The Monk Makarios of Optina

In the Kaluga region, not far from the ancient city of Kozelsk, there is the Optina Pustyn - a monastery, which is rightfully called the most striking lamp of Orthodox Russia of the XIX and XX centuries. His glory, he owes wise elderly, who, replacing each other, have become spiritual mentors of several generations of Russians. The Monk Makarios of Optina was one of them.

Abode among dense forests

The time of the creation of the Optina desert is not known exactly. According to one version, this honor belongs to the God-loving prince Vladimir Brave, who died at the beginning of the 15th century, and on the other, and more popular among the people, the founder of the monastery was a robber named Opta, who lived a century later, repentant of his atrocities.

However, in all likelihood, this is only a beautiful legend, since in ancient times the word "wholesale" was used to name the monasteries common to men and women (there was such in Orthodox Russia). The founders of the monastery, probably, were hermits, who wanted to seclude themselves in the forest wilderness, in order to achieve the monastic deed.

And this holy abode would be lost in history among thousands of similar monasteries, were it not for the glory that the wise elder brought to her. To make it clearer, what is at issue, we should dwell on the phenomenon of religious life, which is usually denoted by the word "eldership".

Seniority as a form of spiritual ministry

It originated in Egypt at the dawn of Christianity and from there spread all over the world, gaining fertile soil in Russia. The Elder is first and foremost a mentor of his spiritual children, whom he can have a great many. In virtue of the Grace of God, generously poured on him by the Creator, the elder receives the gifts of Godliness and foresight.

These unique qualities allow him to help people who address him in difficult life situations, or who are hungry to hear the word of God's Truth. The elder is not always an elderly person, since the term itself does not mean an age characteristic, but a form of spiritual ministry.

Optimum desert throughout its history, the Lord sent fourteen of these elders, the first of which was the Reverend Leo, who had worked in it since 1797. The Monk Makarios of Optina, which will be discussed in this article, became his pupil and successor.

Childhood and youth of the servant of God's Michael

The elder Makarios of Optina in the world was called Mikhail Nikolaevich. He was born on December 3, 1788, in a pious and pious family of nobles from Orel province. His parents - father, collegiate assessor Nikolai Mikhailovich Ivanov and mother Elizaveta Alekseevna, were people provided with wealth, and owned several estates. In addition to him, the family had four more children.

As he told me later, many of his childhood memories are connected with the nearby Odin Monastery, where parents often made pilgrimages. Great influence on the formation of his character in those years had the abbot of the monastery Archimandrite Theophanes, who instilled in the boy a love of church services.

At the age of nine Misha Ivanov survived the first misfortune in his life - the death of a mother who died of tuberculosis. This happened in Moscow, where the whole family moved specifically to provide Elizaveta Alekseevna with proper medical care. Returning to his homeland after such a tragic event, he, along with his two brothers, settled in the estate of his aunt, father's sister, Darya Mikhailovna Peredelskaya.

A young and promising official

In the person of this woman, the adolescents found not only a caring cousin who tried, in everything that she could, to replace the motherless orphans, but also the mentor who took over the work, as well as the costs associated with their education. A number of disciplines she taught herself, and there, where her knowledge was insufficient, hired teachers.

It seems incredible, but the future elder Makarius Optina since childhood was so gifted with intelligence that at the age of fourteen he was recruited to the county treasury as an accountant. As his assistants, his brothers were also enrolled. However, this fact has documentary evidence, so there is no doubt about its reliability.

In 1805, the work of the young official was appreciated by the provincial authorities, and he received promotion and rank. Following the traditions established in the noble society of that time, Mikhail Nikolayevich led a social life that was common in such cases. He often visited the houses of the local aristocracy, among whom he was cordially welcomed, and also participated in all entertainment events.

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, his main hobbies of those years were music and literature. Very few people know, but the Monk Makarios Optina in his youth played the violin beautifully and sang romances with a small but very pleasant baritone.

Awakening of religious feelings

A year later, Mikhail Nikolayevich realized a new blow - his father suddenly died. On the family council it was decided that the estates belonging to the family should pass to him as the eldest of the children, but the income from them would be their common capital. This imposed a certain responsibility, and was the reason that in 1805, Michael left the service and, settling in the village of Schepyatino, took up farming. All his free time he, as before, paid to reading and music.

During this period of life, spent in the bosom of rural silence and seclusion, the grain of religiosity, which was sown once in his soul, gave abundant shoots. Mikhail Nikolayevich, according to his own recollections, increasingly began to plunge into thoughts about saving the soul and reading the Bible. Once, after visiting the fair, he brought from there many books containing the works of the holy fathers, who completely took possession of his thoughts.

In vain, caring relatives tried to marry a young landowner, finding him a good bride. Taking advantage of the plausible pretext, he evaded the marriage imposed on him, as he strengthened himself ever more firmly in the desire to devote his life to God.

The decision to leave the world was not spontaneous and ripened gradually. This is evidenced by his letters, preserved from those ancient years, as well as memoirs of contemporaries who knew Mikhail Nikolaevich well in those years. The decisive step that determined the rest of his life, the future elder Makarius of Optina made on October 6, 1806, having gone on a pilgrimage to Ploshchanskaya deserts, quite remote from his village.

The Novice Mikhail

He never returned home, but after a while the brothers received a letter. In it, Mikhail Nikolaevich informed him that he remained a novice in the monastery, and transferred the estate and all other property to them in full ownership. So, unexpectedly for everyone, at the age of twenty-two, he left the world forever.

Bogoroditsky Ploshchansky monastery, in which St. Macarius of Optina began the way of service to God, could not be better suited his intentions. Removed a considerable distance from the settlements and surrounded by forests from all sides, it was ideally suited for monastic isolation. Not receiving any serious financial assistance from the Holy Synod and the diocesan administration, the brothers, who at that time had fifty souls, needed nothing, gaining a piece of bread by their own labor.

According to the Church Charter, every newcomer before taking monastic vows is required to undergo a certain test, during which time he is called a novice and, if he wishes, can leave the monastery at any time. The period of this period is not established in advance and depends only on the will of the abbot. Such an establishment serves to test the seriousness of the intentions of the future monk.

Like every novice, pr. Makarii Optinsky began his monastic life with the most difficult and unpleasant work. He - a nobleman - had to deal with the preparation of firewood and cooking in the monastery kitchen in the winter, and in the summer by hay harvesting, gardening and other peasant affairs. As a result, this practice became for him a great school of humility, without which monastic life is unthinkable.

Over time, the abbot of the monastery hieromonk, Father Ioanikij noticed the outstanding musical abilities of the new novice, and also appreciated his education and diligence. He gave Mikhail Nikolayevich the opportunity to study church singing, set him up as a cloister of the monastery, and eventually entrusted also the leadership of one of the departments of the monastery choir. At the end of four years the abbot blessed the hardworking novice to take the tonsure with the name Melchizedek.

Four steps of monastic ascension

In Orthodoxy, there are four degrees of monasticism. About the first of them, in which the future monk has the status of a novice, it was discussed above. Next comes the so-called riasofore. With the tonsure, the worldly man is transformed into a monk. He receives a new name, gives special vows that he does not have the right to violate, completely breaks all family ties, and, under pain of anathema, is unable to return to his former way of life. Behind the riasofor there is a small schema, also called mantle monasticism and a great schema - steps that further separate the monk from the vain world.

Continuation of the monastic ministry

In 1814, a young monk Melchizedek made a pilgrimage to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, visiting along the road a number of other monasteries and carefully studying the accumulated experience of monastic life. Upon his return to his abode, he was tonsured to the next monastic degree - mantle - and was named after Makarii in honor of the founder of the Eastern monasticism of the Monk Makarios the Great.

After spending ten years in the walls of the Ploschansky Monastery, the monk Macarius went to Rostov, to bow to the relics of St. Dimitry of Rostov, and on his way for the first time visited Optina desert, which was later connected to the end of the days. But, this was preceded by another important period that served him as a spiritual mentor.

In 1827 Makarius Optinsky was appointed a confessor to the Trinity convent in Sevastopol and at the age of forty he began to take care of his sisters. Invaluable help was rendered to him by Hieromonk Leo, a wise and rich old man who had come from the Alexandro-Svirsky monastery. By his leadership, he completed the spiritual perfection of Father Macarius.

In the abode indicated by God

Fulfilling the duties assigned to him by the dean of the Ploshchansky monastery, Father Makarii was seconded in 1832 to St. Petersburg and, on his return, again visited Optina desert, but this time he did not confine himself to worshiping her shrines, but applied for transfer to this ancient monastery. The answer had to be waited for a long time, but finally, in January 1834, the diocesan leadership satisfied his request, and Father Makarii moved to the Baptist Skete of Optina of the Desert, where he was tied up to the end of his life in unceasing spiritual deeds.

From the first days of his stay in the new place Makarii Optinsky closely mingled with his former familiar confessor of the monastery, the Monk Leo, who was twenty years older than he. Despite the friendship that bound them, Father Makarii always treated him like a pupil to the teacher and unquestionably handed himself to complete obedience to his will.

These two great ascetics and ascetics, who rightfully won the glory of the wise elder, daily received in their cells a lot of people who came to them, and seven years before the death of the Monk Leo were able to nurture not only the monastery brotherhood, but also thousands of laity.

Their joint labors ascended to the heights of spiritual greatness and the next elder of the desert, later it became its main shrine the Monk Ambrose of Optina. Macarius and Leo, in the words of contemporaries, "grew up and, having managed with the word of God, made their worthy successor".

The gift of foresight, sent down from above

After in 1841 the Lord called the Reverend Leo to the Heavenly Hall, all the worries about the nourishment of the numerous flock fell entirely on the shoulders of Father Macarius, and he honorably placed the cross placed on him. The teachings of Makarios of Optina, converted in those years to many who were honored to go to the monastery, were not only passed from mouth to mouth, but also in the majority were recorded, which allowed them to subsequently release them as a separate book, republished repeatedly, and not lost relevance in our days .

The Lord generously poured out on Makarii's father the gift of foresight. Many visitors came in complete confusion when he, addressing them, unmistakably called their names, which he could not know in advance. More surprising cases are also known. For example, feeding his children not only with personal contact, but also by correspondence, he repeatedly sent answers to questions that had not yet been answered. As a result, a person who wrote to him received them simultaneously with the sending of his message.

Old man's letters and miracles of healings

In general, the correspondence was one of the most important areas of activity, led by Makarios Optinsky. Soulful lessons, with which the pages of his letters were full, were the result of a profound interpretation of the works of the holy fathers of the past multiplied by personal life experience. They entered the treasury of Russian patristic literature.

The letters of the Monk Makarios of Optina, which he often sent to his acquaintances, and often to unfamiliar spiritual children, were of great benefit. In them he touched on the most diverse aspects of being. For example, in one of them, sent to a man who grieved over the numerous griefs that befell him, he taught that always happiness and prosperity harms the soul of a person, making it vulnerable to sins and temptations. Those whom the Lord allows in life sufferings, experiencing them, come nearer to Him and the easier the Kingdom of Heaven is acquired.

And here is another very interesting idea, which was expressed by Makarius Optinsky. The letters addressed to him by one of the laity were full of lamentations that he, doing his best in the fight against vices and passions, does not see a positive result, and this leads him into confusion and deprives him of peace. A wise old man answered him that such a reaction to the lack of an early retribution for his labors, being a consequence of pride and self-esteem, only aggravated the situation, and he should be grateful to the Lord who does not allow him to see himself sinless without attaining true righteousness.

Wide-known are also numerous cases of healing of patients, and especially demoniacs, advancing after the Elder anointed them with oil from the inextinguishable lamp, always clinging to his cell. That is why in our days the prayer of Makarii Optinsky about getting rid of the ailments has such a blessed power. Such facts are not only known, but are also documented in a multitude.

Completion of the life path, which became a feat

He spent twenty years in his modest cell, which was both a bedroom and a reception room, the Monk Makarios of Optina. The icon of the Vladimir Mother of God, an anal, writing desk and a narrow bunk - that's all the decoration of his home, the only decoration of which were hung on the walls portraits of devotees and types of monasteries.

Before completing his earthly path and appearing before the Lord, the old Macarius accepted a great schema, which is, as it was said before, the highest stage of the monastic deed. In a few weeks he predicted the day and hour of his death with astounding accuracy, after which a spiritual torch from his hands was accepted by another ascetic of faith and a wise teacher-Ambrose Optina. Macarius, however, quietly and painlessly departed to the Lord in the early morning of September 20, 1860.

From the day of the funeral, the place of his burial began to enjoy universal reverence, but the elder was canonized in the face of the monks only in 2000. Then all fourteen elders who were tied up once in the Predtechensky skete were glorified, and with them also Makarius Optina, whose life was compiled on the basis of the records of many contemporaries who communicated with him personally. Today he is one of the most famous and beloved in the people of the holy Orthodox Church. The day of the Monk Makarios of Optina is celebrated annually on September 20.