Saint Methodius of Peshnosha helps. Venerable Methodius, Abbot of Peshnosh. Troparion to St. Methodius of Peshnoshsky
June 17 marks the 625th anniversary of the repose of the founder of the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky monastery, a faithful disciple.
The time of the earthly life of the Monk Methodius fell on the 14th century, when Rus' was under the Horde yoke and was torn apart by princely civil strife. But at the same time, a new and very important stage began in the spiritual life of the country and the Orthodox Church. It is connected, first of all, with the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh. By the example of his life and the height of his spirit, St. Sergius raised the fallen spirit of his native people and breathed faith in the future. The great ascetic showed people an example of Christian life, gave new impetus to monastic work and the organization of monastic life on truly evangelical principles. “Hegumen of the Russian Land,” as his contemporaries called him, became, according to the chronicler, “the head and teacher of the entire monastery in Rus'.”
By the example of his life, St. Sergius raised the fallen spirit of the people
If many of the first Russian monasteries, from the time following the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, were cenobitic, then by the beginning of the 14th century there was practically no cenobitic charter left anywhere. Special monasteries predominated, where everyone saved themselves at their own discretion and where very little remained of the spirit of the ancient cinnamon. At this time, bringing to life the foundations of the Christian community, which are described in the book of the Acts of the Apostles: The multitude of those who believed had one heart and one soul; and no one called anything of his property his own, but they had everything in common(Acts, 4, 32), the Monk Sergius of Radonezh introduced and spread a communal rule in his monastery. Thus, in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, the ancient spiritual tradition and ascetic school were revived, in the bosom of which a whole lot of wonderful Orthodox ascetics grew up. Like “red birds” from their native nest, they scattered across Rus', creating new abodes according to the behests of their great mentor. Thanks to the movement started by the Radonezh ascetic, in the XIV-XV centuries. Many new monasteries arose.
By his example and instruction, St. Sergius prepared many disciples who continued his work.
One of the closest students of Sergius of Radonezh was Methodius
One of the closest disciples of Saint Sergius of Radonezh was Methodius, who later became the founder of a monastery in the name of the Peshnoshe River. The original list of the life of St. Methodius, in which the facts of the biography of the founder of the Peshnosh monastery could have been presented in more detail, was lost at the end of the 18th century. Therefore, as the prominent historian of the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery K.F. points out. Kalaidovich, “the details of the holy life of this saint... are very little known.” We have not reached any written evidence or information about the date of his birth, or who his parents were, or what class he was, where he was from and what he did before he came to St. Sergius of Radonezh. What little we know about the Monk Methodius was passed down in oral tradition from generation to generation of monks of the monastery he founded on Peshnosh. The author of the handwritten “Chronicle of the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery”, created in the 19th century, Hieromonk Jerome (Sukhanov), wrote: “From ancient times our fathers honored the Holy Father Methodius, not by his relics or by his biography, but by his single holy name, so we there is no particular need to listen to reproachful and discordant opinions, and to be curious about what has not been revealed before.” Perhaps there is a special Providence of God in this, to preserve in the memory of descendants only the most important, the most important, leaving other, not so significant details in the darkness of oblivion.
In his writings, Methodius repeated the path of his famous teacher
Apparently, while still quite a young man, in the middle of the 14th century, Methodius came to the monastery of St. Sergius, joined the brethren and became one of the first followers of the great ascetic. About the influence that St. Sergius says to his student that in his writings Methodius actually repeated the path of his illustrious teacher.
St. Methodius spent several years with the “abbot of the Russian land”, and then, like his great mentor, he began his feat with a hermitage in a deserted place. In 1361, with the blessing of his teacher, he retired to impenetrable forests and swamps in the vicinity of Dmitrov. There, at a distance of 25 miles from the city, at the confluence of the Yakhroma and the small river Peshnosha, the ascetic built his cell and lived for some time in complete solitude, in a place surrounded by impenetrable forests and swamps. However a city on top of a mountain cannot hide(Matt. 5:14). The holiness of the hermit’s life became known to the world, and soon people began to gather around him, thirsting for a godly life and instruction.
The characteristic of St. Petersburg is very indicative. Methodius, given to him in the legend about the founding of the monastery. According to legend, when a local prince, who wanted to expel the ascetic from his land, entered his cell, he “saw an old man, like an Angel of God, living in indescribable poverty.” . And gradually, during a conversation with the monk, the prince “was touched, looking at his godly life,” changed his anger to mercy, fell in love with him and asked him to stay on the princely land.
Gradually the number of brethren increased, and the need arose to build a church. Then the Monk Sergius of Radonezh visited his disciple and gave his blessing to move the monastery to a more convenient, spacious and dry place, across the Yakhroma River, to the mouth of Peshnosha. Here the first wooden church was erected in the name of the wonderworker St. Nicholas of Myra, and the monastery was dedicated to this saint of God, deeply revered by the Russian people.
The founder of the monastery himself worked on the construction of the church and cells
As evidenced by the oral tradition preserved by the inhabitants of the monastery, the name of the river, and from it the name of the monastery (“Nikolo-Peshnoshsky”) are directly related to the works of the Monk Methodius and came from the fact that the founder of the monastery, following the example of his teacher, himself worked on the construction of the church and cells and carried logs across the river (“pedesh burden”).
Having founded the Nikolo-Peshnosh monastery, St. Methodius, with the blessing of Saint St. Sergius, became its first abbot, having many monks under his leadership. As oral tradition says, St. St. Methodius especially glorified himself for his mercy towards the poor, orphans and widows. Love of poverty, hard work, humility and modesty, mercy, spiritual purity and innocence - these are the main features of Saint Methodius, expressed with poetic force in the akathist.
All monasteries founded by the disciples of St. Sergius were communal. Therefore, the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky monastery, created by the Monk Methodius, also received a cenobitic charter. From the very foundation of the monastery, it harmoniously combined such areas of monastic activity as hermitage, or monastic asceticism, and the communal structure of monastic life.
It is known that St. Sergius did not abandon spiritual care over his disciple and often visited him. According to legend, St. Sergius often came to his student on Peshnosha, and St. Methodius was, in the words of the troparion, “In Christ, an interlocutor and companion of fasting with St. Sergius.”
Until the revolution of 1917, two miles from the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky monastery, a place with a chapel, called “conversational,” was revered. Here, according to legend, the Monks Sergius and Methodius retired for joint fasting and prayer. The student and the teacher were also co-workers: it is known that together they set up cells, dug two ponds and planted an alley of elms.
The Monk Methodius ruled the monastery for more than 30 years. During this time, the monastery became stronger and rebuilt. The fame of St. Methodius spread far and attracted many inhabitants to his monastery. On October 8, 1392 (September 25, Old Style), St. Sergius of Radonezh reposed in the Lord. And, as if not wanting to be separated from his teacher, the Peshnosh abbot soon followed him. The Monk Methodius reposed on June 17, 1393 (June 4, Old Style). According to legend, when he was dying, Abbot Methodius blessed the brethren to maintain community life and be merciful to the poor and strange.
The Monk Methodius was canonized as a saint at the Moscow Council in 1549, and the materials for canonization were prepared by another illustrious abbot of the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery, Abbot Barsanuphius - the future Saint Barsanuphius of Kazan.
In the 14th century, the monastery on Peshnosh was a small monastic community with a single wooden church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Three and a half centuries after its founding, by the beginning of the 18th century, the monastery had turned into a large monastery with stone churches and a bell tower, powerful walls and towers, and became one of the largest spiritual centers in the Moscow region.
In various historical eras, the monastery, founded by the Monk Methodius, saw periods of prosperity and desolation, peaceful times and invasions of enemies, was called by Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) the “Second Lavra”, it was closed and reopened twice, in the 18th and 20th centuries. Finally, after the last devastation, the monastery was revived in 2007, the last of the monasteries of the Moscow diocese. Since then, all the churches in the monastery have been restored, including the church in the name of St. Methodius of Peshnosha.
Such a rapid revival of the monastery, which occurred in a short period of time by historical standards, became possible, as the inhabitants believe, thanks to the intercession of the first abbot, who patronizes his monastery. The name of St. Methodius of Peshnosh is deeply revered in the monastery; brethren and numerous pilgrims come to the shrine above the relics and to the large image of the saint for prayer and worship.
The akathist to Methodius of Peshnosh is constantly read at the monastery. With special solemnity, the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery celebrates the days of memory of St. Methodius: June 17 (4) - repose and June 27 (14) - name day. These days, numerous believers from Dmitrov, Moscow, and many cities in the Moscow region come to venerate Saint Methodius of Peshnoshsky. After the liturgy, there is usually a procession of the cross and prayer singing at the shrine over the relics of St. Methodius.
St. Methodius provides his contemporaries with the highest example of monastic work
The Monk Methodius, as in the days of his earthly career, is most directly involved in the modern life of the monastery in that he provides our contemporaries with the highest example of monastic work and an ideal to strive for. As the akathist testifies about St. Methodius, by word and example of his life he directed everyone to the Sun of Truth - to Christ, for he devoted himself entirely to serving God and his neighbors.
The hymns in honor of St. Methodius call him “the wondrous disciple of the wondrous teacher,” testifying to how St. Methodius worked, chopped and carried logs for the construction of the monastery, about what a wretched, “torn and multi-seamed robe” he walked in and how with equal love he received everyone: rich and poor, nobles and ordinary people, how he was an example of hospitality, humility, hard work, love, and many other virtues.
The main reason that ensured the flourishing of the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky monastery, its perseverance during the severe trials that befell our country and the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the rapid revival of the monastery in the present time, was the spiritual foundation laid in the foundation of monastic life by St. Sergius of Radonezh and brought on Peshsha by his faithful disciple - the Monk Methodius.
Andrey Klimov
(From the chronicle of the Nikolo-Peshnosh monastery, compiled by Hieroschemamonk John, mid-19th century)
Our venerable and God-bearing father Methodius from his youth loved Christ and hated every worldly passion to the end and, according to the voice of the Gospel, despising the vanity of the world and all his wealth and glory, like canopy and smoke, counting it as nothing for nothing, as something fleeting, from his youth years old, he chose a monastic life and retired to the monastery of St. Sergius and there took on the monastic image, had a great husband with humility and holiness as a mentor in monastic life, being jealous of the reverend fathers and following them in everything, conquering all his sensual passions with abstinence, subduing them to the spirit all-night standing and uncomplaining obedience. When Divine zeal came upon him, then he began to desire greater and more perfect silence, since anyone who has an inner desire to live with Christ will notice that earthly affairs often become an obstacle to the spiritual cause and the salvation of the soul. This determination and intention of his were at the discretion of God and his zealous desire to follow the will of God; and then he came to the Monk Sergius, his father, and announced his thought to him. The Monk Sergius blessed him and said: “Go, child, but God will instruct you.” And he went there with his hope in Christ, taking His cross on his shoulders.
About desert living
And the Monk Methodius came and settled near the city of Dmitrov, for those places were famous for their silent deserts. Then he moved near the Yakhroma River, in impassable swamps and oak forests, on a small hill, one verst away from the present monastery to the west. There, in a secluded cell, where a chapel now exists under his name, the pious hermit, hiding himself from people, alone, conversing with the One God and pleasing him with prayer and fasting, and tears, exhausting his flesh with dry eating, walked along a narrow and regrettable path, diligently enduring there is deserted bitterness and demonic excuses, which with the help of God, through vigil and deeds, he overthrew and created without a trace. But the holiness of his life soon became known among people, for hail cannot hide on top of a mountain (Matthew 5-14). From time immemorial, God glorifies those who love Him, but often allows temptations, so that pure gold will appear before God, and every pious person is persecuted, according to the Apostle, which is what happened to the saint in the following way.
About miracles
The place where the Monk Methodius settled at that time belonged to a certain prince, who, having learned that some monk had settled on his land, was displeased that someone dared to live on his land without his knowledge. At the same time, the prince feared that a monastery might eventually arise on his land, which at that time was common and happened often. For this reason, the prince quickly sends people to the monk so that he leaves his land. But the monk did not leave. The prince sent him a second time with reprimand to drive him away immediately, but he humbly begged them and did not leave, and finally told those sent to him that “even if your prince kills me, I will not leave this place.” When the prince was informed about the reverend’s disobedience and determination, the prince became extremely angry, and he himself decided to go to him and drive him away with dishonor, as an enemy. He soon ordered the horses to be harnessed and set off in a chariot, but as he began to approach the forest where the saint’s cell was, then suddenly three of his horses suddenly hit the ground and they all became dead, which is why the prince was perplexed, and, leaving them, he went on foot to the monk, indignant and angry. But when he saw the elder, like an angel of God, living in indescribable poverty, his anger passed and he was moved, looking at his godly life. In his spirit and perfections, the elder belonged to the number of great ascetics of piety who adorned our ancient Russian Fatherland. For if someone has based his love for spiritual life on true unanimity about the future, in order to live only for God, he can comfortably withstand severe temptations. And then the prince not only did not do him harm, but loved him and began to ask him not to leave and live there without fear, and told him what happened to him on the way, how his horses became dead. Then the monk went with the prince to those horses and began to pray to God, and then the horses suddenly rose to their feet alive, and then the prince gave great thanks to the monk, as a true miracle worker, and went home, glorifying God for everything that had happened to him. Since then, the news about him spread everywhere, and many began to come to him for benefit and cohabitation for the sake of life, for a life entirely dedicated to God has always favored the hearts of right-thinking people. And the Monk Sergius heard about him and visited him several times. When, after the increase of the brethren, zealots of his God-pleasing life, the need arose to build a church in that place, then (according to legend) Saint Sergius, during his visit, offered advice to his interlocutor and fellow faster, to leave the previous place, as inconvenient, and move to the current, more extensive and convenient, across the Yakhroma River, at the mouth of the Peshnosha River, which was then accomplished.
On the foundation of the Peshnoshskaya monastery
Having received advice and blessing from his mentor, the Monk Methodius immediately began to work and equip his monastery. First of all, a church was built in the name of St. Nicholas and a cell for the brethren. Having thus laid the foundation of the Peshnosha monastery (named after the Peshnosha River) in 1361, Rev. Methodius was its first abbot, having many monks gathered under his leadership, seeking evangelical perfection and jealous of his fasting life.
The reason that forced the multiplication of monastic monasteries in those times was the following. The khans, then ruling over Russia, oppressed the Russian people and princes, but patronized the Church and its servants to the utmost, for under the death penalty it was then forbidden to rob monastic subjects, except when there was a war. Then the monks became rich and even engaged in trade and with great zeal multiplied monasteries and monks in Russia. That is why Saint Sergius blessed his disciples, who were skilled in spiritual life, to re-establish monasteries, since then all the laity found great consolation in the monasteries, hiding in them from Tatar violence. And therefore very few of the current Russian monasteries were founded before or after Tatar rule.
Some argue that Rev. Methodius often retreated to silence near the Yakhroma River, northwest of the monastery, where the chapel of St. John the Baptist now exists. Because then there was a great wilderness there, and even today the appearance of this place testifies to what the holy hermit was looking for in this wild solitude, and what led him to such gloomy and inaccessible places, and what directed him from the comfortable monastery into solitude. The external ritual rules of monastic life usually take precedence over the internal, spiritual life, external prayer over the internal, which forced him to seek solitude in imitation of the great ancient saints who lived in the Jordanian desert. Therefore, subsequently, in this place, in memory of his hermitage, a chapel was built in the name of the first hermit John the Baptist in the new grace, his glorious birth, which is why the chapel of the Baptist is still called, and they say that supposedly a wooden church existed there, which seems incredible .
About death
The Monk Methodius, through his many labors and exploits and his cruel life, understood through the Holy Spirit his departure to the Lord, which he remembered with tears at every hour. Then he began to pray unceasingly and stand all night, crying out to the Lord in many tears. And when the hour of his departure approached, then, at a meeting of his disciples, his spirit betrayed Christ on the 14th day of June, in 1392. It's great that Rev. Methodius, who during his life followed the instructions of St. Sergius, did not hesitate to follow him to eternal blood, for Saint Sergius preceded him only eight months, in the reign of Vasily Dmitrievich, the son of Dmitry Donskoy. Then, seeing his disciples see his death, they surrounded his body, and fell on it, crying bitterly, crying out: “Oh! Father, our good shepherd, to whom you left us, and who will shepherd us, like you, our great shepherd. We believe that even after your repose you did not leave us, your servants, and preserved your monastery. And soon the news of the repose of the saint was known, and from everywhere many gathered to his monastery, and especially the poor, the orphans and widows, and together with psalms and hymns, and many tears, they buried his laborious and holy body in this monastery honestly. And his memory performed glorious miracles for the sake of those that happened from him. Truly honorable before the Lord is the death of His saints, for their bodies are buried in the world, but their souls are in the hand of God. Their names live for generations, and the Church sings their praises. Although reliable information about his incorruptible relics is not found in his monastery, his memory has been magnificently revered in this monastery since time immemorial. Every year on June 14, a procession of the cross takes place to the Methodius Chapel, for no one has yet reliably known where he was buried after his repose. The depths of the earth and the passing of antiquity hid the memory of that, since in 1408 there was an invasion of Yadigea, which is why the Lavra was then burned; Certainly, this fear also existed here, from which every treasure is usually consigned to obscurity.
About miracles
Ignatius the builder, who entered this monastery in 1781 with his assistant treasurer Macarius, began, as is human nature, to lose heart over the great because of shortcomings in everything and thought of leaving this monastery. Then Macarius dreamed of seeing the Monks Sergius and Methodius going to the cathedral church, who told him: “Don’t leave here, you will be abundant in everything.” And from this vision they remained inseparable in patience. Even when Macarius, during his abbotship, began to doubt, according to rumors, about the relics of the saint, as if they were not in this monastery, then the Monk Methodius appeared to him in a dream, blessed him and said: “I rest here, don’t doubt it!”, and showed him his coffin is not in the place where his shrine is now placed, but in another place, nearby, in the interior. And back in 1807, allegedly, on a certain night, two elders were visible as two gatekeepers, coming from the church of St. Sergius to the renovated cathedral church. And then they explained that one of them was Sergius, and the other was Methodius (which I heard about from many modern elders and Abbot Sergius).
During the time of the builder Ignatius, there was an apparition from the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan, which is located here in the Church of Sergius in the icon case, decorated with silver and beads (pearls) to the wife of the insane general Timofeev, who was ordered to take her husband to Peshsha, where he, with the assistance of the Mother of God and Her miracle-working icon at the shrine of St. Methodius was healed (from the notes of Paisius).
A certain merchant in the city of Arkhangelsk was severely ill. The Monk Methodius appeared to him in a dream, called him by name and told him about the Peshnosha monastery, and fed him bread. He told his archpriest there about this vision, who was one of the students of Metropolitan Platon of Moscow, and asked him about the Peshnosh monastery, where it was located, since he did not yet know it. And he told him. Then they both wrote a letter from there to Macarius and asked him to send them brotherly bread to bless and heal their illness. And this request was fulfilled, and after his recovery, this merchant, according to his promise, came on foot to this monastery to give thanks by worshiping the Monk Methodius, and with an explanation about his appearance, he then went further to Kiev for worship (I heard this from the monk A.)
A certain peasant of the Aleksandrovsky district, against the will of his mother, on the day of Elijah’s funeral, before mass, went into the forest to pick raspberries not far from the village, and on the road he began to doubt that he had not explained himself to his father, and suddenly he saw him riding on a cart towards whom he He sat down in silence, and didn’t even dare ask him where he was coming from or where he was going, because his father looked very fierce. After some time, I began to think to myself, reasoning like this: “What does this mean? It’s almost evening, and the distance is not far, but we’re driving for a very long time.” And in that doubt he began to be baptized, and immediately found himself in a swamp unfamiliar to him, and his imaginary father and his horse were gone, and then he became so afraid that he was beside himself, and could not get out of the swamp by any means, and, grasping behind a birch tree on a hummock, in fear and despair, he fell asleep from exhaustion. This swamp was behind our Owl Island. Around midnight he woke up and saw in front of him a man, short and bald, with gray hair, who said to him: “Serve a prayer service to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and God will have mercy on you!” And he began to ask him where and in what place he was found, but the elder, without answering him, said: “Follow me.” And he followed him, and when he matched him on the road, the elder was always ahead of him, and upon reaching the road itself, at the grove that was Makaryevskaya (then they began to announce the gospel for Matins in the monastery), he said to the elder: “Wait , wait for me at this grove, I’ll come in and sell at least a scarf for a prayer service to the mowers (mowers), of whom many spent the night there at that time. And, having sold the scarf for 30 kopecks, he returned to the place where he had left the old man, but he did not find his wonderful savior, and from the funeral workers he learned where he was, and was extremely surprised at that. It turned out that in a short time the enemy took him more than 70 miles away. Having gone to this monastery for Matins and having served the saint a prayer service, he explained himself to Abbot Macarius and about his miraculous deliverance, and received a letter of testimony from him, and returned to his home. Then he often visited this monastery (he was one of the relatives of the monk Mina and his son, Hieromonk Jacob, from whom I heard this). Who this elder was is unknown. Some believe that Saint Nicholas, and others believe that it is Methodius.
Theophan Igumen (archimandrite) of the Novo-Ezersky Monastery, an interlocutor of Archimandrite Macarius, whom he loved and honored, like the only father of the ancients, and when the rumor reached him that Peshnosha Macarius was near death, he began to regret extremely that he had not fulfilled his desire a second time to see him, and so I sympathize with him about him from grief, as if I had forgotten myself in a dream, and suddenly he sees the door to his cell open, and three elders come to him, one of whom was Macarius, who says to him: “You wanted with to see me, so I came to you.” Then Feofan, as if standing up, began to greet him out of joy and surprise and ask him to sit down. “No,” Macarius answered him, “I cannot sit with you, since I have already moved away from these people; these are my comrades, Sergius and Methodius,” and, without continuing any more, all three left his cell. Then Theophanes came to his senses and was surprised by this vision, and realized that Macarius had died. Treasurer Methodius said this.
A certain Moscow merchant's wife happened to be ill, and then one night she saw in a dream the Peshnosha Monastery in real life. After that, it happened to her that it was still painful for her to be on pilgrimage here, and when she approached the monastery, she was surprised that it looked the same as she had seen in her dream. Then, returning home, she underwent a lot of treatment, and finally the doctor refused to help her. Once in a dream she imagined a church, which she seemed to have entered, and then she saw crayfish standing on the right and left, and an old man stood up from the right crayfish and sat down, which she was very surprised and began to leave the church after praying. Then, sitting on the shrine, he says to her: “Pray to St. Methodius, he will heal you.” And she woke up, and felt a certain weakness, and soon began to recover completely, to the surprise of everyone, and she told everyone her vision, but for a long time she did not know about Methodius, and where he was, for, although she was here, she forgot about him. But when she happened to be in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, then she completely learned that the Monk Methodius was resting in Peshnosha, and she came from there to this monastery, sending thanks for her healing to the Monk Methodius. And upon returning home, she embroidered a curtain on the tomb of the monk using crimson velvet with her own hands.
From the Monk Methodius in the year 18... the peasant of Mrs. T.D. Pestrikova was healed, who had a hump in front and behind, and once Saint Methodius and the holy fool monk Jonah appeared to him in a vision. The saint Methodius repeatedly appeared in the dream of a certain sick young lady living in Moscow, giving her healing.
Around 1828, a certain peasant woman from Bezhitsa district came to this monastery, served a prayer service to St. Methodius and said that, being completely blind, St. Methodius appeared to her and healed her eyes, and sent her to this monastery to venerate his relics for healing, and even said, where this monastery is located, since it still did not know about Peshnosh (hieromonk Pimen told me about this).
In a certain village in the Tver province, the priest was very ill and did not even have hope for his recovery; he could eat little food, only tea with white bread, and always lay motionless. And at some time an elderly monk appears to him in a dream and says: “Go to my monastery.” “Which one,” the priest asks him. “To Nikola on Peshnosh,” the monk who appeared answered him. “Where is she?” - the priest asked again. “Here,” said the monk, and immediately led this priest, as if already in the monastery, straight to the fraternal meal, and there he fed him bread and gave him monastery kvass to drink. Then the priest woke up from sleep and began to call upon his priest and demanded rye bread with kvass for himself from her, who was very surprised at this and did not serve it to him for a long time, but upon urgent demand she offered it, and here he ate and drank. Then he demanded a stick and stood up, began to walk around the room, to the wonder of everyone, and soon completely recovered, and came to this monastery in 1843, in the summer, to venerate the shrine of St. Methodius and spoke about his healing and the appearance of the reverend to him (Schierodeacon Michael told me about this) .
A certain peasant brought his sick son to this monastery for treatment, all withered and barely breathing, but he was refused, and was only ordered to take oil from the tomb of St. Methodius from the lamp and St. Methodius to pray. So this peasant did this with faith, and poured this oil into the sick man’s mouth, and set off on his journey, in which then the desperate sick man felt some relief in himself, and upon arrival at the house he became healthy beyond his expectations and to the surprise of everyone. And after a year, i.e. in 1838 he came to this monastery in perfect health to worship the monk, and spoke about his healing.
The village of Borkov, Tver province, a peasant, Philip Andreev, was completely almost without legs from relaxation, and at some time a certain elder appeared to him and sent him to the Peshnosha monastery to pray to the monk, and promised healing. Then he announced this vision to his priest, and he reported this to his master, and was dismissed from him on a pilgrimage. Then he crawled on his knees for more than three days to this monastery and, not reaching this monastery, felt some relief to his legs, and after fulfilling the commanded prayer at the tomb of the monk (for he revered the one who appeared to him as the venerable Methodius), he returned from the monastery to his home already on his feet and soon recovered completely. The next summer, in 1844, he again came to the monastery to worship and told everyone about his healing with the recognition that this illness was a remedy for him, since he was a great scolder with obscene and nasty words to everyone for his own reason.
A tradesman from the city of Tver, Gordey Trefilyev, when he was still a clerk, was in a severe illness, which is why he began to walk bent over. A year later, his mother came to him (January 2, 1834) and advised him to sweat in the bathhouse. While in the bathhouse, he suddenly jumped out of it naked, without a cross, and began to scream loudly, so that his mother ran to him at the sound of his voice, who saw him all blackened and in horror. She led him back into the bathhouse and began to put the cross on him. But he snatched the cross from her and began to trample it with his feet, and at the same time uttered shameful and blasphemous words, and, weakened by rage, he lay down and was unconscious. But after half an hour he came to his senses and began to hear demonic conversations. Demons invisible to him began to denounce him and bring to mind all his sins and then told him: “For four years you have not received communion (of the Holy Mysteries). It’s already ours, it’s ours.
Ours now!” And suddenly they fell silent. Then an icon began to appear before him, depicting the Monk Methodius of Peshnosha with the image of his entire monastery. And from this icon he hears a voice: “Why don’t you fulfill your promise to go to St. Methodius of Peshnosha?” Then he was in fear and trembling at this voice, which is why he was taken out of the bathhouse into the room without his tongue, and a priest was called in, who introduced him to the Holy Mysteries. And then he lay unconscious for a whole day, and then he felt better, and on the third day he completely recovered. And in fulfillment of his promise, in the month of April he came to this monastery, and as he approached the monastery he was surprised to see the monastery exactly as it was depicted on the icon. When they served a prayer service to the monk, he saw on the tomb the icon of St. Methodius, the same one that was shown to him in a vision, from which he was moved and shed tears, telling many about himself (I heard this from Hierodeacon Martignan).
Mrs. Shishmareva Elizaveta Vasilievna, landowner of the Novo-Torzhsky district, the village of Likhoslavl, in 1843 told Hieromonk Pimen the following about herself: three years ago she had pain in her legs and saw in a dream the Monk Methodius, who ordered her to go to his relics, where she should was healed. And she asked a lot about him, but no one knew about the Monk Methodius, who he was, and where his relics were located. But when she happened to be driving to Voronezh, past the village of Rogachevo, then she learned about the Monk Methodius and considered it a duty to stop by this monastery to worship her free doctor.
Some elderly peasant woman from Kashinsky district, at some time, being extremely ill, saw in a vision a monk of short stature, gray-haired, who said to her: “Do you want to be healed?” “I wish,” she answered. “Go to my monastery.” And she asked: “What monastery?” “To Nikola, to Peshnosha,” said the monk and began to leave her hut. Then she clearly looked at him with her eyes, and immediately she felt better. She told her family about the vision, and rumors about it spread throughout the village. Then some of the peasants who heard about Peshnosha told her where the monastery was located, and in 1839 she came to worship at this monastery and served a prayer service, and lit a ruble candle to the saint of God, St. Methodius and spoke about her healing from the saint of God (schema-deacon Michael).
One of the monastics, named Cornelius, had with him a young cell attendant who was intemperate in his passions, and from whom he himself began to suffer mental harm. And for some time the Monk Methodius appeared to this monk in a dream, in a mantle and stole, but without a cape. Cornelius recognized him from the image on the icon. Standing at the door to his cell, the Monk Methodius, looking at him with an ardent eye, says to him in a menacing voice: “Why do you live with (name), calling him by his half name, “don’t live with him.” And from this menacing voice, this monk was filled with such fear and trembling that he could not answer a word to the monk, who immediately became invisible. And then the monk woke up from his sleep in horror. He was soon freed from his cohabitation, but not without sorrow. This monk himself told me this more than once in 1847 for the glory of the saint of God, the purity of soul and body, the stewards and guardian. Amen.
A certain pious man named John, whose son was in this monastery as a novice among the brotherhood, one night, in the month of September 1826, had the following dream: he imagined that he was passing inside the monastery to the noon gate, which was at the bread shop, and then sees a certain old man, lying on his bed sideways and open to the waist, in a robe and without a hood, his hair is gray and slightly oblong. On its right side there is a small palisade and in it a flower bed (garden) with transverse paths sprinkled with sand. And here he greatly admired and marveled at this beautiful flower garden, for he had never seen anything like it anywhere. And the flower garden turned out to be so pleasant for him that in my lifetime (he said) I will not forget it. And then the old man said to him: “Do you see this garden, which your son must guard? If he watches out for it and doesn’t pick flowers from it, then this will count towards him.” And he then said to him: “Father, my son will not take anything here. Then the old man said to him with mischief: “Don’t vouch for him, he wasn’t ordered to pick apples in the garden, but he, what the hell, stole.” And immediately from behind his back he took out an apple and showed it to him, red-striped. Why did he feel so ashamed that he didn’t know how to respond to this, and then the elder himself began to explain to him. “This garden,” he told him, “means the human body and flesh of its virginity, guard and guard it.” And then he again turned to look into the garden and saw many broken branches in it, some were bent, and others were completely withered. And then the elder told him about this: “Many were guarding him, but no one could guard him, they kept breaking and breaking. But if anyone preserves his virginity until eternity (death), then this will be counted towards him!” At these words of the elder, he was awakened from sleep in trepidation. Although the name of this elder is unknown, without a doubt he is the Venerable Methodius of Peshnosha, as the true guardian and planter of this immaterial garden, this monastery, the virgin purity of the brethren. But, alas, the delights of time rob, dry up and destroy the implanted purity of flesh and spirit, dedicated to God.
Some of the wanderers, who were in this monastery on pilgrimage around 1830 and were returning on their way back, went, according to the custom of all pilgrims, to bow to the chapel of St. Methodius. And in that chapel, one wanderer, who had an unclean spirit in her, was thrown to the floor by him. Then an elderly wanderer who was with them began to ask her about many things, and she answered him, lying down, without opening her eyes, in a daring voice... Then she suddenly began to say the following: Oh! I'll get along with you again! I won’t leave you, I’m a prince!” Then this wanderer asked: “Why were you given a prince?” “Because,” the demon answered, “I brought many of the monks and bishops and other clergy to hell.” And then he shouted, gnashing his teeth: “Oh! Pafnutka (Pafnuty Borovsky). ABOUT! Methodius (venerable Methodius of Peshnoshsky)! They bother me a lot. I would get along with you here if it weren’t for the bearded Methodok; O! Grey-haired!” And that wanderer again asked the demon: “After all, you were in the guest yard, and he (St. Methodius), tea, was not there.” “Yes,” answered the demon, “after all, the hotel is also his, he drags around everywhere, bearded.” And the demon was also asked by the same wanderer about the brethren, how they live (after death). To this the demon answered him that they were not ordered to talk about it.
A certain peasant girl, frightened by thunder and lightning, became possessed, and in the summer, in 1849, her mother was ordered in a dream to go with her to the Peshnosha Monastery, to the Monk Methodius. And being here in the month of July, then barely four people could drag this girl into the church to the reverend, and then she screamed and swore, and even more so blasphemed Methodius himself and said: “Here he is, the bearded one, standing and threatening me.” . And they could barely open her mouth to pour in oil from the saint’s tomb, which made her scream even more and say: “Oh! They crushed me!” And then it is unknown what happened to her.
One of the peasants was sick, and an old man, adorned with gray hair, appeared to him, called himself Methodius of Peshnosh, and allegedly led the sick man along some dark and unknown corridors, from which he later received healing (the monk Nikola said this). Some other peasants of the village of Kulikovo attempted to steal the monastery forest one night, but were then frightened by a certain monk who followed them to the borders of the monastery land and strictly forbade them to continue to do such dirty tricks to his monastery, and then became invisible. This miracle is attributed to the Monk Methodius himself, and some of them confessed this to the monk Nikola in 1849.
Avdotya, a peasant woman from the village of Bobolova, had been suffering from an incurable illness for a long time since August 1850, and one night she imagined being in this monastery, in the Sretenskaya Church. And then a certain elder (monk) approached her. Pointing to the image of the Mother of God of the Annunciation, the elder says: “Light a ten-kopeck candle for this image. I will heal you! And she came to the monastery that same day with an explanation about this vision. And many considered this monk to be St. Methodius.
Even that same year, the cassock monk Paul, confused by his thoughts, had two elders, monks in stoles, appear to him twice in a dream and edifyingly told him not to grieve. He believed these were Sergius and Methodius of Peshnoshsky. Thanks be to God, who renews the signs and wonders of His grace in this holy monastery to strengthen our faith and zeal for God, and zeal for monastic virtues and deeds.
1858, April 21 and 22, peasants from the Tver province came to this monastery on pilgrimage and said the following about themselves: 1) a man allegedly saw in a dream the Monk Methodius in the form of a beggar, asking him for alms. And when the peasant asked him where he lived, he answered: “I live on Peshnosh, there is my icon and temple.”
2) During her illness, a woman saw in a dream two elders who came to her, Sergius and Methodius. The second elder sent her to his monastery, and she immediately woke up and regretted that she had not asked what his monastery was. But soon she fell asleep again, then the saints appeared to her a second time and said that his monastery was Peshnoshskaya. Then the sick woman apologized that she could not walk due to illness and illness, but the Monk Methodius told her to cross herself and get up from her bed. When she did this, she immediately woke up from sleep and felt healthy. This phenomenon happened to her during Holy Week, and she came to the monastery healthy.
Around 1854, in the city of Dmitrov, merchant Ivan Andreev’s son Alexander broke his leg in adolescence and was very painful with it. But according to the faith of his parents, he was brought to this monastery to the Monk Methodius, and after prayer he soon began to walk and returned to Dmitrov healthy.
A peasant son from the village of Kulikov was terminally ill, and when he was brought to the Monk Methodius, and they anointed him with oil from the lamp, and gave him some to drink, he recovered completely in three days (monk Michael told me).
1860, at the beginning of June, a certain peasant from the Kalyazin district came to the monastery and told about himself that he was in some kind of misfortune and heard a voice commanding him to go to the Peshnosha monastery.
Even at the same time, a monk came from Moscow and said about himself that he was infected with binge drinking, and a monk once appeared to him in a dream and said: “If you want not to drink wine, then go to Peshsha, serve a prayer service there to the Monk Methodius,” which he did in 1860.
A peasant from the village of Kopytovo served in the village of Rogachevo, and due to the insolence of his youth, he was accustomed to always swearing with obscene words. At some time, the Monk Methodius appeared to him in a dream with a crutch and for his evil curses he reproached him and beat him with his crutch. And he then came to the saint’s tomb, asked for forgiveness and served a prayer service.
The priest of the village of Goveynovo, Father Vasily, was ill. For more than a year he no longer served or left the house, and Moscow doctors could not help him. And in 1861, in the month of January, his wife Anna dreamed of seeing an old man come to their house, without a hood, who told her this: “Why are you grieving about your husband? Do not grieve, but go to my monastery and serve a prayer service with the blessing of water for me, the Monk Methodius, and give him this water to drink, and he will recover.” She then answered him: “And I promised to serve a prayer service to the Mother of God before her miraculous icon “After the Nativity of the Virgin.” And he said to her: “You, together with Her, serve me.” And so on the 18th of the same month she came to the monastery, fulfilled the command of the monk and told many her vision. And upon recovery, the priest himself came to the monastery and spoke about himself too.
No information has been preserved about the date of birth and about the parents of the Monk Methodius. It is known that while still a fairly young man, in the middle of the 14th century, he became one of the first disciples of St. Sergius of Radonezh. The Monk Methodius spent several years with the “abbot of the Russian land,” and then desired a solitary and silent life. In 1361, with the blessing of his teacher, he retired to impenetrable forests and swamps in the vicinity of Dmitrov. There, at a distance of 25 versts from the city, at the confluence of Yakhroma and a small river, which would later be called Peshnosha, the saint built his cell. Soon people began to gather around him, longing for monastic life.
When it came to the construction of the church, the Monk Sergius visited his “interlocutor and companion” and pointed out that the place where the student settled was inconvenient. Perhaps St. Sergius foresaw the emergence of a large monastery. The Monk Methodius fulfilled the will of the holy mentor and moved his cell across the river. A wooden church was also erected here in the name of the great wonderworker St. Nicholas of Mirliki, deeply revered by the Russian people. This is how the Nikolo-Peshnoshskaya monastery began, which received its second name because Saint Methodius worked on construction, “pesh carrying” logs across the river.
The Monk Sergius visited his student more than once. Before the revolution, two miles from the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery, a place with a chapel, called “conversational,” was revered. Here, according to legend, the Monks Sergius and Methodius prayed. The student and the teacher were also co-workers: it is known that together they set up cells, dug two ponds and planted an alley of elms.
The Monk Methodius became the first abbot of the monastery he founded. The abbot's staff was handed to him, if not by Saint Alexei himself, Metropolitan of Moscow, then by one of the bishops with his blessing. He was the first among the brethren in feats of fasting, work and prayer, setting an example for the inhabitants of the monastery. Saint Methodius became famous for his deeds of mercy, always welcoming orphans and the poor; strict towards himself, he was merciful to the brethren, forgiving of the weaknesses of his disciples and warning them against mistakes in the future.
An ancient source says that the Monk Methodius was “gray-haired, with a brada smaller than Nikon the Wonderworker, and venerable vestments.” There is also a clarification in this testimony: “Nikon the Wonderworker ... has more than Nikolina, less than Sergius.” The Monk Nikon of Radonezh, also a disciple of the Monk Sergius, six months before the latter’s death, was appointed by him as abbot of the Trinity Monastery.
For more than 30 years, the Monk Methodius ruled the monastery he founded. Judging by the fact that before that he lived for some time in the desert, and earlier asceticized with St. Sergius of Radonezh, it can be assumed that the founder of the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky monastery lived to a ripe old age. This is exactly how iconographic images convey his appearance - in the image of an old man.
The Monk Methodius departed to the Lord in 1393, briefly outliving his teacher, who had reposed the year before. Earthly comrades and interlocutors also united in the abodes of eternity. The incorrupt body of St. Methodius was buried near the church of St. Nicholas. During the Polish invasion, to protect it from desecration, the relics were transferred to another place. A chapel made of oak beams was erected over his coffin, which stood for more than 300 years. In 1732, instead of a chapel, a small church was built in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
After the blessed death of the Monk Methodius, he was revered in Peshnosh and in the surrounding villages as a saint. The official canonization of the saint took place at the Moscow Council in 1549. It is interesting that the materials for canonization were prepared by another illustrious abbot of the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery, St. Barsanuphius of Kazan.
In 1859, with the blessing of St. Philaret (Drozdov), Metropolitan of Moscow, an altar with a throne in the name of St. Methodius was built near the very relics of the saint, resting hidden under the bell tower. The place where the saint's relics rest is now open for worship.
Since ancient times, the memory of the saint has been celebrated on June 14 (27), on the day of remembrance of his namesake Saint Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople.
(From the chronicle of the Nikolo-Peshnosh monastery, compiled by Hieroschemamonk John, mid-19th century)
Our venerable and God-bearing father Methodius from his youth loved Christ and hated every worldly passion to the end and, according to the voice of the Gospel, despising the vanity of the world and all his wealth and glory, like canopy and smoke, counting it as nothing for nothing, as something fleeting, from his youth years old, he chose a monastic life and retired to the monastery of St. Sergius and there took on the monastic image, had a great husband with humility and holiness as a mentor in monastic life, being jealous of the reverend fathers and following them in everything, conquering all his sensual passions with abstinence, subduing them to the spirit all-night standing and uncomplaining obedience. When Divine zeal came upon him, then he began to desire greater and more perfect silence, since anyone who has an inner desire to live with Christ will notice that earthly affairs often become an obstacle to the spiritual cause and the salvation of the soul. This determination and intention of his were at the discretion of God and his zealous desire to follow the will of God; and then he came to the Monk Sergius, his father, and announced his thought to him. The Monk Sergius blessed him and said: “Go, child, but God will instruct you.” And he went there with his hope in Christ, taking His cross on his shoulders.
About desert living
And the Monk Methodius came and settled near the city of Dmitrov, for those places were famous for their silent deserts. Then he moved near the Yakhroma River, in impassable swamps and oak forests, on a small hill, one verst away from the present monastery to the west. There, in a secluded cell, where a chapel now exists under his name, the pious hermit, hiding himself from people, alone, conversing with the One God and pleasing Him with prayer and fasting, and tears, exhausting his flesh with dry eating, walked along a narrow and sorrowful path, diligently enduring there is deserted bitterness and demonic excuses, which with the help of God, through vigil and deeds, he overthrew and created without a trace. But the holiness of his life soon became known among people, for hail cannot hide on top of a mountain (Matthew 5-14). From time immemorial, God glorifies those who love Him, but often allows temptations, so that pure gold will appear before God, and every pious person is persecuted, according to the Apostle, which is what happened to the saint in the following way.
About miracles
The place where the Monk Methodius settled at that time belonged to a certain prince, who, having learned that some monk had settled on his land, was displeased that someone dared to live on his land without his knowledge. At the same time, the prince feared that a monastery might eventually arise on his land, which at that time was common and happened often. For this reason, the prince quickly sends people to the monk so that he leaves his land. But the monk did not leave. The prince sent him a second time with reprimand to drive him away immediately, but he humbly begged them and did not leave, and finally told those sent to him that “even if your prince kills me, I will not leave this place.” When the prince was informed about the reverend’s disobedience and determination, the prince became extremely angry, and he himself decided to go to him and drive him away with dishonor, as an enemy. He soon ordered the horses to be harnessed and set off in a chariot, but as he began to approach the forest where the saint’s cell was, then suddenly three of his horses suddenly hit the ground and they all became dead, which is why the prince was perplexed, and, leaving them, he went on foot to the monk, indignant and angry. But when he saw the elder, like an angel of God, living in indescribable poverty, his anger passed and he was moved, looking at his godly life. In his spirit and perfections, the elder belonged to the number of great ascetics of piety who adorned our ancient Russian Fatherland. For if someone has based his love for spiritual life on true unanimity about the future, in order to live only for God, he can comfortably withstand severe temptations. And then the prince not only did not do him harm, but loved him and began to ask him not to leave and live there without fear, and told him what happened to him on the way, how his horses became dead. Then the monk went with the prince to those horses and began to pray to God, and then the horses suddenly rose to their feet alive, and then the prince gave great thanks to the monk, as a true miracle worker, and went home, glorifying God for everything that had happened to him. Since then, the news about him spread everywhere, and many began to come to him for benefit and cohabitation for the sake of life, for a life entirely dedicated to God has always favored the hearts of right-thinking people. And the Monk Sergius heard about him and visited him several times. When, after the increase of the brethren, zealots of his God-pleasing life, the need arose to build a church in that place, then (according to legend) Saint Sergius, during his visit, offered advice to his interlocutor and fellow faster, to leave the previous place, as inconvenient, and move to the current, more extensive and convenient, across the Yakhroma River, at the mouth of the Peshnosha River, which was then accomplished.
On the foundation of the Peshnoshskaya monastery
Having received advice and blessing from his mentor, the Monk Methodius immediately began to work and equip his monastery. First of all, a church was built in the name of St. Nicholas and a cell for the brethren. Having thus laid the foundation of the Peshnosha monastery (named after the Peshnosha River) in 1361, Rev. Methodius was its first abbot, having many monks gathered under his leadership, seeking evangelical perfection and jealous of his fasting life.
The reason that forced the multiplication of monastic monasteries in those times was the following. The khans, then ruling over Russia, oppressed the Russian people and princes, but patronized the Church and its servants to the utmost, for under the death penalty it was then forbidden to rob monastic subjects, except when there was a war. Then the monks became rich and even engaged in trade and with great zeal multiplied monasteries and monks in Russia. That is why Saint Sergius blessed his disciples, who were skilled in spiritual life, to re-establish monasteries, since then all the laity found great consolation in the monasteries, hiding in them from Tatar violence. And therefore very few of the current Russian monasteries were founded before or after Tatar rule.
Some argue that Rev. Methodius often retreated to silence near the Yakhroma River, northwest of the monastery, where the chapel of St. John the Baptist now exists. Because then there was a great wilderness there, and even today the appearance of this place testifies to what the holy hermit was looking for in this wild solitude, and what led him to such gloomy and inaccessible places, and what directed him from the comfortable monastery into solitude. The external ritual rules of monastic life usually take precedence over the internal, spiritual life, external prayer over the internal, which forced him to seek solitude in imitation of the great ancient saints who lived in the Jordanian desert. Therefore, subsequently, in this place, in memory of his hermitage, a chapel was built in the name of the first hermit John the Baptist in the new grace, his glorious birth, which is why the chapel of the Baptist is still called, and they say that supposedly a wooden church existed there, which seems incredible .
About death
The Monk Methodius, through his many labors and exploits and his cruel life, understood through the Holy Spirit his departure to the Lord, which he remembered with tears at every hour. Then he began to pray unceasingly and stand all night, crying out to the Lord in many tears. And when the hour of his departure approached, then, at a meeting of his disciples, his spirit betrayed Christ on the 14th day of June, in 1392. It's great that Rev. Methodius, who during his life followed the instructions of St. Sergius, did not hesitate to follow him to eternal blood, for Saint Sergius preceded him only eight months, in the reign of Vasily Dmitrievich, the son of Dmitry Donskoy. Then, seeing his disciples see his death, they surrounded his body, and fell on it, crying bitterly, crying out: “Oh! Father, our good shepherd, to whom you left us, and who will shepherd us, like you, our great shepherd. We believe that even after your repose you did not leave us, your servants, and preserved your monastery. And soon the news of the repose of the saint was known, and from everywhere many gathered to his monastery, and especially the poor, the orphans and widows, and together with psalms and hymns, and many tears, they buried his laborious and holy body in this monastery honestly. And his memory performed glorious miracles for the sake of those that happened from him. Truly honorable before the Lord is the death of His saints, for their bodies are buried in the world, but their souls are in the hand of God. Their names live for generations, and the Church sings their praises. Although reliable information about his incorruptible relics is not found in his monastery, his memory has been magnificently revered in this monastery since time immemorial. Every year on June 14, a procession of the cross takes place to the Methodius Chapel, for no one has yet reliably known where he was buried after his repose. The depths of the earth and the passing of antiquity hid the memory of that, since in 1408 there was an invasion of Yadigea, which is why the Lavra was then burned; Certainly, this fear also existed here, from which every treasure is usually consigned to obscurity.
About miracles
Ignatius the builder, who entered this monastery in 1781 with his assistant treasurer Macarius, began, as is human nature, to lose heart over the great because of shortcomings in everything and thought of leaving this monastery. Then Macarius dreamed of seeing the Monks Sergius and Methodius going to the cathedral church, who told him: “Don’t leave here, you will be abundant in everything.” And from this vision they remained inseparable in patience. Even when Macarius, during his abbotship, began to doubt, according to rumors, about the relics of the saint, as if they were not in this monastery, then the Monk Methodius appeared to him in a dream, blessed him and said: “I rest here, don’t doubt it!”, and showed him his coffin is not in the place where his shrine is now placed, but in another place, nearby, in the interior. And back in 1807, allegedly, on a certain night, two elders were visible as two gatekeepers, coming from the church of St. Sergius to the renovated cathedral church. And then they explained that one of them was Sergius, and the other was Methodius (which I heard about from many modern elders and Abbot Sergius).
During the time of the builder Ignatius, there was an apparition from the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan, which is located here in the Church of Sergius in the icon case, decorated with silver and beads (pearls) to the wife of the insane general Timofeev, who was ordered to take her husband to Peshsha, where he, with the assistance of the Mother of God and Her miracle-working icon at the shrine of St. Methodius was healed (from the notes of Paisius).
A certain merchant in the city of Arkhangelsk was severely ill. The Monk Methodius appeared to him in a dream, called him by name and told him about the Peshnosha monastery, and fed him bread. He told his archpriest there about this vision, who was one of the students of Metropolitan Platon of Moscow, and asked him about the Peshnosh monastery, where it was located, since he did not yet know it. And he told him. Then they both wrote a letter from there to Macarius and asked him to send them brotherly bread to bless and heal their illness. And this request was fulfilled, and after his recovery, this merchant, according to his promise, came on foot to this monastery to give thanks by worshiping the Monk Methodius, and with an explanation about his appearance, he then went further to Kiev for worship (I heard this from the monk A.)
A certain peasant of the Aleksandrovsky district, against the will of his mother, on the day of Elijah’s funeral, before mass, went into the forest to pick raspberries not far from the village, and on the road he began to doubt that he had not explained himself to his father, and suddenly he saw him riding on a cart towards whom he He sat down in silence, and didn’t even dare ask him where he was coming from or where he was going, because his father looked very fierce. After some time, I began to think to myself, reasoning like this: “What does this mean? It’s almost evening, and the distance is not far, but we’re driving for a very long time.” And in that doubt he began to be baptized, and immediately found himself in a swamp unfamiliar to him, and his imaginary father and his horse were gone, and then he became so afraid that he was beside himself, and could not get out of the swamp by any means, and, grasping behind a birch tree on a hummock, in fear and despair, he fell asleep from exhaustion. This swamp was behind our Owl Island. Around midnight he woke up and saw in front of him a man, short and bald, with gray hair, who said to him: “Serve a prayer service to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and God will have mercy on you!” And he began to ask him where and in what place he was found, but the elder, without answering him, said: “Follow me.” And he followed him, and when he matched him on the road, the elder was always ahead of him, and upon reaching the road itself, at the grove that was Makaryevskaya (then they began to announce the gospel for Matins in the monastery), he said to the elder: “Wait , wait for me at this grove, I’ll come in and sell at least a scarf for a prayer service to the mowers (mowers), of whom many spent the night there at that time. And, having sold the scarf for 30 kopecks, he returned to the place where he had left the old man, but he did not find his wonderful savior, and from the funeral workers he learned where he was, and was extremely surprised at that. It turned out that in a short time the enemy took him more than 70 miles away. Having gone to this monastery for Matins and having served the saint a prayer service, he explained himself to Abbot Macarius and about his miraculous deliverance, and received a letter of testimony from him, and returned to his home. Then he often visited this monastery (he was one of the relatives of the monk Mina and his son, Hieromonk Jacob, from whom I heard this). Who this elder was is unknown. Some believe that Saint Nicholas, and others believe that it is Methodius.
Theophan Igumen (archimandrite) of the Novo-Ezersky Monastery, an interlocutor of Archimandrite Macarius, whom he loved and honored, like the only father of the ancients, and when the rumor reached him that Peshnosha Macarius was near death, he began to regret extremely that he had not fulfilled his desire a second time to see him, and so I sympathize with him about him from grief, as if I had forgotten myself in a dream, and suddenly he sees the door to his cell open, and three elders come to him, one of whom was Macarius, who says to him: “You wanted with to see me, so I came to you.” Then Feofan, as if standing up, began to greet him out of joy and surprise and ask him to sit down. “No,” Macarius answered him, “I cannot sit with you, since I have already moved away from these people; these are my comrades, Sergius and Methodius,” and, without continuing any more, all three left his cell. Then Theophanes came to his senses and was surprised by this vision, and realized that Macarius had died. Treasurer Methodius said this.
A certain Moscow merchant's wife happened to be ill, and then one night she saw in a dream the Peshnosha Monastery in real life. After that, it happened to her that it was still painful for her to be on pilgrimage here, and when she approached the monastery, she was surprised that it looked the same as she had seen in her dream. Then, returning home, she underwent a lot of treatment, and finally the doctor refused to help her. Once in a dream she imagined a church, which she seemed to have entered, and then she saw crayfish standing on the right and left, and an old man stood up from the right crayfish and sat down, which she was very surprised and began to leave the church after praying. Then, sitting on the shrine, he says to her: “Pray to St. Methodius, he will heal you.” And she woke up, and felt a certain weakness, and soon began to recover completely, to the surprise of everyone, and she told everyone her vision, but for a long time she did not know about Methodius, and where he was, for, although she was here, she forgot about him. But when she happened to be in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, then she completely learned that the Monk Methodius was resting in Peshnosha, and she came from there to this monastery, sending thanks for her healing to the Monk Methodius. And upon returning home, she embroidered a curtain on the tomb of the monk using crimson velvet with her own hands.
From the Monk Methodius in the year 18... the peasant of Mrs. T.D. Pestrikova was healed, who had a hump in front and behind, and once Saint Methodius and the holy fool monk Jonah appeared to him in a vision. The saint Methodius repeatedly appeared in the dream of a certain sick young lady living in Moscow, giving her healing.
Around 1828, a certain peasant woman from Bezhitsa district came to this monastery, served a prayer service to St. Methodius and said that, being completely blind, St. Methodius appeared to her and healed her eyes, and sent her to this monastery to venerate his relics for healing, and even said, where this monastery is located, since it still did not know about Peshnosh (hieromonk Pimen told me about this).
In a certain village in the Tver province, the priest was very ill and did not even have hope for his recovery; he could eat little food, only tea with white bread, and always lay motionless. And at some time an elderly monk appears to him in a dream and says: “Go to my monastery.” “Which one,” the priest asks him. “To Nikola on Peshnosh,” the monk who appeared answered him. “Where is she?” - the priest asked again. “Here,” said the monk, and immediately led this priest, as if already in the monastery, straight to the fraternal meal, and there he fed him bread and gave him monastery kvass to drink. Then the priest woke up from sleep and began to call upon his priest and demanded rye bread with kvass for himself from her, who was very surprised at this and did not serve it to him for a long time, but upon urgent demand she offered it, and here he ate and drank. Then he demanded a stick and stood up, began to walk around the room, to the wonder of everyone, and soon completely recovered, and came to this monastery in 1843, in the summer, to venerate the shrine of St. Methodius and spoke about his healing and the appearance of the reverend to him (Schierodeacon Michael told me about this) .
A certain peasant brought his sick son to this monastery for treatment, all withered and barely breathing, but he was refused, and was only ordered to take oil from the tomb of St. Methodius from the lamp and St. Methodius to pray. So this peasant did this with faith, and poured this oil into the sick man’s mouth, and set off on his journey, in which then the desperate sick man felt some relief in himself, and upon arrival at the house he became healthy beyond his expectations and to the surprise of everyone. And after a year, i.e. in 1838 he came to this monastery in perfect health to worship the monk, and spoke about his healing.
The village of Borkov, Tver province, a peasant, Philip Andreev, was completely almost without legs from relaxation, and at some time a certain elder appeared to him and sent him to the Peshnosha monastery to pray to the monk, and promised healing. Then he announced this vision to his priest, and he reported this to his master, and was dismissed from him on a pilgrimage. Then he crawled on his knees for more than three days to this monastery and, not reaching this monastery, felt some relief to his legs, and after fulfilling the commanded prayer at the tomb of the monk (for he revered the one who appeared to him as the venerable Methodius), he returned from the monastery to his home already on his feet and soon recovered completely. The next summer, in 1844, he again came to the monastery to worship and told everyone about his healing with the recognition that this illness was a remedy for him, since he was a great scolder with obscene and nasty words to everyone for his own reason.
A tradesman from the city of Tver, Gordey Trefilyev, when he was still a clerk, was in a severe illness, which is why he began to walk bent over. A year later, his mother came to him (January 2, 1834) and advised him to sweat in the bathhouse. While in the bathhouse, he suddenly jumped out of it naked, without a cross, and began to scream loudly, so that his mother ran to him at the sound of his voice, who saw him all blackened and in horror. She led him back into the bathhouse and began to put the cross on him. But he snatched the cross from her and began to trample it with his feet, and at the same time uttered shameful and blasphemous words, and, weakened by rage, he lay down and was unconscious. But after half an hour he came to his senses and began to hear demonic conversations. Demons invisible to him began to denounce him and bring to mind all his sins and then told him: “For four years you have not received communion (of the Holy Mysteries). It’s already ours, it’s ours.
Ours now!” And suddenly they fell silent. Then an icon began to appear before him, depicting the Monk Methodius of Peshnosha with the image of his entire monastery. And from this icon he hears a voice: “Why don’t you fulfill your promise to go to St. Methodius of Peshnosha?” Then he was in fear and trembling at this voice, which is why he was taken out of the bathhouse into the room without his tongue, and a priest was called in, who introduced him to the Holy Mysteries. And then he lay unconscious for a whole day, and then he felt better, and on the third day he completely recovered. And in fulfillment of his promise, in the month of April he came to this monastery, and as he approached the monastery he was surprised to see the monastery exactly as it was depicted on the icon. When they served a prayer service to the monk, he saw on the tomb the icon of St. Methodius, the same one that was shown to him in a vision, from which he was moved and shed tears, telling many about himself (I heard this from Hierodeacon Martignan).
Mrs. Shishmareva Elizaveta Vasilievna, landowner of the Novo-Torzhsky district, the village of Likhoslavl, in 1843 told Hieromonk Pimen the following about herself: three years ago she had pain in her legs and saw in a dream the Monk Methodius, who ordered her to go to his relics, where she should was healed. And she asked a lot about him, but no one knew about the Monk Methodius, who he was, and where his relics were located. But when she happened to be driving to Voronezh, past the village of Rogachevo, then she learned about the Monk Methodius and considered it a duty to stop by this monastery to worship her free doctor.
Some elderly peasant woman from Kashinsky district, at some time, being extremely ill, saw in a vision a monk of short stature, gray-haired, who said to her: “Do you want to be healed?” “I wish,” she answered. “Go to my monastery.” And she asked: “What monastery?” “To Nikola, to Peshnosha,” said the monk and began to leave her hut. Then she clearly looked at him with her eyes, and immediately she felt better. She told her family about the vision, and rumors about it spread throughout the village. Then some of the peasants who heard about Peshnosha told her where the monastery was located, and in 1839 she came to worship at this monastery and served a prayer service, and lit a ruble candle to the saint of God, St. Methodius and spoke about her healing from the saint of God (schema-deacon Michael).
One of the monastics, named Cornelius, had with him a young cell attendant who was intemperate in his passions, and from whom he himself began to suffer mental harm. And for some time the Monk Methodius appeared to this monk in a dream, in a mantle and stole, but without a cape. Cornelius recognized him from the image on the icon. Standing at the door to his cell, the Monk Methodius, looking at him with an ardent eye, says to him in a menacing voice: “Why do you live with (name), calling him by his half name, “don’t live with him.” And from this menacing voice, this monk was filled with such fear and trembling that he could not answer a word to the monk, who immediately became invisible. And then the monk woke up from his sleep in horror. He was soon freed from his cohabitation, but not without sorrow. This monk himself told me this more than once in 1847 for the glory of the saint of God, the purity of soul and body, the stewards and guardian. Amen.
A certain pious man named John, whose son was in this monastery as a novice among the brotherhood, one night, in the month of September 1826, had the following dream: he imagined that he was passing inside the monastery to the noon gate, which was at the bread shop, and then sees a certain old man, lying on his bed sideways and open to the waist, in a robe and without a hood, his hair is gray and slightly oblong. On its right side there is a small palisade and in it a flower bed (garden) with transverse paths sprinkled with sand. And here he greatly admired and marveled at this beautiful flower garden, for he had never seen anything like it anywhere. And the flower garden turned out to be so pleasant for him that in my lifetime (he said) I will not forget it. And then the old man said to him: “Do you see this garden, which your son must guard? If he watches out for it and doesn’t pick flowers from it, then this will count towards him.” And he then said to him: “Father, my son will not take anything here. Then the old man said to him with mischief: “Don’t vouch for him, he wasn’t ordered to pick apples in the garden, but he, what the hell, stole.” And immediately from behind his back he took out an apple and showed it to him, red-striped. Why did he feel so ashamed that he didn’t know how to respond to this, and then the elder himself began to explain to him. “This garden,” he told him, “means the human body and flesh of its virginity, guard and guard it.” And then he again turned to look into the garden and saw many broken branches in it, some were bent, and others were completely withered. And then the elder told him about this: “Many were guarding him, but no one could guard him, they kept breaking and breaking. But if anyone preserves his virginity until eternity (death), then this will be counted towards him!” At these words of the elder, he was awakened from sleep in trepidation. Although the name of this elder is unknown, without a doubt he is the Venerable Methodius of Peshnosha, as the true guardian and planter of this immaterial garden, this monastery, the virgin purity of the brethren. But, alas, the delights of time rob, dry up and destroy the implanted purity of flesh and spirit, dedicated to God.
Some of the wanderers, who were in this monastery on pilgrimage around 1830 and were returning on their way back, went, according to the custom of all pilgrims, to bow to the chapel of St. Methodius. And in that chapel, one wanderer, who had an unclean spirit in her, was thrown to the floor by him. Then an elderly wanderer who was with them began to ask her about many things, and she answered him, lying down, without opening her eyes, in a daring voice... Then she suddenly began to say the following: Oh! I'll get along with you again! I won’t leave you, I’m a prince!” Then this wanderer asked: “Why were you given a prince?” “Because,” the demon answered, “I brought many of the monks and bishops and other clergy to hell.” And then he shouted, gnashing his teeth: “Oh! Pafnutka (Pafnuty Borovsky). ABOUT! Methodius (venerable Methodius of Peshnoshsky)! They bother me a lot. I would get along with you here if it weren’t for the bearded Methodok; O! Grey-haired!” And that wanderer again asked the demon: “After all, you were in the guest yard, and he (St. Methodius), tea, was not there.” “Yes,” answered the demon, “after all, the hotel is also his, he drags around everywhere, bearded.” And the demon was also asked by the same wanderer about the brethren, how they live (after death). To this the demon answered him that they were not ordered to talk about it.
A certain peasant girl, frightened by thunder and lightning, became possessed, and in the summer, in 1849, her mother was ordered in a dream to go with her to the Peshnosha Monastery, to the Monk Methodius. And being here in the month of July, then barely four people could drag this girl into the church to the reverend, and then she screamed and swore, and even more so blasphemed Methodius himself and said: “Here he is, the bearded one, standing and threatening me.” . And they could barely open her mouth to pour in oil from the saint’s tomb, which made her scream even more and say: “Oh! They crushed me!” And then it is unknown what happened to her.
One of the peasants was sick, and an old man, adorned with gray hair, appeared to him, called himself Methodius of Peshnosh, and allegedly led the sick man along some dark and unknown corridors, from which he later received healing (the monk Nikola said this). Some other peasants of the village of Kulikovo attempted to steal the monastery forest one night, but were then frightened by a certain monk who followed them to the borders of the monastery land and strictly forbade them to continue to do such dirty tricks to his monastery, and then became invisible. This miracle is attributed to the Monk Methodius himself, and some of them confessed this to the monk Nikola in 1849.
Avdotya, a peasant woman from the village of Bobolova, had been suffering from an incurable illness for a long time since August 1850, and one night she imagined being in this monastery, in the Sretenskaya Church. And then a certain elder (monk) approached her. Pointing to the image of the Mother of God of the Annunciation, the elder says: “Light a ten-kopeck candle for this image. I will heal you! And she came to the monastery that same day with an explanation about this vision. And many considered this monk to be St. Methodius.
Even that same year, the cassock monk Paul, confused by his thoughts, had two elders, monks in stoles, appear to him twice in a dream and edifyingly told him not to grieve. He believed these were Sergius and Methodius of Peshnoshsky. Thanks be to God, who renews the signs and wonders of His grace in this holy monastery to strengthen our faith and zeal for God, and zeal for monastic virtues and deeds.
1858, April 21 and 22, peasants from the Tver province came to this monastery on pilgrimage and said the following about themselves: 1) a man allegedly saw in a dream the Monk Methodius in the form of a beggar, asking him for alms. And when the peasant asked him where he lived, he answered: “I live on Peshnosh, there is my icon and temple.”
2) During her illness, a woman saw in a dream two elders who came to her, Sergius and Methodius. The second elder sent her to his monastery, and she immediately woke up and regretted that she had not asked what his monastery was. But soon she fell asleep again, then the saints appeared to her a second time and said that his monastery was Peshnoshskaya. Then the sick woman apologized that she could not walk due to illness and illness, but the Monk Methodius told her to cross herself and get up from her bed. When she did this, she immediately woke up from sleep and felt healthy. This phenomenon happened to her during Holy Week, and she came to the monastery healthy.
Around 1854, in the city of Dmitrov, merchant Ivan Andreev’s son Alexander broke his leg in adolescence and was very painful with it. But according to the faith of his parents, he was brought to this monastery to the Monk Methodius, and after prayer he soon began to walk and returned to Dmitrov healthy.
A peasant son from the village of Kulikov was terminally ill, and when he was brought to the Monk Methodius, and they anointed him with oil from the lamp, and gave him some to drink, he recovered completely in three days (monk Michael told me).
1860, at the beginning of June, a certain peasant from the Kalyazin district came to the monastery and told about himself that he was in some kind of misfortune and heard a voice commanding him to go to the Peshnosha monastery.
Even at the same time, a monk came from Moscow and said about himself that he was infected with binge drinking, and a monk once appeared to him in a dream and said: “If you want not to drink wine, then go to Peshsha, serve a prayer service there to the Monk Methodius,” which he did in 1860.
A peasant from the village of Kopytovo served in the village of Rogachevo, and due to the insolence of his youth, he was accustomed to always swearing with obscene words. At some time, the Monk Methodius appeared to him in a dream with a crutch and for his evil curses he reproached him and beat him with his crutch. And he then came to the saint’s tomb, asked for forgiveness and served a prayer service.
The priest of the village of Goveynovo, Father Vasily, was ill. For more than a year he no longer served or left the house, and Moscow doctors could not help him. And in 1861, in the month of January, his wife Anna dreamed of seeing an old man come to their house, without a hood, who told her this: “Why are you grieving about your husband? Do not grieve, but go to my monastery and serve a prayer service with the blessing of water for me, the Monk Methodius, and give him this water to drink, and he will recover.” She then answered him: “And I promised to serve a prayer service to the Mother of God before her miraculous icon “After the Nativity of the Virgin.” And he said to her: “You, together with Her, serve me.” And so on the 18th of the same month she came to the monastery, fulfilled the command of the monk and told many her vision. And upon recovery, the priest himself came to the monastery and spoke about himself too.
Methodius Peshnoshsky(+), abbot, founder of the Peshnosh monastery, reverendIn his youth, he came to the Monk Sergius of Radonezh and spent several years under his leadership, then, with the blessing of the Monk Sergius, he retired to a deserted place and set up a cell in the forest beyond the Yakhroma River. Soon, several students came to him in this remote and swampy area who wanted to imitate his life. The Monk Sergius visited him and gave advice to build a monastery and a temple. The Monk Methodius himself worked to build the temple and cell, “on foot” carrying trees across the river, which from then on began to be called Peshnosha.
Prayers
Troparion, tone 8:
We have been inflamed by divine love since youth, / everything that is red in the world, having hated, / you have loved the One Christ, / and for this sake you have moved into the desert, / you have created an abode in it, / and, having gathered together a multitude, / you have received from God gift of miracles, Father Methodius, / and you were an interlocutor and companion in Christ with St. Sergius, / with him, from Christ God, ask Orthodox Christians for health and salvation, / and for our souls great mercy.
Kontakion, tone 4:
Having been a good steward of obedience, / you have firmly put to shame your disembodied enemies with your tearful prayers / and you have appeared as the dwelling of the Most Holy Trinity, / In vain, blessed, it is clear, / the venerable Methodius of God, / you have received the gift of miracles from Her. / Moreover, having healed with faith the ailments that came ,/ having quenched your sorrows/ and pray unceasingly for all of us.
Used materials
- Portal calendar page Pravoslavie.ru:
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