in the election of a prayer service and intercessor.

Rejoice, you who work glorious miracles on earth and sea;

Rejoice, you have unenviably extended help to those who call for help in every possible way.

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Kontakion 9

Having adorned yourself with all the God-red graces of virtues, most praiseworthy Zosimo, you appeared most redly in soul and body, worthy of being anointed with the Divine ointment. Moreover, when in the holy temple you performed the first Divine service before the throne of the Lord, seeing your whole face covered with the light of grace, like the face of an angel: the whole temple, as a well-known testimony of your dignity, was filled with a great fragrance. For this reason, everyone, thanking God for their shepherd, cried out with a joyful heart: Alleluia.

Ikos 9

By Vetian good-proclamations it is not possible to glorify and glorify the many and innumerable, great and glorious, and surpassing all earthly understanding, performed by you, Reverend Fathers, at all times of miracles. Moreover, let us not appear through silence, like a servant who hid the treasure of his Master, from lips that are not even trained and do not have a word of wisdom, but driven by love and gratitude, we dare to extend a song of thanksgiving in memory and glorification of your miracles, calling to your face:

Rejoice, miracle workers of great honor and blessing;

Rejoice, soul and body healed from sickness.

Rejoice, you who enlighten the blind with the grace of God;

Rejoice, lips bound by dumbness, resolving blessings.

Rejoice, you who are relaxed and correct infirmities;

Rejoice, you who grant uprightness to the lame.

Rejoice, you who were captivated by your intercession from bonds and who freed captivity;

Rejoice, you who are dead by the power of God and who are resurrected by your prayer.

Rejoice, you who perform grace-filled healing in all passions and illnesses.

Rejoice, you who give peace and spiritual enlightenment to those languishing in circumstances and misfortunes;

Rejoice, for those who follow the Lord’s path along narrow and sorrowful paths, giving divine help.

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Kontakion 10

Having accomplished the feat of salvation well, renouncing this temporary life and departing to the eternal and blessed life, O blessed Zosimo, you consoled your disciples, saying that, having separated from them physically, you will not depart from them and your abode in your spirit. It is from this very deed that you fulfill your word, appearing, not just invisibly co-present with us and watching over everything, but also visibly many times, together with blessed Savvaty, appearing at the right time to those who call on you for help and cry out to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 10

An insurmountable wall and a solid cover, salvation was taken away and the weapon of victory was given to us, Reverend Fathers, your warm prayers to God, on the day of this fierce battle, when, through our sin and iniquity, we were attacked by the strong and the skillful with fire and sword in our possession yours, in order to destroy your shrines and lay them in ruin and trampling, but to conquer your spiritual children and destroy them with a worthless death; On the other hand, having been able to do no evil, they themselves were especially filled with coldness and dishonor, while those who hoped for your help were girded with joy and gladness about their salvation. Thanking God for this, we confess your intercession and intercession, and cry out to you warmly from the depths of our souls:

Rejoice, good shepherd, protecting your flock from destructive enemies;

Rejoice, as eagles cover their chicks under their wings.

Rejoice, having overshadowed us with the cover of your prayers on the day of battle;

Rejoice, O wrath of God, righteously driven upon us, having been quenched by your intercession.

Rejoice, you who did not allow your property to be trampled and stolen;

Rejoice, having preserved your hopes from the fiery ignition.

Rejoice, you who trusted in us and freed us from the destruction of mortals;

Rejoice, you who wonderfully preserved those from wounds and ulcers, from bonds and captivity.

Rejoice, having turned your enemies' pride and arrogance into stupefaction and dishonor;

Rejoice, we who live in your monastery, unskilled and unarmed, clothed in joy and gladness.

Rejoice, vigilant guardians of the faith and piety of the fatherland;

Rejoice, you who appeared for the Fatherland and became courageous warriors after death.

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Kontakion 11

Songs of praise and all-contrite prayers, bringing the long journey and the dangers of the sea to nothing, flow to your celibate might kings and princes, saints and nobles, the rich and the poor, near and far, all ages and sexes, and all faithful copulations, and as from an inexhaustible source, according to each of their needs, accepting abundant healing of the soul and body, they glorify and magnify God, who has given such grace to you, singing: Alleluia.

Ikos 11

By the light of Divine grace, in the depths of the earth, in wondrous signs and wonders, from the first days of your repose your relics shone forth, worthy and righteously the faces of monasticism, worn out from many years of protection, placed with reverence on the church candlestick, in the temple, created in your name, by great piety and holy imitator of your exploits, confessor and martyr, Saint and First See of Russia, Philip. And we now, piously rejoicing in your glory, the truly honest shrines of your relics and kindly kissing you, loudly call to you:

Rejoice, most blessed lamps, gloriously placed in the candlestick of the Church;

Rejoice, arks of honesty, not with stones and gold, but with the grace bestowed upon them.

Rejoice, like three stars illuminating the midnight darkness;

Rejoice, for there are three pillars that affirm the Orthodox faith within the borders of Northern Pomorie.

Rejoice, sources of heaven, pouring out seas of miracles;

Rejoice, dear beads who adorn the Church of Christ.

Rejoice, brightest mirror of piety and virtue;

Rejoice, the Church and the Fatherland have been invincibly taken away.

Rejoice, heavenly fulfillment of the most fragrant cries;

Rejoice, most fruitful vines of the Divine.

Rejoice, all-blessed fathers, glorified grief from God and angels, and blessedness from men;

Rejoice, for your joy, holy and perfect, endures forever.

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Kontakion 12

Sometimes the Most Blessed God, dwelling in all your bodies, show His Divine grace to the reverent monk Joseph in the form of two fiery pillars, from earth to heaven above your tombs, ascending and shining with an indescribable light: truly, for you are, Reverend Fathers, pillars of spiritual light, with the lordship of high virtues and the light of the knowledge of God, signs and wonders, which illuminated the spiritual darkness in the midnight countries. For this reason, to God, who glorifies His saints, we sing: Alleluia.

Ikos 12

Singing in songs the deeds and labors of your God-pleasing life, the glorious deeds and works done in every kind of goodness and miracles, praising and glorifying, we are perplexed, most wonderful fathers, what we should call you out of duty: for your virtues and talents are many, for this reason many befit you and naming. Moreover, being satisfied with small things in many, we sing this to you with love:

Rejoice, angels of earth, for you have lived through angelic life on earth;

Rejoice, people of heaven, for you are related to earth; you hate the earthly, but love the heavenly.

Rejoice, most patient fasters, who spent their entire lives in fasting;

Rejoice, worthy hermits, who served the Lord in the untrodden deserts.

Rejoice, teachers and mentors who lead your affairs on the path of salvation;

Rejoice, spiritual leaders, who lead many souls to heavenly villages.

Rejoice, martyr of the same morality, as you bravely fought your passions;

Rejoice, imitator of the apostle, who enlightened the darkness of unbelief in the knowledge of God with lordships.

Rejoice, prophet of the like, secret and future carrying out and prophecy;

Rejoice, to all the saints of oneness of integrity, exploits for the sake of and pleasing God.

Rejoice, performer of the mysteries of grace and miracles;

Rejoice, citizens of heaven and friends of God and His saints.

Rejoice, our Reverend Fathers Zosimo, Savvaty and Germane.

Kontakion 13

About the Reverend our fathers, Zosimo, Savvaty and German! Kindly accept from us, humble and unworthy, this praise offered to you, and with your favorable prayers to God, protect us from all misfortune and adversity, from illness and famine, from fire and sword, and the invasion of foreigners. Most of all, by your intercession, keep us strong from the invisible enemies who are seeking to destroy us, so that, having escaped their many-witted snares, we will live righteously and pleasing to God in the present world, and in the Kingdom of Heaven we will be worthy to sing with you to Christ our God: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

This kontakion is spoken three times, also the 1st ikos and the 1st kontakion.

Literature

• Vera (Verkhovskaya), abbot. Biography of Elder Zosima

For the first time, together with the sayings of the elder, it was published in 1860 in 2 books in one binding. Life of St. Zosima influenced the image of the elder Zosima in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov”.

• Abramov N.A. Turin Nikolaevsky maiden monastery
  // Tobolsk GV. 1865. No. 45. P. 289-290
• Gromyko M. M. Siberian acquaintances and friends of F. M. Dostoevsky
  . Novosibirsk, 1985. pp. 130-145
• Andrianov A. Yu. Hermitage and monastic life in the 1st third of the 19th century.
  in the works of Fr. Zosima (Verkhovsky) // Orthodoxy and Russian. adv. culture. M., 1993. Book. 2. pp. 44-91
• Konyukhov I. S. Kuznetsk Chronicle
  . Novokuznetsk, [1995]. pp. 45-54
• Kropochev I., priest. Siberian hermits
  // Native shrines: Sat. Art. according to Orthodox local history. Novokuznetsk, 2001. Issue. 1. pp. 66-75
• Zosima (Verkhovskaya), mon. St.
  Zosima (Verkhovsky) // Smolensk EV. 2002. No. 3. P. 38-44
• It's her. Map of Roslavl Tabernacles
  // Ibid. 2003. No. 2. P. 29-36
• It's her. Elder Zosima (Verkhovsky), modern.
  St. Seraphim of Sarov, as one of the first organizers of wives. monasteries in Russia // The legacy of Seraphim of Sarov and the fate of Russia: Scientific and theological materials. conf. Moscow-Sarov, 2004 N. Novg., 2005. P. 55-67
• It's her. Women's Zosimova Hermitage
  , M., 2008

The Holy Fool's Prophecy

When the time of general persecution of the Church came, around 1919, Mother Eunice took the great schema with the name Zosima (Greek “life”). The tonsure was performed by Bishop Andrei Ukhtomsky of Ufa and Menzelinovsky (he was at the Ufa See from December 22, 1913 to 1920). With the adoption of the schema, she slept until the end of her days in a cypress coffin, which she had once brought in 1912 from Jerusalem. According to evidence, she visited Jerusalem at least twice, walking to it through Turkish territory. Moreover, there, according to the story of the saint, during one of the pilgrimages, when she was walking along one of the streets of the holy city, her small and wizened old woman was suddenly picked up in the arms of some holy fool of enormous stature wearing only a bandage on his hips and exclaimed: “Zosimia , Zosimiya, Zosimiya! Andryusha Ufa, Prince Ukhtomsky, will tonsure you into the schema!”

The miraculous death of the Holy Venerable Zosima of Yennatskaya

Shortly before her death, the old woman announced to her loved ones: “When I was born, then I will die.” You won't see my death. Three days after the funeral, security officers will come, dig up my grave, and look for something in the coffin. They won't find anything. I will be turned face down, and you will all be arrested, except one person. You are not mourning. If this happens, it means that I am worthy of God, and if not, cry for me, I am lost...

That's exactly what happened. The schema-nun died on the night of March 1, 1935, her 115th birthday, so no one saw her death. She was buried in the cemetery of the village of Sentsovka, Sharlyk district (now Oktyabrsky district), Orenburg region. Soon, out of someone’s envy, it was announced to the GPU that a lot of gold had been placed in the grave with my mother. After the funeral, security officers from Sharlyk dug up the grave, opened the coffin, and opened her mantle. Of course, nothing was found... All of her spiritual children were soon arrested, except for one person...