Understanding holiness in the works of St. Demetrius of Rostov: some observations

Alexey Olegovich Krylov – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of History of Moscow State Technical University. N. E. Bauman, junior researcher at the Center for the History of Theology and Theological Education, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Humanitarian University. In the literature dedicated to Saint Demetrius of Rostov, one can find different points of view about how close the bishop was in his theology to the centuries-old traditions of Russian Orthodoxy. The purpose of this article is to try to analyze the views of the Rostov Metropolitan on holiness, which found expression in his works. To do this, the author turns to the observations of previous researchers of the heritage of St. Demetrius of Rostov, as well as directly to his works. The article shows what was important for St. Demetrius of Rostov, when he wrote about saints and holiness: the historicity of holiness, the connection between holiness and martyrdom, holiness and the external, holiness and the state of the “inner man.” The author comes to the conclusion that the story of St. Demetrius about holiness at the same time preserved the spirit of Church Tradition, answered the questions that modern times posed to Orthodox Christians, and at the same time was in tune with the character traits of the Slavic peoples. This explains the enduring relevance of the “Book of Lives of Saints” and its profound influence on the Orthodox culture of Eastern Europe over the centuries. F. M. Dostoevsky, discussing the Russian national character, noted that “throughout the entire Russian land the knowledge of Chetiy-Minea is extremely widespread, its spirit at least is widespread. These stories are not transmitted from books, but are learned orally. In these stories, and in the stories about holy places, there is, so to speak, something repentant and cleansing for the Russian people” 1 . Chet'i-Minei - this is how in Russia of the 19th century they usually called the multi-volume collection of lives of Orthodox saints, written by St. Demetrius of Rostov (1651–1709). It is known that F. M. Dostoevsky paid special attention to the works of the Rostov Bishop, and that the legacy of the saint had a significant influence on the formation of the writer’s theological ideas 2 . However, is Dostoevsky right in even seeing the origins of such a “historical trait” of the Russian people as “zeal for the cause of God, for holy places, for oppressed Christianity and in general for everything that is repentant and divine” 3 precisely in the “spirit of Chetiy-Menei”? Shouldn't it follow the example of Fr. G. Florovsky consider Met. Demetrius of Rostov as a “Latin polymath” whose creations are Westernized in nature and do not go beyond the scope of “false classicism”? 4 In search of an answer to this question, let's try to turn to what was the understanding of holiness expressed in the works of St. Demetrius of Rostov. The central place here belongs to the “Book of Lives of Saints,” which became the first printed collection of Orthodox hagiography. The rich content and accessible form of work immediately gained the well-deserved love of readers. The Book of Lives of Saints was compiled by St. Demetrius in 1685–1704. and then was regularly republished (from the middle of the 18th century - on average once every five years). Many generations of Orthodox people became acquainted with examples of holy life precisely from the stories from the book of St. Dimitri. The work itself continues to be republished now (although usually in Russian-language revision at the beginning of the twentieth century). The “Cheti-Minea” of Demetrius of Rostov became a real school of holiness for generations of Orthodox people 5 . The influence of the hagiographic heritage of St. Demetrius is also felt indirectly: it is enough to mention that the presence of themes, plots and motifs of Orthodox hagiography in the works of Russian writers of the 18th–21st centuries. is, in fact, the result of the presence of the “Book of Lives of Saints” in Russian literature of the New Age 6. How exactly did the views of the author of the “Book of Lives of Saints” influence its content? First of all, the “Book of Lives of Saints” is very voluminous; it is one of the largest works of Slavic literature, a real “encyclopedia of holiness.” The Chetii-Minea include both didactic and narrative material, but hagiological material predominates. They contain 664 lives, of which 24 lives describe the lives and exploits of Old Testament saints, 571 - general Orthodox, 65 - Russian and 4 - South Slavic 7. Didactic and narrative material is significantly inferior to hagiological material in volume, but it includes: “22 words dedicated to the history and glorification of the most important Christian holidays and some saints; 22 legends about various sacred events remembered by the Church and miraculous manifestations of God’s mercy to the human race; 6 synaxarions borrowed from the liturgical books and 7 edifying stories taken from the second part of the Prologue” 8. All this information is arranged in word order. Finally, the presentation of each day is usually concluded with the author’s notes from St. Demetrius, including a list of other saints whose memory is also celebrated on this day (indicating brief information about them) and notes in which errors and contradictions in sources are explained and corrected, and the necessary information on history and geography is provided. This encyclopedic work was aimed at the common reader, however could satisfy the needs of the most demanding. The texts of the “Book of Lives of Saints” combine laconicism, imagery and simplicity; their Church Slavonic language is also pure and simple, it comes close to the literary Russian language 9. The second difficulty is that, although the “Book of Lives of Saints” is the fruit of twenty years of work by one Metropolitan. Demetrius, and not a team of scientists, Metropolitan. Demetrius can hardly be called the sole author of Chetiy-Minea. In his work, he consistently acted as a hagiologist, studying various sources, and then as a hagiographer, writing his own version of the life based on the studied sources 10. Thus, the “Book of Lives of Saints” is not a simple collection of lives borrowed from various sources, but for the most part is a new and independent work, for which the sources provided only material 11. “Complete freedom and independence are the distinctive properties of his work on the presentation of sources” 12. Hagiographic material of St. Demetrius borrowed primarily from the Prologue (edition 1685), the Great Chetiy-Menai (the so-called Makarievskys), the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon (edition 1661), Laurenius Surius De Probatis Sanctorum Historiis (Greek Lives of Simeon Metaphrastus in the Latin translation), as well as the Acta Sanctorum for January-May Bollandists. Through these collections, the Rostov ruler gained access to the most ancient hagiographic texts of various authors. Also St. Demetrius used numerous historical works: Slavic, Byzantine, Latin. Thus, to answer the question of how St. Demetrius understood holiness; a careful comparative analysis of the six hundred lives he wrote in comparison with the primary sources is required. Dozens of surviving sermons of the Rostov Bishop, his writings dedicated to spiritual life and miracles from the Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God, the voluminous “Search for the schismatic Bryn faith” also contain numerous reflections of Dimitri Savich about saints and holiness. The work of summarizing all this extensive material is a task for the future, awaiting its researcher. The purpose of this article is more modest: to summarize and analyze those observations that, in one form or another, have already been expressed by authors who studied the legacy of Demetrius of Rostov 13 . Saints for St. Demetrius are not fictional ahistorical images or heroes of parables, but specific historical figures who lived at a specific time. Lives of St. Demetrius is, first of all, biographies, stories about the facts of the life of the saint. At the same time, the goal of the author of the “Book of Lives of Saints” was to compose a consistent biography that could be instructive, which was not an easy task. Thus, the ruler of Rostov had to write some lives himself, based on scattered historical information. This applies primarily to the lives of ancient common Christian saints, such as St. Eusebius of Samosata, St. Matrona of Thessalonica, 42 torment. Amorite and others. In some cases, it was necessary to compile lives based on various sources for Russian saints; an example is the life of Princess Olga 14. The authority of the lives of St. Demetrius as historical and biographical narratives was very high until the beginning of the 19th century. 15 At the same time, the lives do not have the character of historical research. The historical outline is, of course, important for the hagiographer, but it is more important because it allows one to show the circumstances in which the saint accomplished his feat. However, the historical facts in the lives of St. Demetrius's intrinsic value: they could either be shortened when processing the source text, especially if the life was extensive and rich in content 16, or added from other sources 17. Also, historical facts were not the object of special research as criteria for the reliability of the hagiographical narrative: as such criteria for St. Demetrius was represented rather by authoritative sources of life, which he always listed. However, the harmonization of historical facts reported in different sources was one of the goals of the author of the “Book of Lives of Saints.” It is interesting to note that St. Dimitri also undertook serious scientific research. He was mainly interested in chronology and the coordination of various events along a timeline. This was reflected in the lives of some saints, but mainly in the special works of the Rostov Bishop on chronology, including those included in the “Cell Chronicle”. These researches, including works on the harmonization of various number systems, allow us to consider St. Demetrius the first domestic chronologist 18. 3. Holiness as martyrdom The special significance of St. Demetrius attached martyrdom to the feat. According to the observations of Fr. Pavel Khonzinsky, “The theme of martyrdom in general is the leittheme of the entire theological heritage of the saint, since it is inextricably linked with the theme of the people’s grief and the theme of love, for “there is no true love, even without the cross, even without suffering for the beloved.” Christ suffered for humanity, His Mother suffered in her soul, watching the torment of Her Son and God. Christ on the cross adopted His Mother in the person of the Apostle John of all Christians, and therefore the law of martyrdom applies to the entire Church: “there is no son of Mary who is not a martyr” 19. The suffering of the Church continues and complements the suffering of its Head... It does not have to be suffering for Christ, but necessarily in Christ” 20 . Indeed, the understanding of the connection between love of God (and therefore holiness) and Christ-like innocent suffering permeates the entire legacy of the saint. ““Center of Gravity” Menaeus of St. Demetrius - Lives of the Martyrs" 21. Passing on the lives of the saints, St. Demetrius always writes in detail about their martyrdom and suffering and briefly about their educational activities and exploits for the sake of the Church and society 22 . At the same time, the right reverend author tries to present the interrogations of the martyrs, descriptions of their suffering, their words and prayers in detail or even translate them literally 23. Here one cannot help but recall the appearance of St. Demetrius Martyr. Orestes in a dream, described in “Diariush”, in which the martyr with a smile reproached St. Demetrius is that he did not sufficiently describe his suffering. The feat of martyrdom can be different. This is suffering for the confession of Christ, but it is also suffering in likeness to Christ, like Boris and Gleb. For the Rostov Metropolitan, the common people suffering from beatings and extortions are literally “new sufferers, passion-bearers and martyrs!” He addresses the following words to them: “Be patient, you are new martyrs of the last times. This is how the holy Great Martyr George suffered, and was killed for Christ by the wicked king. Heavenly crowns are woven for you, only do not become weak in patience, but look at the suffering of your Lord, who suffered greatly for us, and thank Him in everything, and place your trust in His holy will, saying: Thy will be done, Lord! And the Lord, with love, is in your midst, even if unseen: He is here!” 24. Saints become like Christ not only in their suffering, but also in their ability to work miracles. And holiness for St. Demetrius is closely associated with miracles and the miraculous. “The blessing is your archpastoral daring to put a new one into this book, for the sake of its better decoration and the undoubted likelihood of the miraculous deeds of the saints in it, from St. Simeon Metaphrastus and many other historiographers collected,” 25, wrote Dimitri Savich to Patriarch Adrian. Here we don’t need to cite numerous cases of miraculous incidents from the “Book of Lives of Saints”; suffice it to say that they are found in one way or another in almost all lives. However, the description of the miracles of saints has never been central to the lives of St. Demetrius, if necessary, detailed descriptions of intravital and posthumous miracles were shortened, leaving only those that had an instructive meaning for the reader 26. 5. Saint – on the border of worlds Miracles in the Lives of St. Demetrius also emphasize one more side of holiness: the saint is not only at the intersection of three worlds: human, divine - Heaven, and the devil - the underworld, but actively interacts with them. Therefore, the saints of St. Demetrius constantly encounters the spiritual world: they are the Lord Himself, the Mother of God, angels and saints, but also demons. Miracles of both divine and demonic nature happen around them. Pachomius the Great, one of the pillars of Egyptian monasticism, was born into a family of idolaters, but from childhood, before Baptism, he resisted demons: he vomited up things sacrificed to idols, and when he was brought as a child to a pagan temple, the statue of the deity fell silent; the angry priest announced to the parents: “Why have you brought this enemy of our gods” 27 . Later, when Pachomius, already a monk, was walking through the desert, he received a voice from God to stay in the place where he was now and found a monastery here. After which an angel appeared to the monk in the form of a schema-monk and handed over the rules of monastic and fasting life on the “plate” 28 . After their death, the saints seem to connect Heaven and earth: they pray for peace, visit churches built in their honor, and take care of decorating these churches, and do not leave their fatherland in trouble. God entrusts the saints with special care for people: thus, Simeon the Divnogorets was entrusted to John the Baptist, and Andrei the Holy Fool, the Great Martyr, to John the Theologian. George - Theodore Sikeot, ap. Bartholomew - Joseph the Songwriter. It is noteworthy that passages confirming the saints’ concern for the world were often included in notes in the margins of the “Book of Lives of Saints,” i.e., this idea was considered especially important for the reader by the right reverend author 29 . This understanding of the connection between holiness and the miraculous can be considered one of the reasons why St. Demetrius included in his lives those descriptions (primarily from the Makaryevsky menias) that more critically minded authors (for example, the same Bollandists whose volumes with critical remarks St. Demetrius used when working on his “Book of Lives of Saints”) considered incredible 30. However, a virtuous life, suffering, and even the ability to perform miracles and communication with Heavenly powers do not indicate that a person has achieved the likeness of God, true holiness. All this is only external, earthly and can turn out to be deceptive: “for what is high in men is an abomination to God” (Luke 16:15). Holiness is based on the state of the “inner man” and depends on how “Christ is imagined” in his heart (Gal. 4:19) The question of the external and internal in holiness arose with particular urgency in polemics with the Old Believers, who, according to St. Demetrius, “they exalt themselves above the Church of Christ, boasting about their struggles and labors of prayer and fasting: but they reproach us for eating and drinking, and about our entire life, as sinners, while blaming ourselves as saints” 31. The Rostov ruler calls on his opponents not to boast about an ascetic and prayerful life, because although “imams are countless images of pleasing God in the lives of saints, we must imitate them according to our strength, and we can see them in living virtuous men; but we ourselves cannot truly know whether we are doing what pleases God as we are doing. If only a person knew that his deeds are pleasing to God; for he would have known about his salvation. But just as one knows about pleasing God, one’s life and one’s salvation, no one can boast. Let us not despair of our salvation; imams hope in God, who wants to save everyone: but no one can say from us: I have pleased God, I am one of the saved, my deeds are good and pleasing to the Lord” 32. So, the most outwardly righteous life may be displeasing to God, and this makes it useless for salvation. For example, pride is attracted to self-willed exploits and leaves the proud leader without fruit. On the contrary, true spiritual life brings to Heaven even those people who, at a superficial glance, seem far from righteous. In the “Book of Lives of the Saints” there is “the theme of secret, hidden from everyone, service to God” 33, in which a person’s external life is in contrast with the internal. This is manifested in the lives of holy fools, as well as harsh ascetics who withdrew from people and became outwardly similar to wild animals, and finally, Christians who were forced to secretly profess their faith 34. As it is written in the life of Blessed Isidor Tverdislov, “He performed other miracles, but they did not appear, for like his virtuous actions, hidden behind the scenes of foolishness, his miracles were secretly performed.” 35 7. Holiness and the “inner man” In one of his sermons, St. Demetrius suggests how one can determine whether a person’s life is pleasing to God. If the “sheep in hell” from Psalm 48:15 are people who did good deeds but did not please God, then the true sheep of Christ have three distinctive features. First, they know their Shepherd – Christ the Savior. They know - that means they believe and love. And love is manifested in elimination of sins and immediate repentance. The second sign is fulfilling the commandments of the Lord. The third sign: nothing can tear the true sheep away from the hand of the Shepherd; they remain faithful to God in sorrows and temptations. These are the most important features of the holy “inner man” for St. Dimitri. 7.1 Love for God and neighbors An important feature of the “Book of Lives of Saints” is how the relationships of the saints with each other are described. O. Alexander Derzhavin, who devoted many years to studying the “Book of Lives of Saints” by St. Demetrius, notes that in the lives of “Holy ascetics and confessors burn with some amazing love for the Lord, strive with all their hearts to enter the monastery, humbly endure their labors and exploits, “rejoicing,” die for Christ, show brotherly love and forgiveness to each other. True, all these features are found in the sources, but the Saint conveys them with special warmth and cordiality... The Saint brings especially much warmth and cordiality into the relationships of friends, teachers and students, shepherd and flock, husband and wife, children and parents” 36 . In the lives of some saints, “the saint colored their mutual relationships with such touching features that we do not find in the sources. They were created by the responsive heart of the “writer of lives” himself, carried out by his pure and loving soul” 37. The theme of the inner man and inner life is one of the main ones for the entire legacy of St. Dimitri. “The inner man in the cage of his heart is solitary and prays in secret” is a publicly accessible presentation of the teaching about mental prayer. Man is twofold: external and internal, the external prays with his lips, the internal prays with his mind. The soul naturally strives for God as its Creator, and nothing else can “put it to rest”; one can unite with God only with “extreme heartfelt love.” To arouse such love in your heart, you need to pray often, raising your mind to God. The essay concludes with the words: “Gather together all your thoughts and all external, worldly cares, putting aside your mind to God and see Nan” 38. In turn, when St. Demetrius speaks about sin; he usually speaks about some dark force that prevents communication with God, that removes a person from God. 7.2 Holiness only under the condition of right faith and in the bosom of the Church “Whose virtuous life does not confirm the faith of an unrighteous person” 39. St. Demetrius in “The Search” gives examples of how saints admonished strict ascetics and miracle workers who professed heresies, as well as examples of heretics who were not only distinguished by a virtuous life, but also through whom the Lord worked miracles (patriarchs of Constantinople Eudoxius the Arian and Sergius the Monothelitus). Martyrdom committed outside the Church does not testify to holiness. Since holiness depends on the state of the “inner man,” a repentant sinner who changes his life not only gets rid of sins, he is already made righteous and holy. In his sermon on All Saints' Day, St. Demetrius first says that on this holiday there is no complete joy, for the saints grieve over sinners, and sinners grieve looking at the saints. But “Whoever of the sinners listens to what is said, whoever hears this, whoever makes the saints glad with his repentance, and who wants to be holy, begin from here true repentance. I am unworthy, I will begin to add sinners to the saints and call them new saints for those who repent” 40. The Rostov Bishop asks the question: “Is it possible for a sinful person to be a saint and have a place with saints?” 41 And further he comes to the conclusion that a sinner who quickly repents of his sins is not a sinner, but a righteous one, and let no one dare to call him a sinner. But if an inveterate sinner leaves his usual path of unrighteousness and follows the path of God, then he too will inherit holiness. After all, great saints also fell into sins in their lives (like the prophet David), but they repented before God and received forgiveness. If a sinner, having lived in heinous sins, one day turns entirely toward repentance and lives in purity until his death, then what place in the ranks of saints will such a sinner be worthy of? St. Demetrius replies: “Let him judge as he wishes, but I am not ashamed to place such a one among the virgins and write him with the virgins,” 42 and further describes the repentant harlot who washed the feet of Christ, who stands in dignity next to the chaste apostles. “Let the saints rejoice, for sinners are numbered among them, and the deficiency of their faces is filled! Let sinners rejoice, for they too have found a place among the saints!” 43 In the “Book of Lives of Saints” there are a number of examples of how the active repentance of a sinner turned him into a saint (St. Eudoxia, St. Mary of Egypt and many others). In general, the mention of St. Demetrius's need to perform works of repentance should be understood precisely in this context, and not in the Tridentine one. Creations of St. Demetrius, written more than three hundred years ago, continue to remain alive and in demand in church life to this day. The Rostov Metropolitan was able to write about holiness in such a way that he is still read and republished; he became the largest Slavic hagiographer and one of the first classics of Russian literature. What are the characteristic features of his view of holiness? Saints for St. Demetrius are real, historical figures who achieved holiness in a wide variety of life circumstances. Holiness in its essence is likeness to the Lord, which is manifested in the feats of enduring suffering for the sake of Christ - martyrdom, without which true love for God is impossible, in the ability to work miracles by the power of God. During his lifetime, the saint closely interacts with the invisible spiritual world; after his death, the saint connects Heaven and earth, the Eternal and the temporal. The connection between holiness and external righteousness is not simple: an active virtuous life and even working miracles do not at all mean that a person has pleased God. The saint is distinguished by love for God and neighbors, manifested in the fulfillment of the commandments and unceasing prayer, humility and constant readiness to repent. Outside the Church, without right faith, holiness is impossible. Every sinner can and should become a saint; he is separated from holiness only by repentance - after all, through true repentance, which consists in changing the path of life and attitude towards it, a sinner not only cleanses sins, but also acquires holiness. Among the highlighted features, authorial features and accents, nothing indicates that the Rostov Metropolitan felt his break with the thousand-year-old hagiographic tradition. Being a direct contemporary of the Bollandists, St. Demetrius of Rostov did not become an “Orthodox Bollandist”: in the bishop’s works there is almost no rational criticism of tradition from the point of view of a scientist. At the same time, the Rostov Bishop set himself the task of updating Church Tradition for readers of his works and listeners of his sermons. The Rostov Metropolitan addressed topics important for his era - history and its course, the inner life of man and its connection with the outside world, martyrdom and love for God, the Providence of the Creator in the universe created by Him, outlining stories of holiness that are close to generations of Christians from different countries and peoples. The story of St. Demetrius about holiness at the same time preserved the spirit of Church Tradition, answered the questions that modern times posed to Orthodox Christians, and at the same time was in tune with the character traits of the Slavic peoples. Perhaps this is the secret of why the “spirit of Chetiy-Minea,” according to F. M. Dostoevsky, is so widespread among the Russian people, and St. Demetrius of Rostov became “a writer of enormous importance for the entire Orthodox Eastern and Southern Europe” 44. 1. Derzhavin A. M. , prot. “The hearts of the faithful rejoice”: Cheti-Minea Demetrius, Met. Rostovsky, as a church-historical and literary monument: in 2 parts. M., 2006. Part 2. 384 p. 2. Demetrius of Rostov, St. The inner man is secluded in the cage of his heart, studying and praying in secret // Works. M., 1839. T. 1. P. 147–158. 3. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Book of Lives of Saints. Kiev, 1689. T. 1. 657 l. 4. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Search for the schismatic Bryn faith. M., 1855. 643 p. 5. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Fleece Irrigated. Chernigov, 1702. 112 l. 6. Dostoevsky F. M. Collected works: in 15 volumes. St. Petersburg, 1995. T. 14. 783 p. 7. Krylov A. O. Metropolitan Dimitry of Rostov in the church and cultural life of Russia in the second half of the 17th – early 18th centuries. M., 2014. 373 p. 8. Krylov A. O. St. Dimitry Rostovsky and Katkov’s concept of the history of ancient Russian literature // Literary journal. 2013. No. 32. pp. 108–116. 9 . Likhachev D. S. Poetics of Old Russian Literature M., 1979. 376 p. 10. Nekhlebaeva N. A. The work of Dimitri Rostovsky in the context of Russian literary ideas about the inner man of the late 17th – early 18th centuries. Diss. ...cand. Philol. Sci. Severodvinsk, 2003. P. 186. 11. Shmanko T. Author's comments on the Margineses of “Chetikh-Mineya” by Dmitry Tuptal // Lviv Media Studies. VIP. 1. Lviv, 2007. pp. 31–41. 12. Tereshkina D. B. “Cheti-Minea” and Russian literature of the New Age. Diss. ... d. philol. Sci. Veliky Novgorod, 2015. 430 p. 13. Fedotova M.A. Life of Princess Olga in the Four Menaions of Demetrius of Rostov // Pskov, Russian lands and Eastern Europe in the 15th–17th centuries. To the 500th anniversary of Pskov joining a single state. Pskov, 2011. pp. 362–383. 14. Fedotova M. A. Epistolary heritage of Dmitry of Rostov. Research and texts. M., 2005. 384 p. 15. Florovsky, G., prot. Paths of Russian theology. M., 2009. 848 p. 16. Tsyb S.V. Saint Demetrius of Rostov, the first Russian chronologist // News of Altai State University. 2000. No. 4. P. 7–10. 17. Khondzinsky P., prot. Saint Demetrius of Rostov and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky // Bulletin of PSTGU. I: Theology. Philosophy. 2012. Issue. 5 (43). pp. 23–32. 18. Yakhontov A., priest. The influence of the Lives of Saints on the life of the Russian people // Wanderer. 1892. No. 12. pp. 653–679. 19. Thomson F. J. St. Demetrius Tuptalo and his Liber Vitarum Sanctorum // Analecta Bollandiana 2014. No. 132(2). P. 306–421. Dostoevsky F. M. Collected works: in 15 volumes. St. Petersburg, 1995. T. 14. P. 256. Khondzinsky P., prot. Saint Demetrius of Rostov and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky // Bulletin of PSTGU. I: Theology. Philosophy. 2012. Issue. 5 (43). P. 31. Dostoevsky F. M. Collected works: in 15 volumes... T. 14. P. 256. Florovsky, G., prot. Paths of Russian theology. M., 2009. For more details, see: Yakhontov A., priest. The influence of the Lives of Saints on the life of the Russian people // Wanderer. 1892. No. 12. pp. 653–679. The doctoral dissertation of D. B. Tereshkina is devoted to this issue: Tereshkina D. B. “Chet-Minei” and Russian literature of the New Age. Diss. ... d. philol. Sci. Veliky Novgorod, 2015. Derzhavin A. M. , prot. “The hearts of the faithful rejoice”: Cheti-Minea Demetrius, Met. Rostovsky, as a church-historical and literary monument. M., 2006. Part 2. pp. 7–8. “The language of Dmitry of Rostov is especially pleasant, correct, fresh and imbued with some kind of vitality. Although its language is Church Slavonic, it is Church Slavonic in a new form, freed, however, from Little Russian and Polish admixture. It makes a special kind of impression on the reader: it is as if covered with a thin, transparent membrane, through which, although dimly, one can already see the flow of living Russian speech,” this is how St. characterized the language. Dimitria M. N. Katkov. For more details see: Krylov A. O. St. Dimitry Rostovsky and Katkov’s concept of the history of ancient Russian literature // Literary journal. 2013. No. 32. pp. 108–116. Lomson F. J. St. Demetrius Tuptalo and his Liber Vitarum Sanctorum // Analecta Bollandiana 2014. No. 132(2). P. 373. Derzhavin A.M., prot. “The hearts of the faithful rejoice”... P. 298. This article draws only on the observations of researchers who specifically studied the views of St. Demetrius for holiness. The most comprehensive review of research to date on the personality and legacy of St. Demetrius, see: Krylov A. O. Metropolitan Demetrius of Rostov in the church and cultural life of Russia in the second half of the 17th - early 18th centuries. M., 2014. pp. 8–44. See Fedotova M.A. Life of Princess Olga in the Four Menaions of Demetrius of Rostov // Pskov, Russian lands and Eastern Europe in the XV-XVII centuries. To the 500th anniversary of Pskov joining a single state. Pskov, 2011. pp. 362–383. Lompson, Francis J. St. Demetrius Tuptalo and his Liber Vitarum Sanctorum… Derzhavin A.M., prot. “The hearts of the faithful rejoice”... P. 342. Tsyb S.V. Saint Demetrius of Rostov, the first Russian chronologist // News of Altai State University. 2000. No. 4. P. 7–10. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Fleece Irrigated. Chernigov, 1702. L. 79. Khondzinsky P., prot. Saint Demetrius of Rostov and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky... P. 25. Derzhavin A.M., prot. “The hearts of the faithful rejoice”... P. 305. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Essays. M., 1840. T. 2. P. 191. Fedotova M. A. Epistolary heritage of Dmitry of Rostov. Research and texts. M. 2005. P. 128. Derzhavin A.M., prot. “The hearts of the faithful rejoice”... P. 307. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Book of Lives of Saints. Kiev, 1689. T. 1. L. 584. Right there. L. 586 vol. – 587. See Shmanko T. Author’s comments on the Margineses of “Chetikh-Mineya” by Dmitry Tuptal // Lviv Media Studies. VIP. 1. Lviv, 2007. P. 33. Derzhavin A.M., prot. “The hearts of the faithful rejoice”... P. 275–276. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Search for the schismatic Bryn faith. M., 1855. P. 563. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Search... pp. 537–538 Nekhlebaeva N. A. The work of Dimitri Rostovsky in the context of Russian literary ideas about the inner man of the late 17th – early 18th centuries. Diss. ...cand. Philol. Sci. Severodvinsk, 2003. P. 84. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Book of Lives of Saints... L. 582 vol. – 583. Derzhavin A.M., prot. “The hearts of the faithful rejoice”... P. 363–264. Demetrius of Rostov, St. The inner man is secluded in the cage of his heart, studying and praying in secret // Works. M., 1839. T. 1. P. 158. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Works... T. 2. P. 304. Likhachev D.S. Poetics of Old Russian Literature. M., 1979. P. 9.