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Rev. Isaac the Confessor, Abbot of the Dalmatian Monastery The misfortunes of Orthodox Christians under the follower of Ariev's teachings, Emperor Valens, reached extreme limits. During his 13-year reign, he did not cease to persecute the Orthodox, acting both out of personal conviction and in fulfillment of the oath he swore to the Arian bishop Eudoxius, from whom he was baptized. Zealous Orthodox shepherds, rousing each other, used all their strength to counteract the successes of the Arians. So, by the way, St. Basil the Great appealed to the sympathy of the Western brethren, describing to them the plight of the Orthodox in the East: “You, perhaps,” he writes, “will move to the aid of the Eastern Churches, for our trials are grave and long-lasting... Be touched by our misfortunes; This is not about one Church or two: the storm rages from the borders of Illyria to the desert of Thebaid. The dogmas of piety have been transformed; the statutes of the Church were blotted out; Church primacy is offered as a reward for wickedness. Shepherds betray the flock of God... The lips of the pious are silenced, every blasphemous tongue is loosed, the sanctuary is defiled. Those who are sane flee from houses of worship as schools of wickedness, and in the deserts, with lamentations and tears, they lift up their hands to the Lord who is in heaven."... All adherents of the truth approved at the Ecumenical Council, and especially the Eastern bishops, responded to the call to fight. But besides church leaders, the hermits, who had renounced the world, now - for the sake of the disasters of the Church, which can be judged by the message of Basil the Great, left their beloved solitude and silence and came out into the world with the word of truth - in denunciation of Valens and his accomplices... They came out of their deserts and joined the sacred struggle. St. John, who labored for a long time in the secluded desert, joined such defenders of the Orthodox faith. Isaac of Dalmatia. Hearing about the persecution of the Orthodox, which raged with particular cruelty in Constantinople, where even Orthodox churches were closed or handed over to heretics, the hermit Isaac hurried there to strengthen the Christians. His words truly encouraged those suffering for their orthodoxy. At this time, a war broke out with the Goths, who were devastating Thrace. Emperor Valens himself prepared to go on a campaign to the Danube. It was then that, inspired by zeal, the humble Isaac appeared before Valens - while the king was marching out with his army from the capital... - Sovereign! “Open the churches to the Orthodox and the Lord will bless your path,” he boldly addressed the oppressor. Valens did not pay any attention to these words and Isaac was pushed away with contempt. The next day, having warned the king on the way, Isaac again approached him with the words: “Sovereign! open the churches to the Orthodox, and the war will be successful, you will win and return healthy and in peace”... The king thought about these words; it seemed that he was ready to agree... but those close to him, almost all Arians, hastened to reject him from his good intention. Isaac was again driven away with reproach. But is there really an obstacle for a fighter for the truth? - On the third day, Isaac again stopped the king on the way and, taking his horse by the bridle, began to beg Valens to open the churches to the Orthodox, threatening him that God would punish him if he did not stop oppressing the faithful. Such persistence irritated the king; he ordered Isaac to be thrown into a muddy ditch overgrown with thorns that happened along the way. But the monk was miraculously preserved by God and emerged unharmed from the wilds and swamps. Having thanked the Lord, he overtook the king the other way and stood in front of him. “You wanted to destroy me in thorns and swamps,” he said to Valens, amazed at the sight of him, “but God saved me.” Once again I ask you and listen to me, sir, open the churches to the Orthodox, and you will defeat your enemies and return with glory; If you don’t listen to me, you will die in the war... The hardened heart of the blinded heretic did not feel the call of God in the wondrous, undaunted persistence of the elder. Irritated to the extreme, he ordered his two confidants, Victor and Saturnin, to take Isaac to Constantinople and keep him in prison there until he returned from the campaign. - If you returned from the campaign, I would be a liar! - Isaac shouted after the retreating Valens, - but I tell you the truth that you will not defeat your enemies, you will run away from them and will be burned alive... The words of the man of God have come true. The Greeks were defeated; Valens, wounded during the battle and fleeing with a small number of bodyguards, hid on the way in one hut and here was surrounded by barbarians, who, meeting resistance and not even knowing that the king was in the hut, set it on fire, so that Valens was “burned alive” ... This was in 378. His successor, the pious Theodosius, continued the war and won a victory over the barbarians. After the victory, he solemnly entered Constantinople with his wife on November 24, 380, and first of all ordered the release of Isaac, about whom his close associates had already told him. But before that, before the news of Valens’s death had yet reached Constantinople, some said to Isaac, imprisoned in chains in prison: “Get ready for an answer... behold, the king will soon return from the war and punish you”... “For several days now I have been hearing the stench from the decayed bones of King Valens...” the elder answered them. So, the monk met the royal couple at the city gates - with a cross in his hand 455 and blessed them for the kingdom. - On his advice, Emperor Theodosius convened the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople and here the teacher. Isaac is the decisive conqueror of Christianity and the world returns to the Church. Having calmed down about Christians, Isaac wished to return to his desert, but Saturninus and Victor, who repented of taking part in his persecution, begged him to stay in Constantinople in order to contribute to the improvement of the Church of Christ. They set up a monastery for the elder in the outskirts of the city, which soon attracted many people who wanted to devote themselves to monastic life. Isaac was their mentor and abbot and himself served as an example of meekness and extraordinary mercy towards the poor, so that when he had nothing to help someone in need, he gave away his last clothes. He died at a very old age, in 383 456, appointing as his successor the monk Dalmat, “a faithful husband and constant guardian of the rules,” after whom the monastery was named Dalmatian. The relics of St. Isaac were first laid in the church of St. Stephen, then transferred to the Church of All Saints. This event is depicted in a bas-relief on one of the pediments outside St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg. On another bas-relief, St. Isaac, convincing Valens, who is going to war, to renounce Arianism - on pain of death from his enemies. Others believe the death of St. Isaac in 390–400