This story was told by the rector of one of the village churches of the Samara diocese.

This story was told by the rector of one of the village churches of the Samara diocese.

 He asked only to change his surname and the name of the village where he serves.

One morning Father Sergius found a letter on the porch of his house. The short letter consisted of threats. Unknown persons accused Fr. Sergius of calling people to church, denouncing drunkards and drug addicts, and preaching a healthy lifestyle. Father Sergius was not intimidated by the threats. He continued to serve as before. But soon a second letter was planted on him, then a third... And then the bathhouse burned to the ground.

"Long bearded, did you think we were kidding?" - they asked him in another letter.

The priest reported the incident to Archbishop Sergius of Samara and Syzran. Vladyka cheered him up and said: "If you are not afraid, serve as you served before. The Lord will not forsake you.

A month later, his garage burned down.

And the letter again: "Watch it, long bearded, you'll get it. The last warning..."

Some more time passed, and one evening an expensive American jeep pulled up to the priest's house. Two stout men knocked on the door.

"Father Sergius," one of them addressed the priest who came out. - A grandmother is dying in the village of Kozlovka, asking for communion. We'll drop you off at her place." A few minutes later, Father Sergius was already settling in the back seat. The two men sat down beside him. In all there were four sturdy men in the car. From their appearance and the short remarks of the priest guessed: the city.

Kozlovka, meanwhile, had been left behind, and the car turned onto a field road and rushed toward the woods. At that time, one of the men sitting with the priest pulled out a gun, and the other pulled out a knife.

"Now you've played your game, longshanks," the one with the gun turned to him sharply. - How many times have we warned you about that? You didn't listen. It's your own fault. We'll finish you off."

"If it is God's will to kill me, you will, and if it is not God's will, you will not!" - Father Sergius replied firmly.

Such a statement from the "condemned man" literally cheered the bandits up. They turned and stared at him with interest. Then the head man, raising his pistol, asked again with a laugh:

"So what are you saying there about God's will?"

Let me pray," Father Sergius suddenly asked.

- Well, pray one last time," the ringleader allowed after thinking, and put the gun down.

"I read the requiem to myself for almost half an hour," Father Sergius later told me. - I read slowly, loudly. All that time the bandits sat in silence, looking bored. They were waiting for me to finish.

After my closing words: "Lord, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing," the chief sat still for some time, then turned to one of the accomplices and said:

"Let's get out." Ten minutes later they were back in the car.

- Take the priest home," the ringleader briefly ordered.

- Six months passed since then," Father Sergius continued his story.

- One morning I found an envelope on the porch. There was a short letter and 50,000 rubles in it. The note read: "Father, it seems we were wrong..."

The money came in handy: I paid for the repair of the church, bought building materials ... Another eight months passed. And then one day one of the four, the youngest by age, literally ran into the church. He was pale, kind of frightened.

"Father, I want to tell you everything, I want to repent."

Here's what he said. After the failed massacre of the priest (as it turned out, the bandits were hired), their brigade continued to engage in their usual craft - robbery, and violence against people. But for some reason, all of them recalled that decisive statement of Father Sergius: “If it is the will of God, you will kill; if it is not the will of God, you will not kill.”

But in the end, everything turned out that way - not by their will ... “This is an accident. We must forget,” demanded the leader. But it didn't work out.

Once the car in which the leader was traveling suddenly stalled at a railway crossing. No matter how hard the driver tried to start the car, it would not start. Yuri got nervous, tried to get out of the car - the door did not open. He reached for the right front door, and it didn't open.

Frightened even more, he jumped into the back seat, pulled both rear doors in turn - neither opened. Feeling himself in a mousetrap, he screamed wildly. This terrible, inhuman cry was heard by the drivers, but they did not have time to help - the flowing train smashed the expensive foreign car and the driver to shreds. He was buried. At the wake, they drank a lot, were silent. They thought about the same words of the priest.

A month has passed. On that fateful day for himself, the new senior of the brigade was on the balcony of his Samara apartment. Leaning against the railing, he smoked one cigarette after another. At the same time, a balcony was being glazed on the eighth floor. Suddenly, a sheet of glass escaped from the hands of the master and flew down.

A blow to the neck of the elder, as if with a sword, cut off his head. And he was buried. We drank again at the wake. But I didn't take vodka. Those two who remembered Father Sergius were scared. They decided to stop their criminal business. There were even thoughts about a righteous life, about repentance. But they did not dare to cross the threshold of the church.

A little more time passed, and now death knocked on the third of them. When he felt a slight malaise, he began self-treatment - he rushed to the pharmacy, bought various expensive medicines. But they didn't help. The district doctor after examination sent him to an oncologist. Then, already in the oncology center, it was established that his entire body was riddled with metastases.

But here's what surprised the doctors. No matter how much they searched for the cancerous tumor itself, they could not find the focus of the malignant disease. Meanwhile, the disease progressed rapidly. When he declared that he foresaw the near end, he was offered to confess to an Orthodox priest. He immediately remembered Father Sergius, thought for a long time and ... refused. A few days later he was gone.

Then the youngest of the former brigade already firmly knew what to do. After the funeral, he rushed to Father Sergius. “You did the right thing,” the priest told him. There is no such sin that the Lord would not forgive. Try not to sin anymore. And remember: God will not leave you without His help and support.

He broke with the underworld, and is now a parishioner of one of the temples in Samara. Works in production, started a family. Helps young people who are confused in life's problems.