4. THE DEATH OF THE ELDER HIEROSCHEMAMONK ANTIPAS I

It was also said about the late blessed elder Hieroschemamonk Fr. Antipas of Athena, that he tried daily and unfailingly to read the Akathist of the Mother of God. In addition, by reading himself, he also persuaded others to read this akathyst to the Queen of Heaven daily, believing that whoever would read the akathyst of the Mother of God every day would not die a natural death. His disciples tried to fulfill this old man's command as much as they could. When the elder himself fell ill and began to approach death, guided by all the Christian mysteries, then his disciple, the monk Fr. Agapius, came to visit him. Seeing that the elder was no longer in the mood for talking, since he had already become very weak, and remembering the elder's instruction to read the Akathist every day, and realizing that it was no longer possible for the elder himself to read it because of his complete exhaustion, he decided to read it for him himself. Knowing the Akath by heart, he began to read it aloud. The dying man, apparently, listened attentively to his beloved akathist. His face took on the appearance of complete calm; The breath became quieter and quieter, and on the 7th kontakion. when Fr. Agapius pronounced the words of the Akathist scholar, "I desire that Simeon may depart from this present age, the lovely one," the elder peacefully gave up his spirit to God, departing from "this lovely age" into the spiritual and blessed world for eternal joy and peace.

5. ON THE CLAIRVOYANCE OF THE ELDER FR. ISAIAH

Hieromonk Father Isaiah died in 1914, having lived in the monastery for 60 years, of which he lived the last 20 years in the Forerunner Skete. The elder led a harsh ascetic life. His non-acquisitiveness was instructive — handicrafts combined with prayer — always. Some of his feats were amazing, for example, when he lived in a separate cell, he did not heat the stove in winter, so the water in his cell froze, and he, for God's sake, endured the cold. His other secret feat was learned only after his death, when they began to tidy up his body, it turned out that he had never cut his toenails, after which they were so large that they reached some two versheks in length, others, bent, as if rooted into the body. One can think that the elder experienced terrible pain because of this, but silently, for God's sake, without showing anyone his sufferings, he secretly performed his podvig from the praise of people. Many cases of his amazing perspicacity are told, of which we will cite at least one. Thus, once the Skete Schemamonk Fr. Isidore happened to be justly offended by a monk who lived in the same skete, who, being considered his spiritual son, deliberately insulted his spiritual father and did not come to him in order to humble himself and ask forgiveness, according to the monastic custom; in the meantime, the time for communion came, and the offender had to come to O. Isidore willy-nilly. The latter, offended, decided not to accept him for confession, but to send him to another confessor. "I have just thought about it and decided to do so," Fr. Isidore himself said, "how in church the elder Fr. Isaiah came up to me and said to me with conviction:

"No, father, no, don't drive him away from you, it was he who did it in his simplicity, and the enemy attacked him. He will reform, accept him and do not be troubled," the elder finished and left me. I was utterly surprised, thinking how it was so, why could he foresee my intention and know my thoughts? Of course, after this I received the mentioned monk with love, and the last thing I did after this incident was completely reformed."

6. ON THE POWER OF THE WORDS OF THE ELDER HIEROMONK ISAIAH

Once upon a time, a very venerable-looking general came to the Forerunner Skete on a boat with a guide from the monastery. The owner of the skete, O. I., approached him with a command. The general announced to him that he, with the blessing of Father Hegumen, had come in order to confront the elder Fr. Isaiah; Then the owner of the skete answered him: "What can Father Isaiah say to you in particular, that he is a simple, uneducated man, and you can hardly learn anything interesting from him?" The general seemed to be in disarray and embarrassedly objected: "I have been told that the elder Fr. Isaiah is an ascetic of holy life." To these words of the general, the host replied: "Yes, all the living brethren here are ascetics. But only for you, as an educated person, Fr. Isaiah, as a simple elder, is not suitable for consultation. You'd better go down to our skete church; take a walk around the island, here we have wonderful picturesque places." — "Yes, no! That's not why I came here," the general replied to him embarrassedly, "I need to calm my soul, whoever he is, your father Isaiah, and since the Hegumen has blessed me to be mad with him, then I beg you to humbly accompany me to him!" Behold, Brother Nicholas will accompany you to his cell."

"We went together," Brother Nicholas told us later, "when I said a prayer at the door of the cell, the elder answered 'Amen!' and opened the door of his cell. The general went into the cell, and I remained in the corridor. A few minutes passed, and then I heard from Fr. Isaiah's cell some kind of strong weeping; I was terribly interested, who is crying and why? After waiting a few minutes, I could not stand it, I was worried about the spiritual desire to use the demon of the elderly, and I quietly opened the door slightly, so that I could hear their demons through the crack that had formed. I heard the general crying like a child, and the elder in a stern voice, but dissolved in place and love, admonished him. Through tears, the general said to the elder: "These two people, father, died through my fault! The elder answers him: "You need David's repentance, imitate him in this, but do not despair like Saul. This is how the Word of God tells us about this," — at the same time, Fr. Isaiah began to quote texts from the Holy Scriptures, and all this came out so reasonable and edifying that I was extremely surprised: how could our simple elder Fr. Isaiah be so reasonable and beautiful, I thought, he said?! The general could not talk much, but only wept and sobbed. Finally, the elder began to calm him down and, comforting, said: "Do not grieve greatly, but trust in the mercy of God; May the Lord help you and grant you true and salvific repentance and peace!" - and began to say goodbye to him. At that moment I hurried away from the door. A little later, the general came out of the cell, all in tears, and, wiping away his tears, said to me: "Take me to the pier to the boat." "No, no, I don't need anything else, I got what I came here for!"

7. ON THE GRACE-FILLED WORDS OF THE ELDER SCHEMA-MONK FATHER NIKITA

Schema-monk Nikita

A similar incident happened to another man, who suddenly began to cry when he saw Schema-monk Fr. Nikita. The assistant of the innkeeper, Fr. Peter, told us about this. An officer came to us on Valaam when he was a middle-aged man, he did not come for pilgrimage, since he was a very small man and was very indifferent to religious questions, as he himself said afterwards. The purpose of his trip was: to amuse himself and admire the beauty of the wondrous and picturesque Valaam. Having received a blessing from the abbot, Fr. Hegumen, to inspect the sketes and all the sights of the monastery, the latter wished first of all to take a boat ride through the bays of the monastery and on the way to stop somewhere at the sketes. "So I was sent away," said Fr. Peter, "to accompany the latter and show everything interesting. So we went with him in a boat across the bay; My dear companion talked to me heartily, confessed that he was terribly tired of life: he had long since lost the purpose of his life; all around sees only lies and hypocrisy. "I do not find anything joyful in my life; I have become cold and indifferent to everything, I look at everything directly with a kind of anger," and so on. We examined the Konevsky skete; we drove further along the bay to the Forerunner Skete. They came. Getting out of the boat and climbing the mountain, we first examined the brethren's cells, the garden, went into the church for a moment, then went to the Cross, from where a wonderful view of the lake and the islands opened up - all this made a positive impression on my companion. Then they went along the path around the island. I had a long-standing desire to see the elder Schema-monk Fr. Nikita and to have a heartfelt relationship with him - for the good. But what is to be done? I knew that my companion did not want this and was not interested in it; then I cautiously warned him on my way and said to him thus: "I will leave you for a few minutes, as I am thinking of going to a certain elder for spiritual trouble." "Please, please! My companion replied to my words. "Talk as long as you like, I'll wait, but dismiss me from it, since I have no desire to listen to edifying stories." The skete path, as you know, passes by the very cell of the elder. As soon as we approached his cell, I knocked lightly on the door of the cell, and the elder immediately went out. My companion, an officer, had not yet managed to move away and, as if involuntarily turning around or being interested in the appearance of the elder-schemamonk, looked at him. Father Nikita looked at us with his usual affectionate and inviting smile and, bowing, said to us: "Hello, dear guests, welcome! Come to me, a wretch, visit me, a sinner!" The officer was taken aback by the suddenness of such a meeting and approach, and I did not know what to do either. The elder, as if not to overwhelm our confusion, even more enthusiastically invited us to visit him. My pilgrim threw up his hands and, in bewilderment, without giving an account, obediently followed the elder to his tiny front prayer cell. The elder sat us down, and he sat down in front of us on a low bench and, looking kindly at us, began to talk to us simply and good-naturedly. I noticed that my wanderer, as if struck by something, became moved. Having said a few words to the elder, he suddenly burst into tears, from where they came from him, he wept as little children cry when someone greatly offends them. Then the elder began to console him, saying: "Do not grieve, but pray to the Lord and the Most-Pure Virgin Mother of God, and you will be glad." But through tears, sobbing, he said: "Father! Father! I am a great sinner." "Do not despair of your salvation, my dear, for the Lord has come to the earth to save sinners, and not the righteous," the elder replied to him. I felt that my presence was superfluous, and silently left the cell. I do not know what they were talking about, but it was not until quite a while later that my officer came out with his face swollen with tears. On the way, returning back to the monastery, the last of my words repeatedly said with amazement: "I do not understand what has happened to me; I have never wept so much in my life as I did now. This elder is really a holy man among you, and I feel that after talking to him there has been some kind of salvific change in my soul. Now life has begun to have meaning for me, and I know what a person should strive for in order to find happiness. Without God, we are the most miserable and miserable people." Hearing these words from my companion, I rejoiced in my soul and thanked God, thinking that behold, where he did not expect, he had found peace for his troubled soul and joy for his heart.

8. FR. NIKITA: "OBEDIENCE DOES NOT DROWN IN WATER"

Told by Fr. Peter. "While still a novice, I sometimes went to the late elder Schema-monk Fr. Nikita at the Forerunner Skete for spiritual benefit. Once, exactly a year before his death, the elder asked me, through others, that I come to him for some work. Early in the morning, I went to him; it was in the middle of April, when the ice on the lake was very bad. Taking advantage of the matinee, I transferred from our monastery island to the island of the Baptist safely and came to the elder. The Elder received me cordially and asked me to write him replies to the few letters he had received. I willingly agreed and wrote letters almost before lunch. At the end of the meal, he and I went to the wretched refectory of the skete, and at the end of the meal I again went to the cell of the elder and continued to write letters. Having finished, we spiritually besieged him, said goodbye. Since it was already far past noon, the elder, when saying goodbye to me, with his usual inviting smile, said to me: "You, brother P., when you descend from my cell to the lake, go not along the road, but to the cape that juts out from the Valaam Island, and go "without hesitation." May God bless you and preserve you!" Descending from the mountain along the ladder that goes from the cell of the elder to the lake, I approached the water and saw that the local skete Hieromonk Iliodor was throwing stones on the ice, wanting to know the hardness of the ice; The stones broke through the ice easily and sank into the water, as the spring sun was very hot, and the ice became very weak. There was not the slightest fear or confusion in my soul, and I, not coming close to Hieromon, fearing that he would detain me with conversations or dissuade me from crossing the bad ice, stepped on the ice and firmly and confidently went to the other bank. Although the ice was very weak, I, as if hearing in my ears the blessing of Fr. Nikita, for whom I had great faith and love, fearlessly walked on the ice farther and farther. The hieromonk, as he later said to the writer of these lines, looked with horror and amazement at this procession as if directly on the water, well aware that it was impossible to walk on the ice under any circumstances. Having safely crossed to the indicated place, I then came to my senses, and, realizing the seriousness of my journey, I no longer began to be guided by faith, but by reason, and, having walked a little along the shore, I again wanted to test how hard the ice was, and as soon as I touched the ice with my foot, I immediately fell almost waist-deep into the cold water and instantly jumped ashore. Having poured the scooped water out of my boots, I no longer began to test the hardness of the ice, but quickly went home. I did not say a word about this incident to anyone, for fear of being known as a miracle-worker or a braggart. But this is a true event that happened to me a year before the death of Schema-monk Nikita, and only the power of his elderly prayers and my obedience to him saved me from drowning."

9. DEATH OF FR. NIKITA AND FR. ONUPHRIA