Why do people go to church? Strange as it may seem, everyone has their own answer to this question: beyond salvation, in search of a spiritual father, for the sake of peace of mind - there is nothing to list.
With the confessors is now tight, so people go in search of the elders. One of these was the Penza old man Alexy.
Childhood
Not much is known about the miracle worker father. He was born in 1930, at birth he was named Michael. In addition to him, the family also had a brother and two sisters. One of them said that Mishenka was born very ill. He could not serve himself, they even fed him from a spoon. He spoke with great difficulty, only the mother Anna could make out the slurred speech of the child.
The future Penza elder Alexy was born into a well-to-do family, but she was dispossessed. When the war began, his father was taken to the front - he did not return from there. Misha’s mother was left with four children in her arms. She worked on a collective farm, and although the family lived very poorly, Anna raised all of them.
The beginning of miracles
The cult of the Penza old man Alexy arose in the 80s of the XX century. It all started with the testimonies of his sister Catherine. The woman claimed that in her childhood, Mishenka was given the gift of perspicacity, he could heal the sick, predict people their fate.
When Misha was 22 years old, he decided to leave home. The Mother of God appeared to him and commanded him to leave his native land. Michael, according to her, was to become a great man and establish his own, very large monastery.
Moving to Penza
Penza old man-shihigumen Alexy moved to the city, where he lived with good people. He didn’t have his own house, until his mother came to him. It was then that benefactors were found who built a house for the holy man. All this time, Misha carried the cross of preaching. But due to the fact that his speech was very incomprehensible, his mother translated all that was said.
Village Victory
As the future Penza elder Alexy found himself in this village, history is silent. But he started his activity very quickly, and his mother helped him in every possible way. And the house was built for him, and the community was assembled, and then they took up the construction of the temple. A lot of people gathered in the village, mainly these were rich pilgrims from Moscow and St. Petersburg. After staying with the old man Alexy Penzensky for a couple of days, they went to their native lands.
But not to stay in them forever, but to sell property and donate money to the holy monastery. People returned to old man Alexy with large sums of money, gave money for a good deed, lived in the community, but did not stay there for long. Somewhere later they disappeared, however, no one knows how the fate of the benefactors came about.
Temple construction
A church was built in the community in honor of Archangel Michael, but there is one big problem - no one blessed the construction: the bishop of the Penza region did not give his permission, because the community did not have canonical communication with the Russian Orthodox Church. Moreover, representatives of the Penza diocese could not get to the altar, they simply were not allowed. Priests in the church served, but they did not enter the diocesan clergy.
After the death of the Penza elder Alexy, the temple was demolished, the community was disbanded. Numerous disputes arose about this: whether it is possible to demolish the house of God, despite the fact that there was no blessing from the ruling bishop for its construction.
Where did the eldership and dignity come from?
With the monastic tonsure of the Penza old man Alexy, a number of questions arise. In one of the books published by his admirers, it is stated that Michael was tonsured at the age of 30, and several Glinsky old men performed the rank. The tonsure was adopted in schema in 1992, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Penza and Kuznetsk Seraphim. It only turned out that the archbishop did not give any blessings, and the temple in the community was not allowed to build.
Where did all this come from - about tonsure and schema? From the mother of a spirit-bearing old man, who also, under completely incomprehensible circumstances, took a tonsure with the name Angelina. After the death of Anna, a woman named Zinaida, who was considered a nun in the community, began to follow Michael. But whether canonical tonsure was perfect, history is silent.
The death of the elder Alexy
Alexy lived a miserable man for a long life, died in January 2005. So many rumors circulated around his death that it was scary to read. Allegedly, after Mikhail died, his hands remained warm and soft. This is evidenced by the residents of the community, who escorted their pastor on the last journey. There were people who convinced the rest, supposedly the body of the deceased gave out a wonderful fragrance. Probably, there will be those who are worried about when they will raise the relics of the Penza old man Alexy.
Insightful Tales
In the 90s, people, tired of godless slavery, rushed to the temples. But they did not take into account only one thing: cereals in their own heads. Scientific atheism was mixed with the remnants of knowledge about God, new knowledge about healers was added here. Recall Allan Chumak, at least, who "brainwashed" the gullible people from the screens. This man declared himself a great psychic, able to charge and purify water.
Simple naive people put water cans on the TV, from which the psychic poked their eyes on them. And people stared at him, listening to the amazing silence from the screens, and believing in the miraculous power of charged water. And all this wild mixture of knowledge reliably settled in the heads of Russian citizens. It was used by such Chumaki and Penza elders Alexy.
But we digress from the main topic of the subsection - the predictions of the elder. In a book published in his honor, collected memories of people about the prophecies of Michael.
He, of course, talked a lot about the war. The catacombs didn’t get it, like in another Penza community, but there were predictions with all kinds of horrors. He told one woman that they would cut off her tongue during the war and torture her; And all these ladies joyfully narrate about the predictions of the dear father.
The prayer of the Penza elder Alexy is a separate discussion. He commanded to come to his grave after death. For in this way he will help even better than during his lifetime. And praying for his repose is not necessary, for the elder is a saint. He prays at night, saints come to him. Having read all this, the conclusion suggests itself: this Michael was not an old man. Trusting people were deceived by his mother, translating the speech of her son, and later Zinaida.
Books
During his lifetime, Michael blessed to release several books about himself. These books about the Penza old man Alexy (that was the name of Mikhail after the "tonsure") were simply sold in huge numbers. It came to the point that in the early 2000s they came across even in Orthodox stores.
One of them is called "The Road to the Elder." It contains the words of Elder Alexy about the current priests. They are not looking for communication with the elders, which means they will not be saved themselves and will ruin their flock. The author clearly leads the reader to the thought: salvation is impossible without an old man.
About the doctrine of the TIN - a separate story. Allegedly, this document is a harbinger of the seal of the Antichrist. Nevertheless, people have been living with TIN for decades, they are not scolded in the church for this, and they are not excommunicated from the sacraments.
Another interesting point in the book is about the miracles of the old man. He is endowed with power from God, ostensibly, and is able to perform miracles about which simple church clerics do not even know.
The second book, entitled "By your faith and will be unto you ..." contains an akathist to the holy father. And the words contained in it, suggest thoughts about the compiler, as if he was insane. A healthy person could not exalt so that one who has not yet been glorified in the face of saints. And in the book he is already being glorified, treating him as a saint.
Reviews
If we turn to the reviews of the Penza elder Alexy coming from Orthodox priests, then everything becomes clear. There was no trace of old age. There was a certain Alexander who came up with the idea of making an old man out of a disabled person. You can make good money on this, people will reach for spiritual advice. Alexander realized his idea, and what came out of it is described above. By the way, the community settlement was demolished in 2015.
Conclusion
Startsev now can not be found, the well-known have long died, and the remaining carefully hidden. A true elder will not stick out, bless writing books about himself and build a temple without the permission of the archbishop.