Lives of the saints, with information about the feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God, and about the miraculous icons revealed. January–December

January • February • March • April • May • June • July • August • September • October • November • December “Let him not lie against the light” Words of St. Dimitry of Rostov Preface by His Grace Philaret of Chernigov to “Russian Saints” To the “Holy Ascetics of the Eastern Church” Many lovers of the church-historical works of the late His Grace Philaret of Chernigov expressed the desire to have the works “Russian Saints”, “Saints of the Southern Slavs” and “Ascetics of the Eastern Church” in one set, with the addition of information on the days of the month, and about the saints of the Orthodox Church not mentioned by him according to the Four Menaions of St. Demetrius of Rostov and according to the Prologues. In this edition, an attempt has been made to create such a compilation, and in the selection of the names of saints not mentioned by Philaret, we were guided by the Church Monthly Book, placed under the Followed Psalter. For the sake of completeness, information about the feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God according to the work of Archpriest Debolsky is also included: “Days of Divine Services of the Orthodox Church,” from which information about many saints is taken verbatim. Filaret's works are indicated by the sign †, unlike other writers. The publication is equipped with many images that explain the subject of the story and are often copies of the most reliable icons of saints. They were made by Academician F.G. Solntsev and are the property of the publisher. The publisher considers it necessary to warn that he will be prosecuted for any borrowing of both text and drawings from this publication, in excess of what is required by the laws on printing. Following this preface are also placed the “prefaces” of the Most Reverend Philaret to his works mentioned above. These prefaces best explain both the usefulness of the Lives of the Saints and the conscientiousness of their author in his works. There is no need to talk much about the need to bring into prominence the lives of the husbands and wives of the Russian Church who lived to the grave for the glory of the name of God. Just respect for the great already obliges us to get acquainted with and introduce the great. Glorifying the saints in this way is a holy thing. But one must have the ability to perform a holy work. “Let me not lie against the saint,” repeated the saint. Demetrius, when he wrote the lives of the saints. The rule is sacred for everyone who touches the saints with a pen or brush. A lie in a sacred matter is in itself indecent and out of place. It can also harm people's hearts. Western legends did a lot of harm to the Western Church in its fight against the Reformation: they thought to exalt the saints by bringing into life their unprecedented miracles and deeds, but by doing so they only insulted the saints and gave reason not to believe in the legends and reality. The condemnation pronounced by St. Church over the story of cleric Vasily about St. Euphrosyne, shows that the Orthodox Church does not tolerate lies and fabrications in stories about saints, as it soon reveals them. Therefore, discernment in trust in old monuments when describing saints is more necessary than when describing civil events. Previous stories about the saints of the Russian Church were written by a few contemporaries, many by later people, moreover, written by people of different talents and different education. To repeat all these stories indiscriminately, without verification, is a sin before a clear conscience and a shame before an enlightened mind. We will not offend the old storytellers if in place of the late, unjustified news, we put the news of other, more ancient monuments. This will be a service to truth, which everyone must respect. Saints are recognized as saints not by the will of people, but by the will of heaven. Therefore, one must be careful not to place among the saints a person who is not recognized as a saint by the Church. In this regard, the “Description of the Russian saints, where and in which city - live and work miracles”, according to three of its lists: according to the list of the Moscow Theological Academy and according to two lists of the Moscow Society of History No. 212 and 231, served as a guide for us. Of these, the second list of the society is more complete in terms of the number of persons, but the list of the academy is older and more accurate according to the news. The description was compiled at the end of the 17th century. It is clear in itself that this description had to be verified by other monuments, and with a clear conscience we declare that for almost all the persons included in this description, acts of spiritual administration with instructions or news of their ecclesiastical veneration were found. Recently, two more copies of the “book containing all the Russian saints” were delivered to us from Novgorod. One of them with the briefest descriptions of this or that person, and sometimes with only names - and was recently copied from a well-known text. Another “written from the Nativity of Christ, June 1718, 20 days,” according to the inscription, belongs to the Otensky Monastery, and was donated “from a zealous person for the benefit of all the brethren, for reading.” This list is similar to the General list. ist. No. 231, but not in everything. It shows an effort for better expressions and greater historical fidelity; Often there are notes: “there is no service, but there is a troparion,” or there is a service, or the relics are hidden. This is especially evident when describing the saints of “Great Novgorod”. For example: “St. Luke was laid down for St. Sophia: his relics were found in l. 7066 (1558) Mar. 28 and brought to the cathedral church of St. Sophia and laid in the Martyrian porch... St. Simeon the Archbishop - laid in the Martyrian porch next to the Archbishop Martyrius, his relics hidden.” About Polycarp of Bryansk: “Rev. Polycarp, abbot of the Spassky Monastery, also in Bryansk, reposed in L. 7007 (1499) Feb. at 23 days.” In the Autun list, the preface speaks about the saints: “from them they were testified to the council and to their memory by the saints. The Church is happy to celebrate in the summer and their holy relics rest on the top of the earth, visible to all: but they rest in hiding, both of which shone forth in miracles; In memory of their saints, the Church did not indulge in celebration (read everywhere), but only where their holy relics were buried. And you are respectful with your services, but you are not respectful. They shone forth gloriously in miracles, but to some small ones from their life or from miracles of recognition, but both of them pleased God and the only one who worked diligently from the heart and received crowns of honor from Him against their labors. We have gathered these people here as one for the sake of chronicle narratives, common for the benefit of pious and Orthodox Christians.” This preface is not found in other lists known to us. We have no doubt that there will be other lists of “books about Russian saints.” But from what was found, it is obvious that this book was considered useful and worthy of general use both in Moscow and Novgorod, the main centers of Russian life at that time, and those who respect the memory of their ancestors will not speak derogatorily about it. In order to reject sinful rumors, the writer considers it necessary to note that he began to collect information about Russian saints from the very year when the “Dictionary of Saints Glorified in the Russian Church” was published. St. Petersburg 1836, i.e. 20 years before the famous “Lives of the Saints of the Russian Church” began to be published. He can also show the distrustful a copy of the dictionary, bound at that time with white sheets of paper, but now covered with writing at different times. From that time on, he collected notes while reading chronicles and handwritten lives that he came across in different libraries. Regarding the ancient lives, it must be said that some of them were corrected and supplemented more than once. The writer does not consider it necessary to point out different editions of this or that life every time, nor does he point out all the lists of lives that he happened to read. His instructions are most often limited to libraries where everyone can easily believe the words of the author - the libraries of Tolstoy, Rumyantsev, Tsarsky. This is said in order to reject unfair conclusions that others, perhaps, will hasten to allow themselves, not to the honor of their person. Eg. Kallistratov's life is right. Juliana was delivered to the writer in a list where, as is noticeable, Callistratus himself added news of some posthumous miracles. The writer repeats once again that he does not consider his work sinless. In order for the lives of Russian saints to be compiled in the most perfect form possible, local research about them is necessary. On this subject, he suggested that whoever should publish the ancient lives (but not new ones) of the northern saints at the St. Petersburg Academy, central Russia - at the Moscow Academy, southern - at the Kyiv Academy, eastern - at the Kazan Academy, so that the publications were accompanied by critical research. As a result of this, if we are not mistaken, ancient lives began to be published at the Kazan Academy. If in other places they consider it better to do something else instead, this is no longer a matter of our conscience. From ancient lives, the writer tried to retain all the historical features of the saint or his time. But words such as: “from a young age he avoided children’s games,” or “from his youth he studied piety,” etc., will be found in almost every life, and therefore it is a mistake to pass them off as historical features, whereas these are only the techniques of a later biographer. The writer considers it a mistake to repeat now those techniques of biographers that seemed edifying in their time and which now can only serve as a temptation. The author does not consider obligatory for himself the explanations that the late biographer gave to certain incidents or his personal reflections. The life of the present time should be written in such a way that it is instructive and edifying for the people of the present time. In this conviction, the writer passed through some of the biographers' news in silence and supplemented the ancient legends with such news that the ancients do not even hint about, or with reflections that are evoked by later times. The writer will be sincerely grateful for practical indications of the shortcomings of his work; and for a week he will only fraternally regret their author, since they would not serve to the honor of the author; He does not intend to enter into an argument with anyone over personal opinions. Let everyone act according to their conscience, not forgetting that we all must give an account to the world Judge, the Lord Jesus. What is possible with the diligence and strength of one is done. We do not consider all other accessories of a useful description of saints as important as fidelity to the truth. That’s why we don’t touch on them here, although we tried, to the best of our ability, to preserve them in our description. “If you have sinned in anything, forgive and do not curse.” The devout writer of the lives of the saints of the Russian Church (St. Petersburg 1852–1859) included in his description several southern Slavic saints, but very few, no more than six. The “Athos Patericon” (St. Petersburg, 1860) describes the holy Slavs who labored on Athos. The most important publication for the history of the holy Slavs is “Serbljak”, Belgrade 1861. The publishers say that they have expanded the previous edition of “Serbljak” not only with synaxarions and two akathists, but also with new services. They have replaced the complete lives of the saints, known in handwritten Serblyaks, with short ones. For their purpose it is necessary; but for many reasons it is to be regretted that complete lives have not been published. There is no mention of saints who lived before the 11th century, just like in those two editions. So, here are all the printed descriptions of the holy Southern Slavs for now. Meanwhile, the saints of the southern Slavs were born and raised by the same grace of Christ, which raised the saints of Greek Christians. Therefore, it is natural that some of them are as great and wondrous as the great ones of the Greek Church. Both the greatness of their characters and the greatness of God’s grace that appeared in the Slavic saints are completely worthy of study. For the Slavs, the study of the life of the holy Slavs is especially necessary: ​​in the life of the holy Slavs, Evangelical piety is applied to the conditions of Slavic life, to those conditions that are rare for a Greek and inevitable for a Slav; Slavic saints are primarily leaders in life for Slavic Christians. And how many of these heavenly leaders are there along the earthly path! Far more than others think when they are not closely acquainted with the subject. For example, in the service of St. Prince Stefan Dečanski (Belgrade, 1850) mentions the Dečan ascetics Euthymius and Nestor; but nothing more is known about them yet. Serblyak also regrets that some saints are known only by their names. In order to include the saints of the Southern Slavs in any satisfactory manner, in addition to information about the saints themselves, information is required about both the civil and church life of the Southern Slavs. And how little of the civil and ecclesiastical history of the Southern Slavs has been processed yet! Therefore, one can think that they will not be too strict in court about the shortcomings of the proposed description. New discoveries and research may be published subsequently as a supplement. “The class of venerable women shines, even having been wounded by the love and kindness of Christ their groom, in His footsteps, following His Divine footsteps. For this reason, we have received the reward of our labors in heaven, with the faces of angels and saints we rejoice, praying unceasingly to Christ our God, that we all may be saved.” “In the kingdom of ice,” says an enthusiastic admirer of a brave traveler in the Alps, “everything is changeable: where yesterday you walked along a snowy arch spanning an abyss, today you cannot pass: the arch has collapsed and there is an abyss in front of you... You go further: your life depends on one wrong eye... Here everything depends on the strength of your muscles, on the strength of your will, on dexterity, on the ability to make the impossible possible, on conscious courage... Here, in front of you is a sheer wall of several hundred feet that you need to climb... And you begin to climb, noticing a depression in the wall that you can grab onto with your fingers; with incredible efforts, with the help of shod shoes and perches, you climbed high and are hanging over the abyss... Here is a small ledge. You fasten the rope on it, rise to your feet, rest your foot on the ledge... The slightest trembling of your muscles and - not only you died, but those whom you help climb the rope also died,” and so on, and so on. The will in the traveler is energetic! But - here is only physical gymnastics of mental strength, known even to a pagan. It’s different – ​​fighters against spiritual nature! The spirit is stronger than rocks and more changeable than snowy mountains. There is a struggle over what?.. Here - for an eternal share, for the glory of the One who is above all!.. In the gradual approach of the whole person to God, in the progressive growth “from strength to strength” on the moral path - this is the advantage that distinguishes man from animals and is necessary for man as created in the image of God. Without success in morality, success in the sciences is not the desired success, and the gloss of external education (civilization) is not true enlightenment. This can be seen in experience. By the grace of the uncalled benefactors of mankind, people's morality is falling, beggary is increasing, theft, robbery, murder, debauchery, blasphemy, sacrilege are increasing and - look at it - public life will erupt in a terrible catastrophe... A moral struggle is a struggle that is as life-giving as it is lofty! And so: who fights and wins? The organization is weak, female! In Christ Jesus there is no difference between man and woman, in that heavenly help is ready for all. But the grace of God, when saving a person, does not destroy his strength, but only heals and strengthens him. Therefore, there remains a difference between the male and female organizations of those being saved - a difference that requires different methods for salvation. The lives of saints, wonderful ascetics of God, can be especially useful for virgins and wives seeking salvation. These are the models by which they should measure their lives and from which they should take lessons for their particular fortunes. And for men who so often say: “we are weak,” isn’t it a reproach, isn’t the marvelous exploits of weak women’s organizations evidence of lies?.. In Russian monasteries, a book was copied: “Reading of Holy Wives” (Inventory of books of sedate monasteries No. 1826). The writer of these lines long ago received, in a Russian translation from French, a description of oriental maidens and desert wives. But only recently did I have the opportunity to review the work of Michel-Ange-Marin. The main idea is wonderful! There is good in its implementation. Maren describes the life of hermits according to the places of their exploits. His description is more complete than the work of his predecessor Villefort: Les vies de saints solitaires. Amsterdam, 1714. And yet Maren’s description turned out to be very, very unsatisfactory. We are not talking about other shortcomings, for example, the lack of clarity and proximity to the ancient text of the news; Maren does not know very many ascetics of the Eastern Church. The main pointer to examples of asceticism is the church service of Cheese Saturday. The great ascetics are shown here by name. In the same service we also read: “may any other request from women be sung in fasting.” Therefore, it would be a mistake to limit the description of the ascetics to the names shown in the service. Luther had the conscience to shout that virginal asceticism began only in the 4th century. But there is no doubt that he spoke a lie, to please human passions and to the detriment of Christianity. Nevertheless, since the ascetics who ended their lives in suffering for the faith are known in the Church with the special name of St. martyrs, - during the review of St. we will not talk about the lives of ascetic martyrs. As a reproach to Orthodoxy, they said that it considers only the feat of fasting and virginity to be a saving feat. No, Christian asceticism, according to the understanding of Orthodoxy, is not as close as those who did not understand either Orthodoxy or asceticism said. Review of St. of the ascetics of the East ends with the 10th century because the exploits of the ascetics of subsequent times are hidden in inaccessible Greek manuscripts.