Our venerable and God-bearing father is Nil, an ascetic from Sorsk and his charter about the skete life. Nil Sorsky

XV century - the golden age of Russian holiness, completes Reverend Neil Sorsky. The biography of St. Nilus has not come down to us. Scant information about him can be found either in his own works, or in the annalistic narratives of that time.

It is known that the Monk Nil came from a noble family of Maykovs and was born in 1433 in Moscow. In his youth, he took tonsure in one of the strictest monasteries of that time - Kirillo-Belozersky. From there, he goes to Athos in order to "see with his own eyes the true asceticism of the hesychast hermits."

On the Holy Mountain, as Neil himself recalls: “I, like a bee, flew from one flower to another in order to learn the basics of Christian life and revive my hardened soul in order to prepare it for salvation.”

Nil returned from Athos to White Lake, but did not stay in the Cyril Monastery. He chose for his exploits a deserted place on the Sora River, 15 kilometers from the monastery. “By the grace of God, I found a place according to my thoughts, little accessible to worldly people,” Neil writes to his student. Here is how it describes surrounding nature one of those who visited the Nilova hermitage: “Wild, deserted and gloomy is the place where the Nile founded the monastery. The soil is flat, but swampy, there is a forest all around, more coniferous than deciduous ... It is difficult to find a place more secluded than this desert. Gradually, a small number of ascetics gather around the Nile.

Here, in solitude, the views of the Monk Nilus were finally formed, set forth in his numerous epistles, letters to his disciples, and the charter of skete life. All his works are integral and united in their inner spirit. All of them are aimed at clarifying only one thing - the path to salvation.

Neil Sorsky's reasoning is devoid of formalism. He encourages the reader to think and appeals to his conscience. He does not argue, but analyzes. In this, Neil opens up as a thinker and subtle psychologist. He does not want to reconcile himself with religious ritual formalism, and therefore he opposes external religiosity to internal spiritual life. The performance of only external feats of piety leads to vanity, the most hated sin for the Nile. Not excluding external feat, the monk focuses on the inner, spiritual feat - "smart work", the fight against evil thoughts. Showing the degrees of human sin, Neil describes how a person, without realizing it, is overcome by sinful passion and falls.

“The peace of the soul is disturbed by a sinful thought. It is necessary to cut it off, but it is not always and not available to everyone, - writes the Sorsky hermit. - A weak soul, drawn by thought, embarks on the path of sweet inclination to sin, falls into captivity. The state is to turn into a passion for a person, thing or thought.

This is the path of sin that Nil calls to fight against, strengthening the weak forces of the soul with "intelligent prayer and sobriety of the heart."

In the life of the Monk Nilus, in his service to the brethren, we will not see any striving either for administration or for teaching. Neil does not want to be an abbot, or even a teacher. This is how he writes to his disciples: “My brothers. That is what I call you, not the disciples. One is our Teacher - God.

There is an opinion about the difference of opinion between the two great representatives of Russian monasticism at the end of the 15th century, Joseph Volotsky and Nil Sorsky. In historical literature, they are usually presented as the leaders of two "opposite" directions in Russian spiritual life - external doing and internal contemplation. This is deeply wrong. As far as the charter of Joseph is distinguished by external severity, so are the creations of the Nile by deep information about the inner life. Spiritual labor and bodily labor constitute the two sides of the Christian vocation. Both directions naturally coexisted in the Russian monastic tradition, complementing each other. It can be said that both Neil and Joseph strove for the same goal, but went to it in different ways: one - deepening life " inner man”, the other is by strengthening the presence of the Church in all spheres of society. One - through mercy, the other - through severity, one - indulgence, the other - power. The path of the Nile and the path of Joseph are not opposite, but complementary.

The Sorsky hermit died in 1508.

His testament to his disciples was preserved in manuscripts: “I beg you, brothers, to throw my body in the wilderness, because it has sinned against God and is unworthy of burial. Let the beasts and birds tear him to pieces. Or, if you like, dig a hole and put it there without any respect. All my life I have shunned the honor and glory of this age; I don’t want that even after death.”

The Monk Nilus left a deep mark on the history of Russian monasticism. For great spiritual feats, the Russian Orthodox people called him "the great old man."

A letter from the same great elder to a brother who asked him to write to him for the benefit of his soul

(Message of the Monk Nil of Sorsk to the disciple - Herman Podolny, monk of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery)

In your letter, sir father, which you wrote to me, you ask me to write something useful in response to you and to inform you about myself. It seems to you that I mourn you because of the speeches that we had during our conversation with you when you were here. And for that, forgive me. I advised, reminding myself and you, as always beloved by me, as it is written, “My secrets to My and to the sons of My house I reveal” - that it is not just like that or as it happens, it is fitting for us to do any deeds, but according to the Divine Scriptures and according to according to the tradition of the holy fathers, first of all, this concerns leaving the monastery. Only we need to watch whether we do them for the benefit of the soul, and for the sake of something else? but all live according to their own wills and human plans, and it turns out for many that we are doing the most depraved things and imagining that by doing this we are doing virtue. to study them with humility, but we neglect them and are engaged in human affairs.

The reason why I talked to you in this way is that you truly, and not feignedly, want to hear the word of God and fulfill it. And I, not flattering you, not hiding the severity of the narrow and regrettable path, offered you my words. With others I converse according to the measure of each. You, from the very beginning, know my thinness, as always my spiritually beloved. Therefore, even now I am writing to you, speaking frankly about myself, because your love, according to Bose, compels me and makes me crazy to write to you about myself.

When we lived together in the monastery, you yourself learned that I withdraw from worldly ties and act as much as I can according to the Divine Scriptures, although I can’t cope because of my laziness and negligence. Then, after my wandering and returning to the monastery, outside the monastery nearby, I built myself a cell and lived in the same way, as much as I could. Now, however, I have moved farther from the monastery, because, with the help of the grace of God, I have found a place that pleases my mind, since it is difficult for worldly people to reach it, as you yourself saw.

And in particular I study the Divine Scriptures: first of all, the commandments of the Lord, their interpretations and the apostolic traditions, then the lives and teachings of the holy fathers, and I pay attention to this. And what is in accordance with my idea of ​​pleasing God and of benefit to the soul, I copy for myself, and by that I learn, and in that I have my life and breath. And my weakness, laziness and negligence I placed on God and on the Most Pure Mother of God.

And when it happens to me to do something, and I do not find it in the Holy Scriptures, then I put it off for a while until I find it. Because by my own will and by my own reason I dare not do anything. And if someone clings to me out of spiritual love, I advise him to do the same, and especially to you, since you are close to me with spiritual love from the very beginning. Therefore, I addressed the word to you, advising for the good, as for my soul; as I try to do, so I told you.

Now, although we are separated by bodies, we are connected and united by spiritual love. And according to the law of this divine love, I talked with you then, and now I am writing for the salvation of the soul. And you, if you please, imitate what you heard from me and saw written. Wishing to be the son and heir of the holy fathers, do the commandments of the Lord and the traditions of the holy fathers, and tell the brothers living with you to do the same.

Whether you live alone or in a monastery with brothers, pay attention to the Holy Scriptures and follow in the footsteps of the holy fathers. Because the Divine Scriptures command us so: either to obey such a person who will be witnessed in his deeds as a spiritual person by word and mind, as Basil the Great writes in his teaching, which begins: “Come to me, all you who labor” (Matthew 11:28). ), or if this is not found, then obey God according to the Divine Scriptures, and not as senselessly as some, who, even when they stay in a monastery with their brothers, senselessly graze in self-will, believing that they are in obedience, and go into hermitage in the same way foolishly, led by the carnal will and reckless mind, not understanding either what they do or what they affirm. About such John of the Ladder, arguing, in a word about various types of silence says: “Out of self-conceit, they wished to swim better on their own initiative than following instructions.” What will not happen to us! But you, acting according to the Holy Scriptures and according to the habitation of the holy fathers, with the help of the grace of Christ, you will not sin.

But now I am grieved because you are mournful. That is why I forced myself to write to you, so that you would not grieve. May God, the giver of all joy and comfort, comfort your heart and announce our love for you. If I wrote something rudely to you, but then - not to anyone else, but to you, my unchanging beloved, not wanting to despise your petition. For I hope that you will receive this with love and will not condemn my foolishness.

And our deeds, about which I asked your shrine, - you did a good job of arranging them, I swear about it. May God reward you according to your work.

To this, I also pray to your holiness: may you not consider the words that we spoke then as sorrow. For although outwardly they appear cruel, they are full of usefulness on the inside. Because I did not speak my own, but from the Holy Scriptures. They are truly cruel for those who do not want to truly humble themselves in the fear of the Lord and depart from carnal wisdom, but want to live according to their passionate will, and not according to the Holy Scriptures. Such people do not study the Holy Scriptures with humility, spiritually. Some of them, however, do not even want to hear about life according to the Holy Scriptures, as if saying: they were not written for us, and it is not necessary to keep them in the present way.

But for true workers, both in antiquity, and now, and forever, the words of the Lord are pure, like silver, melted and refined seven times (see Ps. 11, 7), and His commandments are bright and desirable for them more than gold and precious stones, and they delight them more than honey and honeycombs, and they keep them. And when they keep it, many will receive retribution (see Ps. 18:9 and 11-12).

Hello in the Lord, sir father, and pray for us sinners, and we beat your sanctuary with our foreheads.

sources: Bogoslov.ru, ABC of Faith

The Nilo-Sorskaya hermitage is a harsh and even ascetic place, as if nature itself foresaw a place for a monastery here, where the main statutory rule was “non-covetousness”, which means encouraging the moral and spiritual aspects of life over the material ones. Now it is impossible to visit the monastery without participating in a pilgrimage tour, because there is mental hospital. But the history of the monastery is so interesting that I could not resist a trip to the walls of the monastery, I wanted to see this place at least with one eye.

The landscape that stretches around enchants with its simplicity and primordially Russian character. White birches with curly braids, a green meadow overgrown with lush herbs, a narrow strip of the Sora River, which flows almost under the walls of the ancient monastery, and against the backdrop of a dark wall of the forest. Coming here, as if you find yourself in another world, so far from modern megacities. But the atmosphere is quite strange, I'll try to explain.

The history of these ancient walls is directly connected with the name of the Monk Nil of Sorsk, who is considered the founder of the Russian skete. Nil Sorsky came from the Maykov boyar family. The family of the Monk Nilus was a believer, which later greatly influenced the choice of the Monk Nilus of monastic life. In those days, the younger children of the boyar families often became either mercenaries in the army, or novices in monasteries, because the eldest received the entire inheritance, and the younger children were destined for such a path. Probably, such a fate was prepared for the Monk Nil from childhood. At the age of fifteen, Nil leaves with the pilgrims to Palestine, where he remains for some time. There he studied Aramaic and translated books. Presumably, the "Gospel of Mark" translated by Nil Sorsky was kept in the library of Ivan the Terrible himself.

Having become a monk, the Monk Nil again goes south, but this time he visits Athos and Jerusalem. Nil of Sora kissed the tomb of the Lord and after that he had a dream in which Jesus brought him to the bank of Sora in the Kirillov region.

First, Nil went to the Kirillo-Beloozersky Monastery. It is worth noting that the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery constituted the so-called opposition to the official church policy. It is today that the church and the state do not interfere in each other's affairs, and five hundred years ago the church had very great power not only over the souls of people, but also over their lives and the policy of the entire state. Remember the Holy Inquisition and Crusades Well, it was all at that time. Nil Sorsky and his fellow thinkers advocated the landlessness of monasteries, considering such money-grubbing unacceptable for the servants of God. As you know, both in Europe and in Russia, monasteries had quite big lands in possession, which made the church a very wealthy organization. During this confrontation, the so-called Josephites, opponents of the Nile, won, but the seed was thrown and it gave its shoots a hundred years later, when the Orthodox Church split.

But, I'm not talking about that. After spending some time in the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery, the Monk Nil with his disciple Innokenty goes to the place where the Lord led him in a dream and lays a small skete here. There, among the fir trees, they cut down a small chapel and two cells, which were located at a distance so as not to interfere with the privacy of a neighbor and prayer, "at a distance of a thrown stone." In silence and solitude, Neil wrote down his thoughts on piety, prayer, and contemplation. The Monk Nil of Sorsk is called the founder of Russian Hesychasm. This is an ancient teaching of prayer and inner self-improvement. Hesychasm is somewhat reminiscent of the meditative practices of yogis, here the prayer also goes deep into himself. Hesychasm practitioners speak of a special inner light that fills the soul and complete merging with God.

“Quiet your mind, free your thoughts, and pay attention to your heart,” - this is how the Monk Nil of Sorsk wrote about this prayer. But Nil Sorsky did not have a chance to stay in solitude for a long time, as the monks began to come in order to settle in this secluded place. But Nil Sorsky did not allow everyone to stay - only the most devoted to monastic work.

Life in the skete was very simple. He urged the monks to give up their wealth, and to deprive the monasteries of their lands. By the way, unlike other monastic orders, the Monk Nil of Sorsk did not consider it necessary to fast a lot, and even more so to wear hair shirts or torturing himself bodily. The main thing was inner piety and prayer in the heart.

Gradually the monastery grew, and in thirty years there were already twelve cells. The Monk Nil of Sora was engaged in copying church books and writing his own writings. They also built a church on a swampy meadow on the other side of the river. To make the building stable, the monks carried earth under the foundation and poured a hill.

Nil Sorsky was able in 1508. Before his death, he bequeathed to his students not to bury him with honors, but to throw his body to be torn to pieces by beasts. But the disciples did not obey and buried the monk at the walls of the Stretenskaya church. Later, a chapel was installed here, where there was a large crucifix, a gilded reliquary and icons.

In the 17th century, a church was built over the tomb of Nil Sorsky, at the same time the first icons of the saint appeared, a kontakion, troparion and icos were recorded for addressing the Monk Nil.

Very many people never lived in the skete, since Nil Sorsky preached prayer in solitude, and with a large number of people in the skete, this is not possible. Usually six to twelve people lived here.

In 1794, an event occurs that, although it did not directly affect the monastery, but affected it further fate. A decree was issued according to which the monasteries and the church were deprived of land and serfs. But this is exactly what Nil Sorsky preached and fought for. But, many monasteries, having huge incomes from these lands, simply did not know how to exist in another way, they were ruined. The Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, to which the Nilov Skete was assigned, also went bankrupt.

This quiet and remote place is gradually falling into disrepair and desolation. In addition, the policy of the monasteries in relation to the sketes is changing - they become a place of exile for the guilty brothers.

Only in the 19th century did the teaching of Nil Sorsky acquire a second life. Monk Nikon comes to the skete and takes the name Nil in the skete. He found the Nilov Skete in a deplorable state, and all the brethren were eight monks exiled here from the St. Cyril Monastery for drunkenness. The Monk Nikon set to work and a few years later the skete was revived, and worthy brothers began to come here.

The Monk Nikon, with rich donations, begins to rebuild the skete, but already according to the monastic way. Stone walls are erected, on the site of wooden churches built by the Monk Nil and his disciples, the Cathedral of the Mother of God of Tikhvin is being erected. But the construction of the cathedral was not calm, at the very beginning, the Monk Nikon was taken into custody on a denunciation for embezzlement of the church treasury, but the most important accusation was an inappropriate attitude towards the relics of St. Nile. The denunciation stated that the Monk Nikon secretly dug out the saint's grave and hid the relics in his cell. This case is known as the "relic case". Naturally, they could not prove anything, but the Monk Nikon was transferred to another monastery. And only ten years later he managed to return to the skete dear to his heart. There he built a separate cell in the distance and stayed to live. Interestingly, before his vows in the schema, the Monk Nikon sent to Athos the icon of the Mother of God of Jerusalem, painted by him. This icon is still kept there, and it is lowered to those who pray only on holidays. Shortly thereafter, the skete began to live according to the monastic rules. In the twentieth century, after the arrival of the communists, the monastery was transferred to the colony, and the monastery property was transferred to museums. In 1927, the monastery was nevertheless returned to the monks, but without the right to hold services. And in 1930, the Nilova Wasteland was finally closed. The last rector of the monastery, the Monk Hilarion, bequeathed to bury him in a potato field without any honors, just like the reverend founder of the skete.

In subsequent years, the Nilo-Sorsky Monastery was transferred to a hospital for the mentally ill, which is still located here. In the Cathedral of the Mother of God of Tikhvin there is a dining room, and in the southeast corner of the temple, under the floor, there is an unmarked grave of the Monk Nil of Sorsk. It just so happened that his skete, the brainchild of his whole life, turned into a haven of sorrow and hopelessness, a real wasteland where the word of the Lord comes here only with pilgrims.

It is almost impossible to get into the monastery walls today, since this institution is closed from visitors. But still, if you get a special permit, then the pilgrims are allowed to pray at the burial place of the Monk Nile. By the way, his relics are no longer there. At the beginning of the 21st century, they were taken out and taken away. According to the will of the Monk Nile, everyone who finds his relics must trample them underfoot and drown them in a swamp, otherwise the Last Judgment threatens him. Whether his covenant was fulfilled and where the relics are now unknown. But the inhabitants of the nearby village ask to return them back, because after the relics were taken away their village is haunted by all sorts of misfortunes and the earth no longer bears fruit.

I was told a story that sounded like fiction. If it were not a professional historian, I would not even begin to retell. Archaeological surveys are regularly carried out near the walls of the desert, because there is a version that the relics of the Nile are located there. But as soon as the excavations begin, there is a strong fire. As they say, it is the Nile himself who prevents someone from finding his relics.

Believe it or not, it's up to everyone, but the place really has a special energy, although we only stood at its walls. I felt somehow uncomfortable.

It was at the very end of the 16th century. A monk returned from a distant wandering to the monastery of St. Cyril of Belozersky, which stands in the Vologda land. The journey, which took him more than one year, was fraught with many dangers, with impassability and complete uncertainty on the way - in those years when the Second Rome fell under the blows of the Ottomans, few dared to travel to the East: to the ancient monasteries of Syria and Palestine, to the Holy Land captured many centuries ago, to the Holy Sepulcher.
But our hero ventured on this path, and, returning to Russia, he carried with him countless treasures. However, nothing but a modest monastic bag burdened him on the way. The treasure, which he carried with him, fit into one old parchment, the title of which read: "The Rule of the Skete of Our Reverend Father Anthony the Great." It was a gift from the monks from Mount Athos, who carefully preserved and multiplied the ancient traditions of monastic life. But much stronger than the dead letters of the Charter, which our hero repeatedly read (and copied) in the library of his native monastery, the life of the Palestinian and Athos monks ran into his memory. It seemed that the pages of the ancients It seemed that the words of the holy fathers from the ancient books came to life before his eyes. They came to life before his eyes. Like a thousand years ago, in these desert lands, where the foot of a worldly person rarely set foot, monastic virtues flourished: humility, silence, non-covetousness, chastity, obedience.
Just as Saint Prince Vladimir once brought the faith of Christ to Russia, just as the Monk Anthony of the Kiev Caves began monastic work in Russia, so our hero, now known to us as the Monk Nil of Sorsk, came to his homeland with the skete charter. Soon after returning to Russia, the Monk Nil withdrew with his friend and disciple Innokenty in a swampy place on the banks of the Sora River, ten kilometers from the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, and founded a small skete there, which rather quickly filled with brethren.
The skete monks lived in solitude, gathering together only for church services, which holidays lasted 12 hours. The rest of the time they worked and remained in constant prayer and silence. The Monk Nil taught his monks to feed themselves from the fruit of their own labors, not accepting alms and alms. The greatest almsgiving, he told his disciples, is to endure insult, grief, reproach from a brother, to receive strangers, this is spiritual almsgiving, and it is much higher than bodily.

Neil Sorsky:
Others say that it is impossible now to live the way the hermits lived in ancient times, but for us and for them there is one Scripture. They say that times are different, but Christ is always the same.
Enoch:
Since the skete was erected, father, we have heard more than once: “now it is impossible to live according to the Scriptures and according to the Holy Fathers”
Neil Sorsky:
Though unbearable, we must, to the best of our ability, imitate their feat. They were with God, and if we are with God, then everything will work out for us. Because what is impossible for man is possible for God. We must live as the word of Truth teaches us, and then every time will be a favorable time for us to be saved.
Enoch:
So why are people afraid to go this way?
Neil Sorsky:
They are afraid because they do not want to cut off their own will and accept the will of God. It was hard to give up one's will, even harder to give up acquisition, honors and glory. We will distribute all our acquisitions to those in need, help everyone, accept everyone who wants to hear the word of God.

The monks in the skete were hospitable to wanderers, but only a few were taken by the Monk Nilus into his brethren - because few were capable of the harsh skete life. As on the Holy Mountain, women were forbidden to enter the monastery, and the monks themselves practically did not leave the skete.
The lack of possessions of the Monk Nil, his desire for modesty of life and poverty was known to many, although he himself came from the Maikov noble family, and his brother served at the court of the Moscow sovereigns. Even what was donated to him for church decoration, he sold and distributed to the poor, and commanded all his disciples to do the same.
The Monk Neil was faithful to his monastic path to the end. He did not aspire to worldly glory and did not seek it, but his deep spiritual wisdom invariably attracted contemporaries to him. FROM young years living in a monastery, he devoted most of his life to reading spiritual books, many of which have come down to our time in his manuscripts. Having received wisdom from the Holy Fathers, the Monk Nilus himself left behind amazing creations in asceticism and spiritual life.
In his testament to the brethren, he asked nothing less than to throw his body to be eaten by wild animals, or at least to bury him without honors. The latter was fulfilled by the brethren - his body was buried in the monastery he founded, among the forests and swamps of the Vologda Territory.
This monastery stands to this day, having survived hard times, desolation and oblivion. And today the flow of pilgrims to the burial place of the great spiritual mentor, the wise teacher, whose life remains an example for all, does not dry out. An example of the fact that at any time and in any era we must and can live as our Lord Jesus Christ commanded us.

May 20(May 7, old style) the memory of one of the most strict ascetics of piety is celebrated Ancient Russia - Reverend Nil of Sorsk, the ideological inspirer of the current " nonpossessors”, who opposed large-scale monastic land ownership and urged monastics to be guided by the example and way of life of the Athos monks. The Monk Nil became the founder of skete hermitage in Russia and left behind him few, but very deep in spiritual content - consisting in inner perfection and contemplative prayer - works on the rule of monastic life.

Under Sophia, the best Italian craftsmen were summoned to Moscow, who built a new Assumption Cathedral, the Faceted Chamber and a new stone palace in place of the former wooden choirs. At the same time, a complex and strict ceremonial began to start under the Kremlin, Ivan III for the first time began to call himself the “king of all Russia”, and appeared on his seals double-headed eagle- a symbol of the royal power of the Byzantine emperors. At the same time, a theory appeared about the divine origin of royal power, the development of which was greatly facilitated by St. Joseph Volotsky. So, for example, he argued that "the king by nature is similar to all people, but by power he is similar to the Most High God."

Already under IvanIII, even more under Vasily, the supreme power surrounded itself with that halo that so sharply separated the Moscow sovereign from the rest of society. The ambassador of the German Emperor Herberstein, who observed Moscow under Vasily, notes that this Grand Duke finished what his father had begun, and with his power over his subjects surpasses almost all monarchs in the world. He adds that in Moscow they talk about the Grand Duke: the will of the sovereign-God's will, my lord-doer of the will of God. When Muscovites are asked about some unknown or dubious matter, they answer with hardened expressions: we don’t know that, God and the great sovereign know. According to Herberstein, they even called their sovereign the key-keeper and bed-keeper of God, applying the language of the Moscow court to such exalted relations. So, by the time of Vasily's successor IvanIV in Moscow, that code of political concepts was ready, which Muscovite Russia then lived for so long ().

In 1490, the first council against the "heresy of the Judaizers" was held: the Trans-Volga elders Paisius and Nil were invited to Moscow on this occasion. The monk was also present at the council of 1503. Then in his polemic with St. By Joseph Volotsky, the Monk Nil argued that monasteries should be freed from the management of estates, that is, inhabited estates. Many of the monks of Kirillo-Belozersky and some of the other monasteries adhered to the opinion of the Nile. In his objections, Rev. Joseph put forward, mainly, the following arguments: “if there are no villages near the monasteries, then how can an honest and noble person get a haircut? If there are no honest elders, how can we take on a metropolis, or an archbishop, or a bishop, and on all sorts of honest authorities? And if there are no honest and noble elders, then there will be a wavering of faith.” And, although the victory remained with the supporters of the monastic landholdings, the non-possessors did not think in the future to abandon their convictions.

IN. Klyuchevsky, taking on the whole, as it were, an average position on this issue, however, gives a rather negative characterization of the monastery owners:

The most prominent opponents of the "Josephites", as Joseph's followers were called, were Prince-monk Vassian Patrikeyev and a newcomer from Athos, Maxim the Greek, in the controversy. Vassian's writings-accusatory pamphlets: overcoming his teacher Nile Sorsk, with bright, often truthfully sharp features, he depicts the non-monastic life of patrimonial monasteries, the economic fussiness of monks, their obsequiousness to the strong and rich, self-interest, covetousness and cruel treatment of their peasants ... Vassian tends his speech to the same accusations that his like-minded prince Kurbsky later directly expressed: the greedy monks ruined peasant lands with their rural management, and with suggestions about saving contributions to the soul they made a military rank, serving landowners are worse than poor kaliks. Maximus the Greek's writings against monastic landownership are free from polemical excesses. He calmly analyzes the subject on the merits, although in places he does not do without sharp remarks. Introducing a strict communal life in his monastery, Joseph hoped to correct the monastic life and eliminate the contradiction between the monastic renunciation of property and the land wealth of the monasteries by a more dialectical than practical combination: in a hostel-de everything belongs to the monastery and nothing separately to the monks. It’s all the same, Maxim objects, as if someone, having joined a gang of robbers and having plundered wealth with them, then the caught one began to justify himself by torture: it’s not my fault, because everything was left with my comrades, but I didn’t take anything from them. The qualities of a true monk will never be compatible with the attitudes and habits of covetous monasticism: this is the main idea of ​​​​the controversy of Maxim the Greek ().

The primary reasons for the contradictions between supporters and opponents of monastic estates can be seen if you carefully study the initial history of the formation of cenobitic monasteries in Russia. IN. Klyuchevsky speaks of two types of such monasteries: "desert" and "worldly". The founders of the "desert" monasteries went out to their feat on a deep inner vocation and, usually, even in their youth. Having received the appropriate experience in the hostel, they were ready to go into solitude, then, the ascetic elders capable of edification gathered young brethren around them and, thus, a new hostel arose. Desert monks spent their days in severe feats and prayer, avoiding all excesses and eating the labors of their hands.

The “worldly” monasteries had a completely different history. So, for example, a wealthy boyar or merchant, wanting to have a place in a monastery, where he hoped to pray and do good while alive and rest in death with the greatest benefit for the soul, built a church and cells and gathered the brethren, providing them with maintenance and immovable estates. The sovereign prince decorated his capital city with cloisters, sometimes a monastery was built with the assistance of a whole society, urban or rural, and it was considered very shameful if any city did not have its own monastery. The monastery was needed by the urban and rural districts, so that the layman had a place to get a haircut in old age and, at death, “arrange the soul” with a posthumous commemoration. The brothers, whom the builders recruited into such secular monasteries for church service, had the value of hired pilgrims and received a “serving” salary from the monastic treasury. People who, in their old age, sought peace from worldly concerns in a secular monastery, could not fulfill the strict, active rules of the monastic charter. Ideas prp. Nil of Sorsky were unacceptable here, since such monasteries initially had their own estates, and the inhabitants of just such “worldly” monasteries then already constituted a significant part of Russian monasticism ().

Following the council of 1503, the decisions of which mainly concerned the monastic estates, in December 1504 a second council was held against the "heresy of the Judaizers." It was chaired by the eldest son of Princess Sophia, Grand Duke Vasily. The old prince practically did not take part in the activities of the cathedral, this time representatives from non-possessors were not invited either. Compared with 1490, the defendants were given a much more severe sentence: St. Joseph, guided by the example of Western Europe and often referring to Old Testament, now demanded the most severe punishment, arguing that "the heretic and the apostate should not only be condemned, but should also be cursed, while kings and princes and judges should be sent to prison and subjected to fierce executions" (). Then, in specially built wooden log cabins, Fyodor Kuritsyn's brother Ivan Volk Kuritsyn, Ivan Maksimov, Dmitry Pustoselov were burned in Moscow. Nekras Rukavov was sent to Novgorod to cut down his language, where he was burned along with Archimandrite Kasyan of Yuryev, brother Ivan Samocherny and others. The rest were sent to the monasteries.

The execution of heretics caused a mixed reaction in Russian society. Confusion was caused by the inconsistency of the practice of executions with the Gospel, the writings of the holy fathers and canonical norms. Against the arguments set forth in the Illuminator, a “Replying Word of the Trans-Volga Elders” was compiled, the authorship of which is mainly attributed to the monk-prince Vassian Patrikeev. This letter sounds quite harsh and open, with a direct reproach to the Volotsk abbot:

And you, Mr. Joseph, why don't you test your holiness? You would bind Archimandrite Kasyan with your mantle, and until he burned down, you would keep him bound in the fire! And we would accept you, from the flame that came out, as one of the three youths! Understand, Mr. Joseph, there is a great difference between Moses, Elijah and the Apostle Peter, the Apostle Paul, and between you and them!

The very struggle against the "heresy of the Judaizers" at that time was closely intertwined with the political struggle for power between two court groups: supporters of the grandson of John III from his first marriage, Demetrius, already married in 1498 to the Grand Duchy, and the party of his rival, the future Grand Duke Vasily III , the eldest son of Sophia Palaiologos. In the end, Vasily won, all his main opponents, including Dmitry himself and his mother Elena Voloshanka, were found guilty of heresy and suffered various degrees of punishment. Ivan III annulled the decision to appoint Dmitry as heir and on April 11, 1502 ordered the daughter-in-law to be imprisoned and former heir to jail. Elena Voloshanka died in prison "the necessary death" (that is, she was killed) in January 1505.

In his dying hour, Grand Duke John felt an inner need to repent before his eldest grandson. The well-informed Austrian ambassador Sigismund Herberstein claimed that on the threshold of eternity, the sovereign called Dmitry to him and said: “Dear grandson, I have sinned before God and before you, by imprisoning you and depriving you of your legitimate inheritance; I conjure you - forgive me the offense; be free, go and exercise your right." Dmitry, touched by this speech, willingly forgave his grandfather's guilt. But when leaving his chambers, he was captured on the orders of Uncle Gabriel (the future Grand Duke Vasily III) and thrown into prison. Some believe that he died from hunger and cold, others that he was strangled by smoke. Dmitry the grandson died in 1509 in prison ().

There are a lot of questions and blank spots in the dynastic crisis at the end of the 15th century, and only very scarce information can be gleaned from the available sources. Unknown, for example, the true cause sudden death the eldest son of Ivan III - Ivan the Young, who was rightfully the legitimate heir to the Moscow throne. He died at the age of 31, after he began to take drugs from a specially prescribed for him from Venice. Grand Duchess Sophia, a doctor who promised to cure Ivan of a leg disease. Some researchers believe that it was from the end of the 15th century that the prerequisites for the subsequent split in Russia were already clearly manifested. In particular, the Russian publicist G.P. Fedotov wrote that "our holy history ends by the end of the 16th century."

Theory of Rev. Joseph Volotsky about the need to tonsure people "honest and noble" for later elevation to the episcopal chair did not find its practical justification in the history of the Russian Church. Only a century and a half after the council of 1503, which finally secured the right of ownership to the monastic estates, all the bishops (except St. Paul of Kolomensky), tonsured wealthy and prosperous monasteries, could not show fortitude and gave their consent to innovations that were detrimental to Russia. On the other hand, it is known that such fathers-luminaries of theology as St. Nicholas of Myra, St. Basil the Great, St. John Chrysostom and other holy archpastors of that time, strict ascetics and ascetics, before their ascension to the episcopal throne, spent many years in exploits of strict asceticism and wilderness living, and all of them were firm and uncompromising confessors of the true faith. Throughout the centuries-old history of the struggle against heresies in ancient Byzantium, the main stronghold of Orthodoxy was monastics. But in Russia, only the Solovetsky Monastery and the skete ascetics showed open resistance against the church innovations of the 17th century, while other large monasteries did not enter into organized opposition, although it seemed that it was at this decisive moment that true zeal for the purity of faith should have manifested itself. It even turned out the opposite: many of the most significant monasteries at that time became harsh prisons for confessors of ancient piety. A few more decades later, under Peter I and especially under the decrees of Catherine II in 1764, a complete secularization of church lands was carried out, depriving the deserted New Believer monasteries of all their former privileges.

The true monastic life was hidden in the hidden Old Believer sketes, which followed the charters of St. Nil Sorsky. Here, far from worldly bustle, strict ascetics gathered, courageously risking their very lives for the sake of loyalty to ancient piety. Rev. spoke. Nile:

We will move into the tomb, nothing from this world has been taken, no beauty, no glory, no power, no honor, no other heritage of life.

At the heart of his creations, in contrast to the works of St. Joseph Volotsky, lies the turning of the mind and heart to the future age, where the righteous are awaited by an eternal reward and inexpressible joy, to which we must strive with all the strength of the soul. He always urged his disciples not to turn back to worldly temptations, but to affirm their thoughts to eternity, where there is real life Christian, the ultimate goal of his earthly wandering:

You yourself know from experience how much sorrow and corruption this passing world has, and how much fierce evil it causes to those who love it, and how it mocks, moving away from those who slaved to it, being sweet to them when it caresses their feelings with things, turning out to be bitter later. For inasmuch as people imagine its blessings to be multiplied when they are held back by it, their sorrows grow in them. And its apparent blessings are apparently good, but inside they are full of much evil. Therefore, those who have a truly good mind, the world clearly shows itself-let him not be loved by them.

After the deeds of this life have passed, what happens? Establish the thought in what I say: what benefit has the world brought to those who keep it? Although some had glory, and honor, and wealth, but did not all this turn into nothing, and how did the shadow pass by, and how did the smoke disappear? And many of them, revolving among the affairs of this world and loving its movement, during their youth and prosperity were reaped by death; like wild flowers, as soon as they bloomed, they fell off and, against desire, were taken away from here. And when they were in this world, they did not comprehend its evil stench, but took care of the adornment and peace of the body, inventing methods suitable for obtaining profits in this world, and were trained in what brings crowns to the body in this passing age. And although they received all this, but did not take care of the future and endless bliss, then what should one think about such? Only that in the world there is no crazier than them, as a certain wise saint () said.

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1. V.O. Klyuchevsky "On Russian History", part 1, pp. 188-189.
2. V.O. Klyuchevsky "On Russian History", part 1, p. 201.
3. V.O. Klyuchevsky "On Russian History", part 1, pp. 231-232.
4. V.O. Klyuchevsky "On Russian History", part 1, pp. 221-222.
5. "Illuminator", ch. 13.
6. A. Vorobyov "Ivan III", p. 87.
7. Rev. Neil Sorsky, "Messages".