ELDER ARISTOCLES OF MOSCOW

Those who came to the Orthodox faith in Moscow in the nineties of the last century remember the printouts of a magazine about the life of the monks of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Athos, which was published before the Revolution of 1917 under the signature of Father Aristoсles. Now he is canonized by the Church as an elder and miracle worker.

1 Elder Aristocles of Moscow was born in 1846 and went to the Lord in 1918. He was a family man but became a widower and went to Greece to become a monk. Born in Orenburg, Aristocles spent most of his ascetic life on Mount Athos. Yet it was in Moscow where, according to an unfathomable plan of grace, he was destined to bring the greatest benefit to people through his ministry. The recollections of his contemporaries testify to the saint’s gift of spiritual counsel and prophecy, as well as to the power of his prayer, which once restored sight to a blind man. It was as if the elder overlooked other righteous men of that time in time and space. Ambrose of Optina and John of Kronstadt were older than him, and Patriarch Tikhon and even Silouan of Athos were younger.

2 The Lord evidently protected Saint Aristocles throughout his life. At the end of the 19th century, he was prior of the Moscow Metochion of the Russian Athos Monastery but was later recalled. The First Russian Revolution of 1905 therefore did not affect him—he remained on Mount Athos. Shortly before the outbreak of conflict over the veneration of the name of Jesus on the Holy Mountain, Aristocles was brought back to Moscow. Thus, he escaped the dramatic events just before the First World War, which led to the mass expulsion of Russian monks from Mount Athos.

3 Finally, shortly after the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia, God called Aristocles to Himself. On the eve of the monastery’s destruction in 1923, the believers prophetically insisted on his reburial at the Danilov Cemetery. Thus, his relics were preserved for future veneration. On September 6, 2004, the anniversary of his death, he was beatified. The Lord miraculously and carefully preserved His saint so that he could preserve and protect others. Saint Aristocles is a living example of the charitable gift of spiritual guidance and of creating good in humble silence, despite the winds of all kinds of change in troubled times.

4 On the Sunday before September 11, the Russian Church celebrates the Synaxis of Moscow Saints. This holiday often coincides with City Day. The first canonized Moscow saint is considered to be Metropolitan Peter of the Russian Church. He was born in 1260 and was elected metropolitan in 1308. In 1325, by an amazing coincidence, exactly one thousand years after the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, he chose Moscow as his place of residence. The future capital was then the only large city in Rus’ that did not have its own bishop. According to the canons of the Ancient Church, there should not be two bishops in one city. This was an absolutely prophetic decision, which, without exaggeration, not only determined the rise of Moscow, but also predetermined the course of subsequent Russian history. Just a year later, Peter departed to the Lord and was buried in the wall of the original Dormition Cathedral. August 6th marks the transfer of the relics of Saint Peter to the newly built Dormition Cathedral, which took place in 1479. Many centuries later, it was on this autumn day of Saint Peter’s remembrance that the elder Aristocles departed to the Lord. Therefore, the days of remembrance of Peter and Aristocles coincide. If Peter became the first Moscow saint in time, then Aristocles was one of the last.