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 in any way 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 that Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius participated three times 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 Uspensky convent, and I’m in the men’s. 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, depriving latest topics many wonderful facts that have come down to us thanks to these 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 Aristocles, in honor of the Cypriot martyr Aristocles of Salamis.
On December 2, 1884, 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, monastic 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 three-story stone 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 a constant correspondence with the elders of St. Panteleimon's monastery on 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 for 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, the weak and those burdened with various burdens of everyday adversity 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 sacrificial love for others, for the holiness of life, the Lord granted St. Aristocles great power 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 of 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, but 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 Aristoclius 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 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. 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, having accidentally met a funeral procession not far from her home, having learned that the elder Aristokle was being buried, remembered the prophecy spiritual father.
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. 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 simply 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 it’s not time 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 mother’s hand, gave him a piece of prosphora, anointed him with oil, and so, rejoicing, he let 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 courtyard, 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 her sick daughter to him 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 Aristokle 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 famous Athonite elders Abbot Macarius (Sushkov) and Hieroschemamonk Jerome (Solomentsev), he took on a great angelic image.
The ties of spiritual kinship between Holy Mount Athos and Orthodox Russia. 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, in difficult years revolution, wars and persecution, to his grave at the Danilovsky cemetery in large quantities people flocked, 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
Athonite and Greek elders
Venerable Aristocles of Athos
(1838–1918)
Elder Aristoklios of Athos
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 the blessing of his mother, 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. For more than a quarter of a century, Hieromonk Aristoklius labored in the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on the Holy Mountain, and in the mid-1880s he was sent to Moscow to the metochion 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. Fire-damaged buildings were restored using generous donations from Russians. ancient monasteries, 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 decreased 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 Vladimir icon Holy Mother of God.
The funeral service for Hieroschemamonk Aristoclius 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, having accidentally met a funeral procession not far from her home, having learned that the elder Aristokle was being buried, 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 simply 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 mother’s hand, gave him a piece of prosphora, anointed him with oil, and so, rejoicing, he let 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 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 courtyard, 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 her sick daughter to him 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!”
In 2004, 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. On September 6, 2004, Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius was canonized for local church veneration in the city of Moscow and the Moscow diocese. The memory of the Monk Aristoclius, the Elder of Moscow, is celebrated on the day of his presentation - August 24/September 6.
Troparion, tone 4:
You flourished like a phoenix holy mount Afonstey/ and like cedar trees in the lands of Russia you have multiplied,/ having acquired the Holy Spirit through the purity of a God-pleasing life/ and the peace of Christ has reigned in your soul,/ Reverend Father Aristocles,/ pray to Christ God/ for our souls to be saved.
Kontakion, tone 8:
You have risen as a new star in the church sky, / having walked the path of a arduous monastic life, / through deeds of virtues you have gained incorruptible crowns, / and you have courageously passed away from the field of obedience in the city of Moscow. / In the same way, Christ God has enriched you with the gift of miracles, / Reverend Father Aristocles, / Athos praise and adornment of the Russian land, / remember us who honor your holy memory.
Venerable Silouan of Athos
(1866–1938)
In 1866, in the Tambov province of the Lebedinsky district of the Shov volost in the village of Shovskoye, a boy was born into the pious family of the peasant Ivan Antonov; at holy baptism the child received the name Simeon. The large and friendly family lived poorly, but the father, like many Russian peasants, loved to show hospitality to strangers. The father talked with them about God and Christian life, and these conversations made a strong impression on the receptive soul of the youth.
From childhood, Simeon worked together with his elders, helping his father in the field and his brothers with construction work on the landowner’s estate to the best of his ability. The life of the Antonov family is inextricably linked with the temple, a visit to which instilled in Simeon from infancy a sense of reverence for the word of God, and raised him in the spirit of Christian humility and other virtues. A few years later, the young man began to ask his parents to let him go to the monastery; he wanted to take monastic vows at the Pechersk Lavra. The father insisted that his son first enter military service and only after completing it decide who he should be.
Simeon did his military service in St. Petersburg. In the army, the gift of his wise advice manifested itself with particular force, following which many found peace of mind and well-being. Having left for service with living faith and a deep feeling of repentance, Simeon never forgot about God. By that time, the place of his future monastic exploits had been miraculously determined - Holy Mount Athos. He often thought about monastic life and, wanting to somehow help the inhabitants of the monastery, several times sent the accumulated money to Athos. Shortly before the end of his military service, Simeon decides to ask for the prayers and blessings of Father John of Kronstadt - Holy Righteous John. Not finding him, he leaves a note with the words: “Father, I want to become a monk; pray that the world will not detain me.”
Many years later, the ascetic would write: “O great Father John, our prayer book! I thank you, good and holy shepherd, for for the sake of your prayers I parted with the world and came to Mount Athos, where I saw great mercy from God.”
Simeon stayed at home for only one week. Having collected gifts for the monastery and what was necessary for the journey, he said goodbye to everyone and went to Athos. In the fall of 1892, the young man arrived at the Holy Mountain and was accepted as a novice into the Russian monastery of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon.
The life of the elder in the monastery was simple, accessible and outwardly unremarkable: at first his obedience was hard work at the mill, which was replaced by the busy work of a housekeeper, managing workshops, a food warehouse, and in his declining years - a trading store.
Having gone through the initial monastic trials, in 1896 he was tonsured into the mantle with the name Silouan, and in 1911 into the schema, leaving his previous name.
He did not have his own disciples and was not in obedience to any particular elder. “It’s hard to live without an elder,” he said later. “An inexperienced soul does not understand the will of God, and it will endure many sorrows before it learns humility.” He himself, like most monks, was brought up in the atmosphere of the spiritual tradition common to the monks of Athos, spending, as required by the centuries-old way of life in the monastery, days in the unceasing Jesus Prayer, long services in the temple, fasting and vigils, frequent confession and Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ , reading spiritual books and work.
Having lived for forty-six years in a monastery with a communal charter, the ascetic never sought to go into seclusion or retire to the desert, believing that without the favor of God they in themselves are only auxiliary means, and not the goal of Christian life. While among people, the elder kept his mind and heart from extraneous thoughts, cleansed them of passions to stand before God in prayer, claiming that this was the shortest path to salvation. He prayed a lot and earnestly, resorting mainly to the Jesus Prayer, which soon entered his heart and began to be performed in him incessantly. This gift was received by Elder Silouan from the Most Holy Theotokos after fervent prayer before Her image.
The novice Simeon continued the feat of vigil, fasting and heartfelt prayer, but the spiritual struggle with new temptations - vanity and pride - did not leave him.
The appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ brought the novice the joy of Easter, the Resurrection, a feeling of transition from the darkness of spiritual death to the inexplicable light of life. Once having come to know Divine love by the Holy Spirit, he begins to experience the loss of grace incomparably deeper and more acutely: “Whoever has lost it tirelessly seeks it day and night and is drawn to it. She is lost by us for pride and vanity, for hostility towards a brother, for condemning a brother, for envy, she leaves us for a prodigal thought, for an addiction to earthly things, for all this grace leaves, and the devastated and sad soul then misses God, as our father Adam missed being expelled from paradise.”
Elder Silouan wrote: “The soul that has known God cannot be satisfied with anything on earth, but everything strives for the Lord and cries out like a little child who has lost its mother: my soul misses You, and I am tearfully seeking You.”
Constantly being in asceticism, he abstained from everything and from everything that could interfere with the acquisition of grace: he slept little, in fits and starts, up to two hours a day, sitting on a stool, did not make concessions in fasting and limited himself in food, advising those who turned to him “eat so much that after eating you want to pray”; cut off his will, believing that this brings “great benefit” to the soul. She yearns, prays, cries, being in a struggle to retain grace, but the Divine light, if it returns, does not last long, and then, as before, again leaves the novice. “We suffer for this reason,” the elder explained, “because we do not have humility. The Holy Spirit lives in a humble soul, and He gives the soul freedom, peace, love, bliss.” Acquiring a humble spirit “is a great science that you will not quickly overcome.”
15 years have passed since the Lord appeared to Elder Silouan. His mind is again darkened by spiritual warfare, “attacks” at night. The ascetic later spoke about the mental pain he had to endure: “If the Lord had not first given me to know how much He loves a person, then I would not have endured even one such night, and I had many of them.” .
On one of these nights, with contrition in his heart, he cried out:
God. You see that I want to pray to You with a pure mind, but the demons do not let me. Teach me what I should do so that they don’t bother me?
The proud always suffer from demons,” was his answer.
Lord, teach me what should I do to humble my soul?
And again God’s answer sounded in my heart: “Keep your mind in hell and do not despair.”
According to the elder, the Lord took pity on him and Himself taught how the soul should humble itself and become unapproachable to enemies: when sinful thoughts approach, it recognizes itself as worthy of eternal torment and descends into hell in order to burn out in itself the action of every passion and with pure turn to the Lord in prayer, trusting in the saving effect of Christ’s love and thereby avoiding despair.
This revelation given by the Lord was not only an extremely important practical instruction for the monk Silouan, but also marked the beginning of a new stage in his spiritual life. Gradually, the ascetic’s prayer begins to be dominated by sorrow for a world that does not know God. As the elder explained, people have forgotten the Lord who created them and are looking for their freedom, not realizing that it does not and cannot exist outside the true Source of life. Freedom is only in the Lord, who, by His mercy, gives those who resort to Him the grace of the Holy Spirit. In Him, the Holy Spirit, in His knowledge lies liberation from the slavery of sin and the fear of death.
Once, talking with a hermit monk, the elder asked:
If they put you in heaven and from there you see someone burning in hell fire, will you be at peace?
“What can you do, it’s your own fault,” he heard in response.
Then the elder with a sorrowful face replied: “Love cannot bear this. We need to pray for everyone.”
Elder Silouan had a tender heart, touched by love, filled with sensitivity and responsiveness... The elder was a man of deep, genuine humility, in his work you can read the following lines: “The Lord took pity on me a lot, and made me understand that I should cry all my life. This is the way of the Lord. And now I am writing, feeling sorry for those people who, like me, are proud and therefore suffer. I am writing to teach you humility and find peace in God...
He who came to know God by the Holy Spirit learned humility from Him, and became like his Teacher, Christ the Son of God, and became like Him...
Lord, grant us Your humble Holy Spirit, just as You came to save people and take them to heaven so that they may see Your glory...
Oh, Christ's humility! I know you, but I cannot win you. Your fruits are sweet because they are not of the earth...
When the soul is depressed, how can you kindle a fire in it so that it burns with love every hour? This fire is with God, and the Lord came to earth to give us this fire of grace of the Holy Spirit, and whoever learns humility has it, for the Lord gives His grace to the humble...
Much labor must be put in, and many tears must be shed in order to retain the humble spirit of Christ; and without it, the light of life fades in the soul, and it dies. The body can be dried out by fasting quickly, but it is not easy, and not soon possible, to humble the soul so that it is constantly humble...
Most Holy Mother of the Lord, ask, O Merciful One, for us a humble spirit.
All Saints, you live in heaven, and see the glory of the Lord, and your spirit rejoices - pray that we too may be with you. My soul is drawn to see the Lord, and misses Him in humility, as unworthy of this good.
Merciful Lord, teach us Your humility by the Holy Spirit... He who humbles himself has conquered his enemies.”
In his love for all people, Elder Silouan saw him as similar to the Lord Jesus Christ, who “stretched out his hands on the Cross” to gather everyone. And he lived through the suffering of the whole world, forgetting himself, and there was no end to his prayer, calling on all the peoples of the Earth to know the Lord by the Holy Spirit. According to the deep conviction of the elder, if this happened and people, leaving their hobbies, would rush to God with all their souls, then the face of the Earth would change and the destinies of all people and the whole world would be transformed “in one hour.”
His whole life was a heartfelt prayer “to the point of great tears.”
“The world stands by prayer,” said Elder Silouan, “and when prayer weakens, then the world will perish.” In this prayerful aspiration, he achieved such an internal state in which he foresaw what was happening and saw the future of man, revealing the deep secrets of his soul and calling everyone to take the path of saving repentance. Continuous prayer did not leave the ascetic until the last hour of his earthly wanderings.
At the end of November 1987, the glorification of Elder Silouan took place. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', the name of St. Silouan of Athos was included in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. Memorial Day of St. Silouan of Athos - September 11/24.
part 1
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 Russian state. Despite the deep spiritual connection of Russian Orthodoxy with the Holy Mountain, the official representations of Athos in major 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 his fate; the same fate befell many others. Orthodox churches and monasteries, both in Moscow and throughout Russia. The buildings located on the territory of the compound were given over for 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 was 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, from 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 His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon (Bellavin) and Bishop Tryfon (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 Danilovsky 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 Aristoclius 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 others. 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
Baptized into the world by Alexei, the boy was born into a family of pious peasants in Orenburg. Almost nothing is known about his father, except that he died when his son was only a few years old. His mother, Matrona, played a significant role in the boy’s life.
When, at the age of 10, as a result of illness, her son lost his legs, she constantly prayed for help from St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to heal her beloved child. She made a vow to go to a monastery when Alexei reached adolescence, and to dedicate him to God.
It is not surprising that on the feast of St. Nicholas (December 6), Alexei was miraculously healed. When the young man grew up, Matrona retired to a monastery. After this, the future elder and saint lived in solitude.
in 1876, he went to the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Holy Mount Athos, and on March 11, 1880, he was tonsured into a mantle with the new name Aristoclius, in honor of the Cypriot martyr Aristoclius of Salamis. A short time later - on December 2, 1884, the monk Aristokle was ordained a hierodeacon, and 2 weeks later - a hieromonk. Exactly two years later, Hieromonk Aristoklius was tonsured into the schema without changing his name.
Several years, from 1891 to 1894. Aristoclius was the rector of the Moscow courtyard of the Athos St. Panteleimon monastery. In those years, the monastery was located in a modest city estate on Bolshaya Polyanka Street - it was donated to the monastery in September 1879 by the famous philanthropist Akilina Alekseevna Smirnova. Father Aristoclius not only headed the courtyard. He was at the same time the rector of the chapel of the holy great martyr and healer Panteleimon, while also performing the duties of treasurer. The elder, possessing the gift of insight and healing, received hundreds of people in need of help every day. The elder immediately distributed considerable donations from those who prayed to the suffering, and paid for the education of poor children from these funds.
With the active participation of the elder, the magazine “Soulful Interlocutor” was published at the farmstead in 1888, telling about the life and exploits of Russian monks on the Holy Mountain. He introduced readers to the biographies of Athonite ascetics, and also published letters from the elders to their spiritual children. There were days when the priest received up to a thousand people. And he tried to console everyone with his conversations. Sometimes he would say: “Oh, my beloved children, if you only knew how much I want to save you! I would endure everything for you, may the Lord save you all! Just to lead you to Him! If only you could be saved. After all, 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 your souls.”
To the great sorrow of all who knew Aristoklius of Athos, the elder died on August 26 (September 8, 1918), on the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. The funeral service for Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius was conducted by three bishops at once: Tryphon (Turkestan), Arseny and Joasaph, the rector of the Epiphany Monastery, who at that time was acting as Metropolitan of Moscow.
After the funeral service, Elder Aristoclius was buried in the marble crypt of the tomb of the courtyard. However, in the wake of revolutionary trends, searches and confiscations often took place in the compound. Then the spiritual children of the saint decided to rebury the Elder of Athos, and in 1923 the coffin with his body was reburied at the Danilovsky cemetery in Moscow. The monks carried him out of the tomb, loaded him onto a cart and took him to the Danilovskoye cemetery. According to eyewitnesses, the pigeons, which the elder loved to feed during his lifetime, flocked from all over the city and formed a living cross in the sky. This cross accompanied the elder until his grave.
Canonization, discovery of relics and their location today
In the summer of 2004, the holy relics of the elder were found at the Danilovsky cemetery.
On September 6, 2004, Elder Aristoclius was glorified among the saints as a locally revered saint of the city of Moscow and the Moscow diocese.
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. From that day to this day, the relics of the saint remain in the Athos courtyard of Moscow. For general reference, not far from the famous high-rise building on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment. You can get there from the Taganskaya metro station.
Miracles of Healing
Through the prayers of the Elder of God Aristoklius of Athos, many miracles, healings of the sick and reprimands of the possessed were performed in the Panteleimon Chapel on Nikolskaya. Often the possessed were brought to Father Aristocles' chapel. And when he scolded them and then anointed them with oil, they squealed, and barked, and whined, and some were literally twisted and shook - it was scary to see. And the priest ordered the demons to leave, and they obeyed him.
Here is one of many examples of healing. One of the parishioners had a very painful hand for several years. And no medicine could relieve the pain. The doctors could not help. She decided to turn to the elder for help. When she came to him, Aristoclius was not entirely healthy and was in his cell. However, he gladly accepted it. And somehow he kept smiling, as if waiting for someone. He blessed her and began to talk to her. He took his hand and began to rub it. He continued to rub, and he smiled, as if he had something comforting, and he could not help but smile with pleasure. Then he left his hand alone, gave him prosphora, anointed him with oil and released him. Since then there has been no pain.
One day, Elder Isaiah became an eyewitness to the resurrection of a dead girl through the prayers of Elder Aristoclius. After the elder’s death, he himself told about this to another elder, Daniil from the Donskoy Monastery. One day a woman came to Aristocles in tears, carrying a dead girl in her arms. She began to tell how they came from Ryazan, because they had heard about the miracles of the elder. She took her sick daughter to him with the hope that the priest would heal her. But on the way the girl died. And now the inconsolable mother begged the elder to revive her child. She sacredly believed in the power of the elder’s prayerful word before the Lord and with great hope expected a miracle from the priest. And the miracle happened! Through the prayers of Elder Aristocles, the girl came to life and was completely healed of her illness. The mother, hugging the revived girl to herself, could hardly find words of gratitude, and only repeated: “God bless you, father!”
And in our time, as in the first centuries of Christianity, amazing miracles occur through prayers to the saints. The rector of the Athos metochion in Moscow, Hegumen Nikon, spoke about one of many similar cases, where the relics of the revered Moscow holy elder Aristokle, the last rector of the Athos metochion during the period of persecution of the Church, who rested in 1918, were transferred from the Danilovsky cemetery. Then the clergy from the Vladimir diocese were present at the celebration, who took with them the blessed oil from the lamp that burned near the relics. Vladimir priest Vladimir Vedernikov handed over the bottle to the parishioners of the local church, the spouses Marina and Alexander, who had a baby with unopened eyes. They were very sad, and the priest, to console the young parents, gave them the shrine and told them 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 evening, Marina’s mother came to him with the joyful news that the child’s eyes had opened after they were anointed with sacred oil.
Prayer to the elder and what they ask him for
O holy servant of God and glorious elder Aristocles, ascetic of the Holy Mountains of Athos and tireless prayer worker of the city of Moscow! Diligently honoring your honorable memory, we fall to your saints with our might and warmth, crying: look upon us, your spiritual children, who seek your help and intercession in troubles, in mental and physical illnesses, healing, in sorrows, consolation and admonition. With your prayers, make our faith unshakable, so that we can be saved from all adversity and the actions of the enemy, keep our hope unashamed, so that we do not fall into despondency in the hour of evil temptations, trying to kindle in us, the cowardly and weak, unfeigned love, so that we do not lift up the works of Christians in vain feat and, following Christ's coming, we will bear the cross of our earthly life in good victory, for you promised that after your death you would hear the petitions of everyone, if they come with faith to your resting place. And now, after you have been glorified by the Church of God, your holy relics have become a guarantee of your love and care for us, who await your intercession before the Throne of the Heavenly King. Ask God Almighty for peace and silence in our country, wise care for the shepherd, observance of vows for the monastics, piety for our people and everything that is useful for salvation. Do not be silent for us, pray in the Trinity to the glorified God, to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
They pray to the Reverend Elder for deliverance from sudden death, as well as for healing from various diseases.
About the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear”, which remained in our church until November 2004
Many people know that by the grace of God she stayed in our church for more than ten years. miraculous icon Mother of God “Quick to Hear” from Athos letter. Now it has been replaced by a newly painted image of the same iconography, but the wondrous appearance of the former icon remains firmly in memory - from it the Lady mercifully looked at us, quick to hear our weak prayers. When looking at the image, one immediately felt that it was overshadowed by special grace.
Parishioners who have come in recent years have questions about the circumstances under which this image left our church. Let's try to tell about the history of the icon what we know ourselves.
At the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. in Moscow there was known a great ascetic, now glorified in the rank of venerable monk, the elder hieroschemamonk Aristoklius, deeply revered by Orthodox Moscow. His great exploits attracted the deep grace of the Holy Spirit to the elder; he was endowed by the Lord with abundant gifts of miracles and healings.
Hieroschemamonk Aristoclius, in the world Alexey Alekseevich Amvrosiev, was born in 1846 in Orenburg. As a teenager he was seriously ill and was bedridden for two years. Medicine was powerless, and his mother, with a fervent plea for help, entrusted her child to the saint and wonderworker Nicholas - from now until the end of the child’s days. The great saint did not disgrace his mother’s prayer, the youth was healed of his illness and for the rest of his life he considered Saint Nicholas his special patron.
When Alexey Alekseevich was widowed, he chose the monastic path and in 1876 entered the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos. In 1880, he took monastic vows with the name Aristoclius, in 1884 he was ordained to the priesthood, and in 1886, Hieromonk Aristoclius accepted the schema. In 1887 Fr. Aristoclius arrives in Moscow, here he becomes the builder of the Athos courtyard on the street. Bolshaya Polyanka. This building has survived to this day. On its top floor a house church was built in honor of the “Quick to Hear” icon of the Mother of God. On the same floor there was also the elder’s cell, where he received visitors; he had several hundred of them a day.
Memories of people who received help and healing through the prayers of Elder Aristoclius have been preserved. The power of his holy prayers was very great. Among the rarest, most amazing cases, one can highlight the healing of a boy born blind, and this miracle was repeated again in our days, after the canonization of the reverend elder, as rector of the Athos metochion in Moscow, abbot Nikon, spoke about in 2005.
Some of those who came heard from his lips prophecies about the fate of Russia, which later came true.
The flock of Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius was enormous, and the ascetic’s labors were immeasurable. Until his death, he did not give up caring for his children and received those who came to him. From 1909 to 1918 O. Aristoclius was the rector of the Athos Chapel in Moscow (now does not exist), and was involved in the care of the Compound, as well as book publishing.
The blessed death of the elder Hieroschemamonk Aristoklius followed on August 24/September 6, 1918. After a painful illness of the legs and dropsy, from which he suffered for many years, the elder died peacefully in his cell. His last gaze was turned to the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear”, hanging opposite the bed...
This icon, by the will of God, remained in our church.
It is not possible to trace the path of the shrine from the terrible atheistic times that followed the death of the hieroschemamonk Aristoklei to the present time. Probably she too was persecuted and persecuted, sharing the fate of many other revered icons. The image was preserved by pious people. The names of the guardians of the shrine are unknown to us.
This icon was given to the Church of St. Nicholas in Klenniki 20 years ago, during its revival. The people who knew the details and circumstances of this event have passed away into eternity.
Several years ago, in 2004, the glorification of the Monk Aristokleus of Athonite took place, the day of whose canonization coincided with the day of his death, September 6 of the new style. The new saint of God entered the ranks of Moscow saints, standing on the spiritual guard of the flock of the capital, which so needed his holy prayers.
After the glorification of Elder Aristoclius, on the day of the transfer of his holy relics - November 13, 2004 - the holy icon that belonged to him was also transferred in a procession to the Church of the Great Martyr Nikita on Shvivaya Hill, where the Athos Metochion is now located in Moscow.
As the late rector of our church, Archpriest Alexander Kulikov, noted in those days, “any icon can become miraculous if people flock to it with faith.”
Nowadays the icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear” resides near the holy relics of the great saint of God, the Venerable Aristoclius of Athos.
We can, with great gratitude to the Mother of God, remember those years when this holy icon of Her was with us - and go to venerate it, asking St. Aristoclius to intercede for us.
Most Holy Theotokos, save us!
Holy Reverend Elder Aristocles, pray to God for us!
Troparion to the icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear", tone 4
To the Mother of God as a father figure, those in trouble,/ and holy icon Let us fall to her now, / calling with faith from the depths of our souls: / soon hear our prayer, O Virgin, / as the One quickly to hear. / For your servants are in need / ready Helper to the imams.
Troparion of St. Aristocles of Athos, tone 4
You have flourished like a phoenix on the holy Mount Athos/ and like a cedar in the lands of Russia you have multiplied,/ having acquired the Holy Spirit through the purity of a God-pleasing life/ and the peace of Christ has reigned in your souls,/ Reverend Father Aristocles,/ pray to Christ God/ for our souls to be saved.
