October 10 is the feast-day of St. Sabbatius (Savvaty) of Solovki, a disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh, who, in addition to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, together with his disciples founded over forty monasteries in Russia, the monks of which later set up fifty more monasteries. So the whole of the Russian land was covered with monasteries—signs of Heavenly protection and grace.
St. Sabbatius of Solovki. Fresco from St. Cyril-White Lake Monastery, 1585
In those years the State of Muscovy was small, and its monasteries marked out the territory of the future Russian Empire. The north of Russia was not explored by military or merchant expeditions, but by monks.
Monks Ferapont and Cyril, disciples of St. Sergius of Radonezh, came to White Lake. Ferapont built a cell there, and Cyril dug himself a mud hut. Monks and laypeople alike soon joined them. One of them was named Sabbatius in monasticism. He early on realized the vanity and futility of earthly joys and wealth, so he was seeking what was truly valuable. And he found it in prayerful service.
St. Sabbatius, along with other monks, built the first log cells, the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, and the buildings of the future monastery. He devoted much time to prayer, and strictly observed the rule of the cenobitic monastery. St. Sabbatius became a worthy monk and a humble toiler.
St. Cyril of White Lake Monastery (now in the Vologda region) grew rapidly, soon becoming the spiritual center of Russia’s North. Fr. Sabbatius, a long-time monk of the monastery, was highly esteemed by brethren, laypeople, and pilgrims. Such attention to himself embarrassed him, as frequent contacts with people disrupted his prayerful mood. Then St. Sabbatius turned to the monastery abbot and asked for permission to move to the Valaam Monastery on Lake Ladoga with an even stricter rule. The abbot, Fr. Cyril, was disinclined to part with Fr. Sabbatius. But possessing the gift of clairvoyance, he nevertheless blessed him to leave, as he foresaw his future mission.
St. Cyril-White Lake Monastery from the side of Lake Siversky. Photo by S. Prokudin-Gorsky, 1909
St. Sabbatius lived in Valaam for several years and became a model monk, devoting all his time to prayer and labor. As a companion of St. Cyril of White Lake, Fr. Sabbatius gained the authority and love of both the monastery brethren and laity. But his soul was restless again; he longed for seclusion. Fr. Sabbatius had long been thinking about a remote uninhabited northern island called Solovetsky (now in the Arkhangelsk region), which someone had told him about. That’s exactly where he planned to go.
The abbot let the elderly Fr. Sabbatius go on such a long journey, because the monk’s desire to get to Solovetsky Island was great.
The voyage was long and dangerous. The elderly Fr. Sabbatius sailed alone along the rivers of the North on an old boat, with great difficulty passing through the dense forests. He made stops in some isolated settlements, where the inhabitants welcomed him hospitably. The first thing Fr. Sabbatius did was ask them for directions to Solovetsky Island. He learned from the locals that mighty trees grew on the island, there were fresh water sources and lakes with fish, and there were no predatory animals there. But it was very hard and dangerous to travel from the mainland to the island and back, because there were strong storms throughout the autumn and winter, the White Sea was covered with ice off the coast, and many large ice floes drifted in the open sea, which made movement on the water impossible for six months a year. Because of this, no one settled on Solovetsky at that time. Only fishermen occasionally sailed to the island.
The villagers’ stories did not deter Fr. Sabbatius, but, on the contrary, inspired him; it was that very solitude he had craved. But the locals did not share his optimism and would ask the aged monk:
“How are you going to live on this island, father? It’s perilous, the journey back and forth to the mainland alone is full of hazards. What will you eat there? After all, winter on Solovetsky lasts for six months.”
Fr. Sabbatius would answer confidently:
“I have a Master Who gives the strength of youth to the decrepit and nourishes the hungry.”
Fr. Sabbatius learned such confidence from Abbot Cyril of White Lake. He remembered that whenever the supplies of bread and wine for church services were running out at St. Cyril-White Lake Monastery, benefactors would suddenly appear and bring them food. Once, even in a year with a poor harvest, thanks to such help they were able to feed everyone, both monks and pilgrims. Through their prayers, God sent them everything necessary for life and church services.
Photo: fotosergs.livejournal.com
And remembering all this, Fr. Sabbatius boldly continued on his way. When he reached the White Sea, at the mouth of the Vyg River he met Fr. (and future saint) Herman at a chapel. Herman, an illiterate monk from the town of Totma (now in the Vologda region), devoted himself to the service of God and, like St. Sabbatius, wanted to live in a secluded place. He may have already traveled to Solovetsky Island with fishermen, but did not stay there because he had no companion. Then Fr. Herman returned to the mainland, built himself a cell beside the chapel, where he lived and prayed ceaselessly. Thus, the Lord arranged the meeting of two monks who dreamed of the same thing—to live in a deserted place and serve the Savior.
The two monks began to prepare for departure: they repaired an old boat, collected food, household items, and fishing gear for themselves.
In the summer of 1429, Sts. Sabbatius and Herman sailed to Solovetsky Island.
The white Sea was surprisingly calm. On the third day of the voyage, the monks saw the island. They moored at the shore, tied up the boat, carried the food and fishing gear they had taken with them to the shore and went to explore their new place of abode. The monks were delighted by the beauty of the northern nature. Fr. Sabbatius was very happy: he felt that he and Fr. Herman would be even closer to God there.
After exploring the island, the monks made a large wooden cross and put it up by the seashore. In this way, the ascetics blessed the soil of Solovetsky Island, and offered up thanksgiving prayers to the Lord at the cross for the safe completion of their long journey.
The sea trade of the Solovki brethren. Book miniature, late sixteenth–early seventeenth centuries Then the monks examined the area once more and found a suitable patch of land near the island’s highest hill—later called the Sekirnaya Hill—a mile away from the sea. There was a clean fresh lake not far from it. The sea winds were not as strong there as on the seashore, so the monks moved the wooden cross there and began to build a cell out of timber, of which there was an abundance.
In order for the monks to live on Solovetsky Island, the Lord provided them with fish, berries, mushrooms, and piles of dry branches in the forest for making a fire. But the main thing on the island for Sts. Sabbatius and Herman was not food, but prayer. They turned to the Lord day and night.
It was warm on the island in the summer, but in the winter their cell was covered with snow up to the roof and shook from gales. Sometimes Pomor1 fishermen sailed to the island. They were very pious Orthodox people, respected the monks, and shared their bread, salt, and cereals with them.
By 1435, after six years on Solovetsky Island, the clothes and shoes of Sts. Sabbatius and Herman were completely worn out, and their fishing gear had become unusable. Fr. Herman resolved to travel to the Onega River where his Pomor friends lived.
Fr. Sabbatius was left alone on Solovetsky Island, but loneliness did not bother him at all, because he had always aspired to eremitic life. He had fulfilled his task as a righteous man, paving the thorny path to Solovki for his followers.
It was revealed to Fr. Sabbatius, who had attained great heights in his spiritual development, that he would soon pass into the Heavenly Kingdom. And the monk decided to die as a true Christian. But for that he needed to get to the mainland.
The old, exhausted monk got into a rickety boat and embarked on a long journey across the White Sea. Fortunately, there was a fair wind. Fr. Sabbatius sailed for two days and reached the shore. He proceeded to enter the chapel on the Vyg River from where, six years earlier, he and Fr. Herman had set off to Solovetsky Island.
At the chapel, he was met by Igumen Nathaniel, whom Fr. Sabbatius knew. Fr. Nathanael was there to celebrate the services of need for local Christians; he was already on his way to some village to give Communion to a sick person. So he had the Holy Gifts with him.
Fr. Sabbatius asked Fr. Nathaniel to confess him and give him Communion. Fr. Nathaniel knew of the Solovki elder’s ascetic labors, and honored him.
When Monk Sabbatius confessed, the igumen said:
“Oh, I wish I had your sins!”
Then Fr. Nathanael said:
“I’m going to administer Communion to a sick man. Wait for me at the chapel—I’ll be back soon and give you Communion too.”
But Fr. Sabbatius objected gently:
“Father, don’t put off Communion till tomorrow, for we don’t know if we will be alive today.”
And Fr. Nathaniel gave Communion to the old Monk Sabbatius. Then he said:
“You are a welcome guest here, stay in the chapel until I come back.”
And he left to carry out his pastoral duties.
Shortly before that, a large boat belonging to Ivan, a merchant from Nizhny Novgorod, had moored at the shore. Ivan had brought goods for the Pomors and had already sold them. He went into the chapel to pray, give thanks to God, and venerate the icons. He received a blessing from Fr. Sabbatius, who talked with him, instructing him with great love and cordiality. The grateful merchant meant to give the monk a large sum of money, but Fr. Sabbatius refused. He told Ivan:
“My child, stay here until morning. You will see God’s mercy and embark on your journey back safely.”
The merchant obeyed the elder and agreed to stay, although before that he had wanted to set off at night, because there was a fair wind. And, as if confirming the correctness of his decision, at the same hour a tempest suddenly broke out at sea.
In the early morning of September 27/October 10, 1435, the merchant entered the cell, once built by Fr. Herman beside the chapel. Ivan saw the elder sitting by the censer. He greeted him, but received no reply. Ivan thought that Fr. Sabbatius was still asleep, came closer and touched him, only to realize that St. Sabbatius had departed to the Lord.
When Igumen Nathaniel returned from the distant village, the funeral was celebrated for the deceased monk and he was buried.
The repose and funeral of St. Sabbatius (fragment of the Bogolyubovo Icon of the Mother of God with the scenes from the Lives of Sts. Zosimas and Sabbatius of Solovki, 1545)
Solovetsky Island was uninhabited for less than a year. The news of his teacher’s repose quickly reached Fr. Herman.
Soon St. Herman met the young Monk Zosimas from Lake Onega. In the summer of 1436, Sts. Herman and Zosimas went by boat to Solovetsky Island. On the way, they had a vision: a beautiful church was soaring in the air.
Soon, Sts. Herman and Zosimas were joined by new disciples on Solovetsky Island. The monks built a church there and received the blessing from St. Jonah, Archbishop of Veliky Novgorod (†1470). This is how the Solovki Monastery came into being.
In 1465, Monk Zosimas translated the relics of St. Sabbatius, the founder of the famous monastery, to Solovki Monastery.
Fr. Sabbatius sanctified the Solovki with his prayers, and consecrated them to the Russian Orthodox Church. Since then, the vast expanses of the North and of the Arctic Ocean have belonged to Russia and have been an integral part of our country.
