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Holy Hieromartyr Januarius the bishop and with him Proculus (Proclus), Sossius and Faustus the deacons, Disiderius the reader, Eutyches and Akution the laity In the life story of Ianuarius, as in the life story of many martyrs marvelously glorified by God, you don’t know what to be more surprised at: the boundless power of the miracles that took place over them, or the boundless blindness and bitterness of the souls that remained in unbelief and insensibility even when amazing miraculous phenomena took place in their presence, so to speak, with their own eyes, with which the Lord deigns at certain times to mark His Divine power... St. Ianuarius, who was a bishop in the Campanian region in Italy, was given over to torture for the faith of Christ during the persecution under Diocletian. But then, thrown into a red-hot furnace, he emerges from it unharmed... Brought out the next day to be devoured by beasts along with other Christians: Proculus and Sossius, Faustus and Desiderius, clergy in the city of Puteoli, and laymen: Eutychius and Akution - Ianuarius and his squad remain untouchable: the animals with meekness fall at the feet of the bishop to the general amazement countless crowds of people... The ruler of Campania, Timothy, who handed over Christians to torture, is not amazed, however, by such a miracle of God’s preservation; In his spiritual blindness, he attributes this miracle to magic... and, as if as punishment for his blindness, which comes from insensibility, at that moment he becomes blind with his bodily eyes... But even this does not awaken in him either thoughts or feelings... Then the Lord, who always seeks the salvation of sinners, deigns to act on him with mercy. He gives the kindly martyr Ianuarius the power to heal a blind man. But the joy of healing does not touch the hardened heart, while five thousand pagans, witnesses of these miracles, at the same time turn to the true God. But the more abundant the grace of the Lord is, the more evil the blinded soul becomes and does not tolerate, but puts to death those enlightened by the truth... All of them are with St. by the bishop, at the command of Timothy, they were taken outside the city and executed by the sword. Their holy remains were taken by residents of different places; the body of St. Ianuarius was transferred to Naples, where his memory is still reverently revered, and the Neapolitans consider him their protector and patron, who never ceases to pour out his miraculous help on them, confirmed by “reliable witnesses, eliminating all forgery” 271. Appearance of St. Januarius to Saint Paulinus before his death (431) was described by Presbyter Uranius, who was present at the death of Paulinus, in his letter, from which it is clear that St. Ianuarius was then especially revered in Naples 272. Fire-breathing Vesuvius once suddenly stopped spewing flames when the people, struck by horror, gathered at the tomb of the martyr and prayed to him for their salvation... Is it really possible to count all the miracles! God is infinitely marvelous in His saints! Holy Martyr, Queen Alexandra St. Alexander was the wife of the emperor. Diocletiana and the Hidden Christian; courage, firmness in confession and the miracles of the Great Martyr George aroused in her zeal for the faith, and she publicly confessed Christ. Condemned to death by Diocletian, on the way to the place of execution she betrayed her spirit to God (304). † Repose of Saint Niphon, Saint of Novgorod Blessed parents Nifonta, in the world of Nikita, there were pious and wealthy people who lived near Kyiv, and they taught their son book teaching and the fear of God 273. After their death, their good son distributed his property to the poor, devoted himself to monastic life in the Pechersk Monastery, and here he labored diligently and for a long time in fasting and prayer 274 . His acquaintance with the local customs of the Greek Church, which is so evident in his answers to Cyricus, shows that he traveled in the east 275. At the end of 1129, John, Bishop of Novgorod, left the department and Nifont was installed in his place (Jan. 1, 1130), as a God-fearing man and a saint in life 276. In 1135 we see the blessed one. Nifont as a reconciliator between the Kievites and the Chernigovites 277. Under 1136, the ancient chronicle contained news, but not entirely clear, about his pastoral disposition on the occasion of the marriage of Prince Svyatoslav. According to the chronicle, when the prince got married in Novgorod, “their priests married him at St. Nicholas, but Nifont did not marry him, did not allow either the priests or the monks to be at the wedding and said: you should not take her.” What was the reason for the ban is not stated 278. – Tatishchev’s chronicle says that the prince’s servants killed the bride’s father 279. If this is so, then it remains to be assumed that the truth-loving shepherd demanded that the crime be punished in advance by strict repentance. - Be that as it may, only Prince Svyatoslav recognized the shepherd’s act as fair and was not offended by it. The following year, Svyatoslav, in agreement with the archpastor, issued a letter assigning income to the Novgorod see. Instead of collecting tithes for the department and for the prince, the prince assigned 100 hryvnias of silver for the department and a certain tax from some places, which all amounted to 250 pounds of silver for an annual income of 280. St. Niphon magnificently restored the St. Sophia Church and built the stone Church of the Assumption; near Pskov, on Zavelichye, he built a stone church of the Savior in a monastery; here to this day they show his cup, carved from a tree root and set with silver 281. In 1147, a difficult time began for him. V. book. Izyaslav proposed to the council of shepherds to consecrate the recluse Clement as metropolitan, without communication with Constantinople. Onuphry, Bishop of Chernigov, and three bishops with him said that according to ancient rules, three bishops can appoint the first bishop of the region. Niphon and with him the Greek Manuel, Bishop of Smolensk, argued that the metropolitan was consecrated by the patriarch. Clement, despite Niphon's disagreement, was dedicated in Kyiv 282. – In 1148, at the request of the Novgorodians, Nifont went to Suzdal to make peace with the Suzdal prince, and Yuri, Izyaslav’s enemy, honorably received the shepherd who opposed Izyaslav’s wishes, agreed to release the prisoners with Nifont, received him kindly and with honor. He wished that Bl. Nifont consecrated new churches in Suzdal. And according to the chronicle, Nifont in Suzdal “Church of the Holy St. Theotokos is of great sanctity." The antimension, consecrated in 1148 for the church of St., is still intact. George “from Nifont, Archbishop of Novgorod, by order of Bishop Nestor of Rostov, with the reverend. Princes George to the son of Monomakhov." This inscription shows that Nifont, with all his desire to please the prince. Yuri, he allowed himself to consecrate a church not in his diocese except by asking the permission of the local archpastor 283. The following year, Nifont, for not remembering the new metropolitan in his prayers, was summoned to Kyiv and imprisoned in the Pechersk Monastery, but not for long. In the same year, Yuri captured Kiev and released Nifont to Novgorod, where he was greeted with joy. In 1153, Niphon founded the stone church of St. Clement. Meanwhile, Izyaslav again entered Kyiv, and Clement remained at the metropolitan see until the beginning of 1155 - Bl. Niphon, no matter how much they persuaded him with affection and threats to submit to Clement, did not abandon his convictions about Clement 284 and sought protection from the patriarch 285. P. Nikolai wrote to him in his letter: “We wish the Holy Spirit, the son and co-servant of our humility, the good shepherd of the intelligent sheep, Mr. Bishop Nifont of Novgorod, to rejoice in the Lord. We have heard about your innocent suffering, which you endure for God for Metropolitan Clement, who without our blessing, autocratically captured the Kyiv Metropolis; We heard that you condemn such insolence of him, do not want to serve with him in a holy manner, do not remember him in the sacred service, and have suffered a lot of annoyance and insults from him. But you, holy father, suffer still for the sake of truth, for the Lord, and do not weaken before that asp and his advisers, in order to be counted among the saints who suffered for Orthodoxy; show an example of patience to the saints who are to be in the Russian land, and to all the people. - Peace be with you, father! May the blessing of our humility be upon you, sufferer of Christ, forever, amen” 286. When circumstances changed in Russia, Constantinople did not hesitate to elect and ordain a new Metropolitan of Greece. And Niphon, having received news from Constantine that Constantine had already gone to Russia, hurried to Kyiv to meet the much-desired metropolitan; but the good-natured shepherd, who always acted according to the conviction of his conscience, met Konstantin in another life. In Kyiv blessed. Nifont became very ill. “Three days before his dying illness, he had a wonderful dream. “After leaving Matins, so he said, I lay down to rest and now I see myself in the Pechersk Church, in the place of the Saint; I prayed for a long time with tears before St. Mother of God, so that I could see Father Theodosius; Many brothers gathered in the church, and one of them said to me: do you want to see Father Theodosius? I answered: if possible, show me. And he took me and led me to the altar, and here he showed me Father Theodosius. I approached, bowed to him and stood up; he hugged me and said: it’s good that you came, brother and son Niphon! Now you will be with us inseparably. He held the scroll in his hand and, at my request, gave it to me to look at, I unfolded it and read it; it was written in it: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given me to eat.” Then I woke up" 287. St. Niphon reposed blissfully on April 21, 1156, on Saturday of the Great, Easter Week 288. – The Novgorod chronicler, in awe of the lofty virtues of the deceased shepherd, says with sorrow: “It is only because of our sins that we are deprived of the consolation of seeing his tomb in our place” 289 . Now the answers of the blessed one are known. Nifont to the questions of Kirik, which the Aitonievsky Domestic proposed during the Council about Clement, both to his archpastor and to Metropolitan. Clement 290. Answers from the blessed one. Nifont in ancient times enjoyed the full respect of the entire Russian Church. Let's note some of them. Should livestock or poultry be slaughtered on a weekday? “This is a holy and festive day; you need to be in church and pray; but there is no sin in cutting anything on Sunday if there is a guest or another need.” – “They want to go to a foreign direction, to Jerusalem, to holy places; and now I forbid walking, I command you to do good here: is it a sin, sir, to forbid this?” - “On the contrary, you are doing very well: if they go in order to be idle, eat and drink, this is bad, forbid” 291. The most remarkable answers related to the Holy Eucharist. To the question: should I give communion to a sick person if pus flows from his mouth? St. Niphon replies, “surely it should: it is not the stench that separates from the shrine that comes from the lips of others, but the stench of sins.” - “Should I serve with one prosphora?” – “If it is far from bargaining, for example. in the village, and there is nowhere to get another prosphora, then you should serve.” For the repose he ordered to serve: “always serve with three prosphoras - one large one for taking out the Lamb, here the dead are not commemorated, and the other two for the repose” 292. – The advice is quite smart and correct! The prosphora required for the Eucharist is one large one, and the Lamb is taken out of it. This is according to the teaching of the Apostle, who says that we all partake of one bread (1 Cor. 10:17); Service books of the 14th century are also known today, where the rite of proskomedia is limited only to the preparation of the Lamb 293. For a custom funeral liturgy, Blessed. Niphon considered it appropriate that, in addition to the great one, two prosphoras should be brought, one for the commemoration of the deceased for whom the service is being performed, the other for the commemoration of other dead. But from his words there is no clear rule about a certain number of prosphoras, which the foolish zealots of antiquity argue so hotly about. In the service book of the Anthony Monastery of Nifontov’s time, the count of prosphoras is also not indicated. Here, after describing the actions over the main prosphora, the following are shown: a) the prayer, “may he receive health and salvation”; c) prayers, may the Lord remember the souls of the departed. And nothing more 294. Kirik read the rule in the meeting - to replace these liturgies: “10 liturgies, the rule says, will save you from punishment for sins of 4 months.” St. Niphon said indignantly: “What is this? The king or rich people, sinning, will give money for service, but they themselves will remain without any penance.” And while reading another rule, also not smart, he noticed: “this book is worth burning it” 295. So not everything old is sacred! And the example of St. Nifonta shows that the shepherds of the Church act sacredly, condemning something old in old books. “Months of the East”, vol. II, part II – archim. Sergius. This is what the famous Vasily says in the life of Niphon, and Varlaam in monasticism. – This is a life in a printed patericon. Novgorod. 3 pages: “taken from the Pechersk monastery, from Kyiv... It was laid down in the Kyiv caves, in the monastery, at its promise.” Collection l. 3.214.215. His answers: “In Tsarigorod, people will only become lazy if they smear them with both myrrh and oil, say, don’t smear them.” Also: “Throughout all the Greek lands and regions they do not give (prayer) to their priests’ wives” (Memory of the 12th century 176. 178). In these words one can see an “experienced man,” but in vain they want to see a Greek in them: Nifont is not just a monk who came to the Pechersk Lavra, but a tonsure monk. See Project 164. Collection l. III, 6. IV, 3. 4. Collection l. 3, 7. Nikoi, l. under 6643 Collection l. 3, 7. Basil says that Niphon prohibited marriage based on the relationship of the groom and the bride. But what kind of relationship could the prince have? Svyatoslav Olgovich with a citizen of Novgorod? The guess is stupid! Charter of 1137 in Russian. hon. I, 82–85. M. 1815, in Herberstein: cell. heg. Moscov. r. 48. Collection l. 3, 9. 12. 212. "Which bishop will decorate St. Sophia? Make the porches, make the ark, and decorate the whole inside. And in Plskov, the church of St. Savior is on the stone side, the other is St. Clement." At the bottom of the bowl is a silver plaque with the image of a cross and with the inscription: “V. L. 6664 Apr. 8, to the most pure monastery of the Spaso-Mirozhsky Monastery.” – In 1135, the stone Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was founded; but since the main builder of it is St. book Vsevolod was soon removed from Novgorod, and the church was completed only in 1144. Collection. l. 3, 7. 124. 214. IV, 4. 7. Collection l. I, 137. II, 29. 30. 79. V, 159. IX, 205. 206. Photo from the antimension - in Christ. Ancient Prokhorov 1863 2, 2–4. Izv. Academician VI, 87. 88. Probably the title of archbishop was given to Blessed Niphon only by Prince. Yuri, but not the Metropolitan. Novgorod. Chronicles say that he received the rank of archbishop from Metropolitan St. John. See September. G. Belyaev (Stories from Russian Ist. 72, 115) based on the mentioned antimension, speculates both about the Metropolis of Suzdal and about the subordination of Nifont to the Suzdal Metropolitan. But in the chronicles there is no hint that under Prince. Yuri wanted to establish a special metropolis in the north. Judging by the very name of the church, the Church of Georgiev, it is likely that the antimension was consecrated in Suzdal, at the request of Prince. Yuri, and not in Novgorod. Kievsk. letop. about Nifont: “Being jealous of the Divine, Klim forced him to serve with him; he said to him: bear the blessing received from Saint Sophia and the Holy Great Cathedral and from the Patriarch; I cannot serve the same, nor remember you in holy service, but I remember the Patriarch.” Collection l. II, 80. 45. 64. III, 10. 11. V, 160. Relations with Constantinople, of course, were not cheap for the Novgorod department. Hence the complaints of some against Nifont, although unnecessarily harsh: “I said many verbs, as if having received St. Sophia, I went to Tsargorod, and I said many verbs about her, but for my own sin.” Collection l. III, 12. “With these reproaches the virgin is saved for him, but for himself to sin.” Collection l. IX, 206. 207. Certificate of Patr. Nicholas Muzalon - in Varlaam’s life of St. Nifonta. Nikolai Muzalon was the patriarch of Kiev 1147–1152. l. under 1766: "The patriarch sent letters to him, lamenting and lamenting his saints. He becomes stronger by listening to the patriarch's letters." Collection l. 2, 79. 80. 7, 64. 9, 206. On 1 Novgorod. years. “passed away April 21st.” 1156 Collected. l. 3, 12. Also in Sof. Time 7, 64. On 2 Novgorod. and Nikon. years. “Repose on April 15, the idle week on Saturday.” In 3 and 4 Novgorod: “repose on April 18th.” Collection l. 3, 124. 179. 4, 9. 5, 160. 9, 206. On the fourth day, “repent April 8, bright weeks on Saturday.” But in 1156 the Saturday of Bright Week was April. 21 d. Therefore, undoubtedly, the blessed one. Nifont died on April 21. 1156 Varlaam at the end of his life, addressing St. Nifont, says: “pray for the most honorable bishop Macarius, who maintains the holy throne of all Russia, who ordered the conciliar celebration of your honorable memory.” So, the widespread celebration of St. Nifont was installed Metropolitan. Macarius, but in what year? Unknown. Relics of St. Nifonta now openly rests in Anthony's Cave, but Kalnofoisky has not yet shown them. Description laurels, pp. 108. 289,293. Sunday l. (7, 64) says: “it was laid down in the Feodosievo Pechera.” But all the others only say that it was laid in the Pechersky monastery. Answers of M. Clement in memory. XII century, pp. 179. 180. 196. Memory XII century, pp. 174. 173. In the Resurrection Monastery, a service book of 1380, Novgorod. St. Sophia Cathedral, one service book from the end of the 13th century, the other from the 14th century, in both liturgy with one prosphora. Izv. Academician 6, 313. 317. 7, 265. 266. Christ. Read 1863 4, 93. 94. In this service book, the litanies commemorate either the archbishop (l. 8. 12. 106. 107), then the bishop (l. 23. 33. 48. 56. 65) and so on. it was written under Nifont himself or shortly after 1165, when the custom of calling the Novgorod archpastor an archbishop had not yet been established. – In addition to the three liturgies, it contains: the rite of blessing of water on Epiphany, the rite of baptism, prayers to spiritual children on Peter’s Day, Christmas and Easter, the rite of communion for the sick. The rite of baptism shows how the saint performs baptism with confirmation with the assistance of a priest and a deacon. In memory. XII century, p. 188. 189. Description. Synod. b. 2, 281.