Перенесение мощей святого отца нашего Иоанна Златоуста

After thirty or even more years had passed since the death 1019 of the great ecumenical teacher, Saint John Chrysostom in the city of Komanakh 1020, His Holiness Proclus, who was once his disciple and then his deputy to the throne 1021, performing a service in the summer in his memory in the Great Church of Constantinople, spoke a word to the people, glorifying the saint of God with many praises. “No one,” he said, “can praise Saint John according to his worth, unless another John like him appeared now. Like a river overflowing with water, his memory, made up of the recollection of his countless labors, exploits and instructions, waters the souls of the faithful. The rays of God's grace shine in it, in which the sun of the Divine appears with clarity to one, to another the purification of Orthodoxy from heresies appears, to another the destruction of idols is shown, to another the falsity of errors is revealed, to another he sees the affirmation of faith and the correction of morals, to another heavenly crowns shine. O bishop, whose memory is like air filled with fragrance! O name of John, corresponding to deeds! O nickname Chrysostom, clearly showing what kind of person he was in preaching the word of God! O language, highest of heaven! O teacher who spreads evangelical thunders! This is John, similar to John the Baptist of the Lord, who preached repentance. This one was a preacher, this one is a godly trumpet. That one was unshakable, this one is invincible. This one is a virgin, this one is a defender of purity. This one baptized in the desert, this one spread mental nets in the city. This one denounced the adulterer, this one menacingly denounced the predators. This one was thrown into prison, this one was imprisoned in exile. That one was beheaded with a sword, this one wanted to accept the same death as the truth. He had many exploits on earth; many crowns are prepared for him in heaven. John now cries out together with the holy Apostle Paul: I am the fragrance of Christ (2 Cor. 2:15), for I have cleansed all places of error, as if from a stench: in Ephesus I eliminated the deceptions of Meade, in Phrygia I made the mother of false gods childless, in Caesarea I destroyed the people’s fornications, in Syria I abolished the ungodly congregation, in Persia I sowed the seed of piety. Everywhere I planted the roots of the Orthodox faith; Through my teaching I enlightened the whole world with the knowledge of God. By compiling books, I have spread networks of salvation everywhere. With John the Theologian I theologized about the Word of the Father. Together with the fishermen, I threw the world of Orthodoxy into the world. - Oh John! Your life was truly filled with sorrow, but your death is honorable, your tomb is glorious, your reward is great!” When Saint Proclus was talking like this in church, the people, burning with love for Saint John Chrysostom, could not wait for the end of the conversation, but with a loud voice everyone, as if with one mouth, cried out to His Holiness Proclus, asking him to hurry up with the return of the holy relics of John from Comana to Constantinople. Loud shouts were heard in the church for so long that the patriarch could not finish his conversation. Immediately after the church holiday, His Holiness Proclus went to Tsar Theodosius 1022, son of Arkady, grandson of Theodosius the Great, and asked him to transfer the honorable relics of John Chrysostom, saying: - Return, O Tsar, who in the Gospel gave birth to you with holy baptism and with the holy hands of the saint brought you into the church, like Elder Simeon of the Lord once did. The Church calls to you: my beauty has faded, my lips have closed, my splendor has darkened. The wild boar tore the shepherds of Chrysostom's sheep to pieces, and the bloodthirsty beasts destroyed the fruits of my lips. Envy has defiled the shrine of my servant; as in a forest oak grove with axes, they cut him off from me and imprisoned him in a coffin of silence. The friends of the heretics said to each other: Let us stop the lips that have spoken many things against us. Let us put his speech to shame, for no one will be able to teach like that anymore and no one will object to us. How long, O king, will the enemy revile me for the sake of Chrysostom? Bring back to me the one who was in the likeness of my Bridegroom Christ. Grant me, your mother, your spiritual father. Although your carnal mother removed him from me, do not follow her unmerciful heart and bad intentions, but be jealous of the holiness of the spirit, without which no one will see the Lord. The glory of Eudoxia 1023 has passed, but the Church always remains. I am your mother forever. Give me the opportunity to spread joy throughout the return of Chrysostom, and you will have intercession in me for you before God. Acquire the soul of Chrysostom as a prayer book for you. Be the son of truth, confirmed by the father's prayer! Thus, having said many things on behalf of the Church, he persuaded the king to agree. The most honorable men with a silver shrine were sent to Comana to transfer the holy relics of John Chrysostom with great honor. When they arrived there and showed the royal message to the Coman bishop and all the people, great sorrow arose among the people, sadness and weeping over the deprivation of such a Great Treasure. The people did not want to give up the holy relics. There was a lot of discussion about this; however, they could not resist the royal command. When the people sent by the king wanted to take the holy relics from the tomb, they immediately became heavier than stone and any other weight, so that with all their efforts it was impossible to move them from their place. Those sent worked hard, but achieved nothing. Realizing from this that the saint did not deign that his relics should be taken from there, they immediately notified the king about this in writing. The king, having consulted with the most holy patriarch and other holy men, realized his mistake - namely, that he sent not with prayer, but with a command to take the relics of St. John from Comana. He decided to write a message to him, as if to a living person, asking forgiveness for his insolence and begging him to deign to return to his throne and comfort his flock. He wrote the following in his own hand: “To the Ecumenical Teacher and my spiritual father, Saint John Chrysostom, King Theodosius: your honorable body, most honorable father, recognizing as if soulless, like the bodies of other dead, I ordered to be immediately transferred to us, but did not receive what I wanted due to my unworthiness. Now, to you, as to a living person, I send this request with my own hand and with faith I ask for forgiveness of me and your people. Forgive me for the boldly undertaken undertaking, covering it with the depth of your wisdom. You, who taught everyone to repent, forgive the repentant. As children who love their father, give us back our father and bring joy to those who love you with your coming. In addition to the great need, I earnestly beg you to come to us, and do not command you. Do not disgrace me again, most honest father! Grant yourself to those who wish to see you: return in peace to yourself, and yours will receive you with love.” Having written this message, the king gave it to the walkers and ordered, opening the saint’s coffin, placing it on the saint’s chest and then performing an all-night vigil. When the royal letter sent by the king to Comana was placed on the chest of Saint John, and when then, after the all-night vigil, the royal men touched the venerable relics, the saint immediately surrendered to them: he became as naturally light as he had been. Those sent were delighted and, taking the honest relics from the coffin, placed them in the royal shrine. There was one poor man who had a lame leg from a snake bite and lived near churches, begging for alms. He took a small cloth from the saint’s tomb and wiped his foot with it. Immediately his leg became strong, like the other, and he began to walk, glorifying God. All the people gathered with candles to venerate the holy relics of the saint and accompanied them during their transfer with copious tears and sobs. The royal people set off and, having traveled a long distance without hindrance, reached the Chalcedon pier 1024. The tsar with his entire synclite, the patriarch with the clergy, and countless people who boarded the ships came out to meet the holy relics. A special royal ship was prepared to receive the honorable relics of John, into which the shrine with the relics was placed. When they were returning to Constantinople, suddenly, by God's permission, a storm arose at sea. All the ships were scattered here and there; the ship, on which there was a shrine with the relics of the saint, having lost its rudder, rushed about on its own, invisibly controlled not by a human hand, but by God’s power. He landed on the shore in the place where the widow’s vineyard was located, for which Saint John Chrysostom suffered so many disasters and even exile. So, even after death, he showed zeal for the truth and exposed the unjustly caused offense. Immediately the sea calmed down, the ships converged on one place undamaged, and no one was harmed by the rough seas. When the reliquary with the relics was transferred from the ship to the shore, the whole city rose and came out with candles, censers and chants. The clergy, taking the reliquary, brought it first to the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, and then to the Church of Irene, otherwise called the Church of the Peace of Christ. Here the king and patriarch opened the shrine and found the body of Saint John like a vine, blooming with beauty and incorruption and emitting a great fragrance. The king, taking off his scarlet robe, spread it over the relics, and then, falling on the saint’s chest, said with tears: - Forgive me, father, for the sin caused to you by envy. Do not consider me an accomplice in my mother’s sin and do not allow me to suffer from setbacks for parental intemperance. Although I am the son of your persecutor, however, I am innocent of the disaster caused to you. Forgive her sin, so that I too may be free from the reproach that weighs on her. I bow my dignity at your feet and subordinate all my power to your prayer. Forgive the one who insulted you with reckless violence, for she repented of what she did to you and asks for forgiveness, turning to you with humility through my lips like this: remember, father, your teaching word about forgetting malice and forget my malice yourself. I want to rise from the fall, but give me your hand, you who said: if someone has fallen once, get up and you will be saved. I cannot bear your dissatisfaction with me; even my grave shakes, crushing my bones. I am afraid of both eternal execution and of not being removed from standing at the right hand at the Last Judgment of Christ. You saved many with your teachings; May I not be the only one deprived of the same salvation. Do not leave me calling after you, but take revenge for me on my enemy - the devil, for it was he who taught me to insult you, as he once taught Eve to sin against God. Do not be angry with me, kindly one; He who did not remember malice in perishable life, do not remember malice in imperishable life. If I, living a temporary life, caused you harm, then you, living an eternal life, be useful to my soul. My glory has passed, and nothing has helped me; help me, father, in your glory, which you received from God, and before I am condemned at the Last Judgment of Christ, forgive me for being unrequited. Speaking these words on behalf of his mother, the king did not stop crying, but watered the saint’s body with tears and kissed him with fear. Likewise, Most Holy Proclus, lovingly kissing the body of the saint, cried out: - Rejoice, Christ-loving father, sweetest teacher! I am your child, raised from your spiritual milk. Just as you were a shepherd before me, so now you are a shepherd: my sheep are yours; Your flock is still fed in your pasture and, striving for you, does not want to follow other shepherds. Show us your face and make us hear your voice again. All the people tried to touch only the holy shrine of the saint and did not leave it day and night. The next morning, the relics of the saint were placed on the royal chariot and taken with great honor and glory to the great cathedral church of the Holy Apostles. When the reliquary was brought inside and placed on the patriarchal throne, all the people exclaimed as if with one mouth: - Accept your throne, father! Then Patriarch Proclus, and with him many worthy men, saw that Saint John, parting his dead lips, as if alive, uttered the archbishop's benevolence: During the celebration of the holy liturgy, many miraculous healings were given from the holy relics of Chrysostom to the sick, and likewise the tomb of Queen Eudoxia stopped from its long-term shaking. The elders laid the holy body of John in the altar under the altar, with joy and joy glorifying Christ God, exalted with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. From your lips, like the lordship of fire, grace has shone forth, enlightening the universe: not to gain the treasures of the world through the love of money, but to show us the height of humility. But punishing with your words, Father John Chrysostom, pray to the Word of Christ God, to save our souls. The mysteriously honest church rejoiced at the return of your honorable relics, and having hidden this, like valuable gold, it generously bestows grace on those who sing with your prayers of healing, John Chrysostom. Saint John Chrysostom died in 407, about 60 years old. He was Archbishop of Constantinople for six and a half years, and spent three years and three months in captivity. (For the sake of the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, the Church commemorates St. John Chrysostom not on the 14th day of September, when the saint reposed, but also on the 13th day of November. In addition, the memory of Chrysostom is celebrated on January 30 with Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian (See about this under the 30th of this month). Comani is a city in the province of Pontus, in the northeast of Asia Minor, now this city has only ruins. From 437 to 445 - His memory is celebrated by the Church on November 20. Emperor Theodosius II the Younger reigned from 408 to 450. Eudoxia, wife of Emperor Arcadius; she was especially strongly hostile to John Chrysostom, hated him for his accusatory speeches. Through her efforts and machinations, Saint John was deprived of the archbishop's throne and imprisoned in Comana. Chalcedon was located opposite Constantinople, on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus. You might be interested in: