THE LIFE OF St. Diodorus of George-hill

THE LIFE OF
St. Diodorus of George-hill
AND THE DESERT-DWELLERS OF THE UTMOST NORTH1

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1 Translated from the "Life of St. Diodorus of Yuriegorsk" (i.e., "George-hill"), in the Lives of Saints, Supplementary Vol. I, Moscow, 1908, pp. 423ff, with details added from the Solovki Patericon, St. Petersburg, 1873, pp. 74ff.


Commemorated November 27

THE ONEGA RIVER territory, with its myriads of glassy lakes azurely reflecting the beautiful northern landscape, provided breadth and freedom for Holy Russia's seekers of God. This region of the Northern Thebaid, with the city of Kargopol for its center, has adorned the Orthodox Church with great Saints. Some of the predecessors of St. Diodorus in this region in the 14th to 16th centuries were; St. Lazarus of Murom, the Greek who conversed with the Most Holy Mother of God; St. Cornelius of Paleh Lake, a monk of Valaam; St. Jonah of Klimenetz, the rich merchant who was converted to monasticism overnight; St. Cyril of Chelmogor, St. John the Hairy, St. Alexander of Oshevensk; and many others.

Our holy Father Diodorus was born near the end of the 16th century in the prosperous village of Turchasovo, which was located about half-way between Archangelsk and Kargopol, on the river Onega. Since all of Russia's foreign trade at that time went through the northern port of Archangelsk, whence foreign goods were transported south on the rivers to Moscow, the village of Turchasovo was an important trading center; but more significantly, it was also an important spiritual center, with beautiful churches and other edifaces which bore witness to the spiritual and cultural height of Holy Russia. The Saint's father was called Hierotheus, and his mother was Mary. In holy Baptism he received the name Diomedes, When he was fifteen years old, having received the blessing of his parents, he set out on a pilgrimage to Solovki Monastery, this occurred between the years 1600 and 1606. He never returned home. He came to love the monastery life and labored in the renowned monastery for three years, passing through various labors with complete obed. ience, without any contradiction or murmuring, for which he was beloved by all. With fear of God and humility Diomedes stood in the temple of God, listening to the sacred singing and reading. Most of all he preserved his body in chastity and avoided those among the brethren who were careless in this virtue. With his whole soul the young ascetic longed for the Angelic habit, and when he turned nineteen years old, he tearfully begged Abbot Anthony (1603-1612) to deem him worthy of the monastic tonsure. Seeing the hu mility and tears of the youth, the Abbot gave the blessing for him to be tonsured, and he was given the name Damian in monasticism, Then the newlytonsured monk was given over to the spiritual direction of an elder experienced in the monastic life, Hieromonk Joseph, a native of Great Novgorod.


SAINT DIODORUS OF GEORGE HILL

TROPARION, TONE 1

LOVER of those who dwell in the desert,+ thou wast aflame with zeal to imitate their virtues.+ And coming after many trials and sorrows to the barren desert,+ thou didst water it with thy tears and make it fruitful in true strugglers of Christ.+ Wherefore, we glorify thee, O holy Diodorus,+ and call out in thanksgiving for the grace that was given thee:+ Glory to Him Who granted thee strength in the wilderness,+ glory to Him Who crowned thee for thy labors,+ glory to Him Who worketh wonders through thy holy prayers.



Turchasovo Village, the home town of St. Diodorus



Two beautiful 17th-century churches of Turchasovo: at left. the Annunciation; at right, the Transfiguration.


HIEROMONK JOSEPH was a great lover of the desert, that dwelling place of anchoretic monasticism, and not infrequently would he tell his young novice how that right there in the thickets of the forest of Solovki Island many desert-dwellers were still struggling, working out the salvation of their souls,

THE UNKNOWN ANCHORITE

There were then hermits on Solovki whose names are known to God alone. One monk of Solovki-to take an example that was recorded in the Solovki Patericon of this period was going about the island on some mon astery business; becoming fatigued, he wished to rest beside a steep hill. Intending to lie down on the ground, he crossed himself and pronounced aloud the Jesus Prayer. Suddenly from the top of the hill, from within a cleft, he heard "Amen." Not believing his ears, he pronounced the prayer a second and a third time, and again he heard the same "Amen." "Who are you, a man or a spirit?" asked the monk in astonishment. "I am a sinful man," answered the unseen one, "and I am weeping over my sins," "What is your name and how did you come here?" "My name and how I came here God alone knows." "Are you alone here?" "Near to me there live two elders. There was also a third one, but he departed to the Lord and we buried him." "And what do you live on?" "Remember, brother, the word of the Lord: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. He nourishes and warms the inward man. Remember how in earlier times holy men and women dwelt in mountains, caves, and caverns of the earth. God the Creator fed them, and is He not the same God Who is now? If you wish to find out with what the Master feeds my corruptible body, take this." With these words he threw a piece of something, and the monk took it and ate it. It was dried moss with cranberries. "This is what my Master feeds me with," said the desert-dweller. The monk began to entreat him to tell him how many years he had been in this place and how he spent his time. "I have been here ten or more years," replied the anchorite. "The first year I suffered terribly from the fearsome spectacles of the demons. The demons, appearing in the form of robbers, frightened me, beat me mercilessly, dragged me out of my cell, and demanded that I go away from the island or return to the monastery. Having tortured me, they left me hardly alive. Then two holy men with prosphora in their hands came to me. They said, 'Arise, brother, and signing yourself with the Sign of the Cross, say the Prayer of Jesus. Do not fear the snares of the enemies; have courage and be strengthened, and God will help you. Taste of this prosphora, and we will visit you.' No sooner had I tasted the prosphors than immediately I felt myself to be well and joyful. In the first year, when the demons especially attacked me, the elders often visited me, carried me into the hut and streng thened me. The second year, the attacks of the demons became weaker, and now, by the grace of Christ, I am out of danger from all the attacks of the enemy. But the elders sometimes visit me and bring prosphora and bread."

When the monk said farewell, the desert-dweller begged him to bring incense on a certain day. The monk promised, but he was unable to do this on the day designated, and later he was no longer able to find the desertdweller. The next year, however, the monk again came to the same place where he had conversed with the desert-dweller, and, having labored much, he lay down to rest. In a vision during sleep the anchorite appeared to him and said. "Now you have come in vain," and gave him a prosphora.

At this same time. when the young Father Damian was listening to such accounts in the cell of his elder, there came to his spiritual father, Elder Joseph, a certain Basil of Keno Lake who loved to go away for solitude into deserted parts of the island; this Basil told of a meeting with the marvellous desert-dweller Andrew.

THE BLESSED ANDREW

"It once happened," he began his narrative, "that I went far away from the monastery and, having lost the road, I wandered lost without food or drink. Suddenly in the distance there appeared to me, as it were, the shadow of a man. I went towards it, and the shadow hid in the denseness of the forest. I continued to run and I saw a small path, and I went on it as far as a very dense thicket in which there was a narrow entrance just large enough for one man. Having gone through this entrance, I saw a mountain, and on it the footprints of a barefoot man. In the cliff there was a small opening. I prayed and then entered this dark cave, After making the Sign of the Cross, I stretched out my hands and felt a man, and in terror I said a prayer; to this the cave-dweller replied, 'Amen.' I fell at his feet. 'Why have you come here and what do you need? the unknown one asked me. 'Forgive me, holy Father; 1 have become lost and thus came here. I entreat you, have pity on me and show me the way to the monastery. The hermit brought me to a different cave in which, on the southern side, there was a window which lighted the interior. Then I examined the unknown one. He ws naked, with a small beard, and his body was dark. In the cave there were four stumps; on them were placed two boards and two carved wooden bowls; in one of the bowls was water, and in the other, dried grass. The desert-dweller gave me the grass to eat and the water to drink. Having tasted what was offered, I felt life and strength return within me. Then I asked the elder to tell me of his life. He said, 'I was a laborer of this monastery of Solovki. My name is Andrew, Thus he began his account. Having come to the monastery of Solovki, I labored in the salt-works, boiling the salt. At that time the abbot was Barlaam (1571-1581, later Metropolitan of Rostov). Soon the thought of my sins was aroused within me and the desire was born to leave everything and labor for God alone. I did not want to postpone this, so I went into the wilderness, found this dark cave, and settled in it. I suffered from hunger and thirst, I ate berries and mushrooms, and many times I endured the attacks of devils, beatings, insults, and afflictions. I fought with thoughts as with wild beasts. Many times I repented that I had gone into the wilderness, considering all my hermitic life fruitless. Often I even left the cave in order to go to the world, but thunder resounded from heaven, rain poured down, and I would be forced to return to the cave. Here a quiet coolness gave me repose. Sometimes I would come up out of the cave in the wintertime, but the frightful frost, which would have crushed all my bones, did not give me any possibility of going more than five steps. For three years this difficult battle continued. After a trial of three years I found peace, and all the unpleasant attacks ceased. Then there appeared to me a certain holy being who said, "Be firm, do not leave the path to God which has been in. dicated to you." He gave me this grass, saying, "Eat it, and drink water from this lake." So for 38 years I have eaten this grass. Having heard this account, I fell at the feet of the elder, begging his prayers. Andrew brough: me out of the cave, showed the way to the monastery, and having blessed me, said, 'Go in peace, and tell no one about what you have heard from me while I am alive. I went, and it seemed to me that it was no more than half a mile to the monastery." Thus Basil concluded his wondrous narrative.

The account of Basil sank deeply into the soul of Damian, After some time, Basil set out to seek the cave of Andrew, and Damian accompanied him. But having spent a whole week in the search, they found neither that dense forested place, nor the mountain, nor the cave.

SUCH ACCOUNTS AS THESE kindled in the young monk the ardent desire to settle in the forest with the desert-dwellers and to imitate their strug gles. He ceaselessly thought only about this, but, nevertheless, he diligently fulfilled all the difficult monastic obediences that were laid upon him in the bakery and the kitchen. Then, one day, while he was working with the brethren in the bakery, the Saint looked out at the lake which is located right next to the monastery, on the east side, and exclaimed: "Look, brethren; a desertdweller is walking on the water as if on dry land." The brethren looked, but saw nothing. The Saint thirsted for hermitic life, but he continued to work in the place where kvas was made, laboring very hard, giving no rest to himself, and fervently praying to the Lord both in church and in his cell.

Many years did Damian struggle thus in the monastery, until his own father, Hierotheus, came to him, to the Saint's great joy; having received the monastic tonsure, he remained in the monastery until his death. The Saint buried his father with his own hands. After his father's death, the Saint was again inflamed with the desire to leave the noisy monastery and go into the desert in order to lead in silence there the difficult life of an anchorite. This time he went out from the monastery deep into the island seeking desertdwellers there so as to be edified by their converse, and even hoping to live together with them. For forty days he walked about the island, eating only grass and dew, but he found no one. He became faint from hunger, and finally, scarcely breathing, he lay down under a tree. Here his brethren from the monastery found him, having come so far to gather plants and berries. They took the Saint for dead, placed him on a stretcher of sorts, brought him to the monastery building which was in this area, and called his spiritual father to him. "What has happened to you, Damian?" asked the elder. Damian could scarcely answer: "Forgive me, Father; from the time when I left the monastery I have not seen bread, and have liven only on grass." The brethren thus understood what had happened and gave him bread and kvas, and Damian thus recovered.

This unfortunate incident did not keep the Saint from fulfilling his cherished desire, soon he set out anew and settled in a deserted cell which had been abandoned by some unknown hermit. Later, when the Saint succeeded in meeting two anchorites and conversing with them, he came to love the hermitic life still more. Now he built a hut for himself in the forest and lived in it, laboring during the day and spending the night in prayer.

But his earlier thought to visit all the anchorites of the island, all the unknown strugglers and true slaves of God who were concealed from the eyes of men in the forest thickets, did not leave the Saint. Having prayed to the Lord and the Wonderworkers of Solovki, Sts. Sabbatius and Zossimas, for the fulfillment of his cherished desire, Damian began to walk throughout the desert. And the Lord did not disdain the prayers of His servant. He deeme l him worthy to see a multitude of anchorites monks and laymen who were working out their salvation on Anzersk, Solovki, and other islands. Desiting to help them in their labors, the Saint began often to go to the monastery and bring back food for them, and by his visits he brought them much consolation. He buried those who had died.

THE BLESSED NICEPHORUS

Once during winter he met in the desert the anchorite Nicephorus, a layman from Novgorod. The anchorite was completely naked. Turning to the Saint, he said: 'Keep visiting, Damian, keep visiting, so that God will visit you also. And he ran away. The Saint wanted to converse with the hermit, but he could not overtake him. Nicephorus was a great holy man, the son of a priest of Novgorod. He had come to the monastery of Solovki when he was still young, and he had grown to love monastic life. He entreated the Superior to tonsure him, but because he was young and handsome, his desire was put off. This refusal only increased in the youth his zeal for monastic life. Together with some pilgrims from Novgorod he received a letter from his parents, in which they called him to return quickly home. "Tell my parents," he replied to those who gave him the letter, "that they will no longer see me in this life; we will meet there beyond the grave. " Nicephorus continued to labor for the monastery together with others, observ ing a strict fast. He never lay down to sleep, but rested a little sitting up. In his free time he loved to read the Life of St. Mark the Anchorite of Thrace.1 The image of this early desert-dweller was deeply impressed on him and drew him to the anchoretic life. Once, in front of everyone, Nicephorus jumped up from his chair, signed himself with the Sign of the Cross, took off his belt and his sandals, and in a single gray shirt filed into the forest, remaining in the desert, on the island of Solovki, for twelve years, in fasting, prayer, and prostrations. Then a certain desert-dweller tonsured him. Spending three more years in monastic labors, he died in 1605, on Palm Sunday.

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1 For this Life, see The Orthodox Word, 1966, no. 1.


THE BLESSED TIMOTHY

Another time Damian visited a still mo;e perfect anchorite, was deemed worthy of conversations with him, and found out who he was. His name was Timothy, and he was a native of Aleksin in the Tula region. He left his parents' home and fled to the desert during the Time of Troubles, in the reign of the Pretender Demetrius. Seeing the strife and disorder in the Moscow Government, he left the cities behind and set out in a small boat from Archangelsk on the Arctic Sea. Reaching the desert of Solovki, he built a hut for himself and settled in it. For three years Timothy endured hunger and difficult temptations, until a radiant heavenly elder appeared to him and showed him the grass he should eat and the water he should drink. Inspired by his life, Damian decided definitely to settle in the desert, living with Nicephorus and Timothy. "Slave of Christ," said the Saint to Timothy, "pray God that He might deem me also worthy of living together with you both, that He might strengthen our life together and help me to bear this most difficult struggle for the salvation of my soul."

Now the Saint began often to go to both the anchorites; he would bring them all necessities, entreat and exhort them to continue their lofty labor, and comfort them in their sorrows: he himself promised to keep the monastic vow even unto death, and without fail to dwell in the desert. His example inspired others to imitate him.

THE BLESSED EPHRAIM AND OTHERS

In the Life of St. Diodorus the following hermits whom the Saint met are also mentioned: the elder Ephraim the dark, then Alexius of Kaluga, Joseph and Tikhon of Moscow, Theodulus of Ryazan, Porphyrius, Tryphon, Joseph the Younger, Sebastian, and many others. With heartfelt love Damian attached himself to them and began frequently to visit them and bring them what they needed from the monastery.

Besides these desert-dwellers whom St. Diodorus knew in the wild forests of the island of Solovki, tradition names many other ascetics who sought salvation there in the 17th century in a life of the strictest silence. Among these was Adrian, who lived near the lake in the very center of the island, a mile and a half from the cell built by Abbot Irenarchus, and who led here a strict ascetic life. Here he died and was buried in the desert. The layman Sabbat, who was one of the monastery's laborers, went away into the forest on Solovki Island and labored for eleven years, known only to God, He died during the abbacy of Raphael and was buried near the cell of Damian. Near the cell of Sabbas, the monk Nestor lived as a hermit, laboring day and night in prayer and fasting. When he died he also was buried near the desert of Damian.1

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1 There exists a whole Solovki Patericon of this period, published in the 17th century, republished in the 19th, but it was not available to the editors.



ST. PAUL OF THEBAID SOUGHT OUT BY ST. ANTHONY THE GREAT

St. Diodorus followed the ancient example of the Egyptian desert Fathers by seeking out holy hermits and receiving spiritual benefit from discourse with them, thus likening himself to the great Saints.

Fresco in the Refectory of the Holy Trinity Monstery near Jordanville, N. Y.
BY ICONOGRAPHER ARCHIMANDRITE CYPRIAN.


View of the Solovki islands wilderness, the desert haven of the Northern Thebaid's severest ascetics, as seen from the hill of the Golgotha Skete, with the Arctic Sea on the horizon


When this wilderness became peopled with holy men, the Mother of God appeared to St. Job, on June 18, 1712, and said: "This mountain henceforth shall be called Golgotha; a church will be built on it and a Crucifixion Skete; and it shall become white with innumerable sufferings." This prophecy was fulfilled when millions of innocent martyrs were slaughtered by the Communists on this hill.


A typical desert-dweller's hut, made of grass and branches, during summer.


Golgotha Skete in the Solovki forest during winter.


THE HOLY MONASTERY OF SOLOVKI

A 17th-century illustrated title page for the Life of Sts. Sabbatius and Zossimas, produced in the Solovki calligraphy workshop. This type of publication was very popular in St. Diodorus' youth and spread the monastic ideal.


NOW THE BRETHREN of Solovki Monastery began to murmur against Damian, who received the Schema with the name Diodorus about this time. They said: "He is disrupting the monastery and building up the desert with the monastery's property. The desert is filling up with brethren whom he is leading away from the monastery, now they no longer labor for the monastery, and others also are deceived. If now we shall indulge him, he will seduce many and bring much harm to the monastery."

At this time the cellarer Cyricus went out from the monastery to the desert of St. Diodorus, and thereby the brethren of the infirmary were offended. With tears they begged their abbot, St. Irenarchus,1 to command that Cyricus be brought back from the desert, together with the anchorite Diodorus. "Cyricus has saddened us by his departure," they told the abbot, "be cause no one is able to comfort us as well as be. We are saddened now."

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1 St. Irenarchus of Solovki, abbot from 1613-1626; commemorated July 17. A great wonderworker and a lover of the desert himself (spending the last two years of his life in silence alone in the forest), he blessed his close disciple St. Eleazar to establish a skete on Anzersk Island. Many anchorites settled there under St. Eleazar's guidance, thus avoiding the temptations which sometimes occurred when hermits lived without sufficient spiritual direction. St. Eleazar of Solovki (†1656, January 13), one of the greatest Saints of the Northern Thebaid, was deemed worthy to converse with the Most Holy Theotokos Herself.


Hearing this complaint, the abbot and all the Solovki brethren were greatly angered at St. Diodorus. They sent some of the monastery workers to search for the Saint and other anchorites. They found them, seized them, and brought them to the monastery like criminals, after destroying their cells. St. Diodorus, as the chief evil-doer, was brought bound. All the hermits were ordered to live in the monastery, and the Saint was placed in irons and thrown into the infirmary. Here he remained for five and a half months in strict confinement, not having the possibility to go out either to church or to the brethren. Finally, having been freed from bonds by God's mercy, the Saint secretly left the monastery, this time for the last time, and went away to his former desert. All the cells and habitations of the hermits had been destroyed; the Saint saw this and lamented, praying with tears: "O merciful Lord, O Master, Lover of mankind! If this be pleasing to Thee, may Thy will be done!"

For a long time the brethren of Solovki Monastery diligently sought St. Diodorus, but they could not find him, for the Lord covered His servant, For six months the Saint abode in the desert and unceasingly entreated the Lord and the Solovki Saints that he might find a more suitable and safe place for the life of silence. It seems that only one of the Solovki brethren knew the place of St. Diodorus' desert solitude-his own brother, who sometimes visited the hermit. Once he came to the cell of his brother; having received no answer to his prayerful greeting, he entered the cell and saw the Saint lying unconscious on the ground, greatly swollen. The Saint explained that he had been beaten by demons.

After this, St. Diodorus decided to leave in order to struggle in another place. He sailed across the sea in a boat, and coming out on the shore at the mouth of the river Onega, he gave thanks to the Lord, Who had helped him to row safely across the depths of the sea. From there he rowed south upstream, seeking a place in which to settle. And so he came to his native territory and passed his home town Turchasovo, which towered over the beautiful wide river. Round about was a vast, still deserted wilderness, ideally suited for desert-dwelling. He rowed further along the familiar banks, searching and praying. The Saint liked very much a certain deserted place on the river Kena just before one reaches Keno Lake, and he decided to settle there. Having prayed, he set up a Cross, felled trees for a cell, and gave himself over to his usual struggles, adding labor to labor, offering to the Lord the sweet-smelling incense of his prayers. But here also trials were in store for the zealous hermit. Near this place the peasants trapped animals. Upon encountering the Saint, they beat him mercilessly, burned his cell and boat, mocked him, dragged him by his feet, and left him barely alive, yelling at him: "Why have you settled here? Surely you wish now to establish a monastery? You are scheming to take away our land and our fishing rights. If you do not leave this place, we will kill you."

The Saint left, praying to the Lord for his offenders. Then, coming to the river Onega, he approached the bank and stood at prayer, as was his custom. It happened that at this very time the wealthy Moscow merchant, Nadeya Svetechnikov, arrived at this place in a carriage. On seeing the Elder, he bowed down to him and asked who he was and where he was from. "I am a wandering beggar," the Saint humbly answered. When the merchant questioned him persistently, St. Diodorus told him of his misfortunes. The merchant became angry at the peasants, felt sorry for the Saint, who had been injured unjustly, and said to him: "I shall inform the Tsar about all this, and he will take vengeance on your offenders." But the Elder did not desire this and entreated his defender: "No, my lord, do not do this; do not infor a the Tsar." The merchant promised to do the will of the meek Elder, but on arriving at the village of Keno Lake, he told the local magistrate about the settlers who had beaten the holy man and threatened to inform on them. The guilty men became frightened; they sought out the Saint and, falling down at his feet, begged him to return to his previous place, agreeing to build a cell for him and to comfort him in everything.

But St. Diodorus withdrew from them to Zabodly Lake and found there a desert place called George-hill, on Lake George. This place was exceptionally beautiful and seemed to the Saint to be suitable for anchoretic life. And the hermit rejoiced, gave thanks to the Lord, erected a Cross, built a cell, and gave himself over to his usual desert struggles, labor, and prayer.

For seven years St. Diodorus struggled here completely alone; and then a certain monk Prochorus came to him. He saw the Saint's labors, was amazed at his supernatural life, and remained to live with him. Many times the two hermits heard the ringing of bells at that place, and the laymen who came there also heard the ringing and told the holy Elder about it. The Saint glorified the Lord for this. And then once a resplendent man appeared to him and said: "It is pleasing to the Lord that at this place a temple be built in the name of the Life-giving Trinity, another in the name of the honorable and glorious Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos, and a third in the name of Sts. Zossimas and Sabbatius, the Wonderworkers of Solovki; brethren will gather here and the community will increase."

But the Saint was not thinking about making a monastery, and so he did not attach any special significance to this vision. When the vision was repeated, together with the heavenly command, St. Diodorus began to take counsel with Prochorus and said to his co-dweller: "I am perplexed as to how I can build a cenobitic monastery with three temples, when I do not have a single copper coin." When the Elder was thus wondering and was in perplexity about this, the following night the resplendent man appeared to him a third time and said: "Why do you wonder in your heart, and why are you perplexed? Are you worried that you have nothing? Understand that God's judgments are unsearchable, and that with God all things are possible. Now do not think about anything." Later this radiant man sent the Saint to Mos cow to see the cellarer of the Holy Trinity Lavra, commanding him to tell the latter all that had happened; he promised that the cellarer would build the monastery, and that other builders would be found as well. "And do not be disobedient," said the holy man who had appeared to the Saint, "and do not bring down upon yourself the wrath of God." Upon saying this, he became invisible. That very night the Saint decided to go to Moscow. He told Prochorus about his decision, asked him to remain until his return, and with prayer he set off on the long journey.

St. Diodorus came to the St.. Sergius-Holy Trinity Lavra and prayed before the relics of Sts. Sergius and Nikon, Wonderworkers of Radonezh; but he did not find the cellarer, Alexander Bultitnikov, in the Lavra, since at that time he was in Moscow. The Saint hastened to Moscow, prayed at its holy places, and found the cellarer Alexander. The cellarer told the pious mother of Tsar Michael Theodorovich, the nun Martha, about the hermit who had come from the northern coastal lands. She called the Saint, questioned him about his life in the desert, about the place of his struggles, about the visions of which he had been deemed worthy; and she gave him church vessels, icons, books, vestments, bells, and 200 rubles1 for the building of the churches and the monastery. Promising to donate more at a later time, she ordered the Elder to come to her and inform her about the various needs of his desert monastery. She commanded the Saint to build his monastery with diligence, and she told her son, the Tsar Michael himself, about the hermit. The Tsar gave him a charter. The cellarer Alexander also supplied the Saint with books, vestments, bells, and money. The merchant Nadeya Svetechnikov gave him books and two bells, and other lovers of Christ donated 300 rubles to the Saint. From Moscow St. Diodorus went to Great Novgorod, to Metropolitan Cyprian, the bishop of his diocese, in order to ask his permission to build a monastery. The cellarer Alexander gave the Saint a letter to the Metropolitan, requesting that the hierarch give his patronage to the hermit, Metropolitan Cyprian received the Saint very kindly, gave him an official document of permission, asked him all about his desert, and came to love the holy Elder. The Metropolitan likewise gave the antimension for the sanctification of the church, some money, various supplies for the return journey, a document which freed the monastery from taxes, and a priest who was to perform Divine services in the monastery. Letting the ascetic go, the Metropolitan promised him his protection and help for the future.

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1 This sum was quite large, equivalent to 4500 rubles in 1916, and at least several times that amount in present-day dollars – a vivid illustration of the great support given the desert-dwellers by the pious leading nobility.


St. Diodorus went joyously back to his beloved wilderness, reflecting all that had happened and being astonished at how it could be that, on having nothing before, he had received everything needful for the building of churches and of the whole monastery. And he rejoiced all the more, seeing with his own eyes his dear wilderness, his humble cell, and his codweller Prochorus, who was awaiting the return of the Saint.

Then St. Diodorus began to labor on the building of the monastery. First of all, he turned to the Lord in fervent prayer so that He might show him the place where the main church of the monastery should be built, and he was vouchsafed a vision. He saw coming down from the heavens a great Cross, which came to rest on the mountain. Around the Cross many ravens were flying, which then came down to the mountain and perched on trees, and he heard a voice saying, "May a church of the Most Holy Trinity be erected on this place, and as many birds as you see here, so many will be the monks who will come to you here and will glorify the name of God in this place."


The village on the river Kena neat which St. Diodorus intended to settle, until he was driven away by the local inhabitants.


NUN MARTHA ROMANOV Mother of Tsar Michael Feodorovich (†1645), first of the Romanov Dynasty



Nun Martha talks to her son, Tsar Michael, about St. Diodorus. (from Russian Pilgrim, 1913)


A TYPICAL MONASTIC ORATORY OF ONEGA REGION, still miraculously preserved today from the 17th century, constructed out of logs, appearing just as St. Diodorus would have seen it.


THE TOWN OF KARGOPOL
just as it must have looked in the time of St. Diodorus when he crossed the wide Onega river for the last time before his repose.


Kargopol's Main Cathedral, towering over the quiet Onega River in a landscape totally unchanged since the days of St. Diodorus.


The snowbound old Kargopol churches on the banks of the frozen river: a forlorn scene of Russia today.


The Saint informed Prochorus of his vision, and they glorified God, Then they hired carpenters and workers to fell trees for the church building. When the trees were ready, they undertook the building of a wooden church dedicated to the Life-giving Trinity. Previously on George-hill there had been a pagan cemetery. There sacrifices had been offered to the pagan gods, and thus the place was unclean. When they began to build the church, the mountain shook and cries could be heard from within it. The carpenters were frightened and wished to leave their work. Then the Saint performed a service of prayer on the mountain and sprinkled the place with holy water, and the demons fled into George Lake with noise and cries, and then disappeared into the forest. Having built a church dedicated to the Life-giving Trinity, the workmen undertook the building of the church of the Entry of the Mother of God, with a wing dedicated to the Wonderworkers of Solovki. They built cells and surrounded the monastery with a fence. The priest who had been brought by St. Diodorus from Novgorod performed Divine service in the main church. All this happened about the year 1626.

At first there were only three brethren in the newly-built monastery: St. Diodorus, his co-dweller Prochorus, and the priest who had come from Novgorod. But then, one by one, some laymen began to come, and they were tonsured into the monastic rank and labored in the desert monastery with humility and obedience. The Saint himself labored diligently and with love for the brethren, both in the bakery and in the kitchen. He washed the clothing of the brethren and took care of the brethren as a father does his children. He comforted the novices and taught them how to labor, to struggle, and to flee idle talking, by which the enemy often deceives monks.

Once, while standing at prayer, the Saint saw, as it were, a pillar of metal reaching from earth to heaven. From this pillar hooks were hanging, and upon them many monks were being raised up. They were raised up to the heavens, some by the hooks and some by the pillar, the heavens were opened, a great light shone upon those who had been raised, and then the heavens again were closed. Others were raised only half-way up the pillar and then fell to the earth, and so again began their ascent. The vision signified the difficulty and the height of monastic labor.

When many brethren had gathered in the monastery of the Life-giving Trinity, the lack of bread and other food was felt, and there was no place where the monastery could obtain them. The place was far away from the villages of the world, and in the summertime, by reason of the swamps surrounding them, there was not even a road. Only with great labor and out of extreme need did someone get through to the monastery. Famine began, and the brethren began to complain against St. Diodorus, saying: "He has senselessly wasted all his money on building; at one time he built three churches, made cells, and surrounded the monastery with a fence, and now we have nothing to eat. It would have been better at first to build one church, and the second one afterwards. We cannot bear hunger, and tomorrow morning we will all separate, each one going where he wishes."

The Elder consoled them and said, "Endure, O brethren: God will not abandon us, for He can feed us."

But the brethren did not cease to murmur. The Saint stood at prayer and entreated the Lord not to abandon those who hoped in Him. Then a radiant man appeared before him and said, "Do not be faint-hearted, but strengthen the brethren and remember how many souls the Lord fed in the desert. Do you really think He cannot feed you few? Labor and give thanks to God, and catch fish in the lake,"

This vision was repeated twice, but the Saint did not believe his visions and considered them a demonic attack. Having seen the radiant elder for the third time, he tested him, forcing him to read a prayer. The one who had appeared read "Meet It Is," and his face shone with an unearthly light. The Saint fell to the feet of this wondrous elder and asked him, "Who are you, my lord, and why do you have such concern over this place and the brethren, over us sinners? A sweet light illuminates my heart in your presence."

"I was tonsured in the monastery of St. Cyril and am abbot of the monastery of Oshevensk. My name is Alexander. Do not grieve, Diodorus; strengthen the brethren, place your hope in God, labor for Him with fear, and He will feed you."

Then the wonderworker1 reminded St. Diodorus of his own words which he had spoken in the previous vision, when he had prophesied the increase of the brethren in the monastery, and became invisible. St. Diodorus glorified God and His Saint, Alexander, and entreated the brethren to go to the lake and fish. The brethren went fishing and caught many fish, which they sold for sixty rubles and thus bought bread and everything necessary.

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1 St. Alexander of Oshevensk and Kargopol (+1479, April 20), founder of Oshevensk Monastery and Orthodox enlightener of the Kargopol region.


Another time, the Saint's fellow struggler, Prochorus, heard a voice from the icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, before which he was pray. ing, which said, "Do not grieve, but have love among yourselves and labor; God will not abandon you, but He will feed you in this place. Go to the lake and fish." And again the brethren caught many fish.

It happened a third time that the brethren of George-hill were hungry. The monks murmured against the Saint, but he, being meek in soul, consoled the brethren and called upon them to hope only in God, Who will not force them to endure beyond their strength, but will be merciful. The brethren were calmed; and going out beyond the monastery on obedience, at their work they saw a black fox lying on the ground, and they took it and sold it for eight rubles, with which they bought food.

Up to this time the monastery did not have its own land for tilling. nor its own grain, and therefore the brethren were often hungry. But now that the monastery had increased in size and the brethren had multiplied, the Saint and his fellow strugglers decided to make their own tilling land. They felled trees and ploughed the land.

But new and severe trials were being made ready for the Saint. At that time there was sent to the George-hill Monastery, by order of Patriarch Philaret of All Russia, a disgraced elder, a certain Theodosius. After living for a short time in the monastery, he devised evil against St. Diodorus and decided to kill him. Finding the most suitable time, the evil-doer called the ascetic into the forest and there strove to fulfill his intention. He knocked the Saint to the ground, beat him without mercy, and choked him. Then he dragged the unconscious ascetic under a fallen tree and covered him, thinking that he was dead. But the grace of God helped the Saint; he recovered consciousness and with great labor he came to his own cell. Seeing him, Theodosius became petrified from fear, and coming into the cell of the ascetic, he fell down at his feet and with tears begged his forgiveness, entreating him not to tell about what had happened. The meek ascetic forgave the criminal, not even becoming angry at him, and only remarked, "May God forgive you, my child, for this is not your doing, but the devil's." He promised Theodosius that he would hide his crime from everyone, and he began to love him more than before, But the evil-doer was not at all touched by the Saint's meekness and was not corrected at all.

A little time passed, and Theodosius began to arouse the novices against St. Diodorus, persuading them to leave the monastery. Once the brethren were felling trees, and Theodosius was with them. He carved with an axe in a tree the likeness of St. Diodorus' face, signed his name, and began to beat the image with a whip. Everyone laughed at this. Theodosius continued to arouse the novices, and deceived and persuaded seventeen of them to flee the monastery. Having taken counsel together, they robbed the monastery treasury, took as much of the monastery property as they could carry with them, and having grieved the Saint, they left. The holy Elder wat not made bitter by the deprivation of the monastery possessions; he even rejoiced at the departure of the unworthy brethren who were scandalizing other monks by their disobedience, Having hope in God alone, he gave thanks to Him for all sorrows. St. Diodorus received many offences also from other senseless men, and always he endured without murmuring, praying for those who offended him, instructing them on the way to salvation, and bringing them into love by secret accusations and exhortations. Often he went off by himself, away from the brethren, and lived in silence, praying to the Lord day and night.

Once the Saint was travelling to Great Novgorod to collect alms for the monastery, and on the return journey he stopped in the village of Amdoma, near Lake Onega, with a certain Christ-lover, John, who had a young daughter who, before this, had been promised in marriage. Conversing with the Saint, John said, "Holy Father, I wish to give my daughter in marriage."

Having been silent a little, the Saint remarked, "Slave of God, wait a little, and then act in the way that is pleasing to God." The next day the Saint left for his monastery, and forty days after this the daughter of John died a virgin.

THEN THE BLESSED REPOSE of the Saint of God drew rear. The Saint had to travel on monastery business to the city of Kargopol. Before his departure he called the Hieromonk Joasaph and the Elder Prochorus, who first lived with him, and entrusted to them the governance of the monastery, exhorting them to keep the monastery with great care and without weakening. To Prochorus he revealed his impending death. "We will no longer see each other," said the Saint to his fellow desert-dweller. "If it is pleasing to the Lord, we will meet in the future life."

Soon after coming to Kargopol, St. Diodorus became ill, and after receiving Communion of the Holy Mysteries, he departed in peace to the Lori on the 27th day of November, 1633. His body was buried at the parish church of the priest who had given him the Holy Mysteries before his death.

Not for long, however, was the labor-loving body of the ascetic to lie far from his monastery. Two months after the Saint's repose, Prochorus came to Kargopol and took with him the incorrupt body of his Elder. Having brought it to the George-hill Monastery, Prochorus buried it near the church of the Life-giving Trinity, on the southern side.

St. Diodorus left his monastery a written testament through the same priest of Kargopol mentioned above. The Saint commanded the brethren and strongly exhorted them: "Let there be not even a rumor of the keeping of intoxicating beverages in the monastery among the brethren; but be joyful and sober in the spiritual life. And if anyone, being possessed by fearlessness and disdaining this commandment and written testament, shall begin to bring wine to the monastery and to give himself over to drunkenness, I will bring judgment against him before the terrible and unbypocritical Judge, our Lord Jesus Christ."

The Lord glorified St. Diodorus by gifts of His grace, by clairvoyance and miracles. The following miracle occurred after the repose of St. Diodorus, in the year 1656. The youth Andrew, who lived in the George-hill Monastery, was incontinent in food and drink and was committing a sexual sin. Not desiring the death of a sinner, the Lord punished Andrew with blindness. He sought help from men, but he found none. Then he came to the grave of St. Diodorus, fervently prayed for healing, wiped his blind eyes with the cover from the grave and with the Saint's cowl, and immediately he recovered his sight, But soon Andrew forgot the mercy of God's Saint and gave himself over in thought to his previous sin. Then the Saint ap. peared to him in sleep, forbidding him and saying, "Do not sin, do not sin, lest your previous affliction return to you." Andrew remembered the warn ing of the Saint for only a short time; and then again he gave himself over to his sin. There came upon him then an illness, and he suffered from it until he repented before the Superior and corrected his manner of life.

Once there arose in Andrew the desire to leave the monastery. But St. Diodorus again appeared to him in sleep and said, "Endure in this place and it will be well with you." Andrew remembered the mercy which had been shown to him by the Saint of God, and he feared to leave the monastery, but with joy he promised to endure in it as long as would be plessing to the Lord; and indeed, later he received the monastic tonsure there.

THE RELICS of St. Diodorus remained in the ground with a reliquary over them in the church of the Life-giving Trinity, which had two side altars, one dedicated to the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos, and the other to his beloved Sts. Sabbatius and Zossimas, founders of Solovki Monastery. There is no record of the Saint's ever having been officially canonized, and it is most likely that his name was entered into the Orthodox Calendar on the basis of his local veneration, as has indeed been the case with most other Orthodox Saints. During the period of monastic persecution, in 1764, the monastery was closed and turned into a parish church, and during the new flowering of Russian monasticism in the 19th century it seems not to have been revived as a monastic settlement. There is no mention at all of its present existence under the soulless Communist rule.

The memory of St. Diodorus is as fragrant today as ever for those who still thirst for true Orthodox spiritual life. Out of love for God's Saints who dwell in the desert, he himself became one of them and bequeathed to us as his testament the fiery freedom of the monastic spirit-achieved through self-renunciation-and the unquenchab'e thirst for communion with God, which is given to those who hate the world, take up their Cross, and follow Christ our Saviour. Amen.