Savva Skhigumen Biography

Savva Savva Ostapenko Nikolai Mikhailovich Ostapenko, the future Schigumen Savva, was born in the year, on November 25, to John the Gracious in a simple Christian family in the Kuban. His parents Mikhail and Catherine were pious people. His mother, having her eight children, gave the last food to the wanderers who came to the house. It’s hard to believe it, but it really was like that, and to the husband’s question: “Katya, have you left nothing again to the children?!

And the Lord did not leave them without a daily bread. Parents made a pilgrimage in holy places and took children with them. So from an early age, the kids accustomed to the pious Christian life. Little Kolya loved these trips very much. He reverently listened to the ringing of bells and monastic singing in the temple, with a bated breath he applied to miraculous icons, humbly exposed long services.

He served with pleasure in the temple, sang on the choir. All this gradually led Kolya to the desire to serve God. It is not surprising that the child said: “I will grow up, I will be a monk! One winter, almost drowning in the hole, he caught a cold and fell ill. At night, he did not fall asleep for a long time, looked at the ceiling and suddenly saw himself in priestly vestments.

After that, I quickly recovered, ”said Savva's father, recalling childhood.

But it was not a year to wait and did not go for two years, the cherished desire was not fulfilled, but he continued to pray diligently and warmly to the Lord. Prayer will win everything, and prayer will answer all questions, ”he often said later. During the reading of the Holy Scripture, he was done so sweetly and good at heart that he forgot about the earth and the earthly.

The track record says that in the year Nikolai Ostapenko served already in the ranks of the Red Army. One can only guess what is behind these dates. Almost half of his life has been living in the world. And how could Nikolai be able to save, like an unquenchable lamp, his faith and love for the Lord? As this fire was carefully preserved if neither the terrible twenties nor the gloomy thirties of the priest himself did not extinguish it that in these years he loved to go to cemeteries, especially to Vagankovskoye.

Apparently, only there the previous way remained unchanged, as the birth and death of human remains unchanged. There, on Vagankovsky, at the grave of Blessed Nicholas, the future science of Savva not only prayed, but also preached the word of God to those who longed for him, who needed him. Around the same time, Nikolai Mikhailovich met with Schimonakhin Maria.

This old man deserves a separate narrative, here we will briefly say: with the blessing of the Optina old man of the father of Nectaria, she was sent to the Chamordine abode. By the will of God, in the future, she became close to old Fevronia and became her cell. We add that Mother Maria was a gift of perspicacity. She led Nikolai Mikhailovich to the Athos elder Schiarchimandrite Hilarion, who then served in Lianozovo.

The elder accepted Savva in the spiritual child of the future. After all, the monasteries are all closed monasteries, and then you will not take a secret tonsure, but explicit. You will live in the laurel. " In those days, there was no talk of any discovery of monasteries, but the war changed everything. She brought great sorrows and trials, brought the terrible face of death.

Through grief, the losses of loved ones turned to God. It so happened that shortly before the start of the war, Nikolai Mikhailovich broke his leg and therefore worked on the construction of various structures in the rear of the whole war. The war is over. Nikolai Mikhailovich was then 48 years old. It would seem that it is too late to start life again, especially since the best part of it has already been lived by worldly standards.

But nothing could interfere with the future old man. Having successfully passed exams to the theological seminary, he sits down to study the wisdom of God. Remembering the school years in the seminary, the father of Savva said that, studying the sciences and especially theology proposed there, he tried to understand and perceive everything with his heart, so he answered the questions asked by the teacher, as he understood his soul and heart, as he had to observe in life.

Nikolai Mikhailovich finished the seminary for three years, instead of four years. The abbot of the Epiphany Cathedral invited him to serve together at the relics of St. Alexy. But a long -standing long -term dream of the monastery did not leave the future of the science, and he abandoned this invitation. Monasticism is a reasonable and free feat of man, the struggle for the achievement of Christian perfection.

It is based on the Holy Gospel. True, the word "monasticism" is not found there, but the essence of monasticism is said in many places. Subsequently, the father of Savva wrote several books about monasticism, including “On Monastic Testing”, “answers to questions about monasticism”. There are a lot of useful tips and instructions for the new monks in these works.

The elder was generously shared by the experience of his monastic work. And this generosity was invaluable in those years when the patristic literature was not published about this. So far, a novice. This period was short -lived for the future old man. He carried his obedience diligently, with God's help bypassing temptation and temptation.And this is not surprising: all his long life, preceding this life, was aimed at achieving perfect service to God.

Soon, the governor of Lavra Archimandrite John stages before the Holy Patriarch about the tonsure of Nikolai Ostapenko in the monastic rank. The blessing of tonsure in monasticism coincided with the day of memory of the great saint of God of the Monk Seraphim Sarov. Savva's father loved him very much and secretly dreamed of having his name. But the Lord judged differently: during tonsure, he was given the name of the Savva Storozhevsky Zvenigorodsky, a faithful student of St.

Sergius of Radonezh. So from the "winner of the peoples" Greek. Having embarked on the path of perfect service to God, the monk becomes a voluntary slave, accepting sorrows and reproach, undergoing trials and temptations. You vowed obedience to facilitate the fight against pride and pride. You vowed intolerance in order to educate in yourself complete disinterestedness and impassiveness to earthly benefits to be a true follower of Christ - it means to crucify passions, that is, to exhaust them, suppress and completely eradicate them, kill oneself to the world, enslave the body to the spirit, and this is done only by the help of God with the constant intense work of you over your inner person, ”the priest wrote.

Bringing the obedience of the economy, he had to not only lead the construction, but also perform the hardest and most dirty work. Seeing the maturity and rich life experience of the economy, the governor of the monastery gives about. Savve is a new obedience - to be the confessor of the pilgrims. Thus began the pastoral ministry of the old man. One can only guess how his soul mourn when he came across an abundance of human sins.

What lawlessness they create, how do the greatness of God offend with their sins, what a strict punishment awaits them in the afterlife! The priest was oppressed by the fact that human hearts are far from repentance, they do not know the life of eternal and salvation. The old man’s spiritual children recall that he never scolded for a vice, but tried to reveal and show the confessor the abomination of the sin that he had done.

And only occasionally he sharply convicted, but then he immediately apologized for the sharpness. Exhausted hearts found consolation in a good and wise priest. We will ask the Lord to forgive our sins, our mistakes, ”and the sea tears from the eyes of the confessors. During the singing “we sing to you, we will bless you in one of the conversations with his fe that Bishop Veniamin Father Savve was given 4 main covenants: 1.

In order to lead the people and be a wise and experienced mentor, we must read a lot of patristic books. No one, even relatives, do not write letters on everyday topics. To be among the clergy are the last, t. To carry a cross is complacent. The father of Savva kept these covenants all his life, accepting a huge number of people, having more than 7 thousand spiritual children.

In the monastery of father, Savva was waiting for the responsible obedience of the dean. From the very first days, he proposed, following the example of the laurel to introduce a daily fraternal prayer in front of crayfish with the relics of the Martyr Kornille, and after the evening service, the akathists in the temple daily read daily. So in works and prayers, the days of the Father of Savva took place.

Not everything was smooth in his monastery, there were people who did not understand his pastoral ministry. Several times, Savva’s father was even forced to serve for some time on the parishes of the Pskov diocese, but, in spite of everything, he returned to the monastery under the auspices of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Those who are looking for peace cannot abide by the Spirit of God.

Where is sorrow, there is God. ” People gathered to Father Savva from all over the country. What did they gain in Pechora? Love and comfort, repentance and forgiveness. And they answered the love of their spiritual father with the same hot and devoted love. Almost all of his books, instructions and teachings are aimed at one thing: to make a person think that he is a servant of God, and, only turning entirely to God, you can see the world as he was created by his creator.