Protopop Habakkuk wrote a life with the blessing of the monk Epiphanius, his spiritual father.

A solar eclipse is a sign of God's anger. In Russia there was a solar eclipse in 1654, because then Patriarch Nikon distorted the faith. Fourteen years later, a new eclipse occurred. At this time, Habakkuk and his supporters were sheared and thrown into prison.

Habakkuk was born in the Nizhny Novgorod land. His father was a priest, his name was Peter, and his mother was Mary, in monasticism - Martha. My father loved to drink, and his mother was a fasting and a prayer book. Once Habakkuk saw a dead cattle near his neighbor and then at night he cried about his soul, thinking about death. Since then, he used to pray every night. Habakkuk's father died. Mother married her son to the orphaned daughter of the blacksmith Mark, Anastasia. The girl lived in poverty, often went to church and prayed to marry Habakkuk. Then the mother died in monasticism.

At twenty-one, Habakkuk was ordained deacon, two years later in the priests, and another eight years later became a protopope. In total, Habakkuk had about five hundred or six hundred spiritual children, because wherever he appeared, he taught people the word of God.

Once, a girl came to the young priest for confession and began to repent of her prodigal sins. Listening to her, Habakkuk himself felt the “prodigal fire”, lit three candles and, accepting a confession, put his hand on the flame. Arriving home, he prayed and cried in front of the icon. And then he had a vision: two golden ships sailing along the Volga. The feedmen said that these were the ships of Luke and Lawrence, the spiritual children of Habakkuk. The third ship was multi-colored - it was the ship of Habakkuk himself.

A certain boss took his daughter from the widow. Habakkuk stood up for an orphan and was beaten. Then the boss nevertheless gave the damsel to his mother, but after he beat the protopope again in the church.

And the other chief was furious at Habakkuk. Tried to kill him, but the gun did not fire. Then this boss drove the protopope and his family out of the house.

Avvakum with his wife and newborn baby went to Moscow. The baby was baptized along the road. In Moscow, the protopope was given a letter - to return to their old place. He did so, returned to the ruined house, and soon there were new troubles: Habakkuk expelled buffoons and took two bears from them. And the governor Vasily Petrovich Sheremetev, who sailed to Kazan, took Avvakum to the ship. But the archpriest did not bless his son Matthew, who shaved his beard. Boyarin almost threw the protopop into the water.

Evfimey Stefanovich, another boss, also hated Avvakum and even tried to take his house with a bout. And at night Euphemiaus became ill, he called Habakkuk to him and asked for forgiveness. The Protopop forgave him, confessed, anointed with holy oil, and Euthymius recovered. Then he and his wife became the spiritual children of Habakkuk.

Nevertheless, the protopope was expelled from this place, he went to Moscow again, and the emperor ordered him to be brought to Yuryevets-Povolsky. And there are new troubles. Priests, men and women attacked Habakkuk and beat him. This crowd tried to take the protopope’s house with an attack, but the governor ordered him to be protected. Habakkuk again went to Moscow, but the tsar was already unhappy that the archpriest left his place. Avvakum lived in Moscow at the Kazan Church, under the Protopope Ivan Neronov.

Nikon became the new patriarch. He commanded to be baptized with three fingers and reduce the number of earthly obeisances. Upon learning of this, Ivan Neronov said that it was time to suffer. Habakkuk and the Kostroma archpriest Daniel wrote to the Tsar a letter of faith, where they exposed the Nikon heresy. After this, Nikon ordered the capture of Daniel, he was cut off and exiled to Astrakhan. They also sent Ivan Neronov, and Protopope Avvakum was put in prison on a chain. He was not fed for three days, but then someone came - either a man or an angel - and brought the archpriest a plate of cabbage soup. Habakkuk were going to be cut, but at the request of the king they still did not.

Protopop and his family were exiled to Siberia. In Tobolsk, the archbishop arranged for him to serve in the church. For a year and a half on Avvakum there were five denunciations. The clerk Ivan Struna, who was engaged in the affairs of the diocese, repaired his grievances. In the church, he grabbed the beard of the clerk Anton, whom he pursued. Habakkuk, shutting the church doors, stroked Strun with a belt. And for this there was a lot of trouble for him: the relatives of Ivan Struny wanted to kill him. The same clerk Struna agreed to cover up the sin of incest. For this, Habakkuk cursed the clerk in the church. Ivan Struna at that time was under the direction of Peter Beketov. When the String was cursed, Beketov scolded Habakkuk, and, going out of the church, became enraged and died.

The decree came to take Avvakum to the Lena River, to the prison. On the way he was caught up by a new decree - to go to Dauria. The protopope was given over to the Yenisei governor Afanasy Pashkov, who, at the head of the detachment, sailed to explore the land. Pashkov was a very cruel man.

On the river Tunguska, the ship of the protopop almost drowned. Protopopitsa pulled the children out of the water.

A ship was sailing towards which there were two elderly widows who were gathering in a monastery. Pashkov ordered the widows to return and marry. Habakkuk began to contradict. Then the governor wanted to drop the archpriest from the ship so that he would walk on foot in the mountains. Avvakum wrote a revealing letter to Pashkov, and the governor beat him with a whip.

Habakkuk was thrown into the Bratsk prison. He sat in a cold prison, then he was transferred to a warm hut. The wife and children of the Protopop lived twenty miles from him, with the evil woman Xenia. At Christmas, son Ivan came to see his father, but Pashkov did not allow him to do this.

In the spring we went on. Pashkov forced Avvakum to walk along the shore and pull the strap. In winter dragged sledges, in the summer "wandered in the waters." On the Hilka River, Avvakum's barque was torn off by water, and he nearly drowned. The clothes rotted, the good washed away with water.

In winter, the protopop himself with small children pulled his sled. And then the famine began. Pashkov did not let anyone go fishing, and many died. In summer they ate grass and roots, in winter - pine porridge. They even ate the meat of frozen wolves and foxes - "all filth." True, Avvakum and his family were helped by Pashkov's wife and daughter-in-law.

The voivode sent to Habakkuk two possessed women - his haylords, the widows Mary and Sophia. The Protopop prayed for the widows, communed them, they recovered and began to live with him. Pashkov took them away, and the widows again began to rage. Then they secretly ran to Habakkuk, he healed them again, and they began to come to pray at night. After that they became nuns.

The detachment returned from the Nerch River to Ruse. Hungry and tired people wandered behind the sleigh, falling on the ice. The protopopess was exhausted, but she was firm in spirit. On the sled, inadvertently, a wonderful chicken was strangled, which carried two eggs a day.

Pashkov's wife sent her little son every day to Habakkuk for a blessing. But when the child fell ill, she sent for help to a peasant whisperer. The baby got even more sick. Habakkuk was angry at the noblewoman. She asked him for forgiveness. When the sick child was brought, Habakkuk prayed, anointed him with holy oil, and the baby recovered.

Pashkov sent his son Yeremey with a detachment of Cossacks to fight in the Mungal kingdom. Pashkov made the local shaman conjure and asked if the campaign would be successful. The shaman foreshadowed success. But Habakkuk prayed for failure, so that the devil's prediction of the shaman would not come true. Then he, however, felt sorry for Eremey, who was a kind, pious man, who protected the archpriest from his father. Habakkuk began to pray that God would spare Jeremiah. Pashkov found out that Habakkuk wanted an unsuccessful campaign, and wanted to torture the archpriest. But at that time Eremeus returned. He said that the army was dead, but he himself was saved: in a dream, Habakkuk appeared to Heremey and showed the way.

Pashkov received a letter in which it was ordered to go to Russia. The governor did not take Habakkuk with him. Then the protopop went separately. He put in his boat all the sick and old, who were unsuitable for harsh life. Habakkuk took with him, saving from death, and two villains whom the Cossacks wanted to kill. The road was difficult. Fortunately, the native tribes did not touch Habakkuk and his companions. And they also met Russian people who went fishing, who gave the archpriest and his comrades food.

Having reached the Russian cities, Habakkuk saw the rule of the Nikonians and in sorrow thought: to preach the word of God or to hide? But his wife encouraged him. And on the way to Moscow, the archpriest everywhere denounced Nikon and his followers.

In Moscow, both the sovereign and the boyars received Habakkuk well. He was placed at the monastery’s cathedral in the Kremlin and was offered any place if he joins in faith with Nikon. But the protopop did not agree. Indeed, even in Tobolsk, Habakkuk had a warning from God in a dream, and in Dauria, through the daughter of the archpriest, Ogrofen, the Lord announced that if he did not adhere to the right faith and create the rule of prayer, he would die.

Seeing that Habakkuk did not want to unite with the Nikonians, the king asked the archpriest to at least keep silent about this. Habakkuk obeyed. At that time he lived with the noblewoman Fedosya Morozova, his spiritual daughter. Many came to him and brought gifts. Having lived this way for six months, Habakkuk again sent a letter to the king to protect the Church from the heresy of Nikon. And after this, Habakkuk and his family were ordered to be exiled to Mezen. After a year and a half, he and his elder sons, Ivan and Prokopiy, were returned to Moscow, while the protopopess and younger children remained on Mezen.

Habakkuk was kept on a chain for ten weeks at Pafnutiev Monastery. Then they brought to the church, cut them off and cursed. Habakkuk, in turn, cursed the Nikonians.

Then he was again taken to Pafnutiev Monastery. Kelar Nicodemus was at first kind to a prisoner. But when the archpriest asked to open the prison door on Easter Day, the cellar refused. Nicodemus soon became ill, and someone in the form of Habakkuk appeared and healed him. Then Kelar repented to Habakkuk.

The protopope was visited by his children with the holy fool Theodore. Theodore was a great ascetic: he prayed for prayer, beat a thousand bows, walked in the frost in one shirt. This holy fool miraculously fled from Ryazan, where he was held in bonds. But then Theodore was strangled on Mezen.

After that, Habakkuk was brought to Moscow, to the Miracles Monastery, and placed before the Cathedral of Ecumenical Patriarchs. Protopop argued with them about faith and denounced them. The patriarchs wanted to beat him, but Habakkuk shamed them with the word of God.

The king sent his messengers to the archpriest. He asked him to at least somewhat agree with the ecumenical patriarchs, but Habakkuk refused.

The protopope was exiled to Pustozersk. From there, he wrote to the tsar and to all the Orthodox. On Mezen, two of his spiritual children, Theodore the holy fool and Luka Lavrentievich, were executed. They also wanted to hang the sons of the Protopop, Procopius and Ivan, but the youths repented in fright. Then they were buried with their mother in an earthen prison.

An order came to Pustozersk to put Avvakum in an earthen prison. He wanted to starve himself to death, but his brethren did not order.

Then the authorities seized the priest Lazarus, cut off his tongue and his right hand. A severed hand folded fingers for the sign of the Cross. And two years later Lazarus’s language grew. The Solovetsky monk Epiphanius was also cut off his tongue, and also miraculously he grew up. The same thing happened with Deacon Theodore. And in Moscow, many of Nikon’s opponents were burned.

In those days when Habakkuk was not yet a protopope, but a priest, the royal confessor Stefan presented him with the book of Ephraim the Syrian. Habakkuk exchanged her for a horse. Habakkuk’s brother, Euthymius, took care of this horse more than prayer. God punished Habakkuk with his brother: a demon entered into Euphemia. Habakkuk expelled the demon, but Euthymius was not healed until Habakkuk took the book back and gave the money for it.

In prison, the protopop lived with the possessed Kirilushk, a Moscow archer. He endured all the tricks of the possessed. Kirilushko died in prison, Habakkuk confessed and communed him before his death. And in Moscow, the archpriest drove the demon out of Philip, who had been chained to the wall for a long time, because there was no harm with him. Once Habakkuk, having come home, was angry with his wife and household Fetinho, who quarreled among themselves. Protopop beat both women. And after that, he could not control the demon, until he asked for forgiveness from his wife, Fetinha and all the household.

Avvakum kept the possessed Theodore for two months at his home in Tobolsk, praying for him. Theodore was healed, but then in the church he again annoyed Habakkuk, and he ordered him to be chained to the wall. Enraged more than ever, Theodore fled and began to create various outrages everywhere.

The Protopop prayed for his healing, and just before Habakkuk’s exile to Dauria, a healthy Theodore came to his ship and thanked him: someone in the form of Habakkuk appeared to the demoniac and drove away the demons. The devil also attacked the household of Protopope Ophimus, Habakkuk healed her too.

In Tobolsk, Archpriest Habakkuk had a spiritual daughter, Anna. She wanted, contrary to the will of the spiritual father, to marry the first owner, Elizar. Anna began to disobey Habakkuk, and a demon began to attack her. Once the girl fell asleep in prayer, slept three days and three nights. Having woken up, she told her dream: the angels told her to obey the protopope in everything. But when he was exiled from Tobolsk, Anna still married Elizar. Eight years later, Habakkuk was driving back. At this time, Anna cut her hair as a nun. She repented in everything to the spiritual father. Habakkuk was at first angry with Anna, but then he forgave and blessed. Then she also suffered for faith.

Habakkuk also healed infants suffering from hernia. And in the early years of his ministry, Habakkuk was often frightened by a demon, but the priest overcame fear and drove away the demon.