On Pskov Lake there is an island named Zalita. For four decades, the rector of the church of St. Nicholas located on it was the now deceased archpriest, father Nikolai Guryanov. By his service to God and people, he gained fame as a wise and perspicacious old man, to whom Orthodox believers from all over the country gathered for advice and help.
What is old age?
Since ancient times, a special form of service to God, called old age, has taken root in Russian Orthodoxy. This is a type of activity that includes spiritual guidance of believers, carried out by God's chosen people - the elders. They, as a rule, are persons of a spiritual rank, but the history of the church knows examples when the laity also played in this role. Moreover, the very concept of an old man does not imply an age characteristic, but spiritual Grace, sent down by God to carry out this feat.
People chosen by the Lord for such a high service are often endowed with the ability to contemplate with their inner eyes the future of the world, and see the mental state of each individual person. This gives them the opportunity with amazing accuracy to give all who turn to them for help and spiritual guidance, the only true advice.
The regent's family of the church choir
The future elder Nikolai Guryanov, whose predictions about the future of Russia these days have gained fame, was born in 1909 in the family of the regent of the church choir, who lived in the village of Chudsky Zakhody in the St. Petersburg province of Alexei Ivanovich Guryanov. Nikolai had three brothers who inherited musical abilities from his father, the eldest of whom Mikhail even taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
But their talent was not destined to develop - they all died during the First World War. The head of the family - the father of Nikolai Alekseevich passed away in 1914, and only his mother Ekaterina Stepanovna God sent longevity. She lived until 1969, helping her son carry out his pastoral ministry.
Failed student
Already in the years of Soviet power, Nikolai graduated from a pedagogical college and then entered the Leningrad Pedagogical Institute. But he was soon expelled, as he found the courage to publicly oppose the closure of one of the city's temples. This happened in the late twenties, and the whole country was embraced by another anti-religious campaign. With his desperate act, he could not stop the machine of atheistic obscurantism, but lost the opportunity to continue his studies and came into the view of the GPU.
In order to get his own food, Nikolai was forced to give private lessons in biology, physics and mathematics, as he had sufficient training in these subjects. But the main thing for him was the church. From 1928 to 1931 he served as a psalmist in various churches of Leningrad and the region.
Years of imprisonment and work in Tosno
The policy of persecution of the church, pursued by the Communists, implied primarily repression against its ministers, many of whom ended up in prisons and camps. Nikolay Guryanov was no exception. He was arrested for religious propaganda and, pending trial, spent several months in the infamous Leningrad prison Kresty, and then was sent to the Syktyvkar camp, which in those years was one of the elements of the vast Gulag archipelago. There, working on the construction of the railway, he received a serious injury to both legs, which made him disabled for life.
After serving five years in prison and returning to Leningrad, the repressed cleric was unable to obtain a city residence permit and settled in the Tosnensky district. Fortunately, there was an acute shortage of pedagogical staff, and Guryanov was hired in a rural school, despite a criminal record and lack of a diploma. He worked as a teacher until the outbreak of war.
When the general mobilization was announced in the country, Nicholas was not accepted into the army because of his disability. They did not even give the opportunity to work in the rear - the recent criminal record made him an outcast. When the front approached Leningrad, Nikolai found himself in the occupied territory, where, as in previous years, he served as a psalmist in one of the churches.
Priesthood service and temples in the Baltic states
During the years of occupation, Guryanov finally decided to devote his life to serving God. In early February 1942 he was ordained a deacon, and a week later in the priesthood. He took this dignity with celibacy, that is, he took a vow of celibacy until the end of his days. Sacrament over him was also performed by Metropolitan Sergius (Voskresensky) who was in the occupation. After graduating from theological courses in the same year, Nikolai Guryanov (the old man) was sent to Riga, where he served as a priest in the Holy Trinity Monastery for women, and then spent some time as a steward of the Vilnius Holy Spirit Monastery.
From 1943 to 1958, the period of his ministry in Lithuania in the Orthodox Church of the village of Gegobrosty lasts. There, Father Nikolai is elevated to the rank of archpriest. The recollections of one of his parishioners have survived, in which she writes that Nikolai's father was always distinguished by extraordinary inner kindness and affability, rare even for people of a spiritual rank.
He knew how to engage people in worship, performing all prescribed actions with inspiration and beauty. For the parishioners of the church where the priest served, he was a model of a truly Christian life. Not being a monk, Father Nikolai was a true ascetic, following Christian standards in prayer and in relations with people.
The prediction that determined the future life
Nikolay Guryanov knew how to combine ministry at the parish with his studies. During his stay in Lithuania, he graduated from Vilnius Seminary in 1951, and then continued his studies at the correspondence department of the Leningrad Theological Academy.
According to the memoirs of people who knew him very close, having already completed their education, in 1958, Father Nikolai visited a certain old man whose name remained unknown, and he opened to him a place that the Lord had intended for future service, and where he was to arrive as soon as possible.
It was the island of Talabsk on Lake Pskov, which received the name of a prominent communist Zilat in the Soviet period. Having submitted an application to the diocesan administration and received a favorable answer, Father Nikolai arrived at the indicated place, where he spent the next forty years in unceasing service until his death.
Difficulties of the early years
It is difficult to imagine all the difficulties that a priest who arrived in a new place encountered. It was a period when the country was embraced by Khrushchev’s anti-religious campaigns, and the media did not cease to trumpet about an imminent victory over obscurantism - as they called the faith that underlies the entire history of our country. Therefore, when Nikolai Guryanov (the old man) arrived on the island and settled with his mother on the outskirts of the village, he was greeted with suspicious looks.
However, very soon his innocence, meekness, and most importantly, goodwill towards people erased this veil of alienation that had arisen at the beginning. The church in which he was to serve was then in a dilapidated state, and, not having the slightest support from the diocesan authorities, the priest himself had to find the means to restore it. With his own hands, he laid bricks, redoed the roof, painted and performed all other necessary work, and when services began in the renovated building, he himself was baked with prosphora.
Life in a fishing village
But, in addition to fulfilling his church duties, Father Nikolai devoted a lot of time to helping everyone whom he could provide. Since the male population of the village was a fishing artel, and their families did not see their breadwinners for a long time, Father Nikolai did not hesitate to help women with the housework, he could look after the children or sit with the sick and elderly. Thus, the future elder Nikolai Guryanov gained trust and then love from fellow villagers.
The biography of this man is subsequently inseparable from the island where, by God's will, he was destined to perform his feat, and where dozens and hundreds of people who were torn away from it by godless power were returned to the bosom of the church. It was a hard way. In the first years of his stay on the island, the priest had to serve in an empty temple. Residents of the village loved him, respected him, but did not go to church. Bit by bit, they had to carry the Word of God into the consciousness of these people before this good seed sprouted.
The miracle revealed by the prayer of the righteous
At that time, and it was the sixties, the persecution of the church intensified, under pressure from the authorities one of the residents of the village wrote a denunciation to the father. The plenipotentiary arrived and was rude and rude to the priest, and in the end he announced that he would pick him up the next day. Father Nikolai Guryanov (the old man) packed his things and spent the whole night in prayer.
What happened then, some consider it a miracle, others - a coincidence, but only in the morning on a lake quiet at that time of the year a real storm arose, and for three days the island was cut off from the mainland. When the elements calmed down, the authorities somehow forgot about the priest and henceforth did not touch.
Beginning of an Aged Service
In the seventies, the elder Nikolai Guryanov, whose predictions were amazingly fulfilled, gained unusually wide popularity. People from all over the country came to him, and he did not know a minute of rest. Everyone was indelibly impressed by the outward manifestation of those gifts that were abundantly sent to him by the Lord.
For example, referring to completely strangers, he unmistakably called their names, pointed out the sins they had long forgotten about which he could not know, warned about the dangers that threatened them, gave instructions on how to avoid them, and did much more not amenable to rational explanation. It is also impossible to count the people to whom he regained his health, begging for healing from God, sometimes even in cases when medicine was powerless.
Wise Mentor and Teacher
But the main thing that his ministry consisted of was the help that the priest provided to people who wanted to change their life by arranging it on truly Christian principles. Without going into general reasoning and avoiding unnecessary words, he was able to give a person specific instruction relating to him personally.
At the same time, seeing the inner world of everyone with whom it was necessary to communicate, and seeing a lot that is stored in the hidden corners of the soul and carefully hidden from others, the old man was able to talk about this with extraordinary tact, without causing a person moral trauma, and even less humiliating his virtues. This side of his gift is evidenced by many who have visited the island of Zalita.
Elder Nikolai Guryanov was, according to many of his admirers, almost the only truly visionary elder in the whole country. His ability to see what was hidden from the eyes of ordinary people was so developed that in the nineties he more than once helped both private individuals and government agencies in tracing people who were missing.
Universal recognition
During the perestroika period, when the state’s policy towards the church changed radically, the elders of Russia received great freedom in their ministry. Nikolay Guryanov was one of those whose names were then often mentioned by the media. This, of course, increased the number of his admirers who came to the island, and often stayed there for a long time.
Nikolay Guryanov (the old man) gained special authority after our well-known ascetic, father John Krestyankin, who had worked in the Pskov-Pechersky monastery then, declared it all over the country. He described Father Nicholas as the bearer of God's Grace, endowing him with the gifts of insight, wisdom and meekness.
Then, in the late nineties, the predictions of the elder Nikolai Guryanov about Russia became public. They sounded in response to a question from one of the visitors who wanted to know what awaits the country after the end of B.N. Yeltsin. The elder was laconic, and what he said apparently had a meaning that we, today's inhabitants of Russia, were not fully understood.
Elder Nikolai Guryanov: predictions about the future of Russia
To the question of who will replace President B.N. then in power To Yeltsin, he replied that he would be a military man, and he turned out to be right, since the current head of state really has a military rank. But the meaning of his further words remains a mystery to us, and it is difficult to understand what the old man Nikolai Guryanov had in mind. The predictions about the future of Russia that he made that day predicted the country’s future rule, which he likened to the power of the Communists. According to him, the church will again be persecuted, but this will not last long.
The old man ended on a very optimistic note, predicting the arrival of the Orthodox Tsar in our world. When asked about when this will happen, he said that most of those present will survive until that day. Here is the answer given by Elder Nikolai Guryanov about the future of Russia. Without admitting even a shadow of doubt in the truth of his words, we note nevertheless that V.V. Putin, who headed the country after B.N. Yeltsin left the presidency, is more in line with the image of the Orthodox tsar than the persecutor of faith, perhaps it was him meant the old man.
During the years of his reign, the church was fully revived after decades of atheism that prevailed in the country and was the main principle of state ideology. What, then, was the elder talking about? We can only guess about this.
It has been suggested more than once that Nikolai Guryanov (the old man), whose prophecies are so openly perplexing today, really saw new persecutions in those days prepared for the Russian church. It is possible that the course of historical events would lead to this. But, through the prayers of the zealots of the faith, one of which was undoubtedly Father Nicholas himself, the Lord showed great mercy, saving Russia from the troubles that it had experienced for seven decades. As a result, the elders' prophecies came true, but the Lord, by His indescribable love of man, saved us from repeating the nightmare that had swept the country in the 20th century.
Instructions of the old man Nikolay Guryanov
In addition to the prophecies mentioned above, Father Nikolai also gained fame with the instructions he gave to people who turned to him for advice and help. Much of what he said was preserved in the recordings made by his admirers who came to the island of Zalita.
Elder Nikolai Guryanov, first of all, taught to live and pray to God as if he were destined to die tomorrow, and, presenting himself before the Lord, to give Him an answer in his deeds. This, he said, will help cleanse the soul of filth, prepare itself for the transition to eternity. In addition, Father Nikolai taught to love everything that surrounds us, because all this is nothing but the creation of God. He urged unbelievers to relate without condemnation, with pity, and constantly pray to God for their deliverance from this devilish obscurity. Many other wise and useful instructions were received from him by visitors.
Posthumous veneration of Elder Nicholas
Like many old elders who had formerly died, Archpriest Nikolai Guryanov, after his death on August 24, 2002, began to be revered by many in our country as a saint, the canonization of which is only a matter of time. On the day of his funeral, more than three thousand people gathered on the island of Zalita who wanted to pay the last debt of his memory. And although many years have passed since then, the number of admirers of the old man has not decreased.
In this regard, one recalls the words uttered by another famous representative of the Russian eldership, Rev. Father Nectarius, uttered by him shortly before the Bolsheviks closed the Optina Desert. He taught nothing in this earthly life not to be afraid and always pray to the departed elders, because, when they stand before the Throne of God, they pray for us, and the Lord hears their words. Just like those elders, Father Nikolai Guryanov in the Kingdom of Heaven intercedes with the Almighty for those whom he left in this perishable world.
It is not surprising that the humble servant of God, Archpriest Father Nikolai Guryanov (elder), earned the love and memory of hundreds of thousands of his worshipers throughout his life. The island, which has been his home during the last forty years of his life, today has become both his monument and a place where Orthodox believers come to worship him.
Soon after the death of the elder, they established a society of zealots of his memory, whose members are already carrying out work aimed at glorifying Father Nicholas in the face of saints. The fact that this event will take place sooner or later, no member of the public doubts, and today they call it only the Monk Nikolai Pskovoezersky.