Lives of the saints in their meaning for home reading

Having become accustomed in church to often hearing readings offered from the lives of saints, the Russian people and at home, when free from busy worldly moments, resorted to the same reading. Rev. Nestor defines the code of books that our ancestors read in this way. “If you read books, you converse with God and holy men, reading the prophetic conversations and the teachings of the Gospel and the Apostles, and the lives of the holy fathers.” 1 The same idea follows from the letter of Metropolitan Cyprian to Abbot Athanasius. In this letter, dating back to the 16th century, we read: “The gospel is interpreted in the church of honor, and at the meal they honor the patericon, St. Ephraim and St. Dorotheus; and if some people have left the festive reading for the holiday, and do not have time to read it at Matins, then they will read it at the meal, and likewise the six days of St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom” 2. Of particular importance in determining the books used by our ancestors for home reading is the article on true and false books, found in ancient manuscripts under the following title: “the rule of the holy apostles and holy fathers about books, they are befitting honor and attention, and not paying attention to them is not due to honor” 3. This article, despite the fact that it is called the rule of the holy apostles and holy fathers, did not and could not have the force of a canonical rule defining books for church use, 4 because in it, between the books of sacred scripture and the patristic writings, books are placed that do not belong not only to the canon of sacred books, but also to the patristic writings, and even apocryphal works are listed. But this article, in all fairness, can be looked at as a more or less complete and correct catalog of books that were constantly circulated by our ancestors and made up their library. Therefore, of course, it was so widespread that we constantly encounter it in manuscripts and among those books and writings that were mainly used by our ancestors. What books are listed in this article? First of all, the books of Holy Scripture are listed in the same order in which they are placed in the Holy Bible 5. These books were indeed the first and main books to read among our ancestors. They are followed by the writings of the fathers and teachers of the Church. And behind these are the lives of the saints. Of the lives, some are listed as separate lives, such as: the life of St. Basil the Great, biography of saints Gregory Tsamblak, life of Varlaam and Joasaph the prince, Andrew the holy fool. They are mainly listed in collections. “Twelve menstruations of four menstruation, in them are written the lives of the saints, the prophet and the apostle and the saint and the venerable father and the passion of martyrdom. Egyptian Patericon. Patericon of the Cleves Caves. Patericon alphabet. Patericon of the monastery. Patericon of Jerusalem. The Patericon of the Holy Mountain... These are the essence of devotional books, and they should be read.” It is worth pointing out some more collections, which, although not listed in the article “about books,” are nevertheless found very often in manuscripts. These are “celebrants” and “tales from old age.” Under the name “celebrants”, collections of words of praise are known for the feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God and for the days of certain saints, sometimes from the lives of these saints. They also contain the lives of Russian saints, as well as words of praise and teachings for the days of their memory. The name “eldership” or “teachings from eldership” refers to collections of rules, instructions and examples related to monastic life. They were selected from the lives of saints and from the writings of saints who wrote about monastic life. This type of writings includes “Limonar” 6 by Sophronius of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, “Lavsaik” by the monk Palladius, a “dioptra” or “mirror” containing a conversation with the body about repentance, and another “mirror” or “image of the human belly” in this world, etc. Even based on just the enumeration of the collections that existed among us, which contained the lives of the saints, one can make an unmistakable conclusion that all of them were very widespread among our ancestors. All researchers of our ancient writing and history inevitably came to this conclusion 7 . Hard, historical data also provides the right to such a conclusion. And above all. The lives of saints were read mainly in monasteries. “We sinned in imitation of the ancient saints in the scriptures,” says the enlightened compiler of the lives of the saints of the Russian Church, the Monk Polycarp, “whom they have studied and sought with much labor in the deserts, and mountains, and abysses of the earth, both of whom they themselves have seen, and who have heard of the lives and miracles and deeds pleasing to God of reverend men Having written that there is a Patericon of Pechersk, in that complex, the fathers said about them, and we reverently enjoy those spiritual words” 8. The monastic custom of reading stories about the exploits of the ancient holy fathers is very ancient 9 . Already in the skete patericon it is said that these stories were written down for the edification of the brothers. These notes were arranged under well-known headings, according to the virtues to which they relate 10 . Abba Panufius convinces the newly admitted monk to listen to the lives of the holy fathers and imitate them 11. Neil, a disciple of Chrysostom, advises his disciple to read the lives of the saints 12. Cassiodorus advises the monks the same thing 13. Abba Dorotheos in his teachings very often refers to the stories of the skete patericon, as well as those known to the monks 14. Theodore the Studite in his teachings points out to the brethren the “Spiritual Meadow” in the story of David the Robber 15, and the monastic patericon in the story of the hyena bound by John Kolov, 16 among others, suggesting these stories were known to the monks. Consequently, all these patericons were read in the Studio monastery. Its charter very early, in 1070 17, was adopted by Russian monasteries, under Theodosius of Pechora 18. Therefore, our monks had to adopt from the Studites the reading of the lives of the saints both as statutory readings 19 and as readings for home use. And indeed, from many historical dates we learn that the lives of saints were the most beloved and most common reading of our monks and saints. It is known about the Venerable Abraham of Smolensk that from the suburban Selishchi monastery he took and tirelessly read the lives of Anthony the Great, Hilarion, Euthymius, Sava, Theodosius, which is near Jerusalem, Ephraim the Syrian, John Chrysostom, Theodosius of Pechersk 20. Saint Stephen of Perm, as his life testifies, “caught every divine story with greedy ears; words, speeches, teachings and stories of the elderly were his favorite food; He read the lives of the saints not in vain, trying to imitate them; when reading, he loved to dwell on each verse in order to understand its meaning, and having met a bookish and wise man, “he was a fellow student and interlocutor, and with him he became companions, and became poor and in the morning, crucifying those who were sought quickly” 21. Saint Michael of Klopsky was famous for reading the Apostle and the lives of the saints 22. In order not to get bored with citing monotonous excerpts, we will allow ourselves to limit ourselves to pointing out those saints of our church in whose lives there is clear evidence that they read the lives of the saints. These are: Theodosius of Totem, Pitirim of Perm, Savva of Tver, Moses Bishop. Novgorodsky, Dimitry Prilutsky, Serapion apxiep. Novgorod Makariy Kolyazinsky, Pachomiy Nerekhtsky, Dimitry Pereyaslavsky, Makariy Zheltovodsky, Afanasy Vysotsky, Efrem Perekopsky, Avraamiy Rostovsky, Kosma Yakhrensky. From relatively recent times, we point to Elder Seraphim of Sarov, who knew the chety-menaion by heart. Let us dwell in more detail on the testimony of St. Nil Sorsky. In his era, this holy man stood out from others with his deep intelligence and extraordinary exploits. He commanded his followers to be careful with all kinds of writing and to strictly distinguish genuine “divine” writings from forged ones. “Bind yourself,” he says, “the laws of the divine scriptures and follow those true, divine scriptures. There are many Scriptures, but not all of them are divine, but you, having experienced the truth, are holding on from reading them” 23. Based on the testimony of Prince Monk Baccian, one can think that St. Neil was not always trusting of various lists of the lives of saints, and if he found that some lists containing the lives of saints gave incorrect information about them, he corrected them. For such an attitude towards the lives of the saints, St. Joseph Volotsky did not fail to reproach the Rev. Nile, it was he who said that “Nile and his disciple Vassian blasphemed... the miracle workers... disbelieved their miracles and swept away their miracles from the Scriptures.” To this Vassian answered him: “This, Joseph, lie to me and to my Elder Nil, that we blaspheme the miracle workers, both ancient and new... But Elder Nil did not throw out any of their miracles from the holy scriptures, but especially corrected them from other correct lists” 24 Rev. Neil was not only critical of the scriptures, but also divided them according to their degree of importance. “I test the divine scriptures most of all,” he says, “first the commandments of the Lord with their interpretation, and the apostolic traditions; I listen to the same lives and teachings of the saints, the father, and thus I listen, even in accordance with my reason” 25, “I reflect on all this, and what, according to my reasoning, I find that is pleasing to God and useful for my soul, I rewrite for myself, thereby I learn and in that I find life and breath for myself” 26. This is the testimony of Rev. Nile of Sora is important in the sense that it very clearly indicates the authority of the lives of the saints, which they enjoyed among the reading monks: the lives of the saints were recognized as “divine writings”, they were read “following” the commandments of the Lord and the apostolic traditions, before the works of the patristic people. The very content of most of our lives of saints testifies to their prevalence among monks. In fact, what are many Russian lives of saints? For the most part, these are transcriptions of the lives of other saints, taken only in application to a famous saint. We hasten to provide hard data. In this case, we are guided by the evidence of Prof. V. O. Klyuchevsky. About the compiler of the life of St. Isaiah of Rostov, he says this: “the compiler of this life had written sources at hand: in describing the life of Isaiah in the south, he obviously used the life of St. Feodosia; he even knows how to indicate, although not always correctly, the time of the main events in his story, the story about Isaiah’s journey to Kyiv for the consecration of the Pechersk Church is a fairly close adaptation of the story of the Pechersk patericon, only adapted to the person of Isaiah alone” 27. Analyzing the life of the Venerable Abraham of Smolensk, written by the monk Ephraim, Klyuchevsky writes: “Efrem begins his work with a preface and ends with a lengthy and florid afterword with praise of the saint - and here it is interesting to see where this artificial influence comes from: the theological-historical prayer with which the preface begins is modeled on the preface to the life of Nestor by St. Theodosius and ends with a verbatim extract from it. From the same life the author borrows the news of a miraculous vision that preceded the construction of the stone Pechersk church, prefacing it to his story about the founding of the monastery by Bishop. Ignatius. In the description of the life of Abraham, one can also see a pen familiar with the style of lives: due to its proximity to the saint, the author could not help but know details about his youth; but he hid them under those vague features with which later compilers of lives covered up the lack of information about the youth of the saints” 28. From the life of St. Stephen of Perm, written by the monk of the Sergius Trinity Monastery Epiphanius, numerous texts by the author show his close acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures; It is also clear from the quotations in his works that he read the patericon and other church historical sources. In the life of St. Sergius of Radonezh, the same author cites excerpts from the lives of Alypius and Simeon the Stylites, Theodore Sikeot, Euthymius the Great, Anthony, Theodore of Edessa, Savva the Sanctified, Theodosius and Metropolitan Peter 29. Likewise, a certain Andrei Yuriev, although not a monk, in the life of Prince Theodore he compiled, cites excerpts from the legend of Boris and Gleb, from the lives of Demetrius of Thessalonica, Metropolitan. Peter and Alexy, Leonty of Rostov, according to one of the later editions; his afterword is a slight adaptation of the afterword of Pachomius Logothetes to the life of St. Sergius 30. It is also worth pointing out the evidence that relates to the reading of the lives of saints at meals. At the end of the service to Anthony of Siysk, the lists preserved the note: “at the meal there is great consolation for marriages and we honor the life of the saint” 31 . The Studite Rule considers reading instructive scriptures, mostly the lives of saints, necessary both at lunch and dinner. “It will be shameful for a monk,” it says, “if, while feeding his flesh, he does not at the same time take care of satiating his soul, feeding it with laudable deeds, and especially with prayer and diligent reading of honest scriptures. Just as life sustains a temporary and fleeting life, so the test of the divine scriptures gives life to souls. Try the Scriptures, and in them you will find eternal life, said the unfaithful lips of the Living Bread, who came down from heaven and crushed Himself to us, and by communing Himself made man incorruptible. Therefore, the Word of God should always be offered at meals. Someone said: “A meal without the Word of God is like a beast’s manger. Let the word of prayer always be in the mouths of those who eat: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, let their ears be filled with divine words; Let there be no idle talk. Then the monks will gain much benefit for the soul even as they instill brotherly ideas” 32 . Thus, here, willy-nilly, the brethren had to get acquainted with the lives of the saints. That we also had such readings, or at least should have happened, is evidenced by the following passage from the letter of Metropolitan Cyprian to Abbot Athanasius: “The Gospel is interpretable in the church of honor, and at the meal they honor the patericon, and Saint Ephraim, and Saint Dorotheus; and if some people have left the festive reading for the holiday, and do not have time to read it at Matins, then they will read it at the meal, and likewise the six days of St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom” 33 . Constituting an almost constant and necessary rule of life for monks, the reading of the lives of saints was often performed by worldly pious people. Undolsky testifies that the lives of saints, as a “Prologue,” were most often used throughout the Greco-Russian Christian world 34. Holy princes Boris and Gleb, in the words of His Eminence Philaret, apkhiep. Chernigovsky 35, “the beautiful flowers of the newly consecrated Russian land, the early bright stars that joyfully lit up with the first appearance of the Christian horizon over Russia,” both loved only edifying books. Boris, says the ancient biographer, having learned to read and write, took books and diligently read them, especially the lives and exploits of saints; and Gleb, his youngest, listened to his brother with tender and complete attention, as if enjoying what was most pleasant for him. The brothers so often and so carefully read the scriptures that were beneficial to the soul that whole sayings, whole passages from them were deeply imprinted in their tender souls and they could repeat them to themselves in the field and in the city, in the house and the church; so we see this in the history of their suffering 36. And how greatly their hearts were amazed at what they encountered in the holy books! Reading about the suffering of the martyrs, Saint Boris shed tears and prayed: Lord Jesus Christ! deign me to participate in the holy will of Thy saints; teach me to follow in their footsteps 37 . I pray to You, Lord! May my soul not be carried away by the vanity of this world; enlighten my heart so that it knows You and Your commandments; grant me the gift that You have given to Your saints” 38. The distribution of the lives of saints as books for home reading is closely related to their church use. It is very natural to assume that they were initially distributed mainly in writing, which had ecclesiastical use. Apparently, until the 15th century. the circle of lives of saints was concentrated mainly in prologues and patericon. Subsequently, other forms of writing developed from them, borrowing from them the system of church monthly for the arrangement of their content. Complicating in content and expanding in volume, prologues and patericons turned into chetet-menaia, very common in Old Russian writing, judging by the numerous broken copies of them preserved in handwritten libraries. A simplification of the chety-menaion were the various solemnities that filled the writing of the 16th century: as in the chety-menaion, the lives of the saints were the favorite and most important part in their composition and, together with teachings and legends, less often alone, were arranged in the calendar order of the holidays with which they were associated 39 . It is easy to notice, writes Klyuchevsky 40, that these celebrations were distributed for the same reasons as collections of church services selected from the service menaion, which were similar to them in connection with the church monthly book of trephology. In such collections one can look for guidance for clarifying the issue under consideration: by addressing outside the church environment, they more clearly reveal the bookish interests of the ancient Russian reading society through the diversity and mobility of their content. It can be noted that from the 15th century, the further, the more multiplying are the collections filled exclusively with lives, and among them the Russian element is becoming increasingly stronger. Finally, from the 16th century. There are numerous separate lists of Russian Lives 41. Klyuchevsky points to the following as the most common lives. – On the life of Saint Leonty of Rostov 42: it is found in manuscripts quite early, the oldest list of it, known to Klyuchevsky, dates back to the beginning of the 14th or the end of the 13th century; for the rest, editions appear in numerous lists from the 16th century 43 . The life of St. was widespread early and strongly in ancient Russian literature. Nikita, stylite of Peraslavl; Frequent and lengthy correspondence explains the numerous versions of the text of the life in different copies 44. This life of Nikita included some features from the story of the martyrdom of Prince Mikhail of Chernigov and his boyar Theodore, compiled by a contemporary and very widespread in ancient Russian writing 45 . The Life of M. Peter, compiled by Cyprian, was also a favorite reading of ancient Rus' and was copied with great zeal 46. Together with Cyprian's biography of Metropolitan Peter and the oldest Rostov lives, the earliest and most important part in the group of lives that had a general meaning and were read everywhere are the works of Pachomius: thanks to the fame of the author, his lives are not only Metropolitan. Alexia 47, or Rev. Sergius of Radonezh 48, but even Archbishop Euthymius, Varlaam of Khutyn and other local saints became the common property of ancient Russian reading people and were copied everywhere 49. In writing of the 16th century. Indications have been preserved that the lives of the saints were disseminated and read with love - not only in spiritual, but also in secular society. Some biographers of saints sometimes hint at what the life and fate of the monastery and the saint excited in secular society; something akin to the historical curiosity with which it addressed the activities of the founder. The biographer Cornelius of Komelsky writes in the preface: “since we are sitting here in monasteries, we hear from many, thinking and speaking, as in the short time of this holy monastery, which flourishes and continues to do so, moreover, knowing the order and order of the great deanery and asking each of them: give us the life written by your holy elder, our lord Cornelius 50 . In the description of the miracles of the Bishop of Tver, St. Arseny, we read that the Tver priest, who later moved to Moscow, whose niece was healed by faith in the saint, wrote to the Zheltikov Monastery to the archimandrite and the brethren, asking them to send him the canon, life and miracles of Arseny. Having received them, he “soon began to attribute the miracles of the saint, so that they would be in his house for the faithful to read and obey” 51 . The lives of the saints were the most favorite book for the Russian person in all the circumstances of his life. If trouble, illness, grief happens to a person, he turns to the life of some saint; If joy or luck happens to him, a person runs there. This is what history shows. For example, when the boyar Boris Morozov safely hid from the Moscow rebels in Beloozero in 1648, the brethren of the Kirillov Novozersky Monastery hastened to send him an image and a list of the life of their founder. While reading the life and miracles of the saint, a contemporary says, the boyar’s heart was illuminated, “as if by some bright dawn, his entire inner being was filled with joy and joy, and from that great sorrow and sorrow was transformed into peace and joy” 52 . Two years after the writing of the life of Savva Krypetsky, the sexton of the parish church in Pskov, who had great faith in the saint and was healed of a toothache at his tomb, had the canon and his life and “read it to himself with faith” 53. The monk of the Kamensky monastery and the clerk of the city of Lyubim, suffering from toothache, vow to copy the canon and life of Gennady Kostroma 54. During the time of the Solovetsky abbot Philip, the Ustyug governor, Prince. Obolensky, having dangerously beaten his princess, imbued with grief and repentance, ordered to bring himself a book of the life and miracles of the Solovetsky miracle workers; Comforted by reading, he made a promise to build a church in the name of Zosima and Savvatiy 55. A villager from the Rostov district invited a priest to dinner, and the latter at the table began to tell the life of Macarius of Kolyazinsky; the young son of a villager, the later famous recluse Irinarh, heard this story: “and I will be the same to me” 56. If we can judge the interests of readers by the movement in writing, then in this regard the 15th and 17th centuries must be recognized as such, when interest in the lives of saints especially intensified among the reading community. The number of Greek Lives translated then or before reaches a significant figure, and Russian lists of them are multiplying. We come across an interesting indication of the progress of this writing: in 1431, a Russian monk copied up to 20 lives and words of praise of saints on Mount Athos in a Slavic translation, and soon, by the will of the abbot of the Trinity St. Sergius Monastery, this collection was copied in Russia 57 . Such interest among the reading community in the lives of saints remained almost until the 18th century. In 1700, “in the monastery of the all-merciful Savior Novgorod Seversky, a Martyrology or Martyrology was newly written, the lives of the saints, briefly collected by month and date, containing it.” The author of the "Martyrdom", Saint Demetrius of Rostov, himself explains in the preface to the reader the purpose of compiling this Martyrology. "Three faults" guided this goal. Let us dwell on the last "fault". “The third guilt,” writes St. Demetrius, - “I have seen more than one God-fearing man, both from the spiritual and from the worldly rank, who has such zeal for the saints of God, as if he were revered every day as a saint, he used to honor him with a special bow, saying; “Holy (name of the rivers) pray for me, a sinner,” and worships to the ground. And yet, not all the holy things are written in the month-words, as it is written in the prologue and in the ancient martyrologies: for here I have labored to gather my brethren, as much as I could (it is impossible to gather and purge them completely, I say to David: I will count them; and they will multiply more than the sand. Psalm 139:17). Let us gather together for this purpose, so that those who have zeal for the saints should not fail even a single one with their reverent worship, but may they honor everyone with due honor, and may they acquire for themselves intercessors to God” 58 . Consequently, even in the time of Saint Demetrius of Rostov, the reading of the lives of saints was more widespread. This is evidenced by the fact, noted by the saint, that in his time many, having risen from sleep, considered it their duty, among prayers to the Lord, to address the daily saint with prayerful appeals, trying at the same time to remember the main events of his life, albeit from brief extracts of ancient prologues. In the daily reading of these prologues of the lives of the saints, according to Prof. Buslaev, were learned by heart and insensitively entered into the views and beliefs of our literate ancestors and were reflected in their practical activities and in all ancient Russian literature. In the 18th century, when the passion for French encyclopedists dominated our higher circles, reading the lives of saints was, so to speak, a monopoly only of the lower class, the common people, and even the clergy. But in the present, 19th century, interest in reading the lives of saints was sometimes aroused in the highest circles, although, however, only isolated examples can be provided as proof of this. It is known about Pushkin, for example, that he recently sought content for his poetic inspiration in reading the lives of saints. His drafts are filled with extracts from the Chetyih-Menya and the Prologue. In the year 1935, he helped his comrade Prince Eristov with both advice and deed in compiling a historical dictionary about the saints 59 glorified in the Russian Church; upon its publication, he wrote a printed review about it, and finally, he himself translated into simple language, understandable to every person, even those with little experience in literacy, the narrative of the prologue about the life of the Venerable Abbot Savva. This note is preserved in Pushkin’s papers under the following title: “December 3rd, repose of our venerable father Savva, abbot of the holy monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is on Storozhi, a new miracle worker (from the Prologue).” In the village of Mikhailovskoye, Pushkin had Chetya-Minea, to which he later returned 60. F. M. Dostoevsky testifies to himself 61 that he loved to listen and read the Chetya-Minea, and who does not know his elder Zosima 62, who should be looked at only as the result of their careful study. Currently, interest in the lives of saints is especially intensifying: many newspapers, bulletins, magazines and periodical book publications call for reading them and similar religious and moral works. And so, for Russian people since the adoption of Christianity, the lives of saints are the most favorite books 63. They were always read with love and reverence by princes, boyars, clergy and simple literate people of ancient Rus'. The reading of the lives of saints was carried out either jointly or by individuals. We have already given examples of the latter situation. We find evidence for the first position even in folk songs. In one of them, the sister, mourning her brother, tells among other things how the deceased read “God’s book” to the peasants, explained to them “about God’s laws” and taught them “according to God’s scripture, to love one another.” Here is an interesting excerpt from this song 64 for us. About the Holy Ones and the holidays, All in the congregation are Orthodox peasants, At the gazebo, the neighbors are sporid, The peasants are seated around the table, There is God's book spread out on the table. My brother is sitting in the light reading, Christians sit and listen to a book; It’s good for him to tell them word for word, He talks about God's laws, To tell their neighbors this is the word: You neighbors live in harmony. Don't offend the peasant's friend, Don’t anger the Lord Vladyka, I will say yes to you according to God's scripture, As the Lord the Master has decreed: To live in the seventh world is to love a friend. You fulfill this law in full, The merciful Bladyka will give you everything. One can also point to the deep feeling with which our ancestors treated the reading of the lives of saints. It is known that they liked to subordinate every human action to a certain charter so that everything was done correctly, decently and in order. Moreover, they could not leave book reading in general, in particular the reading of the lives of saints, without a special charter, which they looked at not only as a useful activity, but also as a soul-saving matter. This charter was mainly expressed in the following rules, accompanied by a special prayer, which is placed at the beginning of the books under the following title: “preface to all the teachings and parables in these books for the confirmation of the faithful.” “The speech of Saint John Chrysostom: I sit in veneration and listen to the words of God, first pray to God, that the eyes of the heart may be opened not only to the written honor, but also to create, so that it will not be a sin for yourself to read the teachings and lives of the saints, without creating. Whenever you read a book, honor it diligently, pay attention with all your heart, and read the words twice, and do not strive to just turn the pages, but honor them without laziness, so that you may receive the fruit, and the fear of God will instill in you. Whenever you want honor, first pray with tenderness, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, open my ears and the eyes of my heart to hear your word and understand and do your will, as you will send to the earth. Hide not your commandments from me, but open my eyes, that I may understand the wonders of your law. Tell me your unknown and secret wisdom, for I trust in you, my God, that you may enlighten my mind and thought with the light of your mind, not only to honor what is written, but also to create, so that not in sin I read the teachings and lives of the saints, but in renewal and enlightenment, and for the salvation of my soul and for escort to eternal life. For You are the illumination of those who lie in darkness, O Lord God, and I glorify You with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever Amen” 65. In some manuscripts, after this prayer, the following instruction is added: “and take the book in your hand and read the whole story, and hold the known one, but go through the unknown and unrevealed one many times” 66. Let us say generally and briefly 67 how useful the lives of the saints were as books for home reading. On them, under the influence of the shepherds of the Church, that spirit of Orthodoxy and pious life was formed and strengthened, the remnants of which live and feed the present Russian people; this reading was the best school, in the absence of other schools, of the Christian religion and morality. In the 15th and 16th centuries, when, according to the testimony of modern compatriots, “in our land there were no more teachers and preachers of the word of God, there was no more education, living preaching ceased, when there was impoverishment and a decrease in the glory of God in the Church, there was a famine of hearing the word of God” 68, when, according to the testimony of foreigners, preaching was even prohibited in our country in order to avoid differences of opinion and heresies 69, - at this time, the lives of the saints provided the Russian people with an invaluable service. At this time, when the people thus remained with only the outer side of religious rituals, not receiving from them the power that enlivens the spiritual life of believers, and when they nevertheless felt within themselves the natural need for this power, the internal need to rely on something in their spiritual life, the lives of the saints became such a support. People trustingly turned to them with their spiritual needs. It is clear that “without a living sermon,” those who could not read, of which there were too many then, could not free themselves from ignorance and superstition, even more so, “with a lack of living instruction, the superstition of paganism and ignorance, blasphemous sacrilege among the people reached extremes, and were so common that they also infected the rural clergy 70 - but this is not the fault of life saints, but a lack of enlightenment. The leaders of our social consciousness clearly understood the full power of the educational influence of the lives of the saints in the meaning of books for home reading, sometimes they officially recorded this influence and never missed an opportunity to speak about it publicly, even from professorial and church departments, or from the platform of a public writer. This especially needs to be said about the second half of this century. In the sixties, in order to strengthen religious and moral education in the literate and generally educated classes of the people, through the development of a love of spiritual reading, the Holy Synod 71 took measures for the correct organization of church libraries. They were established in almost all dioceses, at parish churches, and some were quite significant. To bring church libraries into an appropriate position, the Holy Synod recommended to the diocesan bishop, compiled by Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, a list of 72 books for these libraries. This list is based on the idea that it is more useful not so much to multiply books in libraries as to acquire, although not many, but the most necessary ones. In accordance with this view, the mentioned list is divided into three sections: the first includes books containing a disclosure of the foundations of the Christian Faith, the second and third - works containing a deeper and more comprehensive development of the same content. The books of the first department are intended for initial acquisition, and those assigned to the second and third departments gradually replenish the library. The second section, among other books, included “the lives of saints or the Chetya-Minea”, “Prologue or Synaxarium”; the third section included “the lives of the saints of the Russian church, A. N. Muravyov” 73. On this occasion, Met. Filaret made a special “instruction for deans to encourage priests to acquire assigned books for the Church, and to encourage church elders to do this.” In our interests, in the “instruction”, the clarification of Metropolitan is important. Filaret's goals for establishing church libraries. “The establishment of a church library,” wrote the Reverend 74, “also relates to the benefit of parishioners, because teachings in the Church can be read from paternal books, and some books, for example, the lives of saints, parishioners can read or listen to them read in the homes of clergy members on holidays.” In the 50-60s, in his lectures on Russian literature, he revealed to his student listeners the educational significance of reading the lives of saints by our people, explaining that they were for him “a spiritual school, from where he drew his Christian humility, inexhaustible love and devotion to the Faith,” that they “cultivated the inner strength of the fatherland,” pointing out that they “cultivated our inner man and “they did not pay attention to the brilliance of the external,” Professor Shevyrev 75 addressed the students listening to him with the following words: “It would be desirable that in our time, when education has turned to this external side, it would bring into the clearest consciousness what ancient Rus' brought up - that person internally who is formed by the spirit of Faith and contains within himself the soil for any lasting external development.” The same wish, only in even more detail, more clearly and, so to speak, more persistently and authoritatively, has been expressed more than once by His Eminence of Kharkov, Archbishop Ambrose. In his word for the day, Rev. Anthony the Great, pointing out the means to combat modern social ills, the Right Reverend spoke in the church of the Imperial Kharkov University: “The basis for success in healing social ills is the general structure of life of each of us, conscious, firm, more or less strict, anticipating the development of evil, clearing, according to the teaching of the Gospel, the field from weeds so that they do not grow and suppress wheat. It is this direction towards Christian spiritual work, obligatory for everyone who has a sound understanding of true morality, and little is visible in our lives today. We sent this work to monasteries, to monks, as unnecessary for a layman, and - even more so - as not corresponding to the spirit of our time. That is why our time is distinguished by such a terrible spread of vices and crime; That’s why our social life is overgrown with all sorts of weeds” 76. “Having placed the law of God in educational programs to clear our conscience,” the bishop said at another time, “we keep it aside, as a separate, unconnected science, and assuming that the entire sum of Christian knowledge is contained in textbooks, after completing our education, we do not look either into the Bible, or into the works of the great teachers of the Church, or into the history of the church and Christian asceticism, where the highest truths, laws, and true paths are revealed.” human improvement" 77. Meanwhile, this would not have to be stated, “if, according to the same right reverend, in the multitude of people now discussing and writing about improving public morality, there were more of those shining points of true goodness, which, in the person of the ancient ascetics, guided our people in moral life with success in the darkest times. Circles of lovers of virtue would be formed around them, and not just news and pleasure; year after year, these circles would expand and multiply, and goodness would quietly but surely, like life force, spill over into our fatherland. Then education would be an adornment to the well-established building of people’s life, and without this, all the adornments that education gives will always shine only on its appearance” 78 . It would not be a strong exaggeration to say that only through reading the lives of saints, those “strong and holy ideals” were born in the Russian people, which “fused with their soul from time immemorial and awarded it forever with innocence and honesty, sincerity and a wide, all-open mind, and all this in the most attractive harmonious combination.” “And if, moreover, there is so much dirt in a Russian person,” writes F. M. Dostoevsky 79, “then he himself yearns for it most of all, and believes that all this is only superficial and temporary, a devilish obsession, that the darkness will end and that eternal light will certainly shine someday.” “I will not,” continues Dostoevsky, “remember his historical ideals, about his Sergiev, Feodosiev Pechersky and even about Tikhon Zadonsky. By the way, how many people know about Tikhon Zadonsky? Why don’t you know this at all and promise yourself not to read at all? No time, or what? Believe me, gentlemen, that to your surprise, you would learn wonderful things.” Act. Historical vol. I, p. 476 About this article, see Rights. Social security 1868, part 2, p. 182 et seq. This significance is attributed to this article in the famous “Cyril’s Book” Between the books of the V. Testament, “Palea” is also mentioned in the manuscripts About limonara and lavsaik, see Updolsky “Bibliographical Research”. M. 1846, pp. 71–76 Yakovleva “Ancient Kiev religious legends”, pp. 16 et seq. E. Golublisky East. Russian Churches, volume I, floors I., p. 621 Kazan East. Russian monasticism, p. 10. Yakovlev. Ancient Kiev religious legends, pp. 2, 3, 4, 15, 24–25. Yakhontov Iv Lives of St. Northern Russian ascetics, as a historical source, p. 3, etc. V. Ikonnikov Research on the main directions of Russian history in connection with the course of education. “Russian preaching etc.”, p. 118. Journal. Min. Prosveshch, part 137, page 356 et seq. “The Wanderer” 1871, book. III, page 93 Patericon of Pechersk, letter of Polycarp to Archimandrite Akindinus of Pechersk Tr. Kyiv. Spirit. Academy, 1875, vol. 3, p. 11 Archim. Sergius “Complete months of the East”, vol. I, p. 180 Prologue. September 11th. Sn Meadow Spiritual Ch. 141 and Prologue Sep 6 Archim. Sergius, op cit, p. 152 P. Kazansky, op cit, pp. 29–30 About this in our article “The Lives of St. in their church and liturgical meaning" His life. Also Shevyrev East. Russian words, part III, 6. Klyuchevsky, 54 Orthodox. Interview 1858, vol. 1, pp. 491–492 note His life. Also: Shevyrev, part III. p. 74 Klyuchevsky, p. 89 His life. Also: Shevyrev, part VI. page 38 Rev. Nil Sorsky and his charter about the life of the monastery. St. Petersburg 1864, p. 175 Right Interview. 1863, vol. III, p. 208 Rev. Nile and its charter, page 180 Right Interview. 1858, vol. I, p. 501 Klyuchevsky. Old Russian Lives of Saints, as a historical source, pp. 24–25 Undolsky, No. 284, l 36. Klyuchevsky, 399. Yakhontova, pp. 209–210 note. 1st Act. Historical t I, p. 478 Undolsky, Bibliographic. Investigations, page 81 Russian saints, p. II, page 126 Nestor in P.S.R.L. vol. 1, pp. 55, 56. Jacob: “Do you consider the torment and passion of St. Nikita and St. Vyacheslav." Filaret, Russian saints vol. II, p. 127 Nestor in the Lives of Princes. East. Collection IV, 439. Filaret, Russian saints, vol. II, p. 127 In order to determine the sources used by the compilers of the life of St. princes, it is interesting to compare the following episode from the life of the Venerable Martyr Anastasius Persyanin. We read in his life. “And blessed Anastasius the monk was virtuous, humble-wise, and meek, and hard-working, all monastic work, including in the cookhouse and bakery, in Vertograd and in other obediences, unlaxly passing, below the church council and the rule, when they leave: and always practice with your hands in doing, and with your lips in praising God. To this end, we have read your Divine Scriptures, the lives of the holy fathers, and especially the sufferings of the holy martyrs: and hardly more than that. soaking the book with tears, burning with your heart, and expressing your inner patience to their compassion, and as if you were already suffering with them, showing yourself to be an imitator of their jealousy, pleasing their death, and marveling at their courage, and earnestly praying to the Lord Christ, may he be worthy to suffer for him, also to die, and to be numbered among the martyrdom" - Lives saints st. Demetrius of Rostov, Jan. 22, l. 358 rpm Ibid., p. 395. Sn. Yakovlev, pp. 15–24 His life. Also Klyuchevsky p. 401 His life. Also Klyuchevsky pp. 400–401 Ibid., pp. 79–80 cf. page 118 and note St. Demetrius of Rostov M. 1849, pp. 127–128 About this dictionary, see the review of M. Filaret in his “Collected. opinions and reviews”, additional volume, pp. 586–590 More about Pushkin Annenkov, Materials for the biography of Pushkin. "Christian. Reading" 1882, vol. I. Philological Notes, 1892 issue. 1st In the novel "The Brothers Karamazov" Writer's Diary, 1877, p. 76 A clear contradiction to the position we have expressed are the following words from the teaching of Theodosius of Pechersk. “When reading the lives of saints, you close your ears so as not to hear about their courage. Rather, squeeze your lips rather than say amen to what you read, but they are not lazy in speaking indecently, in reproaching, or in anger. To this we open our mouths, our eyes do not sleep, and our ears are on guard.” (Shevyrev. East Russian sl. Part 2, 24). But, it seems to us, these words should be looked at either as ordinary preaching and overreaction when depicting the moral state of modern society, or as a characteristic of the most exceptional case Barsov Lamentations north. edges, page 160 verses 36–53 Izmaragd, hands. Solov. bib., no. 270–272. Right Sob. 1858, part II, pp. 179–180 Collection Solov. librarian No. 832. Rights. Sob. 1858, part II, p. 180 We intend to talk about this in detail in a special article “on the educational significance of the lives of the saints” Act. Zap. Russia, vol. IV, no. 45. So wrote the famous champion of Orthodoxy, Prince. Konstantin Ostrozhsky Hypatia Potsey, bishop. Vladimir and Brest Zhur. Min. Nar. Enlightenment Part 137, pp. 318–319 Filaret. East. Russian Churches vol. III, pp. 139–142. Memorial Kyiv. Commissions, vol. III. Certificate of Patr. Joachim to the Lviv brotherhood, right. 37 and 38 See Extract from the most loyal report of the Chief Prosecutor of St. Synod gr. D. Tolstoy on the Department of Orthodox Confession for 1867, St. Petersburg. 1868, pp. 70–71 See it in “Collected. opinions and reviews”, vol. V, pp. 969–970 East. Russian Words Part II, p. 78 Faith and Reason 1885 Vol I, Part I, pp. 72–73 Faith and Raz. 1885 t I, part II. Page 501–505. Speech at the taking of the oath by the nobility of the Kharkov province. before the start of the next elections on October 15 V. and R. 1885, vol. I, part I. Page. 71–72 Homily on the day of St. Anthony the Great Writer's Diary 1886, p. 37