Kaluga region is famous for many shrines. The most famous is Optina Deserts, whose history begins in the XIV century. In the XIX century, the monastery became a real correctional shelter for the Russian intelligentsia. Wise confessors - Optina elders - healed here the ailments of the nobles, lovingly comforting all pilgrims, regardless of their rank and position.
Where is Optina Desert
The monastery is located two kilometers from Kozelsk, on the banks of the Zhizdra River. They say that after spending several days in these places, a person changes, peace comes in his soul. Hundreds of people come here every day. This is one of the most revered and prayed places of Orthodox Russia. About where Optina deserts is located, people think in moments of despondency, when they feel a sense of hopelessness. You can get to these places by train. From the station Tupik to the monastery two kilometers.
Background
What was previously where Optina deserts is today? The history of the Kozelsky district tells the story of the Vyatichi tribe who once lived here. The city itself is mentioned for the first time in the annals of 1146. In 1238, he was taken by the Tatars. The battle lasted a month and a half. Almost all the inhabitants of Kozelsk were killed, and two-year-old Prince Vasily, according to legend, drowned in blood.
At the beginning of the 15th century, the city passed to Lithuania. After 50 years, the city became part of the Moscow Principality. The founding date of Optina Desert is unknown. But there is an assumption that previously the monastery was common to monks and nuns.
Wholesale
Optina Deserts - a monastery located in the Kaluga region. Desert in ancient times called the place of secluded monastic settlements. Optina is a word that comes from the name of a repentant robber. Little is known about this man.
Rogue Opt was a formidable leader of the big gang. It is industrial in the dense forest, where the city of Kozelsk is now located. Once, for unknown reasons, the inveterate robber left his gang and took monastic tonsure. In monasticism, he received the name Macarius. That is why the deserts in the 14-15 centuries was called Makaryevskaya. Where the founder of the monastery is buried is unknown. Moreover, this story is just one of the legends. There are many white spots in the history of Optina Desert.
Other versions about the foundation of the cloister
About who founded Optina deserts, there are various assumptions. According to one version, it was built in the depths of a dense forest thanks to Prince Vladimir the Brave and his heirs. These places were not suitable for cultivation, in the XIV century they did not belong to anyone. And therefore, according to another version, once unknown hermits appeared here. They chose the most remote place for their spiritual exploits, far from settlements. These are the versions about the emergence of Optina Desert. The history of the monastery is presented below.
XVIII century
Peter's reforms did not have the best effect on the fate of the monastery. The monastery had to pay the rent to the state. Funds were needed for the construction of a new capital and the war with the Swedes. By the second decade of the eighteenth century, the monastery was in distress. In 1724 it was abolished. The wooden buildings located on its territory became unusable.
Recovery began in 1741. A wooden bell tower and a new temple with two chapels were built here. In 1764, on the orders of Catherine the Great, the monastery was included in the number of provincial monasteries of the Krutitsky diocese. Five years later, the construction of the cathedral church was completed. According to historical documents, in the seventies there were only two monks.
The position of Optina in the desert began to change towards the end of the 18th century, when the Metropolitan of Moscow drew attention to the monastery. Already in 1797 there were 12 monks here. In 1799, the monastery became part of the Kaluga diocese.
XIX century
In the domestic history of Optina, deserts is of considerable importance. This monastery is a vivid example of the process of spiritual rebirth that took place at the end of the 18th century. It is located at the edge of a pine forest, cut off from the world by Zhizdroy. This is an excellent place for a contemplative hermit life, a spiritual oasis. They say that the elders of Optina Desert have the gift of healing.
At the beginning of the century, the construction of a three-tier bell tower began. On both sides attached to her wings for cells. In 1804, construction was completed. Three years later, the construction of the Kazan Church began, a little later - the hospital church with six cells. Advisor Kamynin allocated funds for the construction material.
The temples were consecrated in 1811. Ten years later, a monastery was arranged here. Deserts lived in it, that is, people who spent many years in absolute solitude. The elder knew the spiritual life of the monastery. From all over Russia, Optina deserts attracted people who aspired to life in harmony with God. The monastery became the spiritual center of the country. After donations began to arrive, there appeared land, a mill, stone buildings.
XX century
In 1918 the monastery was closed. For several years, the Rest House was located on its territory. For some time on the graves of the elders in the Soviet years there was a dance floor. And in 1939, these holy places, by order of Beria, were transformed into a concentration camp. Several thousand Polish officers were detained here, most of them were sent to Katyn and executed.
At the beginning of the Second World War, the monastery housed a hospital, then the NKVD inspection and filtration camp. The government handed over the Optina Desert to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1987. Recovery began in 1990.
The burial places of the elders were found with great difficulty. The devastation in the nineties was so depressing that the locals did not believe that Optina deserts could be revived.
Architectural ensemble
The main temple of the monastery is Vvedensky Cathedral. It was founded in 1750. The largest temple on the territory of the monastery is the temple of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, built in 1811. In the two thousandth erected the Church of the Transfiguration.
On the territory of the monastery there are also: a church in honor of St. Mary of Egypt, a bell tower, a chapel, a gate church, a wooden belfry, a fraternal refectory, as well as a bakery, igumen, library, cell building. Some buildings appeared in the XIX century. For example, the cell of the old man Ambrose is located in a wooden hut, which is already more than 150 years old. However, the oldest building in Optina Desert is the Vvedensky Cathedral.
In Moscow and St. Petersburg there are churches belonging to the monastery. This is the courtyard of the Holy Vvedensky Monastery of Optina Desert in Yasenevo (Church of Peter and Paul) and the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin on Vasilievsky Island.
Elders
Optina of deserts is first of all its elders. There are only fourteen of them today. What is the essence of old age? Among the monks, a more experienced one is chosen, who becomes the spiritual father of the whole fraternity. He becomes a mentor for the laity who come here. Between the Kazan Church and the Vvedensky Cathedral there is a necropolis. Priests are buried here. And it is in this part of the desert that the graves of the Optina elders are located. However, they are empty - the relics of the saints are transferred to the crayfish.
Each of the elders became famous for something. Nectarius was a fortuneteller. Leo is a healer. The most famous was the third oldest of the Optina Desert - Ambrose. Not so long ago, a cell was restored to her monastery. Entrance for the laity here is closed.
Hieroschimonhos Ambrose
He was canonized in 1988. The Monk Ambrose, in the world Alexander Mikhailovich Grenkov, possessed a phenomenal memory, freely wrote and spoke five foreign languages. From childhood, he was distinguished by extraordinary abilities, but in his youth he became very ill and then made a vow to God: if I survive, get a haircut as a monk. Alexander Grenkov recovered. For his ministry, he chose Optina Desert.
The Monk Ambrose knew how to speak his language with everyone: to help an illiterate peasant woman, to give advice to a wealthy landowner. This man talked with Leo Tolstoy and Fedor Dostoevsky. Conversations with the old man took place in a special room. The decor of this room today is fully preserved. Asceticism reigns in it, although the elder here received not only famous writers, but also representatives of the imperial Romanov family.
Leo Tolstoy came to Optina deserts six times. For the first time - in 1878. Between Ambrose and Tolstoy, a long, heavy conversation then took place. After the departure of the writer, the elder said: "Oh, very proud." There is evidence that Tolstoy came here immediately before his death, wanted to visit Ambrose, but did not dare to enter the monastery.
Fedor Dostoevsky came to Optina deserts after a heavy loss - the death of a young son. The writer could not understand why God needed the death of an angel-like boy. He suffered a lot. Arriving at the monastery, Fyodor Mikhailovich talked for a long time with the old man Ambrose. According to eyewitnesses, he came out of his cell completely different person. Elder Ambrose is the prototype of Zosima from the novel The Brothers Karamazov.
Hieroschimonhon Leo
In the world he was called Leo Danilovich Nagolkin. The future Optina Elder was born in 1768. He came from the bourgeois class, in his youth he served as a clerk with a wealthy merchant. In 1797, Nagolkin tonsured monks. After 20 years, he arrived in Optina deserts, where he founded old age. Among his spiritual children was the Monk Ambrose, as mentioned above.
Hieroschimonah Macarius
Mikhail Nikolaevich Ivanov, such is the worldly name of this old man, was born in 1788 in a noble family. At the age of 14, he entered the service of an accountant. A few years later he received the post of chief of the counting expedition. After the death of his father, Ivanov left the service and went to the monastery. Since 1834 he was in Optina desert. Thanks to this old man, a whole school of translators and publishers of spiritual literature was created.
Archimandrite Barsanuphius
The future clergyman was born, in the world Pavel Plikhankov, in Samara in 1845, in a merchant family. He graduated from the military gymnasium, after which he made a good career. He rose to the colonel. However, unexpectedly for relatives and colleagues, Plikhankov in the 70s filed a letter of resignation. He arrived at Optina Desert in 1891. In 1907 he was elevated to the rank of abbot. Five years later, Rev. Barsanuphius was appointed rector of the Old Golutvinsky monastery.
In the Optina Desert, the old man was just at the time when Leo Tolstoy came there. As already mentioned, the writer visited these places on the eve of death. Upon learning of this, Barsanuphius went to the railway station in order to advise Tolstoy before his death and help him reconcile with the church. But he was not allowed to the dying writer.
Nectarius of Optina
Nikolai Tikhonov was born in Yelets in 1853. The family was poor, his father worked at the mill, he died early. Soon passed away and mother. The boy was left an orphan. At eleven years old, he entered the service of a merchants shop, six years later he received the position of junior clerk.
At the age of twenty, Nikolai went on foot to Optina Deserts. Here he was received by Elder Ambrose. They talked for a long time, but about what, Nectarius later told no one like that. In March 1887, he was tonsured into the mantle. Seven years later he was ordained hierodeacon.
Two years before the outbreak of World War I, the brothers elected Nectarius as an old man. After the advent of Soviet power, the monastery was closed. Rev. Nectarius was arrested. He spent three years in prison. It is known that after his return he lived in the village of Ulyanovo, Kaluga region. He died in 1928.
Schiarchimandrite Eli
Optina elders - who are they, why did people from different parts of the country try to get to them “for an appointment”? These are people who have some kind of spiritual vision.
Such vision, according to the monks of Optina Desert, is possessed by Schiarchimandrite Iliy (Alexey Nozdrin). Now he lives in Peredelkino, is the personal confessor of the Moscow Patriarch Kirill. When the old man was in Optina Desert, people constantly went to him. He did not accept everyone. But if a person was lucky enough to talk with the elder Elijah, he could get completely unexpected advice from him. For example, to leave a business, adopt a child from an orphanage, or even go to a monastery.
Alexey Afanasevich Nozdrin - that was his name in the world. He was born in 1932 into a peasant family. In 1949 he graduated from high school. While serving in the army, he joined the Komsomol, but when he returned home, he repented of his deed and burned the Komsomol ticket.
In 1958, Nozdrin graduated from college in the suburbs. Then he worked at a factory in the city of Kamyshin. There was only one temple, which the future clergyman visited. Nozdrin, on the advice of his confessor, graduated from the Leningrad Theological Academy. In 1966 he was tonsured a monk. In the late eighties he was sent to Optina Desert, where at that time the restoration of the monastery began.
1993 tragedy
At Easter in Optina Desert, three clergymen were killed at the belfry. Hieromonk Vasily and monks Trofim and Ferapont became victims of a ritual crime. The killer crept behind and stabbed them in the back. He was quickly detained, during the investigation recognized as insane and placed in a closed hospital.
The murdered monks became new martyrs. In 2004, the book Easter Red was published by Nina Pavlova, dedicated to the victims of the crazy sectarian satanist (three sixes were scratched on the dagger with which he struck).
For the mothers of the fathers of Optina Desert, reckoning their sons as martyrs was not a consolation. Two of them took tonsure after this tragedy. Father Vasily’s mother before shearing said: “I want to meet my son after death.” Monks are buried in the monastery. A bell tower was later built on their graves. This place is said to have extraordinary healing power.
Workers
Many who come to Optina deserts stay here for a while. They are lodged, fed for free. But on condition: they are obliged to work and attend all services. It is said that being in these holy places heals the soul.
Among the workers are representatives of various professions. For all, the conditions of stay in Optina Desert are the same. At five in the morning rise. A service takes about four hours a day. The rest of the time you have to work. Employees are accommodated in a special hotel, several people live in each room. In order to settle, you need a passport and work clothes. Everything else, if necessary, is given out in the monastery.
The cloister is fully self-sufficient. Workers work with the monks. The subsidiary farm of this monastery is one of the largest agricultural enterprises in the Kaluga region. Each of the workers has a profession in the world. In the monastery they try to offer work that is familiar to them. Veterinarians take care of animals. Artists write icons.
In the summer, the brothers leave for sowing work. But even here they are not exempted from worship - a special mobile church leaves with them.
Workers have almost no free time. They must abide by the strict charter of the monastery. However, some have been living here for years. There are those who do not leave at all, are preparing for monasticism.
In the vicinity of the monastery
Today, a whole village is lined up around the monastery. In the nineties, a small house in the vicinity of the monastery could be bought for only 50 thousand rubles. Today, prices have risen about twenty times. Among the residents of nearby villages, there are many who have bought houses here too solely because of the proximity of the Optina Desert. Many villagers accept those who wish to visit the famous monastery. The cost of rental housing is low - from 300 rubles per bed.
Optina deserts are surrounded by forest, village and healing springs. Six hundred meters from the monastery is the spring of Pafnutius Borovsky, which has long been considered healing. Thousands of pilgrims come here every year. They say that the spring really cures of ailments.