Житие преподобного отца нашего Василия Нового

In the tenth year of the reign of the pious Greek kings, Leo the Wise 2155 and his brother Alexander 2156, sons of Emperor Basil the Macedonian 2157, certain Magistrians 2158, returning from the Asian country 2159, where they were sent by royal command, and passing by a desert mountain, saw a man walking on it, covered thin rags and a very unusual and even terrible appearance, because he grew up in the desert, far from people. Surprised by his strange appearance, the magisters chased after him and grabbed him; then, thinking that he was a spy (while, in fact, it was Blessed Basil, whose life we ​​are telling about), they tied up this wondrous man and led him with them to the reigning city - Constantinople. Presenting themselves before the kings, the Magistrians told them about the man captured on the way. Then King Leo, seeing the saint, ordered him to be interrogated and instructed a certain patrician 2160 Samon, an Agarian by origin, to investigate: who he is, where he comes from and what his name is. Samon brought the man of God into his house. Then, seated at the judgment seat, surrounded by advisers, with the greatness befitting his rank, he ordered Blessed Basil to be presented to him. Appearing before the patrician, the saint did not give him honor or worship. The patrician asked him: - Who are you, where are you from, and what is your name? But the blessed one “gave him no answer” (John 19:9) 2162 and stood silently, looking with meek eyes at his judge. Then Samon asked him again: - Tell us where you are from? To this the saint replied: - It’s better to tell me yourself, who are you and where are you from? “We ask you, and you must answer us.” And who I am, you should not ask about that. However, if you really want to know about me, who I am, then I will tell you. I am Samon, patrician and elder of the cuvicularii of the 2163 now reigning autocrats. Now tell me: who are you and where are you from and what do you do? “I am one of the strangers and wanderers who live on earth. - So, is it correct what they say about you that you are a spy who came to inspect the Greek land? – Samon asked the saint. To this the monk did not answer him. And many of those present at the interrogation forced him to answer, saying: But the saint did not answer them anything. Then Samon ordered to bring iron rods, dry ox sinews and other terrifying instruments of torture; and all this was laid out before him to frighten the saint, in the hope that he would be afraid of torment and tell about himself. But the monk, seeing all these terrible weapons, did not utter a single word. Then the patrician ordered to lay out Blessed Basil on the ground and beat him with ox sinews, asking: Experiencing severe blows, the monk did not break his silence and patiently endured all the torment. And the torturers beat him until it seemed to them that he would soon die; therefore, taking the saint like a log that could not move, they carried him and threw him into prison. The next day, the patrician Samon, this indomitable beast, sat down at the judgment seat and ordered the prisoner to be brought to him again. Those sent for blessed Basil found him completely healthy and unharmed, standing outside the prison waiting for them, although the doors of the prison remained locked. Surprised, they began to ask the saint: - Tell us how you came out of the dungeon, the doors of which were tightly locked. But the blessed one did not give an answer and silently followed them to appear before the patrician. Then some of those sent for Saint Basil went forward and told Samon about everything that had happened: how they found the blessed one outside the prison, although its gates were intact. Samon and all those who were with him were surprised when they heard their story and did not believe them. Some said about the saint that he was a sorcerer and created such a miracle by the power of magic. Meanwhile, the blessed one appeared before the patrician Samon, and Samon again began to interrogate him persistently and for a long time, in every possible way forcing him to say who he was and where he was from. But the monk continued to remain silent and did not give the patrician an answer. Samon became very angry with the saint and ordered him to be stretched out on the ground again and beaten mercilessly with sticks until he told about himself and his origin. And they beat the saint for a long time, so that they broke six staffs, but they could not force a confession from him: Blessed Basil valiantly endured all the torments, without breaking his silence with a single word, so that everyone marveled at his indescribable patience and silence. Patrician Samon said at the same time: “I know that this spy hopes to boast later and say: he defeated them with silence.” But I am ready to swear on the lives of our autocrats that I will not allow him to boast and abuse us. Having said this, Samon ordered to take the monk back to prison and beat him throughout the next week, inflicting three hundred lashes and three hundred lashes every day. Blessed Basil patiently endured all the torment, hiding his valiant deeds in secret and not wanting to tell others about his ascetic life. For from his youth he became a monk and settled in the desert, in which he wandered for many years, spending his life in harsh desert exploits, eating only grains and roots, constantly walking barefoot and covered with thin rags. The saint did not want to tell anyone about such a virtuous and full of exploits life, and that is why he answered all the questions of the patrician Samon about his way of life in silence, remembering the command of the Heavenly Lord, who said: “Let the left hand... not know what the right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3). For everyone who reveals his good deeds to people receives his reward on earth in praise from people, but is deprived of eternal and heavenly glory; whoever wants to achieve an eternal reward must hide his virtue from people, and if, not appreciated by people, he is subjected to reproach and even torture from them, then in this case he must silently and patiently endure human malice; then he will truly deserve the title of martyr. The Monk Vasily knew all this and, wanting to gain glory not from people, but from God, he patiently endured the cruel suffering inflicted on him, not wanting to give away his secret. After a week, during which the saint was subjected to blows every day, the patrician Samon, seeing that the blessed one remained unshakable and did not reveal his name and origin, again sat down at the judgment seat and ordered the saint to be brought to him. And when he appeared before him, Samon looked at him angrily and said: “Wickedest of men, how long will you hide from us?” Will you tell me who you are and where you come from? In response to this the saint said: – Those who, like you, carry out the deeds of Sodom in secret 2164 should be called the most wicked. At such a reproof from the monk Samon was embarrassed, experiencing great shame and disgrace before all those who were there; then, inflamed with indomitable rage and anger at the saint, he ordered to bring belts, twist the saint’s hands from behind, tightly tie his ribs with ropes, pull the saint’s right leg to them, and in one covered room hang him on a crossbar upside down. He locked and sealed the doors of that room with his own ring and left the monk hanging until he revealed his name and origin. Everyone who was there in their souls regretted blessed Vasily and grumbled at Samon, calling him accursed and blaming him for the torment he inflicted on the innocent man of God. For three days and three nights Saint Basil hung on the crossbar. On the fourth day, the wicked tormentor Samon opened the doors of the church in which the martyr was, and, coming to him, he saw that his face was calm and bright, as if he had not experienced any torment. The surprised patrician asked the blessed one: - Why don’t you tell me: who are you and where are you from? Hasn't suffering brought you to your senses? The monk did not answer him this time either. Then the torturer ordered to take him down and free him from the belts and ropes with which he was bound. Having been released from all fetters, the saint, by the grace of Christ, was instantly healed of all his wounds and injuries and became completely healthy. Everyone who saw this glorious miracle was surprised and perplexed. The wicked Samon, also amazed by what had happened, exclaimed in blindness: “Didn’t I say that this man is a sorcerer and wizard?” After all, despite all the torments that he deservedly endured from us, he remained healthy and unharmed. But still, I will soon destroy his magical power: call to me the overseer of the animals. And when he came, Samon said to him: - Choose the most ferocious lion and today do not give him ordinary food, so that tomorrow morning he will be hungry; then we will see whether this wizard will defeat the ferocious beast. The next day, in the morning, many people gathered for the appointed spectacle. And then they released a huge and ferocious lion, roaring loudly from hunger; They brought Blessed Basil there and threw him to the lion to be devoured. But the wild beast, seeing the saint, trembled; then, approaching him, he obediently lay down at his feet and lay there like a gentle lamb, so that everyone marveled and cried out in horror: The monk, bending down to the lion lying at his feet, stroked him with his right hand, and then, taking him by the ear, led him out, loudly exclaiming: - Here is your lamb, here is your lamb! The wicked foreigner Samon was not, however, enlightened by this wondrous miracle and did not want to admit that the man he was tormenting was a holy saint of God. Continuing to persist in his rage against the blessed one and having exhausted all means in order to force his confession, Samon ordered his servants to drown him in the sea at night. They did just that. In the third watch of the night, they put the martyr in a boat and, sailing from the shore, threw him into the sea, and they themselves returned back. But God, who protects His saints, did not allow the blessed one to perish in the depths of the sea. As soon as he was thrown into the sea, immediately two sea dolphins, 2165, by the will of God, picked up the saint on their ridges and carried him to the shore called Eudom, a suburb of Constantinople, where they planted him on dry land. At the same time, the saint’s hands and feet were released from the fetters with which they were bound, and he freely rose to his feet and walked towards the city. But since the Golden Gate of the city 2166, to which the saint approached, was not yet open, he sat down near them, intending to rest a little. At this time, a man named John, overcome by fever, approached the Golden Gate; groaning and shaking from illness, he sat down near Saint Basil. The blessed one took pity on him, laid his hands on him and, praying to the Lord, healed him. Feeling healed, the man fell at the feet of the monk and began to pray to him to go with him to his house. Saint Basil gladly fulfilled his request, although the healed man was one of the poorest and most insignificant citizens of Constantinople. John had a wife named Helen. Together with her, he lovingly accepted the monk into his home; when it was time for dinner, they offered him a meal, and they all ate with joy. During the meal, John told his wife how the blessed one had healed him by invoking the name of Christ, and she rejoiced greatly over such a guest. For she was Christ-loving and hospitable and spent her life in the fear of God; That’s why she rejoiced that she was honored to receive the saint of God into her home. John and Helen began to beg the saint to tell them who he was and where he was from. But the saint answered: – Who I am and where I come from should not be discussed yet. Later you will learn about this, and now let me go to pray at the monastery of the Not Made by Hands Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, depicted by itself. Having said this, he stood up and, accompanied by John, went to the monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos to pray; At the end of the prayer, yielding to John’s persistent requests, the saint returned to his house. Here John and his girlfriend again began to beg the blessed one, relentlessly pestering him so that he would tell them about himself. Then Saint Basil said: “I am the one whom the patrician Samon plunged into the depths of the sea.” My Lord Jesus Christ, Whom I have served since my youth, brought me out of the depths in a manner known to Him alone and kept me unharmed. At the same time, the blessed one said that he was being named Vasily, and in order he told about everything that he had suffered from the wicked and cruel tormentor Samon. Listening to the story of Blessed Basil, John and Elena were surprised and at the same time remembered everything about the saint that they knew before; for the rumor about how the Monk Samon tormented him and how he could not do him any harm spread throughout the whole city. Then they began to beg the monk to stay in their house - and this request was acceptable to Blessed Basil. John and Elena prepared a special cell for him to pray and placed a lamp in it; and here the saint began to send up his usual prayers to God. Who can tell us about these prayerful exploits of the saint, about how many tears he shed in his prayers to the Heavenly Lord? Who could count all his genuflections? Who will tell us about his all-night vigils, for he constantly spent nights without sleep? Who will depict to us his virtuous and full of exploits life? Like an unshakable pillar, the monk was unwavering in virtue, never angry, meek, like Moses or David, quiet and modest, like Jacob 2167, and more merciful than Abraham. For Abraham gave alms from his many riches, and Blessed Basil did good to the poor from his poverty, endured for the sake of the Lord God, and everything that the lovers of Christ brought him, he immediately distributed to the poor. During the residence of the Monk Basil with the above-mentioned Christ-lover John, after a short time, people began to come to him: some seeking spiritual benefit, while others brought the sick to him so that he would heal them. The monk, laying his hands on the sick and praying, healed the sick with the grace of Christ. Over time, the name of the saint became famous throughout the reigning city, and many came to him not only from the common people, but also from eminent citizens and nobles. Along with the gift of miracles, the saint also had the gift of insight and foresaw the secret deeds of everyone who came to him, both good and evil. Convicting sinners in private, he guided many to repentance. The monk also foresaw the future and prophetically predicted about it, which will be clearly seen from the further narrative. In 911, the Byzantine emperor Leo the Wise died, and after him, in 912, his brother, Emperor Alexander, died; upon death, their kingdom was inherited by Leo's son, Constantine, called Porphyrogenitus 2168, together with his mother Zoe. Since the new king, upon his accession to the throne, was still a young boy, the protection of the kingdom and its management were entrusted to the Constantinople Patriarch Nicholas 2169 and the Kuropalat 2170 John, nicknamed Gorida. They were the actual rulers of the kingdom until the young king reached adulthood. Meanwhile, barbarians attacked the Greek country; Capturing region after region, they came close to Constantinople and devastated the lands around it. And there was no one who could gather an army, enter into battle with the barbarians threatening the capital and stop their devastating invasion. The entire kingdom of Greece fell into great confusion; the people began to loudly murmur against Patriarch Nicholas, accusing him of not caring enough about the benefit of the kingdom entrusted to him. Then the patriarch, after consulting with all the nobles, wrote a letter to the eastern governor Constantine Duca, calling on him to come to Constantinople and share the scepter with the young king, so that at the time when Constantine Porphyrogenitus, as a minor, would be brought up in the royal chambers, Constantine Duca, as a strong and brave man in battle, would take up arms against the enemies of the empire. For that man was truly a very brave and invincible warrior, of whom all the foreigners who fought with him were terribly afraid. According to their repeated testimony, they often saw fire emanating from Duca’s weapon and from the nostrils of his horse - fire that, rushing towards them, scorched and drove them away, so that it was impossible to resist this commander, whom God Himself defeated. Constantine Duca himself also did not hide the grace of God bestowed on him, and told the following about himself: “Once in my youth,” he said, “when I was sleeping, a certain bright Woman appeared before me, dressed in a royal scarlet robe; She had a fiery horse with her, and on the horse there was also a fiery weapon. And the Wife convinced me to arm myself with that fiery weapon and mount a horse. At first I was afraid and did not want to fulfill Her request, but then I obeyed. And when I did what She urged me to do, then She said: “Let all the enemies of God feel fear and trembling before you, and let the blasphemers of My Son melt like wax before you.” Having said this, the bright Wife left me. This is how the husband to whom the patriarch sent a message told about himself, calling him to the kingdom. When this patriarchal message came to him, he began in every possible way to refuse the honor offered to him, considering himself unworthy of such high power. But from the patriarch and from the synclit 2171 another message came to him, calling him to the kingdom. Then Constantine Ducas wrote to them: “I should not be equal to my master and the anointed of God, the king, although he is young in age. At the same time, I am afraid that there is something insidious in your proposal and whether you want to destroy me.” Having received this letter from him, the patriarch and all the nobles sent him a third message, and in it each of them wrote a special oath on his own behalf, in which he swore by the Tree of the Honest Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, that without any flattery and guile, but sincerely and from the heart, they called him to co-reign with the young king. Then, believing their oath, Konstantin Duka went with all his household to Constantinople, and was greeted with glory by the nobles and all the inhabitants of the city. It was early in the morning when the governor came to the city - the sun had just risen and shone, and suddenly an evil sign appeared, foreshadowing Constantin Duque's death at the hands of an assassin: in full sunshine, a little rain began to drip, and the raindrops falling on the ground had a bloody appearance. Meanwhile, Patriarch Nicholas and his advisers, having learned about the solemn meeting that the entire people of Constantinople had arranged for the glorious governor Constantin Duca, changed their original intention and closed the gates of the royal palace in front of him, not wanting to allow him to see the king and his mother. Then Constantine Ducas pitched his tent in the square in front of the hippodrome 2172, and many nobles and citizens began to come here every day, worshiping the glorious commander as their king and ruler. At the same time, some of the nobles devoted to the new emperor, who knew Blessed Basil and had great love for him, came to him one by one and asked: - How will this matter end? The saint with tears announced to them that in less than three months, bloody death would befall both the newly elected Emperor Constantine Dooku and all his followers. Announcing this outcome of the matter, the blessed one wept bitterly and inconsolably to the point of exhaustion. After such an answer from the saint, the nobles who questioned him locked themselves in their houses and remained hopelessly in them, fearfully awaiting the predicted end. Two nobles came to Saint Basil again with the intention of finding out the future. These were two half-brothers, both bearing the rank of protospatharia 2173. Having come to the blessed one, they asked him: - What will happen to us later if we become supporters of the newly elected king and begin to come to him at the hippodrome? - Don't go there, kids! - the saint answered them with tears, - if you join him, then one of you will be killed, beheaded with a sword, and the other will have his nose and ears cut off, and for the rest of his life he will remain a laughing stock for all who see him. But the brothers ignored the saint’s prediction: they went to the hippodrome and joined the newly summoned king. After two months, Constantine Ducas, seeing that he was seduced and reviled by the patriarch and the entire synclit, began to consult with his followers on how to achieve the royal throne to which he was called. At the same time, the virtuous governor did not want to use violence. As a brave commander, to whom the entire army and many people were committed, he could by force crush all the barriers and ascend to the royal throne, or he could surround the walls of the city with his army and not allow any food supplies into it, which would force the patriarch and the entire synclite against their will to recognize themselves as king and open access to the royal throne. But, being a pious and God-fearing husband, Constantine did not want anyone to suffer the scourge of hunger because of him, and also did not want to achieve the throne through bloody means. Therefore, placing all his trust in God and still continuing to believe the oath of the patriarch and the nobles, he commanded his followers, breaking down only one gate, to go with him peacefully and without any weapons to the royal chambers. The pious commander said at the same time: “If we are received meekly, it means we are doing well, achieving our goal without bloodshed and violence.” If they attack us and kill us, then they will give an answer for us before God, since they themselves deceived us with strong requests and an oath, although we did not achieve the dignity offered to me. Having said this, Constantine Ducas made his followers swear that not one of them would dare to draw a sword from its scabbard or draw an arrow on a bow against those attacking them, “so that not a single drop of Christian blood would be shed because of me,” he added. The followers of Constantine swore an oath to obey this command of their leader and, breaking down the copper gates of the royal palace (since otherwise it was impossible to enter his courtyard), peacefully, without any weapons, they went to the royal chambers under the leadership of this pious man Constantine Duca, who was also unarmed. While they were walking unarmed, heading towards the royal chambers, archers deliberately stationed by the patriarch suddenly attacked them and, having fired many arrows, wounded many. One of the first to suffer was the valiant governor Konstantin Duka, who walked in front: he received a serious wound in the rib below his right arm. Groaning from the wound, Duca fell to the ground. Seeing this, the palace squires, gathered in large numbers, rushed with drawn swords at those entering peacefully and began to cut them like stems of plants. In this way they killed Constantine Duca, his son and many others. Those who fled, they captured alive and immediately executed everyone in various ways: some were cut in half, others were hanged on trees in front of the city gates, and others had their noses and ears cut off and their veins cut. Thus, up to three thousand innocent men perished with Konstantin Dukoy. Along with others, those two protospafaria brothers who came to Blessed Basil for advice also suffered, and moreover, exactly as the monk predicted: one of them was beheaded with a sword, and the other had his nose and ears cut off. Having finished the bloodshed, the soldiers cut off the heads of the murdered Duca and his son and took them to Patriarch Nicholas and his advisers. The Patriarch generously rewarded those who killed Constantine and ordered the head of the murdered man to be carried on a spear throughout the city for desecration, and the bodies of all other victims to be thrown into the sea. Such lawless bloodshed then took place in Constantinople. And the city was defiled by the shedding of the blood of innocent men, which, like the blood of Abel 2174, cried out to God from the earth. For it was not from the sword of foreign enemies, but from the hand of like-faithful and like-minded fellow tribesmen, former friends and brothers, that the strong commander Constantine Dukas, named king, died - having become a victim of treachery - this warrior, famous for his bravery, pleasing to God and loved by the people. But mocked and ridiculed by the powers that be, Constantine Ducas was glorified by God: his righteous soul, as well as the souls of all those who suffered with him, were carried away by Angels to the heavenly abodes and settled in the bosom of Abraham. This is clearly evidenced by the following miraculous sign: while the bodies of the hanged associates of Constantine were hanging on the trees, at night the stars were visible, descending on them and shining brightly above their heads until the sunrise. This sign revealed that they all suffered innocently and that their souls, as a reward for martyrdom, were installed in the villages of the saints. We retold all this to present an example of the prophetic foresight of our venerable father, Blessed Basil; for everything that he foretold came true. We will also talk about other events during which this gift of foresight characteristic of the monk was revealed. The patrician Roman 2175 was elected co-ruler to the young Tsar Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who was crowned king. When Emperor Constantine came of age, Roman gave him his daughter Elena in marriage. In addition to Constantine, Roman had another son-in-law, a certain Saronite, with the rank of patrician, a proud and power-hungry man, proud of his wealth and the nobility of his family. He harbored a wicked intention in his heart - to destroy King Constantine and seize the royal scepter. Near the Saronite chambers there was the house of the above-mentioned Christ-lover John, with whom the Monk Basil lived. Seeing with perspicacious eyes the evil thoughts of Saronite, the monk said, as if talking to himself: - Vasily! Pay attention to this accursed wicked man, who is plotting ungodly things in his heart. But I’ll go and rebuke him: maybe he’ll repent and abandon his crazy intentions. And so, when one day Saronite rode out of the house on horseback with the usual pomp, heading towards the royal palace, the saint stood on the road and began to loudly proclaim, addressing the patrician: – Why have you conceived an evil deed in your heart against God’s anointed? You have no share in the royal lot. So, do not work in vain, lest the Lord become angry with you and take away from you even the patrician dignity that you have. Hearing such a denunciation from the saint, Saronite became inflamed with great rage against him. Rushing towards the blessed one, he began to hit him on the head with the whip he was holding in his hands, and at the same time cursed him with all kinds of curses. Then, having inflicted many wounds on him and abused him, he left the monk and began to continue on his way. Blessed Basil patiently endured all the curses and wounds, and the next day he met Saronite again when he went to the palace, and in the same words as the last time, he denounced him. Saronite, in anger, ordered his servants to seize the saint, take him to his house and detain him until he returned from the palace. Then, returning, he ordered twigs from the thorns to be brought and St. Basil presented to him. When the blessed one was brought to him, the Saronite said: “Answer me, crazy old man, what demon taught you to greet me boldly and tell me such inappropriate blasphemous speeches?” Or don’t you know that I am the king’s son-in-law and the first of all the king’s nobles? Or do you not know that my wealth is as innumerable as the sand on the seashore? After all, I have a huge number of slaves, estates, villages and herds of various livestock, as well as countless amounts of gold and silver. In addition, I have received great glory and honor, which were given to me from God and from our kings. How did you dare, being humble and poor, to appear before me, in the sight of all the people, with such reproaches and accusations? Answer me before I put you to death. The blessed one, in response to these words, said: - Do you really think that your crafty and evil intention, which you conceal in your heart, will remain a secret? No, God Himself revealed to me that you were planning to encroach on the life of the king and become the thief of royal power. Abandon this wicked intention and stop plotting against the Lord’s anointed. On behalf of God I tell you: if you do not give up your evil intentions, the Lord will be very angry with you and will soon erase your memory from the face of the earth. The mad Saronite became very angry at such words, so that his face changed and turned yellow. Burning with anger, he ordered the servants to stretch the monk on the ground and beat him mercilessly with thorns. “Beat him harder,” he said, “beat him until the demon of false prophecy comes out of him.” And they beat him. The saint was like a tree, dumb and insensitive: experiencing cruel blows, he not only did not groan, but did not even utter a single word, did not even move his body, so that, except for the sounds of blows on the body with sticks, nothing more was heard. When the saint was tortured, the gates of Saronit's house were open. At that time, the pious Elena, Ioannov’s wife, was passing by the gate. Looking through the gate, she saw how Blessed Vasily was tortured. Quickly entering that house, she covered the body of the saint with herself and with bitter tears began to loudly exclaim: - Beat me, a sinner, and spare this lamp of God, my shepherd and spiritual father; kill me instead of him, let him go. Then Saronite, like a fierce beast with his cruel disposition, said furiously to the servants: - Beat her too, because she herself wants it; I think that she is the dishonest and adulterous partner of this wicked man. Fulfilling the order, the servants began to beat the pious wife, and beat her until it seemed to them that she had become lifeless. Then the lawless Saronite ordered the servants to grab her by the legs and throw her out into the street like a dead dog. And he ordered Blessed Vasily to be tied up, hanged and given five hundred blows with ox sinews. Enduring cruel blows, Blessed Basil, with the help of God, valiantly endured them. The servants, having finished the torture, put him in bonds. Night fell, and while Saronite was sleeping, he had a vision in his sleep, foreshadowing the imminent death of this cruel and malicious patrician. In a dream he saw a tall and branchy oak tree, on the top of which a crow had built a nest for itself. The bird of prey sat in its nest and covered its chicks with its wings. But then two men with axes approached the oak tree, wanting to cut it down. At the same time, one of them said to the other, pointing to the top of the tree: “Here sits a raven, whose cry does not allow the king to sleep peacefully. Another replied: - Moreover, he caused a lot of harm to the beloved saint of God, blessed Vasily. Having said this, they began to cut down the tree. When it fell to the ground, some people dressed in old rags approached and began to cut off the branches of the tree and throw them into the fire. Among them, Saronite saw St. Basil: standing near the felled tree, he said: – “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). Then, turning to Saronite, the monk said: “Didn’t I tell you to give up your evil intention, because otherwise you will fall from the height at which you are?” Waking up from sleep, Saronite felt sick; when he thought about the vision that had happened in a dream, great fear fell upon him. In horror, he stood up and immediately sent servants with the command to release Saint Basil from his bonds and set him free. Released from prison, the blessed one returned to his place of residence, to the house of John. Seeing the monk, John rejoiced; when the pious man saw the wounds inflicted on the saint by cruel torture, he began to cry. Likewise, all those who loved Blessed Basil, hearing about his return, flocked to John’s house, rejoiced at his arrival and cried when they saw the sores on his body. John's wife, blessed Helena, soon died from the wounds caused to her by the beating. But the lawless Saronite also did not rise from his sickbed: after several days he died, so that the prediction of Blessed Basil was fulfilled over him and the dream seen by Saronite himself came true. After some time, the pious husband John, who served the Monk Basil, departed to the Lord in peace, and the monk was left alone to live in the house of the deceased. Every day various people came to him in large numbers, bringing or bringing with them their sick people. The blessed one healed them with his prayer before God. Many beggars also flocked to him, since the monk distributed to them everything that the lovers of Christ brought to him, and did not keep anything for himself until another day. At this time, one pious and God-loving citizen Constantine, nicknamed Barbarian 2176, begged the monk to come to him and live in his house, and arranged a secluded cell for him. In it he prepared a bed, a table, a seat and a lamp for the blessed one, just as the Shunammite woman had once done for the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4:10) 2178. Then he entrusted a certain virtuous old woman, Theodora, who had long been widowed and spent many years living in godly chastity, to serve the man of God. The blessed old woman, living in an upper room located not far from the saint’s cell, diligently served him as an Angel of God. If someone came, wanting to see Saint Basil and talk with him, Theodora informed the monk about him, and he came from his cell to her upper room and here received the person who came. Thus, he received everyone in this upper room, healing the sick, comforting the mourning and giving alms to the needy - and the saint spent his day in such activities. In the evening he went to his cell and there made the usual prayers to God. The fame of the godly life of Blessed Basil and his wondrous deeds spread further and further, and he was revered not only by the laity, but also by many of the clergy: monks, priests and saints often visited the saint and received help from him for soul and body. The princes and nobles called him to their homes, asking him to visit the sick and pray for them. And when the blessed one came somewhere to the sick, he immediately laid his hands on them with prayer and healed them; he drove away demons with a single word. He also cared about correcting morals, instructing many in virtue, and not only teaching people with speeches sweet as honey, but sometimes even menacingly denouncing sinners; for everything was revealed to him from the All-Seeing God. Once, summoned to the royal chambers, the Monk Vasily, talking privately from everyone with Tsar Roman, accused him of greed, as well as criminal relations with many women - and the Tsar not only was not angry with him, but meekly accepted this reproof and promised to correct his life. In the same way, the blessed one turned one of the noblest patrician Anastasia to the path of repentance, convicting her of some sins that she had secretly committed, and predicted her death. He also announced to Queen Helen, the wife of Tsar Constantine Porphyrogenitus, that she would give birth first to a daughter, and then to a son, who, when he came of age, would reign, which came to pass. The queen ordered to give him gold, but the monk did not even want to touch it. Then the queen began to conjure him with the Holy Trinity so that he would take as much as he wanted. Yielding to her persistent requests, the monk took three gold coins 2179 and gave them to the old lady Theodora who served him, who was also there. Seeing this, some of those present to the queen said to the saint: - Give, father, more gold to that old lady. The saint answered them: “Children, we don’t want to have a lot of thorns, because they prick our hands.” Then the queen said to the monk: “Truly you have loved the One God with all your heart, honest father, and are alien to the vain blessings of this world. But do not forget us and remember us in your God-pleasing prayers. Having said this, she released the blessed one in peace. At this time, a layman named Gregory came to St. Basil, who became a disciple of the saint and an eyewitness of many of his miracles, and who subsequently wrote a lengthy life of him. This Gregory, when he came to the blessed one for the first time, was greatly amazed and confused by the wondrous gift of insight that the monk possessed, for, having never seen Gregory before, the holy man, right upon his arrival, called him by name, and then told him about everything that he was thinking within himself. In general, the monk had a very abundant gift of clairvoyance and foresaw not only the secret affairs of people, but even the most secret thoughts of the human heart. There were many cases in the life of the saint when such a gift was revealed to everyone; but we would not have enough time or space to retell all these cases, and therefore we limit ourselves to only a few examples. One presbyter, having come to the saint, brought him apples as a gift and, remaining to dine with him, tried to remember how many copper coins 2180 he had spent on apples. But the saint said to him: - Why are you so thoughtful, brother, remembering how much you spent on the fruits? Don’t work for nothing and ask me: you paid ten copper coins for the apples. Hearing this, the presbyter was horrified, marveling at the elder’s foresight and blessing God, who had sent such a great saint to people. A certain wine merchant familiar to the saint, when his affairs were shaken, came to the monk and asked to visit him in his house, so that there he could pray with him and through his prayer send down the blessing of God on his house. When the blessed one came to him, the wine merchant invited many beggars to dinner. At the end of dinner, he led the saint into the inn so that he could bless the vessels with wine. Blessing the vessels, the monk approached one of them, containing about fifteen measures of wine, and said to the wine merchant: “Now I have blessed all the vessels with the name of Christ, except this one, but this one must be broken.” But the wine merchant began to beg the monk not to do this. “Do not break, father,” he said, “but bless this vessel too; for if you destroy him, then my reserves will become scarce, and I will become a beggar, since I owe a lot to various lenders. – All this is known to me; but still I intend to crush this vessel in order to save you from great trouble. This is why I came here. Then the wine merchant said to the saint: “It’s better to break my head, but not this vessel.” But the saint, taking a log that was nearby, began to break the vessel. When it fell apart, a large amount of wine spilled onto the floor. Seeing this, the wine merchant became greatly saddened, and those standing with him began to be indignant at the saint and silently blasphemed him. The monk, foreseeing in his spirit their thoughts and blasphemy, took the reed that was there, put it in a broken vessel, at the bottom of which there was some wine left, and from there he took out a dead snake, drunk on wine, three cubits long 2181. Then, turning to those present, he said: - Why do you blaspheme me in your hearts, children? As if I had done anything wrong! Do you see this snake: how many people could be poisoned by its poison, and what kind of trouble would the owner get into? Is that what you want? And didn’t I do a good thing by breaking this vessel? Having said this, the saint threw the snake to the ground; the wine merchant fell at the feet of the blessed one and began to ask him for forgiveness. The blessed one forgave him and gave him a blessing. And through the prayers of Saint Basil, the wine merchant’s house was blessed by the Lord and received abundance in everything. One wife, named Theodotia, brought her sick four-year-old son to the saint and began to ask the saint to pray for his health. All her children, barely reaching the age of four, died; Therefore, she was afraid that her child, who was already sick, would die. When she told the monk about her grief in this way, the brought youth began to cry and ask for bread. The monk, taking a piece of bread, gave it to the youth and, smiling affectionately, said: - What is your name? Isn't it Leo? Then, turning to his mother, he said: - For the sake of your piety and especially as a reward for your love for the Most Holy Theotokos, manifested in your frequent prayers before Her icon - Hodegetria 2182, the Lord will keep this son of yours healthy and unharmed. When he comes of age, he will bring you a lot of joy, for he will be good-natured, wise, honest and even famous among people. Having received a good upbringing and instructed in book wisdom, he will become a monk, and then a cleric, and the Lord will protect him. Your other children, whom you give birth to, will die like the first. Then that woman, having bowed to the saint, left, and everything that the saint had predicted for her came true. A certain person, well known to the monk, came with a request to give him a blessing, since he was going to the East 2183 on an errand from his master. The monk, having carefully looked at his face and foreseeing what would happen to him on the way, said: – The Helidon River is terrible and dangerous, but nevertheless it will be tamed through the prayers of the sinful servant of God Vasily. No one understood these words of the blessed one. The man set off on his journey. And so, when he was in the eastern countries, his path was blocked by one river, which he did not know, since he had never been to those countries. This river was about twenty fathoms wide, but its current was so fast that only a bird could fly as fast. The man stopped on the shore and began to look for shallows so that, sitting on a horse, he could cross it to the other shore. Suddenly a wave swept over him and, picking him up along with his horse, carried him to the middle of the river; the current carried them to the sea, and that man was already in danger of imminent death. In fear, he cried out to the Lord: - Lord God! Through the prayers of our venerable father Vasily, help me, a sinner. As soon as he said this, he immediately saw Saint Basil, who, having tamed the stormy excitement, took the horse by the bridle, led him to the opposite bank and became invisible. Having got rid of drowning, that man thanked God and His saint Vasily; then, having come to a nearby village and stopping for the night, he asked about the name of that river. And they told him that it was called Chelidon, i.e. swallow, because in the speed of its flow it can be equal to the flight of a swallow. This river is very dangerous and has already killed many who do not know how to cross it. Then the man remembered the words of the Monk Basil, spoken to him when he came to him for a blessing, and, turning to God in prayer, he exclaimed: - Glory to Thee, Lord, glory to Thee! I ask one thing from You, my Lord, grant me once again to behold Your saint and bow to his honest gray hairs. Returning from the journey, he came to the monk and fell at his feet, giving him due gratitude; then he told the blessed one how God showed His mercy on him through his holy prayers. The aforementioned layman Gregory was very pleasing to Saint Basil for his virtue, since he spent his life in virginity, chastity and fasting. He often came to the monk and, learning from his God-wise conversations, was honored to be called his disciple. At the same time, he had a special love and faith for the holy protomartyr Stephen, often went to his church and decorated it with all splendor. From his deceased parents he inherited a house in Constantinople and many estates. Among these estates he had a vineyard in Thrace 2184, near the city of Randist. Intending to go there while collecting fruits, he came to his venerable teacher and received a blessing from him; then he entered the church of the first martyr Stephen and, having prayed before his icon with kneeling, said: “Behold, I have a long journey ahead of me by land and sea. Therefore, I pray to you, holy First Martyr Stephen, on this path save me from all evil, and just as I served your holy church according to my strength, so you, according to the grace given to you from God, be my patron, helper and provider in every need. Thus, having prayed to the first martyr Stephen, Gregory set off on his journey. Having stopped for the night in one hotel, he found a belt worth two gold coins, which the daughter of the hotel owner had lost. When the owner and his household began to look for the belt and ask the guests about it, Gregory, at the demonic instigation, hid the belt, reasoning: – Those who have lost their belts are rich people; therefore, it would be better if I sold it and distributed the proceeds to the poor. Setting out on the road again, Gregory lost his belt, also worth two gold coins, and a travel bag, in which there were four gold coins and a lot of pennies 2185; Grieving over the loss, he fell asleep and in a sleepy vision he saw the Monk Vasily, who, pointing to the broken pot, said: – Do you see this broken and worthless pot? “I see, my lord,” answered Gregory. “If anyone steals even this,” said the blessed one, “he will be punished fourfold, and the goods of the present or future century will be taken away from the one who stole.” If the one who stole is rich, then four times more than what was stolen will be taken away from his wealth, and if he is poor, then he will receive four times more punishment in the future life. - Father, I never stole anything. The saint replied: “You hid the belt you found from the innkeeper’s daughter, but you say that you didn’t steal anything.” Gregory objected to him: “Father, I didn’t steal the belt, but I found it.” “Know, child, that if anyone finds something lost by another and does not return it to him, even if he looked for the lost thing and asked about it, he will be condemned as a thief.” So, it was fitting for you to return what was lost. But since you hid what was not yours, more than four times what was hidden was taken away from you. Moreover, you must be careful lest you suffer more. Waking up from sleep, Gregory was in great sadness, partly from repentance for his sin, partly from the expectation of a new unknown misfortune, from which the monk warned him. He arrived sadly at his Thracian estate. Here, while gathering fruit, he experienced a temptation stronger than the first one that came along the way. One of the mercenaries who worked in Gregory’s vineyard, named Alexander, was legally married to a certain young girl Meletinia, who was distinguished by evil behavior and was, moreover, an adulteress and a sorceress. She had such an uncontrollable passion for adultery that soon after her marriage to Alexander she seduced almost all the husbands from the surrounding villages into lawless cohabitation with her. At the same time, no one could expose her in her lawlessness; for if she heard that someone was saying bad things about her, she would immediately inflict a severe illness on him with her magic. This is what she did, by the way, with her husband, who at first, at the sight of her iniquities, often beat her: with ailments caused by magical power, she tired and weakened him so much that he could not even drive a fly away from him. Therefore, he could not resist her when she, angry with him, beat him with a stick or rope and drove him out of the house; before that he was weakened by illnesses brought on him by the magic of Meletinia. They say about the mother of this sorceress that with her magic she kept the flight of birds, stopped the flow of the river and did many other evils that cannot be told to a person. The daughter of such and such an evil sorceress was Meletinia, similar in everything to her mother and even surpassing her in her iniquities, since she indulged in immeasurable adultery. She seduced many husbands into a sinful relationship with herself; if anyone spoke even one word to denounce her, he became relaxed for two or three months; and if anyone hit her, he died, barely surviving two days after that. Seeing Gregory, who was young and distinguished by his beauty, the lawless sorceress was seduced by him and decided to seduce him into a nasty cohabitation with her. Every day, without any shame, following him wherever he went, and standing defiantly in front of him, she, with the assistance of demonic power, inspired him with unclean thoughts towards herself, and at night she sent dreams to him and in sleepy visions appeared before him in a shameless form, arousing in him unclean lust. Gregory was in great confusion, constantly overwhelmed by the disturbances of carnal lust, for while the harlot was visibly seducing him into sin with her adulterous actions, the demon was invisibly kindling the fire of lust in him. And if the holy protomartyr Stephen and blessed Basil had not helped him with their prayers, then a little more time would have passed, and he would have submitted to the power of sin, and his soul would have entered hell. Thus, with the help of the holy saints of God who prayed for him, he struggled with his lustful thoughts day and night, sometimes he was exhausted in this struggle, but then he strengthened himself again and firmly resisted the unclean desire, not agreeing to desecrate his virgin body, which had not known a woman since his youth. Repeatedly he tried to dishonorably drive away the shameless harlot, but the fear of becoming a victim of her magical power, through which she sent illnesses, held him back. And then he recalled the words of the Monk Vasily, spoken to him during a sleepy vision: - Be careful that you don't get hurt again. This warning has now been fully justified. For what could be more difficult for a chaste husband than the danger of losing his virginity? Wanting to maintain chastity and agreeing to die a thousand deaths rather than destroy his virginity, Gregory finally decided on a bold deed: he rushed angrily at Meletinia and with a stick, and also with obscene words, drove the shameless harlot away from him, exclaiming: - O shameless daughter of Beelzebub! 2186 If you still dare to approach me, then I will cut your nasty body into pieces. From then on, the harlot left Gregory, and with her, his lustful thoughts ceased to bother him. But at the same time he fell into another trouble. The dishonest sorceress Meletinia, taking revenge on Gregory for her shame, brought upon him a cruel illness, from which he would certainly have died if the holy First Martyr Stephen and the Monk Basil had not come to him and healed him. Gregory himself says the following about this: “One Sunday, which came soon after the events described, I (said Gregory) went to the chapel in the name of the Holy Great Martyr George, located in the middle of the vineyard. It was a hot morning, and after praying, I rested for a while at the chapel. And then in a dream I saw that a black stinking cloud was approaching, which fell on me and seemed to me very heavy and extremely cold; a voice was heard from the cloud: “Accept what Meletinia has prepared for you.” Then this cloud entered me. Waking up, I saw that I was possessed by a severe illness, and I knew that it was brought upon me by the above-mentioned sorceress Meletinia because I resisted her unclean desire. With difficulty I got up, went to the house, not having the strength to restrain myself from groaning, and lay down on my bed. Day by day my illness became more severe, and my death was already approaching. My insides were all inflamed by a cruel fire that consumed my body like dry reeds. Not having the strength to bear the heat, I got up and ran, stood under the shade of trees, looking for coolness, and rushed to the river so that in its cold streams I could cool the flame that was inside me. I repeatedly thought about drowning myself and often exclaimed: - Oh woe, woe! If this is the fire of Gehenna, then it would be better for a person not to be born. I could not recognize people or talk to anyone, and the night seemed to me longer than forty years. When I was completely exhausted from illness, it seemed to me that I was lying in a swamp, the middle of which was very deep, and the edges - on the east and west - were elevated. Being on the western side of the swamp, I began to gradually descend into a bottomless abyss. In fear, I remembered my prayers to the First Martyr Stephen and, sighing heavily, said: - Holy First Martyr! Is that how you heard me when I prayed to you in your church, leaving Constantinople? Behold, I am descending into the abyss, and you will see me no more - and I can no longer serve you as I served before, for I have approached the gates of death. Then I looked at the eastern end of the swamp and there I saw, as it were, another world that cannot be described in human words; From there the holy First Martyr Stephen walked towards me in a scarlet surplice and affectionately said to me: – What do you need, beloved, and why are you suffering? You complain about me; but I was not here, since I visited the churches created in my honor, scattered throughout the universe; now I have come here and will help you. But remember from now on how lawless magicians can harm people, by God’s permission. - What does the abyss lying before me and its towering edges mean? The saint replied: – The western end of the abyss, on which you are, means the proximity of death, but the abyss that you see in front of you is the area of ​​death through which the dying pass with great difficulty until they reach the eastern country; Having reached there, they find a path leading to another, afterlife. Hearing this, I asked the saint again: - So, my lord, am I already dying? “What else can you expect when you are brought here?” – he answered me. Then, sighing from the depths of my heart, I said with tears: “No, my lord, let this not happen to me, for I have not yet prepared for death.” After these words of mine, the saint took me by the hand, led me through the abyss, stood me on the eastern side of the quagmire, on a high place, and said: - Now you have been brought out of the abyss of death. Immediately I saw myself walking in a certain courtyard, marvelous in its beauty. But since I had difficulty walking due to a serious illness, the holy first martyr, from whom a very pleasant fragrance emanated, offered me his shoulders and said: “Wrap me from behind with both hands, I’ll support you, and we’ll move on together.” When we crossed the courtyard like this, I saw large stone vessels, white as snow, containing one hundred, two hundred and three hundred measures; they were full and sealed. I asked the saint: - Whose yard is this? Who do these vessels belong to and what is in them? The saint replied: - All this belongs to the Monk Vasily, your spiritual father. The vessels contain spiritual oil, given to him from God. Anointing the sinners who come to him with it, he cleanses them from their filth and makes them children of God, for he accepted the feat of the apostleship and delivered many souls from the power of Satan. And again I asked the saint: -Where are we going, my lord? “To St. Basil,” he answered. When we had not yet finished our conversation, my reverend father Vasily came out of one wondrous palace to meet us. The holy protomartyr addressed him with the words: - How did you, Father Vasily, leave Gregory, your beloved child, in the most difficult time for him? And if I had not come to help him, he would have died. The monk replied: “I saw that you, blessed first martyr, were with him, and therefore did not go to him. Now, if it pleases the Lord, we will show him greater mercy than was shown to him before. After such words, the saints went together, and I followed them. So we reached one very gloomy place and saw there a snake, very large and terrible. And the Monk Vasily said: - This snake almost killed my child Gregory. Having said this, he took a large stone, threw it at the serpent and killed him. After that, we found ourselves in Constantinople near the Church of the Holy First Martyr and heard the very pleasant voices of young men praising the Lord inside the church. Then the first martyr Stephen said to me: - Here you, by the grace of Christ, have become healthy: now enter the church and sing a song of gratitude to the Lord of all - God, who has shown you great mercy. Having bowed to my defenders, the holy first martyr Stephen and the Monk Basil, I entered the church, chanting: - “The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom should I fear?” (Ps. 26:1). And then the whole psalm to the end. Then those most beautiful young men, seeing me, rejoiced and began to say to me: - Come, our beloved, take part in our joy. After these words, the vision stopped, and when I came to my senses, I was surprised to feel healthy. Having taken some food, I refreshed myself with sleep, then got up and began to walk. After a little time, having recovered completely, I boarded a ship and went to Constantinople, telling everyone about what happened to me, how I, through the prayers of Saints Stephen and Basil, got rid of death. This ends Gregory's story about himself. Almost simultaneously with the events described, blessed Theodora, who served St. Basil, having accepted the monastic rank, reposed in the Lord. All the reverend’s admirers, having learned about this, were saddened, since the blessed wife was an intercessor before the holy elder for all those who came to him. She received everyone with love, consoled everyone with her meek speeches, was merciful, Christ-loving and chaste, and also full of spiritual wisdom. Gregory had a strong desire to find out where Theodora was, after his death, on the right side or on the left side, with the righteous or with sinners, and whether she was honored to receive mercy from God or some kind of joy for her diligent service to the elder. Thinking about this, he often prayed to St. Basil, asking him to tell about the soul of the deceased Theodora, for Gregory believed that everything about the deceased was revealed to the holy saint of God. Annoyed by frequent requests, the holy elder, not wanting to sadden his spiritual son by refusal, prayed to the Lord, asking Him to reveal to Gregory in a vision what became of Theodora’s soul after her death. On the night that followed, Gregory, in a sleepy vision, was honored to see blessed Theodora in the bright monastery that God had prepared for the Monk Basil. In this monastery, illuminated by heavenly glory and filled with ineffable blessings, blessed Theodora, through the prayers of the saint of God, was installed. Thus, to whom she diligently and diligently served in this world, in his monastery she was honored to live in eternal life, through his holy prayers. Seeing her, Gregory rejoiced and enjoyed a long conversation with her, as if he were talking to her in reality. Gregory asked Theodora how she was separated from her body, how she endured mortal suffering, what she saw after her death and how she passed the air spirits 2188. She began to convey to him the following: “Child Gregory!” You are asking me about a terrible thing, which is terrible to even remember. I saw faces that I had never seen before or since, I heard sayings that I had never heard before. And what will I tell you? Then all the cruel and sinful things of my deeds appeared before me, which I had forgotten, but, through the prayers and help of our father, St. Basil, all this was not imputed to me and did not keep me from entering this monastery. And what will I tell you, child, about bodily illness, about the most severe suffering that the dying endure? Just as if someone is thrown into a strong flame, burning, it seems to melt away and turn into ashes, so mortal disease destroys a person. Truly cruel is death for sinners like me, for I tell you the truth that I too was a doer of sinful deeds, but I do not remember my righteous deeds at all. When I approached the end of my life and the hour of separation of the soul from the body had come, I saw many Ethiopians 2189 standing around my bed; their faces were black as soot and tar, their eyes burned like coals of fire, and their whole appearance was as terrible as the sight of fiery Gehenna. And they began to make noise and confusion: some roared like cattle and beasts, others barked like dogs, some howled like wolves; at the same time, all of them, looking at me with fury, threatened me, pounced on me, gnashing their teeth, and wanted to immediately devour me. They also prepared charters 2190 as if in anticipation of a certain judge who would come there, and unrolled scrolls 2191 on which all my evil deeds were written. And my poor soul was in great fear and trembling. Then I suffered not only the mortal torment that came from the separation of the soul from the body, but also the most severe suffering from the vision of those terrible Ethiopians and their terrible rage, and this was for me like another death, more difficult and fierce. I tried to turn my gaze away from the vision, first in one direction, then in the other, so that I would not see the terrible Ethiopians or hear their voices, but I could not get rid of them, for there were countless numbers of them everywhere, and there was no one who would help me. Already completely exhausted from such suffering, I suddenly saw two luminous Angels of God who appeared to me in the form of beautiful young men, whose beauty is impossible to describe. Their faces were brighter than the sun, their eyes looked at me tenderly, the hair on their heads was white as snow, a golden radiance spread around their heads, their clothes shone like lightning and were cross-shaped with golden belts on their chests. Approaching my bed, they stood to my right, quietly talking to each other. When I saw them, I rejoiced and looked at them with tenderness of heart. The black Ethiopians, seeing them, shuddered and retreated further away. And one luminous youth angrily said to them: – O shameless, damned, gloomy and evil enemies of the human race! Why do you always rush prematurely to the dying and with your shameless noise frighten and confuse every soul that is separated from the body? But now stop your joy, because here you will not gain anything. You do not have any part in this soul, because God's mercy is with it. At these words of the bright young man, the Ethiopians immediately became agitated and began, with shouts, to show the writings of my evil deeds, committed from my youth. - How come we don’t have a part in it? Whose sins are these? Wasn't she the one who did this and that? So to speak, they stood waiting for death. And then death came, roaring like a lion; her appearance was very terrible, she had some resemblance to a person, but had no body at all and was made up of only naked human bones. With her she carried various instruments of torment: swords, arrows, spears, scythes, sickles, iron horns, saws, axes, adzes 2192 and other unknown weapons. Seeing all this, my humble soul trembled with fear; the holy angels said to death: - Why are you delaying? Release this soul from the bonds of the flesh, quickly and quietly, for it does not have many sinful burdens. Death immediately approached me, took an ax, cut off first my legs, then my arms, then, using another weapon, destroyed all the other parts of my body and separated my limbs from their joints. And I had neither arms nor legs, and my whole body was dead. Death took and cut off my head, so that I could not turn my head, and it was a stranger to me. After all, death made a solution in a cup and, raising it to my lips, gave me a drink. And the solution was so bitter that my soul, not having the strength to endure the bitterness, shuddered and left the body, as if forcibly torn from it. The Holy Angels immediately took her into their arms. Looking back, I saw my body lying soulless, insensitive and motionless. Having taken him off like one takes off clothes, I looked at him with immense surprise 2193. At this time, demons, appearing in the form of Ethiopians, surrounded the Angels holding me and began to scream, showing the writing of my sins: “This soul has many sins, so let it give an answer before us.” The Holy Angels then began to look for good deeds in my life and, with the help of the Lord God, by whose grace I did good, they found them. They brought to mind all the good things I did - when I gave alms to the poor, when I fed the hungry, or gave drink to the thirsty, or clothed the naked, or brought a stranger to the house and laid him to rest, or served the saints - when I visited the sick or imprisoned and helped them; they remembered when I came to church with zeal and with tenderness and heartfelt contrition I prayed there, listening with attention to the singing and reading of church prayers and hymns, when I brought incense and candles or some other offering to the church, or poured wooden oil into the lamps so that they would glow in front of the icons, and reverently kissed the most honest icons: they brought to mind, when I spent my time abstinently and when I fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays and during all holy fasts, and how many bows I made and stood idle at night vigils; they pointed out how I mournfully groaned about my sins and sometimes cried about them for whole nights, how I confessed my sins to God and with contrition repented of them before my spiritual father, satisfying the Truth of God with my contrition and heartfelt repentance; they remembered everything that I did good for my neighbors, how I was not angry with those who were at enmity against me, how I patiently endured every annoyance and reproach for myself, did not remember evil and repaid evil with good, how I humbled myself when people attacked me, how I ached in heart and grieved over someone else’s misfortune, how I gave someone a helping hand or made a contribution someone in a good deed, or turned him away from evil; they recalled that I turned my eyes away from vanity, kept my tongue from swearing, lying, slander and all sorts of vain words; All this and all the other smallest good deeds were collected by my holy Angels, preparing to put them on the scales against my evil deeds. The Ethiopians, seeing this, gnashed their teeth at me, wanting to kidnap me from the hands of the Angels and bring me down to the very bottom of hell. At this time, our Reverend Father Vasily unexpectedly appeared there and said to the holy Angels: - My lords, this soul has served me a lot, pleasing my old age: I prayed to God to give it to me, and the Lord sent this soul down to me. Having said this, he took out from under his clothes a bag filled with something (I think it contained only pure gold), and gave it to the holy Angels, saying: – When you go through the airy ordeals 2194 and evil spirits begin to torment this soul, you will redeem it from its debts. By the grace of God, I am rich and have collected many treasures through my labors and sweat, and so I give the bag to this soul who has served me. After these words he walked away. The crafty demons, seeing this, were perplexed, and then, filling the air with crying, disappeared. Meanwhile, the saint of God, Vasily, came again and brought with him many vessels of pure oil and valuable myrrh; opening the vessels one after another, he poured oil and ointment on me, so that I was filled with a spiritual fragrance and at the same time changed and became a bright being. The Monk Basil again said to the holy Angels: “My lords, after you have completed everything necessary for this soul, lead it into the abode prepared for me by the Lord, and let it abide there.” Having said this, the saint became invisible; The angels took me and carried me through the air to the east 2195. When we rose from the earth to the heights of heaven, we were first greeted by the airy spirits of the first ordeal, at which we are judged for the sins of the tongue, for every idle, abusive, disorderly, and foul word. Here we stopped, and the demons brought to us scrolls on which were written all the frivolous words that I had spoken from my youth - everything that I had said that was unreasonable and nasty, especially the blasphemous and ridiculous speeches that I allowed to be uttered in my youth, as happens with many. There appeared before me all the worldly shameless songs that I had once sung, all my disorderly exclamations, all my frivolous speeches, and the demons denounced me with all that, pointing out the times, places and persons when, where and with whom I indulged in vain conversations and angered God with my words, without imputing it to myself as a sin and without confessing it to my spiritual father. Seeing all this, I was silent, as if speechless, because I did not have anything to say to the evil spirits: they denounced me quite rightly, and I was surprised how they did not forget anything; for many years have passed since all these sins were committed by me, and I had long forgotten about them and never thought about what I had done in my mind; They cited all my words as if they had just been spoken by me, recalling everything in detail and down to the subtleties, as it really was. And when I was silent with shame, at the same time trembling with fear, the holy Angels, in contrast to those sins of mine, presented some of my good deeds done in the last years of my life, and since they could not outweigh the severity of my sins, they filled the deficiency from what was given by my venerable father Vasily. So they redeemed me and carried me higher. Here we come to another ordeal, called the ordeal of lies, in which every false word is tortured, especially perjury, calling the name of God in vain, false witness, violation of vows given to God, incomplete confession of sins, and the like. The spirits of this ordeal are very ardent and ferocious - they tested me very persistently, not missing a single detail. And I was convicted by them of two sins: namely, that sometimes I allowed myself to lie about some small things, without counting it as a sin, and also that many times, ashamed of my sins, I brought an incomplete confession to my spiritual father. As for perjury and false witness, these sins, by the grace of Christ, were not found in me. Still, the demons triumphed over the sins of lies found in me and already wanted to kidnap me from the hands of the Angels who were leading me, but they, putting some of my good deeds against those sins, and filling in what was missing from what was given by St. Basil, ransomed me and carried me higher without hindrance. After that, we reached the third ordeal, which is called the ordeal of condemnation and slander. Kept there, I saw how grave the sin is to slander someone, to dishonor, to blaspheme, and also to laugh at other people’s vices, forgetting about one’s own. All who surrender to the power of this sin are cruelly tortured by evil spirits, as a kind of antichrist who anticipated the power of Christ, who has to come to judge people, and who created themselves judges of their neighbors, while they themselves are more worthy of condemnation. But in me, by the grace of Christ, little could be found of any of these sins, for I strictly observed myself all the days of my life, taking care not to condemn or slander anyone, not to laugh at anyone, not to blaspheme anyone; and if sometimes I heard someone condemning another, then I paid little attention to the condemner, and if I added something of myself to this conversation, it was only something that could not serve as a serious offense to my neighbor, and even then I immediately stopped, reproaching myself for this little. However, even such offenses were made a sin to me by the torturers. But the holy Angels redeemed me with the gift from Saint Basil and began to rise higher with me. And we have reached the fourth ordeal, called the ordeal of gluttony. The evil spirits of this ordeal immediately ran out to meet us, rejoicing as if they had acquired something. They were very disgusting in appearance, depicting all the abomination of gluttony and drunkenness; at the same time, some of them were holding dishes and pans with food, while others were holding bowls and mugs with drink, and I saw that that food and drink were like stinking pus and unclean excrement. The demons holding both looked satiated and drunk; they galloped around with various whistles and did everything that drunkards and feasts usually do, swearing at the souls of sinners brought to them. Having blocked our path and walked around us like dogs, they immediately exposed all my past sins of gluttony, when I indulged in excess in food and drink and ate through force and without any need, when I, like a pig, started eating in the morning without prayer and the sign of the cross, or when I sat down at the table during fasting earlier than the rules of the church charter allowed. They also presented the cups and vessels on which I drank while indulging in drunkenness, and even indicated the number of cups I drank, saying: “She drank so many cups at such and such a feast and with such and such people; at another time and in another place she drank herself into unconsciousness with so many cups; Moreover, she feasted so many times to the sound of pipes and other musical instruments, indulging in dancing and singing, and after such feasts they brought her home with difficulty; so she was exhausted from immeasurable drunkenness. Imagining all these and similar gluttonies, the demons triumphed and rejoiced, as if they already had me in their hands, and were already preparing to grab me and bring me down to the bottom of hell. I trembled, seeing myself exposed by them and not having anything to answer them. But the holy Angels, having taken a lot from what St. Basil had given, offered a ransom for me. The demons, seeing this, became confused and cried out: - Woe to us, for our work is lost, our hope is lost. With these words they began to throw into the air the charters in which my sins were written. I, seeing this, had fun and walked from there unhindered. Rising higher with me, the Angels began to talk to each other like this: “This soul truly has great help from the saint of God Vasily: if his works and prayers did not help her, she would have suffered great need, going through the airy ordeals. Then, having boldness, I said to the holy Angels: “My lords, I think that no one living on earth knows what happens here and what awaits the sinful soul after its death. The Holy Angels answered me: – Do not the Divine Scriptures, constantly read in holy churches by the mouths of clergy, testify to everything that happens here? But those addicted to earthly vanity neglect all this, putting all the sweetness of life in daily gluttony and drunkenness: every day they eat without measure and get drunk, putting aside the fear of God; and having a belly instead of God, they do not think at all about the future life and do not remember the word of God, which says: Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you will weep and lament” (Luke 6:25). They think with little faith that everything that is said in the Divine Scripture is a fable, and they neglect what is written, “feasting with timbrels” 2196, like the rich man of the Gospel, “and they feasted brilliantly every day” (Luke 16:19). However, those of them who are merciful to the poor, do good to the poor and needy and help those in need of help, receive forgiveness of their sins from God and go through ordeals without hindrance, for the sake of their mercy, for the Holy Scripture says: “alms delivers from death” (Tov.4:10). Thus, those who give alms receive eternal life; for those who do not try to cleanse their sins with mercy, it is impossible to avoid these trials, and they are kidnapped by the gloomy publicans whom you saw; exposing these souls to cruel torment, they bring them down to the very bottom of hell and keep them there in bonds until the Last Judgment of Christ. It would also be difficult for you to avoid this fate if you had not received the redemption given to you by the Monk Basil. Thus conversing, we reached the fifth ordeal, called the ordeal of laziness, in which all the days and hours spent in idleness are tested, and parasites who live on the labor of others, without doing anything themselves, are tortured, as well as mercenaries who receive remuneration for work that they do not perform properly. In the same ordeal, those who do not give praise to God and are lazy on holidays and Sundays to go to Matins, to the Liturgy and to other services of God are also subjected to torture. There one also experiences despondency and neglect of one’s soul, and every manifestation of both is strictly punished, so that very many people of worldly and spiritual rank are cast from this ordeal into the abyss. At this ordeal, I was subjected to many trials, and it would have been impossible for me to be free from his debts if my poverty had not been fulfilled by what was given to me by St. Basil, by which I was redeemed and through this I received freedom. After that we went through the ordeal of the prison. We were also stopped there, but, having given a little there, we soon passed it, for no sin of theft was found on me, except for the small offense I committed in childhood due to foolishness. From there we came to the ordeal of love of money and avarice, but even then we soon passed. For, with the assistance of the Lord God, I did not care about much acquisition and was not a lover of money, but was content with what the Lord sent me, I was also not stingy, but what I had, I diligently gave to those in need. Rising higher, we encountered the ordeal of interest, where all kinds of covetous people and robbers are tested, as well as everyone who gives their silver for interest and acquires wealth by lawless means. The evil spirits of this ordeal, having diligently examined everything about me, found nothing of which I was guilty, and gnashed their teeth at me in rage. We went higher, thanking the Lord God. After that, we reached the ordeal of unrighteousness, in which all unrighteous judges are tortured, taking bribes and acquitting the guilty, while condemning the innocent. There they also torture: withholding wages from hired workers, any irregularity in the merchants' scales, and any untruth is exacted. But we, by the grace of Christ, went through that ordeal without any special obstacles, giving little to the tax collectors. We also safely passed the ordeal of envy that followed, without giving anything there, because I did not envy anyone. During this ordeal we also experienced the sins of enmity and hatred, but by the grace of Christ I found myself innocent of these sins. Seeing this, the demons became enraged and gnashed at me, but I was not afraid of them and joyfully rose higher. In a similar way, I went through the ordeal of pride, where arrogant spirits exact the sins of vanity, conceit and grandeur. There they are diligently tormented whether anyone has shown disrespect and disobedience to parents or elders who received power from God, as well as other sins of pride and conceit. There we put very little of what St. Basil had given, and I became free. Then we reached the ordeal of anger and rage, but even there, although the aerial torturers were fierce, they did not receive much from us, and we moved on, rejoicing in the Lord God, who saved my sinful soul through the prayers of my venerable father, Saint Basil. After that, we reached the ordeal of malice, in which those who hold a grudge against their neighbor and repay evil for evil are mercilessly tortured and are then brought down by evil spirits to Tartarus 2197. But God’s mercy helped me there too; for I did not hold malice against anyone, I did not remember evil about the troubles caused to me, but I had kindness towards everyone who was hostile to me and, according to my strength, showed love for them, defeating evil with good. Thus, no sin of malice was found on me during this ordeal, so that the demons wept with rage, seeing that my soul was freely leaving them; We began to climb further, rejoicing in the Lord. Rising higher and higher, I asked the holy Angels who led me: “I beg you, my lords, tell me: how do the terrible air authorities know about every evil deed of all people living in the world, such as my evil deeds, and, moreover, not only about those that were clearly done, but even about those that were done secretly!” And the holy angels said to me: - Every Christian from holy baptism receives from God the Guardian Angel given to him, who, invisibly protecting a person, day and night, instructs him in every good deed throughout his life until the hour of death and writes down all his good deeds done throughout his life, so that as a reward for them a person can receive from God mercy and eternal reward in the Kingdom of Heaven. In the same way, the prince of darkness, who wants to attract the human race to his destruction, assigns one of the evil spirits to a person, who, constantly following a person, monitors all his evil deeds committed from youth, with his machinations seduces him into criminal acts and writes down everything that a person has done evil. Then, going to the ordeals, this evil spirit writes each sin into its corresponding ordeal, which is why the air publicans are aware of all the sins committed by people. And so, when the soul of a person is separated from the body and begins to go to its Creator in the heavenly villages, then the evil spirits standing at the ordeals block its path, showing all its recorded sins. And if there are more good deeds in her than sins, then the demons will not be able to restrain her. If more sins are found in her than good deeds, then the demons hold her back for a while and imprison her, as if in prison, where, by God’s permission, they torment her until her soul receives redemption from their torment, through the prayers of the Church and through alms done in memory of her by her neighbors. If any soul turns out to be so sinful and abominable before God that it has no hope of salvation and eternal destruction awaits it, then the demons immediately cast such a soul into the abyss, in which a place of eternal torment is prepared for themselves, and in this abyss they keep it until the Second Coming of the Lord, after which it must suffer forever in fiery hell 2198 along with the body. It is also necessary to note that only those who are enlightened by faith and holy baptism ascend this way and accept such tortures. Infidel pagans, Saracens 2199 and all Gentiles in general do not follow this path. While still alive in body, they are already dead in soul, buried in hell; therefore, when they die, demons immediately, without great testing, take their souls, as rightfully belonging to them, and bring them down to the abysses of hell. When the Angels announced all this to me, we entered the ordeal of murder, in which not only robbery is tested, but also every wound, every blow inflicted anywhere, on the shoulders or on the head, as well as every blow or push made in anger. All this is carefully tested at the ordeal and relied on scales; but we passed it safely, leaving a little for the ransom. We also passed the ordeal of enchantment, poisoning with herbs and invoking demons for the purpose of magic. The spirits of this ordeal were like four-legged reptiles, scorpions 2200, snakes, vipers 2201 and toads, and their appearance was very terrible and vile. But there, by the grace of Christ, no sin was found on me, and we immediately went through the ordeal, without giving anything to the evil tax collectors. In rage they shouted at me and said: - Now you will come to the ordeal of fornication. Let's see how you avoid him? When we rose higher, I asked the holy Angels who were leading me: - My lords, do all Christians go through these ordeals, and is it possible for a person to go through them without any torture and terrible torment? “For the souls of the faithful, there is no other path leading to heaven, and everyone will come this way, but not everyone is subjected to the same tortures that you were subjected to, but only sinners like you, who made an imperfect confession of their sins before their spiritual father, ashamed of their lawless deeds and concealing many of them. If someone sincerely and in truth, without hiding anything, confesses all his deeds and with heartfelt contrition repents of all the sins he has committed, then the sins of such a person, by the mercy of God, are invisibly blotted out, and when his soul comes through the ordeal, the aerial torturers, opening their books, do not find in them any manuscripts of her sins and cannot do her any harm, so that soul ascends unhindered and joyfully to the throne of grace. And you, if you had made a perfect confession and repented of all your sins, you would not have endured such terrible tortures at the ordeal. But now it helped you that you had long ago stopped committing mortal sins and spent the last years of your life virtuously, and the prayers of your reverend father Vasily, whom you served for a long time and diligently, especially helped you. Thus conversing, we reached the ordeal of fornication, in which all fornication, every lustful thought and dream, as well as passionate touches and lustful touches are tortured. The prince of this ordeal sat on his throne, dressed in foul and stinking clothes, sprinkled with bloody foam, and many demons stood before him. Seeing me reach them, they marveled a lot, and then, having brought out the writing of my fornication, they denounced me, pointing out with whom, when and where I sinned during my youth. And I had nothing to object to them, and I trembled with fear, filled with shame. Then the Angels said to the demons: “But she had not committed fornication for many years and lived the last years of her life in a fasting manner, in purity and abstinence. “We know that she has long fallen behind from prodigal sin, but still she belongs to us, because she did not completely and not quite sincerely repent before her spiritual father of the sins she had committed earlier, hiding a lot from him; therefore, either leave it to us, or redeem it with good deeds. The angels gave them a lot from my good deeds and even more from the gift of St. Basil, and, barely getting rid of the cruel misfortune, I was taken away from there. After that, we reached the ordeal of adultery, in which the sins of those living in marriage and not observing marital fidelity, but desecrating their bed, are tortured, as well as all kinds of abductions of virgins for the purpose of corrupting them and all kinds of fornication. Here those who dedicated themselves to God and made a vow to keep their lives in purity and virginity, but then did not keep this vow, are also tortured by the fall. At this ordeal, I was exposed as an adulteress and had nothing to say in my defense, so the merciless torturers, bad and unclean spirits were already planning to kidnap me from the hands of the Angels and bring me down to the bottom of hell. But the holy Angels entered into an argument with them and presented all my subsequent labors and exploits; and thus they redeemed me with all my remaining good deeds, which they put everything there to the last, leaving at the same time very much of what was given by the Monk Basil. They put all this on the scales against my iniquities and, taking me, carried me further. Here we are approaching the ordeal of Sodomy sins, in which they torture the unnatural sins of men and women, sodomy and bestiality, incest and other secret sins that are shameful to even remember. The prince of this ordeal had a very nasty and ugly appearance and was covered all over with stinking pus; His servants were like him in everything: their stench was very unbearable, their appearance was vile and terrible, their rage and cruelty was excessive. Seeing us, they hastily came out to meet us and surrounded us, but not finding in me, by the grace of God, anything for which they could bring them to trial, they ran away in shame; We happily moved on. Rising higher, the Angels told me: “You, Theodora, saw the terrible and vile ordeals of fornication. Know that few souls go through these ordeals unhindered, since the world lies in evil 2202, and people are very weak and from youth are addicted to fornicating sins. There are few, very few people who mortify their carnal lusts, and therefore rarely do these ordeals go through freely and unhindered; on the contrary, there are a lot of people who, having reached this ordeal, die here, for the torturers of fornication kidnap people addicted to fornication and cast them into hell, subjecting them to the most severe torments. The princes of prodigal ordeals even boast, saying: “We alone, more than all other tax collectors of the air, replenish the number of those cast down to the bottom of hell, who thus seem to come into kinship with us, subjecting themselves to the same fate as us.” Therefore, Theodora, you thank God that, through the prayers of your reverend father Vasily, you passed these ordeals and you will no longer experience any evil and you will not know fear. Meanwhile, we have come to the ordeal of heresies, where wrong wisdom about faith, deviations from the Orthodox confession of faith, unbelief, doubts about the truths of revealed teaching, blasphemy against sacred things, and similar sins are tortured. I passed this ordeal without any testing and was already close to the gates to the Heavenly Kingdom. Finally, the evil spirits of the last ordeal, called the ordeal of hard-heartedness, met us. The torturers of this ordeal are very cruel and fierce, but their prince is especially cruel, having a very sad and mournful appearance, breathing the fire of rage and unmercifulness. At that ordeal, the souls of the merciless are tested without any mercy. And if someone, although he performs many deeds, constantly observes fasts and prays fervently, and also maintains his purity undefiled, but at the same time turns out to be unmerciful and closes his heart to his neighbor, he is cast from there into hell and is imprisoned in the abyss, and thus he himself remains deprived of mercy 2203. But we, by the grace of Christ, passed this ordeal without any special obstacles, thanks to the prayers of St. Basil, who gave us much from his good deeds for my redemption. Thus, having passed all the terrible ordeals, we approached with great joy the very gates of the Heavenly Kingdom. These gates were like a bright crystal, and an indescribable radiance emanated from them; At the gate stood light-like young men who, seeing me carried by the hands of Angels, were filled with joy, rejoicing that I had escaped the airy ordeals, and having met us with love, they led us through the gates into the Heavenly Kingdom. And what I saw and heard there, O child Gregory,” continued Blessed Theodora, “it is impossible to tell about it in detail!” I saw that “the eye of man has not seen, the ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor. 2:9). Finally, I appeared before the throne of Divine glory, surrounded by Seraphim, Cherubim and many heavenly warriors, always praising the Lord with ineffable songs. Here I fell and bowed to the invisible and unknown God. And the heavenly powers sang a sweet song, glorifying Divine mercy, which no human sins can overcome. At that time, a voice was heard from the throne of God’s glory, commanding the holy Angels who were leading me to show me all the heavenly abodes of saints and all the torments of sinners and then to place me in the monastery of St. Basil. And the holy Angels took me everywhere, so that I saw many beautiful villages and abodes, filled with glory and grace - abodes that were prepared for those who love God. I saw there apostolic, prophetic, martyr, monastic and other monasteries, special for each rank of saints. Each monastery was of indescribable beauty, equal in breadth and length, I would say, to Constantinople, but at the same time they were distinguished by incomparably greater beauty, having many bright chambers not made by hands. Everywhere in those monasteries the voice of joy and spiritual joy was heard and the faces of the joyful righteous were visible, who, seeing me, rejoiced at my salvation, met me with love and kissed me, praising the Lord, who delivered me from the snares of the enemy. Having completed my tour of the heavenly abodes, I was relegated to the underworlds of the earth 2204 and saw the terrible and unbearable torments prepared for sinners in hell. Showing them, the holy Angels said to me: - Look, Theodora, how cruel torments the Lord has delivered you through the prayers of His holy saint Vasily. Walking around the abysses of hell, I heard and saw crying, screaming and bitter sobbing of those in those torments. Some of them cried out: “Oh, woe to us”; others sighed: “alas, how hard it is for us!”; still others cursed their birthday. After all, the Angels who led me led me to the monastery of St. Basil, which you see, and installed me here, saying: - Now the Monk Vasily is creating a memory of you. And I realized that I came to this place of calm on the fortieth day after my separation from the body 2205. The Monk Theodora told Gregory all this in a dream vision and showed him the beauty of the monastery in which she was located, and all its spiritual riches, collected through many labors, and then of the blessed Father Vasily. This is where the vision ended. At the end of it, Gregory arose from sleep and thought a lot, marveling at what he saw and heard from blessed Theodora. In the morning he went to the Monk Vasily to receive the usual blessing from him. The monk asked him: – Child Gregory, where were you that night? He, as if knowing nothing, answered: “I slept, father, on my bed.” “I know that in body you were resting on the bed, but in spirit you were in a different place.” Or have you forgotten what God revealed to you that night in a dream vision? So you got what you wanted so much: you saw Theodora, heard about her transition to the future life from herself and was in my monastery, which, by the grace of Christ, was prepared for me for the sake of my small labors. Thus, you contemplated everything you wanted to know. Hearing such words, Gregory knew that his dream was not a false dream, but a real revelation from God, interceded by the prayers of the monk; then, having thanked God, he bowed to his spiritual father, after which he received from him instruction appropriate for the occasion. The same Gregory at another time, by God's permission, fell into some doubt about faith. Diligently reading the books of the Old Testament, he had the thought in his mind that the Jews believed rightly, and remained in this thought for quite a long time. Realizing in spirit that Gregory had fallen into temptation, the perspicacious elder denounced him and, after much admonition, again asked him for revelation from God. And then Gregory again saw a wondrous vision, in which the image of the execution of the Last Judgment of God appeared before his spiritual eyes. He saw the eternal Judge sitting on the throne, the righteous standing at the right hand of the Judge, and sinners standing at the right hand and judged according to their deeds. There were both Jews and pagans there, and Gregory saw Jews condemned along with the pagans and cast into Gehenna. Along with the condemnation of sinners, Gregory also saw the glorification of the righteous, and subsequently described all this in great detail. This description can be found in the Great Chet-Less 2206, where the life of our blessed father Vasily and all the visions of his disciple Gregory are depicted in detail; we must complete our narrative, presented in an abbreviated form. Among the labors and exploits of a long life, filled with miracles and prophecies, our venerable father Vasily approached the time of his departure to heaven. His death occurred at an advanced age. For he was brought to Constantinople already when he was many years old, and he lived in Constantinople for about fifty years - so in total he lived about a hundred years, after which he came into eternal life, and Your years will not end (Heb. 1:12) 2207. The Monk Vasily was honored to foresee his death and predicted it to his beloved disciple Gregory. It was under such circumstances. Gregory had the custom of shutting himself up in his house during the entire Holy Pentecost and staying in it hopelessly, remaining in fasting and prayer, making many bows and spending all nights without sleep. And then one day, in view of the approach of Pentecost, Gregory came to the monk to receive from him, according to custom, a blessing for the upcoming feat of fasting in retreat. The monk, having instructed him in a long conversation about the soul and given him his blessing, finally said: - Go, child, in peace to your home; You will no longer see me with your physical eyes in this life. And hugging Gregory, the monk kissed him with love. Gregory, falling at the saint’s feet, wet them with his tears, crying and sobbing over his separation from him; then he went to his room and, as was his custom, shut himself up for the entire post. The Venerable Basil, in the week of mid-Lent 2208, March 25, on the very day of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, gave up his holy soul into the hands of God 2209; and his honorable body was buried in the monastery of the holy martyrs Florus and Laurus. After this, a pious man who lived in Constantinople had a vision. He saw a great and beautiful house, whose gates were decorated with gold and precious stones, and above them there was an inscription that read: “The abode and eternal rest of Blessed Basil the New.” After reading this inscription, the husband began to marvel at the beauty of the building. Then a beautiful young man came out of him and said to the pious Tsargrad resident: - Why are you so surprised! Now you will see something even more wonderful. With these words, he opened the gates of the building, and the eyes of the surprised husband saw very tall and beautiful chambers, the beauty of which surpasses everything imaginable. In one of the chambers he saw the Monk Vasily, sitting in the midst of great glory on the royal throne and surrounded by many bright men and young men. Beautiful gardens were also visible there, filled with everything that can please and rejoice the human heart. At the same time, a voice was heard coming from within: “Such reward will be accepted upon repose by all who loved God and served Him diligently.” The husband told this vision to many, and all who heard glorified God, honoring the memory of the saint of God, our venerable father Vasily the New. May we also, through the prayers of Saint Basil, be worthy of the fate of those who love God, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, honor and glory forever. Amen. Emperor Leo VI the Wise occupied the Byzantine throne from 886 to 911. Emperor Alexander was co-ruler of Leo the Wise and reigned from 866 to 912. Basil I of Macedon was Byzantine Emperor from 867 to 886. Magistrians were court officials who occupied the most important positions in the royal court. In their position they stood above the patricians. The Asian country, or Asii, was the name of the present-day Asia Minor Peninsula. The title of patricians originally belonged only to the children of senators, who were called fathers, in Latin patres. Then this name began to be applied to all persons of noble Roman origin. But Emperor Constantine the Great made the title of patrician a personal dignity, which was granted to high officials, but was not inherited. The Arabian Bedouins, a bandit tribe roaming throughout Arabia, were called Hagaryans. So they were called because, according to Jewish tradition, they were descendants of Ishmael, the son of Hagar, Abraham's servant. The expression is taken from the Gospel of John, (John 19:9), where it refers to the Lord Jesus, who did not answer Pilate’s question: “Where are you from?” Cuvicularium - sleeping bag, bedding at the royal court, one of the important court ranks. Sodomy cases - various unnatural vices. They are called Sodomite from the famous city of Sodom (burned and destroyed by heavenly fire), because these vices were especially widespread in this city. Dolphins are marine animals from the mammal family. They usually live in flocks and often follow ships. In ancient times, the dolphin was one of the most beloved animals; There were many poetic legends and beliefs about him, and he was often depicted in sculpture. The main gate of the city was called the Golden Gate. Jacob is the patriarch of the people of Israel. His modesty was especially evident in his relationship with Laban, from whom he suffered all sorts of insults to himself, being often deceived by him, - partly in his relationship with his brother Esau, whom, returning from Laban, he respectfully met as his eldest. Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (otherwise Porphyrogenitus) occupied the Byzantine throne from 912 to 959. Patriarch Nicholas I occupied the Patriarchal See of Constantinople twice: the first time - from 895 to 906, the second time from 911 to 925. Kuropolat is the chief of the palace guard. He was a fairly prominent dignitary at the court of the Byzantine emperors. The Synclite was the name given to the entire composition of the government, consisting of civilian and military officials. Hippodrome - horse arena; a place where they competed in horse racing and chariot racing. Protospatharius is an important court rank. He was also the commander of the Spafari detachment, i.e. court swordsmen. Abel is the second son of Adam, treacherously killed by Cain. Of course, Romanus I, who reigned jointly with Constantine VII from 919 to 944. Barbarian means foreigner. The Shunammite was a resident of the city of Shunam in the tribe of Issachar, southwest of Nazareth and Tabor. Nowadays this place is called Solam or Sulem. Elisha is the prophet of the kingdom of Israel, the beloved disciple of the prophet Elijah and the successor of his prophetic gift. Zlatnitsa – gold coin, chervonets. Mednitsa is a small copper coin. A cubit or lacot is a measure of length equal to 10.5 vershoks. Three cubits were equal to almost two arshins. Hodegetria means Guide. This was the name of the miraculous icon of the Most Holy. Theotokos, located in the Blachernae Church. Subsequently (in 1046) this icon was transferred to Russia and was placed in the city of Smolensk. Hence it began to be called the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. Syria, Palestine, Arabia and Persia were usually called the East or eastern countries, in contrast to the European West. Thrace is a region in the Byzantine Empire, in the northeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. At present, Thrace, under the name of Romania or Rumelia, constitutes a province of European Turkey. Penyaz is a silver coin. Beelzebub is the same as Satan or the prince of demons (see Matt. 10:25; Matt. 12:24; Matt. 12:27; Mark 3:22; Luke 2:15, 18-19). This name was borrowed by the Jews from Beelzebub, a Phoenician deity. The gum or right side generally meant an honorable position. In the Gospel (Matthew 25:32–46), the position on the right side of the eternal Judge is assigned to the righteous, and on the left side to sinners. Thus, the position on the gum or on the left side means either acquittal or condemnation. This refers to the unclean spirits standing at the aerial ordeals. About the ordeals, see below. Ethiopians were originally a people who lived in the southeast of Egypt in a country corresponding to present-day Abyssinia, and were distinguished by their black skin color. Subsequently, Christian writers began to call Ethiopians the dark spirits of evil, who were often depicted on monuments of church art in the form of black people. A scroll was usually called a thin bundle of a long piece of parchment written on both sides; while reading, it gradually unfolded, and then collapsed as before. An adze is a carpenter's tool, a type of ax and planer. The description of death presented here is very figurative and sensual and, of course, should not be taken literally. Here the sensual and grossly figurative must be understood, as far as possible for our mind, in a mysterious and spiritual sense. Ordeals are something like outposts or customs houses that meet the souls of dead people on their way, ascending to the Throne of the Heavenly Judge. The spirits of evil stand with them and collect from every soul guilty of a certain sin a kind of fee or ransom, which consists of providing them with a good deed seemingly opposite to this sin. The names of the ordeal and tax collectors are borrowed from Jewish history. The Jews called publicans the persons appointed by the Romans to collect taxes. They usually farmed out the collection of these duties and used all kinds of measures, not even neglecting torture, in order to extract the greatest benefit for themselves. Publicans stood at special customs houses, or outposts, collecting duties on transported goods. These outposts were called mytnitsy, ordeals. Christian writers also transferred this name to places of aerial torture, in which souls ascending to the throne of the Heavenly Judge are detained by evil spirits who try to convict them of all kinds of sins and through this bring them down to hell. The essence of the doctrine of ordeals lies in the word of St. Cyril of Alexandria († in 444) about the exodus of the soul, usually placed in the Followed Psalter. “When our soul is separated from our body,” it says here, “on the one hand, the armies and powers of heaven will appear before us, on the other, the powers of darkness, the airy publicans, the accusers of our deeds. Seeing them, the soul will shudder, tremble, and in confusion and horror will seek protection from the Angels of God; but even being accepted by the Angels and flowing through the air space under their roof and ascending to heights, she will encounter various ordeals that will block her path to the kingdom, will stop and hold back her desire for it. At each of these ordeals, an account of specific sins will be required... Every passion, every sin will have its own tax collectors and torturers. At the same time, both Divine powers and a host of unclean spirits will be present, and as the former they will present the virtues of the soul to the sentence of the invisible Judge by demons to their dark abodes. Thus, ordeals are nothing more than a private trial, which is carried out invisibly by the Lord Himself on human souls through the mediation of Angels, including the slanderers of our brethren (Rev. 12:10) - evil spirits - a trial at which the soul is remembered and all its deeds are impartially assessed, and after which a known fate is determined for it. This judgment is called private in contrast to the universal, which will be carried out on all people at the end of the world, when the Son of Man comes again to earth in his glory. The life of St. Basil the New depicts all the details of this private trial during the ordeal. When reading all these details, we must remember, however, that just as in general, in the depiction of objects of the spiritual world, more or less sensual features are inevitable for us clothed with flesh, so, in particular, they are inevitably admitted in the detailed teaching about the ordeals that the human soul goes through after being separated from the body. Therefore, we must firmly remember the instruction that the Angel gave to the Monk Macarius of Alexandria († in 391), beginning to tell him about the ordeals: “Take earthly things here for the weakest image of heavenly ones.” It is necessary to imagine the ordeals not in a crude, sensual sense, but, as far as possible for us, in a spiritual sense, and not to become attached to particulars, which in different writers and in different legends of the Church itself, despite the unity of the basic thought about the ordeals, are presented as different. The East is represented in the Holy. Scripture is the land of light, a symbol of the kingdom of Christ, which is called the East from above, while the west is synonymous with the kingdom of darkness and darkness, the kingdom of Satan. Those. at the sound of tympani and choral singing. Tympanum is a musical instrument that is struck with a stick, something like timpani and hand tambourines. Tartarus is an immeasurable abyss, a hellish abyss. This word is borrowed from Greek. works in which by tartarus we mean an underground abyss, never illuminated or warmed by the sun, where the cold is raging. Christian writers use this word to designate a place of unbearable cold where the souls of sinful people will be sent. Gehenna of fire is a place of eternal torment (Matthew 10:28; John 8:6). This name comes from Hebrew words that mean the valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, where children were burned in honor of Moloch (2 Kings 16:3-4). After Joseph canceled this terrible sacrifice (2 Kings 23:10), the corpses of executed villains, carrion and all kinds of uncleanness were dumped into the valley of Hinnom, and all this was consigned to fire. That’s why we come across the expression – fiery Gehenna (see Matt. 5:22, 29, 30; Matt. 18:9; Mark 9:47). The Saracens were originally the name given to a nomadic bandit tribe of Arabian Bedouins, and then Christian writers transferred its name to all Arabs and Muslims in general. Scorpions are harmful, poisonous animals from the arachnid family; are found in hot countries of Africa, India, Persia, etc. The wounds inflicted by their stings cause terrible pain and are often fatal. Echidna is a poisonous snake. Being wounded by it is very dangerous and in most cases ends in quick and inevitable death. In the Holy Scriptures and in other sacred books, snakes generally serve as an image of that which, by its nature, causes harm and destruction (Eccl. 10:11; Proverbs 23:31-33; Matt. 7:10). The expression is borrowed from 1 Cathedral. last ap. John, (1 John 5:19). Indication of the words of the ap. James: “judgment without mercy to him who has shown no mercy” (James 2:13). Hell - lower, low, underground. The underworlds of the earth refer to the abysses of hell, which appear to be underground, as opposed to the heavenly abodes of paradise. On the 40th day after the separation of the soul from the body, according to the teachings of the Church, the soul’s journey through ordeals ends and a temporary judgment is pronounced on it, after which it is settled either in a place of joy or in a place of torment, where it remains until the time of the Second Coming of the Lord to earth and the final judgment of the Son of God over people. Of course, the Menaion-Chetya of the All-Russian Metropolitan Macarius (1543–1564). They are called Great because they represent a complete collection of all kinds of articles of historical and moral content, adapted to holidays and the memory of saints. Menaion-Chetya St. Demetrius of Rostov in many places represents a reduction of the narrative proposed in Makaryevsky Great Chetya-Menaia. Expression of borrowings. from last ap. Paul to the Jews, although there these words refer to God and speak of His eternity. The Middle (fourth) week of Great Lent is called the Middle Week in the Church Charter, and the same week is also called the Week of the Cross. Saint Basil the New reposed during the reign of Constantine the Porphyrogenitus near the half of the 10th century. You might be interested in: