Pavlova Nina Aleksandrovna - writer, journalist and playwright. She became famous for publishing the book Easter Red, which documented the murder of three monks of Optina Desert by a crazy satanist. Nina Alexandrovna is deservedly considered an Orthodox writer, as her main works are devoted to Christian subjects.
Writer childhood
On July 29, 1939, a daughter, Nina Derevyankina, was born into the family of ordinary Soviet workers Anastasia and Alexander Derevyankins, and in the future Nina Pavlova. Her biography begins in Altai in a city called Slavgorod. Later, when the war broke out, Nina's father volunteered for the front and was assigned to the Central Asian border in Uzbekistan. There the writer’s childhood passed.
The writer said about her parents that dad was “just a lieutenant colonel”, and his mother was “mother-general”. Mother, the chief agronomist, ran seed stores that were highly valued in the post-war famine. The writer describes her mother as a strict, proud, adamant and incorruptible woman. For her inflexibility, the writer’s mother once went to prison for two days. The reason was her refusal to transfer the first crop of elite tomato varieties to the government table.
To the question of whether the mother remained a Orthodox believer, being among the Muslims, Nina Alexandrovna did not give a definite answer. However, she recalled that her mother knew the liturgy by heart and very scolded her daughter when she, playing, posed as a Muslim woman.
Life in Moscow
The born Siberian Nina Derevyankina grew up in the East, remembering this land, its customs and culture with love until the end of her days. Therefore, when she first visited Moscow at the age of 17, Nina Aleksandrovna Pavlova was struck by the metropolitan way of life. It seemed to her that all the inhabitants were scandalous, unfriendly and impolite.
In Moscow, Nina enters the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University, after receiving her diploma, she works as a correspondent in the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. Working in Komsomolskaya Pravda, Nina gets acquainted and interviews many famous people, visits different cities. She later plays drama. The writer recalled that her parents and husband did not approve of Nina’s occupation, considering her occupation a “curse.”
Dramaturgy in the work of the writer Nina Pavlova
The work of Nina Alexandrovna is primarily associated with Orthodox themes. It is hard to imagine that she is the author of the plays. However, Nina Pavlova, while living in Moscow, also gained fame as a playwright, becoming the author of several plays. The most popular of them are the plays The Grips, The Fifth Season.
"Car" was delivered at the Moscow Art Theater in 1982. Then this performance made a splash. The performance was staged by the fashionable and famous director Kama Ginkas, who brought together professional actors of the theater and orphanages in the cast. Later, the play was also staged at the theater of Surgut University. In the play “The Wagon”, the author talks about difficult teenagers — girls, touching upon the urgent question of why they became “difficult”.
Path to faith
In the 80s, like many other citizens of the USSR, the successful journalist Nina Pavlova was exposed to the inferiority of the political system and attends popular at that time meetings of people who disagreed with the current government.
At these meetings the Gospel was read and discussed, as Nina Aleksandrovna later admitted, it was done “impudently, arrogantly and ignorantly”. Nina gets acquainted with Orthodox books, studies them.
Studying Orthodoxy, Nina tried to interpret the books she read to her loved ones, thereby causing their indignation. How can unbaptized teach Orthodoxy? Nina is baptized and again faces a misunderstanding of her family. The writer Nina Pavlova regrets that all her dear people came to Orthodoxy through torment and trials. The only son became a believer only during a serious illness, while his father decided to turn to God only before his death.
Moving to Optina Desert
In 1988, Nina Alexandrovna moved with her family to Optina Pustyn. The reason for this was a serious illness of his son. Medicine was powerless in the fight against the disease, and the only thing the writer hoped for was prayers. The move was a difficult test. Accustomed to Pavlov’s comfortable life in the capital, Nina was horrified by the sight of the monastery, which looked more like ruins, a spirit of desolation reigned around. After an exhausting search, the writer bought a house on the outskirts of Kozelsk. Only later did she fall in love with her new home with all her heart and every time, remembering her move, she thanked God that he had sent her to Optina Pustyn, where she had lived the last twenty-six years of her life.
“As you wrote, so write”
Having settled in the Optina Desert at the monastery, Nina Alexandrovna decided to stop writing.
She came to her spiritual mentor for advice on what to do at the church in order to be useful, he answered her: “As you wrote, so write.” Thus, Nina Alexandrovna received obedience to write about the life and life of Optina Desert.
So the spiritual writer Nina Pavlova appeared, although she herself did not consider herself such. Nina Alexandrovna admitted that it is difficult for her to do Orthodox documentary work, write down the history of the monastery, and collect miracles because of the great responsibility for what was written. She explained this by the fact that there are so many “false miracles”, and it can be difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood. Nina Pavlova books She considered her dramatic, paying particular attention to the disclosure of the characters of her characters, despite the fact that she described documentary events.
Writer's work
During her life, Nina Alexandrovna wrote many stories, short stories and parables. The main area of creativity, of course, was Orthodox documentary. The stories of Nina Pavlova are devoted to the description of the life of Orthodox people. Her works have been successfully published in many magazines and online publications.
Readers loved her works for sincerity, simplicity. Each story by the author contains a deep moral and life lesson. Therefore, the author’s books cannot be considered only a description of documentary events. They teach to live in harmony with God, the world around us and, first of all, with themselves. The author’s attempt to recognize God's providence in a particular event is clearly traced.
It should also be noted that Nina Pavlovna, a member of the Writers' Union of Russia, communicated and supported many young Orthodox writers, editing their works and helping to publish.
Books of Nina Pavlova
For his creative activity, the author has published three books. The first book was Easter Red, which is the most popular and readable among other works of the author. It has been translated into seven languages and reprinted five times.
The second book, Mikhail Day, describes the life and life of young people who have recently come to faith. The events described in the book take place in Optina Desert and around the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, where Nina Pavlova originally wanted to move from Moscow.
The third book of Nina Pavlova “Come to me” dedicated to the memory of nun Vera (Baryshnikova). Like other narratives of the author, this collection is based on documentary events taking place in the lives of different people.
"Easter Red"
This book, according to Nina Alexandrovna, was given to her with great difficulty. This book tells the story of the life and death of Hieromonk Vasily, monk Trofim and monk Ferapont. The murder of these people was committed by a fanatical Satanist on Easter in 1993. To create a book, the author used excerpts from the diary of Hieromonk Vasily, memories and stories of people familiar with those killed in different periods of their lives.
Nina Pavlova personally knew the dead and noted that after their death, life in the monastery changed dramatically. “We used to live happier, happier, but now we have become much more serious,” Nina Alexandrovna recalled in an interview with the Vera newspaper. After the tragic events on Easter in 1993, the construction and restoration of the monastery began in Optina Desert, Nina Pavlova also noted. The books Easter Red, Mikhail Day and other stories helped Optina Desert become especially popular among pilgrims. Many began to come to pray to the martyrs Basil, Trofim and Ferapont.
Last story
Nina Alexandrovna died of cancer on October 25, 2015 in her seventy-seventh year of life. Until the last, she did not stop writing. Many people whom she helped, with whom she actively corresponded, did not even suspect the writer’s fatal illness. She did not complain about her ailments, steadfastly accepting all the hardships that fell to her lot, remaining a kind and bright person.
That is precisely what Nina Alexandrovna admirers of her work remembered. Many Orthodox people discovered the Optina Deserts thanks to her stories about the monastery. Nina devoted most of her creative activity to describing the life of ordinary Orthodox people whom she met on her way. Each of her stories carries a deep morality, teaches understanding, love and patience for loved ones.