Elder Nikolai Guryanov's predictions about the future of Russia

Facts from the life of an old man

Back in 1909, a son, Nikolai, was born into the family of Mikhail Guryanov, a church regent. The father himself passed away in 1914, Nikolai’s three brothers died during the Civil War, and only his mother was granted longevity by the Lord; she rested in God in 1969 and all these years was a faithful assistant to her son Nikolai.

Already in his youth, the youth Nikolai showed himself to be a brave and honest Christian. Knowing the serious consequences of his action, he nevertheless publicly opposed the closure of one of the Orthodox churches. For this he was expelled from the pedagogical institute.

Nicholas had to earn his living through private lessons, but he saw his main business as serving the Lord.

For religious propaganda, the young man was exiled to a camp, where he received serious leg injuries and became disabled. Five years later, having returned to Leningrad, he could not obtain registration there and settled in the Tosnensky district.

"If we are with the Lord,

Antichrist cannot harm us"

Father did not speak empty words about the last times, but only repeated: “In the Word of God, especially in the Revelation of John the Theologian, everything is said about this, and we do not need to invent anything of our own... I will only say one thing: if we are with the Lord, the Antichrist is not can do us harm."

Father Nikolai was very worried that the Church began to participate in judgments about new documents. He said: “We don’t need these numbers and numbers... The Church existed and will exist without them. But it’s bad that we were dragged into these disputes and bickering. This is wrong, this is wrong."

But most of all, Father did not accept the spirit of intimidation and intimidation that accompanied this: “Why frighten people with this abyss of evil and talk about evil all the time?! - he was upset. – Instilling anxiety and fear will not lead to anything good. People won't stand this pressure. The anxiety has already turned into incurable fear. People were seized by horror - and they became slaves to rumors. Panic, fear and horror. This is how a person loses freedom... He loses Faith, courage, Hope... There is no need to talk about Love anymore... Everyone is waiting with horror for the Antichrist and all their thoughts are devoted to him and his stinking deeds... How wrong this is! A person is afraid of everything - physical death, destruction, persecution, loss of loved ones, hunger. Many people have already lost their minds from these fears, but what then?! After all, we were created by God as His image and likeness - and we are so afraid of the Antichrist, completely forgetting that we are God’s!”

“Unclean spirits are a force only in relation to the earth. Heaven looks at them as knowingly defeated by their own evil” (St. Nicholas of Serbia. Prayers on the Lake. M. 2004. P. 175)

I also noticed: “What are you all saying – “This is the time!” “God’s time, the Seventh Day of the Lord lasts... But people, yes... People have become different... Somehow God’s everything is worthless.”

“All these worries about documents are caused by two reasons - spiritual ignorance and fear of sin,” said Father. “That’s why you can’t say either “yes” or “no”!

He also said: “Humility, meekness, gratitude to God and especially to parents are needed at all times. All this adorns a person and will preserve you in the last times.”

“Always remember the Cross of Christ - and you will be saved!”

To questions about the Antichrist he answered: “So why do we talk about the Antichrist all the time, if we are waiting for Christ and turning to Him constantly: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners... And God hears and has mercy on us.”

“We don’t know when the Antichrist will appear. But we know from the Word of God that his seal will clearly be placed on the hand and forehead of his servants - the demons. - At these words, Father stood up, entered the inner cell and returned with the Gennady Bible in his hands. Eighth volume. “If they ask you about the seal of the Antichrist, then show these icons from the Apocalypse... I’ll now put bookmarks here... With the words: “We ourselves know nothing, but the Word of God speaks about it like this” - and show the holy icons.”

The Elder made bookmarks on pages: 468-469 and 476-477. “This is how they will put the seals,” he said.

To the question: “Father! Is the Taxpayer Identification Number the seal of the Antichrist? - answered: “No! No! This is not the seal of the Antichrist... But these numbers are not needed by the Church. We lived without it all the time.” I asked Metropolitan Philaret of Minsky to convey the words through A. A. Senin: “Lord, Vladyka, help you to save the Church from numbers.”

They asked the Elder: “How can we know that this is the seal of the Antichrist, so as not to perish?” He answered: “The Lord will preserve His faithful... If you live according to the Gospel, with the fear of God, piously, you pray to God, He will reveal that this is a seal... Just you don’t need to be wise and interpret on your own... We must believe the Lord that without His Holy Nothing happens by will.”

He often said: “The Lord always reveals to us what is coming... We just have to believe and pray. But real Christians, priests, Elders can be recognized by their deeds... This is true!”

“For us, the gospel should be the basis of all life.”

“If you don’t know what to do, trust in God’s Providence, and the Lord manages everything as He pleases... Just don’t resist. After all, we are so happy that we can talk to the Lord and ask the Queen of Heaven. And this is great happiness, isn’t it?!”

When asked again about the TIN, he said: “What is it - TIN. We don’t know... Does it make you kill, drink, smoke, idle around?! Keep the Faith in everything, protect your immortal soul from sin - and you will be saved. After all, what should an Orthodox Christian do? “He has a loving attitude towards everything that surrounds him, and at work he works honestly and with conscience... He does just that, and he doesn’t need any numbers and can’t change him.”

About products with barcodes: “These products cannot harm us. Read the prayer “Our Father” - cross everything with Faith, you can sanctify it with holy water - and there will be no grief... It is a sin to blaspheme and abhor God’s food.”

Mother Joanna said in response: “But there is such an Elder - Joseph - he throws all the products and things with bar codes into the abyss! This is the real Elder!” - Father crossed himself at the icon and said: “And I thank God that He does not leave me and sends alms through people - bread, a bun, this jar of canned food!” - At these words, he stood up from his chair, took out a jar of cod liver from the bag, which had strokes on it, made the sign of the cross, and asked me: “Mother! Let’s pray and eat what God sent.”

He never tore off or scratched these strokes - he simply did not notice them and did not pay the slightest attention to them... And he never talked about “codes” and “encodings”.

“For the last times we need to “save up” Faith, not food.”

“A person will accept the seal openly and voluntarily... God save everyone from it! They will renounce consciously. Everyone will know that this is a sign of Satan. There will be such torment as has not been seen in centuries! Just don't be afraid. Refuse the seal. You will have to go to the Cross... And then - the Kingdom of Heaven with Christ. What a joy! The suffering for believers who did not take the seal will be short... But it is sweet to die with Christ and for Christ!”

“The Lord will do a lot of mercy for people in those times. A person simply doesn’t need much. Believers will be content with little, and the Lord will nourish His own—wonderfully. And a drop of water will satiate. You just have to keep the true Faith... Kiss the Feet of the Savior... Don’t destroy yourself and the whole earth, the whole world of God with your sins.”

“We must keep the Gospel sacred, especially in our hearts. It is the measure of our entire life. Be sincere, not deceitful. Live clean. Always work with prayer - everyone in their place, obedience... And you don’t need to talk and think about the Antichrist all the time. After all, where your thoughts are, there is your soul. This is very harmful to a person.”

“After all, what kind of Antichrist will you be if you serve God in the Temple and pray? - Father said to the hieromonk, who kept asking him about the seal of the Antichrist. - Trust in God and always think about Him. Keep Him, the Savior, in your mind, heart and lips - and you don’t need to talk about the Antichrist all the time. Especially us clergy. After all, we are always with Christ! With the Lord! And there is no need to be darkened and afraid!”

They arrived with the news: “The Athonite elders said that in October of this year (2001) it will be the end... This will begin... War, a meat grinder, they will grind everyone, we must leave the cities and hide!” - Father Nikolai was indignant in spirit: “They got scared themselves (Father said more harshly, “they crap”, which indicates his extreme rejection) - and poor people are tormented, intimidated, instead of praying, working and trusting in God.” - Excited people objected to him: “Father! But these are the prophecies of the Athonite elders!” “He answered sternly: “These are all lies, not prophecies!” - and did not speak any more and went into his cell.

I will quote here the words that the Holy Mountain Elder Emilian (abbot of the Simonopetra monastery until 2000) spoke about the Antichrist:

At one of the last general conversations he said, “so that we don’t worry. So that we take care to have a living relationship with Christ. And we shouldn’t pay too much attention to the Antichrist, because otherwise he will take a central place in our lives... The Antichrist will become the main thing in our lives, not Christ.”

One of the most famous ascetics among the Athonite Elders, Porfiry Kavsokalivit (1906+1991), added to what was said: “Glory to Thee, God, that I have found at least one confessor who agrees with me. Baby, do you know what [other] confessors have done here in the world? With these electronic passports, numbering 666, they excited people and created a whole bunch of problems, both family and psychological. Worldly people cannot sleep. To sleep, they take psychotropic drugs and sleeping pills.

Tell me what is it? Christ, my child, does not want everything to be like this... Do you want me to tell you something else important? - For us, Christians who live by Christ, there is no antichrist!.. When we have Christ within us, how can the antichrist come into the soul? Can any opposite entity enter our soul? You know, baby, why are we so worried about these electronic passports and the Antichrist now? – Yes, because we do not have Christ in us! When we let Christ inside us, then everything around us becomes Paradise! Christ is everything! That's what you always tell people, baby. That is why we are not afraid of the opposite. Understand?!" (What did Elder Emilian say about the Antichrist? Website: Holy Mount Athos. https://www.isihazm.ru/?id=1794)

“If we have Christ within us, the Antichrist cannot do us any harm.”

“Once I asked the Elder in his cell: “Elder! Lately there has been a lot of talk about the number 666, about the appearance of the Antichrist, which is approaching... Moreover, some claim that the Antichrist has already come, they talk about an electronic notch on the right hand or on the forehead, about the clash between Christ and the Antichrist and about the defeat of the latter, about the Second The Coming of the Lord. What do you say? –

Geronda replied: “What can I say? I’m not saying that I saw the Mother of God, that there will be war and the like. I’ll say exactly this: I know that the Antichrist will come, that there will be a Second Coming of Christ, but I don’t know when... Tomorrow? In a thousand years? - I do not know this. However, this does not bother me... Because I know that at the hour of death the Second Coming of the Lord will come for each of us. And this hour is already very close for everyone...”

“Geronda! If the Antichrist appears in our day, will God allow us to endure suffering? “If we confess, Christ will give us these powers... Do not be disturbed by questions about the last times, the Antichrist and his signs, because know that if we have Christ within us, the Antichrist cannot cause us any harm, even the most insignificant harm.”

“Look,” the Elder continued, “I’ll give you an example: behold, the Antichrist comes and forcibly stamps me with a laser - 666... You ask, for mercy, Elder, isn’t this a sign of the Antichrist? - You know? Yes, if he wrote on me with laser beams and 666 times a thousand times, imprinted it indelibly, I would not be upset...

Why, you want to know? - Why, tell me, were the first martyrs thrown to wild animals, but they signed themselves with the sign of the cross and the lions became lambs? Why were they then thrown into the depths of the sea - they made the sign of the cross, and the sea became solid, and they walked on it as if on dry land. Why were they thrown into the fire? They made the sign of the cross, and the fire became cool. My blessed child, what are we now? Do we believe in Christ? What does our sign of the cross mean?

But listen, why did Christ come then? Didn’t Christ come to earth to strengthen our weakness? Tell all this to your Elder. And you yourself tell people so that they do not fear the Antichrist.

People have forgotten that we are children of Christ, we are children of the Church! (What did Elder Emilian say about the Antichrist? Website: Holy Mount Athos. https://www.isihazm.ru/?id=1795)

The Georgian ascetic Elder Gabriel (Urgebadze 1929+2.11.1995), a holy fool monk, barefoot, in torn clothes, wearing a kamilavka and with a diadem on his head, taught: “In the last times, people will be saved by Love, Humility, Kindness. Kindness will open the gates of Paradise, Humility will lead you there, and Love will show God.” (Diadima of the Elder. Memories of the Georgian ascetic Father Gabriel. M. 2005.P.109)

Schema nun Nicholas

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Service in the Holy Temples of the Baltic States

Since, due to his disability, Nikolai was not drafted to the front, and his article did not allow him to work in military enterprises, he decided to completely devote himself to the Lord and thus help people.

In 1942, he was ordained as a deacon, took a vow of celibacy (renounced marriage), and then, after completing theological courses, became a priest.

From 1943 to 1958, Father Nikolai served in the Orthodox church in the village of Gegobrosti, not far from Riga. His parishioners noted the rare warmth, mercy and friendliness of their holy father.

For his parishioners, St. Nicholas was an example of a true Christian, since he, even without taking monastic orders, always led a restrained and ascetic life, sacredly fulfilling all the rules prescribed to Christians.

Memories of Elder Nikolai Guryanov (Part 1)

Today, on the day of remembrance of St. Nicholas, we remember the man whose heavenly patron this saint became - Elder Nikolai Guryanov (May 24, 1909 - August 24, 2002). This man, along with the Venerable Martyr Elizabeth, the Venerable Silouan of Athos, and Schema-Archimandrite Sophronius (Sakharov), is a guide in the spiritual life of our monastery.

For the confessor of our monastery, Archpriest Andrei Lemeshonok, the meeting with Elder Nicholas became one of the most important in his life. At one of the conversations with parishioners* (this was while the elder was still alive), he was asked to talk about Father Nicholas, and the priest shared his memories of his meetings with him, his impressions, his perception. Today we introduce you to fragments of this story.

“It is important for people to see God in man”

— Probably, many were with Father Nikolai Guryanov, who serves on Zalit Island, because he is a famous elder, a famous person who has love for God and for his neighbor, which is the most valuable thing in this world. Because there is knowledge, there are prophecies, there are some miracles, and there is love. And love, of course, is immeasurably higher than everything. Love is a property of Divine illumination of the soul. That love that conquers both death and sin.

It is very important for people who are drawn to God to see love in a person, it is important to see God in a person, to visibly warm themselves, to feel the action of God. In such elders—bearers of God’s grace—God’s action visibly affects souls who resort to them for help.

I won't talk about biographical aspects. I will talk about my meetings, my impressions, my perceptions. Because we can see God and see man to the extent that the Lord reveals it to us. Having come to God, a person perceives many things incorrectly. A person brings all the mistakes of life before the temple with him to the temple. And, naturally, a person needs to take the path of repentance. Repentance is the way of changing a person through effort and experience of his mistakes, which inevitably lead to falls and wrong actions. Therefore, millions of people receive communion and participate in the sacraments of Christ.

A person who lives with God can also be seen in different ways. Therefore, I can speak about Father Nikolai subjectively, to the extent that the Lord gave me. But this measure was enough to save me from unbelief, doubt, those trials that befall a person when he tries to establish himself in God, tries to live, maintain the faith of Christ.

“Why should I come? I already received everything!

The first time I saw Father Nikolai was somewhere in 1979, when I went to Zalit with one person. There was just a moment when my soul was very sad and despondent. There was no spiritual experience and everything was perceived as God’s rejection of me.

When Father Nikolai served the Divine Liturgy, I felt that something extraordinary was happening. I couldn’t give an account of what was happening, but my soul began to come to life. And then, when he came out with the Chalice and began to give communion to the children, I saw light in him. A man stood nearby, and the two of us said: “Look at the priest’s face!” And his face was unearthly. This light is a reflection of Favorian light. There was such a light that gives the joy of resurrection! He is both visible and invisible at the same time. After it, the soul immediately receives such joy that it no longer needs anything else. This joy was enough for me for a couple of months. The Lord just comforted my soul so much.

After the service, I was asked to approach Father Nikolai, and I answered: “Why should I approach? I already received everything! I'm already happy! I do not need anything else. I'm a living person. Life has come to me!”

Nevertheless, I approached him and a conversation took place. Father Nikolai told me about my life. He said what would happen. How did I take it? He heard and heard, and left... Much of what he said came true. It did not happen immediately, but over ten or even fifteen years. Everything he said stuck with me. And then, of course, my soul was warmed with love and hope.

"A holy place is never empty"

The first word that Father Nikolai said to me was: “A holy place is never empty.” Then the cathedral was undergoing renovations. We worked from morning until evening. And it seemed to me that I was so exhausted by this work, that I was doing so much... I then realized that I should treasure this holy place, that I should thank God for the fact that the Lord gives me the opportunity to work for Christ.

But the holy place will not be empty! If I leave, dozens of people better than me will come and do it much better. It is very important that a person values his church obedience and does not transfer everything onto the rails of earthly calculation. So that he doesn’t say: “I work hard, but I get no thanks.” On the contrary, when the grace of God finds, a person wants to work, and so that no one notices this work, in order to leave everything before God. We see that people do not have such constancy, so, of course, a person needs crutches, needs supports. I jumped over...

There was a time - you fly! A man flies after he has accepted God, after he has been baptized. And I flew: I was a guard, I sang in the choir, I cleaned two areas as a janitor. There was a need. Then the abbot called and said that I should go to work in the church. And I have a protest! I’m already working hard, but I’m independent, but here I go and become completely dependent in the temple. This transition is very difficult when a person becomes completely obedient in the Church. I didn’t agree for a long time. He answered that I already sing in the choir for free. “You will get some pretty penny. You quit your job."

I was struggling, and Father Nikolai also brought some sense into me. He said that I needed to do this so that I would not be proud and say that I could do everything on a voluntary basis. I needed this. Subsequently, when the grace of God departed and when I had already entered the temple, this supported me. I had to feed my wife and two children. My wife didn't work. Whether you like it or not, get up in the morning and go sing the liturgy, go and sing the service in the evening, then go to church for a day. In due time I accepted it, resigned myself. These were the crutches that helped me go to God. Because there were moments of complete reluctance and protest, rejection of everything, and so it happened...

“Everything is bad for me, father...”

Previously, it seemed to me that everything around me was shining and had spiritual beauty, but then I began to notice the weaknesses of people, priests, and gradually the devil developed this protest in me. The worst thing is that I took communion often - and stopped taking communion. I was in such a state that I could pray all night, but here I don’t want to pray at all. And everything begins to fade, everything begins to fade, the soul becomes covered with a sinful film. It was a very scary moment... And then, thank God, the Lord gave me the opportunity, about a year later, to go to Father Nikolai again.

Then I went to see him almost every week for many years. And there were moments when I came up and said: “Everything is bad for me, father. I stopped saying prayers. Bless me to leave the temple. Everything is wrong, everything is wrong.” Suddenly he hugs me and says: “Thank God. How good! You are so happy! - “Why am I happy?” - “You work in the temple!”

I’m angry, my arms and legs hurt, I’ve stopped praying. I already walk like a robot, with a shovel in my hands from morning to evening (we worked very hard, every day without a break for 12-13 hours. The Lord gave us more strength). I hear the elder’s words and suddenly I realize that I don’t have any problems. That's the most important thing! Not any specific words, but just to see this light again. (Not like the first time. I've never seen anything like this again). Just see and hear the truth about yourself. Come to terms with it. You expected a lot, but you need to come to terms with it. All glory to God! All questions go away. All your overthrows and wisdom become unnecessary.

"Live by Hooke's Law"

The abbot did not really encourage me to go to Father Nikolai. There was such a struggle. Father Nikolai said: “Pray quietly at the face of the Minsk Mother of God, venerate yourself and come.” He saw that I needed it. I took on everything and then had to carry everything, the reverse side of my forward movement. I remember these words: “Live by Hooke’s law.” What is Hooke's law? The force of action is equal to the force of action.

“You just had to touch the beauty”

At first I went to Father Nikolai as a miracle worker, as a prophet, a perspicacious old man - I had such a childish vision of spiritual life: miracles, prophecies. But then gradually, imperceptibly, when I communicated with him, it all went away. You just had to see the priest and take the blessing, just touch that beauty. The Lord healed the soul.

There was a moment when Father Nikolai was very ill and lay there. They thought that he would go to the Lord, and suddenly I hear from his lips that we will live for a long time, about beauty. A person in such a state spoke about the beauty of life, and I felt ashamed of some kind of wisdom (when will the end of the world?), I realized that you need to appreciate life and the beauty around you.

“You can’t do something ugly and without love”

Father Nikolai loved flowers and trees so much, he said that picking a leaf would cause him physical pain. He had “velcro”, “seals”... You could see the beauty and harmony in the man, and all this despite the fact that he was in prison three times. This is a very serious test, and it did not embitter him, but, on the contrary, gave him the opportunity to see God and His action around and in God’s creations.

I brought him flour for prosphora, then we had a lot of flour, and there was an island. And one day he took the newspaper that I had crumpled up and folded it neatly, showing that one should not do things ugly and without love. Such moments are very important... Or the priest had a sore leg, and he carries a canned food: “On you, you’re hungry from the road.” For me, this is beyond human speculation about the end of the world and the coming of the Antichrist. The concrete love of a person was visible, a person’s life with God: despite his sore leg, he comes to you and thinks about you, he looks at you, and you are dear to him, he sees beauty in you, he sees God!

————————————

* You can listen to the full archived recording of this conversation on the audio disc “Seniority.”

To be continued…

Prepared by Vadim Yanchuk

22.05.2020

Famous predictions of the Venerable Elder Nicholas

Throughout his life, Father Nikolai studied. After graduating from theological seminary, he entered the Leningrad Theological Academy. In 1958, having completed his studies, he visited a certain elder, whose name is unknown to us, and this holy hermit told St. Nicholas the place that the Lord had appointed for his ministry.

Thus, the Reverend Father Nikolai ended up on Lake Pskov on the island of Talabsk, where he served continuously for forty years.

Since in those terrible years the church was excommunicated from the state and had no funds, the priest himself had to restore the dilapidated church, conduct services himself, bake the prosphora himself, re-roof it himself and paint the walls himself.

In the 60s, the persecution of the church intensified so much that a representative of the GPU arrived on the island with the goal of arresting the holy father.

Father Nikolai spent the whole night praying, and the next morning such a strong storm broke out that the island was cut off from the mainland for three days. After the storm passed, the authorities forgot about the disgraced priest and never disturbed him again.

The fame of Father Nicholas' wisdom spread widely throughout the country. Meeting complete strangers, he spoke to them like a wise and kind father and mentor, he knew about their sufferings and sins, which he could not possibly know about.

His prayers for healing were heard by the Lord, and he restored health to many people, even in cases where official medicine was powerless.

Archpriest Nikolai Guryanov about Putin and Russia: “His power will be uniform...”

This event happened several years ago, but even today not a day goes by without me remembering it, the prophetic words of everyone’s beloved, recently deceased elder Fr. Nikolai Guryanov about the next ruler of Russia after Boris Yeltsin. And it was like that.

In September 1997, with a small group of pilgrims, after the end of the patronal feast at the Pskov Snetogorsk convent of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I went to the island of Talabsk (Zalita) to the elder Archpriest Nicholas, known throughout the Orthodox world, for spiritual help and advice. At that time, I was expecting my entire family to move from Magadan to St. Petersburg, I wrote for a long time and could not finish the book, and therefore, on the advice of people, I went to the priest to find out when I should expect my relatives. Each of us pilgrims hoped to learn from the priest about the problem, and therefore the group gathered quickly, and we, without wasting time, set off.

It was quickly getting dark, the weather was deteriorating, a piercing wind blew with rain, and waves rose on the lake. The boat we were sailing in was literally tossed about by the waves. We prayed earnestly, asking God for forgiveness for our sins, considering this weather a reproach and test for us. But then the boat moored to the shore, we entered the island and began looking for accommodation for the night. Of course, it was too late to go to the priest, and the weather did not inspire hopes of meeting him. Over the course of the night, many of us thought through our questions, abandoned some vain and absurd ones, but others became more laconic and cordial.

In the early morning of September 23 or 24, 1997, I don’t remember exactly, we were greeted by completely different weather - a clear, surprisingly clean sky, complete calm and a beautiful sunrise. We, having prayed and thanked God for everything, went to the priest to his house. Pilgrims were already standing there, some were just approaching the treasured gate. As experienced pilgrims told us, the priest has already gotten up and is praying before going out to the new arrivals. We entered the courtyard and began to wait, watching everything happening around us. Suddenly, everything seemed to come to life: pigeons flocked to the roof of the house, and a few minutes later a white horse approached the gate gate, stopped, stuck its head over the fence and seemed to be waiting for the priest to greet...

There were about ten of us, many were visiting the elder for the first time, and, of course, we got to know each other, remembering everything that happened around us down to the smallest detail.

I also asked when I should expect my people from the North, to which the priest replied: “Soon. They'll arrive soon." Having received the blessing to write the book and the advice to “don’t rush in haste,” I stepped aside. And only one woman asked the priest not about her own personal things, but about all of us. I will never forget my father’s answers.

— Father Nikolai, who will come after Yeltsin? What should we expect?

- Afterwards there will be a military man.

- Will it be soon?

-...His power will be linear. But his age is short, and so is he. There will be persecution against the monks and the church. The power will be the same as under the communists and the Politburo.

- What will happen next?

- And after that there will be an Orthodox Tsar.

- Will we survive, father?

- You are, yes.

I confess to you that the main thing I remember from the elder’s words is that the new president will be a military man. Who did we think of at that time? Rutskoi, Lebed, someone else? But a year or two passed, and all of them remained unusable. Over time, the words of Father Nikolai began to be forgotten, but on December 31, 1999 at 15:00 in the afternoon, watching Yeltsin’s “renunciation” on TV, it was as if I woke up from a dream. The surprising thing is that on this day I was visiting another pilgrim, my old friend, who also witnessed the words of the priest. Together we recalled in detail these prophetic, exactly fulfilled words of Father Nikolai. Even the word “pogo(a)naya”, as if figurative and ambiguous, immediately became understandable, and now it was completely revealed.

My relatives are from the north, as Fr. said. Nikolai, we arrived soon, 2 months after the pilgrimage to our dear priest. And I still haven't finished the book. And soon the arrival of pilgrims to the priest was limited. And previously, deputies from Moscow, military men, and officials came to him in large numbers for advice and blessings.

I began to ask further about the “running” ruler. At a time when he had already become acting president, I went to one very famous and perspicacious abbot, who now lives in retirement in the oldest monastery in Rus'. What the abbot said shocked me even more because it exactly corresponded to the description of the new ruler given to him by the late elder Nicholas. I heard a lot of new things, which were told to me one on one in the cell of the monastery with great precautions that were not clear to me at that time. Now it is clear to me why the abbot was so careful and asked not to mention his name anywhere. I'll tell you about this another time.

Alexander Rozhintsev, Member of the editorial board of the almanac “Orthodox Army” specially for the site www.blagoslovenie.ru, Moscow, 12/31/02

From the Editor: in response to one of the skeptical comments on this prophecy, Alexander Rozhintsev, who wrote it down, responded additionally:

“The author of this article, Alexander Rozhintsev, is writing to you, who heard everything said from Father Nikolai. 1. The article was written in early January 2000, and was posted on the Internet later for technical reasons and not for any other reasons. 2. A military man is a KGB colonel, and also militant in spirit, which we all already know from Chechnya and so on. 3. RUNNING power, not rotten power, means that Putin will trust only the military and people in uniform and put them in power at all key positions in the state. Which is still happening. 4. But his age is small, and so is he. I want to clarify that the priest did not say “yes, and he himself,” but “like himself,” I later remembered this more literally and accurately, and did not correct it in this text. This is an ancient prophetic comparison - to compare the visible with the secret - the invisible, the obvious, with the hidden. The growth of a person is obvious, “his age is small, like himself” means not the length of time in power, but the actions of a person, and they will be small in the eyes of God, that is, all his attempts will be small (insignificant), which means they will or destroyed or changed decisively after him. 5. “There will be persecution against the monks and the church.” Persecution under Putin is the imposition of the Taxpayer Identification Number, the population census, the assignment of numbers to churches and monasteries, unrest and indignation because of this, as well as the expulsion of opponents of the Taxpayer Identification Number from such monasteries, and so on. as well as tax bondage for the Church. In a word, everything that we have experienced and are still experiencing. It was especially hard on the monastics, that is, the monks... 6. “The power will be like under the communists and the Politburo.” Here everything is completely simple - command methods, a narrow circle of decision-makers (the Politburo), the United Russia party and congresses, and, finally, Putin became the chairman of the United Russia party, by the way, quite recently. He also places his party members in all the places in the provinces, etc. So everything came true except the last phrase: “And after that there will be an Orthodox Tsar.” All that's left to do is live until it happens. Best regards, A.R.”

https://www.zaistinu.ru/articles/?aid=1131&comment=7351#c7351

How Elder Nikolai Guryanov gained the reputation of a miracle worker

For Nikolai Guryanov, life meant serving the Lord. Having accepted celibacy, he went to serve in a monastery. Church parishioners looked to him as an example of what a true Christian should be. One day Guryanov met an unknown old man, and he told him that there was a place on Earth where the Lord would like him to live.

This place turned out to be Lake Pskov, or rather, an island on it. It's called Tabasque Island. Guryanov, to the best of his strength and capabilities, began to help the local population, explained to them how to live righteously, and he himself went to serve in the church.

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The crucifixion of an elder in the last decade of his life

In the 1990s, mass pilgrimages to Orthodox shrines began to develop throughout the country, which, of course, can be called a gratifying phenomenon. Pilgrimage in our time is one of the most striking means of Orthodox mission. But for Elder Nicholas this “pilgrimage movement” turned out to be a new cross. Pilgrims flocked to the island in an “organized order” - sometimes it had to receive several buses a day - from 250 to 500 people. In any weather - in the summer heat, in the frost, in the rain, the elder came out to the people with Jerusalem oil, and did not let a single person go without consolation. From anointing with this oil they received relief from bodily ailments and mental sorrows.

...The cherished door of a small green house with one window opened, and the one about whom we would like to say as the Creator, “ancient of days,” came out - the highest splendor and wisdom appeared in shining gray hair, bright blue eyes and a humble figure. The priest raised his handle to the shelf above the door, took out a small bottle into which an unbent large paper clip was inserted, and began to anoint the people awaiting this anointing as a gift from heaven. “My precious ones!” - the priest addressed the pilgrims, and there was a feeling that under his hand the usual anointing turns into “the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” He addressed some pilgrims with a short word; with amazing ease, sometimes even with a joke, acting like a fool, he untied and resolved the most tangled knots of mental confusion and crooked thoughts.

Now is the time to say words of repentance. Bring repentance for misunderstanding and consumerist attitude towards great spiritual gifts. “The whole trouble is,” one experienced confessor told us, “that people do not have the correct Christian concepts about asceticism and eldership.” How did they used to go to the elders, for example, to Optina Hermitage, about which the pilgrims have most of the memories? We traveled when a great spiritual thirst set in, when a person with all his soul, with all his thoughts, rushed to God. They went to the elder as a spiritual ascetic who could give the right direction in life. They drove, “tormented by spiritual thirst,” to someone who could tell from experience how to fight sin, how to live correctly in God, how to live as a Christian amid the temptations of the modern world. And, as the last Optina elder Nikon (Belyaev) wrote, people who visited the elder only once were spiritually enlightened much more than those who lived next to him for many years and saw him day after day. In those days they did not make idols out of the elders; the Optina elders deliberately fought against the fanaticism of their admirers and admirers. They taught a person to believe in God’s gracious help, and not to torment the confessor with petty questions (here we, of course, are not touching on the relationship between the elder and the brethren of the monastery - other spiritual laws apply here).

How do they go to the elders these days? Cell attendants and the elders themselves testify: modern pilgrims almost never ask spiritual questions. The elder is treated, roughly speaking, as a fortune teller: where is my son now, he disappeared from home a long time ago; should I exchange this apartment for another, which one and on what date; go to a trade college or a teacher training institute, etc., etc.? As a result, we see: the more merciful the priest treats people, the more reproaches, slander, and misunderstanding he receives from them.

When you think about the feat of Elder Nikolai Guryanov in recent years, you remember the words of St. Ambrose of Optina, which he said, suffering from the influx of people, to the Shamorda mothers: “I am here with you - like a crucified one.” But people were still more modest back then. They did not knock on the priest’s closed doors and windows, did not force him to stand for hours in the cold or heat, did not immediately demand, “take it out and give it to me,” an answer to any question. They didn’t make films about the elders, didn’t write articles, didn’t take photographs with the elder as a souvenir...

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on Your world” - this is how the elders pray. They feel sorry for everyone, they don’t judge. They accept everything that happens as from God, thank you for everything: both good and bad. And we so wanted to drag the man of God into our struggle - as it seemed to us, a holy struggle - for the truth, we really wanted to draw out indignation from him: “Father! Look what's happening! (The number of exclamation points could be increased.) We have been sold! We are being deceived! They're bullying you too! We must denounce! We must defend ourselves!” And suddenly, in response, terrible words sound: “They don’t need any elder now, there is no elder” (the elder said these words more than once during one conversation and they were recorded on video).

These words are interpreted in different ways; they can be understood through comparison with what happened in the last years of his life with the great Optina elder Venerable Nektarios. This is what we read in his life: “The burden of old age is terrible and heavy. And being an old man every second is beyond the capabilities of a person. The elder was surrounded by great love, but also by great demands.” These are the words of the elder’s cell attendant, who saw not only the Divine glory, but also his human physical weakness, and the elder’s exhaustion for the sake of people, which is like the agony of the cross. And I thought: what were we all doing, not giving him peace? Forgetting how ascetics prepare for the transition to eternal life by staying in solitude for months and years. Many of them go into seclusion, and many, even when in public, no longer delve into their passing problems and embarrassments. Although this does not mean that, without outwardly participating in people’s lives, ascetics abandon them to their fate.

“My child, you have known me for so many years, don’t you know that now I can help you more with prayers than with words?” Have we ever heard such admonitions... and let them pass not only past our ears, but also past our souls? Why didn’t we give Elder Nicholas such an opportunity, natural for one who had already devoted all his strength to serving people - the opportunity to prepare for the transition beyond this existence?

The elder has been constantly asking lately: “Pray for me.” So it wasn't easy for him. We are all blind; the secrets of spiritual life are inaccessible to us. We judge everything carnally. We could not see what was actually happening spiritually in the house on the island of Zalita. We could not comprehend the essence of the spiritual battle that raged around the elder. Only then did we begin to learn some details.

Confusion, deception, distortion of the spirit of truth, various spiritual substitutions - this is what we could feel in some indescribable way at that time. But to figure this out?.. Is this our business? After all, like is known by like, and only a person involved in him, as they used to say, a secret man, can tell about the secret of the elder’s life’s spiritual path.

All our elders, both past and present, experienced persecution, slander, and misunderstanding. A contemporary of Father Nicholas, Elder Archimandrite John (Krestyankin), wrote about the reasons why this is happening: “Now many young people have rushed to the Church, some having already wallowed in the filth of sin, and some despairing of understanding the vicissitudes of life and having become disillusioned with its lures, and who even thought about the meaning of existence. People are making a terrible leap from the embrace of Satan, people are reaching out to God. And God opens His Fatherly embrace to them. How good it would be if they, like children, could embrace everything that the Lord gives to His children in the Church, and begin to learn in the Church to think anew, feel anew, live anew. But no! The great suitor - the devil - at the very threshold of the Church steals from most of them the humble consciousness of who he is and why he came here. And a person does not enter, but “barges” into the Church with everything that is and was in him from the life he has lived, and in such a state he immediately begins to judge and order what is right in the Church and what is time to change. He already “knows what grace is and what it looks like,” before even beginning to be an Orthodox Christian, he becomes a judge and teacher. Such people will accept holy orders, they will also accept monasticism, but all this will be without God, led by the same power that led them in life before coming to the Church and that has so cleverly deceived them now.”

Our words of repentance do not mean that all the people surrounding the elder were his tormentors. Of course, this was not the case. Among the elder’s visitors there were many real ascetics; the road to him itself was often a feat. At the door of the old man’s house, what is loftily called conciliarity was carried out. People felt the unity of spiritual life. It didn’t matter that someone could hear your question and the priest’s instructions. Everything here was useful to hear and see. Words addressed to one person were useful to other people.

Father loved people and received joy from communication. He was completely devoted to the will of God, and took everything that happened for granted. And he was against changing anything in his life in recent years, when it was offered to him.

Although we will still end this penitential chapter with the moralizing words of one priest: “Now it is clear that much of what is attributed to the elder was not something he said, but was spoken from him. They did not seek the will of God, but went with a definite decision: “I know what needs to be done to make it good.” Well, the elder gave his blessing, seeing such an internal attitude, and then the person got into trouble and began to learn a serious spiritual life, in which there is nothing mechanical. Often people traveled with exactly this wording: “Father, pray so that...” Or maybe you need to pray for something completely different? “Father, bless me for such and such.” Or maybe you should first ask: “Do I need to do this?” But the person is already convinced in advance that “his cause is just”; he just needs to receive a blessing. Therefore, the elder often answered all questions only: “Lord help you, Lord save you,” that is, as God Himself arranges everything, so it will be. It was necessary to listen carefully to the elder. And carry out his blessing in the sequence that he revealed, and not mechanically. Elders and ascetics are those who pray correctly. And God gives them his gifts. And we are all getting smarter. We love to ask questions, we want everything in our lives to be resolved quickly and better. But we need the right foundation of life for every person - to pray correctly and study all our lives from the Church, the rest will follow.”

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And it was like that. In September 1997, with a small group of pilgrims, after the end of the patronal feast at the Pskov Snetogorsk convent of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I went to the island of Talabsk (Zalita) to the elder Archpriest Nicholas, known throughout the Orthodox world, for spiritual help and advice.

At that time, I was expecting my entire family to move from Magadan to St. Petersburg, I wrote for a long time and could not finish the book, and therefore, on the advice of people, I went to the priest to find out when I should expect my relatives. Each of us pilgrims hoped to learn from the priest about the problem, and therefore the group gathered quickly, and we, without wasting time, set off.

Over the course of the night, many of us thought through our questions, abandoned some vain and absurd ones, but others became more laconic and cordial. In the early morning of September 23 or 24, 1997, I don’t remember exactly, we were greeted by completely different weather - a clear, surprisingly clean sky, complete calm and a beautiful sunrise.

We, having prayed and thanked God for everything, went to the priest to his house. Pilgrims were already standing there, some were just approaching the treasured gate. As experienced pilgrims told us, the priest has already gotten up and is praying before going out to the new arrivals. We entered the courtyard and began to wait, watching everything happening around us. Suddenly, everything seemed to come to life: pigeons flocked to the roof of the house, and a few minutes later a white horse approached the gate gate, stopped, stuck its head out over the fence and seemed to be waiting for the priest to greet him... There were about ten of us, many were visiting the elder for the first time, and, of course, we got to know each other, remembering everything that happened around us down to the smallest detail.

And then the door to the house opened, and the priest came out to us for a blessing and anointing with oil. One by one we approached him with excitement and trepidation, briefly told about ourselves: who and where we came from, and asked about our own. I also asked when I should expect my people from the North, to which the priest replied: “Soon. They'll arrive soon." Having received the blessing to write the book and the advice to “don’t rush in haste,” I stepped aside. And only one woman asked the priest not about her own personal things, but about all of us

. I will never forget my father’s answers. — Father Nikolai, who will come after Yeltsin?

What should we expect?

- Afterwards there will be a military man. - Will it be soon? -...His power will be linear.

But his age is short, and so is he. There will be persecution against the monks and the church. The power will be the same as under the communists and the Politburo.

- What will happen next? - And after that there will be an Orthodox Tsar.

- Will we survive, father? - You are, yes.

After these words, Father Nikolai blessed the woman. Following her, each of us, standing aside with bated breath and hearing the words of the elder, once again approached him and was blessed for the return journey. I confess to you that the main thing I remember from the elder’s words is that the new president will be a military man.

Who did we think of at that time? Rutskoi, Lebed, someone else? But a year or two passed, and all of them remained unusable. Over time, the words of Father Nikolai began to be forgotten, but on December 31, 1999 at 15:00 in the afternoon, watching Yeltsin’s “renunciation” on TV, it was as if I woke up from a dream.

The surprising thing is that on this day I was visiting another pilgrim, my old friend, who also witnessed the words of the priest. Together we recalled in detail these prophetic, exactly fulfilled words of Father Nikolai.

Even the word “pogo(a)naya”, as if figurative and ambiguous, immediately became understandable, and now it was completely revealed. My relatives are from the north, as Fr. said. Nikolai, we arrived soon, 2 months after the pilgrimage to our dear priest.

And I still haven't finished the book. And soon the arrival of pilgrims to the priest was limited. But earlier, deputies from Moscow, military men, and officials came to him in large numbers for advice and blessings. I began to ask further about the “running” ruler. At a time when he had already become acting president, I went to one very famous and perspicacious abbot, who now lives in retirement in the oldest monastery in Rus'.

What the abbot said shocked me even more because it exactly corresponded to the description of the new ruler given to him by the late elder Nicholas.

I heard a lot of new things, which were told to me one on one in the cell of the monastery with great precautions that were not clear to me at that time. Now it is clear to me why the abbot was so careful and asked not to mention his name anywhere.

I'll tell you about this another time.
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Elder Nikolai Guryanov's predictions for Russia and their interpretation

In 1997, a pilgrim came to Elder Nikolai Guryanov and asked him what the future awaits Russia. The seer described the future that, in his opinion, awaits Russia after Yeltsin's presidency:

the next president will be a military man;
it will be running power;
the period of his reign will be short, like the ruler himself;
believers and the church will again face times of persecution;
the state order will be similar to the communist one, with a Politburo;
the military rule will turn out to be unfavorable, and after it the rule will pass to the true Tsar - the Orthodox;
people living today (1997) will experience this bright time.

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These prophetic words of the elder were interpreted as follows:

Putin has a military rank, having previously served in the KGB;
The elder called the power shoulder straps, meaning that it will rely on those who wear shoulder straps;
the period of reign of the current president is short by Divine standards, and not by temporary ones;
persecution of believers and the Church refers to events related to the census and tax enslavement of people, as well as the recalculation of churches by numbers;
Communism with the Politburo means a style of government - command, one-party system and those close to power.

This interpretation quite harmoniously connects the prophecies of Elder Nikolai Guryanov with modern times. The way what is happening in the country is described has a basis in reality. It's only up to the Orthodox Tsar.

Cases of Serendipity

There are a great many stories about cases of the gift of clairvoyance in Elder Nicholas; in almost every memoir of a wide variety of people we find evidence that the priest “saw right through them” - he saw through the past and the future, hidden thoughts and actions. He could address a stranger by name at the first meeting or when meeting after many (ten!) years, and then, with constant crowds, unmistakably address them by name (although at the same time he could ask close people: “What’s your name?”). When asking questions about the circumstances of a person’s life, he himself named the city, street, place of his work, and could name the name of his confessor and close people.

Often, in a secret way, the elder revealed his future share. Significant in this sense are the stories of the abbess of two monasteries - Pyukhtitsa and Gornenskaya in the Holy Land. To the nun Varvara, he unexpectedly began to say to everyone: “Oh, how they will woo Varvara’s mother!” - “Where, father, should I marry you?” Varvara was tonsured into a robe, and - to match? And he again: “Oh, how they will match!” Soon Mother Varvara was summoned to Moscow and “wedded” to Pyukhtitsy as an abbess.35 When mother had already become abbess, the priest began to call her a builder. And soon she really had to build and restore a lot in the monastery.

And the elder predicted the abbess of Mother Georgia more than once: one day he brought her to the island cemetery and ordered: “Bless my mother. Cross the grave." The second time he sent her a letter with the address: “Abbess Georgiy.” And just before her appointment to the Holy Land, in the altar of his temple, he laid a cross on her shoulders.

Elder Nicholas could predict monasticism much earlier than the man himself thought about it, he could name a new name in tonsure. But just as joyfully, he predicted the birth of children, could name the gender of the unborn child, and blessed what name to name the baby. And he took special care to ensure that the marriage union was necessarily sanctified by the Sacrament of Wedding. In general, for all his high talents and insights, the elder generally demanded little from the people who came to him. The main questions he asked everyone: “Don’t drink? Don't smoke? Is the marriage completed?" Or rather, he knew the answers to all these questions in advance (which was demonstrated more than once), but it was necessary for the person to confess his vice and want to improve. And through the prayers of the priest, healings were carried out.

The elder knew in advance who was coming to his island. There is a lot of evidence that he sent to meet a person with a heavy load or himself went out to meet the long-awaited pilgrims. With the same care, Father Nikolai saw off the pilgrims from the island - precisely at the moment when they were supposed to be met on the way and taken with them by a hitchhiker or a late regular bus.

Insight was shown in relation to the offerings that people brought to the island. Often he did not take what was brought, saying: “You yourself need it more.” Or, taking, for example, a box of chocolates, he could say: “I’ll take the sweets (often in order to immediately give them to someone), but take the money.” Although he could not see that there was money in the packed box.

The elder saw with what heart the gifts were brought to him, therefore, rejecting the “delicacies”, he could accept the most modest offering. As one woman says: “Before leaving, my mother gave me a large head of cabbage and said: “Take it to the priest.” I grumbled very much (after all, you can buy it at the market in Pskov, why carry such a weight), but my mother insisted. I had to walk around Pskov with this head of cabbage, and my feet were worn until they bled from the new shoes. But when I came to the priest and after talking with him, everyone, consoled and satisfied, began to offer him the food they had brought, he did not take anything, and just looking at me, with a cheerful smile, he said: “Well, cabbages from home, I’ll take it!” Since I’m leaving home.”36

The elder showed insight not for the sake of surprise at an unusual gift, but for the sake of saving souls. Thus, the priest with spiritual vision could see that the person approaching communion did not have a cross, and removed him from the Chalice; could see and expose secret bad thoughts and actions, warn against a possible fall, a mistake in life. “The ice is thin! Walk carefully! – the priest often warned, thereby exposing a person’s spiritual immaturity. Trying to protect a person from a careless life, the priest often showed visitors to his cell a picture of the Last Judgment and said: “This is the Last Judgment, when some will go to heaven and others to hell. You and I need to get here (that is, to heaven), and not here. Look, there is eternity there, and eternal torment, and what a grief it is to get into this eternity! God forbid!"

God revealed to the priest the time of his death - this was also one of the manifestations of his gift of foresight. Shortly before his death, the priest said to some close people: “We won’t see each other again.” At the last meeting with the oldest priest of the Pskov diocese, confessor of Christ and his spiritual friend Archpriest Boris Nikolaev, the elder suddenly said: “Let’s sing the troparion to the Dormition of the Mother of God.” After the death of the elder, they understood what he wanted to say by this. The elder departed to the Lord during the Dormition Fast, shortly before the holiday.

One day, simple pilgrims asked the elder: “Father, how do you know all this? “To which the priest replied: “So simplicity is needed, because where it is simple, there are a hundred Angels, and where it is sophisticated, there are not a single one.”37 Elder Nicholas with these words outlined the law of the manifestation of clairvoyance in a person, which the Venerable once spoke about. Seraphim of Sarov: “When I spoke for myself, it happened that I was mistaken, but when I gave space to God, there were no mistakes.” The elder greatly revered St. Seraphim and said: “We are spiritually close.” And truly, for the Russian people of recent times, the priest was the same torch of Christ’s love and joy as the Sarov ascetic was more than a century ago.