“The Life of Habakkuk” Habakkuk in summary
Protopop Avvakum wrote the life with the blessing of the monk Epiphanius, his spiritual father.
A solar eclipse is a sign of God’s wrath. In Russia there was a solar eclipse in 1654, because then Patriarch Nikon distorted faith. Fourteen years later, a new eclipse occurred. At this time, Habakkuk and his supporters were shaved and thrown into prison.
Avvakum was born in the Nizhny Novgorod land. His father was a priest, his name was Peter, and his mother – Maria, in monasticism – Martha. The father loved to drink, and his mother was a fast-liver and a prayer-book. Once Habakkuk saw a neighbor of his dead cattle and then wept at night about his soul, thinking about death. From that time on he used to pray every night. Habakkuk’s father died. Mother married her son to the orphaned daughter of blacksmith Mark, Anastasia. The girl lived in poverty, often went to church and prayed to marry Habakkuk. Then the mother died in monasticism.
At the age
Once a young lady came to confess to a young priest and began to repent of prodigal sins. Listening to her, Habakkuk himself felt the “prodigal fire”, lit three candles and, taking a confession, put his hand on the flame. Arriving home, he prayed and cried before the icon. And then he had a vision: two golden ships sailing along the Volga. The boatmen said that these were the ships of Luke and Lawrence, the spiritual children of Habakkuk. The third ship was multicolored – it was the ship of Avvakum himself.
A certain boss took his daughter from the widow. Habakkuk stood up for the orphan and was beaten. Then the head all the same gave the mother’s maiden, but after once again beat the protopope in the church.
And another chief was enraged at Habakkuk. Tried to kill him, but the gun did not fire. Then this chief drove
Avvakum with his wife and newborn baby went to Moscow. The infant was baptized on the way. In Moscow, the archpriest was given the diploma – to return to the old place. He did so, returned to the ruined house, and soon there were new troubles: Habakkuk expelled from that place the buffoons and two bears they took away. A voevoda Vasily Petrovich Sheremetev, who sailed to Kazan, took Avvakum to the ship. But the archpriest was not-blessed by his son Matthew, who shaved his beard. Boyarin almost threw the protopope into the water.
Evfimei Stefanovich, another chief, also hated Avvakum and even tried to take his house by storm. And at night Evfimia became ill, he called Avvakum to himself and asked for his forgiveness. Protopop forgave him, confessed, he anointed him with oil, and Evfimey recovered. Then he and his wife became spiritual children of Habakkuk.
Yet the archpriest was banished from this place, he went to Moscow again, and the emperor ordered him to be placed in Yuryevets-Povolsky. And there new troubles. Priests, peasants and women attacked Avvakum and beat him. This crowd tried to take the house of the archpriest with an attack, the governor ordered to protect him. Habakkuk again went to Moscow, but the tsar was already dissatisfied with the fact that the archpriest had left his place. Avvakum lived in Moscow under the Kazan church, with the archpriest Ivan Neronov.
Nikon became a new patriarch. He commanded to be baptized with three fingers and reduce the number of earthly obeisances. Learning about this, Ivan Neronov said that it was time to suffer. Habakkuk and the Kostroma archpriest Daniel wrote a letter to the king about faith, where they denounced Nikon’s heresy. After this, Nikon ordered to grab Daniel, he was ripped off and sent to Astrakhan. They also exiled Ivan Neronov, and Archpriest Avvakum was put in prison on a chain. He was not fed for three days, but then came a man – or a man, or an angel – and brought the protopope a plate of cabbage soup. Habakkuk was going to be cut off, but at the king’s request they did not do it.
Protopop with his family exiled to Siberia. In Tobolsk, the archbishop arranged for him to serve in the church. For a year and a half on Avvakuma there were five denunciations. Dean Ivan Strun, who was engaged in the affairs of the diocese, repaired him. In the church, he grabbed the beard of the deacon Anton, whom he pursued. Habakkuk, shutting the church door, strangled Strun’s belt. And for this, he was in a lot of trouble: Ivan’s relatives wanted to kill him. The same clerk Struun for the bribe agreed to cover the sin of incest. For this Avvakum in the church cursed the deacon. Ivan Struna at that time was under the command of Peter Beketov. When they cursed Strun, Beketov scolded Avvakum, and when he went out of church, he got mad and died.
The decree came to take Avvakum to the river Lena, to the prison. On the way he was overtaken by a new decree – to go to Dauria. The Protopop was given under the command of the Yenisey voivode Afanasya Pashkov, who, at the head of the detachment, was sailing to conquer the lands. Pashkov was a very cruel man.
On the Tunguska River, the ship of the protopope nearly drowned. The Protopopsy pulled the children out of the water.
A ship was sailing to meet them, on which were two elderly widows who were going to the monastery. Pashkov ordered the widows to return and marry. Avvakum began to contradict. Then the governor wanted to drop the archpriest from the ship so that he would walk along the mountains on foot. Avvakum wrote Pashkov an accusatory letter, and the governor beat him with a whip.
Habakkuk was thrown into the Bratsk prison. He was in a cold prison, then he was transferred to a warm hut. The wife and children of the archpriest lived twenty miles from him, the evil woman Xenia. At Christmas Ivan’s son came to see his father, but Pashkov did not allow him to do this.
In the spring we went further. Pashkov forced Avvakum to walk along the shore and pull the strap. In the winter they dragged the sledges, in the summer they “wandered about in the waters”. On the river Hilke the barque Avvakum tore off the water, and he nearly drowned. Clothes are rotten, the water has washed away the water.
In the winter, the archpriest himself with small children pulled his sledge. And then hunger began. Pashkov did not let anyone go fishing, and many died. Summer ate grass and roots, in winter – pine porridge. Ate even the meat of frozen wolves and foxes – “all filth.” True, Habakkuk and his family were assisted by Pashkov’s wife and daughter-in-law.
The governor sent to Habakkuk two demoniac women – his hay, the widows Mary and Sophia. Protopop prayed for widows, communicated them, they recovered and began to live with him. Pashkov took them away, and the widows again began to rage. Then they secretly ran to Habakkuk, he again healed them, and they began to come to pray at night. After that they became nuns.
The detachment returned from the Nerchi River to Ruse. Hungry and tired people wandered after the sleigh, falling on the ice. The Protopopsy was exhausted, but the spirit was firm. On the sledge inadvertently strangled a wonderful chicken, which carried two eggs a day.
Pashkov’s wife sent her little son every day to Habakkuk for a blessing. But when the child fell ill, she sent for help to the peasant-whisperer. The baby got sick even more. Habakkuk was angry at the boyaryn. She asked for his forgiveness. When they brought a sick child, Habakkuk prayed, anointed him with a sacred oil, and the baby recovered.
Pashkov sent his son Yeremey with a detachment of Cossacks to fight with the Mungal kingdom. Pashkov forced the local shaman to conjure and asked whether the campaign would be successful. The shaman foreshadowed success. But Habakkuk prayed for failure, so that the diabolical prediction of the shaman did not come true. Then, however, he pitied Eremey, who was a kind, pious man, defending the protopope from his father. Habakkuk began to pray that God spared Eremey. Pashkov learned that Habakkuk wanted an unsuccessful campaign, and wanted to torture the archpriest. But at that time Eremey returned. He said that the army had perished, and he himself had escaped: in a dream Eremaku appeared to Avvakum and indicated the way.
Pashkov received a letter in which he was ordered to go to Russia. The governor did not take Habakkuk with him. Then the archpriest went separately. He planted in his boat all the sick and old who were unsuitable for harsh life. Habakkuk took with him, rescuing from death, and two villains whom the Cossacks wanted to kill. The road was difficult. Fortunately, the native tribes did not touch Avvakum and his companions. And they met Russian people who were going fishing, which gave the archpriest and his friends food.
Having reached the Russian cities, Habakkuk saw the reign of the Niconians and in sorrow thought: preach the word of God or hide? But his wife cheered him up. And the archpriest on the way to Moscow everywhere denounced Nikon and his followers.
In Moscow both the sovereign and the boyars were well received by Habakkuk. He was placed at a monastery cathedral in the Kremlin and offered any place if he would unite in faith with Nikon. But the archpriest disagreed. After all, in Tobolsk, Habakkuk had a warning from God in a dream, and in Dauria, through the daughter of the archpriest, Ogrofen, the Lord announced that if he does not stick to the right faith and create a prayer rule, he will die.
Seeing that Habakkuk does not want to unite with the Niconians, the king asked the archpriest to at least keep silent about it. Habakkuk obeyed. At that time he lived at the Boyarina Fe-dos Morozova, her spiritual daughter. Many came to him and brought gifts. Having lived so half a year, Habakkuk again sent a letter to the tsar so that he would protect the Church from the heresy of Nikon. And after that, Habakkuk and his family were ordered to be sent to Mezen. A year and a half later, he was returned to Moscow with his elder sons, Ivan and Procopius, and the archpriest and younger children stayed at Mezen.
Habakkuk ten weeks kept on a chain in Pafnutiev Monastery. Then they brought it to church, cut it and cursed it. Habakkuk, in turn, cursed the Niconian.
Then he was taken back to Pafnutiev Monastery. Kelar Nicodemus was at first kind to the prisoner. But when the archpriest asked to open the door of the dungeon on Easter, the kelar refused. Nicodemus soon became ill, and someone in the image of Habakkuk appeared and healed him. Then the Kelar repented before Habakkuk.
The Protopop was visited by his children with the foolish Theodore. Theodore was a great ascetic: he prayed for prayer, bowed for a thousand bows, walked in a frost in one shirt. This holy fool ran miraculously from Ryazan, where he was kept in chains. But then Theodore was strangled to Mezen.
After that they brought Avvakum to Moscow, to Chudov Monastery, and set before the Cathedral ecumenical patriarchs. Protopop argued with them about faith and denounced them. The patriarchs wanted to beat him, but Habakkuk shamed them with the word of God.
The king sent his messengers to the archpriest. He asked him to at least agree with the ecumenical patriarchs, but Avvakum refused.
Protopope was exiled to Pustozersk. From there he wrote both to the tsar and to all the Orthodox. On Mezen, two of his spiritual children were executed, Feodor the holy fool and Luke Lavrentievich. They wanted to hang the sons of the archpriest, Procopius and Ivan, and the children repented with fear. Then they were buried with their mother in an earthen prison.
An order came to Pustozersk to plant Avvakum in an earthen prison. He wanted to starve himself to death, but his brethren did not.
Then the authorities seized the priest Lazar, cut off his tongue and his right hand. The severed hand folded the fingers for the sign of the cross. And Lazar grew up in two years. Solovetsky monk Epiphany also cut off his tongue, and he also miraculously grew up. The same happened with the deacon Theodore. And in Moscow many of Nikon’s enemies were burnt.
In those times when Habakkuk was not yet a protopope, but a priest, the royal priest Stephen presented him with the book of Ephraim the Syrian. Avvakum exchanged it for a horse. The brother of Habakkuk, Euthymius, cared about this horse more than about prayer. God punished Habakkuk with his brother: Evphymia was inhabited by a demon. Habakkuk drove out the demon, but Euthymius was not healed until Avvakum took the book back and gave it to him.
In the dungeon, the Protopop lived with the demon-possessed Kirilushka, the Moscow archer. He endured all the antics of the demoniac. Kirilushko died in prison, Habakkuk confessed and communicated it before his death. And in Moscow, the archpriest drove out the demon from Philip, who had been chained to the wall for a long time, because I was not going to get any better. Once Habakkuk, coming home, was angry with his wife and family Fetinu, who quarreled among themselves. Protopop beat both women. And after that, he could not cope with the demon until he asked forgiveness from his wife, Fethigna and all the household.
The demonized Theodore Habakkuk spent two months at home in Tobolsk, praying for him. Theodore was healed, but later in the church he again annoyed Avvakum, who ordered him to be chained to the wall. Enraged more than before, Theodore fled and began everywhere to create various disgraces.
The Protopop prayed for his healing, and before Avvakum’s very reference to Dauria a healthy Theodore came to him and thanked him: the demoniac appeared in the image of Avvakum and drove away the demons. The demon was attacked and the housekeeper of the archpriest Ofimya, Habakkuk also healed her.
In Tobolsk, Archpriest Avvakum had a spiritual daughter, Anna. She wanted, in spite of the will of the spiritual father, to marry the first master, Elizar. Anna began not to obey Avvakum, and the demon began to attack her. One day the girl fell asleep in prayer, slept for three days and three nights. Waking up, she told her dream: the angels told her to obey the protopop. But when he was exiled from Tobolsk, Anna still married Elizar. After eight years, Avvakum rode back. At this time, Anna was cut into a nun. She repented in everything before the spiritual father. Habakkuk at first was angry with Anna, but then he forgave and blessed. She later also suffered for the faith.
Even Habakkuk healed the babies suffering from a hernia. And in the first years of his ministry Habakkuk often frightened the devil, but the priest overcame fear and drove the demon away.
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