Through God’s mercy and with the blessing of His
Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine, on May 7 our parish was
given relics of the Venerable Elders of the Glinsk Hermitage of the Nativity of
the Theotokos.
That men’s monastery, known throughout the Orthodox world, is part of the
Konotovsk-Glukhovsk Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Our parish is currently preparing a reliquary to house those
Holy Relics, which in time will be available for general veneration.
The following is an account of the life of another of the Glinsk
Elders.
After living there for four years, Vladimir went to the
holy city of Kiev. Living at the
Kiev-Caves Lavra, he often visited the Holy Caves, where with zealous prayer and
tears he would bow down before the holy relics of God’s Saints and implore them
to bless his intention and put him on the path to salvation.
A certain elder who saw in him a kind ascetic for Christ’s sake, directed
him to go to the Miropolsky Monastery, saying “this place will be for you unto
salvation.” Vladimir departed for
the Miropolsky Monastery, and after living there for three years, had his
self-denial and exemplary way of life rewarded by receiving tonsure into the
angelic habit, with the name Vasily.
At the time of his tonsure, he was 15 years of age.
Monk Vasily remained there until the Miropolsky Monastery, like many
others, was dissolved. This
occurred in 1764, during the reign of Empress Catherine.
Then, with the blessing of his elder, Monk Vasily moved to the Korensky
(Root) Hermitage. There he
lived for a long time, carefully observing an ascetic way of life, practicing
prayer of the heart, helping the brethren and all who came to his cell door, and
providing spiritual counsel and instruction.
He often visited the Zadonsk Monastery, and conversed with Holy Hierarch
St. Tikhon, and later became his disciple.
However, the humble ascetic was unable to attain complete
spiritual consolation in the Korensky Hermitage.
As he was praised and revered by the people, he was greatly burdened by
an ever-increasing number of visitors.
He decided to leave the place and departed for Mt. Athos, where he and
his disciples lived in the St. Elias Skete; there he enjoyed universal love and
respect. However, under threat from
the Turks, he and his disciples soon had to return to Moldavia.
He arrived at Neamets Monastery, but too late to encounter Elder Paisius,
who had reposed in 1794. After
living for some time at Neamets, Fr. Vasily departed for Russia, returning to
his Korensky Hermitage.
There, earnestly emulating great models of asceticism, Fr.
Vasily showed himself to be a worthy example for the monastics and for others.
Fame of his great qualities and virtues soon spread to the most remote of
places, and attracted many other monastics and lay people in search of salvation
to live in community with him.
About 1800, Fr. Vasily moved to the Beloberezhsky
Hermitage, and then was transferred by the administration to be treasurer of the
Svensky Monastery.
Fr. Vasily, a humble ascetic who sought to avoid fame and
human gossip, was unable to remain there for very long.
He and his disciples departed for the St. Sophrony Hermitage.
After being there for a short time, he once again returned to the
Korensky Hermitage (…).
God granted Fr. Vasily to be a gifted administrator:
His chief concern was to instill peace and concord among the brethren,
for where they [peace and concord] were, there also was Christ.
As to obediences, he successfully assigned them to each individual.
Quite often, those of noble birth were able to endure burdensome labors
more patiently than those who were familiar with and used to physical labor.
Fr. Vasily both loved and valued physical labor.
Sometimes, the brethren would go to harvest hay, and would
leave their cells unlocked. On those occasions, Fr. Vasily would often inspect
the cells to see how the monks spent their time, and to ascertain their needs.
In the course of such visits he would sometimes leave some item to
comfort the monk: rolls, gingerbread cookies, a comb, or other essentials. If a
monk’s cell was not tidy, he would clean up the room and sweep the floor, so
that the cell might be neat and tidy, and that “thy Guardian Angel might respect
thy labors.” Fr. Vasily would
counsel the monks that first and foremost, they should be in their cells in fear
of God, reading about the God-bearing Fathers, mentally practicing the Jesus
Prayer so as to fill their hearts with its words, doing prostrations as their
strength permitted, but doing them often and with compunction.
He would counsel, “In lying down to sleep, imagine to yourself that you
are lying in your coffin, waiting for the Bridegroom to come at midnight, and
that you will face the Judgment.”
After his time as prior of the Beloberezhky Monastery, the
Elder also lived in the Svensk men’s monastery and the Sevsky women’s convent,
where he strove to bring reconciliation to those at odds with one another, and
to teach them lessons in Christian monastic life.
Later he lived in the Rykhovskoi Monastery, and in the Kremenets and
Korensky Hermitages. He also took
missionary trips along the Don River; with God’s help, while on such a journey,
he converted the leader of the heretical Molokan sect.
Finally, after being ordained a hieromonk, the Elder went
to the Glinsk Hermitage, where he expended great efforts in prayer and
instruction to correct the disordered state of the monastery and to find for it
someone who could be a wise director He found such a person in Abbot Philaret (Danilevsky).
Fr. Philaret managed the outward good order of the monastery, while Elder
Vasily took care to put its interior order right.
Over the course of 10 years at the Glinsk Hermitage, Fr. Vasily’s efforts
were focused on the glory of God and the good of the monastery.
However, there were unavoidable temptations by the enemy, and others’
envy caused him to be driven from the monastery.
He departed for the Ploschansk Hermitage, where he so exhausted himself
with strenuous labors that the monks thought he had died.
However, some time later he regained consciousness, and announced that he
was to live for another 18 months; then, in an isolated cell, he prepared for
his departure from this life. Not
long before his death, and at directions from above, he opened the doors of his
cell and began to receive those thirsting after counsel and assistance.
On April 19, 1831, the first day of Pascha, one week before
his death, Fr. Vasily communed of the Holy Gifts, and his face became visibly
radiant. The Elder was ill
throughout Bright Week. St. Thomas
Sunday arrived. On Monday, April
27, 1831 the Elder asked a disciple to light the candles before the holy icons,
and to gather the brethren together.
After saying goodbye to them, he reposed, at the age of 86.