There is no other path to salvation but love for God and neighbor.
He who loves God strives to fulfill His commandments.
He who loves his neighbor strives to serve him.
In this simplicity lies the whole mystery of spiritual life.
—Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (Nozdrin)
On March 15, 2025, in his ninety-fourth year of life, the revered elder, spiritual father of the brethren of Optina Monastery, and spiritual father of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, 
Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (Nozdrin)Iliy (Nozdrin), Schema-Archimandrite
“>Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (Nozdrin), departed unto the Lord.
Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (in the world Alexey Afanasyevich Nozdrin) was born on March 8, 1932, in the village of Stanovoy Kolodez, Oryol region, into a pious peasant family. At baptism, the infant was named in honor of Venerable Alexis the Man of GodThe parents sought the missing Alexis everywhere, but without success. The servants sent by Euphemianus also arrived in Edessa, but they did not recognize the beggar sitting at the portico as their master.
“>St. Alexius, the Man of God. From his earliest years, the Lord was preparing him for a special ministry—for, according to the elder’s own recollections, he began praying at the age of three. Fellow villagers called him “Divine” and “a Man of God”.
The future elder’s childhood fell during the years of Second World War. In 1942, after suffering a severe wound, his father Afanasiy Ivanovich passed away, and soon after, his grandfather Ivan Nozdrin also reposed. Ivan had been the warden of the Pokrovsky Church and was known for his truthfulness. Alexey’s mother, Klavdiya Vasilyevna, devoted herself to raising the children, refusing to remarry.
“I was ten years old when we received the death notice for my father,” the elder recalled. “My mother wept, while I stood beside her and prayed. I do not know where it came from, but I had a firm assurance that my father had not disappeared, but had passed into another world, where there is no suffering. I then told my mother: ‘Do not weep, Mama. Father is now with God. He sees us and prays for us.’ My mother embraced me and said: ‘You are truly a Man of God, my son.’”
This event, as the elder later admitted, became for him one of the first clear signs of God’s providence in his life and greatly influenced his future path.
During the war, an extraordinary incident occurred with young Alexey—an event the elder rarely spoke of but recounted with deep feeling to his closest spiritual children.
“It was the summer of 1943, after our village had been liberated from the Germans. We boys often roamed the battlefields in search of trophies. One day, I went into the forest alone. I loved to pray in solitude. As I was walking across a small clearing, I suddenly felt that I should stop. I do not know how to explain it—just an inner prompting. I looked around and noticed that the ground in one place seemed disturbed. I began to clear away the leaves and found a German officer’s case with headquarters maps and documents.
“I took the find to our village council. It turned out that the maps contained important information about the locations of German units and their plans. They praised me, they even wanted to reward me. But I thought to myself, ‘I did not find this—the Lord showed it to me.’ Years later, I learned that the maps I had found helped the Soviet command plan an important operation that saved many lives. But what struck me the most was that on one of these maps, our village church was marked with a cross. I pondered this event for a long time and came to the conclusion that the Lord had used me as an instrument to protect His holy house.”
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Is. 55:8–9)
A clear testimony that the Lord preserves His chosen ones was another incident that occurred with young Alexey in the post-war years.
“I was going to the market to sell our last belongings in order to buy bread,” the elder recalled. “All my money got stolen, and I was left with nothing. I wept bitterly because my hungry brothers and sister were waiting at home. I entered the church and began praying before the Kazan Icon: ‘O Mother of God, help me! I am not asking for myself, but for my family.’
“I left the church and walked along the road. Suddenly, before me lay a warm loaf of bread, as if it had just come out of the oven. There was no one around, only an empty road. I picked up the bread and, unashamed, wept with joy. From that day, I understood that prayer is not just words but a living communion with God and His saints.”
After finishing school in 1949, Alexey served in the army. At the insistence of his sergeant, he joined the Komsomol, a decision he later deeply regretted, seeing it as a sin against God. Upon returning home, he immediately burned his Komsomol membership card, symbolically breaking his ties with the godless ideology.
After completing his studies at a mechanical engineering college in Serpukhov, young Alexey was assigned to work in the city of Kamyshin, Volgograd region. There, he had a fateful meeting with Priest Ioann Bukotkin, who became his first spiritual father. Under Father Ioann’s guidance, Alexey strengthened his resolve to dedicate his life to God and enrolled in the Saratov Theological Seminary.
“Father Ioann told me then: ‘Alexey, your life does not belong to you but to God. You are chosen for a special service.’ I asked, ‘Why me? I am just a simple village boy.’ And he answered, ‘Because the Lord does not look at education or skills, but at the heart. And your heart has been turned to Him since childhood.’”
The path of spiritual formation for the future elder continued at the Leningrad Theological Seminary and Academy. There, with the blessing of his spiritual father, he took monastic vows, receiving the name Iliy (Ilian) in honor of one of the 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebaste
“>Forty Martyrs of Sebaste. He was then ordained as a hierodeacon and later as a hieromonk.
For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart (1 Sam. 16:7)
For ten years, from 1966 to 1976, Father Iliy lived in the Pskov-Caves Monastery. A significant milestone in his spiritual growth was his discovery of the writings of St. Silouan of Athos, which he read in 1967, even before the saint was glorified.
“When I read about Elder Silouan,” Father Iliy shared, “it was as if a bright path opened before me. His words, ‘Keep thy mind in hell and despair not,’ became my daily reminder of humility and hope. We live in a world filled with temptations and trials, yet the light of Christ remains, and no storm can extinguish it.”
A special chapter in the elder’s life is connected with Mount Athos, where he was sent by decision of the Holy Synod in March 1976. In the Russian monastery of the Great Martyr Panteleimon, Father Iliy became one of the few monks who helped preserve the ancient monastery for the Russian Orthodox Church during a difficult time when discussions were underway regarding its possible transfer to the Greeks. On Mount Athos, he undertook the ascetic labor of solitary prayer in a skete at Old Russik and served as the spiritual father of the brotherhood of Panteleimon Monastery.
“On Athos, I learned the meaning of true silence,” the elder recalled. “There, time seems to stop, and you live face to face with God. I remember once praying in a cave when, all of a sudden, I felt an extraordinary joy, as if my entire being was filled with light. It was not a vision, but an inner sense of God’s presence. That moment, I understood that true prayer is not the mere uttering of words, but standing before God with one’s whole heart.
“But the most wondrous thing on Athos is the special presence of the Mother of God. Athos is Her domain, and this can be felt in everything. There were times when I would sit in my cell, praying, and suddenly, a great consolation and peace would fill my soul. And in that moment, I understood that it was She, the Queen of Heaven, who had visited me with Her grace. After such consolation, for several days, I felt like a different person—more patient, meek, and full of love.”
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law (Gal. 5:22-23).
Elder Iliy always spoke of his years on Athos with deep reverence.
“Once, I was climbing to the summit of Athos at night,” he recalled. “The path was difficult, my feet slipped on the rocks, and I often had to stop to rest. Suddenly, as I sat on a stone, I was overcome by a sense that I was not alone. It was as if all the holy ascetics who had walked this path before me were present. I felt like a link in a chain connecting the past and the future. And then I understood: Monasticism is not an escape from the world, but a service to the world through prayer.”
Father Iliy shared with his spiritual children the hardships that brotherhood endured:
“On Mount Athos, we lived in great poverty. Sometimes, we survived for days on nothing but bread and water. But this external poverty helped us experience inner richness. When the body is not burdened with food, the spirit becomes freer. And then, such spiritual depths are revealed that one could never imagine in an ordinary state.”
The elder also spoke about his obedience as a spiritual father at Panteleimon Monastery:
“To be a On Spiritual Fathers, Sins, Prayer and SalvationEvery time I find myself in the Monastery of St. Mary in Techirghiol, I am filled with trepidation at the thought of the multitude of my sins, known and unknown. And my first desire is to go to the cell of the great spiritual father Arsenie (Papacioc), to at least take his blessing. And when you are honored with the great privilege of speaking with him, time begins to take on some kind of special dimension.
“>spiritual father does not mean ruling over other souls. It means helping another person hear the voice of God in his own heart. On Mount Athos, I understood that the most important part of being a spiritual guide is not giving advice, but praying for one’s spiritual children. When one prays with love, the Lord Himself gives the right words, and those words reach the heart of the person.”
In the late 1980s, Father Iliy was called to return to his homeland to help revive monastic life in Optina Monastery. Arriving at the monastery in 1989, he took the Great Schema, receiving the name Iliy (Ilian) in honor of one of the Martyrs of Sebaste, and entered the path of eldership.
And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them (Is. 42:16)
“When I arrived in 1990: A Pilgrimage to Optina MonasteryMuch has happened since 1990 when an American recently converted to Orthodoxy made a pilgrimage to the famous home of the Optina Elders—all of the original churches have been rebuilt, new ones added, and the brotherhood is flourishing. Nevertheless, we can wistfully remember those blessed days when Russian Orthodox Christians were sacrificing their time and talent to rebuilt Optina. Here are the impressions of that pilgrim, published in the Orthodox Word.
“>Optina, there were only ruined churches and paths overgrown with weeds,” the elder recalled. “The first service was held by candlelight because there was no electricity. But we felt the amazing spiritual strength of this place. It seemed as if the souls of the former Optina elders were invisibly present among us. I remember how one of the first brethren, a young hieromonk, said to me, ‘Father Iliy, I am afraid I will not endure, there are too many difficulties.’ And I answered, ‘Do not be afraid, my son. You are not carrying this cross alone. The Lord is with us, and all the holy The Holy Elders of OptinaThrough God’s mercy, in spite of seventy years of Communist enslavement, ”prima vitae” of many of the Elders have been preserved. Written by their immediate disciples, these rare biographies contain a multitude of priceless details and anecdotes that shed light into the secret corners of lives totally dedicated to Jesus Christ.”>elders of Optina.’”
Many of the elder’s spiritual children testified that even a brief encounter with him became a turning point in their lives. However, Father Iliy did not seek to impress those who came to him with extraordinary revelations—his teachings were simple, yet in their simplicity lay profound spiritual wisdom.
One of the elder’s spiritual daughters recalled:
“I came to him burdened with many problems, expecting that he would talk with me for a long time and give me some special advice. But he simply looked at me with his clear, penetrating eyes and said, ‘Daughter, you think too much about yourself. Think about others, help someone—and your problems will begin to resolve themselves.’ At first, I was even offended—such a simple answer! But when I started following it, my life truly changed.”
In 2009, Schema-Igumen Iliy became the father-confessor of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and moved to Peredelkino. On Pascha 2010, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, he was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite by His Holiness the Patriarch.
“When people ask me how I feel about my new position, I always answer, ‘I remain the same monk I was before,’” the elder said. “Monasticism is not a position, but a state of the soul. It does not matter whether you are in a solitary cell or in the capital. The main thing is to keep a prayerful spirit and love for God and others.”
Until the very last days of his earthly life, Elder Iliy remained a tireless intercessor in prayer for the whole world, receiving thousands of people who sought spiritual counsel and comfort. His simple words, spoken from the heart, and his fervent prayers brought healing to many suffering souls.
“Do you know what the greatest trouble of modern man is?” the elder once said. “It is that he has forgotten how to see God’s hand in his life. We are always looking for miracles, yet they happen every day. Every sunrise is a miracle. Every moment of life is a gift from God. Learn to be grateful for these simple miracles, and you will see how your life will be transformed.”
The Lord granted His faithful servant a long life, allowing him to return to Optina and peacefully depart into eternity, leaving us an example of a true ascetic life. His passing is an irreparable loss for the Russian Orthodox Church, but we believe that we have gained yet another intercessor in Heaven.
One of the elder’s last visitors recalled:
“Just a few days before his passing, Father Iliy looked very weak physically, but his eyes shone with an unearthly light. He took my hand and said: ‘Do not be afraid of anything. The Lord is everywhere. And even when it seems that He is far away, He is closer than we think. Remember this always.’ These words became a precious testament for me.”
Memory eternal to the newly departed Schema-Archimandrite Iliy! May the Lord grant rest to his soul in the dwellings of the righteous!
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them (Rev. 14:13).
