Olga Rozhneva
Faraway Athos, I will never see you: your mysterious mountains and austere monasteries, secluded kellias and kalyvias, rocky trails to Karoulia and the peaks of Katounakia; I will never descend to the blue waves of the Aegean Sea, will never awaken to the sound of the wooden tuaka in the pilgrim’s quarters—arxontariki. The monastic republic of Athos is inaccessible for women. But I can listen to stories about Athos from my first spiritual guide—Igumen Savvaty.
Abbess Nikolaya (Ilina)
Igumena Nikolaya (Ilina) is the abbess of the St. Nicholas-Chernoostrovsky Monastery in Maloyaroslavets. A native Muscovite, a scientist with two higher education degrees… How and why did she “trade” pure intellectual tasks for hard physical work, nearly always dirty, in restoring a ruined monastery, and what joy did she find in it?
We’ve already been home for a long time, but our climb to the summit of Mt. Athos has remained with us—in our souls, our hearts, transfigured by the grace of God there, in the tiny Athonite Church of the Transfiguration. Eugene Valentinovich keeps the clothes he climbed to the top in as something sacred. And Fr. Simeon and I keep this journey in our hearts, and share it with you, the readers of this story, with love.
On August 24, we honor the memory of the great elder Archpriest Nikolai Guryanov (1909-2002). For more than forty years the elder served in the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on the island of Talabsk (Zalit) in the Pskov Diocese. Being himself a great elder, Archimandrite John (Krestiankin) said of Archpriest Nikolai that he was “the only true clairvoyant elder on the territory of the former USSR.”
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In those years, the now-departed elders Archimandrite John (Krestiankin) and Archimandrite Adrian (Kirsanov) were still laboring in the monastery. It didn’t work out for me, a child, to meet with them of course; I didn’t even know they existed, but the whole monastery atmosphere was filled with prayer and grace. Again, I said nothing to my parents, but the thought of going to a monastery tightly fused itself to my soul. To me it seems like my coming to God and entrance into Church life was a real miracle and the mercy of God towards me.
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Olga Rozhneva, Abbess Vitalia (Kochetova)
Everybody, especially the driver Pavel, was overwhelmed by this unusual and edifying occurrence. Pavel kept asking very loudly:“What should I do?! How should I pray to St. Thecla?!”
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Count George Alexandrovich Sheremetev
His life as well as those of his close relatives were full of persecutions and sorrows, wanderings across three continents and foreign countries, among people of various ethnic origins and religious traditions.
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Olga Rozhneva, Archimandrite Leonty (Zolotarev)
The deputy abbot of the Zverinets Monastery of the Holy Archangel Michael in Kiev Archimandrite Leonty (Zolotarev) speaks about the role of Divine Providence in choosing one’s life’s path, and recalls his meetings with grace-filled ascetics and the wonderful miracles of God performed through the intercessions of the venerable fathers of Zverinets Monastery.
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Kiev boasts a wealth of wonderful ancient monasteries, yet the most mysterious of them is the Zverinets Monastery of the Archangel Michael of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (the UOC-MP), located in the capital’s Pechersky district, to the south of the Kiev Caves Lavra.
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Bishop Athanasius firmly hoped in God’s Providence. Imprisoned for many years, he wrote to his spiritual children, “My situation is not disastrous. I look at everything calmly, knowing that our service does not depend upon earthly rulers, but upon the One Who holds even the fate of rulers in His hands.”
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Olga Rozhneva, Mother Mariam (Mikladze)
We’re walking around the center of old Tbilisi—the abbess of the Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord, Matushka Mariam (Mikladze), is waiting for us to come.
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After the Liturgy the people took their time as they ambled out of the church. The sun was shining and warm, the autumn leaves were golden, and the air was especially clear—everything on that day in October was festive, as if nature itself was rejoicing on the day of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
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Olga Rozhneva, Olga Zatushevskaya
Abbess Methodia of the Convent of the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John near the Greek city of Naousa, under the spiritual direction of Elder Ephraim, spoke to us about the monastery and about her path there by the prayers of the holy people God had blessed her to meet.
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Our regular guests—pilgrims from the Diocese of Voronezh and Borisoglebsk—visited us over the weekend at the Optina Monastery excursion office. They brought us some new stories.
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The clairvoyant Schemanun Sepphora prayerfully stood at the forefront of the rebirth of Optina Monastery and Klykovo, and died in 1997 in her 102nd year of life.
Suddenly she heard the ringing voice of her daughter: “Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare to talk like that in my presence! I forbid you! Mary Magdalene was a Myrrh Bearer, a disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ! That’s who she is!”
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Fr. Michael met us in his monastery in the center of Tbilisi, in the Old City, on the banks of the Kura River. He spoke about a lot: how he came to God, and how he labored on Mt. Athos, of his meetings with the patriarch, with St. Gabriel (Urgebadze), and other interesting and edifying stories.
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On June 4 we honor the repose day of blessed Gerondissa Macrina, abbess of the Panagia Hodigitria Monastery near Volos, Greece, and spiritual daughter of Elder Joseph the Hesychast and Elder Ephraim of Philotheos (and Arizona) (Moraitissa). Eldress Macrina acquired numerous spiritual gifts and was worthy of very lofty spiritual states.
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What difficulties do we have in the monastery? For me the most difficult is when you speak to people, pilgrims, about salvation, and they don’t listen or don’t believe—they don’t want to be saved. And then I pray that the Lord would open their souls.
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The monastic republic of Athos is inaccessible for women. But I can listen to stories about Athos from my first spiritual guide—Igumen Savvaty.
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Matushka was an ascetic of prayer. Natalia was once witness to her prayer. They were talking about something that happened, and Mother Maria, turning away, prayed for someone who had fallen into trouble. Natalia recalls that she was struck by this short prayer: Matushka addressed the Mother of God as if she were standing right there. She prayed for all her spiritual children and could feel in her spirit when something was wrong with them, and her spiritual children could feel the eldress’ prayer. Everything worked out through her prayer, and all fell into place. Matushka’s prayers helped in difficult circumstances.
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The Nativity of Christ is a festival of extraordinary kindness and warmth, when all of us, like children, wait for miracles. And the Lord as a loving Father comforts us and grants us miracles, as testified by your miraculous Christmas stories, our dear readers.
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"I was standing in these amazing night services and thinking that women can’t go to Mt. Athos, so visiting the Monastery of St. Anthony the Great and the others founded by Elder Ephraim is a unique opportunity for women to feel the spirit of Athos. You’re touched by the prayers of the holy Athonite elder Joseph the Hesychast, through the prayers of his spiritual children who have themselves become great elders. This prayer and love can be felt anywhere on earth, even at a distance of a thousand miles. You pray in your mother tongue, and in some miraculous manner, by the grace of the Holy Spirit Who gave the apostles the gift of speaking in other tongues, the elder, having acquired this grace, understands you."
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Some mistakenly think that the Jesus prayer is only for monks. However, the Optina elders also instructed laypeople to do the Jesus prayer.
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Olga Rozhneva, Baroness von Luelsdorff
Baroness Rida Von Liuelsdorf on the history of the white Russian emigration in Xinjiang, terrible trials, and miraculous help from St. John of Shanghai.
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Olga Rozhneva, Hierodeacon Seraphim (Molibog)
Last year Olga Rozhneva was blessed by the providence of God to visit the well-known Monastery of St. Anthony the Great in the Arizona desert, founded by Elder Ephraim (Moraitis), a disciple of the venerable Elder Joseph the Hesychast. Amongst the brethren of the monastery is the Russian Hierodeacon Seraphim, who spoke with us about his path to God, how he found himself in a monastery in the middle of the American desert, and the instructions of Elder Ephraim.
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Gerontissa Macrina was the abbess of the Monastery of Panagia Hodigitria near the city of Volos, a spiritual child of Elder Joseph the Hesychast († 1959) and Elder Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona. Gerontissa led monasteries founded with the blessing of Elder Joseph the Hesychast for more than thirty years, from 1963 to 1995. She acquired numerous spiritual gifts and was blessed with high spiritual states.
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November 9/22 we remember St. Nektarios of Aegina, a modern ascetic and wonderworker. His life is amazing: the Lord manifested in a visible and tangible way His care for those who please Him. The saint acquired the gifts of the Holy Spirit: unceasing prayer and spiritual discernment, healing, clairvoyance, and prophecy. When he served the Divine Liturgy, in a prayerful state, his face radiated light which was visible to others.
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We hope that the example of this Orthodox Christian, having combined within herself the virtues of motherhood and monasticism, would inspire our God-loving readers, both laity and nuns, to try to imitate her measure of strength in podvigs and prayerful labor. We also hope that readers of this article will come to love Mother Theophano, and begin to turn to her for prayerful help and beseech her intercession and teaching, undoubtingly believing that she has found boldness before the Lord God, Whom she so loved and Whom she sincerely served with her whole heart until her final breath.
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The blessed gerontissa Taxiarchia acquired the gifts of ceaseless prayer, of healing the human body and soul, clairvoyance, fervent faith, and the love of Christ. Gerontissa labored in monastic podvigs for many long years. There are known cases of when her prayers healed cancer patients. After Gerontissa Taxiarchia’s blessed repose the Lord attested to her podvig by the appearance of fragrant myrrh on her face. We present here a collection of memories of Gerontissa, from those who knew her well.
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Hundreds of people come to Optina every day. Why do they come? They spend money for the road, are wearied by travel… They are coming to the Optina elders! Remember the saying, “People don’t go to an empty well”?
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Olga Rozhneva, Gerontissa Theophano
The first monastery built by Elder Ephraim in America was the women’s monastery of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Saxonburg, PA. Elder Ephraim founded it in 1989. Pilgrims meet here a peaceful corner of nature, where you can forget for a time your worldly cares and anxieties and you can immerse yourself in a world of silence and prayer. The sisters of the monastery labor purely for the prayer of the heart and mind. Here and there you here: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” The Byzantine singing in church during the services leaves pilgrims in awe.
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Olga Rozhneva, Alexandra Lagos
"In this difficult period Elder Ephraim had so much grace that he exuded a sweet fragrance. Everything the elder touched began to sweetly smell. When he confessed children, covering their heads with his epitrachelion, their hair had this fragrance for a few days. If he touched napkins they began to emit this fragrance. His clothes and skufias emitted the fragrance. The stronger were the temptations, the stronger this fragrance was felt."
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We do feel his presence in this church. Many people come to ask for help—it is he who brings them here. And the archbishop helps them himself. It is he who should be thanked for this help.
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My interviewee has had an extremely interesting and unusual life for an American woman. Charming, intelligent, she looks some 15 years younger than she really is. And behind her there is a long life full of the hard labors of a noble, self-sacrificing person who seeks to see Divine providence in every turn of her life. Here she is: secretary of Bishop Basil (Vasily) Rodzianko, assistant to Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen), an expert in the Russian literature and arts, honorable parishioner of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Marilyn Pfeifer Swezey.
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So I stood there awkwardly, no young people near, I couldn’t understand the services, in fact I didn’t even speak very good Russian at the time… But then during the services something in my soul changed. It was just one incident, but it turned everything upside down in me.
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“Everything is gained by prayer. You are only approaching the first step, you haven’t yet ascended it, only approach it and you still have to enter the door, but you can’t go in by any effort if God’s mercy is not there. That is why you first of all need to ask, “Open unto me the doors of Thy compassion, O Lord!”
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The priest’s whole life turned around after meeting the elder. Fr. Savvatty came up to him and felt that he had no words, nothing to ask. He wanted just to stand next to him and feel the love radiating from this man. It was like a heavenly force coming from his soul. Fr. John poured out this heavenly love over everyone around him, and at first he couldn’t understand: How could Fr. John love everyone?
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The interrogation of the aging nun lasted 16 days and nights. During the course of this time they did not allow her to sleep—or even to sit. When she fell from exhaustion, they brought her back to consciousness by pouring ice water all over her. In spite of the torture,
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During the fast leading up to the Nativity of Christ, Christians are reminded once again of their duty to take a look around them and give what they can to relieve the needs of others. Here is some advice from the Optina Elders on almsgiving.
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The spiritual life does not mean just living in the clouds; it consists of the discovery of the laws of spiritual life, as far as they are applied to a given person in his situation and in his circumstances. And the Optina Elders revealed these spiritual laws to laypeople, helped them to understand and give meaning to life’s circumstances, and instructed them on the way to salvation.
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St. Hilarion was a skilled spiritual physician. He taught people who were suffering to go over their whole previous life from the age of seven, to recall forgotten unrepented sins, in which were often hidden the reason for a spiritual illness.
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On September 7/20 we celebrate the memory of the great Optina elder, Macarius. The saint’s life is deeply edifying for contemporary people. What kinds of lessons can we learn from the elder’s life?
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What will help us become stronger in sorrows? How can we prevent them? What can we do if grief over our children overcomes us?
St. Anthony of Optina replied to a question about the choice of the monastic life, that one can be saved both in a monastery and in the world. And he reminded us that the enemy may give zeal for virtues that are beyond our strength, while, on the other hand, he may instill neglect and carelessness towards deeds that are within our power.
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“Many who have laid down their lives on the field of battle, will doubtless receive remission of sins, and many will be crowned with imperishable crowns of heavenly glory, while their close ones who are left behind — and all in general who are suffering over this inside and enduring a lack of many things — involuntarily will leave luxury and will be strengthened in the faith.”
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“When these three fields are cleansed, then other passions stemming from them are also imperceptibly cut off with them—that is, anger and remembrance of wrongs, earthly sorrow, envy, hatred, coolness and laziness regarding prayer and works of piety.”
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In the world, pride and self-esteem are sometimes raised almost to the status of virtues or signs of the nobility of one’s nature. This view is erroneous and happens, according to the words of St. Macarius, “out of ignorance or from darkening by the passions.”
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My heart froze. I asked her myself how my son is. The doctor answered, “Mama, there must have been some mistake with your son. It can’t be explained any other way.
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The Optina elders expressed their opinion about lay people visiting the theater, about the passion for reading novels, exhilaration over the canvases of painters, the longing to listen to music for hours or even constantly.
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August 12 is the commemoration day of Venerable Anatoly (Potapov), one of the last of the Optina elders. In contrast to the preceding Optina saints, there was no one left to compose the life of this elder after the Revolution. There remained only fragmented memories of pilgrims, notes of spiritual children, and letters of the elder, in which biographical details were often lacking, but in which his image rises up brightly and vividly. We honor the memory of the elder and reminisce with these recollections.
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God’s providence leads us through life; and how good it is for those who can hear it in time, who try to understand God’s will for themselves. If we make plans for one thing or another but find numerous obstacles on our path to attaining it, we have to slow down and try to discern—is this plan God’s will for us? Sometimes the Lord protects us from danger, holds us back from our impulsive race through life, but we don’t understand it, we keep fussing, insisting upon our own will, instead of simply stepping back, waiting a bit, trying some other way...
It’s cold. Thorny flakes of snow strike his face amidst the swirling snowstorm. Where is the earth, where the sky? Nothing but whiteness and indifference, nothing but loneliness and anguish, just like the life of Slavka, otherwise known as “the Czech”. He has nowhere to go; no one is waiting for him, anywhere. Why is he living? Why was he born? He tries to forget, raising his head to the empty sky to forget all that is bitter and wearying, to spill out his pain.
“Well, that is that,” she thought. “It did not work… It was stupid of me to even hope… The Elder has more than enough things to do without having a conversation with every old woman who wants to talk to him!” The very next day, the phone rang, and, interrupting her daily tasks, she picked up the receiver. She picked it up, and almost dropped it again, for it was batiushkahimself who was calling! And he invited her to come see him at the metochion.
While they were still in the secular world, and before they entered the monastery, those who were to become the Optina Elders had work experience in various areas: one managed an estate, another was a merchant, others were tailors, soldiers, or teachers. Even in our day, lessons can be drawn from the Elders’ work experience.
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Can and should a church-going Orthodox person be a successful member of society? Can one take the path toward God and at the same time ascend the steps of a career ladder? Should one seek positions of authority or refuse them? St. John Climacus (“of the Ladder”) wrote his famous “Ladder” on the subject of spiritual growth. His book does not contain advice about how to make a career for yourself. It would seem that the Holy Fathers gave little thought to the idea of making a success of yourself in society.
