Abbess Xenia (Chernega): the maintenance of Isaac in proper condition will most likely be carried out at the expense of subsidies. Krasnoselskaya monastery in the city

Interview with Abbess Xenia (Chernega) of the Moscow Patriarchy, Head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Legal Service, Alekseevsky Stauropegial Convent.

- Mother, bless! Since 2010, you have been the head of the Legal Service of the Moscow Patriarchy. Since 2014 - Abbess of the Alekseevsky Stauropegial Convent. Both of these obediences require full dedication of energy and involve a lot of work. And yet the most important thing for a monk should remain prayer. Please share your experience, how do you manage to allocate time so that it is enough for everything that you are called to.

- Even in my youth, I realized the benefits of the “daily regimen”. During her school years, she learned to plan her time, and as a student, she gained the skill to make every effort to fulfill the planned for the day.

Now this skill helps me a lot, although more and more often I come to the conclusion that, due to the obediences carried, I no longer “belong to myself”, that is, I can’t “build” my day the way I would like. Communication with people - spiritual or business - requires dedication, effort, and, as a result, redrawing one's own plans.

Since my obediences are focused primarily on active service to others, I am forced to devote my day to this first of all. As a result, I go to the nursing rule in the evening. I try to pray at the Midnight Office, but I don't always find the strength to get up so early. I can't attend the Liturgy every day. I hope for the mercy of God, as well as for the prayers of the sisters and those who remember me. By the way, my sisters and I really appreciate the night services, where we pray without the participation of parishioners. These services give a lot to the nun, instilling vigor, joy and a special feeling of unity with those who labored in the monastery before us. At such services, it seems to me that the temple is full of invisible prayer books. It's an amazing feeling.

I must say that I cherish the reverent attitude to the temple and worship. I am internally disgusted by the discussion of everyday issues in the temple, reading extraneous texts, telephone conversations. Alas, more and more often one has to deal with people, including priests, immersed in divine services in earthly affairs. In our fast-paced age, of course, I want to be in time for everything: to pray and solve everyday problems. Some believe that the grace of worship covers everything, and that at the Liturgy or during the monastic rule it is even more convenient to solve many everyday issues, since the mind is enlightened and the necessary decisions are found, which at other times would not have come to.

But for many years I have followed a different rule for the distribution of my time. If urgent negotiations are required of me, review of documents, etc., I linger and, accordingly, be late for the service, so as not to overshadow it with fuss, depriving the soul of a reverent attitude towards the temple. I put away my mobile phone in the temple, completely turning off the sound. If for some reason I have to do otherwise, I feel inner devastation. In addition, the vain behavior of the abbess in the church is passed on to the sisters and clergy.

— In one of your interviews, you said that you honor the Royal Family and, when you have to defend the interests of the Church, you feel the invisible help of the Royal Martyrs. Surprisingly, in our society, the notions of a “weak tsar” imposed by Soviet ideology and the need to change the formation that developed at the beginning of the 20th century still live in our society. Could you tell us a little more about the help you received? In what cases?

- My attitude towards the Royal family was formed in my youth. I was not thirty then. I remember that when I first learned about the details of the death of the last Tsar, I experienced a strong shock, coupled with bewilderment and annoyance from the fact that I did not know about this before, because neither Soviet history textbooks nor other public literature contained this information.

I also remember that I could not help crying while reading N. Sokolov's book "The Murder of the Royal Family." And then I re-read it several times. Then I began to buy and collect books about the Royal Family, reading and rereading them with attention. Until now, in my free time, which is extremely rare for me, I read literature related to the reign of the last Tsar.

Actually, this constant renewal in the memory of pre-revolutionary events and the subsequent revolution helps me, first of all, calmly, without unnecessary emotional outbursts, to experience the failures, troubles and sorrows of our days. This applies, by the way, to all the temptations associated with the performance of legal and hegumen obedience. There are many negative things to see in modern life. And the more responsible obedience, the more clearly a person (patiently bearing this cross) sees the obstacles that stand in the way of goodness and truth, the more prominent the “mystery of lawlessness” becomes for him. It is necessary to find an "antidote" from the surrounding negativity in order not to "break", not to "burn out", to maintain inner peace and a clear conscience. For me, such an “antidote”, in addition to prayer, is the remembrance of the feat of the Royal Family, first of all, the Sovereign.

Indeed, it is said that he was a "weak Tsar". This is due to the numerous memoirs of his ill-wishers. In my opinion, he was just a gentle, delicate person, which can hardly be considered a disadvantage. By the way, this is what the Sovereign is close to me, since personally I am a gentle person by nature, and the obediences entrusted to me require firmness and endurance. Emotional outbursts, tears, heart-to-heart talks inherent in the female sex are unacceptable. I know from experience that excessive frankness with people (and sometimes you want to be a sincere and easy-to-communicate person) can harm the cause, create unexpected obstacles in carrying obedience.

And I think how difficult it was for the Sovereign - a gentle, simple-hearted person - to carry the colossal administrative burden of governing the state and the people. The fact is that management requires firmness, steadfastness, confidence in the correctness of the decisions made, and gentle people tend to change their decisions, doubt, hesitate - most often out of pity for the person and delicacy. Hence the inevitable train of ridicule, whispering, slander... For the Sovereign and his Family, all this turned into Golgotha.

It was not a change in “formation” that took place in Russia at the beginning of the last century, but the vile murder of a man who, having individual characteristics characteristic of any person and, perhaps, not appealing to someone, was not just the ruler of the country and commander in chief, but the Anointed of God , "Retaining". I am sure that for this treacherous murder of the Tsar, the Lord punished us with many sorrows.

— Your service to the Church is inextricably linked with your qualifications, your education. You have repeatedly participated in the preparation of bills that help Orthodox believers in our country protect their rights. In the liberal media, we often read and hear about the "fusion of Church and State." And how, from a legal point of view, can one assess the position of the Church and the Orthodox Christian in our society?

- The merging of the Church with the state is an abstract reasoning for me. Russia is not the Vatican. The fundamental law of the country, the Constitution of Russia, declares the separation of religious associations from the state. Therefore, the state law does not contain any norms defining the hierarchical structure of confessions and concerning the rules for managing religious organizations.

Only naive people or outright ill-wishers can see the “merging” of the Church with the state in the fact that the state goes towards the Russian Church and supports some of our initiatives. The law, by the way, allows such interaction. Moreover, the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations” provides for the possibility of granting tax and other benefits to religious organizations, providing financial, material and other assistance to religious organizations in the restoration, maintenance and protection of buildings and objects that are monuments of history and culture, and also in the implementation of charitable activities, ensuring the teaching of general education disciplines in educational organizations created by religious organizations in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on education.

Thus, the interaction of the Church with state bodies is carried out within the framework of the existing legal field and the Church does not assume any state functions. All the attributes of "merging" - in particular, the registration of marriages, births, deaths - the state took over at the beginning of the last century. I note that along with these functions, which the Church performed before the revolution, the state also seized the church's movable and immovable property and, despite all the idle arguments about “merging” with the Church, it is not very willing to return these objects to us. Observing the process of transferring property for religious purposes, I can say that we are very far from “merging” with the state in this area.

The Russian Church has been and remains the leading denomination of Russia, the main spiritual and moral stronghold. In the law, of course, you will not find these formulations. The Preamble of the Federal Law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" speaks of the leading role of Orthodoxy in the history of Russia, in the formation and development of its spirituality and culture. However, there are no norms guaranteeing or at least specifying this leading role of Orthodoxy in the legislation. In many respects, the proper consolidation of such a leading role is hindered by the principle of equality of religious organizations before the law, provided for by the Constitution of Russia. Although jurists have long noted the fallacy of a literal interpretation of this principle, which identifies equality with equal rights. So, for example, the Constitution guarantees the equality of citizens, but, as you know, the scope of the rights of a particular citizen largely depends on which social group he belongs to: whether he is a pensioner, having many children, a civil servant or a military man. Therefore, "equality" - in the legal sense of the word - does not at all imply equality. In essence, we are talking about equality before the law, that is, the obligation of everyone without exception to comply with state law. Accordingly, the equality of religious organizations before the law, declared by the Russian Constitution, means their duty to comply with the norms of the law, which may also provide for a differentiated approach to determining the status of religious associations. Therefore, the initiatives of deputies to supplement the legislation with norms classifying religious organizations into "traditional" and "non-traditional" are periodically renewed in the State Duma.

- Tell us, please, about what exactly you are currently doing? What was especially significant done over the past year by the Legal Service of the Moscow Patriarchate?

— I don't know if the reader will be interested in the report on the work of the US MP. We conduct many different areas: legislative work, negotiations with state bodies on the development and amendment of both laws and by-laws, state registration of religious organizations, as well as transactions with property in Moscow, maintaining an internal church register of church property in the city of Moscow, participation in the process transfer of religious property to religious organizations, conducting litigation. The document flow of the US MP is quite large, but feasible for us.

In addition to fulfilling the instructions of His Holiness the Patriarch, formalized in the form of his resolutions, we maintain relationships with dioceses, synodal departments, parishes and monasteries, giving advice on various legal issues. This year, with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, US MP will hold traveling legal seminars in all metropolitan areas. His Holiness also expanded the staff of the US MP at the expense of lawyers from the Moscow vicariates, who now have one official working day at the US MP.

I believe that our main purpose is to help in solving complex legal issues. The Legal Service of the Patriarchate was created precisely for the purpose of helping church structures. We are trying to justify this purpose.

Those who wish can familiarize themselves with the results of legislative work for the past year by reading the attached Certificate.

- In the last days of September 2015, the International Theological Scientific and Practical Conference "Monasticism of Holy Russia: from the origins to the present" was held in the Intercession Monastery in Moscow. The report of the Archbishop of Berlin and Germany Mark was devoted to the topic of the correlation of modern technologies and renunciation of the world in the conditions of the monastery. Vladyka Mark spoke in some detail about how the brethren of the monastery entrusted to His Eminence, while fulfilling the necessary obediences, try not to lose their prayerful spirit. In speeches at other monastic forums, I have repeatedly heard such words: the more things we have to do, the more we need to pray. This is true, but there are objective limitations on the physical capabilities of a person and the number of hours in a day. How to manage everything and not lose the monastic spirit, “not burn out”, as they say now?

- Yes, you need to "burn, but not burn out." To do this, you should adhere to the “golden mean” in everything, even in small things, and not take on something that clearly exceeds your strength, since the consequences of overestimating your capabilities can be catastrophic. It is necessary to avoid the state of “winding up” and, when it comes, retire to rest and pray.

In general, you need to control your internal state. It's not about the number of deeds and prayers, but how all this affects your inner life. Everyone has their own measure. I think this should be remembered by everyone who is placed in leadership positions. Personally, I am against five-year plans and shock work, because we are weak and often strong loads end in breakdowns. "The quieter you go, the further you'll get". I think, for example, that the nuns should have one day a week for a relative "shutter" and detachment from ordinary affairs. Our monastery, which, by the way, is located in a noisy and ecologically unfavorable place (near the third ring, in the immediate vicinity of Auchan), has a fertile "vent" - a skete in a secluded corner of Sokolniki Park, where additional cells are equipped for sisters. We try to go there every week, two by two, at least for half a day, for walks in the air, spiritual reading and solitary prayer.

I also follow a similar rule about giving employees the necessary rest in the Legal Service, for fear of “driving in” people and thereby robbing them of their taste for work.

— Mother, please tell us about your monastery and how you became a nun. After all, you knew that you would have to continue to engage in legal activities and in the dignity too, and yet you accepted monasticism.

– The Alekseevsky Monastery is the oldest monastery in the capital, founded in the 14th century on the initiative of the sisters of St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow, Saints Juliana and Eupraxia, who, according to researchers, labored in our monastery. Initially, the monastery was located on Ostozhenka, in the very place where the Zachatievsky Monastery is now located.

At the end of the 16th century, the Alekseevsky Monastery, after a devastating fire, was moved closer to the Kremlin, in Chertolye. At the same time, some of the sisters remained in the fire and formed the Zachatievsky convent.

In 1832, the place occupied by the Alekseevskaya Convent was chosen by Sovereign Emperor Nicholas I to place the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, was looking for a new place for the ancient monastery. For this purpose, he sent Archimandrite Gabriel of the Danilov Monastery "to the Tikhvin Church, to inspect the area, whether it is convenient for a convent." The metropolitan had in mind the Tikhvin Church in Sushchev, and the archimandrite suggested that Vladyka was sending him to the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross in Krasnoe Selo, popularly known as Tikhvinskaya because of the miraculous icon in it. Father Archimandrite went to Krasnoye Selo and, having examined the area near the church, came to the conclusion that it was suitable for accommodating a convent. Reporting to the Metropolitan on the results of the inspection, Archimandrite Gabriel added that the nuns would be able to use the "knots" of the neighboring grove to fire the monastery stoves. The mention of the grove surprised Vladyka. Then it turned out that the archimandrite looked at a place that was not at all the one that the metropolitan had in mind. However, St. Philaret reasoned that "the Queen of Heaven is pleased to transfer the monastery to this church." So it was decided to move our monastery to Krasnoye Selo, to the Exaltation of the Cross Church, in which the miraculous Tikhvin icon of the Mother of God was located. This intention was carried out in 1837.

It was hard for the sisters of the monastery to part with their native walls. There is a legend that Abbess Claudia, the abbess of the Alekseevsky monastery at that difficult time for the monastery, predicted the death of the future temple, which happened already in the Soviet period. Now the Cathedral of Christ the Savior has been restored. In the basement of the church building, in the very niche where the Moskva pool once stood, on the initiative of the late His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, the lower Transfiguration Church with a chapel of St. Alexy, the man of God, was founded. The aforementioned temple was founded in memory of the Transfiguration Church of the Alekseevsky Convent, which once stood on this site.

So, in October 1837, the sisters of the monastery, in a procession, in which pilgrims also participated, moved to a new place, to Krasnoye Selo, which at that time was practically uninhabited and deserted. With them they carried the shrines of the monastery - in particular, the ancient icons of the Mother of God "Georgian" and "Healer". After the revolution, these icons were transferred to the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Sokolniki, where they remain to this day.

The monastery reached its peak in the second half of the 19th century under Abbess Anthony (Troilina), who began her monastic journey at the Borodino convent, where the future abbess was a cell-attendant of the original convent, Abbess Maria (Tuchkova). It was Abbess Anthony, appointed abbess of our monastery at the age of fifty, who introduced the beginnings of a hostel in the monastery, built a refectory building, laid a new building for the monastery almshouse and hospital with a house church in the name of the Archangel Michael of God. She also conceived and carried out the construction of the Church of All Saints, with the restoration of which in 1991 began the revival of church life in this place.

It should be noted that Abbess Anthony was a spiritual friend of the famous publicist M. Katkov, who was hated by the liberal public of that time for his patriotic views. A staunch patriot of her Fatherland, mother conducted extensive charitable activities by transferring funds for social projects. And this despite the fact that the monastery itself carried a significant social burden. For example, at the monastery there was a school for South Slavic girls to train folk teachers for the Slavic lands. In addition to the aforementioned school, a school for girls from poor families of clergymen was created at the monastery, in which the pupils lived and studied. Matushka was an honorary member of the Ladies' Branch of the Slavic Charitable Committee. Abbess Anthony was a strong and interesting personality. In 2017, we will be celebrating the 120th anniversary of Matushka's death and are preparing a short book about her life.

In the 30s of the last century the monastery was closed; most of the sisters were exiled to Kazakhstan and the North. The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church glorified the novices of the Alekseevsky monastery Anna and Matrona (Makandins), who were shot on March 14, 1937 at the Butovo training ground, as well as the novices Euphrosinia (Timofeeva), who died in custody on November 5, 1942, as saints. Novice Anna (Makandina) is depicted on the icon of the New Martyrs of Butovo.

... The Lord knows why I became a nun, and I think that's enough. I can only say that I was guided by love for Christ, and not by external life circumstances. In 2008, I turned to the late His Holiness Patriarch Alexy with a request for a blessing for tonsure, and he expressed his intention to take tonsure himself during the Advent Fast of the same year. At that time, I had been working in the Patriarchate for the fourth year as a legal adviser. At the beginning of the Lent, His Holiness Alexy died and did not have time to tonsure me. At the same time, with his blessing, the monastic clothes were ready.

By the Providence of God, my monastic, and later monastic tonsure was performed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. I remember that His Holiness was surprised at the intention of the lawyer of the Patriarchate to become a nun and immediately warned me that tonsure would not free me from my obedience. However, in this warning of the Patriarch, I did not see an obstacle to the fulfillment of my long-standing desire.

In general, I consider it a great shortcoming in a believer to dream about himself and evade the desired achievement with reference to life circumstances, including his profession. This is especially sad for single persons, not burdened with family responsibilities, who, having a desire or a blessing to go to Christ, are not going to get married, and are not in a hurry to enter a monastery, amusing themselves with the thought: “if there weren’t certain circumstances, and I, of course, I would already be in a monastery.” Meanwhile, time passes, and with it the strength that you could spend on a holy feat leaves, the firmness of the intention to devote yourself to Christ also leaves. “Son, give Mi your heart…” – and it doesn’t matter if you are a lawyer, an engineer or a dentist. The Lord will determine what kind of obedience you will bear after the tonsure. But we must remember that monasticism is a special vocation.

— The Church, like any community, of course, always feels the need for highly qualified specialists. However, when a person enters a monastery, often his path as a worker, novice, or monk begins with simple work that does not require special education or special skills. And even if in the world a person was a highly qualified specialist in his field, in a monastery he does not always do what his former life was devoted to. Vladyka Mark, in his speech at the conference, even said that if a person's work in the world was connected with IT technologies, then in the monastery it would be better to free him from the computer altogether. What do you think about this?

“I confess that I am not close to such reasoning. If the resident is a lawyer or an accountant, then why not hire her to work in the monastery in her specialty, because otherwise the monastery will have to hire a worker for money, and in the complete absence of guarantees of his conscientiousness and responsibility. Our monastery is not rich and not numerous. Therefore, I cannot allow myself to define a sister who had a specialty in the world for the necessary convent, for obedience unrelated to her profession.

I'll give you an example. In the monastery, one of the novices is a professional cook, who at one time was in charge of the dining room. Now it is very difficult to find good cooks for a moderate salary. It is clear that I left my sister in the refectory obedience, which she willingly fulfills, especially since I have to feed not only the sisters, but also the old inhabitants of the almshouse, workers and children of the comprehensive school at the monastery.

I think that when distributing sisterly obediences, it is necessary to take into account the circumstances in which the monastery is placed. At the same time, of course, it is important not to “put pressure” on a sister if, say, she refuses to carry out an obedience that corresponds to her worldly profession or qualifications. By “putting pressure” on a person and achieving one’s own goal, one can achieve a completely opposite result - a sister’s secret or overt protest in the form of indifferent passivity or, on the contrary, murmuring. It is more terrible when a sister falls ill due to mental or physical anguish. All this, as a rule, is followed by the sister's alienation from her mother, fear of her, which is fraught with serious misunderstandings, because the sisters should see the mother abbess in the mother, and not the commander of the military unit. However, great insight is also needed so that negligent souls do not take advantage of your condescension and kindness.

“Our website is read not only by monastics, but also by the laity. Many of them believe that it is difficult for a Christian to be a lawyer. Is it so? I know parents who were against their children getting a law degree, because they believe that lawyers often have to be cunning, tell lies, and so on.

“A true Christian does not need to be afraid of difficulties. Through overcoming obstacles, very valuable spiritual qualities are developed - willpower, prudence, patience, the ability not to lose heart and not despair even in the most difficult circumstances. And therefore, I do not regret at all that I received a legal education and continue to engage in professional activities that involve protecting the rights of believers, and hence the work and experiences associated with this. All this tempers and makes the soul wiser. I take my ministry as given to me by God. It is in His will to continue this ministry.

As for the craftiness and cunning of the jurists, let me tell you about one conversation with a clergyman, whitened with gray hairs. This conversation with him took place in my youth, but I remember it for the rest of my life. "Are you a lawyer?" the interlocutor asked me. “Yes,” I replied. “Don’t lie,” I was told, “but don’t tell the truth either.” Indeed, prudence, caution in words and deeds is very important for a lawyer. Having knowledge of any circumstances related to professional activities, it is important not to condemn the innocent, that is, not to lie, not to slander. On the other hand, one should not “cut the truth-womb” in a society where this truth will not be believed anyway. And other "truth" can seriously hurt a person. Finding the “golden mean” is, of course, an art that one learns all one’s life…

Interviewed by Ekaterina Orlova

***

Information about the main changes in the legislation of the Russian Federation for 2015

The following legislative changes took place in the past year.

Federal Law No. 80-FZ of April 6, 2015 introduced important changes to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation in order to remove religious organizations from the scope of a number of articles of the aforementioned code that do not comply with the internal regulations of the leading Russian denominations. At the same time, amendments were made to the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations”, according to which the participation of founders and other legal entities or individuals in the activities of religious organizations is determined by the charter and (or) internal regulations of religious organizations.

Federal Law No. 103-FZ of April 20, 2015 amended the penal legislation aimed at legally fixing the mechanism of interaction between the Federal Penitentiary Service bodies and the leading Russian confessions, regulating the status of house churches in prison and other institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service, ensuring the access of clergy to prisoners in for the purpose of performing the necessary church sacraments, as well as regulating the transfer of religious objects to religious organizations located on the territory of the institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service.

Law No. 261-FZ of July 13, 2015 amended the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” according to which teaching religion and religious education are not educational activities and therefore are not subject to licensing. With the adoption of this amendment, the prosecutor's office and other state bodies will not require Sunday schools to obtain licenses to carry out educational activities.

Also, Federal Law No. 314-FZ of November 23, 2015 amended the legislation on combating extremist activity, establishing a ban on referring the Bible to extremist materials.

Finally, Federal Law No. 341-FZ of November 28, 2015 was adopted, which removes religious organizations from the scope of a number of provisions of the Federal Law “On Non-Commercial Organizations” that regulate issues of control over the activities of NGOs and their submission of reports. In turn, the Federal Law "On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations" was supplemented with norms according to which only those religious organizations that are financed from foreign sources will submit reports to the justice authorities. The remaining religious organizations will send a statement to the justice authorities indicating the absence of foreign sources of funding. In addition, the new law significantly limits the ability of the judiciary to verify the financial and economic activities of religious organizations. Such a check will be carried out only if the religious organization is financed from foreign sources and (or) if there is information about the violation by the religious organization of the legislation of the Russian Federation.

In conclusion, I would like to note the Law of the City of Moscow dated June 24, 2015 No. 29, which provides for the exemption of religious organizations from paying sales tax in relation to trade carried out in religious buildings and structures and on land plots related to them.

Synodal department for monasteries and monasticism/Patriarchy.ru

Almost the only article of all found on the net, where it is adequately assessed (in my opinion, of course) all the versatility of the image and many other "dignities" of this scandalous, although far from stupid, person who calls herself "nun Xenia".

However, the activity of the couple concerns not only Moscow. The aforementioned Gennady Belovolov, with whom in 2009 they organized a "creative evening in memory of the Patriarch" with the participation of the "choir of boys of the Pioneer Studio" and other young talents, has recently had obvious problems with the diocesan authorities. On January 17 of this year, he was under a plausible pretext removed from the post of rector of the “reviving" metochion. The property under his control he (however, like most of these priests) assessed as personal: “When I read the document, I realized that now all my churches and parishes are not mine, that now I I can serve them. I remember the feeling that visited me: now I am nobody and nobody, a shepherd without a flock, a captain without a ship, a father without a family. "It turned out that Belovolov, who was the organizer of the apartment-museum of St. John of Kronstadt, important for the modern Russian Orthodox Church, recorded it in private possession - either on themselves, or on figureheads.

Where do you think the sympathetic church community would like to move an economic and intelligent pastor who is able to create a museum and knows something about restoration? Of course, to Isaac, to the place of the keykeeper - the main manager of property! It would seem, what does Chernega have to do with it, who is in charge of the legal part of the transfer of such a huge object of state property? Formally, of course, nothing. Yes, and not the fact that this appointment will take place. It is not a fact that now the cathedral will fully go to the ROC.

27.12.2013

On December 23, 2013, in the home church of the Patriarchal and Synodal Residence in the Danilov Monastery, the monastic tonsure of the abbess of the new Moscow monastery, the Alekseevskaya stauropegial convent, revived on a historical site in Krasnoye Selo, took place. The head of the Legal Service of the Moscow Patriarchate, nun Xenia (Chernega), was tonsured a small schema with the name Xenia in honor of Saint Blessed Xenia of Petersburg. What the new obedience is like, what the sisters will do, and how the monastery came into being, Mother Xenia tells the readers of the Parish portal.

How do you see the Alekseevsky monastery?

- Created in 1360, the Alekseevsky Monastery is the oldest convent in Moscow. The heavenly patron of the monastery is St. Alexis, a man of God. And I think that the sisters of the monastery should draw strength from his life to carry the monastic cross. This saint of God fled from the world. Leaving the family hearth, he chose a truly monastic path of prayer, fasting and sorrow. His feat was secret. And this is also a role model for us.

Undoubtedly, the Alekseevsky Monastery will follow the traditions of female monasticism. The monastery also has its own traditions, which can be gleaned from pre-revolutionary evidence about the life of its nuns. Over the past twenty years, with the arrival of the Church of All Saints in Krasnoe Selo, an archive was collected from personal belongings, photographs of the inhabitants of the Alekseevsky Monastery. Now they are exhibited in a small museum of the recreated monastery. We feel the prayerful help of our predecessors.

I must say that some of them are canonized as saints. In addition to the founders of the Alekseevsky monastery, Saints Juliania and Eupraxia, the novices of the monastery were also glorified: the monks Anna and Matrona (Makandins), Euphrosinia (Timofeeva), who suffered during the years of godless persecution.

By the prayerful intercession of the saints, our monastery was revived. They will not leave us even during the difficult years of the formation of monastic life.

In the 19th century, the monastery, thanks to the efforts of one of the outstanding abbesses of our monastery, Anthony (Troilina), differed from other city monasteries in its social orientation. Under him, there was an almshouse, a school for South Slavic girls, a school for girls from families of low-income clergymen.

City monasteries, in my opinion, cannot be completely isolated from the world. According to the concept of rebuilding the Alekseevsky Monastery approved by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, an almshouse, a school and other social institutions will function at the monastery.

Why was it necessary to recreate the Alekseevsky Monastery? Who are its inhabitants?

– The monastery was created on the basis of the parish of the Church of All Saints in Krasnoye Selo. I myself am a long-time member of his parishioner. Among the spiritual children of Archpriest Artemy Vladimirov, I took part in the revival of the Church of All Saints almost immediately, as our confessor was transferred here to the rector's position. The parish was registered in 1991, but even then, in the early 1990s, despite the fact that there were ruins and desolation on the site of the monastery, we felt the “monastic spirit” hovering here. With the thought of a monastery, we revived the temple, cell buildings, built the life of our parish community. Moreover, the name of our parish included a mention of the Alekseevsky Monastery, at the temple of which the parish was founded.

Years passed. Father Artemy repeatedly appealed to the Patriarchate with a request to revive the monastery. But this request was granted only after more than twenty years. I think that God has all his terms.

It is worth noting that the visit of His Holiness Vladyka Kirill to our church in 2010 gave impetus to the revival of the monastery. Then His Holiness in his sermon noted the "wandering fate" of our monastery and called us to the revival of the monastery. In the same year, with the blessing of the Primate of the Russian Church, the sisterhood of St. Alexis, a man of God, was founded, which included our parishioners.

Abbess Xenia (in the world Chernega Oksana Alexandrovna) became a parishioner of the Church of All Saints in 1991. She came to Krasnoe Selo after her confessor, Archpriest Artemy Vladimirov, who was transferred to the Church of All Saints (to the position of rector) from the Church of the Resurrection of the Word in Bryusov Lane .

Matushka was born in Moscow on May 1, 1971. In 1993 she graduated from the Moscow State Law Academy (MSLA), and in 1998 she defended her thesis, becoming a candidate of legal sciences and a senior lecturer at the academy.

In the period from 1993 to 2003, Matushka taught at the Moscow State Law Academy, and then at the Academy of Labor and Social Relations, where she held the position of professor of the department. At the same time, she worked in the church field: first as an employee of the Orthodox legal service created at the Church of All Saints, and then as a legal adviser to the Synodal Department of Religious Education and Catechism. From 1999 to the present, Matushka has been teaching at the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary.

In 2004, Matushka was invited by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia to the post of legal adviser to the Moscow Patriarchate.

On August 26, 2009, His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, tonsured Matushka into a cassock and appointed her the elder sister of the newly created monastic community at the arrival of the Church of All Saints.

In 2010, in connection with the creation of the legal services of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Synodal Department for Relations between the Church and Society, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill appointed Matushka as the head of the newly created Legal Services. At present, Matushka continues to carry out this responsible ministry.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of July 16, 2013, nun Xenia was appointed abbess of the revived Alekseevsky stauropegial convent in Moscow. On December 23, 2013, in the home church of the Patriarchal residence in the Danilov Monastery, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill performed the robe tonsure of Matushka. On March 30, 2014, nun Xenia (Chernega) was elevated to the rank of abbess.

Conversation with sisters about the essence of monasticism, its basis and goals

Legal features and issues of the activities of the ROC in the modern legal field

RIA Novosti published material today "No gray envelopes." Priests can be given “labor concessions”” dedicated to the stated topic - labor relations in the church.

The most interesting in the text was the comment of the chief lawyer of the Moscow Patriarchate, Abbess Xenia (Chernega):

“People who are not employees, that is, they do not conclude employment contracts, are considered as volunteers. Often they perform certain functions in the church free of charge or for some symbolic payment. Their main goal is to help the temple and serve God.”

Chernega knows the law "On charitable activities and volunteering" and agrees that a special agreement must be concluded with a volunteer that determines the features of his work:

“This norm, the lawyer stressed, is also provided for by the law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations.”

“We don't have gray envelopes. We, accepting volunteers, make them payments stipulated by law. We do not circumvent the law, we do not have any left payments. Because a volunteer is someone who works for the benefit of this or that organization not according to the norms of labor legislation (that is, he does not sell his labor), but disinterestedly.

The volunteer either receives nothing or receives some symbolic payment. But on the basis of an employment contract, and people deliberately go for it, which, by the way, is evidenced by the absence of any judicial strife on this matter.

It's a shame to lie, mother Xenia, thousands of priests, thousands of church workers will tell you about it. On the ground, in the provinces (I don’t know how in Moscow, people will say) almost nowhere (perhaps with very rare exceptions) they conclude no contracts with “volunteers”, the vast majority work in the temple purely for the “gray envelope”, because there are few what kind of abbot wants to pay taxes for employees and strain with accounting. And the worker will often prefer to get his miserable pennies without tax deductions, from which he is of no use. Moreover, the practice is widespread among the clergy: even if you, a priest, are registered with a work book, you often sign the statement for the “minimum wage” so that the parish avoids unnecessary deductions, and the rest gets “in hand”. Or, in general, a priest serves without any work book and any contract. And this is not a secret behind seven seals, which, mother, you want to hide - this is a well-known fact.

And what about "judicial strife" - so : now is your time, with the state you have a symphony, so people would rather spit and grind. By blessing.

Photo: Abbess Xenia (Chernega)

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