Сказание о десной руке святого Иоанна Предтечи, крестившей Господа

After the beheading of the head of Saint John the Baptist, the Baptist of the Lord, by the lawless king Herod, his honorable body was buried by his disciples near the grave of the prophet Elisha in the famous Samarian city of Sebastia. When the holy evangelist Luke, preaching Christ and visiting many countries and cities, came to Sebastia, intending to go from here to his native city - Antioch, then it occurred to this apostle to take with him and carry to Antioch the body of the holy Forerunner, John the Baptist. It was incorruptible and intact, but it was impossible to take it, because the inhabitants of Sebastia greatly revered the relics of the Baptist and carefully preserved them. Therefore, the holy evangelist Luke could separate from the holy body of the Forerunner only the right hand that baptized our Lord Jesus Christ; This is what he brought with him to his city of Antioch, as a kind of precious treasure with which he wanted to thank Antioch for the education he received in this city. From that time on, the holy hand of the Baptist was guarded with great reverence by the Christians of Antioch, for many miracles were performed from it. After a long time, Julian the Apostate 303 sat on the royal throne, who clearly renounced Christ and bowed to idols. He began to persecute the Church of God in the same way as the pagan emperors who persecuted Christians before him, and not only persecuted and killed living Christians, but rebelled with rage against the dead: he took out the remains of saints who suffered for the holy faith from their graves and burned them, and turned the churches of God and all kinds of shrines to ashes. One day he appeared in Antioch, partly in order to make vile sacrifices there to his vile god Apollo 304, whose idol was located near the city, in an area called Daphne, partly in order to persecute Christians and burn those of their shrines that he could find. The Christians of Antioch, hearing about his arrival, hastened to hide the holy hand of the Baptist in one city tower, called Gonia, so that the persecutor would not dishonor it and burn it. Julian, having appeared in Antioch and caused a lot of harm to Christians here, began to look for the hand of the Baptist, and when his searches were in vain, he sent an order to the Palestinian city of Sebastia that the entire body of the Baptist - which was there with the exception of the head and hand - as well as the tomb with the church of the Baptist should be destroyed and burned, which was done, as the historians Nicephorus and Kedrin report. 305. However, Blessed Simeon Metaphrastus 306 reports that it was not the Baptist’s body that was burned, but someone else’s, for the Patriarch of Jerusalem, having learned in advance about Julian’s order, secretly took the relics of the Baptist from the tomb and sent them to Alexandria for safekeeping; instead of them, he put the bones of one dead man, and these latter were burned, according to Metaphrastus, instead of the relics of the Baptist, with his coffin and church. When that lawless king died and true faith again shone in the world, then the hand of the holy Forerunner was taken out of the tower, in which it was hidden, like a lamp from under a bushel. Again Christians began to pay veneration to her and again miracles began to be performed from her, as before. Of these miracles, we will report the following. Within the borders of Antioch nested a great and terrible serpent, which the pagans idolized and to which, as a god, they annually made sacrifices. A specially chosen immaculate maiden was usually appointed as this sacrifice, and she was given up to be devoured by the snake, in the presence of all the people, who looked at this spectacle from special places built not far from the cave where the snake lived. The snake crawled out of the cave and created universal horror with its terrible appearance, hissing and wide-open mouth, and then grabbed the victim presented to it and, tormenting it with its lips, devoured it. For such a sacrifice, the daughters of Antiochian citizens were chosen by lot. One year this lot fell on the daughter of an Antioch Christian. This Christian prayed with tears to Christ God and his holy Baptist for the deliverance of his daughter from cruel death. When the very day of that vile holiday arrived, the father cried out to God with cries and sobs and called on Saint John the Baptist for help. At this time, he came to the church of John the Baptist, where the hand of the Baptist was kept, and earnestly asked the keymaster to open the church for him and let him bow to that honest and holy hand. He did this with a secret purpose, for the achievement of which he put several gold coins in his bosom. When he began to bow before the ark in which that holy hand was kept, he seemed to accidentally spill gold coins from his bosom. The housekeeper, who loved money, rushed to pick up the coins, and at this very time the Christian kissed the holy hand of the Baptist, secretly biting off one part of the small finger with his teeth, hid it and, having prayed, went out, carrying the joint of the finger with him. When the day came on which the girl was supposed to innocently undergo death, and when the people gathered at the midnight hour for the disgrace, the father also appeared there, leading his daughter to be devoured by a snake, and in his soul raising prayers to God for salvation. And then a terrible snake crawled out of its cave, hissing, with its mouth open, and began to crawl towards the victim prepared for it - the girl - in order to devour her. But the father did not retreat from his daughter, calling for help from the All-Seeing Savior Christ God and his Baptist. When the serpent crawled very close and opened its mouth even wider, the girl’s father threw the composition of the sacred finger of the Baptist right into the middle of the serpent’s larynx, and the serpent immediately died. The girl was thus saved from a cruel death, but her father, with tears of joy, in a loud voice sent thanks to the Savior God and his holy Baptist, explaining to all the people what a great miracle the Lord God had performed. The people who were present at the disgrace, seeing the serpent dead, and the maiden alive and praising God together with the father, were at first very surprised and horrified at the sight of such a glorious miracle, and then, rejoicing, began to glorify with one mouth the One True God who lives in heaven and looks upon the humble. And a great celebration and celebration began in Antioch, for many pagans joined the Christians, believing in Christ God. In the same place where that great miracle took place, a church, great and beautiful, was created in the name of St. John the Baptist. They say that in this church, on the day of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross of the Lord, the bishop erected the venerable hand of the Baptist, and sometimes it was held straight, sometimes bent: the first predicted a large harvest of bread and all kinds of fruits and vegetables, and the latter served as an omen of crop failure and famine. When, by God's permission, the Arabs took possession of Antioch and all its borders, then the great treasure was the most honest hand of St. the great John the Baptist was, as it were, in captivity. The pious Christian kings made a lot of efforts to take the most honorable hand of the Forerunner from the power of the Arabs and have it in their reigning city, but for a long time they were unable to achieve this goal, and they could not do anything either with gold or by any other means. But during the reign of the purple brothers Constantine and Romanus 307 this gift, more valuable than all earthly treasures, was received in the following way. One Antioch deacon, named Job, was inspired by God Himself to take the holy hand of the Baptist from under the Arab power to the country where the pious faith of Christ shone. Since that Holy hand lay in the most beautiful church of Antioch, dedicated to the name of St. Apostle Peter, then Job began to serve at this church and entered into friendship with the church guardian, so that it would be more convenient for him to fulfill what he had planned. He tried many times to persuade the vessel guard to do the work he had planned, but he did not want to agree to it. Then Job one day held a great feast, to which he invited the guardian of the vessel. He diligently treated the latter, and when he, having drunk a lot of wine, immediately fell asleep, Job went secretly to the church and, opening the ark, took the hand of the Baptist and hid it in himself. The vessel guard, waking up in the morning, did not notice the loss. Meanwhile, Job, without hesitating at all, left Antioch with an honest hand and hurried to the borders of the Christian kingdom, fearing that the Antiochian Christians and the barbarian government would become aware of the theft of the holy hand and that pursuit would be sent after him. However, under the protection of God, being protected by the prayers of St. Baptist, he soon reached Christian possessions. Arriving in Chalcedon 308, he opened what was kept with him and showed this treasure, which he brought from Antioch, to Christians. This was immediately reported to the pious kings, and they, having heard such news, which exceeded their hopes, were filled with inexpressible joy and immediately sent their royal ship to Chalcedon. On this ship were the most holy patriarch and some of the most respectable senators, who were supposed to meet the offered hand of the Baptist and carry it with honor to the capital city. When the ship returned from Chalcedon with the holy hand, which the patriarch himself held, the kings and all the people came ashore, meeting as if the holy Baptist himself, who had invisibly come from heaven, and paid homage to him by worshiping psalms and chants, lighting candles and burning incense. Having reverently touched the honest hand, the kings placed it in their palace church 309. This is the transfer of St. hands of the Baptist was performed on the eternity of St. Epiphany, before the blessing of water. And this holiday was celebrated, and after it the Council of the Baptist with great joy in honor of the highest among the prophets, Saint John the Baptist, and for the glory of God Himself in the Trinity, glorified and worshiped by all forever. Amen. The memory of the righteous is with praise, but the testimony of the Lord, the Forerunner, is sufficient for you: for you have shown that you are truly the most honorable of the prophets, as if you were worthy to baptize the Preached One in the streams. Moreover, having suffered for the truth, rejoicing, you preached the gospel to those in hell of God revealed in the flesh, taking away the sin of the world, and giving us great mercy. The Jordan was afraid of Your fleshly coming, returning with fear; fulfilling the prophetic ministry, John hid in trepidation; The angelic rites are horrified, seeing Thee baptized in flesh in the streams; and all who were in darkness were illuminated, praising Thee, Who appeared and enlightened all. Julian the Apostate is the nephew of Constantine the Great, Constantius, he was his co-ruler, ruling the western provinces of the Roman Empire. Having become emperor in 361, he retreated from the Christian faith and set the task of his life to restore paganism, and he was called the Apostate. He reigned until 363, when he died in the war with the Persians. Apollo is one of the most revered Greco-Roman pagan gods. He was revered as the god of the sun, mental enlightenment, poetry and music, as well as public welfare and order. Moreover, he was the deity of predictions of the future and the art of medicine. Nicephorus Callistus - church historian, monk of the Sophia Monastery in Constantinople; died around 1350. Kedrin is also a famous church historian who lived at the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th century. Symeon Metaphrastus is a famous compiler of the lives of saints who lived in Constantinople in the 10th century. (Died about 940). The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VIII Porphyrogenitus reigned from 912–959; his brother Roman - from 919–944. Thus, from 919 to 944, the brothers ruled together. Chalcedon is a city in the northwestern part of Bithynia, on the banks of the Bosphorus, opposite Constantinople. This honest hand of the Forerunner was seen by Russian pilgrims in Constantinople in the 14th and early 15th centuries. Here it remained until 1484, when it was transferred to the Knights of Rhodes, who, having established themselves on the Mediterranean island of Malta, transferred the treasure they received there. In 1799, this shrine was brought by the Knights of Malta to Gatchina as a gift to Emperor Paul I, from where it was transferred to St. Petersburg to the Church of the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the Winter Palace. In memory of this event, a festival was established on October 12. You might be interested in: