The Life of Saint Barsanuphius of Optina - April 1st

Saint Barsanuphius, like all the Optina Fathers, acquired the gift of foresight and of healing people's physical and mental illnesses. One of his spiritual sons, the monk Innocent Pavlov, recalls how frightened he was at his first confession to Father Barsanuphius, who knew his most secret thoughts, even reminding him of things and people he had long forgotten.

Pavel Ivanovich Plikhankov, the son of John and Natalia Plikhankov, was born in the city of Samara on July 5, 1845. His mother died when he was still an infant and his father remarried so that his son would have a mother. Although strict with him, his stepmother was like a real mother to him and the child grew to love her very much.

A descendant of the Orenburg Cossacks, Pavel enlisted in the Polotsk Cadet Army. He completed his studies at the Orenburg Military School, becoming an officer. Later, he also graduated from the Petersburg Cossack Officer School, receiving service in the Kazan Military District, and eventually becoming a colonel.

Once, sick with pneumonia, Pavel felt that he did not have much longer to live. He asked the non-commissioned officer to read him from the Holy Gospel and lost consciousness. Then he had a vision in which it was as if the heavens had opened and he was frightened by that bright light. His entire life with all his sins flashed before his eyes and a feeling of repentance seized him. Then a voice told him to go to Optina Monastery, but the doctors did not believe that he would recover. His health improved and the colonel visited Optina Monastery. In August 1889, the abbot at Optina was  Saint Ambrose  (October 10), who advised Pavel to put his worldly affairs in order. After another two years, Saint Ambrose gave him his blessing to break all ties with the world and come to Optina in three months.

It was not easy for the colonel to leave military service in just three months, and he had many temptations with this obedience, as he was offered a promotion to the rank of general, asking him to postpone his retirement from the army. Some even tried to find him a wife, mocking his decision to become a monk. On the very last day of the three months, he finished solving his problems and returned to Optina. Saint Ambrose was already laid in a coffin in the monastery church.

Saint Anatole I  (January 25) succeeded Saint Ambrose as abbot of the monastery and sent Paul under obedience to Hieromonk Nectarius (April 29), as a disciple and cellmate. In 1892 he was accepted as a novice and a year later he was tonsured a rasophorus. In the ten years that followed, the rasophorus went through various stages of monastic life, being ordained a deacon (1902) and a priest (1903). The Monk Paul secretly received the schema in December 1900, due to a serious illness. When asked what name he wanted, he replied that it did not matter. He was then given the name  Barsanuphius  in honor of Saint Barsanuphius of Tver and Kazan (April 11). Although he recovered, he did not receive the robe until December 1902, after the service of the Divine Liturgy in which it was discovered that he had been tonsured on his sickbed.

On September 1, 1903, the monk Varsanufie received the obedience to assist Father Joseph, the hegumen of the hermitage, in the spiritual guidance of the brothers and sisters of the Shamordino Monastery.

At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the Monk Barsanuphius was sent to the East as a military priest, with the mission of caring for wounded soldiers. After the end of the war in August 1905, Saint Barsanuphius returned to Optina on November 1 of the same year.

Father Joseph being too old and weak to take care of the monastery's affairs,  Saint Barsanuphius  was appointed abbot in his place, quickly restoring order, discipline, paying debts, repairing buildings, and the like, in all of which he combined strictness with paternal care and gentleness for all those under his guidance.

Saint Barsanuphius, like all the Optina Fathers, acquired the gift of foresight and of healing people's physical and mental illnesses. One of his spiritual sons, the monk Innocent Pavlov, recalls how frightened he was at his first confession to Father Barsanuphius, who knew his most secret thoughts, even reminding him of things and people he had long forgotten. The saint spoke to him gently, telling him that God had allowed him to see those things about him. "While I live, do not tell anyone about what you have seen, but after my death you can tell others," the saint told him.

Saint Barsanuphius loved spiritual books, especially  the Lives of the Saints . He used to say that those who read those books with devotion would gain much. He also said that many questions of our lives find answers in the lives of the saints, because they teach us how to overcome difficulties, how to keep our faith active, to fight against the enemy and emerge victorious. Although  the Lives of the Saints  were within everyone's reach, the father was saddened when he heard that many had not read them.

Saint Barsanuphius commemorated many saints in his daily rule, and not by chance. Each saint, he explained, had a specific role in his life. If, for example, something important happened on a day, he would look up which saints were being celebrated that day, and then commemorate them every day. Later, he noticed that on their feast day, the saints protected him from troubles and dangers. On December 17, 1891, the feast day of the prophet Daniel and the three holy youths, he left Kazan and never returned. On that day, he decided to die to the world, and the saint felt then that God had delivered him from a furnace of passions, just as the three young men were delivered from a fiery furnace because they did not worship idols. The elder was convinced that he had left the world unharmed because he had not worshipped debauchery, pride, greed, and other idols.

By 1908, Saint Barsanuphius seemed to be getting sick more and more often, talking more and more about the moment of his departure from this world. In April of that year, someone sent him a package containing the great schema. The Monk Barsanuphius had long desired to be tonsured into the great schema before he died, but he had not told anyone about this except the archimandrite. Therefore, he saw in this a sign that he would go to the Lord.

One night in July 1910, the father felt so ill that he had to leave the church during the vigil and return to his cell. The next morning he could no longer stand on his own. That night he was tonsured into the great schema.

But the mercy of God granted him days and the father recovered. But other problems arose at the monastery. The new monks who came were mostly from more relaxed spiritual backgrounds and did not understand the holiness of monasticism or the notion of a confessor, so they began to demand reform and change within the monastery. They sought leadership positions and to close the hermitage. Due to numerous complaints from the newly arrived brethren, Saint Barsanuphius was transferred as abbot to the Golutvinsky Monastery. When he arrived at the new monastery, the saint found everything in disrepair. However, he did not lose his zeal and soon the monastery regained its spiritual breath. More and more people came, hearing that there was a father from Optina there, and the financial problem was also alleviated. But he had to remove the brothers who opposed the monastery rules.
​
At the beginning of 1913, Saint Barsanuphius fell ill again and asked Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow to give him a blessing to retire to Optina, but it was not to be. The saint went to the holy places on April 1, and his body remained in the church in Golotvino until April 6 (which was also Lazarus Saturday). After the service, the relics were sent by train to Optina, to be buried there. The train arrived at the Kozelsk station on April 8, and the coffin was carried by the clergy to Optina.