The Northern Thebaid. Contents

The Northern Thebaid


The Anchorite in the Northern Desert

Engraving by O. Miloradovich, 19th Century, from the Life of St. Sergius of Radonezh


The NORTHERN THEBAID

Monastic Saints of the Russian North

COMPILED AND TRANSLATED BY FATHERS SERAPHIM (ROSE) AND HERMAN (PODMOSHENSKY) OF PLATINA

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY I. M. KONTZEVITCH

[Text preparation by Vyacheslav Marchenko]



FR. SERAPHIM ROSE FOUNDATION 1995


Copyright 1975 by the
St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood
First Printing 1975
Second Printing 1976
Third Printing (Revised Edition) 1995

Address all correspondence to:
St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood
P. O. Box 70
Platina, CA 96076

And

Fr. Seraphim Rose Foundation
P. O. Box 1656
Forestville, CA 95436


Front cover: "Evening Prayer" by louri Sidorenko, 1992

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Rose, Fr. Seraphim (1934—1982) and Fr. Herman Podmoshensky (1934—[2014]), comp. & trans.
The northern thebaid: monastic saints of the Russian north.


Library of Congress Card Number: 75-18031

ISBN: 0-938635-37-9



THE FOREST OF THE NORTH, VALAAM

Blessed is the life of the dwellers of the desert, for they are winged by divine fervor.

Sunday Matins: Hymn of Degrees, Tone 5 First Antiphon




OBNORA MONASTERY CAVE-CHURCH built over St. Paul's original earthen cell

This book is dedicated, an the thirtieth anniversary of his death, to the blessed memory of our beloved teacher, Prof. Kan Michailovich Kontzevitch +1965 who labored so faithfully to transmit the true understanding of the patristic teaching of Orthodox Spirituality which is so indispensable today


The NORTHERN THEBAID
Monastic Saints of the Russian North

Compiled and translated by Fathers Seraphim and Herman of Platina


FROM the fourth century A.D., the desert Thebaid of Egypt was the home of thousands of monks and nuns who made the desert a city peopled with Christians striving towards the heavens in the Angelic way of life. A thousand years later, no fewer thousands of monks and nuns, likewise seeking communion with God, went to live in the forests of northern Russia, creating what has become known as the "Northern Thebaid."

Just as the sultry African nature with its clear blue sky, lush colors, its burning sun, and its incomparable moonlit nights, is distinct from the aquarelle soft tones of Russia's northern nature with the blue surface of its lakes and the soft shades of its leafy forests in the same way the sanctity of the Saints of the Egyptian desert, elemental and mighty, is distinct from the sanctity of Russia, which is quiet, lofty, and as crystal-clear as the radiant and quiet evening of the Russian spring. But both in Russia and in Egypt there is the same divine prayer, the same interior silence, leading to direct contact with God.

Illustrated with rare pictures from old Russian books and magazines, The Northern Thebaid chronicles the lives of a number of holy men and women of the Russian forests, presenting the Orthodox monastic tradition which inspired them and which is still alive today for those who would follow in their footsteps. This edition is a facsimile of the original edition, which was hand-printed by Fr. Seraphim Rose and his monastic brothers in the mountain forests of Northern California.


Contents

Preface

Preface to the New Edition

Introduction by Prof. I. M. Kontzevitch

I. The Life of St. Sergius of Radonezh (+1392), Abba of the Northern Thebaid

II. The Life of St. Paul of Obnora (+1429) in the Komel Forests of Vologda

III. The Life of St. Cyril of Belozersk (+1429) or White Lake, in the Heart of the Northern Thebaid

IV. The Life of St. Sabbatius of Solovki (+1435) in the Arctic Waters of the White Sea

V. The Life of St. Nilus of Sora (+1508) and His Skete Tradition

VI. The Life of St. Alexander of Svir (+1533), Blessed Seer of the Holy Trinity

VII. The Life of St. Anthony of Siya (+1556), Desert-Dweller of the Northern Dvina

VIII. The Life of St. Euphrosynus (+1612), Martyr-Confessor of Blue-Jay Lake

IX. The Life of St. Diodorus of George-Hill (+1633) and the Desert-Dwellers of the Utmost North

X. The Life of St. Dorothy of Kashin (+1629) and the Righteous Women of Holy Russia

XI. The Life of St. Nicodemus of Kozha Lake (+1640) Anchorite of the Arctic Tundra

XII. The Life of St. Dalmatus of Siberia (+1697) and the Monastic Exodus into the Siberian Taiga

EPILOGUE: The Eighteenth Century

INDEX