Shepherd. Archimandrite Abel (Macedonov) is the bearer of Athos spiritual traditions. Life and suffering of the father and monk Abel

27.11.2019

Life and suffering of the father and monk Abel

PART AND BEGINNING ONE

* Spelling XVIII - XIX centuries

This father Abel was born in the northern countries, within Moscow, in the Tula province, Alekseevsky district, Solomenskaya volost, the village of Akulova, the parish of the church of Elijah the Prophet. The birth of this monk Abel in the summer from Adam is seven thousand and two hundred and sixty and in five years, and from God the Word - one thousand and seven hundred and fifty and in seven years. He was conceived and the foundation of the month of June and the month of September on the fifth day, and the image to him and the birth of the month of December and March at the very equinox: and he was given a name, like all man, on March the seventh. The life of father Abel, from God, is eighty and three years and four months, and then his flesh and spirit will be renewed, and his soul will be portrayed as an angel and as an archangel. And reign<…>for a thousand years<…>the kingdom will arise when it is seven thousand and three hundred and fifty years from Adam, at that time<…>all his elect and all his saints. And they will reign with him a thousand and fifty years, and at that time there will be one flock throughout the whole earth, and one shepherd in them: in them all is good and all is more good, all is holy and all is most holy, all is perfect and all is perfect. And tacos reign<…>, as it was said above, a thousand and fifty years, and at that time from Adam there will be eight thousand and four hundred years, then the dead will rise and the living will be renewed, and there will be a decision for all and a division for all: they will rise to eternal life and immortal life, and who will give themselves over to death and corruption, and into eternal destruction, and the rest of this in other books. And now we will return to the first and end the life and life of Father Abel. His life is worthy of horror and wonder. His parents were farmers, and their other art was horse-shoeing, they taught their father Abel the same thing. He pays little attention to this, but he pays more attention to the Divinity and divine destinies, this desire to him from his youth, even from his mother's womb: and this will happen to him in these years. Now he is nine by ten years old from birth. And he went from this year to the southern countries and to the western, and then to the eastern and other cities and regions: and he wandered like this for nine years. Finally, he came to the northernmost country, and settled there in the Valaam Monastery, which is the Novgorod and St. Petersburg dioceses, the Serdobol district. This monastery stands on an island on Lake Ladoga, very far from the world. At that time, he was in charge of hegumen Nazarene: spiritual life and sound mind in him. And he accepted Father Abel into his monastery as he should, with all love, gave him a cell and obedience and everything necessary; then he ordered him to go, together with the brethren, to church and to the meal, and to all the necessary obedience.

Father Abel lived in the monastery only for one year, delving into and looking after the entire monastic life and all the spiritual order and piety. And seeing order and perfection in everything, as in ancient times it was in desert monasteries, and praise God and the Mother of God about this.

BEGINNING SECOND

Therefore, Father Abel took a blessing from the hegumen and went to the desert; which is a desert on the same island not far from the monastery, and we dwell in that desert one and unite. And in them and between them, the Lord God Almighty Himself, correcting everything in them, and perfecting everything, and laying a beginning and an end to everything, and a solution to everything: for He is all and in all and all acting. And father Abel began in that desert to apply labor to labor, and feat to feat, and from that many sorrows and great burdens, spiritual and bodily, appeared to him. May the Lord God let temptations on him, great and great, and barely bear him in measure, sent many and many dark spirits to him: let him be tempted by those temptations like gold in the furnace. Father Abel, seeing such an adventure above him, began to faint and despair; and he says in himself: "Lord, have mercy, and lead me not into temptation beyond my strength." Therefore, Father Abel began to see dark spirits and talk to them, asking them: who sent them to him? They answered him and said: "We were sent to you by the one who sent you to this place." And they had a lot of conversation and arguing, but nothing succeeded them, but only to their own shame and reproach: Father Abel appeared above them, a terrible warrior. The Lord, seeing his servant, making such a battle with the silent spirits and speaking to him, telling him secret and unknown, and what will happen to him and what will happen to the whole world: and other such many and many. The dark spirits felt this, as if the Lord God himself was talking with Father Abel; and be all invisible in the twinkling of an eye: terrified and fleeing. Therefore, two spirits took father Abel ... (Further, the compiler of the life of Abel tells how he received from these higher ones the great gift of divining the fate of the future) ... and telling him: “wake you a new Adam, and the ancient father Dadamey, and write if you saw you: and say thou hast heard. But do not tell everyone and write not to everyone, but only to my chosen ones, and only to my saints; write to those who can accommodate our words and our punishments. That's what you say and write." And other such many words to him.

START THIRD

Father Abel came to his senses, and starting from that time to write and say what is appropriate for a person; This vision was to him in the thirtieth year of his life, and it was completed at the age of thirty. He went wandering for twenty years, he came to Valaam for twenty and eight years; that year was from God the Word - one thousand and seven hundred and eighty and five, the month of October, the first day of the sun. And this vision happened to him, a wondrous vision and a vision alone in the wilderness - in the summer from Adam seven thousand and two hundred and ninety, and in the fifth year, the month of November on the solar on the first day, from midnight and lasted at least thirty hours. Since that time, he began to write and say what suits whom. And he was ordered to go out of the desert to the monastery. And he came to the monastery of the same year, the month of February on the first day and entered the Church of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos. And he became in the middle of the church, all full of tenderness and joy, looking at the beauty of the church and at the image of the Mother of God ...... (Then a new vision is told, as if it had dawned on Abel, moreover, as if an inexplicable power)<…>going into his inner; and united with him, allegedly one .... man. And began to do and act in him and them, supposedly by his natural nature; and until then you have acted in him, until you study him in everything and teach him everything<…>and dwell in the vessel, which was prepared for it from of old. And from that time, Father Abel began to know everything and understand everything: (an unknown power) instructing him and admonishing him with all wisdom and all wisdom. Therefore, Father Abel left the Valaam Monastery, so he was commanded by the action (of that power), _ to tell and preach the mysteries of God and his fate. And he walked around various monasteries and deserts for nine years, went around many countries and cities, spoke and preached the will of God and His terrible judgment. Finally, at that time, he came to the Volga River. And he settled in the monastery of Nicholas the Wonderworker, the title of that monastery was Babaika, Kostroma diocese. At that time, the abbot in that monastery was the name Savva, simple life; obedience in that monastery was to father Abel: to go to church and to a meal, and sing and read in them, and meanwhile write and compose, and compose books. And he wrote in that monastery a wise and wise book, ... in it it is written about the royal family. At that time, the Second Catherine reigned in the Russian land; and showed that book to one brother, his name is father Arkady; he showed that book to the abbot of that monastery. The abbot also gathered the brethren, and made a council: send that book and father Abel to Kostroma, to the spiritual consistory, and be sent taco. The spiritual consistory: the archimandrite, the abbot, the archpriest, the dean and the fifth secretary with them - a complete collection, received that book and Father Abel. And they asked him if he wrote that book? And from what he took to write, and they took a fairy tale from him, his business is that and why he wrote; and they sent that book and with it a fairy tale to their bishop. At that time, Bishop Pavel was in Kostroma. Whenever Bishop Paul received that book and a fairy tale with it, and ordered Father Abel to be brought before him; and said to him: "This book of yours was written under the death penalty." Then he ordered him to be sent to the provincial government and his book with him. And byst taco father Abel was sent to that reign, and his book with him, with her also a report.

PART II. CONCERNING THE FOURTH

The governor and his advisers accepted Father Abel and his book and saw in it wise and wise, and most of all, royal names and royal secrets are written in it. And they ordered him to be taken to the Kostroma prison for a while. Then they sent Father Abel and his book with him by post to St. Petersburg to the Senate; with him for the guard an ensign and a soldier. And he was brought straight to the house of General Samoilov; at that time he was commander-in-chief of the entire senate. Father Abel was received by Mr. Makarov and Kryukov. And they reported about it to Samoilov himself. Samoilov, on the other hand, looked at that father Abel’s book, and found it written: supposedly the Empress Second Catherine, will soon lose this life. And her death will be sudden, and other such things are written in that book. Samoilov, seeing this, was very embarrassed about it; and soon called his father Abel to him. And the speech to him with the fury of the verb: “what an evil head you dared to write such titles on the earthly god!” and hit him three times in the face, asking him in detail: who taught him to write such secrets, and why did he take such a wise book to write? Father Abel stood before him, all in goodness, and all in divine actions. And answering him with a quiet voice and a humble gaze; saying: I was taught to write this book by the one who created heaven and earth, and everything else in them: the same commanded me to compose all secrets. Samoilov, hearing this, and swear all to foolishness; and ordered Father Abel to be put under a secret in secret; and he himself made a report to the Empress herself. She asked Samoilov who he (Abel) is and where he came from? Then she ordered Father Abel to be sent to the Shlushenburg fortress, to the number of secret prisoners, and to be there until the death of his belly. This thing was in the summer from God the Word - a thousand and seven hundred and ninety in the sixth year, the month of February and March from the first numbers. And byst taco father Abel was imprisoned in that fortress, by the nominal order of Empress Catherine. And he was there all the time - ten months and ten days. Obedience to him was in that fortress: pray and fast, weep and weep, and shed tears to God, lament and sigh and weep bitterly; at the same time, he still has obedience to God and to comprehend his depth. And spend taco time father Abel in that Shlyushenskaya fortress, until the death of Empress Catherine. And after that he was still kept for a month and five days. Then, when the Second Catherine died, and instead of her, her son Pavel reigned, and this sovereign began to correct what was due to him; replaced General Samoilov. And instead of him, Prince Kurakin was appointed. And that book was found in secret cases - which Father Abel wrote; Prince Kurakin found it and showed that book to Tsar Pavel himself. Sovereign Pavel soon ordered that the person who wrote that book be found and it was said to him: that person is imprisoned in the Shlyushenskaya fortress, in eternal oblivion. He immediately sent Prince Kurakin himself to that fortress to examine all the prisoners; and ask them personally who is imprisoned for what, and remove the iron fetters from all. And take the monk Abel to Petersburg, to face Tsar Pavel himself. And be a taco. Prince Kurakin corrected everything and accomplished everything: he removed the iron shackles from all the prisoners, and told them to expect the mercy of God, and introduced the monk Abel to the palace to His Majesty Emperor Paul himself.

START FIFTH

Emperor Paul, however, received Father Abel into his room, received him with fear and joy, and said to him: “Lord, Father, bless me and all my house: so that your blessing may be good for us.” Father Abel answered him: “Blessed be the Lord God always and forever and ever.” And he (the king) asked him what he wanted: whether to be a monk in a monastery, or choose some other kind of life. He also answered him again and again with the verb: “Your Majesty, my most merciful benefactor, from my youth my desire is to be a monk, and to serve God and His Divinity.” Sovereign Pavel talked with him what else was needed and asked him in secret: what would happen to him; then he ordered the same Prince Kurakin to take (Abel) to the Nevsky Monastery, to the number of the brotherhood. And at the desire to clothe him in monasticism, to give him peace and all that is necessary, Metropolitan Gabriel was ordered to carry out this work from Sovereign Paul himself, through Prince Kurakin. Metropolitan Gabriel, seeing such a thing, was both surprised and horrified with fear. And the speech to Father Abel: everything will be fulfilled according to your desire; then clothe him in a black robe and in all the glory of monasticism, according to the personal command of the sovereign himself; and the metropolitan ordered him, together with the brethren, to go to church and to the meal, and to all the necessary obedience. Father Abel lived in the Nevsky Monastery only for one year; then the pack and abie went to the Valaam monastery, according to the report (i.e., with the permission of the sovereign) of Paul, and compiled another book there, similar to the first, even more important, and gave it to the hegumen father Nazarius, he showed that book to his treasurer and to the other brethren, and giving advice to send that book to the Metropolitan of Petersburg. The metropolitan received that book, and seeing in it is written secret and unknown, and nothing is clear to him; and soon he sent that book to the secret chamber, where important secrets are made, and state documents. In that ward, the head is Mr. General Makarov. And seeing this Makarov that book, and everything incomprehensible to him is written in it. And reported to the general who governs the entire senate; Report the same to Emperor Paul himself. The sovereign ordered that Father Abel be taken from Valaam and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. And be a taco. They took Father Abel from the Valaam Monastery and imprisoned him in that fortress. And he was Abel there, until the sovereign Paul died, and his son Alexander reigned instead of him. Obedience to Father Abel was the same in the Peter and Paul Fortress as he was in the Shlushenbur Fortress, the same time he sat there: ten months and ten days. Sovereign Alexander reigned, and ordered Father Abel to be sent to the Solovetsky Monastery: among these monks, but only to have supervision over him; then he got his freedom. And he was at large for one year and two months, and compiled another third book: it also says how Moscow will be taken and in which year. And that book reached the Emperor Alexander himself. And the monk Abel Abie was ordered to be imprisoned in the Solovetsky prison, and he would be there until then, when his prophecies come true by the very thing.

And Father Abel was all the time in the Solovetsky prison for ten years and ten months, and he lived there in freedom - one year and two months: and he spent that whole time in the Solovetsky monastery exactly twelve years. And he saw in them good and unkind, evil and good, and all and all: there were such temptations to him in the Solovetsky prison, which it is impossible to describe. Ten times he was under death, a hundred times he came to despair; a thousand times he was in unceasing exploits, and the other temptations were to the father of Abel, the number is numerous and numberless. However, by the grace of God, now, thank God, he is alive and well, and prosperous in everything.

START SIX

Now from Adam there are seven thousand and three hundred and the twentieth year, and from God the Word a thousand and eight hundred and the second for ten. And we hear in the Solovetsky Monastery, as if the king of the south or the west, his name is Napoleon, has captivated cities and countries and many regions, and has already entered Moscow. And he plunders and devastates all churches and all civil ones in it, and everyone crying out: Lord have mercy and forgive our sin. I have sinned against You, and there is no one worthy to be called Your servants; let the enemy and the destroyer come upon us, for our sin and for our iniquity! and other such cry all the people and all the people. At the same time, when Moscow is taken, remember the sovereign himself the prophecy of Father Abel; and soon ordered Prince Golitsyn to write a letter on his behalf to the Solovetsky Monastery. At that time, the chief there was Archimandrite Hilarion; the letter is written in this way: “turn off the monk father Abel from the number of convicts, and include him among the monks, for all complete freedom.” It is also added: "if he is alive and well, he would go to us in St. Petersburg: we want to see him and talk something with him." Tako is written on behalf of the sovereign himself, and the archimandrite is attributed: “to give father Abel money to run, which is due to St. Petersburg and all that is needed.” And this personal letter came to the Solovetsky Monastery on the very Intercession, on the first day of October. The archimandrite had always received such a letter, and seeing it written in such a way, he was greatly surprised at it, and at the same time horrified. Knowing for himself that he did many dirty tricks to Father Abel and at one time wanted to completely kill him, he wrote a letter to Prince Golitsyn in this way: “Now Father Abel is sick and cannot be with you, but perhaps next year in the spring, and so on. Prince Golitsyn always received a letter from the Solovetsky archimandrite, and showed that letter to the sovereign himself. The sovereign ordered to compose a personal decree to the most holy Synod, and send it to the same archimandrite: so that the monk Abel would certainly be released from the Solovetsky Monastery, and give him a passport to all Russian cities and monasteries; at the same time that he would be pleased with everything, dress and money. And seeing the archimandrite named decree, and ordered Father Abel to write a passport from him, and release him honestly with all contentment; but he himself became sick from many sorrows: the Lord struck him with a fierce disease, and so he died. This Archimandrite Hilarion innocently killed two convicts, put them and locked them in a death prison, in which not only a person cannot live, but it is inappropriate for any animal: the first in that prison is darkness and crampedness beyond measure, the second is hunger and cold, need and cold above nature; the third smoke and waste and the like, the fourth and fifth in that prison - the scarcity of clothes and food, and from the soldiers torture and abuse, and other such abuse and anger, many and many. Father Abel heard all this and saw all this. And starting to talk about this to the archimandrite himself, and to the officer himself, and to all the corporals, and to all the soldiers, he spoke to them and said: “Children, what are you doing that is objectionable to the Lord God, completely contrary to His Divinity? If you continue from such an evil undertaking, then soon you will all perish an evil death and your memory will be consumed from the land of the living, your children will be orphaned, and your wives will remain widows! They hear this from Father Abel such speeches; and they grumbled bitterly at him and made counsel among themselves to put him to death. And they put him in the same heavy prisons. And he was there throughout the great fast, praying to the Lord God and calling on His Holy Name; all in God and God in him; the Lord God cover him with His grace, and with His Divinity from all his enemies. After that, all the enemies of Father Abel perished and their memory perished with a noise; and he remained one and God with him. And father Abel began to sing a song of victory and a song of salvation, and so on.

PART III. CONCERNING THE SEVENTH

Therefore, Father Abel took a passport and freedom to all Russian cities and monasteries, and to other countries and regions. And he left the Solovetsky Monastery of the month of June on the first day. That year was from God the Word - a thousand and eight hundred and the third for ten. And he came to St. Petersburg directly to Prince Goditsyn, his name and fatherland Alexander Nikolayevich, the gentleman is pious and God-loving. Prince Golitsyn, seeing Father Abel, was glad to see him to the core; and beginning to ask him about the fate of God and about His truth, father Abel began to tell him everything and everything, from the end of time to the end. And from the beginning of time to the last; but he heard this and was horrified, and think another thing in his heart; then he sent him to the metropolitan to appear to him to be blessed by him: Father Abel created tacos. He came to the Nevsky Monastery, and appeared to Metropolitan Ambrose; And he said to him: "Bless the lord, the holy servant, and let him go in peace and with all love." The Metropolitan saw Father Abel, and hearing such speeches from him, he answered him: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, as if you had done deliverance to His people and to His servant, the monk Abel.” Then bless him and let him go, and speak to him, “Be with you in all your ways the Guardian Angel”; and so forth shall I say, and send him away with great pleasure. Father Abel, seeing his passport and freedom to all regions and regions, and flow from St. Petersburg to the south and east, and to other countries and regions. And went around many and many. He was in Tsaregrad and in Jerusalem, and in the Athos mountains; From there, the paki returned to the Russian land: and found a place where he corrected all his own and completed everything. And he put an end and a beginning to everything, and a beginning and an end to everything; there he also ended his life: he lived a long time on earth, until his old age. He was conceived in the month of June, the foundation of September; images and births, the months of December and March. He passed away his life in the month of January, and was buried in February. Taco and decided our father Abel. A new sufferer... He lived all the time - eighty and three years and four months. He lived in his father's house for nine to ten years. Wandered for nine years, then in monasteries for nine years; and after that, father Abel spend ten years and seven for ten years: spend ten years in deserts and in monasteries, and in all spaces; and for seven to ten years, father Abel spend your life - in sorrows and in hardships, in persecution and in troubles, in misfortunes and in hardships, in tears and in illnesses, and in all evil adventures; still this life was seven to ten years for him: in dungeons and in locks, in fortresses and in strong castles, in terrible judgments, and in severe trials; in the same number he was in all blessings and in all joys, in all abundance and in all contentments. Now it is given to Father Abel to dwell in all countries and in all regions, in all villages and in all cities, in all capitals and in all spaces, in all deserts and in all monasteries, in all dark forests, and in all distant lands; it really is like this: and now his mind and mind are in all firmaments ... in all the stars and in all heights, in all kingdoms and in all states ... rejoicing and reigning in them, dominating and ruling in them. This is a true and real word. Therefore, even higher than this, the spirit of Dadamey and his flesh Adamia will be born as a being ... And it will be like this always and without ceasing, and there will be no end to it, it's like that. Amen.

From the life of the Russian common people, sometimes from its darkest environment, more than once people came into the light of God with unshakable faith in their convictions, openly expressed without fear, to the point of self-denial. The mysterious spiritual tension and the strange talk of these people affected not only the everyday situation, but also went further. The poor nobleman Tveritinov appears with a protest against Peter the 1st and puts a written complaint against him to God, in the presence of the sovereign, in the church, on the chandelier in front of the holy icon. The Tambov peasant Kondraty Selivanov creates a whole creed, seduces many people into flocks, and for too half a century extends his influence to all estates and to all of Russia. The illiterate Don Cossack has been fighting Catherine for almost two years and is shaking the foundations of Russia. These people, for all the absurdity, ugliness and often monstrosity of their state of mind, certainly deserve psychological study. They remain bright spots on the historical picture of our everyday life, and it is impossible not to pay attention to them.

The monk Abel also showed remarkable spiritual strength, but he limited himself to predictions alone and left several mystical literary works about the creation of the world and man - a mixture of biblical tales with his own additions, often incomprehensible. Filled with inserts from the Holy Scriptures, they certainly occupied the common people like the so-called "Sleep of the Virgin", which was kept by the Russian people as a talisman and a jewel: the scribes took good money for it. Dark rumors about Abel and his prophecies still circulate in Russia. There is no doubt that he foreshadowed the death of Catherine and Paul, and then the ruin of Moscow by the enemy. Several information about him and his works themselves are published in Russkaya Starina 1875 (I, 414 and 815). But the paperwork itself about him was preserved under the title: “The case of the peasant of the estate of Lev Alexandrovich Naryshkin Vasily Vasilyev, who was in the Kostroma province in the Babaevsky monastery under the name of Hieromonk Adam, and then called Abel and about the book he composed. Started on March 17, 1796, 67 sheets. This case was sent on August 29, 1812 to the Minister of Justice Dmitriev at his suggestion, and in 1815 it was returned to the archive from the Minister of Justice Troshchinsky. We present an extract from this case.

Abel was born in 1757 in the Tula province of Aleksinsky district, in the village of Akulova, and came from Naryshkinsky peasants. From an early age, he began to travel to different places and took the vows in the Valaam monastery of the Novgorod diocese. From this monastery, he went to the desert, and then reached the Volga River and settled in the monastery of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, nicknamed Babaevsky, the same one where Bishop Leonid, memorable to Moscow, recently died. It was here that he wrote those notebooks that caused him so much trouble and trouble and the contents of which will become clear below.

The Governor-General of Vladimir and Kostroma, Lieutenant-General Zaborovsky, in a letter to Count A.N. Samoilov dated February 19, 1796, secretly reported that His Grace Pavel, Bishop of Kostroma and Galicia, sent Abel to the Kostroma governorship with a book he had composed and his own testimony. “In order to extract a confession from this madman and villain, whether he had any participants, a new interrogation was made to him secretly by the ruler of the governorship, but without any success, except for a dark testimony about a certain Jew Theodore Kryukov, whom Abel recognized as the Messiah and whom he saw in Orel " . Abel, shackled in glands, a book he had composed and two interrogations made to him by His Grace Pavel and General Zaborovsky, were escorted to Petersburg under a strong and strict guard of ensign Maslenikov and one non-commissioned officer.

Abel told Bishop Paul that he wrote his book himself, did not write it off, but composed it from a vision, for, being in Valaam, having come to church for matins, as if Paul the Apostle, he was caught up to heaven and saw two books there and what he saw, He wrote the same thing, but did not disclose his composition to anyone. He agrees with the Church in all dogmas and has no hesitation or contention. He called himself the Forerunner Horny, and then he wrote about himself also according to that vision. Regarding the 16th page of the names written by him, of course, they are royal and on the back of that page are these speeches: “now she has more than sixty from birth, and when her husband gave her power, more than three ten years” and further, he remembered Empress Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna. He saw all this when he was taken up to heaven. However, he does not affirm all this as the truth, inasmuch as he can relate this to the temptation of the enemy.

The bishop of Kostroma, finding heresy in the book of Abel, believed that for this, on the basis of a decree of 1737 on November 14, he should have been brought to a secular court; but as in his book he gives a daring and harmful talk about the person of the empress and about her royal family, what is the important secret, relating to the first two points, then, having removed the monastic robe from Abel (on the basis of the decree of 1762 on October 19th) for research and admission according to the laws, the bishop behind the guard introduced him to the Kostroma governorship.

In the Valaam Monastery he had a vision that the Messiah expected by the Jews had already appeared and that he would find him in Orel among the merchants of the Jews under the name of Feodor Kryukov; according to this vision, Abel went to Orel and found the named Kryukov, talked with him about the Holy Scriptures and received an invitation from him to meet again in the same year in Kyiv. Abel returned again to Valaam, from here he undertook a campaign to Tsar-grad through the cities of Orel, Sumy, Kharkov, Poltava, Kremenchug and Kherson. Through all the aforementioned places he passed with a poster passport. From Kherson he moved to Tsar-grad by sea with one sufficient Kherson Greek.

All of the above was sent to Count Samoilov along with Abel, in which money was found 1 ruble 18 kopecks. At this time, Catherine had already prepared papers on granting the succession to the throne to Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich.

"Put the first in the first place,
and then everything else will take
their places"

Holy Fathers

Dear friends!

Today I want to tell you about an amazing and wise man, an honorary citizen of our native city of Ryazan, a zealous servant of God - Archimandrite Abel (Macedonov). This year marks the 90th anniversary of his birth.
The future blessed elder, Archimandrite Abel, in the world Nikolai Nikolaevich Makedonov, was born on June 21, 1927 in the village of Nikulichi, Ryazan province. “I was born into a large peasant family even before collectivization. Grandmother managed everything, grandfather was not there. The family was very hardworking, Orthodox, with traditions. We went to a prayer service both at the Nikolo-Radovitsky Monastery and at St. John the Theologian. How good, grace, but in the Theological Monastery it is heaven.

My grandmother, the father's mother, had seven children, then she took four more. Her husband died young. She didn't break down, she ran the whole household. She was truly respected. I have never heard anyone rudely answer my grandmother. Everyone showed friendliness and love. The best teacher is the family. Sometimes, it seems, you speak to a child, but it goes past his ears. But he puts it together like a piggy bank. He remembers the way the family does it. Everyone was busy with work: everything is ours, and we have to work from dawn to dusk.” Nikolai Makedonov began attending school at the age of eight. From school, Nikolai brought out the best that he could get in it. He saw samples of the loftiness of the soul in the works of Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev. During these years, as Father Abel recalled, he went to services in the Ryazan Sorrowful Church, at that time the only one in Ryazan - all the rest were closed. There, Kolya Makedonov met Borey Rotov, the future Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod Nikodim. From the service, they often went together to the village of Nikulichi. Once the boys started talking about which of them would like to become in the future. Kolya admitted that since childhood he dreams of becoming a schema monk. Borya, on the other hand, dreamed of bringing as much benefit to the Russian Church as possible. Their wishes are almost fulfilled. Subsequently, Kolya Makedonov was tonsured into the schema with the name Seraphim, and Boris Rotov became the right hand of the Patriarch as chairman of external church relations. Throughout their lives, they helped each other, supported in overcoming everyday difficulties. The boys survived all the horrors and hardships of the past war: hunger and cold, caring for their daily bread and early work in childhood. “Several times,” recalled Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, “I heard from Vladyka Nikodim a touching story that cut into his childish consciousness and related to the period of the war. The enemy approached Ryazan. In the Church of the Sorrowful Icon of the Mother of God, a prayer service for victory was served daily and a prayer was read to St. Basil of Ryazan, the patron saint of our region. And at the most critical moment, when people no longer had any hope of salvation from the capture of the city by the Nazis, a rumor spread among the believers in the temple that Saint Basil had appeared and said that he would not give up his native city and people to the desecration of the enemy. And so it happened!”

Once during the war, when Nikolai was 14 years old, such an incident occurred. There was hunger. The guys called him to the state farm. There, they say, carrots are very good, sweet, large. He succumbed to the temptation, pulled, went home, knocked. The door was opened by the father. The boy thought that he would praise, say: “Well done!”, And he took this carrot and this carrot of the boy - and this and that! And then he threw it into the nettle and said: “This is the first and last time. Do not disgrace our family. In our family, no one has ever taken anything from someone else. You can sell, buy, exchange, but you can’t take it without asking.”

During the war, the future father of Abel, Kolya Makedonov, worked around the house all day, took care of his younger brothers and sisters. His father worked in the hospital; mother was busy at work all day. And he worked around the house: he baked, and washed, and sewed - he sewed his brothers and sisters. Relatives gave him food on rations, and Kolya thought: "Now they will eat, but Easter will come - and there will be nothing to put on the table." He poured real flour, sugar, he carried all this into the chest, in the canopy. And Holy Week came up, and my mother said: “I thought they would give rations, but it turned out that they postponed it, they would give it only by May. How will we be by Easter? “Mom, it will be by Easter!” He brought it, and she: “Where did you get it?” “You brought everything.” - “How did you have the strength to sit hungry, and that’s all ...” - and fell silent.

Father Abel happened to receive monastic vows from Vladyka Dimitry (Gradusov) in Rannenburg, in a temple on the site of the former Rannenburgskaya Peter and Paul Hermitage. The place is amazing, historical. After the Petrovsky victories, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov built a monastery called the Rannenburg Peter and Paul Hermitage. According to legend, at this place Peter Alekseevich miraculously escaped from the attack of robbers. Father Abel recalled: “I turned 18, I already took a vow of celibacy. And I was waiting for the day of the tonsure as a holiday! Then I began to serve, I never moved anywhere - I didn’t look for where it was better, where it was more profitable. And where they send him, he went there and never objected.

A large and important segment of the life of Father Abel was also connected with the Yaroslavl land. In 1948, the Administrator of the Ryazan diocese, Archbishop Dimitry (Gradusov), was transferred to the Yaroslavl cathedra. He takes with him father Abel, who by that time had become a hieromonk, and subdeacon Boris Rotov. Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, who in those years was the altar boy of the Fedorovsky Cathedral in Yaroslavl, recalled:

“The simple, kind word of Father Abel deeply sunk into the soul and warmed the heart of a person. As a hieromonk, he spoke in Yaroslavl churches about St. Basil of Ryazan, and these stories were so touching that I never forgot about the feat of this saint.

Father Abel suffered from the Soviet authorities. The press began to persecute him. In the regional Yaroslavl newspaper about him, a full-page article was printed "Charlatan of the XX century." It said that the rector of the Smolensk church, Hieromonk Abel, is a drunkard, an immoral person and does not believe in God, he only pretends to be pious.

Bishop Nikodim (Boris Rotov)

At that time, Bishop Isaiah (Kovalyov) of Uglich was the temporary administrator of the diocese, who loved and respected Father Abel very much. Isaiah summoned the hieromonk to his place and showed the article.

“So it’s not a death sentence. I am not afraid of this slander. And here you save yourself. Do not enter into an argument with slanderers. You are a sick person, and the authorities can deprive you of your position and livelihood.”

Father Abel was transferred back to the Ryazan diocese, to a remote parish.

Father Abel knew how to keep humor in difficult situations, and most importantly, he relied on the will of God in everything. For several years, the commissioners for religious affairs did not allow him to serve in the church.

They hoped, - the archimandrite recalled, - that I would become angry with the Soviet government and join its enemies.
It was during the reign of Nikita Khrushchev, who promised to show the last priest on TV. The pressure on the priests was terrible: some could not stand it, removed their dignity and publicly, through newspapers, radio, and television, renounced their faith. But Father Abel, during interrogations of the Commissioner, always said that political events could change, but he, as a clergyman, would always instill in people patriotism, love for the Motherland, for their Fatherland, so that they would become worthy citizens of the Heavenly Fatherland.

Vladyka Nikodim (Boris Rotov) served as chairman of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. These years fell on the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli conflict (the war unleashed by the British and the French against Egypt, supported by Israel, also affected the Holy City), full-scale hostilities, international conferences, arms supplies to the region. Representing the Russian Orthodox Church abroad in those difficult years, given the hostile attitude towards our Motherland, was not an easy task. Arriving in Moscow, Vladyka Nikodim reported to His Holiness Patriarch Pimen that the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece was dying out. The youngest resident is 70 years old, the others are under 100. And the Greek authorities are waiting for their death in order to take the Russian monastery into their own property. With great difficulty, Vladyka Nikodim convinced the Soviet authorities that the Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos was the only center of Russian culture in the Balkans. Therefore, it must be preserved at all costs.
In 1960, Hieromonk Abel was added to the list of new inhabitants of the Holy Panteleimon Monastery on Athos. For 10 years he had to wait for permission to leave the Soviet Union. From January 1960, Father Abel began to serve in the Borisoglebsky Cathedral, in the ancient Ryazan shrine. In 1963, hegumen Abel received a patriarchal award - a cross with decorations; in 1965 - the rank of archimandrite. In 1969, Archimandrite Abel was appointed rector of the Borisoglebsky Cathedral in Ryazan.

On February 17, 1970, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow and All Russia, Archimandrite Abel was sent to Athos to carry out monastic obedience in the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on the Holy Mountain. On February 27, 1970, two Russian monks arrived on Athos, having received visas for a permanent settlement in the Russian Panteleimon Monastery. One of them was Archimandrite Abel.

What lies behind these nine years of Fr. Abel's ministry on Mount Athos? Huge work!

In his memoirs, Father Abel often returned to the first steps on Athos, they are very vividly preserved in his memory. Surprisingly, he remembered the dates and days of the week, the weather, the smallest details.

Father Abel recalled: when he arrived at Athos, in the Panteleimon Monastery, the service was going on in parallel in two places ... and the brethren were only 14 people, and most of them were motionless. “It got to the point that I alone served for three years without a shift, and the service there is early, at night. It is necessary to serve at night, and then the evening service. And also, after all, the brethren, sick and infirm. You walk around with a cross, return from service to your cell, change into dry clothes and think: well, maybe today there will be no one ... Look, they come: from the governor, from the ministry, then ambassadors, then someone else. Say goodbye to some - others will immediately appear. And there they already struck the bell - you have to go out by vespers, and then into the night ... "

“The Greek police lived in our monastery. When I went to Thessaloniki on business, my cell was always searched. They were looking for a walkie-talkie, something else. This house has been preserved, where the post was, where the police lived. They also went to work.

Since there is no one to serve, I served all alone, permanently. I later visited Athos everywhere, traveled a lot, often served with tears. They saw it. Then the Greeks began to treat me with love. The skin of the face quickly tanned, I was always swarthy. Yes, and I got the “Greek”, almost Athos, Macedonian surname.

... I found people who came to Athos even before the revolution. Father Ilian, rector, who is from Myshkin, his sister wrote to him about me. The other is a Muscovite in the past, father Eutychius, an altar boy. They are of the same age. Here are two Russian elders. Of course, thanks to them, the monastery was preserved for the Russians. I was interested in everything, wrote everything down, tried to communicate with the priest every day. I understood that he would soon die, and I had to live here. I wanted to know more about history. There are traditions, continuity, they have been there since 1904!”

An unusually large number of representatives of the highest Athos authorities gathered for the enthronement of Father Abel in 1972. The envoy of the Iveron monastery lowered the episcopal robe on the shoulders of the new hegumen - a sign of a special privilege. A monk from the Great Lavra of St. Athanasius handed him the abbot's baton.

Father Abel resolved the internal affairs of the monastery, received Greek and foreign government delegations, participated in solving external problems that arose between the Athos monasteries, and was responsible for the economic condition of the monastery.

But the main activity of abbots is spirituality. It was hard for Father Abel to carry out hegumen obedience with a sick heart - heat all year round, high humidity. But he didn't give up. In the 1970s, when Archimandrite Abel was on the Holy Mountain, he was awarded the Order of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church of St. Clement of Ohrid and the Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir II and III degrees. The obedience on the Holy Mountain lasted for almost nine years.

Attention, composure during prayer was a bright hallmark of Father Abel. Many people who knew him well noted that during the service he was always extremely concentrated and even seemed strict and impregnable. But in everyday life he was so kind and affable that it seemed to be a completely different person, not the one who had just been seen dressed in priestly clothes.

His ideal of prayer is to always remember that God is near and sees everything. This image of unceasing prayer, about which St. Basil the Great speaks, was inscribed on the heart of Father Abel. Batiushka taught: “The main thing is inner prayer and inner content in any person.”

Having not studied at the seminary, he knew the Holy Scriptures and the Lives of the Saints very well. He could tell the life of almost any saint - where this or that saint lived, when he suffered, his exploits. In life I tried to imitate their virtues.

In 1978, the priest came from Athos to Leningrad for the funeral of his spiritual friend, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov). In the cathedral church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, he happened to read a permissive prayer over the deceased bishop. Shortly after the funeral, he complained of feeling unwell and was forced to go to the hospital for examination. The results of the medical examination turned out to be disappointing, and Bishop Yuvenaly said: “Father Abel, I have to grieve you ...” So the priest remained in his homeland. It is noteworthy that even on Athos, when Father Abel talked for a long time with Schema-Archimandrite Ilian, asking him about the life of Athos, he, by the way, often told Father Abel the same story. One priest came to Athos to die there, but the Lord judged otherwise and blessed him to return back to Russia. Father Ilian very often recalled this incident, and it began to seem to the priest that the abbot, probably, was forgetting that he had already spoken about this more than once. And only when Father Abel had to return to his homeland, he understood the meaning of this repetition.

When in 1989 the Monastery of St. John the Theologian was returned to the Church, Father Abel was appointed its vicar. The priest had to face considerable difficulties: everything was ruined, the churches were unsettled, there was almost no housing ... but the experience of overcoming difficulties on Athos undoubtedly helped him.

Here is another example from his life then. On the eve of the consecration of the Theological Cathedral, which took place on May 20, 1989, hard work was underway to erect a cross on the dome. They ended just a few hours before the arrival of Archbishop Simon, who consecrated the altar of the temple and celebrated the first Divine Liturgy on it. But by this time, the doors and part of the windows had not yet been installed in the temple. And Father Abel, when the archbishop was seen off, instead of going to rest, remained sitting in the temple, guarding the throne from random passers-by, rural goats and sheep, who then freely roamed the territory of the monastery.

First of all, Father Abel took care of the internal monastic affairs of the brethren.

In the service, all the brethren approached him for blessings. He greeted everyone, asked everyone: “How are you doing? Why are you so gloomy today, what happened to you? Where is this one? Why is it not? And where did he go?” "Daddy, he's gone." - "Where did you go?" “He went to study.” “What does he have there? Exam? Let's pray, let's pray."

Imbued with a special love for the Mother of God, the Abbess of Holy Mount Athos, Father Abel, in the days of Her memory, blessed to serve all-night vigils, which is performed in the monastery to this day. It was to Father Abel that the St. John the Theologian Monastery owes its revival.

For 15 years, during which Father Abel headed the monastery, the holy monastery was transformed. Monastic life was revived, all statutory divine services began to be performed measuredly and solemnly, churches were restored, consecrated and well-decorated, in which many Orthodox shrines appeared - the relics of God's saints, both Russian and ecumenical, revered icons, including those painted in the 19th century on Athos, other church and historical relics. All residential and outbuildings on the territory of the monastery, as well as the holy spring, which attracts the Orthodox from all over Russia, were put in order.

The holy monastery has become a place of all-Russian pilgrimage. Archimandrite Abel put a lot of effort into the prosperity of the monastery. His diligent service was noted by the Hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was awarded the Order of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Daniel of Moscow III degree (1993), a patriarchal letter (1995), the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh III degree (2003). On August 11, 2000, Father Abel was awarded the medal "For Merit to the Fatherland" II degree.

With the blessing of Father Abel, the brethren nourished (nourish - spiritually guide) children's Orthodox camps. In Ryazan, a new direction of work with the younger generation has arisen - the children's and youth organization "Orthodox Knights".

Working with military personnel, veterans, training clergy for the army, for difficult service in hot spots - the list of undertakings is truly inexhaustible.

Chapels were created in hospitals and hospitals with the support and help of Father Abel. One of these chapels was created in the Ryazan military hospital during the most difficult times of the first Chechen war in 1995. Working with the wounded, working with the relatives of the dead, caring for the suffering - today in the hospital it is already unthinkable to treat without such spiritual support. Subsequently, the chapel was rebuilt into a temple and consecrated in honor of St. Luke (Voyno-Yasenetsky), the great surgeon. This temple is the heart of the hospital to this day.

The fame of the priest goes far beyond the monastery. In the glossy edition of “Persons of the Year” published on the eve of 2006, all residents of the city discovered the nomination “Confessors of Russia” and saw, among others, a photograph of Archimandrite Abel. Batiushka greeted this news with his usual humor, and waved his hand: “Well, what can I say!” And in his native Ryazan, when he was presented with the badge of the Honorary Citizen of Ryazan, he shed a tear. Respect and sincere love of fellow countrymen is the highest reward.
“I consider myself the happiest person,” said Archimandrite Abel, “because I was born in the Ryazan land. How many saints she gave, how many famous people - scientists, artists, writers - grew up here!

The people of Ryazan loved and revered Archimandrite Abel. Father Abel died after a short but serious illness, at the age of 80 on December 6, 2006.

His fate is amazing. Continuous service to God, continuous healing of spiritual wounds, continuous prayer for the Russian land. Strengthening faith in the fate of Russia and in the strength of the Russian people.

He knew that Russia had a future. He knew that in this future people would rely on their historical roots, on the spiritual heritage and ideals of their ancestors preserved through the efforts of many ascetics. On faith in Holy Russia, faith in the people and the righteous, faith in the purity, strength and multifaceted talents of the Orthodox people.
“In Aleksey Tolstoy’s “Walking Through the Torments” through the lips of Ivan Telegin, this faith is expressed in soul-grabbing words: “Even if only one county remains of us, Russia will be reborn!”

Father Abel fought for the preservation of this last frontier. And in this aspiration, he, a thin and unprotected person, stood on a par with the heroes - the defenders of the Russian land on the fields of great battles. His battlefield is marked very clearly.

On December 6, 2006, he reposed in the Lord. Svyatogorets, abbot of the John the Theologian Poshchupov Monastery, a wise confessor and mentor, Archimandrite Abel was one of those beacons of faith, thanks to whom the traditions of asceticism were preserved and multiplied. The Pravoslavie.Ru portal publishes memoirs about Father Abel by its regular author, priest Dimitri Fetisov, who knew the priest for the last 7 years of his life.

“You cannot believe in God without seeing the light of eternal life in the eyes of another person,” Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh once said. When I was still a boy and, studying in the 7th grade, I began to actively go to church, the Lord allowed me to get into the circle of people who are deeply and pious believers, and to see directly that wondrous, continuous and grace-filled tradition of life in God, coming from the holy apostles which, perhaps, can never be expressed in words alone.

Almost all of these pious, well-educated and diversely talented clergymen, monks and reverent laity had one thing in common - they were all, one way or another, connected with the St. John the Theologian Monastery, located in the Ryazan diocese, in the village of Poshchupovo.

But perhaps the most important thing that connected and still connects this brotherhood of the Apostle of Love, which still exists today, is a blessed source of living water, after which, as the Savior said in a conversation with Jacob at the well, thirst does not arise (see: John 4 : 5–42), is Archimandrite Abel (Makedonov), a well-known elder and confessor in our Fatherland.

I happened to get to know Father Abel closely and even began to periodically help him during divine services seven years before his righteous death, when physical weakness already began to overcome the ardent spirit of the priest. But that kind and, alas, in many respects unique example, which he set as a Christian and as a priest, will be a guiding star for me for the rest of my life.

Childhood and youth

Father Abel was born into a pious peasant family with many children and from an early age had a love for the Church. As a small boy, for his special zeal for worship, he received from his fellow villagers the nickname "Kolya the Monk." Obviously, he never had any doubts about which path he would choose for himself, since with his soul he always aspired to the temple - the only Sorrowful Church then functioning in Ryazan, to which there were several miles from the native village of the pilgrimage boy.

A special stage in the life of Kolya Makedonov came in 1944, when Archbishop Dimitry (Gradusov; later Schema-Archbishop Lazar), an ascetic and confessor, who received a blessing for the priesthood from. With him, the future Archimandrite Abel, by that time an orphaned sixteen-year-old youth, in whose care four brothers and sisters remained, begins to subdeacon and spiritually nourish himself.

The elder told the following story about Bishop Dimitry’s perspicacity: once three boys – bishops’ subdeacons – were going to the vigil…

The father told the following interesting story about the foresight of the bishop who nourished him spiritually: once three boys - bishops' subdeacons - were joyfully going to the vigil. It was four kilometers away from the only functioning temple in the city - the Sorrowful Church - and, as is typical of young youths with a pure heart, they began to dream aloud about which of them would become who in the future.

The first one seriously stated that he dreamed of serving God by defending the Church from the attacks of aggressive atheism by becoming a bishop. The second humbly told about how he would like to become a monk, so that he could always stay near the temple of God. The third youth, who had already begun to develop a solid bass, shared his dreams of how he would become a venerable protodeacon, decorating church holidays with his service.

When the three dreamers, having met with Vladyka Dimitry, began to approach him in turn for a blessing, then, blessing the first, Vladyka said: “Hello, Your Eminence! How are you? How is your numerous clergy and flock saved?” - it was Borya Rotov, the future Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod Nikodim, Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe, chairman of the DECR - one of the most prominent church hierarchs of Russian Orthodoxy of the 20th century and mentor of the current primate, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

The second youth heard a question from Vladyka: “How are your monks, venerable father hegumen? How are you saved in the Lord? It was the future archimandrite Abel. Vladyka Demetrius subsequently categorically forbade him to become a bishop (apparently knowing that he would have such an opportunity more than once), emphasizing in every possible way that the Lord had prepared for him the senile service. Because of this, Vladyka did not allow the priest to receive spiritual education and, at a very young age, tonsured him into a schema with the name Seraphim (since, according to the canons of the Russian Orthodox Church, a schema priest cannot become a bishop). In addition, being tonsured into the schema was caused by a heart disease, due to which the doctors gave the young hieromonk Abel literally a few years of life.

The third boy, approaching under the blessing, heard from the seer a formidable suggestion: “What are you, father deacon? In the morning at mass - in the evening at the theater? You already decide who you serve…” Subsequently, this man became a deacon, but secular life dragged him out, and he, in due time, not heeding the elder’s warnings, married a second time, leaving, according to the canons, his ministry forever. With the grandson of this unfortunate failed deacon, I later studied at the university on the same course ...

Standing with the Gospel in his hands, the young hierodeacon thought sadly: where should he go after the vigil? The answer came quickly.

And the future father, at the insistence of his elder Vladyka Dimitri, in the most difficult time of persecution, becomes a deacon and takes the robe (at the age of 18!), after which his own brother, fearing persecution by the authorities, asked to leave their house ... and mother) to four brothers and sisters of his father, left without a shadow of resentment in his heart. At the vigil, standing during the polyeleos with the Gospel in his hands, the young hierodeacon thought sadly: where should he go after the vigil? The answer came quickly: immediately after the service, an elderly parishioner, known to everyone for her difficult character, approached Hierodeacon Abel and invited him to stay with her, since her house is located next to the temple. Batiushka lived with this woman for some time, who later confessed to him. a It says: “I am standing during the polyeleos, and you, Father Hierodeacon, are holding the Gospel. Then I felt so sorry for you ... I think: well, where will he go for the night looking after the service; I'll offer him to spend the night with me ... "

Father and Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov)

The best friend, or rather a companion, that is, the most spiritually close and dear person, for Father Abel was Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), with whom they had known since childhood, being subdeacons together and taking care of Archbishop Dimitry (Gradusov). Batiushka not only respected and loved Bishop Nikodim, but also revered him as an outstanding ascetic, who, as he believed, not only was saved, but also found grace before God.

Perhaps, knowing what a difficult mission lies ahead for the future Bishop Nikodim, who later had to repeatedly brilliantly maneuver between the aggressively godless Soviet government and the international community, defending the interests of the Church (which brought him the fame of both a “hyper-ecumenist” and a “KGB agent”), the perspicacious Bishop Dimitry named him in the tonsure in honor of Nicodemus, the secret disciple of the Savior.

Vladyka Nikodim must have made mistakes somewhere. It is known that he really was a "philo-Catholic" in the sense that he liked how smoothly the RCC worked as a single administrative mechanism. But one thing is clear - in the service of the Mother Church, he burned like a candle, absolutely not sparing himself, his reputation and health. Once he confessed to Father Abel that he dreams of becoming like his beloved saint - and this was partly fulfilled, because he died at the age of 49 from a sixth heart attack, being in obedience (the holy fathers say: “The blood shed in obedience is the blood of a martyr ”) and met death, as the supreme apostle, in Rome, in an environment, by and large, unfriendly to holy Orthodoxy.

The lives of Father Abel and Metropolitan Nikodim were closely intertwined forever. Not without the influence of the eminent metropolitan, Father Abel, an ardent preacher and prayer book, leaves for Athos, where he is soon elected by lot, from three candidates, hegumen of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery. Later, in 1979, he comes to the USSR for the funeral of his best friend and brother in Christ, Bishop Nikodim, to read him a permissive prayer at the funeral, and he is no longer allowed back to Athos, as the customs “lost” his Greek passport.

Over time, of course, the priest could return to the Holy Mountain, but he was given the will of the deceased metropolitan, according to which he should have remained in Russia and continued his ministry here. Most likely, this request of Bishop Nikodim was caused by concern about the weak heart of Father Abel, which was negatively affected by the hot and humid climate of Athos.

Abbot of Athos

At what point does a wonderful priest and zealous monk become an elder? It is probably impossible to answer this question, but one thing is clear: the spiritual experience that he adopted from the pre-revolutionary venerable clergy and ascetic confessors, which he received back here, in his homeland, there - on Athos - multiplied many times over. Batiushka, spiritually orphaned, since by that time his abba, Schema-Archbishop Lazarus, had reposed, upon his arrival on the Holy Mountain, he became a novice at the hegumen of the Russian on Athos of the St. Panteleimon Monastery, Schema-Archimandrite Ilian (Sorokin).

“I dream of Athos almost every night,” Father Abel once admitted.

Father Abel often recalled the Athos period of his life with reverence. “I dream almost every night,” he once admitted. He also recalled how the already infirm Schema-Archimandrite Ilian told him the same story about a zealous and pious priest from Russia who came to Athos, but, according to God's Providence, he was not destined to stay here. Fr. Ilian recounted this story so often that Fr. Abel connected it with the senile debility inherent in his age. And only after many years did the father realize that the perspicacious old man was talking about him.

Father Abel recalled many amazing Svyatogorsk stories. It was evident that Athos (he spent about nine years on the Holy Mountain) was the most important spiritual school for him. Here he gained invaluable experience in monastic community life, by that time practically lost in Soviet Russia (since monasticism as an institution, with rare exceptions, was almost completely destroyed). Apparently, it was not without reason that the Lord brought him back to the Russian land, which was soon to experience a stormy “spiritual spring” of the revival of Holy Orthodoxy, which reveals itself in all its beauty and grandeur precisely in the angelic monastic rank.

Russian elder

After the forced return to Russia, the priest was appointed honorary rector of the Borisoglebsk Cathedral. Some time later, in the late 1980s, the ever-memorable Archbishop of Ryazan and Kasimov Simon, who in his youth took care of the then young Hieromonk Abel, asked the priest to head the newly transferred Church of St. John the Theologian Monastery in the village of Poshchupovo, Rybnovsky District, Ryazan Region. The monastery, devastated in the 1930s, was in such a terrible state that it is impossible to recognize the current prosperous corner reflecting beauty in photographs that captured the then abomination of desolation.

The great merit of Father Abel was that, in addition to restoring the buildings of the monastery, he completely managed to restore the spiritual life of the monastic community, the backbone of which still consists of his tonsured. The elder, as far as possible, managed to convey the spirit and the uninterrupted thousand-year tradition of Athos monasticism to his tonsures and spiritual children.

When I met Father Abel, he, according to the testimony of the brethren, who knew him from the beginning of the revival of the monastery, had already begun to fade physically - he was already taking his senile infirmity and numerous illnesses. Batiushka underwent a complex operation, went blind in one eye, and in the last year and a half of his life over long distances, for example, from the abbot's house to the church, he was already transported in a wheelchair - so much strength left him.

Nevertheless, the elder did not miss a single daily monastic Liturgy, taking communion almost every day and attending all the akathists and polyeleos. Often, especially on major holidays, he led the Divine Liturgy himself. I was honored to serve as a subdeacon in his services and I cannot forget how he always celebrated the Eucharistic Canon with tears in his eyes - the main part of the Liturgy, during which bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ the Savior.

"I sing to my God, as long as I am"

The Lord many times vouchsafed me to hold a book of prayers in front of the elder during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. It was evident how vividly Father Abel prayed to God, talking directly with Him, as the prophets, apostles and saints probably did in their time. His sermons were distinguished by the same liveliness, delivered in a completely simple, peasant language and at the same time unusually eloquent (batiushka was generally an excellent storyteller). When he spoke about any event from the Gospel or from the life of the Mother of God, whom he especially reverently loved and revered, then there was a strong feeling that you were hearing this story from the very eyewitness of the events described. It was clear that this liveliness was a consequence of his spiritual experience, by which he mystically approached the Gospel stories described and the saints of God.

Archimandrite Abel was extremely fond of worship, and, perhaps, the only thing for which he strictly exacted from everyone, regardless of persons and titles, was an irreverent attitude towards the service. Being, in my opinion, a very gentle confessor and abbot, he could quite severely rebuke someone who is distracted during the service, talks or, casually performing the service, makes mistakes. Knowing many stichera and troparia by heart, although some of them are read and sung once a year, the priest could even correct the usher through the whole church - go out of his stasidia to the pulpit and loudly, indignantly, ask, turning towards the kliros: “What are you doing there are you singing?!”

The weak father Abel quickly left the altar to the pulpit and said loudly: “Now you need to read “Christ is Risen!””

One day, the monk mistakenly began to monotonously and quietly pronounce the usual words before the Six Psalms: “Glory to God in the highest,” although there were days and it was necessary to read “Christ is Risen” three times. The infirm father Abel quickly left the altar to the pulpit and said loudly: “Now we need to read “Christ is risen!”, ”To which numerous pilgrims, who were not very versed in the charter and considered that this priest greeted them, loudly answered: “Truly, He is risen!” !

My father's memory was phenomenal. However, this was not just a property of memory, but rather a consequence of that spiritual composure, that chastity, that is, the ability to “think wholeheartedly”, which was inherent in the elder, who managed to gather together, with the help of the grace of God, human nature, split by sin. This special concentration of his was noticeable when he prayed (I felt this several times when I was driving next to him, silently praying, in a car) or answered the questions of pilgrims and spiritual children.

It also often manifested itself in relation to the peculiarities of the performance of the service. Often one could see such a picture: he, a 78-year-old elder who had served in the holy rank for more than 50 years, asked the young hieromonk what features of the liturgical rule were on today's holiday last year, and the latter could not remember anything ... Many brethren who had priesthood or those who labored on the kliros kept a diary in which they noted various small, but important, in the opinion of their abbot, nuances of performing services.

Nothing comforted the elder so much as a magnificent and reverent service, in the performance of which he himself was an example, and this can never be conveyed by simple imitation. Being a student of pre-revolutionary experienced clergy, Father Abel was a truly churchly person, reverently breathing with the Mother Church, and this was manifested in everything. He, while performing divine service, seemed to plunge into it as into his native element. He knew the slightest nuances of the annual, weekly and daily cycle of worship. He knew many interesting traditions related to the practice of performing services. More than once I heard the priest with enthusiasm pronounce one of his favorite quotations from the Psalter: “I will sing to my God as long as I am” (Ps. 103:33). I think that this phrase can be considered the unspoken motto of the priest, to which he was faithful all his life.

I happened to hear how some respected clergymen, having served or talked with Father Abel, sincerely admitted to themselves and those around them the lack of churchliness - that indefinable and mysterious organic connection with the Mother Church, which, in my opinion, is so necessary now for every modern Christian and those more than a cleric. There are many sincere believers now, many well-educated, literate pastors, but can we (of course, I am talking about myself first of all) sincerely admit that we live and breathe together with our Holy Church in the way that Archimandrite Abel did?

gift of love

The elder called the altar boy and for a long time dictated the names of those people whom he knew decades ago for commemoration at the proskomedia.

The gift of love that the priest acquired compelled him to pray fervently for everyone he had ever known. Often, coming early in the morning to the service, he called the altar boy with a piece of paper and a pen, and for a long time dictated for commemoration at the proskomedia the names of those people whom he knew decades ago and who mostly died a long time ago. Now, already being a priest, remembering this, I think that it was not without reason that the priest asked me to make these notes, which he later himself (or - sometimes - with the help of a serving hieromonk) commemorated. So he, apparently, taught all of us, his pupils, to be reverent about the duty of any cleric or monk - to pray for their neighbors. Also, the priest did not throw away notes in which he was asked to remember the persons indicated in them. Accumulating for a long time, they made up a huge stack of tattered paper, and all these people were also commemorated at every mass.

Once I happened to accompany Father Abel at a feast in one of the city churches (it must be said that the clergy who revered him quite often invited the priest to their service, meeting with the greatest reverence). After a long service, communication with the parishioners and a meal, the rather tired old man, instead of going back to the monastery, said that we would go with him to serve a memorial service for his friend. Arriving at the cemetery and singing litia, the priest, thanking for the help, casually told me that once with the person for whom we had just prayed, they lived on the same street in childhood and played together.

Batiushka was very attentive and sensitive to everyone who came to the monastery. For him there were no strangers or strangers. He loved everyone, small and great. Under him, social boundaries were completely erased, and those people who came to him: respectable businessmen and politicians, scientists and laymen, priests and laity - all of them around him became a big friendly family. More than once I had occasion to see with what touching love some decrepit old woman, his longtime parishioner, since the 1950s, “rushed under the blessing” to him, and how he affectionately and sympathetically met her - as his own.

Managing a large monastery, being a seriously ill, elderly man, he knew how to remember everyone, even the most insignificant people. On my birthday or the day of an angel, he would definitely invite me to the hegumen's house and would certainly bestow a kind word and a gift. Once, the priest learned from a monk, my friend, that material problems arose in my parents’ family, and, inviting me, asked me not to be shy and, if necessary, come to the monastery’s accounting department and take (which he immediately ordered) how much money is needed for food, clothing or some other needs.

I will never forget how one day, while accompanying the priest to one of the cathedral hierarchical services, I took his staff and walked away, leaving him alone, and he stumbled, with all his might, helplessly fell right on his face on the concrete floor of the altar ... He fell so terribly and on -old clumsily, without having time to group or put forward their hands, that the numerous clergy, who saw this tragedy, gasped in horror. It was amazing how he didn't break anything. But even more surprising for me was his kind attitude towards me - in many respects the culprit of that incident. I think the consequences of that injury caused him physical pain for a long time. Well, instead of even a small reproachful look, I received after that incident only b about the great love and disposition of the old man ...

It seems to be an ordinary case, but how vividly he characterizes his simple loving heart and childish spontaneity, seeing even in manners bordering on bad manners (as I now understand my then behavior) - good. This was all he was - a venerable archimandrite who has among his admirers and spiritual children members of the Holy Synod, many bishops and so easily explains to me - an uncouth boy, why he will not gnaw an apple at the gates of the monastery, of which he is the abbot ...

The gift of clairvoyance

I had a chance to hear many first-hand stories about cases of clairvoyance of the priest. Now I myself recall in a new way some of his words and warnings, to which I had hardly attached much importance before. Probably, the disciples of the Lord also later, after separation from Him, recalled His teachings with trepidation, rethinking them and understanding the depth of what was said at the time when the Teacher was nearby.

At a certain moment, horrified, I realized that Father Abel sees through my heart and at the same time continues to love me. Once, accompanying the priest to a crowded service under, I, pushing the crowd to form a passage for him, proudly puffing out my cheeks, thought about my greatness and importance, since I was able to accompany such a great old man, whom thousands of people seek to approach for blessing ... Suddenly, the lofty flight of my thoughts was interrupted by the priest, who, unnoticed by me, climbed forward and unexpectedly, making his way through the flea market and benevolently teaching blessing to all the pilgrims, turned to me and said loudly, aptly and succinctly denoting my spiritual state: “Dimitri! You are - nobody!"

Not without the prayers of the priest, I sometimes somehow especially acutely felt my sinfulness and unworthiness. Although I, of course, dreamed of the priesthood and knew that by all means, in any way, I would connect my life with the Church, I once had a particularly acute question to myself: “Won’t accepting the priesthood be fatal for me?” Batiushka immediately resolved a question that tormented me: when I approached the blessing to put on the subdeacon’s robes - a surplice with an orarion, he affectionately said: “Well, Dimochka, it will take quite a bit of time, and you will come up to be blessed already with instructions,” meaning that soon I will become a deacon, because the handrails are an attribute of the vestments of the first degree of the priesthood - the diaconate.

Father Abel insisted on my enrolling in a secular university, although I dreamed of a seminary and did not understand at all why to multiply essences and go to study at an educational institution, which, as I thought, would only move me away from my cherished dream - to serve God and His Church in the sacred dignity and, perhaps, even in monastic dignity. Now I understand that all this was providential and, looking back, I realize more and more that there was no better path for me than the one on which the priest directed me.

Often, the elder directly warned certain individuals against the spiritual danger that threatened them.

Often, the elder directly warned certain individuals against the spiritual danger that threatened them. Thus, he repeatedly admonished one hierodeacon directly during the service: “Father, I know what you are thinking about, remember: fornicators will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Subsequently, this brother, who did not heed the strict warnings of the elder, was “carried out” of the monastery, and he began to lead a dissolute life, having renounced his monastic rank.

One day, the priest, who was always very respectful and affectionate towards his young fellow priests, suddenly in the altar, at a gathering of clergy, began to menacingly denounce a certain young priest. Suddenly calling him to him, he loudly said: “I tell you before the throne of God - you are a thief and a deceiver.” This cleric later, having come into conflict with his ruling bishop, was banned from the priesthood. But after the ban, instead of repentance, he engaged in schismatic activities, opening his “church” in the basement of an apartment building.

A certain woman once came to Fr. Abel (and he carried the obedience of the confessor of the diocese, was the most authoritative clergyman among all the clergy and could apply to the ruling bishop) with a request for the ordination of the headman of their parish to the priesthood. To this, the priest answered her sternly: “It is not for you to decide who should be a priest and who should not be.” Many years have passed, and this lady, an active parishioner and a tireless worker, nevertheless “decided who not to be” - and took away from the family an already elderly priest, the father of four children ...

I don’t know if Archimandrite Abel’s foresight (or was it just love for one’s neighbor) can be attributed to his close friendly relations with some representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, although in those distant times we did not have Eucharistic communion with them.

So, during his stay on Mount Athos, Father Abel carefully instructed and patronized, and later even secretly served (however, undoubtedly, with the knowledge of the hierarchy, the principle of obedience to which he always strictly and invariably followed) with the future chairman of the Commission of the Russian Church Abroad for negotiations with the Moscow Patriarchate Archbishop Mark (Arndt) of Berlin-Germany and Great Britain. Apparently, even in those Soviet years, the elder hoped, or perhaps, by the grace of God, foresaw that the question of uniting the two branches of the once United Russian Church was not a utopia, but a very real future to which one should strive. It is clear that at that time it was impossible even to dream of it.

The priest ordered all the brethren to come under the blessing to Vladyka Laurus and, when the distinguished guest was seen off, ordered to ring the bells.

I also know another touching story that I heard from the lips of its direct participants. The story of how in 1993 the future First Hierarch of ROCOR, with whom Archimandrite Abel had long-standing excellent relations, arrived at the St. John the Theologian Monastery and, entering the main cathedral of the monastery, humbly stood in the porch and prayed. Batiushka, standing in the stasidia at the very iconostasis, somehow noticed his old friend praying and, calling the serving hierodeacon, whispered something to him. The hierodeacon, further in the course of the service, pronouncing the great litany, after the prescribed commemoration of His Holiness the Patriarch, respectfully turned to Vladyka Laurus and, solemnly pronouncing his episcopal title, commemorated him together with our primate, which caused tears of tenderness from the humble monk, who was Metropolitan Laurus. After the service, the priest ordered all the brethren of the monastery to come under the blessing to Vladyka Laurus and, when the distinguished guest was seen off, ordered to ring the bells.

All this happened long before the unification of the two branches of our Church, and who knows, maybe that small incident also brought this, without exaggeration, an epochal event a little closer.

The Gift of Judgment

There is a huge amount of evidence of the foresight of the priest. But many spiritual people have repeatedly noted another gift of the elder - the gift of prudence, which the holy fathers placed even higher than all other virtues and gifts, including clairvoyance itself.

In his assessments of those God's people and ascetics whom the priest met in his life, he always avoided excessive Byzantism and adjectives like "most pious", "holy", etc. Sometimes, even describing obvious ascetics - and he happened to meet with many by the nature of his priestly activity, he avoided assessing their feat. So, talking about one woman whom he, in his youth, unction, he admitted that he had never seen such terrible sufferings that this servant of God endured, while thanking God for everything ... Remembering this, he did not say that she - holy or blessed. He just told an instructive case - that's all.

He treated his feat and virtues with the same humility. When I asked him to sign his photo card for me as a keepsake, he agreed, adding skeptically: “Just don’t hang it in the red corner” ...

Father Abel believed: a possessed person needs to live piously, and then the demon, unable to endure prayer, fasting and church sacraments, will leave on its own.

Another characteristic feature of Father Abel was his attitude towards. He believed that demons should not be cast out by a special rank. The demoniac simply needs to start living a pious life, and then the demon, unable to endure prayer and fasting, and most importantly, participation in church sacraments, will leave on its own. Well, if you really do this business, then only with the direct blessing of the hierarchy. (By the way, more than once I have seen how the demons, unable to bear the presence of Father Abel, began to scream loudly and beat in horror at the possessed, forcing them to move away from the elder as soon as possible.)

Of course, I think that the priest saw all kinds of bishops. After all, the Soviet years, in which the Lord judged to serve him, were not only a time of confession, but also a time of betrayal and falls of people who were weak in faith and weak in spirit. Undoubtedly, there were and are unworthy people among the clergy, including the highest, but the bishop is like a father. And the priest must honor him, only in the most extreme case showing disobedience and disrespect to him.

Now, among some laity and even clerics, a disdainful attitude towards the episcopate is becoming fashionable, which fundamentally contradicts church tradition and the standard of piety left to us by such ascetics as Archimandrite Abel.

Last minutes

I will never forget how, shortly before the death of Father Abel, I came to say goodbye to him. He was already dying, and the cell-attendant gave me literally a minute, immediately starting to urge me on and say that the time was up and that the exhausted father should be left. In those short moments, I realized that it was not worth asking the elder for forgiveness, because he forgave a long time ago, and, in fact, he never held a grudge against anyone, even at me. I, having been recognized by an old man who was already half-conscious, simply asked him to pray for me. there, for which he received a promise and the last blessing, which I still clearly feel, especially remembering him at Liturgies and memorial services.

Father Abel

Solemn, but at the same time filled with internal drama was the ceremony of accession to the throne on September 15, 1801 of Emperor Alexander Pavlovich. Only people close to the tsar knew what was going on in the soul of the new ruler of Russia, who had just silently agreed to the murder of Father Paul I. But it was not in vain that Count Palen, one of the organizers of the murder of the former emperor, said to Alexander the next morning: show yourself to the guards." Alexander heeded the advice of an influential nobleman and began to reign authoritatively and with dignity, although he would remember that tragic night all his life.

One of the first decrees of the new king was the establishment of a commission to review previous criminal cases. Among other papers, they reviewed the correspondence about a certain monk, Father Abel, who was kept in the Peter and Paul Fortress from May 26, 1800 for "his various writings." In March 1801, Abel was sent to Metropolitan Ambrose to be placed in a monastery at his discretion, after which he was sent to the Solovetsky Monastery. Later, on October 17, the Arkhangelsk civil governor reported that "Abel, as a result of the decree of the Holy Synod, was released from custody and given to the archimandrite among other monastics."

At liberty, Father Abel spent the whole of 1802, writing during this time another book, which said that Moscow would be taken by the French and burned, and indicated the time -1812. The news of the prediction reached Alexander, who, in irritation, ordered to conclude Abel to the Solovetsky prison until "until the prophecies come true." And Abel had to sit ten years and ten months. The chronicle says this about the time spent by the priest in prison: “And he saw in them good and bad, evil and good, and all and all: there were such temptations to him in the Solovetsky prison, which cannot be described ...”

Moscow, as you know, was taken by Napoleon, and in September 1812, Alexander I, remembering the amazing prediction, ordered Prince Golitsyn to write to Solovki demanding the release of the monk. It was written in the command: “If he is alive and well, then he would go to Us in Petersburg. We want to see him and talk to him.”

Abel was released, provided with a passport, money and clothes. The chronicle narrates: “Father Abel, seeing his passport and freedom to all regions and regions, and flow from St. Petersburg to the south, and to the east, and to other countries and regions. And went around many and many. Was in Constantinople, and in Jerusalem, and in the Athos mountains; from there, the paki returned to the Russian land. The holy father settled in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, lived quietly, having little contact with others. Moscow ladies often came to him with questions about daughters and suitors, but the monk answered that he was only a monk, and not a seer.

Still, Abel did not stop writing. For example, he told Countess Praskovya Potemkina that he had composed several books for her, which he would soon send. However, there were no more prophecies in them, because in another letter Abel complains: “I recently received two letters from you, and you write in them: tell you a prophecy this and that. Do you know what I'll tell you: I am forbidden to prophesy by personal decree. So it is said, if the monk Abel begins to prophesy aloud to people or to whom to write in charters, then take those people as a secret and the monk Abel himself and keep them in prison or prisons under strong guards. You see, Praskovya Andreevna, what is our prophecy or insight - is it better to be in prisons or in the wild. I agreed now it is better not to know anything, but to be free, than to know, but to be in prison and under captivity.

As a voluntary wanderer, Abel moved from monastery to monastery, traveled to different places in Russia, but more often lived in Moscow and in the Moscow province. Here he applied for admission to the Serpukhov Vysotsky Monastery, where he entered on October 24, 1823. Soon Abel's new prediction was spread around Moscow - about the imminent death of Alexander I, the accession to the throne of Nikolai Pavlovich and the December riot. But this time, the Russian prophet seemed to be mistaken, because, according to legend, Alexander did not leave the mortal world, but continued his existence in a completely different guise and in a different essence. And who knows which one was dearer to him.

There were different rumors in the capital and in the provinces, but they boiled down to the fact that Emperor Alexander the Blessed did not die, but someone else was buried in his place. The archives of the office of the Military Ministry contain a collection of such rumors, recorded by a certain courtyard man Fedor Fedorovich, under the title “Moscow News, or New Truthful and False Rumors, which are true and which are false, and now I can’t confirm any, but I decided to describe at my leisure for the distant time unforgettable, namely 1825 from December 25th day. Here are the most characteristic of them.

“The Sovereign is alive, he was sold into foreign captivity ... The Sovereign is alive, he left on a light boat to the sea ... The coffin of the Sovereigns is being transported by coachmen who were given 12 thousand rubles for transportation, which they find very suspicious. Shulgin, the Moscow police chief, talked about this, and Prince Golitsyn, the Moscow governor-general, is in no small doubt about this ... Prince Dolgorukov

Yuri Vladimirovich, after the blissful death of Alexander I, did not swear allegiance to any of the new sovereigns, but first wants to see the body of the late Sovereign with his own eyes in the face, then he will swear to whom he should - then the people from onago expect something sad ... The sovereign's body the Sovereign himself will begin to meet, and at the 30th verst there will be a ceremony arranged by him, and they will bring his adjutant, chopped up instead of him, who told him, and then he fled and disappeared to St. Petersburg ... When Alexander Pavlovich was in Taganrog and built there palace for Elizabeth Alekseevna, the Sovereign came to it from the back porch. The sentry standing there stopped him and said: "Do not deign to go out into this porch, they will kill you with a pistol there." The sovereign said to this: “Do you want to die for me, soldier, you will be buried, as it should be, and your whole family will be rewarded” - then the soldier agreed to this, and the Emperor put on a soldier’s uniform and stood at the clock, and the soldier put on the royal, sovereign's overcoat and hat and went to the palace being finished, covering his face with an overcoat. As he entered the first rooms, they suddenly fired at him from a pistol, but did not hit him, the soldier turned to go back, then another shot at him, shot him, the soldier was picked up and dragged to those chambers where the Sovereign's wife lived, and reported to her that the Sovereign is very unwell, and then after that he died like the Sovereign. And the real Sovereign, throwing away his gun, fled from the clock, but no one knows where, and wrote a letter to Elizaveta Alekseevna so that this soldier “was buried like me.”

Broke the vow of silence and father Abel. When the accession to the throne of Nicholas I was being prepared in the spring of 1826, Countess P. Kamenskaya asked a monk who was in Moscow at that time: “Will there be a coronation and soon?” Abel answered her: "You will not have to rejoice at the coronation." These words spread throughout Moscow, and many explained them in such a way that the coronation would not take place at all due to the strange death of Alexander ...

The soothsayer himself, probably anticipating that the rumors about the accession of a new ruler to the throne could have sad consequences for him, in June 1826 left the Vysotsky monastery. But according to the letters sent, he was nevertheless found in the Tula province, near the straw factories, in the village of Akulovka. By order of Emperor Nicholas, by decree of the Holy Synod of August 27, 1826, Abel was sent under supervision to the prison department of the Suzdal Savior and Euthymius Monastery.

Thus ended the wanderings and prophecies of Father Abel. After a long serious illness, he died in a prison cell on November 29, 1841 and was buried behind the altar of the prison church of St. Nicholas.

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It was on such land that Nikolai Nikolaevich Makedonov, the future blessed elder, Archimandrite Abel, rector of the St. John the Theological Monastery, was born. He was born on June 21, 1927 in the village of Nikulichi.

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My grandmother, the father's mother, had seven children, then she took four more. Her husband died young. She didn't break down, she ran the whole household.

She was truly respected. I have never heard anyone rudely answer my grandmother. Everyone showed friendliness and love. The names were even affectionate: Nastyushka, Gruniatka. The best teacher is the family. Sometimes, it seems, you speak to a child, but it goes past his ears. But he puts it together like a piggy bank. He remembers the way the family does it. Everyone was busy with work: everything is ours, and we need to work from dawn to dusk.

Nikolai Makedonov began attending the school in the village of Nikulichi from the age of eight. One day, Nikolai and his classmates were announced that they would be accepted as pioneers. And when the boy was handed a red pioneer tie, he was warned to take off his pectoral cross. The next Kolya handed the tie back. They wanted to expel him from the school, but the teacher stood up for him: “If such a student is expelled from the school,” she said, “I myself will leave with him.” From school, Nikolai brought out the best that he could get in it. He saw samples of the loftiness of the soul in the works of Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev.

In 1942 he graduated from the seven-year working school No. 1 in Ryazan. During these years, as Father Abel recalled, he went to services in the Ryazan cemetery Church of Sorrow, at that time the only one in Ryazan - all the rest were closed. There, Kolya Makedonov met Borey Rotov, the future Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod Nikodim. From the service, they often went together to the village of Nikulichi. Once the boys started talking about which of them would like to become in the future. Kolya admitted that since childhood he dreams of becoming a schema monk. Borya, on the other hand, dreamed of bringing as much benefit to the Russian Church as possible. Their wishes are almost fulfilled. Subsequently, Kolya Makedonov was tonsured into the schema with the name Seraphim, and Boris Rotov became the right hand of the Patriarch as chairman of external church relations. Throughout their lives, they helped each other, supported in overcoming everyday difficulties.

The boys survived all the horrors and deprivations of the past war: fathers at the front, hunger and cold, care for their daily bread and early work in connection with this already in their childhood. “Several times,” recalled Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, “I heard from Vladyka Nikodim a touching story that cut into his childish consciousness and related to the period of the war. The enemy approached Ryazan. In the Church of the Sorrowful Icon of the Mother of God, a prayer service for victory was served daily and a prayer was read to St. Basil of Ryazan, the patron saint of our region. And at the most critical moment, when people no longer had any hope of salvation from the capture of the city by the Nazis, a rumor spread among the believers in the temple that Saint Basil had appeared and said that he would not give up his native city and people to the desecration of the enemy. And so it happened!” During the service in the Sorrowing Church, the boys helped Bishop Demetrius, he considered them his spiritual children.

Kolya was two years older, and life abruptly took him into circulation as a teenager: during the war years, he was left without parents with two brothers and two sisters in his arms, the youngest of whom was only three years old.

“I turned 18, I already took a vow of celibacy. And I was waiting for the day of the tonsure as a holiday! Then I began to serve, I never moved anywhere - I didn’t look for where it was better, where it was more profitable. And where they send him, he went there and never objected.

Once, one of our archpriests from Ryazan then asked Vladyka Dimitry:

“Vladyka, I do not understand your act. There are such beautiful monastic names, but you gave some name - Abel. Somehow it is incomprehensible for a moral feeling ... "

- "I gave this name with meaning" and he explains to him:

“Abel is the first martyr, the first righteous man. Father Abel is the first tonsured in the land of Ryazan (before me, there was not a single monk in the Ryazan region in the 40s, there were also only old people in Russia; and in Ryazan there were no old people at all, there was no one. Then Abel pleased God with those that he loved God so much that he sacrificed the best lambs so that God would be pleased. He loves God so much that he gave his youth to God without hesitation. Abel was the favorite of his parents, so we will love him. Therefore, I told him gave such a name."

Father Abel happened to receive monastic vows from Vladyka Demetrius in Rannenburg, in a church on the site of the former Rannenburgskaya Peter and Paul Hermitage. The place is amazing, historical. After the Petrovsky victories, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov built a monastery called the Rannenburg Peter and Paul Hermitage. According to legend, at this place Peter Alekseevich miraculously escaped from the attack of robbers.

Three Patriarchs of Moscow and All Russia knew Father Abel. The memory of the archimandrite's father kept amazing details important for understanding the history of Russia in the 20th century. He witnessed events whose significance we can only appreciate today.

On January 20, 1947, Archbishop Dimitry (Gradusov) served a solemn prayer service - the ancient Borisoglebsky Cathedral in Ryazan was reopened for parishioners. Borisoglebsky Cathedral again became a cathedral. On January 12, 1948, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I visited the cathedral. With his blessing, large-scale repair and restoration work began in the temple. The vaults and walls of the cathedral were re-painted according to the best examples of the 15th-17th centuries by artists from Palekh, the Blokhin brothers. A rare iconostasis of the 18th century was installed in the left aisle. In the churchyard, a baptismal church was built in the name of the righteous Joachim and Anna, and a new monument was erected on the grave of St. Basil of Ryazan.

Time passed, and life closely connected Archimandrite Abel with the Borisoglebsk Cathedral in Ryazan: he was its rector from 1969 to 1970 and from 1978 to 1989.

A large and important segment of the life of Father Abel was also connected with the Yaroslavl land. Archbishop Dimitry in 1917 (then still a layman Vladimir Valerianovich Gradusov) was a participant in the historic All-Russian Local Council, which restored the patriarchate in Russia. In Moscow, during the Council, he was ordained a priest by Patriarch Tikhon. Having received a parish on the outskirts of the city, he survived the suppression of the uprising in Yaroslavl, during which a third of the city was destroyed, and both of his legs were broken.

After his transfer from Ryazan to Yaroslavl, he took his spiritual children. Father Abel served in Uglich, Yaroslavl region, in the church in the name of the holy Tsarevich Dmitry (killed in 1591), whom the archimandrite greatly revered and ordered to pray to him for the deliverance of Russia from all kinds of misfortunes.

Soon Bishop Demetrius appointed Father Abel rector of the Smolensk church in the village of Fedorovskoye. There, the young rector was jokingly nicknamed “Abba”. Among the parishioners of the Smolensk church was Sergei Novikov, the future Metropolitan of Ryazan and Kasimov Simon. Novikov then worked as the head of the electrical department at a plant that produced military products. The plant was located in the village of Volgostroy, not far from the village of Fedorovskoye.

Father Abel was 23 years old, Sergei Novikov - 22. Both had a high spiritual disposition, so they became friends. And as it turned out, for life. Friendship has become a real treasure for them.

Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, who in those years was the altar boy of the Fedorovsky Cathedral in Yaroslavl, recalled:

The simple, kind word of the father deeply sunk into the soul and warmed the heart of man. As a hieromonk, he spoke in Yaroslavl churches about St. Basil of Ryazan, and these stories were so touching that I never forgot about the feat of this saint.

For kind, wise sermons, Father Abel suffered from the Soviet authorities. The press began to persecute him. In the regional Yaroslavl newspaper about him, a full-page article was printed "Charlatan of the XX century." It said that the rector of the Smolensk church, Hieromonk Abel, is a drunkard, an immoral person and does not believe in God, he only pretends to be pious.

So it's not a death sentence. I am not afraid of this slander. And here you save yourself. Do not enter into an argument with slanderers. You are a sick person, and the authorities can deprive you of your position and livelihood.

So after all, after this article you will not be allowed to serve anywhere. And they won't take any job.

Not afraid. Let me go to Ryazan. My two brothers and two sisters live there. They won't let you die of hunger. Each of them gives me a piece of bread: one for breakfast, another for lunch, a third for dinner, and I will give the fourth piece to a beggar like me.

Father Abel knew how to keep humor in difficult situations, and most importantly, he relied on the will of God in everything.

For several years, the commissioners for religious affairs did not allow him to serve in the church.

They hoped, - the archimandrite recalled, - that I would become angry with the Soviet government and join its enemies.

It was during the reign of Nikita Khrushchev, who promised to show the last priest on TV. The pressure on the priests was terrible: some could not stand it, removed their dignity and publicly, through newspapers, radio, and television, renounced their faith. But Father Abel, during interrogations of the Commissioner, always said that political events could change, but he, as a clergyman, would always instill in people patriotism, love for the Motherland, for their Fatherland, so that they would become worthy citizens of the Heavenly Fatherland.

In 1960, Father Abel told his childhood friend Metropolitan Nikodim (B. Rotov) about his situation. Vladyka Nikodim was imbued with the difficult situation of his comrade and helped him become a serving priest of the Nativity Church in the village of Borets, Sarajevo District.

Vladyka Nikodim served as chairman of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. These years fell on the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli conflict (the war unleashed by the British and the French against Egypt, supported by Israel, also affected the Holy City), full-scale military operations, the seizure of territories, international conferences, and the supply of weapons to the region. Representing the Russian Orthodox Church abroad in those difficult years, given the hostile attitude towards our Motherland, was not an easy task. It was then that the talent of Vladyka Nikodim was noticed in resolving complex diplomatic issues, which was so clearly manifested later.

Arriving in Moscow, Vladyka Nikodim reported to His Holiness Patriarch Pimen that the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece was dying out. The youngest resident is 70 years old, the others are under 100. And the Greek authorities are waiting for their death in order to take the Russian monastery into their own property. With great difficulty, Vladyka Nikodim convinced the Soviet authorities that the Panteleimon Monastery on Athos was the only center of Russian culture in the Balkans. Therefore, it must be preserved at all costs.

In 1960, Hieromonk Abel was added to the list of new inhabitants of the Holy Panteleimon Monastery on Athos. For 10 years he had to wait for permission to leave the Soviet Union.

From January 1960, Father Abel began to serve in the Borisoglebsky Cathedral, in the ancient Ryazan shrine. In 1963, hegumen Abel received a patriarchal award - a cross with decorations; in 1965 - the rank of archimandrite; in 1968 - the right to serve the Divine Liturgy with the Royal Doors open until the Cherubic Hymn. In 1969, Archimandrite Abel was appointed rector of the Borisoglebsky Cathedral in Ryazan.

On February 17, 1970, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow and All Russia sent Archimandrite Abel to Athos to perform monastic obedience in the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on the Holy Mountain.

On February 27, 1970, two Russian monks arrived on Athos, having received visas for a permanent settlement in the Russian Panteleimon Monastery. One of them was Archimandrite Abel.

The arrival of Russians from the USSR to Athos in many Russian emigrant media in the West was regarded as a "great miracle".

What lies behind these nine years of Fr. Abel's ministry on Mount Athos? Huge work!

An unusually large number of representatives of the highest Athos authorities gathered for the enthronement of Father Abel in 1972. The envoy of the Iveron monastery, who keeps the main shrine of Athos, lowered the episcopal robe on the shoulders of the new hegumen - a sign of special privilege.

A monk from the Great Lavra of St. Athanasius handed him the abbot's baton.

But the main activity of abbots is spirituality. It was hard for Father Abel to carry out hegumen obedience with a sick heart - heat all year round, high humidity. But he didn't give up.

In the 1970s, when Archimandrite Abel was on the Holy Mountain, he was awarded the Order of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church of St. Clement of Ohrid and the Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir II and III degrees. The obedience on the Holy Mountain lasted for almost nine years.

On September 5, 1978, a telegram from the USSR arrived at Athos announcing the sudden death of the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad and Novgorod. A childhood friend died, and the hegumen of the Russian Monastery on Athos of the St. Panteleimon Monastery prayed:

“I thought I wouldn’t get to a friend’s funeral. When I wanted to go to Russia for church celebrations on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the restoration of the patriarchate, the Greek authorities delayed the paperwork, and I did not go because I was late. At night, I served the last liturgy on Athos, as it turned out later, and began to serve a memorial service for the newly deceased Vladyka Nikodim. The attendant suddenly ran into the temple: “Father Abel, you are on the phone.” The Soviet consulate in Thessaloniki informed me that my travel documents were ready. I thought: “This is a miracle! They didn’t give it to the celebrations, but to the funeral ... ”I felt very bad, I thought: if I see a friend’s coffin, I can’t stand it, my heart can’t stand it. He was like a brother to me. At parting, he gathered the brethren: “I am leaving, fathers ... All my desire is to be here and die here, but everything is the will of God, and we are in His hands. Instead of myself, I leave Father Jeremiah. You are my novices, obey him as I do. And there, how the Lord will manage.

Father Abel was in time for the funeral. After reading the Gospel, the permissive prayer in the cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra was read by the rector of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Athos, Archimandrite Abel ...

After the funeral of a friend, Father Abel somehow complained about his health. He was offered not to leave yet, but to undergo an examination at the clinic. Batiushka recalled: “It was a clinic, it seems on Malaya Gruzinskaya. Some time after the examination, Bishop Yuvenaly, who was then acting as the late Bishop Nikodim in the DECR, said to me: “You know, I will have to grieve you ...” Thus ended the Athos period of the life of Archimandrite Abel. He was left in Russia.

In 1989, after long negotiations, the St. John the Theologian Monastery was transferred to the Ryazan diocese. On May 16, 1989, by a decree of the Holy Synod, Archimandrite Abel was appointed abbot of the John the Theologian Monastery in the village of Poshchupovo, Rybnovsky District, Ryazan Region, which had just been returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. At that time, most of the monastery buildings of the once flourishing monastery lay in ruins.

The holy monastery became a place of all-Russian pilgrimage. Archimandrite Abel put a lot of effort into the prosperity of the monastery. His diligent service was noted by the Hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was awarded the Order of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Daniel of Moscow III degree (1993), a patriarchal letter (1995), the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh III degree (2003). On August 11, 2000, Father Abel was awarded the medal "For Merit to the Fatherland" II degree.

With the blessing of Father Abel, the brethren nourished children's Orthodox camps. In Ryazan, a new direction of work with the younger generation has arisen - the children's and youth organization "Orthodox Knights".

Working with military personnel, veterans, training clergy for the army, for difficult service in hot spots - the list of undertakings is truly inexhaustible.

The year 2005 for Archimandrite Abel was marked by an important anniversary date - the 60th anniversary of serving in the holy order. Throughout his difficult life, Father Abel carried the unquenchable fire of the faith of Christ.

The fate of Father Abel is amazing. Continuous service to God, continuous healing of spiritual wounds, continuous prayer for the Russian land. Strengthening faith in the fate of Russia and in the strength of the Russian people.

In Alexei Tolstoy's "Walking Through the Torments" through the lips of Ivan Telegin, this faith is expressed in breathtaking words: "Even if only one county remains of us, Russia will be reborn!"

Page layout - Shcherbakov Artyom, 10 A (2013)

Shepherd. Archimandrite Abel (Macedonov) is the bearer of Athos spiritual traditions. Life and suffering of the father and monk Abel

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