The Book about Elderhood

Fr. Kuksha

A conference was held in September of 2004 in Ekaterinburg and Merkushino, dedicated to the 400th anniversary of monasticism in Ural. Both the scholars-historians and the monastic representatives took part in it. One of the reports was done by the abbess of the abode, Lyubov (Nesterenko) who tried to cover briefly the history of the Ural elderhood and to demonstrate the significance of this holy patristic establishment in life of the monastics in general and for the contemporary restoration of monasteries in particular. Since the history of elderhood in Ural has practically not been studied yet, the Abbess' report was the first attempt at research in this direction. The conference was over, but the work of the monastery on collection of the materials about the Ural elders continued. The files in archives were researched; trips were undertaken to those people who might have remembered the ascetists almost contemporary to us; searches for pre-revolutionary literature in the libraries of Ekaterinburg and St. Petersburg were conducted. On the basis of all collected materials, publishing of the book about the Ural elderhood is planned. The book supposedly will be colorfully designed and richly illustrated with old and modern photographs. This research work will comprise several chapters and will embrace the period from the beginning of the XIX century (St. Vasilisk of Siberia and Zosima Verkhovsky) up until the end of the XX century (schema-nun Nikolaya (Zasypkina)). The monasteries of the Middle Ural will be looked on predominantly: St. Nicholas Verkhotursky and St. Nicholas Belogorsky men's monasteries; Novo-Tikhvinsky Ekaterinburgsky women's monastery and others, but also planned is the inclusion of the narrative about individual asceticists who served God not in the abodes, but in the midst of the world. Interesting material has been collected regarding the five-year-long presence in Ural of St. Kuksha of Odessa: the information that we received in the process of preparing the book, has not been published anywhere before.

House of Fr. Ignaty (Kevroletin)

In connection with the fact that the history of elderhood in Ural has not been studied at all, we think that the given work which is only the first step in this direction, will attract the attention of scholars-historians and the monastics, and will serve as the beginning of a full and comprehensive study.

Fr. Konstantin (Shipunov)

The authors see their goal not only in giving a historical overview of the tradition of elderhood in Ural, but also in drawing the attention of those who care about the destiny of the Russian monasticism to the labor on the fundament of which the monasticism could be restored, since, according to the preceptor of many monks, St. Theodore the Studite, "Marvelous is the tear of contrition coming out from the eyes; marvelous is the pure prayer at night and at day; marvelous is the endurance of afflictions; marvelous is the occupation with needlework; marvelous is the listening of the readings at vigils; marvelous are unhurriedness in words and conversation without laughter; marvelous is abstinence within reasonable limits; marvelous are the remembrance of death and the feasible imitation of the life of saints; marvelous are the flight from passionate impudence and observance of Divine humility; but most marvelous of all -- is the one's merciless disclosing and confession of thoughts. "But test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thess. 5, 21).