Liturgical works of the nun Ignatia (Puzik). Maria Abushkina Nun Ignatia (Puzik) - World-famous scientist, secret nun Nun Ignatia

“Mother Ignatia became a bridge through which the Lord through the decades connected the secret communities of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery and the revived monastery of our days.A pupil of the Petrovsky elders, after a whole epoch, she seems to have grafted the church life renewed on Petrovka into the historical tree of the tradition of this place, ” hegumen Peter (Eremeev), rector of the Church of the Resurrection of the Word at the Vagankovsky cemetery, abbot of the Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery.

PUZIK VALENTINA ILYINICHNA (in the schema Ignatius, born February 1, 1903, Moscow - died August 29, 2004, Moscow) - a scientist in the field of phthisiopathology, professor, Orthodox hymnographer, schema nun.

Valentina was lucky to be born into a friendly, pious and religious family. In a family where children loved and honored their parents. Where from an early age industriousness, modesty, obedience, kindness and compassion for people were brought up in them. These wonderful qualities, laid down by believing and loving parents, Valentina Ilyinichina will keep for the rest of her life.

In 1920, Valentina graduated from the gymnasium with honors and entered the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Moscow State University. It was during this period of her life that she had two meetings that determined her further scientific and spiritual life. These were meetings with Vladimir Germanovich Shtefko and Father Ignatius.

After graduating from the university in 1926, the future schema nun began working in the field of pathomorphology of tuberculosis under the guidance of the famous phthisiopathologist V.G. Stefko. From 1945 to 1974 headed the laboratory of pathomorphology of tuberculosis at the State Tuberculosis Institute (later the Central Research Institute of Tuberculosis of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences). In 1940 she defended her doctoral thesis, and in 1947 she was awarded the title of professor. She owns more than 200 scientific papers in various fields of medicine, including seven monographs. Scientific merits of V.I. Puzik was awarded with awards (the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, nine medals, the title of Honored Worker of Medicine), and her research activities in the 1940s were recognized by foreign colleagues.

After the end of his professional activity in 1974, V.I. Puzik devoted herself entirely to monastic work.

The first church impressions of Valentina Ilyinichna are connected with the church of the supreme apostles Peter and Paul on Novaya Basmannaya in Moscow. Even while studying at the university, an important event occurred that determined the entire subsequent life of a young girl. In 1924, during a fast during a visit to the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, she met at confession with Archimandrite Agathon (Lebedev) (Ignatius in schema). She became his spiritual daughter. Since the mid-1920s, a spiritual family has been formed around Father Ignatius, many of whose members gravitated towards the monastic path; within the walls of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, many young men and women began to take secret tonsure. Here, under the guidance of the elders, they comprehended the basics of spiritual life, while remaining at their secular work or study, which was part of their monastic obedience.

In 1928, Valentina was secretly tonsured into a cassock with the name of Barsanuphius, in honor of St. Barsanuphius of Kazan. At the beginning of 1939, nun Varsonofia took the vows into the mantle, which was performed by Archimandrite Zosima (Nilov). The name in the mantle was given to her in memory of her elder - in honor of the Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer. With the blessing of her spiritual father, Mother Ignatius continued to work in her specialty, perceiving research activities as an obedience, similar to a monastic one.

From the mid-1940s, her scientific activity was supplemented by literary work of spiritual content. In 1945, her first book appeared - a biography of the spiritual father, Schema-Archimandrite Ignatius (Lebedev). In 1952, she wrote a book about the monastic community he created. Later, other books were written in which Mother Ignatia reflected on the life of the Church, its history, the actions of God's Providence in the modern world and in the life of modern man. Among them are memories of the elders of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, of the patriarchs Sergius and Alexy I.

Schematic nun Ignatia died on August 29, 2004 at the age of 102, of which she lived as a monk for 76 years. She was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery.

20.09.2018

(Puzik Valentina Ilyinichna; 01/19/1903, Moscow - 08/29/2004, ibid.), schematist, phthisiatrician, spiritual writer, hymnographer. Father, Ilya Yakovlevich, was an employee of the Kiev-Voronezh railway. Mother, Ekaterina Sevastyanovna, in the 30s. She took monastic vows (as a monk, Abraham). Valentina Puzik studied at the Nikolaevsky Wives. commercial school. In 1920, she entered the natural department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University, and from 1923 she studied at the biological department organized at the same fact. The well-known phthisiopathologist V. G. Shtefko became her supervisor. Already the first work written in her student years brought international fame to the young researcher.

Feb. 1924 Valentina Puzik became the spiritual daughter of Archim. Agathon, in the schema of Ignatius (Lebedev), the elder of the Vysokopetrovsky Monastery. In June 1928 I. secretly took vows in a cassock with the name Barsanuphius in honor of St. Barsanuphius of Kazan; Jan 2 1939 - in a mantle with the name of Ignatius in honor of ssmch. Ignatius the God-bearer and in memory of her spiritual father, who died in prison in 1938. I. belonged to the older generation of the secret monastic community prmch. Ignatius (Lebedeva). The purpose of creating the community was to preserve the ascetic tradition of Orthodoxy. monasticism. Among the newly tonsured monks and nuns, the main traditions of monastic life were preserved: the perception of any, including secular, work as obedience, the confession of thoughts to the elder, daily prayer, etc. In accordance with the principles established by the Prmch. Ignatius, scientific activity became for I. her monastic obedience.

After graduating in 1926, MSU I. worked in the laboratory of pathomorphology of tuberculosis of the State. tuberculosis in-that (later the Central Research Institute of Tuberculosis (TsNIIT) of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR). In 1940 she defended her doctorate. dissertation (the degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences was awarded to her in 1943), since 1947 she has been a professor. Head of the pathomorphological laboratory of the TsNIIT in 1945-1974, author of more than 200 works in various fields of medicine, under her supervision. 22 doctoral and 47 master's theses were defended. She became the founder of her own school of TB pathologists. She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1973), medals, and the title of Honored Worker of Medicine.

In 1947 (according to other sources, in 1948), Mrs. I. turned to Patriarch Alexy I with a request to be allowed to go to an open church service, but did not receive a blessing. From Ser. 40s I. was engaged in church lit. creativity, which, according to her, grew out of the skills of daily written confession of thoughts. The first books were of a memoir nature and were dedicated to the life of her spiritual father prmch. Ignatius (Lebedev) and the secret monastic community he created. Subsequently, I. responded to the events of church life, and also wrote about the history and principles of Orthodoxy. spiritual guidance (elders).

The most mature works came out from the pen of I. in the 70-80s. 20th century They were written as diaries reflecting on the life of the Church, on its history, on the actions of the Providence of God in modern times. world and in modern life. person. She created more than 30 similar works, most of which have not yet been published. The combination of such a large-scale scientific and lit. creativity - a phenomenon unique to the hidden church culture of the twentieth century. From the beginning 80s I. worked in the field of church hymnography. She wrote the services of St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) and Patriarch Job, blg. book. Demetrius Donskoy, Rev. Herman (Gomzin) and Zosima (Verkhovsky), services to the Cathedrals of the Belarusian, Smolensk and Kazan saints, the Valaam Icon of the Mother of God.

Since the 80s I. begins to appear in the church press. On Sat. "Theological Works" was published a series of her articles on the history of Orthodoxy. hymnography. Since 1996, I. published her works in the journal. "Alpha and Omega" signed by Mon. Ignatius (Petrovskaya). During this period, her main ministry was the testimony of the feat of the elders of St. Smolensk Zosimova empty. and Vysokopetrovsky monastery, some of them later. were glorified as New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. 24 Apr. 2003, on Maundy Thursday, I. was tonsured into the great schema with the preservation of the name, but now her heavenly patron was the famous in 2000, St. Ignatius (Lebedev) is her spiritual father. She was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery in Moscow.

Op. by church subject: Rev. Kosma Maiumsky and his canons: Spiritual reflections // BT. 1981. Sat. 22. S. 116-138; Rev. John of Damascus in his church hymnography. creativity // Ibid. 1982. Sat. 23. S. 59-93; Church songwriting works of nun Cassia // Ibid. 1983. Sat. 24. S. 320-336; Hymnographic works of St. Andrew of Crete // Ibid. 1984. Sat. 25. S. 260-275; Proceedings of the Russian. songwriters in the Kyiv period // Ibid. 1987. Sat. 28. S. 230-245; Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery in the 20-30s. // AiO. 1996. No. 1(8). pp. 114-135; A word about eldership // Ibid. No. 2/3(9/10). pp. 165-208; Liturgical experience. theology in the works of Russian. songwriters // Ibid. 1997. No. 2(13). pp. 280-316; No. 3(14). pp. 351-365; Liturgical legacy of St. Joseph the Songwriter // Ibid. 1998. No. 2(16). pp. 292-329; Eldership in Russia // Ibid. No. 3(17). pp. 118-151; No. 4(18). S. 147-177 (reprint: M., 1999); Monasticism of the last times: Biography of the schiarchim. Ignatia (Lebedeva): According to the resurrection. mon. Ignatius. M., 1998; Songwriting Rev. Theodora the Studite in the Lenten Triodion // AiO. 1999. No. 1(19). pp. 257-283; St. Herman, Patriarch of K-Polish, as a church hymnographer // Ibid. No. 2(20). pp. 280-299; Patriarch Sergius and the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery // Ibid. No. 3(21). pp. 181-185; The life and works of St. Theophan the Inscribed // Ibid. No. 3(21). pp. 324-339; About His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I // AiO. 2000. No. 1(23). pp. 128-146; Place of the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete and his other works in the song-writing heritage of the Church // Ibid. pp. 298-319; No. 2(24). pp. 289-310; St. Ignatius - God-bearer of Russia // Ibid. No. 3(25). pp. 279-297; No. 4(26). pp. 225-244; Eldership during the years of persecution: Prmch. Ignatius (Lebedev) and his spiritual family. M., 2001; The path of antiphons // AiO. 2002. No. 1(31). pp. 203-214; Divine Liturgy // Ibid. No. 2(32). pp. 259-273; Circle of the Mother of God // Ibid. 2004. No. 1(39). pp. 319-344; No. 2(40). pp. 346-361; Russian songwriting in honor of the Mother of God // Ibid. 2004. No. 3(41). pp. 297-311; 2005. No. 1(42). pp. 315-330; About father Alexander Vetelev // Ibid. 2005. No. 2(43). pp. 248-254; On the creation of a service for all Russian saints // Ibid. No. 3(44). pp. 265-285; Church songwriters. M., 2005; Ways of Creativity: Serving the Word // AiO. 2006. No. 3(47). pp. 324-336; Ways of creativity: Science // Ibid. 2007. No. 1(48). pp. 300-312; My twentieth century // Ibid. 2008. No. 1(51). pp. 233-246.

A. L. Beglov

: doctor of biological sciences, world-famous professor, who spent most of her scientific life working in science as a secret nun.

Valentina Ilyinichna, the future nun Ignatia, was born in Moscow into a poor family, where both father and mother worked day and night to ensure a comfortable life. In 1915, her father died of tuberculosis, and difficult years dragged on for Valentina. After studying at school, she managed to enter the Nikolaev Commercial School.

Everywhere - both at school and at the college - teachers noted the girl's rare abilities and great diligence. Perhaps this was one of the incentives for continuing education. After graduating from college, Valentina Puzik enters the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University (subsequently, the department was transformed into the Faculty of Biology), where her desire for research work quickly manifests itself.

In senior years, a gifted student was noticed by Vladimir Germanovich Shtefko, who at that time held the position of professor of anthropology at the Faculty of Biology.

Valentina fulfilled his first orders impeccably - the professor was pleased that he had such an assistant. In those years - 1923-1925 - Vladimir Germanovich's workload was immense: experiments, lectures, reports, writing articles for German, French, American scientific journals - everything was scheduled by the hour and minute. From work, he simply suffocated, and getting to know Valentina was a great help to him.

Valentina Ilyinichna participated in many undertakings of Vladimir Germanovich Shtefko, in her last years he began to supervise her student scientific work, offered to carry out a serious study “Age-related development of the thyroid gland in humans”, which later became part of her diploma. The research carried out by Valentina Ilyinichnaya in her last years at the university was far superior in volume and depth to ordinary student work. And the materials of her diploma "The course of the tuberculosis process in patients of various types of constitution" interested foreign scientists and were published in one of the German scientific journals.

In 1926, having brilliantly defended her thesis, Valentina Ilyinichna was invited by her mentor Vladimir Germanovich Shtefko to the Central Tuberculosis Institute (CIT) to work together in the pathomorphological laboratory. Her first "scientific degree" was the position of preparator.

The first twenty years of her creative life (from 1926 to 1945) of Valentina Ilyinichna were marked by great scientific work. In particular, together with V.G. Shtefko, she created the “Pathological Anatomical Classification of Pulmonary Tuberculosis”. Their other common work was framed as a monograph “Pathology and Clinical Tuberculosis. Introduction to the constitutional pathological anatomy of hematogenous and lymphogenous forms of pulmonary tuberculosis, which was published in 1934, but is still a fundamental work today.

The thematic focus of Valentina Ilyinichna's activities at that time was caused by the urgent need, first of all, to study the pathogenesis of tuberculosis, since in the 20-30s of the last century in Russia there was a high mortality rate from pulmonary tuberculosis. And in those days and later, all the scientific work of Valentina Puzik convincingly answered the questions posed by life. The work of the scientist was not stopped by the war: she continued to study the pathogenesis of tuberculosis, based on the study of the human disease as a whole.

At the end of 1945, Vladimir Germanovich Shtefko died, and from that time on, for the next 40 years, Valentina Ilyinichna became the head of the pathomorphological laboratory of the CIT.

After World War II, she was one of the first to test and study the mechanism of action of the French BCG vaccine. Based on the developments of Valentina Ilyinichna, a new scientific direction in the problem of tuberculosis was subsequently discovered - immunomorphological. For the first time in the world, Valentina Ilyinichna and then her students studied the morphological reactions of the body during BCG vaccination. During vaccination, two stages of the evolution of the immunological process were identified, which were called paraspecific and specific stages of change. Similar steps in the immunological process have subsequently been described in the vaccination of other infections with other drugs.

In the same years, V.I. Puzik and microbiologist A.I. Kagramanov carried out joint fundamental studies of the initial stages of the development of infections and proved the presence of "latent microbiosis" in infected patients, when the pathogen is detected, and the body does not respond with tissue reactions of immunity. This phenomenon is called "tolerance" by immunologists. Thus was born the doctrine of the "small disease" in tuberculosis, which proceeds secretly and reflects the development of tissue reactions of immunity. Completing work on the “minor disease”, Valentina Ilyinichna argued that its study can and should be carried out jointly by microbiological and morphological sciences.

An important area of research by Valentina Ilyinichna and her students was the study of the mechanisms of healing processes in tuberculosis that occurred in an infected organism both with a “minor disease” during self-healing, self-healing, and during treatment with antibacterial drugs in clinical forms of tuberculosis. These studies were started by V.G. Stefko. He assumed that the mechanisms of healing are in the lymphatic vessels - and this guess was confirmed by the works of V.I. Puzik and then used by her in the future.

At first, healing was considered from the standpoint of the bacteriostatic effect of antibacterial drugs, but then it was found that antibacterial drugs also affect all systems of the macroorganism. Valentina Ilyinichna proved that the primacy of the macroorganism is preserved during antibacterial and pathogenetic therapy, this should be borne in mind when treating patients. A special place in the 50-60s of the last century in the works of V.I. Puzik and her students were occupied with the histopathological study of the nervous system in cases of human and animal tuberculosis.

One of the latest topics, the development and implementation of which was led by Valentina Ilyinichna, and V.F. Salov and V.V. Erokhin, was the method of electron microscopy in the practice of studying tuberculous inflammation and reactions in immunocompetent organs. This method allows deciphering at the cellular and subcellular level the protective and adaptive mechanisms of the body during the progression of infection, which was not possible before its development.

The first church impressions of Valentina Puzik were associated with the church of the supreme apostles Peter and Paul on Novaya Basmannaya. Later, she recalled how in 1921, during a catastrophic famine, dozens of emaciated people, refugees from the starving regions, were sitting or lying on the high mound of the temple, located not far from three railway stations. Young Valentine with her friends carried buckets of stew to the temple, which her mother and other women cooked for the suffering.

While studying at the university, another event occurred that determined the subsequent life of a young girl. In February 1924, before her Angel Day, she came to the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery to say a word and “quite by accident” went to confession to Archimandrite Agathon (Lebedev; † 1938), in the recent past, a resident of the St. Smolensk Zosima Hermitage, who moved to Moscow after closing native abode. This first visit to the Petrovsky Monastery and the meeting with the elder were described by her in the book “Starship in the years of persecution” (part 2).

Acquaintance with Father Agathon opens before her an exciting prospect of spiritual life, the existence of which she had only vaguely guessed before. She becomes a parishioner of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery and the spiritual daughter of Archimandrite Agathon (in the schema of Ignatius). The life path of the elder - perhaps the most famous among the confessors of the Petrovsky Monastery - will end tragically. In the spring of 1935 he will be arrested and, despite a serious illness (parkinsonism), sentenced to five years in the camps. Father Ignatius will not survive this period. On the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist in 1938, he will die in an invalid camp near the city of Alatyr (Chuvash ASSR) from pellagra and heart failure.

From the mid-1920s, a spiritual family began to take shape around Father Ignatius, and some of its members clearly gravitated toward the monastic path. Having left the walls of their native monastery, the Zosimovites believed that, despite the persecution, monasticism should not die out. The main thing is to preserve the spiritual life, the culture of Orthodox monasticism: prayer, senile guidance, communal life. And the particulars can change: let it be monasticism without monastic walls and clothes, let there be secular work instead of monastic obedience, so long as the new monks do it “with all responsibility, with all love.”

The brethren of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, imperceptibly for most of the worshipers, began to replenish with monks and nuns - young men and women, already secretly tonsured. They remained in their secular, "Soviet" work or study, which was part of their monastic obedience, and at the same time, under the guidance of the elders, comprehended the foundations of spiritual life. So, in the words of the nun Ignatia herself, the Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery became “a desert in the capital”.

Characteristically, during the years of church divisions, the Petrine fathers and their spiritual children considered it essential to remain faithful to the hierarchy of the Russian Church in the person of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky). It was not a political, but a conscious spiritual choice, the choice of those who sought to preserve the spiritual life, monasticism and everything where, it would seem, there was no place for it.

In 1928, Valentina Puzik was secretly tonsured into a cassock with the name Barsanuphius, in honor of St. Barsanuphius of Kazan. The tonsure was performed by her spiritual father at the apartment of the senior spiritual sister. This house, located at Pechatnikov Lane, Building 3, Apartment 26 (now it is a non-residential attic), the spiritual children of Father Ignatius among themselves called the “skete”. At the beginning of 1939, after the death of her spiritual father, she was tonsured into the mantle by one of the mentors of the Zosima Hermitage, Archimandrite Zosima (Nilov). The name in the mantle was given to her in memory of her elder - in honor of the holy martyr.

With the blessing of her spiritual father, mother Ignatius continued to work in her specialty. Research activity, understood as an obedience similar to a monastic one, became an integral part of her monastic work for many years. In 1940 she defended her doctoral thesis, in 1947 she was awarded the title of professor.

For 29 years (1945-1974) she directed the pathomorphological laboratory of the TsNVIT, in which some of her spiritual sisters worked with her - of course, without advertising their churchness. By 1974, when she finished her professional career, she had written more than 200 scientific papers in various fields of medicine, including seven monographs. Many of them are recognized as major theoretical works.

She raised more than one generation of researchers. Under her leadership, 22 doctoral and 47 master's theses were completed, and the list of fundamental works of her students occupies more than a dozen pages. In fact, she became the founder of her own school of TB pathologists who work throughout the former Soviet Union. Scientific activity of V.I. Already in the 1940s, Puzik found recognition among her foreign colleagues, with whom she communicated during business trips. At the same time, despite her fame and even awards (the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, nine medals, the title of Honored Worker of Medicine), nun Ignatia never became a member of the Academy of Sciences, although she could count on it due to her scientific merits. When colleagues raised this issue before the “instances”, they confidentially pointed out to her: “You understand, Valentina Ilyinichna, you can’t ...”, hinting at her non-partisanship and the well-known “who needs it” church spirit.

She understood and did not rush into the ranks of the scientific nomenclature, because scientific activity for her was obedience, her offering to God.

If the nun Ignatia was only a major scholar, this would already put her on a par with such church figures of the twentieth century as St. Luke (Voyno-Yasenetsky), Metropolitan John (Wendland),. However, her service to God and the Church was not limited to science-obedience.

From the mid-1940s, her scientific activity was supplemented by literary work of a spiritual nature. Later, she admitted that the skill of written confession of thoughts instilled by her father Ignatius became the source of her literary creativity. At a certain stage, from the revelation of thoughts, prayerful reflections began to grow about the events of church life, about the fate of their loved ones, about the books they read. Gradually, these reflections took shape in books, large and small, of which, by the end of her life, according to the most general estimates, more than three dozen had accumulated. What are these books about?

In 1945, a significant and milestone year, her voice got stronger in order to speak about those who were silent for almost ten years, but whose fates bled in the heart as an unhealed wound. So her first book appeared - the biography of the spiritual father. After another seven years, reflecting on her path and the experience of witness, encouraged by the spiritual sisters, she again turned to the beginning of the path. Now, in 1952, she wrote about the brainchild of Father Ignatius - the monastic community he created. The image of the spiritual father - a mentor and a new martyr, who to the end testified to Christ's love - was her answer to the world distraught with pain, and the "chronicle" of his work, his spiritual family, created and living in spite of his death, in spite of persecution and loss, was her message contemporary Russian monasticism.

Later there were other books - a kind of diaries-reflections about the life of the Church, its history and about the actions of the Providence of God in the modern world and in the life of modern man, seemingly completely abandoned by grace. It seems that nun Ignatia wrote her most mature works in the 1970s and 1980s, and the best of them are still waiting for publication.

Since the early 1980s, nun Ignatia has been trying her hand at hymnographic work. Part of the services created by her entered the liturgical use of the Russian Orthodox Church. These are, first of all, services to Saints Ignatius Bryanchaninov and Patriarch Job, Right-Believing Prince Dimitry Donskoy, Rev. Herman Zosimovsky and Zosima (Verkhovsky), services to the cathedrals of Belarusian, Smolensk and Kazan saints, the Valaam Icon of the Mother of God, as well as services to a number of saints presented for glorification .

At the same time, she worked on a series of articles on Orthodox hymnography (St. Andrew of Crete, John of Damascus, Kosmas of Mayum, Joseph the Songwriter, Theodore the Studite, St. Herman of Constantinople, Nun Cassia, etc.), which were published in Theological Works and later in the journal Alfa and Omega.

It should be noted the role of "Alpha and Omega" and personally the editor M.A. Zhurinskaya in popularizing the work of the nun Ignatia. It was on the pages of this magazine that her memoirs about the elders of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, about His Holiness Patriarchs Sergius and Alexy I, as well as her books of the 1940-1980s appeared. Some of these works were then published in separate editions: "Elderhood in Russia", "Elderhood in the years of persecution", "St. Ignatius - God-bearer of Russia". Nun Ignatia became a regular contributor to the journal Alpha and Omega—under the pseudonym Nun Ignatia (Petrovskaya)—and even wrote a number of new works especially for this publication.

In the 1990s, she again returned to where her literary work began - to testify to the feat of her spiritual mentors - the elders of Zosima Hermitage, the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. It can be said without exaggeration that it was thanks to her testimony that in December 2000 the Monk Martyr Ignatius (Lebedev), the spiritual father of the nun Ignatius, was glorified among the saints.

She truly became one of the links in the golden chain, which, according to Simeon the New Theologian, consists of "saints coming from generation to generation" and "which cannot be easily broken."

On April 24, 2003, on Maundy Thursday, she was tonsured into the great schema with the preservation of her name, but now the recently glorified Martyr Ignatius, her spiritual father, has become her heavenly patron. It was important and significant for her that the tonsure was performed by representatives of the clergy of the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery.

The circle of her contacts in recent years was exceptionally wide. Both venerable scholars, her colleagues at the institute, and very young students of the Sunday school, where, despite her infirmities and prudent exhortations, she considered it her duty to teach, came to her house on Begovaya Street. Among those who came to her, there were almost no peers of her age - everyone was two, three, or even five times younger than her, but in terms of freshness of perception of life and clarity of mind, the hostess was in no way inferior to the young.

She passed away to the Lord at the age of 102, of which she lived as a monk for 76 years.

The path of the nun Ignatia (Puzik) is amazing: a doctor of biological sciences, a world-famous professor, who spent most of her scientific life working in science as a secret nun.

In senior years, a gifted student was noticed by Vladimir Germanovich Shtefko, who at that time held the position of professor of anthropology at the Faculty of Biology.

Valentina fulfilled his first orders impeccably - the professor was pleased that he had such an assistant. In those years - 1923 -1925 - Vladimir Germanovich's workload was immense: experiments, lectures, reports, writing articles for German, French, American scientific journals - everything was scheduled by the hour and minute. From work, he simply suffocated, and getting to know Valentina was a great help to him.

At the end of 1945, Vladimir Germanovich Shtefko died, and from that time on, for the next 40 years, Valentina Ilyinichna became the head of the pathomorphological laboratory of the CIT.

An important area of research by Valentina Ilyinichna and her students was the study of the mechanisms of healing processes in tuberculosis that occurred in an infected organism both with a “minor disease” during self-healing, self-healing, and during treatment with antibacterial drugs in clinical forms of tuberculosis. These studies were started by V.G. Stefko. He assumed that the healing mechanisms are in the lymphatic vessels - and this guess was confirmed by the works of V.I. Puzik and then used by her in the future.

The first church impressions of Valentina Puzik were associated with the church of the supreme apostles Peter and Paul on Novaya Basmannaya. Later, she recalled how in 1921, during a catastrophic famine, dozens of emaciated people - refugees from the starving regions - were sitting or lying on the high mound of the temple, located not far from three railway stations. Young Valentine with her friends carried buckets of stew to the temple, which her mother and other women cooked for the suffering.

While studying at the university, another event occurred that determined the subsequent life of a young girl. In February 1924, before her Angel Day, she came to the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery and "quite by chance" went to confession to Archimandrite Agathon (Lebedev; † 1938), in the recent past - a resident of the St. native abode. This first visit to the Petrovsky Monastery and the meeting with the elder were described by her in the book “Starship in the years of persecution” (part 2).

The brethren of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, imperceptibly for most of the worshipers, began to replenish with monks and nuns - young men and women who were already taking the vows in secret. They remained in their secular, "Soviet" work or study, which was part of their monastic obedience, and at the same time, under the guidance of the elders, comprehended the foundations of spiritual life. So, in the words of the nun Ignatia herself, the Vysoko-Petrovsky monastery became “a desert in the capital”.

Characteristically, during the years of church divisions, the Petrine fathers and their spiritual children considered it essential to remain faithful to the hierarchy of the Russian Church in the person of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky). It was not a political, but a conscious spiritual choice, the choice of those who sought to preserve spiritual life, monasticism and the entire Church where, it would seem, there was no place for it.

In 1928, Valentina Puzik was secretly tonsured into a cassock with the name Barsanuphius, in honor of St. Barsanuphius of Kazan. The tonsure was performed by her spiritual father at the apartment of the senior spiritual sister. This house, located at Pechatnikov Lane, Building 3, Apartment 26 (now it is a non-residential attic), the spiritual children of Father Ignatius among themselves called the “skete”. In early 1939, after the death of her spiritual father, she took the robes at the hands of one of the mentors of the Zosima Hermitage, Archimandrite Zosima (Nilov). The name in the mantle was given to her in memory of her elder - in honor of the Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer.

For 29 years (1945-1974) she was in charge of the pathomorphological laboratory of the Central Research Institute, in which some of her spiritual sisters worked with her - of course, without advertising their clergy. By 1974, when she finished her professional career, she had written more than 200 scientific papers in various fields of medicine, including seven monographs. Many of them are recognized as major theoretical works.

She understood and did not rush into the ranks of the scientific nomenclature, because scientific activity for her was obedience, her offering to God.

If nun Ignatia was only a prominent scholar, this would already put her on a par with such church figures of the twentieth century as St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Metropolitan John (Wendland), Archpriest Gleb Kaleda. However, her service to God and the Church was not limited to science-obedience.

In 1945, a significant and milestone year, her voice grew stronger in order to speak about those who were silent for almost ten years, but whose fates bled in their hearts like an unhealed wound. So her first book appeared - the biography of the spiritual father. After another seven years, reflecting on her path and the experience of witness, encouraged by the spiritual sisters, she again turned to the beginning of the path. Now, in 1952, she wrote about the brainchild of Father Ignatius - the monastic community he created. The image of a spiritual father - a mentor and a new martyr who testified to the end about Christ's love - was her answer to a world distraught with pain, and the "chronicle" of his work, his spiritual family, created and living in spite of his death, in spite of persecution and loss, was her message. contemporary Russian monasticism.

Later there were other books - a kind of diary-reflections about the life of the Church, its history and about the actions of the Providence of God in the modern world and in the life of modern man, seemingly completely abandoned by grace. It seems that nun Ignatia wrote her most mature works in the 1970s and 1980s, and the best of them are still waiting for publication.

It should be noted the role of "Alpha and Omega" and personally the editor M.A. Zhurinskaya in popularizing the work of the nun Ignatia. It was on the pages of this magazine that her memoirs about the elders of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, about His Holiness Patriarchs Sergius and Alexy I, as well as her books of the 1940-1980s appeared. Some of these works were then published in separate editions: "Elderhood in Russia", "Elderhood in the years of persecution", "St. Ignatius - God-bearer of Russia." Nun Ignatia became a regular contributor to the Alpha and Omega magazine - under the pseudonym Nun Ignatia (Petrovskaya) - and even wrote a number of new works especially for this publication.

She truly became one of the links in the golden chain, which, according to Simeon the New Theologian, consists of "saints coming from generation to generation" and "which cannot be easily broken."

The circle of her contacts in recent years was exceptionally wide. Both venerable scholars, her colleagues at the institute, and very young students of the Sunday school, where, despite her infirmities and prudent exhortations, she considered it her duty to teach, came to her house on Begovaya Street. Among those who came to her, there were almost no her peers - everyone was two, three, or even five times younger than her, but in terms of freshness of perception of life and clarity of mind, the hostess was in no way inferior to the young.

She passed away to the Lord at the age of 102, of which she lived as a monk for 76 years.

A series of publications about Orthodox hymnographers and researchers of the works of church hymnographers continues with an article about Doctor of Biological Sciences, professor and secret nun Ignatius (Puzik), who worked hard not only in the medical field, but also in the literary research field. Nun Ignatia is the author of a series of articles on Orthodox hymnography.

Many outstanding theologians and scholars contributed to the development of Russian liturgical science in the second half of the 20th century. However, it is worth paying attention to a person known in the medical community as a doctor of biological sciences, a professor, a world-famous scientist, and in the church community as a researcher of biographies and works of church hymnographers, a hymnographer and a secret nun - schema nun Ignatia (Puzik). Her notes on church hymnographers, published under the changed name Petrovskaya, reveal the full theological depth of the canons and stichera of Byzantine and Russian hymnographers. These studies were originally published in the scientific and theological almanac "Theological Works". At the moment, a complete book of the works of the nun Ignatia has been published, which includes articles on the history of Russian hymnography and studies of liturgical texts.

Nun Ignatia (in the world Puzik Valentina Ilyinichna) was born on February 1, 1903. Her father was an employee in the management of the Kiev-Voronezh railway, and her mother Ekaterina, after the death of her husband, became a monk with the name Abraham. In 1920, Valentina Puzik entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University, and in 1923, after the appearance of the biological department, she continued her studies there. After graduation, she worked at the State Tuberculosis Institute, where from 1945 to 1974. was the head of the pathological laboratory. “The author of more than 200 works in various fields of medicine, 22 doctoral and 47 master's theses were defended under her supervision. She became the founder of her own school of TB pathologists. She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1973), medals, the title of Honored Worker of Medicine.

An important event that determined the rest of Valentina's life was the meeting with the Archimandrite of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery Agafon Lebedev (in schema Ignatius, +1938). “In June 1928, she secretly took vows in a cassock with the name Barsanuphius in honor of St. Barsanuphius of Kazan, and 11 years later, on January 2, 1939, into a mantle with the name Ignatius in honor of St. Ignatius the God-bearer". She also adopted this name in honor of her confessor, Father Ignatius, who created a secret monastic community in the monastery, the purpose of which was to preserve monastic ascetic life during the period of theomachy. In 1935 he was sentenced to 5 years in the camps, and on the feast of the Beheading of the Lord, September 11, 1937, he passed away to the Lord. Subsequently, he was glorified as a saint by the Jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000.

Since the 1980s, nun Ignatia began her research activities in the field of songwriting, she examines the main works of church hymnographers, spiritually reflecting on the hymns composed by the saints. She wrote articles on the ecclesiastical hymnographic work of St. Cosmas of Maium, John of Damascus, Andrew of Crete, Theophan the Inscribed, Theodore the Studite, Joseph the Songwriter, nun Cassia, St. Herman of Constantinople. In addition, she owns a brief digression into the history of the songwriting of the Russian Orthodox Church, where, starting from the Kievan period, the history of liturgical texts dedicated to Russian saints is considered. Also, nun Ignatia is the author of services already included in liturgical use to saints, glorified at the end of the 20th century.

On Great Thursday, April 24, 2003, nun Ignatia took the great schema, retaining her former name. She passed away to the Lord on August 29, 2004 at the age of 102.

The first article on the canons of St. Cosmas of Maiumsky in the form of spiritual reflections was published in the 22nd edition of Theological Works. The author speaks about the activities of the saint, who lived during the period of iconoclasm, and his writings. In her research, nun Ignatia relied on the works of St. Philaret of Chernigov, A.P. Golubtsova, E.I. Lovyaginova, I.A. Karabinova and others. At first glance, her work may seem to be a compilation. However, having indicated the main works of the saint, she proceeds to their spiritual comprehension. “A man of our time discovers in these forgotten, seemingly obsolete materials, the joyful and strong foundation of being.” Canons of St. She calls Maiumsky’s kosmas “honey”, as they are characterized by “sublimeness and sweetness of the depicted”. Nun Ignatia tries to convey the spirit of the holiday, discusses the subject of the elevation of man, recalling the incarnation of Christ. She especially dwells on the theme of nature in the works of the saint, citing liturgical texts in support and reflecting on their deep meaning. The main theme of the saint's work, in her opinion, is to sing of the incarnation of Christ. Answering the question why St. Cosmas did not draw up a canon for Holy Pascha, she says: “[He] was more inclined to aggravate into questions of the tragic in human existence and to seek a way out of the fall of man - the first Adam - in the fullness of life and suffering of the second Adam, Christ » . From the entire heritage, she also singles out the idea of the Church, which is most of all expressed in the worship of Pentecost, indicates liturgical texts in which it is explicitly or implicitly spoken of, and gives her comments.

The songwriting of St. John of Damascus, his life and scientific works are also considered by the nun Ignatia. Most of all, it concerns the Paschal canon, which is the center of the entire Paschal service. “On a bright night, we are all given a covenant to purify our senses and at the same time we are assured that we can all see and hear the joy of the Resurrection of Christ. This is the indisputable, unconditional power of the Paschal canon of St. Damascus, who saw the light, saw, showed us what a person is capable of if his feelings are cleansed. Analyzing in detail each song of the canon, she singles out the main thoughts that glorify the victorious Resurrection of Christ. Regarding the canon in the week of Fomin, she especially highlights the 1st troparion of the 1st song of the canon: “Today is spring for souls, for Christ is from the grave, like the sun, a three-day ascendant, a gloomy storm driving away our sin. Let us sing that, as if we were glorified. ” “Here, the images of spring, the sun and a gloomy storm, as far as they mean earthly, visible nature, also bring closer the understanding of the invisible mystery of the Resurrection. "Christ is like the sun," "the dark storm" are our lies, and the spring of nature is the spring of our souls. Having analyzed the canon, she singles out its two main ideas - the Resurrection of Christ and the touching of the wounds of the Lord by the Apostle Thomas. In her other writings on the study of the legacy of the monk, she highlights the general call of man to repentance and union with God. The theme of salvation and bringing a person out of the darkness of sin into the light is one of the important features of St. John's work. In particular, his works are full of testimonies about the Dispensation of our salvation, the Sacrifice of Christ, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, which the holy hymnographer sings.

An article on the liturgical heritage of the nun Cassia was published in the 24th collection of Theological Works. Her name is found in the liturgical texts of the Lenten Triodion, as well as a number of stichera in the Menaion. Describing the stichera she composed, nun Ignatia points out their significance in size and depth of theological thought. She also notes that each hymn is self-sufficient in itself and does not require disclosure in the following liturgical readings. The gospel images are especially noted, such as: the stichera compiled in memory of the 5 martyrs (December 13 (26) correlate with the gospel passage about the 5 wise virgins. Speaking about the theology of the nun Cassia, nun Ignatia highlights her Christ-centeredness. The main theme in her writings is this is the deliverance of a person through the feat of Jesus Christ from sin, damnation and death.

Creativity of St. Andrew of Crete, in the understanding of the nun Ignatia, helps a person through fasting and prayer to go through the earthly field. His penitential canon helps a person's soul to tune in to a penitential way. Analyzing all the rich hymnographic activity of the monk, the researcher singles out words and images from the Holy Scriptures. Prayers of St. Andrew is directed towards the awakening of a person's conscience, he is a teacher of the inner spiritual life. “All his works, and especially the penitential canon, are a great school of piety and theology, there is an active teaching of the children of the church, members of the Church of Christ, in the saving dogmas of the holy Christian faith.”

Analyzing the church prayers of St. Herman of Constantinople, the researcher points out: “In their words there always sounds the undeniable joy of confessing God, the wise ways of His Providence, the foundations of the saving faith of Christ.” Nun Ignatia points to the wholeness, clarity, brevity of the canons and stichera of St. Herman, which are dedicated to some of the twelfth and great feasts, as well as to the memory of saints (for example, the canon to the holy fathers of the five Ecumenical Councils). In his song-writing activity, the saint speaks at great length about the dogmatic component of the Church, the struggle against heresies, and so on. The researcher highlights the general idea: “So that people love the light of Orthodoxy, so that, glorifying the fathers, they acquire the right teaching, so necessary for their immortal soul.” In all his hymns, and especially in the hymns dedicated to St. Patr. John the Faster, St. Athanasius the Great, Alexandria, etc., St. Herman proclaims the Church, its holiness, the deviation of the faithful from various heresies, especially glorifying those who labored in defense of the Christian teaching. Living in the era of the Monothelite heresy, the patriarch-songwriter in his heritage points to the dogma of two natures in Christ - Divine and human. He also composed hymns in defense of the holy icons in response to the growing iconoclasm.

Analyzing the work of the Monk Theophan the Inscribed, whose hymns are currently included in all the main liturgical books (Oktoikh, Menaion, Lenten and Colored Triod - approx. auth.), the author points to their “feelings and sighs of tenderness”. The researcher pays special attention to the funeral canons of the Octoechos, in which the future General Resurrection is sung in a special way. The theme of the future life is inspired by the confessional conditions of the existence of the saint, persecution and oppression, these experiences the hymnographer was able to convey in his writings. “In the course of his life, in his sufferings, he always faced the exodus from this world, he lived before the line, before the end of his life in prison and exile. From here, constantly existing at this edge, he pours out a living prayer for the departed, for people who have crossed the last line. Hence - the strength, reliability, truth of his prayer cries for them, hence his funeral prayer, perceived by all people. The Monk Theophan is the author of the canon for the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the researcher of his heritage celebrates the victory and fullness of confession in the Church. In the canon, the author speaks of the victory over heresies, in particular iconoclasm, but does not mention the previous persecutions, singing more of the joy and triumph of the celebrated event.

The main liturgical book of Great Lent is the Lenten Triodion. Nun Ignatia in her research deals with the songwriting of St. Theodore the Studite, whose hymns are included in this liturgical book. Based on existing historical data on the period of compilation of St. Theodore and Joseph the Studites of the Triodion, she pays special attention to the triodes of St. Theodore. She highlights their common meaning, which lies in the calling of all to repentance and renewal of the human soul. After all, according to the reverend himself, Great Lent itself is a spring for the soul: “Spring that heralds is approaching this, now the pre-cleansing week of all-honourable holy fasts.” Being the herald of repentance, the saint at the same time sings of the Most Holy Trinity, the doxology of which is incessantly performed at each Great Lenten service. “These Trinities create a special style, impart a solemn character to the whole lenten chant, as if they lift and strengthen the soul of the fasting person.” Giving a description of the trinity troparia of the saint, Mon. Ignatia notes that they are directed on behalf of a person repenting of his sins, begging for the forgiveness of sins. Being in a repentant feeling, a Christian must at the same time be in spiritual joy about the glorification of the Lord, strengthening the spiritual state for the coming Pascha of Christ.

Concluding her study of the work of church songwriters, nun Ignatia dwells on the personality of St. Joseph the Songwriter. This outstanding hymnographer left behind more than 220 canons for various church celebrations. “[Rev. Joseph the Songwriter] wrote each of his canons as a complete holistic work, accommodating the development of his idea about every saint or every event to which he dedicated his work within the framework of the song of the canon. The monk delved into the life circumstances of the saint, choosing a unique style, expression and image. Particular attention was paid to the penitential canons of Oktoech. Mon. Ignatia writes: “They have the spirit of active and unfallen repentance, which is planted by Saint Joseph from the experience of his life. However, the same spirit of tenderness and active striving for God distinguishes all other works of the Monk Songwriter.

In addition, nun Ignatia is the author of a study on Russian hymnography, in particular of the Kievan period. In her article, she considers hymnographic works dedicated to the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb, the creations of St. Gregory of the Caves, the author of the canons to the holy prince Vladimir, the Monk Theodosius of the Caves, for the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas and for the consecration of the Church of the Great Martyr George. Particular attention is paid to the "Confession of Faith" by Metropolitan Hilarion, which she describes as follows: "A genuine liturgical work and at the same time a wonderful example of ancient Russian speech." The researcher also pays attention to the works of Bishop John of Rostov, the service to the Rostov saints and the hymnography of St. Cyril of Turov. Speaking about the features of these services, nun Ignatia notes their poetry, prayerful spirit and dogmatic meaning. At the end of the study, she noted the significance of this period in the history of Russian hymnography, which influenced the future development of the songwriting tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Coming into contact with the spiritual heritage of a person who has gone through the crucible of trials, but who has preserved the purity of faith, it is impossible not to notice her fiery love for worship and its compilers. The work of the nun Ignatia is not of a purely scientific nature, but is composed in the form of spiritual reflections. These spiritual experiences of liturgical texts begin to be perceived in a special way if their meaning is understood. Having understood this, having felt the life of every songwriter who left a piece of love for God in his creations, nun Ignatia wrote her works. The songwriters themselves at one time often lived in embarrassment and deprivation. Researcher of their works Mon. Ignatia (Puzik) experienced something similar and worthily became the successor of their work, having studied the style, the way of expressions, she composed new liturgical texts for the saints. In modern times, her works may be relevant for those who are interested in Orthodox worship. In her research, she introduces the reader to Byzantine and Russian hymnography, the history of Orthodox worship, and famous songwriters, shows their unique talent, as well as the fiery prayerful burning of the heart, which contributes to the creation of liturgical texts in which faith and love for the Lord are fully revealed. In particular, these spiritual reflections are called upon to help a person understand the meaning of prayers that support him in his life struggle with sin, teaching him to praise the Lord for all good deeds.