++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Reprinted from REUNION (News Letter)   +
+ Volume 4 Number 4                      +
+ (c) Copyright,  May 25, 1994           +
+ through V6 N2 May 1, 1996 and V6N3     +
+ May be reproduced without further      +
+ permission - credit requested          +
+ REUNION BBS (504) 738-1207             +
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


This is the story of St. Feofil, a Russian Orthodox monk.  

FEOFIL

The text of this story has been scanned into the publication. Where
possible, spelling and other aspects of the story have been made to
accomodate modern usage, but only where such changes are
necessary for clarity.

TRANSLAT€R'S PREFACE

This  translation of  the book Hieroscihemamonk Feofil is slightly
abridged in that most of the footnotes which appeared in the
original have been blended into the text in this translation.  The
remainder of the footnotes appear at the end of the text.

A definite effort was made to avoid corrupting the simplicity  of
the text with academic or "scholarly" rules and attitudes.  The
names persons and places have been transliterated into English in a
method which detracts least from the original Russian.

This book is the first of a series of such translations and the
first rule which the translators adopted for this project was, in
the words of the beloved Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky), "There
is no point in writing (religious works) for the intelligentsia
because they will not read them anyway." It is better to write for
the people who have not yet lost the desire to understand spiritual
matters and to seek their salvation from Christ Jesus. They are the
ones who are truly wise.

Translators' Introduction

The Blessed Starets Feofil departed from his earthly life more than
one hundred and twenty-five years ago. Is it possible, then, that
the example of his life, his teachings and admonitions, can still
shine as a beacon-light to aid Christian people in this struggle
along the narrow path which leads to salivation

This book has been translated as a personal testimony by the
translators, both of whom have been profoundly affected by the
Blessed One, to the fact that Feofil is still very much an active
starets. He does not limit himself to singing in the Church
Triumphant; He is also a trusted intercessor and teacher for the
Church Militant.

Aside from the rich spiritual joys presented in this biography of
Starets Feofil, the book offers some rare and valuable insights
into the personality of Tsar Nikolai Pavlovich and the saintly
Metropolitan Filaret of Kiev. Moreover, the mentality of Old Russia
is reflected on every page. In fact, no student of Russian history
(1)- culture can claim even a superficial knowledge of his subject
unless he has studied the lives of the great saints and ascetics of
the Russian Orthodox Church, for the lives and minds of the Russian
people have always been welded to the blessed refuge of the Church.
We address a special prayer of thanksgiving to God that He, in Hi.s
infinite mercy, has given us such candles as Feofil. May, all who
read thi.s book approach it with mind and heart open for
instruction and love.

(Glory to Thee, O God!

Lev Puhalo and Vassili Novakshonoff.

PREFACE

The Blessed Starets, Hieroschemamonk Feofil, is so popular amongst
Kievans and many other Orthodox Christians that, although he
demised long ago, his memory remains sacredly and reverently
honoured.

It is true that none of his contemporaries who witnessed his
monastic podvigs, his life as a fool-for-Christ's-sake, and
spiritual glory are still alive. But, amongst the deseendants of
these people, many recollections of the God-pleasing life and gift
of forevision of the Blessed One are passed down from one
generation to another.

For more than thirty years' the Starets served as a bright lamp of
Evangelical truth for all Orthodox Christians and he was the best
example of monkhood at the Kiev-Pecherskaya Lavra for a decade.

As a great teacher of piety, he worked at the improvement of the
morals of those nearest him . . . warning  and admonishing everyone
and instructing  everyone in all wisdom  that we may present every
person mature in Christ, the Anointed One (Col. 1:28).

By means of spiritual eyes which penetrated the innermost recesses
of men's hearts, the Blessed Feofil saw much. He saw how pride,
self-delusion, hatred and violence inhabited the darkness of our
ignorance. He saw how, plunging into a chaos of passions not
penetrated by a single ray of divine light, people forgot God and,
being satiated with sins, became filled with material food but
starved for spiritual nourishment_Christians in name only, but in
deeds and life, far from it.

Starets Feofil saw much and secretly suffered for all souls. In
order to support the failing spirit of faith in us, he, out of
love, took upon himself the highest podvig of Christian piety_
being a fool-for-Christ's-sake. He dedicated his whole life to the
doctoring of moral ailments. Using parables, he sternly revealed
cruel and unjust people who had forgotten God. With meek reproof
and with kindness he comforted and encouraged believing and
God-fearing people. God in His wisdom was pleased  through the
foolishness of preaching to save those who believed (I Cor. 1:21).

Out of true piety and love of God, Feofil refused temporary
blessings and led his entire life in humility, simplicity, and
abasement. He experienced defamation, insult, evil, and hatred from
people but, being humble of heart and meek in spirit, he did not
even complain to the Lord about his critics, limiting himself only
to the prayer uttered on the cross by the Great Sufferer: "Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).

His memory will not depart and his name will live from generation
to generation. People will know of his wisdom and the Church will
proclaim his praise.

The descendants of people who knew the Blessed Starets have
reverently preserved a multitude of remembrances about his
wonderful forevision and the effectiveness of his prayers for those
suffering and burdened with ailments of the body and the spirit.

We offer here to the reader only a few of them, collected during
interviews with the elder residents of Kiev or given to us by the
God-loving startsy of the Kiev-Pecherskaya Lavra.'

We will not hide these things, but will present them for all to
see; may the light of the Blessed Starets Feofil appear as a beacon
/ and may he illumine the world with his deeds which in his
lifetime the world did not understand, seeing in the man of God
nothing but foolishness. 

                     I.

In the town of Makhnovo, district of Kiev, at the Church of the
Birth of the Virgin, there once lived a priest, Andrei Gorenkovsky.
In October, 1788, his wife Evfrosiniya (nee Gosh-kovsky) gave birth
to twins. At baptism the eldest was named Fotna and the younger,
Kalliniky. They were both notably beautiful and strong.

It was the custom at that time for mothers to breast-feed their
own infants. Evfrosiniya abided by this rule even though it was
quite difficult with two children involved. She refused all offers
of assistance from wet nurses. To her great amazement, however,
Evirosiniya found that her eldest son, Foma, would not take to the
breast, stubbornly averting his face from it. In order to save the
child from starving to death, the distressed mother was forced to
try every possible means of feeding him. Since he refused all forms
of milk, his.mother fed him with potato water, soft-boiled turnips
and carrots.

Such a rejection from her child naturally settled a coldness in
the mother's heart  towards the baby. To make matters worse,
superstitious neighborhood  women began interpreting this
phenomenon in their own way and dragging in absurd stories,
considering Foma to be almost a bear-cub.

Evfrosiniya, because of her own simpleness.and ignorance, believed
from her soul all these superstitious tales. She became horrified
and her bitterness towards Foma grew. -"This-.is an exchange," she
would.say. "They did not want to baptise him and Kalliniky on the
same day and so a witch substituted him."

Evfrosiniya tried for six months, by all possible means, to make
Foma behave like a normal child. But all the while she saw in him
the embryo of some sort of inclinations, incomprehensible to the
simple woman. Deciding that Foma was some sort of moral freak,
Evfrosiniya resolved to rid herself of him forever. One evening she
called a servant and secretly confided in her:

"I can no longer look at this vampire; I cannot stand him in my
own home. Tomorrow, at the very crack of dawn, take him to the
river and throw him into it. But swear to me that no-one will know
about this except us."

The servant begged and pleaded with the mother to have mercy on
the innocent child. No matter how much she pleaded and wept,
admonishing Evfrosiniya with God's wrath, the embittered mother was
implacable.  In the end, the servant had to submit to her. In the
morning, when it was barely light, the servant took Foma in her
arms, ran to the river and making a sign of the cross over the
child, dropped him into the water.  And then a wondrous thing
happened. God chose to preserve the child. He came up to the
surface of the water and peacefully floated to the opposite shore.
There he was cast up onto the dry ground.

On seeing this, the servant became-terrified. Having already
committed a crime and fearing the wrath of her mistress, she
decided to-bring the terrible matter to a swift end. She crossed
the stream and picked up Foma in her arms. The child was asleep in
a serene slumber. Then, avoiding thought, the servant quickly
dropped the baby into the river once more. Again she witnessed
God's power, the-waves carried Foma to a little island which had
been formed upstream and gently cast him up on the fine sand.

Shaken by such an undeniable miracle, the woman' crossed a ford
and took the child in her arms. Seeing that the baby  was alive and
unharmed, the servant was flooded with bitter tears of repentance.
She took Foma to his mother and, in a voice choked with fear,
related to her all that had happened.

"You can kill me, but I will not drown an innocent child!
God-Himself, by a miracle, is saving his life and we shall suffer
for our cruel murder!"

But the young mother, compelled by an inhuman bitterness, did not
believe a word the servant said and began to reproach her. "Shame
on you!" she said. "You are pitying this vampire. If we leave him
alive, he will bring about much evil. Oh no! It may be better that
I drown him with my own hands than to look at this freak which is
hateful to my sight."

With these words, Evfrosiniya maliciously seized Foyna from the
arms  of the frightened servant woman and set out for the river.
Not- far from their home stood a water  mill.  Since it was early
and no-one was around, Evfrosiniya approached it, found an
appropriate spot and with a great swing, threw -Fomar under the
wheel itself. Then, thinking that the child was dead, she left.
Her conscience seemed peaceful.  Then suddenly there was another
miracle. The millstone stopped and the pressure of  the water
caused a tremendous roar.

The miller, startled by the strange phenomenon, ran outside to see
what had happened.  The wheels, restrained by an unknown power,
trembled from the strong pressure of the water driving against
them. The water raged ahead, foaming and boiling. Looking down, he
heard an infant's wails and in the midst of the whirlpool he saw
the child floating. Then the miller nimbly lowered himself down
and, bending towards the stream, pulled Foma out of the water.
Hardly had he removed the child than the wheels began to turn
again.

The distraught servant who had followed the desperate mother,
seeing this new miracle, began sobbing bitterly. She approached the
miller and related all that she knew about the child and about the
miraculous phenomena of God's power which had saved the child
thrice.

"What shall we do now?" puzzled the miller. "If we return the babe
to his mother, she will not hesitate to destroy him."

Fearing responsibility for the fate of the innocent child
persecuted by his own mother, they decided to relate these
in-cidents to his father.

Neither pleas nor prayers, nor even threats and coercion had any
effect upon Evfrosiniya. In the constant saving of the child, she
saw only the devil's work. The more that the husband tried to
convince her, the more stubborn she became.

"I will not leave him alive. This is not a little child. This is an
exchange, a freak. He definitely must be freed of life," repeated
the superstitious Evfrosiniya and tried several more times to
destroy Foma.

The heart-broken father, seeing how strongly his wife hated her own
son, decided to take Foma away from her for a long time. He
secretly sought out an experienced wet-nurse and told her the
details of the family secret, and gave her the innocent child to be
brought up. The hired nurse fed Foma with soft bread soaked in fat
and gave daily reports on her charge to the father.

Several months passed and the child developed normally and even
strengthened. The wet- nurse proved to be a woman of good
conscience. She raised and cared for Forma as she would her own
son. But soon God found it pleasing to call Foma's father from
temporary life to eternal.  Feeling the approach of his death, the
priest, filled with concern for the future of his son, called the
good miller to himself and said:

"You were a witness to the miraculous saving of my child. In the
name of God I entrust you to take Foma to yourself. Raise him,
guard him, and do not offend him."

With joy the miller agreed, accepting his charge as a blessing from
God.

Meanwhile, the story of these happenings had spread amongst the
people of  the district. A wealthy old peasant from the town of
Makhnovo came to the miller and begged for the guardian-ship of the
child.

"I have no children," he said, "and I want to make this child my
son and after my death I will make him heir to all I possess. Let
me have Foma."

The miller, seeing the sincerity of the old peasant, gave in to his
persistent requests and, without any vacillation, handed Foma over
to him. It was a happy time for the child, living under the shelter
of the wealthy man. He was treated with tenderness and love. In
time, Foma would become a son and also rich. So it would have been
if human plans always agreed with the paths of God's providence.
But the Lord moved otherwise. Not long after Foma was embraced into
the family of the rich peasant, the benefactor and second father
suddenly, without ex-pectation, died.

And so the persecuted child, not yet three years of age, again
became an orphan.

The wife of the deceased peasant came into full possession of his
estate. Having resolved to take a second husband, she hurriedly set
about finding other quarters for Foma. The priest of her own
village compassionately accepted the child.

"He is binding my hands," the widow justified herself, "and you,
Batiushka, can easily lead him along that road which is more
becoming to his position as son of a priest."

Agreement was made and little Foma found himself in a new refuge.
Thus, from his earliest days, he became acquainted with the spirit
of a wandering life. Being yet a new-comer to this life, Foma had
already taken upon himself the cross of Him Who, during His life on
earth, did. not have a place to lay His head.

Foma lived with his guardian until the age of seven. There was no
special attention shown him and the priest did not present him with
any, deliberate instruction.  Forma, left to himself, unwillingly
took part in the noisy, games with children his own age. To the
surprise of all, the young lad showed no desire for the usual
entertainments of' his age group.''Foma preferred to go aside to an
isoIated place and- give himself up to melancholy meditation.

Ldttle Foma was accustomed to the wandering spirit. He experienced
the sweetness of a child's first prayers to his very soul.  Early
in life he became used to lengthy fasting and fru-gality. Gradually
he strengthened and became spiritually transformed.  God's temple
became the dearest refuge of this unusual child. The boy would not
miss a single service and, with the first peel of the bell he
hurried with great joy to the church where his soul found comfort
and incomprehensible rest.  Forma was often found before the closed
doors of the village church, deep in prayer, as if severed from all
his surroundings.

The other children, seeing  Foma's closed soul mocked him and made
fun of him; he was often subjected to tricks and even beatings.
Foma would go away into the woods, weeping, and remain there for
twenty-four, or even forty-eight, hours at a time. Often he would
be found by shepherds who would relate wonderful stories about him.
The young sufferer understood that man is not born to joy and
happiness but to suffering.

Having himself experienced all the bitterness of his young life, he
could see that the world often does not behold sufferers; it does
not see the tears of the eyes.  From his early youth Forma
discovered the joy of aiding those in poverty.  He refused to keep
things for himself and gave all that he possibly could to the poor.
Once Forma saw another boy in the street wearing only old rags in
place of a shirt.  Without even a second thought, he removed his
own shirt and gave it to the poor boy, returning home in only his
outer garments. His benefactor looked at this differently and Forma
received only punishment for his podvig of charity.

When Foma reached the age of seven, the priest began teaching him
to read. But soon after, the priest died and so, with the demise of
the good teacher, the  young wanderer again became homeless. Foma
wept bitterly arid inconsolably for his benefactor. He wept less
for his loss of a home than.for his  loss of a wise teacher, who
had barely begun to open the world of learning and wisdom to him.
After the death of the priest, it was necessary to find a new
refuge for Foma. The elder of the church, assuming that aœter a
seven year period the former hatred towards her son would have
disappeared from Evfrosiniya. and that she would now feel a
maternal tenderness for him, decided to take Forma back home. When
the elder arrived at the home of Evfrosiniya, she was splitting
wood. How great was the horror and astonishment of the old man
when, instead of receiving her son with love, the mother threw her
axe at  him in a rage so that the blade of the axe cleaved into
Foma's right shoulder.

The elder quickly seized the bleeding child from the grasp of his
maddened mother, bound his wound, and took Foma back to his own
home. While Foma's wound was healing the elder discovered that an
uncle of the boy was a. widowed priest living as a starets at the
Bratslcy Monastery in Kiev. The kindly elder took the child, not
yet healed, to, this monk. There, he related to the starets all
that he knew about the unfortunate nephew and handed over the boy
to be brought up.

There is an ecclesiastical academy at the Bratsky Monastery and at
that time there  were beginners' classes. The much suffering orphan
was assigned to this academy and there began to acquire the wisdom
of books.

Taking advantage of his uncle's hospitable refuge, Foma grew up in
model.behavior and studied hard. In his spare moments he devoted
himself to the reading of theological books and solitary praying.
He understood the psalms well and de-rived much comfort and joy
from memorizing them.

The pure, child's prayers of Foma were pleasing to .God and He
softened the heart of the cruel mother, and caused a reconciliation
between Evfrosiniya and her repudiated son.

This wonderful event took  place thus:

Evfrosiniya  was stricken with an incurable illness. Seeing the
punishment of the Lord upon her, she began tearfully to repent of
her  cruelties and persecutions of the innocent son. No matter how
hard she tried she could not find peace with herself. During the
day her ailment tortured her and at night she was tormented with
nightmares. In  this she saw God's justice. All the while her son
wept and prayed for her. Finally, the mother understood her
terrible error and began to beg God for His forgiveness. The Lord
pitied her. Not long before her death Foma came home to his mother
and each had the consolation of a re-union.

"Forgive me, my son," the repentant mother cried out to Foma.
"Forgive me, cruel, foolish, terrible that I am.  My mind was in
darkness and I did not see the great evil created by me.  May God's
blessings be upon you.  Do not curse me, an evil mother, and
remember me, a sinner, in your constant prayers."

With these words Evfrosiniya pressed her son tightly against her
maternal breast and, making the sign of the cross upon him, she
quietly released her soul.  The good Forma closed her lifeless eyes
with his own hands and handed over the body of his mother for
burial.

                 II.

Foma was an excellent student at the acaderny but he had no
inclination to continue his higher academic studies. He could not
accept thern as a true means of acquiring that knowledge which
leads to the truth of God and His grandeur. Foma chose the Church
as his highest school. He dedicated himself to reading and singing
and disciplined his mind to constant spiritual thought and prayer.
From this time, thoughts about monkhood never left him for a moment
and he aimed his goals towards that end.

Foma's good uncle died after a short time and left his nephew with
no means of livelihood and without a true shelter. There was no
longer any thought of continuing his studies. He left the academy
and began to earn his own-llvelihood. In 1810 he went to the town
of Chigirin as a reader but, because his voice was quite poor, he
was sent to the village of Obukhov as a sacristan.

Foma did not remain there long. The world, which had not liked him
since his birth, oppressed him with its rules and- laws, and turned
his soul away from itself. "My soul longeth. yea,'t Foma said,
"even fainteth for the courts of the Lord" (Ps. 84:2). Conceiving a
deep dislike for the mass of evil intended and dis-honourable
people, Foma entered the Kiev Bratsky Monastery in 1812, in the
very heat of the "Patriotic War."

What unrelatable joy filled the young ascetic. He once more had
entered the holy place of the quiet cloister which he had left two
years earlier. This time not for study but for prayer, patience,
toil, and fasting. He was dead to the world and the world died for
him forever.

In the Bratsky Monastery, Foma fulfilled various obediences.  He
mixed dough and baked bread in the bakery but at that time,
prosphora were not baked at the Bratsky Monastery and Foma used to
go for them to the Florovsky Monastery for women. Later, he was
assigned to the kitchen to make borshch. Then he was appointed
assistant in the hospital and finally sacristan and bell-ringer. He
especially liked this latter task. At the break of dawn he would
rise, go up into the belfry and give himself up to deep
contemplation and secret prayer. Noone bothered him here. The vain
world lay at his feet and in front of his gaze, in all its
splendour, he could see only the azure heaven where the Creator of
all things visible and invisible dwelt.

In this way several years passed. Redoubling his prayerful podvigs,
Foma appeared to everyone as an example of meekness, obedience,
humility, and chastity. With all his soul he desired a rank equal
to the angels. He constantly repeated, 'I have longed for Thy
salvation O Lord  and Thy law  is my delight" (Ps. 119:174).

Foma did not press the matter of his tonsure, which was his heart's
desire, wishing first to teach himself the strict implementation of
the rules of monastic living. Nevertheless, the head of the
monastery noticed in him a fervour towards spiritual podvigs, and
honoured Foma with his tonsure on 11 December, 1821. At the time of
his tonsure, Foma was renamed Feodorit.

Soon after this Feodorit was appointed keeper of the vestments and
on 30 September, 1822, because of his dedication to work in that
position and because of his exemplary, strictly monastic life, he
was elevated to the rank of hierodeacon.

The new position gave a new thrust to his podvigs. Now able to
stand closer to the altar of the King of Glory, Feodorit, with all
his strength, tried to imitate the angelic lives of those who had
already pleased God and now faced the heavenly throne of the Lamb,
Who took on Himself the sins of the entire world. According to his
position, Feodorit received a small income but remained a stern
faster and had nothing personal in his cell. On the contrary, he
was a stranger to acquiring things and even found in this income
the means to be charitable to his near ones. Remaining without food
for two or three days at a time, he gave away his share of food and
money to wanderers, the poor, and to beggars.

"What is it to me, *is flesh and blood, which one day will turn
to dust," Feodorit would say and then redouble his fasting.

He showed a God-imitating love for those near him and willingly
fulfilled obediences to those in the lowest order, often taking
upon himself the work of others, serving like a bought slave. In
this way he followed in the footsteps of the Saviour Himself  Who
came . . . not to be served but  to serve  (Matt. 20:28).

On 6 February, 1827, Feodorit was ordained hieromonk and at the
same time appointed steward of the Bratsky Monastery. This rank was
bestowed as an honour at the monastery and was greatly  desired by
many. The position was very solicitious and did not at all
correspond to the sincere inclinations of Hieromonk Feodorit.
In-order to avoid meeting people-and preferring to re-main in
complete isolation he promptly requested to be released from the
stewardship and refused all obediences.  He asked for permission to
retire to the caves which had been dug  by Saint Feodosy in  the
village of Lesniky. Having been  refused this, Feodorit took the
path of special asceticism and took upon himself the great podvig
of "fool-for-Christ's-sake."  In his feigned eccentricity he
concealed the high valour of his character.

He continued to rise from strength to strength in the difficult
matter of his spritual imiprovement. Thus, Feodont followed the
words of the apostle who said, If any man among  you supposes that
he is wise in the world... let him brcome a fool so that he may
become truly wise (I Cor. 3:18).

Now he had less strivi'ng for spiritual improvement because the
Lord had already tried his heart and knew his thoughts (Ps.
139:23). From his childhood Feodorit was gifted with hurnility and
spiritual purity. He had a strong faith in the help of God Who
extracted him from the path of the sand and marsh and set his feet
upon solid rock, strengthening his steps Feodorit could say, in
truth, "My heart Is ready O Lord, my heart is ready! Having set his
feet upon the highest podvig of the monastic life Feodorit, on 9
December, 1834, took the schema (monastic habit) and was re-named
Feofil.

For the ordinary monk the schema is an image of bodily death and a
struggling upward to ascend into eternity. For the Blessed Feofil,
who had prepared himself for the service of God from the first days
of his life, it became a sign of the complete repudiation of the
world and a spiritual transference to heaven. Death, judg-ment, and
the kingdom_this is what now occupied his thoughts and all the
hours of his contemplation.

It was with jqy that the Blessed Feofil set out on this narrow and
sorrpwful path so that, by travelling on it, he could reach the
serene state of freedom from the passions of the flesh. Now he was
a true warrior of Chrlst, invested with all of God's weapons
against all of mankind's weaknesses and temptations. A stranger to
all that is worldly vanity, he disregarded all the conditions of
daily life. Feofil did not develop close relationships with anyone
and completely closed the temple of his soul from the world which
did not like him even from his infancy. Only prayer opened his lips
and praises to the Creator moved his tongue.

With lowered eyes he always walked peacefully, deep.in thought
along the usual path from.his cell to the churcb, never. missing a
single service.  Stopping either at the entrance or near the church
doors, which were often closed, he stood motionless to the end of
the service. Near him there was always a basket filled with.various
provisions to be given to those who needed them. He always carried
a bucket, bowl; or jug and a small Psalter.

Having increased his podvig. of: foolishness even more, the
Blessed One placed an oid coffin in his cell but did not lie in it
at night as did many of the ancient ascetics of piety but he kept
various provisions and dishes in it. Moreover, on the day of his
tonsuring to the schema, Feofil sewed pieces of old rags around his
cowl and wore it that way until his death. When these shreds were
ripped off on the day of his death, the cowl appeared new and fit
for burial.

Every morning the Starets would set out for the Dniepr where he
wen to get water. At tirnes he would get into one of the boats
moored nearby and row  to the opposite shore of the Dniepr where,
entering into the depths of the woods, he gave hirnself up to the
contemplation of God. He never sought ferry-men but toohk any boat
he happerlecl to see and rowed himself across the river. The owners
knew of Feofil's habits and never worried about their missing
boats. They never prevented hun from doing what he wanted; to. the
contrary, they even rejoiced if he took their boat.

As a zealous carrier of Divine Grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit,
the Blessed Feofil did notconeeal himsel from the attention and
reverence of the people. They used to step back from him in a
circle and followed him everywhere in the hope of hearing even a
single word from him. Thus the Lord placea the lowly on the
heights.  But the academy authorities had no special sympathy for
"the dirty, ragged monk Feofil" and CO1mplained constantly about
him to the Vladika, pointing out tha crowds of curious people
searched for Feofil and blocked off the academy, even entering the
buildings, destroying. silence, and disrupting-the pupils' studies.
Because of these complaints, the Blessed One received strong
reproof and, in order to avoid more difficulty, he found it
necessary to hide in the woods from his followerss, returning: home
only after sunset. But even then the crowds of people found him
and- waited for him on the shore of the Dnienr following him all
the way to his cell.

As a result of his zeal, diligence, and flaming love of the
Crucified One, God illumined Feofil with the light of heavenly
wisdom so that everything secret and incomprehensible in the moral-
physical nature was natural, possible, and comprehensible for the
Starets. The Blessed Feofil predicted with accuracy not only all
the phenomena of the visible world but also all that was hidden in
the depths of man's heart. It is said that the grace of God began
to appear in Feofil in his very early days while he was still a
postulant-sacristan.

In Feofil's time, it was the custom of the sisters of the
Florovsky Monastery to go to the Dniepr for water every day. The
river water had a high iron content and was healthier and purer
than well water. The shortest path to the Dniepr lay through the
grounds of the Bratsky Monastery and this was the route taken by
the sisters. It was a rule, however, that no postulant could leave
the gates of the monastery without the blessing of her staritsa.
All those who set out for the river for water were obliged to
inform their nearest superior. In spite of this decree, it happened
that one of the young postulants, taking advantage of the absence
of the staritsa from her cell, went to the Dniepr for water without
the required blessing. She came to the river and was just about to
dip in her bucket when she lost her balance and dropped her cell
key, which she had been holding in her hand, into the water. In her
great con-fusion the poor soul began to sob and wring her hands.
How could she present herself to her staritsa? She could not open
her locked cell and she would have to explain the loss of the key.
Suddenly, from somewhere or other, Blessed Feofil appeared.

"Why are you weeping?" he asked. The young girl told him her
grief. "It serves you right, silly. The next time you won't go
without a blessing. However, give me the bucket and I will help
you."

The postulant handed him the bucket. The Blessed One stooped
towards the river and, having made a sign of the cross on the
vessel, he scooped up a full bucket.

"Here, take it and go home. Here you have both water and the lost
key."

The postulant looked into the bucket and saw her lost key on the
bottom. With a joyful cry of gratitude the young girl rushed after
Feofil but his footsteps had already vanished.

And so, amazing everyone with the greatness of his spirit and
life, the Blessed Feofil was a liying testimony of the wonderful
strength of the nature of mankind; what kind of power and might are
confined in the soul and body of man, if only man will strive to be
thoroughly penetrated by the strength and might of Christ's grace.

A naive peasant who was curious to know why the Blessed One could
foretell the future and penetrate the innermost parts of man's
heart, stepped up to him and asked.

"Father, how is it that you know everything and can foretell the
future of people's lives?"

" There is nothing difficult about it," the Blessed One replied.

" Could it really be so simple, Father?" the peasant asked.

" Very simple. Do you want to be able to do the same ?'

" Very much so, Father; teach me."

"Well then," instructed Feofil, "pull a small hair from your
eyelash and tie two knots in it. When you do that you will be as
wise as I am."

" Do you mean that you attained this by such means?"

" Indeed," replied Starets Feofil.

The naive peasant tried to make use of this advice but no matter
how hard he tried, he could not even tie one knot in the eyelash.

"That is how difficult it was for me to attain my present
condition," said the Blessed One and turned away from the peasant.

Many pupils of the academy, in order to tempt the Blessed One,
tried to find him in his cell and converse with him on the subject
of spiritual education. They were, however, struck by his simple
and wise answers. They were amazed that such a sullen-appearing and
untidy schemamonk could expose their thoughts by his sharp
expressions. When the more impudent turned the conversation to make
mockery, the Blessed One, de-siring to end the useless visit, would
sharply break them off:

"Go away from me! There was a time when I studied but now my mind
has become dark. If I continue to talk to you, perhaps, for all I
know, you might knock me off the true path. Go, go! For it is
written in the Scriptures 'But refuse to have anythlng to do with
trifllng controversies over  igrlorant questionings for you know
that they foster strife and breed quarrels'." (2 Tim. 2:23).

But it cannot be said that all scoffed at the Blessed One. There
were occasions then the example of the great ascetic was imitated.
At the very beginning of his podvigs as a fool-for-Christ's- sake,
there was a student of the academy, one Pyotr Gavrllovieh
Kryzhanovsky.  Feofil was still a postulant when a brotherly
friendship tied them together. The young friends spent whole hours
in soul-saving talks, discussing the fate of mankind, worldly
vanity, and fate beyond the grave. The Blessed Feofil saw good
strivings and a sympathetic heart in his friend and tried by all
means to strengthen and increase these good seeds of God's word in
his soul.

"Acquaint now yourself with Him," Feofil would say to his friend,
"and be at peace: thereby good shall come so you. Receive, I
beseech you, the law from His mouth, and lay up His words in your
heart! (Job 22, 21:22). And if you fulfill your vows the light
shall shine on your ways (Job 22:28)."

These constant talks created a beneficial influence on the young
Pyotr. Impressionable by nature, Pyotr began to meditate and
vigilantly took measure of his friend. He could not live without
him for a minute. Once they met on the shore of the -Dniepr and,
sitting down next to each other on the grass, they began to-talk.

"My brother! Help me to save my soul," cried Pyotr, turning to
Feofil.

"You can do this alone," replied the Blessed One, "as long as
there is the desire and the zeal."

" How can I do it? Teach me."

"Repudiate the world a all that is in it; close the innermost part
of your soul to everyone; crucify your flesh together with passions
and lust and, finding yourself in incessant prayer, select a narrow
path which leads to eternal life."

"I swear to God," replied Pyotr, "I am prepared to do what you
order me but due to my inexperience and simpleness it  will be
difficult for me to attain the desired success."

" Then walk in my footsteps and imitate my podvags and you will
be saved."

From that tirne, young Pyotr seemed to be completely trans formed.
He became silerrt and contemplative, no longe joking or laughing
and he abruptly charnged his way of living. He would spend entire
days sitting over his books, or else spending all his time in God's
temple and he began to fast zealosly. The academy superiors noticed
this sudden change in Pyotr and they began to observe him. They
attempted to administer strict reproofs to him but nothing
mattered. Disregarding worldly rules and customs, Pyotr seemed to
be scolding the world. Eventually, Pyotr became disturbed by the
authorities' aonstant watching of him so he chose the grounds of
the Florovsky Monastery as a place for his solitary podvigs. There
he spent many hours in solitude, seeking sorne ernpty corner so
that he could sink into prayer. It once happened that Pyotr
remained past the hour when the gates were locked and he was
trapped within the cloister. In order to conceal himself, he went
into the monastery cellar, lighted a candle and began to read the
Holy Gospel. Some of the sisters carne there for provisions and
upon seeing such an unusual sight, they becarne frightened and
raised a clamour. A whole throng came running. Abbess Serafima came
to the place of the incident, but the smatter was explained,
settled, and ended with Pyotr being sent away from the monastery.

"Why do you do this?" Pyotr was asked on the following day by his
uncle, Father Andrei Stefanovsky, a priest of the Florovsky
Monastery.  "Why don't you stay in the Bratsky Monastery and study
or else you will discredit my name and harm yourself."

But Pyotr remained silent and did not respond. Only when he would
lose courage and his soul would become seized by despondency, he
would run for advice to his teacher and fall sobbing on Feofil's
breast.

"Restrain yourself; restrain yourself," the Blessed One would
eonsole his faint-hearted friend. "Take your share of the hardships
and sufferig as a good soldler of Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 2:3). . . .
That enemy of yours, the devil, roams around llke a lion roaring
hungrily, looking for someone to seize upon and devour (1 Pet.
5:8). Don't be frightened by your podvig and lead it to its end. It
is difficult but through it you will avoid the fire of Gehenna. If
your hands are cramped from toil, just wash them with prayer to God
and let your feet follow after prayer. . . . unless a graln of
wheat falls onto the earth and dles, it remains just one gainn,
alive but by ltself. But lf it dies, iy produces many others and
yield a rich harvest (John 12:24). And so, if you want to be fruit-
bearing, die in your present image so that you can carry in your
heart the feeling that you have already died."

"But believe me, that it is difficult for me. My strength has run
altogether low.  My relatives do not understand me and with their
cries they torment my heart and upset my mind."

"Do not listen to them; behave like a dead person who does not
respond to anything surrounding him. If you are praised - be silent.
If you are scolded - be silent. If you incur losses - be silent. If
you receive profit, be silent. If you are satiated - be silent. If
you are hungry - also be silent. And do not be afraid that there will
be no fruit when all dies down; there will be! Not everything will
die, down. Energy will appear AND WHAT ENERGY!"


Heeding the directions of his spiritual adviser, Pyotr would again
revive in spirit and redouble his podvigs. Soon this young ascetic
was excluded from the academy. His relatives, not comprehending the
secret of his elevated spirit, committed Pyotr to the Kirillovskaya
Mental Hospital. He remained there for nearly eight years but never
once left his podvig of fool-for-Christ's sake. He reached such a
high spiritual perfection that he even foretold his own death. Not
long before, his demise, Pyotr left the hospital, clad only in a
dressing gown, and went to the Florovsky Monastery to bid farewell
to the sisters.

"Farewell, you who have become Christ's bride. Tomorrow we shall
see each other no more."

Pyotr was soon seized by hos- pital attendants who had followed
him to the monastery and returned to Kyrillovskaya.  On the
following day Pyotr died and thus remained an enigma to all who
knew him well.

On the day of Pyotr's death, Starets Feofil was at the
Kitayevskaya Hermitage and he sent one of the sisters of the
Florovsky Monastery to pay his last respects to his deceased
friends He instructed her:

"Go, cast your eyes on him and lower your head to him who was
patient and strong in spirit. That is how all who, believe in Him
and love Him are saved.  For truthful is the word of the Lord which
says, . . . If we have died with Him we shall also live with Him.
If we endure, we shall also reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:11-12)."

Feofil became tired of the noisy life of the Bratsky Monastery and
began to think about finding a more suitable place for his solitary
podvigs. For this purpose, he selected a large and shady orchard in
Glubochitsa where the Pokrovsky Monastery now stands. The owner of
this orchard, Iosif Nikiforovich Dikovsky, respected the Starets
and always sought his advice and directions. Because he was under
the influence of the Blessed One, Dikovsky led a truly ascetic
life. He slept little, fasted, did not eat meat, prayed much, and
occupied Himself with the reading of soul-saving books.

Nazar, the son of Iosif Dikovsky, who is today (1906) ninety years
old, relates: "Starets Feofil used to come to our orchard and hurry
to his  bees. He had only a few beehives, three or four, but he
used to look after them with fatherly attention. And how healthy
they were! Not a single one of them ever died of illness. He was
very fond of me. He would see me in the orchard and cry out,
'Nazar, come here!' I would go to him and ask for his blessings.
'God gives His blessings. Are you still catching fish? Catch some
for me and the two of us will make some fish soup.' We had a pond
in our orchard with huge carp in it. I would catch some for the
Starets and he would place it, raw, into his basket. Whenever he
came he would always reproach me, 'Why don't you marry, Nazar?' 'I
am young, Father.' But I was over twenty-seven then. Take care, get
married, or else you will have no one to lead you by your hand in
your old age.' 'But whom shall I marry, Father? I don't love or
even know anyone.' 'The baker woman, Nazar. She will go after you.'
I, of course, would laugh, 'And which baker woman? I haven't even
seen a bread basket since I was born.' Unfortunately, my father
overheard our conversation and he, too, began to pressure me into
marriage. There was no way out so I had to marry. And with whom do
you think I joined my fate?

With a baker woman! Evfrosinya Kagarlitskaya was her name. Her
mother was a poor woman who baked bread and sold it in the market.
And I never saw her once before the wedding. It was just before the
crowning that I found out everything. I asked my wife, 'What did
you and your mother do?' 'We baked bread.' 'That's how you made
your living?' 'Yes, with the prayers of Father Feofil we had quite
good sales.' 'Do you mean to say that he knew you?' 'Of course he
knew us. He used to send someone from the Bratsky Monastery to my
mother, Ustina. He would have the messenger tell my mother, a
widow, to send some rolls and if there were none, to give some raw
dough. Only God knows why he needed the dough. It would seem that
he gave it away with prophecies to his visitors. And what an income
we would have that day! Mother would always sell every last roll at
the market '

I have been paralyzed for thirteen years now. I can neither wash
nor dress without someone's help. My wife looks after me like a
little child. Only now did the words of the Blessed Visionary
Feofil come to mind: 'Get married, Nazar, or else you will have
no-one to lead you by the hand in your old age.'

The Starets did not travel by carriage but on a little horse. At
that time there was a merchant by the name of Ivan Katkov living in
Podol. He very much honoured and feared the Blessed One and he made
him a gift of a little horse. The Starets could not care for the
anional in the monastery, so Katkov would send it to Father Feofil
each day already fed and watered. The Starets would hitch the horse
to a little wagon, seat himself in it, and read his Psalter along
the way. The horse walked along unguided. As he went down the road,
street urchins would seek to annoy him.  Often a whole throng would
run after him, crying, 'Feofil, Feofil, take us with you!'
Sometimes one would .even throw a stone at him.  The Statets would
only glance at the .rude one, shake his finger at him sternly, and
again lower his eyes to his Psalter."

Iosif Dikovsky was not the only one close to the  heart of the
Starets.  Feofil loved his whole family.  Dikovsky's eldest
daughter was married to a cattle dealer, Ivan Grigorievich Rudkin.
Reverently honouring  the Blessed Starets,  Rudkin did not take on:
any matters without his advice and blessings.  Even when preparing
to set out for the fair, he first went to Kitayev for the Starets'
blessings before setting out on his way.  Once Evgeniya came .to
Father Feofil on some matter, and the Starets asked her, ,"Why, oh
servant of God,do you not marry off  your children?"

"I can't find any bridegrooms, Father."

"Can't-find any bridegrooms? Well then, take care, it will be bad
for your soul  when it becomes necessary to cross the flaming
river."

"But you will extend your cane, Father, and I will cross," she
replied jokingly.

The Starets went into his  cell,and brought out a piece of white
bread spread with black fish roe.

"Here is something for you.  Don't be afraid,  take it. And as
soon as you return home, give it to your, daughter. She will soon
marry a famous person."       After some time had passed, .the Rudkins'
daughter was betrothed and wed to Professor Konstantin Skvortsov.

On another occasion,  Rudkina again came to the Starets on some
matter. As she was preparing to leave, she said, "Father, how is it
that you have completely forgotten my father? Come and visit him.
See how nice our orchard is now?'

"I'll come, I'll come," the Starets  replied tenderly.

And very soon he did arrive at their place in Glubochitsa.  The
Blessed One's meeting with Dikovsky was extremely touching. Iosif
Nikiforovich had not seen the Starets for several years and,
rejoicing like a child, began to show the Starets various
improvements on his property.

"Nice, very nice," the Blessed One said. "It has blossomed
beautifully."

Later, while strolling in the orchard with Dikovsky, they stopped
under a large oak. The Starets raised his eyes and with inspiration
said, "Pray, Iosif, servant of God. The spot on which we stand is
holy."

"How could it be holy?" rejoined Dikovsky. "On holidays the town
youth comes here to make orgies and you call it 'holy'."

"No, no!" said the Visionary Starets with confidence. Truly I say
that here on this spot where we stand, God's grace will radiate.
There will be a church built here. The oak will be hewn and this
will be the place for the construction of the church altar and your
entire orchard will be turned.into a monastery for women by a regal
wife who will be both builder and head of it."

The prediction of the Starets was precisely fulfilled.

In 1888, the wife of Grand Duke Nikolai. Nikolaevich, Grand
Duchess Alexandra Petrovna, was living .in. Lipky, a suburb of
Kiev. Nearby, there was a tiny monastery which she had built She
now began to search in the neighborhood of Kiev for an appropriate
place to build.an entire cloister. Feodosiya Ponyr- kina, a
daughter of Dikovsky, heard of her intentions and suggested to the
Grand Duchess that she acquire the piece of land belonging to
Dikovsky for this purpose. Her Imperial Highness sent her deacon's
wife to Dikovsky, ordering her to look over this orchard and to
bring back a plan of the land. She was very pleased with the plan.
Dikovsky's orchard was acquired and soon, through devout zeal and
the Grand Duchess' means, the Pokrovsky Monastery for women was
built.

When the Grand Duchess heard of the prophecy of Starets Feofil,
the regal nun was completely amazed.. "My God! Is it really true?"
she exclaimed. "Why wasn't I . . told of this earlier?"

"It completely escaped my mind, Your Highness," replied Ponyrkina.

The Grand Duchess immediately sent a nun to the Kitayevskaya
Hermitage with the order to have a panikhida sung at the grave of
Starets Feofil. From then on she devoutly honoured the memory of
the Blessed One, even ordering a portrait of him painted for
herself.


                     III.

"Lo, then would I waunder far off and remain in the wilderness
(Psalm 55:7)

On 1 December, 1844, because of his age and weakening strength,
Hierosehemamonk Feofil requested a transfer from the Kievo-Bratskbr
Monastery to the Kiew-Pecherskaya Lavra and to be appointed to the
Bolnichny Monastery. Instead of this, Metropolitan Filaret assigned
him to the Goloseyoevsltaya Hermitage near Kiev and he was given
the cell of the late Hierodeacon Evstafy. For some reason or other,
the service record of Starets Feofil was not transferred with him
and so, until his death, he was not enumerated in the
Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra.

Winter passed, spring and summer came. As talk about the Ascetic
grew, it attracted large numbers of zealous people to the charming
location of Goloseyevskaya Hermitag. A city set on a hill cannot be
hid, said the Saviour (Matt. 5:14). It is even impossible to hide a
sweet-smelling flower in wild grass for it will be found by its
perfume and scent. In the same way the Blessed Feofil could not be
concealed in the solitude of his hermitage. The fragrance of his
holy life began to spread far and all those who sought spiritual
advice and comfort became aware of this fragrance. And all those
who came to Kiev to worship in its holy places also went to the
Goloseyevskaya Hermitage in order to see and to talk with the
Starets. But the Blessed One greatly increased his foolishness in
order to avoid worldly glory and constant contact with people.

When Feofil entered the Lavra, the monastery's superior paid
little attention to his "oddity." According to the lists of
recommendations from the superior of the hermitage, Igumen Grigory,
he is mentioned in 1845 as being "capable and careful in obedience,
honest, meek, and humble in behaviour;" for 1846, "little capable,
disrespectful, self-concerned, and self-willed." In 1847 he is
described by Hieroschemamonk Moisey as being "little capable; he
goes to church; he lives peacefully and quietly." But in 1848, when
controversy arose over the strange behaviour of the Starets, he is
recorded as 'not capable for anything at all; he is without any
obedience, stubborn and arbitrary; he is fifty-nine years old."

In order to examine these references to Feofil and similar
references from the Goloseyevskaya superiors, Metropolitan Filaret
gave an oral order to the superior of the hermitage,
Hieroschemamonk Kallist, "to test the capabilities of Feofil,"  As
a consequence, a report was filed on 20 October, 1848, that
Hieroschemamonk Feofil, "performed the whole week of services  and
in our judgment, cannot correctly and ceremonlously conduct a
religious- service." The Metropolitan agreed with this and he
forbade the Biessed One to take part in services and only allowed
him to commununicate the Holy Mysteries in his priestly vestments
on Saturdays "for the saving of his soul."

A prophet is always without honour in his own land. After this
decree, Feofil was removed from the hermitage and was transferred
to the so-called Novopasyechny Orchard. The Starets enjoyed it
there very much but it was an extraordinarily long way to-walk to
church. In spite of this, the Blessed Feofil never missed a single
service and always appeared at God's temple before the ringing of
the bells. He had been known from his youth for his zeal for church
services.

"O Lord, I love the splendour of Your house and the place of Your
glory. Only grant, O Lord,' that I may live ln the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to see the beauty of the Lord and to
visit His holy temple

On entering the church, he usually prostrated himself three times
in the centre of it. Then crossing himself at the icon before the
ambo, he stood for a while over there or went over to the south
door. If the women surrounded him there, he would go away to the
western door and make signs of' the cross in the air, as if driving
someone away through the power of  the cross.

"Where did all of you gather from, dark powers? God will arise and
His enemies will be scattered," the Starets would say aloud, 
irately.

Then, before the beginning of the hexapsalmos, he would enter the
kliros and begin reading the psalms. The actual reader, considering
Feofil an unwanted accomplice, would try to stop him but, having
received a rebuff from the Blessed One, he would present the book
to the Starets. The Blessed One read with great inspiration but in
an extraordinarily toneless voice. The singers who were
dissatisfied with his reading would remark to him:

"Read more loudly, Father. Nothing can be heard."

But the Starets, to the contrary, would lower his voice and read
even more quietly. After finishing the third psalm, he would
hurriedly close the book and remove himself from the kliros to the
centre of the church, leaving both the reader and the people in
great bewilderment.


Sometimes the Blessed One would rush into the church during the
Great Doxology or at the end of the service, at the time of the
singing of "Under Thy Mercy" or, if the service was a liturgy,
during the "Cherubic Hymn" and, pushing the people aside, he would
kneel in front, raising his arms upwards with his gaze towards
heaven, praying loudly. Then he would quickly leave the church,
followed by a crowd of worshippers attracted by him.

It is said that the Blessed One's power of prayer on those
suffering afflictions and illness was unusual. By its action many
of the ill and crippled were healed. An official, Maria Grigorievna
N., was possessed with fits of raving. When she turned to the
Blessed One for help, the Starets read the Gospel over her, then
firmly hit the woman on the head with it. As she fell back from the
pain, he loudly pronounced:

"In the naIne of our Lord, Jesus Christ, I command you to leave!"
and immediately the woman was healed.

"If you want to be well," the Starets said as he blessed her,
"live at the Kitayevskaya Hermitage and do not venture out from
there." Maria Grigorievna lived near the Kitayevskaya Herrnitage
until her death an daily attended church there.

One of the Metropolitan's smger's, Nikolai K_lov, had such
overwhelming passions of the flesh that he was considered possessed
since they did not leave his mind day or night. One day in spring,
while taking a stroll in the woods, he met Starets Feofil. Hoping
to avoid any conversation which might lead to a discussion of his
affliction, he tried to turn aside.

"Haloo, Nikolai, wait up," the Blessed One called.out to him.
"Where are you going? Come here to me. We will delight in
lascivious thoughts together."

K_lov felt that he had been accused and wept sorrowfully before
the Starets.  . -

"Well, that's nothing. The Lord is merciful," the Starets said to
him in consolation. "Let's go and pray to Him."

He knelt and began to pray. In- half an hour he rose and, with a
tender face, turned to the sufferer saying:  -

"Well, go. Lascivious thoughts will no longer disturb you."

Immediately after this the youth was healed of his ailment and his
body was no longer consumed with lascivious passions.

The Blessed Feofil lived for more than half a year in the
Novopasyechny Orchard but on 29 April, 1849, by an oral decree of
Metropolitan Filaret, he was transferred to the Kitayevskaya
Herrnitage near Kiev.

Here Starets Feofil increased his podvig of
foolishness-for-Christ's-sake. Although he found a new cross to
bear in the form of various trials and persecutions from the-
superiors, he also received the consolation of solitude. The
Kitayevskaya Hermitage was surrounded by high hills covered with
thick woods. The Starets used to go deep into them, and there, in
God-con-templating solitude, he poured out his soul in prayers to
Him Whose eyes are ten thousand times as bright as the sun and
shine upon all of man's doings and sees into his most secret
places (Sirach 23:27: 28).

He often went and knelt upon the stump of a large hewn tree for
whole days, endlessly bewailing the corruption of the tirnes and
praying for the forgiveness of the sinful world, blind to what it
is doing.

Feofil was occupied constantly and exclusively with thoughts of
God and with prayer and paid no attention whatever to his
appearance. He was concerned with the beauty  of the soul, not with
the cleanliness of the body. His clothes were threadbare with many
patches sewn on with white thread and spotted with dough and oil.
Even when going to church, the Blessed One put his mantle over his
shirt and with cowl widely spread, he walked along the street bare
chested. On his feet he wore torn slippers or else a worn out high
boot on one and a felt boot or a bast.-shoe on the other.  His head
was sometimes tied with an old, dirty towel.

Many mockers would notice the old bandage on the Starets' head and
ask.hirn with.laughter:

"Father Feofil! What ails you.today,?"

Are you a doctor?" the Blessed One would sternly reply and walk
away from them.

Another time, to the contrary, he wished:to appear too hehealthy
and thereby expose the corpulent, gluttons.     He placed down pillow
on his stomach and walked about the yard.  Then he walked through
the monastery gates towards the woods where he met some postulants
chatting idly and he reproachfully shook his.head at them.

"Why were the scribes and pharisees judged?"  ..

But the cheerful .young people had noticed the large artificial
stomach on Feofil and replied with peals of uncontriable laughter.

But even this untidiness, constantly seen and reproaded by all,
had a distinctive significance for Feofil. It was noticed that the
more slovenly he was dressed, the more his spirit struggled, the
more strengthened and ardent were his prayers and the more
thoughtfy  his forehead became.

The Blessed One always prayed in secret. Before beginning his cell
rules, he donned his mantle and when he read the Gospel and the
akathist, he would light three votive lamps in memory of the three
times he was saved from the water. He wore a metal belt with an
icon of the Epiphany fixed permanently onto it. So that he would
not be idle for a moment the, Blessed One spun wool, knitted socks
and wove sackcloth which he usually gave to icon-painters for their 
work. During his work he would recite the Psalter which he knew
from memory and other prayers. Eaeh day he made countless
prostrations before the icons and gave his weary body very little
rest. For this he either leaned back against the wal or lay on the
stove- bed across which he placed a log or sat in the middle of the
cell on a short, extremely narrow bench so that if he should lose
himself in sleep, he would fall off and, awaken, quickly retunrning
to his prayers.

Nevertheless, the superior of the hermitage, Hieroschemamonk Iov,
detested the Blessed One for his podvig of foolishness and
constantly observed his 1iving and behaviour. He could never find
the Blessed One at prayer and soul-saving exercises. No matter when
he visited the Starets in his cell, the Visionary always knew he
was coming. Removing his outer garments, he woud topple over onto
his bench and feign sleep. In this way he followed the word of the
Lord Himself Who said:

"But when you pray. go into your most private room, and closing
the door, pray to your Father in secret: and your Father Who sees
in secret will reward you in the open" (Matt. 6:6).

By means of his secret, prayerful works and podvigs, he was
building an eternal house in heaven and laying up the provisions
which are for eternity. The Blessed Starets' cell was always
unkempt, jamined and covered with layers of rubbish. When asked why
he per-mitted his cell to be that way, he answered:

"So that everything surrounding me will constantly remind me of
the disorder of my soul."

Some elders of the Lavra had visited the cell of this man of God
and they related that it was filled with rows of pots and crocks
containing prepared foodstuff for visitors_groats, tea, oil, flour,
sugar, bread, tarts, honey, roe, fruit, fish, grapes, tapers, and
such.

Understandably, his collection of provisions aroused some envy in
the monastery, particularly a!mongst the younger members. These
youths wanted to get into the food and worked out one especially
elaborate plan. Having noticed that the superior of the hermitage
detested Feofil, they convinced his favourite sacristan, Polykarp,
to petition Iov in favour of transferring the Starets to another
cell. Polykarp was quite willing to do this since he hated the
Blessed One as much as did the superior. It seems that Feofil had a
habit of gathering up a whole pile of worms, beetles, cockroaches,
and bugs into mattress ticking and then releasing them all in
church where they would crawl away into every corner. Alas,
Polykarp was then required to search for this crawling army and
sweep all of its soldiers out the door. In a fit of anger, Polykarp
would fall on the Blessed One with abuse and often beat him but the
Starets would only stop before him, fold his hands and keep silent.

"The crafty one has destructive thoughts," said the Prophet
Isaiah. "He contemplates bonds in orter to ruin the poor man wlth
words of falseness, even if the poor man is right." That was the
source of Polykarp's hatred for Feofil. Having cast aspersions on
the Blessed One before the superior, he would receive an order from
him to move the "guilty one" to another cell. Polykarp then would
go immediately to the Starets with a malicious smirk.

" Father Feofil The superior has ordered you to move to another
" cell."

"Direct my steps according to Thy word," the Starets would humbly
reply. And taking his mantle under his arm, an icon, and a Psalter,
he would quickly go over to the cell indicated to him. And the
postulants would just be waiting for this. Under the pretext of
carrying over the "furniture" (the Blessed One had nothing in his
cell but a lectern, a bench, and a crude table), they would get at
the provisions. But Starets Feofil would not in the slightest be
disturbed by the loss of the deli-cacies and, in the gentleness of
his angelic heart, he would exclaim:

" Wondrous are Thy works. O Lord"


                       IV.

In order to avoid similar occurrences and also to help eradicate
evil which had arisen in people, the Blessed One began to accept
cell-mates to live with him. They did not come from arnong the 
brothers but rather, he selected them directly from the laity. The
Starets paid no attention to the selected person's behaviour,
whether it was vicious or not, so  long as he was possessed of a
keen heart and an open soul and hoped for correction.

Once, a ragged wanderer called Ivan came to the Kitayevskaya
Herrnitage. He was a deserter from the military service who had
committed a whole series of crimes since he had de-serted several
years earlier. The Starets met him in the monastery kitchen and,
having revealed his secret sins, brought the heart of the wanderer
to repentance. Seeing this extraordinary monk before him, Ivan was
amazed and would not leave the side of the Starets. He began
tearfully to repent of his crimes.

Yes, there is great need for me to repent. I committed much evil
on earth," Ivan concluded and sighed heavily.

Starets Feofil looked him over from head to toe, shook his head
with pity and also sighed deeply.

"Do you know the parable of the talents?" he asked him. 

"I know nothing, Batiushka. I was born a fool and I shall die a
fool," Ivan replied with contrition.

The Starets told him of the parable of the talents and, having
explained the contents, continued:

"And so our life is a time of investing. One must be quick to use
it in order to acquire all that is possible. If you brought bast
sandals to the bazaar and, instead of sitting with your arms
folded, contrived to call buyers in, then, having sold everything,
you can buy whatever you need for yourself."

"But, dear Batiushka, when and where am I to get these talents? I
am illiterate, foolish, simple. I haven't got any." 

"Not true! The Lord gave something to everyone who was born. It
means that each person has something with which to invest and to
make a gain."

" But where then! Where are they?"

"Well, just look at yourself carefully and you will discover what
talent you have and how you can use it for gain. On that dreadful
judgement day, everything will be asked about:

Did you have hands? What did you acquire with them? Did you have a
head and tongue? What did you acquire with them? The reward will
not be given for the fact that you acquired but for what it was
that you acquired."

For a whole day after this conversation, Ivan stood aside and
observed the Starets, amazed at his simplicity, humility, and
wisdom. Finally, towards evening, he was inflamed with a desire to
live under the spiritual direction of the Blessed One. He
approached Feofil and with cries fell at his feet.

"Batiushka.! Take me unto you! Don't let my soul peish in sins
and vice!"

"Very well, very well!" answered the Starets. " Who comes unto me
will never be turned away.' I see that your heart truly desires to
work for the Lord. Come and live with me and save yourself but bear
in mind that since I possess nothing, you can expect to experience
cold, thirst, grief, and deprivation. And do not complain about
this fate when you begin to endure it."

"My true father! Even if I had to give up my life for you, for the
Saviour's sake, I am prepared to do so."

From that time on Ivan began to serve the Blessed One arld became
his first cell-mate. Starets Feofil was strict and, with a vigilant
eye, followed the development of his spiritual im-provement,
intercepting each wave of evil which arose.

Once, the Blessed One was brought a large piece of cured fillet of
sturgeon. Tempted by the gift, Ivan appropriated it for himself and
ate it. But suddenly he felt a terrible pain in his stamach and he
began crying out, begging for help.

"Suffer, suffer, brother. This fish is being digested in your
stomach," the Starets said jokingly to him. And then he added, "Why
did you listen to the enemy? Why did you become led into partaking
of food which ought not to concern you?"

But he saw the open-hearted repentance of the guilty one and
pitied him. The Starets prayed a while and the illness disappeared
at once.

In this way he educated his cell-mate by means of various works
and foolish orders which, although strange in essence, had in them
a great benefit for the development of his mental purity. Mixing
his speech with spiritual directions understandable to him, the
Starets very soon succeeded in cleansing Ivan's heart from
everything bad, all his vices and temptations.

The grateful cell-mate acknowledged his insignificance before the
Starets. Seeing his unchanging fatherly love and care, Ivan paid
the Blessed One for this with the most tender dedication and
childlike obedience.

"Ivan!" the Starets said to hirn one day. "Take a basket and let's
go gather some mushrooms."

They took what was required and set out into a very dense thicket
of woods. The air was very hot. Starets Feofil gathered mushrooms
but all the while he sighed:

"Ah, what a storm is approaching. What a storm!"

Ivan looked up. The sky was azure, limpid, and clear.

"There will be no stor,m, Batiushka. There is not a cloud to be
seen."

" Oh, there will be one very soon. It's already approaching us.
" Here it is!"

At that very moment, three strappling young fellows with clubs
lept out from bushes and angrily ran up to the Starets.

"Aha, we've caught a monk! Give us money!"

The Starets crossed himself, then peacefully rummaged in his
basket and handed over the largest mushroom, saying, "Eat to your
heart's content."

''What?' the robbers cried out. "You are even laughing at us?"

And they began to beat him all over.

"Ivan, go away!" the bloodied Starets whispered.

"No," replied the faithful servant. "Where the master is, his
servant is also there." Seeing the blood on the Starets, he threw
himself at the robbers in a frenzy. But they were twice as strong
and, tying up the cell-mate, they also beat him unmercifully.
Having enjoyed themselves over the defenceless sacrifices, the
robbers disappeared.

Then Ivan understood what kind of a storm had been approaching
them.

The Starets' second cell-mate was a retired soldier named Kornily.
He was an unusually obstinate and stubborn fellow and, moreover,
had a very sharp tongue. Visitors to the Blessed One suffered
various insults from Kornily and often complained to Feofil about
the coarseness of his cell-mate.

"You don't know how to behave as an eremite," the Starets told
Kornily sternly. "I'll send you to the Lavra. There they will soon
drill you, you bear."

And he sent Kornily to the Lavra's guest hostel. As a consequence,
when Igumen Agapit was appointed superior of the Lavra's guest
hostel, he took Kornily as his cell-mate.

Agapit was a great starets and his name was long remembered by
those who benefited from his charity. He used to buy whole pieces
of broadcloth, sackeloth, and other material in order to sew
clothing for men and women. All this he gave to poor pilgrims.
Aside from the constant distributing of money, clothing, and bread,
Father Agapit also gave monthly pen-sions to a sizable number of
truly poor and burdened families in the city. He accepted single
people into the Lavra almshouse, feeding, clothing, doctoring, and
admonishing them into salvation.

It was with this Starets that Kornily found himself. True, it was
not easy for Father Agapit to get along with Kornily. Still,
eventually he tonsured hixn, named him Nestor, then buried him and
remembered him with love. But it is necessary to pay a tribute to
Kornily. He was irreplaceable in the secret charities of Father
Agapit and, in general, he was dedicated to him with his soul.
Father Agapit did not limit his charities to the Lavra. He liked to
visit the city prison, refuges of extreme poverty, and generally,
truly poor people. On such trips Kornily used to accompany him. 
They would load their driver with parcels of clothing and, taking
baskets of white bread and money, they set out for the city as if
to make purchases at the store. Actually, they were conducting
spiritual business by visiting the needy. They would clothe some,
give money and bread to others. After that they would fill their
baskets with some goods for the sake of appearance and return home
happy and content. After his transference to the Lavra, Kornily was
truly transformed from and ignorant "bear" into a worthy pupil of
his great starets-teacher.

The Blessed Feofil foretold this long beforehand. When Father
Agapit (Timofey Milovanov "in the world") visited the Starets for
the first tirne in the Kitayevskaya Hermitage, he was told:

"When you will become superior of the Lavra hostel, this crank
Kornily will serve you. He argues with and scolds everyone but he
will get along with you."

A certain Panteleimon was the Blessed Feofil's third cell-mate.
After the death of the Starets, he lived at the Lavra hostel until
old age. He told many of the elders of the various miracles of the
Blessed One and of his wonderful forevision which he himself had
witnessed many times.

Once, on the orders of his Starets, Panteleimon was carrying
dinner from the refectory when he slipped and dropped the food near
the threshold. In order to avoid chastisernent, the confused
cell-mate began to sweep up the food in the hope of refilling the
dishes. But the Starets came up to him and said:

"You don't know to carry out an obedience, Panteleimon. You won't
become a monk until you are dying." And so it happened.
Panteleimon, who lived to a very old age, remained only a postulant
until just before his death when he was tonsured a rasafor monk and
given the name Feodosy.

Nevertheless, Panteleimon was absolutely obedient to his
starets.

Blessed Feofil obtained permission to travel to Voronezh for the
twentieth anniversary of the uncovering of the relics of Saint
Mitrofan, Bishop of Voronezh. His postulant, Pante-leimon, went
with him on the long journey. Having arrived in Voronezh they spent
their days in church and their nights in the courtyard near the
belfry. When they had finished their podvig of reverence to the
Saint, they set out on their return trip home. Having walked for a
long way, they finally reached Kiev.

"It would be nice to make one last halt," said Blessed Feofil and
sat down in the field to rest in the open air.

Having eaten a little food, he reached towards the bag to take out
the water-gourd. But it was not there.

"Panteleimon, where is our tankard?" the Starets cried out in
disappointment.

The cell-mate thought for a while and then remembered:

"Why it's in Voronezh, Batiushka. It was left where we ate last
night, there at the foot of the belfry steps."

" How bad you are! Go back and get it before it disappears."

Panteleimon did not even pause for a second thought but set out
for Voronezh, not even spending the night in his own cloister which
was only half a verst from their position, as if the gourd
constituted some sort of valuable rarity, or as if it were only a
few steps between Kiev and Voronezh instead of a great distance.

He reached Voronezh safely and to his joy he found the gourd at
the very place where it had been left. Taking it in his hands, he
set out for home. The simple-hearted Panteleimon did not attach any
significance to this podvig and was not conceited because of it,
nor did he grumble against the Blessed One. He knew that the
eremitical fathers of the East even ordered their postulants to
drive oak stakes into tne ground and water them daily in order to
avoid idleness.

Once, during the Great Lent, when the Blessed One would not eat
for days at a time and prayed to God in secret, he sent Panteleimon
to the bazaar to buy some rather large tops from old boots.  When
the obedience was fulfilled the old boot tops were brought to the
Starets who spread them out on a bench, side by side, and ordered
Panteleimon to sew them together into several large sheets. Then he
brought in a pot of wheel-tar and diligently began to smear these
leather sheets.

"Why are you doing that, Batiushka?" Panteleimon asked with
curiosity.

" God commands it; God commands it," the Starets quickly replied.

" And what does it mean?"

"It means, my dear friend that the evil ones write the works of 
sinful people on them. But today all this is smeared over and there
are no more sins."

"By means of this action," Panteleimon later explained, "the
Starets wanted to shew that the sins of the spiritual children
close to him, for whom he so fervently and constantly prayed in
those days, were already forgiven by God and their conscience was
cleansed before the face of God." 

"There were times in the summer," Panteleimon related, "when the
Starets would call me and say: 'Pick some fresh apples in the
orchard tomorrow (and he would specify exactly how many). In the
morning, at sunrise, go to the woods along the road. There you will
meet a party of pilgrims. Give each one two apples.' I would carry
out these orders, picking exactly the number of apples specified by
the Starets. Then I would go to the appointed place and, lo and
behold, I would give each pilgrim two apples and have precisely the
required number. The Starets often gave me such orders and
Imarvelled at his forevision."

The fourth cell-mate of the Starets was a certain Kozma. He was an
extraordinarily well read and religious servant, so that even
Starets Feofil jokingly called him "theologian." For days at a time
Kozma was occupied with the reading of the holy writings and books
of the holy fathers. Moreover, he often forgot not only food and
drink but even about direct obligations of his cell obedience. His
absent-mindedness reached such a degree that when he once had to
sign a paper on the occasion of receiving some documents, Rozma not
only forgot his suname but his Christian name as well so that
others had to remind him of it.

Of all the inanimate objects of this world, Kozma loved only
books, and most of all, his old worn out Bible which he always
carried with him on a belt. At night, he placed it under his head
for a pillow. Kozma treated his starets with slavish respectfulness
and was ready to rush, upon his word, into either fire or water. Of
all the creatures of the earth, Kozma disliked women most. God
forbid that he should happen to meet any oncoming female while
going to the Dniepr for water in the morning. Kozma would then
consider himself profaned for the entire day and, upon returning
home, he would sprinkle himself with holy water. All of his
thoughts and desires were directed towards the goal of retiring
into the heart of a forest in his declining years, to dig a small 
cave there and move into it, beginning a soul-saving podvig.

Once, when he was contemplating such unattainable bliss and was
building castles in the air, Starets Feofil came up from behind and
unexpectedly asked:

'Kozma! Where will you live when I move on to that other world?"

"Where God commands," Kozma answered with amazement "I will join
some monastery."

"No, you are not going to be a person of the monastery. You will
live among women in your own town."

Kozma shuddered from such an unexpected thought. This prophecy was
equal to a condemnation and brought him into great confusion and
anxiety.

"To live outside of the monastery and with women yet! No! Deliver
me, O Lord, from such a disaster!" Kozma thought to himself.

But soon the prophetic words of the Blessed Starets came true.

A year after this conversation, Feofil died and his cell-mate
Kozma left for his home town of Bogodukhov where he settled in a
little hut on the outskirts. There he led a purely ascetic life and
was famous in the entire district as a batiushka experienced in
spiritual direction and advice. It soon happened, however, that,
due to the labours of a wealthy woman and several generous donors,
the land next to Kozma's place was bought up for the building of a
public almshouse out of which grew a monastery for women.

Kozma was not a witness to the final growth of this cloister,
since he soon became ill and passed away, having lived for a long
time as a neighbor of the original sisters of the almshouse. He had
lived, thus, "with women," as it were.

After Kozma's death, his land was given over to the newly built 
cloister and the memory of this remarkable starets is even now
reverently remembered.


                       V.

Blessed Feofil's stove burned both winter and summer or, more
correctly, it smoked away. He would place a thick, unsplit log into
it and then have to relight it several times. It is under-standable
that from such heating in the cell, especially in winter, it could
not be warm and the water in his cell often froze. But Starets
Feofil did not pay any attention to it. He would put on his
sheepskin coat and felt boots and turn to his prayers. His spirit
was carried high above all the needs and wants of his emaciated
body.   Once in summer, when the Starets was in the Kitayevskaya
Hermitage and lived in a small wooden shed, the superior sent some
stove-makers to repair the ancient stove in his cell. But Feofil
bribed the stovemakers not to touch the stove. The superior,
Hieroschemamonk Iov, was so outraged that he took the stove-damper
away from the Starets with his own hands, and moved him into a
stone building in order to watch him more closely. The Blessed One,
not forsaking his podvig of foolishness, hired his own workmen and
ordered them to break up his stove in order to rebuild it according
to his own whims. His plans were intercepted, however, and put to a
stop. In Septem-ber of that year, at the conclusion of vespers,
disregarding the absolute forbidding of the superior, the Starets
decided to light his stove.     Having put earthenware pots on the
stove, he went off into the woods, leaving the stove unattended. In
his absence, the fire fell out onto the wooden floor which began to
burn with much smoke. The monks ran in and, with difficulty,
extinguished the fire. The culprit of this disaster was not quickly
found but when he returned he began to comfort everyone.

"Don't grieve about what there wasn't; it is better to praise the
Lord for His mercy, for He does wondrous works for His earthly
sons," he said.

The Starets received his food from the monks' refectory and he
usually mixed it into one dish disregarding that there might be
both bitter and sweet in it_both borshch and kasha, horse-radish
and kvas.

"It is the same in life," he would say to anyone who was amazed by
his strangeness, "both bitter and sour and salty mixed with sweet
and all this must be digested."

The food which he prepared for strangers or the poor, he left in
the same condition as when he received it from the refectory. For
himself he sometimes prepared dumplings, semolina porridge or
noodle soup. But he used neither salt nor oil and thus it all had
an extremely repulsive taste.

In general, Feofil used very little food. On Wednesday and Friday
he ate nothing at all except for half a stnall cup of honey mixed
with cold water and ice. This also composed his food on Saturday
and Sunday of the first week of the Great Lent and on Saturday of
the Holy Week. On the other days of Holy Week, he did not even
partake of water. The Starets did not use tea and instead he used
to boil mint and would prepare up to two cups, but he always drank
only half of each cup, pouring the rest into earthenware pots to
treat strangers. The Blessed One did not eat the rich black bread
but used only white or rush, and then he avoided the crust,
pinching out bits from the centre.

But in addition to all these strange habits, the Blessed One had
another original feature; love and sympathy for birds and animals.

There was a small square of land which ran from the fence of the
Kitayevskaya Hermitage right up to the edge of the monastery pond.
Seeing that the land was not being used, Feofil hired a peasant to
plough up the land and seed it with hemp.

"Why do you need hemp, Batiushka?"

"Because the heavenly birds will come here and eat it."

The peasant did as he was told. The hemp grew and whole flocks of
birds flew there to feed and nest.

Once a large number of mice invaded the Starets' cell because of
the various provisions found in it. Feofil, exasperated by their
nightly raids, decided to put an end to them. He called in a young
reader and said, "Catch me the superior. Catch him and I'll give
you money for a sweet burL"

"How can he be caught when he always sits in his cell? Go ahead and
try it. He'll take a stick to you and you won't forget it as long
as you live," the reader answered with a smile. He thought Feofil
was talking about the superior, Hierc6chemamonk Iov.

"No! Not that superior, you silly fellow."

"Well, which one, Batiushka?"

"One who catches mice. Catch an unfortunate tramp of a cat. He will
be industrious in his work. A household cat will only put on airs
and sleep an the stove-bed."

Soon a tom-cat was installed and the mice were suppressed.  But
now, alas, cockroaches and beetles began to pester him. Then the
Blessed One called his cell-mate and said:

"Here, take this money and buy me a little hen."

The cell-mate went out and, instead of a little hen, he brought a
little rooster. The young rooster would walk about the cell, 
shaking his red comb, picking up insects in every corner. But
towards morning, when the tired Starets would doze off after a
night of prayerful podvigs, it would suddenly cry, "Cock-a-
doodle-doo!"

"'This is not monastery life," the Starets decided. "Take it away
from here! Take it away!" he said to Ivan, his cell-mate.

"Where shall I take him?" the cell-mate asked, only half awake.

"Take it to the postulant, Nikifor. Give it to him from me."

The cell-mate obeyed without question and took the rooster to
Nikifor.

Before entering the monastery, Nikifor had been a serf and served
as a lackey for his master. Being inclined towards a religious
life, he asked the master to release him. Then he came to Kiev and
entered into the brotherhood at the Kitayevskaya Hermitage. He had
been living there for three years but unclean thoughts were 
confusing him and driving him from the monastery. 

Having received the rooster, Nikifor stood and thought, "Why did
the Starets send a rooster? I don't eat meat, but people will see
this rooster and convict me of it anyway." But because of his
humility, he accepted the rooster into his cell.

The rooster being disposed of, Feofil now acquired a little hen.
After about a month, the postulant Nikifor came to the Starets for 
advice. The Blessed One said not a word but gave him the little
hen.

"For goodness sake! What is this for, Batiushka? I have more than
enough with the rooster."

"Take it; take it, I tell you. This gives you a pair."

Several days later, Nikifor met a beautiful girl by accident and
was carried away with passion for her. He secretly slipped away
from the monastery and soon married her. Only then did he
understand what the rooster signified and why he was given the hen
for "a pair".

It was a great distance to the Layra and the city and so the
Starets had little chance to go there. As a result, the Blessed One
acquired a bullock with which to ride to the Lavra and the Bratsky
Monastery.

How he happened to acquire the little bull is an incident worth
relating.

Ivan Katkov (the butcher from Podol who had brought the horse to
Feofil at the Bratsky Monastery) came to the Starets for confession
and while telling the Blessed One about his affairs, he mentioned
that he acquired a young bull of a very unstable nature.

"I bought a bullock, Batiushka. I had planned to keep it myself but 
I don't know what to do with it. The brute has become stupid and
gores at everyone with its horns. I suppose I shall have to butcher
it, sorry as I am about it."

"Then give it to me," said the Starets.

"To you? God have mercy, why it's impossible even to approach him!
Several people have already been crippled by him."

"Never mind. We will teach hirn humility."

"But how can I..."

"Very simple. Go up to hirn and say, 'Look here, little bull! From
now on you are no longer mine, but Father Feofil's. Prepare to
visit him'."

The butcher did exactly as he was told. Upon returning home, he
walked up to the bullock and repeated the words of the Starets, and
the bullock, who had been snorting and pawing the ground, became as
meek as a lamb. It began to quietly caress and lick the man's
hands. Then a worker slipped a rope over his horns and by dusk the
young bull had been settled with Father Feofil at the Kitayevskaya
Hermitage.

Now that he had the little bull, the Blessed One built a small cart
with a little sailcoth hood set up on hoops in the rear of it. The
Starets would travel to the city in this contraption. He never sat
in front of the cart, but always in the rear with his back to the
bull.  He had placed a small analoy under this hood and he would
falI on his knees and read his beloved Psalter as he journeyed. But
here is what was so astonishing. The bullock had neither harness
nor reins, but only a yoke. The bull went precisely where its
master wanted to go without any command, directions, guiding or
prodding whatsoever, whether it was to Podol, the Lavra or the
Bratsky Monastery. It is said that the bullock even went around
stones, ruts, and ditches in order not to Jog the Blessed One from
his reading.

But we should not be at all astonished that this unreasoning
creature obeyed him thus without a whip, that a formerly fierce
animal became as tame and meek as a sheep before him.  Wild animals
have only become fierce because of the cruelty of human nature.
Remember the state of our forbears in paradise. All living
creatures saw the light of the image of God in their faces and even
the most ferocious animals, sensing the wondrous fragrance of this
image, peacefully bowed their heads before Adam.  When man ceased
his obedience to God's commandments, God's image in him darkened.
The unreasoning creatures stopped recognizing and obeying him. The
fragrance of God's image was exchanged for the stench of passions
and man himself became similar to the unthinking beasts. His
disobedience to God was punished by the disobedience to him of the
earth's creatures and man himself now fears beasts which were once
submissive to him. But God's holy ones, through obedience to God's
commandments, restored the image of God in thernselves and, taking 
unto themselves the gifts of the Lord's Grace, radiated the
original purity and light. Therefore, the animals, again sensing in
man the fragrance of original purity, become obedient to him. What
power there is in love and virtue!

ln the City everyone knew the Starets.  No sooner would he appear
on one of the main streets than merchants would begin to run from
their shops shouting, "Feofil is coming! Feofil is coming!" And
each one hurried to drop something into his cart; one a piece of
calico, a second a loaf, a third a handkerchief or a skein of
threads. It was noticed that anyone who tried to give the Starets
something from his own goods, without fail made good profits in his
business that day. The Starets kept nothing of this for himself.
All that was in his cart he passed out to poor people whom he met
on the way. There were many of them and they would run behind the
Blessed One in great crowds.


     Many stories are recorded of the odd events which took place
 on these  trips. For example, being aware of Metropolitan Filaret's 
dislike for him,  Feofil tried even more to annoy the venerable Archpastor 
with his foolishness. Once in summer, when Vladika was spending
 some time in a cottage in Goloseyevo, Feofil arrived in his
 cart and drove straight into the Metropolitan's garden. The gardener
was amazed.

     "God be with you Father Feofil! Where are you going?"

     The Blessed One paid no attention to him and instead turned 
back towards the way he had come, only this time he travelled
 down a path lined with grapes on either slde and so narrow that one
 hardly could even walk down it. The route lay right below the very 
window at which Metropolitan Filaret was standing.  Vladika was
 furious. He dashed out onto the porch.

"What is this disgrace? Who dared to let Feofil into the garden? Why did he
come here? Send him away immediately. He will ruin my grapes."

The Blessed One, who had gone up the alley almost to its end, met Vladika face
to face and, hearing the Archpastor's anger, calrnly turned his bullock around.

"If it is not pleasing, then it is not necessary."

And, instead of leaving the garden by a wider path, he turned and travelled
back down the same alley, between the grape vines.

"It is a wonder," the terrified gardener later related, "that the Starets was able to
travel between the grape bushes, but it is an even greater wonder how he
 contrived to turn the cart around in such a narrow space where it
 was hardly possible for a man to even walk through. A miracle! Truly a
miracle!"

From that time on Feofil fell into disgrace. The bullock was taken away from him
and sent to the pastures of the Lavra. The Blessed One was
 forbidden to appear at the Goloseyevskaya Hermitage, or to
roarn around. But on the day the bullock was placed in the monastery herd, such an
unusual loss of cattle took place that the Lavra steward lost all 
self-control and absolutely did not know what to do. Veterinary
doctors were called, and it was thought that sorne sort of epidemic had broken
 out in the herd. The doctors examined the cattle and could 
find nothing wrong wyith then Meanwhile, the livestock continued to fall
and die.  It was decided to report the situation to  Metropolitan Filaret. Vladika
sumrnoned the Lavra steward and asked to know exactly what day
 the loss of cattle began. The steward replied that it was from
the very day when Feofil's bullock was taken from hirn and put in 
with the herd.

"Is that so!" Vladika cried out and ordered that the bulIock be quickly removed
from the heard.

When this was done, to the general amazement of everyone, the loss of cattle ended
at once. The bullock was led away to Kitayev and returned to his owner.
 Having received baek his pet, the Blessed One gilded his horns 
and peacefully resumed his daily travels.  In truth, the ox knows its owner (Is. 1:3).

The road from Goloseyevo to Kitayev used to be unbelievably narrow. At the
beginning of the Kitayev woods, the road rose up a steep hill. At
 this point, a narrow ravine crossed the road and it was necessary for
 travellers to descend into the ravine to cross it. It happened once that
Metropolitan Filaret and Archimandrite Lavrenty, the Deputy 
Superior of the Lavra, were hurrying along this road to conduct
business at the Kitayevskaya Hermitage. Just as Vladika's carriage
 reached the lriddle of the ravine, Father Feofil appeared 
with his "steed". The Metropolitan's coachman thought that this was an
approaching peasant and he sternly cried out:

"Hey you! Turn back! Turn back, I tell you!"

The Metropolitan, on hearing these stern calls of the coachman, thrust his head
out the window and asked, "What is it?" But, upon seeing Feofil
 approaching towards him, he at once guessed what it was.

"Ivan, stop!"

The coachman stopped the horses, and Vladika and the deputy superior
stepped out of the carriage.  Feofil was sitting in the cart, 
leaning his elbows on its rail, and pretending to be asleep.

"Feofil, get up! Misfortune has occurred!" Metropolitan Filaret said loudly and
began to awaken the Blessed One.

"What? Ah! Is it you, holy Vladika?"


"It is. Why are you dozing, you mischievous person? Just take a look at the
trouble you have caused us."

And the trouble was great. The meeting occurred at the narrowest place and it
was impossible to turn around either the bullock or the carriage.

"Well, what will we do now?"


"We will do something," Feofil answered peacefully.

There was nothing to do but to unhitch the bullock. Vladika drove him back up
the hill with a stick while the Deputy Superior and Feofil pulled the
 cart after him. The coachman did not participate in this
“podvig" since he was holding the horses. After several efforts the road was 
freed and the Archpastor could finally continue his journey. Vladika was
 in good spirits and upon bidding farewell to Feofil, he laughed
loudly.

 "Just see, you mischievous: person, how much sweat you have rolled out 
of us," wiping large drops of perspiration from his forehead.

Soon after this the road was widened, but only slightly, and travellers 
still ran into difficulty in the ravine. Again the Blessed One and 
Metropolitan Filaret arrived at that very spot at the same moment.
Although this time Feofil could have turned around, he refused to do 
so. It was as if he premeditatedly blocked the Metropolitan's way. 
An argument erupted between the coachman and Feofil. Father Feofil
argued that it would be more difficult for his one bullock to draw his 
burden back up the hill than it would for Vladika's four horses to return
 up with theirs. But the coachman stood his ground.

"Feofil is right," said Vladika, observing the scene. "We should have 
made way for him. But since it is not possible for a team of four
 horses to turn around here, be kind enough to turn around with your
bullock, Feofil."

But the Blessed One remained stubborn and did not wish to fulfil the 
request. The Archpastor began to become agitated.

     "Well, what about it? Will you stop trying my patience?"
     "No, I won't stop, because it is you and not I who must turn back*"
     "How so?"
     "Just so."

     At that very moment, a dispatch rider rode up to Eadika with a 
message from the Lavra. An artisan had fallen from the scaffolding 
around the belfry of the St. Sophia Cathedral and had been killed.

     "He had hung in the air for a long time, holding on to a rail, but
did not hold out and fell to the ground," the messenger said, and 
asked Vladika, in the name of the Lavra Superior, for immediate
instructions.

     The shaken Archpastor did not say a word in reply, but crossed
himself and ordered the coachrnan to go to the top of the hill
to turn around and return to the Lavra. Feofil was no longer
there. At the arrival of the dispatch rider he drew back, having
 finished his mission.

     They met again for a third time. On this occasion the Blessed One
 was returning to Kitayev from the city when the Metropolitan's 
carriage overtook him and drew up alongside him on the Dyemiyev
Bridge. nadika called out:

     "Feofil! Where are you off to?"

     "Wherever God leads and necessity calls. Only there is trouble. The bullock has
stopped listening to me. I have ordered a long whip to make him obey."

     "And why do you want to ride with him at such a tortoise's pace?"

     "The way to the Kingdom of Heaven is slow and steady."

     "Here, climb into my carriage and I'll get you there as fast as a falcon."

     "Thank you, I don't wish to. I will get there before you all the same."

     Just as Feofil had foretold it, so it happened. Because of the overly
fast pace of the carriage, a wheel slipped off Vladika's carriage and 
it required a whole hour to repair it. When the Metropolitan arrived at
Kitayev, Feofil met him at the gate and, bowing low, he said:

     "I wish you health, holy Vladika. I have been waiting for you here for a long
time."

     "You are right, Feofil," replied the Metropolitazn. "The horned bullock 
overtook my well-fed team. It would seem that in the future I will have 
to travel in such a manner."

     Many people remember this bullock which usually was not tied, 
but roamed freely around in the Starets' yard. It is said that the 
bullock possessed an almost supernatural instinct and could guess,
without error, the character of the people who came to the Starets
for his blessing. For that reason, he met some visitors in an unfriendly
and bellicose manner, while others were treated gently, allowing
them to pass unhindered into the Starets' cell.

     Aside from his love and compassion for animals and birds, Starets
Feofil had other customs and habits. To begin with, he disliked 
smokers and could not bear the smell of tobacco.

     "You see, you've become intoxicated with the devil's poison," he 
would sternly reproach his visitors who smoked. "You've come to the 
cloister to spread the tobacco infection. Of what good is it for you
to approach the Holy Mysteries tomorrow with that tobacco on your 
breath? Go away from me! You don't have my blessings!"

Once Feofil was walking along a lane of the monastery yard with a 
devotee from the city and was carrying a crock of grated winter-radish 
in kvas, when he was approached by Viktor Ignatievich Askochensky, the
editor-publisher of the journal "Domestic Discussions". He was puffing away 
on a cigar.

As he opened his mouth to speak, he exhaled tobacco smoke right 
into Feofil's food. The Blessed One said nothing but dipped
his finger into the crock and sprinkled the smoker with some of 
the liquid.

     Upon returning home, Askochensky sat down to dinner, but the 
dish served had an overwhelming odour of winter-radish. Askochensky 
did not suspect the cause of this. He only sent the serving back and
asked for another. It was brought, but again, the same odour prevailed.
At this point Askochensky became angry and began chastising the cook 
and servants. But there was no explanation for the odour. The second
course was served, and again, the dish set before Askochensky reeked 
of winter-radish. It was the same with the third course. Askochensky 
became very agitated. He stormed out of the house and went to the 
home of a friend. Upon being received by his friend, he was greeted 
with the comment that he smelled strongly of winter-radish. Nevertheless, 
he asked his friend for something to eat, explaining about the careless
preparation of the food at home which rendered it inedible. How great 
was his amazement when even at his friend's table the food reeked 
with the odour of winter-radish. Utterly bewildered, he went to the bakery 
to buy some cookies. He returned home and sat down to tea and cookies, 
but, alas, they too bore the stench of winter-radish. For three days poor 
Askochensky was driven to utter despair. Everyone he met commented
on how much he reeked of winter-radish.


     The unfortunate man tried desperately to find the cause of this phenomenon
and finally he remembered the encounter with Starets Feofil. Conscious of the impropriety of his act, he set out to Kitayev to the Blessed One. He begged 
forgive-ness and straightway the unpleasant odour disappeared.

     Another incident is related by a nun, Staritsa Magdalina.

     "Once, a wealthy merchant and his wife arrived from Moscow and stopped over
at the Florovsky Monastery. Having heard our stories about Starets Feofil, the merchant
became excited with a desire to visit him. He begged me to accompany him and his
wife since he was not familiar with the way to the Kitayevskaya Hermitage. I agreed and we all set out. While riding through the Goloseyevo woods, the merchant desired to smoke. He felt his pockets but there were no matches. What was he to do?

     As luck would have it, he saw some wayfarers sitting beside the road maklng
porridge in a trivit. He went over to them and began to light hts cigarette. But no 
sooner had he touched the fire than the trivit turned over, spilling out the porridge 
and smothering the fire.

     'How strange! I didn't even touch the trivit and yet I upset the porridge.'

     We went on farther. The merchant again spotted some strangers cooking gruel
by the side of the road. He ran to their fire for a light, but just as he stooped towards 
the fire, this trivit also upset.

     'What a strange occurrence! Could this be some sort of witchcraft?' the
merchant laughed.

     'No,' I said to him, 'Father Feofil is arranging this for you. He dislikes with a passion
those who smoke.'

     At last we arrived at Kitayev and went to see Starets Feofil. He met us and spoke
out directly to the merchant.

     'Well, my little swallow, you wanted to smoke so badly? Due to your passion, you
left the hungry without food.'

     Then Feofil brought him a large onion from his cell, saying:

]     'Here, take a bite of onion, for you have befouled the entire monastery with
tobacco'."
 
    This was the kind of visionary he was.

     Another rule which was peculiar to Starets Feofil was that he never spat on the
ground and advised others not to do so either. He was particularly indignant with 
those who spat in God's temple on the floor of the church.

     "Why do you spit in church?" he used to ask all those who did it. "God is invisibly
present here and people kneel to Him in prayer. And why do you spit on the ground?
Don't you know that you yourself are earth and ashes, so how can you dare to spit on your own mother? Is it not she who will take you into her bosom after death? Is it not 
she who will guard your body until the general resurrection?"

                                             VI

     Few people had the chance to approach Starets Feofil for his blessing. He spent
entire days in the woods at prayer and would return home to the hermitage only
towards vespers im order to be in time for the beginning of the Divine Service. If 
anyone succeeded in approaching him, the Starets would give his blessing without stopping, as if in a great hurry. In general, the Blessed One disliked having attention turned upon him and thus being distracted from his prayers.

     When he noticed pilgrims waiting for him on the road, he would turn off
somewhere to the side, into the bushes, or if it was in the cloister itself, he would 
climb to the top of a large oak growing near the hostel, or he would hide in the monastery orchard in a deep hole which he had dug for that purpose.


     The keeper of the orchard was a "learned gardener", Ioakim Panfilych, one of
the Lavra postulants, a master of his own wort and well-liked by Metropolitan 
Filaret. He would become very irritated with the Blessed One for hiding in the 
orchard while his admirers trampled through the garden searching for him. 
Several times Panfilych scolded the Starets and finally, irritated by his constant gentleness, the gardener struck Feofil in the face. The Blessed One was not 
confused by this and, as if answering with gratitude, bowed to the ground 
before the offender.

     "Judge, O Lord, those who offend me, struggle with those who struggle
 with me," he whispered quietly and added, "Ioakim, do not dream that the Metropolitan likes you. You will never be a monk."

     Soon the words of the Blessed One were proven true. Ioakim was transferred to
the Lavra Caves and from there he was soon removed completely from the 
monastery because of some of his actions.

     Feofil particularly disliked meeting with intellectuals and those who rose above
the ranks of the common people. Most of all he disliked the so called "coach 
people"; that is, those who came in coaches, often for the sole purpose of 
looking at Feofil as some sort of oddity.

     "What do you want of a smelly creature like me?" he used to ask his persistent
admirers. "What are you seeking froun met a wretched, poor starets and a great
sinner?"

     "A kind word, Batiushka, advice, instruction, comfort," the visitor usually replied.

     "Go to Schemamonk Parfeny. He will teach you, but I have nothing to say. Turn
to the All-Holy Theotokos and the holy fathers of the Pecherskaya Lavra with pure 
faith and they will give you all that is necessary, but I have nothing."

     Moreover, the Starets sometimes pushed away those who stood near, and
quickly walked away from them. And in reality, what answers could he give 
them? They usually asked purely worldly questions. Some would ask for his advice 
for the successful outcome of their lawsuit in which a poor man would have to 
suffer, others tried to find out if their son would receive a prominent position with 
an eminent person; another wanted advice on marrying a son to a wealthy bride, 
or a daughter to a famous groom. Some even asked for prayers to receive great rewards or high pensions. But few even thought to get advice on the one thing 
that is necessary for man—the salvation of his soul.

     In order to avoid similar useless receptions, and to escape from undesired,
tiresome visitors, the Blessed One selected a very original means. He would spread 
tar or pitch on the doorstep of his cell and would thus be delivered from idle talkers.

     But if a truly pious and simple person, thirsting for a use-ful word should appear,
the Starets willingly accepted him, although not spending too much time with him.
Feofil would absolve him with a stern reproach which revealed his secret sins.

     "It was strange to see," witnesses have said, "how the Blessed One heard the
confessions of the people who carne to him. He did not ask for their sins as spiritual
fathers usually do, but having placed his saintly hands on the head of the person confessing and looking up to heaven, he himself listed all the secret and known 
sins. At this, not only did the penitent shed tears of emotion, but from fear and 
shame, even the hair of his head would stand up on end."

     In the town of Vasilkovo, there lived a profiteer who had made a fortune in
shady business dealings. All his life had been lived in depravity, dishonesty, and 
evil. He had built up a large estate for his old age, but having retired to take advantage of it, he became afflicted with a gnawing conscience. He resolved to repent of his sins and seek forgiveness. He had heard many stories about the great podvizhnik, Hieroschemamonk Feofil, and he set out for Kiev in the hope of spending some time with him.

     The visionary Starets, foreseeing the visit of the profiteer, decided to anticipate
his arrival by meeting him before he reached the hermitage. For this purpose he set 
out into the woods and for days awaited the merchant on the road where the Red Tavern was located. Soon the carriage appeared with the profiteer-merchant 
seated importantly within. He noticed the monk walking in his direction, and he 
came out of the carriage and walked towards the moni.

     "How do you do, Batiushka!?

     "Well, and how do you do, sir merchant!"

     "Is it far from here to the hertnitage?"

     "Which one do you want?"

      "Kitayevskaya."

     "It is high unto God, far to the Tsar, but the hermitage is closest of all.  What is
your matter? To pray to God?"

     "Something like that, but most of all I want to see the schemamonk that is called
Feofil. You couldn't tell me where he lives?"

     "Of what use is he to you?"

     "They say that he is very holy, a visionary."

     "Who, Feofil?"

     "Yes, the hieroschemamonk."

     "What kind of holiness is that?    You have believed all that old wives' nonsense?"

     "How could this be? All say..."

     "You don't say! But he is such an evil-doer, such a fornicator, you couldn't find
such a villain in the whole world. He ravished other women, seduced maidens, 
stole his neighbor’s horses at night, lent money to the poor at outrageous interest 
rates. How marry orphans he has let out into the world without any clothing, how 
many people he has destroyed through shady business and deception! He has 
grown a fat belly on other people's goods and now he has the desire to approach God. He has come to Starets Feofil with a pile of deathly sins on stolen horses. Well, repent, repent. Pray to God. The Lord is merciful. He doesn't want a sinner's death, 
only his change to a life for Him."

     But the amazed horse-dealer had already felt in his heart that this was Feofil and
had already dropped to the feet of the Starets weeping tears of repentance on 
them.

      "Forgive me, Batiushka. Absolve me, accursed murderous swindler and villain
that I am."

     "God will forgive, God will forgive. Go to God's saints. Bow to them. Pray to them.
They will expiate you. They will forgive everything. Your father was a righteous man 
and for his prayers God will have mercy on you."

     "No, He will not have mercy on me. I have angered His infinite benevolence too
much."

     "He will forgive, He will forgive. Only don't fall into errors again through
carelessness and thereby litter the beneficent sources which have cleaned the soul today by your re-pentance.  Don't cease praying, don't give freedom to your 
passions. Guard your forgiveness, love and retain the fear of God. Go!"

     The merchant promptly set out for the Lavra and spent many hours telling the
monks of the caves about his encounter with Feofil.

     On another occasion the Blessed One met a passing land-owner in the Kitayev
woods and said:

     "Where are you going?"
 
    "Home, Batiushka!"

     "And have you settled up with God?"

     The landowner was puzzled but went ahead without a  reply.

     "You didn't settle?" said the Starets following him. "So remember, you came here
well, but you will not return home healthy."

     And what happened? On the return trip, right next to the town gates, the horses
bolted and overturned the carriage. The landowner fell against a stone and was 
killed.

     And here is another case.

     Near the city of Kerch on the Taman there lived a colonel's widow named
Alexandra Sokolova. She and her sister went to Kitayev and she asked the Starets 
for his blessing.

     "Teach her, the silly thing," the Blessed One said to the sister, pointing at 
Sokolova. "Teach her better, or else she will ride horses until her death."

     But Sokolova gave the words no significance. Upon returning home to her
estate, she ordered a carriage to be harnessed and set out for Kerch on business. 
The horses became frightened of something on the road, bolted and Sokolova 
flew out of the carriage. She died that very day.


     And there was another incident. Once Starets Feofil came to the Great Lavra
Church and having found a place for himself at one of the stalls along the 
walls of the church, he began to pray. During the reading of the Kathisma, he 
decided to go and reverence the tombs of the saints reposing in the church 
and he left his Psalter at the stall and went to the tomb of Saint Feodosy. The 
reader and the assistant regulator noticed this and decided to play a joke on 
Feofil by hiding his Psalter. The Blessed One returned to the body of the church 
and he did not even glance at his former standing place. Instead he walked 
straight to the assistant regulator who had hidden the Psalter in his pocket.

     "Oh elder, elder. You must die tomorrow and you want to play evil tricks today.
Woe unto you."

     'l'he prediction occurred precisely. On the next morning, the elderly monk
suddenly died.

     Starets Feofil maintained a good supply of clothing in his cell as many
philanthropic persons would send him all rnanncr of garments for his charities. 
The Blessed One would spot a tattered person and immediately invite him to 
his place and feed him dumplings and give him a new shirt or even reclothe 
him from head to toe.

     Once a worker from the Lavra brick factory, Ivan Bolshakov, came to him. 
He had received his monthly wages but went straight out and drank it up to 
the last penny. And so, ragged to the utmost, he went to the Blessed One for 
charity.

     "Why alms for you?" the Starets asked him. "You'll drink it all just the same. But
here, let me give you a new shirt. You will die today and it will not be 
becoming to lie in the coffin with rags on."

     Ivan Bolshakov received the new shirt and thought, "Just you wait for me to 
die. I'll dash over to the tavern right now, sell the shirt and have a good drink 
to your health."

     He did just as he had planned. He drank himself into a stupor and towards
evening he came to the brick factory. He danced, sang songs, and played the 
fool. To all those present, he related how he got the shirt from Feofil and about 
the death prediction. Finally, he asked permission to sleep at the factory and
having received it, he climbed up into the highest berth, right under the 
ceiling. During the night there was a sudden loud thud. The lights were put on 
and there was Ivan Bolshakov lying on the floor, his face all blood, not 
breathing. They felt his heart but there was no beat. The poor fellow was dead.

     What was to be done? Bolshakov did not even have a shirt to be buried in, 
so the workers used anything they could find to put on him. He was given a 
Christian burial but the story of the shirt and the Starets' prediction are still 
talked about.

     A noblewoman, Maria Kozminishna Shepeleva, often came to the Kitayevskaya
Hermitage with her four year old son, and she always went to Starets Feofil for 
a blessing. The Blessed One liked her very much and each time he met her in the monastery yard he would look at her young son and say, "Aha! Here comes a 
little monk."

     Once he called the child to his cell and gave him a pile of treacle-cakes. 
"Hold out your hands. Eat the cakes." The boy ate them up with gusto and 
the Starets encouraged him, "Eat, eat. When you grow up you will accept 
Christ, not treacle-cakes."

     The Starets' prophecy came to pass. The child grew up, was sent to the Lavra
printing shop for instruction, then he became postulant and later a spiritual 
father in the Lavrafi respected by all.

     Once the Blessed One called to his cell-mate, Pantelelmon, and said:

     "Bow to the feet of this boy. Kiss the hand of your spiritual father."

     When the boy grew up and became a hieroschemamonk, he tonsured
Panteleimon before the latter's death and then buried him

     The chief supervisor in the building of the Kiev-Vladimir-Cathedral, Kondrat
Kozmich KhovaIkin, wishing to spend the remainder of his days in peace and 
tranquility, began to build a house for himself in Kiev but grief suddenly befell 
him. His favourite daughter died, the single comfort and consolation of his 
lonely life. With sorrow in his heart, Khovalkin set out to Starets  Feofil for 
consolation.

     "Why do you grieve?" the Blessed One answered him. "Sit in a cell and say the
prayer of Jesus, 'O
Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' Everything will pass."
     "It can hardly pass, Batiushka. In the face of the deceased one the light of my
life perished for me."
     "The light of your life is the unsetting Sun, Jesus Christ. Buy yourself a mantle. 
You will soon be a monk."

     Sometime later Kondrat Kozmich entered the brotherhood of the Goloseyevskaya Hermitage as a postulant, built a monastery hostel there, and began a podvig 
of salvation. Soon he became blind, was tonsured into monkhood with the 
name of Erazm and lived for several years in solitude in a small cell near the 
church. When he died on 15 August, 1880, he was buried several steps from the
grave of the starets, Parfeny.

A middle class youth of Kiev, Ferapont Dobrovolsky, felt a great
desire to become a postulant at the Lavra. For three days he went
with his mother to see the Starets for a blessing, but Feofil kept
avoiding talks with the visitor, sending him either to the hostel
or to church. On the third day when Ferapont and his mother became
fairly hungry and it seemed that their visit would have to be
prolonged, the youth turned to the cell-mate Ivan for help. He
took pity on them and sent Ferapont to the Starets' cell.

"Why are you hanging around here, grovelling? Am I a saint?" the
Starets angrily asked the youth.

In a minute he sent out a little piece of bread and soaked cabbage
for Ferapont and his mother. The instant the young man tasted the
food. he felt his hunger had disappeared. In half an hour the
Starets again came out of his cell and Ferapont, seeing him, fell
at his feet.

"Give me your blessing for the Lavra, Batiushka!"

"What kind of blessing shall- I give you? You will never become a
priest-monk. Go to the Lavra and live the life of a common monk.
Only live well. Don't eat fish on Wednesdays or Fridays and don't
ever miss the matins service."

Ferapont Dobrovolsky was accepted into the Lavra and was tonsured
a monk with the name Spiridon. For fifty-one years he lived in the
Lavra as a plain monk, faithfully fulfilling the directions of the
Blessed One, never missing even one matins service.

A navigator from the city of Kerch, Andrei Gapohenko, came with
his wife, daughter and a sister, on a pilgrimage to Kiev in 1851.
The pilgrims spent several days in Kiev and having seen the places
of interest, they set out to Kitayev to see Starets Feofil.     The
Blessed One came out to them from his cell and turned directly to
Gapchenko's wife, Evdokiya Trifonova, asking her:

"You live near the sea?"

"Yes, near the sea. Batiushka."

"And is your estuary deep?"

"I don't know, Batiushka, I didn't measure it," Evdokiya Trifonova
answered in amazement, glancing frightenedly at her relatives.

"On Wednesday and Friday buy incense and candles and give them to
the Church for the salvation of your soul, for you have taken to
business and sell only fish."

With these words he blessed everyone and left.

The pilgrims left and stopped for a while at Pochaev to pray, then
once again came to Kiev and having left their daughter in the
Florovsky Monastery in the care of the nun Angelina, they set out
for Kerch alone.

Some time passed. On 28 June, on the eve of the feast day of the
Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Andrei Gapohenko had to leave home
on a very urgent business matter. But he fell very ill and had to
send his wife in his place while he remained at horne in Mitrodat.
Evdokiya Trifonovna set out on the trip with her one year old
daughter, Paraskeva. It was necessary to cross over the estuary by
boat, but the ferries were full, so the young woman had to embark
on a launch loaded with lime. Soon the launch opened its sails and
sailed out into the open sea. That night there was a sudden
desperate cry:

"Save yourselves_we're sinking!!"

It happened that a large leak had opened up on the bottom of the
launch and the vessel began to sink to the bottom. In terror, many
threw themselves into the sea, others jumped into life boats,
still others left themselves to the mercy of fate. Ev-dokiya 
Trifonova did not lose her presence of mind and with fervent
prayers she turned to God for help. Half an hour passed. The
vessel was sinking deeper and deeper. And now the deck was covered
with water and Evdokiya stood in water up to her knees_implacable
death came closer and closer.

"Bless, O Lord!"

With these words, Evdokiya crossed herself, tied her child to her
back and courageously began to swim. With desperation the young
woman struggled with the water, with ten-fold strength her arms
cut through the swift waves of the deep sea and all around was
darkness, continuous water. Nowhere was help to be seen. Her hands
began to numb and Evdokiya strained herself to the utmost. Having
turned on her back, she moved her child over to her bosom and,
holding it with her teeth, she swam farther and farther, not
knowing where. And the shore was far off; very far.

She seemed to see her family waiting for her return with terror.

"Farewell, my dear ones! Farewell!"

Her strength weakened and her arms could no longer move. She felt
that she was slipping somewhere into coldness, into the depths and
a terrifying darkness was covering her eyes.

Andrei, overcome with grief, searched for a long time for his
drowned wife and God pitied him. On the third day the waves washed
her corpse ashore near Taman with the imprint of terror on her
face. The ill-fated companion of his life lay silently on the
shore holding in her numb arms her little dead daughter pressed
firmly against her maternal breast.

Having buried his deceased wife near that place where she was
washed ashore, Andrei Gapchenko set out for the Kievo-Pecherskaya
Lavra and there he was tonsured a monk with the name of Malachy.
He died at the age of eighty-two.

When leaving home, Blessed Feofil never locked his cell, not even
when his cell-mate was also away, for, even in his absence, there
was always a group of people, mostly women, near his cell. There
was no getting rid of them. They would come to him even before
going to church. They would run after him in a crowd, having
waited for him for a  long time at his window.

The Starets often received people clad only in his coarsely spun
under robe, regardless of their rank. When he opened his door, the
women vied with each other in trying to bring him some gift. One
would shove a pitcher of milk, another cheese or eggs, a bottle of
kvas, and so on. And dear God! What a desperate business would
take place. Each one tried to give her goods into his hands. Each
one wanted some attention turned to her.

In thankfulness for what was brought to him, Starets Feofil
provided them with a variety of chores to do. Some brought water,
others wood, or he would send some to dig in the garden or
white-wash a stone. Among them were also pompous ladies. The
Blessed One did not stand upon ceremony with such. He made them
carry out the slops and garbage, mix dough or peel potatoes.

A married noblewoman once came to Feofil. There was a great crowd
in front of the Starets' cell, so she pushed and shoved her way
through. She began to call out:

"Batiushka. your blessing! Batiushka, your blessing!" 

"And you came to me for a blessing?"

"To you, Batiushka, to you. I wish to speak with you."

"Very well, right now."

The Starets went into his cell and brought out a large bowl of
cabbage soup.

"Hold up your hem. God will bless."

And he poured the cabbage soup into the upraised skirt. The woman
was horrified. She had on a new silk dress. But the Blessed One
did not give her a chance to speak and interrupted her angry
thoughts.

"You are unfaithful to your husband daily. And who came to ask me
for a blessing in a silk dress? I'll give you what-for, seducing
young people with beauty. I'll give you what-for!" 

Another time an important landowner came to the Blessed One.
Surrounded by a whole suite of manor serfs, she stopped in her 
carriage in front of the residence of the Blessed One and, with a
smile, began to look about in all directions through a lorgnette.


"Tell me please. Where does Feofil live here?" she haughtily asked
the cell-mate who came out to her.-

"There he is digging in the garden."

The curious lady glanced back and, seeing the Blessed One digging
beds while wearing nothing but his under robe, she spat aside with
contempt.

"Fie! What ignorance! Walking about the monastery in nothing but a
long shirt!"

"In nothing but a long shirt," the Starets said, mimicking her as
he came up closer. "Eh, you white-handed princess! And why have 
you stripped your serfs to their last shirt? And why did you let
them out into the world without a piece of bread? To ruin people
there is no conscience, and yet, before a humble monk shame
appeared? Repent, excessive pride! Love your nearest ones or else
it will be bitter for you when your sinful soul will stand in the
nakedness of shameless matters before the face of God's judgment."

This outpouring so stunned the woman that she immediately leapt
out of the carriage with tears of repentance and spent a whole
hour in the Starets' cell, begging him for forgiveness and
prayers.

And there were others. There appeared, one day, a very punctilious
noblewoman. The Starets was not in the cloister at the time the
admirer arrived to receive a blessing. As usual, he was out
roaming in the woods. But some people who were at the top of the
Kitayevskaya belfry saw the Starets returning home. He was walking
with his head lowered and had dirty rags and towels hanging from
him. God only knows where he got them! One of these towels was
soiled beyond belief with excrement. Walking up to the noblewoman,
Feofil stopped and said in a plain Little-Russian dialect:

"Oh, this is a great lady! My hands must be wiped."

And he wiped them with the soiled towel.

"Here, kiss it!" he said stretching out his hand to her.

She, you can understand, stepped back in horror.

"And such are your virtues before the Lord God," the Blessed One
said sternly. "They stink, my lady, they stink!"

Even the eminent philanthropist and devout Countess Anna Alexeevna
Orlova- Chesmenskaya was not spared by the Starets. The Countess
once came to the Blessed One on the advice of Metropolitan
Filaret. When she asked for his blessing for the beginning of some
important matter, the Starets did not answer a word, but gathered
up a pile of fine sweepings and poured it into the skirt of her 
dress. Orlova was so devout and honoured the Starets so much that
she left, humbly carrying the sweepings, and all the way home she
contemplated about the signi-ficance of this action of the Blessed
One.

Another time she came to him on the eve of the Feast of the
Dormition. The Starets was in the habit of cleaning up his cell on
this day. He was washing pots and dishes when Countess Orlova
arrived. Seeing her, he exclaimed joyously:

"Ah, a maiden, a maiden has come! Opportunely, very op-portunely.
Pray, dear one, go down to the Dniepr and wash a couple of little
pots for me."

He handed her an armload of dirty dishes.

Anna Alexeevna only smiled and, without any embarrassment, went
down to the Dniepr where she diligently took to washing the pots,
dirtied with age, with her own hands which were decorated with
precious rings. Her servant stood at a respectful distance and
marvelled, seeing the Countess at such menial work.

The Starets did not speak openly with everyone. With many he 
explained himself through parables filled with significance.
Moreover, he had the custom of giving the visitor some thing, not
significant in itself, but prophetically hinting at the fate
awaiting him. A crock, a sliver of wood, a rotten apple, a pear, a
piece of pie, a cucumber, a rag, a prosphora, a candle nub, even a
handful of manure which was often found in his basket. For the 
Starets all this had a symbolic significance relating to a
specific person.

Once he sent his cell-mate to Hieromonk Modest, the regulator of
the Lavra, with some dirty foot-cloths.

"Give them to him and let him wash them," the Blessed One said to 
his cell-mate.

After a while the foot-cloths returned clean.

"Aha! Not so!" the Starets exclaimed. "Take them again, Let him
wash them whiter."

And he sent them off to Modest for a second time. What did these
dirty foot-cloths signify? They signified unclean thoughts which
were confusing the regulator at that time and they were sent to
him to be washed until the monk's mind was cleaned and received a
flow of cleaner thoughts.

Hierodeacon Agapit, who subsequently became igumen, was appointed
recorder of the Great Lavra Church. This obedience, being very
troublesome and active, was not in keeping with the personality of
the hierodeacon. He had to have constant conversations with the
many pilgrims who visited the Lavra. He was expected to entertain
guests and satisfy the curiosity of all visitors. All this reduced
his contemplation and studying time to a minimum. Despondency once
fell upon the devout Agapit, and when this happened, a messenger
from Father Feofil suddenly appeared with a prosphora with the
instruction to eat it, at which his despondency disappeared.

Once the poor widow of a psalm-reader came to the Starets. She
wept before him, complaining about fate. Her relatives refused to
help her even though her family was large and almost dying from
hunger.

The Starets looked at her attentively and with his own hand he
wiped the tears rolling down the face of the widow. He then went
into his cell and brought out a large bowl of cabbage soup.

"Here you are. Pray, take comfort. But once you have received, see
that you don't give away to anyone. They didn't help you, now
don't you give to them."

"But I haven't anything to give away, Batiushka."

"Well, well, see that you don't give. Hide everything for yourself."

The widow returned home with the cabbage soup. As soon as she
arrived in the village, she received the news that a childless 
cousin had died and left her a large estate. Her greedy relatives
who had ignored her poverty now took note of her wealth, but she
gave them nothing.

Another time a peasant came to the Blessed One with his daughter.
"Why did you come?"

"Batiushka, bless my daughter to go away to a monastery. She is so
good, kind, and obedient. Her mother and I long ago promised to
dedicate her to God. Bless her."

"Good, yes, I'll bless her right now," said the Starets and disappeared 
into his cell. 

The peasant waited to find out what would happen next. The Starets
brought out a tallow candle and removed the wick from it.

"Here you are."

"What is this for, Batiushka?"

"It is your daughter's blessing. Now begone!"

Half a year later the "good, kind, and obedient" daughter gave
birth to a child. There was no more talk of virginity or a
monastery, only of a wedding.

Two peasants of Saratov province, Iona Kirillov and Demian N. set
out for Holy Mount Athos. On the way there, they stopped in Kiev
to pay their respects at the revered places and to visit Starets
Feofil for his blessings on their journey.

"You cannot go to Athos. Stay here," the Starets replied to them.
"They won't permit you to go."

The young men did not listen to him and went to Odessa. The
Russian ministry would not grant them exit visas however, because
of the mounting tensions with Turkey.

The friends returned to Kiev and were accepted at the Lavra as
postulants. In a week's time they visited the Blessed One. Starets
Feofil brought forth a three-kopeck bun and,  dividing it in
half, gave each one an equal sized piece.

Soon the friends were separated. Demian was sent to the Sarov
cloister while Iona remained to live in the Kievo-Pecher-skaya
Lavra. 

Maria Matfeevna Genzo, the widow of a wealthy landowner of
Kherson, had been involved in a court action concerning land with
her brothers-in-law for several years. Due to her lack of
astuteness, she had lost the case and now faced complete ruin. In
desperation she had appealed to the Senate for a reversal of the
court's decision. Having heard of the Starets from devout
friends, Genzo travelled to Kiev to seek the advice of the Blessed
Visionary.

The Starets was living at the Kitayevskaya Hermitage at that time
and, meeting the visitor, he brought her an enormous hot loaf of
white bread. This loaf was divided into two parts. In the lower
half was a depression in the soft part. Into this depression the
Starets had poured so much oil that it ran over and dripped onto
the floor.

"Here, here, take it. Don't be bashful. This is for you from me
because of your great patience."

Genzo was confused but she took the loaf. She returned home
pondering over the strange gift. Soon the matter was solved, for
she received word that the Senate had ruled in her favour. Not
only was she to have her land back but her oppressors were
required to make full restitution for all her losses and costs.

The happy Genzo sent fifty rubles to the Starets in gratitude. He
promptly distributed the money.  The igumen of one of the
monasteries in the Eparchy of Kiev relates this incident.

"In 1852, I completed the course of the Kursk Ecclesiastical
Seminary and felt the desire to be tonsured a monk, so I went to
the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra on a pilgrimage. I had heard that 
Starets Feofil did not bless everyone equally and before going to
his cell, I sent a comrade to get his blessing while I hid behind
a tree to observe how the Starets would accept him. Feofil
received my comrade in a friendly manner, blessed him and said
some kind words to him. Approving of such a reception, I promptly
came out from behind the tree and knelt, folding my hands to 
receive a blessing.



@ FEOFIL.GIF appears here @


'Go away!' the Starets said to me. 'I'm not an archbishop blessing
you. Go to an archbishop_he will bless you.'

I was overwhelmed. Tears choked me and I could hardly stand on my
feet. My comrade noticed my condition, took me by the arm and led
me from the hennitage. I don't even know how I walked to the
Lavra. I only remember that my comrade was comforting me,
explaining Feofil's poor reception as a happy event. I seemed to
realize that this had not been an offence but some sort of test
which had to be endured without a murmur and therefore I strongly
relied on the intercession of the Heavenly Queen. On our return
to the Lavra, we went to the Great Church, prayed there and
reverenced the holy relics. Then we went out. At one entrance we
saw a carriage standing with several pilgrims clustered around
it. 'For whom are they waiting?' 'For Vladika. He's coming out
right now.' Truly, in about five minutes the Metropolitan came out
and I hurried to walk up to him for a blessing. Having explained
the aim of my arrival, I expressed my desire to remain in the
monastery forever. Great was my astonishment and joy when I 
received, at that very moment, a blessing from the Starets Vladika
and he consented to my entering the Lavra brotherhood. Soon I was
tonsured a monk and only then did the words of Starets Feofil
become clear to me."

A peasant came to Kiev to worship and appealed to the Blessed One
for advice, asking for his blessing to enter a monastery. Starets
Feofil listened to him and then asked:

"Do you want to eat?"

The peasant nodded his head affirmatively. "Here you are, eat."

And he gave the youth some soup. At the bottom of the bowl was
something very hard which he could not chew. The Starets was very
curious to know if the young man could manage with the object at
the bottom of the soup, and he watched him through the door of his
cell. But certain that the podvig was beyond the young man's
power, he went out to him and said:

"Well now, that is enough. Enough. Go to Holy Mikhailovsky
Monastery and live there." 

The youth entered the monastery and was notable for his meekness,
simpleness and mental capabilities and was even appointed 
assistant to the cellarer. But soon a great misfortune occurred.
The cellarer, Hieromonk Mikhail (of the Orlov priests) was
strongly indignant with his humble assistant and sought to drive
him out of the monastery. With tears in his eyes, the postulant 
gathered his belongings and left them in someone's care, then
hurried to Starets Feofil for advice. While walking up to the 
Starets' door, he began to pray:

"With the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord, Jesus Christ our
God, have mercy on us."

But the Starets did not allow him to finish. Opening his door, he
sternly berated the unhappy postulant.

"You, Pavel, why have you come? Go home right now! Ah, you, Pavel!
You Mikailovsky monk! Go home!"

The youth was totally bewildered, but set his feet towards the
Mikhailovsky Monastery, thinking as he went:

"Well to be sure! They say that he is a visionary and he called me
Pavel. What kind of Pavel am I when I'm not Pavel at all?"

It happened that the Vicarial Bishop in Kiev, Apollinary, was a
very simple and just person who took a special interest in each
monk and every postulant in his see. Vladika had heard of the
injustice which had befallen the young postulant and he called
Hieromonk Mikhail to himself and severely commanded him to search
for the mistreated one and restore him. Messengers were sent out
in all directions but before they had time to find him, the
postulant returned from Feofil. Vladika was noti-fied and the 
innocent youth was soon tonsured and, to his amazement, given the
name prophesied by Feofil_Pavel.


Maria Dudareva, the wife of a broker, had wanted to go to Kiev for
a long time. Because of the cholera epidemic of 1853, she
postponed the trip. She had a fanatic concern for her health.
Finally, she ventured to set out. While at the Ki-tayevskaya
Hermitage, she decided to see Starets Feofil. As she approached
his door, Feofil came out to meet her, carrying a small box with a
lid.

"Hello, hello, oh wife of a broker! Here, I have prepared a little
box for you. Do you like it?"

"Oh yes, Batiushka, very much."

"And if we close the lid thus_will that be all right then?"

"Why, yes, of course, Batiushka."

"Well then, here take it. But beware. Go home quickly. Do you
hear? Do not stop anywhere in the city or it will be very bad."

"But I came on a pilgrimage to Kiev, Batiushka. I would like to
stay for a couple of days."

"Don't even dare to think about that. Go as quickly as you can."

Maria left for home immediately and arrived in fear. But she
barely had time to greet her family when she was seized by
writhing and retching and had to lie down on a bed. Her face
turned blue and she suffered from her cholera for only three
hours; then, she yielded up her soul to God.

Here is a no less interesting case. In the city of Tula there
lived two wanderers, Katrina S. and her brother Ivan. They were
without family or relations. Each spring they would set out for
the holy places, he to the north and she to the south. With the
coming of the cold, they would return home for the winter.

Thus one year Katrina came to Kiev and, as usual, stopped to see
Starets Feofil. The Blessed One gave her his blessing and handed
her a little clay pot tied up with paper as a souvenir.

"Here, take it. But make sure that you don't untie it before you
get home."

Katrina left but on the way her curiosity began to work on her.
"What could be in the pot? Probably the Starets foresaw something
nice for me and put butter into the pot." Finally, she could no
longer contain herself and she decided to open it in spite of the
Starets' admonition not to. She untied the paper and peered into
the little pot. Much to her shock, there lay a dead sparrow.

"Oh, what kind of a joker are you? Why just see what that old man
has thought up. A dead sparrow," she thought.

In anger she spat and then smashed the pot against a tree.

About a month later Katrina returned home from the pilgrimage.

"What, my dear brother hasn't been home yet?"

"No, not yet," the neighbors replied, "but there is a packet here
with your name on it."

It turned out to be nothing less than news that her brother had
been robbed and killed on the road. Katrina then understood the
significance of the dead sparrow and she broke down into bitter
tears.

In Kiev there once lived a very wealthy and landed cattle dealer,
A. D_ov.  His wife was meek and God-fearing but D_ov
hjimself was a
coarse, cruel, and little-believing man. The wife was a regular
visitor to God's temple and monasteries, liked to give alms, to
receive the poor and wanderers and was very dedicated to ascetics.
She was absolutely devoted to Starets Feofil and often invited him
to their home. D_ov, on the other hand, was hard-hearted and
dissipated and could not bear the presence of Starets Feofil in
his home. He would constantly mock his wife for inviting him.


"Aren't you ashamed to spend so much time with this bigoted
fool!" he asked her.

One fine morning when D_ov was not at home, Starets Feofil arrived
equipped with pieces of coal. He began to draw ciphers on the
wallpaper, some in tens, others in hundreds of thousands. D_ova
did not dare to stop him and stood off to the side, staring in
amazement at the Blessed One's activities. Her husband soon
returned. He noticed Feofil's bullock standing in the yard and 
decided to make fun of the Starets, but when he entered the room
and looked at the wall, he was horrified. The expensive wallpaper
was black with ciphers written in coal.

"Who dared to do such a thing? Feofil, of course!"

And he went through the rooms to search for Feofil. Seeing him in
his bedroom, he threw himself on the Starets with reproaches and
swearing. But Feofil, pretending to be a fool, began silently to
remove his clothing. D_ov spat, and stormed out of the house. The
distraught wife, regaining her composure, began to apologize to
Feofil and offered him some soaked cabbage, of which he was very
fond. Instead of accepting, he gave her a stern and ambiguous
answer:

"No_all is finished! God is just. I was offended, ruined, and left
as a beggar. The Lord hath given and the Lord taketh away."

And he immediately set out for home.

Shortly after this, the D_-ov family was beset by terrible grief.
Their business began to diminish, their capital began to melt
away, huge debts appeared. Soon their property was auctioned off
and the haughty, rich D_ov became a beggar, dragging out his
existence in some wretched hovel allotted to him by the Kiev city 
administration out of pity and compassion.

                 VII.

The high respect and esteem in which Feofil was held by his
admirers was bound to arouse some covetousness and jealousy.

Hieroschemamonk Iov, the superior of the hermitage, was especially
embittered against the Starets. Having decided that all the
Blessed One did was the result of bigotry and superstition, he
proceeded to cause him all the difficulty and annoyance he
possibly could. The superior made Vladika weary with his constant
reports and complaints. When he would see a crowd of worshippers 
surrounding Feofil, he would hurry outside and reproach them for
their superstition and drive them away. When that did not help
matters, the superior would order the monastery gates to be
locked after dinner so that the curious crowd could not go up to
Feofil's cell. Iov even went so far as to rush into the Blessed
One's cell to take away his linen so that it would not be given to
laundry women. To all this harassment the Starets would meekly
make a reply from the Gospels. Often Feofil would have his
cell-mate, Panteleimon, bolt the door when he knew Iov was coming
to harass him

Finally, Iov, in order to glory in his power and demonstrate his
authority, moved the Starets to the bottom of a large building,
nearer to himself. The new accommodation was very comfortable,
consisting of four large rooms. Nevertheless, the new living place
was very unsatisfactory to the Starets because it interfered with
the work which God had called him to.

When the Lavra sent Hierodeacon Feodosy Tupitsin to the hermitage
because he was mentally ill and required special attention, he was
placed in the same cell with the Blessed Feofil. But the Starets
promptly drove him away. Irritated by this act of self-will. the
superior, Iov, personally led Feodosy back to the cell of the
Blessed One. 

"Father Feodosy! With a saint you will be a saint, with a chosen
one, you will be chosen."

But Feofil ran out of the back room and again drove Feodosy away. 
Turning to the superior he shouted-

"Do you know how to read and write?"

"If I didn't know," Iov smirked, "I would not have become a
superior."

"And you've read the books of the Bible? Well?"

"Not only read them, but memorized many of them."

"Then tell me, for what reason did Cain kill his brother Abel?
Tell me, for what reason?"

And with that he led Iov out of the door and slammed it behind
him. Outraged to the depths of his soul, the superior promptly
reported all this to Metropolitan Filaret and asked that Feofil be
sent away from the hermitage.

From all the complaints about the Blessed One which appear in the
archives of the Kievo- Pecherskaya Lavra, it is easy to see how
little understood Feofil was by those close to him. But he who 
does not know his own soul could hardly understand the soul of his
brother. For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to
know God... (I Cor. 1:21) then one could hardly expect the world
to recognize a true servant of the Lord. But pride, vanity, and
jealousy blinded many eyes to the fact that Feofil was a great
servant of the Lord, chosen from his mother's womb to be a lamp of
the faith.

It is not so amazing, then, that the world lies in evil. It
refuses to see in the piety of these ascetics truly active sons of
God. Instead, the world despises and hates those who have given
themselves to praying for the world. We are surrounded with
inexhaustible sorrows, uncountable troubles, and endless grief.
The enemy struggles constantly against us. Yet, those who struggle
hardest against the enemy and seek to save man from the wrath of
God are universally condemned, despised, and persecuted. Never the
less, these ascetics patiently remember the words of the Gospel,
If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but
because you are not of  the world the world hates you (John
15:19).

So even his fellow monk, the superior, Iov, failed to recognize
Feofil and instead persecuted him out of jealousy. Finally
realizing that abuse and pejorative would accomplish nothing, Iov
conceived a new idea for ridding himself of the Blessed One. He
began to gather various slanders against him, hoping to have the
Starets at least removed from the hermitage.

As the Scripture warns, the oppressor says, "Let us lie in wait 
for the virtuous man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of
life... Before us he stands,   a reproof to our way of thinking,
the very sight of  him weighs our spirit down; his way of  life is
not like other men's, the paths he treads are unfamiliar. In his
opinion we are counterfeit.. ." (Wis. 2, 12-16).

We do not know if Iov recognized that the slanders he gathered
against the Blessed One were false or not, but from his reports
one thing is evident.  He wanted to give these slanders the
appearance of truth and so he interpreted the life of the Starets
to suit his own ends. He wrote to Metropolitan Filaret that
Hieroschetnamonk Feofil "abuses monasticism and, through his
carelessness of rank, he completely separates himself from it.!
He spreads superstition and bigotry. In concealing the inner part;
of his life with insolence and even violence, he gives rise to
doubts about the state of his religious beliefs and his mental
health." Was it not in this very same way that false witnesses
were gathered against Jesus Christ? But the souls of the righteous
are in God's hands. As hard as his enemies strove against Feofil,
they could never achieve their goals.

The Blessed One was not grieved by this vain slandering. To the
contrary, he rejoiced, recalling the words of the Scripture:

It is a blessing for you when they insult you for bearing the name
of Christ. because it means that you have she Spirit of glory, the
Spirit of God resting on you. . .On their part He is blasphemet,
but on your part He is glorified (1 Peter, 4:14)...Happy are you
when people abuse you ant persecute you and speak all kinds of
evil against you on My account. Rejoice and be glad for your
re-ward will be great  in heaven: this is how they persecuted the 
prophets before you (Matt. 5:11-12).

When the cell-mate, Ivan, came to him, moved with compas-sion for
the Starets, and asked how he could face such sorrow with seeming
indifference, the Blessed One replied:

"Ah, Ivan, Ivan. It is better to endure injustice than to commit
it oneself."

"And what if these things are endured in vain, for nothing,
Batiushka?"

"What about it? One cannot destroy an evil person. It is sinful to
give up to sadness. We are exiles on earth. Exiles do not wonder
at insult and injury. We are under God's penance and a penance
consists of deprivations and difficulties. We are ill in soul and
body and bitter medicine is useful for the ill."

In order to quench all hostility his heart might feel towards his
offenders and to fulfill in reality the directions of the
Scripture: Do not let the sun go town on your anger (Eph. 4:26),
the Blessed One would react to Iov's attacks by composing a letter
confessing that he was truly guilty in the bitter incident which
had taken place. Never-the-less, he increased still more his
podvig of foolishness.

His manners in church, however, raised many eyebrows besides those
of the superior. The Blessed One would usually turn his back on
the people and face the wall, never raising his eyes. When
actually serving, he acted even more strangely. We will not go
into great detail about this, but only relate the words of Iov,
the superior of the hermitage in his report to Metropolitan 
Filaret.

"While preparing for a co-service," wrote Iov, ''Feofill breaks the rule 
and order. Before the beginning of the great vespers or matins, he ignores 
my confirmation and never stands in the sanctuary. No one knows where he 
might read his prayers. He barely participates in the entity of the liturgy 
or the magnificat. During the Kathisma, he leaves or stands outside the 
south door and during the co-service, he does not stand straight but turns 
to the east. Evidently Feofil never washes his hands or face. During the 
liturgy he stands before the altar-table as if dumbfounded and requires 
constant directions. He is constantly arranging his braided plait. He holds 
his book before himself but apparently rarely reads the required prayers and 
seldom does he reverence.  Having wiped his nose with his hand, he bends 
down and wipes it with the garments of the altar-table.  During the
exclaiming of 'Christ is amidst us,' he fails in every way to conform to 
the others who are serving.  Feofil partakes of the Holy Mysteries very 
quickly and then goes to the sacristan's door,  looking at the people (as 
if showing off) and reads the prayers of thanksgiving. On highly solemn days,
although he does participate in the service, he does not come out for any 
special prayers but divests and leaves the church. He has often been 
deprived of meals for this. During the presentation of the gifts 
(proskomidia) he does not place the holy bread on the centre of the paten, 
but on the left side which can cause it to upset easily. He does not observe 
the proper order in distributing the particles over the rest of the paten. 
During the liturgy he turns towards the analoy and does not look at the
service book, apparently turning away from the holy table. He requires 
prompting during the entrance from the altar and during the Great Entrance 
at the carrying over of the Holy Gifts. He does not hold the service book 
before himself and does not turn his eyes and heart to the holy table while
making a proper rev-erence. Instead he glances at the book lying on the 
analoy. At the moment of the sacrifice of the gifts, it is difficult to 
stir him into making at least three reverences and piously blessing the 
sacrificed gifts. Breaking the aforementioned into pieces, he very slowly
wipes the clinging crumbs from his hands with a sponge. His tempo in the 
service does not conform with anyone else. When the deacon proclaims 
"Fulfil the chalice, Vladika," he does not even look at the chalice but 
drops the separated part of the Holy Lamb into it so quickly that he cannot
follow proper succession."

[FILARET.GIF goes here]

Metropolitan Filaret of Kiev

Metropolitan Filaret could easily believe all this because he himself had 
concelebrated with Feofil and had witnessed his behaviour.

"Turn him around to his place,' he would say to his archdeacon when the 
Blessed One faced east while everyone else was turned to the west. The 
Metropolitan could not know that there was an enigrnatic secret behind 
the peculiar behavior of the Starets, a secret known only to hirnself. 
He could only assume that Feofil was completely incompetent (Archives of 
the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra).

We should mention here that the most salient feature of Metropolitan 
Filaret's administration of the Lavra was his own humbleness. He did 
not rule as a powerful despot, but as a steadfast and zealous follower and 
a humble postulant of all the regulations and customs passed on by the
monks from the saints of the caves. Both the inner and outer condition of 
his life served as a model to the Lavra Brotherhood. Vladika's conduct and 
instructions followed what "the original holy wonderworkers of the 
Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, established and 
preserved. He was, therefore, not so much like a metropolitan or a rector 
to the brotherhood, but like a father or elder co-brother. In a word, he 
was an abba, as the fathers of ancient monastic asceticism were called. 
His addresses, talks, dlrections, even his remarks and warnings were given 
with meekness, patience, and indulgence. He did not bring fear to anyone or 
distrust to himself. To the  contrary, everyone ran to him with joy and 
frankness."

Vladika conducted himself in this manner in the controversy over Feofil. 
It could be seen that, while Iov's complaints were directed towards 
maintaining the rules and regulations of the monastery, they were composed 
with personal hostility for the Blessed One. The fair minded and peace-loving
Vladilsa called Feofil to him privately and questioned him.

"Feofil!" said the meek Archpastor to him. "Complaints about you have come 
to me again."

"The strong have risen against me and the mighty are seek-ing my soul," the 
Blessed One quietly answered, lowering his eyes to the ground.

"Still, what will youydirect me to do with you?"

"Marvelous are Thy works, O Lord!" Feofil replied.

"They write that you are spreading superstition and tempting the brotherhood 
and the people."

"Deliver me from the slanders of men."

"Now then, don't go about 'delivering' but reason, brother. The superior is 
badgering me and asking for your punishment."

"The Lord is my Refuge and my Saviour, of whom shall I be afraid?"

"Will you tempt me?" finished Metropolitan Filaret, "I'm dismissing you, 
you mischievous one."

"In the Lord is my reward and my comfort is in the Most High."

With this the conversation came to an abrupt end and, having bowed to the
Metropolitan, the Blessed One quickly left the chamber, leaving the 
venerable Archpastor in the same confusion concerning his innocence as he 
was in before.

As much as the saintly Filaret did not like the Blessed Starets at first, 
so much did he respect Starets Parfeny. Every summer he left with Parfeny 
for the Goloseyevskaya Hermitage, returning to the Lavra only for the feast 
days and then hurrying back to the hermitage as soon as they were over.
There, in the most solitary corner of the hermitage, in the midst of a dense 
thicket of a shabby orchard, stood Parfeny's cell.

Immediately upon completing the early liturgy in the Archpastor's 
house-chapel, Parfeny would go into the woods, completing his prayer rule as 
he walked and reading the entire Psalter along the road. The compiler of the 
biography of Starets Parfeny, briefly but profoundly and correctly depicted 
his spiritual relationship with the saintly Filaret, expressing it in the 
following ed-ifying words:

"Great was the love of the Saintly One for the Starets but boundless was the 
dedication of the Starets for the Saintly One. And this spiritual union 
provided comfort for both in their ascetic wandering in this life. The 
Archpastor's soul, often wearied by the troublesome tasks of his rank, 
rested in the conversation of the spiritually enlightened Starets, and 
the soul of the Starets leaned upon the Archpastor's wisdom with absolute 
trust."

Why, then, you will ask, with Vladika Filaret's monastic love and with his 
truly brotherly, spiritual tie with the monks of the Kievo-Pecherskaya 
Lavra, did he remain so cool to the Blessed Feofil, who was such a 
remarkable person? And why did he feel such a great love for
Hieroschemamonk Parfeny, but remain almost indifferent to the ascetic 
Starets Feofil? Our reply is this:

Hieroschemamonk Parfeny demonstrated a model of life similar to the great 
ancient ascetics, a spiritual life which shone in his face. The entire 
development of his spiritual perfection took place almost before the eyes 
of Vlaika, who, comprehending in him a truly burning zealot of holy
asceticism, invested him with the schema with his own hands in the caves of 
Saint Antony and named him Parfeny.

Subsequently, both of these persons so tightened their spiritual bonds that 
the venerable Archpastor decided to select Parfeny as his spiritual father.


[FEOFIL_2.GIF goes here]


Starets Feofil, already a hieroschemamonk and attached to the Lavra, could 
have reflected a high state of spiritual attainment in his countenance, but 
in his podvig: of being a fool-for-Christ's-sake, he concealed the 
irreproachable purity and child-like innocence of his soul, seeking by all 
means to avoid spiritual inter-course with the saintly Metropolitan. He would 
not allow Vladika to see into the depths of his strange character and thus 
prevented Filaret from apprehending the grace which existed
within him for, what man knows what is within another unless he comprehends 
the spirit living within him?

For this reason, the disconcerted Archpastor, in his love of justice, called 
a meeting of the superiors and advisers under him, and heard testimony from 
others outside the Lavra, in an effort to gather all evidence either 
justifying or accusing the Starets  The matter was soon explained, for one 
brother, with whom Feofil was more open with than others, approached him and 
asked him about his strange behavior during church services. The Starets
answered:

"I liturgize according to the correct order, read all the required prayers, 
and I honour the celebrant as my leader. But when I go deep into 
contemplating the fulfilment of the Mystery, I forget myself
and all that is around me. During the Divine Liturgy, I see a cross-shaped 
ray of light coming down from above and hovering over the celebrant and all 
those serving with him. Sometimes it hovers over everyone. I see a strange 
dew descending on the Holy Gifts and shining angels soaring above the
altar-table, saying 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth; heaven and earth are 
full of Thy glory!' Then my whole being is enraptured unspeakably and I am 
unable to tear myself away from the sweet vision. O brother, I am not 
justifying myself; I am only telling the absolute truth. Only I beg you, do
not reveal what I have said or else I, a smelly sinner, will become a 
temptation to others."

Feofil's reply was immediately reported to Metropolitan Filaret. The 
Archpastor had already planned to transfer Feofil to the Moshnogorsky 
Monastery where he would no donger be numbered with the Lavra brotherhobd. 
Upon hearing of this report, however, he called in the deputy of the
Lavra, Archimandrite Ioann, and the ecclesiarch of the Lavra, Hieromonk 
Melety, for consultation.

The ecclesiarch, Melety, had always fought in Feofil's defence, and now he 
answered Vladika's question thus:

"Why disturb this righteous man? Let him enlighten us, for no one knows who 
has longer to live on earth—you or he."

Vladika looked sternly at the bold adviser, and, having thought for a while. 
he said:

"Yes! You are right, we are all walking under God."

And immediately he gave the order to the Ecclesiastical Sobor of the Lavra 
to suspend the previous restrictive orders concerning Feofil, pending further 
instructions.

And so the Starets remained, living in the same place as before.

On the day following the consultation, Blessed Feofil sent his cell-mate 
with a large watermelon to Melety. What did he foresee for the ecclesiarch? 
On the next Sunday, without any preliminary announcement, without awaiting 
permission from the Holy Synod, through his own personal
authority, Metropolitan Filaret placed a mitre on Hieromonk Melety and 
elevated him to the rank of archimandrite.

[CURL.GIF goes here]


                    VIII.

Metropolitan Philaret was completely to reverse his view of the Blessed One. 
Up until this time he had doubted the holy life and forevision attributed to 
Feofil but his eyes were soon to be opened.

As it is well known, the prayer rule of Vladika Filaret was exceptionally 
lengthy and took six to seven hours to complete.

"I don't understand," he had said in his personal talks with the Lavra 
startsy, "how older people in general, and monks in particular, can lead 
their lives if they have not acquired a taste for prayer and
the practice of praying. It must be unusually difficult and lonely for them. 
Therefore, oh how necessary it is for everyone not wishing to spend their 
old age in dreariness to become used to prayer early in life."

And he himself was the first to put his own advice into strict practice.

It once occurred that Vladika's presence was urgently required in Kitayev. 
Troubled with some heavy matters the night before, he arose half an hour 
later than usual and hurried through his morning routine so as not to be 
late for his appointment in Kitayev. While he was reading the morning 
prayer-rule, his cell-mate, Hieromonk Nazary, came into the chapel and
reported that the carriage was already waiting at the door to take him on 
his journey. Vladika could not delay his departure and so had no time to 
complete his prayers. He caLled for his cassock, and quickly departed. 
Within half an hour the carriage had entered the Kitayev woods and 
Metropolitan Filaret lowered the carriage window, avidly breathing in the 
wonderful aroma of the fresh morning air.  Suddenly his gaze stopped on a 
large tree standing nearby. There, at its top sat Feofil, peacefully
reading a prayerbook.

"What are you doing there?" shouted the amazed Vladika.

"I am finishing the reading of my cell-rule," Feofil quietly answered from 
above.

"What? What did you say? Speak louder! I can't hear you!"

"I said I am finishing the reading of my cell-rule!" the Blessed One shouted 
at the top of his voice.  "I had no time at home. The trip interfered, but 
at least I can finish along the way!"

"Yes, yes, yes. You are talking about me," Vladika guessed at once. "Well, 
thank you, you culprit, for having advised an old man like me. Come on down 
quickly. I will finish reading it myself."

After this incident, the Metropolitan became very interested in the Starets 
and began to observe him attentively. He decided to visit the Starets in his 
cell in order to reach a final conclusion concerning the unjust slanders 
brought against him. The Met-ropolitan would set out for Feofil's cell often, 
but each time Feofil tried to prevent Vladika from engaging in idle 
curiosity. Once the Starets even walled up to the door of his cell with 
brushwood and smeared it with clay so that the Metropolitan was forced to 
turn back.

Finally, Vladika, accompanied by his cell-mate, managed to arrive and find 
Feofil at home. The Blessed One received the high guest very cordially, 
seating him on the little bench while he went about preparing the samovar. 
When the water began to boil, he carried the samovar over to the
centre of the room, put it on the floor and placed an earthenware bowl under 
the tap.  Then he took the Archpastor's wooden staff and looked at it 
attentively from all sides.

"And what is this stick worth?" the Blessed One asked, look-ing at Vladika.

"It's worth nothing," replied the Metropolitan.

"No," said the Starets. "It's worth all of twenty-five rubles."

And with these words he placed the staff on the bowl which was standing 
under the samovar, removed the tap and threw it into the corner. The water 
ran out onto the staff, filled the bowl and overflowed onto the floor. 
Vladika stood up in great confusion, walked across the wet floor and
hurried out of the cell.

Several days passed. It was June and the weather was bright and pleasant. 
Vladika decided to go for a walk in the woods alone. His manner of dress was 
such that he looked almost no different from the monks at Goloseyevo. He 
wore only a simple cassock and cap, carried a plain walking stick in one
hand and a Gospel or Apostle in the other. He looked more like a monastery 
starets than a Metropolitan.

Near the end of the Goloseyevo woods there was a knoll and there, near a 
fence, stood a plain garden bench on which Vladika always rested. This was 
Vladika's favourite place because from here there was such a magnificent 
view; both the city and the Lavra were spread out before the eyes. Enjoying
the solitude, the Metropolitan used to sit here for hours at a tirne, and 
lifting his saintly hands to heaven, he would send up his secret prayers for 
the well-being of those living in the holy city and the Pecherskaya Lavra.

This time he wished to perform his usual prayer and knelt down, but just 
then a man with a club approached him from behind the bushes and, pointing 
to his cudgel, he asked the Metropolitan:

"And what is this stick worth?"

Vladika wanted to bless him, but the stranger quickly made his aim known:

"Don't bother, just give me what you have of value."

The Metropolitan peacefully pulled out his purse in which there were 
twenty-five rubles and said, while handing it over:

"Well, brother, I'm sorry for you. There is very little here."

But when Vladika had drawn the flaps of his cassock in order to pull out 
the purse, the robber had noticed a gold watch with a chain.

"If there is so little here, then give me your watch and chain as well."

Vladika peacefully fulfilled the demand.

"Aha!" said the stranger. "It seems to be gold."

"What of it?" Vladika began. "It would be to your advantage, brother. . ."

"How is it that you are a monk, but you have a gold watch? Or perhaps you 
are not an ordinary monk? Perhaps you are a treasurer or something like 
that?"

"No, I am not a treasurer."

"Then who are you?"

"To tell the truth, I am called Metropolitan."

"Metropolitan!!" the stranger cried dumbfounded.

"Well, yes. What is it, my dear one, that makes you so alarmed? The Lord be 
with you."

The stranger fell at his feet.

"Well, brother, get up and accompany me home and please don't be afraid of
anything."

As they approached the herrnitage, Vladika turned to speak to the unfortunate 
one:

"It would be wise, brother, if you gave me back the watch and chain. You see, it is
engraved with my name. Who knows what trouble you may get into when you try 
to sell them. It would be better if you stayed here a while. You can join us 
as a wanderer and I'll even add some money."

The stranger gave back the watch and Vladika proceeded on to the cottage. 
Meeting his cell-mate, Father Sergei, in the porch, he ordered him to go 
quickly to the gate where he would find a wanderer who had been kind enough 
to accompany him, and invite him in. The cell-mate went beyond the gates, 
but the stranger had vanished. "What an unkind person," the Metropolitan 
said. "Well, may the Lord be with hirn."

Having sat down for a while and gathered his composure somewhat, Vladika 
sent for Feofil and when he appeared, Filaret pointed his hand to his 
walking stick and said with a smile:

"Your prediction was fulfilled, Feofil. The stick is worth not less than 
twenty-five rubles. But that is not terrifying my friend. What is terrifying 
is that the malefactor could have let as much blood out of me as you had let 
boiling water out of the samovar."

"Wondrous are Thy works, O Lord!" the Blessed One answered with his favorite 
saying.

In conclusion, I will relate one more incident which finally convinced Metropolitan
Filaret that Starets Feofil was not an ordinary person and that his soul 
was filled by the grace and gifts of the Holy Soirit.

Once, while riding through the woods in a carriage, Vladika ordered the 
coachman to turn off to Kitayev and, having stopped there for an hour or so, 
he set out for the cell of the superior of the hermitage in order to speak 
with him on some matters. On the way, Starets Feofil met him and
instead of asking for the Metropolitan's blessings, he took a charred log 
from under his cassock and threw it at Vladika's feet. The other people 
around were astonished and thought that the Archpastor would become angered 
and it would turn out badly for Feofil. But the Metropolitan appeared to 
take no notice of the incident and continued on his way as if nothing had 
happened.

Soon after this, Vladika was again in Kitayev and, meeting Feofil in the 
monastery courtyard, stopped him and said:

"Well, mischievous one, I have not been in your cell for a long time. Today, 
after the liturgy, I'll drop in to your place for tea. Only see that you 
don't treat me with the sarne kind of tea as vou did the last time."

"You are welcome, Your Eminence," answered the Starets, bowing to the ground 
before the Archpastor.

We do not know for certain whether the Metropolitan merely wanted to talk 
with the Blessed One or, remembering the charred log thrown under his feet, 
wanted to discover from him the significance of this act, but the fact is 
that after leaving the church at the end of the liturgy, Vladika went 
directly to Feofil.

And how did the Blessed One receive him? Upon returning to his cell, he 
immediately ordered his cell-mate to fill a barrel with water and then add 
sand to it. When a fairly good "gruel" was thus obtained, the Blessed One 
smeared the walls of his dwelling with the mud, also the door and door-post 
and then he spread the mud thickly on the floor. He then covered himself with
mud and sat down on the stool in the middle of the room, solemnly awaiting 
his high guest.

In half an hour the door to the cell opened and the Metropolitan, having 
stepped in, stopped near the threshold in amazement.

Mud and disorder were everywhere and the master of the cell did not look 
like a monk but like someone who had just climbed out of a smoke-pipe.

"What is this?" the Archpastor asked angrily.

"Have no doubts, Your Exninence. Please. It's like this after the fire. I 
had a fire and I kept watering and watering it and so I became dirty."

The angered Archpastor threw a scornful glance at Feofil and retreated 
hastily. But just before he sat down in his carriage to depart, Feofil's 
cellmate, Ivan, ran up to him and presented him with three bottles of water.

"From whom is this? What is it for?" the Metropolitan asked.

"From Starets Feofil, Your Eminence. He ordered me to give this present to 
you and tell you that it will come in handy to pour on the charred log."

"To pour on the charred log? What is all this now? And what did he pour 
into these bottles? Try it!"

"Water," replied the cell-mate, "plain water, holy Vladika."

"Plain water?"

"Truly it is, Your Eminence."

"Well, place it in front of the coachman. It is evident that the culprit 
wanted to prophesy something."

Several weeks passed during late autumn. At twelve o'clock midnight on 
18-19 November, 1844, Roman Baranov, a postulant at the Lavra, lighted the 
stove in the prosphora bakery, and together with the other postulants, began 
preparing the dough for baking prosphora. The supervisor of the
pposphora bakery, ryasaformonk Vasily Titov and the general supervisor of 
the bakery, ryasaformonk Leonid Zatvorny, were preparing to partake of the 
Holy Mysteries and set out for matins. Upon leaving the church, they went 
to their cells to read the appointed prayers.

Suddenly, at three o'clock in the morning, the watchrnan, a postulant of the 
bakery, Iosif Alferov, noticed the pungent smell of smoke while walking 
along the corridor dividing the prosphora bakery from the main bakery. 
Alferov ran to investigate the back part of the courtyard where the wood was
kept and where the wooden outbuildings stood, but finding nothing amiss, he 
glanced through the keyhole of a door which led up a ladder into the attic 
and saw a raging fire. He grabbed for the key but when he opened the door, 
the smoke hit him in the face with such force that Alferov recoiled in
fear. On closer examination, it could be seen that the wooden scaffold had 
caught fire near the horizontal flue which led from the stove of the 
prosphora bakery to the smoke stack.  The brothers  came running with 
buckets and strove to extinguish the fire, but their efforts were hampered 
by the inconvenience of the route to the fire and because of the arrangement 
of the metal roof. The fire grew stronger and stronger and soon encompassed 
the entire prosphora bakery. To complete the misfortune, such a strong storm 
was raging that night that burning wood was carried aLI the way to
Podol and even as far as the Florovsky Monastery.

On the morning of 19 November, the fire spread still farther and penetrated 
under the metal roof of the Lavra printing shop. The frightened Metropolitan, 
seeing that the fire was increasing in size and was threatening not only the 
remaining buildings, but the Great Lavra Church itself, no longer hoped
in the weak power of humans. He ordered the doors of the Great Church to be 
opened and he went there to pray. For a long time he knelt praying tearfully 
before the holy miraculous icon of the Dormi--tion of the Mother of God, and 
he called to her in a loud voice, beseeching her help and intercession. 
After a while he arose, exhausted.

A sacristan had entered the church and stood at a respectful distance.

"Well, what is it?" the Metropolitan asked with a trembling voice.

"Glory be to God!" answered the sacristan. "By your holy prayers the Lavra 
is saved."

The Metropolitan crossed himself and sighed with relief. Then he walked out 
of the church and set out for the sight of the inferno. A large gathering of 
police, firemen, serfs, and arrnoury and garrison commands had been working 
together and the fire slowly began to die down. In several hours the flames 
in the printing shop and other buildings were completely extinguished.

The losses in buildings from the Lavra fire were quite insignificant since 
only the roofing had burnedwhile the waIls remained intact. But when the 
losses of the huge storage of books and printing machines were calculated, 
the sum was quite signif-icant, about 80,000 rubles (Archives of the
Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra, Matter No. 2520).

After this event, Vladika became so attached in spirit to the Blessed One, 
that, as proof of his esteem and love, he placed Feofil together with 
Hieroschemamonk Parfeny and himself in the chambers of the Goloseyevskaya 
cottage.

"I have only the two of you. You—a schematic, Parfeny— a schematic, and I—a
schematic, we shall live in the name of the All-Holy Trinity," said the 
Metropolitan with a fatherly tenderness, to the Blessed One while settling 
him into the cottage. (We may note that seventeen years before his
repose in God, the Arch-pastor Filaret took the great angelic image, the 
schema, with the name of Feodosy and he guarded this secreMy to the last 
days of his life.)

But the Blessed One had no desire to prolong this close contact, and on the 
first convenient occasion brought such dampness and mud into the room that 
he damaged the wallpaper and the painted floor, and he introduced a mass of 
insects into the living quarters. Not a day went by when he did not throw
out some "thing." In addition, when they would all three sit down to eat, 
Feofil tried to spill as much as possible on the table cloth, for which 
purpose he would sometimes upset his dish on the table as if by accident, 
and thus force Vladika and Father Parfeny to leave the table early. If this
was insufficient, he pretended to be ill and began to hiccough loudly and 
often, trying in this way to spoil Vladika's appetite. The Starets annoyed 
Parfeny by putting on Parfeny's boots at night, leaving only
a pair of bast sandals or felt boots in their place. Then he would disappear 
into the woods for the entire day. Or else, in the middle of a peaceful 
night when all the inhabitants of the cottage were sleeping deeply, he would 
leap from the bed and sing at the top of his voicel "Behold the Bridegroom
cometh at midnight, and the wise servant stands waiting to greet him. . . "

As if it were not enough, from the very first day of his arrival at the 
cottage, not regarding that it was summer, Feofil comrnenced heating the 
stove in his room, and he always did so just when Vladika was occupied with 
prayers or with his correspondence. Moreover, his fire let out so much
pungent smolce that the cell-mates had to open doors, windows, and vents in 
order to air the rooms at least a little. Vladika would sit in the garden 
all this time in wearisome waiting.

Starets Parfeny usually conducted the early liturgy in the house-chapel of 
the Metropolitan's cottage, but often Feofil would appear there a quarter of 
an hour before his arrival and, having robed himself in his priestly 
vestments, he would commence the service with the sacristan. When Parfeny 
would arrive in church, he could only be a witness to the divine service, 
but could not participate in it. And Feofil, fool-for-Christ's-sake, did 
much more and by that he attracted large crowds of people.

When Metropolitan Filaret saw, on the one hand, that pilgrims constantly 
massed near the porch of his cottage, impatiently waiting for the appearance 
of the beloved Starets Feofil, and, on the other hand he did not wish to 
cause himself and those with him the daily distractions of Feofil's actions,
he no longer tried to keep the Starets with him. He finally called Feofil in 
after the morning tea and said:

"Well, brother Feofil, God blesses you. Get ready old sparrow, for your 
former nest in Kitayev. You will be freer there."

"Direct my steps according to your word," answered Feofilr as he had always 
said when he was to be moved from one place to another, and having diligently 
prayed before the icons, he set out on the indicated path.

The Blessed One returned to Kitayev and lived there peacefully for a long 
time. No one complained about his way of life again and no one tried to end 
his foolish escapades. The hidden light was again placed on the candle-stand 
and began to shine on everyone.


@ [CURLH.GIF goes here] @


                                       IX.

It is said that the Blessed One's dislike of money was amazing. The Starets
was tied to nothing. He never took money, or if he did accept it on the
strong request of the zealous, he would give it all away to the poor and
wretched. One generous noblewoman offered him a sizable sum for distributing
to the poor. Not wishing to offend her by refusing, the Blessed One accepted
her gift but as soon as she had departed, he threw the money out the door of
his cell and thus set his mind at rest. This action was seen by greedy ones
who, taking advantage of the Starets' simpleness, pocketed the gold.

Countess OrlovaZhesmenskaya once met Feofil at the gates of the Lavra and
asked:
"Father Feofil!" I am going away today. Tell me, what can I buy you, as a
keepsake?"

The Starets glanced at her, smiled, and gave her some cryptic reply. Orlova
did not understand his words but when she asked others about this, it became
clear that the Starets had asked that he be brought a shtoff (1.2 litres) of
vodka. By this answer, he gave her to understand that all earthly
possessions and gifts were as disdainful for him as a shtoff of vodka.

Another time, the tender-hearted Abbess Agnia of the Kievo-Fllorovsky
Monastery heard that the Starets often prayed standing on the damp ground
of the woods and she felt sorry for him.

"My God! How is it that he spends entire days on damp ground, praying for 
us sinners? We must give this pious man a little rug."

She ordered her cell-mates to sew a fine rug and when it was finished, she
sent it to the Blessed One through his own sister, the postulant, Anna
Novichkova. The Starets accepted the rug in order not to offend Agnia. But
on the following day he set out for the woods, took the little rug with him,
spread it on the ground, sat on it for a minute or two and then threw it
aside and departed, leaving the rug behind on the grass. Understandably,
someone soon took the abandoned gift since it was of excellent quality. The
Starets, however, quickly ceased even thinking about it.

Among Feofil's admirers were two high-ranking field officers, Mikhail
Dmitrievich Pozdniak, an officer in the Kiev administration of the
Governor-General, and his friend, also a brilliant officer. Every week on
Sundays and holidays, the two of them would visit the Starets, have dinner
in his cell and spend the entire day in soul-saving talks.

Once, these two friends decided to play a hannless joke on the Blessed One.
They secretly took his worn out schema vestments and ordered new ones in the
city. The Starets was extemely grieved and regretted the loss, and when the
two culprits of the theft personally brought him both the old and the new
schemas, he said with a smile:

"Jokers! What did you do this for? Don't you see that you have almost led
me into sin? I began to prepare for prayers to the King, but I didn't have
my schema. I wanted to perform a service in church, but I didn't have my
                                   
old one."

"But put on the new one! Your old one isn't suitable."

"Mockers! Who would appear to be reviewed by the Tsar with out wearing his
decorations and full regalia? What rewards have I merited in this new
schema, while on the old one some things even stand in beauty?"

Not putting on the new schema even once, he sent it to the vestry of the
Far Caves.

And here is an example of the secret charity of the Blessed One.

There lived in the Lavra a postulant who was serving his obedience in the
Novopasechny orchard. Upon attaining his maturity, he was called into the
military service as a recruit. He was judged suitable for service and
inducted. The young ascetic of piety was overwhelmed with grief at his
impending separation from the cloister. He could not buy his way out of the
service, because he had no money. (At that time, a recruit could pay for his
obligated service instead of serving himself. This cost up to 1,000
rubles).

He happened to meet Starets Feofil soon after this and the Blessed One
looked at him intently and said:

"Why have you become sad, soldier? Because you don't want to serve the
earthly king? You want to become employed for service to the Heavenly King?"

"Oh, I'm not worthy of this mercy from God. There is no place for me a
sinner, in this holy cloister of the Lavra," the postulant said and tears
poured from his eyes like hail.

"Well, well, don't weep, don't grieve, brother. You will remain living in
the Lavra," the Blessed One said, and went on his way.

Three days later, Countess Orlova Zhesmenskaya came to Kiev on a pilgrimage
and, having finished her podvig of worship, she went to see Starets Feofil
in order to take confession with him.  She did not find hirn in his cell but 
seeing Feofil in the courtyard, she set out towards him. Having guessed
Orlova's intention, the Blessed One decided to test her humility and, as if
he had not noticed her, he quickly set out for the woods. Orlova did not
wish to lose sight of the Starets because it was not always easy to find
him, so she began to follow him. The Starets increased his pace. Orlova did
the same. Making sharp turns and detours so that Orlova would lose sight of
him, Feofil would again appear in the distance. The Blessed One was heading
for the Novopasechny orchard and, having entered the wicket-gate, he
quickly disappeared from her view.

The anxious countess had lost Feofil's track and so she stopped in
confusion. To her good fortune, that same postulant-recruit was sitting near
the gate and she walked up to hitn with the question:
"Tell me, please. Did Father Feofil pass through here?"

"He has just entered the orchard," the postulant replied, bowing
respectfully and he opened the gate in front of the colmtess.

"Allow me. . . "
Forgetting herself from joy, Orlova took a handful of gold coins from her 
purse and gave it to the postulant in gratitude.

The money was not only sufficient for the paying out of the recruit's
service requirement, but there was some left over for his other needs as
well.

Starets Feofil was so famous in the Kiev region that hardly a single simple,
pious, and God-loving person in the area would begin his own affairs without
first seeking the advice and direction of the Starets. Rarely would a
wedding begin without his blessing. Each person would accept, without
question, the word of the Starets, even if it was stern and uncomfortable
for the hearer, and they would carry out his advice in exactness, as a
prophetic voice from heaven.

There lived in Kiev a broker, Ivan N. In his youth, when he was serving as
a salesman in some store, he had decided to marry. For a long time he
searched for the girl of his dreams, and then, at a merchants' convention,
his gaze lighted on Liubochka Z. The broker's fate was decided. He would
propose to Liubochka. He got dressed in his finest clothing, went to her
parents' home and declared his intentions. He received this answer from the
girl's mother:

"Our Liubochka is already engaged. Her fiance is the young man Hendrick
M. Although he is of the Lutheran faith, we can-not go back on our given
word. . . "

"Oh, my God! But I love your daughter madly!"

"Well, what can be done? It's a pity that you did not speak of this
earlier."

The broker was a very intelligent, business-like person, while the German
was flighty but rich. Liubocka's parents, hearing the proposal of the
broker, gathered their relatives to their home and held a consultation but
the majority of them spoke in favour of the German. But before arranging
the wedding, they decided to visit Starets Feofil. They brought some rolls,
bread, incense, and candles and set out for the cell of the Blessed One.
When they arrived, the Starets opened the door for them and welcomed
every-one, but, not allowing the visitors to utter a word, he said:

"Ivan, Ivan. Don't dare to give her away to that blockhead Hendrick!"

The parents heeded, Liubochka married the broker and was happy all her
life.

And there was another occasion. The widowed landowner, Fekla Tarasova,
had a beautiful young daughter, Anna. Two suitors sought her in marriage.
One was handsome, stately, good-natured, and prone to drink and carouse.
The other had a small pox scarred face and was sullen, but of gentle and
reliable nature. The first lived in Dimievka, a suburb of Kiev, the second,
in the little town of Myshelovka. Anna was madly in love with the handsome
one but totally indifferent towards the second one and refused point-blank
to marry him. Her mother, on the other hand, insisted that she marry the
one from Myshelovka.

They set out to Kitayev for the Starets' advice. The Blessed One, saying
not a word, gave Anna a yoke with pails and ordered her to bring some water
from Dimievka. The maiden fulfilled the order. The Blessed One poured the
water into a barrel standing under the drain-pipe and again gave Anna the
pails with an order to go to Myshelovka for water this time. The water was
brought in half an hour.

"Where was it more difficult to bring it from?" the Starets asked the
maiden.

"From Dimievka," Anna answered. "It is far from here, but it is closer to
Myshelovka."

"Well remember then. The pails on the shoulder represent your life. If you
listen to your mother and marry the one from Myshelovka, then your life will
be light. But if you marry the one from Dimievka, you will curse your entire
life from woe and needs."

Convinced by these words, Anna heeded her mother's advice and, having
inarried the man from Myshelovka, she never repented this in her entire
life.

But once it was just the opposite. The Starets advised a youth to marry a
certain young widow, but the young man married a maiden whom he himself had
chosen.

"Why bother listening to such an old man?" he said to his comrades. "The old
monk won't find out anyway."

When, in a week's time the young couple came to Kitayev, they went to see
the Starets for his blessing. Feofil met them on the threshold of his cell
and instead of his blessing, the newly-weds received an old, worn out
basket, on the bottom of which was a pile of rubbish and on top lay two
apples. Not being able to understand this, the young people went to the
Kitayev spiritual father for an explanation. The spiritual father listened
to them and said:

"Two fresh apples—that is you. The pile of rubbish under them—that is the
unfortunate life under you."

And, in fact, not even a year passed before the young couple began to
quarrel and finally separated.


                        X.

We have related several cases and examples in the previous chapters which
have convinced us of the reality of the gift of forevision possessed by
Starets Feofil and of how wisely and exactly he used this gift for the
advice and correction of the souls of vain and sinful mankind. In addition
to these aforementioned incidents, we present here a few more cases of the
gift of forevision of the Blessed One.

1. On the morning of August 14, 1852, the Blessed One set out in his cart
from Kitayev to the Lavra. It was the eve of the Feast of the Dormition and
Feofil intended to spend a night and a day there. As he was passing through
the forest near the place where the Preobrazhenskaya Hermitage now stands,
the bullock turned to the right as if it were lost, but the Starets, 
occupied with reading the psalter, did not seem to notice this and so the
bullock continued on his way into the dense woods. Some men with axes who
were walking from the nearest village noticed this error and began crying
out to the Starets:

"Batiushka! Your bullock is lost. Look—he's not going in the right
direction."

The Blessed One seemed to tear himself away from reading the Psalter, then
turned to the men and said:

"Let him go his way. He knows better than we do what he needs there. It is
done so that I can pray to God in this place."

With these words, the Starets got out of his wagon, took an axe from one of
the men, cut down a small tree and hewed a small cross from it. At that time
the whole area around where the Preobrazhenskaya Hermitage now stands was
dense woods and thoughts about building in it had never even entered
anyone's mind. Never-the-less, the Blessed Feofil, foreseeing in spirit
the future grace of the place, prayed to God and as once
Andrew-the-First-Called had erected a cross on the heights of Kiev, so the
Blessed Starets now planted his cross on this spot and said:

"Remember, friends! On this spot a monastery will be built and many of the
living and the dead will settle in it."

What was foretold was fulfilled. In 1872, at the place where Feofil had
erected his cross, the beginnings of the Preobrazhenskaya Hermitage was
built, and aside from living people, seeking peace for their souls, the
dead were laid to rest there for their eternal peace, in expectation of the
approaching day of God's fearful judgement.

2 The Blessed One foretold the following concerning the founding of the
Holy Trinity-Ionovsky Monastery.

On the Samburg farm of the Kitayevskaya Hermitage lived the postulant nun,
Pelagia. She felt a sincere veneration towards the Starets and lovingly
fulfilled any obedience the Blessed One might give her. If he told her to
have a shirt washed, she would wash it; if he told her to harness the
bullock, she would go to harness it; if he sent her to the Dnieper to wash a
pair of boots, she would do so. Because of her constant service and simple
obedience, the Starets loved the postulant very much and would often protect
her from various temptations and troubles.

Once, a starets-hieroschemarnonk from Mount Athos came to the Lavra and
offered to secretly tonsure Pelagia and three other postulants of the farm.
Not wishing to accept this tempting offer without the blessing of Starets
Feofil, the postulants went to him for advice. The Blessed One did not say
a word to them but brought out a loaf without the inside and said:

"Your thoughts are as empty as this bread," and he forbade Pelagia to be
confused by vainglorious thoughts.

Another time the Starets called her to himself and gave he. a bottle.
"Go and buy yourself some honey, incense, and candles," he said, "and
remember the number 12."
Pelagia did as she was told and as she was returning, the Starets met her
near the market, surrounded by many people.

"Well, did you buy it?" he asked.

"I bought it, Batiushka," answered Pelagia.

"Well then, begin praying for my father and I will pray for your father
right now."

And he began to prostrate himself in the middle of the street. Pelagia was
embarrassed. People were standing all around, as if looking at some marvel,
but having overcome her embarrassrnent, she too began to make prostrations.

Several days passed. Suddenly Pelagia received a letter from her relatives
that on the twelfth of that month, her father had died after an illness.

But let us return to the aim of our story. Starets Feofil once met Pelagia
on the road and ordered her to take the bullock by the rope and lead it to
the Lavra while he himself turned around in the wagon towards the east and
began his usual reading of the Psalter. As they were going beyond Zberints,
at the place where the Holy Trinity-Ionovsky Monastery now stands, the
Blessed One stopped the bullock and toldhis fellow traveler to give it some
hay. Then he called her to himself and said:

"Pelagia! If you threw a large seine net into the depths of the Dnieper,
what would you pull out?"

"Everything, Batiuska," Pelagia answered, having thought about it.

"Both large and tiny fish. There would be pike, and carp, and roach in it,
and mussels and frogs as well."

"Well, then, know that on this spot God's grace will soon shine and a large 
monastery will be built on it. And as in the seine of the fisherman there is
found everything, so in this young cloister not all will be the same in
spiritual growth. There will appear in it 'pike' of high ascetic life, and
there will also steal into it worthless 'shells', little caring for the
purity of the soul."

And raising his eyes to heaven, the Starets blessed the place in all four
directions and, having prayed for half an hour, he continued on his way to
the Lavra. 

And now, today, when the prophecy of the Blessed Starets has been fulfilled
in all accuracy, and, in place of the shifting sands, we see a beautiful,
well-built monastery, our minds automatically recall the prophetic words:
"The wilderness ant the solitary place shall be glad~€.. And the tesert
shall rejoice. and blossom as a rose...It s}lall blossom abuntantly and
rejoice...; they shall see the glory of ffie Lord ant the excellency of our
Got" (Is. 35:1-2).

3. The Blessed One was walking along the shore of the Dnieper to the Lavra.
His cell-mate, Panteleimon, was with him It was about two hours before the
church bells begin to ring. Coming to the place where the Lavra caves
dominate the hill, the Starets saw a boat tied on the shore of the Dnieper
and said:

"Do you know what I've thought of, Panteleimon?" 

"What is that, Batiushka?"
"Let us both go over to the other side of the Dnieper. No one over there is
praying to God, so we'll pray for everyone and then read the holy Psalter."

"As you wish, Batiushka."

The two came up to the shore and the Blessed One untied the boat which was
without an oar, then told Panteleimon to sit down in it-

"But how will we go?" the cell-mate asked him in bewilder-ment. "There is no
oar, Batiushka. I will run for an oar; there is a guard house nearby."

"No need. Sit down, I tell you."        -

"But what about the oar? Or will we use our hands?'

"What do you, need an oar for, you simpleton?"

"To move ahead in the water. To steer the boat."

"Sit down! Sit down! The Lord directs the whole world and He will direct our
little shell."

Panteleimon sat down and watched to see what would happen next. The Blessed
One pushed the little boat away from the shore, seated himself in the stern
and opened his Psalter. 

"Bless, O Lord!" he said and immersed himself in his reading.

And what a miracle! The boat peacefully went ahead by itself. Panteleimon
sat amazed and breathless. He could not utter a single word. The ripples of
the river rocked the frail vessel. The sun was warmly shining and a gentle
breeze was blowing. The distance to the opposite shore grew less.

Suddenly, something flashed before the eyes of the cell-mate. From the water
lept several gold fish and, landing in the bottom of the boat, they began
to play about, their scales brightly sparkling in the sun. Panteleimon 
glanced at the Blessed Starets in utter bewilderment.

"Silence! Be quiet!" the Blessed One said. "These are God's angels. The Lord
has sent them for our consolation."

Panteleimon entered an indescribable rapture and sat staring at the fish.
As the boat began to near the shore, the fish lept over the side and
disappeared into the depths.

On the return trip, the very same thing occurred.

"Guard your lips," said the Starets to his cell-mate as they left the 
banks of the Dniepr, "and place a barrier to your mouth. See that you do
not tell anyone about what you saw until after I die."

Panteleimon kept all this in great secret until the demise of the Blessed
Starets and only after his repose did he begin to tell about this miracle
to many of the Lavra brothers.

Marvelous is the Lord, Who creates all that He wants on earth, in the seas,
and in all the depths. In His hands are the depths of the earth and the
heights of the mountains. The sea is His for He created it.

4. Another incident which the cell-mate related is no less amaz-ing.

The Starets had been moved to the Goloseyevskaya Herrnit-age. One day in
May of 1853, about six months before his death, the Blessed One said to
his cell-mate:

"Panteleimon! Let us go into the woods and pray to God."

As they walked, dshe Starets read the Gospel, sang the psains, and knitted
a stocking, while Panteleimon cut hay along the way and gathered it into a
net in order to treat the bullock on their return home. They walked an
exceptionally long way, and when evening came on and the sun began to set,
the travellers turned homeward. Walking past the place where the
Preobra-zhenskaya Hermitage now stands, the Starets stopped and said:

"How about resting on this hill for a while, Panteleimon, and feasting our
eyes on the view of the holy Lavra?"

The weary cell-mate was just waiting for this and he spread out on the
grass and began to doze off. Starets Feofil took out a piece of ice, put
it in water and added some honey and drank it in order to strengthen his
exhausted body. Half an hour passed. Suddenly, the Blessed One cried:

"Panteleimon! Some strangers are approaching. Run out and call them here."

The drowsy cell-mate raised his head and saw a group of pilgrims coming
down the road. He called them over to the Starets.

"May God help you!" the Blessed One greeted them.

"Thank you, Batiushka," the men replied.

"Perhaps you haven't had anything to eat yet? asked Feofil.

"Hardly, Batiushka. We've chewed on some dried bread crusts in water but
there has been no hot food on our tongue for a whole week."

"Never mind. Sit down and chat for a while. The Mother of God will feed
everyone at once."

Then, having seated the travellers, the Blessed One took a small
cast-iron tripod out of his basket, dug a small hole in the ground, and
sent Panteleimon out to gather some twigs.

"Twigs?! What good will they do to you, Batiushka!" the bewildered
cell-mate responded, knowing that there was nothing to cook.

"Simpleton!" the Blessed One chided him. "We'll boil gruel. You see, it is
necessary to feed the pilgrims."

The twigs were brought but there was still no fire.

"What trouble!" Panteleimon exclaimed with annoyance. "There is nothing to
start a fire with, Batiushka."

"And God?!" the Starets said impressively.

Then raising his eyes, he began to pray:

"O Lord! At Thy command, fire goes before Thee and lightning illumines the
heavens. Hear, O Lord, the voice of my prayers when I call unto Thee, when
I raise my hands to Thy holy temple.  Hear my supplications; may the poor
eat and be filled and praise Thy All-Blessed Name!"

With these words, he prostrated to the east and then blessed the litthe
tripod saying, "In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. . . "

But barely had he finished these words when, from under the tripod, a wisp
of blue stnoke appeared. The twigs began to smoke and soon burst into bright
flames.

Upon seeing such a miracle, Panteleimon wanted to run but the Starets
stopped him and, wagging his finger, he ordered him to throw some short
grass into the pot while he hirnself dropped in several pebbles and a piece
of ice taken from the basket. When all this began to boil, the Blessed One,
not interrupting his mental prayer, blessed the tripod once more and mixed 
the contents of the pot. 

"Well, taste it now," he said, turning to his cell-mate.

Panteleimon scooped out a bit of the gruel on the end of a spoon and
carefully licked it with his tongue. Then he scooped up a whole spoonful
and ate it.

"Batiushka! !" he cried out in astonishment. "Really and truly, it's
semolina."

"Hurry and pour it out for the guests, simpleton, before it gets cold."

The cell-mate, joyously and with fear, seized the pot and began to ladle
out the gruel into the travelling cups of the dumbfounded pilgrims. But no
matter how much he poured out, the amount of gruel in the pot did not
lessen. Everyone had been provided for and had eaten his fill, but the pot
remained full. Just as the loaves and fishes were multiplied in the
wilderness to feed the multitude, so also was the gruel now multiplied in
answer to the prayers of Starets Feofil.

"Well, God be with you," said the Blessed One gently, turning to the
travellers when they had finished eating. "Go to the holy Lavra and pray
for everyone."

Completely staggered by the miracle they had just witnessed with their own 
eyes, the pilgrims set out for the Lavra and there began to tell everyone,
with joy and fear of the miracle.
For all that you ask in prayer, with true faith, you will receive.

5. On July 5, 1853, at 8 A.M., Abbess Seraphima of the Kievo-Florovsky
Monastery and the nun Agnia, her treasurer, arrived at the Lavra in order
to petition Metropolitan Filaret to serve a liturgy in their cloister on
the feast day of its church, which was named in honour of the Kazan Icon of
the Mother of Godv

Vladika received the visitors warmly and agreed to accept their invitation
with pleasure.

"Good, good, " he said. "I will definitely be there. Just prepare all that
is necessary for the service."

The Abbess then started to take leave of the Metropolitan, but he detained
her. 

"Are you planning to return home now, honorable Mother?"

"Well, yes, we had planned to, Your Eminence."

"But I am serving a special liturgy today in the Sts Sergei Church at the
Kitayevskaya Hermitage. By good fortune you are here and so perhaps you
would consent to joining us for the service?"
"Your blessing, holy Vladika. With great pleasure."

The Metropolitan began rushing to get ready for the journey, but, to his
great chagrin, he could not find his prayer rope.

"Oh, what a grief you are," Vladika said to himself. "You must have
forgotten the prayer rope and left it at Goloseyev-skaya." 

He called to his cell-mate. Father Nazary, but Seraphima interjected:

"Perhaps you could use mine, Vladika?"

"Yours? But what will you do for a prayer rope? They say that it is a bad
omen to go without it, but what else is to be done. Let me use yours."

The Abbess gave her prayer rope to Vladika and then, leaving him to finish
his preparations, she set out ahead for Kitayev with Sister Agnia.
On that day the Kitayevskaya Hermitage was in a great bustle. The
Metropolitan had informed them of his arrival quite late and the sextons,
taken unawares, were rushing about in all directions sweeping, cleaning,
and preparing vestments, while the sacristan and the superior of the
hermitage had worked themselves into complete exhaustion. In order not to
miss the arrival of the Vladika, watches had been sent to the belfry at
dawn. At that time the higher clergy always travelled in carriages drawn
by four horses, and the sentries were just waiting for such a foursome to
appear.

Suddenly, one of the watches sighted the four-horse carriage of the
Florovsky abbess approaching in the distance. and assuming that it was
Metropolitan Filaret's carriage, with the exuberance peculiar to young
postulants, cried out, "He is coming!"
The bell-ringer was just waiting for this and, with a strong, skilled
hand, he began ringing the bells with all his might.

The brothers quickly poured out of the church with banners, cross, and
holy water and stood waiting to receive Vladika. The four-horse carriage
drove up, the coachman stopped his team, but instead of the expected
Metropolitan, out stepped Abbess Serafima of the Florovsky Monastery.
There was some confusion, but matters were soon set in order again.

Soon, the Metropolitan arrived and the liturgy was served with the proper
ceremony. The church and the monastery yard were especially crowded due to
the influx of summer residents in the neighborhood and a large crowd of
pilgrions from the Lavra. The Blessed Feofil took part in the liturgy and
service of thanks-giving and according to his custom, during the liturgy,
he stood apart from the other celebrants, half-turned aside. After the
liturgy, the Metropolitan began to bless the people and Abbess Seraphima,
together with Sister Agnia, set out for the gate in order to go home.

While they were walking along the side of the church, Feofil met them and
not answering Seraphima's greetings, he pulled a bottle of sand out of his
pocket and poured it on her from head to toe.

Seraphirna cried out in fright and unhappily hurried to the gate with her
co-traveller. But just as they were seating themselves in the carriage,
Ivan, Feofil's cell-mate, ran up to them and gave Agnia a long woman's
gown, inside of which was tied a whole sheaf of rye. 

"Oh, my God! What is this?" said Agnia, flinching back.

"Don't be afraid," answered the cell-mate. "Batiushka Feofil sent this.
He said,'Tell Agnia to remove the heads and keep them, but to send the
straws back to me'."

Agnia accepted the gift with great confusion and put it inside the
carriage. The coachman waved his whip and sent the horses forward.

What did the Blessed One foretell with these strange actions?

Immediately upon returning home, Seraphirna felt unwell and towards
evening became ill and went to bed. By the time the Kazan feast day
arrived and the Metropolitan came to serve the liturgy, she was so ill
that she could not rise from her bed.

When Vladika found out about Seraphirna's sudden illness, he was extremely
saddened. "Preserve her, Oh God," he said with unhidden sorrow. "She is
so young and full of life and now she has become ill. Pray for her, sisters
in Christ, pray fervently and may the Lord preserve her safely and
unharmed." He then tuirned to the Governor-General, Prince Vasilchikov,
who was a fine example of a true and God-loving son of the Church, and
said, "Let us go and confort her." 

When they arrived in her cell, the ill one was lying motionless. Seeing the
presence of her high ranking visitors, she moved and wanted to rise from
the bed, but the Vladika forbade her to strain herself.
"The prayer rope, do you remember the prayer rope?" he asked the ill abbess
in a saddened voice. "My little observation about the omen has come about.
Yes, it has come about."

Having given the ill one a holy blessing, he wished her a speedy recovery
and left the cell. Towards evening Seraphilna became much worse and on 
July 10, on the Feast of St. Antony of Pechersk, she felt herself coming to
life's end. She ordered a carriage to be sent to the Lavra to bring her
spiritual father, Hieroschemamonk Parfeny. When the Starets came to her
with the Holy Gifts, it was already too late. Abbess Seraphima had already
yielded up her soul.

On July 12, the treasurer, Agnia,(2) was elected to replace the deceased
abbess. And so, the prophecy of the Blessed Starets came to pass.

6.  At 7 P.M. on September 13, 1851, His Majesty, Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich,
together with the Grand Dukes Nikolai Nikolaevich and Mikhail Nikolaevich,
entered Kiev.(3) Since it was already dark, and because His Majesty was 
travelling on the Zhitomir road from Lusk, and the Lavra did not lie on his
route, he was unable to visit it that evening. Instead, he went directly to
his apartment at the home of the military governor. On the following day,
September 14, which was the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross, the
imperial travellers attended the Lavra liturgy which was served by
Metropolitan Filaret. Then at 10:45 there was a review of the troops on the
Esplanade Square from where His Majesty continued to St. Sophia Cathedral.
From there, he proceeded to the Mikhailovsky Monastery, after which he
viewed the city, the newly erected fortifications and other buildings and 
the arsenal.

On September 15, His Majesty, together with the Granl Dukes, left to review
the troops in Elisavetgrad.

At noon, on September 19, Nikolai Pavlovich returned to Kiev alone, leaving
the two Grand Dukes behind. At 2:30 P.M., accompanied by the
Governor-General and military engineers, he examined the fortification works
and walked from the new (Nikolsky) gates to the yard of the engineers'
command and past the Lavra stables which were situated near the Nikolsky
Monastery (often called "Little Nikolai") to the military cathedral (the
"Great Nikolai"). Having examined the cathedral, His Majesty said to the
dean who had greeted him:

"It is a good cathedral. It should be restored."

Then, pointing to the iconostas which was darkened with age, he asked who 
had built it. The protopriest replied that it was built by Hetman Mazepa in
1690.

The Sovereign said, "He is cursed here, but he is also prayed for here, in
order that God may forgive him."

Then the Tsar pointed out some icons which were hung along the walls in such
a way that the people were required to stand with their backs to them and he
ordered that they be moved nearer to the iconostas or placed in the
sanctuary.

From the military cathedral, His Majesty set out for the tomb of Askold
which, according to the decision of the city planners, was to be dug up to
make way for a new access route to the bridge on the main highway. The
Sovereign ordered that the plans be altered so that the highway would pass
by the tounb and spare the entire cemetery which was around it. Then Nikolai
Pavlovich continued to inspect the fortress and citadel until 3:30 at which
time the Sovereign entered his carriage and, accompanied by his suite,
engineers, and city authorities, set out for his quarters. Then a most
unusual and significant event took place.

As the carriage was driving through Perchersk, and about to turn a corner,
His Imperial Majesty met with Feofil who came plodding around the corner on
his bullock. No sooner did the Tsar's horses come even with Feofil's cart
than they stopped as if they had suddenly become frozen to the ground. All
the efforts of the coachman to make the horses proceed were in vain. The
horses strained to the right and to the left but they could not move the
carriage from its spot. 

Seeing the monk in a ragged cloak near him, the Sovereign became interested
in finding out who he was. The Tsar's suite and the city authorities quickly
rushed to Feofil and brought him to the Sovereign's carriage.


@   Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich of Russia (picture) @



"What kind of person are you?" Nikolai Pavlovich sternly asked Feofil, 
taking him in with a penetrating glance.

"I am a man of God," the Blessed One replied with childlike simplicity.

"I know you are God's, but where do you come from and where are you going?"

"Where I am from_I am there no longer. Where I am now _everyone can see. 
Where I will be later_God alone knows."

Nikolai Pavlovich gave a questioning look to his suite and they, extremely 
embarrassed by Feofil's reply, hastened to explain that this simple person 
was the monk Feofil, a fool-forChrist's-sake, of the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra.

"A God's fool-monk?" asked Nikolal Pavlovich with amazement. "Strange."

But wishing to end the embarrassment of those accompanymg him, he kindly 
turned to Feofil and said:

"Well, go with God and wish me a happy journey."

"No, Your Majesty. You have to go through thorns," the Blessed One answered 
to this, peacefully climbing into his cart.

At that very mounent the horses strained to one side and the Tsar's carriage 
sped ahead. The Sovereign heard these prophetically significant words of 
Starets Feofil and looked back intently at the strange monk.

On the morning of September 20, the Tsar unezcpectedly visited the Lavra and 
without any welcoming, he entered the cathedral church where the liturgy was 
taking place and "It is meet to praise Thee" was being sung. After the usual 
parting prayers. the Sovereign, having eliminated the ceremonial "seeing off" 
from the church to the holy gate, accepted the Metropolitan's blessing and 
set out for St. Petersburg.

In 1852, Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich visited, for the last time [7] the city 
which was dear to his heart, not long before the beginning of the war with 
Turkey which led to the unfortunate Crimean campaign and placed the Sovereign 
in his untimely grave. The Tsar arrived in Kiev at 11 A.M. on Sunday, October 
5, accompanied by the Grand Dukes Nikolai Nikolaevich and Mikhail 
Nikolaevich.

At 1 P.M. the Sovereign went to the Lavra where he visited the Metropolitan 
and conversed with him in his private chambers. The Tsar was extremely sullen 
and unhappy. His brow furrowed and his gaze clouded with constant thought, 
Nikolai Pavlovich recalled the Christians in the East who were being 
protected by him, and who were now again  being  oppressed by the Turks. The 
heart of the Russian Tsar, softened by prayer in the church, was filled with 
pity for the unfortunate sufferers. He also recalled how the Turks had 
formerly oppressed the Slavs and the Greeks and how the Russian Sovereigns 
had tried to lighten their sufferings and even he, Nikolai Pavlovich, had to 
declare a bloody war.  The Turks were defeated then and asked for peace and 
Greece was recognized as an independent state. Now they were again beginning 
to oppress the Christians under their power and again were forcing the Tsar 
to declare war against them. But now the strength of the Turks was being 
multiplied threefold_the English and the French, wishing to weaken the 
strength of Russia, were preparing to help them. At the end of the 
conversation, the Sovereign, as if hinting to Vladika about the alarming 
state of thepolitical affairs, expressed that a menacing cloud was spreading 
over the fatherland, but that he was doing aIl in his power to pre-vent the 
dear native land from being stained and to deal with the enemies in dignity.

"I do not want to shed the blood of the faithful sons of my fatherland 
needlessly, but our vainglorious enemies are forcing me to bare my sword; 
My plans are not yet made_no!  But my heart feels that the time is nearing 
and they will soon be brought to fulfilment."

After these words, the Sovereign sadly lowered his head and fell into deep 
thought.

"Oh, how I wouId like to know what awaits Russia in the future," he continue 
after some silence.

"But none knows this except God alone," the Metropolitan remarked with a 
sigh.

"Yes, I know that it is so ," replied the Sovereign. "But I also know that 
the Holy Kiev-Pecherskaya Lavral which has from time immemorial served as a 
seed-bed of faith and piety, was always rich with pious monks who have 
carried within themselves the spirit of truly ascetic life. Do you not have 
any elders who are filled with spintual grace and whom I might ask for advice 
on my forthcoming political projects?"

"There is, Your Majesty," the Metropolitan replied. "There is such a one. 
And although his mode of life in no way resembles the model of life of the 
other monks of the monastery, I can assure Your Imperial Majesty with 
confidence, that under the cover of his simplicity and foolishness there is 
hidden the grace of the Holy Spirit and an undoubted gift of forevision."

"Is it that tall monlc whom I met once in the city? As nearly as I can 
remember, he was riding on a cart pulled by a bulloclc."

"That is correct, Your Majesty," answered the Vladilca Met-ropolitan. 
"That is he, Sehmmamonk Feofil. If it would be pleas-mg to Your Imperial 
Majet, I will not hesitate to present him before you. He lives in the 
Kitayevskaya Hermitage and within an hour my carriage could have him here."

"No, it is not necessary.  We will go there ourselves.  That would be much 
better."

It was settled that they would leave for the Kitayevskaya Hermitage 
imnediately after dinner. At the agreed time, the Tsar and Vladilua set out 
in the Metropolitan's carriage to visit Feofil.

And what the the Blessed One do?  In spite of the fact that a messenger had 
arrived at Kitayev from the Metropolitan with orders to keep Starets Feofil 
at the monastery all day, the elder managed to slip through the gate and 
into the woods. Seeing in spirit the nearing of the Tsar's carriage, he 
went out to rneet it irt Goloseyevo. Running through the bushes and 
scratching his hands and face into bloodiness, he found a large anthill 
some distance from the road. He dug into it with his hands and lay down in 
the middle of it on his back.

The weather that day was sunny and warm and the drive was very pleasant, 
but all the while the Tsar was silent and in deep thought, looking about 
the surrounding countryside, pointing to an object which had caught his 
eye. "A dead body, or what?"

Vladika looked in the direction in which the Tsar was pointing, but his 
aging eyes could  not see what was lying there.

"Gavril!" he turned to his valet who was sitting in the coach-box. "Have a 
look brother."

"There is a man lying there, Your Eminence," GavriLka answered, turning 
around. "But he is not dead, he's alive. See there, hbs feet are moving."

"What is he lying on?" the Sovereign azsked.

"It would seem that he is lying on an ant-hill, Your lrnperial Majesty," 
answered GavriLlsa. 

"Strange," said the Tsar to this and ordeted the coachman to turn off to the 
side.

When the travellers got out of the carriage and approached the ant-hill, 
Feofil was lying there, not moving. His arms were folded on his chest 
crosswise, as in death, and his eyes were completely closed. Ants swarmed 
in masses all over his body and face, but he, as if feeling nothing, 
pretended to be dead.

"This is Schemamonk Feofil," the Metropolitan quietly who pered to the 
Sovereign and walked up closer. "This is that very starets whom we are going 
to srisit." 

"Why is he lying here?' NUcalai Pavlovich asked in amazew ment. "Find out, 
won't you?"

"Feofil!" Vladika bent towards the Blessed One. "Why are you lying here?'

Silence.
"Get up, I tell you, you culprit! The Sovereign wants to talk to you."

Neither sound nor movement

"Strange!" said the Sovereign with annoyance and, angrily svaving his hand, 
he tuned back to the carriage.

"No! This is not to be forgotten without reflection, Your Imperial 
Majesty," noted the Metropolitan to the Monarch when they sat down in the 
carriage. "My heart knows that this prank of his has a very deep 
significance."

But no matter how hard Vladika tried to reason out the meaning of the 
Staret's behaviour for the Sovereign, he cou,d not give a clear, positive 
answer.

Some time elapsed and the war with Turkey was declared. On September 2, 1854, 
the allied fleet pulled in to the shores of the Crimea and landed a large 
army of about 70,000 English, French, and Turkish troops. The Russian troops 
were comparatively few in number, but never-the-less, they stood and fought. 
Russian sailors sank a part of their own fileet in the entrance to Sevastopol 
Bay in order to block the way of the enemy fleet and they carried cannons 
from the ships to the shore to form a battery. The naval forces became 
infantry and prepared for the desperate defence under the heroic leadership 
of admirals Kornilov, Nakhimov, Istomin, and others.

The enemy approached. Sevastopol, as a maritime city, was not fortified from 
the land.  But the Russians did not lose spirit and in several days they 
erected earthen fortifications for a distance of seven versts. They worked 
day and night. The troops were helped by the inhabitants, not excluding 
women and children who carried earth for the embankments. One battery was 
erected exclusively by women for which it was named "The Maidens".

War began. Bombs, shells, and shot fell like hail from both sides. From 
early morning until late at night the enemy fire did not cease. The entire 
world marvelled at the staunchness and extraordinary bravery of the Russian 
troops. But the Russian forces became thinned out as the lines of the valiant 
defenders fell. The cemetery grew. Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, depressed with 
sorrow, became noticeably thin. His  health began to break up from worries 
and troubles. Finally, he caught a severe cold and took to his bed.

And then, at the beginning of the Battle of Sinope, the news arrived from 
the battle front of the unbelievable losses of Russian forces and even of 
such heroes as Nakhimov and Kornilov - all this completely broke the heart 
of the Sovereign. On Feb. 18, 1855, Tsar Nikolai Pavlovich peacefully 
demised, having been tormented with worries and worn with sorrow.

The venerable Archpastor wept openly when he received the staggering news of 
the death of the beloved Monarch, for no-one felt more affection and love 
for the deceased Sovereign than did Metropolitan Filaret. 

"We no longer have our very own father in Russia," the Metropolitan said to 
his cell-mate, Father Sergei, his voice quivering with sorrow. "We will no 
longer see him in our holy monastery; no longer will we admire his strong 
step; we will not hear his royal voice or see his shining eyes."

After these words, the Metropolitan called his valet, Gavrila Feodorovich 
Golushka, and said:
"Do you remember, Gavril, our trip with the Sovereign to Kitayev? And do you
remember the ant-hill and Feofil on it?"

"How could I forget, holy Vladika, even though that was three years ago."

"Take note, then, that up to now I could not understand his strange 
behaviour. Now, the prophecy of the Starets is as clear as God's day. The 
ants were the malicious enemies of our fatherland, trying to torment the 
great body of Russia. The arms folded on his chest  and the closed eyes of 
Feofil were the sudden, untimely death of our beloved Batiushka-Tsar."

                          XI.

On April 23, 1853, not long before his demise, Blessed Feofil was once more 
moved to Goloseyevo. This was done at the request of the superior of the 
Goloseyevskaya Hermitage who had a great love and respect for the Starets 
and felt that the aged monk would be more comfortable at Goloseyevo.

"Let it be as you wish," the Starets replied to the kind invita-tion of the 
superior. "I'll return to my old place to die."

These words were prophetic. On July 15, of that same year, three months 
before his death, Starets Feofil, on the orders of the Metropolitan, again 
returned to Kitayev.

During the last days of his earthly life, the Blessed One began to weaken 
noticeably, but not wishing to yield to his bodily weaknesses, the Starets 
avoided all rest and comforted himself with thoughts of God and with prayers, 
finding in them a singular source of strength and consolation. No sooner 
would his physical sufferings begin to oppress him than he would turn to his 
prayers and would be immediately restored in soul and strengthened in body. 
Thus, not changing his mode of life or his habits, Blessed Feofil continued 
to live as before. His life continued to be characterized by a meek temper,
silent lips, humble heart, a spirit of tender emotion and chastity. His body 
was subjected to diligent toil, coarse food, a hard bed, tattered clothing, 
a stuffy cell and physical illness_a source of joy to his soul. Sorrow, 
deprivation, and need for the sake of the beloved Lord, Jesus Christ.

What a great sea of unselfish love! What a great podvig of humility and 
human patience! 

How could he have carried out his deeply instructive exaymple, his face 
illuminated by the purity of soul, meekness, humility, and simplicity which 
the Gospels teach? The downward gaze and the brow furrowed with deep 
thought, clearly testified that his mind was constantly occupied with 
something else, unseen. Even in the midst of people, the Starets
was with God, carried away to heaven in thought. Only those having an 
understanding of mental activity could see that he prayed in his mind and 
heart, constantly and without interruption.

The first condition of spiritual life is suffering and the many-sorrowed 
path of the cross, a  struggle with one's self, with the world and with the 
devil. The Starets had fulfilled this podvig, and the second condition had 
set in_that of the deep peace and tranquility of a weary soul which, having 
defeated human passions by means of Christ's grace, was already
purified, illuminated, and in secret comsmunication with God. Feofil had 
found, while still here on earth, the guarantee of future heavenly 
blessedness. It is impossible for us, sinful people who have not cleansed 
our hearts of passions, to comprehend the wondrous mystery of this 
grace-filled condition of the truly righteous soul, for the standards by
which we judge in this brief life on earth cannot approach the measure of 
spiritual grace. It is only possible for us, with true piety, to contemplate 
a few rays of this bright, God-likeness and purity which, inspite of the 
efforts of the grace-bearer himself, seem to burst forth in their own unusual 
actions, words, and move-ments. Striking into our hearts with spiritual 
warmth, the grace-bearer affects and subdues our minds with the rare glow of 
a completely different, higher order of things and draws our souls into 
this wonderful light of the chosen-one of God.

The character of the life of the Kitayevskaya and Goloseyevskaya Hermitages 
was of a patriarchal nature, that is to say, after vespers, all lay persons 
were required to depart and each brother could settle down freely to pray 
and worship, each one in his own peaceful corner surrounded by the spirit 
of saintly fathers of the Lavra. The well-known ascetic, Starets Parfeny, 
describes Goloseyevo in these words:

"Here is the spirit of our saintly fathers of the Pecherskaya Lavra. If 
there is any comfort and joy on earth, it is to be found in the hermitage's 
silence. People detract us from God, but the hermitage draws us nearer to 
Him."

Starets Feofil also held such a spiritual opinion and for whole days he 
would stay in the woods, kneeling on a large stump to pray or else he would 
go to an ancient hollow oak where he would hang a crucfflx and a votive lamp 
and spend entire days and nights, imitating the podvigs of the ancient 
stylites. Being thus alone in silence, and being a partaker "of the 
fellowship that we have. . . with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ"
(I John, 1:3), Feofil would sometimes be seen in the woods completely naked 
on hot sufnmer days. This he did in order to subject his flesh to the stings 
of mosquitoes and other insects. Like Adam who, before his sin, walked about 
naked and was not ashamed, so Starets Feofil, adorned with spiritual beauty  
from above, was not ashamed of his nakedness.

In the last days of his life, Feofil was often seen in the Lavra where he 
went each Saturday to serve an akathist to the Theotokos before her 
miraculous icon, the "Chenstokhovskaya Mother of God."(4) He used to serve 
this akathist in an extremely original way. Entering the Great Church, he 
would seize from the sextons the first chasuable at hand, vest himself
in it, and begin to rush through the brothers' cells, gathering singers for 
the kliros. If any would refuse, he would drive them along with his cane. 
For this reason, the akathists which Feofil conducted in the breadroom where 
the icon was discovered, were always ceremonious and well attended.

During the last months of his life, the Starets conversed more willingly 
with people and was freer with advice and directions, beseeching everyone 
not to forget to pray for the "smelly" Feofil. His speech revealed a 
profound knowledge of the Holy Scripture, the spirit of which he 
comprehended not only with his mind, but with a heart enlightened  by the 
grace of God and directed by the experience of a spiritual life.

"Love one another with a sacred love and do not hold anger against each 
other. Do not allow yourselves to be tempted and avoid attaching your hearts 
to anything earthly_we will leave all that is here behind us; good deeds 
alone go with us into the other world. It will be wonderful to live in 
paradise with God, but may God save us from hell! One must feed the soul 
more than the body and pray more often, weeping over one's own sins
and also over the sins of those nearest one. Without this, not a single 
human being will be saved. Many have become unbelievers today and many have 
left Christ's flock.  Woe unto them. For our Shepherd is the Lord and all of 
His sheep go after Him, following His teaching and fulfilling His words. It 
is true, there are ill and weak sheep, those that sin, but still, they trail 
along behind the flock. But faith has been lost by those who have fallen 
completely behind and are left to be eaten by beasts. They left Christ's
flock and they do not listen to His voice for 'My sheep hear My voice and 
I know them and they come unto me.' But to the others He will say, 'I don't 
know you, go away' on His dread judgement day."

In 1897, the well-known wanderer, Ivan Ivanovich Troitsky,' demised. Not 
long before the death of Feofil, he had spent an entire summer at Kitayev 
and remembered the Blessed One with great love and emotion.

"We spent very little time in his cell," related Troitsky to Vladimir Bobkov, 
a monk of the  Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra "We spent far more time in the woods. 
There, the Starets would have me read the Psalter aloud and from time to 
time he would stop me to explain it.  When I would become weary, he would 
send me to the Gqloseyevo yard for some milk  which the dairy-maids were 
always glad to provide and which we would sip in the woods. After arriving 
home, the Starets would receive visitors and I prepared dumplings which were 
offered to all who came to him."

Here are the impressions of Starets Feofil which Troitsky conveyed in his 
letters to the ascetic, Starets Adrian, of the Youg-skaya Dosifeyevaya 
Hermitage:

"The Lord gave me the honour of serving Starets Feofil even a little. One 
look at the  physically exhausted lover of God with his strange, 
incomprehensible mind, at his life which he led as a true, friendless exile 
from some high and brilliant world, was enough to force my sleeping mind to 
awaken and stand in awe. I hope to relate the details of his life and my 
relationship with him, for the brief period, and his edifying parables, 
remarks, and lessons when I see you personally. It was sad to part 
with him. At first he wanted me to remain until the Protection Feast and 
later, he even wanted me to spend the winter in Kiev and recommended that 
I petition the Vladika of Tver for a passport for an additional year. But 
my arrangements with you did not allow me to consent to his request and 
I wavered a great deal in my thoughts. But when I received your letter
which called me to you, Starets Feofil, foreseeing the position I was 
in, gave his blessing when he met me and said to me, 'Now I don't need 
you. Go where you are being called.' I was shaken by his marvellous 
forevision."

A much honoured nurse who had participated in the Turkish campaign, 
Alexandra Grigorievna Chernikova, related the following:

"I remember it as if it had just occurred. We came to Golo-seyevo 
as a group. My mother knew Feofil very well and was quite close 
to him. She wanted very much to receive his blessing during this 
visit. The Starets was not in his cell when we came to see him and 
we set out to find him in the woods. I was six years old at the 
time and my little brother Shura was five. While we were romping 
around and playmg, I saw a gigantic hollow oak above the precipice 
of a steep bank. We ran to it, looking inside, and saw a monk praying
there.  On his head was a cap of the type with which St. Serafim 
is now depicted and in his hands was an open book. I did not beeome 
frightened, but ran to our group, calling, 'Come here! Father Feofil 
is kere!' The Starets saw that we were approaching and he came out to
meet us. His face was so bright and clear and on his lips a blessed 
smile flickered. He blessed us children first of all He went to Shura 
and said:

'You are a good child _meek, kind, and obedient. May the Lord bless you. 
But God also needs the good ones.'

Then he stood before me, placed his hands on my head, patted it, and sighed 
very deeply.

'You poor, poor child. Bitter is your fate, for all your life you will toil 
on earth and receive thanks from no-one

And what happened? Shura became ill soon after and in three months he 
died. I have been suffering alone all my life; using up my strength for 
other people and receiving no gratitude from anyone.

But this is not all. My sister, Pelagia Grigorievna Yanovskaya, went up 
to him and the Starets chastised her:

'See how many people you have brought, silly! If only two had come, but 
you have brought seventeen for blessing, thinking to take the starets away 
from his prayers. Take them back now if you are so clever, through this 
pit.'

And with this, he pointed to the big precipice.

We stood still, not understanding. if we go through the pit (so the older 
ones thought), it is marshy and muddy. Our shoes will get dirty and the 
children may catch cold;' So, as soon as the Starets had returned to the 
tree and began praying, we went back on the dry land.

Soon after this my mother, Agafiya Ivanen Chemikova, together with a Kievan
merchant's wife, Kseniya Ivanuma Mizernikova, set out to see the Blessed 
Starets. This time he was at home. He had high esteem for my mother and 
he seated her on a little bench and, turning to the; merchant's wife, he 
said: 

'Welk Kseniya Ivanow, as soon as you return home, make me some dumplings 
with cabbage. But see that they are tasty. I'll send my cell-mate, Ivan, 
for them and you can give lhem to him.'

When they returned home, Mizernikova said to Mama

'For heaven's sakes fulfil Father Feofil's request.'

'But what about you? He had asked you' 

'Actuall, I don't have the time. I'll send you both butter and flour 
and you will have only the work to do."

Mama agreed and prepared them. On the appointed day, the cell-mate, Ivan, 
came and brought a huge, beautiful, soft Easter bread and two prosphora, 
one large and one small.

'Why did you bring prosphora, Ivan?' asked my mother.

'Batiuska Feofil sent them,' answered Ivan. 'He told me to give the widow 
(Mama) the Easter bread and the large prosphora and to give the merchant's 
wife the smaller one.  The widow troubled herself and made dumplings for 
me, while the merchant's wife did not want to put herself to any trouble, 
thinking that she could fool me, an old man. So, give her the small 
prosphora.'

And the visionary always knew who had troubled thernselves most for him.''
"I was twelve years old when I first thought of going to Starets Feofil for 
advice," related a Kievan woman, Evfrosiniya Mikhailovna Tsybulskaya. 
"I was left an orphan and lived with strangers, in great want and grief. 
I was offended and oppressed. But having heard from good people that 
a 'holy batiushka' was living at Kitayev, I decided to see him, no matter 
what, and tell him of my grief. I didn't go alone. There were 
two women with me. As we were going through the woods, we met a tall, ragged 
monk.

'Whom are you looking for?' he asked, walking up to me. 'For Father Feofil,' 
I replied to him.

'Well, if you have neeel of him, go to his cell,' the monk said.

Along the way I wept bittenly, but my companions roared with laughter over 
the appearance of the starets. I was seized with annoyance that they were 
laughing at a man of God. 'You are silly,' I said, 'and both of you will 
often shed tears because of the righteous one.'

We had no sooner come to Feofil's cell than we saw that same starets coming 
behind us. He did not say a word to us but onIy looked sternly at my 
companions and went into his cell. In a minute he brought me a prosphora but 
to my companions he gave potato peelings and a dead crayfish which meant a 
great shame for their shameless, dissipated way of life.

'Batiushka, I want to enter the Rzhishchevsky Monastery,' I tearfully said 
to the Starets while accepting the prosphora.

'No!' the Starets said firmly. 'You will not live in a monastery. Near one, 
yes, but you will not enter it.'

'Why not, Batiushka?' I asked.

'Why? Because, until the sixty-sixth year, you will weep but in forty-eight 
years God will send a priest who will save you.'

I did not understand his words at that time but, in fact, a terrible 
misfortune did befall  me.  When I was eighteen, I became afflicted with 
a black illness and I wept dreadfully. It is a terrible, torturous illness. 
At first, I would be fine and well all week, working and toiling but as soon 
as Sunday or a feast day arrived, then the misfortune would arise. Right 
from morning something would begin to stick in my throat as if to choke me 
and my stomach would burn like fire, as if unclean spirits had taken command, 
and I would cry with all my strength. I tried everything and took all manner 
of medicines. The only relief I received was when I would run to the Great 
Lavra Church and come before the miraculous icon. For a while, I would feel 
better, but hardly would the blessing of the bread or the Cherubic Hymn 
begin, when I would be seized again and it would burn so terribly that I
would have killed myself with a knife if only I had more strength left. 
I would run outside and run around the Lavra, crying at the top of my voice 
from the pain. It continued that way for forty-eight years, just the length 
of time that Starets Feofil said it would

Finally, one day I was in the Lavra, hurrying to church, weeping as usual, 
when an old, grey-haired priest came up to me.

'What are you weeping about, you unfortunate creature?'

I stopped and told him about my terrible grief.

'Well, don't weep,' he told me. 'The Lord is merciful. Come closer and open 
your collar.'

I did so and he tied my neck tightly with a lace and then removed an icon of 
St. Dimitry of Rostov from his chest, hung it on my neck, looked at me 
compassionately, gave me his blessing and walked away saying:

'Pray, servant of God, pray fervently!'

A week went by and a feast came up. I was certain that I would have another 
seizure but no, nothing happened. I went to church and waited. The Cherubic 
Hymn was sung_nothing. The 'I Believe' and 'Our Father'  - still nothing. 
The liturgy ended and I returned home - nothing. The illness had vanished as 
if it had never been at all. I ran to the Great Church and fell on my knees 
before the icon of St. Dimitry of Rostov and began  to thank him with tears 
of gratitude.

Why didn't I turn to Father Feofil for help? I did, and asked for his holy 
prayers. He would comfort me, give me a prosphora and send me home saying, 
'Go and have patience.  This is fated for you. For these sufferings angels 
in heaven will weave you a crown.

I lived with my sister in Pechersk at that time and we worked as 
launderesses. Our poverty was unbelievable. To make matters worse, my 
sister began to lose her eyesight and coulld not work. If it were not for 
Starets Feofil, believe me, I would have taken my own life in my youth. He 
was like a guardian angel, guiding and comforting us. Sometimes 
he would send his sister, who lived in the Florovsky Monastery as a 
postulant, to visit us with a prosphora. He would order her to see that we 
rose in tirne for matins every morning and once he came himself. When he 
arrived, we were already up and preparing to go to church. He praised us for 
our diligence, saying, 'That's right, toil my children Pray and don't be 
lazy.'

One time he brought my little sister Dunya a little bag of peas and said, 
'Go to the monastery, Dunyasha, to bake prosphora. If you listen to me, 
your eyes will be healed, but if you don't listen, your eyes will be like 
these peas.'

'Oh Batiushka, how can I go to the monastery? It would be better if you 
would bless me to live with my sister.'

'That means that you do not want to go to the monastery? Well then, here 
is my blessing to you but you will walk in darkness until your death.'

And so it happened. After this Dunya became completely blind and I have now 
been living near the Lavra for fifty-five years, and was possessed by demons 
for forty-eight years. It has now been twelve years since I was cured."

October, 1853, came. The time of going to the Lord was already approaching 
for the Blessed Starets. Foreseeing this, Feofil stopped taking food for 
exactly one month before his demise and was satisfied with only a little 
piece of blessed bread dipped in wine diluted with water. His feet began 
to swell from standing so long at prayer, but he did not pay the
slightest attention to this and he redoubled his podvig of prayer. When 
Russia was experiencing heavy trials at the beginning of the Crimean 
campaign, one could notice Feofil's special striving in prayer.

Before the arrival of every sad bulletin from the theatre of war, the 
Starets would walk about with his head lowered and he wept unconsolably 
for days. Once, wishing to inform the brothers of a very unfortunate and 
bloody battle, he wounded his face and hands with black thorns and lay 
down bleeding under the over-hanging eaves of the shed.

"My God what has happened to you, Batiushka?" cried the frightened Abbess 
Agnia who had come by chance to Kitayev. "Nothing, nothing, my dear one. 
I have put one hundred leeches on my sinful body. Go! Go!"

"Good heavens! Why, Batiushka?"

"It is necessary. This is my sacrifice. A sacrifice for the Russian troops 
who will give their lives tonight on the battlefield for faith, Tsar, and 
fatherland."

But regardless of causing such torments to his body and of his great loss 
of strength, the Starets continued to attend the liturgy, matins and 
vespers as before. He partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ almost every 
day, read the rules of the holy fathers, prostrated endlessly, read the 
Psalter and Gospel, and instructed pilgrims. At the end of winter, the
Blessed One became worthy of the revelation of the time of his imminent 
departure and he called his cell-mate, Ivan, to himself and said:

"Ivan, what are you thinking about at this moment?"

"I'm not thinking of anything," he replied.

"And I arn thinking of petitioning the Heavenly King to allow me to spend 
this winter on earth because Praskoviya [that was his way of calling the 
Holy Martyr, Paraskeva, whom he especially honoured] does not want to dig 
a grave for me in winter."

Ivan did not pay attention to these words until the demise of the Starets 
took place. 

The second time, the Starets called his other ceJl-mate, Panteleimon, to 
the window of his  cell and said, pointing to the monastery nrard:

"Look, Panteleimon, there is a cross above the grave. Do you see it?"

"No, I don't," the cell-mate replied because, in truth, there was neither 
cross nor grave in the place to where Father Feofil was pointing and only 
after the demise of the Blessed  Starets, when the cell-mate returned to 
Kiev from a pilgrimage, did he see the grave of the Blessed One, with a 
cross erected by his spiritual children, in that very spot which Feofil
had pointed out.

A week before his demise, the Starets asked the Kitayevskaya postulants 
to bring earth from the Dniepr and pour it near his cell in the form of 
a grave. Then he measured its length and width with a stick and afterwards 
would not part with the stick.

"I should have died a long time ago," he used to repeat, "but Praskoviya 
is praying to God for me."

The cell-mate, Ivan, seeing that the Starets was not jesting about the 
nearness of his death, began to grieve and to be sad about his future fate. 

"Batiushka," he wept, "to whom will you leave us? For God's sake, ask the 
deputy of the Lavra to enter me into the number of the brotherhood."

"They will enter you and not only that, but they will also make you a monk. '

"Who? Me? An indecent servant? A former fugitive and tramp? Oh no! That 
would never happen. No!" 

"In little faith you came to me, but the Lord will place you above many," 
the Blessed One replied to him.

On that same day, the Starets went to the deputy of the Lavra, Archimandrite 
Ioann, told him something unusual about Ivan, after which the deputy joyfully 
agreed to the tonsuring of the cell-mate to the monkhood and gave him the 
name of Dmitry.

After his tonsure, the Lavra brothers began asking Dmitry about the reason 
for his sudden tonsure to the monkhood, but the cell-mate replied:

"I cannot tell you. It is a secret. Only Starets Feofil, the deputy, and 
I know about it. If I tell about it, then, according to the words of Starets 
Feofil, the deputy and I will immediately die."

The Starets extended his protection to many others besides Dmitry. He 
personally interceded for his sister, the Florovsky postulant Anna, and was 
present at her tonsuring not long before his demise. Moreover, the Starets 
had many spiritual children in the city and he would visit them daily, 
giving them comfort and strengthening them with prayer.  He gave them 
his final instructions and carried out many charitable deeds.

One eye-witness related the following astonishing event:

"In Shulyavka, on the outskirts of Kiev, there lived a poor widow named 
Rudnichikha and her daughter. While her husband was alive, they had lived 
comfortably and well. They maintained post-horses and were engaged in 
business but, on becoming a widow, Rudnichikha was left without any means 
and fell into extreme poverty. She lived her lonely life with great effort 
and toil and was often without bread. Then, to complete her misfortune, her 
daughter took to her bed with a fatal illness. It was quite late at night
and the girl was lying unconscious. The mother's heart was torn with despair. 
The last minutes of the dying girl were approaching and there could be no 
help. 'Oh God, how wretched I am,' sobbed the desperate mother. 'Everyone 
has abandoned me, poor and penniless that I am. If only I could go to 
Batiushka Feofil for advice. If only I could pour out my grief to
him and ask him for his holy prayers for my beloved daughter.' But it was 
many versts to the Kitayevskaya Hermitage and she could not leave the side 
of her dying daughter.

Suddenly, it seemed to the mother as if someone had walked past the window 
and come into the porch. 'Who could this be as such a late hour?' 
Rudnichikha thought as she went to the door but when she opened it, she 
was left dumbfounded. There stood Starets Feofxl, looking at her with great 
tenderness. 'Peace be unto you. Don't be afraid, it is I. You wanted to see 
me and so I have come to you.' He went straight to the bed and blessed the 
little one. Rudnichikha fell at his feet and wept loudly. 'Quiet, don't
weep,' the Starets comforted her. 'Your daughter is not dying. She is only 
cold.' He removed his warm outer cloakt covered the girl with it and began 
to pray. After half an hourt he put his cloak back on and silently left the 
hut. The troubled mother came to the bed of her dying daughter, but the girl 
was already looking around with a joyous smile. 'Mama! I feel so much better 
now. But who was just here?' 'Father Feofil, my dear one,' replied the 
rejoicing mother. 'Father Feofil? Why didn't you wake me up?' 'But you
were near death, my child.' The girl got out of the bed and walked about 
the room.
Within an hour she was completely restored to health to the great 
amazement of the neighbors."

There were three days left of the earthly life of God's Starets  There 
arose some sort of special activity within Feofil. He gave various orders, 
the meanings of which were understandable only to him. For example, he 
placed a bench across the threshold of his cell and lay down upon it. 
He told his cell-mate that for the first time in thirty-eight years he
was lying so peacefully and that he was amazed that he had not thought 
of it before. Then, he called Dmitry over to himself and gave him some 
incense and myrrh, ordering him to take it quickly to the deputy, Ioann. 
This was on Monday, October 26, and by the time the cell-mate got to the 
Lavra, matins had already begun there. The deputy was standing in the
altar of the Great Church at this time and when Dmitry handed him the 
incense and myrrh, he was quite startled. With unbearable curiosity, 
he set out for Kitayev to vlsit the Blessed One immediately after matins.

"Father Feofil, why did you send me incense and myrrh?" asked Ioann, 
hurriedly entering into the cell.

"On Wednesday we shall be burying... "

"Whom?"

"Him whom God calls. Perhaps even me." 

"You? The Lord be with you. What are you saying?"

"The waves of death encompass me and the snares of death prevented 
me " (2 Samuel 22:5; Psalm 18:5).

"If you are really preparing to leave us forever, I shall order a coffin 
for you. Which would you prefer, pine or oak?"

"None is necessary. It has long been ready."

"Where is it?"

"It is lying in the belfry."

Someone was sent to the belfry and, indeed, a long box, similar to a 
coffin, was found there. The church candles had once been stored in it 
and its cover was on hinges as with a trunk lid.

"Do you mean that you are to be buried in this?" the deputy asked dubiously.

"In it, my teacher. That is my will. Amen."

After the deputy had departed, the Starets sent a messenger to the 
superior of the hermitage, Hieromonk Anatoly, with the request that 
on Wednesday, October 28, he would be brought the Holy Gifts to his 
cell. He repeated this several times, adding that it was to be the 
last time. The Starets' desire was fulfilled. He received the Holy 
Mysteries early in the morning and became completely at peace.

Before vespers, he sent one of his cell-mates to the market place to 
buy three rolls of bread, incense, and honey, and to Dmitry he said:

"Don't leave the cell today and you will see something extraordinary . "

Then he requested that the cell be cleaned of all rubbish and swept 
up, saying that he must be received in a Christian manner. Then he 
asked his cell-mate to light the stove, to place sorne incense and 
myrrh on coals in a pan and to light the votive lamp before the icons.
When Dmitry said it was still early and that the bell's had not yet 
rung for vespers, Feofil said:

"This time it is necessary. Fulfill the obedience to the end."

The lamp was lighted.

"That's right. Now it's good. Make certain that it does not go out."

Then he lay on the bench which he had placed across the threshold of 
his cell, with his head in the entrance hall. He asked that two wax 
candles be lighted and stuck to the door posts and that he be given the 
cross with which he used to bless those who came to him and, having 
blessed his cell-mates with this cross, he sent one of them to the
superior of the hennitage, Hieromonk Anatoly, with the order to inform 
him that "Feofil has demised; toll the bell." The cell-mate obeyed and 
related the Starets' words to Anatoly. In the heat of the moment, 
Father Anatoly did not comprehend all that was  said and hurried to 
send the bell-ringer to the belfry to inform the brotherhood of the 
repose of the Righteous One. But suddenly, he thought of some-thing 
and asked:

"Who did you say sent you to me?"

"Batiushka Feofil."

"That means that he uttered this request with his own lips?"
"His own. .. "

"Then how do you know that he has already died?"

And he hurried to the cell of the Blessed One to find out what had 
happened to him.

Meanwhile, Dmitry was left alone in the cell and, not knowing wha
t to do, began to adjust the candles so that they would not burn 
the lintel. He did not leave the head of the bench upon which the 
dying Starets lay and he quietly wept. It was difficult for him 
to face the impending separation from his beloved spirituaI father 
under whose prayerful wing he had lived so warmly. He stood silently, 
with lowered head, at the death bed, listening to the last instructions 
of his dear teacher and he broke into loud sobs, endlessly kissing his
hands. Suddenly, something flashed before his gaze and a current of 
cool air struck his face. Dmitry looked upwards in amazement and became 
petrified. In the cell, the ceiling began to rise and the blue sky, 
as if extending its arms, was preparing to receive the holy soul of 
the dying Righteous One.

"O Lord, into Thy hands I yield my spirit," said the dying Starets, 
in a scarcely audible whisper and in an instant, inexorable death 
forever closed his God-praising lips.

Dmitry could not control himself but began to trerable and with a 
loud cry of desperate amazement, he ran, in fear, into the courtyard.   
While runiing through the monastery gate, he collided with the 
superior, Father Anatoly, and the other cell-mate who were on their
way to the cell of the Blessed One to see what had happened.

When they entered the cell, everything was as it had been before. 
The ceiling had descended and was resting in its proper place. 
Starets Feofil was lying motionless on the bench, his emaciated 
hands folded on his breast. The face of the deceased Righteous
One shone with heavenly grace and death could not place its gloomy 
stamp on the grace-adorned face of the Blessed Starets. No sooner 
had he released his last breath than an un-definable fragrance filled 
the cell. Thus, he yielded up his life quietly and at peace and handed 
over his righteous soul into the hands of God on October 28, 1853,
on the feast Day of the Nun-Martyr, Paraskeva, who is called Pyatnitsa, 
at five o'clock in the afternoon.

News of the repose of the Blessed Feofil brought great crowds of people 
to the Kitayevskaya Hermitage, not only from Kiev and the outlying 
settlements, but also from other cities in the region. The dense 
crowd surrounded the coffin of the deceased Starets in a tight 
ring and the walls of the Kitayevskaya Church resounded with the
uninterrupted singing of services for the repose of his righteous, 
much-suffering soul. Each person wanted to pay his last respects to 
the departed and to touch, if not his body, then at least his coffin 
or to take as a remembrance and blessing some-thing from his garments
or from his cell. And the coffin of the Starets was completely covered 
with wax candles which were stuck to the sides by his numerous followers.

Few people wept. Everyone stood with calm faces, breaking the pious 
silence only with deep sighs of contrition about their endless sins.

"It is not with weeping that we bid farewell at the death of the 
holy ones," says St. Basil the Great, "but in triumphant praising we 
rejoice at their coffins, because, for the righteous, death is a sleep 
or, rather to say, their departure is to a better life." Thus it was
here. Each person consciously felt that, although the Starets had 
demised, although he had left for the Heavenly Father, he did not take 
away with him the love for the living. Although he passed away in body, 
in spirit he remained on earth with those true to him.

"Stop, bellokl, and learn!" the unbreathing body of the Blessed Starets 
Feofil advised those surrounding it. "Leave the vanity of this world for 
its wells are useless, they cannot hold within themselves savilng water. 
Yesterday, my eyes saw, my ears heard, my lips spoke, and my body moved. 
But the Spilit of ;life has left it and what is now bfore you?  And so 
remembr my friend, to live in fear for all our earthly life is nothing 
but a  daily death. Yesterday, we were not as we are today. Tomorrow we 
will not be as today.  Each day, a part of our life vanishes and at the 
very time when we are growing, life is receding and diminishing. Your 
brother has died today and tomorrow you will die. The route is the same 
for all. All the earth is sown with bones of the deceased like a field of
wheat and the living cannot find a spot upon which to step without 
disturbing with their feet the remains of the deceased. Do not seek 
delights for sight and hearing, for tomorrow your eyes will close and 
your ears will stop hearing. Do not give will to your hands' and feet. 
Tomorrow the hand of death will bind them and you yourself will be
welded to your death-bed from which you will rise. Do not desire splendid 
clothing or grand houses, for tomorrow you will be clothed in a shroud 
and a coffin will be your house. Do not desire rewards and distinction, 
for they will be displayed only temporarily near your coffin, as if 
laughing at your vainglory. Do not tie yourself down to the earth
or to anything earthly, for tomorrow the seythe of death will sever 
all such ties and against your will and desire, you will go to the 
distant country of another world where everything is different and 
will remind you of nothing of your earthly riches and
treasures. Keep vigil and hurry to settle over there in good time in 
thought and heart so that at that hour when you are led to this region, 
you will not find yourself in a strange place, unfamiliar with the order 
there."

In accordance with the orders of the departed Starets, his emaciated 
body was garbed in his schema and placed in that old coffin in which he 
had asked to be buried. The burial was cere-moniously carried out by the 
deputy of the Lavra, Archimandrite Ioann (who later became Bishop of 
Poltava), together with the superior of the hermitage, Hieromonk
Anataly and many startsy, with the participation of the kliros singers 
of the Lavra under the direction of the regulator, Hieromonk Modest. The 
Holy Trinity Church and the entire monastery yard were full of 
worshippers. Before the beginning of the last kissing, the deputy of 
the Lavra gave a touching, deeply edifying oration and upon completing it,
the coffin, with the dear remains of the reposed Righteous One, the 
beloved spiritual father of all, was carried from the Church into the 
monastery yard. The weather on that day was wonderful _ warm, quiet, 
sunny, and bright. There was not the least breeze in the air and
the wax candles in the hands of the worshippers burned brightly with 
peaceful flames as if testifying that the soul of the deceased Starets, 
like a bright, unflickering candle, was now standing before the face of 
Vladika, the Lord Himself. The funeral procession was made around the 
Holy Trinity Church, preceded by banner-bearers, and the Holy Gospel.
Then the coffin was lowered into the bowels of the earth while the bells 
of the Kitayevskaya Herrnitage tolled and "Holy God" was sung.

The grave of Hieroschemamonk Feofil, fool-for-Christ's-sake, is located 
in the Kitayevskaya Hermitage near the Holy Trinity Church on the northern 
side next to the grave of the Kievo-Lavra eremite Dosifei. On its tombstone 
are inscribed the following words:

"Here lie the remains of Hieroschemamonk Feofil who was tonsured into 
monkhood in the Kievo-Bratsky Bogoyavlensky Monastery in 1821, on 
December 11; ordained hierodeacon on September 30, 1822; ordained 
hieromonk on January 6, 1827;' tonsured into the schema on December 9, 
1834, there (at the Kievo-Bratsky Monastery). And deceased in the Holy 
Trinity Kitayev-skaya Hermitage on October 28, 1853, in the sixty-fifth 
year from his birth. O Lord, settle his soul in the dwellings of the 
righteous and grant that his memory be eternal."

Hieroshemamonk Feofil was rather tall. His light face and bright blue 
eyes did not at all harmonize with the sullen coun-tenance which he 
sometimes took on himself in dealing with people. He had a short, narrow 
beard which he did not cut but rather, he pulled hairs out of it. H
e spoke in a monotone and quite quickly, usually using the Little-Russian
dialect. No-one ever saw him laughing, but often weeping and these constant 
tears, like expen-sive beads, served as atonement before the eyes of th
e Lord for the multitude of our sins.

The memory of Blessed Feofil's God-pleasing life and wonderful deeds 
did not cease with his demise. He is still quick and incessant in giving 
help in illness and grief to all who call to hitn. This is eloquently 
witnessed to by the numerous panikhidas which are still sung at
the grave of the deceased Rightous One at the request of various people 
who come from the remotest corners of Russia. Many of the sick and 
afflicted, for whom human help was powerless, were convinced in dreams 
to turn to Blessed Feofil in their prayers and through their faith, 
they were worthy to receive healing.


Here are only two of the many incidents which were related to the 
compiler:

l. A Greek doctor from Jerusalem suffered from gout and was confined to a
wheelchair for several years and he had no hopes of recovering. Once,
Starets Feofil appeared to him in a dream and said:
"Go to Kiev, pay reverence to the saints and then go to the Kitayevskaya
Hermitage and have a Panikhida served at my grave and you will be healed.
I am Hieroschemamonk FeofiL"

The Greek paid no attention to the dream, but on the following night, the
same thing occurred. On the third night Feofil appeared and sternly demanded
that his directions be fulfilled. The doctor awoke in fear and gave his oath
to make the journey. He immediately felt a certain easing so that he could 
already walk on crutches instead of using his wheelchair.

He arrived in Kiev in 1882, accompanied by his wife, but not knowing the
Russian language, he turned to Metropolitan Platon for aid. The Metropolitan
directed him to Kitayev and told him to have a panikhida served at the grave
of Starets Feofil. The doctor complied with this, then venerated the relies
of the holy saints of the Lavra and left for home cornpletely cured.

2. Matfei Vasilievich Kocherzhinsky, a native of the Kiev-Podol province,
related the following details in a dreain:

"In 186? I entered the M - - Monastery. At that time I was still a young
lad and my heart was filled with strong zealousness for monastic podvigs and
toils, but I was without the guidance of an experienced supervisor-starets
and it was very difficult for me to reach my goal. I was very much grieved
in spirit about this, being carried away in thought to the days of the
ancient desert life when each beginning monk had his own experienced
starets-instructor. Having prayed fervently, I decided to give myself up
to God's will and the Lord heard me.

One night while I was in my cell sleeping serenely, a tall, old schemamonk
appeared before me. He had a cane in his hand and, walking up to my bed,
he said:

'Is this how you are conquering your lascivious passions, Matfei? Is this
how you, are preparing to be Christ's warrior? Is this how you are starting
your salvation? No, that is not the way, not like that! This is how ... '
And with these words, he threw my quilt onto the floor, then my pillow and
my sheet and so on. I awoke in confusion. Beads of perspiration
ran down my brow. My feet and anns were trembling. My heart trembled and
beat rapidly.

'My God, who is it? Where am I?' I thought crossing myself. In the morning
I gave my bed away to the needy and decided, from that day on, to sleep on
the bare floor, placing a small roll of felt under my head. Some time passed
but the stern starets did not leave my mind. Whether I was working or just
waLking, his accusations weighed on my soul. I once encountered one of the
young monks, Pavel, the candle-maker, who was very friendly towards me. He
asked me to visit him for a cup of tea and when I arrived, we sat down to
converse. Suddenly my gaze, which had been roaming over the walls, stopped
on the portrait of an old starets and having taken a good look at it, I
became dumbfounded.

'It is he!!' my lips whispered. 'Yes, he! This is the very same starets who
appeared to me in a dream—who is he?'

The master of the cell quickly explained about the portrait of Blessed Feofil
and in a minute, I was kissing the portrait with grateful lips. Soon, I had
a copy made which hangs in my cell above my sleeping place and there it will
hang until the end of my life as an obvious, graphic accuser of human whims
and passions and a constant witness that man needs very little while he as
an earth."

With those words, my intericutor brought out the portrait of Blessed Feofil
and we sank into deep, silent contemplation."



FOOTNOTES

(1)The sources of all the examples and cases related in this book are:
a) Honoured older residents of Kiev.
b) From experiences related by the cell-mates of the Blessed Starets.
G) Gavrily Feodorovich Galushka (later monk Platon), the former valet of
Metropolitan Filaret.
d) Numerous stories told by the monks and nuns of the Kievo-Pecherskaya
Lavra, the Mikhailovsky and Florovsky Monasteries, assured by their priestly
and monastic consciences.
e) The honoured nurse, Alexandra Grigorievna Chernikova, a participant in
the Turkish campaign and a lifelong friend of the Blessed One.

(2) Abbess Agnia was born Anna Grindling. She was converted to Orthodoxy
from the Lutheran sect and became a postulant at the Florovsky Monastery in
1829. She was endowed with an extraordinary meekness of spirit and a loving
heart for which she was especially loved by the Blessed Starets. In 1850,
Feofil tonsured her to the schema with the name of Barbara but she kept
this secret until her death on September 30, 1865.

(3) Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich visited Kiev fifteen times and was in the
Lavra about thirty times. He visited Kiev for the first time in 1816 while
still a Grand Duke.

The second visit took place on June 23-26, 1629, after he had become Tsar.

The third visit was on May 31 to June 2, 1830.

The fourth, in September, 1832.

The fifth, on September 10-11, 1835.
During his sixth visit, which occurred on August 14-16, 1837, His Majesty,
in accordance with a promise to Metropolitan Filaret, attended the liturgy
celebrating the feast day of the Lavra, The Repose of the Theotokoa (August
15). After the liturgy, the Tsar proceeded to the Metropolitan's chambers
for a visit. While crossing the Lavra courtyard, he noticed the customary
dinner being given out to the poor and, the pilgrims. This custom, which was
observed each year, had been established by the founders of the Lavra, Sts.
Antony and Feodosy, and was maintained according to their will. Having been
told the details of this event, His Majesty wished to try the food which was
being distributed to the people. They brought him a wooden plate and a
wooden spoon with bread, sour cabbage soup and millet gruel with milk.
His Majesty ate the food, praised its taste and said, "I am very pleased
that the ancient customs are observed. I wish that in the future the holy
traditions of our blessed fathers will be preserved in their entirety for
the guidance of our contemporaries and for the instruction of posterity."
The wooden utensils used by the Tsar were preserved in the Lavra Vestry in 
memory of his visit. His Majesty left Kiev on August 16.

The seventh visit took place from August 10 to 12, 1840.
                                   
he ninth time on May 21, 1845, accompanied by the Grand Duke
Konstantin Konstantinovich and the following day of the Ascension, he was at
the Sofia Cathedral for the liturgy. Later, he visited the Lavra. Since His
Majesty's arrival was unan-nounced, it threw the brotherhood into a great
bustle. The monks were in the refectory at the time and when His Majestts
arrival became knovrn, all began to rush about. Some spread rugs, others
put on robes, while still others lighted candles. But His Majesty had gone
into the church. He looked around and saw no-one but an old man lighting
the chandelier. His Majesty touched the old man on the elbow and said,
"Leave it; it is not necessary." The monk did not turn around, assuming
that one of the postulants, who did not know of the Tsar's arrival, was
speaking to him. He pushed the Sovereign with his elbow and angrily
retorted, "No-one is asking you. Go away ! I know myself what is
necessary." His Majesty smiled and went on his way. The old man was
horrified when he was later told that his gharp reply had been made to
the Tsar. Having venerated the holy cons and relics, His Majesty received
the Metropolitan's blessing lnd left for St. Petersburg.

The tenth time His Majesty was in Kiev and at the Lavra for a total of
seven hours since he was only passing through.

On September 8, 1847, His Majesty made his eleventh arrival in Kiev. He
was expected to arrive at 6 P.M., but for some reason he arrived at 6 A.M.
Nikolai Pavlovich rode up to the Holy Lavra gates, left the carriage and set
out for the Great Church accompanied only his Adjutant-General, Orlov. The
doors of the church were still closed because of the early hour. The wide
Lavra courtyard and specially the threshold of the church were filled with
sleeping pilgrims who had gathered here for the forthcoming feastday of the
Birth of the Theotokos. His Majesty stopped before the church, examined the
depictions of the saints at the entrance of the church and read the
troparion and kondakion of the church's feast (The Repose of the Theotokos)
inscribed in gold letters on both sides of the church doors. Soon a monk
appeared in the courtyard. His Majesty called him over and inquired about
the times of the services in the Lavra Chuch and asked that the doors be
opened. Entering the church, as usual, His Majesty venerated the holy relics
and icons and was ready to leave when the deputy of the Lavra, Archimandrite
Lavrenty, appeared and escorted His Majesty to the gates. Because of the
early hour of his arrival and departure, almost no-one noticed His
Majesty, neither the monastery brethren, nor the in-habitants of Pechersk.

His Majesty's twelfth visit occurred on September 21, 1850. On Sunday,
September 24, Nikolai Pavlovich attended the liturgy in the Lavra which was
served by the Metropolitan. At the end of the service, His Majesty spoke
with Filaret and mentioned, in the conversation, "Your service was
beautiful. Only tell the deacons not to yell." It must be noted that at that
time, the senior deacon in the Lavra was Antony. His voice was thunderous
but somewhat sharp. It was once joked that his singing of "Many Years"
could be heard all the way to Belaya Tserkov. Of course, in the Tsar's
presence, Antony tried especially hard to distinguish himself with his
voice, but its harsh timbre, as we have seen, did not appeal to His Majesty.
In order to prevent a repetition of the incident, the Metropolitan issued
the following order to the Ecclesiastical Sobor of the Lavra: "His Majesty
the Emperor who was present during the serving of the divine liturgy on
September 24, deigned to express a most gracious approval of the service.
At the same time, His Majesty, having noticed the highly unpleasant shouting
of the senior deacon, Antony, deigned to order me to restrain deacons in
general from the excessive raising of voices during services." The
Ecclesiastical Sobor hastened to implement this order. On September
25, at 10:30 A.M., His Majesty left Kiev . . . and etc. (Archives of the
Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra; Matters concerning High-Ranking Visits)

(4) The finding of this icon occured in the 1840's under the 
following -circumstances:

An ill peasant woman from Voronezh province arrived at the Lavra and stated
that the Mother of God had appeared to her in a dream and ordered her to go
to the Lavra to find the "Chenstokhovskaya" icon of herself which would be
found in oblivion in the bread-house. "If you have a molieben served before
the icon, then you will be cured," said the Queen of Heaven. On the
persistent requests of the woman, the Lavra monks made a careful search and,
indeed, amongst some old things preserved in the store-room, the icon
was found. The ill woman immediately had a molieben served before it and
went home completely recovered. From that time, the icon was placed, with
honour, on the wall and many cures were granted to those who came to her
with faith. A child from the town of Kotelva in Kharkov province, Gregory
Krivusha, suffered from tormenting rheumatism for five years. His father
vowed to have an expensive silver mounting made for the icon if his child
was healed. The child was cured and the grateful father ordered an expensive
silver mounting from Moscow for the icon in 1867 and had Archimandrite Levky
and the monk Amfilokhy construct an expensive gilded, carved icon case for
it.

(5) Ivan Ivanovich Troitsky had graduated from the Tver Ecclesiastical
Seminary and wandered for more than fifty years. Just before his death, he
fasted and took communion at the Sophia Monastery for women in Rybinsk.
Then, the ill man, accompanied by his spiritual father, went to Moscow where
he stayed with strangers. The mistress of the house became concerned about
the condition of his health and feared that something unfortunate
might happen to him, but Ivan Ivanovich said, "Don't worry, my dear woman,
because angels will be in your home for six weeks. A certain Feodor
Feodorovich will come from Bezhetsk for me." After this, the ill man,
disregarding his extreme weakness, went to the all-night vigil from which
he was brought back unconscious. He awakened at 7 A.M. in bed and asked,
"For which liturgy are they ringing the bells?" He was answered with, "For
the early one, but lie until the late one and we will wake you up." The
ill man fell asleep again, but he no longer woke up. Informed about the
death of the starets-wanderer, the merchant Feodor Feodorovich came to
Moscow and took the body to Bezhesk for burial.

(6) This conflict in date appears in the original. On page 13 the date of
Feofil's ordination is given as February 6, 1827. The translators could not
correct this error, not knowing which one is accurate.

                        + + +