Память преподобного Дулы Страстотерпца

The blessed servant of God Dula was a monk of one of the cenobias of the 3957 Egyptian country. His gaze always shone with humility and meekness, but in his mind he was great and glorious. This saint of God, persecuted and slandered by everyone, always rejoiced and was glad in spirit. He considered those who humiliated him to be innocent, and prayed to God for them, so that the Lord would not make this a sin for them. Placing all the blame on the devil - that it was he who was confusing the brethren, and armed himself with courage against him, blessed Dula defeated all his intrigues with patience, prayer and kindness. The ascetic of God remained in such patience for twenty years, unwaveringly nourishing meekness and humility in his heart. The devil, not knowing how to finally embitter the blessed one, spread such an insidious lie to him; and in this case he attacked not only the Monk Dulu, but also the entire brethren, thus saddening and confusing all the silent ones; namely, he taught one brother, who had no fear of God, to secretly enter the church and steal all the church vessels there. Having done all this, the monk hid the stolen goods and locked himself in his cell, as if he had not gone anywhere before. When the time came for the morning service, the paraecclesiarch 3958, entering the church to light the pannicadil, saw that all the church vessels had been stolen; he immediately went and told Abba 3959 about this. Then, according to custom, he struck the bell 3960, and all the brethren gathered in the church for morning singing. At the end of Matins, the abba and paraecclesiarch announced to the brethren that the vessels had been stolen, and everyone was greatly indignant at this. It happened that at that time, due to illness, blessed Dula did not come to the morning rule; and some of the brethren said: - No one could have stolen them except brother Dula, who probably didn’t come to church; If he had not committed this theft, he would have come to the midnight office before everyone else, as he always used to do. And they sent to bring him to the church; the messengers, having gone, found him, although sick, but still standing in prayer; Having grabbed the blessed one, they forcibly dragged him into the church. Then Saint Dula asked them: - What does this mean, brothers, and why are you dragging me by force, when I could voluntarily go to the holy fathers? They, reproaching him with blasphemous and dishonest words, said: “You blasphemer unworthy of life, isn’t it enough for you to embarrass us for so many years, and now you have even outraged our souls?” - Forgive me, brothers, if I have sinned before you. Then they brought him to the Abba and to the entire council of fathers who had grown old in fasting, and said: “Here is a man who has embarrassed us from the very beginning and violated the rules of our community.” And everyone began to slander him. One said: “I saw him secretly eating greens.” “I saw him stealing bread and distributing it outside the monastery. Another slandered him like this: “I saw him secretly drinking expensive wine.” Also, others falsely said something evil about him. Hearing all this, Abba and the fathers who were with him believed the slander and asked the innocent Dulu whether everything they said about him was true, and especially asked him about the theft, namely, where he hid those church vessels that he stole. Saint Dula, justifying himself, first claimed that he was not guilty of anything; and then, seeing that they did not believe him, he fell silent and only said: - Forgive me, holy fathers, I am a sinner. Then the abba ordered to take off his monastic robes and clothe him in secular attire; and at the same time said: “Such things are unworthy of the monastic rank.” When the monastic robe was removed from blessed Dula, he sobbed bitterly and, looking up to heaven, said loudly: - Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, for the sake of Your holy name I have put on this image, but now, because of my sins, it has been taken from me. After this, the abba ordered to put the saint of God in chains and hand him over to the steward; The steward, having exposed his body, began to beat the saint severely with ox sinews, asking him if everything that was said about him regarding the theft was true? Dula, though with tears in his eyes, but still smiling out of his innocence, said: Then the steward, seeing him smiling and uttering such words, became even more angry with him; he put him in prison and hammered his legs into blocks; and also wrote a letter to the city governor, informing him about the theft and about brother Dula, and immediately sent him this letter. The city ruler, having read the letter, immediately sent his rude servants to bring Dula as a thief. And the soldiers, seizing the servant of God, put him on a bareback animal and, placing iron weights on his neck, carried him in shame in the middle of the city. When blessed Dulu was brought to trial, the city ruler asked him: – Where are you from, what is your name and why did you become a monk? How did he steal the church vessels and where did he hide them? The passion-bearer of Christ answered all these questions from the ruler and answered nothing other than: Then the ruler, angry, ordered the saint to be laid naked on the ground, and ordered his four servants to beat him mercilessly with ox sinews. While blessed Dulu was being beaten like this for a long time without any compassion, he finally said to the city elder with a smiling face: “Hit me, hit me, and you will make my stolen silver purer.” To this the ruler said to him: “Mad man, I will make silver on your body and on your ribs purer than even snow.” And he immediately ordered that kindled coals be poured under his belly, and vinegar mixed with salt poured onto his wounds. Even those present were surprised at such patience of the blessed one and said to him: “Tell me where you hid the sacred vessels, and you will be freed.” The martyr of Christ answered this: – I have neither silver nor missing vessels. Then the ruler, having freed the saint from torture, ordered him to be taken to prison. The next morning, this elder of the city sent 3961 to the Lavra, ordering that their abbot come to him along with all the monks; and the next day they all gathered together and came to the ruler. And he said to them: “I subjected your brother, whom you accuse of theft, to many, various and severe torments, and I did not find anything bad in him.” The monks said to him: “Mr. Governor, in addition to theft, this wicked man did a lot of other evils, but until now, for God’s sake, we tolerated him, expecting that he would turn away from his vice, but he fell into even worse.” Then the city ruler said to them: “What should I do with him?” The monks answered: “Do with him what the laws command,” “Our law,” the city leaders told them, “orders the blasphemer to cut off the hands.” The monks said to this: “May he suffer according to the law and may he receive punishment for his deeds.” Then the ruler ordered to bring the passion-bearer and began to interrogate him in front of everyone: “Cursed and embittered man,” he began, “tell us the truth regarding the theft of which you are accused, and you will be freed from death.” To this the innocent Dula replied: “Do you want me, ruler, to say something to myself that I didn’t do?” I don’t want to lie to myself, because every lie is from the devil. “I consider myself completely innocent of what you are questioning me about now.” Then the ruler, seeing that the blessed one did not admit guilt, and the monks demanded that he be tried according to the law, ordered his hands to be cut off. After that, the innocent elder Dula was taken to the place where the convicts were executed. At this time, the monk, who was actually the culprit of the theft and the thief of the sacred vessels, became moved and said to himself: “How could it be that now or later everything that I had stolen would not be found? Yes, even if now this evil deed of mine is hidden, then on the day of God’s righteous Judgment it will be exposed; Then what will I do, damned one? What answer will I give about this grave sin - that I stole the vessels and subjected an innocent brother to torment? And he hastily went to the rector of the monastery and said: “Abba, let’s quickly go to the city to the governor, so that they don’t cut off his brother’s hands and so that he doesn’t die from suffering, for the sacred vessels have been found.” And immediately the Abba sent to the governor, and the passion-bearer was released even before the execution took place. When he was brought to the Lavra, his innocence was clearly revealed and it became clear to everyone that the theft was the work of another monk; and the brethren began to fall before the Monk Dula, begging him: “Forgive me, for we have sinned before you.” He, crying, said to them: “Forgive me, fathers and brothers; I give you great thanks that for the sake of the short-term suffering that you caused me, I will be freed from eternal torment, and that, by the mercy of God, I will be granted great blessings; and always, hearing your untruths and reproaches against yourself, I rejoiced in spirit, hoping thereby to get rid of the great shame for my sins when the Lord comes in His glory and announces the counsels of my heart; Most of all, I now rejoice in the fact that I suffered innocently: for I know what blessings God has prepared for those who endure suffering for His sake; My only sadness is for you: may the Lord not make it a sin for you that you have treated me so unfairly, and I now pray to the gracious God only that He will grant you forgiveness.” After this, the Monk Dula, having lived another three days, departed to the Lord, but no one knew about his death. The brother, who was assigned to wake up the monks for midnight prayer, one day approached the monk’s cell, but, pushing it, did not receive an answer. Having pushed a second and third time and again receiving no answer, he went and called another brother; bringing a candle with them, they opened the door and, entering the cell, found the monk kneeling: he seemed to be bowing, but his soul had already departed to God, for in prayer and kneeling he gave up his spirit to the Lord. Not daring to touch him, these two brothers left him standing there and, going, announced to the father of the monastery that brother Dula had died. At the end of the morning singing, the abbot himself came and, seeing the blessed one dead, ordered his body to be hidden and brought to the church for burial. When his honorable body was prepared for burial and brought to the church, they struck the beater so that all the monks would know about the death of their brother, and they would all gather and touch the saint’s honorable body as if it were a martyr’s body. At that time, the abbot sent to the neighboring monastery for the abbot of that monastery to come with his brethren, and everyone would bury the innocent brother with glory. The monks, crowding towards the deceased, interfered and pushed each other; therefore, the abbot of the monastery soon ordered to bring the body of the blessed one into the church and lock its doors, waiting until the abbot of another monastery came with his monks and thus the monks of both laurels would gather. Around the ninth hour, when the Abba of the neighboring monastery had already arrived with his monks and thus everyone had gathered, they ordered to unlock the church and place the body in the middle of the cathedral so that everyone could see it and so that the body could be given an honest burial with proper songs. But when they approached the body, they did not find it: only clothes and sandals remained 3962 - and everyone was very surprised and filled with horror. Then the abbots of both laurels said to the brethren: “You see, brethren, what long-suffering suffering, meekness, gentleness and humility can do; now our brother, not only in soul, but also in body, has departed from us, being invisibly transported by angelic hands to another place, for we turned out to be unworthy to touch his holy body, and he was awarded this honor from the Lord for the sake of his long-suffering suffering, which he endured with meekness and kindness, in humility of heart; we considered him a sinner and unworthy to live on earth, but he turned out to be holy and worthy of heavenly life with the Angels; and now we are put to shame, he was glorified, we are now humiliated, and he is crowned with Christ the Lord. So, let us try to learn patience and humility, meekness and gentleness, having before us the image of this long-suffering sufferer.” When the abbots of both laurels said this, all the monks wept bitterly and here they decided to annually commemorate the holy and venerable passion-bearer Dula - for the benefit of their souls for the glory of Christ our God, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Kinovia - (derived from the Greek - general and - life) the general name of all cenobitic monasteries, i.e. - those where the brethren receive not only food, but also everything necessary for life in general from the monastery, by order of the abbot, and for their part, all their work and payment for it are presented to the general needs of the monastery. Paraecclesiarch is the sexton who lights the lamps in the church. Avva - father, this is how the abbots of cenobitic monasteries were called in the East. Bilo (from the word beat) is a wooden or metal board that is struck or beaten in order to call believers to the church for worship with sound or knocking. In our country, bells have been replaced by bells, but in Greece they still exist, especially where there are many Turks who do not allow the use of bells. Lavra is actually part of the city, surrounded by a wall. But since ancient times this name has been applied to populous and important monasteries. For the first time, such monasteries began to be called laurels in Palestine, where the monks were forced to gather in as many numbers as possible and enclose their homes with walls, for fear of attacks from various nomads and especially Bedouins. Sandals are a type of footwear used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. They were made from felt, leather, cork and even wood and were similar to our shoes; but their distinctive feature was a belt constriction that clasped the foot across the toes; a strap was attached to it, passing between the thumb and second finger. You might be interested in: