Optina, April 21, 2023
Photo: pravoslavie.ru
Thousands of people from all over Russia traveled to Optina Monastery, 150 miles southwest of Moscow, on Bright Tuesday, April 18, for the 30th anniversary of the brutal slaying of three monks of the monastery on Pascha morning in 1993.
Photo: optina.ru
More than 1,500 people communed at the early and late Liturgies and prayed at the memorial service for Hieromonk Vasily (Roslyakov) and Monks Trophim (Tatarinov) and Ferapont (Pushkarev), who were stabbed to death by Nikolai Averin, an admitted satanist, on Pascha morning, April 18, 1993.
Later that day, a conference was held in their honor in the monastery’s Kazan Church, which could barely hold all the faithful who came to honor the martyrs, the monastery reports.
Photo: monasterium.ru
Hierodeacon Nektary, the head of the Optina Publishing House, told how the murdered brethren have become loved and venerated by thousands over the past 30 years, and that the monastery owes its current position and fame to them no less than to the venerable elders.
The conference then featured talks from people who knew the Martyrs both before and after they became monks. One witness spoke of how much Fr. Vasily changed when he became a monk and how he refused to remove his cross, even in the years before the Soviet Union fell.
Elena Popova, the sister of Monk Trofim, recalled a dream she had in which her brother appeared to her and covered her with his monastic mantle, promising to take care and protect her just as he did in childhood.
Photo: monasterium.ru Archimandrite Melchizedek shared memories of the fathers from the early years of the monastery’s revival, including Fr. Trofim’s subtle way of pointing out others sins to them, and how Fr. Vasily often helped Fr. Melchizedek baptize people at the Spring of St. Paphnuty.
Igumen Philip spoke about the constant sacrificial readiness to help everyone and everyone inherent in Fr. Trofim, about the tenderness and sensitivity of the soul of Fr. Ferapont, and about the amazing simplicity of Fr. Vasily.
Several miracles were then recounted, whereby the Martyrs healed people and resolved difficult situations.
Read about some of their miracles in the article, “Miracles of the Optina Martyrs.”
Last year, Optina announced that it is collecting miracle stories of Frs. Vasily, Ferapont, and Trofim.
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