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Holy Martyrs of the Three Sisters: Agapia, Chionia and Irene During the persecution instituted by Diocletian, when all the prisons of Rome were filled with Christians, Elder Chrysogonus was their comforter and mentor. He tirelessly kept vigil over those who faced a difficult test, he prepared them for martyrdom. – Such influential opposition to their efforts to exterminate Christians could not be hidden from the persecutors. Chrysogonus was taken and put to death (he is commemorated on December 22). His headless body was thrown on the seashore. Near this place lived the Christian priest Zoilus, and next door to him three virgin sisters lived a solitary, pious life: Agapia, Chionia and Irina. Presbyter Zoilus, having learned whose body lay unburied, took it and kept it in his house. On the 30th day after his death, the martyr Chrysogonus appeared in a dream to the presbyter and said to him: “let it be known to you that over the next nine days three virgins living near you will be taken to torture. Tell God's servant Anastasia 217 to take care of them and prepare them for the upcoming trial and martyrdom... And be calm about yourself: soon you will receive reward from the Lord for your labors and rest with the saints... Anastasia had a similar dream. She found out where three Christian sisters lived, hurried to them and spent the whole night talking with them and preparing them for the feat ahead of them. They did not have to stay long waiting for him... The young girls were taken for confessing the faith of Christ and imprisoned. Their young age seemed to give hope that it would not be difficult to persuade them to renounce the faith, and therefore no admonitions, no brilliant promises, no threats were neglected, finally, in order to influence them in the desired sense... But the Christians, wise from above, were able to irrefutably object to all the ungodly admonitions; imbued with faith in a future eternally blissful life, they could not be seduced by the promise of earthly joys; Those who carry God in their souls did not stop behind the ghosts of threats, to see His image, promising eternal bliss to those who do not depart from Him... And therefore, no matter how great the efforts of the mighty of the earth were to seduce these three humble souls from the path of truth, who had not yet been strengthened by everyday experience, one spark of Divine truth, kindled in their souls, was enough to incinerate human untruth and at the same time gain victory over death... Soon their earthly fate was decided: people pronounced a death sentence on them... Having learned that they were doomed to be burned, the Christian women exclaimed: “We thank You, Lord Jesus Christ, for bringing us to be confessors of Your name!” Agapia and Chionia were thrown into a fiery furnace, and they prayerfully gave up their souls to God. Anastasia the Pattern Maker, who dedicated herself to serving Christian prisoners and caring for the burial of the remains of the martyrs, accepted the bodies of Agapia and Chionia, which remained intact, and secretly buried them. The next day, one of the supreme judges, Sisinius, calling on the youngest of the sisters, Irina, threatened her with shame and torment, but she firmly answered him: “What the soul does not deign to do, God does not put into sin! The saints who previously suffered for Christ, whose tormentors forcibly poured the blood of idolatrous victims into their mouths, were not defiled... I do not care about what you do to my body: whether you give it up to desecration, wounds or fire, I am ready to endure everything for the name of my God! Irina was taken out of town. One of Sisinius' warriors pierced her with an arrow. Dying, she joyfully exclaimed: “I’m going to my blessed sisters!” It was on Good Friday and when night fell, St. Anastasia sent her servants to take the holy body of the martyr and buried it with the bodies of her holy sisters. St. New Martyr Michael Vourliot The eighteen-year-old young man Mikhail, a commoner (copper worker by trade), can serve as a brilliant example of the sincerity, depth and reality of repentance. Having met with one Mohammedan, due to his inexperience, he succumbed to his influence and was driven to the point that he renounced Christianity. This happened at the beginning of Great Lent, and in the first time after his renunciation, being in the service of his seducer, therefore, continuing to be under his influence, the unfortunate young man was not aware of the entire abyss of his fall, did not realize his immeasurable loss... But then the bright Easter of the Lord came, the great Christian holiday - and love for Christ awoke in the heart of one who had been brought up in the Christian faith... A habitual desire attracted him to his native church. And “Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen! - he was greeted and surrounded by his family and cherished exclamations! Everyone rejoiced... everyone greeted each other, merging their hearts in a brotherly, joyful kiss... Michael, an apostate from God, alone remained as if alien to everyone... He exchanged his cross for the turban of Mohammed... Christians did not share Divine joy with him... Does he have a place among those glorifying the Resurrection of Christ? But his soul also rejoices and glorifies the Lord and burns with fiery love... He is not a stranger, he is Christ’s, he feels that he has not ceased to be Christ’s... “I am Yours! I am Yours together with Yours! - his whole soul cries out to the God of his childhood, “and I sing and praise: Christ is Risen! and nothing will tear me away from the Risen Christ! And my cry to Him will not cease until the end of my life... Oh, I will loudly sing the glory of my Father in the ears of the unbelievers! And nothing but death will force my lips, singing the Risen Christ, to silence... But there is no death! The Risen One defeated her... He also resurrected my dead soul... I live again... I love and confess Christ - the One God! The rescue of the deceased was completed. Having realized his guilt with immeasurable grief, he was inflamed with an immeasurable impulse to renounce it. Repentance gripped his soul and burned away the sin in it... “However, one who has been in turmoil should not sing with us: Christ is Risen!” - other Christians remarked to Michael, seeing that he was taking part in the celebration of Him whom he had renounced... - Tomorrow you will see who I am! - said Mikhail. And the next morning he goes to the judge and says to him: “Tell me, judge, is he not reckless and ridiculous who exchanged gold for lead? Isn't such an act stupid? But if this exchange was made out of ignorance or deception, then judge: is it legal and is it possible for the deceived to take back his gold and return the lead? “It’s possible and legal,” answered the judge. “If so,” said Michael, “then allow me to give back the lead that they gave me for my gold; allow me to renounce the false faith and return to myself the gold - the faith of my fathers... And then, in the presence of everyone and in the hearing of all, Michael confessed Christ - the One true God and Judge of all. Musselim and all the Turks present were amazed at the audacity of the young man. Wanting to keep among their number the Christian youth attracted to their faith, they used all measures to convince him, but seeing that neither flattering promises, nor threats, nor imprisonment were able to shake his firmness in confessing the name of Christ, they condemned him to death. Mikhail joyfully accepted the news of his death sentence... He calmly went to execution, with words and signs asking for forgiveness from all the Christians who had gathered to see him off, and, fearlessly bowing his head under the sword, he atoned for his retreat with a martyr's death... His body lay unburied for three days and then was thrown into the sea. This was in Smyrna, in 1772. The waves carried the remains of the martyr Michael to the far shore and were found by Christians, who honorably buried them in the church of St. Photinia. St. Martyr Leonidas. Suffered in Corinth; after suffering, thrown into the sea with a stone around his neck, 281 years old. † Memory of St. Princess Theodora The daughter of the Tver boyar Anastasia (Vassa) Ivanovna, even in her youth, loved to read edifying books and wanted to devote herself to God. She was a little over 12 years old when the pious Prince Andrei Konstantinovich of Nizhny Novgorod asked her parents for her hand in marriage, and in fulfillment of the will of her parents, she entered into marriage. “Neither honors nor wealth attracted her soul. “Under rich clothes she wore the body of a strict fasting woman and often remained in prayer. Prince Andrei was meek, pious, virtuous, and after 13 years of married, but childless, life, he died as a monk 218. His princess remained in the world as a widow for 4 years. Then, having given freedom to all servants, distributing wealth to churches and the poor, in the 40th year of her life she entered the Conception Monastery, built by her during the life of her husband, on the banks of the river. Volga, at the foot of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. – The Monk Dionysius, later Archbishop of Suzdal, tonsured her into monasticism with the name of Theodora. In monasticism, she increased severity towards herself: she remained without food for a day, sometimes two, and sometimes five days; spent nights in tearful prayers; She acquired food for herself through the labor of her own hands. She wore a hair shirt and no shirt on her body. “If a king, said an experienced ascetic, wants to take an enemy city, then first of all he withholds water and food supplies, and the enemy, exhausted from hunger and thirst, surrenders. The same thing happens with carnal passions. If a person remains in fasting, the enemies, weakened, leave the soul” 219. This is what the blessed one did with herself. Theodora. But she also tried to teach herself humility and love. No matter how they insulted her and no matter who insulted her, she endured everything with kindness. The example of her strict life attracted others: princesses and boyars entered the monastery of Conception, and up to 100 virgins and widows, under her supervision, lived in the monastery according to the rules of the hostel. The ascetic princess died at the age of 47 in 1378 220. Celebration of the Ilinsk-Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God In the Trinity Ilyinsky Monastery, near Chernigov, on Boldina Mountain there is a miraculous image of the Mother of God, called Ilyinsky-Chernigovsky. It was written in 1658 by the monk Gennady Konstantinovich Dubensky, who before becoming a monk was called Gregory. In 1662, under Archbishop Lazar Baranovich of Chernigov and Abbot Zosima of the Ilinsky Monastery, tears flowed from this icon, as a sign of love, for eight days, from April 16 to April 24. Almost all residents of Chernigov witnessed this. In the same year, 1662, the Tatars raided Chernigov and destroyed all the surrounding villages, but the monks of the Elias Monastery did not know about the proximity of the enemies. At night they received the news, gathered in church, prayed in it, and hid in the Antonieva cave. At midnight the Tatars burst into the monastery, entered the church, overturned all the icons, took all the church utensils, but the miraculous icon remained untouched with all its decorations. An invisible force did not allow the barbarians to touch St. icon; the same invisible force did not allow them to enter the cave where the monks were hiding, although they made many attempts to do so, running up with lit splinters and drawn swords, but always, as if torn off, they left without attack. Saint Demetrius of Rostov, concluding his book: “The Irrigated Fleece,” in which he counted 24 miracles from the icon of the Mother of God of Elias, says: “the end of the book, but not the miracles of the Most Holy Theotokos: who can count me.” Now this icon is located in the Chernigov Elias Monastery, in the Church of the Holy Trinity, on the right side. Anastasia the Pattern Maker (comm. December 22) was a student of Chrysoganus and a zealous Christian. According to the Trinity Chronicle. (Karamz. 5, pr. 4) book. Andrei died in Chernetsy on June 2, 1365. Nikon. l. 4, 8. 78. Step. book 1,486. John Kolov in Ven. tale, p. 121. M. 1846 Trinity letop. at Karamz. 5, pr. 4. Nikon. l. 4, 78. 79. Step. book 1, 482. 483. In Nikon. l. and in the steppe book Apparently, there is a church legend about St. princess. It ends with the words: “To Him be glory forever and ever, Amen.” RKP. Saints: “The Holy and Blessed Princess Vassa, in the monastery of Theodora, who created it in Nizhny Novegrad, in the Conception Monastery, died there in the summer of 6800. Then she was transferred to the cathedral church and placed on the right side at the western gate.” Here, in the Spassky Cathedral, even now her relics rest in secret. - Swede. about the monastery, p. 367. 364. Nizheg. Lip. Led. 1847 No. 5.