Память преподобного Евстратия

The Monk Eustratius was born in the Tarsian region 377 from rich and pious parents, George and Megefa. Having been raised by them in good morals, upon reaching the twentieth year from birth, he became inflamed with a desire to serve God and, leaving his parents, fled to Mount Olympus 378, to the Avgarovsky monastery, where two of his mother’s uncles, Gregory and Vasily, had already become famous for their virtuous life in monastic form, of whom the first was the abbot of that monastery. Having been accepted by them and having cut his hair, Evstratiy began to undergo a difficult monastic life and was loved by everyone for his humility and meekness. He did not care about worldly things at all - he had nothing except one hair shirt and a sheepskin on which he slept. He didn’t even have his own cell or a special place that he could call his own, which is why he usually slept wherever he had to, and only a little at a time. The fathers said about him that during sleep, from the very day of his tonsure, he did not stretch out the full length of his body, and also never, during the whole seventy-five years of his ascetic life, did he lie down on the left side of his body. While he was laboring like this in the monastery, the aforementioned venerable fathers Gregory and Vasily died, and Blessed Eustratius, at the special urgent requests of the brethren, had to take over the management of the monastery. But then the royal scepter was unlawfully taken by a man who bore the name of the beast, Leo the Armenian 379, who rebelled against Tsar Michael and expelled him from the kingdom. Since he tried to restore again the extinct iconoclasm, all Orthodox Christians left their homes and monasteries, hiding from the persecution of the king; on the advice of the Monk Ioannikis the Great, blessed Eustratius left his monastery and wandered in the mountains and deserts until the wicked king was killed. When, after his death, the Holy Church was again adorned with icons and began to worship them, then, together with other fathers who returned to their monasteries, Blessed Eustratius returned to the Avgar monastery, and began to asceticize and work in monastic work together with the brethren as before. The prayer did not leave his lips, and even during the service, being in the holy altar, he constantly repeated to himself: “Lord have mercy!” He also performed many miracles, which undoubtedly testified to the godliness of his life. And when the time came for him to depart from this world, he called the brethren and said to her: - The time of my departure has come; Therefore, I beg you, my beloved children, to preserve the traditions that you have accepted, knowing that all the blessings of this life are fleeting; they are temporary, while the benefits of the future life are eternal. Try to be one of those who are being saved. Having said this, he prayed and, making the sign of the cross over them and raising his eyes to heaven, said: – Into Your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit! With these words he fell asleep in the sleep of peace in the Lord. Having lived only ninety-five years, he passed into eternal life and was canonized. The Tarsian region here refers to Cilicia, the southeastern province of Asia Minor. The name Tarsian was given to it from the main city of the region - Tarsus, located in its southern part, in a fertile plain, near the river. Kydne, near the city flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. It was a large and populated trading city, which has retained its commercial importance to this day. Olympus was located in Bithynia, the northwestern province of Asia Minor. There were many different monasteries on this mountain. Byzantine Emperor Leo V, an Armenian iconoclast, reigned from 813 to 820. You might be interested in: