“Shame on you,” Schema-Archimandrite Ily reproaches the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
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Talk about internal party squabbles and the possible collapse of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation received further confirmation. From a long drawer in the secretariat of Gennady Zyuganov, the light of day was pulled out of a document hidden there - a letter from the confessor of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill, Schema-Archimandrite Elijah.
It is not surprising that the letter was not published anywhere. It would have remained in the archives if Gennady Andreevich’s servants had not begun to take away documents as souvenirs, like souvenirs.
Gennady Andreevich has something to repent for. Photo: Valery Sharifulin/TASS
“I—and I hope you too—don’t trust people who change their views like gloves. Today, unfortunately, there are a lot of such shifters. Yesterday he was an activist in atheistic propaganda, and today he stands in church with a candle. At the same time, he can’t even really cross himself.”
Gennady Zyuganov, former instructor of the Department of Agitation and Propaganda of the CPSU Central Committee
The letter does not require any comments. Even excerpts from it are enough to understand how deeply the elder was able to look into the essence of the country's main communist.
“Let us take a keen look at our present life. You now hardly touch upon the full objectivity of life throughout the territory of the former Russia. You don’t want to look into the full depth of the life of the country, what the entire Russian people and many nations living with us have experienced. What “benefit” and “happiness” have you brought both to the Russian people themselves and to those who are with us?”
“Have you thought about hiding your crimes? You are far wrong that there is no (higher) justice that sees and knows the present, past and future. We feel sorry for you! You thought that you had the dogmas of Marx and Engels, and you want to build Paradise on earth through the false promises of Marxism and Leninism.
I repeat, dear Gennady Andreevich! We know what you want. As you personally, so are the communists with you. You want to destroy the current state of Russia and seize power! This is not the first desire; those who made the revolution and established their power wanted to do this with Great Russia. I will not forget the words of those dreamers who, before the revolution, during the revolution, waited for theirs and rejoiced. A man told me on behalf of himself and on behalf of others who wanted a bright future: “We dreamed how wonderful it would be after the revolution and how far it was from reality to fulfill our dream.” When the catastrophe of Russia occurred through revolutions, we saw where we are and who we are - unhappy people without a Motherland, without God, without life.”
“I turn to you again and again, Gennady Andreevich! Why are you disturbing both the country and our entire people?.. Aren’t you ashamed? If you, loyal and firm communists, do not realize how much Russia needs strong power, peace and tranquility? Why don’t you want peace and prosperity to remain in Russia? Your rebellious actions can only lead to terrible consequences, that is, natural discord between people and differences of concepts, and, naturally, to all sorts of unrest, civil strife, which we had for a considerable period of time and not only in two world wars, but also in the Civil War .
Please! Your atrocities and your concepts are not beneficial. I know you have been waiting for a revolution for a long time! What will he give you? Blood, tears and hunger? Is that what you hope for? You have a terrible hope for a revolution! Is it necessary to list everything that both the revolution and the entire period of this terrible life after the revolution brought? This whole period of suffering, hunger and pestilence. Is this not clear to you? Look at the map of Russia! What it was like before the revolution and what it is like now!”
Just a fact: as of 1914, the Russian Orthodox Church numbered more than 70 thousand parishes. In 1989, there were only 6.8 thousand of them left.
“What can you do if you seize power in Russia? Only ruin, the final death of Russia! First, you will cause confusion, civil strife, and it is possible that a war may break out on the territory of our country. You, dear Gennady Andreevich, are unfamiliar with the Gospel words “peace, love, joy,” which every Orthodox person hears at worship services; you do not recognize them. You like something different. How many Russian people were killed, shot, tortured, and suffered in every possible way from your Red Terror, and, as one might say, our Motherland itself looked pale. Of course, if we still live, our generation of Russia will try to revive the country (at least to some extent) as it was before 1917.
What do you want to achieve if you interfere with the life of Russia. Why do you want Great Russia to again plunge into the abyss of suffering and destruction of souls?
I urge you: do not do evil!
Childhood and youth Ilya Nozdrina
Before we begin the story about the life path of the last elder of Rus', Ilya Nozdrin, we should find out in what sense the term “elder” is most often used. Eldership, as a special institution of mentoring, originated in the Orthodox tradition since ancient times. The origins of this phenomenon originate in a special way of monastic life.
Schema-Archimandrite Iliy Nozdrin
Those who knew the future primate of the Orthodox Church when he was very young said that deep faith in the Lord, humility and piety lived in the heart of the righteous man from childhood. In the world of the future monk, the name was Alexei Nozdrin.
From the age of three, the boy himself was going to church; he enjoyed attending services, where he prayed as best he could. This happened during the years of struggle against religion, when faith in God was not only not welcomed, but also became the reason for arrests and executions.
Interesting to know! For their reluctance to join the collective farm, Nozdrin’s family was expelled from their native farm. Later, when they were allowed to return, Alyosha’s grandfather forged iron boots for himself and walked in them, protesting against collectivization.
God's blessing came to the Russian people through little Alexei. In 1943, he found a German tablet, which contained a map of German fortified areas on the Kursk Bulge. This tablet, along a chain of adults, reached the hands of Marshal Rokossovsky himself, and thus the little, unknown boy was able to contribute to the turning point battle of the Great Patriotic War.
The Sovietization of all aspects of public life did not bypass the future monk. Alexey was forced to join the ranks of the Komsomol members, which he later greatly regretted. Realizing his mistake, he burned his membership card and again returned to what supported him on all paths - the Christian faith. It was faith that he regarded as the only source of joy and spiritual grace.
Political Views
It is worth telling at least briefly about the views of the schema-archimandrite. The fact is that in a political sense, Father Eli manages to displease everyone. On the one hand, he is a cardinal opponent of Soviet power and the Soviet legacy.
Lenin is a Russophobe, Stalin is a bandit. Detachments, incompetent orders of Stalin during the Great Patriotic War (despite which they won) - it would seem a complete set of ideological cliches. However, no.
In 2011, Father Iliy spoke out against mass protests on Bolotnaya, calling the protest wave “an attempt at new unrest,” and now he speaks of the need to elect a “faithful president.” And here a certain image of a “guardian” with a corresponding set of ideologies already emerges.
And again, no - Father Ily compares Boris Yeltsin with St. George the Victorious and in one of his interviews convinces of the need to erect a monument to the first Russian president. And a few years later he participates in the opening of a monument to... no, not to Yeltsin, but to Ivan the Terrible.
The most common opinion from people, at least who have warm feelings for Orthodoxy and the Church, about Father Elijah: “Father is simply incompetent in matters of politics, you leave him alone with politics.”
The spiritual path of Ilya Nozdrin
Alexey studied at school and got a job. Every day after work he came to the church in the city of Kamyshin, where he lived. The priest of this church, seeing the young man’s desire for God and a godly life, advised him to enter a theological seminary.
The decision to continue his studies at the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary radically changed Alexey’s life. There he met the future Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill. There he was tonsured a monk under the name Ilian. He received his spiritual name in honor of one of the forty Sebastian martyrs.
Important! The life of a Christian is impossible without repentance. In Orthodoxy, it is not customary to call priests “holy fathers,” as is common in the Catholic tradition - priests are people just like everyone else, and therefore can commit unseemly acts.
In order to overcome sinful acts or thoughts, a person must repent and confess the sin. Many priests have their own confessor to whom they come to confess or get advice. His Holiness the Patriarch, like all Christians, goes to confession. His confessor is Father Eli.
Patriarch Kirill and Father Iliy Nozdrin
Metropolitan Nikodim Ilian Nozdrin was ordained to the rank of hieromonk. After receiving his clergy, he served in several parishes and monasteries until he was sent to Optina Pustyn as a confessor. There he was tonsured into the great schema under the name Eli.
It is important to know! The Great Schema is the highest level of monasticism in the Orthodox tradition. It implies complete renunciation of worldly concerns, necessary for spiritual unity with God.
Elder Eli was awarded the Order of Honor in 2022. This award is given to people who have special merits in preserving spiritual traditions and leading activities aimed at preserving friendship between peoples. Father Iliy was also awarded the Orders of Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov, First Class.
Schema-Archimandrite Eli (Nozdrin) - a living and rare treasure of Russia and the Russian Church
The gray-haired old man has clear eyes/ Like the sky in a forest spring./ The gray-haired old man has clean hands/ Like water in an age-old river./ The gray-haired old man has a soul washed/ of repentance with a crystal tear./ The gray-haired old man has an unforgotten/ Cell with a folk path./ The dear old man , help!/ Dear old man, bring some understanding!/ You lift up my trouble with your hands!/ Take away the black cloud with prayer!/ Dear children, don’t come to me./ Dear children, go to the Lord./ Under the reliable protection of the Mother of God,/ Under the loud security bells call./ And I will pray for you, dear sisters./ And I will fast for you, dear brothers./ And then, God willing, the bitter misfortune will go away./ And then, God willing, the sadness will be light./ I am for peace sinner, I ask Heaven - / Together with Him we will have victory.
There seems to be a turning point in our public life. Moreover, it is still being viewed not so much by deeds as by intentions. This is already good. And my view of this phenomenon seemed unexpected: through the elder.
We have a wonderful - from the word miracle, elder - Schema-Archimandrite Eli (Nozdrin). By the inscrutable ways of the Lord, I had the opportunity to be in his environment, which was far from close, for four whole days in a row. They shocked me to some extent. This was not the first time I came to Father Elijah.
I described the significance of the elders in Russian historical life and my personal trips to them in the chapter “About the Elders” in the book “The Holy Abode - Native Rus'”, in one of the two books “The Holy is Nearby”. Therefore, I have something to compare with - twenty years ago, three years ago and now.
Of course, a lot has been written about the schema-monk Father Elijah, and there is a lot on the Internet, i.e. he is very famous in the church community. But I would like to write not only about him, but also about those who are close to him, and most importantly, about those who come to him. After all, this is very revealing!
It is known, “Save yourself and thousands will be saved around you.” In fact, almost two centuries ago, the commandment from St. Seraphim of Sarov literally sounded like this: “Acquire a peaceful spirit, and then a thousand souls will be saved around you.” Acquires - acquire, but not buy, but earn. Is this even possible in spiritual life? Especially in our immoral time, compared to our spiritually strong ancestors. This is what I want to talk about, a little.
Or maybe Seraphim of Sarov spoke figuratively about thousands? Or for a catchphrase? It’s not for nothing that he was glorified among the saints! But what kind of power of spirit must there be for thousands to be saved around one earthly person!!! Just to think and imagine, one becomes uneasy: what a person is capable of... Yes, because he was created in the image and likeness of God! The main thing for a person is not to desecrate the image of God in himself. How can you compare man and God? No way. You can only find God within yourself. This search is the meaning of human life. Our ancestors believed: each of us came to this world in order to create our own soul for eternity.
Schema-Archimandrite Eli is very thin with his senile body and speaks quietly and little. And it’s no wonder, as an ordinary ignorant person might think, because he eats little, sleeps little, prays a lot. But at the same time, our famous elder travels a lot around Russia and the world and has received a huge number of people for many years!.. He is needed by everyone, everywhere. I, being middle-aged, but at my age much younger than him, unfortunately do not have such working capacity. And we, the worldly ones, cannot fast and pray as much as this old schema-monk, seemingly frail in body and sick in reality. Weak. Spirit or body?
And the old man had already lived for 84 years - the most terrible years in Russian history, along with an ever-changing and suffering country. The future father Iliy, and then a baby named Alexey, was born in 1932 in the village of Stanovoy Kolodez, Oryol district. His peasant family was very religious - they remembered the time of the Tsar, and the time of the God-fighting had not yet spread like poison through Russian souls. The future schema-monk began to pray at the age of three. He also started working early. Not only because peasant children were raised this way, but also because his father died in the war when the boy was only 10 years old. In times of famine, four more children, small or small, were left in the hands of a hard-working mother. The quiet and sympathetic youth Alyosha became a faithful support for the ever-working mother. Like all the women in the village, his beloved mother worked hard for free - for “sticks”, which only indicated the obligatory workdays for everyone, and otherwise - to prison, to hard labor. I really want to eat, the bodies of hungry children are growing... One day, the boy Alyosha, in despair, left home literally wherever he looked - to get food. The only way to earn money was to the city. Unexpectedly, he found warm bread on the rail road and joyfully returned to his family—they had been saved. This is how he came face to face with the invisible world as a child.
Young Alexei, our future Father Eli, during Khrushchev’s time of cruel persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church did not run away from the church in fear for his everyday life, but in 1961 he boldly came to the seminary, from which he later transferred to the theological academy and graduated from it. By the way, it was there that he met the future Patriarch Kirill, who at that time was only at the beginning of his theological education. Further, Alexey, also in a difficult time for the Church, spent 10 ascetic years (1966-1976) in the only Pskov-Pechersk monastery for this atheistic time - a flowerbed that was not trampled by the enemy’s boot and still had the color of Russian monasticism. And the next step in spiritual ascent was the cherished 10 years of life (1976-1986) on the holy Mount Athos of the monk Ilya. In Russia, church life was revived during Perestroika. For a huge call into the army of Christ unprecedented in the world, a spiritual mentor was needed. At once, Orthodox priests-ascetics were needed in the numerous churches polluted by the enemy, who opened their long-rusted doors. Throughout Russia, Orthodox Christians had a desire to finally live a full life, incl. and spiritual, but there was no more experience... Our schema-priest Elijah appeared in the Optina Desert - a spiritual father to priests and laity. And here God’s chosen one stood at the forefront of the spiritual war. So it stands powerful to this day.
But now, everything is fine in our country, it seems... But not everything is good both in the country and in our souls. How to find out what is good and what is bad, how to compare? Based on books, which, thank God, have been published a lot over the past 25 years. That’s how it is, but they also published a lot of harmful books, and they didn’t write about each of our individual everyday incidents. And almost everything hurts for us - both body and soul. It’s good if the sick person himself understands where the main hospital of everything is... So, after all, you want to receive a miracle, without bothering with prayers or working for frequent communion... You want a healer - a mediator between God and yourself. There is a known case when Father Elijah, with his prayer, brought back to life a seriously wounded and already dying soldier brought from Chechnya. They say that this case was widely discussed in medical circles, but no scientific explanation was found. They also tell about other cases of miraculous healings through the prayers of Elder Elijah.
Naturally, there are always a lot of people around Father Elijah. Temptation? Undoubtedly! But how does the elder himself behave?
As the confessor of the Patriarch, Father Eli lives next to the patriarch's house. As a monk, he receives parishioners in the temple estate. Thus, the elder has exactly where to find a convenient place. But as? In Orthodox, in Russian. Anyone can come to the priest’s reception room. This reception room is located in an extension to one of the houses of the temple estate. The extension is one-story and elongated. It is divided into two parts: wide and narrow. In the wide one there is a large long table that occupies the entire room. Twenty people can fit behind it. Near it, at one end, at the entrance, there is also a small table, transverse, on which holy images and books to be given away are laid out. And at the opposite end of the large table, at the entrance, there is another small table, also placed across. Packs of books as gifts are laid out on it. Near the far cross table, on the side, there are two simple, old, shabby high chairs - for the elder and for the parishioner. But most often, parishioners kneel before a slightly bent gray-haired old man with clear and intelligent eyes, bending towards them, and then you can talk to him face to face. And the veneration of the elder among the Orthodox is such that you definitely want to kneel before him; this is somehow natural in itself. There are three large windows on the wall of the already described right-hand bright room, and behind the left wall there are two rooms. The first from the entrance is a large, bright kitchen - very modest and very clean. The second is a small square room with a large window characteristic of this old building. There are large holy images on the walls and shelves with books for distribution, and there are also unopened packages that are stacked everywhere, including. and on the floor. So with Father Elijah everywhere - the hand of the giver never fails. Naturally, there are a large number of holy images everywhere in the rooms.
All those who come, who can be accommodated in the large common room, are seated at a large table by Father Elijah’s caring assistants. The hospitable table is always set for everyone with everything needed for tea. They travel to Father Elijah from afar, often by public transport, and wait for him on the street for hours from early morning, and therefore there is already hot tea and coffee in the house for them, just like for guests, who, again, sometimes wait for hours. Schema-Archimandrite Elijah’s assistants are spiritual children. They are sweet and friendly, helpful and patient. And those who have not yet waited their turn to enter the large hospitable room stand and sit in line in a narrow small corridor. At the same time, in both cases, by order of Father Elijah, someone loudly reads some soulful reading. Like, there is no point in wasting not only time, but also the mind must be kept pure and in prayer - our ancestors had a good spiritual habit.
All these people on the street are very different and their reasons for visiting are also different, but still, to figuratively describe the picture, it is possible to generalize a little, albeit very, very conditionally. For example, there are those who came as if to a clinic - to complain and maybe there will be healing. Approaching the priest, they loudly list their illnesses to him. He listens patiently and silently, nodding sympathetically. Those who hope for a miracle of healing do not always understand that it is not a person who heals, but the Lord through the pure and strong prayer of a special person. True, there are those guests of the elder who come with sick children. The priest certainly accepts them. For example, I saw how a young, very businesslike and “cool” entrepreneur, the one who was building a temple in the village, after solving the temple issue, waited for the absent father Elijah for a long, long time, and then knelt before him and asked for help for his very sick woman. daughters. This assertive Russian guy understands everything correctly and is humble before the will of God and the elder.
In addition, among the visitors there are people who are clearly spiritually sick, i.e. when it is already visible. Although the Orthodox know that without ourselves, no one can destroy or save us. And there are those who are simply curious and come with far-fetched questions.
Once on the Soyuz TV channel they showed a program about Schema-Archimandrite Elijah, and after that for a long time his reception room was surrounded by more than one hundred people at a time. Probably, there were those who were curious, those who wanted to be healed quickly, and others and others. They waited not for hours, but for days. Does this phenomenon really resemble the victims of advertising - a highly suggestible population in Russia?
And only approximately, because... no one has ever considered that a tenth of all lay people come to Father Elijah with spiritual and everyday questions that are truly important. The 84-year-old priest listens to everyone whom he is able to accept due to time and circumstances. After all, everyone has their own wound - the most painful one.
In general, it must be said that the spiritual children of the priests, assistants and people brought by one of them are all businesslike, as a rule, very pleasant and entertaining. While we were all waiting for the priest, I saw many remarkable faces. Someone builds a church in a village with the blessing and according to the drawing of the priest himself, someone works as a mid-level official with people and has great responsibility for his work, someone has clung to the priest for a long time, which is how they are saved. For example, at a small round table I saw a 32-year-old charming, fragile beauty, you won’t believe it, a police lieutenant colonel. Father calls her “my general’s wife.” I thought: God does not leave us with his mercy if there are such women: the second Natalya Poklonskaya is already on the way. It is simply impossible not to love this Alyonushka: there is so much purity and sincerity, goodwill and intelligence in her. She is simple and joyful in communication, so much so that everyone who wanted to take a photo with her from those sitting and coming. The priest’s constant assistants, who were also his reliable guards, entered the room and joyfully recognized the spiritual daughter of Father Elijah. Simple in appearance, they themselves are far from simple. This is the solid, fair-haired Ivan of large build; and modest, thin, with a tenacious, savvy look, Dmitry; and the heavy, dark-skinned Serb G(o)ran with childish, clear eyes. His father once worked in the USSR, Goran himself came from Serbia with his family after the war. His royally beautiful wife and dear daughter have already returned to their homeland, but he remained in Russia with the blessing of Elijah’s father - the spiritual seer knows what he is saying. Goran loves his Fatherland, but he doesn’t like to tell how he fought - it hurts his soul.
All of Father Elijah’s assistants are distinguished by amazing calmness and goodwill.
And no wonder. Father Eli himself is quiet and meek. All his quietest orders are carried out not only instantly, but also unquestioningly by everyone. For example, his omnipresent and tireless assistant Mother Marina, quickly and skillfully managing the household, serving not so much one priest as the countless people who come, may even grumble at one of the guests. At the same time, amazingly, there is order everywhere and all the guests and helpers are fed and watered. And you especially need to carefully feed your beloved priest, but the main thing is that he is allowed to eat in peace. But as soon as the priest looks at her, and even if he makes some rare small remark, the nun, no longer young, but alive in words and movements, instantly humbles herself. And so it is with everyone. Father’s love for people is not a fuss and not a thoughtless all-forgiveness, which can be stupid, but a reasonable feeling, and, if necessary, a strict one. The priest, beaming with all-understanding kindness, can be strict with everyone. At the right time. Everyone loves Father, without exception. It is impossible not to love him because Father Eli himself loves everyone.
Why am I telling everything for so long and in detail? Firstly, so that everyone knows what a living and rare treasure we have in our country, in the Russian Orthodox Church.
What kind of old man is he? It’s so easy to communicate and to live in everyday life. Huge amounts of money pass through his hands - through him they give the tithe, which is indispensable for an Orthodox person, to God, but in his hands there is nothing left, apparently. So much for “butts in Mercedes”! It is well known that Father Eli builds churches, helps monasteries, useful causes and ordinary people, gives away helpful books, and so on, and so on, and so on. I'm not even talking about how much it costs simple and difficult parishioners to provide refreshments. It is noteworthy that St. did the same. John of Kronstadt. At the same time, he was accused of luxury - he wore a silk robe, lived in a large apartment with many of his assistants and rode horses wherever he was called.
But in essence, Father Eli is far from simple, i.e. he is not simple, as the ignorant might think. That is why smart people come to him for advice. It is known that only fools know everything. And what about Father Eli? knows everything, how it turns out?.. He understands everything. It doesn’t matter how much a person knows, what matters is how he reasons, and especially his guidelines. Every person has a multi-component mind: spiritual, emotional, contemplative, cerebral, bodily. A large amount of knowledge relates to good memory, but the ability to sort it into levels and into shelves refers to the ability to think, in the sense of reasoning. The Russian mind is special. It is determined primarily not by nature, but by Orthodoxy. It is this that gives direction and guidance to the spiritual and spiritual mind - the fundamental components of the human mind. But there is also another mind - wisdom. Not every person has it. You can’t buy it from tutors and you won’t get a soft spot in prestigious universities. Why? Wisdom requires two conditions: spiritual purity and spiritual love. Most often, old people and children have wisdom - people who are still or already dispassionate, and therefore close to God. But our native Soviet old people today, for the most part, have been far from God and from the customs of their ancestors all their lives, and therefore are far from wisdom today. Yes, and today’s children in births that have not been cleared for a century are often born with poor spiritual heredity, contaminated with sins not their own and not due to their age. Bright people have a bright mind, but great sinners have fog, darkness in their heads, despite any amount of knowledge.
In our passionate and increasingly polluted moral world, it is incredibly difficult to maintain the purity of the soul. You need to be able to do this from spiritual experience or have it from birth (babies and children). Nowadays, how many are experienced, not in theory, but in harsh life?
Nowadays the schema monk Father Eli, unlike us mere mortals, lives, figuratively speaking, as if in two worlds - visible and invisible. A non-Orthodox person or a person of little faith can say that this happens to spiritually ill people suffering from double consciousness (schizophrenia). Yes, this state is an extreme, which always has two ends, like a stick. The end that is below is spiritual illness, and the end that is above is spiritual ascent. But how to reach heights and at the same time not perish spiritually, he knows the teachings of Orthodoxy and the teachings of the holy fathers, spiritually experienced elders. Thus, Elder Eli is not in division, but, on the contrary, in union: in his consciousness he has merged with God. And when the seer priest hesitates to answer some personal question from a parishioner, it means that he is praying and waiting for an answer in order to tell it to a simple, worldly person. For us, the worldly, such a connection with God is almost impossible due to our great sinfulness, and consequently due to the darkness of consciousness.
Being near the priest is the same as in heaven - calm and joyful. After an extremely short communication, then there is enough grace for more than one day.
That is why the schema monk - the highest degree of tonsure - the angelic rank, is known to everyone and everything in the Orthodox world. Respect for him is high not so much because he is the confessor of the Patriarch, but because he is the confessor of all of us - everyone who wants to.
But the fact is that there is also a third part of the guests who come to him - the smallest and rarest. These are not so much chosen as special, i.e. different from those from the street. These priest's guests also wait for him for hours, but only at another table - small and round, at which eight people can fit. On it are already familiar, one of the many packaging boxes and a table is set for tea. No one knows when the priests will receive both part of the visitors - in half an hour or by the end of the day - unpredictable. Because there is another part of visitors - those who are certainly accepted. It is for them that I am writing this article. These are very important people for all of us: statesmen, politicians, entrepreneurs, creative and famous people. Sometimes it is because of them that Father Eli goes to his home, where he receives them, separately from everyone, as it should be. Why did this seem like an unfair division? After all, everyone is equal in the Church! Yes, before God. But these cannot be compared with us - mere mortals. These sovereign people have a huge responsibility before God and people, for their souls in our most complex and difficult situation. Their time must be protected, because... it does not even belong to them, but to state affairs, i.e., in the end, to us, only to everyone. In their own case, there must be something hidden, especially in our difficult times, I would say, to some extent even military ones.
The house in which Father Eli lives and hosts is small, stone, one-story. Inside, everything is as modest as it is at the dachas of ordinary people, ordinary pensioners. Everything is upholstered in wooden paneling, smelling deliciously of fresh wood. The difference from the worldly is that everywhere there are numerous holy images. Everything is clean and cozy. There is not only luxury, but also pomp, excess, and elaborate decoration. The main room in the house is a large hall, and in it there is a large rectangular table and chairs. That's all. It is always set for tea. On the left is a small kitchen and utility rooms. From the hall there is an entrance to a small room on the left. There are cabinets with books for distribution and shelves. But in the middle, on the floor, again on an island, there are unopened packages of books, which are also for distribution to parishioners. No one will “leave empty-handed” from Schema-Archimandrite Elijah - everyone will be given 1-2 books. Also from the hall, on the right is the entrance to the priest’s cell, in which there is a myrrh-streaming image of the Mother of God. Once upon a time, Father Eli gave this simple Tikhvin image to his spiritual child, the orphan Alexei, and then it became myrrh for him, just like others.
It is not surprising that the “powerful of this world” come to spiritual elders for advice - this has been the case in Rus' since ancient times.
Our ancient princes asked for advice from the spirit-bearing elders, as evidenced by the written monuments that have reached us. And the elders themselves, politely and humbly, but gave instructions to the rulers, taught “those who held power.” The metropolitans had the right to “sorrow” before the worldly rulers for the victims and asked for pardon for those punished.
Somehow, unexpectedly, I finally understood what had been unconsciously tormenting me for a long time: Elder Eli is similar to Elder Sergius, and not only in appearance, which is understandable and explainable!.. If only in the Middle Ages, during the time of Sergius of Radonezh, the princes went to see him more often , before they were tried on by a mediator - the holy abbot of the Russian Land, then the Russians would have thrown off the heavy yoke faster and easier. And also, as I thought, Elder Elijah has a similarity with Seraphim of Sarov. If the so-called liberal officials of the ruling conditional “other Russia” would go to see him alive and listen to Fyodor Dostoevsky, and not Leo Tolstoy and Western “philosophers”, and would turn to John of Kronstadt not only in case of personal trouble, then the Tsarist Russian Empire would not have fallen so quickly and hopelessly. The fact that the state direction of the Romanovs as a whole was anti-Russian is confirmed by the fact that, firstly, it was completely pro-Western, especially in administration; secondly, the State would not have collapsed so easily and freely because it was rotten from within precisely because of lack of faith in God and distrust of the natural Russian people, who made up the overwhelming majority.
By the way, the Orthodox are now trying to return the classics of the Golden Age to the school curriculum, which, of course, is good. But this still needs to be approached from an Orthodox point of view. The historical Russian worldview needs to be known in detail, especially for officials, mainly large ones. Why is that? Saint John of Kronstadt was against Tolstoy’s work and denounced him, but are we smarter than the modern count of the righteous? Tolstoy, a Protestant and destroyer, and at the same time a gifted writer, was a “mirror of the Russian revolution,” according to another ardent destroyer, Lenin, but do we need another bloody revolution? Leo Tolstoy spoke in his works about the godless world of the conventional “other Russia” - pro-Western and alien to the real Russian world. Just look at his vividly memorable “Father Sergius”, which teenagers use in their knowledge... We have many other gifted bright writers, incl. and Soviets from the worker-peasant environment - the main part of the people.
It was no coincidence that I talked for a long time about the life and everyday life of Schema-Archimandrite Elijah. Nowadays our old people are born Soviets; how much wisdom have they gained during their godless and godless age? Many have seen the darkness, but how many have managed to emerge from it? Father Eli saw the most terrible darkness and not so much that of everyday life. This is what he said: “Once I was given the opportunity to feel the stench of Gehenna. If you stay in it, it’s horror, something terrible... There is nothing: no shackles, no pain, but such horror covers your entire being from this stench! Paralyzes, turns inside out. This cannot be transferred. Something so disgusting, incomparable. Our people know what follows atheism! Only rivers of blood, millions of those killed and the souls of executioners in the hell of hell - that’s what brought godlessness to our country in the 20th century. There are no reasonable arguments in favor of unbelief. How can you want this to happen again for yourself and your children? The entire universe testifies to Faith” (Schiarchimandrite Eli (Nozdrin), interviewed by O. Orlova. “The enemies hate our quiet and peaceful life.” Page 22. Orthodox magazine “Parthenon Today” No. 1 (13) 2016).
And this is where the key to writing this article lies. How to do it in long-suffering Russia so that there is no “repetition of this for yourself and your children”?
Nowadays it depends both on us and on officials, especially very large ones. We all, the whole people, will take the broad road of creation only when our rulers and managers pave the way for themselves to the temple and, in particular, to the elder schema-monk. It is wonderful that our President and Prime Minister have their own confessors. By the way, in the common reception room of the Orthodox schema priest, a paired portrait of Putin and Medvedev hangs above one of the doors. This is a sign that the wise old man gives us. It is wonderful that ministers go to visit an Orthodox elder in a traditionally Orthodox country, and I myself have seen one of the cases and testify.
This is not for show or advertising, because... done in secret, not on camera. Communication with the spirit-bearing elder, I dare say, was a personal need for some high-ranking people. This makes us extremely happy for high officials, and ultimately for you and me! Large military and police officers, FSB officers and others on whom our lives depend, go to the wise schema-monk, because... We all depend on the state - whether we want it or not.
May we even wait a long time for the time of meetings of high-ranking officials at the large tea table at Father Elijah’s, soaking up the grace in the space of his habitat. And even wait in vain for your petty personal affairs, if only the Fatherland benefits.
Benefit to the entire Fatherland from some little-known ancient elder? If our high-ranking officials designate themselves, and quietly, and not ostentatiously, as Orthodox, then they will no longer drive the Faith of our ancestors out of public life in a primordially Orthodox country! In addition, in the current morally blurred society, where the boundaries of good and evil are lost or blurred, a wise and loving elder will quietly guide, and therefore correct, a person exposed not only to great power, but also burdened by huge state funds, and sometimes stunned and even stunned from them. Maybe this way embezzlement, bribery and theft will subside?.. Especially if the sovereign understands that he will leave to his children not only material inheritance - accounts of stolen money with large zeros, but also eternal - his spiritual sins. Our ancestors understood this well.
Only in just four days I saw how much work this old man, frail in body and humble in spirit, quiet but wise, had done. Meekly, without fuss, Father Eli helped resolve pressing issues, thereby pushing both public and personal with his advice and blessings. At the same time, he gave not only eternal help - spiritual, but also material! And he has been doing this every day for decades, all over Russia. His spirit is so strong that it holds us all with our prayers and deeds, together with the other elders, with the fullness of the Church. True, we have elders and false ones, to be honest... But in the Orthodox world they are known and experienced priests bow to them and do not bless them for advice. And it seems that we have already experienced the growing pains of infancy, like childhood measles, of our newly-minted post-Soviet army of Christ.
Let our officials, major and minor, big and small, go for advice to Father Elijah and our other wise Orthodox elders rather than for instructions from the State Department in the USA and Europe!
Yes it will be. Many years to Schema-Archimanlirit Elijah! On March 8, 2022, he will be 85 years old.
The Russian soul has suffered, / The Russian river is drying up. / The black water has filled, / The sun has obscured the crows. / Oh, where can the heart go, / Oh, who can I tell to the outside / About the cruel misfortune, / About the illness of the clouded soul. / I I will come with a bow to the elder, / I will spread out my sins before him. / I will sort things out with him in my soul, / I will get rid of the passion-adversity. / I will bow to Christ together with him, / And then I will pray for the evil one.
Svetlana Fedorovna Nelyubina , writer and publisher
| In Novoperedelkino November 17, 2016 |
| Estate in Novoperedelkino |
The life of an old man
The strict way of life in the Optina Hermitage is the same for young monks and revered monks. Elder Eli lives a simple life, devotes himself to spiritual work and helping people. He wears an ordinary cassock and does not enjoy any special benefits. The elder does not stop studying the Holy Scriptures, the lives of the Saints, and patristic literature.
Elder Elijah at a service in the Transfiguration Church
Unlike other monks, Father Eli often leaves the walls of the monastery, traveling around the cities of our country. In many cities there are those who are waiting for his help and advice.
The life of his monastery proceeds under the spiritual guidance of Father Elijah. Yet he spends most of his time receiving lay and even atheist visitors.
Important! In society, elders are wise people who strive for Gospel perfection and are able to lead others.
Pskov-Pechersky Monastery
After completing his studies in 1966, Father Elijah ended up in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. Pskov Pechory of the Soviet era is a separate and dramatic story, also full of contradictions.
During the years of obedience to Father Elijah, Archimandrite Alipiy (Voronov) was the archimandrite of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery. It was he who published an article in the newspaper “Soviet Russia” in which he stated the need to find and return to the monastery relics stolen by the Nazis (they were found and returned). He also burned the order of the Soviet authorities to close the Pskov-Pechora Monastery.
Schimandrite's instructions
About salvation
The elder says that you can save your soul and enter Eternity by living in the world. By renouncing the world, you can achieve true spiritual heights. Beginners often have confusion in their souls: some people think that only monks should fulfill the commandments.
Others, living a secular life, strive to bring their way of life closer to a monastic one, forgetting about their family and professional responsibilities, which is also unacceptable. Each person chooses his own path in life, and must follow it, entrusting his destiny into the hands of the Lord.
About prayer
By prayer, the elder meant a mental appeal to God. Using verbal means of communication, a person can turn not only to his neighbor or himself, but also to the Creator, praising Him and asking for His mercy.
Elder Eli: “Prayer is the food of our soul”
Such movements of the human mind are the most complex, but they cannot be avoided. Without constant memory of the Almighty, we will not be able to resist the temptations that beset us every day.
About fate
Something cannot happen in a person’s life that God does not allow. When talking about something bad, people spit over their shoulders, thereby revealing their disbelief. A Christian cannot believe in chance without believing in God's Providence. In the hands of the Lord is not only the well-being and life of an individual person, but the fate of the whole world as a whole.
About the time
Time is given to a person so that he has the opportunity to improve his soul and achieve salvation. It is difficult to even estimate the value of this resource. A person’s future directly depends on how many good deeds he has done and how much time he has devoted to communicating with the Lord. If a person did not appreciate this Divine gift and wasted time, sudden death will find his soul unprepared for the transition to Eternity.
About love
The path of all who want to come to God begins with the acquisition of humility. Pride is subordination to Satan, since it prevents sincere repentance, and without repentance one cannot talk about faith.
The elder called love and humility the basis of Christian life
Even illness is sometimes the result of a lack of humility. Through it, the Lord leads a person to repentance, since a weak person is unable to become proud and resist God’s will. Hand in hand with humility comes wisdom, but wisdom not as a human quality, but as a Divine quality.
Prophecies of Elder Elijah
The elder’s words about the future of Russia became the most famous. The elder testifies that faith in Russia is beginning to gradually revive, despite the fact that achievements in our spiritual sphere were thrown back two centuries.
Now the Russian people will have to make considerable efforts in the fight for their ideals. Only then will faith and true piety be united with love of work and many national traditions. Faith will rise from its knees and a new stage of its revival will begin.
Speaking about what should be placed at the head of the state ideology of Russia, the elder named the Christian faith, strength of spirit and patriotism. Only in cohesion and unity does the elder see the salvation of the Russian people.
Neither ours nor yours
But if we analyze all these political statements and actions of the patriarchal confessor, we get the impression that this is a unique form of foolishness: the desire not to join any of the formal or informal political strata, to say things that would not fit into any modern Russian ideological paradigm. After all, for example, Grozny and Stalin are completely identical in the mass consciousness, and expressing hostility towards one, and then attending the opening of a monument to the other, is somehow strange.
And how can all this be combined with a respectful attitude towards Yeltsin, open sympathy for Putin and calls to “prevent unrest” in 2011-2012?
However, in all such actions and words of Father Elijah, a very clear, consistent line can still be traced - increasing the influence of the Orthodox Church in Russia. For him, the Church is much higher than politics, market conditions and any ideology.
And, from this point of view, he is by no means paradoxical, like those clergy, and even Soviet party leaders, against the background of whose activities his life passed.
How to get an appointment with Elder Elijah
From all corners of our vast homeland, people come to Father Eli in search of help, advice and guidance. Previously, for this you had to go to Optina Pustyn, but since 2009 the elder has been receiving visitors in Peredelkino, near Moscow.
Elder Elijah does not have any specific regulations or schedule for taking them. In search of a meeting with the elder, people come to Peredelkino several times. Believers do not despair if they were unable to catch Father Elijah on the spot: people believe that the meeting will happen when it should happen, and they trust in the will of the Lord.
You can meet Elder Elijah in Peredelkino, Moscow region
On one day, the elder can receive only a few people, because a personal conversation with each visitor takes a lot of time. The elder comes to the service and receives people after it.
Father Eli receives visitors in the Transfiguration Church or refectory after the morning service. The reception lasts from 9.00 to 16.00, after which the elder goes to rest. If one of the visitors comes with an urgent matter, the elder can continue the reception after 18.00.
By car from the capital you can get to the Transfiguration Church along the Minskoye or Borovskoye highway. You can get to the temple by train or bus from Odintsovo station or by train from Moscow, departing from Kievsky station.
Confessor of Optina
In 1976, Father Eli comes to Athos. Lives in prayer and work in the skete of the Panteleimon Monastery. Here his formation as the confessor of this monastery takes place. In the meager lines of Father Elijah’s official biography it says: “He managed to prevent the closure of the monastery.”
Further, since the late 1980s, there has been clergy in Optina Pustyn. By the way, the return to the fold of the Russian Church of this shrine, on the territory of which in Soviet times there were filtration camps, prisoner of war camps, and sanatoriums, also happened in a paradoxical way. The fact is that this monastery was transferred to the department of the Russian Church in 1987 by the Soviet government on the initiative of one of the Politburo members.
In 2009, a year after the Local Council of the Russian Church and the election of Metropolitan Kirill as patriarch, Father Eli became the patriarchal confessor and moved to the Patriarchal Metochion of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
