Blessed Nicodemus, a natural Serb, labored as a fast for St. Mount Athos and was the abbot of Hilandar. After the death of Archbishop Sava III, Serbia declared its desire to see Nicodemus as its high priest; He did not want to part with the quiet desert, but the Athonite fathers convinced him not to abandon the calling of the church. Therefore, they dedicated him on the day of the Ascension of the Lord, “and elevated him to the throne of St. Savva has been greeting for many years with the words: Many years to the Most Reverend Archbishop Nikodim of all Serbian and Pomeranian lands,” says a contemporary1. This was in 1317.
At the tomb of the blessed king Milutin, a bloody riot was raised by the adherents of his wife, the Greek Simonida; The energetic archpastor stopped the bloodshed and robbery. Then, in January 1321, he crowned Milyutinov’s eldest son as king, regardless of the queen’s party. A zealous patriot, Saint Nicodemus was a zealous guardian of the affairs of the holy faith.
Several more liturgical books written by order of St. Nicodemus have survived to this day. The blessed archpastor, who sincerely loved monastic life and contributed to its prosperity in Serbia, wrote a letter so that the Serbian archbishops and Hilandar abbots would not forget the typica (Rule) of St. Savva the Sanctified, and eloquently described the life of St. Savva; this was the dying testament of the Hilandar ascetic and archbishop of all Serbia.
Saint Nicodemus ruled the Serbian Church for eight years; and, therefore, died in May 1325. In front of the iconostasis of the Peć Church, on the left side, there is a shrine with the relics of St. Nicodemus, Archbishop of Serbia, the great wonderworker. (The memory of the saint is secondary in the general service to the holy Serbian saints and teachers - August 30).
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Prpp. fathers, monks of the Iversky Monastery, martyred by the Latins in the 13th century (May 13)
Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos sent a message to the Pope, asking for help in the fight against the Bulgarian Tsar. However, as the compiler of the Athos Patericon reports, “the Western Catholic sovereigns took up arms and decided to go to Constantinople not so much for help as for destruction” (the “Tale of the Papist Invasion of the Holy Mount Athos” tells about this). Along the way, they came to Athos, trying to persuade the Athonite inhabitants to union. The monks of the Great Lavra, through an excommunicated priest, accepted the union. At the Iversky Monastery, the Uniates met resistance; about 200 of the oldest monks were drowned in the sea along with the monastery ship, the younger ones were sold into slavery “to the Jews in Italy.” The next to be martyred were the monks of Vatopedi (see art. Vatopedi martyrs) and Zograf (see art. Zograf martyrs), after which “the lawless Latins scattered throughout the Holy Mountain... everything was destroyed or set on fire, and property was plundered.”
The monks of Xiropotamus met the Uniates with “branches in their hands” and accepted “part of the looted wealth” as a gift, after which an earthquake occurred and many died. The surviving Uniates returned to the ships and sailed to K-pol; some remained on Mount Athos and became monks.
St. John of Svyatogorets, Iveron (Athos) († 998, commemorated May 13, July 12)
Our God-bearing father John was from Iberia (Georgia), from the region of Tao, descended from the royal family of Iveron and was famous in his fatherland, but out of love for God he left the world and everything in the world, and, taking on the monastic form, first labored in the monasteries located in Iberia. At first he entered the brotherhood of a monastery located near his homeland; then, like a wise and hardworking bee, wanting more to collect the honey of virtues from the flowers of the garden of spiritual wisdom, he moved to a monastery, also in Iveria, which was on a mountain called Kolpa, and from here to Olympus, where he remained silent for quite some time. But the glory of the virtue of Athanasius of Athos reached both the highest mountains and inaccessible heights, and thus from there attracted this ascetic, like an iron magnet, to the ascetic of Athos. Having come to Athanasius on Athos, John became his sincere friend and true novice, therefore Saint Athanasius subsequently spoke of him with special praise.
After some time, leaving the Lavra of St. Athanasius, he, with the support of Vasily, the son of Romanus, the Greek king, created a glorious monastery, which is still known as Iveron, instead of the previously small and meager one called Clement.
St. Gabriel of Svyatogorets, Iversky (Athos) (X, commemorated May 13, July 12)
He was from Iberia, worked as a hermit within the Iberian monastery on St. Mount Athos.
For the height of his life, he was awarded a vision in which the Most Holy Theotokos commanded him to announce to the abbot and brethren that She wanted to give them Her icon to help and intercede. According to Her command, Elder Gabriel had to walk with faith on the sea waves and accept the icon for the monastery.
The Monk Gabriel announced a miraculous vision, and the abbot and the brethren went ashore while singing prayers with candles and censers. The holy elder fulfilled the command of the Mother of God, fearlessly walked on the water as if on dry land, reverently accepted the holy icon of the Mother of God and brought it to the shore. This icon began to be called after the name of the Iverskaya monastery.
St. Euthymius the New, Svyatogorets, Iversky (Athos), son of St. John of the Holy Mountain († 1028, commemorated May 13, July 12)
Saint Euthymius was born in the Georgian historical province of Tao into the family of a large feudal lord close to the court of the Georgian king David III Kuropalates († 1001). His mother came from the Georgian princely family of Chordvaneli. Euthymius was still a child when his father took monastic vows with the name John and settled on Mount Olympus in Bithynia.
The boy and his brothers and sisters were raised by his grandfather Abuharb Chordvaneli. The Byzantines, waging war with the Arabs and trying to enlist the support of Georgia, ceded some lands to David III, and the Georgian king, in turn, as a guarantor of the alliance, sent “princes of the blood” to Constantinople - Euthymius’ maternal cousins and himself. Having learned about this, his father, Rev. John the Svyatogorets went to Constantinople and, with the consent of the Byzantine emperor, took his son to Olympus.
The Monk John “gave him first a Georgian and then a complete Greek education” (PDGAL. 1967. Vol. 2, p. 60). The mastery of the translations of St. Euthymius of Iveron confirms the information of St. George that he was endowed with good learning abilities, memory and diligence, and also allows us to judge the depth of his education. The young man mastered the Greek language perfectly and had an excellent understanding of both Byzantine and ancient literature. In the Greek story it is specified that St. John sent his son to school in Constantinople, where the young man “over time achieved such success that it became known to the whole city... only the praise of Euthymius was heard” (Machkhaneli. 1982. P. 96).
In 965, St. John and his disciples settled on Mount Athos, in the Great Lavra. After some time, Rev. John and his brother-in-law St. John Torniky (Chordvaneli), with the support of the Byzantine Emperor Vasily II, the Bulgarian Slayers founded the Iveron Monastery (Iviron) on Athos.
The “Life of... John and Euthymius...” contains a list of jewelry, money and books, and also mentions part of the Life-Giving Cross and the island of Neon, which the Monk John and his son Venerable. Euthymius was donated at different times to the Great Lavra and other Athonite monasteries (PDGAL. 1967. Vol. 2. pp. 52-54).
The miraculous healing of the Monk Evimius is associated with his adolescence. St. John was worried that his son hardly spoke his native language. When the young man returned from Constantinople to Mount Athos after completing his studies, he became seriously ill and could not speak due to weakness. The father prayed fervently in the church in front of the icon of the Mother of God and then asked the priest to give communion to his dying son. Returning to his cell, he felt an extraordinary fragrance and saw his son sitting on the bed. The young man said that the Queen, surrounded by glory, came to him and asked: “What happened to you, Euthymius?” He replied that he was dying, and then the Blessed Virgin said: “Nothing hurts you anymore. Get up and speak Georgian well.” After this incident, Euthymius “received extraordinary grace and the gift of knowledge of the Georgian language.”