Six years ago, on April 28, 2018, at the age of ninety-six, Archimandrite Adrian (Kirsanov), a clairvoyant elder of the Holy Protection Pskov-Caves Monastery, reposed in the Lord. On the sixth anniversary of the elder’s death we offer readers memories of his spiritual children.
Archimandrite Adrian (Kirsanov)
Every meeting with the elder is like a life-giving stream or a breeze that dampens the head aflame with thoughts and doubts and brings peace and calm to the soul. Fr. Adrian (Kirsanov) was a spiritual mentor of many thousands of Orthodox faithful in Russia and across the globe.
When we honor the saints, we first of all glorify the Lord, Who chose and sanctified them and dwells in them as in His temples not made by hands. And when you come into contact with the life of a saint of God (if only to a small extent and for a short while), you participate in his feat, a kind of spiritual veil is lifted before you, and the frontier between the visible and the invisible realms can disappear for a moment. The writer Nina Pavlova (1939–2015) told my friend, Nun Elizaveta, about this when the latter visited her in Kozelsk where Optina Monastery is situated. Nina Alexandrovna revealed to her that when she was writing her book, Pascha of Beauty, she experienced an obvious demonic attack.
It happened when she was walking through the woods to the skete. There was nobody around. And suddenly as if out of nowhere a monk in a black cassock appeared in front of her. There was such fierce hatred in his face that Nina Alexandrovna stopped in confusion. And the “monk” stretched out his hands towards her eyes, apparently intending to put them out. She managed to make the sign of the cross. At that moment the attacker’s hands dropped, and he... vanished!
And when a series of books about Archimandrite Adrian (Kirsanov) was being prepared for publication, our small publishing team experienced attacks of invisible evil spirits as well. But all this was for our spiritual benefit, enlightenment and strengthening in faith.
“When we enjoy favor from above, not only can we avoid the slanders of the wicked, but even if wild animals attack us, we will not be troubled...” St. John Chrysostom said.
Even during his lifetime, Archimandrite Adrian’s prayer worked real miracles.
“Once he prays, everything immediately is set aright. No one understands how it happens, and you just marvel,” Nun Mariamna recalled.
For about thirty years Nun Mariamna was in obedience to Fr. Adrian, learning to cut off her will before the elder, and her heart gradually softened and learned the main Christian virtues—humility and love.
“And sometimes it was so hard that when I came to Father Adrian, I could only utter one word: ‘Help!’ And he would say to me, ‘I know, I know everything, and I pray for you!’ Yes, it was hard, but when I left batiushka I felt like I had wings on my back: I wanted to rise into the air and fly! It was such a comfort! And all my spiritual growth was associated with Fr. Adrian. The Lord sends so much grace through the elders that sometimes you cannot contain it. But then stand firm! And if you agree to endure sorrows, be patient. Therefore, not everyone can bear close contact with elders...” she recalled.
Nun Mariamna was one of Fr. Adrian’s closest spiritual children. The elder affectionately called her “my dear daughter”! But to become a “dear daughter” she had to go through a difficult “school” of spiritual development: to learn to endure sorrows, humility and obedience.
And the second book in the Through the Prayers of Holy Elders series, dedicated to the memory of Archimandrite Adrian (Kirsanov), was entitled, My Dear Daughter! By Divine Providence, its publication coincided with the fifth anniversary of Fr. Adrian’s repose.
Before its publication, Nun Mariamna had endured many trials: illnesses, troubles and unexpected sorrows that had befallen her close ones. When she was preparing to receive Communion on the eve of the feast, her leg suddenly swelled and ached so much that she had to call an ambulance—she feared she had a blood clot. She was examined at the hospital and discharged towards nightfall—there was nothing wrong with her.
When Nina Ivanovna, our editor, started working on the book manuscript, she stayed up until midnight. The village near Moscow where she lives had long become quiet, and that hot day had given way to a cool night. Nina went to bed, but half an hour later she was frightened when she suddenly heard loud male voices—apparently a tipsy gang was passing by her fence. By their voices she figured out that they were young people. But they were speaking in a somewhat strange way—it was an unknown language or, rather, mere sounds…
And then such terrible, unbearable music rang out that Nina Ivanovna recalled her youth: “It couldn’t be compared to any disco! It could probably be heard from miles away—they woke up the whole village!” The music (if it can be called that) was without words and resembled the sounds of a hurdy-gurdy. And it was so unusual that Nina finally came to her senses and began to pray. Once she made the sign of the cross in front of the window, the horrible cacophony instantly stopped!
“It seemed to me that the silence that followed was so deafening,” she recalled with a shudder. “And then I heard the stomping of feet and my iron gate being banged on loudly, as if they wanted to kick it down. And after that I didn’t hear a sound! I thought, ‘How can it be? If they turned off their tape recorder (or whatever they had) and banged on my gate, then why didn’t they say a word after that? The drunken company must have left, and I would certainly have heard it...’.”
Then, when the next night some creature screeched wildly under her window (clearly not a cat or a human being), she decided to move to her sister’s home in Moscow urgently. Thank God, after she had made the sign of the cross in front of her window with prayer, everything became quiet.
“Yes, it was not easy to work on this book,” Nina admitted. “And if I hadn’t received my father-confessor’s blessing, I wouldn’t have been able to finish it.”
And after she had prayed to Fr. Adrian, these phenomena stopped.
Our sponsor also had a remarkable dream before sending the layout to the printing house.
“I found myself in some weird, dreary place,” Larisa, our sponsor, related. “I saw bearded, stocky men in front of me, who looked very similar. There were about fifteen of them, standing by twos and threes not far from me and glaring at me furiously. And each of them had an insolent look. One of them was standing closest to me, and I asked him what he wanted from me. ‘That’s what I want!’ He jumped up to me and knocked me down. I realized that he was going to drag me down, to hell! Thank God, at that moment I remembered the elder and screamed with my last bit of strength or, rather, squeaked out a cry, since I was tightly gripped as if by an iron ring: ‘Father Adrian, help me!’ At the same moment, I woke up and, to my horror, I felt as if a heavy stone were on my chest and on my stomach. I started shaking it off, then finally realized that I could get up and ran to take some holy water and my prayer-book...”
When the newly printed copies of The Pskov-Caves Wonderworker, the first book about Fr. Adrian, were being transported to Moscow, some men from our church gathered beside the warehouse to unload them. A man was standing near them and smoking calmly: he had just taken his car to the car-wash (located next to the warehouse). But when the printing house truck drove up and the men began unloading pallets with the books, the man suddenly started barking! He was standing and barking in a bass voice, and couldn’t stop until the pallets with the books disappeared into the warehouse…
Fr. Adrian used to say that if we take one wrong step, we can fall a prey to demons. The elder battled them all his life, and the Lord gave him special grace to vanquish this ancient enemy. Once an acquaintance of mine hung the elder’s photo over her table. When her alcoholic relative called on her and came into that room, he started, exclaiming, “Who is he?” Poor man, he couldn’t stand Fr. Adrian’s photo and left very quickly! Since his death, Fr. Adrian has scorched the enemy with his very appearance, just as in his lifetime sick people felt his presence.
Fr. Adrian was endowed with special grace and power by the Lord—to fight against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12). With the blessing of Patriarch Alexei I of Moscow and All Russia, for over thirty years he bore the heavy cross of a rare church ministry—he performed the special prayers to exorcise evil spirits.
“It is not right for everyone to fight against the devil, but only for him who is strong in God, whom the demons obey,” St. Barsanuphius the Great said. “If a weak person starts doing this, the demons will mock him, because he still has power over them and opposes them. How many saints forbade the devil, like the Archangel Michael, who did it because he had power? To forbid the demons is the work of great men… We, the weak, can only resort to the name of Jesus.”
The elder’s spiritual children recalled:
“He who loves God shines all over. All his love is poured out upon his neighbor, and the neighbor ‘bathes’ in this love. Therefore, it was always warm with Fr. Adrian; your soul felt peace, and your heart thawed and was filled with Heavenly joy.”
Some icon-painters, who once came to Fr. Adrian from Georgia for the first time, recalled their meeting warmly. When they went up to him for anointing, batiushka told them:
“Familiar eyes!”
“We’re icon-painters!” they introduced themselves.
“It’s clear then,” the elder smiled…
One day my acquaintances, a large family with the appetizing surname of “Abrikosov”1, came to the elder. From the doorstep he said to them, “Oh, here are apricots, but I don’t see any fruits!” It was food for thought …
Nadezhda, the elder’s spiritual daughter, recalled:
“Father Adrian is a wonderworker. There was an incredible number of healings around him. I can say that I have been disabled since childhood and would have died long ago but for his prayers.”
When Nadezhda’s photo of Fr. Adrian started to exude myrrh, she came to Pechory and told the elder about it. Batiushka was silent for a long time, and then said pensively: “Only if these are my tears for you...”
One day a schoolteacher said to Nadezhda’s son,“I know that your family goes to Pechory to visit Father Adrian. Tell your mother to ask him to pray for my little daughter Yulechka [a diminutive form of the name Yulia.—Trans.]. She is going to have yet another kidney operation. She was cut up all over and has almost no unscarred place on her body left after so many operations!”
By that time the poor woman was completely exhausted; she understood that the doctors were unlikely to help her daughter. And like a drowning person clutching at straws, she asked for help from believers. She could not expect help from anyone, only from God.
Of course, Nadezhda conveyed her request to Fr. Adrian very soon, and he conveyed his blessing. “Let her give the girl semolina porridge.” That was his answer!
On returning home, Nadezhda immediately called the teacher: “Don’t be surprised, but the elder has blessed you to feed Yulechka on semolina porridge. Do it as obedience!” At that time money was being collected for the girl’s surgery in Israel. The mother accepted batiushka’s answer with faith and trust, as if from the hand of God, and began to give semolina porridge to the child obediently, if only a spoonful or two at a time. But she had no appetite. Because of her illness the girl was very thin and pale.
The porridge, blessed by the elder, had a healing effect on the child: soon Yulechka “came back to life”, perked up, and her appetite returned! The mother was over the moon about the recovery of her beloved child, whom she had almost lost and whom the elder had saved. And, of course, there was no question of any operation anymore…
“Whenever I remember batiushka, I always recall the words from the Gospel: He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory (Mt. 12:19–20),” Nadezhda says. “Likewise, Fr. Adrian patiently and carefully guided me with his hand from darkness towards light. And when batiushka died, there was nobody to ‘nurse’ me and ‘carry me in his arms’ anymore. I thought that I would not be able to ‘stand on my feet’ and would ‘fall down’ all the time. But Fr. Adrian is so strong in his standing before the Lord that even after his death he helps me, as if taking me by the scruff of the neck with a firm hand and saying, ‘Walk, Nadezhda! Walk on your own!’ And I try to walk, through his holy prayers...”
You could come to Fr. Adrian with any, even the seemingly most intractable problem. Everything would be sorted out at once, and you would see the shortest path to your salvation. And the elder guided you. It was not without reason that Fr. Adrian was called a “comforting batiushka”.
His spiritual children say: “He would always pity you, console you and find the right words to say to you. You would leave him as if flying on wings, not walking on the ground!”
In early April 2018, Fr. Adrian’s spiritual son, Mikhail Ivanovich T., came to him from Belarus. After the Liturgy at the church, Fr. Adrian’s cell attendant approached him and said that batiushka was waiting for him in his cell.
“When we entered the cell, the elder was very poorly, lying in bed,” Mikhail Ivanovich recalled. “Seeing me he cheered up and sat up on the bed. And suddenly at that moment both Fr. Adrian and his entire cell were lit by an extraordinary light!”
Batiushka immediately tried to “disguise himself”: “The father-superior has such good light in the monastery!” Both Mikhail Ivanovich and the cell-attendant were dumbfounded—they could hardly come to their senses, stunned by the unearthly light, the feeling of joy and grace emanating from the elder, and the extraordinary spiritual beauty of his face.
“Batiushka began to speak about various sins and then said, ‘You see, Mishenka I’m preparing for confession, and after the early service I will receive Communion!’” Mikhail Ivanovich recalled. “Then he anointed me with holy oil and said, ‘You’ll come to me on April 28, your wife’s birthday!’”
Obviously, Fr. Adrian foreknew the day of his death, because on April 28, 2018, at the age of ninety-six, batiushka fell asleep In the Lord. His spiritual children were orphaned. Their “comforting batiushka” passed into eternity, but his prayers did not stop—they became even stronger at the Throne of God, and Holy Russia received a new intercessor in Heaven.
“When I die, my prayer will be even stronger and more powerful—just turn to me, just ask!...” batiushka used to say.
