Saint Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, and his homiletical heritage

Contents Introduction Chapter I. Life and work of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov Childhood and school years Entry into the monastery and taking monastic vows Acceptance of the deacon and priestly rank (March 25, 1669) Life and work of the saint. Demetrius in various parishes and monasteries Summons to Moscow, consecration as a bishop and appointment to the Rostov see. Archpastoral service of St. Demetrius at the Rostov See The blessed death of St. Demetrius Chapter II. Saint Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, and his homiletical heritage General characteristics of the sermons of St. Demetrius External qualities of the sermons of St. Demetrius The method of arranging sermons, techniques The method of presentation, sources The language of the sermon The internal properties of the sermons are holy. Demetrius The main direction of the sermons of St. Demetrius Contents of the sermons of St. Demetrius Sermons with dogmatic teaching Moral and edifying sermons Polemical sermons Accusatory sermons Historical sermons reflecting contemporary issues Spiritual teachings Contents and analysis Word for the week of St. Women of the Myrrh-Bearers In memory of our venerable father Barlaam and Joasaph of India Conclusion In the historical life of the Russian Orthodox Church, among the numerous host of Orthodox pastors and archpastors whom the Holy Spirit appointed to shepherd the Church of God (Acts 20:28), there are persons whose activities leave a noticeable mark on the history of the Church. These outstanding hierarchs were models of the virtuous life of the Russian people and the helmsmen of the church ship. Among the names of these lamps of the Russian land, we see with particular clarity all the greatness of the personality, character, life and works of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov. He was the first hierarch in Russia by origin, upbringing and long service in Ukraine. Enlightening his contemporaries with his life, works, and inspired words, he had such a strong influence on them that his fame spread throughout Russia during his lifetime. The written works he left behind are still a fertile source for those thirsting for spiritual enlightenment. These works were a saving and morally edifying reading for the Russian Orthodox Church and the entire Russian people, and the author acquired the right to be considered the most influential educator of our national piety. Saint Demetrius lived at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. In an exceptional era, when great events took place in civil and religious life. This was the time of the struggle between Ukraine and Poland, the Orthodox Church against the schism, the time of great transformations of Emperor Peter I. Western influences quickly entered Russian life and aroused awareness of the need for self-development and correction of abnormalities in the social life of the Russian people. Hence a number of important phenomena in church life. With the expansion of the Russian state, the field for the activities of the Orthodox mission expanded significantly. At the head of the church administration, instead of the sole power of the patriarch with temporary councils under him, was the Holy Governing Synod - a permanent collegial institution. New auxiliary institutions also appeared - central and regional, which, like the institutions of the secular department, were managed according to regulations. The scope of diocesan rights, especially judicial and property rights, was greatly limited. The reforms of Peter I were aimed at the mental development of the Russian people. Spiritual enlightenment increased rapidly. A variety of literature has multiplied. Under the influence of enlightenment, the crude forms of popular superstition began to noticeably weaken, but unfortunately, a large number of sectarians of different persuasions arose. The masses of ordinary people did not understand the benefits of reforms, and therefore treated them with distrust. Peter I paid attention to explaining the actions of the government to the people and, to strengthen his power, appointed capable and gifted people to government and church positions. Such was Saint Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov. He was a devoted archpastor of the Orthodox Russian people. Energetic, lively, receptive, passionately loving his people and his Motherland, he gave it all his mighty gifts of spirit and did not remain deaf to the needs of his people. The purpose of this essay is to describe the life, work and homiletical heritage of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov. Chapter I. The life and work of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov Saint Demetrius, in the world Daniil Savvich Tuptalo 1, was born in December 1651 in the town of Makarovo in Ukraine. Saint Demetrius writes about his birth as follows: “My parents are Savva Grigorievich and Maria Mikhailovna, pious Christians married by legal marriage, in the city of Makarov. In sins my mother gave birth to me in the year (1651), the month of December, and my name was called Daniel: at that hour the voivodina Radzivilova was there; and enlightened by holy baptism” 2. Janusha Radzivilova, Princess of Moldova, sister of the wife of Timofey Khmelnitsky, was the successor at the baptism of Daniel 3. Father, Savva Grigorievich, was an ordinary Cossack of the Makarov Kyiv regiment, in the army of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, and later became a centurion. In addition to their son Daniel, they had three daughters: Pamphilia, Fevronia and Paraskeva, who later all accepted monasticism and were successively abbess of the St. Nicholas Jordan Monastery, which they founded. This circumstance alone speaks eloquently about the high religious and moral mood of the family of centurion Savva Grigorievich Tuptalo. The father of Saint Demetrius, like a warrior, was always in the ranks of the defenders of Orthodoxy. In 1671, while repelling an attack by the Poles, he was captured and taken to Poland, where he stayed for three years. He devoted the last years of his life to serving the Church, accepting the title of ktitor of the Kyiv St. Cyril Monastery. The mother of Saint Demetrius led a “constant virtuous and pious life” 4. Her labors and concerns about her family, about her children, and their mood left an indelible mark on the soul of the saint. With special tenderness and praise, Saint Demetrius writes about her on the occasion of her death in his diary. “On the very heel of the saving passion, my mother reposed at the ninth hour of the day... She died with good disposition, memory and speech... And truly, her death was Christian: for with all Christian rites and with ordinary sacraments, she was fearless, unashamed, of peace” 5. The mother was buried by her son in the Kiev Cyril Monastery in 1689 6 The pious life of the parents, especially the example of the mother, had a beneficial influence on the soul of the future saint of Orthodoxy. “After baptism, we raise children quickly from their parents in the passion of God, and teach the Christian law, increasing their years with reason and virtue, like a ladder from strength to strength to come” 7 . The youth Daniel received his initial education at home. “Under the guidance of his literate father, Daniel learned to read, went through the book of hours, the psalter, read the Bible and the Lives of the Saints” 8. Naturally, in such a family, the youth Daniel also received written lessons from his family. He writes about this in his diary of 1662: “we are learning to write” 9. When the youth Daniel learned to read and write, his parents, who had moved to Kyiv by this time, sent him to the Epiphany fraternal school monastery 10. This school, opened by the brotherhood of the Church of the Epiphany back in 1589, was formed to train church pastors and to protect Orthodoxy from the Latins. From here came learned men - defenders of Orthodoxy in Russia 11. The school had six classes: three grammatical, two humanitarian and one philosophical. At first there was no theological class. The Polish government did not allow it to open. It was established after 1686, when Kyiv finally passed to Moscow 12. According to M.S. Popov, the school was encyclopedic in nature and everything came down to the ability to use verbal material 13. The student, as a politician, was taught dialectical resourcefulness and resourcefulness in word debates... Grammar was considered the key that unlocks the mind to know the scriptures. From her, as if by steps, passed the ladder of teaching: dialectic, rhetoric, music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. With the combination of these sciences, the highest ones were comprehended: philosophy and theology 14. In the Chronicle we find that “according to the appointment to this school, a youth of wit for the sake of his intelligence and vigilant diligence, soon began to show good success in his studies and was more successful than his peers, not many years past, becoming quite skilled in poetry and ornateness, and knowing well everything that we teach quickly. While Daniel studied other sciences, he learned no less about virtuous living” 15. But soon young Daniel had to leave his education due to the prevailing military and political circumstances. In 1665, the college was completely destroyed during the Doroshenko invasion and was resumed only in 1669. The young man Daniel studied there for only three years from 1662–1665. 16 According to other historians, 17 classes at school did not stop, and Daniel studied for more than three years. If it is true that he is holy. Dimitri studied at the Kiev School for more than three years, and in all likelihood he completed the full course, then, consequently, the college gave him everything that it gave to its students at that time. While studying philosophy, foreign languages ​​and other “worldly sciences,” the youth Daniel did not forget to practice living a holy, Christian life. Kiev made a strong impression on him, especially the abundance of churches and monasteries in it spoke “of the heartfelt faith of the people of Kiev,” who were truly pious and “pliable to the poor” 18. The shrines of Kyiv connected the youth Daniel with the ascetics of piety and deepened the impressions received in his own family, making the instilled inclinations and skills the rules of his entire future life. Many facts of his life testify to his love for Kyiv 19 . The Pechersk Lavra was like a second mother for him and served as the cradle from which came the great lamp and intercessor of the Church of Christ. After finishing school, Daniel returned to his parents’ house, where he independently continued to study the Holy Scriptures, the works and lives of holy men, and practiced prayer, mainly church prayer 20. Entering a monastery and taking monastic vows An early revealed inclination towards a contemplative life led Daniil Tuptalo to monasticism. According to his own testimony, on July 9, 1668, in the eighteenth year of his life, he was tonsured a monk in the Kiev-Kirillov Monastery by Abbot Meletius (Dzik). “On July 9, 1668, the Holy Martyr Pankratius was clothed in a monastic image at the Kirillov Monastery of Kiev, by the Venerable Father Meletius (Dzik), abbot of the Kirillov Monastery” 21, the monk Demetrius remembers about himself. The patron of this monastery was his father, who, dedicating his only son to the service of God, built a refectory church in the monastery in honor of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica - the angel of the monk's son 22. From this time began his monastic exploits and tireless scientific theological activity, which lasted for more than 30 years. In different places and monasteries, in the fulfillment of various assignments and affairs, which gradually raised him higher and higher in terms of clergy and religious and moral perfection. The sad fate of Little Russia, apparently, contributed to this mood: all around him he saw blood, tears, poverty; one misfortune led to another misfortune, and there was no foreseeable outcome to the deplorable state of the region. In Kyiv, even teaching could not proceed as usual. It was natural to indulge in the thought of the fragility of earthly goods and to seek refuge in monastic life 23 . After accepting monasticism, St. Demetrius “began to live a decent life as a monk, learning humility, obedience and brotherly love, and, as much as possible, striving in good deeds to imitate the venerable fathers, Anthony, Theodosius and other Pechersk wonderworkers, not at all worrying about acquiring estates and temporary riches, but he did all his diligence in order to please God, and according to serve Him faithfully according to your calling” 24. But besides these purely monastic works, St. Demetrius did not leave scientific studies in the monastery. He “is in great command... written by the abbot and from other senior leaders; be diligent and read books that are beneficial to the soul” 25. From these words it is clear that he is holy. Demetrius spent the first years of his monastic life on self-education, reading books and composing various works under the guidance of Abbot Meletius (Dzik) and other “higher mentors.” Acceptance of deacon and priesthood A year after accepting monasticism, St. Demetrius, on the recommendation of Abbot Meletius (Dzik), was ordained a hierodeacon (named for the metropolis of Kyiv) by Metropolitan Joseph (Nelyubovich-Tukalsky), who then lived in Kanev 26 . The Kyiv hierarchy was at this time in the most uncertain position. Metropolitan Joseph (Tukalsky), elected to the metropolis by the Russian government, which had previously appointed Bishop Methodius of Mstislav as guardian of the Kyiv metropolis, and after his removal in 1668, Lazar (Baranovich), Archbishop of Chernigov. Metropolitan Joseph Tukalsky, who was held captive by the Poles for two years and supported by Hetman Doroshenko, enjoyed the rights of the power disputed with him. The Kiev clergy sometimes directly addressed matters to him, bypassing the Moscow governors 27 . That's why it's holy. Demetrius was ordained a hierodeacon not by Archbishop Lazar (Baranovich), but by Metropolitan Joseph (Tukalsky). With new energy, holy. Demetrius began to undergo church obedience at the Kirillov Monastery. Constantly taking care of the church, taking part in church singing, and attentively performing God’s services, he fervently offered up prayer to the merciful God in the church and cell. Here, in the silence of solitude, in the time free from prayerful deeds, the saint. Demetrius continued to diligently study theological sciences, wrote, read and composed a lot. But “a hail cannot hide from the top of a standing mountain” (Matthew 5:14) The Lord was pleased to give the holy. Demetrius has a different occupation and purpose, where his activities would bring more benefit to the Church of Christ. Seven years after his tonsure, Lazar (Baranovich), Archbishop of Chernigov, called St. Demetrius to Chernigov in the Gustynky Monastery and, on the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, (May 23, 1675) ordained him as a hieromonk 28 . Knowing Hieromonk Demetrius as a learned and virtuous man, capable of preaching the word of God, His Eminence Lazar left him as a preacher in Chernigov at the archbishop's see. For more than 2 years, Hieromonk Demetrius tirelessly preached the word of God in the city of Chernigov, and his preaching was fruitful, since it attracted crowds of people eager to hear his teaching. According to the historian V. Nechaev, until the 16th century in Ukraine and Russia, the Word of God was spread by pastors through the reading of the teachings of Sts. Fathers and Lives of Saints. When their own schools and colleges arose, in which theological sciences were studied more deeply, preachers from among clergy also appeared, 29 and with him the special position of preacher of the Word of God was established. So Khomentovsky was a preacher under the Bishop of Belarus, Paskevich - under Minsk, Jonah Dubinsky - under the Bishop of Vilna, Timofey Bogdanovich - under Novgorod, Hieromonk Dimitry, as we see, under the Chernigov Archbishop. The fame of Hieromonk Dimitri as a preacher spread far beyond the borders of Ukraine. Many places wanted him as their preacher. Life and work of Saint. Demetrius in various parishes and monasteries In 1677, a new, completely special, albeit short period began in the life of the saint. Dimitri. From Chernigov he moved to the Lithuanian-Russian regions, which were under the rule of Poland. St. himself Demetrius in his diary of his trip to Lithuania explains his pious desire to venerate the miraculous icon of the Novodvorskaya Mother of God 30 . According to I.A. Shlyapkina and M.S. Popov there were other reasons for this trip. Dimitri. So, I.A. Shlyapkin writes that “Lazarus was a grumpy, stingy, grumpy, even vindictive person - it’s worth looking at his letters. In general, mercy did not occupy a prominent place in Baranovich’s character” 31 . The saint himself communicates this indirectly. Demetrius in his diary for 1689. One day during Lent, during the week of the cross, having come from retiring, he fell asleep from fatigue and saw himself in a dream in front of Baranovich: “The Lord suddenly became angry with me,” says the saint. Demetrius, - and the Right Reverend Bishop began to torture me greatly and in his anger made many speeches that were useful to me” 32. Perhaps holy. Demetrius consulted with his confessor, Abbot Meletius Dzik, and went to the Lithuanian diocese, on the see of which was Metropolitan Joseph (Tukalsky), who ordained him as a deacon. And he asked Archbishop Lazar (Baranovich) for a blessing to travel to venerate the miraculous Novodvorskaya Icon of the Mother of God, and then he released him. Arriving in Novgorod, he bowed to the icon in the Old Church, and the next day he witnessed the solemn transfer of this icon to the new church by Bishop Feodosius Vasilyevich of Belarus. Bishop Theodosius arrived here with the clergy and preacher Kliment Trizna, who was the rector of the Vilna Holy Spirit Monastery. At the end of the holiday, Clement Trizna invited Hieromonk Dimitri to his monastery, where Hieromonk Dimitri delivered two sermons. During this period in the life of Hieromonk Demetrius, we see that he was deeply devoted to the Orthodox faith and protected others from temptations to fall away from Orthodoxy. M.S. Popov and I.A. Shlyapkin argue that the sermons he delivered in Slutsk have not survived, and his activities are determined by books of a polemical nature. “Questions and answers to the Orthodox with papezhnik” “Inventory on Hypatius of the Florentine Cathedral” 33. At I.A. Shlyapkin we also find “that Demetrius was not a stranger to polemics; evidence can serve as his own handwritten extracts of the provisions on the union of Theodosius Vasilyevich and the books of the Saint’s library” 34. Hieromonk Demetrius did not have to live long in Vilnius. Before the Fast of Philip, His Eminence Bishop. Theodosius invited Hieromonk Dimitri to go to the city of Slutsk and here he got him a job at the fraternal Transfiguration Monastery as a preacher 35 . His stay in Lithuania clearly showed Hieromonk Demetrius the difficulties in which the Orthodox people and clergy live under the yoke of Catholicism and Uniates. Western Russia was then experiencing one of the most critical moments in its long-suffering history. The government of the Polish king John III Sobieski (from 1674) sought to completely destroy Orthodoxy in the Western Russian regions of Poland. At the Sejm of 1676, resolutions (constitutions) were adopted that seriously threatened the very existence of the stauropegal Orthodox Western Russian brotherhoods, which constituted one of the most important strongholds of Western Russia in the struggle for the Orthodox faith. On the other hand, even then secret preparations were underway for the introduction of a union in Western Rus', which fortunately was not fulfilled due to the Lublin Colloquium in 1680. Holy service Demetrius of Orthodox Western Rus' lasted only about a year and a half from August 13, 1677 to January 29, 1679, but was extremely fruitful. With his convincing, fiery words, he encouraged, strengthened, and consoled the people who suffered for their faith. Seeing the suffering of the people, the young monk, ardently devoted to his faith, was fired up with an even greater desire to serve the persecuted people and his native Church. Communication with such champions of Orthodoxy as Theodosius, the Bishop of Belarus and the abbot of the Vilna Monastery, Archimandrite Clement (Trizna) could only strengthen this desire. Here, through experience, he understood and appreciated the paths along which the life of his native Ukraine was to further develop in unity with Russia of the same faith and tribe under the mighty hand of the Great Peter. Having left the borders of Slutsk and Lithuania in 1679, Hieromonk Dimitri headed to Baturin, the residence of Hetman John Samoilovich, who “very graciously received and benevolently received him” 36 and settled in the Nicholas Monastery. Here is a saint. Demetrius continued to work tirelessly in preaching the Word of God, spending time in fasting, prayer and reading soul-saving books. The hegumen of the monastery at this time was Theodosius Gugurevich 37. Stayed holy. Dimitri has been here for more than two years. For his preaching works, Hieromonk Demetrius was simultaneously invited to serve as abbot at the Kirillov and Maksakov monasteries. Having said goodbye to Hetman Ion Samoilovich, St. Dimitri arrived in Chernigov to visit Bishop Lazar (Baranovich). The Bishop received him with the words: “May the Lord God bless you not only with the abbess, but, by the name of Demetrius, I wish you a miter: May Demetrius receive a miter... Grant him, Lord, all that is good according to his heart” 38 . With these words the saint entered. Demetrius on his first abbesses to the Maksakov monastery. In this monastery there is a saint. Demetrius stayed from September 9, 1681 to February 7, 1682. On February 7, 1682, the abbot of the Kiev-Mikhailovsky Monastery, Meletius (Dzik), died, and the Baturinsky abbot Theodosius (Gugurevich) was transferred to the Baturinsky monastery, and instead of Theodosius (Gugurevich), a saint was appointed to the Baturinsky monastery. Dimitri. Having accepted the abbess at the Baturinsky monastery, St. On March 3, Friday of the first week of Great Lent, Dimitri went to the Maksakovsky Monastery to say goodbye to his first monastic flock. This farewell was marked by several tonsures 39 as evidence of mutual love, the brethren and Abbot Demetrius. In the Baturinsky-Nikolaevsky monastery, life is holy. Dimitria walked quietly and calmly. There are no special entries in the diary, except for the death certificate of his loved ones. On April 23, 1684, at the invitation of the governor of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Archimandrite Varlaam (Yasinsky), St. Demetrius leaves the Baturinsky Monastery and settles in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra for new exploits and labors for the benefit of the Church of Christ. In the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the Lives of the Saints were written through the works of Metropolitan Peter Mohyla and Archimandrite Innocent (Gisel). The new governor, Varlaam Yasinsky, proposed to continue this holy work. Dimitri. Overcoming timidity and trusting in God’s mercy, St. Demetrius in 1684 began writing the Lives of the Saints with the words: “God grant that this be accomplished” 40 . The difficulty of the work was that it required a good knowledge of Latin and Greek, that it was necessary to write the lives of many saints that did not yet exist in Rus' and, by their example, to raise the moral level of the Russian people. And holy. Demetrius begins writing Lives “out of love for the Saints of God” 41. Using the rich monastery library, St. Demetrius compared the Greek Menaion of Metaphrastus and the great Slavic “Cheti Menaion”. Taking a break from the work he had begun only for church service, he worked for a long time at night and only fell asleep a little before Matins, without undressing. 42 Striving to internally unite his life with the life of the saints he described, he fervently prayed to them, and the saints often appeared to him in a dream vision and expanded his spiritual insight. “In 1685, he writes, during the Fast of Philip, having in one night ended with a letter the suffering of the holy martyr Orestes, whose memory is honored on November 10, an hour or less before matins, he lay down to rest without undressing, and in a sleepy vision he saw the holy martyr Orestes, with a cheerful face speaking to me with these words: I have endured more torment for Christ than you wrote. This river, he opened his breasts to me, and showed me... this was burned through with a rod... he opened his right hand up to the elbow... showing... this was cut to me. Also, my left arm was also cut... I opened my leg and showed a wound on the bend of my knee, and also my other leg... and this was cut with a scythe... I confess under my priestly oath: for I completely remembered all of it then, and I still remember it now” 43 . Sometimes in these visions he was able to recognize new features of the lives of the saints, and with tears of tenderness he hastened to note them in his writings. All this spiritual experience, collected by him while writing the Lives of the Saints, then clearly manifested itself at the Rostov See in special pastoral zeal and love for pastors and flocks. In 1685, the Kyiv Metropolis was finally subordinated to the Moscow Patriarch. Its first metropolitan was then Gideon (Svyatopolk, Prince of Chetvertinsky) Bishop of Lutsk. Archimandrite Varlaam and Dimitri arrived from Kyiv to greet the Metropolitan at the Baturinsky Monastery. Unexpectedly for Demetrius, Metropolitan Gideon and Hetman Samoilovich convinced him to take on the title of abbot of the Nikolo-Krutitsky Baturinsky Monastery for the second time. February 9 Holy Demetrius arrived at the Baturinsky monastery and “sat as abbess” 44, continuing his great work - writing the Lives of the Saints. This time his abbess in Baturin lasted about six years (until February 14, 1692). From a letter from St. Demetrius to Patriarch Joachim dated March 15, 1688, it is clear that by this time the “Lives of the Saints” were compiled before the last days of February. Soon to be holy. Demetrius intended to begin printing his work and asked the patriarch for his blessing for this printing. Pechersk Lavra, which took upon itself the care and expenses of publishing the works of the saint. Demetrius, began printing on June 2, 1689. The saint himself. Demetrius came to the Lavra and “with the help of God began to print the Lives of the Saints, the month of October” 45. Soon the first quarter of the “Chetya Menaia” was printed and presented by Archimandrite Varlaam (Yasinsky) of Pechersk to Patriarch Joachim of Moscow with a special letter, but the latter treated the work sacredly. Dimitri is unsympathetic. This is explained by the strained relations that then existed between Patriarch Joachim and Ukrainian theologians. The Patriarch reproached Pechersk Archimandrite Varlaam (Yasinsky) for deciding to publish the “Cheti Menaion” without the patriarchal blessing, and accused the compiler himself of admitting non-Orthodox thoughts. Such reproaches confused Demetrius’s soul, and he even intended to make excuses before the Patriarch. Soon the misunderstanding was cleared up, and Patriarch Joachim completely changed his view of the works of the saint. Dimitri. And during his visits to Moscow on August 10, 1689, St. Demetrius personally visited Patriarch Joachim and “His Holiness,” we read in his diary, “blessed me, a sinner, to continue writing the Lives of the Saints and gave me an encased image of the Most Holy Theotokos for my blessing” 46 . On March 17, 1690, Patriarch Joachim died in Moscow. In August of the same year, Adrian was elected Patriarch. On August 31, 1690, the former Pechersk Archimandrite Varlaam (Yasinsky) accepted his Consecration as Metropolitan of Kiev. Returning from Mostkva, Metropolitan Varlaam on November 1, 1690 in Baturino presented the saint. Dimitri the patriarchal letter. In it, Patriarch Adrian invoked God's blessing on the saint. Demetrius for his godly works and encouraged him, as sent from God himself, “a skillful and prudent, benevolent worker and performer” to further continue his important work. Holy Demetrius then thanked the Patriarch for his “gracious word” and with new energy began writing the Lives of the Saints. On February 14, 1692, he left the Baturinsky abbess “for the calmest Lives of the Saints of Scripture” 47. First, holy. Demetrius settled in the skete of the Baturinsky Monastery, and on May 9, 1693 he moved again for permanent residence to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. On July 10 of the same year, printing began in the Pechersk printing house of the second quarter of the “Cheti Menaia” (December, January, February). Having compared the months prepared for printing with the “books of Bolland” received from Danzig, St. Demetrius corrected some places in his Menaions based on them. After the publication of the Lives, the Patriarch sent the “painter” another time a letter of approval and was holy. Dimitri began preparing the third quarter of the “Chetya Menaion” for publication. Meanwhile, Abbot Demetrius receives from Archbishop Theodosius of Chernigov to rule the Monastery of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, 20 km away. From Glukhov, and after the death of Archbishop Theodosius, by Metropolitan Varlaam (Yasinsky) he was transferred to the Kiev Cyril Monastery. This monastery was the place of his tonsure and his father's patronage. And Abbot Dimitri did not remain in this monastery for long. The reason for such frequent changes, according to the historian Vasily Nechaev, was the desire of the monasteries to have a better abbot and preacher, and the spiritual authorities sought to honor Abbot Demetrius with the highest place of service 48 . Five months later, with the consent of the Kyiv Metropolitan Varlaam (Yasinsky), from the Chernigov Archbishop John (Maksimovich, the successor of Archbishop Theodosius), Abbot Dimitri was ordained on June 20, 1697 to the rank of Archimandrite of the Chernigov Elitsky Assumption Monastery with the management at the same time of the Glukhov monastery. And a little over 2 years later, on September 17, 1699, he was transferred by archimandrite to the Novgorod-Seversky Spassky Monastery, where he completed the compilation of the third part of the Lives of the Saints. At the same time he wrote the “Psalm of St. Great Martyr Demetrius of Solutsk,” “Apology” and “Martyrology in Brief.” This monastery was his last residence in Little Russia. Call to Moscow, consecration as a bishop and appointment to the Rostov See In 1700, Emperor Peter I, wishing to have learned missionaries in the territory of Siberia who could enlighten the people and strengthen the Orthodox faith, instructed Metropolitan Varlaam of Kyiv to find a worthy archimandrite to occupy the metropolitan see of Tobolsk in Siberia, which remained vacant after the death of Metropolitan Paul. The choice fell on the saint. Demetrius, “known for the holiness of life, the art of preaching the Word of God, and the accuracy of fulfilling the tasks assigned to him” 49. After many years of service in the monasteries of southwestern Russia, St. Dimitri, by the Providence of God, by decree of Peter I, was summoned to Moscow to be ordained bishop of the Siberian Metropolis of Tobolsk. Two candidates were nominated for this see: Bishop Zakhary (Kornilovich) of Pereyaslav and Archimandrite Dimitry. Arriving in Moscow on February 10, 1701, Archimandrite Dimitri spent a whole month waiting for Peter I. When meeting with the emperors, St. Demetrius greeted him with an eloquent word, in which he noted the tsar’s merits in strengthening the state, as well as his concern for the Church of Christ and its unity 50 . In Moscow, Archimandrite Dimitri did not find Patriarch Adrian alive; he died on October 15, 1700. The affairs of the Patriarchate at this time were managed by the Metropolitan of Ryazan, Stefan (Yavorsky). Ordination of St. Demetrius, in the 50th year of his life, became Bishop of Tobolsk on March 23, 1701, during the Week of the Cross in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral. Taking part in his consecration were: Trifilliy, Metropolitan of Sarsk and Podonsk; Isaiah, Met. Nizhny Novgorod and Alatyr and Stefan, Metropolitan. Ryazan and Murom 51. When he was named bishop, St. Demetrius made a speech in which he promised to firmly preserve and take care of church peace: not to do anything contrary to the spirit of the teachings of Holy Scripture and Tradition, as well as the spirit of the Ancient Apostolic Church; obey His Holiness the Patriarch and not accept strange customs 52. Consecrated Metropolitan of Tobolsk and Siberia, St. Demetrius could not immediately go to the place of his new ministry. After the consecration, the health of the saint. Demetrius, “upset by long-term and varied labors,” worsened, and the spring flood and lack of roads delayed his trip to Siberia. Holy Demetrius settled in Moscow in the Chudov Monastery 53. The disease dragged on until autumn. It was brought to the attention of the king. According to some sources, Peter himself visited the sick bishop, according to others, the saint. Demetrius presented the king with a written explanation that, due to his poor health, he was hardly suitable for the Tobolsk diocese. At the same time, the saint admitted to the tsar that his heart ached about the unfinished “Chetya Menaia,” fearing that under the new conditions of life he would not be able to finish them and fulfill his filial duty to his native Orthodox Church. The king recognized the cause of the saint's sadness. Dimitri, quite respectfully, canceled his appointment to Siberia and ordered him to remain in Moscow. During his stay at the Chudov Monastery, St. Dimitri met many educated people, with whom he later maintained constant correspondence while living in Rostov. At the same time, he is concerned about events of church and state significance: he devotes his sermons to them. The defeat of Peter I near Narva in the war with the Swedes was marked by a special word from the saint, in which he addresses the common people, explaining the Word of God about providence 54 . In November 1701, Metropolitan Joasaph (Lazarevich) of Rostov died and Bishop Dimitri was appointed in his place at the request of Stefan (Yavorsky). Archpastoral service of St. Demetrius at the Rostov department Saint Demetrius began his archpastoral labors for the benefit of the Church of Christ at the Rostov See on March 1, 1702. The shepherds and flock joyfully greeted their saint, presenting him with the Bogolyubsky image of the Mother of God with the Rostov wonderworkers standing before her. Upon arrival in Rostov, the Saint directed his steps to the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery, where, after fervent prayer, he predicted the place of his eternal rest: “Behold my peace, here I will dwell forever and ever.” 55 During the celebration of the first Liturgy in Rostov, he gave an opening speech to the flock. This speech of the Saint differs markedly from his previous words, spoken by him in Ukraine and having a schalastic character. The opening speech, on the contrary, is distinguished by its vitality, simplicity and oratorical techniques of construction. In this word, the saint, as it were, outlines the program of all his subsequent archpastoral activities in Rostov. Welcoming the flock with the words: “Peace to this house” (Matthew 12–13), the saint sends peace to the cities of Rostov, Yaroslavl, Uglich and others, the houses of shepherds and flocks, edifying with the words: “The peace of God rules in your hearts, to which you were called in one body (Col. 3:15). He assures the shepherds and flock that he came as “brother to brother, as friend to dear friends.” The saint says: “I rejoice in spirit in this city, in this house, which the local miracle workers, with the feet of their holy feet, consecrated, protected with a godly life... Rejoicing in spirit, seeing such a gathering, such a flock of verbal sheep of Christ, which are shepherded by the Chief Shepherd Christ Himself..., which are protected by the most ancient shepherds, the bishops of God and the great lamps - Leontius, Isaiah, Ignatius, Jacob and other saints of God from the local diocese... I rejoice in spirit, seeing such grapes planted by the right hand of the Most High, filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit... I pray and must pray to the Chief Shepherd, Lord Christ, that He may keep this flock of His safe and sound from visible and invisible wolves... And since the Great Bishop, who passed through heaven, even though I was unworthy, made me your shepherd and entrusted your salvation to me, then I must know and fulfill my duties regarding you, just as you must do your duties in relation to me... If God has appointed me as a teacher for you, then “come, children, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord” 56. At the conclusion of his speech, the saint calls on everyone to receive God’s blessing, so that God’s grace and mercy may always be with them. In Rostov, the saint drew attention to the Christian education of his flock, because he was struck by the deep ignorance that reigned in the minds of the inhabitants of the Rostov region. For this purpose, he often preached in the churches in which he performed services. Wanting, if possible, to expand the circle of those who taught, he wrote works and distributed them among the people, partly by printing, and mostly in manuscripts. He saw in this the fulfillment of his archpastoral duty. Wrote the saint. Demetrius wrote compositions with the special purpose of familiarizing Christians from among the common people with the basic truths of Orthodoxy. Such, for example, are his “Short Questions and Answers about Faith and Other Things Most Necessary for a Christian to Know 57. This work represents a brief, catechetical presentation of the doctrine and moral teaching of the Orthodox Church. Every truth is revealed clearly and concisely. Having explained the teaching contained in the Creed, the author talks about the seven ecumenical councils, the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Church, the image of God, the intercession of the saints in heaven, the commandments, the sacraments and the virtues. The saint pays special attention to the clergy’s performance of the sacraments of confession and communion, and also requires them to preach the Word of God. All these questions found their resolution in three special messages: “Instructions to the Priests,” “On the Preparation of the Priests for Divine Communion,” and “On the Shepherding of Spiritual Shepherds.” In the “Instruction to the Priests” St. Demetrius draws special attention of pastors to the sacrament of confession. This “short admonition to the unskillful and malicious” 58 clergy forces that “the secret of confession be firmly kept” 59 so that the shepherds themselves do not perish, and “spiritual children do not take away their salvation; to be dishonored" 60. Priests who do not observe the secrets of God “As an adversary of God, a destroyer of the secrets of God, and a violator of the seal of the Holy Spirit, he falls under the terrible judgment of God and eternal execution, for he who reveals the secret of God, which is confession, and betrays it into the knowledge of men, betrays Christ Himself, who exists in a repentant person” 61. St. Demetrius calls on shepherds to visit the sick, the poor and the poor, and not just the noble and rich, so that they do not close the Kingdom of Heaven before men” (Matthew 20:3,14). At the conclusion of this message, the Saint gives advice regarding the sacrament of confession, here is also a prayer, an admonition, a request, and a threat to priests who are careless and oppose the institutions of the Church of Christ. The saint, seeing “many things requiring correction, some from ignorance, some from the negligence of inexperienced and careless priests, resulted in great harm, as some can hardly be healed with great difficulty” 62, wrote another message, “On the preparation of priests for Divine Communion.” The reason that prompted the saint to write this message was the following event. In 1702, going to Yaroslavl, on the way he wanted to visit a parish church and worship the mysteries of Christ. “Where are the life-giving Mysteries of Christ?” - he asked the priest. The priest was silent. “Where is the body of Christ?” - repeated the saint. The priest did not answer this time either. When one of the priests who were with the saint asked: “Where is the supply?”, then the priest “removed from the corner a very vile vessel, showing what was stored in it... The shrine, the angels looked at it with fear... The heavens were amazed at this, and the ends of the earth were horrified!” – the Archpastor 63 exclaimed in surprise. In that letter, the saint calls on the priests to keep the Holy Mysteries “in a clean, silver, gilded vessel... or in some kind, both clean, and not kept in a corner somewhere, but on the Holy Throne, standing out, just as David says: “God sits on His Holy Throne (Ps. 46:9) 64.” He begs that “the priests do not call the Most Pure Mysteries of Christ in that simple word, reserve” 65. Next, the saint exhorts the priests to kindle a sense of reverence and fear for the great Shrine of the Body and Blood of Christ. Making such practical instructions that must be followed at the beginning of the proskomedia and liturgy. Light candles and priests begin the sacrament of repentance more often, because they partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ more often 66. It is necessary that family members, close and relatives, as well as the flock entrusted to him, confess and receive communion more often, for “one who does not partake of Christ is not a Christian, and all his good deeds are nothing before God, and he is already alive and perishing: the priest must give an answer to God on the day of judgment about the destruction of every soul” 67 . At the end of the message, instructions are given to the clergy on how to behave in the family, in the circle of loved ones and acquaintances, and what rules need to be followed for communion of the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ 68 . In the word “On the shepherding of spiritual shepherds” St. Demetrius wrote his pastoral views even more expressively, appealing to all shepherds with a call and love to fulfill pastoral duties, in which: “to whom the flock of verbal sheep is entrusted to God, bishops and priests, and other leaders of the spiritual rank, shepherds and rulers of human souls” 69. Starting with the word holy. Demetrius uses as an example the forefather Jacob, who was a shepherd of sheep and suffered from heat during the day and cold at night: “And my sleep fled from before my eyes” (Gen. 31:40). “How much more than incomparably great labor and vigor is required by the one who shepherds human souls for them, our great and good Shepherd, Christ, poured out His blood, and licked His soul on the cross, and reclaimed them from the hands of the shepherd with much torture and testing: not just labor, but also great art requires” 70. The word contains important instructions about what a shepherd of the Church of Christ should be like. True shepherds, according to St. Demetrius, must be “reasonable and teacherly” 71, and “skillful” 72, “virtuous and holy in life” 73, “have great care for the flock, carry out many labors and be good” 74. One of the important qualities that a pastor must have is to acquire the mind of Christ and preach the truths of the gospel every day. Therefore, as a great gift, as the mercy of God, as “a rich treasure in the mouths of shepherds should be preserved, the gift of a teacher’s mind and meaning” 75 . If someone who wants to be a shepherd does not have “the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, do not treasure wisdom in your mouth, he is not worthy of the pastoral dignity” 76 . The saint confirms this idea with the words of the prophet Hosea (Hosea 6:6) and St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to Titus, ch. 1 conversation 2. Just as the first Great Bishop of the Old Testament - Aaron, by command of the Lord, had to have golden vertebrae on the waistbands of his clothes (Exodus 28:34-35), which, according to the interpretation of Gregory the Double-Speaker and St. Demetrius “znamenovakh the voice of the teachings of the saint, as befits a Bishop, so he should no longer be a priest, and no longer ringers, but with his lips and tongues, speaking, teaching and admonishing the people of God” 77. One of the most important moments in the life of a shepherd, according to the Apostle Paul (2 Tim. 4:2–5), should be the work of preaching the Gospel. Just as the vertebrae were golden, so “golden words must come from sacred lips - about pleasing God, about holy and righteous living, about love for God and neighbor” 78 . This is about shepherds who do not preach the Word of God. Demetrius writes in his works that “dead is before God” 79, and “the silent tongue of shepherds is a sword, killing the souls of sinners” 80. Insisting on preaching the Word of God and encouraging the pastors of the diocese entrusted to him to do so, he explains that “it is useful to teach, destroying human sins and instructing on the path of salvation” 81. But one word of preaching is not enough. It is necessary for the shepherd to show an example of a virtuous life, for “to speak, and not to create, is like thunder on the clouds, when there is no rain when there is dry land... A word without an image of a virtuous life is not good; Instruct him who is lost on the right path, so that he himself may lead the right path” 82. Consequently, in order for the word to be weighty and convincing, shepherds themselves need to fulfill God’s commandments and “for it is fitting for a God-loving shepherd to be” 83 . Next is Saint. Demetrius writes that the shepherd needs to lift up the work not only of his own, but also of his flock, “before the shepherd must bear everyone’s burdens” 84. For careless shepherds, he brings to attention the terrible condemnation of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34) and adds: “It is terrible for God to torture shepherds about their flock” 85 . The chief shepherd, Christ, appointed the shepherd to be the guardian of his flock, to take care of its virtuous life and salvation, therefore, one must be as the prophet Ezekiel saw him (Ezekiel 23:15, 33:7), as the saint imagined. John Chrysostom in his interpretation of the Epistle to the Romans and the book of Acts. Many, even among the great ascetics, for example, Rev. Ephraim the Syrian, understanding all the responsibility that lies with the shepherd for the flock “behaha of pastoral dignity” 86. Therefore holy. Demetrius calls on the shepherd to be a champion of the truth, “without hesitation, without hesitation, always ready to lay down his soul for Christ and for Christ’s Church” 87 . All these messages are filled with quotations from the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, from patristic literature, especially from the work of St. John Chrysostom. All this suggests that the Saint knew the Scriptures and St. well. Fathers and skillfully used his knowledge in order to raise the mental, religious and moral level of pastors and flocks. In the first two messages, the saint gives examples that resonated with pain in his heart and were contemporary with his activities at the Rostov See. There are no such examples in the third message, but the basic rules for the activities of shepherds in the field of Christ are developed with particular strength and depth and are confirmed by the Holy Scriptures and the opinions of the Holy Fathers. Realizing that the low level of mental and moral development of contemporary shepherds and flocks depends on the degree of education, and that contemporary sentiments are a consequence of ignorance, the saint. Dmitry “decided to start an elementary school” 88. In the life of the saint. Demetrius there are indications that the direct purpose of founding the school was so that “the children of sacred and ecclesiastical ministers would not be as ignorant as their fathers; and when, instead of their fathers, they are awarded the priestly or deacon rank, they would understand the power of the Divine Scripture they honor, and would be able to teach the people in the church, not only by reading books, but also by hearing the Word of God by heart” 89. The school was located next to the bishop's house, and the saint was its permanent guardian. He replaced the absent teachers of his school, and during Lent he himself confessed and communicated the Holy Mysteries to his students. The Rostov school preserved the tradition of old Russian schools 90 and, “in accordance with the ideal of Russian antiquity, was a continuation of the Church, closely intertwining its life with the church calendar” 91. The Rostov school, nourished by the love of the saint, had the character of an all-class school, because the children of poor and rich priests and ordinary laymen studied there, and this is its advantage, its purely Christian spirit, its strength and effectiveness. The spirit of patriarchal, family simplicity reigned in the school, which completely suppressed traces of the scholastic structure of the school. Unfortunately, the Rostov school did not last long” 92. Thus, holy. Demetrius took a big step in the mental, religious and moral development of the pastors and flock of the Rostov diocese. It is possible that this step served as the impetus for the government authorities to order all bishops to organize schools in their homes 93 . Saint Demetrius soon noticed in the Rostov diocese a sad error in faith - this is the Old Believers. Therefore, the saint, in his missionary activity, wanted to strengthen the faith of the Orthodox flock and warn them against being carried away by schismatic errors. For this purpose, he wrote a special essay entitled: “A search for the schismatic Bryn faith, about their teaching and deeds.” The Saint himself explains the motives that guided him in writing this book: “Because words from the mouth go to the wind rather than to the heart of the listener: for this reason, leaving all the work that lay before me to chronicle, I decided to write a special little book against schismatic teachings, thinking to myself that God would not torment me about the chronicle writing, but about this, if I remain silent against the schismatics, He will.” 94. “The search for the schismatic Bryn faith” is one of the most extensive works of the saint. Dimitri. The work consists of three parts: the first proves that the schismatic faith is not right and not old, and denounces the schismatic teachers who spread heretical opinions. In the second part of “The Search,” the author proves the falsity of various teachings. The main evil, according to the saint. Demetrius is that schismatics “as soon as they can read and write, they immediately consider themselves great theologians and teachers of the faith” 95. The third part of “The Search” is remarkable in that it contains various news from the history of the schism, about self-immolators, about morilers, about priesthood, about priestlessness and many other sects. At the end of “The Search” there is an appeal to the Orthodox not to make friends with schismatics. This work was written primarily for pastoral reasons, in order to protect the Orthodox from the temptation of schism. In Rostov, the saint worked on composing his other works. So, for example, he wrote his “Chronicle” here. He worked especially energetically on this work in 1707–1708. He sent a separate part of this work to his friend Metropolitan Stefan (Yavorsky), whom he asked to read his work and give his feedback on it. This last work was not completed by the saint due to death. The saint's contemporaries highly valued the Chronicler and many rewrote it for themselves and for others during the saint's lifetime. Dimitri. In this book, the saint gave the clergy and people a brief summary of general and biblical history. The contents of the Chronicler, in addition to biblical history and a summary of events from general history, contain thoughtful research and moral reflections. In 1706, the saint arrived in Moscow on church business. Here, at the request of Kazan Metropolitan Tikhon, he composed a laudatory speech and service in honor of the saint. Gury Kazansky; at his own request, he wrote a service in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God 96. According to historian I.A. Shlyapkina is holy. In Rostov, Dimitri was engaged in collecting historical information about the Rostov diocese in general about Russian Orthodox history. This is evidenced by collections of historical materials, partially written by the hand of the saint himself and preserved in his library 97. But the main and most expensive work for him was the continuation of the “Chetya Menaia”. With great joy and thanksgiving to the Almighty, the saint ended them on February 9, 1705 with the prayer of St. righteous Simeon the God-Receiver: “Now you release your servant, O Lord”... The saint saw in this the fulfillment of his true earthly destiny 98. Holy In his personal life, Demetrius was distinguished by love, patience, humility, labors and concerns for the Church, for shepherds and flocks, for the future good of the people, for their salvation. Having himself set an example of a good shepherd, the saint also demanded from the shepherds tireless preaching, for “to speak and not to do is like eating thunder on the clouds, when there is dry land without rain... there is no good word without the image of a virtuous life; Instruct the one who is lost on the right path, so that he himself may lead the right path” 99. The saint's word did not diverge from his deeds. Feeling the proximity of his death, the saint recalls his life's path, writes a “Spiritual Testament”, where his non-covetousness, concern for his neighbors and complete submission to God’s Providence are visible. “From the time I took on the holy monastic image and took monastic vows in the Kiev Cyril Monastery... From that time on, and even after I approached the tomb, I did not acquire property other than the books of the Saints, I did not collect gold and silver, I did not allow myself to have extra clothes, or any things other than the most necessary. In my soul and in fact, I tried as much as possible to observe monastic poverty and non-covetousness, not caring about myself, but relying on the Providence of God, which did not leave me anywhere... I did not accumulate income (and there was a lot of it), but spent part of it for my own needs, partly for the needs of the needy, where God commanded” 100. The illiteracy of shepherds and the lack of ascetic aspirations in their lives leads to ignorance of “what is sin and what is salvation” 101, and therefore they cannot give advice to their flock on how to lead life in order to inherit the Kingdom of God. Therefore, the saint himself had to preach a lot and write sermons so that the village priests could read them for the benefit of themselves and the parishioners. Knowing that worship is very important in the life of every Christian, and a pastor in particular, St. Demetrius “did not miss a single matins” 102. His services are characterized by regularity, earnestness, fervent prayer and order. The saint also demanded even, unhurried, full attention from the pastors during divine services. He himself worked hard to revive church services. For example, on Great Friday he composed a deeply meaningful and touching “Lamentation for the Burial of Christ” 103. The saint was simple in his dealings with pastors. Arrogance was alien to him, and he did not share the view that “the bishop, as the superior of the priests, is not obliged to look into the masses of the people” 104. On the contrary, he strove to find a common language with every person, and even more so with priests. Many believers in Rostov and visitors surrounded him after the Liturgy and tried to resolve all life’s issues. Those who really needed special advice were received by the saint in his cell. The saint was very hospitable. He hosted Peter the Great, and twice received Tsarina Paraskeva Feodorovna (1708–1709), who came to venerate the saints in Rostov. A frequent guest of the saint was Archimandrite Silivan of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. He visited many clergy and secular people, and he lovingly devoted his attention to everyone. With many prominent persons of that time, St. Dimitri corresponded. The saint often wrote letters and sent his close people on various assignments to Metropolitan Stephen (Yavorsky). Had correspondence with His Eminence Job of Novgorod and the director of the Moscow printing house, Feolog. During the life of the saint, there were about 40 monasteries in the Rostov diocese. He was interested in who headed the monasteries, the composition of the monks and their spiritual life. In a letter to the nun Barsanuphia, the saint gives his archpastoral blessing and lovingly exhorts her to love God, for she works for Him, and He will pay tribute for all her labors according to His great mercy and love for mankind. He himself visited many monasteries, performed services in them and preached sermons. The saint often visited the parishes of his diocese. In addition, he visited Yaroslavl, Voloshchda and was holy for almost the entire year of 1706. Demetrius stayed in Moscow, where he performed divine services and delivered his heartfelt sermons. The great luminary of the Russian Church was also a great church writer. In the dictionary of Metropolitan Eugene and in the book entitled “St. Demetrius Metropolitan of Rostov” lists the saint’s works numbering 35,105. Yes, if you remember that he is holy. Demetrius left behind 120 sermons that have reached us, many propitiatory prayers, then how can one not be surprised at his tireless diligence, his tireless activity and the inexhaustible source of love pouring out from his heart. His wonderful “Cheti-Minea” satisfy the need of the Christian spirit to this day. The saint strove with all his might to educate the people. Although he died, his memory did not die. His works, his holy life full of asceticism, are still alive today. The great saint of God, St. Demetrius, standing at the Throne of the Almighty, prays for the human race and those who believe in him and is a quick helper and intercessor to those who pray to him. Assessing all the works and concerns of the saint for the benefit of the Russian Church, let us say in the words of the historian N. Pervukhin: “If the Russian Church, among its many hierarchs, is rightly proud of such administrators as Filaret of Moscow, historians like Filaret of Chernigov, preachers like Plato or Innocent, theologians like Theophan of Vladimir, even experts in literature and music like Metropolitan Eugene or Alexander of Kaluga, and finally, a whole host of ascetics, then he was able to combine all these diverse activities in of his short life, only Dimitri of Rostov" 106. Blessed Death of St. Demetrius Saint Demetrius arrived in Rostov as a relatively old man. He then turned 50 years old. Judging by the surviving portrait painted by a contemporary 107, as well as by some autobiographical indications in the saint’s diary, he was at that time a blond, graying, thin man of short stature, hunched over, with a small wedge-shaped beard, wearing glasses 108. He wore a dark green woolen cassock. Literary work filled all his free time - “may the hour of death not find us in idleness” 109 - he wrote to Feodor Polikarpov on November 8, 1708. In life I loved abstinence. He consumed food in the most moderate quantities, as much as was necessary to maintain life 110. The saint was simple and gentle in his manner with people. He loved his household servants as if they were his own and raised them in the rules of true piety. Saint Demetrius had poor health. Continuous labor further weakened his health. But despite such weakness, on October 26, 1709, Saint Demetrius served liturgy in the city of Rostov, on the occasion of his namesake day. He was so weak that day that he could not speak the lesson himself, which he instructed one of the singers to read 111. On the same day, the saint prophetically said: “Behold, two Queens are coming to Rostov; Queen of Heaven and Queen of Earth; I will no longer be worthy of seeing them, but I must be ready to be your treasurer to receive them” 112. Indeed, the next day there was a meeting in Rostov with Queen Paraskeva, who had arrived from Moscow, and to meet her from Yaroslavl they brought the “Tolga Icon of the Mother of God” for veneration. In the evening, the saint called the singers to him to sing spiritual songs he himself composed: "My most beloved Jesus" “I place my hope in God” “You are my God Jesus, You are my joy.” Saint Demetrius, enjoying himself, listened to the singers while warming himself by the stove. At the end of the singing, he held Savva Yakovlev, whom he loved for his diligence in rewriting his works, and told him about his life from the days of his youth spent in prayer. Late in the evening, having dismissed his interlocutor, seeing him off with a deep bow, Saint Demetrius stood up to pray, and the next day, October 28, 1709, in the morning he was found dead on his knees. On November 25, 1709, the body of the saint was buried in the Rostov Yakovlevsky Monastery, at the place where he was indicated during his first visit to the monastery after arriving in Rostov. On April 22, 1757, the Holy Synod, heeding the clear instructions of God's Providence and following the voice of the people's conscience, canonized St. Demetrius as a Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. Chapter II. Saint Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, and his homiletical heritage General characteristics of the sermons of St. Dimitri The Great Saint was constantly concerned about enlightening the people with the word of God. For this St. Through preaching, Demetrius expanded the understanding of religious and moral truths among pastors and flocks. He worked equally zealously in preaching in all cities (Kyiv, Baturin, Vilna, Slutsk, Moscow and Rostov). As a result, the Saint rendered a very great service to spiritual enlightenment. Possessing knowledge acquired mainly through self-education, mastering the Slavic, Polish, Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages, Metropolitan of Rostov wrote a hagiographical work over the course of 20 years, in which he combined everything that Orthodoxy had created before him. The saint's sermons were deeply edifying, and the abundance of quotations from the Holy Scriptures in them gives reason to assume that Saint Demetrius knew the Word of God perfectly. All the Saint's sermons can be divided into two periods. First period from 1675–1701 and the second - from 1701–1709. In the first period, the sermons contain many allegories and symbolisms; many of the sermons are spoken in the Ukrainian dialect with the addition of Polish words, which include: 1. A word of praise to Innocent Gisel, Archimandrite of Pechersk or Pyramis 1685 2. Teaching in memory of St. Martyrs of Kizichesk 1694 3. On St. Day Archangel Michael 1696 4. On Trinity Day 1698 5. On Christmas Day 1698 6. On St. Day Great Martyr Catherine. All of them are written in Ukrainian. As an example, let us present a few words from the introduction to the laudatory speech to Innocent Gisel, borrowed from the book by V. Nechaev “St. Dimitri, Metropolitan of Rostov" 113. “Death has insisted on this for a long time, so that people and their memories would be stroked before the dawn of the light, I hear the most wonderful, as they prove theirs: death in people in non-people, the hour turns human memory into non-memory. The death of everyone is in the coffin, the hour of Namal sends everyone into oblivion. Death, oh, how many people from Adam razed the earth; oh how many human deeds leveled the earth! Death cuts off people, and the hour devours their memories, since the words of the wise are called devouring. Treat when a sharp mortal scythe is on a stone, and the guard’s teeth are trampled on a marmur, they won’t prove anything. When, I love, they persecute such a holy man, whose death is not death, but the beginning of eternal life, whose good deeds are recorded in the books of heaven and in human hearts for eternal memory: there the mortal scythe is blunted, and the teeth of all devouring speeches are crushed. The Holy Spirit himself loves such a man as Sirach: his memory will not pass away, but his name will live on for generations and generations; the pagans will tell of his wisdom, and the Church will confess his praise.” In these sermons, the subject of teaching is ways to glorify God in soul and body. The scholastic influence is felt to a significant extent, expressed in the abundance of rhetorical embellishments and the convergence of examples from various sciences. For example, from the field of natural science, the remark about the peacock attracts attention: “The proud bird of the peacock rules, but when he looks at his nose, but falls down” 114. In the second period, in his sermons, the saint touches on issues of the life of his contemporary society and in particular its shortcomings: the low level of mental, religious and moral development. There are fewer scholastic techniques in sermons the later the sermon is delivered in time. The second period includes all the sermons delivered by Saint Demetrius at the Rostov See and in Moscow. During the life of the saint, sermons were not published. According to his dying will, the drafts of his sermons were placed with him on the grave block. When autopsied 42 years after his death, the sermons were found to have decayed. But his sermons remained on the lists in the Rostov Bishop's House, up to 30 sermons ended up in the Sophia Library in St. Petersburg and in the possession of many private individuals 115. The first collector of the sermons of Saint Demetrius was member of the Holy Synod Ambrose, Bishop of Pereslavl and Dimitrovsky. In his zeal for the memory of St. On March 31, 1757, Demetrius offered a copy of the saint’s first speech in Rostov to the Synod for consideration. Later they were offered for consideration a copy of his spiritual will and the life of St. Demetrius he had compiled. According to researchers, those variants and discrepancies that are found in a series of surviving copies are resolved by the fact that many of the saint’s teachings, when copied, lost their author and, conversely, those that did not belong to him were deliberately signed with his authoritative name 116. Suffice it to say that those 120 words that are known in the press of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, do not constitute even a small part of what was said by the tireless, unparalleled hardworking Archpastor than during the 30-year period of his preaching ministry. If you look at the distribution of these printed words by periods of the saint’s life, you can see that out of the total indicated number of sermons, only five teachings occur during the entire Little Russian preaching period. Being a “bishop’s preacher” of various departments, moving from place to place with the special purpose of preaching the Word of God, the future saint always burned with the desire to “capture the souls of the faithful with both a squeaking hand and the word of the Church by heart” 117 . In all sermons one can notice one desire of the preacher - to make people better and kinder. “Love is above all” is the main theme of St. Demetrius. In his first sermons, clarifying the duties of pastors and flocks, painting an unsightly picture of the life of his contemporary society, he mainly denounces the lack of love between people, the absence of the Christian world, and the oppression of some by others. While protecting the weak from the power of the strong, he does not spare the shortcomings of the strong and the weak. In the last period, the saint tries mainly to clarify the purity of the confession of the Orthodox Church in comparison with the schism. Saint Dmitry is the faithful successor to the rules of the ancient shepherds of the Russian Church, defenders of Orthodoxy and all the weak and oppressed. In terms of their external form, Saint Demetrius’s sermons approach the category of artificial, verbal works compiled according to the known rules of science. They are called words and teachings, are composed in the form of oratorical speeches, in each of the speeches one can distinguish an attack, an exposition and a conclusion 118. At the beginning of the teaching, the text of Holy Scripture or the Words of a church song is placed, indicating where they were taken from. At the end of the attack, the theme of the sermon and an appeal to God with prayer are clearly expressed so that the word will be beneficial. The teachings, preserved in a number of lists and printed publications, appeared in the Russian Church just at the time when ancient Slavic translations of spiritual and literary works, due to the obsolescence of the language, “are beginning to seem not only to the laity, but also to the priests, written in a foreign dialect” 119. Possessing the gift of speech, which manifested itself from the very beginning of his preaching, Saint Demetrius had a charitable influence on the people and attracted the attention of even the Jesuits. At first, the Jesuits who were in Moscow in 1701 considered the people of Kiev to be secret Uniates and were disposed towards them, but when they heard the sermons of Saint Demetrius, they were greatly disappointed and indiscriminately called them “Cossacks” 120. The great saint, starting from his position as a preacher in the city of Chernigov in 1674 and ending with his activities at the Rostov See in 1702–1709, worked tirelessly preaching the Word of God. The scholastic learning of the saint, transferred to Russia, quickly changed its character. The word has become more concise, simpler, and more accessible. Everything in the sermon has changed - size, language, form; the content remains the same - the same love for God and his Kingdom, love for the Church and its servants, love for neighbors, and especially for the unfortunate, oppressed, and poor. These sermons, filled with deep and subtle wit, delight the reader with their warmth, warmth, efficiency and the peculiarity of their style. This trait is observed everywhere in him: in a sermon, in a letter to a private person, in thinking about God and in the presentation of historical events. External qualities of St. sermons Dimitri Method of arrangement of sermons, techniques In the arrangement of the words of St. Dimitri shows some sophistication; but this comes from the necessary influence on him of the rules and models of Western eloquence. At that time, the allegorical method of interview was in particular use. Therefore, preachers loved to arrange their words in relation to the described events of the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Fathers, from nature, or from the circle of ordinary everyday objects. St. often followed the same custom. Dimitri. So he uses the word for the day of the Holy Trinity in relation to the following comparison: “It is truly not enough to bow to the master with your head, to turn your body and head to the master’s feet, but you must also offer a gift to the master. And this is now called a bow, when you offer something to the master, and not just bow your head before him. And the gentlemen look more at the kind of bow that you offer them, and not at the simple worship of the head. And God the Trinity, although there is not the slightest delicacy in him, nevertheless loves that people should not worship him with nothing, that people should not come to him with bare hands... What should we offer to God the Trinity? - St. later asks. preacher, and answers: People usually give money... For this purpose, I, unworthy and wretched, intended with God's help, as a spiritual (albeit sinful) person, from a spiritually rich and unstinting person I kept three mystical gold coins of the Holy Trinity of the Holy Faith in the Holy Scriptures, forged to take, and to the Holy Trinity to bow from the three parts of man, from the soul, from the body, from the spirit, put What follows is a lengthy discussion. Gold coins, like every coin, are not smooth, but they have different imaginary marks on them... On the first faith of our gold coin, I put the following symbol: Elder Noah holds a dove with an olive branch in his hands, and I give the inscription: the salvation of the world. Ask your piety: whose image and writing is this? and I answer: this is the image of God the Father, ancient of days... On the second: Isaac bears the burden. Your piety asks me: Whose image and inscription is this: I answer: God the Son... On the third gold plate, a dove on it is a symbol with silver wings, and with golden ramens the fire in the church of information on the altar is always burning... above that fire I write a sign and an inscription: in my teaching (that is, in the thought of God) a fire will flare up. Ask me: Whose image and inscription is this? and I say: to God the Holy Spirit" 121. The explanation of these symbols and inscriptions constitutes the very presentation of the word. Such use of figures of speech not only harms the elegance of the word, but also its intelligibility. This involuntary flaw in some of St.'s sermons. Demetrius is redeemed by his prevailing edification. Other sermons, although written, for the most part, according to the same method, are much simpler in their composition and therefore are well adapted to the concept of the common people. The imagery he uses helps to recall the instructions given in the sermon. In this regard, St. Demetrius has exemplary conversations for listeners of all classes. So, for example: a word on the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (vol. 2, p. 259), a lesson on the week of raw foods (part 2, p. 25), a lesson on the first week of Great Lent (part 2, p. 39) and others. The first word is made up of the text: “The Spirit of the Lord fill the world” (Wis. 1:7). The main subject of the sermon is an indication of the gracious actions of the Holy Spirit on the human race, redeemed by the most pure Blood of Christ the Savior. The subject is quite difficult to present from the church pulpit, but St. Demetrius lays it out simply for the audience, using the above-described method of word arrangement. He draws attention to the images in which the Holy Spirit appeared in the New Testament, and, explaining these images, sets out his saving actions for man. “The Holy Spirit,” says St. The preacher appeared in the form of a dove, when he was baptized (Jesus) in the waters of the Jordan, in a cloud, when Christ was transfigured on Tabor, in the wind, when the house was filled, where the Apostles sat down (after the Ascension of the Lord)... in the Gentiles, when the Apostles descended. What do these phenomena mean? – The Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove to show in whom He loves to dwell. The Holy Spirit appeared in the cloud to pour out the rain of grace on our hearts. The Holy Spirit appeared in the wind, may he separate the tares from the wheat in the world, may he uproot pompous, proud and arrogant people, and may he shake the hearts of men, turning them to repentance. Finally, the Holy Spirit appeared in fire, may it inflame our hearts with the fire of Divine love, in which is the beginning and perfection of salvation” 122. Ordinary listeners, memorizing the presented images, easily remember the content of their conversation and, when they come home, they can tell their household what they heard. The saint’s skill in this is so great that he was often able to compose conversations rich in content from texts that were poor in content. So, for example, the teaching for the sixth week on the Holy Spirit, from the texts: “Jesus entered a ship, went away, and came to a great city” (Matthew 9:1) and “Jesus came into the whole place” (Luke 10:38). “The city and city now in the Gospel, remembered, but not written by name, allow me your love to preach about them, like the city in which Jesus came, and like the whole city in which Jesus came, they call it by name, and how they live in them, and experience some of their secrets, and tell your love...” The preacher mentally leads the listeners from one Jewish city to another and makes judgments about the citizens of these cities and confirms the reasons for the removal of our Lord Jesus Christ from them with the Gospel texts. “Our Lord was visiting in the country of Gergesin, as in the past week we heard in the Gospel: he was there with a gift, with healing grace; He healed the spirit of the demons, and there he also wanted to do a lot of good; but the inhabitants there, not hospitable, did not accept our Lord, were not happy with Him. “When you saw Him, you prayed that He would come from their borders” (Matthew 8:34) 123. The preacher simply and clearly tells about the love of our Lord Jesus Christ for the citizens of the country of Gergesin, to whom He went with a “gift”, but due to their hardness of heart they did not recognize the Lord in Him and did not accept Him. Further, the city of Jerusalem is described “in it and His Forefather David had the Royal Throne, in it also the church, the Holy of Holies was specially made for Him,” but all this was rejected by the Lord because they opposed His desire “Your fellow children rose up, as the cocosh gathers his wheat under the krill, and you were not willing” (Luke 14:34) 124. Consistently describing the city of Nazareth, from which “the righteous Joseph, the imaginary father, came out”..., “Herod the child killer drove out of Bethlehem” 125, the preacher stops at Capernaum. Having described in detail the reasons why our Lord Jesus Chrysos did not want to live in other cities, but chose “His city” Capernaum, the preacher moves on to the main topic of the sermon. “In Capernaum, the capital city of Galilee, the Lord deigned to live, so that the prophecy of Isaiah would be fulfilled: “The tongue of Galilee, the people sitting in darkness, seeing the great light” (Is. 9: 1-2), which was a prototype of the language of the Church, will reject Israel, and will call on the tongues” 126. The grace of God enlightens all sinners who have come to their senses and repentance. According to the words of the savior, “And where sin abounds, there grace abounds” (Rom. 5:20) 127. “... in the darkness there was a thief, ... the persecutor Saul, who was later named Paul, ... the prodigal son, ... a harlot ..., the people sitting in the darkness fell, but through repentance you saw a great light” 128. The sermon is very long, but does not tire the listeners because it is based on the Gospel text, which is familiar to believers. Many words of St. Demetrius are arranged simply, according to logical laws (Western rules) of dividing objects into parts. Although these rules were not always strictly followed by the saint, he always chooses those aspects of the subject, the disclosure of which is primarily edifying. As an example of such a construction of a word, you can point to the word on prayer, in the 4th week according to the Holy Spirit, from the text: “Many will come from the east and the west” (Matthew 8:11–12). After the entry of St. the preacher determines the content of his word by the following aspects of the chosen subject: “Who will be driven out? Why will he be expelled? Where will the kamo be expelled from?” 129. These questions are simple and understandable to everyone, and therefore every listener will eagerly await their solution. But this accuracy is less observed in other sermons, for example: the teaching on the Ascension of the Lord 130, meanwhile it is especially edifying for the listeners. St. Demetrius sets out in it the reasons for the Ascension of Our Lord from earth to heaven. This teaching is simple in composition, edifying, accessible, and understandable to the hearts of the listeners. The question of why our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven is resolved by the preacher in five steps, and at the end of the sermon, give thanks to God for His great benefits to us. The preacher solves the question posed above as follows: In order for the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to come into the world, strengthening the apostles and all those who “want to live godly” in the Lord 131. In order to look down on us “like a Father over his children, like a Shepherd over his sheep, like an eagle over his chicks... let him see every need and demand, and give each one timely help” 132 . In order to “let the path to heaven be arranged for us” 133. In order to intercede for us to God the Father, “he opens the doors of heaven for us, so that we may enter into heaven without being barred” 134. In order to prepare a place for us in heaven, “I am going to prepare a place for you: if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and you will come to Me, that as I am, you also may be (John 14:1–23) 135. According to the time of compilation of the sermons of St. Dimitri, one can trace the gradual liberation from the influence of the Western school. This difference between his conversations also depends on the place of their pronunciation. According to the historian I.A. Shlyapkin, the sermons that were delivered in Moscow were much more complex and artificial than the sermons to the Rostov flock 136. Caring for the moral perfection of his flock, Saint Demetrius does not limit himself only to outlining Christian duties, but tries to bring his listeners to an understanding of their spirit and character. As incentives to love goodness and hate sin, he points not only to rewards and punishments, but tries to kindle pure love for God and His law and depicts the inner ugliness of sin. The saint tried to reveal these subjects in such a way that they were understandable to all listeners. To this end, he offers two edifications in one word: one for bookish and educated people, the other for the unbookish and simple. So in the word on St. Mondays are the day of the Annunciation. In the first part, designated for book listeners, the preacher “brings into agreement” these two holidays, and the second part of this word contains a brief instruction for the common people. In the second half of the teachings, after lengthy discussions about the meaning of the holidays, he says: “But not yet an amen, I still say something to the simplest for the sake of benefit: then, hedgehog verbs, verbs of books for the sake of books, I don’t want to let the unbooked go without using them” 137. In his sermon for the feast of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Donskoy preacher makes the following appendix at the end of the word: “It’s time to end the laudatory conversation about the Most Pure Virgin, the time to end with an amen: but about a certain thing I am confused in my mind, because I think that it was spoken by me as a sinner, without books, people did not understand it, and I am afraid that they will not go away without benefit, and I will appear, as I am eloquent a rhetorician, and not as a useful teacher, I still give a little something for the benefit of the simplest for the sake of” 138. Next he says the most edifying thing that the Most Holy Virgin, no matter how strong she is in intercession before God, cannot beg Him for the unrepentant. In his homily for the fifth Saturday of Great Lent, the saint reveals the concept of spiritual death, of union with God through the Resurrection, which is taught by the Annunciation. Having explained the meaning in it, the Blessed Virgin is like the kingdom of heaven, the preacher says: “I will finish my words, but I remember that not everyone will remember what I said, except someone who is bookish; but simple and unbooked people will move away without benefit. I’ll tell you something worthy of memory” 139. From all these examples it is clear that Saint Demetrius did not omit an opportunity to instruct illiterate people and his flock. He has a whole word dedicated to one common people. For example: “To the common people in Rostov” to the text: “He went out and sowed” (Luke 8:5). This word vividly characterizes the current state of the Rostov flock. Explaining the reason about the sower and the seed, as applied to his time, the preacher says that in his flock there are neither good sowers of spiritual seed nor good soil 140. To the signs of external methods of preaching by the saint. Dimitri also needs to be credited with drama. Quoting the words of the Savior: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth,” the preacher says: “Oh, merciful Lord! All Your servants are happy, everyone in heaven is blessed, only the meek ones are unhappy, those on earth have been granted bliss from You. Is food on earth comparable to heavenly bliss? Have pity, O Lord, have mercy on the meek, and take them to heaven into heavenly bliss, O Lord: blessed are the meek, for even these are the kingdom of heaven. “But our Lord, for the sake of obscene prayer, will not change the words of his saint, written in the gospel.” 141 Like the southern Russian preachers, St. Demetrius tried to enliven and embellish his sermon with questions, and through this the sermon expanded. For example, “The holy Theologian sees in the revelation of a certain great angel... “He, having an open book in his hand, gives it to the Theologian, saying: take this snow.” About the angel of God! Do not order the heavenly Theologian to tear down that book, perhaps first let us read it, so that we may understand what is written in it, and may we learn something from it for our benefit, or else tell us orally what is written in it; The angel does not listen to us, neither gives us a book to read, nor verbally says what is written in it: but of course he commands the Theologian: take it, and snow. Holy theologian! Answer the angel, that books are never poisoned, neither are books written for food, but for honor 142. In this sermon, the questions and answers continue further, but this is enough to see the drama. Often in the sermons of St. Demetrius one can observe drama expressed in debate. So, for example, the word on the week of the Last Judgment, part 2, page 12, the preacher very clearly showed the mutual debate of good and evil deeds in man after the resurrection. “The soul will enter... into its terrible body... unite with it... as with a hated enemy, with a stinking, worm-eating dog, and with a snake-like corpse filled with poison: then it will begin to annoy one another, slander and curse one another. The soul speaks to the body: cursed are you, ... cursed are you, my accursed soul, for you ruled me evilly, and with your mind, given to you by God, as with furrows and bridles... you did not restrain me” 143. Another external feature of the sermon, like that of the southern Russian preachers, was expressed mainly in the transfer of biblical events to modern mores 144. Sermon for the Holy Week. Demetrius ends to his listeners like this: “I would like to offer an even better taste of your love, manna... but I wish for those who are rushing to the wasteful meals of today, so that time will not continue with my wretched complacency; However, I advise you in short words: if anyone begins to fast on the whole of Pentecost until the sun sets, then dry bread will be like manna to him. For fasting sweetens bad food, and turns bitter radishes and horseradish into honey and sugar.” Further, reproaching these fasters, he compares them to a bear: “many people are in the habit of being angry, and angry, and grumbling in their fasts, in the likeness of a bear, which during the winter lies in its bed, eating nothing, only sucking its paw, and purring incessantly” 145. Sermons of the saints. Demetrius, being similar in appearance to southern Russian sermons in their structure, sources and presentation, are distinguished by their closeness to modern times. Reading the sermons of St. Dimitri's character is always exhorting. Each of his teachings is dissolved with a deep pastoral feeling, breathes sincerity, simplicity, cordiality and produces an irresistible influence on its listener. When expressing his thoughts and justifying them, he invariably used the Holy Scriptures, interpreting them in the literal and spiritual sense. Scholasticism received its tribute from him only in the external design of the sermon - its construction and in the artistic means of language. But even on this side of scholasticism he has less than his other contemporaries. “We can say,” says M. Potorzhinsky, that his sermons constitute something of a cross between patristic sermons and scholastic sermons: they are similar to the former in their content and spirit, and to the latter in form and only partly” 146 . Method of presentation, sources Sermons of the saints. Demetrius is imbued with the spirit of Holy Scripture. Each text is in such connection with his own speech that it is impossible to separate them without compromising the completeness and even the very beauty of speech. This quality of presentation of a church sermon serves as one of the main reasons for the spiritual penetration into the soul of the listener, even in the simplest conversations and teachings. The saturation of the sermon with Holy Scripture is especially noticeable in the word for the Feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on October 1st. In this word, the preacher compares the Most Holy Theotokos with seven pillars, lists them, and confirms them with Holy Scripture. “The first pillar is Lebanese: “Your nostrils are like the pillar of Lebanon” (Song 7:4)… The second pillar is David: “Like the pillar of David is your neck; a thousand shields hang on him and all the arrows of the mighty” (Song 4:4). The third pillar is ivory: “Your neck is like a pillar of elephants,” or made of ivory (Song 7:4). The fourth pillar is breasts: “my breast is like a pillar” (Song. 8:10)… The fifth pillar is Anameel, which is mentioned by the prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 44:10)… The sixth pillar is the pillar of the flock, about which the prophet Micah speaks: “But you glimpsed in the pillar of the flock: the daughter of Zion will come to you” (Micah 4:8)… The seventh pillar is the pillar of the fortress about which the Tributary said: “Out of the majesty of the fortress is the name of the Lord” (Prov. 18:10)… The saint knew the Holy Scriptures very well. This confirms the use of the Gospel text in the literal and spiritual sense. Taking the Gospel text as the basis for his sermon, he first of all explains the literal meaning of the chosen passage of Holy Scripture, and then tries to discover the spiritual meaning in it. So, for example, in the teaching for the sixth week according to the Holy Spirit, explaining literally why “Capernaum was born its own city to Christ”... continues: “then historically: spiritually speaking... this word is interpreted as a village of repentance, or a village of consolation: Capernaum has repentance and consolation in its name, where there is repentance, consolation lives there, and consolation is spiritual” 147 . This way of interpreting St. Demetrius borrowed from the custom of his time; but what in others may have stemmed from a desire to show off their learning, he had as a basis in his desire to be edifying to his listeners. That’s why he doesn’t have extremes like his Western contemporaries. In form, his sermons remind us of the influence of the Western school of his time, and in content and wealth of useful and edifying thoughts, they are applicable to any time. St. Demetrius loved to find in the Holy Scriptures such texts for explanation, in which there was a lot of practically useful advice for listeners. If I came across passages that were mysterious according to their purpose, mainly from the Apocalypse, then I did not dwell on them for a long time to resolve their mysterious meaning, but rather explained their moral significance 148 . In the literal interpretation of the passages of Holy Scripture, St. Demetrius often resembles St. I. Chrysostom, penetrating deeply into the meaning of such words, which at first seem very ordinary. As an example, we cite passages from his explanation of the words of St. ap. Peter: “Depart from me, for I am a sinner, Lord” (Luke 5:8). “Somehow,” says the saint. Demetrius, Saint Peter saw the Divine power of Christ, and heard the teaching of that, and humbly confessed to himself that he was a sinner, not calling Christ Jesus, neither God, nor the Son of God, nor Rabbi the teacher, but only the Lord Jesus Christ, all that was, is, and will be for endless ages... Understand here the difference between those names is necessary: in another there is God and the Son of God, in another the Teacher, in another the Lord. God and the Son of God contains and builds the whole world, the Teacher will teach the whole under heaven, the Lord provides for His true and faithful servants and cares for them, God edifies all the evil and the good, like the sun shining on the good and the evil: the teacher offers teaching to everyone who produces, but the Lord only knows his servants, always to him, and not to anyone else, those who work, according to the Apostolic saying: the Lord reaps Those who exist call His God and demons God; for, as the Holy James says: even demons believe and tremble in the Son of God... The Pharisees also hypocritically call him a teacher... The Lord is the only one, as it was said, His true and faithful servants, with all their zeal, and with all their love, and with all their zeal, those who work for Him, call Him: Lord, saying. We do not find in all four gospel gospels that some demon, or a Pharisee, or someone from the leader of the Jewish assembly would call Him Lord, only the Apostles. Demons confess the Son of God to the Jewish teaching, who works with authority, and are amazed at miracles, but the disciples call Him their Lord: You proclaim Me as Lord and Teacher (Christ speaks to the Apostles): first the Lord, also the teacher, and you say well, for I am your Lord. When Saint Peter spoke to the Lord: Depart from me, Lord, in that last word, Lord, express the mystery in your inner heart, that he is a true and not a hypocritical servant of the Lord, never wanting to leave him, but also ready to go into death with him” 149. Holy In his sermons, Demetrius used not only the Holy Scriptures, but also the examples of the Holy Fathers. Love for the creations of St. I. Chrysostom and other Fathers are second only to love for the Holy Scriptures. Edifying writings of St. I. Chrysostom are very similar to the spirit of the writings of St. Demetrius in simplicity, spirituality and eloquence. While composing the Four Menaions of St. Demetrius enriched himself with historical information about the life and exploits of St. Pleasers of God, revered by the Orthodox Church. Using this information to edify his listeners, he very skillfully provides images of virtues for his listeners to imitate. Sermons became better the more living examples and experiences they had of the truths preached. In his sermons he is holy. Demetrius often comes across sayings of pagan philosophers: Simonides, Solok, Zeno; and examples from the history of ancient peoples. So the word on Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent, from the texts: “Remember your teachers” (Heb. 13:7) and “Remember your last” (Sir. 7:39), almost all are composed of an explanation of various sayings of the ancient sages and some customs of the ancient peoples. “I praise the good custom of modern times that many people go to other states for the sake of learning: from across the seas they return for wisdom. I have heard that the memory of mortals has been corrupted by a special philosophy and a special wisdom from the wise. Even if mortal memory is philosophy, it is not enough to learn that wisdom while sitting at home, but you also need to visit foreign countries.” Making these mental, as the saint himself put it, travels through Greece and Egypt, he collects wise sayings of philosophers about his subject. “At the beginning I pass through the border country between Europe and Asia, called Lacedaemonia. In that one I see the king of Lecedaemon, called Pausanias, sitting on his throne with much joy, and in front of him is the glorious philosopher Simonides. The king says to the philosopher: “Tell me from your philosophy, what is it that I should use and remember your word?” - the philosopher answered: remember that you are human and mortal. The answer is not great, but it is filled with considerable wisdom. Next, the preacher is mentally transported to Athens to the Hellenic church and sees another philosopher. “That philosopher Solon, having come to his Greek church, writes great letters on the doors; I am behind you from afar and looking at what is being written, and to the writer: know yourself!... what, about the philosopher, is the power of those words? What words do they teach? Judge, speech, and consider for yourself... Put this test in your mind: who are you? Where? And kamo gradeshi?... The teaching of “that philosopher is not bad: it is fitting to praise him” 150. This sermon contains sayings of other philosophers, but let us focus on the remarks of the historian N.I. Kostomarov, who writes that he is holy. Demetrius believed what was said: “To know this, by the command of God, to teach man more than his own nature, the stone spoke more wonderfully” 151. Contrary to the words of the saint, we cannot say anything - “when faith fails, everything fails” 152. In the sermons of St. Demetrius can also see stories from history. Particularly noteworthy is the description of the death of Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, who was captured by the Roman emperor Augustus, in order to avoid shame at the Roman triumph, kills herself with a knife and a snake bite. A story about the anger of Alexander the Great. A story about the construction of the church by the Cairo Pasha Asson 153, who resorted to cunning. Having announced the construction of the church, he attracted many people, supposedly to distribute alms, passed them through many rooms, ordering everyone to dress in new clothes and burn the old ones in the fire. The money sewn into old clothes served as capital for the new mosque. Holy Dimitri also uses entertaining stories from people’s lives in his sermons. “Having once gathered the most elegant virtues into one place and held a council, so that a good person could be divided among themselves, as if each virtue had a special part in a person and had a place, and in that, as in his true home. It is prudence and wisdom to take the head, gray in the brain. Godly silence is in the mouth: Lord, put guardianship on my lips. Take holy repentance to your hair, so that you and Magdalene can wipe the nose of Christ. Obedience was given a nose, but patience was given a backbone. Fasting is gray in the stomach, and sighing to God is gray in the stomach. Honesty has a place in the human face, but the chaste has a place in his hair. Divine love embraces the heart: love the Lord your God with all your heart. And holy faith, like the first virtue, for without faith it is impossible to be saved, take two parts in a person: ears and hands: with the ears, so that it is heard, and with the hands, so that it is done” 154. In the sermons of St. Demetrius there are excerpts from the writings of authoritative people of the past. So in the sermon he says: “The serpent’s sting, according to the testimony of Pliny, nature is a word, even if it is seen as one, it is both threefold, it is divided into three and creates three plagues in one place” 155. If you pay attention to the plan of the sermon, its content and individual parts, it is easy to notice a certain inclination towards allegories. So, for example, in the homily for the Circumcision of the Lord, the preacher, having based the text: “Having called his name Jesus” (Luke 2:21), says: “for this glorious new name Jesus would now like to be written by all sinners for the new year, not only in my heart downwards, but also in all hearts, like in books, worldly and spiritual: write not only some simple ink, but various balls, paints and colors.” Then, in the sermon itself, he allegorically depicts that the name of Jesus should be written on the heart of the king with “gold”, on the heart of the royal council, “writing with silver” on the heart of a Christian warrior - with “vermilion”, on the heart of the spiritual rank - with “ink”, and on the heart of all Christians with “whitewash” 156. In another teaching for the 15th week, St. Demetrius mentally travels to the forest or garden of divine scriptures to collect firewood that ignites the fire of the heart. At the end of the sermon, he allegorically depicts the result of his journey: “Behold, my hearer, I have gathered, according to my strength, three fragrant logs, as if from the Cross of Christ, which was left to that deed in the name of the Holy Trinity. The first cedar is in the love of God the Father, who is wise to love Him with all his soul.” Another cypress tree, in the love of God the Son, who loves Him with all your sweet heart. The third date, in the love of the Holy Spirit, to love Him with all your thoughts or strength, I take out constantly and warmly” 157. These examples sufficiently show the allegorical composition of the sermon. Holy in the sermon. Dimitri can also observe other techniques. So, for example, inventing intricate questions and answers to them. In one word, holy. Demetrius, citing the words of the psalmist: “Leave the path of unrighteousness from me” (Ps. 119:29) asks the following question: “Holy David! Are you so sad about your sin that you almost lost your mind? Are you saying anything?... Judge for yourself, holy David, which is better: should the evil one rush from afar for a minute, embrace him, or ask that the path with the robbers be moved to another place? Truly it is better to eat an evil place for a minute. And David said this: leave the path of unrighteousness from me..., and raise me to repentance" 158. Elsewhere, the preacher wants to know what kind of fish Tobias caught under the guidance of the angel - a whale, a crocodile, or Callionimas the celestial - and decides in favor of the latter 159. Also: why Judas could not say to Christ: Lord, but said: Rabbi! 160 So in the word holy. Demetrius at the Circumcision of the Lord we read: “I completed the usual act of circumcision in the Church, and the archpriest received the inscription book, writing in this month: the month, called in Hebrew Sevat, in Greek ladineos, in Roman Iannuaria on the 1st day, the son of Joseph and Mary from the tribe of David was circumcised and his name was called Jesus. That name is written down in the books of the city: I am committing at that time from Augustus Caesar the writings and tributes from every person who was taken to earth, having been written in Bethlehem to the city: in the first Kelends of Iannuari, Joseph with Mary and the newborn baby Jesus, of the royal race, Caesar's tribute dadosha" 161 . And again: “Blessed Jerome writes that on that night, in the night, Christ our Savior was born from the Most Pure Virgin, all the creatures of Sodom were found, acting throughout the entire universe, with fire and lightning in that very act of sinful defeat and beating” 162. In conclusion of all of the above, it should be noted: that in the sermons is holy. Demetrius’s way of presenting them shows the influence of the Western school. The earlier in time the sermon was preached, the stronger the influence of scholasticism, which influenced the method of presentation and sources, but with all this the same call of the Savior remains, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life (John 17:3). All sermons are holy. Demetrius are written in Slavic language. His first sermons were written and spoken in Ukraine; their language differs greatly from the sermons delivered in Rostov. In his first sermons, the preacher used many Polish words, but the dialect was Little Russian. In Rostov, the saint preached in purely Slavic language. But in the edition of the saint’s works there is no this difference, because the first words were translated into Slavic. Therefore, speaking about the language of sermons, St. Demetrius, we will not make this distinction, especially since not many of his first words are in the publication. The wonderful quality of the speech of the saint. Demetrius depends on the fact that he was able to combine the Gospel thought, necessary for church conversation, with simplicity and general palatability of presentation. The truths of the faith of Christ are deep and extensive, but as positive truths and not subject to any doubt, they can be clothed better than any other truths in simple and clear language, especially when they turn into our deep conviction, assimilated by personal experience of spiritual life. Completely imbued with the spirit of faith in the holy truths of Christian teaching, not only with his mind, but even more with the experience of a godly life, he always speaks with the deepest conviction, from the fullness of his God-enlightened heart. His speech is as alien to any abstraction as the language of the Holy Scriptures, with which it is permeated. The style of his speech is predominantly folk Russian. Without looking for examples to prove this property of his language, let us take, for example, the beginning of his teaching on the week of raw meat, with the words: “Whenever you fast” (Matthew 6:16). “Glory to God, for we have already reached the threshold of fasting, beloved listeners! Glory to God, for we are already at the door of the holy fast, and this one day, like the one threshold that has been crossed, we want to enter into fasting itself! May God grant us safe salvation! It has already become clear to someone else and permission is given to everything. Not the only one gets sick in the stomach from everyday overindulgence: but from everyday drunkenness he has tied his head and groans. It's time to abstain. It’s time to heal not only physical illness, but also mental illness through fasting. It’s time to put a limit on celiac fury, and a barrier to guttural fury. Let us strive more diligently into the feat of fasting; we must strengthen ourselves with something” 163. From the union with the language of the Gospel, the language is holy. Demetrius receives a new quality, namely, evangelical holiness and pleasantness. His thoughts are so closely intertwined with the thoughts of the Gospel that his own speech bears the semblance of a sacred text. For example, the words from the saint’s introductory speech to the Rostov flock, “Let not your heart be troubled by my coming to you: for I have entered through the doors, and do not cross the streets: I did not seek, but I am a seeker, and I do not know you, below you know me, the fate of the Lord is many, you sent me to you, but I died, no.” Serve me, but let me serve you, according to the word of the Lord: although I may be first in you, let him be a servant to all." 164 From a personal character he is holy. Demetrius also depends on the special qualities of his language, which are primarily characteristic of him alone. This is first of all: simplicity of heart, pleasantness of language for listeners. In the style of eloquence of that time, those who were absent or dead were addressed as if they were alive, and this sometimes made his speech seem very naive. For example, the 18th Sunday teaching according to the Holy Spirit, with the text: “Depart from me, for I am a sinner, Lord!” (Luke 5:8). “Look,” says St. the preacher, since Peter is glad to have a guest, a longed-for guest, a most beloved guest of Jesus Christ, not with greedy hands towards him, but with a noble gift, who came with a multitude of many, then he is glad, asking not to himself, but from himself: come away from me, I am glad to you, go away from me. Saint Peter! What are you doing? What are you saying? Take a closer look, instead of asking the Lord to never leave You, but always be with you, you ask6 to leave me! Saint Peter! All people will condemn you, political people, courtiers will condemn you, and they will say: Peter, not a politician, unsociable, not welcome to the guest, does not accept, does not honor. The common people will judge, we will forgive, and they will say: Peter is ungrateful, he did not thank the Lord much for the multitude of fish, but he could have asked the Lord for every fish: Lord! Don’t go away from me, wait a little, we will prepare a meal from the fish You have given us, and having tasted it, we will give thanks to You. The confessors condemn and say: Peter confesses to himself that he is a sinner: I am a sinner, but he is eliminating the sins of the Aller and Forgiveer from himself: get away from me. If you are sick, call a doctor; if you are a sinner, call and retain from you the Cleanser of Sins, Jesus... Holy Peter! If you remain silent, command me, a sinner, to say something for you. May I protect your holy words with my sinful words, and may I explain the power of your words to my hearer, even as you, who are from God, act by grace in my mouth, and act in the hearts of the hearers” 165. Living sympathy for everything holy informs the word holy. Demetrius is so expressive that the objects he reveals become close to the listener’s heart and evoke in them either tenderness, joy or lamentation. In the word on the Ascension of the Lord, explaining the words of the Savior spoken by the Apostles: “Unless I go, unless I go, the Comforter will not come to you...” (John 16:17), “Listen wisely to the kindness of My Disciples! Someone will offer you a special way to go out to preach God’s word to the whole world, and in the world you will have sorrow, you will cry and weep, and the world will rejoice: you will be sorrowful in that sorrow, in those tears and sobs it will be like you and someone will console, strengthen, confirm you. I will therefore go to the Father, and I will send you the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who comes from the Father, so that he may comfort you in all your sorrows and sorrows, then for your sake, let me go. They will take you, Peter, even if they don’t want to, they will put you in prison and hand you over to the four quartets of warriors, and in Rome the tree for the cross is already ready for you. And you, Jacob, will be the first to see the sword on your neck for My name’s sake. For you, John, the island of Patmos will be sent into exile in distant countries. For you, Andrei, the cross awaits in Akhani, and for you, Philip, in Hierapoli, and for you, Bartholomew, in Armenia you will be drunk and skinned. Thomas in India will be gored by copies. Ethiopia awaits Matthew with torment, and other countries; and for everyone the cup of suffering is ready. In all those sufferings and sorrows, you need some kind of consolation, pleasure and consolation. I will therefore go to the Father... There are many for you, just as you, for my name’s sake, have endured many kinds of torment and death, we have been stoned, we have been crushed into pieces; and others, without the torment of self-willed love, for My sake, the martyrs will convert... They will go into the desert, they will go into monastery retreats, suffer and struggle, and all of them will demand Divine help and consolation. I will therefore go to the Father, and I will send them a Comforter, ... Many who believe in Me and want to live godly will be persecuted, many people will suffer through disobedience, ... you will need to console all of them in their persecution, suffering... I will therefore go to the Father, and I will send them a Comforter from the Father. If I don’t go, the Comforter will not come; For this reason, I am not here, but I am going” 166. The word on the Passion of the Lord, the word on the fifth Saturday (praise) of Great Lent, is written in approximately the same language (vol. 2, p. 78, ed. 6, M., 1840). The excellent disclosure of the words of the Lord, the lively depiction of persons and objects, the personal charming influence on the listeners, makes the sermons a living reproduction of the conversation of our Lord Jesus Christ with his beloved disciples, during separation from them. This is all the dignity and beauty of the saint’s sermons. Dimitri. In denunciations the saint. Demetrius’s word is amazing in that it exposes vice and exposes it to his listeners without cover. The saint's speech, like his feeling itself, is mostly quiet, but does not spare anything unworthy of a Christian, does not condone any evil, and calls each object by its proper name. Internal properties of holy sermons. Dimitri The main direction of the sermons of St. Dimitri A distinctive feature of the preaching of St. Demetrius of Rostov is the gracious spirit of love, simple-heartedness and goodness of soul. Having a naturally tender heart, a meek disposition, filled with the grace of Christ, he became in spirit a true child in Christ. Therefore, his word, imbued with pure love for God and neighbors, is distinguished by sincerity, simplicity and warmth. For preachers of the Word of God, these qualities are warmed by the grace of the Holy Spirit, giving the word a special power of influence on the mind, heart and will of the listeners. Eternal life is the ultimate goal of all the works of the archpastor-preacher. “This is all the happiness of a Christian person, this is all spiritual joy, this is all the hope of salvation and salvation itself, this is the first hope of eternal life, and this very eternal life, to know God, to the Orthodox listener! This is the eternal life, that He may know Thee the one true God” (John 17:3) 167. A person then truly knows God when he loves Him with faith, and he loves truly, and he only reaches the eternal life” 168. Explaining the ways of knowing God, the saint points to two ways: faith and love. “Faith is knowledge. Faith, says St. John Chrysostom, constitutes the knowledge of God, that by His omnipotent power the eyelids were formed... God is also known by love, as the Lord Himself says in the Gospel” (John 14:21) 169. The first property of such love is jealousy. “The love of God is great and jealous, it does not thorn, so that whose heart loves God and the world... And for this reason one of the God-inspired men exhorts the Christian person, saying: flee the creatures if you want to have a creator” 170. The second property of love is completeness. “God’s love demands the whole human heart, saying: “Son, give Me your heart” (note 23:26) 171. This true sign of love teaches a Christian to use the world not for pleasure, but out of necessity to preserve temporary life, preferring one God to everything. The third characteristic of true love for God is unity. “This is a true sign of God’s true love, when someone, for the sake of his beloved Lord, with all his might, guards against the power of mortal sin (John 14:23–24) 172. Among the anointed preachers of the Word of God, love for God always found its way to the not completely coarsened and insensitive hearts of listeners and aroused in them a reciprocal feeling of love for their neighbor, disposing them to works of mercy. “Every thing, whether good or evil, done to one’s neighbor,” says Saint Demetrius, “is poured out on Christ himself... You gave alms to the beggar, you gave alms to Christ” 173 . The essence of the sermon is holy. Demetrius is repentant faith and love for the Crucified Lord, which must penetrate the entire spiritual disposition of a person, determine his character, manifest himself externally, in free and reasonable actions, control his behavior, actions and direct the will to prayer. Holy In his conversations, Demetrius constantly turns the minds, feelings and hearts of his listeners to the Son of God crucified for us. Mentally, the saint often stood on Calvary at the Cross of Christ, and this main dogma of our faith served as the focus of every teaching for him. Saving reflections on the plagues of the Lord are his favorite topic. He would like to constantly hug the feet of the Savior with Mary Magdalene, kiss His sores and pour out before Him a grateful and calmed heart of love. “The Bride of the Holy Spirit, is the soul of a God-loving man... as if he never wants to be separated from the ulcers that brought us redemption... he remains persistently, sits there... always with his mind he sees his Crucified Lord before his eyes, and dwells in His ulcers with his thoughts. Such is Abba Stefan, who we honor in Limonar, who was received by the elders who came to him, and talked a lot about the benefit of the soul, when he spoke to them about nothing, and the elders decided: “Have you answered us, father?” We came to you for your benefit. Then Abba said to them: forgive me, until now I did not understand what you were saying, not listening to your conversation, but standing with my mind on Calvary, looking at my Crucified Lord; “I see nothing else, every day and every night, except Christ Jesus hanging on a tree... and whoever desires to dwell with Him continually, so that he may be with Him” 174. Love for our Crucified Lord Jesus Christ is the dominant motive of St. Demetrius’ sermon. To grasp this moment means to find the key to understanding his sermon 175. The saint said only what he constantly thought about. His thoughts hovered around the Cross and Golgotha, reflected only on God and aroused in others only religious thought and love. How many times the calm presentation of a sermon, as if unable to withstand the pressure of pious feeling, was resolved by prayerful enthusiasm and poured out in lyrical digressions. “O Sweetness, above all sweets, Jesus! O love, conqueror of every desire, Jesus! About the bread of heaven! O our immortal saturation! O our eternal delight, Jesus! Whose tongue confesses Thy sweetness? What mind will comprehend the pleasure You act in the hearts that love You? Our joy, joy and sweetness, Jesus!” 176. The Christian love of the Archpastor brings him into a living connection with his flock. With it, he comprehends from the inside the moral needs of the spiritual life of his flock and responds to them with the movements of his heart and will. His word often turns into prayer and powerfully moves the hearts of his listeners. So in the word for the day of the Holy Spirit. “Heavenly King, Comforter, Soul of truth, who is everywhere and fills everything, treasure of good things, and Giver of life, come and dwell in us, and cleanse us from all filth, and save, O Good One, our Souls. Purify us, as fire purifies gold and silver... You are the one who makes fire, and does not crush our souls: You are the fire, not into ashes, but transforming man into God: You are the fire, scorching the thorns of sin, and enlighten our souls: You are the fire, driving away the cold of iniquities, the warmth of love kindle... You, O Holy Soul, Divine Soul, Life-Giving to the Soul! burn with the mighty flame of your Divinity all the thorns and tares of our sins; weed out every unprofitable industry that vegetates within us; cut off the branches that are dry and do not bear fruit, and completely eradicate every seed of evil from the fields of our hearts, so that no one in you will be burned with eternal fire” 177. The character of the word is holy. Demetrius has a very close resemblance to the conversation of St. John Chrysostom. Pious feeling in the mouth of the saint sometimes pours out calmly, asking the Lord for the gift of speech, and for the listeners understanding. “Every person going through the path of this painful life, stop here, look and see if there is a disease, like the disease of our diseases, who bears our Lord Jesus, about whom the prophet says: “He bore our diseases in his body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24) ... Christ the Savior! I know that it is not so much in word as in deed; It is not through speech that one must demonstrate and narrate your most pure passion with copious tears... so now give us ears and tongues - the listeners have an ear to hear about your passions, but I have a tongue to speak." 178 Among the works of Saint Demetrius there are many special works of such content, in which love for the Crucified Our Lord Jesus Christ is glorified. Among them: Lamentation for the burial of Christ 179. Grateful remembrance of the Passion of Christ 180. Kissing the oud or paradise of our Lord Jesus Christ 181. Conversation of a sinner with Magdalene, crying at the feet of Christ 182 and many others. Many of these works do not belong to conversations and teachings, but very expressively reproduce the abundance of the author’s holy feelings. This tone of tenderness, which speaks from a heart filled with a feeling of deep sadness and at the same time of great and holy joy, dominates in all the conversations of St. Demetrius, where he speaks about our Sweetest Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Like St. Ignatius the God-Bearer, and he could say about himself that his love was nailed to the cross 183. He cannot pronounce without emotion a single name of our Redeemer. When he remembers the Lord, he bows before Him with all his soul and with all his heart, embraces His feet like Magdalene, kisses His sores and wonders how to pour out his grateful heart before Him. Often, in the midst of his conversation, he turns his mental gaze and his fiery feeling to Jesus Christ and, interrupting his speech to the listeners, talks to him, prays, praises, expresses his Love and desire for Him. Such a grace-filled state of the saint’s spirit is, without a doubt, the main beginning of his heartfelt participation in the fate of his neighbor. He talks with people like a sincere friend with friends or like a father with his beloved children. “I came to you with love, I would say that I came like a father to my children, but more than this: I came like a brother to my brethren, like a dear friend. For Christ the Lord is not ashamed to call us brothers. You are My friends, he says, I do not call you slaves, but friends... For your love is also the nature of fathers, brothers, and friends. If you call me as a father, then I answer you apostolically: My children, in the image of my illness, until Christ is imagined in you... I pray and must pray to the chief shepherds, the Lord Christ, that he may keep this flock safe and sound from wolves, visible and invisible... And since the Great Bishop has passed through the heavens, he has appointed you a shepherd, even the unworthy, and has assured me of your salvation, even with fear and trembling, even to you, to know and protect the Imam... You should too, O beloved! According to Christ the Lord, even if I am a sinful shepherd of my nobility, show unfeigned love, unflattering veneration and obedience due, and do it with zeal” 184. The height and responsibility of such service compels St. Demetrius to accept it with fear, as if he would repay the answer... to those who have it.” This responsibility before God makes his word authoritative and decisive; he firmly demands from his flock love, respect, obedience and zealous execution of his instructions. At the conclusion of his speech, Saint Demetrius invokes God's blessing on everyone, so that God's grace and mercy will always be with them 185. In this word, he showed that he would carry out his ministry at the Rostov See by the method and means of archpastoral influence for the rebellious, and with the spirit of love and mercy for the perishing. Contents of the sermons of St. Demetrius Sermons with dogmatic teaching Upon entering the Rostov See, St. Demetrius found his flock in the saddest state of ignorance, about which he wrote with sadness: “Ol to our accursed time! The sower does not sow, but the earth does not receive: The priests are negligent, but the people are mistaken: The priests do not teach, but the people are ignorant: The priests do not preach the Word of God, and the people do not listen; they want to listen. Both bring harm to the country: the priests are stupid, and the people are foolish." 186 The clergy and people were in a pitiful situation. To add to the misfortune, schismatic errors, coming out of schismatic monasteries and “Bryn” forests, spread greatly. Western heresies also penetrated into Russia, which also attracted some of the Orthodox 187. All this prompted the zealous shepherd to pay special attention to enlightening his flock with the light of the Gospel teaching. But sermons alone from the church pulpit would not be enough to stop evil and teach the people the truth of the Gospel. Therefore holy. Demetrius took upon himself the work, first of all, of instructing the shepherds themselves to the truth through exhorting messages. He started a school at the Bishop's House to train future shepherds. He himself was the main and almost the only teacher in this school, he himself explained the Word of God to the students, he himself taught them lessons in pastoral knowledge. In addition, he found time to write special books in which he simply and completely expounded the Orthodox teaching of the Church, exposed the errors of apostates, and clarified the subjects of confusion and controversy at that time. There are very few dogmatic teachings from Saint Demetrius, although the need for this was very palpable. This can be explained by the fact that the saint wrote separate books on dogmatic topics 188 to protect the purity of Orthodoxy from schismatics. Using any convenient time and place to deliver an oral sermon, St. Demetrius constantly turns the minds and feelings of his listeners to the Son of God crucified for us. This main dogma of our faith serves as the focus of all teaching for him. Conversations are devoted to them revealing dogmas: About the Most Holy Virgin Mary, about the veneration of holy icons, about prayer, about the resurrection of the dead and the future life 189. In basing his moral lessons, the saint also more or less clearly included dogmatic truths. The theme of love for God and neighbor, with its rich dogmatic and moral content, is revealed by the Saint in his “Word for the Nativity of Christ” 190. This word is holy. Demetrius reveals the meaning and meaning of the words sung by the Holy Church in the 9th hymn on the Nativity of Christ: “I see a strange and glorious sacrament, the sky is a den.” The Word differs quite sharply from the previous Words of the Ukrainian period of his life, in simplicity and clarity. There are few allegories and parallels in it. It all comes down to a poetic reproduction of the picture of the Nativity of Christ: “the den has become the sky.” The visibility created by the living and strong language of the saint spreads the Word and does not make it simple. For example, it contains an interpretation of the Latin and Hebrew name for heaven. The presence of an ox and a donkey in the cave, which “are silent, although they have long tongues,” or also the praise of angels, is interestingly described. This word contains the thoughts of the saint, full of spiritual poetry, accessible to every person who wants to understand with his heart and soul the meaning of the incarnation and birth of the Son of God. How does the Saint see the revelation of the Sacrament? Why is the sky called a den? “God has revealed himself,” says the saint. Demetrius, - from the secrets, from the mysteries of the Holy Scriptures. It’s not surprising that he came among people: “he appeared on earth and made his living with men” (Bar. 3:38); But what can be hidden between people? Nothing is hidden. While God sat in heaven on his Divine Maestate; seated in glory on the Divine throne: but at that time no one knew His secrets, His sacraments, below those closest to Him, I will take away the holy Angels standing before Him: a mystery hidden from the ages and unknown to the Angels. And as He descended from heaven to earth, and as soon as He began to dwell with people, not only devout people, such as Saint Joseph, righteous Solomia, not only important persons, such as the three kings of the East, but also common people, shepherds, talk about His secrets, about His sacraments: They spoke about the verb that was spoken to them from the Revelation of this” (Lk. 11:17) 191. This great mystery of the Nativity of Christ is revealed so that “people will not remain silent about Him, but will say: for... it is glorious to preach the works of God” 192. If, when revealed and explained, a human mystery becomes a reality, then “the mysteries of God, the more you say and talk about them, the more you preach to many, are the most secret, the most difficult, the most incomprehensible. “The essence of His judgment is untried, and the essence of His ways is not explored (Rom. 11:33) 193. Next, the saint reveals words that are difficult to explain: “The sky is a den.” Here he exclaims: “Not at the walls of the den, not at the matter of the earth, but at the mystery in the den, looking safely in speech, the earth became heaven, the sky became earth, God with all the heaven in the den, through that the cave became the sky, the sky became the den.” 194 This great sacrament of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ happened for our sake, for the sake of our deliverance and salvation, according to the great love for mankind of the Lord God, who “whose whole mind, all His understanding, in whom He created the eyelids, placed all His wisdom in us, in our salvation, by sending us His Son” 195 . Sermons of the saints. Demetrius with rich dogmatic and moral content are revealed in the Week of the Blind 196 and in the 15th week of the Holy Spirit 197. The saint teaches that the means of our unity with God is love. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16), says the apostle. According to the words of the saint, it is also necessary to “love what God loves, not love what He does not love; do what pleases God, avoid completely what does not please Him; strive for what God rejoices and commands, without even thinking about what God forbids and is angry about. “Everyone know that we can unite with God through love” 198. The saint compares love to fire, and our heart to the altar of God. “The spiritual altar of God is our heart, a fire descending from above, the love of God from above poured into our hearts, according to the words of the Apostle: “The love of God is poured out into our hearts, given to us by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 5:5). Whoever wants Divine love to be kindled with a flame, look for such firewood, in which you would be able to ignite in yourself the immaterial fire, the spiritual fire of God’s love, keep it on your heart’s altar, never extinguished” 199. Therefore, the love of God for man and man for God must be preserved and protected, so as not to drive away the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit with one’s sins. One must not seek one’s own pleasure, indulgence in whims and passions, because “love does not seek its own” (1 Cor. 13:5), but love the Lord God “with all your heart with all love, with all desire, with all pleasure” 200. “That is to love what God loves; the same is not to love what God does not love; then actions that are not pleasing to God; to strive diligently for this, about which he rejoices, and which he commands; But don’t even think that He is uplifting, and for this He will be angry, ... Everyone knows how the imams unite with God with love "... 201 The properties of love are jealousy, fullness and unity. These basic properties of love are clearly characterized in the 2nd word on the 7th Sunday about Easter. “The love of God,” says the saint, “is great jealous, does not tolerate, so that whose heart loves God and the world..., for this reason one of the God-inspired men exhorts the Christian person, such verbs: flee creatures, if you want to have the Creator... But the love of God requires the whole human heart, saying: “Son, give me your heart, so that you love me with all heart." A truly wise saying: love must neither be divided nor torn apart... It is also a true sign of the true love of God, if someone loves God for God alone, and not for himself, then he eats not for his own property, not for his gain, not for the reward that the Apostle described: “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not breathed what God has prepared for those who love Him” ( 1 Cor. 29) 202. In the same word, special attention is paid to two ways of knowing God that contribute to moral perfection. Это – вера и любовь «Познается Бог верою по Апостолу: Верою разумеваем совершитися веком Глаголом Божиим ( Евр. 11:3 ) на что пишучи Златоуст святый глаголет: Веры дело есть познание. Faith, the verb says, is the knowledge of God, that by the power of the Almighty the worlds were made” 203 (John 14:21). The Savior Himself speaks about love as a way of knowing God, and I will love him, and I will appear to him Himself” (John 14:21) 204. Speaking about these ways of knowing God, St. Demetrius gives preference to love, although to “achieve the eternal belly the methods are very good, but the first method, that is, faith, is perfect and imperfect: the second method, love, is completely perfect” 205. The perfection of faith lies in the fact that “without faith it is impossible to please God and be saved (Heb. 11:6), whoever has faith and is baptized will be dangerous (Mark 16:16)... This is an untrue way of faith, for even demons believe, but they are still demons, although they believe and tremble” 206. Love truly belongs to perfection in the knowledge of God, because “love falls away in no way” (1 Cor. 13:8), “And love not only knows God, that God is, but also knows that goodness, that God is... How good is the God of Israel!” (Ps. 72:4), that not everyone knows good from God, who through faith knows Him (i.e. loves) 207. Measuring the value of the human soul, the saint says: “the weight of the soul is as much as the Blood of the Son of God... the entire Blood of the Son of God weighs the honesty of the soul” 208. In basing his moral lessons, the saint also more or less clearly included dogmatic truths. But to preach one morality means to present one consequence without showing the beginning. One can rather agree that a moralistic sermon is not so necessary as a dogmatic one; for the revealed dogma itself presupposes many practical conclusions and instructions. From incorrect knowledge of the dogmas of the Orthodox Church, many doubts, prejudices, superstitions, heresies, and schisms arise that cause great harm to salvation. Holy Demetrius, in addition to oral preaching in the church, tried first of all to give the Rostov flock the book “Mirror of the Orthodox Confession,” in which he outlined the Creed. And the Creed is nothing more than the ancient system of Christian dogmatic Theology, presented in a brief form, for believers. Of all creations, the most holy. Demetrius, you can collect a whole set of dogmatic teachings, the purpose of which is to lead a person to heaven and prepare him for the future life. Revealing the concept of the Holy Church and its relationship and its relationship to us, the saint writes: “The Church is said to be the assembly of the faithful, not in one place only, but throughout the entire universe of beings, and for this reason it is said to be the holy, catholic Apostolic Church, which from end to end of the universe, in any generation and language, faithfully glorifies Christ God. The foundation of this Church is Christ himself, the walls are the Law of God, the pillars are Apostles, Evangelists, Teachers, the covering of the Holy Spirit" 209. The need to belong to the Orthodox Church for salvation is expressed by the saint in a succinct form: “Besides the Church, there is nowhere to take shrines” 210. The renewal of a person’s inner life begins, continues and is accomplished by the grace-filled action of the Holy Spirit, then the preacher, among other dogmas, explains the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. “The cross is said to be a three-component, trembling, blessed, trinitarian image of the Trinity: by its height it signifies the Father who lives in the highest, by the depth of the Son who descended even to hell, and by its breadth and length it signifies the Holy Spirit, present everywhere and fulfilling everything: for this reason and signified by the sign of the cross we say: in the name Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit" 211. In his written works the saint also speaks about the properties of God. About the spirituality of God (part 2, p. 186), about the omniscience of God (part 3, p. 148), about the omnipresence of God (part 2, p. 113), about the truth of God (part 3, p. 143) and about other properties of God (part 1, p. 68). All the dogmas of our faith are directed towards the knowledge of God and His providence for us. “I believe that one God Almighty is the Creator of all visible and invisible creatures, the Father and Keeper, and that He created heaven with all its creation and Angels, the earth with men and animals, and everything else in His time out of nothing by His omnipotent command and will, and to contain It.”212 Countless experiences of the holy saints of God and the word of God itself assure that spiritual life arises in the soul and comes to maturity under the guidance and care of guardian angels, who are commanded to watch over man on the paths of his existence. Hence St. the preacher carefully expounds to the believers the doctrine of Angels. “As much as the soul and as much as the body needs, they care for and provide for them, they keep us in our ways, and watch over us throughout our whole life, they guide, instruct, manage, they teach us virtuously and chastely in the purity of Christian life, they drive away the demonic power from us, they enlighten our eyes, and bring our prayers to God” 213. While presenting the teaching about the action of good spirits, the preacher does not forget about the influence of evil spirits on us. The sublime Biblical view of man places our human world between two worlds - between the bright world of angels and between the kingdom of darkness - the world of demons. Both worlds are in a struggle for man, each trying to exert its influence on us (Eph. 6:12). The common voice of people experienced in spiritual life, attentive to internal changes and spiritual phenomena - this voice, in turn, assures that internal decline, disorder of heart movements often occurs from the advice and excuses of the devil. Saint Demetrius himself, having experienced the evil activities of evil spirits, reveals to his flock the danger from the devil. “The adversary of the human race is the devil, first of all the strong ones created by the hands of God, and not to anyone who was conveniently inclined and working towards sin, our first parents, Adam and Eve: having conquered in paradise, others were more convenient than man, killing others with sins and iniquities, persecuting and overcoming others, and bringing others into captivity... no one could resist him from man, until Christ the Lord came to They will not be crucified on the tree with the cross, and O meek David, do not destroy him with your crucifixion... Thus the devil has blinded the people of man, and if only men would not have known his blindness... and they would have been led by their similarities” 214. The sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross weakened the power of the devil over man, but the danger of man’s destruction did not disappear. The saint, encouraging Christians to engage in spiritual warfare with the devil, points out to believers the power of the sign of the cross. “Someone says: I would be glad to pray well myself, but I can’t: the devil is eating me, so I wouldn’t rant. Do not apologize to that person; You are guilty, the devil cannot force you, unless she wants it: the devil is already powerless... We hear that Saint John the Theologian says: “Satan is bound for a thousand years” (Apoc. 20:2). What is it connected with? If not by the power of the cross. How can anyone harm you if he is bound? If he harms you, you bind him, that is, put on yourself the sign of the Cross of the Lord, and he will be bound” 215. The human soul is precious. She is destined for eternal bliss. The Lord gave her a mind that absorbs an innumerable amount of knowledge. The Lord gave each of us freedom of spirit, not forcing anyone to follow Him, but only turning to us with this call. What value does every Christian virtue, every Christian deed acquire from this, if they are performed voluntarily and are born in the depths of the free human spirit! Saint Demetrius, wanting to show this to his listeners, reminds them that the whole of heaven was created for the sake of man. “Not only in heaven, but also in heaven in all God’s creations, there is nothing more honest than the soul: for for this sake the heavens were created, as I say to Saint Chrysostom: man is the one who treasures the whole world with his soul; For for his sake the sky, the earth, the sea, the sun, and the stars were created” 216. The saint, disposing the believers to reciprocal love for God, says: “What will we bring, what will we give, or what thanksgiving will we offer to our Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ; for they do not require our good things, but from their one good nature not only this visible world for the sake of creation, but also in it enriches and preserves us, gives us life and dwellings and nourishes us? 217. Unity with the Lord is the unwavering confidence that if we follow the Lord, if we live with Him until the end of days and with Him we leave this sinful world, He will not push us away in His eternal Kingdom according to His word: “Him who comes to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). This is an undoubting, rock-solid hope that the Lord, faithful to His every word, will fulfill His promise left to believers in His name: “Where I am, there will My servant also be” (John 12:26). The saint also confirms this truth to his listeners. “He was pleased rather to be taken away from the body and brought in to God” (2 Cor. 5:8), to God who lives in heaven: for this we were created, that we may pass from earth to heaven, and fill that idle place, from where the evil angels fell: for this reason also heaven is opened, that we may enter into it.”218 Moral and edifying sermons Moral teachings of the saint. Demetrius is mainly aimed at explaining the spirit and character of true Christian piety and indicating the means of pleasing God. Faith in the Lord, our Redeemer and Savior and love for the Trinitarian God, love for our neighbors and our very enemies, mortification of passions and renewal of our spirit with the help of the Grace of the Lord - these are the main subjects that he revealed in his conversations. In his sermons on Sundays, choosing the main texts for conversation mainly from the Gospel, he introduced listeners into the spirit of Gospel teaching and Gospel events, explaining their meaning and significance. Constantly guided by the deep needs of his flock, he determined the content of his sermon. According to the saint, the decline of Christian piety indicates that the Calvary sacrifice for the vast majority remained silent and distant. “The one who fears God is lost from the earth, he said, and there is no one who corrects men; They all hide with bloodshed, each one insults his friend, prepares his hands for malice; princes ask for gifts, judges speak peaceful words with their lips, but think flattery in their souls” 219. “O heart, sinner’s heart! O bitterness of the insensible soul! The hardness of stone is nothing compared to your petrification; the heart is harder than stone” 220; Such and similar exclamations are very often observed in his teachings. When a preacher talks about the suffering of the poor, he is overcome with indignation and his usually complacent speech boils with anger and turns into a stormy torrent. He brings to the task of exhortation everything that his clear mind, rich theological awareness and subtle observation of life could imagine for this purpose. “What is our fasting, our deeds, what is our contribution to the construction of the churches of God, we fast and eat people, is that true? We strive for virtue, but we embitter our neighbor, we build the churches of God, and we rob someone else’s, we say goodbye, but we are malicious, we say, but we lie, we flatter, but we deceive, how is that true? This is not how the Holy Fathers and Forefathers performed their righteousness, not finding in them a trace of untruth, all their deeds, words and thoughts were righteous, and by their righteousness they were honored to be friends with God” 221. Teaching lessons in evangelical morality, St. Demetrius is trying to eradicate the dominant vices of his flock: in this regard, many sermons present a sad picture of the bad side of life and customs of that time: “What is our piety? - says the distressed Archpastor, what kind of Christianity? what kind of love for God is gained? Whenever we see the churches being idle, the legal teaching that there is no one to hear is abandoned. Malice, insults, untruths, atrocities and blasphemy are filled everywhere: gluttony and drunkenness have not only caused many people to become possessed and maddened, but have also given them over to cruel deaths untimely and howlingly eradicated them. They ring and invite people to the Holy Church to sing and praise the Lord God; it is proper for the Unman to have all the love, no one comes, as here is the original Catholic Church, and on the very holidays, and at the all-night vigil, there are idle people who come, in it there is always enough singing and worshiping, but there is no love, there is no walking. And at feasts, drinking and laughing, sit through the night, and it’s as if you’re doing something, and it’s leisurely, and you’re not bored in obscene fun. It is harmful and detrimental to her, and not only to her soul, but also to her body, beyond natural measures. And people are no longer imagining things for other people and drinking a lot about their health in absentia, but ruining themselves excessively” 222. In large sizes, similar images are described in conversations on the week of the Myrrh-Bearing Women (2, 3) and in memory of St. Great Martyr Eustathius Placidas (3, 178). (these sermons will be analyzed below). Noticing sinful habits among the people, the saint heals them through oral preaching in church, choosing a convenient time, although the Gospel and apostolic reading contains many truths convenient and appropriate for presentation from the church pulpit. For example, we point to his word in the week of the Publican and the Pharisee. “Let anyone interpret the current Gospel parable, famous and well known to everyone, spoken by the mouth of the Lord, about the publican and the Pharisees, as he wishes; “I only want to know and offer your love this to whom our Lord is speaking;” 223. This is how the saint begins his word and then depicts in it the harm of Pharisaic vanity and slander against one’s neighbor. This vice, common at all times, probably had a special force then. According to the saint himself, litigation and quarrels were too frequent. On the other hand, the schismatic spirit, the spirit of Pharisaic self-exaltation and condemnation of others, especially the already weak shepherds of the church, penetrated the people along with the schism. Therefore, the saint rebels against this vice with special strength and severity. Demetrius, striking him with reproof not only in this, but not rarely in other conversations. Strictly denouncing vices, the saint reminds his listeners that the Lord “is especially furious with fornicators and is preparing the sword of vengeance, for although all sins are unpleasant to God and it is not wrathful vengeance that moves Him, yet unequally, every sin, even if a person commits it, is there, except for the body, and the fornicator sins in the body that does not bear him, but Christ’s, which Christ is honest Redeem with your blood and build a temple for the Holy Spirit” 224. Holy Demetrius found it difficult to tolerate the complete indifference of the rich and often denounced their callousness towards the poor. “The whole thought of the rich,” he said, “is to eat, drink, and be merry for a long time. Whenever there is food, the wretched eat their labors, and when they drink, they drink human blood, they revel in human tears, from whom they eat and drink from the property that was broken out of human rights by rights” 225 . The preacher rebels against this neglect of the disadvantaged; He reproaches the rich and says: “The gentlemen have enough to eat everything until they are full, but the poor peasants do not have even a morsel of bad bread. These are gorged, but these are hungry, these are drunk, but these are not quenching their thirst with water: these are having fun, and these are crying in the right." 226 . “Whoever is honest is rich, whoever is dishonest is poor. Those who are noble are rich, those who are poor are poor. He who is wise is rich, he who is foolish is poor." 227 Encouraging his listeners to love humanity, the saint says: “The hand of the poor is the treasure of Christ” 228 . And in order to encourage the poor and forced poverty to turn into virtuous, as if into a freely accepted and patiently endured feat, and pointing out in this feat the sure means of establishing the abode of Christ in the heart (acquiring Christ). He says: “O people, those who suffer in the last troubles and sorrows, Christ now dwells in you as if in His members, just endure with thanksgiving. You are the new martyrs of the last times... Do not faint in patience, but give thanks to your Christ, and He will visit you after His resurrection, not only as a guest, but also to remain inseparably with you. Christ is and will be in you, and you cry: Amen" 229. Such a speech reached the hearts of the listeners also because the saint himself, through the feat of voluntary poverty, made himself family and close to the oppressed and despised. It is also remarkable that he is holy. Dimitri solves the everyday side of his contemporary life not from a political and socio-economic point of view, but exclusively from a Christian moral point of view. His task is to make people capable of acquiring Christ in their hearts in any conditions of life. Himself a living example of the great Christian ascetic deed, the saint taught that in deeds a Christian must humbly observe a reasonable measure, depending on spiritual gifts and life circumstances, must follow “the royal path, that is, measured life, measured virtue” 230. Showing this path to believers, the saint distinguishes three signs that distinguish good Christians from those who are called Christians only by name, but their actions are like those of unbelievers. But there are also sheep in the flock of Christ who do good deeds and seem worthy of standing on the right hand with the blessed sheep of Christ, but they do their good deeds with pride and vanity, condemning their weak brothers, considering themselves better than others, for which such people may perish. For the sake of spiritual benefit, and to know ourselves better, St. Demetrius lists these signs. “This is the first sign of the good and true sheep of Christ, who know their shepherd Christ the Savior... But I boldly say that we do not all know this, even though we all believe in Him: by faith we know, but not by love, but by faith even the demons know Him according to the Apostolic saying: And the demons believe and tremble: but because they have no love for Him, for they are thou art... He truly knows his Shepherd Christ, who truly loves Him..., whose whole desire and care is for nothing else, except to have his beloved Lord within himself... That is His good and true sheep, who knows him not only by faith, but also by love, and through love for His sake, rakes away all evil..., and keeps all His commandments, just as the Lord Himself does in the Gospel says: “If you keep my commandments, you will love me” (John 14:21) 231. “The second sign of the good sheep, spoken by the Lord’s lips, is this: My sheep listen to My voice, and flock for Me. That is the sheep of Christ, who listen to Christ their shepherd, and follow Him: Do not listen to this, nor follow Him, as you may be called His sheep and be. The shepherd says: do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not covet your neighbor’s property” 232. “The third sign of the good sheep, spoken by the mouth of the Lord, is this: No one will snatch them out of My hand... The true sheep below can be torn away by violence from the hand of the Shepherd, saying to the Apostle: “Who will separate us from the love of God; whether tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or trouble, or sword... (Rom. 8:35) 233. Oh, how much advice and exhortations to virtue we have in the writings of the Prophets, Apostles and Holy Fathers,” exclaims the holy preacher, “how often we hear the instructions of spiritual teachers! But how few listen to them, how few are saved! 234 And as if in response to this, we hear from the lips of the preacher moral teachings that warn the Christian that “friendship with vicious people will not corrupt anyone?” It is well said in the psalms: “become holy with the venerable, and become corrupt with the obstinate” (Ps. 17:26–27) 235. People seduce each other with bad examples of their sinful lives and thus the number of evil people increases and the number of good people decreases. Therefore, the Lord says in the Gospel: “Woe to the world because of temptations” (Matthew 18:17)… That is why God commands: “come out from among them and separate yourself and do not touch their uncleanness: and I will receive you and be a Father to you” (2 Cor. 6:17–18). St. Demetrius says: Save yourself... as if from imminent death, for truly it would be a miracle if someone, living among the obstinate and corrupt, did not perish completely. In another word, holy. Demetrius, revealing the cause of all evil in man, asks: “Why does the strong offend the weak? Why does the perjurer swear to lies, the impudent one annoy, and the shameless one swear? Why does a person, being full of sins himself, condemn others? Because there is no fear of God before his eyes... The fear of God is a bridle that keeps a sinner from his lawless path, as it is said in the parables: by the fear of the Lord everyone turns away from evil (Prov. 15:27) 236 . The fear of God is the guide to salvation and the beginning of love for Yog, as the prophet Moses says (Deut. 10:12). Constantly understanding that the fear of God is the beginning and foundation of a life pleasing to God. The beginning of wisdom, as the Scripture says, is the fear of the Lord (Prov. 9:10), - not worldly, but spiritual wisdom, about which it is said: godliness is wisdom (Job 29:28) - wisdom that is always taught in the law of the Lord. And without the fear of God, everything tends to fall and destruction. “If anyone does not hold fast to the fear of the Lord with diligence, his house will soon be corrupted” (Sir. 27:3). Holy Demetrius, a strict zealot of Orthodoxy, could not be indifferent to the spread of false teachings among his flock. Deprived of support from the clergy of his diocese, he alone boldly denounces the schismatic teachers who are stealing his sheep, threatens, begs, and edifies. In order to achieve the greatest success in his anti-schism activities, St. Demetrius tries to follow schismatic literature. “Do you have any new items or schismatic wonders?” he writes to his Moscow acquaintance, Theologist: “I pray, beloved, if there is any, send me. Where can I get the eternal gospel that Habakkuk the schismatic wrote? Is it possible to find it somewhere in Moscow, please?” “I heard it happen,” he wrote another time to the same Theologist, “that among the schismatics a certain catechism was found, printed overseas in Russian. How can we get that catechism? Please, beloved, try, if possible.” “I pray, beloved,” he writes again to Theologus, “look in the great Cathedral (Assumption) on the vessels of St. Anthony the Roman, what are the crosses? What kind of aids are there - four-pointed or eight-pointed and what is the title: is the charter depicted or the title? Please draw it on paper and send it to us, please, we need to see it” 237. Holy Demetrius, recognizing the importance of polemical activity, considered it necessary to acquire the rarest copies of the works of schismatic teachers in order to be fully armed with strength and knowledge and to have success in the fight against schismatics. Polemical activity of the saint. Demetrius can be divided into oral and written. Oral teachings include his teachings against schism, both from the church pulpit and in the home circle - in conversations with Orthodox Christians and schismatics. In a simple language understandable to everyone, the saint revealed to his listeners the errors of the schismatic teachers, pointed out their harmful influence on life and morals, and proved their groundlessness. For example, let’s take the teachings on the Exaltation of the honest and life-giving Cross. In this sermon, drawing a parallel between the tree of heaven and the tree of the cross, he gives due glorification to the tree of the cross, as a sure means in the fight against the wiles of the devil. The saint says: “But I think that not a single one of the Christian race doubts that it is necessary to bow to the Cross of Christ: instead, there is some kind of idle, unreasonable man’s doubt and question: which Cross of Christ should he bow to, whether it’s just the osmok-pointed one, or the four-pointed one” 238 . Having confirmed the antiquity of the veneration of the four-pointed cross with excerpts from church stichera and hymns, the authoritative voice of the ancient Fathers of the Church of St. Athanasius the Great and John of Damascus, as well as material monuments of antiquity, St. Demetrius seeks to draw attention to the contradiction between the schismatics’ teaching about the cross and the facts of reality. “I will not,” he says, “discuss whether the schismatics use the correct or incorrect sign, we will talk about this sometime later, but I want to ask them: what kind of cross do they put on themselves - a four-pointed one or an eight-pointed one?” “Whenever they place their fingers on the forehead, they mark the upper end of the cross; when they place their fingers on the belly, they mark the lower end of the cross: on the frames, placing the hand on the two ends, in the latitude and longitude placed” 239, i.e. schismatics, like the Orthodox, when making the sign of the cross, place a four-pointed cross on themselves, meanwhile, if they want to remain true to themselves, they must manage to put on an eight-pointed cross. Having pointed out the contradiction of the schismatic teaching about the veneration of the cross in that they, rejecting the four-pointed cross, nevertheless put it on themselves - when making the sign of the cross, the saint continues “with these verbs about the four-pointed cross, not as if rejecting the flammable, or six-pointed cross of Christ: but let me block the lips of the foolish and ignorant, in which the very power is the worship of the cross of Christ.” 240. And then he reveals the true meaning of honoring the cross through analogy. We honor St. The Gospel, he says, “in which many things are invented, paper and ink... sometimes overlaid with silver, gold, sometimes with precious brocade. Whenever we worship the Holy Gospel, what do we honor, and in what power is the worship of the Holy Gospel; whether we would honor boards, or silver, or gold, or brocade, or paper; I remember that not only the Orthodox say this. What the hell does he honor? We honor the words of Christ, the teachings of Christ, and the entire history of the life of Christ."... Also, when we bow to an icon, we honor not the board or the vases, but the image of the archetype 241. As you know, Old Believers love books and icons from before the Nikon period, and therefore they hold old and “smoked” icons in special veneration. The preacher, condemning this unreasonable veneration of dark icons, continues: “How can we worship God with an icon, if we do not know whose icon it is; and to whom will I direct my mind... Even though the appearance of the image is unclear, to whom should I bow; such a prophetic thing, if someone depicted the devil and smoked it, then another devil would be revered and bowed to him without knowing it: or just like in modern times, some gentlemen are ashamed to put in their houses an icon of Christ, or the Mother of God, but... they put up images of Venus, or Diana, or other old idols, or new ones, for example, the queen, or Gishpanskaya, or English, or French: if an ignoramus came and saw such an ungodly image already smoky, not knowing that it is not God’s essence, but worldly, he could bow to them, like God and holy images, for the sake of his ignorance” 242. In the teaching of the 21st week according to the Holy Spirit on the words of the Gospel: “Go out and sow your seeds, falling on the way, falling on the stones, falling on the thorns” (Luke 8:5), the preacher greatly grieves that he found his flock unenlightened by the Gospel word. “The sowers do not sow, and the earth does not receive, the priests are careless, and the people are mistaken” 243. What treasure, what consolation are deprived of themselves by those who do not want to listen to the Word of God! For the self-will and disobedience of the Mother of the Holy Church, he reminds of the wrath of God who announced through the prophet Amos to the Jewish people: “I will send a famine on the earth, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the Word of God. Those who seek the Word of God will be circumscribed, and will not find it” (Am. 8:11–12) 244. The joy of hearing the Word of God was further intensified by the fact that the Word of God was suppressed by the tares, and the tares, according to the word of the saint, were a schismatic teaching that had spread in the diocese. Horror and grief take possession of the preacher when he sees that the children do not listen to their father, the spiritual sheep do not follow the shepherd, sinners avoid the Holy Church, become children of wrath, sons of perdition, heirs of hell. The spiritual seed that has fallen on a corrupted heart is trampled upon by vanity, bad thoughts, and passionate desires, not only human, but also bestial. “They were likened to foolish cattle and became like them” (Ps. 48:13). Such an evil heart cannot bear spiritual fruit, because “the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart” (Luke 8:2) 245. The devil is the bird that pecks at the word in the human heart. The devil has multiplied his disciples in the Bryn forests and sends them to all cities and villages to peck at the seeds of the Word of God and to destroy the teachings of the Orthodox Church. The Archpastor teaches not to move away from the Holy Church, to hold on to it, as children hold on to their mother. The Church gave birth to us through holy baptism; he begs not to listen to schismatics, deceiving and seducing ordinary believers by saying: “now the church is no longer a church, the priests are no longer priests” 246. The saint exclaims with anger: “O foolish Galatians! Who taught you to resist the truth? Has the Church changed? Has the priesthood ceased? Will the Church endure until the day of judgment? After all, even the gates of hell will not prevail against her (Matthew 16:18), according to the Word of the Lord. Who is better to believe? you or Christ the Lord? 247 The spirit of schism, the spirit of sin and temptation penetrated so deeply into Christian life that not only ordinary believers, but also priests did not force their wives and children to partake of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Many don’t even remember when they took communion. “O damned priests, who neglect their home, how can they care for the Holy Church, if they do not bring their household to Holy Communion?” 248 Neglect about one's salvation always finds a reason for condemnation, but the saint persistently asks: not to excuse yourself by unworthiness. The Lord came not for the sake of the righteous, but for the sake of sinners, to save them; Our Lord came not to heal the healthy, but to heal the sick. Although you are unworthy due to your sins, make yourself worthy through repentance. The example of the life of Mary of Egypt will teach the sinner to repentance. The saint heard another sad event: that in the families of Christians, according to the teachings of the schismatics, a fierce lawlessness is being practiced, which is not found among the pagans, nor the Tatars, nor the Turks. Although they do not know the Christian faith, they all have a marital law and punish adultery. The Bryn teachers “teach to have wives in common, to count fornication as a sin, but as the love of Christ” 249 . In order to cure the temptation of this sin, the saint takes the strongest measures; he threatens the libertines of marital purity with the judgment of God. “Repent: if not, I will come quickly, and I will make war on him with the sword of My mouth” (Apoc. 2:12) 250. The word ends with a stern denunciation of the leaders of the schism; the saint calls them “birds of demons,” “cursed wolves,” “fornicators and vile adulterers,” you call yourselves holy fathers, but your deeds are abominable before God. “Hear and be ashamed and repent, even if you cannot explain the sharp sword that comes from the mouth of Christ!” 251. You, Orthodox Christians, the saint addresses his flock, do not be carried away by the errors of crazy people who do not know the law of God and the true path. As much as you love God and are children of the Church of Christ, maintain unity with the Lord, and he will deliver us with His mercy. As was said above, the saint admonished the schismatics not only by compiling books and preaching, but also at every opportunity. So, for example, in 1708 in the city of Yaroslavl, when the saint was leaving the church, two men not yet old, but with beards, approached him and asked the saint about preserving their beards from the instructions of Peter I about barber shaving. The saint answered them: “There is no more brad than Christ, and we are Christians, not Borodians.” Therefore, at the Last Judgment, the Lord will punish not for the length of the beard, but for the quality of our deeds done by faith: “and there he will not be blessed, but his hair was not touched by a razor; but he is blessed, his heart is pure” (Search, pp. 347–348). To clarify the methods of polemics of St. Demetrius, let us give another example of a speech on how to correctly read the name of the Savior - Jesus or Jesus. To do this, he takes the name of Christ not from Slavic books, but in Hebrew, in the words of the Archangel who announced the conception of the Son of God from the Virgin Mary. From the Hebrew language the saint moves on to Greek and concludes that the name of the Savior must be written: “in three syllabi, and not in just two” (Rozysk, p. 46). From here, on a scientific basis, the conclusion is made that it is better to write the name of the Savior Jesus, and not Jesus. Then he makes an explanation about the correctness of the conclusions, avoiding mockery of schismatics. He takes his interlocutors from their position and puts them on trial before the Gospel and all Orthodoxy. In a simple and intelligible word, the saint revealed all the harm that schismatic false teachers had on the life and morals of the common people, not only from the church pulpit, but also in personal conversations. The tone of Christian tenderness and pastoral kindness in the sermons is holy. Demetrius often adopts a tone of strict denunciation when it comes to any heresy. In the last years of his life, Saint Demetrius fought a lot for the purity of the faith of his flock. The spread of the Old Believers in the Yaroslavl diocese and the influence of Western Lutheranism with echoes of the ancient heresies of iconoclasm prompted the saint to make denunciations from the church pulpit. Thus, in his teaching on the worship of holy icons, the preacher sharply denounces the iconoclasts. “And what does the seven-headed serpent say about this, the iconoclastic heresy, sweeping aside holy icons... First of all, I ask: poisonous asp! What is an idol? and what is an icon; and answers... An icon is an image of a true thing, and an idol is an image of delusion” 252. Developing this basic idea, in defense of the icons of Orthodoxy, the saint examines in detail the difference between an icon and an idol, and for those “Who else dares to call holy icons idols” ... admonishes with anger: “Have you not heard the terrible thunder from the seventh holy ecumenical cathedral, ... like a cloud lifted up, occurring, and loudly thundering: “Holy icons to those who say they are idols: anathema, anathema, anathema” 253. The word reaches the highest intensity against those who think about icons in a way that is not Orthodox. “I repeat this a thousand times: we do not bow in the very image separated from our prototype, we want to bow lower, but we bow in the image collectively and inseparably from our prototype... O vile Compromisers! We hear, we kiss with faith and love, and we confess, and we must keep the ten-numbered commandments of the Lord: but you are deceived, not understanding the Scriptures, nor the power of God” 254. Sometimes the harshness of the denunciations resembles the voice of an ancient prophet, consumed by zeal for the glory of Jehovah. Such, for example, is the denunciation of the Aryan heresy in the word “on the seventh week according to the pas, even the holy fathers 318, gathered in Nicaea for Arius” 255. “Open, Arie, the tomb of your larynx, which is filled with dead words: for thou shalt not imitate the words of this life-giving one, which by thy words was created and created. But he, who says ____?____ from the Scripture of the verb, creates the beginning: do not be afraid of the hearer, as he is faithful, when you see him from the Scriptures saying: for the devil, when he came to Christ, tempted Him, from the Scriptures you conversed with Him, saying: If you are the Son of God, look down from below” 256 . Discussing the Arian heresy, the saint seems to protect his listeners from an incorrect understanding of the Word of God and the willful interpretation that was used by the Old Believers of the “Bryn” forests. All heretics base their teaching on the Word of God, and all the more conveniently capture the souls of inexperienced Christians. The emergence of heresies for the Orthodox Church seems to be a huge evil, the more difficult it is to fight, the more secretive the evil is. “Aryan is one spark, but in a small way he did not burn the entire universe. O damned spark, particle of eternal fire! O all-dirty spark, which has burned countless temples of the Holy Spirit! O stinking and gloomy spark, which fell from the fire of Gehenna and returned again! Just like living water, a pure source of God’s Word, the holy fathers were barely able to quench it” 257. In everything that concerned the interests of the church and its flock, the saint was decisive and adamant. This is evidenced by the case of a schismatic priest, for whom Tsarina Paraskeva Fedorovna interceded and asked the saint to return him to his original place. The saint replied: “All the evil and insults that the estranged one inflicted on me personally, blaspheming me with all sorts of blasphemous words, calling me a heretic and a Roman, I forgive Christ for my sake. But I am afraid of God’s wrath on myself, even if I am a wolf in sheep’s clothing, I will let into the flock of Christ to destroy the souls of men with schismatic teaching. I pray that your royal nobility do not put anger on me because I cannot make things impossible.”258 The saint also denounces the inveterate vices of his listeners, especially against irreverence and lack of gratitude to God. For example, in his homily on the Exaltation of the Cross of Christ, he notes in this way those who stand irreverently in the church of God: “He will not come alone to the Church for the same reason, so he would pray to God with fear and trembling, according to the prophetic admonition: work for the Lord with fear and rejoice in Him with trembling, but to ranting, to laughter, to various outrages. And in a human house, an honest person stands or sits honestly and constantly... Whenever someone comes to the king, he comes with trepidation... But he will come to God, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords; and a person has no fear, and is daring... Do they really think that a person only gets angry when someone is blue in his house, but God is not angry! But we all know and know that Christ the Lord never became so angry, as for church lawlessness, and Christ the Lord never beat anyone throughout his life: when he saw that people were committing purchases and other atrocities in the church, having woven ropes together, he expelled everyone from the church... O Christ the Savior! Even if You had now entered Your church and seen how they were disorderly, negligently, or had You done greater things, we do not know if You had spared anyone: for now there is great fearlessness in the Church, a den of thieves and a dishonorable house are creating Your house. Where can I meet whom? - In the church. Where do they greet each other, congratulate each other, ask about their health, about their wife, children and others? - In the church. As if the church was created for this reason, so that people would converge on politics and lawlessness, and not on the prayer of God” 259. There are other sermons in which the same voice of stern rebuke is heard. For example, the word in the week of the publican and the Pharisee, against people of the Pharisaic disposition 260; on the fifth week according to the Holy Spirit, about “how great is evil, if you lose the presence of God, if you don’t have God before your eyes, if you get rid of Him from yourself, don’t demand Him, don’t look at him” and others. It is not uncommon for a saint to be denounced. Dimitri sounds the tone of good nature and simplicity with the wonderful qualities of the unspoiled Russian heart. Such reproof not only does not offend or hurt the soul of the listener, but, on the contrary, it is protected from a direct and sharp attack on its weaknesses and vices. The sermon sometimes takes on a tinge of irony, which comes not from a proud and mocking mind, but from a heart upset by the foolishness of a neighbor, his inattention to good advice, or arrogance and inexperience. At St. Demetrius there are not only some passages and expressions of this nature, but sometimes whole pictures are described, such as: “A lazy donkey is lazy and a sinner: with many beatings you can barely convince the donkey of the yoke, but you can turn a corrupt sinner and inconvenience with many punishments to correction: a donkey, even if beaten, will not come soon, it barely drags along the way, and you never know how to run soon: and the sinner will not rushes to salvation, even if sometimes the one who is beaten turns out to be different from God...” 261. Holy in every word. Demetrius, regardless of his reproof, or instruction, or reflection, the grace of anointing is felt everywhere, love for God and neighbors is heard everywhere, dissolved by the heartfelt sorrow and ingratitude of people towards their Savior. This feeling often turns into righteous indignation at careless sinners; on the other hand, it even more often turns into fiery prayer to God for His weak and infirm servants. Like a tender mother sometimes cries, reproaching her son and threatening him with punishment. This is essentially the character of the Archpastor and Preacher of Rostov. The denunciations of Saint Demetrius were aimed at modern morals and human vices, softened by humility and close participation in the fate of one’s neighbor. So, denouncing sinners who are careless to repentance, he addresses them with the following words: “Forgive me, I say, like every sinner who exhausts his life without repentance, I will call him demonic...” 262. The above examples show that the denunciations of errors are filled with love for those who err; if harsh expressions are found, they are caused by slander, blasphemy against the Holy Church and the insane insolence of false teachers. However, where zeal for the glory of God speaks, even a cruel word does not offend the Orthodox listener. For the taste of a modern reader, perhaps some expressions will seem harsh, especially where the Archpastor’s indignation towards non-Orthodox people is expressed, but in this case one must pay attention to the state of the listeners of that time, for whom this trait was not so noticeable, and sometimes even a sharp word was required - accusatory and stern. Historical Sermons Reflecting Contemporary Issues Saint Demetrius, as a cultured and educated man who personally knew Peter I closely, was one of those who sought to merge Western enlightenment with Old Russian church views. In many cases and respects, he quite sincerely wished the Tsar success in spreading knowledge in Russia. “I praise the good custom of modern times,” he says on Saturday of the 4th week of Lent in 1702, “that many people go to other states for the sake of learning, and return from overseas with wisdom. I have heard that from the wise the memory of mortals has been discredited with a special philosophy, with a special philosophy of wisdom. Even if mortal memory is philosophy, it is not enough to learn that wisdom while sitting at home, but you also need to visit foreign countries” 263. Holy Demetrius approached the reform of Peter I from the point of view of the prevailing spiritual mood of the Russian people and was the custodian of the property of St. Rus' - living, acting through the love and mercy of the Orthodox faith. Nevertheless, in literary and social activities the saint. Demetrius turned out to have more elements of divergence from the spirit of the reform of Peter I and his personal views than coincidence with the intended goal. Reproofs of the saint. Demetrius fell for what stood in connection with the reform, for its extremes and hobbies - ignorance, superstition, non-observance of fasts, riotous feasts, dancing, etc. Sermons of the saints. Demetrius is denounced in Peter the Great for “wrathful rage,” “quickness in judgment,” neglect of the “house of God,” and unwillingness to pacify his lust. In a sermon on August 26, 1707 in the Intercession Monastery, the saint hints at the relationship of Peter I to Tsarina Evdokia Lopukhina. The saint wants to see mercy in the king. “Remember to be a man, O king, and not God, having a common birth with all men, and not a special one, existing in human flesh, and not others. For your flesh is not from silver, not from gold, not from precious beads, but also from cronyism, from pus, aphids and stench... do not be puffed up with pride. Remember that you are mortal, O king, and not living forever, all the days lie ahead of you, but the morning itself will remain alone in the bowels of the earth, today everyone is afraid, and the morning is dead, whoever fears you, today you are unassailable, unless someone from the nobles comes to you, and the morning, lying in the tomb, will be trampled underfoot by everyone” 264 . It is historically known that Peter I not only did not like to fast himself, but also considered fasting harmful for soldiers, and in 1716 he even asked the Patriarch of Constantinople Jeremiah III for permission to eat meat during all fasts, except the week before communion. Holy post. Dimitri, of course, looked differently. In a sermon on August 29, 1708, delivered in the Moscow Ivanovo Maiden Monastery, in the presence of Princess Maria Alekseevna, the preacher very clearly describes the picture of the feast and the pagan gods present at it. “At Herod’s feast... I only see three faces, and their names in Greek are Aphrodite, Dionysus and Ares: in Roman Venus, Bacchus and Mars, and in Slovenian - adultery, drunkenness and inhumanity, or murder: for Herod, having committed adultery, became drunk, and killed with the sword of the Holy One. John the Baptist" 265. The dominant sins: adultery, drunkenness and, as a consequence of these sins, murder, were noticed and described by the Greek philosopher Diogenes 266. The preacher, describing Herod's feast, successfully demonstrates these three forces of sin using the example of the Persian king Darius, who, seduced by the beauty of Apamina, the daughter of Bartacus, allows her to come to him and slavishly serves her (2 Ezra 4:29), being himself the ruler of many nations. “When I look at Herod’s feast, I see Bacchus sitting next to Venus, who among the Greeks was the god of gluttony, the god of gluttony and drunkenness, of whom the Apostle also remembers: who is the god of the belly and their glory in the cold, who philosophizes on earth (Phil. 3:19) ... but as I see, we also promise to be an Orthodox Christian of that I don’t dislike God, I liked him... imitating Bacchus’s disciple Luther. Not observing fasts is not a sin: drinking day and night, then humanity, being in a party, then friendship; and that after death, about the soul, they will tell where it should go, that’s a fable... The gluttonous god Bacchus speaks with his disciple Martin Luther: you must not fast in the regiments, and eat meat during fasting, so that the regimental people in the army will be strong, strong in battle, and not weaken in battle from fasting and abstinence... You are a liar... you are alien to the feast of Christ.” 267. The enormous costs of maintaining the army and navy caused by the war with the Swedes forced Peter I to transfer the management of church estates to the hands of a special order consisting of secular officials. After 1700, the treasury declared beekeepers, fisheries, salt pans, mills and even baths to be its quitrent items. Metropolitan Isaiah of Nizhny Novgorod saw God’s punishment for the new order in the Swedish War and openly and sharply rebelled against the order. He did not sympathize with such events and was holy. Dimitri. His letters to Fiologus and Stefan Yavorsky are full of images of the difficult spiritual state caused by the harsh measures of Peter I in relation to the rights of the Church. In one letter from 1708, he says: “there is warfare from without, fears within: too many iniquities, too many insults, too many oppressiones cry out to heaven and arouse the wrath and vengeance of God” 268 . Holy Demetrius did not share Peter I’s opinion of the monks as “parasites” and sought the embodiment of his ideal of St. Rus' in the host of ascetics. “The Lord sustains this world with monastic prayers: even if monastic prayers seem to be small, they strengthen the whole world. Look, what happens, what does the grapevine contain? On a single stake, dry and barren. Then the vine falls to the ground and does not bear fruit. Take away the monastic rite from the Christian world, like a dry and barren stake from the grapes, that there will be peace - judge for yourself” 269. Regarding the establishment of the monastic order, St. Demetrius in one sermon says this: “Do you want to rob the church, ask Iliodor, the treasurer of King Seleucus, who came to Jerusalem to rob the church and beat him with the hands of angels” 270. The saint dispersed. Demetrius with Peter I and in his views on the poor. The order of Peter I of December 1705 states that money can be taken from wandering beggars and brought “to the monastery order and inflicted punishment - order people of all ranks so that no one gives alms to those wandering beggars, and whoever does not listen and gives alms to the wandering ones, they are seized, brought to the order and charged a fine according to the decree” 271 . The saint did not deny that the poor, impoverished population, cold and hungry, was not alien to its vices: flattery, pretense, deliberate ugliness, deception, but in spirit he considered alms to be one of the forms of virtue and could not approve of the indiscriminate prohibition of extending a helping hand to the beggar. “Think, O man, how many times have you embittered your neighbor. Not only do you not give alms yourself, but you command others with a prohibition, so they don’t give. Not only are you not merciful, but you also expose others to unmercifulness. Are you not doing all those unmerciful and embittered deeds that you did to the beggar for Christ himself?” 272. The saint stood for the strength of the old family-patriarchal system of life and, as an archpastor, judged from the Gospel point of view, capturing in its most basic ideas - love for God and neighbor. Therefore, Christian love in all its many different manifestations for the benefit of others is the basis of the saint’s sermons. The great preacher of faith and morality, by the power of the grace of God given to him, was able to combine Western education with old Russian church views. With all the directness of his character, strength of will and holiness of life, he is holy. Demetrius did not become an enemy of the new direction in Russian life, but tried to teach Christians in any conditions to live holy for the good of the Holy Church 273. The life and preaching activity of the great archpastor described above gives an idea of ​​both his deep spiritual mood and the experienced archpastor. He - energetic, receptive, passionately loved his people and his homeland - gave all his mighty talent for the good of the Church. Obedient to the call of Chernigov Archbishop Lazar (Baranovich), he acts in the field of church preaching, first in Chernigov at the Archbishop's See, and then in Rostov. His ardent, sincere, eloquent sermons, close to life and time, made an irresistible impression on the people and soon gained him the fame of the most famous church-folk version of the “Russian Chrysostom”. Well understanding the Savior’s commandment “as you go on, teach all languages” ... (Matthew 28:19-20), as a holy duty of the archpastor of the Church, he devoted all his strength to the education of his flock. Our task is to shed light on the preaching activities of St. Demetrius as deeply and comprehensively as possible. For this purpose, it is necessary for the reader to become familiar with the preaching heritage of the Rostov archpastor. All sermons delivered by the saint at the Rostov pulpit from 1701 to 1709. divided into words and teachings. In most cases, the saint chooses one or more texts from Holy Scripture as a topic for teaching and, as a researcher, expressively describes, first in the literal and sometimes in the mysterious sense, the meaning of the holy text. Reflecting on the Gospel, the preacher gives free rein to his eloquence, choosing primarily the edifying side of the Gospel event. The teachings delivered in the Slavic language are very lengthy and, as mentioned above, were intended for the bookish and non-bookish (illiterate). For a clearer understanding of these teachings, let us proceed directly to the analysis of their very content. Word for St. Week Women of the Myrrh-Bearers This word deserves special attention from readers, because in terms of content and depth of thought it is one of the most remarkable words spoken by Saint Demetrius. It reflected the strength of the spiritual experience of the preacher, good awareness of the knowledge of the world, of human life and the entire society of that time. To visualize the poverty of piety among believers, the saint makes an amazing comparison of their muted faith as “precious beads in the depths of the sea, or gold and silver in the bowels of the earth” 274. Many scientists and speakers cited this word in their speeches delivered on the 200th anniversary of the blessed death of St. Demetrius. Such speeches include: V. Miroslavsky: St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov as a preacher. Yaroslavl, 1889 A. Efimov, priest. We are talking about Saint Demetrius of Rostov, as a famous preacher and polemicist. Chernigov, 1909 This word has not lost its usefulness in our time. Here the pastor can find the necessary material for preaching and outline the basic moral edifications necessary to strengthen faith and love for God, for sincere repentance of sins and by correcting one’s wicked life, to earn eternal salvation. The saint takes as the epigraph of his sermon the words from the Gospel “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, crucified: there is no rising here” (Mark 16:6) and with all conviction he answers the questions posed: “Where is Christ now found after His rising from the grave? In what place, where can one decide about Him: is it here?” 275. The saint does not stop at the general expression that Christ is everywhere, like God, as indicated by the church stichera: “In the tomb carnally, in hell with the soul, as God in paradise with the thief, and on the throne was Christ, with the Father and the Spirit, fulfilling everything indescribable.” (From the Easter service). He is looking for Christ in the church of God, but hears the voice of the first martyr St. Stephen, who says that “The Most High does not live in churches made with hands” (Acts 7:48), shows by this that the Lord God does not so much love to live in churches made with hands as he loves to dwell in churches not made with hands. Every rational person, enlightened by holy baptism, is the church of God, according to the word of the apostle: “The church of God is holy, and this is the church you” (1 Cor. 3:17) 276. But it is permissible to doubt this, because there are few in whom Christ would dwell, but in His Church. Many are enlightened by holy baptism and are apparently virtuous, but God knows their secret deeds, as the apostle says: “What they do in secret is shameful even to speak of” (Eph. 5:12). The Holy Prophet David also asserts that “everyone who has deviated has become indecent together; do not do goodness, not even one” (Ps. 13:3). If it is difficult to find Christ here, then, of course, in the Church, in the whole assembly of the faithful 277, about which it is said: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Unfortunately for us, the Holy Church is also very oppressed, humiliated, partly from external persecutors, partly from internal schismatics, who, according to the Apostle, “went out from us, but were not ours” (1 John 2:19). Let us seek the Lord in His Holy, Apostolic, Catholic, Orthodox Church, although embittered and tormented, it cannot be overcome, because even “the gates of hell will not prevail against it” 278. The Lord is in it, and those who move away from it will not receive salvation. However, one should seek the Lord Christ among the children of the Church. The Holy Church is like a field in which among the wheat there are also tares, and both grow until the harvest. Among the evil Christians there are many good ones, but the words of our Lord frighten us, although they are not addressed to us, but also concern us: “You will seek Me and will not find me, and you will die in your sin” (John 7:34, 8:21), because you do not allow grace to dwell in your hearts. In this word the saint paid special attention to the “Spiritual Order” - to bishops, priests and deacons. He condemns those who took upon themselves the priesthood, “not so much for the glory and honor of God, but for their own ambition... not so much for the common good, but for their own self-interest” 279. Unworthy clergy not only do not lead their flock to salvation, but they themselves perish, because, having taken the keys of understanding, they themselves do not enter and do not allow those who go into the kingdom of God. And those who lead the blind through temptation and in their blindness fall together into the pit. It will not be long before you find Christ here - “he is not here” 280. But among the spiritual ranks there are persons who are “like angels in the flesh, although among these angels there may also be a person subject to infirmities. To those who are blameless, honor and a crown are from the Chief Shepherd Christ, and to those subject to human weaknesses, like me, a sinner, the Lord said to one: “I have a few things against you,” to another: “I know your works, you bear the name of being alive, but you are dead,” to the third: “you are neither cold nor hot, I will pluck you out of my mouth” (Apoc. 2:14, 3:1, 15:16) 281 . The saint, developing the idea of ​​seeking Christ, mentally leads his listeners to the people. But there he finds theft, murder, strife and rebellion. It is not in vain that Scripture says: “Come out from among these people and do not touch their uncleanness” (2 Cor. 6:16). Not at the height of religious and moral life, according to the testimony of the saint, were “boyars, princes and judges, planted on truth” 282, but instead of piety “many unrighteous riches, collected from robbery, theft, from insults and human tears” 283. Among the trading people, “lies and deceit flourished” 284. Among the people, “lawlessness, theft, theft, robbery, murder and many other nasty deeds were committed, and it is shameful not only to speak of them, but even to remember them in thought” 285 . However, only in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, whose Head is the Lord the Savior of the world, is Christ, and “those who move away from it do not receive salvation” 286. Christ dwells among the poor and poor people “as in your members, if only you endure with gratitude... heavenly crowns are prepared for you, just do not faint in patience, but look at the suffering of your Lord, who suffered more than you for the people. Thank Him in everything and rely on His holy will, saying: “Thy will be done, Lord”! And the Lord with love, although invisibly, is found in the midst of you - and is here” 287. The Lord loves those who cry, those who hunger and thirst, and those who suffer innocently. O new sufferers! Do not become weak in patience, but give thanks to your Christ, and after His resurrection He will visit you and will be inseparable from you. He speaks about this in the Gospel: I and the Father “will come and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). Christ is and will be in you, and you say: Amen. With a strong word that awakened the conscience of all classes of the Rostov flock, the saint persistently directed them that “there is only one thing that is needed” (Luke 10:42). For many listeners, work turns into a constant, restless, heavy concern for improving only material well-being, crowding out work and concern for the salvation of the soul. In memory of our venerable father Barlaam and Joasaph of India “Likewise there is the Kingdom of Heaven a merchant man looking for good beads, who found one bead of great value, went to sell all the name of the tree, and buy it” (Matthew 13:45–46). The man mentioned in the Gospel was a seeker of precious pearls, he searched for many, and ours was one of the most precious pearls. But what pearl is so beautiful, so precious, that it replaces many others? Anyone who wants to choose and buy himself one good pearl goes to a spiritual marketplace and, approaching the first seller, says: “Are you, my friend, the most abundant beads, the only one who is the best of all?” The seller, having offered him all his goods, replies: “See for yourself, and choose the best one that you like best” 288. A very rich spiritual treasure has been revealed to us in the Church, just as at a trade or a fair, goods are offered to us, by which we mean the Divine Scriptures and their interpretations. The sitting church teachers sit in their places and, as if from a bag, from their books they scatter many pearls before our spiritual eyes. And we will not be too lazy to choose which of them is better, more expensive, more valuable. First of all, St. Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria, in the Holy Church, as if at a spiritual fair he opened his goods, a book of interpretations, places before our eyes one pearl, called the Holy Faith 289. Let no one be surprised that the priestly rank also ends up among merchants, because clergy, bishops, should trade in spiritual goods. This was also commanded to the holy apostles, since Christ told them “I will buy until I come” (Luke 19:13), therefore the Archbishop of Bulgaria should trade with them. Let's listen to what he has to say about his product, about his pearl. “The sea is this life, merchants are people living in the world, seeking to find some kind of reason, but there are many beads, siestas, many faith, those who think they understand well, but one is of great value: one is the true faith in Christ. And just as you have pearls, and hold them in abundance in your hand, He Himself knows how much wealth to have, but others do not know: so is the preaching of the right faith, not to those who rejoice and do not want to seek. It is appropriate to seek and have the rest of this true bead, giving everything for its sake” 290. – Truly a precious pearl, without which one cannot receive salvation or even be a Christian. So the apostle says: “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 2:6). “The righteous shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17) 291. Therefore, you should sell everything and buy that pearl. The Holy Apostle James, having come to this marketplace, does not approve of us that we paid attention only to faith, that by faith alone we want to be enriched, that is, to be saved, we think. However, he does not condemn this pearl, but only advises acquiring it along with other pearls, for “What good is it, my brother, if someone says to have faith, but not to have works; food can faith save him. You believe that there is only one God, do good: and the demons believe and tremble. Do you want to understand, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Abraham our Father was not justified by works” (James 2:14, 19–21) 292. Good pearls are faith, but in themselves they are of little value without other pearls; let’s look at other goods. A merchant from Western countries named Thomas, a stranger, but not with bad goods, opens his chest, unfolds before our eyes a book “on the imitation of Christ”, shows a pearl called humility 293. The proud children of Adam neglect her. Meanwhile, these pearls are so valuable that they are pleasing to God Himself. The King of heaven, “he is glad to look upon, living in the highest, and to the lowly he looks down upon,” loves to look at him, “On whom, he says, I will look only upon the meek and lowly” (Isa. 66:2) 294. These pearls have the power to lift up the beggar from the pit and make him sit with princes. St. also approves of this product. Basil the Great, calling the humility of the trustworthy the repository of all virtues, a repository inaccessible to thieves. But it should be borne in mind that sometimes some people also have crafty humility, which St. warns us against. John the Theologian, saying: “Do not believe every spirit” (1 John 4:1) 295, that is, “do not believe every humility.” There is true humility, and there is also hypocritical; On the outside there is a sheep, and on the inside there is a wolf; others humble themselves in anticipation of receiving honor, but having received what they want, they raise their heads proudly. Thus, having condemned crafty humility and approved of true humility, we proceed to other pearls. From Carthage, the glorious African city, the ancient teacher of the Church, St. Cyprian, opening his chest, shows his treasure, called immaculate purity. He especially praises virgin purity, calling her the beauty of all beauties, the kindness of all virtues, the sister of angels, the dear friend of the Creator God Himself. But not everyone touches this pearl, since the Lord Himself said in the Gospel about purity and virginity: “Not everyone can receive this word, but to them it will be given from above,” and besides, even in those who are virgins, a certain madness lives on over time 296 . It happens that virgins are not without shortcomings. The Gospel speaks of five foolish virgins who were put to shame at the doors of the heavenly palace. St. John Chrysostom says about this pearl that “Purity without its companions - fasting and abstinence, soon wears out” 297. Let's look at other pearls. Some have called arbitrary poverty a pearl of great price, because it is through this that the Kingdom of Heaven itself is acquired. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for to them is the kingdom of heaven” (Luke 6:20). “He’s a good bead, but he has nothing to do with worldly people.” - Let him go to a monastery, or to the desert to the venerable fathers, let him take tonsure 298. King Solomon's royal goods arrived from Jerusalem. Among them they show one rare pearl - wisdom. “Blessed are you who have found wisdom, for there are stones of great value that are most honest, but what is honest is not worthy of it!” 299. Truly a pearl of great price. But should everyone study science? Ordinary people are also needed so that there is someone to work, do arable farming, go to war and perform other services. But even among wisdom, some wickedness is noticed, as the apostle says: “Trouble the wise in their deceit” (1 Cor. 3:19) 300. Let anyone who wants to buy these pearls for himself, and we will go to others. Some call a clear conscience a pearl of great price, and this is true. The human soul is the bride of Christ. A clear conscience is the best decoration of the soul. The souls of the holy apostles were adorned with this decoration, as the Apostle Paul testifies to this. “This praise of ours is a testimony of our conscience, that in the simplicity and purity of God, not in the wisdom of the flesh, but by the grace of God, we live in the world” (2 Cor. 1:12) 301. According to the testimony of St. John Chrysostom “Just as human hair loves to see a red face, God’s hair loves a clear conscience” 302. But even this pearl alone will not satisfy us, as the apostle says: “The light of myself is nothing, but I will not be justified in anything” (1 Cor. 4:4) 303. Although conscience does not condemn, who can say: “My heart is pure” before God 304. From Constantinople St. John Chrysostom brought his goods - these are his books, like huge chests. As a preacher of repentance, he called the tears of a penitent pearls. Not in vain St. The prophet David said to the Lord: “Thou hast laid down my tears before Thee” (Ps. 55:9) 305. Just as someone always wants to have their favorite thing before their eyes, so God, loving the tears of those who repent, places them before Him. Thanking St. John Chrysostom for his pearls, we wish to acquire them through his prayers, and now we will look at other jewelry. I see another expensive pearl in the church chest, this is the human soul. The soul of every person is a pearl, which cannot be compared with any of the treasures of the world, “what good does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul” (Matthew 16:26) 306. According to the testimony of St. John Chrysostom, heaven was created for the sake of the human soul. “Man, with his soul, is dearest to the whole world, for for his sake the sky and the earth, the sea, the sun, and the stars were created: and the price of the soul is small, great is the price of the blood of Christ, shed for nakedness” 307. We need to preserve these pearls, given to us by our Creator. However, even this pearl, our soul, needs grace for its perfection. “Who else can be perfect” 308. That is why many of the saints “wandered in mantles and goatskins, enduring shortcomings, sorrows, and bitterness; those of whom the whole world was not worthy” (Heb. 2:37–38) 309. These ascetics lived their entire lives in many labors, wanting to achieve perfection. We have looked a lot at the pearls stored in the Church’s repositories and offered to us in the spiritual marketplace, but we have not found one that is above all and would make up for the shortcomings of others. Truly, this is none other than the incarnate God our Savior Himself, about whom the apostle says: “the stone is Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4) 310. No one is perfect among people, only one is God. He gives light to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, and health to the sick. He drives out demons and makes the foolish wise. The holy preacher says: “If someone asked me: what do you want better, the kingdom of heaven, or just God himself? I would have put the kingdom of heaven aside, but would have grabbed for God: what is heaven for me? Isn't God the best Creator of heaven? And someone from the God-minded said: It is my will to be in hell with God, rather than heaven without God” 311. To acquire these precious pearls, the evangelical merchant sold everything he had and bought it. What should we sell to buy these pearls? Here Saint Demetrius points to the wealth of the human soul, this is: good desire, free will, reason. Soul and body are your cities. Passions of body and soul are servants working according to your will. Good thoughts are the army that you command. So sell this monarchy of yours - your free will, renounce it and do the will of the God who created you. Place your mind, like a royal crown, at the feet of Christ for eternal allegiance, according to the words of the Apostle: “Capturing every mind into the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5) 312. Submit your soul and body to God, cut off spiritual passions, submit your body to the spirit. So, having given everything you have to God, you will acquire all spiritual riches. Strong faith in God, deep humility, virgin purity, arbitrary poverty, God-inspired wisdom, a clear conscience and tenderness that waters the cheeks with warm tears will appear. “For he who loves God, all things work together for his good” (Rom. 8:28) 313. This word, very long, takes up 18 pages in the Slavic text, but nevertheless does not bother the listener. With the uniqueness of the events taking place, the preacher mentally leads his listeners through the spiritual marketplace and in great detail, with knowledge of all folk customs and homiletical techniques, describes the spiritual wealth of the human soul. And then, having revealed vicious movements and inclinations towards sin, the preacher arouses in the listeners a determination for salvation. The word leaves a trace of grace in the soul of the listeners. Life and work of Saint. Demetrius the ascetic, ascetic, enlightener, preacher and true shepherd of the Church of Christ, fits with bright pages into the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, into the history of Russia in the period of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. From his acceptance of the priestly rank until the last days of his earthly life, Saint Demetrius, as the true shepherd of the Church of God, was both the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13) and the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:14) and his “good deeds” (Matthew 5:16) were visible to everyone. He tirelessly cared about his flock, about its welfare, about its moral condition. He was and remained “a great lamp of the Church of Christ, a chronicler of God’s economy and a judge of the Fatherland, a zealot of the true faith, a denouncer of untruths and false teachings, a champion and ascetic, a planter of spiritual enlightenment” 314. Fulfilling his duty as a shepherd of the Church of Christ, St. Demetrius appears before us as a great preacher who explained the Divine truths of the Gospel law, and with examples from the lives of fathers, saints, teachers, saints and ascetics, enriched the inner spiritual content of the believing Russian people. Holy Demetrius left a rich homiletical legacy, which even now serves as a guide for pastors in their preaching activities. As an ascetic and ascetic, he zealously fulfilled the obediences assigned to him, defeating life’s temptations with fasting and prayer and showing great mercy and love for others, being strict with himself. As an educator, he devoted a lot of strength, energy and health in the fight against ignorance and the rude morals of shepherds and flocks. As an archpastor, delving into the internal and external life of the diocese, pastors and their families, flocks, churches and monasteries. As a theologian-writer, he has the following traits: imagery, picturesqueness, a penchant for comparisons and juxtapositions, subtle humor for a Ukrainian (see vol. 3, p. 25) and, finally, poetic animation in his lyrical works. An expressive description of the saint. Demetrius, as a preacher, is given his troparion and kontakion, calling him “The Spiritual Ceremony”, “The Shining Star” and pleasing him as a teacher of golden words”, “who has written everything for everyone, even for instruction, so that we may gain everyone, like Paul, to Christ”... As a Christian and man of prayer before the Throne of God, who continually offers up His prayers for the human race, he gives help, consolation and joy to all those who turn to him in prayer with faith and love. Boundless love is holy. Demetrius to God and people is a worthy example of imitation for archpastors, shepherds and flocks, for he “He himself was love incarnate, and his word did not diverge from deeds... He was one of those rare people who combine greatness and love, genius and piety, rich and varied gifts of the mind with spiritual beauty and religious life, the glory of a great preacher with the exploits of an ascetic” 315. With his short life at the Rostov See, St. Demetrius taught the same instructive lesson that he taught in his conversations to the flock. He clearly showed that it was possible to re-educate the old Russian man only through enlightenment, and in this direction he was perhaps the only person who began a new Russian life. One cannot help but be amazed at his tireless diligence and great talent in this field. The merits of the saint for the Church of Christ can be equated to the merits of the greatest saints of the Universal Church. The assessment of his personality and merits by various critics and researchers unanimously brings him a tribute of surprise and praise for tirelessly forcing himself to bear the yoke of Christ, constantly paying attention to himself and the spiritual flock entrusted to him by God. May 5, 1970 Archpriest Vladimir The surname Tuptalo, according to M.S. Popova, was of noble origin, known only from the 16th century (M.S. Popov “St. Demetrius and his works”, St. Petersburg, 1910, p. 1). I.S. Shlyapkin claims that “Tuptalo is the personal nickname of Savva Grigorievich, because the Saint always signed himself not Tuptalo, but Savvich” (I.S. Shlyapkin “St. Demetrius of Rostov and his time.” St. Petersburg, 1891, p. 1 interlinear). Manuscript “The Life of St. Demetrius Metropolitan of Rostov” page 3 X archaeological department of the MDA. M.S. Popov “Saint Demetrius and his works.” St. Petersburg, 1910, p. 1. Diariut 1689 March 29 vol. 1 Creations p. 489, see V. Nechaev (Bishop Vissarion) St. Dimitri, Metropolitan of Rostov. M., 1910, p. 5. Lives of the Saints, in Russian, September, M., 1903, pp. 402–403. Diaryut under 1689 March 29. Chronicle of the Holy Demetrius, Met. Rost., part 1, M., 1799, p. 2. M.S. Popov. Quote cit., p. 9. I.S. Shlyapkin, cit. cit., app. I, page 6. V. Nechaev, saint. Dimitri, Metropolitan Growth, ed. 2. M., 1910, p. 6. See manuscript. M.D.A. page 7. N.I. Petrov. History of the Kyiv Spirit. Acad., Kiev, 1906, p. 47. M.S. Popov, op. cit., p. 9. Cited works, Chronicle, p. 3. I. Shlyapkin, op.cit., p. 6. N.I. Petrov. “Kiev Academy in the second half of the 16th century,” Kiev, 1895, p. 29. Pavel Lakhotinsky. "The personality of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, according to his life and teachings." Addition to the Yaroslavl Church Gazette No. 45 for 1909, p. 211. The youth Daniel witnessed the bringing of the Miracle-Working Icon of the “Most Holy Mother of God of the Brotherhood” into the new church of the school. The miraculous rescue of a Tatar drowning in the Dnieper. I.A. Shlyapkin, cit. labor, p. 5. Life of St. Demetrius, page 2. Manuscript. “The Life of Saint Demetrius”, p. 10, archaeologist. office M.D.A. The father of St. Demetrius was buried in this monastery. He was a ktitor here and died at the age of 103. (Works, part 1, pp. 325–326). Ibid., manuscript, page 11. N.I. Kostomarov. Russian history in the biographies of its main figures, book. 4. St. Petersburg, 1912, p. 427. Quote cit., Chronicle, p. 4. Life of Saints Dimitry, Metropolitan. Rostov Wonderworker, M., 1896, pp. 7–8. Manuscript, 1901, p. 12. V. Nechaev. Description of the Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral, pp. 8, 190, 194. Manuscript 1901, p. 155. Creations, vol. 1, p. 4, ed. 6, M., 1839. Vasily Nechaev St. Dimitri, Metropolitan of Rostov. M., 1849, p. 5. Holy Dimitri, Metropolitan Rostovsky, Creations, part 1, p. 310. Quote cit., I.A. Shlyapkin, pp. 17–18. Holy Dimitri, Metropolitan Rostovsky, Creations, vol. 1, pp. 489–490. M.S. Popov. “Saint Demetrius and his works”, St. Petersburg, 1910, p. 36. Quote op. N.I. Kostomarov, p. 428; I. Porfiryev “History of Russian Literature.” Kazan. 1876, p. 629. During his stay here, bishops died. Belarusian Theodosius (March 11, 1678) and his benefactor Skachkevich (November 29, 1678). Hieromonk Demetrius pronounced funeral words for them (Diarius for 1678, Dec. 3). Holy Dimitri, Metropolitan Rostovsky. Creations, vol. 1, pp. 316, 475. Holy Dimitri, Metropolitan Rostovsky. Creations vol. 1, p. 5. See V. Nechaev (Bishop Vissarion) St. Dimitri, Metropolitan. Rostovsky, ed. 2. M., 1910, p. 16. Holy Dimitri, Metropolitan Rostovsky. Tvorenich, vol. 1, M., 1894, pp. 5–6. Diarium, p. 477. See in Nechaev (Bishop Vissarion) M., 1910, p. 18. Ibid., p. 481. Diarium, p. 478. Diary under the year 1684. See I.A. Shlyapkin, p. 38. Holy Demetrius, vol. 1, p. 6. Holy Demetrius, vol. 1, p. 487. Diarium under 1689 (Works of St. Demetrius, vol. 1, p. 11 ed. 6. M., 1839). Another vision for Hieromonk Demetrius was “On Monday the tenth of August 1695...” (Diarius for 1691) in the book. Life of the Great Martyr. Barbarians December 4th. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 1, p. 322, or T. I, p. 11, ed. 6. M., 1839 Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 1, page 324. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 1, page 328. Quote op. I.A. Shlyapkin, adj. 1, page 9. Vasily Nechaev. “Saint Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov”, M., 1849, p. 36. V. Nechaev, saint. Dimitri, Metropolitan Rostovsky, ed. 2, M., 1910, p. 46. Composed. St. Demetrius, part 1, page 50, ed. M., 1937 or part 1, p. 35. Quote op. I.A. Shlyapkin, p. 278. Quote op. I.A. Shlyapkin, pp. 278–279. Holy Demetrius, Creations, part 1, p. 35. Holy Demetrius preached the following sermons in Moscow in 1701: 1) in the 9th week according to the Holy Spirit (August 10), part 2, page 274; 2) on August 29, part 3, p. 131; 3) about the dead (Sept. 12) part 2, p. 322; 4) at week 18 (Oct 12) part 2 p. 336; 5) in week 19 (October 19), part 2, page 346; 6) at week 20 (Oct 26) part 2, p. 368; 7) on the day of the icon of St. B. Donskoy (August 19), part 3, page 506. I.A. Shlyapkin, p. 292. Life of the saint. Demetrius, page 12. Holy Dimitri, Metropolitan Rostovsky. Op. vol. 1, pp. 8–11. Quote op., holy Demetrius, part 1, pp. 39–77. Holy Dimitri. Quote cit., Creations, vol. 1, p. 159, cf. V. Nechaev, (Bishop Vissarion) ed. 2. M. 1910, pp. 52–53. Holy Dimitri. Quote cit., Creations, vol. 1, p. 159. Holy Dimitri. Quote cit., Creations, vol. 1, p. 168. Holy Dimitri. Quote cit., Creations, vol. 1, p. 200. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 1, p. 201, part 1, p. 196. Holy Dimitri. Quote cit., Creations, vol. 1 Ibid., p. 202. Holy Dimitri. Quote cit., Creations, vol. 1 Ibid., p. 203. Holy Dimitri. Quote cit., Creations, vol. 1 Ibid., pp. 208–217. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 1, pp. 208–217. Ibid., Creations, vol. 3, p. 526. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, p. 526. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, p. 527. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, p. 531. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, p. 536. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, p. 528. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, p. 528. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, pp. 529–530. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, p. 530. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, pp. 532–533. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, pp. 535–536. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, p. 537. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, p. 542. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 3, p. 544. I.A. Shlyapkin. Quote cit., p. 328. Holy Dimitri. Creations, vol. 1, p. 22. I.A. Shlyapkin, Quote. cit., p. 331. I. Pervukhin, saint. Dimitry Rostovsky as a teacher. Yaroslavl Diocesan Gazette, No. 10 for 1902, p. 150. I.A. Shlyapkin. Quote cit., p. 398. Holy Dimitry Rostovsky, m., 1849, p. 71. N.I. Kostomarov. Rus. History in the biographies of its main figures, book. 2, ed. 6, St. Petersburg, 1912, p. 435. I. Shlyapkin. Quote cit., pp. 371–378. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 1, ed. 6, M., 1839, p. 24. Creations, vol. 3, pp. 532–533. Creations, vol. 1, pp. 47, 48. I.P. Pososhkov. About poverty and wealth. M., 1951, pp. 38–39–15. M.S. Popov. "St. Dimitri Rostovsky and his works." St. Petersburg, 1910, p. 173. Creations, vol. 1, p. 209. M.S. Popov. "St. Dimitri Rostovsky and his works." St. Petersburg, 1910, p. 183. "Yaroslavl Diocesan Gazette", part unofficial. Yaroslavl for 1862 No. 19, p. 146. N. Pervukhin. St. Demetrius of Rostov, as a teacher. "Yaroslavl Diocesan Gazette", for 1902, No. 10, p. 146. The portrait was painted by the copyist of the saint’s works, “Beltsy” Yakovlev, and according to the testimony of I.A. Shlyapkina was kept in the Rostov Museum back in 1891 along with the staff (p. 355). Works of St. Demetrius, part 1, p. 349; I. Shlyapkin. Quote cit., p. 355. Works of St. Demetrius, part 1, p. 349; I. Shlyapkin. Quote cit., p. 21. MDA Manuscript, pp. 125–126. V. Nechaev. St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov. M., 1849, p. 223. A. Titov. “Holy sermons. Dimitri in the Ukrainian dialect." MDA Library, pp. 10–25. A. Preobrazhensky. "St. Dimitry of Rostov as a preacher." Kazan, 1909, p. 10. A. Gorsky and Barsky, “St. Dimitri, Metropolitan of Rostov, M. 1849, p. 104. Yaroslavl. Diocesan Gazette for 1902, p. 587. According to the preacher, the sermon should consist of three parts. Exordium (excordium) or introduction, in which the subject of the sermon is proposed and an appeal is made to God for help in pronouncing it and to the listeners for their attention to the sermon. Narration - presentation. This is the main part, which sets out the content of the sermon with all the features and evidence. Conclusium – conclusion. Here the preacher briefly dwells on what was said in the main part and urges to follow good and avoid evil. The main feature of such a sermon was that it carried with it the predominance of the form of the sermon over its content, the predominance of language, style, and structure of the sermon over the religious and spiritual truth of its content. Church Vestnik, 1907, No. 48, p. 154. Z.A. Preobrazhensky, p. 6. I.A. Shlyapkin. Saint Demetrius of Rostov and his time. St. Petersburg, 1891, p. 281 (interlinear). Works of St. Dimitri. Part 2, pp. 270–288. Paraphrase, volume 2, page 259 (or part 2, page 17). Creations of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 380. Creations of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 381. Creations of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 384. Creations of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 385. Works of St. Demetrius, part 2, p. 246. M. 1838, or volume 2, p. 379, M. 1840. Works of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, ed. 6, p. 341, M. 1840 Works of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, ed. 6, p. 221. Works of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 221, ed. M. 1840 Works of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 225, ed. M. 1840 Works of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 227, ed. M. 1840 Works of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 228, ed. M. 1840 I.A. Shlyapkin, “St. Dimitri, Metropolitan of Rostov and his time", page 387. Works of St. Demetrius, part 2, page 97. Works of St. Demetrius, part 3, p. 106, ed. M. 1837. Works of St. Demetrius, part 2, p. 575, ed. M. 1837. Quote op. holy Demetrius, part 3, page 307. Works of St. Dmitry, part 2, page 202, ed. M. 1837 or vol. 3, p. 207. In week 6 of Passover about a man born blind. Op. holy Demetrius, part 2, p. 12, M. 1937 or vol. 3, p. 91. See op. St. Demetrius, part 2, p. 48; 361; or another part 2, p. 72; The renunciation of St. Apostle is also interestingly written. Petra. part 3, page 64, or part 2, page 33. Quote op. holy Demetrius, part 2, page 25. M. Potorzhinsky, History of Russian church preaching, p. 299. Works of St. Demetrius, part 2, page 146 or part 2, page 373 from above. Lesson for the week about the man born blind, part 2, page 135. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, pp. 511–512 (teaching for week 18 according to the Holy Spirit). Works of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 67. M. 1840, ed. 6. Works of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 70. M. 1840, ed. 6. Quote op. N. Kostomarov, p. 432. Works of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, pp. 552–553. Quote op. holy Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 212. Quote op. holy Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 4, below. Quote op. holy Demetrius, vol. 3, pp. 1–10 or part 3, pp. 1–10. Works of St. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 498 at the end. Works of St. Demetrius, part 2, pp. 217, 200. Works of St. Demetrius, part 3, page 252. Works of St. Demetrius, part 2, page 342. Quote op. holy Demetrius, vol. 3, p. 1. Quote op. holy Demetrius, vol. 3, p. 18. Op. holy Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 26. Op. holy Demetrius, part 1, p. 54, M. 1837. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 512, ed. M., 1840 Works of the saint. Demetrius, edition 6, M., 1840, vol. 2, p. 224, or part 2, p. 211. Works of the saint. Demetrius, edition 6, M., 1840, vol. 2, p. 246. Works of the saint. Demetrius, edition 6, M., 1840, vol. 2, p. 247. Works of the saint. Demetrius, edition 6, M., 1840, vol. 2, p. 254. Works of the saint. Demetrius, edition 6, M., 1840, vol. 2, p. 258. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 2, ed. M., 1840, p. 258. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 2, ed. M., 1840, p. 363. Works of the saint. Dimitri, ed. 6, M., 1840, vol. 2, pp. 625–626. See A. Preobrazhensky. Holy Dimitry of Rostov, as a preacher, Kazan, 1909, p. 18. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 2, ed. 6, M., 1840, p. 547. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 2, pp. 276–277. Works of the saint. Demetrius, Thu. 5, ed. 7, 1849, pp. 28–31. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 1, M. 1837, p. 278. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 1, M. 1837, p. 226. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 1, M. 1837, p. 237. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 1, M. 1837, p. 289. A. Preobrazhensky. Holy Dimitry of Rostov, as a preacher, Kazan, 1909, p. 17. Works of the saint. Demetrius, p.1, M. 1837, pp. 56–57. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 1, pp. 58–59. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 387. Ibid., Search, pp. 161 and 211. These are books, for example, Mirror of the Orthodox Confession: Search for the schismatic Bryn faith, about its teachings, about their deeds. See part 3, page 94; Part 3, p. 377; part 2, page 36; Part 2, page 203. Part 3, pp. 445–469. According to I.A. Shlyapkina said this word on December 25, 1698 in Chernigov. I.A. Shlyapkin, St. Petersburg, 1891, p. 263. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 3, p. 466 (part 3, p. 445). Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 3, p. 468 (part 3, p. 447). Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 3, pp. 468–469 (part 3, pp. 448–449). Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 3, p. 480 (part 3, p. 459). Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, pp. 205–220. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, pp. 491–513. (These two words in the topic of love are close to the teaching in week 7 of Easter. (see vol. 2, p. 247). Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 207. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 3, p. 492 (part 2, p. 479). Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 3, p. 504 (part 2, p. 491) Wednesday. text. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 201 from above, from the word about the blind man. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, pp. 246–248. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 239. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 240. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 247 or part 2, p. 240 St. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 248 or part 2, p. 240 cf. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 253, or part 2, p. 240 below. Works of the saint. Dimitri, ed. 1857, part 3, p. 256. Essays. holy Demetrius, part 2, p. 116. Essays. holy Demetrius, part 1, p. 61. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 153. Essays. holy Demetrius, part 1, page 43. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, page 256. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, pp. 151–152. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, pp. 155–156. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, page 274. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 362. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, p. 26. Works of the saint. Dimitri, ed. 6, 1840, part 2, p. 635 and part 3, p. 42; or volume 3, pp. 43, 552; volume 2, p.180. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, p. 632 from the lesson in week 27 on the Holy Spirit (about a wife who has the spirit of illness, eighteen years old). Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 3, pp. 30–31. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, p. 451. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 1. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 3, pp. 178, 201. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 2, pp. 488–489. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol.2, p.613. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol.2, p.683. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 2, pp. 190–191. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 3 p. 26. See I.A. Shlyapkin, pp. 411–412. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 3, pp. 78–79. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 80. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 82. Works of the saint. Dimitry, St. Petersburg, ed. Tuzova 1888, p. 65, from the word: our love of sin. Works of the saint. Dimitry, St. Petersburg, ed. Tuzova 1888, page 72 from the word 6, don’t be friends with the vicious. Works of the saint. Dimitri, ed. St. Petersburg Tuzov 1888 pp. 86–87 from the words: Without the fear of God one cannot refrain from sin. I.A. Shlyapkin. Holy Dimitri Rostovsky and his time. Ed. St. Petersburg, 1891, p. 443. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, page 225. This sermon and the sermon “about the four-pointed Cross” were subsequently included by the saint in the book “Search for the Bryn Faith.” Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, page 228. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, page 229. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, page 231. Holy creations Demetrius, vol.2, p.592, ed. M., 1840 Holy creations Demetrius, vol.2, p.594. Holy creations Demetrius, vol.2, p.595. Holy creations Demetrius, vol.2, p.596. Holy creations Demetrius, vol.2, p.597. Holy creations Demetrius, vol.2, p.598. Holy creations Demetrius, vol.2, p.599. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 56. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 57. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, pp. 61–62. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 230. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 233. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 236. I.A. Shlyapkin. Holy Dimitri Rostovsky and his time. St. Petersburg, 1891, p. 439. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, pp. 151–152. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 1. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 112. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 283. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 67. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 68. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 475. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, page 478. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 2, pp. 475–487, ed. M. 1840 (from the weekly teaching on the Holy Spirit). See I.A. Shlyapkin, pp. 394–395. Pypin, History of Russian Literature, vol. 2, p. 413. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 2, pp. 412–413. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 72. History of Russia, p. Solovyova, t. 36, p. 16. Works of the saint. Demetrius, vol. 2, cf. 363. A. Preobrazhensky. Holy Dimitry of Rostov, as a preacher, Kazan, 1909, p. 40. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 176. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 172, ed. M. 1840 Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 177. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 180. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 181. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 183. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 184. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, pp. 183–184. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 185. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 186. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 288. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, p. 185 or part 3, p. 288. Holy creations Demetrius, vol. 2, pp. 190–191. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 386. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 387. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 388. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 389. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 390. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 391. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 392. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 394. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 395. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 397. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 398. Works of the saint. Demetrius, part 3, p. 399. Dimitri's days in Rostov-Veliky. Supplement to the magazine “Parish Life” for 1909, p.43. Dimitri's days in Rostov-Veliky. Supplement to the magazine “Parish Life” for 1909, p. 37.