“miracles constantly happen in the Lavra” conversation with the dean of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Archimandrite Pavel (Krivonogov). Schema-Archimandrite Lavrenty: holy, perspicacious elder Archimandrite Lavrenty Postnikov’s attitude to the Internet

Spiritual nourishment among the elders of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra

Abbess of the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevo Convent in Diveevo Abbess Sergia (Konkova) shared her memories of communicating with the elders of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
During the Soviet years, the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius was one of the spiritual centers where many pilgrims flocked from all over the country for spiritual help and nourishment. I remember many Lavra confessors -
Schema-Archimandrite Panteleimon (Agrikov),
Archimandrite Seraphim (Shinkarev),
Archimandrite Sergius (Petina),
Schema-Archimandrite Mikhail (Badaev),
Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov),
Archimandrite Naum (Bayborodin),
Archimandrite Lavrenty (Postnikov),
Archimandrite Venedikt (Penkov).
In my childhood and youth I had the opportunity to be nurtured by Archimandrite Seraphim (Shinkarev). The elder asked everyone: “Little girl, do you obey your parents? Listen to your parents and you will be carefree and carefree.” Using the example of the life of my parents, who took care of their parents, I was convinced that the fifth commandment of the Old Testament: “Honor your father and mother - that it may be good for you, and that you may live long on earth,” is still in effect today. My parents lived a prosperous life and died at the age of eighty-three, although my father was from a family of short-lived people. The Lord gave joy for obedience to parents.
Around the confessors of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, a habitat for spiritual children was formed, many of whom sought to settle closer to Zagorsk. They got jobs in museums, post offices, printing houses, and hospitals. We read the Indestructible Psalter, making up twenties to read. We read the Bible, the Gospel, soul-helping books in reprint editions: Abba Dorotheos, John Climacus, Philokalia, Isaac the Syrian, Simeon the New Theologian, St. John Chrysostom. We regularly began the Sacraments of Confession and Communion.
On Sundays and holidays, when the Refectory Church of the Lavra was not closed, at night they read the Follow-up to Communion for pilgrims and sang akathists to the Savior and the Mother of God.
In Russia during this period there was not a single functioning convent. The first to be opened in 1989 was the Tolgsky convent near Yaroslavl. We went to the Pukhtitsky convent in Estonia, to Kyiv to the Pokrovsky and Florovsky convents, and visited Diveevo, where not a single church was opened, but the Diveevo elders lived (among them nun Euphrosyne (Lakhtionova), later schema-nun Margarita), with whom Some shrines were kept - the chains of St. Seraphim, cast iron.
When I turned twenty, my mother took me to Archimandrite Seraphim and said that she wanted to know now how I would be arranged. The elder said: “She will be a nun.” At this time I was a medical student. My mother objected: “Father, this is boring,” and the elder: “I’m not bored, and she won’t be bored!” Mom again: “Father, it’s lonely,” and the elder: “I’m not lonely, and she won’t be lonely.”
At the age of twenty-three, that is, three years later, Archimandrite Seraphim sent me to the Riga hermitage to Archimandrite Tavrion (Batozsky) to submit a memorial for my relatives. I have been to the Pukhtitsa Monastery many times, but this was my first time in the Riga Hermitage, and I liked everything there so much! Forest on all sides, a small monastery - from the Riga Holy Trinity-Sergius Convent - with two churches: the Transfiguration of the Lord and St. John Climacus. At the monastery cemetery I stopped at the grave where the crucifixion of Christ was depicted on the cross, and cried that I would never enter the monastery, since I had just graduated from college (it was 1969), and I had to work for three years. I asked the Lord for forgiveness, remembering that at the age of six, when my mother stood us near the solea in the Refectory Church of the Lavra, emerging from the altar Father (it was Hieromonk Savva, the future schema-abbot of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery) patted me on the head, gave me a medallion and said: “Future nun.” I was active and said: “I’m not going to be a nun”...
I approached the Transfiguration Church and on its steps I heard the words of Archimandrite Tavrion’s sermon: “Whoever has put it in his heart to work for the Lord, let him not deviate from this thought. And at that time God will do it.” I clearly heard the words and remembered them for the rest of my life - I realized that the Lord Himself, through Elder Tavrion, gave me the answer. I began to prepare to enter the monastery. True, the first obstacle to this was my mother, who said that she and my father did not raise me so that in my old age there would be no one to give them a mug of water, and she blessed me to continue studying in residency. I submitted the documents, went to Archimandrite Seraphim for a blessing, and he clearly answered: “This is an empty matter, child! You've had enough of studying." I went to pick up the documents, but they didn’t give them to me, they said that I would pass the competition one hundred percent. But ten days later, the documents arrived by mail with the note: “You did not pass the competition because your registration is not in Moscow, but in the Moscow region.”
So I lived in anticipation of the fulfillment of God's will. She spent her holidays in the Pukhtitsa Monastery. The Lord fulfilled my intention to study further ten years later, when a referral to a residency at my institute came in my name, where I did not want to go, because they knew me as an excellent student, but they did not know that I was a believer and went to churches in Moscow. I did not live in a dormitory, but in an apartment with believing grandmothers. I was sure that the elder would not bless me to study, since seven years ago he did not give a blessing. And imagine my surprise when Archimandrite Seraphim said: “This is a good thing, child, go and study!” I reminded him that when I wanted to study seven years ago, I did not receive a blessing. To which he replied: “Then you asked for it yourself, but now they send you.” I asked: “Maybe I should ask to go to the Pyukhtitsa Monastery, where I spent my holidays as a student, and then vacations?” To this the elder said: “Go, but they’re unlikely to take you.”
I went to the Pukhtitsa Monastery and turned to Abbess Varvara, whom I knew. Explained the situation. She promised to ask for the blessing of Metropolitan Alexy (Ridiger), who came for one day. She told me to pray. On the morning after the Liturgy, I approached Abbess Varvara for the results. She replied: “Here is the bishop’s and abbot’s blessing for you: go study and help the believers.” And the old man had confidently said earlier that it was unlikely that they would take me. Nothing happens by chance.
When I was studying at the institute, I hid the fact that I was a believer, and could not listen to the words of the Holy Scripture without sorrow: Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of His Father... (Mark 8:38) These words reproached me and crushed my heart. And so the Lord looked upon my contrition and sorrow and gave me such determination that when I went on assignment to work in the city of Alexandrov, Vladimir region, I put on a cross on a chain and never took it off again (not for a medical examination, anywhere). I openly went to the church in Alexandrov and read the Six Psalms. So I went to MMSI to continue my residency studies, which lasted two years. After finishing my residency, I was offered to stay at the department to work, but the elder said that I would lose my faith, and I refused.
A year and a half after the death of Archimandrite Seraphim, my parents let me go to the Riga Holy Trinity-Sergius Convent, and Archimandrite Naum blessed me, and miraculously released me from work without work. So in 1981 I became a resident of the Holy Trinity-Sergius Convent. Three years later, Abbess Magdalene, with the blessing of Metropolitan Leonid of Riga and Latvia, transfers me as dean to the Riga Hermitage. When I arrived at the Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya Hermitage, I remembered how fifteen years ago I cried that I would never enter a monastery, but the Lord made the impossible possible.
In November 1991, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, I was transferred to the newly opened Holy Trinity-Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery as abbess. Many of the nuns of the Riga Monastery, who were cared for by the elders of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and whom I knew even before the monastery, became abbess of the newly opened holy monasteries in Russia.
Monastic life - “the art of the arts and the science of the sciences” - requires, like any art, craft and science, initial training from experts and masters. And we have every opportunity to learn the medical science of souls—philosophy—from someone who has acquired the skill for it through long-term experience. The Monk John Climacus says: “Just as one who walks without a guide easily loses his way and is mistaken, so one who goes through the monastic life without permission easily perishes, even if he knew all the wisdom of the world.”
Prayer is the queen of virtues. It is born from a living feeling of reverence for the Living God. Attention to thoughts and unceasing prayer - this is the mental activity that makes up “mental doing” - this is the most effective means for acquiring purity of heart and mind.
Thank God that there are even today elders who have acquired this virtue of inner prayer and teach their children, as St. Seraphim taught: “Learn mental prayer of the heart, as the holy fathers teach in the Philokalia, for the Jesus Prayer is a lamp for our paths and a guide. star to the sky. External prayer alone is not enough. God listens to the mind, and therefore those monks who do not connect external prayer with internal prayer are not monks, but black brands.”
In the year of the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius of Radonezh, we talk and hear a lot about how the Lavra of the Monk has become a spiritual cradle for many Russian monks. Here they discovered monastic life, learned prayer and obedience.

I studied at the Odessa Theological Seminary and there I read books voraciously. And then Vladyka blessed me to go to the Moscow Theological Academy. That's how I ended up in the Lavra.

Soon the question arose whether to become a monk or get married. I knew that the will of God is manifested through circumstances and through people, but in order for it to manifest itself, you need to ask: “Lord, Thy will be done,” - ask for this will to be revealed - and I asked.

First half of the first year at the Academy, I’m 25 years old. One day, the head of the course comes up to me and says: “Let’s go write a petition to the monastery.” I was taken aback: “What makes you think that I’m going to a monastery?” He replies: “I was passing by when you were standing with someone and saying that you need to go to the monastery.”

And I knew for sure that this was too serious, that this was not a joke, that I could not discuss this with anyone until I made a decision myself.

But then the thought immediately arose: “This is the will of God.” And I went and wrote a petition. I didn’t consult with my parents or anyone else; I told my mother only after he came to her.

So I became one of the brethren, then graduated from the Academy. I thought that life would pass like this, but the Lord determined to serve on Sakhalin... But before that I spent 17 years in the Lavra, 13 and a half of them as dean.

The most closed monastery

In the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the brethren live hidden from the eyes of pilgrims. Almost any monastery is structured this way, but in the Lavra this division of territory is more obvious than anywhere else. The fence guarding the entrance to the fraternal unit...

I will tell you about an incident that well describes this side of Lavra life. When I was dean, a priest from the parish came to visit me (he and I studied together at the Odessa Seminary).

I go out, and he’s standing and talking to some woman. Then she thanks him, leaves, and he explains to me: “I’m standing, waiting for you, a woman comes up and says: “Father, can I ask?” and asks her question. I answered her as best I could.

She was delighted and suddenly said: “You are not from this monastery!” I ask how she knew, and she answers: “But those who live here don’t talk to us - they’re always in a hurry.”

She was right: when you leave the monastery entrance, it is always as if you find yourself behind the front line, where bullets are whistling. You have to get from point A to point B, but instead it immediately starts: “Can I ask you? Can I take a picture of you?".

We lived like in a nature reserve! I don’t know how it is now, but then even on the fences there were signs: “Trinity-Sergius Lavra, museum-reserve.” For the laity, we were like little animals that we wanted to touch. But you can’t touch the animals, otherwise they could be damaged.

When a monk walks through a monastery, he doesn’t walk to look around... Father Kirill (Pavlov) always asked us in confession: “Do you have sight?”

The brothers always go out with the intention of just getting to the temple, for example. And they are stopped: “Please tell me...”. You can't speak - you'll be late for service. On the one hand, for the brethren such conversations are an unaffordable luxury...

Remember Seraphim of Sarov: after communion he went to his room and didn’t talk to anyone, but one could say: “A man came to St. Seraphim from somewhere in the dark, his daughter is dying, and what is this? What kind of selfishness is this? Why did the priest leave and not say a word to anyone?”

But if he were distracted, he would lose the grace of God. After all, he began to accept people only in the last seven years of his life, when he became ready for this.

I am 54 years old, I have not yet reached Seraphim of Sarov, not only spiritually, but also “calendar-wise”. When I return after the Liturgy, as a rule, someone is already waiting for me here. All that remains is to reproach yourself: “Lord, forgive me, I cannot be with You, I must immerse myself in business.”

It happens that people can do something at the same time, talk, and even turn on the TV in the background. I can’t do this, my thoughts are scattered. Therefore, the brethren of the monastery, especially after the service and communion, try to walk in silence.

Father Micah

I was the dean of the Lavra for 13 years and three months. I am very grateful to God, because I saw what other monks do not see - the virtues of many, many, many of our fathers and brothers. Everyone has his own treasure, which the Lord gives him.

Father Mikhei, the Lavra bell ringer, now deceased, himself told me such a case. He was very short from birth. And when he was in school, they began to test some drug on him to cause growth.

He grew up, but serious hormonal disorders occurred: his beard did not grow, his voice was like that of a woman. And how many times was he mistaken for a woman! In 1987, a correspondent came to talk to Father Micah - and this monk was an amazing bell ringer, from God - and every other time he asked: “What did you say, mother?”

And then one day Father Micah told me: “I felt very sad that I had no talent. Moreover, I am in such a miserable state. And I began to cry and ask the Lord to help me, to give me something. And then at night I had a dream: we were all standing near St. Sergius, Father Kirill came up, and suddenly from somewhere he scooped something up with a bucket. I don’t see what it is, but I understand that it is the grace of God.

Father Kirill is carrying this bucket, and suddenly one drop spills out of it, shining like a pearl, and falls to the ground. Everyone rushed after her. And I grabbed her! I open my palm, and it shines so much that my eyes hurt, and I woke up with pain in my eyes. Soon after that I began to hear, as others cannot hear!”

How he began to hear! They said that once a large bell was made at the ZIL plant. They called Father Micah to listen to him. He came up, touched it lightly and said: “A quarter tone is missing.” They had already calculated it themselves, but he understood without any calculations. And he advised: “Remove the chamfer half a millimeter - it will sound clear.” They did just that at the factory and were shocked: they, with all their technical equipment, did not know what to do with this bell.

This is what Father Micah was like. When he told this, he always said: “Father Kirill was carrying a whole bucket, but I got one drop, and what did that drop do.”

Left – Hegumen Mikhey (Timofeev)

Hidden Gifts

Father Kirill (Pavlov) tried not to show his spiritual life even to us. I lived through a wall, you come to the priest in the morning, and he hides the fact that he prayed all night. Any virtue is deeply chaste.

When Archbishop Vasily (Krivoshein), who lived at the same time in the same monastery with the Monk Silouan on Mount Athos, was once asked to talk about the elder, he replied: “I can’t say anything, I didn’t see him then. He was not invested with some kind of rank, a confessor, for example, through which grace could be manifested. He was a simple monk and hid the grace of God.”

So is Father Kirill. I never asked him: “Father, pray, what should I do in such and such a situation?” I only said: “Father, think with me about how best I should act here,” because words about prayer would already be a reason for vanity.

When I came to the monastery only six months ago, entered the Academy and was a novice, one bishop called me to become a subdeacon. He says: “Come to my diocese, I will quickly ordain you, you will serve.” The Bishop was close to the then governor of the Lavra. But I felt that it was necessary to stay in the monastery: I am not yet a fledgling chick, where should I go?

He came to Father Kirill, whom he had known for only six months. I ask: “Father, what should I do? How can we find out the will of God? Father Kirill answers: “Choose where your heart leads. You can go, or you can stay here.” I say: “Father, I want to find out the will of God,” but I feel that he has closed himself.

But I got so fired up that I said: “If I wanted to go or not go of my own free will, then I would not come to you. I renounced my will and came to you to ask the will of God, but you don’t want to help me. If my soul perishes, the Lord will ask you.” Father Kirill hugged me, and my tears were already flowing, and said: “Calm down, don’t go anywhere.”

After that, my father and I had contact. And I answered that bishop: “I won’t go anywhere from the monastery, unless they kick me out.” But he did not refer to the priest.

Father Selafiel

When I lived in the Lavra, I asked about how it was there before me. After all, not everything is written down. For example, after the war, in the 1950s, non-believers were specially settled in the Lavra. Family people lived in the fraternal buildings, and nearby there were monks, how many there were then.

And one such family man, who did not believe in God, as I was told, loved to play songs on the harmonica. Like an Orthodox holiday, the demon kindles it, so he goes out into the yard and plays.

One day one of the brethren could not stand it and said to him: what are you doing, God can punish you. That same night the man died. It was a huge shake-up for everyone, although some said: “Well, sometimes I drank too much.” If a person does not want to believe, he will not believe.

Those fathers had much more obedience than in my time. I found the father of Schemamonk Selafiel, he was a front-line soldier and lived for 94 years. Silishchi was immeasurable; it was rare that any student could defeat him in arm wrestling. Having lost to old Father Selafiel, the students took up dumbbells and weights out of shame.

And in the elder’s cell hung a portrait of Theodorushka, his wife, who died at the age of 60. She made him promise, dying, that he would not marry again and would go to a monastery. He gave his word and went to the monastery, also about 60 years old, although he looked 40.

Then he said: “I,” he says, “didn’t know how everything worked. They told me: you are now a novice. I understood this: since I am a novice, that means I obey everyone. One monk will say to me: bring it, I’ll bring it, another: take it away, I’ll take it away, a third: help me, I’ll help.” All this added up, he ran so much that one day he was walking somewhere and became exhausted - he fell.

The dean saw, found out what was the matter, why from early morning until late at night Father Selafiel was knocked off his feet, and laughed: “Remember, novice, you must obey me, the dean’s father. And the rest is not needed."

He was a very loving old man. When he got sick, people went to his cell for confession, although it is not customary for us for women to go into cells. And he received everyone and treated them to more.

At first Father Selafiel was strong, but in his old age he would sometimes sway and fall. They gave him a cell attendant. His cell attendant leads him through the entire Lavra to a prayer service with St. Sergius, and it was winter, there was snow outside, and it was slippery. The cell attendant Vasya slipped - and it was not the old man on the young man, but the young man hanging on the old man. And nothing! “Hold on, Vasya,” Father Selaphiel says and moves on.

Archimandrite Vitaly

Archimandrite Vitaly’s father was recently buried - he was an amazing person.

He went to a fraternal prayer service every day. Not everyone goes to it, and Father Vitaly, in addition, carried out economic obedience, was an assistant to the housekeeper, and then was in charge of the shop. He told the following story: “One day I had no strength left. You run through obediences, and in the evening there is a service, you still need to read all the rules in order to serve in the morning. I physically couldn’t do it anymore.”

He came to Father Kirill and began to complain: “Father, it’s so hard to go to brotherhood every day.” Father Kirill replies: “Father Vitaly, everything must be done within one’s strength. If you’re tired, don’t go, rest.”

Father Vitaly recalled: “When I heard this, I felt so good! The next morning I wake up, remember what I asked the priest - I can sleep a little more. As soon as I closed my eyes, I saw St. Sergius. St. Sergius says: “You are all lazy! Father Simon - that’s God’s servant.”

Then we had only Father Simon, an inspector at the Moscow Theological Seminary and Academy. Then he was Metropolitan of Ryazan, and now he has passed away.

Father Vitaly says: “I jumped up, got dressed, came running - I was in time!”

And then Father Simon had only one granny cleaning up. Father Vitaly comes up to her and asks: “Father Simon rarely goes to fraternal prayer services?” She replies: “Yes, he doesn’t always go to the brotherhood, but every morning he gets up and starts the day with a prayer service to St. Sergius.” Father Vitaly even began to cry, and then he went to the brotherhood every day.

Father Afanasy

Father Afanasy, the rector and caretaker of the Trinity Cathedral, was like a child. A man of amazing purity and jealousy. We sometimes joked about him like a monk. But to another joke, Father Afanasy sternly replies: “Don’t talk to me, I haven’t had time to finish reading the rule yet.”

Prayer rules are like gymnastics, an exercise for the soul; or how for an ordinary person to clean the apartment, wash the body. For example, we had Father Neil, who died in the schema. If he ever missed a rule, he always wrote it down, and when he went on vacation, he read all the rules several times - he made up for it.

Father Sophrony

Hierodeacon Sophrony was also a front-line soldier. He loved all the poor, the crippled and the sick. Everything he had, he gave away. In his cell there was a light bulb, there was a table and a chair, but there was nothing else. The icons are also paper. He always picked up food from lunch. I look: he takes the herring, wraps it in two napkins and puts it in his pocket. I feel sorry for his cassock.

I think: is he not getting enough to eat, or what? And he was acting like a fool. In fact, he gave everything he brought out to people. When he had nothing, he could come running to me.

He always knocked on the cell with his fist, and I knew that it was Father Sophrony. “Listen,” he says, “there’s a woman there, she’s in trouble, she needs help somehow, give me something!” I say: “I gave it to you yesterday,” - “It was another woman!” Give me something anyway!”

Then it turned out that he not only visited me, he also went to the treasurer, he visited everyone, took from everyone, gave everything away. You look, he talks to all the beggars, listens and listens, worries, tries to console and help.

Father Alexey

Father Alexey died young - he crashed in a car. He was tall, taller than me, such a handsome Russian, with shoe sizes 46 or 47. While still a student, he dug graves, buried homeless people or lonely grandmothers who had no one else to bury, and when he moved to the monastery, he was given the same obedience.

He made himself a shovel from a helicopter blade, a big one, and dug. And those grave diggers who worked there for money, knowing that he was burying the homeless, came and helped him for free.

In the early 90s, freezers in morgues sometimes did not work. Sometimes they will bring someone from nowhere, from someone unknown. The man is lying there - already black, there is a terrible stench. Father Alexei buried such people too. They bought him a Gazelle, and in this Gazelle he transported the dead from the morgue to the cemetery; there were several coffins there.

I remember how one young monk went to help him - Father Alexei asked. This young man later said: “I was tormented by prodigal warfare. We arrive at the cemetery, and I ask Father Alexey to open some coffin and look. This is how I explain: the war of prodigy has attacked.”

Father Alexey tells him: “Now, here they found a woman - she hanged herself in the forest.” He opens the coffin, and it’s summer, there’s a skull there, the skin has already peeled off, and a healthy fat cockroach runs out. The young monk said how the smell hit him, so he had the whole breakfast across his throat and stood up.

They buried her. He later said: “We’re going back in the Gazelle, my soul is peaceful. Guys and girls walk past in an embrace, but nothing touches me!” Mortal memory, as the fathers wrote, is very helpful in fighting passions.

Obediences

How does a church person differ from a non-church person? In addition to the mind, the ecclesiastical also lives in the heart. Just as a mother feels her child, so a spiritual father feels his children and prays for them.

As a dean, I had to assign obediences. Who would go to serve in parishes outside the walls of the monastery, who would serve in a convent for a month or two - we had 26 points outside the walls of the monastery. Who sings, who reads in the churches of the Lavra, who confesses at the early Liturgy, who confesses at the later Liturgy, who serves, and so on.

The “personnel” was on me, and it was very difficult, because where there are people, there are temptations. Someone will say “bless you” and go where they are appointed, and someone will begin to ooh and ahh that in a convent, for example, the abbess has a difficult character.

Many of the monks were very old, almost dying, and I assigned them a cell attendant who helped them. Cell attendants sometimes came and told very instructive things.

One monk looked after such an old man, and he was very stern (as Elder Joseph the Hesychast writes, the monastery needs both soft people, like cotton wool, and hard people, like iron - both are needed). This elder did not even want to accept the cell attendant.

A young monk came to him, and he said: “I don’t need anyone.” The old man already had lice, the young monk washed him and began to look after him. His two cell attendants changed: first one, then the other. One looked after a child like a mother, and the other simply asked: “What, father, do you need? Nothing? Then I went." The elder had already become so attached to the caring cell attendant that he asked the second one about him when he came.

When the elder died, his cell attendant came to me, said: “He has died,” and burst into tears. I hugged him and said: “You knew it was already coming?” He answered me like this: “Yes, I saw it, but God has no copies, He always has the original. I understand that such a person will never appear on earth again. I was so sorry to part with him.”

Many secular people were jealous when they learned that if a monk fell ill, he would have two novices who would take him to church and look after him. “How great you are! You’ll be lying around with us, they’ll put you in a nursing home, but you won’t abandon your own!” I answered like this: “In our country, on the contrary, novices ask to look after some elder, realizing that this is a matter of love.”

When you talk to elders, it strengthens your spirit, you understand what brotherhood and unity are. This is an experience that you cannot read in a book. What is in a book passes through the consciousness, but in life it passes through the heart.

There were clashes and disobedience. I remember once I wrote a monk for obedience, and he was annoyed with me, came and said: “No, I won’t go there.” And he himself is old enough to be my father. What to do? I approached Father Kirill and said, without naming names: “Father, what should I do? I asked the man to submit to obedience, but he refused. I don’t want to go to the father governor to complain, what do you advise me to do?” He says: “Let’s pray for him.”

A few minutes passed, and this monk comes to confession. Then I hear someone knocking on the cell. I open the door, he immediately kneels: “Forgive me, father, I have sinned.” I immediately bowed to him: “Forgive me, brother, I have sinned too!” From that time on, wherever you wrote him, he always went. This is Father Kirill and his prayers.

Father Kirill

One woman, already deceased, and in 1986 an old woman, was the spiritual daughter of Father Kirill. She told me: “I worked at a factory in Moscow, and came to confession in Odessa with Father Kuksha (Reverend Kuksha died in 1964, and she visited there just shortly before his death). During confession, the priest asks: “Where are you from?” - "From Moscow". - “Oh, there’s a Lavra behind your gardens, go there! You will find Father Kirill there, go to him for confession.” Father Kirill was still very young at that time, he was not 45 years old.

She recalled: “The name immediately flew out of my head. I came to the Lavra, I walk, I pray, I look. The priest is coming, my heart is relieved, I ask what this priest’s name is, and they answer me that it is Father Kirill. I came to him for confession. But I work at a factory, young, unmarried, the guys there joke, pester me, I have such thoughts that I’m ashamed to tell a monk about it. I didn’t say: I think next time. The next time I came - again I can’t say, I’m ashamed. I finished, the priest is silent, then he bends my head and says: “Why don’t you confess this sin? If you die, God forbid, where will your soul go?”

Father Kirill received the people, and I lived across a hardboard partition from him. I heard him reading his evening prayers: it was half past twelve or one in the morning, and at five he would be on his feet. I even tried to take care of him...

One day I went out quietly, I saw people in the corridor, Father Kirill was taking confessions, around midnight. I tell people: “Let’s go out quietly, Father needs to rest,” and I took them out. I go to Father Kirill, I say: “Father, you still need to rest, there are no people there anymore,” and he took me by the hand and said: “They left, but this is all in my heart, I won’t be able to sleep.” .

One monk (he is still alive, so I won’t name him) told me: “I ran to the temple, and the priest had already finished confession. I knock on the cell - he opens. Father, I want to confess! He smiles and says that if nothing happens before the morning, then after the brotherhood he will immediately confess. I left, but in my heart: “What is this! What a confessor! How come?!". There is more and more indignation. I remembered all the saints!

The next morning I get up, come to the brotherhood, and then we go to the blessing. I go up to the priest, and he says: “Forgive me for yesterday.” He was the first to ask me for forgiveness! I bowed and left. Then I came and said: “Father, forgive me, damned one!”

One of the current bishops said that in his youth he dropped out of a theological educational institution. Then he came to Father Kirill and said that his parents were against it and didn’t believe in God. The future ruler was very worried about this. Father consoled him like this: “Don’t worry, both of them - mom and dad - will come to God in due time.” And sure enough, his dad built a temple in the village shortly before his death.

Do not trust in princes, in the sons of men

We must remember that in the monastery there are sins, there are passions, because there are people. Every person has some kind of weakness. The Lord allows this so that we do not become proud. It’s scary when people paint a picture of someone’s righteousness, and then suddenly this picture collapses, and then all their faith collapses.

We also had temptations in the Lavra: one monk (he lived in the Lavra, but was not on staff) drank heavily, even from the tavern they once called: take him away, they say. But he also repented strongly: he made a thousand prostrations in the morning.

There was also such a temptation: a sick woman began to chase after one of the hieromonks. She even climbed through the monastery fence with superhuman dexterity. She screams that this is her husband, but in fact he doesn’t know where she came from, and he’s afraid to confess at the service because of her, because she might throw a hysteria during confession...

Hegumen and the great secret of the Lavra

Lavra’s life is a mystery that we can touch, but will never fully understand. Why is it easier to live and be saved in a monastery? Why did I choose this lifestyle? I have never regretted it, because I saw something that lay people and even students cannot see.

It was such a wonderful incident. One day, around the mid-80s, a man came and asked a monk walking by: “Who is your most important person? I want to complain! It seemed to him that something had been done wrong to him.

The monk says: “Are you going to the most important thing? Fine!" And he takes him to the Trinity Cathedral, to the saint’s shrine: “Here is our most important one.” He is furious: “Are you taking me for a fool? He's dead! - “We have no dead, our God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living! We come every morning and take his blessing, here the body rests, and the soul rules the monastery.”

This man thought about it and left. Then he became a real Christian, he came and always remembered how the monk amazed him with such a simple answer.

The Lavra is ruled by St. Sergius. We don't know why one thing happens this way and another another. But we trust the Reverend. Saint Anthony the Great asked God - and even then he did not receive an answer. The wisest, the most enlightened, the one with gifts... He said: “Why, Lord, are some born sick and others healthy? Why do some people live happily and others not? Some die young, and others die old?” And the Lord answered him: “Do not test the fate of God.”

Recorded by Alexandra Sopova

On December 19, 2017, on the day of remembrance of St. Nicholas, Archimandrite Naum (Baiborodin), who before his tonsure bore the name of the Wonderworker of Myra, would have turned 90 years old. For 60 years, the priest was a resident of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, and now, after his death on the eve of the Feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, we believe he resides in eternal monasteries. For some, his prayer was a covering.

The elder is remembered by his children, disciples, fellow servants, mother abbess...

“The Jesus Prayer was his main activity”
Matthew, Bishop of Shuisky and Teikovsky:
It’s hard to talk about such people... This is a great man. The seeds that he sowed in the all-Russian church field will still bear fruit, which we will see.
He penetrated into the past with his gaze, and into the future - like a prophet. What he said came true. Knew what every soul had gone through; could expose if a person had unrepentant sins. But I tried to guide him in such a way that in the future he could protect himself from the machinations of the enemy. Many miracles happened.
Father Naum himself was a very strict monk. It has never happened that he missed a rule without any good reason; he came to the fraternal prayer service when he was sick. Always attended the midnight office. At this time, you could take his blessing and ask him something.
He instructed the monastics, as well as the laity, in the Jesus Prayer. He himself lived by prayer and worked for the revival of intelligent work, which was being ruined in our country under the godless Soviet regime. Wrote a Ph.D. dissertation on this topic. He practiced smart work and inspired others to strive: “Before,” Father Naum was sometimes perplexed, “five hundred was the elementary work of monastics. Why aren’t we adopting it now?” He blessed everyone differently: some a hundred, some a thousand. Taught proper breathing when praying. Each one was approached individually. Prayer is a secret activity; there can be no general advice here.
It is said about the apostles: cloven tongues as of fire appeared to them... (Acts 2:2-3). Saint John the Baptist indicated that the Son of God would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16). And how I wish the fire would already ignite! (Luke 12:49), says the Lord. This fiery breath was felt in Father Naum.
I happened to be obedient to him as a clerk. I saw that the letter had not even been opened yet, but the priest already knew its contents and the answer that should be sent to the return address indicated on the envelope. His insight was amazing, as was the depth of the short answers he gave. It never sprayed. I looked at the root. After all, you can justify everything eloquently, but the essence will go away. Father Naum always answered briefly and to the point. One or two words from him were enough to understand what to do.
Father Naum always confessed very deeply. The main thing, as it followed from his spiritual practice and from the experience of confession with him, was to achieve contrition, genuine repentance. When confession is superficial, perhaps it is necessary to pay attention to those sins that will allow a person to feel contrition. Father Naum knew how to do this. He could expose any highly intelligent scientist. Valery Yakovlevich Savrey, a professor at Moscow State University and the Moscow Theological Academy, once brought five academicians to him: a mathematician, a philologist and someone else. And Father Naum asked each one a question from his area of knowledge that they were unable to answer. Thus he could convert even the most self-confident to God. A person will humble himself a little, understand the limitations of his mind, and his heart will open to the truths of the Gospel.
The elder cared about the revival of life in the monasteries according to the patristic statutes. He blessed the publication of the charter of Pachomius the Great and distributed it to us for study and development. Father published a lot of sermons and works, at least for his children. He always supplied us with a huge amount of patristic literature. We read all this with his blessing.
Father loved many saints very much. For example, St. Ambrose of Optina. He asked us to make a selection from his instructions - I remember, and I did this. Father Naum somehow intimately experienced the life of this saint: he absorbed this existence dissolved by grace and tried to instill in us a taste for such a life. Through the perception of Father Naum, we somehow vividly perceived the patristic experience and tried to imitate the Holy Fathers in some ways. Father called St. Ambrose of Optina a prophet of the 19th century. And Father Naum himself was for us a prophet of our times.

Father prayed for the people, and the people begged him
Archimandrite Lavrenty (Postnikov), monk of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra:
Father Naum served God and people. It's impossible to please everyone. When he spoke instructions, some accepted his words easily and joyfully, while others walked away saddened (see Matt. 19:22).
We lived next to Father Naum for almost 60 years. I have never seen anything bad in him or from him in all these years. He had his own approach to people. When we adhere to the canonical rules and do not move either to the right or to the left, our path is correct. People went to Father Naum to clarify whether they had deviated from the commanded path. If he had said something wrong, the believing people would not have followed him.
Father Naum was a hard worker. When he prayed, I don’t know. He was always in front of people, all about their needs, delving into everything. Since he was always with the people, teaching them how to live, praying for everyone, it means that the people were praying for him. And for sure, even if the priest sinned, the people begged for their elder.

“For such great elders, only the Judgment of God can determine their spiritual efficiency”
Archimandrite Zacharias (Shkurikhin), monk of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra:
We lived next to Father Naum, our cells were on the same floor. Sometimes they crossed paths at meals. He was strict. I made comments. Sometimes you say something wrong or there’s something wrong with your appearance – I’ve seen it all. But he always spoke to the point.
There is close communication between the brethren in the monastery. You can always see whether a person is praying or just like that, “the raven is counting.” Father Naum prayed. He, of course, devoted a lot of time to receiving people. But during the service he tried to concentrate, intensely delving into the words of the service. About synodics, when he was once asked why he didn’t read them, he said: “Let young people read them, so that they have fewer thoughts.”
For such great elders, only the Judgment of God can determine their spiritual efficiency. Now it is very difficult to care for people in our modern world. Vladyka Theognost of Sergiev Posad, our vicar, was always very surprised how Father Naum could remember everyone: who was where in the dioceses, in which remote monasteries, in which small towns and in abandoned villages, and at the same time who had what sorrows, problems, internal temptations. I sent something to someone, passed it on through someone... I received letters, wrote replies.
I remember once some servants of God came to him - they had a lot of problems, they had nowhere to live... He immediately blessed them: “Go there. That’s right,” he calls someone over, “people are going there.” The house is now empty. That’s where you’ll live.” The homeless went there; They were immediately settled and lived there for several years. Then they are told: “That’s it, move out.” They, of course, felt sorry to leave what they had acquired over the years, but they left it all for the next residents. And somehow their lives got on better. Everything through his prayer happened smoothly and naturally. It was the same for the monastics - all problems, both internal and purely everyday, were resolved with the blessing of Father Naum.

The Lord created a miracle
Hieroschemamonk Valentin (Gurevich), confessor of the Moscow Donskoy Stavropegial Monastery:
At one time, after a serious operation, I lived in the Ascension Orsha Monastery of the Tver diocese. There, not far from the monastery, there is the village of Emaus. Apparently, at one time some pious landowner gave this name to his estate. And for some reason rock bands gravitate towards this kind of place names. They like biblical names: Nazareth, Emaus, etc. And so they chose this village to hold a rock festival. Since the village is located in an open field, the sound from the amplified speakers deafened the entire area. Such a temptation was allowed. Then Mother Eupraxia (Inber), abbess of the Ascension Orshina Monastery, received a blessing from Archimandrite Naum: everyone should read the akathist to Archangel Michael. Father Naum greatly revered the Archangel - two monasteries in the elder’s homeland are now dedicated to him: a women’s monastery in his native village of Malo-Irmenka, Ordynsky district, Novosibirsk region, and a men’s monastery in the nearby village of Kozikha. It is also providential that the 40 days of Father Naum fell on the celebration of the memory of Archangel Michael and all the Ethereal Powers. Mother Abbess with all the sisters and girls from the monastery shelter, as well as me, who was then living in the monastery, we all began to read the akathist to Archangel Michael. And the Lord performed a miracle. There was silence in the monastery. It was truly a miracle, because as soon as you stepped outside the fence of the monastery, the music thundered; you take a step back into the monastery - and silence! I checked it myself several times - I went outside the fence and came in: literally a meter, but behind the low symbolic fence you couldn’t hear this roar. This is inexplicable from the point of view of the laws of physics.
Another example. The children of Father Naum actively converted their friends and colleagues to the faith. Thus, now a professor at the Moscow Theological Academy and Sretensky Seminary, Alexey Ivanovich Sidorov was still teaching at Moscow State University at that time, where he helped the Finnish Kirsi Marita Ritoniemi, who was studying at the department of Slavic philology, get baptized. She, like him, became one of the spiritual children of Archimandrite Naum. She accepted monasticism. At one time she was the abbess of the Ascension Orshina Monastery, and then the ruling bishop, having transformed the Tver metochion of the monastery into an independent St. Catherine's Monastery, sent Mother Juliana (her name in tonsure) there as abbess. Temptations arose from time to time, and the enemy opposed the revival of the monasteries. Then Mother Juliania and Eupraxia, who was placed in her place at the Ascension Orshin Monastery, could talk together with officials, and all the sisters and girls of the orphanage sang the Trisagion in the church at that time. And everything – thank God – was sorted out.

“We were all under his prayer as if under cover”
Abbess Elena (Bogdan), abbess of the Holy Resurrection Convent of the city of Murom, Murom diocese Vladimir Metropolis:
This is a man of God. Holy life. His mother, schema-nun Sergia, was a very pious woman. They lived near Novosibirsk. Her children all died in infancy. When on St. Nicholas Day 90 years ago she gave birth to another boy - also weak - she prayed: “Lord and Mother of God, leave him to me, let him be like St. Nicholas.” Her maternal prayer was heard. The baby was christened with the name Nikolai. He devoted his entire life, like Saint Nicholas, to serving God and people - this is the most important thing.
He was an exceptional monk for our time. He labored according to the ancient monastic rules. He himself was a worker of obedience and taught us in self-denial. Obedience is paramount.
He helped us a lot with his prayer. When the monastics were tempted, the Lord allowed them to sin; Father Naum begged even those severely wounded by sin. Somehow everything was managed invisibly, souls were healed. All of us were under his prayer as if under cover - we could feel it. I think that even now the Lord will give him such a blessed state to help everyone who will resort to him.

Imitator of St. Sergius
Abbess Olympias (Baranova), abbess of the Pokrovsky Khotkovo stauropegial convent:
The kindest, the most holy - what else can I say about Father Naum?! He had his own approach to each person. Father instructed the monastics to pray tirelessly and not to forget the Jesus Prayer - this is the most important thing. And all the things of this life will be added (Matthew 6:33), he reminded us. Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him (Matthew 6:8). He himself was a very worthy monk, without exaggeration, to say - an imitator of St. Sergius. Our monastery, where the relics of the parents of the Hegumen of the Russian Land rest, the priest helped and helps with prayers, and incessantly.

Father loved monks very much
Hieromonk Nikolai (Elachev), dean of the Nikolo-Shartomsky monastery of the Shuya diocese of the Ivanovo Metropolis:
Father will forever remain in our hearts. In the Nikolo-Shartomsky monastery, all the brethren were gathered by him. He pulled many of us out of the very abyss of the world and set us on the path to salvation. All of us, with his blessing and his prayers, came to the monastery to serve the Lord and are now grateful to him for this.
How many of his children have already been consecrated bishops and metropolitans! How many hegumens, abbesses, good priests he gave to the flock of Christ, monks and nuns he raised for our holy Church.
The priest had his own method of converting people to monasticism. He will bless you, a man who has previously played tricks in life, to restore the temple: while you are working on the ruins, you will pass such a test! The enemy will beat you up so much that you yourself will understand what is important in life. Asceticism became an urgent necessity instead of an abstract activity. Before coming to the monastery, our brethren revived many churches in Novosibirsk, Priazovsk and other cities.
Years passed before Father Naum gave his blessing for monasticism. Only to him, as an elder, was it revealed where this or that soul was inclined. He could immediately tell someone that his path was monasticism, another after 3 years, and a third after 5 years. Each individual – when a person becomes ready for this.
Father was pleased with our obedience to God, the Gospel, and what the Lord revealed to us through the elder. And our sins upset him. It happened that if we began to act willfully, we would immediately get into trouble and return to him: “What should we do now?..” Father Naum accepted in a fatherly way and did not drive out the repentant.
He could expose your most secret sin - even sometimes somehow imperceptibly, through someone, but everything was revealed to you, and you began to understand what you needed to repent of. We all have our weaknesses. But the elder knew who could bear what kind of instruction: he could give someone a thrashing in front of everyone, but not out of passion, but for admonition; and quietly brought someone to their senses in private.
Father loved the monks very much. He was all inspired when someone came to him for a blessing to become a monk. Even if just a person was going to go to the monastery to work, to live at the monastery, the elder was already rejoicing.
Father Naum always instructed: “Read the Gospel - everything is written there.” For us, he is an elder: we know that he did not speak to us on his own, but revealed the will of God.

66 years ago, on January 19, 1950, the famous elder, the reverend, died. With words about how it is impossible to divide the Holy Trinity - the One Lord God, so it is impossible to divide Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, representing Holy Rus' as a single whole, he began his speech to everyone gathered Orthodox people, His Holiness Patriarch of All Rus' Kirill, being in Kyiv at the solemn celebration of the 1020th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'.

About future

Father Lawrence is a holy priest, whose menacing prophecies still haunt millions of believers. Until recently, they were not very clear, but in connection with the bloody events in Ukraine, much is becoming clear. There was a sharp and widespread awareness of what a great war was being waged against Christ, the Orthodox priesthood and the entire Slavic people.

The saint wrote that the time will soon come when inactive churches will be repaired both outside and inside, the domes on them and on the bell towers will be gilded, everything will sparkle in the greatest splendor, but when all this restoration is completed, the Antichrist will reign, and people will go to these churches It won't be possible.

Saint Lawrence: biography

In the world his name was Luka Evseevich Proskura. He was born the sixth child in 1868 in the village of Karilskoye, (near the town of Korop, Chernigov province) into a pious rural family. The father died early, the mother was often sick. At the age of 13 he graduated from the zemstvo school. As a child, he fell while playing and hurt himself so much that he began to limp. For physical damage, as if in retribution, the Lord rewarded him with musical gifts.

Once, while in Korop, Luka met the regent of the imperial choir, who came to see his native place. He discovered musical talents in the boy and began teaching him the art of regency and playing the violin. And in order to help the family with something substantial, Luka learned to sew and by the age of 17 became a professional tailor.

Luke the Regent

However, Luke soon became regent and wanted to go as a novice to a monastery, but his older brother asked not to leave them. Together with his friend Simeon, he visited Father Jonah in Kyiv, Mount Athos and Palestine. Simeon was accepted into the brethren of the Athos monastery, and Luke was sent back to Russia, because he was more needed there.

In 1912, when Luka was 45 years old, he was tonsured a monk with the name Lavrenty. Then two years passed, and he became a hierodeacon, and after another two years, a hieromonk. In 1928, he was secretly ordained as an archimandrite.

After the revolution, he, like the Kiev-Pechersk saints Anthony and Theodosius, took upon himself the feat of cave life, digging caves in Chernigov in Boldinskaya Mountain next to the Trinity Monastery, which became known as Lavrentiev. Nearby were the Alypiy caves, which Abbot Alypy worked on. Father Lavrentiy revealed martyrdom to Abbot Alypiy; later he was actually killed by atheists in the village of Ulyanovka, Sumy region.

When the Renovationist schism occurred, Father Lawrence supported Patriarch Tikhon. His position was also irreconcilable in relation to the Russian Orthodox Church abroad.

Time of hard trials

St. Lawrence is a holy prophet of the Soviet era, who was born in the Chernigov land, which gave us many holy ascetics. In the 30s, after the Trinity Church in Chernigov was closed, he secretly lived in an apartment (from 1930 to 1942) and could only receive his spiritual children at night.

When Chernigov was captured by the Germans, at the age of 73 he organized monastic communities: male and female. Then, on Easter, he opened the Trinity Church, which became the main center of Orthodoxy in the Chernigov region.

Saint Lawrence (photos of whom are still preserved) once blessed the Metropolitan of Kyiv, His Beatitude, to serve when he came to him as a child with his mother.

Prophecies about Ukraine

Regarding prophecies, it should be noted that Father Lawrence is a holy seer who spoke not only about the last times of mankind, but also about the present. For example, about the schism in Ukraine, he warned that all false teachings would come out there, along with all evil spirits and secret atheists: Uniates, Catholics, self-sainting Ukrainians and others. In Ukraine, the canonical Orthodox Church will experience strong attacks, enemies will oppose its unity and conciliarity. All these servants of the Antichrist will be encouraged and supported in every possible way by the godless government, so the Orthodox will be beaten and their parishes taken away from them. The self-proclaimed one will greatly shake the Church, and in this he will be helped by like-minded people: bishops and priests. But then he himself will sink into eternal destruction, the fate of the traitor Judas awaits him.

Satanic Malice

However, all these machinations of the evil one and false teaching will disappear, and there will be a United Orthodox Church throughout Rus'. There will never be a Patriarch in Kyiv, because they have always lived in Moscow. Already at that time, the Venerable Father Lawrence - a holy elder from the land of Chernigov - warned that everyone should beware of the self-sacred Ukrainian Church and Union.

During this conversation, Father Kronid was present, who did not believe it and objected to the priest, saying that both the self-sanctified and the Uniates had disappeared long ago since 1946, but he replied that the demon would enter them, and they would be angry against the Orthodox Church with special satanic malice. But a shameful end awaits them, and they will suffer heavenly punishment from the Lord.

Covenant

He bequeathed to all Orthodox Christians that they remember the dear and dear words “Rus” and “Russian”. And they never forgot that it was the baptism of Rus', not Ukraine. Kyiv will always be the mother of Russian cities and the second Jerusalem. Kievan Rus cannot be severed from great Russia, and Kyiv separately without Russia is unthinkable.

On April 17, 2015, on Friday of Bright Week, the feast of the icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Source,” His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' visited the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, where events dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Board of Trustees and.

At the holy gates, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church was met by the chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church, the rector of Moscow theological schools, the chairman, the vicar of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and the clergy of the monastery.

In the Trinity Cathedral, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill venerated the honorable relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh.

The Primate celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral.

Concelebrating with His Holiness were: Archbishop Eugene of Vereya; Archbishop of Sergiev Posad Feognost; Archimandrite Pavel (Krivonogov), dean of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra; , representative of the Patriarch of Bulgaria to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'; , viceroy; inhabitants of stauropegial monasteries in holy orders.

The service was attended by the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Central Federal District A.D. Beglov, head of the Sergiev Posad district of the Moscow region S.A. Pakhomov, head of the city of Sergiev Posad V.V. Bukin, members of the Board of Trustees of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra and the Moscow Theological Academy.

Liturgical chants were performed by the fraternal choir of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra under the direction of Archimandrite Gleb (Kozhevnikov) and the Moscow Theological Academy choir under the direction of Hieromonk Nestor (Volkov).

At the Small Entrance, by decree of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', for their diligent service to the Church of God on the feast of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, a number of residents and clergy of the Holy Trinity Lavra of Sergius and other stauropegial monasteries were awarded liturgical and hierarchical awards:

elevation to the rank of archimandrite

Abbot Victor (Storchak), rector of the Deulinsky metochion of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra;
Hegumen Filaret (Kharlamov), rector of the Sergius monastery of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius;
Abbot Tavrion (Ivanov), monk of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius;
Abbot Stefan (Tarakanov), resident of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, deputy chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism;
Abbot Anthony (Gavrilov), monk;

rights to wear a cross with decorations

Hegumen Eutychius (Gurin), economist of the united economy of the Lavra and the Academy;
Abbot Philip (Pertsev), resident of the Vvedensky Monastery of Optina Pustyn;
Archpriest Pavel Velikanov, rector of the Pyatnitsky metochion of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra;

right to carry a club

Hieromonk Roman (Shubenkin), rector of the Radonezh metochion of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra;
Hieromonk Anthony (Plyasov), cleric of the Kazan Amvrosievskaya Hermitage;
inhabitants of the Vvedensky Monastery of Optina Pustyn: Hieromonk Selafiel (Degtyarev), Hieromonk Methodius (Kapustin), Hieromonk Onisim (Maltsev), Hieromonk Paisy (Nakoryakin), Hieromonk Cyprian (Storchak);

elevation to the rank of archpriest

Priest Vasily Shchelkunov, cleric of the Ascension Metochion of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra;

rights to wear a pectoral cross

inhabitants of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra: Hieromonk Pimen (Artyukhov), Hieromonk Evgeniy (Tyutin), Hieromonk Roman (Shakhadynets), Hieromonk Zinovy (Bubyakin), Hieromonk Theodosius (Yanenko), Hieromonk Sylvester (Kucherenko), Hieromonk Spiridon (Podshibyakin), Hieromonk Nikifor (Isakov), Hieromonk Vlasiy (Rylkov), Hieromonk Seraphim (Perezhogin), Hieromonk Avramiy (Kudrich);
inhabitants of the Vvedensky Monastery of Optina Pustyn: Hieromonk Dimitry (Volkov), Hieromonk Ambrose (Parkhetov);
Hieromonk Joseph (Koshkin), resident of the Joseph-Volotsk stauropegial monastery;
Priest Andrey Lochekhin, cleric of the Ascension Metochion of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra

rights to wear kamilavka

Priest Alexander Pivnyak, cleric of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra;

rights to wear a legguard

Hieromonk Pitirim (Lyakhov), resident of the Joseph-Volotsk stauropegial monastery;
Hieromonk Photius (Filin), cleric of the Vvedensky Monastery of Optina Pustyn;
Priest John Tarasov, cleric of the Ascension Metochion of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra;

ordination to the rank of protodeacon

clergy of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius: Deacon John Dikiy, Deacon John Ivanov, Deacon Theodore Yaroshenko;
clergy: Deacon Vladimir Avdeev, Deacon Georgy Gerasimenko;

rights to wear double orarion

Deacon Andrey Ilyinsky, cleric of the Valaam Monastery.

After the special litany, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church offered a prayer for peace in Ukraine.

His Holiness the Patriarch ordained Deacon Dionisy Mukhin, cleric of the Church of the Intercession of the Moscow Theological Academy, to the priesthood.

The sermon before communion was delivered by Archimandrite Zacharias (Shkurikhin), acting. confessor of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

At the end of the Liturgy, the Primate of the Russian Church addressed the believers with.

By the decree of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', for the holiday of Holy Easter, the Trinity and Assumption Cathedrals of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra were awarded the right to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in them with the Royal Doors open according to the “Our Father”.

By a decree of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', for the holiday of Holy Easter, the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos at the Moscow Theological Academy was given the right to celebrate the Divine Liturgy there with the Royal Doors open according to the “Our Father” while teachers are serving in the priesthood.

Commemorative pectoral crosses were awarded to Archimandrite Pavel (Krivonogov), dean of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, for the holiday of Easter and in commemoration of the preparations for the celebration of the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius of Radonezh, and Abbot Samuil (Karask) - in connection with the 50th -birth anniversary.

The inhabitants of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra were awarded with commemorative icons of the Holy Trinity:

Archimandrite Alexander (Bogdan) - in connection with the 50th anniversary of his stay in the Lavra brethren;
Archimandrite Ephraim (Elfimov) - in connection with the 60th anniversary of his birth and the 30th anniversary of his priestly ordination;
Archimandrite Elijah (Reizmir) - in connection with the 45th anniversary of his priestly service;
Archimandrite John (Zakharchenko) - on the occasion of his 75th birthday;
Archimandrite Lavrenty (Postnikov) - in connection with the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination;
Archimandrite Niodim (Deev) - in connection with the 50th anniversary of monastic tonsure and the 50th anniversary of priestly service;
Archimandrite Platon (Panchenko) - in connection with the 40th anniversary of his stay in the Lavra brethren;
Archimandrite Trifon (Novikov) - in connection with the 70th anniversary of his birth;
Hegumen Filaret (Semenyuk) - in connection with the 50th anniversary of his birth.

Then, on the square near the over-the-chapel, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill performed a prayer service for water, after which an Easter religious procession took place around the Assumption Cathedral.

Press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'