Archimandrite Vasily. Message to Abbot Vasily about the schema

An interview with Abbot Vasily (Pasquier) was published on the website of the newspaper "Soviet Chuvashia" dated 07/01/2010: Abbot Vasily (Pasquier): I am a man without compromises
But for me the most important thing is this fragment:

"- Father Vasily, after almost 14 years of living in Alatyr, you moved to Cheboksary. Was it more difficult here?
- Certainly. Alatyr is a unique small town. There's not the best high culture. But Cheboksary, no offense to the city, has this culture to a much lesser extent. I have always imagined Cheboksary as an educated city, the cleanest in the Volga region. I was sure of this until I lived here. After all, you truly see only when you live inside. How people behave in everyday life, what it’s like in their apartments. How my brother monks live in their cells. To put it mildly, not everything is good here. Both in the city and on the shore. And what I see inside the monastery is not what I saw in the Alatyr monastery. But the capital's monastery should be a model."

No, I didn't quote that to gloat. The point here is completely different. Firstly, any mention of Alatyr is very important and interesting for me. And secondly, Fr. Vasily, or “our Frenchman,” as he was and is still called in the city, truly became an Event, a significant Milestone (if one can say so about a person) in the history of Alatyr. For the 2000s, that’s for sure.

And it was precisely his words about “culture” (and here he did not mean theaters or museums, but everyday, everyday culture) in Cheboksary and Alatyr that brought back interesting memories.

And this is what they are connected with.

O. Vasily came to Alatyr, probably during one of the most difficult periods for the city, when the devastation in the city economy, economy and, of course, in the minds of the townspeople reached highest point. And there were good reasons for this, often beyond the control of the residents (but not about that yet). And so I came to this “dirty hole” (and at that time it was exactly like that, although it was very offensive) new person, and even a European foreigner. He is not interested in the reasons for the reigning disgrace, he is not interested in the fact that “30-40 years ago the streets of Alatyr were well-groomed, clean, surrounded by greenery, and the sidewalks were lined with boards on which children ran barefoot...” He sees what is now, and according to what he sees, he forms his opinion about the city. And then it starts to act. He begins to transform everyday life around him. And not only figuratively, but also in the most literal sense: the private house in which he settled was the neatest on the street. And around the house there is cleanliness and order, which could not be said about some of its neighbors. He begins to promote cleanliness and constantly talk about it.

But then he did not serve the city very well, although with the best intentions (I am absolutely sure of this). The fact is that he often met with President Fedorov, to whom, of course, he told about life in Alatyr. According to the retelling of one of the city administration officials, in their conversation (the president and Father Vasily), the following dialogue allegedly took place every time:

Fedorov: “Well, how is it in Alatyr? Shit?

O. Vasily: “Shit.”

I don’t know if these words were actually used, but obviously this problem was mentioned. In many ways, this contributed to the fact that in those years, at the republican level, Alatyr, from the lips of the highest-ranking officials, began to be positioned as the dirtiest, unkempt city in the republic, absolutely all of whose residents were accustomed to “living in the dirt” and did not want to change anything. A sort of stronghold of lack of culture in the blooming and fragrant Chuvashia. It even got to the point that when the city asked for an increase in funding to support the half-dead economy, they answered: “First, you put things in order on the streets.” There was a substitution of concepts: the effect was made the cause. And this was beneficial to the authorities. There is an excuse - “it’s your own fault.”

No, I'm not making excuses - they shit, of course. And I'm ashamed of that. But I will never believe in any special uncleanliness of the Alatyr people. I fully admit that in Alatyr the lack of amenities is more noticeable than anywhere else. And that's why.

1. The city center (in fact, its face) is almost exclusively huge private sector, maintaining order in which is many times more difficult than in a multi-story building.

2. Most of the city streets are unpaved (and the soil in Alatyr is black soil and clay), and no shovels or rakes can help matters here (spring and autumn with their muddy roads cannot be canceled). If you only pave roads with shovels.

3. Stagnation of Alatyr in Soviet period and degradation in the post-Soviet period led to the fact that many indigenous residents of the city - bearers of a truly urban culture - left Alatyr. And others came to take their place - now rural residents. With its own mentality, its own customs and orders. Accustomed to living differently. Just different. This is neither good nor bad, and I don't want to offend anyone. But objectively, life in a village and in a city (and what is important here is not the size of the city, but the accumulated historical and cultural level) is still very different. And these people came to Alatyr and would be glad to learn how to live “like a city,” but there was no one to teach them. Because those around (especially in the private sector) are the same as them. Moreover, the authorities then did not care about this. People did not “socialize” in the new place.

These are all reasons, but these reasons also have their own reasons. And these other reasons should be well known to the President and the republican authorities. You just need to answer the question: “How did it happen that the most developed city of the republic degraded to the state of a poor second-class regional center?” And then it will immediately become clear what is the cause of most of the recent and current Alatyr troubles.

And again returning to the words of Fr. Vasily.

His move made him look at both Cheboksary and Alatyr differently. And even change your mind in some ways. This can be forgiven for him: although he has long considered himself Russian, he apparently still does not understand how it can be that loud official laudatory words that always embellish everything sometimes have little in common with our Russian reality. And I hope that he will never understand this. Otherwise, I personally will be ashamed and offended for our entire country. And to prevent this from happening, it’s time for us to at least stop lying to each other.

And finally, I would like to thank Fr. Vasily for everything he did for Alatyr. For the fact that he forced many Alatyr residents to take a fresh look at their everyday life and, in a good way, “got angry” and change it. For the fact that he returned to many of the townspeople, without even suspecting it, a sense of pride in Alatyr, albeit with an unenviable present, but, I believe, with a great future.

And not because of any and not for some president, but only because of the awareness of one’s own pride, in the hope of reviving the Spirit of the city.

Message from a certain elder to Archimandrite Vasily, blessed in God, about the schema

I bow from my unworthiness to your reverence, my dear lord, the all-honorable God-blessed Vasily, truly a great and glorious archimandrite throughout the world, father to fathers, mentor of the high path, wise soul, penetrating with his mind all inspired books, second abbot, not in name, but in deeds and by faith equal to his holiness! And Christ glorified you more than even him as his faithful slave and servant of his mother: for he, having begun to build the church, was called by God and went to him, but you not only created the church, but also created the stone walls near the holy monastery, where the dwellings of the saints and the courts of the venerables, constantly praising the glorified God in the Trinity, glorifying Him who was incarnated in two essences from the Holy Spirit and from the Virgin Mary who became man, who accepted crucifixion and death for our sins.

And what, my lord, sent me a letter about, asking, as it were, about the great and holy schematic image, in which you have long wanted to be clothed, you are not asking about this as an ignorant person, but you are testing my wretchedness, as it befits a teacher to test a student and a master to test a slave. And I will not tell you from myself about the holy schema, but from the holy books, more from Christ himself, I will remind you of the parable of the man who built his house and his stable on a rock.

Don’t think about sand, don’t think about building a temple, don’t think about rivers and rain or fierce winds hitting the building, let my lord Vasily hear about the holy schema that he wants to accept.

You created stone walls around the entire Pechersk Monastery on a solid foundation, high and beautiful; and first of all he collected his wealth for this, then he burned the brick with fire, and finished the job with water and mortar. But this is not the kind of holy construction when they create the temple of God within themselves so that the Holy Spirit can dwell in it.

If you want to create such a holy monastery, you decide to lay the foundation of the Holy Trinity within yourself, otherwise, to renew yourself with the holy schema, as they say, “to settle accounts with your possessions,” then first of all, praying to God, sit down and write your vow, gathering your thoughts that you will become you will keep until death: a day or two a week or a month, whether you will fast from food or drink, or spend the night in prayer, or not talk to people, and not leave the monastery on a votive day, or do alms from your handicrafts, or fulfill any human request, or forgive anger. And if you give your promise, he will give you his. If you want to take the Analav and Kukol without reasoning, looking at those who are only called a schema, then even if they work in fasting and prayers, all the same, not having a solid foundation, their temple falls - not from the rain, not from the wind, but from their own foolishness; sometimes they abstain from everything, sometimes they live weakly, they say: “It’s a holiday now,” or: “For the sake of a friend, I’ll eat and drink,” or: “The Christians called, I’ll start a prayer again later” - all this is as if one were creating, and the other ruined, or as if, washing after a dead man, touching him again. Many, it is said, dried up their bodies through fasting and abstinence, but their lips became stinky, because they did this without reasoning, and therefore they found themselves far from God. And Lot was not tempted in Sodom with the wicked, but in Zoar he became defiled with his daughters.

And you, having pleased God in Balti and in monasticism and having lived a soul-healthy life, taking upon yourself the schematic burden, forget all the past, like the apostles, and strive for the future. Chalk up earthly sorrow for a trifle and always worry about heavenly life according to the rule of your vow. Do not, like Lot, strive to forget sorrow in drunkenness, but carefully imitate Christ’s life. After all, the Lord, having made a vow about himself to all the apostles, fulfilled it, and you promised to all the brethren, fulfill this, then you will have a common God with them, common love, common reward, common crowns, and you will create one soul in many bodies, and for the sake of all you will receive the reward.

Here I am sowing seeds in your furrow, words about godly work. See for yourself, if there are tares here, you will uproot the evil seed and punish me. If it is wheat, then do not sow it along the road, nor on a stone, nor among thorns. Even if three parts perish, I hope that from one you will be able to reassemble a hundredfold with God’s help, if you consult with him about the schema.

You know everything about the lives of the holy fathers, how, laboring with vows, they achieved crowns. Nothing could destroy their temple: neither honors, nor titles, nor glory, nor sorrow, nor need, nor persecution, nor laziness; neither himself, rushing at them in every possible way, could bring their affairs down from the vow. But just as a copper ax harms itself with dry wood, so the devil does evil to himself, and those who are strong in faith gain crowns for themselves through temptation. The weak one falls not through the devil, but through his own unreason, destroying good undertakings with evil thoughts, like quicksand.

And if you want to build a spiritual temple, put faith in its foundation and let hope and love be the bricks; bind with chastity, like water, the dirt of your flesh, so that your soul may rise like a temple. Support her like a pillar with God's help, so that if rain and water streams fall in any way, she would remain like a rock for the good and evil people. Bring your mother and wife into the temple, that is, meekness and humility. After all, meekness pleases God, but humility takes you to heaven. Protect yourself on all sides, as from thieves, with the fear of God and prayer, and set a wise mind as a guard, so that if you happen to be in a city, or among the people, or in a village, or at a trade, you would not let your heart be scattered there with thoughts. , but would remain in the middle of everything, as if inside a cell, reflecting on the separation of the soul from the body, listening to oneself, as if having gone into the desert.

If you arrange all this with God’s help and do not become proud, judging others, then, looking at the light with your free eye in your mind, you will see the Father of the light, as Job said: “Before we heard only by hearing, but now my eye sees you,” not the physical , but spiritual; “In the light of your countenance, O Lord, let us go and rejoice in your name forever.” But, my lord, he will strengthen your soul not to break your vow. For “Promise,” he said, “and you will reward.” And more: “It is better not to promise, than, having promised, not to repay.” In the same way, the apostle condemns us, saying: “Why didn’t we fight until there was blood, struggling against sin?”

For all this, my dear lord and benefactor, do not be angry, do not hate me, not from the mind, but from the foolishness of the one who wrote all this, but, having torn it apart, throw it to the ground. After all, my words, like a web, fall apart on their own, for they cannot cleave to any benefit without the moisture of the Holy Spirit. And not like a teacher, fatherly and harmoniously, I instruct you, but with all my simplicity I talk to you only because your love and mine opens your lips. You choose from what is written what you want, what will be better for you, you know about everything wisely, my dear sir, honest Vasily.

I, a sinner, pray to the Lord that you may be in good health, live peacefully, build the house of the Holy Mother of God and serve God worthily; and you will certainly receive reward with all the holy forefathers and fathers, with the apostles and patriarchs and reverend abbots with the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos and Saint Theodosius, whose son and successor you are in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

I posted a film about Abbot Vasily (Pasquier) on the website. This is a Russian priest originally from France, now the rector of the Church of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God in the city of Alatyr, Chuvash Republic. Link to the film.

1. Hegumen Vasily. 2. Photo of the Temple of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. Author - Dmitry Fedorishchev. Found on Sobory.ru

ABOUT IGUMENE VASILY

Father Vasily was born in the city of Cholet in March 1958. And the seventh child of the Pasquier family was named Pierre Marie Daniel. The parents, Henry and Martha, were deeply religious and, having included in the name of their newborn son the name Holy Virgin Mary, they already dedicated him to the Mother of God from birth.

The first years of his life, baptism, first communion, and schooling took place with little Pierre in the ancient village of Tiffauge, founded before the birth of Christ by the Roman Legion from the Caucasus.

The Pasquier family, which by 1967 had 9 children, was left without a mother. The care of six little brothers fell into the care of the father and the shoulders of one of the older sisters.

As a ten-year-old boy, Pierre helped the priest in the Temple during Sunday services, and in his free time he worked part-time for his father in the office as a courier, and even as a sociologist-statistician during the population census. At this age he enjoyed working on the farm and in nature.

When the older sister, who replaced the younger children's mother, decided to continue her studies, the father was forced to marry. These changes in the family brought with them many good and joyful moments.

As a young man, Pierre Marie Daniel thought a lot about his life. At the age of 15, religious impulses awakened in his soul. He felt that change was coming. In search of his place in the sun, he was interested in Eastern cultures: Hinduism, Buddhism, yoga, but not for long and not seriously, since his first Bible remained near him.

Having bought a backpack and a tent with the money he earned during the holidays, being 17 years old, Pierre Pasquier hitchhiked 1000 km. from home, to the south of France, to the “Ark” community. Pierre’s classmates did not recognize him when he returned a month later for the new school year. He became a serious, reserved, adult religious man, an ascetic. It was then that he embarked on the path of spiritual transformation, the path of repentance. This year, in Last year studies, he and his older sister Genevieve walked a lot to monasteries, visited homes for the disabled, orphanages, and studied ecology. He realized that everything he learned in the “Ark” community, where his older brother Herve lived, everything he saw and heard, turned his life upside down irreversibly.

After school, Pierre felt that the Lord was calling him. He left home. He studied at an agricultural technical school, lived and worked on a farm. He completed his last year of study living in the Epiphany community.

Pierre Pasquier was not drafted into the army, according to the existing article “Refusal to perform military service for religious and moral convictions.”

In August 1980, Pasquier Pierre Marie Daniel became Father Basil, taking monastic vows with the name of St. Basil the Great. And in September, on the feast of the “Exaltation of the Holy Cross”, he flew to Jerusalem, to the newly opened monastery of “John the Hermit”, where he and 5 other young monks awaited the great work of restoration work and organization of a monastery with a deep historical past, starting from Christmas itself Christ's. But in 1948 the monastery became empty and stood empty until 1975, when the Epiphany community rented buildings and land for its students, and Patriarch Maxim V of the Melctic Greek Catholic Church and the synod decided to open the monastery of St. John the Hermit.

Soon the young monk, Father Vasily, met with Archimandrite Daniel. Serving in the monastery of Chevoton, but living in Rome, the monk, theologian, spoke 16 languages, was a diplomat. Twice older than Father Vasily, he became his closest person, an exceptional adviser, taught him to love Orthodoxy and awakened his desire to become Orthodox.

For ten years, Father Vasily lived with this thought, ran secretly to the Orthodox Gornensky Russian convent, suffered punishment for this, worked hard for his monastery, and studied at the Theological Institute. He endured all the hardships of that time with dignity. Sometimes, when Jewish nationalists staged provocations and attacks, death was very close. He was ordained a deacon. Made a pilgrimage to Sinai. Conducted work at the Eastern Christian Center. I followed the numerous emigrants from Russia at that time and helped them. He ran at night to services at the Holy Sepulcher. I felt that his time was coming.
In the 90s, Father Vasily met with the then Metropolitan Alexy, the current Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', with Bishop Barnabas, Archbishop of Cheboksary and Chuvashia.
Orthodoxy occupied more and more place in his life.
October 4, 1993 was the last day in the Uniate monastery. He found himself at a reception with Patriarch Diodorus, who received him with love and blessed him to accept Orthodoxy in Russia, since Father Vasily already had a lot in common with this country. I wrote a letter to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus'. At my parents’ home in France, the answer was waiting. I waited for a long time, through trials, worries and despair. In early January 1994, with a visa, an invitation and a round-trip ticket for ten days, Father Vasily stepped on board a Russian plane, firmly convinced that this was a one-way trip.

Immediately upon his arrival in Moscow, old acquaintances found him and invited him to their place. This winter, Father Vasily visited Tula, Kostroma, and Kolomna. His affairs in the DECR were slowly moving forward. At the same time, he attended the Patriarchal service for the first time in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Visited the elders: Fr. Nicholas on the island “Zalit”, who greeted Father Vasily with a bow and a verse from the psalm, “Dearly desired by the heart, Jerusalem, the Holy City, You are farewell, my unforgettable, My bow to You at the gates...”, which greatly embarrassed the young monk. And Elder John Krestyankin ordered to return to Moscow for the celebration of the Name Day of Patriarch Alexy II and say that Father Vasily was a gift to him for his Name Day from Father John Krestyankin. Having heard about such a gift at the festive service, the Patriarch laughed and promised to personally take care of Father Vasily’s business.

Soon, in the Danilov Monastery, Hierodeacon Vasily joined Orthodoxy, in the first week of Great Lent, on Tuesday, the day of the “Sovereign” Icon of the Mother of God. The modest joining ceremony took place on French so that Father Vasily could understand what was happening to him. Over the next fortnight, he received communion many times and served with the Patriarch several times. Then I waited a long time for my documents and only in mid-April I received them and a direction to the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. In the summer I was on Mount Athos, where I walked around all the monasteries with my companion, then still a hieromonk, now Archimandrite Jerome, whom Father Vasily met in Jerusalem, and who accompanied him during almost his entire subsequent stay in Russia.

Upon returning from Athos, His Holiness blessed them, at their personal requests, to the Cheboksary-Chuvash diocese. There, having arrived in the village of Maloye Churashevo for the feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist, having almost lost their heads, having never served once, kicked out by the local flock, they arrived at their permanent place of service in the village of Nikulino, Poretsky district of the Chuvash diocese.

With the ordination of Hierodeacon Vasily as a hieromonk in 1995, various demands immediately began: weddings, unction, funeral services, he went through the entire village to the sick and suffering, confessed and received communion. Soon, his long-cherished dream finally came true - he served in Jerusalem at the Holy Sepulcher as Orthodox Priest. Those who knew him as a Catholic did not immediately allow him to attend the service. But after some formalities, Father Vasily could serve there more than once without hindrance. On the Transfiguration of the Lord he served on Mount Tabor, on the Assumption Holy Mother of God- in Gethsemane.

Appointed Rector of the Church of the Nativity of Christ in the village. Nikulino in the fall, in the summer of 1996, Father Vasily, at the request of Fr. Jerome, transferred to the monastery of the Holy Trinity Monastery in the city of Alatyr and appointed dean.

Now, having become a little accustomed to Russian reality, Father Vasily begins to feel restrictions in his rights and freedoms, as a foreign subject and with the blessing of the Bishop of Cheboksary and Chuvash Archbishop Varnava, a long battle for accepting Russian citizenship begins, which ended only on May 13, 1998. During this time he was awarded a golden cross, then elevated to the rank of Abbot.

The path to obtaining citizenship is long and thorny. As soon as I arrived in the village. Nikulino began undergoing checks, pressure, was forced to come to the authorities, and was suspected of everything. Father Vasily endured everything. He's simple man, the purpose of his stay in Russia is absolutely clear. After a year and a half of constant checks and suspicion, he deserved a solemn ceremony of receiving a Russian passport. In Cheboksary, officially, in front of the television cameras, Father Vasily became a citizen of Russia. The President of Chuvashia Fedorov N.V. sent congratulations with good wishes.

At the request of nun Tabitha, abbess of the Kiev-Nicholas Novodevichy Convent, Father Vasily, by Decree of the Bishop, was appointed to the position of senior clergyman in the nunnery, where for 5 years, until recently, he served faithfully, trying to the best of his ability to instruct the nuns of the monastery in monastic work.

By decree of Metropolitan Varnava of Cheboksary and Chuvashia, Abbot Vasily is relieved of his position as priest of the Kiev-Nikolaev Novodevichy Monastery in the city of Alatyr and is appointed to the position of rector of the Church of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. Almost simultaneously with the new appointment, Metropolitan of Cheboksary and Chuvash Varnava, with the blessing His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', placed a reward - the Mace - on Abbot Vasily, on the day of remembrance of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra in Lycia to Bar.

Now it's begun new stage on the thorny path of Abbot Vasily. Through his efforts, local authorities decided to return the temple to its real owners. The condition of the church building leaves much to be desired. But the most important thing now for Father Vasily is that he sees how needed this temple is. We can say that there is no church yet, and a prayer service is served only on Sundays, but there are already parishioners. Patients and medical workers turn to him every day. He constantly unctions, confesses, gives communion, and blesses for treatment. Instructs doctors. The very fact that there is a church on the premises obliges the hospital management to reconsider some of their views on their attitude towards the place of work, and towards the people around them, and towards order inside the hospital and outside it.

Those who hunger and thirst not so much for physical health, but for mental peace, force Father Vasily to act. Without funds and professional specialists, based on enthusiasm alone, he is ready not to leave the temple for days, work on clearing, cleaning and do any work, as long as the temple is restored, as long as the work moves forward. He is happy with every sacrifice, every tiny contribution. He collects bit by bit for materials and tools, for timber and plaster. For “Every giving is good...”.

Murdered Hieromonk Vasily (Roslyakov)

From autobiography:

"I, Roslyakov Igor Ivanovich, was born on December 23, 1960 in Moscow. Graduated high school No. 466 Volgograd district of Moscow. After school, he worked at a car factory for one year. In 1980 he entered the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University. In 1985 he graduated from Moscow State University with the qualification “literary newspaper worker”. As a member of the university water polo team, he competed in all-Union and international competitions. Fulfilled the standard for the title of Master of Sports. Was married. The marriage was dissolved by the civil registry office of the Volgograd district of Moscow. There are no children from the marriage. From 1985 to 1986 he worked as a sports instructor at the Voluntary Sports Society of Trade Unions."

Young Igor is very well characterized by his own phrase:

“If I don’t spend an hour or two a day alone, I feel deeply unhappy.”

On October 17, 1988, he entered Optina Pustyn, and on April 20, 1989, he was dressed in a cassock. On January 5, 1990, novice Igor was clothed in a cassock with a new name in honor of St. Basil the Great, and on April 8, 1990, Monk Vasily was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon. On August 20, 1990, Hierodeacon Vasily was tonsured into the mantle and named in honor of St. Basil the Blessed, the Moscow Wonderworker, and on November 21 of the same 1990, he was ordained a hieromonk.

“He was a beautiful man in every way, and I just admired him,” recalls Hieromonk D. “He loved solitude like a monk, and I saw how hard it was for him to make frequent trips to Moscow or Shamordino, but he never He grumbled. Spiritually he was higher than all of us. But this spirituality was special - very sincere and childishly bright, without a shadow of hypocrisy or lies."

Hieromonk Vasily (Roslyakov), having lived in the monastery for only 5 years, left an indelible impression of himself in the souls of all those who knew him, who watched him only from the outside, who communicated with him even once in their lives. All memories of him paint the image of a highly spiritual hieromonk, who with his holiness and modesty attracted the eyes of both novices and clergy. It is impossible to show his spiritual height in a few pages, so we will limit ourselves to just a few reviews and memories of the Optina inhabitants.

“After my ordination as a hieromonk, I served 40 liturgies with Father Vasily at the Moscow courtyard,” recalls Hegumen P., “and lived in the same cell with him. Confessions went on until 11 o’clock in the evening and longer. And when by midnight we returned exhausted to cell, I really wanted to rest. We sat down for a minute, and Father Vasily was already getting up, asking: “Well, what about the rule?” He asked this in passing, without imposing anything, and immediately went off to pray. , preparing for the service, and at 4 in the morning he got up again to pray. How carefully he prepared for the service and how reverently he served!”

And here is the recollection of the same abbot P., testifying to the power of Father Vasily’s words: “Once it was my turn to baptize, but I was embarrassed by this: a high-ranking couple from the mayor’s office arrived with a movie camera, and the woman did not want to plunge headlong into the water and deliberately spoil a beautiful hairstyle made for the shoot. I didn’t know what to do, and Father Vasily volunteered to replace me. Before the Epiphany, he gave a sermon, and he said it in such a way that the woman was moved and no longer thought about any hairstyle. that Father Vasily preached a new sermon every time before Epiphany.

When Father Vasily was once asked what he would like more than anything in the world, he answered:

"To die on Easter while the bells ring."

On April 5/18, 1993, Hieromonk Vasily, together with two other Optina monks, accepted martyrdom. All of them were buried in the brotherly cemetery. In 2005, a chapel was erected over the graves of the new martyrs.

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Hieromonk Gennady (†March 18/31, 1846) On March 18, 1846, the 73-year-old elder Hieromonk Gennady died in the Optina Monastery. He came from Moscow merchants. Initially he entered the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery in 1800, from where in 1810 he was transferred to

From the book Holy Leaders of the Russian Land author Poselyanin Evgeniy Nikolaevich

Hieromonk Vassian (†May 28/June 10, 1859) He came from economic peasants in one of the villages close to the Moscow Peshnoshsky Monastery. Also in youth often visited this monastery and, having learned to read and write and sing there, received at the same time the first seeds of aspiration

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Hieromonk Job (†January 14/27, 1843) Father Job, one of the Tula gunsmiths, was distinguished by his straightforward character and clear outlook on things. In 1813, he first entered the bishop's house in his city of Tula with His Grace Ambrose (Protasov), known for the gift of eloquence, when he was

From the author's book

From the author's book

Hieromonk Sebastian Once I had the opportunity to spend the night with a village priest - he asked the priest’s house, he advised me to go to the cemetery: “That’s where he lives.” I found the cemetery: on the left behind the gate is a church, on the right is a stolen house. As soon as I knocked, the light came on, as if I

From the author's book

Invasion of Batu Martyrs: princes Roman, Oleg, Theodore, Eupraxia, John of Ryazan. Vladimir, Vsevolod, Mstislav, Agafya, Maria, Christina, Theodora of Vladimir. St. Grand Duke George Vsevolodovich, St. Vasily Konstantinovich Rostovsky, Vasily Kozelsky After death

Archimandrite Vasily (Pasquier Pierre Marie Daniel), was born on March 24, 1958 in the city of Cholay, western France. His parents Pasquier Henri Eugene-Pierre, born in 1924, and Gousseau Martha Marie Jeanne, born in 1920, were French employees by nationality. Pierre grew up in a deeply religious Catholic family and was the seventh of nine children.
In 1967, the family was left without a mother.

In 1965 he entered the primary school, and in 1970 to a comprehensive college. As a ten-year-old boy, he helped the priest in the church during Sunday services and, in turn, at everyday early liturgies before school, and in his free time he worked for his father in his office as a courier. As a young man, Pierre thought a lot about his life and at the age of 15, religious feelings awakened in his soul. In the last year of his studies, he walked a lot to monasteries, visited homes for the disabled, orphanages, feeling an interest in nature, and studied ecology.

In 1976, after graduating from a general education college (with a special focus in biology and natural history), he left home to work on a farm and entered the agricultural technical school in the city of Castelnodary, in the south of France. At that time, Pierre was attracted to Orthodox theology through reading, and he developed a new worldview.
In 1978, he entered the Greek Catholic community of Epiphany in the city of Limoux in the south of France, where he served as assistant farm manager.

In 1979 he graduated from an agricultural technical school, majoring in agriculture, livestock breeding, and economics.

He did not serve in the army due to religious convictions. He was preparing to take monastic vows.

On August 6, 1980, he took monastic vows with the name Vasily, in honor of St. Basil the Great, whose feast day is January 1/14, and in the same year he was transferred to the Greek Catholic monastery of “John the Baptist in the Desert” in Jerusalem. In the fall of 1980, the Lord vouchsafed to meet Benedict, Patriarch of Jerusalem (Greek-Orthodox Church), who was able to convince Father Basil to join Orthodoxy. I was honored to attend the burial of Patriarch Benedict. After the election of the new Patriarch Diodorus, having attended a reception with him, Father Vasily’s desire to become Orthodox grew stronger.

In 1981 - 1986 he studied at the Theological School at the monastery "John the Baptist in the Wilderness" with a course in philosophy, 1984 - 1987 he studied in absentia at the Orthodox Theological Institute named after St. Sergius in Paris, but did not complete his studies.

In 1987, after an attempt to leave the monastery in order to convert to Orthodoxy, the monastery authorities sent monk Vasily to the monastery compound in France to improve agriculture.

In 1988 he completed advanced training courses in cheese making. On January 20, 1990, returning to Jerusalem, he was ordained hierodeacon by Archbishop Lutfi of Tarsky, Patriarchal Vicar of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. While attending the obedience of a guest at the monastery of “John the Baptist in the Wilderness”, I met many bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, including Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad, the future Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Metropolitan Gideon of Stavropol and Baku, Archbishop Alexander of Kostroma and Galich and Bishop Barnabas, Archbishop of Cheboksary and Chuvash. The latter guided Hierodeacon Vasily on the path of truth and helped him make a firm decision. After that, in October 1993, Father Vasily left the Greek Catholic monastery of “John the Baptist in the Hermitage” in Jerusalem and found refuge in the Russian Gornensky Convent, where, with the help of Hieromonk Mark (Golovkov), now Archbishop of Yegoryevsky, he wrote a petition to His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, about acceptance into communion with the Russian Orthodox Church.
On January 9, 1994 he arrived in Moscow and on March 15, 1994 he was accepted into canonical communion with the Orthodox Church with the blessing of His Holiness Alexy II. Since that day, Father Vasily has been a cleric of the Moscow Patriarchate, and upon joining, from April 18, 1994 to August 31, 1994, he underwent monastic obedience in the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery.
In the fall of 1994, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', he arrived in the Cheboksary-Chuvash diocese at the disposal of the Archbishop of Cheboksary and Chuvash Varnava, who on September 12, 1994 appointed Father Vasily to the post of deacon at the Church of the Nativity of Christ. Nikulino, Poretsky district, Chuvash Republic. On May 15, 1995, Hierodeacon Vasily was ordained hieromonk by His Eminence Barnabas, Archbishop of Cheboksary and Chuvashia and appointed second priest, and on October 6, 1995, rector of the same church.
On July 25, 1996, by decision of Archbishop Varnava, he was relieved of his post as rector of the Church of the Nativity of Christ. Nikulino of the Poretsky District of the Chechen Republic and was appointed a resident of the Holy Trinity Monastery in the city of Alatyr, Chuvash Republic, as a dean.

With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', on March 30, 1997, Archbishop Varnava of Cheboksary and Chuvashia placed a golden pectoral cross on Father Vasily.

On April 26, 1998, he was elevated to the rank of abbot. May 13, 1998 By presidential decree Russian Federation B. N. Yeltsin received Russian citizenship and a passport. On September 30, 1998, Archbishop Varnava of Cheboksary and Chuvash was appointed to the position of economist of the Alatyr Holy Trinity Monastery.
On November 23, 1998, by decree of the Archbishop of Cheboksary and Chuvash Varnava, he was relieved of his post as housekeeper of the Alatyr Holy Trinity Monastery and, without expulsion from the brethren of the monastery, appointed senior clergyman of the Alatyr Kiev-Nicholas Novodevichy Monastery.
On May 19, 2003, by decree of Metropolitan Varnava of Cheboksary and Chuvashia, he was relieved of his post as priest of the Alatyr Kiev-Nicholas Novodevichy Monastery and appointed rector of the Church of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God in the city of Alatyr, for the restoration of this temple.

With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II was awarded the Mace on May 22, 2003. On January 16, 2005, he was awarded the Bishop’s Certificate in connection with the consecration of the temple.

On April 29, 2006, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', he was awarded the Cross with decorations.

On March 13, 2008, he was awarded a Certificate of Honor from the Ministry of Culture, National Affairs, Information Policy and Archival Affairs of the Chuvash Republic, for many years of fruitful work in the formation of spiritual and moral values ​​of society, a significant contribution to the restoration Orthodox Church Iveron Icon of the Mother of God of the year Alatyr and on March 24, 2008 the Bishop's Charter, in connection with the fiftieth anniversary.

On March 27, 2008, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', Archbishop Alexander of Kostroma and Galich was awarded the Order of the Kostroma Diocese of the Holy Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates, patron saint of the city of Kostroma.

On February 3, 2009, by order of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, he was awarded the Silver Medal “For his contribution to the development of the penal system of Russia”, for spiritual nourishment and the construction of a temple in correctional colony No. 2 in the city of Alatyr, Chuvash Republic.

In November 2009, he was appointed acting abbot of the Cheboksary Holy Trinity Monastery.

On December 25 of the same year, he was appointed by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to the position of abbot of the Cheboksary Holy Trinity Monastery of the Cheboksary-Chuvash diocese.