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† Memory of St. prophet Jeremiah Jeremiah was one of those holy men whom the Lord raised up from time to time among His chosen people - to remind them of the truth of God, which he forgot, deviating into the errors of idolatry and wallowing in the self-will of unbridled passions and vice. Holyly preserving faith in the One true God and the memory of His promises, these people courageously denounced evil and untruth, preached the truth, did not deviate from it to the end and fearlessly went to destruction from the wicked, who did not tolerate opposition to their wickedness. So the prophet Jeremiah, who lived 600 years BC, inspired from above, enlightened his people and acted, as if already imbued with the revelation that, 6 centuries after him, the world heard from the lips of the God-man in His saying: “Blessed are those who were persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven; Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and slander you in every way unjustly because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5:10–12). The son of the priest Hilkiah, who lived in the city of Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin, during the reign of the pious King Josiah of Judah, Jeremiah had barely reached adolescence when Divine inspiration dawned on him: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you, and made you a prophet to the nations” ... (Jer. 1:5 ), the pure young man heard the voice of God in his heart... “Oh, Lord God! “- he responded in his humility, “I don’t know how to speak, because I’m still young.” But the Lord said to him: “Do not say: I am young, for you will go to everyone to whom I send you, and you will say everything that I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.” And the Lord stretched out His hand and touched Jeremiah’s mouth and said to him: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. Behold, I have set you this day over nations and kingdoms, to uproot and destroy, to destroy and to destroy, to build and to plant” (Jer. 1:6-10). And there was another word of the Lord to Jeremiah: “Gird up your loins and stand up, and tell them everything that I command you; Do not be faint-hearted before them, lest I strike you in their sight. Tell them that I will pronounce My judgments on them for all their iniquities, because they forsook Me and burned incense to foreign gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. And behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and a pillar of iron, and a wall of brass, throughout all this land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you to deliver you” (Jer. 1:16–19). Obedient to the command of God, Jeremiah set out on the path of the prophet. - “Come back, children - apostates! - he appealed to the people of Judah in the name of God, - return, rebellious children, and the Lord will heal your disobedience. Behold, He sets before you the way of life and the way of death. From early morning, carry out judgment and save the offended from the hand of the offender, do not offend or oppress the stranger, the orphan and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood. Correct yourself, lest the wrath of God be revealed like fire and burn unquenchable because of your evil deeds”... (Jer. 7). But how did the house of Judah and the house of Israel respond to the admonitions of God conveyed by the young prophet? “They said: There is no God and trouble will not come to us, and we will not see either sword or famine. And the prophets will become wind, and the word of the Lord is not in them; let it be over themselves”... (Jer. 5:12–13). “Therefore thus says (through Jeremiah) the Lord God of hosts: Because you speak such words, behold, I will make My words in your mouth (the prophet) fire, and this people wood, and this fire will consume them” (Jer. 5:14). The fire in the mouth of Jeremiah turned out to be the threats of the Lord God, who was angry with His beloved people: “Hear this (says the Lord), you foolish and foolish people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear. Aren't you afraid of Me, don't you tremble before Me? I have set the sand as a boundary to the sea, an eternal limit that cannot be crossed; and, although its waves rush, they cannot overcome it; although they rage, they cannot cross it. But this people has a violent and rebellious heart; they have retreated and gone away”... (Jer. 5:21-23). “Like a cage filled with birds, their houses are full of deceit; through this they rose to prominence and became rich. They became fat, fat, and even exceeded all limits in evil; they do not deal with court cases and orphans’ cases; they prosper and the just cause of the poor is not given justice. Am I not going to punish you for this? and shall not My soul take vengeance on such a people as this? Amazing and terrible things are happening in this country”... (Jer. 5:27–30). “Behold, I will bring against you, O house of Israel, a people from afar, a mighty people, an ancient people, a people whose language you do not know, and you will not understand what they say. His quiver is like an open coffin; they are all brave people. And they will eat up your harvest and your bread, they will eat up your sons and your daughters and your oxen, they will eat up your grapes and your figs; They will destroy with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.” “Hear therefore, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them; Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring destruction upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts; for they did not listen to My words, and rejected My law” (Jer. 5:15-17). “And the carcases of this people will be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to drive them away. And I will stop from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of triumph and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for this land will be desolate” (Jer. 7:33-34). “At that time they will throw out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves” (Jer. 8:1). “And all the rest who remain from this evil tribe in all the places where I will drive them out will prefer death to life,” says the Lord of hosts... (Jer. 8:3). “You do not ask for this people, and do not offer prayers and offerings for them, and do not intercede with Me; For I will not hear you,” continues the formidable Judge, turning to Jeremiah, in whose heart He, the omniscient, read the grave pain about the fate of his brotherly beloved people, “but tell them,” continues the Loving One, as if wanting to tear His people out of hopelessness in the midst of punishment, “do not those who fall, get up, and having turned aside from the road, do not return?” (Jer.8:4). “But they did not listen, and did not bow their ear, and lived according to the prompting and stubbornness of their evil heart” ... (Jer. 7:24). The divinely inspired words of the prophet infuriated the people, who, moreover, were excited by their priests and false prophets, and Jeremiah was subjected to severe persecution... He was overcome by deep contrition of heart, his strength began to weaken and in the exhaustion of his soul he exclaimed: “You have drawn me, Lord, and I am carried away; You are stronger than me and have overcome; and every day I am in ridicule, everyone mocks me. For as soon as I begin to speak, I scream about violence, I cry out about ruin; because the word of the Lord has become a reproach to me and a daily ridicule. And I thought: I will not remind of Him and I will no longer speak in His name; but it was in my heart, as it were, a scorching fire, contained in my bones, and I was tired, holding it, and could not... I heard how they were conferring against me, how my former friends were saying among themselves: let us attack him and take revenge on him... But the Lord is with me as a mighty warrior, and therefore those who persecute me will not stand, and their shame will be eternal, never forgotten” ... (Jer. 20:7-11). Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry in his hometown of Anathoth, but, persecuted by his compatriots, he retired to Jerusalem, but even here, as stated above, he did not escape persecution. Wonderfully guided and supported by God, he, however, did not shy away from the ministry to which he felt the Divine calling, and continued to teach the people and proclaim to them the will of the Lord and His decrees. He constantly and fearlessly preached among public gatherings, both in the church and near the royal palace itself. One day, when, at the command of the Lord, he announced to the people about the fall of the church and the city itself, he was captured for these words by priests and false prophets, who demanded that he be put to death... “Then Jeremiah said to all the princes and to all the people, “The Lord has sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all these words which you have heard. Therefore correct your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will cancel the evil that He has spoken against you. As for me, here I am in your hands; do to me whatever seems good and fair in your eyes. Just know for sure that if you kill me, you will lay innocent blood on yourself and on this city and its inhabitants; for truly the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears. Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man is not subject to the death sentence, because he spoke to us in the name of the Lord our God” (Jer. 26:12–16). Thus, freed from execution, Jeremiah again began to proclaim to the people what he had heard from the Lord, and his predictions were fulfilled, but this did not admonish the Jews who persisted in their sins and unbelief. Then again the threats of God poured out through the mouth of His prophet. This was a foreshadowing of the long-term subjugation of the Jews to the power of a foreign king, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the desolation of the entire country of Judea. And indeed, soon after that, Jerusalem was besieged and taken by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who destroyed the church and took many Jews captive. He allowed Joachim, who was appointed king over the Jews by Pharaoh Necho when he took possession of Jerusalem, to be king over those who remained. At this time, the false prophets, wanting to be pleasing to the people, pleased them with false promises that their subordination would not last long and that the captives would soon be released. - Jeremiah, who foresaw future events in spirit, said something else; Knowing that the subjugation of the Jews would be long-term, he exhorted them to humbly accept this punishment of God for their sins and not to be indignant. “Thus says the Lord,” he told the people: “Now I give all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant; and all nations will serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time comes, both for his land and for himself, and many nations and great kings will serve him. And if any nation and kingdom does not want to serve him, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and does not bow his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish this people with sword, famine and pestilence, says the Lord, until I destroy them by his hand... And you do not listen to your prophets and your fortune-tellers, and your dreamers, and your magicians, and your astrologers, who They say to you, “You will not serve the king of Babylon,” for they are prophesying lies to you, so that they will remove you from your land, and so that I will drive you out and you will perish”... (Jer. 27:6-10). And to the remnant of the elders among the exiles, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had brought out of Jerusalem to Babylon, Jeremiah from Jerusalem sent this letter: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your prophets who are among you, and your fortunetellers, deceive you; and do not listen to the dreams that you dream. They prophesy to you falsely in My name; I did not send them, says the Lord. For this is what the Lord says: When you are seventy years old in Babylon, then I will visit you and fulfill My good word about you, to bring you back to this place. You will seek Me and you will find Me, if you seek Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you, and I will bring you back from captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, and I will bring you back to the place from which I removed you” ... (Jer. 29:8-14). Meanwhile, trusting the false prophets, the Jews were only irritated by Jeremiah’s predictions that contradicted their hopes and desires for a quick release and reached the point that he was imprisoned. Then Jeremiah, through his disciple Baruch, who through the prison window listened and wrote down the words of his teacher, repeated all the prophecies he had expressed up to that time, and ordered Baruch to read them to the people. Baruch read the scroll in the presence of the people, and after that it was handed over to the king himself for reading. The words of the prophet enraged Joachim, he burned the scroll and ordered the death of Jeremiah and Baruch, but God preserved them... Meanwhile, the words of Jeremiah were not slow to come true. Nebuchadnezzar sent an army against Joachim, who refused to pay him tribute - based on the assurances of his false prophets that the liberation of the country from an alien yoke would soon follow. The enemy attack came so unexpectedly that Jerusalem did not have time to prepare for resistance. Joachim was killed and his corpse was thrown out of the city (as was predicted by Jeremiah); more than ten thousand Jews were taken captive to Babylon. – Jehoiachin, who was chosen for the kingdom, was also, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, who installed Zedekiah as king in Jerusalem. Zedekiah also committed iniquities! Jeremiah did not cease to call everyone to repentance: “Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people! - cried the inspired chosen one of God, - thus says the Lord: carry out justice and righteousness and save the oppressed from the hands of the oppressor, do not offend or oppress the stranger, the orphan and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. If you do not listen to My words, then I swear by Me, says the Lord, that this house will become empty and your cities uninhabited. I will prepare fighters, each with his own guns; and many nations will pass through this city and say to each other: Why did the Lord do this to this great city? - And they will say in response: because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods and served them... Do not cry for the deceased and do not regret him, but weep bitterly for the one who goes into captivity, for he will no longer return and will not see his native country. And I will deliver King Zedekiah, says the Lord, his servants and people, and those who remained in this city from the pestilence, the sword, and the famine, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hands of his enemies, and into the hands of those who seek their souls; and he will smite them with the edge of the sword, and will not spare them, and will not have mercy, and will not have mercy."... The loving heart of the prophet, frightening his brethren with the terrible disasters that awaited them, was lamented; He fervently prayed for the aversion of Divine punishment, and the Merciful Lord consoled him with revelations of the distant future: “With eternal love I have loved you (the Jewish people), and therefore I have extended My favor to you. The people who escaped the sword found mercy in the wilderness; I am going to reassure Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the ends of the earth; the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and the woman in labor together with them - a great host will return here. They went with tears, but I will lead them with consolation; I will lead them by the streams of water, on a smooth path on which they will not stumble... Hear the word of the Lord, O peoples, and proclaim to the distant islands and say: He who scattered Israel will also gather them and will guard them, like a shepherd who guards his flock. And they will come and rejoice on the heights of Zion... and their soul will be like a garden watered with water, and they will no longer languish... And I will change their sorrow into joy, and I will comfort them, and I will make them glad after their sorrow" ... “Thus says the Lord: a voice is heard in Rama, a cry and bitter weeping; Rachel cries for her children and does not want to be consoled for them, for they are not there. Thus says the Lord: keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your labor, and they will return from the land of the enemy”... (Jer. 31). “And I will give drink to the weary soul, and satisfy every sorrowing soul”... - the God-inspired prophet then sees in a mysterious revelation - the greatest consolation of the world: the coming of the Savior into the world... “Behold, the days will come,” says the Lord, “when I will fulfill the good word that I gave to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will restore to David the righteous Branch, and he will bring about judgment and righteousness on earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety; and this is the name by which they will call Him: “The Lord is our justification!” ( Jer. 33:14–16 ). Meanwhile, for Zedekiah, the prophet’s admonitions remained a voice crying in the wilderness... Like the kings of his predecessors, instead of understanding the words of Jeremiah about correcting his path and humbly enduring God’s punishment for the sins of the people, he continued to commit lawlessness and also believed the false prophets, pleasing the people with promises of speedy liberation from the power of the king of Babylon, and refused to pay him tribute. For his reproaches, Jeremiah 1 ordered to be thrown into a deep muddy ditch... Immersed in mud up to his neck, Jeremiah almost died, but, having met a defender in one of the king’s close associates, named Ebed-melech, he was pulled out of the pit and taken to prison 2. Meanwhile, his words were not slow in coming true. Jerusalem was besieged by the king of Babylon, the inhabitants suffered all the pangs of hunger during a long siege, and the city was finally taken. The sons of Zedekiah were slain in his sight; Zedekiah himself, whose eyes were gouged out, was taken in chains to Babylon. The church in the city was destroyed, the inhabitants were taken captive; Jerusalem was deserted, only farmers and shepherds remained in the land of Judea... At the time when the destruction of the city began, but before the desolation of the church, the freed Jeremiah took the tabernacle built by Moses and the ark of the covenant with the tablets, and with the help of the priests and Levites, he carried this shrine to Mount Nathan, from which the promised land opened before Moses... Here, having placed the ark of the covenant and the altar of incense in a cave in the mountain, Jeremiah blocked the entrance to it with stones. Tradition conveys his words spoken to the priests on this occasion: “The Lord has departed from Zion to heaven and will come again with power; and this will happen when all nations begin to worship the tree. Then Moses will bring the ark of the covenant out of the cave, and Aaron will unfurl the tablets of the law.”... In the same way, Jeremiah hid the fire that had been constantly burning in the temple of Jerusalem since the time of Moses; he hid it at the bottom of a deep and waterless well so that the Jews, upon returning from the captivity of Babylon, would again kindle this fire in the church that they were to build. When Jerusalem was taken and destroyed, “concerning Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar gave the following command to Nebuzaradan, the commander of the bodyguard: take him and keep him in mind, and do not do anything bad to him, but do to him as he tells you.” Then “they sent and took Jeremiah from the court of the guard, and entrusted him to Gedaliah (left by the king of Babylon for the prince of the land of Judah), to take him home, and he remained to live among the people” (Jer. 39:11,12,14). A sad life has now come for the enslaved Jews who survived death and captivity; Jeremiah continued to call them to repentance and proclaim to them the will of God; mourning with them, he poured out his grief in a song known as “Jeremiah’s Lament”: “How the Lord darkened the daughter of Zion in his wrath! He brought down the beauty of Israel from heaven to the earth, and did not remember His footstool in the day of His wrath.” “The Lord destroyed all the dwellings of Jacob, did not spare him, destroyed in His wrath the fortifications of the daughter of Judah, threw him to the ground, rejected the kingdom and its princes as unclean.” “The elders of the daughter of Zion sit silently on the ground, they have sprinkled ashes on their heads, they have girded themselves with sackcloth; The virgins of Jerusalem lowered their heads to the ground.” “My eyes are exhausted from tears, my insides are troubled, and peace has departed from my soul; I forgot about prosperity, and I said: my strength and my hope in the Lord perished; My eye sheds streams of tears for the destruction of the daughter of my people; the crown has fallen from our head; woe to us that we have sinned!” “For this reason our heart faints; because of this our eyes have darkened.” “Because Mount Zion is desolate, foxes walk on it”... “You, O Lord, remain forever; Your throne endures forever and ever. Why do you completely forget us, leave us for a long time? Turn us to You, Lord, and we will turn; renew our days as they were of old... Have you really rejected us completely, have you become immeasurably angry with us?” ... Jeremiah did not remain long in the land of Judah; against his will, he, together with the prophet Baruch, had to follow the Jews to Egypt, who fled there from fear of the royal wrath for the murder of Gedaliah, who had been placed over them. In vain did Jeremiah advise them to stay in the land of Judea, in the name of God promising them a safe stay here and threatening them with terrible disasters in Egypt due to the attack of the Babylonian king; The incorrigibly stubborn Jews did not listen to the prophet this time either and forcibly dragged him along with them to Egypt. Jeremiah lived here for four years and managed to arouse great respect for himself in the Egyptians, who saw his holy life and the miracles performed through his prayer. He continued to prophesy here, but even here the Jews hated him, and when he repeated the prediction about the extermination of the Jews who came to Egypt, they, in furious indignation at him, stoned him... His prophecy was not slow to be fulfilled: in the same year, Nebuchadnezzar, having taken possession of Egypt, ordered that all the Jews who were there be put to death. 250 years after the death of the prophet Jeremiah (in Taphnis, in Lower Egypt - the biblical Zoan), his relics were transferred from here by Alexander the Great to the city he built in Egypt - Alexandria, in a place called Tetraphilus, which was revered by the people due to the many prophetic relics buried there. After the prophet Jeremiah, three books remained: the 1st of 56 chapters, containing the above events and prophecies, the 2nd - the Lamentations of Jeremiah and the 3rd - his message to the captive Jews taken to Babylon. By the way, Jeremiah also predicted to the Egyptian priests the fall of idolatry with the birth on earth of the Savior of the world. There is a legend that King Ptolemy saw the Egyptians worshiping a baby laid in a manger, and when he asked the priests: what does this mean, they answered him that St. the prophet (Jeremiah) commanded this custom and that they are waiting for the resolution of this mystery... 400 years after the death of Jeremiah, the Israeli commander Judah Maccabeus, going on a campaign against King Antiochus, saw in the revelation of the prophet Jeremiah praying for the people of Judah with the high priest Onias; at the same time, Jeremiah, giving the golden sword to Judah Maccabee, said: “Accept this sword, the gift of God, and crush the enemies of Israel with it!” So he does not die outside the grave, but that holy feeling that inspired a person in his earthly life lives forever... † Repose of Rev. Paphnutius Borovsky “The ascetic of virtues is pleasant to his disciples and those who live with him,” this is how Vassian, Archbishop of Rostov, once a student of Paphnutius, begins his description of the life of St. Paphnutius. “He can excite them to imitate, he can guide them even after death. It is most pleasant when someone tries to set out his deeds in writing. Not in a short time, but at all times, he can excite people to imitate him and inspire him with love for virtue. So we decided to briefly, avoiding excess, describe the virtuous and God-pleasing life of a husband who had perfected himself in virtue” 3 . The grandfather of Ave. Pafnutia was a Baskak in Borovsk and was baptized with the name Martin. Paphnutius, baptized Parthenius, was born in the hereditary village of Kudinov, 3 versts from Borovsk, and at one time was taught to read and write. In the 20th year, leaving the house of his parents (John and Photinia), he entered the Borovsky High Monastery - Intercession of the Virgin Mary 4; here Nikita, a student of St. Sergius 5, was his mentor. After the death of Abbot Markell, the brethren and Prince Simeon Vladimirovich of Borovsk begged him to take charge of the monastery; ordained abbot (1431), he added to the exploits of a monk the exploits of a shepherd of the souls entrusted to him and was a skilled shepherd 6 . He spent his days in monastic labors, and his nights in prayer, representing with his life a model of asceticism. The Lord gave him the gift of prudence; sometimes he had revelations in his dreams. Once a brother was sent to the village for the needs of the monastery and fell there into the sin of carnal impurity. Ave. Paphnutius, having completed the usual rule, bowed down to rest a little, and saw a beautiful garden with beautiful fruitful trees; one tree, very beautiful, suddenly fell; Paphnutius, saddened by this, picked up the uprooted tree and planted it again - it staggered and bent towards the ground; but he supported it, trampled the earth around the root and established it. Having woken up, he was saddened by the certainty that one of his spiritual children required special care for himself. When that brother returned, the monk said: “Did trouble happen to you?” The brother, out of shame, did not want to confess his sin and could not even look his father straight in the face. For a long time the monk persuaded him to open his sick soul, but finally he repented and the monk healed his soul with hope in the goodness of God, ready to accept the repentant. In the thirtieth year of his abbotship, Paphnutius became seriously ill and was ill for a long time; in this position he assumed the schema. - Having recovered from his illness, he abandoned his abbess and, 2 versts from Borovsk, in a dense forest, in a valley between two rivers, began to live with one brother. It was 1444. Little by little the brethren began to come here; With the blessing of the elder, they set up cells for themselves and began to live under the guidance of a good mentor. – When the number of students increased and the place expanded, the brethren prayed to the mentor to allow him to build a church for general prayers. He did not prohibit it, and they built a wooden church in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Borovsky Prince Vasily Yaroslavich was annoyed that the High Monastery abandoned by Paphnutius was falling, and the new monastery on the land of Prince Sukhodolsky was beginning to flourish 7; agitated by sinful passions, he more than once sent servants to burn down the new monastery, but they each time caught the eye of Paphnutius and the brethren; one of the baptized Tatars, distinguished by his audacity and daring, volunteered, no matter what, to carry out the will of the prince. The monk met him and affectionately asked: “Why have you, my friend, come to us?” This caress disarmed the daredevil and he confessed to his sin. The monk forgave him and released him in peace. When the “wicked Mamotyak,” the son of the Kazan king Ulu-Makhmet, unexpectedly invaded Russia with many Tatars, and the Grand Duke. Vasily, not having time to gather enough troops, met the Tatars near Suzdal: the Tatars, having defeated the Russians, took many prisoners, including Prince Vasily Yaroslavich; this was in 1445 8. While in captivity, the poor prince reconsidered his life and saw that he was unfairly angry with the monk; he decided to atone for his sin with love if the Lord freed him. The monk, for his part, prayed for the prince, and through his prayer the prince managed to escape from captivity; Upon returning to his house, the prince immediately came to the Abba, asked for his forgiveness, and from that time began to be respectful to him. The monk was not only kind when he was insulted, but was patient in his needs, and this patience, animated by trust in the Lord, brought grace to the monastery. Once the Easter holiday approached, and there was no fish at all in the monastery. The brothers mourned over this. “Do not grieve, brethren,” he said: the merciful Lord will not leave his servants without consolation.” On Great Saturday at Vespers, the sexton went to a small spring to take water for the liturgy and saw a lot of fish, “which in that region are called sizhiki, of insignificant size, but larger than herrings.” There were so many of them gathered - there was a flood of water - that it was as if someone had driven them here, “and neither before nor after, there have never been so many of them here.” The sexton hastened to tell the monk about this; The fishermen, on the orders of Paphnutius, cast a line and pulled out so many fish that there was enough for the whole bright week. The fame of the ascetic Paphnutius spread far and wide. With such fame, “many came to Paphnutius to live with him. Among them, the noble young man John (Sanin) comes, is tonsured by his hands, puts aside all worldly things with the loss of his hair, is named Joseph and remains entirely in his will.” This is the future founder of the Volokolamsk monastery. Under the leadership of Paphnutius, the “wonderful old man Innocent”, Isaiah, a relative of the blessed one, Vassian, the writer of life and later the Archbishop of Rostov, and many others labored. There was someone to learn good things from. From the time Paphnutius became a monk, his life went like this: on Monday and Friday he ate nothing; on Wednesday - dry bread; on other days I ate with my brothers. He was always at work, cutting firewood, irrigating plants, digging soil in the garden, doing other hard work, and no one before him had appeared either at work or for the general rule of prayer. In winter, he occupied himself with reading and handicrafts, and weaved ice for catching fish. He did not allow anyone to touch his body, and the female sex was not allowed to enter his monastery; the purity of virginity was preserved by him in heaven. Nevertheless, from the time he accepted the schema, he did not perform liturgy, as if he had doomed himself to the solitary prayer of a humble schema-monk; only once, out of necessity, did he perform the sacrament. When the holiday of Easter approached, a messenger was sent to find a priest to serve, but the priest was not found. The monk, always prudent, in such a need, himself performed the liturgy and with deep tenderness; After the liturgy was celebrated, he said to his disciples: “Today my soul barely remains in my body.” When necessary, he entered into conversation; and when it was necessary to remain silent, he was silent; he loved poverty and poverty in everything; did not care about bodily needs. Regarding the dogmas of faith, he observed such strictness that if anyone began to speak in disagreement with the Holy Scriptures, he was immediately kicked out of the monastery. Another disciple of the Monk Paphnutius says about him: “We lived with him for several years, we saw his labors and sorrows, feats of jealousy, thinness of attire, firm love for God, hope in the Most Pure Mother of God, hope constantly kept in his mind and lips. That is why he was honored with the grace of God, by which he foresaw the thoughts of the heart and revealed them to his brethren, healed illnesses, and received everything he asked of God and the Most Pure Mother of God. In his life, he truly surpassed the people of our time” 9. The monastery was surrounded by a dense grove, where there were many black crows. The loving heart of Paphnutius was consoled by the multitude of these birds, as creatures of God, albeit noisy ones. He laid down a commandment not to catch or kill them, nor their children. The son of the city governor, driving through the forest, pulled a bow and killed one raven; he was glad that he had successfully shot the arrow, but when he wanted to turn his head, he could not turn it - she kept looking to the side. Having understood the cause of his misfortune, he came to the Monk Paphnutius and, asking for forgiveness, asked to pray for him. The monk said with a smile: “God avenged the blood of the raven”; Having performed a prayer service in the church, the saint overshadowed the sick man with a cross, and the head fell into place. Once thieves came at night and took three monastery working oxen. But when we went with them, we wandered around the monastery all night. It began to dawn; they wanted to escape, but could not; those who were looking for the oxen caught the thieves and brought them to the monk. Paphnutius, having taught them not to steal in the future, ordered them to be fed and sent them away in peace. The two brothers wanted to secretly leave the monastery and had already packed their things for the journey. After the morning singing, the monk, falling asleep, sees: an Ethiopian throwing coals on the cells of those brothers; his father threatened him and forbade him to throw it, so as not to set the buildings on fire. He replied that he throws it for this purpose, to light it. Waking up, the monk immediately sent for his brothers and told them his vision; they confessed to their criminal intentions and brought the very knots of the dress, ready for the road. “The other brother scolded everything in the monastery and grumbled at his father. At one time he sees himself in the church along with others, his father comes up to him and, casting a stern look at him, says: this man is a blasphemer, take him out of the church, and two Murins 10 grabbed him and dragged him out with pushes. Instantly awakening, the monk ran in horror to the monk and begged him to forgive him. – Once after Matins the monk rested; His disciple Joseph was walking towards his cell and as soon as he approached, Paphnutius opened the window of the cell and, seeing Joseph, said: “Someone, having prayed, said to me: “Elder Constantine has departed to the Lord.” And so, opening the window, I see no one except you.” “I just left Konstantin, he is still alive,” answered Joseph. The monk ordered to go again to the elder’s cell, and he found him dead. There was in the monastery an old man of spiritual life and a very ancient one. He had such a gift of tears that they always flowed from him, in his cell and during church service. He also had the gift of foresight. The two brothers loved each other, but not according to God's will. The monk was very dissatisfied with this and they decided to leave the monastery. During the liturgy, Euthymius, standing in the church with his usual tenderness, sees: some shaggy murin, with a helmet on his head, began to drag those brothers from the choir with a hook; the hook was torn off and Murin again caught it on the brothers’ clothes. They began to read the Gospel and Murin disappeared from the church. Then he appeared again and began to do the same. During the Cherubic Song he disappeared again and then appeared again. When the time came for the consecration of the Holy Gifts, he disappeared like smoke and did not appear again. The elder looked at all this with trepidation and was as if in a frenzy. At the end of the liturgy, he approached the monk and told everything he had seen. The monk, calling the monks, told them not to accept the enemy’s suggestions in their hearts, and having accepted them, not to hide them. They accepted the admonition with contrition and corrected themselves. The monk told his disciples that you can tell by looking whether someone is occupied with good thoughts or bad ones. The disciples were amazed, but then they saw evidence of this in the holy elder. One novice, who had not weaned his eyes from worldly insolence, having left the monastery due to need, when meeting women, fixed his eyes on them and was captivated by lust from his long gaze. Returning to his father’s cell, he found him reading a book. His father looked at him and said in disgust: “This man is not the same.” “The brother was horrified and told everything to Joseph, who lived with him; he advised him to open up to his father about everything and ask for forgiveness. The monk, having listened to the repentant, taught and forgave him. Another time the monk sat and read a book. A certain man, having made a prayer, asked his disciple Joseph, calling himself a resident of the same place as him. “The elder, having never seen this man, said to Joseph: “Go, a man with an evil look is asking you.” Joseph went out and, recognizing his acquaintance, asked him: why did he come? “I want,” he answered, to be a monk.” Joseph reported this to the monk. He said, “Feed him and let him go.” Joseph fulfilled the will of the elder. When he returned to his cell, the father said: “This man is a murderer; Even in his youth, he stabbed the monk in the stomach with a knife and killed him.” Another man, named Ivan, served under instruction in Novgorod with a certain prince and killed the master with poison. Then, troubled by his conscience, he put on a monastic robe and came to the monastery of Pafnutiev. - The monk, seeing him, said to his disciples: “You see, this man was not cleansed of blood and monasticism?” They were surprised, but did not dare ask then. Afterwards the monk said to one disciple: “This man killed Prince Demetrius Shemakha with poison; That’s why I wasn’t cleansed of blood by becoming a monk.” According to the chronicles, the death of Prince Dimitri Shemakha followed in Novgorod on July 18, 1453 11 and according to some “Prince Dimitri died in vain” 12, according to others “he died from poison” 13, otherwise “giving him a fierce potion” 14 and the one who gave the poison to Shemyaka was the boyar and his favorite Ivan Kotov 15. – To his sorrow, the monk saw not only this experience of human politics that was unscrupulous in its means. – Prince Vasily Yaroslavich of Borovsk, who had been a loyal ally of Vasily the Dark for more than 20 years, was suddenly taken into custody with three children in 1457 and locked up in Uglich, where he died; his eldest son and his stepmother fled to Lithuania; the vast inheritance of the Borovsky prince was annexed to the possessions of Vasily the Dark 16. Such are human affairs! When the number of disciples in the monastery increased and many began to come to it for prayer, the monk decided to build a stone church in honor of the Most Pure One. When building it, he himself carried bricks, water and other materials. Of the icon painters who decorated the church, the first one, Dionysius, suffered greatly from his legs and, due to illness, could not work in the church himself. The monk, forcing him to work, told him: “God will forgive you, the Mother of God will give health to your feet.” Dionysius set to work and recovered. The elder commanded Dionysius and his comrades not to eat meat in the monastery and not to carry it into the monastery, but let them go to the nearest village. Once, after having lunch in the village, they took with them a roasted sheep's steak 17 stuffed with eggs to dine in the monastery, but they forgot about the Abba's commandment. They sat down to dinner, and when the first one began to eat, Dionysius saw that where the eggs were, worms were swarming. Diopisius himself was attacked by a sverb 18 and his whole body was covered with scabs. He sent to beg the monk for forgiveness, and the monk, having given an exhortation, led the sick man to church, where a prayer service was offered for him, and the saint sprinkled him. water, and he recovered. According to a contemporary, the church was marvelously painted by Mitrofan and Dionysius, the best painters of the Russian land; it was decorated with icons, books and all kinds of utensils, so that the rulers of the Russian land marveled at it. The monk celebrated its consecration on October 26, 1466 19 . A certain noblewoman, the wife of Alexei Baburin, whose sons were later monks and lived with Vassian, the monk’s biographer, greatly respected St. Paphnutius and often sent her children to him with gifts and asking for prayer for her; An illness happened to her and she was confused in her thoughts: she saw unclean spirits that frightened her, and as a result she lost her senses. In this state, an old man appeared to her, short, hunched over, with a gray and long beard, in poor clothes; he drove away spirits from her, and... she came to her senses; She also heard a voice: “Paphnutius Borovsky will drive the demons away from you.” Having completely recovered, she wished to see the saint; She wanted to believe if he appeared to her and drove away spirits? She came with her servants to the monastery and, since the monastery was not accessible to wives, she stopped at the gate. Through her servants she begged her disciples how she could see the elder. They pointed out the saint to the servants and said: he will go to the meal from the church, then point it out to her. But she, before the servants pointed it out to her, saw the saint leaving the church, recognized him and said with tears: truly he drove away spirits from me and gave me healing. Then she sent rich alms to the monks, thanking God and the Most Pure Mother of God for her healing. One of the disciples had an eye pain and he, suffering greatly from it, asked the monk for healing. His father gave him his rosary and ordered him to say a thousand times: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.” He, suffering greatly, barely obeyed, but after performing 500 prayers, he felt that his eye was healthy; out of joy he ran to his father with the news of the healing of his eye; It did not hide from the perspicacious old man that he said not 1000, but 500 prayers, and ordered him to finish. At one time, the brethren were sitting with the monk, and since news was received from some laymen that an archimandrite had died in the Simonov Monastery, they reasoned among themselves, who would be the archimandrite? The blessed one, looking at one of the disciples, Vassian, Joseph’s brother, said, smiling: “Here is Simonov’s archimandrite!” Vassian, although not at that time, was definitely Archimandrite Simonovsky. The reverend father was very reasonable. Therefore, not only monks, but also worldly people had him as their spiritual father. He knew the church rules well and knew how, like a skilled doctor, to give medicines for serious illnesses. When receiving spiritual children, he could not make out faces, was not afraid of strong people and did not despise the poor, he was not entirely accessible to the proud, but he was affectionate and courteous with the humble. When one year there was a severe famine, he fed the surrounding people, so that every day he fed up to 1000 people and left nothing behind; but the next year the Lord sent special fertility for the tears of poverty. Rev. In his life, the elder experienced quite a lot of sorrows from appanage power, strong for self-will and powerless to protect those subordinate to it. That is why, when in recent years his Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich gave Vyshgorod to Prince Boris Vasilyevich and Elder Paphnutius was told that his monastery would go to Prince Boris along with Vyshgorod, Paphnutius said: “The Grand Duke took from the Yaroslavichs a monastery similar to ours, the Sergius Monastery; therefore, even if he gave our monastery to Prince Boris, I ask the Grand Duke to take our monastery into his power; and the Grand Duke did not give the Paphnutian Monastery.” This is what his disciple Joseph writes 20. Sixty-three years old Rev. Paphnutius spent time in monasticism and approached death. On Thursday, the third week after Easter, the blessed one and his brethren went to work after Matins. They told him to go out after mass: but he answered: I can’t go out, I have some necessary work to do. After the liturgy I had a meal. Then one of his students, Innokenty, came to him and reminded him of his work. “I have another need,” he answered, “I want to resolve the union.” At the same time, they announced that Prince Mikhail Andreevich wanted to be in the monastery. The blessed one ordered to answer: let the prince not come - there is another matter. The monk did not go to the evening rule, but ordered Innocent to read in his cell and told him about his ill health. Dismissing Innocent from himself, he said: when another quarter comes, I will be free from my weakness. On Friday they brought him by the arms to the liturgy. He was also at vespers that day; when they began to sing a requiem for the dead, they wanted to take him to his cell, but he did not go and said: I need this requiem, I won’t hear it anymore. On Saturday he attended the liturgy and after that they asked him to eat something, since he had not eaten anything since Thursday. “I know that according to the rules fasting is allowed on Saturday,” he said; but I need to speak for three days before communion of the Holy Mysteries.” In the evening he confessed to his confessor, attended the all-night vigil and stood supported by his disciples; “I won’t listen to the all-night vigil anymore,” he said. During the liturgy, he stood with emotion and received Holy Communion with tears. That day, at the request of the disciples, he ate a little food; after that he did not order anyone to come to him. The surrounding residents and boyars, hearing that Paphnutius was ill, sent selected people to him for visits and with alms, but he answered: “I myself now need a prayer of love.” Thursday came. “This is the day of the Lord, be glad, friends,” he said; I told you about this Thursday.” When he left his cell for the church, they let him know that those sent by the Grand Duke and Metropolitan were coming. Gerontius. He was saddened by this, returned to his cell and locked himself in it. The disciples came and he said: “The one about whom you say that he is sick wants, having repented, to die; I’m tired, I want to rest until the evening, in the evening let the brethren gather to me.” Everyone realized that his death was near. His disciple Innocent asked: Father! When you die, is it necessary to call the archpriest and priests to the funeral? The saint said: do not call anyone, so that there is no noise in the monastery; let their monastery members perform the burial; He ordered the grave to be dug near the doors of the church. In the evening, when one disciple was with him, he sang: “Blessed are the blameless in the way of those who walk in the law of the Lord,” and chanted funeral verses. Having finished the psalm, he began to sing: “You will find the holy face of the source of life,” and then began to pray with tears to God and the Mother of God for the salvation of his soul and for the monastery. Some of the disciples gathered. The blessed one began to turn from left to right and whispered words. Then he put his hands crosswise on his chest and, sighing three times, surrendered his soul into the hands of God, May 1, 1478 21. During the funeral service for the saint, they could neither sing nor canon because of tears and sobs—some even fell under the weight of grief; Only Innocent could hardly perform funeral singing; and the brethren then numbered 85 people 22 . Another student of the monk wrote a service to the venerable. Paphnutius is 23. – His relics rest openly in the aisle of the main church of the monastery, and this aisle is dedicated to his name 24. According to a 17th-century inventory, the royal prayer room contained “a staff, part of a hood, shoes and footwear of Paphnutius, the miracle worker Borovsky” 25 . † The Suffering of the Hieromartyr Macarius, Metropolitan of Kyiv Blazh. Macarius, before his consecration as a metropolitan, was the archimandrite of the Vilna Trinity Monastery. In 1495, at the wedding of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander with Elena, daughter of the Grand Duke of Moscow John, Blessed. Macarius was present in the rank of Archimandrite of Vilna, but was already called a designated metropolitan. Grand Duke John III wanted this marriage to be performed by “the named Metropolitan Macarius,” but the pride of the Latins wanted to take precedence everywhere and humiliate Orthodoxy; at her insistence, the marriage of Alexander to Helen in the church was performed by the Vilna Biskup Wojciech Tabor, and in the Orthodox church it was celebrated by the court priest and confessor of Helen - Thomas; Blessed Macarius could only be a witness and a secret prayer book. In the same 1495, “the bishops gathered, so says the modern chronicle, Vassian of Vladimir, Jonah of Lutsk, and appointed Macarius Archimandrite Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Russia. And the elder Dionysius and the deacon monk Herman were sent to the patriarch for a blessing. That same autumn, the ambassador of Patriarch Nifont arrived from Constantinople. He said: “Do not install a metropolitan after this until you receive a blessing from us, except in great need.” They answered: “We do not renounce the ancient customs of the conciliar Constantinople Church and the blessing of our father, the patriarch. We did it out of necessity, as our brethren bishops did before under the Grand Duke Vitovt. And in the canons of the holy Apostles and Holy Fathers it is written: let two or three bishops appoint a bishop without any doubt” 26. Blazh. Macarius, following the example of his predecessors, lived in Vilna: here he ordained Cyril as bishop of Lutsk in 1495. In Vilna, through personal relations with the Grand Duke of Lithuania, the saint could easily prevent the machinations and violence of papism, and also help Orthodoxy in other needs. On the other hand, Kyiv in those sad times remained dilapidated and was often attacked by Crimean and Nogai predators. The Tatars devastated Volhynia twice in 1496, and in March 1497, two detachments of them invaded the same place again, but both were completely defeated and almost exterminated 27 . The guardian shepherd had long wanted to inspect the most ancient place of his pulpit and the shrine of Kyiv. He was also prompted to do this by the urgent need to put in order the St. Sophia Cathedral, which had been plundered by the Tatars. After happy affairs with the Tatars, he decided to go to Kyiv. He was told about the possible dangers of the path, but according to his duty, he surrendered himself to the will of God. A modern chronicler who knew Macarius mourns his death, encountered on the way to Kyiv, as a punishment for the sins of his flock, and is consoled by it as a guarantee of rewards for his holy zeal. He writes: “of the same 1497 May 1st day, on the first day of the sixth week after the Great Day (Easter), on Monday, the godless Perekop Tatars killed the Right Reverend Macarius of Kyiv, Metropolitan and Archbishop of all Russia.” In the village of Strigolovo, Minsk province, five miles from Mozyr 28 “on the Bchiche River, they caught up with him quite unexpectedly. They took those with him to their land and killed some, took others captive. They plundered and burned many volosts and places, and, taking many people in full, returned to their place. So God forgave our sins. We are sinners from head to toe. But we trust in the Lord God. – Such a death happened to the bishop of God so that he would be more rewarded. He went to Kyiv, wanting to help Sophia the Church of God, which had previously been ruined by the same wicked... It’s terrible, brethren: if this happened to the bishop of God, by God’s permission, then how can we avoid God’s wrath for our deeds? Before his death, 8 days before, someone revealed to him the imminent separation of his soul from his body: but he, as a man, doubted it somewhat. From the very time we were baptized, what happened to this bishop of God has never happened on Russian soil. We turned to judgment and shame for our sins” 29. This is what a contemporary wrote. And it was not in vain that he consoled himself for the blessing. Macarius at the thought of his death. His holy body is glorified by incorruption. It now rests openly in the St. Sophia Cathedral. It also rested there under Kalnofoysky, who also described two miracles that took place at the relics of the saint in 1625 and 1634 30 . The cypress cross of the saint 31 is kept in the same cathedral. † Repose of Rev. Gerasim Boldinsky Born in Pereyaslavl Zalessky, Rev. Gerasim, in the world Gregory, even in his youth, diligently went to the church of God 32; holy life of St. Daniel was especially carried away by his soul, and at the age of 13 he already with tears asked St. the elder to accept him. Daniel accepted him as a novice; this was back when the monk lived in the Goritsky monastery. Gerasim was a “kozheshvets” - a shoemaker and, at the will of the elder, he diligently served his craft to the poor brethren of God’s home. He left the elder for a while to listen to the instructions of the ascetics and, on their advice, returning to Daniel, he took tonsure from his hands. This was when Daniel began to live in the Trinity Monastery 33. He zealously performed feats of fasting and prayer: he ate food every other day and every other day; He constantly followed the cell rule, and sometimes stood in prayer all night. Rev. He diligently served the elder in his care of the monastery, especially in the construction of churches and cells. With his pure and ascetic life, Gerasim earned himself general respect not only in the monastery, but also outside its fence; – he became famous in Moscow 34. This began to weigh on him; he desired silent solitude. Having revealed his thoughts to the elder, he met the elder’s disagreement for the first time; but then the monk blessed him to fulfill his desire. So, having lived up to 26 years under the leadership of the Monk Daniel, he left his monastery without everything, only with the desire to work for the Lord in solitude. In 1528, he settled in the Dorogobuzh district in such a wild forest place that there was no one there except snakes and wild animals; From time to time, robbers hid there, since the high road on which they plied their trade did not pass in the distance. Blessed Gerasim built himself a hut and began to asceticize in it; those who traded in bad crafts beat him more than once, trying to drive him out of their neighborhood; the hermit endured and prayed: for his food, he hung a box on a tree near the road and asked for alms from those passing by; sometimes in his absence other poor people used his box; he thanked God. In his hut he lived like a bird, without sorrows or worries about the earth, protected and fed by the Lord. Subsequently, his watchman, a raven, appeared; if an unkind person approached the box and the hut, the raven raised a cry and, flying, hit the face of the unwanted visitor with its wings; the same thing happened with the predatory beast: it pecked at its eyes until it forced it to flee. According to a special vision, he then moved to Boldin Mountain, where a huge oak tree stood above the Boldin stream. The villagers wanted to drive him away from here; they beat him with sticks, tied his hands and feet with ropes and wanted to throw him into the lake, but one said: if we kill him, we ourselves will be answerable to the authorities; Let's present him to the governor in Dorogobuzh, along with our good gift. They agreed with this. The governor, having received a good gift, ordered the hermit to be immediately presented to him bound. When the bound and beaten Gerasim was presented to him, the governor showered him with curses and ordered him to be imprisoned as a tramp. The monk did not say a word to all this and only prayed in his soul. Help appeared to those who asked for it. At that very time, the Tsar’s messenger from Moscow came to the governor. Having seen St. Gerasim, whom he saw together with the reverend. Daniel from the king, he bowed to him with deep respect and asked for blessings. The governor was afraid. The matter ended with the governor, having asked forgiveness from St. the elder, announced that he had done everything in his power to protect his peace, delivered him a donation from himself and then made the necessary orders. Since that time the name of St. the elder began to be respected and zealots of piety began to come to his desert. The monk gladly received them. First, a prayer church was built for general prayers and a hut was erected. Then the monk went to Moscow and there received permission to build a monastery. Little by little, the Church of the Holy Trinity and cells for the brethren with meals were built. The church was consecrated on March 9, 1530. The monk himself worked on the construction, and then worked for the community together with others. He ground rye with a millstone, even for others, baked bread, chopped and carried wood, washed scrolls for the brethren, and served the sick. He slept little and never lying down. His food is bread and water. Such a life soon brought many monks to the monastery, and nobles began to visit the monastery of the monk. The monk lived in trust in the Lord, and the Lord arranged both the hearts of the monks and the means of earthly life. Once they stole two oxen of the monastery; the monk, who was entrusted with looking after the cattle, came to Gerasim in fear. The monk, looking at him, said: “Do not grieve, brother, repeat with Job: The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.” This confused the monk even more, who had not yet spoken a word to the abbot about the loss; he fell at his feet and asked for forgiveness. The monk kindly forgave him. “Bless, father, to chase the thieves,” said the emboldened one. "Brother! The elder answered, “Whoever is chasing will not catch up with the one running away; and the one running away will soon find himself close to the pursuer.” This time the monk did not understand the words; but three days later the thieves themselves brought the oxen to the monastery. The monk released the culprits with the instruction to continue to buy bread through honest labor. In addition to the Boldin Monastery, the Monk Gerasim also built the Forerunner Monastery in Vyazma; then in the Bryn Forest, on the Zhizdra River, he founded the monastery of the Entry into the Church of the Mother of God. The ancient narrator says about the Forerunner Monastery: “before the arrival of the monk, there was no settlement on this place; there was an alder forest on the Bezdra River; there was freedom here for thieves and robbers.” This is what the monk himself says in his will. “Be,” he writes, “in that place before there was an innkeeper, a fornicator’s refuge and a robber and other demonic games, murder, murder and bloodshed.” Bad people were under the protection of the noble boyar Telepnev-Obolensky, who had his own estate (Spas-Telepnevo) not far from here and went to spend a riotous life near Vyazma. The Vyazemites had a bad life because of the daring people: they spent the night on guard in their courtyards, fenced off by a high fence. The Monk Gerasim, having learned about such a sad state of the region, decided to do everything possible to improve it. He boldly appeared in gangs of robbers and convinced them to reform. It happened more than once that the preacher was beaten and driven away, but this did not cool his jealousy; in 1535 he founded a monastic monastery here. After 7 years of intense preaching and prayer, according to the vision of the Forerunner, a church was built in honor of the Forerunner. The brethren gathered up to 40 people, and the monk appointed his disciple Simeon as their abbot, and he himself turned to other exploits. It was also not easy for him to establish a monastery on the Zhizdra River. This was prompted by the request of the surrounding residents. From the Boldino monastery the place of the Zhizdrinsk hermitage is 300 versts; The monk, as always, walked here on foot. Here he himself cleared the forest and built buildings. The brethren gathered here, up to 40 people, and the disciple Pyotr Korostelev was left as abbot. 9 years before his death, he founded, not far from Dorogobuzh, in Sverkhovaya Luka, the monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin. Here he also left one of his disciples as abbot. In the Boldino monastery he remained abbot until his death; here at the end of his life there were brethren up to 140 people. He diligently led everyone along the paths of salvation. In his will he wrote: “Establish as abbot one of your people, from your brethren: they know community life and rules, just as I lived according to God with you. The brethren should have everything in common. Every monastic task must be carried out without complaining and go to monastic services with the blessing of the abbot. Wear clothes made of cloth, such as I installed. If anyone does not want to, then give 2 rubles a year to the abbot, priest and deacon. No intoxicating drinks should be kept in the monastery, with the exception of yeast kvass; also for guests. Keep nothing in the cell except clothes, and those would be from the community. Eat everything in the meal with silence and what God provides, but listen to the lives of the saints and teachings. The food is the same for everyone, both for the brethren and for the abbot. Feed the guests the same food. If a brother falls into sin, he should be humbled by obedience, but not expelled from the monastery, unless he does not listen to punishment. Do not upset the strange and the poor, but give them the path that is in the monastery. Read the abbots. If one of them begins to live not according to God and not according to the monastic order, then send one of the brethren to his cell to talk to him with spiritual humility. In all monastic affairs, do nothing without the abbot and 12 elders. Let the abbot not let his tonsures go to other people's monasteries. This is what I order to do in all monasteries.” Under the guidance of the monk, strict ascetics were raised: Blessed Arkady, who died in seclusion 35, and Blessed. Anthony, who died as Bishop of Vologda (1588) 36. Several monasteries were founded by his disciples: Baskakova in Sychevsky district, Voznesenskaya on the Ugra River in Yuyanovsky, Podlesnaya-Nikolaeva in Belsky district 37 . Death of Rev. Gerasima followed to the Boldino monastery on May 1, 1554, in the 65th year of his life. Of the miracles performed by the monk in the afterlife, we will cite here two. Hieromonk Cornelius had ardent zeal for St. He swore an oath to Gerasim before his shrine - not to leave his monastery. But then he began to grumble about the abbot, about the meal and about the rules of the monastery. The abbot admonished him - he became even more embittered. Finally, he went to the tomb of the monk and fell in front of it, asking for a blessing to leave the monastery - when he heard: someone came out of the tomb, bent him to the ground from behind and did not allow him to get up; At the same time, he felt relaxation throughout his body, and lost both his sight and his tongue. His brethren found him in this position at the saint’s tomb. They served a prayer service, and while he was talking afterwards, a light flame came out of the saint’s coffin, not burning, but subtle, engulfing the entire patient, and he stood up healthy. - The monk Dionysius led a prudent life for a long time, according to the legend of the monk. Then blasphemous thoughts attacked him and drove him crazy. They performed a prayer service for him at the saint’s tomb and his senses returned to him. “Spirits tormented me mercilessly,” he himself said at the same time, “but now the Monk Gerasim came to me with Bishop Anthony of Vologda (Dionysius was a student of Bishop Anthony) and with difficulty drove the dark spirits away from me.” Now the relics of St. Gerasim rests in the cathedral church of his monastery 38. Holy Martyr Akakios the New Holy Martyr Akakios the New, who suffered from the Turks in Constantinople in 1816 (See Athonite Patericon, Part II, p. 214). Celebration of the Tsarevokokshai Icon of the Myrrh-Bearing Women The Sagittarius and residents of Tsarevokokshaisk in 1648 built a monastery seven miles from their city on the occasion of the appearance at that place, on May 1, 1647, of the icon of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, which is still famous for its miracles. By the way, this is how Jeremiah denounced the false prophet Ananias: “The Lord did not send you and you give false hope to the people! Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will cast you off the face of the earth; this same year you will die because you spoke contrary to the Lord.” And Ananias died that same year, in the 7th month (Jer. 28:15–17). Queen Helen decorated with a building the place or ditch in Jerusalem where Jeremiah was thrown (“Full month of the East” by Archim. Sergius, vol. II, part II, 120). RKP. life of the Rev. Paphnutia in the Menaion of Metro Makaria, in the Synod. r. XVI century No. 818. It and the service were published in M. 1652. Condensation of life in part of the Menaion of May 1. Vassian says this about the sources of his information about Paphnutius: “he (Joseph, later abbot of Volokolamsk) told us about the blessed one; We heard something else from his other disciples, about the wondrous elder Innocent, the holy monk Isaiah, called Black, his relative in the flesh; I saw something else with my own eyes, since I, the accursed one, was honored to receive an angelic image from him, precisely at the Matins of the Presentation of the Lord, and lived with him for a long time, standing on the choir among the singers.” Another short life of St. Paphnutius in the collection. Sergius Lavra No. 8. There is now a chapel on the site of Kudinov. High Monastery on a journey to Russk. St. in some places accepted as one with Vysotsky. In vain. He was in Borovsk, and Vysoky was in Serpukhov. The name of Vysokoye is quite appropriate for the former monastery, in terms of location. The area where the monastery was located and where now is only the city cemetery dominates the entire surrounding area. According to his short life, Parthenius was tonsured by Archimandrite Markell of Vysotsk, from Serpukhov, who came to visit Elder Nikita; there was no abbot at Vysokoye at that time; Paphnutius was tonsured Nov. 30 d. Collection. l. VIII, 183. According to his short life, Paphnutius spent 30 years as a monk and abbot at Vysokoye, and founded a new monastery in 1444. According to Vassian, he remained the abbot of the High Monastery until he was 13 years old, having been dedicated to M. Photius. Thus, it must be assumed that Paphnutius was ordained abbot in 1431 just before the death of St. Photius († July 1431). According to a short life, the Sukhodolsky prince was Dmitry Shemakha, and the Borovsky prince was Vasily Yaroslavich. Chronicle (in Karamz. VI, ir. 629): “he came from the Vysoky monastery, from Borovsk, - before that he was abbot there under the prince of the local father-father, Prince. Vasily Yaroslavich." Collection l. V, 268. VI, 170–172. Joseph Volok. in the legend of St. fathers. Murin – Russian-ts.-slav. - Negro, Moor, evil spirits, devil, Ethiopian. – Editorial of the ABC of Faith. Collection l. V, 81. IV, 126. 215. III, 141. VI, 171. Stegno – a, plural. stitch, - outdated. and region – Part of the leg from the pelvis to the knee bend; hip. – Editorial of the ABC of Faith. By verb. itch; itching – Editorial of the ABC of Faith. Brief Life, Karam. 6, pr. 629. Message to Boris you. Kutuzov. Collection l. IV, 152. VI, 33. VIII, 183. 184. Step. book 2, 133. Brief life of St. Paphnutia. Collection l. VIII, 183. Service to St. Paphnutius, written by his student Innocent, in Rumyantsev No. 397, in Tsarsky 563. Step. book 2, 130. Information about the monastery. M. 1852 Zabelin, life of Russian tsars, p. 196. M. 1862 Supraslsk. let., pp. 141–143. M. 1835 Collection years. 2, 358–360. Suprasl. l. 141–145. According to Gustin. years., “truncated quickly from the Tatars over the river. Chorus in the village of Strigolov." Collection l. 2, 360. Kyiv. years. according to Suprasl. sl. 145, 146. Teraturgima Kalnofoisky. K. 1636. The Legend of St. Macarius M. K. 1848. Gustinskaya years. says: “His relics still lie incorrupt in St. Sofia." Collection l. 2, 360. Funduclea. Kyiv, st. 43. Here is an image of a cross. RKP. the life of St. Gerasim, written by his disciple Anthony, later Bishop of Vologda († 1588), supplemented by miracles in 1686, according to the list of Undolsky. Also in the imperial b. No. 711. RKP. Life of Ave. Daniel, ch. 26. RKP. Life of Ave. Daniel, ch. 26. And RKP. Life of St. Gerasim. Mixed. about the monastery page 494. RKP. Saints about Vologda. saints Sl. Sep. 24. Description of the Smolensk diocese, pp. 392–394. SPb. 1864. East. Jer., 3, 413; mixed. about monas. 494.