A Celebration of Russian Cuisine…
Join us for an afternoon of fun and culture!

From 11am to 4pm on Saturday, May 18th, Christ the Savior Orthodox Christian Church is hosting its event, “A Taste of Russia” on the church grounds at 6378 Rte. 152 in Wayne. Anyone (and everyone) interested in experiencing delicious foods prepared according to Russian culinary tradition is invited to attend.

Delicious foods such as “shashlyk” (grilled skewered meat) and pelmeni (Russian style ravioli) will be served alongside a variety of Russian salads and other side dishes and desserts. Items will be sold together as a sampler platter (including all items) or a-la-carte, with individual items starting as low as $2.

The full menu will include:

Shashlyk (Grilled skewered meat, served on bamboo skewers)
Pel’meni (Russian style ravioli)
Marinated Russian Cabbage
Oliviye (Russian style potato salad)
Russian style deviled eggs with garlic cheese
Russian Tea Cakes (Russian cookies with powdered sugar)
Beverages for the event will include soft drinks and Russian Tea.

The church will also be open and tours will be held each hour on the hour beginning at noon.

Several vendors are

also expected to attend including the monks from Holy Cross Monastery, who will be selling their handmade soaps and other products. Proceeds from this event will benefit Christ the Savior Food Pantry, which serves the local Wayne community each week from 5 to 7pm.

Link to event flyer: click here.

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Preface

This is to be the last issue of The Royal Path [the printed version, not the electronic version]. The intention is to conclude this publication with articles that reflect the goals and interests that inspired the previous issues.

The Church calendar has been the guiding force of the publication since it is one of the most basic foundations for the whole of the Christian life. The Life of the Church is like a river and the calendar is its shores and banks. The Church runs through it and between those banks is contained all that is needed for salvation. Within its flow is found the yearly feasts and the daily commemorations of the saints, who have gone before us, lived the Christian life and attained the Kingdom of God, guiding us with the example of their lives.

The lives of the pious laypeople presented in the past issues were selected because the people in question resemble us in that they lived in a time similar to our own. They searched out the saints of their own days and attached themselves to them desiring to learn how to live the Christian life. They struggled and attained this life each in their own measure. In this way they are lights in our dark times.

This last issue contains short accounts of the lives of each of the fourteen Elders of Optina, who through the past century up to our own day, have guided the lives of countless people. Their influence has been so far reaching as to change the lives of modern Americans. One such American being Fr. Seraphim Rose who throughout his life devoted himself to leading people to the Kingdom of God by his writings, his teachings and his conversations. Through these he pointed people toward cotemporary and past saints and encouraged them to make a connection with those who were sources of the living tradition.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…”

Introduction

Who are the Saints?

The saints are those who have been baptized into Christ and through the measure of their faith in Christ, have crucified their old man (Rom. 6:6) and put on Christ (Gal. 3:27). “This same likeness to Christ… is found in all the saints, despite the infinite variety of their personal characteristics and of the circumstances in which they have shown forth the work of Christ in particular places and at different times.”[1] In their life they have overcome their passions (i.e. sinful habits) through the practice of the spiritual disciplines and the keeping of the commandments and have become perfect through grace even as our Father in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48, cf. Ps. 82:6). They are “the blessed” in that they are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the ones who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Therefore they have attained the kingdom of heaven and they are comforted, inherit the earth, are filled, have obtained mercy, see God and are the sons of God (Matt. 5:3-10). “[The] Lives of the Saints are nothing else but the life of the Lord Christ, repeated in every saint to a greater or lesser degree in this or that form. More precisely it is the life of the Lord Christ continued through the Saints…”[2] They have become gods (John 10:34) by the grace of the Holy Spirit as they cry out with St. Paul saying, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20).

The Qualities of the Saints

Because Christ dwells in them, the saints do His work (John 14:12, 20, 23; cf. 18-26). “It is Christ Himself, dwelling in [the saints] by the Holy Spirit, who works miracles, converts idolaters, reveals the hidden wisdom of spiritual knowledge, reconciles enemies and fortifies the bodies of His saints to meet the most dreadful torments with joy; so that the Gospel continues to be written, even to this day, through the evangelic labors of the saints.”[3] Therefore, we are not surprised when we see the miraculous wonders wrought by saints throughout the whole history of the Church, because Christ told us that even greater miracles than His would be accomplished (John 14:12), and the lives of the saints witness to this. In reading and learning of the history of the Church from its beginning, we learn of the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3) which has been lived out through the saints from the very beginning and in whom the truth of the Gospel is seen and demonstrated.

The Psalmist declares, “God is glorious in His saints” (Ps. 68:35). Whereas He gives all His people strength and power as He shows no partiality to anyone (cf. Acts 10:34) but causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and rain to fall on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45) yet “the sun pours down its rays abundantly upon all alike, but they are visible only to those with open eyes. Those with clear-sighted, pure eyes benefit from the pure light of the sun, not those whose vision is dimmed because illness, mist or something similar has afflicted their eyes. In the same way, God richly bestows His help on all, for He is the ever-flowing, enlightening and saving fount of mercy and goodness. But not everyone takes advantage of His grace and power to practice and perfect virtue or show forth miracles, only those with a good intent, who demonstrate their love and faith towards God by good works (cf. Jas. 2:20-26), who turn away completely from everything base, hold fast to God’s commandments and lift up the eyes of their understanding to Christ the Sun of Righteousness (Mal. 4:2).”[4]

The Value of the Writings of Lives of the Saints

As St. Paul instructs the Corinthians to imitate him as he imitates Christ (1 Cor. 11:1), so also are we to imitate those who live Christ better than us, and who are better in imitating than those who have already attained the Kingdom of God. In these Lives we can see the beginning, the middle and end of the spiritual road that concludes in Christ.

“The purpose of the Lives is it legal to buy viagra online of the Saints is not to give abstract knowledge but… to edify spiritually and to inspire imitation.”[5] This is why St. Justin [Popovich] says:

If you wish, the Lives of the Saints are a sort of Orthodox Encyclopedia. In them can be found everything which is necessary for the soul which hungers and thirsts for eternal righteousness and eternal truth in this life, and which hungers and thirsts for Divine immortality and eternal life. If faith is what you need, there you will find it in abundance: and you will feed your soul with food which will never make it hungry. If you need love, truth, righteousness, hope, meekness, humility, repentance, prayer, or whatever virtue or podvig [spiritual struggle], in them, the Lives of the Saints, you will find a countless number of holy teachers for every podvig and will obtain grace-filled help for every virtue.[6]

Furthermore, the Saints are not only those we read about in ancient books. Fr. Seraphim (Rose) takes it a step further to draw our attention to the fact that not only should we read the Lives of the Saints, but we should be able to recognize those who are Saints living in our own times. He expresses the need to be “linked” to these Saints and quotes St. Symeon the New Theologian, who wrote:

A man who does not express desire to link himself to the latest of the saints (in time) in all love and humility owing to a certain distrust of him, will never be linked with the preceding saints and will not be admitted to their succession, even though he thinks he possesses all possible faith and love for God and for all His saints. He will be cast out of their midst, as one who refused to take humbly the place allotted to him by God before all time, and to link himself to the latest saint (in time) as God had disposed.[7]

Optina Monastery

The Influence of Optina Monastery

In 1990, an announcement was made regarding the upcoming glorification of the “Venerable Elders of Optina” by Metropolitan Vitaly and all of the Members of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. An epistle was written, which included the following:

The elders of Optina were glorified by the rare gift of prophecy, when, penetrating to the state of the soul of each person who approached them and perceiving their spiritual weaknesses and needs, they healed them. The startling power of their words was centered in the great love which they had for all without exception, and which, with the disclosure of the mysteries of the soul, shook the soul, drew it toward repentance and correction, accomplished spiritual regeneration, and inspired it to a new life of grace. The Optina elders’ gifts of grace drew to them a multitude of people from all ends of Russia, and no one departed from them without receiving spiritual benefit at their hands.

They obtained from God exceptional gifts of miracles and the power of the influence of grace on the soul through many struggles, but especially by the path used by the Apostle, who said: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (1 Cor. 12:10), i.e. when I am conscious of my weakness and inadequacy and cry out to God, then, receiving this help, I become strong. The great humility, the profound consciousness of their own unworthiness and the constant prayer arising from them made the elders of Optina bearers of the grace and power of God.[8]

These words were a public and official acknowledgement of what was known and felt by the rest of the Russian Orthodox world, and beyond, regarding these Elders for some time already. Many people wrote about their experiences at Optina Monastery, about the Elders’ influence on their lives and about the Monastery’s effect on the whole Russian land and to many beyond.

Concerning his visit to Optina Monastery, Nikolai Gogol wrote to Count A.P. Tolstoy in June, 1850, saying:

While travelling I stopped off in Optina [Monastery] and carried away a remembrance that I shall never forget. I think that on Mt. Athos itself there is nothing better. Grace is visibly present there. One can even sense it clearly in the external serving (in church)… I have never seen such monks anywhere… every one of them, it appeared to me, conversed with everything heavenly. I did not ask them how they live, because their faces speak for themselves. The simplest brothers struck me with their bright angelic kindness, their simplicity of manners, their radiance. Even the workers in the monastery, the peasants and the inhabitants of the neighborhood, struck me in the same way. Several miles prior to reaching the monastery, one senses this spiritual fragrance: everything becomes friendlier, the boughs of the trees are lower, and the attention to a human being much deeper.[9]

Ivan Kontzevitch, in attempting to describe his time at Optina, notes that “to transmit this impression to one who has not experienced it is impossible!” Yet, offering a “glimpse” he writes:

It is an early summer morning. You are walking to church. There is a fresh breeze. Around you is a murmur of the deep forest, whose fragrance hovers all over and in front of you, against the forest, is the grandeur of the white citadel. There is Optina. At the same time, you are experiencing a genuine sense of God’s presence, and from this comes fear for each thought, each action, each feeling, together with an intangible peace in your soul, and joy, which so wondrously harmonizes with the external surroundings.[10]

Just as all paths leading to a mountain top converge on it, so too in Optina – the spiritual summit – there converged both the higher spiritual podvig of inward activity, which is crowned with an abundance of the gifts of grace through the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, the service to the world, satisfying both its spiritual and everyday needs. Many came to see the Elders of Optina in search of consolation, healing, advice, guidance or instructions. The Optina Elders were visited by those who became entangled in the circumstances of their lives or philosophical quests. Like “deer searching for springs of water,” men in their thirst for truth yearned to go to Optina. They all quenched their thirst at this source of “living water.” The outstanding thinkers of the time, philosophers and writers visited Optina: Gogol, the Kireyevsky brothers, Leo and Aleksei Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Solviev, Leontiev… and countless others.[11]

Archimandrite Cyprian noted, “Optina was one of the most wonderful flowers of the monastic garden, one of the brightest lights of the Orthodox world and of its angel-like choirs of monastics. Confession, guidance and counsel of even the seemingly most prosaic nature drew the monks ever closer to their objective – to be the guardian angels of the world.”[12]

Others have said: “He who has learned this life in Optina, all in comparison with it, seems ugly” (a laywoman, 1918); “The world was ill, and in your wilderness are treated” (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov); “When one stays in Optina, the grace of God is so great that you want to earn a life corresponding to the great grace of the ancients” (Elder Barsanuphius, April 1/14, 1913).[13]

In conclusion, perhaps St. Nektary of Optina said it best when he asked S.A. Nilus the question: “Do you know how many true coenobia there have been from the creation of the world to the present day?… Don’t bother yourself thinking; I’ll give you the answer myself – three!… The first one was in Eden, the second one was in the community of Christians during apostolic times, and the third…” He paused… “And the third is in Optina under our great Elders.”[14]

A Description of the Monastery

Optina Monastery is located two miles from the town of Kozelsk in the Kaluga Region about one hundred and forty miles south of Moscow. It is situated on the banks of the Zhizdra River, a deep tributary of the Oka River, and surrounded on three sides by deep forests. The monastery grounds are enclosed by a large stone wall. On the four corners of these walls are mounted metal angels holding trumpets. Within the confines of the monastery wall are three large churches, the main church being dedicated to the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple. 320 meters away from the monastery is the Skete of St. John the Baptist. The Skete is surrounded by a thick forest. Upon approaching the gates to the enclosure one sees icons on the gates. Going through the gates and entering the grounds, there is a small house to the right of the gates and another on the left. Throughout the skete was the fragrant odor of masses of flowers spread along the many paths.

Optina’s History

The date of the founding of the Optina Monastery is unknown. The first historical information found about the monastery dates from 1598 when Tsar Michael Theodovitch donated a mill on the river below Kozelsk for “incense and candle.”[15] From the 17^th century onward there were kept records which describe all of the Optina Abbots and also denotes an active monastic life.[16] In 1724, during the times of the persecution of monasteries under Peter I, the monastery was considered to be an “under populated monastery” and therefore closed per the orders of the Holy Synod in conjunction with the new rulings. By 1770 there were only three monks living at the monastery, one of them was blind, and there was no abbot. It wasn’t until 1795 that the restoration work was begun by Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) of Moscow. He instructed Archimandrite Macarius (Bryushkovu), Abbot of the Pesnosha Monastery who then appointed Father Abraham of Pesnosha to restore all of the buildings in the monastery and to restore the coenobitic life according to the tradition of St. Paisius Velichkovsky. It is said that at this time there wasn’t even a towel to wipe your hands on.[17] Later, twelve monks were brought to the monastery and soon after the monastery began to thrive. In 1821, Bishop Philaret of Kaluga, also a firm supporter of the “Paisian ideal,” undertook the building of the Skete of Saint John the Baptist for those monks who wanted to devote themselves completely to prayer.[18] “[The Skete] was not so much a branch of the monastery as its spiritual heart.”[19] The history of the Elders of Optina begins here.

Elders and Eldership

“To understand Optina is to understand the elders.”[20]

Many describe Optina Monastery as a “golden chain” where specific spiritual gifts (charisms) and a very high level of Christian life (podvig, ascesis) was lived out but it was also combined with a succession of the same spiritual life being passed from generation to generation for almost one hundred years.

The term used to describe this spiritual gift in the life of the Church is “eldership” which is one of the highest manifestations of spiritual life in the church.[21] Ivan Kontzevitch defines eldership as the direct continuation of the prophets noting:

The Apostle Paul enumerates three ministries in the Church, independent of the church hierarchy: apostles, prophets, teachers.

Immediately after the apostles stand prophets (Eph. 4:11, 1 Cor. 12:28). Their ministry consists primarily of “edification, exhortation and comfort” (1 Cor. 14:3). With this aim, and also for pointing out or warning, prophets also predict future events.

Through the prophet, the will of God is immediately revealed… The prophet possesses a special spiritual vision – clairvoyance. For him the boundaries of space and time are, as it were, set aside; with his spiritual gaze he sees not only events that are occurring now, but also future events. He sees their spiritual meaning; he sees the soul of man, his past and future.

Such a calling [is] bound up with a high moral level, with purity of heart, with personal sanctity. Sanctity of life, indeed, was required of the prophet from the first period of Christianity: “He must have the manner of the Lord. From his manner may be distinguished the false prophet and the (true) prophet,” says one of the oldest works of Christian literature, the Didache (The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles).[22]

Professor S.I. Smirnov further elaborates on the spiritual gift of eldership saying that the spiritual gifts possessed by the first Christian were repeated in the ancient monasteries and from there we see it throughout the whole history of the Christian Church. These Christians received this spiritual gift from God according to their own personal worthiness.[23] The Elder is “ideally a God-bearing and Spirit-bearing being… As such he receives spiritual gifts, an outpouring of which distinguished the first era of Christianity. The gifts of prophecy, casting out demons, healing sicknesses and resurrecting the dead are not exceptional. They only disclose a normal step in the spiritual growth of a monk.”[24]

Abiding in unceasing prayer, embracing both the good and the wicked with love, O holy elders of Optina, ye did serve both God and neighbour. Through vigils, tears, and fasting ye did receive the gift of all manner of miracles. glory to him Who hath given us such mediators. Glory to Him Who hath glorified you. Glory to god Who is wondrous in His saints.

Troparion, First Tone, at Great Vespers

– Subdeacon Matthew Long

 

 

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The Elders of Optina Monastery

 

 

Elder Anthony

(March 9, 1795 – August 7, 1865)

Commemorated on August 7

 

Responding to a letter from his older brother who was then at Sarov Monastery, the future Elder Anthony wrote: “One of the books you sent me greatly impressed me, and I want to follow a rule from it, which is: To hold the world in contempt and to seek the heavenly Kingdom is the highest wisdom. By stillness and silence the pious soul is greatly strengthened and understands the mysteries of the Scripture. Thus, if anyone abandons the world, God and His holy angels will visit him. I wish and desire to be as you are…”

Born Alexander Ivanovich Putilov, brother to Elder Moses, the future Elder Anthony, from his childhood was inclined towards monasticism. He was sick for most of his life. As a youth he almost drowned, once he cracked his skull and his life was in danger ten times. Later in life he would develop sores on his legs which were constantly painful and drained frequently; they would open up to the point of exposing the bone even.

Desiring to be like his brother, Alexander left to live with the Roslavl forest ascetics, and placed himself under obedience to Moses. It was here that he learned the monastic life. When Elder Moses left to establish the Skete at Optina Elder Anthony went with him. In 1825, at the age of thirty, the elder became the Abbot of the Optina Skete. It is said that there was no one more humble than Elder Anthony. He would not give any orders without the blessing of his older brother. Under his guidance the skete became a magnet drawing men of spiritual inclination.

Life at Optina was difficult for him. He did not have a cell attendant and therefore had to complete many tasks such as the cooking, gardening and baking himself. The flourishing of eldership in the Skete was due to these brother Elders, Moses and Anthony. They planted it there but also nourished it by bringing Elders Leonid and Macarius to live with them and supporting them in every way possible. Elder Macarius would say of Elder Anthony that “both in rank and in spirit [he is] wiser than myself.” Elder Anthony was known to be very tender and full of compassion.

With the growth of the Skete came many trials and temptations. Due to the sores on his legs, there were times when he wasn’t even able to leave his cell; he therefore committed himself to more reading and prayer until he had the strength for work. The work of eldership in the skete was opposed by Bishop Nicholas of Kaluga and so he appointed Elder Anthony to the Abbacy of the St. Nicholas of Maloyaroslavets monastery in 1835. The monks there lacked fervor and unity, and this was a great trial for Elder Anthony. He was the Abbot here for fourteen years and became so sick that many times he would give orders while lying down. In 1859 he came back to Optina.

Elder Moses reposed in 1862 and Elder Anthony remained in seclusion for a year afterwards. If anyone mentioned his brother’s repose he would begin to cry. His increasing infirmities left him bound to his cell where he devoted himself entirely to prayer.

In 1864, foreseeing his repose, he informed his spiritual children of the same in discrete ways. He began to struggle – to labor in prayer despite increasing pain and to attend the church services. He had a sign hung up over his bed that read “Don’t waste time!” and would tell those that came to visit him, “Here I am at the beginning.”

On the last day of his life on earth he received the blessing of Abbot Isaac and then reposed.

Sayings of Elder Anthony of Optina

On Thoughts

Do not be confused because dark thoughts often trouble you, for dark thoughts, like autumn clouds, come one after another and darken everything. But then they pass and the sky remains clear and pleasant. And so our thoughts wander, they wander around the wide world, but the mind remains planted in its place, and then it is quiet, and the soul becomes joyful. But our mind, from wandering here and there, becomes accustomed to the brief but often repeated Prayer of Jesus, which may God grant you the habit of saying, and then your days will be bright.

On Prayer

According to your wish I am sending you a prayer rope for use in your cell. Pray fervently to the Lord God and your cold heart will be warmed by His sweetest name, for our God is fire. This cry destroys impure dreams and warms the heart for all His commandments. For this reason the prayerful calling upon His sweetest name must be the breath of our soul, must be more frequent than the beating of our heart.

Learning and the Ascetic Life

Purify your heart and you will learn everything.

Regarding the book, A Day of Holy Life by Bishop Gregory of Kazan

This book, if you don’t have it, may be requested from any book store; it is not expensive, is cheaper than medication form a pharmacy and more beneficial.

– Subdeacon Matthew Long

Bibliography

Kontzevitch, I.M. “The life of Hegumen Anthony, Founder of the Skete at Optina (+1821)” in Orthodox Life (March-April, 1990):3-7.

Makarios, Hieromonk of Simonos Petra, The Synaxarion: The Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church, trans. Christopher Hookway, vol. 1 (Chalkidike: Holy Convent of the Annunciation of Our Lady Ormylia, 1998).

Schaefer, Archimandrite George (trans.) Living Without Hypocrisy: Spiritual Counsels of the Holy Elders of Optina (Jordanville: Printshop of St. Job of Pochaev, 2009).

Sederholm, Fr. Clement. Elder Anthony of Optina (St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood: Platina, 1994)

Smolych, I.K., The Era of the Optina Elders on the official site of Optina Monastery at http://www.optina.ru/041113/, accessed on Dec. 17, 2013 (in Russian).

St. Anthony of Optina: Short Life at http://www.optina.ru/starets/antoniy_life_short/, accessed on Dec. 17, 2013 (in Russian).

Optina’s Elders: “Instructor of Monks and Conversers with Angels” at http://www.roca.org/OA/97/97k.htm accessed on Dec. 17, 2013.

 

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The Elders of Optina Monastery

 

 

Elder Leonid

(1768 – October 11, 1841)

Commemorated on October 11

     Southwest of Moscow, in the city of Karachev was born Leo, Danilevich Nagolkin, the future Elder Leonid. Little is known of his early life except for an incident during which he was carting flax to a neighboring city and was attacked by a wolf. He managed to fight off the wolf with his bare hands but was left lame for the rest of his life after the wolf tore a large portion of flesh from his leg.

     Leo began his monastic life in Optina but then moved to the White Bluff Hermitage where he was tonsured and given the name Leonid. He then went on to stay at the Chelnsky monastery where he met Fr. Theodore of Svir who had learned the monastic life under St. Paisius Velichkovsky. From Fr. Theodore, Fr. Leonid learned the “science of science and art of arts”, the labour of unceasing prayer. These holy men were together for nearly twenty years. After Fr. Theodore’s repose, Fr. Leonid went to the St. Alexander of Svir Monastery and the Ploschansk monastery, where the future Elder Macarius also liked. In 1829, after thirty years of ascetic experience, he came to Optina at the invitation of Bishop Philaret of Kaluga and Abbot Moses after thirty years of ascetic experience. Here, he began the line of the great Elders of Optina.

     At sixty-one years old he is described as a “tall, majestic man, who had in his youth acquired strength of mythic proportions and had, even in his old age, graceful movements despite his portliness” (which was due to hypothyroidism). He is noted as being full of pity and love for mankind but at other times he would act abruptly.

     Wherever he was placed he was flocked with visitors looking for healing or comfort for their ailing souls. From morning to late at night his cell was filled with people looking for spiritual care. His life contains many examples of how this rigorous ascetic would, with gentleness and profound spiritual jokes help people who came to him from outside the monastery. He was clairvoyant and healed people. He had a “different” kind of simplicity and so was able to attract people from all walks of life. The people appreciated his jokes and proverbs which made more sense to them than most academic instructions.

      During Elder Leonid’s time at Optina, suspicions arose accusing him of holding views that were unorthodox and bordering on heresy. (To place this persecution in perspective, we should recall that during this time the monasteries were just beginning to be repopulated after the general monastic persecutions of Peter I through Catherine II. As a result most knew very little about eldership and the “source material” on this until it was disseminated by St. Paisius and his disciples). Because of this, Elder Leonid was forbidden to receive any further visitors. Soon his spiritual children began acheter cialis to be persecuted also as were the nuns who were under his care. Much grief was caused to the Elder in his God-pleasing work. Despite the persecution, the care of the brethren of the Optina Monastery was given into the hands of Elder Leonid by its Abbot, Fr. Moses. Fr. Moses only took care of the administrative aspect of the monastery and placed the spiritual responsibility totally on the shoulders of Elder Leonid. Due to increased persecutions of the Elder, he was relocated from the Skete to a cell in the main monastery and was frequently moved to different cells. He took all of this in good humor, carrying the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God given to him by St. Paisius’ around to each new cell.

     In early September, 1841, after being at Optina for twelve years the Elder fell ill. He reposed after much suffering, with his cell attendant at his side.

Sayings of Elder Leonid of Optina

 On Prayer

Whoever the Lord visits with a difficult ordeal, sorrow, the bereavement of a dearly beloved one, such a person involuntarily prays with all his heart, all his understanding, all of his mind. Consequently, there is a wellspring of prayer in everyone, but it is revealed either by gradually going deeper and deeper into yourself, according to the teaching of the fathers, or by a sudden Divine drilling into one’s soul.

 Humility

For us who seek salvation, what is most needed in fulfilling the Divine commandments is humility, which attracts to us Divine Grace and illumines all our actions. But without it no ascetical struggles and labors can bring us much desired peace.

 Hope in God

Be brave and firm in spirit in your faith and hope in the mercies of the gracious Lord, that in the situations that seem to be opposing us He is working out our salvation. Acknowledge your weakness and your failure to submit to the will of God and to fulfill His commandments. From this acknowledgement you will obtain humility for yourself and you will see the help of God.

– Subdeacon Matthew Long

Bibliography

Kontzevitch, I.M. “The Great Elder Leonid of Optina (Leo in Schema)” in The Orthodox Word (March-April, 1985): 56-70.

Kontzevitch, I.M. “Optina Monastery and Its Elders” in The Orthodox Word (July-August, 1984): 156-162.

Makarios, Hieromonk of Simonos Petra, The Synaxarion: The Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church, trans. Christopher Hookway, vol. 1 (Chalkidike: Holy Convent of the Annunciation of Our Lady Ormylia, 1998).

Optina’s Elders: “Instructor of Monks and Conversers with Angels” at http://www.roca.org/OA/97/97k.htm accessed on Dec. 17, 2013.

Schaefer, Archimandrite George (trans.) Living Without Hypocrisy: Spiritual Counsels of the Holy Elders of Optina (Jordanville: Printshop of St. Job of Pochaev, 2009).

Sederholm, Fr. Clement. Elder Leonid of Optina (St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2002).

Smolych, I.K., The Era of the Optina Elders on the official site of Optina Monastery at http://www.optina.ru/041113/, accessed on Dec. 17, 2013 (in Russian).

 

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