Irrigated fleece

Clearly in God, His Eminence, His Grace, Mr. Father Lazar Baranovich, by the grace of God, the Orthodox Archbishop of Chernigov, Novgorod and the entire North, Administrator of the Metropolis of Kiev, Pan Shepherd, Father and Benefactor of peace, health, salvation and longevity from the right hand of the Most High Bishop, the author sincerely wishes. I am the sheep of your flock, my Eminence Shepherd, I bring the fleece to your holiness. For what gift can a sheep bring if not fleece? And to whom should the fleece be brought, if not to the shepherd? I bring a dual fleece: the Most Pure and Blessed Virgin Mary and my little obedience - both it and Ta are truly a fleece. The Church in the Akathist calls the Most Pure Virgin a fleece: “Rejoice, O Fleece watered, like Gideon, Virgin, before seen” (From the Akathist to the Mother of God). Saint Ambrose calls obedience a fleece when he speaks of Mary’s obedience: “Mary became like a fleece—she was favorable to obedience.” The poor sheep diligently brings both these things to its Shepherd. Befitting your holiness is the Fleece, Most Pure Virgin Mary, for during your shepherding this Fleece, the miraculous icon, was watered with tears. Here, may I be allowed to call Your Eminence the second Gideon, for just as he saw with his own eyes the dew on a fleece in ancient times, so Your Eminence beholds at his throne the icon of our Lady, miraculously sprinkled with tearful dew. And this golden fleece is much more precious than the fleece of Jason, which he carried from Colchis to Thessaly. The Golden Fleece is the Most Pure Virgin, brought from earth to heaven, “dressed with golden fringe, adorned” (see Ps. 44:14). Her icon, gilded with beautiful decorations, is also a Golden Fleece - when Your Holiness placed all its property under the feet of the Most Pure Virgin to decorate Her icon. Moreover, with his golden words, the Fleece gilded a lot of this, serving to praise the most holy name of the Virgin Mary. Befitting your holiness is also my wretched fleece - obedience: out of obedience, as I commanded, for the honor and glory of the Most Honest Cherub and the Most Glorious Seraphim, I wrote this little book according to my strength. Accept, my Eminence Shepherd, this, although small, is nevertheless dear, for the Fleece was compiled about our Dearest Lady. Take your honest hands and extend them to your sheep for blessing. The Irrigated Fleece will give you a crown in the sky (Response (to dedication) blessing in verses by Archbishop Lazar Baranovich to Hieromonk Demetrius (in the original - in the Old Polish language). In it, the shepherd inspiredly prophesies a crown of holiness to his ward) Our Panna is a Sheep, and Fleece is Her Body, It clothed the Son of God forever. That Fleece covered you too, like God: The road is such a work for God. God's dew fell from the sky on Fleece, And may the heavens water your Fleece. Mary ascended into heaven not without Her Fleece, She will take the one who watered him - you. The Pen of the Holy Spirit wrote that Fleece, The dew of the Holy Spirit was poured out on him: “I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17). Out of the abundance of his heart his mouth says: You poured out what was in your heart on Runo, In that work, the Holy Spirit himself gave you strength. You have glorified His bride's fleece, The Spirit has added His understanding to you. You have watered the beautiful Fleece with writing, You will receive from the Mother of God everything you ask. Panna herself will tell you God’s love and mine, To those going to heaven - this special caress. About you, dearest sheep, I pray to the Shepherd who always shepherds you. Lazar Baranovich, Archbishop of Chernigov, Novgorod and the whole North, with his own hand A description of the miracles of the Most Pure and Blessed Virgin Mary from Her miraculous image, which is in the Elias Monastery, is published again, pious reader, with corrections of moral teachings and the addition of short spiritual conversations. Attached here are examples from the lives of saints for your benefit. You, my beloved, while reading or listening to this book, thank God and the Mother of God about the miracles, listen to the conversations, do not reject moral teachings, use examples. Forgive the one who labored obediently in this matter if he made a mistake or wrote awkwardly, for I am ignorant, simple and unscientific. And he did not compose this on his own, but where he read what, and, like a bee, he collected honey from various potions into one honeycomb. And who has anything that he wouldn’t take? But God, who gave people in the desert honey from a stone and oil from a solid rock, who poured out water from the jaw of a donkey for Samson, is able to pour out for you honey, and oil, and spiritual pleasures from simple conversations, and to bring forth, as from the jawbone of a donkey, living water of spiritual benefit, for once even a dumb donkey could exhort the wise Prophet. So you, attentive reader, do not despise simple moralizing conversations, written not for the sake of any vain intention, but for the glory of God, for the praise of the Mother of God, and for the acquisition of human souls. Like the Rune, which is sometimes foreshadowed, the Mother who created us all is written here. You will accept that book with your soul and mind, read it carefully yourself and read it to others. Here I call the Most Holy Theotokos, and Her miraculous image, and this little book, by the moistened fleece, for such blessed reasons. The Most Holy Theotokos is a Fleece watered because of Christ's Incarnation, Her purity, Her mercy towards us. Christ for the sake of incarnation, for “like rain” came down from Heaven “onto the fleece” (Ps. 71:6), so Christ became incarnate from the Virgin. The fleece is not damaged by the dew falling on it, nor is the virginity damaged by Christ who dwelt in Her. “From the seedless womb the womb has grown, and preserved as if it were incorruptible” (Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos, ikos 7). For the sake of purity, for just as the fleece is taken and separated from the flesh of a sheep, so the Most Holy Virgin was separated from all carnal desires and became a treasure of purity. Remaining in the flesh, She surpassed the incorporeal Angels in purity. She is the fleece because of Her mercy to us, for just as a robe woven from fleece both dresses and warms a person, so the Most Holy Theotokos, covering our spiritual nakedness, warms us spiritually. So that the words of the Pritotochnik would come true on Her: “Everyone is clothed with Her” (Proverbs 31:21), She created double garments. For from Her womb the flesh of Christ was worn out, becoming an incorruptible vestment for us: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27), warming us with the warmth of faith and love. The Most Holy Virgin dresses us with Her mercy when She covers us with Her honest omophorion, and warms us when the warm Prayer Book warmly prays for us. But the Fleece is watered, although warm, but carries cold dew on itself. For what? To not only warm those frozen, but also to cool those burning with the flame of lust. Oh, how many sinners who ran to Her cooled, turning the flame of their passions into the dew of dispassion! Therefore, the Church reads in the Akathist: “Rejoice, thou who changeth the flame of the passions” (Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos, ikos 5). And Saint Herman, Patriarch of Constantinople, in praise of Her says: “Oh, my Lady, my only consolation according to God, the only flame of the living Divine irrigation in me, a drop of Divine flowing to my parched heart.” I also call upon the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos with the watered fleece. I call it a fleece for the sake of the name of the Virgin Mary, who appeared as a prototype in the fleece of Gideon, but I call it watered because of two reasons: because she cried, dropping tears like dew, and because she exudes grace and strength, healing ailments. For the miraculous power of drops of dew or rain is called from St. Chrysostom. He explains the words of David: “It will come down like rain on a fleece and like a drop dripping on the ground” (Ps. 71:6) as follows: “Those drops are the powers with which our Lord filled the earth, the drop cleansed the leper, healed the centurion’s dying son, healed the paralytic, enlightened the heavens, raised the dead.” And from the holy prophet Isaiah we read: “Your dew is the dew of plants, and the earth will spew up the dead” (Is. 26:19). Therefore, reader, I decided to call the miraculous powers from the image of the Blessed Virgin the dew of grace, for if they are Christ’s, then the Theotokos’ powers are “drops that fall on the earth” (Ps. 71:6). I also call this small book the Irrigated Fleece. Fleece - for the sake of the Most Holy Theotokos, for this little book contains Her blessed name and was written to praise Her. Watered - because of small conversations and moral teachings, in which the words of the Lord, and they are likened to dew and rain. So He Himself, through the prophet Isaiah, says: “Just as rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth and make it capable of giving birth and growth, so that it gives seed to the one who sows, and bread to the one who eats - so is My word that comes from My mouth - it does not return to Me empty, but accomplishes what I please” (Is. 55: 10-11). And Moses in the Second Testament composes this song: “Listen, O heaven, I will speak; and listen, O earth, to the words of my mouth. My teaching will fall like rain, my speech like dew” (Deut. 32:1-2). For these reasons, the Most Holy Theotokos, Her miraculous image, and this book are called the Irrigated Fleece. You might be interested in: