Bishop Benjamin of Rybinsk and Romanov-Borisoglebsk became a priest in 1978. Between 2007 and 2010 he was father-confessor of the Yaroslavl Diocese. Since 1979 he has served at the Resurrection Cathedral of the town of Tutaev (until 1918 Romanov-Borisoglebsk), which was not closed during the Soviet era. For many years Vladyka was in close contact with people with a high spiritual life, those whom the Orthodox in our country venerate as elders, who preserved the spiritual tradition during the period when the Church was persecuted. A journalist from the Monastic Bulletin asked Vladyka Benjamin to share with readers his memories of people from whom he learned to live a spiritual life, and to answer some questions about modern problems of monasticism.
—Vladyka, you became a priest during a period in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church when churches and monastery walls were being destroyed by godless authorities. However, spiritual tradition was not destroyed in our country; it was passed down from generation to generation through the holy elders who pastored both monastics and laypeople. That time produced confessors of faith, thanks to whom the spiritual revival of Russia became possible. Please tell us about the people whom our faithful venerated as elders, and about your experience of communicating with them.
—When it comes to the period when most of the monasteries were closed, then yes, we really knew that there were people with a high spiritual life, for example, in Pochaev, in Odessa, near Riga, at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra... Some of them could be called elders or eldresses, others could be called spiritual pastors, to whom the faithful were drawn. These people continued to perform their spiritual labors—some in the world, others at monasteries. For example, Father Seraphim (Tyapochkin) was not a monastic priest; he began his ministry at the Convent of the Tikhvin Icon in the city of Dnepropetrovsk, then served in parishes, was repressed, and after his prison term he ended up in the Belgorod region. His life was that of a strict but loving monk, and, of course, we were drawn to him, prayed with him, and asked for his spiritual help and advice.
Fr. Pavel (Gruzdev) lived and labored at the monastery from a young age and saw experienced monks. At first, he received spiritual guidance at a convent, then at the Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration and St. Varlaam of Khutyn in Veliky Novgorod. During his life he lived through exile, where he had contacts with repressed clergy. After his ordination, he was close to Metropolitans Nicodemus (Rotov), Juvenaly (Poyarkov), Archimandrites Kirill (Pavlov), Abel (Makedonov), and highly esteemed Fr. Nikon (Chulkov). Here we can recall a whole host of clergy… All these were people who with their lives and spiritual feats showed their faithfulness to Christ. Many of them suffered in the twentieth century. Father Pavel absorbed from them all the most important things—the desire to live according to the Gospel, simplicity, and how to walk before God. His experience in the labor camps and exile strengthened his faith. He was a very simple man, he could easily turn to God and saints, and throughout his life he always received what he asked from the Lord.
For us, he was a kind of discovery. Over time, we realized that we could come to Fr. Pavel with all questions, ask for help, and through his prayers the Lord fulfilled our petitions.
Monastic tonsure in 2003
—In our tradition we call an elder someone who can reveal the will of God. It seems that this understanding differs, say, from how it is understood in other Local Churches. Geronda in the Greek Church, for example, is often just a senior priest at a monastery by obedience. Can we call the veneration of people with indisputable spiritual authority as elders a something specific to Russian spiritual tradition?
—In Russia the faithful love holiness very much, they love people with a high spiritual life, contact with whom benefits them and helps them get answers to various questions. An elder is a father-confessor. By his prayer, by the example of his own life, he helps people walk the path of salvation. Elders gave spiritual guidance in monasteries of the early Church. For us, elders are people with spiritual experience. They were raised in the spiritual tradition and were also pastored by elders. People are drawn to experienced priests and turn to them for help and advice. But even in the Greek Church, Geronda is someone whom the brethren must obey. And laypeople in parishes, confessing their sins to a priest, hope to learn the will of God as well. Married priests pray to the Lord and receive what they ask for. God also reveals His will through their prayers. We try to maintain this tradition today.
—Why do you think there are so few elders nowadays? And how can those who choose the “good part” (cf. Lk. 10:42) make up for their absence? After all, it is difficult to overestimate the importance of spiritual guidance in monasteries.
—It is vital even today for monasteries and convents to have experienced monastic father-confessors who would give spiritual guidance to their brethren and nuns. But if you want to have elders, you need to have novices. Someone said that modern people seek advice, but do not follow it.
The abbot or the abbess, as well as the bishop in charge of one or another monastery, are responsible for the spiritual life of their brethren or nuns. The bishop’s duties include appointing a father-confessor to the monastery who can hear confessions, give advice, help, pray... I understand that not every priest can be a father-confessor in a convent, and at the same time nuns really need a father-confessor. There is a practice when sisters go to the father-confessors who earlier instructed them in the world to solve difficult issues. It is good when a spiritual mother, an abbess, can hear out her sisters, pray, and advise... There are different ways of building a spiritual life. But the bishop must certainly give much attention to the problems of monasteries and help solve them. People who have chosen the monastic path are exposed to special temptations, which are difficult or even impossible to fight without spiritual help. If we have undertaken to purify our souls from sins and passions, then our invisible warfare presupposes spiritual guidance.
Perhaps every sincere believer looks for a spiritual mentor, because the questions that appear today are even more complicated than before. Our time is one of spiritual degradation, and elders are few and far between.
But the answers to all questions can be found in the Gospel and in writings of the Holy Fathers. Just keep the commandments of God. Another thing is that we often want to hear a specific answer to a specific question. I know that there is a practice among priests—to get together, consult, pray and find a solution to one or another problem together. After all, the Church is a living body, and the Holy Spirit works through us. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them (Mt. 18:20)—the Lord tells us, and the Holy Spirit gives the opportunity to abbots, abbesses, and senior priests in monasteries to answer even complex questions. We just need to pray and ask God to help and enlighten us.
By the Resurrection Cathedral of Tutaev
—At monastic conferences the issue of the need to replenish monastic communities is often discussed. In your opinion, what are the prospects of solving this problem?
—Based on our experience, it is difficult to say anything definite. Young people do not come to the monasteries of the Rybinsk Diocese. Our novices are elderly people, those who were divorced or lost their other half. But there are not many of them. I think the atmosphere of spiritual life is very important for a monastery. It first of all attracts people who seek a monastic life. Also, much depends on who performs the duties of the father-confessor.
By Divine Providence, anyone can become a monk or a nun. As for what is in our power, for example, we can cultivate a reverent attitude towards monasticism in parishes. It was discussed at the round table held in Ivanovo in May. There is still an idea in pious families with many children that it would be good to guide one of their children to the monastic path. But the most important thing is the atmosphere in monasteries. The external aspect of monastic life is labor, obedience to the abbot or the abbess (some perceive this as total submission)... All this can sound alarming for modern people. In modern society, a consumer attitude towards life is being imposed. Young people want to feel comfortable everywhere... And some just prefer to be engaged in worldly things.
—At one time, quite a few monasteries were founded with the blessing of Archimandrite Naum (Bayborodin) from the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra. You were close to batiushka, whom many venerated as an elder. How did he inspire people to lead a monastic life?
—Fr. Naum saw through people and saw spiritual potential when someone had it. I remember some cases when Fr. Naum sent people to monasteries for a short time. He might say: “Go to the monastery, and then you’ll become a bishop!” And the person in question would really become a bishop. Of course, he did not go to the monastery for this, but just to live and labor for a while... Batiushka often sent girls to Pyukhtitsa or to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Convent in Riga, where the abbesses supported them spiritually, helping them gain the necessary experience in monastic life. Later, when monasteries and convents began to be revived in Russia, it was from there that future abbesses were sent to our communities. And the abbesses, in turn, involved young people in monastic life. Initially, a lot of work was required. Farming, youth and educational activities, and social work developed… And people were needed everywhere. Through the labors and prayers of Fr. Naum, a kind of community was formed—under batiushka’s guidance everyone helped each other and received help from him. Thanks to his prayers, everything was going well for me at the parish. Fr. Naum sent young men and women who helped us here.
At the museum of the Resurrection Cathedral of Tutaev
—What would you like to preserve in your memory in terms of communicating with elders, and perhaps, pass on to the next generations of priests and monks?
—As for Fr. Naum, for me the main thing in him was the desire to please the Lord. He had the gift of discernment and saw several steps ahead how things would develop. Sometimes his advice seemed strange from the perspective of our earthly life, but thanks to this people came to God. When batiushka saw that someone was not capable of monastic life, he did not bother him and did not send him to any monasteries. He saw through people and did not violate their freedom. But if he saw someone’s ability to lead a spiritual life, he immediately took him in hand.
The elder could talk to anyone on a topic close to them and tried to encourage them to live according to the Gospel. I remember such an episode. Once we were going to Blessed Lyubushka of Susanino by train, and a middle-aged man was traveling in the same compartment with us. Batiushka started speaking to him. It turned out that he was a philosophy teacher, and it seemed that that man was far from God. Fr. Naum began to quote Hegel, Kant, other philosophers and talked about the laws of philosophy. He showed that philosophy is good, but the most important thing is the soul, so we must make every effort to live a spiritual life. And Fr. Naum succeeded in this. He tried to talk to everybody he met on his way, to inspire them and arouse their interest in spiritual life. He was very lively, and people flocked to him.
Before he came to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, batiushka had communicated with Vladyka Joasaph (Ovsyannikov), who first headed the Diocese of Perm and then the Diocese of Rostov. Fr. Naum studied well at the Lavra, graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy, studied Patristic literature in detail, blessed his spiritual children to reprint the Holy Fathers, especially St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov). There were no books back then, and we reprinted them in several copies and then delivered the books to those who needed them. There was always a crowd of people for confession below the Dormition Cathedral. Once I was advised to go to batiushka. I did it and realized that I could come again. I was studying in Moscow at that time and began to come to Fr. Naum regularly. Whenever the elder went on vacation, I tried to be with him.
Of course, he was a man of prayer. He prayed. At the seminary he wrote a thesis on prayer, and he always tried to attune monks to a life of prayer. He would advise them to retire to their cells for a while in order to recite thousands of prayers.
Fr. Pavel (Gruzdev) was of a different mindset. It seems to me what he went through during the years of persecution allowed him to pray to God boldly. His prayer was short but fervent. He had a special feeling that the Lord knows everything, so he didn't care at all about what people might think of him. Fr. Pavel suffered for Christ, for the Church, and could ask the Lord for a great deal. I remember such a story. In the early 1990s a House of Mercy was opened in Tutaev by the parish of the Resurrection Cathedral and the city administration. Three years later some malevolent individuals initiated a criminal case against the director. I asked Fr. Pavel to pray, and he told me, “Promise something to the Monastery of the Savior, St. Yakov and St. Dimitry [in Rostov Veliky.—Trans.], and everything will be sorted out.” I did it, fulfilled my promise, and everything came out right. I often asked for his prayers and counsel, mostly in everyday things. So many other people turned to him and received what they had asked for. I can confirm that.
Books about Fr. Pavel are being published (in Russian) now, and you can read them to get a better idea of him. He was a sincere and wise man, served God, served the Church and tried to help everyone. He always lent a helping hand immediately, especially to those who were in sorrow, in need, or in difficult circumstances. He taught people to remember God.
But the first holy elder I met was Fr. Seraphim (Tyapochkin). He was a very attentive, truly spiritual father who was always ready to listen to others, pray, and help. I remember asking him something, and he replied, “All right, let’s pray, and we’ll see.” And then he either retired to his hut for prayer or gave an answer to my question after the service. Fr. Seraphim blessed me to study in Moscow and said that he would like to see me become a priest. I had the impression that he was praying all the time.
In the village of Rakitnoye in the Belgorod region, where we visited him, he had a house, or rather, a shack. A nun lived with batiushka and helped him with the housework. People who stayed there overnight slept right on the floor, and in the morning the monastic prayer would begin: the Midnight Service, Matins, Hours, and the Typika… Everybody took part in it. Later, a caretaker’s hut was built for Fr. Seraphim, with small houses next to it where you could stay, so it was no longer a cramped space. There we would meet with Vladyka Vadim [now Metropolitan of Yaroslavl and Rostov.—Ed.]. At that time, I could not have imagined that he would become my metropolitan. We would read the canon together at the Vigil and go out with candles. Batiushka blessed us to wear a sticharion. The future Vladyka Vadim, then just Vladimir, lived nearby and began to come to Fr. Seraphim every weekend, and I came only from time to time. Fr. Seraphim tried to feed and comfort everybody and pray for everybody. It remained in my heart forever.
The Resurrection Cathedral of Tutaev
—Why do you think that now, despite good living conditions in monasteries, people do not strive for monastic life, as it was, say, twenty or thirty years ago?
—I can only assume that when there were persecutions, when young people were not allowed to attend Church and someone who recorded a sermon on a tape recorder could be expelled from the institute or appear before the court, people were more zealous. Monasteries have always required a lot of work, but it was only for the benefit of young monks.
—In other words, monasticism presupposes great spiritual labors?
—Well, labors vary... working in a cowshed is one. And when a brother takes care of an elderly or infirm person, suffers his brother so as not to condemn him, this is another spiritual labor. The result should be such that you strive to eradicate your passions and all sinful things in yourself. Sometimes people take certain “ascetic labors” upon themselves… You can find the following saying in the Holy Fathers: If you see a novice ascending to Heaven, pull his legs and bring him down to the ground… Obedience, non-possession, and chastity—these are the chief monastic virtues. You also need to make efforts to acquire them, but here probably the father-confessor and the abbot should direct the spiritual life of a monk.
—What would you wish someone who wants to walk the monastic path today?
—I recall the words of Vladyka Micah, who said that monasticism is a vocation. When the Lord calls you, you have to answer yourself whether it is your path or not. You cannot go to a monastery because it is beautiful or right, but because you love God and want to serve Him. You shouldn’t fear: you just need to trust the Lord and the father-confessors. Time is scarce, men of prayer are desperately needed, monks are needed. Whoever can, let him dare!
