Introduction by Prof. Ivan Michailovich Kontzevitc

Introduction: Acquisition of the Holy Spirit in Ancient Russia
by Prof. Ivan Michailovich Kontzevitch

1. THE 14TH CENTURY

THE 14TH CENTURY in Russia was not a period of "transition," as has been previously thought; rather in its political and cultural movements it was the brilliant epoch of the "Russian Renaissance." This high cultural movement was evoked in Russia by the approaching wave of the Byzantine Renaissance under the Paleologues which embraced the whole Orthodox world. Hesychasm, which at this time had penetrated and inspired all cultural manifestations of life, could not but reach Russia together with the general wave of cultural activ ities. Muscovite Russia was not isolated at this period. On the contrary, this very 14th century and the first half of the next century were marked in Russia by lively contacts with other Orthodox peoples, and in this way Hesychasm, which was the soul of the Orthodox East, was communicated to Russia in various ways.

First of all, Russian literature at this time was under the influence of South Slavonic literature. Secondly, throughout this period Bulgarian church figures had an immediate influence on Russia. Thirdly, Serbian art, penetrated by the spirit of Hesychasm, made its influence known in the Russian art of that time. Fourthly, a whole series of Russian Metropolitans of this time shared the Palamite view (Hesychasm). And fifthly, this whole time there existed an unbroken living contact with the East, this was expressed in the pilgrimages of Russians to the East and the coming of Greeks to Russia.

The two great hesychasts, Metropolitan Alexis and St. Sergius, with whom none of their contemporaries could compare, were the founders of a new epoch of spiritual rebirth and the restoration of the inward activity (the true Orthodox spiritual life), which had grown weak or been all but forgotten owing to the Tatar incursions. The monastic blossoming in northeastern Russia is the fruit of the co-operation of these two lamps of the Russian Church: its head, Metropolitan Alexis, and the great Elder of the Russian land, St. Sergius.

The whole character of this epoch might be summed up in the symbol of spiritual rebirth and the higher spiritual struggle which bears the name Hesychasm, which put its seal upon all manifestitions of church and cultural life. And all manifestations, whether of literature, or art, or the coming to Russia of church figures, or the immediate mutual contacts owing to frequent journeys-all these aided in Russia the spreading of this spiritual current.

2. THE NORTHERN DESERT

"With the beginning of the 14th century there is to be observed in Russia a manifestation which is to be explained by the historical circumstances of Mongol times, a manifestation unknown in the local conditions of the East. It has become accepted to call this monastic colonization. Going away from people into the inaccessible forest depths, which in the ancient Russian language were called 'deserts, a hermit for a long time labors alone, being visited only by wild beasts. No sooner does news of him go about the people and the fame of him become known, than there begin to gather about the small cell of the hesychast in the forest desert his future co-dwellers and fellow ascetics, one after the other. With axe and shovel they labor with their own hands, adding labor to labor, chopping trees, sowing fields, building cells and a church. A monastery grows up. And to the murmuring of the age-old forest, to the wild howling and growling of wolves and bears, there is now joined a new sound to be sure, at first a weak one-a resounding voice; and as it were to the call of the new voice, to the welcome sounding of the monastery semantron, peasants appear at the monastery. They ceaselessly chop down the forests, lay out roads into the thickets which were previously inaccessible, build settlements and villages near the monastery.... The villages grow and turn into towns or even cities.... This movement was inspired by the greatest ascetic of the Russian land, the Father of subsequent monasticism, St. Sergius of Radonezh, who, in the expression of his biographer, was 'abbot of a multitude of brethren and father of many monasteries,' and according to the Chronicler, 'founder and teacher of all the monasteries which are in Russia."1

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1 S. I. Smirnov: How the Ascetics Served the World (in Russian), Holy Trinity Lavra, 1903, p. 24.


What was the life of the desert-dweller when he lived "alone in solitude" in the bosom of virginal nature? Anchorites sought out places which might inspire in the soul an elevated feeling, a feeling of God's presence. The place of the second hermitage of Siya (where St. Anthony of Siya labored) "was in the mountains and was surrounded by mountains as by walls; and in the valley between those mountains was a lake, which was called Padoun. In these mountains a great forest was to be seen, and at the base of these mountains stood the cell of the Saint. Around it were twelve birch trees, as white as snow. Most melancholy was this place, so that one coming to see this wilderness would have great contrition, for the very sight of the place could bring the beholder of it into tender feeling."

Yet the very wilderness which moved and exalted the soul was at the same time a threatening power, full of every possible danger. The same St. Anthony of Siya, in the words of his biographer, "went into the northern lands which lie in the region of the Dvina, passing through the impenetrable forests, gorges, and swamps which lie near the White Sea, and the mossy places and inconstant marshes, and the many lakes, seeking a suitable place, wherever God might instruct him to stay. In these mossy places and swamps "wild beasts dwelled, bears and wolves, deer and hares and foxes, a great multitude of them, which were like herds." However, he lived in harmony in their midst, as did other ascetics who had attained dispassion. "When St. Sergius settled in the forest of Radonezh," in the words of his biographer, "the desert was impenetrable; there were no trails, and it was untrodden by the foot of man. Many beasts and creeping serpents then appeared to him; diverse beasts came in multitudes to his cell not only at night, but even during the day; wolves began to dig and howl around his cell, and sometimes bears appeared, drew near to him and surrounded him without doing any harm." St. Macarius of Kolyazin (†1483, March 17), again, "had the custom of going about the desert places; and if there were wild beasts inhabiting a wilderness, they would walk with him like the meekest sheep; and what is more, they submitted to him and many times took food from him." The northern climate was likewise severe and merciless to defenseless human nature. In the Life of St. Anthony of Siya it is said that during the winter from great storms the anchorite's cell would be covered with snow, and he "lived under the snow as in a cave, and sent up to God his fervent prayers with warm tears." From where did the saints obtain this power, thanks to which they could conquer the laws of nature? How, for example, could St. Paul of Oborna live in the hollow of a linden tree for three years? In his Life it is said: "He was a chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit." In these words we may find the answer also to such a supernatural life of the Saint.



This phenomenon is explained by St. Seraphtm in his Conversation with Motovilov on the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit. After the grace of God had shown upon them in visible fashion at the prayer of the Saint, the latter said to Motovilov: "No pleasantness of earthly fragrance can be compared with the fragrance which we now smell, for we are now surrounded by the fragrance of the Holy Spirit.... Notice, Your God-love, how you told me that around us it is as warm as a bath; but look, neither on you nor on me does the snow melt, nor above us either. Therefore, this warmth is not in the air, but in ourselves. This is that very warmth of which the Holy Spirit, in the words of the prayer, causes us to cry out to the Lord: 'Warm me with the warmth of Thy Holy Spirit. Being warmed by it, men and women desert-dwellers did not fear the winter frost, being clothed as in warm fur coats in a garment of grace woven by the Holy Spirit." These words refer to the Russian ascetics. But in the Egyptian desert the picture was different and the nature of the manifestation of help from Above was different also.

In the Life of St. Onuphrius (14th century, June 12) there is a description of the journey of St. Paphnutius in "the inner desert, where an anchorite lived in the midst of sand-dunes under a blazing sun." This is one of a series of supernatural lives. These anchorites, as also later Russian anchorites, following their example, for the sake of God renounced everything that belongs to human nature, all the way to the instinct of self-preservation, and threw themselves into the abyss of God's mercy unconditionally, preserving only the faith which moves mountains. And this faith, in both Russia and Egypt, proved to be justified. But in Russia anchorites were saved from frost by the warmth of the Holy Spirit, whereas in Egypt, in the midst of a barren desert, springs suddenly gushed forth, and palms grew up with branches bearing fruit every month. St. Onuphrius said to St. Paphnutius about those like himself: "God sends to us holy Angels," who offer food to them, bring water out of the rocks, and strengthen them to such an extent that in them are fulfilled the words of the Prophet Isaiah, who said: They that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall take wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary (Is. 40:31). To the question of St. Paphnutius as to how he received Communion, St. Onuphrius replied as follows: "An Angel of the Lord comes to me, bringing with him the Most Pure Mysteries of Christ, and gives me Holy Communion. And not to me only does the Angel come with Divine Communion, but also to the other ascetics who live for the sake of God in the desert and do not see the face of man, and in giving Communion he fills their hearts with unutterable rejoicing, and if someone desires to see a man, an Angel takes him and raises him into the heav ens so that he might see the Saints and rejoice. And the soul of such a desertdweller shines like the light and rejoices in spirit, having been vouchsafed to see heavenly good things. And then the desert-dweller forgets about all his labors undertaken in the desert. And when the desert-dweller returns to his place he begins all the more fervently to serve the Lord, hoping to receive in the heavens that which he was vouchsafed to see."

That which was in the fourth century in the Egyptian desert was repeated in the Russian desert, in the Sarov forests even of the 19th century. "Once when reading the words of the Savior," says St. Seraphim to John Tikhonov, "that in My Father's house there are many mansions, I the wretched one stopped in thought upon them and desired to see these heavenly dwellings.... And the Lord, in actual fact, in His great mercy did not deprive me of consolation according to my faith, and showed me these eternal abodes, in which I, a poor earthly wanderer, being raised up to there in a moment, saw the unutterable heavenly beauty and those who live there: The Great Forerunner and Baptizer of the Lord, John, the Apostles, Hierarchs, Martyrs and our monastic Fathers, Anthony the Great, Paul of Thebes, Sabbas the Sanctified, Onuphrius the Great and Mark of Thrace, and all the Saints shining in unutterable glory and joy such as eye has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor has entered the thought of man, but such as God has prepared for those that love Him."

St. Seraphim is separated from St. Onuphrius by fifteen centuries, but the mystical phenomena are one and the same. St. Seraphim is almost our contemporary: some of us have known those who have personally seen him. This is not some mysterious remote antiquity in the mist of the ages. But it is precisely now, when our spiritual wings have become atrophied and we have forgotten what possibilities are concealed in our spirit, that St. Seraphim was sent to us, in all the power and spiritual might of the ancient Fathers, so that we might remember our divine sonship and strive towards the limitless perfection of our Heavenly Father: Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. 5:48).

St. Seraphim himself thus understood his mission: in the just-cited conversation with Motovilov, in conclusion he said the following: "I think that the Lord will help you always to keep this [action of grace] in your memory... all the more in that it is not given to you alone to understand it, but through you to the whole world, so that you yourself might be confirmed in the work of God and might be useful to others."

3. THE KEY TO THE DESERT LIFE: LOVE

To all that has been said one may yet add the following: the dominating characteristic of the northeastern ascetics is love. "Having acquired love for God and neighbor, thou didst fulfill the chief part of the Law and the Prophets; for he who does not love his neighbor cannot love God. But thou, O holy father Paul, didst fulfill both" (Sixth Song of the Canon to St. Paul of Obnora). St. Seraphim was also distinguished by such an exceptional love; all who came to him he called "my joy." This resemblance is not accidental and is not a simple coincidence. Although the two ascetics lived in different times and are separated by four hundred years, they are made kin by the fact that both of them went by experience through the same path, the same school of the Holy Fathers, and were crowned with the same crown of virtue virtue perfect love.

The explanation of this mystery (the attainment of true love) is given us by St. Isaac the Syrian (7th century): "There is no means of arousing in the soul Divine Love, in pursuit of which you mystically run to anchoritism, if the soul has not overcome passions. But you have said that your soul, not having overcome the passions, has loved the love of God, and in this there is no order.... Everyone says that he desires to love God, and not only Christians say this, but even those who incorrectly worship God. And this word is pronounced by everyone as his own; but in the pronunciation of such words the tongue only moves, while the soul does not feel what is said." First one must heal the soul: "As a sick man does not say to his father: 'make me king, but first takes care of his infirmity, and after his complete recovery the kingdom of his father by itself becomes his kingdom; so also the sinner, offering repentance and receiving the health of his soul, enters with the Father into the realm of pure being and reigns in the glory of his Father."

The gift of love is possessed by all true ascetics and hesychasts who have uprooted the passions. Of such ascetics St. Isaac the Syrian says that if anyone has no opportunity to manifest love of his neighbor in an active way by reason of his life of silence and his constant remaining in seclusion, then it is sufficient before God to limit oneself to mental love (prayerful intercession). "For if one has no communication at all with men and is entirely immersed in thought in God, when he is dead to everything and remote from everyone-such a one is not commanded to serve men and please them. And if one from time to time interrupts his labor and, after the fulfilling of his rule, meets with men and is consoled by communion with them, but is negligent over his brethren who are in sorrows, he is unmerciful and cruel. He fails to condescend to participate in works of love because of an insufficiency of mercy, because of self-esteem and false thoughts. He who disdains the sick will not see the light. He who turns his face away from a sorrowing one-his day is darkened. And he who disdains the voice of a sufferer, his sons in darkness will seek out their houses by groping. Let us not mock the great name of silence by our ignorance. For to every kind of life there is its proper time and place and distinguishing characteristic."1

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1 St. Isaac the Syrian: 55th Homily, Russian ed., Sergius Posad, 1893, pp.255–259.


In this citation St. Isaac the Syrian speaks of the two sides of the Christian religious ideal, namely, active mercy and contemplative anchoretism which flees communication with men. ("I cannot be with God and men." Abba Arsenius). Professor Zarin has investigated in detail these "two paths," showing their equal value and even the duo-unity of the religious ideal, which includes both its contemplative and active sides. The aim of this ideal is to raise up and bring into reality love for God and for one's neighbor, for the sake of God, inseparably but also without confusion.1 From the words of St. Isaac already cited one may see in what way this aim must be realized in practice in the very life of the ascetics.

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1 Prof. S. Zarin: Asceticism, St. Petersburg, 1907, Vol. I, book 1, p. 107.


4. THE FATHER OF THE MONASTIC RENEWAL: ST. SERGIUS

St. Sergius was the chief inspirer and planter in Russia of contemplative life. The Holy Trinity Monastery produced fifty monasteries, which in their turn produced forty more. Hieromonk Nikon, in his Life of St. Sergius, indicates one hundred names of monk-saints who came from the monastery of St. Sergius. This was a spiritual school which produced a blossoming of contemplative labor in the whole northeastern part of Russia.

St. Sergius was an Elder not only for the monks in submission to him, but also for laymen. But something even more astonishing happened: there came to him for a word of instruction contemplative ascetics already wise in experience of many years, such as St. Sergius of Nurma (†1412, Oct. 7), who came from Athos, St. Euthymius of Suzdal (†1404, Apt. 1), St. Demetrius of Priluki (†1392, Feb. 11), St. Stephen of Makra (†1406, July 14), and others; they are called the "fellow-conversers" of St. Sergius. These fellow-conversers show us the greatness of the spiritual image in which St. Sergius was manifested in the eyes of his contemporaries, being a teacher of reachers and an instructor of instructors. "Can it be that in these distant lands, so shortly before converted to the light of Christ, such a lamp has shone forth, at whom even our ancient Fathers would be astonished?" cried out the Greek bishop who doubted; and for his doubt he was chastized with blindness, and immediately after this he was healed be the Saint himself. And in truth, thespiritual visage of St. Sergius attained an unutterable beauty which might astonish even the ancient Fathers.

The miraculous apparitions in the Life of St. Sergius are characteristic of the ascetics of the tradition of the East, who went first through the path of outward labors (praxis) and attained, as the fruit of these, Divine vision (thuria). And as St. Gregory Palamas says, "Being removed from the material, in which he [the ascetic) at first travels on the path known to him..., he proceeds to the Truth by the unutterable power of the Spirit, and by an unutterable spiritual reception he hears unutterable words and sees the unbeholdable, and already here on earth he is, and becomes, a miracle.1 One must assume that it was for similar mysteries and depths of the inward ascetical life that the holy fellowconversers of St. Sergius came to him and took counsel.

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1 Quoted in Archimandrite Cyprian, "The Spiritual Forerunners of St. Gregory Palamas," in Theological Thought, Paris, 1942, p. 130.


Spiritual attainments, however, are not the lot of the majority, but are accessible only to a few chosen ones. Such was the young monk Cyril, the future founder of the White Lake Monastery. And this is why St. Sergius, when he came to the Simonov Monastery, hastened to go to him in the bread-bakery, where his obedience was, and instructed him for hours, paying no attention to others. And the testament of St. Sergius passed through St. Cyril to subsequent ascetic tradition of the whole of northeastern Russia, the "Northern Thebaid." Among the various disciples of St. Sergius were two especially clear examples of contemplative ascetic life: Sts. Sylvester and Paul of Obnora. In the monastery of St. Paul there has remained a written memorial which confirms this. This document, which concerns the guidance of young monks, contains expressions such as: "Spiritual prayer," "concentration of spirit," and "silence," which serve as signs of the school of Eastern asceticism.

5. THE NORTHERN THEBAID

The Northern Thebaid of Russia was in no way inferior to its African archetype. The dwellers of the virgin forests beyond the Volga in their spiritual power, the might of their ascetic life, and the height of their attainments were equal to the Fathers of the first centuries of Christianity. But 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, with their emerald-green of early spring and the rich fulness of their golden auburn tones in September-in the same way the sanctity of the Fathers of the Egyptian desert, elemental and mighty like lava erupting from a volcano, with the brightness of the southern nature, is distinct from the sancrity of Russia, which is quier, 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 "noetic activity," the same silence. In the Life of St. Paul of Obnora it is said: "St. Paul, being humble in mind and hating glory and honor from men, loving silence and being a lover of God, entreated St. Sergius for a long time that he command him to remain in solitude." Of St. Paul again it is said that he remained "singing and praying constantly and cleansing the vision of his mind." He took care for the purity of his thoughts, "lest there cleave to his mind any of earthly things." Later we read how he "with fervor constantly prayed to God, diligently laboring, cleansing the vision of his mind." Before his repose, St. Paul permanently "began to live in silence, going away from any human dwelling and having his mind constantly in prayer and heedfulness towards God, cleansing his vision and gathering the light of divine understanding in his heart, and in his purity beholding the glory of the Lord, whereby he was a chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit."

Muraviev, the author of The Russian Thebaid of the North, during the time of his pilgrimage to the Vologda region, when crossing the river Nurma, saw at the bridge a solitary chapel and entered it in order to venerate St. Paul. "His meek visage greeted me there," says Muraviev, "in the rank of other desertdwellers at the side of the Crucified Lord for Whose sake they had labored so much. In the hands of St. Paul was a scroll with the inscription: Ob, if you knew the whole power of love. Such a short reminder in the wilderness was especially moving for the heart and was more eloquent than many oratorical speeches." Right here there stood also a pitcher of water with a ladle for the quenching of the thirst of travellers on hot days. "And I remembered the word of the Gospel: Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reusard (Matt. 10:42).1

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1 Muraviev, The Russian Thebaid of the North, St. Petersburg, 1855, pp. 23-4 (Russian).


6. THE 15TH CENTURY AND AFTER

The 14th century was the time of the rebirth of anchoritism and monasticism, the century of St. Sergius. The 15th century is still rich in sprouts of the spiritual seeds sown in previous centuries. From she monasteries already founded, new monasteries arose, giving new Saints. This was a continuation of the epoch of the 14th century, its blossoming, the "golden age" of Russian asceticism; but at the same time it was the eve of crisis and rupture. The Russian historian Soloviev has accurately written: "The rejection by Moscovite Russia of the Florentine Unia is one of those great decisions which determine the fate of peoples for many centuries ahead." The historical moment of the rejection of the Unia is one that drew after it a whole epoch. "After this the inward separation of the Russian world from the West, under the influence of the dream which burst forth of Moscow the Third Rome, firmly strengthened the specifically Eastern European character of Russian culture, and it was not wiped out either outwardly, nor all the more inwardly, by the great westernizing reform of Peter the Great."1 Such was the incalculably great significance of this historical step, the rejection of the Unia.

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1 Kartashev, Holy Prince Vladimir, Paris, 1938, p. 18.

Let us speak now briefly of the inner changes and shocks which ascetic life underwent in this transitional epoch and the one which followed. Monasticism falls into two currents. The main branch proceeds from St. Cyril of White Lake, the fellow-converser of St. Sergius and the greatest Saint living at the beginning of the 15th century. He is at the head of that school of spiritual activity which with the lightness and wingedness of spiritual exaltation and Divine vision has room also for service to the world, feeding the hungry in difficult years and nourishing spiritually the people who came to the monastery. To this school belongs the merit of continuing the colonization of the northeast which was begun in the century of St. Sergius. St. Cyril's tradition is given to the "North-ern Thebaid" by St. Dionysius of Glushitsa (†1437, June 1), who likewise lived in the White Lake Monastery; it was he who painted the portrait of the great Saint himself (see page 48). In the Lives of the ascetics of Vologda and Komel one can feel a reflection of St. Cyril's testament. Spreading to the northeast, the "Northern Thebaid" is still blossoming in the 16th century. But in the 17th century only in the far north, on the periphery of the Russian state, do we encounter two more clearly delineated types of hesychasts: St. Diodorus of George-Hill and St. Eleazar of Anzersk. After them the spiritual activity almost is lost to our view.

The second branch is concentrated around Moscow. Around it is formed a ring of monasteries. Although these latter do take their beginning from Holy Trinity Lavra, spiritually they are inferior to the "Northern Thebaid." These are the coenobitic monasteries which have no striving for contemplative life and silence. In the 15th century they give two Saints who have a decisive influence on later generations: St. Paphnutius of Borov (11447, May 1) and St. Joseph of Volokolamsk (†1515, Sept. 9). These Saints, although they did not fully realize the ideals of St. Sergius of Radonezh and St. Cyril of White Lake, nonetheless were genuine ascetics and great benefactors of the people. However, their followers did not possess their grace-given qualities, in them the chief aim became the preservation of rules and rites. Intolerance, dry asceticism, severity, the idea of an inexorable and strict justice which obscures the idea of mercy: such is their tendency. Rule and rite dominate in everything, the keeping of outward rules is given the chief significance, in forgetfulness of the fact that the spirit gives life. On this ground the Old Believers' schism takes root, that great spiritual catastrophe which later cleared the way for the secularization of custom and the whole public life of Russia which was brought about by the reforms of Peter.

At the end of the 15th century there occurred the collision, so typical of the epoch, of these two currents in the persons of St. Nilus of Sora and St. Joseph of Volokolamsk. St. Nilus is the last of the Russian ascetics of the period to make a pilgrimage to the East with the aim of restoring the teaching of the spiritual activity. He visited Athos, where he became acquainted with the teaching of St. Gregory the Sinaite. St. Nilus is a monk of contemplative life and a hesychast of the purest type. He systematized the teaching of the inward activity. Characteristic of him is his absolute departure from and break with the world.

The dispute over monastery lands divided monasticism into two camps. At the head of the non-possessors stood St. Nilus of Sora, and at the head of those who favored the possession of monastery lands, St. Joseph of Volokolamsk. The latter was victorious. Thus, what was joined together in the spiritual school of St. Cyril-contemplative life and deeds of charity-were now no longer compatible. St. Nilus took the chief things: the inward activity and the non-possessiveness closely bound up with it, but he lost the tie with the life of the state, and in this was his weak side. St. Joseph, on the contrary, became organically one with the state; his type of monasticism continued the tradition of charitable works, but now it was at the expense of the spiritual activity. After St. Joseph the abbot of the Monastery of Volokolamsk was Daniel, the future Metropolitan of Moscow. As is known from history, he was an oath-breaker (in the case of Prince Shemyatich), a "conniver" with the Great Prince (in his marriage to E. Glinskaya), and the destroyer of St. Maximus the Greek. Such a hyp ocritical type could come out of the monastery of St. Joseph thanks to the fact that in it there was no school of sobriety, no confession of thoughts, and attention was concentrated on the keeping of outward rules and not on the inward condition of the monks' souls. Therefore St. Joseph could be deceived, which in no case could have occurred, for example, with St. Sergius.

Monasticism should not refuse to serve the world for the sake of God, but for it the service of worldly principles is ruinous. When ascetic life departed from the world into the forest depths in the period of colonization, the world ran after it and submitted to it. But from the moment when monasticism undertook to serve worldly principles (the historical rupture of the Council of 1503, at which the question of monastery possessions was resolved in the posi tive), then the world began to enslave it until it decisively subjected it to itself.

In the middle of the 16th century the flight of heretics to the monks beyond the Volga called forth a persecution against the latter. Thus the field of battle was left to the Moscow tendency, that of St. Joseph.

At the same time both the type and character of sanctity were changing. The schools of hesychasts under the guidance of elders gave a numerous offspring: the following generations took advantage of the experience of the preceding ones. When this school was forgotten, individual asceticism came to the fore. Now the ascetic had to attain everything personally, by long and difficult experience, not having the ascetic tradition to rely on. Inward cleansing and sobriety were replaced by labors of mortification: iron helmets, chains, every kind of "iron" are its means. The path of sanctity became incomparably more difficult. St. Nilus of Sora in the Foreward to his "Rule" says: "Many have attained this radiant activity by means of instruction, but few have received it directly from God by force of ascetic labor and warmth of faith." He himself testifies of "the difficulty now of obtaining an unde ceived instructor." This difficulty, noticed by St. Nilus, refers already to the end of the 15th century.

In the 14th century St. Sergius saw before him a multitude of beautiful birds which he had never seen before and heard a mystical voice from the heights of heaven, saying, "thus will thy flock of disciples increase, and after thee they will not die out." But in the 17th century the exact opposite was said to St. Irenarchus by the Blessed John the "Big-Helmet": "God gives to thee a horse, and on this horse no one but thee will be able to ride or sit." In his immense exploit he remains alone. His path is unique and individual, and by the fierceness of its asceticism it can have no imitators.

And so Russian asceticism, being cut off from Byzantium and being left to itself, is subjected to a process of dissolution and falls into two tendencies. The spiritual tendency soon nearly perishes, and the school of spiritual activity is forgotten to such an extent that when Paisius Velichkovsky at the end of the 18th century will restore this school and re-establish the institution of elders, the latter will be greeted with mistrust and apprehension as an unheard-of novelty.

Russia in the 14th and 15th centuries proceeded under the sign of Byzantium: its direct influence is present in the rebirth of monasticism and in the labors of contemplative life. Russia drew spiritual power and inspiration from communion with the East. But towards the end of the 15th century these earlier ties became weak and were even cut off. The occasion for the rupture with the Greek tradition was the Council of Florence and then the devastation of the Orthodox East by the Turks. From this moment the authority of Byzantium quickly fell, and the very interest in it died out.

One must make note of yet another sad characteristic of the latter part of this period (16th-17th centuries): the changing attitude of the people to the anchorites. Now the world no longer went after them, but rose up against them. Monastery possessions grew larger and larger, and the peasants, fearing their own enslavement, considered the anchorites as their personal enemies, and sometimes they even killed them. Two Saints Adrian, of Andrusov (†1549, August 26) and of Poshekhonye (†1550, March 5) were killed with the aim of robbery. St. Agapitus of Markusheva (†1578, May 21) was killed by peasants and his body thrown in a river. Before this he had gone to Moscow to ask a blessing of the Metropolitan and land from the Tsar for a mill; at this mill he was killed. Further, St. Simon of Volomsk (†1613, July 21) was martyrically killed by peasants. The same fate befell St. Job the Gorge-dweller (†1628, August 6). St. Nilus of Stolbensk was saved from the midst of the forest which had been set on fire around him. By chance St. Arsenius of Komel was saved when his disciple was taken for him and killed. Finally, St. Leonid of Ustnedumsk (†1654, July 17), likewise banished, had to move his monastery from a mountain to a swamp.

With Saints Diodorus and Eleazar (17th century) we conclude our cycle of saints of the period of "ancient Russia." In them, before the virtual annihilation of monasticism and the secularization of monastic property, the Lord once more raised up Saints whose features very strongly remind us of the ancient desert-dwellers. To the end, the "Northern Thebaid" was faithful to the Byzantine spiritual tradition, thus sowing the seeds that were later to give rise to another great monastic movement: that of Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky and the great Elders who followed him.