Germogen (Speransky)

Georgy Prokopyevich Speransky was born on November 26, 1778 in the family of a clerk (later a priest) in the village of Fedorovsky Kolomensky district .

He studied at the Kolomenskoy Theological Seminary , where he bore the names Uspensky and Fedorovsky . Since 1799 he studied at the Moscow Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy , which he graduated in 1804 as a second student. During the teachings, he suffered extreme poverty, forcing him to use birch bark instead of writing paper ^[1] .

From 1804 to 1814 he taught French at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, in which he improved so much that he could " speak and compose freely " ^[1] .

The events of the Patriotic War of 1812 aroused in Speransky the idea of ​​"the urgent need for repentance and contempt for perishable, perishing, blessings of this world ." On August 10, 1813 he was tonsured with the name of Hermogenes, on August 15 he was ordained a hierodeacon , on September 8 in the hieromonk, and on March 16, 1814 he received the rank of cathedral hieromonk of the Donskoy Monastery ^[1] .

During the transformation in 1814 of the Moscow Academy, hieromonk Germogen was appointed bachelor in the department of accusatory theology , becoming one of three of the 12 bachelors of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy who transferred to the MDA ^[2] .

However, until 1816, Hieromonk Germogen performed the duties of a librarian " only to preserve and tidy up the academic library, which was upset during the French raid ", while at the same time he was a member of the Spiritual Censorship Committee. Archimandrite Filaret (Drozdov), who later audited the Moscow Theological Academy in 1815 (later Metropolitan of Moscow), gave a good review of Hermogenes in the sense that he was “quite capable and tirelessly diligent and edifying for employees and pupils with an example of a pious and strict life” ^[1] .

On February 16, 1816, Germogen was appointed inspector of the MDA, and on April 22, rector of the Vysotsky Monastery in Serpukhov, and on May 9 he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite ^[1] .

March 3, 1817 Germogen was transferred to Kolomna in the Novo-Golutvin monastery of the Moscow diocese ^[1] .

Hermogenes planned to carry out the four-day period of 1818 “in the strictest fasting”, but after 12 days of such fasting he was hardly removed from his cell, breaking the door. Since that time, Germogen lost his voice and acquired a shaking of his head for life. Hermogenes' religious exaltation made him uncomfortable at the inspector's place. In 1818, the same Filaret, at that time already Bishop of Revel, gave a review of Hermogenes, flattering to him as a monk, and unprofitable for him as an inspector. “ With a thoroughly good mood and lifestyle, Filaret reported to the Commission of Theological Schools, the Academy is useful more than an example of instruction and management, partly due to poor health, which prevents him from exerting mental strength, partly from such a tendency to abstract life, which is sometimes untimely "draws his attention from the objects of his external duties for the title of mentor and guardian of the morality of young men ." On the basis of this recall, the Commission on July 29, 1818 decided to dismiss Hermogen from the school service “ until further discretion due to poor health, which impedes his ability to pass this title with due stress, ” and presented him to the position of rector of the Andronikov monastery , where he was appointed on August 19 1818 ^[1] .

With the fulfillment of the duties of the abbot, Germogen combined the fulfillment of the duties of a member of the consistory and the overseer of the Single Believing Printing House. In 1832, he was appointed a member of the commission testifying to the relics of St. Mitrofan of Voronezh, and at the opening of the relics he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the 3rd degree ^[1] .

Thanks to the donations of equal benefactors, Androgenikov Monastery re-decorated the churches and set up new chapels: the Spassky Cathedral was painted inside and out; in it was built a new iconostasis and silver clothing on the throne; The Arkhangelsk church was also painted, equipped with a new iconostasis, and with it were built the chapels of John the Baptist and Alexander Komansky; in the bell tower was restored the church of Simeon, a relative of the Lord; the bell of 400 pounds was also drained; at the monastery was founded in 1826 in a small, albeit small, size Theodorovskaya hospital for " freelance decrepit old men " ^[1] .

According to contemporaries, Hermogenes was “ not one of the last preachers of his time, ” but only one of his tombstones was printed to the state councilor Smolyanskaya (1821), which contains “an image of the ceremonial entry by the exploits of the faith of an adorned Christian into the gates of high Jerusalem ” ^[1] .

“ We don’t cherub with a flame in our hands and consecrate the way for him ,” said the preacher, “ but the darkness of angels carries him to supper, the Lamb, before the world was not slain, prepared. Not a god irritated, not a judge of justice, ready to strike with his sword to smite his mouth; but the meek, child-loving, merciful Father accepts him to His Father's bosom. Not a chain of atrocities, at the crossroads of the world being wrought, is attracted to him, but a number of virtues, vivid, are virile by the golden ones who clothed his soul, accompanies him. Spiritual poverty, purity of heart, gentle meekness, indulgent brotherly love, bloody selflessness, clothed in his clothes the white merits of the Redeemer follow him ” ^[1] .

A strict ascetic, Germogen was distinguished by meekness, condescension and silence. He did not miss a single church service; often retired for prayers to the neglected monastery garden, where sometimes several days remained without food. His situation was the simplest: “ Give him one herb, he will eat with pleasure and will not say anything, ” his cellman said about Germogen. Germogen " burned " to his relatives with love and helped them in every way; but he was unrestrained in the full sense of the word and considered money not rubles, but the number of bank notes that the cell men shamelessly replaced with small ones. “ An angel, not a man ” was a general review of Hermogenes ^[1] .

Hermogen's health was poor, and for many years he suffered from a “ nervous disease coupled with a constant sputum cough .” Germogen died on June 19, 1845 and was buried near the altar of the Savior Cathedral; but by extension to the Cathedral of the Assumption side chapel, Hermogen’s grave came under the side altar ^[1] .

• Archimandrite Gregory . “ Archimandrite Germogen, Rector of the Moscow Spaso-Andronikov Monastery ” (“ Mindful Reading ” 1866, I, 208–239);
• Archimandrite Sergius . “The Historical Description of the Moscow Spaso-Andronikov Monastery”, 82–84, 87–88;
• Smirnov S. , “History of the Moscow Theological Academy”, pp. 2, 12, 27, 97, 208, 364, 381;
• “Inventory of the affairs of the Commission of theological schools”, No. 1649, 1694, 1892.