Day of Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov

On May 13, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of the great Russian saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, who made an invaluable contribution to the spiritual church treasury The saint was born at the beginning of the 19th century into a noble family in the city of Vologda His parents, who remained childless for a long time, made a pilgrimage to holy places with a fervent prayer to the Lord to grant them a long-awaited heir The born boy was christened in honor of Saint Dmitry Prilutsky with the hope of a further godly life Already in early childhood, little Dmitry was distinguished by great learning abilities; he was a very versatile and solitary child At the age of 16, the young man expressed a desire to enter a monastery, but his father had other plans for his future son, and Dmitry left for St Petersburg for further studies at an engineering school Already at the entrance exams, those present were convinced of the brilliant mind of the young man, who took first place among 130 applicants for training The promising young man was noticed by Emperor Nicholas I himself, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna takes Dmitry under her protection and pays the expenses for his education The craving for spirituality does not leave the first student of an engineering school even among the temptations of metropolitan life He becomes close to the monks of the Valaam Monastery and through them meets the famous elder Leonid This communication further strengthens the young man’s decision to become a monk, but circumstances and duty to the imperial family prevent him from realizing his dream Mental anguish leads Dmitry to a hospital bed; only his serious health condition allows him to justify himself to the tsar and his own father Having caused bewilderment throughout secular society, the young man takes monastic vows under the name Ignatius After several years of obedience, the imperial family wished to make the diligent 27-year-old monk abbot of the Sergius Monastery Nicholas I recalled that Dmitry Bryanchaninov was unable to serve the Tsar in the civil service, and expressed the hope that the monk Ignatius would be able to make the monastery of Sergius Monastery an exemplary one The saint devoted his entire subsequent life to this great work, bringing the monastery to a flourishing state after a quarter of a century Ignatius devoted his last years to writing spiritual literature, which was included in a number of immortal creations The day of his departure from this life was revealed to the saint; it happened on Sunday, the feast of the Myrrh-Bearing Women Ignatius Brianchaninov turned to the Lord in prayer until the last second of his earthly life In a prayerful pose, as if the saint were alive, the cell attendant saw him, who for a long time did not believe that Ignatius had already reposed