From the deep experience of the inner life, the Monk Isaac also wrote such a reflection that cannot be forgotten. "Understand the rest," he turns to his invisible disciple, "for this is not yours, it is beneath your virtue, but this grace is that which bears you in the palms of your hand, lest you be afraid." Man with all the possessions of his life in the hands of God's hands! How can it be forgotten, how necessary it is, especially in moments of deep sorrow!

"This," continues St. Isaac, "put into thyself in the time of joy, and weep, and weep, and prostrate over the remembrance of thy sins, which occur at the time of thy allowance."70

With reflections of the Monk Isaac on the life of the future age, it is appropriate to conclude our brief extracts from the translation of his works, made by the blessed elder Paisius Velichkovsky. St. Isaac speaks of a person who abides in the teaching of the Divine Scriptures. "Glory to His Divinity," exclaims such a person, "glory to His miracles: most glorious and foremost is all His works: Thou hast raised up my wickedness to the heights of His wickedness, and to what thoughts Thou hast swept away and delighted my soul, and abiding in these miracles, and ever wondering, He is always drunk and is as if he were abiding even after the Resurrection." Such a person, according to St. Isaac, "taking in mind the glory of the age to come, and the hope preserved by the righteous and its new dispensation, does not think, nor remembers the things of this world." This man, contemplating the age to come, thinks of the age in which he exists: "For when the age is wondrous, God has prepared for him, for there is a fault for Him to create this world first, and to spread it, and to enrich it with a multitude of species and natures." The question is very lengthy – and the answer to it is: "With the destruction of this world, the beginning accepts the age to come. And then every man says this: O mother, who is forgotten from her children, whom she has given birth to, and the true children who are barren, who have never given birth! Rejoice, O thou who does not give birth to barrenness, for the earth hath given birth to thee."71

Let us not continue the immortal lines of St. Isaac about eternal life, just as we will not touch upon those many questions of spiritual life that he touches upon. They are boundless and deep. The above is enough to understand the great work of Elder Paisius, who introduced Russian monasticism to the fount of spiritual life, hidden in the Homilies of the ascetics of St. Isaac the Syrian.

Eldership in the Optina Hermitage

... truth without humility is blind What light shines when we humble ourselves and peace reigns in our hearts! Love everyone, even if you are not loved; do not seek love from others, but love them yourselves. (From the letters of St. Macarius of Optina)

The planting of eldership in the Russian Church, connected with the podvig of the Optina Hermitage, was a work of great difficulty and sorrow according to human understanding, at the same time an action of the incomprehensible Providence of God, which strengthens the strength and strength of the work of the elders precisely in sorrowful circumstances.

Sorrowful was the path of the restorer of the eldership, the Monk Paisius Velichkovsky, but at the same time glorious was his path, having found the pearl of salvation, and he was cheerful, according to the word of the service composed by him, since he found a treasure and a source of everlasting and pure joy – spiritual discernment in God and spiritual guidance of people to these ever-animal sources of the spirit.

The life of Paisius' disciples, who returned to their homeland and brought with them the salvific teaching of the eldership, was full of sorrows. One has only to delve into the biographies of Schema-monks Theodore and Cleopas in order to understand with what hostility and incomprehension their supposedly new, but essentially old, patristic teaching on the revelation of thoughts, on the inculcation of radiant spiritual wisdom in Christ, was accepted. It is necessary to understand the bitter sufferings of the blessed Elder Theodore, who died in the distant Alexander Svirsky Monastery. Moving from one monastery to another after returning from Moldavia, Fr. Theodore met Fr. Leonid at the Cholna Monastery, who became his faithful disciple and with whom they endured great sorrows on Valaam, when it came to threats to expel Fr. Theodore from the monastery. Everywhere misunderstood, condemned and often gravely ill, Father Theodore reposed in the Lord on the Friday of Bright Week, exclaiming: "Glory to God, glory to God, and I finally see the shore of the sea of life."72

His follower, Elder Leonid, in the schema, Hieroschemamonk Lev,73 was the man who was able to affirm the truth of the work of the elders. The mighty, great in his conviction and humility soul of Elder Leo carried through his entire earthly life sufferings for his neighbors and the confession of eldership. This soul, through its sufferings, essentially began the work of eldership in Optina, affirmed, strengthened, and created its very foundation.

It is impossible to calmly read those lines from the life of Elder Leonid and his disciples, which tell how they were humiliated by the spiritual authorities, expelled, resettled, persecuted, and even accused of heresy. And it was in these bitter sorrows, in reasonable and humble patience, that strength of the elder's work was forged, which became the strength and foundation, the joy and pride of the Russian Church. Here are the pages of the life of the ever-blessed Elder Leo, telling how, at the direction of the spiritual authorities, he was transferred from skete to monastery, from one cell to another. "Sometimes, when it was announced to him that he had been ordered to be transferred to another room," we read in his life, "the elder would take the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God in his arms, sing loudly: 'It is truly meet...' and go to the new cell. Having placed the icon and prayed, he immediately sat down, not caring about anything, and as if nothing had happened, he continued his work: he wove his belts and received the brethren. Meanwhile, his close disciples would follow the elder with books, some of his other cell belongings: thus he very easily settled in his new home."74

When Elder Leo, already elderly and sick, was ordered to attend divine services in the monastery, this also resulted in a popular celebration – so revered did the ordinary Russian people revere him. "The people awaited his appearance," we read below, "and when he came out, many fell to the ground, kissed the hems of his garments, and some loudly expressed their compassion for him. Between the two walls of the people, Father Leonid walked at least half an hour a short distance from the cell to the church, jokingly driving away those who were too crowded to him with a stick; everyone tried to grasp his hand and accept the blessing. A huge crowd of people gathered at the right kliros, where the elder stood."75

The elder died, having a premonition of his transition to the other world; And in his dying sufferings he was just as adamant, demanding of himself and humble-minded. The love of his spiritual children, the hieromonks, supported and strengthened him. Many times, at his request, the canon for the departure of the soul was sung. Suffering greatly, the elder could not eat food, and only the Heavenly Bread strengthened him. For the last two weeks, the dying man took communion almost every day. Dying in severe bodily suffering, the elder experienced great spiritual joy and all the time he thanked God.76