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St. Equal to the Apostles King Constantine and his mother Helen Under them, the Christian Church, persecuted for three centuries by the enemies of Christ, gained peace and triumphed over the Jews and pagans. The Providence of God, arranging this triumph of the Holy Church, gradually prepared the most chosen instruments for its spread, establishment and glory. Detailed and thorough information about Constantine and Helena is mainly reported by Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, a contemporary and interlocutor of Constantine and Helena. The father of Constantine the Great, King Constantius Chlorus, who ruled the western parts of the Roman Empire, being a pagan, did not have and no longer showed trust and respect for paganism, but showed affection for the Christians who lived under his rule in the west. Meanwhile, in the east and in other places of the empire, where Diocletian, Maximian, Maxentius ruled, persecution of Christians and various oppressions of all subjects continued. “Constantius,” says Eusebius, shunned the [immoral] life of his fellow kings and strove to express love for God of all kinds. They attacked the Churches of God and destroyed them from top to bottom; on the contrary, Constantius kept his hands clean from such disastrous wickedness. They desecrated the regions under their control by domestic murders of pious husbands and wives; and he kept his soul unstained by such a crime. Allowing his subjects to experience proof of his royal virtue for a long time, recognizing one God above all and despising the way of life of the atheists, he fenced his house with the prayers of St. husbands and dedicated them to one King – God, so that the society of the people gathered in his palace was no different from the Church of God.” From his meek, virtuous and prudent father, Constantine borrowed the first rules of an honest life; From an early age he discovered his advantages of future royal greatness and stood out above all his peers for the beauty of his body, height and strength. But much more than the perfections of the body, he was adorned with the virtues of the soul, and above all, he was distinguished by modesty, education, innate intelligence and God-given wisdom. Living and being raised, like Moses, among the pagans and persecutors of the true faith, Constantine preserved himself from wickedness and malice. “The then sovereigns, seeing that this young man was vigorous, strong, great and rich in mind, were filled with envy and fear and began to wait for an opportunity to stain him with some dishonor. But the young man, noticing this, sought salvation in flight, through which he again became like the great prophet Moses.” After the death of his father, his worthy son and heir, beloved by the people, was unanimously and joyfully proclaimed king by everyone, at the age of 31 from birth. From the disastrous fate of the persecutors of Christianity and from the successes of his father, the patron saint of Christians, Constantine rightly concluded that it was necessary to avoid polytheistic paganism and honor the one true God professed by Christians. Close to Christianity in the disposition of his heart, Constantine was converted to Christ and the true God by the miraculous appearance in heaven of the sign of the Cross of the Lord and the appearance of the Son of God to him in a night vision. Constantine became a Christian, and such was the first of the Roman emperors, having received from God, according to the voice of the Church, “a scarlet robe and a scepter. We did not receive the title from man, but as the Divine Paul, he had this title from above from Christ God. Having seen the sign of the Cross in heaven, this was caught as the kindest catch: about this the conqueror of visible and invisible enemies appeared.” Convinced of the truth of the Divine appearance, Constantine was declared a Christian, began to diligently read the Holy Books and ordered the priests of God to be with him, believing that the Lord who appeared to him was the only one worthy of Divine worship. And not only did he himself believe in Christ the Son of God in his soul, but he also publicly confessed Him before his subjects. After the victory over Maxentius, Constantine, together with Licinius, his son-in-law and co-king, declared freedom of Christian religion in 314. “Having seen that the freedom of worship should not be restricted, we even previously commanded both all others and Christians to preserve the faith and worship of their society. From now on, let everyone who decides to observe Christian worship observe it freely and steadily, without any difficulty. In addition, for the benefit of Christians, we also decree that places where Christians previously especially gathered, whether someone bought these places from our treasury or from someone else, without returning the amount paid for them, should be immediately and unquestioningly given to Christians. Likewise, those who have received such places as a gift must, as soon as possible, return them to the ownership of Christians. And whoever, having bought or received them as a gift, would like to ask for a reward for them from our kindness, let him turn to the local ruler - and our mercy will not leave his request unattended. All this must be returned to the Christian community immediately, without any delay.” The goodness and generosity of Constantine were especially poured out on the churches of God; either he expanded and erected higher houses of prayer, or he decorated St. with many offerings. church altars. “What a divine joy everyone had,” says Eusebius, when they saw that the places, shortly before devastated by the wickedness of the oppressors, were, as if after a long and deadly plague, coming to life again; that churches, starting from the foundation to an unattainable height, are being erected again and receive a much better appearance than the previous ones, which were destroyed. Then a touching and longed-for sight opened up for all of us: celebrations of renovation and consecration of newly built churches began throughout the cities; and for this purpose bishops began to gather, strangers flocked from afar, peoples became friendly with each other, and the members of the body of Christ converged into one body. The divine services of the primates and the sacred rites of the priests became perfect, church rituals became divine. People of every age, gender, with all the strength of their souls, rejoicing in mind and heart, sent prayers and thanksgiving to the Author of real blessings - God.” The consecration of the Tire Church in 315 was especially solemn and joyful. This church, like others, was destroyed; the infidels tried to disfigure the place itself, covering it with all kinds of impurities. The restoration of the Temple of Tyre was the triumph of Christianity over paganism. During its consecration, Eusebius, among other things, said in his word in praise of Constantine: “and now, what has never happened before, the supreme kings recognize only one God, the common benefactor of all people and themselves, they confess Christ as the Son of God and the King of all, they call Him in the promulgated decrees the Savior and among the city dominating the earth, for indelible memory, royally they outline His deeds and victories over the wicked. Now the only Savior from eternity, Jesus Christ, is revered by the highest rulers on earth not as an ordinary king, which is appointed by men, but they worship Him as the true Son of the God of all and the true God. The decorations and gifts of this church are important and truly great, amazing and worthy of wonder, since they serve as clear evidence of the kingdom of our Savior.” Constantine began to honor the servants of God and show them excellent respect, in word and deed, as persons dedicated to God. He shared meals and conversation with them. In man, he looked not at man, whom many see, but at God. Thus, the pious Constantine wrote about sacred persons in 315: “neglect of God exposed public affairs to great dangers; and its legal custody, by the grace of God, brought the greatest prosperity to the Roman state and special happiness to all human affairs. Therefore, it seems fair to us that men who are distinguished by due holiness and dedicate their service to the benefit of the Divine faith should receive due reward for their labors. I want the persons of the Catholic Church who dedicate their service to St. faith, remained completely free from all civil duties, and were not distracted from the service due to the Divine, and not distracted by anything, the better they fulfilled their law. If they serve the Divine with all zeal, then it seems that very much good will come from it for public affairs.” Tsar Constantine was supportive, merciful, compassionate and generous to everyone; for orphans and the poor he was instead of a father. But having special concern for the peace of the Church of God, he acted as a general overseer appointed by God and established Councils of God’s servants, for example. in Rome in 313, in Arelate now - Arles in France in 314, both against the Donatists, and did not even sometimes refuse to appear and sit personally among their host, as a common bishop appointed by God. While Tsar Constantine patronized the Church, Licinius, imbued with pagan opinions, out of envy and anger towards him, around 316, began to persecute Christians in his region, first secretly, and then openly. Wanting to stop Licinius’s persecution of Christians, Constantine decided (323) to depose him himself. Knowing well that if ever, then now he especially needed prayers, he took the priests of God with him. His army was preceded by the sign of saving suffering - the Cross. Having ordered the sign of the Cross to be worn in the ranks of the military, the Tsar always had a camp church of the Cross with him outside the camp and, adhering to an immaculate and pure lifestyle, offered prayers to God, following the example of that ancient prophet of God who had his own tabernacle outside the regiment (Ex. 33:7). During the battle with Licinius, Constantine ordered the prisoners to be spared and was honored to receive special signs of the Divine Patron. “In the cities subject to Licinius, they saw an inexplicable phenomenon: it seemed as if in the middle of noon various regiments of Constantine’s men-at-arms were crossing the cities, as if they had won a victory. And this was seen when in fact nothing like this existed anywhere. By this spectacle, the Divine and higher power pointed to the future.” Strengthened by the power of the Cross and prayers to the true God and His grace, Constantine defeated Licinius and paganism in his person, and always left the battlefield victorious, attributing the victory not to himself, but to God. After the victory over Licinius, by the end of 323, which gave Constantine, in the 49th year of his life, power over the entire vast Roman Empire, he restored external peace and security of the Church throughout the empire; the confessors of Christ were restored to civil-church rights, positions, advantages and property, of which they were deprived by the persecutors of Christianity, condemned to exile for not serving idols, were summoned and released from punishment; property of St. martyrs who laid down their lives for the confession of faith were ordered to be given to their relatives, and in their absence - to the Church. By his special decree, Constantine delivered Christians from persecution for the future, and with his high participation he consoled the sufferers of Christ and all Christians. Places marked by sacred events and stained with the blood of Christians. he purchased for St. Churches and in these places he built churches to the true God. He tried to destroy idolatry, forbade erecting idols and making sacrifices to them; He erected Christian churches more extensively and more magnificently, with such deeds instilling in everyone that Christ is the true God and Savior of the world, and attributing success in his great deeds not to himself, but to the true God. For the construction and splendor of the churches of God, he brought generous donations. He prayed for the welfare of all his subjects and wanted to see them all as Christians, but together he declared that he did not want to force or restrict the freedom of conscience of his subjects. Using all the forces that depended on the power of the emperor to plant, establish and glorify Christianity, Constantine the Great took every possible care of the inner peace of the Church of Christ, whose beneficial and saving influence on the morals of peoples he clearly saw and highly valued. Having heard about the grave error of Arius, a native of Libya, a priest of one of the parishes of Alexandria, with his false teaching about the Son of God (from 321), and Meletius, with his schism (from 324), who disturbed the Church of God in Egypt, Constantine, grieving in spirit, sent to Alexandria, where Arius began to spread his daring and ignorant thoughts and subjected the Divine teaching offensive mockery and ridicule, first letters to Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria and Arius and tried to reconcile him with the Church. But Arius did not think to come to his senses, and therefore the pious king sent Hosea, Bishop of Cordoba, a 67-year-old elder, to Alexandria to consider the dispute at the birthplace of false teaching and the establishment of peace. When neither the emperor’s letter nor the embassy of the pious Hosea stopped the temptation of Ariev, the emperor, on the advice of the bishops, convened in 325 A.D. The First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea - the city of Bithynia, to heal evil and stop confusion and temptation in the Orthodox Church. In order to remove obstacles that could slow down the arrival of the bishops at the appointed time, Constantine ordered that everything necessary be prepared on all routes for the most convenient procession of the shepherds, and at the site of the cathedral for their stay. As a true son of the Church, the Tsar himself and with humility appeared at the council, giving due honor to the saints and all together, and especially to those of them who bore signs of suffering for the name of Christ. He kissed the wounds of these martyrs of Christ who arrived at the council with tears. The Tsar opened the council on June 19, 325 with a speech to the fathers, asking them to pacify the Church of God and at the council he persuaded those of different minds to unite. At the end of the council, the king wrote two messages to announce the actions of the council and make them known to those who were not present at the council. The first was written to all Churches in general; the second - to the Church of Alexandria, to show that the definition of faith was not made simply and somehow, but was announced after a long test and study, and what seemed to three hundred bishops was nothing other than the thought of God. In addition, he published a condemnation of Arius and his writings and followers. The conclusion of the council coincided with the end of the twentieth anniversary of the reign of Constantine the Great, on July 25th. On this occasion, the king joyfully celebrated with the fathers of the cathedral the twentieth anniversary of his reign; after the holiday, he thanked them each with decent gifts and, bidding them farewell, convinced them to maintain peace and harmony, to remember him in their prayers; The emperor showed great favors to all his subjects. The fathers of the council also went back at the royal expense. Upon returning from the cathedral in 326, the pious autocrat decorated many St. churches in Palestine, Rome and Constantinople. First of all, he began to build the greatest monument in Palestine, in order to make the most sacred place of the saving resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem an object of special and general reverence. He ordered the immediate construction of a house of prayer there and wrote to Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, so that he, for his part, would take an active part in the fulfillment of his pious intentions. The king wanted this church to be built more excellent and more magnificent than all other churches in the universe; and at the request of the emperor, a magnificent church was indeed built and richly decorated with royal bounty. At the request of Constantine the Great, through the diligence of his mother Helen, churches of God were built in Bethlehem and on the Mount of Olives to honor the places of the Nativity and Ascension of the Lord; at the oak of Mamre, where Abraham once received and treated the Lord and the Angels in the sight of three strangers; in Nicomedia - the capital of Bithynia; in Antioch - the capital of the entire east; in Iliopolis and other places in Phenicia. In Rome, Constantine built a church, called Constantine, in the name of the Savior, in the palace of Empress Favsta, his wife; in the Vatican in the name of St. Ap. Peter at the site of the martyrdom of this Apostle; in the name of St. Ap. Paul at the site of his martyrdom; Church in the house of Sessoria in honor of St. Cross, called Jerusalem, after the part of the Cross of Christ, which was placed in this church; in the name of St. Agnia (her memory is January 21), at the request of the king's daughter Constantia and his sister, who were baptized by St. Sylvester, Bishop of Rome; St. Lawrence (August 10) outside the city at the burial place of this martyr; in the name of the martyrs Marcellinus and Peter, where the tomb of St. Elena; Ostia - in the name of Ap. Peter and Paul and St. Forerunners; in Albano in honor of St. John the Baptist; a church in Capua in honor of the Apostles, called Constantinian, and in Naples. All the churches that were created, at the request of Tsar Constantine, were richly decorated from his generosity. Creating and decorating temples to the true God, the pious king tried to destroy temples that served as refuges for vile vices and to prohibit pagan festivals; to protect the peace of the Church and subdue rebellious false teachers. Fearing the emergence of heretical disputes, the emperor in 330 decreed a law against false teachers, by which he prohibited them from holding divine services, both in public places and in private houses that they owned, ordering the places of their meetings to be given to the Church or society. Constantine the Great preached the true God and Christ not only in his empire, but even to the Persian pagans, and extended his fatherly comprehensive care to the local Christians, for whom he asked the king of Persia not to oppress and to love them. Constantine's faith was so deep and alive that he ordered that he be depicted on coins and portraits praying with his arms outstretched to heaven, and forbade the presence of such images in pagan temples. He established readings of prayers and Holy Scripture in his palace. He ordered that the first day of the week be sacred in memory of the resurrection, and Friday in memory of the death of the Lord, Easter and the days of the martyrs, and gave the soldiers samples of prayer. He considered monastic life a high Christian feat, and therefore abolished the ancient pagan laws against celibacy. He especially bestowed great honor on people who devoted their entire lives to the wisdom of God; I was in awe of the host of holy virgins of God, being convinced that God Himself lived in their souls, to whom they dedicated themselves. He forbade Christians to serve the Jews: for it is indecent, he said, for those who beat the prophets and crucified the Lord Himself to have slaves redeemed by the blood of the Savior; prohibited punishment by death on the cross, which was used by the ancient Romans. Feeding his mind with Divine truths, the Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar spent whole nights without sleep, convened meetings, and when, during the course of his speech, the opportunity presented itself for theologizing, he stood up and, with a downcast face and a quiet voice, very reverently initiated those present into the secrets of Divine teaching. Being himself generous and philanthropic, Constantine strictly denounced covetousness and predators; legalized the relinquishment of property in favor of the Church upon death. Confirming everyone in faith and piety, Equal to the Apostles tried to raise his children in the spirit of the holy and saving faith of Christ. Constantine converted very many pagans to Christ; others accepted Christianity out of awareness of the groundlessness and insignificance of their ancient superstitions; others wished to enjoy the favor of the king, who greatly revered and loved Christians; others, diligently delving into the teachings of Christ, were attracted to Christ by miracles and visions. At this time, entire cities and peoples entered the fold of the Church of Christ, they themselves destroyed pagan temples and built temples of the Lord. After the founding of Constantinople in 330, the pious king decorated and consecrated this new Rome with many Christian churches. Wanting to distinguish the city of the same name, he decorated it with many chapels, magnificent churches of martyrs and majestic buildings and, thereby honoring the memory of the saints, together he dedicated his city itself to their God. Constantine recognized that it was fair for the city, adorned with his name, to be cleansed of all idolatry, so that not only imaginary images of gods, but also the altars themselves, stained with the blood of animals, would not strike the eye anywhere. In his new capital, he created and consecrated the church of the eternal Wisdom of God, which is why the church received the name Sophia; in honor of the holy 12 Apostles, in which the king bequeathed to bury himself, so that after death he would be a participant in the prayers that would be offered in this church; The Church of Peace adjacent to Sofia in the name of St. Irina (Sept. 18th); in the name of St. Martyr Euphemia (September 16th) in Chalcedon; Mokia (May 11th) on the site of the Church of Hercules; St. Procopius (July 8th); St. Akakiya (May 7th); St. Agathonics (Aug. 22); Church of St. John the Theologian, called Eudom (ἕβδομος - seventh), because it is 7 miles from the city, on the European coast of the sea, called anapl (at the pier); Church of St. Archangel Michael, who later became famous for many grace-filled signs. In addition to the churches, Constantine erected other, sacred signs of faith in different places in Constantinople: in the middle of the square near the fountains he placed an image of the Good Shepherd and the Prophet Daniel in the lion's den; in the middle of the main room of his palace and most sublimely on the table he placed a Cross made of precious stones and set in gold; in another room (vestibule) on the table there was an image of him with children, holding a Cross on his head and slaying a dragon at his feet - with a spear into the belly and casting him into the sea. New churches in Constantinople needed liturgical books. The emperor wrote about them to Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea: “in the city of our name, the Holy Church again acquired a lot of people. With the rapid multiplication of believers, the multiplication of churches also turns out to be very necessary. So, order experienced scribes who know their art very well to write on crafted parchment 50 volumes, easy to read and easily portable for use. These volumes should contain Divine Scripture, which, in your opinion, Christians especially need to have and use.” Wanting to pacify the Church, which continued to be outraged by enemies and slanderers of truth (Arians) in Egypt and other places, the pious autocrat convened a council in Tire in 335. At the end of the Cathedral of St. The fathers, at the request of the emperor, went from Tire to Jerusalem to consecrate the church built on the site of the Tomb and Resurrection of Christ, which at that time was completed. There were already many other bishops in Jerusalem, whom Constantine wanted to gather in significant numbers from all countries. For the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the reign of Constantine coincided with the time of the consecration of the Temple of Jerusalem. To celebrate the consecration or renewal on the 13th day of September 335, many people flocked from all over the empire. Those gathered for the holiday were supplied both by the bishops and the people - with everything necessary, at the expense of the emperor; in honor of the holiday, significant sums of silver and many clothes were distributed to the poor; Rich gifts were brought by the emperor to the new church. Around the church built by Constantine the Great, a new city arose, which seemed to others to be the new Jerusalem that the prophets had predicted. From that time on, the holy city was freed from the name Aelia, which Emperor Trajan had given it 200 years earlier, and began to be called Jerusalem and attract Christian admirers from all sides. Constantine the Great, having about 64 years of life, still enjoyed perfect health, capable of vigorous activity. Going to war against the Persians, he invited bishops with him and set up a tent like a church for prayer. The Easter holiday arrived (337); According to custom, the king spent the whole night in prayer vigil with the faithful. In order to make the celebration of Easter more magnificent, he ordered that not only the churches, but also the streets throughout Constantinople be illuminated throughout the night. The day of the holiday has arrived; the emperor poured out great mercies to the people, imitating the benefits of the Savior. Having entered the 65th year of his life, Tsar Constantine fell into illness and sailed from Constantinople to Elenople to take advantage of the warm waters, where he often spent time in prayer in the church of the martyrs. Imagining in his mind the need for holy baptism and its grace-filled power, he knelt on the ground, poured out prayers before God, and confessed his sins in the church itself. Feeling that his illness was getting worse, he left Elenopol for Akhiron, on the outskirts of Nicomedia, and decided to accept holy baptism, which he had hitherto put off in order to receive it in the Jordan. Having called the bishops, he told them: “The time I longed for has come, which I have long been thirsty for and for which I have been praying as a time of salvation in God.” Eusebius of Nicomedia and other bishops informed the king of baptism and other sacraments, strictly fulfilling all the rituals established for this. Having been awarded the Divine seal, Constantine was renewed and filled with the light of God; from the abundance of faith he rejoiced spiritually, reborn by the action of the power of God. After performing the sacred rites, he put on solemn royal clothes, shining like light. “Now I recognize myself as truly blessed,” the emperor exclaimed in delight of gratitude to God, who had honored him with the grace of rebirth. Having received St. baptism, the Crowned Equal of the Apostles died in Nicomedia in the 65th year of his life, in the 32nd year of his reign, on the very day of Pentecost, around noon on May 21, 337 A.D. The news of the death of the virtuous monarch plunged everyone into deep sorrow; Everyone was sad - the people, the soldiers, and the senate, and in gratitude to the deceased, his son was immediately elevated to the throne. On the occasion of the death of the most pious king, spectacles in Rome were stopped and even shopping areas were closed. An image was made representing the deceased resting in heaven. The Romans asked that his body be transferred to Rome and laid in the royal city, but it was transported with touching splendor by the soldiers, according to the wishes of the deceased, to Constantinople and placed in the palace on an eminence. Lamps were burning around the coffin, there was an honorary guard, and people continuously crowded around the tomb of the great monarch. His venerable body was placed in a golden shrine, in a place that he himself had prepared in advance in the church of St. Apostles, created by him in Constantinople. On medals depicting the burial of the deceased, the Equal of the Apostles is represented as ascending to heaven. Eusebius, who depicted the life of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar, calls him blessed. According to him, “since he was one of the Roman kings with the deepest reverence for the King of all - God, he alone preached the teachings of Christ to everyone without hesitation, he alone glorified His Church as much as anyone since the ages, he alone overthrew all the errors of polytheism and denounced all types of idolatry: then he alone, both during his life and after death, was awarded benefits that no one else had achieved; He, one of all the ever former rulers of Rome, having become a friend of the King of all - God, showed people a striking example of a pious life. God showed in him (Constantine the Great) a husband serving as a lesson in pious edification; revealed him to be a great lamp and the loudest messenger of God’s reverence. Through him, God cleansed the mortal world from many atheists and showed in him a teacher of piety to the people. He openly called himself a slave of the King of all, and God made him such a king, which had never been heard of before; He showed him to be so God-loving that without any difficulty he conquered a much larger number of peoples than the previous rulers, and comfortably retained his power until his death. Shedding the bright rays of piety to the ends of the entire universe, to the inhabitants of the whole earth, to such an extent that they willingly sent him their gifts with love and joy and considered it a high honor to benefit from his acquaintance and friendship, so that in order to honor him they exhibited his picturesque images, erected statues, and Constantine was known and proclaimed as the only autocrat over all. He tied his neighbors to himself with generously rendered benefits; He protected others with the laws of philanthropy and made his power easy and desirable for his subjects. God had long ago, through visions, revealed to Constantine the intentions of all his enemies, and in general repeatedly honored him with the Epiphany, allowing him to miraculously contemplate his Face and granting foreknowledge of various future events.” “The church of his blessed soul, glorified by the name Equal to the Apostles, numbered among the people of God, awarded the established Divine service and mysterious sacred rites and received the fruits of St. prayers, God vouchsafed the remembrance with the Apostles.” Thus the celebration of St. Equal to the Apostles Tsar Constantine began immediately after his death. Not only pagan, but even Christian writers deliberately humiliate the great merits of Tsar Constantine for Christianity, contrary to the Church, which recognizes him as Equal to the Apostles and a saint. Constantine is mainly accused of killing his son Crispus, according to the slander of Fausta, his stepmother, the second wife of Constantine, and of killing her, according to the slander of his mother Helen. Constantine was slandered in these atrocities by the malicious and unscrupulous pagan Zosima, who wrote his tales about the deeds of Rome in the 5th century. The historian Evagrius, who outlined church events from 431 to 594, says about Zosima: “he is one of those who adhered to the unclean and nasty pagan service; a man who hated Constantine because he was the first of the kings to abandon the disastrous pagan superstition and turn to the Christian faith. Zosima expresses countless blasphemies against the pious and generous Constantine and in any case invents various, too incredible things, for example: - as if Constantine put his son Crispus to a terrible death, and took the life of his wife Favsta, locking her in an extremely heated bathhouse. And that Constantine did not kill either Crispus or Fausta: listen to what Eusebius Pamphilus, who flourished in the times of Constantine and Crispus and treated them, says about Constantine. Zosima wrote not from hearsay, and not on the basis of true legends.” Like Evagrius, the Englishman Kave (1637–1713), who is not very devoted to the Christian faith and the Church, speaks poorly of Zosima. “Zosimas,” he writes, cruelly attacks the Christian religion and, under its name, furiously rages against almost all famous Christians, and especially against Constantine the Great and Theodosius the Elder.” Queen Helena, the virtuous mother of Constantine the Great, upon the conversion of her son, did not hesitate to accept Christianity and became the most pious, in the words of the historian Ruffin, a wife incomparable in faith and piety, and was proclaimed august; issued a coin with her own image and, having received power over state treasures from her son, used them at her own discretion. Wanting to promote the pious intentions of her son - to build a magnificent temple in Jerusalem at the site of the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord, and herself having a heartfelt desire to offer the sacrifice of her reverent mind and heart to God the King of Kings - to pour out grateful prayers for her son and grandchildren, Queen Helen, despite her advanced years, decided to visit the sacred land and venerate St. places marked by the feet of the Savior’s most pure feet. The queen herself delivered a letter from her sovereign son to Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem about the construction of a church of God in Jerusalem. She took on the hardships of the journey herself and despised the infirmities of old age. Seeing a place that had received life-saving suffering for the whole world, she immediately ordered to destroy the shameful church built on it and cleanse the place, and thus found the life-giving Cross of Christ. Having the royal treasures at her disposal, she used them for good deeds and alms. She was very zealous for the churches of God, supplied them with rich decorations and did not neglect places of prayer in smaller cities. She erected Christian churches in different places, according to the wishes of her pious son, - in Bethlehem, where the Savior was born; - on the Mount of Olives, from where He ascended; in Drepan - over the relics of St. Lucian and in other places. Palestine is still filled with sacred traditions about the pious deeds of Equal-to-the-Apostles Helen. She was seen at church meetings among the people in simple and modest clothes. While in the East, she showed great favors to various people - soldiers, citizens and private people who turned to her. She endowed some with money, others with clothes; she freed some from prison, others from hard labor to which they were condemned; some were returned from exile; showed special love to virgins dedicated to God. Having gathered them all and seated them at the table, she herself served as a servant in front of them; she served them food and drink; held the washbasin and poured water on their hands. Having completed such and similar things, she returned to her son; then, having taught him many instructions regarding a pious life and calling upon him her last blessings, she peacefully reposed into another - eternal life. Having reached a blessed old age, she ended her life in the arms of her son Equal to the Apostles in the 80th year of her life, at the end of 326 A.D., almost 10 years before the blessed death of her son. Equal to the Apostles, as the chronicler puts it, “apparently did not die, but only exchanged a fleeting and perishable life for a heavenly and eternally blissful one. Her soul, having separated from the body, was transferred to the immortal and angelic world for unity with the Savior. Her body was buried with great honor by the great monarch and laid in Constantinople. After death, she received the honor that should have been received by having served the God of all so diligently and so ardently. After the death of Saint Helena, her son and king named the small city of Bithynia in honor of her - Drepana, the place of his birth - Elenopolis. In her hymns on the day of remembrance of the Equal-to-the-Apostles, as well as in the readings of the Apostles, the Church likens Constantine to the Apostle. Pavel. “I saw the image of Your Cross in heaven, and like Paul the title was not received from man, but is Your Apostle among kings, O Lord,” and so on. The Lord gave him “Apostolic Orthodoxy.” Thus, the Church looks at the Christian exploits of Tsar Constantine as the exploits of an Apostle and a shepherd. † St. Constantine, Prince of Murom, with his children Mikhail and Theodore “Father! if my father had gotten up and come to me, I would not have been as glad as I was glad of your coming, and I would not have been afraid of him as much as I am afraid of you.” That's what the reverend said. Feodosia Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, first Prince of Chernigov, then, 1067–1077, Grand Duke of Kiev. Konstantin-Yaroslav was the youngest son of such a pious father 323; his older brothers were Gleb, killed in Zavolochye in 1078, Oleg, known for his alarming courage, David, kind and full of love, who was respected in his family as a father, Roman, who died in 1079; their sister Predslava died as a nun in 1116 324. The appanage system of government, for all its disadvantages, brought a lot of good. Having taken possession of a well-known country, the best prince tried to introduce Christian citizenship in its place of savagery. Murom in ancient times belonged to the settlements of the Finnish tribes, such as Muroma, Merya, Mordva. The pagan Finns were very wild, rude and extremely stubborn in their paganism; Their magicians for a long time defended superstition not only for themselves, but sought to spread it among the Russians 325. St. Gleb, the son of Equal to the Apostles, encountered such resistance to Christianity in Murom that he was forced to live 12 miles from the city, on the Ishna River. After him, Murom remained for a long time without a Christian prince, and paganism remained in force there. Meanwhile, the neighbors, the Bulgarians, believed to be Mohammedans, tried to spread their influence over Murom, even by type of trade 326. The noble prince Konstantin-Yaroslav asked his father for Murom as an inheritance for himself. Jealousy for the holy faith alone could have brought him to the country of Murom, otherwise the wild side, although rich in forests, honey, and animals, could not have been attractive 327. His father did not want to let him go to the Chudskaya side, out of great fear that they would kill him. Constantine decided to do everything for the holy faith. This was, in all likelihood, in the last year of Svyatoslav’s life, in 1077 328. According to the latest searches of the Meryan mounds, Christianity in the Meryan country does not appear earlier than the end of the 11th century 329. Svyatoslav released Constantine with his wife and sons, Michael and Theodore, giving the required number of clergy, governors, soldiers, servants with their families and property; an entire Christian colony went to a wild and pagan country. Approaching Murom, the prince sent his son Mikhail to convince the Murom people to accept the prince without resistance. The stubborn pagans killed the sent prince and threw his body outside the city, while they themselves began to prepare for battle 330. Constantine approached the city with an army. The people of Murom wanted to fight; then they sent out to say that they accepted the prince, but did not want to replace him with the faith of their faith. Constantine entered the city and occupied it with his squad. His first task was to build churches of God, in which the holy faith became visible to the pagans. First, the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built “in the old High City” 331. The body of the murdered Prince Mikhail was buried here, with Christian rites; the high simplicity and reverence of Christian burial seemed inappropriate to the rank of a prince to vain paganism. Is this, they said, how the prince should be buried? There is no hill built over the prince, no merry funeral feast, no sacrificial incense, no battle in his honor - they did not cut their skin, did not tear their faces and did not shout for the dead! 332. They were explained how Christian rituals were far higher, smarter, and more edifying than anything pagan - they conveyed the concepts of the true God and worthy service to Him, of the Redeemer of peace and grace. The church in the name of St. served as a response to how Christians honor their princes, great before God, and not according to the opinions of people. Princes Boris and Gleb, built by Constantine. The hearts of inveterate superstitions remained deaf to the voice of truth; The prince earnestly prayed to the Lord that He would open the hearts of pitiful people with His grace to accept the light of truth. He invited the city elders to his place and talked with them about St. faith, persuaded them both with love and threats not to reject what was necessary for temporary happiness and eternal salvation - St. faith. The pagans persisted. Moreover, the fanatics of superstition secretly formed a conspiracy and vowed to kill or expel the prince - the preacher of the new faith. Crowds with weapons and clubs gathered in front of the prince's court. Frightened Christians locked themselves in their houses and were ready to repel the force with force. The noble prince took up another weapon. With his family, spiritual people and several of his good servants, he began to pray. Then one appeared, with an icon of the Mother of God in his hands, to the excited crowd. The rioters were struck with horror and instead of threats they expressed a prayer to enlighten them with St. baptism. The delighted prince gave thanks to the Lord and the Most Pure Mother and set a day when all the unenlightened should appear on the Oka River. The baptism of the Murom residents was solemn. The scene that was seen on the Dnieper under Vladimir was repeated. The triumphant prince showered the children of God with various gifts, some with different clothes, others with money, and the best with fatherland. Naturally, it was now necessary to take care of multiplying churches. “The commandment is to build churches in the city and in villages and monasteries for men and women.” According to the chronicle, in 1098 we see the Spassky Monastery in Murom, built, no doubt, by the enlightener of Murom 333. The Bulgarians and Mordovians saw that the successes of Christianity in Murom were dangerous for their earthly benefits and false faith. And they angrily began to attack Murom. In 1088, the Bulgarians took Murom 334. In 1103, Yaroslav fought with Mordva and was defeated 335. But Konstantin firmly adhered to the enlightened side. The pious and intelligent prince actively spread faith and citizenship in remote areas: in 1095, “Pereslavl of Ryazan was founded at the Church of St. Nikola the Old", a city that for a long time bore the name of its founder 336. The Christian prince had to experience grief for his Murom not only from the savages. While Murom remained a pagan city, a wild and remote place, none of the princes expressed a desire to live in it. But in 1096 we see Prince Izyaslav in Murom, a prince not from the family of the princes of Chernigov, while Murom and Ryazan were part of the principality of Chernigov. The son of the good Monomakh was deceived, as his father said, by selfish servants. Yaroslav, of course, was not pleased with this. But he did not start civil strife on his own; he was meek and God-fearing. His brother Oleg was not like that. The princes obliged him with an oath to appear in Kyiv for a meeting about who should own what under the new Grand Duke? And Oleg appeared with an army in front of Mur and sent to tell Izyaslav: “Go to Rostov, the inheritance of your father; this one belongs to me; I want to settle accounts with your father.” Izyaslav was wrong and fell in battle. But Oleg was as proud as he was greedy for self-interest. Instead of leaving his brother Yaroslav in Murom and occupying Ryazan himself, he captured Suzdal and Rostov. In the war that opened, he forced Yaroslav to be a participant; the generous winner Mstislav left Yaroslav in Murom. The Lyubech Congress of Princes in 1097 decided: “let David, Oleg and Yaroslav own the inheritance of Svyatoslav” 337. Yaroslav made an effort to smooth over the traces of the abusive worries. He was especially concerned about establishing Christian piety among the people. At his request, Metropolitan. Nikephoros (1104–1122) sent him a message about the meaning of the Latin faith; The saint condemned the Latins, among other things, because they forbid praising God in a language other than Hebrew, Greek and Roman 338. This revealed to the Murom prince the joyful truth that it is a holy thing to glorify the Lord in Russian, and in Finnish, and in any other language. Full of Christian love, he joyfully received the homeless, homeless princes and laid them to rest in Ryazan; in 1114, two such princes died here, under the shelter of Yaroslav’s love 339. In 1123, Yaroslav’s elder brother, David, Prince of Chernigov, died. Yaroslav took the senior seat of the Chernigov principality, and Murom gave it to his nephew Vsevolod Davidovich 340. He buried his wife in Chernigov. In the last years of his life, blessings. Konstantin had to experience quite a bit of bitterness. In 1127, another nephew, Vsevolod Olgovich, accidentally attacked Chernigov, captured Yaroslav, cut off his squad and plundered his property. Grand Duke Mstislav and his brother gathered an army to go against the rebellious Olgovich, but Mstislav was persuaded not to shed Christian blood and give peace to Olgovich; Yaroslav was left with sorrow to go to Murom 341. The blessed one died in Murom in 1129 342 the ancestor of the princes of Murom and Ryazan 343 . His holy body was laid in the Annunciation Cathedral, near his children Michael and Theodore. In 1351, Yuri Yaroslavich, the restorer of Murom, restored the Annunciation Church, founded by Constantine. Then miracles from St. began to appear. princes 344. In 1547 it was established to celebrate St. May 21 in Murom. Prince Constantine and his children 345. In 1552, Tsar John, on his way to Kazan, being in Murom, worshiped the noble princes, asking for their help 346; and the next year their relics were discovered and a new church was consecrated, built by the king, according to a vow, for their relics, with a chapel in their name 347. † Suffering Rev. Agapit Markushevsky Rev. Agapit labored for a long time in the Solvychegodsk Boris and Gleb Monastery. Once he was seriously ill. Appearing in a dream vision of St. Nikolai told him to go to the river. Markush and found a monastery there; the sick man was healed at the same time and went on his way. On the rivers Markush and Tarnakh (100 versts northeast of Totma) he built a chapel and then in 1578 two churches, one in honor of St. Nicholas, another in the name of Procopius of Ustyug. In the same year, he asked the king for land for a monastery and a place for a mill on the river. Lakhta, and the Metropolitan has a blessing to consecrate the church. Returning from Moscow, he lived as an ascetic of God. Not content with the work of establishing the monastery, he secretly wore chains on his body. Residents of the village of Kashnina, out of greed for self-interest, angry for the land allocated for the monastery, decided to kill the caring founder of the monastery. On May 21, 1584, they attacked the monk at the mill, killed him and threw him into the river. Uftyugu. The monks found the body of the murdered saint and buried him in the chapel, between the churches he had built, and the chains found on his body were hung over his coffin. His relics rest hidden in the church of the abolished (1764) Markushevsky monastery 348. Celebration of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God is the most famous in our country. It was written by the Evangelist Luke and was brought by him to the Blessed Virgin during her earthly life. The Mother of God, seeing the image of her face on the icon, repeated her prophetic saying: “from now on all generations will bless me,” and added: “Let the grace of Him who was born from me and mine be with this icon.” In the middle of the 5th century, under Emperor Theodosius the Younger, the icon was brought from Jerusalem to Constantinople; and in the middle of the 12th century it was brought from Constantinople to Kyiv to Grand Duke Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgorukov, together with another icon, called Pirogoshcha, and was placed in a nunnery in Vyshgorod. In 1155, Grand Duke Yuri gave Vyshgorod as an inheritance to his son, Prince Andrey. But Andrei was already planning to retire from the south of Russia to the north to the Rostov region and there establish a new possession independent of Kyiv. Prince Andrey, who “has much faith and love in the name of the Most Holy. Theotokos,” and on whose lips was always the name of Christ and His Most Pure Mother, having heard the story about the Vladimir icon that it did not like the place on which it was placed, I thought: is not the Suzdal land the place where it wants to be? The prince prayed earnestly in front of the icon, served a prayer service in front of it and reverently took it, instead of any treasures, without the knowledge of his father, and left Vyshgorod at night. On the way, he performed prayers in front of the icon and many miracles came from it. The prince arrived in Vladimir on Klyazma and was greeted by the residents with great joy. Continuing his journey, the prince went to Rostov. 10 versts from Vladimir downstream of the Klyazma River, the horses carrying the miraculous icon stopped and did not go further. New ones were harnessed and also did not move forward. The prince, in awe, prostrated himself in prayer before the icon of the Mother of God, and she appeared and commanded him to place her icon in Vladimir. On this occasion, on April 8, 1158, Andrei immediately founded a church in Vladimir for the residence of the miraculous icon, which two years later was completed and magnificently decorated. The God-loving prince also decorated St. icon. He covered it with a frame of gold, silver and precious stones. Having completed the church in Vladimir, Andrei transferred the miraculous icon to it, and from then on it began to be called Vladimir. The celebration of the transfer took place in 1160 on September 21. After the icon was installed in the Assumption Vladimir Church, it again shone with many and great miracles. Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, like the Apostolic, in Right. gained great glory in our fatherland. The church in Vladimir, in which the icon was originally placed, is called the most important church in the chronicles. This St. The icon, according to the faith of princes, governors and soldiers in it, participated in many campaigns of the Russian army and many other sacred memories are connected with it and testify to the grace of God acting through it. In 1164, the Vladimir Icon was in the campaign of Andrei Bogolyubsky against the Volga Bulgarians, whom he defeated through the intercession of the Mother of God. After the murder of Bogolyubsky in 1173, the people, incited by lack of leadership and murderers, were robbed by Bogolyubov and Vladimir. Priest Nicholas, who arrived with Bogolyubsky from Vyshgorod, in full vestments, opened the walk with the Vladimir Icon through the streets of the city, and the rebellion subsided. After Bogolyubsky, it was decided in Vladimir to give the throne of Seversky to Yaropolk and Mstislav Rostislavich, nephews of Bogolyubsky. On the first day of their reign, they seized the silver and gold of the Vladimir Church and took over the volosts and tributes donated to him by Bogolyubsky. Yaropolk gave the very icon of Vladimir to his son-in-law Gleb of Ryazan. This aroused general indignation among the residents of Vladimir: they decided to expel the Rostislavichs, whose warriors, who were marching to defeat Mikhail Yuryevich, who was called to the throne of Vladimir, without entering into battle, abandoned the princely banner and fled, “pursued by the wrath of God and St. Mother of God." Gleb of Ryazan, to whom the Vladimir Icon was given, humbly returned it. “It’s all my fault,” he said. “Let us marvel,” says the chronicler, at the new, great and glorious miracle of the Mother of God, how she protected her city from great troubles and strengthened her citizens. God and St. console them. Our Lady of Volodymyr. Behold, the people of Volodymyr are glorified by God throughout the entire earth for their truth, God helping them.” And the Vladimir Icon of Suzdal and Vladimir repeatedly protected and covered with its cover. During the fire in 1185 on April 13, which destroyed the cathedral church in Vladimir, with all its wealth, the Vladimir icon remained unharmed; During the invasion of the Tatars, under the leadership of Batu, on February 7 in 1237, the icon lost its precious frame, but itself remained unharmed, “by the grace of the Mother of God, integral to her icon, as an assurance of piety and for the observance of the Russian land.” In 1380, on September 8, Dimitri Ioannovich of the Don, with the help of Our Lady of Vladimir, defeated Mamai. The glory of the city of Vladimir, one might say, grew and spread during the 242 years during which the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God lived in it, and passed away when the Church of the Mother of God and St. the Vladimir icon was moved there: from that time Moscow began to rise above all the Russian principalities. In Moscow, as in Vladimir, the miraculous icon became famous for its many grace-filled miraculous signs for the salvation of Moscow and the entire fatherland. The grace of God manifested from this image while it was transferred to Moscow is especially evidenced by the celebrations celebrated by the Orthodox Church in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. The Orthodox Church celebrates the Mother of God of the Vladimir Icon three times a year. For the first time, on August 26, it is necessary to celebrate throughout Russia the memory of the meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, to deliver Russia with help and intercession from the invasion of Tamerlane in 1395. – For the second time, the celebration of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God takes place on June 23 in thanksgiving for the deliverance of the fatherland, through the invisible intercession of the Mother of God, from the Horde Tsar Akhmat in 1480, under Grand Duke John III Vasilyevich, and the final liberation of Russia from the Mongol yoke. On the 21st day of May Rights. The Church celebrates for the third time the feast of the meeting of the miraculous Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos based on two events. The first was in 1514 - for the sake of renovating the Vladimir icon in the house of Metropolitan Varlaam. In memory of this renewal, a religious procession was established from the Assumption Cathedral to the Sretensky Monastery on May 21st. The commemoration of the renewal is combined with the celebration of another sacred event - the deliverance by the intercession of the Lady in 1521 from the Crimean, Nogai and Kazan Tatars, under the leadership of the Kazan Tsar Makhmet-Girey, who invaded the boundaries of Moscow with such speed that Grand Duke Vasily Ioannovich barely had time to withdraw his troops to the banks of the Oka in order to restrain the aspirations of the enemies. Having set fire to villages from Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh to the banks of the Moscow River, the enemies captured many residents, including many wives and girls, throwing infants to the ground; they sold slaves in droves in Kazan and Astrakhan; the weak and elderly were starved, and the sanctity of churches was desecrated. The Emperor retired to Volok to collect his regiments. Everything was trembling. On July 29, Khan, among clouds of smoke, under the glow of burning villages, was already several miles from Moscow, where residents of the surrounding area flocked with their families and most precious property. The streets were blocked with convoys, aliens and citizens, children, elders sought salvation in the Kremlin, crowded into the gates, crushing each other. Metropolitan Varlaam prayed fervently with the people. God heeded the prayers of the needy, and Moscow supernaturally, through the intercession of the Mother of God of Vladimir and St. Saints Sergius of Radonezh and Varlaam of Khutyn, saved and saved all of Russia. They say that the Tatars wanted to burn out the Moscow Posads, but they saw the countless Christ-loving Russian army around the city, and with horror they galloped to the khan and informed him of the miraculous vision. The Khan did not believe them and sent others: “And the others saw the greatest Russian army, and told him; and the third sent one of his neighbors to find out the truth, and trembling, he ran and cried out: O king! what are you talking about? let's run! an immense multitude of troops from Moscow is coming towards us and they will flee.” Thus, through the intercession of the Mother of God, Moscow and the fatherland got rid of their enemies. In memory of this miraculous deliverance, a religious procession to the Sretensky Monastery takes place in Moscow on May 21. In the days of the threefold deliverance of Moscow through the intercession of the Mother of God, from Tamerlane, Akhmat and Makhmet-Girey, the Church joyfully cries out during the Divine service: “today the most glorious city of Moscow is brightly flaunted, as if we have received the dawn of the sun, O Lady, your miraculous icon, to which we, now flowing and praying to you, cry out to you: O Most wonderful Lady Theotokos, pray from you to the incarnate Christ, our God, that he may deliver this city, and all Christian cities and countries unharmed from all the slander of the enemy, and save our souls, as he is merciful.” After the events celebrated by the Church in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, the chronicles say that this St. the icon served as a blessing for the great princes in all the most important circumstances of their lives, for example. at accessions to the throne and coronations; Before her, the princes took an oath of allegiance to the fatherland from their subjects. In 1598, the Vladimir Icon, along with others, was publicly brought to the Moscow Novodevichy Convent, where Tsarina Irina retired, having abdicated the throne, so that the presence of St. the miraculous icon to induce her to bless her brother and himself to ascend to the Russian throne. Coming out to meet the miraculous Vladimir image of the Mother of God, Boris Feodorovich, as the letter of his election to the kingdom tells, “was filled with many tears, crying out in a great voice, saying: O merciful Queen, Most Pure Mother of God, Mother of Christ our God, why have you done such a feat and raised up your miraculous image? Therefore, Most Pure Mother of God, pray for me and have mercy on me. And this crying and saying with much sobbing and crying, she fell to the ground before the miraculous image of the Most Pure Mother of God of Vladimir.” After this, the queen blessed her brother for the kingdom. Since ancient times, Orthodox All-Russian monarchs have accepted the sacred wedding and anointing for the kingdom in front of the Vladimir Icon, in the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow. A prayer service at the entrance of the Sovereign into the cathedral for the crowning of the kingdom was performed in ancient times to the Cross, the Most Pure Mother and Peter the Wonderworker. When speaking against their enemies, the great princes and kings prayed before the icon of the Mother of God and looked at it as the intercession of Russia. During the raids of the Crimean Khan Saip-Girey and the Kazan Safa-Girey on Russia in 1541, Tsar John Vasilyevich, going against the enemies, kneeled with tears and prayed in front of the icon for help against them, and the enemies were repelled. In 1552, on June 16, Grand Duke John Vasilyevich, preparing to go on a campaign, comes to the Church of the Assumption and there “tearfully falls down on the miraculous image of the Mother of God, with tears, stretching out prayers for a long hour.” The king's prayer was heard: Kazan was taken, and he was solemnly greeted upon his return to the capital after the victory by the clergy with the miraculous Vladimir icon. John, getting off his horse, fell in front of her, prayed and kissed her. The kings reverently honored the holidays and religious processions established in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. During these holidays, Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich unforgettably listened to the Divine service at the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the entryway. Tsars John Vasilyevich and Alexei Mikhailovich diligently attended religious processions in honor of the Mother of God. The great princes prayed before the icon under different circumstances of their lives; they prayed before her for their children; at the end of their lives they entrusted themselves to the intercession of the Vladimir Mother of God. Grand Duke Vasily Ioannovich, lying on his deathbed, wished that the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God be brought to him, and his last gaze and prayer were turned to its sacred face. During the election of All-Russian metropolitans and patriarchs, the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God served as a guarantor and blessing. The names of those elected, according to ancient custom, sealed by the king, were placed in a panagia on a shroud in the icon case of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, leaving it to her: “whom she herself deigns to choose.” After the prayer service, the king himself or the eldest of the saints removed the seal and announced to the cathedral the name of the chosen one. During public disasters, the saints turned in prayer to the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, for example, during war, fire and other cases. In 1547, when a strong fire destroyed Moscow, the Metropolitan prayed in the Church of the Assumption, engulfed in flames. They wanted to take out the Vladimir Icon, but they could not move it from its place. “The Mother of God herself,” the chronicle says, “preserved not only her own image, but also the entire church and the whole world, covering and protecting it.” Many were honored to see above the Cathedral Assumption Church a Woman in a luminous robe, praying for the city and overshadowing the church. “And by her merciful intercession,” says the chronicle, “the wrath of God began to be quenched, and the fire subsided without causing harm to the church.” In misfortunes, the saints chose the icon as an intercessor before kings and persecutors. When Emperor Peter I decided to put the Streltsy to death in 1698, Patriarch Adrian interceded for them with the Tsar, holding in his hands the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. When the impostor’s minions wanted to depose Patriarch Job and began to tear off his holy robes during the Divine service, he, taking off his panagia and placing it next to the image of the Vladimir Mother of God, said: “The Lady Theotokos! In front of this holy icon of Yours, the holy panagia is placed on me; with her I corrected the words of Your Son and our God; For 19 years he kept the integrity of the holy faith; Now, because of our sins, we see: the kingdom is in misery, deception and heresy are triumphant. Save and establish Orthodoxy through prayers to Your Son.” However, not only kings and saints had high reverence for the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, but also all Orthodox Christians. In 1598, the Russian commander, informing Patriarch Job about the end of the hostile actions of the Crimean Khan, wrote: “God would grant us to return to the reigning city of Moscow with victory and to see the miraculous image of the Most Pure Mother of God of Vladimir.” In 1605, on May 17, before the overthrow of the impostor, Vasily Ioannovich Shuisky arrived at the Church of the Assumption and venerated St. icon of Vladimir and exclaimed to the people: “in the name of God, go against the evil heretic.” Before the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow by Pozharsky and Minin, the Russians said: “We have no choice but to die rather than give the image of Vladimir to desecration of the Most Pure Mother of God.” After expelling the enemies, seeing the wonderful icon, the commanders and soldiers could not hold back their joyful tears; they looked with tenderness at the face of the Mother of God, in whose name the victory was won; everyone prayed and everyone wanted to sanctify themselves by touching the miraculous icon. During the French invasion of Russia in 1812, the Vladimir Icon, by Imperial command, was sent to Vladimir by His Eminence Augustine on September 2. Upon arrival in Vladimir, St. The icon was carried daily in religious processions around the city. From Vladimir, Bishop Augustine went with the icon to Murom, and from there on October 20 he returned to Moscow. Residents of Murom saw off St. an icon with a procession of the cross over five miles. In 1813, upon the resumption of the Moscow Assumption Cathedral, the Vladimir Icon was solemnly transferred from the Sretensky Monastery to the cathedral on the week of Vay. The image of the Vladimir Mother of God stands in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral on the left side of the royal doors in a folding icon case; height 1 arshin and 7 vershoks, width a little 15 vershoks. The chasuble on the icon is made of pure gold, ancient Greek work, decorated with precious stones, valued at about 60,000 rubles. ser. Celebration of the Orange Icon of Our Lady During the reign of Mikhail Feodorovich, under Patriarch Filaret Nikitich in 1629, one pious man named Peter Gladkov lived in the vicinity of Nizhny Novgorod. He served in military service and had an estate in the vicinity of the present Oran monastery. Having great faith in the image of the Vladimir Mother of God, located in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral, he took an exact copy of it for himself and took it to his homeland, to the village of Bocheevo. Here in the church of St. Nicholas and the icon remained in the landowner’s house for five years. In 1634, during the fifth week of Lent, from Friday to Saturday of Praise of the Mother of God, Gladkov heard a voice in a dream: “Go here.” It seemed to him that he went and saw himself on some mountain and heard a new voice commanding him to build a church in this place in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, and before creating the church, to erect a cross on the mountain. Gladkov had such a dream three times. After spending the remaining days of Great Lent in fasting and prayer and piously meeting St. Easter, Gladkov on Saturday of Holy Week left his house to look for the mountain that he saw in a dream. He walked through a dense, dense forest through a field called Orano-Pole, entered an impenetrable forest and saw a fire on the so-called Slavenskaya Mountain. Assuming that there were people there, and fearing to get lost, Gladkov went to that mountain. The day was rainy then and the whole sky was covered with thick clouds, but on Slavenskaya Mountain one could see a kind of sunshine rising in a column to the heavens. Having climbed the mountain, Gladkov saw the very location that had appeared to him in a dream vision. After this, he immediately went to Moscow to Patriarch Joasaph, told him about everything that had happened and asked him for a charter for the construction of a church in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God on Slavenskaya Mountain. Having received the letter and returned to his village, Gladkov erected a marble cross at the place indicated for the church, and soon began the construction of the church in which the icon of the Mother of God was placed, which received the name of Oranskaya, and became famous for many miracles. Archimandrite Raphael of the Pechersk Monastery was ordered to make sure about them. He reported the truth of the miracles to the Patriarch, and the Patriarch reported to Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich: the Tsar ordered to build a monastery on the Oransky field, which is called Oransky. This venerable icon is brought annually from the monastery to Nizhny Novgorod on St. Thomas Week and, after walking with it to different places, returns to the monastery. Memory of St. bishops and confessors Ammonius, Eulogius, Philo, Paphnutius Memory of St. bishops and confessors Ammonius, Eulogius, Philo, Paphnutius and others, during the reign of Constantius (338–361) for disagreement with the Arian heresy, deprived of their thrones in Egypt, Libya and Pentapolis, and exiled to prison. Identity of the book. Konstantin-Yaroslav is proven in history. Rus. Ts. 1, 35. 36. According to the chronicle (collected fol. VII, 244), the first prince of Murom is Yaroslav, son of Chernig. Prince Svyatoslav. On life, first book. Muroma - Konstantin, grandson of the great Yaroslav. Konstantin is a baptismal name, Yaroslav is a secular name. The Tale of St. book Konstantin ex. in memory old liter. Kusheleva I, 229–239, but according to a later review, where some things are shortened and others added. The life was written under c. John, not with a very skillful hand, but according to legend, firmly preserved in Murom. The sons of Svyatoslav are depicted in the painting of Svyatoslav’s Izbornik. The last one, Yaroslav, is still a youth, with a round face, like his father; Svyatoslav and Roman with a mustache but no beard. On top of the caftan, which is also visible on all his sons, Svyatoslav wears a princely robe - a mantle with edging and lining, fastened on the right shoulder, so that the right hand remains free. Ancient Ross. Ch. IV, 7–10. In another picture of the collection, the saints are with four-pointed crosses. About heresies and schisms. M. 1839 About the city of Murom and Strous wrote in 1669: “Murom is a Mordovian name, for the city was founded by this tribe.” RKP. life: “prestasha (Murom people) named the bad Moamef as a prophet.” At the beginning: “Church - cry out to God: have mercy on me, my children are being reproached and killed by the idolaters and monsters of the Hagarians, living in the great Murom.” Life: “book. Constantine, hearing about Murom, how great and glorious it is and the multitude of people living in it and boiling with all kinds of wealth, that is, forests with bees, rivers and lakes with fish and hay-making habitats and animals in the forests, from their skins the master's casings were established "... According to the chronicle, in 1019 Finnish Murom in Kyiv was considered a place of exile. In 1019 K. Yaroslav, angry at Novgor. mayor Konstantin Dobrynich, imprisoned him in Rostov, “in the third summer he ordered his death in Murom on the river. Oke." Collection l. V, 134. According to Kushelev’s publication, “from the creation of the world in 6731 (1123) God sent His faithful servant, Blessed. K. Konstantin. This is the year of the death of the prince. David, brother of Yaroslav. – After Davidova’s death, Yaroslav came from Chernigov to Murom for the second time. Excavations of the Meryan burial mounds reveal that crosses and various pendants with Christian images are found in the mounds along with coins of the 11th century. and the beginning of the 12th century. Notes from an archaeologist. total 8, 103. In the place where the discarded body of St. St. Michael's, the chapel still stands today; this is everywhere in the Moscow outpost, in front of the bridge thrown over the ravine. Vladimir. ancient page 84. This is said by a writer of the 16th century, when the city fortress was already at the Nativity Cathedral, where the relics of Prince. Peter and K. Fevronia. Scribe book of 1687: “on the settlement in the scree, where there was a fort, the Annunciation Monastery.” - Vladimir. collection 155. Ts. Theodore, in a letter dated May 26, 1595, “granted the Annunciation to the Pres. Bogorod., which is in Murom on the outskirts of the old settlement, where the Murom miracle workers, Prince, lie. Konstantin" and other music. Room. 99. Life: “the unfaithful people, seeing this, marveled that it was not according to their custom that we were burying the autocrat’s son in the grave, facing the east, I did not pile up the graves on top of a hill, but equally with the earth, no funeral service, no tribute (according to other words, smokes), no battle, no skin-cutting, no face-tearing, no I don’t do immeasurable crying. And Christians, swearing and laughing, asked about this madness: Why is burial not according to their custom?” - Below, the Murom orator, glorifying the change that took place in Murom upon the adoption of Christianity, says: “where the hollow ancient times are revered, the rivers of Theology now flow; where there is a square of evil stench, there is now incense... Where is the one who puts the needs of the rivers and lakes? Where are the tree hollows hanging with ubrussy branches and worshiping them? Where are the treasures and monasteries of the one who worships, who washes themselves for the sake of weakness and casts silver on them? Where are the horses that temper the dead and the tree-climbing belt weaving with them into the earth, digging and fighting and cutting and creating faces of incitement and tearing? Where are the pipes and bitter sins of the one who exclaims?.. Wherever you go through the Murom country, you will not hear anywhere the cursed polytheistic names, neither Perun, nor Zhdabog, nor Mokosh, for whom the creators demand abomination.” – In the Murom mounds of the 9th and 10th centuries, dug up in recent times, they certainly found a horse, images of snakes, burnt bones of animals and birds, and a clay idol. About the Vladmir mounds. lips to the record. archaeol. total 8. 102. 103. – About the baptism of the Murom residents (see 321 pages of text) in the life it says: “the priests mazahu their chrism, forehead, eyes, lips, nostrils, ears. And she put scarlet crowns on her, and declared them on their heads; they were wearing a cross and white vestments and leggings and boots, and I gave everyone candles burning in their hands and commanded them to go to church.” Collection l. I, 89. VII, 4. Tatishchev 2, 140. RKP. Ryazan hon. According to Herberstein (Rer. Maxorit p. 48), the ancient fortress, near which the modern mountain was formed. Pereyaslavl Ryazan, was originally called Yaroslavl, that is, after the name of its founder. According to the charter of 1485, “Old St. Nicholas stands on the Bystroe Lake on the shore and that is the holy lake.” Bystroe lake on the western side of the Pereyaslavl (Ryazan) Kremlin. Collection l. I, 98–109. Nikop. l. II, 12. M. Nikifor's message to K. Yaroslav - from the Rev. Macarius (ist. R. Ts. 2, 153–155. 320–326), according to the faulty list, with omissions and clerical errors. Nikon. l. II, 44. Karamz. 2, pr. 256. Collection l. II, 9. 10. I, 128. Collection l. I, 130. II, 10. 11. Nikon. l. II, 60. Collection l. I, 131. II, 12. Nikon. l. II, 64. Pedigree book pp. 32. 34. 191. 194 in X book. Temporary M. total ist. Karamz. 4, pr. 370. RKP. hagiography Nikon. l. VII, 130. 141. Collection. l. VI, 305. Prologue May 21. Life: “The sovereign king bowed to the miraculous tombs and prayed to them with tears, asking for help for the adversaries, and began to say: if the Lord is God and Most Holy. The Mother of God and the Murom miracle workers will give me victory against the godless Kazan Tsar, I will command that the Church of the Annunciation and the stone chapel of the Murom miracle workers be built here.” In the calendar of the charter of the 16th century. (Tolstoy I, 100): “May 21st. newly-minted books Muromsky Konstantin and his children. Sl. approx. 328. A description of the life and miracles of St. Agapit was compiled in 1715 by the will of Barnabas, Bishop of Kholmogory, during his forced stay with his retinue at the monastery. Volog. lips Ved. 1849 No. 44. 45. Consolidated. about monas. 78. East, Jer. V, 51.