“To be a burning candle...” In memory of Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov). Glinsky Elder Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov)

30.01.2018 7844

Under the leadership of the spirit-bearing elders of the Glinsk monastery, great lamps of faith and piety grew, embodying the high traditions of the monastery. Through their pastoral activities and theological works they have brought to our time the unfading light of elder edification and admonition. The Glinskaya Nativity of the Virgin Hermitage was a bridge between our time and the ancient elders, when other spiritual centers were closed. Having united two eras and adopted the traditions of ancient asceticism, she passed on these traditions to us through shepherds and monks who were nourished by spirit-bearing elders.

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Archimandrite Nektary (Nuzhdin) (1863 - ca. 1943)

Nikolai Nuzhdin (that was the name of Nektary’s father in the world) was born in 1863 in the city of Rybinsk. At the age of sixteen, he entered the holy monastery, where, like everyone else, he underwent various obediences, and was nurtured by the elders, learning spiritual wisdom from them. In 1894, he was tonsured a monk and given the name Nektarios. In 1901 he was ordained a hieromonk. In 1912, Fr. Nektary was appointed rector of the Glinsk hermitage, where he continued the elder tradition and preserved the strict Athos charter.

His management of the desert coincided with difficult times in Russia. This was a time of wars, in which the Glinsk hermitage took a significant part through the spiritual nourishment of soldiers and through charitable activities, as well as a time of spiritual war, when the enemy of the human race attacked the Church with particular malice. And here, elder prayer and pastoral counseling, guided by the grace of God, helped the Russian people endure such difficult times and carry the holy Orthodox faith to the present day.

After the temporary desolation of the Glinsk Hermitage (1922-1942), Father Nektary again revived spiritual traditions in it. He disseminated knowledge of the patristic heritage among the brethren to support ancient asceticism. Under him, the eldership was restored in the monastery, and he himself was a godly elder who acquired special prudence, insight and pastoral care.

The elder taught that completely cutting off one’s will and placing it in the hands of a spiritual leader contributes to the eradication of passions, fulfillment of commandments, humility, and, finally, dispassion and purity of thoughts. Special attention to Fr. Nektary turned to the confessor for the blessing and advised not to do anything without such a blessing.

Schema-abbot Seraphim, as a wise leader, cared not only about the spiritual prosperity of the holy monastery, but also remembered the economic needs of the monastery.

Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Amelin) (1874–1958)

In the world, Seraphim’s father’s name was Simeon Dmitrievich Amelin. Simeon was born in 1874 in the village of Solomino, Kursk province. In 1893, Simeon, inflamed with an irresistible desire to serve God, entered the Glinsk Hermitage, where his relatives, his brother and uncle, were already asceticizing. At first, like everyone else, he went through the usual obediences, strictly fulfilling all the senile orders: revelation of thoughts, reading patristic literature, observing fasting and prayer, keeping the mind in the fear of God, that is, constantly monitoring his deeds and thoughts. In 1904, Simeon was tonsured into the mantle with the name Seraphim, and in 1917 he was ordained to the priesthood. In the same year, when the revolutionary upheaval took place, he was invested with the Great Schema, taking upon himself an even more severe feat of fasting and prayer for distressed Russia. He suffered a lot during these years of persecution of the holy faith, but, having courageously withstood all the trials, in 1943 Elder Seraphim was elected to the position of rector of the holy monastery and elevated to the rank of hegumen. Having further strengthened his monastic feat by serving Christ, the elder received grace-filled spiritual gifts from Him. Having acquired unceasing prayer, insight, peacemaking and endless love for everyone, he, with meekness and the example of his entire life, taught people obedience, revealing to them that the peace of Christ is gained through a righteous, blameless life.

Under him, the eldership in the monastery especially increased, which contributed to better spiritual nourishment for both monastics and laity. This was also facilitated by the office of clerk, to which the abbot appointed monks of high spiritual life.

Schema-abbot Seraphim, as a wise leader, cared not only about the spiritual prosperity of the holy monastery, but also remembered the economic needs of the monastery. Unable to withstand the injustice on the part of the local authorities, which incredibly inflated the amount of insurance payments, the elder turns to the Sumy Regional Department of State Insurance for clarification of the puzzling question. And, with God’s help, he is seeking a recalculation of insurance payments. This is how this case is written about in the information report and secret correspondence in the Sumy region from January 1, 1947 to February 1948:

Father Andronik taught that people who receive communion every day are in delusion; they need to receive communion only once a month, since one must prepare for Communion and cut off self-will.

“A complaint was received from the rector of the Glinsk Hermitage that the Raigosstrakh inspectorate overestimated the assessments of residential and commercial facilities and, as a result, the insurance amount of payments was incorrectly calculated. On June 13, 1947, the senior inspector of the Sumy Regional Department of State Insurance, Comrade Lazarenko, and the senior inspector of the Shalyginsky District Insurance Inspectorate, Comrade Avramenko, in the presence of the abbot of the monastery and the secretary, checked the correctness of accounting for the taxation of housing facilities and the economic fund of the Glinsk Hermitage and established that the State Insurance Inspectorate of the Shalyginsky District had unreasonably inflated assessment of insurance objects. In total, the ratings were overestimated by 236.495 rubles. As a result, the insured amount of payments was incorrectly calculated. In this regard, insurance payments will be recalculated."

In 1947, Father Seraphim was awarded a medal “for valiant labor in the Great Patriotic War,” but he, citing ill health, did not arrive in Sumy, not wanting to accept the award, especially since it was given by the persecutors of the Church, and then the medal was transferred through Shalyginsky executive committee

Having worked in the field of Christ, completely revived the eldership, improved the external and, most importantly, internal spiritual state of the monastery, Archimandrite Seraphim gave his soul into the hands of the Lord. But even after his death, in 1958, he did not leave his children, but appeared in a dream “... to one zealous young Glinsky monk, taught him how to live as a monk, taught him moderation in asceticism,” as written by the compiler of the Glinsky Patericon - Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov). Most likely o. John meant himself by this zealous monk.

Hieroschemamonk Jonah (Shikhovtsov) (1894– 1960)

Father Jonah showed himself to be an example of a true shepherd. In the world his name was Ivan Dmitrievich Shikhovtsov. He was born in 1894 in the village of Preobrazhenka, Orenburg province. Since childhood, he was a deeply religious believer and never hid it. From 1945 to 1953, he was in camps for his religious beliefs, where he decided to devote his life to serving God. In 1954 he came to the Glinsk Hermitage. At the beginning of 1956, he was tonsured a monk with the name Innocent and in the same year he was ordained a hierodeacon, and then a hieromonk. In 1960, he was tonsured into the schema with the name Jonah. And he soon died. Hieroschemamonk Jonah was buried in the brotherly cemetery of the Glinsk Hermitage in front of a large gathering of his flock who revered him.

Schema-Archimandrite Andronik (Lukash) (1889– 1974)

One of the great Glinsky elders, Schema-Archimandrite Andronik, and in the world Alexey Andreevich Lukash, was born on February 12, 1889 in the village of Luppa, Poltava province. Alexei came to the Glinsk hermitage in 1905, during the abbotship of Schema-Archimandrite Ioannikis. But in 1915 he was drafted into the army and was soon captured by the Austrians, where he remained for three and a half years. After the civil war, in 1918, Alexei returned to the desert and in 1921 took monastic vows with the name Andronik. In 1922, he was ordained a deacon by Bishop Pavlin (Kroshechkin), for whom he was a cell attendant, and in 1926 - a hieromonk. A year later he was tonsured into the schema.

The life of the elder was filled with sorrows. The first time he was exiled to Kolyma in 1923 for 5 years, the second - in 1939, but before that the elder was interrogated and tortured for a long time, trying to force him to testify against Bishop Pavlin. In 1948, the ascetic returned from exile to the holy monastery, and in 1955 he was elevated to the rank of schema-abbot.

Father Seraphim received an assessment of his ascetic life and evidence of his salvation from the Lord already on his deathbed - being in full consciousness, he was granted a vision of his brothers in spirit.

In November 1973, the elder was seized with paralysis, but he endured the disease without a murmur until his death, which occurred on March 21, 1974.

Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Romantsov) (1885– 1976)

Elder Seraphim (Ivan Romanovich Romantsov in the world) was born in the village of Voronok, Kursk province, on June 28, 1885. He came to Glinskaya Hermitage after the death of his parents in 1910. During the First World War he was drafted into the army. After being wounded in 1916, he returned to the monastery. He received monastic tonsure with the name Juvenaly in 1919 from the rector, Archimandrite Nektarios. In 1920, Bishop Pavlin of Rylsk ordained Father Juvenaly as a hierodeacon, and in 1926 he was ordained a hieromonk in the Dranda Dormition Monastery of the Sukhumi diocese, where he moved after the closure of the Glinsk Hermitage. Fr. Juvenaly was tonsured into the schema with the name Seraphim. After the closure of the Dranda Monastery (1928), Father Seraphim was arrested and exiled to the construction of the White Sea Canal.

From 1934 to 1946 he lived as a hermit in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, where he led an ascetic life. Growing spiritually himself, he led the people who came to him to salvation. He performed services at night, confessed, gave communion, instructed and preached.

In 1947, Father Seraphim returned to the Glinsk Hermitage and a year later was appointed fraternal confessor.

From the very beginning of his ministry at the Glinsk monastery, Fr. Seraphim attached great importance to the ancient tradition of monastic life and spiritual continuity, the bearers of which were the elders.

Thanks to his arduous deeds, Father Seraphim made people understand that our earthly life is only a preparation for eternal life, and called for a perfect and exalted Christian life. The elder taught people to monitor spiritual passions and, with God’s help, fight them. He also taught to be aware of your sins, get rid of them and not justify yourself. Being humble himself, he sought to bring humility to his children. He wrote: “A truly humble person loves everyone as he loves himself, does not even mentally condemn anyone, regrets everyone, wants to be saved by everyone, sees his sinful impurity and fearfully thinks about how he will respond at God’s judgment, but does not give in to despair or despondency, but firmly trusts in his Creator and Savior."

Father Seraphim answered letters from his many spiritual children, teaching them, consoling them, instructing them, guiding their lives from a distance. So he writes to the nuns exhausted in sorrow: “Rejoice in the Lord, and do not be discouraged... Pray, work, sing, read - do everything for the glory of God, console yourself and say everything that edifies the soul and leads to the Kingdom of God.” Giving advice about salvation, he said that they should have peace among themselves, constantly pray the Jesus Prayer, drive away unclean thoughts and condemnation of their neighbors, endure everything with patience and thank God for everything. The elder taught that it is necessary to have a leader who has the gift of spiritual reasoning and distinguishes between good and bad. He called on the monks to complete obedience.

The rector of the monastery, Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Amelin), contrary to the tradition of testing newcomers for a long time, blessed the novice John to answer numerous letters to those who asked for spiritual advice and guidance.

In 1960, Father Seraphim was elevated to the rank of abbot. After the second closure of the Glinsk Hermitage, he, like Father Andronik (Lukash), moved to Georgia, to the former monk of Glinsk, Bishop Zinovy ​​(Mazhuga). And there he humbly continued to bear his heavy cross of shepherding. For his zealous service to the Church in 1975, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

Father Seraphim received an assessment of his ascetic life and evidence of his salvation from the Lord already on his deathbed - being in full consciousness, he was granted a vision of his brothers in spirit. Then he said: “What I have prayed for all my life and what I have been searching for has now been revealed in my heart; my soul is so filled with grace that I can’t even contain it.”

On January 1, 1976, the gracious elder gave up his spirit to God.

Monk Zinovy ​​(Mazhuga), later Metropolitan of the Georgian Orthodox Church, (schema Seraphim) (1896– 1985)

Metropolitan Zinovy ​​(Mazhuga), in schema Seraphim In the world, Metropolitan Zinovy's name was Zakhary Joakimovich Mazhuga, in schema - Seraphim. Metropolitan Zinovy ​​was born in 1896 in the city of Glukhov. In 1914, he entered the Glinsk Hermitage, where he underwent obedience. His confessors were the Glinsky elders - Hieroschemamonk Nikolai (Khondarev) and the rector of the monastery, Archimandrite Nektary (Nuzhdin). In 1920, Zachary was tonsured into the ryassophore, and in 1921 into monasticism. After the monastery was closed in 1922, he moved to the Dranda Dormition Monastery of the Sukhumi diocese, where Bishop Nikon of Pyatigorsk ordained him a hierodeacon, and then a hieromonk. Father Zinovy ​​served in Sukhumi from 1925 to 1930, then in Rostov-on-Don, where he was arrested. In the isolation ward and camps, he met with schema-archimandrites Seraphim (Romantsov) and Andronik (Lukash). In his imprisonment, the elder continued to serve his neighbors and God, he baptized, confessed, and performed funeral services. His epitrachelion was a towel with crosses drawn in charcoal.

From 1942 to 1945, Father Zinovy ​​served in the Tbilisi Zion Assumption Cathedral and was the confessor of the monastery of St. Olga in Mtskheta. From 1945 to 1947 he served in Armenia in the village of Kirovo. In 1947-1950 - in Batumi. In 1950, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and appointed rector of the Church of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky in Tbilisi. In 1952 he was appointed a member of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church. In 1956, Father Zinovy ​​was ordained a bishop, and in 1972 - to the rank of metropolitan of the Georgian Orthodox Church. This was the only case in the history of the Georgian Church when a non-Georgian was ordained as a bishop.

On April 16, 1957, in the Church of the Holy Blessed Alexander Nevsky, Bishop Zinovy ​​tonsured Heraclius, who would become the future Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II (Gudushauri-Shiolashvili), as a monk, and predicted his future patriarchal service.

Bishop Zinovy ​​spiritually cared for Russian parishes in Georgia and Armenia. The elder always received every person with love. With his godly life, he set an example of zealous service to the Holy Church and selfless love for his neighbors. Having a spiritual connection with the Glinsk Hermitage, he always prayed for the brethren of the holy monastery and asked for their prayers for himself. His closest associates were the Glinsky elders - Schema-Archimandrite Andronik (Lukash), who settled in Sukhumi, Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Romantsev), Archimandrite Seraphim (Amelin). The brethren of the Glinsk hermitage could always find shelter and care from the elder at the Alexander Nevsky parish.

Having predicted the day of his death, Bishop Zinovy ​​gathered all the Glinsky monks who lived in Georgia. Before his death, the bishop adopted a schema with the name Seraphim (in honor of Saint Seraphim of Sarov). In 1985, at the eighty-ninth year of his life, Schema-Metropolitan Seraphim died. Elder Seraphim was buried in the church of St. Prince Alexander Nevsky, where for thirty years he cared for his flock.

Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov) (1932– 1991)

Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov) Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov) presented us with a rare opportunity to become closely acquainted with the true life of the Glinsk hermitage and its spirit-bearing inhabitants. His works about the Glinsk monastery - “Glinsk Hermitage. The history of the monastery and its spiritual and educational activities in the 16th–20th centuries,” “Glinsky Patericon” and other numerous works, filled with the evangelical and patristic spirit, serve as an excellent guide for all those seeking salvation. But Father John is dear to us not only for his deeply edifying and saving works. His life is a shining and instructive example for both laity and pastors.

Schema-Archimandrite John (Ivan Sergeevich Maslov) was born on the eve of the Nativity of Christ on January 6, 1932 into a believing peasant family in the village of Potapovka, Sumy region, which was located not far from the Glinsk Hermitage. After serving in the army, having visited the holy monastery several times, he decided to completely devote his life to God and in 1954 became a novice of the Glinsk Hermitage. The spiritually experienced elders, seeing God’s chosen one in the young novice, from the first days of his arrival at the monastery, began sending pilgrims to him for advice. And the abbot of the monastery, Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Amelin), contrary to the tradition of testing newcomers for a long time, blessed him to answer numerous letters to those who asked for spiritual advice and guidance. Signing the answers of novice John, the abbot was amazed at how soul-saving they were and filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is how Father John’s senile ministry began.

From the age of nine, Fr. Vitaly worked on a collective farm, but he was not paid a salary, because if there was a holiday in the middle of the week, he left work for the temple of God.

When the Glinsk monastery was closed in 1961, Father John, with the blessing of his confessor, entered the Moscow Theological Seminary, and after graduating, he entered the Theological Academy.

Upon entering the seminary, the connection with the Glinsky elders did not stop - Father John corresponded with spiritual father Andronik, Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Romantsov), Metropolitan Zinovy ​​(Mazhuga) and helped them financially and spiritually: he sent medicines, spiritual books, icons and food.

In 1962, Father John was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, and on March 31, 1963 - to the rank of hieromonk. During these years, Father John was seriously ill, but he was always cheerful, sociable, and only when he confessed, he seemed to be transformed, and became strict.

At 33 years old, he was already an experienced elder, prepared by the elder ministry in the Glinsk Hermitage. And the people of God reached out to him from all over Russia.

In 1969, after graduating from the academy with a candidate of theology degree, Father John became a teacher at Moscow theological schools.

His students remembered their teacher’s instruction for the rest of their lives: “Never and nowhere should the life of a clergyman become, even in the slightest degree, a desecration of the Name of Jesus! Not only can it not be shameful, but it must be holy and pure, for the Lord does not only require decency from the shepherd, but holiness and perfection.”

Since 1974, more than a hundred edifying and saving works of Father John have been published in various publications. These works reveal the inner spiritual life of a person and indicate to him a high goal - the achievement of the Kingdom of Heaven. His dissertation research, works on the Glinsk Hermitage, articles, sermons, lectures on Pastoral Theology and Liturgics had a hugely fruitful influence on the development of patrolology, asceticism, homiletics, liturgics, pastoral and moral theology and other disciplines.

In 1985, Father John was sent as confessor to the Zhirovitsky Holy Dormition Monastery in Belarus. In a short time, the elder revived the spiritual life of the monastery according to the model of the Glinsk hermitage, improved the order of worship, church singing and reading, and improved the economic life of the monastery: gardening and vegetable farming were improved, and an apiary appeared. Having learned about the blessed elder, pilgrims began to come to Zhirovitsy. But Father John did not have to labor for long in the new place - due to the damp climate, constant heart attacks began. In August 1990, while on vacation in Sergiev Posad, the elder was completely bedridden. A month before his death, he predicted the day of his death and on July 29, 1991, having received the Holy Mysteries, Father John, in full consciousness, peacefully departed to the Lord.

Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly (Sidorenko) (1928– 1992)

It is impossible not to recall another elder of our time - Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly (Sidorenko), who was the spiritual child of Hieroschemamonk Seraphim (Romantsov) and lived for some time in the Glinsk Hermitage.

Vitaly was born in 1928 in the Krasnodar region into a poor peasant family. Already from childhood, his chosenness was visible. From the age of five, he began to strictly fast (he did not eat meat at all), as soon as he learned to read, he did not part with the Gospel and read it everywhere and to everyone, which was not safe at that godless time. From the age of nine he worked on a collective farm, but he was not paid a salary, because if there was a holiday in the middle of the week, he left work for the temple of God. Vitaly studied well, but he could not hide his convictions and testified about God without fear, sincerely wanting everyone to be enlightened by the light of Christ’s faith. They were afraid to keep such a student in a Soviet school, and in the seventh grade he was expelled. From the age of fourteen, Vitaly took upon himself the feat of wandering, then deliberately refused to receive a passport, wanting to be a citizen of Heaven, because of which he endured many sorrows.

Having learned that the Trinity-Sergius Lavra had been opened, Vitaly came to restore it, but he could not remain a resident of the monastery of St. Sergius without documents, and he was advised to go to the Glinsk Hermitage. So Vitaly became a novice of three wise mentors who led the life of the Glinsk monastery in those years: the abbot of the monastery Seraphim (Amelina), schema-abbot Andronik (Lukash) and hieroschemamonk Seraphim (Romantsov). Father Seraphim (Romantsov), being the confessor of the monastery, became (and remained until the end of his life) the spiritual father of Vitaly.

Vitaly was a humble and zealous novice, and soon the incessant Jesus Prayer was kindled in his heart. In those difficult years, people were drawn to monasticism. And, feeling compassion and love, people often gathered around him.

When the fraternal bloodshed began, Father Vitaly took upon himself the feat of silence and strict fasting: at night, standing on a stone, he prayed for the preservation of Saint Iberia and the flock of Christ.

At every opportunity, Vitaly visited the Glinsk monastery and his spiritual father. A new wave of persecution of the Church began, and so that novice Vitaly could preserve the structure of monastic life, in 1958 Father Seraphim and Father Andronik tonsured him as a monk and blessed him to live a desert life in the gorges of the Caucasus.

Life in the Caucasus mountains was difficult and dangerous. But brother Vitaly had boundless trust in the will of God and with equal gratitude accepted from the Lord both joys and great sorrows. During a serious illness, fearing for Vitaly’s life, the hermit abbot Mardarius privately tonsured him into a mantle with the name Benedict.

Father Vitaly lived in the mountains for almost ten years and fell in love with desert living so much that he yearned for it all his life. But staying in the mountains also became dangerous - and the “guardians of order” got here and arrested all the monks. Father Vitaly at this time came down from the mountains to the pilgrims who were visiting him. After this event, Father Seraphim did not bless him to return to the desert and sent him to Tbilisi to the Glinsky elder, Bishop Zinovy ​​(Mazhuga).

On January 2, 1976, His Eminence Bishop Zinovy ​​ordained Father Vitaly as a hieromonk. The day before, Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Romantsov) died and the people said: “One elder died, and another rose again.”

Due to the lack of documents, Father Vitaly had to live secretly with Georgian families for five years. His spiritual children could not communicate with him at this time. Out of love for people seeking his spiritual guidance, Father Vitaly decided to get a passport and then settled on the outskirts of Tbilisi in the village of Didube. People from different parts of Russia and from abroad flocked to the elder for spiritual guidance: monks, priests, and laity. With the blessing of Bishop Zinovy, Father Vitaly performed secret tonsures and himself named those tonsured, seeing with spiritual eyes a person’s calling to monasticism, even when the person himself did not yet know about it. Vladyka Zinovy ​​himself secretly accepted from the hands of Father Vitaly the schema with the name Seraphim.

In the 1990s. During the time of the political revolution in Georgia and the war with Abkhazia, Father Vitaly devoted all his spiritual strength to prayer for the salvation of Iveria. Every hour he blessed all sides with the icon, protecting the people from disasters. When they bombed Didube, trying to get into the carriages with shells at the railway station, and people began to run out of their houses in panic, Father Vitaly took the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God, went to an open place and began to baptize with it the flying shells, which began to explode in the air to the side away from the village without causing harm to people. When the fraternal bloodshed began, Father Vitaly took upon himself the feat of silence and strict fasting: at night, standing on a stone, he prayed for the preservation of Saint Iberia and the flock of Christ.

Elder Vitaly was providentially sent to Georgia in the most difficult years. Many people took refuge under his prayerful cover. He did not give his blessing to leave Georgia. He prayed for everyone, and if he didn’t know the names, he wrote down the total number of deaths in the Synodik. He performed the Proskomedia in the evening and took out the pieces all night until the Liturgy.

On December 1, 1992, Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly ended his painful journey, serving his neighbors until the very end of his earthly days. The elder was buried opposite the altar of the Alexander Nevsky Church, where he served for twenty years.

The words of the elders, spoken at the closing of the Glinsk hermitage, came true: “Not all people could come to our monastery due to weakness, because of the long distance, or lack of money. God wanted us to disperse all over the country, so that the Glinsk monks would be beacons of spiritual life for everyone.”

But not only the monks of the Glinsk monastery became beacons of spiritual life, but also the pupils, the spiritual children of the Glinsk elders, who were cared for by them in places of exile when the hermitage was closed. To confirm this, we can cite the example of the life of the elder of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery - Archimandrite John (Krestyankin).

Glinsky fathers: Hieroschemamonk Seraphim (Romantsov), Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Amelin), Schema-Abbot Andronik (Lukash). 1950s

Archimandrite John (Peasant) (1910– 2006)

Father John, or in the world Ivan Mikhailovich Krestyankin, being a parish priest, fervently desired to become a monk and in 1957 went for spiritual advice to the Glinsk hermitage known to the elders. The spiritual peace and special prayerful silence of the monastery captivated everyone who visited there. The confessor of the monastery, Hieroschemamonk Seraphim (Romantsov), took Father John under his care and became both a mentor and a father for him. Reverence in service, reverence in communication with people was a clear embodiment of patristic traditions in the elder. Father John began to travel to the Glinsk hermitage every year until its closure, and then to Sukhumi, where Elder Seraphim served. In 1966, the priest came to Sukhumi seriously ill, on the verge of a heart attack, and then Father Seraphim himself tonsured him as a monk and named him John, in honor of the apostle of love, seeing with his spiritual gaze his loving heart. Father John treasured every minute of communication with his spiritual father, absorbed the grace emanating from the elder and lived by it until the next meeting. This spiritual relationship continued until the death of Elder Seraphim, who reposed in 1976, and the spiritual lessons received from him guided the life of Father John until the end of his days.

In 1967, Hieromonk John was appointed to serve at the Pskov-Pechersky Holy Dormition Monastery. The lessons of internal monastic work received in the Glinsk Hermitage allowed him to easily enter monastic life. And after him, pilgrims from those parishes where he had previously served came to the monastery. In all parishes, his spiritual children remained close to the priest. In the Ryazan diocese alone, Father John was transferred to new places six times. Temples preparing for closure came to life with his arrival, and the flock increased. And to this day, not a single church where the priest served has closed.

Having retired from the world to the monastery, Father John brought with him people from all over the world: just as before, the suffering began to come to the Glinsk Hermitage and to the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. For many years, believers turned to Father John for advice and spiritual help. And when the priest, having reached old age, could no longer receive all those in need, he began to answer numerous letters, delivered sermons, which formed a yearly circle of teachings for major holidays, and wrote books, which have already been reprinted several times.

In his spiritual teachings, the priest revealed the great secret of life: “... and this secret is Love! Love and you will rejoice with others and for others. Love your neighbor! And you will love Christ. Love the offender and the enemy! And the doors of joy will open for you. And the Risen Christ will meet your soul risen in love.”

The only guide to the life of Father John was the Providence of God. Father told everyone who came to him that everything sent or allowed by God invariably leads a person to salvation.

In the last years of his life, Father John was often visited by the inhabitants of the monastery. Father was happy with everyone, was kind to everyone and answered unasked questions lurking in his soul. The brethren heard the priest saying to himself: “Here, now, you’re going to die, but this, this, this wheat will come in handy.” And he sowed until the last day.

Honored Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy Konstantin Efimovich Skurat wrote well about the essence of the life of the Glinsky elders-ascetics: “Truly, the life of the Glinsky monks was a continuous service to God... They first of all sought the Kingdom of God and its truth. And to them, these wondrous men, the “great and terrible secrets” of the heavenly world were revealed. Thousands of those attentive to salvation reached out to these earthly angels and heavenly people; they were respected, revered, and asked for their holy prayers and spiritual advice. They were loved during their lifetime and remembered after their death, trying to imitate them.”

We need, while still living on earth, to put on Christ, live with Him and lovingly endure everything that He sends to us.
Doubt (in faith) is a temptation of the devil. There is no point in talking to your thoughts. To all doubts there is one answer: “I believe,” and you will soon feel help.
Glinsky Elder Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov)

SCHIARCHIMANDRITE JOHN (MASLOV) - RUSSIAN PASTOR AND TEACHER
Schema-Archimandrite John (in the world Ivan Sergeevich Maslov) was born on January 6, 1932 in the village of Potapovka, Sumy region, into a peasant family. He was born into one of those families that adhered to strict Christian customs and morals, in which great righteous people grew up on Russian soil - pillars of the Orthodox faith and piety. The very birth of the future elder on the great day of the eve of the Nativity of Christ was providential.

CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
The baby was baptized on January 9 in the village of Sopich in the church in the name of St. Nicholas of Myra and was named John. His parents, Sergei Feodotovich and Olga Savelyevna, were deeply religious and pious people, which was reflected in the way of family life (the elder later said about his mother that she lived her life holy).
They worked on a collective farm. My father was a foreman. They had nine children, but four died in infancy. Sergei Feodotovich loved Ivan very much and distinguished him from his other children (Ivan had two older sisters and two younger brothers).
Already in his childhood, Ivan possessed high spiritual maturity. He had many friends, but he avoided children's games. He often went to the temple of God, where his mother taught the children to go. His older sister said: “Ivan grew up kind, quiet, calm. His parents never punished him. Everyone got it from their mother, but never him. He was always humble and never offended anyone.”
Everyone who knew him during these years said that Ivan was different from other children: “He was immediately visible.” He had rare prudence, responsiveness and a desire to help others. In his soul, humility was combined with that strength of spirit and will to which all his friends submitted. Everyone obeyed Ivan, even those who were older in age. He never got into fights, but, on the contrary, stopped the fighters, saying: “Why are you beating him? It hurts him." Ivan’s grandfather, Feodot Aleksandrovich Maslov, had three siblings. One of them, Grigory Alexandrovich, Hieromonk Gabriel, known for his foresight, labored in the Glinsk Hermitage since 1893.
After the closure of the Glinsk Hermitage in 1922, Father Gabriel, his grandfather’s brother, returned to the village of Potapovka.
He predicted to his relatives: “Believe me, I will die, and there will be another monk in our family,” and they involuntarily thought about who he would become. One of Ivan’s relatives, watching the children, said: “If John Sergius is not a monk, then I don’t know who will be.” In 1941, Ivan remained in the family as the eldest, since his father was taken to the front. He did not return from the war.
Ivan’s mother, Olga Savelyevna, said that as a boy he became a real support of the family, a leader and educator of his brothers and sisters. All the children called him “father” and obeyed him. Even then, one of the main properties of his soul manifested itself - to take on all the most difficult things, to lay down one’s soul for one’s neighbor.
Olga Savelyevna (later nun Nina) said: “He alone knew how to console his mother so well, but it costs so much.” During the Great Patriotic War, a German detachment was stationed in Potapovka. The Germans took everything, including food. Ivan's father buried large barrels of grain and a barrel of honey ahead of time. The Germans looked everywhere for food, pierced the ground with bayonets, but found nothing, because Sergei Feodotovich buried it under the threshold of the barn.
The elder himself later said: “Once a German came to us with a bayonet. We, all children, sat against the wall. He brought a bayonet to everyone, they thought he would stab us, but he looked under the bed and left, didn’t touch us.” The Germans gave horses to plow the land, but the horses had to be returned by a certain hour. Father said: “I was plowing (he was 10 years old at the time), and if you jerked the horse a little, he galloped, could barely hold it, and the horse got wet. The German persecuted me and my mother for this.”
So, from childhood, Ivan worked hard. He himself said that he knew how to do everything: sewing, spinning, weaving, knitting, cooking, and performing all agricultural work. Loved the job. Whatever I did, everything worked out very well. Worked a lot at night. He didn’t go out for walks, but he let his sister go, and instead of her, he spent the night embroidering and knitting socks for his younger brothers. He sewed trousers for himself and his brothers and taught them to be neat. If the children carelessly threw their clothes, then Ivan twisted them tightly and threw them under the bed in the far corner. Such a lesson was remembered for a long time, and the children became accustomed to order.
They lived poorly, there were almost no shoes or fabric. They spun it themselves, weaved it themselves, and bleached it in the summer. We walked around in bast shoes. Father told how he himself wove bast shoes for the whole family from bast, and from thin ropes - chuni. After the war there was severe famine. It was especially difficult in the spring.
As Father John recalled, “they were only waiting for nettles.” Ivan came up with the idea of ​​making beautiful photo frames. Many people then ordered such frames from him. After all, almost every family had those killed in the war, and people wanted the photographs that were dear to them to be in a beautiful frame.
Ivan was paid for his work in products. Soon he learned how to cover roofs with thatch (which was considered the most difficult thing on the farm) and began to do it better than anyone in the village. His mother helped him: she gave him sheaves of straw. The roof was ready in three to five days. People saw how good Ivan’s roofs were, and many invited him to work, paid him money or gave him food and clothes. Ivan was also involved in beekeeping. Everything worked out quickly and well for him. This is how Ivan fed the whole family. His sister said that if it had not been for him, they would not have survived. He was the real boss of the family. At the age of 12, Ivan began working on a collective farm. Herded cows, plowed, sowed, mowed, assembled plows, learned to make carts.
I went to school 6 kilometers away in the village of Sopic. Thanks to his natural talent, Ivan studied very well. The teachers always praised him. From childhood, Ivan’s sympathetic soul warmly perceived every human misfortune: illness, poverty, and all untruths. He himself was unusually kind, able to help everyone, and he appreciated manifestations of kindness towards him.
Many years later, Father John told with tears of gratitude how, as a child, an old woman gave him a large apple because he “brought her a cow.” “So I still pray to God for her, for her good deed,” said the priest. “It’s necessary - she gave me such an apple.”
In 1951, Ivan was drafted into the army. He served excellently, his superiors loved him. Subsequently, the priest said that at first he wanted to be a military man: “I didn’t think of being a monk, I wanted to be a military man, but God brought it.” He said that even in the army he did not hide his faith. He hung an icon over his bed, and no one scolded him; on the contrary, everyone respected him. Ivan shot very accurately. If there were shooting competitions, the authorities nominated him, and he always won.
While performing his military duty, Ivan caught a severe cold and from then until his death he bore the burden of an incurable and dangerous heart disease. Due to illness, Ivan was discharged from the army in 1952 and returned home.
His purest soul strived for spiritual perfection, for unity with Christ. Nothing earthly could satisfy him. It was at this time that Ivan was honored with a Divine revelation, revealing the secret of which he later said: “When you see such a light, you will forget everything.”

GLINSKAYA DESERT
It happened one day that he and another young man went to pray in the Glinsk Hermitage, which was located not far from their village. When they first entered the monastery, Mother Martha (people called her Marfusha), a perspicacious nun, gave Ivan a bagel, but gave nothing to his companion, which became a kind of prophecy: he later did not stay in the Glinsk Hermitage, and Ivan tied his life.
After that, Ivan rode his bicycle several times to the Glinsk Hermitage. Wanting to completely devote his life to God, in 1954 he left home forever and rushed to the holy monastery.
His mother later said: “I didn’t want to let him go. What a support he was to me. I ran after him for several kilometers, kept shouting: “Come back!” At first, Ivan carried out general obediences in the monastery for several months. Then he was given a cassock and in 1955 he was enrolled in the monastery by decree.
Subsequently, when the elder was asked why he went to the monastery, he answered: “It is God who calls. It’s not up to the person to be drawn by such a force that you can’t resist—that’s what attracted me. Great power." And he also said: “I didn’t just go to the monastery. I had a special calling from God.”
Such was the departure from the world and the beginning of the monastic path of Schema-Archimandrite John. The Glinsk hermitage was in its prime at that time. Such great elders as Schema-Archimandrite Andronik (Lukash), Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Amelin), Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Romantsov) labored in the monastery. It was with them that the young ascetic immediately became spiritually close. Ivan first saw the elder abbot schema-archimandrite Seraphim (Amelina) when he was leaving the church. Ivan was brought to him. Father Seraphim blessed the young ascetic and said: “Let him, let him live,” and then he accepted Ivan into the brotherhood and always treated him with love and attention.
The details of the life of a young novice in the Glinsk monastery are known only to God. Only a few of its episodes have reached us, testifying to the severity of the trials and the most severe spiritual warfare of the ascetic with the forces of hell - trials that are allowed by God only with a strong spirit.
Father John was God's chosen one, endowed from birth with many grace-filled gifts. Eldership, as the ability to reveal the will of God to people, to discern their innermost thoughts and feelings and to lead them along the true, only true saving path to Christ, was granted to Father John in his youth. That is why the spiritually experienced Glinsky ascetics, from the first days of his arrival at the monastery, began sending pilgrims to the young novice for advice.
Even then, experienced priests began to turn to Father John, many of them asked about the correct completion of the feat of prayer. The rector of the monastery, Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Amelin), who enjoyed enormous spiritual authority among the brethren and pilgrims, immediately blessed Father John to answer the numerous letters that came to the monastery from those who asked for advice, spiritual guidance and help. How much human grief, sorrow and bewilderment the young novice already accepted into his heart, burning with love for God and people! His answers, filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, were always soul-saving. Signing them, the abbot marveled at the spiritual wisdom of the novice, read them to those who were in his cell, and exclaimed: “This is how one should instruct!”
Subsequently, when Father John was asked who told him what to write to the pilgrims, he answered: “God.”
Ivan not only answered letters, but also completely obeyed the clerk. He responded to those from whom the monastery received parcels, money orders, memorial notes... So Ivan began his selfless service to God and his neighbors, leading the most modest, strict and humble life. He bore the obedience of a letter carrier, worked in a carpentry workshop, made candles, then was the head of a pharmacy and at the same time a choir member... Everyone in the monastery loved him, no one scolded him.
On October 8, 1957, on the eve of the celebration of the repose of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, after a two-year stay in the monastery, he was tonsured a monk with the name John in honor of the holy Apostle.
The case for the Glinsk Hermitage, where tonsure was tonsured only after many years of practice, is unusual. Ivan was especially close to Schema-Archimandrite Andronik (Lukash), who, meeting him for the first time, said: “I’ve never seen him before, but he has become my dearest person.”
Once, when Ivan was seriously ill, Elder Andronik did not leave his bedside for two nights. The bonds of friendship closely connected Father John and Father Andronik until the latter’s death, and their spiritual and prayerful communication never ceased. Schema-Archimandrite Andronik's letters to Father John are filled with such ardent love, care, sincerity and respect that they cannot leave anyone indifferent. This is how he usually addresses Father John: “My dear, dear spiritual son,” “My dear and dear child in the Lord,” and writes: “I often ask those around me about you, because I want to talk with you face to face and enjoy our kindred meeting”, “You are my soul mate.”
When Father Andronik was seriously ill, his cell attendant wrote to Father John: “He is waiting for you, remembers everything and constantly calls you to him.”
Elder Schema-Archimandrite Andronik, characterizing the initial period of the monastic life of his spiritual son, said: “He passed through everyone,” that is, he was the first among the Glinsky monks.
The track record of Father John of those years says: “Monk John Maslov is distinguished by exceptional humility and meekness; despite his illness, he is diligent in his obediences.” So all his life he put humility at the forefront, always blaming and reproaching himself for everything. Already in those years, Father John’s close connection with the spiritual world was evident. After his blessed death, the abbot, Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Amelin), appeared to him more than once in a dream in full vestments and instructed him.

STUDY AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES
In 1961, the Glinskaya Hermitage was closed. In the same year, Father John, with the blessing of Elder Andronik, entered the Moscow Theological Seminary.
He came here already as a highly spiritual old man, a strict and zealous keeper of monastic vows. Archbishop of Rostov and Novocherkassk Pateleimon recalls that although Father John was younger than some of his fellow students, he looked older than them. “We, the students, knew that he was a Glinsky monk and, despite his youth, we treated him with no less respect and reverence than the elders of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The stern spiritual gaze of Elder John forced us to be sedate in his presence.”
Devoting a lot of time to his studies and the obediences assigned to him, Father John strengthened the feat of inner work, the feat of prayer. At that time, Schema-Archimandrite Andronik, who lived in Tbilisi, wrote to his spiritual son: “My dear father John! Please: Give yourself at least a little rest. You are very tired in your studies and in obedience, but the Lord will help you bear your cross.”
About Father John’s prayerfulness, Elder Andronik wrote: “Your prayers with the Reverend are very deep, I hope for your holy prayers.” Little information has been preserved about this period of Father John’s life. From the letters of Elder Andronik we learn that in those years Father John was seriously ill, but did not give up his exploits. Schema-Archimandrite Andronik wrote to him: “You do not starve yourself. You are very weak." And also: “As I know, you are in a serious and painful situation, so I ask you, as my own son, to take care of your health and eat the food that doctors prescribe. Fasting is not for the sick, but for the healthy, and what can I say, you yourself understand everything perfectly well.”

ORDINATION
On Maundy Thursday, April 4, 1962, Father John was ordained to the rank of hieromonk at the Patriarchal Epiphany Cathedral, and on March 31, 1963, to the rank of hieromonk.
After graduating from the Seminary, he continued his studies at the Theological Academy. Both at the Seminary and at the Academy, Father John was the soul of the course. In his memoirs about Father John, his fellow student Archpriest Father Vladimir Kucheryavyi writes: “1965. The beginning of the new academic year in Moscow Theological schools. The composition of the first year of the Academy was multinational. It included representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Macedonia, and Lebanon. But the brightest personality among the students, of course, was Hieromonk John (Maslov), a graduate of the Glinsk Hermitage, very capable, energetic and cheerful.” Always cheerful himself, Father John knew how to cheer up those around him.
“The Elder – Mentor”, an example of a sacristan...

ZHIROVITSKY MONASTERY
However, not everything was so smooth in the life of Father John, since it is said that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Father John did not escape this fate.
In 1985, a Master of Theology, one of the best mentors of theological schools, he was sent from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra as a confessor to the Zhirovitsky Holy Dormition Monastery. The damp climate of this place in Belarus was categorically contraindicated for him and posed a great danger to health. However, the righteous man had to drink the cup of sorrows to the end.
For the inhabitants of the Zhirovitsky monastery (there were then temporarily two monasteries in Zhirovitsy - male and female) the elder was a true spiritual treasure. Metropolitan Anthony (Melnikov) of Leningrad and Novgorod wrote about this even before the priest’s arrival. The Bishop advised them to make more fruitful use of the spiritual instructions of Father John, since he would not stay with them for long. Immediately after Father John appeared in the monastery, everyone began to flock to him, seeking salvation and life in Christ. The organization of the internal spiritual life of the monastery began, which was followed by a transformation of the external way of life of the monastery. In everything, order and splendor began to be observed. The breadth of the elder’s active nature was manifested in the improvement of the economic life of the monastery: gardening and vegetable gardening were improved, and an apiary appeared.
When the priest first arrived at the Zhirovitsky Monastery, they lived very poorly there and only grew a small amount of vegetables. The elder began to teach nuns how to sew church vestments, embroider and make miters. And soon their own skilled craftswomen appeared in the monastery. One of the Zhirovitsky monks, Father Peter, recalls: “With the arrival of Father John, a new, one might say, era began in the life of the monastery. He revived the spiritual and moral life and improved the economy of the monastery.”
Of course, the elder paid the main attention to the spiritual life of the monastery. He often conducted general confessions separately for monks and nuns. His inspired word before confession encouraged repentance and contrition for sins. He taught the monastics sincere revelation of thoughts, obedience, humility, and also strict observance of the monastery charter (the elder ordered the charter to be multiplied and distributed to all the monks). The monks preserved the written instructions of Father John to the clergy of the Zhirovitsky monastery. “According to patristic teaching,” he wrote, “all inhabitants of the monastery must clear their conscience as often as possible through the sacrament of Repentance before the fraternal confessor. And this, in turn, will contribute to spiritual growth and moral rebirth of the soul (May 25, 1987).”

In June 1990, Father John came on vacation to Sergiev Posad, and in August, before his next departure to Belarus, an illness finally confined him to bed. The suffering either intensified, reaching critical states, or weakened. This was the end of Father John’s life’s crusade, his ascent to his Golgotha. The body of the faithful servant of Christ melted and dried up in suffering, but his spirit was still vigorous and active. At the slightest relief, he immediately set to work: he worked on his doctoral dissertation on the Glinsk Hermitage, on the Glinsky Patericon and articles. There was a rail nailed next to the bed, on which lay a pen and pencil. Father took a small light sheet of plywood, placed it edge-on on his chest and, placing paper on it, wrote. He also checked students’ term papers and candidate’s essays, and lecture notes from teachers of Moscow Theological Schools.
During this difficult time, Father John’s sacrificial love for God and his neighbors was especially evident. During these years, the priest actually ruled several monasteries. The rector of the Zhirovitsky monastery, Archimandrite Gury (Apalko) (now the Bishop of Novogrudok and Lida) and the abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Archimandrite Eleutherius (Didenko), often came and called, asking about all aspects of the spiritual and material life of the monasteries.
Father John did not stop receiving his spiritual children even when he lost consciousness after another conversation (this happened more than once). Those who served him these days complained about the visitors and tried to protect the elder from them. But one day he said, “Don’t stop people from coming to me. I was born for this." Until his last breath, this adamant of the spirit bore human sins and sorrows, infirmities and shortcomings. The greatness and beauty of Father John’s soul can be conveyed in his own words: “To love goodness, to cry with those who weep, to rejoice with those who rejoice, to strive for eternal life - this is our goal and spiritual beauty.”
The best reward for him was brotherly love among the children around him, and, on the contrary, the elder was not so upset about anything, he did not grieve about anything so much as disagreement or quarrels between people. In the last days of his life, the priest often repeated: “You are the children of one father, you must live like the children of one father, I am your father. Love each other". In one of his letters, he wrote: “I would like you all to live as one spiritual family. After all, this is very commendable from God and saving for the soul.”

DEATH
Father John repeatedly predicted his death. About a month before, he asked to be taken to the grave of his mother and nun Seraphima, his spiritual daughter (they are buried nearby). Here he showed those accompanying him how to move the fence and prepare a place for the third grave. He felt bad, but remained in the cemetery, sitting near the grave in a folding chair, until everything was done according to his instructions.
Then he said: “This is the place where they will soon lay me.” A few days before his death, Father John said to his spiritual son: “I have very little time left to live.” In two days he ordered everything to be cleared out in the courtyard of the house, things on the terrace to be dismantled so that there was free passage, and the porch and railings to be strengthened. One spiritual daughter of the priest really asked to be accepted, despite the grave condition of the elder. He answered her on the phone: “You will arrive on Monday or Tuesday.”
His words, as always, came true. On Monday she learned about the death of the elder and immediately came.
On July 27–28, 1991, Father John felt especially bad.
On July 29, Monday, at 9 o’clock in the morning the elder took communion, and at half past nine he peacefully departed to the Lord in full consciousness. The day after the repose of Father John, his two spiritual daughters, approaching the house where the elder’s cell was, clearly heard beautiful harmonious singing.
One of them said with tears: “Well, we were late for the funeral service.”
But when they entered the house, it turned out that at that moment no one was singing, only the priest was reading the Gospel.
On July 30, the coffin with the body of the deceased Schema-Archimandrite John was placed in the Spiritual Church of the Holy Trinity Lavra, where in the evening a parastasis was served by the cathedral of clergy, and at night the reading of the Gospel continued and funeral services were performed.
The people approached the coffin and, bidding farewell to the great mourner of human souls, gave him their last kiss.
The bodies of God's chosen ones resist corruption, being imbued with the special grace of God. Likewise, the body of Schema-Archimandrite John did not decay after his death. Until his burial, his face remained enlightened and spiritualized, his hands flexible, soft and warm.
On the morning of July 31, a funeral liturgy was celebrated by a council of clergy, led by the abbot of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the spiritual son of the priest, Archimandrite Eleutherius (Didenko). After the liturgy, he, along with the clergy, performed the funeral service. Archimandrite Innokenty (Prosvirnin) delivered a deeply felt farewell speech.

IN ETERNAL MEMORY
Over time, the holiness of the elder and his great boldness before the Lord, which he, out of his exceptional humility, hid, just as he hid that he had accepted the schema, is increasingly revealed to many people. Students and schoolchildren often come to the grave of Father John asking for help in their studies and exams. Students of Theological schools sometimes come in whole classes to prayerfully ask for his blessing. People take soil and flowers from the elder’s grave, write notes with faith asking for help, leave them on the grave and receive what they ask for. Doctors, before giving medicine to the sick, apply them to the elder’s grave. Nuns who cannot come send their rosary to be placed on the grave during the funeral service and then brought to them. The people's path to the elder's grave is expanding year after year. People's sincere faith in him as a heavenly patron and helper grows stronger. According to one clergyman, he is as close as during his earthly life to the one who remembers, sacredly preserves and carries out the advice of the elder, and lives according to his precepts.
People's love for Father John is constantly revealed, but especially on the days of his commemoration.
Every year on July 29, the day of his death, many of his admirers gather in the church of the Moscow Theological Academy, where a funeral liturgy is celebrated, and then a memorial service for the deceased elder.
The priests say a word dedicated to the memory of Father John. Then everyone heads to the grave of the ascetic, where numerous memorial services and lithiums are performed. There are always a lot of flowers and burning candles at his grave. This day ends with a memorial meal at the Moscow Theological Academy, during which hierarchs, clergy, and teachers of the Academy share their memories of the elder.

GLINSKY READINGS
Since 1992, the All-Russian educational forum “Glin Readings” has been held at the end of July at the Moscow Theological Academy, at which teachers, military personnel, cultural workers, and clergy exchange experiences on the use of the Glinsky spiritual heritage and the works of Father John (Maslov) in their educational activities. . The day of the Angel of Father John is also solemnly celebrated - October 9.
To date, the works of Father John have been published in more than a hundred different editions. His works are annually exhibited at the international exhibitions “Russian Orthodox Books and Contemporary Church Art”, held with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' in the halls of the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
The book “The Gracious Elder,” dedicated to the biography of Father John, was reprinted six times over ten years (from 1992 to 2006), with a total circulation of about one hundred thousand copies. The radio stations “People's Radio”, “Radonezh”, “Nadezhda”, “Resonance”, “Sadko”, “Podmoskovye”, “Vozrozhdenie” broadcast programs about Father John. On television (on RTR, in the television programs “Russian House” and “Canon”, by the television company “Moscovia”) films dedicated to his life and work were repeatedly shown. The film “Glinsk Hermitage”, based on the works of Father John, was shown many times. More than ten films have been created (among them “The Torch of Monasticism”, “The Feat of Serving the World”, etc.) dedicated to the elder.
Moscow schoolchildren, under the guidance of teachers, and currently employees of the Moscow Pedagogical Academy, have been organizing Glinsky readings in different cities of Russia for many years, at which, using the works of Father John, they talk about the Glinsky Hermitage and its elders.
All who sincerely turn to Father John, asking for his intercession and prayers, will be able to convince themselves of the immutable justice of what has been said about the gracious elder, and will feel his immediate help and intercession. Truly, “the righteous will be an everlasting memory.”
We want to complete the biography of Schema-Archimandrite John Maslov with the words of the Apostle Paul: “Remember your teachers who preached the word of God to you, and, looking at the end of their lives, imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7).

Now is the time favorable Hieromonk Sergius

Glinsky chronicler. (About Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov))

Glinsky chronicler. (About Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov))

It's not an easy task to talk about a person you don't know personally. But the righteous live forever (Wis. 5; 15), which means they take an active part in our lives. Not knowing Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov) personally, I have no right to speak about his pastoral gifts. This should be done by those who, by the grace of God, had communication with him and knew him as a confessor. I cannot speak about him as a theologian, since I have not studied his works enough. They are worthy of close study, because Schema-Archimandrite John is a theologian in the highest sense of the word. For as St. Simeon, “whoever prays correctly is a true theologian, and the only theologian is he who prays correctly.” I will only dare to say a few words about that side of the multifaceted and fruitful activity of this worker in the field of Christ, which is a little known to me: I will say about Fr. John as a spiritual writer-hagiographer.

I first heard this name in the early eighties. Books about. John (Maslova) were not available then, and I did not even know that they existed. The first meeting with them took place in the late 90s, after the death of the righteous elder, when, thanks to Nikolai Vasilyevich Maslov, the wonderful books of Fr. John began to be published. On their pages the wonderful Glinsk hermitage was resurrected and fragrant with the wondrous incense of holiness from the depths of centuries, a host of its spirit-bearing fathers and ascetics arose, the gracious sources of their teachings and instructions flowed out, giving birth to eternal life. Numerous examples of holiness and piety inspired the reader to follow them, kindled zeal for pleasing God, like a kind of pure wax candle before the icon of the monks. This is truly a patericon of holiness, similar to the ancient Fatherland, very useful and edifying for reading. If it were not for the ascetic work of Fr. John, many crumbs of information about the desert, scattered across various written sources, would never have been collected into a single mosaic of the history of the monastery.

“Glinsky Patericon” and “Glinsky Hermitage. History of the Monastery" filled the gap in the history of the Russian Church and Russian monasticism, especially in the history of eldership in Rus'. These books lifted the veil over the deep mystery of asceticism and eldership, as one of the types of asceticism, rare asceticism, and at the present time, according to the prophecy of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and other spirit-bearing Fathers, who practically disappeared.

Before the publication of the works of Fr. John (Maslov), when most of us mentioned the word “elder,” we imagined first of all the disciples of St. Paisius of Moldova, then the Eldership of Optina, St. Seraphim and the Sarov elders, ascetics of the Valaam Monastery and Solovetsky Monastery. We've heard a little about Filaret Glinsky. Glinskaya Hermitage was perceived as one of the ordinary Russian monasteries, unremarkable in anything, except for its miraculous icon of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

But Father John proved that this is not so and that the Glinsk Hermitage is an amazing spiritual oasis. His books revealed the Glinsky eldership, a completely special one, which had its own deep roots and fruitful shoots that have stretched to the present day and retained their life-giving power. It turns out that, in addition to Philaret Glinsky, many reverend hegumens, desert hesychasts - prayer books for Russia and the whole world, spirit-bearing elders - leaders of monks and laity on the path to salvation - flourished in it. Through the prayers of the Glinsky venerable fathers, many signs and healings took place before the miraculous icon of the Mother of God. And in 1915, something completely unheard of in the 20th century, neither before nor after that, happened: one of the abbots of the desert, Schema-Archimandrite Ioannikios, in front of the eyes of many people crossed a flooded river “as if on dry land.”

The service of the Glinsk monks to their neighbors, which continued for centuries, did not weaken in the pre-revolutionary years, as in the days of the great turmoil. It did not end with the destruction of the Orthodox State. Not only has it not ended, but it has become even more in demand. Scattered, without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36), suffering souls flocked to the Glinsk hermitage as to some kind of saving refuge. These little ones received healing, consolation, admonition, encouragement there, and sometimes even material assistance, although the monastery had already been robbed and was in great need. So fruitful was the service of the Glinsky monks to suffering humanity that the envious devil could no longer tolerate it. The monastery was closed and ruined by the atheists and servants of the devil, the monks were dispersed. Some were worthy to receive the crown of martyrdom, others - the confessor's crown. Returning from prisons, camps and exile, some of them settled not far from the holy place where they took their monastic vows - in nearby villages. In the monastery itself, the authorities set up a boarding school for the mentally ill.

In new conditions, alien to the monk, among worldly dwellings, despite the difficulties of their position, temptations, hunger, mockery and ridicule, the Glinsk monks continued to carry out the feat of prayerful service to God, not deviating one iota from the precepts of their God-bearing elders-mentors. They continued, like true monks, to serve their neighbors as much as they could, commanded by the elders. All this, of course, aroused the anger of the atheistic authorities, and the monks constantly suffered persecution and insults.

The oppression continued until the godless communists, by the Providence of God, were, albeit temporarily, expelled from the Glinsk monastery. As soon as the opportunity arose, prayer began on the ruins of the monastery. The monastery began to be revived, brethren gathered, churches were opened, people began to bring preserved shrines. As before, streams of people flowed to the monks, eager to hear the word of God and touch the shrine. At that time, in 1954, young Vanya Maslov, the future Schema-Archimandrite John, also came to the Glinsk Hermitage.

Novice John Maslov found himself in a fertile environment. Despite the difficulties: the arbitrariness of the authorities, poverty, meager food, hard physical labor, the presence of worldly people on the territory of the monastery, the incessant radio music of loudspeakers, crowded conditions and much more, he found the main thing in the monastery - elder care. For the novice John, the opportunity to communicate with the elders outweighed all the inconveniences and difficulties. Mercy from the mercies of the King of Kings, if anyone in our spiritually impoverished time, the era of triumphant lies, finds a charmless mentor - a leader to whom you can safely entrust the work of your salvation, trust with all your heart, all your soul, all your thoughts!

Under the leadership of the Glinsky elders of the post-war period, Fr. John grew spiritually, ascended to the measure of the age of Christ (Eph. 4; 13). He saw before him examples of the holy life of Hieroschemamonk Seraphim (Romantsov), Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Amelina), Schema-Abbot Andronik (Lukash) and many other ascetics. I heard their instructions, absorbed the legends of the elders about that former Glinsk desert, which raised many, many saints of God. The biographies of the ascetics of the 20th century included in the Glinsky Patericon are of particular value, since many of them Fr. John knew personally. If he had not told about their monastic service, it would have been forgotten.

Most modern monasteries, opened in the 90s of the 20th century, have the significant drawback that they lack continuity. These monasteries, unfortunately, were founded not by ascetics brought up in the strict rules of monastic life under the guidance of experienced mentors of smart work, but for the most part by armchair seminarians or widowed priests who took monastic vows out of necessity. Therefore, monastic life there is not at its best: there is no one to teach young novices, no one to show an example of genuine monastic life, zealous, but at the same time dissolved by reasoning.

In his monastic feat, Fr. John avoided these and many other shortcomings. The life of the Glinsk hermitage, although it was temporarily suppressed by the iron hand of the “builders of world happiness,” was again resumed by the providence of God by the same inhabitants and elders who labored in it before its closure. Being a zealous disciple of the God-bearing elders, Fr. John joined their spiritual experience, at the same time becoming a participant in their gifts.

This happened, undoubtedly, providentially, but, as St. says. Ignatius of Stavropol, God’s grace deigns to make elders those who themselves work strictly in the feat of fasting. Further service of Fr. John (Maslov)’s obedience to a teacher at the Theological Academy was not quite usual for a monastery monk. Having become the heir of the Glinsk elders, Schema-Archimandrite John had to multiply and pass on this spiritual inheritance to the future shepherds of the Church. As his disciples, seminary and Academy students recall, Schema-Archimandrite John’s lectures on pastoral theology were lively and memorable, distinguished by many examples from the lives of ascetics of piety, especially the Glinsky ones, and Fr. John. These were not the dry, abstract reasoning of a theorist, but the edifications of a good shepherd pouring out from the heart, supported by a holy life that was visible to everyone. It fulfilled the fatherly words: “The word receives its power from the power of life.”

So are his divinely inspired books. They were written not by an armchair researcher, but by a witness to the holy life of those about whom he writes, by their student and follower, who fully embraced the spiritual experience of the Glinsky ascetics. Unlike many similar books, the authors of which are theoretical scientists, the history of the Glinsk Hermitage was written by a real ascetic, a participant in the events of this story itself. Particularly unique and valuable are the pages that describe the life of the long-suffering monastery and its spirit-bearing inhabitants in the 20th century. The author does not simply list events chronologically, but deeply experiences them, while analyzing them from a spiritual and historical point of view. “The Glinsk History” is a real chronicle of the spiritual events that took place in this monastery from its very foundation until its closure in the 60s of the 20th century, outlined by an ascetic chronicler, comprehended by the spiritual mind of the author. This is an edifying story in the spirit and traditions of the best Russian chroniclers, such as the Monk Nestor of Pechersk.

Name o. John can no longer be tied to any specific geographical point. It belongs to all of Russia. He belongs to his works and books, which, I think, will be translated into many languages. Of course, oh. John is, first of all, Glinsky, because there he received “leaven”, spiritual education, in the words of St. Ignatius of Stavropol, direction of spiritual life. His further service and spiritual growth continued within the walls of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, where he spent quite a lot of time, arriving there in 1961, and returning there in 1991 to die. The greatest part of his life passed there, therefore, I think, in the Cathedral of the Radonezh Saints, with his death, a new star lit up, not yet glorified by people, but glorified by God. In the 80s, for some time he performed his senile feat in Zhirovitsy, mentoring nuns, seminarians, and laity. That’s why he’s Zhirovitsky.

Father John burned in the noble flame of serving God and his neighbors, and now, I am sure, he stands for all of us in heaven. He brought the spark of the Glinsky fire to the present day, when Russia began to revive. I think that among his disciples and spiritual children there are lamps of faith who are recipients of this grace.

Father John was overwhelmed with love, combined with feat, with the skills of ascetic work that he received in the Glinsk Hermitage. As far as can be seen from the stories of his spiritual children, he did not impose unbearable burdens on people (Luke 11; 46). No one remembers him teaching anyone extreme austerity. They remember Father’s love and mercy.

Spiritual and spirit-bearing people have always been, are and will be. This is what holds the Church together. As long as the Sacraments are performed, as long as the grace of the Holy Spirit is in the Church, there will be people sanctified by God. But how do the saints of the first centuries differ from modern ascetics? We know the prophecy of St. Niphon of Constantinople, a saint of the first centuries, which sheds light on the mystery of our time. He says that in the last days there will be saints, but they will not perform signs and wonders, but will cover themselves with humility, while they will surpass the saints of the first centuries in spiritual height. The ascetics of our days hide their holiness, their insight, but in the depth of their reasoning, in the power of grace, they are perhaps no less than the saints of the first times.

The Lord Himself glorifies such ascetics, so that people will know how wonderful God is in His saints. Any saint is not only his own feat and work, but every time it is a manifestation of God’s grace, God’s miracle for the salvation of others. Therefore, when speaking about any ascetic, we are talking about the mystery of grace operating in him, about his deeds for the glory of God, about God.

Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov) is a great spiritual writer of the Russian Orthodox Church of the 20th century. His spiritual creativity is the mature fruit of a righteous life. His word easily and with authority enters the reader’s heart, as if filled with grace. There were not many truly spiritual, ascetic writers in Rus' in the 20th century. Among them, the name of Schema-Archimandrite John should rightfully be mentioned. Faith becomes impoverished, so does heroism, and at the same time, alas, the word also becomes impoverished. From this, the word born from the feat of faith becomes even more precious, even more significant for those who hear, irreplaceable by any other word, especially one born from a false mind. The price of a gracious word is eternal life or eternal destruction for those who do not accept the word.

It is worth paying attention not only to the content, but also to the language of the works of the schiarch. John. This is an amazingly pure, high Russian language that deserves to be studied at the Department of Philology. Father John grew up on the Holy Scriptures, on the patristic works, on theological works. He possessed the grace-filled gift of words addressed specifically to the people of the 20th century.

Behind his books there is a lot of work and, probably, sleepless nights. We will never know about this. As a result, we have books, many articles and sermons.

The ascetic works of Schema-Archimandrite John (Maslov) will forever be included in the golden library of Russian and world spiritual literature. And we believe that his name will be inscribed by grace in the patericon of Glinskaya holiness along with those who raised him, with whom he labored, and whom he glorified with his words. The righteous live forever and their reward is in the Lord (Wis. 5; 15).

Father John did not need glory in his earthly life, and he does not need it now. But we need it. We need to know about his deeds in order to imitate these deeds to the best of our ability and, with the help of God, through his prayers, enter into the glory of God.

Glorification among the saints is a Divine matter, not a human one. We can only testify that Fr. John is a true ascetic, and what he did should become the property of the entire Russian Church. And not only the Church. It is wonderful that his books are already included in the curriculum of secondary schools; our children study from them. This is the beginning of Russian spiritual literature entering where it should be first of all - in schools and universities. I think that over time, the works of St. will be studied there. Ignatius, St. Feofan. Russia will gradually shake off the rubbish of godlessness, godless culture and morality, gradually the Russian people will turn to their origins, to their national idea, which, undoubtedly, is Orthodoxy. It is providential that the study of spiritual literature in schools begins with the books of the schema-archims. John - with a description of asceticism and spirituality of the 20th century. And perhaps not one of the young men who read the Glinsky Patericon at school will eventually cross the threshold of the Glinsky Hermitage.