the Sovereign went to the Lavra where he visited the Metropolitan and conversed with him in his private chambers. ….In 1852, Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich visited, for the last time the city which was dear to his heart, not long before the beginning of the war with Turkey which led to the unfortunate Crimean campaign and placed the Sovereign in his untimely grave. The Sovereign heard these prophetically significant words of Starets Feofil and looked back intently at the strange monk. You have to go through thorns,” the Blessed One answered to this, peacefully climbing into his cart.Īt that very moment the horses strained to one side and the Tsar’s carriage sped ahead. “Well, go with God and wish me a happy journey.”
“Strange.”īut wishing to end the embarrassment of those accompanymg him, he kindly turned to Feofil and said: “A God’s fool-monk?” asked Nikolal Pavlovich with amazement. Nikolai Pavlovich gave a questioning look to his suite and they, extremely embarrassed by Feofil’s reply, hastened to explain that this simple person was the monk Feofil, a fool-for-Christ’s-sake, of the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra. Where I will be later - God alone knows.” “I know you are God’s, but where do you come from and where are you going?” “I am a man of God,” the Blessed One replied with childlike simplicity. “What kind of person are you?” Nikolai Pavlovich sternly asked Feofil, taking him in with a penetrating glance. The Tsar’s suite and the city authorities quickly rushed to Feofil and brought him to the Sovereign’s carriage. Seeing the monk in a ragged cloak near him, the Sovereign became interested in finding out who he was. The horses strained to the right and to the left but they could not move the carriage from its spot. All the efforts of the coachman to make the horses proceed were in vain. No sooner did the Tsar’s horses come even with Feofil’s cart than they stopped as if they had suddenly become frozen to the ground. The Tsar Nikolai I Pavlovich of Russia meets Starets FeofilĪs the carriage was driving through Perchersk, and about to turn a corner, His Imperial Majesty met with Feofil who came plodding around the corner on his bullock. Theophilus, fool for Christ of Kiev Caves Lavra (1788-1853).
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