Venerable (Monastic) Modern

Synaxis of the Glinsk Elders

Also known as Vasily Kishkin, Philaret Danilovsky, Theodoty Levchenko, Makary Sharov, Martiry Kirichenko, Evfimy Lyubimchenko, Dosithy Kolchenkov, Iliodor Golovatsky, Innokenty Stepanov, Luke Shvets, Archippus Shestakov, Ioanniky Gomolko, Seraphim Amelin, Andronik Lukash, Seraphim Romantsov, Zinovy Mazhuga

The revered spiritual elders of the Glinsk Hermitage, masters of the prayer of the heart and guides of countless souls

Feast Day

September 9

Also Feb 21

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Commemorated as

The Synaxis of the Venerable Elders of the Glinsk Hermitage

Life

The Synaxis of the Glinsk Elders is the common commemoration of the spiritual elders of the Glinsk Hermitage, a monastery long renowned in the Russian tradition for its eldership and the practice of the prayer of the heart. The synaxis is celebrated on September 9 (September 22 on the civil calendar); the hermitage's elders are also commemorated on February 21.

The Glinsk Hermitage stands in what is now the Sumy region of Ukraine, formerly part of Kursk Province. By tradition it arose on the site where a miraculous icon of the Nativity of the Theotokos appeared, discovered, according to the account, by beekeepers on a tall pine; the monastery took its name from the clay-rich soil of the place. Sources date its founding variously, with one tradition placing the settlement of monks from the Molchensky Monastery of Putivl in 1648.

The hermitage was an undistinguished house until the early nineteenth century, when Abbot Philaret (Danilevsky) was assigned there. He is regarded as its spiritual founder, having introduced a monastic rule modeled on the order of the monasteries of Mount Athos and the precepts of Paisius Velichkovsky. The rule was imitated in whole or in part by a number of other monasteries in Imperial Russia, and under it Glinsk became famous for the succession of elders who guided monks and laypeople alike and for its wide-ranging charitable works.

Contributions & Legacy

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Closure and Restoration

The Soviet government closed the Glinsk Hermitage in September 1922. After the Second World War a group of monks, led by the exiled Archimandrite Nektary, returned to the site, and the monastery operated again from 1942 until it was closed a second time in 1961. It was reopened in 1994.

Through these upheavals the Glinsk elders carried the monastery's tradition of eldership into the twentieth century, several of them serving as confessors after returning from imprisonment and exile.

Glorification of the Elders

Many of the Glinsk elders have been canonized by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. On 8 May 2008 thirteen elders, including Abbot Philaret (Danilevsky), were glorified as locally venerated saints. In 2010 three more elders were glorified; sources name, with some variation, Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Romantsov), Schema-Archimandrite Andronik (Lukash), and Schema-Metropolitan Seraphim (Mazhuga), all of whom entered Glinsk in the early twentieth century, endured the Soviet persecution, and returned after the war to serve as elders and confessors. The synaxis on September 9 commemorates these glorified elders of the hermitage together.

Among the individually commemorated Glinsk elders is Elder Makarios (Sharov) of Glinsk (1802-1864), who is remembered on February 21.

Notes

Elder Makarios (Sharov) of Glinsk (1802-1864) is individually commemorated Feb 21.

Sources: Synaxarion