In the midst of a life filled with vices, malice, and lies, it is a comforting and irreplaceable thought for our people to know that in our imperfect life there is a man who stands above the squabbles of life, who serves the truth, who can show the way to the truth, and who stands up for all before God.

The influence of such a spiritual leader - the guardian of God's righteousness - is great and extensive. His personality and his word have an irresistible effect on receptive soil, awakening and raising the clogged moral sense, appealing to goodness and truth, sometimes even transforming life.

The truths of the Gospel, without practical application, remain abstract. Therefore such ascetics as St. Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov, St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, the Holy Elders of Optina and others are dear to us; and it is important for us to know their deeds, to know how they acted in our Russian everyday life. And, thank God, such strong standard-bearers and luminaries are brought forward at the most necessary time, especially in times of decline in faith and morals. And Orthodox Russia is not short of them.

Saint Peter Damascene wrote:

"After much toil and brokenness I have found this reasoning from the Holy Fathers: the beginning of all good and all evil is given to man reason, and by reason - the will. The beginning of salvation: let man forsake his own wills and reasoning, and do the wills and reasoning of God... The will of God cannot usually be known otherwise than by reasoning and reasoning, not by one's own, but by those who have the gift of reasoning and experience. Only in this way can we know what God wants us to do."

When St. Epiphanius was asked whether one righteous man was enough to propitiate God, he replied, "It is enough, for God Himself said, 'If you find one man who works in judgment and seeks faith, I will be merciful to all people'"

Saint Theodore the Studite teaches:

"The life of man is a sea, on which we, as in a ship, which we entered into this body, mentally sail and sail incessantly: day and night, in bad weather and storm - and this sea is troublesome, and not only troublesome, but also long, commensurate with the length of our lives, and in it so many terrible stormy waves are stirred up by evil spirits, so many pirates-demons attack, trying to sink us, that we cannot say. But to hold the stern in hand and cheerfully guide the ship among the underwater rocks, shallows and storms, and to have constantly the eyes turned to heaven, to look up to the stars of truth and by them direct the voyage, to bring the ship safely to the haven of salvation - that is the work and service of the leader standing at the stern."

The Holy Elder knows that the success of his ministry depends on his moral perfection: not so much his word as his life; and the morally higher he stands, the greater success he has in his ministry.

"A shepherd," according to St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, "is not a pillar standing by the way and only showing the way to the city and standing still himself, but a foremost leader of others, responsible for others, and attacked for them."

The sincerity and truthfulness of the Holy Elder are an all-conquering force. They are found in his speech and in his address: he speaks simply and sincerely. Unpretentiousness, sincerity, frankness of soul - that is what is pleasing to the humble heart of the Lord. Unless you are like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).

The more a person goes deeper into himself, the more insignificant he considers himself in front of his ideal. The patriarch Abraham called himself before God as ashes, King David called himself a worm. The holy Apostle Paul thought of himself as the most sinful and unworthy vessel. "I myself am the worst," said the Optina Elder Moses, "others only perhaps think that they are the worst, but I have actually found out that I am the worst." And the righteous man considers himself guilty not only for his own thoughts, but also for the sins of others, imputes the sins of others to himself, considers himself guilty for everyone and everything.

The Deputy Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod, Prince N. Zhevakhov, wrote in the beginning of the last century:

"The real power of every truth lies not in its recognition, but in its confession, without which its action is inconceivable. And there is no human power that can not only crush divine truth or diminish its importance and influence, but also that cannot bow to it. In this sense, the Church, even in terms of its external organization, is more powerful than the state, if it is the bearer of the purity of divine truth and embodies it in itself. And this was proved by those devotees of the Church, who led the faithful and were more powerful than kings, patriarchs and earthly rulers. The people's faith and religious development in Russia were either based on the traditions of a generation, the hereditary influences of the family, or supported by the influence of a few highly religious individuals, mostly simple monks, living outside the world, within the fences of a monastery.

These latter enjoyed the extreme love of the Russian people and were equally close to the common people and to the upper class, being authentic and, moreover, the only leaders, wise teachers, and instructors of their children. They were not at all interested in the appearance of the laity, they made no distinction between the poor and the rich, the commoner and the scholar, the commoner and the noble, and they bestowed love upon all who came to them, they spoke to all with certainty, openly and truthfully, because they saw before them not the bearers of titles and positions, but in everyone - his soul, longing and suffering, burdened by weakness and sin; they knew why these souls came to them, and generously bestowed upon them their spiritual healing.

The holy apostles were barefoot wanderers and fools, Holy Elders and men of God, these true builders of the spirit of life, who were always persecuted by the world, as they still are. But they and they alone have the fullness of the revelation of the Holy Spirit, they are the holders of the Eternal Truth.

Holy Elders were and will forever remain the only teachers of life, the only lights of the Faith and to whom until the end of the age will last in Holy Russia."

Before the revolution of 1917, the Elder Anatoly of Optina said:

"There will be a storm. And the Russian ship will be broken. But even on the splinters and wreckage people are saved. And yet not all will perish. It is necessary to pray, it is necessary for all to repent and pray fervently. And what happens after the storm? There is calm after the storm...

The great miracle of God will be revealed... And all the splinters and debris, by God's will and His power, will be assembled and reunited, and the ship will be rebuilt in its beauty and will go its way, God has appointed."

And the great saint of the Russian land Seraphim of Sarov in the early 19th century said:

"Anti-Christianity, in its development, will lead to the destruction of Christianity on earth and part of Orthodoxy, and will end with the reign of the Antichrist over all the countries of the world except Russia, which shall merge into one with the other Slavic countries and become a vast ocean, before which other tribes of the earth shall be afraid. And this is as true as two times two is four... God will have mercy on Russia, and will lead her through suffering to great glory."

With the election of the Orthodox sovereign by the Elders of Russia from among its people in Spirit and Truth, the grace of the Holy Spirit will return to Russia, and autocratic power will be granted by God, in the image of the Heavenly Hierarchy.

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From the collection "Russian Ideology"

Source: 3rm.info [1] (Russian)