| благословляет, в левой - четки и развернутый свиток с текстом Иисусовой молитвы (музей Нямецкого мон-ря). В Нямецком мон-ре находится ростовой мозаичный образ П. (четки исполнены золотой смальтой, мантия синяя). Существуют живописные и графические изображения П. как духовного писателя (за столом, со свитком в руке), его иконы с моделью храма в руке, в схиме и мантии архимандрита с жезлом в руке. Эпизоды из жизни П. и сцены его почитания представлены на чеканной серебряной раке святого (ок. 2015, мастерские Румынской Патриархии) в Нямецком мон-ре. П. входит в состав изображенных на иконе «Собор святых русских афонитов» (2013, образ разработан сотрудниками Института рус. Афона по благословению старцев афонского Пантелеимонова монастыря), а также в современных расширенных композициях «Все святые, в земле Русской просиявшие», напр. на иконах письма Н. Е. Алдошиной (1997, ц. свт. Николая Чудотворца в Клённиках в Москве), Н. В. Масюковой (2004-2005, ц. свт. Николая Чудотворца на Глинках в Вологде; П. без клобука, со свитком в руке, из-под оливковой рясы внизу видна схима). На рисунке для Миней МП работы прот. Вячеслава Савиных и Н. Д. Шелягиной П. изображен в рост, с непокрытой головой, свиток в его руке свернут. Лит.: Житие и писания молдавского старца Паисия Величковского. Од., 1886; Ровинский. Словарь гравированных портретов. Т. 3. Стб. 1482; Treasures of Mount Athos. Thessal., 1997. P. 197-198. N 2.134; Духовные светочи России. 1999. С. 188-191. Кат. 167; Изображения Божией Матери и святых Правосл. Церкви. М., 2001. С. 65; «Угодно в очах Божиих дело сие…»: Сокровища ЦАК МДА. Серг. П., 2004. С. 302-303; Совр. иконопись: Москва/Авт.-сост.: А. Л. Николаева. М., 2006. С. 43, 52-53, 110-111; «Благословение Святой Афонской Горы»: К 1000-летию рус. монашества на Афоне: Иконы, рукописи и графика из музейных, библиотеч. и частных собраний. М., 2016. С. 25. 17; Diaconu G. The Image of Saint Paisius Velichkovsky and the Exhumation His Relics//Revista Teologic. Sibiu, 2016. N 3. P. 88-129; 2017. N 2. P. 228-261. Я. Э. З. Рубрики: Ключевые слова: АНТОНИЙ († 1073), прп. Киево-Печерский, основатель Киево-Печерского мон., один из основоположников рус. монашества (пам. 10 июля, 2 сент., в Соборе Афонских преподобных, в Соборе всех Киево-Печерских преподобных отцов и 28 сент.) АРСЕНИЙ КОНЕВСКИЙ (Коневецкий; кон. XIVb. – 1447), прп.(пам. 12 июня, в Соборе Афонских преподобных, в Соборе Новгородских святых, в Соборе Карельских святых, в святых Санкт-Петербургской митрополии, и в Соборе преподобных отец Русского на Афоне Свято-Пантелеимонова монастыря) |
| Kallistos (Ware), bish. The Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity//Idem. The Inner Kingdom. Kiev: Dukh i Litera, 2003. Pp. 161–188. Kirill (Zinkovskiy), hieromonk. Eldership in the Teaching and Life of the Church. SPbDA, 2002. Kontsevich I. M. Acquisition of the Holy Spirit in Ancient Russia. Ed. department of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1993. Leonid (Polyakov), archim, Athos in the History of Russian Monasticism, (spiritual relations), X–XVIII c. MDA, 1969. Life and Writings of the Moldovian Elder Paisius Velichkovsky with enclosed introductions to the books St. Gregory of Sinai, Philotei of Sinai, Hesychius the Presbyter and Nilus of Sora, composed by his friend and co-faster, the Elder Basil Polyanomerylsky, on sensible abstinence and prayer. Moscow: Ed. Kozelsk Vedensky Optina Pustyn, 1892. Life of Elder Arkhip the Glinsky Ascetic. Odessa, 1902. Life of Hieromonk Nikon. Moscow: Ed. Vedensky Optina Pustyn, 1996. Life of Hieroschemamonk Lev. Moscow: Ed. Vedenskaya Optina Pustyn, 1994. Life of Hieroschemamonk Nikon. Moscow: Ed.the Vedensky Optina Pustyn, 1996. Lossky V. N. Essay of Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. Kiev, 1991. Lossky N. O. Venerable Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov//Put’, 1926. 2 (January). Pp. 122–124. S. Macarius Aegyptus. Homiliae//J.-P. Migne (ed.). Patrologiae cursus completus (series Graeca). In 161 t. Paris, 1857–1866. Vol. 34: 449–822. Marchenkov A., deacon. Kozelsky Vedensky Optina Pustyn in the History of Russian Eldership. MDA, 1988. Muraviev A. N. Journey to the Holy Places of Russia. Pt . IV. St. Petersburg, 1863. Nahum, metr. Strumichsky. Школа за исихазам, основна. Манастир Воведение на Пресвета Богородица Елеуса, Струмица, 2011. Nicholas (Sakharov), hierodeacon. The Teaching of archim. Sophrony about the Eldership. Eldership and Obedience in the Theology of Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)/Transl. by А. А. Melnikov//Nachalo (journal IBiF). SPb, 2001. 10. Pp. 84–112. Our Reverend father Abba Dorotheus Edifying Instructions and Epistles with Enclosed Questions and Answers of Barsanuphius the Great and John the Prophet. Moscow: Ed. Moscow Monastery TSL, 2005. |
| A Fast Pleasing to God Fr. Ted Bobosh A Fast Pleasing to God Fr. Ted Bobosh Cutting away evil from the heart, not cutting calories is the purpose of the fast. We fast from food in order to help train ourselves to adhere to the Gospel. Abstaining from food is not the goal, abstaining from evil is. On Fasting Again Archpriest Oleg Stenyayev On Fasting Again Archpriest Oleg Stenyayev To those on the new style calendar who are celebrating the Nativity of Christ, we wish all a joyous feast. Please keep this delightful article on fasting in mind for Wednesdays and Fridays, and the other three extended fast periods. But for those who are still observing the Nativity fast, may these instructions encourage you during this final stretch. St. Paisius (Velichkovsky) on Fasting St. Paisius (Velichkovsky) St. Paisius (Velichkovsky) on Fasting St. Paisius (Velichkovsky) Today, the day of his commemoration, is also the first day of the Nativity fast. We would like to begin this time of blessed preparation with a short instruction from St. Paisius on fasting in the monastic, Orthodox tradition, from his work, “Field Flowers”. “A proud faster make himself like the demons, who never eat.” Great Lent Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin “A proud faster makes himself like the demons, who never eat.” Orthodox pastors at the beginning of Great Lent Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin Having cast out the unclean spirit from the demon-possessed youth, the Lord said to His disciples who had tried before Him to heal the unfortunate one but couldn’t: This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting (Mt. 17:21), by this setting forth fasting as a means of spiritual warfare on the same level as prayer. The Rule of Fasting in the Orthodox Church Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) The Rule of Fasting in the Orthodox Church Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) This rule of fasting, to be sure, is not intended to be a " straight-jacket " for Orthodox believers, nor a source of pharisaical pride for anyone who keeps the letter of the Church " s law. |
| In order to stress the conscientiousness with which this work was performed, we point out that the elder checked and correct the same text three or more times. At the same time, Fr Paisius recognized the insufficiency of even this; he wrote: " To my great sorrow, I see that mhisЙis far from perfect and that if the Lord in His mercy extends my life and grants me, almost blind now, the needed sight, I will have to work more on these correcmionsЙ " Only near the end of his life did Elder Paisius broaden the transcription and translation of the books of the Holy Fathers on a wider scale. From here, these works were disseminated throughout the monasteries of the Orthodox East and reached Russia, where they played an exceptional role in the rebirth of Russian monasticism in the 18th and 19th centuries. As during the beginning of Christianity in Russia, the planting of the seeds of Orthodoxy owed a great deal to Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves and their students, of whom many became the first bishops of Russia, so later did St Sergius and his students work towards the strengthening of Orthodoxy, and finally in the 18th and 19th centuries did the students of St Paisius Velichkovsky play a leading role in the renascence of Russian monasticism and the rise of starchestvo [elderhood]. The students of St Paisius were influential among monastics—on the Holy Mountain, in Moldavia and in Russia. Russia was a source of a particularly large number of his students, under whom a broad rebirth of spiritual life occurred, along with interest in and love for the reading and studying of books; elders and monastic superiors came to the fore who preserved the legacy of St Paisius. One sees three main currents: the Northern, Central and Southern branches. The Northern movement had centers in Solovetsky Monastery, Valaam, St Alexander Nevsky Lavra and St Alexander Svirsky Monastery. The Central movement was concentrated in Moscow, Vladimir guberniya, Optina Hermitage and later in Orlov guberniya. In the South, it was in Ploshchansky Hermitage and Glinsky Hermitage. The circle of influence of Elder Paisius was wide. In Russia, it spread throughout monasteries in 35 dioceses. |
| The latter wished to see the renowned Elder Paisius, and arrived in Niametz Monastery, where he was greeted by the monks. This was in 1790. That Sunday, Archbishop Ambrose officiated at Divine Liturgy, during which he elevated the Elder to the rank of Archimandrite. The Elder was born in Poltava, and the Archbishop of Poltava performed the elevation. After the military operations ended, life gradually settled down, and the Elder continued to work as before: he translated, wrote letters, and guided the monks; but his strength was weakening, and he faltered. Not long before his fatal illness, he ceased his translating work. On November 5, 1794, he felt particularly weak and took to his bed. On Sunday, he felt better and came to church to partake of communion. Yet his weakness continued, and on November 15, 1794, at the age of 72, he died peacefully. News of the repose of Schema-archimandrite Paisius spread rapidly, and a great many monks and faithful gathered in Niametz. Bishop Benjamin came, and the funeral was performed at Ascension Cathedral, followed by his burial. And so we see that Elder Paisius’s the resettlement by Divine Providence to Moldovlachia turned out to be very beneficial for his work. Had he remained on Mt Athos, first of all, his brotherhood would not have grown as it did because of a lack of resources and space, and secondly, he could not have had such a great influence on the spiritual life of Orthodox monasticism in Moldavia and Russia. Within Schema-archimandrite Paisius, personal holiness was combined with love for education, ability to organize monastic coenobitic life, the ability to attract and teach a great host of disciples, the skill in creating a school of spiritual asceticism, and finally, a great literary talent which helped him complete an important, much-needed task—to correct old translations and also make new translations of the ascetic literature of the Holy Fathers. The literary works of Elder Paisius are varied. Finding a great number of errors in the Slavonic translations of the writings of the Holy Fathers extant at the time, he realized the importance of their painstaking review. For this he began to strenuously search Greek originals on Mt. Athos. But these were not easy to come by, since no one ever offered such books for sale. For this reason he had to transcribe them himself, and pay others to do it. He found that by far not all works of the Holy Fathers had been translated into Slavonic. And the second part of this task, the translations themselves, he undertook in Moldavia after he moved there with his monks. |
| 557 On the union of the soul and the spirit, see also St. Isaiah the Solitary, «On Guarding the Intellect», in The Philokalia, vol. 1, p. 26. 574 Christ’s Apostles wrote about this in their letters. See, for example, i Peter 3:18–19 and 4:6; and Ephesians 4:8–10. 578 In the Eastern Orthodox baptism service, the candidate is asked three times, “Do you unite yourself to Christ?” – to which he replies, “I do.” 606 Hieromonk Christodoulos (Aggeloglou), Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain (English version), p. 131 617 See The Philokalia, vol. l, p. 171 and M. Kontzevitch, The Acquisition of the Holy Spirit, pp. 39–43. 620 Nicetas Stithatos was a disciple and biographer of St. Symeon the New Theologian. His mystical writings are found in the fourth volume of The Philokalia. 629 That is, having the «one-pointed» thought that primordial man enjoyed (see p. 117). In Lao Tzu’s words, this is «returning to the uncarved block». 632 This is a translation of the Greek word merimnao, which comes from a root word meaning to divide, separate or draw in different directions. Christ is saying here that we should not allow our mind to be divided and distracted by diverse thoughts, which break the one-pointed thought with which man was first created. 657 St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Quoted in Abbot Chariton, The Art of Prayer, p. 49. 679 Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany, «A Conversation with Elder Nikodim on the Jesus Prayer». In The Orthodox Word, no. 27 (2011), pp. 142– 43. 724 In the Jesus Prayer, this is generally done while “pulling” the knots of an Othodox prayer rope (chotki) with the left hand. 774 St. Paisius Velichkovsky (1722–1794) was the man responsible for rediscovering and compiling the anthology of ancient texts known as The Philokalia. 776 «Pascha» – the traditional name for the Feast of Christ’s Resurrection – comes from the Hebrew word for «Passover», for it is the celebration of Christ " s passing over from death to life. In the West this Feast is wrongly called «Easter», after a Western European pagan festival. |
| And behold, a flaming hand opened the curtain, and like the Prophet Isaiah I beheld my Lord, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and above it stood the Seraphim (Isaiah 6:1). He was clothed in a purple garment; His face was most bright, and His eyes looked on me with love. Seeing this, I fell down before Him, bowing down to the most bright and fearful throne of His glory. The joy that overcame me on beholding His face cannot be expressed in words. Even now, remembering this vision, I am filled with unutterable joy. In trembling I lay there before my Master.... After this all the heavenly host sang a most wondrous and unutterable hymn, and then – I myself do not understand how – again I found myself walking in paradise.” 41 When St. Andrew reflected that he had not seen the Mother of God in heaven, an angel told him: “Did you wish to see here the Queen Who is more brighter than the heavenly powers? She is not here; She has gone away to the world which lies in great misfortune, to help people and to comfort the sorrowing. I would have shown you Her holy place, but now there is no time, for you must again return.” Here once more the fact is affirmed that angels and saints can be in only one place at a time. Even in the 19th century, a similar true vision of heaven was beheld by a disciple of Elder Paisius Velichkovsky, Schema-monk Theodore of Svir. Towards the end of his life he experienced God’s grace very strongly. Shortly after one such experience he fell into a sickness and for three days was in a sort of coma. “When a state of ecstasy began in him and he came out of himself, there appeared to him a certain invisible youth, who was sensed and beheld by the feeling of the heart alone; and this youth led him by a narrow path towards the left. Father Theodore himself, as he later related, had the feeling that he had already died, and he said to himself: ‘I have died. I do not know whether I shall be saved or perish.’ “ ‘You are saved!’ an invisible voice said to him in answer to this thought. |
| My friends, I congratulate you with this unearthly joy! Do not forget to pray to them, these new saints, especially now that they have shown forth in the power and magnitude of what the Lord has wrought in them. Rejoice in the Lord ye righteous, praise is meet for the upright (Ps. 32:1). My friends, today’s Liturgy was preceded by a solemn pannikhida at which we prayed to God for those who lived, labored, rejoiced, suffered, and departed on the way of all people on earth. After the Liturgy we will serve a festive moleben for the newly-canonized saints. We will pray to all the God-pleasers of Russia, whose earthly lives ended so wondrously, for it gave them the bright wings of Angels that carried them up to the throne of God; and we will ask them to pray for us. We will sing magnifications to them, and make a procession, so that everything living might share in our joy and present triumph. Let us ask the Lord’s blessing, and ask the all the Russian saints for their prayers at this entrance upon the second millennium, so that their prayers might not lessen in the Russian Orthodox Faith in all its purity; so that we and our descendents might not forget God’s commandments. Let us also give thanks to the Lord for the past millennium which now departs to eternity. " Christ is enthroned, Christ is glorified. Great art Thou, O Lord, and wondrous are Thy works, and no word sufficeth to sing of Thy wonders!” Glory to Thee, our God, for all things, unto the ages of ages! Amen. The saints canonized at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) of 1988 are: 1. Right-believing Grand Prince of Moscow, Dimitry Donskoy (1350–1389). 2. St. Andrei Rublev (1360–the first half of the fifteenth century). 3. St. Maxim the Greek (1470-1556). 4. Metropolitan Macary of Mosow and All Russia (1482-1563). 5. Schema-Archimandrite Paisius Velichkovsky (1722–1794). 6. Blessed Xenia of Petersburg (late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries). 7. Bishop Ignatius Brianchininov (1807–1867). |
| While in Western Europe, St. John collected the Lives and icons of Orthodox Saints from many different Western European countries, who lived before the time of the schism of the Latin Church. Since most of these Saints were included in no Orthodox Calendar of Saints, St. John compiled a list of these Saints with information about their lives, and submitted this to his Synod of Bishops for inclusion in the Orthodox Calendar. Since he was an Apostle of Christ, St. John called upon each local Saint he learned about to provide heavenly help in evangelizing new lands. As Archbishop of San Francisco, he called upon all the Saints of America, including the most local of all Saints, the Native American St. Peter the Aleut, who was martyred in California. Archbishop John had an especially great devotion to St. Herman of Alaska as a patron of the American Orthodox mission. He sought to have St. Herman canonized, and this occurred four years after St. John's repose, in 1970. On June 28, 1966, St. John came to the Orthodox bookshop in San Francisco that had been started with his blessing by our St. Herman Brotherhood. After he had blessed the shop and printing room with the icon, he proceeded to talk to the brothers about Saints of various lands. As Fr. Seraphim Rose later recalled: " He promised to give us a list of canonized Romanian Saints and disciples of Paisius VelichkovskyPaisius Velichkovsky, Elder. He mentioned having compiled (when in FrancFrancee) a list of Western pre-schism Saints, which he presented to the Holy Synod. " In particular, St. John Maximovitch, Archbp talked to the brothers in the shop about St. Alban, St.n, the first martyr of Britain. Out of his little portfolio he pulled a short life of the Saint, together with a picture postcard of a Gothic cathedral in the town of St. Albans, England. St. Albans near, London in which he had been buried. St. John looked into the brothers' eyes to see if they got the point. St. Alban, like most of the Saints of Western Europe, was not in the Orthodox Calendar; and St. John was letting them know that he should be venerated by Orthodox Christians, especially in English-speaking lands. |
| «You’ve read, I believe, The Way of the Pilgrim, about the man who was looking for perpetual prayer. When this book entered Romania in the nineteenth century, it created a true spiritual revolution in the life of the monks. The monks and other people who practiced this prayer were, after long exercises, able to see Uncreated Light. This Light is not visible to the physical eyes – only the spiritual eyes can see it. However, in receiving this Uncreated Light the body can start to shine. 4. Fr. Benedict Ghius «I will tell you of my experience. Before I was arrested, I always liked the monasteries. So every time I had the possibility to go to a monastery, I was there. Very near to Bucharest is a very important monastery called Cernica. The prayer of the heart to Jesus Christ was taken by George, a disciple of Paisius Velichkovsky, 774 and brought to Cernica. From then until now – nearly two centuries – in Cernica every monk performs this prayer. Even during the persecution by Ceausescu, nothing could stop them from praying. «One Sunday I was there in the church of Cernica officiating at the Holy Liturgy with some monks. At the beginning of the Liturgy Fr. Benedict Ghius was there, a very spiritual monk. He had been the spiritual leader of the Burning Bush movement in the Antim Monastery, which was a group dedicated to prayer, formed by monks for the sake of the most important intellectuals in Bucharest during the communist regime. People from the Burning Bush were arrested until the group was exterminated, and many of them died in prison. Fr. Ghius was arrested, too, but he was set free at the same time I was – 1965. And he gave up everything and entered the monastery Cernica, where he practiced the Prayer of Jesus. He was perhaps the most loved by God. I never saw him sad or angry. «Because he was very old, he didn’t serve. 775 As we started our Liturgy, he was sitting in a chair in the altar, without moving. At a certain moment I felt something strange in the altar. I looked to my left and saw that in the corner where Fr. Ghius was – a Light started to shine. The Light covered Fr. Ghius completely, but it did not spread through the altar. It was just around his body. I am sure Fr. Ghius was not aware what happened to him. The other monks saw what I was seeing, but they paid no attention because they were accustomed to this. They had seen it many times; it was something very normal to them. I was very shocked. And this Light persisted until the Liturgy was finished. When Fr. Ghius came to take Communion, his hands were hands of Light. I bowed in front of him, and he felt very, very ashamed – I think because he felt he was unworthy of such respect. He left the altar without looking at anybody. As he went out, I saw how the Light disappeared and he became a normal person, a normal man. |
|
|
