Why do people go to church? Everyone has their own answer to this question, oddly enough: for salvation, in search of a confessor, for the sake of peace of mind - you can’t list everything.
It's tight with confessors now, so people go in search of elders. One of these was the Penza elder Alexy.
Childhood
Not much is known about the miracle worker. He was born in 1930, at birth he was named Mikhail. In addition to him, the family also had a brother and two sisters. One of them said that Mishenka was born very sick. He could not serve himself on his own, even fed him from a spoon. He spoke with great difficulty, only Anna's mother could make out the slurred speech of the child.
The future Penza elder Alexy was born into a prosperous family, but she was dispossessed. When the war began, my father was taken to the front - from there he did not return. Mishenka's mother was left with four children in her arms. She worked on a collective farm, and although the family lived very poorly, Annaraised everyone.
Start of miracles
The cult of the Penza elder Alexy arose in the 80s of the XX century. It all started with the testimony of his sister Catherine. The woman claimed that Mishenka was given the gift of clairvoyance already in childhood, he could heal the sick, predict people's fate.
When Misha turned 22, he decided to leave home. The Mother of God appeared to him and ordered him to leave his native land. Michael, according to her, was to become a great man and establish his own, very large monastery.
Moving to Penza
Penza Elder Schema Alexy moved to the city, where he lived with kind people. He did not have his own house, even until his mother came to him. It was then that benefactors were found who built a house for the holy man. All this time Misha carried the cross of preaching. But due to the fact that his speech was very incomprehensible, everything said was translated by his mother.
Village Pobeda
How the future Penza elder Alexy found himself in this village, history is silent. But he developed his activities very quickly, and his mother helped him in every possible way. And they built a house for him, and gathered the community, and then they took up the construction of the temple. Many people came to the village, mostly rich pilgrims from Moscow and St. Petersburg. After staying with Elder Alexy of Penza for a couple of days, they set off for their native lands.
But not to stay in them forever, but to sell property and donate money to the monastery of the saint. People returned to Elder Alexy with large sums,gave money to a good cause, lived in the community, but did not stay in it for a long time. Somewhere later they disappeared, however, no one knows how the fate of the benefactors turned out.
Building a temple
A church was built in the community in honor of Archangel Michael, but there is one big problem - no one blessed the construction: the bishop of the Penza region did not give his permission, because the community did not have canonical communion with the Russian Orthodox Church. Moreover, representatives of the Penza diocese could not get into the altar, they were simply not allowed. Priests served in the church, but they were not part of the diocesan clergy.
After the death of the Penza Elder Alexy, the temple was demolished, the community was disbanded. On this occasion, numerous disputes arose whether it was possible to demolish the house of God, despite the fact that there was no blessing from the ruling bishop for its construction.
Where did eldership and dignity come from?
A number of questions arise with the monastic vows of the Penza Elder Alexy. In one of the books published by his admirers, it is stated that Mikhail was tonsured at the age of 30, and several Glinsky elders performed the rite. He was tonsured into the schema in 1992, with the blessing of Archbishop Seraphim of Penza and Kuznetsk. Only it turned out that the archbishop did not give any blessings, and did not allow building a church in the community.
Where did it all come from - about tonsure and schema? From the mother of a spirit-bearing elder, who also, under completely incomprehensible circumstances, took the tonsure with the name Angelina. AfterAnna's death, a woman named Zinaida, who was considered a nun in the community, began to follow Mikhail. But whether the canonical tonsure was performed, history is silent.
Death of Elder Alexis
The miserable man Alexy lived a long life, died in January 2005. There were so many rumors around his death that it was scary to read. Allegedly, after Mikhail died, his hands remained warm and soft. This is evidenced by the inhabitants of the community, who accompanied their shepherd on his last journey. There were people who convinced the rest that the body of the deceased allegedly emitted a wonderful fragrance. Probably, there will be those who are worried about when the relics of the Penza elder Alexy will be raised.
Tales of clairvoyance
In the 90s, people, tired of godless slavery, rushed to the temples. But they did not take into account only one thing: porridge in their own heads. Scientific atheism was mixed with the remnants of knowledge about God, and new knowledge about healers was added here. Remember Allan Chumak, at least, who "brainwashed" the gullible people from the screens. This man claimed to be a great psychic, able to charge and purify water.
Simple naive people put cans of water to the TV, from which a psychic stared at them. And people stared at him, listening to the delightful silence from the screens, and believing in the miraculous power of charged water. And all this wild mixture of knowledge reliably settled in the heads of Russian citizens. It was used by such Chumaks and the Penza elders of Alexia.
But we digress from the main topic of the subsection - the elder's predictions. A book published in his honor collects people's memories of Michael's prophecies.
He talked a lot about the war, of course. Things did not come to the catacombs, as in another Penza community, but there were predictions with all sorts of horrors. He told one woman that she would be cut off her tongue during the war and would be tortured, the second "made happy" with gouged out eyes, and the third with terrible torture. And all these ladies happily tell about the predictions of the dear father.
About the prayer of the Penza elder Alexy - a separate conversation. He commanded to come to his grave after death. For in this way he will help even better than in his lifetime. And there is no need to pray for his repose, for the elder is a saint. He prays at night, saints come to him. After reading all this, the conclusion suggests itself: this Michael was not an old man. Trusting people were deceived by his mother, who translated her son's speech, and later by Zinaida.
Books
Even during his lifetime, Mikhail gave his blessing to publish several books about himself. These books about the Penza Elder Alexy (that was the name of Michael after the "monument") were sold in huge numbers. Things got to the point that in the early 2000s they even came across in Orthodox stores.
One of them is called "The Road to the Elder". It contains the words of Elder Alexy about the current priests. They do not seek fellowship with the elders, which means they will not be saved themselves and will ruin their flock. The author clearly leads the reader to the thought: without an elder, salvation is impossible.
About the doctrine of TIN - a separatestory. Allegedly, this document is a harbinger of the seal of the Antichrist. Nevertheless, people have been living with a TIN for more than a decade, in the church they are not scolded for this and are not excommunicated from the sacraments.
Another interesting point in the book is about the miracles of the elder. He is endowed with power from God, supposedly, and is able to perform such miracles that simple church clerics do not even know about.
The second book, en titled "According to your faith, it will be for you …" contains an akathist to the holy father. And the words contained in it suggest that the compiler is mentally ill. A he althy person could not ex alt in this way one who is not yet glorified in the face of saints. And in the book they are already glorifying him, treating him like a saint.
Reviews
If we turn to the reviews about the Penza elder Alexy, coming from Orthodox priests, then everything becomes clear. There was no eldership at all. There was a certain Alexander, who had the idea to make an old man out of an invalid. You can make good money on this, people will reach out for spiritual advice. Alexander realized his idea, and what came of it is described above. By the way, the community settlement was demolished in 2015.
Conclusion
You can't find the elders now, the famous ones have long since died, and the rest are carefully hidden. A true elder will not stick out, bless the writing of books about himself and build a temple without the permission of the archbishop.
