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Venerable Theodore, Archimandrite of Sikeot, Bishop of Anastasiopolis Theodore, nicknamed Sikeot, was born in Asia Minor, in Sycea (Sikeon in Galatia - a city with many churches - 12,000 steps from Anastasiopolis). The influence of the pious family, among whom he received his first impressions, was already noticeable on him from childhood. Sent to school when he was eight years old, he distinguished himself among all his comrades by his good behavior; He never quarreled with them and always tried to reconcile those who quarreled. Two respectable relatives lived with his parents: his grandmother and unmarried aunt, and also Elder Stefan. This elder constantly observed the strictest fast, prayed a lot, and his example had a strong effect on the boy. In imitation of him, Theodore, returning from school, often refused lunch and loved to go to pray with the elder at the nearby church of St. Great Martyr George. Sometimes he even deprived himself of sleep, spending time in church at night. His mother, seeing such zeal of the child, was afraid that he would not upset his health, so that he would not weaken in his strength. She forbade him to leave the house in the dark and even tied him to the bed so that he could not leave. Then the great martyr. George appeared to her in a dream vision and told her not to turn her son away from serving God... From then on, Theodora’s mother and those who lived with her understood that the child was being guided by a higher power, and left him to the will of God. Meanwhile, as Theodore grew up, he read the Holy Scriptures more and more diligently. Scripture, he became more and more accustomed and attached to prayer, and his whole heart was filled with the thought of God and prayer. One day he learned that a pious hermit named Glycerius lived not far outside the city, he began to go to him, talk with him and finally expressed to him his desire to retire from the world. “Ask God to enlighten you,” the hermit said to this, “and God will fulfill your desire.” After some time, namely, when Theodore turned 14 years old, he decided to live alone on the mountain, near the church of St. great martyr George. He begged his family not to interfere with him in this; He dug himself a cave at the church and settled in it, going to church only to pray. At this time he ate only prosphora, and when his mother and grandmother brought him bread and vegetables, he gave them to the poor. Everyone marveled at such a life of the youth, but he was not satisfied with it in his insatiable desire to stand before the face of the One God, not being entertained by any earthly impressions... The image of John the Baptist floated before his spiritual gaze and carried him into the desert... He finally went to a remote mountain and there he remained for two years as a recluse in a cave, where the only church member who knew about his whereabouts brought him bread and water from time to time. minister. Meanwhile, the mother lamented about him, and the church minister, taking pity on her, revealed to her about her son’s seclusion. At the request of his relatives, Theodore returned home. Having learned about such a life of the young man, the Bishop of Anastasiopolis wished to see him and blessed him to be a presbyter, telling him: “The Lord, who has vouchsafed you to accept the rank of presbyter, will also vouchsafe him the rank of bishop.” With joy, Theodore began to perform the bloodless sacrifice and, in general, fulfilled the holy duties of his office with all zeal. - At this time he made a journey to worship St. places in Palestine and in the Chozebite Lavra, which was near the Jordan, he took monastic vows. Upon returning to his homeland, Theodore began to live in a cave again; God soon glorified His ascetic with the gift of miraculous healings of people from illnesses. The people ran to him in large numbers and learned from his conversations. His grandmother Elpidia, his aunt Dispenia, and his young sister Vlatta settled near him and spent their lives in prayer and labor; The money earned for their labors was used for the benefit of those in need. Dispenia and Vlatta, who entered the nunnery, soon died; The elderly Elpidia, having lived for some more time with her grandson, entered the monastery. Theodore often sent women and girls here who needed good influence to her, and she attracted them to prayer, fasting and good deeds; She managed to distract many of them from a bad life and keep them on the good path. After burying his grandmother, Theodore received notification of his mother’s death. - “My mother did not die, but she lives now and will live forever!” - he said, and devoted himself to fasting and prayer for the repose of his mother’s soul, and refused the rich inheritance left after her death. Many of those healed by Theodore and converted by him to the path of salvation, as well as those who heard about his life and miracles, left their homes and settled near the ascetic. His holiness was, as it were, a center that attracted God-loving souls, who were free to flourish under the life-giving influence of such a luminary. For such newcomers, ready for monastic life, Theodore founded a monastery, which began to be governed under his leadership and according to the rules he wrote, and from which many monks, his disciples, became famous for their high lives. Meanwhile, the Bishop of Anastasiople passed away; then the citizens unanimously elected Theodore in his place. He involuntarily obeyed the general desire and never ceased to grieve over leaving his monastery. For eleven years, however, he worked for his flock in the rank of bishop. St. Theodore continued to mysteriously and wonderfully guide St. The Great Martyr George, appearing to him again in a dream vision, forbade him to leave the diocese, which needed him... Finally, after many tedious labors, Theodore, praying to God that his desire to leave the bishopric would not be imputed to him as a sin, gathered the clergy and people and asked them to elect another bishop, and with the permission of the Constantinople Patriarch Cyriacus and the Emperor Mauritius, who wrote to the Metropolitan of Ancyra, so that “he would not interfere with the saint of God, who wants to live in silence,” he returned to his monastery, where he continued his asceticism, glorified by God with many amazing miracles. Among other things, it is narrated about one thing, revealed as if to prove that God is displeased with offerings, the source of which is unjustly acquired property... When the church in the name of St. that was in the Sikeot monastery. great martyr George turned out to be not quite roomy for the increased number of brethren, then Theodore built a more spacious church - in the name of the Archangel Michael. Among other supplies for the service in the new church, a new vessel was needed for the celebration of the Divine Mysteries, which until now had been performed in a small marble vessel. Theodore sent his deacon to buy a silver vessel in Constantinople. The messenger brought a rich, artistically made silver vessel. Theodore, looking at it, did not want to accept it, saying that it was blackened and stinking... They sent the vessel back to the goldsmith, and then it turned out that it was made from a silver item that had previously belonged to a woman who had acquired this item in an unclean way... In general, there were many cases that justified Theodore’s wonderful foresight; while he was in Constantinople, which he visited twice at the request of the patriarch and the emperor, who received him with great honor, on his last visit, under Emperor Phocas (602–610), he predicted the imminent death of the patriarch and the future disasters of the Church and the state. Having lived to a ripe old age, Theodore, guided throughout his life by the wonderful patronage of St. great martyr George, was not abandoned by him even at the time of his death, which St. informed him about. George, when, appearing to him in a dream and handing him a staff, he ordered him to follow him on a long journey... The life of Theodore is described by his disciple Eusebius (monastically George), a witness to many of the saint’s miracles, “and what he himself did not see, he wrote according to the stories of eyewitnesses or those healed by the saint, he heard a lot from the saint himself.” At the end of his life it is said that St. Theodore died on April 22, in the third year of the reign of Heraclius 296 (613). Father of Origen. He suffered under Septimius Severus during the 5th persecution of Christians, which began as a result of a strict decree of the emperor in 202, which forbade, under the death penalty, the adoption of Judaism and Christianity. In some areas, the enmity of the pagans against Christians was so strong that, relying on the emperor’s dislike towards them, they began to persecute Christians even before receiving a positive decree from the emperor - and this persecution, for example. in Egypt, it was so cruel that Christians considered it a sign of the coming of the Antichrist to earth and the imminent end of the century. At this time, among others, a Christian named Leonidas was captured in Alexandria and imprisoned. This was the father of a larger family, who, in the event of Leonid’s death, faced poverty, since the property of those convicted for the faith of Christ was taken to the treasury. This could not shake and force a man to renounce Christ, who had already managed to raise his children in such strong love for the incarnate God that the eldest of them, seventeen-year-old Origen, wrote to his father in prison: "Father, do not worry about us and do not shy away from martyrdom for our sake" ... With his martyrdom, Leonid sealed his unshakable love for the unshakable truth... (202). Venerable Vitaly the monk Brethren, if any of you strays from the truth and converts him, let him know that he who converts a sinner from his false path will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20). Judging by the greatness of the merit, one can also conclude about the significance of the duty: to convert to the path those who have deviated from the truth that the holy Apostle James preaches. And people devoted to God, faithful followers of His teaching, not only preached, but also fulfilled these words. St. Apostle Paul says about himself that he “became all things to all, in order that he might save at least some” (1 Cor. 9:22). What would happen in the world if the Lord had not raised up zealots for the salvation of human souls? It is only through them that good is preserved and overcomes in the fight against the evil that reigns on earth. The desire to restore a fallen brother is the purest reflection of that Divine Love that was embodied on earth to save the world, and blessed is the one who, in the hour of death, will remember at least one human soul, which he kept from falling, which he corrected from corruption, which he directed on the path of good! Such a memory is the most reliable and joyful companion during the transition of the soul to eternal life, and there is no place with it for fear and trembling, which involuntarily embraces every soul at the time when death opens before it the gates to this unknown, incomprehensible region - the kingdom of eternity. Blessed and blessed are those who served to save the soul of their neighbor! One of these is glorified today by the Church in the person of St. Vitaly, who lived at the end of the 6th and beginning of the 7th century AD. For many years, Vitaly took refuge in a secluded monastery near Alexandria - while St. John the Merciful. Finally, when he was already about 60 years old, he decided to return to the world. For what? In order to devote himself to extraordinary service to humanity in the person of... fallen women. Is it the extreme purity that Vitaly acquired in his long-term feat of abstinence and silent solitude, which could not come to terms with the thought of the existence of extreme uncleanliness in the world and prompted him to enter into an active struggle against this shameful evil on earth... or the love for humanity, nurtured in him by constant prayer for people who are far from being separated from them, but always close to the heart due to their true participation ascetic, spoke in Vitaly’s soul with a powerful call to rise up to save the perishing, and he left his desert and settled in Alexandria, a large, populated city, replete with temptations of all kinds, like all cities with a large population. Here he hired himself as a worker and with his labor earnings at the end of each day he came to one of the houses where people live as if in order to kill their soul and body under the guise of amusements of the most outrageous nature... “Stop! - he said, giving his daily earnings to one of the unfortunate women dying in the pool of vice, “keep yourself clean at least for one day!” “And he himself stayed with her, stood in prayer and sang sacred psalms. When leaving, he convinced and begged the woman not to tell anyone about this. Thus, he visited one by one different women who were indulging in a vicious life. Staying with them, he called them to repentance, revealed to them all the horror of God's inevitable judgment, touched them at the same time with the idea of ​​God's inexhaustible mercy, “the whole world through the sins of irresistible goodness,” the gentleness of God... These women marveled at the unusual speeches of the unusual visitor, many of whom, perhaps, having learned no good from anyone, themselves did not know that created... And so, in the midst of the ignorance of some, in the midst of oblivion and muffling in the hearts of all concepts of good in others, a man appears before them, who lovingly offers them the saving truth, speaks to them about God the Father, calling for the salvation of His children, prays for them to this common Heavenly Father, captivates them with the idea of such a life awaiting repentant sinners, the beauty of which has never before been imagined by their concept... Joyful hope, fear of God, tenderness penetrate little by little into hearts that have become deadened in the midst of a vicious life. Life-giving repentance finds access to them for the first time. Some of the fallen for the first time comprehend the need to change their lives... As they listen to the prayers of the elder, a suppressed or hitherto unknown need to pray awakens in them, and in prayer - humility, and in humility - contemplation of their dirt, and in this consciousness - a saving impulse to shake off the dirt and live purely, honestly. O pure, loving old man! It was not in vain that he left his desert... It was not in vain that he squandered his love for people, which flourished in selfless asceticism, became wise, and rose to the point of becoming like his Divine model... His love penetrated the souls of people with a salutary purification. But this remained a secret while the righteous man lived on earth, since he strictly forbade them to disclose his secret relationships to those being saved. But how did the world judge him in general? The world was disgusted, despised the visitor of fallen creatures, was tempted by him and punished him with complete condemnation... “The old man, a former hermit, is seducing the whole city!” - they reported Vitaly to the patriarch. But the patriarch was John the Merciful... he did not believe the slanderers. He alone, the saint, understood that suspicion does not give the right to condemnation and that judgment over the invisible motives of human actions is the work of God, and not of man... Meanwhile, Elder Vitaly died. The people, entering his home, saw him kneeling in the middle of his cell, as if in prayer. In his hand they found a scroll on which was inscribed: “People of Alexandria! Do not condemn anyone before the time, until the Lord Himself, the righteous Judge, comes!” ... Having learned about the death of Vitaly, the former vicious women who had been converted by him to repentance gathered to bow to him. They wept bitterly for their mentor, and now they told the people about his high virtue. - Why have you been silent until now about his holiness? - the people asked them. - Because he forbade us to tell the truth about him, and we did not dare not listen to him... But the secret was revealed and shone forth forever... And may every soul be illuminated by the example of love for one’s neighbor of the venerable ascetic Vitaly! “Month of the East” Archimandrite. Sergius, vol. II, part II.