Archimandrite Naum of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra: photo, biography, funeral service

Naum (Bayborodin)
(1927 - 2017), archimandrite, confessor of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra In the world, Nikolai Alexandrovich Bayborodin, was born on December 19, 1927 in the village of Malo-Irmenka (Shubinka) of the Ordynsky district of the Novosibirsk region into a peasant family. On December 25 of the same year he was baptized in the Sergievsky Church of his native village. Soon he and his parents moved to Sovetskaya Gavan, Primorsky Krai. At the end of the 9th grade, he was forced to interrupt his studies due to the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War.

In October 1944, he was drafted into the army, served in aviation technical units: first at the aviation radio engineering school in Frunze, then transferred to Riga (Latvia), served in military units No. 49722 (Kaliningrad) and No. 53972 (Kaliningrad). Siauliai), provided airfield maintenance. Participated in the war with Nazi Germany and Japan.

In November 1952, he was demobilized with the rank of senior sergeant.

In 1952-1953 he completed his interrupted studies at evening secondary school No. 26 Art. Pishpek (Frunze) of the Turkestan-Siberian Railway of the Kirghiz SSR, in 1953 he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Kyrgyz State University (now KSTU named after I. Razzakov).

In 1957 he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary. On October 14, 1957, he was accepted as a novice into the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra.

On August 14, 1958, he was tonsured a monk by the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Pimen (Khmelevsky), with the name given in honor of St. Naum, a disciple of St. Sergius. On October 8 of the same year he was ordained hierodeacon by Metropolitan Nestor (Anisimov) of Novosibirsk and Barnaul.

On October 8, 1959, he was ordained to the rank of hieromonk by Metropolitan Boris (Vik) of Odessa and Kherson.

In 1960 he successfully graduated from the seminary in the first category.

On April 25, 1970, he was elevated to abbot by the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary, Archbishop Filaret (Denisenko) of Dmitrov.

By Easter 1979 he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

Over time, he became a member of the spiritual council of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and by the 2000s, one of the most influential confessors of the Russian Orthodox Church.

He died on the night of October 13, 2022 at the age of 90.

From the biography of Archimandrite Naum

Archimandrite Naum from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra was born in 1927 on December 19 (by the way, December 19 is the holiday of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker). In the world he was called Nikolai Alexandrovich Bayborodin. The biography of Archimandrite Naum from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra originates in the Siberian village of Shubinka, Novosibirsk region. Nowadays it is called the village of Maloirmenka.

Archimandrite Naum Bayborodin from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra was the son of peasants: his father was Alexander Evfimovich, and his mother was Pelageya Maksimovna. In addition to Nikolai, 7 more children were born into the family, but, unfortunately, they all died in infancy.

A week after his birth (December 25), Naum was baptized in the temple of the same village.

Later, the family moved to the Primorsky Territory, and Nikolai went to school, but the outbreak of the war did not allow him to receive a secondary education (Nahum completed 9 grades).

Childhood, adolescence, youth

The elder was born in 1850 on September 2. At baptism he was given the name Zechariah in honor of the prophet of God Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. Zachariah's parents were peasants, former serfs of the Naryshkins, they lived very richly, they were “masters themselves,” as they said at that time. They lived in the Kaluga province. They had 11 children. Zechariah was born eleventh. Many of the brothers and sisters died over time.

Zechariah was born not at home, but in a field. His mother Tatyana Minaevna worked until the last minutes, and before the birth of the child she went into the field to lay flax, she went alone, and her time came, and without outside help she gave birth to a male baby. And it was cold. The mother put her son in the hem, there was nothing to wrap him with, and brought him home. Zachariah's father, Ivan Dmitrievich, was a believer. He often went to church and prayed fervently. He managed the farm skillfully, sometimes selling apples and seeds, but had a big drawback: he drank heavily and scolded his wife when drunk, although he was very kind by nature. He would drink and say to his son: “Zakhar, I’ll bring you some gifts.” “No, you’re drunk,” answers his seven-year-old son, who since childhood has been disgusted by everything bad and ugly. “Oh, you’re a swindler, how can you answer dad like that,” mother Tatyana Minaevna stopped her son. But it must be said that Zechariah’s mother was a holy person. She helped everyone, she loved everyone. She gave bread to the poor in rags, meat, and other food supplies. She did not spare anything for the poor. Yes, in addition, she gave advice. Without her advice they don’t even get married. You need to ask Tatyana Minaevna everything and do as she says. She enjoyed enormous authority and respect among her villagers.

And she raised her son in such a way as to instill in him, most of all, the love of helping all the poor and suffering in any way he could. Sometimes he would play with the children, get hungry, ask for some bread, the mother would give him a big loaf of bread and say: “First feed your friends, and then eat it yourself.” These demands of the pious mother quickly took root in the boy's tender heart.

It used to be that Zechariah’s father, going out to sell seeds and apples, would take his son with him, and as soon as he left, the boy began to sell goods to the poor without money. He himself used to call customers and generously share his goods with them.

The boys loved the meek Zechariah and nicknamed him “priest.” “We will build a church on the field, and you, Zakhar, will be our priest and crown us,” his young friends told him.

Army and studies

As you know, Orthodox are not born, but become. Nicholas's path to the church was long.

Since 1944, Nikolai, like all men of that time, was drafted into the Soviet army. The young man did not serve on the front line, but carried out military duties in aviation technical units (moreover, these were command troops; Nikolai was supposed to become a career military man). The service took place in the cities of Riga, Kaliningrad, Siauliai (Lithuania). In 1952, Nikolai was demobilized with the rank of senior sergeant, with encouragement - a commemorative photograph next to the unit’s banner.

After demobilization, he continued his studies at school, and in 1953 he was enrolled as a student at the Polytechnic Institute of the city of Frunze, faculty: physics and mathematics.

While serving in the army and studying at a higher educational institution, Nikolai actively attended church, and after graduating from the institute (1957) he moved to the city of Zagorsk, where he entered the theological seminary. The rector of the cathedral in the city of Frunze signed a letter of recommendation to Nicholas; he saw in the young man a minister of the church and the Lord God and told his clergy: “Time will pass, and Nicholas himself will teach you to read the Apostle.” And in the same year (in the month of October) Nicholas was enrolled in the brethren of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Almost a year later (1958, August 14), Nicholas was tonsured as a monk and given the name Naum (in honor of Naum of Radonezh).

Church way

The confessor of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Archimandrite Naum Baiborodin, was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon on October 8, 1958 by Metropolitan Nestor of Novosibirsk and Barnaul, and exactly a year later Naum was ordained to the rank of hieromonk. The sacrament took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Lavra, conducted by Metropolitan of Odessa and Kherson - Boris.

In 1960, Naum graduated from the theological seminary with the first category and entered the Theological Academy in Moscow, graduating with a candidate of theology (an academic degree recognized only by the Russian Orthodox Church).

The year 1970 was significant for Naum in that on April 25 he was elevated to the dignity of abbot by Archbishop Philaret Dmitrovsky, rector of the Theological Academy. In 1979, Naum was elevated to the dignity of archimandrite (the sacrament was performed before the holiday of Easter).

HOW ELDER NAHUM LEADS TO MONASKING

A deep-voiced girl and a nurse from the maternity hospital

On October 13, Archimandrite Naum (Bayborodin), the oldest monk and confessor of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, reposed. He foresaw the fate of his spiritual children, often helping them with advice. Thanks to him, some Russian monasteries found abbess. Nina Stavitskaya talks about two abbess.

The abbess of the Murom Holy Trinity Convent, the ever-remembered Abbess Tabitha (Gorlanova), told me a year and a half ago how she chose her path in life. One day she “tagged along” with her older friend to the Assumption Pyukhtitsky Monastery, and when she saw this monastery, she immediately became attached to it with her soul and did not want to leave. However, I heard the following from Abbess Varvara (Trofimova): “You know, child, get an education, then you’ll think about whether you want to go to a monastery.” “Baby” graduated from high school, medical school and got a job in a hospital in Estonia to be close to her beloved monastery - go to services, sing in the choir. But then suddenly, unexpectedly, blessed by Archimandrite Naum, she finds herself in the Riga Trinity-Sergius Convent, where she takes monastic and then monastic vows. There the future abbess undergoes a great school of monastic life.

Now about how this “suddenly” happened. On the eve of the day of the angel, the abbess of the Riga monastery, Abbess Magdalene (Zhegalova), the sisters wanted to give their beloved mother a gift: to sing the Gospel stichera to the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene. But the old bass just didn’t hold up! And then the teacher of the regency school at the Moscow Theological Academy, Svetlana Romanenko, declares: “I know a girl who sings in a bass voice!” (referring to Tamara Gorlanova). An urgent telegram was sent to Tamara, and she sang the stichera in Riga. And the abbess here says: “I’ll take you to the monastery.” It was only after these words that the girl felt... fear in her soul: in the heart of Pyukhtitsa! She left the Latvian capital and wrote about everything in a letter to her spiritual father, Archimandrite Naum. Soon he receives an answer: “Go to Mother Magdalene.”

Later, when Abbess Tabitha was reviving the now famous monastery for a quarter of a century (the location of which, before the resumption of monastic life, was considered one of the most crime-prone spots in Murom), she more than once turned to the dear Lavra elder for advice. Abbess Tabitha, who took the great schema with the name Tamar before her death, passed away last August. The fruits of her great labor remain: a revived splendid monastery with courtyards, a monastery publishing house and an orphanage where orphan girls are raised. And in all this there is also the merit of Father Naum, who perspicaciously saw in the young Permian an ascetic of our days, who, according to the words of the ruling bishop, Metropolitan Evlogiy of Vladimir and Suzdal, managed to return the monastery from oblivion.

Thanks to Father Naum, Abbess Fevronia (Maratkanova), the abbess of the Vvedenskaya Island Hermitage on the Vladimir land, also chose the monastic path. With what warmth she recalled that amazing time when believers, with the blessing of their confessors, settled closer to the monastery! Their family included. With the blessing of Father Naum, they left Kazakhstan. The priest blessed the girl to finish school and enter medical school. Afterwards, she worked for some time in a maternity hospital, in the department for premature babies, and sang in the choir for six years with Archimandrite Matthew (Mormyl). And she entered the Riga Trinity-Sergius Monastery at the age of 27.

“Back then it was forbidden to take young people into monasteries,” says Abbess Fevronia. “We were assigned to different jobs, but we lived in a monastery. True, when the Commissioner for Religious Affairs appeared on the horizon, a cry was heard: “Young people, hide!” Fourteen abbess for the newly opened monasteries were raised by Abbess Magdalene!

By the way, the entire Maratkanov family, cared for by Father Naum, having gone through numerous difficulties, remained faithful to Christian ideals. Mother Superior's brother became a priest: today Archpriest Sergiy Maratkanov heads the correspondence education sector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary. Ten years before her death, their mother took monastic vows with the name Varvara. Abbess Fevronia herself calls herself and her family members amazingly happy people, because on their way they met such spiritual mentors, whose words and parting words helped them not to give up even in the most difficult circumstances.

“Let us seek holiness - and then the Lord will send us adoption, His protection, and then nothing will be scary. And after the general resurrection the Lord will place us on the right side. Our nature will change, and we will be there like angels, eternally blissfully joyful,” Elder Naum once said, addressing all of us. Let's remember these words.

We were assigned to various jobs, but we lived in a monastery. When the Commissioner for Religious Affairs appeared on the horizon, a cry was heard: “Young people, hide!”

Nina Stavitskaya

Reference

Archimandrite Naum (Nikolai Alexandrovich Bayborodin)

Born on December 19, 1927 in the village. Malo-Irmenka, Ordynsky district, Novosibirsk region, in a peasant family. In October 1944, he was drafted into the Soviet Army and served in military aviation units. In November 1952 he was demobilized with the rank of senior sergeant. Returning home, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Kyrgyz State University, and in 1957 - the Moscow Theological Seminary. On October 14 of the same year, he was accepted as a novice into the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. A year later he was tonsured a monk. Then he was ordained a hierodeacon, and exactly a year later he was ordained a hieromonk. In 1960 he successfully graduated from the seminary in the first category. On April 25, 1970, he was elevated to the rank of abbot, and in 1979, on the day of Holy Easter, to the rank of archimandrite.

For many decades, after the fraternal prayer service, he received pilgrims daily for confession and spiritual guidance. His tireless prayer work and zeal for service set a high example for the monastic brethren.

He reposed in the Lord on October 13, 2022, at the age of 90. He was buried behind the altar of the Spiritual Church of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra next to the grave of Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov).

Helping people

Archimandrite Naum from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in 1996 actively contributed to the construction of the Archangel Michael Monastery for women. Construction took place in Naum’s native village of Shubenka. The monastery was built on the site of a destroyed temple.

In 2000, Naum became a member of the Spiritual Council of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

The year 2001 was significant for Naum because from that moment on he was given the honor of becoming a trustee of the Lavra boarding school for children in the Moscow region (the city of Toporkovo). The boarding school is designed for 250 people.

This is a person about whom many believers speak with warmth - both ordinary parishioners and celebrities, in particular the artist Nadezhda Babkina. In reviews of Archimandrite Naum from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, she describes him as a man with deep eyes in which you drown. After a sincere conversation between the elder and the singer, the latter’s soul felt warm and light, many problems were solved and new opportunities opened up.

In addition to his cell, Archimandrite Naum had a separate room for receiving and talking with visitors - those who needed help. People in need of advice came to him from all over Russia and beyond. Naum, overcoming pain and poor health, always found words of help and consolation. And his prayerful work always served as an example for the entire church brethren.

During the elder’s life, many wanted to meet him, but not everyone knew how to get to Archimandrite Naum from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. To do this, it was necessary to come to the Lavra, and then the Lord himself would arrange everything. In general, he devoted time to parishioners every day after the prayer service (except for the Twelfth holidays) until 13:00, but the schedule often changed. The elder first of all received monks, priests, abbots, and then - ordinary people. And if you stood and waited a little, you could meet and talk, ask for Nahum’s blessing, and if you were really lucky, you could also pass a note with a prayer. There were cases when the archimandrite responded in writing.

Reviews about Archimandrite Naum of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra are mostly positive. He helped many, saw a lot. The story of one woman is a vivid example of this. She came to Father Naum in the winter, there were a lot of people, and she stood and thought: “I won’t get to my father, there are a lot of people, and my question is not very serious...”. But still she stood, prayed and looked with lust at the door, behind which was the elder himself. And suddenly Lefty entered the cell, dressed unkemptly, one might say, the dregs of society. Then the door opened and Naum came out. Seeing Lefty, he said: “Well, Lefty, you don’t go to church, but you like to sleep, and what have you sunk to – you’re already collecting cigarette butts...” And left. And the whole line froze. And Lefty approached this woman and said: “But father is right. I arrived this morning, everything was closed. There is nowhere to buy cigarettes. Well, I shot a bull at a passerby. You see what Father Naum is like, he sees such a small thing...” And that woman was literally scalded with boiling water - God has no small details. And Lefty shamed her. Like, this is not the first time you’ve gone to the Lavra and still can’t understand basic things, like a woodpecker.

Of course, it is impossible to be good to everyone, even if you are a righteous person or a Saint. There will definitely be dissatisfied people. For example, some say that Nahum destroyed several human souls. It seemed like he was dissuading them from the treatment they needed. But how true this is is difficult to judge. Perhaps in those cases there was nothing to help, all that was left was to pray and repent before one’s death.

Memories of Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov)

I first heard about Metropolitan Joseph from the Karaganda elder nun Agnia (Starodubtseva), whom I met in 1973. I was then a completely secular person, unchurched, and I came to quarrel with her (this concerned my personal life). And it so happened that while communicating with my mother, everything changed in my life and my soul was at peace. She was an old woman about 90 years old, but with such pure, clear, blue eyes. It seemed that what could a grandmother know, who did not study anywhere, lived in a monastery from the age of fourteen, and what could she talk about life? And yet, she gave answers to all my questions in such a way that even an educated person could not answer the way she answered.

Mother wanted me to go to Alma-Ata and meet Vladyka Joseph. “We have,” she said, “a wonderful Lord.” Mother treated him warmly, and he revered her very much, and when he came to Karaganda, he always visited her. But I developed great trust and affection for my mother, and I told her: “It’s enough for me that I know you; in general, I don’t need anyone else.” And before the army I never managed to meet Vladyka.

I served in the army for only a year, and when I was demobilized, I decided to go to Zagorsk to enter the Seminary. Immediately, without receiving a passport, I went to Karaganda to get my mother’s blessing to study. At this time, Evstolia Ivanovna Lescheva, a friend of Bishop Joseph, who had come from Alma-Ata, was visiting her. And mother grabbed hold of her: “Here, she is going to Alma-Ata, and you and she go to the Lord together. Go, go!” There was nowhere to go since my mother was sending me there, so I went.

Vladyka received me very well. I saw in front of me an old man in an ordinary cassock and a sweatshirt. I could not compare this metropolitan with other metropolitans; I had never seen a metropolitan before. I met the attentive gaze of the Lord, who immediately wanted to understand what kind of person had come to him. I had already heard a lot about him, so I also looked carefully at this old man, whom Mother Agnia treated so reverently. He was a little excited (later I found out the reason for this - his cell attendant was about to leave Vladyka).

Vladyka invited me to the table, I began to refuse, saying that I had recently eaten. Vladyka began to list everything that Mother Agnia gave me for the journey, and at the end he concluded that I was still hungry, took me by the hand and dragged me to the dining room. At dinner, Vladyka asked me about everything and he himself told me my entire biography.

I stayed with Vladyka for several days, and when I was leaving, he asked: “Perhaps you will come to me again?” “Like the Lord, I say, maybe I’ll come again someday.”

I went home to Chelyabinsk, received a passport and again came to Karaganda to visit my mother with the intention of going straight from there to Moscow.

I had just arrived there (it was at 10 o’clock in the morning), Valya Veretennikova came in and looked at me so strangely. And she was at my mother’s not long before, then she went to the telephone point to call the Vladyka about some matters, and he asked: “Where is this guy who is at my mother’s? - He expressed himself somehow strangely - Where is he? Let him come to me, I really need him.” And Valya says: “He’s not there, he left a long time ago for the Urals, I’m just from my mother, he’s not there.” - “Yes, he is there, there.” And tell your mother to send him to me.” And then she comes in and widens her eyes - I’m sitting with my mother and drinking tea. And he tells his mother that Vladyka is asking me to come. “Well, Divine providence is changing something,” says mother, “and you will have to go to Alma-Ata.” I was going to Zagorsk, and here I was going to Alma-Ata, then one thing, then another. “Well, bless you, mother, so let it be,” I said, and two days later I was already in Alma-Ata with the Vladyka.

Vladyka was very upset, and his cell attendant left him. We had not seen each other for a short time, and he already looked like an old man. He was very worried, apparently. The Bishop said: “Live with me.” And I lived with him for nine months until the day of his death.

I was a new person in the church environment and did not yet understand what it meant to be a cell attendant with a bishop. It was unusual for me to simply live with the Lord and not work anywhere. Therefore, I immediately asked the Bishop for a secular job and got a job at the Scientific Research Institute.

Vladyka got up at half past six in the morning, quickly prayed, and began preparing breakfast for the watchman and me, while he drank coffee. Afterwards, I cooked breakfast, but he always tried to help in some way. And if I didn’t let him do anything, he got angry and sent me either to pray or to get ready for work. At 8:30 I left for work, and he always blessed me and walked me to the gate.

I came home from work at 5 pm, and by this time Vladyka tried to free himself from visitors. He set the table himself and waited for me. And it so happened that I walked into a house, and in front of me, as in “The Scarlet Flower,” one door opened by itself, another behind it, but no one. The Lord stands behind the trees, watches me search for him, smiles. But usually, as soon as I call, I immediately hear him shuffling his “kats” on the asphalt like an old man, rushing to open the gate.

When I sat down to eat, he told me all the news of the past day, whom he met, whom he saw off, whom he shouted at, could not restrain himself due to his ardor, and lamented that he could not restrain himself. In general, he was simple and natural, like a child. If they brought him some interesting thing, a book, or showed cartoons on TV, he could rejoice and clap his hands. Although, when necessary, he could behave very subtly, intelligently and delicately.

He loved to receive everyone, especially the seminary students who came from the Seminary. He always treated them to the best he had, and never spared money on food. And he always gave them money for the return trip. He told me that Vladyka Arseny named him during his tonsure in honor of Joseph the Beautiful, so that he would feed everyone. He also sent money to some old women and said that he couldn’t die because he fed them. And in general, I didn’t count the money. He said: “I think, for what, for what, but I won’t have to answer for money. Maybe that’s why I don’t have a passion for them, because I’ve always had a lot of them.”

Vladyka wanted to serve everyone, and everyone felt that Vladyka had not just a “universal” attitude towards him, but personal love, that Vladyka personally loved and respected him. This feeling arose because at the moment of communication with the Lord, his soul was completely given only to you.

He said: “I am already the last bishop here.” Indeed, he met everyone, saw everyone off, fed everyone. And I witnessed this, and, as best I could, helped him a little. There was such a case. Once we stayed up late with the guests, until about 11 pm. Vladyka loved to talk, and everyone listened to him with pleasure. Dinner ended, everyone got up and went home, and there was a whole table of dirty dishes left. Vladyka accompanies me, and he puts on an apron and begins to wash the dishes. I see that it’s difficult for him - the old man, he’s simply swaying from side to side with fatigue. I say: “Vladyka, you go, rest, I’ll clean everything up myself.” And he: “Won’t you be offended?” He believed that it was his responsibility, that he should clean up after all of us.

He did not disdain any work. One morning I soaked my laundry and left it in the bathroom. I think: when I come home from work, I’ll do the laundry. And when I arrived, Shura, the cook, began to scold me. It turns out that Vladyka noticed the soaked laundry and began to wash it. True, Tatyana Pavlovna saw this and washed the linen herself.

In Kokchetav, where Vladyka was in a settlement, he was a nanny in a large Kazakh family. He was nursing a little boy who addressed him: “Ata, ata!” - grandfather. This little one, when he grew up, studied at the institute, and I saw him come to Vladyka. Vladyka received him well and sat down to dine with him at his hotel. And he gave him money. “Here,” said Vladyka, “I sometimes invite him, because I’m a student, a poor family, and here he eats, and I’ll help him a little...”

One more story can be told about the great humility of Metropolitan Joseph. This happened almost immediately as soon as I began to live under his obedience. The climate of the Urals differs sharply from the climate of Alma-Ata, and since I had low blood pressure, frequent changes in atmospheric pressure in Alma-Ata had an effect on me - I began to have headaches.

One day I came home from work and started complaining:

“Vladyka, my head is pounding here, my blood pressure is dropping.”

And he, apparently, thought that I wanted to leave him. And the Lord got excited.

“Here,” he says, “and you’re leaving me!” Run away, go to your village, or wherever!

“Vladyka,” I say, “I’m not going to run away from you!” I'm just saying that my head hurts like crazy!

But the Lord again:

- You're leaving me!

I speak:

- Lord, you are mistaken!

It was already ten o'clock in the evening. We drank tea and I went to bed.

I lay down, but sleep did not come to me. It was unpleasant in my soul. I can’t sleep, I toss and turn. I hear the clock in his office striking. The hour has already struck, but there is no sleep, as if something is pressing, resentment towards the Lord is suffocating.

And then, I hear the door open, the Lord comes in and - bang! - kneel in front of me:

- Forgive me, I offended you!

He got up and left. He didn't say anything more. And I was dumbfounded, I didn’t expect this.

That's all. Literally 5 minutes later I fell asleep, as if nothing had happened, all the weight rolled off me. Vladyka’s cell was located behind the wall from mine, and he apparently felt my torment. I don’t know whether he himself was asleep or not, but he quietly walked in and fell to his knees by the bed. These are the moments.

I can tell you another story about the Lord’s foresight. One day I was on a business trip. I must say that Vladyka really didn’t want me to go on business trips, because there was no one left with him except the watchman Pavel Nikitich, whom Vladyka nicknamed Lavan. But he was always drunk. And since Vladyka was predicted that he would die from a knife, he was also a little afraid, and always went himself to check whether all the doors were locked. And therefore, when I was leaving, and he was left alone with Pavel Nikitich, he was afraid, purely humanly, that someone might climb in and stab him to death.

And then I flew to Aktyubinsk for 5 days.

I flew from Aktobe to Alma-Ata, the plane landed at half past one in the morning. I reached the Vladyka’s house only at 4 o’clock in the morning. It was summer, the weather was warm, it was beginning to get light. And Vladyka usually went to bed late, at 2 o’clock in the morning he prayed or read literature. I think: “Vladyka just fell asleep, I’ll call - Pavel Nikitich, of course, won’t hear the call, I’ll just wake up Vladyka. I’ll sit, I think, until 6 o’clock on the bench, and at 6 in the morning Pavel Nikitich will come out to sweep the yard and let me go.” And as soon as I approach the gate - bang! - the gate opens, the Lord stands: “Come in,” he says. “Vladyka,” I say, “how are you here, why?!” “Yes,” he answers, “I dreamed that you arrived. I shouted at Pavel Nikitich, he didn’t answer, and I decided to go out myself.”

In the morning, when I had already rested, Vladyka began to ask me: “Well, how did you fly, what was there?” I told him about the work and that everything was fine. “Listen,” says the Lord, “how is your comrade? How did he get there?

And I was flying on a business trip with my colleague, a young Kazakh guy. This guy loved to drink, and when we were waiting for flight check-in at Aktobe airport at night, he went to the buffet once, then another, a third... When check-in was announced, he was already very tipsy. But he and I went through registration and were already approaching the plane, we had to go up the stairs, I handed in my ticket and went... and then it turned out that my companion’s ticket had disappeared, and he was not allowed on the plane. I confirm that he had a ticket, that we were checked in, that we are flying together. But they still answer: “We don’t know anything, there’s no ticket - step aside.” And the wind at the airport was blowing very strong, knocking you down, and it was useless to look for a ticket. I waited a little and, with a clear conscience, climbed up the stairs to the plane. I flew to Alma-Ata, and he stayed in Aktobe.

And when Vladyka himself asked about my comrade, I told him: “Vladyka, you know, this is how it happened, he stayed at the airport.” “And you,” he asks, “did you have money?” - “Yes, it seems – I say – they were.” - “And you didn’t give it to him?!” “No,” I say, “I didn’t give it, because he drinks.” And so the Lord got excited: “How so? Why didn't you give it to him?! Left me without money! What will he do?!”

I have never seen Vladyka so irritated. After all, that’s how I reasoned: if it had been my brother, then maybe I would have thrown away my ticket and stayed with him. Or he would have emptied all his pockets - for the latter. And here he is an alcoholic, and also a Kazakh, he is nothing to me, and I flew with peace of mind - he is to blame. But the Vladyka did not tolerate indifference. For him - Kazakh - not Kazakh, believer - not believer, in such cases it did not matter. If you could help and didn’t help, you are no longer human. And that surprised me then too. I realized that I had sinned and acted un-Christianly.

Another time, I observed how a typist who worked in the diocese apparently showed indifference to someone, and Vladyka also expressed this to her very ardently. This is the only thing that always infuriated the Lord. He could tolerate anything. If, for example, someone stole something or committed another sin, he could say calmly, or even joke. But when I saw a person have such an attitude towards another person, he no longer tolerated it. He did not tolerate selfishness. This is his characteristic feature.

And I can say more. Vladyka’s driver Zakhar Ivanovich said this: “Yes... you can’t hide a ruble from this Vladyka!” The Bishop did not hide anything, but he always knew who was hiding what, and denounced them. And one day, leaving for Karaganda, he told me: “Here, I leave you the keys and my heart.”

Amazing man! These events, all of them out of the ordinary, cannot happen to a person if the Holy Spirit does not prompt and move him. It is simply impossible without the special help of God’s grace to give all of oneself to serving one’s neighbor. This is impossible for a simple, worldly person, because his own is always present here - his own family, his own name. And this man no longer had anything personal.

These people, Vladyka Joseph and Mother Agnia, have this ability - they simply take a person’s soul into their hands, and everything, the person, willingly or unwillingly changes, transforms. They have the ability to have a beneficial effect on the soul of another person. It’s a breeze that has a shower in the shower, it’s not your time that it is in life and will have a good job, and it feels that it is that it was that it was a thing. l. Both Mother Agnia and Vladika Joseph had this quality, and it manifested itself very clearly. It’s the same with me. I did not know, how to live, to go to live, and I saw to give an abbed, I saw it and the fucking one was a priest, I had to go to the same time. And Vladyka Joseph is the same, he took me into his hands.

Vladika Joseph and Mother Agnia were two people who respected each other very much. Once I was planning on going from Vladyka to visit my mother in Karaganda for a few days. And at that time he spoke to me about monasticism: “I,” he says, “will tonsure you, give you a document, but this will be revealed only after my death.” I refused, I thought that monasticism was not for me, beyond my strength. And he probably thought that I just didn’t want to take tonsure from him and said: “Well, okay, if you don’t want it from me, let Mother Agnia tonsure you. Go, she will do it, and I will assure you with my hand.” I also refused this. Although I still don’t know whether nuns have the right to tonsure monks, I had such a blessing.

Mother Agnia predicted to the Vladyka that he would be offered the patriarchate. She spoke about this allegorically, but Vladyka immediately told her: “Mother, shut up, otherwise I will excommunicate you from the Church.” And Vladyka, indeed, subsequently had an offer to run for the post of Patriarch, but he refused this.

Vladyka told how he was close to death several times. The first time, when I was still a boy and lived in Belarus. He and his brother walked through the cemetery, and the cemetery was large and there was a high wall along it, and behind some wall they rushed at us. And we, like mice, ran in different directions. I flew headlong, unconscious from fear, thinking that they would catch up and kill me. I ran home, climbed behind the stove, I was shaking all over and my arms and legs were literally swollen. I was very scared at that moment."

Another time, somewhere in the North, while imprisoned at a construction site, metal pipes fell near Vladyka, but he remained unharmed.

The third and fourth time - on Christmas 1943 in Uman, the Germans shot prisoners, Vladyka was saved by his subdeacons, they bribed the guard, and he hid Vladyka in a distant cell. And when our troops arrived, they picked up archival documents, and there were lists of those executed and next to the Vladyka’s name it was noted that he was also shot. But the Lord is alive. And they decided that the Germans had left him as a spy. They call him in for questioning and immediately:

- Ivan Mikhailovich, tell me what task you were left here with?

And he:

– Nobody gave me any task.

– Then explain why you are alive? You see,” the lists show, “here Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov are all crossed out, they are all dead. Your last name has also been crossed out, but you are the only one alive. Explain why?

He knew why he remained alive, but how can he explain it, who will believe it?

- Well, he’s alive, as you can see, alive – that’s all.

So the investigation dragged on, interrogations continued for several months. Then they took him by car to the mines, dropped him off, and placed a line of soldiers in front of him.

“Your last word,” they say.

“I have nothing to say,” answered the Lord and sang: “I believe in One God the Father...”

But they didn’t shoot. And he’s done, he’s said goodbye to life. This was a type of torture or interrogation. The bishop was sentenced to 10 years in the camps.

From Vladyka I received the miraculous icon of the Iveron Mother of God, which was painted on Athos, and at the time when he took monasticism, was brought by monks from Athos to Taganrog and presented to him on the day of his tonsure. And Vladyka said that this icon was always with him. Such a small icon, Vladyka made a small icon case for it. And she somehow went through the prisons with him. He said: “This icon has always, constantly been with me.”

He talked about the miracle he experienced from this icon. Once, when Vladyka was in one of the camps, he was subjected to a terrible spirit of despondency, the temptation was so strong (after all, the higher the feat, the more the enemy tempts), such abandonment of God that he was no longer able to pray or do anything physically do. The only thing he could do was stand and look at the icon with such a stupid look. “I’m standing,” he said, “beside this icon, like a block of wood, stiff, I can’t pray, I just stand and mindlessly look at the icon. And at one moment, when I was standing like that, this icon began to cry. I look - drops are dripping, tears are dripping. All my numbness immediately went away, I shuddered all over, a trembling ran through my body. And after this miracle, the despondency passed, I could pray again and thank God. And I returned to normal.”

“Believe me,” said the Lord, “I’m not going to die today or tomorrow, I have no desire to exaggerate anything, I’m telling you this way - soul to soul, one-on-one, without witnesses about this miracle that I experienced "

When, shortly before his death, Vladyka gave me this icon, he said: “This will be your revered family icon.”

I don’t know who Vladyka’s confessor was, but he always told me: “I confess to the oldest one.” I also don’t know who predicted to the Lord that he would die from a knife. He just somehow hinted about this in conversation. And he was very afraid - since there was such a prediction, it would come true. It happened more than once that if someone suddenly came to the Lord, he would be very frightened.

In 1974, Bishop Methodius of Omsk and Tyumen was killed, and an investigator came to Bishop Joseph in connection with this incident. One day he suddenly came in when there was no one in the house. I walked in and immediately: “I am an investigator.” “And I,” Vladyka said, “was very scared and immediately told him that I had no money, hugged him, and somehow he immediately changed. And after that he even brought me gifts from his mother.” And the first time he came only to find out the opinion of Bishop Joseph (what thoughts and suspicions he had) on the occasion of the murder of Bishop Methodius. Vladyka Joseph had this custom - he took a blank sheet of paper, crossed it out crosswise, as if dividing it into four parts, and in each part he wrote one of his opinions, one of the reasons. First, second, third, and fourth - the Lord usually said: “God knows” and put a question mark. That is, God knows what really is.

Also, when they wanted to nominate him as a candidate for the Patriarchal Throne (especially foreign bishops supported his candidacy), Bishop Pitirim came from Moscow from Moscow directly to Minin with representatives from the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church. And when such a conversation took place, Vladyka Joseph immediately categorically renounced the Patriarchate. He also divided the sheet into four parts and outlined the reasons for his refusal: “Firstly, I am a person without education, I have absolutely no education. Secondly – ​​age. Thirdly, I spent many years in the camps, and fourthly, (as always) - God knows.” This is how he always answered difficult questions.

But in reality the reasons were different. He was talking about something else. After all, the Patriarch at that time was like a bird in a golden cage and it was not the Patriarch who ruled, but the Patriarch was only an extension. And those who ruled, if they want to put pressure, will always find a way to put pressure to force the Patriarch to sign this or that. “I,” said Bishop Joseph, “is already old, I serve according to the old rules, according to the old tradition, I already have habits, I simply cannot change them. I just can not". Here it must be said that Vladyka did not focus on something strictly canonically and he had some freedom, that is, he had freedom. But he never strayed from the basics. He said: “Often you have to compromise. And I'm going. But each person has his own degree of compromise. Everyone has a different line they cross. One has this, and he can no longer jump further, because then betrayal begins for him. For another, the compromise is like this and betrayal begins only there, and for the third, the compromise is even higher. Because everyone has their own trait. “Now,” said the Vladyka, “I have it, perhaps, at such a low level that I will not be able to do what they will try to force me to do.” This is the main reason for the Master’s refusal. Not because he was afraid that he was uneducated, that he would not be able to say a word sometimes. Vladyka said that when he had just been released from prison and came to Moscow to Patriarch Alexy for an appointment to the department, some bishops there, knowing that he had spent 10 years in camps and exile, and all this time had not served or preached, and that now he probably wouldn’t be able to put two words together, they wanted to make fun of him a little and insisted that he preach a sermon here at the service (it was some kind of holiday), without preparation. As if in the form of a joke: “Let’s give the floor to Vladika Joseph, let him say the word!” “Please,” says the Lord, “I will tell you.” He said a good word, and everyone was surprised.

And already at home, I remember, preparing for the sermon, he read a lot. And then he lay on his bed and thought about something. “I’m preparing for a sermon,” the Bishop usually said. “I don’t know,” he said, “what I will say, but I know that I will say something.” He had this expression. His sermons were simple, not academic, and yet they touched every person. And grandmothers often said: “He said this about me, he touched on my sins to expose me.” And Vladyka acted a little like a fool, although not everyone understood this.

Vladyka was afraid that he would be sent to rest. When he was awarded the second panagia, he was very alarmed. “I,” he says, “know all these little things. First they will reward you, and then little by little they will expel you.” And he was looking for a house in Almaty just in case.

I did not write down everything that Vladyka said. I didn’t imagine that he could die so quickly and suddenly. I just began to get to know him, began to get used to him, just, as they say, I fell in love with him with all my soul, and suddenly - such a quick and unexpected end. Just as fate suddenly confronted us with him, just as suddenly came parting. ...Divine Providence!

On the night of August 31 to September 1, 1975, I accompanied him to the hospital. Kolya Likhomanov was visiting us at the time, but Vladyka was somewhat shy of him, and when he began to have severe pain, he called me. He called and said: “I feel very bad.” It was around 12 at night. He was lying on the bed. And I had a headache after work, I really wanted to sleep - I was young and did not pay attention to Vladyka’s complaint. And somehow I didn’t think that the Lord could die - well, a person got sick, well, he’ll get sick and pass. Just as the Apostles slept when the Lord prayed in Gethsemane in bloody sweat, so it is here.

I knelt down next to him, he took my hand, squeezed it and lay there. I stood next to him for an hour or two, thinking he would calm down, but he moaned and groaned. I wanted to sleep, and he held my hand, he had terrible stomach pains. He held my hand, it seemed to him that he wanted me to finally be imbued with grace. Vladyka dozed off, and I dozed off on my knees next to him. I didn’t understand that I was next to him for the last minutes; I wanted to sleep. Now I remember this with bitterness.

It was already 3 am. The Bishop says: “Call the doctor Nina Alekseevna.” She was his attending physician. I called, Nina Alekseevna said: “Okay, I’ll try to come.” An hour later she arrived. Vladyka was lying down. He didn’t ask for any medicine or anything, he just lay there and endured it without complaint, although it was felt that he was in severe pain. Nina Alekseevna examined him and, apparently, was frightened. She said: "I'll call an ambulance." But Vladyka didn’t want to: “No, no, it’s not necessary, maybe it will pass.” "No, no, I'll call an ambulance." And she called. She, as the attending physician, was afraid to take responsibility for his life.

An ambulance arrived, the doctors looked, suspected appendicitis and said: “We urgently need to go to the hospital.” Vladyka didn’t want to go to the hospital either: “It’ll be okay,” he said, he didn’t want to go, he felt that he wouldn’t return from there. And then, when Nina Alekseevna began to insist and insisted, they brought a canvas stretcher and laid Vladyka down. He folded his hands as one folds the dead, said goodbye and said that he would come back here as a dead man. Then he dropped his hands and went into prayer - he completely surrendered to the will of God.

But I didn’t have the feeling that this was all. I felt so good with him! I spent these ten months with the Lord as if in paradise. I was not his cell attendant. He was my cell attendant. He met me, he saw me off, he prepared food for me. He looked after me like a beloved child, like a doll! And the Lord said: “Oh! Being a cell attendant is difficult, it is very difficult to be a cell attendant!” And I think: “What’s so difficult about this? You live as if in a royal palace, they sing to you, feed you, see you off, and they’ll also take you to work with sandwiches with sturgeon.” But later, under another bishop, I had to fully experience what it means to be a cell attendant.

And I think I was not the only one who perceived his affection, his kindness, his benevolence, but also everyone around him. Why did everyone strive for him? I have never met such people on my way who would turn to you with all their souls. I have only seen such human warmth and dedication from Mother Agnia and Metropolitan Joseph.

At the hospital they began to operate on Vladyka; they thought it was appendicitis. But they didn’t find appendicitis and started cutting further...

After the operation, Vladyka lived for three more days. No one was allowed into the hospital to see him; only the doctor Nina Alekseevna, from whom I inquired about Vladyka’s condition, could go. He was often unconscious and just moaning. And even in those days, although I understood that he was an old man, that the operation was difficult, I still could not imagine that everything would end like this. It seemed to me that he would pull through anyway, because literally everyone was praying for him then.

But Vladyka died on September 4. The death report stated: “peritonitis with perforation.” What did he really have? Only the doctors who operated on him know.

Vladyka Joseph is a very bright personality. The Lord left many impressions, and not only for me. When he died, someone called on the phone and asked: “Is it true, or what, that Ivan Mikhailovich died?” “It’s true,” I say. - “Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss]") They didn’t say that he was highly cultured or anything like that, and the expression seemed to me not quite literary, and the caller was apparently a non-church person, maybe they just crossed paths sometime in life, but with such regret: “He was a legitimate person.”

Mother Agnia and Vladyka Joseph are two people who changed my life. Not only mine, they changed a lot of people with their grace, humility, patience and prayers. I have never met people with such qualities, such people who would turn to you with all their souls. Such human warmth and dedication! It is amazing! And it is a miracle that the Lord gave me two such elders - Metropolitan Joseph and Mother Agnia. Through the prayers of my mother, who prayed for me, the Lord showed me his true slaves. After all, no one else could convince me, change my way of thinking, which I developed while studying at school, and then at the institute at the beginning of my life. I never thought of serving in the Church, I never prepared for it. And thanks to them I became what I became. And, in general, I know for sure that if I succeed in something, it is only through their prayer, thanks to their support. As Venerable Seraphim said: “Acquire a peaceful spirit and thousands around you will be saved.” And these are the people around whom, in fact, thousands were saved.”

Prediction

According to some reports (unconfirmed), there is information that Naum was one of the holy fools and had the gift of foresight. He knew how to approach a person, what to tell him so that he would calm down and find solutions to problems himself. And Nahum simply instructed. He was a very subtle and sensitive psychologist.

The archimandrite did not make predictions as such. But he said one thing, which, however, is a prediction. Archimandrite Naum of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra said that the end of the world is approaching, but not because, for example, a meteorite will fall, but because there is a lot of dark power in the world that worships the devil, and not the church, God and the Gospel. According to Naum, there are 4 organizations that rule the world - these are the rich (Rockefellers and Rothschilds), a secret world government characterized by greed, cynicism, the ability to rob and kill, and also assumed the right to control the life and death of the nation - the people ("Committee- 300"), a secret conference of secret structures, consisting of influential politicians who are able to impose their idea of ​​​​the development of world politics, which in turn can destroy humanity ("Bilderberg Club"). And if these forces spread in Russia, then the end of the world is inevitable.

Archimandrite Naum from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra said that if modern Sadducees, Pharisees, thieves, murderers and libertines pull the rope over themselves, then the prayer of the righteous and those praying will no longer save. Evil will win. Disasters will be inevitable. And the rope is our life, our good and bad deeds.

Russia will be great again

Father Naum believed that all of Russia's troubles began after the 1917 revolution. The Russian Empire was a mighty and strong state that all Western countries reckoned with. But then atheists came to power and forcibly imposed atheism and indifference to religion on the Russian people.

But before, the Church was inextricably linked with the state. In schools they taught the Law of God, taught prayers and repentance. People were afraid to live in sin; they kept the commandments of the Lord. The people were God-fearing.

And then they forgot about God, or rather, they made him forget. They destroyed churches and monasteries, persecuted true believers and priests. The Russian people have become like the prodigal son, who have forgotten about their own foundations and are ready to accept any government system. He doesn’t care what kind of power there will be, as long as there is bread and butter. But the time will come when everything will change.

“Our state will survive. He will not lose heart and will, and will stand firmly on his feet. Our country was once a flourishing and powerful Orthodox kingdom - the Russian Empire, which we lost in 1917. Now Russia is like the prodigal son, who left his father’s house and is content with food from someone else’s table. We, too, have moved away from our shrines and accept any government system according to the principle - as long as they feed us, and who rules, we don’t care.”

With great regret, Elder Naum watched the hostile rhetoric of the once fraternal republic of Ukraine. He said that only in the unity of the Slavic peoples would it be possible to repel external enemies and called for the unification of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus into one whole. But he believed that only a new ruler, who should be an Orthodox king, could do this.

“The Emperor is coming. He will protect our Orthodox faith - the most precious thing for Orthodox Christians in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russia will again unite all Slavic peoples and become a mighty Kingdom. The Lord will have mercy on us for allowing pre-Tichrist times to be established on the holy land. We must remember that the Queen of Heaven herself takes care of our country. And all the holy martyrs, together with the Mother of God, ask the Lord to have mercy and protect Russia.”

Demise

The death of Archimandrite Naum from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra occurred on October 13, 2022. For the last year, Naum has been in a comatose state. His death was not unexpected and occurred at the age of 89 (the old man did not live long enough to see his ninetieth birthday). The cause of death is not stated, but one can assume that Archimandrite Naum from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra died of old age. The man lived a long life, and everything was in it. And now he is in the Kingdom of God, where there is no disease and evil.

Farewell to Archimandrite Naum of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra took place in the Refectory Church, and the funeral service took place in the Assumption Cathedral. After the funeral liturgy, Naum's burial took place.

The funeral of Archimandrite Naum of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra was performed in a cathedral-monastic rite. All the spiritual children of the elder from many regions of Russia and foreign countries, the entire monastery brethren, students, parishioners, and pilgrims came together.

The service for the repose was led by Arseniy, Metropolitan of Istra.

He had the gift of training monastics

Olga Orlova

In memory of Archimandrite Naum (Bayborodin)
At the funeral service for Archimandrite Naum (Bayborodin), most of those gathered were monastics. The elder blessed many to be tonsured. He had the boldness to bless the opening of monasteries even where there had never been one before the revolution. Even under Soviet rule, before the decades of church growth, Father Naum said that many monasteries would soon open and blessed his children to photocopy and then publish spiritual literature. He was careful to stock up spiritual food for the monks of the reviving monasteries. He inherited many reprinted patristic works from the heirs of the Optina elders.

Father Naum had the gift of educating monastics: how many abbots and abbesses, how many bishops he raised for the Mother Church. He instructed in the Jesus Prayer: “Pente hundred,” he said, “was the constant work of monks, but why don’t we take on board this elementary monastic rule? Whatever you do - whether you are on the road or in obedience - always and everywhere say the Jesus Prayer. “Don’t talk,” he warned, “with the devil in your thoughts!” And for this, occupy your mind with prayer, otherwise “an idle mind is the seat of the devil,” he quoted the words of St. Isaac the Syrian, whose writings he opened for many.

He also instructed to pray the Jesus Prayer in church during the service, for in the name of Christ, he spoke, the secrets of worship are comprehended. “Always,” he armed, “the rosary should be in your hands.” This is a reminder: a monk has no “free time” - all of it is given to God in prayer. That’s why he instructed us not to grumble during obediences, no matter how difficult or quickly changing, since the main thing, no matter where you are placed, is your prayer.

This all would have remained a beautiful theory if the elder himself had not put it into practice, and his example was actually the most effective means in educating the soldiers of Christ.

Every day the priest gave his unforgettable blessing to read the Gospel. Even before the start of the fraternal prayer service, which begins at the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra at 05.30 in the morning, I myself could have time to read several chapters. When people waited in line to meet Father Naum, they read the Gospel chapter by chapter, stopping only to pray that God would reveal His holy will through the priest. One of the children calculated: Father Naum, when the Lord called him, was 89 years old - exactly the number of chapters in all four Gospels. He strove for his entire life to become the Gospel—and he bequeathed such fidelity to the incarnate Word to his children.

October 21, 2022 marked the 9th day of the elder’s repose to the Lord.

Archimandrite Naum is remembered by his children and students

In Christ's bosom

Savvaty (Perepelkin), Bishop of Vaninsky and Pereyaslavl, Khabarovsk Metropolis
I myself have known Father Naum since the very beginning of the 1990s. I then had a choice: start a family or become a monk. He simply told me: “See for yourself!” Then I began to lean towards monasticism, but he still did not immediately give his blessing: “I won’t force you to tonsure your hair—decide for yourself!”

I remember when I went to see him once or twice a week, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was as if you were in Christ’s bosom. Something is changing all around, there is some kind of bustle, but with the old man everything is always calm. When you come and resolve some issues, your soul feels good. Then it was no longer possible to visit often, but the feeling of the cover of his prayers was always present.

Everyone treated the priest differently, but from my own experience I understood that I always felt good with the priest. In the monastery, when I joined the Lavra brethren, I didn’t even have any problems. It has never happened that you were in pain, and you came to Elder Naum and all this was not resolved for you.

He gave each of us monks his own prayer rule. The very image of the elder - a man constantly in prayer - was extremely important for us. He taught by his very presence how to stand before God. Father was not verbose. He will say the word, but you have something to think about for a long time.

He left a rich legacy of his works - these are not only books: his famous multi-volume patristic alphabet, according to which many monks of the now revived monasteries learned, but above all, many monasteries and monasteries restored with his blessing. However, these monasteries do not exist on their own; schools, gymnasiums, orphanages, and almshouses are opened with them; in general, the life of the population around them is being revived, and villages are coming to life.

As the priest cared about the revival of the Russian village, he blessed us to return closer to the land. He even sent them to the Lenin Library with a blessing to find a book in which those who had fulfilled their obedience found ways to lay a Russian stove. The elder himself was a Siberian, he understood that the main thing in our region is not to freeze.

One man, whom I myself tonsured into monasticism, when Father Kirill was still alive, told me that he had a dream about how he ended up in the Lavra, two elders were blessing him, and then one after the other they lay down at the cathedral. Time passed, and two Lavra elders - Father Kirill and Father Naum - reposed and rested next to each other at the Lavra Spiritual Cathedral.

The elders are leaving - who will continue their counseling?

Gury (Fedorov), Bishop of Arsenyevsk and Dalnegorsk, Primorsky Metropolis
When I came to Father Naum, he asked me: “Who is your confessor?” I answered: “Father Benedict” (now he is the governor of Optina Hermitage). He looked at me and said: “Yes, Father Benedict, like the Apostle Paul, carries all his people in his heart.” He also said that he has particularly strong virtues: chastity and prayer. But since it was already difficult for me to go to Father Benedict in the Kaluga region, when I became a subdeacon of His Holiness, Father Naum took me under his leadership.

The elder will always console you and ease your sorrow. If you relax a little, become proud, get distracted by something worldly, he will lovingly humble you and put you in your place. Under Father Naum, I learned obedience so well that even now, when the bishop himself and my beard are already gray, I consult, listen, and humble myself. Father commanded us the right dispensation.

I know that many were unable to come to the funeral; About 100 people personally asked me to bow – my phone was ringing off the hook with calls and texts from those who found out that I was going to say goodbye to the elder. Thank God that the Lord, commanding that the Church will endure until the end of the age

(Matthew 28:20), sent us such great confessors as Father Kirill (Pavlov) and Father Naum.

But the elders leave one after another: at the beginning of the year, Father Kirill died, and by the end of the year, Father Naum followed him; I would, of course, like there to be continuers of their work of counseling. To do this, you need to strive, like them, to live according to the Gospel.

“Father Naum blessed me to become a monk”

Pavel, Bishop of Kolyvan, Vicar of the Novosibirsk Diocese
Father Naum is one of the pillars of Russian Orthodoxy. Many people know this elder and were cared for by him. He is the confessor of many monks, abbots and abbesses, and bishops. Every Orthodox Christian prays for this man, because in our hearts Father Naum left the bright memory of a faithful clergyman of Christ. At one time, Father Naum blessed me to become a monk.

How to become a monk and “not get blown up by a mine” of self-will

Hegumen Boniface (Klimenko), first vice-rector of the Ivanovo Seminary
One day, brethren from Georgia came to Father Naum from one of the local Lords. Their bishop was looking for where to order a bell to be cast. And in our Ivanovo-Voznesensk diocese, bells were being rung at one monastery. And so the elder called me and asked the Georgian monks to show the way to Ivanovo and, if possible, to travel with them. And then suddenly he asks me:

– Do you know how to cast bells?

I answer:

- No, and I have no idea.

He then says:

- There is a simple method of how to cast a bell, I will teach you.

He took a bottle of iodine that was standing on his bedside table in the waiting room and began to show it to me:

- Here, imagine that this is a bell. To cast a new bell, you need an old one, the shape of which will need to be repeated. First, he says, you need to remove the “tongue.” Then fill the bell inside with a clay mixture and place it on the platform. The top of the bell is also covered with clay. Make sure that the mold at the base is firmly on the platform. Dry thoroughly. Then, through a special hole on top, where the “eye” is or nearby, molten metal is poured. Metal sometimes takes a long time to collect. A lot of copper is used, silver is even used for sound, etc. And when the metal is poured into the mold, it exactly repeats the shape of the sample bell. Then they wait until the metal cools down, break the clay mold, polish the rough bell, attach or drill an eyelet on top, put a tongue - and the bell is ready. Sometimes a new bell cast in this way sounds better than the old one. But there are also failures. For example, there was just a little bit of metal missing, and the whole job was ruined. Either the alloy escaped from under the platform and flowed out, or the mold bursts... It can be a shame then. Well, do you understand,” Elder Naum asks me, “how are bells made?!” - and he looks at me slyly.

- Got it, father! – I nod.

And I myself think: “Technically, I understand, but I feel that there is some hidden meaning here...” When my brothers and I from Georgia went to Ivanovo, I kept thinking and thinking: “What is the meaning here?” And it dawned on me somewhere near Vladimir: “So this elder figuratively told how to become a monk and what temptations are encountered on the monastic path. Yes, indeed: first you need to “take off your tongue,” then fill out the form inside and out - take the vows and put on monastic robes. Well, then they start pouring hot metal on you - after this metal has been “accumulated”. Then hold on, monk! And the form can “smash apart”..., and metal can pour out from under the “platform”, and “there isn’t enough metal” - all of these, in figurative language, are monastic temptations, and everyone understands them as applied to themselves.”

In general, Grandfather—that’s what we called Naum’s father—was characterized by a fluent language, and a very deep one. He, just like the ancient prophets, depicted what awaits you with symbolic actions - I myself have been convinced of this many times and am still convinced of this.

When the elder confessed to people and instructed how best to turn away from sin, or advised what to do and what not to do, what to do, etc., sometimes they did not want to listen to him, immediately refusing to fulfill his blessings. Then, if this instruction was important, he tried to convince the person with these words:

- Please understand me. I'm like a sapper who knows where the mines are. And I tell you: don’t go there, don’t strive in that direction, turn to the side... You, of course, may not listen to me, but then you have yourself to blame: you’ll get blown up by a mine and you’ll be to blame for your disobedience,” he said in front of me alone his spiritual daughter.

About parental blessing: “Pray that your parents let you go with a light heart”

Abbess Anatolia (Barshai),
abbess of the St. Nicholas Monastery in the city of Privolzhsk, Ivanovo Metropolis,
my mother raised me in the faith even in the womb: when she was pregnant with me, she often went to church and received communion. Then, when in my youth I had a strong desire to serve God; my grandmother sent me to Father Naum for a blessing, although I was brought to him in very early childhood. My dad was a priest, and my parents were at first against the place where my father sent me to asceticism. I remember my mother came to rescue me from there. And Father Naum answers:

- I’m not holding her!

I burst into tears:

“What is it,” I think, “that he immediately left me to the mercy of fate?”

The old man asks his mother:

- Do you want to marry her off?

“She’s an adult,” my mother was taken aback, “she’ll decide for herself what to do.”

And the priest somehow so simply made it clear that I was an adult and had already decided everything.

“Tell your father that,” he says, “she’s not a five-year-old child, you can’t lead her away by the hand.”

Then I somehow began to feel uneasy in this place, apparently because it was not my parents’ will to be there. Father blessed me to go to another place:

“Don’t tell any of the people, just pray to St. Sergius,” he says, “so that your parents will let you go with a light heart.”

I did so. I was going home, and my father was even afraid to tell me where the elder was sending me this time. I thought that my dad wouldn’t like this place even more. I arrive, and he already seems to know everything, he’s sitting so contentedly - that’s what prayer at the Reverend’s shrine means! He blessed me with both hands. And everything went like clockwork from then on.

Now we have a school at our monastery. It’s better to leave something unfinished and pay attention to the children. Father Naum was very concerned about raising the younger generation. I have one nun I know, she is younger than me. She came to Father Naum when she was very young. She herself comes from a non-church family.

“I was so ashamed,” he says: “I go to where people are waiting for the old man, and there are so many old grandmothers there...”

- What are you talking about! - I tell her, - the old women are already strengthened in the faith, but the young need to get to the old man in order to go on the straight path from a young age.

I remember that the priest confessed to one woman in front of me. When they talked after confession, their conversation could be heard.

- Well, how are you living? – the priest began to ask.

She said that she is the wife of one husband, they are married, they have many children - all thank God.

- Are they believers? – he asked about the household members.

“Everyone goes to Church,” she answers.

“At least you can talk to an elderly person,” the old man sighed with relief then, “but now it’s scary to approach a young person.”

And the next woman in line sat there and burst into tears. Indeed, there is so much turmoil now. Therefore, of course, we need to work with children and youth - this is the elder’s behest to us.

“The Lord has arranged it in such a way that He conveys His will through the elect”

Hieromonk Thaddeus (Egorov),
David's Hermitage
In 1994, my friends took me to the priest in the village church to be baptized. Having received Holy Baptism, I stayed there for a while to help the priest at the parish and become a church member. A few young guys lived there and that’s how our community formed. Then I learned to sing in the choir, ring bells, and bake prosphora. The priest who baptized me was the child of Archimandrite Naum. So when the moment came for me to choose a path in life, he sent me to the elder for advice.

Then, in 1994, we, all the kids from our community, went to see Father Naum. Father first sent us to Abbot Boris (Khramtsov) at the Chernigov monastery. He was also revered as an old man, although he was only over 40. He, like Father Naum, was from Siberia. Now he is buried in the village of Deulino, near Sergiev Posad, and people flock to his grave.

Then, when Father Boris was transferred to Varnitsa, to the birthplace of St. Sergius, in the Rostov region, it was more difficult for us to go to him. And then I still visited the Lavra often, since I lived 40 minutes away from here. And Father Boris, when once again the question arose in my mind: what path to choose in life, answered that he could not take on such responsibility and sent me back to Father Naum. I remember I also instructed: “You must obey the elder: whoever does not obey the elder, everything goes wrong for him.” About Father Naum he said: “This is a man of high spiritual life, although many do not understand how he says everything so immediately, but he prays for us, and God reveals to him, and he only conveys the will of God. Many do not believe that what is said is from God himself. They just don't understand how this is possible. But here it is useless to try to understand anything. How this happens is incomprehensible to us. The Lord arranged it in such a way that He conveys His will through the elect. Let's go to Father Naum."

I went. Asked:

- How can I save myself?

Father Naum blessed me to go to the monastery and suddenly asked:

-Can you manage a choir?

The fact is that I studied at the music school in the conducting department, but the priest didn’t know that!

“I studied,” I admit, “I don’t know, really, how in the choir – will it be possible to act as regent, no?”

“Go there,” he says, “from there my abbot asked me to send someone with a musical education.”

I went and since then I have been serving in this monastery for 22 years. About once a year I went to Father Naum for advice. He blessed me to enter the seminary. Through his prayers, I completed it and was ordained. Father constantly recommended to me what spiritual literature to read, how to behave in certain situations. My whole life passed under his guidance, and without this I could easily get confused and lost. There are so many temptations now. I remember when the Internet began to appear, I was given obedience to work on the monastery website, and the priest instructed me in this work.

When the priest confessed, his perspicacity often manifested itself. Here you live in a monastery, and it would seem that nothing serious is happening to you. Life is simple, you cannot overlook any special sin. Moreover, in the monastery confession is regular. However, you will still forget something, and then the priest, who confessed you only once a year, will remind you: “Wasn’t there such a thing... But something like this...” And he will name exactly what happened to you, but you forgot or did not perceive it as a sin. After such a confession, of course, I had to think hard. You go from the priest and shake up your whole life and your ideas. You try to improve, and this will save you in the future.

It is always easier to straighten out the path when you have just begun to stray from it, and have not yet gone far in your error. This is how the priest helped us stay on the right course. He had the gift of reasoning and directing the soul to God.

God did not directly reveal some questions to the elder, then the priest began to reason out loud: if you do this, then this will happen, if you act differently, this will not happen. Or he will instruct in advance: if such circumstances arise, do this, others, like this. Everything seems simple, but you’ll never think of it yourself. Even when I myself became a priest, when another person asks you something, you solve his problem, because according to his faith, the Lord reveals to him what he needs through you. And if you lead yourself, there is a great danger that you will become proud. That is why the Holy Fathers said: “Salvation lies in much counsel.” That is, a person from the outside must evaluate your decision, even if you made it correctly, but someone must confirm it for you. This is a monastic rule.

Father Naum also sent us for advice to Father Peter (Afanasyev) at the Zaikonospassky Monastery, but last year Father Peter also died. Now that the elders are leaving, you must consult with spiritually close people. It is in council that the will of God is revealed.

“Nothing matters except the Jesus Prayer anyway!”

Abbess Innokentia (Popova), abbess of the Seraphim-Znamensky monastery of the Moscow diocese,
the people went to confess all their most serious sins to Father Naum. The elder received everyone. You confess to him, as if to the Lord, such depths of your soul are revealed, and the priest only listens and does not interfere. When I was going through a difficult period in my life, I went to the priest for confession. He listened and listened, and then as joyfully as he proclaimed:

– Nothing matters anyway except the Jesus Prayer!

Eternal memory to the faithful servant of Christ.

Prepared by Olga Orlova

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October 21, 2017

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Funeral service

The funeral service for Archimandrite Naum from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra took place at 7:30 am on October fifteenth, in the same Lavra, in the Assumption Cathedral.

The Metropolitan read out a message of condolences sent by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', addressed to the vicar of the Lavra, Archbishop Theognostus, the entire monastic brethren and the spiritual children of the archimandrite himself.

At the end of the service for the repose, the coffin with the body of the deceased father Naum was carried around the Assumption Cathedral, to the sound of bells.

The funeral service for Archimandrite Naum from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra was served by:

• metropolitans: Nikolaevsky and Ochakovsky - Pitirim, Ekaterinburg and Verkhotursky - Kirill, Astrakhan and Kamyzyaksky - Nikon;
• Archbishops of Sergiev Posad - Feognost, Viceroy of the Lavra, Petropavlovsk and Kamchatka - Artemy, Salekhard and Novy Urengoy - Nikolai;
• Bishops of Podolsk - Tikhon, Karaganda and Shakhtinsky - Sevastian, Arsenyevsky and Dalnegorsky - Gury, Iskitimsky and Cherepanovsky - Luka, Karasuksky and Ordynsky - Philip, Kainsky and Barabinsky - Theodosius, Kineshma and Palekhsky - Hilarion, Tarsky and Tyukalinsky - Savvaty, Kalachevsky and Pallasovsky - John, Anadyr and Chukotka - Matthew, Kolyvansky - Paul; Vorkutinsky and Usinsky - John, Vaninsky and Pereyaslavsky - Savvaty, Shuisky and Teikovsky - Matthew;
• Archimandrites Pavel (Krivonogov), Dean of the Lavra, Ilia (Reizmir), Sergius (Voronkov);
• Protopresbyter Vladimir Divakov - secretary of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' for Moscow;
• Archpriest Vladimir Chuvikin, rector of the Pererva Theological Seminary;
• inhabitants of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in holy orders and a host of clergy.

The head of the Central Asian Metropolitan District, Metropolitan of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, Vincent, and the abbess of the convents also prayed for Naum.

Father Naum was buried behind the altar of the Spiritual Church of the Lavra next to Cyril (Paul). By the way, one of the current monks a long time ago (before his tonsure) had a dream in which, after his tonsure, two monks lay down at the altar... And now there are two lying behind the altar - Cyril and Naum.

Mom's memories.

On October 13, at the 90th year of his life, the oldest monk of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, the confessor known throughout Russia and beyond, Archimandrite Naum (Bayborodin) reposed in the Lord.

From the memories of Gulnara's mother

(Director of the private orphanage "Meerim Bulagi")

In July 2003, the teacher Irina Nikolaevna called me and said that the priests had come to us. For the first time I met a priest. I was wearing a red T-shirt and trousers. Arriving home, I saw an old man who looked at me intently, I introduced myself as the mother of this house. Suddenly I felt uneasy, I shrank, began to close my open hands on my own, I wanted to urgently change clothes, but the elder told a story and did not let me go. I fidgeted, covered my hands with my hands, shifted my feet, and didn’t even hear what he was saying. I wanted to quickly cover my bare arms and put on my dress. After a while, I finally ran, quickly changed my clothes and was constantly next to him. Dusk came, suddenly the old man said: “Let’s spend the night near the lake.” I say: “Grandfather, go wash first, then have dinner, and I won’t let you go anywhere. We have a lot of bad people, you have expensive cars, they will rob you more...” The elder replied: “Since mother said it, we must listen!” And I answered him: “I’m not a mother, I’m still young for a mother.” So they stayed with us overnight.

At night they prayed all the time in the destroyed chapel, and at four o’clock in the morning they left. That’s how I met Fr. Naum, Archimandrite of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. I received a lot of books as a gift, after reading which my whole life turned upside down, connecting me with Orthodoxy.

In the same year, with the blessing of Fr. Nauma, Afanasy Ivanovich Karyugin (Fr. Afanasy) donated his property in the Issyk-Ata resort area to the orphanage.

Since 2004, we began to have legal battles with the Federation of Trade Unions of Kyrgyzstan, the struggle was very difficult. The forces are not equal. I have nothing except children, no transport, no money, but I defended the gift of children.

One day I arrived at the Lavra, somehow I waited for a meeting with Fr. Naum, I tell him: “Father, take your gift to Issyk-Ata, I’m tired, I can’t sue anymore, I have no strength and no money.” He listened in silence, then stood up, I thought now he would pray for me, but he took me by the scruff of the neck and kicked me out of his cell. I went out, crying, stamping my feet, flew to Kyrgyzstan, and thought: “Let me lose, everything doesn’t depend on me.”

I went to another trial, without a lawyer, alone, and what do you think, for the first time I won a court hearing, which was decisive for all other court hearings.

One day I stopped by the Lavra while passing through, stood in line, and went to see Fr. Naumu. I didn't ask for anything, I always missed him. One thing was enough for me - to be near him, to touch him, and that was enough for me for a long time. This time he gave me a can of milk. I think: “Where am I going in Moscow with this can of milk?” The cell attendant came out after me and said: “Gulnara, give everyone a little.” Everyone standing in line to see Fr. Naumu was so happy, she poured a little for everyone, they all drank, someone poured it into a bottle, someone drank it with reverence, expecting a miracle.

I came to Issyk-Kul. Call from Almaty: “I want to give you three milk cows, I’m moving to Russia, it’s a pity to give it to someone, I decided to give it to your orphanage.” This is a miracle with a can of milk... This is what the blessing of an elder means...

In 2005, Fr. calls me from Almaty. Alexander says that Fr. Naum wants to visit you in Issyk-Ata, he gave his blessing to cook food for Gulnara. So I was scared, I was thinking about how to cook about. Naumu... And every time they served food, they asked: “How?”, He answered: “Tasty.” I - wow, thank God! This is such happiness - a blessing fell upon me, I was preparing a meal for Fr. Nahuma.

Now I remember everything with tears in my eyes. Happiness to those who looked after him and saw him off on his last journey. This is service to man, with Absolute love for people...

Archimandrite Naum was born on December 6, 1927 in the village of Malo-Irmenka, Ordynsky district, Novosibirsk region, into the family of pious believing peasants Alexander Efimovich and Pelageya Maksimovna Bayborodin. On December 25 of the same year, the boy was baptized in the Church of the Archangel Michael in his native village. In holy baptism he was given the name Nicholas in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. There were many children in the family, but in the hungry 1930s all his brothers and sisters died. The parents were left with only Kolya, whom his mother promised in prayer to dedicate to God. Soon after his birth, Alexander Efimovich and Pelageya Maksimovna moved to the Primorsky Territory, where the boy entered school. However, he was unable to finish it due to the outbreak of war, and after the 9th grade he was forced to interrupt his studies.

In October 1944, at the age of 16, he was drafted into the Soviet army and sent to study at the aviation radio engineering school in the city of Frunze, then served in military aviation units. In November 1952, he was demobilized with the rank of senior sergeant. Returning home, Nikolai continued his interrupted studies. In 1952-1953, he attended evening high school in the city of Frunze, and then entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Kyrgyz State University. During his years at the university, Nikolai often went to church services. Having learned about the Moscow Theological Seminary, he decided to go there to study.

In 1957, he first came to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and, having passed the exams, was enrolled in the seminary. After studying for a month and a half, Nikolai applied for admission to the monastery and on October 14 of the same year, on the Feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, he was accepted as a novice into the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. On August 14, 1958, in the Trinity Cathedral of the Lavra, the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Pimen (Khmelevsky), tonsured the novice Nicholas into monasticism with the name Naum in honor of the Monk Naum of Radonezh, a disciple of the Monk Sergius. Two months later, on October 8 of the same year, on the feast of St. Sergius, abbot of Radonezh, in the Refectory Church of the Lavra, Metropolitan Nestor (Anisimov) of Novosibirsk and Barnaul, monk Naum was ordained hierodeacon, and exactly a year later, on October 8, 1959, in the Assumption Cathedral Lavra, Metropolitan Boris (Vic) of Odessa and Kherson ordained Hierodeacon Naum to the rank of hieromonk. In 1960, Father Naum successfully graduated from the seminary. On April 25, 1970, the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary, Archbishop Philaret of Dmitrov, elevated Hieromonk Naum to hegumen. In 1979, on the day of Holy Easter, Abbot Naum was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

In the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Father Naum served as confessor for more than half a century, and participated in all holiday and Sunday services. During services, he often delivered sermons imbued with the spirit of patristic teaching. His amazing wisdom, kindness, sensitivity and love for people quickly earned him general respect, and thousands of people from all over Russia and even from other countries reached out to him for advice and consolation. He talked with everyone, confessed, gave advice and instructions, and pointed out the true Christian path in life.

The ministry of a confessor is inconspicuous and hidden from prying eyes, but is of great importance for the Church. In his life, Father Naum always strived for simplicity and humility and tried not to attract attention to himself. But, thanks to him, thousands of people experienced spiritual birth and came to faith. Exhausted and restless souls found relief and consolation in his cell. The main instructions he gave were the fulfillment of God's commandments and prayer work. Father Naum attached particular importance to the fight against sinful thoughts and reading the Jesus Prayer. Therefore, he blessed both monks and laity to read it constantly. A distinctive feature of Archimandrite Naum was his extraordinary erudition. He shared his knowledge with everyone who came, urging them to diligently study the Holy Scriptures and patristic works. To help those who wish to master the patristic heritage, Father Naum compiled the fundamental eight-volume collection “Patristic Symphony” - a kind of encyclopedia of Christian spiritual life. Among those who came to him were people of different ages and ranks: old and young, bishops, priests, monks, laymen, university professors and respected academicians, persons of high administrative position, generals and admirals, government officials and ordinary Christians. At a reception with Father Naum, they all received everything they needed and experienced his beneficial influence. Seeing the spiritual disposition and talents of people, he directed them to the benefit of the Church and the people, inspired them to create churches and monasteries, open theological schools, Orthodox gymnasiums and orphanages, and publish Orthodox spiritual and scientific literature. Archimandrite Naum was a devoted and selfless servant of the Church, devoting all his strength to work for the glory of God. His tireless prayer work and zeal for serving God set a high example for everyone - both for pilgrims and for the monastic brethren.

The last years of Naum's father's life were aggravated by illness. But, in spite of everything, he was always ready to respond to the call for help to the grieving and, while his strength still allowed, overcoming his weakness, he received visitors. Everything he did for people is preserved in their souls and brings good fruit. His testament addressed to all of us is kindness, holiness, piety, love for God and neighbors, and the implementation of the highest gospel ideals.

Thousands of his spiritual children, a large assembly of clergy and laity, gathered to see Father Naum off on his final journey. On October 15, 2017, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the funeral service was performed by the first vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Metropolitan Arseny of Istra, co-served by a host of bishops, abbots of monasteries and ordinary priests. Before the start of the funeral service, Metropolitan Arseny announced the condolences of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', which, in particular, said: “Now the Lord has called to Himself His faithful and zealous servant, who for many years warmed the hearts of those who came to him in large numbers for advice and spiritual consolation. The deceased gained high authority and special recognition in the Church, since he dedicated his entire life to caring for the spiritual children entrusted to his care.”

Metropolitan Nikon of Astrakhan and Kamyzyak read the prayer of permission for the deceased. After the funeral service, the coffin was carried around the Assumption Cathedral to the sound of bells. Metropolitan Nikon of Astrakhan performed the litiya at the burial site. Father Naum was buried behind the altar of the Spiritual Church of the Lavra next to the grave of the ever-memorable Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov). Hundreds of people come to the grave every day to pray for the repose of the deceased.

Author: Datka

A few words from Naum on the centenary of the revolution

Archimandrite Naum of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra was an intelligent and perspicacious man, capable of conveying information to every (or almost every) person. About the events of a hundred years ago (about the revolution), he said: “According to the preaching of one prophet Jonah, all the inhabitants of Nineveh repented and were saved, but their city had to perish. Before the revolution, there were a lot of saints in our country! These are John of Kronstadt, and blessed Pasha and Pelageya of Diveyevo and many others. After all, everyone had the opportunity to pray to the Lord God to prevent revolution. At that time, there were many seminaries and church schools operating in the country. But…. The country was no longer led by Orthodox Christians, but by Satanists. Orthodox believers were fired from leadership positions and removed from teaching positions. Previously, they taught the Laws of God.” According to Naum, his mother went to school in 1908 and after several days said that there was no point in going to such a school. The teachers of that time said: “We will now build a happy life without priests and without kings!” Naum is very indignant that visionary people did not take care of the people, why they allowed a revolution (a coup in the state). And, as practice has shown, there were traitors very often in the army.

According to Naum, the current government worships the devil, the same people allowed a revolution 100 years ago, and people like them have already tried to organize coups d'etat more than once in the current 21st century. But the country's president was able to take measures to prevent civil war. Fortunately, there was no shooting.

In order to defeat the Satanists, it is necessary to preserve the unity of the people. For Europeans, it still remains a mystery how the Soviet Union survived and won the most terrible war of the 20th century. Despite everything, the Soviet people quickly established the production of tanks and aircraft, so necessary for the front line, and in this difficult time for the country, science did not stand still, but was actively developing. The authorities, faced with miracles at the fronts, ordered the restoration of the Patriarchate in the country, as well as the opening of temples and churches. Churches and chapels were very actively opened in the occupied territories.

On September 4, 1943, a meeting took place in the Kremlin between Stalin and Sergius (Stragorodsky), Leningrad and Novgorod Alexy and Nikolai (Yarushevich). And at that moment it was decided to open the Lavra and resume theological courses.

Archimandrite Naum believes that our state needs good rulers. With whom you can consult and not blaspheme the name of God, then people will become kinder. And every Christian must necessarily keep the commandments, since they are given for everyone. Observance of the Laws of God must begin with the study of these very laws, you need to read the Bible, the Gospel, go to church, pray, take communion and confess.

The more often a person confesses, the more sins he sees behind him. And those who go to church from time to time or do not go at all do not notice their sins. And how can such people live happily...?

And the recognition of same-sex marriage is generally unacceptable for humanity, as is gender reassignment. Naum opposes the sale of lands of the Russian state, against the murder of children, including unborn ones, against sodomy and fornication. If such phenomena occur on Russian soil, then the end of the world is not far away.

Nahum was positive about the changes taking place in Africa. On this continent, many people accept Orthodoxy, renounce Islam and preach Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary.

Before the revolution under the Tsar, people believed in God, the church was one with the state. The schools were church schools, and people there were taught the commandments of Christ. They taught how to raise a moral generation, value and preserve the family. Abortion was prohibited at that time, and the Russian nation was preserved and multiplied. During the twenty years of the reign of Nicholas II, the nation increased by 50 million, and after the revolution it began to shrink very quickly. Abortion in our time is not prohibited, unborn babies are killed and killed, but the country so needs people (and warriors, and scientists, and teachers).

In memory of Archimandrite Naum (Baiborodin). Memories of a Spiritual Daughter

Archimandrite Naum ( in the world - Nikolai Alexandrovich Bayborodin, 12 /1927—10/13 )

On October 13, 2022, at the 90th year of his life, the well-known elder and confessor Archimandrite Naum (Bayborodin), the oldest monk of the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra, reposed in the Lord in the Lord. We bring to the attention of the readers of our site memories of Father Naum by one of his spiritual daughters, Abbess Miropia (Yurchenkova), abbess of the Abrahamic Epiphany Convent in the city of Rostov the Great.

“I couldn’t decide on life changes without Father Naum’s blessing...”

The Epiphany Abraham Monastery in Rostov the Great is one of the oldest monasteries in Russia, older than the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius by about 250 years. It was founded at the end of the 10th – beginning of the 11th centuries. and named after its founder, the Monk Abraham. Here, while still a child, St. Sergius of Radonezh came to pray with his parents and brothers.

Throughout its history, the Avraamiev Monastery suffered desolation more than once, but was always reborn in even greater splendor. It is still being restored after 70 years of atheistic rule. The abbess of the monastery, Abbess Miropia (in the world - Maria Kuzminichna Yurchenkova) received only ruins for management. This is the fourth monastery that she is restoring with the blessing of the Archimandrite of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, Father Naum (Baiborodin).

We asked Abbess Miropia to share her memories of her visit to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, as well as the past and present day of the ancient Rostov monastery.

Abbess Miropia (Yurchenkova)

Your Reverence, please tell us about your first meeting with Archimandrite Naum.

I first met him in 1966. He confessed under the Assumption Cathedral of the Lavra in the crypt. And he accepted mainly newcomers, those whom he wanted to convert to the true Orthodox faith. I knew about his help and the power of his prayers, and I really wanted to talk to him about my problems. He spoke little: he would say three words, cover himself with an epitrachelion, read a prayer - and that’s all.

Mother, are you a native of Rostov?

No, I'm not local. Born in Mordovia in 1941 in the regional center of. Elniki Elnikovsky district, not far from Sarov. 4 kilometers from us there was a church that will stand “until the end of the world,” as they said during a sermon back in the days of my childhood. It was built in a historical place and this place is called Kamenny Ford. When Ivan the Terrible passed through our area with his army, the bottom of the Moksha River was lined with stones for them - a stone ford was made. And it still exists. This church was built where the king came ashore. It never closed. My parents were believers, especially my mother and her relatives.

Is it difficult to be the abbess of a monastery like yours?

It's not easy, of course. It requires communication with many people, the ability to persuade, negotiate, and patiently delve into all the little things, although there are no little things in monasteries. Everything is important to us. We need to build, restore, and improve the lives of the sisters. Among all these organizational worries, we must remember about the spiritual growth of the sisters and about our own. And not just remember, but also carry out. The abbess's whole day is planned down to the minute. If there is a glitch in your prayer life, you miss something, you don’t do something - this immediately affects other matters. You constantly ask for help from the Lord, the Mother of God, the saints - they will manage. I rely on them, not on myself.

Archimandrite Naum, the elder of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, always supported me. He always prayed for his spiritual children, and his strength of spirit was such that everything was revealed to him. He had the gift of reasoning and insight. I took all serious steps in my life with the blessing of Father Naum.

Can we say that you have a small community under the spiritual leadership of Archimandrite Naum?

Yes, he taught us how to pray for other people, including enemies, and read akathists. He taught to help people who were sick, old, and lonely. And we went where someone needed help. We’ll dig up someone’s garden, split some firewood, and maybe help direct the light to where it needs to be...

I remember such a case. One pious man sang on the choir in our church. He always scolded, but fairly, those who made mistakes in singing due to ignorance or old age. But we came young and also didn’t know how to sing. The singers say to us: “They’re singing wrong.” And he replies: “They will learn over time, but now they are needed to decorate the choir.” And so these old singers decided to remove him from the choir - and they did. He was very worried about this. When I began to defend him, then they attacked me too. The situation gradually escalated...

Once I was late for the Liturgy and arrived when they were already singing “In Thy Kingdom.” Suddenly, at the end of the Divine Liturgy, the serving priest comes out to the pulpit in vestments and says, turning to me: “You are defending him, and he is an enemy of the people, which means you are an enemy of the people. I will write a letter to the bishop, and then he will excommunicate you from the Church.” Although I didn’t know this man, I understood one thing - his main goal was to teach us how to sing notes correctly. After thinking about it, I decided to leave the choir and began to simply go to services to pray, without participating in singing. I felt despondent. Nobody invites me to sing, but those whom I once brought there sing. How to get out of this situation? Then I decided to go to Sergiev Posad and approach Father Naum. So I entered the Lavra. It was lunch time. Will Father accept me or not, will he remember me? I haven't been to see him for a long time...

And so she asked the novice to call Father Naum after 2 p.m., although he did not receive anyone after that time. To my surprise, Father Naum himself comes out and tells me: “Ah, Pavlov’s bride has arrived.” “Yes, yes, Pavlov’s bride,” I answer. “Go tell me.” I told Father Naum everything. Without seeing this man, he tells me: “Bring him to me.” Where can I find it? I don't know where he lives, and I don't know anything about him at all. He is 70 years old, he sings well and correctly and plays a musical instrument. “Find him and bring him...” the priest repeats. Having arrived home, on the eve of Sunday I go to the temple and to my surprise and joy I see that man sitting at the entrance next to the temple. “Finally I saw you. Take me to Sergiev Posad." - “What am I taking you to? I have no money - I just arrived. Then take the tickets yourself, and we’ll go next weekend.” We came to Father Naum. When Father Naum confessed to Paul—that was the name of the singer—he cried a lot.

It turned out that it was a monk. In the monastery he was a courier (postman) and sang in the choir. When the monastery was destroyed, all the inhabitants were expelled as enemies of the people and taken captive wherever. Pavel ended up in Germany and was a janitor there throughout the war. Since the Germans had him, he was considered an enemy of the people. Arriving after the war, he came to the temple, and we considered him an enemy of the people. What kind of enemy of the people is he? Father Naum told him: “As you were (a monk), that is how you should die. Ask everyone for forgiveness and go sing in the choir.” It was Father Naum who revealed him, and soon Paul died, and everyone who attacked him asked him for forgiveness.

Father Naum always tried to cleanse us from all sins, even those we had forgotten, so everyone came to him and he did not take into account time and health. He will listen to everyone and help. Rest in peace!

There were endless temptations and questions. Father Naum always resolved all issues prudently. If you listen to him, everything falls into place, everything calms down.

When did you realize that the monastic path was destined for you?

Without the blessing of Father Naum, I did not make serious life decisions. Father Naum always told me: “How busy you are with worldly affairs! When you will be free?.."

In 1988, when the Tolga Monastery was opened, Father Naum blessed me to go to this monastery. Of course, he prepared me for monasticism, but he prepared me gradually. And when I saw that I could freely decide to take this step, I said so. I went to Tolga and stayed in the monastery. I considered it a blessing to live in a monastery.

How were you received at the Tolga Monastery?

Tolgsky Monastery was the first monastery to open in Russia. And everyone went there, whom the confessors blessed, because... the monastery was in dire need of restoration, so there were a lot of people and all the visitors worked as hard as they could. The monastery in Tolga was then in ruins. Father Naum prayed that everything would be fine with us. For a monk, spiritual guidance is very important when cutting off one’s will, surrendering oneself to the will of God. Then his prayer will be heard.

There was an incident in Tolga. A commission came to remove the extension to the Spassky building. The extension was made in the 18th century, and the building itself was made in the 17th century. The extension is strong, made of large brick from the 18th century - and suddenly it’s removed. The entire commission decided to remove the extension, but I was the only one who was against it. “I can’t bring myself to do this.” Then the abbess tells me: “Go to Father Naum.” I came to him, he listened to me, raised his hands up and said: “We have been cleaning the 2nd floor in the fraternal building for 10 years and it’s still there...” I said to Father Naum: “God bless you!” - and left. And the extension was abandoned and still stands.

The monastery was quickly restored. I was appointed as a foreman and headed all the main restoration work: external water supply, sewerage and heating networks, roofs, residential buildings, and the refectory were restored. Then, with the blessing of Father Naum, I was appointed abbess to the Intercession Convent, which reopened in 1994 in the village. Bykov, Nekouz district. There I also did restoration work. In parallel with this, since 1997, she has been restoring the Alekseevsky Convent in Uglich and the Resurrection Cathedral near Uglich.

In 2004, a new abbess was appointed to Uglich. “Where should I go?..” - “To Father Naum.” I came to him, described the situation, talked about my experiences and mental pain. Father Naum said to leave everything and blessed the Avraamiev Epiphany Convent in Rostov the Great. During the Epiphany frosts, I went to Rostov, where I had to spend the winter without heating or running water. Avraamiev Monastery is the fourth one that I had to restore. And all this with the blessing of Father Naum...

The history of the Rostov region is very interesting. The name itself

“
Abraamiev Monastery
”
breathes deep antiquity.
The name of the city is also unusual. Not just Rostov, but Rostov the Great. Even the name emphasizes the special status of this land? During the time of St. Abraham, the Finno-Ugric tribes of Merya and Ves lived here .

They were pagans and worshiped idols. The most terrible, according to those concepts, was the idol of Veles, revered by local pagans as the patron of wealth and trade. According to the chronicle, in the idol Veles “all the power and all the demonic seduction was concentrated.” The inhabitants stubbornly continued to worship their idol, and the Monk Abraham appeared as their enlightener.

The Monk Abraham was born, according to chronicle collections (late 10th – early 11th centuries) within the Galician region in the city of Chukhlom (Kostroma region). Abraham's parents were famous for their wealth and were pagans. At the birth of the future abbot, he was named Iverik. Until the age of eighteen, he lay on his sick bed in relaxation and could not walk and was very grieved in spirit over his helpless situation. This sorrow served as salvation for the sick.

Merchants came to the house of the Monk Abraham. One day he heard a conversation between some pious Novgorod merchants, who were on trade business in his father’s house, about the wonderful faith in Christ the Savior, who healed the sick and raised the dead. Hearing this, the fire of Heavenly truth kindled in Iverik’s pure soul. In a sorrowful feeling, he thought to himself: “That’s how many gods my father has, and not one will help me! Novgorodians have one God, but He gives healing to many. If He would give me health, I would believe in Him and serve Him forever.” In such a good mood, the patient began with all his heart to call for help on the Lord Jesus, about whom he had heard from the Novgorod guests, and through his faith in a God still unknown to him, he soon received healing. Deciding to fulfill his vow, Iverik, secretly leaving his parental home, with a wanderer’s staff, went west from his homeland through impassable wilds to a country where the light of Christ was already shining.

Along the way, he met people who believed in Christ, and, staying with them for a while, he received detailed information about Christian life. A few years later he reached Veliky Novgorod, where he was amazed by the sacred splendor of Christian churches, and his heart was inflamed with jealousy for the holy faith.

Leaving Novgorod, St. Abraham visited the monasteries that then existed in the north of Russia and then he reached Lake Ladoga along the Volkhov River. On one of the islands I found the monastery of the Holy Trinity. According to the dispensation of God, this monastery was destined to become the cradle of Christian birth and the first place of the monastic exploits of the Rev. Having begged the abbot of the monastery and the brethren of the monastery to be accepted into the monastery, he revealed to them that he had not yet been baptized and asked for grace-filled Enlightenment. The abbot of the monastery, Theognost, heeded the desire of his heart and, having baptized him, gave him the name Averky. After some time, seeing his pious life, the abbot of the monastery honored him with an angelic image with the name Abraham. From then on, for 15 years, “he fought a good deed in the labors of monastic life and managed to attract general attention to himself, so that the brethren of that monastery began to show him special honor as a good elder and skilled in pious living.” Having heard about the Baptism of his native land and wishing to avoid human praise, the Monk Abraham decided to leave the monastery and return to the borders of his homeland. Arriving in Rostov, the Reverend settled in a wretched hut near Lake Nero, where he again began his prayerful deeds. But the miserable hut of the famous monk could not hide the lamp under a bushel. In Rostov at that time there was already a certain part of the inhabitants enlightened by the Christian faith. They began to come to the man of God, asking him for prayers, blessings and learning from him to live according to the Christian law.

Zealous for the glory of God and the good of his neighbor, the Reverend greatly grieved over the unbelief of the city residents, immersed in the destructive darkness of paganism and stubbornly remaining in it. In particular, Rostovites and residents of the surrounding area honored their god Veles. The stone idol stood in a prominent place not far from the lake, and blinded pagans flocked to it from everywhere to make a sacrifice to propitiate the imaginary deity. It was hard for the worshiper of the true God to see the delusion of the Rostov residents, and he, jealous of the Lord Almighty, began to pray to Him. The Lord was not slow to show His servant all-powerful help. Constantly grieving in his soul and repeatedly enduring bitterness from the pagans, an elder came to the Reverend by the Providence of God, who blessed him to the city of Constantinople to find the house of John the Theologian and ask for his help. Five versts from Rostov, near the Ishni River, the Reverend met “a certain man in a reverent manner, very red and bright.” It was Saint John the Theologian, who handed him a rod, commanding him to crush the idol with this rod. After these words, the elder became invisible. Encouraged by the vision, the Reverend, with fear and joy in his heart and at the same time zeal for the glory of God, returned to his former place and, in the presence of a large crowd of idol worshipers, in the name of John the Theologian, struck the idol with a rod and turned it into dust and ashes.

Horror and bewilderment gripped the pagans at the sight of such a miracle, when their main god, on whom they placed all their hope, turned out to be so helpless before the cane of the holy elder. On the contrary, the soul of God’s chosen one was filled with joy, seeing in this event a sure guarantee of God’s favor towards him. The rumor about the wondrous sign revealed on the shores of Lake Nero quickly spread throughout the city and its surroundings. St. Abraham considered it necessary to inform the Rostov Bishop Theodore about this. He gave the Reverend his holy blessing to build a small church in the name of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian at the site of his appearance, as well as another church in honor of the Epiphany of the Lord at the site of the idolatry. At the Church of the Epiphany, the Reverend built cells for the brethren and established a hostel between them. This was the beginning of the existing Rostov Epiphany Monastery.

It is known that the Avraamiev Monastery was visited by royal persons at all times, because were great shrines kept in the monastery?

Yes it is. The history of the monastery contains evidence of visits to the monastery by many kings, Grand Dukes and Princesses. It is known that in 1511 and 1529 Tsar Vasily Ioannovich came to the monastery. Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible prayed repeatedly at the shrines of the Epiphany Monastery (1545, 1553, 1571). In 1709, the widowed wife of Ivan Fedorovich, Tsarina Praskovya Fedorovna, came here with her daughters Ekaterina, Praskovya and Anna. In 1818, the monastery was visited by Empress Maria Feodorovna, and in 1823 by Emperor Alexander Pavlovich. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Princess Elizaveta Fedorovna were also here in 1892 and 1904. Many representatives of the highest clergy also visited the monastery. They were primarily attracted by the relics of St. Abraham, the founder of the monastery, which were located in the Epiphany Cathedral, built by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1555.

April 26, 1920 the holy relics of St. Avraamiya were opened and desecrated by the godless Soviet authorities. The local press praised this action as a “major victory” and a blow to the “old religion.” The opening of the relics produced the opposite impression on the population. The relics remained open for a whole week, and people went to worship all week. At the end of the veneration, the relics were put into the shrine and closed again. Until 1929, the relics of St. Abrahamia were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Rostov Museum. And only in December 1991 the holy relics of St. Abraham were transferred to the reviving Spaso-Yakovlevsky Dimitriev Monastery.

In 2012, the holy relics of St. Abraham of Rostov were transferred from the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery to the St. Nicholas Church of the Abrahamyev Epiphany Convent.

The Monk Abraham does not cease to exude healing to those who flow with faith to the shrine of his relics to this day.

In the storerooms of the Rostov Museum there are still: a copy-casting of an ancient cross from the staff of John the Theologian and the cap of St. Abraham.

Avraamievsky Epiphany Monastery is located on the shore of Lake Nero. Previously, there were private gardens on the territory of the monastery, where residents of Rostov lived. Now a fence has been built around the temple, all residents have been removed from the territory of the monastery - this was a big problem, but with God’s help and the prayers of Father Naum, they solved it too.

Currently, extensive work is underway to restore the monastery and revive it. All the roofs were covered, asphalt paths were made. St. Nicholas Church has been renovated, and daily services are held there, but two churches still require repairs - Vvedensky and Epiphany. Once upon a time they formed a single ensemble and were even connected by transitions. The Epiphany Cathedral is central and very beautiful. It is not easy to restore it. Much has been lost. When we began its reconstruction, the cathedral was in disrepair: the brickwork had collapsed in places, the vault had collapsed - we had to almost rebuild the walls from scratch. But we cope with all difficulties. There are helpers, thank God! There are 20 nuns in the monastery. Most of the residential buildings have been renovated, a garden, a vegetable garden, and an alley of coniferous trees have been planted. We have a large subsidiary farm. There are sewing, ceramics and icon workshops. There is still a lot to be done to improve life in the monastery. More and more pilgrims come, especially in summer. There are those who want to work in the monastery for the glory of God. But, unfortunately, we have few accommodations for pilgrims. Although those who come always leave happy.

I want to serve the Lord until the end of my days. I want to be useful longer. I will do what I can and as long as I can while I live. If it is God's will...

Looking back at the years I have lived, I can confidently testify that most of the works and undertakings I have undertaken have achieved successful completion thanks to the prayerful intercession of God’s holy saints and the wise leadership of my spiritual father, Elder Naum. I believe that Father Naum will not abandon the monastery entrusted to me and me, a sinner, with his prayerful care in the future.

Rest, O Lord, the soul of Your servant, the ever-remembered Archimandrite Naum, and create for him eternal memory!

Recorded by Lyudmila Kovrigina