The outstanding spiritual writer and thinker Sergei Alexandrovich Nilus is known as the author of essays on the Companions of the Faith and Orthodox shrines. Thanks to his selfless service to God, we now have the historical truth about the past spiritual life of Russia.
Biography
Nilus Sergey Alexandrovich (08.25.1962-14.01.1929) was born in Moscow in a family of landowners. Father, Alexander Petrovich, is a large Oryol landowner, a titular adviser. Mother, Natalya Dmitrievna, comes from a noble family of princes Skuratov. Sergey Alexandrovich studied in Moscow, in the first and third gymnasiums.
In 1882 he entered Moscow University. Having received a law degree in 1886, he goes to serve in the Erivan district court. Two years later, he returned to the estate in the Oryol region, where he was engaged in his own household. Once after a confession, he had the idea to devote his life to spiritual creativity.
Conversion
During the youth of Sergei Nilus, alienation from the church grew in society. His family also failed to escape the revolutionary spirit that engulfed everyone. Rarely, in what noble house were ideas of freedom of speech, thought and action not discussed then. Grew Sergei Nilus in alienation from the church. Thanks to the nanny and mother, the spark of faith did not go out in his soul.
The nanny, a true Christian, spoke of the mercy and love of God. Mother, an infinitely kind and sympathetic person, helped others with a modesty that is characteristic only of Christians. Nevertheless, he rarely went to church and did not know prayers. In those days, he was considered Orthodox only by name and testimony.
The final conversion to Orthodoxy took place at the feet of John of Kronstadt, where Nilus, exhausted by illness, arrived. Sergey Nilus sincerely repented. Having crouched at the feet of the comforter, he opened his soul and repented of everything that lay like a stone on his heart. Nilus writes that for the first time then he realized the sweetness of repentance.
He realized, not with his mind, but with his whole being, that God had sent him forgiveness. His faith, after a heartfelt confession, took on a bright flame, his soul was filled with sacred awe, and he realized himself to be a true believer. From that moment, Nilus embarked on the path of spiritual writing.
Sarov desert
In 1900, Sergei Nilus visited the Sarov Desert. He was sure that he would be cured of old diseases that tormented him unbearably. The operation made ten years ago did not help either. In Sarov, he visited the cell of Father Seraphim and the source, which was given the healing power of the saint. Nilus expected healing from him.
A visit to the Sarov desert, indeed, brought him relief. But in his heart, Sergei Alexandrovich, this miracle seemed too obvious. There was doubt in my soul. In 1901, after a cold, his illness resumed with such force that "the soul parted with the body."
In this he saw the punishment of God. Because he finished the manuscript “Great in the Small,” but has kept it for more than a year. Without giving room for doubt, he decided to submit the manuscript to print, as Sergei Alexandrovich Nilus himself writes. Quotes from this book can provide living reinforcements to those who are weak in faith, comfort, fill with hope and bring many benefits for salvation.
The book is filled with philosophy of life and practical wisdom. Sergey Nilus described his difficult path in the formation and strengthening of faith in it. The biography of which developed in such a way that on this difficult path he was helped by the true faith and invisible help of the Lord.
The book provides not just dry facts, but the emotional experiences of the author. He describes in great detail his travels to the Orthodox shrines. The life of many associates of the faith became known only thanks to the book "The Great in the Small."
Optina Desert
In 1901, Nilus visited the Optina Desert twice. When he collected materials to describe the life of the old man Ambrose, his eyes became very sore. Soon he was healed and his heart “cleaved to the holy place.”
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, included in the second edition of The Great in the Small, fall into Nilus’s hands. After that, the book gained great fame.
In holy places
In 1906, Sergei Nilus marries Elena Aleksandrovna Ozerova, the beloved maid of honor of Empress Alexandra Fedorovna. Ozerova was an outstanding woman. Sensitive and receptive to all the good, she never shied away from the Orthodox faith and held her steady.
At this time, Nilus, the author of books "before the unprecedented", was erected terrible slander opponents of Orthodoxy. Spouses leave Petersburg and leave to wander around the Russian outback. They spent several years in the Nikolo-Babaevsky Monastery, where Ignatius Brianchaninov, a famous monastic teacher, lived out his last days.
Then the Nilus move to the Optina Desert, where they spent five years. Nilus parses the richest archive of Optina, extracts from it the testimonies of wanderers and elders of the Optina desert. These materials served as the basis for the creation of two books: “The Power of God” and “On the Bank of the River of God”.
Harassment and persecution
In 1912, the couple went to Valdai. Here Nilus continues the theme of apocalyptic events. His first prophetic book, Near the Coming Antichrist, was published in 1911 and has survived four editions. In 1917, the latest edition was almost completely destroyed.
“There is near, at the door” - the second prophetic book written by Sergey Nilus. The biography of his persecution, arrests and persecution begins with these books, the names of which became prophetic for the author himself.
After the revolution, life in Valdai became very complicated - the Reds literally betrayed the townspeople to terror. A friend of Nilus, Prince Zhevakhov, offers him to move to the Poltava region - to the Linovitsa estate. There was an alarming but tolerable life. And Nilus continues to work. After the Bolsheviks evicted from the estate, Nilus was severely persecuted.
They were shot for reading his books, which the author himself miraculously escaped. Nevertheless, he served several months in prison almost every year. But Sergei Alexandrovich Nilus, despite searches and persecutions, continued to write about the power of repentance, about the miracles of God. These materials became the basis of the second part of "On the Bank of the River of God."
Since 1926, Nilus lives in Chernigov, then moves to the Vladimir province, the village of Krutets, where he spent the last years of his life.