Житие преподобного Прохора, Печерского чудотворца

The Lord, rich in bounties and merciful, often sends troubles to a person in order, through such punishment, to lead him to the truth and attract him to good deeds. If He allows people to suffer and suffer, He will not hesitate to have mercy on them and grant healing to their wounds, as we see from the life of this Venerable Prochorus. During the reign of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich in 1296, the people of Kiev suffered a lot of violence from this prince, who even destroyed noble people at home without guilt, and took away their property; That’s why the Lord allowed the enemies of Rus' to have such power at that time: the great armies of the Polovtsians rose up against Svyatopolk 1297; Moreover, internecine warfare broke out between the princes, and then a great famine and impoverishment arose in the Russian land. At this time, blessed Prokhor came from Smolensk to the Pechersky Monastery to Abbot John 1298 and received the monastic rank from him. In the monastery, he began to diligently strive in virtues and devoted himself to such abstinence that he even refused to eat ordinary bread; he collected quinoa grass and, rubbing it with his hands, made bread for himself from it and ate it. In the summer, he prepared such bread for the whole year and, when summer came again, he did the same for the next year, so that he did not need bread at all, and therefore he received the nickname “swan man”; He ate nothing except prosphora, he never even ate vegetables, but only quinoa, and he drank nothing other than water. The Lord, seeing the saint’s patience in such great abstinence, transformed for him the bitterness of bread made from quinoa into a pleasant delight, and the saint of God spent all the days of his life not in sadness and poverty, but in joy: blessed Prokhor never grieved, but always worked for the Lord in joy. He was never afraid of enemy attacks, for he lived like a bird, having nothing but quinoa. He could not boast along with the gospel rich man: “Soul! You have a lot of goods laid up for many years: rest, eat, drink, be merry” (Luke 12:19); but even for the grass he had stored for the year, he reproached himself, saying: “Prokhor, “this night your soul will be taken from you; who will get what you have prepared? "(Luke 12:20). The saint actually fulfilled this word of the Lord: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feeds them” (Matthew 6:26). Like birds, blessed Prokhor easily walked to the place where the quinoa grew, and from there brought it to the monastery on his shoulders, as if on wings. So he ate, like a bird of heaven, unsown food, from uncultivated land. At this time, a great famine began in Russia due to constant warfare, so that people were in danger of death. But the Lord, wanting to glorify His saint and save people from death, blessed the quinoa harvest this year, and it grew more than in previous years. Then blessed Prokhor began to work even more. Continuously collecting this grass, he ground its seeds with his hands and, making bread from similar flour, distributed them to the poor and dying of hunger. Some, seeing how Saint Prokhor collected quinoa, also began to stock up on it in order to feed themselves during famine, but due to bitterness they could not eat such bread. Then all those in need began to turn to blessed Prokhor; The saint never refused his quinoa bread to anyone. And the taste of this bread seemed pleasant to everyone, as if it had been mixed with honey. Thus, the people took bread baked from quinoa by the hands of Blessed Prokhor more willingly than bread baked from wheat. And with all this, this is what seemed especially wonderful - this bread seemed pure and sweet to the taste only if it was given by blessed Prokhor with a blessing, but if someone took it without the blessing of the saint, then it seemed black as earth and bitter as wormwood. So one of the brethren took the saint’s bread secretly, without blessing, and began to eat it. But it turned out to be in his hands like earth and so bitter that it could not be eaten. And this happened several times. But this monk was ashamed to reveal his sin to the blessed one and ask him for bread with a blessing. However, having long suffered a great famine, he was no longer able to bear it and, seeing inevitable death before his eyes, he came to Abbot John and, telling him everything that had happened, began to ask him for forgiveness. The abbot, not believing this, ordered another brother to secretly take bread from Saint Prokhor to make sure whether this was really so. When the bread was brought, what the first brother said was confirmed: because of bitterness, no one could eat it. Leaving this bread with him, the abbot again sent to the saint to ask for bread with his blessing; “And when you leave him,” he said, “take secretly other bread.” After these loaves were brought, the bread taken secretly changed before them and became black as earth and bitter as wormwood, like the first bread; and the bread, taken with the blessing of Saint Prokhor, turned out to be pure and sweet, like honey. As a result of this miracle, blessed Prokhor became famous everywhere and, feeding many, rendered all the greater benefit. At this time, the Prince of Kiev Svyatopolk Izyaslavich entered into an internecine war with David Igorevich, the Prince of Vladimir-Volyn. He entered into a fight with him for the blinding of Prince Vasilko Rostislavich on Trebovlya, whom, according to David Igorevich’s slander, Prince Svyatopolk ordered to be blinded. At the same time, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich began an internecine struggle with Vladimir Rostislavich, Vasilko’s brother, Prince of Przemysl, and even with Vasilko himself - for the region of his father Izyaslav, which was captured by the Rostislavichs in 1299. Prince Svyatopolk drove David away to the Poles and, having imprisoned his son Mstislav in his city of Vladimir, he himself returned from the campaign to Kyiv. But he could not defeat Vladimir, and Vasilko sent Yaroslav, his other son, against them with the Ugrians. During this great social disorder and lawless plunder, it was forbidden for merchants from Galich and Przemysl to enter Kyiv, as a result of which there was no salt in almost the entire southern Russian land, and a great disaster arose for the people. Seeing this disaster, blessed Prokhor collected a lot of ash from all the cells into his cell and, having prayed to the Lord, began to distribute it to everyone in need of salt: according to the prayers of the saint, it turned out to be pure salt. And the more abundantly he distributed it, the more it multiplied; it was available in abundance not only for the monastery, but also the laity, coming to Blessed Prokhor in large numbers, took it for themselves. And for all this, blessed Prokhor did not take anything: he distributed his salt to everyone for free, as many as they demanded, so that one could often see that the market was empty, and the saint’s monastery was full of people who came to receive salt. At this time, the devil aroused great hatred towards Prokhor on the part of those people who sold salt in the marketplace and now did not receive the expected profit. They thought that in those days they would acquire enormous wealth for salt, but they were very mistaken, for what they first sold at a high price, then no one began to buy even for next to nothing. Having gathered together, all the salt traders came to Prince Svyatopolk and began to slander the blessed one, saying: “Prokhor, the monk of the Pechersk Monastery, took away great wealth from us, for he attracted everyone to him to buy salt, and we, who pay you taxes, cannot sell our salt, and therefore went bankrupt.” The prince, having listened to them, decided to stop the grumbling among the sellers and acquire wealth for himself. He and his advisors decided to raise the price of salt so that, having taken it from Prokhor, he could sell it himself through his servants. The prince said to these seditious servants: “For you, I will rob this monk.” Wanting, as it were, to please the merchants, he harbored within himself the thought only of acquisition; out of envy, he himself only wanted to cause them harm: after all, envy cannot tolerate what is useful for others. So, Svyatopolk sent to take away all the salt from Prokhor. And when she was brought, he went to look at her himself, along with those seditious people who slandered the blessed one. And everyone here saw that there was dust before their eyes. Then the prince ordered some people to try this salt, but it turned out to be dust and tasted like dust. And they all marveled at this change and were perplexed. Then the prince, wanting to know for sure how this whole miracle would end, ordered this dust to be preserved for up to three days. Meanwhile, many people came to Saint Prokhor in order to take the salt from him, but, having learned about its plunder, they returned without it, cursing the one who had done it. Blessed Prokhor told them: “When this salt is thrown out by the prince, then go and collect it for yourself.” Indeed, the prince, having kept this salt for up to three days and seeing nothing in it except dust, ordered it to be thrown away. But after it was poured out, it turned into salt again. Citizens, having learned about this, began to flock to this place and happily collected salt. When this wondrous miracle happened, the prince, who had inflicted such an insult on the saint, was horrified. He could not hide this miracle, since it happened in front of the whole city, and so he began to investigate what it meant. Then they told him everything that blessed Prokhor had done - not only about the salt transformed from dust, but also about the quinoa bread with which he fed so many people, and how these breads became sweet when they were taken from the hands of the blessed one with his blessing, and how, on the contrary, they seemed bitter when someone took them secretly. Hearing all this, Prince Svyatopolk was ashamed of his action; Having gone to the Pechersk Monastery, he reconciled with Abbot John. Previously, he had enmity against him for denouncing his insatiable greed and oppression of the people. For this he even imprisoned John in Turov in 1300, but, fearing the intercession of the Christ-loving prince Vladimir Monomakh, he soon returned him with honor to the Pechersky Monastery. After this miracle, Svyatopolk began to have great zeal for the Most Holy Theotokos and for the Venerable Fathers Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk; He greatly revered and pleased blessed Prokhor, considering him a true servant of God: he gave him his word not to cause any violence to anyone else; at the same time, he confirmed this promise with the following agreement: “If, by the will of God, I die before you, then you put me in the coffin with your own hands in order to show your kindness towards me; If you repose before me, then I, taking your coffin on my shoulders, will carry you into the cave myself in order to receive forgiveness from the Lord for my grave sin against you.” After such an agreement, blessed Prokhor lived for many years, living his chaste life full of hardships in a godly manner, and then fell ill. The prince at this time went on a campaign against the Polovtsians. Then blessed Prokhor sent the prince a notice that the hour of his death was already approaching. “If you want to fulfill your promise,” he announced, “and receive forgiveness of sins from God, come to me, and we will receive forgiveness from each other, and you will put me in the coffin with your own hands. So, I'm waiting for your arrival. If you delay and I die without you, then it will not be my fault, and your struggle will not end for you as if you had come to me.” Hearing this, Svyatopolk, leaving the army, immediately went to the sick Prokhor. The blessed one taught the prince a lot about alms, about future judgment, about eternal life and endless torment, gave him forgiveness of sins and his blessing and said goodbye to everyone around the prince; and then, raising his hands to heaven, he committed his spirit into the hand of God. Prince Svyatopolk, together with the monks, took the body of the saint, carried it to the cave and with his own hands put it in a coffin. After this, he went on a campaign and won a complete victory over the Polovtsians; he captured almost all the inhabitants of the Polovtsian region and brought them to his land. This victory, granted by God to the Russian land, was won according to the prophecy of the prayer book for it, St. Prokhor. From then on, Prince Svyatopolk, going to battle with enemies or to hunt, always went to the Pechersk Monastery for a blessing and there, in the God-created church, with great zeal and gratitude he worshiped the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos and before the tombs of St. Theodosius and Prokhor, and only then went out on a campaign. And after that, the reign of Svyatopolk flowed happily, receiving, after many cruel trials, through the prayers of Blessed Prokhor, the blessing of God. The Christ-loving prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich himself, as a witness, clearly confessed the miracles and signs of this saint of God before everyone. Through the holy prayers of the Venerable Prokhor, the Pechersk wonderworker, may the Lord Christ deliver us all now from all adversity and evil circumstances, for to Him belongs, together with His Beginningless Father and His Most Holy, Good and Life-Giving Spirit, all glory, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Polovtsians are a wild nomadic people of the Turkic tribe, from the second half of the 11th century. who came from beyond the Caspian steppes to the southern Russian steppes and made frequent and devastating raids on the southern Russian principalities. Between 1089–1108, during which John was abbot of the Pechersk monastery. All this happened in 1099 This was around 1107. The relics of St. Prokhora is now in Anthony's Cave. You might be interested in: