Pestov’s attitude of the church to his works. Pestov Nikolay Evgrafovich. See what “Pestov, Nikolai Evgrafovich” is in other dictionaries

“Every human soul is characterized by the desire for joy and happiness, every person seeks the path to them. How to find them? And what do we mean by perfect joy? This is how Nikolai Evgrafovich Pestov began the preface to his two-volume work. And I put the words from the Gospel of John as my epigraph ( 15 , 11): May My joy be in you, and may your joy be complete.

The work is called “Modern Practice of Orthodox Piety.” It was created in the 1950s - 1960s and at the same time, reprinted on hundreds of typewriters, distributed in samizdat. Who is he, its author?

He is a chemist, a specialist in the production of mineral fertilizers, a professor, a teacher at prestigious Soviet universities, the author of many scientific works and inventions, and a holder of the Order of Lenin. Father of three children. However, his children and grandchildren need to be discussed separately. This is what I tried to do to the best of my ability in the magazine “Orthodoxy and Modernity” No. 20 for 2011. I was fortunate then to communicate with Nikolai Evgrafovich’s daughter, Natalya Nikolaevna, the widow of Archpriest Vladimir Sokolov, and with three of her five children. Two - Archpriest Theodore Sokolov and Bishop of Novosibirsk and Berdsk Sergius (Seraphim Sokolov) - were no longer on earth. The essay “Blessed Offspring” is not difficult to find on our diocesan website. And now - about the books of Nikolai Pestov.

The two-volume book “Modern Practice of Orthodox Piety” is, in essence, a textbook of the Orthodox faith. The textbook is extremely sensible, clearly systematized, complete and at the same time concise. However, what distinguishes it from the usual school and university textbooks is its special warmth and love that permeates every line. Love for God, for the Church, for the saints - and for readers. Readers from whose lives all Christian literature was completely excluded, starting with the Holy Scriptures. What a revelation, what a happiness these samizdat books were for them, containing everything necessary for a conscious choice: the foundations of Christian dogma, the Orthodox teaching about man, about the Fall and sin, about repentance and salvation; explanation of such concepts as humility, meekness, obedience, patience, generosity. From Professor Pestov, the then inhabitants of the godless Soviet space learned what prayer is, what it can and should be, what a temple and church sacraments are for an Orthodox Christian. The reader gained an understanding of the Orthodox way of life, the rules of piety, and virtues, and began to understand why fasting is needed, why attention to oneself and sobriety are so important. Before the eyes of the reader, unaccustomed to such things, a whole world unfolded - rich, demanding, strict and at the same time joyful. The reader gradually moved deeper into this world, and the invisible pointer of Professor Pestov (remember, a highly experienced teacher of inorganic chemistry) pointed him in time to what he was supposed to see. A person who until then knew practically nothing about the faith of his grandfathers and great-grandfathers received clear answers to difficult but inevitably arising questions: if the Lord is good, why is there so much grief and evil in the world? Why don't people in the Church become sinless? How to treat other religions and the people who profess them? Should a Christian participate in the life of society or is his destiny to be detached from the “vanity of the world”? It should be emphasized that atheistic propaganda actively speculated on most of these issues. Nikolai Pestov (almost always, however, anonymous to the reader) calmly sorted through the rubble of false ideas and ugly stereotypes. (And these stereotypes, meanwhile, in addition to propaganda, are formed in the consciousness of a person who has not learned to delve into the truth; and today they dominate many “advanced” minds. You read another young author, a liberal and anticlerical, as if he graduated from the institute of Marxism-Leninism, all concepts about Christianity, about Orthodoxy - from there.)

Nikolai Evgrafovich’s books opened for the reader a door (or, better to say, a window) into patristic literature, which was practically inaccessible even to priests in those years. Frequent quotations showed its depth and universal applicability. But why do I write all the time about the contemporaries of Nikolai Evgrafovich, who died in 1982? Perhaps for us, who freely participate in church life and have unlimited access to Orthodox literature, his works are no longer so important?

Against. We, journalists and publishers, know: the more experienced the proofreader, the tighter his grip on the dictionary. Pestov’s two-volume work can be compared to a dictionary, an encyclopedia, which is always useful to look into, no matter what question arises. Why is it so difficult to cope with the sin of idle talk? What to do with an unbelieving friend, is it worth convincing him? What to do if you feel lonely and misunderstood? Personally, I have never had a situation where I opened Pestov and did not find an answer, support, did not feel that same warmth - love. Nikolai Evgrafovich was an amazingly kind, loving person, his daughter and granddaughters told me about this; but even if I weren’t familiar with them, I think I would have guessed this by reading his books.

In our church kiosks and Orthodox literature stores you can also see Nikolai Pestov’s book “The Light of Revelation.” It explains one of the most difficult books of the Bible to understand, the latest of them - the Revelation of John the Evangelist, or Apocalypse. The text of the book “The Light of Revelation” is as clear, simple and intelligible as the text of a two-volume book.

And one more book by Nikolai Evgrafovich cannot be ignored here. It is called “Life for Eternity” and turns us to the author’s personal experience, a bitter, terrible and bright experience. The son of Professor Pestov, Nikolai Pestov Jr., died at the age of nineteen, in 1943, during the liberation of Smolensk. He grew up in the era of the “storm of heaven,” a total and brutal struggle against the Church. But, despite all this, he became a believer - such was the influence of his family. During the years when thousands of monks were shot, Kolya dreamed of becoming a Diveyevo monk (the Pestovs always considered St. Seraphim their patron). But God called him to a different sacrifice... After the funeral, the father collected in a book the letters he received from his son - first from military school, then from the front - and spoke about his own spiritual experience of his death. Believe me, the letters of this Russian boy cannot be forgotten, just like the words of his father.

According to Nikolai Evgrafovich’s own testimony and according to the testimony of people close to him, he was driven by a great feeling - repentance. Repentance for “red” youth. He was a member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), a commissar. Until one day, in 1921, in a dream, I met the gaze of Christ... In the 30s, the confessor of the Pestov spouses was the holy martyr Sergius Mechev, the son of the most famous Moscow elder Alexy Mechev. After the execution of Father Sergius, no one came for Nikolai and Zoya Pestov - well, perhaps by a miracle, or by God's Providence. Nikolai Evgrafovich used his life and freedom for the benefit of Christ and the Church - as much as he could. His books will be read for a very long time.

Spiritual writer, Doctor of Chemical Sciences, professor, scientist and teacher. Nikolai Evgrafovich was born in Nizhny Novgorod on August 17, 1892. His father belonged to the bourgeois class, his mother belonged to the merchant class. As a result of the influence of the literature of the Marxists and Renan, he became an atheist, becoming a military commissar in 1919–1921.

About what is written about the period of commissarship in the writer’s diary, only these notes can be found: “Remembering all this evil that I committed in those years is the hardest thing for me... This whole nightmare... All this happened in the absence of my Christian faith.." In 1921, on the first of March, Christ appeared to Nicholas in a dream. That night the Lord entered his heart, and from then on, no matter what Nikolai did, no matter what he felt, he knew that Christ was always with him, and God’s help never left him.

N.E. Pestov was known as a prominent scientist working in the field of mineral fertilizers. He was engaged in teaching at many of the capital's largest universities. January 1941 was the time of defending his doctoral dissertation and the beginning of writing a number of books that have not yet lost their methodological and scientific significance.

He began to engage in activities related to writing theological works during wartime, after Nikolai, his nineteen-year-old son, died in battle in the fall of 1943.

The first book that marked the beginning of the literary and spiritual period of Nikolai Evgrafovich Pestov was a book entitled “To the blessed memory of Kolyusha, or a monument at the grave of his son.” This book was based on Nicholas's letters from the front and various documents. After some time, this story was renamed by the author, receiving the title “Life for Eternity.”

The memory of his son also served to continue his work on moral theology. It was the memories of his son that became the main motives for creating the most interesting two-volume book “The Path to Perfect Joy” for writing the first edition of the book “Above the Apocalypse”.

The mid-fifties became significant for Nikolai Evgrafovich Pestov in that it was then that he began work on his main philosophical and religious work. This is a multi-volume dissertation with the unifying title “Modern practice of Orthodox piety (The experience of building a Christian worldview).” At that time there could be no question of going to the printing industry to print something like that. Therefore, publishing “samizdat” was the only possible option, and the demand for the multi-volume “Modern Practice of Orthodox Piety (The Experience of Building a Christian World Outlook)” was very great. It was copied many times on typewriters, and then in our time this work became a gem of Orthodox literature.

Nikolai Evgrafovich Pestov
Date of Birth	August 17(1892-08-17 )
Place of Birth	Nizhny Novgorod
Date of death	January 14(1982-01-14 ) (89 years old)
Occupation	chemist
Awards and prizes

Biography

N. E. Pestov was born on August 17, 1892 in Nizhny Novgorod. His father came from the bourgeoisie, his mother from the merchant class. Nikolai was the last, tenth, child in the family.

In 1903-1910 he studied at a real school, where he graduated from an additional class, which gave him the right to enter a higher educational institution - in 1911 he entered the chemistry department of the Imperial Moscow Higher Technical School. In 1915, in his fourth year at school, he volunteered for the front. Having entered the Alekseevsky Military School, by August 1917 he was already a regiment adjutant with the rank of lieutenant. During a short vacation in February 1916, he married the daughter of a sworn attorney, Rufina Dyachkova.

From February to August 1918, N. E. Pestov served in the Nizhny Novgorod Cheka as a clerk, then in the City Food Committee; On August 13, 1918, he was arrested, but on November 2 he was released and was sent to work in the bodies of the Vsevobuch. In December 1918 he joined the RCP(b). He worked in Nizhny Novgorod until January 30, 1919. Then he worked in Moscow, in the Directorate of All-Russian Education at the All-Russian General Staff and, at the same time, studied at the Central Higher Courses for All-Russian Education. In the spring of 1919, among 15 thousand communists, he was sent to the Northern Group of the Eastern Front and after the victory of the Red Army in August he was summoned to Moscow. In September 1919, he was awarded the rank of district military commissar and sent as head of the Vsevobuch Department in the Urals Military District. He remained in this position in Sverdlovsk until 1921. He wrote about this period of his life in his diary:

Remembering all this evil that I committed in those years is the hardest thing for me... This whole nightmare... Karamazov’s dirt... All this happened in the absence of my Christian faith...

In the spring of 1921, he had a spiritual experience that led him to faith; in July 1921 he resigned from the ranks of the Red Army, and in 1922 he left the party. At this time, his first wife also left him, and he returned to Moscow and graduated from Moscow Higher Technical School.

In the fall of 1921, Pestov attended a lecture by V.F. Martsinkovsky and soon met the organizer of the Christian Student Circle at the Moscow Higher Technical School, Zoya Bezdetnova, with whom he married on May 20, 1923. In 1924, as a member of the Christian Student Circle, he was arrested, but was released on December 19. In Butyrka prison he met a parishioner of the St. Nicholas Church on Maroseyka, where he soon began to serve as headman.

Even before graduating from Moscow Higher Technical School, N. E. Pestov was enrolled as an employee Scientific Institute for Fertilizers(NIUIF). At Moscow Higher Technical University he was an assistant to Academician E.V. Britske and taught a course on fertilizer technology. Then, while continuing to work at NIUIF, he moved to, and later to the Military Academy of Chemical Defense, where he worked as head of the department of potassium salts until October 1933.

In 1933-1937 he worked at the department of technology of mineral substances (professor of the department since 1934). For refusing to speak at a meeting to condemn the arrested professor N.F. Yushkevich, in the fall of 1937 N.E. Pestov was fired from the Moscow Chemical Technology Institute. Two years later, he was elected by competition as the head of the department of chemical technology, where in January 1941 he defended his doctoral dissertation “Physico-chemical properties of powdery and granular products of the chemical industry”; from December 1942 to December 1943 he was dean of the Faculty of Chemistry, and from October 1943 he was deputy director for scientific and educational work.

On November 4, 1944, N. E. Pestov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and in 1946 - the medal “For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War.”

N. E. Pestov is the author of works of philosophical and theological content. Since 1943, he worked on the fundamental work “(The Experience of the Christian World Outlook).” At the end of the 50s, N. E. Pestov wrote the first works on theology. These were mainly excerpts from the holy fathers and teachers of the Church on various issues of Christian life, combined into two volumes entitled “Paths to Perfect Joy,” as well as the first edition of the book “Above the Apocalypse.”

Died on January 14, 1982. He was buried in the cemetery in Grebnevo, Moscow region, next to his wife’s grave.

Bibliography

Books

• Modern Practice of Orthodox Piety. Volume I.
• Modern Practice of Orthodox Piety. Volume II.
• Orthodox education of children. - St. Petersburg. : Satis, 2010. -

I found him in the 4th year. Nikolai voluntarily entered the army. Then in his diary he wrote: “... many years later I see in this the Providence of God, which took me out of the walls of the school for 8 years in order to return me to it again, but as a completely different person. Saul came out, Paul returned.. "

After graduating from military school, Nikolai Pestov was promoted to warrant officer and assigned to an infantry reserve battalion. In mid-August of the year, he was transferred to Riga to an artillery regiment to organize anti-chemical defense. At the front he received an auditory concussion, the consequences of which remained for life. Awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus, III degree, and the Order of St. Anne, III degree. In the documents of the regiment, Pestov was certified as an “outstanding officer.”

From Pestov’s diary:

“Spiritual life in Russia at that time was very complex and varied. The Orthodox Church was torn apart by schisms. There were several main groups that it was difficult for me, a young Christian, to understand. Most of the churches in Moscow were in the hands of renovationists, headed by Alexander Vvedensky ( later a renovationist metropolitan). At that time I did not yet imagine the difference that existed between the renovationists and the “Tikhon’s Church” and visited both churches.”

Returning from prison, Pestov stopped visiting renovationist churches and became a permanent parishioner of the Maroseya Church and the spiritual son of Fr. Sergius Mecheva. With the blessing of his spiritual father, Pestov made a trip to Sarov and Diveevo, where monasteries still operated.

Two sons and a daughter grew up in the Pestov family; Nikolai Evgrafovich paid a lot of attention to their upbringing, fighting for their souls, as well as for his own. He never punished children strictly: “Where love operates, there is no need for severity.”

Pestov carried out extensive scientific and pedagogical activities: he taught at universities, lectured at enterprises, and supervised graduate students; he owns about 160 research works, monographs and articles. In the city, at a meeting of the department at the Mendeleev Institute, prof. Pestov N.E. opposed the conviction as an “enemy of the people” of a talented scientist who was then arrested by the GPU, and was expelled from the staff.

“Almost every day, rather every night, I expected arrest. I believe that it was only through the prayers of my children, wife and spiritual father that I was not arrested at that time and remained alive.”- he wrote later.

“Let no one think that all these positive reviews from people dear to me feed my pride and vanity,- Pestov wrote in the late 1970s. - I constantly remember the abyss of sin into which I fell during the last three years before turning to the Christian faith. I sincerely repented of them and believe that the Lord, in His ineffable goodness, forgave me my sins, but the consciousness of my insignificance remained in me and will be with me until death..."

From the memories of a grandson:

"...Prayer literally permeated his entire life. Nikolai Evgrafovich religiously attended the Church of God. He especially loved the early Liturgies on Sundays, for which he carefully prepared several days in advance and at which he constantly received the Holy Mysteries. This great Sacrament gave him a new impetus for life , instilled in him extraordinary energy, made him a real ascetic. This was especially noticeable in the last years of his life. He usually read all-night vigils, akathists, the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, and the services of Holy Week privately. The hours passed slowly, touchingly and with deep concentration these prayers in his room. ... We, the grandchildren, also took part in these prayers, reading the Trisagion, the Six Psalms and quietly singing along with grandfather the familiar irmos. But, undoubtedly, grandfather performed most of the prayers in private. His prayer was fiery, he was completely immersed into it, so that sometimes, accidentally entering the office, one could become a witness to this live conversation with God, devoid of any external effect; at these moments, usually grandfather did not notice those entering, and we hastily left, carrying with us an incomprehensible feeling of guilt."

The last year has been painful. Nikolai Evgrafovich realized that he would soon die and was preparing for this great moment. In the summer of the year he asked him to perform unction. During the Sacrament, he prayed fervently; After the unction, the disease visibly subsided. In the last months before his death, he almost did not get up, received Holy Communion weekly and remained in constant prayer. After Christmas, his strength finally left him. On the morning of January 11, he fell into unconsciousness and, without regaining consciousness, died on the night of January 14 of the year on the feast of the Circumcision of the Lord and St. Basil the Great, whom he greatly revered. Nikolai Evgrafovich Pestov was buried in the cemetery at the Smolensk-St. Nicholas Church in the village of Grebnevo, Moscow region.

Proceedings

• Pestov N.E. Renewal of the human soul. (Transformation of the “external” and “spiritual” person into the “internal” and “spiritual” person). M.: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate, BLAGOG Center, 1998. http://www.pagez.ru/olib/index.php?id=2569
• Pestov N.E. Fundamentals of the Orthodox faith. M.: Eleon, 1999. http://www.pagez.ru/olib/index.php?id=7490
• Pestov N.E. What is the obedience of an Orthodox Christian? http://www.pagez.ru/olib/index.php?id=3718
• Pestov N.E. Christian marriage. The essence of the purpose of marriage. M.: Church of St. Nicholas. 1996. http://www.synergia.itn.ru/kerigma/brak/pestov/hr-brak/p1.htm
• Pestov N.E. Christian marriage. Choosing a spouse. M.: Church of St. Nicholas. 1996. http://www.synergia.itn.ru/kerigma/brak/pestov/hr-brak/p2.htm
• Pestov N.E. Christian marriage. Married life. M.: Church of St. Nicholas. 1996. http://www.synergia.itn.ru/kerigma/brak/pestov/hr-brak/p3.htm
• Pestov N.E. Orthodox education of children. St. Petersburg: Satis, 1999. http://www.wco.ru/biblio/books/pestov1/main.htm
• Life for eternity or a monument to the grave of a son. Novosibirsk, 1997.

Used materials

• On the website "Orthodox Berdsk"

The publishing house "Satis", with the consent of Nikolai Evgrafovich's relatives, gradually published this work in 4 volumes, entitled "Modern Practice of Orthodox Piety." - St. Petersburg, 1994-96

Biography

NOT. Pestov was born on August 17, 1892 in Nizhny Novgorod. His father came from the bourgeoisie, his mother from the merchant class. From 1903 to 1910 N.E. Pestov studied at a real school, and in 1911 he entered the chemistry department of the Imperial Moscow Higher Technical School (later Bauman Moscow State Technical University). In 1915, from the fourth year of the Moscow Higher Technical School N.E. Pestov volunteered for the front. From February to August 1918 N.E. Pestov served in the Nizhny Novgorod Cheka as a clerk, then in the City Food Committee. In December 1918 he joined the Communist Party. Then he worked in the Department of All-Russian Education at the All-Russian Main Headquarters (Moscow). In September 1919, he was awarded the rank of district military commissar and sent to head the Vsevobuch Department in the Urals Military District. He remained in this position until 1921. In 1921 he had a spiritual experience that led him to faith. In July 1921 N.E. Pestov resigned from the ranks of the Red Army and in 1922 left the party. Returning to Moscow, he graduated from Moscow Higher Technical School and made a brilliant scientific career. He becomes a prominent scientist in the field of mineral fertilizer technology, teaching at many large metropolitan universities. In January 1941 he defended his doctoral dissertation and wrote a number of books that have not yet lost their scientific and methodological significance. In the 1940s elected dean and then appointed deputy director for educational and scientific work of the Moscow Engineering and Economic Institute named after S. Ordzhonikidze. Author of works of philosophical and theological content. Since 1943, he worked on the fundamental work “(The Experience of the Christian World Outlook).” N.E. died Pestov January 14, 1982 Buried in the cemetery at the Smolensk-St. Nicholas Church in the village of Grebnevo, Moscow region.

Publications

Books

• Pestov N. E. The Path to Perfect Joy.
• Pestov N. E. Modern Practice of Orthodox Piety. Volume I.
• Pestov N. E. Modern Practice of Orthodox Piety. Volume II.
• Pestov N. E. Orthodox education of children. - St. Petersburg: Satis, 2010. ISBN 5-7868-0063-6. Circulation: 5000 copies.
• Pestov N. E. What is fasting and how to fast correctly
• Pestov N. E. How to say the Jesus Prayer. - St. Petersburg: Satis, 2005.
• Pestov N. E. Light of perfect joy. - Siberian Blagozvonnitsa, 2007. ISBN 978-5-91362-024-8. Circulation: 5000 copies.
• Pestov N. E. How to defeat the devil's networks (about resistance to dark forces). - St. Petersburg: Satis, 2005.
• Pestov N. E. Life for Eternity. // ISBN 5-87873-026-Х Joint publication of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Tushino, Moscow and the Orthodox Brotherhood of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian.

Articles

• Pestov N. E. A true friend // Magazine “Glinskie Readings”, July-August 2007.
• Pestov N. E. Paths to repentance. “We must be afraid of the dirt that nests in the recesses of our hearts” // Orthodoxy and the World, 04/01/2009.
• Pestov N. E. The meaning of repentance. Why did the Lord not want to deal with the “righteous”? // Orthodoxy and Peace, 03/31/2009.
• Pestov N. E. About attitude towards others // Orthodoxy and the World, 08/20/2007.
• Pestov N. E. Holy Bible .

Movies

Based on the book by N. E. Pestov “Modern Practice of Orthodox Piety” the film “The Purpose of Christian Life and the Path of Salvation” was made. - TK My Joy, TK Soyuz 2009-06-18.

Links

• The purpose of Christian life and the path of salvation // Orthodoxy and the World, 04/27/2010.
• From external to internal. Biography of N. E. Pestov. // Comp. Bishop of Novosibirsk and Berdsk Sergius (Sokolov). - Novosibirsk: Orthodox gymnasium in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh, 1997.

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