Unpublished letters

The collection “Unpublished Letters” contains 2 letters from St. Dimitri Rostovsky: 1. To Metropolitan Job of Novgorod, in which the saint humbly thanks for the honor, shares his sorrows about the closure of the Rostov Greek-Latin school due to financial difficulties and expresses support for the educational works of the addressee. 2. To a close friend (“Mr. Feolog”), written the day before the author’s death. This letter is evidence of the last hours of the saint’s life, in which he describes with Christian humility severe physical suffering, loss of strength and readiness to accept the will of God. Contents I. To the Great Master, the Bishop of God, His Eminence Job Metropolitan, the most holy of the Metropolis of Velikonovgorod 2. To the honest Mr. Theologus, my dear I. To the Great Master, Bishop of God, His Eminence Job Metropolitan, the most holy Metropolis of Velikonovgorod Humble to the Archpastor and God-wise Teacher Bishop of Rostov and rejoice in the Lord. I received into my hands, sinners, the most honorable Apostleship of your scripture to my detriment, and having read it, I kindly kissed it, rejoicing in spirit, as in your saintly mercy I am unforgettable, and deign to greet me with your fatherly love in the scripture explained, for which I am grateful, since whoever received an unexpectedly rich mercy from those who do not know him, gives thanks and bows. Unknown to your Eminence by your contemplation, you have honored me with your love and favored me with your good deeds, for which I humbly thank you with my brow. I sympathize with your shrine in your sorrows, and in them may God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ comfort you (I say with the Apostle); Father of generosity and God of all kinds of joy, comfort us about all our sorrow, may your sorrows and sorrows be transformed into joy. Having heard the Hellenic Greek teaching of your Eminence, which began for the glory of God, through the diligence of your bishops, and the diligence of the wisest teachers Ionnicius and Sophronius of Likoudiev (quos fraterna charitate amplector, veneror, et amabiliter Ialuto), I greatly rejoice at this and pray to God, may the Eminence hasten your and most honorable teacher in that beneficial matter; What instructs a person if not teaching? Give me understanding, speech, and I will learn your commandments. And Christ the Lord, although He made His disciples teachers of the entire universe and enlightened the whole world, first opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Having been favored by your Eminence to your Lord, even though in your flock you had intelligent and teaching people, you gathered quite a number of disciples, and you offered them that teaching, which is the beginning and source of all wisdom, the Hellenic-Greek language, from which all the wise teachings came into being in all languages. And I, a sinner, by the will of the Lord, came to the throne of the Rostov flock, began to apply diligence to the teachings and started a school in Greek and Latin, and the students studied for no more than two years, who began to understand grammar not evil, but by the permission of God, the poverty created in the house of the apostle, created an obstacle, and stopped teachings: because we are indignant, those who feed us, as if there were a lot of costs for teachers and students, and already everything that the apostle’s house has to feed on has been taken away from us, not only fatherland, but also church tributes and eternal memory, and so on, and so on; impoverished in everything, impoverished and in teachings. But let me not continue writing, I am silent about our other behavior, sat sapienti. I hit your Eminence again and again with my forehead, and I pray that in the future your fatherly mercy and love will not become scarce for my evil. On the original letter, His Eminence Metropolitan Dimitri’s own handwriting reads: Illustrissimo Archipraesuli ac celsitudini vestrae cunctorum bonorum fautor et ad omnia obsequia promtissimus et addictissimus servus, et exorator humilis Demetrius Metropolita Roslowiensis et Idroslaviensis. Rostowiae, An. 1706 December 10. _____________________________________________________ 2. To honest Mr. Feolog, my dear God will save your love, for you fulfill all my desires and petitions. - Having accepted the heretical Catechism, looked at it and again sent it to you. I saw him a long time ago, when I was still in Lithuania, only the Kings forgot about him. I don’t have to worry about it; God would give me some other hunter: I am exhausted. Ask me, beloved, about my health. In truth I proclaim to you because I am weak. Previously, my health was divided between the sexes, half healthy and half sick: but now illness prevails and barely a third of my health remains. It’s as if I’m taking courage and moving in my Lord, and my belly is in His hand. Nowadays I don’t do anything: no matter what I try, everything falls out of my hands; The days have become dark for me, my eyes see little, in the night the light of the world helps me little, and even harms me, when I look at the letter for a long time; and illness makes you lie down and moan. In my poor health, we don’t know what to expect, belly or death? This is the will of the Lord be done! I am not ready to die, either by choice; and according to the commandment of the Lord I must be ready; But my Lord is strong even to strengthen my weakness. This autumn is hard for me; The Rostov air is very bad, and the waters are very unhealthy. Sorry, beloved. I can't write much. I hit with my forehead Note from the scribe: this was written one day before his death. You might be interested in: