We are glad to welcome you! About a year ago you were last on air, and many urgent matters related to the restoration of the famous, majestic New Jerusalem Monastery, which is located in Istra, took up a lot of your time. Only now we have finally met. How are things in the monastery now, how is its restoration going?

– Restoration and restoration work in the monastery has largely been completed. In this regard, on November 15, very distinguished guests arrived to us: President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill - rector of our monastery, our holy archimandrite, and Viktor Zubkov, all For more than 9 years, Chairman of the Board of the Charitable Foundation for the Restoration of the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery. They examined the monastery very carefully. I can say that their stay was supposed to be for an hour and 15 minutes, but instead they stayed for a total of 4 hours. So they examined everything carefully.

Vladimir Vladimirovich was in our monastery 10 years ago on the occasion of the Nativity of Christ, having attended the entire night Christmas service, and examined the monastery. And now, 10 years later, he shared his impressions that even then he was struck, on the one hand, by the scale of this monastery, and on the other hand, by the huge amount of work that needed to be done. And now, after the completion of the work, he and other distinguished guests inspected everything. We can say that for us this was the highest commission that is possible on earth (it is clear that there is also God’s assessment).

The assessment from the visiting distinguished guests was mostly positive; they all appreciated it. But they also gave instructions to transfer to the Russian Orthodox Church and our monastery a horse yard and a hydraulic system with ponds, which also need to be restored and restored. But this already applies more to Russian Palestine (New Jerusalem cannot exist without Russian Palestine). And now, upon completion of work inside the walls of the monastery, the next stage will be the restoration of the Garden of Gethsemane, the horse yard and the entire hydraulic system, that is, 9 ponds that His Holiness Patriarch Nikon dug with his own hands - he, in fact, moved the Istra River further away from the walls of the monastery, and in the old riverbed he organized 9 ponds where the best fish were bred. And this fish was mainly eaten by the monks, pilgrims and all the workers who lived in the monastery.

Quite recently the Council of Bishops took place, many delegations visited your monastery. Tell us more about the delegations - and what exactly amazed and surprised our dear guests in your monastery?

– Probably the most significant visit was the arrival of Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem on December 1. Our Russian Patriarchs, of course, have been there many times, to the Holy Land, but for the Patriarch of Jerusalem to arrive in New Jerusalem was the first time in history. We knew that Patriarch Theophilus wanted to come to us, and more than once, but only now it happened. And he walked around the entire monastery with great satisfaction, especially around the Resurrection Cathedral. For him, of course, it was very moving to compare how it was there, in the Holy Land, and how everything was done and arranged here. He was also very pleased, amazed, and said a lot of kind, warm words. The meeting was very relaxed - he blessed all the children, distributed icons to everyone, stopped a lot, talked - even talked about beauty, that if someone reproaches us for it, then we must explain that church beauty is called upon to We also had beauty in our souls. He said a lot of good edifying words. The meeting was informal and calm.

In addition, our monastery was visited by a delegation of the Czech lands and Slovakia, headed by Metropolitan Rostislav and a delegation of the American Orthodox Church, headed by Metropolitan Tikhon of America and Canada, a delegation of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, headed by Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovchan; bishops came who had the desire and opportunity, were free and visited our monastery privately. We barely had time to ask our guides so that they could show, explain, and tell everything. We were also glad to see such a natural visit and that word of mouth about us was growing.

In fact, these days the dream of His Holiness Patriarch Nikon was fulfilled, his sincere, ardent desire for New Jerusalem to become the world center of Orthodoxy, where bishops, priests, monks, and laity of various Local Orthodox Churches would come, where they would pray and glorify God, in the Trinity glorified and worshiped, in different languages ​​of the world. This is what happened - at the Holy Sepulcher, and at Calvary, and at other shrines, everyone prayed in different languages. And for us it was a great inspiration that one of the goals for which Patriarch Nikon built the New Jerusalem has now begun to be realized. This was very comforting for us.

Often a lot of people come to churches and monasteries, but probably a good half of them are real tourists who just come to see and rarely understand what is happening here. How does the monastery organize the reception of tourists or pilgrims? How do you deal with certain problems? After all, you cannot enter the temple in shorts, and it is not customary for women to enter with their heads uncovered.

– We try to adhere to this principle - if a tourist comes to us, he should leave us as a pilgrim during his stay in the holy monastery, when he sees this beautiful architecture, hears singing, reading, and worship. The most important thing is the grace of God that rests there. When he bows before these shrines, prays in front of them, his soul changes at that time.

Our restorers told us an interesting thing. When they were students of architectural institutes, they were sent to describe and measure destroyed closed monasteries. And it would seem that there were no monks there, but in this way they studied our national heritage. They remember that it was there that they became believers: even destroyed vaults, altar apses, columns change their souls. Moreover, now that this beauty has been restored and is in that worthy form, as its builder, Patriarch Nikon, intended, and as it should be in the Church, so that everything is beautiful and in order, it makes and should make a huge impression on each person. And therefore no one remains indifferent, everyone is truly shocked, some more, some less, but the holy monastery has its own impact on everyone.

And our task is to be small fry in the hands of God and try to serve everyone who comes to the holy monastery. We can say that over the years, the degree of churching has become greater: there are more people who hear about God, about the Church, there is no longer such dense ignorance as there was in previous decades, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, after many godless decades. Now the situation, of course, has already changed, it has become different.

But when we stand at Confession, sometimes up to 50% of people come up who have this Confession for the first time in their lives. I say this as a priest who himself accepts Confession. And therefore, our task is to ensure that their first contact with the Church, with God through the holy sacraments, becomes the first step, but not the last. And we try to help them get to the first step: like the Mother of God, Who was brought to the temple by their parents, they put them on the first step, and the rest 15 She went Herself. So we have the same task - to help them take the path of spiritual life.

And so, as for meeting tourists and pilgrims, the monastery enters into a lot of agreements, almost every day, with different travel agencies, operators, companies and then, based on these agreements, a lot of different delegations come to us. I can say that today the monastery employs 5 operators who receive phone calls, requests from excursion groups, and 19 tour guides who sometimes barely have time to lead one group after another.

People hear about the new monastery, are happy that it has been recreated, that it was handed over to the Church and that it is in such beauty and dignified splendor, and they strive to come here (I’m not just talking about “word of mouth” when people tell this to each other) , people's rumors are spreading - and everyone is trying to come. Therefore, we have a lot of people in the summer, and on church and state holidays, and on vacation. It is clear that on a working day, when everyone is mostly working or studying, there are some isolated excursions - these can be elderly people, pensioners, but even then people come. But on Saturday, Sunday, holidays (now there will be long winter holidays) there are a lot of people.

I have been to the city of Istra several times and visited the monastery. Indeed, the city is ordinary, like many thousands of cities throughout Mother Russia, but the monastery is very majestic. Some of my non-believing friends, residents of glorious Istria, expressed the following opinion: “Why do you need to invest money in churches if you can invest it in the infrastructure of the city, build roads, and so on?” And there are many such people, the question is very acute, it occurs not only here, but in many other places, when for some reason the temple is in splendor, but there is great devastation around. What to answer to such people?

– In fact, there is no contradiction here or it is somewhat artificial. The temple for us is the greatest shrine, it is a place of the special presence of God. If we talk about our monastery, then it is already 360 years old. We are restoring that destroyed shrine, which was closed in 1919 - that’s when its first destruction began. And it was especially badly destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, after a two-week German occupation, when the Nazis, leaving, blew up the cathedral and all the tall buildings of the monastery. And this restoration process has not been completed until today. Therefore, we must restore such a great shrine and our national heritage.

Imagine that in churches (this is Heaven on earth) that great work of salvation is being accomplished, for which we are all here on earth and live. So that we have a meaning in life, so that we prepare for eternity, and so that the Kingdom of God, which has come in power, begins now in our heart, in our soul. Even during the Nativity Fast, we prepare for the heart of each of us to become that den where the Infant Christ can lie down. Therefore, when we come to the Christmas service, we must try to achieve this goal to the best of our ability and capabilities.

The same applies to the historical self-identification of our entire nation and each individual: we cannot be without such monuments of history and culture. There is such a law that if you remove all the monuments and shrines, then in one generation it will no longer be a people, but some kind of mass that can be sent anywhere - those who do not know either their history, or their shrines, or their roots: you can do anything with them. Under no circumstances should we become like this.

As for other systems (housing and communal services, roads), all this needs to be done. But if we become believers, if Christ is more present among us, then people’s behavior will be different. And here the funds that we spent on churches of God, on monasteries, are insignificant in comparison with the budget that we generally have in the country and in each region. Here it’s the other way around: one only brings benefit to the other.

I can say the same about Istra. How the city is blossoming now! How many different problems are solved there, how beautiful it is! After all, the New Jerusalem Monastery pulls everything else along with it: now there can no longer be some kind of half-ruin, some kind of dirt, everything is pulled up one after another, it seems to attract. This is how it should be: for monks, the model and example are the angels, and for the laity, the monks. When this chain is built, then everything begins to reach upward, to God, one after another, like a steam locomotive. It’s the same in all of our lives - social, everyday, when the Church arises, God comes into our life, it all gets better, it becomes better.

As many centuries ago, settlements gathered around the monasteries, grew into entire cities, and lived and fed themselves at the expense of the monastery.

– Our New Jerusalem Monastery literally became a city-forming monastery for the city of Istra - the city of Voskresensk (as it was called until 1930) received the status of both a city and a county under Empress Catherine, because 28,000 people lived in it. Imagine two villages with a population of 28,000 people - is that not enough? They worked in the monastery, served pilgrims, received them, brought them back and forth, made and sold souvenirs for them, fed them: the city lived by this, participated in this.

Our TV viewer asks the question: “Why aren’t monasteries closed from the world now?” (apparently he believes that monasteries should be closed).

– The fact is that there are different traditions of monastic life. For example, in Greece, monasteries, as a rule, are more secluded from worldly people and from worldly life in general. There, historically, it was the case that monks 5 days a week went to the deeper, innermost part of the monastery, where they prayed without the access of lay people and worked in the vineyards, or raised grain, or looked after the monastic cattle. And only on Saturday, Sunday or holidays did they come to churches, where lay people also had access. Sometimes even in such churches there was a wall right in the middle, so that the laity were in one half, and the monks in the other: they performed divine services, and people heard it, heard singing, reading, but did not see the monks themselves.

In the Russian tradition, monasteries are more open - they even say that a monk leaves the world to serve the world. This is also an ancient Russian monastic tradition that has developed among us. Although we also have monasteries at our monasteries, where lay people, especially women, have no access (sometimes only once a year, for example, on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, women are allowed to come there for worship). The monks there have a more secluded life. We also have such a tradition, but in most cases our monasteries are cenobitic, they are more open to the world, and both monastics and lay people attend services every day. And sometimes even obediences, along with the monks, are performed by pilgrims who come to the monastery to live, pray, and work during vacations, or during vacations, or during some holidays. This is the tradition of Russian monasticism.

Is it possible to renounce the world without going to a monastery?

– It’s possible, but it’s more difficult. When all our monasteries were closed after the revolution, monasticism was still preserved. This was the so-called secret monasticism, when a person became a monk, and then continued to wear secular clothes and work at some kind of civilian job. And he could even take communion with a worldly name - even his confessor did not know that he was a monk. Sometimes, even after his death, he was buried as a layman, and sometimes they only found some little little bag with a note that he was actually a monk or nun, and the funeral service was already performed as a monk with a monastic name. This is the so-called secret monasticism.

It is interesting that during the period of secret monasticism and secret monasteries, eldership flourished in our Church. For example, in pre-revolutionary times, theologians said: “Well, of course, eldership can only exist in open, functioning monasteries.” No, the Holy Spirit breathes where he wants, when he wants and through whom he wants. And therefore, with such secret monasticism, with secret monasteries, with unofficial, unregistered communities, when a person took monasticism, he lived and was a monk only for God, fulfilling monastic vows. All this was preserved, and there were great elders among them.

But still, this is why monasteries are created, so that it would be more convenient, more convenient to be saved in them. After all, if you look at what life in a monastery is, what a monastic charter is, then everything there is aimed at helping a person to be saved, helping him become different, different, change for the better. And if in the world they push us in the chest, against the flow, so that it is difficult for us to go to the Kingdom of Heaven, then in the monastery they will push us in the back, helping us to go to heaven, to the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the meaning of the monastery: all people who want to be saved are united there, relying on monastic principles, monastic principles, rules of monastic life. Together it is more convenient, more convenient to be saved, to reach the Kingdom of Heaven.

Question from a TV viewer: “The Soyuz channel is very good, the Spas channel too, but very few biblical films are shown. Tell me, is it possible to show children on the Internet Western films about Jesus Christ, about the Mother of God, about the apostles?”

– Western films are mostly Catholic or Protestant, in which their creators (writers, directors, actors) show us their approach, their understanding, the image that they profess. This is not always in accordance with Orthodox doctrine. Therefore, we first of all need to know our Orthodox dogma, the Holy Scriptures and the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, so that any distortions, inaccuracies or perversions of faith do not come to our consciousness through watching these films. Those who are already familiar with the Orthodox faith can watch this film, if there is nothing harmful or corrupting in it. But here you need to have a certain reasoning and filter. That is, not all films are worth watching. We must always remember how the Apostle Paul says: “Everything is permitted to me, but not everything is beneficial.” Or: “Everything is permitted to me, but not everything edifies.”

Recorded by Elena Kuzoro

The abbot of the Resurrection New Jerusalem Stavropegic Monastery, member of the College of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism, Archimandrite Theophylact (Bezukladnikov) was among the first inhabitants of Optina Pustyn who revived it since 1988. He willingly shared with the correspondent of the Monastyrsky Vestnik portal his memories - vivid, visible, and sometimes tinged with gentle humor. With this interview we continue the series of materials dedicated to the anniversary date - the 30th anniversary of the first Divine Liturgy celebrated at the monastery on June 3.

As if chicks were flying out of the nest...

Father, do you remember your departure from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, your arrival in Optina and your first impression of the shrine that was to be revived?

Of course I remember! And the noticeable signs on the walls of Optina churches with the name of the street: “St. Leo Tolstoy,” and much, much more. But I would like to start with a memory of one lecture at the Moscow Theological Academy. I was a first-year student when a teacher of the history of the Ancient Church, Alexey Ivanovich Sidorov (a bright man who came to us from the Russian Academy of Sciences and knew three ancient languages ​​and three new ones), brought one of the central newspapers and read out an article on the second page. It reported that on November 17, 1987, the Council of Ministers of the USSR signed a Decree on the transfer of Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn to the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. A few years earlier, the Danilov Monastery was transferred, now another great shrine. Joy and jubilation were the feelings we felt at this news. Later we heard that Archimandrite Evlogii (Smirnov), a very spiritually experienced monk, had been appointed governor of Optina Pustyn. By that time, he was the first vice-rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary, a professor, and taught pastoral theology. Before that, he attended a large school in the Moscow St. Danilov Monastery, was closely acquainted with the restoration, and most importantly, with the structure of monastic life. Knew how to organize it. Just on the feast of the Holy Trinity in 1988, I was informed that there was a Decree of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen on my transfer from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra to Optina Pustyn. And so it happened that on Spiritual Day, the day after the Feast of the Holy Trinity, I was ordained a presbyter. On Tuesday I served an early Liturgy - only one single Liturgy and was able to serve in the Lavra on my own, and even conduct an evening service, and the very next day at 7 am the KAVZIK bus was waiting for us.

How how?

This is what people call the work bus with the “extended nose.” The journey itself was quite remarkable. To the Lavra's donations for Optina Pustyn we added what we bribed in Sofrino - church utensils and vestments. Then we headed (on one of our errands) to the Danilov Monastery and attended the consecration of the temple in honor of All Saints who shone in the Russian land at the Patriarchal residence.

It was consecrated with a minor priestly rank by the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Tikhon (Emelyanov), the now living Metropolitan of Novosibirsk and Berdsk. For us, this essentially historical moment became inspiring. The memories of how we were escorted to a new place of service also warmed us along the way. In the Lavra, under the abbot Archimandrite Alexy (Kutepov), who now heads the Tula Metropolis, there was a tradition: if someone from the Lavra left for another monastery, for another obedience - either to the Holy Land, or to Holy Mount Athos, or to Pochaev, they They were placed in front of the presidium table, at which the Council of Elders of the Lavra was sitting, and they pronounced parting words. They lined up the four of us - me, Hieromonk Melchizedek (Artyukhin), two hierodeacons - Pankhary and Innocent. Father Alexy remembered what a wondrous vision St. Sergius of Radonezh had: many beautiful birds that he had never seen before, and a mysterious voice from the heights of heaven: “So the number of your disciples will increase, and after you they will not become scarce. They will be adorned with great virtues if they follow your footsteps.” After such a beginning, he announced that, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen, part of the Lavra brethren was moving to Optina Pustyn, so that monastic and liturgical life could begin there. And with a big advance, the father-vicar said: “The best part of our brethren.” I remember that at these words we somehow felt ashamed.

Why, father? You say: “a large advance”...

In the monastery you have to consider yourself worse than everyone else: everyone is saved, but I alone perish. And you are convinced of this every day. You really see that this is not some kind of aphorism, but the absolute truth. But I’ll return to the day of departure from the Lavra. A touching moment of farewell came: Archimandrite Matthew (Mormyl) approached me as one of his pupils, who began singing in the Lavra choir while still a seminarian. He tried to hug me, shake my hand. And I was thin then, and the priest said with humor: “There’s nothing here! There’s nothing to hug or shake!” Of the events of the next day, one test or temptation was imprinted in my memory - perhaps the first on the way to Optina Pustyn. When we arrived in Kozelsk and the monastery was almost nearby - visible on the other bank of the Zhizdra, it turned out that the bridge across the river was closed. That bridge had been in a state of disrepair for a long time; the waters of a fast, stormy river had long been washing away the supports, but it was closed on the very day of our arrival! We had to go about forty kilometers through the Glass Factory. After the asphalt ended, then the reinforced concrete slabs, there were potholes and potholes, and all seven of us (there were three more novices) were jumping up and down so much that we were afraid to hit the roof of the bus with our heads. I can’t imagine how the glass containers produced at the factory were taken out of there, or whether anything in the boxes remained intact...

The rise was extraordinary! And every day - communicants!

Didn't meeting the Optina Hermitage, destroyed during Soviet times, cause you such a sad feeling as that broken road?

I must say that before us, Hieromonk Joseph (Bratishchev) labored here for some time, who later became the vicar of the reviving Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky stauropegial monastery. He was sent here with builders from the Department for Restoration and Construction of the Moscow Danilov Monastery, and somewhere they made repairs, updated something, and ennobled it. Father Joseph interacted with government authorities, with local residents, and prepared the ground for the resumption of monastic life. It was like an outpost - a forward point, a beginning and a stronghold in development. Apparently, it was his merit that in the gate church in the western tower, crowned with a figurine of a trumpeting angel, a plywood iconostasis, a temporary altar, and an altar appeared. And there, for the first time, the entire cycle of daily divine services was performed, which began after our arrival. Immediately, as soon as we arrived and had lunch, the father-vicar blessed us to gather behind the Vvedensky Cathedral at the place where most of the Optina elders rested. We celebrated a memorial service, and in the evening there was an all-night vigil. The next day - on the feast of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God - Archimandrite Evlogy consecrated the temple with the priestly rite together with his brother Archpriest Vadim Smirnov, who later became a monk with the name Nikon and became the rector of the Moscow metochion of the Athos Panteleimon Monastery. (Now Father Nikon is asceticizing on Holy Mount Athos). Then they celebrated the first Divine Liturgy. Services took place every day: morning and evening, morning and evening... And every day there were communicants! It looked interesting: one chain went down the steps of the temple - to the drinking station, the other chain went up the steps - to the Chalice. Between services, pilgrims were put to work, because the steep wooden stairs had to be swept and washed. As soon as they have time to clean the church, the next service begins. And when about 80 people walk up the steps, first down and then up, they have to be cleaned again. I remember June 6, 1988 well. A Local Council opened in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, timed to coincide with the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', and on that day a lot of people came to us and there were more than 40 communicants. At some point, there was a feeling that the dam, which had been holding back the water for a long time, had collapsed. On the one hand, Soviet power still existed, the Soviet Union was still alive, but it became obvious that there was no way to maintain religious and church life.

At this Council, the Monk Ambrose of Optina was canonized. How and from whom did the brethren learn about the glorification of the elder?

From our governor, Archimandrite Eulogius. He went to the Local Council with Hieromonk Melchizedek (Artyukhin), and just before the rite of canonization we celebrated the last requiem service at the grave of Elder Ambrose. After Father Eulogius called us from the Lavra and informed us that the rite of canonization had been completed, we served a prayer service. There was no icon of the elder in the monastery yet, so I had to take one of his pre-revolutionary portraits and carefully draw a strip around his head with a compass. The halo seemed to have emerged. The result is such an icon. They placed her in the middle of the church and the first prayer services, the first Liturgy were served before her. It must be said that at this anniversary Council, many bishops began to invite Archimandrite Eulogius to their diocese so that he could talk about the revival of Optina Pustyn. The rise was extraordinary! And the priest then went and told... People listened to him with great enthusiasm, collecting donations for Optina Pustyn. Although literally a few months later monasteries began to open all over the country, we seemed to be half a step ahead: some church-wide funds from different dioceses came to us, supported the monastery, and helped us get out of devastation. The ever-memorable Metropolitan of Volokolamsk and Yuryev Pitirim (Nechaev) was the chairman of the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, and on petitions asking for financial assistance, he put a resolution: to transfer 2 thousand rubles to someone, 3 thousand to someone. And in our monastery - Vladyka revered the Optina elders so much! - he transferred 200 thousand rubles. A very large sum at that time. I was the treasurer, so the considerable sums that some bishops donated with all their hearts were “stuck” in my memory. For example, the ever-memorable Archbishop of Penza and Kuznetsk Seraphim (Tikhonov), (to whose ascetic works the two-volume book “The Flaming Saint” published in his native diocese is dedicated), brought a gift of 40 thousand rubles from the Penza diocese. Another time, he sent his secretary, the now living Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Barsanuphius (Sudakov), manager of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, with donations to support the Optina Hermitage.

Almost the entire country, awakening after a protracted illness of atheism, helped the monastery glorified by the elders. The monastery was strong spiritually and materially, but the burden on the brethren was probably enormous? Father Theophylact, what obediences did you carry out, besides the ones mentioned?

When we moved from the Lavra to Optina, there were about 140 brethren in the Lavra, and each of them was assigned some kind of obedience. Here the father-vicar (life forced me) gave so many obediences that I, seeing that I couldn’t remember everything, took it and wrote them down on a piece of paper. There were 16 obediences. At the very beginning, Father Eulogius told me: “You will be ecclesiarch.” This word reeked of antiquity. There's a whiff of Mount Athos! That is, I had to be responsible for everything that happens in the temple. He was a charterer and regent. He was responsible for correspondence and parcels, at one time he was in charge of the monastery library, and led excursions. At first there were very few of us, there was enough obedience, but there was no grumbling.

God cannot be scolded, or how Komsomol students “changed their accents”

Father, not everyone liked the fact that monastic life had resumed in Optina Hermitage. Did the brethren feel any opposition and, if they met sidelong glances, how did they react?

It seems that in the newspaper Izvestia, in one of the summer issues of 1988, a note appeared, the essence of which boiled down to the following: young monks were sent to the recently opened Optina Pustyn. Where did they come from during Soviet times? A call was thrown out to female students of Moscow universities to go and sort out this issue. Some girls with Komsomol enthusiasm began to fulfill the “important mission.” When they arrived here, they started going to all the services, and this started happening! For example, I’m the regent in the temple, and the girls will stand behind you and cuddle up to you. That's when I felt the power of the monastic robe! I really saw what protection this is for a monk! Or I serve the Liturgy, and at the end I give a cross to kiss. What do student activists do? They kiss your hand many times, it becomes ticklish, the cross almost falls out. Next: let's go, let's say, we go from the monastery to the monastery, or even just take a walk through the forest, where relict pines, oaks, lindens and maples grow, so these girls run ahead and begin to bow to each other at the waist. They attract attention. But the most interesting thing is how it all ended. All of them received Baptism, and some even later became nuns of the Shamordino Convent!

In one of your sermons, you uttered the following words: “May the Lord, through today’s Gospel, help us change these accents within our soul, help us come to the correct inner spiritual dispensation.” Regarding those events 30 years ago, can we say affirmatively that Optina Pustyn helped the girls “change their accents” within their souls?

We can affirmatively say that this was a clear example of how God’s grace and the Optina elders transformed those who arrived here with intentions different from those with which the pilgrims came to us. We saw that the evil that arose when moving away from good was stopped by God's Providence and - what is especially important - turned the girls' enthusiasm to good and beneficial consequences. Let me add: Optina Pustyn helped many people come to the right spiritual state. I was already in Moscow - the rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Ostankino, where the Optina Pustyn courtyard was then located, but I visited the monastery. I remember how on one of my visits I came to the monastery bathhouse. People washed themselves, began to get dressed, and one of the workers began to speak with enthusiasm. I listened to him and thought: “My God, what’s missing in your speech! And some kind of Gnosticism, and the whole East - Roerich, Blavatsky and Merezhkovsky with their neo-Christianity. Such a thick mixture, almost all heresies are present.” Apparently, the boy came to the monastery bathhouse, steamed, his soul opened, and in such a brotherly circle he began to share what he himself was imbued with and accepted as truth. I somehow remembered his face. Then two years later the Lord showed me this man again. I came to the monastery once again, served at the Liturgy, and he, who became a monk and hierodeacon, spoke a sermon at that service in a crowded church. Yes, as I said! Calmly, naturally, without a piece of paper, did not read from some collection of sermons. He spoke his sermon based on the works of the holy fathers, on the basis of the Word of God, and quoted the Gospel from memory. I thought, not without emotion: “That man and this one - what happened and what happened! This is what Optina does to people!”

Father Eulogius sought to establish statutory monastic worship

Father, some of those who were lucky enough to see with their own eyes the beginning of the revival of the monastery note that the services here were very long...

Long services in the reviving Optina are a separate matter. We immediately felt that Father Eulogius was a creative person in liturgical terms. Almost every day he made changes to the charter, that is, the charter was constantly being added to, becoming wider and wider, bigger and bigger. And the number of brethren grew. We now have two choirs. From the very beginning, the Father-Vicar was in favor of singing antiphonally, so that all the brethren could read, and even attract pilgrims. This turned out to be extremely important. Today, many of those who had just begun to become churchgoers have become abbots of monasteries and inhabitants of monasteries. And the culmination of the long service in the monastery was probably something comparable to Holy Mount Athos. Once on the feast of the Holy Trinity, the service began at four o'clock in the afternoon. After Little Vespers with the akathist, we went to dinner and began the all-night vigil. It went on all night, then there was an early Liturgy and a short technical break, then there was a late Liturgy, followed by Great Vespers with the reading of kneeling prayers. We finished at three o'clock in the morning. It turns out that the service went on 23 hours a day. They didn’t close it for one hour... This is what remains in my memory. I think that in the memory of other people. And so the services, say, all-night vigils, lasted eight hours. We began to serve Little Vespers at four o'clock and it ended by 12 o'clock at night. During the Nativity Fast, people sometimes even read between hours, which today is extremely rare not only in parish churches, but also in the monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church. Father Eulogius tried in every possible way to establish statutory monastic worship. And people appreciated it. They came to us from everywhere and at the same time stood for hours at services! Maybe at first they didn’t understand much, but the very spirit of the services provided an answer to the questions and needs of the inner life that arose. Some came after a rather difficult life, difficult events and reflections. It was a difficult time. In those years, in the Optina church you could see hippies, drug addicts, homeless people, and former prisoners. Long service, I am convinced of this, played a positive role. On that one - it lasted almost a day! - eight sermons were delivered during the festive service, which helped the worshipers delve deeper into the essence of this holiday, the festive service. Where else has this happened? Father Eulogius himself loved to read sermons, and taught us to do so.

You know, father, more than once I have heard from abbots and abbess of monasteries that pilgrims and spiritual children come to their holy monastery from different parts of the country, regardless of distance. They cling to her with their souls and try to help in some way. But local residents sometimes look at the monastery as some kind of obstacle to their life. What do you say about this?

At first, the hostile attitude of the local residents towards us was clearly felt. It became especially acute when we closed the grove between the monastery and the monastery. The Optina elders also planted pine trees there and the air was unique! But all sorts of machinery drove right through this protected place, felled trees, and the grove could have died. We used a tractor to dig up the ground on one side and the other so that it was impossible to pass. This, of course, did not please the locals. First of all, those who had dachas behind the grove. They came to the monastery, a group of indignant people, and began to reprimand us: they have been living here for decades, there were no monks here. Like, who are these monks, where did they come from? Why are they starting to get weird: they took it and closed the passage through the pine forest! But several months passed, and the people living near the monastery began to change. For example, they themselves called on the governor: come and look, in our house the step of the house is a tombstone. Maybe she is connected with one of the Optina elders? We are ready to give it away. Take it!

Life went on as usual. The brethren put in order the Pafnutyev well or spring of St. Paphnutius of Borovsky. Even Elder Ambrose of Optina sent many people there: “Go, take a dip.” People walked and were healed. And the elder said: “You see, the Monk Paphnutius healed you!” Although many understood that they received healing through the prayers of Father Ambrose, who, out of great humility, covered his grace, the power of his prayer. When we arrived in Optina, the miraculous well was in a deplorable state. Several trucks dumped dirt and garbage there. But a spring with hydrogen sulfide water broke into the river. Long algae of different colors - blue, violet, light blue, yellow - swayed, creating a bizarre picture, and one could see how the spring flows into God's river Zhizdra. The father-vicar gave his blessing to clean out the well. At the bottom we found pre-revolutionary coins of the 19th century and an earlier period. The well was restored, the water in it was renewed all the time, Archimandrite Eulogius blessed us to perform the Sacrament of Holy Baptism there. A lot of people were baptized then. Sometimes up to 35, 40 people a day. We started baptizing in the Vvedensky Cathedral, then we went to the holy spring, people plunged their heads into the water, and they could baptize in full. Then everyone returned to the temple, the clergy anointed and churched the newly baptized.

In June of this year, it will be 10 years since Father Theophylact was appointed abbot of the Resurrection New Jerusalem stauropegic monastery, about which we can proudly say: it has been restored in our days through the efforts of the Church, the state and everyone who values ​​the history of their native Fatherland. Two years ago, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' consecrated the Resurrection Cathedral, which is a copy of the Resurrection Cathedral in the Holy City of Jerusalem. At the small entrance, after many years of work to restore the monastery, the Primate of our Church elevated Hegumen Theophylact (Bezukladnikov) to the rank of archimandrite. A monk of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, who stood at the origins of the revival of the St. Vvedensky stauropegial monastery of Optina Pustyn, Father Theophylact, during his stay in two illustrious monasteries, absorbed their spirit, and this spirit is felt today in the monastery, which has brought to life the amazing plan of Patriarch Nikon. The monastery truly became a piece of Palestine on Moscow soil.

Photographer: Vladimir Khodakov

Also presented are photographs from the archive of Archimandrite Theophylact (Bezukladnikov)

For centuries, there has been a belief in the Orthodox Church that monks should live in a monastery. The 20th century made its own adjustments - monks now serve in parishes in cities, are actively involved in acquiring money, and constantly communicate with women. At the same time, they assure themselves and the believers that they do not experience any temptation. And the most amazing thing is that the world loves them! I remember an incident from the life of the first desert monks. One young monk asked the elder: “Father, should I now completely renounce the world?” “Don’t worry,” the elder answered, “if your life is truly Christian, the world itself will immediately renounce you!”

Formally, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II is considered the bishop of Moscow, but in essence, Vladyka Arseny, his vicar, rules the spiritual and material life of the capital. Today there are about 600 churches in the capital. The Mother See is divided into deaneries - there are 15 of them. Each is headed by a priest or monk. Deans report to Bishop Arseny. Recently he felt violated. In a conversation with a close priest, he admitted: “Some Stavropol resident (as the Bishop of Stavropol and Chechen Feofan is called in church circles) has long owned a luxurious apartment on the old Arbat, built a dacha on Nikolina Gora. And I am forced to huddle in an apartment on Olimpiysky Prospekt and while away my days at the patriarchal residence in Peredelkino.”

This complaint immediately reached the deans. Once every six months they come to the bishop with reports and plump envelopes. Each brings in at least half a million Russian currency. No one knows how Bishop Arseny disposes of these offerings. He says that everything goes to the needs of the patriarchate. The bishop does not keep any receipts or any semblance of accounting for money. In addition, there is a rigid fee. If a provincial priest wants to get a parish in Moscow, he must bring the money-loving ruler from 25 to 50 thousand American rubles. So you can’t call him poor. Recently, the bishop purchased an apartment on the old Arbat (Starokonyushenny Lane, 41), for now, using a fake, rather pretty female face. And she got it for only 750 thousand dollars. It is necessary to invest another three hundred thousand in repairs. But these are minor things.

Unorderly arrival

In the late 80s, the chief narcologist of Moscow, Eduard Drozdov, approached the patriarch with a proposal to restore the temple in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “Consolation and Consolation” on Khodynskoye Field. It was built by Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna after the murder of her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Drozdov's request was granted. The community was registered. Architect Eduard Nasedkin prepared the necessary documentation and for 15 years supervised the restoration of the monument temple. It took 9 years to raise it from the ruins. In 1999, it was consecrated by the patriarch. Several members of the community received church awards. The restoration of the hospital church of the holy unmercenaries and healers Cosmas and Damian at the Botkin Hospital has begun. But then the rector was sent to the North of Russia to raise the ruined diocese.

Bishop Arseny did not miss the chance and appointed a new rector - Abbot Theophylact Bezukladnikov. It was brought to Moscow from somewhere in the far North, and it first ended up in Optina Pustyn. When the Moscow intelligentsia decided to transfer the temple in the Sheremetev museum-estate to the Russian Church, the 28-year-old hieromonk Theophylact became its rector. At first he was quiet. Then he came into force and demanded the allocation of a hectare of land for the needs of the farmstead. And he grabbed it from the museum. The first action that glorified the zealous abbot was the looting of the museum’s restoration workshops in May 1998. The museum workers went through the courts for a long time, but since the workshops were located on temple grounds, Theophylact’s actions were recognized as legal.

It was then that I began to take a closer look at Theophylact. It turns out that Grisha (the worldly name of the monk) showed a burning interest in the female sex from childhood. But his parents prepared him for a high episcopal career. Grisha's broad nature (his peers called him Rasputin) completely unfolded when he became rector of the Ostankino Church. He didn’t miss a single christening, he chose young women and forced them to strip naked. Complaints rained down on the woman-loving hieromonk, but he found an approach to Bishop Arseny. He soon became abbot and in 2000 was awarded by President Yeltsin the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree - “For his great contribution to strengthening civil peace and the revival of spiritual and moral traditions.”

Perhaps the president learned that Grisha-Theophylact had finally chosen the beautiful Jeanne, who bore him a charming daughter. Vladyka Arseny made Theophylact rector of the second church and dean of the All Saints district. And before it was not easy to find. Having become a dean and a family man, he is elusive. One day a priest comes to receive myrrh, but the dean is not there. They answer him: “Baptizes.” Comes for the second time. They tell him: “Netuti. He’s doing the funeral service.”

And in the new church he told the parishioners: “I will disperse you all!” And indeed, an audit took place in January of this year. No violations were found, but everyone who spent 15 years selflessly restoring the temple was dispersed. Despite the trampled fates of the temple builders and the patriarchal awards they received, consigned to desecration, Theophylact’s actions were again recognized as legal. The rector arrives in the evening to empty the church mug. The restoration of the hospital church has been forgotten. The priests follow the example of the abbot and forge money. Fortunately, a morgue opened nearby. There is no priest on duty in the temple - he is now on duty at the morgue. And Theophylact set his sights on the Tula See. Collects money in order to get into the bishopric.

Sick Orthodoxy

These are problems not only of the Russian Church. The Greek Church was the first to be struck. Greek priests have long been legally engaged in commercial activities. A second scandal broke out in the Jerusalem church. At the beginning of the summer, Patriarch Irenaeus was removed for corruption. The head of the Greek Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, said that “all necessary measures have been taken for self-purification and to protect the sacred institution of the Church.” Two scandalous metropolitans and several archimandrites were retired.

In Russia it’s peace and quiet. Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) of Smolensk and Kaliningrad remains a permanent member of the Holy Synod. He made his first millions in tobacco scams in the mid-90s. Recently I told my favorite newspaper “Radonezh” about my innocent hobbies. A villa in Switzerland gives you the opportunity to go skiing, and a secluded cottage in Finland gives you the opportunity to go swimming. Vladyka is soon 60 years old - it is important to maintain good physical shape to fight for the patriarchal throne. Gundyaev's fortune has exceeded a billion dollars.

Carried away by serving the golden calf, the bishops forgot about the wise words of the Apostle Paul: “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and fall into the trap of many stupid and harmful desires that drag people into the abyss of ruin and death. The root of all evil is the love of money. There are people who, in pursuit of them, have strayed from the true path of faith and surrendered themselves to the power of innumerable torments.”

Today's Gospel says that one person had a very large, rich harvest, so that the person, looking at this harvest, was in some bewilderment: “What should I do?” - this is what the Lord says in the Gospel parable - “Where can I gather my fruits?” (Luke 12:17). And then he reasons, saying: “Perhaps I know what I will do - I will tear down the granaries that I have now and build others, much larger ones, and gather all my harvest there.” And not only the harvest, but also all of one’s wealth, which can be expressed not only in the food products that the farmer received from his fields. And then I will say to my soul: “Soul! You have much good for many years - rest, eat, drink, be merry” (Luke 12:19). .

In fact, a large harvest was produced, so large that it would last for several years. And this is a very serious guarantee even today. Sometimes we cannot make up the budget for one year in advance - it is “bursting at the seams”. And here the Lord has reliably given wealth for many years to come. But we see this man’s reaction - he says that all these years he will eat, drink, dress and have fun, rest, lie down, and do nothing. The Lord says: “You fool! This night your soul will be taken from you; who will get what you have prepared? (Luke 12:20).

Here we see that wealth, which is always given to all people from God, is very often given on the eve of death. This happens in our life too. And we, listening to this Gospel story, must be prepared for the fact that wild wealth may fall on each of us and we, too, will have to ask ourselves the question: “What should we do?” First of all, we must think about what it is like on the eve of death, and already, remembering our death, make the appropriate decision, how will we dispose of all this if we die tonight? Then we will reason correctly, soberly, intelligently.

This is exactly what the Lord calls us to in today’s Gospel, seeing and knowing our human weakness, and knowing that very often the devil builds a nest for himself next to any wealth. And, unfortunately, for most people, obtaining wealth only serves as an excuse for the same idle, ugly life that today’s Gospel tells us about.

This is not what God-wise people do, brothers and sisters. In the Lives of the Saints it is said about the Monk Theodore and his brother that when they went into the desert, the devil, in order to prevent their monastic ascetic life, poured a huge pile of gold on the road. The Monk Theodore, it is said, jumped over this heap easily and beautifully and went further into the desert to asceticize. And his brother was tempted, tempted and began to reason: “Perhaps I’ll take this wealth and serve it to the sick, elderly, and needy people...” And he did not go into the desert, and he put aside his intention of a good monastic feat. And further it is said in the Lives of the Saints that he died. One leap of the Monk Theodore surpassed all the good intentions that his other dead brother had conceived.

An ancient Russian story is known, and the story is true. One priest and four brothers from his parish found rich deposits of white metal ore near their village, which turned out to be deposits of silver. The parish priest began to reason that with the part that he could receive, he would build a temple - a new, large, beautiful temple, which was not in the village - he would build an almshouse for the poor, a school for children, that is, he would help orphans, everyone to others in need...

But three days passed and the priest began to receive sad news. One of the four brothers who found a silver mine with him, having learned what wealth was in store for them, took to drinking and stopped working. Riding his horse near a ravine, drunk, he fell off the cart, the cart crushed him in this ravine and he died. The second brother hastened to sell his share of the mine, and then, upon learning that he had sold it too cheap, hanged himself in despair.

After this, the priest decided not to take any part for himself, since this entire mine, this wealth was marked by a curse and blood. But I decided to go to the two remaining brothers and consult with them on what to do next in this difficult case. But when he went to them, one of the brothers met him already in shackles, being under guard because he and his brother began to bicker, quarrel over wealth, could not share it peacefully and one of the brothers killed the other brother

The priest, seeing the whole deplorable picture, realized that it was better for him to remain silent and hide the location of this mine, because knowledge about this mine could lead to the fact that his entire parish would perish, and soon there would be no one left from his flock because of this mine. And so the priest did, and the people began to call this place - a silver mine - a “lost place” or “the lair of Satan.”

Here, brothers and sisters, it is said that wealth is not evil. Wealth comes from God and not all people are harmed by wealth. It can benefit those who are not addicted to wealth, who remember about God, about death, about the future afterlife. In such spiritual sobriety, a person is able, having wealth, to use it wisely and bear good fruits.

But human experience, brothers and sisters, shows that there are very few such people. Unfortunately, for most people, sudden wealth is like wine, which intoxicates a person, stupefies him, he loses all reasoning and control, and in this intoxication, as a rule, he commits terrible, serious crimes.

The court dealt with the case of quartermasters, seemingly wealthy people who during the war had to provide for the front, soldiers, and hospitals. What happened? – These people, having access to wealth, directed their right of speech, right to vote, their conscience and actions towards theft, theft of this wealth, so that the soldiers at the front in the trenches were hungry, the wounded soldiers were deprived of the opportunity to go to the infirmary, have the necessary medicines or receive the necessary medical care. This is how wealth blinds the eyes, that people stop thinking even about their brothers in the trenches and theft takes over their entire being.

In the “Prologue” - books that contain very edifying and useful stories - such a case is described. One old man told two travelers passing by that they should not take the road going up the mountain, because there is a terrible snake that kills all people, but should go another way. But these travelers did not listen, they went to this mountain and found a bunch of gold there. Stopping in front of him, they began to quarrel and curse, because they could neither divide this gold nor govern themselves righteously and, in the end, killed each other. The snake devoured these two people, as it devoured many travelers who passed there during the day.

So, we see, brothers and sisters, that our pious ancestors, perhaps most of all, feared sudden wealth that comes without labor and without frugality. That is why the Lord says that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25). There was such a gate in the wall of the city of Jerusalem, like our customs house, through which a camel could hardly crawl if it was not loaded with anything. If there was something on it, then the camel could not squeeze into this narrow hole in the wall of the city of Jerusalem. This is what customs was like in the Old Testament. How could one check whether there was something on the camel or not? “This camel was forced to go through a small hole called the “Ears of a Needle.”

So, wealth is the same burden that can block our entry into the Kingdom of God. The Lord tells us directly: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33)

And today’s parable testifies, brothers and sisters, unfortunately, that we care diligently about other things, but we care little about the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

ICON OF THE HOLY LAND

Fifteen years ago, in the Resurrection New Jerusalem Stavropegic Monastery near Moscow, after a 75-year break, a revival of liturgical and monastic life began. Another important starting point in its modern history was last year, when the Hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church and the top leadership of the Russian state decided to carry out large-scale work to restore the New Jerusalem monastery. The first steps have been taken towards returning the New Jerusalem Monastery to its former spiritual significance, towards recreating the former beauty and splendor of this unique monument of Russian church architecture. A year ago the leadership of the monastery changed. The famous Moscow priest Hegumen Theophylact (Bezukladnikov) was appointed vicar of the monastery. Recently, at the New Jerusalem monastery, employees of the magazine “Russian Monk” met and talked with him. We present to our readers a recording of a conversation with Abbot Theophylact.

— Why is the restoration of the New Jerusalem Monastery given such great importance now?

— The New Jerusalem Monastery deserves special treatment. But not because it is better than other monasteries. But because its creation is based on a special plan. His Holiness Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich discovered that the area where the New Jerusalem monastery was later located was very reminiscent of the Holy Land. Their merit was that they saw Russian Palestine here. His Holiness Patriarch Nikon very often passed by these places when he was heading to Valdai, to the Iversky Monastery, the construction of which he supervised at that time. On the way, His Holiness Patriarch Nikon quite often stopped in the village of Voskresensky - now this is the city of Istra.

The village of Voskresenskoye with the church of the same name stood at the intersection of the Moscow, Zvenigorod and Volokolamsk roads, and in its vicinity there were villages with ancient wooden churches in honor of the Nativity of Christ, the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Ascension of the Lord. The Patriarch drew attention to the fact that by the Providence of God these villages were located in relation to the village of Voskresensky in accordance with the topography of the Holy Land, that is, as Bethlehem, Galilee and Olives are located in relation to the Holy City of Jerusalem. And the narrow and fast Istra River flowing here from north to south is very similar to the Jordan. All these providential coincidences marked the God-created, pre-prepared nature of Russian Palestine. Therefore, it was here that Patriarch Nikon established a holy monastery, in which the main shrines of Christian Palestine and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher were recreated.

The New Jerusalem was created as a spatial icon of the Holy Land. Not a literal repetition of it, but an icon, an image of those holy places where Christ the Savior performed His feat of the Cross.

Patriarch Nikon was prompted to this by other serious reasons. Three hundred years ago, very few Orthodox Russian people could visit the Holy Land, both because of the distance and because there were often wars there. But they longed to worship the shrines associated with the earthly life of the Savior. His Holiness Patriarch Nikon gave them the opportunity to do this in Russian Palestine.

We know that the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, sanctified by the very Blood of Christ, has been found. But, besides it, there are a great many crosses that are consecrated by prayer, holy water, and incense. And each of these crosses saves, preserves and protects us from the wiles of the devil. Along with a huge number of miraculous icons, there are also a great many copies of them. But even copies of icons glorified by miracles, after they are consecrated with prayer, holy water, and incense, become sources of grace.

The same can be said about the shrines of the New Jerusalem Monastery. To believers who experience a deep religious feeling of reverence, reverence, and admiration for them, the Lord grants the grace of God. In the New Jerusalem Monastery and in its environs, many miracles were and are being performed, for example, in the Pont of Siloam, at the spring that flows in the middle of the Hill of Zion, near the monastery. Before the revolution, entire volumes were published recording the miracles recorded in this place.

Another wonderful event. Tradition says that at the site of the discovery of the Honest Life-Giving Cross of the Lord in ancient Jerusalem, a spring gushed out. The same miracle happened in New Jerusalem. When His Holiness Patriarch Nikon built an underground church here, he wanted to create a chapel in honor of the Exaltation of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord in the place corresponding to where the Cross of Christ was buried in Jerusalem. When the construction of the chapel began, a spring also began to flow at this place. While His Holiness Patriarch Nikon lived in the New Jerusalem Monastery, he drank water only from this source. The water in it does not dry out to this day.

That is why, when we talk about the attitude towards the New Jerusalem, we must keep in mind that this monastery does not stand in the general range of Russian monasteries. We bow to the monasteries where such great ascetics lived, such as St. Sergius of Radonezh or Savva of Storozhevsky. The brethren gathered around them, and laymen began to settle nearby. Settlements arose, and then entire cities.

In New Jerusalem the motive was different. It must also be said that His Holiness Patriarch Nikon wanted to turn this monastery into a world center of Orthodoxy. He thought of building 365 chapels here, according to the number of days in the year, so that the monastery would celebrate a temple or patronal holiday every day. Moreover, arrange them in such a way that these chapels are consecrated in honor of the holy saints of God of various Local Orthodox Churches. The goal was that priests or laity of other Churches could glorify the Lord here in different languages ​​of the world and feel here not as guests, but as at home.

Finally, His Holiness Patriarch Nikon wanted to depict here that sacred moment when, according to the Apocalypse, at the end of time a new city, the New Jerusalem, will descend from heaven, in which the righteous will find eternal life and salvation. Relying on the Holy Scriptures and the works of the holy fathers, he tried to embody this plan in architecture.

All these points explain why the New Jerusalem Monastery deserves special treatment. It was not born today. This is not the result of some impulsive decision. Before the revolution, almost all royalty visited our monastery. According to tradition, there was a royal pilgrimage here. The monastery set up chapels in honor of the birth of heirs or their accession to the throne. So there was a special attitude towards the New Jerusalem Monastery before.

“And now, again, the highest representatives of secular power are showing interest in the New Jerusalem Monastery.

- This is very pleasing. Last year, the head of the Russian state, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, turned to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II with a question in the restoration of which of the shrines of the Russian Orthodox Church His Holiness would advise the newly elected President to participate in. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II chose the New Jerusalem Monastery. The Head of the Russian State and the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church agreed on the importance and necessity of restoring this monastery so that the New Jerusalem Monastery could regain its former splendor and be able to fulfill its great purpose. His Holiness Patriarch Nikon created this monastery as a preaching of Christianity in stone. Everything here has a deep symbolic meaning. Everything here is full of mystery, which is not revealed to everyone and not immediately.

— In your previous life, were there any points of contact with the New Jerusalem Monastery?

— Before being appointed to the position of governor, I came to this monastery twice. The first time was with participants in a pilgrimage trip organized by the parish of the Moscow Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Ostankino, where I was and continue to be rector. We brought a Sunday school to the monastery - more than 40 children. The excursion was conducted for us by believers from among the museum staff. There were such things in the past and there are now. We visited the monastery, where I served a prayer service for the water. Everyone - both adults and children - swam in the Jordan. We arrived home in an elevated, festive mood. It was, I remember well, in the second week of Lent, shortly before the return of the monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the resumption of the monastery.

The second time I came here was a few years ago. This was in those days when the miraculous image of the Mother of God “Tikhvin” was in Moscow. The priest and members of his family, who had kept this icon for 60 years, asked to show them the holy places of Moscow and the Moscow region. I was sent to accompany them. We visited several shrines, including the New Jerusalem Monastery. We were very warmly greeted by the then abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Nikita (Latushko), my predecessor, the inhabitants of the monastery, and the museum staff. Everyone who received us was filled with gratitude to the priest and his family for preserving the icon during the difficult years. Both visits are deeply imprinted in my memory.

— Did you have any premonition that your life would later be connected with this monastery?

“I didn’t have such a premonition.” I always try to surrender myself to the will of God. As the Lord judges, as He sees fit, let him lead me along the path of life.

— What is the current state of monastic life at the monastery?

— Monastic life, I would say, corresponds to the situation in which the monastery now finds itself. Currently, the brethren of the monastery number five people. Divine services are held daily in the morning and evening, and on Sundays and major holidays two Divine Liturgies are celebrated. This we consider our basic obedience. A lot of pilgrims come to the monastery. All residents of the monastery take a lively, direct part in receiving pilgrimage groups and introducing them to the monastery. The monastery has a subsidiary farm, where the brethren of the monastery also work. This farm, however, is still small.

There could be more inhabitants of the monastery. There are people who want to enter our monastery. But for now we are held back by the fact that only one building has been given to the monastery for use. We are not able to accommodate more than five people in it.

All other premises of the monastery so far belong to the museum, which has settled here since 1919. It occupies eleven and a half thousand square meters of monastery area. This is the largest museum in the Moscow region, it has 183 thousand exhibits. 235 employees work here. A schedule has been prepared for the gradual removal of the museum from the territory of the monastery, but this will take several years. While the museum remains here, it is very difficult to talk about large-scale restoration work.

— But is some work still underway?

- They are underway. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II and the President expressed the desire to combine the efforts of the Church and the state in rebuilding the New Jerusalem Monastery. In the summer of 2008, His Holiness and the President were in the monastery for four hours: for two hours they inspected the monastery, and then for another two hours they discussed how to restore the holy monastery. It was decided to create a Board of Trustees, in which they became co-chairs. A charitable foundation has been created for the restoration of the monastery, headed by the First Deputy Government of the Russian Federation, Viktor Alekseevich Zubkov. The fund is registered and already functioning.

Currently, the first urgent work is being carried out in the monastery. In the rotunda of the Resurrection Cathedral, for example, the roof has fallen into disrepair. Water flows into the temple both in winter and summer. Some windows located at a height of 50-60 meters fall out. This is a direct threat to those who may be below. Scaffolding is currently being installed and emergency work will be carried out. And not only emergency ones. It is planned to carry out a thorough inspection of all structures. Before directly starting restoration work, it is necessary to examine all the materials on the restoration of the monastery over the past decades. In Soviet times, something was done in this direction, but not a single development was completed. We must give a scientific assessment of what has been done. Only after this we can move forward. An expert council has been created, in which the best specialists are involved. They will have to develop a concept for restoring the monastery. In the New Jerusalem Monastery, as we see, several styles characteristic of different eras are combined. Therefore, specialists will have to answer a number of difficult questions.

— Will restoration work be carried out in the area adjacent to the temple? In the monastery cemetery?

— Burials took place both inside and outside the cathedral. In some places, the tombs are arranged in three tiers. There is information about some burials, but not about others. We'll have to involve archaeologists.

— A big burden lies on you. Moreover, you are still the rector of the Moscow church.

— The burden is not only on me. This is why a fund was created to organize restoration work. This is a big and very complex matter. But it is worthy of such attention.

Interviewed by V.M. Valkov and N.A. Sverdlova