Agionoros.ru continues to publish chapters from the book “Ascetics in the World” (volume II).

Lazar Ambrosiadis was born in 1872 in the Pontic village of Paslach into the family of pious Christians Michael and Mary. He had five brothers (one of whom, named George, later became a priest).

From an early age, Lazarus loved God and the Church. He dreamed of becoming a priest when he grew up. That's why I've never used a razor in my life. The children who played with the boy called him not by name, but “father.”

At the age of 19, Lazarus married a girl named Sotiria. The couple had four children: Anastasia, D!espina, Isaiah and Mikhail. Lazarus was soon ordained and began to fulfill his pastoral duties with great zeal and dedication.

The priest’s wife fell ill and could not get out of bed for four years. Father Lazar brought a doctor from Constantinople. Whole month he lived at home with the Ambrosiadises.

To pay the doctor, the priest sold all his property. But everything was in vain: soon Mother Sotiria died. The couple lived together for 11 years - Father Lazar was widowed at the age of 30. A year later, his son Mikhail died. Two years later, the priest married off his daughter Anastasia. Her first child died, and during the second birth Anastasia herself and her child died. Some time later, the youngest daughter of Father Lazarus, Despina, got married. Only a few months passed and she was widowed: her husband died of hemorrhage.

Father Lazar's trials were not limited to the death of loved ones. The Ambrosiadis were forced to confront hunger.

To feed his children, Father Lazar worked as a woodcutter in the village of G!uzalan. His "wages" consisted of half a corn per day.

It was the main food of the Ambrosiadis family.

Father brewed some herbs and mixed them with cornmeal and milk. He ate this food with his children almost every day. Father Lazar called on his fellow villagers to build a temple in their native village. Together they carried stones on their backs from afar, adapted to extract lime on a nearby mountain, and built a kilometer-long canal to bring water to the construction site. When the temple was built, it was consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Pleasant. Father Lazar brought three icon painters from Tsianikia, who painted the church with frescoes. While working, they lived at the priest’s house and received wages from him. Soon the Turks began persecuting the priests and did not allow them to perform divine services. Father Lazar called Christians into the forest and performed

Divine Liturgy

. Soon, a small church of the prophet Elijah appeared at the site of the secret worship. The priest used a large stone slab as the Holy See.

One day the Turks demanded that Father Lazar give them the liturgical vessels. After the priest refused, they began to beat and torture him. Together with his son-in-law, Father Lazar hid the Holy Chalice and other Vessels in a more secure place away from their village.

Father Lazar never stopped performing divine services.

The situation in the Black Sea region remained difficult.

Father Lazar's fellow villagers moved to Kerasunta. In the central square of this city, three lamps were burning, lit by the Orthodox at the site of the massacre of three clergy.

Together with his relatives and fellow villagers, Father Lazar decided to leave his native place and flee to Greece. My brother's friend Elim-Khoja helped with the documents. He made it possible to get to the pier and board a ship that was carrying sheep and mules to Constantinople. Father Lazarus was disguised as a shepherd, wearing appropriate clothing.

From Constantinople, Father Lazar went to Greece. For a whole year he lived in one of the monasteries in the Epirus region. In 1923, the priest met with his children and brothers on the island of Zakynthos. Together they decided to move to the vicinity of the city of Drama in the village of Posionoz, where they lived for about five years. Father Lazar, with the help of parishioners, built a church and began to perform divine services.

To be continued... On August 17, Archimandrite Lazar (Abashidze), cleric of the Georgian Orthodox Church

, a zealous servant of the Church of Christ, a champion of the purity of the Orthodox faith, a subtle church writer and publicist, a critic of church modernism and ecumenism.

Archimandrite Lazar, a native of Abkhazia, was born on August 25, 1939. After receiving a secular education, he became a monk. He was transferred to the monastery of Betania (Georgia), where, thanks to Archimandrite John (Maisuradze) and Schema-Archimandrite John (Mkheidze), who “worked as guides in their own monastery,” hiding the feat of fasting and prayer, a concentrated monastic prayer life was established.

Bethania, to which Father Lazar dedicated one of his wonderful books (“Betania - “House of Poverty”), became the first monastery that was allowed to open during Soviet times in 1978. In 1990, Father Lazar painted a chapel in honor of the holy Georgian Queen Tamara. There he was awarded the honorary title of archimandrite (he was abbot of Bethania until 1997). At this time, Father Lazar wrote about asceticism, prayer, pagan religions and ecumenism. Archimandrite Lazar was the author of a number of soul-helping books and articles written for our contemporaries - Orthodox Christians of the late 20th - early 21st centuries. His works are based on the teachings of the Holy Fathers and the statutes of the Orthodox Church. Archimandrite Lazar repeatedly spoke with words of denunciation of spiritual vices that are most often encountered on the path, such as occultism, Hinduism, yoga and others. Archimandrite Lazar (Abashidze) penned, in particular, such a well-known book in Russia as “Sin and Repentance of the Last Times: On the Secret Ailments of the Soul,” which has been reprinted several times in recent years.

Father Lazar always took a particularly uncompromising position regarding ecumenism. In 1997, he became one of those abbots of monasteries and monastics who wrote a letter to the Georgian Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II demanding that he withdraw from the ecumenical World Council of Churches. In 1997, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II decided to leave the WCC.

The Kingdom of Heaven and eternal rest for the newly deceased Archimandrite Lazar!

Books of Archimandrite Lazar (Abashidze):

About the secret ailments of the soul. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1995.
The sacrament of confession: About obvious sins and secret ailments of the soul. M.: Rodnik, 1995.
Sin and repentance of the last times. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1995.
Angel of the Laodicean Church. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1998.
Bethania - "House of Poverty". M.: Publishing house Mosk. STSL courtyard, 1998.
About monasticism. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1998.
Easter without a cross, or Once again about ecumenism. M.: Publishing house Mosk. STSL courtyard, 1998.
Adam's sin: Is it possible to save unbaptized infants? M.: Publishing house named after. St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2001.
New roads to hell: rock music and drug addiction. M.: Development of spirituality, culture and science: Axios, 2003.
New roads to hell: Eastern cults. M.: Development of spirituality, culture and science: Axios, 2003.
The torment of love: cell notes. Saratov: Publishing house of the Saratov diocese, 2005.
A voice of caring warning: the teaching on obedience of St. Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus, in the light of the ascetic experience of the holy fathers of recent centuries. Saratov: Publishing House of the Saratov Diocese, 2010.
Woe to the world from temptations. Moscow: Spiritual Transfiguration, 2015.

Our ever-memorable spiritual father and mentor (in the world Mikhail Petrovich Abashidze-Desimon), was born on July 23, 1959 in one of the most beautiful corners of Georgia - Abkhazia, in the city of Gagra. He graduated from the Gagrinsky Russian school and entered the architectural faculty of one of the Moscow institutes. According to him, since childhood he experienced some vague feeling of dissatisfaction.

As a student at a Moscow university, he felt distrust of the existing regime in the country and the mood of falsehood that reigned in the world, which caused him to protest. Since the family was not churched, Mikhail was not baptized at that time. A feeling of dissatisfaction and protest forced him to join the then hippie youth movement.

A few years later, he found a Bible and a church catechism with his friend. What he read made a strong impression on him, especially the chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy about the Passion of the Savior. From that moment on, he became seriously interested in Orthodoxy and tried to understand its essence.

On March 11, 1984, as a result of a conscious approach and after preparation, on the day of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, at the age of 24, he was baptized in. The priest who baptized him inquired about his future plans, to which the newly baptized Mikhail said that he had decided to live in a monastery for some time. “The monastery is a good deed!” - was the answer.

Even before baptism, Mikhail was interested in the hermits who lived in Sukhumi, on the outskirts of Lake Amtkel. He had been to this lake before and seen several empty cells. Shortly before his baptism, Mikhail learned about the existence of a monastery not far from Tbilisi - Betania (“House of Poverty”), where three monks then labored. He decided to go and become more familiar with monastic life, and only then retire to the Sukhumi desert.

Already on March 20, 1984, Mikhail went to the Betan Monastery, where he stayed until 1997. During the period of his novitiate, he was distinguished by his decorum and fear of God, zeal in obedience and love of prayer. The first book he was given to read was “Frank Tales of a Wanderer to His Spiritual Father.”

In 1986, on the holiday, the rector of the monastery, Archimandrite John (Sheklashvili), tonsured the novice Mikhail as a monk with the name Lazar. That same year, on Lazarus Saturday at the Patriarchal Cathedral of Zion, he ordained him a deacon, and on the Day of the Holy Spirit, a priest.

From 1987 to January 14, 1997, Father Lazar was the abbot of the Betan Monastery. In the spring of 1991, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II elevated Father Lazar to the rank of archimandrite.

Father Lazar was the first to revive the school of Georgian icon painting

Father Lazar was the first to revive the school of Georgian icon painting. He painted many well-known icons: from the Svetitskhoveli iconostasis, the icon of the Three Saints in the Zion Cathedral, St. George, the Apostle Thomas, the large Cross in the Zion Cathedral with the image of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, the large altar cross, which now rests in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. Father Lazar painted the temple of the holy Queen Tamara. And for the main temple of Bethania, dedicated to Christmas Holy Mother of God, he painted the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, as well as images for the iconostasis.

He authored many spiritual books: he wrote on both spiritual, moral and theological topics. Some of his works are polemical in nature. His works have been published both in Georgia and abroad, translated into Serbian, Bulgarian and other languages. He was a fearless and staunch defender of Orthodoxy and traditional morality! He was distinguished by an anti-ecumenical attitude, fought a lot for the exit of the Georgian Church from the World Council of Churches, but never stopped the Eucharistic connection and commemoration of the Patriarch. He fought both heresy and schism.

Father Lazar actively opposed the tragic fact of schism in Georgia, which is confirmed by his works and letters.

In the spring of 1997, he and two novices went to Holy Mount Athos. Returning a month and a half later, on May 20, 1997, he settled in the village of Tabaruki, in a house donated by a close believer. The monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded there. In the fall, his spiritual children returned (one from Athos, the other after treatment of a serious injury).

He fought both heresy and schism

Since the fall of 1998, with the goal of a more secluded monastic lifestyle, together with his spiritual children, Father Lazar settled on a mountain near the village of Tabaruki, where he founded the Tabaruksky Resurrection Monastery for men. In 1999 he accepted the third novice. Through his personal example and leadership, the brotherhood built a new monastery from scratch. Father Lazar personally built two churches and two cells (novices and, from time to time, people close to the monastery helped with the most labor-intensive pouring of concrete). At the same time as this hard physical labor, Father Lazar wrote books and icons.

In May 2016, Father Lazar was diagnosed with diffuse pleural mesothelioma. He refused the operation and did not actually undergo treatment. Periodically I used traditional medicine, as well as the healing spring of St. Nina, after which I always felt relief. Doctors were surprised by the fact: without surgery and the necessary chemotherapy procedures, the disease did not progress as quickly as it usually does. Without surgical intervention, patients with this disease live only seven to nine months. And Father Lazar was convinced to undergo chemotherapy only after a year and a half.

After five courses of chemotherapy, radiation was started. Father Lazar became weak, almost did not get up for three weeks, and took communion in his cell. For the last two weeks, he had been tormented by pain in the heart area and oxygen deficiency; he constantly used oxygen pillows. People close to him were worried and tried to provide all possible help. On August 14, 2018, his condition worsened, and he was transferred to Tbilisi, to the palliative department of the Niu Vijens clinic, where he received needed help, and the condition seemed to improve. On August 16, he was even able to take small amounts of food. Relatives hoped for improvement and decided to stay in the hospital until Monday.

His death is an irreparable loss and pain not only for spiritual children and parishioners.

We are sure that Father Lazarus suffered and inherited the Kingdom of Heaven!

Icons painted by the hand of Archimandrite Lazar (Abashidze)

On August 17, Archimandrite Lazar (Abashidze), a zealous servant of the Church of Christ and a champion of the purity of the Orthodox faith, a brilliant church writer and publicist, a critic of church modernism and ecumenism, died.

Archimandrite Lazar was born on August 25, 1939, and was a native of Abkhazia. He received a secular education, but back in the 1980s he became a monk. He was transferred to the monastery of Betania (Georgia), where, thanks to Archimandrite John (Maisuradze) and Schema-Archimandrite John (Mkheidze), who “worked as guides in their own monastery,” hiding the feat of fasting and prayer, a concentrated monastic prayer life was established.

This monastery became the first monastery that was allowed to open during Soviet times in 1978. In 1990, Father Lazar painted the chapel of the holy Georgian Queen Tamara. There he was awarded the honorary title of archimandrite (he was abbot of Bethania until 1997). At this time Fr. Lazarus wrote about asceticism, prayer, pagan religions and ecumenism.

Father Lazar was the author of a number of soul-helping books and articles written for our contemporaries - Orthodox Christians of the late 20th - early 21st centuries. His works are based on the teachings of the Holy Fathers and the statutes of the Orthodox Church. Archimandrite Lazar has repeatedly spoken out denouncing the spiritual vices that are most often encountered on the path of modern man, such as occultism, Hinduism, yoga and others. Archimandrite Lazar (Abashidze) penned, in particular, such a well-known book in Russia as “Sin and Repentance of the Last Times: On the Secret Ailments of the Soul,” which has been reprinted several times in recent years.

He always took a particularly uncompromising position regarding ecumenism. In 1997, Archimandrite Lazar was one of those monastery abbots and monastics who wrote a letter to the Georgian Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II demanding that he withdraw from the ecumenical World Council of Churches. In 1997, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II decided to leave the WCC.

The Kingdom of Heaven and eternal rest for the newly deceased Archimandrite Lazar. Rest, O Lord, in the villages of the righteous His servant...

Archimandrite Lazar (Abashidze) completed his earthly journey

Archimandrite Lazar (ABASHIDZE) about the new secularized Christianity:

The latest Christianity will take only the shell from the ancient one, while the content will imperceptibly be replaced by a new spirit, a different lifestyle, way of thinking and other values.

Secularized Christianity, with its wings cut off, is not only not afraid of the devil, but will also serve him well: after all, the Antichrist will present himself as Christ, as the Messiah, as the God-Man.

The devil, preparing the way for the Antichrist, will be interested in spreading secularized, lifeless, formal Christianity throughout the world, and even all religions will try to “make friends” with him.

All religions recognize their “spiritual kinship” with Christianity, and will even admire the height of its teaching, the sanctity of its moral demands, the beauty of its symbolism, etc.

Many, even naive Christians themselves, will applaud, seeing such a respectful attitude of the world towards their faith and with ardent enthusiasm, leaving their passions and spiritual ulcers to their own devices, they will rush in a fit of carnal jealousy to preach their secularized Christianity to the whole world.

Scripture says about such preachers:
“I did not send these prophets, but they themselves fled; I didn’t tell them, but they prophesied.” (Jer. 23, 21).

Preaching a mundane “Christianity” adapted to the carnal will of fallen humanity, these “zealous heralds of the word of the Gospel” will actually lead the world away from Christ and incline it to the path of the Antichrist. But these preachers themselves will not notice this.

On August 17, Archimandrite Lazar (Abashidze), a zealous servant of the Church of Christ and a champion of the purity of the Orthodox faith, a brilliant church writer and publicist, a critic of church modernism and ecumenism, died.

Archimandrite Lazar was born on August 25, 1939, and was a native of Abkhazia. He received a secular education, but back in the 1980s he became a monk. He was transferred to the monastery of Betania (Georgia), where, thanks to Archimandrite John (Maisuradze) and Schema-Archimandrite John (Mkheidze), who “worked as guides in their own monastery,” hiding the feat of fasting and prayer, a concentrated monastic prayer life was established.

This monastery became the first monastery that was allowed to open during Soviet times in 1978. In 1990, Father Lazar painted the chapel of the holy Georgian Queen Tamara. There he was awarded the honorary title of archimandrite (he was abbot of Bethania until 1997). At this time Fr. Lazarus wrote about asceticism, prayer, pagan religions and ecumenism.

Father Lazar was the author of a number of soul-helping books and articles written for our contemporaries - Orthodox Christians of the late 20th - early 21st centuries. His works are based on the teachings of the Holy Fathers and the statutes of the Orthodox Church. Archimandrite Lazar has repeatedly spoken out denouncing the spiritual vices that are most often encountered on the path of modern man, such as occultism, Hinduism, yoga and others. Archimandrite Lazar (Abashidze) penned, in particular, such a well-known book in Russia as “Sin and Repentance of the Last Times: On the Secret Ailments of the Soul,” which has been reprinted several times in recent years.

He always took a particularly uncompromising position regarding ecumenism. In 1997, Archimandrite Lazar was one of those monastery abbots and monastics who wrote a letter to the Georgian Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II demanding that he withdraw from the ecumenical World Council of Churches. In 1997, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II decided to leave the WCC.

The Kingdom of Heaven and eternal rest for the newly deceased Archimandrite Lazar. Rest, O Lord, in the villages of the righteous His servant...

Archimandrite Lazar (ABASHIDZE) about the new secularized Christianity:

The latest Christianity will take only the shell from the ancient one, while the content will imperceptibly be replaced by a new spirit, a different lifestyle, way of thinking and other values. Secularized Christianity, with its wings cut off, is not only not afraid of the devil, but will also serve him well: after all, the Antichrist will present himself as Christ, as the Messiah, as the God-Man. The devil, preparing the way for the Antichrist, will be interested in spreading secularized, lifeless, formal Christianity throughout the world, and even all religions will try to “make friends” with him. All religions recognize their “spiritual kinship” with Christianity, and will even admire the height of its teaching, the sanctity of its moral demands, the beauty of its symbolism, etc. Many, even naive Christians themselves, will applaud, seeing such a respectful attitude of the world towards their faith and with ardent enthusiasm, leaving their passions and spiritual ulcers to their own devices, they will rush in a fit of carnal jealousy to preach their secularized Christianity to the whole world. Scripture says about such preachers: “I did not send these prophets, but they themselves fled; I didn’t tell them, but they prophesied.”(Jer. 23, 21). Preaching a mundane “Christianity” adapted to the carnal will of fallen humanity, these “zealous heralds of the word of the Gospel” will actually lead the world away from Christ and incline it to the path of the Antichrist. But these preachers themselves will not notice this.