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Updated: June 5, 2025
One day Israïl rose abruptly in an access of religious frenzy, climbed a hill, saluted the East three times, and returned radiant to his companion. "The burden which lay at the door of my heart," he cried, "the burden which hindered my spirit from soaring heavenwards, has disappeared! Henceforward the Kingdom of Heaven is in me, in the depths of my soul, in the soul of the Son of my Father!"
He taught them with all earnestness that they would shortly see the Lord, Saint Simeon, and the Queen of Heaven, and soon after this, when in a state of ecstatic exaltation, they did, as by a miracle, behold God surrounded by His saints, and even the Infant Jesus. But a new era of persecution was at hand for Israïl. Heaven was merciful to him, but the powers of the earth were harsh.
His soul dwelt with God the Father, and it was with the profoundest disdain that he followed the representatives of evil. During the trial his disciples loudly expressed their belief in him, and what seemed to strengthen their faith was the fact that Israïl, like the Divine Master, had been betrayed by a "Judas." They believed also that his death would be followed by miracles.
Then, with a staff in his hand, he traversed Russia, and visited many staretz, or holy men. They taught him "the beginning and the middle of the end which does not exist," but poor Israïl was still conscious of an emptiness in his heart.
Monks and nuns alike were equally discontented, equally eager to uproot evil, whether real or imaginary, by seeking out new ways of salvation. One such was the unfortunate Israïl, originally head of the monastery of Selenginsk, later a prisoner at Solovetzk.
An inexplicable emotion filled their souls; they trembled before the Eternal, fasted, and shed scalding tears; then, overcome by fatigue, fell fainting to the ground. Israïl beheld the heavens descending upon earth. They had no dread of wild beasts, and, disregarding the need for food or sleep, they thus dwelt far from the haunts of men, in the light of Eternity.
His asceticism, his many virtues, his fasting and prayers, the love which God had manifested for him all were forgotten, and Israïl, who had held the Queen of Heaven in his arms, was in future obliged to clean out the stables of the monastery of Makariev, to light the fires, and prepare the brothers' baths for them.
However, the more he was persecuted, the more his followers' ardent belief in his "divinity" increased, and their enthusiasm reached a climax when the police had the audacity to lay hands on "the son of the Lord." But Israïl was quite unmoved by the fate of his earthly body, or by the prospect of earthly punishment.
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