Don’t you worry, don’t be anxious:
Time of happiness will bloom!
Just you wait and just be patient:
The award will find you soon.
To mark the day of
Elder Nikolai Gurianov’s blissful repose, we would like to share the memories
of those who had the chance to talk with our dear spiritual guide. He is
undoubtedly a spiritual guide for our St. Elisabeth Convent. Many years ago,
Elder Nikolai blessed our spiritual father, Archpriest Andrew Lemeshonok, to
build the Convent. Father Nikolai handed him a 5-rouble bill with the image of
a church, and said, “People will give you the rest.” It was our first donation…
The life story of
Olga Kormukhina, a famous singer, is amazing and wonderful. She got married
thanks to the prayers of our dear Elder Nikolai:
Next time, I asked
him about my private life. I said, ‘Father, I would like to remain chaste.’ I
was certain that if I wanted to continue singing, it would preclude me from
becoming a nun, even though I was very eager to go to a convent, I was ready. I
couldn’t imagine a different road for myself. I told him that my only obstacle
was that I hadn’t given birth to a child and therefore hadn’t accomplished my
mission as a woman. He looked at me and said, “You’re not going to have kids.”
I burst into tears! Then he brought an icon of the Holy Royal Martyrs to me,
and he was praying for a long time, I just can’t describe it with words. I was
in some kind of a flow, an ecstatic state. Naturally, Father Nikolai was the
source of this state. I felt that I was between him and Someone else, whom he
was asking for something. It took a while, fifteen or twenty minutes. Suddenly,
he turned to me and said, with love and pain in his eyes, “The Lord will do
what you want.” He added, “She won’t be ill.”
And indeed, while I
was pregnant and then gave birth and fed my daughter, we didn’t get ill at all,
even though doctors had predicted that the girl would have Down’s
Syndrome."
During one of my
visits, the elder saw an icon of the Guardian Angel, which I had received as a
gift from a spiritual child of Metropolitan John. That icon stood by His
Eminence’s deathbed when he was dying. Of course, it’s a really sacred object
for me and my family. So, when Father Nikolai saw that icon, he asked me, “Who
did you get that sacred icon from?” I realised that he was aware of its
previous owner. So I replied, “A spiritual child of Metropolitan John gave it
to me.” He said, “Keep it!” He blessed everyone and let them kiss that icon.
That’s what an elder means. You don’t have to speak too many words with him.
When I told him, “Father, I’d like to remain chaste,” he simply stroked me on
my chin—his usual way of casting away bad thoughts. He said, “You shall get
married.”
Now I had to
struggle with my unwillingness to get married. I had almost convinced myself
into becoming a nun and no longer considered any other alternative, so the
prospect of marriage was… well, not wholly undesirable but still hard to
swallow. I had already known what a marriage was really like. An abbess once
said that it could be more difficult than living in a Convent, if it’s done
right. I was fully aware of the fact that I’d have a hard time obeying my
husband, given my character.
After Father
Nikolai announced God’s will about my future life, I began praying, “O Lord,
You know I’m not ready. Please make me ready to accept this decision with my
whole heart and my soul.” And I started whining like a stupid girl. I said, “Lord,
You know that I will have to continue being a singer. You remember how
difficult it has always been for me to find good songs. It’s such a pain. One
out of a hundred, and even then it has to be tailored to match my requirements.
Please may he be a composer, O Lord! And You know how hard it has been for me
to find the right arrangement of my songs because I don’t like anything that
arrangers do. May he be a good arranger. Lord, You know how highly I value
myself, so he must be a world-class musician, or else I will hardly obey him in
work-related issues. And… he must be at least two years older and never married
before.” Imagine? That request was granted in its entirety. By the way, girls,
it shows you that sometimes it’s okay to pray.
I met my future husband
in a monastery. I had seen him before and I had even been in love with him. I
approached him and asked, “Hello, are you Alexei Belov?” He replied, “Yes, I’m
from Gorky Park band.” And I said, “I’m Olga Kormukhina, a singer.” He said,
“Interesting!” We went to the nearest café and had a cup of coffee. We
immediately recognised that we had a lot in common, surprisingly. And he said,
“My greatest dream is to visit Elder Nikolai Gurianov.”
God’s will was for
him to go to Elder Nikolai together with me. When we were about to go to the
island, I called Father Nikolai’s cell attendant and said, “Aunt Nina, please
ask Father Nikolai if he blesses me to bring Alexei to him.” She responded, “He
does.” I asked, “Aunt Nina, please ask him to pray for good weather.” We had
planned to go there in September when it rains often but I wanted Alexei to
have a wonderful trip. He thought to himself, “How arrogant she is, asking the
elder for good weather.” He didn’t know that I was asking for good weather to
make him happy. I knew how Father reacted to requests like those. It was
evidence of our childlike faith. You see? Ask, and it will be given to you.
After the meeting,
Father Nikolai blessed us to go on a walk around the island. We spent five days
walking around the island, and Alexei later told me, “I was feeling that it was
not accidental that Father Nikolai had told us to go on a walk.” And he
kept observing me.
In fact, it was a
real obsession, and we both saw it. We didn’t resist, I just said, “If your
mother doesn’t bless our marriage, I’ll say no.” He went back to the elder and
said, “Father, what should I do? My mother doesn’t want me to get married.”
Father Nikolai responded, “I say, I bless you.” And he added, “The Lord will
instruct your mother.” Then we brought his mother to the elder, and everything
went fine.
Now we live happily
and love one another. Of course, it is thanks to Father Nikolai’s prayers, and
one also has to work hard to improve relationships, it has to be done on a
daily basis. Alexei is very wise, and he has the gift of love.
Photos and a
fragment of an interview with Olga Kormukhina are taken from her official
website http://olgakormuhina.ru
August
24, 2018
St.
Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION