Prayer of the Optina Fathers:
O
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God! Deliver me from the seductions of the
fast approaching Antichrist, who is evilly cunning and abominable to
God. And
deliver us from all his snares, and shelter our spiritual father (name),
all of us, his spiritual children, and all the Christians who are close
to us from his insidious nets in the secret
desert of Thy salvation, and do not allow us, O Lord, to have the fear
of the devil more than the fear of God, and do not let us fall away from
Thee and Thy Holy Church, but grant us rather, O Lord, to suffer and
die for Thy Holy Name and the Orthodox Faith,
and not to deny Thee, and not to receive the seal of the accursed
Antichrist, and not to worship him. Give us, O Lord, day and night,
tears and weeping over our sins, and spare us, O Lord, in the day of Thy
Terrible Judgement.
Amen.
".The wellspring of prayer is in everyone-it is tapped either by gradually delving deeper into oneself in accordance with
the teachings of the Fathers, or instantaneously, thunderstruck by God's piercing to the core of the soul."
-Elder Leonid
THE PERSECUTION OF ELDER FR. LEONID IN 1835-1836
IT IS NOT
in vain that the Holy Fathers say that whoever is performing a task
pleasing to God is sure to meet
with temptation, and that every good deed is preceded or followed by
temptation. The words of the Chronicler of the Kiev Caves that monastic
institutions are built by the sweat and tears of prayer can be applied
also to the introduction of eldership - the
foundation of monasticism - at the Optina Monastery. It was introduced
and established here with many labors and sorrows. This is in keeping
with the assurance of the Holy Fathers that the enemy of mankind harbors
no love for the revelation of thoughts,
not even the very sound of the words of such revelation, because he
knows that by means of this all his snares and cunning are laid to
waste. So it is not surprising that he does not hesitate raising
opposition to this monastic path which is so hateful for
him, employing various snares. Because of the introduction of
eldership, he raised up a strong persecution against Fr. Leonid. The
tools of this persecution were simple persons who did not know and did
not understand the path of eldership.
Among
the former brotherhood of Optina there were pious, kind monks; but each
of them had lived according to his own understanding and had struggled
as he was able. Their primary attention was focused on
external labors and active virtues.
But when Fr. Leonid settled in the Monastery with his disciples, then
they began to hear of eldership and spiritual nourishment, of purifying
the conscience and revealing thoughts, of cutting
off one's own desires and understanding, of inward activity;
and all of this seemed to many of them to be some kind of new,
unintelligible teaching, which some of them called outright heresy. The
former brethren (especially those among them who because of their age
had difficulty in changing the concepts with which
they had passed the greater part of their lives) openly rose up against
these novel innovations and began to regard the disciples of Fr. Leonid
with distrust and dislike. In keeping with the directions of the Elder,
his disciples humbled themselves in every
possible way before these venerable old men, and for their part observed
everything so as not to disturb the peace of the Monastery. But the
dissatisfied monks were not happy with the new order of things. They
began to turn to the diocesan authorities with
various kinds of complaints, and finally managed to get the chancery to
issue an ukase that four hieromonks of the older brotherhood, together
with the abbot and treasurer, were to participate in the discussion of
all the most important matters of the Monastery,
and that without their common consent nothing concerning the general
welfare of the Monastery was to be undertaken or put into effect. This
was in 1830, one year after the Elder, Fr. Leonid, had settled at the
Optina Monastery. However, the expectation of
the opponents did not meet with success. When the Archpastor of Kaluga,
at that time Bishop Gabriel, visited the Optina Monastery he showed very
sympathetic attention to the Abbot, Fr. Moses, in the presence of the
entire brotherhood and reprimanded the disgruntled
brothers, ordering them to correct themselves. Though the unrest in the
Monastery did not completely quiet down after this, nevertheless, by
their long-suffering over the course of many years Fr. Moses and Fr.
Leonid overcame these difficult circumstances,
strengthening themselves with the good hope that through the help of the
grace of God the affairs of the Monastery, in time, would come into
better order.
"The
most merciful God of peace," Fr. Leonid wrote to Fr. Macarius in
Ploshchansk Hermitage, "is powerful and almighty to turn the storm,
unrest and
temptation which He has permitted into quiet, fair weather and to usher
in peace. Blessed be His name henceforth and for evermore. As is
pleasing to His all-holy will, so may He govern us, His creation." In
fact, after some time the unrest in the Monastery
did quiet down somewhat. Some of the dissatisfied brethren left the
Monastery; more and more new disciples of the Elder arrived and his
influence in the Optina Monastery grew stronger and stronger.
But
there still remained a group of the monks who retained a hidden
dissatisfaction for the Elder and were unable to watch the course of Fr.
Leonid's
action peacefully. And so a new temptation began for the Elder.
Fr.
V., a monk of the Skete, was moved with false zeal against Fr. Leonid
because so many people came to him. He wrote reports to the Bishop on
several
occasions, presenting this traffic of crowds of people as something
disgraceful and a disruption of the stillness of the Skete, even though
the visitors did not come directly to the Skete but went to the apiary
where Fr. Leonid's cell stood. This place had
its own separate entrance, and no one was bothered. Also, we should note
that this monk who rebelled against Fr. Leonid acted in this manner at
the prompting of the brothers who were discontent with the Abbot and the
Elder. They took advantage of his simplicity
and made use of it as an instrument for their own secret intentions.1 Almost all of these brothers later could
find no peace in the Optina Monastery and wandered off to various monasteries. Some of them also suffered very grievous deaths.
Dissatisfied
with the written reports of Fr. V., the new Bishop of Kaluga, Nicholas,
first left them unnoticed. Then the opponents of the Elder finally put
together a false complaint against the Elder and Fr. Moses, and they
sent it to the Bishop as from some unknown person.
Unseemly rumors were circulated about Fr. Moses among the people at that
time, primarily by persons who did not know him at all, who had never
seen him, or by persons who had heard exalted reports about the Elder
(from those who had received spiritual benefit
from him) but who did not believe such things and then came with their
own preconceived notions and curiosity, saying scornfully: "Let's go see
what kind of saint this is they have over there." It is quite natural
that such persons, instead of being edified,
were scandalized and spread degrading stories that others manipulated.
Finally, there were also persons who confused the Sacrament of
Confession with a life according to spiritual guidance, and therefore
beheld with great indignation how the people flocked
to the Elder-monk for spiritual counsel. This took place in the Kaluga
Diocese at a time when, perhaps for all of Russia, this was something
new. For
many did not know what the ancient practice of the Church of Christ had
been: that throughout Christian times the monastic elders who had
advanced in spiritual life never refused to be spiritual guides for
those who turned to them in faith.2
Persons
who had forgotten this - or it is better to say, people who did not
know - and in general a great many who did not understand the spiritual
activity of the Elder, spread unfavorable opinions about him. The
Bishop, wanting to put an end to the rumors and perhaps concerned lest
the spreading of unseemly rumors result in something unpleasant for
himself, directed that Fr. Leonid be transferred from
the apiary of the Skete to the Monastery and forbade lay persons of both
sexes to see him. Fulfilling the wish of the Archpastor, the Elder
instead was moved in November of 1835 to one of the cells inside the
Skete because there was no cell in the Monastery
that was free or convenient for him. But soon there came an insistent
directive that, no matter what, Fr. Leonid was to be moved into the
Monastery. This was on February 2, 1836. It was not without tears and
lamentation that the brothers with him accompanied
him from the Skete to the Monastery, like a family with one mind which
was being deprived of their own father and guide. Nor was it any less
grievous for the Abbot of the Monastery, Fr. Moses, and the Superior of
the Skete, Fr. Anthony, to see that these measures
were enforced. They were, as the saying goes, caught in a cross-fire.
They had to submit to the will of the Bishop, while at the same time
they understood what a spiritual loss would result. They knew that the
Elder was innocent and that his life was equal
to that of the angels. What can be said about those multitudes of
devotees and spiritual children of the Elder, of those who possessed in
him a ready resolution of their problems and doubts, a support in their
needs, an experienced guide in spiritual warfare
and predicaments, a ready consolation in their sorrows? Their grief
defies description. But the Elder himself endured this persecution
magnanimously and did not even consider himself persecuted. "Out of your
unbounded devotion," he wrote to one of his spiritual
sons, "you are discouraged about my situation and by mistake consider me
to be under persecution. . . . But I am certain that nothing can happen
to me without God's permission; and when it is pleasing to Him to send
me something because of my sins, I have
to accept it with submissive-ness, for we can never flee from His hand."
"If all were to speak of me with praise," the Elder wrote to another
person, "then woe to me, according to the words of the Savior Himself:
Woe to you, when all men shall speak well of you . . .
(Luke 6:26). Truly the Lord does everything for our benefit, and
without Him not even a hair of our head can perish. As for those who are
so fervent for my wretchedness and who find profit according to their
faith, the Lord is not in need; and even now
He can grant consolation to each person who is worthy and who seeks -
both through the pastors appointed by the Holy Spirit and also,
especially, through His hidden servants. But those who seek benefit and
consolation in their sorrows and bewilderment have
to be prepared with faith and with the intention of fulfilling all the
commandments of the Lord and the regulations of the Church, and must
seek with humility and accept advice with simplicity of heart. For my
part I thank the Lord; I sense a calm in my conscience
and am in no way burdened by my move."
The
Bishop of Kaluga received from the secret police in Moscow an anonymous
report in which various accusations
were repeated at the same time against the Elder Fr. Leonid and also
against the Abbot of Optina. Among other things it was reported that the
Abbot showed a preference for those Elders living in the Skete over
those living in the Monastery, that the Skete
was bringing great harm to the Monastery in every way, and that if the
Skete were not closed, then this ancient Monastery would fall into
decline and destruction, and so forth. As a result of this report the
Abbot of Optina had to submit his defense. Since
Fr. Leonid had been tonsured to the great schema in a monastic cell
environment without a directive from the chancery, the Bishop of Kaluga
forbade him to wear the schema and also strictly repeated his order that
the Elder receive no visitors.
This
prohibition was repeated more than once, and each time, submitting to
the will of the Bishop, Fr. Leonid
stopped receiving visitors. In fact, he himself was happy to have some
rest from his labors as he was then 68 years old. "Concerning myself and
my circumstances, I have the honor to inform you," the Elder wrote to
an acquaintance of his in 1836, "that I, glory
be to the all-merciful Lord God, Who yet endures my sins, am still among
the living and in the same cell, but my visits with those who come to
the guest house to see me have been terminated. And if I may speak
frankly to you, even if this were permitted, it
seems that my weakness and frailty no longer possess the strength to
satisfy those who are hungry, because my physical strength has been
exhausted. In keeping with this situation of ours, I most respectfully
request you: do not cut off relations with the
Monastery and explain, concerning my own position, that people should
not expect to receive any kind of profit from my wretchedness through
some pseudo-devotion. Here is what happened just yesterday: A certain
person with good intentions, acquainted with the
Abbot and my unworthiness, asked the Abbot that she be allowed to have a
visit with me in his quarters, so that she could speak about what she
needed. But I was too weak. Even though I fought to gather the strength
to carry out this obedience and satisfy this
person, I was unable to go; she left without being satisfied." Sometimes
the Elder, wishing to fulfill the will of the Bishop to refuse
visitors, would depart for a time from the Optina Monastery to St.
Tikhon's. "Circumstances and the remarkable flocking
of devoted people," he wrote on another occasion to the same person,
"scarcely allow me to remain, but I have to leave at least for a time.
If the Lord wills and I remain alive, I have this intention. It is only
now, glory be to the all-merciful Lord God,
that the authorities have taken strict measures; the gates are locked
and the doors are bolted shut. But is my rest going to last long? . . ."
In fact, in spite of the desire of the Elder to fulfill the will of the
authorities, he was not able to refuse guests
for long. Individuals soon appeared coming to the Monastery to consult
Fr. Leonid. After they were not permitted to see him they turned to the
Abbot, explained their spiritual needs on account of which they had
hoped to see the Elder and persuasively begged
the Abbot not to deprive them of spiritual assistance. The Abbot, being a
spiritual man himself, could not refuse such visitors having extreme
needs, and sometimes personally brought them to the Elder. But when he
did not make up his mind to do ι Ins, it sometimes
happened that these visitors would appeal to (lie Bishop himself, and
after being convinced by their Cearful petitions the Bishop would
finally give permission for Fr. Leonid to receive them. After he had
received the persons sent by the Bishop or those whom
the Abbot had brought, Fr. Leonid would open his door for everyone on
every occasion, saying that if he was not to receive anyone then he
would receive no one at all, but if he was to receive one then he would
receive all.
Since
he acted in this manner Fr. Leonid was the victim of much criticism,
and because of rumors even certain spiritual
persons considered him to be self-willed and anxious to teach others.
The persecution which was brought at that time against Fr. Leonid
because of his ministering to suffering mankind is reminiscent of the
ancient life of St. Abramius of Smolensk, about whom
St. Demetrius of Rostov gives the following account: "Many persons, not
only monks but also lay-folk, came from various places especially to him
in order to hear from his lips a word of instruction profitable for
their souls. But the devil who hates what is
good, unable to endure the sight of such profit from the Saint of God,
initiated persecution against him by arousing envy and hatred for him
among certain of the monks. But the guileless servant of the Lord
endured all this with meekness and humility. He did
not stop his own work and continued to teach and console those who
came to him, through the grace of Christ. Finally, the abbot, provoked
partially by the monks, partially by the invisible enemy, forbade the
blessed one to teach, saying: 'Here you are attracting
everyone to yourself and have grown proud and vainglorious that you
are educated and learned and better than we are; so stop teaching - I
will answer for you before God.' Then the abbot, after reprimanding
Abramius, in anger drove away all those who had
come to him for soul-profiting counsel and greatly insulted the servant
of the Lord by stopping the wellspring of grace which flowed from his
lips. In the end, with dishonor he expelled him from the monastery. Then
the servant of Christ Abramius went to Smolensk
and lived in another monastery; but he did not abandon his work here
either, because even more people began to come to him for spiritual
instruction."
Likewise in the account of the life of Seraphim of Sarov,3 we
read that
on one occasion the Abbot Niphon, while revering the Elder for his
ascetic labors, made it a point to inform him that the brotherhood,
because of the strictness of its asceticism, did not approve of Fr.
Seraphim since he was receiving persons of both
sexes and from every walk of life, albeit for edification unto
salvation. The Abbot Niphon said this only because some of these
brothers were scandalized, while he himself deeply loved and respected
the Elder Seraphim. After listening to the words of the
Abbot, the Elder fell at his feet and gave him a wise and salutary
reply: that he not give himself over to false accusations in the future
and that he not accept any word of the brothers against anyone
without discretion. "You are a pastor," he said,
"do not permit everyone to speak in vain, to distress you and those who
are journeying into eternity. For your word is powerful and your staff,
like a whip, is fearsome to all." Abbot Niphon was moved by these words
of the Elder and stated that he agreed that
Fr. Seraphim not change his way of life and that he continue to receive
everyone who came to him for profit of soul, as before.
In
keeping with the example of St. Abramius and the blessed Elder
Seraphim, and as a genuine performer of the commandments of Christ, Fr.
Leonid did
not pay attention to human interference. We think that had his opponents
looked more closely at his activity, they would have thought
differently about him. Let us recall what lay at the beginning of the
persecution of Fr. Leonid and Fr. Theodore at Valaam.
It began when Fr. Eudocimus (Euthymius), formerly the disciple of the
abbot of Valaam, worn down by depression and despair and even
contemplating suicide, turned to these Elders for help. Could they have
refused him help because of some human reservations
when he was in such a terrible plight? Now there were many such
predicaments and they continued to occur. Apparently the opponents of
Fr. Leonid never gave a single thought to what spiritual needs brought
people to him for his advice. χ* On one occasion, Abbot
Moses, walking about the monastery, saw an enormous crowd of people
before the cell of the Elder; and at that time a strict order from
Kaluga had recently been received that no one be permitted to see him.
The Abbot entered the cell. "Fr. Leonid!" he said,
"How can you receive people? You know the Bishop forbade you to receive
anyone." Instead of replying, the Elder, after letting the persons with
whom he had been occupied depart, told his cell-attendants to bring in
the cripple who at that time was lying at
the door of his cell. They brought the man in and placed him before Fr.
Leonid. The Abbot watched this with bewilderment. "Now," Fr. Leonid
began his reply, "look at this man. You see how all the members of his
body are afflicted. The Lord punished him for
sins of which he did not repent. He did this and this, and for all of
that he is now suffering - he is alive in hell. He needs help. The Lord
brought him to me for sincere repentance, so that I might rebuke and
instruct him. Can I refuse to receive him? What
do you say about that?"
Listening
to Fr. Leonid and looking at the suffering man before him, the Abbot
shuddered. "But the Bishop,"
he mumbled, "is threatening to send you away under arrest." "So what?
You can exile me to Siberia, you can build a bonfire, you can burn me at
the stake, but I will still be the same Leonid. I don't beckon anyone,
but when a person comes of his own accord
I cannot chase him away. Especially among the simple folk, there are
many who are perishing out of ignorance and they need spiritual
assistance. How can I disregard their clamor about their spiritual
needs?"
Abbot
Moses could not say anything in reply and he left in silence, leaving
the Elder to live and act as God Himself directed him.
In
1837, that is, in the year after Fr. Leonid was moved from the Skete to
the Monastery, a member of the Holy Synod, His Eminence Metropolitan
Philaret
of Kiev, visited the Optina Monastery on his way to St. Petersburg
accompanied by the Bishop of Kaluga, Nicholas. The Metropolitan
demonstrated his extremely sympathetic archpastoral approval both to
the Optina Abbot, Fr. Moses, and to the Elder, Fr.
Leonid, whom, as was previously mentioned, he had known while in the
White Bluff Hermitage. Moreover, he noted that Fr. Leonid was not
wearing any of the apparel of the great schema, and in the presence of
Bishop Nicholas the Metropolitan asked him, "Why aren't
you wearing the schema?" The Elder was silent. "You are a monk of the
great schema," the Metropolitan continued, "and you are supposed to wear
the schema." From that time to the end of his life Fr. Leonid wore
without any prohibition as previously,
in the manner of the Moldavian monasteries, the great
paraman of the schema (which some persons mistakenly call
analavos). The Kiev Archpastor also expressed his fatherly regard
for the fathers of the Skete, which had been built in keeping with
his concepts and blessing. "His Eminence made us happy with his
visit to our hermitage," Fr. Leonid wrote to
one of his spiritual sons, "and strengthened our souls with his special
blessing. 'Our benefactors' seeing this were completely disarmed, and
now it seems they have begun to learn a little humility. As to how
delighted His Eminence was over seeing the
Optina Monastery, I think that it is difficult to give a description."
The
visit to the Optina Monastery by the Metropolitan of Kiev and the
attention which he showed the Abbot of
Optina and the Elder brought very beneficial results to the Monastery,
for Bishop Nicholas began to attach less significance to the rumors of
their detractors. The suppressed position of the Elder began to improve.
Still
in the summer of 1836, in order to give Fr. Leonid some respite, a
devout landowner who lived in the Monastery,
Alexei Ivanovich Zhelyabuzhsky, had built a special wooden building in
which there were two cells: one for himself and one for the Elder. This
unforgettable benefactor of the Optina Monastery was spiritually
attached to Fr. Leonid and was also loved by him.
They always read the Divine Scriptures together and performed the prayer
rule, with the assistance of the cell-attendants of the Elder and the
brothers who came to him to ask about their thoughts.
After
Fr. Leonid left the Skete for the Monastery, his spiritual bond with
the fathers in the Skete was not broken. Fr. Macarius visited him daily.
He would come for advice pertaining to his duties as spiritual father
and would bring letters prepared for the Elder to sign, which had been
written at the direction of the Elder and which they always signed
together. Likewise the Superior of the Skete (until
1839), Fr. Anthony, also visited him frequently. He always had the most
sincere and friendly relations with him and often profited from the
frank conversations of the Elder. All the other brothers of the Skete,
too, remained devoted to him with filial love
as their spiritual instructor and ceased not from coming to him in the
Monastery for the healing of their diseases of soul and the resolution
of their problems. On his part, the Elder never ceased to show his love
for the Skete and its brothers. On Saturdays
and Sundays he always walked - and in the later years when he was too
ill to walk he was driven - to the church services in the Skete. After
the Liturgy he would usually stop by the cell of the Superior of the
Skete, Fr. Anthony; and later Fr. Macarius and
the rest of the brotherhood would gather there for spiritual converse
with their spiritual instructor. Sometimes laymen from the nobility and
merchants who had been at the Liturgy would also come by "for a cup of
tea" with the Superior of the Skete; and when
they found this spiritual discussion in progress, they joined in as
listeners and participants, to their own spiritual benefit.
Fr.
Leonid lived five years longer after moving from the Skete to the
Monastery; and he continued to offer spiritual instruction to the
brotherhood
and visitors, recalling the words of the Savior: . . . Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out
(John 6:37), and . . . Freely ye have received, freely give
(Matt 10:8). Disregarding his
deteriorating health the Elder never refused to receive anyone, and up
to his blessed repose he showed an unflagging zeal to serve God in the
person of suffering mankind. He was especially well-disposed
to receive simple people, for the needs of the poor required immediate
assistance and their mortal sorrows quick consolation. Many of them
lived in the guest house for weeks at a time, waiting to see the Elder
face to face. Some of them when they came to him
could hardly utter a word from their pain of heart and could only
express themselves with groans. Others possessed by demons would be
dragged into the cell of the Elder by their sympathetic relatives or
neighbors. Still others brought their children to receive
his blessing.
The
Elder at those times was like a great tree covered with abundant fruit
to which everyone stretched forth his gaze and hands, so that it was
difficult
to make one's way through the crowd in order to see him. In such
instances he would say, "God Himself helps those coming to me who
receive benefit."
Seeing
Fr. Leonid in such a crowd of people, some of his visitors expressed a
kind of dissatisfaction with the Elder, probably considering that
spending
his time with the simple folk was not all that important, and perhaps
useless or even inappropriate. But the Elder had a way of making such
persons understand.
Once
the Optina Monastery was visited by the Dean of the city of Belev, the
venerable Archpriest John Glagolev,
who loved and revered Fr. Leonid and who was likewise respected by the
Elder. When he came to the Elder, Fr. John found him surrounded by
peasants. "Are you really that eager to spend time with peasant women?"
he said with his characteristic simplicity. "What
can I do, Fr. John. You're right - this isn't our business," the Elder
replied, "but tell me, how do you confess them? You ask them two or
three words, and that's the end of the confession. But if you were to
put yourself in their position, if you would delve
into their plight, would sort out whatever is on their soul, would give
them worthwhile advice, would console them in their grief. . Do you do
all that? Of course not, you don't have time to spend a while with them.
Well then, if we do not receive them, where
would they go with their grief?" Put to shame, the Archpriest admitted
that his words to the Elder had been inconsiderate.
"Once,"
wrote Hieromonk Α., "I passed through Kozelsk on my way to the Smolensk
Province. Along the way, in
the isolated villages when the villagers learned that I was coming from
Kozelsk, they kept rushing to interrupt me and find out something about
Fr. Leonid. To my question as to how they knew about him, they would
reply: 'O come now, Father, how can we not
know Fr. Leonid? He is more than a father for us poor ignorant folk.
Without him we would all be complete orphans!' Such is a monument that
is far more enduring than one of marble and granite!"
Notes:
1. Among those who initiated complaints against the Elder and provoked this simple monk to such actions were
certain persons sent by the chancery under epitimia (under a spiritual correction/remedy) to the Monastery for correction.
2. Of
the great desert dwellers and monastic fathers, only a few, following
the example of Arsenius the Great
and Theodore of Pherme, fled as much as they were able from the duty of
instructing others and turned away (only in part, not entirely) from
those who came to them for spiritual counsel. The greater part of the
Holy Fathers followed the example of the founder
of monasticism, Anthony the Great, who, after spending 35 years in
ascetic labors and stillness, afterwards became, as Athanasius the Great
expressed it, the good physician of all Egypt - that is, a spiritual
guide and instructor for all monks and laymen who
turned to him. Even the holy stylites after prolonged withdrawal from
the world and extended asceticism in solitude, devoted the end of their
lives to ministering to suffering mankind, not turning away anyone who
turned to them for spiritual healing.
In
the monasteries of Egypt not only the monks and clergy who came were
received, but also laymen and women; and there were special hostels
built for
them. According to the rule of Pachomius the Great, the founder of
coenobitic monasticism, special care should be taken for women as they
are weaker and have a greater need of spiritual nourishment. Also,
Pachomius the Great, not far from the monastery in
Tabennesi, built a convent for women which was governed by his sister
and was under his own personal guidance. Basil the Great did the same.
St.
Isidore of Pelusium, zealous for the welfare of the Orthodox Church and
the spiritual benefit of all Christians, wrote instructive letters
(according
to Nicephorus Callistus, almost 10,000 of them) to persons of every rank
and occupation, from the emperor to simple soldiers, from patriarchs
and bishops to readers and simple monks.
3. At the time this book was written St. Seraphim had not yet officially been glorified by the Church. -Trans.
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