Biography of Hegumen Nikon Vorobyov

Shepherd, spiritual writer. Known for his many letters to his spiritual children. Biography of childhood in the world Vorobyov Nikolai Nikolaevich, was born in a family of peasant workers, in the Tver province, in the village of Mikshino, in the m year. In childhood, Nikolai in many ways resembled his brothers in all in the Vorobyov family, there were seven sons, although it stood out among them with a certain seriousness, kindness of the temper.

Между тем, ещё в его детстве Бог указал на него как на Своего будущего служителя. Their village was visited by a well -known Jurodny, Vanka in the district. Sometimes he stayed there, played with the kids. Once Vanka approached Nikolai and turned to him like a monk. At that moment, few paid attention to the words of a village simpleton, but over time they were destined to come true.

When Nikolai reached their proper age, his father, with his efforts, arranged it in a real school, located in the Vyshny Volochka. Here Nikolai proved himself as a responsible student. Thanks to talents and perseverance, even the most difficult disciplines were given to him. He was well versed in mathematics, drew, painted, sang, danced, played on Alt. And this did not pass by the attention of the leadership: during the study, Nikolai was awarded several letters of commendable sheets.

Initially, parents, as far as possible, provided him with material support. But subsequently, due to the need to pay for brothers' training, assistance was limited. Meanwhile, Nikolai did not despair. He did not abandon training. On the contrary, after lessons, he began to try on the role of a young teacher: when mining to provide living, nutrition, training, he helped lagging rich comrades.

When his brother, Michael, Nikolai took on his maintenance and his contents entered the same school. It was difficult: it was necessary to starve, and in the winter it was freezing, but Nikolai did not think to deviate from the goal: to finish his education and help his brother. Despite the fact that the Nicholas family was Orthodox, his faith did not have a sufficiently solid support.

Upling to science, he considered that it was there that the main truth was located. Having matured, he, like many of his peers, was puzzled by the meaning of life, and wanted to find him in philosophy. It happened that he bought an interesting book for the last money, preferring it to a piece of bread. Over time, Nikolai achieved enviable success in this area.

Sometimes even teachers consulted with him. In the end, growing up, he more and more convinced himself to the thought that philosophy did not give accurate answers to the most important life questions: what is the calling of a person, why does he live, what awaits him behind the mortal line? Youth The time of the end of the real school fell for a year. Disappointed in philosophy, Nikolai decided not to go the dear philosopher and entered the Petrograd Psycho-Neurological Institute.

Having studied there for only one year, he came to even greater disappointment and left his studies. During this period, Nikolai experienced the most severe psychological shock. The tension of his spiritual crisis reached such a depth that he even thought about suicide. And so, remembering God, Nikolai resorted to the only right decision: he prayed to God, asking him to open. And God answered this prayer.

After revelation, a real moral fracture occurred in his soul. He was no longer interested in worldly hobbies. During this period, he indulged in prayer, attentive, thoughtful reading of the gospel and works of holy fathers. In the year, Nikolai entered the Moscow Theological Academy. But in connection with revolutionary events and subsequent political changes in the country, training at the Academy did not last long.

For some time he lived in solitude in pine, taught mathematics at school. Then he ended up in Moscow by God's commercial, he worked as a psalmist in the Borisoglebsky Church. The monastic feat of the year, in the city of Minsk, Nikolai accepted the monastic tonsure and the new name - Nikon. Soon he was a chirotonisan in hierodeacon, and the next year he was ordained a hieromonk. A zealous attitude towards God and an implacable attitude to the anti -church policy of state power attracted attention from the punitive bodies.

Nikon was arrested in father, convicted and sent for re -education to Siberia. He was released only in the year. Returning from the camp, he settled in Vyshny Volochka and got a job, as a servant, in a doctor’s house. Here he had to go through another step of meekness. The fact is that the spouse of the doctor, and her sister, Elena Evfimovna, were solid atheists; Sometimes they allowed themselves rude statements to believers and their religious feelings; Father Nikon had to put up with this.

However, over time, the very image of his righteous life convinced his sisters to leave faith in godlessness and accept faith in Christ. Elena Evfimovna, a doctor by profession, cut her hair in an angelic image with the name Seraphim. When she died, the hospital colleagues escorted her solemnly, with music. But few knew that in her coffin, under the pillow, lay a monastic mantle and rosary.After the start of the Great Patriotic War, with the opening of the temples, Father Nikon began the clergy.

In the year, Kaluga Bishop Vasily dedicated him to the rector of the Annunciation Church, in the city of Kozelsk. Here Father Nikon served up to a year. During this period, he was lodging at the local nuns, indulged in harsh ascetic feats, preached a lot. The second priest who served in this temple was the father of Rafail Sheichenko. As well as Father Nikon, he had the firmness of religious beliefs, for which he suffered a lot in the camps.

Despite the fact that there were much in common between the shepherds, the devil managed to quarrel them, so much so that Father Nikon was prohibited, Bishop of Kaluga, in the clergy. Subsequently, the world between the priests was restored, and the prohibition was lifted. In the year, Father Nikon was defined in the city of Belev, then to Efremov, then to Smolensk. From there he was sent to Gzhatsk, entrusting a rather poor, poorly organized, seedy parish under the leadership.

He himself considered this appointment as a link. At first, he experienced difficulties associated with the content of the parish and himself. All his personal property consisted of simple clothing and several aluminum devices. He himself treated this evenly, calmly, believing that excessive “wealth” prevents the monk to inflate the spirit of grief. Strongness was shown by Father Nikon in relation to worship.

He served simply, without pretentiousness, he also demanded the same from others. It is said that once he interrupted the reading of the six -popsalmia, when the reader, carried away by theatricality, began to show the audience an artistic disposition. As a result, the sixopsalmia read another reader. At the same time, he struggled with the practice of excessively hasty reading, for which the psalmers were offended by him.

Especially the attention of the priest was aimed at how and in what parishioners repent. He strongly opposed a formal attitude to the Sacrament of Confession. In this regard, he more than once condemned some clergymen, arguing that the sacrament of repentance is replaced by them by the rite of “permission from sins”. Showing the appropriate, fair demand for subordinates, he was strict in relation to himself.

He went to bed late, got up early. In his free time he prayed, engaged in physical labor in particular - careing for the garden, read a lot. Despite the painful state associated with the camp past, he did not allow him to provide personal services for a house or economy, he tried to do everything himself. In the year, Father Nikon was awarded the title of abbot.

At the end of the year, his health worsened seriously. In the following time, he was more and more weak, he began to tire quickly. During this period of his life, his food was milk and berries, sometimes white bread. Father Nikon did not complain about his illness and retained the peace of mind until the end of his days. A few days before the death of his strength left him, and he leaned to bed.

On the feast of the Assumption, he professed his neighbors, taught them a spiritual exhortation. He himself could no longer go to the temple and the last days communed the Holy Sacraments of the house. Before death, Father Nikon asked his spiritual children to find an excerpt from the biography of the ascetic Ambrose Optinsky, the place where the smell of smell, which came from his body at death, was reported.

At that moment, this request seemed incomprehensible to many. However, on the eve of his replacement, at night, reading the Gospel suddenly felt the outcome of the smell of smoldering from his coffin, meanwhile, during the funeral service, there was no this smell. Father Nikon rested the literature on the author on September 7.