Before the church at the Holy Resurrection-Novodevichy Monastery was returned, we would go see Fr. Nikolai Guryanov on the island of Talabsk. The monastery churches were still in a state of desecration, and there were even latrines there, and some machine tools were installed. We would sometimes take pictures of this disgrace to show Batiushka.
One day he said: “What a beautiful monastery! It’s your monastery! Matushka, stand by it.” And he began to sing the hymn: “Before Thy Cross, we bow down in worship, O Master, and Thy holy Resurrection we glorify.”
We thought then: Here’s the Elder praying to the Cross of Christ, and the monastery is on its own Golgotha, ruined… Could such fulfilled hope really have quietly made its way into him in some miraculous manner? When would we glorify the Resurrection? It is the Monastery of the Resurrection…
But this is why Batiushka was clairvoyant. His hymn to the Cross, from out of the blue, was in fact a foretelling of the time when the monastery would be returned to the Church, because the official date of the monastery’s transfer occurred in the week of the Elevation of the Cross, when the Cross of the Lord lies on the analogion in the center of the church. Then, in the presence of our ruling hierarch Metropolitan Vladimir (Kotlyarov) of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, before the Cross of Christ, the glorification of the Cross was celebrated and the documents on the transfer of the monastery were handed over.
Fr. Nikolai had always rejoiced in every little stroke, in the details that testified to the approach of this hour, when the monastery would be returned to the Church. Any information about living Russian monasteries was gratifying for him in general. Batiushka would pray for the benefactors and the monastics. The ideal of holiness is indestructible in the heart of the Russian people, in the Russian soul. Many remember the scene from the film when they ask Fr. Nikolai: “How can we revive Holy Rus’?” to which he smiled in his usual manner and answered: “It hasn’t died!” God isn’t in the logs, but in the ribs.[5]
I know that when someone has a special spiritual battle, about which path to take, God Himself advises the weakest about which way leads to salvation. I remember when in the most crucial period of my life, another, then-unknown-to-me elder appeared to me in a dream. Only later did I realize who it was by the portrait hanging at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy where I teach! I suddenly stopped on the image of Metropolitan Anthony (Melnikov; † 5/29/1986) and I realized it was precisely this spirit-bearing archpastor that appeared to me… He had already reposed by then. I already knew that he had not been tonsured into the schema during his lifetime, although he came to me in the schema. “Upon meeting with Christ, the schema will be removed from one person and laid upon another,” says St. Paisios the Athonite. We don’t know who will stand before the Lord in what rank. The great schema is with God—the schema of the spirit that a man acquired during his life.
And here the schema-metropolitan spoke with me, strengthening me in choosing the monastic path. I agreed. And then, suddenly, I was given Vladyka Anthony’s paramon[6] with the inscription: For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. I was tonsured with this paramon. Such a blessing was given to me at my tonsure from that world where everyone is alive to God (cf. Mt. 22:32).
Later, when the monastery had been returned to the Church and its monastic life began to warm up, it was very hard for me to bear the cross of the abbacy for a while: My passions still arose and it was hard to endure the infirmities of others… Then I wrote a letter to Fr. John (Krestiankin). I cried it all out, and the answer just wasn’t coming. “There was nothing to send in the mail,” I thought. “Batiushka probably has no time…” I had begun to despair when suddenly news came from him! I opened the envelope and there was a photo of a rock on which was depicted St. Seraphim of Sarov praying with upraised arms—we know that the arms of the ascetics are not uplifted as being elevated to Heaven, but on the contrary, they’re being spread on the crossbeam of the Cross, accepting all the pain and confusion of this world… I turned the picture over, and there on the other side was written in Batiushka John’s hand: “Matushka, the Light of the Risen Christ is seen only from the Cross.”
Then, once again was revealed the prophecy of Fr. Nikolai. Thus we glorify the Resurrection of Christ in Holy Resurrection Monastery. Glory to God for all things.
Abbess Sophia (Silina) of Holy Resurrection-Novodevichy Monastery in St. Petersburg
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[5] Meaning God isn’t confined to church buildings, but also resides in man, as, according to St. Paul, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.—Trans.
[6] A piece of square cloth worn on the back, embroidered with the instruments of the Passion, and connected by ties to a wooden cross worn over the heart, representing the yoke of Christ.—Trans.