18-е

† Blessed Magna of Ancyra In the city of Ancyra of Galata, writes Palladius 276, a zealous visitor to ascetics, there are many virgins, about two thousand or more; they strive in a holy, virtuous life, maintain abstinence and perform holy work with zeal. Among them, the first place in pious life is occupied by Magna, the most respectable and experienced wife. I don’t know whether to call her a maiden or a widow. Her mother forced her to get married, but she rejected her husband under various pretexts, pretended that she was sick, and thus remained inviolable and immaculate, as her relatives say. Her husband soon died, and she remained the only heir after him. Then she devoted herself entirely to God.” “It is a great gain to be pious and content (moderate in desires). We brought nothing into the world: it is clear that we cannot take anything out of it (1 Tim. 6:6-8). Pure and undefiled piety before God and the Father is to look after the orphans and widows and to keep oneself unspotted from the world (James 1:27). Double honor should be given to elders who rule worthy, especially to those who labor in the word and in doctrine” (1 Timothy 5:17). This is the Apostolic teaching! This is what the blessed one did. Magna. “What wealth she had, she distributed to monasteries, to the homes of the poor and strange, to churches, bishops, widows, orphans and other needy people. With a willing soul, but secretly, she performed feats of charity.” Not only did she not present herself as a benefactor to people, but she tried to hide her good deeds from herself; she was afraid of the deceptive pleasantness of human glory as much as she was afraid of her pride and guarded her heart in humility. At the same time, she “zealously attended church services and led an ascetic and abstinent life. The most famous bishops respected her. Trying to fulfill every virtue, she lived in hope of a better life—an afterlife.” Bliss in life. Magna’s most amazing thing is that she, given in marriage, defended her virgin purity with such firmness of will. So in the best times of Christianity they loved virginity! In one provincial town there were as many as two thousand virgins! Lycia was a region neighboring Galatia. The Ancyra virgins, of course, read the conversation: “The Feast of the Virgins,” by the saint and martyr Methodius, written by him when he was the bishop of Olympus of Lycia. If nowadays, unfortunately for people, virginity is little valued, this was not the case in the best of times. This is how the great martyr teacher taught about virginity: “Great, above nature, wonderful and glorious is virginity. This is a drink that flows not from the earth, but from the sky. It was left to the Lord to teach this teaching (about virginity) to people. He alone, having come to earth, taught man to ascend to God. It is fitting for the Bishop and the Head of the prophets and angels to be called the Head of the virgins. The Old Testament could not yet accommodate virginity 277 . And the law testifies that to be purified by purity to the Lord is a great vow, above all vows (Numbers 1:6). What does it mean to devote yourself to the Lord? If I open my lips to explain the Scriptures or to chant Orthodoxy and worthily according to the power of God, and if I close my lips, trusting them to be guarded so as not to speak vain things, then my lips are pure and dedicated to God. If I train my eyes not to be seduced by physical beauty and not to enjoy shameless spectacles, but to look at the sky, then my eyes are pure and dedicated to the Lord. If I block my ears from slander and reproach and open them to the word of God, then I have dedicated my ears to the Lord. If I am pure in heart, I devote all my thoughts to the Lord, I do not think about anything vain, pride and anger do not live in me, I meditate on the law of the Lord day and night: then I truly make a great vow: to purify myself with purity. The host of virgins, according to legend, is called the bloodless altar of God” 278. At the end of the conversation, the virgins sing “a song to Christ God.” “Virgins! A voice thunders from heaven, awakening the dead. He orders everyone together, in white robes And with lamps, rush to the east to meet the Bridegroom. Arise before the King enters the door. I dedicate myself to you, pure and luminous I light you with a lamp, Zhenisha. Retiring sadly from human happiness, neglecting With the pleasures of life, the pleasures of love, I seek one thing - To be under Your saving right hand. Grant me, O Good One, to forever behold Your beauty. I dedicate myself to you as pure, etc. Having left the bed and house of perishable marriage for You, My king, I came in immaculate clothes, To enter with You into the blessed chamber. I forgot my homeland, having loved Your beauty, O God the Word; I forgot the faces of the maidens, my friends; My mother and relatives would boast about me - I forgot about that too. You, Christ, have become everything to me. Washed the crowds in cleansing streams, Your Forerunner For the love of cleanliness he was brought to death; But, sprinkling the earth with his blood, The blessed one cried out before You. And Your Mother, mother of life, gracious, Inaccessible, immaculate Virgin, carrying in a seedless womb The fruit is pure, I have doubts about infidelity; But to You, Blessed One, she cried. Blessed One, living in the pure villages of heaven, Containing everything with eternal power! Here we stand; accept us Father with Your Son, at the door of eternal life" 279 This is how blessed Magna sang into her life. The death of the holy nun followed, according to the time of those who saw her, not earlier than 425 280. Young Plato, a native of the city of Ancyra of Galata, brought up in Christian piety, inspired by zeal for the faith, fearlessly walked around the city and denounced idolaters, teaching at the same time faith in the true God. For this he was taken and presented to the mayor of the city. “The whole world honors the gods,” the pagan began to convince the Christian, “oh, you’re preaching some fables... Renounce your delusion... take care of your young life...” “That’s what I do,” answered Plato, “I seek endless life, and therefore I neglect temporal life; I am saved from eternal death and therefore I am not afraid of instantaneous temporary death... You are mistaken, not I, because I honor God, who created heaven and earth, and you honor stone and wood - the work of human hands... Seeing that the young man was unshakable in his beliefs, the mayor ordered to imprison him for the time being. Many people accompanied him here, including Christians. “Know, brethren,” Plato addressed them, “that I am being punished not for any crime, but solely for confessing the true God, Who created the whole world... Do not be embarrassed when they hand me over to torture: “Many are the sorrows of the righteous, but the Lord will deliver them from all of them.” Let us all stand firm in our faith and not be afraid to endure suffering for it, because it is impossible to compare temporary earthly suffering with the eternal glory that lies ahead in another world for those who are faithful to the end to His God...” And then, entering prison, Plato devoted himself entirely to prayer, so that the Lord Himself would help him endure the upcoming feat. And the prayer of the believer was heard, because without help from above a person could not have endured those tests beyond ordinary human strength to which he was subjected after several days of languishing in prison... Twelve soldiers alternately tortured Plato with cruel blows, then held him on a hot iron for three hours, then planed and cut his body until his bones were exposed. Enduring severe pain, the martyr, taking one belt of his skin, threw it in the face of the tormentor with the words: “inhuman and most cruel of all ferocious beasts! How are you not ashamed to torture a man created in the image of God and of the same nature as you... But torment me even more; then everyone will see my patience, and yours - cruelty... For the sake of Christ, I joyfully endure all the torments, after which I hope for eternal peace." But the heart was not touched, the eyes of the blinded pagan did not see - he tirelessly continued to torture the martyr with sophisticated tortures; the earth around was completely drenched in his blood, but the Lord still gave him miraculous strength to endure unspeakable torment... Finally, it was decided to take his life with a sword. Having said his dying prayer, Plato turned to the executioner and meekly told him: “Now, friend, do what you are commanded,” he calmly bowed his head under the sword. This was in 306 - God did not leave the holy martyr without glorifying him with miracles. “At the 7th Ecumenical Council it was read from a letter to St. Neil, disciple of St. John Chrysostom, to Iliodor the miracle of St. much Plato: how he freed the son of a monk, originally a Galatian, from captivity. His son was captured by suddenly attacking barbarians. The elder with tears prayed to his compatriot martyr Plato for help in this trouble. And then a rider on a horse appears to his son and tells the young man to sit down. The young man recognized him as a martyr, because he had often seen him like that in an icon; the young man mounted his horse; The saint, having delivered it to his father, became invisible” 281. In Constantinople there was a church of St. Plato, built by Emperor Anastasius I (491–518) and renewed by Emperor Justinian. Holy Martyr Roman and Youth Varul Roman, who came from a village in Caesarea in Palestine, and who served as exorcist and deacon, during his time in Antioch, despite the persecution of Christians at that time (in 303), openly exhorted those who had fallen away to repentance. For this he was taken and tortured. Hanged from a tree and torn apart by iron nails, he bravely endured the suffering. Many people were present at this spectacle of execution, among others stood the seven-year-old boy Varul. The martyr Roman, pointing to him, reproachfully said to the judge: “This child is smarter than you... although he is not many years old, but born of Christians, he knows the true God, and you have lived to old age and, like a pagan, do not know Him.”... The surprised judge, calling Varul to him, asked him: “What kind of God do you worship?” “I honor God—Christ,” answered the youth. “But what is better,” the judge also asked, “whether to worship one god or many?” - “It is better to honor one God, Jesus Christ.” - “How is your God, Christ, better than our gods?” – the pagan continued to ask. - “It is all the better that He alone is the true God, Who created us all, and your gods are demons and did not create anything”... And many more similar reasonable answers were given by the child, into whose soul, obviously, his mother hastened to pour her Christian beliefs almost with milk... This child, who voted for Christ, was sentenced to death. Then his mother (whose name remained unknown) stepped out from the crowd and, taking her son in her arms, began to persuade him not to be afraid of death... And caressing and hugging him, she herself carried him to the place of execution. “Do not be afraid of death, my dear child,” she told him, “you will not die, but you will always live with Christ in His wonderful paradise along with His holy angels.”... And from her embrace the mother herself handed over the head of her child to the sword... and after the execution, she collected his blood in a clean vessel and buried his purest remains. Meanwhile, Roman's torment continued; “Galerius ordered his tongue to be cut off, but the martyr, having no tongue, spoke even more clearly than before, confessing his faith; they put him in chains, stretched him out on a wooden block, raised him to a height and crushed him with a noose of his jaws,” as the church writer Eusebius, a contemporary of this event, testifies. Relics of St. Martyr Romanus were subsequently transferred and placed in a church built in his name in Constantinople by Queen Helena, Equal to the Apostles. Lavsaik ch. 119. Heraclides ch. 55. St. Gregory of Nazianze: “Virginity formerly appeared in rare and shrouded twilight. When Christ was born from the pure Virgin Mary, it appeared to people in a brilliant light, detached from the world and unleashing the weak world. It surpasses the bonds of marriage as much as the soul is higher than the body, the heavens of the earth, eternal life is higher than the life that disappears. Marriage is indulgence to lust, and virginity is glory. Love, which strives for one thing, draws near to Christ, who loves the lover, who meets the one who comes. Loving Him, the virgin left the world and cannot look at anything else; she is bound by sweet ties.” Or. s. Gregorii III, 528. 564. 634, ed. Migne. Word 5. In the Apostolic decrees (Book 3, Chapter 5), the altar of God refers to widows who have committed themselves to God. But St. Polycarp in his letter writes a greeting to “the virgins called widows.” Therefore, it is clear that votive virgins were also called widows. Or. s. Methodii ed Migne p. 211. 212. Villefort has 2, 261. Sainte Magna, 4 Siecle. “Monthly. East." archim. Sergius, vol. II, part 2, p. 362.