Житие преподобного Симона, епископа Владимирского и Суздальского

What Jesus, the son of Sirach, said about Simon, the son of Oniin 3074: “a great priest, during his lifetime he corrected the house and in his days he strengthened the church” (Sir. 50:1); and also: “like the morning star among the clouds, like the full moon in days, like the sun shining over the church of the Most High, like a rainbow shining in the majestic clouds” (Sir. 50:6-7), - we must say the same about our reverend father Simon, Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal, witness and copyist of the lives of the saints of Pechersk, the second chronicler of the blessed Nestore. Truly, he built the house of God well and strengthened the Church by the example of his life and edifying stories about the lives of the saints, like one of those good shepherds about whom the Lord promised the prophet Jeremiah, saying: “I will give you shepherds after My heart, and they will shepherd you with wisdom and wisdom” (Jer. 3:15). Truly, all the names attributed to Simon, the good shepherd and guardian of the Jewish law, can also be attributed to this Venerable Simon, Archpastor of Vladimir and Suzdal. This blessed Simon took on the monastic form in the holy Pechersk monastery, like the sky, adorned with holy ascetics, as if with mental stars, the moon and the sun. Having entered the monastery, Simon diligently read the stories about the lives of saints who had formerly lived and pleased God, as numerous as the stars in the sky. And blessed Simon himself was inflamed with love for the exploits of these saints and tried in every possible way to imitate them. He remembered with love the exploits of the first builder of this monastery, the Monk Theodosius, who so multiplied these spiritual stars of the monastery - the monks, and tried in every possible way to imitate his life. He also remembered the exploits of Saint Anthony, who enlightened everyone, like the sun, with the light of his good deeds; and the monk imitated his life as equal to the angels; looking at the saints, multiplied like stars serving the moon and the sun, Simon learned humility; I especially learned humility from the example of the Monk Theodosius, who, like the moon, shone brighter than all the other stars and earned himself from God a crown more glorious than his other brothers. From Anthony, like the sun walking alone across the sky, without other luminaries, Simon borrowed an equal-angelic silent life. Like a mirror, he reflected in himself all those spiritual luminaries - the stars, the moon and the sun, and he himself manifested the light of the stars, the moon and the sun. Moreover, like that ancient Simon the high priest, this one was like the morning star, like the full moon, and like the sun shining on the church of the Most High. He labored diligently in the holy Pechersk monastery, like heaven, and Simon himself was likened to the morning star by his exploits, always imitating the Most Holy Theotokos, beautiful as the moon and glorious as the sun. As much strength as he had, he diligently served the Mother of God, constantly remaining in great humility and fervent prayer, both common with the brethren and solitary. When this Saint Simon shone with his exploits in many surrounding countries, so that he was even known in very distant countries, it happened that at that time the episcopal throne of the diocese of Vladimir and Suzdal did not have its own head. It is fitting for the Church to be adorned with a crown of stars (cf. Rev. 12:1), as St. John writes in his Apocalypse. On that throne of Vladimir and Suzdal there was no shepherd - the bright sun and the beautiful moon, so that church could not boast of the words of the psalm: my throne is like the sun before me and “like the moon is perfect forever” (Ps. 89:38). At this very time, by the will of the Chief of Shepherds - Jesus, who once entrusted His sheep to Simon Peter, who loved “Him more than all” (John 21:15-17), this blessed Simon, who loved the Most Pure Mother of God with all his heart, was called by God to the episcopal throne to govern the God-protected cities - Vladimir and Suzdal. Thus, the crown of that church was adorned with the light of the stars, and its throne was illuminated like the sun and like the full moon. This blessed shepherd shone on the throne with his good deeds, like the morning star, like the moon and like the sun; with his teaching he enlightened everyone, he warmed everyone with love, and with the grace requested from God, he gave everyone (spiritual) life. This blessed Simon always imagined himself as a morning star, which heralds the end of the night and the beginning of the day, therefore he always guarded himself from all bad and sinful deeds and with all his might directed himself towards good, gracious deeds. The saint also thought to himself that the sun and the moon are like two eyes, vigilantly vigilant in the sky; Therefore, he took every care to ensure that his throne shone like the sun and like the full moon, and he personally tried to imitate those vigilant eyes of heaven, for which purpose he diligently shepherded his spiritual flock with vigilant vigor. Blessed Simon labored for a long time as a zealous shepherd, diligently and attentively caring for his flock; and it should be noted that the monk completed his ministry very successfully. At the same time, the saint did not abandon his monastic labors, always imagining in his thoughts the labors and exploits of the honest ascetics of Pechersk and rejoicing in his soul that the Lord vouchsafed him in this honorable monastery to take on the image of a monk and to be, as it were, a cohabitant with the holy ascetics of Pechersk; Saint Simon constantly called them to his aid in his prayers and, through their intercession before God, with the help of the grace of God, he successfully arranged the affairs of his flock, so that all the other likenesses and names assigned to Jesus, the son of Sirach, to Simon, the high priest of the Jews, who pleased God in the Old Testament, were fulfilled on him. In addition to the above-mentioned names, Jesus, the son of Sirach, writes about Simon that he was like an arc of heaven, like a flower among thorns, like a lily, like a stem of Lebanon, like incense on fire, like a gold-plated vessel, like an olive and like a cypress (Sir. 50:8-11). All these archpastoral virtues, indicated by these names, were demonstrated in his life by the good shepherd Simon. So he was very concerned about preserving and establishing peace among people, as indicated by the heavenly arc; further, he taught everyone through his very deeds patience, growing like an apple tree blossom among thorns, always working in the mental garden of his flock; He instructed everyone in both deed and word on spiritual purity, as if planting a white lily; taught everyone unceasing prayer to God, multiplying the fragrant plants of Lebanon; He always thanked God, even in the midst of his sorrows, and besides, he taught his flock, representing as if incense, fragrant on fire, offered to everyone in a precious vessel of love and spiritual wisdom; he rooted among his flock the olive tree of mercy and love for one's neighbor, and also brought back to his flock, like a cypress tree, the constant thought of God. This blessed Simon studied the ascetic life of the holy saints of Pechersk so much that he seemed to write it on the tablets of his heart; therefore, he wanted the life of the Pechersk ascetics to be known to other pious people; and for this he decided to compile a written description of the ascetic life of the Pechersk monks. It should be noted that at this time, due to numerous wars and strife, many books were lost, so that many of the events described in these books began to fall into oblivion. In view of this, blessed Simon with great diligence sought out all the eyewitnesses of one or another miraculous event that happened in the Pechersk monastery, and all the information thus obtained was diligently collected by the monk into one whole, working like a wise bee. That is why he enlightened us with the light of the sun, the moon and the stars, since he described to us the miracles of St. Anthony, this radiant sun, and the miraculous binding of the shrine of St. Theodosius - the full moon; to all this, blessed Simon added the legend of the holy Pechersk church, like heaven, whose throne truly shone like the sun and like the full moon; - all this was included by the Monk Nestor in the first part of the Patericon 3075. In addition, blessed Simon, in a letter to Polycarp, offered information about the lives of many Pechersk ascetics, who shone like stars with their exploits; - this was included in the second part of the Patericon. Subsequently, Simon once again wrote a letter to the same Polycarp, in which he speaks about the exploits of many other Pechersk ascetics. From the writings of this blessed Simon it is clear that he had great love for the Most Holy Theotokos and for the venerable fathers - Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk, so that he and these venerables lived in spirit and mind as if in the same cave, despite the fact that with his body he lived in his diocese. Just as Simon Peter loved the Lord more than the other apostles, so this Simon, the same name of that glorious apostle, showed most of all love and zeal for the Most Holy Theotokos and Her Pechersk monastery. During the days of his life, believers saw a wonderful sign in the sky - it was they who saw that a certain Wife, the unmarried Bride, the Most Pure Mother of God, had under Her feet not only the light of the moon, but also the light of the stars and the sun; for this good shepherd shone with his good deeds (as we said above), like a star and like the moon, and showed such great humility that, being a bishop, he wrote in his epistle that he would consider it an honor to be rubbish, trampled and scattered aside by the feet of those passing by, as his epistle testifies to. This good shepherd worked for quite a long time, feeding his spiritual sheep with incorruptible food that leads to life, since he offered all his flock the lives of the saints who labored in the Pechersk monastery, both in writing and in the very work of his life. Having spent twelve years on the archpastoral throne, blessed Simon went to the shepherds sitting on twelve thrones and to the Chief Shepherd Himself, the Lord Jesus, in order to receive from Him the unfading crown of glory. His honest body, in accordance with his desire, expressed in a letter to the blessed Polycarp, and also in accordance with his love for the holy ascetics of the Pechersk caves, was placed in the Pechersk caves, where it remains incorruptible to this day, in honor, glory and praise of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the One God glorified in the Trinity, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen 3076. Here we mean Simon I, the high priest of Judea, the son and successor of the high priest Onias the 1st, nicknamed “the righteous” by his contemporaries for his piety. Taking advantage of the quiet time under the rule of the kings of Egypt, he renewed the fortifications of Jerusalem, decorated the church, surrounded it with high walls and made significant corrections and improvements in it; but, what is most important, he raised the religious and moral life of the people with the example of his pious life, which is why he left behind the kindest memories (Sir. 50:1-21). – Simon served as high priest in the beginning. III century BC “Paterik”, translated from Greek, means “fatherland”, i.e. a collection containing short stories about the life of ascetics of piety or their moralizing words. The Kiev-Pechersk Patericon is a collection of short stories about the exploits of the Pechersk monks. The basis of this Patericon included 14 legends of Simon, Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal, then the lives of saints compiled by the chronicler Nestor and other persons. As for the legends of Simon, nine of them tell about the miracle workers of Pechersk and five about the miracles that accompanied the construction of the main Pechersk church. The death of St. Simon followed in 1226, in the 11th year of his management of the diocese of Vladimir and Suzdal (he ruled the diocese from 1215 to 1226). You might be interested in: