Житие святого Никиты, епископа Новгородского

More than others, those brave warriors who have the custom of fighting the enemy not in a general formation, but individually rushing at the enemy, deserve respect. Although the Lord allows them to fall temporarily many times so that they do not become arrogant, he never leaves them completely without grace-filled help, but restores them and makes them invincible. One of these brave warriors of Christ, namely Blessed Nikita, acquired special fame for himself after the Venerable Isaac the Recluse. The venerable Polycarp reports about him from the words of Saint Simon as follows. When the Monk Nikon was abbot, one brother of the holy Pechersk Monastery, named Nikita, began to ask the abbot to bless him to labor alone and retire to seclusion. - My son! It will do you no good, given your youth, to sit idle. It will be much better if you stay with the brethren and, working together, do not lose your reward. You yourself saw how our brother Isaac the cave dweller was seduced in seclusion by demons and would have perished if he had not been saved by the great grace of God through the prayers of our venerable fathers Anthony and Theodosius. - Never, my father, will I be tempted by any temptation. I intend to firmly resist demonic temptations and will pray to God, the Lover of Mankind, that He will give me the gift of working miracles, as He once did to the recluse Isaac, who still works many miracles. Then the abbot told him more insistently: – Your desire is beyond your strength. Beware, my son, that you do not fall for your arrogance. I command you to serve better than the brethren, and for your obedience you will be crowned by God. However, Nikita did not want to obey the abbot’s instructions: he could not overcome his strong jealousy for the reclusive life. Therefore, what he strived for, he accomplished: he locked himself in a cave, tightly blocked the entrance and remained in prayer alone, without leaving anywhere. However, after just a few days, he did not escape the wiles of the devil: while singing prayer, he heard a voice praying with him, and felt an indescribable fragrance. Seduced by this, he thought to himself: if it had not been an Angel, he would not have prayed with me, and the fragrance of the Holy Spirit would not have been here. He began to pray even more diligently, saying: - Lord! Appear to me tangibly, so that I can see You. - I will not appear to you because you are young; otherwise you will become proud and may fall. The recluse continued to tearfully ask: - Never, Lord, will I be tempted. The abbot taught me not to heed demonic temptations, but I will do everything that You command. Then the soul-destroying serpent, having received power over him, said: “It is impossible for a man clothed in flesh to see me.” Therefore, I send my Angel to stay with you, and you do his will. Then the demon immediately appeared before him in the form of an Angel. Nikita fell to the ground and bowed to him like an Angel. The demon told him: - From now on, you no longer pray, but read books. This way you will talk with God and give useful instructions to those who come to you, and I will always pray to the Creator of all for your salvation. The recluse believed these words and, deceived, no longer prayed, but began to zealously read books. At the same time, he saw the demon constantly praying for him and rejoiced, thinking that it was an Angel praying for him. With those who came to him, he talked a lot on the basis of the Holy Scriptures about the benefit of the soul; he even began to prophesy. His fame spread everywhere, and everyone was amazed at the fulfillment of his predictions. One day he sent 1078 to Prince Izyaslav with the notification: “Today Prince Gleb Svyatoslavich 1079 was killed; immediately sent their son Svyatopolk 1080 to the princely throne in Novgorod.” As he said, it came true. Indeed, a few days later the news came about the murder of Prince Gleb. From that time on, they began to talk even more about the recluse, that he was a prophet, and both princes and boyars completely believed him. In fact, the demon, of course, does not know the future, but what he himself did - if, for example, he taught evil people to kill or steal - then he proclaims. In the same way, when those who sought words of consolation came to the recluse, the demon, whom they considered an Angel, told him everything that had happened to them. Nikita prophesied, and everything he predicted came true. Moreover, no one could compare with Nikita in knowledge of the books of the Old Testament; he knew everything by heart: the book of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Judges, Kings, all the prophecies in order. In general, he knew all the books of the Old Testament very well, but he never wanted to see or hear the holy Gospel and Apostolic books, given to us by the grace of God for our salvation and establishment in goodness, not only to read; He did not want to talk about the New Testament with anyone. From here it became clear to everyone that he was seduced by the devil. Dejected by this, the reverend fathers came to the experienced: Abbot Nikon, John, who was hegumen after him, Pimen the Faster, Isaiah, who was later Bishop of Rostov, Matthew the Seer, Isaac the Recluse, Agapit the Doctor, Gregory the Wonderworker, Nicholas, who was Bishop of Tmutarakan, Nestor the Chronicler, Gregory the Canon Compiler, Theoktist, the former Bishop of Chernigov, Onesiphorus the seer 1081. All of them, glorified by virtues, came, offered prayers to God for Nikita and drove away the demon from him, so that Nikita no longer saw him. Then, taking him out of the cave, they asked him to tell them something from the Old Testament. He began to swear that he had never even read those books that he very recently knew by heart; Moreover, now he did not know a single word of them. Now he could barely be taught to read and write. Gradually coming to his senses through the prayers of the reverend fathers, he confessed his sin and bitterly repented of it. After this, he imposed special abstinence and feats on himself, began to lead a strict and humble life and surpassed others in virtues. The humane Lord, seeing such exploits of blessed Nikita, without rejecting his previous virtues, in which he had practiced since his youth, accepted his true repentance, and just as he once accepted the repentance of Saint Peter, who denied Him three times, he said to him: feed my sheep, 1082 so he gave a similar sign of acceptance of repentance to this blessed Nikita. For his great love, revealed in keeping the commandments, the Lord made him the shepherd of His verbal flock, elevating him to the Novgorod episcopal throne 1083. There the Lord, to assure his flock and completely convince them of the saint’s forgiveness for the temptation that happened to him, glorified his virtuous life with the gift of miracles. So, one day, during a lack of rain, the saint prayed to God and sent rain down from the sky; another time he extinguished the fire of the city with his prayers; he performed many other miracles. After good management of his verbal flock, he passed over to the Lord into eternal life in 1108, January 30. He was a bishop for thirteen years. He was buried with honor in the chapel of the great church of the Holy Fathers Joachim and Anna. The body of blessed Nikita remained hidden in the tomb for four hundred and fifty years, and then in 1558, during the reign of the pious sovereign John Vasilyevich, autocrat of all Russia, under Metropolitan Macarius and Archbishop Feodosius of Novgorod, the relics of Saint Nikita were found intact and completely unharmed 1084. To this day they provide many healings to those who come to them in faith. Glory to our God, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen. Having enjoyed, O God-Wise One, having curbed the abstinence and desire of your flesh, you sat down on the throne of the sanctity, and like a many-bright star, enlightening the faithful hearts with the dawn of your miracles, Our Father to Saint Nikito, and now pray to Christ God that he may save our souls. Having honored the rank of bishops and stood before the Pure One, you diligently offered prayer for your people, just as you brought down the rain with prayer, and even when you extinguished the burning of hail. And now, to Saint Nikito, pray to Christ God to save your praying people, and let us all cry out to you: Rejoice, wonderful holy saint. Izyaslav Yaroslavich - Grand Duke of Kiev from 1054–1068. Gleb Svyatoslavich - Prince of Novgorod, the eldest son of the Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatoslav, was killed by the Finns in 1078. Svyatopolk II (Mikhail) Izyaslavich, son of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Izyaslav, from 1078 Prince of Novgorod, from 1093–1114 Prince of Kiev. Memory of Rev. Nikon of Pechersk March 23; Rev. John, the so-called Old Cave - April 19; memory of the Rev. Pimena fasting – August 27; Isaiah, Bishop of Rostov, - May 15; memory of the Rev. Matthew the Seer - October 5 Rev. Agapita - June 1st Rev. Gregory - August 8; memory of Theoktistus, Bishop of Chernigov - August 6; memory of the Rev. Onesiphora the seer – November 9. Saint Nikita was consecrated to the rank of Bishop of Novgorod in 1096. Long before the discovery of the relics of Saint Nikita, Bishop of Novgorod, he was honored as a saint; Even in the first half of the 13th century, his memory was celebrated. Currently, his incorruptible relics rest openly in the St. Sophia Novgorod Cathedral. You might be interested in: