Our story is dedicated to the Moscow courtyard of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos and the holy elder Aristocles, whose life is closely connected with both the Athos monastery and its Moscow courtyard.

In Sacred History, Holy Mount Athos is known as the earthly inheritance of the Most Holy Theotokos. Athos, one of the main holy places for the entire Orthodox world, is located on the peninsula of the same name in the province of Macedonia, in northeastern Greece. Currently there are 20 monasteries operating here, one of which is Russian - the Monastery of St. Panteleimon.

Compound in Moscow

The Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos has metochions in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Athos courtyard in Moscow is a kind of connecting link between Holy Mount Athos in Greece and the capital of the Russian state. Despite the deep spiritual connection of Russian Orthodoxy with the Holy Mountain, official representations of Athos in large cities and both capitals of Russia began to open only in the second half of the 19th century. The Athonite Metochion in Moscow was established in September 1879 with private donations. It was located in a small noble estate on Bolshaya Polyanka; it was donated to the monastery by the famous philanthropist Akilina Alekseevna Smirnova. In 1918 the farmstead was closed. There was nothing unique in its fate; the same fate befell many other Orthodox churches and monasteries, both in Moscow and throughout Russia. The buildings located on the territory of the compound were given over to housing.
Years passed, and in August 1991, by decree of the Moscow government, the complex of one of the oldest Moscow churches - the Great Martyr's Church - was transferred to the use of the courtyard of the Panteleimon Monastery. Nikita. Here, now at a new address (where it remains to this day), the farmstead resumed its activities.

Venerable Elder Aristoklius (1846–1918)

St. Aristoclius (in the world - Alexey Alekseevich Amvrosiev) was born in Orenburg into a pious bourgeois family. In early childhood, Alexey lost his father. At the age of ten, after a serious illness, the boy lost his legs. Alexei's mother, Matrona, tearfully prayed to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker about the healing of her son, making a vow to dedicate him to God, and herself, when her son reaches monastic age, to go to a monastery. On the day of the celebration of the memory of St. Nicholas, December 6 (old style), Alexey was miraculously healed. When her son turned seventeen, Matrona fulfilled her vow and entered a monastery. In 1876, Alexey arrived on Athos and entered the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery under the spiritual guidance of Abbot Jerome (Solomentsev) and elder-confessor Macarius (Sushkin). On March 11, 1880, he was tonsured a monk with the name Aristoclius, in honor of the holy martyr Aristoclius of Salamis, and later ordained a hierodeacon, then a hieromonk. He worked in an icon-painting workshop.

In 1887 he was sent to Moscow to perform obedience to the trusted Panteleimon Monastery at the Athos Compound. In 1891–1894 - rector of the chapel in the name of the Great Martyr. Panteleimon on Nikolskaya Street. Many people flocked to the prayer services of the Mother of God and the healer Panteleimon, where miraculous healings took place. Numerous donations from believers Fr. Aristocles gave to the suffering and paid for the education of children from poor families. In 1894, after a false denunciation, the elder had to leave Moscow and return to Athos. Here in December, at a large council in the Panteleimon Monastery, he was elected one of the treasurers, in the early 1900s. was appointed one of the confessors of the brethren, and also performed obediences related to the reception of eminent guests of the monastery. In 1909, he was again appointed rector of the Moscow Chapel of St. Panteleimon and rector of the Moscow Athos Metochion.

Service of St. Aristoklia left a significant mark on Russian spiritual life. Through him, for many years, communication was maintained with the Panteleimon Monastery on Holy Mount Athos. He collected donations for the maintenance of Russian Orthodox monasteries in Greek Macedonia and sent new novices there. Through the works of Aristoklius of Athos, the book-publishing activities of the metochion and the distribution of Orthodox literature developed. During his lifetime, through the efforts of St. Aristoklia, on the territory of the courtyard, two three-story buildings were built, which housed charitable institutions, a house church in honor of the especially revered and beloved icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” and a library of spiritual literature.

But the main thing in the activities of St. Aristokle during this period became eldership. Despite his serious illness (he suffered from dropsy and leg disease), the Monk Aristoclius was a tireless worker in the field of spiritual care for people. “Thousands of people, thirsty for spiritual advice, from different parts of Russia, of the most diverse social status, from a peasant or tradesman to a metropolitan official, rushed to the elder, wanting to see a living image of holiness, to get an answer to the question of how to be saved” / from Determinations on canonization... St. Aristoclius (Amvrosiev), Elder of Moscow/. Until the last days of his earthly life, he served the cause of saving suffering, weak people, burdened with various hardships. For his sacrificial love for his neighbors and for his holiness, the Lord gave the monk the gift of clairvoyance, miracle-working, and casting out demons. In difficult revolutionary times, through his prayers his people were saved from starvation, left prison, and avoided execution. Thanks to St. Aristocles many unbelievers turned to God. The elder was revered by His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon (Bellavin) and Bishop Tryphon (Turkestan).
August 24/September 6, 1918 earthly path of St. The Aristocleia of Athos ended. His funeral service was performed by three bishops: Bishops Tryphon (Turkestan), Arseny (Zhadanovsky) and Archbishop Joasaph (Kallistov).

Initially, Elder Aristoclius was buried in the tomb of the courtyard, located under the house church. After the revolution of 1917, all monastic properties were subject to nationalization, and house churches were subject to liquidation. Searches, arrests, and confiscations began at the compound. Therefore, in 1923, the spiritual children of Aristoklius of Athos reburied his remains at the Danilovskoye cemetery in Moscow, near the St. Nicholas Chapel, as predicted by the elder. Through prayers to St. Aristocles, many miracles and healings took place at his grave.

In the summer of 2004, the relics of St. old man On September 6, 2004, the Venerable Elder Aristoklius was glorified among the locally revered saints of Moscow and the Moscow diocese. On November 13 of the same year, St. the power of St. Aristokle was transferred in a religious procession from the St. Daniel Monastery to the Athos Compound. The saint is commemorated on September 6 (New Art).

Compound today

Currently, the monastery has been restored and is located in its second place of residence, at the address: Moscow, st. Goncharnaya, 6.

The main shrines of the Athos courtyard in Moscow are the relics of St. Aristoclius, the Elder of Moscow, as well as his cell icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear” with the autograph of the monk, icons with the relics of the great martyr. Panteleimon, Apostle Andrew the First-Called, St. Silouan of Athos.

Divine services in the courtyard have features characteristic of the Athos charter: all Sunday services are performed at night (beginning at 22.30). Late Divine Liturgy on Sundays begins at 9.00. On weekdays, services begin at 17.00. Liturgy – daily at 7.30 am. In the evenings, akathists are read: on Sunday - Martyr's Day. Panteleimon, on Wednesday - St. Aristocles (at the shrine with relics), on Friday - to the Most Holy Theotokos in honor of Her icon “Quick to Hear”.

The monastery has strict requirements for visitors, more stringent than many other Orthodox churches. If a visitor in inappropriate clothing (for example, a woman in trousers) may not be noticed in another place, here they will be required to leave. Photography and the use of mobile phones are strictly prohibited. A rare case not only for Moscow, but also for all Russian churches and monasteries: it is not allowed to beg near its walls, as the inscription on the wall at the gate warns about. For those who want to help those in need, there is an iron box hanging on the same wall where you can drop money.

Prepared by Olga Uryadova

Today a joyful event took place in the church life of Moscow. The relics of the Elder Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius of Athos, recently glorified among the locally revered saints, were transferred from the St. Daniel Monastery to the Athos Compound in Moscow, where they will now remain permanently.

The festive service in the Trinity Cathedral of St. Daniel's Monastery began at 9 o'clock in the morning. After the liturgy and prayer service, to the joyful Easter bell ringing, in a procession with a prayer to the Monk Aristoclius, the clergy of the St. Daniel Monastery and the priests of Moscow churches carried the ark with the relics of the saint from the Trinity Church of the St. Daniel Monastery to the chapel of the Holy Blessed Prince Daniel on the Serpukhov Outpost Square " Here the ark was placed in a minibus and taken to Taganka, to the courtyard of the Russian Monastery of St. Panteleimon on Mount Athos. Thousands of Muscovites and pilgrims came to accompany the holy relics in the hope of the saint’s prayerful help. Grace generously spread throughout the area. It was felt by everyone present - both those who had revered the elder for a long time, who had been going to his grave at the Danilovskoye Cemetery for many years, and those who learned about the priest only after his glorification.

Numerous believers continued their journey on the metro. Mostly strangers, united by the joy of Christ, walked quietly in the subway along the passage, on the train, some with a candle burning in a jar. Many quietly, barely audible, sang a prayer: “Reverend Our Father Aristokle, pray to God for us!” And such grace spread underground! Up there, along approximately the same route, the relics of the saint are being transported, and how everything around is consecrated! Subway passengers, not understanding what was happening, felt this silence and tranquility. Nobody spoke loudly. Everyone was polite and friendly. And the beggars in the metro were touched by the fact that there seemed to be a normal flow of passengers, but almost everyone was giving - some money, some candy or apples. “Reverend Our Father Aristokle, pray to God for us!” And on Taganka, on Goncharnaya Street - the Easter chime! The Monk Aristoclius arrived at the courtyard of his native monastery! There were so many people who wanted to meet him that most people were unable to enter the temple. But after a short service, one could come up and venerate the relics of the holy elder. And the people kept coming and coming. The relics of the saint will be available for veneration today and tomorrow, on Sunday. Hieromonk Aristokliy (in the world - Alexey Alekseevich Amvrosiev) was born in 1846, was an Orenburg tradesman. In 1876 he left for Athos and entered the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery.

On March 11, 1880, Alexei Amvrosiev took monastic vows with the name Aristoklius, in honor of the holy martyr Aristoklius (June 20). On December 2, 1884, he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, and on December 12, to the rank of hieromonk. On February 12, 1886, he accepted the schema without changing his name. In 1887, Hieroschemamonk Aristoclius arrived in Moscow for obedience in the St. Panteleimon Chapel.

Hieromonk Aristoklius was the builder of the Athonite courtyard in Moscow, on Bolshaya Polyanka. The three-story stone building has survived to this day. On the top floor, through the care of Elder Aristoklius, a house church was built in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” which was consecrated by Patriarch Tikhon after the elder’s blessed death.

In the same building, on the top floor, there was the cell of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius, in which he received visitors. He had a huge flock, and thanks to his spiritual children, valuable information about his righteous life was preserved. For his sacrificial love for his neighbors and for the holiness of his life, the Lord gave Hieroschemamonk Aristocles the great power of working miracles.

LIVING CROSS

“... And here’s another incident with one of my friends who lived near the Khitrov market. Her life was not going well, and one day it was so hot that she decided to drown herself. She ran to the bridge and was about to throw herself into the Moscow River, when suddenly some force threw her back. There was no one nearby, but an inexplicable fear attacked her, and she wanted to quickly get away from that place, and the determination to take her own life disappeared somewhere. For a long time she was haunted by the fear that gripped her on the bridge that night. She was advised to go to Elder Aristoclius - he knows everything. And she came to the priest, told him everything that happened. And the elder listened and said: “God’s Power pushed you away. Even though you are a dissolute woman, it’s because of your kindness that you won’t sit alone and won’t drink a mug of water alone - that’s why the Lord has mercy on you.” These words of the elder turned her soul upside down. And you know, she reformed and began to go to the elder for advice. This is where we met her. That's how it happens. Everyone comes to God in their own way.”

“The priest even knew in advance that he would be buried at the Danilovsky cemetery. This can be seen from the story of Father Aristoclius’s spiritual daughter, A.P. Solntseva, who really wanted the elder to visit her at home. When she finally dared to ask him about it, the priest affectionately answered her: “My beloved child, soon, soon I will come to you. I’ll come forever.” When the priest soon died without ever visiting her, she refused to believe it, since the elder never deceived anyone. And she lived in Dukhovsky Lane, next to the Danilovsky Cemetery, and always asked, when she saw a funeral procession, who was being buried. And one day I heard: “The Great Elder, Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius.” Shocked, dropping the buckets, she walked, crying, behind the priest’s coffin and kept repeating: “I’m sorry! Forgive me, father, that I, stupid, didn’t believe you...”

The pigeons, which the elder loved to feed during his lifetime and talk to them affectionately about something, flew in from all sides in a huge flock and, circling, formed a living cross in the sky, overshadowing the elder Aristoclius with it until his grave, said the elder Daniel.”

THE MIRACLE OF HEALING A MAN BORN BLIND HAPPENED FROM THE RECENTS OF MOSCOW ELDER ARISTOCLEUS

In our time, as in the first centuries of Christianity, obvious miracles occur through prayers to the saints, ITAR-TASS reports. Abbot Nikon, the rector of the Athos monastery in Moscow, spoke about a similar incident: “In November last year, the relics of the revered Moscow holy elder Aristoclius, the last rector of the Athos monastery during the period of persecution of the Church, who died in 1918, were transferred to the monastery from the Danilovsky cemetery. priests from the Vladimir diocese, who took with them the blessed oil from the lamp that burned near the relics."

As the Vladimir priest Vladimir Vedernikov later reported in a letter, he gave the bottle to the parishioners of the local church, the spouses Alexander and Marina, who gave birth to a baby with unopened eyes. “They were very sad, and the priest, consoling the young parents, handed over the shrine and told how during his lifetime Elder Aristocles, with his prayers, healed a 10-year-old boy who had not opened his eyes since birth.” “That same day in the evening, Marina’s mother came running to me with the joyful news that Kolenka’s eyes opened after they were anointed with sacred oil,” the priest’s letter says.

Father Nikon, having read this modern testimony to the parishioners at the service, reminded that the first miracle of healing a man born blind was performed by Jesus Christ himself.

KING MOSOKH AND SHVIVAYA HILL

In the early 90s, I learned from friends that a courtyard of the Athos Monastery had opened in Moscow. Where? On Shvivaya Hill... There, they explained, is a temple GREAT MARTYR NIKITA. I went for the first time, I remember, by tram from Chistye Prudy. And when I walked out onto Kotelnicheskaya Embankment, of course, the first thing that caught my eye was the Stalinist high-rise building. One of the seven is the so-called “House of Creative Intelligentsia”.

Its construction began before the war (1938-1940), and ended in 1952. Architects - A.K. Rostkovsky and D.N. Chechulin. The building had 32 floors and its height reached 176 meters. It was decorated with turrets and sculptural groups. It is located in a very beautiful place - at the confluence of the Moscow River and the Yauza River. It’s not news that Stalin’s high-rise buildings in Moscow were partially built by prisoners... Perhaps, according to the government’s plans, the building should have had a different purpose. There are also various legends about this. However, after construction, the house was given to the creative intelligentsia. At different times, Evgeny Yevtushenko, Galina Ulanova, Andrei Voznesensky, Faina Ranevskaya, Lyudmila Zykina, Nona Mordyukova and many other famous personalities lived there. So the house was elite. On the ground floor there was a post office, a bakery, and a cinema.

Behind this high-rise building, like behind a fortress, is the quiet Shvivaya Hill...

There is an old exotic legend that here, at the mouth of the Yauza, the grandson of Noah himself, King Mosoh Japhetovich (i.e., the son of Japheth, the ancestor of the peoples of Europe and Asia Minor), supposedly founded Moscow back in those biblical times. And that she got the name from his name, plus the name of his wife - Kva. And the son’s name was Ya, the daughter’s name was Vuza, so, they say, Moscow arose on the Yauza. And the first “gorodets”, i.e. the fortress on the site of Moscow was not on Borovitsky Hill, where the Kremlin appeared, but here - on Shvivaya Gorka, the southwestern slope of Tagansky Hill (also one of the seven).

In the chronicle where this legend is set out, it is said that King Mosokh founded “a small town for himself on that highest mountain, above the mouth of the Yauza River, in its primeval place, where to this day stands on that mountain the stone church of the holy and great martyr Nikita, the demons the tormentor and from the faithful people the exile of those who suffer evil from them and call on the holy name of the martyr with faith.”

There are many legends around the mysterious name “Sewing Hill”. Here there are “lice”, and midges, and Khiva - Shiva and the “Sweets”... But modern science derives the word “shvivaya” from the ancient Russian “ush”, meaning prickly, thorny, weedy grass. And the “ushivaya” hill is overgrown with thorns and prickly grass.

As for the name of Moscow, it is a hydronym, i.e. comes from the name of the river. Current scholars believe that it comes from the Old Church Slavonic root “mosk”, which means “to be viscous” or “smelly”. (The words “get wet” and “dank” come from it). In ancient times it meant a large, overflowing river...

Turning right behind the “high-rise”, you immediately find yourself in a quiet, pleasant place, cut off from the noise of the embankment, here only trolleybuses “shuffle” in a homely manner along the neighboring, upper street.

In silence you climb up this very Shviva Hill, on the left are ordinary panel houses, and at the top opens the entrance to the monastery, an arch, a bell tower...

Church of St. The Great Martyr Nikita at this place has been mentioned in the chronicle since 1476. The current stone church was built in 1595, in the 17th century an elegant hipped bell tower was built and the Annunciation chapel was consecrated, in the next century the chapel of the holy venerable Onuphrius the Great and Peter of Athos appeared, and in the 19th century -m - a chapel of Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga, rare for Moscow churches (1878).

Nikitsky Church was closed immediately after the revolution, it was going to be demolished; even the Literary Institute named after them laid claim to the territory in the center of the capital. Gorky, however, demolition did not follow due to public intervention (one of the rare cases when it had a result). In the mid-1950s, the architect L. David restored the ancient temple, then they joked that it was being neglected because of Khrushchev’s namesake.

Until 1990, the church building housed the warehouse of the Filmstrip studio, and only in 1991 the temple was returned to the believers, and the courtyard of the Athonite Russian St. Pateleimon Monastery was opened in it.

I also fell in love with this place in the capital; during my visits to Moscow, I always try to visit here at least once. Then, in the early 90s, in the courtyard, inside the Nikitsky Church, there was an interesting bookstore, where, along with literature, rare newspapers, all sorts of curious sheets were sold... And of course, it was attractive that you could submit notes to Athos. A simple wooden floor, silence, long monastic prayers... In the courtyard, divine services are performed according to the Athos Rule, on Sundays there is a night service, which begins at 22.30 (Great Vespers, Matins, Hours, Early Liturgy).

At the exit from the courtyard there is a chapel in the name of the Great Martyr Panteleimon, who blesses you on your way and reminds you good-naturedly: don’t get sick!.. That is, don’t sin. A little later, a second round chapel appeared, on the other side - in the name of St. Silouan of Athos.

ATHOS IN THE MIDDLE OF MOSCOW

Portrait of Elder Aristokle, brought to the Athos courtyard in the year of his glorification

And since 2004, the relics of the Athonite and Moscow saint have been resting in the Olginsky chapel of the Church of the Great Martyr Nikita Venerable ARISTOCLIUS. Now in his native monastery he helps everyone who turns to him with faith and love...

The story of the earthly journey of St. Let's start Aristokle with the unusual story of a portrait of an elder brought to the Athos courtyard in the year of his glorification. “...Once the artist Mikhail dreamed of the holy blessed Matrona, who asked him a “strange” question: “Why do you go to my grave, but don’t venerate the other holy elder who is buried here?” Mikhail began to ask the people which of the revered ascetics were still buried at the Danilovsky cemetery. And I found out! He turned out to be the Venerable Aristocles of Athos (aka Moscow). Since then, Mikhail began to visit his grave, located not far from the St. Nicholas Chapel, next to the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. “This story was told to me,” says Galina Digtyarenko (“Orthodox Pilgrim”), the rector of the Athos Metochion in Moscow, Abbot Nikon (Smirnov). He also showed a portrait of the Monk Aristoclius, purchased from that same Michael. The artist discovered this portrait, or rather its two halves, at the Izmailovsky vernissage. Recognizing the picture as Elder Aristoclius, he decided to buy two pieces of cloth and restore the painting. In the portrait you can still see where the two parts were glued together. For the time being, the canvas was in the artist’s possession. And in 2004 (in the year of the glorification of Father Aristokle and on the day of the Elder Angel), Mikhail brought the portrait to the Athos courtyard.

Saints are not born, saints are made. So the Monk Aristoclius was at first a simple youth Lesha Amvrosiev. He was born in Orenburg in 1846 into a family of burghers. In early childhood he was left without a father. And at the age of eight he became so ill that his legs were paralyzed - he was bedridden for two years. The doctors tried their best, but could not help. His mother Matrona was almost desperate. Praying with tears before the image of St. Nicholas, she made a vow to dedicate her son to God, and to go to a monastery herself when Lesha grew up. And a miracle happened - on the second day the boy stood up, on the third he began to walk, first leaning on crutches...”

The miracle of healing of ten-year-old Alyosha through the prayers of his mother to St. Nicholas. Artist Pribytkov, 1894.

In her memoirs about the beginning of the elder’s spiritual path, recorded from the words of the saint himself, schema-nun Miropia wrote:

Father, tell me how you came to the Lord and how long ago?
- Back when I went to school. It used to be that I would come home from school, grab some bread and go to the mountains. And there I enjoyed praying to God. Oh, these children's prayers! To this day I cannot forget them. Then my mother and I separated. She went to the Assumption Convent, and I went to the men's monastery. We never saw her again, because we made a promise before God to each other: not to see each other and to serve only God.

In another place, M. Miropia relayed the following words of the elder: “Mother and I, when we went to the monastery, never saw each other.”

Having gone through the stages of spiritual formation and obedience in one of the Russian monasteries, in 1879 Alexey went to Holy Mount Athos, where he entered the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery under the spiritual guidance of hegumen Schema-Archimandrite Macarius (Sushkin) and the elder-confessor Hieroschemamonk Jerome (Solomentsev). And a year later, on March 11, 1880, he was tonsured into a mantle with the name Aristoclius, in honor of the Cypriot martyr Aristoclius of Salamis. On December 2, 1884, the monk Aristoclius was ordained a hierodeacon, and on December 12 of the same year - a hieromonk. On February 12, 1886, Hieromonk Aristoklius was tonsured into the schema without changing his name. (Aristoklius translated from Greek means beautiful, noble).

In 1887, he brought a branch to Moscow from the place of execution of the Great Martyr Panteleimon, and from 1891 to 1994 he was rector of the courtyard of the Athos St. Panteleimon Monastery.

The founding of the Moscow chapel, says the famous historian and Moscow expert Elena Lebedeva, was due to the fact that in 1866 the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear” and with it other shrines were brought to Moscow from the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Athos: particles of the holy relics of the healer Panteleimon, the holy cross with a piece of the Life-Giving Tree, a piece from the stone of the Holy Sepulcher. Hieromonk Arseny, who brought them to Moscow, stopped upon arrival at the Epiphany Monastery for men, and in its cathedral church the shrines were displayed for veneration. A great crowd of people gathered who wanted to venerate them, so that the temple was filled with people praying from morning to evening: healings were performed and performed, the good news about them spread around the city, and more and more people came.

Due to the huge number of pilgrims, in 1873 at the Epiphany Monastery, with the blessing of the Athonite elders, they built the Athonite Chapel for these shrines, on the same Nikolskaya Street. (Now in its place is a corner square at the intersection of Nikolskaya and Bogoyavlensky Proezd, since the building was demolished in 1929.) However, over time, the small chapel became cramped for everyone who wanted to venerate the shrines. Already in 1879 they began to think about building a new one.

And in 1880, the brother of the rector of the Athonite Panteleimon Monastery, hereditary honorary citizen Ivan Sushkin, donated a plot of his land for her to the monastery on Nikolskaya Street closer to the Vladimir Gate. A year later, construction began on a new chapel in the name of St. Panteleimon, with numerous donations from Muscovites. It was erected by the famous architect A. Kaminsky, son-in-law of the Tretyakov brothers, author of the neighboring Tretyakovsky Proezd arch. To commemorate the continuation of the tradition, he originally reproduced on the facade of his building the appearance of the facade of the old Athos Chapel.

The structure turned out to be very unusual for Moscow, since the chapel from the outside looked like a huge, majestic temple, of great height and impressive size. Now she could accommodate the multitude of worshipers who flocked to her and crowded in line at the chapel all day. There was another, purely architectural decision of the architect to create a new high-rise dominant on Nikolskaya Street, formed by a church building: in continuation of the historical tradition of building this area, where the bell towers and churches of the Epiphany, Zaikonospassky and Nikolsky monasteries rose. Now the new grandiose chapel dominated not only Nikolskaya alone, but also the entire Kitay-gorod, the largest business center of Moscow, in which tall “secular” buildings of commercial banks, insurance companies, and joint-stock companies were already being built.

Panteleimon Chapel and part of the Kitai-Gorod Wall. The Panteleimon Chapel, one of the most beautiful and largest in Moscow, was demolished along with the Kitai-Gorod wall in 1934. Nowadays the Nautilus shopping center is located on the site of the chapel.

In June 1883, the consecration of a new Moscow chapel, assigned to the Epiphany Monastery, took place, and Athos shrines were reverently transferred to it. It was considered one of the richest relics in Moscow: there was a miraculous image of the Savior, the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear” and Iverskaya, the holy great martyr Panteleimon, the ark with holy relics.

The feast of St. Panteleimon was a Moscow celebration. Every year on July 27 (August 9), a procession of the cross departed from the chapel to the Epiphany Monastery. Nikolskaya was crowded with pilgrims, and so that all those praying could bow and venerate the miraculous icons, the images were taken out into the street on this day and placed under a special tent.

On ordinary days, Orthodox Muscovites went to the Panteleimon Chapel for blessed, healing lamp oil.

“For convict brands,

For every pain

Baby Panteleimon

We have a healer,”

Marina Tsvetaeva wrote about the chapel.

They also went here for grace-filled spiritual help to the famous shepherd, rector of the chapel, Hieroschemamonk Aristocles of Athos. He not only spiritually nourished his flock, but also helped the poor financially, obtained funds for the education of children from poor families, gave brides in marriage, accepted donations, and immediately handed them over to the poor...

Pilgrims from all over Russia gathered at the Panteleimon Chapel. Those suffering from blindness, epilepsy, obsession, mental disorders, bodily infirmities and mutilations hoped to find healing here and found it. And after the revolution, the icon of St. Panteleimon exuded a special power of grace, as if affirming the true faith in godless times.

In 1927, shortly before the closure of the chapel, a miraculous healing of a sick Jew, Grigory Kalmanovich, from cancer took place here, and this miracle led him to believe in Christ and accept Holy Baptism. The disease was already at that stage that doctors considered treatment useless and determined his remaining life to be two weeks. On the way from the clinic, Kalmanovich drove past the chapel and suddenly experienced an incredible desire to go into it. His wife tried to dissuade him from saying that this was a Christian church, but he still went into the chapel. There was a prayer service going on there. The patient knelt down in front of the image of the healer and stood in tears throughout the service, and then reverently kissed the icon and experienced incredible relief - the pain was released and he felt healthy. When doctors examined him again, they found no traces of the disease. Without saying a word about his prayer, the healed man returned home and immediately went to the local church, where he told this story to the priest - and joyfully accepted the Christian faith.

After the revolution, the authorities banned the miraculous image of St. Panteleimon from being taken out into the street on holidays. The chapel was closed in 1932 and two years later was broken down along with the fortress wall of Kitai-Gorod, but the Grace of God preserved almost all of its shrines for Moscow. The miraculous image of the Savior is in the Church of Saints Florus and Laurus on Zatsepa, the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear” was transferred to the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Klenniki on Maroseyka, Iverskaya - to the Church of the Sign in Pereyaslavskaya Sloboda (near the Rizhskaya metro station). The miraculous image of the holy great martyr Panteleimon himself and the ark with holy relics from his chapel are now in the famous Church of the Resurrection in Sokolniki. So, fortunately, the priceless Moscow shrine was not lost, sums up E. Lebedeva.

Fragment of the restored building of the Athos courtyard on Bolshaya Polyanka

In 1888, the magazine “Soulful Interlocutor” began to be published at the courtyard, telling about the life of Russian monks and Athonite ascetics on the Holy Mountain, about miraculous icons in monasteries. Thanks to the diligence of the abbot of the metochion, Athos became for Russia the ideal of spiritual life. The flow of pilgrims to the Holy Mountain increased, many remained there forever. The number of Russian Svyatogorsk residents grew rapidly; at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries there were up to 6,000 people throughout Athos. In the Panteleimon Monastery alone there were about 2000 of them. Generous donations from Russia flowed to Athos. The monasteries and other buildings belonging to the Russians began to be improved.

“THE LORD KNOWS WHO NEEDS WHAT”

Father Aristoclius had a large flock and many spiritual children, thanks to whom information about his miracles has reached us. Here is one of the cases. The elder's spiritual daughter became seriously ill - her legs were paralyzed. Father Aristoclius came to console her and, when he left, said: “My beloved child, do not be discouraged, but pray and thank the Lord. I’ll go, and when I go out, you come to the window and wave your hand to me, and I’ll wave to you.” The patient was embarrassed: “Father, I can’t get up...” The elder smiled: “Nothing, nothing. Wave." When Father Aristoclius walked out the door, the woman felt strength in her legs and stood up. She went to the window and saw the priest, who waved his hand to her, and she waved his hand back.

Another amazing miracle happened to a boy born blind. On the advice of local doctors, the young mother brought him to Moscow. When they took a picture of her eyes and set the day for the operation, she was very worried, not daring to take such an important step. Passing by the Panteleimon Chapel, she saw a lot of different people and learned about the elder Aristocles. The next day I brought my son here. The elder anointed the boy’s eyes in a cross pattern with oil from the lamp from the “Quick to Hear” icon. And then he asked the woman: “Who is your husband?” Having received no answer, he said: “Satan himself!” And then the woman with tears told how her husband, on the eve of great holidays, becomes like a beast, beats her, and she runs away with her son to her mother. And the next day the husband becomes quiet, kind, and she returns.

After listening to the woman, the priest advised not to have the operation, but to come to the chapel with the boy for a prayer service all the days while she was in Moscow. “And next year, come again with your son to me... And then you will come with your husband,” he said.

The next year she came to the priest alone with her son, as he ordered her. She lived in Moscow for several months and came to the chapel every day for a prayer service, and each time the priest anointed the boy’s eyes with a cross. Before she left home, the priest anointed the boy’s eyes and, blessing him, said: “The Lord knows who needs what.”

And this woman came to him with her husband and a boy, not blind, but with open blue eyes. And when several men brought her possessed husband to the priest, he jumped so high and fell to the floor screaming that it was scary to look at him. If not for the priest’s prayer, he probably would not have survived. Jumping for the last time, he fell and lay as if dead. It took him a long time to come to his senses, but then he jumped up, threw himself at the priest’s feet and began to sob. Elder Aristocles healed him too.

It is noteworthy that when a secondary photograph of the boy’s healthy eyes was taken in the hospital, crosses from anointing with oil appeared on it.

The woman talked about her son’s wonderful insight like this. “Early in the morning, as always, I read the akathist to the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” and then I began to read the akathist to the Great Martyr Panteleimon and suddenly I heard: “Mom, mom, come to me quickly!” I run to my son, and what! My boy is sitting on the crib, and his eyes are open, and he looks at me and says: “Mom, I see you, mom, I see you!” And so we all came to you together.”

In 1894, Elder Aristoklius received a false denunciation regarding finances. And this is for a person who helped the poor, obtained funds for the education of children from poor families, and gave donations to the poor. I had to leave Moscow and return to Athos.

And in the monastery he was appointed not just anyone, but the treasurer and confessor of the Panteleimon Monastery. Three times, in February 1896, May 1905 and May 1909, Aristoclius was nominated by the Council of Elders as a candidate in the election of the governor of abbots Andrei, Nifont and Misail, but the lot passed him by three times. By the will of the Mother of God, a different lot was prepared for him.

For fifteen years, the elder’s spiritual children sent letters to the Synod and Athos, in which they begged for their beloved shepherd to be returned to them. Finally, the Council of Elders of the St. Panteleimon Monastery again appointed Fr. Aristoclius as rector of the metochion of the Athos St. Panteleimon Monastery in Moscow.

At the age of seventy, Father Aristokliy had to return back to Russia, and since November 29, 1909, he has been in Moscow. Upon the elder’s return, thousands of people again began to come to the courtyard.

By that time he was suffering from numerous illnesses and needed a dedicated assistant. In the last years of his stay at the monastery, the elder became close to the novice Ipatiy Stavrov. At the request of Elder Aristoclius, novice Hypatius was tonsured a monk with the name Isaiah, ordained and blessed to help him in Moscow. Father Isaiah (the future famous elder Isaiah) became not only the elder’s cell attendant, but also his secretary, an indispensable assistant in all matters of the courtyard.

Carrying obedience as rector of the Athos metochion in Moscow, Fr. Aristoclius had constant correspondence with the elders of St. Panteleimon's monastery on Mount Athos. These letters are still kept in the archives of the monastery. It is amazing how scrupulously and carefully he reported on what was happening in the courtyard. He even came up with a special form, which was divided into seven parts corresponding to each day of the week, and entered into them all the events that happened on that day. At the end of the week the form was sent to Mount Athos. Thus, all his reports amount to more than two thousand pages.

The Monk Aristoclius made a great contribution to the construction of the Athos courtyard on Bolshaya Polyanka. It was located in a small city estate on Bolshaya Polyanka - it was donated to the monastery in September 1879 by the famous benefactor Akilina Alekseevna Smirnova.

With his participation, two three-story buildings were built here. One housed a library, the other housed charitable institutions. On the top floor, a house church was built in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” which the elder greatly revered and prayed a lot before. The church was consecrated by His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin) on September 30, 1918, after the death of the elder. On the same floor there was also the cell of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius, where he received visitors - more than one hundred people a day. He was an experienced old man who possessed the gifts of clairvoyance, healing and miracles. He was never seen angry. He radiated quiet joy.

As soon as the elder returned, thousands of people began to come to him again. From the memoirs of nun Euphemia:

My mother’s hand had been very painful for several years. And no matter what medications we tried, and no matter what doctors we went to, the pain did not subside. I say once: “Let’s go to the elder, he will help.”

Let's go in the morning. The elder was not entirely healthy and was in his cell. He received us with such love! And somehow he kept smiling, he was not sitting in his place, but as if waiting for someone. He blessed us and began to talk. He took his hand and began to rub it. I took off her jacket, he continued to rub his hand, and he smiled, as if he had something comforting for us, and he could not help but smile with pleasure. Then he left his mother’s hand, gave her a piece of prosphora, anointed her with oil, and so, rejoicing, he let her go. Since then there has been no pain. I think my elder rejoiced, knowing that for his prayers the Lord healed my mother.

And how the priest consoled me with his conversations! Sometimes he would say: “Oh, my beloved child, if only you knew how much I want to save you! I would endure everything for your sake, may the Lord save you! If only I could bring you to Him! If only you would be saved, I have no greater concern.” , as soon as I bring you to the Lord, and there is no more serious matter on earth than the salvation of the soul...” Father always rejoiced when he saw the zeal of our spiritual children, towards each other or towards others. He had extraordinary gratitude for the slightest contribution from another. Surprisingly, he loved children. And he was always, always surrounded by children, they were so devoted to him that they did not want to leave their father...

It used to be that the elder would walk from his cell through the yard, and the people would be waiting for him, he would bless everyone, then they would give him a small box with food for pigeons, and the priest would pour it in and bless it with a prayer. And so every morning, and the pigeons sit anywhere, waiting for him. Then the elder entered through the back door, and the children were already waiting for him along with the elders, but only adults were allowed in from the front door. First, he received everyone with their children, and then went into a large room, all filled with icons, like a chapel, for a general blessing. Father was exhausted from the people, there were days when he received more than one thousand people.

Elder Isaiah was an eyewitness to the resurrection of a dead girl through the prayers of Elder Aristoclius; he himself told about this after the death of Aristoclius to Elder Daniel from the Donskoy Monastery. One day a woman came to Elder Aristocles carrying a dead girl in her arms. She said that they came from Ryazan because they had heard about the miracles of the elder. She brought him her sick daughter in the hope that the priest would heal her. But on the way the girl died. And now the mother begged the elder to revive the child. She did not doubt the power of the elder’s prayerful intercession before the Lord and with faith expected a miracle from the priest. And a miracle happened: through the prayers of Elder Aristoclius, the girl came to life and was healed of her illness. The mother hugged her revived daughter and could not find words of gratitude, but only repeated: “God bless you, father, God bless you!”

One of the priest’s spiritual children worked in a hotel and here she noticed a sad, beautiful young lady who always wore black. One day the maid asked what was tormenting the woman. The beauty told her about her former happy life with her beloved husband, a general in the tsarist army, who died at the front. At the age of twenty she was widowed and could not forget her husband. The maid suggested that Sofya Nikolaevna turn to Elder Aristoclius for advice. The young lady was skeptical about this, but unexpectedly agreed, saying: “Okay! If he is such a wizard, then let him know that I am a widow.”

For the meeting, Sophia dressed up like she was going to a ball - a chic dress, diamonds, a hat. In the temple, the priest anointed the believers with oil, there was a long line, and the young lady got bored with it and got ready to leave. And then the elder exclaimed: “Who came to me! Sofia! Widow!” The young lady shuddered, fell to her knees and, sobbing, crawled towards the old man, not noticing anything around.

Elder Aristoclius in his cell on Bolshaya Polyanka

The priest picked her up, blessed her and anointed her with oil. Sofya Nikolaevna told him everything about her life. The elder looked intently into her eyes and said: “Sofia, I’ll tell you what: give everything you have to the poor and needy. Leave yourself a pair of outer and lower clothes and go to the temple of the martyr Nikita. Remove it for nothing, don’t take money... But when you’re in prison, pray for me, and I’ll pray for you.”

This meeting transformed Sofya Nikolaevna so much that she exactly fulfilled the elder’s order. She gave everything away, went to wash the floors, didn’t take any money, lived on alms, walked around in torn felt boots. After the revolution, someone denounced the former lady, and she was sent to prison. She was released and imprisoned several times. That's how she died in prison.

In the last years of his life, Father Aristoclius's chronic diseases worsened; he suffered from dropsy and leg disease, but despite this, he continued to receive people. Like his heavenly patron Aristoclius of Salamis, who was illuminated by the Divine light, and the Lord ordered him to bear his cross to the end. New life, disturbed by the revolution, was in full swing all around, attacks on the Church and clergy were increasing, the royal family had recently been shot... In difficult times of troubles, through the prayers of the elder, people were saved from starvation, were released from prison, and avoided execution. Thanks to him, many unbelievers turned to God.

The Monk Aristoklius died blissfully on August 24 (September 6), 1918, in his cell in Polyanka, at twelve o’clock at night. Turning his prayerful gaze for the last time to the icon of the “Quick to Hear,” which he fervently revered, he fervently crossed himself three times with a large cross and quietly surrendered his soul into the hands of God.

In the morning, masses of people began to flock to the cell to venerate the elder, although his death was not officially announced because of the Bolsheviks. All Moscow monasteries offered to bury Father Aristoclius in their cemetery. However, the monks of the courtyard decided that he should stay in Polyanka.

“While they were trying to get permission,” monk Hilarion (successor of Father Aristoclius) wrote in a letter to Archimandrite Kirik, “the elder’s body was in the temple for four days, and during that time what was happening near the coffin is even difficult to describe: a sea of ​​tears was shed by his spiritual children and admirers; there were people of all ranks and ranks, and everyone poured out their grief before his ashes. Yes, everyone had... great love and faith for him.”

The funeral service for Elder Aristoclius was performed by three Moscow rulers: Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky), Bishop Tryphon (Turkestan) and Archbishop Joasaph (Kallistov) of Mozhaisk, rector of the Epiphany Monastery, who at that time served as Metropolitan of Moscow.

Initially, Elder Aristoclius was buried in the marble crypt of the tomb of the courtyard. However, after the revolution, all monastic properties were subject to Bolshevik nationalization, and house churches were subject to liquidation. Searches, arrests, and confiscations began at the compound. In January 1919, the Bolsheviks arrested the rector of the Panteleimon Chapel, Hieromonk Macarius, and in 1921, Hieromonk Theophanes... Therefore, the spiritual children of the elder in 1922 decided to rebury him. They buried him quietly so as not to attract the attention of the Soviet authorities. The monks carried the coffin with the incorrupt body of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius out of the tomb, loaded it onto a cart and took it to the Danilovskoye cemetery (which the saint predicted even before his death). Eyewitnesses said that the pigeons, which the elder loved to feed during his lifetime, flew in from all directions and, circling, formed a living cross in the sky. A living dove cross accompanied the elder until his grave...

But there was also unrest in the cemeteries; especially zealous Komsomol members destroyed the graves of priests. Therefore, Father Aristoclius was buried away from the place where the cross was installed. This became clear not so long ago, in 2004, when the monks of the Athos metochion began to acquire his holy relics.

LIFE AFTER DEATH

After the death of the elder, miracles continued. Through prayers to him, people were saved from hunger and even from death itself. There is a completely unique incident that occurred during the Great Patriotic War, the servant of God Maria told about it. In 1941, she was sent to dig trenches near the Danilovsky cemetery. During a break, one worker suggested going to the cemetery to see Father Aristoclius: “Let’s go and worship his grave, he will pray for us.” Maria and some others agreed and called more women, but they were unbelievers, they began to curse and speak obscenely about the elder. The Orthodox left, prayed at the priest’s grave, kissed it and returned back. And what did they see? During an air raid, the Germans dropped a bomb - the blast wave and shrapnel killed those who blasphemed the elder...

And one more story... One of the spiritual daughters of Elder Aristoclius, Evdokia, died. Her sister really wanted to bury her relative at the Danilovsky cemetery, closer to the elder. At that time, people were buried only at their place of residence, and they lived in Novogireevo, which was not yet Moscow. However, the coffin was brought to the Danilovskoye cemetery. Naturally, the administration flatly refused - no registration. What to do? It’s already evening, the car has left, the coffin is on the ground. We went to the elder’s grave and began to pray: “Father, your spiritual child, Evdokia, has arrived. Give her a place to put her.” Less than half an hour had passed when the cemetery workers came up and asked: “Well, show me where to dig your grave?” And Evdokia found herself next to her spiritual father, near the St. Nicholas Chapel.

A LIVING IMAGE OF HOLINESS

On February 5, 2001, the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints published a resolution according to which its members, “taking into account the righteous life of the ascetic, the miracles revealed through his prayers during his life and after death, the established veneration in the Moscow diocese, did not find any obstacles to the glorification of Hieroschemamonk Aristoclius in the rank of reverends, as a locally revered saint of the Moscow diocese." This decree served as an impetus for the discovery of the elder’s relics, which took place in 2004.

On September 6, during a divine service in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II announced the canonization of the Moscow elder Aristokle (Amvrosiev), the last rector of the Athos metochion before the period of persecution of the Church. “We have glorified one more ascetic among the Moscow saints, who supported and strengthened people in the difficult pre-revolutionary years,” said His Holiness the Patriarch. Speaking about the elder, His Holiness noted that he was one of those who “loved the suffering world as his neighbor and as himself,” and “thousands of people flocked to him, seeing in him a living image of holiness.”

The image of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” the cell icon of Elder Aristoklius, arrived at the Athos courtyard from Maroseyka at the same time as the relics of the famous priest.

The rector of the Athonite metochion, which is now located on Goncharnaya Street, Abbot Nikon (Smirnov) said that the canonization was scheduled for another day, but was postponed precisely to September 6 - the day of the blessed death of the elder. And this is no coincidence, just as the fact that in the same year a woman came to the courtyard and offered to buy (she was in great need of funds) an icon of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon with the autograph of Father Aristoclius on the back. Nowadays this image is in the Church of the Great Martyr Nikita in the Athos courtyard opposite the shrine with the relics of St. Aristocles. Next to her is the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” the cell image of the elder, before whom he crossed himself for the last time and gave up his ghost.

Hegumen Nikon said that this icon was for a long time in the St. Nicholas Church on Maroseyka, where the relics of the Moscow elder Alexy Mechev rest. Father Nikon asked the rector of the temple to give this icon to the courtyard, to which he replied: “When they carry the relics of St. Aristocles to the courtyard, then we will give it back.”

And in 2004, a huge procession of the cross took place in Moscow, transferring the relics of St. Aristocles to the Athos courtyard. At the gate, the religious procession merges with another religious procession - the “Quick to Hear” icon is being carried from the church on Maroseyka! There was no end to the abbot’s surprise; he had already forgotten about the previous conversation.

Now the “Quick to Hear” is again next to the elder in the Olginsky chapel of the Nikitsky Church. Anyone can come here and pray in front of the image to which the holy Moscow elder Aristoclius addressed his petitions for other people.

In 2016, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church blessed the church-wide veneration of St. Aristoclius of Moscow, including his name in the prayer book of the Russian Orthodox Church. Remembrance Day: September 6 (August 24, Old Style).

The shrine with the relics of St. Aristoclius resides in the Olginsky chapel of the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Nikita on Shvivaya Hill.

Cell icon of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius “Quick to Hear” and the image of St. Panteleimon with the autograph of the elder. Photo by Oleg Serebryansky (“Orthodox Pilgrim”).

ACCORDING TO THE PRAYERS OF ELDER ARISTOCLIUS

The future one became one of the elder’s spiritual children Hieromartyr Jonah (Sankov),(1879-1938) , commemorated on June 21, in the Cathedral of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, in the Cathedral of New Martyrs, in Butovo of the Victims, and in the Cathedral of Moscow Saints. He was tonsured at the Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos. Father Jonah's obedience took place in the office of the monastery, and on March 1, 1914 he was sent to the Athos courtyard in Constantinople, where he served until the outbreak of the First World War, also performing a series of priestly services in the church at the Russian Consulate... On October 14, 1914, he arrived in Russia. Having registered on October 25 at the Odessa metochion of the St. Panteleimon Monastery, he went to the New Athos Simono-Kananitsky Monastery, then moved to Moscow. Elder Aristoclius did not bless Father Jonah to return to Athos; ordered to go to Odessa and generally serve in the homeland, where they will determine. And he also advised never to interfere in the turmoil of politics. Father Jonah served at the Athos Panteleimon Metochion in Odessa until its closure in 1923... On February 24, 1938, Hieromonk Jonah (Sankov) was arrested on charges of “counter-revolutionary agitation,” and on July 4, 1938, he was shot at the Butovo rifle range of the NKVD , where he was buried in a common grave.

Pray to God for us, Hieromartyr Jonah...

HOW THE ICONS GIVEN BY ARISTOCLEUS WERE HIDDEN

Archpriest Pavel Nedosekin spoke about little-known pages of the history of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra several years ago

“...In the post-revolutionary years, the brethren of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra understood that in the era of persecution coming to the Church, the monastery would not escape closure and, like many monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, would be plundered and devastated. In order to somehow preserve the Lavra’s shrines, in Sergiev Posad, several private houses were purchased by devoted Church parishioners, which became, in fact, the Lavra’s farmsteads and were intended for the storage of the Lavra’s shrines and the stay of the brethren expelled from the monastery...

One of these parishioners close to the Lavra was my mother’s aunt, a monastic monk of the Pereslavl Feodorovsky Convent, nun Euphrosyne (Baranova) (1892-1974)... When Frosya, the future nun Euphrosyne, turned 17 years old, a misfortune happened to her. She followed the horse and harrowed the field. There were bast shoes on my feet, which broke through and rubbed my feet badly. It soon became clear that a hairy animal had entered the open wound in the leg. He began to destroy bones. Lame Frosya turned out to be unsuitable for rural work. She was advised to move to Sergiev Posad and get a job at one of the city factories.

Here Frosya began to often go to the Lavra. One day - according to her, it was in 1910 - having come to the Trinity Cathedral, she, venerating the relics of the Reverend, stood in a corner and prayed. Suddenly, Archimandrite Aristoklius, who was then unknown to her, approached her, now a Moscow elder, glorified among the saints, leaned over and quietly said in her ear: “Child, do you want me to heal you?” To this Frosya replied: “Let God’s will be over me. The main thing is that I want salvation.” Archimandrite Aristoclius was her confessor throughout the last years of his life.

Two or three years before his death, he blessed Frosya to become a monk and offered to join the sisterhood of the Pereslavl Feodorovsky Convent. When she was tonsured, they did not change her name, but kept it the same, naming it in honor of the Venerable Euphrosyne, Grand Duchess of Moscow, wife of the blessed Prince Dimitry Donskoy...” After wanderings caused by revolutionary events, the nun Euphrosyne again returned to Sergiev Posad, now called Zagorsk. By this time, her confessor, Archimandrite Aristoklius, had already died, and she began to be cared for by the confessor of the Moscow Academy, Abbot Ippolit (Yakovlev). The latter advised her to register in Zagorsk and buy a house. The Lavra was formally considered already closed, but services were still going on and the Lavra monasteries of Chernigov and Gethsemane were preserved. Lavra even gave her a certain amount of money to buy a house. The monastery thus acquired a reliable and devoted owner of the property at the address: Kirova Street (formerly Dmitrovskaya), building 76. Two former nuns of the Feodorovsky Monastery closed in Pereslavl settled there: nun Euphrosyne and nun Pelagia. The house had five walls, they lived in two cells; there was also a hall and a terrace in the house... As soon as the threat of the Lavra’s final closure loomed, the brethren transported to the nuns’ house a wooden cross with the image of the Crucified Christ that had been taken out for the Exaltation (now it is located in the Lavra Gate Baptist Church), as well as a large image of the Mother of God “It is worthy to eat”, which was brought from the Holy Mount Athos by Archimandrite Aristoclius... Another icon of Father Aristoclius - “Quick to Hear” - also brought from Athos, the brethren handed over to the house of a Christian devoted to the Lavra, Maria Mikhailovna Zheludkova, who lived near the station, on Voznesenskaya Street. Now this image is in the St. Nicholas Church in the city of Pushkin, where her grandson Konstantin Zheludkov gave it... After the Lavra was closed, knowledgeable people came to 76 Kirova Street, where Divine Liturgies were secretly celebrated. For this purpose, the hall of the house was cleared...Then came the years of Khrushchev’s persecution of the Church...” But the time came when “the father decided to return the icons to the Lavra. The brethren who came to the monastery after its opening knew nothing about the shrines kept in town houses. The father told his friend, the Lavra icon painter Father Nicholas, the future archimandrite, about the icons in his house. He handed everything over to the governor. A transport was prepared, which transported the icons to the monastery. In particular, the icon of the Mother of God “It Is Worthy to Eat,” brought by Archimandrite Aristocles from Athos, was returned. She can now be seen standing in an ark near the right wall in the Refectory Church between the iconostasis and the choir, next to the icon of St. Nicholas. The Lavra brethren who knew it went to another icon of Father Aristoclius - “Quick to Hear” - located in a house on Voznesenskaya Street to read an akathist or serve a prayer service until the early 1990s. Then this icon was transferred to the temple in the city of Pushkin.” (Cm. " ")

BLESSED BY MOTHER VARVARA

Abbess of Olives Moses (Bubnova) shares her memories of the people of high life whom she knew, including the spiritual daughter of Elder Aristoclius Varvara (Tsvetkova)

“...My childhood was spent in Belgium, in Brussels. I lived for ten years under Bishop John, Bishop John of Shanghai. When I came to Brussels, we were still children: we were 10-12 years old.

I came to the Holy Land as if by accident. But nothing happens by chance. In 1974, I wanted to go to Russia, but I was denied a visa. And our priest, Father Dimitry Khvostov, was just organizing a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and his daughter suggested that I go too to help the priest. I agreed. I returned to the Holy Land the next year, at Easter... Mother Varvara (Tsvetkova) was in the hospital then... She was already old. He was such an interesting man! She knew Father John of Kronstadt - she, little, sat on his lap when he came to their home; she knew Elisaveta Feodorovna; she knew the royal family... Her confessor was Elder Aristoclius, who is now glorified, and he predicted to her - she was 17 years old then - that she would be an abbess in such a place! Her confessors were both Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky) and Bishop Seraphim (Zvezdinsky). She talked so much about them... So, Mother Varvara was ill then, and her senior cell attendant was with her in the hospital. And 20 days before my arrival, the clerk died. All matters were left to the second cell attendant of Mother Varvara, and here we also had to answer letters. So she asks me: “Can you write letters in Russian?” “Yes, I can,” I answer. “Help me,” he asks. And we started writing letters. When she saw that I could write 40 letters in one day and answer people, she said: “Why are you wasting your time in the world? What are you doing over there?" “What do you mean,” I answer, “I work, I go to church...” She again: “Why are you wasting your time there? You are ours! Come to us...” And suddenly it hit me: “Really, what is there in the world? Work to eat and sleep? And on the third day I already decided: “Why not? I'm entering a monastery. I like it here - I like everything.” I went to the hospital to see Mother Varvara, she was delighted and said: “Finally a young Russian!” Back then, mostly Arab women came; no one came from emigration...

Mother Varvara gave her blessing, but I wanted to receive some other sign that the monastery was for me. I hadn’t thought about the monastery before, although I had always been with the Church from an early age. I read and sang from the age of 9 in the choir. Even Bishop Anthony of Geneva told me: “You are a nun, you will even be an abbess”... And we always laughed when he said that. But this did not reach either my mind or my heart.

And so I decided then to go to the Holy Fire. I thought: “I’ll pray at the Holy Sepulcher and wait for some sign from God.” She has arrived. And I don't know where to look. Concentrated on Edicule. And suddenly, when there was fading, silence, the patriarch had already entered there - and suddenly I saw: before my eyes the lamp on the Edicule itself was lit! I’ll shout: “Look, look: the lamp is lit!” And I thought: “That’s it! I received a sign from God! There is a blessing. I’m entering a monastery.”

I entered the monastery on December 29, 1975. And then she made a vow to herself: never to leave the monastery, unless there was some kind of heresy or something terrible happened. And this has helped me a lot in my life, because this is the first thought that comes when there is some kind of temptation: “I’ll leave!” And every time I remembered my vow, and it helped me” (recorded by A. Pospelov).

GOD HAS ACCURATE SCALES

It was Mother Varvara (Tsvetkova) who brought to us the prophecies of the great elder Aristoclius

She was born on January 2, 1889 in the family of a fellow Moscow merchant bank, church and public figure and philanthropist Nikolai Alekseevich Tsvetkov and Lidia Alexandrovna (nee Trubnikova). Before the revolution she lived in Moscow. As a little girl she sat on the lap of St. John of Kronstadt. In her youth, she had famous spiritual leaders: the future Seraphim (Zvezdinsky), the rector of the Athos metochion of the St. Panteleimon Monastery in Moscow, the elder hieroschemamonk Aristokliy (Amvrosiev). In 1922, the Tsvetkov family was in Nice. In 1929 V.N. Tsvetkova arrived in Jerusalem, where she entered the monastery of St. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane (Gethsemane monastery) in the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) (according to other sources, she first labored in the Olivet monastery). She performed obedience to the head of the Garden of Gethsemane. In 1934 she was tonsured. After being tonsured into the mantle, she was for a long time the keeper of the tomb of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and her cell attendant Varvara. Assistant to the abbess of the Gethsemane convent in Jerusalem, Abbess Mary (Robinson) (+1969). From 1968 to 1983 Abbess, Abbess of the Gethsemane Convent and Bethany Community of the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem. She died in 1983.

(Pictured: Mother Varvara, 1948, Gethsemane).

From the memoirs of Mother Varvara (Tsvetkova): “Through the prayers of the Athonite Elder of God Aristoclius, many miracles were performed in the Panteleimon Chapel on Nikolskaya, healings of the sick and unfortunate possessed. On Bolshaya Polyanka in the Athonite courtyard, Father received endless visitors who thirsted for his spiritual advice and guidance. Father always consoled us, prayed and said, what will happen. One day, when both my brother and my father were in Lubyanka, and there was no hope that they would get out of there alive, and it was unbearably hard for me, the priest suddenly said cheerfully:

And you will go to other countries, and openly.

I was just dumbfounded:

But there is no way!

And you will.

He spoke about this in 1918, shortly before his death, and everything happened according to his word in 1922: his brother unexpectedly and inexplicably left prison with an order to be deported abroad, a few days later my father was released without any apparent reason, and we were sent to Germany. Truly it was a miracle for us. Dear father was no longer with us. I often remembered with pain how 10 days before his death I visited him, and he blessed me especially warmly: "Goodbye, child, goodbye..."

I remember once, in a conversation about the fate of Russia after the revolution, I told him that I hoped for the White Army, which was then formed . “No, don’t hope,” said the priest, “because the spirit is not the same.” I asked him about the war, which had not yet ended, and he answered: “And there will be another one... And you will learn about it in the country where you will be then... That German weapons are rattling on the Russian border.” And so it happened, in Jerusalem we read exactly these words. Of course, in English.

Father further said this: “Just don’t rejoice yet. Many Russians will think that the Germans will save Russia from Bolshevik power, but this is not so. The Germans, however, will enter Russia and do a lot, but they will leave, since there will not be time for salvation yet. It will be then, then..."

I remember even earlier he said that I would not live to see that time. And Russia will still be saved. There is a lot of suffering, a lot of torment ahead. All of Russia will become a prison, he said, and it will be necessary to beg the Lord for forgiveness. Repent of sins, and be afraid to commit even the slightest sin. We must try with all our might to do good, even the smallest: “After all, even the wing of a fly has weight,” said the priest, “but God has precise scales. And when the slightest outweighs the good in the cup, then God will show His mercy over Russia.”

The old man also spoke : “Everyone must suffer a lot and deeply repent. Only repentance through suffering will save Russia. All of Russia will become a prison, and we must beg the Lord a lot for forgiveness... There will be some kind of unusual explosion, and the Miracle of God will appear. And life will be completely different on earth, but not for very long.”

There are several more prophecies of Elder Aristoclius, which are published separately or in slightly modified form; we will also present these texts.

“...First, God will take away all the leaders so that the Russian people will look only to Him. Everyone will abandon Russia, other powers will abandon it, leaving it to its own devices. This is so that the Russian people trust in the Lord’s help. You will hear that riots will begin in other countries and things similar to what happened in Russia, and you will hear about wars and there will be wars - now, the time is near. But don't be afraid of anything. The Lord will show His wonderful mercy.”

Venerable Aristocles of Athos.

“Father then said, among other things, that now God’s judgment on the living has begun and there will not be a single country on earth, not a single person who will not be affected by this. It started in Russia, and then further. He didn’t say anything comforting, he just kept telling me: Just don’t be afraid of anything, don’t be afraid. The Lord will show His wonderful mercy.” From the memoirs of the Abbess of the Gethsemane Jerusalem Monastery Varvara (Tsvetkova) dated March 19, 1917 (Orthodox Rus' Magazine, 1969 No. 1 (1991 No. 13 p. 10)).

“I remember even earlier he said that I would not live to see this time. A Russia will still be saved. There is a lot of suffering, a lot of torment ahead. All of Russia will become a prison, he said, and he would have to beg the Lord for forgiveness. Repent of sins, and be afraid to commit even the slightest sin. We must try with all our might to do good, even the smallest: “After all, even the wing of a fly has weight,” the priest said, “ but God’s scales are accurate. And when the slightest good outweighs the balance, then God will show His mercy over Russia». From the memoirs of Abbess Varvara (Tsvetkova) dated 08/16/1918.

“The elderly Mother Superior Varvara (Tsvetkova), in a conversation with us pilgrims in Gethsemane in 1973, recalled the Elder’s predictions that “ revival in Russia will begin after a big explosion near the river" After the events in connection with the Chernobyl disaster, I remembered this prediction of Elder Aristocles.
Bishop Alexander (Mileant) (Svetlana Devyatova, “Orthodox Elders of the 20th Century”).

“Now we are living through the pre-Antichrist time. God's judgment on the living has begun and there will not be a single country on earth, not a single person who will not be affected by this. It started with Russia, and then further.

And Russia will be saved. Much suffering, much torment. Everyone must suffer a lot and deeply repent. Only repentance through suffering will save Russia. All of Russia will become a prison, and we must beg the Lord a lot for forgiveness. Repent of sins and be afraid to commit even the slightest sins, and try to do good, even if only in the smallest way. After all, the wing of a fly has weight, but God has precise scales. And when the slightest good outweighs the balance, then God will show His mercy over Russia...

The end will be through China. There will be some kind of unusual explosion, and a miracle of God will appear. And life will be completely different on earth, but not for very long. The Cross of Christ will shine over the whole world, because our Motherland will be magnified and will be like a beacon in the darkness for everyone.”

(The phrase that the end will be through China, according to meticulous researchers, appeared later - in the publications of the prophecies of Elder Aristoclius, published before 1994, there is nothing about China (although today, with North Korea and its hydrogen bomb, you wouldn’t think so).

I was lucky enough to be in the Holy Land in the mid-90s, including in our church of St. Mary Magdalene, where the relics of the venerable martyrs Grand Duchess Elizabeth and nun Varvara rest, and where abbess Varvara (Tsvetkova) recently stayed, having endured so much Russian grief, but preserving the quiet light of God in her soul... As if seeing how she climbs the steps of the stairs, leading to the temple, you feel a living connection both with her and with Elder Aristocles through her, this continuous chain by which we are all united, and you especially clearly understand that all the saints of Christ, both heavenly and earthly, known and unknown, they are all nearby ... And they all pray to God for us, and they encourage us to do the same.

And what is indicated in the prophecies of the holy elder Aristoclius probably especially applies to us living today: truly, it depends on each of us where the world will tilt and where time will lead. It depends on everyone whether our slightest will outweigh the good. I would always remember this.

The publication uses materials from the sites “Russian Athos”, “Orthodox Pilgrim”, etc.

Despite the severe illness of his legs, the elder spiritually cared for many people, sometimes receiving more than a thousand people a day. The Monk Aristoclius was endowed by God with the gifts of clairvoyance (he foresaw the revolution of 1917 and the Great Patriotic War), healing and exorcism. In difficult revolutionary times, through his prayers people were saved from starvation, released from prison, and avoided execution. Thanks to him, many turned to God.

Elder Aristokliy (in the world - Alexey Alekseevich Amvrosiev) was born in Orenburg in 1846 into a pious peasant family. In early childhood, Alexey lost his father.

At the age of ten, after a serious illness, the boy lost his legs. Alexei's mother Matrona tearfully prayed to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for the healing of her son, vowing to dedicate her son to God, and herself, when her son reached monastic age, to go to a monastery.

On the feast day of St. Nicholas, December 6, Alexey was miraculously healed. When her son turned seventeen, Matrona retired to a monastery.

Here it is important to clarify that in the previously published editions of the life of St. Aristoclius made a significant mistake regarding the circumstances of his departure from the world and based on an unfounded assumption about his marriage and widowhood, which allegedly preceded the saint’s entry into the St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos.

As a result of a careful study of the archival data of the Panteleimon monastery concerning Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius, as well as the memoirs of his spiritual children, it was concluded that there is no reason to reject as fictitious the information about the beginning of the elder’s spiritual path, set out in the memoirs of schemanun Miropia from the words of the saint himself.

Information about voluntary separation from his mother and entering a monastery in early youth does not at all contradict the data of the Monalogion of the St. Panteleimon Monastery about Alexei Amvrosiev’s entry into this monastery at the age of 33. When reading the text of the memoirs themselves, it becomes obvious that they do not at all talk about leaving immediately for Athos, but to one of the Russian monasteries and most likely in the same Orenburg province from which the venerable. Aristocles was born. This even complements the data of the Monalogion, which indicates that the monk, just a year after entering the St. Panteleimon Monastery, was tonsured immediately into the mantle. Each monastery of the Holy Mountain has its own traditions and characteristics regarding tonsure. The Charter of the Russian Cynovia presupposes the passage of all three degrees of monasticism: ryasophore (monasticism), small (mantle) and great schema. Moreover, for those new to the brotherhood, probation is imposed for a period of at least three years. According to the reasoning of the Hegumen, tonsure is allowed before the specified period, but no more than in the ryassophore.

Premature tonsure into the mantle, especially into the schema, without due experience and acquisition of spiritual experience is strictly prohibited by the Charter. Most likely, Fr. Aristoclius, who lived in a certain Russian monastery for about 10 years, arrived at the St. Panteleimon Monastery already in the rank of ryassophore and immediately established himself as a skilled monk. This can explain his quick tonsure into monasticism (mantle).

The assumption about the marriage and widowhood of Alexei Alekseevich Amvrosiev can only be called an absurd misunderstanding, to refute which the following facts can be offered. Firstly, in the monastic Monalogion, which some publications refer to, there is in fact no data on the marital status of Fr. Aristoklia, since information of this kind was not contained in this document. Secondly, Hieroschemamonk Aristoclius was nominated three times by the Spiritual Council of Elders of the Holy Panteleimon Monastery as a candidate for the Viceroy of the Abbot. However, the Charter of the St. Panteleimon Monastery requires that the candidates nominated by the Council for the drawing of lots be virgin and immaculate in all their lives. Therefore, the fact of the triple participation of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius in the sacred lot is in no way consistent with his alleged marriage.

In her memoirs about the beginning of the elder’s spiritual path, recorded from the words of the saint himself, schema-nun Miropia wrote:

- Father, tell me, how did you come to the Lord and how long ago?
- Back when I went to school. It used to be that I would come home from school, grab some bread and go to the mountains. And there I enjoyed praying to God. Oh, these children's prayers! To this day I cannot forget them. Then my mother and I separated. She went to the Assumption Convent, and I went to the men’s monastery. We never saw her again, because we made a promise before God to each other: not to see each other and to serve only God.

In another place, M. Miropia relayed the following words of the elder: “Mother and I, when we went to the monastery, never saw each other.”

It should be noted that if we reject the testimony of Schema-nun Miropia about the early abandonment of the world by St. Aristocles, then all her memories of the elder should be questioned and rejected as a source and aid for compiling a life, thereby depriving the latter of many wonderful facts that have come to us thanks to these very records. However, as can be seen from the above analysis, there is no reason to doubt the truth of the testimony of Schema-nun Miropia, recorded from the words of Elder Aristoclius himself.

Thanks to these memories, the ascetic path of the future elder is revealed in its earliest stages.

Having gone through the stages of spiritual formation and obedience in one of the Russian monasteries, in 1879 he went to Holy Mount Athos, where he entered the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery under the spiritual guidance of the abbot. Schema-archim. Macarius (Sushkin) and the elder-confessor Hieroschim. Jerome (Solomentsev). And a year later, on March 11, 1880, he was tonsured into a mantle with the name Aristoclius, in honor of the Cypriot martyr Aristoclius of Salamis.

On December 2, 1884, the monk Aristoclius was ordained a hierodeacon, and on December 12 of the same year - a hieromonk. On February 12, 1886, Hieromonk Aristoklius was tonsured into the schema without changing his name.

In 1887, with the blessing of the elders of the St. Panteleimon Monastery, Father Aristoclius brought an olive branch to Moscow from the site of the truncation of St. Vmch. Panteleimon the Healer. From 1891 to 1894 he was rector of the metochion of the Athos St. Panteleimon Monastery in Moscow. In those years, the monastery was located in a small city estate on Bolshaya Polyanka - it was donated to the monastery in September 1879 by the famous philanthropist Akilina Alekseevna Smirnova.

For several years, Father Aristoclius headed the metochion and was rector of the chapel of the holy great martyr and healer Panteleimon. The elder had the gift of healing and insight.

People were drawn to the good shepherd, through whose prayers miraculous healings of the sick took place. The elder admonished, instructed, prayed for his children, wishing with all his soul their salvation. Rumors about the perspicacious old man quickly spread throughout the capital. Hundreds of people in need of the elder’s prayerful help visited the courtyard of the Athos monastery every day. The elder gave numerous donations from believers to people in need: he paid for the education of children from poor families, and arranged the lives of many people.

According to the blessing given earlier by St. Philaret (Drozdov), Hieroschim. Aristocles came with Athonite shrines to the homes of the sick and served prayer services, after which miraculous healings occurred. Father Aristokliy contributed to the development of the book publishing activities of the metochion, the distribution of Orthodox literature, performed divine services in the Epiphany, Chrysostom, Alexievsky and Chudov monasteries, the churches of the Dormition of the Mother of God in the Cossack Settlement, St. Gregory of Neocaesarea and others; took part in the life of Kazan Golovinsky's wives. monastery in Moscow district. Among the most significant donations for Panteleimon Monastery, collected during the 1st half. 1890s, it should be noted the bell weighing 818 poods, delivered to the Athos monastery on May 31, 1894.

Through the efforts of Father Aristoklius, in 1888, the magazine “Soulful Interlocutor” began to be published at the courtyard, which told about the life of Russian monks on the Holy Mountain, introduced the biographies of Athonite ascetics, and the letters of the elders to their spiritual children. Thanks to the publication of the magazine, Russian monasteries on Mount Athos began to be replenished with new novices; with the generous donations of Russians, monastery buildings damaged by fires were restored, and new churches were erected.

However, in 1894, after a false denunciation, the elder had to leave Moscow and return to Holy Mount Athos.

Here, on December 20, 1895, at a large council in the Panteleimon Monastery, he was elected one of the treasurers. On April 15 of the following year he was sent to Moscow as part of a deputation from the monastery to congratulate the Emperor. Nicholas II with the coronation and to carry out an inspection of the Panteleimon Chapel, after which he returned to Athos. In the beginning. 1900s The elder was appointed one of the confessors of the brethren, and also performed obediences related to the reception of eminent guests of the monastery. In February 1896, May 1905 and May 1909, he was nominated by the Council of Elders as a candidate in the election of viceroy to abbots Andrei, Nifont and Misail, but the lot passed him by three times. By the will of the Mother of God, a different lot was prepared for him.

For fifteen years, the elder’s spiritual children sent letters to the Synod and Athos, in which they begged for their beloved shepherd to be returned to them. Finally, the Council of Elders of the St. Panteleimon Monastery again appointed Fr. Aristoclius as rector of the metochion of the Athos St. Panteleimon Monastery in Moscow.

At the age of seventy, the elder had to return back to Russia and since November 29, 1909 he has been in Moscow. Upon the elder’s return, thousands of people again began to come to the courtyard.

By that time he was suffering from numerous illnesses and needed a dedicated assistant. In the last years of his stay at the monastery, the elder became close to the novice Ipatiy Stavrov. At the request of Elder Aristoclius, novice Hypatius was tonsured a monk with the name Isaiah, ordained and blessed to help him in Moscow. Father Isaiah (the future famous elder Isaiah) became not only the elder’s cell attendant, but also his secretary, an indispensable assistant in all matters of the courtyard.

From 1909 to 1918, through the efforts of Fr. Aristoklius, two three-story buildings grew up in the courtyard of the Athonite St. Panteleimon Monastery: he began construction of a new courtyard complex on the site adjacent to the estate on Polyanka, which had previously been acquired for the Panteleimon Monastery by the Tula merchant I. I. Sushkin, the brother of the schemaarch. Macaria. The complex included the main stone three-story building (no. 3 on 1st Petropavlovsky Lane), in the semi-basement of which there was a refectory and fraternal cells, on the 1st floor - a bookstore and the Nikolaevsky shelter, on the 2nd floor - cells, on the 3rd there are cells and a house church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” as well as a three-story building that served as a warehouse for books published by the monastery, and other outbuildings.

As was said, on the third floor, in one of the corner rooms, the priest built a house church in honor of his especially revered and beloved icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear.” The temple was consecrated after the death of the elder - on September 30, 1918, the rite of consecration was performed by the Holy Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin) the Confessor, who especially revered the elder.

Carrying obedience to the post of rector of the Athos metochion in Moscow, Fr. Aristoclius had constant correspondence with the elders of St. Panteleimon's monastery on Mount Athos. These letters are still kept in the archives of the monastery. It is amazing how scrupulously and carefully he reported on what was happening in the courtyard. He even came up with a special form, which was divided into seven parts corresponding to each day of the week, and entered into them all the events that happened on that day. At the end of the week the form was sent to Mount Athos. Thus, all his reports amount to more than two thousand pages.

The Monk Aristoclius was a tireless worker in the field of spiritual nurturing, until the last days of his earthly life he served the cause of saving the suffering, weak and burdened with various hardships of everyday hardships of Orthodox people. He was an experienced elder who possessed the gifts of clairvoyance and miracle-working. His evangelical sacrificial love attracted the souls of the most ossified sinners. Grace emanated from him, pacifying the spirit of every person who had lost the meaning of life. He sometimes received hundreds of people a day. And after the very first meeting and conversation with the spirit-bearing elder, the pilgrims no longer lost touch with him.

For his sacrificial love for his neighbors, for the holiness of his life, the Lord granted St. Aristocles great power to work miracles. Here are just some eyewitness accounts of his possession of this gift.

One day, the spiritual daughter of Elder Aristokle became seriously ill and her legs were paralyzed. Then the elder came to her to visit and console her. Having stayed with her for some time and about to leave, he blessed her and said: “Well, my beloved child, it’s time for me to leave, don’t be discouraged, but pray and thank the Lord. I’ll go, and when I go out, you come to the window and wave your hand to me, and I’ll wave to you.” The elder’s spiritual daughter was embarrassed and said to him: “Father, I can’t get up, but you say: come and wave.” The elder smiled and replied: “Nothing, nothing, wave.”

As soon as the elder walked out the door, this servant of God felt strength in her legs and stood up. She, still not believing herself, went to the window, and at that time the priest came out of the door of the house into the street and, turning, waved his hand to her, and she waved to him. All the sick woman’s relatives were shocked by this obvious miracle of God, which happened through the elder’s prayer.

And here is a certificate of the healing of a boy born blind. On the advice of local doctors, one young woman with a son born blind came to Moscow. The sick son was shown to the best doctors, and the day for the operation was set, but the mother could not finally decide on it. Walking by chance past the chapel of the Great Martyr Panteleimon, she saw a crowd of people. Having learned from people about the elder, about his insight and gift of miracles, she decided to come to the priest with her son and tell him everything.

Seeing her, the priest began to look intently at the woman who had entered, continuing to anoint her with oil. People approached him one by one. When she approached, the priest anointed the boy’s both eyes with a cross, and the mother’s forehead and, looking at her, asked: “Who is your husband?” - and, having received no answer from her, said: “Satan himself!”

The woman told him everything about her life. After listening to everything in silence, the priest blessed her and said: “My advice to you is this: don’t do the operation, and all the days that you stay here in Moscow, come here to the chapel every day for a prayer service with the boy, and next year again come with your son to me. And then you will come to me with your husband.” She couldn't believe it.

However, the next year she again came to the priest alone with her son, as he told her. The woman said that as Father Aristoclius said, everything literally came true. She lived in Moscow for several months and came to the chapel every day for a prayer service, and each time the priest anointed the boy’s eyes with a cross. Before she left home, the priest anointed the boy’s eyes and, blessing him, said: “The Lord knows who needs what.”

And this woman came to him with her husband and a boy, not blind, but with open blue eyes. And when several men brought her husband to the priest, he jumped so high and fell to the floor screaming, so it was scary to look at him. If not for the priest’s prayer, he probably would not have survived. Jumping for the last time, he fell and lay as if dead. It took him a long time to come to his senses, but then he jumped up, threw himself at the priest’s feet and began to sob.

The woman talked about her son’s wonderful insight like this. “Early in the morning, as always, I read an akathist to the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” and then I began to read an akathist to the Great Martyr Panteleimon and suddenly I heard: “Mom, mom, come to me quickly!” I run to my son, and what! My boy is sitting on the crib, and his eyes are open, and he looks at me and says: “Mom, I see you, mom, I see you!” And so we all came to you together.”

We also learn about the gift of foresight of the monk from a great many messages that were carefully recorded.

The Monk Aristoklius died blissfully on August 24 (September 6), 1918 in his cell in Polyanka. Turning his prayerful gaze for the last time to the icon of the “Quick to Hear,” which he fervently revered, he fervently crossed himself three times with a large cross and quietly surrendered his soul into the hands of God.

The body of the righteous man was buried under the shadow of his brainchild - the temple in the name of the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear”, in the basement.

The funeral service for Elder Aristoclius was performed by three Moscow rulers: Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky), Bishop Tryphon (Turkestan) and Archbishop Joasaph (Kallistov) of Mozhaisk, rector of the Epiphany Monastery, who at that time served as Metropolitan of Moscow.

As already mentioned, Elder Aristoklius was initially buried in the marble crypt of the tomb of the courtyard. However, after the revolution, all monastic properties were subject to Bolshevik nationalization, and house churches were subject to liquidation. Searches, arrests, and confiscations began at the compound. In January 1919, the Bolsheviks arrested the rector of the Panteleimon Chapel, Hieromonk Macarius, and in 1921, Hieromonk Theophan... Therefore, the spiritual children of the elder in 1922 decided to rebury him. They buried him quietly so as not to attract the attention of the Soviet authorities. The monks carried the coffin with the incorrupt body of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius out of the tomb, loaded it onto a cart and took it to the Danilovskoye cemetery. Eyewitnesses said that the pigeons, which the elder loved to feed during his lifetime, flew in from all directions and, circling, formed a living cross in the sky. A living dove cross accompanied the elder all the way to the grave.

It should be noted that shortly before the death of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius, one of his spiritual daughters A.P. Solntseva, who lives on Dukhovsky Lane, next to the Danilovsky Cemetery, invited the elder to visit. The elder kindly responded to the invitation: “My beloved child, soon, soon I will come to you. I will come forever.” Soon the priest died without ever visiting her, the woman was perplexed. And four years after the death of the elder (in 1922), a woman, accidentally meeting a funeral procession not far from her home, learned that the elder Aristokle was being buried, and remembered the prophecy of her spiritual father.

From the memoirs of Mother Varvara (Tsvetkova): “Through the prayers of the Athonite Elder of God Aristokle, many miracles were performed in the Panteleimon Chapel on Nikolskaya, healings of the sick and unfortunate possessed. Father received endless visitors at Bolshaya Polyanka in the Athonite courtyard, thirsty for his spiritual advice and guidance. Father He always consoled us, prayed and told us what would happen. One day, when both my brother and father were in Lubyanka, and there was no hope that they would get out of there alive, and it was unbearably hard for me, the priest suddenly said cheerfully:

And you will go to other countries, and openly.
I was just dumbfounded:
- But there is no way!
- And you will.

He spoke about this in 1918, shortly before his death, and everything happened according to his word in 1922: his brother unexpectedly and inexplicably left prison with an order to be deported abroad, a few days later my father was released without any apparent reason, and we were sent to Germany. Truly it was a miracle for us. Dear father was no longer with us. I often remembered with pain how 10 days before his death I was with him, and he blessed me especially warmly: “Farewell, little child, goodbye...” I remember once in a conversation about the fate of Russia after the revolution , I told him that I hoped for the White Army, which was then formed. “No, don’t hope,” said the priest, “because the spirit is not the same.” I asked him about the war, which had not yet ended, and he answered: “And there will be another... And you will learn about it in the country where you will be then... That German weapons are rattling on the border of Russia.” And so it happened, in Jerusalem we read exactly these words. Of course, in English. Father further said: “Just don’t rejoice yet. Many Russians will think that the Germans will rid Russia of Bolshevik power, but this is not so. The Germans, however, will enter Russia and do a lot of things, but they will leave, since the time is not yet there will be salvation. It will be later, then..." I remember even earlier he said that I would not live to see that time. And Russia will still be saved. There is a lot of suffering, a lot of torment ahead. All of Russia will become a prison, he said, and it will be necessary to beg the Lord for forgiveness. Repent of sins, and be afraid to commit even the slightest sin. We must try with all our might to do good, even the smallest: “After all, even the wing of a fly has weight,” said the priest, “but God has precise scales. And when the slightest outweighs the good in the cup, then God will show His mercy over Russia.”

The elder also said: “Everyone must suffer a lot and deeply repent. Only repentance through suffering will save Russia. All of Russia will become a prison, and we must beg the Lord a lot for forgiveness... The end of Russia's troubles will be through China. There will be some kind of unusual explosion, and the Miracle of God will appear. And life will be completely different on earth, but not for very long.”

The elder did not accept the atheistic revolution of 1917 and considered the new Soviet government “anti-Christ.” In difficult revolutionary times, through the prayers of the elder, people were saved from starvation, left prison, and avoided execution. Thanks to him, many unbelievers turned to God.

From the memoirs of nun Euphemia:

My mother’s hand had been very painful for several years. And no matter what medications we tried, and no matter what doctors we went to, the pain did not subside. I say once: “Let’s go to the elder, he will help.”

Let's go in the morning. The elder was not entirely healthy and was in his cell. He received us with such love! And somehow he kept smiling, he was not sitting in his place, but as if waiting for someone. He blessed us and began to talk. He took his hand and began to rub it. I took off her jacket, he continued to rub his hand, and he smiled, as if he had something comforting for us, and he could not help but smile with pleasure. Then he left his mother’s hand, gave her a piece of prosphora, anointed her with oil, and so, rejoicing, he let her go. Since then there has been no pain. I think my elder rejoiced, knowing that for his prayers the Lord healed my mother.

And how the priest consoled me with his conversations! Sometimes he would say: “Oh, my beloved child, if only you knew how much I want to save you! I would endure everything for your sake, may the Lord save you! If only I could bring you to Him! If only you would be saved, I have no greater concern.” , as soon as I bring you to the Lord, and there is no more serious matter on earth than the salvation of the soul...” Father always rejoiced when he saw the zeal of our spiritual children, towards each other or towards others. He had extraordinary gratitude for the slightest contribution from another. Surprisingly, he loved children. And always, he was always surrounded by children, they were so devoted to him that they did not want to leave their father...

It used to be that the elder would walk from his cell through the yard, and the people would be waiting for him, he would bless everyone, then they would give him a small box with food for pigeons, and the priest would pour it in and bless it with a prayer. And so every morning, and the pigeons sit everywhere, waiting for him. Then the elder entered through the back door, and the children were already waiting for him along with the elders, but only adults were allowed in from the front door. First, he received everyone with their children, and then went into a large room, all filled with icons, like a chapel, for a general blessing. Father was exhausted from the people, there were days when he received more than one thousand people.

Elder Isaiah was an eyewitness to the resurrection of a dead girl through the prayers of Elder Aristoclius; he himself told about this after the death of Elder Aristoklius to Elder Daniel from the Donskoy Monastery. One day a woman came to Elder Aristocles carrying a dead girl in her arms. She said that they came from Ryazan because they had heard about the miracles of the elder. She brought him her sick daughter in the hope that the priest would heal her. But on the way the girl died. And now the mother begged the elder to revive the child. She did not doubt the power of the elder’s prayerful intercession before the Lord and with faith expected a miracle from the priest. And a miracle happened: through the prayers of Elder Aristoclius, the girl came to life and was healed of her illness. The mother hugged her revived daughter and could not find words of gratitude, but only repeated: “God bless you, father, God bless you!”

After the death of the holy elder Aristocles, miracles have not stopped to this day. All these years, Orthodox believers sacredly honored the memory of the holy elder, and his grave was a place of pilgrimage. Therefore, in 2001, the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints of the Russian Orthodox Church, having studied the materials received, concluded that there were no obstacles to the glorification of the elder Hieroschemamonk Aristoklei among the saints as a locally revered Moscow saint.

In the summer of 2004, at the Danilovsky cemetery, by the grace of God, his relics were found, and soon the work of glorification took place.

On September 6, 2004, Elder Aristoclius was glorified among the locally revered saints of the Moscow diocese. At the Divine Liturgy celebrated by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, co-served by Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, Archbishops Arseny of Istra, Evlogius of Vladimir, Alexy of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, and Bishop Alexander of Dmitrov, Elder Aristoklius of Athos was canonized.

During the Patriarchal service, the “Decree on the canonization of the Venerable Aristoclius (Amvrosiev), Elder of Moscow (1846-1918) as a locally revered saint” was announced.

On November 13, 2004, the holy relics of St. Aristoclius were transferred in a religious procession from the St. Daniel Monastery to the Athos courtyard in Moscow.

Now the relics of the saint reside in the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Nikita in the Athos courtyard of Moscow.

“Decree on the canonization of the Venerable Aristoclius (Amvrosiev), Elder of Moscow (1846-1918) as a locally revered saint”:

“In search of the meaning of life, a person repeatedly turns to the Merciful Lord with a prayer to enlighten him and help him avoid the evil that uncontrollably overwhelms the vain world. But only a few chosen by the Lord God and those who truly love Him have the work and happiness of loving the entire suffering world as their neighbor and as themselves. Guided by the Providence of God and aware of his destiny, a person freely and without coercion goes to a monastery for the salvation of his soul, and at the same time in order to ask for His intercession for all those who suffer with warm prayer and living faith in the Lord God.

With these feelings, the future elder Aristoklius arrived at Holy Mount Athos and entered the St. Panteleimon Monastery. This was a time of spiritual upsurge and flowering of Russian monasticism on Mount Athos. Having passed the difficult novice test under the guidance of the famous Athonite elders Abbot Macarius (Sushkov) and Hieroschemamonk Jerome (Solomentsev), he took on the great angelic image.

The ties of spiritual kinship between Holy Mount Athos and Orthodox Russia are inextricable. Having reached the measure of spiritual age, Hieroschemamonk Aristoclius, by a council of elders, was sent from the Lot of the Mother of God to the Mother See of Moscow as rector of the Athos metochion, where he took up the feat of eldership. Thousands of people, thirsty for spiritual advice, from different parts of Russia, from the most diverse social status, from a peasant or tradesman to a metropolitan official, flocked to the elder, wanting to see a living image of holiness, to receive an answer to the question of how to be saved.

After the blessed death of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius, which followed in 1918, during the difficult years of the revolution, wars and persecutions, people flocked in large numbers to his grave at the Danilovsky cemetery, hoping for the prayerful help of the saint of God in resolving various issues and everyday circumstances.

And in our time, many believers came to the revered grave. One cannot help but be moved by the sight of this faith, hope, love and contrition. At the elder’s grave, as during his lifetime, various miracles and healings were performed.

The Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, having examined the ascetic life and feat of piety of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius, found no obstacles to his glorification among locally revered saints.

We hereby define:

1. To canonize Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius, Elder of Moscow, for local church veneration in the city of Moscow and the Moscow diocese.
2. The honorable remains of the Venerable Aristoclius, Elder of Moscow, will henceforth be called holy relics and given them due veneration.
3. The memory of the Venerable Aristoclius, Elder of Moscow, should be commemorated on the day of his presentation - August 24 of the old style / September 6 of the new style.
4. To compose a special service for the newly glorified Venerable Aristoclius, Elder of Moscow, and until the time of compiling it, send a general one according to the rank of the venerable one.
5. Write an icon for veneration to the newly glorified Venerable Aristocles, Elder of Moscow, in accordance with the Decree of the VII Ecumenical Council.
6. Print the Life of the Venerable Aristoclius, Elder of Moscow, for the edification of the children of the church in piety.
7. This Definition of Ours is to be brought to the attention of clergy and believers of Orthodox parishes and monasteries in the city of Moscow and the Moscow diocese.”

Prepared by Sergey Shmel

Materials used from the book: "Russian Athonite Fatherland of the 19th - 20th centuries." - Holy Mountain, Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, 2012

How to get there:
Metro station "Taganskaya", Goncharnaya street, 6 "Athos Compound"

Venerable Aristoclius,
Elder of Athos and Moscow Wonderworker

Elder Aristoclius was born in the Urals into a pious peasant family, presumably in 1838, and was named Alexei at baptism. Alexey lost his father in early childhood. At the age of ten, after a serious illness, his legs became paralyzed. Alexei’s mother, Matrona, for a long time tearfully prayed to Saint Nicholas for intercession before the Lord for the healing of her son, in those days she vowed to go to a monastery as soon as her son entered monastic age, and not to meet with him again in this life. On the day of the Church’s celebration of St. Nicholas, December 6/19, Alexei’s miraculous healing took place. When her son was seventeen years old, Matrona retired to a monastery, and Alexey, with his mother’s blessing, went to Holy Mount Athos. When he was tonsured, novice Alexei was given the name Aristoklius, in honor of the Cypriot martyr Presbyter Aristoklius of Salamis. Hieromonk Aristoclius labored for more than a quarter of a century in the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on the Holy Mountain, and in the mid-1880s he was sent to Moscow to the courtyard of the Athos St. Panteleimon Monastery, located on Bolshaya Polyanka. For ten years he headed the metochion and was rector of the chapel of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon. People were drawn to the good shepherd, through whose prayers miraculous healings of the sick took place. The elder admonished, instructed, prayed for his children, wishing with all his soul their salvation. Rumors about the perspicacious old man quickly spread throughout the capital. Hundreds of people in need of the elder’s prayerful help visited the courtyard of the Athos monastery every day. The elder gave numerous donations from believers to people in need: he paid for the education of children from poor families, and arranged the lives of many people. Thanks to the efforts of the elder, the magazine “Soulful Interlocutor” began to be published in the Athos courtyard in 1888, which told about the life of Russian monks on the holy island, introduced the biographies of Athonite ascetics, the letters of the elders to their spiritual children, and the wise thoughts of the holy fathers. Thanks to his educational activities, Russian monasteries on Athos began to be replenished with new prayer books for the Russian land. Using the generous donations of Russians, the buildings of ancient monasteries damaged by fires were restored, and new churches were erected in honor of the saints revered in Rus'. However, in 1894, after a false denunciation, the elder had to leave Moscow and return to his native monastery.

Only from the messages of the “Soulful Interlocutor” could the spiritual children of the elder learn about the life of their spiritual father. Issues of the magazine reported that Father Aristoklius was elected treasurer and confessor of the monastery, and in 1909 the name of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius (who had by that time accepted the schema) was first on the list of candidates for the abbot of the monastery.

For fifteen years, the elder’s spiritual children sent letters to the Synod and Athos, in which they begged for their beloved shepherd to be returned to them. Finally, the council of confessors of the St. Panteleimon Monastery again appointed Elder Aristoklius as rector of the metochion of the Athos St. Panteleimon Monastery in Moscow.

At the age of seventy, the elder had to return to Russia. By that time he was suffering from numerous illnesses and needed a dedicated assistant.

In the last years of his stay at the monastery, he became close to novice Ipatiy Stavrov. At the request of the elder Aristoclius, the novice Hypatius was tonsured a monk with the name Isaiah, ordained and blessed to help the elder in Moscow. Father Isaiah (the future famous elder Isaiah) became not only the elder’s cell attendant, but also his secretary, an indispensable assistant in all matters of the courtyard.

After the elder left for Mount Athos in 1894, the parish shrank and the treasury was empty; there was no money to repair the buildings.

Upon the elder’s return, thousands of people began to come to the chapel again. From 1909 to 1918, two three-story buildings grew up in the courtyard of the Athos St. Panteleimon Monastery: one for books, the other housed monastic services and charitable institutions, and on the third floor, in one of the corner rooms, the priest built a house church in honor of his especially revered and beloved Icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear”.

The elder’s earthly life ended on August 26/September 8, 1918, on the day of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The funeral service for Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius was performed by three Moscow rulers: Bishop Arseny, Bishop Tryphon (Turkestan) and Bishop Joasaph, abbot of the Epiphany Monastery, who at that time served as Metropolitan of Moscow.

Initially, Elder Aristoclius was buried in the marble crypt of the tomb of the courtyard. However, after the revolution, all monastic properties were subject to nationalization, and house churches were subject to liquidation. Searches, arrests, and confiscations began at the compound. In January 1919, the rector of the Panteleimon Chapel, Hieromonk Macarius, was arrested, and in 1921, Hieromonk Theophanes... Therefore, the spiritual children of the elder in 1922 decided to rebury him. They buried them quietly so as not to attract the attention of the authorities. The monks carried the coffin with the incorrupt body of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius out of the tomb, loaded it onto a cart and took it to the Danilovskoye cemetery. Eyewitnesses said that the pigeons, which the elder loved to feed during his lifetime, flew in from all directions and, circling, formed a living cross in the sky. A living dove cross accompanied the elder all the way to the grave.

It should be noted that shortly before the death of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius, one of his spiritual daughters A.P. Solntseva, who lives on Dukhovsky Lane, next to the Danilovsky Cemetery, invited the elder to visit. The elder kindly responded to the invitation: “My beloved child, soon, soon I will come to you. I’ll come forever.” Soon the priest died without ever visiting her, the woman was perplexed. And four years after the death of the elder (in 1922), a woman, accidentally meeting a funeral procession not far from her home, learned that the elder Aristokle was being buried, and remembered the prophecy of her spiritual father.

From the memoirs of Mother Varvara (Tsvetkova): “Through the prayers of the Athonite Elder of God Aristokle, many miracles were performed in the Panteleimon Chapel on Nikolskaya, healings of the sick and unfortunate possessed. Father received endless visitors at Bolshaya Polyanka in the Athos courtyard, thirsty for his spiritual advice and guidance. Father always consoled us, prayed and told us what would happen. One day, when both my brother and father were in Lubyanka, and there was no hope that they would get out of there alive, and it was unbearably hard for me, the priest suddenly said cheerfully:

And you will go to other countries, and openly.

I was just dumbfounded:

But there is no way!

And you will.

He spoke about this in 1918, shortly before his death, and everything happened according to his word in 1922: his brother unexpectedly and inexplicably left prison with an order to be deported abroad, a few days later my father was released without any apparent reason, and we were sent to Germany. Truly it was a miracle for us. Dear father was no longer with us. I often remembered with pain how 10 days before his death I was with him, and he blessed me especially warmly: “Farewell, little child, goodbye...” I remember once in a conversation about the fate of Russia after the revolution , I told him that I hoped for the White Army, which was then formed. “No, don’t hope,” said the priest, “because the spirit is not the same.” I asked him about the war, which had not yet ended, and he answered: “And there will be another... And you will learn about it in the country where you will be then... That German weapons are rattling on the border of Russia.” And so it happened, in Jerusalem we read exactly these words. Of course, in English. Father further said: “Just don’t rejoice yet. Many Russians will think that the Germans will rid Russia of Bolshevik rule, but this is not so. The Germans, it is true, will enter Russia and do a lot, but they will leave, since there is no time for salvation yet. It will be later, then...” I remember even earlier he said that I would not live to see that time. And Russia will still be saved. There is a lot of suffering, a lot of torment ahead. All of Russia will become a prison, he said, and it will be necessary to beg the Lord for forgiveness. Repent of sins, and be afraid to commit even the slightest sin. We must try with all our might to do good, even the smallest: “After all, even the wing of a fly has weight,” the priest said, “but God has precise scales. And when the slightest good outweighs the balance, then God will show His mercy over Russia.”

From the memoirs of nun Euphemia:

My mother’s hand had been very painful for several years. And no matter what medications we tried, and no matter what doctors we went to, the pain did not subside. I say once: “Let’s go to the elder, he will help.”

Let's go in the morning. The elder was not entirely healthy and was in his cell. He received us with such love! And somehow he kept smiling, he was not sitting in his place, but as if waiting for someone. He blessed us and began to talk. He took his hand and began to rub it. I took off her jacket, he continued to rub his hand, and he smiled, as if he had something comforting for us, and he could not help but smile with pleasure. Then he left his mother’s hand, gave her a piece of prosphora, anointed her with oil, and so, rejoicing, he let her go. Since then there has been no pain. I think my elder rejoiced, knowing that for his prayers the Lord healed my mother.

And how the priest consoled me with his conversations! Sometimes he would say: “Oh, my beloved child, if you only knew how much I want to save you! I would endure everything for you, may the Lord save you! If only I could lead you to Him! If only you were saved, I have no greater concern than to bring you to the Lord, and there is no more serious matter on earth than the salvation of the soul...” Father always rejoiced when he saw the zeal of our spiritual children towards each other or towards others . He had extraordinary gratitude for the slightest contribution from another. Surprisingly, he loved children. And he was always, always surrounded by children, they were so devoted to him that they did not want to leave their father...

It used to be that the elder would walk from his cell through the yard, and the people would be waiting for him, he would bless everyone, then they would give him a small box with food for pigeons, and the priest would pour it in and bless it with a prayer. And so every morning, and the pigeons sit anywhere, waiting for him. Then the elder entered through the back door, and the children were already waiting for him along with the elders, but only adults were allowed in from the front door. First, he received everyone with their children, and then went into a large room, all filled with icons, like a chapel, for a general blessing. Father was exhausted from the people, there were days when he received more than one thousand people.

Elder Isaiah was an eyewitness to the resurrection of a dead girl through the prayers of Elder Aristoclius; he himself told about this after the death of Elder Aristoklius to Elder Daniel from the Donskoy Monastery. One day a woman came to Elder Aristocles carrying a dead girl in her arms. She said that they came from Ryazan because they had heard about the miracles of the elder. She brought him her sick daughter in the hope that the priest would heal her. But on the way the girl died. And now the mother begged the elder to revive the child. She did not doubt the power of the elder’s prayerful intercession before the Lord and with faith expected a miracle from the priest. And a miracle happened: through the prayers of Elder Aristoclius, the girl came to life and was healed of her illness. The mother hugged her revived daughter and could not find words of gratitude, but only repeated: “God bless you, father, God bless you!”