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Saints Zechariah and Elizabeth, parents of John the Baptist The righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth, his wife from the Aaronic family, sister of Anna, mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, lived in the days of Herod, king of Judah. Both of them were righteous before God, walking blameless in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord. Zechariah was a high priest and prophet. Although the Evangelist Luke calls him a priest (Luke 1:5–9); but the priest in St. The Scriptures often call a bishop (Lev.2, Exod.35:19, Acts 5:24). The high priest and great bishop is called Zechariah Dionysius the Areopagite, St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Metropolitan Demetrius and St. Church in the service for the Entry of the Virgin Mary. Zechariah, in the words of a church song, was a “spectator of secret things.” At the solemn event of the introduction of the Virgin Mary, he, according to God's teaching, introduced Her into the Holy of Holies. The fruit of the marital righteousness of Zechariah and Elizabeth was the honest and glorious prophet, the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John, about whom, as the Forerunner of the Lord, Zechariah prophesied (Luke 1:56–67). St. Zechariah was a witness of the Gospel truth after the incarnation of the Son of God. When the Most Holy Virgin, on the 40th day after the birth of the Savior, came to the church of God for the purification of the law, then, according to legend, Zechariah received Her with the Eternal Child and placed her in the church in the place designated for virgins. The scribes were indignant; but Zechariah confessed that although this Virgin became a Mother, she did not cease to be a pure Virgin. Hiding and saving the son of his baby John from death, to which Herod, the king of Judea, condemned the infants of Bethlehem, fearing the Infant Christ, so that this Infant of God of the royal family would not take the kingdom from him, Zechariah, the son of Barakhin, at the command of Herod, was himself killed with a sword, between the church and the altar (Matthew 23:35). Right The Church in its hymns and legends, calling Zechariah, the son of Varakhin, killed between the church and the altar, the father of the Forerunner, is based on the ancient tradition of the primacy of the Church. This is how Origen and St. Peter of Alexandria, St. Gregory of Nyssa in the word for the Nativity of Christ, Cyril of Alexandria and others. St. Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria and hieromartyr, who lived at the end of the 3rd and at the beginning of the 4th Christian century and wrote the rules accepted by the Church as a guide, in his 13th rule about the murder of Zechariah between the church and the altar, he says: “the bloodthirsty Herod saw that he had been mocked by the Magi, became very angry and sent to beat up all the children in Bethlehem, and throughout all its borders, from two years ago and the lowest in time, the test of the wise men is known (Matthew 2:12, 16). Having sought together with them to kill another child born before Him, and not finding it, he killed his father, Zechariah, between the church and the altar, while the baby went away with his mother Elizabeth.” Saint's Day righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth has been celebrated by the Church since ancient times. In the 4th century on this day of St. John Chrysostom spoke sermons. Through the Apostolic Reading, the Church preaches about the immutability of God’s promises given to Abraham and his descendants, to whom Zechariah and Elizabeth belong (Heb. 6:13–20); and the Gospel preaches the murder of Zechariah between the church and the altar (Matthew 23:29–39). † Suffering Rev. Afanasy of Brest Medvedev already wrote at one time: “to have the Little Russian Church of Christ in Brest, a Lithuanian city, before 40 years of faith for the sake of the suffering hieromonk Athanasius, whose incorruptible relics remain to this day.” 23 George of Konissky at one time joyfully spoke aloud to Orthodox and non-Orthodox: “among the number of incorruptible saints we must include the venerable martyr of our Church Athanasius Filippovich, killed by Roman Catholics for his faith in our Orthodox suburban Brest monastery, who has been resting safe and sound for more than one hundred and fifty years by the power of God. 24 Blessed Athanasius, the son of noble and pious parents, received a high education in his young years, so that he could teach others the languages ​​Latin, Polish and Russian. – In 1622, Hetman Sapieha, by the will of the king, gave him the imaginary son of Marina Mniszek, nobleman Luba, to be raised by him; by order of Sigismund, up to 6,000 zlotys per year were released for the maintenance of a dear person; the blessed mentor lived with his pet in the Brest Monastery. – Wladislav, who did not want to be a tool of the Jesuits, like his father was, reduced the salary to 100 zlotys. 25 – In 1627 the blessed one became a monk in Vilna; then he lived in the monasteries of Kuteinskaya and Mezhigoskaya. A sincere devotee of piety and an educated defender of St. Faith was appointed governor of the Dubovskaya monastery, near Pinsk. In 1636, by order of Chancellor Radziwill, the Dubovsky Monastery was given to the Jesuits, and the Orthodox monks were expelled from their monastery. Blessed Athanasius moved to the Kupyatitsky monastery, but even here there was no peace from papism. In 1637, Afanasy went to collect alms in Belarus and then to Moscow. Full of thoughts and concerns for the good of Orthodoxy, presenting to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich about his sad fate, he, for the success of St. faith over her enemies, he advised to depict on military banners the image of the Mother of God in the cross, according to his vision. Upon his return from Moscow, he was appointed abbot of the Brest Simeon Monastery. In accordance with the duty of his rank, having entered into a dispute about the estates of the monastery, he sharply accused the pope’s fans of greed for self-interest and malicious intrigues. This got him into trouble; but Met. Peter Mogila defended him. 26 What a sharp difference between the Orthodox minister of the altar of God and the Papist priest! His archpastor says to the Orthodox priest in a letter: “Do not accept offerings to the altar of God from infidels, nor from heretics, nor from fornicators, nor from adulterers, nor from thieves, nor from robbers, nor from merciless rulers, nor from innkeepers, nor from moneylenders, nor from an oath breaker, nor from a false shepherd, nor from a sorcerer, nor from a pimp, neither from the actor, nor from the one who tortures his servants with hunger and beatings. 27 – The pope’s servant was not only not picky in accepting offerings, but he robbed other people’s property wherever he could. - Blazh. Athanasius, living his life in the fear of the Lord, taught the same to the brethren and persistently inspired them not to listen to new teachings dissipated by those who apostatized from the Eastern Catholic faith; - especially in the sorrows of the time, he expected everything from the grace of God and spent days and nights in prayer. Having made it a rule to read an akathist to the Mother of God every Saturday, he fulfilled his rule with precision. The Mother of God consoled Her ascetic. “Go, My servant,” She said to the blessed one, speak boldly to the Senate and the king, so as not to disturb the holy Orthodox faith: otherwise they will bring upon themselves the judgment of God—they will be betrayed into the power of a strong king and people.” The blessed one, in obedience to the Mother of God, announced aloud to the senators what the Poles should expect for themselves for their bloody oppression of Orthodoxy. 28 At that time there were ambassadors of the Orthodox Tsar in Warsaw. Bl. Athanasius revealed to the ambassadors that the Jesuits were hiding a person dangerous for Russia, the imaginary son of Marina Mnishek, the nobleman Luba, who was in his education, and has now been living with the Jesuits for 15 years; The abbot also delivered several letters to the ambassadors from Luba, where he calls himself a prince. By the will of the king, the ambassadors demanded that the impostor be handed over to them. The Jesuits now feared a lot for themselves; they made every effort to ensure that Luba was not placed at the complete disposal of Russia. The lords announced to the ambassadors that Luba was a poor nobleman, innocent of anything, and Poland could not hand him over for execution. The firm confessor of God's truth boldly repeated to the senators that it is in vain that bad people are building feats against the Orthodox kingdom - they are persecuting Orthodoxy to their own detriment. They demanded proof from him that his pupil was not Marina’s son. “Neither the late Sapega nor Mnishki recognized Luba as a prince,” he answered. “The abbot who announced the thief,” the ambassadors wrote to the Tsar in Moscow, “was put in chains in Warsaw,” and the condition of his freedom was the freedom of Luba. 29 The Jesuits strained their efforts to take revenge on Father Filippovich: they transferred him from the Warsaw prison to the Krakow dungeon, and subjected him to abuse, beatings and hunger. 30 – The ambassadors were very concerned about saving the innocent victim of anger. On their advice, the monk submitted a request to the king. Since they no longer demanded that Luba be extradited to Russia, the innocent sufferer, Saint Athanasius, was released from prison. This was already at the end of 1645. In Kyiv in 1646, he finished his diary or notes about his sad life, which was not left without heavenly consolations. 31 – When Bohdan Khmelnytsky rose up in defense of Orthodoxy, it is clear that Rev. Athanasius, as an open opponent of the union, could only repeat his sermon about the dangers of the union. The Jesuits could not forgive him for Luba either. Khmelnitsky described the then relationship of papism to Orthodoxy as follows: “the reason that forced the Cossacks to rebel against the Poles was not that the Poles unjustly took away our settlements and houses, not that they deprived us of our earthly homeland, and not that they mercilessly burdened us with work, like the pharaoh (the Cossacks would not refuse to endure all this), but that the Poles, forcing them to abandon Orthodox dogmas and join in error, they destroyed the mental villages and homes of imperishable souls with evil foolishness.” 32 – From the one who lived all his life according to the rules of pure faith and who openly spoke about the harm of the union for both temporary and eternal life, they now demanded to recognize the legality of the union; for disagreement with human arbitrariness, they were imprisoned in the Brest underground dungeon and shackled hand and foot. – The firm confessor boldly declared the wrath of God on the Polish government for insulting the rights of humanity and the protection provided to those who brazenly insulted the revelation of God for the whims of man. And for all this it was decided to put him to a shameful death. When this was announced to him, he said out loud to everyone: “Of course, apostates from St. faiths, arrogant with false enlightenment, will continue to persecute the confessors of heavenly truth for some time to come; - but there will be a time when Orthodoxy flourishes in Brest and throughout the surrounding country, and its glory will no longer fade; where my body will lie, the machinations of enemies, apostates from the St. faith will be powerless." - The holy confessor was beheaded. 33 It was 5. September. 1648. 34 His relics rest openly in the cathedral church of the Brest Simeon Monastery. 35 St. Muchch. Iuventina and Maxima Iuventin and Maximus were in the service of Emperor Julian and were among his bodyguards. They suffered in Antioch because they boldly condemned the order of the apostate emperor to sprinkle all the food sold in the markets with blood sacrificed to idols in order to desecrate the food of Christians. By order of Julian, who blamed them for “insulting the royal majesty,” they, after torture, were beheaded in prison. - “Honoring their exploits, the Antiochians placed them in a precious shrine and every year they publicly celebrated their memory” (C. historical book III, chapter 14). In one of the words of John Chrysostom, which he begins with the words: “Recently, blessed Babyla gathered us here with three youths (mem. 4 September), today two holy warriors put the army of Christ in line,” depicts the suffering of the martyrs Iuventin and Maxim (“Christ. Read.” 1864, part II, p. 219, Appendix). Description RKP. Synod. II, 3, p. 442. In East Union of Kamensky, pp. 314. 315. Abbot's announcement. Athanasius: “Sapega sent (Luba) to the Brest-Litovsk Simeonovsky Monastery in it, Athanasius, to study Russian literacy, Polish and Latin, where he stayed for seven years” (Collected gram. 3:41). Since then, until September. 1644 Luba lived in Brest “in a Jesuit monastery for more than 15 years” (Soloviev Ist. IX, 343), it turns out that Luba was given to Filipovich in 1622. Sl. correspondence between Russia and Poland 1613–1644 read. total ist. 1862, ext. 4. 132–137. Record. Filipovich to the Synod. b. 2, 67. Description RKP. Synod. b. 2, 67. Certificate from M. Sylvester in the Act. Zap. Ross. 111. 117. “A brief description of the life of St. Afanasy Filipovich, abbot of Brest, new martyr,” reprint. to Vilensk. diocesan Ved. 1864 No. 1. At the end of the life it is said: “composed in 1648.” To the Synod. RKP. “about the death of the glorious memory of the celestial Fr. Afanasy Filipovich, hegumen of Beresteysk, Orthodox, - the story was copied through his novices, fate 1648, became." O. Savva, index Synod. b., p. 159. M. 1858 “Everyone can understand,” the monk wrote, that if Luba had been Mnishkova’s son, then the Mnishkovs would have made their participation known. Before that, from the lips of the late Sapieha, I heard the following, as a teacher: I asked to put a carpet over his (Luba) bed; he said loudly with anger: what is this for? Who knows who he is? And he barely ordered to buy a rug and a blanket. Solovyova East. IX, 344–350. 493. Life: “St. Athanasius suffered wounds, reproaches, and faiths on his body in prison, of which the first was in Warsaw, the second was in Krakow.” Description Synod. RKP. 1, 66–68. Petition to the Daru 1659 on Thursday. General East. 1848 No. 8. The first universal of Khmelnitsky, who called for war with the Lyakhs, written on May 28, 1648. Act. Zap. Ross. V, No. 23. Life of St. Afanasy, in Lithuania. diocesan Ved. 1864 The Slavic list of the life, delivered to the author, differs somewhat in words from the printed text. Description Synod. RKP. 2, 68. July 20, the day shown as the day of memory of St. Athanasius in East. Jer. 211.459.557, of course there is a day for the opening of his relics. Mixed. about the monastery, p. 94.