A monastery without secrets. The cry of the third bird: earthly and heavenly in modern monasteries

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Abbess Theophila (Lepeshinskaya)
The cry of the third bird: earthly and heavenly in modern monasteries

Approved for distribution by the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church

IS number R17-710-0383

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Preface

About fifteen years ago, in a church bookstore, I came across a small book by a certain nun N. “Be of good cheer, daughter” - briefly speaking, about the Christian understanding of the place, purpose and role of a woman in the world. Having opened it at random, I could no longer tear myself away, and after reading it in its entirety, I experienced a feeling of joyful discovery. This happens when meeting a living, talented and meaningful phenomenon. And - in a completely unprecedented case for me - I immediately bought seven, or even ten, of these books to give as gifts, and, handing them over to my chosen ones, I invariably felt that I was giving something very valuable, very important for this person, and looked forward to that spiritual pleasure which he will experience while reading.

Then I was invited to speak to the sisters of the Mother of God-Nativity maiden hermitage in the village of Baryatino, not far from Kaluga, and I went there with my husband. We were met at the gate by the abbess and her assistant and led into the refectory, where the nuns and novices were already sitting. I read poems to them and answered questions. Something in the course of this conversation, namely, some important explanations and precise remarks that the abbess inserted, led me to a vague guess, which later, when we were invited to a meal and talked with the abbess, grew into the confidence that in front of me - that same mysterious nun N., the author of the book that amazed me so much. I recognized her by her turn of phrase, by her intonation, by the intelligent look in her penetrating eyes... And so it turned out. It was Mother Superior Theophila.

Then she wrote a new book, this one - “The Cry of the Third Bird”, which she sent to my husband and me. email even before publication. Burning with impatience to read it as quickly as possible, we wrote it out on paper and sat down next to him, passing the pages we had read to each other... Exemplarily structured, written in magnificent language, full of meanings, both found in the Holy Scriptures, patristic literature and world culture, and supported by personal spiritual experience, this is one of those books that you don’t want to part with: you want to live with it, re-read it, learn from it to penetrate into the essence of the movements of your own soul and comprehend the turns of external events. For it gives the key to understanding the Christian life, taking place here and now, in the conditions modern Russia, at a certain historical moment, and fits it into the context of the gospel metahistory, which sets the scale.

The volume of erudition of the author is amazing, who easily and freely uses it, organically and compactly placing it at the service of the main idea of human salvation. The subtleties of Christian anthropology, Orthodox dogmatics, asceticism, patristics, hermeneutics, moral theology, clergy, church history, Scripture and Tradition - in a word, churchliness is revealed in this book in an existential light: high speculations are reflected and refracted in specific manifestations of human life, testifying to its essence. This is “our daily bread.”

In addition, books let into the space and adjacent life stories belonging to different centuries, plots from current modern church life, as well as theological speculations, elements of Orthodox dogma, prayer practice, sayings of church leaders of the past and statements of preachers of our time, poetic lines of literary classics , taken as epigraphs to each chapter, and even journalistic digressions - all this, intertwined, creates a picture of the unity of the Christian world, incorporating time and space.

We are talking here, first of all, about monasticism and monasteries as such and about monasteries recreated after the collapse of the stronghold of theomachism and atheism - Soviet Empire, mostly. Being inside this process - the revival of monastic life in Russia - gives Abbess Theophila not only the experience of an eyewitness, but also the power of testimony about how this happened: the book contains many specific cases, situations, examples of errors, distortions and breakdowns of new pilgrims and newly tonsured monks. This is explained first of all - and forever and ever - by human nature, corrupted by the Fall, but also by the spiritual and moral damage that the “Babylonian captivity” caused to the Christian people. Soviet power: the loss of church traditions, the fading of faith, the distortion of concepts about man, the instability of moral foundations, the fog of delusions and superstitions, the extreme small number of genuine teachers of piety. Sometimes it was necessary to start from the scorched field of the human soul...

However, by describing specific regrettable cases of abuse of spiritual power in monasteries and church parishes, religious imposture, mystical amateurism, pharisaism, as well as the ignorance of those who flocked to monasteries and churches, Abbess Theophila does not at all aim to belittle the religious thirst that has opened up among the people . It is not the piquancy of individual episodes, sometimes bordering on anecdotes with which she sometimes illustrates her reasoning, that is the goal here: the height of her calling, the model, the Image of God - this is the ultimate aspiration of her thought. It is not for nothing that the book does not name the names of those whose dubious actions and statements served Mother Superior Theophila only as a tool for her apophatic method. The subject of reproof here is not the person himself, but his false words or bad deeds. Like an experienced restorer, it is as if she removes from the original foundation both the damaged layers of paint and those that sloppy and incompetent gods have roughly laid on it, in order to reveal the hidden Beauty that shines in Orthodoxy.

Although “The Cry of the Third Bird” is a book about monasticism, in its spiritual horizons it is much more voluminous, just like monasticism, the meaning and influence of which is not limited to the walls of a monastery or monastery, but extends to the destinies of peoples, reaching the very heavens. Monasticism is the lot of those who, like the rich young man of the Gospel, strive for perfection, for a life that bears the “reflection of the future age.” And in this sense, this is the very heart of Orthodoxy, the “salt of the earth,” a prayer center, near which the cold heart of a Christian is kindled with the love of Christ; a source of living water, after drinking from which the soul comes to life and the mind is enlightened. Them higher value for Russia and for all of Orthodoxy, what is happening to monasteries and in monasteries: spiritual troubles, impoverishment of faith and cooling of love, “salt that has lost its taste” - can have the most bad consequences for the life of not only the entire country, but also the whole world.

I know one nun who, having asked me for the manuscript of a book, returned it in complete silence, and then published an angry rebuke to her in a magazine, the main pathos of which boiled down to “not washing dirty linen in public.” This image seemed false and self-exposing to me, because monasteries are not a personal hut, but the abode of the Holy Spirit, “the gates of heaven,” “the tabernacle of God with men,” “the consecrated city,” and there is no more worthy zeal here than zeal for the Glory of God , and a more irreconcilable battle than a battle with a crafty enemy trying to pervert and profane this chosen place.

It is not for nothing that the entire Russian culture emerged from the monasteries and became the leaven that formed the national mentality, which, despite all their efforts, neither the Bolsheviks nor the postmodernists were able to completely change. Abbess Theophila attaches great importance to Orthodox education: the re-creation of man “in the image of God.” A Christian, in the words of the apostles Peter and Paul, must always be ready to give the questioner an answer about his hope and give an account for himself to God.

The author of the book contrasts Christian enlightenment with the ignorance and arbitrariness of the mind, which always either blindly and thoughtlessly follows the direction of a guide and risks getting lost by losing it, or strives to deviate into willful, proud quests fraught with schismatic potential or sectarian twist. The faith of the “coal miner and the old nurse” rarely passes the crucible of tests without damage.

Spiritual enlightenment, nutrition from the Gospel and patristic sources, knowledge of Tradition and church history, reading good literature following experience church prayer They bring together, center and form the personality, saving it from the fragmentation of consciousness and internal confusion, elevate it and help free it from the power of dark natural instincts.

It is not without reason that in her monastery, Abbess Theophila made part of her spiritual leadership the enlightenment and education of the nuns entrusted to her: in addition to participating in divine services and general monastery obediences - work in gold-embroidery and icon-painting workshops, work in the field, barnyard and in the kitchen - mother, inviting nuns and novices to the monastery library, rich in books, devotes part of his time to reading lectures on a variety of disciplines, both church and humanities.

Another surprising property of this book is that its content does not contradict the form, the meaning of the statement does not contradict its style. Excellent knowledge of the psychology of the human soul is also confirmed by the accuracy of expression. Neatness of thought corresponds to verbal transparency. And the aesthetic persuasiveness of Orthodoxy is expressed in the grace, even artistry, of style, which nevertheless remains masculine (monastically) clear and firm. This is what only a person says and writes, who testifies with full responsibility that he has experienced, felt, thought through and understood, with God’s help, himself, from his own experience, “God cooperates...”: “Shed blood and you will receive the Spirit.”

In a word, we have a wonderful writer, abbess, whose books can already be ranked among the Orthodox classics. Just as I once gave it to “Dare, Daughter,” with the feeling of a pioneer, so now I experience joy, anticipating the pleasure and spiritual benefit that the reader will receive from “The Cry of the Third Bird.” Amen.

Olesya Nikolaeva

To sisters, with love

Three monks stood on the seashore. A voice came to them from the other bank: “Take wings and come to Me.” Following the voice, the two monks received wings of fire and quickly flew to the other side. The third remained in the same place. He began to cry and scream. Finally, he too was given wings, but not fiery, but rather powerless, and he flew across the sea with great difficulty and effort. Often he weakened and sank into the sea; Seeing himself drowning, he began to cry out pitifully, rose from the sea, again flew quietly and low, again became exhausted, again sank into the abyss, cried out again, rose again and, exhausted, barely flew across the sea.

The first two monks served as an image of the monasticism of the first times, and the third - the monasticism of the last times, meager in number and success.

Memorable tales about the asceticism of the holy and blessed fathers

The Holy Fathers of Skete prophesied about the last generation, saying: “What have we done?” And, answering, one of them, great in life, named Ischirion, said: “We have created the commandments of God.” They also asked: “Will those following us do anything?” He said: “They will achieve half of our work.” - “And after them what?” And he said: “People of his kind will have no business at all, but temptation will come to them, and those who prove worthy in this temptation will be higher than us and our fathers.”

Ancient patericon

...These people look like birds, my brother!
We also strive for the cherished Light:
How strong birds others are in a hurry,
There are others behind them, even though there are no such forces.
Only I perish like the third bird;
I don’t have the strength to fly above the clouds...
More and more often we have to sit in the waves...
But, God, don’t let me sink to the bottom!
Archdeacon Roman (Tamberg). Parable

Black monk behind a stone wall

Glory glows golden
Monastery cross from afar.
Shouldn't we turn towards eternal peace?
And what is life without a hood!

A. Blok

Are they really Chinese?..

This idea about the future of Russia, first expressed, it seems, by Fr. Andrei Kuraev, at first it comes as a shock; however, once you start thinking in a given direction, you gradually get used to it: are we better than the Greeks, from whom we received the sacred inheritance, and are we not more stiff-necked than the Jews: those, who found themselves after 70 years of captivity in an unfortunate devastated country, did not care about quality of life, but about a return to a single faith and the restoration of the Temple. Moreover, there has long been a rumor that the invasion and subsequent predominance yellow people definitely predicted either by the Bible or Nostradamus; and why is it not likely that our slanting brethren will gradually penetrate into Siberia, and then into Tula and Ryazan in small groups of one hundred thousand people with mass conversion to Orthodoxy? After all, God loves the Chinese too.

According to statistics, there are almost 80 million Orthodox Christians in Russia, but provincial priests claim that at most two percent of the population regularly attend church. Nevertheless, Orthodoxy is terribly popular, and especially monasticism, as evidenced by the widespread use of its image in advertising: drinking water“Holy Spring”, “Monastery” dumplings (with meat, of course), and wine and vodka products! “Procession of the Cross”, “Confession of a Sinner” (white semi-sweet and supposedly natural); “Black Monk”, “Old Monk”, “Whisper of a Monk”, “Tear of a Monk”, “Confession of a Monk”, “Soul of a Monk”, tea “ Chinese monk", with calls on the labels: touch the secret of ancient monasteries!..

They probably sell well, just like popular books with enticing titles: “Pelagia and the White Bulldog”, “Pelagia and the Black Monk”, “Pelagia and the Red Rooster”, with a round face in glasses and an apostle on the cover. A church magazine dedicated a serious article to the author with a thorough analysis of the distortions of Christian truths and monastic rules; blessed – or naive – are the pure in heart! The fashionable writer did not at all strive for the truth of life; he set completely different goals 1
SALES rating is what today determines the quality of literature and the professionalism of the writer; and the light genre wins everywhere, because it is supported by promotion, which adherents of mass tastes are great masters at.

Calculating queries using TV and computer general public, exhausted by progress: the century before last, cozy from afar, plus a detective plot, plus mysterious characters, unknown animals, some merchants, bishops, schema-monks, nuns.

The road, as usual, was paved long ago in the West, after the stunning success of the novel “The Name of the Rose,” flooding the market with bestsellers of similar themes, but of incomparably low quality, right up to the mediocre and boring parody of K. Buckley and D. Tierney “The Lord is My Broker” ( !) about overcoming the financial crisis in an American monastery, a new product offered at the book sale. Of course, there is fantastic demand for The Last Temptations, Da Vinci Codes etc. testifies to a stable, unabated, despite the secularism of the supposedly post-Christian era, interest in Christ.

Headlines of articles devoted to monasteries hint at terrible, shameful acts that are committed in the dead silence of tightly locked cells.

And the everyday press does not deny monasticism attention for the same reason formulated by Buratino: there's some mystery here. The articles are friendly, with pompous descriptions of nature, daily routine, have a delicious lunch and cordial mother, and, on the contrary, revealing ones, painting a gloomy landscape, cruel discipline, meager menu, self-interested bosses and flagrant violation of human rights. One metropolitan newspaper directly wrote that the abbess uses young novices in order to attract sponsors, so to speak, in payment for generous donations... It is sometimes a pity that the Church prefers not to sue.

“Behind the Stone Wall”, “Behind the Monastery Walls”, the favorite “Men of High Security” - the titles hint at terrible, shameful acts that are committed in the dead silence of tightly locked cells. But it seems that Komsomolskaya Pravda has undertaken a promising intelligence operation, sending a spy to a monastery beyond the Urals 2
Maybe there will be more! It is reported that a reality show is being prepared on television with a study of the monastery among such closed structures as a prison, a foreign legion, israeli army“We put our man there and show the system from the inside,” one of the authors of the project promised in the press. The idea has long been implemented in the USA.

The girl pretended to try her hand at becoming a monk, was treated kindly, all doors were opened to her... So what? Nothing sensational; gave almost enthusiastic reports to the newspaper... Who knows, maybe someday she will come to the monastery for real.

But the usual way of correspondents sent for a couple of hours for exotic things is to fantasize to the extent of their own depravity, inventing bizarre explanations of the incomprehensible phenomenon that monasticism remains for everyone, alien and even not completely alien to Christianity. Well,

...my business
It's a little useful for you to know.
Can you tell your soul?
M. Yu. Lermontov

In fact, already in the time of St. Ignatius, Moscow magazines called monasticism an anachronism. K. Leontyev quoted a letter he received: “In our time, an idiot or a fraudster can become a monk.” At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was considered good form to ridicule monks as stupid ignoramuses, useless for the good of humanity, and committing senseless violence against nature. In 1908, in a series with the eloquent title “Religion and the Church in the Light of Scientific Thought and Free Criticism”, a book by the Protestant theologian Adolf Harnack “Monasticism” was published. His ideals and his history." With irritation smoothed over by irony, the author exposes the absurdity of the behavior of fanatical ascetics who torture themselves for an unknown purpose, perhaps for the sake of museum storage of long-outdated rituals.

Monasticism is still in Russia, when it makes its way like a frail flower through the asphalt 3
I would like to compare the current situation with the era of the Edict of Milan, when the people saw the president, that is, the emperor, making the sign of the cross, and poured into churches, but conscience warns against excessive optimism.

Trying to be born again, you are criticized from all sides. Those who are broadly and modernly inclined prove, as they did a century ago, that monasteries have outlived their time and it is much more useful to serve one’s neighbor through charitable and social institutions; pity the miserable monks who have lost the right to simple human happiness, lost to the world with its fast pace and colorful fireworks of great and small pleasures; The fate of girls, deprived of the joys of love and motherhood, is especially tragic; and if there is persecution again, they will kill everyone! And finally, there is always a topical reproach: those who become monks doom humanity to extinction.

Newspaper writers, ironizing about “cozy mythologies” about ancient times, when people were more pious and food tastier 4
What mythologies! Hand on heart, anyone will agree that people were truly more pious and the food was truly tastier - even in not so ancient times.

On the fly, they create other mythologies: among the monks then, as always, quarrels, theft, neglect of the sick and conflicts with the authorities flourished, but democracy reigned and all the highest church positions were elected (“NG-religions”). A well-known contingent, designated as “renovationism,” more than friendly towards Old Believers, Catholics, Protestants and Judaists, categorically does not accept monasticism, although it is Russian: Taizé 5
There, they say, numerous pilgrims are received with love, that is, with a courteous smile. “And I,” one abbess shared, “when I see this crowd for the holiday, I’m horrified: will there be enough food, where will I be accommodated, and bed linen We definitely won’t have enough for everyone, but water! and the sewer pit will definitely overflow, and you won’t be able to pump it out!..”

And other foreign tabernacles adherents Orthodoxy with human face willingly visit and sing praises.

Others seek and do not find high spirituality: “Monasticism has lost its promise, it does not contain the promises given to us by the Most Holy Trinity itself.” 6
L. D. Bitekhtina. East - West, the experience of old age. Speculation of the soul. M.: Peresvet, 2002. The given incomprehensible phrase reflects the style of this thick, more than strange book, which opens with praise of the “divine intuitions” of Teresa of Avila.

There is criticism of the Synod, which blesses the opening of more and more monasteries: why so many if those already opened are so imperfect; less is better, the unforgettable leader of the world proletariat used to say, and long before him, Empress Catherine, who, for the most sensible reasons, shuffled surplus monastics and achieved the almost complete extermination of monasteries 7
Contrary to the age of enlightenment. Biography and works of the Most Reverend Gabriel (Petrov). Preface. M.: Pilgrim, 2001.

By the same logic, in the interests of quality, marriages should also be limited - there are too many unsuccessful ones.

Let the world not prescribe the law to the work of God, says Saint Philaret of Moscow. Now on the territory of Russia there are more than four hundred monasteries - but not one, with the exception of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, has reached the age of twenty; It is incorrect to expect triumphant achievements from them, much less pass judgment: monasticism is in decline... the monastic spirit is falling catastrophically 8
Archim. Rafail (Karelin). The mystery of salvation. M., 2001. pp. 221–222.

Fall suggests lost height; It is unclear from what standard to count, what monasticism to value as a criterion - Egyptian? Palestinian? Byzantine? Athonite? Old Russian? our pre-revolutionary? Various situations have happened in history; Let's take the phenomenon of the Tavenisian monasteries: they flourished - quantitatively and qualitatively - during the life of the founder, the great Pachomius, and then fell into impoverishment, which specifically meant the decline of the Tavenisian monasteries; monasticism continued to shine and smell fragrant, but in other places.

The loudest critics of monasteries, as always, are the monks themselves, especially those outside the monasteries. If buildings and temples are actively being built, they grumble that souls should be created, not stones - as if if construction was stopped, souls would grow faster. They let pilgrims and tourists in – it’s a walk-through yard, but if the gates are locked, they’re selfish and live only for themselves. They start vast fields or profitable production - they call them collective farms; if there are no fields and industries - lazy people who do not want to work.

Now in Russia there are more than four hundred monasteries - but not one, with the exception of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, has reached the age of twenty. It is incorrect to expect triumphant achievements from them, much less pass judgment.

Cleanliness and order - decoration; social service- shelters, almshouses - vanity and show; few inhabitants - no one comes, many - random people; they accept the elderly - why, they will no longer understand anything, the young - who will teach them what; monastic life, they say, today is just an appearance, without meaning and content, since there are no leaders, elders; refer to the judgments of St. Seraphim Zvezdinsky and St. Lawrence of Chernigov, relating to the era of total collapse, when imagining the revival of the Church was as unthinkable as the sudden abolition of Soviet power; the abolition of monasteries was seen as final and marked the extermination of Christianity, preceding the immediate end of the world.

The apocalyptic motive, which intensified with the pandemonium around the INN, still feeds the enthusiasm of the super-Orthodox zealots: they leave the dioceses if the bishop is not of a spirit they like; they send anonymous letters against the Synod to monasteries and in published leaflets they call for sewing backpacks, purchasing tents, sleeping bags, kerosene stoves, and preparing to go into the forests 9
Already in early XIX centuries, ascetics left the Roslavl (Bryansk, Zhizdra) forests - for various reasons, including due to the destruction of forests - and settled in monasteries. There were also persecutions free monks, with forced eviction. But even in the heyday of desert living (forced due to the closure of monasteries), in the 18th century, there was no idyll: the monks were persecuted by land and forest owners, robbed and beaten, sometimes to death, by robbers; some rogue could, in a mischief, set fire to the hermit’s house while he was going to church. What can you expect in today's forests!

; such agitation easily falls on the Soviet culture, the habit of always expecting something terrible; many still live with a joyless faith not in Christ, but in the Antichrist, intending, however, to somehow hide from him and wait out the end of the world; brochures and articles are full of lamentations: in our time of need... I just want to object, as Leontyev once did: his time, perhaps, is not my time at all.

The reason for the hostile attitude towards monasticism obviously lies in the fact that monks live according to the laws of another world. It is known what a wary, hostile attitude is met by dissidents; Moreover, those who live differently seem vaguely dangerous and cause anxiety that cannot be explained by logic. It’s one thing to feel sorry for the stepchildren of fortune, the runts who haven’t found something more fun and comfortable place under the sun than a monastery, but what irritation, even rage, the opposite concept causes: “Everything is mediocre in comparison with monasticism, and every feat in comparison with it is philistinism.” 10
A. F. Losev. Dialectics of myth. M., 2001. P. 168.

Once you mention monasticism, relatives, friends, acquaintances, who have never been close to any monastery, will find many contrary arguments, they will dissuade, frighten and be horrified... Perhaps those in the world are sometimes visited by a crazy thought: what if they are right? monnoristsy and it is really impossible, in the words of Alyosha Karamazov, to give instead total two rubles, and instead follow me go only to mass? But if so... they they'll get in first?.. And we?.. And me?..

This is how suspicions arise, which are eliminated by reading from books or looking for anything bad on pilgrimage trips to monasteries. This is not difficult: strict, taciturn monks mean they have no love; hiding their eyes - hypocrites, looking straight - impudent; cheerful - so frivolous; sad - yeah, they feel bad; a meager meal - they starve, a plentiful meal - wow fasting people! the poor, pine-covered setting is like a barracks, but the decent furniture, paintings and carpets are new Russians!

All that remains is to conclude: what monasteries these days are! they eat and sleep... and they are no better than us! – and then breathe a sigh of relief. It all depends on the point of view: in the old days, say, Gogol, having visited Optina, received a spiritual charge for years and was grateful, but Tolstoy received nothing and blamed both the monasteries and the entire Russian Church for this...

Women's happiness - if only a sweetheart were nearby. The pop chorus contains the age-old aspirations by which the Russian woman lived: family, children, home comfort. But in the history of Russia there are those who took a different path and chose a different ministry.

These are those who have accepted angelic rank, Russian nuns and their helmsmen - abbess of women's monasteries. 7 outstanding abbess of Russian monasteries and their spiritual exploits, exalting Russian women.

Abbess of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent Elizaveta Fedorovna Romanova

Grand Duchess Elizabeth - sister Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She grew up early, having lost childhood mother, brother and sister. From an early age she realized that life on earth is way of the cross. Having become the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, she consciously converted to Orthodoxy, contrary to the will of her father.

In Russia, Elizaveta Feodorovna was involved in charity work, distributing food, clothing, money, and caring about the lives of the unfortunate. During Russo-Japanese War, she organized workshops in all the halls of the Kremlin Palace to help the front. From here, bales of food, uniforms, medicines and gifts for soldiers went to the front. The Grand Duchess sent camp churches with icons to the front, and personally sent Gospels and prayer books.

On the third day after the death of her husband, Elizaveta Feodorovna came to the murderer in prison and asked the murderer to repent. He didn't. And all the same, the Grand Duchess petitioned Emperor Nicholas II to pardon Kalyaev, but this petition was rejected.

After the tragedy, Elizaveta Feodorovna decided to devote her life to the Lord through serving people. She sold her jewelry and with the proceeds bought an estate with a garden on Bolshaya Ordynka, where the Marfo-Mariinskaya Convent of Mercy (a monastery with a combination of charitable and medical work) was located. The sisters who lived in the monastery, unlike the nuns, could leave the monastery and start a family. The monastery was supposed to provide comprehensive, spiritual, educational and medical assistance to those in need, who were often not only given food and clothing, but also helped in finding employment and placed in hospitals. An outpatient clinic, a pharmacy where some medications were provided free of charge, a shelter, a free canteen and many other institutions were created in the monastery. Educational lectures and conversations, meetings of the Imperial Orthodox Church took place in the Intercession Church of the monastery. Palestinian Society, Geographical Society, spiritual readings and other events.

In April 1918, Elizaveta Fedorovna was arrested.

Her along with other members royal family and the sister of the monastery, Varvara, who voluntarily remained with Elizaveta Feodorovna, was brought to the Siberian city of Alapaevsk on May 20, 1918. On July 5 (18), the executioners cursed the martyrs with rifle butts and threw them into the mine.

Currently, the relics of the Holy Martyr Elizabeth rest in the Church of Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene at the foot of the Mount of Olives.

Schema-Abbesses Tamar (Tamara)

In the world, Princess Tamara Alexandrovna Mardzhanova. Born in the late sixties of the XIX century. She came from a wealthy Georgian family and received a very good secular upbringing and education. At the age of twenty she became an orphan. After the death of her mother, in the summer, she and her sister and brothers stayed near convent in the name of St. Nina in Bodbe. One day, going there for a service, she felt grace descending upon her and asked Mother Superior to accept her into the monastery. Tamara's relatives were against it, and she had no choice but to run away.

They say that people who were in the church during her tonsure saw a white dove hovering over the mother’s head. In 1902, the very young Tamara became abbess of the Bodbe Monastery, which had about three hundred sisters.

In 1905, revolutionary-minded mountaineers terrorized peaceful Georgian peasants, oppressing them in every possible way. The peasants turned to the Bodbe Monastery for help, and Mother took all those who were offended under her protection, helped them, and sometimes provided shelter within the walls of the monastery. The revolutionaries were very irritated by this fact and sent her anonymous letters with threats. In St. Petersburg, at the Synod, they became concerned about the fate of mother, who was clearly in danger, and by decree of the Holy Synod - without her desire - she was transferred to Moscow as the abbess of the Intercession community.

The nuns of the Pokrovskaya community worked as sisters of mercy. Tamara became very close to Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fedorovna. Communication influenced mother’s desire to build a monastery under the protection of her beloved saint - St. Seraphim Sarovsky. This is how the Seraphim-Znamensky monastery appeared. Unfortunately, it lasted only twelve years. It was closed and destroyed by the Bolsheviks.

Mother was exiled to Siberia, where illness took away her strength. She was buried in Moscow, on the Vvedensky Mountains, not far from the grave of Fr. Alexey Mechev.

The Seraphim-Znamensky monastery now operates under the leadership of its abbess, Mother Innokentia.

3 Abbess Serafima Chichagova

In the world - Varvara Chichagova-Chernaya, born in 1914 in St. Petersburg. His mother is a nurse and became a monk with the name Seraphim. Grandfather - Leonid Mikhailovich Chichagov, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Seraphim (Chichagov); in 1997 he was canonized as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Since childhood, she was raised in the Orthodox faith. Grandfather Seraphim especially influenced her. She recalled how, before her arrest, in the evenings “my grandfather sat down at the harmonium - he never left it - and played or composed spiritual music, and I sat on the sofa, looked at him or read and felt the grace emanating from him.” Since 1986, Varvara has been obedient for six years behind a candle box in the Moscow Church in the name of the Prophet Elijah, which is in Obydenny Lane, where the image of the Savior, painted by her grandfather, is located. At the same time, she conducted Orthodox seminars for the capital’s intelligentsia at her home.

Under the guidance of her spiritual mentor, Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna, she collected and published materials for the canonization of her grandfather. In 1993, she published a two-volume volume of works by Metropolitan Seraphim entitled “Thy will be done.” In 1994, she was tonsured into the monastic order with the name Seraphim, in honor of her mother, aunt, and grandfather. From 1994 to 1999, Seraphima was the abbess of the Novodevichy Convent.

She introduced a monastic charter at the monastery, organized a monastic choir, and created a six-volume synodikum to commemorate the clergy, nuns and benefactors of the monastery from the day of its foundation. Mother constantly took care of the splendor of the churches; with the acquisition of a loom, the revival of handicrafts in the monastery began: carpet weaving, sewing and repairing vestments. Icon-painting and gold-embroidery workshops were created.

She made a significant contribution to the construction of the temple - a monument to the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Butovo, where during the years of Soviet power death sentences were carried out, including against clergy (her grandfather, Metropolitan Seraphim, was also shot there).

Venerable Martyr Arsenia Abbess Shuiskaya

In the world, Anna Dobronravova, was born in 1879 in the village of Shegarskoye, Vladimir province, into the family of a priest. After graduating from the diocesan school, Anna became a teacher at the orphanage at the Shuisky Resurrection-Feodorovsky Monastery. Her duties included teaching girls literacy and handicrafts. In the same monastery she took monastic vows with the name Arseny. In 1915, after the death of the former abbess, the sisters elected her. Mother Arsenia diligently studied the works of the holy fathers, especially using the spiritual advice of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). In the monastery she led a quiet, solitary life, considered herself lower than everyone else, and often asked others for advice.

After 1917, the atheistic authorities ordered the closure of the monastery, but then allowed it not to be closed with the requirement, however, that the nuns work on the state farm. The director of the state farm, who sympathized with them, convinced the nuns to agree to this, promising that he would pay them for their work, and only those who could would work would work. On holidays, the sisters did not work and stayed in church for prayer. Before assigning any nun to work, the director asked permission from the abbess. So the nuns lived quite serenely for ten years amid the raging sea of atheism. But in 1929, the authorities sent an order to close the monastery and prevent church services and monastic life under no circumstances. The director of the state farm, not wanting to take part in the destruction of the monastery, resigned and left. The monastery was closed.

In April 1932, Mother Superior Arsenia was arrested.

In prison, my mother became seriously ill. She died in 1939 in the hospital of Ivanovo prison. Canonized as the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

Abbess Maria Ushakova

Elizaveta Alekseevna Ushakova grew up in a secular family. After reading the works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk unexpectedly felt a calling to spiritual life. Hearing about the holiness of Elder Seraphim, who had already died, she was inflamed with love for him. Having received her father's blessing with difficulty, she entered the Diveyevo monastery, intended for her for the greatest trials and labors. From the very beginning of her stay at the monastery (since 1844), she performed many different assignments and monastic obediences, so that she acquired the skills and knowledge of managing the monastery. The sisters loved her and soon chose her as their boss.

Gradually, Elisaveta Alekseevna began to organize life in the community according to the commandments of the Queen of Heaven. In 1862, she was tonsured a monk with the name Maria and elevated to the rank of abbess. At the beginning of her service, there was neither money nor food in the monastery. Father Seraphim predicted: “A monastery will be built on the 12th boss.” Abbess Maria had a meek but firm character; she consulted with the blessed in everything: first with Pelagia Ivanovna, and after her death with Praskovya Ivanovna. During her reign, the Trinity Cathedral, bell tower, abbot building with the house church of St. equal to Mary Magdalene, refectory church of St. blgv. Prince Alexander Nevsky, houses were built for the clergy, etc. Everything was built with small funds, without special donations or capital, by the grace of God. Under Abbess Maria, peace and order were established, the monastery began to prosper and reached its greatest prosperity. Abbess Maria ruled the monastery for 42 years. She died in 1904. There was a large chapel over her grave, in which funeral services were held daily. The chapel was destroyed as soon as the dispersal of the monastery began. In the summer of 1991, this area was concreted, and her grave remained under concrete until the summer of 2002, when excavations were carried out at the altar of the Trinity Cathedral.

Abbess Mitrofania Rosen

Praskovya Rosen was the daughter of a general, a hero of the Patriotic War. As a girl, she visited the court of Nicholas I. She received a good education at home: she was taught the Law of God by the rector of the Tiflis Theological Seminary, and drawing by I.K. Aivazovsky. In the second half of the 1840s, Praskovya, religious since childhood, experienced a series of deaths of loved ones and was inclined to enter a monastery. In 1852, she left the court and, with the permission of the emperor, entered the Moscow Alekseevsky Monastery as a novice. At the monastery, Praskovya studied icon painting.

In 1857, Mitrofania received an inheritance, which she donated to charity. Four years later, she was tonsured into the angelic monastic order and became the abbess of the Vladychny Monastery. Mitrofaniya took over the actual leadership of the first Russian communities of sisters of mercy - in St. Petersburg, in the Pskov region, and then in Moscow. In 1870, she began her largest construction project - the construction of the building of the Vladychne-Pokrovskaya community in Moscow. Mother was a creative person and often did not shy away from risks. When the abbess ran out of money for construction, she looked for it among wealthy Moscow philanthropists... Desperate, the proud and creative soul could not resist temptation, and she fabricated forged bills. Once in the dock, Mitrofania and her ally Valeria, abbess of the Passionate Monastery, independently came to St. Petersburg for interrogations. The Synod supported Mitrophania morally - by its decree, during the days of the trial, Moscow churches served daily prayers “for the granting of Abbess Mitrophania the strength to endure the test sent down to her.” The court decided to exile Mitrofania to a secluded monastery - first to the Yenisei province, then to Stavropol. Mother returned to art, creating a copy of the Crucifixion for the Balashov Monastery.

The memoirs of Abbess Mitrofania were published in 1902 in the magazine “Russian Antiquity” and republished as a separate book in 2009.

Abbess Feofila Lepeshinskaya

Mother Theophila is our contemporary. She is the abbess of the Mother of God of the Nativity Hermitage in the village of Baryatino, Kaluga Region. She is the author of the acclaimed books “Be of Dare, Daughter!”, “The Cry of the Third Bird,” and “Rhymes with Joy.” We advise everyone not only to read her books, but also to talk with mother personally by visiting her at the monastery, which is located in the Kaluga region.

Mother says this: “Beware of fakes! Of course, we get used to “being reputed” and not “to be.” And we ourselves don’t notice at what point we stop recognizing our natural, real selves. Having learned the “rules of behavior,” we begin to hide behind them from ourselves, from people and, most importantly, from the Lord. Although such “doing” is doomed to failure in advance.”

“All you hear is: this is not for the laity, this is not for the laity. Obedience, a peaceful spirit, the Jesus Prayer... long services, fasting without fish... fasting in general... in general, apparently, nothing serious is for the laity. It seems to me that this is some kind of self-deception. It turns out that spiritual life is not for the laity? What about the Kingdom of Heaven? ( From a letter to the editor of the magazine “Neskuchny Sad”).

One writer thanked for the sincerity of the person who sent him a boorish, highly offensive letter. One famous actor refused to go get prestigious award, because its presentation was scheduled for Holy Week. One equally famous film director never schedules filming on a Sunday. But one priest noisily celebrated his birthday in a restaurant during the first week of Lent and then made an excuse: “I’m not a monk!”

The meaning of “dissociation” from monasticism usually concerns relaxation, mitigation, relief - fasting, prayer rules, behavior, ethics, morality: I am not a monk, so I can allow myself any liberties. “A gentleman is being questioned whether he cheated on his wife and how often; he answers: of course, I didn’t live as a monk!” - this example is given by Archimandrite Hilarion (Troitsky), the future archbishop and martyr, in an article published in 1915 under the title “The Unity of the Ideal of Christ.”

The saint insists that the call of the Savior, expressed in the words “be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), applies to all Christians, regardless of their lifestyle. Even monastic vows are simply evangelical institutions: it is strange to think that monks take upon themselves some special feats not commanded by Christ; “for a Christian there is generally no specific standard beyond which he does not need to grow spiritually; its measure is infinite perfection.”

This idea was expressed in one form or another by many fathers and teachers of the Church. Basil the Great, setting out the rules for monastic brethren, never used the word “monk”, but only “Christian”; He believed that moving away from the world “is not about being outside the world with your body, but in order to break away with your soul from addiction to the body, to acquisitions, property, worldly worries and evil customs.” Saint Gregory of Nyssa assured: “If anyone takes upon himself the name of Christ, but does not manifest in life what is seen with this name, he bears this name falsely.” The Monk Macarius the Great warns: “What a person loves in the world, that burdens his mind and takes possession of it; All Christians living in cities, or in monasteries, or in fields, or in desert places are tested by this.” He, like other fathers, identifies “love of the world” with attachment to carnal pleasures, wealth, fame, and property. Everyone understands that “leaving the world” does not mean changing location.

Probably everyone has seen how, upon leaving the church, women take off their headscarves in unison. It’s not about the scarves - there is something symbolic in this gesture: it seems that in church we are Orthodox, but outside the church, like everyone else, we bow under someone else’s yoke with the infidels, since it is disloyal to neglect secular decency and shy away, even during Lent, from participating in various festivals, anniversaries, celebrations and corporate parties, completely pagan in spirit. Orthodox girls, alas, are often subject to the same sins that are not those who know God: they paint their faces, dress in obscene fashion, engage in love affairs, agree to illegal cohabitation, and resort to abortion. Partly, perhaps, this is due to the influence of the widely propagated media in the most diverse forms of liberal doctrine with its concept of freedom, which claims to discard everything that fetters, limits and constrains a person, preventing his maximum self-expression.

“A layman should not differ in anything from a monk, except for legal cohabitation with his wife,” wrote John Chrysostom. This difference, however, is quite significant. Abstinence from marriage is not for everyone, but for those who are given; and the daily life of families, of which the majority, of course, is not and should not be similar to monastic life: due to the inevitable worries of everyday life, they do not have time to read long prayer rules, and they go to church only on holidays. But even in a monastery there are such troublesome positions when you have to sacrifice silence and prayer; the essence does not change, the gate remains narrow and the path is narrow. In the end, the laity also make vows at baptism, renouncing Satan and combining Christ; love for Him requires observance of the commandments, and fidelity, in other words, responsibility before God, must be reinforced by prayer and ascetic discipline.

In a monastery, life is made easier by obedience; in the world, with its inconsistency and deceptiveness, it is much more difficult: prudence, the ability to distinguish good from evil, is necessary. There are cases that in the church environment are classified as appropriation of someone else's: say, the father of a large family, overcome by jealousy beyond reason, during Lent goes into the shutter, abandoning all household chores and entrusting them, naturally, to his wife. A pious parishioner loves to donate to the church without hesitation, and when left without money, he becomes dependent on his sister. The pious mother runs to church almost every evening for the akathist, and meanwhile her teenage son grows up in the gateway and reaches the correctional colony. Or there are many girls in a city parish, grouping around their adored confessor, imitating monasticism: they dress up in cassocks, twirl rosaries and enthusiastically confess, immersing themselves “in a detailed and subtle examination of sins and sinful qualities”; Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) especially warned those living in the world against this “trap.” As is known, he drew a clear line between the laity, who have the goal of salvation, and the monks, striving for perfection, right down to the choice of reading, for, he believed, ascetic books intended for hermits develop extremely harmful things in the laity. spiritual daydreaming. However, today it is unnecessary to mention books, since no one reads anything; the widespread ignorance in matters of faith is terrifying, exposing laziness and indifference. “Anyone who does not want to study the truths of Orthodoxy obviously does not want to be a Christian,” said St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow.

“Every person who has been baptized in the name of the Life-Giving and God-Giving Trinity must observe everything that is commanded; for... if even one of the commandments remains neglected, then the opposite path of evil will certainly be laid in its place” (St. Maximus the Confessor). Today we have come to a situation where, contrary to the Gospel parable, the tax collector rises above the Pharisee: any ascetic effort is condemned and ridiculed as “external” and therefore unimportant, not affecting the state of the soul. Meanwhile, without a feat aimed at limiting the insatiable flesh, the fight against sin and cleansing from passions is hardly possible.

The Apostle knew how to live both in poverty and in abundance (Phil. 4:12.), but we are weak people, and nothing harms us more than prosperity; Let's say, at the beginning of the twentieth century, when Russia was a prosperous Christian power and, it seemed, nothing threatened Orthodoxy, irritated voices were heard against monasticism, the “Byzantine heritage”, which imposed its debilitating statutes on the entire Church. By that time, a cooling towards fasting had already taken root, a unanimous condemnation of “bodily feat” and any abstinence, which reduces the fullness of being. Well, as you know, it came to the point that the majority of the laity received communion once a year, the most zealous “in all four fasts”, gathered together only once before death, and church life became simply a more or less pleasant everyday tradition, with Christmas trees and Easter cakes for Easter.

Those who turned to God in Soviet years, as a rule, lukewarmness did not suffer; they understood, quite literally, “how dangerous they are walking” under the supervision of the “authorities.” Every believer could expect arrest, therefore, fearing the betrayal of the flesh, they behaved strictly, received communion almost every week, held unction every year and tried to attend services as often as possible: all the joy of the soul directed towards Christ, all the joy, all the beauty of the world was concentrated in the church, in the temple. They did not compare themselves with the monks, rather, due to persecution, with the early Christians, but they fasted “according to the Typikon,” copied “The Invisible Warfare” and “The Ladder” by hand, and on the way to work they quietly fiddled with homemade rosaries in the depths of their pockets.

Different times have come, the Church is free again, and its adherents have nothing to fear yet - from the outside. But after several years of euphoria, some conscientious people began to feel a vague uneasiness, as if connected with the loss of the authenticity of their Christianity: well, as if they had remained on Mount Tabor when Christ went towards suffering.

Today, the famous words of St. John Chrysostom about security, which is worse than any persecution, because it gives rise to carelessness, relaxes and lulls souls, are relevant. Comfort has the terrible ability to deprive one of freedom, to cause dependence, dragging one into the swamp of pleasures, accustoming one to pleasures and lulling them with blessed justifications: “God is merciful, Christianity is pure joy, and all sorts of “deprivations” are inventions of obscurantists.” But “you will sleep a little, you will doze a little, you will lie down with folded hands for a little, and your poverty will come like a passer-by, and your need will come like a robber” (Proverbs 6: 10-11).

“There is only one guard and one medicine for the soul: to zealously remember God,” said St. Gregory of Nyssa. “Whether we eat or drink, whether we rest, whether we do anything or say anything, let everything that is in us merge into one glory of God, and not into our own, and may our life have neither spot nor blemish from the evil intentions of the evil one.”

As Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) noted, you live not where you would like, but where and as God’s Providence leads. Therefore, one must be content with one’s position, layman or monk, and thank God, resigning oneself to circumstances; achievement without humility does not bear fruit, and humility alone is useful in itself.

ABOUT ORTHODOX WITCHES: (Abbess Theophila Lepeshinskaya) Moreover, they are so immaculate, So majestic, so smart, So full of piety, So circumspect, so precise, So unapproachable for men, That the sight of them already gives rise to spleen. A. S. Pushkin. Please note: all protest actions in the form of hunger strikes on the threshold of the church, religious processions, walks with posters, no matter what they concern: the opening of a temple, the Inn, an immoral film on TV, in defense of Bishop Diomede - are performed by “mothers” , as parishioners are usually called. A curious phenomenon: converts, especially women, are extremely active and even aggressive. Returning from Crimea, N. found herself in a compartment with a charming girl, a student; Both instantly fell in love with each other and decided to have dinner together. N. crossed herself before eating... and suddenly her cute snub-nosed face stretched out in hostility: “Are you a believer? ! The matter was explained: her older sister was baptized several years ago. “Religion makes people callous,” the girl asserted hotly, “it completely deprives them of their humanity!” She sits all day, cooped up in a stuffy room, and hangs over us with her prayer book like a spider... She was in tears throughout Serbia, she was hungry because of some temple, she goes to people with many children, she rushes to help everyone... But I know all the time, I feel how constant reproach: she herself is the most unhappy of all! sleeps on planks, has deprived herself of her favorite theater, of course, cinema and television, does not eat meat, milk, eggs; I just feel: her soul has dried up from resentment towards the whole world because it is not what she and her God need, well, it’s our fault, we’re not like that either! Ooh, these funeral sighs looking at me, silence full of reproach, slamming the door if we turn on the music; We only breathe when she’s not there, even if she’s gone to a monastery or something. I hate it! Oh, not her, but what made her a scarecrow for everyone!”... A gloomy worldview, it’s sad to admit, is not at all uncommon for today’s Orthodox Christians. Faith becomes a heavy burden, a reason for self-torture, a complete prohibition: you can’t read a “secular” book, have dinner in a restaurant, or watch harmful TV. Often, strict asceticism is guided by a subconscious, completely pagan fear: you have to pay for everything, joy will certainly turn into misfortune, God will punish you. The teenager is tired from homework and wants to go for a walk, but his mother admonishes: “The Gospel does not say that we are supposed to rest.” The daughter asks for a beautiful dress, and the mother buys something gray-brown: “we shouldn’t stand out.” The baby reaches for the ice cream, and dad: “It’s impossible, there’s no need to develop guttural rage! " And the “church grandmothers”! The pure public invariably presents them as a reliable argument, motivating their stay outside the Church. This contingent is well known; in the old days, when there were few churches, they overcame the crowded space with the help of a needle: a poke to the right, a poke to the left, and everyone parted, freeing up her rightful place of prayer. And what about the “housewives”, that is, the churchwomen, those on staff! “I see, Katya,” she looks behind the icon case, and Katya is already turning pale, “you don’t love the Mother of God!” She found the dust somewhere there, and Katya is all cowering, but nothing, then she will take it out on Zina. Without realizing it, they know perfectly well what they want and what they are striving for, but in their language there is invariably pious molasses: “God bless”, “peace to your home”, “angel at the table”, “stay with God”; to the simple question “will you come tomorrow” they will roll their eyes: “as the Lord wills.” They are zealous, they “fulfill” everything, make thousands of bows, all the prayers are held, all the akathists know what saint to pray for: from the head of Ivan the Baptist, from the theft of Ivan the Warrior, from the teeth of Antipas, and even the countryman from Matryonushka’s grave from Everything helps, and if you sprinkle a little on the tables of your neighbors or co-workers, they will start to get sick and leave you behind. In one Chekhov story, a Cossack dying in the steppe asks passersby, spouses returning from the Easter service, for a piece of Easter cake, but his wife refuses, because “it is a sin to shred the holy paska.” And in the story by Marko Vovchka, the landowner, according to her vow, burned an unquenchable candle in front of the icons, and if it went out due to the oversight of the yard girl assigned to guard the fire, the latter was mercilessly flogged, because it interfered with the lady’s piety. Everyone will condemn such “Christianity,” and it seems impossible not to condemn it. However, let’s wait a moment to throw stones, let’s first think about why such a shift occurs; Isn’t this our common misfortune? The soul seeks what is above, and takes up arms below, having my own flesh and blood as an ally, and the temptation is irresistible to reconcile one with the other, to shorten the immensity, to tear out from it the particulars accessible to one’s own poverty and in “fulfilling” them to find the desired satisfaction. Trembling and timid on the eve of her mantle tonsure, nun I. cried inconsolably, not finding anything in herself worthy of the Father’s embrace, and the old nun L. persuaded: “Well, what are you doing, what are you doing? It’s okay: it usually takes one hour to read, but you have to go to the service anyway.” In one village, according to the residents, “three girls saved” the temple: when they came to blow it up in 1938, they lay down under the walls and screamed and wailed in heartbreaking voices, ready, after the arrest and disappearance of the entire clergy, to be taken along with them They'll blow it up, they won't be shy. They shouted very loudly, did they scare the NKVD officers? Or did the Lord see that they really needed the temple and preserved it? In 1993, one of them was still alive: she was sitting on a bench, wearing a new plush jacket, frowning, watching everyone passing by with a gloomy, suspicious look; the priest scolded her: “Nyurka! You’ve completely eaten your daughters!” But the Lord... hasn’t forgotten, has he? V.E. told me: in those years she was once praying on Passion Day in a crowded church, suddenly a mirror fell at her feet and broke into small smithereens, and the “hostess” standing next to her hissed in her ear: “Get it together!” it’s yours!”; she, V.E., still looked like a lady. What to do, I collected the fragments and put them in my pocket. And six months later, that “hostess” rushes to her on the street: “Forgive me for Christ’s sake! I slandered you: it was my mirror.” Both shed tears. V.E. learned a lesson and came up with a formula: the worst believer is better than the best unbeliever. But even after that she suffered through everything. “I’m giving birth, so you’re going to go to the cross with painted lips? ! And she hasn’t put on makeup for a long time. “Look, she came in heels, how are you going to bow? ! Having put on a moderate-length skirt, elasticated stockings and low shoes, I heard after her: “What an artist!” She, of course, was seething, but, having boiled over, she blamed herself that in essence they were right, and about rudeness, one village priest immediately explained to her: “Their sin is not your concern, and what is rude, you probably won’t understand otherwise.” The intelligentsia, who poured into the Church after the end of communism, are greatly outraged by such things: they are educated, advanced, they are aware: God is love and, therefore, those who pray to Him are obliged to experience exclusively affection for strangers and this, what is it, tolerance. Condemning “ritual faith,” “statutory piety,” and stupid women wrapped in unfashionable headscarves, they proclaim the need for universal catechesis, as if Christianity can be taught in courses. Well, grandmothers! At the Last Judgment they will present their illiteracy; their hypocrisy means, as Konstantin Leontyev noted long ago, only earnest, to the point of pettiness, devotion to the external symbols of church cult and does not at all contain pretense, that is, hypocrisy; But how can those who have read forty thousand books, studied theology, practice agapes, but have by no means overcome rage and hatred of dissenters, justify themselves? How will those who have visited all the elders and visited all the shrines come out with one single, vaguely conscious, but carefully disguised attitude: to save the soul and not to bear the cross; the cross, which does not consist at all in the shedding of blood, but simply in the patience of that which contradicts our fiery love for ourselves? What subtle twists and forgeries we do not indulge in, squeezing Christianity into the narrow, but our own, framework of personal and even more pleasant existence! Undoubtedly, the phenomenon of specifically female cunning exists and blooms as a poisonous flower. A man, perhaps, cannot always recognize a sin, is ready to conceal it, keep silent about it in confession, but he is completely incapable of masterfully turning the facts inside out, masterfully veiling and justifying his own blatant vices: A., repeatedly caught in laziness, explained her non-participation in parish labors and concerns... Mary’s advantage over Martha, and V., out of the same laziness at the grief of her parents, abandoned the institute, affirmed the apostle’s saying: “knowledge puffs up.” to K. at night by candlelight, everything was like the big ones, she read akathists with rapture, of course she couldn’t get up in the morning, she called at work, said she was sick, her migraines are widely known; Having slept, I went out to get some air and went shopping; and conscience is silent. N. Lent came as a worldly guest, the whole evening in the spotlight: “oh, what are you doing, I don’t eat any of this... well, maybe potatoes... if in the microwave... oh, what are you, without oil, just bake, without oil! " "A. I. so good!” - M. admires; “Really? God grant that you are not mistaken,” O. reacts instantly, turning his eyes up to the heavens, letting out a sigh so heavy, as if A.I. had killed a person and was hiding it. T., noticing the slightest disapproval, immediately fights back, but with a tender, defenseless smile: “Darling, pray to John the Theologian, and he will soften your heart!” E. plays the role of someone like the old woman Khlestova from “Woe from Wit”: she immediately cuts the truth in the eyes, everyone walks around her a kilometer away, and she assures that she suffers for her straightforwardness, and not for ordinary vulgar rudeness. I remember the phrase of the heroine in Sartre’s play: you’re mean, like a woman! How can one not admit that she is right: only a woman knows how to mercilessly and cold-bloodedly wound to death with a word. As a teenager, L. was staying with the family of her mother’s friend, and this friend, probably foreseeing in her a threat to her always-suspect husband, once in front of the guests, looking at photographs, casually addressed her: “Your dad is handsome, and so is your mom; Who are you into?” L. had complexes for several years; angular, tense, with an expression of gloomy doom in front of a world hostile to freaks, she really grew up to be a freak; over time, her father, with delicate maneuvers, brought her out of the role of an ugly woman, but she never forgot the old sentence, until old age she was painfully concerned about her appearance and greedily caught compliments. Word powerful weapon and is often used in this capacity. K. talked about a neighbor in an old Moscow communal apartment: everyone was afraid of her like fire, because when a scandal arose, she struck a preemptive blow to what was most painful and intimate, using secrets learned during periods of truce, so warmly portrayed in sentimental Soviet television films. Well, in the monastery; when before the holiday everyone gets knocked down general work, S. quietly leaves, and appears for dinner and when asked where she has been, she lowers her gaze and barely audible, as if against her will, whispers: “I prayed...” the offenders, if found, will joke, condemn, then she instantly bursts into tears, sobbing : “no one understands me, no one!”; to understand, as you know, means to forgive, that is, to accept, justify and not object to whatever she does. The continuation could be a demonstrative run under the stairs or into the attic, packing a suitcase, here everyone is in alarm, the offenders ask for forgiveness and hear in response: “leave me alone!”; In the end, S. won and was freed from censure for a long time. E., upon the revelation of the abbess’s thoughts, knows how to admire her wisdom with tears, and then complain about the impossibility of the assigned obedience and achieve relief; or, as if by chance, admit to mental abuse against V.’s mother because she condemned her mother. A good-looking and God-fearing witch is much more terrible than a traditional one, old and toothless, in a mortar and with a broom. One can still give examples of sophisticated hypocrisy, or, in church terms, the deceit of “women drowning in sins, led by various lusts, always learning and never able to reach the knowledge of the truth.” The blood runs cold when you read these denunciations of the apostle. Isn't it me, Lord? Having barely crossed the threshold of the church, we are already surprised at what kind of sinners are around, and we fearlessly expose them with the intention of immediately converting and saving. One of the beginners came to visit the old sick professor and was indignant from the doorway: “How can you eat cheese sandwiches on Wednesday! You will soon die and go straight to hell!” What will he think about Christians, because, as everyone knows, they should always show kindness and compassion. So we fall into the category of those about whom the Gospel says: because of you the name of God is blasphemed among the pagans.