Schema-Archimandrite Mikhail (Balaev) in his cell, May 2009
Schema-Archimandrite Mikhail (secular name: Viktor Fyodorovich Balaev) was born on September 7, 1924 in the village of Bogorodskoye in the Zagorsk district of the Moscow region (now a suburb of Sergiev Posad) into a peasant family. He graduated from a seven-year school, and then the Bogorodskoye vocational school of wood carving,1 obtaining the profession of an artist-sculptor.
At the front
In 1942, at the age of eighteen, Viktor Balaev was drafted to the front. Afterwards batiushka would recall that it was there that he first learned the monastic concept of cutting off your will. Viktor wanted to be enlisted in the same regiment with his friend, but it happened otherwise. He was very frustrated, but the commander said sternly: “It was your will to get here. Now that you are here, you can forget about your will.”
Initially, the young man was sent to the fourth reserve railway regiment and then to the seventy-fifth separate rehabilitation railway battalion. Soon a letter came from his mother saying that his father was dying. Viktor loved his father dearly and was on the verge of despair. He began to pray fervently and suddenly heard a soft, quiet woman’s voice, “Keep the fasts...” Wondering what it could mean (what if it had been just his imagination?), he remembered that it was the Dormition Fast at that time! And Viktor began to fast, despite the difficult conditions of wartime army service. He would give his portions of meat to his fellow soldiers and sometimes they gave him their bread or sugar in return. The elder later recalled that in such moments he would be very happy and hold a lump of sugar in his mouth for a long time, like a piece of candy. His ability to maintain childlike joy in difficult life circumstances, and then at the Lavra, always touched the brethren.
Fr. Joasaph (the future Fr. Mikhail) Some time later another letter came from his mother, in which she wrote that his father had miraculously survived and recovered. In gratitude to God and His Most Pure Mother, Viktor decided to continue to observe all the fasts. Afterwards he shared with others that during the war years, fasting had given him special spiritual joy and a feeling of lightness.
In March 1943, as part of one of the rifle units of the Thirty-Third Army, Viktor Balaev fought for the liberation of Vyazma in the Smolensk region.
Fr. Mikhail would recall one of those battles:
“We were going through Sychevka to Vyazma. It was the spring of 1943, very muddy, with swamps all around us. It was very hard. We moved almost all the time on foot. When we approached Vyazma, we had to forge the river. It was March 12. There was a large cathedral on a hill above the river. A German machine gunner had fortified his position there. Several attacks were bogged down. It was our turn—we had to walk on thin ice covered with water. Then I told myself inwardly that if I survived, I would join a monastery. Our company advanced. I ran across the river, lay down in the trench, looked around and saw that only two out of 100 had reached the bank. That’s how the Lord saved me.”
Fr. Mikhail recalled that he had never experienced such prayer and feeling of God’s closeness as during the war. He gave an account of one of the battles: “Smoke, the sky was black from airplanes, with shells exploding all around. A bush next to me was literally cut down at the root. There was rumbling, the ground was shaking underfoot. I had a sense of utter stupor. Suddenly, someone patting my back and stomach roused me from my stupor… This turned out to be a group of very young soldiers, about ten in all, clinging to me, their commander, and screaming in fear, ‘Mama!’ And I began to pray for them. Due to the explosions of shells our mouths, eyes, and ears were all filled with dust. None of the boys was killed then.”
On May 11, 1944, Sergeant Viktor Balaev was transferred from the military transit point of the 202nd Riffle Regiment to the Nineteenth Guards Rifle Division. On July 25, 1944, he was seriously wounded and stayed in the hospital until January 1945. After treatment he could have been demobilized, but returned to the front—after being discharged from hospital he was sent to the seventh training tank regiment in Chelyabinsk, which was part of the seventh training tank brigade of the Ural Military District. He was probably trained there to fight in the war on a tank, since he was very lame after being severely wounded.
In 1947, Viktor Balaev was demobilized in the rank of senior sergeant.
The Hodegetria of Vyazma
The “Military Hodegetria of Vyazma” Icon of the Mother of God Decades later, when Fr. Mikhail heard that there was a plan to establish a convent near Vyazma, where they would pray for fallen soldiers, he related the story of the appearance of the Most Holy Theotokos in 1941 and blessed the painting of an icon called symbolically, “of Vyazma and the War”. The subject of the icon was taken from the story of Fr. Mikhail’s fellow soldier, who had found himself in the so-called “Vyazma Pocket”.
In 1941, there were very fierce battles in that area; literally every inch of soil was soaked with soldiers’ blood. Several Soviet military groups found themselves in the “Vyazma Pocket” and came under massive fire from Nazi aircraft and artillery. An attempt to break out of the encirclement was made on October 14, 1941—on the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Most Holy Theotokos. Some managed to escape from the “Vyazma Pocket”. They had a vision of the Queen of Heaven.
Fr. Mikhail subsequently recounted the story of his fellow soldier, a participant in those events:
“When they decided on the places of their breakthrough, there were several positions: near the village of Martyukhi, where the convent’s skete now stands, near the village of Domanovo, along the Kuryanovka River, where a convent is being built, and near the village of Markovo. The task was to disperse the enemy’s attention and make sure that at least one of the breakthroughs was achieved.
The “Military Hodegetria of Vyazma” at the Holy Protection Church of the convent of the Savior and the Hodegetria Icon of the Mother of God “They were all breaking through at the same time. The fellow soldier said that when they were leaving the village of Bogoroditskoye along the Kuryanovka River, all of them saw a woman in a long dress walking over the treetops and motioning to them, guiding everybody and showing the way. Those who saw the phenomenon realized that it was the Mother of God, as there was a church nearby in honor of Her ‘Hodegetria’ Icon.”
On the basis of this account, the “Military Hodegetria of Vyazma” Icon was painted in the elder’s lifetime. According to the mother-superior of the Convent of the Savior and the Hodegetria Icon of the Mother of God near Vyazma, Abbess Angelina (Nesterova), work began on the “Military Hodegetria of Vyazma” Icon in 2000, when Fr. Mikhail was informed that the blessing had been received to build a convent on the site of the “Vyazma Pocket”. Fr. Mikhail himself decided which image should be depicted on the icon. The first icon measuring 60 x 80 centimeters was painted in 2002 at the workshop of Valery and Natalia Koltov in the city of Tver, and placed in the Church of the holy Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates in the village of Martyukhi, at the skete of the future convent. Fr. Mikhail saw a photo of the icon and gave his blessing to paint a large image (80 x 120 centimeters) for the Holy Protection Church of the convent (it was not officially opened yet then). This icon was painted in 2008, and now it is kept at the convent’s Holy Protection Church.2
After returning to his native village after army service in 1947, Viktor worked for two years as an artist instructor at the vocational school of the village of Bogorodskoye. He became a member of the Association of the Artists’ Union, and then of the regional Union of Artists.
At the Lavra of St. Sergius
A few years after the end of the war, Viktor Fyodorovich Balaev kept his vow. On June 12, 1959, he was admitted to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra as a novice. A year later, he submitted a petition regarding his tonsure, in which he wrote:
“Having an ardent desire to serve God from an early age, I humbly ask for your blessing, Father Abbot, for taking monastic vows. I promise to perform all the obediences assigned by you and the elders conscientiously, to respect and obey the Lavra brethren, and always to labor honestly and in good faith for the glory of the Monastery of St. Sergius.”
The petition was granted, and on August 19, 1960, on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the Lavra Abbot, Archimandrite Pimen (Izvekov; the future Patriarch), tonsured Novice Viktor a monk with the name Joasaph, in honor of St. Joasaph of Belgorod.
At the monastery Fr. Joasaph performed obediences in the brethren’s refectory, at the entrance, as a reader and a monk on duty of the Holy Trinity Cathedral. On August 29, 1961, he was ordained hierodeacon by Bishop Nikolai (Kutepov). Fr. Mikhail recalled that it was not easy for him, a wounded and lame war veteran, to serve as a hierodeacon. There were few monks at the Lavra at that time. At the Holy Trinity Cathedral, monks would be on duty in one shift: from morning to evening. Fr. Mikhail had to come to perform his obedience early in the morning (just after four), light all the icon lamps and make everything ready for the brothers’ moleben. Fr. Mikhail would be on duty all day long, and could only go away for a short while for a meal if someone was sent to fill in for him. But there were days when there was no one to help him. At half past four in the afternoon the cathedral was closed for cleaning. At that time the Dormition Cathedral or the Refectory Church was opened for the evening service. Hierodeacon Joasaph (the future Fr. Mikhail) had to go to serve there immediately after the day shift at the Holy Trinity Cathedral without rest; there was a shortage of deacons then.
On October 18, 1969, Hierodeacon Joasaph was ordained hieromonk and sent to the Patriarchal Residence in Peredelkino near Moscow. Fr. Joasaph served there from 1969 till 1988. He was one of the cell-attendants of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei I. Fr. Joasaph loved the Patriarch dearly and often referred to him as to a man of holy life.
After the death of His Holiness, batiushka continued to perform his obedience in Peredelkino. On April 4, 1974, he was elevated to the rank of igumen.
The following years were a time of harsh trials for Fr. Joasaph. In addition to constant persecution from the authorities, health issues began: severe bronchial asthma, and then a malignant intestinal disease. In 1996, the elder underwent a serious operation at Hospital No. 119 in the town of Khimki near Moscow. With the appearance of batiushka there as one of the first Lavra patients, the spiritual care of the clinic by the Lavra began. Over time, cooperation strengthened, and now this hospital is a medical center where the Lavra brethren receive treatment. The doctors, marveling at the elder’s patience and humility, noted that he fulfilled all the prescriptions and asked the doctors to treat him like an ordinary patient. He used to say: “Doctors and medicine are from God. They do their job, and you do yours—pray!” And, of course, Fr. Joasaph prayed fervently himself. He even painted over the windows of his cell in Peredelkino with white paint so as not to be distracted from prayer.
In 1988, expressing their gratitude for many years of hard labors, the Church hierarchy relieved batiushka of his obedience and sent him back to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra.
To be continued…
