Paul of Obnora

THE LIFE OF Saint Paul of Obnora
IN THE KOMEL FORESTS OF VOLOGDA

Commemorated January 10

In a time of the almost universal dominance of the spirit of secularism, a mere reminder of the reality of the other-worldliness of Holy Orthodoxy can orient one toward authentic spiritual life. To those Orthodox Christians whose souls long for silence and sobriety this Life1 is dedicated as a source of fruitful inspiration.

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1 Condensed from the Historical Account of the Lives of Vologda Saints, Vologda, 1880.


SAINT PAUL OF OBNORA

TROPARION, TONE 1

BEING INFLAMED from thy youth with divine love, O Saint Paul,+ and having come to hate all the attractions of the world,+ Christ alone didst thou come to love.+ For this reason thou didst settle in the inner wilderness+ to live with wild beasts, entirely for Christ.+ Wherefore, the All-seeing Eye having beheld thy labors+ did enrich thee even after thy repose with the gift of miracles.+ And so we sing to thee:+ pray unceasingly for us all+ who ever revere in hymns thine honorable memory.


BORN IN A PIOUS noble family of Moscow in 1317, St. Paul even from childhood showed leanings toward the contemplative life of a true Orthodox Christian. He avoided noisy children's games and sweet foods, he fasted, gave to the poor everything he had, even the clothes on his back, attended eagerly every church service, and spent whole nights in prayer. When at the age of 22 his parents decided to marry him off, he secretly left his home and entered a distant monastery on the banks of the Volga river, where he received the monastic tonsure, surpassing everyone in ascetic fervor. When the good news of the great St. Sergius of Radonezh reached the shores of the Volga, St. Paul felt that his prayer had been answered in obtaining an experienced instructor; and he left his monastery for the Lavra of the Holy Trinity.

St. Sergius received him with love, and seeing that he was full of the fear of God, he made him his disciple. He entrusted him with various obediences: in the kitchen, in the bread-bakery. St. Paul gave up his own will to the God-bearing Abbot and in time acquired the gift of heartfelt feeling and abundance of tears. After several years St. Sergius blessed him to withdraw to a separate recluse's cell, where he spent fifteen years in silence. In this time the study of the Word of God so filled his soul that it began to flow out in a gift of teaching, and the brethren, once having discovered this, began to flock to him for edification which only evoked in him a greater desire for silence. He began to beg St. Sergius to bless him for a life of desertdwelling. Knowing the spiritual maturity of his disciple, St. Sergius blessed him, and bidding farewell with a prayer, he gave him an invincible weapon – a holy Cross. This copper Cross was to accompany the Saint his whole life long, and for centuries afterwards it was preserved on the reliquary over the Saint's holy relics.


ST. PAUL OF OBNORA WONDERWORKER OF VOLOGDA

Fragments remaining after the fire of 1909, showing the bas-relief likeness of the face and hand of St. Paul, copied from the original portrait-icon of the Saint.


Holy Trinity Cathedral (back view) in the St. Paul of Obnora Monastery, Vologda region, as photographed at the turn of the century


Having left the Lavra, the Saint went north deep into the forests be-yond the Volga and wandered for a while from place to place, visiting some of the monastic communities scattered throughout the Thebaid of the North. But the heart of the lover of desert-dwelling still thirsted for absolute silence (hesychia), until finally he settled in a spot in the Komel forests overlooking the little river Griazovitsa, and chose for his abode the hollow of an old linden tree. Here the wondrous Paul spent three years, glorifying God together with the birds, for they alone seconded the hermit's singing in the desolate wilds where no man had yet penetrated. Here he could ceaselessly pray to God. Who can tell of the hardships he endured? Living on grass and roots and enduring all changes of weather, in silence he purified his mind by means of spiritual combat and divine vision.

But it was pleasing to God that St. Paul would serve for the salvation of others, instructing them by word and his ascetic life. And so, instructed by God, the Saint left his linden tree and went farther to the river Nurma, where the Obnora joins it, where he found a spot to his liking, built for himself a little hut no larger than his abandoned linden hollow, and settled therein to spend his days and nights in vigil and prayer. For five days of the week he would remain without food or drink altogether, and only on Saturday and Sunday would he have some bread and water.

Meanwhile, three miles from St. Paul's hermitage on the same wild banks of the Nurma, another anchorite was laboring: St. Sergius of Nurma, who had received the monastic tonsure on Mt. Athos. He had come from the East to the region of Moscow to seek enlightenment from the lamp of Radonezh. Having matured in spiritual life, the Athonite Sergius, with the blessing of the Russian Sergius, came to settle in this wilderness when the anchorite Paul was still living in his linden hollow, as a sparrow that hath found her a home, and the swallow a nest for herself (Ps. 83:4). Twice thieves fell upon Sergius: the first time they beat him almost to death, but the second time they were chased away by the power of his prayer. When as many as forty ascetics had gathered around Sergius, he built a wooden church in honor of the Lord's Transfiguration and established a c;nobitic monastery.

Having heard of the ascetic labors of Paul, Sergius went to him and saw in the forest how a flock of birds surrounded the wondrous anchorite; little birds perched on the elder's head and shoulders, and he fed them by hand. Nearby stood a bear, awaiting his food from the desert-dweller; foxes, rabbits and other beasts ran about, without any enmity among themselves and not fearing the bear. Behold the life of innocent Adam in Eden, the lordship of man over creation, which together with us groans because of our fall and thirsts to be delivered into the liberty of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:21-22).

With spiritual joy the two great ascetics became acquainted with each other; they practiced mutual counsel in all their spiritual undertakings and often visited each other, strengthening each other in advanced ascetic labors. Paul chose Sergius as his spiritual father, the latter having been ordained to the rank of presbyter while still on the Holy Mountain of Athos, and often Paul would receive communion from his holy hands of the Body and Blood of Christ in Sergius' monastery, confessing to him all his thoughts. But Sergius as well did not hide from Paul what was in his heart; for they were both close servants of the One God, and they helped each other in the tribulations of the wilderness.

It once happened that St. Paul left his cell and went about the wilderness; and when he returned he saw his cell razed to its foundation. Human fear suddenly overcame him and he ran to St. Sergius to tell him of his sorrow. But St. Sergius, more experienced in the spiritual work, realized that this had only been a demonic apparition, and he told St. Paul in the words of the psalm: "God is our refuge and strength (Ps. 45:2); go, my brother Paul, and you will find that your cell is not destroyed." The hermit believed his spiritual father and, returning, he indeed found his cell unharmed.

Whenever St. Sergius would visit his spiritual son, St. Paul, filled with deep reverence toward him, would accompany him for two-thirds of the distance to his monastery, and this place of parting was marked right up to the 20th century by a chapel, a witness of their mutual love.

When gradually the news spread of where St. Paul was living, people began to come to him: some just to look at the great ascetic and receive his blessing; others, who were troubled, for consolation; and yet others sought his spiritual instruction, begging him to allow them to settle near him and have him as their abbot, leading them to salvation. But the Saint, who all his life had sought silence and fled from people, refused. However, their insistent pleas caused him to wait for some indication of God's will, lest they perish and he be responsible for it. This indication was not long in coming.

One night while standing at prayer in his cell, St. Paul suddenly heard the ringing of bells in the forest thickets beyond the river Nurma. The same thing happened another time, and then it was repeated more and more often; and to the Elder's no little amazement, on week days days there would be heard an ordinary ringing of smaller bells, while on feast days a louder pealing – and the greater the feast day, according to the Church typicon, the more triumphant was the ringing.

For a long time the Elder paid no attention to the ringing of the invisible bells, considering it a deceptive apparition and a trick of the devil; and he told no one about it. However, one circumstance convinced him that the opposite was true. The feast of Pascha came, and St. Paul began an allnight vigil the evening before, pouring out his soul before God in the most fervent and tearful prayer – when suddenly, just at midnight, he heard a triumphant ringing. An involuntary curiosity took hold of the Elder. He prayed and then opened the window of his cell and, looking downhill toward the Nurma, he saw an extraordinary light shining beyond the river in the forest on the very place where later was to stand the monastery church of the Holy Trinity. St. Paul felt peace and an inexpressible joy in his heart, and the whole night he spent in glorifying God and His Most Pure Mother. From the spiritual joy, peace, and calmness of his heart he concluded that what he had heard and seen was not a deceptive apparition and that on that place the Lord was pleased to glorify His holy name. When the Elder related his vision to the brethren who lived with him nearby, they all unanimously confirmed his opinion and begged him to undertake the building of a church and monastery; and the Saint himself saw that after such visions to hesitate to fulfill the will of God, which had been so clearly expressed, would be unforgiveable, and he resolved to seek counsel about this from his spiritual father, St. Sergius. St. Sergius advised St. Paul to build a monastery on the place indicated to him in the vision. The Elders then parted in this temporal life in order to meet again in eternal life: Sergius began to prepare for his departure to the heavenly mansions, and Paul went to Moscow to receive a blessing for the foundation of a monastery and the building of a church in the name of the Holy Trinity.


An old forest church of Russia's Northern Thebaid (One of the typical wooden structures that has survived)


When St. Paul arrived in Moscow, Metropolitan Photius paid no attention to his request and even received him quite harshly. When the Saint was about to leave, he said: "Not as you say will all come to pass, but as it is pleasing to the Holy Trinity." The same night the hierarch saw a frightening vision and heard a voice accusing him for offending a man of God and telling him to do as the Elder wishes. Seized with fear, the bishop sent many people in the morning to seek out the Elder, who was found in one of the monasteries. His request was fulfilled by the Metropolitan, and he returned to build a church and found near it a c;nobitic monastery with a typicon according to the ancient Holy Fathers, Sts. Pachomius the Great and Theodosius the C;nobiarch. St. Paul saw to it that everything was possessed in common; he demanded complete silence from the monks, whether in church or at meals or in the workshops, and he taught them to love the poor. His disciple Alexis was ordained priest and made abbot, while he himself, refusing to be abbot or to accept the priesthood, retreated into his former cell on the slope of the hill, coming out only for Divine services. And thus the sign given by the invisible bells was fulfilled.

For some time before his blessed repose at the age of 112, St. Paul began to spend even more time in silence and solitude. On the day of the Theophany, when the brethren came to him before the Liturgy, he suddenly sighed deeply and wept. At the entreaty of the brethren the Elder disclosed the reason for his tears: "At this very hour the godless Tatars have taken the city of Kostroma, given it over to fire and the sword, and led many away captive because of the increase of our sins; for we have left the path of righteousness and walk in the will of our hearts and fleshly wisdom." And indeed, on this very day Kostroma was laid waste by the Tatars, who later also laid waste the Elder's own monastery, but only after his repose.

Several days after this, blessed Paul became completely feeble, and sensing the approach of death, he summoned all the brethren. With prayer he gave them as his testament to keep the tradition of the Fathers and the c;nobitic rule. The good order of the monastery he entrusted to his disciple Alexis, and he promised that if the brethren were to keep his commandments by a God-pleasing life, and if he himself obtained grace with God, then he would pray that the monastery would flourish. "Have unfeigned love among yourselves, keep the tradition, and may the God of peace be with you and confirm you in love." These were his farewell words. In the very hour of his departure he desired once more to receive the Divine Gifts; then having blessed the brethren, he stretched out on his bed, signed himself with the sign of the Cross, and in quiet prayer gave up his holy soul to God. His face was bright. To funeral hymns the brethren carried his body across the waters of the wild Nurma and buried it near the church of the Life-giving Trinity, on the tenth day of January, 1429, in the 40th year of the existence of his monastery.

Soon after the Saint's repose many miracles took place, and they continued right up to the destruction of the monastery by the godless hordes of Communism. Since then his earthly testament has been covered with silence; but in heaven he remains an intercessor for the sinful race of Christians.