The great elder of our times, Monk Lawrence, asceticised in the city of Chernigov.

The great elder of our times, Monk Lawrence, asceticised in the city of Chernigov. He was very loving, he helped everyone, he pitied everyone, and the animals also enjoyed his love.

At the Trinity Monastery, where Monk Lawrence lived, there was a vegetable garden. Once caterpillars attacked the monastery cabbage, and the nun gardeners, no matter how hard they tried, could not do anything with them.

Then they went to Fr. Lawrence for help. The father prayed, and in the morning all the caterpillars crawled into a nearby lake.

Another spring, as soon as the nuns planted vegetable seedlings, the jackdaws who lived in the monastery got into the habit of pulling out these young shoots. The abbess asked the monastery sisters to go to the priest and ask for help.

Having heard the complaint about the jackdaws, the father replied:

"Tell the abbess to tell the birds to fly into the forest!"

The abbess was extremely surprised by this answer, but for obedience to the confessor she ordered the birds to fly away.

And the birds were gone. It took two days. Father went out and looked at the bell tower, where jackdaws used to rustle ... Silence!

"It's boring without birds" said the elder. "Let the abbess tell the jackdaws to come back, but don't spoil anything. Mother obediently fulfilled the elder's request, and again the birds began to cheerfully cheer at the monastery.

Father Lawrence loved to feed the birds. He used to put out grains for them. The jackdaws would immediately gather together, grab the food, and fly away. Then the elder told them:

"No, you can't! Fly to the side and take turns, two at a time."

The jackdaws obediently obeyed the order, and things were getting better.

And the elder was very fond of his cat, pampered and fed him with tidbits.

When the father died in 1950, the orphaned cat did not leave the coffin for 40 days, during which the coffin was in the church.

Then the deceased monk was buried in the tomb of the monastery cathedral, and the cat lay there all day, under the window of the crypt. And then it completely disappeared somewhere.