It was heavy on my soul, a wonderful, deeply religious man, who brought up Marfa Pavlovna and Maryushka in the faith and had a great influence on me, died. The grief of Marfa Pavlovna, Maryushka, and myself is difficult to express even now, many years later. Pyotr Sergeyevich was buried, Marfa Pavlovna had to be taken away, he came to the chairman, asked him to let him go, answered: "There are no people on the collective farm, I can't. I spoke for a long time, and he stubbornly answered: "I can't." But then he said frankly: "You will bring the accordion and a wristwatch, I will let you go and give you a certificate." I went to Moscow, got a trophy accordion and bought a watch. The chairman gave me a certificate and a passport, and I took Marfa Pavlovna to our home.

My god! How hard it was for her to part with her house, the estate, the grave of Pyotr Sergeyevich, she shed many tears. Marfa Pavlovna arrived, and with her joy, light and spiritual peace entered our home with deep prayer, even the relationship with my mother ceased to seem hopeless and tragic.

At first, I called my mother at home every day, told me not to call again, I began to call once a week; When she heard my voice, she did not answer, hung up the phone, and learned about my mother's life from her sister, who treated Maryushka well.

Two years passed, Maryushka passed all the exams as an external student (in one year), received a certificate of maturity and in the same year entered the First Medical Institute, the competition was huge, but she passed the exams with an excess of three points, in this great mercy of God was manifested; To be honest, it was difficult for outsiders to understand why a simple peasant girl had overcome three years of high school in a year and brilliantly passed the exams for medical school, but I knew my wife, I knew her determination, hard work and indomitable desire to become a doctor and help people.

Marfa Pavlovna quickly got used to Moscow, and her first visit after her arrival was to the nearest church, and all three of us went. My god! How much joy and happiness was on her face when we defended the Liturgy and she confessed and received Communion after many, many years of separation from the church while living in the village. Maryushka and I told Marfa Pavlovna about our relationship with my mother and how no amount of entreaties or persuasion had given us the opportunity to change her view of both of us.

Marfa Pavlovna listened silently and said: "The Lord is merciful, in time this delusion will pass." Let us pray to the Mother of God, asking Her for help. Your mother, Alexei, is very good, but a veil of anger obscures her love for you now, and her mother's jealousy makes her hate Maryushka.

It's been more than three years since Mom left us; On Sunday, September 21, the day of the Nativity of the Mother of God, we were in church in Moscow, arrived home at 12 o'clock in the afternoon, and everyone went about their business: Maryushka was studying, I was making something, Marfa Pavlovna was reading a book by Ignaty Brianchaninov and, when she did not understand something, asked questions as best she could, answered. The bell rang, Marfa Pavlovna went to open the door, voices were heard in the hall, and the door opened. Mom came in, smiling and happy.

I've just come from Mass. Hello, happy holiday, and, coming up to Maryushka, she embraced and kissed her several times, quietly knelt down, bowing her head low to the floor, saying: Forgive me, a sinner, before God and you I am guilty. Forgive me. Maryushka was bewildered, lifted her mother up, and suddenly began to cry, and my mother embraced her once more, came up to me, and as she always did, made the sign of the cross and kissed her in the same way, and, turning to Marfa Pavlovna, said: Thank you for saving Alexei, for going out. Thank you to the late Pyotr Sergeyevich and to you, Maryushka. From that day on, life changed, my mother became the old one I had known all my life. She showed special care and tenderness to Maryushka, and her relationship with Marfa Pavlovna was surprisingly friendly, as if they had been friends all their lives, and their faith in God united them.

Years passed. Maryushka graduated from medical school in 1952, at that time she was already 26 years old, and in the same year she gave birth to twins, the daughter was named Maria, the son was named Peter, the children were immediately taken under the care of both grandmothers. Maryushka began to work as a doctor under the guidance of Irina Nikolaevna (professor and doctor of medicine), our good friend, the spiritual daughter of Father Arseny, I continued to work in my mailbox, dealing with the most difficult mathematical problems, but Maryushka had long overtaken me in terms of academic degrees.

The children grew up, the daughter married a biologist, who soon became a priest, the son has also been married for a long time and works as a mathematician and computer specialist. They have four grandchildren, two girls and two boys. Children and grandchildren have been brought up in the faith, know church services, read the Gospel, and everything was put into them by Marfa Pavlovna, mother, Maryushka, and, of course, by me.

I have listed almost everything that has happened to me. It was not fate, not chance, as many people who do not know God or do not fully know Him, say, the miracle, the great mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ and the intercession of the Mother of God and the saints that all the time protected me, saved me and strengthened me in faith;

My mother died in 1979, but we never found out why she suddenly disliked Maryushka and me, and we did not ask questions, silently avoiding the subject. Probably, it was necessary for my mother to realize whether she was following God's commandments about love for her neighbor, for subsequent humility and victory over herself. Marfa Pavlovna has become old, but she retains her memory, her sober mind, and she reads without glasses, prays a lot, and seldom misses church services; Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren come to her for advice and comfort.

After reading the memoirs, many will be surprised that nothing is written in them about our elder, Hieromonk Father Arseny. This is explained by the fact that in 1984 I was given the memoirs of him for safekeeping (at that time we were afraid that they would be found, because much of what I had written began to appear in samizdat without the knowledge of Father Arseny's living spiritual children), and they stayed in our family for almost five years, with M's permission.

Arsenius, believing that people would find all the best and necessary in the beautifully written memoirs of his spiritual children and associates.