Декабрь

The Suffering of the Holy Prince Urosh-Stephan The only son of the Serbian king Dusan, Uros, was born in 1337 884. In 1346, he “was crowned with a royal crown, while his father was crowned with a royal crown” 885. Serbia has never been so strong and extensive as under Tsar Dusan the Strong. All of Bulgaria was then under the rule of the ruler of Serbia; the Greek cities of Macedonia, Epirus and Thessaly were also conquered by Dusan. Dusan, a powerful ruler, asked the hand of the daughter of the French king for his son; but the pope insisted that the king’s daughter not change her Latin confession, and Dusan did not want to see an admirer of the pope in the family. Urosh, the son of Dusan, married the daughter of Vlad, the powerful prince of Wallachia. It seemed that Dusan's empire would last for centuries. But Dusan himself shook the foundations of his empire and prepared a sad fate for his son. During his lifetime, relying on his strength, he gave a lot of strength to the six regional rulers of his empire. For example, Oliver, the “great chief” of Serbia and Strum, minted a coin with his name, as an independent ruler. In the Kratovo Monastery, the painting shows the regional rulers of Dushan (six), and below the words are read, as if from Dushan: “Hence the great blame for the fall of my kingdom” 886. The idea has long been verified by experiments; but people do not listen to experience. If only the Southern Slavs, through a long series of sufferings, would be firmly convinced that their political troubles have always depended on their fragmented rule and will not end until they are united under one firm rule of firm autocracy! Dusan, not innocent in the death of his father, died amid plans for glory at the 45th year of his life, in December 1355 887. After the death of his father, Uroš took over Serbia. It was written: “Stephan Urosh, blessed Tsar Serblem and Grkom” 888. During his first period of power, he had to deal with a contender for the royal throne. Sinish, his uncle, the ruler of Thessaly, rose with a strong army to drive his nephew from the throne of Serbia; he occupied Zeta and besieged Scutari. But Serbia stood up for Uros, and Sines resigned himself. Another power seeker appeared. Nikifor Angel, even with the consent of the queen, Urosheva’s mother, occupied Thessaly with a sword in his hand, because the queen’s sister was betrothed to him. But Greek intrigues were not liked in Serbia, and Nikephoros was pacified in 889. In the first years of his reign, Uros was both an independent and an active ruler of Serbia. In 1357 there was a severe famine in Serbia 890. Uroš tried to alleviate the disaster by buying bread in Dubrovnik. In 1357–1358, he gave Dubrovnik several charters - on trade, judicial system, lands, duties. Particularly remarkable is the obligation taken from the Ragusians to pay every year 1000 perpera to the Jerusalem Church of the Archangel Michael, where the monks of the monastery of St. Nicholas, driven out of Ston by papism, retired 891. In 1362, he humbled the Ragusians who fought with his governor of Kotor. In case of disputes, they are ordered to present the case to the king’s court, and not to deal with his governor themselves; Vojislav, by his will, issued a letter to Dubrovnik with a promise not to violate the terms of the salt farm, and the republic was instructed to regularly pay taxes to the king 892. Following the example of his ancestors, he built himself Zadushbina - the monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Skopje. “From his youth he was devoted to the Lord, fatherly gave rest to widows and orphans, pacified quarrels and established peace, had mercy on the poor, defended the offended” 893. Meanwhile, evil also grew - the willfulness of the governors. Each of them acted on personal grounds and wanted to be independent. Smart Christian patriots advised Uros to replace the rich and arrogant governors with people who were moderate in their desires. But Uros did not have much firmness against the proud magnates. He especially trusted Vulkashin. Vulkashin and Dusan were distinguished by trust more than other tycoons. He and his brother Ugljesh were great janitors of Dusan 894. But our passions, if they do not see a curb on themselves, even against our will, even without consciousness, carry us along the path of vice and villainy. This is what happened with Vulkashin. At first he took control of Bosna to be closer to the central government of Serbia. Then he declared himself the king of Bosnia, and his brother Ugljesh turned out to be the despot of Romania 895. Only the ruler of Srem, Prince Lazar, with his son-in-law Vulk Brankovic, remained sincere in their attitude towards Uros. The blessed king saw this and suffered especially for the expected troubles of his homeland. Now a terrible sword has appeared against the eastern and southern Christians. Sultan Murat took possession of Odrin and moved the capital here from Brussa. Turkish hordes plundered Bulgaria in 896. Now more than ever, Serbia needed Dusan. Vulkashin had as much passion for power as Dusan; only he didn’t have Dushan’s intelligence or courage. A Bulgarian newcomer, he had no love for the country that had given him so much; he completely indulged in selfish plans; It would be good for him and his family, he thought, but let the rest go as it goes. He took power from the good Urosh; then, without blushing, he appointed only a small province to support it. The further he went, the more menacing the dangers became for Urosh. To protect his life, Urosh retired to the Danube to Prince Lazar; with him he was related through Milica, the wife of Lazar, who came from the Nemanjic family. The appanage rulers, to whom Uroš reported Vulkashin’s impudence, gave him the word to subdue Vulkashin by force of arms the following year. Vulkashin, having learned about this, turned to his sister and Urosh’s mother with magnificent promises - to do everything for Urosh; he managed to assure his sister so much of his devotion to Urosh that she, at the request of Vulkashin, urgently demanded and summoned her son to her in Skopje for reconciliation with Vulkashin. Vulkashin met Urosh with honors as a king 897. Meanwhile, the insidious villain prepared the comrades of his planned crime. He invited Urosh to go hunting in the Kosovo field. Tired of the hunt, Urosh dismounted from his horse at the well and bent down to get water. At that moment Vulkashin hit him on the head with a mace, and he fell dead. On a dark evening with hired comrades Vulkashin carried the murdered man to the Assumption Church of the Monastery, near Pestrich. In the monastery, of course, they said that this was an unexpectedly deceased hunter. The deceased sufferer was laid in the church tomb, which had been ready for a long time; The sad church is still intact, although deserted. The blessed one, being 31 years old, suffered on December 2, 1367 898. Vulkashin did not enjoy the fruits of secret villainy for long. Although he forced him to recognize himself as the main ruler of Serbia, while even the mother did not know about her son’s murderer, everything was soon lost. Sultan Suleiman came to Serbia with 70 thousand troops. Necessity gathered the Serbs near Vulkasin. On the Kosovo field the Serbs are defeated; Vulkashin's brothers, Uglesh and Goiko, were killed; Vulkashin was carried out of the bloody battle by a horse; but when the villain lay down to rest, the squire, seduced by his rich attire, cut off his head. It was in September 1370 at the same place where the villain rushed about with a criminal plan 899. Meanwhile, the body of the righteous sufferer turned out to be incorrupt, and his glory was manifested in healings. He was laid with honor in the Nerodimlo church. Subsequently, from the horrors of Mohammedan fanaticism, it was transferred to the Srem Yazak monastery 900. Saint Isa, or Jesse, Bishop of Tsilkansky Ise, a native of Syrian Antioch, was one of those 13 Syrian fathers, whose memory the Holy Church honors on May 7th. He lived in the 6th century. Ordained Bishop of Tsilkansky 901, he found his flock in a deplorable state, in which pagan customs and superstitions prevailed, and where Christianity, planted here by Saint Ninoy and flourishing for about two hundred years after her, had now almost completely fallen, and there were almost no traces of Christian morality. The saint actively and zealously devoted himself to the eradication of pagan superstitions and the restoration of piety, and God blessed his tireless labors with success. To establish faith among the people, he built several new churches and founded several monasteries; and to protect his flock from the influence of neighboring pagan peoples, Ise went to preach the word of God to the Ossetians and other inhabitants who lived in the center of the Caucasus ridge, and converted many of them to Christ. Despite these feats of apostolic service, the saint never abandoned his monastic and ascetic deeds. His laborious life, which produced rich fruits, was crowned with a peaceful, blissful death. Having foreseen it by revelation from above, the saint gathered his church clergy, gave them his spiritual instruction for the last time, partook of the Holy Mysteries and, with his hands raised to heaven, surrendered his soul to God. He was buried in the Church of the Mother of God (where Her ancient icon is), and glorified by many miracles (continuing to this day) from his incorruptible remains, he was canonized by the Church. Venerable Savva of Zvenigorod “You appeared as a good plant of the desert, venerable one, having chosen a pure life in your youth, followed your spiritual teacher and, according to his instructions, directed your whole mind to heaven. And you were a smart teacher of your flock. That is why Christ enriched you with miracles, just as it is fitting for a bright lamp to be. Savvo, our father! pray for our souls to be saved" 902. This is how the Church sings to St. Savva! In his young years, having parted with the world, blessed Savva came to the desert to the wondrous Sergius and here he became a monk. Under the guidance of a great mentor, he learned obedience, humility, purity of thoughts and body, and strict fasting. He avoided conversation with others and loved conversation with the Lord; I tried not to remain idle, but either took part in church singing, or did handicrafts or some kind of work. He seemed simple in the eyes of people, but acquired spiritual wisdom; he often cried about the poverty of his soul and trembled before the severity of God's Judgment 903. Through such exploits he grew in spiritual life and even “in the monastery of Sergius he was the confessor to the entire brotherhood, a venerable elder and very teaching” 904. In 1380, Grand Duke Dmitry Ioannovich, after the victory over Mamai, came to the monastery of St. Sergius to give thanks to the Lord, who granted the victory, and to fulfill his vow. Before the campaign against Mamai, he said to Sergius: “Father! If God helps me and I return healthy, I will build a monastery in honor of the Dormition of the Most Pure Mother of God.” Now he asked the monk to find a convenient place for the monastery. The saint walked around deserted places, and he liked the secluded island, washed by Dubenka, Dubna and Bystritsa, in the northwest of the Lavra, which is now on the borders of the Tver and Vladimir provinces. The monk invited the Grand Duke and, in accordance with his wishes, the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God and a common monastic life were founded here. The monk made his disciple Savva, a husband, says Blessed Epiphanius, “very virtuous” 905 the head of the desert. Here, in the quiet desert, the venerable abbot Savva lived as before, in the simplicity of a strict ascetic: he ate only plant foods, wore rough clothes, slept on the floor and shed tears for sins 906. When in the monastery of Sergius Nikon, having taken over the management of the monastery after his death (1391), soon wished to live in silence, the disciples of Sergius begged the Monk Savva to take over the management of the monastery, founded by their common mentor. This was in 1392 907. The monk tended Sergius's flock with zeal. He left here the memory of his caring superiors by the fact that, following the example of his mentor, he brought out a source of clean water with prayer behind the northern wall of the monastery 908. But the lover of silence was burdened by power over the crowded monastery; He could not help but be disturbed by the fact that, according to the appointment of his great mentor, blessed Nikon should shepherd the flock of Sergius. Meanwhile, Prince Yuri Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod, the brother of the Grand Duke, who often visited the monastery of Sergius and did many benefactors to it, knew the Venerable Abbot Savva well: he had him as his confessor. Having decided in his soul to establish a monastery in his inheritance, the prince invited the Monk Savva to visit his house to teach the blessing of God. The elder agreed. The prince revealed his secret desire and begged the saint to take upon himself the establishment of a monastery near Zvenigorod, on Mount Storozhevskaya. The monk examined the place, and he liked it very much 909. Having fallen before the icon of the Mother of God, with tears he asked for Her protection for the deserted place and remained on a secluded mountain. This was in 1399 910. The saint built a hut on the mountain and built a small wooden church near it in honor of the Nativity of the Mother of God. Soon rumors of his high life called to him many who were looking for a silent life. The monk lovingly received those who came to him and set up a hostel. In 1399, Prince Yuri had, by the will of the Grand Duke, to go to war with the Bulgarians. Before setting out on a campaign, the pious prince came to his spiritual father for a blessing. The holy elder prayed for him, blessed him with the cross and said: “Go, prince, the Lord is with you; you will defeat your enemies and return healthy.” Yuri, with his troops and those of the Grand Duke, took several cities over the course of three weeks: Great Bolgars, Zhukotin, Kazan, Kremenchug and others and returned to his homeland with rich booty 911. The prince now joyfully thanked the Monk Savva for his prayer, which was so successful. The humble elder attributed the prince’s happiness to the mercy of God and to the prince’s virtues, especially to his charitable love. The prince hastened to prove his gratitude with his deeds - he delivered various benefits and gifts to Savva’s monastery. The beautiful stone church in the Savvina monastery remains to this day a monument to the works of the Monk Savva and the charity of Prince Yuri 912. By deed of May 4, 1409, Prince Yuri Dmitrievich donated “to the house of the Most Pure Father Abbot Savva and his brethren” three villages with villages and houses of peasants who would live in the ceded lands, freed them from their taxes and court 913. Despite the rich benefits of his spiritual son, the monk himself did not stop working for the monastery. Having surrounded the monastery with a wooden fence, he himself dug a well under the mountain, which to this day supplies excellent water to the monastery; and for his silent exploits he dug himself a cave cell in a ravine, a mile from the monastery 914. The robe in which the monk served before the throne of God is still intact in the monastery: it is white taffeta, with a dark shoulder, embroidered with streams of silver and silk 915. The Apostle wrote: always become more accomplished in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58). This is how the Monk Savva lived, improving in spiritual life from day to day and striving with firm hope for the rewards of eternity. This is how he lived himself and also encouraged his disciples. He reached a ripe old age and died peacefully on December 3, 1406 916. Many years after the death of Blessed Sava, as the description of the saint’s miracles compiled in the middle of the 16th century says, abbot Dionysius, having finished the evening rule, went to sleep. And then the elder appears to him and says: “Dionysius! get up and paint my face on the icon.” - “Who are you and what is your name?” – asked Dionysius. “I am Savva, the head of this place,” answered the one who appeared. Dionysius, struck by the vision, called upon the old elder Avvakum, who in his youth had seen blessed Sava alive, and asked him what the venerable Sava looked like? Habakkuk told about its appearance and growth. “This is exactly how the one who told me to paint his face appeared to me today,” said Dionysius. Since the abbot was a skilled icon painter and a pious man, he then painted an icon of the saint. Under the same abbot, a demoniac was healed in the monastery of Savva. But more remarkable was the third event under Abbot Dionysius. The brothers of the monastery began to murmur against the abbot and reported him to Grand Duke John. Dionysius was afraid of the strict prince, was afraid to appear to him, and turned with prayer to the Monk Sava. The monk, who appeared in a dream, said to Dionysius: “Why are you grieving, my brother? Go and speak boldly, without fear of anything: the Lord is your helper.” That same night the monk appeared to those who grumbled against the abbot. “Then did you leave the world,” he said sternly, “to live as monks with a murmur? You grumble, but the abbot prays: what will prevail? Neither humility nor the grace of God lives in obstinate hearts.” After the dream, they told the vision to each other, in great confusion. Appearing to the Grand Duke, they could not tell anything true against the abbot and remained in shame. Comparing this legend about the miracles of the monk with other monuments, we must assume that the miraculous events of the time of Abbot Dionysius occurred no earlier than 1480 and no later than 1490 917. In all likelihood, from the same time in the monastery of Sava, as in the monastery of Sergius, where he was abbot, reverent veneration of the Monk Sava began. This was both in the everyday life of the Sergius Lavra and in the continuation of the description of the miracles of 918. Under Abbot Callistus, a demoniac was brought to the tomb of the monk. The first time he ran from the monastery into the forest and climbed a tree there. When they brought him to the monastery with difficulty, the abbot began to sing a prayer service to the monk at his shrine, and the demoniac became quieter and quieter, and then he was completely healed. One monk, who suffered from eye pain to the point that he could not look, prayed with tears at the saint’s tomb for healing of his pain and wiped his eyes with the covering that lay on the saint’s tomb. Another said with mockery: “Just to dust your eyes.” The one with the diseased eyes was immediately healed, but the one who laughed was blind. The latter came to his senses and began to cry and pray for forgiveness of his sin and was also healed. One layman was healed of illness up to three times; the illness returned every time he returned to his home. Realizing from the fact that the monk was calling him to himself forever, after the third time he did not return to the house and lived in the monastery of the monk in good health 919. Once abbot Misail was very ill. Sexton Gury went to ring the bell for morning. The noble elder asks him: “Is the abbot healthy?” “He is sick,” said Gury. “Tell him,” said the elder, “let him call the Holy Mother of God and the head of the monastery Savva for help and be healthy; and open the doors for me.” The sexton, not knowing what kind of person he was, did not want to open the door. But he went on his own through the opened doors. The sexton, in fear, called his comrade and began to reproach him: “Why did he leave the doors unlocked?” The comrade replied that he had locked the doors. When they both approached the doors, they found them locked. After Matins, the sexton told the brethren and the abbot what he had seen and heard. The abbot ordered to be carried to the tomb and here after the prayer service he recovered. Hegumen Misail also wrote in a legal act of 1539 that he bought land “for the house of the Most Pure and Wonderworker Savva” 920. Hegumen Athanasius, known from the charters of 1542–1555 921, was a pious man and a strong believer. The same was his cellarer Gerontius. “The memory of the venerable Father Savva has come,” says Markell, “the cellarer Gerontius took the blessing from the abbot and went to tell them to prepare festive food on the day of the saint’s memory.” But the vessel with oil broke. When the cellarer, having told abbot Athanasius about this, added that there was oil in the other vessel, but there was too little of it, the believing abbot replied: “We must place our trust in the Lord and in His saint, the wonderworker Savva, who can multiply even a little; let them prepare the food.” Indeed, there was not only enough oil for food, but there was still plenty left 922. Many other miracles took place through the prayers of the Monk Sava and in subsequent times 923. The most remarkable of them was under Tsar Alexy. Monk Leonty asked God to send him suffering in order to earn a crown. At the end of his usual prayer, an old man with a gray beard and somewhat hunched over, from whom light poured out, enters his cell; he touched the lips of the impudent prayer book, and Leonty fell to the floor unconscious. The brethren, having learned that Leonty was lying unconscious, and recognizing him as having lost his mind, poured water; but he remained in the same condition, so they prepared him for the funeral. But little by little the patient began to show life in himself and on the first day of Easter he came to his senses, but remained without a tongue. During Fomin’s morning service on Sunday, an elder approached him and, pushing him, said: “Get up, why are you sitting?” During the reading of the second kathisma, the same thing happened, and this time Leontius’ language was decided. "Who are you?" – Leonty asked the one who appeared. The elder said something to instruct Leonty, but Leonty, in fear, could not keep his words in his memory. After Matins, he ran straight from the church to Archimandrite Varlaam, fell at his feet in tears of admiration and said: “Bless, father!” Then, in the presence of his brother, he told how his illness began and what happened to him. This happened in 1650, when Varlaam was the first of the abbots of the monastery to be promoted to archimandrite. The Monk Savva once saved the life of Tsar Alexy himself. During an animal hunt, for which Alexei Mikhailovich was a passionate hunter, a huge bear ran at the lonely king; the defenseless king considered himself dead; but the old man unexpectedly appeared and drove the bear away. To the king’s question: “Who saved him?” The elder answered: “Savva, monk of the Storozhevsky monastery.” In the monastery among the living monks, as the king learned, there was not a single Savva at that time - and the king realized that the Monk Savva had saved him. In 1652 (January 19), at the request of Tsar Alexy, the solemn opening of the relics of St. Savva followed 924. Repose of Saint Gury, Archbishop of Kazan Where the Monk Sergius lived with his parents before leaving for the desert, Saint Gury was born in the town of Radonezh, baptized Gregory 925; His parents were noblemen Rugotin, poor and not very famous. In the house of a pious father, the son received a pious upbringing and was taught to read and write. The sons of humble nobles usually served then, if not in the service of the Grand Duke, then in the houses of wealthy princely families. This is how Grigory Rugotin served in the house of Prince Ivan Penkov. Gregory was smart and intelligent, of a meek and compliant disposition, with incorruptible honesty; he loved to go to the church of God to pray, he also prayed in the house; he loved chastity and, protecting it, kept a fast; He gave whatever alms he could to the poor. Gregory's intelligence, strict honesty and pious life gained him a special trust from the prince and his wife: Gregory was entrusted with all management of the princely house. Gregory's comrades began to envy Gregory's happiness. The envy that tormented the poor brought them to the point that they slandered an innocent man before the prince in his criminal connection with the princess. The proud and hot-tempered prince, without sorting out the matter, wanted to kill Gregory. The prince's son was careful; he presented to his father that such reprisals would only disgrace their house, and begged him not to rush into carrying out the sentence, which was so dangerous for themselves. Holding back his outbursts of anger, the prince came up with another measure of revenge. A hole was dug and a frame was lowered into it; This is where he ordered Gregory to be locked up. Only a small hole at the top of the dungeon let light into it, and through the same window they threw a sheaf of oats for Gregory for five days and dipped a little water. The position of the innocent sufferer was difficult: nature turns away from suffering and untruth, and for the first time Gregory could not help but feel bitter sorrow. But his pious soul soon made peace with prison. The martyrs, thought Gregory, endured something else, despite all their holiness; the prison delivered me from worldly temptations and anxieties; this solitude leaves me complete freedom to prepare for eternity - and why live on earth if not for eternity? And so Blessed Gregory “in such trouble, he especially reaches out to the praise of God, enduring and thanking God for everything.” The second year of imprisonment had already passed when one of his comrades in the princely house, who was his friend, begged the stern guard Grigoriev to allow him to go to the prison window and talk to the prisoner; a good comrade came to the window at night and, asking about the condition of the prisoner, volunteered to deliver him decent food. Gregory, thanking his friend for his participation, said: “Without the punishment that I suffer, my soul could have remained unhealed; thanks to God for everything! I have no need for food; and I ask my friend to bring ink and paper - I will write the alphabet, and my friend will sell them and, after buying the paper, will distribute the money to the poor.” So Gregory, even in prison, wanted the children to learn the Law of God, just as he wanted to help the poor, while he himself suffered extreme needs. Two years later, suddenly a light flashed at the door of the dungeon. Gregory, having said a prayer, pushed the door - it opened. The sufferer realized that the Lord would grant him freedom. He took the icon of the Mother of God, which was with him in prison, and went from the prison straight to the monastery of Joseph of Volokolamsk, then known for the strict life of the monks. Accepted into the ranks of the brotherhood, Gregory took monasticism and the name Guria. Monastic life was already familiar to him from prison: there he became accustomed to fasting, to silence, and to constant contemplation of God; They weaned him from his will in the princely house. All that remained for him was to grow in spiritual life, and not learn it from the ABCs. That is why blessed Gury “was a wonderful and lively monk according to the monastic order and custom, obeying the abbot and the brethren,” as blessed Hermogenes writes. Due to his high spiritual life, in 1542 he was elected abbot of the monastery of Joseph. Imbued with concern for the salvation of his soul, he sincerely cared to arouse and maintain concern for his soul among his brethren. His rule was not to equate caring for the external splendor of the monastery with caring for the salvation of souls, much less trying to enrich the monastery. “It’s not good,” he said, “to enrich monasteries through need, because they are no longer empty.” Such management of the monastery attracted both monks and laity to the monastery. Theognost Rugotin, the former abbot of Selizharovo, came under the leadership of Blessed Gury. The king distinguished Blessed Gury with his attention and entered into conversations with him. Having served as rector of the monastery for nine years without two months, blessed Gury, due to illness (prison life ruined his health for the rest of his life), laid aside the concerns of his superiors and lived for two years in peace, in fasting and contemplation of God. Then, by the will of the king, he was appointed abbot of the Selizharov monastery; but he stayed here no more than a year 926. For the conquered Kazan kingdom, the council determined to elect an archbishop. This place of service at that time was extremely important: here one had to be with apostolic zeal and purity of soul in order to fruitfully preach the holy faith to those who did not know it. That is why the election of the archpastor took place in an unusual way. After the metropolitan had performed the prayer service, one of the four lots was taken from the throne, and this was Guria’s lot; then one of the two was taken, and this was again the lot of the blessed man. On February 7, 1555, Saint Gury was ordained Archbishop of Kazan by a council of archpastors. On the part of the tsar, a special salary was assigned to the archpastor of the new and so important diocese and various church supplies were donated; The saints and rich monasteries donated many different things from themselves. The departure and journey of the first Kazan Archbishop to his diocese was the most solemn. On May 26, the Metropolitan, with archpastors and lower clergy, in the presence of the Tsar and his court, served a prayer service in the Assumption Cathedral and accompanied the Archbishop of the newly enlightened region from the Kremlin to the square with a procession of the cross. A prayer service was again celebrated on the square, and the archbishop went along the Moscow River to the Simon Monastery, where he was greeted with the ringing of bells by a cathedral of monks and celebrated the Liturgy in the monastery church. Setting off the next day by water, the archpastor was greeted in every city with prayers and performed prayers himself. Having reached the border of his diocese, where it was planned to build the city of Cheboksary, the saint made a religious procession along the city limits and then served the Liturgy. The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, with which the saint blessed the town, is still intact here - a hotbed of Christianity between the Chuvash and Cheremis 927. The saint's entire journey to Kazan was almost continuous prayer, and it lasted two months 928. The rules that were to be followed and followed by the saint of the newly enlightened country were as follows: first of all, teach the clergy; confirm the newly baptized in faith and piety; to convert wandering Mohammedans and pagans to the holy faith with convictions, without resorting to violence; more than others, noble persons who turn to faith teach the truths of the Gospel in the house of the archpastor; for a Mohammedan and a pagan, convicted by a court for a crime, but accepting the holy faith, to petition the authorities for forgiveness of his guilt 929. The saint, fulfilling these rules, added to this for the success of faith after prayers that in his house they found food and help for all poverty and need. Unbelievers saw that his life was holy love, charitable love for everyone without distinction. In the second year of his ministry, the saint began to build a Zilantov monastery near Kazan. According to the rules of the saint, the monks of this monastery were engaged in teaching children to read and write, mainly the law of God. The pious desire to introduce children to the Christian faith and rules, awakened in prison, now developed in him with special strength. Even to this day, 300 years later, the residents of Kazan do not begin to teach their children to read and write without asking the blessing of the saint from his relics. This is how the saint’s love for the education of children is known in that region. And the labors of the Gospel preacher in the land of darkness were fruitful. The divine man, testifies Hermogenes, one of his successors, brought many souls to Christ through his teaching. For the last three years of his life, Saint Gury lay on his sick bed, unable to perform services or even go to church; but his spirit prayed and through prayer brought down heavenly grace upon his flock. On great holidays they carried it to the Liturgy in the Church of the Annunciation of the Mother of God, built by him; here he sat or even lay, listening to God’s service; his cell was already at the chapel of the passion-bearers Boris and Gleb; but his soul burned with the desire to pray with his flock on days of common praise and prayer. His blessed death followed on December 4, 1563, and his holy body was laid in the Transfiguration Monastery. 32 years after that, they began to build the stone Transfiguration Church on the site of the wooden one, and then the tombs of Saints Gurias and Barsanuphius were opened. “The entire shrine of St. Guria,” says an eyewitness, “was filled with fragrant myrrh, and the relics floated; the holy body was incorruptible; only the upper lip was somewhat touched by smoldering. I myself, unworthy, with my sinful hand touched the holy body and felt how it floated; I also touched the funeral vestments, and they were strong; touched the robe and pulled it hard, but it was stronger than new.” The monk Joasaph was the first to experience the power of incorruptible relics. The daring idea came to him to open the shrine of St. Gurias; but as soon as he touched it, his hands began to burn and they were writhing in unbearable pain; Having recognized his sin, he prayed to the saint for mercy and was healed not only from a new illness, but also from a fever that had tormented him for a long time. The cleric of the cathedral, who suffered greatly from an eye disease, so that he could not eat food, on the day of remembrance of the saint, December 4, ordered him to take him to the saint’s shrine and, venerating the relics, received healing. The healing of clerk Pankratiev is especially remarkable. He was so sick that he was close to death. In grave suffering, he prayed to God and called on the help of the newly-minted miracle workers of Kazan. Then, in a subtle dream, it seemed to him that he saw Archbishop Gury in the cathedral church; the saint wanted to take him by the right hand, but he fell to the ground. Quietly lifting him up, the saint said: “Do not grieve, servant of God John; The Lord has had mercy on you, and you will be healthy; but go and be blessed by my friend Barsanuphius.” The saint himself led him to the right corner of the cathedral, where Bishop Barsanuphius stood, and said: “Brother Barsanuphius! bless John and free him from illness.” Barsanuphius, blessing, said: “Do not grieve, child John! By your faith in God you will be healthy.” Waking up instantly from sleep, John began to cry before the icon of the saint and felt healthy. Saint Gury, through his piety, raised up sincere servants of God in those close to him. Tsar John gave the saint the boyar John Zastolbsky to take care of everyday affairs. The boyar was a rich man, but he served the saint with all zeal and, under the influence of the saint’s piety, he feared sin more than anything else, loved the truth and was strictly honest; He especially served the saint during his illness. His son Nestor, a meek youth, from his youth began to lead a strict life, wore a hair shirt under the clothes of the boyar rank, observed fasting and loved the prayers of the church; with the consent of his good father, he accepted monasticism with the name Nektarios and died as a young monk. Following this, his father also accepted monasticism, with the name Jonah; Having been ill for a short time, Jonah commanded that he be buried near the saint, in the tent that he built for him and where he buried his son. During the discovery of the relics of Saint Gury, the bodies and robes of the monks Jonah and Nektarios, the saint’s faithful disciples, were found incorrupt. Repose of Saint Gennady, Archbishop of Novgorod “Savvaty was always on Valaam, I was his student, and he was an elder to me,” - this is what Blessed Gennady said to Abbot Dositheus of Solovetsky 931. Then, from 1480, we see Gennady Gonzov, “a dignified, intelligent, virtuous and knowledgeable man in the Scriptures,” archimandrite of the Chudov Monastery 932. In 1482, together with the Rostov Archbishop Joasaph, the former Prince of Obolensky, he took the side of the Grand Duke in a dispute about walking around the church during the consecration of a new church; the dispute ended with a concession to the metropolitan's convictions 933; and before that he was subjected to severe punishment by Metropolitan Gerontius for allowing the monks of the Chudov Monastery to drink Epiphany water after the meal, but at the request of the Grand Duke and the boyars he was soon forgiven 934. In 1483, he began to build the first stone church in the Chudov Monastery, in honor of St. Alexis, and first of all, in place of the dilapidated refectory, he built a new stone one 935. The construction of the huge stone church could not be completed soon; Meanwhile, on December 9, 1484, Blessed Gennady was consecrated Archbishop of Novgorod 936. Revered by the great saint of Russia, Gennady did not abandon his concerns about the church in honor of his name. He instructed pious and knowledgeable people to complete the construction and decoration of the church, providing funds for this from himself 937. The main work of his life was the fight against the Jewish heresy - a fight that continued throughout the 19 years of his archpastoral service. As soon as he arrived in Novgorod (at the beginning of 1485), he learned that the heresy of the Judaizers was secretly operating here. The blessed saint burned with zeal for the holy truth of Christ. “Having been launched,” says the Monk Joseph, “on the evil heretics, he rushed at them like a lion from the thicket of the Divine Scriptures and from the red high mountains of the teachings of the prophets and apostles; he tore with his nails the vile wombs, filled with Jewish poison, crushed and tormented with his teeth, and killed on a stone” 938. The first information about the heresy reached the archbishop almost by accident. Four members of the society, in a drunken state, reproaching each other for secret affairs, discovered the existence of an unholy society. The zealous archpastor began a search. Testimonies were taken from those accused of heresy and those involved in the case; witnesses to blasphemous cases were questioned; it was already becoming visible that the heresy had grown into a vast society and its wickedness against Christianity should terrify every sincere Christian. But four, given bail, fled to Moscow without waiting for the end of the research. The saint immediately sent a search to the metropolitan and grand duke upon his report; he begged to take proper measures against the terrible evil 939. At the council of 1488, three convicted of heresy were recognized as worthy of excommunication and civil execution, and the fourth was declared free from trial, since there was only one witness against him; nevertheless, they were returned to their archpastor for admonitions and further investigation of heresy, moreover, it was ordered that the unrepentant be sent to a civil court 940. It was difficult for Gennady to bring the matter to an accurate knowledge; the society kept its affairs in the strictest secrecy; The heretics even renounced their own words with an oath, much less wanted to reveal the secret thoughts of society. But with the help of the civil authorities, evidence was selected, confirmed by the signatures of some of the perpetrators and witnesses; Liturgical notebooks of heretics, Paschalia compiled according to the Jewish calendar, and some special books were found. Especially much was revealed by the priest Naum, who previously himself belonged to a secret society. Gennady accepted the heretics who sincerely confessed their error to church repentance, and betrayed the others to the civil authorities. He forwarded a detailed report with evidence attached to the metropolitan and awaited orders, especially since some Moscow members of the society were also mentioned 941. This performance was no longer as successful in Moscow as the previous one. Metropolitan Gerontius died (May 28, 1489); Kuritsyn, a powerful clerk at the court, a secret member of the society, returned from Hungary and took his friends under his protection. Gennady was not invited to the general affairs of the Church. The Novgorod heretics, having learned about all this, fled to Moscow. Here, under the protection of Kuritsyn, even banned priests performed services, and Dionysius, the court archpriest taken from Novgorod, went so far as to blaspheme the holy cross in the church. Chernets Zacharias, the main leader of the heretics, freely sent letters to the cities, where he denounced Gennady as a heretic. The unrest grew all the more freely because after the death of Gerontius, the metropolitan see remained idle for a year and a half (until September 1490) 942. The fiery Gennady did not remain inactive. He sent a list of previous reports to Bishop Prokhor of Sarah, who ruled the metropolis; asked by a message from two other bishops, Niphon of Suzdal and Philotheus of Perm, to turn pastoral care to the matter of heretics; He also described to them the new audacity of the wicked. When the new Metropolitan Zosima was elected, Gennady, although dissatisfied with some of his orders, urgently asked Zosima to subject the heretics to conciliar excommunication. Gennady did not yet know that Zosima himself belonged to a secret society and was elected through the machinations of its members. But Zosima, even if he wanted to, could not then postpone the matter of heretics. The bishops who were at his installation had Gennady’s reports in their hands. The cathedral opened (October 18, 1490). Based on the investigations presented by Gennady, up to 9 people of clergy were condemned; the Grand Duke sent some to Novgorod to Gennady, and sent others into captivity 943. Gennady betrayed heresy to public shame: heretics were led through the streets in birch bark helmets with bast tassels, with wreaths of straw and with the inscription: “Behold Satan's army” 944. And God’s judgment stamped these people with the seal of wrath. After the conciliar condemnation, Dionysius fell into madness, shouted at different voices and died suddenly; the clerk Istoma's belly is rotten; monk Zacharias suffered a painful death 945. Blessed Gennady was instructed by the council to calculate the Easter numbers for the eighth thousand years 946, a subject at that time that was important in many respects. On the one hand, a false belief has formed among the people that the end of Easter, located for seven thousand years, will certainly be followed by the end of the world 947; on the other hand, the Judaizers, having somehow familiarized themselves with Jewish chronology, pointed it out to the people to reinforce their ridicule of their faith. Blessed Gennady, whatever he did, did it with all the fullness of his soul. From his letter to Archbishop Joasaph, it is clear that he was deeply concerned about weakening the false rumors of the people regarding the expected end of the world and about suppressing the temptations that provided food for heresy. He was not content with a superficial look at the subject of general attention, but wanted to examine it from all sides. He wrote to his friend: “I think, according to Enoch, that the age works for man,” - time for man, and not man for time, “and 7000 years are laid down for human change,” measuring only the changes that followed with people. “According to the Theologian, we must expect death every hour.” “And even then it seems to me,” continues Gennady, “have the heretics stolen our years?” Otherwise, to what extent is Jewish chronology worthy of belief? “Is it true that according to our Easter, the time of doing was not fulfilled?” i.e., should the Greek counting of years be replaced by the Hebrew one? “Talk about this in detail with Paisiy (Yaroslavov) and Nil (Sorsky), and write to me about it. Also, let me know if it’s possible for Paisius and Nila to visit me? It would be good to talk to them about those heresies.” Blessed Gennady in 1492 compiled a definition of Easter numbers for 70 years of the eighth thousand years and wrote “the Easter rotary key for 532 years,” in which not only in the whole eighth thousand years, but also further one can find the Easter number of both years 948. He sent out a circular message to his flock along with Easter with the main idea that people are not allowed to know about the day and hour of Christ’s Coming, and therefore it is criminal to even talk about it 949. Blessed Gennady not only was not cruel towards heretics, on the contrary, he was very lenient, but the heretics used his lenience only for evil. The Monk Joseph of Volokolamsk testifies: “The heretics, fearing execution, began to repent with oaths; Archbishop Gennady, believing their repentance, gave them freedom, and as soon as they received it, they all rushed to run and dispersed to many cities and villages and dispelled their wicked teaching.” The ignorance of the people at that time was fully consistent with the arrogant insolence with which those carried away by false opinions were ready to trample both conscience and holy faith into the dirt. Less than three years had passed after the severe punishment to which the convicted heretics were subjected, when the heretics who had escaped trial with shameless impudence began to preach their wickedness again. The false belief of the simple-minded about the end of the world, which turned out to be unfounded, gave food to their insolence. “If Christ is the Messiah,” they said, “why does He not appear in glory, as you expected?” They now laughed at the resurrection of the dead. In Gennady's flock, false teachers worried people in villages and monasteries. Metropolitan Zosima gave free rein to evil and even punished bold denouncers of wickedness. At the request of clerk Theodore Kuritsyn, Archimandrite Cassian, as daring as he was a heretic of a bad life, was sent to the Novgorod Yuriev Monastery; Hoping for the protection of Moscow, he began to gather heretics who had fled from Novgorod and did not want to look at Gennady. It’s hard to even talk about what wickedness was preached, what abominations were committed in the meetings of Novgorod heretics 950. What was it like for a fiery zealot of Orthodoxy and a sincere shepherd of souls to look at this situation of his flock! He called upon the Monk Joseph of Volokolamsk to help him, and both of them, despite the strength of heresy at court, firmly rebelled against heresy. They finally achieved that Metropolitan Zosima (1494) laid aside his omophorion. The Novgorod archpastor, out of zeal against heresy, sent out translations of works against the Jews - the works of the translator Dimitri Gerasimov. One of his most important services to the Church of his time and subsequent times was that through his care all the books of the Holy Scriptures were collected into one general composition 951. This, on the one hand, protected the simple-minded from the deceptions into which heretics drew them, passing off forged and even fabulous works as sacred books 952. On the other hand, it delivered to the friends of Orthodoxy the book that was necessary for them at all times, while its hitherto fragmented parts were not easy to find even for the Novgorod archpastor himself. The work of the blessed archpastor was highly valued in the Holy Church. Of the currently known copies of the Gennadiev Bible, one belonged to Metropolitan Varlaam, who gave it to the Sergius Lavra as an expensive contribution, for commemoration according to his soul; the other belonged to Tsar Ivan the Terrible, who sent it to Prince Ostrozhsky to guide the publication of the Bible; the third was owned by the Ryazan bishop. Blessed Gennady, with his zeal for Orthodoxy, was so prudent that, feeling the need for a complete collection of the books of Holy Scripture, but not being able to find them all in an ancient translation from Greek, he commissioned the translation of some of them from Jerome's Latin translation, and the translation was completed by the Slav hieromonk Benjamin 953; The first 9 chapters of the book of Esther were translated directly from Hebrew, probably by the newly baptized Jew Daniel, who came to Gennady from Kyiv, as he himself mentioned in his letter to the metropolitan 954. Although the valiant warrior of Christ's truth did not have to participate in the actions of the council (from December 1504), which finally overthrew the heresy and its defenders; but he had the consolation of seeing and hearing that his exploits for the holy faith were blessed by the Church and her Lord 955. The following is known about the activities of the blessed saint on other subjects: Pskov greatly insulted him with all the love that the blessed shepherd showed him. In 1485, when he first entered the flock, he sent the Pskovites a “blessed letter” with a rich gift 956. But when in the fall of the same year he sent his boyar to Pskov and with him hegumen Euthymy, who was the treasurer of Pskov, so that they would compile an inventory of churches and monasteries with their clergy, and Euthymy remained his governor in Pskov: “The Pskovites did not comply with his will,” they did not fulfill his will 957. The next year, he himself went to them and, since at that time they were worried against the Grand Duke about the rights of slaves, “he appeared at their veche meeting and, having taught a blessing to the people, for a long time offered pastoral instruction and, finally, left a letter” of the same love 958. The insult to the blessed archpastor was even more harsh in 1499. As was the custom of his predecessors, he arrived in Pskov to perform pastoral prayers for his Pskov flock and then begin to consider court cases. The Pskovites extended their insolence to the point that they “forbade their priests to serve with him and the prosphora makers to prepare prosphora” 959. What does this mean? What is the reason for such insolence? “The Pskovites,” says the chronicle, “did not allow him to perform conciliar service: you, they said, want to pray to God for Grand Duke Vasily, and our mayors went to Grand Duke John on this matter” 960. So the fact is that the Pskovites, having declared in their council that the autocratic sovereign’s order regarding the heir to the throne was unjust, rebelled against their archpastor. They subsequently paid Vasily for this gross insult by losing their freedom 961. Here is another feat of the blessed archpastor, which brings the greatest honor to both his mind and heart, and for which, however, he suffered many troubles in his time! “I asked the sovereign,” he writes to the metropolitan, “to order the establishment of schools; For the honor of my sovereign and for the salvation of the common, I reminded of this, and it would be easy for us. When they bring a competent protege to me, I order him to learn the litany and I do so, then, having taught him how to perform the Divine service, I release him immediately. And such people do not complain about me. But then they bring a man to me: I order him to give the Apostle, but he doesn’t even know how to step; I order him to give the psalter, and even then he can hardly walk; I refuse him, and they shout: “The land is like that, sir! We can’t get anyone who can read and write.” You see, he barked at the whole earth, as if there was not a single one who should be elected to the priesthood. They ask me: “Please, sir, order me to teach.” And I order the litanies to be taught: but he doesn’t even know how to stick to a word; you tell him one thing, and he says another. I order you to learn the alphabet. After studying a little, they ask to go home, they don’t want to study. That is why they scold me, because of their negligence. I can’t bet on ignoramuses. That is why I beg the sovereign to establish a school, so that with his wisdom and thunder, and with your blessing, this matter will come to order... My advice on what to teach in the school is this: first the alphabet with a full interpretation and respectful words, then the psalter with recitation; if they learn this, they can then teach a lesson, with preparation, and canonarch and read any book. Otherwise, ignorant men teach for money and only spoil things; moves away from the master and does not know how to do anything; He barely wanders through the book, but he doesn’t know the church order at all... Will such people be Orthodox? In my opinion, they are not suitable for priests. God said about them: “You have rejected My understanding, and I will reject you, so that you cannot be My servant.” Our lord and father! I was concerned about this before the Sovereign Grand Duke” 962. A late chronicler speaks with lively gratitude about Blessed Gennady: “He ordained as priests and deacons those who had studied with him for a long time; The presbyters and deacons appointed by him were so enlightened that they turned out to be lamps of the world, true shepherds and teachers of the flock entrusted to them, and all people received great benefit from them” 963. In a letter (1499) to the Metropolitan, Gennady also wrote: “You, sir, spoke about subdeacons, that those who are appointed young and unmarried, and promise to maintain virginity, are given the freedom to enter the deacon and priestly ranks; but whoever gets married after that cannot receive either the deacon’s or the priest’s rank.” Gennady, for his part, proposed introducing a rule to ordain deacons and presbyters in no other way than married people. The blessed archpastor repeated his proposal at the council of 1501, and then it was decided to require that those seeking the priesthood be married, and that widowed priests and deacons should not perform the Liturgy 964. In August 1503, Gennady signed the council’s resolution not to charge fees for protege affairs either to the bishop, or to his treasurer and clerk (secretary), which was a useful measure against the cry of heretics. In June 1504, the Grand Duke summoned Gennady to Moscow, and here the archbishop presented the bishop with a letter, by which he renounced the administration of the diocese and decided to “live monastically in the monastery, in submission and obedience.” The zealous archpastor had many enemies: heretics, ignorant priests with their patrons, and Pskovites. Of course, they took advantage of the tyranny of his clerk, slandered the blessed archpastor before the Grand Duke, and he decided to retire into solitude 965. He chose the Chudov Monastery as a place of solitude, where he worked so hard for St. Alexei. Here he “resigned himself to God” on December 4, 1505 966; His honorable body was laid in the St. Michael's Church, in the very place where the incorrupt body of St. Alexis lay before it was transferred to the new church of St. Alexis 967. The writings of Blessed Gennady are edifying for subsequent times. He did not condone the passion for ritual piety among his contemporaries and condemned those who used this passion for personal gain. Will not those who trade in external civilization turn this into an instruction for themselves? In the addition to his Paschal it is written: “Judge both equally. Firstly, threefold hallelujah, and in the fourth - glory to You, God, reveals the Trinitarian and indivisible Divinity. And a special hallelujah reveals one Divinity in two natures. Otherwise, just as a person speaks in his thoughts, so does good.” In the same Paschal, the member of faith about the Holy Spirit reads like this: “and in the Holy Spirit of the Lord, the Life-Giving One” 968. Repose of Venerable Nektarios of Bitelsky When the Turks intended to capture Bitel, the mother of Nicholas, later Nektaria 969, working on the threshing floor, fell into a short sleep and saw: the Most Pure One commanded her to flee with her husband and children and hide somewhere; The Turks, the Most Pure One said, are ready to capture the entire region. When she who had been rewarded with the vision announced this to her husband, without any hesitation the whole family left their native place; The Turks then plundered and devastated Bitel 970, and the pious family saved their lives from the terrible savages. Nikolai’s parent was already advanced in years and therefore, with the consent of his wife, settled in the monastery of the unmercenaries, located on the mountain adjacent to Bitel; he took his son Nikolai with him. Here he accepted monasticism with the name Pachomius and labored diligently for the Lord. Local Christians had a good habit of giving part of the fruits of the earth to the benefit of the monastery of the unmercenaries, who so wonderfully rewarded love for them. Nicholas, striving for a higher life and worried about visiting the laity, went to Athos. Here he asked the ascetic Dionysius to take him under his control. When Dionysius asked Elder Philotheus for advice on this, he, who did not personally know Nicholas, named him and his father by name and lovingly accepted him as his novices. Soon Nicholas accepted monasticism with the name Nektarios and unconditionally surrendered himself to the will of Elder Philotheus. In vain did the spirit of malice try to stir up Nektarios against the elder; not having time to do this, he aroused anger in another novice of the elder against Nectarius himself: he directly began to tell Philotheus and Dionysius that if they did not send Nectarius away, he would kill Nectarius. In vain did the elders admonish the unfortunate man and ask him to pacify his heart; In order to give room to anger, the elders suggested that Nektarios withdraw from them for a while until his envious brother came to his senses. Nectarius passed on to Archpriest Daniel. When blessed Philotheus died, Dionysius, no longer able to bear the bad character of the novice, said to him: let him go wherever he wants, but he received Nectarios to himself. Dionysius and Nektarios were engaged in handicrafts and, feeding themselves, gave alms to the poor. Blessed Dionysius, full of days, died. Saddened to the depths of his soul by the separation from his beloved elder, Nektarios turned with all his soul to eternity: he redoubled his prayers, fasting and labors. Lately he had been suffering from a severe illness; but he endured the suffering patiently. Purified by exploits and illness, he peacefully surrendered his spirit to God on December 5, 1500. Five years after his death, the disciples opened the coffin, and a fragrance filled the air. The relics were placed in the ark, and the monk was depicted on the top board of the ark. Repose of Blessed Maxim, Metropolitan Blessed Maxim, a Greek by birth, who arrived in Kyiv with the rank of Metropolitan of All Russia in 1283 971, experienced many sorrows during his ministry. As soon as he arrived in Kyiv, he went to the horde to the khan in order to be confirmed in his rank. The following year, he invited the bishops of Russia to his place, probably in order to announce the contents of the khan's label on the clergy 972. In 1285, he himself traveled to the dioceses of Russia to supervise the deanery 973. It was then that his future successor, the blessed abbot Peter 974, met him. Then he was in Novgorod and Vladimir 975. In 1295, business forced him to come to Vladimir again - he deposed Bishop Jacob from the see here and consecrated Simon 976. In the south, near the Tatars, only with a sword in hand could one at times have peace. The robbery and violence of the Tatar authorities in 1299 reached the point in Kyiv that it was no longer possible to live. “All of Kyiv fled,” says the chronicle. – Metropolitan Maxim, not being able to endure the violence of the Tatars, hastily retired from Kyiv to Bryansk; and from here he moved with all his property to the Suzdal land” 977. It was not easy for the saint to part with the ancient place of the pulpit and look for a new one. His predecessor spent most of his time in Vladimir 978, where the Grand Duke lived; but his department remained in Kyiv. Now I had to make another decision. The princes and shepherds of the north, of course, will be pleased with the proximity of the metropolitan to them; but the princes and shepherds of the south will not be happy with his removal from Kyiv. In the very north, the place of the Grand Duke is so precarious: now he is in Vladimir, now in Pereyaslavl, now in Tver. What to do? The blessed metropolitan poured out warm prayers before the Mother of God to show him the will of God. And the Mother of God, the good Mother of the suffering, calmed the saint with Her appearance. The icon, contemporary to the saint, depicts Saint Maximus receiving the omophorion from the hands of the Mother of God. The inscription on the icon, although not contemporary with the icon, says: “This holy and miraculous image of the Most Holy Theotokos was written in the summer of 6807 (1299) according to the vision of Maxim, Metropolitan of Vladimir and All Rus', a miracle worker, Grechin by birth; When he came from Kyiv to Vladimir and fell asleep little from the journey in his cell, Abiye saw, as if in reality, a great and unusual light, and in that light the Most Pure Virgin Mother of God appeared to him, holding the Eternal Child in her hand and the verb: My servant Maxima! You came well to visit My city, and gave him an omophorion, saying: accept this omophorion and feed the verbal sheep in My city. He got excited from sleep and saw no one in his cell. And the omophorion was found in his hand. He was overcome with fear for many hours, told the story to the Grand Duke Andrei and built an ark of gold and placed that omophorion in it, and this miracle became famous throughout the Russian land and Palestine. And he commanded that this image be painted in the same likeness as St. Maximus. And the holy omophorion during the time of the godless Tsarevich Talych, when he captured the city and destroyed it, it is unknown where he died” 979. After a calming vision, the saint boldly began to give orders for his department. He transferred Bishop Simeon of Vladimir to Rostov and took over the Vladimir diocese; The entire metropolitan clergy was transferred to Vladimir, and the metropolitan's governors began to live in Kyiv to supervise the deanery. The following year he was in Novgorod, where he and two bishops consecrated Archbishop Theoktistus 981. In the middle of 1301, he sat at the Council of Constantinople, where, by his will, Theognostus, Bishop of Sarai, proposed questions about the needs of the Russian Church for resolution and wrote down the answers 982. Probably, upon returning from this council, the Metropolitan sent out to “all faithful Christians” a rule on fasting and maintaining a legal marriage 983. When, after the death of Grand Duke Andrei, the grand-ducal throne, by right of eldership, should have been taken by the Tver prince Mikhail Yaroslavich, and Yuri of Moscow, out of lust for power, went into the horde to seek the same throne, the blessed saint lovingly persuaded Yuri to abandon his bad intentions. Yuri was not the type to obey the saint; He didn’t care and brazenly lie before the saint: “I’m going, father, to the Horde, but I don’t want a great reign,” said Yuri. This was in 1304. The following year, the saint with consolation placed blessed Prince Michael on the grand-ducal throne in Vladimir 984. On December 6, 1305, the saint completed the feat of his earthly life and was laid in the Vladimir Cathedral 985. His name is in the ancient calendar, where he is called a saint and wonderworker 986. The “legend about the holy and blessed Metropolitan Maxim” 987 is also known. New news says that while adjusting the floor in the Vladimir Cathedral, the lid from his coffin was accidentally moved and his relics and clothing were seen in the coffin 988 . Saint Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, confessor and writer The life of Theophilus provides evidence of the powerful action of Holy Scripture. He was born into paganism, but, having received an extensive education, he wished to become acquainted with the Holy Scriptures and, from reading them, was convinced of the truth of faith in Christ. “I didn’t believe,” he says, “in the resurrection, but now I believe, after thinking carefully; I found the Holy Scriptures of the holy prophets, who by the Holy Spirit prophesied about the past as it happened, about the present as it happens, and about the future in the order in which it will happen. And so, when I am sure that what is happening now was predicted, I no longer remain an unbeliever, but believe and obey God” 989. And, having earned his election as a bishop to the throne of Antioch (in 168), Theophilus justified this high trust in him with various activities in this field in a truly Christian spirit. Eusebius testifies to him as one of the shepherds who “strained their strength in the fight against heretics, ready to destroy the flock of God like the tares that devastated the pure field of the Apostolic teaching,” as one of the shepherds who “admonished the brethren partly with exhortations and warnings, partly with instructions to the heretics, sometimes oral, sometimes in writing” 990. He also worked on the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, and in general, worked a lot on enlightening the pagans. Bishop Theophilus’ book “On Faith,” which has survived to this day, is considered one of the best works of the ancient world. “She shows in the writer an extensive acquaintance with pagan philosophers and poets,” His Eminence Philaret, Archbishop of Chernigov, speaks of her, “his view of Christian teaching is deep and clear. An educated teacher explains the Christian sacraments to an educated pagan according to philosophical principles and at the same time maintains fidelity to the revealed truth. The entire work was written with animation and under the influence of meek love,” 991 and it concludes with the conviction on the part of Theophilus: “Read his book carefully and impartially.” Having the goal of instilling faith in one educated but adamant pagan to the truth of Christ (Autolycus), for whom Bishop Theophilus undertook the book “On Faith,” he writes, among other things: “you demand: show me your God... I answer you: show me your man, and I will show you my God. Show that the eyes of your soul see and the ears of your heart hear.” “God is visible only to those who can see Him, that is, whose spiritual eyes are open. Everyone has eyes, but some of them are so darkened that they cannot see the light of the sun; nevertheless, the sun does not lose its shine because the blind do not see... If a person has sin, he cannot contemplate God.” “Wickedness darkens you, and you cannot see God” (§1-4). “Draw me the image of God,” the pagan demands. “God is incomprehensible and incomprehensible to man; “man sees only the properties of God that are comprehensible to him,” answers Theophilus, admonished by the Holy Scriptures, and then describes the properties of God (§ 6) and His deeds as the Creator and Provider (§ 7–10). “Let them show me a resurrected dead man,” says the pagan. Theophilus replies: “I would show you the Risen One, who is still alive; but you will not believe even that”... and then shows him lessons about the resurrection in nature itself; by his own example he convinces him to believe the teaching of the resurrection of the Holy Scriptures; asks him to read it, threatening God’s judgment on those who disobey the will of God (§ 18–20) 992. After 13 years of ruling the Church, Saint Theophilus died around the year 181, having survived the persecution that took place under Marcus Aurelius. Repose of St. Anthony of Siysk The parents of Blessed Anthony, in the world of Andrei, were rich and pious farmers of the Dvina volost, the village of Kekhty, who came from Novgorod 993. Andrei was their eldest son and was gifted and handsome; sent to learn to read and write, he soon learned it; then he learned icon painting; Having entered into the strength of a youth, he was respectful to his parents, but had no desire for their occupation, agriculture; His favorite pastime was painting icons, then going to the church of God. After the death of his parents, he went to Novgorod and served there for five years with a boyar; on his advice he got married, but a year later his wife died, and he decided to part with the vanity of the world. Returning to his home, he distributed his share to the poor and, wearing only his clothes, went to the Pachomius Hermitage on the Kena River. On the road, having fallen asleep, he saw in a dream: a handsome man, with a cross in his hand, said to him: “Take up your cross and do not be afraid to undertake the feat,” and overshadowed him with the cross. Waking up, he spent the rest of the night in prayer. Blessed Pachomius, having dressed him in monastic clothes with the name Anthony, kept him in his cell. He was 30 years old and it was in 1508 994. Anthony was the first to appear in the church for prayer; worked in the kitchen, carrying water and preparing firewood; I took food every other day and then not until I was full; I constantly kept the memory of death and the Judgment in my heart. Initiated into hieromonasticism, one performed service in the church - there was no other hieromonk - and at the same time went to work along with others; His health was so strong that he could work for two. Out of love for desert solitude, with the blessing of the abbot, he left the Pachomius Hermitage and with two brothers, Alexander and Joachim, went to the Sheleksna River; here a place was chosen for desert life, a small church of St. Nicholas and several cells were erected, this was in 1513. Four more monks joined the three hermits, and the monk lived here for seven years. Neighboring residents began to crowd out the hermits, and they went even further to the north 995. In the deep north, a trapper showed the hermits a place convenient for desert life, Mikhailov Island, surrounded by deep lakes and washed on one side by the Sieya River, flowing from the lakes. The place was completely wild, tundra and forest, lakes and thickets impassable; there are a lot of deer, foxes, bears, wolves, and only from time to time trappers came here, chasing animals, but people have not yet lived here. Anthony built a chapel here and a hut for himself and his brothers. This was in 1520, in the 42nd year of Antonieva’s life. Three years were spent here in extreme poverty and hard work: Anthony cleared the forest and dug the earth to make the place bearable for living; the brethren began to grumble about poverty; but unexpectedly an unknown lover of Christ delivered them bread, flour, butter and, in addition, money to build the monastery. The revenue collector of the Novgorod Archbishop Vasily Bebr, confident that Anthony had a lot of money, decided to obtain a rich income for himself; he sent people known to him to rob the hermits: but afterwards he himself repentantly told Anthony that the predators imagined that the monastery was surrounded by guards 996 . From that time on, pilgrims began to visit the deserts of Anthony and bring means of subsistence. When the number of students increased, the two eldest - Alexander and Isaiah - were sent to Moscow to ask Grand Duke Vasily for permission to occupy a wild place as a desert monastery, and a letter was received; then a vast wooden church of the Holy Trinity was built. The local church image was painted by Anthony himself and placed in the iconostasis with prayer singing. Once after the morning singing they left an unextinguished candle; the church was engulfed in flames when all the brethren were at work with Anthony; the entire church and all the utensils were burned, only the Anthony icon of the Holy Trinity remained. A new church was built and another one was warm for meals. At the general request of the brethren, Anthony accepted the title of abbot, but continued to be an example of love for work; He was in the church every day at every service and then, in thin clothes, he either cleared the forest, then worked in the arable land, or was engaged in icon work. He did not like idleness either in himself or in others; he cared for the sick with fatherly love; his food and clothing were the same for everyone; He considered drunkenness an intolerable sin. The monk instilled in the brethren never to be carried away by anger, but to live in meekness, patience and love. Even during Anthony’s lifetime, healings were obtained with the icon of the Holy Trinity. The spread of Antony's fame did not amuse Antony; visitors and the efforts of the authorities were annoying, taking time away from silence. Therefore, having chosen his disciple Theoctistus in his place, Anthony and one simple monk settled in a place that was not easily accessible: the place was surrounded by mountains like walls, the mountains were covered with forest, and at the foot of the mountains there was Lake Padun; on the slope of the mountain between the birches a chapel with a cell was erected, and here Anthony began to labor in silence. The nights were spent in prayer, and during the day he earned food for himself with the labor of his hands; on hot days he sat naked to the waist, and mosquitoes tormented his body. So two years passed. Theoktist refused the abbess, and the brothers announced to Anthony that if he did not accept the abbess again, they would disperse in different directions. Anthony was forced to become abbot again. Before his death, at the request of his disciples, he left a spiritual letter. “Brothers and fathers! – he wrote. “You see, old age has befallen me, a sinner, and I am often exposed to illness, which I am still aggravated by.” All my illnesses tell me about one thing - about death and about the terrible judgment of that life. My heart is confused by the terrible outcome, and the fear of death has attacked me. With your love you compel me, a sinner, to write how you should live after my death. The Lord God sees my iniquities, and my sins are in your eyes. You are asking beyond my strength. You saw that I was not an example of a single virtue. You called me, a sinner, your father, shepherd and teacher; but I am not a shepherd or a teacher. One is the Shepherd Christ. Through my foolishness, I, a sinner, have ruined your God-pleasing life. But I do not despair of my salvation, but hope for the mercy of God and your prayers. God says: I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13). With your holy prayers, according to the word of the prophet, I place my sorrow on the Lord: let him do with me what He pleases; He wants everyone to be saved and come to understand the truth. Much would need to be written to you from the Holy Scriptures. But you know that I can only partially read; Yes, and I fear my Lord Christ, who said that first you need to do it yourself and then teach. So, I entrust my monastery and you to God and His Most Pure Mother and St. Sergius. I assign you to the monastery, at your request, Elder Cyril as a builder; let the priests decide monastic affairs together at a meal, in front of all the brethren. If some obstinate and schismatics do not want to live according to the monastic order, do not obey the builder and the brethren, they will be kicked out of the monastery in fear of others; if such a one returns with repentance, then accept him as your own, forgive him and not consider him an enemy, but a brother... First of all, have the fear of God in your soul, so that the Holy Spirit may dwell in you and teach you all the truth. Live a common life, in spirit and body, in food and clothing, according to the commandment of the holy fathers. Let the builder be content with the fraternal meal, without adding anything to himself; the same - in clothes and shoes, unless at special discretion. Do not keep intoxicating drugs in the monastery and do not accept them from those who love Christ. The female sex should not spend the night in a monastery, and laymen should not spend the night in cells with their brothers. Give the poor plenty to drink and feed; give alms so that this holy place does not become poor. The healthy of the brethren, for their salvation, should not remain without work. Do not allow courtyards to be built around the monastery; let the barnyard stand behind the lake. Please keep this. May the mercy of God and the Most Pure Mother of God and the prayers of St. Sergius be with you, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen” 997. Having transferred the management of the monastery to his disciple, the Monk Anthony rested peacefully in the 79th year of his life, December 7, 1556 998. The memory of St. Anthony was established to be celebrated in 1579. According to the scribe book of 1627, we see in the Siya monastery a church in the name of St. Anthony of Siya 999. The faithful servant of God became famous for many miracles that were performed either at his relics, or by his appearances in the house of the sick or at sea. Here is one of the remarkable cases. The priest of the neighboring village of Khariton, out of ordinary envy, aroused murmurs against the monastery among the surrounding residents and blasphemed its venerable founder. One day he was walking to vespers and suddenly became blind. A few days later he realized his sin and began to repent of it; when he called Anthony for help, his sight returned, and after that he entered the Siysky monastery. The Monk Siysky loved to paint holy icons. His hands remain in his monastery, in addition to the miraculous image of the Holy Trinity, the icon of the Mother of God; in many other places in the Arkhangelsk region, icons of his skillful writing are still intact. Under him, many of the brethren were engaged in painting icons. This love for icon painting remained in his monastery for a long time even after his death. Nowadays a book with drawings from the 17th century, 1000, is kept there. Even after his death, the monk showed through one of his miracles that he considered decorating churches with icons to be a holy work. Pitirim, the former abbot of the Komel Nikolaev monastery, living in retirement in the Siysky monastery, spent a lot of time writing new icons and renovating old ones; but he became seriously ill; the illness finally intensified to the point that he was close to death. In a subtle dream, he sees that an old man, bent in years, but handsome, covered with gray hair, is walking from the tomb of the monk to his cell. “Do you want to be healthy and finish what you started?” – the old man asked the sick man. “I want to, but I can’t,” answered Pitirim. “The Holy Trinity heals you,” said the one who appeared, “do not weaken in your work: I, Abbot Anthony, have come to visit you in illness.” Pitirim felt healthy. The merchant was sailing with goods to the mouth of the Dvina - there was also monastery fish in his carbaz - a storm arose, the waves rolled in mountains; swimmers despaired of salvation. Suddenly, the merchant sees an old man near him, who uses his mantle to drive away the waves from the carbaz. “You call on many for help,” he said to the astonished man, “but you don’t call on me, although there is property here of our monastery, but God will ensure silence.” “Who are you, man of God?” - asked the swimmer. The one who appeared called himself Anthony and became invisible. From that moment the sea began to calm down, and a fair wind blew. The merchant arrived at the monastery and took monastic vows here. Memory of St. Gregory The fatherland of Saint Gregory, the ktitor of the Athos monastery Gregoriates, was Serbia. This is what legend says and this is what is said in his service. The traveler Barsky, on his first visit to Athos, saw many Slavic books in the Gregory Monastery, a monument to the fact that the Slavs labored here, although later the Greeks took over the monastery. In the west of the monastery, a quarter of an hour’s journey from the monastery (about a mile), the cave in which the Monk Gregory labored is still known. The monastery built by the monk was dedicated to St. Nicholas, but, both in ancient times and now, in honor of its founder, it is called Gregory’s. According to the acts of Mount Athos, the signature of St. Gregory was found under the act of 1405. Unfortunately, both the act and the description of the reverend’s life disappeared somewhere. According to the Greeks, both the papers and books of the monastery and the relics of St. Gregory were carried away by Serbian monks from Athos in the fire of 1761. If only this were true! 1001 Repose of St. Cyril of Chelm The Monk Kirill of Chelm was one of the educators of the wild land of Chud. This was especially what the foreign ambassador, who was in Moscow in 1516 and 1524, had in mind when he wrote: “The hermit monks, having for a long time sowed the word of God among the idolaters with a generous hand, many of them had long since been converted to the Christian faith... Suffering hunger and endangering their very lives, they did not expect and did not seek any benefits for themselves; their only goal was to please the Lord and convert lost souls to the path of truth” 1002. The Belozersky prince, jealous of the successes of the holy faith among the wild Chud (this was the noble prince Gleb Vasilyevich, t 1278), after punishing the “white-eyed Chud” for the villainous attacks on the Belozersky settlements of Christians, founded the city of Kargopol in Karkun-puoli (in the bearish side) 1003. A sincere disciple of the Gospel of Christ, Blessed Vassian soon founded the Spassky monastery here, serving as an example of patient love for everyone 1004. About 30 years after the death of Vassianova, the Monk Kirill settled on Mount Chelma, 50 versts from Kargopol. He was tonsured at the monastery of St. Anthony the Roman, he tested himself in this monastery for 5 years with feats of obedience, for 3 years he wandered through the deserts, looking for a place to his liking, finally came to the wild Kargopol side and, at the notice of God, chose the secluded mountain Chelma for his permanent residence. The place was wild, but beautiful. At the foot of the mountain on one side there is a vast lake Lekshma, on the other there is a small lake Chelma with a river flowing through it. The mountain was covered with forest and in the summer there were a lot of berries in the grass. For the hermit, the most precious thing was that the place was completely quiet and deserted. Kirill’s desert-loving soul preferred the wild side to others that he saw, and because this side was already familiar to him; he decided to devote his life to serving the highest interests of the poor, but close to the soul of his country. According to the story of his life, his brother Korniliy, after three years of Kirillov’s stay on Mount Chelma, came to him and then soon left him, retired to the Vologda side, which suggests the idea of ​​the Belozersky region as native to the brothers 1006. Be that as it may, the hermit, having chosen Chelm Mountain for his stay, spent his first winter in a cramped cave, which he dug for himself on the eastern side of the mountain. Then he built himself a “cell” and a chapel with it. Here, caring little about the comforts of temporary life, he spent his time in prayer and fasting. For the Lord he endured both the harshness of the climate and the lack of means of subsistence. He dug the ground with a hoe, planted simple vegetables and ate herbs. The spirits of evil did not like the hermit very much; they wanted to drive him out of his way. Once there was a terrible noise around the cell, and voices were heard: let’s push his cell into the lake. The monk turned with earnest prayer to the Lord, and the prayer drove the unclean downhill into an impenetrable quagmire, which is still called “Cyril’s Trust.” The hermit had to experience many sorrows from the white-eyed miracle, which, moving away from Kargopol, now lived on the shores of lakes - the “raw foodists” tried to drive him away. They cut down the trees that grew along the mountain and set them on fire; the flame was approaching the hermit’s cell and chapel and was ready to destroy him; but the prayer of faith saved the righteous; Only the meager reserves of the hermit, which were in the half-mountain, were burned. The hermit thanked the Lord for his miraculous salvation and began to live peacefully as before. Chud began to think that the hermit was a rich man. She attacked him at night and demanded treasure. The hermit pointed to his only wealth - the icon of the Mother of God. Not soon, but the word of meek faith and the example of Kirill’s holy life penetrated into the hearts of the wild miracle; Little by little, the “filthy raw foodists” turned to the Gospel light and received Holy Baptism 1007. They came “to the holy father and listened in sweetness to faith, about Holy Baptism and about all the commandments of God, and drank to the fullness of his teachings.” There was a small Christian population in the Kargopol region when Cyril began his asceticism on Chelm Mountain. “Beahu was not yet baptized, living in the surrounding places, having the Chud language and faith: even at that time Orthodoxy began to flourish in that place and piety to spread.” But under the influence of many years of ascetic life and the gentle instructions of Kirill, “all Chudyan received Holy Baptism.” The monk spent a whole 52 years on Chelm Mountain; In the last half of his desert life, he built the Church of the Epiphany of the Lord, and few zealots of desert life gathered to him. Having reached a very old age, he felt the proximity of his death and asked the Lord for the mercy of seeing his confessor. Through his prayer, the abbot of the Vassian Hermitage, Joseph, visited him; The monk confessed, received the Holy Mysteries and earnestly asked the abbot to visit him again. Having said goodbye to his confessor, the holy elder, being 82 years old, peacefully surrendered his spirit to the Lord on December 8, 1367. Hegumen Joseph found the ascetic deceased and committed his holy body to the earth 1008. In 1419, on the site of his exploits, a new church was built in honor of the Epiphany of the Lord, with a chapel in honor of the Great Martyr Catherine. A few years after his death, an image of the monk was painted. And then this is what happened. In the monastery of the monk lived the monk Anthony, who had been blind for several years. Hearing that the image of the monk was painted, he left his cell and sat thinking: how did they paint it? In his young years, he saw the monk, often came to him to receive a blessing and brought him something for life. He approached the image, prayed with tears, and when he kissed it, he suddenly regained his sight. “That’s exactly what the monk was like,” he said, examining the image with delight. In subsequent times, many miracles took place at the relics of the saint. Once the monk preserved his monastery when, through the carelessness of one, it was almost destroyed by fire. Originally from Thebes of Egypt, he, having reached adulthood, withdrew into the desert and labored in labor, prayer and fasting. When wanderers began to visit and bother him, seeking advice and prayers, he retired to Constantinople and, near the Blachernae Church near the city wall, made himself a hut, and remained in it until his death, which followed in old age in the 6th century. He was buried in the Church of John the Baptist. During his lifetime, God glorified him with the gift of clairvoyance and miracles. Saint Andrew of Crete (712) composed two words of praise in his honor, where he mentions the miracles he performed: the healing of a blind man, the healing of a man suffering from water sickness and possessed by a demon, and the healing of a woman’s breast cancer. Holy Apostles: Sosthenes, Apollos, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, Cephas and Onesiphorus About them, see the Council of the 70th, January 4th, also September 7th and 10th, and March 30th. Memory of the blessed despots John and his parents, Stefan and Angelina Brankovich It is not easy to find in the history of rulers where life would be as full of vicissitudes and troubles as the life of the blessed Despot of Serbia Stefan Brankovich and his family 1009. In 1457, the Turks captured Serbia, and the despot George Branković died as a wanderer in Belgrade. The youngest son Lazar, having driven out the elder and poisoned his mother, assumed the rights of a despot, but died a month later. Stefan was the middle son of the despot George. From his youth he was distinguished by meekness, was respectful to his parents, loved his brothers, was excellently educated, and especially knew the Holy Scriptures. When the father, for the peace of Serbia, was forced to give his daughter to Sultan Murat, then Stefan and his sister went to the court of the Sultan. Here Stefan was strongly seduced by both a luxurious life and the indulgences of ambition and vanity; but Stefan remained firm. Then court envy managed to arouse political suspicion against the sons of the despot. Such brave people as the sons of a despot are dangerous for the Turkish government, they told the Sultan. And the Sultan, who swore an oath to his father not to touch either the life or health of the despot’s children, ordered them to be blinded; Stephen was sent to Cappadocia. After the death of his brother, Stefan, hearing that the fanatical Turks had burned the beautiful Mileshevsky monastery and were preparing to completely ruin Serbia, decided to regain his inheritance. The Serbs, who retired with him to Srem and Banat under the protection of Hungary, proclaimed (1460) Stephen a despot. He entered into marriage with Angelina, the daughter of the Albanian prince George and the granddaughter of the holy sufferer Prince Lazar. He had two sons and a daughter. In Kupinovo he built a beautiful church of St. Luke the Evangelist. He lived quite quietly. But the Turks did not like this very much: they feared the power of the despot. Serb hired servants captured him and sent him in chains to Dalmatia. Freed from his bonds, he returned again to Serbia; but with sorrow he saw that the capital city of his ancestors, Smederevo, was in the strong hands of the Mohammedans, and his compatriots had lost heart, and it was impossible to enter into any agreements with the fanatical Turks. The last Bosnian ban surrendered to the Turks on an oath not to take his life; but the fanatic sheikh killed him with his own hands: no, he said, there is no need to keep the word given to a Christian. Therefore Stefan retired to Skenderia. But the Turks did not give him peace in Albania either: they sought his death there too, trying to exterminate the name of the Brankovich despots. He was forced to flee with his wife and children to Italy in 1010. The sad wanderer, feeling the proximity of his death, wrote on October 1, 1476 to the Ragusians, with whom his ancestors were in a special union: “I see that my end is near. I do not grieve for my death, but I grieve for my Angelina and my children George, Mary and John... I entrust to you before God, before the Most Pure One and the saints, my Angelina and my children: what you do for them, God will do for you. Do not leave them - show the love for them that you had for our ancestors... I have nothing to write about wills - I do not leave Angelina and my children neither silver, nor gold, nor populated estates... I entrust them to your dominion" 1011. The despot died far from the Fatherland. 8 years after the death of Blessed Stephen, kind Angelina transferred the incorruptible remains of her husband to Kupinovo, near Srem 1012. Vuk Brankovic, Angelina's nephew, then ruled Serbia and spread terror and death in the army of Mohammed when it attacked him. Angelina and her sons, out of respect for the name of the Brankovich despots, enjoyed the honor of their fellow tribesmen. After the death of Vuk Branković, George was the ruling despot; but he soon transferred his right to brother John, and he himself accepted monasticism with the name Maxim and became an archbishop. John, married to the daughter of Stefan Jaksic and the niece of the brave Dimitri Jaksic, assumed the rights of a despot. The Yakšićs bravely fought the Turks for the freedom of the Serbs. The despot was engaged in the affairs of internal government and lived as an ascetic. In 1496, “the autocratic lord of the land of Serbia, John the Despot,” donated several lands to the Krušedolu monastery by charter, including Kupinovo, where the relics of his father lay 1013. Due to frequent attacks by barbarians, the despot moved further from the borders, to the town of Berkasovo; here he lived for a short time and died Christianly in 1503, leaving one daughter 1014. Good Angelina continued to do good to the poor and monks, although she herself lived almost in poverty. This is what she wrote to the Grand Duke of Russia Vasily with Elder Eugene: “The humble nun Angelina bows to the ground of your mercy. She prays to the Lord and His Most Pure Mother and the holy despot John, her son, that you may be granted long-term health, salvation and victory over your enemies, for the joy of Christians and for lasting consolation, and after a long life, an eternal reign with Christ, where there is inexplicable joy and unwavering light. Your Grace, of course, heard about my son, despot John, how he went over to God. After his death, all the property we had was taken by the Hungarians; now we have nothing but hope in God and your mercy. Therefore, we sent our elder, Hieromonk Eugene, to you with some speeches, and you deigned to listen to him and trust. With it I sent your grace the armor of the son of my despot John. One more word, sir! I bought a place for a hundred gold pieces and want to build a church in the name of St. John Chrysostom, Fr. Therefore, I bow to you and ask, please give us your alms to build that church, so that it will be your church in eternal remembrance. In that church I want to lay my husband, the holy despot Stephen, and Saint John, my son. May the all-merciful God grant you health.” She asked the Grand Duke with another letter for the Athos Panteleimon Monastery 1015. Wonderful wife! “For the holiness of her life, people still call her Mother Angelina,” says a Serbian historian, and another writes that she was adorned with “all sorts of virtues” 1016. The third says: “After the death of her husband, she created a church near Krushedol and took monastic vows, gathered her sisters to her, lived pleasing to God and betrayed her spirit to God and was quickly buried near her husband” 1017. The description of the martyrdom of St. George (1515) reports the following news: “So in our days God is doing His own thing. When I, a sinner, came to my senses, I heard from my life about the despot Stephen: he died and was buried, leaving a wife and two children, and 8 years later he manifested himself with signs and wonders; Having dug up the coffin, they found it whole and unharmed, just as it had been buried, and a fragrance still emanated from its body; placed in cancer remains to this day. Then his son John owned the land of Srem; he also died and was buried, leaving a wife and one daughter; three years later he manifested himself in the same way as his father, and is honored in the same way” 1018. The relics of the righteous despot John and his righteous parents, Stefan and Angelina, rested in the Krushedol monastery, on Fruška Mountain, but the fanatics did not give them peace either 1019. Venerable Ferapont of Monza Venerable Ferapont 1020 Almost throughout his entire life he was a hidden servant of God. He tried to hide his exploits from human eyes. From some incidents and his words it is clear that he lived in Moscow and lived his life following the example of Blessed Basil. So, when Paphnutius saw him back in the Obnorsky monastery, to the Paphnutii’s question: “Who is he?” - answered: “I am Vasiliev’s roommate, who is in Moscow.” In the same way, when Adrian saw him for the first time, he told him: “You will be my father and then you will know my name; Now I’ll say that I am Vasily’s roommate, who is in Moscow.” Having settled in the Monza monastery, he answered the questions of the curious that he was “a monk of the Vozdvizhensky Monastery in Kostroma, but he had also been in the reigning city, where he lived near the house of Blessed Basil, separated from him by only one wall.” 16 years before his death, as he himself told his confessor, he was tonsured at the Kostroma Vozdvizhensky Monastery, and therefore in 1575. Thus, it is clear that he did not see Blessed Basil alive (1554), but only imitated his innermost spiritual life. It was learned about his life in the Kostroma monastery that he served here as an example of obedience, was a great faster, and the brethren respected him for his high life. The inhabitants of Kostroma, starting with the governor, had respect for him, came to listen to his instructions and receive his blessing; he received those who visited with love, but severely rebuked others for their weak life and addiction to worldly vanity. Weighed down by fame, he withdrew from Kostroma and settled on the Monza River, at its confluence with Kostroma, 25 versts from Galich; the place where he settled was forested and surrounded by swamps, so that it was possible to get here only by the Kostroma River. Unseen by anyone, he labored here in prayer and fasting. Only the trace of an unknown person was seen here on the grass; but the hermit did not show himself to anyone. The monk Adrian, who settled with several in the deserted Annunciation Monastery and was offended by the hollow water here, wanted to move the monastery to another place he liked. An unknown hermit came to him and said: “Don’t work, old man! Another place has been assigned to you - on the banks of the Monza River; you will recognize him when two young men are healed of a cruel illness.” Adrian examined the place on the Monze River and finally decided to transport the monastery there. At this time, two sick youths were brought to the Annunciation Monastery of Adrian, one from Buygorod, the other from Solgalich: the father of the first said that an unknown elder told him that his son would be healed by Elder Adrian, who has the dilapidated Annunciation Monastery, and in the new place - the Church of the Resurrection of Christ and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. According to the story of another, the elder told him that his sick son would be healed by Adrian, who moved the monastery to the mouth of the Monza River. The sick were actually healed by Adrian after performing a prayer service in the church. When the monastery was already being established in a new place, the Monk Ferapont himself came to the Monzen monastery and began to live here. He made Adrian promise that he would not say anything about him that was known to him, and asked to be his spiritual father. “Soon,” added the monk, “after two and a half years, God’s will will be fulfilled over me; until my death, do not disclose anything about me.” From that time on, Ferapont left the monastery every day and, crossing the Monza River, hid in the thicket of the forest; There he prayed alone, but spent the night in his cell without sleep and copied books. Monk Kirill grumbled at the holy elder for not participating in the construction of the monastery, and saw the Ethiopians who inspired him with indignation at the saint; It was hard for him from these visitors until Ferapont came to him, who dispersed the spirits, but forbade him to talk about it. One day the monk went out into the forest to his usual place for solitary prayer. The woman Pelagia, who was picking berries, saw him from a distance and crossed the ravine to look at him up close. The old man was sitting on a log, naked to the waist; blood flowed over his body, bitten by mosquitoes, and gadflies swarmed over him. Due to the woman's inquisitiveness, she came even closer and became blind. In fear, she shouted: “God's saint! forgive me, a sinner,” and with this word an invisible force threw her over the ravine, and she began to see; but she was afraid to tell anyone other than Elder Adrian about what had happened to her. Peter, who served in the monastery, once saw the monk walking across the Monza River, and said to him with mockery: “You are ancient for years, but you walk skillfully, as if you were swimming with your feet, and the mantle on you does not move.” The elder did not answer him and walked past. Peter, returning to the monastery, felt a terrible pain in his head, and his face contorted. Adrian, having learned about his unexpected illness, asked: “Didn’t you say anything offensive to the holy elder when you met?” Peter confessed his sin. Adrian advised him to pray and ask for forgiveness from Blessed Ferapont. When the holy elder left Vespers, the sick man asked him for mercy. Ferapont laid his hands on him and said: “There is no need to condemn anyone,” and the illness passed. The day before his death, Blessed Ferapont said to the brethren: “My end is near,” and asked to receive the Holy Mysteries during the Liturgy. The brothers, seeing him on his feet, did not want to believe that he would soon die. On the very day of his death, everyone gathered for matins; it was Sunday, the week of the Holy Forefathers; Blessed Ferapont also came to Matins: at the end of the service, he said goodbye to all the brethren and went to his cell. Hegumen Adrian invited the brethren to go to the cell to see the death of the righteous man. The brothers repeated now that he was still strong; but when they arrived at the cell, the monk was lying on his bed in a robe and doll, and candles were burning in front of the icons; he has already gone to the Lord. It was December 12th 1591 1021. In his afterlife, the monk performed many miracles for the earth. Once after the Liturgy, Abbot Adrian lay down to rest on the matting. Ferapont appears and says: “In ten years there will be a great famine in Russia; take care of the rye; many will then eat from your barns, and they will not become scarce: then your empty lands will also be populated.” Theodosius, a blind elder, tonsured at the monastery, was grinding rye with a millstone at midnight. And then a bright light filled the church, and he saw the light emanating from the church of St. Nicholas; The Monk Ferapont stood before the royal doors. “What do you ask of the Lord?” – the monk asked him. “Remission of sins,” answered the blind old man. “Strive, and as you begin, so complete it; after a little time you will see the light of eternity,” the wonderful Ferapont told him. After that, the elder was again left in darkness. At another time, Theodosius ground bread at noon. Ferapont appeared to him again and said: “Peace and blessings be upon you.” Theodosius, who knew him well during his lifetime, fell at his feet. The monk said: “In a little while there will be a great famine throughout Russia, but you will not live to see that; soon you will see me in another world; secretly tell Adrian to take good care of the rye: many will have to eat from the monastery.” Blessed Theodosius soon died in 1022. During the Dormition Fast of 1601, frost destroyed grain throughout Russia: a terrible famine set in and lasted for three years. In Moscow, up to 127,000 people who died of hunger 1023 are buried in skudelnitsy. The monastery of the Monk Ferapont was a nourishment for the entire surrounding area; people settled in the wastelands of the monastery, not finding food in their former places. Hegumen Adrian distributed bread to all those in need, in trust in the Lord, and, as the Monk Ferapont predicted, the granaries of the monastery did not become scarce 1024. The life of St. Ferapont repeats to us the Savior’s instruction: When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love to stand in prayer in the synagogues and on the streets so that people can see them. Truly I tell you, they have already received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and, having closed the door behind you, pray to your Father, who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly (Matthew 6:5-6). Holy Martyr the Reasoner A Roman by birth, he was promoted to reader by Pope Sixtus (257–258), and during the reign of Aurelian, around 275, he was tortured and beheaded for confessing the name of Christ. The name Reasoner is a translation of the Greek Sinetos (Συνετ o ς - reasonable); The Romans call him Synesius. Memory of Saint Tryphon of Kola A native of the Novgorod possessions, the son of a priest, Tryphon 1025, baptized Mitrofan 1026, was called by the Lord to a special feat, to the feat of a preacher of the faith to the wild Lapps. Pious from a young age, he, in addition to loving to visit the church of God, read and sang there, at times retired into solitude to talk with his soul and the Lord. The title of his father-priest led him to the idea of ​​devoting himself to preaching the holy faith to the pagans; but he was called to this by the special will of God. Once, when he was praying in a secluded place, he heard a voice: “This is not your place, an uninhabited and thirsty land awaits you.” Obeying the heavenly calling, he went to the Kola court, to the Pechenga River, to the wild Lapps. The country of the far north was formerly part of the Novgorod possessions, and then came under the rule of the Grand Duke of Russia 1027. Even at the beginning of the 16th century, Russians were here only as temporary guests, coming for fishing and animal husbandry; fishing attracted many to the holy Nose. It is not for nothing that they say to this day, “Wherever a fish goes, it will not escape the Holy Nose” 1028. But among the Lapps, for the Russians only in Kola there was a chapel, and there were no churches anywhere. A long and wide strip along the Pechenga River was occupied by more nomadic than sedentary Lapps. This was a vast field for the activity of a preacher, full of zeal for the truth of Christ and for the salvation of people. Mitrofan established his first relations with the Lapps under the guise of trade matters. Then he spoke to them about their beliefs and about the one Heavenly faith. The Lapps adored not only spirits, but even reptiles and night bats, and worshiped stones. The preacher of the Gospel told them that there is one true God, one Creator of earth and heaven, one Father of all tribes and peoples, one Savior of all the descendants of the first created man. He showed the children of nature how close the Heavenly Father is to them, sending them food and clothing, and how grossly erroneous is the deification of idols and spirits, of which the first do not see or hear, and the others are nothing more than servants of God, rebellious or submissive, but the creation of the one Creator of the universe. Difficult are the feats that a preacher of the Lapps had to perform. It is not easy for a mind, dulled by the immobility of habits, hardened by the soot of superstitions and passions, to lead to the paths of light and truth. It is even more difficult to force the heart to break ties with habitual delusions, with acquired attachments, with old addictions. And then the ardent friends of lies rise up against the preacher of truth, for whom serving error is a profitable trade - with it they live in contentment and enjoy fame, without it they are nothingness. The kaboons rose up against Mitrofan, first with the proud hope of challenging him, then with furious anger, ready to kill and tear to pieces the invincible preacher of new thoughts and deeds. More than once they not only showered him with abuse, but beat him cruelly and pulled him by the hair. “Go away from here,” the kaboons told him, “otherwise an evil death awaits you.” More than once they intended to kill him, but the Lord protected His servant. The holy zealot of heavenly truth endured abuse and beatings with meekness, and when anger became fierce, he retired to the mountains, and then again went out to preach 1029. No matter how much bad there is in us, our soul was created by the Lord for truth, and our heart seeks eternal peace. And among the Lapps there were those who did not remain deaf to preach about eternal truth and eternal peace. When Mitrofan temporarily left the stubborn to the arbitrariness of their wild malice, remaining with their conscience, they began to see their guilt and the moral superiority of the Christian preacher; his love for them, his patience and kindness, his self-denial for the preached truth struck their hearts, and they began to sigh for peace, not found in their faith. When the preacher again appeared to the savages and some of them, agitated by blind malice, shouted: let's kill him, others said: he is not guilty of anything before us, on the contrary, he wishes us good; Why kill him? Thus, at first there were few who took to heart the words of the preacher of truth, then their number became more significant. Blessed Mitrofan, even for trade relations with which he began his relationship with the Lapps, had to know some Finnish language and, of course, he learned the spoken language of the savages from others who entered into trade relations with the Lapps. But the preacher of the faith had to know much more Finnish than the merchant. To help him, the Lord sent a zealous and capable figure, Hierodeacon Theodoret; this was in 1529, when the northern hermit had already spent more than 5 years “in the bitterest desert” 1030. Theodoret had previously lived for 15 years on Solovetsky Island 1031; there, with frequent relations with the Lapps, it was easy for the gifted Theodoret to learn the language of the Lapps. Therefore, it was not difficult for him to translate “some prayers from the Slavic language into the language of the Lapps” 1032. And this was the most important service for the Pechenzha preacher. After the long labors and sorrows of the preacher, a significant number of Lapps living near the Pechenga River believed in the Lord Jesus. Blessed Mitrofan did not baptize them because he was not invested with the priesthood and was not even a monk yet. He went to Novgorod to ask Archbishop Macarius for a charter to build a church. From Novgorod he brought with him carpenters, who, more for the Lord than for money, decided to go with him to a distant and wild country. When building the church, the blessed one carried logs and timber on his shoulders three miles away. The built church remained unconsecrated for a long time: no priest was sent from Novgorod. Mitrofan went to Kola, then still a sparsely populated place, and found there Hieromonk Elijah, who consecrated the church, baptized the Lapps trained in the faith and tonsured the preacher himself into monasticism, with the name Tryphon. This was not until 1532. This is how it is necessary to put together the life of Tryphon with the chronicle. The latter says that in the winter of the Filippov fast of 7040 (1531) “the Loplanders arrived in Veliky Novgorod from the Murmansk (Norwegian) Sea from the Kola and Tutolomi Rivers (from the Tulomi River, connecting with the Kola River before flowing into the sea) and asked the sovereign Archbishop Macarius to give them antimensions and priests to consecrate the churches God and enlighten them with Holy Baptism. The God-loving Archbishop Macarius sent priests and a deacon, and they consecrated the Churches of the Annunciation of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas in the Fast of Philippi and they themselves were baptized in great numbers, even the Lapps behind the Holy Nose” 1033. Blessed Tryphon, using the services of the Kola hieromonk to baptize the Pechenga Lapps, began to build a monastery of the Holy Trinity at the mouth of the Pechenga River. Now he had two labors - the labor of spreading the Gospel and the labor of building the monastery. To continue the work of the Gospel preaching, it was necessary to travel. What did this mean in that country? The dwellings of the Lapps are scattered in swampy places, crossed by mountains and rocks; There are no villages or villages, but only secluded huts. What was it like, having not met the willingness of hearts in one hut, to walk across the tundra and mountains to meet a similar reception in another hut? The ascetic of God worked patiently. When those who opened the depths of their souls to the Christian faith were found ready to devote their lives to serving the Lord, this made the work of the preacher of the faith easier. The Lapps, taught by Tryphon to living piety, with lively animation passed on the seeds of piety to others, and the whole wild region received a completely new look. Together, Tryphon’s monastery began to strengthen. “By the grace of God,” wrote a contemporary, Blessed Maxim the Greek, “many people of other faiths converted to the Orthodox and pious Christian faith... Before that, they lived like animals in impenetrable deserts, in caves and crevices, having neither a church nor the necessary things for life; they ate animals, beasts, birds, sea fish, and whatever they caught, they traded. Orthodoxy spread to the Varangian city of Vargava, where the captain or prince lives. And here now, by the favor of the Father, the will of the Son and the action of the Holy Spirit, an honest monastery has been built and a large brotherhood of monks has gathered. This is 60 versts from that Varangian city, on the Pechenga River, near the sea” 1034. According to the life of Tryphon, the baptized Lapps fell in love with the holy faith so much that some brought the fruits of their trade - money - to the monastery, others gave away lands, lakes and coastal lands. We see the latter in the royal charter, which records “the lands, waters, lands and industries that the newly baptized Lop gave to the house of the Life-Giving Trinity” 1035. In the deep north it is almost impossible to sow grain; it must be obtained from a warmer region. “The Pechenzhsky monastery stands in Ukraine, near the icy sea; There is no arable land near the monastery, the ground is rocky, the cold is great, the snow melts for a short time all summer,” wrote the Pechenzha monks a century later than Tryphon 1036. That is why Blessed Tryphon, who had a fatherly love for the monastery he had collected, more than once had to go to Novgorod to collect bread for his monastery there. With this intention he was in Novgorod in 1551 1037. The seedbed of piety and new faith, planted in a wild country, had to be protected by the protection of civil power. Blessed Tryphon did not accept the title of abbot of his monastery; he gave the title of abbot to another; but he was the father, planter and trustee of his monastery. Therefore, he went to Moscow to the Tsar with an experienced monk. In Moscow, Tryphon’s former partner in the Lapland desert, now Archimandrite Theodoret, was useful to him; the latter at that time enjoyed the attention of the king, so he was soon sent on special assignments to the East. The friend of the desert and collaborator in the preaching of Lapland, of course, spoke to the boyars and clergy in Moscow about the zealous preacher Tryphon 1038. Tryphon and his companion presented the monastery’s request to the king when he and Tsarevich Theodore were going to the church. The good prince left the church to the chapel, as if on occasion, took off his outer clothing and, sending it to Tryphon, ordered him to say: “The prince, sending the clothes, wants his alms to warn the king; let the monk use it for church clothes.” Upon returning from the church, the king consulted with the boyars about Tryphon's request. It was not difficult to see after a quick glance at the affairs of Blessed Tryphon that the words of the king, which were shortly before proposed to the council, should not be attributed to the preacher of the Lapps: “the elder will build a cell in the forest or cut down a church, but will go around the world with an icon to ask for construction, and ask the king for land and rugs, and what he collects, he will drink” 1039. The king endowed Blessed Tryphon with both church utensils and land. The royal charter dated November 1, 1556 says: “At the request of my sons, Tsarevichs Ioann and Theodore Ioannovich, we granted the Pechensky Monastery, which is near the cold sea, near the Murmansk border, the monastery of the Holy Trinity, Abbot Guria with his brethren and whoever was the abbot with his brethren, in return for abuse, prayer and memorial services money, due to their scarcity, for food for the estate, by the sea lips (bays) of Matotskaya, Litskaya and Urskaya, also by the lips of Pechenskaya, Pazrenskaya and Navdenskaya, in the sea with all fishing and sea sweepings, when a whale or walrus or other animal is thrown out of the sea, with the entire seashore and its islands, with rivers and rivers, with arable lands and forests, with forests lakes and animal catches, with Lapps, which are now or will be assigned to the Matotskaya and Pechenskaya lips, with all the lands of the bays and with royal monetary fees and volost food, so that the monastery could be built and fed. Our Novgorod and Dvinsk boyars, the clerks of the Ust-Kola volost, all seaside residents, Karelian children and Lapps and everyone else should not enter that homeland, the rivers, tones, fishing grounds and lands” 1040. Blessed Tryphon, returning to his monastery with royal gifts and letters, brought her joy and peace. It is now provided with fishing and other lands for its existence. His first act, after thanking the Lord, was to announce the royal charter to the local commanders and elders. It was necessary to bring joy to our newly baptized children. With funds brought from Moscow, Blessed Tryphon built for them at the mouth of the Paza (Paesa) River a church of Saints Boris and Gleb 1041. Since 1557, there was a severe, prolonged famine throughout the northern region. For several years in a row, frost killed crops 1042. This called Blessed Tryphon to new hard labors for the monastery. Taking several brothers with him, he walked around the Novgorod region from one settlement to another, asking for alms from the God-loving people. He sent everything he received for the maintenance of his brethren. This is how he fed his spiritual children for 8 whole years. Having loved the Lord from a young age, having endured so much labor and sorrow for Him in his years of maturity, the monk was afraid of being unfaithful to Him in old age and continued to struggle for Him until his grave. Once he bought hand millstones in Kola and put them on his shoulders to carry them to his monastery. The disciples asked him not to torment himself with such a burden. “Brothers! - said the old man. – A heavy burden lies on the descendants of Adam, from birth to death: why have fun? No! Tryphon! It is better to hang a stone around your neck than to tempt your brethren with idleness.” And 158 versts from Kola to the Pechenzhsky monastery, along the road, sometimes swampy, sometimes mountainous, he carried the millstone on himself; Moreover, with such work he ate little food. With such exploits the monk achieved great spiritual strength. One day a bear entered his cell, knocked over the kneading bowl and began to eat the dough. The monk, coming to the cell, said to the bear: “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, my God, commands you to leave the cell and stand still.” The bear came out and stood at the feet of the monk. Taking a stick, the monk punished the guilty bear and, saying that he should not dare to disturb the monastery in the future, released him. Since that time, adds the monk of the monastery, bears have never harmed either deer or other animals of the monastery. In the last years of his life, the monk often retired to the desert, where, having built the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, he spent time in solitary prayer 1043. Before his death, blessed Tryphon was seriously ill. Finally, close to death, he said to his brothers: “I command you, bury me at the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in the hermitage, where I went to remain silent.” He reached a very old age if he died in 1583 - then he lived in Pechenga for almost 60 years 1044. He was not tall, but strong, somewhat hunched over and bald, with a long, gray beard. This is what they say about him based on his surviving ancient icon and visions! After his death, Tsar Theodore Ioannovich besieged a strong city in the Livonian country. At dawn, the besieged Germans aimed their cannons at the Tsar's tent, while the Tsar was still sleeping. A splendid old man in monastic clothes appeared to him and said: “Get up, sir, and leave the tent, otherwise you will be killed.” "Who are you?" - asked the king. The one who appeared answered: “I am that Tryphon to whom you gave your clothes, so that your alms might precede others - the Lord my God sent me to you.” The awakened king barely had time to leave the tent when a cannonball from the city hit the king’s bed. The pious Theodore thanked the Lord for his wonderful salvation. He sent to the Pechenga monastery to find blessed Tryphon, but received an answer about his death. The king then showed mercy to the monastery. The “legend” does not define either the year or the city when and where the wondrous event happened to the king. But without a doubt, it was near Narva, in February 1590. Tsar Theodore was here with his army; The Swedes stubbornly defended Narva, but it was taken. At the same time (1590) the Swedes in the north devastated Russian settlements. A week before the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, the “legend” says, they burned the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, where the relics of the saint rested in secret. Here they tortured the righteous monk Jonah. Then they disappeared into an ambush. On the very holiday, during the Liturgy, they burst into the monastery of the Holy Trinity and with brutal cruelty began to kill the monks and novices; some were cut in half, others had their arms and legs cut off. Others were cut lengthwise. Hegumen Gury and the hierodeacons were tortured in various ways, stabbed with weapons, burned on fire, asking them where the monastery treasury was. The sufferers did not tell them about the treasury, and the enraged Swedes cut them into pieces. Having robbed what they could find, they set fire to the churches and all the buildings of the monastery. Of all the monks killed in the monastery, 51 people; novices and workers - up to 65 people; Only those who were not in the monastery remained intact. After that, by the will of Tsar Theodore, the monastery was founded for safety in the city of Kola near the Annunciation Church. After the fire of 1619, it was built near the city beyond the Koloya River, but before 1675, the Swedes ravaged it twice before 1045. The relics of the saint remain hidden at the place of their burial, in the Pechenzhsky Lopar churchyard, in the Sretenskaya Church, assigned to the Kola Cathedral. The monks, having moved to Kola, maintained the following rule: if any of the hieromonks happened to be near the former site of the monastery, he certainly sang a requiem service over the tomb of the blessed founder of the monastery. Hieromonk Jonah, while here, not only did not fulfill the regulations, but also sat on the grave of Elder Jonah, who was tortured by the Swedes. When he drove several miles from the resting place of blessed Tryphon, suddenly the entire half of his body was struck by paralysis. Having deeply felt his sins and confessed them before the brethren, he began to beg the monk to forgive him. On the fourth night, two holy men appeared to him, one in monastic clothing, the other in priestly clothing. The latter said: “My boss and father, Saint Tryphon! touch the sick so that he will be healthy.” “You, Father Jonah, are honored with the rank of presbyter,” answered Tryphon, he sat on your tomb: you must heal.” “No,” objected Jonah, “you are the leader in this country and my teacher, and I am only a student.” The monk said: “If you call me a teacher, you must fulfill my will.” Then Jonah made the sign of the cross over the affected parts of the patient and said: “In the name of the Holy Trinity, through the prayers of St. Tryphon, be healthy and do not violate the limits set by the fathers.” The sick man woke up, felt healthy and saw a ray of light following the departing saints. A legend has been preserved about blessed Jonah that he was a priest of the Church of St. Nicholas in the city of Kola and was called John in the world. The loss of his beloved child struck him so much that he went to the monastery of Blessed Tryphon and became his disciple; He had such love for his teacher that after his death he settled at the monastery church of the Assumption of the Mother of God in order to celebrate the Liturgy every day for the repose of the deceased. Here, martyred by the Swedes, he was laid near his teacher. Saint Tryphon appeared to Monk Joasaph, blind from a severe headache, and, touching his eyes, said: “In the name of the Holy Trinity, be healthy and receive your sight, but remain a monk according to your vow.” “I was healed and received my sight by the appearance of our venerable father Tryphon!” - the one who regained his sight shouted in delight, and the monks who gathered at his voice glorified the Lord. More than once the Monk Tryphon appeared during a storm at sea and saved those who were perishing 1046. Such is Saint Tryphon, by the grace of the Holy Trinity! Repose of the Venerable Princess Sophia The young daughter of boyar Yuri Konstantinovich Saburov unexpectedly had a brilliant fate. For the heir to the Moscow throne, by the will of the Grand Duke, brides were collected, the best in beauty and health; out of 500, 10 were chosen, and from these ten, the young prince Vasily chose his bride 1047. It was Solomonia Yuryevna Saburova. On September 4, 1505, a legal marriage took place, and from October 28, Vasily was already the Grand Duke. But five, ten, 15 years have passed, and the Grand Duchess is childless. This is grief for the spouse, and even more so for the wife. The Grand Duke at first lost interest in his love for his wife, then began to show indignation. One envoy at the court of the Grand Duke says: “Having no children, Vasily did not respect his wife, so while I was in Moscow, I had to petition for the freedom of her brother, who was imprisoned for a minor crime” 1048. Finally, in 1525, the Grand Duke decided to divorce the barren Solomonia in order to marry Princess Glinskaya. The state, they said, needed an heir to the throne. If Vasily had no brothers, a good goal does not justify an illegal means, and it is not the blessing, but the wrath of God that brings illegal deeds down on the state. So said the best contemporaries of Vasily 1049, among others the Monk Maxim the Greek. But the law is powerless before power; The prince's passion for Glinskaya was recognized as an insult to himself by the voices of a clear conscience 1050. They demanded that innocent Solomonia accept monasticism voluntarily. She replied that she did not feel such a desire in herself. She was taken out of the palace. On November 25, 1525, “Grand Duke Vasily ordered his Grand Duchess to be tonsured” 1051. In carrying out this will, the prince's servants went so far as to scold and even beat the former princess. She was tonsured at the Nativity nunnery with the name Sophia and sent to the Suzdal Intercession nunnery in 1052. “Here I am, Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich of all Russia, granted Elder Sophia in Suzdal my village of Vysheslavsky with villages and novoselki - after her death, this village will go to the house of the Most Pure Mother of God, to the Intercession,” Vasily wrote in a letter dated September 19, 1526, 1053, i.e. a year after the princess was imprisoned in a monastery. It was hard for Sofia to bear her lot at first, when she did not even think about parting with the world. But the Grand Duke’s letter shows that at the end of the year she had already begun to come to terms with her lot. In August 28, 1530, the Grand Duke had a son from Helen and “then became a formidable sovereign” 1054. The birth of Vasily's son, no doubt, humbled Sophia even more. She has now completely turned to the Lord and banished worldly dreams from her soul. She began to cleanse the heart, which is so unclean in all of us, through spiritual vigilance, self-reproach, repentance, and prayer. Thus, ascending from perfection to perfection through grief and struggle with herself, the Monk Sophia lived in the monastery for 17 years and outlived not only Prince Vasily (1533), but also the depraved Elena, who died from poison (1537); having reached high perfection, she died on December 16, 1542 1055. Prince Kurbsky calls the blessed princess a venerable martyr 1056. According to the sedate book, Sophia, “having lived gratefully and pleasing to God, departed to God” 1057. Already the wife of Grand Duke Theodore Ioannovich sent “to the Grand Duchess Solomonida, and to the foreign workshop Sophia,” a velvet cover with images of the Savior and saints 1058. Another ancient cover depicts the princess nun herself with the caption: “Holy Grand Duchess Sophia, Suzdal Wonderworker” 1059. This cover dates back to the time of Patriarch Joseph. Patriarch Joseph wrote to the Suzdal Archbishop Serapion: “You, son, wrote to us, the patriarch, that in the current year 1650, by our decree and charter, in the Suzdal Intercession nunnery you witnessed the relics of the Grand Duchess Sophia, and the blessed Grand Duchess, buried under the cathedral Church of the Intercession, lies hidden. Having heard your letter, we ordered to send you our letter in response. When our letter comes to you, then you order to put a cover on the tomb and sing dirges and prayers, as is customary, but do not order to dismantle the tomb and tear up the earth” 1060. The cleric Anania writes that “many miracles and healings flowed from the tomb of St. Sophia for those who flowed with faith to the glory of Christ our God.” He describes the most miracles. “On August 1, 1598, the Reverend Grand Duchess Sophia forgave the maiden Anna, daughter of Princess Alexandra Nogteva, at her grave”; She was blind for six years, but at Sophia’s tomb she received her sight and became healthy. In 1609, Suzdal was saved from ruin by the protection of the reverend princess. The famous Lisovsky's hand became paralyzed from her menacing appearance, and he vowed not to destroy the cities and monasteries. In 1610, at the saint’s grave, three paralytics were healed and a blind woman received her sight. In 1647, one insane person, one deaf person, three blind people and one paralytic were restored to health. The miracle of 1654 is remarkable: the Yuryev peasant Jeremiah had a headache and did not sleep day or night; in a subtle slumber the Monk Sophia appeared to him and healed him of his illness 1061. Venerable Dionysius of Aegina A native of the island of Zakynthos (Zanta), he was the archbishop of Aegina. He renounced the throne in 1589 and, returning to his fatherland, asceticised in the Monastery of the Mother of God on the rocky island of Strophada. Here he once hid his brother’s murderer from his pursuers, seeing repentance in the unfortunate man. Died on December 17, 1624. On the occasion of the Turkish raids, his incorrupt relics were transferred to Zante and rest in the cathedral. Memory of St. Sebastian of Poshekhonsky According to the handwritten calendar, “the Venerable Hieromonk Sebastian, head of the Transfiguration Monastery on the Sogoti River, Poshekhonsky Wonderworker, reposed in the summer of 7050 (1542).” The monks of the Sebastian Hermitage (abolished in 1764) and after the Monk Sebastian themselves cultivated the land and ate themselves by the labor of their hands. The Monk Sebastian taught them this by example and instructions. He worked for himself, giving free rein to neither his sinful body nor the dreams of his arrogant imagination. According to the instructions of the apostle, he did not consider it piety to walk from place to place with idleness while doing nothing. The Apostle wrote: we exhort and convince through our Lord Jesus Christ that, working in silence, you should eat your own bread (2 Thess. 3:12). During the time of Sebastian, as well as during the time of the Apostle, many were embarrassed by the thought of the imminent end of the world, and others, instead of preparing themselves for the transition to eternity through exploits, did nothing and only spread rumors. The monk labored with devotion to the will of God. The relics of the hardworking saint rest on the site of his exploits 1062. Memory of the Venerable Elijah of Muromets The Monk Elijah, whose place of birth is Muromets, rests openly in the Anthony Cave. According to Kalnofoisky, he lived 450 years before his time, and therefore, around 1188 and was popularly called Chebotok 1063. A simple-minded pilgrim wrote in 1701: “Seeing the brave warrior Ilya of Muromets, incorruptible under the cover of gold; tall like today's large people; his left hand is pierced by a spear, the ulcer is all over; and his right hand is depicted with the sign of the cross” 1064. The opinion that the Monk Elijah is one person with the famous hero Ilya of Muromets is also found in other Moscow monuments; but there are no guarantees for his loyalty. The pilgrim did not explain how the fingers of the Monk Elijah were folded for the sign of the cross. The first three fingers are joined together and extended, and the last two, the ring and little fingers, are bent towards the palm. The monk rests in a position of prayer and irresistibly denounces the schism 1065. Saints Martyr Boniface and Righteous Aglaida As soon as the feeling of faith in God that glimmered within them, they were inflamed to the heights of repentance, by which the holy martyr Boniface and Aglaida, who achieved righteousness, were raised from the pool of unclean earthly passions to the heights of heaven, remembered today by the Church. It is known about their life in the world that although they - Aglaida, a rich and noble Roman woman, and her slave Boniface - were Christians by origin, they did not live like Christians, but in empty and vicious entertainment they squandered the precious time, spiritual strength, and rich means that Aglaida possessed. Living during the persecution of Christians, at the end of the 3rd century, and hearing about their amazing martyrdom, Aglaida, however, was not indifferent to the stories about them and began to think, sometimes delving into her own life, so far removed, so unworthy in comparison with the wondrous examples in the person of her fellow believers. Hearing also about the miracles shown by the martyrs even beyond the grave, she wished to seek refuge under their protection and saving protection, and the idea came to her to have in her own home the holy relics of those who suffered for the faith of Christ. “If I get what I want,” said Aglaida, “then I will build a church in the name of the saint over his relics, and he will be my intercessor and prayer book before God.”... And so, she called her beloved servant Bonifatius to her and, telling him her desire, sent him to the East, where the persecution of Christians was then taking place, providing him with a significant sum for the acquisition of relics that could be bought from the pagans, who used what they valued dearly Christians are the remains of their martyrs... Having received the gold, prepared the aromas and coverings and got ready for the journey, accompanied by many servants, Boniface, saying goodbye to his mistress, said to her, laughing: “What if I fail to acquire the relics of any martyr, and instead of them they bring you my body, martyred for Christ? Will you accept it with honor?” “There is no time for laughter or jokes now,” Aglaida objected, “but with reverence you should approach such a holy task... You should strictly refrain from all disorder and mockery. After all, you know who you are going to serve: the relics of the saints, which we are not only unworthy to touch, but which we are not even worthy to look at... Go in peace, and the Lord, not remembering our sins, will send you His Angel, who will guide your path and help you return safely.” Boniface set off on his journey, and the last words spoken to him by his mistress began to lead him to saving thoughts. He began to think about what holy work he was going to do, and how to approach it with hands defiled by sin? And behold, repentance arose in his heart; he imposed a fast on himself, did not eat meat, did not drink wine; often and earnestly cried out in prayer to God; and his soul was filled more and more with contrition for his sinful life and the saving fear of God. In such a blessed mood of spirit, Boniface arrived in the city of Cilician Tarsus. Here he found the persecution of Christians in full swing; Every day many Christians were brought to trial, and then they were subjected to terrible tortures and executions. Having stopped at the hotel and leaving those accompanying him to rest, Boniface himself hurried to the square, where, while passing, he noticed that people were gathering. Indeed, here he now saw a large crowd contemplating the torture being carried out against Christians. And what horrors he saw here! He imagined all kinds of torments invented by sophisticated human malice... Meanwhile, the victims of this malice, the confessors of Christ, amazed him with their imperturbable calmness, their amazing patience. The faces of others seemed to shine with some kind of inexpressible, unearthly joy... Some kind of unknown excitement and delight gripped him too... “Great is the Christian God, who helps His servants and strengthens them in such torment!” - Boniface suddenly exclaimed in a fit of reverence and fell at the feet of the martyrs, and kissed them, and pleased them, and begged them to pray for him... Everyone's eyes turned in surprise to the unknown... “Who are you?” – the judge asked him. “I am a Christian!” - answered Boniface. “I ask, what is your name?” – the judge repeated, but to this and to all his further questions Boniface answered only one thing: “I am a Christian, that’s all you will hear from me; If you don’t want to hear this, then do with me what you please...” Then, without any threats to persuade the confessor to renounce Christ, the judge ordered him to be tortured. Having stripped and hanged an arbitrary martyr headlong, they drove a sharp iron into his fingernails and toes, then they began to pour melted tin into his mouth... He rejoiced and thanked God that he was worthy to suffer for His sake along with the holy martyrs. After prolonged torture, during which Boniface remained unharmed, he was taken to prison for the night. The next day he was again subjected to various tortures, but, praying and glorifying God, he endured them with wonderful firmness and, with miraculous help from above, remained unharmed. Finally, the judge ordered his beheading, and the new martyr appeared before God, praising and glorifying Him. Many who were present at the suffering of Saint Boniface turned to the True God. Meanwhile, the servants accompanying Bonifatius were waiting for him at the hotel and wondered why he was not returning for so long; when he did not come on the next and third days, then, knowing his weakness for drunkenness, they went to look for him, but could not find out anything from anyone; but finally, when they questioned them about the missing person, whose appearance they were describing, they learned that it was the unknown man, whose appearance matched this description, who suffered the other day as a confessor of Christ and was beheaded with a sword. “It can’t be,” the servants of Aglaida objected, “the one we are looking for was a drunkard and a dissolute man... Would such a person go to suffer for Christ...” However, when they were shown the bodies of the executed martyrs, which were still lying around at the place of execution, they with great surprise recognized one of them as Boniface. With reverence they approached the one on whom such a miracle of God’s inscrutable goodness had happened and, having bought his remains for gold, wrapped them in covers, anointed them with aromas and took them back to their mistress. When they approached Rome, Aglaida was warned about this in a dream. “Receive your former servant, and now our brother and servant,” the Angel who appeared to her announced, “he will be the guardian of your soul and the prayer book for you...” Struck by such a vision, Aglaida woke up, called the servants of the altar and, accompanied by them, went out to meet those returning with the remains of Boniface, whose words spoken to her at parting were so miraculously fulfilled... Having accepted with honor the relics of the martyr, Aglaida built a church in his name in her village 50 stadia from Rome, where she transferred his relics, and she herself began to live with them, spending the rest of the years of her life in complete repentance and piety, using all his wealth for the benefit of the poor. In this way she was cleansed and redeemed her former sinful life before God. The martyrdom of Saint Boniface took place in 290, and the death of Aglaida, who had achieved righteousness and during her lifetime had still achieved the gift of miracles, followed 15 years after that. She was buried at the tomb of Saint Boniface. Saint Boniface the Merciful, Bishop of Ferentia The son of a poor widow, from childhood Boniface showed traits of love for his neighbor, reaching the point of self-sacrifice. So, for example, when meeting with the poor, he even gave them his clothes and patiently endured reproaches for this from his mother, until she was enlightened by one incident that convinced her that her son’s non-covetousness was pleasing to God and attracted God’s wonderful reward to the house. One day, when she was angry with her son for giving the poor all the meager supply of bread that she had saved, and was crying bitterly and reproaching him for wastefulness, Boniface resorted to God with fervent prayer, after which miraculously, such an abundant supply of bread suddenly appeared in the granary at the house, such as had never happened to his mother before that time. She could not help but recognize God’s special help in this... and after that she did not prevent her son from giving everything to the last to the poor. Even after that there were many manifestations of God’s wonderful mercy to the merciful... Having reached adulthood and become a bishop, Boniface did not lose his love and until the end of his life he did not stop sacrificing everything for the benefit of those in need. Glorified by many miracles, he was canonized by the Holy Church and called “Merciful.” Saint Boniface lived in Italy in the 6th century. The Suffering of Saint Juliana, Princess of Vyazemskaya Blessed Princess Juliana is an example of high marital chastity 1066. Her husband, Prince Simeon Mstislavich (Ivanovich) Vyazemsky, shared the unfortunate share of Smolensk Prince Yuri Svyatoslavich. When Vitovt took possession of Smolensk, capturing Yuri's wife there, Simeon followed Yuri to Novgorod. Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich, whose brother Yuri married the daughter of the unfortunate Smolensk prince, gave Torzhok to the exiled princes. The wife of Prince Simeon blossomed with physical beauty, and even more spiritual beauty. The voluptuous Yuri, fueled by bestial lust, more than once wanted to desecrate her. Either with words of strict truth, or with prayer, she kept the unfortunate man from sin. “This cannot be true: I have a husband and I value loyalty to him more than my life,” the chaste princess told Yuri. The prince decided to commit an obvious crime in his home. Among the merry feast, he killed Prince Simeon. Then he wanted to satisfy his bestial lust with unpunished violence. To sober him up and make it easier to leave, the princess stabbed the enraged man in the shoulder with a knife. Yuri, sword in hand, caught up with the departed Juliana in the courtyard, chopped her up and ordered her to be thrown into the river. It was December 21, 1406. The vile murderer fled to the Tatars, but, not finding peace there from torment of conscience, he retired to the Ryazan hermitage, where he ended his life in bitter repentance in 1408 1067. In the spring, one paralytic wandered along the river bank and saw a body floating against the current; Amazed by what he saw, he felt revival in his sick body and heard a voice: “Man of God! Go to Torzhok, to the cathedral church, tell the archpriest and the brethren to take Juliana’s sinful body from here and bury it at the southern door.” The healed one joyfully hurried to fulfill the order of the one who had appeared. Accompanied by a large crowd, the holy body was transferred to the cathedral, and here many sick people received healing. In 1598, the cathedral deacon John wanted to personally examine the relics of the holy princess. He fasted for 40 days and then began to dig up the coffin; but a fire suddenly bursting out of the ground burned him, and he fell exhausted. “Don’t work in vain, father! - there was a voice to him. “You should not see my body until it is God’s will.” The deacon lay relaxed for two months and received healing at the tomb of the martyr princess. In 1811, during the second week of Lent, the wife of the cathedral archpriest Artemia lost her mind and sight; She suffered and suffered a lot. On the day of remembrance of the holy princess, a cathedral prayer service was held, and the patient was freed from her illness. Three years later, during the dismantling of the dilapidated cathedral, the stone coffin of the blessed princess Juliana was opened, and streams of miraculous healings began to flow. More than 50 such healings are recorded in a book kept in the cathedral during the cancer of the holy princess-martyr 1068. Let us repeat the instructions of the Holy Scriptures, which the blessed princess revered so sacredly: avoid fornication. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your soul, which are God's (1 Cor. 6:18, 19-20). Let marriage be honorable for all and the bed undefiled: but fornicators and adulterers God will judge (Heb. 13:4). The adulterer destroys his soul through the stupidity of his heart. He accumulates dishonor and shame for himself and his dishonor is indelible (see: Proverbs 6, 32–33). Repose of Procopius the Holy Fool, Vyatsky Blessed Procopius was a contemporary of St. Tryphon of Vyatka. He acquired the salvation of his soul through voluntary foolishness. In those days, many appeared with the name of holy fools. But on every path of salvation, purity of intentions and fidelity of conscience to death are required. Otherwise, Patriarch Joasaph I in 1636 complained about holy fools: “Some walk,” he wrote, “in the form of a hermit and in black robes and chains, with disheveled hair,” but not for the Lord and not in the Lord 1069. And the council of 1667 condemned the same people: “Those who imagine themselves to be reverent are not such, they live in the midst of cities and villages in the form of a hermit and a recluse, hairy, and in a monastic retinue, while others are shackled in irons, and naked and barefoot they walk around the cities and villages in the world, for the sake of vanity, so that they may receive glory from the people and they honor them as saints, to the delight of the simple and ignorant" 1070. It is destruction of the soul, not salvation, when they put on the image of piety only in order to more freely feed their passions. Nor are they saved when, having begun the work in the spirit, they finish it in the flesh. He who endures to the end is saved. Blessed Procopius of Vyatka, like Procopius of Ustyug, having taken the yoke of foolishness for Christ alone, for Christ bore it to death: to death he endured the sorrows of self-love, wounded either by ridicule, or by abuse, or by the coldness of people; He made his flesh suffer to death from both lack of food and changes in weather. He died blessedly on December 21, 1627. His relics rest in the Assumption Trifonov Monastery, exuding healing 1071. Repose of Saint Theoktistus, Archbishop of Novgorod Not much news has been preserved about the earthly life of the holy Archbishop Theoktistus; but even in the few news reports one can see what the main feat of his life was, glorified by heaven. After Clement, Archbishop of Novgorod, reposed on May 22, 1299, “the Novgorodians and the mayor Andrei, discussing for a long time about a successor, fell in love with the God-appointed, kind and humble Theoktistus, abbot of the Holy Annunciation. Having called the veche at St. Sophia, Prince Boris Andreevich and all the Novgorodians respectfully brought him and sat him in the bishop’s courtyard until they found out where the metropolitan was.” The following year, “Metropolitan Maxim, Bishop Simeon of Rostov and Bishop Andrei of Tver arrived in Novgorod and installed Theoktistus as archbishop in the St. Sophia Cathedral; The Novgorodians were very happy about their ruler” 1072. The celebration for Novgorod was truly extraordinary! Only for the first time the Bishop of Novgorod is dedicated in the Novgorod Church of St. Sophia. What the initiate himself felt, the monuments do not say. The following year, with the blessing of Saint Theoktistus, the stone church of St. Michael the Archangel was laid and two years later it was consecrated - the church is still intact 1073. In 1305 we see the blessed archpastor taking part in the agreements of Novgorod with the Grand Duke Mikhail of Tver on the preservation of ancient mutual relations. “Your reign,” say the Novgorodians, “should (should) be held honestly, according to duty (according to custom), without offense; and you, sir, should also hold Novgorod (should) without offense, according to duty.” The seal on the document represents the face of the Mother of God with the Eternal Child on the chest, with the inscription M ρ F ῦ, and on the back the words: “Fektist Archbishop of Novgorod” 1074. In the same year we see the saint consecrating a church in honor of saints Boris and Gleb and another, at the prince’s court, in honor of the fathers of the first Ecumenical Council 1075. Two years later, the Novgorodians, under the seal of their archbishop, submitted a complaint to the Grand Duke against his Novgorod governors. In September, Grand Duke Mikhail arrived in Novgorod and with personal orders calmed the Novgorodians 1076. But times were troubled then. Prince Yuri Danilovich argued with the holy Grand Duke Mikhail over the reign of Novgorod, and Yuri’s machinations only caused trouble for Novgorod 1077. The scribe of the Apostle of 1307 said with sorrow: “Under these princes, strife sown and grew, and our lives perished from princely quarrels and the lives of people were shortened” 1078. And the blessed saint was already in poor health. In this state of affairs, in December 1307, “having blessed the Novgorodians, due to illness he retired to the Monastery of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary in order to remain in silence” 1079. The blessed one was almost constantly ill after that, for three whole years. “He suffered a lot for God,” says a contemporary; “When he died, his holy soul ascended to Heaven, and his face seemed to be illuminated with light, so that those who saw marveled and glorified God.” So Blessed Theoktist, even then, as hegumen of the Annunciation Monastery, was adorned with kindness of heart and humility. But God was pleased to visit him with a serious illness, and his soul, through bodily suffering, was still elevated in spiritual perfection. Wonderful are the works of God! All-wise goodness knows who can reach perfection on which path, and puts him on the best path. Let us not grumble at the Lord when He sends us illness: we need it, it is our salvation. Let us endure illness as a pacification of the plans of our pride, as a cure for various other moral illnesses, as the best state for acquiring firmness in goodness, skill in prayer and trust in God! Blessed Theoktist, having matured in spirit through bodily suffering, rested peacefully on December 23, 1310. “His honorable body was laid with honor, accompanied by all the clergy, in the monastery church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary” 1080. The first glorification of Saint Theoktistus took place 300 years after his death. The wife of the royal clerk, Juliania, was ill for a long time, so they lost all hope of her recovery. One night, her husband appeared to her in a dream in sacred majesty and said: “Look for the tomb of the Archbishop of this city, Theoktistus, and you will receive healing.” The clerk, after obtaining information from the chronicles about the tomb of Blessed Theoktistus, brought the sick woman to the Annunciation Monastery; He sang a funeral service here and generously distributed alms. The patient immediately felt relief and soon completely recovered. At the request of the grateful clerk, an icon of the saint was painted at the same time, according to an appearance to his former wife; and at the same time, the Sofia sexton Theodore, who was engaged in icon painting, painted his icon from the ancient original, which was preserved on the wall of the Sofia porch, and depicted the saint in a prayerful position before the icon of the Annunciation. Following this, in 1644, the Novgorod viceroy of the Tsar, Prince Vasily Romodanovsky, out of reverent zeal for the saint, erected a chapel on the site of the collapsed church; then he built a shrine over the relics with the face of the saint, and finally he restored the stone church. In 1707, the relics of the saint were openly laid out. The healings continued. Thus, in 1710, the villager Maria, who had been sick for 20 years and blind for 3 years, when she kissed the face of the saint on his tomb, instantly received health. In 1714, the saint appeared in a night vision to the sexton widow Evdokia, who was lying in relaxation, and said: “Why are you being treated in vain by stupid magicians?” The sick woman ordered her son to lead her to the tomb of St. Theoktistus and here she received healing. In 1786, the relics of the saint, with the permission of the Holy Synod, were transferred from the abolished Annunciation Monastery to the Yuryev Monastery and were placed in the church, near the wall, near the iconostasis. Archimandrite Photius built a chapel in honor of St. Theoktistus 1081. The Holy Ten Martyrs, in Crete: Theodula, Sathorninus, Euporus, Gelasius, Eunicianus, Zoticus, Pompius, Agathopus, Basilides and Evarestes These martyrs, natives of different cities, were collected and presented to the court of the ruler of the island of Crete as zealots of the Christian faith, and were handed over to them for torture. Having experienced all sorts of torments over them, which they bravely endured for thirty days, remaining unshakable in their faith, the ruler ordered them to be beheaded. This was in 251, during the persecution of Christians by Emperor Decius. The fathers of the council that took place on Crete in 458 say in a letter to Emperor Leo that “their island has hitherto been protected from error by the intercession of these holy martyrs” 1082. Subsequently, their relics were transferred to Rome. Their memory was also celebrated in Constantinople, in the Church of St. Stephen. Venerable Paul the Confessor, Bishop of Neocaesarea During the persecution of Likinievo (320) he was accused by the local government of opposing the authorities, branded on his hands with a hot iron and exiled to the Euphrates River. After the death of Licinius, he returned to the throne and in 325 was among the other fathers at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea. Memories of the deliverance of the Church and the Russian Empire from the invasion of the Gauls After the glorious deliverance from the invasion of foreigners in 1812, the Orthodox Church, always prayerfully helping the Fatherland, perpetuated the victory over the enemies with an annual celebration on the feast of the Nativity of Christ with thanksgiving to the Lord, the Defender of Truth. Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Orthodox Church, after the celebration in honor of great sacred events with her songs of praise and gratitude, turning to the most chosen instruments of Providence, through which the celebrated events took place, the day after the feast of the Nativity of Christ gathers to praise the Mother of God. “Come,” the Holy Church cries out on this day, “let us glorify the Mother of Spasova, who again appeared as a Virgin after the Nativity.” This meeting of believers on the eve of the Nativity of Christ for the glorification and thanksgiving of the Mother of God, who gave birth to the Savior, is called the Cathedral of the Most Holy Theotokos. The establishment of this council dates back to the ancient times of the Christian Church. On the day of this Council in the 4th century, the Fathers of the Church already spoke teachings; These include the word of Epiphanius of Cyprus, the interlocutor of John Chrysostom and who died in 402 AD. This word is mentioned in the church service of the cathedral in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos, which says: “And we honor the word of Epiphanius of Cyprus, the praise of the Most Holy Theotokos.” Also, Saint Ambrose of Milan and Blessed Augustine, in their teachings on the feast of the Nativity of Christ, combined praise for the born God-Man with praise for the Virgin who gave birth. An indication of the celebration of the Mother of God after the Nativity of Christ can also be found in Rule 79 of the VI Ecumenical Council, which took place in 691. This rule says: “The Divine is from The birth of the virgin, as if it were without seeds, confessing it to be painless and preaching this to the whole flock, we subject to correction those who, out of ignorance, do something improper. Since then, some people, on the day of the Holy Nativity of Christ our God, are seen preparing bread cookies and passing them on to each other, supposedly in honor of the illnesses of the birth of the all-immaculate Virgin Mother: then we determine that the faithful should not do anything like that. For this is not an honor to the Virgin, rather than the mind and word of the flesh who gave birth to the inconceivable Word, if Her ineffable birth is determined and presented according to the example of an ordinary birth that is characteristic of us.” This custom originated from an ancient false teaching, which was later spread by Nestorius, calling the Mother of God not the Mother of God, but the Mother of Christ. Repose of St. Ignatius of Lomsky The Monk Ignatius laid the foundation for monastic life in the Kirillov Beloezersky Monastery; then he labored 60 versts from Vologda, near the former city of Lomsk, and here he founded the Spasskaya Hermitage, which for a long time was called the Ignatius Spasskaya Hermitage, and then from 1673 the Lomovsky Monastery and the Verkholomskaya Hermitage. The lover of silent life, leaving the management of the founded desert to one of his disciples, withdrew from it to the bank of the Sarah River in the Vadozhskaya volost and lived here as a hermit. When adherents of monastic life gathered here too, he built for them the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, and thus the Vadozhskaya Hermitage was founded. The Monk Ignatius rested from his labors on December 28, 7100 (1591). His relics rest hidden in the closed Vadozhskaya hermitage of the Vologda diocese 1083. Memory of Saints Mark, John and Theophilus “We, the weak,” this is how the Pechersk monk Polycarp begins his story about St. Mark, “want to follow the example of the ancients. They put in a lot of work, walked through deserts, mountains, and hollows of the earth, and some of the venerable men they wrote about, they saw for themselves, about the lives of others, about miracles and God-pleasing deeds they heard from their former fathers, and so they compiled a patericon, which we enjoy spiritually while reading. I, unworthy, have no understanding of the truth and have not seen anything like this, but follow only what I heard from the Venerable Bishop Simon. I did not go to holy places, I did not see either Jerusalem or Mount Sinai, so that I could add something to my story, as those skilled in words do. But let me not boast of anything else than the holy Pechersk monastery and the monks who were there, their lives and miracles, which I remember with joy. I, a sinner, strongly desire the prayers of those fathers. Then I begin the story about St. Mark of Pechersk" 1084. Let us truly say, the Venerable Mark of Pechersk is such a man of God who constitutes the glory of the Russian Church, and, with him in mind, we have no need to go to the East to see the true man of God. Reverend Mark is a wonderful man of God! The most amazing thing about him is the simplicity of his feat. He did not lead a high contemplative life. His occupation was very ordinary: he was digging the earth. But with this simple work he achieved a high spiritual perfection that few achieve. This is the most convincing example of the fact that with any bodily labor, if the spirit works for the Lord, drives away everything unclean from the soul, fills it with thoughts and sighs of saints, strictly guarding it with humility and simplicity, the soul can improve spiritually. Let us listen to Polycarp's entire story about the wondrous Mark. The Monk Mark, writes Polycarp, “living in a cave, dug many caves with his own hands and carried the earth on his shoulders, working day and night for the Lord. He dug many places for the burial of the brethren and did not take anything for it, unless someone himself gave something, and even then he distributed it to the poor. Under him, Saint Theodosius was transferred from the cave to the monastery, to the great church.” It should be added that the monk, despite all the fact that he worked so hard, digging caves and graves, wore chains on himself: they now hang over his relics. Here is his cross - a monument to his abstinence even in drinking water; when he was tormented by thirst, he drank no more than what was contained in this copper cross 1085. “At one time,” Polycarp narrates, “Mark, while digging the ground, became tired to the point of exhaustion and left the place cramped, not expanded. It happened that one brother fell ill and died; There was no other place for him except that cramped one; The dead man, having been brought into the cave, was barely put in with need. The brethren grumbled against Mark, not being able to remove him or pour oil on him; the place was so narrow! The caveman humbly bowed to everyone and said: “Forgive me, holy fathers! Due to bad luck, I didn’t finish.” They began to scold him even more. Mark said to the dead man: “The place is cramped; brother, work hard, take the oil and pour it on yourself.” The dead man stretched out his hand and, rising a little, took the oil and poured it in a cross shape on his face and chest and, giving the vessel, he himself removed everything in front of everyone, lay down and fell asleep. When this miracle happened, fear fell on everyone. Another brother died after a long illness, and one of his friends, having washed his body according to custom, went to the cave to see where to lay the body of his friend. He asked the caveman Mark about this; but he answered: “Go, tell your brother to wait until the morning until I dig out the place, and then let him go to eternal rest.” “Father!” the brother objected, “to whom do you tell me to say this? I have already wiped the dead body with my lip.” But Mark repeated to him: “You see, the place is not ready yet; go, tell the deceased: sinful Mark says to you: stay, brother, one more day, until I tell you that the place is ready; in the morning you will go to Christ.” The monk returned to the monastery; here the brothers were already performing the usual singing for the deceased. In front of everyone, he said to the deceased: “Mark is telling you that the place is not ready for you yet, wait until the morning.” At these words, the deceased opened his eyes, his soul returned, and he remained alive all night, not speaking to anyone. The next morning, the brother again went to the cave to find out about the place, and the caveman told him: “Go, tell the one who has come back to life, - Mark tells you: now leave this temporary life, surrender your spirit to God, and a place is ready for your body here.” As soon as the brother said this to the revived one, he closed his eyes and gave up his spirit to God. Two brothers, John and Theophilus, were united by heartfelt love from their youth and were equally zealous to serve God. They asked Blessed Mark to prepare for them one common burial place. After a long time, the elder brother Theophilus was sent to the side due to a monastic need. The younger one, having pleased the Lord, fell ill and died; it was placed in the prepared place. A few days later, Theophilus returned and, having learned about the death of his brother, went with the brethren to see where the deceased was laid. Seeing that he was laid in the first place in their common coffin, he was indignant at Mark and said: “Why did you put him here in my place? I’m older than him.” The caveman, humbly bowing to him, answered: “Forgive me, a sinner,” and, turning to the deceased, said to him: “Brother, get up and give this place to your elder brother, and lie down on another.” According to the word of the blessed one, the dead man stood up and lay down in another place. Then Theophilus, grumbling against the blessed one, fell at his feet and said: “I have sinned, father, I have disturbed my brother; I ask you, command him to lie there again.” The blessed one answered: “The Lord created a work so that there would be no enmity between us; He commanded the deceased to give you the place of seniority. God’s work is to resurrect the dead, and I am a sinful man; tell him, will he listen to you? Know also that you should, without leaving here, take your favorite seniority and be placed here. But since you are not yet ready for the outcome, go and take care of your salvation; after a few days you will be brought here.” Hearing this, Theophilus was horrified and thought that he would die immediately. Returning somehow to his cell, he sobbed bitterly. Having given away everything he had and leaving only his robe, he waited every day for the hour of death, and no one could keep him from crying or force him to taste sweet food; Tears were his food day and night. Every morning he washed his face with tears, not knowing whether he would reach the evening; as night approached, he darkened his eyes with tears and said: who knows whether I will live until the morning? Many, retreating to temporary peace, fell asleep in eternal sleep. How can I hope that I will stay alive when I have already been told that my death is imminent? Theophilus tearfully prayed to the Lord to give him time to repent. With such a feat, over the course of several years, he had dried up his body so much that his bones could be counted. He lost his sight from tears. The Monk Mark, having foreseen the hour of his departure to the Lord, called Theophilus to him and said to him: “Forgive me, brother, for offending you for so many years, and pray to God for me - I am already leaving here; I will not forget to pray for you, so that the Lord God will deign us to see each other and stay together with the Reverend Fathers Anthony and Theodosius.” Then Theophilus said: "Father! why are you leaving me here? Take me with you, or give me my sight. I know that for my sins I had to die at the same time as you raised my brother; for your holy prayers the Lord spared me, awaiting my repentance. And now you are able to give me what I ask. Let me go with you to the Lord or receive my sight." The Monk Mark answered: “Do not grieve, my brother, that for God’s sake you were darkened with your physical eyes—you have received your spiritual sight. I am even glad that I was to blame for your blindness; I announced death to you, wanting to bring your carnal wisdom to humility. Do not wish for death: it will come, even if you did not want it. This is what will serve as a sign of your imminent death: three days before it you will receive your sight.” Having said this, blessed Mark rested. His holy relics are placed in a cave that he dug for himself.” Since, according to Polycarp, Blessed Mark witnessed the transfer of the relics of St. Theodosius from the cave to the church of the monastery, but Polycarp does not say that Blessed Mark saw St. Theodosius alive, and the transfer of the relics of Theodosius took place in 1091, the death of St. Mark probably followed in 1102 1086. Through his prayer, those who reverently drink from his cross receive healing 1087. Blessed Theophilus continued to cry for himself after the death of Mark. His tears flowed in such abundance that a whole vessel was filled with them. According to Mark’s prediction, the light of his eyes also returned to him, and then he learned that his death was near. An angel appeared to him and said: “You pray well, but why do you boast about your tears, collecting them in a vessel? Here is another vessel full of fragrances; in it are those tears that flowed in prayer, which you wiped away with the edge of your clothes or dropped on the ground; they are all intact." Having said this, he left the vessel and ceased to be visible. Theophilus, calling the abbot, opened a vision to him and, showing him two vessels, asked to pour them on his body during burial. On the third day after his epiphany, he rested peacefully. His body was laid in a cave together with his beloved brother John, near St. Mark. During the burial, they poured the Angel's vessel on his body, and the whole cave was filled with a fragrance, and then they poured another vessel on him. To the King of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever (1 Tim. 1:17). Venerable George, Bishop of Nicomedia The Monk George was a contemporary of Saint Photius (whose memory is on February 6), with whom he shared all the trials and tribulations. Died peacefully, leaving behind quite a lot of works 1088 and a story about the deliverance from danger of the Blachernae Church (in which there was an ark with the robe of the Mother of God) during the siege of Constantinople by the barbarians. Before that, he described in detail how Patricius Galbius and Candide found a holy robe under Emperor Leo I, which was placed in the Blachernae church, where it worked various miracles. Venerable Markell, Abbot of the Monastery of the Never Sleeping The Monk Marcellus was the third abbot of the community of the Ever-Sleeping, founded by the Monk Alexander (July 3); a strong man in word and deed, merciful to orphans and the poor, blessed with the gift of clairvoyance and miracles. Died in 486. The holy prophet Nathan lived under the kings David and Solomon and was one of the narrators about the deeds of the kings and also the events of his time (see about him in the life of King David - December 26). Memory (week) of the saints Forefathers Approaching the remembrance of the great and saving event of the Nativity of Christ, the Church reverently remembers the ancestors of the Savior according to the flesh, from whom He descended as the God-man. Two weeks before this holiday, the Church commemorates the saints of the Forefathers and their day of remembrance is called the week of the saints of the Forefathers (see: Acts 3:25). The celebration of the Holy Forefathers occurs on different dates from the 11th to the 17th day of December, and often occurs on the 28th week of Pentecost. On the Sunday of Saints, the Forefather Church remembers all the Old Testament holy patriarchs, that is, the ancestors of the people of God who lived before the law given at Sinai and under the law - from Adam to Joseph, the betrothed of the Blessed Virgin, also remembers the prophets and all the Old Testament saints who were justified by faith in the coming Messiah. Glorifying the holy Forefathers, the Church says: “Come, let us praise the assembly of the forefathers: Adam the forefather, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: according to the law - Moses and Aaron, Joshua, Samuel and David: with them - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel and the twelve prophets, together - Elijah, Elisha, Zechariah and the Baptist and others, who foresaw and preached that Christ is the life and resurrection of our race.” The Gospel and the Apostle on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers are decreed by the Church to be read the same as those read on the 28th week of Pentecost, which indicates that the remembrance of the holy Forefathers often occurs on this week. If the week of the Forefather occurs on week 27 or 29, then there are Gospel and Apostolic readings also on the 28th week. Memory of the Saints Fathers, or the week before Christmas In the last week before the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, the Church reverently commemorates the holy Fathers, calling this week the Week of the Holy Fathers or the week before the Nativity of Christ. As on the Sunday of Saints, the Forefather Church glorifies all the Old Testament righteous from Adam to the Nativity of Christ; So, on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers, she glorifies those Old Testament saints from whose tribe Jesus Christ actually came, according to His humanity; from them, according to the flesh, Christ, who is God above all, is blessed forever (Rom. 9:5). This week the Church cries out: “Let us honor the first-fruits fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for from those seeds Christ rose incarnate from the Virgin.” In the Gospel at the Liturgy on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers, the genealogy of Jesus Christ according to humanity is read, described by the Evangelist Matthew (Matthew 1, 1–25. Part 1); and in the Apostle the Old Testament saints are numbered who walked by faith in the coming Messiah (Heb. 11, 9–10, 17–40. Ch. 328). Saint Chrysostom in the 1st conversation on the Gospel of Matthew says: “Matthew, writing the Gospel for the Jews in Hebrew, tried to show nothing more than the origin of Jesus Christ from Abraham and David. Nothing could be more pleasant for a Jew than to tell him that Jesus Christ was a descendant of Abraham and David. Why did the evangelist place the genealogy not of the Virgin Mary, but of Joseph? The Jews did not have the habit of conducting genealogy according to the female tribe; Therefore, in order, on the one hand, to preserve the custom and not be found to be violating it at the very beginning, and on the other hand, to show us the origin of the Virgin, the evangelist, keeping silent about Her ancestors, presents the genealogy of Joseph. If he had presented the genealogy of the Virgin, they would have considered him an innovator; and if I had kept silent about Joseph, we would not have known the ancestors of the Virgin.” In addition, “the evangelist did not want the Jews to know at the very beginning that Christ was born of a Virgin. I speak here not my own words, but the words of our fathers, wonderful and famous men. The Lord initially hid many things in darkness, calling Himself the Son of Man. If He did not clearly reveal to us His equality with the Father everywhere, then why should we be surprised if He also hid this for a time, creating something wonderful and great? What's so wonderful about this? The fact that Virgo is preserved and freed from evil suspicion. If this had first become known to the Jews, they, interpreting the words for the worse, would have stoned Her. The Evangelist compiled a genealogy and placed some wives in it in order to shame the Jews with such examples and teach them not to be arrogant. For they, not caring about spiritual virtue, in any case were exalted only by Abraham and thought to be justified by the virtue of their ancestors. Therefore, the Lord shows from the very beginning that one should not boast about one’s birth, but about one’s own deeds. Even if you were a slave, even if you were free, there is no benefit or harm from this to you: only one thing is needed - will and spiritual disposition. since it is impossible, absolutely impossible, through the virtues or vices of one’s ancestors to be honest or pious, famous or unknown. Some wives are mentioned, for example, Ruth and Rahab, also in order to teach that the Savior came to destroy all our sins, came as a Doctor, and not as a Judge, and that everyone, even the patriarchs themselves, are guilty of sins.” Memory of Saints Godfather, or week after the Nativity of Christ Ending the feast of the Nativity of Christ, in the next week after it, if it happens before the new year, or on the next day after the feast of the Nativity of Christ, i.e. On the 26th of December, the Church commemorates the holy Fathers of God, i.e. glorifies and thanks The Most Holy Theotokos, the saints and righteous Joseph the betrothed, David the king and Jacob - the brother of the Lord according to the flesh, and calls this week the week after the Nativity of Christ. In the Gospel of this week, the Church preaches about the removal of Joseph, at the command of an Angel, with the Infant Jesus Christ and Mary His Mother to Egypt - from Herod, who sought to destroy the eternally corrupted Child (Matthew 2, 13-23. Part 4). 18th. Hieromartyr Thaddeus, Archbishop of Tver and Kashinsky Hieromartyr Archbishop Thaddeus, in the world Ivan Vasilyevich Uspensky, was born on November 12, 1872 in the family of a rural priest. After graduating from the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary, Ivan entered the Moscow Theological Academy. While studying at the Moscow Theological Academy, Ivan began to seek spiritual advice from Hieromonk Herman, a famous elder who labored in the Gethsemane monastery at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. On January 18, 1895, Archpriest John of Kronstadt visited the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Ivan saw him for the first time and later recalled that “I had to see the face of an angel.” In August 1897, Ivan was tonsured a monk with the name Thaddeus and was soon ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, and on September 21 - to the rank of hieromonk and appointed teacher at the Smolensk Theological Seminary. In 1890, Hieromonk Thaddeus was transferred to the Ufa Theological Seminary. Here, for his dissertation “The Unity of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah,” he received a master’s degree in theology. In 1902, he was appointed inspector, and soon - rector of the Olonets Theological Seminary. In 1902, he wrote the book “Notes on Didactics,” which became the basis of spiritual pedagogy. In 1908, Archimandrite Thaddeus wrote a large study entitled “Jehovah,” for which he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Theology. On December 21, 1908, Archimandrite Thaddeus was consecrated Bishop of Vladimir-Volyn, vicar of the Volyn diocese. Having become a bishop, he did not change the feat of fasting and prayer he had undertaken. His flock immediately sensed in him a man of holy life, an example of meekness, humility and purity. During the days of revolutionary unrest, Bishop Thaddeus was arrested. His arrest alarmed the entire Orthodox population of the city. Only on March 9, 1922, Bishop Thaddeus was released and left for Moscow. Upon arrival, he immediately went to Patriarch Tikhon. He spoke about the circumstances of his “case” and asked the patriarch to assign him to one of the departments. While in Moscow, Archbishop Thaddeus took an active part in the work of the Holy Synod under the Patriarchate. In March 1922, the Bolsheviks began to confiscate church valuables. A new persecution of the Orthodox Church began. Patriarch Tikhon was arrested. Soon, Archbishop Thaddeus was also arrested on charges of printing and distributing the appeal of Metropolitan Agafangel (Preobrazhensky), to whom the patriarch entrusted the temporary administration of the Orthodox Church. In September 1922, the saint was exiled for one year to the Zyryansk region. During transportation, Archbishop Thaddeus gave all food parcels entirely to the elder, who divided them among everyone. But one day, when the usual delivery arrived, an eyewitness recalled, “the bishop separated a small part from it and put it under the pillow, and gave the rest to the elder. I saw this and cautiously hinted to the bishop that he had made a reserve for himself. “No, no, not for ourselves. Today our brother will come to us, we need to feed him, but will they take him for allowance today?” In the evening, Bishop Athanasius (Sakharov) was brought into his cell, and Bishop Thaddeus gave him food from the supply. I was stunned by the prediction..." In the summer of 1923, the period of exile ended, and Archbishop Thaddeus left for Volokolamsk near Moscow. Here he lived, and went to serve in Moscow churches. After the end of his exile in December 1923, the saint was appointed to the Astrakhan See. Upon arrival in the city, he immediately went from the station to the church to perform a service and until late in the evening he blessed those praying and the people gathered around the church. The saint lived very modestly, having nothing of his own. If they gave him tea or lunch, he drank and ate; if they didn’t give him, he didn’t ask. He always considered himself a guest and dependent on those who served and helped him. During his entire stay in Astrakhan, Archbishop Thaddeus did not say a single word against the Renovationists publicly, but the example of his personal life was more eloquent than any words. The moral influence of Archbishop Thaddeus on his flock was enormous. In the homes of many believers, in the front corner, along with icons, there were photographs of Bishop Thaddeus. The bishop served very often, and after the service he held conversations: in the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul he explained the New Testament, starting with the Gospel of Matthew and ending with the Apocalypse. There was deep silence and a kind of soulful peace in the church. After the akathist in the Church of the Intercession on Fridays, Archbishop Thaddeus explained the Old Testament, and after the akathist on Sunday he offered the lives of the saints of the day. He preached sermons at every Liturgy, even when he was unwell. In October 1926, the Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) was arrested. Archbishop Joseph (Petrovykh) of Rostov assumed the rights of Locum Tenens, and appointed Archbishop Thaddeus (Uspensky) as one of his deputies for the administration of the Church. Archbishop Thaddeus left Astrakhan for Moscow to begin fulfilling the duties assigned to him in governing the Church. But in Saratov, by order of Tuchkov, he was detained and sent to the city of Kuznetsk, from where the authorities allowed him to leave only in March 1928. In 1928, Bishop Thaddeus was transferred to Tver. Here he settled on a quiet street in a corner house with a tiny garden enclosed by a high wooden fence. In the garden along the fence there was a path along which he walked and prayed for a long time, especially in the evenings. After the prayer, he blessed the city in all directions and went into the house. According to the testimony of many parishioners, the bishop possessed the gift of clairvoyance and healing. One day, during the anointing of oil, one girl says to another: “Look, she anoints it with one brush, because you can get infected.” When the girls approached, he anointed them not with a brush, but with the other end of it with a cross. Tver resident Alexander Kulikov, when he was three years old, fell and was badly injured. A tumor has formed in the side. His mother turned to the surgeon, and he offered to perform the operation, although he himself doubted its positive outcome. Grieving greatly, the mother carried the boy to the church for the Liturgy. Archbishop Thaddeus served. With tears, the mother brought the boy to the Holy Chalice. The Bishop asked what she was crying about. After listening, he said that there was no need to perform an operation, but to anoint the sore spot with holy oil. She did so, and the boy soon recovered. Archbishop Thaddeus received everyone who came to him with love, refusing no one. He knew that now was a time of sorrow, and who, if not the archpastor, should console his flock. On December 20, 1937, Archbishop Thaddeus was arrested. They searched the whole house, but found nothing valuable. “What do you live on?” – asked one of them. “We live on alms,” replied the archbishop. During interrogations in prison, Archbishop Thaddeus behaved courageously, denying far-fetched accusations of counter-revolutionary activities, despite being forced to self-incriminate. The bishop did not stay in prison for long, but even in these last days he had to endure many humiliations. The prison authorities placed the bishop in a cell with criminals, and they mocked him and tried to humiliate him. And then the Mother of God Herself interceded for Her righteous man. One night She appeared to the leader of the criminals and threateningly told him: “Do not touch the holy man, otherwise you will all die a cruel death.” The next morning he recounted the dream to his comrades, and they decided to see if the holy elder was still alive. Looking under the bunks, they saw that a blinding light was pouring out from there, and they recoiled in horror, asking the saint for forgiveness. From that day on, all ridicule stopped, and the criminals even began to take care of the ruler. The authorities noticed a change in the prisoners' attitude towards the bishop, and he was transferred to another cell. All of these prisoners survived. One of them, finding himself at a recruiting station in Torzhok before the Finnish war, told one of the conscripts about this incident, learning that he was a believer. Saint Thaddeus accepted martyrdom on December 18, 1937. On October 26, 1993, on the feast of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, the honest remains of the martyr archpastor were found, which are now in the Ascension Cathedral in the city of Tver. The memory of the Hieromartyr Thaddeus is celebrated on the day of his martyrdom - December 18. 20th. Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt was born on October 19, 1829 in the Arkhangelsk province into the family of a poor sexton. John's father, Ilya Mikhailovich, served as a psalm-reader in a local poor church. Feodora Vlasyevna, the mother of Father John, lived a long time and saw the glory of her son. She was a simple woman and deeply religious. More than once John saw his mother praying in tears in front of the icon, and he himself learned deep, heartfelt prayer. In his adolescence, Father John was rewarded with miraculous phenomena more than once. From his words, Abbess Taisiya said: “One night Vanya saw an unusual light in the room. Looking, he saw in the midst of the light an Angel in his heavenly glory. The baby was embarrassed. The angel calmed him down, calling himself his Guardian Angel.” In 1839, his father, with great difficulty collecting meager funds, took John to the Arkhangelsk parish school, but at first his studies were extremely difficult. In the notes of Father John we encounter an event similar to an episode from the life of St. Sergius. “At night,” he recalls, “I loved to get up to pray. Everyone is sleeping, quietly. It’s not scary to pray, and I prayed most often that God would give me the light of reason to comfort my parents. The further I went, the better I did in the sciences, and by the end of the course I was one of the first to be transferred to the seminary.” During the years of study at the Arkhangelsk Seminary, John’s religious disposition did not weaken. He especially loved reading the Holy Gospel, which gave him irreplaceable consolation. In 1851, he graduated with honors from the seminary course and was assigned to the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. With earnings from copying someone's professorial work, he bought an interpretation of John Chrysostom on the Gospel of Matthew and rejoiced at the purchase as “a treasure of treasures.” In 1855, John Sergiev graduated from the academy and on December 12, 1855 he was ordained a priest. The young priest was sent to St. Andrew's Cathedral in the city of Kronstadt: Father John took the place of keymaster instead of his recently deceased father-in-law, Archpriest Konstantin Nesvitsky, whose daughter he had previously married. An independent pastoral activity, full of events and experiences, began. “I made it a rule for myself to be as sincere as possible about my work and strictly monitor myself, my inner life.” These words characterize the entire life of Father John, his goals, aspirations, rules and principles. He set the goal, first of all, to earn the love of his flock, because only her cordial attitude can become lasting support and consolation in the difficult work of the priesthood. An image of spiritual activity formed in his heart: to keep in purity of conscience the gifts of the Holy Spirit, imparted through the ordination of archpastors; perform divine services daily, offer a bloodless Sacrifice and pray for believers; after completing his earthly path, to appear at the Last Judgment of the Almighty and give an account of not only his own deeds, but also the deeds of the flock, whom he was entrusted with instructing in the matter of salvation. Father John considered prayer to be the center of Christian life. He, according to the behest of the Savior, perceived the church of the Lord primarily as a house of prayer and called on people to pray sincerely, heartily, deeply, with faith in the miraculous power of prayer. “Always firmly believe and remember that every thought of yours and every word of yours can undoubtedly be action.” He was given a special gift from the Lord - the gift of helping and healing prayer. His prayer saved many. Almost every day Father John celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. Andrew's Cathedral, where he was a full-time priest. “There are people for whom the Liturgy is everything in the world,” wrote Father John. He himself decided to celebrate the Liturgy as often as possible, and in the last 35 years of his life he served every day, except for those days when the morning found him on the road or when he was seriously ill. He explained it this way: “If the world did not have the Most Pure Body and Blood of the Lord, it would not have the main good, the good of true life - do not have life in yourself (John 6:53).” Father John testifies about the life-giving effect of the Holy Mysteries: “I marvel at the greatness and life-giving power of the Divine Mysteries: the old woman, who was coughing up blood and completely exhausted, eating nothing, from the communion of the Holy Mysteries, which I taught, began to recover on the same day. The girl, who was completely dying, after communion of the Holy Mysteries on the same day began to recover, eat, drink and speak, while she was almost unconscious, tossed about violently and did not eat or drink anything. Glory to Your life-giving and terrible Mysteries, Lord!” Listening to the instructions of Father John, many changed their lifestyle, brought true repentance and joyfully received Holy Communion from the hands of a loving shepherd, receiving healing from ailments. People flocked to him, first in dozens, then in hundreds. Up to 5-6 thousand worshipers gathered in St. Andrew's Cathedral; More than 20 thousand pilgrims visited Kronstadt annually, and later their number reached 80 thousand. In the first week of Lent alone, up to 10 thousand people gathered. Father John sincerely loved his flock. For him there were no strangers: everyone who came to him for help became family and friends. He did not have a personal life, but it is precisely in the renunciation of his personality for the sake of another being and the transference of love to him that the essence of pastoral activity lies. At that time, the government exiled murderers, thieves and other criminals to Kronstadt. Life for the exiles was terrible. “Darkness, dirt, sin,” wrote a contemporary, “here even a seven-year-old became a libertine and a robber.” “But one must not confuse a person - this image of God - with the evil that is in him,” Father John taught, “because the image of God is still preserved in him.” This environment, which for an ordinary worker would have been a barren rocky desert, turned out to be a most fruitful vineyard for Father John. He did not come to dugouts and basements for 5-10 minutes to fulfill some requirement and leave; he went to a living, priceless soul, to his brothers and sisters, he stayed there for hours, talked, exhorted, consoled, cried and rejoiced with them. From the very first steps, he also took care of the material needs of the poor: he himself went to the store for provisions, to the pharmacy for medicine, to the doctor - in a word, he showed concern, leaving the last pennies to the poor, of which he himself had little. He left there constantly joyful, touched, with firm faith in God’s mercy and hoping that the Lord would send funds for further good deeds, remembering the words of Holy Scripture: he who gives to the poor will not become poor (Proverbs 28:27). The Good Shepherd always found a way to help people. Kronstadt residents saw him returning home barefoot and without a cassock. More than once parishioners brought shoes to mother, telling her: “You gave yours to someone, he will come barefoot.” Persons close to Father John claimed that, by agreement with his wife, he remained a virgin all his life. Mother Elizabeth, taking part in the prayers and charity of her blessed husband, never called him anything other than “brother Ivan.” He sometimes reminded her of his duty: “I am a priest, I belong to others, not to myself. There are enough happy families without us, Lisa, but we must devote ourselves to serving God.” In 1862, a classical gymnasium opened in Kronstadt. When the pastor was asked to take upon himself the teaching of the law of God at this gymnasium, this caused him genuine joy. Addressing the teacher who instructs young souls in the truths of faith and piety, Father John says, based on personal experience: “You teach children the law of God!.. Most of all, beware of making a textbook out of the Gospel, this is a sin. This means in a child to devalue a book for a person, which should be for him a treasure and a guide for his whole life. It must be terrible for the conscience to break the word of life into soulless pieces and turn them into painful questions for children.” And Father John did not have anyone who was incapable. His conversations were learned forever by both strong and weak students. The loving shepherd received great benefit, joy and consolation for himself when he had the opportunity to help people spiritually or physically, not excluding the benefit that he brought as a teacher-counselor. In rare moments of rest, Father John picked up a pen and poured out on paper everything that his soul lived and breathed. “My life in Christ” - that’s what he called his diary. “Everything contained in it is nothing more than the gracious illumination of the soul, which I received from the all-enlightening Spirit of God in a moment of deep attention and self-examination, especially during prayer. Whenever I could, I wrote down these blessed thoughts and feelings, and from these notes over many years a book has now been compiled.” Father John's faith was alive and active; she was drawn to the poor, needy people, and encouraged them to help the poor not only with words of prayer and moral encouragement, but also with material means. Burning with love for God and his neighbors, from the very beginning of his priesthood he served the cause of charity - at first in a small degree, without a specific system, giving everything he had. He did not understand what led a person to poverty and fall, but gave because the person was in need. In 1874, he founded the Orthodox Christian brotherhood “Guardianship of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called” at St. Andrew’s Church. In 1882, with numerous donations, the “House of Diligence” was created with a house church, workers’ workshops and women’s workshops, evening manual labor courses, a school and kindergarten, a country summer home for children, an orphanage, a people’s canteen with a small fee, and vegetable gardens. Many of the poor came here with a request to give them certain work for a fee that would give them the means to subsist. People came to Father John with faith in God’s help and, after praying with him, they were healed. When Father John prayed, it seemed to everyone that he saw God before him and boldly spoke to Him. He begged, begged, and even seemed to insist, as if, having grabbed hold of the robe of Christ, he was ready not to let it go from his hands until he was heard. Father John tried only for one thing - the salvation of the souls entrusted to him. “Each of the people has an immortal soul destined for salvation,” he said, “love this immortal soul in every person and pray to him for salvation, since without salvation all the blessings of life are nothing.” Not only in Russia did they know the power of Father John’s prayers - thousands of touching letters and telegrams were sent to him from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, America, India, England, Austria, Sweden, Portugal, and Greece. Father John eagerly responded to various requests and invitations to visit the sick in their homes, to console, help or share the joy of some celebration, not only in Kronstadt or St. Petersburg itself, but throughout Russia and beyond. In all trials, Father John resorted to God and the Most Holy Theotokos, and the Lord and His Mother did not forsake His servant with mercy. “On August 15, 1898,” writes Father John, “on the Dormition of the Mother of God, I had the happiness for the first time in a dream to clearly see face to face the Queen of Heaven and hear Her sweetest, blissful, encouraging voice: “You are dearest children of the Heavenly Father.” Then, realizing my damnation, I looked at Her most pure face with trepidation and with the thought: will the Queen of Heaven drive me away with anger? O holy and most blessed face! O blue and dove eyes, kind, humble, calm, majestic, heavenly, divine! I will not forget you, wonderful, wondrous eyes.” Always cheerful and tireless, Father John was often ill in the last three years of his difficult life. “My physical strength is exhausted,” he wrote in his diary, “but my spirit is alert and burning with love for my beloved Bridegroom - the Lord Jesus Christ... I want to see the incomplete Goodness, Lightness, Beauty, infinite Wisdom and Power, which created everything, holds everything and controls everything, but I am not ready, not pure in heart.” On December 9, 1908, Father John served his last Liturgy at St. Andrew's Cathedral. From that day on, he became completely weak and stopped leaving the house. Every day a priest came and administered the Holy Mysteries to him. On December 20, 1908, the great righteous man rested peacefully in the Lord. A huge number of people gathered to see off the good shepherd on the journey of the whole earth. On December 23, the coffin with the body of Father John was lowered into the grave of a small church-burial vault under the cathedral of the Ioannovsky Monastery in St. Petersburg. Pilgrims from all over Russia soon began to flock to the tomb of Father John for spiritual help and consolation, to thank the great righteous man for the good deeds already done. Miracles at the resting place of Father John did not stop in all the years after his death. Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt was canonized as a saint of the entire Russian Orthodox Church at the Local Council in 1990. The celebration of the saint's memory is December 20, the day of his righteous death. On the 30th. Saint Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow Saint Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow, was born in Moscow around 1482 into a family of pious parents and at baptism was named Michael in honor of the Archangel of the Heavenly Powers of the Lord. His family was not distinguished by nobility, but there were many people of the clergy class in it. Mikhail's father Leonty soon died, and his mother, placing her trust in God for her son's upbringing, took monastic vows as a nun with the name Euphrosyne. Then young Michael decided to leave this mortal world and devote himself to serving God: he retired to the monastery of St. Paphnutius of Borovsky. Having taken monastic vows with the name Macarius in honor of the famous Orthodox ascetic saint Macarius of Egypt, the future saint begins his first monastic feats of vigil, humility, prayer and obedience, and joins the book wisdom of Russian learned monasticism; having before his eyes icons painted by the famous ancient Russian icon painter Dionysius, he acquires icon painting skills that were so useful to him later. These were many years of daily monastic work and feat. A contemporary says about them that Macarius, “staying for many years in the rule of the Monk Paphnutius, having remained in it for many years and walked with dignity, having experienced cruel life.” It pleased the providence of God to raise this humble vessel of chastity and meekness to a higher degree of church obedience. On February 15, 1523, the monk Macarius, having passed all the spiritual degrees of reader, subdeacon, deacon and presbyter, was ordained archimandrite in the Luga Monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, founded by the Monk Ferapont of Mozhaisk (May 27). On March 4, 1526, Archimandrite Macarius was appointed to the most ancient episcopal see of the Moscow Metropolis - Archbishop of Veliky Novgorod and Pskov, and, according to the chronicler, “The Lord God sent His mercy to His people, through His prayers, times were quiet and cool, and great abundance abounded.” Saint Macarius begins extensive missionary activity among the northern peoples neighboring the Novgorod land. He repeatedly sends missionary priests there to preach among the pagans, with the command - a letter - to destroy pagan temples, rituals and sprinkle everything with blessed water and build new churches. Saint Macarius worked on the uniform organization of Novgorod monastic communal monasteries. The saint also showed great concern for the creation of churches in his diocese. He decorated his St. Sophia Cathedral with new icons. In total, under Saint Macarius, in Novgorod alone, about forty churches were built, rebuilt, and re-decorated after fires, which were supplied with books, utensils and vessels from the workshops established by the Saint. The issue of supplying churches with books was very acute for Archbishop Macarius, because at that time in church life there were many different hagiographies and their editions. In 1529, Saint Macarius undertook the great work of collecting and systematizing the Russian calendar hagiographical year and bringing it together into a single corpus of Chetyih-Menya. This work took the saint 12 years. In 1542, by order of St. Macarius, the Church of St. Nicholas was built in the lord's courtyard. Archbishop Macarius greatly revered Nicholas the Wonderworker - this patron of wandering and traveling people, for Macarius himself repeatedly had to make long trips both throughout his diocese and throughout the Russian state. So, in 1539, on January 25, Archbishop Macarius came to Moscow; here he headed the elections and installation of a new all-Russian metropolitan, who became the rector of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, Abbot Joasaph. Saint Macarius paid special attention to compiling the lives and establishing the memory of locally revered saints. With his blessing, the nephew of Joseph of Volotsky, the monk Dosifei Toporkov, worked on correcting the Sinai Patericon, compiled the Volokolamsk Patericon and Chronograph. In 1542, Archbishop Macarius was appointed to the throne of the High Hierarchs of Moscow. For the first time in Russian history, in 1547, Metropolitan Macarius crowned the first Russian Tsar. Soon Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich prepared to go on a campaign against Kazan. It was miraculously revealed to Saint Macarius about the impending victory of the tsar, blessing whom the saint predicted success in battle to Ivan the Terrible. Upon returning from the campaign in Moscow, the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat (St. Basil's Cathedral) was built and consecrated by St. Macarius. It was erected as a gift of thanksgiving to God from the Russian people, who achieved victory over the non-Christian world. All the years of Saint Macarius' stay in the metropolis were marked by vigorous activity in the organization of all spheres of Russian church and cultural life. The Metropolitan always presented issues of church practice, discipline, liturgics, canons, hagiography, canonization of saints, iconography, issues of church singing and many others for general conciliar discussion. Thus, in 1547 and 1549, Saint Macarius convened two Councils in Moscow, at which much work was done on the canonization of Russian saints. Before Saint Macarius, the veneration of saints in Rus' was carried out with the blessing and authority of the local bishop. As a result, there were a lot of locally revered saints, whose memory was revered in some lands, but not in other lands. Metropolitan Macarius, convening the Councils, set before himself the work of canonizing the saints of God in the entirety of the Russian Church. The glorification of the saints required the writing of services and lives for them, and liturgical instructions of a typical nature on the order of their services were also required. High Hierarch Macarius took upon himself all this for the sake of the glory of God and the saints who were again canonized in Rus'. It should also be said about the relationship between the great Russian ascetic of the 16th century, the Venerable Alexander of Svir (August 30) and Saint Macarius. The Monk Alexander labored within the Novgorod diocese and was known to Saint Macarius from his Novgorod archpastorship. Saint Macarius highly honored his contemporary for his labors and exploits, which the Lord Himself honored with the appearance of the Holy Trinity to him. On June 21, 1547, a terrible fire occurred in Moscow, hitherto unprecedented; Almost all of Moscow and the Kremlin burned out. Many people died from suffocation. Metropolitan Macarius miraculously escaped. When they began to lower him from the Kremlin wall on a rope to the river, the rope broke, and he, a 65-year-old elder, was badly hurt, could barely recover, and was taken to the Novospassky Monastery. The Kremlin monasteries of Chudov and Voznesensky burned down; in Kitay-Gorod, all the shops with goods and all the courtyards burned down. Outside the city there is a large settlement along Neglinnaya, Rozhdestvenka to the Nikolsky Drachevsky Monastery; Along Myasnitskaya the fire went to the Church of St. Florus, on Pokrovka - to the Church of St. Vasily, 1,700 people burned. Saint Macarius's eyes were scorched in the fire so that his right eye could no longer see. After the fire, the restoration of Moscow began. New churches are being built. Saint Macarius consecrates churches himself. He sends out letters with orders to build churches in other cities: in Kostroma, in the Tikhvin Monastery, in Pskov. Caring for the entire Russian land, the Saint also cares for every person, and mercifully treats individual, even lost children of the Church. In 1551, on February 23, another Council, convened by the Metropolitan, began its work in Moscow in the royal chambers - the famous Stoglav. The cathedral was headed by Saint Macarius in the presence of 8 bishops, many archimandrites and abbots. The issues that the Council dealt with were very different. This includes the appearance of a Christian, his behavior, church decorum and discipline, church iconography, spiritual enlightenment and much more. The problem of enlightenment was especially important for Saint Macarius. He ordered the archpriest from the Church of the Savior on Bor to write a book about the Holy Trinity, the life of Bishop Vasily of Ryazan and check the Paschal. On the initiative of Metropolitan Macarius, a 10-volume “Facebook Chronicle” was compiled (it contains up to 16 thousand miniatures) and a “State Book of the Royal Genealogy”, compiled at the behest of Macarius by the royal confessor, archpriest of the Annunciation Cathedral Andrei ( tonsured Athanasius) in 1555-1563. Under Metropolitan Macarius, book printing began in the Russian state. The first “Apostle” was published more than six months before the death of the saint, and in the Book of Hours published after his death (1565), his participation is mentioned: “With the blessing of His Grace Macarius, Metropolitan of All Russia, this standard of printed books was compiled in the reigning city of Moscow.” At the same Council, the heresy of Matthew Bashkin was condemned, who did not regard Christ as God and did not recognize the Church Sacraments. Fasting and staying in prayer was the daily rule of Metropolitan Macarius. A contemporary of the saint writes about this: “When Metropolitan Macarius began to live in Moscow, ruling the true word of God (...) he fasted so much that he could barely walk from abstinence in food and drink, he was meek and humble, and merciful to everyone, not tolerating pride and eradicated it in others with authority, like a child in mind, always remaining perfect.” The Metropolitan foresaw the coming disasters of the Russian land, which the oprichnina, established by the Tsar shortly after the death of Macarius, brought to it. “There is coming wickedness and bloodshed and division of the land.” And so it was. In the same year, Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich once sent to Metropolitan Macarius with a request to hand over a helpful book. Macarius sent him the burial order. The king was angry and said: “You sent me a funeral book, but such books are not brought into our royal palaces.” Macarius answered him: “I simply sent your pilgrim, on your order, because you asked for a spiritual book, and this one is the most useful of all; if anyone honors it with attention, he will never sin.” In mid-September 1563, in memory of the martyr Nikita, Metropolitan Macarius performed a religious procession, during which he caught a cold and fell ill. In the evening, he “began to tell his elders that he was very exhausted, his body, cold and sick, was obsessively eating.” The holiday of the Nativity of Christ has arrived, December 25th. Meanwhile, the life of the saint was fading away. He could no longer read the Holy Gospel himself, which he always read daily, and now, at his request, various clergy read the Gospel to him. And so on December 31, 1563, when the bell struck for matins, “the Right Reverend, wondrous Saint and shepherd of the Metropolis of All Rus' gave up his soul into the hands of the Living God, whom you have loved from your youth.” The saint was buried in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. This is how the great organizer of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow, ended his glorious life, and the children of Russia do not forget his cares, labors and exploits. The veneration of the saint began immediately after his death, and soon his first icons appeared. The Tsar, returning from a campaign against Lithuania in 1564, asked for the saint’s blessing before the tombstone, for Metropolitan Macarius had predicted victory for him even before the campaign. Ivan Vasilyevich kisses the images of Saints Peter, Alexy, Jonah and Macarius, “kindly kissing them.” There is much evidence from contemporaries about the personal holiness of Saint Macarius: they spoke of him as a faster, abstinent, perspicacious and humble ascetic. The memory of Saint Macarius is celebrated on December 30. "The Life of St. Urosha, m. dekem. 2 memory of St. and blessed Uros, young martyr, king of Serbia,” written with the help of reliable sources around 1595. Maikov A.A. History of the Serbian language. About the year of Dusan’s death, Maykov’s comments are correct (Maykov A.A. History of the Serbian language). In a charter dated January 10, 1356 it is written: “my royal authority prescribes and commands that if the mother of my royal majesty, the empress queen, wants to take something from them (Dubrovichans) from the auction: then my royal majesty gives them something for it and does not take it without ransom.” (Spomenn. No. 44). Urosh's mother was a queen, and Dusan's mother was a queen. Consequently, on January 10, 1356, Urosh was king and ruled with royal power, and Dusan was no longer in the world. In the Synaxar (l. 74) there is a strange mistake both about the time of Dushan’s death and about his years. Miklosich's mother Urosh's first queen was Elizabeth, in monasticism Eugenia (Miklosich. Monumenta Serbica. No. 234). So in the charter of 1357; on coins: Urosius imperator, Urosh the Tsar (Glasnik. Book 3, 6, 7; Notes of the Imperial Russian Archaeological Society. Vol. IX). About Sinish and Angel, see: Maikov A.A. History of the Serbian language. Chronicle see: Glasnik. Book 11. Serbian Komneni see: Glasnik. Book 13. Chronicle see: Glasnik. Book 1, 11. Miklosich. Monumenta Serbica. No. 148; Glasnik. Book 2. In 1332, Dusan ceded Ston to the Ragusians in order to pay 1000 perper per year for it. The fanaticism of papism soon demanded that the monks of the monastery of St. Nicholas left Moan; at the same time they promised to give them 400 perper for two years. In 1347 they moved to the Jerusalem monastery of St. Michael, built by Prince. Milyutin. Soon Orthodoxy was completely ousted from Ston (Makushev V.V. Materials for the history of diplomatic relations between Russia and the Ragusa Republic // Reading OIDR. 1865). For the attitude of Tsar Dushan to Orthodoxy, see the chronicle in Glasnik (Book 5). Norov has a colored triode from 1374, written “to the holy archangel of the Serbian Church at Jerusalem” (see: Vostokov A. Description of handwritten and printed Slovenian books belonging to Mr. Norov // Journal of the Ministry of Public Education. 1836. Part 11.). Miklosich. Monumenta Serbica. No. 151. This is what the ancient service says (Glasnik. Book 9). IORYAS. T. V. For advice to Uros, see the chronicle of Raich (Raich. History of various Slavic peoples. Part 2). Safarik. Pamatky drevniho pisemnictvi. Byzantines in: Stritter. Serbica, Croatica, Bosnica, Bulgarica. U o. Porfiry (Porfiry (Uspensky). Index of acts) Chrisovuled Despot John Uglesh about the construction of the Simonopetra Monastery on the occasion of the healing of his daughter in October 6872 (1364). Charter of the despot John Uglesh of 1368 on the subordination of churches to the Greek Patriarch in: Acta Patriarch of Constantinople. In Grigorovich (Grigorovich V. Travel sketch) “Caesar Uglesh, ruler of Serble and the Danube” in 6931 (1423) gives Hilandar the village of Vrave. But here there is an error in the year - according to the chronicle, Uglesh was killed on the Kosovo field in 1370 (Glasnik. Book 5). Laonicis Chalcomndylae. Alheniensis Historiarum: libri decem. Bonnae., 1843. Raich. History of various Slavic peoples. Part 2; Serbian Chronicle (Glasnik. Book 5). In Treskavets there is a stone with the inscription: “m. genvara success servant of God. Dabizhiv, foreigner (cupbearer) of Tsar Urosh in all the Srbsky lands, Grchsky and Pomeranian, in l. 6875" (1367), 10 months before the suffering death of the king (Grigorovich V. Essay on the journey). In 1320, Prince Dabizhiv was the king’s ambassador to Ragusa (Spomennitsy from Dubrovac archive 2, 2. Belgr. 1862). Dabizhiv was also included in the Sapochan Synodik. See: Gilferding A.F. Serbian names recorded in the Memorial of the Sopocan Monastery // IORYAS. T. VII. For an extract from the life of Urosheva, see: A. Hilferding. A trip to Herzegovina, Bosnia and Old Serbia; Chronicle (Glasnik. Book 5). A note in Miklosich's type: Miklosich. Monumenta Serbica. Notes of the Geographical Society. T. XIII; Chronicle (Glasnik. Book 5). “Isaiah’s opinion of the theft Vlkashkne” from Miklosich: Miklosich. Chrestomathia palaeoslovenica cum speciminibus reliquarum linguarum slavicarum. Vindobonae, 1861. According to the king (Raich. History of various Slavic peoples. Part 2) killed on September 26th 6879 (1370). Raich. History of various Slavic peoples. Part 2; Serblyak L. 76; Chronicle (Glasnik. Book 5). “The city of Tsilkani was located in Kartalinia at the foot of the mountains called Tini, near the Narekvavi river, which flows into Aragva: now on the site of the former city there is a large and rather rich village, in which a church in the name of the Mother of God, built in the 4th century, has survived. son of King Mirian. In this church there is a treasure of the first centuries of Christianity: an old icon of the Mother of God of the most ancient writing on a board, as is known according to legend, from the manger of Bethlehem, dating back to the time the Georgians accepted the Christian faith.” Service for December 3 in the Chetya-Minea (M., 1645); Description of the Rumyantsev Museum. No. 397. Markello's Life of St. Savva at Tsarskoye No. 135, 264; Tolstoy No. 2, 190; printed – Markell the Beardless. Life of Saint Sava. M., 1646. Nikon. l. 4, 235. Epiphanius in the life of St. Sergius: “Give the abbess from your disciples to Savva, the husband of great virtue.” Markell: “I came to the river called Dubenka, - I created a church in the name of the Assumption and recruited from the herd a disciple of this blessed Savva, about whom this story is told.” About the place of the Dubenskaya Hermitage in: Thu. OIDR. 1860. Book. 1. Markello's Life of St. Savva. Markello's Life of St. Savva; extensive life of St. Nikon. There and here it is said that Nikon “abie leave the flock.” Simon (Azaryin). Tales of Miracles or Book of Miracles by St. Sergius. The “Preface” was published in the “Vremennik of the Society of History and Antiquities” (Book 10). According to the description of the Sergius Lavra of 1642, behind the Stable Gate, which is now Kalichya, near the stable yard there is a pond “and look out for the well of the wonderworker Savva.” The well is still called Savvin; it is near the Resurrection Church in Kakuev. Marcellus: “As the heavenly paradise is planted with fragrant flowers, I have found this place and loved it dearly.” According to these words, Savva came to Storozha in the summer. According to Marcellus St. Savva was abbot of the Sergius Monastery for about six years - therefore, from 1392 to half of 1398. Markello's Life of St. Savva; Karamzin N.M. History of the Russian State. T. V; Artsybashev N.S. A story about Russia. T. II. Book 3. Markello's Life of St. Savva. The construction of a stone church is also mentioned in the service of St. Savva. “The cathedral church in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is contemporary with St. Savva; the original one was small in size wooden” (The journey of Patriarch Macarius of Antioch to Russia in the middle of the 17th century, described by his son, Archdeacon Pavel of Aleppo (based on a manuscript from the Moscow Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)). The “History of the Hierarchy” says that the stone church of the Storozhevskaya monastery was built on the model of the Trinity St. Sergius monastery (Amvrosy (Ornatsky), archimandrite. History of the Russian hierarchy. Part II). But the latter was built in 1422, and St. Savva died in 1406, therefore, Storozhevsky Church could serve as a model for Trinity, and not vice versa. Historical acts. T. 1. No. 15. Chetii-Minei December 3; Smirnov S.K. Historical description of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. M., 1846. Note. 20 (hereinafter referred to as Smirnov S.K. Historical description of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery). Smirnov S.K. Historical description of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. Note 108. In the inventory of 1684 they showed the full vestment of St. Savva, in addition to the chasuble, vestment, epitrachelion, brace and belt. The inventory of 1662 shows “canon of the wonderworker Sava.” But, unfortunately, he is now not in Sava’s monastery. RKP. Life of Tolstoy 2. No. 190. RKP. Saints: “St. Savva, abbot of Storozhevsky of Zvenigorod, wonderworker, was a student of St. Sergius, repose in L. 6915 months December on the 3rd day." By a charter dated January 30, 1490, given to Abbot Dionysius of Storozhevsky, Zvenigorod Prince Andrei Vasilyevich determined what and when to collect duties from monastic villages (Historical Acts. Vol. 1. No. 100). Prince Andrei Vasilyevich, who owned Zvenigorod and Uglich, lost all rights of a sovereign prince from 1491; in 1491 for the Savvino Monastery he gave several letters and one in 1470 (Smirnov S.K. Historical description of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. Notes 31–33, 139, 144). In a letter of 1490, by the way, he wrote “what was the duty for the cellarer and the cellarer, and you were not ordered to collect duties.” Was it not this restriction on the income of the cellarer and the cellarer that raised a storm of murmurs against the abbots? Dionysius? Smirnov admits a strange thing - he exhibits two abbots of Dionysius, one around 1430, showing him as an icon painter who painted the image of Savva; the other dates back to 1490 and puts him on trial before the Grand Duke. But Marcellus not only has no basis for the idea of ​​two Dionysias, on the contrary, in describing the first appearance of Sava, he says: “Many years have passed since the repose of St. Savva,” and therefore, according to him, abbot. Dionysius the icon painter lived many years after St. Savva, and not some 25 years; otherwise, he was the same Dionysius who in 1490 was on trial before the Grand Duke. In the everyday life of the Lavra, written in 1555, under December 3 it reads: “on the same day, the doxology of Savva Storozhevsky.” Smirnov has an abbot. Callistus was installed as the successor of Euphrosynus, known in 1454 and precisely on the basis of the recording of Solomonida Barteneva (Smirnov S.K. Historical description of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. Note 141). But Barteneva only says that she gives it to the abbot. Callistu of the Mikhailovskoye settlement in the form in which his late husband bought it from Abbot Euphrosynus of Storozhevsky. And according to Markell’s description of the miracles of St. Savva's abbot. Callistus was after the abbot. Dionysius, i.e. after 1490. In his spiritual charter of 1515, St. Joseph of Volokolamsk recognizes “Callistus, the former abbot of Storozhevsk” as capable of managing the monastery. It is clear that Callistus was abbot of Storozhevsky in 1495–1512. Smirnov S.K. Historical description of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. Markello's description of miracles. In the desk document of 1592 to Abbot German we read: “Reverend Father Savva of Storozhevsky” (Legal Acts. No. 383). In the charter of April 28, 1595: “Nathanael, the builder of the Reverend Abbot Savva of the Storozhev Monastery” (Historical Acts. Vol. 1. No. 248). Cellar Simon in his description of the new miracles of St. Sergius reports several cases in which St. Savva acts miraculously, sometimes alone, sometimes together with St. Sergius (Simon (Azaryin). Tales of Miracles or Book of Miracles of St. Sergius). Smirnov S.K. Historical description of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. Note 172, 75. We make an extract from the extensive and processed work of Metropolitan. Gregory: Grigory (Postnikov), Metropolitan. The Life of the Wonderworking Hierarchs Guria, Archbishop. Kazansky and Barsanuphius, bishop. Tverskoy. St. Petersburg, 1853. Inventory of books of the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery // CHOIDR, 1847. Book. 7. Dept. 4. Letter from Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich to Archbishop Gury. For Kazansky, see: Continuation of Ancient Russian Viviliophys. 1789. Part V. Kazan Provincial Gazette. 1848. No. 48. Acts collected by the Archaeographic Expedition. T. 1. RKP. Hermogenes' writing on the life of Sts. Guria and Barsanuphia. RKP. Saints: “St. Fathers Job and Nektarios, bolyars, disciples of St. Archbishop Guria, and with him their relics were found in the summer of 7104 (1595) October 4th day.” RKP. Dositheev's Life of St. Zosima and Savvatiya. Prologue May 20; The book is sedate. Part 1. Collection l. 6, 335, 36; The book is sedate. Part 1. Collection l. 6, 236. 4, 134, 155; 1 Nikon. l. 6, 119. Pachomius' Life of St. Alexy with additions of time by Met. Macaria. The book is sedate. Part 1. Prologue May 20: “there is enough silver to complete that church and send meals and chambers.” Snegirev I.M. Monuments of Moscow antiquity; Russian antiquity in monuments. T. 3. Joseph Volotsky. The Enlightener, or Exposing the heresy of the Judaizers. The search and report did not reach us, but the metropolitan’s letter to Gennady dated February 15, 1488 (Historical Acts. Vol. 1. No. 286) did reach us, where we read: “you wrote your letters to us, to the lord, my son, to the great. the prince, and also to me, that heresies vegetate in Novgorod, blasphemies and insults from priests and from deacons and from clerks and from ordinary people, and you sent lists of those heretics to us, why did you search them, how they blasphemed the Son of God and His Most Pure Mother of God and cursed the St. icons; but they exalt the Jewish faith, and blaspheme our Orthodox Christian faith.” About the same thing in the writing to Zosima (Ancient Russian Vivliophics. Part XIV). Historical acts. T. 1. No. 286; Russian temporary book. Part 2. Gennady in a letter to Archbishop Joasaph and in a message to Zosima (Ancient Russian Vivliophics. Part XIV); Collection l. 6, 238; The book is sedate. Part 1. Macarius (Bulgakov), Metropolitan. History of the Russian Church.T. 3. In 1489, clerk F. Kuritsyn brought with him from Hungary the story of Dracula of Volozhsk, probably translated by him (Karamzin N.M. History of the Russian State. T. VI, note 273) and distributed in copies (Description of the Rumyantsev Museum). He also translated the apocryphal message to the Laodiceans (Rudnev N.A. Discourse on heresies and schisms that occurred in the Russian church from the time of Vladimir the Great to Ivan the Terrible. M., 1838. Note 93). From the letter of Blessed Gennady to Joseph, we see that Kuritsyn and others like him were on a par with Menander, logic and the fabulous book: Sylvester, Pope of Rome. The book is sedate. Part 1; Collection l. 3, 143. 4, 158. 159. 6, 38; Enlightener or denunciation of the heresy of the Judaizers; Message from Gennady to Zosima (Acts collected by the Archaeographic Expedition. Vol. 1. No. 380); Epistle to the Council of 1490 (Orthodox interlocutor. 1863). Collection l. 4, 158. 159; The Enlightener, or Exposing the heresy of the Judaizers. Karamzin N.M. History of the Russian State. T. VI, approx. 618, 619. Rkp. Psalter of the Sergius Lavra No. 5. The council took place in September 7000 (1491). In November of the following year, the cathedral made an Easter calculation of holidays for 20 years; Pitirim, Bishop of Perm, then sent his calculations for 19 years to Moscow (Ibid., note 620). Gennady himself wrote in the preface to his Paschal: “It was commanded by our lord and father Zosima, Metropolitan. of all Russia to me, Archbishop Ginadiy. led Novgorod and Pskov, make Easter for the seventh thousand and not so much, as we are ending the seventh thousand and the end of the world, and before the end of the sixth thousand, the people have gained the opinion..." (Archive of historical and legal information relating to Russia. Book 1. Section III). In the Paschal after 6999, the remark was made: “here is fear, here is sorrow, just as this circle was in the crucifixion of Christ, this summer appeared at the end, and in it also Your worldwide coming.” There are other traces of the same erroneous opinion in Shevyrev (Shevyrev S.P. History of Russian Literature. Vol. IV). Paschalia for 70 years with a district charter, where rules are proposed for how to calculate Paschalia for all future times (Charter // Moscow Archive of Foreign Affairs; in Tolstoy 2. No. 195, 254; 1. No. 63). Enlightener or denunciation of the heresy of the Judaizers. The oldest list of the collection of Old Testament books was written in 1499 “in Veliky Novgorod, in the courtyard of the archbishop, by order of the archbishop, archdeacon, under the archbishop. Gennady" (Gorsky A.V., Nevostruev K.I. Description of manuscripts of the Synodal Library. Dept. 1). Gennady in a letter to Archbishop Joasaph: “Do you have Prophecies, Genesis, the Kingdom, Proverbs, Jesus Sirach, Menander, the book of Sylvester of Rome?” Gorsky A.V., Nevostruev K.I. Description of manuscripts of the Synodal Library. Dept. 1. Here it is shown in detail which books, partly all, partly in parts, were then translated from the Latin language. Acts collected by the Archaeographic Expedition. T. 1. No. 380. Macarius (Bulgakov), Metropolitan. History of the Russian Church. T. 3. Collection l. 5, 46; Karamzin N.M. History of the Russian State. T. VI, approx. 629. Karamzin N. M. History of the Russian State. T. VII, approx. 69. Karamzin N. M. History of the Russian State. T. VI, approx. 459. Historical acts. T. 1. No. 104. Acts collected by the Archaeographic Expedition. T. 1. No. 383. In the chronicles (Collected l. 3, 144. 184; 4, 491) this definition is erroneously attributed to September 1503. The Vilna Council of 1509 also decided not to appoint unmarried people to priests. The Council of 1667 said: “since ancient times, the sacred rules of the clergy who do not have wives are not prohibited.” Therefore, he canceled the 1501 ruling on widowed priests. Collection l. 6, 49. 244; 3, 147. 184; Lviv. l. 3, 279. 280. The book is sedate. Part 2. According to one testimony, “he stayed in the monastery at Michael’s miracle for half a year” (Collected fol. 6, 49. 244; Russian temporary book); according to others, “he was in Moscow for two years, not complete” (Collected fol. 3, 147. 284); according to the third, “he reposed on December 7014, 4 days” (Collected fol. 3, 146. 184. 244); and this is in accordance with the time of dedication of his successor. So, the second statement is correct, and not the first, about the years of rest, although even that is not accurate. Saint Gennady is among the saints of the Russian Orthodox Church. Saints (book of general history, No. 231) and Otensky (1718). Russian antiquity in monuments. T. 3. Paschal of the Solovetsky Monastery, No. 479. Filaret, Archbishop. Chernigovsky. Review of Russian spiritual literature. Book 1, § 107. Life of St. Nectaria from Neov eKXoytov (see for example: Athonite Patericon. Part 2). Bitel, as the Bulgarians now call it (Georgii Cedreni. Synopsis historiarum. An. 1014). Butel, in Arab Edrisi (Tafel. Constantinus Porphyrogenitus). Butili was the capital of the Bulgarian king Gabriel (Cedrenus 2 / ed. Bonn.). Collection l. 1, 227. 2, 346. 5, 20. Nikon. l. 3, 76. 77. Bishop Jacob of Polotsk wrote to Riga: “I was not at home, like my father, the metropolitan. Your right love is with my son, with Viten” (Napiersky K.E. Letters concerning relations between North-Western Russia with Riga and the Hanseatic cities in the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. St. Petersburg, 1857. No. 6). This was undoubtedly in 1284, especially since Wiethen took the place of Troyden in 1282 (Makariy (Bulgakov), Metropolitan History of the Russian Church. Vol. 2, note 56). Therefore, the charter was in vain attributed to 1300. Collection l. 1, 227. 3, 64; Nikon. l. 3, 86–88. Collection l. 1, 208. 4, 46. Nikon. l. 3, 94. Macarius (Bulgakov), Metropolitan. History of the Russian Church. T. 2. Glory to our Most Holy Lady Theotokos. Part 3. Talych was robbed by Vladimir in 1410 under St. Photias. On the day of the arrival of the blessed one. Maxim to Vladimir is shown on April 18, 1299 (see: Power book. Part 1), i.e. on Easter. Consequently, on the 18th day of April there was an appearance of the Mother of God. Collection l. 1, 288. 2, 345. 3, 221. Nikon. l. 3, 96. Dobrokhotov (Dobrokhotov V.I. Monuments of antiquity in Vladimir Klyazemsky. M., 1849 (hereinafter - Dobrokhotov V.I. Monuments of antiquity in Vladimir Klyazemsky)) says that Met. Maxim “took control of the diocese of Vladimir, while Suzdal, which belonged to Vladimir, and Nizhny Novgorod formed a special diocese.” No, the chronicle says: “and I sat down in Vladimir and in Suzdal and in Nizhny Novgorod and other nearby places” (Nikon. l. 3, 96). Collection l. 3, 67. 222. 4, 46. 5, 203. Macarius (Bulgakov), Metropolitan. History of the Russian Church. T. 2; Karamzin N. M. History of the Russian State. T. IV, approx. 181. Description of the Rumyantsev Museum. The Metropolitan determines when Wednesday and Friday fasts are permitted; appoints, in addition to Great Lent, the following posts: Apostolic, Assumption and Nativity. “I am also writing about this to my children, so that you, my children, born in the baptismal font, newly ordained, receive wives from the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church - a wife - for the salvation of mankind. If you keep them in fornication, without marriage: what kind of help is this to you? No, beg and compel them, let them, whether old or young, get married in the Church.” Collection l. 5, 207. 208. 7, 188. 189. The convictions of Yuri not to go to the Horde are attributed to St. Metropolitan Peter (see: Power book. Part 1); but Peter was not yet a metropolitan. The error carried over into the printed prologue on November 22. Collection l. 1, 228. 2, 348. Nikon. l. 3, 103. On the 6th day of December, the memory of the blessed one was also celebrated. Metropolitan Maxim in Vladimir (Dobrokhotov V.I. Ancient monuments in Vladimir Klyazemsky). Therefore, indicating the 16th day of December as the day of death (Collected l. 4, 47; Power Book. Part 1) is a scribe’s mistake. RKP. Saints: “St. Maxim, Metropolitan of Vladimir, the miracle worker, reposed in Vladimir in the summer of 6800 December 6 and was laid in the cathedral.” Description of the Rumyantsev Museum. On the eastern gate of the Vladimir Nativity Monastery, saints kneeling before the Mother of God are depicted. Maxim Metropolitan, St. Princes Andrei and Gleb, with Sts. book Alexander and George and Metropolitan. Abraham (Russian antiquity in monuments. T. 3). Dobrokhotov V.I. Ancient monuments in Vladimir Klyazemsky. See: Filaret, Archbishop. Chernigovsky. Historical teaching about the Fathers of the Church. § 41–42. Filaret, Archbishop. Chernigovsky. Historical teaching about the Fathers of the Church. § 42. RKP. life of St. Anthony, described from the words of eyewitnesses and employees of Anthony by Tsarevich John in 1589, in Tsarskoye No. 85, 80; hierome Jonah in the library community. ist. No. 39, 40; Undolsky has the first under No. 285, the second under No. 284. For the Tsarevich’s afterword, see: Karamzin N.M. History of the Russian State. T. IX, approx. 612. The relics of Blessed Pachomius rest in the Kyanskaya or Kenskaya hermitage founded by him, which is still abolished (Ratshin A. Complete collection of information about monasteries); in the RKP. His name is placed in the calendar, but neither the year nor the day of his death are shown. According to the life of St. Anthony, we can assume that Pachomius died around 1520. Ratshin A. Complete collection of information about monasteries. In the service on December 7: “Keeping in mind the eternal joys of the Heavenly Kingdom, you left everything earthly, suffered many misfortunes and exile, and He who gave you Eternal Life delivered you from everything” (Cheti-Minei. M., 1645). The church service also speaks of this: “neither the length of years, nor the sorrows of the desert, nor the attack of robbers frightened you, blessed one; you had one thing in mind - to die for Christ in the desert” (Cheti-Minei. M., 1645). New and complete geographical dictionary of the Russian state / Ed. L.M. Maksimovich: At 6 o'clock M., 1788–1789. Part 1 (hereinafter referred to as the New and Complete Geographical Dictionary of the Russian State). In the Synodal Library in the RKP. XVI century (No. 814) is the charter of the Siya Monastery, compiled according to the everyday life of the Sergius Lavra and the Kirillov Monastery; but it was hardly written by St. Anthony. Prologue December 7. Church service: “You did not finish one year until you were eighty years old, blessed one.” According to the RCP. Saints, “repent on the summer of December 7065, 7th day.” The Tsarevich’s afterword: “This was written off: his canon 8720, - and his life - l. 8088... At that time, hegumen Pitirim came to the monastery of the blessed one and with him the disciple of the Monk Philotheus, the first copyist of his life... I came to my father, may his nobility command him to honor him, like all the saints; under Rev. Metropolitan Anthony, who was formerly the archbishop of the city of Polotsk, the elders came. He, by order of the king and according to the conciliar statement, set out the celebration of St. Father Anthony" (Karamzin N.M. History of the Russian State. T. IX, note 612; Historical Acts. T. 3, No. 95). Nikonov V.Ya. Extract from the diary of a trip to the north of European Russia (under the title: Siysky Monastery) // Northern Archive. 1825. Part 19. No. 2. Athonite Patericon. Part 1; Antonin (Kapustin), archimandrite. Notes from a devotee of the Holy Mountain; Avramovich. Description of Serbian antiquities on Mount Athos. Belgrade, 1847. Sigismund von Herberstein. Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii. In Finnish they say: “kakron puoli” - oat side and “karkun puoli” - bear side. From here the kargopols themselves got the name oatmeal. Ar-hang. l. 93: “And on Bela Lake there are two cities Kargolom and Kargopol, and before that there was the Great Reign of Belozersk.” In 1547, the builder of Vassianova Strokinskaya Justina wrote: “their monastery stands on the river. Onega, in a swamp, and the parish of that monastery has no arable land and no other income and they have nothing to feed themselves with; and near the monastery came empty places, wild forests and swamps.” The Tsar ordered the land to be taken away, allowed it to be inhabited and gave a certificate of innocence (Historical Acts. Vol. 1; Acts collected by the Archaeographic Expedition. Vol. 1. No. 137; New and Complete Geographical Dictionary of the Russian State. Part 3). RKP. life of St. Cyril was written in the 15th century. and then supplemented with stories about miracles under Patr. Nikon. Unfortunately, later correctors introduced errors of ignorance, but these errors are not difficult to distinguish. In a petition to Tsars John and Peter, the Chelm builder Philotheus wrote: “in recent years they were sent to this monastery (Chelmsky) led. book Ivan Vasilich led. Princess Sophia of Rome (Fomichna) with her daughter-in-law, who are again turned to Moscow; and at that time the abbot and all the brethren were sent away, and before those they were sent from the prince. Dimitri Shemyaki led. book Vasily Vasilich Temnago’s mother Sofia (Vitovtovna), but whether she was taken back or died here is unknown.” According to the chronicle, Sofia Vitovtovna was taken by Shemyak “to Kargopol” and then released to Moscow in 1447, and Sofia Fomichna “ran from the Tatars to Beloozero” in 1481 (Collected l. 6, 177. 178. 232. 8, 120. 121. 213). The petition of the Chelm builder more precisely determines the place of temporary stay of the princesses in the north; and the chronicle, compared with the petition, shows that Kargopol and the Chelm Monastery even in the 15th century. were assigned to the Belozersk side. In a petition to Tsars John and Peter, the builder of the Chelm Hermitage wrote that “that monastery was conceived long ago, with the baptism of the inhabitants of the Kargopol district into the Orthodox faith” (Rkp.). On the shrine, the monk is depicted in full height with ancient iconography and the caption, among other things, says: “on the mountain, having lived 52 years, having created the Church of the Epiphany and a monastery, having established a congregation of brethren, he reposed before God in the summer of December 6876, 8th day.” The same time of death is shown in the RKP. hagiography Therefore, the testimony of the “Dictionary of Saints”: “repose at the end of the 11th table.” - wrong. Life of St. Stefan Brankovich and his children can be seen in the life of his son, Archbishop. Maxim (Glasnik. Book 11). Service and Synaxarion to Righteous Stephen the New, Despot of Serbia, in Serblyak on October 9; chronicle (Glasnik. Book 5). Others mistake Angelina for the same thing as Militsa, the prince’s wife. Lazarus; but this is a grave mistake. Miklosich. Monumenta Serbica. No. 422. Raguzin’s diploma, which despot Brankovich hopes for, in the same place, No. 203. The later chronicle (Safank. Pamatky drevniho pisemnictvi) says that “the relics of the holy passion-bearer Stephen, son of the despot Gyurg, in the city of Kupinik” were transferred on February 15, 1466. But the description of the suffering of St. George, who saw the relics, writes that they were transferred 8 years after death. The certificate was published by Miklosic: Monumenta Serbica. No. 463. With a charter of 1495, John promised the Pavlov monastery to give out everything that was promised by the ancestors (Miklosich. Monumenta Serbica. No. 462; Glasnik. Book 5). Raich. History of various Slavic peoples. Part 3; Chronicles (Glasnik. Book 5, 1, 11). In the memorial of the Gračanica monastery it is written: “Remember, Lord, the pious and Christ-loving nun Angelina, Archbishop Maxim and his brother despot John” (IORYAS. T. VIII). In the Athos Protat memorial: “we also pray for the ever-memorable servants of God Demetrius the King and John the Despot and with them the slain Orthodox Christians” (Antonin (Kapustin), archimandrite. Notes of a devotee of the Holy Mountain). “Dimitri the King” - Prince Dimitri Yakshich, a brave fighter against the Turks, the son of the King of Rash, the uncle by wife of John the Despot (Raich. History of various Slavic peoples. Part 3). Muravyov A.N. Relations between Russia and the East. Raich. History of various Slavic peoples. Part 3. Chronicle (Glasnik. Book 5). Martyrdom of St. George in the Chronicle of the Archaeological Society. Serbian Chronicle by Safarik (Safarik. Pamatky drevniho pisemnictvi). Raich (Part 3) has inaccuracies about the relics. In 1716, the savage vizier ordered the burning of the relics of St. Stephen, Angelina and John; only parts of them remained (Glasnik. Book 5; Serbljak. Belgrade, 1861. L. 85–94). In the latter there is a special service for Angelina, on July 30th. But the service is right. Both Angelina and Stephen are praised to John. RKP. a narrative about the beginning of the Monzen monastery, written by the Monzen hieromonk 39 years after the death of St. Ferapont (at Tsarsky No. 118). The story about the beginning of the monastery says that the monk reposed in 1591. In the RCP. Saints: “St. Ferapont, the wonderful father of the Annunciation Monastery of Monza, a miracle worker, reposed in the summer of 7094, December 12th day” - therefore, 1585. The same in: Ambrose (Ornatsky), archimandrite. History of the Russian hierarchy. Part VI. The truth is on the side of the story: the famine that occurred 10 years after the death of St. Ferapont, was in 1601 “Reverend Theodosius, worker of the Monzen monastery,” in the RCP. Saints About the three-year famine that began with the Assumption frost of 1601, see: Artsybashev N.S. A story about Russia. T. III. Book V. Trekhletov’s “Apostle,” written in the Rostov Boris and Gleb Monastery, with the following modern notes: “l. 7110 (1601) the frost broke... the fury fell from him. From those places bread became dear. In 110 in Rostov there was a quarter of rye for 20 altyn, and in 111 in Rostov there was half a third of a ruble for a quarter of rye, and in Moscow it was three rubles and that was too much, and that year a lot of people died of hunger and death, both from robbery and from fire. That year there was a rebellion. And in 112, rye was forty altyns, and in Moscow it was one and a half rubles, and oats were for 20 altyns” (Yaroslavl Provincial Gazette. 1855. No. 36). Life of St. Tryphon, now known, was written after “St. The Trinity and the righteous monastery from the Germans was devastated and burned - the life of the saint, written by self-videos, perished... Some have kept it in small books and in short writings.” The writer says: “I was inspired to write the service and life of the saint into one book.” Therefore it was not before 1655; the life is stitched together from several stories and with an inexperienced hand. Its text is in the “Orthodox Interlocutor” (1859), but without many miracles. The life does not show the worldly name of Tryphon, but Kurbsky has a hermit, to whom Theodoret arrived on the river. Pechengu, is called Mitrofan: “In memory, Mitrofan be his name.” When Theodorit arrived to the Pechenga preacher, the latter was not yet Tryphon. Treaty charter of the Novgorodians in 1265 “a network, prince, Novgorod volosts: Torzhok, Bezhishche, Vologda, Zavolotsye (along the banks of the Dvina). Tre (Lapland), Perem (along the Vychegda and upper Kama), Pechora (along the banks of the Pechora and Ural), Yugra (beyond the Urals).” Chronicle for 1216 “Novgorodian Ubysha - Semyun Petrilovitsa, Tersk tribute collector” - a collector of tribute from the Treya, Lapland region (Collected sheets 3, 35). Dal V.I. Proverbs of the Russian people: Sat. proverbs, sayings, sayings, proverbs, proverbs, jokes, riddles, beliefs, etc. M., 1862. “The darkened people, and more than the kaboons, I spin with the righteous of God and spin like wild beasts and the inscrutable dirty tricks of the deed, for the hair of the trader and the land of metahu and biyahu and pkhahu, calling the unknown stranger and fool, - lamenting nan, lest he depart from their borders and abide with them, I suffer with bitter torment and death itself” (RKP. Life). The traveler Wunderer, who visited Pskov, Perm and Lapland in 1590, writes: “As for the Lapons, these people are very rude and ugly, their faces are thick, yellowish, but they are very agile and shoot a bow well. Their clothes are made from animal skins. They bring their goods to Riga: dry fish, animal skins, etc. Thanks to their magic, they sail safely on the sea” (Adelung F. Critical and literary review of travelers in Russia // CHOIDR. 1863. Book 2). For the glory of magic used by the Finns and Lapps, see: Henrik Gabriel Porthan. De fama magiae Fennis attributa. Aboae, 1789. The history of the Great Prince of Moscow about deeds that we have heard from trustworthy men and that we have seen before our eyes (The History of Ivan the Terrible) // Tales of Prince Kurbsky. St. Petersburg, 1833 (hereinafter referred to as Kurbsky A.M. The History of Ivan the Terrible). In Kurbsky's news about Theodorit, one must keep in mind two specific time limits and according to them, Kurbsky's not entirely accurate testimony about Theodorit should be placed. This is 1554, when Theodorit was answerable for Artemy, and 1526, when he came to the desert to Porfiry, who was the abbot of the Sergius Lavra until October 1525. According to Kurbsky, Theodorit stayed with Porfiry for 4 years, on the river. Kolya is about 20 years old, two years in Novgorod, 2 years in the Novgorod monastery, 4 years in Suzdal. Thus, a) according to this account, Theodorite lived 30 years before his imprisonment in the Cyril Monastery; and from 1526 to 1554 28 years old; b) 20 years of Kola’s life, obviously, include not only the time of Theodorit’s stay on Kola and the founding of a monastery there, but also Theodorit’s life with Mitrofan; after separating a large number of years to live in Kola, no more than 5 years will remain for staying with Mitrofan, and, moreover, for staying at different times; c) According to Kurbsky’s account, it would be necessary to assume that Theodorit went to Novgorod in 1551, and he was in Moscow this year. Consequently, again inaccuracy or incompleteness. Kurbsky A.M. The story of Ivan the Terrible. Preface to the Life of the Solovetsky Wonderworkers // Undolsky V.M. Bibliographical research. M., 1846. Also in the “Orthodox Interlocutor” (1859). It was written, in all likelihood, after a meeting with Artemy and Theodorit in 1551. Additions to historical acts. T. 6. Kurbsky: “Having stayed there with this old man for about 20 years, both come to Novgorod.” According to Kurbsky, the abbot of the Sergius Lavra Artemy spoke to the Tsar about Theodorite, and based on his feedback, Theodorit was summoned to Moscow to be appointed Archimandrite of Suzdal (Kurbsky A.M. History of Ivan the Terrible). since Artemy spent less than a year as abbot of the Lavra from July 1551, it is clear that Theodorit was with the tsar at the end of 1551. And, therefore, 5 years earlier than Tryphon appeared in Moscow and received a letter dated November 1, 1556. And Kurbsky, knowing little about the affairs of the blessed one. Tryphon, as can be seen from his review, clearly separated the activities of Theodoret, who embraced the environs of Kola, from the activities of Tryphon, who labored in Pechenga. And others, indiscriminately including Kurbsky’s stories about Theodorite into the legend of Tryphon, cast complete darkness on Tryphon’s life. Theodoret went to the east in 1557 (for the chronicle, see: Karamzin N.M. History of the Russian State. T. VIII, note 587). In Stoglavnik 20 the question of the king. Ambrose (Ornatsky), archimandrite. History of the Russian hierarchy. Part IV; Shchekatov A.M. Geographical dictionary. Part 3. Without a doubt, this document also includes gifts given to the monastery by the newly baptized. Historical acts. T. 4. “On the Pasvik river. the church of the passion-bearers of Christ Boris and Gleb - the installation of their builder, Elder Tryphon.” The same in the charter of 1657 (Additions to the Historical Acts. Vol. 6). In the book of a large drawing we read: “at the mouth of the left country of the river. Taza, 20 versts from the sea, churchyard of Boris and Gleb” (Book, verb Big Drawing / Spassky G.I.M., 1846). Pelvis is a mistake, we read “Groove”. Now on the maps: r. Payas. Further in the drawing book: “from Paz r. along the seashore 20 versts the river Denga and the river Voema fell into the sea; and between those rivers the Volotovo settlement.” Giants were known under the name Volotov (Karamzin N.M. History of the Russian State. T. V, note 210). The large drawing shows that the “hermitage” subsequently turned into a monastery. Here we read: “at the mouth of the Pechenga River there are two monasteries” (Book, verb Big Drawing / Ed. Spassky G.I.M., 1846). According to his life, he died on December 15, 1583. According to one list of calendars, the monk reposed on July 23, according to another - November 14, according to the third - December 15. The day of death is, without a doubt, December 15, other days are the days of celebration of the transfer of the relics. Historical acts. T. 4; Life of Tryphon. In the RKP. life, after the news about the monks beaten “by the Svei Germans,” there are articles “about the priest Jonah Sorokoum; about a bleeding wife; about the widow Mary; about the healing of the youth Ignatius; about Joasaph mnisa; about saving the monastery boat from drowning; about saving another lodia; about healing the eye; about the appearance of the venerable priest Alexey; about Mnisa Joasaph Maykov; about Abbot John." Pskov. chronicle: “led. the prince tonsured Princess Solomonia, and took Elena for himself: and all this is for our sin... If anyone lets his wife go and marries someone else, he commits adultery.” Karamzin N. M. History of the Russian State. T. VII, approx. 343; Kurbsky A.M. History of Ivan the Terrible; Life of St. Maxima (January 21 days). Prince Simeon Kurbsky, a man of strict life, was exiled into exile for condemning the prince’s illegal desires (Herberstein. Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii). Prince monk Vassian was locked up in the Joseph Monastery for the same thing. Karamzin N. M. History of the Russian State. T. VII, approx. 280; Herberstein. Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii. Kurbsky: “he cut her off as a minor, she didn’t want it and didn’t think about it.” Nestor’s successor writes that it was as if she led it herself. The princess asked her husband to tonsure her as a monk due to her illness and childlessness, and it was as if Vasily only yielded to her urgent request. But evidence that Solomonia was forced to take a haircut is also a search for the means that the unloved wife used in her situation (Historical Acts. Vol. 1. No. 130; Collected l. 4, 295. 296. 5. 30; Acts collected by the Archaeographic Expedition. Vol. 1). We are not talking about the mentioned witnesses. Ananiy Fedorov. Historical collection about the God-saved city of Suzdal // Temporary journal of the Society of History and Antiquities. Book 22 (hereinafter - Ananiy Fedorov. Historical collection about the God-saved city of Suzdal); Life of blessings. led book Solomonia, in the monastic rank of St. Sophia (Description of the Rumyantsev Museum. No. 165); Herberstein. Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii. Karamzin N. M. History of the Russian State. T. VII, approx. 280. The charter was given under Abbess Ulyana; confirmed by lead. book John Vasilich on March 30, 1534 under the elder Elena Shastova (Description of the Rumyantsev Museum). RKP. Life (Description of the Rumyantsev Museum. No. 165); Ananiy Fedorov. Historical collection about the God-saved city of Suzdal. The book is sedate. Part 2; Ananiy Fedorov. Historical collection about the God-saved city of Suzdal. Vladimir collection. Materials for statistics, ethnography, history and archeology of the Vladimir province / Comp. K. Tikhonravov. M., 1857. Antiquities of the Russian State. Dept. VI. Ananiy Fedorov. Historical collection about the God-saved city of Suzdal. Ananiy Fedorov. Historical collection about the God-saved city of Suzdal; Life of St. Sofia. RKP. Saints: “the holy righteous princess Sophia, a nun, who was once a maiden in the Intercession Monastery, a wonderworker.” Ambrose (Ornatsky), archimandrite. History of the Russian hierarchy. Part VI; Ratshin A. Complete collection of information about monasteries. Evgeny (Bolkhovitinov), Metropolitan. Description of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Notes about. Leonty in the Chernigov leaflet (1862 No. 4). A true image of his praying right hand is in the book: Theophylact (Lopatinsky), Archbishop. Tverskoy and Kashinsky. Exposing schismatic untruths. M., 1745. Pososhkov at one time extracted from the old men of his time that only “not long before the pestilence (1653) they began to teach how to be baptized with two fingers” (Works of Ivan Pososhkov / Published by Pogodin: In 2 parts M., 1842–1863. Part 2). Metropolitan said the same thing. Ignatius Tobolsky. Description of the Rumyantsev Museum. No. 156. Collection l. 4, 107. 109. 144. 145. 5, 256. 6, 133. 134; Russian time book, that is, Chronicler, containing Russian history from 6370/862 years to 7189/1681 years: Divided into two parts. M., 1790. Part 1; The book is sedate. Part 1; Nikon. l. 5, 8. 9. 13; Dolgorukov P.V. Russian genealogy book. T. 1. Book. Yuri was buried in the Venevsky Monastery (Russian temporary book. Part 1; Polevoy N.A. History of the Russian people: In 6 vols. M., 1829–1833. T. V, note 232). Description of the Rumyantsev Museum. No. 156, according to the list of 1706, except for the troparion story. In the RKP. Saints: “St. “Blessed Princess Juliana, Novotorzhskaya Wonderworker.” Acts collected by the Archaeographic Expedition. T. 3. Additions to historical acts. T. 5. Ambrose (Ornatsky), archimandrite. History of the Russian hierarchy. Part VI; Ratshin A. Complete collection of information about monasteries. RKP. Saints: “St. Procopius, like the holy fool for Christ's sake, the Vyatka wonderworker, reposed in L. 7136 m. Dec. at 21 days." RKP. Life of Undolsky No. 361. Collection l. 3, 67. 181. 4, 45. 46; Nikon. l. 2, 97. Novgor. l. I, II, III and IV chronicles under 6808 and 6810; Macarius (Mirolyubov), archimandrite. Archaeological description of church antiquities in Novgorod Part 1. Collection of state charters and agreements. Part 1. No. 9, 10. In the agreement of 1265, “you will hold Novgorod at a duty, as your father held it” (see: Ibid. No. 8, 11). “Duty” from “vulgar” is a custom. 1305 “the church of St. was sacred. M. Boris and Gleb and the great priesthood, Archbishop. Novgorod Theoktist" (Collected sheets 3, 68). The Great Consecration is a consecration performed by the archpastor himself; and the consecration performed by the abbot with a pre-consecrated antimension is a small consecration, as if performed according to a short rite. Collection of state charters and agreements. Part 1. No. 10; Collection l. 3, 68. The Novgorodians themselves wrote (Collection of state charters and agreements. Part 1. No. 11) that Mikhail, as leader. the prince is their lawful prince. But Yuri worried them through bought supporters. Gorsky A.V., Nevostruev K.I. Description of manuscripts of the Synodal Library. Dept. I. No. 45. Collection l. 3, 67. 68. 181. 223. Collection l. 3, 69. 181. 5, 204. 205; Nikon. l. 2, 107. RKP. holy calendar books community ist. No. 231 and Mosk. acad. No. 209. In the Otensky calendar of 1718, “3 fields were laid down in the Annunciation Monastery from Novgorod; relics hidden; There is no service, there is troparion and kontakion and miracles.” Service and life of St. Theoktista in the library of the Yuriev Monastery (Makariy (Mirolyubov), archim. Archaeological description of church antiquities in Novgorod, Part 1). Sergius, archim. Complete months of the East. T. II. RKP. Saints; A complete collection of historical information about all ancient and currently existing monasteries. M., 1852; Ambrose (Ornatsky), archimandrite. History of the Russian hierarchy. Part VI. RKP. Epistle of Polycarp to Akindinus. For a drawing of the cross, see: Fundukley I. Review of Kyiv. RKP. Saints: “St. Marco the grave digger: even in the dead I listened to him; ceased in l. 6600". This is the year of the transfer of the relics of St. Feodosia; and St. Mark, as can be seen from the words of Polycarp, lived after that for at least 10 years. Pechersk Patericon, l. 150. About them see: Filaret, Archbishop. Chernigovsky. Historical overview of the hymns and hymns of the Greek Church. Chernigov, 1864. § 52.