Reverend Barsanuphius, in the world Pavel Ivanovich Plikhankov, was born on July 5, 1845. His path to the monastery was long and difficult, 46 years have passed in the world - most of his life. Cadet Corps, military service, brilliant career. A direct opportunity to acquire all worldly goods. And... giving up everything. Colleagues and acquaintances could not understand in any way: what was the “flaw” in the slender, handsome colonel, whose whole appearance so breathed some amazing inner nobility? He does not marry, he avoids balls and dinner parties, as well as other secular entertainments. I used to go to the theatre, and even he quit. Behind Pavel Ivanovich’s back, they sometimes even said: “I’ve lost my mind, but what a man he was! ..”

Meanwhile, these were only milestones on Pavel Ivanovich's path to leaving the valley and ascending the mountain. Somehow, his feet by themselves led him to a small poor monastery dedicated to St. John the Baptist. There he fell in love with praying at the relics of St. Barsanuphius of Kazan, he stood idle for long hours in the monastery church at the shrine of the saint. At first, the thought of monasticism was frightening, going to a monastery seemed impossible, and gradually the determination to leave the world matured. It only remained to make a choice: in which monastery to begin the monastic feat? During the period of these reflections, a spiritual journal fell into the hands of Pavel Ivanovich, and in it an article about Optina Hermitage and reverend old man Ambrose.

When he was just approaching the Optina skete, the blessed one, who was in Elder Ambrose’s “hut”, unexpectedly said with joy: “Pavel Ivanovich has arrived.

“That’s the glory of God,” St. Ambrose calmly replied ...

Here, in the "hut," Pavel Ivanovich heard the reverend's words that struck him: "Come back in two years, I will receive you." After two years, Colonel Plikhankov submitted his resignation. He arrived in Optina on the last day of the term allotted to him by the monk, but he no longer found the elder alive.

On February 10, 1892, Pavel Ivanovich was enrolled in the brotherhood of the John the Baptist Skete and was dressed in a cassock. Every evening for three years he went to talk to the elders: first to the Monk Anatoly, and then to the Monk Joseph.

A year later, on March 26, 1893, during Great Lent, novice Pavel was tonsured a cassock; in December 1900, due to illness, he was tonsured into a mantle with the name Barsanuphius; on December 29, 1902, he was ordained a hierodeacon; .

In 1903, the Monk Barsanuphius was appointed an assistant to the elder and at the same time the confessor of the Shamorda Women's Hermitage and remained so until the start of the war with Japan.

Soon starts Russo-Japanese War, and the Monk Barsanuphius goes to the front for obedience: he confesses, takes unction and communion of the wounded and dying, he himself is repeatedly subjected to mortal danger. After the end of the war, the Monk Barsanuphius returned to the priesthood. In 1907, he was elevated to the rank of abbot and appointed head of the skete.

By this time, the fame of him is already spreading throughout Russia. The holy righteous father John of Kronstadt, the venerable elder Barnabas of Gethsemane have gone to the eternal abode. The country was approaching terrible war and an immeasurably more terrible revolution, the sea of ​​life, agitated by whirlwinds of insane ideas, was already “rising up a storm of adversity”, people were drowning in its waves ...

Like a haven of salvation, they strove to the blessed Optina skete to the Monk Barsanuphius for the healing of not only bodies, but also tormented, sin-weary souls, they strove for an answer to the question: how to live in order to be saved? He saw human soul, and through prayers, the most secret in a person was revealed to him, and this gave him the opportunity to raise up the fallen, direct them from the wrong path to the true one, heal illnesses, mental and bodily, cast out demons. His gift of clairvoyance was especially evident when he performed the Sacrament of Confession. CM. Lopukhina told how, having arrived as a 16-year-old girl in Optina, she ended up in a "hut" in which the elder received. The Monk Barsanuphius saw her and called her to the confessional, and there he recounted his whole life, year after year, misdeed after misdemeanor, not only indicating the exact dates when they were committed, but also naming the people with whom they were connected. And having completed this terrible retelling, he ordered: “Tomorrow you will come to me and repeat to me everything that I told you. I wanted to teach you how to confess...

During the entire period of his monastic life, the Monk Barsanuphius left Optina only a few times, only out of obedience. In 1910, also “for obedience”, he went to the Astapovo station to give parting words to the dying L.N. Tolstoy. Subsequently, he recalled with deep sadness: “They didn’t let me see Tolstoy ... I prayed to doctors, relatives, nothing helped ... Although he was Leo, he could not break the ring of the chain with which Satan bound him.”

In 1912, the Monk Barsanuphius was appointed rector of the Staro-Golutvin Epiphany Monastery. Despite the great spiritual gifts of the elder, there were those who were dissatisfied with his activities: through complaints and denunciations, he was removed from Optina. He humbly asked to be left in the skete to live in peace, asked to be allowed to stay at least as a simple novice.

Courageously enduring grief from separation from his beloved Optina, the elder sets about improving the monastery entrusted to him, extremely upset and neglected. And as before, people flock to St. Barsanuphius for help and consolation. And as before, he himself, already exhausted from numerous painful ailments, accepts everyone without refusal, heals bodily and mental ailments, instructs, directs on a narrow and sorrowful, but the only saving path. Here, in Staro-Golutvin, a miracle of healing a deaf-mute youth is performed through his prayers. “A terrible disease is a consequence grave sin committed by a young man in childhood, ”the elder explains to his unfortunate mother and quietly whispers something in the ear of a deaf-mute. “Father, he doesn’t hear you,” the mother exclaims in confusion, “he’s deaf ...” “It’s he who doesn’t hear you,” the elder answers, “but he hears me,” and again says something in a whisper in my ear young man. His eyes widen in horror, and he nods his head obediently... After confession, the Monk Barsanuphius takes him to communion, and the illness leaves the sufferer.

For less than a year, the elder managed the monastery. His suffering during his deathbed was truly martyrdom. Having refused the help of a doctor and any food whatsoever, he only repeated: “Leave me alone, I am already on the cross...” The elder took communion every day.

On April 1/14, 1913, he gave his pure soul to the Lord. The Monk Barsanuphius was buried in Optina, next to his spiritual father and teacher, the Monk Anatoly "the Elder".

Barsanuphius of Optina

(Pavel Ivanovich Plikhankov, July 5, 1845, Samara - April 1, 1913, Kolomna, Moscow province).

« Truly, terrible time we are worried: they run from Christ and are ashamed of Him. But the Savior said: Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels (Mark 8:38)...Meanwhile, especially rich people are ashamed to admit that they are Christians.

“And not so long ago, when I was six years old, Christ was not ashamed. In homes, and even the rich, sitting at large tables, they first read a prayer, were baptized, and 60 years passed - and everything changed. Due to the indifference to the Church and its rites of educated people, and often simple ones, many are tempted ... and perish completely.

“In the Church we don't have living prophets now, but there are signs. They are given to us for the knowledge of times. They are clearly visible to people who have a spiritual mind. But this is not recognized in the world ...

“We will live to a terrible time, but the grace of God will cover us…”

Everyone is going against Russia, that is, against the Church of Christ, for the Russian people are God-bearers, the true faith of Christ is kept in them.”

“Now the eldership is burning down ... There is no longer eldership everywhere, in our Optina little candles are burning down. The enemy does not revolt against anything as much as against senile nourishment: all his strength is destroyed by it.

Everywhere he tried to extinguish it and extinguished it. There are monks who regularly live, but they know nothing about the revelation of thoughts, about eldership. Therefore, without eldership in many monasteries, only one form of monastic life, one appearance, remained. The Jesus Prayer is now rarely done, and what is monasticism without the Jesus Prayer?”

“We think too abstractly about hellish torments, as a result of which we forget about them. The world has completely forgotten about them. The devil inspired us all that neither he (i.e. the devil) nor hellish torments exist.”

“I have to hear complaints that we are now going through difficult times, that now complete freedom has been given to all heretical and godless teachings, that the Church is being attacked by enemies from all sides and it becomes terrible for her that these muddy waves of unbelief and heresies will overcome her.

I always answer: “Don't worry! Don't be afraid for the Church! She will not perish: the gates of hell will not prevail against her until the very doomsday. Do not be afraid for her, but you must be afraid for yourself, and it is true that our time is very difficult. From what? Yes, because now it is especially easy to fall away from Christ, and then - death.

"Something gloomy, terrible is coming into the world... A person remains, as it were, defenseless, so this evil force has taken possession of him, and he does not realize what he is doing... Even suicide is suggested...".

He warned about the fading of faith in the Russian people:« We have many thieves. Not those who reach into their pockets or rob houses, no, these thieves are meaner and more dangerous. They come to you in a suit, they say loud phrases, and as a result they steal the most precious thing - faith. When faith was stolen from a person, he asks his teachers: “But how to live now?” “Live according to your own mind,” they answer.

Reason, as you know, without faith, is not always a good adviser, and a person begins to follow the desires of his flesh and falls lower and lower. Little children, take care of the holy faith, this is an invaluable treasure, with it you will enter the Kingdom: after all, we are not working for small things, but for the conquest of the Kingdom, and even what Heaven! »

« A man was rich, suddenly became a beggar, it's hard, but fixable. He was healthy, became sick, and this is fixable - for Christ is with the poor and with the sick. And if you lose faith, it's a great misfortune. It is so terrible that a person has no support ... ».

“At present, not only among the laity, but also among the young clergy, such a conviction is beginning to spread: as if eternal torment is incompatible with the boundless mercy of God, therefore, torment is not eternal. Such a delusion comes from a misunderstanding of the matter.

“In the city of Kostroma, there once lived a blessed man who often asked one pious merchant: “Well, are the dead still alive?” Some laughed at his words, not understanding their meaning, but a spiritual person understood that by the dead, the blessed one meant passions that die away in pious people, but are still alive, and one must always be on the alert.

People who struggle with passions, like all of us, sometimes overcome them, sometimes are defeated by them. Those who struggle will be saved, the Lord will not despise their labors and efforts and will send them a Christian death. But carnal people, who do not think at all about the salvation of their souls, will perish, unless, of course, they repent before death.

“They don’t think how to try so that the children acquire Christ. They say money can buy everything. Only Christ cannot be bought for any treasures of the world. And without Christ there is no life, no salvation. The students were surprised how I managed to say everything for the good. I answered them that I did not think of what to say myself, but said what the Lord had announced to me.

“They write to me: “I hoped to find complete peace of mind in the monastery, I thought that there I would be imbued with a prayerful spirit, but what happens in reality? Life in the monastery is the same gray life as in the world: envy, intrigue, gossip... No, I can't bear it, what should I do now?

“Terrible is the death of unbelievers and blasphemers, and now there are so many of them! Writer Spencer characterizes many people like this: "People are pieces of wood, and their heart is a ruble." What self-interest from a piece of wood and from the ruble, and this expression very aptly characterizes people who are immersed in petty earthly interests and do not at all think about other, higher, ideals. Indeed, the Lord is not mocked (Gal. 6:7), and the law of retribution remains in full strength. Sinners are punished not only in the next life, but also in this life.”

He spoke about the spread of occult hypnosis in his time:« Father spoke about terrible force hypnotism. Indeed, this is a terrible force. Usually this power is used by sorcerers, sorcerers and other evil people to commit evil. For example, they order a man to kill himself, and he kills. Almost the only, if not the only, power against him is the Jesus Prayer. » .

not done Is this a den of thieves in your eyes, over which named

My name? Behold, I have seen it, says the Lord» (Jer. 7:4-11)

He wrote about how the enemy of the human soul corrupted pre-revolutionary Russian society:« Terrible phenomena sometimes occur in the cells of monks. We live in separate cells, but always at least two people in a separate room. This is so that in case of any demonic obsessions, one could knock on a neighbor's cell and ask for help. We had an outbuilding where one monk lived, but now they don't let you live there alone.

Once there was such a case. After evening rule the monk saw that some man, already advanced in years, was sitting in his cell, and said to him: “Why are you only smoking the sky here! Return to your former occupations, you will bring much more benefit there and, receiving a good maintenance, you will live in your own pleasure.

“But how do you get out of here? The doors of the skete are well locked.” “Don't worry about it, just wish, and I'll transfer you instantly. There is already a troika at the gate.” “But who are you? Right, demon? Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!” exclaimed the monk, who came to himself, and evil spirit disappeared ... Only the devil can insult like that - so viciously, so boldly, so arrogantly ...

For example, today he may have insulted me so much, said such nasty things that I barely got up. He said, of course, in a dream, in reality, thank God, he doesn’t appear to me, and you know, he says everything with a smile. So desperate villains, as they say, usually speak with a smile. So we also fall under his power and do what pleases him: we offend others, allow laughter, idle talk, etc. And, of course, he is to blame for everything ... " .

“The pride in which they (demons) stand before God, we cannot even imagine. We cannot understand with what hatred they treat God... “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). Why is it not said that God opposes fornicators, or the envious, or something else, but it is said: precisely the proud? Because this property is demonic. The proud becomes, as it were, already akin to a demon ... Behind pride, as if in her footsteps, fornication always follows ».

“When asked why the demons are so worried about us, the elder answered: “Because we rejected our weapons: self-reproach, humility, poverty and patience.”

“Monastic hieromonk and confessor Fr. Illary told me that Fr. Macarius, the Elder of Optina, once said under Archimandrite Moses that end times we will not see, but our descendants will see, as if hinting at the nearness of the end of the world.

“The spirit of this age reigns in the world. There is nothing to hold the vice there. What, for example, is a disgrace in Moscow, especially on holidays. A chaste girl is even afraid to walk through the streets: such nasty paintings and statues are displayed in the windows that, looking at them, you feel how the feeling of shame and chastity is offended ”(1910).

“Now it is especially easy to fall away from Christ and fall under the power of a dark force.”

“In our skete lives schemamonk father Boris, an old man of about eighty, a good life, beloved and respected by everyone. Recently, he told me that at night many demons in the form of strangers came up to the doors of his kalia and knocked on him. He fulfills the obedience of a goalkeeper in the skete, and his cell overlooks the forest surrounding the skete, and the door opens into the courtyard of the skete. Since the gates are locked at night, therefore, none of the outsiders can enter the skete at night.

The night before last, said the same Father Boris, demons terribly approached him and knocked on the gate, asking him to open them. On both these occasions Father Boris drove away the demons with the Jesus Prayer.

This same Father Boris had previously lived for three years in one of the corner towers of the skete. During this time, the demons bothered him a lot. For example, at night they will begin to dance over the ceiling of his kalia, sing bad songs, play musical instruments, sometimes appeared in the form big rats. Father Boris is silent about other insurances, he only waved his hand. He says that if you pass this tower at night, you can hear the cry and howl of demons.

“The head of our skete, Father Anatoly, also personally transmitted the following case to me. In the house of his acquaintance, who now serves as the manager of the state chamber in one of the provinces of the Kingdom of Poland, a demon wound up. His appearance was marked by knocking at night, the movement of furniture in the rooms, and most importantly, by the horror that attacked everyone living in the house, especially at night. He appeared to the children in the form of a small boy, dressed in a red jacket and doing various somersaults and jumps.

This acquaintance told about everything that was happening in his house to one city archpriest, an academician. The learned father archpriest, in response to this, only laughed at the simplicity and gullibility of his friend, but, however, promised to come in and see for himself the demonic tricks. Upon his arrival, during evening tea, suddenly he, and all the others, sitting ... see that a glass of vodka is moving through the air and stands opposite him on the table.

Behind her - another, then - a third, so that many glasses filled with vodka, tinctures, wines appeared in the same way in front of the father, the archpriest, who, from amazement and horror, could not come to his senses, seeing what was happening before his eyes. At the same time, he was also very embarrassed by the fact that he really liked to drink. Involuntarily, the scientist believed in the existence of demons.

“Father Adrian, a skete manatee monk, told me the following incident. He was about seven years old. One day he went to visit relatives who lived in the same village. These relatives in the house were, as they say, in general, about such houses, "restless." While playing in the room, the children suddenly saw a creature peeking out from under the bed. It was in the middle of the day, although there were no adults in the room.

The oldest girl, the owner's daughter, was no more than twelve years old. The children ran out of the room, and he with them; the girl was the last to run, and he was in front of her. When he ran out into the passage and looked around, he saw that some Living being, like a ball and covered with hair, ran out from under the bed. The girl at that time wanted to shut the door, but the creature rested its forehead on the door and did not allow it to be closed, so that the door remained a quarter open, at which time he managed to make out an invisible creature.

At the cry of the girl and other children, adults ran up, but at the very moment when they approached the girl, who was leaning against the door from the passage, the creature instantly disappeared, and they did not see it. The height of the unknown creature was about a yard.”

“The head of our skete, Father Anatoly, told me: “In our skete, a certain Zhadkevich, a nobleman, lived as a novice. The demon did not give him rest, confusing him with the thought that, at death, he would immediately seize his soul and drag him to hell. Instilled a demon and insurance on him.

So, when Zhadkevich once walked along the skete, he saw how suddenly a cook ran out of the meal with a broom, on which there were burning coals, and rushed to strike him with a broom. In horror, Zhadkevich rushed to run away from him, but the cook suddenly disappeared at the same time. It turned out that it was not a cook, but a demon that took on his image.

"Reverend JacobBy his equal-angelic life he reached such holiness that he performed great miracles: he healed the sick, cleansed lepers, cast out demons, and raised the dead. But then one day he was tempted. At night, a woman knocked on his cell, asking for shelter, as she had gone astray. The monk took pity on her and, fearing that wild animals would tear her apart, let her spend the night with him.

After a meager meal, the saint went into his inner cell, but a crafty thought began to confuse him, he entered again and, seeing a naked woman, fell into sin with her against her will. When the sin was committed, the devil began to inspire Jacob to kill the woman so that his sin would not be announced and all monasticism would not be reproached. Obeying these malicious suggestions, he committed another mortal sin - murder.

“I remember a terrible incident that happened at a ball, while I was still in the world. In one rich aristocratic house there was a masquerade ball (I was not there, but my comrades told me). At this ball there was one wonderful beauty. only daughter rich parents, she was well educated, brought up (of course, only in a secular way), why not give her pleasure?

Her parents spared nothing for her. Her costume depicted a pagan goddess, it cost more than one hundred rubles, they talked a lot about this costume. The ball opened, as always, with the polka, then other dances followed, and finally, the French quadrille. During the quadrille, the beauty suddenly fell in her death throes. She tore off her mask, her face turned black and it was terrible. Jaws twitched, eyes filled with horror, a plea for help that no one could give her. So she died in the middle of the ball ....

She appeared before the judgment of God, and the Lord said: “In whatever I find, in that I will judge” - so the Lord found her among the games, in the clothes of the goddess of debauchery, and her soul went to the gloomy gates of hell. This is how the service to the world ends!”

“Usually - the period of time from Christmas to Epiphany, but often this concept is combined with the concept of sinful pleasures, of which there are so many at this particular time.

The enemy mocks Christians, and the time in which the mystery of our salvation took place turns into a riot of all sorts of vices. That is why I called it a feat that you left all worldly pleasures: theaters, balls, masquerades - and came to our quiet monastery to spend these days in prayer, spiritual conversation and removal from worldly fuss.

“Why does it happen that another thinks that he is below every creature, and his actions do not correspond to this thought? “If you do not see actions that correspond to a humble opinion about yourself, then this latter is not true, but the deception of demons.”

He said a year before his death:“The end comes ... (faith) in Russia, according to the prophecies of the monk Abel and St. Seraphim of Sarov. Dark clouds are gathering over Russia….

There are monks who regularly live, but they know nothing about the revelation of thoughts, about eldership, for an elder is much higher than a monk and many bishops. Therefore, without eldership in many monasteries, only one form of monastic life, one appearance, remained. When the last elder disappears, we can say that Orthodoxy in Rus' has come to an end. ThirdRome will fall, then the seven bowls will be poured on the Earth by the great heavenly Judge.

Barsanuphius of Optinsky did not live to see 1917 and did not know how prophetically his predictions about God's punishment of Russian Sodom had come true. Many times he spoke about this to his student, the future hieromonk Elder Nikon (Belyaev):“We will already leave, and you will be participants and contemporaries of all these horrors ...

You will live until terrible times. Mark my word that you will see "the day is fierce."

(1845−1913)

On July 5, 1845, a son was born to the merchant Ivan Plikhanov in Samara, the baby was named Pavel. Ivan's wife died immediately after giving birth, so he was forced to marry again.

Elder Barsanuphius said: “My stepmother was deeply religious and unusually good woman, so she completely replaced my mother ... She got up very early, and every day she was with me at Matins ... She also loved to pray at home. He used to read an akathist, and I sang in a thin voice to the whole apartment: “Most Holy Theotokos, save us!”

Once, when I was 6 years old, there was such a case. We lived in a dacha on our estate near Orenburg. Our house stood in a huge garden-park and was guarded by watchmen and dogs, so it was impossible for an unseen stranger to get into the park.

One day my father and I were walking in the park, and suddenly, out of nowhere, some old man appeared in front of us. Approaching my father, he said:

Remember, father, that the child in due time will carry souls from hell.

Having said this, he turned and disappeared. In vain then they searched for him everywhere, none of the watchmen saw him ...

For ten years I was sent to a gymnasium ... Then I entered the service and settled in Kazan under the protection of the Queen of Heaven ...

When I was 35 years old, my mother turned to me:

Why are you, Pavlusha, still avoiding women, soon your years will come out, no one will marry you?

For obedience, I fulfilled my mother's wish... On this day, some acquaintances were given a dinner party. "Well, - I think, - with whom I have to sit next to, I will enter into a lengthy conversation with tm." And suddenly, next to me, at dinner, a priest, who was distinguished by a high spiritual life, sat down and started a conversation with me about the Jesus Prayer...

When dinner was over, I made a firm decision not to marry.

The Lord in inscrutable ways led me to monasticism. By the grace of God, I recognized Optina and Father Ambrose, who blessed me to enter the monastery.”

In 1881, Pavel fell ill with pneumonia. When, at the request of the sick colonel, the batman began to read the Gospel, a miraculous vision followed, during which Paul's spiritual insight came. According to Elder Nectarius, “from a brilliant military man, in one night, by the will of God, he became an elder.”

On February 10, 1892, Pavel Ivanovich was enrolled in the brotherhood of the John the Baptist Skete and was dressed in a cassock. Every evening for three years he went to talk to the elders: first to the elder Anatoly, and then to the elder Joseph.

On March 26, 1893, the novice Pavel was tonsured into a cassock, and in December 1900 he was tonsured into a mantle with the name Barsanuphius.

On December 29, 1902 he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on January 1, 1903 he was ordained a hieromonk...

In 1903, Hieromonk Varsonofy was appointed assistant to the elder and at the same time confessor of the Shamorda Women's Hermitage and remained so until the start of the war with Japan.

In 1904, Father Varsonofy was sent to serve the infirmary named after Reverend Seraphim Sarovsky, confession, communion, unction of the wounded and dying soldiers. Upon his return to Optina Pustyn after the end of the war, Father Varsonofy was elevated to the rank of abbot and appointed Holy Synod rector of the Optina Skete.

Elder Barsanuphius would later write: “All my actions and desires came down to one thing - to protect the holy covenants and institutions of the ancient fathers of the ascetics and our great elders, in all their Divine beauty, from various corrupting trends of this world...”

Continuing the traditions of the Optina eldership, he healed the souls of people, "dragged souls from hell." By the grace of God, the life of the people who came to him was revealed to him. Helping believers to remember forgotten sins, carefully denouncing, he taught repentance, through his prayer people were healed mentally and physically.

From the memoirs of the spiritual daughter of the elder Barsanuphius:

We reached the skete, the enemy distracted me in every possible way and inspired me to leave, but, having crossed myself, I firmly entered the hut ... I crossed myself there on the icon of the Queen of Heaven and froze. Father came in, I was standing in the middle of the cell ... Father went up to Tikhvinskaya and sat down ...

Come closer.

I timidly approached.

Get on your knees... It's customary for us, we sit, and around us, out of humility, they kneel down.

I collapsed so straight, not what I became ... Batiushka took me by both shoulders, looked at me infinitely affectionately, as no one had ever looked, and said:

My dear child, my sweet child, my precious child! Are you 26?

Yes, Father.

You are 26, how old were you 14 years ago?

I thought for a moment and replied:

That's right, and since this year you have sins that you began to hide in confession.

Do you want me to tell you them?

Tell Father, - I answered timidly.

And then Father began to tell my sins over the years and even over the months as if he were reading them from an open book...

The confession thus went on for 25 minutes. I was completely destroyed by the consciousness of my sinfulness and the consciousness of what great person in front of me.

How carefully he revealed my sins, how he was obviously afraid of hurting me, and at the same time how powerfully and severely he denounced them, and when he saw that I was suffering cruelly, he brought his ear close to my mouth so that I could only whispered:

But I, in my conceit, thought that I stood out from the people with my Christian life. God, what blindness, what spiritual blindness!

Get up, my child!

I got up and went to the lectern.

Repeat after me: "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb." Where do these words come from?

What icon is in front of you?

Queens of Heaven.

What is the Queen of Heaven? Tikhvinskaya. Repeat after me a prayer...

When I bowed my head, and Batyushka, having covered me with an epitrachelion, began to read the permissive prayer, I felt that such incredible burdens had fallen from me, it was so easy and unusual for me ...

After all that the Lord revealed to me about you, you will want to glorify me as a saint, this should not be - do you hear? I am a sinful person, you won't tell anyone... You are my treasure... help and save you Lord!

Many, many times the father blessed me again and let me go...

During conversations with spiritual children, Elder Barsophius said:

There are different paths to salvation. The Lord saves some in the monastery, others in the world...

You can be saved everywhere, just don't leave the Savior. Cling to the robe of Christ and Christ will not leave you.

A sure sign of the mortification of the soul is the deviation from church services.

A person who grows cold towards God, first of all, begins to avoid going to church, at first he tries to come to the service later, and then completely stops attending the temple of God.

Those who seek Christ find Him, according to the true gospel word: “Knock and it will be opened to you; seek and you will find”, “There are many mansions in My Father’s house.”

And note that here the Lord speaks not only of the heavenly, but also of the earthly abodes, and not only of the internal, but also of the external.

The Lord puts each soul in such a position, surrounds it with such an environment that is most conducive to its success. This is the outer abode, but it fills the soul with the peace of peace and joy - the inner abode, which the Lord prepares for those who love and seek Him.

Don't read godless books, stay faithful to Christ. If asked about faith, answer boldly. It is impossible to learn to fulfill the commandments of God without labor, and this labor is three-part—prayer, fasting, and sobriety...

Life is bliss... Life will become bliss for us when we learn to fulfill Christ's commandments and love Christ. Then it will be joyful to live, joyfully endure the sorrows that find, and ahead of us the Sun of Truth - the Lord will shine with indescribable light ... All the Gospel commandments begin with the words: Blessed - blessed are the meek, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the peacemakers ... From this it follows, as the truth, that keeping the commandments brings people the highest happiness.

All our life is great mystery God's. All the circumstances of life, no matter how insignificant they may seem, are of great importance ... There is no accident in life, everything is created by the will of the Creator. To become like God, one must fulfill His holy commandments.

How to be saved? The only way is through humility. “Lord, in everything I am a sinner, I have nothing good, I only hope for Your boundless mercy.”

When the valve in the heart for the perception of worldly pleasures closes, then another valve opens for the perception of spiritual ones. But how to get it?

First of all, peace and love for neighbors: “Love is long-suffering, merciful, love does not envy, love does not exalt itself, is not proud, does not act outrageously, does not seek its own, is not offended, does not think evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth .. ."

Then patience. Who will be saved?

I do not want to say that reading the works of our great writers was a sin, but there is reading that is more useful and instructive. First, the reading of the Psalter... This book, although written by St. king and prophet David, but by the instigation of the Holy Spirit, the prophet David himself says: "My tongue is the reed of a scribe who writes."

Then - "Lives of the Saints" is an irreplaceable reading that has such a beneficial effect on the soul, especially read in the Slavic language ...

Visit monasteries, especially on holidays... to relax your soul...

Although the monastic life is full of sorrows and temptations, it also brings with it great consolations, of which the world has not the slightest idea.

However, how not to be saved, if only to be saved and reach the Kingdom of Heaven, which may the Lord vouchsafe us all. Amen.

In 1912, Elder Barsanuphius was appointed rector of the Staro-Golutvin Epiphany Monastery. Despite the great spiritual gifts of the elder, there were those who were dissatisfied with his activities: through complaints and denunciations, he was removed from Optina. He humbly asked to be left in the skete to live in peace, asked to be allowed to stay at least as a simple novice.

Courageously enduring grief from separation from his beloved Optina, the elder sets about improving the monastery entrusted to him, extremely upset and neglected. And as before, the people flock to the elder Barsanuphius for help and consolation. And as before, he himself, already exhausted from numerous painful ailments, accepts everyone without refusal, heals bodily and mental ailments, instructs, directs on a narrow and mournful, but the only saving path. Here, in Staro-Golutvin, a miracle of healing a deaf-mute youth is performed through his prayers. “A terrible illness is the result of a grave sin committed by a young man in childhood,” the elder explains to his unfortunate mother and quietly whispers something in the ear of a deaf-mute. “Father, he doesn’t hear you,” the mother exclaims in confusion, “he’s deaf ...” “It’s he who doesn’t hear you,” the elder answers, “but he hears me,” and again says something in a whisper in my ear young man. His eyes widen in horror, and he meekly nods his head... After confession, Elder Barsanuphius takes him to communion, and the illness leaves the sufferer.

For less than a year, the elder managed the monastery. His suffering during his deathbed was truly martyrdom. Having refused the help of a doctor and any food whatsoever, he only repeated: “Leave me alone, I am already on the cross.” The elder took communion every day.

Saint Barsanuphius of Optina, pray to God for us!

The Monk Barsanuphius was one of the great Optina elders. According to the review of the Monk Nectarios, "from a brilliant military man, in one night, by the will of God, he became a great old man."

Elder Barsanuphius possessed all the fullness of the gifts inherent in the Optina elders: clairvoyance, miracle-working, the ability to cast out unclean spirits and heal diseases. He was vouchsafed true prophecies about paradise. He was seen at prayer illuminated by an unearthly light. After his death, he appeared to the Optina monks several times.

Abbot Innokenty (Pavlov), the spiritual son of the elder, gave him a vivid description: “He was a giant of the spirit. Without his advice and blessing, the abbot of the monastery, Father Xenophon, did nothing, and his spiritual qualities and the great charm that he had for all his spiritual children can be judged by a brief expression from the tombstone: “You can’t replace a giant with small trees.”

Long haul

The way to Optina of the elder Barsanuphius turned out to be longer than all the other Optina elders: he came here with the blessing of the Monk Ambrose in the forty-seventh year of his life, when strong gray hair broke through in his hair. What was this path like?

Not much is known about the life of the elder before his admission to the brethren of Optina Pustyn, which is forty-six years. But Father Varsonofy himself often spoke about himself in conversations with spiritual children - their records brought us information about his life before Optina.

under special patronage

The Monk Barsanuphius, in the world Pavel Ivanovich Plikhankov, was born in 1845 in Samara on the feast day of the Monk Sergius of Radonezh, whom he always regarded as his patron. His mother Natalia died during childbirth, and the child himself remained alive thanks to the sacrament of Baptism, which the priest immediately performed on him. His father came from the Cossacks, was engaged in trade.

The boy's grandfather and great-grandfather were very rich. Almost all the houses along Kazanskaya Street belonged to the Plikhankov family. All members of the family were pious and deeply religious people, they helped a lot the church of the Kazan icon located on the same street. Mother of God. The family believed that their family was under the special patronage of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

After the death of the mother, the father remarried, and in the person of the stepmother, the Lord sent the infant a deeply believing, kind-hearted mentor who replaced him mother. And here is Pavlusha with early age- a real Orthodox person. He goes with his mother (as he called his stepmother) to church, regularly takes communion, reads the house rule. He later recalled: “Mom loved to pray at home too. He used to read an akathist, and I sang in a thin voice to the whole apartment: “Most Holy Theotokos, save us!” At the age of five, Pavlusha began serving at the altar and often heard people predict: “You should be a priest!”

This child in due time will carry souls from hell!

A significant incident happened to a child when he was about six years old. He himself later recalled: “For six years I was in the garden with my father and rummaged through the sand in the alley. Suddenly, a stranger walks along the alley. And it is marvelous how he could get into the garden when the garden is surrounded by large dogs that do not let anyone through without barking. The wanderer quietly approached his father and, pointing at me with a pen, said: “Remember, father, this child will drag souls from hell in due time!” And after these words, he left. Then we couldn't find it anywhere. And God knows what kind of wanderer he was.”

Begged God for monasticism

For nine years, Pavlusha was enrolled in a gymnasium, he studied very well, read a lot, knew world literature very well. Later, as an old man, he often talked about the benefits of book knowledge, primarily the lives of the saints. He recalled about his studies at the gymnasium: “In the summer we were moved for holidays to a picturesque state estate ... There was a beautiful birch alley ... Pupils usually got up at six o'clock, and I got up at five o'clock, went to that alley and, standing between those birches, praying. And then I prayed as I never prayed again: it was the pure prayer of an innocent child. I think that there I begged for myself, begged monasticism from God.

"Oddities" of officer Pavel Ivanovich Plikhankov

Then there was a study at the Orenburg military school, staff officer courses in St. Petersburg. Gradually rising in the ranks, he soon became the head of the mobilization department, and then a colonel. At that time, he had not yet thought about entering the monastery, he imagined monastic life like this: “terrible boredom - there is only radish, vegetable oil and bows.” But he was already called, often imperceptibly, but sometimes very clearly, the Lord led him precisely to monastery. Hence the numerous "oddities" of officer Pavel Ivanovich Plikhankov, which were talked about by those around him.

He was a young military man, his colleagues spent their lives in entertainment, but in his life he came to more and more asceticism. His room resembled a monk's cell in its simplicity of decoration, order, as well as many icons and books. Years passed. His comrades got married one by one.

Later, the elder recalled this time: “When I was thirty-five years old, my mother turned to me: “Why are you, Pavlusha, still avoiding women, soon your summers will come out, no one will marry you.” For obedience, I fulfilled my mother's wish... On this day, some acquaintances were given a dinner party. "Well, - I think, - with whom I have to sit next to, with that I will enter into a lengthy conversation." And suddenly, next to me, at dinner, a priest, who was distinguished by a high spiritual life, sat down and started a conversation with me about the Jesus Prayer ... When the dinner was over, I made a firm decision not to get married.

Military service, brilliant career. In the service, he was on the most brilliant account, and the rank of general was not far off for him. A direct opportunity to acquire all worldly goods. And... giving up everything. Colleagues and acquaintances could not understand in any way: what was the “flaw” in the slender, handsome colonel, whose whole appearance so breathed some amazing inner nobility? He does not marry, he avoids balls and dinner parties, as well as other secular entertainments. I used to go to the theatre, and even he quit. Behind Pavel Ivanovich’s back, they sometimes even said: “I’ve lost my mind, but what a man he was! ..”

Why, it was Saint Barsanuphius who led me out of the theatre!

Once Pavel Ivanovich went to the opera house at the invitation of his military superiors. In the midst of an entertaining performance, he suddenly felt an inexpressible longing. He later recalled: “In my heart, it was as if someone was saying:“ You came to the theater and are sitting here, and if you die now, what then? The Lord said: In what I find, in that I will judge ... With what and how will your soul appear to God if you die now?

And he left the theater and never went there again. Years passed, and Pavel Ivanovich wanted to know what date it was then, whose memory was. He consulted and found out that there was a memory of the saints Guriy and Barsanuphius, Kazan wonderworkers. And Pavel Ivanovich understood: “Lord, it was Saint Barsanuphius who led me out of the theatre! What a deep meaning in the events of our life, how it is located - exactly according to some special mysterious plan.

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

There were other signs as well. Somehow Pavel Ivanovich went to the Kazan monastery for confession and found out by chance that the name of the abbot of the monastery was hegumen Varsonofy. When Pavel Ivanovich noticed that this name was difficult to hear, they answered him: “Why is it difficult? It’s familiar to us... After all, the relics of St. Barsanuphius and Archbishop Guriy rest in our monastery...” From that day on, Pavel Ivanovich began to often pray at the relics of the Kazan miracle worker, asking him for protection for himself: “Prelate Father Barsanuphius, pray to God for me! » Visiting this monastery, he involuntarily drew attention to its poverty and began to help: he bought a lamp, an icon case for a large icon, and something else ... “And so I fell in love with everything in this monastery! Verily, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

How many good seeds have been sown!

Now colleagues no longer called Pavel Ivanovich either to feasts or to the theater. But he did have little friends. Pavel Ivanovich's orderly, Alexander, a kind-hearted man, helped him find poor children who lived in huts and basements. Subsequently, the Elder said: “I was very fond of organizing children's feasts. These feasts brought joy to me and the children equally ... And I also told them about something useful for the soul, from the lives of the saints, or in general about something spiritual. Everyone listens with pleasure and attention. Sometimes, for greater edification, I invited one of the monks or hieromonks with me and let him speak, which made an even greater impression ... In front of us is a meadow, behind it is a river, and behind the Kazan river with its wonderful arrangement of houses, gardens and temples ... And it was good for me then - how much joy - and pure joy - I experienced then and how many good seeds were then thrown into these receptive children's souls!

Meeting with Father John of Kronstadt

In Moscow, Pavel Ivanovich met with the holy and righteous Father John of Kronstadt. This fateful meeting he remembered for the rest of his life, later he would write: “When I was still an officer, I had to go to Moscow in my service. And at the station, I find out that Father John is serving mass in the church of one of the buildings. I went there at once. By the time I entered the church, Mass was already over. I went to the altar. At this time Father John was transferring the Holy Gifts from the throne to the altar. Putting down the Cup, he suddenly comes up to me, kisses my hand, and, without saying anything, goes back to the throne. All those present looked at each other and said later that this means some event in my life, and decided that I would be a priest ... And now you see how inscrutable the fate of God is: I am not only a priest, but also a monk.

So who will tell me which monastery to enter

Finally, Pavel Ivanovich established himself in the idea of ​​going to a monastery, but to which, where - there was complete uncertainty. During the period of these reflections, a spiritual journal fell into the hands of Pavel Ivanovich, and in it was an article about Optina Hermitage and the Reverend Elder Ambrose. “So who will tell me which monastery to enter,” thought the young military man and took a vacation.

When he was just approaching the Optina skete, the blessed one, who was in Elder Ambrose’s “hut”, unexpectedly said with joy: “Pavel Ivanovich has arrived.

“That’s the glory of God,” the Monk Ambrose calmly replied ... Both of them knew in spirit that he had come future elder. When Pavel Ivanovich came to the cell of the Elder, he found there, in addition to Father Ambrose, also Father Anatoly (Zertsalov). Both of them met him, as he recalled, "very joyfully", and Father Ambrose, who was unwell, even stood up, giving special honor to the visitor.

Here, in the "shack", Pavel Ivanovich heard the words of the reverend that struck him: "The temptation must continue for another two years, and then come to me, I will receive you." Obedience was also given - to donate certain sums from their rather high salary as a colonel to certain churches.

From a brilliant military man in one night he became an old man

In 1881, Pavel fell ill with pneumonia. When, at the request of the patient, the batman began to read the Gospel, a miraculous vision followed, during which the spiritual enlightenment of the patient came. He saw the heavens open, and shuddered all over, from great fear and light. All of life flashed before him in an instant. Pavel Ivanovich was deeply imbued with the consciousness of repentance throughout his life, and heard a voice from above commanding him to go to Optina Pustyn. He opened spiritual sight. According to Elder Nectarios, “from a brilliant military man, in one night, by the will of God, he became an elder.”

To the surprise of everyone, the patient began to recover quickly, and after recovery he went to Optina. The Monk Ambrose ordered him to finish all his affairs in three months, with the fact that if he did not arrive by the deadline, he would perish.

Overcame all obstacles

And this is where the obstacles began. He went to St. Petersburg for his resignation, but he was offered a more brilliant position and his resignation is being delayed. Comrades laugh at him, the payment of money is delayed, he cannot complete his business, he is looking for money on loan and does not find it. But the elder Barnabas from the Gethsemane skete rescues him, tells him where to get money, and also hurries to fulfill God's command. People resist his departure from the world, they even find him a bride. Only his stepmother, who replaced his own mother, rejoiced and blessed him for the monastic deed.

With God's help, Colonel Plikhankov overcame all obstacles and appeared in Optina Pustyn on the last day of his three-month term. Elder Ambrose was lying in a coffin in the church, and Pavel Ivanovich clung to his coffin.

Sorrows of a novice

On February 10, 1892, Pavel Ivanovich was enrolled in the brotherhood of the John the Baptist Skete and was dressed in a cassock. Every evening for three years he went to talk to the elders: first to the Monk Anatoly, and then to the Monk Joseph, the successors of Elder Ambrose. The new novice did not allow himself any preparatory stages and immediately began an ascetic life. Seeing the monk's rapid spiritual growth, the enemy of the human race began to do everything possible to bring him to despair and expel him from the skete. He set some brothers against him. The novice Paul did not give in, he behaved humbly, however, it cost him a lot.

The spiritual child of Father Barsanuphius, Father Nikon, later wrote in his diary: “Now Father told me about how he endured sorrows when he was a novice. The Father endured sorrows, arguing as follows: “It must be that I am worthy of all these sorrows. So, all of them are needed to wash away pride and other passions from me. Batiushka endured sorrows, not telling anyone about them, without complaining, trying not to get angry at the offenders. Not only that, in order to endure insults, one must also take care not to become angry at the offender. “Sometimes,” Father said another time, “it was necessary that it was just right to leave the Skete, but I decided it would be better to die than to leave. I had a firm hope in God and His Most Pure Mother. I used to stand in front of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, pray - and it will become easier for me.

All degrees are monastic

The Monk Anatoly gave the novice the obedience to be a cell-attendant of Hieromonk Nektarios, the last conciliarly elected Elder of Optina at that time. Near Father Nektariy, his cell-attendant went through all the monastic degrees for ten years: a year later, on March 26, 1893, during Great Lent, the novice Pavel was tonsured into a cassock; ordained a hierodeacon, and on January 1, 1903 he was ordained a hieromonk.

In 1903, the Monk Barsanuphius was appointed an assistant to the elder and at the same time the confessor of the Shamorda Women's Hermitage and remained so until the start of the war with Japan.

“We think too abstractly about hellish torments, and therefore forget about them. The world does not recognize them at all. The devil inspires everyone that neither the devil nor hellish torments exist. And the holy fathers teach that the betrothal of Gehenna, as well as the beatitude, begins on earth. Sinners still begin to experience hellish torments here, and the righteous begin to experience bliss. Only with the difference that in future life both will be incomparably stronger ... Hellish torments undoubtedly exist, and these torments will be material ... "

“At present, not only among the laity, but also among the young clergy, such a conviction: as if eternal torment is incompatible with the boundless mercy of God, therefore, torment is not eternal. Such delusion comes from a misunderstanding of the matter. Eternal torment and eternal bliss are not something that comes only from outside. But all this is primarily inside the person himself. … The kingdom of God is within you(Luke 17:21). What feelings a person instills in himself during his lifetime, with that he will depart into Eternal Life. A sick body is tormented on earth, and the stronger the disease, the greater the torment. Similarly, the soul, infected with various diseases, begins to suffer severely during the transition to Eternal Life. An incurable bodily illness ends in death, but how can a mental illness end when there is no death for the soul? Anger, anger, irritability, fornication, and other mental illnesses are such reptiles that crawl after a person and into Eternal Life.

... The Lord said: "I did not come to save the righteous, but sinners." Who here is meant by the righteous? People who are not aware of their sinfulness and yet sinful. But it is also said about demons. We cannot even imagine the pride in which they stand before God. We cannot understand with what hatred they treat God . God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Why is it not said that God opposes the fornicators, or the envious, or something else, but it is said precisely the proud? Because this property is demonic. The proud becomes already, as it were, akin to a demon ...

Venerable Barsanuphius of Optina

Rev. Barsanuphius of Optina (1845-1913):“The spirit of malice, inflamed by envy of the human race, seeks to seduce everyone from the path of the right - and indeed seduces the lazy and negligent.

Once, the devil appeared to a certain ascetic in a sensual way. The ascetic asked him:

Why do you attack the human race with such malice?

Why are you taking our vacancies? the evil spirit replied.

For their pride, the spirits of malice have lost their heavenly bliss, and now people take their places for humility! It puts us above the nets of the devil.

"Angels are the light of monks, monks are the light of the world"

John of the Ladder

“There are three ways: marriage, virginity and monasticism. Each path can lead to the Kingdom of Heaven... I do not call you to the monastery, with a real declinemonastic life is sometimes easier to be saved in the world. Everyone has their own path, if only a person sincerely seeks God, strives for Him. Of course, the monastic path is the royal path, and who, having entered the monastery, will be a true monk, will be worthy of a great reward.

Venerable Barsanuphius of Optina

Rev. Barsanuphius of Optina (1845-1913):«… I do not call you either to the monastery or to the monastery - and in the world you can be saved, only do not forget God,but they go to monasteries to achieve the highest perfection. True, there are more temptations here, but help is given from the Lord, and more than in the world.

One saint wanted to know how the Lord helps the monks, and he had a vision. He saw a monk surrounded by a host of angels with burning lamps. They say there are fewer temptations in the world, but imagine a person who is being chased by a villain. Suppose he managed to elude him, but he threatens him from a distance with his fist with the words: “Look, just get caught!” Or a man is walking, and he is attacked by a whole gang of bandits, there is nowhere to run. But suddenly, out of nowhere, a regiment of soldiers, they rush to his defense, and the offenders scatter with bloodied faces. Perhaps the latter is safer than the former, isn't it? So it is in the monastery: although the enemy is stronger, but there is nearby blessed power God's.In the monastery there are labors, but also high consolations, of which the world has not the slightest idea.

“Without faith, not only man will not save, but also God.

... The Lord requires of us, first of all, faith: Without faith, it is impossible to please God...(Heb. 11:6). No matter how many good deeds someone does, if he does them not in the name of Christ, then they have no value ...

... Children, take care of the holy faith, this is an invaluable treasure, with it you will enter the Kingdom. After all, we are not working for a small thing, but for the conquest of the Kingdom, and what a heavenly one! We want to become its citizens. Here I am, a sinful abbot, from morning to night I do not know peace. Because of which? I really want to get into the Kingdom, otherwise suddenly, God forbid, you will end up in hell, your whole life will go to hell.

Venerable Barsanuphius of Optina

Rev. Barsanuphius of Optina (1845-1913):“Without faith in something, nothing can be done. See why any person, even your brother, wants to become a doctor. Because he believes in medicine. Each of the scientists believes in his science. And so everywhere and in everything. Exactly the same for Christian life it is necessary to believe in God, Christ, the Gospel. “We cannot believe,” some say, “there is no evidence for that. Science is another matter, everything has been proven there.” Fine, but before rejecting anything, one must examine the subject, experience it. St. John the Theologian directly says that one must test the “spirit”. But you have to experience it in practice.

"At Reverend John The Ladder was asked if there were any sure signs by which one could know whether the soul is approaching God or moving away from Him. After all, with respect to everyday objects, there are certain signs - they are good or not. When, for example, cabbage, meat, fish begin to rot, it is easy to notice this, because the spoiled products emit a bad smell, change color and taste, and appearance their evidence of damage.

Well, what about the soul? After all, she is incorporeal and cannot emit a bad smell or change her appearance. To this question, the holy father
replied that a sure sign of the mortification of the soul is evasion from church services. A person who grows cold towards God, first of all, begins to avoid going to church. At first he tries to come to the service later, and then he stops attending the temple of God altogether.
Be sure to go to church, and always before the start, try to come first. Matins is one of the most difficult ordinances of monastic life, but it also has great power. Matins, according to the ancient fathers, is more important than Mass. At Mass, Jesus Christ sacrifices Himself to us, and at Matins we offer ourselves to Him as a sacrifice. This compulsion, this struggle with the flesh, is what matters.