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Rev. John the Merciful, Patr. Alexandria John, a native of Cyprus, the son of pious, rich and noble parents, who provided him with a good education and mainly raised him in Christian love for God and people, showed in his life the most brilliant fruits of such an upbringing, since he devoted his entire life to the works of the most precious virtue in the eyes of God - mercy, why St. The Church, having canonized him, honors him with the special title “Merciful.” Predisposed to goodness from childhood, in his youth John was rewarded with a special revelation in a dream, which finally directed him to the path on which, having shone on earth, he was ripe for heavenly glory. One day, in the middle of a night’s sleep, a girl appeared to him, shining with beauty, in light clothes and with a wreath of olive leaves on her head: “I am the eldest daughter of the Great King and the most pleasant to Him among all,” she said, smiling, to John; “If you serve me, then I will ask Him for great mercies for you and will bring you into His house, because no one has more boldness towards Him than I: for my sake God came down to earth and took on human flesh.”... And after these words she became invisible. Reflecting on the wondrous vision, John realized that under this image, God’s beloved virtue, mercy, was presented to him and called him to imitate it, that mercy for which He came down from heaven to save the perishing human race... and he was forever imbued with the consciousness of this Divine calling and a fiery desire to follow it; Therefore, throughout his life he never missed an opportunity to do good and did it with complete love! His whole life presents a series of evidence of the extraordinary and inexhaustible mercy with which he was inspired. In his youth, by the will of his parents, John was married, but his family life did not last long; he soon lost his wife and children, and then, renouncing the world, he devoted himself to strict asceticism and, instead of his children, became a merciful father of all those in need, as he showed them generous charity. Having also become famous for his piety, John, at the request of the inhabitants of Alexandria, during the reign of Heraclius (610–641) was, although against his will, elected Patriarch of Alexandria. He served as a sanctuary with dignity, serving as a strong bulwark of Orthodoxy and defending the Church from various heretical teachings; about his relationship with his beloved flock, tradition kept him in eternal remembrance that “John was merciful and merciful to all those in poverty.” At the beginning of his accession to the see of Alexandria, John, calling the rectors of the churches to him, said to them: “Go through the whole city and write down my masters for me.” - “Who are these thy masters, sir?” - asked the clergy. “My Lords, these are those whom you call the poor and wretched,” answered the patriarch, “because they can take me into eternal shelter and give me help for salvation.” The will of the saint was fulfilled and the number of the poor and homeless was up to 7,500, and all of them were assigned a permanent benefit. The compassionate saint did not limit himself to his immediate flock; his soul also ached for those in need in the distance, and when the Persians, having at that time captured Syria and set Jerusalem on fire, took many Christians captive, the saint of Alexandria sent ships with wheat and gold to ransom the captives and to help the devastated. Strictly taking care that those serving with him did not exclude anyone in need from him, and being too busy to constantly have the leisure to receive all the coming petitioners, John himself sat at the church gates twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, so as not to miss anyone who came to him in need. When some of those around him were surprised at his work and patience, he said: “if I myself am never deprived of access to the Lord my God Jesus Christ, and in prayers I talk with Him and ask Him for all my needs, then how can I deny access to my neighbor, so that he can tell me about his offense and need and ask me for what he wants”... And he never put it off for any urgent matter. saint of the work of mercy. Thus, one day, when one poor widow approached him while he was going to perform a service in the church, and those who were with him wanted to remove her, advising the saint to receive her after the service, he did not allow this and listened to her immediately, and ordered her satisfaction, saying to those accompanying him: “Will God listen to me too if I refuse to listen to the poor?”... If it happened that on some day John did not have to help anyone, he grieved about it, considering that day lost. Once they warned John that among the beggars who come for alms, there are also those who are not poor, apparently, since they are wearing good clothes, and therefore shouldn’t they be denied alms? “If you are servants of Christ,” the saint objected, “then give as Christ commanded, regardless of your appearance, because we are not giving what is ours, but what is Christ’s.”... When they presented to him that his generosity, which stops at nothing, could exhaust his funds, John replied: “I don’t want to be a partaker in your lack of faith, since I am sure that even if the poor from all over the world came to us in Alexandria, then even then, by God’s providence, the church and patriarchal property would not become scarce”... But being infinitely merciful and generous to others, the patriarch was equally strict with himself and restrained regarding his own comforts. One day a rich nobleman visited him and, noticing how old and unusable a blanket his bed was covered with, sent him a new, rather valuable blanket as a gift. In order to comprehend the zeal of the giver, the saint accepted his offering, but, covered with a warm, expensive blanket, he could not sleep the whole night: “Woe to me, the luxurious one,” he was mentally embarrassed, “behold, I am covered with a silk, soft blanket, and the brethren of Christ - the beggars are numb from the cold, not having anything else with which to cover themselves,” - and the next day he sent to sell the expensive blanket, to cover several poor people with the money raised. The nobleman, meanwhile, recognizing his blanket in the market, bought it and sent it again to John, and he again sold it for the benefit of the poor, and this was repeated several times, and at the nobleman’s request that John not refuse to use his offering, the saint, having sold it again, said to him: let’s see which of us will get tired more quickly: is it you to buy the blanket, or am I to sell it? “And thus he turned the rich man’s zeal for himself into a means of charity for the poor... Blessed John tried to attract the stingy to give alms and correct them from the disease of love of money. Having learned that one bishop, named Troilus, never helped the poor, although he had significant funds, the saint invited him to go with him to the hospitals, where there were many sick and wretched people. “Here is an opportunity to help the poor,” he said to Troilus, who accompanied him, and he, embarrassed to reveal his stinginess in front of the saint, distributed quite a lot of money to the poor, but, returning home, he began to lament this expense to such an extent that he even fell ill... Having understood the reason for Troilus’s disorder, John, grieving for him, wished to cure him of an even worse one - a moral illness. And so, having come to the sick man, he returned to him the money he had spent in the hospital and said: “I brought you the money that you, at my request, spent in the hospital - receive it, but just write with your own hand that you allow me to receive from the Lord the reward that was due to you.” Hastened to write what John demanded, without delving into the meaning of the deprivation to which he himself was subjecting himself, and calmed down so much that he soon felt healthy. But the loving saint left the mentally ill man in sorrow and prayed to God for his spiritual healing. And God did not leave Troilus with saving admonition. That same night, the unmerciful bishop had a significant dream: he imagined a magnificent house, above the doors of which was inscribed in gold letters: “here is the abode and eternal rest for Bishop Troilus.” He was pleased to see such an afterlife reward... But suddenly a majestic and formidable man appears who announces to Troilus that the King of the whole world ordered him to blot out his name, and instead inscribe the name of John, who purchased this house at the cost of thirty liters of gold... - This was the amount that the bishop spent in the hospital and which John returned to him... Then the money lover came to his senses and in his grief went to John and told him about his dream. The loving saint responded to his sorrow and calmed him down, finally bringing him to his senses with instructive conversations that finally softened the heart of the unmerciful. John’s soul, full of love, could not contain any feeling that would disturb peace with his neighbor. Thus, he always hurried to reconcile with those who, for some reason, were agitated against him. Once, when on a holiday he was in church and preparing to perform the Divine Service, he remembered that one of the clergy, on whom he had, however, imposed a well-deserved punishment, was upset and remained displeased against him. Guided literally by the words of Christ: “if you bring your gift to the altar and then remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift and go first of all to make peace with your brother,” the saint actually left the altar, called the cleric who was angry with him to him and, in the presence of everyone, bowed at his feet and asked him for forgiveness - and with such humility he aroused repentance in the guilty one and completely disarmed him. John grieved even more and tried to atone for his guilt if, due to human weakness, he fell into error and recognized himself as wrong. Thus, having once believed a slander against a monk accused of a serious crime, he condemned him to imprisonment, but, having found out that he was innocent, with great embarrassment and grief begged him for forgiveness and, wanting to reward, offered him a significant monetary allowance, however, in this case, only finally could he be convinced of the purity and righteousness of the innocently injured monk when he refused the monetary reward, saying that “if a monk believes that the Lord takes care of him, then he does not need gold; if he has a need for gold, then this means that he does not believe that God Himself provides for his needs." From now on, the saint began to be even more cautious about condemnation and often warned others in this regard: “children, let us not condemn anyone! - he said, - because, firstly, by judging our neighbor, we violate God’s commandment, - secondly, we may even slander our brother, because even if we witnessed his sin, then who can know whether he did not commit internal repentance before God? But John was also extremely merciful to the guilty, often repaying them for their evil with only one good deed; for example, having listened to the complaint of his nephew about one person who had greatly insulted him, John told his relative that he would punish the one who had insulted him so that all of Alexandria would hang himself... At the same time, he began to convince the offended man that if he wanted to be called his nephew, then he should be ready to endure all insults without vexation - for the sake of the Lord and forgive his offenders... Meanwhile, having called the church steward, he ordered that from now on he should not took not a penny of church tax from the man who insulted his nephew... Indeed, all of Alexandria was surprised at such punishment... Delving into the situation of a person in accordance with both his external circumstances and internal merits, John the Merciful did not sometimes limit himself to temporary assistance to him in a difficult situation, but completely satisfied the entire future fate of the oppressed, but deserving participation of the person. Thus, having learned about one young man who was in extreme poverty, because his pious parents distributed almost all of their property to the poor, leaving him as an inheritance only an icon of the Mother of God and an insignificant amount of money, which he himself donated to the poor, the saint took a truly fatherly part in him and wished to alleviate his lot. To do this under a plausible pretext - so that the young man could not refuse the allowance, John decided to call himself a relative of his father and, by right of kinship, invited the young man to his place, caressed him, facilitated his marriage to a good girl and provided them with funds sufficient for a modest life. Showing throughout his life in all forms the love of the Gospel that animated him, John not only helped, but also personally cared for the sick, was present with the dying, admonishing them with his prayers, prayed for the dead, himself often performing the Divine Liturgy, convinced and himself convincing others that the liturgy performed for them greatly contributes to the relief of the souls of the departed. St. John the Merciful died in 619 in his homeland, where the Persians, who captured Egypt, forced him to retire. Dying, he prayed: “I thank You, Lord, that You have made me worthy to bring all of Yours to You?” Subsequently, the relics of the saint were transferred to Constantinople; in 1200 the pilgrim Anthony saw them here: “St. John the Merciful in the body of Ispigas (pp. 143 and 159); after that they were transferred to Buda, from there to Presburg in Hungary, where they are now” 211. Venerable Neil the Faster Nile, who came from a noble and wealthy family, and by his education and personal merits was elevated to the rank of prefect of the capital of the Greek Empire, did not, however, value the advantages of his brilliant position. The vices that dominated the life of the capital in general and especially at the court of the emperor confused his soul, full of desire for higher objects and love for God, which developed in him especially under the influence of the instructions and conversations of St., with fear for his salvation. John Chrysostom, whom he had the opportunity to listen to when he was still a preacher in Antioch. And so, in the midst of worldly and even family pleasures, another desire matured and ignited in the Nile... the desire to serve the one God in the silence of solitude; and the sacred Sinai attracted him in particular. “Some kind of strong, uncontrollable desire drew me to the sacred places of Sinai,” the reverend himself later recalled. Neil about this revolution in his life - I was completely inspired by the thought of silence, besides this I could not think about anything, nor look at anything - for when love for something takes possession of the soul, then with great power it distracts it from everything, even worthy of its attention, and carries it away to what it loved... It was this love that ordered me to get ready for the journey, and I could not contradict it, which commanded me so arbitrarily. And so I take the children (and they were still very small), bring them to their mother, and give one to her, and keep the other with me; I tell her what I have decided on, and strictly confirm that I will not change my intentions... She, having not previously learned to contradict, and then seeing in my face that I will not listen to the request, but - not enduring the coercion and not holding back tears, agrees to the journey, yielding more to necessity than essentially approving of me. For seeing that my decision was unconditional, and imagining the sorrow of separation, I did not care about my sorrow, but set myself the goal of what was pleasing to me, and wished to concede victory in what I could not have won even if I wanted... “But do you know what the separation is like for those who were once forever united by law by marriage, and by the mysterious sight of the One who united became one body? Just as a sword cutting a body causes pain, separation causes the same for those who have become one flesh. I marveled at the power of spiritual lust when I saw that it overcame both nature and long-term attachment. I concluded about this power by the fact that it resolved insoluble bonds that only death can dissolve, making this dissolution painless, because it leads to insensibility. And in the living, the feeling makes this illness even more unbearable, recalling both habit and disposition towards each other, unless the desire for the highest good suddenly dulls the sting of the former desire. “Such lust made me a lover of silence and was a guide to the longed-for desert”... Here Neil settled in a cave dug with his own hands, and for 40 years, indulging in the most strict asceticism, following the example of other Sinai hermits who led a truly high life, he himself achieved high perfection in spiritual life, and especially, after a difficult struggle, he developed deep humility. The rumor about him spread, and in that age when people were not indifferent, but with sensitive impressionability towards Christian truths; many persons of every rank and status began to turn for instructions and prayer to the famous ascetic, wise in the wilderness. And he responded to everyone: from the depths of his solitude he talked with government officials and simple artisans, raised his voice in defense of Orthodoxy and in refutation of pagans and heretics. When he heard about the exile of John Chrysostom into imprisonment (in 405), he immediately denounced Emperor Arcadius, boldly writing to him: “You expelled John, Bishop of Byzantium, the great luminary of the universe, and expelled him without guilt, imprudently listened to some bishops who did not have thoughts befitting their rank. Admit that you did a bad thing by depriving the Church of a teacher who offered such a pure and Orthodox teaching.” And another time, when Arkady, frightened by the disasters that befell Constantinople, asked Nile to appease God with his prayers, the ascetic answered him: “How do you want Constantinople not to suffer from earthquakes and heavenly fire, when it is full of crimes, when untruth has intensified in it to the point that the blessed Bishop John, the pillar of the Church, the lamp of truth, the trumpet of Christ, has been expelled? How you ask me to pray for a city punished by God Himself, while my heart burns with the fire of sorrow, and my soul is indignant at the vices to which Constantinople is now betrayed.” In addition to the hardships of the internal struggle, with which ascetic life in the desert is especially inseparably associated, God visited Nile with a great heart test, which he endured worthy of a man who had achieved complete devotion to the will of God. The wild barbarians Saracens, who often devastated the eastern parts of the empire, once attacked Mount Sinai, killed many monks, and took others into captivity, including the beloved son of St. Nila - Theodula. In prayer for the salvation of his son, combined with indestructible trust in God, the elder poured out his great sorrow - and his trust was not put to shame. After a long search, he finally met his son, bought in Emes by a bishop; found him, miraculously saved by God from the fate that awaited him: to be sacrificed by the barbarians to the star Venus... After that, both father and son, ordained presbyters by the pious Bishop of Emes, full of gratitude to God, poured out the joy of their union in intense monastic deeds until their death. Death of Rev. Nile followed in old age around 450. His relics were transferred from Sinai to Constantinople and placed in the church of St. Apostles under Justin the Younger; then they were stored on Athos. After the death of Rev. Neil remained many of his works, written for the edification of Christians, and which were highly respected by subsequent fathers of the Church. Rev. speaks about prayer. Neil that “it is the conversation of the mind with God; and therefore, what state must the mind come into so that it can be steadily turned to God and converse with Him without any intermediary”! “The state of prayer is a state free from passions, which, through the highest love, delights the wise and pure mind to spiritual heights.” “Pray first for the acquisition of tears, so that by crying you can soften the cruelty of your soul”... “A wonderful bath for the soul is tears during prayer; but after prayer, remember what you cried about.” “With great joy God accepts prayer offered in tears.” “If during prayer you shed streams of tears, then do not be at all proud of yourself, as if you were higher than many. Your prayer has attracted help for you so that you can diligently confess your sins and appease God with tears.” “Stay tirelessly, pray intensely, avoid any thought about worries and everyday calculations: they confuse and disturb you, in order to ease the tension of your strength”... “Pray not for your desires to be fulfilled, because they do not in every case agree with the will of God, but pray as you have been taught, saying: Thy will be done in me (Matthew 6:10)! And in every matter, ask for what is good and beneficial to your soul; In any case, you yourself are not striving for this.” “When praying, I often asked myself for what seemed good to me, and persisted in my request, foolishly forcing God’s will and not allowing God to arrange what was best and what He Himself recognized as useful; “Having received what I asked, I subsequently grieved extremely; why did I ask that my will be fulfilled, because the matter turned out to be different for me than I thought.” “Do not strive to immediately receive what you ask for, as if acquiring it by force; It pleases God that if you remain in prayer for a long time, He will show you greater benefits. And what is higher than talking with God and being drawn into communication with Him? “Pray, firstly, for cleansing from passions, secondly, for deliverance from ignorance, and thirdly, for salvation from all temptation and abandonment.” “If you have not yet received the gift of prayer, then wait tirelessly and you will receive it”... “When, standing in prayer, you feel a joy that is higher than any other joy, then you have truly found prayer!” Rev. speaks about the disastrous effect of anger. Neil: “Foxes live in a vindictive soul and a troubled heart is the lair of animals”... “Just as the smoke from smoldering straw bothers the eyes, so does memory trouble the mind during prayer. The thoughts of the irritated are the offspring of vipers, devouring the heart that gave birth to them. The prayer of the irritated is vile incense, the psalmody of the angry is an unpleasant sound; The gift of the vindictive is a worm-eaten sacrifice, and let it not come near the altars of purification.” The ascetic writes about despondency: “despair is the exhaustion of the soul, and in exhaustion the soul does not have what is characteristic of it, and does not courageously withstand temptations. What is food for a healthy body is temptation for a courageous soul. The north wind feeds the growth, and temptations strengthen spiritual strength. A waterless cloud is carried away by the wind, and a mind that has no patience is carried away by the spirit of despondency.” “Pray wisely and earnestly, and the spirit of despondency will depart from you.” Rev. warns against pride. Nile, that “just as someone who stands on a web falls and is carried away, so he who relies on his own strength falls”... “Pride cast an angel from heaven, but humility lifts a person to heaven and prepares him to stand with the angels.” Speaking about the fight against temptations, the experienced ascetic instructs not to be embarrassed by them and to remain complacent: “the evil spirit,” he says, “offending with temptations, through this very thing forces you to run under the protection and protection of God, because everyone, seeing an enemy, runs to someone who can deliver him from him. So little children, seeing something terrible, run to their mother and grab her clothes so tightly that only by force can they be torn off; but when they don’t see anything terrible, they often don’t go to her even when she calls them... By the name of mother, understand the caring image of God. Just as robbers dig up not those churches where there is grass, or chaff, or straw, but those where there is gold or silver: so the enemies of truth and righteousness attack most of all those who are virtuous and who try to shine in deeds pleasing to God. Do not want to quickly be freed from temptations and disasters; but endure until Christ, who provides for you with God, frees you. He came to His disciples, who were in great fear from the turbulence of the sea, not in the first, not in the second or third, but in the fourth watch." (Matthew 14:25). Among the numerous thoughts expressed by a wise man of spiritual experience, let us note at least a few: “always remember God, and your mind will become heaven.” “Believe that God Himself is present in everything you do.” “If you stretch out your hand to work, then let your tongue sing and your mind pray, because God requires that we always remember Him.” “Endure sorrows, because in them, like roses among thorns, virtues grow and are nurtured.” “Eve’s heirs must suffer; but when we endure sorrows with thanksgiving, then the oath turns into a blessing for us." Celebration of the icon of Our Lady of Kykkos or the Merciful Two of the three icons of the Virgin Mary painted by St. Evangelist Luke and those who have received the blessing of the Lady Herself are called merciful, because the Mother of God is depicted on them begging Her Son Jesus Christ for mercy on us sinners. One of them, on which the Blessed Virgin is depicted holding the Only Begotten on the right side, to distinguish it from the other icon, on which the Mother of God is presented without Her Son, is called the Merciful Eikkos (η Ελεουσα του Κυκκου), from the mountain on the North-Western side of Cyprus, called Kokkos or Kykkos. Therefore, it is probably inscribed on the silver robe of this icon, built in 1576: Κυκκιοτισσα (Kikkiotian woman). Initially, as tradition testifies, these three icons were sent by the divine Luke to Egypt, perhaps to the Nazarenes, pious Christians who lived there and who, first of all, learned the way of angelic life from the Evangelist Mark, as the church historian Eusebius mentions. The Icon of the Merciful, later called the Kykkos, remained in Egypt for a long time; but subsequently, due to the turmoil that arose there, some Christians decided to transport her to some island for safekeeping and, reverently taking her on board, sailed to Constantinople. Here St. The icon was placed in the royal palace and remained until the time of Emperor Alexius Komnenos (1082–1118). After the miraculous healing of his daughter, he, fulfilling his vow to return the miraculous icon to the island of Cyprus if his daughter was healed of her illness, honorably escorted St. icon in Cyprus. Here, on Mount Kykkos, a church was built in honor of the Mother of God from the generosity of Emperor Alexy and a monastery attached to the church. The holy icon became famous for many miracles. Not only Christians, but also people of other faiths believe in her miraculous power, and flock to her from everywhere in illness and sorrow. This icon, it is unknown - from what time, is covered with a veil up to half - from the upper left corner to the lower right, so that no one can or dares to see the face of the Mother of God and the face of the Divine Child. Neither the Patriarch of Antioch Sylvester, nor the Patriarch of Alexandria Cosmas, nor the Archbishop of Cyprus Philotheus, who lived in the 8th century, dared to do this. For daringly lifting the veil, many were subjected to severe punishment. “Monthly. East." vol. II, part 2, p. 357.