The Optina elder left a prayer against the Antichrist and predicted: "The Russian ship will break, b

The Optina elder left a prayer against the Antichrist and predicted: "The Russian ship will break, but its fragments will come together again and everyone will see it." This is how St. Anatoly of Optina spoke about the future of Russia.

In February 1917, the elder warned:

"A storm will come, the ship will sink, but people will be saved even on the fragments. After the storm, the fragments will come together again, and the restored ship will take the path that God has set for it."

During the storm, the elder advised people not to panic, but to repent and pray.

Before the revolution, the Optina elder said:

"The fate of the Tsar will become the fate of Russia, and a country without a Tsar will be like a body without a head."

And regarding recent times, the elder warned:

"Faith will be perverted, and this will happen unnoticed. Christ will not be rejected directly; instead, they will begin to change the teachings of the Church. False pastors will be recognized by their pride, thirst for power, and violence. The faithful will be persecuted. Some monasteries will preserve their walls but will lose their spiritual life."

The Optina elder Anatoly left a prayer against the Antichrist, which can be found in the Optina prayer book. In it, the believer prays to God to protect us from deception, to give us the courage not to renounce Christ and the Church, and to grant us repentance and mercy at the Last Judgment.

His protection is not found in fear, but in faithfulness to Christ.The elder was a seer and received people at the Optina Hermitage day and night.

Once, a woman arrived at the Optina Hermitage convinced that elders no longer existed. She deliberately wore a red shawl and did not wish to talk to him. However, Elder Anatoly told her her entire life story, including secrets that no living soul knew. The woman fell to her knees, repented, and became his disciple.

Another visitor brought her little brother, and Elder Anatoly gave the boy a pear. It turned out that the boy was seriously ill, and doctors could not help him. The child ate the pear in small pieces and fully recovered.

But it was not the pear that healed him; it was the prayers of Elder Anatoly.

A peasant once came to the elder with his wife and children. They had only 50 rubles left, nowhere to live, and no home. Elder Anatoly told him:

"In three weeks, you will enter under your own roof." That very day, the villager was offered a cheap wooden structure for a house, which he could pay for in installments. Three weeks later, the family was already living in their own home. This is how the elder's prediction came true.

Later, a young woman secretly prepared to go to the front lines of the First World War to follow her fiancé. Before she could say a word, Elder Anatoly asked her:

"Why don't you listen to your mother?"

Her mother was categorically against her leaving.

The elder revealed her secret intention and said:

"Work will be found for you at home." On that very day, the girl was accepted for work at a military hospital. The elder saved her life.

This is also how Elder Anatoly healed the possessed. A woman was screaming and falling to the ground as if she were dead. When the elder raised his hand to make the sign of the cross over her, her body trembled. He continued to bless her, and she regained consciousness.

When the Chekists came to arrest him, Elder Anatoly asked for one night to prepare for the journey. In the morning, they asked:

"Is the old man ready?"

"He is ready," the priest replied.

They opened the door, and in the middle of the room stood a coffin. For several days, the elder's body emitted a sweet fragrance. The holy father demonstrated how a person should not lose their soul during any storm, how to repent, how to pray, and how to remain with Christ until the very end.

— Roman Golovanov

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