Instructions from Elder Nikolai Guryanov. Righteous Elder Nikolai (Guryanov)

Video film about the Gracious, Spirit-bearing, visionary elder of our times, about his life, miracles, blessings, spiritual children and prophecies for our times.
Look, understand the providence of God and God's people- such lamps Orthodox faith like Elder Nikolai Guryanov. A very beneficial video, I am sure it will touch your heart and reveal to you the answers to many questions of our time. The film is from a series of five videos “Salt of the Earth”, each of them is about the Gracious and Perspicacious Elders of the last times, and each of them is definitely worthy of attention.
Spirit-bearing elder Nikolai Guryanov (“Salt of the Earth” Film 3)

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Elder Nikolai Guryanov had from the Lord the grace of an experienced confessor and preached the path of salvation, leading without wandering to the Kingdom of God. He said: “The Church of Christ is the Kingdom of God, and it, according to the word of the Savior, is within us, therefore a person needs to acquire Christ in the heart, and not engage in external piety.”
Father accepted and consoled everyone who came to him for help: Orthodox, Catholics, Lutherans, unbaptized... And through his loving and humble heart, God worked miracles - people accepted Christ, our saving Orthodoxy. He was an amazing shepherd who had enormous respect for human freedom. Anyone, even the most fallen. He did not force anyone to do anything, did not read moral teachings, did not surround himself with admirers. He did not separate himself from people and never behaved with arrogance. You could express everything to Father, some even argued with him - and he was not offended and did not stop, giving him the opportunity to ease his soul, and tried to help in a friendly way. In this simplicity of his there was a dazzling greatness of heart! Everything was permeated by it - his smile, his words, his gaze, all his movements. Father repeated to people: “Be always with Christ... Believe in Him undoubtedly! Hold on to the Robes of the Savior and do not be slaves of man.”

What really distinguished Father was that he saw souls at a glance. And not only the souls of those living on earth, but also those who have rested in Eternity, because souls are immortal... The fate of missing people and the afterlife fate of the soul was revealed to him. Father's soul reflected Heaven, the saints of God, the Angelic world, and he occasionally opened the spiritual curtain of the unearthly world. In the last five years, he has said more than once: “I am no longer earthly... I have not been here for a long time. And my head is all at home, already at Home”... He called the Kingdom of Heaven “Home”. How often Father repeated, looking at our bustling world: “I don’t need anything anymore... I’ve been There for a long time... You all keep me on earth with prayer, but it’s time for me to go to Yours... The Tsar is waiting for me, the Empress, my mother...” As evidenced by In such states of the chosen righteous Isaac the Syrian, he “felt with his senses the spiritual things of this age, exceeding human concepts, the understanding of which is possible only by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Once, people who suddenly came in asked Father: “What were you doing just now?” “The elder raised his eyes in surprise, for the question was strange, and answered: “I pray... I always pray.”

In 2001, the spiritual children sat in Father’s cell and reflected on the prophecies of Elder Aristoklius of Athos that they had read about the last times world: “Now we are experiencing the pre-Antichrist time. The Judgment of God over the living has begun, and there will not be a single country on earth, not a single person who will not be affected by this. It started with Russia, and then further... And Russia will be saved... But first God will take away all the leaders so that the Russian people will look only to Him. Everyone will abandon Russia, other powers will abandon it, leaving it to its own devices. This is so that the Russian people trust in the Lord’s help. You will hear that riots will begin in other countries and things like that in Russia, and you will hear about wars, and there will be wars - now, the time is near. Do not be afraid of anything, the Lord will show His wonderful mercy. The end will be through China. There will be some kind of unusual explosion, and a miracle of God will appear. And life will be completely different on earth, but not for very long. The Cross of Christ will shine over the whole world, because our Motherland will be magnified and will be like a beacon in the darkness for everyone.”

Now the Church and Russia are ill. The essence of the disease,” Father lamented, “is that we are deprived of the deep strengthening Grace that pours out onto the Holy Head of the Anointed One of God, and through Him to our subjects, to all of Russia.” “The Anointed One, who governs us with special assistance from the Holy Spirit, the Anointed One, through whom God Himself governs us,” - this is what St. Macarius of Moscow taught. “Such is the power of the Tsar’s charisma!” - reminded the gracious Elder.
Father considered one of the main troubles to be a misunderstanding of the nature of Autocracy. Especially the clergy. With contrition of heart he said that the Church, the guardian of the Royal Grace of Confirmation, did not protect the Tsar and remained silent, most of the clergy renounced and betrayed. The rebellion against the Holy Anointed One was not condemned on behalf of the Church. They remained silent... “And now,” Father Nikolai noted bitterly, “everyone must bear penance... Especially the clergy. Redemptive penance for rejecting the Tsar. And if it weren't for the Pain of the Cross Royal Family“Who knows what would have happened to all of us, to the Russian Church”...

Constantly returning in conversations to the general falling away from the Faith, he said: “But one cannot think that Rus' has lost its strong Faith in God through the fault of some one person or group of people, the guilt is common to all, we all suffer... Most of all, it was the fault of the clergy, the priesthood, which, forgetting about Heavenly, clung to the earth. They allowed the atheist sages to commit lawlessness against the people and the King.”
The Talab recluse lamented: “The people are sleeping, the clergy is sleeping. Only the Church can reveal and testify in these apocalyptic times to the Truth about the Tsar and the Royal Family.”
He often repeated: “Reverence for the King and Royal Power– The Gospel commandment, which is given to all Christians, and it is a sin to break it. Condemning God's Anointed is a sin against the Lord. For this there may be a terrible punishment from God for the Church.”
“Without true repentance there is no true glorification,” he said, “The Lord will not grant Russia a Tsar until we truly repent for allowing us to denigrate and ritually torture Royal Family to Gentiles. There must be spiritual awareness."

“Prayer to Tsar Nicholas is the spiritual shield of Russia. He has against the devil's servants great power God's The demons are terribly afraid of the Tsar,” said the Elder. He blessed the prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, with prayers Royal Martyrs have mercy on us sinners and save the Russian land.”
“The sacrifice of Tsar Nicholas is a complete co-crucifixion with Christ, a sacrifice for Holy Rus'...”
“The Holy King did not renounce; He has no sin of renunciation. He acted like true Christian, humble Anointed of God. We need to bow down at His feet for His mercy towards us sinners. It was not He who denied, but He who was rejected.”
“A sword is constantly hanging over Russia terrible war, and only the prayer of the Holy Tsar Nicholas averts the wrath of God from us. We must ask the Tsar so that there is no war. He loves and pities Russia. If only you knew how He cries for us there!”

The Blessed Elder spoke about what is visible through the eyes of a soul purified by suffering. The angelic world, the world of dark spirits, was clearly seen by his eye. It was unbearably painful to hear the elder’s revelations about the bloody torment of the Royal Angels: he said that the Children were tortured in front of the speechless Holy Sufferers, the Royal Youth was especially tortured... The Queen did not utter a word. The Emperor turned white all over. Father cried: “Lord! What did they do to them all! Worse than any torment! The angels could not mature! The angels wept over what they had done to Them! The earth wept and shook... There was darkness... They tortured, chopped with terrible axes and burned, and drank the ashes... With tea... They drank and laughed... And they suffered themselves. The names of those who did this have not been revealed. We don’t know them... They did not love and do not love Russia, they have satanic malice... After all, they drank Their Holy Blood... They drank and were afraid to become sanctified: after all, the Royal Blood is Holy. We must pray to the Holy Sufferer, cry, beg to forgive everyone... We don’t know their names. But the Lord knows everything!”

Another video: “Elder Nikolai Guryanov. A conversation about the elder with his cell attendant.”

On Lake Pskov there is an island named Zelit. During four decades The rector of the Church of St. Nicholas located on it was the now deceased Archpriest Father Nikolai Guryanov. Through his service to God and people, he gained fame as a wise and perspicacious elder, to whom Orthodox believers from all over the country came for advice and help.

What is eldership?

Has been rooted in Russian Orthodoxy since ancient times special shape service to God, called eldership. This is a type of activity that includes the spiritual guidance of believers, carried out by God's chosen people - the elders. As a rule, they are persons of clergy rank, but the history of the church knows examples when laymen also played this role. Moreover, the very concept of an elder does not imply an age characteristic, but a spiritual Grace sent by God to carry out this feat.

People chosen by the Lord for such a high service are often endowed with the ability to contemplate and see with their inner gaze the spiritual makeup of each individual person. This gives them the opportunity, with amazing accuracy, to give everyone who turns to them for help and spiritual guidance the only true advice.

Church Choir Director's Family

The future elder Nikolai Guryanov, whose predictions about the future of Russia have become famous these days, was born in 1909 in the family of a regent church choir, who lived in the village of Chudskie Zahody, St. Petersburg province, Alexei Ivanovich Guryanov. Nicholas had three brothers who inherited from their father musical abilities, the eldest of whom Mikhail even taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

But their talent was not destined to develop - they all died during the First World War. The head of the family, Nikolai Alekseevich’s father, passed away in 1914, and only his mother Ekaterina Stepanovna was granted longevity by the Lord. She lived until 1969, helping her son carry out his pastoral ministry.

Failed students

Already in the years Soviet power Nikolai graduated from the Pedagogical College and then entered the Leningrad Pedagogical Institute. But he was soon expelled because he found the courage to publicly oppose the closure of one of the city churches. This happened at the end of the twenties, and the whole country was engulfed in another anti-religious campaign. With his desperate act, he was unable to stop the machine of atheistic obscurantism, but he lost the opportunity to continue his studies and came to the attention of the GPU authorities.

To earn food for himself, Nikolai was forced to give private lessons in biology, physics and mathematics, since he had sufficient training in these subjects. But the main thing for him remained the church. From 1928 to 1931 he served as a psalm-reader in various churches in Leningrad and the region.

Years of imprisonment and work in Tosno

The policy of persecution of the church, pursued by the communists, involved, first of all, repression of its ministers, many of whom ended up in prisons and camps. Nikolai Guryanov was no exception. He was arrested for religious propaganda and, while awaiting trial, spent several months in the notorious Leningrad camp and then was sent to the Syktyvkar camp, which in those years was one of the elements of the vast there, working in construction railway, he suffered severe injuries to both legs, which left him disabled for life.

After serving five years behind bars and returning to Leningrad, the repressed cleric was unable to obtain city registration and settled in the Tosnensky district. Fortunately, there was an acute shortage of teaching staff there, and Guryanov was hired to work at a rural school, despite a criminal record and lack of a diploma. He worked as a teacher until the start of the war.

When general mobilization was announced in the country, Nicholas was not accepted into the army due to his disability. They didn’t even give him the opportunity to work in the rear - his recent conviction made him an outcast. When the front approached Leningrad, Nikolai found himself in occupied territory, where, as in previous years, he served as a psalm-reader in one of the churches.

Acceptance of the priesthood and service in Baltic churches

During the years of occupation, Guryanov finally decided to devote his life to serving God. At the beginning of February 1942, he was ordained a deacon, and a week later to the priesthood. He accepted this rank of celibacy, that is, he gave it until the end of his days. Metropolitan Sergius (Voskresensky), who found himself in occupation, also performed the sacrament over him. Having completed theological courses in the same year, Nikolai Guryanov (elder) was sent to Riga, where he served as a priest in the Holy Trinity Monastery for women, and then spent some time as a charter director at the Vilnius Holy Spirit Monastery.

From 1943 to 1958, the period of his ministry in Lithuania lasted in the Orthodox Church of the village of Gegobrosty. There, Father Nikolai was elevated to the rank of archpriest. The memoirs of one of his parishioners have been preserved, in which she writes that Father Nikolai was always distinguished by extraordinary inner kindness and friendliness, rare even for people of clergy.

He knew how to involve people in worship, performing all the prescribed actions with inspiration and beauty. For the parishioners of the church where the priest served, he was a model of truly Christian life. Not being a monk, Father Nikolai was a true ascetic, following Christian norms both in prayer and in his relationship with people.

A prediction that determined future life

Nikolai Guryanov knew how to combine parish service with study. During his stay in Lithuania, he graduated from the Vilna Seminary in 1951, and then continued his studies at the correspondence department of the Leningrad Theological Academy.

According to the recollections of people who knew him closely, having already completed his education, in 1958 Father Nikolai visited a certain elder, whose name remained unknown, and he revealed to him the place that the Lord had intended for future service, and where he had to arrive as soon as possible.

It was on the received in Soviet period the name of a prominent communist Zilat. Having submitted an application to the diocesan administration and receiving a favorable response, Father Nikolai arrived at the indicated place, where he spent the next forty years in continuous service until his death.

Difficulties of the first years

It is difficult to even imagine all the difficulties that the arriving priest faced in the new place. This was a period when the country was engulfed by Khrushchev’s anti-religious campaigns, and the media did not stop trumpeting the imminent victory over obscurantism - as they called the faith that underlies the entire history of our Motherland. Therefore, when Nikolai Guryanov (the elder) arrived on the island and settled with his mother on the outskirts of the village, he was greeted with suspicious looks.

However, very soon his gentleness, meekness, and most importantly, goodwill towards people erased this veil of alienation that arose at the beginning. The church in which he was to serve was then in a dilapidated state, and, having no the slightest support On the part of the diocesan authorities, the priest himself had to find funds for its restoration. With his own hands he laid bricks, re-roofed, painted and performed all other necessary work, and when services began in the renovated building, he baked prosphora himself.

Life in a fishing village

But, in addition to fulfilling his church duties, Father Nikolai devoted a lot of time to helping everyone he could provide. Since the male population of the village was a fishing team, and their families did not see their breadwinners for a long time, Father Nikolai did not hesitate to help women with housework, he could look after the children or sit with the sick and elderly. This is how the future elder Nikolai Guryanov gained the trust and then the love of his fellow villagers.

The biography of this man is subsequently inseparable from the island where by God's will he was destined to accomplish his feat, and where, through his labors, tens and hundreds of people, torn from it by the godless authorities, were returned to the bosom of the church. It was a difficult journey. In the first years of his stay on the island, the priest had to serve in an empty church. The residents of the village loved and respected him, but did not go to church. Bit by bit, the Word of God had to be brought into the consciousness of these people before this good seed sprouted.

A miracle revealed through the prayer of a righteous man

During that period, which was the sixties, the persecution of the church especially intensified; under pressure from the authorities, one of the village residents wrote a denunciation against the priest. The commissioner who arrived was rude and rude to the priest, and in the end announced that he would take him away the next day. Father Nikolai Guryanov (the elder) packed his things and spent the whole night in prayer.

What happened next is considered by some to be a miracle, others - by a coincidence, but only in the morning a real storm arose on the lake, which was quiet at this time of year, and continuation of three for days the island was cut off from the mainland. When the elements subsided, the authorities somehow forgot about the priest and did not touch him in the future.

The beginning of elder ministry

In the seventies, Elder Nikolai Guryanov, whose predictions came true in an amazing way, acquired unusually wide fame. People from all over the country came to see him, and he did not know a moment of peace. Everyone was indelibly impressed by the external manifestation of the gifts that were bestowed upon him by the Lord in abundance.

For example, referring to completely strangers, he unmistakably called their names, pointed out their long-forgotten sins, which he could not have known about, warned about the dangers that threatened them, gave instructions on how to avoid them, and did much more that defies rational explanation. It is also impossible to count the people to whom he restored health, begging God for healing, sometimes even in cases where medicine was powerless.

Wise mentor and teacher

But the main thing of his service was the help that the priest provided to people who wanted to change their lives, arranging it on truly Christian principles. Without indulging in general discussions and avoiding unnecessary words, he knew how to give a person specific instructions that pertained to him personally.

At the same time, gaining insight inner world everyone with whom he had to communicate, and seeing a lot that is stored in the hidden corners of the soul and carefully hidden from others, the elder knew how to talk about it with extraordinary tact, without causing moral trauma to a person, much less humiliating his dignity. This side of his gift is evidenced by many who visited the island of Zalit.

Elder Nikolai Guryanov was, in the opinion of many of his admirers, perhaps the only truly perspicacious elder in the entire country. His ability to see what is hidden from view ordinary people was so developed that in the nineties he more than once helped both individuals and government agencies searching for missing people.

Universal recognition

During the period of perestroika, when the state policy towards the church radically changed, the elders of Russia received greater freedom in their service. Nikolai Guryanov was one of those whose names were then often mentioned by means mass media. This, of course, increased the number of his admirers who came to the island, and often stayed there for a long time.

Nikolai Guryanov (the elder) acquired special authority after another of our most famous ascetics, Father, who then labored in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, announced him throughout the country. He described Father Nikolai as a carrier God's Grace, who endowed him with the gifts of insight, wisdom and meekness.

Then, in the late nineties, the predictions of Elder Nikolai Guryanov about Russia became public. They sounded in response to a question from one of the visitors who wanted to know what awaits the country after the end of B.N.’s reign. Yeltsin. The elder was a man of few words, and what he said, apparently, conceals a meaning that we, today’s residents of Russia, are not given the opportunity to fully understand.

Elder Nikolai Guryanov: predictions about the future of Russia

When asked who would replace President B.N., who was then in power. Yeltsin, he replied that he would be a military man, and he turned out to be right, since the current head of state really has military rank. But the meaning of his further words remains a mystery to us, and it is difficult to understand what Elder Nikolai Guryanov meant. The predictions he made about the future of Russia that day foreshadowed the country's future rule, which he likened to communist rule. According to him, the church will again be persecuted, but this will not last long.

The elder ended on a very optimistic note, predicting the coming of the Orthodox Tsar to our world. When asked when this would happen, he said that most of those present would live to see that day. This is the answer Elder Nikolai Guryanov gave about the future of Russia. Without allowing even a shadow of doubt about the validity of his words, we nevertheless note that V.V. Putin, who headed the country after B.N. Yeltsin left the presidential post, to a greater extent corresponds to the image of an Orthodox king rather than a persecutor of the faith, perhaps this is what the elder had in mind.

During the years of his reign, the church was fully revived after decades of atheism, which dominated the country and was the main principle state ideology. What, then, was the elder talking about? We can only guess about this.

It has been suggested more than once that Nikolai Guryanov (the elder), whose prophecies today cause such open bewilderment, actually saw in those days the new persecutions prepared for Russian Church. It is possible that the move would have led to this historical events. But, through the prayers of zealots of the faith, one of whom, undoubtedly, was Father Nicholas himself, the Lord showed great mercy, saving Russia from the troubles that it had experienced for seven decades. As a result, the elder’s prophecies came true, but the Lord, by His indescribable love for mankind, saved us from a repetition of the nightmare that gripped the country in the 20th century.

In addition to the prophecies mentioned above, Father Nikolai gained fame for the instructions that he gave to people who turned to him for advice and help. Much of what he said was preserved in the notes made by his admirers who came to the island of Zalit.

Elder Nikolai Guryanov first of all taught to live and pray to God as if one were destined to die tomorrow, and, having appeared before the Lord, to give Him an answer in one’s deeds. This, he said, would help cleanse the soul of filth and prepare oneself for the transition to eternity. In addition, Father Nikolai taught us to treat everything that surrounds us with love, because all this is nothing more than the creation of God. He called on non-believers to treat them without condemnation, with pity, and to constantly pray to God to deliver them from this devilish darkness. Visitors received many other wise and useful instructions from him.

Posthumous veneration of Elder Nicholas

Like many previously deceased elders, Archpriest Nikolai Guryanov, after his death on August 24, 2002, began to be revered by many in our country as a saint, whose canonization is only a matter of time. On the day of his funeral, more than three thousand people gathered on Zalit Island to pay their last respects to his memory. And although many years have passed since then, the number of admirers of the elder has not decreased.

In this regard, words spoken to others are remembered the most famous representative Russian eldership, by the Venerable Father Nektariy, spoken by him shortly before the closure of Optina Hermitage by the Bolsheviks. He taught us not to be afraid of anything in this earthly life and to always pray to the departed elders, since, standing before the Throne of God, they pray for us, and the Lord will heed their words. Just like those elders, Father Nikolai Guryanov in the Kingdom of Heaven intercedes with the Almighty for those whom he left in this corruptible world.

It is not surprising that throughout his life the humble servant of God, Archpriest Father Nikolai Guryanov (elder), earned the love and memory of hundreds of thousands of his admirers. The island, which was his home for the last forty years of his life, today has become both his monument and a place where Orthodox believers come to worship him.

Soon after the death of the elder, they established a society of zealots of his memory, whose members are already carrying out work aimed at glorifying Father Nicholas as a saint. None of the members of society doubt that this event will take place sooner or later, and today they call it nothing more than Reverend Nicholas Pskovoezersky.

Archpriest Nikolai Rogozin is considered by many to be a holy elder.
And how can one not consider it as such? The priest helped many during his lifetime, and many miracles were performed after his repose. His relics were found incorruptible.

Father Nikolai was born on December 19, 1898, on Nikolai’s day. He grew up in the same place where he was born - in the pious peasant family of Guryan and Matrona, in the village of Verkhturka, not far from the Belogorsky Monastery, which he often visited in his youth. He graduated from three classes of a parochial school, and at the age of 11 began to study shoemaking. In 1917, he got married, and soon, at nineteen years old, he was drafted into the Red Army. When asked why he went to the Reds, the priest answered: “And I knew from Scripture that the Reds would win.” However, Father Nikolai did not shed a drop of human blood, because he spent his entire service in a shoemaker's workshop.
Returning home, he did not join the collective farm and had two daughters.

On new government I looked at her as if she had been allowed by God for our sins.
In 1920, he made a vow to serve the Lord, however, he was able to fulfill his vow only after the Great Patriotic War. He was given reservations from conscription to the front because of serious illness hearts. He loved the temple and visited it very often, without fear of persecution.

From 1953 he served as a psalm-reader, and 2 years later, at the age of 57, he was ordained priest by Archbishop John Lavrinenko and sent to Chusovskie Gorodoki to the Church of All Saints, where he served until the end of his life.

Father was a great faster, non-covetous and man of prayer. The priest’s family lived very poorly, because he invested all the money he received in the church. When they asked him how this was possible, he answered: “If I don’t invest, what kind of taxes are there, then the church will be closed. How will people be? After all, then there will be those who are not inveterate and those who are not baptized.” In all the years of service, the priest had never been on vacation, he was afraid that without him someone might die and they would bury the uninveterable, or something else would happen, even he could only come to his daughter for the night, and what if they called someone, what if someone feels bad.

One woman told the priest’s granddaughter, and it seemed like he himself told her: one day he was going with gifts to a sick person, there was snow all around and a narrow path. A huge dog meets him on this path. And don’t miss them. The priest says to the dog: “Dog, let me through, I’m coming with the Holy Gifts.” The dog went down into the snow. And when the priest passed and looked back, the dog bowed to him.
He did not begin the Liturgy until the air and the coverings on the service vessels began to move of their own accord, which was a clear sign inspirations of grace.

One day the priest was seen leaving the church after the service and began to rise into the air. He rose high above the temple, approximately to the height of a five-story building. This was the prayer book.
For more than 20 years after this, Father Nikolai was the rector of the All Saints Church in Chusovskie Gorodoki. A modest rural priest had spiritual children all over Russia.
At one time, Father Nikolai was very famous. The old generation of clergy still remembers him. There are many letters left from him. Corresponded with more than 200 recipients. Among them: Metropolitan Zinovy, Venerable Kuksha, Schema-Abbot Savva, Schema-Archimandrite Andronik Glinsky, Archimandrite John Krestyankin. In these letters, every line is filled with love, humility and faith.

December 16 is the day of remembrance of Archpriest Nikolai Rogozin, whom everyone considers a holy elder. And how can one not consider it as such? The priest helped many during his lifetime, and many miracles were performed after his repose.

In 2003, during reburial, his incorruptible relics were found.

Now the relics of Father Nicholas lie in the crypt under the cover of the altar of the Church of All Saints on Krasnaya Gorka.

The Lord provides for us in a wonderful way. Despite the fact that doctors determined Fr. Nikolai's life limit was 6 months; Father served for 26 years for the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It was at this bench that I appeared to the priest more than once. Mother of God. Holy Lady she promised that this place would not become scarce, and over time there would be a monastic monastery here. Nowadays the Kazan St. Tryphon women's hermitage is set up here.

One of the shrines of the monastery is the grave of the perspicacious elder Archpriest Nikolai Ragozin. He was a wonderful shepherd who acquired the gifts of healing, expelling evil spirits, and clairvoyance. Archpriest Nikolai Ragozin loved the Holy Mountain very much. Now this Mountain is also called Miteinaya Mountain, after the name of blessed Miteika, who prayed here at night.
Father Nikolai served on Miteinaya Gora for almost a quarter of a century - from 1957 to 1981. How much he prayed and cried here! At the end of his life, his hut became leaky, because he cared more about his children, and he himself was an ascetic. When the spiritual children began to invite the priest to start construction, he replied that his life was ending and nothing would be built during his lifetime.
Indeed, only after his death will everything come to life here - a monastery will arise. And Father Nikolai told his children about the future, showing where things would be built. He even described the appearance of his successor, Father Savvaty. Today, Abbot Savvaty is amazed at Father Nikolai’s foresight: “I was still at school, and he already saw me in spirit.”

The prayerful presence of Archpriest Nikolai Ragozin is felt by everyone who comes to the monastery. This prayerful help of Father Nikolai was felt at a difficult moment by the young priest, the future founder of the monastery, Abbot Savvaty, who came to serve here in 1987. He had just turned 21 at the time. After his ordination, the young priest was sent to serve on the Holy Mountain, which is 70 kilometers from his native Perm. And here is the first service. Fear and trembling gripped the inexperienced priest. And then he felt the help of Father Nikolai, who seemed to be present next to him during the service and helped, instructed, and suggested. The feeling of the elder’s presence was so strong that Father Savvaty remembers it even now, many years later. So he talks about the gracious help of Father Nicholas to the sisters of the monastery as if it were yesterday.

Cemetery Church of All Saints on Krasnaya Gorka (Verkhne-Chusovskie Gorodoki,
December 16, 2008).

This is what the sisters of the Kazan Trifonova Women's Hermitage write in the book they published, “Write blessings on copper, and grievances on water...”, which tells about Father Nikolai: “For 15 years, bit by bit, they collected materials about the life of Archpriest Nikolai Rogozin in order to preserve them in people’s memory the image of a modest and loving shepherd. Father Nikolai was a faithful child of the Russian Orthodox Church, which had a high moral purity and deep humility. The book you are holding in your hands includes memories of the spiritual children of the priest, his daughters, relatives and friends. The facts presented in the film by Semenov (Hierodeacon Abel) are superficial rumors aimed at discrediting the Church hierarchy and causing confusion among believers. The work of Hierodeacon Abel is aimed at undermining the foundations of church unity.”

Bath at the spring of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Verkhe-Chusovskie Gorodoki.

The memory of nun Rafaila (Mashkovtseva) about her spiritual father, Archpriest Nikolai Rogozin.

Father Nikolai Rogozin served in the Chusovsky Gorodoki of the Perm diocese, where the Rev. labored for some time. Trifon Vyatsky. Died 30 years ago. He was also buried there. His wife - Mother Anna - last years was blind. She died on the second day of Easter, when the Cherubic Song was sung in the church. They lived very poorly. Both of them had all their personal property in the parcel box. Novice Fr. Nikolai Zoya Mashkovtseva - future monk. Rafaila - Mother Anna said: “I, Zoya, don’t need anything earthly here, I only need heavenly things.” Father Nikolai acted like a fool, walked around in a torn, holey straw hat, and scolded the possessed and the sick, of whom many were brought to him, about twenty people every day. When I scolded people, I ate nothing at all, only prosphora and holy water.
One day all the priests were gathered in the diocese. It was winter, it was a long way to go, but Fr. Nikolai was not warm winter clothes. They found a hat with earflaps, covered with tarpaulin, with long shoe laces, which he sewed on himself, and an old, torn and dirty coat, left behind by some drunkard, was picked up on the fence. They washed the coat, put it on the priest, gave him old mittens, also covered with tarpaulin, and held a self-made kerze briefcase in his hands - and off we went. He looked like a beggar. We've arrived. When he entered the temple, a crowd of people immediately surrounded him: “Oh! Father Nikolai has arrived!” The people did not approach other priests. Raphael’s mother said that you would come to his grave, and it would be as if earth had been poured on top of it. They were surprised at this and compared the ground, but after a while the ground rose again. This continued until the coffin came to the surface of the earth. The miracle that happened with the discovery of the relics of St. righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye! When the coffin of the deceased priest was opened, everyone gasped - his body was incorruptible and... warm, he was as if alive. The head, hands, vestments, yellow sand sprinkled on top - everything looked as if he had been buried yesterday. Imperishable relics the priest was placed temporarily under the Holy See in the altar of the Assumption Church in Chusovskie Gorodoki. The icon of Fr. Nicholas and are collecting materials on his biography to submit for canonization.
Mother recalls how one day her deceased appeared to her in a dream. spiritual father and scolded for failure to obey:
“He told me that it was not I who gave you monasticism, but the Lord brought me so that you could become a monk.” From the Lord, and not from me, because I didn’t bless you with anything, I left you. You lived with me for a long time (12 years).
So, I didn’t want to accept it, I just sent the first clothes to the monastery in Pechory, and he told me a second time (he appeared for the second time):
- Why don’t you fulfill the blessing, because this is the Lord’s blessing? The Lord blesses me, not me.
And he wrapped a rosary around my hand and said that your name is Mother Raphaila. And go to Spiridon, he will cut your hair.

For his simplicity, humility, hard work, non-covetousness, zeal for prayer and church, and for his love for man, the Lord rewarded him with extraordinary gifts. He read thoughts clearly, always gave blessings with tears in his eyes, knew about the posthumous fate of souls, and communicated with saints. The Queen of Heaven appeared to him repeatedly. He did not begin the Liturgy until the air and the coverings on the liturgical vessels began to move of their own accord. In prayer, he was not only admired for air, but he was seen praying above the bell tower of his temple. He chastised those possessed by demons, and such severe ones that they were rejected in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and Pechory. But the old generation of clergy and laity knows him not only as a faster and a man of prayer. Father Nicholas was a prophet, he said that the Apocalypse was coming, that the next generation after him would be given documents with the seal of the Antichrist, and how he would seduce humanity. He warned about the collapse of the Union, that after Misha the Labeled came to power, only Masons would rule, who would destroy the country and lead the world to the Antichrist. All this was allowed to the Russian people for their sins and, above all, for the sin of regicide, because of which the Russian people are now blind and deaf. He said that the Russian people can only be saved by repentance and prayer, that without repentance the Lord will not give us a king, that the lawlessness of the Antichrist government can only be stopped by the legitimate royal government.

Guryanov Nikolai Alekseevich was born in the village of Chudskie Zahodtsy, St. Petersburg province, on May 24, 1909. His father, Alexey Ivanovich, served as regent of the church choir. Mother, Ekaterina Stefanovna, a pious woman, performed household duties and helped her husband in raising children. After his death in 1914, the entire burden of responsibility for the family fell on her shoulders.

From childhood, Nikolai was brought up within the framework Christian traditions. He happily served in the church in the village of Kobylye Gorodishche, learned to pray, and loved to listen church singing. From time to time, when local pilgrims gathered on pilgrimages to holy places, Nicholas was taken with them.

As a youth, he was honored to visit the island of Talabsk (years later this place became a place of asceticism for him). Around 1920, the rector of the church in which Nikolai served took him to the city of Pskov. Their path lay along the surface of the lake. We made a stop on the island of Talabsk and visited the local seer Mikhail. The seer, having met the guests, gave the shepherd a small prosphora and Nicholas a large one.

Upon reaching more than mature age Nikolai entered the pedagogical college in Gatchina. Upon graduation from technical school, he continued his education at the Leningrad Pedagogical Institute.

Nikolai had a strong-willed character. In 1929, driven by zeal for the Lord and spiritual impulse, he publicly and sharply expressed his indignation against the closure of one of the city churches. This courageous performance, contrary to the ideology and policy of the party, which was moving towards communism, caused discontent, and the institute leadership expelled N. Guryanov from among the students.

For some time, Nikolai taught physics, mathematics, and biology at a school in the city of Tosno, and served as a psalm-reader in the church in the village of Remda.

Prisoner of truth and conscience

The persecution of Christians launched by the godless government did not pass him by. In May 1930, he fell under the millstone of the state repressive machine: Nicholas was accused of counter-revolutionary activities and expelled from the territory of the RSFSR for two years. Arriving in the Ukrainian SSR, in the village of Sidorovichi, he again showed his religious activity - he got a job as a psalm-reader.

Soon, “caring” people were found who reported “to the right place” that Nikolai Alekseevich was conducting unhealthy propaganda activities, corrupting people with stories about God, and recruiting young people into the church choir. These signals did not go unnoticed. In March 1931, N. Guryanov was taken into custody in the “case of the kulaks.”

During the trial, it turned out that the accused Guryanov does not have any property, but only has rheumatism. And the accused himself did not admit his guilt. Meanwhile, the property issue was not a priority, because the matter concerned anti-Soviet propaganda.

In August 1931, Nikolai was sentenced to exile for three years in the Northern Territory. That’s how he ended up in Syktyvkar, where he participated in the construction railway track. Sometimes they had to work in icy water, which caused prisoners to die. Working in these inhuman conditions, Nikolai undermined his health. In addition, he suffered leg injuries while working with sleepers.

According to some sources, he was released in 1937, and according to others, in 1942. After his release, Nikolai Alekseevich, as not having the right to live in Leningrad, was expelled outside the city. For some period he worked as a school teacher in the Tosnensky district.

Priestly path

During the Great Patriotic War, N. Guryanov, due to leg illness, was not mobilized into the army. During the period of fascist occupation, he was forcibly sent to the Baltic states.

In February 1942, Metropolitan Sergius of Vilna ordained him to the rank of deacon, and a few days later - to the rank of priest.

In 1942, he attended theological courses in the city of Vilnius. Then he served for some time in the Riga Trinity-Sergius Convent for women, after which he served in the Vilna Holy Spirit Monastery.

Since July 1943, Father Nikolai served as rector of the Church of St. Nicholas, located in the village of Gegobrosty. According to the recollections of contemporaries, parishioners treated him with great respect; the shepherd himself treated them with great kindness, friendliness and responsiveness. It is noted that despite the poverty of the parish, it was distinguished by its amenities. No matter how difficult it was to find the funds necessary to repair and maintain the temple, with the help of God the temple was splendid.

In the period from 1949 to 1951, Father Nikolai studied by correspondence at the Leningrad Theological Seminary. After graduating, he continued his education at the Leningrad Theological Academy, but studied only for one year.

In 1956, father. N. Guryanov was awarded the rank of archpriest.

In 1958, by order of the church authorities, he was transferred to serve in the Pskov diocese. For reasons of church economy and taking into account own wish Father Nicholas, he was appointed rector of the Church of St. Nicholas, located on the territory of the fishing island of Talabsk in Lake Pskov, the same one where the seer once handed him a large prosphora. The priest spent several decades of his life on this island.

Father Nikolai settled on the outskirts of the island in a tiny house, along with his mother, Ekaterina Stefanovna. The ascetic’s brothers died at the front and he, as best he could, smoothed out his mother’s grief, and she helped her beloved son as best she could.

At first, Father Nikolai aroused suspicion among the unbelieving part of the islanders, but over time people saw him as zealous and humble God's saint. He served alone, baked the prosphora himself, and repaired the church himself. It happened that he officiated in an empty temple. It was difficult, but one day, when he was tormented by strong emotions, Small child, as if having penetrated into the consciousness of the wise husband, asked him not to leave. Father Nikolai took these words as the voice of God and was encouraged.

Along with fulfilling his pastoral duties, the priest tried to improve the island, planted seedlings, carefully watered them, carrying dozens of buckets of water from the lake.

Often, even without an invitation, he visited the homes of those who needed his pastoral consolation, word and blessing. It happened that Father Nikolai looked after the elderly and babysat the children of parishioners.

All this could not but affect people. When one of the residents wrote a slanderous denunciation against the priest, local fishermen, returning from fishing, contrary to custom, did not give her any fish. This is how they expressed both their attitude towards the shepherd and their attitude towards the informer, dumbfounded by their behavior.

Model of Orthodox eldership

Over time, barely visible on geographical map The island of Talabsk began to be secretly called the island of Orthodoxy. The fame of Father Nikolai and his activities spread far beyond the outskirts of the Pskov land.

In addition to zeal and zeal, God rewarded the priest with the gift of foresight. They say that sometimes the elder even reported on the fate of missing people.

In the seventies, dozens of believers from different parts of the vast country began to flock to the priest. It happened that due to the large influx of visitors, he could not find even a minute to rest. True, he did not accept everyone. Sometimes he could allow himself a stern question: why did you come (came)?

Among the spiritual children of Father Nicholas were laymen, monks, and priests. He is rightfully considered one of the most revered elders of the 20th-21st centuries.

On August 24, 2002, Father Nikolai Guryanov rested in the Lord. Death found him at the place of his exploits, the island of Talabsk.

ELDERS / Father NIKOLAI GURYANOV