The influence of the lives of saints on the life of the Russian people

General situation. – The ascetic view of the Russian people on the world and life. – A sublime view of monasticism and the rapid development of the latter. – Home life of a Russian person. – Domostroy” – Family life, “virginity in marriage.” – A look at a woman as the cause and source of temptations. – Representation of the ideal woman. - Customs that seem Russian, but appeared under the influence of reading the lives of saints. – Respect of the Russian people for everyday meals. – Love of reading the Psalter. – Customs: putting candles in front of icons and lighting lamps, telling fortunes on the books of Holy Scripture, “dropping water from the cross,” building temples on the sites of pagan temples and sacred rites. – Pilgrimage of the Russian people. – His inner, “spiritual” penetration into the lives of the saints. The direct consequence of the church, liturgical and home reading of the lives of saints by our ancestors is their entire life. Our folk customs, one might say, were all formed under the influence of reading the lives of saints. In its origin, this influence coincides with the adoption of Christianity. We have already noticed 1 that along with the gospel of the Gospel teaching, our teachers, the Greeks, brought to us their literature, their mental and moral culture and enlightenment. The essential element of Byzantine literature was precisely the patristic works and lives of saints. We also noticed that most of all, it seems, the influence of the lives of saints and this kind of Greek literature affected precisely the religious and moral views of Russian society. Indeed, both the life and thought of the Russian people, freely or through struggle, nevertheless settled down and adopted the horizons and views of that literature, which was for them the most moral and mental educator. Russian thought, which had just awakened, began to work according to Byzantine models. Byzantine ideals became Russian ideals. The essence of Byzantine literature was a comprehensive, merciless denial of the perishable “world.” Christian ascetics and hermits, by the very fact of their hermithood, denied the latter (world). Therefore, the concept of “peace” became in this kind of literature, such as the lives of saints, synonymous with destruction, and the subject of its glorification was removal from the “world” and all its evils. In the “life and suffering” of the holy martyrs Minodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora we read: “Cursed Shechem, this world with his three daughters, with carnal lust, with the lust of the soul and the pride of life, knows nothing else but to harm those who cling to him. Just as resin cleanses those who touch it, so he creates his own evil spirits and creates unclean things. Blessed is the fleeing of the world, let it not be denigrated by its impurities: blessed are these three holy virgins, who have escaped from the world and from its three evil daughters. Not being blackened by their filth, the doves were white and pure, like two wings, flying through the mountains and deserts in deed and the vision of God, desiring in Divine love to honor the yaks in the nest: deserted because the incessant divine desire is, the world is vain except for the vain." 2. Saint Sophia, the mother of the holy martyrs Faith, Hope and Love, urging them not to deviate from the faith during severe torment, says to her holy daughters: “My sweet children, do not allow yourself to be deceived by the charms of the enemy: for the king, as I remember, will have you a lot of caress, and promise great gifts, and offer you glory, wealth and honor, and all the beauty and sweetness This corruptible and vain world: but do not love the smallest thing of this, for all this disappears like smoke, and like dust is scattered by the wind, and like the flower and grass of the grass withers, and settles into dust” 3. Sophia, the spiritual mother of Saint Anastasia the Roman, instructs the latter: “Do not be seduced by the gifts and glory of the vain world, but fear the torments of time, the eternal life of those who intercede for you” 4. In other places in the lives of the saints, the world is called vain 5, filled with unclean lusts 6, rebellious 7, benefiting nothing 8, the most beautiful sleep 9, it speaks of the impermanence of the world 10, the vanity of this world 11, the vain glory of the world 12, etc. The effects of such teaching literature were not slow to appear in our society. And so, on Russian soil, voices against the so-called “peace” are beginning to be heard. Everything worldly, everything everyday is subjected to their merciless scourging and denial. The very concept of “peace” here in Rus' has become something reprehensible and sinful. Russian scribes, following the example of the Greeks, did not find words to adequately humiliate the “world” that was shameful in their eyes. The very word “peace” was always accompanied by epithets corresponding to this view. It is rare to find a manuscript in which the word “world” is not preceded or followed by some adjective whose meaning is to condemn it. The world is constantly accompanied by Russian scribes with the names “disastrous”, “vain”, “short-lived”, “quickly passing”, “appearing a little, but soon perishing”, “mosque” (ghostly) 13 14. If this is how they looked at the world in general, then the more real phenomena of world or, rather, worldly human life evoked even greater condemnation from ascetic moralists. A person’s social status, external favorable living conditions, etc. were condemned by them as something evil. “The glory of this world became likened,” we read in one ancient Russian teaching, “to a fiery flame, which was kindled with wood and was high, and then it was burnt into coals and then into ashes, and again it was scattered by the wind and the place would not be found.” Thus, from a purely ascetic point of view, not just the legitimate achievement of public honors and respect, but all external conditions of social life were assessed at that time. There was no point in even thinking about the legality of the most apparently innocent pleasures. Pleasures, according to Russian moralists, were not of significant importance for a person: he was born for only suffering and temptations, and only one victory over them makes him truly happy. Spiritual manifestations, such as joy and fun, were considered unusual for a true Christian to allow. “Child, do not delight,” as one moralist teaches, “to have fun in this world, as the joy of this world is accompanied by crying.” To ignore all the blessings of life was considered a sign of a person of great intelligence. “If you wish to be a wise man, do not rejoice in the red life, for the grass color of those, as you touch it, fades.” And vice versa, the one who “inclined in favor of the flattery of this age” was known as a madman 15. In general, the corruptible world around us, according to the ascetics, was the personification of everything evil, and to get carried away and revolve in the sphere of “the madness of this charming world” would indeed be madness and destruction for a person. While opposing all the comforts of life, asceticism did not spare human life itself. Hence the attacks of the ascetics affected this latter as well. And almost entire creations appear on the theme of the insignificance of the world and life. “About the lack of understanding of repentance,” we read in one of them, “don’t you know that the day brings, or the night, your life will pass, like a cloud carried by the wind” 16. And the life of a person among our ascetics does not deserve any other name than “perishing,” “fading,” “delightful,” “perishable life.” The pious men of ancient Rus' listened with reverence to the ascetic instructions of their spiritual leaders and themselves became conductors of the same ascetic ideas in relation to others. The shepherds considered it a long time to educate their spiritual children on them. In general, no matter from which side they looked at the world and human life, ascetics always saw here only one darkness, only useless suffering, and human life on earth seemed to them extremely pitiful and deplorable. She was mourned not without passion and art in works of ancient Russian literature. Particularly remarkable in this regard are some of the words and messages of Metropolitan Daniel, which specifically treat the transience of human life and the instability of all earthly blessings. “What is our life,” writes Daniel in one of his epistles, “is it not like a dream vision, or like a flower of grass, and a vapor, rising and disappearing in the distance, or a fleeting river rapids, or like the morning dew?” Maxim the Greek wrote in exactly the same spirit. Constant mourning for life continued. It went as far as the denial of life. “Blessed is he,” exclaims one strict moralist in despair, “who hates human life” 17 . This idea about detachment from the world and its benefits and pleasures, about the duty of a Christian to strive only for the higher spiritual world, the teaching about the struggle and victory of the spirit over the flesh - all this was developed in detail in the church writing that came to us from Byzantium along with Christianity, one of the departments of which is the lives of the saints. And all this found excellent soil in the views of ancient Russian people and bore abundant fruit. All our literature, both independent and translated, was imbued with the same spirit. Partly through borrowing, and partly on their own, Russian scribes embodied their ascetic views in writing. This is where the source of the wealth of ancient monuments is located, which are specifically dedicated to and treat about the vanity of the world, “the things that are in this world,” and “the rumors of this world that are unprofitable.” It is rare to find an ancient collection that does not contain discussions about the insignificance of the world and man. Words and teachings like the following are scattered everywhere in manuscripts: “the words of St. father about this temporary life”, “about the glory of this world”, “about the vanity of this world”, “about this vanity of life”, “about this multi-rebellious life”, “about the flattery of this world”, “about the vanity of the world”, “about the hedgehog of hatred of the world and what is in the world”, etc. This very church literature, which had its source mainly in the lives of saints, brought us great benefit in the sense that it contributed to the elevation of morality among the people, weakened their extreme attachment to earthly goods, in a word, it had an ennobling effect on the morals of the Russian people, who for a long time, even after the adoption of Christianity, were distinguished by their devotion to the coarse sensuality of paganism. This is how Prof. speaks about this influence of the lives of saints, in the narrow sense - as patericons and prologues, on our writing and life. Buslaev. “The Patericon of Sinai and the monastery, imbued with the most enthusiastic poetry of hermit life, were the favorite reading of our ancestors from the 11th and even until the 17th centuries. inclusive... These ascetic books, included in excerpts in the prologues, had a tremendous influence on ancient Russian literature. In the daily reading of the prologue, they were learned by heart and insensitively entered into the views and beliefs of our literate ancestors and were reflected in their practical activities by the establishment and spread of desert habitation in the deserted outbacks of the Russian land.” The fascination with the lives of the saints, together with ascetic preaching, soon turned into life and showed its effect here. The Russian people developed a strong inclination towards mysticism, which, in turn, demanded some kind of outcome. Monasticism served as such an outcome for the Russian people. The latter, as well as possible, met all the requirements that were so persistently pursued in the beloved literature - the lives of saints. And so the monastic ideal became in the minds of Russians an exceptional ideal of highly moral life. Monasticism, set in the eyes of the Russians as the ideal of Christian life, therefore itself became the ultimate goal, the last desire of a more or less pious person. The monastic ideal became the ideal of Christian morality, before which everything revered, everything bowed. With this attitude towards the monastic ideal, the most sublime view of monasticism was formed in Russian society. The latter seemed “better than the royal power”; They said about monks: “Angels are light to monks, monks are light to the laity.” In the eyes of the Russians, the monastery was the most sacred place, not only in a religious sense, but in relation to the moral virtues of its inhabitants. The monk was surrounded by an aura of holiness. Monastic life was called nothing less than “Christ-like living.” The monastic ideal was a measure of morality and purity. The view of monasticism as the ideal of a highly moral, truly Christian life greatly contributed to the rapid spread and development of monasticism in Rus'. Its consequences affected the life of the Russian people with the rapid emergence of monasteries. The best proof of the general inclination of Russians towards asceticism, which found a direct outlet in monasticism, can be the bare figures of the number of monasteries and hermitages. So from the 11th to the 14th centuries. 87 of them appeared in the 14th century. and the first half of the 15th century. 150, with 80 in the fourteenth century and 70 in the fifteenth century. In the same way, the growth of monasteries occurred in a progressive manner in the second half of the 15th and early 16th centuries. During this period of time, new monasteries appeared twice as many as before. Pious people hoped to receive their salvation only under the monastic robe and therefore entered monasteries in droves. The world and everything in life seemed to them dangerous to the soul. There is only one way to escape death - to flee from the world into deserts and monasteries. And, indeed, they fled there in droves. The zealots of piety, living in the world, considered themselves completely lost to salvation, and some of them, out of love for the salvation of their souls, broke all their family ties, left their wives and children to their fate, often without shelter, and hid in monasteries. This feature is noted even in folk epics. The father of the teenage hero, twelve-year-old Mikhail Ignatievich, the hero Danilo Ignatievich, in his old age asks the leader. book Vladimir to the monastery, asking: “Don’t cut off his violent head for this, You can’t take out the heart and liver” 19. Wives did not lag behind their husbands - and they often entered the monastery secretly from their husbands. In a letter to Pskov with instructions on various subjects of church discipline, Metropolitan Photius, among other things, responds 20 to a letter to him that “for the sake of what is the matter, the wife, hiding her husband, goes to the monastery, and the abbess tonsures such” 21. From the message of Metropolitan Photius it is clear that “wives cut their hair from their husbands secretly from the maidens” 22. Reverence for monasticism reached the point that some expressed a desire for their mortal remains to be covered with monastic robes, seeing this as a relief for their afterlife fate. Such a desire was expressed, for example, by Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich. Thus, the desert, the monastery, the monastic life - became the object of spiritual desires, the subject of poetic images, both for monks and laity. And it is very natural that this life, as the ideal of a better, godly life, introduced, along with its aspirations, its own orders into ordinary, everyday worldly life, established this life according to its own rules and patterns, and left its own special, specific imprint on all its activities. The best characteristic of the personality of this or that person was an indication of his care and concern for the construction of churches, donating liturgical books, church utensils, etc. to their benefit. This is precisely how our ancient chroniclers characterized the pious princes. The home, private life of Russians of ancient times clearly speaks for their widespread reading of the lives of saints. Here before us is the product of our entire social development in the pre-Petrine era - the famous “Domostroy” by priest Sylvester. In the customs that are set out in it, in the instructions that are taught in it, ancient Russian life and ancient Russian writing said their last word. From it we notice throughout Russian life the strong influence of the literature we are considering - the lives of saints. The best ancient Russian house was considered to be the house that most closely resembled a monastery in its structure. In this form, prayer and alms were considered the only, exclusive and worthy element of all life, guiding not only thoughts, but also all actions; the main, fundamental and unchangeable work of this life was the cell and church rule about deeds of mercy. Everything, in a word, came down to one goal: to make home life a constant prayer, a constant feat of silence and rejection of all worldly pleasures and fun, a constant, purely ascetic denial of everything that life itself is not able to reject. They tried to arrange things in such a way that everything and everywhere would remind one of monastic life. So, in the house itself there was a kind of church. On the walls they placed “holy and honorable images with all kinds of decoration and lamps, and in them candles are lit before the saints”; fragrant incense and incense were burned in front of the icons 23. Here, every morning, matins and hours were buried every morning, and on Sundays and holidays a prayer service “with prayer, silence, meek standing.” In the evening, the husband with his wife, children and household members sang Vespers, Vespers, and Midnight Office. After such an evening service it was no longer possible to eat, drink, or create rumors. “When going to bed, every Christian considered it necessary to make three bows to the ground. And at midnight, always, rising secretly, with tears, diligently pray to God, to the best of your ability, about your sin” 24 . But in addition, if someone adds a rule of a kind of salvation, otherwise it is at his will; otherwise a greater reward from God 25. The time free from prayers had to be used for good, godly deeds, among which the first and most important place belonged to works of mercy 26 . All worldly pleasures, i.e. serving the success of worldly life, for the majority and without the fasting idea, always bitter and difficult, were strictly prohibited in our ancient way of life from the very first time, as soon as the teaching word was heard. At the same time, they did not pay attention to the fact that pleasure, like work, is an essential need of life, without which the life of society itself is impossible, i.e. gradual improvement of human nature. The reason for the preachers' attacks on pleasures was depraved, rude, animal pleasures, but while rightly prohibiting them, the preachers also rejected some innocent pleasures, such as music, dancing, song, some kind of game, etc. Thus, all fun and amusement have become the sin of idolatry and the snares of the devil, with which believers are distracted from God 27 . To be honest, there is not a single most minor phenomenon of ancient Russian life on which the lives of the saints - this huge section of our ancient literature - did not put their own special shade. First of all and most of all, this influence of the lives of the saints affected family life, through which it passed on to public life. The basis of family life is marriage. Its meaning and importance, sanctified by Christianity, are undeniable. Christianity was first created by the family in the sense of a spiritual and moral union, a union equally sacred for both the church and society. As a God-established and blessed institution, marriage should therefore be considered one of the first and most necessary functions of the life of any society, without which the very existence of society is unthinkable. Meanwhile, the views, often expressed in the lives of saints, with the latter’s frequent, almost constant use among us, rooted in the life of Russians, held and fostered in them slightly different views on marriage. Mostly, virginity is praised before him in some lives. “Even about our brother, let them perish from our minds, if only we could think lower about fleshly passions. O blessed purity, we will not sell you for perishable riches! O holy virginity, let us not corrupt you with fornication! O Mother of God and Virgin, I trust in this, I will not change my vows! We have one marriage, the desire of Christ: one is the essence of the riches for you, the good things prepared in heaven; one inheritance, the truth of knowledge! ”- this is what the holy martyr Eugenia the Maiden said 28. In other lives, virginity for marriage is preached. In the life of our reverend father Ammon we read: “When he came of age, his uncle forced him to take his wife: but he could not overcome the oppression of his uncle, thinking within himself in which way he could observe the crown of virginity, and having done his uncle’s will, to live in marriage, bearing the burden of that yoke. And it happened during the marriage, when he had led him and the girl into the palace, and had all left, he had closed the doors and said to the girl: listen to me, sister, and instill in the hedgehog: this marriage, in the tender breath, there is nothing better than to eat virginity, let us do good, always not together, but let us begin to revere an individual, May we preserve our virginity intact and please God. And having taken up a little book from her bosom, as if from the face of Christ and from the Apostles, words of benefit to the soul were spoken to her, who did not know how to write. He was more careful to apply the teaching from himself according to the grace given to him from God, and advised it, so that a pure and angelic belly would accompany him. She said with emotion: I deign to do everything, my lord. And Ammon said: I will, but we may remain, you in another house, and I in another. The maiden did not want such a separation, saying: neither, my lord, will we remain in one house, but we will rest on special beds: and so they conferred, having settled into a pure life, and their marriage became a heirloom, blossoming with the vines of virginity, imprisoned in chastity, and cooled by the dew of the Holy Spirit. I remained in such a marriage for eighty years, in great feats, in fasting and abstinence, in vigils and prayers, and physical labor. The girl is more active and toiling in the house. Ammon, all day from morning to evening in the garden and the garden, digging and planting the earth, tormenting his body with much labor: in the evening he came to the house, ate a little bread with his holy wife, especially his sister, and at midnight both rose up to pray, and very early again Ammon set out on his work, and remained at his work until the evening.”29 . Our, albeit poor, church writing bowed down to these views. Under the mutual influence of these two conditions, a view of marriage grows among Russian society as something unhelpful and even as a “bad lawlessness” 30 . From this point of view, even the most natural relationships between people, arising from the characteristics and needs of their nature, for many at that time seemed something unclean. “And it is not too pure to approach your wife,” teaches one strict ancient moralist. A view of marriage imbued with asceticism thereby predetermined the fate of both the family and social status of the Russian woman. In the lives of the saints, as well as in Byzantine literature in general, a woman is sometimes and often the subject of the most cruel and powerful denunciations, depicting her in all the features of her sinful life. In many lives of saints, a woman appears to be “malevolent and quarrelsome” 31, “evil in mind and morals” 32, etc. Likewise, in ancient Russian writing, a woman turned into a type of all that is evil. It seemed to ascetic thought a constant, inexhaustible temptation. It has become a synonym and source of evil. The concept of it could go and develop almost only in one direction. Also, the mental qualities of a woman were treated in more than one bad direction. In the lives of saints we sometimes find the most unworthy concept for a woman’s personality about her mental abilities. In the life of the holy martyr Arethas, about the wife who preached the Christian God to the pagan king, it is said that “that blessed and honest woman answered the king not with a woman’s mind” 33. Even the philosophers of that time recognized the mental abilities of women as inferior to those of men. “Even if a wife is witty,” one of the philosophers said about the holy Great Martyr Catherine, “his wife cannot be perfect in wisdom, and skilled in rhetoric: just command her to stand before us, and you will see that even if so many philosophers and rhetoricians see such and such, she will be ashamed” 34. True, there were sometimes protests from the woman against this view of her mental abilities. The Holy Great Martyr Euphemia said to her tormentor: “Don’t think about the tormentor! For my weakness can be conveniently persuaded by your cunning seductions to your iniquity and wickedness, even though I am a woman by nature, and weak in the flesh and young in years, yet I have a more courageous heart than yours, and my strongest holy strength in faith is more than your courage, and greater by the grace of Christ my imam mind, more than all your pagan developments, with them you are wise to be think, and the craziest of nature are more than all the ignorant, not wanting to know the true God, having a demon for God” 35. But such protests for the most part ended in the martyrdom of their perpetrators. In a word, the reader of the lives of saints has to recognize a negative view of a woman’s mental abilities as the most widespread in them: not only ordinary people, but even eparchs are amazed at the intelligence of women 36 . But mainly the beginning of all accusations, denunciations and even vilification of a woman’s personality was focused on her moral qualities. From this side, she was viewed as the embodiment of weakness and instability of character and the personification of all deceit and deceit. In the moral character of a woman, the innate ability and inclination for everything true was denied; Quite the contrary, it was argued that there is “little truth” in wives; on the contrary, women, on the contrary, have most of all internalized a constant tendency towards everything evil: “the female race is crawling towards fall.” Moreover, a woman, according to this view, not only did not have the firmness of her moral principles, but she also caught others, and at the same time attracted them to fall. As an example of the stated position, the preface to the life of St. Taisia, written on the topic that “female beauty is vanity and destruction for many,” is interesting. “In the land of Egypt,” we read here, “there was a certain wife who was malicious, shameless and filthy, who had only one daughter named Taisia, who taught her the same evil morals that she herself was accustomed to, and who led her into fornication, into the service of Satan, and brought many human souls down to destruction, seduced by that beauty, having: for Taisiya had a great red visage, and was famous everywhere for the beauty of her face, and she lusted after many, bringing her many possessions, gold and silver, and bright vestments and precious things. She deceived her zealots into such vanity, as if many of her, for the sake of destroying her property, came into poverty: others, fighting for her and fighting, fulfilled the enemies of her house with her blood” 37 . Naturally, under the influence of reading such literature, the Russian people often began to repeat the words: “the wives of honest husbands catch the soul,” that he was more inclined to see in a woman a danger to himself, an object of temptation, and was more likely to agree with his mentors, who taught that “it is equally possible to fall into fire and into a wife,” and almost elevated the female personality to an evil elemental principle, when they found threefold evil in the whole world: “the sea and the fire and the wife are three.” evil." Thus, the personality of a woman, neither in mental nor in moral terms, did not enjoy the attention of the ancient Russian sages. The concept of woman was necessarily associated with everything reprehensible and dangerous to moral feelings. Such views on the personality of a woman were carried out in ancient Russian literature in teachings about good and evil wives, about evil and autocratic wives, etc. In the interests of truth, it should be noted that sometimes these ancient Russian treatises about “evil” wives came out of the mouths of people who were personally offended by these wives and therefore were not distinguished by the author’s impartiality. This is precisely what needs to be explained by the formidable philippic of Daniel the Prisoner against bad wives 38. And it is remarkable that such views on women for the most part arose on monastic soil, among monks, in whose libraries, as we showed earlier, the lives of saints occupied the most prominent place. This especially should not be forgotten when clarifying the source of our prevailing views on women. We would be in danger of falling into one-sidedness if we stopped only at this image of the look at an ancient Russian woman, because no matter how strongly developed, it could not completely destroy every glimmer of respect that a woman is always worthy of. Such respect was visible in all the lives of the holy women, but especially in the lives of Saint Pulcheria 39, the Great Martyr Euphemia 40, the holy martyrs Faith, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their mother Sophia 41, the Great Martyrs Catherine 42 and Barbara 43. In particular, Russian ascetics bowed to the authority of a woman and wrote panegyrics to her, which we find in the words “about good wives,” where a woman, as a wife, is called the “golden crown” of her husband, “the joy of the home, the dearest of precious stones and precious beads.” Here we can already see the desire of Russian sages to outline the ideal of a Russian woman. What is this ideal? If you look closely at it, this is the same ideal of a wife and mother that is also found in the lives of saints 44 . Old Russian literature did not create another, more or less different, ideal of a woman. Therefore, we have to note this phenomenon. If our ancient scribes wanted to portray the wonderful moral qualities of a woman, they usually depicted her as an ascetic, a faster, an ascetic. The first dignity of a wife was the complete renunciation of her will and desires in favor of the despotism of her husband. This principle also follows from the position that “for the sake of the husband, the wife was created quickly, and not the husband for the sake of the wife.” On this basis, the wife’s complete unrequited obedience to her husband was elevated to the highest virtue of a woman. The widespread use of the lives of saints as home, almost constant, reading can also be supported by the fact that some of the paterial stories found in the lives of saints have become so rooted in Russian soil that they sometimes seem to be Russian works. The respect of the Russian people for everyday meals is known, amounting to reverence. Meanwhile, this apparently Russian custom is rooted in the morals of Eastern monks. One word of the skete patericon, placed in the prologue under August 4, convinces the monks to approach the meal with fear and trembling and spiritual joy 45. There is also a word from Saint Niphon about how it is appropriate for every Christian to dine at a meal with quietness and silence, 46 which was used by the Monk Joseph of Volotsky 47. The Russian people especially love reading the Psalter, and consider the sixty-seventh psalm (“May God rise again”) to be a sure weapon against the devil. He does this, of course, on the basis of the Meadow of the Spiritual John Moschus, which says that the most useful of all books is to read the psalter and tells about a demon who danced in front of a monk and disappeared from the psalm for the sake of the sixty-seventh 48. Our custom of putting candles in front of icons and lighting lamps in front of them has taken root among us, again, as a result of reading the lives of saints. In the Lives of the Saints, St. Demetrius of Rostov very often one can find either indications that candles and lamps were lit in front of icons and relics of saints, or explanations of such actions 49 . Let us pay attention to the custom of the Russian people to tell fortunes using the books of the Holy Scriptures. Currently, only semi-literate old men and women, who are particularly devout, are engaged in such fortune-telling. At the beginning of this century, this custom was used in our country especially among the middle and lower classes. In ancient times, it was widespread among everyone. We mainly used the Psalms to tell fortunes. The pious prince Vladimir Monomakh used it to tell fortunes. In a sermon to children, he says about himself: “I take up the Psalter in sorrow, I am depressed and weary: I am filled with sorrow, my soul! You confuse me so much” and so on 50. On one handwritten Psalter of the 16th century. 51 there is the following postscript: from the former ruler, the Kazan student Vasily Petrov: “I guessed from this Psalter and it turned out to me to live only five years, but I thought to live another fifty years.” They have been guessing and guessing on other books of the Holy Scriptures. Where do we get this custom from? Where should we look for the cause of its occurrence? Undoubtedly, the original source of such fortune-telling lies in the deep religious feeling of the ancient Russian man, who looked for solutions to his perplexities in the word of God, especially in difficult life circumstances, when he did not know what to decide. With this feeling, of course, Vladimir Monomakh addressed the Psalter. The saints of God treated the word of God with the same thoughts and feelings when they decided to undertake this or that feat. But, on the other hand, this phenomenon can be explained in another way, namely by the influence of reading the lives of saints. In this case, we have to contradict Sakharov’s opinion that this method of fortune-telling came to us from the West, 52 although in the general conclusion that this fortune-telling does not belong to Russian life itself, but was remade in its own way, in the likeness of other fortune-telling, we agree. The fact is that in the lives of the saints there is such evidence that clearly shows that this custom existed from time immemorial among Christians and that it was carried out among them in two ways: the words of the Holy Scripture were either accepted as a prediction of the future, or as a solution to important life issues that were accidentally heard from those reading or singing when entering the church, or they opened the Bible at will, or as if by sudden inspiration from above, mainly St. The Gospel and read the first words of the open book that caught their eye. Let us give you a few examples. St. Andrew the Great found an indication of his life's feat in the words of St. The Gospels he heard when entering the church: “If you want to be perfect, go sell your property” and so on 53. St. Cyprian the hermit, having had a zealous desire to imitate the ascetics who lived godly and decided to go “to the holy city of Jerusalem, and there dedicate himself to the work of life to God,” with the following thoughts: “he went into the church on a certain week and heard these words of Christ in the Holy Gospel: “If anyone wants to walk after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”; and, the biography narrates, from these words the saint of God understood that there was a verb to him and “abby left the church” in order to immediately fulfill his intention 54. In a similar way, many other holy ascetics and martyrs, now glorified by the Christian Church, were instructed in the “saving feat.” In the life of St. Among other things, it is narrated by the Venerable Martyr Eugenia: three years after the conversion of St. Eugene to Christianity, the abbot of the monastery in which she labored in men's clothing, under the name of the eunuch Eugene, died. The brethren of that monastery, completely unaware that a woman was laboring among them under the name of the eunuch Eugene, persistently prayed to St. Evgeniy to be their abbot. “Then the saint,” the life writer narrates, “who are afraid, and not against the law, the wife of the creature will have husbands, and who is ashamed of so many honest persons, reject and disgrace the prayer, speaking to them: I pray you, brethren, bring this holy Gospel. I brought the former, the verb: befits a Christian, so that about every election, first of all, Christ himself is asked: therefore, in this election of yours, let us see what Christ commands us, and let us obey His will. The former Gospel, unbent before everyone, has found a place where it is written: “Whoever wants to be in you, let him be your servant; and whoever wants to be first in you, he will be your servant.” Having read this, the saint exclaimed: Behold, I obey both Christ’s command and your request, so that I may therefore be your loving servant and servant. Everyone rejoiced at her will, and received the imaginary Eugene, the very prophetic Eugene, the abbess of that monastery” 55. Thus, the holy martyr Clement, the Bishop of Ancyra and his squad 56, and the holy martyrs Eustathius, Thespesius and Anatoly 57 were approved for the upcoming suffering. In the life of Rev. Daniel the Stylite is told that five years after the birth of the saint, his parents brought him to one monastery and turned with a request to the abbot, “may he name their child: he (abbot) is inspired by God, verb, as it is fitting to name him by that name, which God himself will reveal.” Then the abbot, “looking at the youth, ordered to give himself a book from the Divine altar and, opening it, he found certain words of the saint. Daniel the prophet, and realizing that this is what God says, and that prophetic name will be called to that boy, and he is named Daniel: it was not signified at all that he had that child to that great prophet, and by his name, his morals would be similar” 58 . In the same way, Rev. confirmed her intention. Matrona of Constantinople and the abbot was guided by the same thing when he removed her from the monastery 59. Finally, let us remember that Blessed. Augustine turned from his vain life to the path of salvation, having read, at the direction of a mysterious voice, a famous passage from the epistle of St. ap. Paul to the Romans. Thus, the custom of fortune telling on the books of St. Scripture among the first Christians was practiced everywhere, from the time of the deepest antiquity: in the European part of the Roman state, in the east and west, in Egypt, Asia Minor, Palestine and even in separated Mesopotamia. The same custom in the most ancient times, as we noted above, became widespread among us. The reason for its appearance and rooting among Russians was the reading of the lives of saints. We are encouraged to make such a statement by the very methods and means we practiced in fortune-telling on the books of the Holy Scriptures. There, we have seen, they take a well-known saying of Holy Scripture for a prediction and an incentive to certain activities. It is also found in the lives of Russian saints. Our people have a widespread custom of using holy water for certain illnesses, which is lowered from the cross. Whether he is a superstition or not - this question can be left unanswered by us. But by its very existence it can serve as an important means for us to explain how widely the reading of the lives of saints spread among us and what a fruitful effect it had on readers. Many views expressed in the lives of saints through frequent repetitions, rereadings and retellings entered, so to speak, into the flesh and blood of our ancestors and were so internalized by them that, as we had the opportunity to notice, it is difficult to find out the original cause that gave rise to a well-known phenomenon. Sometimes it seems that it is our phenomenon, purely Russian, national. We have already said this about the custom of reverent silence during meals. The same must be said about the custom of “dropping water from the cross.” Despite its apparently Russian origin, this custom nevertheless owes its introduction and wide spread among us to the reading of the lives of saints. Saint Demetrius of Rostov recorded one miracle of Saint George the Victorious 60 with the same content. “The miracle of the holy great martyr George is also written about a youth mortally wounded by a serpent, and a certain godly monastic helper of that holy great martyr, Abba George, told: walking towards me, he said, on the way up the mountain, having a cross in his hand, the old monk shit, and the cross went before me, and while walking a little, he turned from the path to the path, and I followed him, and behold, a flock of sheep, and the boy, like the shepherd, lay dying from the snake. The source was near, and the elder said to me: draw some water and pour it on the cross, having done this, and having parted the mouth of the youth, I poured out that water on the cross, and the elder said: in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, the servant of God, the holy Great Martyr George, heals you. And the youth arose, spewing out from within himself deadly poison and evil. The elder said to him: tell me what you swore yesterday to the poor widow; You sold the sheep given to you to graze for three pieces of silver, but you told her, the wolf devoured it. And the boy said: Yes, father, this is what you have, and how you knew; and the elder said: I sit in my cell; a man came to me on a white horse, and said to me: Sophornius, get up and go quickly to the source that is at your right hand in the south, where you will find the youth eaten by the serpent, and there you will find a monk, wearing a cross in his hand on a tree, and take that cross, pour it with water, and give the youth who was eaten by the serpent a drink. water, saying to the mother: in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the servant of God, the Great Martyr George, heals you and says to him: do not swear in this name of God, nor His saints, so that no more woe will befall you” 61. True, as far as we know, this case is unique in all lives. And therefore, it would be fair to object to us that one case or another cannot explain this or that phenomenon. And the objection would be valid if it could be proven that the life of St. George was very rarely read by our ancestors. But it is impossible to prove this. The facts show just the opposite. Life of St. great martyr George was the most beloved and widespread life of our ancestors, it served as the basis for spiritual poems about Yegor the brave, it was read, reread, and therefore inconspicuously entered the people's consciousness, not only in its general outlines, but even in the most private and small details. We cannot ignore the following, in our opinion, characteristic feature. The high educational influence of reading the lives of saints was manifested in the fact that it powerfully contributed to the eradication of pagan superstition in this way. Chronicles 62 contain indications that Russian enlighteners usually founded Christian churches in places where pagan idols had previously stood. Where did they borrow this method of eradicating pagan superstition? It seems to us - not from any other source, like from the lives of the saints. And this assumption is all the more likely because the founders of most Russian Christian churches were individual hermits who acted according to their own invention, and not according to any legal, third-party prescription. Having read the lives of the saints, these people, in almost all cases of life, acted exactly as these books required. And from them we see that the founding of Christian churches on the site of pagan temples and sacred rites was almost a universal phenomenon 63. Finally, it is impossible not to pay attention to one more. “historical”, in the words of F.M. Dostoevsky 64, “a feature in the life of our people that is not found in any other European people” and which clearly testifies to the fact that the lives of the saints were the most beloved, widespread reading and had a huge educational influence on our ancestors. This is a pilgrimage 65. Its beginning in general among Christian people dates back to the very first times of Christianity. Saint Demetrius of Rostov derives this custom from imitation of the example of the Most Holy Theotokos. He writes like this: “The Most Pure Virgin lived in the house of John, often going out to visit the place where her most beloved Son and God sanctified her with the feet of her most holy feet, and consecrated her with an outpouring of blood. Having visited Bethlehem, where she was born indescribably, keeping her virginity unharmed: and most of all, she went around the places where our Lord suffered by the will of her, and drenched her with many tears, crying from motherly love and saying: here my dearest Son was beaten, here he was crowned with a crown of thorns, Here he came from bearing a cross, and here he was crucified. At the grave, he was filled with indescribable joy, with joyful tears, saying: “And here he was buried, he rose gloriously on the third day.” This is also written 66: as from certain hated Jewish people, it was announced by the bishop and scribe that Mary, the Mother of Jesus goes to Golgotha all the days, and at the tomb, in which Jesus her Son was laid, kneels and weeps, and the grave smells fragrant: they set aside the guards, so that none of the Christians would be allowed so come. Where does it appear that already at that time a pious custom began among faithful Christians to visit holy places and worship at them Christ God, who willed to suffer for us: the beginning of this custom was the Mother of God herself, and other holy women and men followed her” 67 . This trait—pilgrimage—has been instilled in the Russian people for a long time. From the very beginning of the Russian people and their state, from the very baptism of the Russian land, pilgrims began to flock from it to the Holy Land, to the Holy Sepulcher, Athos, etc. Even during the Crusades, one Russian abbot went to Jerusalem and was kindly received by the King of Jerusalem “Galdvin”, which he perfectly described in his walk. Then the pilgrimage to the East, to holy places, has not stopped to this day. Of the Russian monks, there are still quite a few in Russia who lived on Athos. Penniless people, old men, retired soldiers, old women, completely ignorant of geography, left their villages with their beggar's knapsacks on their shoulders, and, indeed, sometimes after countless disasters they reached the holy lands... If not to the East, not to Jerusalem, then they rushed to the Russian holy places, to Kyiv, to the Solovetsky miracle workers. Nekrasov, creating his great “Vlas,” as a great artist, could not imagine him otherwise than in chains, in constant wandering. So writes F.M. Dostoevsky 68. Here is some solid historical data about the pilgrimage. Indeed, Russians loved traveling to Greece, Mount Athos, especially Jerusalem, where many remained to spend the rest of their lives in repentance. Theodosius of Pechersk was still a youth when he met the pilgrims who were in the Holy Land 69. Rev. Anthony of Pechersk went to Mount Athos and lived there for a long time 70. Eunuch Ephraim settled in a monastery in Constantinople 71. In 1060, Varlaam from the monastery of St. Demetrius traveled to Jerusalem to venerate the Holy Sepulcher 72; then another time he went to Constantinople, collected everything useful for the monks there and, dying in a monastery near Vladimir-Volynsky, bequeathed all this to the Theodosius Monastery 73. Soon, Abbot Daniel “placed a censer on the Holy Sepulcher and kissed the holy place with love and tears, prayed for his Fatherland, princes and friends,” and found other Russian admirers in Jerusalem. Then the Princess of Polotsk and St. visited Jerusalem. Euphrosyne died there too 74. In the 12th century there were so many people who wanted to go to Jerusalem that the pastors of the Church were forced to prohibit these walks. Saint John advised to impose penance on those who thoughtlessly bound themselves with a vow to go to Jerusalem, for these vows destroy the earth 75. This phenomenon did not pass by popular observation; they noted it in their epics: the pilgrimage of the Novgorod hero Vasily Buslaev is known. What could be the reason for this phenomenon? Of course, it can be explained by the religious feeling of a Russian Christian, due to which “for pious Russian people, the holy city of Jerusalem and the holy places of Palestine were the same expensive and highly interesting objects as for all generally pious people.” Prof. thinks so. HER. Golubinsky 76. A fair opinion that penetrates to the depths of the matter. However, it explains only a further, albeit internal, psychological reason. It seems that the immediate reason for our people’s desire to walk in St. in some places it’s different. It seems that the pilgrimage, so beloved by the Russian people, is in the closest, most direct connection with reading the lives of saints and stories about them. If we carefully begin to analyze the reasons that prompted our saints or ordinary mortals to pilgrimage, we will certainly see that the desire for him in a certain person is caused by a story or reading about the pilgrimage of others. We find a solid basis for such a conclusion in the life of St. Cyriacus the hermit. This saint had a remarkable desire for reading Divine books, “from morning even until evening and from evening even until morning to read the seat” 77. While reading, he thought deeply about various issues. And so, as a result of such reading, the biographer notes the pilgrimage of the saint. “This is the greatest blessing. Cyriacus embraced in his mind, and revered the lives of many saints, burning in spirit, and his heart was opened to the fear of God: for he desired to be jealous of those who lived well, and with the thought of going to the holy city of Jerusalem, and there rejecting the things of this world to work only with God” 78 . The story from the life of St. St. confirms the same thought. John Kushchnik 79. In the life of Saint Gregory, Bishop of Akragantia, the story about his desire to “go to Jerusalem, venerate the holy places” is presented in a direct, “causal” connection with the story that he “drew to books day and night, honoring the Divine Scriptures and Lives of the Father of the Saints, and to imitate them, inflamed in heart, and wishing for the followers to follow their feet” 80. Speaking about the stories of our people about holy places, F.M. Dostoevsky defines their great influence on the will of a person in a certain direction, namely as an incentive to visit the same places - to pilgrimage. “Stories about holy places,” he writes, “contain for the Russian people, so to speak, something repentant and cleansing. Even thin, crappy people, profiteers and oppressors, often received the desire to go wandering, to purify themselves through labor - feat, to fulfill a promise made long ago. If not to the East, not to Jerusalem, then they rushed to St. Russian places, to Kiev, to the Solovetsky miracle workers” 81. In general, it must be said that among ancient Russian readers the lives of the saints had such enormous success that their assimilation was not only external, but penetrated into life itself. Moscow Theological Academy, XXIX edition, 1973–1977. Student hieromonk German (Chesnokov). Course essay for the Department of Patrology See our article “Lives of St. in their church and liturgical meaning." "The Wanderer", 1892, March. Lives of the Saints. September, 10 p. 46 rev. Lives of the Saints. September, 17 p.m. 75 rev. Lives of the Saints, Oct., 29, l. 242 rev. Lives of St., Saint., l. 48, 75 rev. 104 rev; Oct., l. 185, l. 242 rev. Lives of the Saints, Saint., l. 52 rev. Lives of the Saints, Oct., l. 192. Lives of Sts. November, l. 282. Lives of Sts. November, l. 343. Lives of the Saints, Oct., l. 179 rev. Lives of the Saints, Oct., l. 192. Vol., Dec. l. 59 rev. Lives of Sts. November, l. 320 rev. Orthodox Interview 1859, part 1. January. Word of St. father: “how to live for peasants.” Wed. lives of St. September 10, l. 46 rev. Wed. Lives of Sts. Mrt, 11, l. 65. P. Znamensky. East. Russian churches. Galakhov. East. Russian Literature Part I, p. 42. From September 22, 1422 or 1425. Russian Historical Library, publishing. archiographer commission, vol. VI. St. Petersburg, 1880. Monuments of ancient Russian canon law. Part 1 (Monuments of the 11th–15th centuries), p. 430. Lives of the Saints, December, 24, l. 166. Lives of the Saints, Oct. 4, l. 153. Wed: Jan. 8, l. 254 vol., et seq.: 19, l. 117 rev.: March. 5, l. 33 rev; 12.ll. 70–71; 19 l.98 vol., June. 21, l. 117 rev. The famous author of the “Kreutzer Sonata,” which caused so much noise with the novelty of its views on married life, did not say anything new, but only repeated what the reader of the Lives of the Saints so often encounters. By the way, if someone, based on the Lives of the Saints, decided to compose some kind of fictional story on the topic of a valid marriage, then the author of the “Kreutzer Sonata” himself would envy him. Lives of the Saints, October, l. 171 vol., December 5, 29 vol., Lives of the Saints, October, l. 154 rev; September 10, l. 50; 11, l. 54. Lives of the Saints, October, 24, l. 228. Lives of the Saints, Nov. 24, l. 408 rev. Lives of the Saints, Sept. 16, l. 72 rev. Lives of the Saints, Sept. l. 75–76, 104, etc. Lives of the Saints, Oct. 8, l. 171 rev. Wed:Oct. 8 (Pelagia railway station), l. 168 rev. 169. Belinsky talks about this. II. C.C., part 5, p. 95–96. Lives of the Saints. Sep. 11, l. 75–76. Ancient Patericon, 415. Labor Kyiv. spirit. acad. See manuscript. XIII century, described in Izv. ak. Sci., T. H. See the study on op. Joseph Sanin. Khrushchov. 1868, pp. t. 68. Prologue, 19 Oct. and June 17; see Spiritual Meadow, ch. 159 and 151. Lives of the Saints. Apr. 13 l. 218 vol., 22, l. 254; 23, l. 270 rev; in. 2, l. 15 rev; 19, l. 139; 28, l. 185; mri 17, l. 90 rev; Apr. 22, l. 263 rev; 24, l. 277; May 13, l. 401 rev; 20, l. 467 rev; in 2, l. 16; 7, l. 47; 8, l. 50; 23, l. 151 rev. Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh. Description of the manuscript. Synodal Library, No. 15. Tales of the Russian people, vol. I, book. 2, p. 62. The story was recorded by St. Demetrius from the Prologue and from the manuscript collection. Miracles of St. great martyr George in the Lives of St. St. Dmitry Rostovsky. April 23, pp. 273 rev. – 274. For example: P.S.R.L.T. I, p. 51. For example, let us point out: Lives of the Saints, December. 10. l. 55. (g. Mines); April 17, l. 231 (Antonia railway station). Writer's Diary. 1877, p. 249. On the pilgrimage, see our article in “Russian Pilgrim” under the title “Historical Feature in the Life of the Russian People.” Great Menaia Chetya. Months Augusta, l. 313. Lives of the Saints. Aug.15, pp. 74 rev. – 75. Narration of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Writer's Diary. 1877, p. 250. P. Kazansky East. Russian monasticism, p. 50. Russian preaching, its historical review and a look at its modern direction. St. Petersburg, 1871, p. 124. P. Kazansky, op. cit., p. 50. Memory of words. XII century Kiriak’s questions to Niphon: “They went byahu none, wanting to go to Jerusalem, but commanded to give penance, because the company is destroying this land.” His Life, September. 29, l. 126. Lives of Saints Saints 29, l. 126 rev. Jan. 15 pp., 289 volumes – 290. Writer's Diary. 1877, p. 247.