Житие преподобного Маркиана

During the reign of Marcian and Pulcheria, a wonderful man, blessed Marcian, a native of Ancient Rome 414, who had pious, noble and wealthy parents, became famous for his virtues. When they moved from ancient Rome to the new, they brought with them their son Marcian, who diligently studied book learning and was brought up in good morals. Since he loved “to be at the threshold of the house of God” 415 (Ps. 83:11), always going to church services unforgivingly, that is why the then patriarch fell in love with him and made him his clergyman 416. A little later, seeing that although he was young in years, he was old in reason and purity of life, for “wisdom is gray hair for people, and blameless life is the age of old age” (Wis. 4:9) 417, he recognized him as worthy of the presbyteral rank, and then made him icon 418 of the great church 419. When his parents passed away from this world, after them Blessed Marcian was left with many estates, for he was the only one they had, and therefore all the wealth of his parents was inherited into his hands alone. He did not spend these riches on everyday needs, but dedicated everything to God - doing good to the poor, renovating the old churches of the Lord and creating and decorating new ones. He built, at great expense, a new beautiful church in the name of the holy martyr Anastasia. When one of his friends expressed surprise at such a waste of gold on the construction and decoration of this church, the saint said to him: “If you had a daughter and wanted to betroth her as a bride to some noble person, wouldn’t you spend a lot of gold to decorate her with precious clothes?” So, now, having set out to build a church for the most beautiful bride of Christ, who became engaged to Him who is “more beautiful than the sons of men” (Ps. 44:3) 420 and shed her blood for Him, will I spare my property and not even more take care of such decoration? The blessed one was such a generous and willing giver of the splendor of holy churches; for himself, he was stingy and unmerciful - not only completely rejected the decoration of clothes and covered himself with thin clothing, but sometimes he took off this very thin and necessary clothing and gave it to those asking, as can be seen from the following. When the church of St. Anastasia was built and decorated with all splendor, it was consecrated on the very day of memory of this martyr, December 22, on which she once died painfully for Christ. His Holiness Patriarch Gennady with all the clergy and the Tsar with all the synclite and people made a solemn procession to this church, transferring the relics of the holy martyr Anastasia from the small dilapidated church to the new larger one, created by Marcian. When during this procession the Monk Marcian, together with the other presbyters, walked, dressed in a phelonion, 421 in front of the chariot on which were the relics of the saint, some poor man approached and asked him for alms. He, having nothing with him except one garment (he had never acquired even two changes of clothes during his life), and not wanting to let the beggar go with nothing, imperceptibly separated from everyone and went to a secluded place; having taken off his clothes, he gave them to the beggar, and remained clothed over his naked body in a veil, completing the work according to the word of the Lord: “Give to him who asks of you” (Matthew 5:42). Upon returning to his ranks, he, as before, walked among the elders, while no one knew about what he had done. When everyone entered the church, performed the consecration and honorably laid down the relics of the holy martyr Anastasia, His Holiness the Patriarch ordered Blessed Marcian to celebrate the Divine Liturgy with him. When the time came to wash his hands, Marcian covered himself with his felonia, looking around so that no one would see that he was naked. The presbyters and deacons who were there, looking at him, saw under his phelonion some wondrous clothes, shining with gold, like royal precious purple. At the same time, some were surprised, others were indignant, saying to themselves that a presbyter should not walk and perform the Liturgy in such clothes. Everyone especially saw this wonderful garment with which God covered the nakedness of His servant when he began to partake of the Most Pure and Life-Giving Mysteries. Some of the elders told His Holiness Patriarch Gennady about this. – And I saw what you are saying. At the end of the service, he called the Monk Marcian into the vessel 422 and began to reproach him, saying: “What are you doing, brother, decorating yourself with clothes beyond custom?” Is it good for you to serve the Liturgy in clothing that is more suitable for a king than for a presbyter? The monk fell humbly at his feet, saying: “Forgive me, Master, I didn’t do what you say.” Since my youth I have not been accustomed to wearing beautiful and precious clothes, would I now dress in them? “We all saw you in royal clothes, why are you locking yourself away?” - the patriarch told him and ordered him to rise to his feet. Opening the phelonion, they saw his naked body and were surprised. In response to the patriarch’s questions, the blessed one had, against his will, to openly tell everything that happened: how he gave the beggar, for the sake of Christ, his last clothes. All who heard this and saw the royal robe under his veil glorified God, who gives such secret grace to those who love Him. From that time on, his life of mercy became known to many. The monk endured voluntary poverty and neglected his property to such an extent that one day, when, having walked somewhere in the rain, he got his clothes wet, he returned to his room and locked the doors behind him, lit the coals and began to dry these wet clothes, for he had no other for ordinary use. At this time, the patriarch happened to demand an ikonom for some business. When the messengers went to call Marcian, they found his room locked and, standing outside, they called for him to quickly go to the patriarch. He promised to come and did not come, because his clothes were not yet dry. One of them, looking into the well, saw that he was drying his clothes over the coals, and told those who were with him. When they returned, they reported this to the patriarch. “Don’t be surprised by this,” said the patriarch, “Markian from his youth learned voluntary poverty and humility, completely devoting himself to the One God; he actually fulfills the Apostle’s word: having food and clothing, he is content with these things (1 Tim. 6:8). Those who heard this praised God, Who has such His servants. For such a virtuous life, God gave him the gift of working miracles - casting out demons and healing the sick. One day, when a holiday was being celebrated in the church of St. Anastasia and a lot of people had gathered, a certain woman, being pregnant, climbed onto the church roof due to crowded conditions inside the church, but accidentally fell from there to the ground and died. Saint Marcian, unable to see that the holiday was darkened by sobs, raised his hands up and fervently prayed to God. And this woman suddenly came to life and stood on her feet healthy, and the fetus she was carrying in her womb turned out to be alive; The people marveled at this glorious miracle. One day there was a great fire in Constantinople, and when the fire had already surrounded the church of St. Anastasia, the Monk Marcian ascended to the roof of the church and, raising his hands to the sky, prayed. Immediately the fire turned back and held its indomitable flame, and with the prayers of the saint, like great waters, it was completely extinguished, without damaging the church building in the least. The Monk Marcian created a church for another martyr, Saint Irene, on the spot by the sea where there was an old and already crumbling church in honor of her, and he renovated the other churches of Saint Theodore and Saint Isidore that were nearby, providing them with everything they needed. Having reached a very old age, before his blessed death, he walked the streets at night - and where he found someone lying dead, he washed him and dressed him. At the same time he said to the dead man: - Get up, brother, let's kiss! The dead man, getting up at the word of the saint, kissed him on the mouth and put him to sleep again. The saint saved many harlots, sometimes with admonitions, sometimes with generous help, persuading them to choose a husband for themselves and live according to the law: those who indulged in such a lifestyle under the influence of poverty, he turned to a chaste life, secretly allocating and providing for them from the above-mentioned parental estates. God acquired this blessed man for Himself, the Angels praised him, the saints honored him, kings revered him, the people marveled at him and glorified God for him; The demons were afraid of him and avoided him. Saint Marcian reposed before the completion and consecration of the church in honor of Saint Irene. At his death he said: - Lord! In Your hand I commend both of these: the soul that You Yourself created, and the church that I created according to Your will. The body of Saint Marcian was buried with glory in the monastery of Saint John the Baptist, which is also called the Monastery of Daniel, near the church of the holy martyr Mokios. And the completion of the construction of the Church of St. Irene was taken care of after the death of the saint by the pious Queen Verina, the wife of King Leo the Great 423, who reigned after Marcian and Pulcheria; she finished it, decorated the roof with gold and decorated the inside of the church with all kinds of splendor, in memory of the Monk Marcian and in honor of Christ God Himself, to whom be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever, amen. Here, of course, is the capital of the Greco-Roman Empire and the current Kingdom of Italy. This Rome is called “ancient” - in contrast to Constantinople, which St. Constantine the Great made it his capital, which is why this city later began to be called the “new” Rome. Those. loved to visit the church of God and stay in it. Cleric - from the word “clergy”, meaning from Greek: inheritance (of God). Since ancient times, this was the name of the church hierarchy, together with persons who occupied various lower positions when serving in the church (singers, readers, etc.), for all of these are persons who dedicated themselves to special and direct service to God. The meaning of this expression is that the true (spiritual) age of a person is determined not by the number of years lived, but by the achieved degree of wisdom and moral purity of life. High perfection in both respects can be achieved in youth, just as, on the contrary, the gray hairs of old age can be combined in a person with childish foolishness and extreme moral backwardness. The position of ikonom appeared in the Church in the 4th century. with an increase in church property. The IV Ecumenical Council, in canon 26, speaks of it as having existed for a long time. The duties of the iconomin included the management of church property, especially real estate, and church households, under the supervision of the bishop. Presbyters, deacons, and even clergy who did not have a hierarchical degree were elected to this position, if they were known for their honesty and skill. Those. Cathedral of St. Sofia in Constantinople. Those. to the most beautiful (more than) the sons of men, Christ. In ancient times, a phelonia was a long, sleeveless outer garment that covered the body on all sides, similar to what Christ and the Apostles wore (2 Tim 4:13), which is why the church accepted it among the sacred vestments. At the same time, in Russia, for convenience during sacred rites, its front side is cut off, but in Greece it still retains its ancient form, and St. Marcian could thus completely cover the nakedness of his body with it, until he had to use his hands during worship. In the room where spare sacred vessels and sacred vestments were kept. Leo I the Great died in 474. Since, according to his life, Verina completed the construction of the church during her husband’s life, and since the above-mentioned cessation of the fire through the prayer of St. Marcian is dated to 471, then the death of the saint must be placed between 471–474. You might be interested in: