The death of a loved one can be very difficult for those left on earth. But when relatives understand that a person has no hope of salvation because he did not want to be baptized, to repent of sins is even harder. And people especially grieve for suicides, who were even buried in former times behind the cemetery fence. But, although the Church does not pray for suicides and the unbaptized, no one forbids relatives to beg forgiveness from the most merciful God for lost souls. Most often, for these purposes, at home, privately, the prayer of Leo Optinsky is read for those who committed suicide and the unbaptized.
Memorial Days:
- October 24 – Repose
- October 24 – Council of all saints who shone in Optina Hermitage
Life of Saint Leo of Optina
Venerable Leo is the first Optina elder. He was born in 1768 and in his youth was a sales clerk. This kind of work involved traveling, so Leo traveled all over the country, communicated a lot with a variety of people, gaining experience and spiritual knowledge from them. He was a very sociable man, a man of heroic strength, with a sharp mind and quick memory.
At the age of 29, he left the world and went to live in a monastery. At first he was a novice, then he was tonsured a monk with the name Leonidas. During his stay in the monastery, he performed any obedience. Possessing strength and skill in many crafts, he did a lot of different work, the most difficult and complex. And he constantly improved spiritually, prayed and helped young monks with advice.
In 1808, Leonid was tonsured into the schema. He voluntarily resigned his abbotship and transferred to the schema under the name Leo. His mentor was Elder Father Theodore, who taught him the highest monastic activity - mental prayer. Theodore and Leonid could not stay long in the crowded monastery, where they were distracted from prayer and fasting. Therefore, together with Father Cleopas, they retired to a forest cell, where they continued their work in silence and ease. But people also went there to them for healing and advice. After all, the elders had the gift of foresight, spiritual vision, which helped them guide people along the true path.
When the flow of people became endless, the elders retired to Optina Pustyn, where they nourished many people with spiritual work. Lev Optinsky lived in the desert for 12 years. When he realized that his strength was leaving him, he refused food and only took communion every day. He died and was buried there, in the Optina Hermitage, where his relics still give people healing and hope.
He left behind many disciples, among whom were famous saints of the Russian Church. The miracles he performed and the healings of numerous infirm people who flocked to Optina Pustyn were countless.
The elder was so kind and merciful to people that he even prayed for those whom the Church refuses to remember in prayers - for suicides and the unbaptized.
Venerable Leo of Optina (1768-1841)
On October 24 we celebrate the memory of the first Optina elder, Venerable Leo.
Venerable Leo of Optina
Reverend Lev, in the world Lev Danilovich Nagolkin, was born in the city of Karachev, Oryol province. Little is known about his family: his parents were simple bourgeois, apparently poor, since Lev Danilovich, being a man of outstanding mental and moral merit, did not have the opportunity to run his own business and take care of his own household. He was forced to work for a salary as a clerk for a merchant who sold hemp and hemp oil in the city of Bolkhov in the same province. In those ancient times, the word “clerk” was not yet in use and they were simply called “worker” or “small”.
Lev Danilovich was known as a “little” honest and faithful, efficient and savvy, and therefore enjoyed the trust and respect of his owner. In the life of the future elder, the Providence of God manifested itself especially clearly, turning all life circumstances for spiritual benefit: everything works for the good of those who love God.
Due to the nature of his activity, Leo had the opportunity to communicate with people of various classes and conditions, and, having an excellent memory, and qualities such as curiosity, observation, and foresight, he acquired a lot of diverse and useful information. He knew almost all of Russia well: the life of the nobility and merchants, military and naval service, the life of the common people. All this knowledge was useful to him later as a spiritual mentor caring for his flock.
Seeing the diligence and virtuous life of his “little one,” the owner offered him the hand of his daughter, but Lev Danilovich had completely different plans, and he flatly refused a profitable marriage.
In 1797, in the 29th year of his life, the young man entered the monastery in Optina Pustyn and immediately zealously began the labors of monastic life, so much so that in 2 years these exorbitant labors managed to ruin his good health. Several times the future elder had to move from one monastery to another, either in search of a spiritual mentor, or wanting to hide from human glory. In 1801, in the Beloberezh Hermitage, he was tonsured a monk with the name Leonid, and in the same year he was ordained a hierodeacon, and then a hieromonk.
Such a quick ordination did not serve as a reason for exalting the humble monk, did not quench his zeal; on the contrary, he grew spiritually. Once the choir brethren refused to sing the vigil, trying to force the rector to fulfill their demands. The abbot did not want to give in to the unreasonable harassment and, humbling the headstrong brethren, ordered Father Leonid to sing the vigil with another brother. Father Leonid worked all day in obedience and hauled hay. Tired, covered in dust, not even having time to taste dinner, he unquestioningly went to the choir to hold a vigil. Such was the obedience of the future elder, and, according to the holy fathers, true elders are made from real novices.
Already at that time, the young hieromonk showed unusual philanthropy and insight. One brother, having fallen into delusion, climbed the bell tower and shouted from there loudly that he would jump down and not break, for the angels would catch him. Father Leonid at that moment was working on obedience. Suddenly he left work and ran to the bell tower, where he managed to grab the seduced man, who was already about to jump down, by the hem of his clothes, preventing him from dying in body and soul.
The young hieromonk succeeded so much in spiritual life that it was clearly visible to those around him, and in 1804 the brethren elected Father Leonid as abbot of the monastery. The election itself found the humble monk in the labors of obedience: he brewed kvass for the brethren, avoiding participation in the elections. The brethren all came to the kvass factory, took off the apron from the future rector, took the ladle from his hands and took him to Oryol to present him to Bishop Dosifei.
The leadership position did not change the humble disposition of Father Leonid. On business at the monastery, he often went on a simple cart with one horse, and even sat as a coachman himself. Once he had to go on monastery business to Karachev with one of the hieromonks of the monastery, Father Gabriel. Father Gabriel, getting ready for the trip, prepared festive vestments. Going out into the street, instead of the expected carriage with a coachman, he saw a cart with a horse harnessed to it, and asked Father Leonid in surprise:
- Where is the coachman?
To which the abbot replied:
- Which? So that I have three coachmen for one horse? Thank you! Sit down, brother, on the front, and if you get tired, I’ll sit down. And what's that? Duckweed and duckweed? Yes, I myself don’t take kamilavkas with me. And you, if you are taking such a parade with you, then sit in my place, and I will drive the horse.
And he sat on the ancestor himself. The embarrassed Father Gabriel took his entire “parade” to his cell and asked the Father Superior to allow him to sit in the coachman’s place. This is the kind of boss Father Leonid was.
The Lord sent him an experienced spiritual mentor, schemamonk Theodore, a disciple of the great elder Paisius Velichkovsky. Father Theodore settled in the Beloberezh desert in 1805, and in 1807, not without God's providence, he suffered a serious illness: he did not eat for 9 days and was in a lethargic sleep for 3 days. After this, having apparently experienced strong spiritual experiences, he desired a more secluded and silent life.
Out of love and respect for the elder, a cell was immediately built for him in the forest, 2 kilometers from the monastery, where he settled with another ascetic, Hieroschemamonk Cleopas, in desert silence. Soon they were joined by Father Leonid, who voluntarily resigned as abbot and took cell tonsure here into the schema with the name Leo.
Three ascetics labored in the wilderness until the Providence of God commanded them to change their place of residence. The new abbot of the monastery did not like the fact that lay visitors and the monastic brethren turned to the hermits for spiritual guidance. In addition, an accidental fire burned down their cell, and although they rebuilt a new one, they did not have to live in it for long. Father Theodore, constantly persecuted by the envy of the enemy, was forced to leave for the Paleostrovsk hermitage, where he lived for 3 mournful years. Father Leo and his sick father Cleopa moved in 1811 to the Valaam monastery, where the elder Theodore himself managed to move the following year, and the co-secretaries were reunited.
They spent about 6 years in the Valaam skete, and with their wisdom and spiritual height they attracted many brothers who were looking for spiritual guidance. They themselves grew spiritually, so that the local holy fool Anton Ivanovich spoke about them allegorically: “They traded well here.” But the persecution continued: the abbot of the monastery began to express discontent against the elders, who, in his opinion, were depriving him of the right to be the only spiritual leader of the brethren.
Father Lev and Father Theodore (the ascetic Father Cleopas died in 1816) moved to the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery, where they asceticised until the death of Elder Theodore. After the death of the elder, Father Lev decided to move with his students to a more secluded place. Having learned about his desire, many began to invite him to go to their monastery, among them were the brethren of the Ploshchansk Hermitage and the newly established skete in the Optina Hermitage.
Father Lev visited the long-desired pilgrimage in Kyiv, and, having venerated the relics of the saints of God in the caves, expressed his desire to go to Optina. The all-wise Lord, however, created this path not straight, but through the Mother of God Ploshchanskaya hermitage, where at that time Father Macarius, the future Optina elder and beloved disciple, associate and co-secretary of the Monk Leo, fervently prayed for the granting of a spiritual mentor to him. The providence of God brought them together during the short (six months) stay of Father Leo in the Ploshchanskaya Hermitage. This meeting allowed them to later reunite in Optina, where the Monk Leo arrived with six disciples in 1829, and the Monk Macarius followed him in 1834.
Optina became the last place of the earthly residence of the Monk Leo, here he lived for 12 years - until his death in 1841. The monk became the first Optina elder, the ancestor of all the Optina elders, the mentor of the Monk Macarius and the great Optina elder, the Monk Ambrose.
The Optina brethren received Father Leo with great joy, as a gift from heaven. The Optina monastery at that time was very poor, not fully rebuilt: around a small wooden church in honor of the Holy Prophet and Forerunner of the Lord John with a small wooden bell tower there were several unplastered houses covered with planks. There was no fence around the monastery yet; it was surrounded only by a fence, and even then not all of it, but around the monastery a centuries-old pine forest rustled. On the northern side of the monastery there was a place for an apiary and a small house intended for Father Leo, specially placed at a distance so that both monastics and laity could visit the elder without restrictions.
The abbot, Father Moses, entrusted all the brethren to the spiritual leadership of the elder, and he himself began to be cared for by him. Thus, the elder led the entire spiritual life of the monastery, and the external affairs of the monastery’s life were decided under his spiritual leadership. The elder reached a high level of spiritual age and, fully armed with spiritual strength, entered a new great service, to which he was called by the Providence of God.
The Monk Leo was a great man of prayer. Being almost continuously in the midst of human grief, sorrow, and vanity, he at the same time continuously remained in prayer. One of the saint’s disciples said that in those rare moments when the elder was left without people, he was so immersed in prayer that he forgot about the cell attendant, did not hear his explanations, and he had to repeat the same thing several times.
The Monk Leo had a living faith in the Providence of God and in all difficult situations in life he trusted in the Lord. He wrote: “Our Archpastor, according to slander, is dissatisfied with us. But the Bishop of future blessings, the Lord our God, knows more than this and, therefore, can control us more. And so again I say this: the will of the Lord be done!”
“The merciful Lord fulfills and turns everything into His will and for our benefit, although, apparently, through means and consequences that are contrary to us...”
When the enemy initiated persecution against the elder through people who did not understand the essence of spiritual care for the elderly, and due to the oppression of the Kaluga bishop, the Monk Leo was constrained in receiving visitors, he was pleased to calm down and take a break from his labors. Although he never cared about his own peace, but always pitied those who were suffering, even in this case he relied with hope on the will of God: “God is able to help even without my unworthiness,” he said.
The monk was characterized by humility and meekness, no one saw him angry or irritated, despondent, no one heard a murmur from him. A peaceful spirit and joy accompanied him constantly. The elder said: “I live and walk before my God, I live for my neighbors, casting aside all hypocrisy and fear of worldly judgment; I fear no one but God.” Thus, trusting in the Lord, he remained unshakable amidst persecution, denunciations and slander, attacks from visible and invisible enemies, like a rock in the midst of the waves that overwhelmed it. Elder Theodore, the spiritual mentor of the Monk Leo, called him “the humble lion.”
Father Leo acquired high spiritual gifts: the gift of healing human souls and bodies, the gift of uninterrupted, unceasing prayer, the gift of spiritual reasoning. He could accurately comprehend and indicate to his spiritual children what was pleasing or displeasing to God, he could correctly judge the mental and spiritual structure of other people, he could clearly recognize the true spirit and the spirit of delusion: the action of God’s grace and the delusion of the enemy, even subtle and hidden. He also had from the Lord the gift of insight, he read in the souls of his children their heart secrets, innermost thoughts, and recalled forgotten sins.
If necessary, the elder could humble and rebuke a person, but at the same time he understood with subtlety who could bear what, and how, and with what to console whom, therefore, even with strict reproof, the person did not leave the elder inconsolable. One of Father Lev’s children recalled:
“It used to be that my father would give me such a stern and menacing reprimand that I could barely stand on my feet; but immediately he himself will humble himself like a child, and will so pacify and console that his soul will become light and joyful; and you will leave him peaceful and cheerful, as if the priest was praising me and not reproaching me.”
In the presence of the elder, people felt peace, spiritual joy, and peace of mind. They often came with sorrows, with grief, and left the cell peaceful, joyful. Another of his students recalled: “I also noticed over myself, while living in the monastery: sometimes melancholy, despondency attacked me, and my thoughts cruelly fought. You would go to the priest to console yourself in your sorrows, and upon entering his cell, everything would instantly disappear, and you would suddenly feel peace and joy in your heart. Father will ask: “Why did you come?” - And you don’t even know what to say. The priest will take some oil and anoint it from the lamp, and bless it; and you will leave his cell with heartfelt joy and peace of mind.”
The elder knew who and how to expose. Once a new brother insulted an old monk, and both came to complain to Father Leo. It was obvious to everyone that the newcomer was to blame for everything. But the elder thought differently. He said to the old monk:
“Aren’t you ashamed to be equal to a newcomer?” He has just come from the world, his hair has not yet grown, and it is strictly impossible to exact punishment from him if he says something wrong. How many years have you lived in a monastery and haven’t learned to listen to yourself!
And so they left, with the new brother triumphant, feeling completely justified. When he soon came to the elder alone, he took him by the hand and said:
- What are you doing, brother? You just came from the world, your hair hasn’t even grown back, and you’re already insulting old monks!
The unexpected admonition had such an effect on the new brother that he began to ask for forgiveness in deep repentance.
There was one brother in Optina who often asked the elder to allow him to wear chains. The elder removed the chains from many, and explained to this brother that salvation does not lie in chains. But he insisted. Then the monk decided to show those who wanted to wear chains his true spiritual age. Calling the blacksmith to him, the elder told him:
- When such and such a brother comes to you and asks you to make him chains, give him a good slap in the face.
The next time this brother began to ask for chains again, the elder sent him to the blacksmith. The brother happily runs into the forge and says to the blacksmith:
- Father blessed you to make chains for me.
The blacksmith, busy with his work, slapped him in the face with the words: “What other chains do you need?” The brother, who could not stand this, responded in kind, and both went to the elder for trial. The blacksmith, of course, had nothing, but the elder said to his brother, who wanted to wear chains:
“Where are you going to wear chains when you couldn’t stand even one slap in the face!”
The elder taught to adhere to simplicity, sincerity, and unhypocrisy, which attract the grace of God: “Unpretentiousness, insidiousness, frankness of the soul - this is what is pleasing to the humble-hearted Lord.”
Often people are overwhelmed by a tendency to teach, to unsolicited instructions, to comments that they like to hand out right and left. When the elder was asked whether they should make comments or correct the new brethren, seeing them in some actions as imprudent or doing something indecent, the Monk Leo answered:
- If you are obliged to pay more attention to yourself, if you do not have the blessing of your boss and recognize yourself as subject to passions, then do not enter into those subjects and cases that do not concern you. Be quiet. Everyone stands or falls for his Lord. Try in every possible way not to be a seducer of your neighbors. Doctor, heal yourself!
Kozelsky resident Semyon Ivanovich talked about how the Monk Leo taught to endure sorrow: “In the thirties (of the last nineteenth century), as well as after, I was engaged in preparing pottery. My mother and I lived in our little house; We didn’t have a horse, but we had a decent cart. Sometimes I would load some pots into this cart, ask someone for a horse and take the pots to the market. So, it happened, and he added on. At that time, a Pole soldier was standing in our house, but then he moved away from us and became confused. Once, finding a convenient time, he climbed into our yard and stole the wheels from our cart.
I explained my grief to Father Leonid and said that I knew the thief and could find the wheels. “Leave it, Semyonushka, don’t chase after your wheels,” answered the priest, “God punished you, you bear God’s punishment and then with a small sorrow you will get rid of the big ones. And if you don’t want to endure this small temptation, then you will be punished more.” I followed the elder’s advice, and as he said, everything came true.
Soon the same Pole again climbed into our yard, pulled out a bag of flour from the barn, put it on his shoulder and wanted to walk with it through the garden; and at that time my mother was coming from the garden and met him. “Where are you going,” she said, “are you taking this?” He threw the bag of flour and ran away.
Soon after this there was another incident. We had a cow - we decided to sell it. They found a merchant, made a deal and took a deposit. But for some reason the buyer did not take the cows from us for several days; finally took her to him. And the next night a thief broke into our place and broke open the closet where our cow lay, no doubt in order to take her away; but she was no longer there. So again the Lord, through the prayers of the elder, delivered us from the misfortune.
After this, many years later, a third similar incident happened to me, after the death of my mother. Passion Week was ending and Easter was approaching. For some reason, the idea occurred to me to move all my necessary things from my house to my neighbor’s sister. So I did. And when the first day of the holiday arrived, I locked my house on all sides and went to Matins. I always used to spend this morning joyfully; and now, I don’t know why, there was something unpleasant in my soul. I come from Matins and look: the windows are up and the door is unlocked. “Well, I think to myself, he must have been an unkind person.” And indeed there was; but since I carried all the necessary things to my sister, he left with almost nothing.
So three times the prediction of Father Father Leonid was fulfilled on me, that if I suffer a small punishment from God, then God will no longer punish me.”
The Monk Leo also helped those who turned to him for spiritual advice from the monastic brethren and lay visitors with physical illnesses, pointing to proven folk remedies. He mainly used the so-called “bitter water” for treatment, which sometimes produced more than a whole tub of it per day. And after the death of the elder, this water in the monastery continued to be prepared and distributed to those suffering from internal diseases, but after him it already lost the multi-healing power that it had to help against all sorts of diseases, although it helped against some.
Often the elder sent the afflicted to Voronezh to the relics of the then newly-minted saint of God, St. Mitrofan. And often the sick returned to thank the elder for their recovery, and sometimes such healing took place even on the way. The elder provided gracious help to many mentally and physically ill people, anointing them with oil from the unquenchable lamp that glowed in his cell in front of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.
The demoniacs were also brought to the elder. There were also many who previously did not know that they were possessed by a demon, and only in the presence of the elder, after he had exposed the delusion hidden in them, did they begin to become possessed.
“Soon after I arrived in Optina Pustyn (about 1832), - said Father Abbot P., - when Father Gerontius, Father Makariy Gruzinov and Pavel Tambovtsev were cell attendants of Father Lev, they brought to the elder a demon-possessed peasant woman, who during the demonic possession spoke in foreign languages. The elder read a prayer over her three times, anointed her with oil from the unquenchable lamp before the icon of the Mother of God and gave her this oil to drink. Another time she was brought to the elder while still sick, and the third time she was already healed. When Tambovtsev asked her to speak, as she had spoken before, in foreign languages, she said: “And, father! Where can I speak foreign languages? In my own way (Russian), I can barely speak and walk with difficulty. Thank God that my previous illness has passed.”
One day, six people brought one demon-possessed woman to the elder Father Leo. As soon as she saw the old man, she fell in front of him and screamed loudly: “This gray-haired one will drive me out. I was in Kyiv, in Moscow, in Voronezh, no one chased me, but now I’ll go out.” The elder read a prayer over her and anointed her with holy oil from the lamp at the icon of the Mother of God. After the elder’s prayers, the demoniac quietly got up and left his cell. Then every year she came to Optina, already healthy, and after the death of the old man, with faith, she took his land from his grave for other sick people, and they also benefited from it.
“I remember,” said the Kiev-Pechersk Hieroschemamonk Anthony, “one woman came to the elder Father Leonid who had a wound on her chest. Casting aside modesty, she revealed it to the elder in the presence of all of us, his cell attendants. Father, without any hesitation, dipped his index finger in the oil that was glowing in front of the holy icon of the Mother of God of the lamp, anointed the woman’s wound and sent her home. A week later, this woman came to the elder with thanksgiving and told us all that her wound had healed soon after the elder anointed her with oil.” “It often happened,” Father Anthony added, “a sick person would come to the priest, barely dragging his feet, but he would walk away cheerfully and cheerfully and announce to everyone his joy that he had been healed.”
In September 1841, the elder began to noticeably weaken, stopped eating food and received the Holy Mysteries of Christ every day. Before his death, the Monk Leo said to the children who surrounded him: “Now the mercy of God will be with me.” The elder crossed himself and repeated many times: “Glory to God!”, rejoicing in his soul amid severe physical suffering. His face became increasingly brighter, and he could no longer hide the spiritual joy he felt in the hope of future rewards from the Lord.
In illness, the elder’s body and hands were cold, and he said to his beloved children and his cell attendant Jacob: “If I receive the mercy of God, my body will warm up and be warm.” After his death, the elder’s body stood for 3 days in the temple, not emitting any mortal smell, and warmed all his clothes and even the bottom board of the coffin. On the day of the saint’s death, an all-night vigil was served in honor of the memory of the holy fathers of the seven Ecumenical Councils.
In 1996, the Monk Leo was canonized as a locally revered saint of Optina Pustyn, and in August 2000, by the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was glorified for church-wide veneration. The relics of the elder rest in the Vladimir Church of Optina Pustyn.
Reverend Our Father Leo, pray to God for us!
How do prayers to a saint help?
People pray to the Monk Leo of Optina for any everyday needs. But the most famous prayer of St. Leo of Optina is the prayer for the unbaptized dead and suicides. He himself composed and passed on to his disciples a short prayer, which priests to this day bless to read to the relatives of such people at home, privately.
TEMPLE OF THE HOLY DUCHESS OLGA IN OSTANKINO
On October 24 we celebrate the memory of the first Optina elder, Venerable Leo. Reverend Lev, in the world Lev Danilovich Nagolkin, was born in the city of Karachev, Oryol province. Little is known about his family: his parents were simple bourgeois, apparently poor, since Lev Danilovich, being a man of outstanding mental and moral merit, did not have the opportunity to run his own business and take care of his own household. He was forced to work for a salary as a clerk for a merchant who sold hemp and hemp oil in the city of Bolkhov in the same province. In those ancient times, the word “clerk” was not yet in use and they were simply called “worker” or “small”.
Lev Danilovich was known as a “little” honest and faithful, efficient and savvy, and therefore enjoyed the trust and respect of his owner. In the life of the future elder, the Providence of God manifested itself especially clearly, turning all life circumstances for spiritual benefit: everything works for the good of those who love God.
Due to the nature of his activity, Leo had the opportunity to communicate with people of various classes and conditions, and, having an excellent memory, and qualities such as curiosity, observation, and foresight, he acquired a lot of diverse and useful information. He knew almost all of Russia well: the life of the nobility and merchants, military and naval service, the life of the common people. All this knowledge was useful to him later as a spiritual mentor caring for his flock.
Seeing the diligence and virtuous life of his “little one,” the owner offered him the hand of his daughter, but Lev Danilovich had completely different plans, and he flatly refused a profitable marriage.
In 1797, in the 29th year of his life, the young man entered the monastery in Optina Pustyn and immediately zealously began the labors of monastic life, so much so that in 2 years these exorbitant labors managed to ruin his good health. Several times the future elder had to move from one monastery to another, either in search of a spiritual mentor, or wanting to hide from human glory. In 1801, in the Beloberezh Hermitage, he was tonsured a monk with the name Leonid, and in the same year he was ordained a hierodeacon, and then a hieromonk.
Such a quick ordination did not serve as a reason for exalting the humble monk, did not quench his zeal; on the contrary, he grew spiritually. Once the choir brethren refused to sing the vigil, trying to force the rector to fulfill their demands. The abbot did not want to give in to the unreasonable harassment and, humbling the headstrong brethren, ordered Father Leonid to sing the vigil with another brother. Father Leonid worked all day in obedience and hauled hay. Tired, covered in dust, not even having time to taste dinner, he unquestioningly went to the choir to hold a vigil. Such was the obedience of the future elder, and, according to the holy fathers, true elders are made from real novices.
Already at that time, the young hieromonk showed unusual philanthropy and insight. One brother, having fallen into delusion, climbed the bell tower and shouted from there loudly that he would jump down and not break, for the angels would catch him. Father Leonid at that moment was working on obedience. Suddenly he left work and ran to the bell tower, where he managed to grab the seduced man, who was already about to jump down, by the hem of his clothes, preventing him from dying in body and soul.
The young hieromonk succeeded so much in spiritual life that it was clearly visible to those around him, and in 1804 the brethren elected Father Leonid as abbot of the monastery. The election itself found the humble monk in the labors of obedience: he brewed kvass for the brethren, avoiding participation in the elections. The brethren all came to the kvass factory, took off the apron from the future rector, took the ladle from his hands and took him to Oryol to present him to Bishop Dosifei.
The leadership position did not change the humble disposition of Father Leonid. On business at the monastery, he often went on a simple cart with one horse, and even sat as a coachman himself. Once he had to go on monastery business to Karachev with one of the hieromonks of the monastery, Father Gabriel. Father Gabriel, getting ready for the trip, prepared festive vestments. Going out into the street, instead of the expected carriage with a coachman, he saw a cart with a horse harnessed to it, and asked Father Leonid in surprise:
- Where is the coachman?
To which the abbot replied:
- Which? So that I have three coachmen for one horse? Thank you! Sit down, brother, on the front, and if you get tired, I’ll sit down. And what's that? Duckweed and duckweed? Yes, I myself don’t take kamilavkas with me. And you, if you are taking such a parade with you, then sit in my place, and I will drive the horse.
And he sat on the ancestor himself. The embarrassed Father Gabriel took his entire “parade” to his cell and asked the Father Superior to allow him to sit in the coachman’s place. This is the kind of boss Father Leonid was.
The Lord sent him an experienced spiritual mentor, schemamonk Theodore, a disciple of the great elder Paisius Velichkovsky. Father Theodore settled in the Beloberezh desert in 1805, and in 1807, not without God's providence, he suffered a serious illness: he did not eat for 9 days and was in a lethargic sleep for 3 days. After this, having apparently experienced strong spiritual experiences, he desired a more secluded and silent life.
Out of love and respect for the elder, a cell was immediately built for him in the forest, 2 kilometers from the monastery, where he settled with another ascetic, Hieroschemamonk Cleopas, in desert silence. Soon they were joined by Father Leonid, who voluntarily resigned as abbot and took cell tonsure here into the schema with the name Leo.
Three ascetics labored in the wilderness until the Providence of God commanded them to change their place of residence. The new abbot of the monastery did not like the fact that lay visitors and the monastic brethren turned to the hermits for spiritual guidance. In addition, an accidental fire burned down their cell, and although they rebuilt a new one, they did not have to live in it for long. Father Theodore, constantly persecuted by the envy of the enemy, was forced to leave for the Paleostrovsk hermitage, where he lived for 3 mournful years. Father Leo and his sick father Cleopa moved in 1811 to the Valaam monastery, where the elder Theodore himself managed to move the following year, and the co-secretaries were reunited.
They spent about 6 years in the Valaam skete, and with their wisdom and spiritual height they attracted many brothers who were looking for spiritual guidance. They themselves grew spiritually, so that the local holy fool Anton Ivanovich spoke about them allegorically: “They traded well here.” But the persecution continued: the abbot of the monastery began to express discontent against the elders, who, in his opinion, were depriving him of the right to be the only spiritual leader of the brethren.
Father Lev and Father Theodore (the ascetic Father Cleopas died in 1816) moved to the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery, where they asceticised until the death of Elder Theodore. After the death of the elder, Father Lev decided to move with his students to a more secluded place. Having learned about his desire, many began to invite him to go to their monastery, among them were the brethren of the Ploshchansk Hermitage and the newly established skete in the Optina Hermitage.
Father Lev visited the long-desired pilgrimage in Kyiv, and, having venerated the relics of the saints of God in the caves, expressed his desire to go to Optina. The all-wise Lord, however, created this path not straight, but through the Mother of God Ploshchanskaya hermitage, where at that time Father Macarius, the future Optina elder and beloved disciple, associate and co-secretary of the Monk Leo, fervently prayed for the granting of a spiritual mentor to him. The providence of God brought them together during the short (six months) stay of Father Leo in the Ploshchanskaya Hermitage. This meeting allowed them to later reunite in Optina, where the Monk Leo arrived with six disciples in 1829, and the Monk Macarius followed him in 1834.
Optina became the last place of the earthly residence of the Monk Leo, here he lived for 12 years - until his death in 1841. The monk became the first Optina elder, the ancestor of all the Optina elders, the mentor of the Monk Macarius and the great Optina elder, the Monk Ambrose.
The Optina brethren received Father Leo with great joy, as a gift from heaven. The Optina monastery at that time was very poor, not fully rebuilt: around a small wooden church in honor of the Holy Prophet and Forerunner of the Lord John with a small wooden bell tower there were several unplastered houses covered with planks. There was no fence around the monastery yet; it was surrounded only by a fence, and even then not all of it, but around the monastery a centuries-old pine forest rustled. On the northern side of the monastery there was a place for an apiary and a small house intended for Father Leo, specially placed at a distance so that both monastics and laity could visit the elder without restrictions.
The abbot, Father Moses, entrusted all the brethren to the spiritual leadership of the elder, and he himself began to be cared for by him. Thus, the elder led the entire spiritual life of the monastery, and the external affairs of the monastery’s life were decided under his spiritual leadership. The elder reached a high level of spiritual age and, fully armed with spiritual strength, entered a new great service, to which he was called by the Providence of God.
The Monk Leo was a great man of prayer. Being almost continuously in the midst of human grief, sorrow, and vanity, he at the same time continuously remained in prayer. One of the saint’s disciples said that in those rare moments when the elder was left without people, he was so immersed in prayer that he forgot about the cell attendant, did not hear his explanations, and he had to repeat the same thing several times.
The Monk Leo had a living faith in the Providence of God and in all difficult situations in life he trusted in the Lord. He wrote: “Our Archpastor, according to slander, is dissatisfied with us. But the Bishop of future blessings, the Lord our God, knows more than this and, therefore, can control us more. And so again I say this: the will of the Lord be done!”
“The merciful Lord fulfills and turns everything into His will and for our benefit, although, apparently, through means and consequences that are contrary to us...”
When the enemy initiated persecution against the elder through people who did not understand the essence of spiritual care for the elderly, and due to the oppression of the Kaluga bishop, the Monk Leo was constrained in receiving visitors, he was pleased to calm down and take a break from his labors. Although he never cared about his own peace, but always pitied those who were suffering, even in this case he relied with hope on the will of God: “God is able to help even without my unworthiness,” he said.
The monk was characterized by humility and meekness, no one saw him angry or irritated, despondent, no one heard a murmur from him. A peaceful spirit and joy accompanied him constantly. The elder said: “I live and walk before my God, I live for my neighbors, casting aside all hypocrisy and fear of worldly judgment; I fear no one but God.” Thus, trusting in the Lord, he remained unshakable amidst persecution, denunciations and slander, attacks from visible and invisible enemies, like a rock in the midst of the waves that overwhelmed it. Elder Theodore, the spiritual mentor of the Monk Leo, called him “the humble lion.”
Father Leo acquired high spiritual gifts: the gift of healing human souls and bodies, the gift of uninterrupted, unceasing prayer, the gift of spiritual reasoning. He could accurately comprehend and indicate to his spiritual children what was pleasing or displeasing to God, he could correctly judge the mental and spiritual structure of other people, he could clearly recognize the true spirit and the spirit of delusion: the action of God’s grace and the delusion of the enemy, even subtle and hidden. He also had from the Lord the gift of insight, he read in the souls of his children their heart secrets, innermost thoughts, and recalled forgotten sins.
If necessary, the elder could humble and rebuke a person, but at the same time he understood with subtlety who could bear what, and how, and with what to console whom, therefore, even with strict reproof, the person did not leave the elder inconsolable. One of Father Lev’s children recalled:
“It used to be that my father would give me such a stern and menacing reprimand that I could barely stand on my feet; but immediately he himself will humble himself like a child, and will so pacify and console that his soul will become light and joyful; and you will leave him peaceful and cheerful, as if the priest was praising me and not reproaching me.”
In the presence of the elder, people felt peace, spiritual joy, and peace of mind. They often came with sorrows, with grief, and left the cell peaceful, joyful. Another of his students recalled: “I also noticed over myself, while living in the monastery: sometimes melancholy, despondency attacked me, and my thoughts cruelly fought. You would go to the priest to console yourself in your sorrows, and upon entering his cell, everything would instantly disappear, and you would suddenly feel peace and joy in your heart. Father will ask: “Why did you come?” - And you don’t even know what to say. The priest will take some oil and anoint it from the lamp, and bless it; and you will leave his cell with heartfelt joy and peace of mind.”
The elder knew who and how to expose. Once a new brother insulted an old monk, and both came to complain to Father Leo. It was obvious to everyone that the newcomer was to blame for everything. But the elder thought differently. He said to the old monk:
“Aren’t you ashamed to be equal to a newcomer?” He has just come from the world, his hair has not yet grown, and it is strictly impossible to exact punishment from him if he says something wrong. How many years have you lived in a monastery and haven’t learned to listen to yourself!
And so they left, with the new brother triumphant, feeling completely justified. When he soon came to the elder alone, he took him by the hand and said:
- What are you doing, brother? You just came from the world, your hair hasn’t even grown back, and you’re already insulting old monks!
The unexpected admonition had such an effect on the new brother that he began to ask for forgiveness in deep repentance.
There was one brother in Optina who often asked the elder to allow him to wear chains. The elder removed the chains from many, and explained to this brother that salvation does not lie in chains. But he insisted. Then the monk decided to show those who wanted to wear chains his true spiritual age. Calling the blacksmith to him, the elder told him:
- When such and such a brother comes to you and asks you to make him chains, give him a good slap in the face.
The next time this brother began to ask for chains again, the elder sent him to the blacksmith. The brother happily runs into the forge and says to the blacksmith:
- Father blessed you to make chains for me.
The blacksmith, busy with his work, slapped him in the face with the words: “What other chains do you need?” The brother, who could not stand this, responded in kind, and both went to the elder for trial. The blacksmith, of course, had nothing, but the elder said to his brother, who wanted to wear chains:
“Where are you going to wear chains when you couldn’t stand even one slap in the face!”
The elder taught to adhere to simplicity, sincerity, and unhypocrisy, which attract the grace of God: “Unpretentiousness, insidiousness, frankness of the soul - this is what is pleasing to the humble-hearted Lord.”
Often people are overwhelmed by a tendency to teach, to unsolicited instructions, to comments that they like to hand out right and left. When the elder was asked whether they should make comments or correct the new brethren, seeing them in some actions as imprudent or doing something indecent, the Monk Leo answered:
- If you are obliged to pay more attention to yourself, if you do not have the blessing of your boss and recognize yourself as subject to passions, then do not enter into those subjects and cases that do not concern you. Be quiet. Everyone stands or falls for his Lord. Try in every possible way not to be a seducer of your neighbors. Doctor, heal yourself!
Kozelsky resident Semyon Ivanovich talked about how the Monk Leo taught to endure sorrow: “In the thirties (of the last nineteenth century), as well as after, I was engaged in preparing pottery. My mother and I lived in our little house; We didn’t have a horse, but we had a decent cart. Sometimes I would load some pots into this cart, ask someone for a horse and take the pots to the market. So, it happened, and he added on. At that time, a Pole soldier was standing in our house, but then he moved away from us and became confused. Once, finding a convenient time, he climbed into our yard and stole the wheels from our cart.
I explained my grief to Father Leonid and said that I knew the thief and could find the wheels. “Leave it, Semyonushka, don’t chase after your wheels,” answered the priest, “God punished you, you bear God’s punishment and then with a small sorrow you will get rid of the big ones. And if you don’t want to endure this small temptation, then you will be punished more.” I followed the elder’s advice, and as he said, everything came true.
Soon the same Pole again climbed into our yard, pulled out a bag of flour from the barn, put it on his shoulder and wanted to walk with it through the garden; and at that time my mother was coming from the garden and met him. “Where are you going,” she said, “are you taking this?” He threw the bag of flour and ran away.
Soon after this there was another incident. We had a cow - we decided to sell it. They found a merchant, made a deal and took a deposit. But for some reason the buyer did not take the cows from us for several days; finally took her to him. And the next night a thief broke into our place and broke open the closet where our cow lay, no doubt in order to take her away; but she was no longer there. So again the Lord, through the prayers of the elder, delivered us from the misfortune.
After this, many years later, a third similar incident happened to me, after the death of my mother. Passion Week was ending and Easter was approaching. For some reason, the idea occurred to me to move all my necessary things from my house to my neighbor’s sister. So I did. And when the first day of the holiday arrived, I locked my house on all sides and went to Matins. I always used to spend this morning joyfully; and now, I don’t know why, there was something unpleasant in my soul. I come from Matins and look: the windows are up and the door is unlocked. “Well, I think to myself, he must have been an unkind person.” And indeed there was; but since I carried all the necessary things to my sister, he left with almost nothing.
So three times the prediction of Father Father Leonid was fulfilled on me, that if I suffer a small punishment from God, then God will no longer punish me.”
The Monk Leo also helped those who turned to him for spiritual advice from the monastic brethren and lay visitors with physical illnesses, pointing to proven folk remedies. He mainly used the so-called “bitter water” for treatment, which sometimes produced more than a whole tub of it per day. And after the death of the elder, this water in the monastery continued to be prepared and distributed to those suffering from internal diseases, but after him it already lost the multi-healing power that it had to help against all sorts of diseases, although it helped against some.
Often the elder sent the afflicted to Voronezh to the relics of the then newly-minted saint of God, St. Mitrofan. And often the sick returned to thank the elder for their recovery, and sometimes such healing took place even on the way. The elder provided gracious help to many mentally and physically ill people, anointing them with oil from the unquenchable lamp that glowed in his cell in front of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.
The demoniacs were also brought to the elder. There were also many who previously did not know that they were possessed by a demon, and only in the presence of the elder, after he had exposed the delusion hidden in them, did they begin to become possessed.
“Soon after I arrived in Optina Pustyn (about 1832), - said Father Abbot P., - when Father Gerontius, Father Makariy Gruzinov and Pavel Tambovtsev were cell attendants of Father Lev, they brought to the elder a demon-possessed peasant woman, who during the demonic possession spoke in foreign languages. The elder read a prayer over her three times, anointed her with oil from the unquenchable lamp before the icon of the Mother of God and gave her this oil to drink. Another time she was brought to the elder while still sick, and the third time she was already healed. When Tambovtsev asked her to speak, as she had spoken before, in foreign languages, she said: “And, father! Where can I speak foreign languages? In my own way (Russian), I can barely speak and walk with difficulty. Thank God that my previous illness has passed.”
One day, six people brought one demon-possessed woman to the elder Father Leo. As soon as she saw the old man, she fell in front of him and screamed loudly: “This gray-haired one will drive me out. I was in Kyiv, in Moscow, in Voronezh, no one chased me, but now I’ll go out.” The elder read a prayer over her and anointed her with holy oil from the lamp at the icon of the Mother of God. After the elder’s prayers, the demoniac quietly got up and left his cell. Then every year she came to Optina, already healthy, and after the death of the old man, with faith, she took his land from his grave for other sick people, and they also benefited from it.
“I remember,” said the Kiev-Pechersk Hieroschemamonk Anthony, “one woman came to the elder Father Leonid who had a wound on her chest. Casting aside modesty, she revealed it to the elder in the presence of all of us, his cell attendants. Father, without any hesitation, dipped his index finger in the oil that was glowing in front of the holy icon of the Mother of God of the lamp, anointed the woman’s wound and sent her home. A week later, this woman came to the elder with thanksgiving and told us all that her wound had healed soon after the elder anointed her with oil.” “It often happened,” Father Anthony added, “a sick person would come to the priest, barely dragging his feet, but he would walk away cheerfully and cheerfully and announce to everyone his joy that he had been healed.”
In September 1841, the elder began to noticeably weaken, stopped eating food and received the Holy Mysteries of Christ every day. Before his death, the Monk Leo said to the children who surrounded him: “Now the mercy of God will be with me.” The elder crossed himself and repeated many times: “Glory to God!”, rejoicing in his soul amid severe physical suffering. His face became increasingly brighter, and he could no longer hide the spiritual joy he felt in the hope of future rewards from the Lord.
In illness, the elder’s body and hands were cold, and he said to his beloved children and his cell attendant Jacob: “If I receive the mercy of God, my body will warm up and be warm.” After his death, the elder’s body stood for 3 days in the temple, not emitting any mortal smell, and warmed all his clothes and even the bottom board of the coffin. On the day of the saint’s death, an all-night vigil was served in honor of the memory of the holy fathers of the seven Ecumenical Councils.
In 1996, the Monk Leo was canonized as a locally revered saint of Optina Pustyn, and in August 2000, by the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was glorified for church-wide veneration. The relics of the elder rest in the Vladimir Church of Optina Pustyn.
Reverend Our Father Leo, pray to God for us!
Texts of prayers
Troparion, tone 3
Like a skiman roaring at an evil heart,/ like a gentle lamb looking at the meek (humble) soul, like the wonderful Father Leo,/ you loved the infancy in Christ, oh Lya:/ I sing to my God until I am./ Moreover, we pray to the merciful Lord/ that he may give us also the region to be children of God / and to sing with you to our God (you stood as a child in Christ / to all who expect comfort from you. / Moreover, pray to our Lord / that he will give us the region too to be children of God/ and will save our souls).
Translation: Like a young lion roaring at an evil heart, like a gentle lamb looking at a meek (humble) soul, O venerable Father Leo, amazing, you loved the infancy in Christ, saying: I will sing praises to my God while I exist (Ps. 103:33) . Therefore, pray to the merciful Lord to give us the power to be children of God and to sing with you to our God (as an infant in Christ you protected everyone who expects comfort from you. Therefore, pray to our Lord to give us the power to be children of God and save our souls).
Prayer to St. Leo of Optina
Oh, Most Honorable God-Wise Head and the Cathedral of the Elders of Optina, a fair and splendid decoration, God-enlightened Father Leo! To you, as a child of our father, we dare to bring this akathist singing, but you do not neglect this little offering, for moreover we must not only sing, but also honor your deeds. You have left us the wealth of your life, pleasing to God, in which, like in a mirror, one sees the image of the godly fathers in the labors of those who pleased God. Even though we are weak, we imitate you, but with the desire for the best we do not retreat from you and under the wings of your prayers we resort and, as we are invincible, we cry out to you: drive out from us all negligence, eradicate evil. passions that nest in our hearts, feed demons onto us who are constantly at war, give us grace-filled help , as you are strong and even during your life you drove away demons and healed every disease and weakness that lurked. In the past, visit us with your spirit and the rod of your pastoral prayer, defeat the mental wolves who seek to plunder your flock. But like a good shepherd, call us with the flute of your teachings into the Kingdom of God with you after our repose, so that we may be found together, glorifying the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in the infinite eternal eyelids. Amen.
Beginning of monastic life
Lev Danilovich came to Optina under Abbot Abraham, through whose efforts the monastery was just beginning to recover after years of decline.
The young novice zealously began to work at the monastery, setting an example of obedience to the brethren. Here his truly heroic strength was fully demonstrated. One day, together with another novice, they dug a huge ditch in half a day, which was urgently needed for construction and for which they were going to look for more than a dozen workers. But then the elder himself said that during difficult obediences in these first years, he undermined his health. No less zealously did he master the wisdom of monastic life - prayer, struggle with passions, acquisition of virtues. The desire for improvement in spiritual work prompted him in 1799 to move to the Beloberezh monastery, located in the Bryansk district and more distant from crowded places. The well-known ascetic, Elder Vasily (Kishkin), who labored for a long time on Holy Mount Athos, was in charge there. In 1801, novice Lev was tonsured a monk and named Leonid. On December 22 of the same year he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, and on December 24 - to the rank of hieromonk.
Several cases are known from the life of the monk in the Beloberezh desert. One day, on the eve of a temple holiday, the brethren who were performing obedience in the choir, dissatisfied with something, refused to perform the service, hoping by this to force the abbot to fulfill some of their demands. But the abbot did not want to give in and, in order to humble them, called Father Leonid and another brother to sing a festive service. The monk carried hay from the farm all day. Tired, covered in dust, he was just about to rest when the will of the abbot was conveyed to him. Without any murmur, he went to church and, together with a friend, sang the entire all-night vigil.
Another incident shows the great philanthropy of Father Leonid. There was a brother in the desert who fell into delusion. One day he climbed the bell tower and shouted: “Look! Look! I will return to the bottom and not break - the angels of God will take me into their arms!” Father Leonid at this time worked on obedience. Hearing the voice, he quit work and ran to the bell tower. He barely had time to grab the hem of his seduced brother’s robe. Father Leonid not only saved him from death, but also took care of the soul of his nearly dead brother - he explained his delusion and over time he came to his senses.
