Schema nun Nicholas (Kopteva). Modern sects of the Tsarebozhniks: features of doctrine and activities T. Groyan (schema-nun Nikolai) Schema-nun Nikolai from the village of Zakharovo

Schema nun Nikolai, in the world Kopteva Zoya Alekseevna, was born on February 22, 1922 in the city of Perm. Her parents were believers, but they did not teach their children faith.
My mother told me that in her youth she worked at an airfield where airplanes were tested. She really liked being taken on flights and flew often.

She married the man she loved. My husband, a party worker, was very strict. He demanded order and neatness in home life. She had two children - a son and a daughter. After the death of her husband, already in mature age, she worked as chief accountant in the executive committee. I started attending church. Once upon a time in cathedral The city of Perm heard the sermon of one hieromonk from the Pochaev Lavra. This sermon turned her life upside down and she followed Christ with all her soul. She took a vacation at her own expense and went to Zagorsk to visit St. Sergius.

“I must say that in those years I went to confession irregularly, I lived vainly, so I went to confession at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra with the thought that my life had been lived, but true repentance had never happened. There, at the entrance to the temple, hangs big image The Savior, in full height, and when I approached, His face seemed stern and questioning to me. I began to tell the hieromonk my whole life in confession. He says, “Keep it short.” “I can’t,” I answer, I must tell you in detail about my sins.” Tears began to flow from my eyes - I was so bitter and ashamed that I did not live according to Christian commandments. At those moments I felt like a real traitor. Father showed true mercy by forgiving my sins and blessing me for communion. When, after confession, I again appeared before the icon of the Savior, His gaze was already different - affectionate and loving. I felt such relief at that moment, as if a mountain had fallen from me. All she could say with tears was “Lord!”

From Zagorsk, mother went to the Pochaev Lavra, and then to the Preobrazhensk Hermitage near Elagva, not far from Riga, where Archimandrite Tavrion (Batozsky) lived at that time. He blessed her to go to Pechory, to schema-abbot Savva.

“I arrived in Pechory, stood in the monastery and suddenly heard from all sides: “Savva! Father Savva is coming." I see a monk of average height coming, with a pleasant face. For some reason, he came straight up to me and asked where I was from. It’s interesting that he behaved as if he recognized me as his old acquaintance, smiled very friendly and said loudly: “Ah, Maria Sergeevna!” I answered: “You are mistaken, Father!” “No, Maria Sergeevna, I was not mistaken,” he told me confidently. So he called me by someone else’s name twice. Only later did it dawn on me that it was he who predicted two tonsures for me.”

Upon returning home, mother quit her job and began to live a church life.

So she ended up in Kazan as a cell attendant with Bishop Pentalimon. He tonsured her into a mantle with the name Esther.

“My name was rare and at first it seemed that I would never remember it at all. Back then, the time was, as they say now, “stagnant.” The authorities did not favor the Church, so monastic tonsure was usually secret and most often given the same name that a person received at birth. For example, my parents named me Zoya, so I thought that Vladyka Panteleimon would choose for me a name starting with the letter “Z,” well, let’s say, Zinaida, or even leave my old name. But before the tonsure he asked me: “What name do you want?” I answered: “As God pleases, so be it.” The Vladyka thought for a moment, and then asked: “What is your greatest desire?” I said that most of all I want to beg my relatives so that they all receive God’s forgiveness and are saved. And the Vladyka named me Esther.”

But mother could not live long in Kazan. She was in poor health, the climate was not suitable, and she returned to Perm. I began to look for a place where I could live. I lived with my daughter, in the summer alone at the dacha, I prayed a lot, recited the Jesus Prayer and did everything only with prayer. One day she saw in a dream a small temple on a hill, and this dream sank into her soul so much that she began to look for this temple everywhere. When, after some time, she arrived in Chusovskie Gorodoki, she recognized the temple that she had dreamed about. At that time there was no monastery yet, there was the All Syat Church, where the rector was Hieromonk Savvaty (Rudakov) and an almshouse at the temple. She told her confessor, Father Savvaty, her dream. He answered her: “Come and live.”

Mother took on one of the most difficult obediences - she began to travel to collect funds for the temple, and later to the monastery. Until the end of her days, mother carried out this obedience. In the summer she grew tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, gardened and prepared food for the winter. She cooked very tasty and always said: “You have to cook with prayer, then it will turn out delicious; when you stir the soup, read the Jesus Prayer.” The sisters especially loved her borscht with sprat tomato sauce. She often spoiled her sisters with homemade pies and shangas, and knew a lot of recipes.

Galina Zasypkina in her youth. 1939, Sverdlovsk

We met schemanun Nikolai on July 19 (August 1), 1995. This is how our monastery chronicle tells about it. “Today is the day of remembrance of St. Seraphim of Sarov, mentor and intercessor of all monastics. Was it really through the prayers of Father Seraphim that we were sent a wonderful meeting today? Recently, Father Alexander told us that he confessed at home to an old nun who remembers the abbess of our monastery, Magdalene (Dosmanova). This news made us very happy. After the service, Rev. Mother Lyubov unexpectedly found Seraphim free time, and we went along specified address- to Kraulya Street. Of course, the upcoming meeting excited us. Is there really a living thread connecting the times, and we will see the novice schema-abbess Magdalene, who died about 60 years ago?

And so we call the apartment. A thin woman opens the door. She introduced herself to us as Elena. (Only later, after a while, do we learn that she is nun Sergius). Elena invited us into the room where Nikolai’s mother was already waiting for us. We saw a short, plump woman with a kind face and attentive, lively eyes. She greeted us standing and, greeting us, bowed to the ground to our mother, like a new novice. Mother Nikolai was wearing a black apostle and a dark dress. There are many icons and photographs in the room, some of them are old. We crossed ourselves at them, then we were invited to sit down. “Did you know Abbess Magdalene?” - asked Mother Lyubov. Nikolai’s mother answered in the voice of a schoolgirl: “I knew.” And she began to tell how, around 1930, when she was very young, she came to the community of Mother Magdalene, how she learned obedience and humility, how she received the prediction of the perspicacious abbess that she would be the only one of all to live to see the revival of the Novo-Tikhvin monastery. Galina Zasypkina (this is the secular name of Mother Nikolai) stayed with Mother Magdalene for several years. This community was essentially a small monastery. Mother Abbess not only performed the rite of investing young Galina in the ryassophore, but also formed in her novice the correct spiritual dispensation and patristic concepts of spiritual life.

Now sitting in front of us was an 83-year-old nun (later we learn that she was already in the schema) with a wealth of life and spiritual experience. IN lately illness does not allow Mother Nikolai to leave the house or go to church, which, of course, she mourns. But every day she reads the service at home. Her voice is thin, almost childish, her intonation is expressive, her speech is replete with folk, sometimes popular, phrases. During the 2-3 hours that we stayed with her, Nikolai’s mother told us a lot of interesting things. We heard stories about three ascetics at once, about three women who dedicated their lives to God. First, Mother Nicholas told us about the fasting monk Annushka (schema-nun Euphrosyne). At the same time, it was felt that our narrator was in a hurry to fulfill her duty - to convey everything that she knew about the holy life of the ascetic, connected, albeit indirectly, with our monastery. Secondly, the life of Mother Nikolai herself began to open up to us, which was also extremely interesting and confessional. And, of course, we learned a lot about the former abbess of our monastery, schema-abbess Magdalena (Dosmanova). We wanted to listen more and more, but it was time to return to the monastery. Saying goodbye, Nikolai’s mother invited us to visit her, which we were, of course, very happy about. She taught us to say goodbye like a monk, with the words: “Christ is in our midst!” and the answer: “It was, is and will be!”

This is how our acquaintance with Mother Nicholas is recorded in our chronicle, this is how this beneficial communication with the nun began former times. We valued him very much, but now we understand that we could have received even more benefit from Mother Nikolai, visited her even more often, asked more questions and written down notes. No one thought that very soon - in a year and a half, Nikolai’s mother would leave us for eternal life. We all happily went to see her, but it didn’t work out very often. It was considered a great consolation to visit Mother Nikolai. What did she do to console her? Stories - about yourself, about meetings with people “from books”. It was extraordinary: here sits in front of you a man who communicated with so many people who have already been glorified as saints!

Mother always talked about herself with some self-deprecation, which evoked a sympathetic smile and helped her project her stories onto herself and take her as an example. For example, her story about the white suit was very vivid in my imagination. “Aunt sewed me a white suit, I wanted to wear it ( without blessing - ed.) go out into the city, but before I had time to leave, Mother Magdalene saw me.” One look from the abbess was enough to pure at heart the girl repented of her addiction to worldly beauty. “I fell at her feet,” recalled Nikolai’s mother, “and never wore that suit again.” The old nun spoke about her old temptation with genuine contrition, as if this incident had happened yesterday, and not sixty years ago. She revealed to us the art of monastic humility unobtrusively, in entertaining stories. This is what wise teachers do.

By the way, Galina never went to school. Parents, having learned that new government canceled the lesson on the Law of God for children, they decided to teach their daughter to read and write themselves. As an adult, Galina entered paramedic courses and successfully completed them: her excellent memory helped her remember lectures by ear. She knew several akathists and the Psalter by heart. She knew how to do a lot with her own hands: she wove rosaries, sewed, embroidered. Her explanations of how monastic vestments are cut and sewn were very timely for us. No less relevant for our monastery, which had just begun its revival, were the old lady’s revelations about the lessons of humility that she took from Abbess Magdalene. It was very difficult for young Galina to humble herself because of her too lively character; she was even nicknamed “spindle.” But later, this character and the developed internal law - to always trust in God - saved her in the most difficult situations. She had many trials in her life - the front, captivity, work in hospitals.

And after the victory and demobilization, Galina entered another army - Christ’s. Energetic, decisive, skillful, she was right hand Abbess of the Krasnogorsk convent in Zolotonosha, Cherkasy region.

In the 60s, after a new wave of persecution of believers, I had to return to Sverdlovsk, about which my mother was very sad. However, she continued her monastic lifestyle in the world. I traveled a lot to holy places. Having received from the schema. Magdalene's concept of the correct spiritual path, M. Nicholas throughout her life tried to consult with those who were also rooted in the patristic tradition. In her life there were conversations and meetings with many ascetics: St. Ignatius (Kevroletin), St. Sebastian of Karaganda, St. Kuksha Odessa, archimandrite. John (Krestyankin). She also knew the elders of the Glinsk hermitage: Metropolitan Zinovy ​​(Mazhugu) of Tetritskaro, schemaarch. Seraphim (Romantsova), schiarch. Andronika (Lukasha). I corresponded with some of them. Her confessor for a long time was the schiarch. Ambrose (Ivanov) - one of the last inhabitants of Optina Hermitage.

Having been raised by such mentors, M. Nicholas firmly held on to the Jesus Prayer. Sometimes, when we came to visit mother, we found her worldly children listening to her with respect. Mother taught me to pray constantly, always with attention. She said that we need to prepare for prayer, concentrate, so that there are no extraneous thoughts. She advised not to start anything without prayer—even to prepare food with prayer. She considered it very important not to be late for church, not to miss the beginning of the service; taught me to stand through the service until the end, to stand without moving.

Nikolai’s mother was also a hospitable, cordial hostess. By the way, her lively character was visible even at her advanced age. So she started baking pancakes to treat us on Parents' Day and, indeed, she baked them instantly. And in her declining years she was characterized by childlike simplicity, folk turns of speech, directness of judgment, which, however, did not exclude delicacy. Her advice was both maternally kind and monastically strict. To one novice, who was tormented by thoughts of leaving the monastery, Mother Nicholas gave advice that completely coincides with the patristic ones: “Tell yourself: tomorrow I will leave, and today I will still be here.” Having asked one of us about Angel Day and listened to the answer, mother instructively remarked: “We must remember the calendar not according to the new, but according to the old style.” At the same time, some pain was felt in her voice from neglect of the canons of the Church. Our sister remembered this lesson forever. Another time, when one sister came to Mother Nikolai on Saturday evening, she received the guest with the usual warmth, but still made her attitude towards the service clear: “I didn’t think that someone would come now. After all, today is an all-night vigil!”

Nikolai’s mother had genuine humility and contrition for her sins. Every time during conversations, she sincerely asked: “I’m going to die, so pray for me, I’m a sinner.” We learned that she was a schema monk by chance. We examined the situation in the room and somewhere to the side we saw an unfinished note about the health of “... Schema nun Nikolai.” Mother humbly hid her schema. I felt sorry for her, like an embarrassed first-grader, when, to our abbess’s question about her rank (asked after our unintentional “intelligence”), Mother Nikolai answered: “Nun,” and then, lowering her head, quietly added: “Actually in the schema "

IN early childhood- Around 1918, Mother Nicholas was predicted to have a difficult life to bear. It was foreseen by schema-nun Euphrosyne, who knew the Zasypkin family closely. But the ascetic knew that “the cross of the Lord is a good yoke and a light burden, and with Jesus and on Calvary is paradise” (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov). Nikolai’s mother also learned this holy truth from her own experience. She never complained about the sorrows she suffered, she did not take credit for their patience, she only lamented about her sins, which again and again gave us lessons in the main monastic activity - repentance.

5/ January 18, 1997, on Epiphany Eve in the monastery, after the service, the sisters gathered for a meal. Suddenly the sister who was on duty at the telephone came in. She approached Mother Lyubov and, kneeling down, whispered something to her. Mother stood up, interrupted her reading of the book, which always accompanies the sisters’ meals, and informed everyone: “Schema-nun Nicholas has died.” Her soul went to the Lord at a time when the festive Divine Liturgy was being celebrated in churches.

We decided to write this letter because... We are sure that the slander that unfolded on the Internet around the Maloyaroslavets St. Nicholas Chernoostrovsky Convent was inspired by anti-church, anti-God circles.

In her “Confession of a former novice,” Maria deliberately attacks all monastic traditions, the importance of observing which the Patriarch so clearly spoke at the congress of abbots and abbesses. No wonder this “confession” came out immediately after the congress. Maria, and those who support her, direct their blow against the foundations of monasticism, which Mother Abbess Nicholas strengthens and develops in her abbot service. Speaking against spiritual care (which the Patriarch recently spoke about at a meeting of abbots and abbesses), the “former novice” distorts its meaning, calling it “denunciations” (although Mother always teaches us to repent only of our sinful thoughts and scolds the sisters not for their thoughts, but for actions). Prayer, the main monastic virtue, is also blasphemed against the practice of the Jesus Prayer and keeping one’s lips in the monastery. The devil, through his “novices,” attacks obedience, as the basis of monastic work, with particular fury—the author of the “confession” calls it a “cult of personality,” and a leading not to God, but to oneself. The target for denunciation is not only the abbess of Nicholas, but also the spiritual elders - Schema-Archimandrite Eli, Schema-Archimandrite Blasius, Archimandrite Naum, as well as St. John Climacus, whom the “debunkers of monasticism” classify as sadists, and his immortal “Ladder” is called PR for the “sadists” abbots."

Further in her writing follow unfounded accusations of poor nutrition, exhausting labor, lack of rest and treatment, not only of the sisters, but even of the children of the Otrada shelter. (For information: an Italian cheese factory is installed in the monastery, and the monastery feeds all parishioners on Sundays and holidays - 150-200 people, 2-3 times a month distributes food to more than 70 poor families, so why not take care of their sisters and children. In The monastery has a therapeutic sauna, physiotherapeutic and dental offices, and a large pharmacy.) The atmosphere of the shelter is called barracks, and the children are described as sitting within “four walls.” This year alone, the children of the orphanage had 7 trips abroad - these included performances by the children's choir and dance group, as well as pilgrimages, which have become commonplace. Every year, the pupils of the Otrada orphanage relax by the sea, in Greece or Crimea.

Slanderers form the image of Mother Abbess as a rude, domineering and cruel tyrant. But everyone who has been to the monastery knows how much all the sisters, not only of the Maloyaroslavets Monastery, but of all our monasteries, love Mother. We all live like one big, friendly loving family, no one wants to leave, because when we came to the monastery, we chose this abbess for ourselves.

We're like ex-sisters monastery, we are surprised at what evil and perverted vision those who write these slander must have in order to see our native monastery and Mother, always full of love and patience with our infirmities, in such a perverted form. We think it makes no sense to respond specifically to all these devilish lies, but we cannot tolerate it and want to stand up for the defense of those high spiritual ideals that are affirmed by Mother Nicholas and our confessor Schema-Archimandrite Blasius (formerly Lavra Schema-Archimandrite Michael) and which bear visible fruit, witnessed by everyone spiritual modern authorities of monasticism. Many bishops ask for abbess to come to their dioceses from the St. Nicholas Monastery. 15 abbess have left the monastery in all parts of our country; the abbess of the Orthodox monastery of St. Paisius in America considers Mother Nicholas to be her spiritual mother. The monastery is loved and appreciated for its spiritual attitude and adherence to the traditions of monastic tradition by Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol, Schema-Archimandrite Eli, Schema-Archimandrite Vlasiy, Schema-Archimandrite Ephraim of Vatopedi, the late Elder Joseph of Vatopedi and many other spiritual people.

120 sisters live in the monastery; cases of sisters leaving are very rare, and this mainly concerns laborers or novices. For last year Not a single assigned sister left, but 13 sisters came.

Our Mother, for her work for the benefit of the Church and the state, has 2 government awards (the Order of Friendship and the Order of St. Catherine), and six church orders.

It is obvious that this campaign is planned and directed against monasticism as a church institution, against charitable activities monasteries, i.e. against the Church of Christ itself. There is a deliberate falsification of information (how do Rimma-Regina Shams, who left in 2011, and especially the novices who left in 1993, know what is happening in our monastery now?).

Who is the author? When Maria, after leaving the monastery, took up photography again, photographs of naked women taken by her were displayed in the photo gallery on her website. Now, being in Brazil, she collects information about everyone who left and was “offended”, sometimes fabricating false comments.

All this forces us to especially pray for our persecutors, but “God is betrayed in silence,” and if we do not respond to this slander, then the enemies of the Church will triumph. We all, who lived and were raised in this monastery as abbess and nuns, together with the sisters of our monasteries, testify that everything in the notorious “Confession of a former novice” is a lie, spread by the enemies of the Church and monasticism. And if you want to know the truth, come to Maloyaroslavets (only 110 km from Moscow) and see everything with your own eyes.

We abide with Love in the Crucified and Risen Lord:

1. Abbess Theodosia (St. Alexeevsky Monastery, Saratov)
2. Abbess Anthony (St. Peter and Paul Monastery, Khabarovsk)
3. Abbess Anastasia (Spaso-Vorotynsky Monastery, Vorotynsk)
4. Abbess Nektaria (Seraphim-Pokrovsky Monastery, Kemerovo)
5. Abbess Michael (Holy Dormition convent, Kemerovo)
6. Abbess Varvara (St. George Convent, Essentuki)
7. Abbess Theodosia (Nativity of Christ Monastery, Vyatka)
8. Abbess Elikonida (John Convent, Alekseevka village, Saratov region)
9. Abbess Makaria (Vladimir Convent, Volsk, Saratov region)
10. Nun Paraskeva, abbess of the metochion (Monastery of the Kaluga Mother of God, Zhdamirovo village)
11. Nun Michaela, older sister(Holy Dormition Gremyachev Monastery)
12. Mother Elizabeth, elder sister (Holy Dormition Sharovkin Monastery)
13. Mother Joanna, elder sister (Tikhvin Monastery Mother of God)

There is probably not a person in Rus', or in the whole world, who has not heard about the glorious life and wondrous miracles of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. “Conqueror of nations” is how His name is translated from Greek. How did the wondrous Saint conquer and still conquer the hearts of all of us? Fiery faith and love for God, endless mercy and compassion for others, constant readiness sacrifice oneself for the sake of fulfilling Divine commandments.

It can in no way be an accident that in monastic tonsure our Mother Abbess received the name of St. Nicholas and that it was she who was chosen by the Saint to revive his holy monastery, to become the mother of numerous nuns and children - pupils of the orphanage. Because only big loving heart capable of bearing this heavy cross.

To love means to obey. The hegumen's golden cross is very high before God, since the hegumen completely renounces himself for the sake of his brethren and suffers for them. The abbot is a wall between the novice and the devil; all arrows fly at him. If you come out from behind this wall, you will fall into the clutches of the devil.

In the world, Mother was called Lyudmila. Her parents were not believers, and only her grandmother supported the whole family with her prayer. Mother's father, Dmitry Ilyin, fought courageously defending his homeland on the fields of the Great Patriotic War. He was a tank driver. One day he returned from a difficult mission, just lay down to rest in his dugout, when suddenly the commander ordered him to go into battle again. Dmitry immediately jumped up and ran to carry out the order, and at that moment a shell hit his dugout, and if he stayed there for even a minute, he was in danger of imminent death. Obedience saved him. Obedience - ipakoi - the highest virtue of a monk and a Christian, which, unfortunately, has been lost in our time of troubles. His daughter Abbess will fight for the revival of this virtue throughout her life. Monks are the same warriors, only they serve not the earthly king and fatherland, but the Heavenly one. This is the Army of Christ. Matushka's mother - Vera Vasilievna - also has heroic character, although she was not allowed to go to war, no matter how eager she was. But in the rear she cared for the wounded in the hospital, and after the war she found a job after her heart - she became a nurse, psychiatric hospital, which required enormous courage, patience, endurance and love.

Mother Abbess herself never thought about monasticism. She did science, got a two higher education and led one of the Moscow laboratories dealing with artificial intelligence problems. But the Lord called her. The spark of God's love that entered her heart flared up with such a flame that nothing could prevent her from completely devoting herself to serving God. Even in the world, Mother visited churches and monasteries, sincerely and unquestioningly obeyed her spiritual father, who predicted to her that in the future she would have a lot of spiritual children. Not only he, but also other elders prophetically foreshadowed her Abbot's service. Mother very much fell in love with Optina Pustyn, which opened in 1988, and its great elders - the comforters of all Rus'. And Elder Ambrose himself repeatedly appeared to her in a dream, admonishing her and instructing her on the path of salvation. In 1990, Mother entered the Shamorda Women’s Hermitage, the favorite brainchild of Elder Ambrose, which was then still ruined and completely poor. She was immediately made housekeeper. Instead of quiet, solitary prayer, which all newcomers dream of, they had to make countless trips to various authorities asking for help for the new monastery. Few people at that time sympathized with the holy cause, but Mother’s faith and selfless obedience prevailed - the monastery was built and flourished. The young nun had to endure a lot of internal sorrows. The Lord allowed Mother to experience both slander and persecution, clearly preparing her for the new heavy cross of abbotship.

One day Mother was praying Miracle-working icon Kaluga Mother of God, and a lamp unexpectedly spilled on her - the Mother of God herself noted Her chosen one, and after some time Mother was sent to obedience in Kaluga, in the diocese. The wise archpastor immediately discerned outstanding spiritual and organizational abilities in his new novice and invited her to become abbess in the ruined Maloyaroslavets monastery. Of course, Mother was then aware of her weakness and inexperience, but, true to her obedience, she went to the Elder, and the great prayer book told her: “If you will be an Abbess, do not refuse and do not be afraid of anything.” The elder remembered two great victories near Maloyaroslavets: one - in the war with the French, which saved Russia, the other - the victory of our troops in the Great Patriotic War, which raised the fallen spirit and faith of our people. “And there will be a third victory”; - the Elder said firmly. And now, when the monastery is already 25 years old, we can say that this has happened: the victory of light over darkness, truth over lies, humility over demonic pride, the victory of Holy obedience over vile self-will and selfishness.

It is difficult to describe how many sorrows and labors fell on Mother’s shoulders then. Complete poverty and ruin, lack of basic housing, destroyed churches, human malice and misunderstanding - all this brought Mother to severe illness, but her spirit was indestructible. Now the monastery is truly a wonderful paradise where love and obedience reign. Love for God gives rise to love for neighbor. Mother and sisters took upon themselves the feat of saving many orphan girls rejected by the world, preserving their life, health and purity, raising them to be true Christians, educated people, worthy citizens of their Fatherland, and in the future - good wives and mothers. All this is rarely achieved by worldly people, but in the monastery Divine Grace helped to do what human powers could not. Come to our shelter, look at the joyful and pure faces of the children, listen to how they sing - and you will understand everything yourself. As for the monastery itself, the faith and obedience of Mother Abbess created a miracle.

As our Bishop said, “... women cannot get to Holy Mount Athos, so the Holy Mountain itself descended to Maloyaroslavets.” Mother searched for a long time for the true monastic Rules for the monastery and turned to ancient Athos, which always spiritually helped our Holy Russia. And so the elders - confessors of Athos - began to come to the monastery, and sincere spiritual friendships began with many monasteries and cells of the Holy Mountain. From the Vatopedi Monastery a miraculous copy of the Icon of the Mother of God “Pantanassa” (All-Tsarina) was brought as a gift, from which many healings and miracles have already occurred in our Russia. Athonites say that Athos is not a place, but a way of life. The main work of a monk is prayer and spiritual obedience, which is the fulfillment of all the commandments of God and the main one - about love. It would seem that the victory has been won: there are already more than 15 Abbesses from the monastery, reviving spiritual life not only in Russia, but also abroad. But the war with the devil does not stop.

New young sisters come and again Mother, as the commander-in-chief in war, teaches them to fight the enemy of salvation, who secretly lives in the human heart and is the source of sinful thoughts and deeds. Every day after Divine Liturgy Mother conducts spiritual classes with the sisters, revealing to them the experience of the holy fathers, teaching them reasoning and knowledge of spiritual laws. If each sister defeats the enemy in her heart, then this small victory will have global significance- there will be less and less evil in this world. As I said Venerable Seraphim Sarovsky: “Save yourself, acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.”

“Who is the great God, like our God! You are God, work miracles!” And truly, whoever loves God with all his heart and serves him with all his might lives in a world of miracles. And we correlate this world with our Mother Abbess Nicholas - our beloved Spiritual Mother, about whom one great Elder told us: “Listen to Mother - she will pull you all out of hell!” We believe in this and thank God with all our hearts for this great gift.