Elder Elijah where is he now taking. Elder Eli: “We are all happy people! How to get to Elder Elijah Nozdrin
From "Confessions of a former novice":
"Another elder whom I happened to meet was Optina Elder Iliy (Nozdrin). I saw him many times in Optina, even talked to him personally twice. I also have very big doubts about his clairvoyance. He was very good relations with Abbess Nikolai, at one time he even often visited her monastery and sent quite a lot of sisters to her, especially “mothers” with children.
The stories of all these "mothers" have always caused me outrage. Rarely, these were some dysfunctional mothers who had to take their children to an orphanage. Alcoholics, drug addicts and homeless people are not accepted into monasteries. As a rule, these were ordinary women who did not work out family life with the "popes", and on this basis the roof went in the direction of religion. But after all, confessors and elders exist just to guide people on the right path, simply to "set people's brains". But it turns out the other way around: a woman who has children, imagining herself a future nun and ascetic, goes to such a confessor, and he, instead of explaining to her that her feat consists in raising children, blesses her to the monastery. Or even worse, insists on such a blessing, explaining this by the fact that it is difficult to be saved in the world. Then they say that this woman voluntarily chose this path. What does voluntarily mean? We do not say that people who got into sects voluntarily got there. Here this voluntariness is very conditional. You can praise the orphanages at monasteries as much as you like, but in fact, these are all the same orphanages, like barracks or prisons with small prisoners who see nothing but four walls. How can you send a child there who has a mother? Orphans from ordinary orphanages can be adopted, taken into a foster family or under guardianship, especially small ones, they are in the databases for adoption. Children from monastic shelters are deprived of this hope - they are not in any base. How can you generally bless women with children in monasteries? Why is there no legislation that would prohibit unfortunate confessors and elders from doing this, while abbesses, like Metropolitan Nikolai, exploit them with pleasure? A few years ago, some rule came out that forbade the tonsure or monastic vows of novices whose children were under 18 years old. But it didn't change anything. They just live for a long time without being tonsured, that's all. In St. Nicholas convent more than half of the sisters are “moms” or former “moms” if the children have already grown up and left the shelter.
Of course, Elder Vlasy from the Borovsky Monastery sent most of the sisters to Abbess Nicholas. He managed to bless here not only women and young girls, with and without children, who came to him, as to a perspicacious old man, for the permission of their life problems, but also very old grandmothers, and even foreigners.
How did the sisters get into the monastery? As a rule, a woman or a girl came to the elder or hieromonk-confessor in a difficult life situation, many came into depression, having lost their life orientation, having lost loved ones, or simply in a spiritual search for something high and eternal, and someone just out of curiosity. After a long or very short communion, they found out that they had, it turned out, a high vocation for monastic deeds. For some, the desire to fulfill this calling arose immediately, some visited monasteries for a long time and thought. Then the spiritual father blessed them in the monastery with which he collaborated.
Of course, there must be someone who has a vocation to monasticism, but for some reason it turns out to be almost everyone who comes for advice. All this was more like recruitment than spiritual nourishment."
What recently took place the so-called. "Missionary expedition of the Russian Orthodox Church» led by Schema-Archimandrite Eli (Nozdrin) , which is called "known to all Orthodox world spiritual strength, wisdom and meekness of an old man.
The message, in particular, says that "after the service, the parishioners ... were waiting for the appearance of the spirit-bearing priest, who is now called the elder of the Russian Land, to touch him, to come under his blessing."
Let us cite the testimonies of some Orthodox believers, which allow us to doubt the "elderhood" and "spiritual wisdom" of the respected Schema-Archimandrite Elijah.
I.
First of all, I want to say that I am opposed to Father Eli being called an elder. In my understanding, he is not. Elderhood presupposes not only spiritual experience, but a certain spiritual community and continuity, and what kind of continuity does Fr. Elijah have? With which of the elders of the 70-90s does he have a spiritual community? I would say that at one time appointed to be Elder of Optina Hermitage... Which is not surprising. This twig stretches from Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), who was a complex personality, and most likely worked for the KGB, plus expressed and professed heretical views, and the shameful sin of ecumenism, which reaches out for the ROC MP, lies on his conscience.
Fr. Elijah was tonsured by Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), who then ordained him a hierodeacon and hieromonk. About the Pskov-Pechersk stay of Father Elijah in the monastery walls (from 1966 to 1976) - silence. 10 years - no information.
Much more is known about Father John (Krestyankin) during this period (he appeared in Pechory in 1967). And about his monastic path. Then some of the elders were still alive, and they began to spiritually minister to Father John.
As a matter of fact, in the late 1980s Father Iliy was sent to Optina with a certain “task” - the opening of the monastery and its life had to take place under the supervision and control of the church authorities, who were still closely connected with the KGB and the CPSU. Father Eli was "his" person. He was the perfect fit for the position of spiritual father. But there were unforeseen obstacles. It turned out that there are other views that run counter to the “party line”. But it became clear that this "party" would stop at nothing. However, Father Eli himself was far from fulfilling the "task". He just showed amazing cowardice. And the line of the party was performed by Father Melchizedek (Artyukhin)...
Soon after Local Council In 2009, Sheikh Iliy became the confessor of his fellow student at the Theological Academy, the newly elected Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, and moved to Peredelkino, in the courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. However, this does not surprise me ... The clan of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) won unexpected victory. I hope it's temporary. Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev), Vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Chairman of the Department of External church connections Moscow Patriarchate, from the same cohort. In fact, the close link between the authorities and the Russian Orthodox Church has not disappeared anywhere, and those who were once close to secular power turned out to be in the highest echelons of church power. Here is the succession!
I can't say anything about Father Elijah as a monk and priest. Because his spiritual life is the mystery of God. And I must show respect for his monastic rank. At least formal. But I wonder if there were more examples destination an elder in the history of the Church? When and to whom did you make a powerful PR campaign in the media?
Most of the reverends and elders of the era of the USSR, and even after 1991, were persecuted to one degree or another, either by the authorities, or by their own brothers, and often existed in disgrace (however, this was also in general church history). Here is an amazing example, when an old man is “spun up” also above. Of course, opal is not a sign of holiness. But in this case, talking about something else...
I read what they write on some Orthodox forums about Father Elijah - the style of speech is simple - religious exaltation. Completely alien Orthodox spirit. Orthodox information sites are literally “crammed” to capacity with conversations, interviews and instructions from Fr. Or me. It is already written that “almost the last real old man” Russian Orthodox Church (http://www.pravmir.ru/starik-i-vechnost/)
Fortunately, Father Eli does not consider himself as such. In this he is honest with God.
In fact, at the moment, the leadership of the ROC MP is the "spiritual children" of the odious Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov).
II.
Those who lived in Optina for a long time, after the appearance of Abbot Elijah in Optina, should remember the scandal with the photo portrait of Pope John Paul II in the cell of this "old man".
And only when many of the brethren murmured and refused to go to Elijah for confession, the portrait that hung not far from the icons was taken down.
I heard this from my confessor, hegumen Nikon, one of the restorers of Optina, a prayer book and faithful warrior of Christ.
III.
Was familiar with Fr. Nikon, if we are talking about the hegumen of Optina Nikon, who recent times labored at the Optina farmstead in Moscow and had already retired.
He was in disgrace, that's for sure. I also know about Elijah and I know some details from his life from Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Tomin), who was the dean in the monastery on Mount Athos, when Fr. Eli (then Hieromonk Ilian) labored there as a librarian. Even there he had a portrait of the Pope in his cell, which embarrassed the brethren.
And one day a cardinal arrived on Athos. The brethren ignored his arrival, and Father Ilian went out to meet the cardinal with a cross, as to a bishop. After that, the brethren stopped communicating with him, and after a while, Fr. Ilian returned to Russia.
He said that it was hard for him there. Because on Athos there are only abbots in free mode, and hieromonks must carry out obediences like ordinary monks. And he returned to Russia to receive abbess here. He took the vows of the schema, received the hegumenate and wanted to return to Athos, but he was invited by Fr. Evlogii to Optina not as an elder, but as a confessor of the brethren. From Optina, Ily wrote a letter to Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), but he never received an answer.
I think that Father Eliy is a good person. That's just his faith distorted. He believes that Catholics are not heretics, but our brothers in Christ. He spoke about this in front of me to a monk from Optina Hermitage and spoke with fanaticism.
He showed Fr. Elijah a letter from Elder Ambrose, where the Elder condemns the heresy of the Latins, and Fr. Elijah sneezed at his feet, calling him "Satan" and "schismatic."
Father Eliy is a simpleton. He can’t even connect two words, watch his video of the conversation - they are all contradictory and paradoxical.
Simplicity is good, but the main gift of a true elder is prudence. The elder will never praise the one who harms the Fatherland, but Fr. Ily reveres Gorbachev, who ruined our state. Father Eli even blessed his children to print portraits of Gorbachev and handed them out in the church.
I do not condemn the Church, and even more so I do not oppose the Church, talking here about Fr. Elijah. Don't bother blaming me for this.
I just want to warn people against the danger that awaits them when they turn to Father Elijah. I think that the article published here has the same purpose.
Schema-Archimandrite Eli attracts with his "humble" appearance. But try in front of him to start a conversation about Catholics, call them heretics and you will see how his "humility" will disappear like steam. For some reason, the communists will immediately become to blame for everything. This is how Fr Eliy reacts to any political question.
An even greater misfortune of his religion is the Origen heresy. He believes that everyone will be saved - regardless of faith. And he thinks that this is his manifestation of love. ""God is love". He cannot make someone suffer,” says Fr. Eli.
I don’t know what it is: a charming delusion or a heretical conviction?
Time will tell, but the Lord will judge. Sorry if I confused anyone. Be carefull. And to the enemies of the Church who blaspheme the Patriarch and the priesthood, I advise you to pay attention to your sins, and if you do not see them, then go to the temple of God. There are plenty of good shepherds who sincerely seek salvation.
IV.
"Elder" Eli (Nozdrin) as a weapon of information warfare
How is Orthodox anti-Sovietism promoted?
1. A person is taken who has the image of a “deserved authority” (in some cases this image is promoted artificially).
2. He is encouraged to speak out on camera on issues in which he is a priori incompetent.
3. After obtaining the required result, the information field is pumped with the finished material.
4. The Orthodox reverently absorb the offered ear noodles, because ... "this is old man and confessor of the Patriarch».
5. PROFIT!
For example, about the "gravedigger" of the great power (or "evil empire") of the USSR B.N. Yeltsin, the “old man” Ily spoke as follows: “ If it were my power, I would make a monument to him. He, like George the Victorious, with all this synodism - the Central Committee - threw down a party ticket ... He went to be torn to pieces ... His merit is that millions, billions of people turned to God, and the Church became normal.
Obviously, the terry anti-Sovietism of Schema-Archimandrite Elijah used as a weapon of information warfare against our Motherland.
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-Born in 1932 in the village. Stanovoy Kolodez, Oryol district, Oryol region. in a pious peasant family. At baptism he was named in honor of Alexy, the man of God. His father died in hospital after being wounded in 1942, and his mother raised four children alone.
In 1949 he graduated from high school in his native village. Served in the army. In 1955-1958. studied at the engineering college in Serpukhov. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the city of Kamyshin, Volgograd Region. There he decided to dedicate his life to the service of the Church, he entered the theological seminary in Saratov.
After the closure of the Saratov Seminary in 1961, he continued his education, first at, then at the academy. During his studies, he was tonsured a monk with the name Ilian in honor of one of the forty martyrs of Sebaste. He was ordained a hierodeacon and hieromonk by the same Bishop.
During the years of his stay, he worked in various parishes.
In 1966 he entered the Pskov-Caves Monastery, where he carried out obediences for ten years.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 3, 1976, Hieromonk Ilian, along with four other monks, was sent to carry out monastic obedience to the Russian Athos St. Panteleimon Monastery, where, together with other inhabitants, he managed to preserve the monastic life in it, maintain the connection of the monastery with Russian Orthodoxy and prevent the closure monastery. Carried obedience in a skete hidden in mountain gorges. He was also entrusted with clergy at the Panteleimon Monastery.
In the late 1980s sent as a confessor to Optina Pustyn, which is recovering after 65 years of desolation. Here he was tonsured into the great schema with the name Eli in honor of another Sebastian martyr. For 20 years, shegumen Iliy revived the senile ministry, for which the monastery has always been famous.
In 2009, he settled in the Patriarch's Compound in the village near Moscow. Peredelkino.
Is a confessor His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
Education:Saratov Theological Seminary.
Leningrad Theological Seminary.
Leningrad Theological Academy.
Awards:Church:
- 2012 - Rev. Sergius of Radonezh I class;
- 2017 - Rev. Seraphim of Sarov I Art.
Secular:
- 2004 - award "For contribution to spiritual rebirth Fatherland";
- 2011 -;
- 2019 - Honor.
The biography of the current spiritual father of Patriarch Kirill, Schema-Archimandrite Elijah (Nozdrin), has been published more than once in many sources. It is rather short, but there are moments in it that can be perceived by the current Russian society as some kind of contradiction.
He was born in 1932 into a family of believing Orthodox Christians and, according to him, began to pray consciously from the age of three. However, in 1949 he joined the Komsomol. Although a few years later, according to his confession, he burned the Komsomol ticket and became an opponent of the Soviet regime. These views, as well as other political views of Father Eli, will be discussed below.
Bishop Nikodim
In the meantime, it is worth saying that his seminary years and his formation as a monk and priest fell on the sixties of the last century. He studied at the Leningrad Theological Seminary (the very name of this church educational institution Soviet years for any believer is already an oxymoron).
At the same time, Eli was tonsured a monk and elevated to the rank of hieromonk by none other than Vladyka Nikodim (Rotov). Metropolitan Nikodim is a somewhat controversial figure around whom passions do not subside to this day. On the one hand, at some point he became a kind of "Soviet functionary" on the foreign policy front, and acted in this capacity consciously and publicly. On the other hand, at that time there was no more inconvenient person in his face for the commissioners for the rights of religions and other "professional Soviet atheists": using his authority, including close relations with the highest Soviet nomenklatura, he defended the interests of the Church with all his might.
The fact that the Leningrad Seminary did not close, and the priests were ordained in the Soviet years (most importantly, during the period of the “Khrushchev thaw”, which was a thaw for anyone except the Church) and the chain of succession of clergy was not interrupted – all this was a merit, including the Metropolitan Nicodemus.
At the same time, it is interesting that in the ecclesiastical environment, when they say “Nikodimites,” they mean church hierarchs active in the world. For example, the most famous "Nikodimite" in the Russian Orthodox Church today is its current primate, Patriarch Kirill.
Pskov-Caves Monastery
After graduating in 1966, Father Elijah ended up in the Pskov-Caves Monastery. The Pskov Pechora of the Soviet era is a separate and dramatic story, also full of contradictions.
During the years of obedience to Father Elijah, Archimandrite Pskov-Caves Monastery was Archimandrite Alipiy (Voronov). It was he who published an article in the newspaper "Soviet Russia" in which he stated the need to find and return to the monastery the relics stolen by the Nazis (they were found and returned). He also burned the order of the Soviet authorities to close the Pskov-Pechora Monastery.
Confessor of Optina
In 1976 Father Iliy comes to Athos. Lives in prayer and labor in the skete of the Panteleimon Monastery. Here is his formation as the confessor of this monastery. In the mean lines of the official biography of Father Elijah, it says: "He managed to prevent the closure of the monastery."
Further, since the end of the 1980s, there was a confession in Optina Hermitage. By the way, the return to the bosom of the Russian Church of this shrine, on the territory of which in Soviet times there were filtration camps, and camps for prisoners of war, and sanatoriums, also happened in a paradoxical way. The fact is that this monastery was transferred to the department of the Russian Church in 1987 by the Soviet government on the initiative of one of the members of the Politburo.
In 2009, a year after the Local Council of the Russian Church and the election of Metropolitan Kirill as Patriarch, Father Iliy became the patriarchal confessor and moved to Patriarchal Compound Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
Schema in the world
In 2010, Father Iliy accepted the great schema, becoming Schema-Archimandrite. But at the same time he turned into a public person. And here again there is a paradox: the monks, taking the great schema, take on additional vows and obediences, and even further, so to speak, leave the world. With Father Eli, it seems that everything turned out the other way around, again turned out in an unexpected way.
This publicity began to be associated with all sorts of "scandals" and very loud epithets addressed to him, in connection with his political statements. Father Elijah is now called differently then " perspicacious old man”, then a “false old man” and “opportunist and politician”.
Political views
It is worth talking at least briefly about the views of the schiarchimandrite. The fact is that in the political sense, Father Eli manages not to please everyone. On the one hand, he is a cardinal opponent of Soviet power and the Soviet legacy.
His Lenin is a Russophobe, Stalin is a bandit. Detachments, Stalin's incompetent orders during the Great Patriotic War (despite which they won) - it would seem that a complete set of ideological clichés. However, no.
In 2011, Father Ily spoke out against the mass protests on Bolotnaya, calling the protest wave “an attempt at a new turmoil,” and now he is talking about the need to elect a “believing president.” And here a certain image of a “guardian” with an appropriate set of ideologems already emerges.
And again, no - Father Ily compares Boris Yeltsin with George the Victorious and in one of his interviews convinces of the need to erect a monument to the first Russian president. And a few years later he participates in the opening of a monument ... no, not to Yeltsin, but to Ivan the Terrible.
The most common opinion from people who at least have warm feelings for Orthodoxy and the Church about Father Elijah is: “Batiushka is simply incompetent in matters of politics, leave him alone with politics.”
Neither ours nor yours
But if we analyze all these political statements and actions of the patriarchal confessor, then one gets the impression that this is a kind of foolishness: the desire not to join any of the formal or informal political layers, to say things that would not fit into any modern Russian ideological paradigm. After all, for example, Grozny and Stalin are completely identical in the mass consciousness, and expressing dislike for one, and then attending the opening of a monument to the other, is already somehow strange.
And how to combine all this with a respectful attitude towards Yeltsin, open sympathy for Putin and calls to “prevent trouble” in 2011-2012?
However, in all such actions and words of Fr. Elijah, there is still a very clear, consistent line - the increase in the influence of the Orthodox Church in Russia. For him, the Church is much higher than politics, conjuncture and any ideology.
And, from this point of view, he is by no means paradoxical, like those clergymen, and even Soviet party leaders, against the background of whose activities his life passed.
The main difference between a real confessor and others who are only trying to be like an old man lies in wisdom and humility. One of the most famous and mysterious representatives of the Russian clergy, who has become a symbol of the oldest monastic monastery in Russia - Optina Hermitage, as well as the personal spiritual mentor of the Russian Patriarch Kirill, is Elder Eli. This person is a rare example of a light, sublime and pure state of mind. That is why hundreds of people from all over the country seek to meet him every day.
Who are the elders?
Each person goes through life in their own way. In order not to stray from the right path, not to fall into the abyss, he needs someone who will point out a landmark, will not let him get lost, and at the right time will support and guide him on the right path. Such helpers from time immemorial in Russia were the elders. They were respected and feared at the same time, because they are the followers of the ancient Russian Magi, who absorbed the Great Wisdom with the blood of their ancestors. Many elders had the gift of prediction and healing, but the main goal of a real elder is to know the revelation of God and spiritually help the needy.
Elder Eli: biography
Ily was born (in the world - Alexei Afanasyevich Nozdrin) in 1932 in a large peasant family in the village of Stanovoy Kolodez, Orel Region. His father, Athanasius, was seriously wounded during the Patriotic War in 1942 and died in the hospital. Mother, Claudia Vasilievna, single-handedly raised four children. After graduating from school in 1949, Alexei did military service. In 1955, he entered the Serpukhov Mechanical College to study, and after graduating in 1958, he was assigned to the Volgograd Region for the construction of a cotton mill in the city of Kamyshin. But not finding himself in, he decided to devote his life to God, enrolling to study at the Theological Seminary of the city of Saratov. In 1961, due to Khrushchev’s persecution and pressure on the church, the seminary was closed, and Alexei was forced to move to Leningrad, where he continued his studies at the theological academy and took the tonsure as a monk with the name Ilian.
Since 1966, he served as rector at the Pskov-Caves Monastery, and in 1976 he was sent to carry out his obedience to the monastery of the Russian Great Martyr Panteleimon on Mount Athos in Greece. There, the future Elder Eli lived in a mountain skete and served as confessor in the Panteleimon Monastery. In the late 1980s, he was recalled back to the USSR and sent to the restored Optina Pustyn, which had been neglected for the past 65 years. Here Ilian accepted the great schema, which provides for complete estrangement from the world in order to reunite with God, and also tonsured with the name Eli.
Over the next 20 years, he revived the senile ministry in the monastery, which eventually returned Optina Hermitage to its former glory. In 2009, Elder Eli was appointed confessor of Patriarch Kirill of All Russia and moved to his residence at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in the village of Peredelkino, Moscow Region. In April 2010, on the feast of Easter, the elder was elevated by the Patriarch to the rank of Schema-Archimandrite.
History of the monastery
Optina Pustyn - Orthodox monastery for men, located two kilometers from the city of Kozelsk in According to ancient legend, the monastery was founded at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries by the repentant robber Opta (or Optiy), who became a monk under the name Macarius. The Optina monastery served as a haven for the elders and old women living in separate buildings of the monastery, but under the spiritual guidance of one rector. The first mention of this monastery can be found in the cadastres of Kozelsk dating back to the reign of Boris Godunov.
At the beginning of the 18th century, Optina Pustyn was going through hard times due to constant dues to the state for the war with the Swedes and the construction of St. Petersburg, and in 1724 it was generally abolished according to Spiritual regulations and attached to the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, located in the neighboring town of Belev. Two years later, the monastery was restored, and the construction of new churches began on its territory, which continued until the beginning of the 20th century.
Optina became one of the largest spiritual Orthodox centers in Russia, pilgrims and the suffering were drawn to it from all sides, some of whom settled in the skete, arranged in 1821. As donations were received, the monastery acquired land and a mill.
In 1918, Optina Hermitage was closed according to the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, and in 1939, on the territory of the monastery, on the orders of L. Beria, a concentration camp was organized for five thousand Polish soldiers who were later shot in Katyn. From 1944 to 1945 a filtration camp for Soviet officers who returned from captivity was located here.
Optina Desert today
Only in 1987 did the Soviet government transfer the monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church. From that moment began the active restoration of the monastery - both material and spiritual. The ideologist and coordinator of the restoration of the Optina Pustyn monastery is Elder Eli. It was thanks to this man that the monastery regained its fame as the largest center of Orthodoxy and pilgrimage. Its unique energy and beauty of temples attract thousands of pilgrims and tourists from all over the world. On the territory of the monastery there are 7 active temples:
- Vvedensky Cathedral - the main temple of the monastery;
- Temple of John the Baptist and the Baptist of the Lord in John the Baptist Skete;
- Temple of St. Hilarion the Great;
- icons Mother of God;
- Temple Vladimir icon Mother of God;
- Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord;
- Temple of the Icon of the Mother of God "The Conqueror of Bread".
Peredelkino
The holiday village of Peredelkino is located in the nearest railway stations - Peredelkino and Michurinets. The town is known not only for the monastery and Elder Elijah, but also for the fact that famous writers and artists once lived and worked there. Among them are Alexander Fadeev, Bella Akhmadulina, Valentin Kataev, Bulat Okudzhava, and also who held his famous bonfires here, where Rina Zelenaya, Arkady Raikin, Sergey Obraztsov performed. Here are the house-museums of Okudzhava, Pasternak, Chukovsky and Yevtushenko.
How to get to the monastery?
Given that Optina Pustyn is located near the Peredelkino and Kozelsk railway stations, it will not be difficult to get to it by rail. Electric trains run from the Kievsky railway station in Moscow in the direction of Kaluga or Sukhinichi. Kozelsk can also be reached by bus from the Teply Stan metro station.
Car owners, given the current abundance of various navigation systems and maps, will also have no particular problems finding the right path. But if getting to the monastery is not a tricky business, then how to get to Elder Elijah for an appointment is a completely different question. Before setting out on a journey for this purpose, one should learn in advance about the daily routine at the monastery, as well as about the reception schedule.
If God pleases
Many want Elder Eli (Peredelkino) to talk to them. "How to get an appointment with an old man and will he accept?" - these are the main questions of visiting pilgrims. Of course, the schiarchimandrite will not be able to satisfy all those who suffer, but, as the local monks say, if God pleases, then the meeting will definitely take place. Usually Elder Elijah takes in the refectory before dinner, where guests are seated at the tables, and the queue moves around these tables. If people make noise in the queue or argue, then he will personally disperse or reconcile the guests.
Closer to 4 pm, the elder retires to rest, and when he returns and whether he will return on that day, only the Lord knows. The monastery has its own Internet resource (www. optina. ru), where you can find out where Elder Eli is now and when the next reception will take place.
The Power of Prayer
It is believed that it has double power, because it is the prayer of the enlightened. Rumor has it that if he prays for the repose of the soul, then the soul of a sinner can be freed even from hellish captivity. An amazing incident also occurred in Optina Pustyn. Once, a heavily wounded soldier in Chechnya was brought to Elijah's skete. The doctors did not know how to save the military and did not dare to operate, since he was unconscious, and the bullet was a few millimeters from the heart. Elder Elijah's prayer "Let God rise again" made the desperate doctors believe in a miracle - the wounded man came to his senses and opened his eyes. After the operation, the soldier began to recover.
