Hegumeness Juliana (Kaleda): We all need the advice of experienced people Игумения Иулиания (Каледа): Все мы нуждаемся в совете опытных людей

Hegumeness Juliana (Kaleda): We all need the advice of experienced people Игумения Иулиания (Каледа): Все мы нуждаемся в совете опытных людей print version December 31, 2015 14:11 Conversation with the vice-chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism , Mother Superior of the Zachatievsky Stavropegic Convent of Moscow, Abbess Julia (Kaleda) . - Mother, third year. You are performing obedience to the vice-chairman of the Synodal department for monasteries and monasticism. Today, many of the activities of the Department are judged by the monastic forums, the work of the members of the College, who more and more often go to monasteries to solve important issues of monastic life, printed publications addressed to the monastics. Tell us what else the Synodal department of monasteries and monasticism does. For what purpose was it established? - The Department (initially the Commission on Monasteries and Monastic Affairs) was established by a decision of the Holy Synod to assist reviving monasteries in organizing monastic life in accordance with the canonical provisions of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1990, the Synodal Commission on Monasteries was formed, which in different years was headed by Bishop Eulogius of Vladimir and Suzdal (now Metropolitan of Vladimir and Suzdal), now Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky Alexy (later Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich) and Archbishop Sergiev -yo-o-Zoevsky-Aleksey (later Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich) and Archbishop Sergiev -yo-o-Zoevsky-Aleksei (later Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich) and Archbishop Sergiev -yo-o-Aleksey By the decision of the Holy Synod of March 15, 2012, the Synodal Commission was transformed into the Synodal department for monasteries and monasticism. In its practical activities, the Department interacts most closely with Stavropegic monasteries. With the blessing of the Patriarch, the Chairman of the Department, the vicar of the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra, Archbishop Sergiev Posad Theognost, together with the members of the College, conducts interviews with the candidates before admission to the monastery, ordination of the clergy, before monastic, monastic and schimnic shifts. Vladyka regularly serves in Stavropegic monasteries, tries to keep abreast of monastic problems, and to one degree or another helps to solve these problems. As is well known, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is the ruling bishop and Holy Archimandrite of the Stavropegic Monasteries. The Chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism regularly acquaints His Holiness with the latest events in the life of the monasteries and provides information about them. The Synodal Department also interacts with the diocesan monasteries, diocesan bishops and, if necessary, with the Administration of the Moscow Patriarchate. For example, in order to open a new monastery in the diocese, the ruling bishop in writing asks for the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch. The petition goes to the Synodal department, after which the members of the Board of the Department leave for the site to familiarize themselves with the situation, to see the life of the community, to see if there are conditions for monastic life. The presence of a community is the main condition for creating a monastery. Sometimes, thank God, rarely, but it happens that there are temples, buildings, and there is no community as such. Often, of course, it happens the other way around: there is a dilapidated monastery, albeit not very good, but still living conditions, and there is a community. Even a small community in which people gathered in the name of Christ to work together for their salvation, fight with passions and find the way to God, is a prerequisite for the beginning of monastic life. The external living conditions of the future monastery must also meet certain requirements of the state system (the presence of a registered right to property, to a land plot). To help the newly emerging monasteries in 2011, the Commission on Monasteries and Monasticism developed proposals on the main criteria for opening new monasteries, which were included in the Holy Synod Recommendations to diocesan bishops regarding the opening of monasteries. - Does the College ever come to close the monastery? - We have no such thing - to close the monastery: there is a concept to abolish the monastery. There have been cases when the bishops received requests for the abolition of the monastery. Say, the monastery is in the very center of the city, and the community is deprived of proper living conditions. Then the bishop decides to create a bishop's residence or a parish church at this place, and transfer the community to where there are more suitable conditions for the life of monastics. Sometimes the bishop decides to abolish the monastery due to the small number of inhabitants, but community life continues. “Mother, you said that the Synodal Section helps monasteries solve problems. How exactly does the department get a call for help? - The Department receives a signal from the diocesan monasteries, as a rule, comes from the Administration of the Moscow Patriarchate. It is there that letters from diocesan bishops and monasteries come. The manager sends them to us with the appropriate resolution from the hierarchy, so that we understand the situation. - Is the manager the first instance where monasteries can turn for help? - Monastic life is multifaceted: some issues are under the jurisdiction of the ruling bishop of the diocese, for others it is necessary to contact the Manager. In practice, we are often called by abbess and abbess to consult on how to act in one or another situation of everyday monastic life, and we always try to help in solving practical issues related to the office, business activities, restoration, relations with state bodies or concerning internal life cloisters. It should be noted that, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, the diocesan monasteries every year cooperate more closely with the Synodal department for monasteries and monasticism. So, in December of this year, within the framework of the regional stage of the XXIV International Christmas Educational Readings, the first meeting of the leaders of the diocesan structures responsible for the monasteries was held, the participants of which had the opportunity to discuss issues of monastic life in the regions, legal and economic issues, and to get acquainted with the main activities COMM. 130 people became participants of this meeting, including representatives of such remote dioceses as the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Kuril, Chita, and Korsun ones. - Is the Department’s Commission in the monasteries well received when she arrives in the diocese on a signal for help? - As a rule, very good. Of course, we, like any bosses from Moscow, are awaited "with fear and trembling." We, in turn, always try to come to help in a brotherly or sisterly way. All members of the College themselves are the abbess and abbess of the monasteries and know the monastic life from the inside. They are familiar with all the problems and temptations of monasticism, and therefore we do not come at all to find and punish the guilty, but to help cope with this or that situation. Therefore, as a rule, in the process of communication, good, and sometimes even friendly relations with the monasteries to which we come are formed. - Another area of ​​activity of the Department is the monastic forums and conferences that have become traditional. Materials of the conferences are published by the Department on the official website, later they are published in printed form. Unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to attend conferences and other forums. Tell us what is the purpose of these meetings. - We need such meetings, first of all, for communication. The Lord says: "Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them." Although we are abbess or abbess of the monasteries, we all need the advice of experienced people, because perfection, as we know, there is no limit. When we received the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch to hold conferences, we began to think about how exactly this should be done. We all have one goal: the quest for Christ, the building up of the Kingdom of Heaven within our hearts, the struggle against passions, and this is the patristic way of fulfilling the Gospel commandments. "Christ is the same yesterday and this day forever," and the monastic tradition remains unchanged. And although we, weak and weak, people of the XXI century, we cannot bear the feats that were carried by Christians of the first centuries, but we are obligated to fulfill the Commandments, to fight passions, to purify our hearts so that the grace of the Holy Spirit can live in it. That is why the direction was chosen to cover the monastic traditions and experiences of the Fathers, as these traditions follow. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, we study the experience of the Local Churches, invite monastics from the Holy Mount Athos, from the monasteries of other Local Churches to the forums. But, which is very important, we do not strive to adopt the features of this or that Church, we are not going to change the traditions that have developed in us, but are only trying to join the rich patristic experience that has been accumulated over two thousand years of the history of Christianity. At the first conference, which was held in 2013 at the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra, Metropolitan Athanasius of Limassol, who had labored on Mount Athos for 22 years, was invited to the monastery as abbot, and now nourishes several male and female monasteries on the island of Cyprus. Vladyka expressed a very important idea that when we get together, we talk about the experience of the holy Fathers and about the tradition that they passed to each other - from teacher to student. In this case, it is a question of the spiritual foundations of the monastic work, and external forms, such as the diversity of the monastic vestment, do not have any meaning for our salvation. When we meet, we talk about the essence of monasticism, about how to connect with Christ. During our meetings, the hegumen and abbess of the monasteries share their reflections based on the patristic teachings and their own experiences, both positive and negative, in order to help each other avoid mistakes and benefit from the organization of monastic life. - At the last conference, which took place on September 23-24, 2015 in the Pokrovsky Stavropegic Monastery in Moscow, the abbess and the superior thought discussed a number of issues in round tables. And the issues of the monastic life of the women's and men's monasteries were discussed separately - the abbess and the abbess gathered at round tables in different buildings. Please share your impressions of the past event. It seems that the discussion at the round table for the abbess took place quite lively? - This is the first experience of holding such a round table. We did not specifically prepare in advance the topics of the messages, but decided to simply discuss the issues of internal guidance of the sisters, share our thoughts and experiences with each other. And, in general, the discussion really turned out to be alive. Perhaps not everyone was ready for it, but we are quite pleased with this first experience. The abbess talked about whether the monastic community can become a family, how to build good relations in the sisterhood based on the mutual trust of the sisters, both on the abbess and among themselves. This is a very important point in the inner life of the monastery: after all, one can arrange everything correctly from an administrative point of view, but not have a full-fledged monastic community, and then the monastery will not be a family where people love and respect each other. They also talked about the fact that it is very important for the abbess, fulfilling administrative obedience, to remain a mother for the sisters, to attend worship services together, at a common meal, to communicate with the sisters. After all, the example of abbess inspires and organizes. If mother and sisters pray in the service, then the Lord Himself begins to act between them. In the monastery, as in the family, it is impossible all the time just to do the work, only to do obedience. Everyone needs moments of rest when people just meet, talk to each other. On the example of my monastery, I see how the sisters need it. We try to find an opportunity to get together: discuss monastic issues, read the Holy Fathers or the Patriarch's sermons, comprehend what was read, and go on pilgrimages together. All this helps to overcome the alienation and unites the monastic community. It is very important when we are not afraid to say something to each other, when the sisters express their opinions, their vision of a particular issue. Of course, the last word always remains with the abbess, but it is very important for the monastic community, when all its members have the opportunity to speak. Indeed, according to the word of the apostle, in the first Christian community there was one heart and one soul — so it should be with us. To do this, you need to hear each other and come to a common opinion. Indeed, after we find a common solution, we begin to act and it is very important that our actions reflect our unanimity. All these issues were discussed at the round table. - You said that it is very important for the abbess, in fulfilling administrative obedience, to remain a mother. But the mother, no matter how affectionate she is, is forced from time to time to be strict. Does the abbess often have to be strict with the sisters? What is the severity of the abbot cross? - It is always easier to kindly negotiate with a person, but when it does not work, you have to use power, as they say. It is very difficult for me, I am a person of a gentle nature and then I myself experience almost more than those to whom I was strict. The sisters have different characters, and it is very important in each particular case to find such a method of influence that will bring the greatest spiritual benefit to the sister. In a monastery as in a family: if the mother does not protect her child from danger, the child can be crippled. Although sometimes the mother allows some negative experience to be, if the child does not understand in an amicable way, for his own good. Hegumenia is responsible for the souls of the sisters. A special prayer is recited during her being ordained, where the Lord entrusts her with the souls of the sisters, whom she must bring to Christ and for whom she will answer on the Day of Judgment. This is the whole burden of the cross of the Abbess - to answer not only for himself, but also for the entrusted souls. After all, in fact, none of us can say anything in his defense. If such righteous people as Rev. Sisoy the Great, before their death, said they did not know whether repentance had begun and whether their works were pleasing to the Lord, then what could sinners tell us about themselves? This responsibility only plunges us to the feet of the Savior and the Mother of God with the plea for help to fulfill obedience, because it is impossible for human forces. Abbess Sergius, the abbess of the Diveevo monastery, the largest convent in Russia, when she was asked at one of our meetings to share the experience of building the monastery and asked what helps her in the hegumen's ministry, answered that, above all, of course, prayers to the Lord and awareness its weakness. Mother then said: “I understand that I myself cannot control my sisters, therefore I always pray for them and put all the trust in the Lord, on the Lady of Heaven, on St. Seraphim.” - Mother, you are a member of the Presidium of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church. This year, the Presence Commission on the organization of monasteries and monasticism was headed by Metropolitan George of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas. The draft "Regulations on monasteries and monastics" when discussing the network gathered a very large number of comments. What is the current state of the document and why, do you think, not only monastics, but also laymen showed such an interest in it? - The draft “Regulations on Monasteries and Monastics” was prepared by the Commission on the Organization of Monasteries and Monasticism and submitted to the Secretariat of the Presence for consideration at the Bishops' Council. Currently, the Commission, chaired by His Eminence Metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, Georgy is developing a sample of the Charter of the inner life of the monastery. These are important documents that help us organize both external and internal monastic life. With regard to the interest of the laity to these documents, that is, the amazing words of St. John Climacus: "The light to the monks is angels, and the light of the laity is monks." Monasteries have always been for the laity a kind of beacon among the stormy life of the sea and attracted people not only from those who decided to devote themselves to God, but in general all believers. Looking at these beacons, Christians find their way to salvation. Recall how settlements were built up earlier, how Sergiev Posad, for example, came into being. St. Sergius retired from the world to save his soul. But around his cell in the deep forest the brethren began to settle, then ordinary people, and so the whole settlement arose. It is known that suburban settlements were formed around many monasteries, and then cities. It has always been this way, and we hope that this will happen. And nowadays we often find out that when somewhere in the outback a monastery or a courtyard is reborn, life changes around: people come to faith, nearby villages rise from the ruins, the earth begins to bear fruit, the birth rate rises ... Therefore, I think interest in monastic life has always been and remains with the laity today.