Отдел второй. Из жизни девиц

1. Generous Russian girl Easter has arrived; The Russian people call it the Bright Day, the Great Day. Our peasants prepare for this holiday, one might say, for a whole year; here they begin to clean their huts, which are mostly untidy, with special care, washing everything: floors, walls, even images; prepare the best dress, collect everything needed for the treat, brew beer, honey or buy them. This holiday occurs at the beginning of spring, when all of nature, so to speak, rejoices along with man, being reborn from winter death. In the village of Ivanovskaya there was one very kind family, a mother and daughter, a girl of eighteen or nineteen. They, just like everyone else, were cheerfully busy to celebrate the upcoming holiday, as an Orthodox person should. Only two or three days before him, a beggar comes and says that in another village his mother’s friend is very sick, awaiting death and would like to say goodbye to her. This village, in which my friend lived, was located on the other side of the Volga River. Good Martha, without thinking for long, having made all the necessary preparations for the holiday and advising her daughter, Marina, what to do, immediately went to the sick woman. The patient could hardly recognize her, kissed her calmly and said: - I'll die. My life was very sad, and I willingly part with it. But don't feel sorry for me. I only feel sorry for these poor people who are left without me - this tiny child and this blind old woman, my mother. Shelter them if you can. God will reward you, and in the next world I will not forget you and will begin to pray for your happiness and salvation. Having said this, she fell silent, looking at her intently, with an expression of sympathy and love, wanted to cross herself, but her hand fell from the bed, the light of her eyes flickered like a dying candle, and then went out. Martha crossed her and closed her eyes. The blind old woman, not seeing what is happening here, asks Martha: - What, you know, did my daughter fall asleep? Martha's heart sank. “Yes, she fell asleep,” said Martha, “and will never wake up again: she died.” The poor blind old woman began to sob like a child. - What will happen to me? - she said. – Where can I go with this child? It would be better if God cleaned me up and saved her: then her child would not have been lost. “Don’t be sad,” Martha answered her, “I won’t leave you.” Just let me bury the deceased, and then we’ll go to me; We have enough space, we have bread, I’m still able; My Marina is a good worker; We will look after your child as if we were our own child; it will be more fun for us when we see how he begins to play, have fun and, growing up, become smarter; but when he grows up, he won’t forget me, maybe in my old age, and I’ll have to seek help from him. After all, Marina is a girl of marriageable age, she cannot live with me forever; It’s good if a kind person wants to join our family and live with us, otherwise I won’t spoil her fate; I'll have to give it someday, maybe to the ends of the world, ten miles away. The poor blind old woman calmed down somewhat from these words, became silent, stopped crying, but her face expressed the deepest suffering. They buried the deceased, collected all the necessary belongings, but there weren’t many of them, everything could have been packed into just two or three bundles, and they decided to sell some of the cattle later, and at this time they entrusted a good neighbor to look after them. Having given this order, Martha took the child in her arms, the blind old woman by the arm, and went to her house, somewhat worried that she had left Marina alone for so long, who was probably also worried about her. Meanwhile, at this time, this is what happened: Marina, waiting for her mother, every day, as soon as she could break away from work, ran to the bank of the Volga and looked to see if her mother was coming. Not seeing her, she began to worry and think that maybe she herself was sick. One day she stood like this in thought and sadness, meanwhile the ice on the Volga began to swell more and more, crack and burst. At this time, Marina sees two women with something in their hands running down the steep bank onto the river and hurrying to cross it. Meanwhile, the ice began to move, the ice floes were huge, it is true, but large gaps had already formed between them, so that only a strong and agile person could jump from one ice floe to another, and then with great danger and only with a pole. Marina peers at who these women are, her heart is beating fast: My God, she will find out that this is her mother! Meanwhile, the ice breaks more and more; women lag behind the shore; she runs after them along the river and follows with her eyes her poor mother, who has already reached half of the river and either rushes back - there is no way to return, then rushes forward - and there is little hope. Meanwhile, the people crowded together, everyone was watching, running, shouting: “Help, help,” but no one dared to help. Marina grabs the hook 19, rushes from the shore, jumps from ice floe to ice floe and runs to her mother. “Take the child first,” the mother shouts, “and I’ll stay with this old woman; She, you see, is blind, she will disappear, and I don’t want to take sin on my soul, I promised her daughter to take care of her before her death, but I brought her into trouble, I brought her here. There was nothing to talk for a long time, Marina grabs the child, runs up to the shore and throws him into the arms of one peasant who was there, then returns to her mother again. Mother says: “Now, as you wish, take and lead this old woman.” The old woman, hearing this, said: - No, if I drown, no one will feel sorry for me, no one needs me, and you will disappear - grief for your daughter for a lifetime and, perhaps, grief for the child too. Go! A magnanimous struggle begins between them. The mother finally persuades Marina to take the old woman. They also reach the shore safely; the peasants throw down the rope; Marina wraps it around the old woman, puts the rope in her hands, and they drag her in. Meanwhile, the mother was already carried far away; There are huge holes between her and her daughter, there is no way to jump. The daughter screams to her mother in despair, falls to her knees, prays to God and, crossing herself, throws herself into the water and swims to the ice floe; and the ice breaks more and more; Then this very ice floe she was on cracked, and they were torn apart. They must throw each other so that both do not fall into the water. The girl again rushes to swim to her mother, again they fight against danger, finally, they are almost at the very shore or two fathoms from it; but here the river has completely cleared. What should they do? The daughter can swim, but the mother cannot; the girl grabs it onto her shoulders and throws herself off the ice floe into the water. In an instant, both of them disappeared into the water: an ice floe moved in and covered them. Everyone screamed in horror; several men with hooks and axes rushed to the shore, cut and pushed away the ice floe; the women surfaced, were hooked with hooks and pulled ashore. They were soon brought to their senses and were saved. This incident became known throughout all the surrounding villages, and on Bright Feast, after mass, a priest came to this poor house first of all and served a thanksgiving prayer service. To celebrate, the peasants brought holiday gifts to Marina and her mother and, one by one, from house to house, invited them to visit them for a whole week. After the holiday, the house of Martha’s late friend, along with the cattle and all the agricultural implements, was sold, albeit for a small price, but still this gave them a means of settling down, and they made every effort to calm the orphaned old woman and raise the poor boy. According to the magazine "Young Reader" The first rescue stations were set up in England 50 years ago, and a rescue society was formed there, which took upon itself all the care of assistance on the waters. But before this, ships wrecked off the coast of England could only count on the occasional help of brave fishermen, who sometimes went to sea in a terrible storm to save the dead. Such feats were performed often, and the sailors themselves looked at them as fulfilling their duty, and therefore did not attach much importance to them. But everyone in England was amazed when the news spread that a similar feat of courage and self-sacrifice was performed by a young, weak girl, the daughter of the lighthouse watchman Grace Darling, that she saved the lives of nine people! It was December 6, 1838. Early in the morning, the watchman of the Longston Lighthouse, William Darling, saw that on a rock, the top of which was visible above the surface of the ocean, there were people clinging in despair to the rock, around which furious waves were raging. The place here is the most dangerous, dotted with many rocks and underwater reefs (i.e. stones), and many ships have crashed on these rocks. William Durling immediately realized that there had been a wreck, and indeed, the wreckage of the ship could be seen around the rocks. There was a strong storm at night, and the ocean continued to rage, threatening every minute to swallow the unfortunate people, whose minutes seemed to be numbered. At that time there was no mention of rescue stations, and therefore William Darling had no means to save the dying. It was impossible to go to sea in such a storm, it would be madness! Sad, Darling descended from the top of the tower, where the lighthouse lantern was built, down into the room where his family was located, and told his family about what he had seen. Everyone listened to his story and began to pray for the salvation of the souls of those who were doomed to certain death. - Is it really impossible to save them, father? – William Darling asked his eldest daughter. “No,” said William. “It’s impossible in such a storm.” Who will decide to go out in a boat? Look what a terrible breaker 21 is breaking on the rocks. The boat will be smashed to pieces. Grace did not answer, but it seemed terrible to her that people were dying nearby and nothing was being done to save them. Should I try it myself? Grace went to sea a lot, knew how to row and steer a boat very well, and was an excellent swimmer. “Father is afraid,” she said to herself, “because if he dies, then there will be no one to feed the family, but I can try.” She slowly went ashore and headed to the place where the boat and all the fishing equipment were stored. But her father, as soon as he noticed that she had left, immediately guessed what she was up to. He hurried after her and, indeed, saw that she was launching the boat. - Grace, this is madness! - he shouted. But the girl did not listen to him. She was already sitting in the boat and pushing it away from the shore with an oar. William rushed into the water to stop her and managed to jump into the boat. Grabbing another oar, he tried to steer the boat towards the shore, but the young girl, who looked so weak, turned out to be stronger than him. The boat was spinning in one place, as the father rowed towards the shore, while the daughter rowed forward with all her might. Seeing that the boat was not moving, Grace began to beg her father to let her go, telling him that she would not have peace all her life, and that she would forever be haunted by the image of these unfortunate people clinging to the rock if her father did not allow her to save them. The daughter's pleas had an effect, and the old man gave in. Together they quickly moved the boat, and it flew like an arrow towards the raging waves. The rocks of the Farnean Islands, near which the crash occurred, were getting closer. Darling was an old, experienced sailor and an excellent boatman, and Grace understood him from a word. The boat either rose to the crests of the shafts, or flew headlong into the abyss, and the girl was doused with cold sea water, but she did not let go of the oars from her hands and followed her father’s instructions with intense attention. Finally, for the last time, the wave lifted them and seemed ready to swallow the boat, but it emerged again and found itself on the shore at the foot of the rock, on which nine unfortunates who had escaped from the wrecked ship took shelter. Grace and her father jumped into the water, and with incredible efforts they managed to pull the boat further to the foot of the cliff so that it would not be carried away by the waves. Then the nine dead, to whom help arrived so timely, moved from the cliff into the boat, which again began its desperate struggle with the raging ocean. When the boat finally reached the shore, the exhausted girl fainted and her father had to carry her home in his arms. The news of her feat soon spread throughout England. Queen Victoria, who was then still very young herself, wished to see the young heroine and showered her with precious gifts. In general, in English society they talked a lot about Grace, and her act, described by English writers, made the British think about the need to establish rescue stations in dangerous places. Thus, thanks to the feat of a young girl, the “Sea Rescue Society” arose in England, to which so many people owe their salvation. But poor Grace did not live long after her feat. The terrible exertion of strength and the cold bath that she took while rescuing the dying caused her to develop fleeting consumption, which carried her to an untimely grave. 3. The price of a person in the eyes of God Comp. from Todd's Reading for Children Are not five small birds sold for two assars? and not one of them is forgotten by God... You are more valuable than many small birds (Luke 12:6–7) The sparrow named in the Holy Scriptures is probably of the same breed as the European one; he lives in flocks in cities and in such large numbers that he has no value in the eyes of people. Five birds cost two assariya (two kopecks). And yet Christ says: and not one of them is forgotten by God (Luke 12:6). But why, children, is the life of a sparrow so little valued, and human life so dear? Sometimes we meet a dead sparrow on the street, but we don’t pick it up or pay attention to it. If there is a dead child on the street, then, on the contrary, we raise everyone to their feet and try to find and punish the killer. A chick that has lost its parents plaintively calls them, asking for food, and no one takes care of it. But there are always kind people who will shelter and feed a poor orphan. If a storm kills a thousand birds, no one will notice it; but if people find two frozen children on the road, then this news will spread like lightning throughout all the surrounding areas. Meanwhile, God takes care of every little bird; and although this little bird has little meaning in the eyes of people, it is a creation of God; and despite this, one human soul is more valuable in His eyes than many little birds. One human soul is dearer to God than all the fish, birds, and all the animals collected from all over the earth. Man is a higher being. He is created in the image and likeness of God - he thinks, reasons, loves and feels truth, goodness and beauty; he has the gift of speech, is endowed with free will and is endowed with an immortal soul. Look at the bird: it chirps cheerfully, flies up into the air and falls again, makes its own nest and raises its little ones. But she has no mind; by instinct 22 she builds her nest, but does not talk about the future; cannot admire nature either. That's not how a person is. Imagine that a traveler is between two high mountains. Thick fog creeps across the mountains. But in one place it dissipated, and the traveler sees above him the blue sky, high rocks and mountain peaks covered with eternal snow; illuminated by the bright rays of the sun, they sparkle like diamonds. At this sight, his thought ascends to the new Jerusalem 23, the gates of which are a pearl; The city street is pure gold. And the city has no need of either the sun or the moon, for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb, that is, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world (Rev. 21:19–21, 23, 25). Such thoughts are inaccessible to any bird. But what rich abilities man is gifted with! The baby now sleeping sweetly in his cradle may be a great man in half a century. Using a telescope, he can measure the size of the worlds and the distance between them. Or he will set sail across an unknown ocean in order to find new lands. His energy (activity) is limitless; neither wind nor storm will stop him. He can build a building that will be a surprise to all nations, both in size and in its beauty and strength. Or he can found a school that will produce many wonderful people. Or he can write a good book that will have a beneficial effect on readers. He can make a new invention that will be of great benefit. From all this we see why in the eyes of God a baby is more valuable than many birds. Sometimes I have to speak in front of a large gathering of children. I don’t know them by name, I’ve never seen them and probably never will see them again. But I know that they will become skilled mechanics, doctors, merchants, preachers, wonderful mothers of families, sisters of mercy, etc. I don’t know which of these children will be great and kind people, noble and selfless women, but I know that some of them will be the most beautiful adornments of the human race. You are worth more than many small birds (Luke 12:7). Christ tells us how insignificant a bird is in the eyes of people; and despite this, the Lord takes care of her. The human soul is much more precious to God. If He does not forget the birds, much less will He forget us. Children, look at the cripple. This poor, barely moving man became a cripple, not because the Lord did not pay attention to him, as if he had forgotten him, but for his own eternal happiness. His illness may have protected him from disastrous sins. And that person, bedridden for several years with a serious illness, is also not forgotten by the Lord; The old man who lost all five senses is also not forgotten by the Lord. We plant a small tree and carefully care for it, knowing that its fertility depends on our care. And the Lord also values ​​us not for what we currently represent, but for what we will be in the future. He heard how His creation suffered under the curse of sin, and sent His Son to redeem the soul and body of man. The sparrow sings today and will die, and that will be the end for him. But after death, there is still an afterlife waiting for us. Imagine that two angels met on one of the distant stars. Their faces shine with happiness and love. -Where have you been? – asks one of them. “Look at that star,” says another, “which seems so small because it is so distant from us.” The Lord sent me there to do a good deed and make the whole world happy. - But where were you? -Have you ever heard of a world called earth? – Yes, often, this is the world where the cross was erected, on which the Son of God died to save people. I saw many who came from that land, I heard them sing, how the sounds of their hymns merged with the songs of praise of other celestials. And what joy, what delight the faces of them all shine! How long have you been on earth? “About fifty years according to their count, but with us, in heaven, this amounts to nothing, just as with them a moment, or a moment, hardly counts. -What was your order? “I was entrusted with a baby, tender as a flower.” I had to protect him and prepare him for heaven. When he mumbled the words of prayer for the first time, I knelt next to his crib. When he started studying and went to school, I accompanied him and was everywhere with him. When adults foolishly spoke evil, seductive words to him, I tried to turn his ears away from these rotten words. When he became an adult, I calmed his passions and protected him from evil. When he sinned, I was sad. When the grace of the Holy Spirit visited him and the decision of his fate for time and eternity came, I did not leave him for a single moment, and how I languished for him! Until this moment, that is, until the turning point of his life, I was in great anxiety; when I saw a tear of repentance on his face, I hastened to heaven with the joyful news that another sinful soul had made the transition to life, and I added my voice to the joyful singing of the angels over the repentant sinner. Then I returned to him again. He fought temptations, conquered sin, sowed a seed that would bear wonderful fruit in the future: he wrote the name of Christ on many hearts, and his influence will be such that even after his death his example will live among people. Now he has ended his life, and I am leading him to the eternal abodes. Soon I will lay him at the feet of the Lamb; and in what indescribable delight he will exclaim: “Thou art worthy!” I will see him dressed in a white robe, with the crown of life on his head and a golden harp in his hands - and I will fully understand the words of the Savior: You are more valuable than many small birds! 4. Tyrolean girl (folk legend) From the book “Good People” by Ostrogorsky Rocky mountains rise around Lake Constance (in Austria). The blue mirror of its waters reflects the bright heavenly stars, and every cloud floating in the sky runs along them. Midnight. The sky looks at the mirror of the lake, at the sleeping city, the beautiful city of Bregenz, which stands above the lake on the Tyrolean shore. This is an ancient city: it has stood above the lake for a thousand years. Since time immemorial, the shadows of its towers and walls have shaded the rocks of the rugged mountains. Everyone who lives near it knows the legend 24 about how the city of Bregenz was saved three hundred years ago, at night. A poor Tyrolean girl went far from her homeland and relatives to look for bread; She went to the Swiss valleys, lives there as a servant, and every year the memory of her native land weakens in her heart. She served good masters, served diligently and faithfully; She got used to the Swiss: they became her people. And when she drove the herd to pasture, she no longer looked back in the direction where Bregenz stood. She no longer remembers Bregenz, she has forgotten about her homeland - Tyrol; does not listen to the authorities about Austrian battles and campaigns, and every day he stands more calmly under the quiet roof of his new homeland. This is how her life went in a quiet Swiss valley. Suddenly, ominous signs of an imminent war appeared. The golden field stands unharvested; The Swiss constantly meet and talk heatedly about something. Men are thoughtful and gloomy; their eyes are sternly cast down to the ground; The women talk among themselves anxiously - they are not thinking about yarn, not about weaving, and the children are afraid to go and frolic in the field. Now the men have all gathered on the field; some strangers came to them from a neighboring town; they argue heatedly, looking restlessly at the lake. In the evening we gathered again. Doubt and fear left them; Their noisy conversations echo noisily along the shore. The foreman stood up and, with a glass in his hand, loudly proclaimed: - We drink to the death of the damned enemy. Night is already close, and when a new day breaks, the enemy fortress of Bregenz will be in our hands. Fear and pride on women's faces. The Tyrolean girl's heart sank. She sees her beautiful native Bregenz in the distance, its towers towering; There is no friend next to her, there are only enemies of her homeland all around. The memory of her childhood awakened in her, familiar faces came to mind, native songs of the Tyrolean mountains sounded in her ears... She hears nothing, although wild screams are heard from afar. He does not see the green Swiss valleys and meadows: one thing before his eyes is his hometown, and the secret voice of love for the Fatherland seems to whisper: “Go, save Bregenz, warn of danger.” She hurries with a hasty, light foot... Here is the stable; she brings out a good horse, fed by her hand; he carries it to his native land. He gallops quickly in the darkness of the night. Now the green meadow is left behind and the chestnut grove is far away. The waves are crashing ahead. Why is the girl hesitating? Will the clouds carry her through these waves? Quicker! No time to hesitate! It’s already eleven o’clock on the bell tower clock. “God, save Bregenz, calm the waves,” she prays. But the river is noisier, the waters are boiling. The girl looks through the darkness, lets go of the reins; the horse rushes, cuts through the waves with its chest, swims vigorously, fights the waves. The lights of my hometown flashed. But the shore is steep and high; the frightened horse snores; the girl lay down on his mane; He desperately rushed forward and instantly carried her to the shore. And she rushes towards the high walls of Bregenz, there are the gates - the clock strikes midnight. Her warriors came out to hear her screams and learned about the impending danger. Warriors in armor stood on the walls, and by dawn the enemies were repulsed. And the savior of the homeland, the Tyrolean girl, is crowned with eternal glory; More than three hundred years have passed, but there is a monument to her brave deed on the hill, Bregenz girls go there, looking at the brave horsewoman; and at night, going around the city, the watchman shouts: “Nine”, “Ten”, “Eleven”, but he does not shout “Midnight”, he proclaims at this hour in memory of everyone the name of the Tyrolean girl. 5. The feat of a young American woman (true incident) Europeans have no idea what an ice storm is. If you want, I will share our impressions with you. You should first know that from November to April there is almost no snow in Dakota 25, but severe frosts do occur. This is why an ice blizzard is not at all like an ordinary blizzard. It's just a sharp, cold whirlwind that rushes at 60 miles an hour and sometimes subsides as quickly as it hits. With his power he throws up whole clouds of tiny icy dust, which lashes animals and people like millions of burning needles. There is almost no way to resist such a blizzard. Native buffaloes, cows and sheep, tamed from childhood to this natural phenomenon, instinctively guess the approach of an ice blizzard and run headlong to seek protection either in the gorges of the nearest mountains on the leeward side, or between buildings, or behind large haystacks; there they crowd together in whole herds to make it warmer, and, with their heads bowed, stand quietly, waiting for the whirlwind to pass. At a time when the blizzard is in full swing, walking down the street, it is impossible to distinguish one house from another, and they often find people frozen a few steps from their porch. The thermometer immediately drops terribly, the mercury freezes, and the temperature can only be measured using an alcohol thermometer. If you do not have time to take shelter in the nearest house and walk with your back to the wind, the icy whirlwind will mercilessly begin to hit your neck; If, unfortunately, you have to go against the wind and help doesn’t arrive in time, then it’s over: in an hour you’ll be completely numb. In January 1886 the day was clear and frosty. Dora Kent, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a farmer 26 who lived near Devil's Lake in the province of Dakota, was busy in her kitchen, preparing dinner for the family. Her mother had died the year before, and Dora, as the eldest daughter, had the burden of housework. Her two little sisters, one ten, the other four years old, did not lag behind her a single step and hindered her more than helped her. Her father and her three brothers threshed bread in Riga, twenty fathoms from the house. The heavily frosted windows made it impossible to see what was happening on the street; The huge stove, burning brightly, pleasantly warmed and illuminated the room, giving it an unusually cozy look. But suddenly darkness fell, and something knocked on the glass, like large gravel 27 fell down. Dora realized that an ice storm had hit the farm. This was not the first time this happened, and therefore, knowing that her father and brothers were under the safe roof of the barn, Dora calmly continued to prepare her dinner; and when the kitchen clock struck two, she put hot food on the table, took down from the wall the copper horn that served as a bell, and, standing on the porch, blew a loud trumpet. Covered by the porch canopy, Dora was more or less protected from the storm, but the prickly snow covered her entire face in an instant, and her hands could hardly hold the metal horn. She ran back into the kitchen and waited; a quarter of an hour passed, half an hour - no one! Lunch got cold. She put the dishes with food in the oven, and she again ran out onto the porch and began to blow the trumpet. But now clods of icy snow filled the chimney so quickly that Dora could not get the slightest sound out of it. She disappeared into the kitchen again and, trembling with excitement, began to listen to see if her father and brothers were coming. Another quarter of an hour passed. “Alice, look after your sister and the food,” she said to her ten-year-old sister, “and I’ll run to Riga and find out what happened to my father and brothers.” - No, Dora, please don’t go! - Alice began to beg, who had already seen the corpses of frozen people and cows more than once and understood very well what it meant to go outside during a snowstorm. “Father and brothers are probably going through a storm.” You won’t help them, but you yourself will freeze. “No, honey, I’ll go,” Dora objected, “my heart feels that something bad has happened.” There is no strength to wait! And she put coals in the stove so that the fire would burn brighter, wrapped herself up as warmly as possible, put on high fur boots, put a flask of vodka in her pocket and grabbed a compass to determine the road. Despite the fact that the barn was twice as tall and wider than the house and stood only twenty fathoms from it, there was no sign of it amid the raging snowstorm. Dora took a long rope, girded herself with one end, and tightly wrapped the other end around the lock handle of the outer house door and, mentally praying to God, set off on a dangerous journey towards the north, since she knew that the barn was located in this direction. She was tossed from side to side, but she did not take her eyes off the compass, every now and then bringing it right to her face. And finally she is at the gates of the barn; the gates were locked. Knocking on them with her fist with all her might, Dora rushed towards the brothers, who immediately unlocked the gate and opened it a little. -Where is father? – she shouted, out of breath from fatigue. “We don’t know,” the brothers answered in one voice. “He went home about half an hour ago and told us to stay here until he came for us.” – Did he take the rope with him? - Of course, I took it. “He tied it somewhere near the barn,” noted older brother Joe. “Then let’s go find him, Joe, we can’t waste a minute; and let Harry and Jack sit here for now. Do you hear, boys? – the sister turned to her smaller brothers. - Take us with you too! And we want to find our father! – the boys begged almost crying. - No way! - Dora said in a hoarse voice. “We can’t risk your life.” Sit tight and wait for us. Having closed the gates of the barn, the brother and sister rummaged around the wall and found a stake to which one end of the rope was tightly tied. It was almost completely covered with snow; but, to the surprise of Dora and Joe, it was not stretched, but simply lying on the ground. “Well, thank God, apparently father got home safely and untied the other end from his belt,” Joe said cheerfully. “No,” she said sadly, “you see, the end does not lie to the south, therefore, father went in the wrong direction; and besides, while I was running towards the barn, I kept screaming and calling him; we couldn't help but meet. He must have lost his way. Holding tightly to each other, Dora and Joe walked in the direction where the rope stretched. About ten minutes later they came across the protruding root of a small tree; the rope formed a loop here and became entangled in the branches of the tree. Fortunately, Joe had in his hands an oak pole with an iron hook-shaped tip; with its help they managed to untangle the loop of the rope and walk for another ten minutes against the wind. A snowdrift appeared in front of them. Dora rushed to tear it apart. The father's body lay under the snow. Whether it was fainting, sleep or death, it was difficult to decide immediately. Raising the head of her lying father, Dora, with the help of her brother, poured several sips of vodka into his mouth. The father groaned. The children grabbed him by the arms, put him on his feet and dragged him a few steps, since in such cases movement is the best way to escape death. Thick fur gloves served well; thanks to them, Dora could freely act with her chilled fingers and quickly tied her brother and father with the same rope, while she herself, grabbing the latter by the arm, bravely headed towards the house. A quarter of an hour later, all three were already sitting in their kitchen in front of the blazing stove, and a whole bucket of snow was used to rub the half-frozen legs and arms of the poor father, who woke up with difficulty and could barely figure out what had happened to him. It turned out that the farmer had lost his way because his rope got caught on a tree stump and broke. Having let go of the end of the rope from his hands, the farmer was careless not to tie it around his waist, as Dora did. He began to unravel the noose, but, standing against the wind, he soon became exhausted and fell to the ground. Several times he tried to call his sons, but the roar of the blizzard drowned out his cries. The death sleep had already begun to take possession of him, and if not for Dora’s courage, he would not have survived. As soon as the father woke up, the snowstorm subsided. Joe ran for the boys who remained in the barn, and that evening the family dined happily, although three hours later than usual. Recently in Voronezh, a virtuous woman died, known in the city under the name Marinushka, who was known and revered by all the townspeople, the clergy, merchants and working people, because she devoted her entire life to serving the poor. From the age of twenty she renounced all worldly blessings; being quite rich, she distributed all her property to the poor, while she herself, in rags, moved from house to house, asking for alms, but not for herself, but for those in need known to her; If she hears that the poor family has no bread, she will now gather some good people and take them to the hungry. Does a prisoner leaving prison need a dress - and Marinushka will help him in the name of God. Pious and humble without hypocrisy, she did good with her right hand, and the fool 28 did not know about it (Matthew 6:3); by this she gained favor and love from everyone, and her death aroused universal grief. Her funeral was unusually solemn: the funeral liturgy was served by the bishop, co-served by thirty priests and more than fifty other clergy. On the path of the sad procession to the cemetery, shops, taverns and other establishments were closed. From the sermon of Archbishop Elijah Minyaty Do you have love and friendship for certain people? Leave them, abandon them forever, for you cannot love sin and God at the same time. One day a sage set off on a long journey. There was a great storm at sea and he risked drowning, but was miraculously rescued and returned home safely. From one window of his house the sea was visible and, so that this would not tempt him to a second journey, he ordered it to be blocked with a wall. O Christian, how many times in this bitter love have you risked losing your life and soul! Are you saved? So run away from temptation, do not take this path again, do not enter these doors again, do not look out of this window again, close your eyes well, so that the serpent of temptation does not crawl into your heart again. 8. Don't get carried away with earthly things From the book “My Life in Christ” by Rev. John Sergiev of Kronstadt Just as it makes no difference to a child, no matter what clothes he wears, so a Christian - a child in Christ - should be indifferent to the variety, richness and splendor of earthly clothes, considering Christ God his best and incorruptible robe. Because addiction to expensive, beautiful clothes is characteristic of the people of this age or the pagans, as the Lord says: the pagans seek all these things, that is, food, exquisite clothing (Matthew 6:31), because clothing is an idol for the people of this age. Oh, how vain we are - we who are called to communion with God, who are promised an inheritance of incorruptible and eternal blessings. How unclear are our concepts about perishable things and incorruptible goods. How unreasonable we are, attaching value to the most insignificant objects and not valuing the blessings of our eternal soul, peace, joy, boldness before God, holiness, obedience, patience, in general, all the properties of a true Christian. So, we must value spiritual blessings and virtues, and despise material ones as perishable, insignificant. From the works of Rev. John Sergiev of Kronstadt 9. The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights The king and queen said goodbye Prepared for the journey, He waits and waits from morning until night, He just sees: a blizzard is swirling, She doesn't take her eyes off the field. On Christmas Eve, right at night, Early in the morning the guest is welcome, Day and night so long awaited, But what to do? and he was a sinner; A year has passed like an empty dream, The mirror had the following properties: “My light, mirror! tell me Am I the sweetest in the world, Looking proudly in the mirror. The matchmaker arrived, the king gave his word, “Am I, tell me, the cutest of all, What's the answer to the mirror: “You are beautiful, no doubt; Yes, it will slam on the mirror, It'll stomp like a heel!.. Admit it: I am more beautiful than everyone else. Even the whole world; I have no equal. Is that so?” Mirror in response: Throwing the mirror under the bench, News to the princess in the depths of the forest There is no point in arguing. With the princess And she prayed: “My life! “Don’t worry, God is with you.” "What? - the queen told her, - - There, in the forest, there is one, - And the rumor began to ring: The poor king grieves for her. The dog runs after her, caressing her, The door opened quietly, In the bright upper room; all around Under the saints there is an oak table, Stove with tiled stove bench. I know she won't be offended. The elder said: “What a miracle! You will be called brother to us; If the old lady be our mother Be our dear sister." She bowed low to the waist; Blushing, she apologized, Somehow I went to visit them, Instantly, by their speech, they recognized Up into the bright room Day after day goes by, flashing, I sulked and got angry for a long time; “Hello, mirror! tell me But he lives without any glory, The one who is still dearer than you.” To Chernavka: “How dare you Fool me? and in what?..” Suddenly angrily under the porch Grandma, wait a little,” She shouts to her through the window, - Look how busy he is! Come out to me." - The princess wants Go out to her and take the bread, But I just left the porch, The dog is at her feet and barks, As soon as the old woman reaches her, For an old woman. “What kind of miracle? Apparently he didn’t sleep well,” “Come on, catch it!” - and the bread flies. “Thank you,” she said. – The dog will jump and squeal... Grab - caught. "For the sake of boredom Thank you for lunch." He looks pitifully, howls menacingly, It’s like a dog’s heart is aching, Give it up! - She caressed him, “What, Sokolka, what’s wrong with you? Lay down! - and entered the room, The seeds are visible right through... And she became quiet, motionless... To meet them, howling loudly, Shows them the way. “Not good,” Brothers in grief That she just couldn’t breathe. Having performed a sad ritual, Here they are in the crystal coffin The elder said: “Sleep in the coffin; Suddenly went out, a victim of anger, On the same day the evil queen Meanwhile, he jumps around the world. No way! He cries bitterly “Our sunshine! are you walking All year round in the sky, you drive You see us all below you. Al will you refuse me an answer? Haven't you seen anywhere in the world I am her groom." - “You are my light,” The red sun answered, Know that she is no longer alive. I met her somewhere He chased after him with a prayer: “A month, a month, my friend, You rise in deep darkness, I am her groom." - “My brother,” I ran." - “How insulting!” – “Wait; about her, perhaps I am her fiancé.” - “Wait,” There behind the quiet river In that hole, in the sad darkness, The crystal coffin is rocking Around that empty space; Your bride is in that coffin.” Before him in the sad darkness The crystal coffin is rocking, And in the crystal coffin The princess sleeps in a dead sleep. The coffin broke. Virgo suddenly They set off on their way back, Saying: “I am the cutest of all, “You are beautiful, there are no words, I was there, honey, drank beer, 10. The wonderful love of two sisters We know from experience in this life how difficult separation is from the persons most beloved when, for example, a father or mother is separated from his children, a brother from his brother, a bride from her groom. During the reign of Michael Palaiologos, the Hagarians 29 invaded the Asian borders of the Greek empire and took many people with them into captivity. Among the prisoners were two sisters who ended up (by lot) with different masters. They had to be separated and go in different directions after their owners without hope of ever seeing each other again. Who can describe, who can explain their crying when the hour of parting came, when they, mourning their unfortunate fate, shed a whole stream of tears, hugged each other tightly and pressed their lips to each other! And so, when they kissed for the last time, it was as if their souls had passed into their mouths and agreed among themselves not to undergo such a painful separation. Having united, they ascended to heaven, leaving their embracing corpses on the ground. I want to say that both sisters died hugging and kissing each other in the intense pangs of separation, as if nature could not agree to the separation of bodies before the separation of souls, as Nikifor Grigora says, who relates this sad story. This story is included in the sermons of the Greek Archbishop Elijah Miniatius. 11. The Scarlet Flower (fairy tale) In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a rich merchant, an eminent man; that merchant had three daughters. So a merchant overseas is going on business and says to his daughters: - My dear daughters, my good daughters! I am going overseas, to distant lands, to the thirtieth kingdom; if you live honestly and peacefully without me, then I will bring you such gifts as you yourself want; I give you three days to think, and then you will tell me what gifts you want. They thought for three days and three nights and came to their parent. The eldest daughter bowed to her father’s feet and said: - My lord, my dear father! Bring me a golden crown made of semi-precious stones, and so that there will be such light from them as from a full month, as from a red sun. The middle daughter bowed at her feet and said: - My lord, my dear father! Bring me a toilette made of oriental crystal, solid, so that, looking at it, I can see all the beauty under heaven and so that, looking at it, I will not grow old and my girlish beauty will increase. The youngest daughter bowed at her father’s feet and said: - My lord, my dear father! Bring me a scarlet flower, which would not be more beautiful in this world. The merchant thought about it and said: - Well, you gave me a harder job than my sisters. I will try, but don’t ask for a gift. Here is an honest merchant traveling to foreign lands overseas. He found the treasured gift for his eldest daughter, he also found it for the middle one, but he just cannot find a gift for his younger daughter. He found in the gardens many scarlet flowers of such beauty that he could not tell in a fairy tale or describe with a pen; Yes, no one gives him a guarantee (guarantee) that there is no more beautiful flower in this world, and he himself doesn’t think so. So he was driving home through a dense forest, and out of nowhere robbers attacked him. The merchant abandoned his rich caravans and ran away into the dark forests. He wanders through the dense forest, and as he goes further, the road gets better; At the end he comes out into a wide clearing, and in the middle of that clearing stands a palace, all as if on fire, in silver and gold, and around the palace there are strange, fruitful gardens, and beautiful flowers are blooming, unprecedented birds are flying, high fountains are flowing... An honest merchant walks, marvels and does not know what to look at - his eyes run wild. And suddenly he sees a scarlet flower of unprecedented and unheard-of beauty. The merchant's spirit was lifted, and he said in a joyful voice: He took it and tore it off. At that same moment, lightning flashed and thunder struck - and arose, as if from underground, in front of the merchant, a beast was not a beast, a man was not a man, but some kind of monster, terrible and shaggy, and it roared in a wild voice: -What did you do? How dare you pick my favorite flower in my garden? Know your bitter fate: you will die an untimely death for your guilt... And countless wild voices screamed from all sides: - May you die an untimely death! An honest merchant loses his teeth out of fear; he fell to his knees in front of the furry monster and said in a plaintive voice: - Oh, you goy, honest sir, don’t destroy my Christian soul, order me to say a word. I have three daughters; I promised to bring them a gift each. I found gifts for the older daughters, but I could not find the youngest daughter; I saw such a gift in your garden and thought that such a powerful and rich owner would not feel sorry for the scarlet flower. Forgive me, foolish one, let me go to my dear daughters and give me a scarlet flower. The forest beast, the sea monster, spoke to the merchant: - There is salvation for you. I will let you go home unharmed, I will give you a scarlet flower, if you give me your word that you will send me one of your daughters in your place. I have become bored of living alone, and I want to get myself a comrade. So the merchant fell on the damp ground, shedding burning tears, and he said in a plaintive voice: - And what should I do if my daughters of their own free will do not want to go to you? And how can I get there? The beast of the forest, the monster of the sea, spoke to the merchant: - I don’t want a slave; let your daughter come here out of love for you; and if your daughters do not go of their own free will and desire, then come yourself, and I will order you to be executed with a cruel death, but how to come to me is not your problem, I will give you the ring from my hand; whoever puts it on his right little finger will find himself wherever he wants in an instant. I give you time to stay at home for three days and three nights. And only the honest merchant put the ring on his right little finger when he found himself at the gate of his wide courtyard. There was a noise in the house, the daughters jumped up from behind their hoops, and they began to kiss and show mercy to their father. By evening the guests arrived in large numbers, and the conversation continued until midnight. The next morning the merchant called his eldest daughter to his place, told her everything that had happened to him, and asked if she wanted to save him from cruel death and would go to live with the forest beast. “Let that daughter help out her father, for whom he delivered the scarlet flower.” The middle daughter said the same thing. The merchant called his youngest daughter and began to tell her everything, and before he could finish his speech, the youngest daughter knelt down in front of him and said: - Bless me, sir, dear father: I will go to the forest beast and begin to live with him. The honest merchant burst into tears and said the following words: - My daughter is dear, good, pretty. May your parents’ blessing be upon you, that you are rescuing your father from a cruel death! The third day and third night passed, the time had come for the honest merchant to part with his daughter; he kisses, has mercy on her, and pours burning tears over her. He takes out the ring of the beast, the sea monster, and puts it on the right little finger of his beloved daughter - and at that very moment she was gone with all her belongings. She found herself in the palace of a forest beast, a sea monster, in high, stone chambers: one chamber was more beautiful than the other; She descended into the green gardens, the birds sang their songs of paradise to her, the trees, bushes and flowers seemed to bow before her, the fountains began to flow higher and the springs rustled louder. She was surprised by all the miracles and went back to her palace chambers. In one of them, one wall was all mirrored, another was gilded, the third was silver, and the fourth was marble, and fiery words appeared on the marble wall: “I am your obedient slave, not your master. You are my mistress, and whatever comes to your mind, I will do it willingly.” She read the fiery words, and they disappeared, as if they had never existed. How much time has passed, the merchant’s daughter began to get used to her life, and she fell in love with her gracious master, and she wanted to have a conversation with him. She began to beg and ask him about it, but the forest beast was afraid to frighten her with his voice; but he could not resist her and wrote on the white marble wall in fiery words: “Come today to the garden, to your beloved gazebo, and say this: speak to me, my faithful servant!” And a little later a young merchant’s daughter came running into the green garden, entered her beloved gazebo and said: - Talk to me, my good friend! And she heard someone sigh, and a terrible, wild, loud and hoarse voice was heard, and even then he spoke in an undertone; At first the young merchant's daughter shuddered, but she controlled her fear and did not show that she was afraid. From then on, they started talking almost all day long. How much time has passed, you never know, the young merchant’s daughter wanted to see the forest beast with her own eyes. For a long, long time the forest beast, the sea monster, did not give in to her requests, but could not refuse her and said: - Come to the green garden at dusk and say: “Show yourself, my faithful slave!” - and I’ll show you my disgusting face. And if it becomes unbearable for you to stay, I don’t want your bondage; you will find my golden ring in your bedchamber. Put it on your right little finger, and you will find yourself with your dear father and will never hear anything about me. The young merchant’s daughter was not afraid, she was not afraid, she went into the green garden and said: - Show yourself to me, my faithful friend! And from afar a forest beast, a sea monster, appeared to her, and the written beauty did not see the light, and fell on the road without memory. Yes, and the beast of the forest was terrible, a monster of the sea: crooked arms, animal claws on the hands, horse legs, great humps in front and behind, all shaggy from top to bottom, a hooked nose, and the eyes of an owl. She lay there for how long, or how long, she came to her senses, and she felt ashamed and sorry for the forest beast, and she spoke in a firm voice: “No, don’t be afraid of anything, my kind and gentle lord, I won’t be more afraid of your terrible appearance; Show yourself to me now in your former form. The forest beast appeared to her in its terrible form, and they walked until nightfall and had the same conversations. One day a young merchant’s daughter dreamed that her father was lying unwell; she was overcome by an incessant melancholy; She told the forest beast her bad dream and began to ask him for permission to see her dear father. And the forest beast said: - And why do you need my permission? You have my golden ring. Put it on your right little finger and you will find yourself in the house of your dear father. Stay with him until you get bored, but remember: if you don’t return in exactly three days and three nights, then I won’t be in this world. She began to assure that exactly an hour before three days and three nights she would return to his chambers. She said goodbye to her affectionate owner, put her ring on her right little finger and found herself in the wide yard of her dear father. And the father lay unwell, remembering her day and night, shedding burning tears: and he did not remember for joy when he saw his dear, good, comely daughter. For a long time they kissed, made love, and consoled themselves with affectionate words. A day passes like a single hour, another day like a minute, and on the third day the older sisters began to persuade the younger sister not to turn to the forest beast. However, her heart could not bear it, and, without waiting a single minute until the appointed hour, she said goodbye to her dear father, put a gold ring on her right little finger and found herself in the chambers of the lofty beasts of the forest, the monsters of the sea. She marveled that he did not meet her, and cried out in a loud voice: - Where are you, my good sir, my faithful friend? There was no answer, no greeting. Her heart trembled, she ran around the green gardens, came running to a hillock and saw that the forest animal, having engulfed the scarlet flower with its ugly paws, was lying lifeless. Her clear eyes grew dim, she fell to her knees, hugged her ugly head and screamed in a loud voice: - Get up, wake up, my dear friend!.. And as soon as she uttered these words, lightning flashed, the earth shook from great thunder, and the young merchant’s daughter fell unconscious. How long or how long did she lie without memory, only when she woke up, she saw herself on a golden throne, on her head with a royal crown; her father and sisters stand in front of her, the prince, a handsome young man, hugs her; and the young prince says to her: “The evil sorceress was angry with my late parent, the glorious and mighty king, stole me when I was still young, turned me into a terrible monster 30 and cast a spell on me so that I could live in this ugly form until a red maiden was found and loved me in the form of a monster; then the witchcraft will all end; and I lived like this monster for exactly thirty years. You alone fell in love with me, disgusting monster, for my caresses and pleasing, for my kind soul, and for this you will be the king’s wife, a queen in a mighty kingdom. Then everyone marveled, the retinue bowed to the ground. The honest merchant gave his blessing to his daughter and, without hesitation at all, they began to have a merry feast and a wedding, and began to live, live and make good things. 12. Sister (Ukrainian folk tale) My brother and I loved each other deeply from childhood. To quarrel among ourselves, to offend another - God forbid! If it happens that we don’t agree on something, we give in to each other. And my nieces loved me very much. Sometimes they even quarrel because of me: “This is my aunt,” says one, and he pulls me towards him: “Mine!” - but as soon as they cling to me, and as soon as they start kissing me, they snatch the work out of my hands, and the scarf falls off my head. Only my sister-in-law was too arrogant with me. Didn’t I please her like a little child? No, I didn’t. “Little daughter-in-law, my soul,” I used to tell her, “let’s do it this way or that, and everything will be fine.” Whether to buy or sell something, he will never listen to anything in the world; although there will be an obvious loss, he will bet on his own. I’ll shut up in front of her, cry quietly, and that’s all. I didn’t want to disturb my brother; Again, it happened that I would approach her with affectionate speeches. One day we planted seedlings in the garden; I talk to her, but she doesn’t seem to hear, she moves away. My heart felt heavy, I began to sing; I sing, and tears flow from my eyes. Suddenly I hear: - God help you, good day to you! I look - it’s our neighbor leaning on the fence and bowing. I quickly wiped away my tears. “Hello,” I say, “sister.” – Would you sell me a pinch of seedlings? “We sell to strangers, but we have to give it to our neighbor anyway.” “Thank you for your kindness, sister,” and he hands me the pot. I collected seedlings in that pot and gave them to her. She thanked him and went on her way. My daughter-in-law came at me like that. “They’ll start managing my place here, they’ll completely plunder my entire property!” This way there will be nothing left of the golden mountain! And she went, and she went... Mother of God! I just shed tears. “Little daughter-in-law,” I tell her, “so far I have had nothing for you, I have spared nothing.” It’s a sin for you to reproach me with a piece of bread now!.. I quit my job and left the garden. I felt heavy and bitter, and I took the following thought into my head: “I’ll leave them, I’ll go serve the people.” I collected my goods. She put some of it in a bag, and gave the rest to her brother’s children (there were five of them: two girls and three boys). No matter how much my brother and sister-in-law begged me, when they found out what I was up to, no matter how much the children cried, asking me not to leave them, I firmly decided to go serve strangers: there would be less sin, and my heart, it seemed to me, would be calmer. Went to bed; and I didn’t close my eyes all night. Thoughts and thoughts do not go crazy. I got up very early. Everyone is asleep: it’s not even dawn yet. Dark. For the last time I looked at the children, at my brother; and I felt sorry for my daughter-in-law. She took her bag and quietly left the hut. I walk and walk and don’t look back. Here is a high mound that turns green beyond the outskirts. I climbed up that mound and looked at my village; and the sun is rising... The village is clear in the palm of your hand; White huts, well pillars, green gardens and vegetable gardens began to flash before my eyes. I see my father’s farmstead and that curly, branchy willow under which I played as a little girl. I stand and don’t move, I’m staring at it; every path, every bush - everything is so familiar to me. I once heard, from the late priest, that some of our relatives live in Demyanovka. “I’ll go to them,” I thought, “I’ll be more and more willing to serve where my family is traced.” I’m walking along the road, and I’m so scared that I can’t even tell. I'm glad if anyone comes my way. Soon I met an old woman from the village of Demyanovka. We started talking. Then I found out that my relatives had died a long time ago. – What will I do now? – I said with tears. “Why grieve and complain,” my interlocutor answered me. “And here’s what I advise you: go serve our father Ivan.” I was baptized and married by him, I still live, and, most likely, I will die with him. He and his wife - what kind of people they are: old-world, simple. There are only two of them, and both are old and elderly. They had a daughter, they gave her away in marriage; But she didn’t manage it for long, she died. She still has the girl; The old people took their granddaughter in with them. Such a nice child. Father Ivan was already very decrepit, and had been blind for nine years, but he did not leave the service of God at all. The bishop found out that the blind old man was conducting services, and he forbade it. Then our people went all together in peace to ask for Father Ivan to leave him. “Good people! - the bishop told them, - if you love him so much, then I do not forbid him to stand before the throne of God until the very end of his age; I just need to make sure with my own eyes that the blind old man is performing God’s service accurately.” The bishop arrived and gave praise to God the Lord that he so firmly and without error rules the service of God, and blessed him with the cross... Go to him, little dove! There won't be much work for you. I will help you in whatever way I can. - Thank you, my dear grandmother! Give you, Lord, every good thing! Well, now we’ll have some afternoon tea and be on our way. Today, God willing, we will spend the night at home. Demyanovka lies in the valley, as if in a green nest. The village is large and rich; there are two churches in it: one is stone, tall, the other is wooden and ancient, even grown into the ground and crooked. Father Ivan lived not far behind the stone church. I walked in to him and stood there, not myself. I hear an old lady talking about me. “Come in and rest, child,” someone said so kindly and quietly. I raised my eyes: an old, old grandfather was sitting opposite me on a linden bench. His eyes are sightless, and there is such silence and kindness in those eyes that I have never seen. His beard is white, curly, below the waist; he sits in the shade, only the evening sunbeams seem to shower him with gold. When I heard such kind words, it was as if my heart was filled with tears: tears flowed from my eyes. And he extended his hand and blessed me. I looked - the hostess came in, old, small, barely visible from the ground, and also cheerful, so talkative. - Stay with God, my dear. You are still young, you will cheer up our house and make our granddaughter happy. Run here, Marusya, go, don’t be ashamed. She is so bashful among us, as if she had been betrothed. She took the pretty dark girl, whose eyes were sparkling from behind the door, by the hand, and led her into the hut. “Bow,” he says, “Marusya, young lady, greet her.” She bowed and greeted me; and I think to myself: “What are my dear nieces now? Do they remember me? I stayed with Ivan's father. I live with him for a month, then I live for another; I should live with him. Everyone loves me like their own child. It used to be that I would manage, tidy up the house; We will have lunch and sit in the garden under the cherry trees. Father sits quietly and thinks to himself, or whispers a prayer, or sings psalms... and that’s good, my God! The old woman and the housewife talk to each other about this and that; and I’ll sit next to them and listen; and the granddaughter, like a white ball, rolls around the kindergarten; Then he will run up to us, then again he will disappear in the green density. The day will pass so quietly and calmly that it seems that the whole century would have passed like this; but I still have longing in my heart and incessant sadness. They talk to me and console me: “Don’t worry,” they say, “this is a great sin. The child cries because he does not understand anything; and whoever has grown up must help his own grief. Just think: maybe you will still know good in the world; But if you waste your health, then what kind of life is there? Come on, dear one, listen to us old people. Look better at what kind of evening the Lord gave.” I look - and the sun is setting, the river flows like pure gold between the green birches; curly willows bathe their branches in water; here and there near the white hut the cherry blossoms turn red; a tall raspberry bush props up the roof and covers the entire white wall; and the hut itself stands in a blooming garden, as if in a wreath. And green, and red, and white, and blue, and scarlet near that hut... - This light is like the color of poppies; How will it be in the next world? - says the old woman, shaking her head. And the priest will raise his sightless eyes to the sky and say: “Glory to the Lord God!” So one Saturday, I was whitewashing the hut; suddenly my Marusenka runs. – What guests? - I ask, and it was as if everything was engulfed in fire. - Yes, there is some man there, so dark, tall, and a beautiful young woman, and the children with them are asking you. I won’t even come to my senses, I’m standing there. Suddenly my brother came into the hut with his wife and children. My God! I was so stupefied: one thing was great joy: I saw them; and another thing is that she remembered her grief and misfortune. Everyone started asking me: “Come and come with us!” “If you don’t listen to my wife and me,” my brother says to me (and my daughter-in-law asks me, but she’s so gloomy herself), “so at least listen to our children; they cry for you every day.” And the children, as they clung to my neck, do not let me go, kiss me and ask: “Come with us, our dear aunt, come!” They cried, my darlings; That's how the tears started dripping from their eyes. They have fallen to me, and it is impossible to tear them away. I made excuses, made excuses, but finally had to give in. I went, said goodbye to the owners, thanked them for their mercy and kindness. They feel sorry that I am leaving them, but they are happy for me that God has given me to return home to my brother. They saw me off with bread and salt, blessed me, and Marusechka even cried that I was leaving her. I again entered the hut where I grew up and spent my maiden life. I look: every corner is grinning at me cheerfully, and I myself seem to be younger, running around the yard with the children; I’ll look outside, then I’ll rush into the kindergarten... After all, I’m at home, at home... 13. Be lenient and meek! A person who is embittered against us is a sick person; you need to put a plaster on his heart - love; we need to caress him, talk to him with affection, with love, and if there is no anger in him deep-rooted against us, but only a temporary outbreak, see how his heart or his anger melts from our affection and love, how good overcomes evil. A Christian must always be good, wise, so that good can overcome evil. The sun has disappeared, the valleys are smoking; The herds slowly make their way to their sleeping quarters; The forest peaks are moving slightly, The wind brings coolness at night. The heavens burn with quiet glory. Brothers! Leaving my day job, "Night at sunrise with the evening star: Quietly shining with a golden stream Lord! Our path is between stones and thorns, Our path is in the darkness: You, the unevening light, In the darkness of midnight, in the midday heat, In sorrow and joy, in sweet peace, God's wisdom and power and word... Comp. according to “Trinity gift. for Russian children" On October thirtieth, the Holy Church remembers the suffering of the Hieromartyr Zinovy ​​and his sister Zinovia. They were born in the Cappadocian city of Egea from pious parents who raised them in the law of the Lord. They were left orphans early, but the good instructions of their parents had already taken root in them, and they decided to give away their rich property to the poor and live only to serve God. The Lord accepted their sacrifice, and Zinovy ​​received from the Lord the gift of miracles. He could heal the sick through prayer and the laying on of hands. Soon his miracles and virtues glorified him throughout the region, and the Egean Christians elected him bishop. Saint Zinovy ​​zealously instructed his flock both by word and by the example of his holy life. But then the terrible Diocletian persecution broke out, a royal dignitary was sent to the city of Hegea in order to persuade Christians to renounce the faith and put the disobedient to death. Many Christians became famous for their martyrdom for Christ. Saint Zenobius was also called for interrogation. “I don’t need to talk to you for a long time,” the pagan dignitary told him, “here is life and death for you: life if you worship our gods, death if you don’t; choose! “Life without Christ is death,” answered the bishop, “but bodily death for Christ’s sake is eternal life.” I want to die here and live forever with Christ. “We’ll see if your Christ will help you!” - said the dignitary and ordered to beat the bishop severely. Saint Zenobia, having learned that her brother was suffering for Christ, hurried to the judgment seat and, standing before the tormentor, exclaimed: – I am a Christian, just like my brother, I confess God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Order them to torture me too; I want to die the same death as my brother. The royal dignitary began to admonish the girl, convinced her to renounce her faith, and presented to her the horror and shame of a nationwide execution. Saint Zinovia remained adamant. Then the angry pagan ordered both her and her brother to be placed on an iron grate, under which coals were burning. - Well, does your Christ help you? - he asked the martyrs, swearing at their faith. “He is invisibly with us,” they answered. – He refreshes us with the dew of His grace, and we do not feel torment. They took them off the grate and threw them into a cauldron of boiling resin. But, protected by the Lord, they remained unharmed and sang a psalm of praise to God. Then they were given the death penalty. The martyrs went to their deaths with joy. “We thank You, Lord,” they exclaimed, “that You have made us worthy to fight a good fight, to continue the course of the faith; make us partakers of Your glory and number us among those who have pleased You, for You are good forever.” A voice from heaven called them to eternal life and incorruptible crowns, and they joyfully surrendered their souls to God. What is most amazing is the brotherly love that united the hearts of brother Zinovy ​​and sister Zinovy, this unanimity of minds and hearts. What a brother does, so does a sister. The brother goes to suffer for Christ, and the sister also. Here is a sample of how brothers and sisters should behave towards each other. We should especially learn this where there are many brothers and sisters. But, the truth must be told, they rarely grow up in complete love and harmony: quarrels, complaints about each other, reluctance to serve each other - this is what mostly happens in large families. And when they get older, they often completely cool off towards each other and live like strangers. This is not how it should be according to the spirit of our Lord’s teaching. If all believers should be unanimous and like-minded among themselves, then even more so brothers and sisters. Let them be different in age, in character, in abilities, but when they come of age, and in their occupation, and in their means of living - what’s the matter? Despite all the differences, they have a lot in common, binding them into one close union. What is common is that everyone has the same concern about acquiring Heaven and its joys; these are works for the Kingdom of Heaven. This is where they should focus their attention, this is where they should show their brotherly love. Every brother, every sister should take care of each other: are they spending their lives well, for the benefit of the family? Is it to console parents and relatives? Is the name of God glorified through their lives? Are they close to salvation? Everyone should notice the good sides in each other and imitate them, and brotherly and meekly correct shortcomings. Who is closer to a brother if not you, sister or brother? Tell him, if he does not live as a Christian should, remind him of his Christian duty, of the title that he bears - your brotherly word, spoken from a loving heart, cannot remain fruitless for him. Often older brothers try to give their younger brothers this or that pleasure by loving them. This, of course, cannot be strictly condemned. But you would do even better if you found more time to talk with them about Christ, read them the Gospel, the lives of the saints, if you gradually taught them to pray, talk with the Lord, and go to the church of God. Especially, brother and sister, try to set a good example for each other. Look how the example of her brother Zinovy ​​affected Zinovia. The brother goes to torture and death for Christ - and the sister, imitating him, too. And you teach each other good by your example - by example, teach the younger ones the fear of God, obedience, love of prayer, church service and reverent standing in church. An example is a great thing, it is stronger than any words. Oh, if the spirit of Christ reigned in our families, then there would be no discord, no quarrels, no fighting, but there would be the most ardent love; because everyone would not be looking for their own personal benefits, but for what leads to the common good, the family. The love of the Hieromartyr Zinovy ​​and his sister Zinovia was based on love for Christ, for Whom they suffered. May love for Christ unite today’s brothers and sisters too! We'll try to get it all. There will be love for Christ, and there will be brotherly love. Then it will be pleasant, easy, and comforting for brothers and sisters to live for each other; because here, in the person of a brother or sister, everything will be done for Christ. From the magazine "Christian's Rest" In one country there lived a young man whom everyone called beautiful. His majestic stature, light graceful gait, black eyes that burned with the fire of courage, a ruddy, clear face like a May morning, long hair, scattered in wavy curls over his shoulders - all this aroused delight and surprise in everyone. Intoxicated by the feeling of his own beauty and superiority, the young man believed all his happiness in beauty and treated people arrogantly. He happened to be in the same crypt 31. “Two sisters lie here,” he read the inscription on the stone tablet there. “One is a wondrous beauty, the other is a sad disgrace.” Visitor! Lift up the stone and see the truth of these words.” The young man impulsively picked up the stone and recoiled in horror: two decayed, equally ugly skeletons were white in front of him. “I'm a fool! - the young man exclaimed. – I forgot that earthly beauty awaits decay. Only the beauty of the soul is eternal, only true goodness in people is eternal.” 17. Lessons for gossip lovers One woman, a well-known lover of spreading gossip from house to house, went to the priest and confessed. He gave her a ripe blackthorn and ordered all its thin grains to be scattered one by one into the wind. She was surprised, but obeyed. Having fulfilled the order, she announced this to the priest. Now he invited her to collect the scattered seeds. She immediately saw that this was impossible. This is a good and vivid lesson about the sin of gossip and slander. When you are slandered, and because of this you are embarrassed and sick at heart, it means that you have pride - it is this that must be wounded and driven out of your heart by external dishonor. So, do not be irritated by ridicule and do not hate those who hate and slander, but love them as your doctors, whom God sent you to enlighten you and teach you humility, and pray to God for them. Bless you who curse (Matthew 5:44), - say: they do not slander me, but my passion, they do not beat me, but that snake that nests in my heart and affects it painfully when slander is applied; I console myself with the thought that, perhaps, good people will knock it out of there with their barbs, and then it won’t hurt. Thank God for external dishonor: he who has suffered dishonor here will not be subjected to it in that age. Brother! You feel in your heart a murderous evil against your neighbor, you are tormented by evil thoughts about the insults caused by him to you - here is a way for you to get rid of your inner tightness: imagine the multitude of your sins, innumerable in number, and vividly imagine how the Lord of your life suffers on you, how He daily and without number forgives you, if you sincerely pray to Him for that, your sins - meanwhile, you do not want to forgive to your neighbor several outbursts of passion aroused in him by the devil. Sigh, if you can, cry about your madness, just condemn yourself without fail, not your neighbor - and now mercy from the Lord is ready for you: inner tightness will disappear like smoke, your thoughts will become clearer, your heart will calm down, and you will again walk in the space of your heart; Accustom yourself to gentleness as if it were not you who listened to reproaches, slander, insults, but someone else entirely, or, as it were, your shadow; do not allow suspiciousness. Look what happens in nature in spring. Not everything in her is just rejoicing and having fun. All God's creatures are busy at this time - some about building a nest for their young and bringing them food, others about preparing supplies for the future. And man cannot sit back and admire the jubilation of nature. Everyone must get to work, sow the fields, dig up the gardens, cultivate the orchards. Whoever does not work in the spring will be left without food supplies for the winter. He who does not sow in the spring will have nothing to reap; and then there will be nothing to eat. And in our lives, friends, youth is also spring. Whatever a man sows in his youth, he will also reap in his old age. In youth, idle time leads a person to a sad and fruitless fate for the rest of his life. If we do not do what is necessary when our youth has an excess of strength, then in our decrepit age it will no longer be within our power. Thus, if in our youth, with diligence and obedience to good and useful teaching, we do not plant in our soul the beginnings of Christian virtues and civil virtues, then we will remain useless members of society and bad Christians for the rest of our lives. Passion is hot, vague, thoughtless, evil, impetuous, and therefore a person in passion, for example in anger, says a lot of thoughtless, untrue, fictitious, evil things that he would not say in a calm state. Therefore, knowing from experience this property of passions, firstly, do not speak when you are embarrassed or angry, and excuse hot and irritated people when they hurl curses and reproaches, unfair or just. 22. Praskovya Grigorievna Lupulova Examples of tender children's love are not uncommon, but they often go unnoticed and are not recorded in the memory of others; and this is not at all surprising: love for parents, even if combined with donations, is a pleasant duty for each of us and does not require praise or universal attention. With all this, we are always pleased to remember and talk about such examples of children's affection that go beyond the ordinary. One of them, the most touching and edifying, is represented by the maiden Praskovya Grigorievna Lupulova, whose story dates back to the beginning of the reign of Alexander I and has become a historical legend. The fate of this girl aroused the active participation of the society of that time; Almost all European magazines wrote about her. Praskovya Grigorievna Lupulova was born in the city of Elisavetgrad, Kherson province in 1784. Her father was a Hungarian who served in the Russian military; he took part in Russian battles against the Turks during the reign of Catherine II and was wounded during the capture of Ochakov. In 1798, he was sentenced for some crime to deprivation of ranks, nobility and exile to Siberia. Attached to her father with all her soul, his kind daughter did not want to part with her father, did not want to leave the old man without help, without consolation in misfortune, and followed him into distant exile, firmly deciding to endure all the disasters and humiliations inseparable from the life of an exiled criminal. The place of exile was assigned to the city of Ishim, Tobolsk province, located almost three thousand miles from St. Petersburg. How much need and grief, cold and hunger a fourteen-year-old girl had to experience in order to reach this remote place, especially since she had to make her way on some carts, sometimes on foot, under the supervision of soldiers, not always sensitive, who, of course, cared very little about her comforts and treated her without any condescension to her tender age. Finally, the young innocent sufferer reached remote Ishim. Her life was not pleasant even upon arrival at her destination. Receiving an insignificant allowance, sufficient only for meager daily food, some ten kopecks a day, her father could not hire a servant, and the young daughter had to bear all the household chores: wash clothes, cook food, look after the garden, etc.; her mother, heartbroken and no longer young, could not replace her. But Parasha bore the severity of her situation with Christian humility; she had already come to terms with need and grief and, of course, was forever ready to submit to her fate; she was little worried even about her terrible future, which was prepared for her after the death of her father, if the unfortunate woman remained forever in Siberia. The devoted daughter lived only for her parents; Her only desire was to ease their hard lot. But with all the caresses, with all the tender care of his daughter, the unfortunate father could not get used to his situation. No matter how hard he tried to hide his gloomy disposition from his daughter, the perceptive girl could not help but notice it; She understood well that it was difficult for her father to endure the humiliation of exile. I don’t know if she guessed about another reason for his mental anxieties, but we can easily guess it: he was hardly more sad that he could not provide a position for his only daughter and could not give her a proper education. Be that as it may, Parasha noticed his suffering, and a bold, noble intention sank into her soul - to return freedom and former rights to her parents. For three years she concealed her plan, finally revealed herself to her father and asked to be released to St. Petersburg to petition for mercy and forgiveness at the feet of the magnanimous monarch. For a long time the father did not agree to this daughter’s request: his daughter’s cares, her affection, even her presence alone constituted his only joy. Finally, forced by her persistent requests, he agreed, foreseeing the will of God in this. Is it necessary to talk about how difficult it was for the unfortunate parents to part with their daughter, whom they released almost to obvious death? Day after day they postponed the departure, wanting to prolong the precious minutes of, perhaps, their last date; finally they decided to part, gave their daughter their blessing and the image of the Mother of God and gave her the last ruble they had; They escorted Parasha out of the house, walked with her along the road for a long time and finally parted ways, after bitter tears on both sides. Our traveler was now left alone, defenseless, homeless. It is not difficult to imagine what she must have felt at those moments. Before her lay a terrible space that she had to measure with her steps - whose heart would not shudder at the mere thought of it? Meanwhile, our traveler did not hesitate and, with warm faith in her heart, set off on a long journey, repeating the comforting words: “As God lives, my soul lives!” The road stretched sadly and gloomily, making its way through deserted plains or dense, impenetrable forests, with which Siberia is rich. Naturally, the young girl, with all her faith in God’s help, could not be calm, left alone in the middle of these deserted places: every rustle of a leaf, every rustle should have made her tremble; This fear increased even more because the inexperienced wanderer did not know the road at all and walked at random; It often happened that, setting off from an overnight stay, she forgot the direction of the road and walked back until she came across some object that was already familiar to her. If we add to all this that the unfortunate woman often had to walk in the rain, in bad weather, then we can easily imagine the suffering that she must have experienced. But that's not all: winter is coming soon, the most terrible winter that can only happen in Siberia. In the places where she walked, frosts can be unusually severe, which we have no idea about. The lack of housing sometimes forces travelers to stop on a snowy plain and, in the face of a fierce, blinding blizzard, remain this way for quite a long time. With all that, Lupulova somehow got to Yekaterinburg, which is about six hundred miles. Isn’t it clear that the Lord miraculously preserved the good daughter and that the guardian angel was constantly with her? Of course, in this regard, she was obliged in this regard both to her tender, meek disposition, which involuntarily endeared the coarsest hearts to her, and to her difficult situation, which aroused the participation of everyone; but with all this, only by the power of faith in Divine Providence, only by the power of will and love for her unfortunate parents could a seventeen-year-old girl endure what Lupulova endured. In Yekaterinburg she stopped to rest in order to strengthen her exhausted strength, and stayed for several months with a charitable person. But she also used the rest time usefully - here she began to learn to read and write, which she did not know before. From Yekaterinburg to Vyatka, also supported by patronage, she set off by water, about 1000 versts; From Vyatka to Kazan she walked. It is unknown how she traveled from here to St. Petersburg; but arrived there safely on August 5, 1804. And here the Lord did not leave her with His help: one beneficent lady accepted her into her home and, probably, assisted her in a noble deed. Soon Lupulova's request reached the throne of the blessed Alexander I. The merciful monarch, touched by the exemplary act of his virtuous daughter, forgave her guilty father and allowed him to return to his homeland or live wherever he wished, except for the capital. But the Emperor’s beneficence did not end there: he granted the young wanderer two thousand rubles; The august family also provided her with financial assistance; private people rushed to the aid of her father’s deliverer. When they asked her: “How did she decide to take such a long journey?”, she answered: “What did I have to be afraid of? I knew that God does not abandon the unfortunate.” To the praise constantly addressed to her, she replied: “Why should I be praised? Shouldn’t a daughter suffer for her parents?” From all this one can see that Praskovya Grigorievna Lupulova was distinguished by extraordinary modesty and prudence. In conversations she was resourceful and smart: so, one day she was asked a rather immodest question: why was her parent exiled? Lupulova, not at all embarrassed, answered: “Parents can never be guilty in the eyes of their children.” This answer was so clever and at the same time unexpected that the one who asked, of course, should have been ashamed of his question. In general, Lupulova behaved modestly and cautiously, but without any shyness; there was no sophistication in her speeches, but her natural common sense was visible. Thanks to the generosity of the monarch and other benefactors, she had enough money to reward the sad and difficult years of her youth with a cheerful, calm life upon her father's return; but Lupulova, in the midst of happiness, remembered her vow, given in a difficult moment of her life, and retired to the Desyatinny nunnery of the Novgorod province. Here she ended her days dedicated to God in December 1809. 23. Don’t say that to heaven... Believe: like fragrant incense, When you pray, don't waste Unnecessary words; but with all my soul Try to realize with faith, That He hears that He is with you. What are words for Him? - About what? Happy at heart or sorrowful, You wouldn't even think about it Does the All-Seer really not know? Love for the Creator in your soul If only it would burn invariably, Like before a sacred icon 1. We must seek consolation in sorrows in Jesus Christ, otherwise we will seek consolation in vain. If you are sad, cry before the crucifixion of the Redeemer. Just as after clouds and fogs there is a clear bucket, so after crying your soul will clear up with the dawn of gracious consolation. 2. Prayer to the sad is the same as cooling off during the heat (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk). 3. Nothing can cheer up one weighed down and depressed by sorrow, like the remembrance of God (St. Isidore Pelusiot). Man is a wonderful, majestic, wise, artistic work of the most perfect Artist - God; at first it was undefiled, unblasphemous, incorruptible and pure, but sin, this ugly generation of the spirit of darkness, this foul, absurd, evil force, made it foul and painful, unclean and corruptible by its dual nature, in soul and body. However, the wise and omnipotent, all-good Artist did not allow His and our enemy to completely destroy His art, His beautiful and majestic creation, and He Himself arranges for Himself a body servile to us and borrows a soul from the womb of the Most Pure Virgin Mother; By His incarnation, His teaching, miracles, suffering, death and resurrection, His wonderful and wise economy, He again restores the work of His hands to its former and even greater splendor and glory. He again grants him incorruptibility, shrine, wonderful divine beauty and elevates him to the first bliss, deifying human nature and seating it on the throne of the Divine. Glory to Thee, all-good and wise and all-powerful Artist! Do you want to see from experience how saving patience is for your soul? Listen to what one righteous man tells, who was privileged to see the places where saints rest after death. In one glorious place he saw a certain man and asked him: “What did you do in the world and what did you do to deserve such a place?” “I was a worker for an evil man,” he answered, “and I suffered a lot from him until the end of my life.” Afterwards he saw another man in an equally glorious place and asked him: “What were you doing in the world?” “I was sick for a long time and patiently endured my illness.” So this is what patience means. To endure is as saving for our soul as to engage in salvation; enduring something sorrowful is just as useful as doing good deeds; refraining from words offensive to one’s neighbor is just as pleasing to God as praising Him unceasingly. Don't judge - because we are all human, All are weak, infirm, entangled in sin; Our breasts are stirred by passions; Do not judge... So that you can be a judge of your neighbors, Ask your conscience: are you better than them? O brother, who is truly pure in soul, He is kind to the mistakes of others. Don't judge... After all, there is no return to a word. See that - as the Savior said - it is unequal You will see the spoke in your brother's eye, And you will look through your log. Do not judge - so that by reproach That stone would not have fallen on you from above, Heavy stone of condemnation, Which you threw at your brother. Don’t judge... It’s not people who are evil at heart, And people's lives are often evil. First find out what their path is Don't judge... Do you dare to vouch, That you won't be carried away by addiction? Don't judge! You may be wrong. Don't judge! - You will not be condemned... 28. Russian sisters of mercy The wounded General Komarov was brought to the fortress of Alexandropol, in the Caucasus. The care was good, he began to get better little by little, but the wound on his leg did not heal. The doctors said that it was necessary to take skin from a living person and attach it to the sore spot. The patient did not have enough strength. Sister of mercy Lebedeva found out about this and told the doctors: “Cut out my skin as much as necessary.” The doctors agreed and cut out eighteen small pieces of skin from her: nine pieces on her right arm and nine on her left. While they were cutting, she didn’t blink an eye. The next day she developed a fever, but the general soon recovered and left for the army. How much lofty Christian love lies in this act of the sister of mercy! Only the Holy Gospel can inflame people to such selfless love for their neighbors and the Fatherland. This happened during the last Turkish war. At night a shootout broke out. The Turks advanced on our fortifications, deafening us from afar with the noise of rifles and noise. Our soldiers, exposed to fire, calmly waited for the command. We fired the first volley at point-blank range when the Turks approached twenty to thirty paces. - God! How many deaths! My dears, my sick ones! – a gentle voice whispered from behind me. - Why are you here, sister? Get off! You can't, they'll kill you. My sister didn't listen to me. She grabbed her head with her hands and whispered a prayer. I hear, not for myself, but for us. We repulsed the Turks and drove them away. The next day, embittered, they shot at each of those who raised their heads above the rampart. Loud groans were heard behind the rampart. - What is this? Who's moaning? – the nurse asked me. - The Turks came to our fortifications yesterday. They were wounded, but they didn’t have time to pick up their own. - They will lie there until they die. - But you have to pick it up, don’t you? You can’t do this, because they are suffering. “You just have to raise your head above the rampart and the Turks will start shooting.” Do you see? – Still... God will help. Brothers, can they really die like this? The soldiers hesitated. Who wants to go to certain death? - You have soul, my dears! Orthodox Christians, I feel sorry for them! - It’s a pity, it’s a pity, sister, but how can I get out? There's death here. One Turkish wounded man, as if on purpose, was rushing about right next to the rampart. “If you don’t want to, I’ll go myself.” “And before we had time to come to our senses, my sister was already behind the shaft. - What is this, brothers? Are you really going to leave? - And the old non-commissioned officer with the St. George Cross jumped over the rampart. More soldiers with stretchers jumped over him. Hell has risen. Bullets whistled from everywhere. The sister, not paying attention, leaned over the bushes, looking for the wounded Turks. There is not the slightest fear on the face, only it has turned pale and the eyes are shining. To the credit of the Turks, as soon as they noticed why ours had come down, they lowered their guns and put their heads above the rampart. Apparently they were surprised. - Merciful mother! - the soldiers said about their sister. Sister Raevskaya woke up under a wet tent. A cold wind rushed through the damp Bulgarian valley, drowned under fog, swirled around the tent, burst under its fluttering panels, and poured dampness and cold. In the tent, on straw, the sisters of mercy slept; heavy breathing, delirium and groaning were heard in sleep. Sister Raevskaya woke up at dawn. Until recently, she was a fair-haired girl with a fresh face. Where did her hair go? Why is her face so faded and so haggard? This is not her, not her at all. The other day a friend of hers from St. Petersburg met her and did not recognize her. - What's wrong with you? – he asked later. - She survived two typhus, and you know what kind of work we have... - Olga Petrovna, leave quickly. You have done too much, it will be done with you - save yourself now. - Even then they send me to Russia! They say two more months and I will die here. - How easily you say this! Yes, she and all her friends got used to it. Their feat is unnoticeable, only the soldier will take the memory of it to his remote village - the soldier whom they fought back from death. The day began in fog, cold and dim. A firefight flared up in the distance... Soldiers walked past the tent to their combat positions. - Sister Raevskaya! “You have been assigned to Russia,” says the young doctor, smiling affably, “if you worked hard, it will be done.” We have to leave tomorrow. Just listen to me, go somewhere further to the south: you need to seriously take care of yourself. You are a rich woman, you can do everything for yourself. Raevskaya began to pack up. The sisters say goodbye to her. They dream of warm, dry rooms, fresh beds, hot food, like God knows what kind of happiness... Raevskaya will go to her sister in Italy - she has been calling her to her for a long time, to the fertile south, to the shore of the warm sea. The sun is warm and the sky is cloudless - how nice it is there! - Sister, Stepanov is dying - the delirium has already begun! Raevskaya rushed out of the tent to the dying man. To the side is a hut made of brushwood. Everyone whom gangrene marked with its terrible seal was brought here; there was only one way out from here - to the grave. Sister Raevskaya came here; she was not afraid of infection and more than once sat over the dying people day and night. - Well, Stepanov? – Raevskaya asked, entering the hut. The wounded man, tossing about in delirium, looked at her wildly. She placed her thin, pale hand on his head. Little by little, the patient’s delirium began to subside. A ray of consciousness flashed across his face. - Sister... Darling... Darling... Everyone has abandoned you, you are alone with me. God bless you! - Well, that's enough, that's enough! Who abandoned you? They see that you are better, go to others, which are harder. I came here to relax and chat with you. You have been assigned home; You'll get better at home. - At home? - and it was as if the sun had cast its farewell light on the already darkened face of the dying man. - Home, glory to You, Lord! We have a good, big family; We live, sister, prosperously: we keep three cows and four horses. Here's how we do it! You are our mother, pure dove! And he no longer took his beaming gaze off her. The sister's tired hand remained on his hot forehead. She did not stop smiling at the dying man and talked to him for a long, long time about his native side - about the distant family that could not wait for him. Listening to sweet speeches, Stepanov walked away happy, smiling... The sister closed the dead man’s eyes and crossed him... “Everyone has given up, you are alone with me,” Raevskaya recalled Stepanov’s words; So will she really leave them now and go away? Will that hot sun, that blue sky, those happy people make her forget this world of sorrow and torment, where she was a guardian angel?.. No, here is her place, while her heart is still beating in her chest. - No, I won’t leave you, I won’t go anywhere! – all in tears, she repeated. And she gave up everything, she didn't leave. But she did not escape death, which had long guarded the martyr. 29. Eupraxia, abbess of the Staraya Ladoga Assumption Monastery Based on the book “Russian. mobile XIX century" Poselyanina One hundred and sixty miles from St. Petersburg and thirty from the district town of Novaya Ladoga, on the banks of the Volkhov River, is the Staraya Ladoga Assumption Convent, where Elder Eupraxia, in the world Evdokia, labored. The girl Evdokia came from a merchant rank, was orphaned at an early age and, having a penchant for monastic life, secretly left her family and spent ten years in two convents in the city of Arzamas. Accustomed to contentment and comfort, it was not easy for Evdokia to get used to the harsh monastic environment. At first she could not bear the sisters' shared food and ate only black bread. With tears, she prayed for help to be sent to her and was consoled by a wondrous phenomenon. During a serious illness, when everyone considered Evdokia to be dying, while the all-night vigil was being celebrated in the church, the sick woman heard from afar the singing of the troparion of the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos and at the last words: “You deliver our souls from death,” she clearly saw how two bright men placed the icon of the Dormition in front of her. It was so vivid that it seemed to her as if the sisters of the monastery wanted to console her by bringing the icon. With tenderness, she prayed a fervent prayer - and then the Mother of God depicted on the icon seemed to come to life and, descending from the icon, overshadowed Evdokia with Her hand with the words: “Rise and strengthen yourself - you will still serve Me a lot.” Returning from church, the nuns found Evdokia completely healthy. When Evdokia’s stay in Arzamas became known to her uncle, he sent her to live with him, but could not keep her: she left him again and, accompanied by a trusted old servant, went to Staraya Ladoga. Arriving there, she sent him back, notifying his uncle about entering the monastery. Received favorably by the abbess, Evdokia devoted herself entirely to prayerful contemplation; Her only food was black bread and kvass, which a Ladoga woman brought her once a week. Evdokia's obedience consisted of reading the Psalter over the dead. So she tried to do what would be difficult for other nuns. In December 1777, Evdokia took monastic vows with the name Eupraxia, and in 1779, the Old Ladoga abbess, transferred to another monastery, introduced her to the metropolitan as her desired successor. The high life of Eupraxia was already so well known that the abbess’s petition was fulfilled, and in the 45th year of her life Eupraxia was made abbess. Now she had a lot of worries to manage and improve the monastery. The ancient charter in the monastery came closest to the hermit, hermitage kind of life; The sisters were mostly placed two to a cell, and the abbess demanded that the young always live under the guidance of experienced elders. She received new nuns with particular discernment, especially young nuns, taking care that among them there would not be those drawn to the monastery by random circumstances, and not by a conscious and deep calling. She tried with all her might to eradicate strife, quarrels, gossip and idle meetings, and she succeeded: the moral level of the monastery increased significantly. The subject of the abbess's especially warm concerns was the splendor of the church. She tried to ensure that not only on holidays, but also on weekdays, the church was brightly lit and shone with order and cleanliness. On major holidays, the surrounding clergy were invited to the monastery for cathedral services. It often happened that on that day, when church funds were completely depleted and there was nothing left to illuminate the church, some stranger unexpectedly brought help or it came from St. Petersburg, where the name of Eupraxia was becoming famous. Out of her deep faith, the abbess boldly undertook for the splendor of church affairs that seemed impossible, and completed them. Having saved some money, she began to build a stone bell tower, but the matter stopped due to a lack of money; Deeply grieving over this, Eupraxia spent the whole night in fervent prayer. The next morning, when she fell into a slumber, she had a vision of the Great Martyr Barbara, who consoled her. At the same hour, the landowner Zheltukhina arrived at the monastery, handed the abbess a bag of money, exactly the required amount, and said that the Great Martyr Varvara in a dream gave her the order to hand over this amount of money to the abbess. When the bell tower was ready, Eupraxia went to St. Petersburg to personally bring the new bell cast there. She was following the cart in a light carriage. The winter that year was fierce, with fierce snowstorms. Halfway along the road, in a blizzard, at night, the coachmen lost their way, the cart got stuck in blocks of snow and the horses stopped. Not far away there were lights in the windows and dogs were barking. But Eupraxia did not want to leave the bell in the field and go to the village, as the coachmen suggested. She let them go with the horses, and she was left alone in the middle of the blizzard, in an open field, in her cart. She often leaned out to peer at the bell. In the middle of the night, instead of the bitter cold that was breathing everywhere, she suddenly felt warmth. A wonderful light surrounded her cart, and in this light stood, guarding Eupraxia, the monks Alexander of Svir, Sergius and Herman of Valaam. The abbess divided the alms received by the monastery to the sisters, having the same share with them. Volkhov fishermen often came to her for a blessing before fishing and then brought her part of the catch, and sometimes they threw a special sink for her, and then a huge amount of fish landed. This was witnessed, by the way, by an eminent landowner who visited the monastery after the stories she heard about Eupraxia in Moscow. The abbess constantly cared for the sick and weak sisters, and for the dead she performed commemorations and distributed the property remaining after their death to those in need. She herself never took part in the funeral, did not care about the exquisite meal for the honored guests, and with the help of the landowner Putilov, whose garden approached the monastery walls, she served a good, but simple treat in her cell on a tray. Eupraxia took on an extraordinary feat from the first years of her abbotship for solitary prayer. She grieved a lot that the management of the monastery deprived her of her former silence, and after an animated prayer a mysterious voice showed her the opportunity to retire. Four miles from the monastery, in the depths of the dense Abramovsky forest, there was a high hillock - Abramovshchina. Eupraxia decided to take refuge there to pray. She began going to Abramovshchina after early mass three times a week, on fast days, and returned from there late in the evening. Eupraxia cut down a small log chapel under a tall pine tree, and at the bottom of the hillock he dug a well and erected a large wooden cross over it. On the site of the hill, the ascetic performed her prayer rule. It consisted of reading the Gospel, the Apostle and akathists. Eupraxia brought with her sacred books, candles with flint and parts of holy relics. The four-mile path through mosses and swamps was difficult, especially in autumn or winter, in a blizzard, through deep snowdrifts. Eupraxia wore men's shoes and skied in winter. Only from a strong whirlwind did she take refuge in the chapel, or when she needed to read with a candle. Without food, tired from walking, she plunged into prayer; her body was covered with bloody scars and punctured by the stings of gadflies and mosquitoes. But amidst these free sufferings, a gracious mood, joyful cleansing tears, tenderness of heart and spiritual revelations descended on the fearless ascetic. Late in the evening, quietly humming the verse “The day is ending, the end is approaching,” she returned to the monastery, to her unheated cell, which she had locked in the morning. This feat of Eupraxia was fraught with great dangers, from which she was saved by God's intercession. One dead autumn evening, praying in the chapel, Eupraxia saw from behind the partition a tall man in a tattered soldier's overcoat with a knife in his hands. She did not interrupt her rule, and when she finished it and turned around, the soldier was on his knees and praying. He called her a saint of God, begged for mercy and said that he had left the regiment and wandered through the forest without food; a pillar of light ascending to the sky led him to the chapel, where he thought to find the treasure. An incomprehensible horror deprived him of the strength to kill the nun, and finally he realized that she was overshadowed by grace. Eupraxia asked him to wait overnight, returned to the monastery and the next morning brought him a large prosphora and a ruble of money, instructed him and predicted that with this supply he would safely reach St. Petersburg, and if he came to the boss with a guilty head, he would be forgiven, atone for his guilt and would then be promoted in rank. Subsequently, the soldier wrote her a warm letter, in which he said that with the abbess’s parting words, he arrived well-fed in St. Petersburg, was forgiven by the lenient commander, purified himself through service, and was promoted to sergeant-major for his distinction. One day, also on an autumn evening, when the abbess and the nun Elpidifora, who was close to her, were to return from the desert to the monastery, a terrible thunderstorm broke out. The darkness of the night, illuminated by the brilliance of lightning, the rumble of thunder, the howling of the wind, the roar of the pine trees shaken by the whirlwind - everything terrified the nun; the exit from the chapel seemed like an abyss to her, and she begged the abbess to stay in the chapel for the night. But Eupraxia was adamant; Lighting her way with a dim lantern, she walked into the storm. At the well, the lantern was blown out by the wind. But then a thin light shone, which went before them to the gates of the monastery, like a strip of daylight. The abbess strictly ordered the nun to keep this event secret. Eupraxia was not afraid of the predatory animals that huddled in the thicket of the Abramovsky forest; these animals caressed her. A courtyard man of a neighboring landowner, walking from hunting in the evening, saw Eupraxia surrounded by wolves who ran after her like dogs. He thought that it was no accident and that she was a witch. Then the animals rushed at the hunter, and he would have had a bad time if the old woman had not started calling them to her like a flock of jackdaws - and he ran away, and the next morning he thanked her in front of everyone in the monastery. Eyewitnesses said that they witnessed how Eupraxia once walked to Abramovshchina on skis above the ground, without touching the snow. The storm tore the cross from the Church of the Assumption, and Eupraxia, by special inspiration, moved it to Abramovshchina and hung it on a large pine branch above the chapel. From then on, the abbess climbed up a small ladder to the cross and lit a candle in front of it. Before this cross, she received a sudden and miraculous healing of her hand, which was broken just before leaving the monastery for Abramovshchina, which was witnessed by the nuns who saw the hand swollen and hanging down in the morning and completely healthy in the evening. Several times in the church, wonderful visions visited Eupraxia, and she stood in rapturous admiration, carried away from the earth, and her face glowed. The years passed; Eupraxia had already reached a ripe old age and, due to persistent requests, was retired. She moved into a cramped cell, going out only to church and to her successor, before whom she stood up for the sisters, kneeling before her. The death of Eupraxia was approaching. The ancient elder Aquilina, who was often seen at night in a robe with a staff walking around the monastery, appeared to her. Late in the evening she knocked on her window and said: “Get ready for the outcome - you will soon unite with me.” When Eupraxia looked out the window, the ancient old woman was already moving away from her cell. Eupraxia followed her, but she disappeared before her eyes. The old lady said goodbye to the nuns, asked the abbess to lay her in the schema, which she secretly accepted, and to bury her at the feet of her beloved old lady Akilina. Having received Holy Communion and escorted the Holy Gifts to the door, she locked the entryway, spread a matting on the floor, lay down on it with a crucifix and a candle in her hand, closed her eyes - and fell asleep. It was September 23, 1823. She lived to be 91 years old. She was buried on the fifth day after her death; her body gave off a fragrance. The abbess did not fulfill her request for a burial place and a schema. Faithful Elpidifora secretly placed the schema in a coffin. Eupraxia once briefly expressed herself to this nun about her initiation into the schema: “God sent me His angel to initiate me into the schema.” After her, in a sealed casket they found chains and a package with 250 rubles, with the signature: “For the burial and commemoration of the wretched Eupraxia.” This was the income she had accumulated throughout her life from reading the Psalter. On the grave of Eupraxia, outside the window of the main altar of the Assumption Church, lies a slab with an inscription carved by her hand shortly before her death. Most of the information about the life of this ascetic was preserved thanks to the nun Elpidifora, who enjoyed the trust of the old woman and sometimes accompanied her to the Abramov region. In the book “Third-class Old Ladoga Assumption Monastery” (ed. 1871), from which this article was compiled, several phenomena and miracles of Eldress Eupraxia are described. So, a relaxed village girl saw in a dream a beautiful old woman, thin and short, wearing a cap, a robe and holding a staff. She ordered her to go to Abramovshchina, wash herself with water from the well and serve a prayer service to the cross and a memorial service for Abbess Eupraxia, then promising complete healing. Having fulfilled the command, the girl completely recovered. Selfless life, moral strength and great power of religious inspiration place Abbess Eupraxia of Staroladozhskaya among the remarkable Russian women. 30. A pagan girl is an example of an extraordinary thirst for listening to the gospel sermon This is what is known about one pagan girl. A preacher of the word of God came to a distant country called India. The pagans began to come to him. Between them, the preacher often noticed a wretched girl who came to his sermon all wet. It turned out that this girl came to listen to the word of God 14 miles from islands surrounded by water. And since she did not have a boat, she always waded through the water, and sometimes she had to plunge into the water up to her neck. But the girl was not embarrassed by anything, she was not afraid of water and always regularly went to listen to the word of God. She had such a strong desire to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ! Listen to what good Christian children did when they heard that it was necessary to help the pagans turn to Christ. One young girl was blind. She spent her life in great poverty and earned her daily bread only by knitting stockings. But despite her misery, she did not forget about the pagans she had heard about. And then one day she appeared to someone who was collecting sermons among the pagans and gave him a gold coin. – How did you save so much money? - he asked her. “I make no more money by knitting stockings than my friends, but I am blind and don’t need light, because I knit stockings without fire.” And so I brought you as much as I could have spent on kerosene over the winter. So the blind woman, despite her poverty and squalor, grieved for the pagans who do not know Christ! She, blind with her bodily eyes, cared how to help enlighten the pagans with the light of the teachings of Christ. A touching story is also told about a sick girl. Lying in bed, she begged for a small box and every week she put in a coin that her father gave: she saved this money in order to later give it to the cause of spreading Christianity among the pagans. After her death, the box with her father was opened, and it turned out to be more coins than the girl could have received from her father. Soon the confusion was cleared up: one charity promised to send oranges to the dying girl. But the sick woman asked that instead of oranges, something be put in her box for the work of preaching about Christ. Having learned this, the father thanked the Lord with tears. This is how good children helped the cause of spreading the word of God among the unfortunate pagans. Have pity, have pity on them, dear children, and you too. And your child’s heart will tell you what and how you can help those people who have not yet come to know God. They need your little contribution, and your childish prayer, and your kind sympathy, and your love for them... (Compiled from the brochure “Grains of God’s Field”, published by the Holy Trinity Lavra, 1903, book 2) From “The Book of Adults” by Alchevskaya Florence Nightingale was English. Her parents were very rich and spared nothing to raise their child. She had the best teachers: she was taught foreign languages, drawing, and music; they dressed her like a doll, amused her, pampered her. The girl had a brilliant social life ahead of her. But even as a child, Florence was not like her children: she avoided noisy games, shunned fun, and was indifferent to outfits. Already as a child she wanted to be useful to someone; her little heart was full of compassion and pity for all the unfortunate: she loved to visit the sick, caressed poor children; She gave all her money to the poor, and every human grief found a response in the soul of the impressionable child. Years passed; From a girl, Florence turned into a young girl. She was beautiful, educated, rich, she could have led a cheerful, carefree life; but such a life interested her little. And while other girls of her age and position went to balls, theaters and concerts, she visited hospitals and learned how to care for the sick there; went to free schools to teach poor children; visited prisons and juvenile correctional facilities; and when the bright figure of a young girl with clear eyes and a friendly smile appeared in the gloomy walls of the prison, the wrinkles on the sternest faces were smoothed out and the guest was greeted and seen off with a kind word; she carried the Gospel and other books to the prison, bought food supplies for the prisoners; but more valuable than gifts were her affection, her greetings, her kind, sympathetic attitude towards people. This is how she spent her youth. In 1854, the Crimean War began. The British suffered many hardships near Sevastopol; this was eloquently written about in English newspapers. The soldiers were both hungry and cold; they lacked clothing, fuel, and food. Diseases developed, mortality increased, and there was almost no care for the sick and wounded. There was not enough space in hospitals, there were not enough doctors, hospital servants. All this news deeply worried Florence; she was eager to help her compatriots. But how to do this? And so Florence decided to gather several young girls, taught them how to care for the sick and invited them to go to the scene of hostilities. In addition, she obtained permission from the English minister to open a hospital near the site of hostilities at her own expense. Very many did not approve of the brave girl’s plan: some said that it would not bring any benefit, some assumed that she started all this out of vanity, so that everyone would talk about her. But Florence did not pay attention to all these rumors and, with her small detachment of 38 people, set off on a long journey. Her assistants were called sisters; They all had the same clothes - a simple gray dress, a white cap and the same apron with a cross sewn on it. The journey from England to Sevastopol is not close. The brave girls had to travel both by sea and by land for many days; and from the first day of arrival we had to get down to business. There was a lot of work. Florence went around to all the wounded, ordered to immediately clean up the neglected, dirty premises, distributed classes among the sisters, and things began to boil. Caring for the sick, housekeeping, linen, concerns about cleanliness and order, correspondence with the English government and demands from it for help - all this was Florence's responsibility. Sometimes she found herself on her feet for 20 hours a day. Affectionate and gentle with the wounded, she spent days and nights at the bedside of the most seriously ill patients; impressionable, weak, she was present at the most difficult operations, encouraging the weak, blessing the dying. When the war ended, Florence returned to her homeland, but not to rest, but to work in the same business. She preached orally and in writing everywhere about the great importance of communities of sisters of mercy. She established a hospital for soldiers in London; under her leadership, sisters of mercy studied to care for the sick; she wrote a book about caring for the sick and wounded. This book has been translated into many languages. Until the end of her life, weak and sick, she visited hospitals and took care of everyone who needed her help. Anne Bergunion was a French girl. She had a small family: a sick mother, father and little niece. They lived quietly, barely making ends meet. Anna had long wanted to go to the monastery; Even as a girl she dreamed about this. Her mother did not dissuade her, and at the age of 18 Anna entered the monastery. There she lived calmly and well. But when the girl remembered her sick mother and old father, it became hard for her that she had left them and retired. She did not stay long in the monastery and returned to her family. Life became even more difficult: her mother was ill, her father was getting old, she had to work for everyone, and Anna’s health was poor. But she did not lose heart; she was always cheerful and friendly; She never complained that it was difficult for her. She managed the house, looked after her sick mother, nursed her niece, and took work home. Moreover, she also went to a shelter for poor children and taught the girls various jobs. Soon she set up an entire sewing workshop: her students received orders and had good earnings. So the years passed. Anna's father and mother died; she was left alone in the world. But he is not the only one who loves people and wants to help them. With her kind heart, Anna loved people from childhood, especially the sick, weak, and helpless; She wasn’t afraid of work. Her workshop went on as before, but it seemed to her that she had little to do. She took in several blind girls for a small fee. At first she found it difficult to get along with them. They were rude, lazy, disobedient. But with meekness and affection, Anna achieved her goal: the girls reformed and passionately fell in love with their kind teacher. Soon they began to help Anna in her workshop: they cleaned the rooms, prepared food; one even taught craftswomen girls how to sew and knit. The workshop was doing well; everyone lived well; but Anna was thinking about the future. “When I die, who will go after the blind,” she thought, “who will take care of them, who will love them?” Anna decided to set up a community like the sisters of mercy; in this community the sisters had to learn how to care for the blind; there should be a school, a workshop, and a shelter here. Anna had no money, but kind people helped her. The energetic, active girl endured a lot of trouble and labor on her shoulders until she achieved her goal. The community was established. A spacious room was rented. On one floor there was a school for children who were taught by blind and sighted sisters; in the other there was a workshop. There were children, adults, and elderly women in this house. Everything was furnished very simply: everyone wore the same dark dresses; ate at a common table; all the sisters had the same small cells: a table, a chair and a bed - nothing more. Anna had the same cell. Life went on quietly and peacefully. During the day everyone was at work: some taught children to read and write, some worked in the workshop, some prepared food; others looked after the old and weak blind; those who could not do hard work knitted stockings and scarves for sale. In the evenings we studied music, which blind people love so much. Anna Bergunion, friendly, affectionate, calm, gave orders to everyone, encouraged everyone with a loving word, taught everyone by her example to love people and be useful to them. Years have passed. Old lady Anna Bergunion has gone to her grave, but her community still exists. The blind sisters with deep gratitude repeat the name of the one who brightened up their sad life with her care and love. 34. English nurse Miss Kat Marsden, who traveled to the Yakut region to help lepers According to “Church. led." ed. at the Holy Synod In the summer of 1891, the English sister of mercy Kat Marsden made a remarkable trip to the Yakutsk region for her selflessness and love for her neighbor to study on site the unfortunate sufferers affected by leprosy and to provide them with possible help. Equipped with influential recommendations to the civil authorities of Siberia, Miss (maiden) Marsden safely arrived from St. Petersburg to Yakutsk and from there made a difficult journey, full of all sorts of hardships, on horseback through the Vilyuisky district of the Yakut province, traveling up to 3000 miles, looking for lepers everywhere. The unfortunate sufferers everywhere accepted the appearance of the humane-loving foreigner as the appearance of an angel of God sent down to them. The unknown benefactor’s heartfelt participation in their fate, the material assistance she provided and the promise to arrange a shelter for them consoled the unfortunate, lifted their spirit, which had fallen from hopelessness, and inspired them with hope for a better future. His Eminence Meletius, Bishop of Yakutsk and Vilyuisk, in gratitude for Miss Marsden’s unparalleled feat for the benefit of his flock who had fallen into misfortune, gave her a letter of gratitude. In the Vilyui district, which Miss Marsden visited, there are up to 80 lepers, but His Eminence Meletius believes there are twice as many. Incurable, rejected by society, these unfortunates evoke the greatest sympathy and compassion; one cannot but approve of Mrs. Marsden’s noble and humane enterprise - to find funds to establish a permanent shelter for them, in which, even if medical care is powerless, then, in any case, they could find the necessary conditions for human existence. How pitiful and terrible the situation of lepers is, where and how they live, we consider it worthwhile to report this, for the attention of compassionate and Christ-loving people, in the following story from the traveler herself. “During the Russian-Turkish War of 1877, while caring for Russian soldiers, I first saw two lepers, they were Bulgarians. The appearance of them, completely disfigured by this terrible disease, and the helpless situation into which it brought them, touched my heart so deeply that I immediately dedicated my life to the Lord, asking Him to direct it solely to help these most unfortunate of His creatures. I have seen lepers of different nations, but only two years ago I learned that in Siberia, in the remote Yakut province, there are also lepers among the foreign Yakuts and that they have a remedy - a herb that, according to rumors, cures leprosy. Realizing how important it is for unfortunate lepers around the world to purchase this remedy, since leprosy is still considered incurable, I decided to go to Yakutsk to find this herb and then test and study its healing properties. For this purpose, I arrived in St. Petersburg in November 1890 and had the honor of introducing myself to Her Imperial Majesty the Empress. Her Majesty, with her usual great mercy and kindness, provided me with a letter, which provided me with help and protection throughout my entire journey through Siberia. So, I bring all the results of this work to the feet of Her Majesty, because, by the grace of God, the Empress gave me the opportunity to complete this work, since without her kind patronage I could not have done anything. From St. Petersburg I went to Moscow and then to Ufa, where I had the pleasure of meeting His Eminence Dionysius, Bishop of Ufa, who was a missionary in the Yakut region for over forty years. The Reverend touchingly told me about the terrible plight of the unfortunate lepers, whose truly pitiful situation he saw himself. He also spoke about the mentioned herb, told me its name and the circumstances, where and how it was found. The Right Reverend blessed me touchingly, saying that his prayers would always accompany me along the entire path, since he was well aware of all the difficulties, hardships and dangers that must be passed through in order to reach the poor lepers. Having passed Tyumen, Omsk and Tomsk, I finally arrived in Irkutsk. His Excellency the Governor-General confirmed to me everything I had heard about the pitiful situation of the lepers of the Yakut region, and with great courtesy and zeal offered his services to help them. Without delay, we set to work: a committee was formed of Governor-General Goremykin, His Eminence Archbishop Veniamin of Irkutsk, His Eminence Bishop of Kirensky, Cathedral Archpriest Vinogradov, Chamberlain of the Court of His Majesty Sievers, Irkutsk mayor Sukachev, medical inspector Makovetsky, British citizen Kat Marsden and adjutant the commander of the troops, Staff Captain Lvov, in order to discuss how to better and more easily alleviate the situation of the lepers. After that I left Irkutsk for Yakutsk. Most of the journey had to be made along the Lena River in the so-called pauzka (ship); although the journey to Irkutsk was not easy, it was nothing compared to what we had to endure further. For three weeks we traveled in this pause, without being able to undress or change clothes; they slept anywhere, between the loads, and ate the simplest food. Finally we got to Yakutsk; here I had the good fortune to see His Eminence Meletius, Bishop of Yakutia; I will never forget his affectionate meeting. He received me with these words: “You are a foreigner and a stranger, but you are a child of our common Lord and Savior, I am His servant and in His name I receive you, I bless and thank you that you have come to help my poor lepers.” The Right Reverend is a truly faithful servant of Christ, and his activity extends not only to the city of Yakutsk and its close surroundings, but he sends his missionaries thousands of miles with the good news of the love of Christ, and to strangers like me, he stretches out his hands like a father. In Yakutsk, with the help of the Eminence and the vice-governor (the governor himself was absent), we founded another committee to help lepers, after which I went to Vilyuysk. Traveling with me was an official who spoke French, since I do not understand or speak Russian or Yakut, and the Yakut Cossack Ivan Prokofiev, who, having heard that I was going to visit the lepers in order to help them and see for myself what kind of help they especially needed, was so glad that he offered to supply us with horses all the way to Vilyuisk, and he himself volunteered to accompany me to the forest. For this great kindness I will always be grateful to him. In general, I cannot find words to express my sincere gratitude to all Russians, both high-ranking and other persons. We left Yakutsk on June 10, 1891. There are no roads through the taiga, forests and swamps, not even a path, so only on horseback can you travel in the summer, with all sorts of difficulties and dangers. This journey was especially difficult for me, who had never ridden a horse before. Extreme heat during the day, extreme cold at night; myriads of mosquitoes and insects blind your eyes and fill your mouth and nose; dampness from swamps, danger from bears, food usually consisting of black crackers and tea, inability to wash or undress for two months, often soaking wet; at night there is no shelter except a tent - all this can give an idea of ​​​​the difficulties of this move. In Vilyuisk we were met by Father John Vinokurov; he is a sincere friend of the poor lepers and a true Christian; he constantly visits lepers, without fear of a terrible infection, with one goal - to help them and explain to them the teachings of Christ the Savior. He accompanied us to all the lepers in his area, and it was touching to see his love for them and the unfortunate sufferers for him: he is the only person who visits them, others are all afraid of them, and therefore truly he is their father and they are his spiritual children, as he always calls them. In all my life I have never seen a person more devoted to Christ: love for the Savior overcomes all difficulties and dangers for him, just to be able to tell these unfortunate people about Christ the Savior. In Vilyuisk I asked many local residents about the situation of lepers, and I was told that it was terrible, that they were, according to the definition of local societies, completely alone, in deep forests, with almost nothing to cover themselves with, that in most cases their yurts (huts) were disgusting and small and that they lived more like domestic animals than people. We rode 2,500 versts on horseback, roughly speaking, since the Yakuts have no idea what a verst means; sometimes they told us: “There are ten miles here,” but it turned out to be at least twenty miles; I’m sure we covered at least three thousand real miles. The local residents, having heard that I was coming to help them, were so grateful and happy that they cleared a road in the forest in places where it would otherwise be impossible to pass, built bridges (streets) across the swamps, the most dangerous and impassable, and in order to do this, they put aside their summer work, which was very unprofitable for them, but, nevertheless, they did it completely willingly. All along the way we were shown complete hospitality, asking me to help their lepers. The big difficulty on the road was that I did not understand either the Russian or Yakut languages ​​and was surrounded only by men, up to 30 people, who spoke a language I did not understand, and for a lady to find herself alone in an unfamiliar country is very difficult and inconvenient. The translator speaks French, and only through him could I speak to the population. On July 15, 1891, the police officer, the paramedic, two soldiers, a translator and I left the Vilyui ulus (village) for Lake Abungda, where the largest leper settlement is located. We went down the Vilyui River 20 miles, where we were met by elected Yakut elders of up to 20 people (with more than 30 horses), who were here to escort us to the place. Having drunk tea here, we mounted our horses and entered the forest, having first climbed the mountain. 20 miles from the shore we stopped at the sight of a fire laid out by someone in the hope of finding out how far it was to a place where there was water for drinking and food for the horses that were supposed to change there. Here, while the interpreter was talking to someone, I noticed something moving between the trees in the forest and asked: what is it? I was informed that this is a leper boy who asks for help. I got off the horse and headed towards him to talk to him, but the poor boy, thinking that I would be as afraid of his illness as the Yakuts, backed away, and I could hardly convince him that I wanted to talk to him and even touch him. I sent for his mother and brother, who told me the story of this poor child. The society, having decided that he had leprosy (you need to know that among the inhabitants of this society there was not a single Russian, not a single one who had any idea about medicine), ordered that this boy should live alone in the forest, in a yurt, which was built for him ten miles from his mother, and that he should live here all his life. Thank God, his mother took pity on his loneliness and built a very small extension behind her yurt, where the child secretly came to spend the night when it got dark. But if society had discovered that the mother had done this, she would have been punished by being evicted in the same way to the forest to live separately. This touching incident showed me that all the reports made to me regarding the cruelties inflicted on the unfortunate lepers were completely true. We helped him as much as possible, and the police officer took the child under his protection, which will save him from repeating such cruelty. 60 versts from Abungda we were met by a parish priest (Father Georgy Mokhnachevsky), with whom we stayed, then he accompanied us to Abungda. Near the lepers, the road is always much worse, because they are placed in the most remote and least visited places, difficult to pass, so that they cannot return home. We headed into the thicket of the forest and at the exit we saw yurts where lepers live. They were expecting us and as soon as they noticed us, they bowed. After the relief was distributed, we all offered prayers for the health of Her Imperial Majesty the Empress. I am sure that these prayers will be heard. But to hear these pitiful weak voices of poor lepers, to see them on their knees, crossing themselves with emaciated hands, often without fingers, barely rising from weakness, to see their faces, terribly disfigured by this disease, and eyes in which you can read that all hope is lost for them, their legs, many without fingers, so that many cannot walk, but only drag their body with the help of a stool, this sight of a dying life without hope and without any consolation - all this is us so upsetting that the terrible sight we saw will remain memorable for the rest of our lives. In this place there are two yurts, approximately 50 arshins from one another, and between them there are up to seven tombstones, apparently in order to take away the opportunity for these unfortunates, at least for one moment, to forget that death is always near them. When a leper dies, he remains in the yurt with the living for up to three days. Pay attention to the inside of the yurts: they are so small that the lepers are forced to sleep along the outer walls on benches, without any bedding, and as closely as possible, with the legs of one leper touching the head of another, others simply lying on the bare ground; a disgusting smell, terrible cold, livestock located in the same yurt - and with all this, the corpse of the deceased should also be here, increasing the stench from the lepers. To this it must be added that when the coffin is brought, the leper must go out into the terrible cold, forcefully drag it into the yurt, put the body of the deceased in it and then drag the coffin onto a sleigh to carry it a few yards to the grave. There was also smallpox here, and no one visited them: neither the doctor nor the Yakuts, to help them. They also had to endure the suffering of this disease in complete solitude, without any care around them, without a bed and almost without clothing, except for disgusting fur coats, which could only increase the irritation of the skin, which is so terrible in this disease. No one will ever understand how much they have to suffer. In these yurts there was a girl of about eighteen who lived with the lepers all her life; her mother was a leper, and therefore society determined that she should live forever with lepers, although she herself was completely healthy. After some consultation between the police chief and the priest, the paramedic, the translator and me, it was decided not to leave that place until this girl was plucked from among the lepers. The police officer said that he would willingly take her to him after she had been washed and dressed in different clothes, and before leaving Vilyuisk for the second time, we had the pleasure of seeing her installed with him. On Abungda, the lepers had shelter, and, in any case, this is the best settlement of all that we visited, although the yurts were only 12 arshins long and 5 arshins wide, and 9 lepers live in such a yurt, from 8 to 9 months a year. All other leper settlements were incomparably worse. In one place called Jikindia, one man, one woman and two children were almost naked. In another place, Imyzhan, we found 6 people almost naked. Men, women and children all live together, and are more like animals than like people. In another place, Abalak-kel, I saw a woman who was condemned by society to a completely lonely life forever, and for 4 years she has been living this way, seeing no one except her husband, who brings her food, drink and fuel and occasionally brings children, who, however, do not come close. Thus, she lives in constant solitude all her life. Her only entertainment in winter is to drag her body through the snow as best she can, because her husband has to bring everything she needs and put it a few arshins from the yurt. If she is able, she makes a fire, and if not, she remains without fire. In another place, Haryalan, there were three people who lived alone, and they told us that the bear often frightens them by coming too close to their yurt, but that they have a very smart dog, which with its barking drives the bear into the forest far from the lepers, so that sometimes it returns completely voiceless from strong, prolonged barking. But it is only thanks to this dog that the bear does not break into the yurt; The poor people have neither guns nor revolvers. In another place, Guckel, I saw a man who came from afar to ask for my help; he also said that he had a dog that kept bears away in the same way, and that he, too, was forced to live alone in the forest all his life. Neither man, nor woman, nor children infected with leprosy can escape eternal loneliness, since society recognizes them as lepers and sentences them to removal from their midst; even if someone does not have leprosy, but their parents are affected by it, or if someone lived before with lepers, they are also removed. In some places the yurts are small even for two people, but we found from 5 to 10 people in them. The filth, the terrible smell of leprosy, the food, which in most cases consists of fish, the oil they drink, the bark of trees, and their disgusting clothing may give you some idea of ​​their situation. Father John rightly noted in Vilyuisk that in the whole world it is impossible to find people more unhappy than them. The extreme fear of this disease among the Yakuts is remarkable: not only will no one dare to touch a leper, but no one will even dare to come close, be it father, mother, son or daughter; the leper is expelled from the family and doomed to exile for life! They told me about one orphan child who lived about 20 versts from Vilyuisk, who inherited cows (four, it seems). His parents died and his uncle had to take care of him. The latter wanted to take possession of these cows, and for this purpose he informed the society that his nephew was stricken with leprosy. The society decided that he should be removed, as is done with all lepers, and entrusted his uncle with his care. His uncle built him a hut, which, as the paramedic who saw him (during the investigation) at the scene told me, was insufficient even for a dog, and left him there without food or drink. After some time, the child was found dead: he died of hunger and cold. His uncle then buried him in the ground without any coffin; then the paramedic opened him up and found almost nothing in his insides, only a little clay. How much did this child have to endure from fear, hunger and cold! In another place there was a woman leper who repeatedly came to steal from the healthy. So that she could not leave the yurt, the headman ordered her warm clothes to be taken away, but, nevertheless, one day she went out about two miles from the yurt, and she was found frozen. In Sredne-Vilyuisk we saw one suspected of leprosy, as it actually turned out to be; it was decided to take him 30 versts, where the lepers of the same nasleg (village) live. Since he had no fingers or toes and he was terribly disfigured by illness, I asked: how would he be transported? At first they told me that he could walk, but I noticed that this was impossible, and only after many conversations they agreed to put him in a sleigh with a good bedding of hay. A sick person, disfigured, requiring the most careful care, unable to ride a horse - he is forced to suffer in this way. Given the living conditions of lepers that I saw on the spot, it is necessary to think about how to come to the aid of these deeply unhappy sufferers. Now, having seen enough of all the horrors, I am heading straight to Irkutsk to appeal to public charity in favor of these unfortunate people and raise money to build a hospital for them. I will put all my strength, all my health and my whole life so that the life of these unfortunate lepers improves, in order to arrange for them, with the help of God, a hospital or shelter.” On the way back from Yakutsk, Miss Marsden managed to collect about twenty thousand rubles from charitable people to build a church and barracks for Vilyui lepers. This money was left by her in Irkutsk with His Eminence of Irkutsk. 35. Village Sisters of Mercy If we pay attention to the state of medicine in the village, we will see that it is very unsatisfactory. In fact, the number of zemstvo doctors is very insufficient, and as a result, the range of their activities is too extensive, namely: for each doctor there is an average of 33,000 people. Such a number of doctors, of course, cannot satisfy even the most urgent needs, and indeed, our peasants, with the exception of the places closest to the zemstvo hospital, are completely helpless. It is obvious that medical care to the people must be strengthened. But how to do this? Now they are beginning to be convinced that it is not a matter of treatment, but of preventing the occurrence and development of diseases. In fact, can treatment be of any benefit if every home is a source of infection, if there is no good water in the village, if the living conditions of the peasant and his diet are contrary to the requirements of medicine? At congresses of Russian doctors, it had long been proposed to introduce in public schools the teaching of at least the most basic information on hygiene (the science of how to prevent the occurrence of diseases). But that was the end of the matter. In practice, it was first implemented by the zemstvo doctor of the Novoladozhsk hospital, Mr. Petrovsky, and the priest, Fr. Lorchenko; the latter chose three girls who completed the course at the parish school under his jurisdiction, and Doctor Petrovsky began teaching them at the zemstvo hospital. These girls were trained in the most necessary techniques for nurses, such as dressing wounds, giving medicine, and also providing initial aid in the simplest and most urgent cases; the main attention was paid to mastering the most important hygienic and sanitary information necessary in village life. In the summer, the students returned to field work, since they were engaged in medical science in the winter, and thus, the study did not take away their working hands and did not harm the well-being of the students. The fruits of this good undertaking were not slow to appear. When an epidemic of typhus 32 appeared in some villages of the Novoladozhsky district, the students volunteered to care for the sick and selflessly fulfilled their difficult duty, which earned them universal sympathy. In general, in a short time, the rural sisters of mercy proved themselves so well with their impeccable and useful activities that the founders of this business, Fr. Lorchenko and Dr. Petrovsky received heartfelt gratitude, well deserved. Let them serve as an example for others and let those who can try to open similar societies of village sisters of mercy, which will bring enormous benefit now when the organization of medical affairs in the village leaves much to be desired. Dasha’s father and mother were wealthy people and could have lived in the city, but they loved the village so much that they almost never left it; they did field work themselves or supervised them, and only went to the city for about two months during the winter to stock up on books. They raised their daughter themselves. Developing in freedom, like a field plant, she naturally fell in love with everything that the field represents; for her there was nothing scary, nothing disgusting: a worm, a frog, a beetle, a booger for her was not only an object of curiosity, but also an object of love and care. She especially loved flowers and birds. She developed some kind of strange attachment to them. Every time she happened to see them, she noticed their various forms and colors in the plants, their flight in the birds, their varied cries. She gave them her names, invented her own caresses for them, felt that they had some kind of special life, similar to human life; therefore, she greeted them as if they were acquaintances, as if they could hear and understand her; She preferred simple country flowers to lush, luxurious city flowers, growing in greenhouses or pots in the room. Our birds occupied it much more than those brought from foreign lands. Her father and mother knew that, living in freedom, she had acquired great dexterity and agility, and was brave, and therefore they allowed her to go far from home, without any fear that any trouble would happen to her. Very often she got up at dawn and ran out alone into a meadow or field and wandered through the dew; but, in order not to spoil the dress and shoes, she picked up the dress, took off her shoes and walked barefoot. She was especially pleased with how shiny drops rolled down from the stems to the roots of the plants and, absorbed into the ground, disappeared there. Loving the fields, thanks to this she fell in love with the people of the field - the peasants. Peasant children also seemed to her to be free birds, lively and cheerful. She saw them in the forest, in the trees, in the bushes; she saw the hard work of the peasants in the arable land and stopped with sympathy and watched how sometimes a very old peasant plowed and plowed the field, covered with sweat, stopping several times in the middle of the field; very often she saw a shepherd who, even before dawn, drove his flock into the field, let it wander through the grass, sat down somewhere in the arable land and, without wasting a minute, worked on something. Every time, expecting to meet him, she brought him a loaf of bread, or a piece of pie, or two or three eggs: she would stop next to him and look at the wandering cattle, ask why he drives the cows in one direction or another, what grass is tastier and healthier for sheep and cows, and thus - without books, joking, breathing in the aromatic air, amused by the sight of everything that flaunts and sparkles on a spring morning - she was studying. The old man loved her very much and wove baby shoes for her. “Hey,” he says, “your little legs are so tender, not like those of our children; look how you scratched them; It will hurt, and Mama, tea, will scold you. - No, how does it hurt? The blood only flows a little, but it will stop, and mamma never scolds me; but I’ll take your bast shoes: they are so nice and beautiful! Sometimes he caught small birds for her; but she didn't like it. “No,” she said, “you better show me where and how they live; and then, you see, you caught it and crushed your wings; They are in pain, and they probably won’t find their mother, they will die of hunger. The peasant obeyed her, noticed various bird nests, and when he saw Dasha, he called her to him and showed them. Very often this wonderful girl went to a high mountain and, sitting or leaning against a tree, fresh as a tree leaf and silent as a shadow, she looked into the distance and thought. Her mother often saw her in this position, came to her and asked: – What are you doing here, Dasha? – And so – I look, and that’s all. - Well, does this look good to you? - Yes, it’s good that I never seem to leave this place. This is how her childhood life went. So one day she decided to plant her own special garden; she will go out into the field, she will fall in love with some flower there - she will dig it up with everything, with the earth, so as not to damage a single root, bring it to the garden with the same soil from which she dug it, and plant it. Thus, she created a large flower garden. Many years have passed. Dasha no longer had a father and mother. Poverty and various unfortunate circumstances forced her to sell her land and home; but these funds were too little to support her. She had to work herself. Fortunately, she received an education. She did not like either St. Petersburg or Moscow; her soul, which unfolded under the influence of natural impressions and the simplest habits, was extremely disgusted by the artificial, forced life of the capitals. She came to a small town; turns to one noble lady and says that she intends to start a school. “Oh, my dear,” the lady answers, “this requires a great mind, great knowledge and experience; You yourself are so young, you must first earn the trust of society. We all have rich people who have governesses (educators), but I wouldn’t recommend it for the poor: they’re all such dirty, rude people; to found an establishment for them is to embarrass oneself. “But I would like to start a school for them,” Dasha answers, “if they are rude, it’s because they weren’t taught anything; if they are dirty, it is because they have had such a habit since childhood. “But you won’t teach them for nothing,” said the lady. - The poor are free, and those who are able, of course, will want to pay me something for my work. “But if you start raising poor people for yourself, then decent people will never give you their children.” However, in general I wouldn’t advise you to start a school, it’s completely unnecessary for us. After such a first reception, Dasha still did not dare to contact anyone, but she nevertheless began to start a school. First of all, she began to teach the children of a poor bourgeois woman, her mistress. When they come to her, she washes them, combs them, tidies them up, prays with them, then begins to teach them, shows them different flowers, drawings and interprets. On the next, third day, a rumor spread in a small town that some teacher had appeared who taught for nothing. Soon more than ten children began to study with her. She treated them exactly the same way as she did with the first ones. They began to talk about her everywhere as an unusually kind and affectionate woman; Children and rich people began to appear, they saw that all her pupils were unusually neat, behaved very decently and modestly. This strengthened her fame and aroused confidence in her, which, as the noble lady said, was very difficult to earn. Soon her school became overcrowded; she had to rent a special apartment for this; but one rich merchant, who understood the importance, all the nobility of her selflessness, offered her his home. The courses settled down; Dasha invited two or three teachers; the teaching began quickly; but most of all, field walks helped her learning and education. Remembering her childhood, she wanted to educate other children in the same way. It always presented an entertaining picture of how she, surrounded by a crowd of noisy, cheerful children, went out of town with them; how they, scattering across the meadow and bushes, collected various plants, caught small birds, brought her various worms and insects, and she, sitting down with them somewhere in a picturesque place, told the story of this or that creature. The children listened to her with joy and then, returning home, talked about these amazing lessons. The study, begun in such a lively manner, naturally had to continue successfully, and her pupils, moving to other institutions, everywhere amazed their mentors with their liveliness of thought and extraordinary freshness of thought and feeling. It can be said that not a single pupil who passed through her school was afraid of mice, worms, or other reptiles; and this is too much; not a single boy who was in her school fought with his comrades or used bad words. Her school was not an educational institution, but a large, numerous family, in which the life-giving spirit of bright thought, mutual love and affection breathed. She greeted the children joyfully, with pleasure, and the children caught her words, breathing with love, with fresh souls. As soon as possible, they ran to talk to her, jump; the children were sad that they could not see her; they didn't say they were missing class: learning for them meant seeing and hearing her. Once the poor child, who had nothing to wear, having not seen her for a long time, became so sad that she began to visibly wither. She found out about this and went to him. The child, seeing her, threw himself on her neck and cried with joy. -What are you crying about? - asked Dasha, - you feel good here, you relax, you don’t work. “No, no,” answered the child, “I’m resting there.” What kind of work is there? We just sit there, talk, listen and respond. – So you really want to go to school? “Very, very,” said the child, “but you see,” and he pointed to his torn shirt and bare feet, “mama has nothing to buy me a dress, and she will not earn money soon.” What should I do? And melancholy, almost childish, appeared on his face. The feeling of poverty, apparently, was deeply and bitterly recognized by him. “Wait, my friend,” she said, “don’t worry.” We will help this grief. After staying with him and talking for half an hour, she calmed him down and consoled him so much that he became cheerful and joked with the complete carefreeness of his age. Meanwhile, the children gathered at her place. It was an extraordinary thing for her not to appear minute by minute at a certain time. They kept asking each other about her, poured out of the gate and looked in all directions. When she appeared, they ran towards her, surrounded her from all sides, began to caress her and ask why she was so late, why she had not come for so long, and whether she was sick. “I’m not sick,” she answered, “but your poor friend is sick.” And she told them why he didn’t come to school; and so, without admonitions, without her requests or persuasion, the next day the poor child had boots, a shirt, and an outer dress. It was the repetition and application of those lessons, those thoughts and feelings that she instilled in the children. We must do justice to the directness and honesty of the feelings of the rich people of that city. At first, as we know, they showed great distrust of her; some even made fun of her teaching method, which seemed strangely new to them; others positively said that nothing would come of this except pampering and pranks; but, having learned otherwise from experience, they supported her school with complete sympathy. The main support was not that they helped her with money, but that they sent their children to her for whole days. News of her educational institution soon spread throughout the entire province; merchants and landowners, who were in great need of teachers and could not find the means to raise their children at home, brought them to the city and gave them to her full care. Her school grew, one might say, every day. But soon she gained noble and at the same time very sad fame. Cholera broke out in the city. For a long time, this disease, passing through the whole of Russia, passed this city, as if protected by some secret healing power or shrine. The inhabitants considered themselves forever safe, so her appearance was a terrible surprise for them. Nothing had been prepared: no sufficient medicine, no hospitals, no orders to prevent the disease and treat it when it struck anyone. There was only one doctor. In fear, instead of everyone gathering and consulting about common means of salvation, each family locked itself in its own house, and as a result, everyone often perished helplessly. Dasha's school, which was empty, was open to the sick. Soon all the rooms were filled with sufferers; she followed them day and night; to her greatest surprise, some of the older children began to come to her aid and, with amazing patience, resourcefulness and selflessness, spent days and nights with her in this terrible shelter of death. She convinced them to return home, saying that their parents should worry about them, but they told her that their parents not only did not prevent them from coming here, on the contrary, they themselves willingly agreed to this as a Christian work, a work of God. The illness did not stop for several months and seemed to become more and more severe; Finally it got to the point that a person struck by it sometimes died within two or three hours. Many of Dasha’s colleagues and employees died, but she herself was still healthy and strong - or so, at least, it seemed to her. Then one day the news spread throughout the city that this amazing woman herself had contracted the disease. Many familiar and unfamiliar faces rushed into her infirmary (i.e. hospital), using all means to save her, but in vain; her death was inevitable. Dasha, with a bright calmness in her soul and face, addressing those present, begged them to take care of those for whom there was still some hope of curing. Many of her students and disciples gathered and, seeing her fading life, filled the room with tears. “Don’t cry, children,” he said in a quiet, dying voice, “it’s good to die this way.” Perhaps my death saved more than one family from misfortune and ruin. Remember this and when God requires your help for the benefit of people, do not be afraid of death. Then, turning to everyone around her, she said: - I beg you for one favor. Support my educational institution not in the form in which it began, but on those principles (rules) and with the character that served as its foundation. I would ask you not to erect any monument over me. At this moment, perhaps one of the last in my life, it would be sweet for me to think that my school would be a monument to me. “Goodbye,” she said barely intelligibly, crossed herself and closed her eyes forever. There is no need to say how many tears of regret were shed for such a beautiful girl who gave her life for the benefit of the poor. She will receive a great reward from God in the Kingdom of Heaven. Peace to your ashes, dear, unforgettable worker! 37. My prep school teacher Today my old teacher from prep school came to visit us, just at the moment when my mother and I were about to take some laundry to one poor woman who was written about in the newspaper. The teacher hasn’t visited us for over a year now. We were all very happy about her. She is still the same small, thin; She has become even paler than last year, several gray hairs have increased, and she keeps coughing. Mom told her: - And your health, my dear, you pay little attention to it. “Eh, what a problem,” answered the teacher with her lively and at the same time sad smile. “You talk all the time, and too loudly,” added the mother, “and you get too tired with the girls.” Mom told the truth: the teacher talks constantly in class. I remember when I used to study with her, she constantly talks - she talks so that the children do not have fun and learn something useful. At the same time, she very often showed us interesting pictures from Sacred and Civil history and explained them very well. How easy and pleasant it was to learn from such a mentor! She never shouted or punished us: there was no need for that. Everyone loved her and everyone willingly obeyed her words. I probably knew that she would come to us, since she never forgets her students and remembers them by name for years. On exam days, she runs to her boss to ask what grades they got; she waits for them at the exit and looks over their essays to see if they are doing well in their studies. Many students visit her even when they graduate from high school. Today she returned completely tired from the art gallery, where she took her students; as in previous years, every Thursday she takes the children to a museum and explains to them everything that is there. Poor teacher, she lost weight again. But she is still as cheerful and always perks up when she talks about her school. She wanted to look again at the bed where I lay sick two years ago and where my brother now sleeps. She was in a hurry from us to go visit one of her students who was sick with her chest, and she also had a whole pile of notebooks to correct - for a whole evening of work - and also to give a lesson to one shopkeeper. “Well, Lena,” she said to me as she left, “do you still love your old teacher now that you solve difficult problems and write long essays?” Then she kissed me and said: - Well, look, Lena, don’t forget me. Oh, my good teacher, of course I will never forget you. Even when I become very big, I will visit you and your students; and every time I walk past the school I will hear the teacher’s voice, it will seem to me that I hear your voice, and I will remember again about the two years spent in your class, where I learned so much, where I saw you often sick and tired, but always fussing for us, always condescending, upset if any of us got used to writing incorrectly. I have always seen you as kind and caring, like a mother. Never, never will I forget you, my good teacher! According to the magazine “Helmsman” for 1901. In Odessa, the people's teacher of the village of Mikhailovskoye, Akkerman district, Melanya Dmitrievna Dobrova, died of throat consumption... This surname could not have been more suitable for its bearer. She was a teacher by vocation, not by necessity. In the foreground she had only one sincere desire - to educate peasant children, and from the very first days of her teaching, Melanya Dmitrievna, delicate, attentive, patient, affectionate, won the favor of students, boys and girls. But the Mikhailovites were in trouble. It was in 1900, when crop failure visited Akkerman County. A period of malnutrition and hunger began, and the payment of salaries to the teacher stopped. “Forgive me, dear,” the peasants said to their beloved teacher, “and you yourself see what a need we have.” There’s not even enough bread; we ourselves live from hand to mouth. “Yes, the Lord is with you,” the teacher answered affectionately. “Don’t I understand, don’t I see your need?” Don't worry about me. I'll get by somehow. You live, well, I will live too. Dobrova did not have her own funds, and she, along with the village population, suffered extreme poverty, but did not give up her favorite business and continued to go to school. The authorities, due to the complete depletion of funds, proposed to temporarily close the school. But Melanya Dmitrievna did not agree and replied that she would be able to get through the difficult time. They finally offered her to transfer to another school, to a district that did not feel the distress of crop failure, and promised timely payment of her salary. But she refused this and remained in the starving Mikhailovka, remained in order to drink grief from the same cup with her students, students and their relatives. Dobrova took the most ardent, most active part in setting up a free canteen... This kind and, I must say, generous folk teacher lived for 15 months in labor, cold and hunger and developed consumption. But she left Mikhailovka for treatment only when she was convinced that her brainchild - the school - had been transferred into the right hands... All of us, the elders, when we happen to be among the younger ones, will not forget that we are in an expensive orchard, that there are weak shoots around us that we can either strengthen or destroy. The soul of a child is a rich fertile land; in it, whatever you sow grows quickly and takes root deeply. Important questions: what do we sow, what do we teach our children, what examples do they take from us? It is a pity to see a young tree in the garden broken by the wind; It hurts to look at a flower crushed by a rough foot. Beware of casting a shadow on a child’s pure soul, or desecrating the child’s innocence with even a drop of dirt. In the orchard, we protect each tree from birds of prey and cover the shoots with straw from frost. Is the soul of a child really worth less than an apple tree or a cherry tree? One girl was blind from birth. Through surgery, her vision was restored, but she had to be accustomed to light gradually, and she was kept in dimly lit rooms for a long time. Finally, her mother took her out into the open, and she, seeing the earth and sky, exclaimed: “Oh, mother! Why didn’t you tell me how beautiful God’s world is?” The mother shed tears and answered: “Dear daughter! Many times I tried to tell you about this, but you did not take my words to heart. Now you are delighted because you see it for yourself.” This exactly happens to each of us until our spiritual eye - the heart - is opened. From descriptions alone we will never comprehend how gratifying warm faith in God, closeness to Him and obedience to Him in the affairs of our lives are. As long as we are far from God, we live in darkness and languor. Pray, O man, to the Lord Jesus that He may remove the blindness from your eyes and fill your soul with heavenly delight. 41. Elizaveta Blackwell - the first female doctor Elizabeth Blackwell was born in 1821 in England, in Bristol. The family was large, friendly, and Elizabeth’s childhood was peaceful and fun. In 1832, her parents had to move to America. There, children studied in schools, and at home they developed under the beneficial influence of adult family members. The children had already grown up, when their father died, the family was left without funds, and everyone had to earn their own bread. Elizabeth and her sister opened a school, her brother took the place, and everyone actively set to work. Elizabeth spent about a year as the head of a school in a neighboring town, but when the family’s means improved, she returned home. However, the peaceful life at home did not satisfy her: reading, music, learning languages ​​- all this was interesting, but did not seem to her a serious, real matter. She dreamed of a business that would benefit people. By chance, the idea of ​​going into medicine came to her mind. There were no female doctors at that time; and Elizabeth decided to become a doctor. She shared her thought with acquaintances and friends, but did not find support from anyone. Many tried to dissuade Elizabeth from her plan; others said that practicing medicine was beyond the strength of a woman; others asked where she would study, because, of course, she would not be accepted into boys' schools; There were also those who said that it was indecent for a woman to be a doctor, that it was not a woman’s business. But Elizabeth was not afraid of all this talk. She was determined to achieve her goal. First of all, it was necessary to get money. And so Elizabeth became a music teacher in order to save the necessary amount for herself. Between lessons, in the few free hours, she prepared for her future studies, studied Latin and Greek, and read medical books. Two years later, having saved the required amount, she went to Philadelphia, where there were 4 medical schools. But in vain did she seek access to any of these schools, in vain did she make requests to all the professors. Some only laughed at the strange girl who decided to become a doctor, others directly announced that she was asking for the impossible, others even took her for a madwoman. Elizabeth did not lose heart from this failure. She sent petitions to all the schools in New York; I received a refusal from there too. Then she got a list of all the medical schools in the Northern States and sent petitions to 12 of these schools. The refusals came one after another. Elizabeth was beginning to lose all hope when she finally received a letter from the small town of Geneva (in New York State). The letter contained an agreement to accept the girl as a student at the medical school; the students, who were asked to decide for themselves whether to admit her to the school or not, agreed to do so. Elizabeth went to Geneva with excitement and joy. Her arrival in the city was eagerly awaited. Everyone was curious to look at the amazing girl who was the first to enter the medical school. There was a lot of talk about this girl: some insisted that she was crazy, some invented even worse things, many simply laughed at her. A whole crowd gathered to watch when she went to university for the first time; the boys ran after her, pointing their fingers at her. The position of the young girl was difficult, alone in a strange city, among people who shunned her and did not understand her. Her fellow students, however, received her well; They also thought it strange that this modest girl in a simple dark dress would appear among them, but they did not allow themselves any ridicule or jokes. This reception encouraged Elizabeth, and she eagerly set to work. Soon her simplicity and seriousness earned everyone's respect. The students appreciated her as a good friend, and the professors could not help but do justice to her abilities and diligence: Elizabeth was one of the best in her classes. But the course is over; A huge community gathered for the ceremony of issuing diplomas: professors, students, city residents. A thin girl in a black dress stood modestly in the crowd of students. Then her name was heard. She walked up to podium 33 and received her diploma as a female doctor amid thunderous applause. Elizabeth's triumph was complete. Both acquaintances and strangers came up to her, shook her hand, warmly congratulated her, and were amazed at her character and perseverance. Everyone who had previously laughed at her, as if repenting, greeted the first female doctor in the most sincere way. So, the title of doctor was received, knowledge equal to that of a male doctor was acquired; All that remained was to apply this knowledge to life. But it turned out to be not so easy. They were kind to Elizabeth, they were surprised at her, they congratulated her, but when she was looking for a job, nothing came of it. In Paris, where she went after completing the course, she was allowed to inspect hospitals, but not allowed to work in them. With great difficulty, she received permission to work in a London hospital, but even here she had a lot of trouble. Returning to New York, Elizabeth decided to go into private practice. Everyone knew that she graduated from medical school with flying colors, that she studied hard and conscientiously; however, no one came to her for treatment: the distrust of the woman was so great. For 7 years, not a single patient turned to her for advice. A request for a place at the hospital was refused. Elizabeth's soul was heavy; She was deeply offended by this attitude towards her. Her financial affairs were also very bad, because she had no income. However, the courageous girl did not lose heart even here. She was unable to practice, so she began writing articles on medicine and giving lectures. Articles and lectures showed how thorough the woman doctor’s knowledge was, and confidence in her grew. But Elizabeth wanted to show her knowledge in practice: she decided to set up her own hospital. This was not an easy matter: it was necessary to obtain permission and raise money. Elizabeth's assistants were her sister and another girl - both of them also received doctoral degrees; after Elizabeth it was much easier to achieve this. The three women busily set to work; They achieved their goal: a hospital for women and children was opened. Skillful care, attentive attitude to business, excellent treatment attracted more and more new patients, and the hospital gained great fame. Elizabeth worked diligently both as a doctor and as a manager; but when the hospital was firmly established, she handed it over to her sister, and she herself went to England. Elizabeth wanted to spread the idea of ​​female medical education as widely as possible. In different cities of England, she gave several public lectures in which she proved the ability of women to practice medicine. Both Elizabeth’s example and her inspired call to work had an impact on society: women and girls began to study medicine. Special women's medical schools began to open; in one of them Elizabeth became a professor 34. The movement she started grew. Women are now accepted into universities abroad along with male students. In Russia, in St. Petersburg, we recently opened a special women's medical institute. It is no longer difficult for a woman to obtain a medical education - hundreds of women devote themselves to the great cause of helping their neighbors, bringing their knowledge to villages, towns and cities. It is already easy to follow the paved path; the beginning is difficult, the first steps are difficult, the unbeaten road is thorny. The brave Elizabeth Blackwell had to walk along such an unbeaten road, without support and sympathy, and the name of this wonderful and selfless woman should not be forgotten. 42. A Terrible Lesson from a Disrespectful Daughter One of the southern newspapers contains the following eyewitness account: “In the Varvarovka farm, Ekaterinoslav province, three people who were hunting on the landowner’s estate, after the end of the hunt, stopped by the tenant of this estate; after a while they were told that something special had happened in the economic hut occupied by the clerk; the hunters went to the hut and saw in the corner of the room an elderly woman, the clerk’s wife, who was crying, and in the middle of the room - her daughter, a girl of about fifteen, holding her hand to her left eye; It turned out that a few minutes before this, the daughter began to scold her mother for forcing her to work, and among other things said: “Your eyes should pop out of your head!” The offended mother, a very meek woman, began to cry and headed for the exit. Before she had time to close the doors behind her, she suddenly heard her daughter’s screams: she returned back and saw that something special had happened to her daughter’s left eye, which had been completely healthy before. The hunters, approaching the girl, saw a reddish tumor that had formed around the eye; the pupil fell into the depths, but the white remained in its place: obviously, the eye burst, as water flowed from it. It had a terrible appearance and made an overwhelming impression: the hymen, which smoothly covered the pupil, sunk into the middle and formed several wrinkles. When questioned, the girl replied that the moment her mother left the room, she felt itching in her left eye, and then a sharp pain. This affected her so much that during the entire story she trembled all over. This is how threateningly the Lord sometimes teaches children to honor their parents!” 43. Advice to girls who like to guess about the future From the sermon of Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow Let us imagine that a son in his father’s house, having the freedom to use everything he needs, and much that is pleasant, is not content with this and, encountering a vault for which he is not given a key, forges the key and unlocks it - let’s say, not in order to steal, but only to see what is hidden there. Isn't this ignoble? Shouldn't the son be ashamed? Shouldn't it be unpleasant for the father? Here is a judgment about any fortune-telling or divination based on the simplest view of the matter. 44. Holy virgins and wives did not indulge in excessive care about decorating themselves with clothes 1. The Holy Virgin, Great Martyr Barbara, loved neither gold, nor numerous stones, nor decorations in clothes, but one God (Chetii-Minea, Dec. 4). 2. Saint Theophania the Queen, as it is said in her life, did not attach her body to the royal decoration, but from the outside she was dressed only in some small splendor (“Chetii-Minei”, December 16). 3. The Venerable Sigklitikia, it is said in her life, was not pleased by her clothes or expensive stones, and music did not captivate her soul. She prayed and found the best consolation for herself in prayer. Convinced that her most dangerous enemy was her young body, she loved to fast and humbled her flesh through abstinence and labor. She so accustomed herself to a life of moderation that if she happened to eat at a different time, it made her tired, her face became pale, and her body weakened. (“Lives of the Holy Ascetics of the Eastern Church” by Philaret, Archbishop of Chernigov) Comp. according to the magazine “Church and parish school” What is the best decoration for young people? First of all, piety. It keeps the hearts of young men and women in innocence, protects them from bad thoughts, drives away sin, imparts peace to the soul, strength to health, and at the same time gains honor from people. This is why Ecclesiastes teaches: “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth” (Eccl.12:1). True piety is expressed in the fact that a young man or girl prays, attends divine services and performs all Christian duties not only out of habit, not for the human eye, not out of fear of the reproaches of elders, but if in prayer, worship and the performance of Christian duties they find inner satisfaction, feel happy in their hearts, and have the highest pleasure in communication with God; in other words, if from a young age they become Christians not out of compulsion, but according to their hearts - body and soul. And how pleasant, how gratifying it is to watch when, for example, young people, despite the severe frost, the terrible snowstorm and slush, rush to church, where some invisible force pulls them - they are drawn by that inner pleasure from the words of the Divine Liturgy, from the words of the Holy Gospel, from spiritual songs, which is higher than all other joys. It’s nice, it’s gratifying to see, because no one is captivating her, and she herself walks into a cruel snowstorm, freezes, stands cheerfully in church, experiencing happiness in her heart as a result. After piety, the best adornment for youth is curiosity. It consists in the fact that young people try to acquire for themselves in their young years as much useful knowledge as possible. Knowledge, science is a good that fire cannot burn, water cannot take, a thief cannot steal, and a worm cannot undermine. Science elevates a person with honor before people, it provides earthly blessings, and leads to eternal salvation. In the Gospel of St. Luke we read: “Jesus excelled in wisdom and stature and grace with God and man” (Luke 2:52). Jesus Christ, in the twelfth year of his life, was already sitting in the Temple of Jerusalem between the very first teachers of the law and scribes, asking them questions, giving them answers - and they were amazed at His knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Hence the lesson for our youth - to study, first of all, everything holy: the Holy Scriptures, stand in the church on the choir, sing and read the Psalter, Proverbs and the Apostle - read not only with the lips, but also with the mind and heart; If you don’t understand, ask your elders and scholars about it, and every day advance in wisdom. In addition to spiritual sciences, there are other useful sciences: you need to study all of this, and not neglect anything. It is necessary to establish reading rooms, gather in them on holidays for conversations, talk decently and reasonably about everything, and learn from each other everything useful and necessary. The third adornment of youth is decency and good customs. By decency we mean when a young man, whether he says a word or does a deed, first considers whether that word or deed is good, so that later he does not have to be ashamed of it. The best thing for young people is to set a rule for themselves once and for all: never use unclean and nasty words, part with them once and for all, and not follow the example of those unfortunate teenagers who use such words. Our words must be pure, because we bear on ourselves the purest name of Jesus Christ, the One who was never angry, but also prayed even for those who crucified Him. Jesus Christ teaches us: “Whoever says to his brother, cancer 35: he is guilty of the host; but he who says, a freak (foolish), is guilty of hell fire” (Matthew 5:32). The best thing is not to know any bad words; when it is impossible to say a kind word, it is better either not to say anything, to remain silent, or in the spirit of meekness and love to admonish those who are in error, or, finally, if for some reason this cannot be done, pray in your soul so that the Lord Himself will admonish those who are in error, and then think about your sins. One great scientist, the German philosopher Kant, was asked how he, being in very poor health, lived such a long century. He replied: “From a young age I have never had a single enemy, because I have never condemned anyone except myself; I was a strict judge only for myself. But I never said a bitter word to anyone else; therefore everyone loved me, and I had many friends, but not a single enemy; that’s why my soul was calm, and it influenced my body.” Another very experienced person (a Rusyn by birth) said to himself: “From an early age I learned to give honor to everyone. Perhaps he wasn’t worth it, but it didn’t harm me, because everyone loved me and helped me in need.” Decent young people should have clean and friendly words, and clean and righteous deeds. All our young men should be like this, all our girls should be just as decent, so that an unclean, sinful word or harsh condemnation of others never comes out of their mouths, but in everything there is Christian condescension, prudent caution and decency is observed. Let us banish quarrels, spells, curses, gossip and vile songs far from ourselves. Finally, another of the best adornments for youth is hard work. Whether you work for yourself or for someone else, whether for money or freely, out of obligation or voluntarily, you need to work hard and not waste a single hour. But how does it happen here? He does it for himself - he does it diligently, well and quickly; does it to another - he will not work without supervision, but will lie down or stand - he needs a supervisor. No! No matter who you work for, it doesn’t matter, your work must be honest, and it will bring you honor, and for lazy people - shame and condemnation, if not punishment. Let me give you an example. Once, while I was abroad, I went far into a field and saw four workers there working near the grapes. They were hired workers; they did not have a supervisor. I entered into a conversation with them. They answered me a few words; but when I wanted to talk to them more, the old woman told me: “Sorry, we are at work and don’t have time to chat.” The German worker values ​​his hour so dearly – not his own, but the one who pays him for it, although he works without supervision. And the one for whom he works knows what he pays for, and will not want to go out for supervision, since he knows that not a single minute was wasted there. Be the same faithful workers. And good will come to you, because your work will be an honor for everyone. When you see a beautiful maiden or woman, or a beautiful young man, immediately ascend to the supreme, most holy Beauty, the culprit of all earthly and heavenly beauty, that is, God; glorify Him for making such beauty out of the earth; marvel in man at the beauty of the image of God, shining even in our damaged state; imagine what our image will be like in the state of our glorification, if we are worthy of it; Imagine the beauty of the saints of God, the holy angels, the Mother of God, adorned with Divine glory; imagine the indescribable kindness of the face of God that we will see, and do not be seduced by earthly beauty, this flesh and blood. 47. Know who you're betting on In St. Petersburg, in the house of a distinguished doctor, there were guests - an extremely diverse society: Germans, Poles, Italians and Russians. The meeting was fun, they talked about various subjects. By the way, the conversation turned to the virtues and best properties of different peoples. The Germans spoke about the learning and neatness of their tribe, the Italians about their love of music, painting and architecture, the French about their heroism, their courtesy, etc. Among the guests was a Russian princess, of remarkable beauty, unusually educated, but extremely modest. One Frenchman, apparently of a rather flighty character, turned to her and asked: - Princess, why don’t you say anything in favor of your people? “He’s already good without any praise.” - But what good property does it have? – asked the Frenchman. “Your sciences are not in a flourishing state, your painting, music, trade are bad, your people are ignorant and rude. He even seems to be more superstitious than the Spaniards. “All this is true,” said the young girl, “but in the character of our people there is one excellent quality that is higher than intelligence and other talents: this is extraordinary good nature and readiness for self-sacrifice.” The Frenchman threw in a few more humorous words about the Russian character and made the company laugh. At this time, the door suddenly opened into the hall and a peasant in a sheepskin coat, with a disheveled beard and head, ran in, in extreme alarm, and said in a breathless voice: -Who is the doctor here? For God's sake, hurry up: my wife is dying! The young Frenchman had the levity to call himself a doctor. The man fell at his feet and asked for help. Some laughed; on others, this outburst at such a sad moment made the most unpleasant impression. The hostess ran to her husband’s office and said that they were asking him to see a sick person. He left. -Are you a doctor? – the man asked. – I heard that you are a kind person. I can't pay you anything; but my wife is dying, don’t refuse, father, help! While the doctor was getting ready, the frivolous Frenchman continued to make comments about the peasant’s rudeness and untidiness. “I’m sure,” said the Frenchman, “that you, princess, with all your patriotism, would never have decided to kiss him.” -Are you betting? – asked the young girl. - Fine. Money on the table! They put in chervonets. The princess went up to the man and said to him: - Dear friend, let me kiss you. Maybe it will bring you happiness. The man had no time for kisses: he was deeply saddened, looked at her and said with an expression of bitterness in his voice: - Kiss me, please, if you want. The princess kissed him; the bet was won. She took twenty-four ducats, gave them to the peasant and said: “Here is the money, you will need it to help your sick wife and your poor family.” Goodbye. Thank this gentleman (at the same time she pointed to the Frenchman): he delivered you twenty-four ducats. The man was delighted; the doctor went with him. Subsequently, they learned that the assistance provided was soon in favor of the patient, and she recovered. This incident was the subject of conversation for several days. They joked about him, laughed at him and, as usual, completely forgot about him. Ten years have passed. In the remote region of Siberia, in the wilderness, between forests, a woman was traveling with two children, one of whom was sick. From her facial features one could recognize that she belonged to the educated class, but it was clear that some misfortune had happened in her life. She was extremely sad, especially since her child’s illness was becoming more dangerous day by day, and she still had to travel about a thousand miles. There were no servants with her; she rode in a simple cart and drove the horse herself. There were extremely few villages around. At a distance of fifty miles it was impossible to see houses, and if there was housing anywhere, it was a yurt (leather tent) of a Yakut. Night has fallen. The woman didn’t know what to do, where to stay. Finally, in the distance between the trees, she saw smoke rising. This made her very happy, and she began to urge the horse. Approaching the place where the smoke was smoking, she sees a house built in the European style (model), quite spacious and beautiful; There were many services around it. She guessed that it was the house of some gold miner. Poverty makes people extremely timid and distrustful. They all think that they will be insulted, that they will be received rudely, or at least unkindly. Therefore, the traveler, approaching the house, did not dare to ask for an overnight stay; but the owner saw her and invited her to his place. He placed her in a special room and provided her with every comfort to calm her down from her difficult journey. When she had rested and was invited to dinner, an old man, the father of this owner, came out, dressed extremely cleanly, like a merchant, and, looking at the woman, stopped in front of her in amazement and asked: -Where are you from, mother? I think I saw you once. Have you been to St. Petersburg? Your face is so familiar to me. Peering more and more and talking to her, he finally learned that this was the same princess who had once kissed him and given him twenty-four ducats. From further conversations it turned out that the man who came to the doctor subsequently made various transactions with this money, became rich, went to Siberia, first entered into a company (i.e., into a society) with one gold miner, then took over one of the mines and has now become one of the richest people in the whole of Siberia. This was the owner of the house. He provided this woman with the means to reach her destination and provided for her and her children for a lifetime. The seeds of good that were once sown brought good - the Christian love of one soul aroused love in another. So often in our sinful world the proverb comes true: what goes around comes around. 48. Wild swans (fairy tale) Far, far away from here, where the swallows fly when winter comes, there lived a king; he had eleven sons and a daughter, Eliza. It was a good life for these children. But such a good life did not last long. Their father married an evil queen, and the queen really did not like poor children. A week after the wedding, she took little Eliza to the village and gave her to a peasant family, and then told the king so many bad things about the poor princes that the father completely stopped caring about them. “Get out of the way,” said the queen, “and get some bread yourself.” Get out and roam the world like big birds. But the queen was a witch, and whatever she wanted was done. So the princes turned into the most beautiful wild swans. With a loud cry, they flew out of the windows of the palace and rushed far away, through gardens and forests. Eliza turned 15 and returned to her father. But her stepmother made her so ugly that even her own father did not recognize her. Eliza began to cry and decided to leave the castle and find her brothers. On the way, she washed herself in the stream and became more beautiful than before. Eliza walked for a long time. Just before sunset she saw eleven swans. With golden crowns on their heads they rushed one after another; from a distance one could mistake them for a white ribbon. Eliza climbed the hill and hid behind the bushes. The swans landed not far from her and flapped their large white wings. As soon as the sun had completely set, the swan feathers suddenly fell, and eleven princes - her brothers - appeared in front of Eliza. Eliza exclaimed loudly; although they had changed a lot, she still knew, felt that these were her brothers. She rushed into the mime's arms, calling each one by name; the brothers were also very happy to see their sister. They laughed and cried and told each other about everything they had experienced while apart. “We, brothers,” said the eldest, “fly like wild swans all day long and only after sunset we become human again.” Therefore, we should always try to be on solid ground by the hour of sunset. If we found ourselves at this hour, for example, under the clouds, we, as people, would have to fall down and be killed. We don’t live here - on the other side of the sea, it’s a very long way to fly there: we have to fly over the whole sea, and along the way there is not the slightest island where we could spend the night; only one cliff comes out of the sea, it is so small that it is difficult for us to fit on it. We are allowed to visit our homeland once a year, and then we, eleven swans, fly over a large forest, from where we can see the palace in which we were born and where our father lives, and the cemetery where our mother is buried. It seems to us that the trees and bushes here are our native ones; we are drawn here, and here we found you, dear, dear sister! We still have two days left to be here, and then we have to fly overseas again; There is a beautiful country there, but it is not our homeland. How can we take you with us? We have neither a ship nor a boat. And they talked almost all night; We slept only two or three hours. “Tomorrow,” they said, “we must fly away from here and not return until a year.” But we can't leave you. Will you dare to follow us? Our arms are strong enough to carry you through the forest, and during the day, when we are birds, won’t our wings hold you while you fly? “Yes, take me with you,” Eliza said. They spent the whole night weaving a net from the flexible reeds of willow bark, and the net came out large and strong. Eliza lay down in it, and when the sun rose and the brothers turned into wild swans, they took the net in their beaks and carried it high, high with their sweet sister, who was still sleeping. The sun's rays fell directly on her face; so one of the swans flew over her head and blocked her light with its wide wings. The whole day they flew like an arrow, but still slower than usual, because they now had to carry their sister. A thunderstorm was gathering and evening was approaching; Eliza looked with fear at the sunset, and meanwhile the cliff that the brothers were talking about was not yet visible. It seemed to her that the brothers were flapping their wings more and more. Ah, it was her fault that they could not fly with the same speed. She was afraid to think that when the sun set they would turn into people, fall into the sea and drown. Eliza began to pray fervently, but the cliff was still not visible. Black clouds were getting closer and closer, strong gusts of wind heralded a storm, terrible waves, like lead, rolled one after another, lightning flashed continuously. Meanwhile, the sun reached the very edge. Eliza's heart beat with fear, because the swans descended with incredible speed. But then they flew quieter again. The sun was already half under water; only then Eliza saw a small cliff. The sun sank very quickly, and already seemed like a small star; at that moment the swans' feet touched solid ground. The sun has gone out. Eliza saw her brothers around her in human form; but the cliff was so small that they could hardly fit on it. The sea beat against it and showered Eliza with splashes, the sky sparkled with incessant lightning, peals of thunder followed one after another; but the sister and brothers joined hands and began to sing prayers that comforted and encouraged them. At dawn the storm completely subsided, and the air became clear; As soon as the sun rose, the swans flew with Eliza from this island. Finally, Eliza saw the country where her brothers were flying: there were blue mountains with cedar forests, cities and castles. Long before the sun rose, she was already sitting on the cliff in front of a large cave overgrown with green climbing plants; it seemed as if they were embroidered carpets. - Let's see what you dream about here this night! - said the younger brother, pointing to her bedroom. “God grant that I dream of how to save you,” she answered. And this thought occupied her greatly; she fervently prayed to God to help her, and even in her sleep she continued to pray. And she dreamed that she was flying high through the air towards the sorceress’s tower; the sorceress herself came out to meet her, so beautiful and brilliant. “Your brothers can be saved,” said the sorceress, “but do you have enough spirit and patience for this?” You know that water is softer than your gentle hands, and yet it polishes (makes smooth) stones; but the water does not feel the pain that your fingers will feel; she has no heart, she does not experience the grief, despondency and anxiety that you will have to endure. Do you see the nettle in my hand? The same nettle grows around the cave where you sleep: only it and the one that grows on the graves of the cemetery are good; don't forget this. This is the nettle you must pick, even though your hands will be covered with burning blisters. Then trample it with your feet, and then you will receive flax; from it weave eleven long-sleeved shells (shirts); when you weave them, throw them on eleven swans - and the witchcraft will fall from them. Just remember well that you must not speak a word to anyone from the minute you begin this work until you finish; the first word you utter at this time will pierce like a knife through the hearts of your brothers. Their lives depend on your silence. Remember all this. And with these words the sorceress touched Eliza's hand with nettles; It was as if fire had touched the girl, and she woke up. It was already quite daylight, and right next to her bed lay a branch of nettle, exactly like the one she had seen in her dream. Then Eliza fell to her knees, thanked God and left the cave to begin her work. With gentle hands she began to pick nettles, which burned her like fire; large bubbles burned on the girl’s fingers, but she happily endured this torment at the thought that she could save her brothers. After sunset the brothers came; they were afraid to see that their sister did not say a word. But, looking at her hands, they realized what a sacrifice she was making for them; the youngest began to cry, and where his tears fell on her hands, the girl stopped feeling pain, and the burning blisters began to disappear from her hand. Night found her at work; she didn't want to calm down before she saved her brothers. All the next day, while the swans were flying, she sat completely alone, but never did the time seem so short to her. One shell was already ready, and she began to work on another, burning her hands more and more. One day the king of that country, hunting in those places, accidentally saw Eliza, fell in love with her, and she fell in love with him, and he married her. In the royal palace, Eliza continued her work and did not say a word. The king loved Eliza at first, but he was very upset that she was mute. Then he began to think that she was a witch, because he could not understand why the queen weaved nettles. Eliza could not make excuses, because her first word was to kill her brothers. Then the royal judges, ignorant and superstitious, decided to burn her at the stake as a witch. From the magnificent royal halls they led Eliza into a dark, damp dungeon, where the wind whistled through the bars; instead of velvet and silk, they gave her the bunch of nettles that she had picked on the last night: this was supposed to serve as her headboard, and instead of a blanket they brought her hard, burning shells that she had spun. But they couldn’t give her a better gift: she got back to work and prayed to God. Suddenly in the evening, right next to the prison bars, the flapping of swan wings was heard; it was the younger brother. He found his sister, and she began to sob with joy, although she knew that this night would perhaps be the last of her life. But she consoled herself with the fact that her work was almost finished and that her brothers were here. That night she had to finish her work; otherwise, everything that she experienced: pain, tears, sleepless nights - everything should have been in vain. Little mice ran around the floor and, wanting to help at least a little, brought her nettles, and the thrush sat on the window bars and sang as cheerfully as he could to encourage her. There was still an hour left before dawn when the eleven brothers approached the palace gates and demanded to be taken to the king. But the king was sleeping, and no one dared to wake him. The brothers begged and threatened, so finally the king came out and asked what this noise meant. But at that moment the sun rose, and the brothers were gone, only eleven wild swans flew over the castle. Crowds of people came from the city gates; everyone wanted to see how they would burn the witch. The old nag was pulling a cart on which she sat, dressed in a shroud made of rough canvas; Her wonderful hair was loose, her cheeks were pale, her lips were moving quietly, and her fingers were still weaving green flax. Even on the way to execution, she did not stop working: ten shells lay at her feet, she weaved the eleventh. The people mocked her and said: “Look how this witch mutters. Probably she doesn’t have a prayer book in her hands, and all this damn work; Let's tear her to pieces..." And they surrounded the cart and wanted to tear the shells; but at that moment eleven wild swans flew in, surrounded the unfortunate woman and flapped their large wings. The crowd fled in fear. “This is a sign from heaven! She's innocent! - many whispered, but did not dare to say it loudly. She quickly threw eleven shells over the swans, and at that very moment eleven handsome princes found themselves in front of the people. But the youngest one had a swan’s wing instead of one arm, because she didn’t have time to finish spinning the sleeve in his shell. “Now I have the right to speak,” she said, “I am innocent!” And the people, who saw what happened, bowed before her as before a saint, and she fell unconscious into the arms of her brothers, because she was exhausted from excitement, pain and fatigue. The elder brother told her whole story. And while he spoke, a fragrance spread through the air, as if from a million roses: a tall and long row of fragrant bushes grew before everyone’s eyes, decorated with crimson roses, and at the very top of it was a flower white and shiny, like a star. The king tore it off and pinned it to Eliza’s chest, and then she woke up, cheerful and calm. And all the bells began to hum by themselves, and the birds flew in in huge flocks, and such a wedding train returned to the royal palace, which no king in the world had ever seen before. 49. Are there sorcerers and witches? Based on the book “Golden Ears” by Gorbunov-Posadov Have you read the tale of "Wild Swans"? It's a nice fairy tale, isn't it? When you read it, you must have grown very fond of dear Eliza, and disliked the sorceress very much. But remember, my friends, that this is all a fairy tale, that there are no sorcerers and witches in the world, and no person can make a werewolf out of us or cast a spell on us. Why, you ask, did you tell us a fairy tale about wild swans, if all this is not true? And we told you so that you would learn from this fairy tale how brothers and sisters should love each other and how brothers and sisters should sacrifice their lives for each other, not only for brothers and sisters, but for every person who is in trouble or misfortune, because all people are brothers and sisters. But there are no witches and sorcerers, as we said just now, and there are no people who could cause damage. Meanwhile, in our villages, and in villages, and in cities, many believe that there are sorcerers, that they can spoil people, livestock, that they can find out who stole, where the stolen goods are, they believe that there are brownies, goblins, water spirits, and all sorts of such nonsense. And this causes great harm. The first harm is that, wherever a person needs to take care of himself, he turns everything to witchcraft, expects help from witchcraft. A mother's child gets sick, and instead of taking care of him, she takes him under the roost to the chickens to scold him or does some other stupid thing that does no good. Another harm is that when a person has trouble, as it happens to all people, it happens, the person does not endure it with humility and patience, seeking consolation in prayer to God and in reading the word of God, but immediately thinks about others and gets angry at them. If one of the young people gets sick, especially after the wedding, they now begin to point to the one who spoiled it and get angry with him. Only those who believe in witchcraft and corruption get sick from damage. They get sick not from witchcraft, but from thoughts; They will start thinking, getting bored, and will definitely get sick. And whoever does not believe in these nonsense will not get sick from any witchcraft. It's time to leave this paganism; It was still forgivable to think so when people did not know the true faith of Christ; and now, when in almost every household there is a literate person and the Gospel, in which the true faith is revealed to people, one cannot believe this nonsense. I lived in the world for a long time and never believed in any witchcraft, or hexes, or grandmas, and I said many times, and now I say, that I will give that sorcerer 1000 rubles who spoils me, as long as I don’t give anything inside. Otherwise, let him give for my death, let him twist my hair, take it out of the trace. Until now I have not found one like this. Great harm to the people comes from belief in witchcraft. This is a pagan faith, it's time to give it up. The Christian is told by Christ: “You will know the truth and you will be free.” And therefore a Christian is free from all fears, slander, damage and witchcraft. 50. Instruction on the dangers of divination Do not cast spells or tell fortunes... Do not go to wizards and do not become defiled by them (Lev.19:26,31). This is what the Lord commanded in His Scripture; and yet how often, especially in accidents, do you turn not to God, our only Helper and Patron, but to the so-called healers, sorcerers. For example, if trouble happens in the house: theft, someone gets sick, the husband doesn’t love his wife, or the father-in-law doesn’t love his daughter-in-law, you rush to a healer or a fortune teller. There were whispers and slander about wine, about water, cards and beans were used and dousing the patient with cold water. And now the patient becomes completely crippled, the husband hates his wife even more. In prophecies on cards and beans, they slander innocent people; If they show theft to a younger family man, perhaps they will drive him to the coffin. What do young people, especially, do during Christmas time? What kind of fortune-telling, what kind of divination does not happen!.. The destinies of God are hidden from us, and we are trying to find out about them one way or another. These whisperers and slanderers, these sorcerers and healers, and even those who turn to them, take upon themselves sin, grave sin. Listen to how the Lord punishes people who, having forgotten Him, want to know the future through divination. During the time of the prophet Elijah, there lived a king named Ahaziah in Samaria. One day he fell from the window of his palace and fell ill, and so Ahaziah sent ambassadors to the city of Ekron to the idol Baal to find out: will he recover or die? But on the road, the prophet of God Elijah met the royal ambassadors and said to them: “Is there really no true God in Israel, and are you going to question the idol of Ekron? Go and tell the king that he will not leave his bed and will die.” The holy man's prediction was soon fulfilled (2 Kings 1:2-4). King Saul of Israel was subjected to the same punishment from God for divination. When he was facing a war with the Philistines, he fell into cowardice and, wanting to know the future, turned to the sorceress of Endor, but was killed during the battle (1 Samuel 28). Do you see how the Lord punishes those who leave the true God and seek help from wizards and fortune-tellers? But then the pious king Hezekiah fell ill. The prophet Isaiah, in the name of God, told him that he would die. Hezekiah did not lose heart, did not turn to the soothsayers, but only in a fiery prayer to the true God, with bitter tears, asked Him for mercy. And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: go and tell Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears, and behold, I have added fifteen years to your days. Hezekiah did indeed recover (Isaiah 38:4–5). It is now clear that our whole life depends on the one true God; All our sorrows and sorrows, misfortunes and failures, deprivations and insults can be diverted only by the Lord, and not by divination or the dark satanic force that tries to lure us into its nets. Run to God and ask Him for help and mercy. The Lord is merciful, He will have mercy and save; turn to His saints and pray to them; This means is truer than any divination and any divination. In St. Petersburg, a young, poor and honest girl lived under the care of a pious woman. The girl fell ill with some strange disease; doctors could not identify diseases; the medications didn't help. In this illness, she fell into a lethargic sleep, in which she lay for more than a week, closing her eyes, not drinking, not eating. In this state, she sees (as she said upon awakening from sleep) at her bedside the Savior in a crown of thorns, His beautiful face, but in a suffering form: with a bowed head, and his hands tied with a rope. The Lord looked at the sick woman with such a merciful gaze that she cannot describe; The vision ended there. When the girl came to her senses and opened her eyes, she told her mistress about her vision, and from that day she became healthy. In gratitude to the Lord God for her healing, the girl wanted to paint the image of the Savior according to her vision and entrusted the work to the painter, telling him the features of the image she saw. The one who wrote down the circumstances of this miraculous healing says: “I saw her after the healing: her complexion was the healthiest, and she walked without fatigue; I asked her about the feeling she must have felt when she saw the Savior; she answered me that forever this Divine face would not be erased from her mind.” I stand knocking at your door: Let Me into your cell! I am weak, naked, weary and wretched, And My path is difficult and far, I wander around the world, poor and needy, Who will hear my voice, who will open the door, Whoever calls me to himself - To him I will go in and to him I will love, You are weak, you are exhausted in labor and struggle - You are crying - the last tears from your eyes And I will console you in your sorrow, And I will sit down with you to have dinner... I stand knocking at your door, 54. A request from a dying daughter According to "Christian Reading" One priest, preaching one day in a large gathering of people, saw a Jew standing in the distance, dressed very well and having an attractive appearance. Judging by his face, he was in great sadness. Upon taking his place, it seemed that he turned all his attention to the teaching, because during the course of it he often cried. At the end of the sermon, the priest could not resist talking to this stranger. - Allow me, dear sir, to ask you, are you not one of the children of Abraham? – You are not mistaken: I am a Jew. - But tell me, how did it happen that I see a Jew in a Christian congregation? Then the Jew told the priest the following. “I am one of the richest Jews in London.” Not long before, I settled with all my wealth and my only seventeen-year-old daughter in America, on the fertile banks of the Ogio River. My wife died before leaving Europe, and I found no consolation in anything except my beloved daughter. And truly she was worthy of such love. Gifted with perfect beauty, she had in herself excellent qualities of mind and heart with the best upbringing. With her gentle manner she tied the hearts of all her acquaintances to herself. Being a zealous Jew, I raised my daughter in strict observance of the Jewish law, thinking that by doing so I had enhanced her perfection. But suddenly my daughter became ill, and by all indications her illness turned out to be very dangerous. I did not leave her side, and my sadness was very great. I spared nothing: no labor, no expenses, to provide her with benefits to alleviate her illness, but no human art could avert death. Walking in a large grove near the house and watering my path with tears, I was called to my dying daughter. Dejected by sadness, I went to her room, which was soon to become a church of death. I went in to see her to say goodbye to her forever. My concepts about spiritual subjects gave me only a very weak hope of seeing her in a future life. My daughter took me by the hand and with liveliness, with her weakened strength, said: - Father! Do you love me? “Dear daughter, you know that I love you, that you are dearer to me than anything in the world.” - But, father, do you love me? – Why, my friend, are you asking me such a question? Have you never seen evidence of my love for you? - But tell me, dear father, do you love me? The father could not answer, and the daughter continued: - Oh, I know that you have always loved me; you are the most affectionate father, and I love you too. Will you fulfill my request? This request, dear father, is from your dying daughter. Will you fulfill it? - Dear daughter, just tell me what you want, even if it costs the last ruble of my property - in a word, whatever it is, it will certainly be fulfilled. – Father, I ask you never to speak against Jesus of Nazareth. “I know little,” continued the dying girl, “I know very little about Jesus Christ, because no one told me about Him; but I know, however, that He is the Savior, because He revealed Himself to me as such during my illness; revealed Himself as the Savior of my soul. I believe that He will save me, although I have never loved Him before. I feel that I am going to Him and will always be with Him. So, dear father, do not reject my request; I beg you never to speak against Jesus Christ. I also ask you: get the book of the New Testament that speaks about Him, and try to know Him, and when I am no longer there, then love Him with the love that you had for me. The tension with which she said this exhausted her weak strength. She fell silent. In my grave grief I could not even cry. I left her and before I had time to come to my senses, the spirit of my beloved daughter had already soared to the Creator, Whom she barely knew, but already loved and honored with all her heart. The first thing I did after interring the ashes of my dear daughter was to acquire the Holy Gospel. I began to read it and, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, I was numbered among the humble admirers of the Savior Jesus, whom I had once rejected. 55. The saving power of the Mysteries of Christ I marvel at the greatness and life-giving power of the Divine Mysteries: the old woman, who was coughing up blood and completely exhausted, eating nothing, from the communion of the Holy Mysteries, which I taught, began to recover on the same day. The girl, who was completely dying, after communion of the Holy Mysteries, on the same day, began to recover, eat, drink and speak, while she was already unconscious, tossed about violently and did not eat or drink anything. Glory to Your Life-Giving and Terrible Mysteries, Lord! From the “Book to Read” by Radonezhsky On the edge of one big city (in Italy) there was a poor shack. An old woman and her daughter lived in it. They provided themselves with food by sewing. They worked from morning to night; after all, they often had to go hungry. The old woman patiently endured her fate, but her daughter often grumbled and complained. – Don’t worry, don’t cry, my dear! “It’s better to pray to the Lady,” the old woman consoled her daughter, devoutly crossing herself and fixing her gaze on the front corner, where a dark old icon with the image of the Mother of God hung. – Look how kindly and welcomingly the Lady looks at us from the shrine, as if from the clouds. Will not help come to us from Her, the Intercessor? One hot afternoon, a traveler came into the hut to ask for water. Accidentally looking into the front corner, he was struck by the icon. An expert in painting, the traveler recognized the icon as the work of a great master. “Old lady, sell me the icon, I’ll give you a hundred rubles for it,” said the unfamiliar guest. - Master! I am poor, but I do not sell my soul and will not sell the holy blessing of my parents at any price. Soon rumors about the precious icon spread throughout the city. Visitors began to come in large numbers to the shack to look at the rare icon, and everyone paid a small amount of money for admission. Since then, the old woman and her daughter lived comfortably. So wonderfully and beautifully the firm faith in the help of the Heavenly Lady was justified. 57. Miraculous healing of the paralytic In Moscow, one count had a daughter, about fourteen or fifteen years old, who had been sick and weakened for a long time. The girl could neither walk nor move her arms and legs. The sick doctor provided some assistance, applying bandages to all her joints; these bandages gave the girl the opportunity to at least have some control over her hands. The patient remained in such a paralyzed state until recently. One day, while the whole family was having dinner downstairs, a piercing scream was heard in the sick room upstairs. The father rushed there and saw the following scene: his relaxed daughter stood on the floor, near the bed, and quickly tore off the bandages covering her. Her father wanted to put her to bed, thinking that she was in a painful fit. - No, no, dad! – the girl cried. - Leave me alone. Can't you see that I'm completely healthy? You better help me take off all these nasty bandages. The amazement of the father and the whole family knew no bounds. The patient, who an hour ago had been unable to get out of bed without assistance, now walked and acted like a completely healthy person. From the old nanny, who was constantly with the patient, we learned the following. During dinner for the whole family, the sick woman, as usual, lay down, and her eyes were fixed on the front corner of the room, where, among others, hung an ancient ancestral image of the Mother of God. “Nanny,” said the patient, “why is our image so dark?” It would be necessary to clean it. “But, dear, we’ll clean it up for the Bright Holiday,” answered the old woman. “Nanny, dear, let’s clean the robe now, it will be more fun for me to pray.” To console the sick woman, the nanny took off the image. - Nanny, you wash the robe, and I will dry it. - Let me see the icon, nanny! – the patient then said. And as soon as she took the icon in her hands, she quickly got out of bed, put the icon on the table and, crossing herself, cried out in an unnaturally loud voice: 58. Prayer to the Mother of God Peace Intercessor, Mother of All, Poor sinner, dressed in darkness, If trials befall me, In difficult times of life, in moments of suffering Spiritual joy, thirst for salvation To the Kingdom of Heaven, to the world of consolation When starting to pray to the Queen Theotokos, before praying, be firmly confident that you will not leave Her without receiving mercy. To think this way and to be confident about Her is worthy and righteous. She is the All-Merciful Mother of the All-Merciful God the Word, and all centuries and all Christian Churches proclaim Her mercies, innumerably great and countless; She is definitely an abyss of goodness and generosity, as it is said about her in the canon of Hodegetria 37 (canto 5, v. 1). Therefore, to approach Her in prayer without such confidence would be unreasonable and impudent, and doubt would offend Her goodness, just as the goodness of God is insulted when one approaches God in prayer and does not hope to receive from Him what is asked. How do they rush for mercy to some tall and rich person, whose mercy everyone knows, who has proven his mercy through numerous experiments? Usually with the calmest confidence and hope of getting from him what they want. So one must not doubt and not be faint-hearted in prayer. 60. Love for people drives away the boredom of life (fairy tale) There is an old German fairy tale about how, high, high on a mountain, behind the clouds, a giant lived. He had a daughter, also a giantess. She was sad. There were few giant neighbors; we saw each other often. The faces became familiar and boring; the speeches had all been talked over long ago and became disgusting. I didn’t know what to do, the giantess. I tried to dress up, practice music, draw - nothing made me happy, nothing touched my heart, nothing interested me. The soul remained empty and cold. She saw under her feet, far below, in the valleys, how people were swarming there; It happened that sometimes I watched their life from above for a long time, but did not understand the meaning of their actions and movements, and this dulled my interest: the anthill was moving, the ants were crawling back and forth, but there seemed to be no sense in sight. And this was not entertaining: it was boring at home, upstairs; It's boring down there among the people. My whole life was boring. The soul was yearning. But then one clear day she noticed how a little man was climbing somewhere on the ledges at her very feet and how trouble befell him. A snow avalanche fell from the cliff and buried the poor man. The giantess came up, dug up a pile of snow, took out the man, put him in her bosom and warmed him on her chest near her heart. The little man came to life. Then she brought him closer, leaned her ear towards him, and he thanked the giantess for saving her and told her why he ended up on the cliffs: he had a sick wife and tiny children at home, but not a piece of bread, and he went hunting for goats in the mountains. The giantess listened with interest to the man and asked her to tell her more about life below, in the valley. The man told her about his sorrows, needs and joys, and the giantess was afraid to utter a word. Never in her childhood had her nannies told her such interesting fairy tales, never had she read such entertaining books from her father as the little man was now telling her. The life of these little people turned out to be more fascinating than all fairy tales and stories. She fell in love with the little man, and her soul warmed. She wanted to help him and his brothers. I began to delve into their sorrows and needs. Interest appeared, melancholy passed. The giantess spent whole days collecting herbs and preparing medicine for people from them; she looked to see if an avalanche was sliding somewhere onto human settlements, if a rock was threatening to fall on them, and pulled them away with her strong hand. People blessed the giantess, and she blessed the hour when fate brought her close to people. Her heart was now always full of joy and happiness. 62. Russian princess – friend of the prisoners “When I was young, I was an impetuous girl,” one Russian princess says about herself. “I was not satisfied with the empty, prim and cold social life. I wanted some kind of achievement. I thought for a long time, looked for things to do; I finally found it. I decided to go to the prisons, to the prisoners, to those unfortunate people who had already been sentenced to exile in Siberia, to hard labor. I felt sorry for them to the core. Human justice punished them. They found retribution for the evil they had done; but they did not meet with compassionate mercy, loving pity for their difficult, although well-deserved, lot. I wanted to go to them, behind their iron bars to bring at least one weak word of love, affection, greeting. They told me that this was madness, that going to convicts was almost the same as going into a cage with wild animals, that I was dooming myself to gross insults, that nothing could be done with words of love and truth. I insisted on my position, got permission - and did not repent. I remember my first visit very well. The prison guard rounded up all the prisoners. The large room was full of them. Almost everyone was in chains. The faces were gloomy, the eyes looked somehow ominous, from under their brows. I felt involuntarily creepy, but I immediately overcame myself and asked: – Did they all want to come here? – We didn’t ask them about their desire. They were ordered. I asked not to force anyone in the future, but now I suggested that only those who wanted to stay, I gave the rest the right to go to their cells. About forty to fifty people, almost half, came out clanking with shackles. Standing next to me was the prison keeper and two guards with revolvers. It seemed unnecessary to me. It was wild to go to people and tell them that you believed in their remaining humanity, and to keep revolvers at the ready. I asked to be left alone. “This is impossible,” said the caretaker, “you don’t know, princess, who is here in front of you.” “There are people here,” I said, “and I trust them completely.” I ask you to leave me here unguarded. The caretaker left. The faces of the prisoners brightened up, lost their cruelty, became friendlier, softer. I read them the Gospel story of how Christ went to sinners and tax collectors, read the parable of the Prodigal Son, and talked a little on my own. She said that all was not lost for them, that the thief repented on the cross, that the paralytic rose to his feet after thirty-eight years. They listened great. In the end they thanked us. They asked me to come again. The third time, all the prisoners were there. Subsequently, I learned that the prison warden even used my visits for punitive purposes. I didn’t allow those who were guilty to come to my readings. After three months, the prisoners became unrecognizable: they became quieter, and there were no previous constant riots and quarrels. Apparently, many have begun serious internal work. “Eh, Princess Mother, you are our sunshine,” said a convict with a shaved head, “if we had previously heard what you are now reading and telling us, maybe we wouldn’t be here at all.” Christ save you! Through you, many here in prison saw the light. Now it’s easier to go to hard labor. The main thing is that there is no more anger, the heart has melted. Send you, Lord, what you ask of Him! So I worked among the prisoners for several years and always remember these years with love. I went to prison for a heroic deed, expected a difficult struggle against the inveterate anger of brutal people - and I found only pleasure, joy, consolation. The prisoners greeted me, a young girl, like a sister, like a mother; They brought their sorrows to me, asked for advice, greedily caught my every kind word. The prison authorities jokingly called me an animal tamer. And indeed, the prisoners obeyed me like no one else. One day a sad story came out in prison. For some misdemeanor of the prisoners, they were not allowed to see their wives on the reception day. The prisoners started a riot, broke the bunks and began to knock down the doors with boards. The prison guard demanded the soldiers. At that moment I just entered the prison corridor. “What,” I say, “is that noise?” What's the matter? - Oh, princess, you came at the wrong time. The prisoners went completely crazy, they broke the doors, they started a riot. - How then do you say: it’s not the right time? Exactly, she came on time. They need to be calmed down. Let me into their common cell. - To them? To the camera? The Lord is with you, princess. Yes, they will tear you and all of us to shreds. – Don’t be afraid, everyone will be safe, and they will calm down and avoid severe punishment. We must take care of people who have already been severely punished. Give me the key. The caretaker obediently gave the key. I approached the heavy, iron-clad door. From behind her came wild screams and the crash of breaking boards. The glass in the narrow window was broken. I shouted at him: The noise behind the doors died down. Shouts were heard: - Princess! Brothers, the princess has arrived! I opened the door and boldly entered the brawler’s cell. The crowd retreated respectfully. We then talked peacefully for about an hour and everything was settled. The riot stopped. All this finally convinced me that with a kind word, loving caresses and greetings you can soften the roughest heart. After my prison friends, people now appear to me in the form of a thermometer. It’s bitterly cold outside - the tube in the thermometer outside the window is empty, all the mercury has shrunk from the cold, you can’t see it. But you just have to approach the ball, breathe on it or pick it up, and our warmth will now respond to the mercury. The mercury will come out of the ball and begin to rise. The same thing happens to people. We have a lot of coldness in our attitude towards each other. It is no wonder that some lonely, homeless poor man will completely ossify his soul, become ferocious, and become a beast. Everything good in him will go somewhere deep inside and there it will shrink into a lump. Approach him with love, try to breathe heartfelt affection on him, warm him to your heart - now you will see how he begins to melt, how love quickly rises like mercury within him. I am the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6) “Where is the truth? What?” Who will answer us? "Where is the light?" Isn't it an idle question? Only truth shines for us in the world, His teaching is a word of light, Everything is a lie that is outside His covenant, And it’s all true that Christ. 64. Proverbs about almsgiving Alms - crackers for a long journey. Prepare food for the family, and then serve it to the poor. The poor man asks, but you give it to God. Almsgiving will justify you before God. Fasting leads to the gates of heaven, and almsgiving opens them. When giving alms through the window, turn away and pray to the icons (don’t look who you’re giving to). Give, Lord, food for the poor brethren! God forbid you give, God forbid you take! The hand of the giver will not fail. Everything is new and new, but when will things get better? Live in such a way that there is no sin from God, no shame from people. Get rid of yourself, bad life; get attached, good one! Life is given for good deeds. God's creation works for God. God gives to those who get up early. Take your time, pray to God first. Whoever works while crossing himself, God helps him! Begin with God and end with the Lord. Trust in God, and don’t be idle. To live without anything is only to smoke the sky. The day is boring until the evening, when there is nothing to do. Business is a day, fun is an hour. You are one step away from the matter, and it is ten steps away from you. If you yourself are bad, God won’t let you do that either. God gave the hands, and he weaved the ropes. The labor penny lives for two centuries. A good start is half the battle. The best rest is a change of activity. With prayer in your mouth, work in your hands. Sow it, scatter it, and look at the sky. Whatever is bad, run away from it; whatever is good, follow it. God, help me, but don’t lie down yourself. Christ endured, and He commanded us too. Without suffering, you will not be saved. For patience, God will give salvation. In this world we will suffer, in the next we will rejoice. In times of trouble, do not be discouraged, but trust in God. Do not be discouraged in sorrow, do not weaken in joy. Here joy is not eternal and sadness is not endless. God imposes the cross according to his power. What will be will be, and what will be will be what God wills. Poverty teaches, but spoils happiness. He who is satisfied with little is not forgotten by God. 68. Proverbs about attitude towards people Where there is love, there is God, there is peace, quiet, and God's grace. God Himself rests in simple hearts. Humility is a necklace for a girl (and a fine fellow). God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. The devil was proud and fell from the sky. Fear no one but God alone. Do good and don't be afraid of anyone. Sow goodness, sprinkle goodness, reap goodness, bestow goodness. You will spend an hour in goodness, you will forget all the grief. Hurry to do good: you won’t have time anyway. A good deed for two centuries: for this and for this. God gives thanks for the ungrateful. Man is not born for himself. May God grant there to be more love between people! Trade with truth: there will be more profit. Be friends with a friend, but do not harm an enemy. Remember friendship, but forget evil. Don’t regret your own thanks, and don’t ask for someone else’s. Someone else's money will burn your ruble. An unrighteous assembly is dust. An honest man is more valuable than a stone bridge. Don't offend the golyak: the golyak has the same soul. To offend the poor is not to wish well for yourself. The sun shines because of orphans. Fear not the rich thunderstorm, fear the wretched tears. You won't be fed up with someone else's misfortune. Do not let go of what is hateful, God will take away what is dear. Let this book be sacred Let them pour into your heart - 70. Sarah Martin - friend of prisoners in prison How often do many people say the following common and familiar phrase when they are asked for assistance in a good deed: “If I had more time and money, I would do a lot.” These kinds of words are just phrases used to cover up laziness, indifference or lack of love for people. An example of what can be done without much free time or money, but only a kind, sympathetic heart and the desire to benefit others, is Sarah Martin, an Englishwoman who lived at the beginning of the 19th century. Sarah Martin was born in 1791 in Cester, Norfolk. Having lost her parents at an early age, she lived with her grandmother and was engaged in sewing. The craft of a dressmaker brought her a small amount of money, which she added to the funds of her grandmother, who had about 100 rubles of annual income. Meek, kind, sympathetic Sarah often, sitting at work and singing a sad song, thought about the fate of criminals imprisoned in prison. She felt sorry for the unfortunate people and did not know how to help them. The thought of visiting prison haunted Sarah, but the fear of slander prevented her from realizing her dreams in practice. After several years of hesitation and doubt, she finally took advantage of one opportunity and, at the 28th year of her life, went to prison. In 1819, a woman was arrested and accused of abusing her child. This event, which excited the entire city, had a particularly strong impact on Sarah, who decided to fulfill her cherished desire, despite any obstacles. Not wanting to hear comments aimed at deterring her from her intention, and the advice of others, she did not tell anyone about her decision to visit the prisoner. Sarah's repeated requests to be admitted to prison finally gave her the opportunity to see the prisoner, who treated her very rudely and mockingly inquired about the purpose of her visit. The shy and timid seamstress looked at the unfortunate woman with a feeling of deep regret for her. This look penetrated the soul of the criminal, and she quickly transformed when she saw the sincerity and sympathy of the visitor. The prisoner cried bitterly and rushed to kiss Sarah’s hands, begging her to forgive her rudeness and help her improve. This heartfelt repentance awakened in a spoiled woman served as a new reason for Martin to begin her charitable activities in prisons. From that day on, she began visiting prisoners on Sundays and weekdays in the few free hours from work. Truly religious and deeply believing in the power of the teachings of Christ, Sarah advised the prisoners to devote several hours every day to reading the Gospel. Some of them objected, wanting to know the purpose of this reading. “If it’s useful to me,” she said, “then why can’t it be useful to you too? Start like I started and you will see the benefits I talk about.” Such meekness and simplicity of explanations disarmed the criminals, and they unwittingly obeyed the advice and desires of this woman. Her warmth attracted everyone to her, thanks to which she gained enormous influence. Unhappy and spoiled people understood Sarah's boundless love for them. Aware of the need for religious and moral development for criminals, Martin read them edifying stories, which she composed herself in relation to the understanding of her listeners. The criminals listened with attention to the instructive stories of their patroness. Sarah's voice produced a magical (magical) effect on these outcast people; at the first word she uttered, everything fell silent and all eyes were turned to her. Along with concerns about the moral revival of the unfortunate, Martin also took care of their enlightenment: she taught them to read and write. Classes for prisoners were a particularly serious concern for Sarah; she understood the harm of idleness, which causes bad thoughts and leads to vices. Being a seamstress by profession, Sarah taught the prisoners how to sew children's dresses, which were sold, and the proceeds, with the exception of the cost of material, went to benefit the prisoners when they were released from prison. For many, these savings were a means of reform and the beginning of an honest working life. Along with delivering work to criminals in prison, Sarah had in mind to accustom them to work and learn crafts that would give them independent income after serving their sentence. She supplied many who had no savings with money, goods for trading, or tools for craft production; For some of them, Martin herself looked for places, knowing that the shame imposed on them by being in prison deprived them of the opportunity to work honestly and again led them to a vicious path. Sparing neither time nor labor, Sarah walked around the city and asked to accept those released from prison, as a test, to the places they occupied before imprisonment. In this way, Martin took care of the prisoners, instilling in them hope for a better future. She tried to console, calm and awaken everyone’s strength and good spirits. The sufferings of the unfortunate were her sufferings, their joys her joys. In 1828, after the death of her grandmother, Sarah, having received about 100 rubles of annual income, left the craft of a dressmaker, completely devoting her life to the benefit of her neighbors. But these funds were not enough to support her, which is why she was sometimes in great need. City residents often sent her money and things, but she used everything for her pets. In 1843, on April 17, Sarah fell ill and died on October 15 of the same year. The selflessness and beneficial activities of the poor seamstress in favor of prisoners left a permanent grateful memory of her among the residents of her hometown. The unfortunate one from your doorstep And asking you for God's sake Everything that a person has comes from God... “The hand of the giver will not fail.” Based on the book “Thrift” by S. Smiles Neglecting the little things is the rock on which most people crash. The whole of human life is nothing more than a series of insignificant incidents, each of which, taken separately, is unimportant, but, nevertheless, the happiness of each person largely depends on these little things. A person’s character is also made up of little things when they are given due attention. A person's success in business entirely depends on his attention to detail. An increase in knowledge and experience is nothing more than the result of the smallest particles of knowledge and experience carefully collected into one whole. People who do not save anything during their lives fail in everything - precisely because they neglect the little things. No matter how much they say that “the whole world is going against them,” the only enemies are themselves. For a long time there was a belief in “luck”, in “maybe”, but, like any popular belief, it finally disappeared. Now the more widespread opinion is that hard work is the mother of possible happiness on earth, or, in other words, a person’s happiness is in accordance with his efforts, his diligence, his attention to detail. A lazy, careless, dissolute person will not find success in anything. Luck, as one American writer put it, always waits for circumstances to develop in its favor, and work, having a penetrating gaze and a strong will, always itself prepares for its business such circumstances as are necessary. Luck loves to lie in bed and calculate how good it would be if the postman came now with news of some unexpected inheritance; labor rises at dawn and diligently works with a pen or a hammer, itself laying a solid foundation for prosperity. Luck relies on chance; work on character. Luck imperceptibly reduces a person to self-indulgence; labor elevates a person and leads him to independence. There are many little things in the household, attention to which is necessary for health and peace of mind. Cleanliness involves attention to many seemingly trifles - for example, that the floor is wiped, the dust is swept away from the chairs, the cups are wiped clean. The general result of this is a whole atmosphere of moral and physical well-being, conditions favorable for the highest development of human character. To others it will seem like a trifle what the air is like in a house: we cannot see the air, and how many people know anything about it? However, if we do not take care that there is a proper flow of clean air into our homes, then we will inevitably suffer for our negligence. It would seem to be of little importance if a few spots of dirt are visible here and there, of little importance if a door or window is constantly closed; but because of this, diseases can occur that will upset a whole life, and therefore even a small amount of dirt and bad air in practice constitutes an extremely serious matter. All household routines taken in themselves are trifles, but such trifles from which important consequences can arise. A pin is a very insignificant thing in clothing, but a person’s character is often shown in the way the pin is stuck into his dress. Someone, a subtle and observant man, was looking for a wife and for this he visited a familiar family. One day, one of the daughters of the head of the family, a beautiful girl with an unbuttoned dress and unkempt hair, entered the room in which he was sitting. After this time the visitor never came here again; Meanwhile, he was a smart man and subsequently became a good husband. He judged women, like men, on little things, and he was right. Neglect of little things has shaken more than one good fortune and ruined the best enterprises. The ship, loaded with the merchant's riches, died because a small hole in the bottom was not noticed when it sailed. Due to the lack of a nail, the horseshoe of the adjutant of the active army was lost; there was no horseshoe, the horse itself fell; because of the fallen horse, the adjutant himself died, since the enemy captured and killed him; with the death of a good officer, the army of his general died; all these misfortunes, in the end, occurred simply because an insignificant nail was not properly attached to the horse's horseshoe. “Will do!” - this is a common expression of people who neglect little things. This word has ruined more than one fortune, was the cause of the death of many ships, the fire of many houses, and irrevocably destroyed thousands of rainbow-colored projects (proposals) for good to humanity. The words “will do!”, “maybe”, “probably” and “somehow!” mean that a person has stopped doing the right thing; they mean impurity of the matter, failure and death. The goal should not be to get the job done somehow, but to get it done in the best possible way. If once a person has adopted the rule of doing “somehow” and “maybe,” then this means that he has given himself over to the enemy of good, that he has gone over to the side of incapable, bad people, and we abandon him as a hopeless person. One French writer (Say) tells the following example of neglect of trifles. On a rural farm (estate), due to the lack of a latch, the gate from the fence in which cattle and chickens were kept was constantly opening. An expense of 10 kopecks, a few minutes of time - and everything would be fixed. The door swung open every time someone passed; It was impossible to lock the door immediately, so many chickens got lost over time. Once an excellent young pig escaped from the fence in this way; The gardener, the cook, the milkmaid - in a word, the whole house - began to look for her. The gardener was the first to see the pig; jumping over a ditch to block the pig's path, he sprained his leg and had to lie in bed for two weeks. The cook, returning to the farm, saw that the laundry that she had hung in front of the fire to dry had burned, and the milkmaid, in her haste, forgot to tie up the cows, and one of them broke the leg of a foal who happened to be kept in the same barn. The burned linen and the lost labor of the gardener cost no less than 35 rubles, and the foal cost almost twice as much: thus, here, in a few minutes, a large sum of money was lost simply due to the lack of a small valve that could be installed for a few kopecks. Life is full of similar examples. If neglect of small circumstances has become a habit, then it won’t be long before you reach ruin. Wealth is created by the hand of a diligent person; A diligent person, both man and woman, is attentive to both the smallest objects and the largest. Things in themselves may seem insignificant, insignificant, but attention to them is just as necessary as to objects of great importance. Let's take, for example, the smallest coin - a penny. What benefit, it would seem, can be expected from this small piece of copper - from one penny? What can you buy with it? Only a box of matches is worth a penny. For some people this coin is only suitable for giving to a beggar. Meanwhile, how much human happiness depends on the wise spending of one penny! Suppose a person works hard, earns his living; but if he allows the small coins, pennies that make up the result of this hard work to slip through his fingers: now to drink beer, now here, now here, then it will turn out that his working life is little higher than the life of a water nag. On the other hand, if the same worker takes care to save these insignificant coins, every week contributes a few such coins to the mutual aid society or to the insurance capital, a few others to the savings bank, and entrusts the rest to his wife to carefully save for arranging some amenities in his home, as well as for the education of his children, then such a careful person will soon see himself rewarded for his attentiveness to detail: he has the funds will increase, the house will be calm and comfortable, and he himself will be calm about the future. All savings are made up of little things. The ruble is made from kopecks. A penny saved means that rubles will also be collected, and saving large sums will provide funds for the comforts of life and independence. But the penny must be earned honestly. It is not without reason that they say that a penny of labor is better than a begged ruble. A Scottish proverb says: a dress given as a gift is never as beautiful as a dress acquired. If a person does not know how to take care of his earnings, then he should be prepared for anything. Need may come upon him like a thief in the night. Thrift has a magical (magical, extraordinary) effect: once started, it turns into a habit and gives a person a consciousness of satisfaction, strength, and security. The pennies deposited in a box, in a savings bank, serve the owner as a guarantee for convenience during illness, for peace of mind in old age. A thrifty person has with him a shield against want, but one who does not know how to save must know that there is absolutely no barrier between him and bitter, cruel poverty. But a man may be inclined to save money, put it aside in case of illness or for other purposes; however, he cannot do this if his wife does not help him in this. A prudent, thrifty, hardworking woman is truly the crown of happiness for her husband. She assists him in all good decisions, can reveal his best qualities through calm, meek support; by her example, she is able to plant in him sublime principles that serve as the seed of the greatest virtues in life. And a well-lived life is worth many speeches, because an example is much more eloquent than words: it is a lesson in faces, the rules of wisdom in practice. A person's daily life serves as the best touchstone of both his moral and social standing. Let us take two workers in the same trade, earning the same money; how different these two people can be in relation to their present situation! One looks like a completely free person, the other looks like a slave. One lives in a cozy house, the other in a dirty shack. One is always wearing a decent dress, the other is in rags. One's children are neat, well dressed, and go to school; others are dirty, miserable and often lie in ditches. One has the ordinary comforts of life, even many pleasures; the other has little to enjoy: there are no pleasures, no entertainment, no books, and yet the earnings of both are the same. What is the reason for this difference? Here's the reason: one is smart and prudent; the other is the opposite. One sacrifices himself for the benefit of his wife, family, home; the other does not deny himself anything, but lives under the yoke of bad habits. One is a sober person who finds pleasure in making his home attractive and bringing comfort to his family; another does not care at all about either home or family, but spends most of his money in a drinking shop or tavern; one looks up, the other looks down. One has a high measure of pleasure, the other has a low one. One loves books that develop him and elevate his mind; the other is devoted to drunkenness, which seeks to humiliate and castigate him. One saves his money; the other shakes them. “So, comrade,” the latter said to the former one evening on the way back from work, “tell me, how do you manage to arrange your affairs like this?” How can you support and clothe your family as you do now, and on top of that put money in a savings bank? It seems that I earn the same amount as you, and I have fewer children, but I can barely make ends meet... - Okay, I’ll tell you what the secret is: it’s all only thanks to my care about saving the pennies I earn. - How! And that's the whole reason? - Yes, and the reason is good. Not even one out of 50 people would know this secret. For example, you don't know. - I? How is this possible? It would be interesting to know. – Now that you asked my secret, I will tell you everything. Just don't be offended if I speak directly. I don't spend anything on drinking. - Nothing? But does this mean that you don’t pay for treats with treats, but lick your neighbors’ dishes? - Never. I drink water that costs nothing. An old proverb says that with every day of drinking comes a bitter hangover; I try not to have hangover days when my head hurts and my hands shake, and I save my money. Drink water: you won’t get sick and you won’t get into debt, and your wife won’t soon become a widow. But this makes a significant difference in our costs. – Is that your whole secret? – Yes: take care of every small coin - that’s all. I am a protector, and therefore I do not suffer need, but you are in need. Very simple, isn't it? - It’s just that simple; it just doesn't make any sense. - But the point is that you should have asked why I live well and still save, while you, with the same income, barely make ends meet. Money means independence, and it adds up little by little. Moreover, I and you also work so hard that I don’t even want to spend money on drinking when I can save these pennies for a rainy day. That's the whole point; after all, it is gratifying to think that, no matter what accident befalls me, I will not need to either ask or go to the workhouse. Savings make me a free person. A man who is always in debt or without a penny at hand is little better than a slave. 73. About the Christian behavior of a girl Comp. based on the book “The Orthodox Family.” Christian" St. A. Rozhdestvensky To better paint a picture of the behavior of a Christian girl, I will first present a living example of such behavior from the lives of the saints. This example is given to us by the holy martyr Eulalia, celebrated on August 22. Saint Eulalia was the daughter of pious parents who lived in Spain, in a village located near the present city of Barcelona. The parents loved their daughter very much for her meekness, humility and obedience. Having learned to read and write, Saint Eulalia often read sacred books, and prayer, one might say, was her food: she praised the Lord “day and night,” according to the expression of her life. Under the influence of unceasing prayer and reading religious and moral books, a holy intention to devote herself to the virgin life arose early in her heart. She lived in a special room at her parents’ house and here she indulged in prayerful works, read sacred books to her friends, explained to them what she read, why they loved her like their soul. When Saint Eulalia was 14 years old, the persecution of Christians began by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. By order of the emperor, the hegemon (i.e., chief) Dician arrived in the city of Barcelona: he looked for Christians, forced them to make sacrifices to idols, and subjected those who refused to terrible torture and executed them. Having learned about this, Saint Eulalia decided to go to the city. Seeing the hegemon sitting in the city square, she boldly approached him and said: - Unjust judge! Here you are sitting on a high throne and are not afraid of God, who is above all. Are you then sitting here to destroy innocent people created in the image and likeness of God? People must serve the one true God, but you force them to serve Satan, and subject the disobedient to the death penalty. The surprised hegemon asked the holy virgin: who is she and where is she from? – I am Eulalia, the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords; Trusting in Him, I was not afraid to come here and expose you,” answered Eulalia. The enraged hegemon ordered her to be stripped and brutally beaten on her back with sticks. At the same time, he mocked the holy sufferer, blasphemed the Christian God, advised her to repent and ask for forgiveness; and the young maiden said to the tormentor: - Know, cruel tormentor, that I do not feel sick from the wounds you inflict on me, because I am protected by my Lord Christ, Who on the terrible day of judgment will condemn you to eternal torment. The embittered hegemon then ordered that Saint Eulalia be hanged on a tree and her body be planed with iron combs. But this was not enough for the cruel tormentor: he ordered the candles to be lit and the body of the holy virgin to be scorched with them until she died. And the holy girl, as if not feeling suffering, prayed: “Lord Jesus Christ! Hear my prayer, complete Your mercy and rest me with Your chosen ones in Your Kingdom.” Having said these words, she died. The people present saw a dove as white as snow, which flew out of the mouth of the holy martyr and soared to the sky. On the third day after the death of the holy sufferer, her body was secretly taken from the square and buried with honor. Here is a high example of Christian behavior for girls, which modern girls should imitate to the best of their ability. From the life of Saint Eulalia we saw that prayer was her constant occupation; she praised the Lord “day and night.” Prayer at home and in church, at the beginning and end of every task, should be a distinctive feature of the behavior of every Christian girl. She must deepen in her heart firm faith in God and childlike devotion to wise leadership, she must always remember that nothing happens in the world without the will of God, and be ready for whatever the Lord sends her in life. In only such a mood can a girl boldly embark on the path of life, which, by the way, is strewn with more thorns than roses - in such only a mood she can cheerfully carry on her shoulders the burden of life imposed on her by the duty of a wife and mother: she will not lose heart, will not give up in despair, no matter how heavy the cross befalls her, but with deep humility and submission she will carry it to the very grave. At the same time, I cannot ignore the following circumstance. Some girls sometimes have a desire to devote themselves to virgin life and enter a monastery. Such a desire in itself is holy, pure, lofty, commendable, but before you carry it out, you must beware of making a mistake, you must strictly check it, discuss it better, weigh all the circumstances, balance your strengths with the conditions of the harsh monastic life. It is better not to decide on this great step than, having decided, to change it later, to cry and grieve over worldly life. The best thing in such a case is to seek advice from an experienced elder or clergyman: they will instruct you on what to do and what to do. In any case, we must always earnestly ask the Lord to show us the path of life, since He alone knows our heart and what is hidden in it. A Christian girl, following the example of Saint Eulalia, must have respect and love for her parents, must be submissive and obedient to them in everything. Unfortunately, we often see and hear that some girls not only do not listen to them, but even behave arrogantly, impudently, arrogantly towards them, allow rude antics, often say that they are backward people, outdated, that now is not the time; There are even those who get married without the consent and blessing of their parents. This is a sad phenomenon, worthy of bitter regret. No, girls must always respect and honor their parents, no matter who they are; this will prevent them from making many mistakes. Let them always keep in mind that they too can have children who will treat them the same way they themselves treat their parents. Disrespectful children are the greatest grief for parents. He who honors his parents will be honored by his children, and vice versa. A Christian girl must lead a working life, avoid idleness and laziness. She should be her mother's closest assistant in running the household. By doing this, she will early learn order and housekeeping and enter into life with full knowledge of her business: she will not have to study when she needs to work, toil, and not study. We know that many girls, entering life, bitterly repent of the fact that in due time they were not accustomed to work and housekeeping. While still in her mother’s house, every girl should be able to sew, knit, and cook even the simplest food. Handicrafts, helping her mother with the housework, almsgiving, hospitality, caring for her younger brothers and sisters should be her constant exercises. A Christian girl should avoid luxury in dress, which is a common weakness of almost all girls. We must be content with what God has awarded us, and not give ourselves artificial beauty. The best adornment of a maiden and a woman in general, according to the apostle, is “not the outward braiding of hair, not gold ornaments or finery in clothing, but the hidden person of the heart in the incorruptible beauty of a meek and quiet spirit, which is of great price in the sight of God” (1 Pet. 3:3-4). The meaning of the words of the holy apostle is this: the main subject of concern for a girl should not be appearance, but “the hidden person of the heart,” i.e. the soul hidden in the body, the heart of a person. By “meek and silent spirit” we mean self-control, which consists of not being offended by anything, not offending anyone, not giving free rein to the tongue, not idle talk, not judging, and behaving modestly and humbly. Such self-control is the duty of every Christian, especially a Christian woman. Nothing humiliates a woman more than a lack of meekness and modesty, quarrelsomeness, pickiness, talkativeness, and a tendency to idle talk and gossip. Finally, a Christian girl should make acquaintances only with good friends and avoid bad acquaintances. We know that Saint Eulalia read sacred books to her friends and explained what she read. In the same way, even now Christian girls should avoid unnecessary conversations, songs, dancing, fortune-telling, playing cards, and acting in the circle of their friends. Nowadays, with the development of enlightenment, there are many literate girls, and there are also many good, spiritual and moral books. This means that girls can get together in their free time, read good books and talk about what they read: this will be a pleasant, useful and pleasing activity to God. Many places now have Sunday readings with misty pictures. It’s great for girls to visit them instead of going out into the street to “dance round dances,” which are not always impeccable, according to the judgment of pious people. From the book “Good Word” by Rev. G.Dyachenko Churches of God constitute a precious adornment of our Orthodox Rus'. All these churches mostly arose from labor contributions - donations collected by the zeal of simple, pious hearts. Pickers walk through villages, towns, cities, They walk in the cold winter, Most of the peasants who collect money for the construction of the church serve the cause of God according to their vow. One was promised during a serious illness, if death was avoided; the other - in gratitude for salvation from obvious death, when meeting with a fierce beast; the third went to gather because above all he loved the splendor of the house of the Lord and the salvation of his soul. During meetings, I willingly talk with the collectors. Once, having met an old collector with an image and a book, I asked: where is he from? - I, father, am distant - from the northern region, from the icy sea - from the Arkhangelsk province. - First year. Yes, I'm going back home. - Glory to Christ! We will build a new church, a rich one, made of stone (the old man crossed himself). - Great is the grace of the Lord. - Well, did you go on your own or were you chosen by the world? - Himself, myself, according to promise, a guardian. I was sick: death was at my bedside, there was an abyss of sins... The Lord will send me relief, I’ll go, I thought to myself. And our church is completely dilapidated, wooden, in the name of the saint St. Nicholas. How I got up after an illness, got better, straightened out the permit for collection - the book, prayed to God and went, I don’t know where. I’ll go, they say, wherever the holy saint leads; but I’m heading towards Moscow. Ours is sparsely populated and villages are sparse. It was night on the road: we had to spend the night in the forest. I lay down under a tree, put the icon on a twig, fell asleep and dreamed. The saint shows me with his hand at noon and says: “Go to the Volga, to Rybna” (the city of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl province). I got to Rybnaya, where on foot, where by barge, where by boat... I didn’t stop anywhere... The ship landed in Rybnaya on the shore. There is a rich cathedral on the shore. I'm going to the cathedral. An elderly woman, who looks like a merchant's wife, comes towards me from the cathedral and asks: - Come to my house. I live over there... And she pointed to a house near the cathedral. I'm here. The house is large, stone. She asked me to stay, rest and spend the night. In the morning she asked me about everything, and then she said: “Here’s my contribution to you for the construction of the church.” Start building with God quickly... There are forty thousand here. And she handed me a bag with money. I fell to my feet and roared with joy. She told me that her daughter-bride had recently died and bequeathed her dowry to the first collector who met the mother on the fortieth day to build a church. - Today is the fortieth day of my dear, I was walking from church, and I met you first... When I told her about the dream, she was surprised, shed tears, crossed herself and said: “Whatever is not enough, I’ll pay extra, build a tall, five-domed, spacious church, with a chapel in the name of the holy martyr Raisa.” (This is the name of her deceased daughter). I will send the bells, utensils and vestments from here, and I will come to the consecration of the church myself. She didn’t tell anyone to tell anyone about her donation and didn’t tell her her last name, so I never found out who she was; I just asked to remember the maiden Raisa for her repose and to pray for the health of Seraphima... Tears of joy did not leave the collector’s eyes during the story. I rejoiced with the old man. Thanks to the old collector and an unknown benefactress, a new splendid, five-domed, loud-ringing church will grow and be built in the far northern side for the beauty and consolation of the whole region. The roar of the holy good news will echo the surroundings far away and awaken the sweetness of prayer in souls... Tens, hundreds of years will pass, the ashes of generous donors and diligent collectors will decay, but the newly created church will remain. Every time the villagers gather in church for the call of the good news, a prayer will rush to God for the creators and benefactors of this church, and the memory of those who loved the splendor of the house of the Lord will live forever under the arches of this church - the collector-peasant, the pious bride, who bequeathed her dowry to the holy cause, and her pious mother. One elderly father lost his only, dearly beloved daughter: she died suddenly; although the father did not grumble at God, it was very difficult for him to bear his irrevocable loss. With deep sorrow he settled in his small country house, and his only pleasure was that he often went to the nearby beautiful garden, which belonged to a neighboring rich owner. Here he spent several hours every day, seeing no one except the gardener, because the owner of the garden for the most part lived in the city. The inconsolable father loved to sit with special pleasure next to a magnificent rose bush, on which there was only one single flower; but how beautiful this rose was! The gardener, seeing what pleasure this rose gave the sorrowful father, promised him to look after it with special diligence and not give it to anyone, so that he could, as much as possible, enjoy its beauty and smell; and the poor father considered the rose nothing more than his property. But - alas! One day, in the morning, to the old man’s surprise, the rose disappeared. It was ripped off. -What did you do? - he said reproachfully to the gardener. “Didn’t you promise me to take care and preserve the flower?” “It’s true,” he answered sadly, “but what to do?” The gentleman wanted to tear it down. The gardener’s words, “The lord wished to pick it,” occupied the sad father all day and were a consolation in his grief and sadness. “My daughter,” he said to himself, “was also like a beautiful flower, and I thought that she belonged only to me. Why grumble? After all, she belonged to God, and the Lord God wanted to take her to Himself... The Lord gave, and the Lord took away. Blessed be the name of the Lord from now on and forever.” The king gave his beloved daughter Mary a necklace. It was an expensive gift. The necklace was worth more than all the treasures on earth. Each individual pearl was of rare beauty, famous for its brilliance throughout the world and was known by a special name. One pearl was called love, another truth, a third meekness, a fourth obedience, a fifth affection, a sixth zeal, etc. Maria used to dress up and adorn herself with a necklace: pearls glow, shimmer - a miracle girl, a sight to behold! Watching makes your heart happy. You think: if only all children were always like this, so pretty and joyful, bright and friendly! Only Maria did not know how to reasonably appreciate her father's gift. Because of my childhood, I still could not properly understand the value of the necklace. She not only wore it on important occasions, but played pranks with it; jokingly, having fun, throwing it without attention. Often the thread broke, the pearls scattered on the floor, and it was difficult to find them later. The pearls have spoiled here and there; there was a scratch on one, a speck on the other, and the necklace became tarnished. The great holiday has arrived. The king had a feast. They dressed the girl up and put a necklace around her neck. The necklace does not shine, the pearls do not shimmer. The father saw it and was saddened. - Baby, honey, what does this mean? Why is the necklace not as beautiful as before? You didn’t take care of my gift, so it got spoiled. However, it is still possible to correct the grief; We’ll smooth out the scratches, clean off the stains, and restore the necklace to its former shine: the damage has only just touched the pearls. But if you continue to treat my gift with the same carelessness, it will be completely lost. Instead of scratches there will be cracks, spots will dot all the pearls, all the beauty will be destroyed. Children, you understand, of course, the parable: the king is God, the king’s daughter is our soul, pearls are our virtues, spots are our shortcomings. On the pearl, which is called truth, through our oversight, lies, cunning, and deceit arise; on love - envy, self-importance, pride; on meekness and obedience - rudeness, harshness in words, harshness in deeds. And so the whole necklace dies. More often, children, review individual pearls: is everything in good order, are there any stains? 77. Venerable Macrina as a model for girls who refused marriage The Monk Macrina (see story 2, chapter I), having abandoned marriage, found something to do: she focused her activities on caring for the happiness and peace of her family. When her father died, and after his death her mother had a son, Peter, God Himself showed her what to do. She took this little brother completely into her own care: she looked after him during his childhood, then she taught him to read and was engaged in his education until he was a teenager. But this did not stop her from performing other household chores; there was no work that she would consider too difficult and humiliating for herself; she worked like the last of the maids, ruled the household, consoled the widow-mother, mentored her brothers and sisters and was a second, tender and caring mother for them. Her brother Vasily, who had completed his studies there, returned from Athens, and it seemed to her that he was somewhat proud of his knowledge. Saint Macrina directly remarked to him that those who have received a high education need to be as humble as possible and try to use it for the glory of God. The brother took her words to heart and changed. When the upbringing of the children was completed, the brothers chose a title for themselves, and the sisters got married, Macrina begged her mother to leave the world with her. And so they settled in a beautiful and secluded place, near the river. Not far from them was the deserted dwelling of brother Vasily. Several other pious wives and some of their maids settled with Emilia and Macrina. They led a quiet life, devoted to prayer, they had everything in common, they all worked together, studied the Holy Scriptures and lived in love and harmony, obeying the leader they had chosen. Having reached old age, mother Emilia died. Nine years passed, and Brother Basil the Great, the beauty of the Orthodox Church, also died. Another brother remained, Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa. He was in exile for a long time due to the machinations of the Arian heretics, and when he returned to his fatherland, his first priority was to see his sister Macrina. But he found her already ill. He entered her cell and saw her lying on the floor, covered with old rags. She was very happy to see her brother, kissed him and thanked God for the consolation sent down to her. They remembered their deceased brother Vasily, and at his name Gregory could not help but cry. Macrina had the power to console her brother and spoke with him for a long time about the goodness of God, about the purpose of human life on earth, about the blessed eternity that awaits all who love the Lord. Gregory felt the need for rest and went into the garden. After a while, Macrina called him again and began a new conversation with him. Full of spiritual joy, she recalled the blessings that God had shown to their entire family, and glorified and thanked God. “As if from some source, grace flowed from her lips,” says Gregory, “and her whole mind was in heaven. I listened to her with pleasure." But all this was on the eve of Macrina’s death. The next day she still had the strength to talk with her brother and those around him, then she plunged into prayer and died. Before her death, she imprinted her brother’s eyes and heart with the sign of the cross, and gave him as an inheritance a piece of the Life-Giving Tree and a cross, which she wore around her neck. It seemed as if she had fallen asleep, so quiet and serene was her death; her face shone with heavenly joy and extraordinary beauty. The nuns wept loudly because they loved her like a mother. After her death, all that remained was a sharp hair shirt, a cassock covered in patches, and an old robe. She gave everything to the poor. In front of a great crowd of people, they buried the body of Macrina, who so passionately loved the Lord and served Him alone all her life. Here is a sample of the life of a Christian girl who refused marriage and lived in a family. Many girls who are destined to experience such a life, nowadays, often become bored, become despondent and say: “What kind of life is my life? What am I living for? Who needs me? Who can I be useful to? Look at Saint Macrina and you will see to whom you can be useful. Do you have a mother, father? Be useful to them, follow them in their old age, try to calm them down. Do you have brothers and sisters smaller than you? For them, live profitably, give them good instructions, teach them to pray, and read the word of God with them, and go to the church of God with them, and in the church watch them as they stand. Saint Macrina was not afraid to reprimand even Brother Vasily, who had just brilliantly completed his education. Feel free to speak the truth to your brothers and sisters, and you will benefit them. Do your parents have any kind of household? Help them with household chores. Oh, how often a close, faithful person is dear in such cases; no amount of money can find him. You will help in the household, and it will go well and successfully, and this should console and delight you. If you had a desire, how could you not find something to do, how could you not set yourself a goal in life, so that you could live for the benefit of others and your soul? Why is there despondency and dissatisfaction with life here? The purpose of our life is to educate ourselves for heaven; Who’s stopping you from preparing for heaven here? You will say: there is vanity, anxiety, excitement, constant distraction of thoughts from heaven - but you will make an effort and try to do everything in a peaceful mood of the soul, constantly calling on God for help. How did Saint Macrina act? She did everything with prayer - so do you. If you strive for the spirit of prayer, you will receive: God will see your desire to do everything with the thought of Him and, as if for Him, will give you what you are looking for. Ask and it will be given to you. And to work and pray together - what could be better than this? The Lord Himself, through an angel, indicated this means for salvation and driving away the spirit of despondency to the Monk Anthony. But you will say: such a boring life is to work and pray. But this can be said by such girls who have not yet set the goal of their life to seek the Kingdom of Heaven, who are still attached to earthly things, who are looking for something on earth. You cannot suddenly renounce earthly things: the enemy is strong, the flesh also attracts to the sensual, to the sinful. It’s impossible suddenly, but you can gradually let go. For some, by the grace of God, this renunciation from everything earthly and worldly happens quickly, but for others, they need to fight with themselves. If you fight with God's help, you will conquer yourself. The main thing is not to lose heart in the struggle itself, which can be very, very long. The danger here is not that you cannot overcome yourself for a long time and acquire what you want, but that you do not give up the struggle itself. This is the most dangerous state when you say: “No, I must not wait for the time when I surrender to the Lord with all my heart, I must not be saved, I feel that I am on the way to destruction.” God forbid to speak and think like that! No, fight with yourself and do not despair: sooner or later victory will come - and you will surrender to the Lord with all your heart. The Lord, who does not want anyone to perish, will save you too. Nowadays, many girls, bored with home life, are looking for activities for themselves and outside of it. What can I say to this? It is possible, and not a sin, to work usefully outside the family if you have the opportunity. But there are many dangers, and there may be many temptations, distractions and falls. A girl enters the field of social activity. Who will she work with? Who are her life partners? What direction are they? What thoughts? What if she has to serve among a society of men, and free-thinking ones at that? How she needs to be attentive and careful at every hour! How such girls should earnestly pray to the Lord, His Most Pure Mother, that They would preserve them from all temptations and temptations, in chastity and purity until the end of their days! The best thing for an educated girl is to be a teacher in the family or at school: this is her best field, this is where she can serve others with true benefit. But no matter where, in what occupations our girls who refused to marry had to work, we wish them one thing; so that they remember God, the church of God, prayer, love the word of God, strictly fulfill the statutes of the Church, and most importantly, have the fear of God, never forget about their Christian title. They will remember God, fear God, love God, live according to His law - they will be saved everywhere, no matter where God judges them to spend their lives. According to "Sunday Reading" 1865 Elizabeth was blind from birth. God's wonderful light was completely unknown to her. She had no idea what people mean when they talk about the distant blue sky, about clouds and brilliant sunlight, about fresh spring greenery and flowers, or when they say: how beautiful and cheerful this garden is, dotted with various fragrant flowers!.. She could not comprehend the joy we feel at the sight of every beautiful color with which the Creator adorned every little flower drinking the morning dew. But the Heavenly Father, Who was pleased to deprive her of this feeling, by His great mercy strengthened all her other feelings. Her sense of touch was so sensitive that it was enough to touch something with her fingers to almost accurately guess its shape and use. Her hearing was so acute that she could distinguish every sound with amazing fidelity. She knew every songbird by its singing, and many insects by their buzzing and chirping. There were kind people who taught Elizabeth to read the Gospel, which was printed in raised letters for the blind. It was touching to see how her face brightened when, after learning to feel the letters and then form words and phrases from them, she learned that these were familiar words that people always use to talk. With ardent feeling she accepted into her heart the precious truths that she read with the tips of her fingers. The Holy Spirit was pleased to show the poor blind girl works in the Law of God that were filled with miracles; He revealed to the blind spiritual life, which she had known little of before: she was now rich in faith, cheerful in hope, patient in sorrow, and became an heir of Christ. Soon after this blessed change, the blind woman learned to weave baskets and thereby earn her daily bread. She was very pleased with her new art, by which she could not be a burden to others. But with regret she began to notice that the more capable her fingers became of weaving baskets, the more incapable she was of reading the Gospel, because from constant and rather rough work her fingers became hard and stiff, so that she could distinguish the letters with great difficulty. Elizabeth was in great difficulty, not knowing what to do, until one day, while groping in the garden near the house, she came across a wine press. Suddenly a new thought came to her mind: what if she could sharpen the ends of her fingers so that they would again receive their former tender touch? Then she could read the Good News of her Savior again! She decided to try this remedy and carefully cleaned the hard skin from the ends of her fingers until she noticed that she could again continue reading with her fingers the beautiful story of saving love described in the Gospel. Such was Elizabeth, dear children, a blind basket maker, a cheerful and joyful Christian, and again a zealous reader of the Gospel. 79. Rosa Havana, founder of women's communities According to the magazine “Children's Reading” for 1901. Rosa Havana was born on the island of Sardinia, in the city of Mondova, in 1716, into a family of poor townspeople. At the age of fourteen she was left an orphan, without any means of subsistence, and was left solely to her own resources. Taking up sewing, she soon became such a skilled craftswoman that she earned enough money for her table and apartment. Walking down the street, Rose once met a crying girl. Having learned that the latter was an orphan like her, and remembering her past, Rosa gave her a friendly hand, took her to her apartment and said: - Live with me, sleep on my bed, drink the same water with me, but you must earn your own bread. With the labor of your hands you must feed and support yourself. These words became the rule of their entire lives. Having sheltered one unfortunate woman and arranged for her, Rose realized that in the same way, not two of them, but many of them, could be arranged when a society of orphans and needy girls is organized, provided they live according to the rule that the two of them are now guided by. And so she began to look for orphans. Soon her apartment became so full that it had to be enlarged. But this room soon turned out to be cramped. Above the entrance door to the orphanage, rented with public funds by Rosa Havana, there was an inscription: “With the labor of your hands you will support yourself.” The city magistrate 39 paid attention to the activities of Rosa and her services provided to the city in the fight against need through mutual aid and labor, and placed a large house outside the city at Rosa’s disposal. When this house was filled with girls, the magistrate gave Rosa another house. Then Rosa realized that it was necessary to introduce a variety of work, and set up sewing in one house, and weaving and knitting of woolen products in another house. When Rosa considered the matter firmly established in her city, she went to Turin. We've already heard about it here. She turned directly to the governor and managed to secure several large rooms in one monastery for shelter. Thanks to the patronage of the governor, several hay sheds, tables, and benches were sent to her here. This was Rosa's first aid in Turin. With three friends who came with her to Turin, she set to work, and soon the shelter attracted the attention of other authorities and townspeople. One day, Rosa’s workshop was visited by the Minister of Finance, who had long heard rumors about a wonderful girl. Satisfied with the workshop and the work of the working girls, the minister informed the queen, and soon, at the behest of the latter, Rose received a huge building at her disposal. However, this building, like a hive with worker bees, was soon filled with working women. The king became so interested in Rosa's case that he wanted to get acquainted with the rules that govern this original 40 partnership. From that time on, Rose acquired strong and faithful support for herself. In Turin, she set up two weaving factories: one produced cloth for the troops, and the other produced silk fabrics. Three hundred young workers had the opportunity to work there and purchased shelter, and their earnings were so significant that they saved it for a rainy day. They were bound by a single rule, which appeared in the form of an inscription above the entrance of each building: “With the labor of your hands you will support yourself.” Each participant was free to leave the community or marry whenever she pleased. Rose had a single goal: to support every girl in need and give her the opportunity to live honestly. There were no other intentions or goals. That’s why every girl felt good, and no one had to break herself, or constrain herself, or submit to all sorts of paragraphs of the regulations that did not exist at all. Thanks to this, the case of the Rose of Havana developed, grew, turned out to be vital and found imitators throughout the country. Following the model of the houses founded in Mondova and Turin, Rosa founded houses of industry in many distinguished cities of Italy. One of the southern newspapers recently published correspondence about the establishment in the city of Orhei, Bessarabian province, of a children's charity circle, which managed to provide significant assistance to children and orphans of the poor. This phenomenon is very gratifying, and one should wish that other cities follow the example of the Orhei children. Faced with poverty, giving away their pocket money intended for delicacies and pleasures, the children of the wealthy classes will not grow up to be self-satisfied egoists. True, a child has nothing acquired through personal labor, but it is very desirable that, as a future citizen and worker, from childhood he acquires the habit of seeing and not forgetting about someone else’s misfortune and misfortune. 81. Compassionate Yakut girl In Eastern Siberia, in the Yakut region, a terrible smallpox epidemic reigned. Fearing infection, healthy people abandoned the sick and went away from them to other yurts. The little semi-wild Yakut woman, seeing the sick abandoned by everyone, alone gave them help: she prepares food for them, feeds them, treats them as best she can, consoles them, while the adults, relatives and friends of these patients, bring supplies of food and place them at some distance from the yurt. But then a visiting merchant dies. The girl runs to the adults’ yurt and, crying, reports what happened; The adults make the following order: the worker must dig a hole far from the yurt, harness the horse, tie a long strap to the saddle and ride to the yurt, from where the poor child must take out the corpse. The girl tied the dead man to a belt, the worker drove him, dragging him along the ground, to the grave, and again the poor baby had to roll the dead man into the hole. Smallpox did not spare this little heroine Alyxa either... She was so sick that she could not light the fire, and all her patients and she were deprived of warmth and food. It was cold in the yurt, just like outside. The last water with which the child quenched his painful thirst froze, and the poor thing suffered terrible torment. Finally she lost consciousness and could not say for how long she had been without memory. When she woke up, she was barely alive; her poor scabbed body was stuck to her clothes, and every movement brought unbearable suffering. During this time, the yurt turned into a death house: all the patients died, and the child found himself among the frozen terrible corpses. The girl, gathering her last strength, crawled out of the yurt and crawled to the yard of her relatives. Listening to her moans, they finally took pity, heated the barn and allowed her to crawl back to where she had been until her full recovery. 82. What does a lily say to a person? I am white as the first snow - may you also be pure and bright in soul. I grow openly and unpretentiously - be you too frank, sincere, simple and innocent in heart. I am always turned to the sky and bow my head to the sun - bow your head in holy prayer, and look with your soul to where the holy and beloved God lives. Dew flows from heaven to me - grace (help from above, mercy) of the Lord will flow from heaven to you, if you wait for it, as I wait for the dew of heaven - morning and evening. I share my fragrant smell and my tender moisture with everyone who wants - you too share your talents, your labors and everything you have with your human brothers. I served as a model for decoration in Solomon’s temple: you too, in your purity and piety, serve as an example of spiritual beauty in the Church of Christ; let your words, actions, and treatment of people be an example for your brothers. Looking at me, man, remember how the Lord loves His Church; Love your Lord with all your soul, with all your heart. Pole with an iron tip Lighthouse - a tower on the seashore where lanterns are lit at night to guide ships on a safe path Burun - strong surf Instinct is the innate ability of animals to find what is useful for themselves and avoid what is harmful. New Jerusalem - heaven, Kingdom of Heaven, paradise Legend is not a completely reliable legend Dakota is the name of one of the localities in North America Farmer - cultivator or tenant of an estate Right hand - right hand; shuitsa – left hand Hagaryans are a tribe related to the Turks Of course, there are no werewolves; they are spoken about only in folk tales, the main purpose of which is to teach something good, for example, to show how children should love their parents, etc. Crypt - a large stone-lined grave Epidemic - a contagious epidemic disease such as typhus, smallpox, cholera, plague Tribune - a platform on which dignitaries sit Professor – teacher or teacher of a higher educational institution Raka is a Syrian word meaning: empty, stupid person Lethargy - dying, prolonged sleep, similar to death Hodegetria is a Greek word that means “guide.” This is the name of one of the icons of the Mother of God. Physical – bodily, external Magistrate - city government Original - not like others, new You might be interested in: