There are many stories about great power maternal love. But it happens that we, busy with our own affairs and problems, find out too late how ardently and tenderly our mothers loved us. And we repent too late that we have inflicted incurable wounds on our loving mother’s heart... But, who knows, maybe, as the song says, “from somewhere above,” our mothers see our belated repentance and forgive their late-wisher children. After all, a mother’s heart knows how to love and forgive like no one else on earth...
Not long ago, a mother and daughter lived in a city in the center of Russia. The mother's name was Tatyana Ivanovna, and she was a general practitioner and teacher at the local medical institute. And her only daughter, Nina, was a student at the same institute. Both of them were unbaptized. But one day Nina and two classmates went into an Orthodox church. The session was approaching, which, as you know, is considered a “period of fever” and anxiety among students. Therefore, Nina’s classmates, in the hope of God’s help in the upcoming exams, decided to order a prayer service for the students. Just at this time, the rector of the temple, Father Dimitri, read a sermon, which interested Nina very much, because she had never heard anything like it. Nina’s friends left the church long ago, but she remained there until the very end of the Liturgy. This seemingly accidental visit to the temple determined Nina’s entire future fate - she was soon baptized. Of course, she did this in secret from her unbelieving mother, for fear of angering her. Father Dimitri, who baptized her, became Nina’s spiritual father.
Nina was unable to keep the secret of her baptism from her mother for long. Tatyana Ivanovna suspected something was wrong not even because her daughter suddenly stopped wearing jeans and a knitted cap with tassels, replacing them with long skirt and a handkerchief. And not because she completely stopped using cosmetics. Unfortunately, Nina, like many young converts, completely ceased to be interested in studying, deciding that it distracted her from “the one thing she needs.” And while she spent days on end studying the Lives of the Saints and the Philokalia, volume after volume, textbooks and notebooks became covered with an increasingly thick layer of dust...
More than once Tatyana Ivanovna tried to persuade Nina not to skip her studies. But everything was useless. The daughter was exclusively occupied with saving her own soul. The closer the end got academic year, and along with its approach, the number of detentions with Nina increased to astronomical figures, the more heated the clashes between Nina and her mother became. One day, infuriated, Tatyana Ivanovna, gesticulating violently, accidentally brushed away with her hand the icon that was standing on her daughter’s table. The icon fell to the floor. And then Nina, who regarded her mother’s act as blasphemy against a sacred thing, hit her for the first time in her life...
Subsequently, mother and daughter became more and more alien to each other, although they continued to coexist in the same apartment, periodically quarreling. Nina equated her life under the same roof with her mother to martyrdom, and considered Tatyana Ivanovna the main obstacle to her further spiritual growth, since it was she who aroused the passion of anger in her daughter. On occasion, Nina liked to complain to her friends and Fr. Dimitri on his mother's cruelty. At the same time, hoping to evoke their compassion, she decorated her stories with such fantastic details that Tatyana Ivanovna seemed to her listeners like a kind of Diocletian in a skirt. True, one day Father Dimitri allowed himself to doubt the veracity of Nina’s stories. Then she immediately broke up with her spiritual father and moved to another church, where she soon began singing and reading in the choir, leaving the former psalm-reader, a lonely old Ukrainian woman, almost out of work...
Nina liked the new church even more than the old one, since its abbot drilled his spiritual children with penances in the form of dozens, or even hundreds of prostrations, which gave no one any reason to doubt the correctness of his spiritual leadership. The parishioners, and especially the parishioners, dressed in black and tied with dark scarves up to their eyebrows, with a rosary on their left wrist, looked not like laywomen, but like novices of some monastery. At the same time, many of them were sincerely proud that, with the blessing of the priest, they had forever expelled from their apartments the “idol and servant of hell,” colloquially referred to as a television, as a result of which they received undoubted confidence in their future salvation... However, the severity of the rector of this temple towards his spiritual children later brought good fruit - many of them, having passed in their parish primary school ascetics, subsequently went to various monasteries and became exemplary monks and nuns.
Nina was nevertheless expelled from the institute for poor academic performance. She never tried to continue her studies, considering a doctor’s degree a thing unnecessary for eternal life. Tatyana Ivanovna managed to get her daughter a job as a laboratory assistant at one of the departments of the medical institute, where Nina worked, without, however, showing much zeal for her work. Like the heroines of her favorite lives of saints, Nina knew only three roads - to church, to work and, late in the evening, home. Nina never got married, because she definitely wanted to become either a priest’s wife or a nun, and all other options did not suit her.
Over the years of her stay in the Church, she read a lot of spiritual books, and memorized the Gospel texts almost by heart, so that in the inevitable disputes and disagreements in parish life, she proved her own rightness, striking down her opponents “with the sword of the words of God.” If a person refused to admit that Nina was right, then she immediately included him in the category of “pagans and tax collectors”... Meanwhile, Tatyana Ivanovna was getting old and increasingly thinking about something.
Sometimes Nina found brochures and leaflets in her bag, which, apparently, were handed to her on the street by Jehovah's Witness sectarians. Nina scoldedly took away the dangerous books from her mother, and, calling her a “sectarian,” tore them into small pieces in front of her eyes and sent them to the trash can. Tatyana Ivanovna remained silent resignedly.
Nina’s suffering, forced to live under the same roof with her unbelieving mother, came to an end after Tatyana Ivanovna retired and began to get sick more and more often. One evening, when Nina, returning from church, was devouring the Lenten borscht her mother had cooked for her, Tatyana Ivanovna said to her daughter:
- That's it, Ninochka. I want to apply for a nursing home. I don't want to interfere with your life anymore. Do you think I should do this?
If Nina had looked into her mother’s eyes at that moment, she would have read in them all the pain of her mother’s suffering heart. But she, without raising her eyes from the plate of borscht, muttered:
- Don't know. Do as you please. I don't care.
Soon after this conversation, Tatyana Ivanovna managed to formalize everything necessary documents and moved to live in a nursing home located on the outskirts of the city, taking with her only a small suitcase with the most necessary things. Nina didn’t even consider it necessary to see her mother off. After her departure, she even felt joy - after all, it turned out that the Lord Himself had saved her from the need to continue living with her unloved mother. And subsequently - and from caring for her.
After Nina was left alone, she decided that now she could arrange her own destiny the way she had long wanted. In the neighboring diocese there was a convent with strict rules and a well-established spiritual life. Nina went there more than once, and in her dreams she imagined herself as a novice of this particular monastery. True, the local abbess did not accept anyone into the monastery without the blessing of the perspicacious elder Alipius from the famous Vozdvizhensky Monastery, located in the same diocese, in the city of V. But Nina was sure that the elder would certainly bless her to enter the monastery. Or maybe even, taking into account her previous work in the temple, she will immediately be tonsured as a ryassophore? And how beautiful she will look in the clothes of a nun - in a black duckweed and hood, trimmed with fur, with long rosary in her hand - a real bride of Christ... With such rosy dreams, Nina went to the elder, buying him an expensive Greek icon as a gift in a silver robe.
To the amazement of Nina, who sought a personal conversation with the elder, he refused to accept her. But she was not going to give up, and managed to sneak into the elder with a group of pilgrims. When she saw the elder, Nina fell at his feet and began to ask for his blessing to enter the nunnery. But to Nina’s amazement, the perspicacious elder gave her a stern rebuke:
- What did you do with your mother? How can you say that you love God if you hate your mother? And don’t dream of a monastery - I won’t bless you!
Nina wanted to object to the elder that he simply had no idea what a monster her mother was. But, probably from excitement and frustration, she could not utter a word. However, when the first shock passed, Nina decided that Elder Alypius was either not as perspicacious as they say about him, or was simply mistaken. After all, there were cases when even future great saints were denied entry into the monastery...
...About six months have passed since Nina’s mother went to a nursing home. One day at this time, in the church where Nina was singing, an old Ukrainian psalmist died. The neighbors of the deceased brought her notes and notebooks with recordings of liturgical texts to the church, and the rector blessed Nina to review them and select what could be useful in the choir. Nina's attention was attracted by one of the notebooks, with a black oilcloth cover. It contained carols - Russian and Ukrainian, as well as various poems of spiritual content, which are usually called “psalms” by the people. However, there was one poem written in Ukrainian, which was not a “psalm”, but rather a legend. Its plot looked something like this: a certain young man promised his beloved girl to fulfill any of her wishes. “Then bring me your mother’s heart,” demanded the cruel beauty. And the young man, mad with love, fearlessly fulfilled her wish. But when he returned to her, carrying a terrible gift in a scarf - a mother's heart, he stumbled and fell. Apparently, it was the earth that shook under the feet of the matricide. And then the mother’s heart asked her son: “Are you hurt, son?”
While reading this legend, Nina suddenly remembered her mother. How is she? What's wrong with her? However, considering the memory of her mother to be a demonic excuse, Nina immediately reflected it with a quote from the Gospel: “... who is My Mother?... whoever does the will of My Heavenly Father is My brother, and sister, and Mother.” (Matthew 12.48, 50) And thoughts about the mother disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared.
But at night Nina had an unusual dream. It’s as if someone is leading her through a beautiful Garden of Eden, buried in flowers and planted fruit trees. And Nina sees that in the middle of this garden stands beautiful house, or rather a palace. “So this is the kind of palace the Lord has prepared for me,” Nina thought. And then her companion, as if reading her thoughts, answered her: “no, this is a palace for your mother.” “What then for me?” - asked Nina. But her companion was silent... And then Nina woke up...
The dream she had had confused her. How is it that the Lord, after all that Nina did for Him, did not prepare for her a palace in paradise corresponding to her merits before Him? And why such honor to her mother, an unbeliever and not even baptized? Of course, Nina considered her dream to be an enemy’s obsession. But still, curiosity got the better of her, and, taking with her some gifts, she asked the abbot for leave and went to the nursing home to visit her mother, whom she had not seen for six months.
Since Nina did not know the number of the room in which her mother lived, she decided to start her search from the nurse's station. There she found a young nurse putting pills for patients into plastic cups. Much to Nina’s surprise, she noticed a small icon of the Kazan Church on the cabinet with medicines. Mother of God, and on the windowsill there is a book about Blessed Xenia of Petersburg with a bookmark sticking out. After greeting the nurse, Nina asked her which room Tatyana Ivanovna Matveeva lived in.
Have you come to visit her? - asked the nurse. - Unfortunately, you are late. Tatyana Ivanovna died two months ago. She took out some magazine, and, finding in it right place, called Nina exact date her mother's death. But, apparently, at this time the nurse remembered something significant for her, and she continued the conversation herself:
- Who will you be for her? Daughter? You know, Nina Nikolaevna, how happy you are! You had a wonderful mother. I didn’t study with her, but I heard a lot of good things about her from her students. Everyone loved her here too. And she died hard - she fell and broke her leg. Then the bedsores started to develop, and I went to bandage her. You know, I have never seen such patients in my life. She didn’t cry, didn’t moan, and thanked me every time. I have never seen people die so meekly and courageously as your mother. And two days before her death, she asked me: “Galenka, bring my father to me, let him baptize me.” Then I called our father Ermogen, and the next day he came and baptized her. And the next day she died. If you could see what her face was like, bright and clear, as if she had not died, but had just fallen asleep... Just like a saint.
There was no end to Nina's amazement. It turns out that her mother believed before her death and died, having been cleansed by Baptism from all her previous sins. And the talkative nurse continued to tell:
- And you know, she often remembered you. And when Father Ermogen baptized her, she asked to pray for you. When she fell ill, I suggested that she call you. But she refused: no need, Galenka, why bother Ninochka. She already has enough to do. Yes, and I am guilty before her... And I also asked you not to tell about my death, so that you would not worry in vain. I obeyed, sorry...
This is what Nina found out about last days his mother's life. Having given away the gifts she had brought to the nurse and the old women from the neighboring rooms, she went home on foot to calm down at least a little. She wandered along deserted snowy streets, not making out the road. But what depressed her was not that she had now lost her only loved one, but the fact that she could not come to terms with how God had given such a wonderful place in heaven not to her, who had labored all her life for Him, but to her mother, who was baptized just a day before her death. And the more she thought about it, the more a murmur against God rose in her soul: “Lord, why should she, and not me? How did you allow this to happen? Where is Your justice? And then the earth opened up under Nina’s feet and she fell into the abyss.
No, it was not a miracle at all. Simply, immersed in her thoughts, Nina did not notice the open sewer hatch and fell straight into a gaping hole. From surprise, she did not have time to scream, or pray, or even be afraid. No less unexpected was the fact that her feet suddenly rested on something hard. It was probably some kind of box that someone dropped into the hatch and got stuck in it. After that, someone's strong hands grabbed Nina and dragged her upstairs. She didn't remember what happened next.
When Nina came to her senses, people crowded around her, scolding some the mayor's office, others the thieves who had stolen the metal manhole cover, and wondered how Nina managed to get out without outside help. Nina mechanically looked into the hatch and saw how at its bottom, deep, deep, water was splashing and some kind of pipe was sticking out. But there is no sign of a box inside. And then she lost consciousness again...
She was taken to the hospital, examined, and, finding no injuries, was sent home, advised to take a sedative. Once at home, Nina took the pill, having previously crossed it and washed it down with holy water, and soon fell asleep. She dreamed that she was falling into an abyss. And suddenly she hears: “Don’t be afraid, daughter,” and her mother’s strong, warm hands pick her up and carry her somewhere up. And then Nina finds herself in the very garden that she dreamed about yesterday. And he sees wonderful trees and flowers. And also the palace where, as she was told, her mother lives. And next to this palace, indeed, stands her mother, young and beautiful, as in photographs from an old album.
Are you hurt, daughter? - asks Nina’s mother.
And then Nina realized what saved her from inevitable death. It was motherly love and mother's prayer, which “raises from the bottom of the sea.” And Nina began to sob and began to kiss her mother’s feet, watering them with her belated tears of repentance.
And then her mother, bending over her, began to affectionately stroke her already graying hair:
Don’t cry, don’t cry, daughter... May the Lord forgive you. And I forgave you everything a long time ago. Live, serve God and be happy. Just remember: “God is love...”. If you love and feel sorry for people, we will meet again and will never part again. And this house will become your home.
The spiritual meaning of the word “tenderness” denotes a state human soul at the moment of contact of his heart with the grace of the Holy Spirit. This moment - in its highest, incomparable, “all-true, greater than the human mind” manifestation - is captured in the image of the “Tenderness of the Mother of God”. The icon shows more than just a touch of the heart Holy Virgin with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and some incomprehensible action of Him, which gave to all mankind the Son of God, incarnate in human image for the salvation of mankind from sin and death...
One of the most significant images of the Mother of God “Tenderness” is Seraphim-Diveevsky, called “The Joy of All Joys”. Before this icon, St. Seraphim of Sarov performed his last prayer on earth. Subsequently, it became the main Diveyevo shrine; during the years of repression it was sacredly preserved by faithful Christians and is now awaiting its return to its native monastery.
In anticipation of the arrival of the long-awaited “Supreme Abbess” of the Diveyevo monastery, a new copy of the “Tenderness” icon was ordered in 2009. Placed in a carved icon case, it was first installed in the Kazan Cathedral of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery. In the summer of 2010, fires raged in Russia, and there was smog over Moscow and Diveevo. The Kazan Cathedral, where the image of “Tenderness” was located, was closed for repairs at that time. The icon found itself cut off from the prayer life of the people, “humiliated,” in the words of M. Euphemia. And so, for the summer holiday of St. Seraphim, it was moved to the Kanavka Mother of God. Whole waves of pilgrims filled Diveevo this summer. People stood for half an hour to venerate the icon of the Queen of Heaven...
This wonderful copy of the Tenderness icon appeared in Diveevo through the zeal of a reverent admirer of St. Seraphim and the holy image of the Mother of God, nun Euphemia (in the world of Vera Konstantinovna Semenyak) and her numerous collaborators in the “good public cause” - the spiritual children of the elder Archimandrite Hippolytus (Khalina ) († December 17, 2002) . You can’t count them - Claudia, Lydia, Nadezhda, John, Roman, Olga, Oleg, Igor, Tigry, Karina, Galina, Marina, Gennady, Alexy, Maxim... All of them are in mother’s heart and prayer, together with family and friends and all those , with whom the Lord united her on the long path of life.
Father Hippolytus, the first abbot of the revived Kursk Rila Monastery, was called “ Athonite elder" A student of the Glinsky elders, tonsured at the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, the priest labored for eighteen years in the Athos Panteleimon Monastery. In 1984, Fr. Due to illness, Ippolit returned to Russia and served in the churches of the Kursk diocese, and then became the first rector of the reviving Rylsky St. Nicholas Monastery. Vera Konstantinovna lived with her family in Kursk at that time and found in the elder a wise mentor and prayer book. The elder strongly supported her in difficult family circumstances - she had in her arms a seriously ill husband, Pyotr Pavlovich, who was unable to recover after being seriously wounded during the Great Patriotic War. After the death of her husband in 1986, Vera Konstantinovna herself remained seriously ill, no doctors were able to help... The Lord helped. With the blessing of Father Ippolit, Vera Konstantinov took monastic vows with the name of Euphemia and a few years later moved to Diveevo.
Mother Euphemia is a completely legendary and... unknown person - as a true servant of Jesus Christ, who completed His earthly journey in the sight of a slave…
But let's start from the beginning, or rather, almost from the beginning, from the first days of the Great Patriotic War.
Sixteen-year-old Vera Konstantinovna served as a freelance nurse in the hospital of her native village of Andreevka (Kharkov region), where at that time the 308th medical battalion of the 267th rifle division was located. The wounded arrived every day, there was a lot of work. In the wards, even in the corridor, lay seriously wounded people who had been brought straight from the trenches - the front line was not far from the village. Their own soldiers donated blood for the wounded. One day, a tall, heroic-built soldier with big eyes, like those on an icon, came to donate blood. It was Pyotr Pavlovich Semenyak - future husband Vera Konstantinovna...
Pyotr Pavlovich was from Kursk, youngest son in a family that gave the Fatherland six defenders - its six sons. Vera Konstantinovna was destined to join this valiant family.
After being wounded on the Dnieper, Pyotr Pavlovich was taken to the hospital, where Vera Konstantinovna was, also after being wounded... At the end of the war, Pyotr Pavlovich graduated from the Kharkov Veterinary Institute, and Vera Konstantinovna graduated from the Teachers' Institute. A few years later the family moved to Kursk.
Vera Konstantinovna devoted forty-one years and nine months to teaching, teaching schoolchildren Russian language and literature (and in the first years, living in Ukraine, also Ukrainian and literature). The husband returned from the war seriously wounded, underwent seven operations, and became a first group disabled person. His loving, selfless wife, who was always there, helped him survive his illness and life’s hardships. The couple raised and raised five children - two sons and three daughters. All of them received medical education. The sacrificial daily work of Vera Konstantinovna was rewarded - the medal “For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War"(1945), "Motherhood Medal" (1961)…
Almost her entire worldly life was spent in her children, grandchildren, in her husband, who died from front-line wounds, in his brothers, in general in his heroic, truly epic Russian family - a worthy, difficult, courageous life. It was only through the grace of God that one could survive all trials, endure all labors, and fulfill one’s sacred duty.
M. Euphemia has been a believer since childhood. Born into the family of a hereditary doctor, Konstantin Nikolaevich Rozhkin, she attended churches since childhood. I have always strived for shrines - even during the years of Soviet power, I traveled to holy places in Russia and around the world, and visited the Holy City of Jerusalem several times. Living in Kursk, back in the 1970s she became closely acquainted with schema-abbess Angelina, who not only helped her strengthen herself spiritually, but also taught her the art of gold embroidery. Since then, Mother has been embroidering, decorating icons - and, with the participation of her assistants, sending them as gifts to monasteries and churches. Her gifts are not only in Russian monasteries, but also in the Holy Land and on Holy Mount Athos...
Mother is a fighter in life. All her life she sought to bring the gospel good news to the world in word and deed - through reverence, mercy, kindness, love. To work for the strengthening and glorification of the Orthodox faith - “high as the stars, strong by the grace of the holy Sacraments, eternal in the eternity of the Kingdom of Heaven” - such was the will of her spiritual father.
With God nothing is accidental. In mother’s zeal for the shrine, for the holy icons of the Mother of God, especially for the “Joy of all joys” - “Seraphim-Diveevsky Tenderness” - the innermost aspiration of her soul is clearly revealed, through immeasurable sorrows and the patience of long and difficult years, drawn to grace, seeking tenderness... The soul longs for the touch of God, longs to find Christ and be with Him in eternity...
Publications:
After the monastery was closed in 1927, the icon, along with the royal robe presented by the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II in 1903, was taken to Murom by Mother Abbess Alexandra: here Mother settled in a small house near the walls of the Annunciation Monastery, and many Diveyevo sisters moved here. The precious robe was buried in the garden. After the death of M. Alexandra (†1942), the icon and other valuables were kept by her cell attendant, nun Maria Barinova. In the 1940s, Hieromonk Pimen (the future Patriarch) served in the only surviving church in the city of Murom, to whom the mothers told about the shrines they kept. Having become Patriarch, he blessed Father Viktor Shipovalnikov to take them into custody (†2007). Thus, the “Tenderness” icon, along with other Diveyevo shrines, ended up in the village. Kratovo near Moscow. Through the efforts of Fr. Victor, the royal robe, which had lain in the ground for many years, was restored. After the second discovery of the relics of St. Seraphim in 1991, Fr. Victor handed over the icon, along with all other valuables, to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II. Currently, the icon “Seraphim-Diveevo Tenderness” is kept in the Cross Church of the Patriarchal Residence in Chisty Lane in Moscow.
Brief biography:
Born in Arkhangelsk in 1964, in a family of teachers at the Arkhangelsk Medical Institute; in 1987 she graduated from the Arkhangelsk Medical Institute (AGMI, now SSMU), worked as a therapist in a nursing home, then, since 2000, works as a neurologist (currently in one of the clinics in Moscow). She lived until 2012 in Arkhangelsk, currently in the city of Domodedovo, Moscow region.
In 1981, she completed a course for reporters at the editorial office of the regional newspaper Pravda Severa. Since that time, she has been published in the regional newspaper Severny Komsomolets. Then, since 1985, she published a number of articles and reviews in the magazine “Children's Literature”, for one of which (“The Path to the Epic” (about adaptations of ancient Russian epics for children) she was awarded a prize). Participant of the All-Union Seminar of Young Critics of Children's and Youth Literature (Moscow, 1985).
Author of the series scientific works in gerontology of the European North of Russia and local history.
Nominee of the Patriarchs literary prize(2016)
She was baptized in 1985, from 1986–2012 she served as a reader and singer in the Solombala Church of St. Martin the Confessor.
She was tonsured into the ryassophore - 1993, into the mantle - in 1996. In 2000 she graduated from St. Tikhon's Theological Institute (in absentia).
- “Essays on churches and monasteries in Arkhangelsk” (Arkhangelsk, 1998),
- “Women’s monasteries of the Arkhangelsk province” (Arkhangelsk, 1999),
- "Peculiarities social structure and social activities of the Sursky Monastery" (Arkhangelsk, 2003),
- “Tales of the holy ascetics of the Arkhangelsk land” (Arkhangelsk, 2002; reprint - 2009); early editions of this book: “Arkhangelsk Patericon” (2000) and “New Arkhangelsk Patericon” (2001), “Under the Protection of St. Nicholas” (Arkhangelsk, 2005);
- “Monastery on the White Sea” (life of St. Savvaty Solovetsky) (Arkhangelsk, 2008),
- “Let his memory be unforgettable...” - the story of the Hieromartyr Hilarion (Trinity) (M., Publishing House of the Brotherhood of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2011);
- “Essays from the life of Orthodox northern women’s monasteries, ser. XIX - beginning XX centuries (Arkhangelsk, 2007),
- collections of stories and fairy tales - “Ashes and the Cross” (Arkhangelsk, 2008),
- “Until the Last Judgment” (Arkhangelsk, 2010),
- “The Indestructible Temple” (Moscow, Sretensky Monastery Publishing House, 2010),
- “The Secret of Vladyka Peter” (M., “Humility”, 2011),
- “People are not born Christians” (“Humility”, 2013);
- “Optina Apple Trees” - the story of St. Ambrose of Optina (M., Publishing House of the Sisterhood of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2001, reprints - 2012, 2014, 2017),
- “The Boy from Grandmother’s Icon” - the story of the righteous youth Artemy Verkolsky (M., Publishing House of the Sisterhood of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2011; reprint 2014),
- “The Siberian Righteous Man” - the story of the righteous Theodore of Tomsk (M., Publishing House of the Sisterhood of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2011),
- “The Secret of the Solovetsky Novice” - the story of St. Zosima Solovetsky (M., Publishing House of the Sisterhood of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2011, with illustrations by I. Golub; reprint - 2014 with illustrations by A. Podivilov),
- “God is not in power, but in truth” - the story of the blessed prince Alexander Nevsky (M., Publishing House of the Sisterhood of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2012),
- “The Patriarch of Christians will die a martyr...” - the story of the Holy Martyr Gregory, Patriarch of Constantinople (Publishing House of the Sisterhood of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2013);
- “The Nativity Saint” (the story of the holy martyr Eugenia) (Publishing House of the Sisterhood of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2013);
- “The Servant of the Mystery of the Nativity of Christ” (the story of the righteous Joseph the Betrothed (Publishing House of the Sisterhood of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2013);
- “How the bull and the donkey met the born Christ” (Publishing House of the Brotherhood of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2013; reprints 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019);
- “The Great Baptist of Rus'” (the story of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir) (published by the Sisterhood of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2014);
- “The Bishop’s Gift” and “Christians Are Not Born” (Alrasfera-publishing, 2012),
- collections of short stories “The Return of the Miracle Worker” (“Olma-Media”, 2013);
- “The Apple Trees of Elder Ambrose and Other Uninvented Stories” ((AST, 2014) in 2016, the Tradition Foundation recorded the audiobook “The Apple Trees of Elder Ambrose” in the author’s reading);
- “The adventures of a doctor or Christians are not born” (“Olma-Media”, 2014), reissue “Resurrection”, 2017.
- “The Story of a Nun” (“Olma-Media”, 2014); “Rejected Happiness” (“Olma-Media”, 2014);
- “Life as a Gift to the Infant Christ” (the story of the Hieromartyr Nicodemus of Belgorod) (Publishing House of the Sisterhood of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2014).
- “Drama from parish life” (“Olma-Media”, 2015)
- “Test by miracle” (“Eksmo”, “Resurrection”, 2015)
- “Secrets of monasteries. Life in ancient women’s abodes” (“Eksmo”, “Resurrection”, 2015)
- "Notes from the Underworld. About passions and temptations" (Eksmo, 2016)
- “A Friend in Heaven” (AST, 2016)
- Forgive me for everything. Stories about miracles of faith and love (collection) ("Ark", 2017 - three stories were published: "To remind the slaves of the earth of Christ", "Martha", "Contrary to statistics")
- "Forgive me, Ksenia" ("Ripol", 2019)
Main publication sources:
“Omilia”, “Slavyanka”, “Orthodox Conversation”
Country: Russia
At the end of the Sunday Liturgy and prayer services, when the parishioners of the Holy Lazarus Church began to go home, the rector, Father Theodore, came to the choir and announced to the choristers:
- My dear readers, my golden singers, do not forget that Friday is our Patronal Feast. The Lord himself will serve. Please come, everyone. Anton,” he turned to the leading bass, “you should definitely come.” You know that Vladyka has his favorite “Cherubimskaya” - with a bass solo... There’s no way we can do it without you.
“Father,” sighed the young singer to whom the abbot was addressing. “That’s the trouble, I can’t come.” I already asked the manager to reschedule the appointment to the evening, but he did not allow it. What if, he says, the sick come in the morning, but the doctor won’t be at the appointment... And he ordered to issue coupons for the appointment just on Friday morning. So, father, forgive me. I wanted the best, but it turned out...
Can't you change? - the abbot immediately asked, saddened.
But who can replace me, father, if there are only two neurologists in the entire clinic - the director and me,” the singer complained. - Who will take care of the sick for me?
The abbot became thoughtful. And suddenly he suddenly beamed. Then he opened the door to the altar and called:
Father Victor! Come here!
At these words, Father Victor, the recently ordained third priest of the church, came out of the altar onto the choir. Despite his youth, he was known as a jack of all trades, so he could, if necessary, cut down a bathhouse and cut funny dragons out of fresh cucumbers for his three children when they began to act up. In addition, Father Victor was a student at the Theological Institute. And students, as you know, are not only smart people, but also resourceful. Victor's father had only one drawback - he was deprived musical ear, so all attempts to teach him to sing or at least keep his tone were invariably unsuccessful.
That’s what, Father Victor,” the abbot said to the third priest. Here we have a problem - we need Anton to be at the Liturgy when Vladyka arrives. And he can’t get away from work. Unless someone replaces him. So, Father Victor, replace Anton at his job. This is the kind of obedience you will receive from me.
If at this moment Fr. was overhead. The sky opened up and thunder struck Victor; he would have been less horrified. It’s easy for the abbot to say: “replace Anton.” But how can this be done if in medicine Fr. Did Victor know no more than singing? “I will refuse, I will certainly refuse,” Fr. decided to himself. Victor. But then he remembered that the will of the abbot cannot be contradicted, and that “obedience is more important than fasting and prayer.” Therefore, he bowed his head before Father Theodore:
Okay, Father Theodore. I will do as you bless.
The days remaining until Friday Fr. Victor spent in confusion and fear. His only consolation was that anything could still happen before Friday. For example, he would get sick, catch a cold, or sprain his leg... He even began to pray to God, so that the Lord would perform a miracle, and he would not have to turn out to be a “reluctant doctor.” But the miracle did not happen, and Father Valery lived in perfect health until the fateful Friday.
It must be said that the singer Anton, that is, the neurologist Anton Sergeevich, for his part made every effort to protect Fr. Victor from possible surprises during the reception. Arriving with him at the clinic an hour before the start of the shift, he personally dressed the priest in a white robe and even tried to explain to him how, using a special hammer with a rubber head, to evoke reflexes in the patient. But most importantly, he entrusted him to the care of his nurse, Marya Ivanovna, one of the best nurses in the entire clinic. At the same time, all three agreed that Fr. Victor will only question the patients. When it comes to appointments, he important look will nod his head to the nurse, and she will prescribe the necessary medications and procedures. Having completed all this preparation, Anton Sergeevich went to the temple, leaving Fr. Victor, as they say, is at the will of God.
For about twenty minutes after he left, there was a lull at the reception. The sick either did not go, or were delayed somewhere. While Marya Ivanovna was silently writing something, Father Victor, languishing in anticipation, managed to disassemble and reassemble the neurological hammer, finding a needle inside its head, and a hard brush inside the handle. He was about to ask the nurse about the purpose of these items, but then there was a knock on the office door, and the first patient, a man about 50, appeared on the threshold. “Lord, help me!” - Father Victor desperately pleaded.
“Hello, doctor,” said the newcomer.
Hello... what is your name? Ivan Ivanovich... Please sit down. What hurts you?
Doctor, my lower back is tormenting me. I take and take pills, but to no avail. Please advise, maybe scientists have come up with something new for radiculitis...
And then the unexpected happened. Probably, out of excitement, Father Victor forgot the instructions given to him by Anton Sergeevich, and, instead of nodding importantly to the nurse, who was already holding paper and pen at the ready, he spoke to the patient:
New, you say? Are you fasting? No? In vain. I recently read in one magazine that if fasting is not observed, a strong deposition of salts in the bones begins. This is where all the problems come from. But soon there will be a Christmas post. Try fasting. It will immediately become much easier... Do you bow? No, not gymnastics, but bowing and praying. Here, for example, like this (at the same time, Father Victor, carried away, stood up and showed the patient how to make a bow from the waist, bending down and reaching the floor with his hand). Try to do at least ten bows every day. And be sure to read your prayer. What prayer exactly? I love it. For example, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” This prayer is called the Jesus Prayer. Or a prayer to the Mother of God...
“Doctor, can you write down these prayers,” asked the visibly animated patient. “Sister,” he turned to Marya Ivanovna, “please write down the words for me...
Having received a piece of paper with the texts of prayers, as well as advice from Fr. Victor bought a prayer book from the church, the smiling patient left the office. When parting, Fr. Victor blessed him with a priestly blessing:
Well, with God, get treatment for your mental and physical health.
So, contrary to the saying that “the first pancake is lumpy,” the first experience of Fr. Victor was successful in the medical field. But the already emboldened Fr. Victor was about to fully experience the joy of his first success when an elderly woman with a pale, exhausted face entered the office:
Doctor, please prescribe me some pills for fear... Fear has tormented me, I have no strength.
What are you afraid of? - asked Fr. Victor
Yes, you see, doctor, my neighbor is so harmful, so evil. She and I were arguing and arguing, and it almost ended up in court. And then it began to seem to me that there was a black cat running around my apartment. Apparently my neighbor did this to me. I already went to my grandmother, and she also told me that this was done on me, but what’s the point? She took the money, but the cat kept running and running. Then I went to the doctors, they prescribed pills and prescribed them, but to no avail. Apparently the weak pills don’t help... Maybe you could prescribe something stronger?
Pills won't help here - something else is needed. Have you tried praying before going to bed? No? Here’s how you do it - pray before going to bed, and then cross yourself and the corners of the apartment. Don't know how to pray? Yes, at least with the prayer that is written on the pectoral cross: “Lord, save and preserve.” Don't you have a cross? How can it be that you were baptized, but you don’t have a cross? You must wear a cross if you are baptized. After all, demons are afraid of the Cross more than anything else in the world... Is your apartment consecrated? No too? Invite the priest and let him bless you. Are there any icons in the house? What are you saying, is it really possible for a house to exist without a shrine? Be sure to buy them, any church now sells icons. Don't go to grandma's anymore. This is a sin, we must repent of it. And be sure to make peace with your neighbor - it’s also a sin when people are at enmity. How long have you been to confession? Never? So how can all evil spirits not appear after this? Be sure to confess, and the sooner the better. And before that, fast for three days, remember the sins you committed so that you can confess them to the priest. No, what does it mean: “I’m ashamed to tell”? A doctor is not ashamed to talk about his illness. And the priest is also a doctor, only a spiritual one. Well, God bless you...
“Oh, doctor, your words immediately made me feel better,” the woman perked up, “you are so comforting.” Just like dad...
“Yes, I am a priest,” Fr. wanted to admit. Victor, but the woman had already left the office.
Further reception of patients continued in the same spirit. Father Victor listened to people, consoled them, prescribed treatment and gave his blessing. And what’s surprising is that that day nurse Marya Ivanovna did not have to write out a single prescription for medicine. The treatment was prescribed by Fr. Victor. You may ask - how did he manage to do this if he did not know medicine? But don’t most of the physical illnesses with which people go to see a doctor have spiritual causes, in which spiritual doctors - priests - are the most knowledgeable? And for spiritual diseases - and treatment accordingly. To whom - fasting, to whom - intense prayer, to whom - distribution of alms, to whom - bows... And for all of us together - repentance for our sins.
The treatment that o. Victor prescribed it to his patients, it turned out to be so effective that over the weekend the news spread throughout the area that a certain famous metropolitan professor of neurology was seeing at the clinic, who helped even the hopelessly ill. So on Monday, a whole crowd of sufferers gathered at the door of the neurologist’s office. Alas, to their considerable disappointment, Anton Sergeevich, whom they knew well, was sitting at the table, in a white robe, with a hammer in his hands.
“Doctor,” the patients decided to ask him, “please tell me, where can we find that professor with a beard who was holding an appointment here on Friday?” Let him heal us too. Please tell me where he receives it?
And then Anton Sergeevich told them the address medical institution, where the doctor they were looking for practiced. You will say - but Fr. Victor was not a doctor, but a priest. But a priest is also a doctor, only a spiritual one. And the place where he served - Orthodox Church, is often called a “doctor”. That is, a hospital, or, if you like, a clinic. A clinic where human souls are treated and healed.