Orthodox Saints and Ascetics 3

Saints and ascetics who shone forth in Georgia

Introduction

   Iberia (modern-day Georgia) is the Mother of God's primary domain. The Most Holy Theotokos selected four places on Earth which are under Her special protection: Iberia, Mount Athos, the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, and the Diveyevo Convent.
   According to tradition, after the Lord's Ascension, the apostles cast lots in the Upper Room to determine which country would be chosen for them to preach the Gospel. The Mother of God said that She, too, desired the country that God Himself would grant Her. The lot fell on Iberia (the ancient name of eastern Georgia). (Later, it became known as Georgia (Georgia) in honor of St. George the Victorious.) The Mother of God joyfully accepted her lot and was ready to depart for Iberia to preach the word of God there, but an Angel of God told her that this land would be enlightened later, and that the Lord Himself would reveal His will to her. And so it happened—the Lord miraculously revealed His will to her: "O My Mother, I will not reject Your lot, nor will I leave Your people without a share in heavenly blessings through Your intercession. But send in Your place instead the first-called Andrew to Your inheritance." Then the Most Holy Theotokos summoned the Apostle Andrew to Her and announced to him the will of God. Soon after, Saint Andrew set out to preach the word of God in Iberia. The final establishment of Christianity in this land occurred at the beginning of the fourth century by St. Nina, Equal-to-the-Apostles.
   In the twentieth century, unbearable sorrows and deadly temptations befell many ascetics of those times in countries engulfed by the wave of socialism.
   Ascetics found solace in prayer, and faith in God's wise Providence and great humility helped them endure sorrows and unbearable pain. After great suffering, these ascetics found consolation. God's grace helped martyrs for the faith endure pain. The Lord gave confidence and courage to those who were ready to suffer for the faith of Christ, while those who lacked sufficient faith to bear their cross to the end later reproached themselves for their lack of faith for the rest of their lives.
   A warrior of Christ who openly professed the Christian faith during persecution and was persecuted, but did not suffer a martyr's death, is glorified by the Orthodox Church as a confessor. Saint Gabriel (Urgebadze) was such a fearless warrior. He endured many temptations with great dignity, and therefore was granted God's grace, commensurate with the magnitude of these temptations.
   The grace of God that rested upon him in the final years of his life was so great that it could not be hidden under the tattered garb of foolishness; his veneration grew year by year. The Lord exalted His chosen one with countless miracles that occurred during the elder's life and after his blessed death, so that the children and grandchildren of those who persecuted him would glorify him, learn love, and strive to live according to God's commandments, to which the Elder called everyone.
   Father Gabriel firmly believed that his beloved Orthodox Iberia, the home of the Mother of God, where St. Andrew the Apostle preached, and which was brought to the Christian faith by St. Nina , Equal-to-the-Apostles, at the behest of the Mother of God, and for whose prosperity the great and pious Queen Tamara , for whom the blood of a host of martyrs was shed, would surely rise again. The veil of unbelief would fall, the grace of the Holy Spirit would sanctify the minds and hearts of the people, and they would repent, come to faith, and learn forgiveness and love.




The Holy Confessor Gabriel (Urgebadze)

   Archimandrite Gabriel (1929-1995) (in the world Goderdzi Urgebadze) was born in Tbilisi on August 26, 1929 into the family of a staunch communist. He went to the temple for the first time in childhood thanks to neighbors who quarreled with each other. He heard one of them say: "You crucified me like Christ." This curious boy asked the neighbors what the word "crucify" meant, and who Christ was. The women advised him to go to the nearest church. When he got to the church, the church watchman, after listening to the child, advised him to read the Gospel. Having saved up the necessary amount of money, Goderdzi bought the Gospel, and within a few years he was freely quoting the holy book. Later, a desire was born in his soul to devote his life to the service of God. His mother, at an advanced age, was also tonsured a monastic, and received the name Anna  at her tonsure.
   Goderdzi was tonsured a monk at the age of 26, and during his tonsure he was named after St. Gabriel , who walked on the water and brought to the Athos coast the icon of the Mother of God "Iverskaya" that sailed by sea. Father Gabriel especially revered the miraculous Iverskaya list, kept in the Samtavro monastery. (By God's providence, he had to save many icons from destruction, among them the Icon of the Mother of God "Iverskaya".) According to the stories of the sisters of this future ascetic, he already was a real ascetic from a young age. He built a small cell next to the house, dug a hole in the corner and slept on the cold earthen floor even in winter. (The pillow and blanket, which his mother tried to put in his cell unnoticed during his absence, were always carried out of the cell into the courtyard, making it clear that he did not need extra conveniences.)
   Later, the ascetic undertook the construction of a temple in the courtyard of his house on Tbilisi's Tetritskaroyskaya Street. By the end of 1962, this house church  was built. Father Gabriel found icons for the church in urban landfills, where many shrines were thrown during the years of atheism's prosperity. He spent days raking through the trash, hoping to find icons, and was incredibly happy when he found the shrines. He reverently brought them home, cleaned them. He even cut out images of icons from magazines he found, put them in frames, and found a place for each one of them on the walls of the temple. The walls of his church were completely covered with icons of various sizes.
   Father Gabriel said: "There is no greater heroism than monasticism." During the years of lack of faith, he fearlessly preached, calling for faith in God and repentance. He considered it idolatrous to praise Lenin. And on May 1, 1965, during a demonstration, Hieromonk Gabriel set fire to a 12-meter portrait of Lenin and began to urge the gathered people to praise Christ, not an idol. Soon he was captured, severely beaten, and put in a Georgian KGB detention center. At that time, Hieromonk Gabriel was threatened with execution for such an act (such an order came from Moscow). During the interrogations, Father Gabriel was brutally tortured, asking about the true motives of the "Crime". They were not satisfied with the hieromonk's explanations that he had to resort to such an act in order to save people from delusion, explaining that one should not idolize a person: "There, in place of Lenin's portrait, there should be a picture of the Crucifixion of Christ. A man doesn't need fame. It should be written: "Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ." In the end, the authorities decided that he was insane .
   In August 1965, Elder Gabriel was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for examination, and later released. Through the prayers of the Mother of God, the Lord spared the life of His chosen one. According to the testimony of the ascetic's sister, he was declared insane, was prescribed medicine, and was given a small pension. The greatest punishment for the ascetic was that, in order to please the authorities, the hierarchs did not allow him to serve the Divine Liturgy, and he could not even enter the church. He did not have the opportunity to receive Communion. According to his relatives, he could go without food for several days and not sleep for a long time, but he suffered greatly when he did not have the opportunity to become a partaker of the Body and Blood of the Lord. His sisters said that, during this time, he went to distant villages and restored abandoned temples. In the 1990s, the situation changed, with the blessing of Patriarch of All Georgia, Ilia II, and the bans on Archimandrite Gabriel were lifted.
   The blessed elder settled in the Mtskheta convent of Samtavro in the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina. The nuns said that at first they were surprised by the Father's eccentricities, until finally they saw in them a special feat of Foolishness for Christ's sake. At first, it seemed strange to them that he lived in a cold room, where there used to be a chicken coop; he went barefoot in winter. Then the nuns realized that, by the grace of God, they had been sent a real ascetic. They said that he had acquired the gift of Love, and with this Love he managed to warm everyone around him.
   When he was joking, he often grumbled at them, but tender love shone in his eyes. The nuns understood that, in this way, he was teaching them humility.
   Abbess Theodora said that when she was still a nun, Elder Gabriel took her with him to Tbilisi to beg, which he then distributed to the poor. If they were returning by taxi, he might not pay for the fare, or pay many times more than was required. For his great humility and love for his neighbors, the elder received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: perspicacity, miracles, and the gift of persuasion. According to his contemporaries, when he preached, his eyes shone, and his words had an extraordinary effect on listeners. Much was revealed to him in the destinies of these people; he foresaw the coming collapse of the Soviet country and the tragic events that would enfold in Georgia.
  Eyewitnesses said that he would interrupt the liturgy by crying and demanding everyone to kneel: to repent and to pray. The faithful listened to his exhortations, prayed on their knees for salvation, and repented. One day, a question was asked by a nun: "Why is he acting like a fool?" He replied, "When everyone laughs at me, I see what a jerk I am." When he was told that every ascetic has his own cross, and was asked, "What kind of cross does he carry?" He replied: "My cross is the whole of Georgia and half of Russia." The sisters learned about what a strong prayer rule he kept during Holy Week, and throughout the week they could hear constant crying from his cell. Some saw him rise 40 to 50 centimeters above the ground during prayer, and light emanated from him. Believers revered Father Gabriel as an elder, and often came to him for spiritual advice. Here are mentioned some testimonies about the elder's foresight.
   Otar Nikolaishvili was a spiritual child of the elder and often spent time in his cell. One day, Father Gabriel suddenly told him that he had to go to the monastery of St. Anthony of Martkopi immediately. Otar tried to object, as his car was malfunctioning. He explained that the car would not be able to enter the mountain. But the blessed elder insisted on his way, and with God's help they set off on their journey. When they reached the mountain road, the car "coughed and sneezed," the driver began to get upset, expecting from minute to minute that the engine would stall. But the elder cheered him up with the words: "Son, don't worry, the Monk Anthony Martkopsky himself is riding with us in the back seat, but don't turn around." Suddenly, the car moved forward at such a speed that the driver had to slow down. When they entered the monastery gates, the car immediately stalled. At the same time, armed and aggressive people broke into the monastery and began threatening the monks. The elder immediately stepped forward and said, "Shoot me." This sobered up the bandits – they lowered their guns down and soon left the monastery.
   Blessed Elder Gabriel departed to the Lord on November 2, 1995. According to the elder's will, his body was wrapped in a mat and buried. Miracles of healing soon began to take place at his grave.

Here are some statements about Elder Gabriel from the website  entitled Saint Gabriel Confessor of Christ:

  Metropolitan Daniel: "I became close to Father Gabriel when I served at the Samtavro monastery. Father Gabriel was a true ascetic, possessed amazing spiritual gifts and great love. He is revered not only by the Georgian people, but also by the entire Orthodox world." Metropolitan Sergius: "The miracles that occurred after the death of Elder Gabriel further convince us that he is a holy man" Archbishop Thaddeus: “Father Gabriel was a God-given miracle of our terrible, harsh, burdened and loveless world. He kindly reminds us of his guardian angel Gabriel and Gabriel of Svyatogorets. Father Gabriel, who was born a wise man, sometimes showed himself to us as a fool for Christ's sake."
   Hieromonk Lazarus: "Father Gabriel was a great saint and a visionary. He was a living gospel to me." Abbess Mother Theodora, Bodbe Monastery: "Father Gabriel is a great saint. He was a manifestation of great love. I consider it necessary and I will be very happy if he is canonized..."     On December 20, 2012, the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church canonized the ascetic, and decreed that he be revered as a reverend confessor and a fool, and approved the memorial day on the day of his death - October 20 (November 2, 2012). On February 22, 2014, by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the relics of St. Gabriel, Confessor and Holy Fool, were solemnly found and transferred to the Holy Transfiguration Church of the Mtskheta Monastery of Samtavro. On December 25, 2014, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church included him in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. His Memorial Day is November 2.

The Teachings of Elder Gabriel (recorded by believers who turned to him for spiritual advice):

   God is infinite love. The seas will dry up, the mountains will collapse, but the glory of Christ will not be exhausted. Death is a transformation. Don't be afraid of death - you're afraid of God's Judgment... whoever gave you your soul belongs to Him. Strive tirelessly for God. Seeing your aspiration, God will give you everything you need. It is not the Lord who leaves man, but man who leaves God. Hell is separation from the Lord. A righteous man does not fear God.
   Whoever loves kindness and justice loves God, and God will love him like His own son. Only with a heart full of love can you condemn the sins of another person. Whoever learns to love will be happy. Just don't think that love is an innate talent. Love can be learned, and we must do it.
Without sacrifice for the sake of the Lord and neighbor, nothing in the spiritual life will work. You can't learn to love without sacrifice.
   God does not accept empty words. God loves busyness. Good deeds are love. Live in such a way that not only God loves you, but also people - there is nothing else... God requires a heart from us, but without good deeds you cannot give your heart to God.
Help a poor person – this will be your sacrifice to God. Everyone should wish for the best, but doing good requires wisdom. When you do good, you rise one step, and when you sin, you fall. Our whole life is such a movement.
   If you don't know your neighbor's spiritual state, don't give advice. Your advice could ruin him. All dangers will pass by the humble and will not touch him. No one can enter the Kingdom of heaven without humility.
   Don't judge, the judge is God Himself...If you see a murderer, or a harlot, or a drunkard lying on the ground, do not condemn anyone, because God has released their reason, and He holds your reason in His hands. If yours lets go too, you will find yourself in a worse position: you may fall into the sin in which you condemn the other, and perish.
 First God heals, and then the doctor, but whoever does not thank the doctor does not thank God. A hard worker deserves a reward. The mind and hands of a doctor do godly things.
   For God, it doesn't matter who you are: a monk or a layman. The main thing is the desire for God. But can anyone achieve perfection? However, by striving, a person is saved. A monk will be asked for monastic things, and a layman will be asked for mundane things. Hate evil. Love and pity a person who does evil. Maybe the one who does evil today will be cleansed tomorrow by prayer, tears, fasting and repentance and become like an angel; everything is in God's will. There have been many such cases. The followers of the Antichrist will walk around naked. Christians will be decently dressed. According to church canons, a woman should not wear men's clothing.     A person's spiritual state can be seen by their clothes. The Lord shows someone else's trouble to soften our hearts. In recent times, do not look at the sky: you may be tempted by the miracles that will happen there, and you will make a mistake and perish. If you steal, you're violating one of the Ten commandments. Whoever does this will accept the Antichrist. A believer will put his trust in God. And in the last days, the Lord will create such miracles for his people that one leaf from a tree will last for a whole month. And the earth will not decrease; make the sign of the cross, and it will give you bread. Do not be afraid, the main thing is not to accept the seal of the Antichrist on your right hand and forehead. Do not eat the bread of a person who has accepted the seal of the Antichrist.
   In recent times, supporters of the Antichrist will go to church, be baptized, and preach the gospel commandments. But don't trust those who don't have good deeds. It is only by deeds that one can recognize a true Christian. True faith finds its place in the heart, not in the mind. The Antichrist will be followed by the one who has faith in his mind, and the one who has faith in his heart will recognize him.

A prayer of the Elder Gabriel

   Lord, I pray You, listen to us from Heaven, turn Thy face to us. Have mercy upon us, and let us go in peace so that we may walk in Your way, keep Your commandments, and renounce evil. Lord, teach us to pray in front of Thee and to keep Thy Holy Law. Let our heart be devoted to Thee and let us walk with Thy Holy Law. Amen!

Healings and Miracles of Saint Gabriel

   Through the ascetic's prayers, the mute began to speak, many people quit smoking, and recovered from alcohol and drug addictions. Through his prayers, the Lord granted life to those whom medicine was unable to help, and whom doctors predicted would soon die. Miracles performed through the prayers of St. Gabriel were revealed by the Lord to strengthen the faith of the suffering and glorify the saint of God himself.
   Many came to the ascetic to share their sorrows, seek spiritual advice and prayers; they left calmed and joyful. Soon, through the ascetic's prayers, the lives of those who were suffering improved. When someone who had been healed through the elder's prayers came to thank him, he replied: "The Lord helps everyone, and He works miracles." More than 30 years have passed since the death of the great Elder Gabriel, but miracles, through his prayerful intercession before the Lord, continue.
   Our contemporaries report that, appearing to them in dreams, the elder taught them that anointing themselves with oil was not enough, but that they needed to repent and pray, and much in their lives changed. Those who previously only occasionally visited church to light a candle began to read morning and evening prayers, fast, confess, and receive communion; they learned to live according to God's commandments, forgive, and love their neighbors.
   From the memoirs  of Nun Paraskeva: "One day, entering the elder's cell, I saw Elder Gabriel praying, standing in the air, about a cubit high. Then the elder said to me with tears: 'I had nothing to do with this; it was the Lord who showed His mercy.'"
   The elder's spiritual daughter, Tamara Bochoradze, once noticed that the elder's face was shining during the Liturgy. Here is an excerpt from Tamara Bochoradze's memoirs: "...During the service, the elder stood next to me. The Liturgy was celebrated by the Patriarch. He stood before the ambo with his hands raised. Suddenly, I saw the space around Father Gabriel illuminated by a wondrous light. I looked alternately at this light and then at Father Gabriel. Soon everything disappeared…”
   Father Georgiy Gorgodze witnessed how, through the prayers of Elder Gabriel, the amount of food on the elder’s table did not diminish.
   Excerpt from Father Georgiy Gorgodze's memoirs: “…Elder Gabriel offered us a modest Lenten meal. On a small, low table, in a deep bowl, he placed delicious beans… He preached to us about love for God and neighbor, about virtues. What was astonishing was that after several hours spent at the table, the amount of food on the table did not diminish. When Father Gabriel saw us surprised, he said with a smile: “The Lord allowed this for the sake of love.”
   “My brother was diagnosed with brain cancer 3 years ago. Metastases were spread all over the brain. He suffered from mental disability and soon he became blind. We decided to visit the grave of monk Gabriel and used the oil from the lampada for about two weeks. During the surgery doctors found that metastases disappeared miraculously. Before the surgery, the surgeons were absolutely skeptical about having any success and considered the case as hopeless. Moreover, we were asked to provide the written consent for surgery. We used only the oil from lampada which burns constantly at the grave of monk Gabriel during those weeks. Now my brother is healthy and is doing well.” Gulnara Agniashvili (Tbilisi)
“My son was suffering from cerebral palsy for 19 years. He never used his hands to drink even a glass of water in his life. He was unable to stand independently and walked only with the help of two assistants. The situation changed when we started to use the oil from the lampada which burns at the grave of Father Gabriel. Now my son is able to stand up from his wheelchair and walk independently. His health condition is gradually improving.” Eka Niauri (Rustavi)
   “I was gravely ill; I suffered from cirrhosis (liver disease). I was brought from the hospital directly to the grave of Father Gabriel on a stretcher and put on the grave. I stood up by myself and took a seat nearby. I felt cold and asked for some food and water. My health improved gradually after that day and now I’m doing well.” Ramaz Kobakhidze (Kutaisi)
“During my pregnancy the doctors found a 4.4 cm (1.7 in) hydrocephalus in the fetus’s head. Doctors strongly advised me to have an abortion, as the fetus suffered a severe disorder and according to medical experience there was no way to give birth to a normal baby. I was filled with faith and I began using the oil of Father Gabriel by making the sigh of the cross on my belly daily. Now Luke is 3 years old and his condition is gradually improving by the help of Father Gabriel. Glory to God!” Nadashvili (Tbilisi)

The Miraculous Healing of a Sick Man Through the Prayers of a Believing Son

   An eyewitness to this miracle, Irakli Gogoladze, recounted this miraculous healing; his testimony was included in the book "A Heart Full of Love" (2). We present Irakli's memoirs, slightly abridged: "Elder Gabriel had not yet been canonized when I first learned of him. Our first 'meeting' was when I, a 7th-grade student, visited the Samtavro Monastery with my friends. I was...stunned by everything I saw at the grave. And first of all, the incredible number of people who came and bowed at the grave. Completely unconsciously, I also approached the grave... Bowing, I felt immense grace, and my heart filled with love. Feeling inner joy, I wanted to shout out loudly: 'I love you  all!'"
   Nun Paraskeva gave us oil from the lampada at the grave of Elder Gabriel and she explained how to anoint myself with it. I felt as if I had acquired invincible strength…
   Several months passed, and disaster struck our home. My father fell ill with psoriasis... After some time, he was admitted to a Tbilisi hospital...One night, my father had a heart attack and was barely brought back to life. Then I remembered the elder at whose grave miraculous healings had occurred. I ran home, took some lamp oil from the grave of Elder Gabriel, and came to the hospital. The doctors hadn't allowed any visitors into the ward that evening, but when I explained the situation, they agreed and secretly brought me in. I approached my father; he was sleeping. I anointed him three times with the oil with my little finger, making the sign of the cross, recited the "Our Father," and with all my heart asked the elder for my father's healing. Then I left silently.
   In the morning, my mother, my friend, and I arrived at the hospital... I walked into the room and saw my father sitting up on the bed. I was taken aback. He had no rash on his body or face; his skin was like a newborn's. Soon, the head doctor entered the room—the same one who had allowed me to visit my father... The doctor began to cry and cross himself, saying, "Glory to God... Glory to that elder..." At that moment, my father stopped us and asked which elder we were talking about. And before I could begin to talk about Elder Gabriel, my father himself told us that he had dreamed that night that a priest with a gray beard had entered the room and said to him: "Oh, my brother... You haven't received communion or confessed yet, but you have a believing son and a believing wife who called me.
   I can't stand to see them cry... Let me heal you now, and you start living a church life. Go to church often, confess, and receive communion. That way we will be friends... Otherwise, I'm not your friend. Understood?" He winked at my father, made the sign of the cross over him, and left..." I cried, everyone in the room cried! Even though my father had never seen the elder in his life, the description of the "priest" he saw in his dream perfectly matched the image of St. Gabriel.
Glory to Thee, O God! Glory to Thee, Father Gabriel!

Testimonies of Clairvoyance

   According to the elder's spiritual children, he was an experienced spiritual father. He saw the hidden depths of the heart of those who came to him, and he knew how to lovingly awaken repentance in them.
   A special presence of grace was felt around him. All this convinced people that before them stood a great saint of God. The ascetic knew that he was only a conduit for God's will; he thanked the Lord for everything, and he called on others to accept everything with humility and thank God for everything, saying: "I offer up as much thanks to the Lord as there is sand in the sea and stars in the sky." Knowing that the clairvoyant reveals not only people's sins but also that he is able to read their thoughts, some people feared public rebuke, but they noticed the elder's amazing gift for rebuking in such a way that his words were understood by those to whom they were addressed; those nearby perceived them as the words of a sermon. After sincere repentance, their fear receded, and they began to reach out to the elder, like sunflowers reaching for the sun.
   Zviad Oniani recounts: "...He could speak on topics that seemed completely unrelated to the essence of the matter, but you understood everything the way you were supposed to. For example, he would tell you about your sins right in front of people, and about sins that were embarrassing to even mention in confession... Once, he said such things to me in front of people, and there were nuns there. I thought, '...What is he doing?' Later, I learned: no one heard anything except me. Once, he said something to another person in front of everyone; I was there too, I heard Georgian words, I heard his native language, but I understood nothing. In such situations, only the person he was speaking to understood him".
   Memoirs of Nun Thekla (Oniani): "When I was a novice, during night prayer, I was overcome by thoughts: 'Do you really want to live your entire life like this: getting up at midnight, praying until morning, and then working tirelessly all day? You're young, and you're ruining yourself! Have you completely lost your mind?'"
   Returning to my cell after prayer, I saw Father Gabriel. He, sobbing, repeated: 'So young, so beautiful... Getting up at midnight, praying… Are you planning to live your entire life like this?'
   …The elder's words shocked me—he had exactly echoed my thoughts! Only several years later did I appreciate Father Gabriel's help and support. Since then, such thoughts have never bothered me again. '
   Here is an excerpt from the memoirs  of Ketevan Surmava: “Father Gabriel’s entire life was a sacrificial struggle aimed at acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit, for it alone is man’s greatest wealth. Having acquired this wealth, the elder himself became an inexhaustible source of grace...The great ascetic zealously taught us love, kindness, obedience, humility, and repentance—for he himself was filled with these virtues. Elder Gabriel loved everyone equally, and was equally concerned and worried for everyone... Personally, he spent so much time, labor, and energy on me, a most ordinary person, that I, foolish as I was, thought I was the chosen one.
But for him, everyone was chosen; he generously bestowed his love and attention on everyone.
He knew all spiritual ailments and their cures. In my opinion, this is one of the criteria of holiness and closeness to God.
   Time flies. The elder has been gone for several years. Elder Paisios  the Athonite said: "A monk is a distant lighthouse, planted high on the cliffs, illuminating the seas and oceans with his radiance so that ships may navigate the true path and reach God, their destination." Such a lighthouse has God given us in the person of Elder Gabriel. This lighthouse shows us the way to God!"
Venerable Gabriel continues to help from the Heavenly World those he has helped before. He quickly comes to the aid of all who have learned of him from books and articles, who believe in God and ask for his prayerful intercession before the Lord.


Spiritual mentors of Saint Gabriel

 Venerable Confessors Archimandrites John (Maisuradze) and George
(John in the schema) (Mkheidze)

   Archimandrite John  (in the world Vasily Maisuradze) (1882-1957) was born in 1882 in the village of Eredvi, Gori district, Tiflis province, and settled in the ancient Betania monastery as a teenager. Then he lived for several years on Mount Athos, from where he returned to Georgia as a hieromonk. In the 1920s, Father John became the rector of the Bethany Monastery. In 1921, there were only two monks left in the monastery. One day, two armed men came to the monastery and announced to the monks that they were being summoned to Tbilisi immediately. On the way, the monks were shot, Father John miraculously survived — the bullet went through his chest. In addition, the nuns of the neighboring monastery were leaving him. Father John returned to Bethany and never left the monastery again.
   Archimandrite George (in the world, George Methodievich Mheidze) (1887-1962) was born in 1887 in the village of Zemo-Krikhi, Rachinsky district, Kutaisi province. He came from an impoverished princely family. His father, Methodius Mkheidze, was a member of the People's police, participated in the military campaigns of the Caucasian War of 1817-1864 and was awarded the George Cross for the capture of Shamil. His mother, Dafne Japaridze, was a homemaker. He studied at the Chelishi Monastery; then his uncle, Ivan Mkheidze, who lived in Tiflis, arranged for him to be a secretary to the Georgian writer, Pravda Ilya Chavchavadze. Feeling a vocation to monasticism, he left his studies at the military college in St. Petersburg and led a hermit’s lifestyle for some time. Afterward, he went to Megrelia, where the abbot of the Khir monastery tonsured him a monk. In 1924, the monastery was closed, so Father George moved to the Bethany Monastery. The ascetic became famous for the gift of mercy and non-possessiveness; if he met a beggar, he took off his clothes and gave them to him. And if they were his last clothes, then he dressed in burlap. 
   Two of George's brothers were communists: one of them, Peter, was Beria's deputy. Wanting to turn the young monk away from a chaste life, one day the brothers locked George in a room with a dissolute woman. However, George stood in the corner of the room all the time, facing the wall, reciting prayers. During the communist persecution, thanks to the ascetics, Bethany remained a monastic monastery for many years — both archimandrites lived within the walls of the monastery until their deaths. Officially, they were listed as "watchmen of the architectural monument," and the monastery was considered inactive; but icons hung in the temple; lamps burned, and divine services were performed. Believers turned to the elders for prayerful help and advice. For a long time, Bethany remained almost the only monastic community in Georgia.
   And the sanctity of the spiritual life of the elders was respected even by atheists. According to eyewitnesses, there were cases of healings through the prayers of elders John and George. People noticed that all the predictions of the elders came true. The elders became the spiritual mentors of the now famous Archimandrite Gabriel (Urgebadze).
   During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), when there was famine in the cities, the monks fed and supplied all those in need with vegetables and fruits, which they themselves grew with prayer. People loved them, and called them angels. Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia Melchizedek III (Phaladze) (1952-1960) elevated Hieromonk John to the rank of Archimandrite, and Hieromonk George was ordained abbot.
   In a conversation with pilgrims, the now-famous Elder Kuksha  (Velichko) (1875-1964) called them lamps. Little is known about the spiritual life of these ascetics. Those who knew them noted that there was "an unusual ... spiritual love between them, they lived together in an extraordinarily friendly way, they took touching care of each other, which is rare even among siblings." Archimandrite John had the gift of foresight, was distinguished by kindness and gentleness of character, affability, deep spiritual wisdom, and was easy to communicate with. The monastic traditions that he established in the monastery were brought by him from Mount Athos. The elder loved to take care of the pilgrims, listened to everyone, treated them during the meal, and distributed socks that he knitted from sheep's wool. Abbot George was a strict ascetic: he slept on a board in an unheated room, and at night he performed a long prayer rule. He read a lot, knew patristic literature, and through his efforts a good library was assembled at the Bethany Monastery. Abbot George was known for his foresight and gift of healing. The Bethany Monastery was repeatedly attacked by robbers who believed that the elders were hiding valuables and large amounts of money in the monastery. Cows, flour, and various utensils were stolen from the elders several times. One day, the robbers took Archimandrite John behind the temple and shot at his feet, demanding gold. The courageous ascetic prayed in silence; the Lord kept his chosen one.  In 1954, the Elders accepted the 31-year-old novice Valentin Pirtskhalava, who had previously worked at the Teklati monastery, into the monastery. They tonsured him with the name Basil and ordained him a priest. The young monk led a strict ascetic life, read a lot, and preached beautifully. His appearance provided the monastery with some protection, as well as the dog that the inhabitants gave to the Monastery.
   In 1957, Elder John died of a heart attack. With the blessing of Catholicos-Patriarch Melchizedek III, Abbot George was tonsured into the great schema, with the name John in memory of Archimandrite John. (According to the Athos tradition, Archimandrite John had also accepted the Great Schema.) Hieromonk Vasily died in 1960, after he was beaten in the forest when he was returning to the monastery from Tbilisi. For two years, the schemamonk lived alone in Bethany, sick and helpless. The elder prayed a lot and rarely left his cell. He was visited by Father Gabriel and his spiritual children, who brought him food, washed his clothes, and performed work at the monastery.
   When the Elder lived with his brother in Tbilisi for some time after the operation, an angel appeared to him and told him that his place was in the Bethany Monastery. After that, despite the persuasions of his relatives and his serious condition, he returned to the monastery. Through his prayers, Hieromonk Gabriel (Urgebadze) suddenly felt that he needed to be in Bethany. When he entered, Elder John said, "Thank God! The Mother of God heard me!" He gave Father Gabriel various instructions about the monastery and asked him to serve the liturgy. After receiving Communion, the elder died. He was 75 years old. Both elders were buried in the Bethany Monastery near the eastern side of the monastery church. (The Betania Monastery was the first monastery in Georgia officially opened in 1978 by the Soviet government.)In 2003, the Georgian Orthodox Church glorified the ascetics; they were both canonized. Their Memorial Day is September 8/21. On February 20, 2014, the relics of two venerable fathers, George John (Mheidze) and John (Maisuradze), were found in the medieval Georgian monastery of Betania. His Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II came to receive the relics. The relics of the saints were placed in a shrine and left in the Bethany Monastery for several days for worship .

 

Venerable Zinovy (Mazhuga), Metropolitan of Tetritskaroy

   Vladyka Zinovy (Seraphim in the schema) (1896 - 1985) was an Elder who combined episcopal ministry. Not every metropolitan can be an Elder. Many were surprised that such a humble and simple man could become a bishop. During the 35 years of his ministry in Tbilisi, Bishop Zinovy lived in a small house next to the St. Alexander Nevsky Church. Vladyka's "metropolitan chambers" consisted of two tiny rooms. One day, Patriarch Melchizedek summoned Vladyka to his house. He wanted to give him his car and offered to help him buy a nice house. But Vladyka Zinovy refused, referring to the fact that he had to be in church every morning and evening. Later, Vladyka had a house, but the elder gave it to Archimandrite Andronik, and he stayed in his two small rooms near the temple.
   The ascetic lifestyle of the Elder was felt in everything. People loved Vladyka primarily for his impeccable monastic life. The elder metropolitan was a doer of the unceasing Jesus prayer, and they saw some inner light illuminate his face. They came to Vladyka to receive spiritual guidance, solace, to ease their conscience in the sacrament of penance, tell about their sorrows, and simply for advice. There were not only lay people and monks, but also experienced priests and confessors. They all came to see the metropolitan Elder.
   Everyone had to be met, fed, comforted, sent home, and certainly with gifts - no one left Vladyka Zinovy empty-handed. He had many spiritual children. The spiritual children of Elder Zinovy were not only laymen and clerics, but also church hierarchs. The spiritual son of the elder Metropolitan Zinovy was Patriarch Ilia II, over whom His Eminence predicted his future patriarchal ministry in Georgia. Among his spiritual children were Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly (Sidorenko), Archpriest Alexander Chesnokov and many other ministers of the Church of Christ.   
    Serafim Tetritskaroysky Schemetropolite  (in the world, Zachary Joakimovich Mazhuga) was born on September 14, 1896 in Glukhov, Chernihiv province, into the working class family of Joakim and Feodosia Mazhuga. He lost his father at the age of 3, his mother at 11, and grew up in his uncle's family. He was sent to the House of Diligence at the Glinskaya Desert, where he graduated from the parish school and mastered the tailor's craft. In 1912, he entered the Glinskaya Monastery as a novice. Father Gerasim became his spiritual father. During the First World War in 1916, he was called for military service, and ended up in one of the most difficult sectors of the front, in the Pinsk marshes in Belarus; due to illness, he was transferred to a convoy company. After demobilization, he returned to the desert, where he took monastic vows with a name in honor of the Holy Martyr Zinovy, Bishop of the Aegean. His confessors were the Glinsk elders Hieroschemonk Nikolai (Khondarev) and the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Nektary (Nuzhdin). Zinovy studied humility from a young age. At the beginning of his monastic life, he forced himself to practice this virtue in every possible way. He was assigned to take care of horses, which he had been terrified of since childhood. Overcoming his fear, he completely surrendered himself to the will of God and soon not only began to cope with the task assigned to him, but even fell in love with his obedience. At that time, a monk from Glinka predicted to the monastery groom that Father Zinovy would become a great man. In 1922, after the closure of the Glinskaya Desert, he moved to the Caucasus, where in 1924 he was ordained a hierodeacon and entered the Dranda Assumption Monastery of the Sukhumi diocese. In 1926, he was ordained a hieromonk by Bishop Nikon and served in the Sukhumi St. Nicholas Church until 1930. After the closure of the temple, he moved to the mountains of Abkhazia, where, together with other monks, he founded a small monastic community. It did not last long, since it was discovered by the Bolsheviks and disbanded. Father Zinovy lived in the surrounding villages and earned his living by sewing. In 1930, he moved to Rostov-on-Don, where he served at St. Sophia Church. In 1936, he was arrested and sentenced to exile in Central Asia. He was held in a pre-trial detention center for 7 months; he was convicted, and until 1942 he served his sentence on the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal and in the Urals.
   In those years, he continued his ministry in secret: he baptized, confessed, and performed funeral services. He soon contracted malaria. When the elder later recalled the sorrowful circumstances of his life, his face always brightened, he told people close to him that he had never grieved, but rejoiced at the trials, accepting them as if from the hand of God. After his release, he returned to Sukhumi, but could not obtain a residence permit and left for Tbilisi; he served in the Tbilisi Zion Assumption Cathedral. Then, until 1945, he tended the Mtskheta Olginsky monastery. In 1945, as part of the Georgian delegation, he attended the enthronement of Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow and All Russia and was elevated to the rank of abbot there. In 1945, he became rector of St. Nicholas Church in the village of Kirovo in Armenia In 1947, he was transferred by the rector to the Batumi Cathedral of the Nativity. In 1950, he was elevated to the dignity of Archimandrite and appointed rector of the St. Alexander Nevsky Church in Tbilisi, a ministry he retained until his death.
On June 11, 1952, he was appointed a member of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church.  On November 30, 1955, he became dean of the Russian parishes under the jurisdiction of the Georgian Orthodox Church in Kartli, Kakheti and Armenia. On December 29, 1956, he was named and consecrated bishop .  This was the only case of a non-Georgian consecration to the episcopate of the Georgian Orthodox Church during the period of the twentieth to the beginning of the twenty first century.
Since 1960, he was Bishop of Tetritskara. In 1972, he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan. For many decades, Bishop Zinovy lived next to the Alexander Nevsky Church, in a small house; he was happy with everyone and he called the people around him his family and never sat down at the table alone. There are many testimonies about the clairvoyance of the saint; through the prayers of Metropolitan Zinovy, many received deliverance from diseases and consolation in life's sorrows. Vladyka served the liturgy daily and personally took out particles for everyone he knew and for whom he was asked to pray. He had the gift of unceasing prayer. Metropolitan Zinovy knew about his death in advance. He informed people close to him the day before. He told everyone to come to his grave and treat all their sorrows as if he were alive. He died on March 8, 1985 and was buried in Tbilisi, near the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. After his death, a suitcase was found under his bed, in which there was a full schema vestment and a note: "My name is Seraphim." Even his closest aides did not know about Vladyka's secret schema.
   On March 25, 2009, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church decided to add Metropolitan Seraphim to the list of saints of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as part of the Cathedral of the Venerable Fathers of Glinsk. (His solemn glorification as a saint on August 21, 2010, was celebrated in the Glinskaya Desert. The Commemoration was held on September 9 in the Cathedral of the Venerable Fathers of Glinsky.)


Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly (Sidorenko)

"If you want to defeat your enemies without fighting, defeat them without weapons, tame them without difficulty and conquer yourself, Be meek, patient, quiet, gentle as a lamb, and you will overcome, conquer, tame, and subdue." St. Demetrius of Rostov
    Elder Vitaly (in the world Vitaly Nikolaevich Sidorenko) (1928-1992) was born in 1928, in the village of Yekaterinovka, Krasnodar Territory. His father was a kind, intelligent, hardworking man who helped the poor and orphans a lot. At the age of five, Vitaly began to fast: He completely refused meat, and on Wednesdays and Fridays, he refused dairy food. As soon as he learned to read, the Gospel became his desk book. Vitaly often ran off to pray in a cornfield or hid in the reeds by the river. From the age of 14, he took on the feat of wandering. He often spent the night in haystacks in a field or an abandoned barn. At the age of 16, he went to Taganrog, where he received a blessing for a monastic feat from the blind, visionary elder Alexy. In 1948, Vitaly went to the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and helped rebuild the monastery for a while. Since the young ascetic had no documents, he could not be accepted into the monastery, but was advised to go to the Glinskaya desert.
   During these years, the abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Serafim (Amilen), continued the traditions of the Glinsky Elders (1874-1958), Patriarch Andronik (Lukash) (1889-1974) and Hieroschemonk Seraphim (Romantsov) (1885-1976). He was a fraternal confessor, strict, and demanding. Elder Seraphim (Romantsov)  became Vitaly's spiritual father. Archimandrite John (Maslov) wrote the following about Elder Seraphim in the history of the Glinsk Desert: "He was a highly experienced spiritual father, a connoisseur of all the innermost movements of the human heart, the possessor of spiritual treasures that he acquired through a long, hard-working feat... His conversations, filled with true humility, warmed the chilled hearts of people, opened their spiritual eyes, enlightened their minds, and led to repentance, peace of mind, and spiritual rebirth.")
    Archimandrite Seraphim said: "The only feat for the young is obedience. Asceticism without obedience is walking on stilts." "A person must certainly experience the bitterness of sin and the sweetness of grace. To do this, it is very good and even necessary to have a leader in this difficult path." Elder Seraphim (Romantsov) became the spiritual leader of novice Vitaly. At first, the novice was a watchman, later he worked in the refectory. In those years, the visionary Blessed Hierodeacon Ephraim, who carried the obedience of a night watchman, labored in the monastery. Father Vitaly and Father Ephraim were connected by spiritual closeness; Father Vitaly spoke of him as an elder of a high spiritual life. Hierodeacon Ephraim often repeated: "The whole secret of salvation lies in humility."
   From the memoirs of Hieromonk Mardari (Danilov): "Glinskaya Pustyn was a hotbed of spirituality at that time. What kind of elders were there... And Vitaly, although he was just a novice with Father Seraphim (Romantsov), he accepted all the wanderers; he was like a father of mercy, and led a very spiritual life... Father Vitaly was an amazing man! When they lived in the Glinskaya Desert, letters were sent to Father Seraphim from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kiev. The priest just does not have time to answer... And now he's going to call Vitaly.: Vitaly, do you see the letters? "I see them, Father. - Here's my blessing: print them out and give me the answers. And don't come to me... Well, as soon as Vitaly begins, he gives an answer, and at the bottom he will sign: "Hegumen Seraphim." And he sends the letter. They receive it: "Well, that's it! We're alive now, we're resurrected! We will not despair now!" They write to their father thanking him: "Oh, father, thank you!" "You saved us! We were in despair"... Father Seraphim saw the grace in Vitaly and that Vitaly would be able to accomplish this task. And he really did. Since Vitaly, a novice, had no documents, he often had to hide when representatives of the authorities came to the monastery.
   In the late 1950s, the authorities tightened control, and inspectors began to come to Glinskaya Deserts more and more often. It became dangerous for novice Vitaly to be in the monastery, and he left for Taganrog. In Taganrog, he loved to visit the city cemetery, where he prayed at the grave of the blessed elder Pavel (Stozhkov) (1792-1879). He often repeated the words of Elder Paul: "My whole desire from my youth was to pray to God, and my intention was to go to holy places." Seeing the ascetic life of Vitaly, believers began to gather around him. From the memoirs of Father Vitaly's spiritual daughter: "Traveling with him, we had neither money nor two sets of clothes. We used to spend the night in the field, pray in the morning, bow down and walk on..." One day, a motorcycle with armed police officers stopped right in front of the ascetic as he was walking with people. "Who are they? From where? Documents!" But he addressed them so kindly that they were extremely amazed. He bowed and kissed them on the shoulders, saying: " You are our guardian angels, our protectors." He defeated them with his humility and love; they asked him to pray for them and left.  Only after a while did he say, "But they were following me on purpose." Spiritual children told me that when Brother Vitaly traveled around Russia, he always wore a cassock and carried a traveling staff — it was impossible not to notice him. And the police were waiting for him in almost every village.     He told his children at this time: "I'm walking — there's a river on the way, I crossed it — there's a guard. I bowed to his feet, he turned his back as if he hadn't noticed, and I walked through. And in another place, they met me like a gentleman by car... He had no hostile feelings towards his abusers, remembering the words of the Lord, "Bless those who curse you and pray for those who offend you" (Luke 6:28). Thus, he acquired great humility.
   Here is the story of one of Father Vitaly's spiritual daughters: "We were walking with my father once... like sheep following a shepherd. And a drunk man goes to a meeting and loudly shouts all sorts of curses. When he approached us, we all ran away in fright, but the priest did not shy away and went straight to meet him, came up, hugged and began to kiss him. How this man immediately changed! Where did his menacing appearance go?  He began to thank the priest and said that no one had ever treated him like this..." Father Vitaly having never condemned anyone in his life. "One should blame oneself, flog oneself, punish oneself, and love everyone, consider them Angels," wrote Elder Vitaly in one letter.
   In the mountains, when he became seriously ill, the hieromonks who were nearby, fearing for his life, decided to tonsure him as a monk without the blessing of his spiritual father. It was impossible to ask for Elder Seraphim's blessing at that time: the rivers in the mountains overflowed, blocking the road to the city.  During his tonsure, Father Vitaly was given the name Venedikt. When his confessor found out about his secret tonsure, he was angry for a long time, but then he forgave him. In the mid-sixties, Monk Benedict secretly, because his health had seriously declined, adopted the schema with the name Vitaly. In 1969, with the blessing of Elder Seraphim, Father Vitaly went to Tbilisi to visit Bishop Zinovy (Mazhuga) . In 1976, January 2, Bishop Zinovy ordained him a hierodeacon, and a few months later a hieromonk. (Later, Father Vitaly was elevated to the rank of hegumen, and then archimandrite.)
   The day before his schema tonsure, on January 1, 1976, his spiritual father, Archimandrite Seraphim (Romantsov), passed away to the Lord. According to the testimony of his spiritual children, the elder Vitaly never wore good clothes, and always wore an old cassock. He never had any money — everything that was sent to him, he distributed to those in need in the shortest possible time, following the word of one hermit: "Do not let the money you received spend the night in your cell." (The testimonies of Father Vitaly's spiritual children are published in the book "On the Life of Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly.")
   An ascetic had a special ability to see the souls of other people, and often, in order not to embarrass a person with unrepentant sins, Elder Vitaly acted like blessed Elder Pavel Taganrog: he denounced others in secret, attributing other people's sins to himself, or scolded the cell attendant nearby for them. The elders of Glinka taught that one should repent as soon as one had sinned. If you have someone to tell, it's fine, but if not, ask God for forgiveness: "Lord, have mercy on me, fallen." And Father Vitaly advised his spiritual children: "If you have sinned, thought something unkind, immediately confess to the sisters. The main thing is to restore peace." Father Vitaly also noted: "Every act entails several sins. For example, condemnation: there is pride, because of which you condemned, and self-aggrandizement - once you condemned a person, you rose above him, you considered yourself better... We should shed as many tears as possible for our sins. When someone offends us badly, we cry. And we need to turn these tears to our sins. And to shed the same tears, remembering their sins. Each one of our tears is very expensive. "No matter how hard Elder Vitaly tried to hide the gift of foresight from people in his humility, it was impossible to hide it. He himself did not like it when people talked about his foresight, and if they heard him, he replied like this: "Here is the servant of God Vitaly: is he a visionary? He's voracious." And immediately he began to scold and denounce himself. He once confessed, "Do you think it's easy to be prescient when you see a person dying? And you know how to help him, and you know that he will reject this help... Then the heart is filled with such sorrow." Father Vitaly predicted the tragic events in Sukhumi  for 30 years. One day, walking through the city, he said: "I want this house to survive, and this one. I hear people shooting and killing in the streets, and blood is flowing in streams."
   And Father Vitaly did everything in his power to save people from spiritual and physical death. The elder had the ability to heal bodily diseases, and he extended the life of many people with his prayers. From the memoirs of Abbot Nikita (Tretyakov): "Everyone left father Vitaly comforted and healed. You'll tell him, "Father, it hurts here." When you leave, it doesn't hurt..." One woman, having visited the elder with her family, said: "A person can no longer reach higher than the love he has. If a person has such love, and God gave it to him, then what kind of Lord is He!" The archimandrite Vitaly himself said the following about love: "There will be love, and the walls will part."
   From the memoirs of Abbess Seraphima: "Knowing the hour of his departure, Father Vitaly ... finished his business, and then said: "Let's go to Moskovsky, I'll take a bath and then I'll celebrate the Liturgy" (with the blessing of Vladyka, he could serve in private at home). He said goodbye to everyone, but the sisters felt that he would not return home. Father Vitaly was taken to the temple, he walked all over it, he could no longer bow in front of the icons. I said goodbye to everyone... In the car he said: "Now I will always be with the fathers in the temple." No one understood these words then... The doctors tried to help him in any way they could, but God's will was different. The day before his death, he suddenly motioned for me to open the curtain of the window. I asked: "Who do you see?" He watched in silence, then... pointed to the icon of the Mother of God. I presented the image, and he blessed everyone with it. I asked: "Did the Mother of God come?" He nodded his head and began to cry."
   Schema-nun Elizabeth recalls: "The priest (Father Vitaly) did not let anyone leave him without his blessing. In the evening, I felt very tired and asked for his blessing to go to the kitchen to eat. He blessed with just his eyes. I felt that there were only a few hours left of his life, and so I asked: "Father Vitaly, wait for me." After a quick snack, Mother Eugenia and I quickly returned. I took his blessing again, as we usually did after the meal. She kissed his hand, then wiped it with holy water. After that, he sighed softly and passed away, having fulfilled his last "obedience" - he waited for me." It happened on December 1, 1992. In the evening, His Holiness Patriarch Elijah came to say goodbye to the ascetic, he said: "You don't know whom we've lost." He thanked everyone who cared for the ascetic and, pointing to the room where Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly lived, where this great elder prayed and died, and said: "Go there, worship the place." The coffin with the body of Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly was placed in the church of the Holy Prince St. Alexander Nevsky. The people went to say goodbye to their pastor for several days. Despite the difficult military and political situation in Georgia at that time, his spiritual children came all the way from Russia and Ukraine...   The funeral of Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly took place on December 5. The funeral service was performed by the Patriarch of All Georgia with a large gathering of believers, and was co-served by the clergy of the Alexander Nevsky Church, the Tbilisi clergy, and clergymen who came from Russia and Ukraine. Father Pavel Kosach recalls: "The Patriarch said a prayer of absolution and handed it to me to put in Father Vitaly's hand.
   At this time, the thumb on his hand was bent down. I put a prayer sheet in his palm, and the hand closed... I was so shocked that I suddenly cried out, "He took it himself!" and only later realized it was for granted, because this man was not of this world." "He took it himself!" confirmed Archpriest Mikhail Didenko, who was standing next to him. His Holiness the Patriarch nodded his head in the affirmative and continued the service. It should be noted that a few years before his death, Father Vitaly once said to one of his spiritual daughters, schema-nun Larisa (Voronova): "For the tears of the sisters, I will reach out from the grave."   To this day, the ascetic helps all those who believe in the power of his prayerful intercession before God. While living in Tbilisi, Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly answered letters from his spiritual children every day. Here are just a few excerpts from the elder's letters.: "What should I do? What should I do? Everyone has one refuge and joy: the Lord and the Mother of God... Pray, my soul, especially the Jesus prayer, which will put everything in proper order. Ask the Lord and the Mother of God to make you wise for salvation and to teach you everything sacred... We will repent, confess, and lament our sins.…Abba Pimen said: if you keep quiet, you will find peace wherever you live. We will entrust all our requests to the will of God, and whatever the Lord does not fulfill according to our desire and request, we will be satisfied. He knows better what is useful for our salvation.… Remember the main thing:
1. Consider every day the last day of your life and spend it in the fear of God and contrition of heart. Cut down on the fuss, avoid idle talk. Remember God and call upon Him with repentance. 2. Do not judge or condemn anyone, otherwise you will condemn yourself. Do not sort out other people's thoughts, deeds, slanders and gossip; pass them by.  It is the enemy who is trying to disperse you and distract you from prayer.3. Know God, keep His Commandments, listen to your spiritual father; accept from your neighbors into your soul only the good that is in accordance with God's Commandments. Try to pay attention to yourself and not judge anyone, and not notice other people's flaws — we have a lot of our own..."
   "If you want to pray for many things... Pray like this: "O Master Lord, Jesus Christ, guide me according to Your will!" But if it is about the passions, then say: "Heal me according to Your will." And when you talk about the temptations, say: "You know what is useful to me, help my weakness and grant me deliverance from temptations according to Your will." Or: "My God! I am in Your hands, You know what is useful to me, guide me according to Your will, do not let me fall into error and abuse Your gift. Arrange, O Master, that these things may be accomplished in Your fear, for Thine is the glory forever, Amen." "Our God is in heaven and on earth, do all that Thou wilt, and to Him be glory. Amen. One must consider oneself an irreplaceable culprit, offering repentance. You see, Saint Seraphim of Sarov, the wonderworker, stood on a stone and prayed for 1000 days and nights.: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Saint Ephraim the Syrian called himself an abomination, and in prayer he said: "Grant me to see my transgressions and not to condemn my brother." The Holy King and Prophet David said: "I am the worm of Israel." The Apostle Paul called himself a monster. And each of the saints blasphemed himself and wept for his sins.
   The instructions of Schema-Archimandrite are like a bridle. It is better to suffer pain and be cleansed from sin than to be sane and be condemned to the torments of fire... If there is no grace, then a person cannot endure on his own. Do prayer at all times... Make a prayer — it will make up for everything. You should always read: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners." You sit, eat, talk, walk, wash, cook, wash, dig, carry — you should always recite the Jesus Prayer... As you breathe without asking how it is done, so read the prayer and read it, and you will receive salvation. Read the Jesus Prayer in every need and sorrow, then the right time will come. With people, when they contradict or condemn, one must be silent and do the Jesus prayer. It's a wonderful remedy. Read Psalms 26, 50, and 90, and the Lord and the Mother of God will grant Their mercies.
   Until this day, people came to Elder Vitaly's grave and asked for his prayerful intercession before the Lord in difficult life situations. He does not refuse anyone. One woman got into trouble, and he appeared to her in a dream saying that everything would be fine.   She soon found a good job and quickly repaid her debts. Later, when she came to church, she recognized Father Vitaly from a photograph and visiting his grave, thanked the ascetic. Evidence of his wonderful help is being collected and recorded. Let us hope that he will be glorified soon.

Read more about the life of this ascetic in the book "On the life of Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly. Memories of spiritual children. Letters. The Teachings."


 Spiritual mentor of Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly

Venerable Seraphim (Romantsov) of Glinsk
   The great Glinsk Elder, Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (in the world, Ivan Romanovich Romanstev), was born June 28, 1885 in the village of Voronok, Krupets region of Kursk Province, to a peasant family. In August, 1910, after his parents had died, Ivan entered Glinsk Monastery. In 1914, he was enlisted in the army and fought in the First World War. In 1916 he was wounded and after recovering returned to the monastery. In 1919, Ivan Romanstov received the monastic tonsure with the name Juvenaly.
   After the Glinsk monastery was closed in 1922, Fr. Juvenaly moved to the Drandsk Monastery of the Dormition (Sukhumi diocese, Abkhazia), where in 1926 he was ordained a hieromonk and tonsured into the great schema with the name Seraphim. However, the Drandsk Monastery was also soon closed. Until 1930, Fr. Seraphim lived near Alma Alta and worked as the guardian of an apiary. The armed forces did not arrest him, and did not send him to build the White Sea Canal. From 1934 to 1946, Fr. Seraphim lived in Kyrgyzstan. He celebrated Divine Service at night, confessing and communing the faithful during those services.
   On December 30, 1947, Fr. Seraphim returned to Glinsk Hermitage (which had just reopened), and in 1948 Archimandrite Seraphim (Amelin), seeing his spiritual experience and perfection in monastic labors, appointed Hieroschemamonk Seraphim as father-confessor of the brothers.
The elder had a special spiritual gift for hearing confessions, for calling people to complete openness. He received with particular fatherly love those who were tormented by woes, sorrows, and despondency, and those who did not know what path to take in life. People came to him from all ends of the Soviet Union.
   The elder's own humility was remarkable. He never ascribed anything to his own gifts, or considered himself a man of special prayer. The elder's day began at 2:00 a.m., when he did his cell rule, and then attended the services from beginning to end, after which he gave himself over to service of his neighbor: he received pilgrims, assigned them places to live, confessed them. At night he answered letters. He copied excerpts from the holy fathers and blessed his spiritual children to do the same, and he would later send the copies to others. Love inspired him to selflessly care for every soul. He was a great God-pleaser and a true pastor. Not only monks and laypeople came to him for advice, but even bishops, who saw that he was not a man of the flesh, but of the spirit. After Glinsk Hermitage was again closed, Fr. Seraphim moved to Sukhumi, where he continued his labors as an elder in the capacity of father confessor of the Cathedral. Multitudes of the faithful came to him there. On January 1, 1976, the grace-filled elder peacefully gave up his spirit to God .

Schiigumenia Famar (Mardzhanova)

    Schiigumenia Famar (+1936) (in the world, Princess Tamara Alexandrovna Mardzhanova) was born in the late sixties of the nineteenth century. She came from a wealthy Georgian family and received a good education.
   Tamara's father died when she was little, and her mother died when she was   twenty years old. A musically gifted girl, she dreamed of entering the St. Petersburg Conservatory, but after her mother's death, much changed in her life and the lives of her younger brothers and sisters. When she and her sister and brothers visited her mother's sister in Signak in the summer, she had the opportunity to see the new Bodbe Convent in the name of St. Nicholas. On that day, a weekday service was being held in the church; Abbess Juvenalia read the canon in the choir and the sisters sang and served. The gracious atmosphere of the temple and the spiritual singing of the nuns made an indelible impression on Tamara. She experienced an amazing feeling of grace, and a desire was born in her soul to leave the hectic world and devote the rest of her life to serving God. After the service, she asked Abbess Juvenalia to accept her into the monastery.   
   The abbess was glad to receive Tamara, but the girl's relatives tried to prevent this. They took her to Tiflis and began taking her to theaters, trying to distract her. And the young ascetic, sitting in the theater, prayed to herself, fingering the prayer rope hidden in her pocket. The worldly bustle became so alien to her that she was forced to leave home on her own. Her family found Tamara in the monastery, but they could not take her back – the abbess persuaded them not to interfere with Tamara, but to respect her decision. So in her person, they found a prayer book for the whole family. Novice Tamara became very attached to her wise spiritual mother, always trying to faithfully perform all her obediences so as not to upset the abbess in any way. Although the young princess had to do everything in the monastery for the first time.
   Twelve years later, she was tonsured into a cassock, and then into a mantle with the name of Juvenalia. (Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky) told us that one of the believers, who was in church during his tonsure, saw a white dove hovering over Matushka's head.) In 1902, Abbess Juvenalia was transferred to Moscow and appointed abbess of the Rozhdestvensky Monastery, and nun Juvenalia (Mardzhanova), Exarch of Georgia, was appointed abbess of the Bodbe Monastery, which at that time had about three hundred sisters.
   It is known that St. John of Kronstadt provided great spiritual support to Mother Juvenalia. She first saw the great pastor in 1892, when she and her spiritual mother Abbess Juvenalia visited the St. Petersburg Resurrection Monastery, and they came to thank Father John for the financial assistance provided to the Bodbe Monastery. At the words of the mother: "Father, bless, these are my cellmates Xenia and Tamara." Father John crossed Tamara, kissed her on the head and said, "Tamara, Tamara, you have chosen the good part." Later, he asked Abbess Juvenalia Sr. to take off three crosses and began to put them on Tamara, saying: "That's what kind of abbess you are-look at her." This is how Father John of Kronstadt predicted that Mother Juvenalia  would have three monasteries, that she would endure three difficult feats. Father John autographed his photo and presented it to her: To the "S-nun" when she was still a nun, foreseeing that she would be a schema-nun. Matushka loved all the sisters of the monastery, and she helped the locals who turned to her for help.
   In 1905, revolutionary-minded mountaineers often attacked and oppressed Georgian peasants. The peasants turned to the Bodbe monastery for help, and Mother took them under her protection; many found shelter within the walls of the monastery. The revolutionaries tried to intimidate her and sent her anonymous threatening letters.
   On November 27, 1907, the carriage in which Mother Juvenalia was traveling was attacked by an armed gang. As soon as the shooting started, Matushka took out the icon of St. Seraphim and began to cry out loudly: "Reverend Father Seraphim, save us." A patrol with an officer at the head appeared and saved the nuns. The Synod was worried about Matushka's fate. Soon, by decree of the Holy Synod, she was transferred to Moscow and appointed abbess of the Intercession community. No matter how hard it was for her to leave her native monastery, she had to accept it and go to Moscow. The nuns of the Intercession Community worked as sisters of mercy, as well as the sisters of the Martha and Mary Community, who were not nuns.
   During these years, Mother became close to the Grand Duchess Elizabeth. (The Holy Martyr Elizabeth (1864-1918)) Soon, the ascetic had a desire to settle near the Sarov monastery, she wanted to be closer to the place where St.  Seraphim, prayed in solitude until the last days of his earthly life. In 1908, she had the opportunity to do so, and in June 1908 she stayed at the Serafimo-Ponetaevsky Monastery. When she prayed in front of the icon of the Mother of God "The Sign", it was revealed to her that she should create a new hermitage. Matushka decided to consult with an experienced confessor, and in October she went to the Zosimov hermitage to see Elder Hieroschemonk Alexy  (Solovyov), who, after listening to Matushka, told her that she should not retire to solitary prayer, but should arrange a new hermitage, and the Mother of God Herself called her to this.
   Later, she heard the same advice from the now famous Optina elder Hieroschemonk Anatoly (Potapov), who also persistently urged her to fulfill the commission given to her by the Mother of God herself. (St. Anatoly of Optina (1855-1922)) Several more times, she went to Elder Alexy Zosimovsky for advice. Returning from her last trip to the elder, she stopped by the Trinity-Sergius Lavra to consult with the vicar of the Lavra. And the vicar of the Lavra blessed her to create a new skete. Thus, the Serafimo-Znamensky skete  was founded with the blessing of Elder Alexy Zosimovsky, Elder Anatoly of Optina, and Fr. Tobias, vicar of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
   The consecration of the hermitage took place on September 29, 1912. The skete was consecrated by Metropolitan Vladimir  of Moscow and Kolomna, who treated Matushka and her new skete with great and fervent feelings. Abbess Juvenalia built a kinovia house near the monastery, where Bishop Arseny and his friend Archimandrite Serafim (Zvezdinsky), the Holy Martyr, lived when they came to the monastery. Bishop Arseny lived here in seclusion for a year and a half. During the era of persecution of faith and the Church, in the summer and autumn of 1918, Vladyka Arseny and Archimandrite Serafim, the future Bishop of Dmitrov, came and lived at the Serafimo-Znamensky Skete. The abbess Famar accepted obedience from Patriarch Tikhon: to keep their lives safe in her quiet monastery. Vladyka Arseny lived in semi-seclusion in the skete until the end of 1919, leading the spiritual life of the skete sisters, celebrating Divine Liturgies daily in the Cinnabar church.
   On the advice of the elders, Abbess Juvenalia accepted the schema. Abbess Juvenalia's tonsure took place on September 21/October 4, 1916, on the day of the finding of the relics of St. Demetrius of Rostov, in the small church of the Seraphim of the Sign Monastery with the naming of her name Famar. The Serafimo-Znamensky skete existed for only twelve years. In 1924, it was closed by the authorities. After the closure of the hermitage, twelve wandering years began for Matushka, at first she lived in the Marfo-Mariinsky Monastery, and after its closure she came to the village of Kuzmenki near Serpukhov.
   Later, the family of Abbess Famar found a small house in the village of Perkhushkovo, where she settled with her ten sisters. Hieromonk Filaret (Postnikov) lived in a separate house. Here the exiles continued their prayer feat. The whole village was sanctified by their prayer. Many believers came to Perkhushkovo to ask Matushka for spiritual advice. In 1931, the ascetic was arrested along with several sisters and her father.
   After the verdict, she was exiled to Siberia for three years, and at the end of the journey she had to walk for a long time. Nyusha, a novice, followed her spiritual mother into exile. They lived in a peasant hut. She was seriously ill with pneumonia turned into tuberculosis and her legs ached, but unceasing prayer and strong faith helped her endure the difficult years of exile.
     In the spring of 1934, mother Famar settled in a small house in a country village near the Pionerskaya station of the Belarusian Railway. The severe trials that befell the old woman and her aggravated illness brought the ascetic's death closer; on June 10/23, 1936, she passed away to the Lord. She was buried in Moscow at the Vvedenskoye (German) cemetery.
   On December 22, 2016, at the Patriarchal Residence in Tbilisi, under the chairmanship of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church was held, during which five ascetics of piety were canonized and canonized, among them Abbess Famar: the blessed Kings Bagrat III and Solomon I, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Kallistrat (Tsintsadze), Abbess Nina (Amilakhvari) and Abbess Famar (Marjanishvili), the first abbess of the Serafimo-Znamensky Women's skete. The relics of the renowned Schema-Abbess Thamar (Marjanova) have been resting in the Seraphim-Znamensky Skete (Domodedovsky District, Moscow Region) that she founded since June 14, 2018.

Reverend Alexy (Shushania)

   Hieromonk Alexy (Shushania) (1852-1923) was born on September 23, 1852 in the village of Nokalakevi, Senak district, into a family of deeply religious Christians.
   Alexy's father died in 1868. Before his death, he blessed his son and charged him to take care of his family. The future hieromonk was only sixteen years old at that time. In the same year, Alexy went to Jerusalem to worship at the holy sites, and then arrived in Constantinople to visit his uncle, Islam Shushaniya, a merchant who was deeply religious and, moreover, a highly educated husband. During his stay with his uncle, Alexy learned how to trade, and he liked it so much that he decided to take up trading seriously. But God's predestination showed him a different path: his love for God called him to a spiritual life. At the call of his heart, Alexy took the icon of St. John the Baptist from his uncle, retired to his room, fervently praying to God that the Lord would guide him on the right path. During the intense prayer, Alexy began to have a strong inner struggle: on the one hand, he was attracted by the charms of worldly life, with all the earthly temptations, and on the other hand, some invisible force called him to a holy and exalted life. Several hours passed in such thinking. Tormented by doubts, Alexy asked: "What should I do with my father's will, he entrusted me with the family, what about my duties?" The Invisible Mentor replied: "Who will take care of your affairs if you die? -"God!" replied Alexy. The voice came again: "Then you also die for a temporary life for the sake of the Lord and entrust all your affairs to God, and he will arrange everything Himself." Alexy took what he heard as the Voice of God and from that moment on, he followed it relentlessly. Alexy was amazingly transformed: for months he did not leave his room, read spiritual books and kept the strictest fast. Seeing Alexy's behavior, Islam Shushaniya decided to leave Constantinople and return to Georgia with him. Arriving home, Alexy announced to his family that he had taken a vow to become a monk. His mother thanked the Lord and blessed her son.
   Alexy went to the Teklata convent, took off his secular clothes, and began monastic life at the age of twenty. From that day on, he began a strict ascetic lifestyle, walking around the villages, caring for patients with consumption, cholera and various serious diseases, burying the contagious homeless deceased. Several years passed in this way. Alexy played the fool for a while. He was a skilled preacher of the Word of God. His life and work were a good example for many. Under the influence of his sermons, his mother Elena, younger sister Salome and brother Vissarion took monastic vows. Vissarion visited Jerusalem and spent some time in asceticism there. And then he returned to his homeland, was ordained a hieromonk in the Martville monastery, put on the schema and soon passed away. Alexy himself spent some time in asceticism on Mount Athos and rewrote many spiritual books.   After returning from Mount Athos, he went to the Kiev Caves Lavra to worship shrines, then returned to Georgia. In 1885, Alexy settled in the Gelati Monastery. In 1886, he was transferred to the Khob monastery and ordained a hierodeacon, and in 1888, a hieromonk. In 1890 Hieromonk Alexy became seriously ill, along with his nun mother and sisters, and settled in the Teklata monastery. In 1891, he began the construction of cells for monks in the mountain village of Menji (near the town of Senaki), on the so-called "Island of the Archangels". Having gathered the disciples in this monastery and instructed them properly, the Monk Alexy began the feat of seclusion. Thanks to this, Father Alexy's health improved so much that he was able to serve the liturgy. He divided donations into three parts: one for his personal needs, the second for the Church and guests, and the third for the poor and destitute. When his strict ascetic lifestyle exhausted his physical strength, around 1915, he dismissed his students and began communicating only with his cousins, the schema nuns Fausta and Akepsima.
   In his cell, St. Alexy had a cross as tall as a man, which he placed on his back during prayer. This, as he himself explained, reminded him of the way of Christ to Golgotha. He only went out to the visitors of the monastery on Saturdays and Sundays. Despite his strict and ascetic life and the exploits of a recluse, Alexy was surprisingly close to the people at heart and loved by many for the spiritual warmth radiating from him. The Monk Alexy reposed on January 18, 1923.   The elder was buried in the Teklat Convent. With the blessing of Metropolitan Ephraim of Batumi, Shemokmed, and Chkondidi, Schema-Nun Akepsima and Abbess Fausta transferred the incorrupt relics of St. Alexis from the Teklat Convent to the "Island of the Archangels" monastery and buried them near the eastern wall of the church on January 8, 1960.   The canonization of St. Alexis  by the Georgian Orthodox Church took place on September 18, 1995.