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Holy Martyr Babyla of Nicomedia and with him 84 male and female children Vavila, the teacher of children, during the persecution under Maximian, secluded himself in his house, taught children of different ages the truths of the Christian faith; for this he was taken along with his 84 students. All of them, having suffered beatings and imprisonment, were beheaded in Nicomedia, from where their relics were transported to Byzantium. The names of only two of these 84 children have remained known: Ammonius and Donatus. Holy Prophet Moses the God-Seer The Orthodox Church, commemorating St. the prophet Moses, honors in him the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, through whom God repeatedly and diversely communicated His Divine revelation to people in ancient times; honors in him the herald of truths, who prepared Old Testament humanity for salvation through faith in the Coming Redeemer of the world. The title of prophet existed in ancient times. Called a prophet in St. Scripture Patriarch Abraham (Gen. 20:7). The word prophet is used “in the Scriptures of the Old Testament 12 in the meaning of a righteous person and is sometimes replaced by the name of a man of God (1 Kings 13:4), who dedicated himself to serving God and His saving economy; in the meaning of a teacher and interpreter of the will of God (Exodus 7:4, 13. Luke 1:76); in the meaning of a singer (1 Samuel 10:5); - but most often in the meaning of a soothsayer, one who sees and foretells the future” (2 Peter 2:16). In all these meanings, Moses primarily bears the title of prophet. Moses is called a lawgiver because through his understanding he was received from God, through his lips the moral law expressed in the 10 commandments was spoken to humanity in the person of the Jewish people, a law about which the Savior said that he came not to break it, but to fulfill it. Moses was called a God-seer because God Himself “spoke to him face to face, as if one were speaking to his friend...” (Ex. 33:11). – The significance of Moses as a representative of the Old Testament is indicated by the words of Jesus Christ addressed to unbelieving Jews, to whom He points not to Moses as the most important witness about the expected Messiah: “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: you have an accuser, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, because he wrote about Me. If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:45–47). In his letter to the Hebrews, St. The Apostle Paul, speaking about the meaning of faith and recalling the historical course of its manifestations, in several outlines represents its action in the life of Moses: “By faith Moses, at birth, was hidden by his parents for three months, for they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the royal command 13 . By faith, Moses, having come of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and rather wanted to suffer with the people of God than to have temporary, sinful pleasure; and he considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth for himself than the treasures of Egypt. For he was looking at the reward." “By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s wrath, for he stood firm, as if he had seen the Invisible One. By faith he celebrated the Passover and the shedding of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch them. “By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land, which the Egyptians encroached on and drowned” (Heb. 11:23–29). Moses was born about 1500 BC. Shortly after his birth, God miraculously saved this baby, who was destined to be the leader and deliverer of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. While, by order of the Egyptian king, who was afraid of the multiplication of the Jewish people, all male Jewish babies were put to death, Moses not only did not die, but was also taken from the reeds by the royal daughter herself, where his mother hid him in the hope of saving her son’s life in this way, and will receive a brilliant upbringing in the palace of the enemy of his people, which later served him as a weapon to fight the enslavers of his native people and to fulfill the predicted God to Abraham for his deliverance and relocation to the promised land. Until the age of 40, Moses lived at the royal court and learned from Egyptian wisdom, but his heart belonged to his native people, he grieved over their misfortunes and sought with all his desires to ease their lot. One day, when he was in a difficult mood about this matter, he happened to witness an insult inflicted on a Jew by an Egyptian. Moses' heart was filled with indignation, and he, defending his fellow tribesman, killed the offender. Fleeing from the vengeance of the Egyptians, he retired to the land of Midian, where he settled with a priest named Jethro, married his daughter Zipporah and tended his father-in-law's sheep. Meanwhile, love for his people grew in the soul of Moses and concern for them increased along with the increase in oppression that the Jews suffered from the Egyptians. This man, filled with love and zeal to be useful and towering above the people and the scientific knowledge he acquired in Egypt, the Lord chose as an instrument of salvation for the people, tearfully crying out to Him in the midst of their difficult trials. Through wonderful revelations, God taught and helped Moses to lead the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt. Amazed by the miracles of Divine intercession for the Jews oppressed by him (10 plagues), Pharaoh allowed them, at the request of Moses, to leave Egypt, and although after a while he changed his mind about letting these hard-working people leave the country and even at the head of the army he chased after them in order to return the Jews, who had reached the Red Sea on the third day of their exodus from Egypt, but did not manage to catch up with them, drowning with his entire army in those waves the sea, which parted to allow the people of God to pass as they embarked on their journey to their promised land... “And the Lord delivered the Israelites that day from the hand of the Egyptians; and the children of Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore; And the Israelites saw the great hand that the Lord showed over the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and Moses his servant. Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord and said: “I sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; he threw his horse and rider into the sea. “The Lord is my strength and my glory, He was my salvation.” He is my God and I will glorify Him; God of my father, and I will exalt Him! “The Lord is a man of war, Jehovah is His name.” He cast Pharaoh's chariots and his army into the sea, and his chosen captains were drowned in the Red Sea. The depths covered them; they went into the depths like a stone. “Thy right hand, O Lord, is glorified in strength; Thy right hand, O Lord, has slain the enemy.” By the greatness of Your glory You have overthrown those who rebelled against You. You sent Your anger, and it burned them up like stubble. At Your breath the waters parted; the moisture became like a wall, the depths in the heart of the sea thickened. “The enemy said: I will pursue, overtake, and divide the spoils; My soul shall be satisfied with them; I will draw my sword, and my hand shall destroy them. You blew with Your spirit, and the sea covered them; they sank like lead in great waters... “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who, like You, is majestic in holiness, worthy of praise, Creator of miracles? You stretched out Your right hand; the earth swallowed them up. “You lead with Your mercy this people whom You have delivered; You guide by Your power into the dwelling of Your holiness. “The nations have heard and trembled; horror seized the inhabitants of the Philistines, then the princes of Edom were troubled, trembling seized the leaders of Moab, and all the inhabitants of Canaan were sad. “Let fear and horror fall upon them from the greatness of Your arm, let them become numb as a stone, while Your people pass by, O Lord, while this people, which You have purchased, pass by. Lead him and plant him on the mountain of Your heritage, in the place that You have made Your dwelling place, O Lord, in the sanctuary that Your hands have created, the Sovereign Lord will reign forever and ever!” “And Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women came out after her with tambourines and rejoicing. And Miriam sang before them: Sing to the Lord, for He was highly exalted; He cast horse and rider into the sea...” (Ex. 14:30–31, 15:15–21). The passage of the Israelites “on dry land in the midst of the sea” was the solemn beginning of the miracles that accompanied their entire procession through the desert to the land promised to them. Either God fed them with manna from heaven, or brought water out of a stone, or miraculously helped them in the war with their enemies. A particularly important event during the journey of the Jews was the giving of the Law to them on Mount Sinai and at the same time the construction of the tabernacle and the establishment of the priesthood. Despite, however, all the good deeds that the Lord lavished on His chosen people, performing for them “miracles such as were never seen in all the earth or among any nations” (Ex. 34:10), the Jews often turned out to be ungrateful, cowardly, grumbled at God and even betrayed their faith in Him. So while Moses was on Sinai, completely immersed in prayer and wonderful communication with God, the people approached his brother Aaron and said to him: “Get up and make us a god who will go before us; for we do not know what happened to this man, to Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt...” 14 . And Aaron, prompted by the insistence of all the people, did not have the strength to resist him and, having collected various gold ornaments from him, “made a cast calf out of them and trimmed it with a chisel; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt...” “And the next day they rose up early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings: and the people sat down to eat and drink, and afterward they stood up to play. “And the Lord said to Moses: Hasten to come down (from here); For your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have become corrupt; They quickly turned away from the way that I commanded them: they made themselves a molten calf and worshiped it, and offered sacrifices to it, and said: This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. “And the Lord said to Moses: I see this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. Therefore leave Me, that My wrath may burn against them, and I may destroy them, and make of you a great nation. “But Moses began to beg the Lord his God and said: Let not Your anger, Lord, be kindled against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand... Oh, Lord, this people committed a great sin, they made themselves a golden god. Forgive them their sin. And if not, then blot me out from Your book, in which You have written... 15. “And the Lord abolished the evil which He had said He would bring upon His people...” 16 . Great in his faith in the true God, great in his love for his people, for whom he prayed so fervently that he attracted God’s mercy to them, and in the event of God’s righteous punishment coming to the people, he prayed that he too would be subjected to it together with his people, Moses was also “the meekest of all people on earth” 17. But even loving his people, he himself severely punished them for departing from God... Thus, when Moses descended from Mount Sinai, the main perpetrators of idolatry were put to death. After spending about a year at Sinai, the Jews, together with the tabernacle, continued on their way to the Promised Land. Approaching it, they chose 12 men, one from each tribe, to go inspect that land. Those sent back reported that the country was abundant, but inhabited by a strong people and had fortified cities. Hearing this, the people became indignant and began to grumble against Moses and Aaron and even against God Himself. - “It would be better if they died in the land of Egypt, or if they died in this desert! - said those of little faith, again forgetting the miracles of Divine help and their preservation, - and why is the Lord leading us to this land so that we fall by the sword? Our wives and our children will become spoils for the enemies. Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt? “And they said to each other: Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt...” The soul of Moses, full of faith and zeal for the glory of God, was again offended by this unbelief of the people he raised... “And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among them that spied the land, tore their clothes, and said unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, The land which we passed through to spy is very, very good. If the Lord is merciful to us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, this land in which milk and honey flows... Just do not rebel against the Lord and do not fear the people of this land, for they have no protection, but the Lord is with us, do not fear them! “And the whole community said: “Stone them!” “The Lord said to Moses: How long will this people provoke Me to anger? And how long will he not believe Me, despite all the signs that I have given among him? “I will smite it with plague and destroy it, and I will make from you (and from your father’s house) a nation greater in number and stronger than they are... “But Moses said to the Lord: The Egyptians will hear, from among whom You brought this people by Your power, and they will say to the inhabitants of this land who have heard that You, the Lord, allow them to see You face to face, and You go before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire; and if You destroy this people as one man, then the nations who heard Your glory will say: The Lord could not bring this people into the land that He promised them with an oath, and therefore He destroyed them in the wilderness... “Therefore, let the power of the Lord be magnified, as You have spoken, saying: “The Lord is long-suffering and abounding in mercy (and truth), forgiving iniquity and trespasses (and sins), and not leaving unpunished, but visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.” “Forgive the sin of this people according to Your great mercy, just as You have forgiven this people from Egypt until now. “And the LORD said unto Moses, I forgive according to thy word. But I live (and My name always lives), and the whole earth is full of the glory of the Lord. “All who have seen My glory and My signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me ten times already and did not listen to My voice, will not see the land that I promised to their fathers with an oath: (only to their children who are here with Me, who do not know what is good and what is evil, to all the young ones who understand nothing, I will give the land to them, and) all those who provoked Me will not see it.” “How long will this evil society murmur against Me? The murmur of the children of Israel, with which they murmur against Me, I hear. Tell them: As I live, says the Lord, as you have spoken to Me, so will I do to you... “In this wilderness your bodies will fall, and all of you, who are numbered as many as you are, from twenty years old and upward, who murmured against Me, you will not enter the land in which I lifted up my hand and swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. “Your children, about whom you said that they would fall into prey for the enemies, I will bring there, and they will recognize the land that you have despised. “And your sons will wander in the wilderness for forty years and will bear the punishment for your fornication, until all your bodies perish in the wilderness.” According to the number of forty days in which you searched the earth, you will be punished for your sins for forty years, a year for a day, so that you may know what it means to be abandoned by Me." 18 This is how God’s decree was fulfilled. For forty years the Jews wandered in the desert under the leadership of their great leader Moses, who, inspired by Divine revelations, taught throughout this time and established in the law the chosen people of God, miraculously protected by God Himself. Once, when in the 40th year of their wandering the Israelites camped in the land of Moab, beyond the Jordan, Moses, talking with the people and remembering the events during their journey through the desert, among other things, said: “When we were on Mount Horeb, the Lord said: You have had enough of your life on this mountain, turn, set out and go to the mountain of the Amorites and to all their neighbors, to the plain, to the mountain, to the low places and to the southern region and to the shores of the sea, to the land of Canaan, and to Lebanon, even to the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have given you this land; go, take as an inheritance the land that the Lord promised with an oath to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to them and their descendants. “And I told you at that time: I cannot lead you alone; The Lord your God has multiplied you, and now you are as numerous as the stars of heaven. How can I alone bear your burdens, your burdens and your strife? Choose for yourselves, according to your tribes, wise, prudent and experienced men, and I will make them your rulers. You answered me and said: You command me to do a good deed. “And I took the chiefs of your tribes, wise men, and made them rulers of your tribes, and gave commandment to your judges at that time, saying: Hear your brothers and judge fairly, both brother and brother, and his stranger. Do not distinguish between persons at the trial, listen to both small and great: do not be afraid of the face of man; for judgment is the work of God; and bring a matter that is difficult for you to me, and I will listen to it. “And at that time I gave you commands about everything that you should do.” “And we set out from Horeb and walked through this great and terrible desert, which you saw, on the way to the mountain of the Amorites. And I said to you, “You have come to the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving to us.” Go (people) and take possession of this land that God is giving you, do not be afraid and do not be dismayed” 19. Recalling also the cowardly fear expressed by the Jews in the return of those sent from inspecting the land promised by God Himself as an inheritance to them, Moses continued: be afraid and do not be afraid (to go there); The Lord your God goes before you; He will fight for you, as He did with you in Egypt before your eyes, and in this wilderness, where, as you (the people) saw, the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you walked until you came to this place. But even at this you did not believe the Lord your God, and the Lord became angry and swore, saying: none of these people, from this evil generation, will see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers; As soon as Caleb sees it, I will give him the grass through which he passed, and to his sons, because he obeyed the Lord. “And the Lord was angry with me because of you, saying, “You will not enter there either.” Joshua the son of Nun, who is with you, he will enter there, establish him; for he will bring Israel into possession of it...” (Deut. 1). “And I prayed to the Lord at that time, saying: “Sovereign Lord, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strength and Your mighty hand; for what God is there in heaven and on earth who could do such works as Thine, and with power such as Thine? Let me cross and see that good land that is beyond the Jordan, and that beautiful mountain and Lebanon... But the Lord was angry with me for you and did not listen to me, and the Lord said to me: it’s enough for you, don’t tell Me about this in the future. Go up to the top of Pisgah and look with your eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan. And give instruction to Jesus, and strengthen him and establish him; for he will precede this people, and he will divide into inheritances all the land that you look at 20 . “So, I will die in this land without crossing the Jordan, and you 21 will cross over and take possession of that land,” Moses continued and, moving on from his memories, addressed the people with a lesson: “Behold, I have taught you decrees and laws, as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you should do so in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. So, keep and fulfill them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding before the eyes of the nations, who, having heard about all these decrees, will say: only this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For is there any great nation to which its gods would be as close as the Lord our God is close to us, whenever we call on Him? “And is there any great nation that would have such just decrees and laws as this whole law that I propose to you today? “Just beware and carefully guard your soul, so that you do not forget those deeds that your eyes have seen, and so that they do not leave your heart all the days of your life; and tell them to your sons and to your sons’ sons.” “Take heed that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which She made with you, and that you do not make for yourselves any graven image representing anything, as the Lord your God commanded you. For your Lord is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deut. 4). “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. And let these words, which I command you today, be in your heart; and teach them to your children, and talk about them when you sit in your house, and when you walk, and when you lie down, and when you get up. “When the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers to give you, with great and good cities which you did not build, and with houses filled with all good things which you did not fill, and with wells hewn out of stone which you did not hew, with vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, then take heed lest your heart be deceived, and You have forgotten the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. “Fear the Lord your God, and serve Him alone, and cleave to Him, and swear by His name. – Do not follow other gods, the gods of those nations that will be around you. For the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God; lest the wrath of the Lord God be kindled against you, and He destroy you from the face of the earth” (Deut. 6). “And remember all the way that the Lord your God led you through the wilderness these forty years, to humble you, to test you and to know whether you would keep His commandments in your heart or not. “He humbled you, made you hungry and fed you with manna, which you did not know and your fathers did not know, in order to show you that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. “Your clothes have not worn out, nor have your feet become swollen, for forty years now. “And know in your heart that the Lord your God teaches you as a man teaches his son. Therefore, keep the commandments of the Lord your God, walking in His ways and fearing Him” (Deut. 8). And the great teacher of his people also warns so that “his heart is not lifted up and he does not forget his Lord” when he lives in the beautiful land given to him as an inheritance, and “so that he does not say in his heart that his (own) strength and the strength of his hand have acquired this wealth for him”... “Listen, Israel,” Moses also teaches, “you are now going beyond the Jordan to go and take possession of nations that are larger and stronger than you, large cities, with fortifications reaching to heaven; Know now that the Lord your God goes before you like a consuming fire; He will destroy them (nations) and bring them down before you; Then do not say in your heart that because of your righteousness the Lord brought you to take possession of that good land - it is not because of your righteousness and not because of the uprightness of your heart that you go to inherit their land, but because of the wickedness and iniquity of these nations, the Lord God drives them out from before you, in order to fulfill the word that the Lord swore to your fathers to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Therefore know now that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord gives you possession of the good land, for you are a stiff-necked people... Remember, do not forget how much you provoked your Lord in the wilderness: from the very day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you resisted the Lord.” “You have been disobedient since the day I knew you...” (Deut. 8:9). “Behold, today I have offered you life and good, death and evil,” the aged leader concludes his covenant with the people, “if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, you will live and multiply, and the Lord will bless you in the land where you are going to take possession of it, - but this commandment, which I command you today, is not inaccessible to you and is not far off; it is not in heaven, so that one could say: who would ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, and let us hear it, and we would fulfill it. “And it is not beyond the sea, so that we could say: who would go beyond the sea for us and bring it to us, and let us hear it, and we would do it... But this word is very close to you: it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can fulfill it. “If your heart turns away, and you do not listen, and you go astray and begin to worship other gods and serve them, then I declare to you today that you will perish and will not remain long in the land to take possession of which you are crossing the Jordan... “Today I call heaven and earth as witnesses before you: I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse...” (Deut. 30). Imagining the consequences of one and the other path that the people will follow, Moses, at the same time, in prophetic providence, exclaims with anguish: “I know that after my death you will be corrupted and stray from the path that I have commanded you, and subsequently disasters will befall you because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, annoying Him with the works of your hands...” And Moses uttered his dying song in the hearing of the whole congregation of Israel, so that when their calamities and sorrows came upon them, it would be a testimony against them, “for it shall not come out of their mouth, nor out of the mouth of their descendants,” “and Moses wrote this song on that day, and taught it to the children of Israel:” - “Listen, heaven, I will speak; and listen, O earth, to the word of my mouth. “My teaching will fall like rain, my speech like dew, like fine rain on greenery, like rain on grass. “I glorify the name of the Lord; give glory to your God! “He is a stronghold; His works are perfect and all His ways are righteous. God is faithful and there is no unrighteousness in Him; She is righteous and true. “But they were corrupted before Him; they are not His children in their vices, a rebellious and depraved generation. “Do you render this to the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is it not He who is your Father, who adopted you, created you, and formed you? “Remember the days of old, think about the years of former generations; ask your father and he will tell you, your elders and they will tell you. “When the Most High gave inheritance to the nations and scattered the sons of men, then he set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the children of Israel. “For the portion of the Lord is His people; Jacob is His inheritance. “He found him in the desert, in the sad and wild steppe; He protected him, looked after him, kept him as the apple of His eye. “As an eagle calls its nest, flies over its chicks, spreads its wings, takes them and carries them on its feathers: “So the Lord alone led him, and there was no strange God with him. “He carried him up to the heights of the earth and fed him with the produce of the fields, he nourished him with honey from the stone and oil from the solid rock, with the butter of the cow and with the milk of the sheep, and with the fat of the lambs and the rams of Bashan and with the goats, and with fat wheat, and you drank wine, the blood of the grapes. “And (Jacob ate, and) Israel became fat, and became stubborn; became fat, plump and fat; and he forsook God who created him, and despised the rock of his salvation. “They angered Him with strange gods, and angered Him with their abominations. “They made sacrifices to demons, and not to God, to gods they did not know, new ones that came from their neighbors, and about which your fathers did not think. “But you forgot the Intercessor who gave birth to you, and did not remember God who created you. “The Lord saw and was indignant, and in his indignation he despised His sons and His daughters, and said: I will hide My face from them, and I will see what will be their end, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness. They have provoked Me with no god; they have grieved Me with their vain things; and I will provoke them with no people; I will grieve them with a senseless people. “For fire has kindled in My wrath, burning to the depths of hell, and consuming the earth and its produce, and scorching the foundations of the mountains. “I will heap disasters on them and spend My arrows on them: “They will be exhausted by hunger, destroyed by fever and fierce infection, and I will send upon them the teeth of beasts and the poison of those crawling on the earth. “The sword will destroy them from without, and in their homes terror will destroy both the young man and the maiden, the infant and the gray-haired old man. “I would say: I will scatter them and blot out the memory of them from among people. But he put it aside for the sake of embittering his enemies, so that his enemies would not think of it and say: our hand is high, and it was not the Lord who did all this. “For they are a people who have lost their minds, and there is no meaning in them. “Oh, if only they would reason, think about this, understand what would happen to them! “How could one pursue a thousand and two could drive away the darkness, if their Protector had not betrayed them, and the Lord had not given them up! “For their intercessor is not like the Intercessor; our enemies themselves are the judges of this. “For their grapes are from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah; Their berries are poisonous berries, their clusters are bitter. “Their wine is the poison of dragons and the deadly poison of asps. “Are these things hidden from Me? is it not sealed in My storehouses? “With me is vengeance and recompense, when their foot is shaken; For the day of their destruction is near; the prepared thing for them will soon come... “But the Lord will judge His people and have mercy on His servants when He sees that their hand has weakened, and there are no prisoners or those left outside. “Then the Lord will say, Where are their gods, the stronghold in which they trusted, who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you, let them be a cover for you! “See now (see) that it is I, I, and there is no God besides Me: I kill and I give life, I smite and I heal; and no one will deliver out of my hand. “I lift up My hand to heaven and (I swear by My right hand and) say: I live forever! “When I sharpen My shining sword, and My hand receives judgment, I will take vengeance on My enemies, and repay those who hate Me. “I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword will be filled with flesh, with the blood of the slain and the captives, with the heads of the leaders of the enemy. “Rejoice, O heavens, with Him, and worship Him, all you angels of God. Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people, and may all the sons of God be strengthened! for He will avenge the blood of His servants and will take vengeance on His enemies, and will reward those who hate Him, and the Lord will cleanse His land and His people! “When Moses spoke all these words to Israel, then he said to them, “Put on your heart all the words that I have declared to you today, and make a commandment to your children that they should strive to fulfill all the words of this law. For this is not empty for you; but this is your life, and through this you will remain for a long time in the land to which you are going through the Jordan in order to take possession of it...” 22 Having blessed all the people and each of the tribes of Israel separately before his death, Moses, the man of God, sent them away with the following words: “There is no one like the God of Israel, who rushed through the heavens to help you, and in His glory on the clouds. Your refuge is the ancient God, and you are under the eternal arms. He will drive out your enemies from before you and say: Destroy! “Israel lives safely, alone; Jacob's eye sees before him a land abundant with bread and wine, and his heavens are dripping with dew. “Blessed are you, Israel! Who is like you, O people kept by the Lord, who is the shield that protects you, and the sword of your glory? Your enemies are subservient to you, and you trample on their necks..." “And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to the horn of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan. “And all the land of Naphtali, and all the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, even to the western sea, and the land of midday, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, even to Zoar. “And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, To thy seed will I give it. I let you see it with your eyes, but you will not enter it. “And Moses the servant of the Lord died in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. “And he was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Bethegor, and no one knows the place of his burial even to this day. “Moses was 120 years old when he died; but his vision was not dulled, and his strength was not exhausted. “And the children of Israel mourned for Moses in the plains of Moab (near the Jordan near Jericho) for thirty days. “And Israel no longer had a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face...” (Deut. 33, 34). Praising the “glorious men and fathers” of the Jewish people, Jesus, son of Sirach, said that God produced from Jacob “a man of mercy, who found love in the eyes of all flesh. Beloved by God and people, Moses, whose memory is blessed. “God equalized him in glory with the saints and exalted him with his deeds to the fear of his enemies. “He stopped miraculous signs with his word: he glorified him in the presence of kings; gave commandment through him to his people, and showed them from his glory. “For his faithfulness and meekness He sanctified him, chose him for Himself from all people, made him worthy to hear His voice; led him into the darkness; And he gave him commandments face to face, the law of life and knowledge, that he might teach Jacob the covenant and Israel his statutes..." (Book of the Wise One of Jesus, son of Sirach, ch. XLV, 1–6). All events during the time of Moses are described in the books of Moses: Exodus, which tells about the exit of the Jews from Egypt and their march to the land of Canaan; Leviticus, containing a description of the duties of the descendants of the tribe of Levi, chosen to serve God in the tabernacle; the book of Numbers, which contains the number of Jews by tribe, and the book of Deuteronomy, which contains a repetition of the Law of God, made in detail by Moses. These books are read during evening and morning Christian services, especially on holidays. Readings from them are known under the name Parimius and represent a foreshadowing of the events of the New Testament. Moses wrote the book of Genesis, which tells the life of the first people and the existence of the whole world until the death of Patriarch Joseph, one of the sons of Jacob, who died in Egypt, about 3540 years before the birth of Christ. Many of the decrees of Moses subsequently lost their internal meaning, since the majority of Jews were limited to performing only external rituals, and in this sense St. Apostle John the Theologian that “the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17), Who came to restore the essence and spirit of the Divine teaching, was Himself, as the God-man, the highest and direct revelation of the Divinity to humanity. By his appearance on Mount Tabor during the miraculous Transfiguration of Jesus Christ, Moses, who prepared people to accept the Savior by affirming in them faith and love for the One True God, seemed to testify to the truth and fulfillment of the divinely inspired teaching that he taught to the Jewish people with tireless zealous zeal until the end of his long life. The New Testament Church sings to the prophet Moses: “You, the prophet Moses, ascended to the heights of virtues, and for this sake you were worthy to see the glory of God, you accepted the gracious tablets of the law, and you carried the uncharted grace within yourself, and you were an honest praise of the prophets, and a great sacrament of piety” (Troparion). “The prophetic face with Moses and Aaron rejoices today, for the end of their prophecy has been fulfilled on us: today the Cross shines, through which you saved us. Through those prayers, Christ God, have mercy on us!” - (Kondak). Smch. Babyla, Bishop of Antioch, and with him three youths: Urvan, Prilydian and Epollonius. The Hieromartyr Babyla occupied the throne of Antioch from 238 to 250, and suffered during the persecution of Decius. When he was led through the city in shame, he was followed by three youths, 12, 9 and 7 years old, brothers who had studied with Vavila. The king, having learned that they were Christians, interrogated them, and, unable to convince them to renounce their faith, after punishment with rods, he ordered them to be beheaded along with Vavila. - The relics of all of them, in one stone coffin, were transferred by Caesar Gall in 352 to the church he built in the grove of Daphne, near Antioch; but Emperor Julian in 362 ordered the Christians to take it from there, and they transferred it to Antioch itself. Celebrating the image of the Burning Bush Celebrating the image of the Burning Bush. This miraculous icon is located in the Moscow Church of the Burning Bush in the Khamovnichesky part. "Days of Worship." Debolsky, part I. That is, the strict order of Pharaoh to kill all Jewish male babies. Those of the people who were not 20 years old at the time when the Lord pronounced the sentence, which is now about 40 liters. after pronouncing it, Moses remembers.