The status of a grain of being. Archimandrite Isidore (Minaev): “Spiritual problems in modern monasteries Archimandrite Minaev
December 2014
The status of a grain of being
This man is no stranger to changing places: fate threw him from Orel to Moscow, from Moscow to Valaam, from Valaam to Konevets, from Russia to Bulgaria, then to Israel. Do not get used to the change of life "roles": from the actor to the rector large monastery. A year ago Archimandrite Isidor (Minaev) was the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, and now he is the rector of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ at the Warsaw railway station. Father Isidore takes all changes quite calmly: after all, a person does not just choose the monastic path, by this he agrees to subordinate his life to the will of God.
Archimandrite Isidor (Minaev)
Can't get alone
- Father Isidore, you were a monk on Valaam, a rector on Konevets, and the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem is also, in fact, an island. And now they turned out to be the abbot big temple downtown…- Yes, on the islands only in summer the services are crowded, and the rest of the time the church is almost empty. And in the Trinity Cathedral of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, the Church of the All-Night is full, but there is no one at the Liturgy, because all the pilgrims went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Well, a lot of people gather here, and I love it when there are a lot of people, grandmothers, children ... Here is the atmosphere that I was used to as a parishioner: both in Moscow churches and, as a child, in Oryol. Such a life has finally come for me, and this is a full-fledged church life.
– And don’t you yearn for the secluded monastic life?
- Yes, I have never been able to retire very much! On Valaam I had the obedience of a parish priest, I taught at a Sunday school. On Konevets he was abbot - what kind of solitude is there? Half a week in St. Petersburg on business, you come to the island - there is either a construction site, or a service, or guests ... It was a dream when I returned from Jerusalem to go to Valaam, live in a monastery, but, firstly, there were problems with health -Secondly, Metropolitan Vladimir appointed me here by his last decree, so the dream is postponed for some time. There was inner determination, and it still is. With age, ambition becomes irrelevant, because the same plot is always played out. It's time to live quietly, calmly ...
– It’s no secret that the ever-memorable Archpriest Vasily Yermakov, with whom you were friends, warned parishioners against talking with monks, saying: “If you want to go on a pilgrimage to the monastery, go, bow to the shrines, but don’t turn to the monks for spiritual advice.”
- You spoke correctly. It is unlikely that Father Vasily treated Father John (Krestyankin) badly. This was a real monk, and we are a fake. You have to become a monk, you have to earn this title, you have to live in a monastery for twenty-five years. And then, in the 1990s, we had "experience" - two or three years. People often have an overly admiring idea of monks: “oh, klobuk, long beard, hermit… he will probably answer all questions.” And he will answer no better than the parish priest, and sometimes worse. And if someone, not having sufficient spiritual experience, begins to instruct others, it’s a disaster in general.
Meaning of Christmas
Did you grow up in a believing family?- No, in the most ordinary. Grandmother was a believer ... but what does “believer” mean? She sometimes went to the temple and took me with her. Later, when I was a teenager, a friend of mine explained to me what Communion is. And how was it before? “Go to the priest, say:“ Sinful, father, ”buy and light candles, here’s twenty kopecks for you. Then they will give you a porridge." No, my attitude was, in spite of everything, reverent, I always went to communion before the start of the school year - myself, without reminders. And only then, in the third year of the institute, I met a guy from Ukraine, he was an applicant in the Oryol diocese, he was going to receive consecration. He was already telling me something more serious, explaining about the Church Sacraments. Well, then books and records appeared, dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', I also learned something from there. But all this knowledge was unsystematic. To be honest, I realized that Christmas is a holiday only when I was already a novice on Valaam. And so I thought, like all Soviet people, that the main winter holiday is the New Year.
- Initially, you chose a completely different path: you were an actor, you taught at a theater school. Does this affect your attitude towards bohemia, towards creative people?
- Yes, I have a normal attitude: I look who is talented, who is not. Since I was an actor, I still have friends and acquaintances in this environment. It is interesting to be friends with talented people. Drama theater is not show business, where many people have only sawdust in their heads. A real actor is a thinking person with an open mind. Many are receptive to the Word of God, but not all. Here, Maxim Sukhanov is my classmate, he is an atheist. We don’t talk about these topics, but I’m still waiting for him to ... grow up. All the same, each person will have to think about what is there, next.
Bird market as a cure for boredom
How does an Orthodox person who lives there permanently feel in Jerusalem? In isolation?— Jerusalem is one of the world capitals, there are all the ways to develop normally; and people are quiet, downtrodden everywhere. Feeling isolated or not depends on the person. The Russian Ecclesiastical Mission has, for example, Deacon Roman Gultyaev. He is from St. Petersburg, his father serves in the Andreevsky Cathedral, he was the spiritual child of the ever-memorable father Vasily Ermakov. His native language is Russian, while he knows Hebrew, Arabic, leads excursions; he has four children, his wife is from repatriates. He is engaged in science, and serves in the church, and studies in Russia: he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary, often publishes articles in Russian periodicals. Is it possible to say that he is in isolation?
- Do you feel religious strife in the Holy Land?
- In Jerusalem, everyone lives in their own quarters: Jewish, Muslim, Christian. There is, of course, domestic aggressiveness, but not worse than ours. It is often indignant that religious Jews can throw something at a priest or a nun. But, imagine, we have past Orthodox church people in Hasidic clothes would walk - I'm not sure that zealous parishioners would behave politely and restrainedly. And it depends, of course, not on belonging to a particular religion, but on the internal culture. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill met with Ashkenazi and Sephardi religious leaders: the meetings were held in an atmosphere of mutual goodwill, common topics were discussed - the fight against secularism, atheism ... That's how it would be for everyone. And in our country, unfortunately, half of those who knew how to behave culturally were simply liquidated at one time: they were either shot or expelled. Thus, the lack of culture that has not been eliminated is projected onto church life to the end. Even in small things! For twenty years I have been explaining to cleaners that you can’t leave a mop with a rag and a bucket with dirty water in the middle of the temple: washing the floor, for some reason took a break - put that bucket somewhere aside!
- In the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, there is traditionally a strong teetotaling movement. Do you believe that the situation with drunkenness in Russia can be changed?
- There are fruits of sober activity, but these are individual victories. And the state should fight on a large scale with drunkenness. So, we decided to fight smoking, and it’s good: now you can safely go to any cafe, all smokers are on the street. So it is with alcohol: we need prevention, limiting sales. A sober lifestyle should gradually become "fashionable", and it has already become: I have many friends among businessmen, and they do not drink at all, not a drop. All athletes, all driving. This is a new generation, they have something to do, and therefore do not need any headache in the morning, no problems in the family.
It is important that people are busy with something...
Whether a person finds an occupation or not depends largely on himself. In Soviet times, I said: how can one sleep when there is a bird market? You come there - and there are lizards, and guinea pigs, and birds, and fish: start, for example, an aquarium - and you will have no time to drink too much. During my childhood, people collected stamps, badges. And now - how can you sleep when there are such wonderful bookstores? It used to be that you had to “get” books, but now, please, take any and read. There are not only books, but different games for adults and children.
— Father Isidore, do you yourself play these games? And in general - how do you relax?
- I now “rest” more in hospitals ... but I visit museums when I can, travel, go to the theater, read, watch a good movie. In general, nothing "earthly" is alien to the archimandrite. I used to play simple games to unload my head after a computer load: I “feed” the cows in the “Fun Farm”, “washed” the crocodile in the iPad ... Now there is less time and effort, now the main hobby is hospitals ... although recently I started two small aquariums and aquaterrarium. Without such simple hobbies - to calm and relax - absolutely nothing.
Vulgar theology
For very many, God is something like a social security service: to have a job, to have money, to make children happy.
What problems do you see for the Orthodox today?
- For many, God is something like social security: to have a job, to have money, to make children happy. And almost something is wrong - failure, illness, they immediately think: “Is there a God?” It's as if Heaven is only there to meet their needs. Many believe that if they donate to churches or give the priest a car, they will be happy. One often hears: “I donated so much money to the temple, but my son died.” What is this, trade, or what? I call it vulgar theology.
Somehow he was carrying a watermelon to his godson, riding the subway. I scratched the green peel with my fingernail, and it turned out to be white. I thought then: if watermelon is the globe, then green is our cultural layer. He's so thin! And the ball itself does not lie in one place, but is worn in space, and inside it is still boiling. What can be regulated and predicted here? And we definitely need some kind of guarantees - political, economic, social.
If you realize your status as a grain of existence, then you will either go crazy or calm down. If you realize your status as a grain of existence, then you will either go crazy or calm down. Our ancestors - Suvorov, Ushakov, Pushkin, rich merchants, famous actors(by the way, until 1917 many actors donated to churches) - they all built their lives with the feeling "God gave - God took", without any fear of death. They say that before there were more healthy people ... this is because there were more healthy people: if you get a little sick, you will be sent to the next world. Everyone had a sense of the frailty of being, and it did not interfere with life: people built beautiful buildings, wrote poetry, made scientific discoveries- like, for example, Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, a deeply religious person.
- Well, probably, the hope for some kind of "guarantee" is characteristic of all people, including your parishioners.
Of course, and I disappoint them all the time. Some people can fit in, some people can't. And someone just needs to be supported, to cry with him ... People forget the story of the righteous Job. And Abraham? God gave him a son in his old age, and then ordered him to be killed. And Abraham said: "You gave me a son when I was already a hundred years old, so if necessary, You will give me another son." Such an attitude to life should be nurtured from childhood.
- Maybe our generation, which lived under the Soviet system, will die out, and everything will be fine?
No, it's an illusion. Moses led the people of Israel for forty years in the wilderness, the generation of slaves died out, and then what? All the same, there were deviations from the faith: they worshiped the golden calf, asked to put a king over them ... We must not hope that the new generation will grow up by itself, but educate it. For this, others need books and films, and of course, for the school to return to the function of education, which it abandoned in the 1990s. If a person is not educated, he will educate himself - according to the lowest rank, according to the principle of "spend less and get more."
ISIDOR (MINAEV)
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Isidore (Minaev), archimandrite, head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.
He took tonsure and began his monastic service on Valaam. A few years later he was appointed governor of the Konevsky Monastery. Then he served in Jerusalem for six months. On the Holy Week In 2008, he arrived in Sofia as rector of the St. Nicholas Church-Metochion of the Moscow Patriarchate.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 31, 2009, hegumen Isidore, rector of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia, was appointed head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. On April 3 of the same year, Patriarch Kirill elevated him to the rank of archimandrite.
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See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what is ISIDOR (MINAEV) in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:
- MINAEV in the Dictionary of Russian Surnames:
A patronymic from the form Minai, in which derivatives from two canonical male personal names are mixed - Mina (see Minin) and ... - MINAEV in the Literary Encyclopedia:
Dmitry Dmitrievich is a poet and translator. Born in Simbirsk in a noble family. He studied at a noble boarding school. From 1857 began ... - ISIDORE in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
(? - c. 1462) Russian metropolitan from 1437. At the Florentine Council of 1439, he advocated a union with catholic church. Upon return … - ISIDORE
(year of birth unknown - died about 1462), Metropolitan of All Rus'. He was the abbot of a Byzantine monastery, a Greek or Bulgarian by origin. AT … - ISIDOR KHARASKI
originally from Susiana, a Greek writer, often mentioned by Pliny among the geographers. sources. A description of Parthia has been preserved from him, ??????? ????????, cat. … - ISIDOR SIDORKA in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
according to one Pskov legend, also Matyushka is an impostor (False Dmitry III). The chronicle of the rebellions says that "I came to Ivan the city with ... - ISIDOR OF SEVILLE in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
(otherwise Hispalensis, according to ancient name Seville - Gispalis) - a Spanish bishop, one of the outstanding Latin scholarly writers of the early Middle Ages. - ISIDOR OF PELUSIOT in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
The monk, a disciple of John Chrysostom, lived as a hermit, imitating St. John the Baptist. In his messages, he addresses with instructions to soldiers, monks ... - ISIDOR PATSENSKY in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
Bishop of Pax Julia (now Beja) in Lusitania, lived about 754; considered the successor of the chronicle of I. Seville (see) from 617 ... - ISIDOR NIKOLSKY in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
Isidor (in the world Yakov Sergeevich Nikolsky, 1799-1892) - a native of the Tula province., A pupil and then a bachelor of St. Petersburg. spirits. akd., then ... - ISIDOR OF MILETSKY in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
Byzantine architect, who worked together with Anthimius of Tralles on the construction of the Church of St. Sophia in 532-37. (see Byzantine ... - MINAEV
MINAEV Iv. Pav. (1840-90), orientalist, founder of the Russian. Indological schools. Tr. on Buddhism, Philology and Linguistics, ist. geography, folklore, middle-century. and … - MINAEV in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
MINAEV Dm. Dm. (1835-89), Russian. satirist poet. Democrat employee. magazines of the 60s. 19th century ("Iskra" and others). Topical epigrams, poems, feuilletons, ... - ISIDORE in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
ISIDOR OF SEVILLA (Isidorus Hispalensis) (570-636), Christ. writer and church activist, teacher Zap. churches. Archbishop of Seville (since 600), author of the Encyclopedic. tr. … - ISIDORE in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
ISIDOR (in the world, Jacob Ser. Nikolsky) (1799-1892), church. activist, theologian, preacher. Metropolitan of Novgorod, St. Petersburg and Finland and first present member. Synod… - ISIDORE in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
ISIDOR from Miletus, Byzantine. 6th century architect Together with Anthimius of Thrall, he built the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople in 532-37 ... - ISIDORE in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
ISIDOR (? - c. 1462), Russian. metropolitan from 1437. At the Florentine Council of 1439 he advocated union with the Catholics. church. By … - ISIDORE in the dictionary of Synonyms of the Russian language:
name, … - ISIDORE in the Complete Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language:
Isidor, (Isidorovich, ... - MINAEV
Dmitry Dmitrievich (1835-89), Russian satirist. Employee of democratic journals of the 60s. 19th century ("Iskra" and others). Topical epigrams, poems, feuilletons, ... - ISIDORE in Modern explanatory dictionary, TSB:
(? - ca. 1462), Russian metropolitan from 1437. At the Florentine Council of 1439 advocated union with the Catholic Church. Upon return … - DMITRY DMITRIEVICH MINAEV in Wiki Quote:
Data: 2008-06-13 Time: 18:09:34 * ""(to the painting "Wattled Game" by Gravert)"" *: You don't have to look at the index here, *: you can here ... - ISIDOR YURIEVSKY
Open Orthodox Encyclopedia "TREE". Isidore Yuryevsky (+ 1472), presbyter, holy martyr. Commemoration on January 8, in the Cathedral of Estonian ... - ISIDOR OF CHIOS in the Orthodox Encyclopedia Tree:
Open Orthodox Encyclopedia "TREE". St. Isidore of Chios (+ 251), warrior, martyr. Commemorated May 14th. Holy Martyr Isidore... - ISIDOR OF SEVILLE in the Orthodox Encyclopedia Tree:
Open Orthodox Encyclopedia "TREE". Isidore of Seville (c. 560 - 636), bishop, saint. Commemorated April 4th. Isidore ... - ISIDOR ROSTOVSKY in the Orthodox Encyclopedia Tree:
Open Orthodox Encyclopedia "TREE". Isidor Tverdislov (+ 1474), holy fool for Christ's sake, miracle worker of Rostov, blessed. Memory 14... - ISIDOR PELUSIOT in the Orthodox Encyclopedia Tree:
Open Orthodox Encyclopedia "TREE". Isidore Pelusiot (+ c. 436), reverend. Commemorated February 4th. Originally from Alexandria. … - ISIDOR (CRIKIS) in the Orthodox Encyclopedia Tree:
Open Orthodox Encyclopedia "TREE". Isidore (Krikis) (1938 - 2007), Bishop of Tralles, b. abbot of the monastery of St. John the Apostle ... - MINAEV IVAN PAVLOVICH
Minaev Ivan Pavlovich - a famous researcher of Buddhism (1840 - 1890). He graduated from the course at the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg University, in the Chinese-Manchu department. … - MINAEV DMITRY IVANOVICH in the Brief Biographical Encyclopedia:
Minaev Dmitry Ivanovich - poet (1808 - 1876). He served in a training sapper battalion, then in the food department. His first poems... - MINAEV DMITRY DMITRIEVICH in the Brief Biographical Encyclopedia:
Minaev Dmitry Dmitrievich - famous poet-humorist and translator (1835 - 1889), son of D.I. Minaev. He was educated in the Noble Regiment. Not for long … - ISIDOR (METROPOLITAN) in the Brief Biographical Encyclopedia:
Isidore - the last Russian metropolitan from the Greeks, a native of Thessaloniki, was dedicated Patriarch of Constantinople to the metropolitans of Kyiv; upon arrival in Moscow ... - ISIDOR (METROPOLITAN OF NOVGOROD) in the Brief Biographical Encyclopedia:
Isidore - Metropolitan of Novgorod (died 1619). In the spring of 1605, Isidore, together with P. Basmanov, was sent to lead to ... - ISIDOR (IN THE WORLD YAKOV SERGEEVICH NIKOLSKY) in the Brief Biographical Encyclopedia:
Isidor, in the world Yakov Sergeevich Nikolsky - a church leader and writer (1799 - 1892), the son of a deacon of the Tula province, a pupil and ... - FRIKH-HAR ISIDOR GRIGORYEVICH in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
Isidor Grigorievich [b. 5 (17) 4/1893, Kutaisi], Soviet sculptor, Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1969). Self-taught. Master of ceramic sculpture, also works in wood, stone, … - MINAEV IVAN PAVLOVICH in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
Ivan Pavlovich, Russian orientalist, founder of the Russian Indological school Since 1869, associate professor, since 1873 professor of the St. Petersburg ... - MINAEV, IVAN PAVLOVICH in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
famous scholar of Buddhism (1840-1890). He studied at the Tambov gymnasium and at the oriental faculty of St. Petersburg. university, for the Chinese-Manchurian department; lectures by V.P. ... - MINAEV, DMITRY IVANOVICH in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
poet (1803-1876), father of the poet D. D. Minaev; genus. in Simbirsk, in a noble family; after graduating from a course at a local gymnasium, M. in ... - MINAEV, DMITRY DMITRIEVICH in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
(1835-1889) - famous poet, native of Simbirsk. He studied in the noble regiment, served in the 50s. in the Simbirsk state chamber and in ... - MINAEV, IVAN PAVLOVICH
? famous researcher of Buddhism (1840?1890). He studied at the Tambov gymnasium and at the oriental faculty of St. Petersburg. university, for the Chinese-Manchurian department; lectures B. ... - MINAEV, DMITRY IVANOVICH in the Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron:
? poet (1803?1876), father of the poet D. D. Minaev; genus. in Simbirsk, in a noble family; after graduating from a course at a local gymnasium, M. ... - MINAEV, DMITRY DMITRIEVICH in the Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron:
(1835?1889) ? famous poet, native of Simbirsk. He studied in the noble regiment, served in the 50s. in the Simbirsk state chamber and in ... - DANTE ALIGIERI in the Wiki Quote:
Data: 2009-07-17 Time: 19:08:39 Navigation Wikipedia=Dante Alighieri Wikisource=Dante Alighieri * Everyone should take on their shoulders work proportionate to … - BUDDHISM in the Newest Philosophical Dictionary:
religious and philosophical doctrine, the first in time of occurrence world religion(along with Christianity and Islam). The founder of B. is the Indian prince Sid-hartha Gautama ... - MININ in the Encyclopedia of Russian surnames, secrets of origin and meanings:
- MININ in the Encyclopedia of Surnames:
The surname in terms of origin is quite transparent. At its core - Orthodox names Mina, Menaeus or Mineon, having in translation ...
Much has been said here about the laity, but I would like to talk about monasticism, as I call it, about professional Christians, because a layman is in some way self-activity: he can reach some standards, he may not reach; whether he has a confessor, whether he has a confessor - this is not known to anyone; and yet monks are called to live according to the Rule, they are called to live under the guidance of a rector, confessor; This is how I internally call for myself that these Christians should be professional.
But, nevertheless, the words spoken in the 4th century by St. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea of Cappadocia, the creator of Divine Liturgy when one of his friends wrote him a letter and asked: “Well, how is your Church, how is your diocese?” and Basil the Great answered: “Everything hurts and there is no hope,” and this was in those holy times when the Church became state in the Byzantine Empire. Unfortunately, today, too, we can say the same words. After 70 years of persecution, an active restoration has now begun, and nevertheless, these words are relevant to this day, even among Orthodox "professionals", i.e. among monasticism.
Once the founder of monasticism Reverend Anthony The great one said that the most important, the first virtue of a Christian (he meant monks, because he was talking about a monastery) should be sobriety or, as he said, prudence. Not prayer, not fasting, not obedience to the abbot, he put at the forefront, but prudence: a sober, correct attitude towards God, towards faith, towards dogma, towards man. But today this quality is very rare, it seems to me that it is rare not only in our Church, where we sometimes operate with empirical concepts, but even in science. I once rode on a train with one scientist, he is a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, and he told me: “You can’t imagine how many dissertations, applications for dissertations are from people who have already lost their minds, from pseudoscientists. Somewhere they learned something, something did not work out - a huge number of dissertations are waiting for consideration, but, probably, they will never wait. It's just that a man got something into his head, he came up with some theory, which was not substantiated, not confirmed by anything. But he writes complaints, demands that his dissertation be reviewed. The feeling that a person is just delusional, maybe he even needs to be hospitalized, but, nevertheless, you have to somehow bow, promise, delay the time of this “protection” under a plausible pretext. So, among the scientists, see how little sobriety is, although they are more than anyone called to this. Among the church people, unfortunately, the same is true.
Speaking of modern monasteries, I would like to say the following: that now monasteries are being created according to a completely different principle, new ones are being revived or opened. How were monasteries originally opened, when monasticism was born? There was no mention of monasteries. Just some kind of ascetic, a man of a righteous life, settled somewhere in the desert, he left the world, he left the hustle and bustle, from the royal court, from the bishop's chambers, left the hustle and bustle of cities and towns and villages, settled in a cave, desert, dense forest, and his personal holiness, over time, gathered around him a kind of community. If we look at life St. Sergius Radonezhsky, we will see that for 10 years of his feat (life), only 12 brothers gathered around him, that is, 12 followers - for 10 years, this is during the time of Holy Rus'! So sometimes it is strange to read the description of modern monasteries in a church reference book: 200 inhabitants (in our post-Soviet times, for some 5-7-8 years) 100 inhabitants, 50!.. So, around this spiritual teacher, the mentor was going to the brethren. If he really was a gracious teacher, had gifts from the Lord, had humility, prayer, knew how to teach this prayer, then the brethren would gather, stay, and so great monasteries and Lavras arose over several centuries. Now there is a completely different approach - just life, reality dictates this, apparently, there is even no one to complain to: neither the hierarchy, nor the brethren and abbots themselves. Modern monasteries remind me, you know, of such institutes without professors. Yesterday I graduated from my fourth or fifth year, and today you are already a rector. And they give you such, you know, "Pavlov's house" (remember, in Stalingrad - without windows, without doors and a roof) and they say: this is your new university, let's, Mr. Rector, paint, whiten, recruit teaching staff, recruit already in next year students, start teaching. Of course, there is no funding, of course, and there cannot be, - go ahead. And this is the position modern monasteries live in, when a newly ordained hieromonk, who has just been ordained a monk, should already in a few years become the rector and abbot of some monastery. And, of course, the enemy of the human race does not sleep, he is well aware of this situation and he is trying to shake it all, so to speak. And, who knows, these 600 monasteries that we have in the Church, are they not such a time bomb. I happened to be in the Valaam Monastery for 10 years, I took tonsure there, took holy orders, now I have been the abbot of the Konevsky Monastery for 5 years, and I am especially aware of this problem. Unfortunately, as a result of this state of affairs, some spiritual anomalies begin to appear in the monasteries, because the lack of experience of confessors, abbots, jealousy that is not according to the mind of the brethren, a huge amount of literature that is not controlled by us in the Church, cause a lot of various damage.
One of them is "young age". This is indeed the scourge of our church society. Christian teaching comes to such blatant distortions that it simply becomes scary. And if a young priest (who has 2-3 years of consecration) can be put in his place by the rector of the parish; maybe even experienced parishioners who have been going to this temple for many years; old clergy who are always there; sexton, who served in the temple when this priest was not yet born, his wife-mother, family... Then in the monastery (where almost all the novice themselves) it is very difficult to do this. A young person who has received a rank, received monasticism, has not yet grown stronger spiritually, receives great power, and most importantly, this power is given to him by the pilgrims themselves. Because pilgrims come to the monastery and the first question they ask is: “Are there any elders? Are there scammers? Where? Which skete, where to go? “Yes, here is an old man, there is. 27 years - please. A year and a half in tonsure, six months in dignity. And this “old man” asks the pilgrim: “Wedded? Not? And… not married? Is communion prohibited? - "So the unbelieving husband" - "Well, leave him." - "So three kids." “Well, I don’t know what to do... In general, you can’t take communion, that’s all - you live in fornication.” Although for several years now we have had the Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Church, where it is written and blessed Bishops' Council that any marriage, even secular, is considered valid, it's just that it is not consecrated by the Church. Well, let's say I sat down to eat and in the bustle I forgot to pray, you can't say that I didn't eat, I just didn't consecrate my meal with prayer - that's all. In the same way, if people live in a secular marriage (I'm not talking about cohabitation), if they register with the registry office, have children, they have common Home, household, general finance, etc. - this is already a family, this is already a marriage, but not consecrated by the Church. Of course, people must be moved to this consecration, but in no case should they be excommunicated from communion. And so people live in a difficult situation. Suppose a husband is an unbeliever, and the last support is also taken away from his wife - a meeting with Christ and receiving grace-filled strength from Christ in order to live on. Perhaps an unbelieving husband would be sanctified through her, but how will he be sanctified when she is forbidden to partake of the Holy Mysteries.
For example, I met a hieromonk on Konevets, he came from another diocese, he wanted to join our brethren, (the brethren later voted against him) so he invented the "dogma of 4 nails." Finns come to us and bring everything: from a spoon to a tractor; and they brought Western-style wall crosses, you know, the so-called "Catholic" one, where the feet of the Savior are stacked one on top of the other and three carnations in total - a Western tradition. This cross hung in a hotel room. And this hieromonk was settled in this particular room. And he ran, looking for a stove to burn this cross, I got caught. I say: "Why burn the cross, what are you?" "Here, look, he's heretical!" “What a heretical one, this is a Western-style cross, let it hang for itself. He does not lie on the throne, but hangs in the hotel. It's OK." “What are you, father! Don't you know the dogma about 4 nails? Everything immediately became clear with this hieromonk and they said goodbye to him. Much can be heard from such "youngsters". For example: "take communion 40 times daily to be healed of some illness." Pure magic. Some of them even bless the unction of children. You go, you unction, and there are a huge number of people in the temple - everyone came to unction, suddenly an 8-year-old child is standing. "What?" - I ask. "And the father blessed" "How so?" "Yes, he studies poorly, he does not sleep." A 7-year-old, a 5-year-old baby stands, cries: the unction takes 6-5 hours with full canons and stichera. That is, he is still a baby taking communion without confession, and we are standing, reading over him: “Forgive him, Lord, the taste of fornication, covetousness, contempt, disobedience ...” and whatever you want. That is a complete scam. Here the “old man” blessed the young to take unction, so, they say, it will be better: because it will be better to sleep, and health will improve, and it will become good to study, and so on.
Now I would like to say that there is also such a spiritual anomaly as “false reprimand”, as I call it. That phenomenon also provokes the people of God, who are looking for this rebuke. Indeed, there are cases when young hieromonks, without blessing, try to plunge into the depths of exorcism. And what would they not plunge into, when special breviaries with the rite of exorcism of evil spirits have already been issued. And it turns out that any clergyman can open the rite of exorcism, put on an epitrachelion and, regardless of his personal holiness, integrity, piety, simply subtract these prayers and, as it were, the demons should obey him. In fact, it reminds me, you know, when in childhood you find a hornet's nest in the forest and move a twig there - then look for where the river is nearby, if there is one. This is what it looks like. Then, you know, some kind of demoniac modern went of poor quality. The abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankraty, told me: when he was an steward at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, they had a very pious grandfather there, who, as it turned out later, turned out to be demon-possessed. So, when he stood at the service, no one could think that he was demon-possessed, because he hid it very much. And Vladyka Pankraty says: one day I go into some building where my grandfather-stove-maker made stoves, and suddenly I hear some kind of grunting, obscene language, some kind of blasphemy, someone rages there in general. I, he says, was frightened and accidentally touched some kind of board (the repair was going on in the hull) - and then everything stopped. I go in, I look: this stove-maker, this grandfather, is laying the stove. That is, it turns out that a real demoniac, if he is a believer, if he is like Motovilov (an associate of Seraphim of Sarov), he keeps himself very much, that is, he hides it. I remember that I lived in Pechery with one grandmother, she was the child of Archimandrite Adrian, he was also the one who did the reprimand (but he is an elder of a holy life). Such a pious old woman appearance and you won’t think, but here she is possessed, she has some kind of attacks of possession. And what we sometimes see in temples is just mental disorders. I myself once made such an experiment: I served for several months in the city of Staraya Russa of the Novgorod diocese in the church of St. George. I was warned that there is one woman, 45 years old, that she is possessed. Everyone reveres and fears her. One day I'm standing at the altar at the time Cherubic song and I hear a thud behind me. I turn around and straight catch her in royal doors. She hung in my arms. They say to me: “Father, if you take communion with her, then she becomes quiet.” Then they led her to communion directly by force, I still communed her, and she relaxed so much, quieted down, sat down. And then somehow there was another case: again she came and there was some kind of holiday - the children stand out of Sunday school frightened, she squeals throughout the temple. I say to the deacon: take her drinks (I don't know what made me so twitchy). They poured her a cup of kagorchik, put the prosphora - and carried it away. Apparently, she was not very church-going: she drank kagorchika (not the Blood of Christ!), ate prosphora (not the Body of Christ!) and calmed down. That is, she, apparently, staged it all, it was a simple exaltation. Well, what's so interesting about being parishioner No. 492, a gray mouse in a gray headscarf, standing over there in the corner? It’s better to be a local demoniac: I came, I just looked - everyone is already afraid, they ask, they give alms. The female priesthood has not yet been introduced in our country, to take tonsure too - you will die on potatoes, you will plow there, sow and wash windows. And here is such a church status "local demon-possessed." Half of the possessed are nervous people, let's say, who really like this status. Unfortunately, the “young elders” begin to work with such people and lead a whole liturgical life, reprimand, and so on. This, of course, is also an anomaly. This is to be feared. Because it does not pass without a trace for pastors.
It also caught my eye, I don’t know how to formulate it, probably like this: unauthorized crushing of holy relics. The relics of the saint lie in the temple, and we honor them. Well, why endlessly split off from these holy relics and distribute the shrine to the right and left at the first request?! And even without the blessing of the ruling bishop. Well, it’s understandable when one bishop gives another diocese a particle of relics, if the saint lived in that diocese or was born there. You know, the Monk Zosima Verkhovsky is now glorified in our country, he once labored in the Konevsky Monastery, he was, by the way, the prototype of the elder Zosima in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. He once lived on Konevets, and then he left for the Moscow region and founded the Zosimov Hermitage there. Now his holy relics have been found, they have glorified the reverend. Probably it would be appropriate if Vladyka Yuvenaly donates a particle of relics to the Konevsky Monastery. But when the monks, and sometimes the laity, begin to ask to split everything, split it, sew it up somewhere, just some kind of tearing, in the end nothing will remain of these relics. It seems, on the one hand, reverence, everyone wants to have a reliquary, and more, with different relics, and on the other hand, some kind of pseudo-piety, which, in my opinion, already borders on blasphemy.
False myrrh flow is also very often observed. I remember at the Valaam Compound in St. Petersburg it was like this: you anoint a person with oil on Saturday at the vigil, then this person goes to kiss all the icons of the temple. Well, the forehead is anointed with fragrant oil. And after him, someone goes and says: “Look, the icon is streaming myrrh!” I come up, erase and say: “Here, wait, wait. Now zamyrotochit-everything, we write to the patriarch. No - calm down then. What is striking in this situation is the completely unorthodox expectation of a miracle, no matter what. Some momentary readiness to come into contact with another world and learn all its secrets. And completely forgotten are the Orthodox truths that the ascetic fathers once uttered: that he who weeps over his sins is higher than he who revives the dead with just one word. And this was the general attitude for the Fathers of the Church and the holy ascetics, hermits - who urged us to treat miracles with coolness so as not to fall into delusion - not to accept them, but not to blaspheme. The destiny of Christians is repentance, and this was the beginning of the sermon of the Forerunner: “Repent! The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” And somehow everything went into the realm of miracles.
Once I had to communicate with the bishop of the Armenian-Gregorian Church and I found out that they have a very interesting practice in the Church. Of course, there are few monks there, there is a very compact Church, their attitudes may not fully suit us, but there, if you are a monk, you have to study, a monk and a student are almost the same. You will never become an archimandrite unless you have a doctoral dissertation, let alone a bishopric. What are monks to do? Learn, learn first. Because you are special forces, and special forces must be trained. The special forces of Orthodoxy, the special forces of Christianity, they must be trained, and in a theoretical sense, first of all. Unfortunately, not all monasteries have such opportunities, as, for example, in the monasteries of the St. Petersburg diocese. Not all monasteries ordain brethren with a seminary education. Not everywhere they are sent to study, at least in absentia, after ordination. They think, they say, “deliver us, Lord, from evil science,” as they say in some monasteries. That is, liturgy, basic theology, homiletics, etc. - this is "the sciences are evil." Here we are sitting here, unwashed, unkempt, - here is grace, and the “dogma about 4 nails” ...
And the last thing I would like to say: you know, we draw everything good and everything bad from books. I do not take the Internet, TV. Once we rejoiced at the first editions of liturgical literature, when there were no books. More than 10 years ago, Metropolitan Peter Mohyla's Big Book of Missours was published. Our joy knew no end. And in this Sick breviary we find a prayer of unusual content, which is attributed to the holy martyr Tryphon. This is a very interesting prayer, an exorcism prayer from all kinds of pests. I can quote: “I conjure you many kinds of animals, worms, caterpillars, beetles, pruzi, mice, squints, critics, various kinds of flies and flies ...” and so on. But the most important thing is how he conjures them. He addresses them, sorry, as people. As if they were created in the image and likeness of God, as if they have a mind and can say to themselves: “Really, what are we doing, ah? We sharpen these leaves? Still, it's a shame, people imprisoned…” As if they have a will? So they are addressed and conjured by “the saving life-giving death of Christ, His three-day resurrection and ascension to Heaven and all His divine saving looking ...” They conjure: “The honest Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and our Savior, by whom salvation was given to us and deliverance, ”etc. And then they are frightened: “and if you don’t listen to me, pray to the imam of the philanthropist of the Lord, if he sends his angel, who is above the beasts, and with iron and lead will bind you and kill you.” Here. "For the oaths and prayers of the less humble Tryphon was rejected." But, if the angels do not help, then “let the birds sent by my prayer eat you.” And this is published in the official breviary, of course, we all use this breviary in practice, but pay attention to the theological thought of this prayer. Instead of saying: “Lord, remove these beetles and worms from our inheritances,” they turn to them, conjure them, and generally appeal to their conscience.
I started pessimistically, but still I want to remind you. Of course, “everything hurts and there is no hope,” St. Basil the Great said, apparently from his human strain, fatigue. I don't think that's his theological conviction. Because there is still hope, the hope that the Lord, having once created His Church, said to the apostles: “I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Let us, of course, hope that where two or three are gathered in the name of Christ, there the Lord is in the midst of us and that those negative phenomena that we are talking about today are temporary phenomena and this is the result of our separation from Christianity for 70 years. , evidence of our general church neophyteism, which, of course, will pass with time, and these wounds will be healed.
(konewets.spb.ru)
Archimandrite Isidore(in the world Igor Vladimirovich Minaev; October 27, Oryol) - Archimandrite of the Russian Orthodox Church, member of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society.
Biography
Returning after the army to Moscow at the end of 1987, he began teaching at the acting department at the Shchukin Higher Theater School. He combined teaching with work in various theaters in Moscow under a contract.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of July 16, 2013, he was relieved of his post as head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem and sent to the clergy of the St. Petersburg diocese.
On August 22, 2013, by decree of the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg Vladimir, he was appointed as a full-time priest of the Nikolo-Bogoyavlensky Naval Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
On February 21, 2014, by decree of the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg Vladimir, he was appointed to the post of rector of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ (near the Varshavsky railway station) in St. Petersburg.
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An excerpt characterizing Isidore (Minaev)
“No, mom, I’ll lie down here on the floor,” Natasha said angrily, went to the window and opened it. The groan of the adjutant was heard more distinctly from the open window. She stuck her head out into the damp night air, and the countess saw her thin shoulders tremble with sobs and beat against the frame. Natasha knew that it was not Prince Andrei who was moaning. She knew that Prince Andrei was lying in the same connection where they were, in another hut across the passage; but this terrible unceasing groan made her sob. The Countess exchanged glances with Sonya."Lie down, my dear, lie down, my friend," said the countess, lightly touching Natasha's shoulder with her hand. - Well, go to bed.
“Ah, yes ... I’ll lie down now, now,” said Natasha, hastily undressing and tearing off the strings of her skirts. Throwing off her dress and putting on a jacket, she tucked her legs up, sat down on the bed prepared on the floor and, throwing her short, thin braid over her shoulder, began to weave it. Thin long habitual fingers quickly, deftly took apart, weaved, tied a braid. Natasha's head, with a habitual gesture, turned first to one side, then to the other, but her eyes, feverishly open, fixedly stared straight ahead. When the night costume was over, Natasha quietly sank down on a sheet spread on hay from the edge of the door.
“Natasha, lie down in the middle,” said Sonya.
“No, I’m here,” Natasha said. "Go to bed," she added with annoyance. And she buried her face in the pillow.
The countess, m me Schoss, and Sonya hurriedly undressed and lay down. One lamp was left in the room. But in the yard it was bright from the fire of Maly Mytishchi, two miles away, and the drunken cries of the people were buzzing in the tavern, which was broken by the Mamon Cossacks, on the warp, in the street, and the incessant groan of the adjutant was heard all the time.
For a long time Natasha listened to the internal and external sounds that reached her, and did not move. At first she heard her mother's prayer and sighs, the creaking of her bed under her, the familiar whistling snore of m me Schoss, Sonya's quiet breathing. Then the Countess called Natasha. Natasha did not answer her.
“He seems to be sleeping, mother,” Sonya answered quietly. The Countess, after a pause, called again, but no one answered her.
Soon after, Natasha heard her mother's even breathing. Natasha did not move, despite the fact that her small bare foot, knocked out from under the covers, shivered on the bare floor.
As if celebrating the victory over everyone, a cricket screamed in the crack. The rooster crowed far away, relatives responded. In the tavern, the screams died down, only the same stand of the adjutant was heard. Natasha got up.
- Sonya? are you sleeping? Mother? she whispered. Nobody answered. Natasha slowly and cautiously got up, crossed herself and carefully stepped with her narrow and flexible bare foot on the dirty cold floor. The floorboard creaked. She, quickly moving her feet, ran like a kitten a few steps and took hold of the cold bracket of the door.
It seemed to her that something heavy, evenly striking, was knocking on all the walls of the hut: it was beating her heart, which was dying from fear, from horror and love, bursting.
She opened the door, stepped over the threshold and stepped onto the damp, cold earth of the porch. The chill that gripped her refreshed her. She felt the sleeping man with her bare foot, stepped over him and opened the door to the hut where Prince Andrei lay. It was dark in this hut. In the back corner, by the bed, on which something was lying, on a bench stood a tallow candle burnt with a large mushroom.
In the morning, Natasha, when she was told about the wound and the presence of Prince Andrei, decided that she should see him. She didn't know what it was for, but she knew that the date would be painful, and she was even more convinced that it was necessary.
All day she lived only in the hope that at night she would see him. But now that the moment had come, she was terrified of what she would see. How was he mutilated? What was left of him? Was he like that, what was that unceasing groan of the adjutant? Yes, he was. He was in her imagination the personification of that terrible moan. When she saw an indistinct mass in the corner and took his knees raised under the covers by his shoulders, she imagined some kind of terrible body and stopped in horror. But an irresistible force pulled her forward. She cautiously took one step, then another, and found herself in the middle of a small cluttered hut. In the hut, under the images, another person was lying on benches (it was Timokhin), and two more people were lying on the floor (they were a doctor and a valet).
The valet got up and whispered something. Timokhin, suffering from pain in his wounded leg, did not sleep and looked with all his eyes at the strange appearance of a girl in a poor shirt, jacket and eternal cap. The sleepy and frightened words of the valet; "What do you want, why?" - they only made Natasha come up to the one that lay in the corner as soon as possible. As terrifying as this body was, it must have been visible to her. She passed the valet: the burning mushroom of the candle fell off, and she clearly saw Prince Andrei lying on the blanket with outstretched arms, just as she had always seen him.
He was the same as always; but the inflamed complexion of his face, the brilliant eyes fixed enthusiastically on her, and especially the tender childish neck protruding from the laid back collar of his shirt, gave him a special, innocent, childish look, which, however, she had never seen in Prince Andrei. She walked over to him and, with a quick, lithe, youthful movement, knelt down.
He smiled and extended his hand to her.
For Prince Andrei, seven days have passed since he woke up at the dressing station in the Borodino field. All this time he was almost in constant unconsciousness. The fever and inflammation of the intestines, which were damaged, in the opinion of the doctor who was traveling with the wounded, must have carried him away. But on the seventh day he ate with pleasure a piece of bread with tea, and the doctor noticed that the general fever had decreased. Prince Andrei regained consciousness in the morning. The first night after leaving Moscow was quite warm, and Prince Andrei was left to sleep in a carriage; but in Mytishchi the wounded man himself demanded to be carried out and to be given tea. The pain inflicted on him by being carried to the hut made Prince Andrei moan loudly and lose consciousness again. When they laid him down on the camp bed, he lay with his eyes closed for a long time without moving. Then he opened them and whispered softly: “What about tea?” This memory for the small details of life struck the doctor. He felt his pulse and, to his surprise and displeasure, noticed that the pulse was better. To his displeasure, the doctor noticed this because, from his experience, he was convinced that Prince Andrei could not live, and that if he did not die now, he would only die with great suffering some time later. With Prince Andrei they carried the major of his regiment Timokhin, who had joined them in Moscow, with a red nose, wounded in the leg in the same Battle of Borodino. They were accompanied by a doctor, the prince's valet, his coachman and two batmen.
Prince Andrei was given tea. He drank greedily, looking ahead at the door with feverish eyes, as if trying to understand and remember something.
- I don't want any more. Timokhin here? - he asked. Timokhin crawled up to him along the bench.
Isidore, archimandrite (Minaev Igor Vladimirovich)
Biography:
In 1969-1977 studied at secondary school No. 12 in Orel. In 1977 he entered the Moscow Theater Art and Technical School (technical school), from which he graduated in 1981 with a degree in theater lighting engineering.
In 1981-1985 studied at the Higher Theater School. Schukin at the acting department. After graduating from college, he was assigned to the Omsk State Academic Drama Theater, where he worked until April 1986. In 1986-1987. served in the military.
Returning after the army to Moscow at the end of 1987, he began teaching at the department of acting skills at the Higher Theater School. Schukin. He also worked in various theaters in Moscow.
From July 1991 to May 2001 he was a resident of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam stauropegial monastery.
March 19, 1992 with blessing His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, hegumen Andronik (Trubachev), rector of the Valaam Monastery, was tonsured a cassock.
June 2, 1992 in Epiphany cathedral He was ordained a hierodeacon by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow.
On March 7, 1993, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, the rector of the Valaam Monastery, Archimandrite Pankraty (Zherdev), was tonsured into the mantle with the name Isidore in honor of the Monk Isidore of Pelusiot.
May 25, 1993 in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Savior of the Novo-Spassky stauropegial monastery in Moscow, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy was ordained a hieromonk.
In 1993-2000 studied at the correspondence sector of the Moscow Theological Seminary.
From May to July 2001, he carried out the obedience of a sacristan in the church of St. George the Victorious in Staraya Rusa, Novgorod diocese.
On July 4, 2001, he was appointed rector of the Konevsky Nativity of the Theotokos monastery Saint Petersburg diocese.
In September 2001 he was awarded a cuisse and a pectoral cross. In May 2003, he was elevated to the rank of hegumen.
With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, in November 2005 he took advanced training courses for the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Academy of Civil Service under the President of the Russian Federation.
In April 2007 he was awarded with a club.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of October 12, 2007 (magazine No. 99) he was appointed a member of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of April 15, 2008 (magazine No. 16) he was appointed rector of the St. Nicholas Metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia (Bulgaria).
By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 31, 2009 (magazine No. 26) he was appointed head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.
Education:
1985 - Higher Theater School. Schukin.
2000 - Moscow Theological Seminary (in absentia).
2005 - advanced training courses for the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Academy of Civil Service under the President of the Russian Federation.
Place of work: Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem (Head)
Awards:
Church: 2011 - Order of St. Seraphim of Sarov III Art.
