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Sira was from Carkh-Seleucia in Elimaid (now Abizard), the daughter of one of the most important magicians. Wanting to protect her from acquaintance and friendship with Christian girls, her father, in her very early youth, sent her to the city of Fars for education and training as a priestess in the church of fire. Having reached adulthood, she returned to her parents’ house and became one of the priestesses. She soon became acquainted with some poor Christians, and through them with Christian teaching, discussed the great difference between the faith of magicians and the faith of Christians, called for the best and decided to join true piety. Wanting to become more familiar with Christian teaching, she secretly attended church, listened to readings and singing, and began a new life with fasting and prayers. This did not hide from their family, brothers and sisters, and they asked their stepmother to convince Sira not to deviate from the faith of her ancestors, so as not to dishonor their entire family and not incur the wrath of the king. The stepmother privately revealed to the girl that she, too, was a secret Christian, and advised her to honor Christ in secret, and openly serve the gods, so as not to give herself into suspicion and not be subjected to scourging, torment, burning and other torments; because it is dangerous, she said, as if, having not endured torment, she clearly did not reject Christ and did not commit an unforgivable sin. With these and similar words she managed to win over Sira for a short time, but then soon the latter, obeying her inner calling, went early to church and asked Bishop John to grant her holy baptism. – This John is the second representative of the Orthodox Church in Persia known in the 6th century. – The bishop rejoiced in spirit about the one seeking baptism, but, considering the circumstances of the time, he did not grant her baptism. For he knew that she was of a noble family, and the hatred of magicians for Christians was obvious to everyone; he was afraid of irritating them and giving rise to general persecution of Christians. The bishop sometimes doubted the girl herself and advised her to first confess Christ before her father, brothers, relatives and all her household; and if she can endure the tortures awaiting her, then let her remain in good confession, and then she will be worthy of holy baptism. This is what the bishop advised and released her in peace. The next day, when early in the morning she was supposed to make the morning sacrifice to the gods in her house, she crushed the sacrificial instruments and spat on the fire, exclaiming: “I spit on false gods and on wicked altars, I believe in the true God and join the Christian Church.” The stepmother, brothers and all the family (the father was not at home), with other relatives and neighbors, tearfully asked her to leave such a matter, not to dishonor her family by not giving herself up to torment without permission; but she didn’t want to listen to them. When her father returned, he first beat her without mercy, then begged her with tears; Finally, seeing her inflexibility and preventing publicity, he himself informed Maviptis, the chief of the magicians, about everything. The magicians were summoned to the fire church to judge the apostate from the faith of their ancestors; Many people gathered there, including Christians. Maviptis asked: “Why did you reject your native gods and traditions, and accepted another faith?” Sira: “every sane person is not like dumb animals, following without reasoning after those who gave birth to them, but follows the path that he finds best, and does not follow his erring ancestors to death; and I, seeing the Christian faith as better than ungodliness, rejected the worst and chose the better.” Maviptis: “Maiden, you will be given over to many torments if you do not listen to us.” Sira, putting her hand on her neck, said: “Cut it off, you have the power, that’s all I’m telling you.” She did not respond to the judge’s further words, but read psalms to herself, incomprehensible to magicians. And one of the magicians said: “She is echoing some kind of Christian teaching.” Then Maviptis ordered to call the bishop to confirm whether the girl was expressing Christian thoughts? Having been asked about the words spoken by the girl, the bishop confirmed that these were indeed Christian words. Then Maviptis ordered to beat her on the lips and threatened her with fierce torment, but, not wanting to inform the king about such an incident in the house and family of the famous magician, he instructed his father to take care of her in his house and try more with caresses than threats to return her to the faith of her ancestors. It happened that a certain noble Persian dignitary came to Seleucia, and the father again complained about the stubbornness of his daughter and the hatred of Christians, as if they were plotting against him and wanted to stone him. The dignitary sent deliberate husbands to ask the girl why she left her father’s faith, and with kind words to turn her away from Christianity. And since she answered the messengers that she was ready to suffer and die for the name of Christ, she was taken to a public prison and kept in chains without bread and without water for three days. And when even after this she remained firm in her confession, she was thrown into the eternal pit, deep and stinking, and spent fifteen days there; finally returned to the general prison again and Christians were not forbidden to visit it. When the holiday in honor of all the Persian martyrs was approaching and a service was to take place in one of the houses of prayer outside the city, the saint also wished. Sira went there at night for an all-night vigil, and some of the faithful gave her gifts to the guards and gave her the opportunity to do so. So, having changed her clothes, she attended the service. “On another night, having been released from prison with bail and money, she went to the bishop and received baptism from him in the church in the city,” says Chet-Minea, based on later news, because in the Greek monument, written when the participants in this case were still alive, we read the following. “And how and with whose participation the sacrament of baptism was performed on her, I consider it useful to remain silent due to the present state of affairs; I will only note here that, with the written permission of the bishop, while still in prison, she received baptism in the most holy church of that city.” At this time, an embassy was expected from the Roman emperor to the Persian court, and the magicians, fearing that the Roman ambassador would not take part in Sira and would not ask the king for her freedom, decided to quickly send her to trial before the king, who was then in the Median city of Advak (Ἀλουὰκων - now Alibok, in Mazanderan). And they sent her there, putting a seal on her neck, according to their prevailing custom, so that the soldiers would not present another person or say that she had died on the way, because it was impossible to erase such a seal without cutting off her head. In Alwak, Sira was handed over to the commander of that region, who, after vain persuasion, ordered her to be stripped of the clothes usual for noble women, clothed in dirty rags, and given into the custody of the Jews. And the Jews, having taken her chained, shut her up in a dark church and gave her enough barley bread for food so that she would not die of hunger, reproaching her and blaspheming her and her faith. After eleven days, she was presented to the judge of the chief of the magicians, who, hearing from her a firm confession of the Christian faith and a refutation of the Persian doctrine, decided to again give her into the custody of the Jews and not allow any Christians to see her. And before returning her to prison, the Persians, drawing a sword in front of her, swore to kill her if she did not follow the convictions of the chief of the magicians. Three days later, the chief official over the prisons transferred Sira from a Jewish prison to another - and he did this for his own profit, because Christians paid a lot of money for permission to visit the prisoner. Meanwhile, the king wanted to move to another city, Resankusadon; The nobles and the chief of the magicians went with him. Following them, Sira and other prisoners were led there. And when there was a stop in Kars the Great, the chief of the magicians and other dignitaries once again demanded her for trial, and when she remained courageous in her confession, they decided that she was “guilty of death, because she blasphemes the gods, and humiliates the king, and swears at the authorities,” and they ordered to put a brand on her neck again, to prevent her from being replaced by another person. However, the execution was postponed for some time and scheduled for another place, for fear of unrest from Christians. So, given into the custody of the chief of the infantry, she was brought after the king to the Betarmai region and here she was killed in the following way. When they brought her to the place of execution and threw a noose around her neck, they did not immediately strangle her, but tightened the noose so that the martyr could barely breathe, they weakened her and announced that she would be spared if she renounced the Christian faith. But the saint answered: “Do what you are commanded, do not break your laws.” And then a second time, having tightened the noose and loosened it, they asked Sira to renounce Christ, but received the same answer. After this, the noose was finally tightened, and thus the martyr passed away from her earthly career on the 28th day of the month of Perithia (February) in the year 870 according to the Syrian reckoning (i.e. 558 according to ours). Her body was taken by the faithful and buried with honor in some secret place (See Acta ss. May 18). On the same day St. sacred martyr Eutychus, disciple of John the Theologian. A Palestinian by birth, a student of St. John the Evangelist and Bishop of Sevastopol; For preaching the gospel he was persecuted and died in prison. † On the same day of St. Arseny of Komel The Monk Arseny, from the family of nobles Sukharusov 214, was born in Moscow and, while still a young man, took monastic vows at the monastery of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Here he taught himself piety through obedience; here in 1506, from the Pechenga list obtained by Prince Yuri († 1434), “the many-sinful monk Arsenishko-Sukharusov wrote the gospel,” which is now located in the Arsenievo Komel monastery. This gospel is precious for our time, both because it was written by a great ascetic, and because it was written without the arrangement of words, with a period and a colon, it is a list from a very ancient original. The monk in the afterword said: “If, due to sin, the inventory is in knowledge or ignorance: correct it for God’s sake, for many Novgorod proverbs have come, but the accursed one is poor in mind, judge on this is rude and lackluster, small in mind” 215. Here is the saint’s instruction for unreasonable readers of antiquity! At the monastery of Sergius, Arseny succeeded so much in monastic life that he was not only awarded the rank of priesthood, but was also appointed abbot of the monastery of Sergius. This was in 1525. With the wealth of income that the monastery of Sergius then had, Rev. Arseny did not change in his love for poverty and fasting. Once in J. Vasily came on a pilgrimage to the monastery of Sergius and on the abbot of the rich monastery he saw clothes torn and sewn with patches. To the question of the astonished one. The prince's brethren answered: “Our abbot is a true servant of God and lives in God; but he only thinks about how to leave us and retire into the silent desert.” V. the prince was sorry if the monastery lost such a rector, and the brethren asked him to keep the blessing. their mentor with them. V. Prince convinced Arseny to stay for some time in the Sergius Monastery, and Arseny fulfilled his will. prince But at the end of 1527 he left the abbess 216 and went to the Komel forest. On the banks of the Kokhtyzha and Lezha rivers there was such wilderness at that time that the monk, weighing a heavy wooden cross on himself for humility, stumbled and the cross fell from the worker’s shoulders; a heavenly ray that illuminated the ascetic at that very moment forced him to stop in place; labor erected a cross here. He built himself a hut near the cross and began to struggle in silent solitude. This place is 36 miles from Vologda, and is still surrounded by bogs and swamps. The peasants, who came here either to cut wood or to hunt animals, considered Arseniy’s cell a nuisance and killed the cell elder Arseniyev. Giving room to anger, the monk went to the Shilegon forest, to the Ingor or Maslyanka river, and here he began to struggle. People began to come to him for instructions as a zealot of piety. Meanwhile, the godless Tatars attacked the Vologda country, betraying everything to fire and sword. Residents fled in droves from villages to the Shilegon forest. The barbarians tried to penetrate here, but were restrained by an invisible force. And yet the desert silence had already been driven out from here by the exiles who settled near the desert 217. The lover of silence, entrusting the silent “Arseniev Hermitage” to one of his students, decided to settle again in the Komel Forest. He went to Moscow to seek protection from the self-will of people. Vel. Prince Vasily respected Elder Arseny so much that in February. In 1530 he issued a charter to protect his peace. The letter strictly prohibited everyone “near the desert of Elder Arseny Sukharusov, in the Komel forest on the river. Kokhtyzhe,” to chop wood, establish a new settlement, chase animals and take over the land or forest 218. Protected by such a letter, Rev. Arseny settled with his disciple Gerasim in the place where he had previously erected his cross, and began to clear the forest. It was not the people who began to disturb him, but with his bestial prayer he humbled them and the bears gave up their dens to him. When several disciples gathered to him: he, with the blessing of Vologda Bishop Alexy, erected a church in honor of the position of the robe of the Mother of God in Blachernae. In 1539 Prince Vasily issued an unconvicted letter to Elder Arseny, so that no secular authorities would extend their power not only to those living in the desert monastery of Arseny, but also to the peasants who would begin to settle under the authority of his monastery, no further than 5 miles from the monastery 219. In 1543 Prince John Vasilyevich granted abbot Arseny his charter, by which his monastery with its estates was freed both from the jurisdiction of the worldly authorities and from stationing 220. Rev. Arseny did not forget his Shilegon desert. From time to time he visited her. On the way from one desert to another, he had the custom of talking about the salvation of the soul with those who met him, stopping in villages, and edifying ordinary people with saving words. If he noticed that someone was working in the field on a holiday or on Sunday, he severely rebuked him for it. Once the villagers disobeyed him, they did not stop working on the holiday and a suddenly rising wind scattered all their sheaves. Having spent a long monastic life 221 in fasting, prayer and incessant labor, the monk before his death communed with St. Tain and peacefully surrendered his spirit to the Lord, Aug. 24. 1550 222 . The holy body of the ascetic of God was laid near the altar of the church he built. Subsequently, his relics were marked by many healings 223. A hundred years after his death, a stone church with a side chapel was built in the monastery in honor of St. Arseny, where his relics rest hidden 224. What does the life of a teacher say to everyone? Arsenia? “If you want to enter into eternal life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). Not everyone who says to Me: Lord, Lord! He who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:22). This is what Venerable Arseny tells you through his ascetic life. Transfer of the relics of St. Peter, Metropolitan. Moscow The honest body of St. Peter the Metropolitan upon his repose was laid in the Moscow Cathedral Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, near St. altar - in the place prepared by the saint himself. From the day of his repose, the tomb of the saintly deceased became a refuge for believers; in cancer St. Peter, Orthodox Christians flocked to pray, kissed her with reverence and received grace-filled help. In 1380 St. Peter Metropolitan appeared on the night before the Battle of the Don and was visible in the air with a golden rod, with which he struck the enemies of the fatherland. St. appeared in the same form. Peter in 1395 and was loath to attack Moscow by Tamerlane. According to these phenomena, to protect the fatherland from the enemies of St. Peter in Russian chronicles is called the protector of the Russian land. Kings and patriarchs in their letters called St. Peter the great wonderworker. The glory of this first of the Moscow metropolitans, a miracle worker, had already spread to all ends of Russia, when his honest and multi-healing relics, on the occasion of the construction of a new and vast Assumption Church in Moscow, instead of the dilapidated church that had stood for 146 years, were found incorrupt in the 15th century. In 1472, by the will of Grand Duke John III Vasilyevich and with the blessing of Moscow Metropolitan Philip, the tomb of St. Peter Metropolitan, and St. his relics, according to the chronicle, “like the light of Siyahu,” and the coffin in which they rested fell apart from fire during the capture of Moscow by Tokhtamysh; On this occasion, Tokhtamysh opened the coffin of St. Peter, expecting something hidden in him. After the construction of a reliquary for the relics of the saint in the newly built church, the feast of the transfer of the venerable relics, like the Saints of our Father Peter, Metropolitan and Wonderworker of all Russia, was celebrated and forever established. On the occasion of the fall of the newly built church, in which the relics of the saint were located, they were transferred a second time in 1475 to the Church of St. John the Climacus, and after the completion of the Assumption Cathedral, in 1479 they were transferred here for the third time and placed under cover. After this transfer of the relics of St. Peter, the feast of their transfer is set on the 24th day of August. After the establishment of this holiday, Pachomius the Serbian, a monk of the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius, on instructions from his superiors at the end of the 15th century, wrote two canons for the transfer of the relics of St. Peter. In 1547, after a fire that destroyed almost all the Kremlin buildings in Moscow and destroyed the roofs and porches of the Assumption Cathedral, the relics of St. Peter's Church were transferred to the Chudov Monastery and, during the restoration of the cathedral, they were placed there in a new golden shrine, built by John Vasilyevich ΙΥ, in 1555 on the occasion of the birth of Tsarevich John. In your calendar, printed in Moscow in 1648, on the 4th of August, it is noted: “St. Peter the Metropolitan appeared to the pious Queen Anastasia, without commanding anyone to open his coffin ever, and commanded her to seal her shrine with her seal, and on that day he established this holiday to celebrate.” During the possession of Moscow by the Poles, the golden shrine of St. Metropolitan Peter was cut into pieces, which were divided among the blasphemers. The relics were placed under cover in a new wooden shrine, bound in silver. From the patriarchal charter it is clear that on the feast of St. Peter of 1679–1684, part of his relics from the patriarch was brought to the Assumption Cathedral and placed on the lectern or on the tomb of the saint. Until 1812 they lay hidden, sealed and locked. Napoleon destroyed the tomb, probably with the same sacrilegious intent as Tokhtamysh. With the permission of St. Synod, His Eminence Augustine of Moscow solemnly opened St. the relics of Metropolitan Peter, at the consecration of the first chapel church of the Assumption Cathedral, where they rest. The Church in its hymns calls the day of the transfer of the relics of St. Peter an all-honorable holiday, cheering both the emperor and the people. “As the doctor is abundant and the source of miracles is abundant, today your spiritual child has come together with love to transfer your honorable relics, Bishop Peter, we pray to you: pray to Christ God, to grant victorious through your honorable transfer to our Emperor.” After the appearance and transfer of the relics of St. Peter the Metropolitan chronicles call him a new wonderworker, and show the Orthodox growing reverence for him. Before his tomb, kings pray with their subjects when they are crowned kings; in days of disaster, Orthodox Christians and kings resort to the miracle worker with prayer for help and intercession, as to a great lamp and guardian of the Church and the Fatherland. All items that were in St. Peter the Metropolitan, such as: the cross with which he once blessed John Kalita, the sakkos, icons, panagia and archpastoral staff or staff, after the repose of the saint became sacred and lofty monuments for rights. Christian. Celebration of the Petrine Icon of the Mother of God The Petrovskaya icon is called the icon painted by St. Peter, Metropolitan of All Russia. Although, according to ancient legends, they painted the icons of the Mother of God of Vladimir, who resides in the cathedral of Vladimir, and the Assumption, located in Moscow. Usp. Cathedral, but under the name Petrovskaya, the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, painted by St. Peter, when he was abbot in Volyn. The following is known about this icon: it happened to Metropolitan Maxim, who at that time adorned the throne of all Rus', to pass through Russian land from Vladimir. Peter came to the saint with his brethren to receive a blessing from him, and brought an image of the Dormition of the Lady, which he himself painted; The saint, having blessed it, joyfully accepted the image of the Most Pure One, decorated it with gold and expensive stones, and until the end of his life he reverently kept it in his cell, praying day and night before this icon for the observance of the Russian land entrusted to him. When the pious Metropolitan Maxim reposed in the city of Vladimir, then a certain abbot Gerontius decided to seize the rank of priesthood. Taking the holy utensils, the pastoral staff and the very icon that Blessed Peter painted, he and the church dignitaries obedient to him went to Constantinople, as if already having what he wanted in his hands; The whole Russian land heard about this with displeasure. Prince Yuri of Galicia, indignant at Gerontievo’s arrogance, turned to Blessed Peter, begging him to go to Constantinople to prevent Gerontius. Peter bowed to his prayers and set out on a long journey, not knowing that he himself would be given the rank of metropolitan. The voyage of Gerontievo was unsuccessful; A terrible storm arose, contrary winds and high waves delayed the progress of the ship: Petrov’s ship, on another strip of the Black Sea, was favored by a quiet fair wind, in which, as if in a dream, he swam across the abyss and reached the Tsaregrad pier. At night, in the middle of a storm, the Mother of God appeared to Gerontius, in the form as she is written on the icon of St. Peter, and sternly reproached Gerontius: “You are working in vain, having undertaken such a long journey, for the priesthood that you wanted to capture will not be entrusted to you; but the one who wrote me, Peter, abbot of Ratsky, servant of my Son and God, will be elevated to the supreme throne of the Russian metropolis, and will adorn it, and will shepherd his people, for whom my Son and Lord Jesus shed His blood, borrowed from me and having lived so godly, in his venerable old age, he will joyfully go to the desired of his Lord and supreme bishop.” Gerontius arose in horror from sleep and a terrible vision, which he told to everyone who was with him on the ship and told everyone: “We work in vain, brothers, for we will not get what we want.” After much exhaustion from the storm, he was barely able to reach Constantinople: but there the Monk Peter had already preceded him. Patriarch Athanasius then adorned the ecumenical see with his virtues. He received Peter with joy and dedicated him as metropolitan of the entire Russian land. A few days later, Gerontius sailed to Constantinople, tired of the storm, and, appearing to the patriarch, although against his will, he was forced to tell a dream vision that he had at sea. The Patriarch took from him the priestly vestments and the pastoral staff, with the honorable icon of St. Peter, and handed all this into the hands of the lawful saint. “Receive the holy image of the Mother of God, which you wrote with your own hands,” the patriarch told him, for for this reason the Lady herself gave you a gift, having predicted about you.” In 1325, when the metropolis moved from Vladimir to Moscow, the Petrovskaya icon was moved here by Metropolitan Peter and is located in the Assumption Cathedral. This icon was especially revered in ancient times. Grand Duke John Vasilyevich III prayed before him, as well as before Vladimirskaya. RKP. life of the Rev. Arseny at Tsarskoe No. 134. It was written after the fire of 1598, which destroyed the ancient life. That's why there are chronological errors in it. These errors are repeated even in the new edition of the Dictionary of Saints, pp. 36. 37. East. Hier. 3, 296. Mater. statistics page 70. Volog. lips led 1848 No. 40. Histor. description Sergius Lavra. M. 1742, p. 67. East. Hier. 3, 279. Information. about mon. p. 71. Vologda. lips Ved. 1848 No. 39. Gram. in history Hier. 3. 280–282. Gram. in history Hier. 3. 283–985. Vologda Bishop Alexy ruled the flock from 1523 to 1537. Hier. 1,350. Certificate in history Hier. 3, 286–290. Prologue: “the saint of all lived in his monastery in the Komel forest and in the desert on Shilinga for 45 years, in fasting, prayer and incessant labors”; 45 years were the years of his entire monastic life. Otherwise, from 1528, when he left the Lavra, until Aug. 1550 22 years have passed. The prologue places his death in August 1550; RKP. Saints: “Reverend Arseny Abbot of Komel, who was in the monastery of the Lord’s robe, on Lezha Retsa, reposed in the summer of 7058 months. August 24th." If this testimony about the year of death is correct, then Gerasim, whom we see as the builder of the Arseniy Hermitage in June 1550 (historical Jer. 291. 282), was appointed builder during the life of the Venerable. Arseny, according to his appointment. In the RKP. The Life of the Tsar No. 134 describes 17 miracles of the saint, the last of which took place in 1657.