Житие преподобного отца нашего Нифонта, епископа Новгородского

Blessed Niphon was a monk of the holy Pechersk Monastery at the time when Abbot Timofey was in charge of the monastery 2460. Living in a monastery, Saint Niphon excelled in prayer, fasting and all other virtues, trying to imitate in everything the lives of the great saints of God. When blessed John, Bishop of Novgorod, after twenty years of labor in managing his flock, weakened in strength, left the episcopal throne and retired to a monastery 2461, then this blessed Niphon, who had already shone with the rays of his virtues throughout all countries, by the will of God was elected by all to the episcopal throne of Novgorod and was ordained bishop in Kyiv 2462 by Metropolitan Michael 2463. Having ascended the throne, having been placed as a lamp on the candlestick, Saint Niphon shone even more with his zealous concerns for the well-being of the Orthodox Church; he cared about increasing the glory of God and was zealous for the prosperous life of his verbal sheep, both temporary and eternal. Concerned about increasing the glory of God, the saint, with his zeal, founded a stone church in the middle of Novgorod in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos, which, with the help of God, he soon created; in addition, he decorated the Novgorod patronal church in honor of St. Sophia with iconography, and covered its roof with tin 2464. Caring for the prosperous earthly life of his verbal sheep, this archpastor was distinguished, for example, by the following virtues: if any civil strife began among the Orthodox, he tried in every possible way to reconcile them. Thus, when one day the monk learned that the people of Kiev and Chernigov, having gathered many soldiers and coming to Novgorod, wanted to go to war against it, he immediately, taking with him the nobles of Novgorod, went to the militia for battle and, with the help of God, forced them to lay down their weapons 2465. Similarly, in other cases, the monk cared about the peaceful life of the people of God, jealous of the well-being of their temporary life. But the monk was even more concerned about the eternal life of his verbal sheep. Remembering the words of the Lord, spoken by Him about God the Father, that His commandment is “eternal life” (John 17:2), the Monk Niphon always taught the Orthodox - not to stray from the law of God and church tradition, so as not to lose eternal life; those who departed from the law of God and committed sins, the monk denounced, predicting such people's destruction for their sins, preaching “in season and out of season, reproaching, rebuking, pleading with all long-suffering and edification” (2 Tim. 4:2), according to the command of the Apostle. This great zeal of the archpastor for the salvation of the souls of his children is visible from the following circumstance. After the Novgorodians expelled their prince Vsevolod Mstislavich 2466, Svyatoslav Olgovich, called by them, came to reign and married contrary to church canons. Then this blessed archpastor not only did not marry this prince, but also forbade his entire clergy to see that lawless wedding (that prince was married by the priests who came with him). The Monk Niphon 2467 boldly denounced that prince for his crime, jealous of the psalmist, who said: “I will speak of Your revelations before kings and will not be ashamed” (Ps. 119:46). The jealousy of this archpastor was also great when he tried to protect the Russian Church itself from crime, which happened under the following circumstances. When Metropolitan Michael II of Kiev, from whom Saint Niphon received ordination as a bishop, died, the Grand Duke of Kiev Izyaslav Mstislavich 2468 chose in his place Clement the philosopher, who was then a monk and accepted the schema. Not wanting to send Clement to Constantinople for his ordination as a bishop, the prince assembled a council of Russian bishops for this purpose. At this council were: Onuphrius of Chernigov, Theodore of Belgorod, Evfimy of Pereyaslavsky, Damian Yuryevsky, Theodore of Vladimir, Saint Niphon of Novgorod, Manuel of Smolensk, Joachim of Turov, Kozma of Polotsk. When the council began its meetings, Blessed Niphon spoke a lot about the fact that the Russian bishops themselves could in no case elect a metropolitan without the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople; he boldly declared in the hearing of the entire council that this was contrary to the tradition of the holy Orthodox Eastern Church, which was enlightened by holy baptism from the throne of Constantinople, which thus made us sons of God, sons of the East, which visited us from above; and the first Metropolitan of Kiev, Michael, was installed from there (from Constantinople); Since then, it has been a constant rule for the Metropolitan of Kiev to accept the blessing of the decree from the Patriarch of Constantinople. Saying this, the Monk Niphon boldly exhorted the sons of Russia not to shy away through their resistance from adoption to the East and at the same time to God, because, he said: “the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 5:6). The opinion of the Monk Nifont was shared by five other bishops: Kozma of Polotsk, Joachim of Turov, Manuel of Smolensk, Euthymius of Pereyaslavl, Theodore of Belgorod. But the prince, out of pride, not wanting to give up his intention, did not listen to Blessed Niphon, but fulfilled what he had in mind, being supported by the rest of the bishops. Thus, by order of the prince and on the advice of Onuphrius, Bishop of Chernigov, Clement, instead of the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople, was consecrated bishop with the head of the relics of St. Clement, Pope of Rome (this chapter was brought from Kherson by St. Vladimir, who received it as a gift from the Bishop of Kherson after receiving holy baptism); Following this, Clement illegally sat on the episcopal throne of the Kiev Metropolis. Clement demanded that blessed Niphon serve the Divine Liturgy with him, but this zealot of Orthodoxy told him: - Since you did not accept the blessing from the Patriarch of Constantinople, then I, as before and now, do not approve of your appointment and for this reason I cannot serve with you. Angry at Saint Niphon for this, Clement persuaded Prince Izyaslav and the bishops who were obedient to themselves to send the saint into captivity. For this reason, Prince Izyaslav did not allow Blessed Nifont to the episcopal throne in Novgorod, but ordered him to remain all the time in the Pechersky Monastery, as if in a place of imprisonment. The monk remained here with great joy, praising and thanking God for having vouchsafed him to return to his former silent life together with the saints. When the Christ-loving Tsar Georgy Monomakhovich 2469 defeated Izyaslav Mstislavich and took the reign in Kyiv into his own hands, then with great honor he returned the Novgorod episcopal throne to blessed Nifont. The Novgorodians, who had hitherto been as if confused and rejected, like sheep without a shepherd, received blessed Niphon with great joy. At the same time, the Patriarch of Constantinople, having heard about how great courage the saint had shown in standing up for the traditions of the fathers, sent a message to Saint Niphon in which he praised him for his intelligence and courage and equated him with the ancient holy fathers who stood firmly for Orthodoxy 2470. The monk, having read the patriarchal letter, was inflamed with even greater zeal for Orthodoxy. In addition, the saint was not deprived of worthy retribution for his labors from the chief of the shepherds - Jesus Christ, as the story of his blessed death, about which our word will be, shows. Some time after Saint Niphon returned to his episcopal throne, he heard that Metropolitan Constantine 2471 was coming from Constantinople to Russia, sent by the Patriarch of Constantinople to Russia for the purpose of deposing Metropolitan Clement of Kyiv and taking his place. Having learned about this, the monk rejoiced greatly for two reasons: firstly, he hoped to receive a blessing from the saint, and secondly, he hoped to venerate the Most Holy Theotokos and other saints in the Pechersk monastery. For this purpose, he went to Kyiv and here awaited the arrival of Metropolitan Constantine, who had already left Constantinople. Living in the Pechersk Monastery, the monk discovered great love for the Most Holy Theotokos and other saints. Soon the monk fell into a serious illness here, which preceded his honest death. Three days before his illness, the monk had a wondrous vision, which he conveyed to the brethren. “When I arrived,” he said, “after morning singing in my cell, I felt the need to get some sleep. Soon I fell into a subtle sleep: and behold, it seemed to me that I was in this holy monastery of Pechersk, in the place of St. Nicholas the Svyatosha; Here I prayed a lot and earnestly to the Most Holy Theotokos, asking Her to show me the Monk Theodosius, a good builder, and after his death he took care of the increase of virtues in his monastery. Meanwhile, the brethren were gathering in church; one of them came up to me and said: – Do you want to see our reverend father Theodosius? - Yes, I want to, and if possible, show it to me. Then, taking me by the hand, he led me to the altar and here he showed me Saint Theodosius. Seeing the saint, I joyfully approached him, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. He lifted me up, blessed me and said: “You did well, brother and son, Niphon, to come here; from now on you will be inseparably with us. Saint Theodosius held in his hand the scroll that I asked him for; Taking the scroll, I unrolled it and read it. The scroll began with these words: “Here I am and the children whom the Lord has given me” (Isaiah 8:18). After the vision ended,” said Blessed Niphon, “I came to my senses and realized that my illness was a visit to me from God. Having been ill for thirteen days, the monk rested in peace in the Lord on the 20th day of the month of April, Saturday of Bright Week. His body was laid with honor in the cave of St. Theodosius, but in spirit he stands with this illustrious saint at the throne of the Lord Christ, enjoying the ineffable blessings of heaven. May these saints pray for us, their children. But to God, who is praised in the indivisible Trinity, the Father together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, is due all glory, honor and worship, now and always and to endless ages. Amen. Timofey was abbot of the Pechersk Monastery from 1124; died in 1131. John ruled the Novgorod diocese from 1110 to 1130. The ordination of Niphon dates back to the same year 1130. Metropolitan Michael, a Greek, ruled the Kiev metropolis from 1130 to 1145. The Novgorodians highly valued the care of Bishop Nifont for the churches of God. “Each of us knows about this,” says the Novgorod chronicler: “Which of the bishops decorated St. Sophia this way? He painted the vestibules, set up an iconostasis, and coated the outside with lime and poured lead. In Pskov he created the stone church of St. Savior on Zavelichya, and in Ladoga St. Clement” IV Novgorod. years. This event happened in 1135. Saint Niphon was an expert in canonical or church rules and a zealous, selfless guardian of them. This zeal for observing church rules is visible not only from the attitude of St. Nifont to the non-canonical marriage of Svyatoslav Olgovich, but also from the further narrative about Nifont’s relationship with the Metropolitan of Kyiv Clement Smolyatich, who took the metropolitan throne without the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Other bishops and various persons turned to Saint Nifont for resolution of perplexed canonical questions and various cases of church life. From the “Question of Kirikov,” or a collection of answers received by the hieromonk and domesticist (chief of choristers) of the Novgorod Anthony Monastery Kirik from various persons to whom he addressed his questions, mainly from three bishops of Novgorod: St. Nifont and Elijah (from 1165 to 1185) and the unknown diocese of Sava, we learn that Nifont was approached by a certain Klim on behalf of the Bishop of Polotsk. Kirik's questions were mainly addressed to the Bishop of Novgorod, Niphon, who gave sound and practical answers to resolve confusion. “Question of Kirikovo? Published in the Russian Historical Library, ed. Archaeographer. Commission, vol. 6, art. 21 et seq. Pavlov and earlier in “Monuments of Russian Literature of the XII century,” pp. 173 et seq. Kalaidovich. Izyaslav Mstislavich was the Grand Duke of Kiev from 1146 to 1154. That is Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky, son of Vladimir Monomakh. This was in 1150. One of the patriarchal letters to Nifont was printed in the life of Nifont in Monuments of Russian Literature by Kushelev-Belborodko, IV, 5 and in the History of the Russian Church by Rev. Jamariye, vol. 3, ed. 2, p. 297. Metropolitan Constantine, a Greek, did not live long in Russia; he ruled the metropolis from 1156 to 1158, and died in 1159 in Chernigov. You might be interested in: