Not so long ago, ten years ago, there was something similar. I lived about 30. years in the Lavra of St. Sergius. In the last years of my stay there, my obedience was, among other things, to guide the young pilgrims. It was gratifying to see the school children, tired of unaccustomed walking, but cheerful in spirit at the sight of the cherished shrines. And involuntarily I remembered my first trip to this very monastery with my parents, in 1863 or 1864. I then saved three or four rubles for the trip, refusing tea, but saving sugar cubes and selling them to help my parents for this trip. When the opportune time came, I began to ask my father and mother to go on the long-awaited journey. When I heard: "We know, son, that this is a good deed, but what can I do: there is no money!" - I triumphantly laid out my "sugar" capital before them, and - oh, joy! "I disarmed them!" In the morning we were already on the way. 60 versts were done in a day and a half. Here the holy Lavra in all its glory was revealed to us. Here is the field, which, due to ignorance of history, of course, my parents called me "Mamaev".

And in my imagination there was already a picture of the historical battle, which I had already read about in the life of the saint of God. Here is the cathedral - the chamber of Sergius, where he rests in the fragrance of the shrine. What the child's heart experienced then - it is impossible to retell. But that is why I understood these young pilgrims, because I had once experienced what they seemed to me to be experiencing in their hearts before my eyes. In the summer of 1903 alone, I counted up to 5,000 pilgrim students. There were not only children: there were many young men and maidens, students and cadets, and at that time, seven, only seven years ago, they came to the grave of St. Sergius, in order to draw from this life-giving, watering the Russian soul, the grace-filled power with which our Holy Russia had been strong until then.

Is it the same now?!

Some kind of snowstorm swept over our homeland. It blinded the eyes, made heads spin, drove many people crazy. The spiritual foundations of our historical existence have collapsed before our eyes. It is as if Satan came out of the depths of hell and, by God's permission, sent a stream of deadly winds over the Russian land. Will the Lord disperse these satanic influences with the spirit of His mouth? Will the Russian people sober up from this disastrous blow? Will Russia be saved?..

The answer to this question depends entirely on us. Children with a sensitive, pure heart already predetermine it. They already show by their own deeds that even if the branches have broken off from this hellish storm, the roots of the tree are intact: they are strong enough to sprout new shoots, they are strong enough to give new strong branches... If only to support these sprouts, to let the branches strengthen. If only we could preserve these bright, pure impulses of young souls from the miasma that still permeates the spiritual atmosphere around us.

Give it, Lord!

Poison by the "legal" principle

Before me is the petition of a city dweller who is not an intelligent man (and there are, to my deep regret, many such intellectuals and even the highest circle). In this petition he tells us that on the day of Communion of the Holy Mysteries he came to the monastery church for the Liturgy and asked permission to read the rule for Holy Communion himself. The serving hieromonk refused, and from here came the whole story. The priest argued, threw out the phrase: "Perhaps I am not worthy to read the rule as well?" to which the hieromonk replied with a monosyllabic "yes," and then the communant said: "It means that I am not worthy to hear," and left the church to go to communion in another church. But, remembering that he would not be given communion without a confession note, he returned to the church, approached the north door of the altar and "loudly", as he himself writes, began to ask for "notes"... It is clear that the hieromonk refused his request, for at that time he was already performing a proskomedia. And so this priest gave me a petition that I "authorize him to help the psalmist" in his service, but "with another hieromonk." At the same time, he says that it is already 5 o'clock in the morning of the next day, and he cannot calm down...

Forgive me, my readers, for drawing your attention to this petition, it is very characteristic. It shows some kind of ugly legal view of such relations, where there is not the slightest place for "legal" relations... And yet this view permeates almost all of our intelligentsia, not only those who have broken away from the Church, but also imagine themselves to dwell in the bosom of the Church, of course, with the exception of a few sons faithful to the Church. Our ancestors left us a wise proverb: "Do not meddle in someone else's monastery with your rule," but now it is the opposite: everyone wants to be the master and administrator of the church. A person has fasted, confessed, prepares for communion of the Divine Mysteries of Christ: it would seem that he should be humble, imbued with a sense of repentance, should keep peace within himself, peace with everyone, and for the sake of this peace humble himself, not demand what is not in his power, yield in everything, not confuse his repentant soul... But now, they did not fulfill his request, and he started a scandal, complained to the bishop... Tell me for God's sake: where is his Christianity? Is this a disciple of Christ? It becomes frightening for such people who imagine themselves to be faithful sons of the Church. I do not justify the hieromonk, but as a pastor I cannot take this legal point of view of a layman who, in anger at a servant of the Church, wants to approach the Divine Mysteries and does not notice such a terrible vice behind him... In order to bring him to his senses, I put down the following resolution: "The conciliar archpriest will explain to the petitioner that the bishop himself would not have allowed him to receive the Holy Mysteries in such an unpeaceful mood as he was, for Holy Communion would have been a condemnation to him. The Apostle Paul says that such unworthy communicants even died suddenly for this. But the hieromonk, who apparently treated the petitioner rudely, is not right: as a monk, he must be the first to set an example of humility. Oh, the archpriest will explain to both that mutual forgiveness and reconciliation, especially for the sake of the radiant feast of Christ, will bring happiness and joy to both warring parties"...

I don't know if I'm right in this case. But really, it hurts to read such petitions! And such complaints come to the bishop not only from the laity, but sometimes from the clergy as well. Christ's teaching about forgiveness, about peace with all, is forgotten; as if on a bill of exchange they demand retribution - for every offensive word, for any, sometimes unintentional, harshness... If the case is not worth considering, then you simply forbid the clergy to serve until reconciliation and the case is extinguished. But what to do with the laity? To forbid the communion of the Holy Mysteries? But they don't fast for years. The clergy have not yet eradicated in themselves the consciousness of Christian duty and the concept of the bishop as a conciliator and representative of Christ, and recognize his right to write such conciliatory resolutions: well, the laity are ready to complain higher for such an attempt to touch their conscience, to bring them to reason with the teaching of Christ. For them, the bishop is no more than a justice of the peace in such cases: he must satisfy them. This is what the above-mentioned petitioner writes: "Here is my finale, and I will be satisfied for the insult inflicted on me by the hieromonk..." And it turns out that only a shell of true Christianity remains, and the spirit flies away... It hurts to be a direct witness to all this! Speak to such people about the commandments of God: they will answer you: "We know the commandments without you, and you are the bishop, you are the boss: we complain to you, and you do your job - punish the guilty. And wait to teach us." And often it is necessary to "give progress to the case", appoint an inquiry, and then an investigation, and the guilty must be punished. Recently there was an incident that outraged me to the depths of my soul: a priest served in the same place for 41 years; At the instigation of one kulak, a case was brought against him, exactly 25 charges were brought against him, some of which were 35 years old, and by virtue of the existing law, in view of the proof of the charges (and he was accused, for example, of being late to give communion to a dying person, that he demanded 5 rubles instead of 2 rubles for the marriage, and the newlyweds had already managed to marry their children since then), He had to be dismissed to the outside staff, mitigating the punishment by considering him dismissed at his request, and replacing the "exclusion from the staff" with monastic obedience for two weeks.

When you think that such phenomena are becoming more and more frequent from year to year, coarser and uglier, you involuntarily think: where are we finally going? After all, before our eyes an obvious substitution of the moral worldview is taking place: the ideal of the former Russian man was the feat of humility, obedience to the precepts of the Church, the fulfillment of Christ's commandments in the perfection possible for man, the penetration of them by the spirit... The fulfillment of duty, the dictates of conscience – this is what the former Russian man strove for, if he had not yet extinguished the spark of God in himself, if he had not stifled the voice of God within himself. He went to the enemy with the cherished cry: "God is with us!" but he also knew how to forgive personal enemies from the heart with the words "God is with you!"

Is it the same now?! Not to mention the intellectuals: they have broken away from the body of the people, have gone in the direction of the West, think in the West, are incapable of understanding the people's world outlook and the ideals of the people (I mean, of course, the majority, knowing that there are still gratifying exceptions). I am speaking of the masses of the people: they are poisoned by some poison of self-esteem, infected with self-conceit, everywhere they seek their own rights, they are ready to demand fulfillment; of his worldly sentences, even in that sphere where he does not have the slightest trace of such rights... Did it ever happen in the old days that the peasants without exception signed a sentence: to replace two priests, a deacon and a psalmist, and sent such an audacious sentence to the bishop simply - for execution? And now it has become possible. And so the bishop has to admonish such flocks that "sheep do not judge their shepherds," that such a sentence cannot be accepted not only for execution, but also for consideration as lawless, and so on. Yesterday they confessed to their priest, today they sentence him to expulsion without even explaining his guilt, they are ready to boycott him, they are ready to sue the bishop himself... Why, this is a distortion of the Russian people's soul! This is the beginning of the disintegration not only of the church, but of the religious life of the people in general! Even if there are still few such ugly phenomena, what exists is already a terrible sign of the times.

A little more, and we, the bishops, will receive sentences with threats that if we refuse to carry out such sentences to the parishioners, they will not think of betraying the Orthodox faith, they will go over to schism or shtunda, to any heresy: for it is impossible not to admit that the mass of the people is still too ignorant, and if they adhere to the faith of their ancestors, it is unconsciously, not being able to give an account of its hope to those who ask. being unable to rebuff false teachers, sectarians and schismatics, and these wolves are now prowling all over the face of our native land... The people love the Orthodox faith, as long as they do not leave the grace-filled influence of their native Mother Church, but this influence, for various reasons, is becoming weaker and weaker in our days: the enemies of the Church are trying to weaken it in every possible way, both through the press, and through liberal laws, and through the preaching of socialism, legal principles, and through schools, and through infection with the grossest vices... We are living through a terrible time, even more terrible times are coming: pastors of the Church! Get ready to repel wolves! You have a feat ahead of you - perhaps to the shedding of blood! Take heart! Purify yourselves by podvig! Stock up on grace-filled strength! The enemy is at the door of your fence... he is already invading this fence! Woe to us who sleep, if he begins his disastrous work of seducing and plundering our sheep..