www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Old-Ritualists Forum Get your Lestovka here!

Dear Friends,

Diveyevo Monastery has a long relationship with St Seraphim of Sarov who, throughout his life, used the Lestovka to pray with.

This is the monastery where the nuns and pilgrims walk around the pathway surrounding the monastic complex every day reciting 150 Hail Mary's. And they make Lestovkas to order!

They make the regular Lestovka, the 150-step Lestovka for saying the Rule of the Theotokos, another smaller Lestovka with 50 steps for saying the Rule of the Theotokos and a smaller thirty-step Lestovka.

What is REALLY wonderful is that they insert little scrolls with the Jesus Prayer written in Slavonic on them into EACH step of each Lestovka. They insert a scroll with the "Rejoice Theotokos Virgin" or "Hail Mary" into each of the steps of the Theotokos Lestovka - as indicated on the front page.

They also make them in various colours. Black for daily use, blue for use with the Theotokos Lestovka, white for weddings and major feastdays (for laity only), black with additional colours for feastdays celebrated by monastics, red for Pascha and special feastdays. One may order in whichever colour one wishes.

They can communicate with you in Russian, Ukrainian and some English.

The site also has some articles in Russian about the significance of the Lestovka throughout the history of Orthodox Rus'.

http://lestovka-diveevo.ru/

Alex

Alex,

Thank you for posting this information on Lestovki and where and how to purchase them. They are a useful method of prayer and meditation.

Another closer source is the Erie Russian Orthodox Old Rite Church of the Nativity Bookstore. They offer White and Black Vinyl and Leather Lestovki as well as other materials on Russian Old Ritualists. Also, if you contact their parish office, they will add you to their monthly newsletter which is a good source of information on the local priested church community.

http://shop.churchofthenativity.net/products/lestovki

I'm drooling! Would that I had the money for one (and could read Russian well enough to order one).

Dear Master Beadsman,

Your lestovki are excellent and I use them all the time!

I"ll see about getting you a leather one.

Alex

Dear Polish American (May I call you "PolAmski?" I'm much given to hypocorism, you know . . .)

The Erie shop is very good, but the vinyl lestovkas aren't very - they will rip and the leather ones are the way to go.

The lestovkas from Diveyevo are THE most traditional Russian ones, coming in various colours (which is, as you know, the old Russian way).

In addition, each of their Lestovkas has a piece of wood or soil from the actual "kanavka" or path that surrounds Diveyevo inserted into them.

It was St Seraphim of Sarov who counselled people to take a portion of soil from there as they fulfilled the 150 Hail Mary rule.

To have such a Lestovka is to own a piece of spiritual history.

There are some who have written that St Seraphim was himself a practitioner of the Old Rite in a number of respects as seen from his life. Many Russian monasteries, although they were not "Old Rite" in the sense they were excommunicated as such, kept up Old Rite traditions nevertheless, including the two-fingered Sign of the Cross and other Old Rite traditions.

While Old Rite Orthodox do not venerate St Seraphim of Sarov, they should, these individuals conclude, because he was in every which way a follower of the Old Rite himself.

Diveyevo, to this day, and its devotion to the Lestovka, bears witness to an ancient and even complex Russian spiritual sacramental that once united all of Russian Orthodoxy.

Alex

Alex,

I am very interested in obtaining a lestovka from Diveyevo. Do you know how much they cost?

Jeff

Dear Jeff,

The 109 step lestovkas are about $60.00 or so.

You can specify the colour you would like it in.

Write them a note in English and they will respond. I don't write in Russian, so I wrote to them in Ukrainian and . . . lo and behold, the people in the administrative offices there are all from Ukraine . . .

Give it a try.

Alex

Alex,

Thank you for your quick response! I'll get in touch with them.

Jeff

I cherish my black leather lestovka!

What is truly edifying is how in old Russia even business people would keep their Lestovkas in their left hands as they went about their work, ceaselessly repeating the Jesus Prayer.

We can do that today in many contexts.

It is also good to have one's neck Cross on at all times and to gaze spiritually on it with our focus as we pray.

Alex

Hi Alex,

So happy to hear you're still using my Lestovki.

I sent you an email and was just wanting to make sure you got it. It's been so long since we chatted that I was worried you may have changed your email address.

AMEN!!!

If it was possible in old Russia, then it's possible here in North America.

Amen to you, Master Beadsman!

I've made contact and will just see if everything runs smoothly before proceeding with you-know-what.

Salutations!

Alex

I ordered a lestovka from Diveevo on the 8th of October. According to the tracking I was provided it went to "export of international mail" on the 16th. Any idea how long delivery will be made?

Jeff

Hello sir,

I've no idea as my lestovka was just mailed on Thursday of this week. I also ordered a medal of St Seraphim of Sarov on one side, and the Mother of God of Tender Feeling on the other that was sent out with the lestovka.

I'm going to be a bit on edge until it arrives - just can't wait to get it.

If both yourself and the Master Beadsman could notify me here when you do get yours, I will inform Diveyevo as they would like to know.

Alex