Spiritual Testament

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. — Although the state of my health is most satisfactory for my years, my sight is little by little failing and threatens me with blindness; and therefore, while I can still see what I write, I have thought it right to set down on paper my last testament, which, of course, is to take effect only after my death.

First of all, I render thanks to the Lord my God, who has ever done good to me and kept me in all my ways!

1) I then entreat and beseech each and every one whom I have offended, grieved, or wronged in word or deed to forgive me wholly and for ever, for the sake of our Saviour; and likewise, for His sake, I forgive wholly and for ever each and every one who has at any time grieved, offended, or wronged me in word or deed; and I likewise forgive the debts of those who are not able to repay them without burdening themselves.

2) My sinful body is to be buried at the Sergiev Lavra, in the common fraternal cemetery within the enclosure—that is, of course, if I die while still numbered as its abbot; otherwise it is to be buried wherever the authorities shall see fit.

3) I entreat and beseech that no orations be delivered either before, during, or after my burial. If even by the dim light of Truth by which I was guided in this life it was hard for me to hear words of praise and salutation, how must I suffer there, where Truth Itself is present, upon hearing praises I did not deserve. But if anyone should wish to say a word for the general edification, I beg him to speak from the text: From the Lord are a man’s paths made straight — pointing to me as an example, who and where I was, and by whom and where I ended my days—to the glory of God, but without any praise of me.

4) Over my body no monuments are to be erected, save for a plain cast-iron slab with a most simple and brief inscription.

5) All the property remaining from me, whatever it may consist of, is to be given to my sole heir and son, Archpriest Gavriil Veniaminov. None of my daughters, nor any of their children, shall have the right to demand anything from him out of my estate.

6) Of the panagias remaining, one—the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, set in stone—is to be presented to the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the city of Blagoveshchensk on the Amur; the other—the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos, also set in stone—is to go to the cathedral in the former Russian colonies in America.

7) My desk clock I bequeath to my grandson Ioann, and the gold pocket watch to Evseviy Veniaminov. Of the ready money remaining, up to five hundred roubles is to be distributed among the children of my sisters and the relatives of my mother, at the discretion of my heir.