Optina Hermitage can be called anything you like: a symbol of Orthodoxy, a place of prayer, holy land - everything will correspond to reality. Its very location: proximity to Kozelsk, the city of Russian glory, which held a 7-week defense against the troops of the Golden Horde to the last inhabitant, suggests the presence of a special spirit on this land.
Rise of the desert
The Zhizdra River, which fenced off the edge of the forest, made this corner an ideal place for the followers of John the Baptist, who also became famous for being the first desert dweller, that is, a hermit. Neither the date nor the history of the emergence of Optina Pustyn is known. But its names (the second - Makaryinskaya) testify in favor of the version of the dashing man Opt, who hunted in the 14th century by robbery. Hiding frompursuers, he just wanted to sit out in a quiet place, but the grace that descended on him turned his whole life as a robber. He became the first hermit Macarius. It can be assumed that the prayer of the Optina elders for every day has its roots at this time.
For a long time, Optina Hermitage was subjected to raids, seizures, devastation by the forces of external and internal enemies of Russia. And only in 1796, through the efforts of Metropolitan Platon, father Avraamy became the abbot of the monastery, during which the revival of the skete began and the appearance of the first elders, people who had reached certain peaks of spiritual perfection.
Flourishing Optina Desert
All-Russian glory, like the real flowering of the monastery, began in the 20s of the 19th century, when Archimandrite Moses, a holy man and a wonderful business executive, took the post of abbot. Under him, Father Lev in 1829 officially founded the eldership. The venerable elders settled in a small skete, which was built in 1821. The holy fathers Cleopas and Theodore were the companions of the founder of Optina Hermitage. The prayer book was not yet complicated, and the prayer of the Optina elders for every day was a help to them in their labors. The significance of Optina Hermitage in the spiritual life of Russia is very great. Dostoevsky and Solovyov lived in it for a long time, gaining spiritual strength, Lev and Alexei Tolstoy visited it. "Father Sergius" was written under the impression of Optina Pustyn.
The Cathedral of the Optina Elders is a unique phenomenon, a special form of holiness that has been flourishing for 100 years in Optina Hermitage. Somethingthis takes place only on Athos.
Cathedral of the Venerable Optina Elders
The first elders were only 6, who appeared here in 1829, the hieroschemamonk (the title of a monk-schemer with a church rank) Leo brought all-Russian glory to the skete, which did not fade away until 1917. In total, there were 14 reverend elders, each of them added to the grandeur of the Optina Hermitage. All of them, possessing a special spirit, had the gift of insight, prophecy and wonderworking. Much of what they predicted came true.
The legacy of the elders includes books, advice, letters, prayers. The daily prayer of the Optina Elders is also part of this heritage. Isaac II (there were no elders after him) and a number of his associates, inhabitants of the Optina Hermitage, were shot in 1937. The abbot of the skete, Nectarios, died in 1928 in his cell, having prevented his arrest by one day.
The most difficult years of Orthodoxy in Russia
The fate of hundreds of members of the clergy in the 30s of the XX century was tragic. Therefore, the prayer of the last Optina elders contains only a plea to the Lord for humility, for a calm and worthy acceptance of the challenges of reality, interpreting them as a manifestation of his will, a plea for spiritual strength, the absence of doubts and the ability to overcome fatigue at the end of the day. Without such a prayer (it is now included in all Orthodox prayer books), it was probably difficult to preserve the faith. One specialist called prayer non-denominational and psychotherapeutic. Of course, repeating it all the time, like a spell, you canit was somehow to wake up and fall asleep in the conditions of repressions of the 37th year. (We are talking about those people who were doomed to this fate, specifically - about the clergy).
Unique prayers of the elders
The Optina elders advised to avoid verbosity when addressing the Lord, to be concise and specific, so their prayers are understandable and loved by many Orthodox. So, an example is the prayer of the Optina Elder Leo. It is known as the private prayer for suicides. Short and concise, it is addressed to the Lord with a single request - to accept and, if possible, forgive the soul of a suicide, and not to punish the one asking for it. After all, church canons forbade commemorating in the church and burying suicides who died in a duel and during robbery, drowned people in the cemetery. The wise elders understood that intolerable life circumstances can bring a person to suicide. They allowed privately, bypassing the official church, to pray for the peace of the soul of a person who laid hands on himself.
Morning prayer as a spell for happiness
Two more prayers deserve special attention, one of them is the morning prayer of the Optina Elders. Having become acquainted with them for the first time, it is impossible not to note their dissimilarity with prayers in general. They, both in the morning and in the evening, contain so much expression and passion that, indeed, they can play the role of an affirmation (a short phrase, with repeated repetition of which, in the subconscious of a person,required image or installation). Setting for happiness, for joy, for life in harmony with everyone. This prayer resembles, rather, a hymn and a spell at the same time. Repeated declaration of love to the Lord sounds like an unshakable faith in reciprocity. The person doing this prayer sincerely believes that it is difficult not to respond to such a sincere request for help in only bright and good deeds, to a declaration of love for everything and everyone. And the flow of ardent gratitude, repeated “amen” can lead to a state of joy and a benevolent attitude towards the whole world.
The originality of the prayers of the Optina Elders
The evening prayer of the Optina Elders is also capable of evoking both a sense of surprise and a desire to read it again and again. The effect is enhanced by repeated, repetitive appeals and enthusiasm, underlined by exclamation marks. There is a feeling that these two prayers imply the friendly disposition of the Lord towards the one who prays. Of course, they are appropriate in the mouth of a life-loving, joyful and successful person, convinced that tomorrow will be as wonderful as today. In the evening he reports to God about a happily lived day. Joyfully thanks him for his help, forgives everything and everyone (including himself) for his mistakes, has no doubt that the Lord will do the same.
Good prayers, understandable, close - this is probably the great wisdom of the venerable elders.
Actually, the prayer of the Optina Elders for every day is any prayer taken from the prayer book and suitable for a particular occasion. The role of the daily canto perform both morning, evening, and akathist and service to the icon of the Mother of God, called the “Bread Conqueror.”
