Elder Nikita Semenovich
-K. Kozhurin
As it has always been within the Orthodox Church, there have been sacred persons, permitted by the authorities at certain times and under specific circumstances, including from among ordinary, unordained individuals, particularly in monastic settings, even when sacred persons faced ultimate destruction. For when sacred persons are present, they strictly prohibit ordinary people from taking on such roles, but in their absence, such roles are freely permitted. This applies equally to authorities and others. It is explicitly commanded thus: “In the absence of sacred shepherds, a sheep must become a shepherd and tend to the other sheep,” and so forth. Book of Izmaragd, Discourse 3.
Nikita Semenovich, “Narrative and Discourse on Authority and Statutes”
According to the Life written in 1957 by the nun Raisa in the finest traditions of ancient Russian hagiography, Elder Nikita Semenovich (in the world, Merkury) was born in the Yaroslavl village of Vorobino, located 40 versts from the town of Danilov, into a poor peasant family belonging to the dominant church. His mother died when Merkury was only 10 years old, and his father, a tailor by trade, moved to Moscow, taking his only son with him. The father tried to teach his son the tailoring trade, but Merkury had no interest in sitting with his father or observing his work. Instead, young Merkury often ran away from home, drawn to various religious and public gatherings and discussions. He frequented both the churches of the dominant faith and Old Believer prayer houses, listening to spiritual readings and conversations. Despite his young age, he was welcomed everywhere because he behaved respectfully, never imposing his own views, and consistently surprised those gathered with his insightful questions and unusually mature intellect. At first, his father scolded Merkury for his frequent and prolonged absences, but upon learning that his son was spending time not on childish mischief but on “lofty life questions” and reading serious books, he granted him full freedom and even began to take pride in his son. Merkury taught himself to read and write, never attending any school.
Nikita Semenovich recalled his spiritual formation as follows: “My father’s religious conviction was such that he attended the Great Russian church without any investigation or scrutiny and believed its pastors (Nikonian clergy). Living with my father, who was almost entirely uninterested in religious matters and preoccupied only with material concerns, I could not view all religious beliefs in the same way. By the age of 17 or 18, I had already begun diligently reading holy books and understanding their meaning, and from them, I quickly realized the falsehood of the clergy and the church that was dominant in Russia at the time. I intended to join some Old Believer community, thinking I would find the truth there, but when I began to examine all Old Believer sects against Holy Scripture, I saw that there was no truth there either—only falsehood and deviation from the true faith.”
At that time, he came across handwritten petitions from the survivors of the Solovetsky Monastery addressed to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, which inspired him to seek “pious elders who had direct succession from the Solovetsky fathers, who had fled to the mainland from Solovetsky Island and were hiding in the coastal forests near the White Sea.” Merkury was convinced that such “hidden elders” existed and could be found if desired. Guided by this conviction and faith in achieving his goal, the young man set out toward the Solovetsky Monastery. After long searches and inquiries, he came across a 107-year-old elder named Alexei, living near Topozero. According to Nikita Semenovich himself, this elder, who lived very discreetly in the forest, was a direct disciple of those “survivors of piety” who had escaped from the Solovetsky Monastery after its capture by tsarist troops. (Theoretically, this could be true, though it is difficult to say for certain.) Elder Alexei claimed to have been baptized by the Solovetsky fathers themselves.
Merkury shared the purpose of his journey with the elder and expressed his desire to live in the wilderness. The elder accepted Merkury, taught him the true faith, and after a six-week period of fasting and instruction, baptized him with the name Nikita. Nikita lived with the elder for seven years. “Our provisions and books were brought to us in the wilderness by benefactors from the village,” he recalled, “though the path was quite difficult because the sea’s breath would flood the trails leading to us, and access was only possible when the sea receded from the shore.”
When the elder passed away, Nikita remained alone in the wilderness at the age of 25. Left without a spiritual mentor and in “orphaned sorrow,” he spent a long time praying to God with tears about his future life, asking not to stray from the true path and to follow God’s will in all things. Eventually, he decided to leave the wilderness and return to his homeland, the Yaroslavl region.
However, he did not return to his native village but went straight to the village of Sopelki, known as the “wanderer’s (stranniki) capital.” He had already heard that near Sopelki there were “true Christians hiding to preserve their piety from the authorities.” There, he was warmly received by elders who had gathered from various places “to verify their beliefs and strengthen themselves in the truth of the Christian faith.” Nikita told them about himself, his travels, and his life in the wilderness with Elder Alexei. The gathered elders listened to him “with delight” and not only accepted him into their fellowship, recognizing him as a “true Christian,” but also “greatly honored him as a disciple of the Solovetsky fathers and a preacher of truth, well-versed in Holy Scripture.”
Soon, a “deliberative council” was convened in Sopelki to address several disagreements among the wanderers. “All the elders gathered in Sopelki had one aim and goal: to firmly establish themselves in the foundation of the Christian faith and to verify their dogmatic and ritual practices. After we all became acquainted, we formed a deliberative council, but first, we turned to the Lord with fervent prayer and decided to fast for two weeks, recognizing the importance and greatness of the task we had undertaken. In prayer, we asked God that all those gathered would come to unity of thought. All the elders were knowledgeable in Holy Scripture, and through collective deliberation, we united into one Christ’s Church.” At the council, Nikita Semenovich, “as the most well-read and astute,” was appointed a “preacher of the Christian faith.”
At that time, the main goal of the entire “Christian brotherhood” was formulated: “to preserve the holy faith in the time of the Antichrist,” and conciliar instructions were issued that “all Christians should be under pastoral oversight.” The “Wanderers Church” was divided into “regions” and “provinces.” Nikita Semenovich compiled a special charter for the wanderer community, consisting of 19 chapters and 84 articles (hence the name of the branch of the wanderer movement that accepted these “articles”—the “Wanderer-Statists”). According to the “articles,” a form of hierarchy was introduced in the priestless Wanderer Church: the community was divided into “regions,” each led by “regional elders” functioning “in the likeness of bishops.” The entire community was headed by a “chief elder” with powers “in the likeness of a patriarch,” responsible for managing all church affairs. Each locality also had a leader, akin to a presbyter, subordinate to the local “bishop.” Alms sent by generous benefactors were to go into a common wanderer fund (called the “common church treasury”), but only the “patriarch” had the authority to manage it. Some time later, Nikita Semenovich himself was elected as the first “chief elder.” (Later, the monk Arseny (Ryabinin) would be the first among the Statists to call himself a patriarch.) This established a form of hierarchy. However, some wanderer did not accept Nikita Semenovich’s “articles,” leading to a new division.
Nikita Semenovich possessed an excellent knowledge of Holy Scripture, patristic literature, and church history, as well as an outstanding polemical talent, which allowed him to repeatedly defeat the “enemies of truth”—his opponents—in debates. He answered all tricky questions “from Scripture,” calmly, without anger or irritation. He treated those who were sincerely mistaken with great compassion, as “God’s creatures,” condemning not the people but their evil deeds and heresies in a Christian manner. When opponents, seeing their own weakness, became irritated and angry, Nikita Semenovich would say to them with a kind smile: “Why, friends, do you give in to devilish pride? Would it not be better for you to submit to the truth?”
However, not everyone was swayed by Nikita Semenovich’s arguments and gentle demeanor. He gained fierce enemies who stopped at nothing. “Once,” he recalled, “at the request of God-loving people, I was speaking in the village of Vakhrushevo in Vologda province. The discussion was engaging, and when it concluded with a brilliant victory for the truth, the false teachers decided to hand me over to the civil authorities as an enemy of the dominant church and someone without a passport (I was 45 years old at the time). As I traveled from Vakhrushevo through the city of Vologda, I was arrested and thrown into prison.” This occurred in 1854.
Nikita Semenovich spent two years in prison. In addition to specially appointed investigators, he was often questioned by the Vologda governor himself. “When they needed to take me from prison for questioning, the governor would come for me, seat me in his carriage, and always treated me politely, addressing me as ‘Nikita Semenovich.’” During interrogations, the governor and his staff were amazed by the elder’s knowledge not only of spiritual but also secular literature and by his wise responses. Once, the governor remarked, “Well, Nikita Semenovich, I don’t understand what you are—an angel or a devil—for your wisdom is not human.”
Unsure of what to do with the prisoner, the Vologda authorities, after a two-year investigation, sent his case to St. Petersburg to the emperor himself. The reigning Emperor Alexander II issued a resolution: “Send him to the Solovetsky Monastery for a time to ensure compliance.” However, the governor misrepresented the ruling, announcing to Nikita Semenovich that he was sentenced “for life” instead of “for a time.” These words had such a profound impact on the elder that he attempted to escape while being transported to his “eternal exile” on Solovetsky Island. The escape ended with Nikita Semenovich being caught, bound, and escorted under guard to the Solovetsky Island, where he was placed in the monastery prison and held for two years without any news from his fellow believers.
Two years later, Emperor Alexander II visited the Solovetsky Monastery and, among other sights, wished to inspect the monastery prison. The cell where Elder Nikita Semenovich was held was opened to him. Seeing the cleanliness and order in the cell, the emperor was greatly surprised and asked the accompanying archimandrite about the prisoner. The archimandrite recounted the elder’s entire story, including the Vologda governor’s actions. The emperor then ordered Nikita Semenovich’s release from prison, which soon took place. He was given a solitary cell from which he could freely move within the monastery and even beyond its gates, though he was forbidden to leave the island.
While walking around the monastery grounds, he once saw an ancient icon of the venerable fathers Zosima and Savvaty of Solovetsky. From then on, he prayed fervently and at length before this icon, asking the saints to deliver him “from the captivity of unfaithful people occupying the holy monastery and island.” One day, he had the bright idea to write to his fellow believers in Vakhrushevo and ask them to come for him. On August 8, the feast day of Saints Zosima and Savvaty, two men arrived at Solovetsky by boat: one a wanderer and the other a “benefactor.” That same night, they executed the escape. After sailing for three hours across the sea, the fugitives reached the mainland and headed toward Vologda, to their native lands.
“We approached the village of Vakhrushevo on foot,” Nikita Semenovich recalled, “just in time for the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. There was a great gathering of Christians in Vakhrushevo at that time, both for the feast and in anticipation of our arrival. The joy was indescribable, not only for me and those gathered at that meeting but for the entire Church of Christ. You can imagine that after four years of separation and heavy, sorrowful experiences, by God’s mercy, I was once again among my beloved flock. With hearts full of joy, we all glorified the Lord and celebrated an Orthodox prayer service to the almighty God.”
When Nikita Semenovich was freed from captivity, he was 47 years old. According to court records, the escape occurred in 1858. His recollections were recorded 48 years after the event—when he was already 95 years old!
The nun Raisa, who closely observed the elder’s life and witnessed his death (having lived with Nikita Semenovich for 10 years and 3 months), provided a remarkable description of his spiritual life and labors as “our shepherd and tireless worker.” “The enemy constantly persecuted him through people, but God preserved him for his flock. His pursuers passed by and did not see him. Due to constant persecution, he often had to change his place of residence. As a vigilant shepherd and tireless preacher of God’s word, Father Nikita was himself an example to his subordinates and a model of virtue. He was fervent in prayer and diligent in fulfilling God’s commandments. He taught that every task, whether spiritual or physical, should be done with care. He said, ‘Do everything attentively, so that your mind, eyes, and hands understand what you are doing.’ He taught how to read Divine Scripture correctly: not hurriedly or overly prolonged, with a tender voice, clear and distinct speech, observing stress and punctuation. He required standing reverently during prayer, making bows slowly and together, and performing all of God’s works with humility and love, so that others could see from your demeanor that you are a Christian. Such were his teachings. For negligence, inattention, or mistakes, he would reprove: if you said something incorrectly, he would immediately correct you, saying, ‘It seems you weren’t home. Do not forget the fearful saying: He who performs God’s work with negligence shall be cursed.’ He also said, ‘Do not forget the traditions and teachings of the fathers, and they will not forget you in their prayers before God.’”
Elder Nikita, as the nun Raisa recalls, led a truly holy life. He was granted by God a rare gift, even among saints—the gift of tears. “He prayed much and long with tears and sobbing, with heartfelt recitation of penitential words. I often saw him praying tearfully for two hours or more, weeping like a child, with tears streaming down his cheeks. He practiced great abstinence in food, eating only to sustain life. He never allowed himself any excesses, neither in food nor in drink, echoing the words of the Apostle: ‘Do not gratify the desires of the flesh.’ In his entire life, after leaving the world, he never went to a bathhouse or used soap, yet even in deep old age, he remained clean, and no insects ever infested his clothing or hair. He was not only industrious, as he himself said: ‘All my life, I’ve been running, hurrying to complete all tasks, but they never end.’ Even at 85 years and beyond, while sitting at a meal, he would suddenly recall something from Scripture, rush to his room, and write down what came to mind. Such was our father’s zeal for spiritual matters. Even after 90, when his right hand was paralyzed, he did not abandon his work—unable to write himself, he dictated, and a scribe recorded his words.”
Nikita Semenovich was remarkably non-possessive. Though he lived a long life, he owned no wealth or even personal belongings. “His bed was a rolled-up mattress and a small pillow, and he accepted nothing more. He did have books, but he distributed them all during his lifetime. He left behind a good memory for all—a recollection of his industrious life and virtuous teachings, etched on the hearts of his attentive disciples. His love for all was sincere, his humility profound, his patience indescribable. I, unworthy, cannot enumerate all his great virtues. Everyone regarded him as a holy man, skilled in virtues and unconquerable in trials. He shepherded Christ’s flock and taught it not only with words but also with deeds. Father Nikita Semenovich left behind many writings to guide spiritual life and establish good order for the Christian community, suitable for a time of persecution. He always strove to ensure that the lives of Christians were pleasing to God and that there was no anarchy or self-will in the church. For human will contradicts God’s will if it is not guided by Divine Scripture and pastoral oversight.”
Father Nikita was a strict faster throughout his life, and in his final days, he ate nothing for 22 days, taking only a little water during the first 12 days and nothing at all for the last 8 days before his death. For Orthodox Christians, the final exhortation before death—confession and Holy Communion—has always been of great importance. The Wanderers, like other priestless Old Believers who rejected the clergy that had fallen into heresy, could not celebrate the liturgy, during which the sacrament of the Eucharist (partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ) is performed, and thus could not receive Communion in a visible form. Therefore, they constantly sought evidence in the works of the holy fathers and teachers of the Church about invisible, spiritual Communion. Such evidence is indeed found repeatedly in patristic tradition. For example, St. Athanasius the Great, in his commentary on Psalm 36, writes: “In times of persecution, when true teachers are scarce, the Lord Himself nourishes the faithful with His Holy Spirit.” St. Cyril of Alexandria expresses a similar thought in his commentary on the same psalm. St. Cyprian of Carthage writes in one of his epistles: “Do not be dismayed, beloved brethren, by any lack of reverence or faith, for in these times when God’s priests cannot offer sacrifices or perform liturgies, offer a broken spirit as a sacrifice; a contrite and humble heart God will not despise. Offer this sacrifice to God continually, day and night, and you yourselves will be a living and holy sacrifice (as the Apostle says) in your bodies.” Here, a clear distinction is made between the external “sacrifice” (liturgy), which Christians could not perform in prison, and the internal sacrifice performed on the altar of the human heart. Following these words, Elder Nikita Semenovich constantly grieved that true Orthodox Christians were deprived of the sacrament of Holy Communion but understood that a false priesthood fallen into heresy could not perform a true Eucharist. He always mourned the loss of this gift and wept whenever he recalled it.
At the same time, the theology of the Wanderers is remarkably close to the heart of St. Jerome of Stridon, who taught that Communion can also be received “mentally” through the reading of Holy Scripture: “Since the Body of the Lord is true food and His Blood is true drink, according to the mystical interpretation, in this age we have only one good: to feed on His Flesh and drink His Blood, not only in the sacrament (Eucharist) but also in the reading of Scriptures. For the true food and drink, which is received from the Word of God, is the knowledge of Scriptures.” Hence, the study of Holy Scripture and meditation on its passages held particular significance. It has been noted many times that among Old Believers, even simple ones, there were far more church-literate individuals than among members of the dominant church. Sometimes, an ordinary “schismatic woman” could outshine a “Nikonian priest” who had graduated from a theological academy in a debate. Old Believer apologists played a special role in defending the old faith—people who, without any formal education, possessed remarkable knowledge of Holy Scripture, church history, and apologetic literature, easily navigating patristic heritage and quoting entire pages of text by heart. We have already encountered several such unique figures: Archpriest Avvakum, the Solovetsky monks, Elder Vavila, the brothers Andrey and Semyon Denisov, Feodosy Vasiliev, Ilya Kovylin, Monk Euthymius… Elder Nikita Semenovich undoubtedly belongs to this illustrious cohort of Old Believer apologist-scholars. His knowledge repeatedly astonished people from “educated society.”
Extraordinary was the elder’s life, and extraordinary was his death. “On the Wednesday to Thursday of Cheesefare Week, from 8 p.m.,” narrates the nun Raisa, “he fixed his gaze on the holy icons, and tears flowed and flowed from his eyes, while his lips unceasingly uttered prayers until exhaustion. Those present could barely discern and understand his words. Only those words spoken with particular strength and fervent emotion were clear to those around him: ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God!’ Then: ‘And renew a right spirit within me.’ And also: ‘Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me!’ The rest of what he said over the course of 12 hours until 8 a.m. was unclear to us. Finally, he faintly uttered: ‘I have finished my life on earth.’”
Father Nikita Semenovich passed away on Thursday of the first week of Great Lent at 10 p.m. (March 4, 1902). About 30 of his fellow believers were present at his passing, including his spiritual father, Evsevy Ilich, to whom the elder managed to confess before his death. Although everyone anxiously awaited his final heavy sigh, it never came. Nikita Semenovich died quietly. At the moment of his passing, his face shone, and his beard spread across his chest “as if someone had combed it.” Those present at the elder’s final moments were struck by the change in his face and thought only that “they were truly witnessing the death of a righteous man.”
Such was the blessed repose of this remarkable man, the patriarch of the “Wanderer Church.” He lived 95 years on earth, 78 of which were spent in pilgrimage (wandering). He loved to repeat to his spiritual children: “Remember, brethren, and never forget that it is good for the good everywhere; if something is amiss, it is from ourselves.” He also taught obedience. The nun Raisa recalls an incident: the elder reproached his spiritual children for failing to follow an order, and they, instead of apologizing promptly, remained silent. He then went to his room and closed the door, and the guilty ones realized he was offended by their stubbornness. They began to apologize at length, bowing to the ground, and when he forgave them, he said: “If you had said just one word—‘forgive’—it would have been worth more than all these bows.”
“We accepted all his good instructions with love because they came from his pure heart, not from arrogance or authority. Once, I, a sinner, asked him to pray for me so that the Lord would help me live well in pilgrimage (wandering). He said to me: ‘If you are attentive to yourself, God will help you, and you will live well.’ And so, my spiritual children, let us remember the teachings and lives of our spiritual fathers. Let us imitate their way of life, and through their prayers, may the Lord help us live godly lives and attain future blessedness with Christ… I, an unworthy disciple of a great father and shepherd, have briefly written what little I remember of his many deeds for future generations,” concludes the nun Raisa in her account of Father Nikita Semenovich.