Contents · 12 parts
Compiled by Leonid Denisov. Printing house of T-va I. D. Sytin. Pyatnitskaya street, own house. Moscow. – 1914.
Apocrypha or false, renounced books (as they were called in the old days) are such nameless works of folk literature that are built on biblical (Old Testament and New Testament) testimonies and legends, but contain fictitious details that often distort and pervert the meaning of the biblical narrative. Many of these apocrypha arose in the first centuries of Christianity and owe their existence to the ardent imagination of Eastern heretics, known under the general name of Gnostics, some of whom, under the name of Manichaeans or Bohumils, subsequently spread from Greece to Bulgaria and Bosnia. With the adoption of Christianity by our ancestors, the apocrypha from Byzantium penetrated through Bulgaria into Southern Russia, and from here gradually, with the settlement of the Russian people, they moved north.
Receiving ready-made apocrypha from Byzantium and Bulgaria, the inhabitants of Southern Rus' shared this acquired wealth with the northerners, who repaid the south with Moscow adaptations of the same apocrypha.
Some of the latter arose already on Russian soil. in subsequent centuries, sometimes independently in Ukraine and Muscovite Rus'.
Among such late apocrypha, probably of purely Russian origin, is a legend or sheet, otherwise called a prayer, called “The Dream of the Virgin Mary.” Some data on its contents suggest that it appeared in the 16th or 17th century; however, with a greater degree of probability one can point to the 16th century as the time of its appearance.
"The Dream" has several editions or retellings; their total number reaches thirty. We have chosen the edition of “Dream” that seems to be more complete than the others and presents more convenience and necessity for analysis and refutation. It is included in the third issue of “Monuments of Ancient Russian Literature”, published. A. Pypin (SPB., 1861, pp. 125-127).
Writing out the text of “The Dream” in parts, we accompany each individual excerpt with an explanation and refutation.
Text and refutation of the false legend known as: “The Dream of the Virgin Mary.”
Prayer. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. The Dream of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. Yes, that is. prayer, otherwise called a legend or sheet about a dream of the Virgin Mary. Let us first of all see whether it is rightly called prayer. Prayer is our appeal to God with petition, thanksgiving or praise. Depending on the content, our prayers are either petitionary, or grateful, or laudatory. What type of prayer does “The Dream of the Virgin Mary” belong to? It expresses neither petition, nor thanksgiving, nor praise to God; therefore it is not a prayer. Consequently, it cannot be read (as the common people do) either together or alongside prayers, or instead of the prayers established by the Orthodox Church.
In order to show all the absurdity and inconsistency of the “Dream of the Virgin Mary,” we will now write out the text in parts, accompanying the content of the “Dream” with explanations and refutations.
This is what we read after the title:
“The Most Holy Theotokos rested in the holy city of Bethlehem of Judea, in the month of March, on the thirtieth day, in a holy shrine, in a holy mountain, in a den above the holy river, above Erdania.”
Every word is nonsense or a contradiction! First of all, there was no need for anything to be revealed to the Most Holy Theotokos in a dream about the sufferings of the Savior on the Cross, which were clearly predicted long before the Nativity of Christ by the Old Testament prophets, and by Christ Himself, as St. Gospel, He spoke about this to His disciples, before His solemn entry into Jerusalem: Behold, we are entering Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the high priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and hand Him over to the pagans to be mocked and beaten and crucified, and on the third day He will rise again (Matthew 20:18-19). And on the very day of the Savior’s resurrection, when the myrrh-bearing women came to the tomb, looking for the body of Jesus. What did the angel say to them to expose their lack of faith? Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here: He has risen; Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and rise on the third day (Luke 24:5-7). Further: for a long time and among all peoples (Jews, Arabs, Turks and Christians), exclusively Jerusalem, and not Bethlehem, has been called the holy city. Then the legend indicates the thirtieth day of March, but does not say what year. Meanwhile, look in the historical books of the Holy Scriptures, in the works of the holy fathers, in the writings of historians of the Christian Church, and you will always see the exact designation of the year of each event that took place. What kind of “holy shrine” is this, in which the Most Holy Theotokos supposedly “rested”? And here is your answer: The Mother of God rested in the holy mountain, in a den, above the holy river, above “Erdania”. According to the legend, it turns out that the Mother of God slept in a mountain cave in Bethlehem, which, according to the will of the composer of the legend, seemed to hang in the air above the Jordan River. Meanwhile, Bethlehem, if you count the distance in a straight line, is located approximately 35 miles from the mouth of the Jordan River, which flows into the Dead Sea. Of course, any of the pilgrims who have visited the Holy Land knows this. And in Rus' we have more than one or two such people; there are many of them, and each of them can tell others who have not been to Palestine and assure them that the words of the “Dream” are a fiction, not based on anything and only proving the absurdity of this fictitious legend, which the dark people, our simple people, believe only out of their ignorance.
“The Lady went to bed and rested. The Lady slept little and saw little.” The figures of speech are not reverent, similar to the speech of fairy tales and proverbs of folk or comic works of folk art, and are in no way characteristic of the nature of legends about sacred events of the Old Testament or New Testament.
“The great man saw a terrible and menacing and wonderful dream about His beloved Son, about Jesus Christ Himself, the King of Heaven, His Savior, as it were, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was quickly captured and brought to the Jew, tied up and delivered into the hands of the Jew for desecration, our Lord Jesus Christ by his first disciple, Judas Scariota, at the price of thirty silver coins And the Jews of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, were brought in hand to the Pontian Pilate hegemon to be crucified on the third day on a cross, on three trees, a cedar and a cypress and on a tree, between two thieves on Mount Golgotha; He nailed it in his hand and nose with nails and pierced his side with a spear, shedding holy blood: the sun darkened, the moon gave itself over to blood, the sky and earth shook, the church curtain was torn in two from top to bottom, the stone disintegrated, the coffins were opened, and many dead bodies were raised. And I saw our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with gall on the head, with a reed on the head of the head, with a crown on the head, with a crown of thorns on the head. I saw the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, being dragged by his feet and his body mocked by everyone and beaten in his holy face, spit upon by the lawless and wicked Jews, redeemed and laid in a tomb and buried in the ground. And again on the third day, according to the description, Christ rose from the grave. I saw the Lord our Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with angels, cherubim and seraphim, Christ is risen. I saw our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ on the high throne, Christ is risen.”
The brief retelling of the circumstances of the sufferings on the cross and the death of the Savior is, of course, correct in its main features, although the order of the suffering itself is confused. But the speech, again, is far from the majestic simplicity and sacred importance of the gospel narrative about these events, which became the cornerstone of the redemption of the human race. There are so many irregularities here, irreverent, common expressions, historical and grammatical inaccuracies. Read carefully, with meaning, and you will clearly see how far the language of this forgery is from the true gospel of St. apostles, men abundantly blessed and enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Who is this “quickly caught, quickly brought”, etc.? If this is said about our Lord, as can be seen from the meaning of the legend, then why insert the unnecessary and ignorant “was” here? Further, was the traitor Judas Iscariot the first disciple of the Lord? It was St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called. Finally, pay attention to the following rhyme, reminiscent of verses, carols, gospel songs and other poetic works, South Russian in origin, with spiritual content: “given in, cracked, irritated, disintegrated” and a little further: “drunk, beaten, knocked down, laid down.” This place is important for determining the time when the “Dream of the Virgin Mary” was first compiled and put into use by a dexterous literate and scribe. The indicated features of the “Dream”, which bring it closer to South Russian verses, make it possible to establish the time of its composition in the 16th or 17th centuries, and not earlier. And, indeed, such Little Russian and Polish “Dreams” have reached us and were published in scientific works, regarding which the exact time of their origin has been attested. This is the “Dream of the Mother of God” in Polish: Sen przenajsоietszt’j panny, published in the “Chronicle of Jerlich”, Warsaw, 1853, p. 45, at the end of which we find the postscript: “Рisano ten Sen albo list pod rokiem 1546, miesiaca Augusta 25 dnia”, i.e. This dream or sheet was written in 1546, on August 25. At the end of the above excerpt from the Slavic-Russian “Dream” we see three sentences ending with the words “Christ is risen,” which could be borrowed, for example, from the catechetical word of St. John Chrysostom, read at Easter Matins, therefore, was included here from the Orthodox Easter service, and not from the Gospel narrative, in which such a threefold repetition of the words “Christ is risen” is not found, which is entirely appropriate only in a church sermon, which is the catechetical word of Chrysostom. This once again proves the later origin and composition of the “Dream of the Virgin Mary,” which we are now discussing:
“And our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of this world, came to Her, to His Mother, the Virgin Mary. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of this world, spoke to Her: My beloved Mother, Lady Most Holy Theotokos, Virgin Mary! Are you sleeping or are you lying there? Stand up and make sure."
First, our Lord Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect Man, Who says of Himself: Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29) and Who never called Himself God, but only the Son of God or the Son of man, and only said that He and the Father are one, and that all things were handed over to Him by His Father - could He, turning to His Mother, call Her Mother of God? This is not only what we, Orthodox Christians, can, but also must call Her, the Most Blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Ever-Virgin Mary. Then, can we even imagine that our Lord addressed His Most Pure Mother with such disrespectful, almost rude, expressions as a Christian son who has not lost the fear of God and who, according to the word of God’s commandment, honors his parents would hardly address his mother?.. No, let it not be! All this is a lie, fiction and fable.
“And the Most Holy Theotokos, the Virgin Mary, spoke to Him: My beloved Son, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of this world! I say to you: I slept in the holy city of Ephraim, the Jews, in the month of March, on the thirtieth day, in the holy shrine, in the holy mountain, in the den, over the holy river, over Erdania, I, the Lady, lay down to sleep and rest. I, the Lady, slept little, but in my dreams I saw a lot, I saw a dream that was terrible, and menacing, and wonderful, about You, about My beloved Son, about Jesus Christ Himself, the King of Heaven - Light, and it is impossible to tell You.”
The retelling of the dream of the Virgin Mary represents a repetition of the beginning of the “Dream”, which we have already refuted above. Here we encounter only one new nonsense, which cannot in any way be consistent with the personality of the Mother of God. The Mother of God appears here speaking about Herself: “I, the Lady, lay down to sleep and rest.” Could the Mother of God, who was distinguished by the highest humility that surpassed human understanding, speak of herself this way? The immeasurable abyss of Her humility, revealed in the form of embarrassment at the Annunciation, did not leave Her throughout Her earthly life. Unlimited humility, together with unconditional faith and complete obedience to the will of God, always accompanied the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“And our Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God, the Savior of this world, spoke to Her: Art thou, My beloved Mother, to the Most Holy Theotokos, Virgin Mary, and tell Me Your dream, and what did You see about Me in Your dream?”
What kind of irreverent attitude towards Jesus Christ and the Mother of God is visible in this common people’s address: “goy art thou,” which seems to have been snatched from ancient Russian epics about the mighty warriors of Prince Volodymyr the Red Sun, or from historical folk songs from the times of the Mongol yoke and the triumph of the Moscow principality over the Golden Horde and those who stood out from it kingdoms of Kazan and Astrakhan. This ancient Russian address, which initially did not contain anything offensive, subsequently began to be used in folk sayings and fairy tales, where little by little it acquired the character of ridicule or contempt. The inappropriate use of this expression quite clearly reveals the imposture of the compiler of “The Dream”. The Lord in this passage appears to be asking His Mother about the content of a dream She allegedly saw. Is such a concept consistent with God’s omniscience? Not at all! He, testing the hearts and bellies of men, the Knower of the Heart, does He need idle questions, when He knows everything - the past, the present, and the future in the life of the world and people He created, and even knows what no one knows about, not even the angels of heaven, except My Father alone, as the Savior Himself said to His disciples (Matthew 24:36)!.. But let us continue the “Dream”.
“And the Most Holy Theotokos said to Him: How would You, My Lord Jesus Christ, be captured by the Jews and brought, bound and delivered into the hands of the Jews, by Your disciple, your most beloved friend, Judas of Iskaryut, at the cost of 30 pieces of silver; and was handed over in hand to Pontic Pilate, the hegemon, for crucifixion. And on the third day, on the cross, she was crucified on three trees, on a cedar and on a cypress and on a tree, between two thieves, on Mount Golgotha, nailed in his hand and nose with nails. One of the warriors came and pierced the rib with a spear, and Abiy issued blood and water for healing to all Orthodox Christians... Saint Nicodemus took down Your holy body from the cross, and the noble Joseph washed it with a clean shroud, laid it in a tomb and buried it in the ground: the sun darkened, the moon gave itself up in blood, heaven and earth shook, the church veil was torn in two, from top to bottom, the stone disintegrated, the coffins were opened, and the many bodies of the departed were raised. And I saw You, the Lord Jesus Christ, bruised on the doe, and given a drink of gall, with a cane on your head, knocking off the crown from your head, and placing a crown of thorns on Your head. I saw You, Lord Jesus Christ, being dragged by your feet, and Your body was desecrated by everyone. I saw You, the Lord Jesus Christ, from the lawless Jews you were quickly cursed and spat upon, and in Your holy, pure face I was struck down. I saw the Lord Jesus Christ, again on the third day of the tomb, Christ rose from the dead and ascended with glory into heaven and sat at the right hand of the Father. And I saw You, Lord Jesus Christ, with the angels, with the cherubim and seraphim, Christ is risen. I saw You, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the high throne, Christ is risen.”
Here we encounter the same inconsistencies, with the addition of new ones. Thus, Judas Iscariot is even called the “beloved friend” of the Savior! The sequence of events of the last days of the earthly life of Jesus Christ is again confused; again, the use of common folk expressions is noticeable, such as: “dragged by the legs,” in application to the Savior of the world; again not going to the narrative, albeit a fictitious and confused exclamation: “Christ is risen!” Once again, all the illiteracy of the homemade legend comes out clearly when you read, for example: “crucified... on Mount Golgotha, nailed in his hand and nose with nails.” Then the lie is directly stated that the Savior was crucified on the third day after being taken in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Let's continue extracts from "Dream".
And our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of this world, spoke to her: “Who art thou, My beloved Mother, Lady Most Holy Theotokos, Virgin Mary! for certain Your dream is not false, that You saw passions about Me in Your dream, then everything will come true for Me. For this reason I was born of you and came down from My Father from heaven, and through My death on the cross to save the perished human race, and with My blood to deliver and lead from the underworld, from the fire of Gehenna, from the torment, ordeals of all sinners and righteous, and more than Your dream to Me... and I arose and spoke to you.” Here the compiler of “The Dream” has already embarked on the path of blasphemy, boldly speaking on behalf of
Our Lord Himself and declaring that this “Dream” is “certainly not false.”
Next come generous and broadcast promises to the readers of this “Dream”, squandered by its illiterate writer with the insidious goal of distracting infants in the faith from the Church of Christ and established by Her Head Himself, our Lord, St. sacraments that are healing for bodily health and saving for the soul.
Let’s write down all these false and soul-destroying promises in order, and we’ll say our word about them later.
1) Whoever writes down this dream of Yours, Most Holy Theotokos, and keeps his house clean and diligent, and that house will be preserved and pardoned from the evil one and from the wicked spirit, the powers of the devil: that person, the house, the slaves will not be approached or touched by a dashing and evil person, and the Holy Spirit will rest in that house, and there will be happiness and an increase in every fruit and loss nothing will happen.
2) If a person goes on his way, and carries this dream, Thy holy prayer, with him in purity and with pure diligence, that person will be saved and pardoned from thunder and from war, and from storms, and from the evil and wicked spirit, and the forces of the devil; The devil will not touch that person.
3) If any person, a servant of God or a slave, goes into the forest for work and for every thought, and carries this dream, Thy holy prayer, with him in purity and with diligence, and that person will be saved and have mercy from the forest, and from the crawling reptile, and from every unclean spirit; and that man, the servant of God, named, cannot be bitten by a serpent.
4) If anyone goes to the water, the servant of God, named, and carries this dream, Thy holy prayer, with him in purity and with diligence, and that person, the servant of God, named, will be saved and pardoned from the sea storm, and from the devil's obsession, demonic shooting, and cannot drown on the water, and will not drown the sea, and will not perish until the present end of his life.
5) If any man, a servant of God named, goes before the king or before the steward or the governor, and this is a dream. He carries Your holy prayer with him in purity, and that person will be saved from unnecessary death and from every evil person, and from an adversary, and from an unmerciful judge, and no judge against that person, a servant of God, cannot sit still, but will stand on his feet and will be quiet and meek and humble in heart, and will speak quietly with him, like a father with a child; and that person stands in judgment and will not be wrong, but will always be right.
6) If someone goes to be married for the first time or for the second marriage, and carries this holy prayer of Yours with him in purity and with purity and diligence, that person will be saved and pardoned from the powers of the devil, and that person will not be approached or touched by a dashing and evil person.
7) If a wife is pregnant and cannot give birth to a baby, or in illness, and this dream, Thy holy prayer, read over her three times and put it over her head, and I will forgive her and, without the pain of remission, she will be healthy.
8) If there is someone in the house who is daring, the servant of God named, has some kind of evil illness, or he does not have sleep, and this dream, Thy holy prayer, is read over him three times, and put over his head, like a baby, like a big one, the servant of God named, and that person will be saved from every evil and falling illness and death, and sleep will be easy for him, and that person will receive health, He will endure forever on earth, for the ages of ages, Amen.
9) If any person from this temporary light, a servant of God or a servant of God, named after him, reposes, from this temporary light he goes into a future and endless life, into an eternal and endless life, at the death of his spiritual father, a servant of God or a slave will not be received, and this holy prayer of yours should be read over him three times and placed over his dying person’s head, and when the soul is separated from the body, then this dream, holy prayer, put with him in the coffin and burial, in the ground, and hell will not accept that soul, but angels, cherubim and seraphim and all the heavenly powers will meet him, and carry him to the right hand of the throne of the glory of God.
2) If a person goes into his first and second marriage, and carries this dream, Your holy prayer, with him in purity, and that person will be saved and pardoned from unnecessary death and from every evil person, enemy and adversary and from the enemy; no iron can wound, and in battle it will not kill.
The first promise concerns the house of the person who writes down and keeps this “Dream”: “the Holy Spirit will rest in that house.” This is what the truly crafty compiler of “The Dream” promises; but this is not what the word of God tells us, according to which we, Orthodox Christians, are obliged to direct the path of our lives. What does light have in common with darkness (2 Cor. 6:14)? Enlightened by the light of the true teaching of Christ, let us follow this Light, and let us not crowd, like an unreasonable herd, behind the leader, behind the nameless compiler of the illiterate, blasphemous and even heretical, as we will see in the further analysis of the “Dream of the Mother of God”, which could have been compiled in its time only by a dark, ignorant fanatic, like the current schismatics, renegades of the Orthodox Church, those who are thirsty and trying in every possible way to lure to themselves, into their imaginary graceless “church” - churchmen, or Nikonians, as they call us. They themselves are dying and they want to destroy us. But let it not be! The true promise of the Savior to the Church He founded is not false: the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). It is not in the house that the Holy Spirit will dwell, but in ourselves, if we are worthy, the Spirit of God can dwell. Do you not know, writes the Apostle Paul to the Christians of the Corinthian Church, that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you (1 Cor. 3:16)? Who is worthy of this, for the Holy Spirit to dwell in him? Of course, not the one who will read and honor the fictitious, absurd “Dream of the Virgin Mary!” The Holy Apostle in the same epistle answers this as follows: cleave unto the Lord; there is one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). And you, foolish ones, like the Galatians once, who imagine receiving salvation and grace from reading and keeping the notorious “Dream”, tell me who you deceived is not to obey the truths (Gal. 3:1). Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9)? But you are precisely trying to enter the kingdom of heaven! You just try to enter it in a roundabout and easy way, forgetting the words of the Savior that “strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life” (Matthew 7:14), and that “the kingdom of heaven is taken by force, and those who force themselves take it away” (Matthew 11:12).
The second promise of the compiler of the “Dream” gives it the meaning of a conspiracy or vow, which, of course, consoles and pleases the unreasonable readers of this false legend, blasphemously called here “holy prayer.” The Cross of Christ is an invincible weapon and the best protection of a Christian against all troubles and evil spirits that disappear before the sign of the cross and are defeated by the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ crucified on the cross - as if swept aside, forgotten and destroyed. He prefers the stupid “sheet”, which, according to the superstitious opinion of the readers of the “Dream”, is placed above the cross of Christ... Isn’t this blasphemy? Is this not an invention of a false mind, cunningly spreading nets to ensnare the infants of faith and to distract them, children of the Church, from the one true Church of Christ?
The third promise makes The Dream even more like a folk conspiracy. Such conspiracies have remained among our common people from times long past, when the Russian people, still only newly enlightened by St. By baptism, they did not have time to completely put off the old man; they mixed their pagan former beliefs into the Christian faith, which had been poorly assimilated, and in their renewed life they manifested dual faith and superstition, against which our ancient saints fought with the weapon of the word of God in their sermons, teachings, words and messages. Superstitious belief in protection and help from conspiracies is a remnant of paganism, which it would be time for us, Orthodox Christians, to abandon long ago, if we do not want to be Christians only in name and not in deeds.
The fourth promise gives the "Dream" the same meaning as the third. Only ignorant superstition can feed on these false, deceptive promises that have neither meaning nor credibility. We, Christians, should not trust the imaginary power of such conspiracies, but rely on the will of God, because not a single hair from our head will fall without the will of our heavenly Father. On the contrary, the readers and zealous readers of the “Dream” who trust such superstitious legends, according to the Savior’s words, can be likened to a foolish man who built his temple on an arctic fox (Matthew 7:26).
The fifth promise is an obvious absurdity, which, of course, never comes true in life. It seems that each of the superstitious readers of “The Dream” could clearly and palpably be convinced more than once in their lives of the uselessness and absurdity of this promise, and we can rightly only be surprised how people continue to believe such fables, and are not yet dissuaded of their lies and shameless deception, designed only for the gullibility of the common people.
The sixth promise, almost identical to the further tenth (which we will not talk about separately), has the character of a conspiracy. These promises are just as meaningless and unworthy of any trust in the eyes of a Christian, like other fabrications of the “Dream,” which must have been invented by some idle ancestor of today’s schismatics, the same stubborn and ignorant fanatic as the modern Old Believers of various interpretations and agreements.
The compiler of the “Dream” did not even know how to express the seventh promise as it should, and therefore, in addition to the nonsense of the promise itself, the words expressing it contain nonsense that is obvious to everyone, namely: how will the wife be forgiven and will be healthy without the cessation of the illness? Something is wonderful, and not even intricate, but reveals the inertia of the mind of the compiler of this false “Dream,” although he, obviously, wanted to somehow wriggle out, but, due to his lack of development, he himself became entangled in the convolutions of his words.
In the eighth promise, we unexpectedly learn from the compiler of “The Dream” about the existence of some kind of blackberry death previously unknown to us. This novelty, we think, was unknown to him himself and was put forward by him, probably, in order to stun the reader, to make him think about the meaning of an incomprehensible word, and even more so to attract attention to the “Dream”, in which, they say, one can find words that are not entirely understandable to mortals. The incomprehensible, from the greatest to the smallest, attracts people more than the understandable, by the very nature of our spiritual nature, which is not satisfied with the visible and finite, but tries to transfer the center of world life to the other side of earthly existence and explain as if understandable, the visible with the invisible and the finite with the infinite. This feature of the human spirit makes itself felt in this deceit of the compiler of “The Dream,” with which he deliberately (as we think) put an incomprehensible, mysterious expression to further attract the reader.
The ninth promise already contains heretical wisdom, which, with a high probability, points to the schismatic as the compiler of the “Dream”. Here, although not explicitly, the importance of confessing to God before the priest and the remission of sins from God through him in the sacrament of repentance is denied. Such an anti-church view of the sacrament of repentance, as well as the other six sacraments of St. Orthodox Church, was developed by schismatics who, in the absence of legally appointed shepherds, after their personal separation from the Church during the time of His Holiness Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, began to reject the priesthood, and, therefore, the church sacraments performed by priests. Even the prayer of permission, read by the priest during the funeral service and placed in the coffin with the deceased, does not have the unconditional power that is here attributed to the false and fictitious “Dream of the Mother of God.” Such is the blindness of inveterate fanatics who, being themselves blind in the matter of faith, want to lead others, and it turns out that the blind leads the blind, and both are threatened with the fate of again crucifying the Son of God within themselves (Heb. 6:6). Let us remind them that, according to the word of the Lord Himself, whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit (like a heretic and schismatic, the compiler of the meaningless “Dream of the Mother of God,” who denies the holy sacraments and tries to replace the sacrament of repentance by reading a false and absurd legend), will not have forgiveness forever, but he will be subject to eternal condemnation (Mark 3:10); that he will be guilty of the gravest punishment, he tramples on the Son of God and does not consider the Blood of the Covenant as holy (like the schismatics, who do not have a legally established hierarchy, and therefore the holy sacraments), whom he sanctified, and insults the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:20).
Now let us write out the ending of “The Dream,” which truly places the crown of madness on the head of its compiler.
11) Speech of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of this world, to His Mother, the Virgin Mary: To the Lady Most Holy Theotokos, Virgin Mary, this Thy holy prayer is laid down, - the dream of the Most Holy Theotokos, - in the holy city of Jerusalem, in the holy shrine, in the holy, cathedral, in the apostolic church, and under the throne of the Lord, Thy sealed holy prayer by the 4th Patriarch of Jerusalem. And Peter and Paul, the heavenly assistant, Cosmas and Dimian read, and the seal: the cross is the heavenly height, the cross is the earthly breadth, the cross is church beauty, the cross is the depths of the sea, the cross is praise of the angel and archangel, the cross is the fence of the house, the cross is the king's power, the cross is the affirmation of the faithful, the cross is the Orthodox residence, the cross is for me, the servant of God, help, the cross is for demons, the cross is for enemies victory, the cross is a demon driver. Now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen.
To enhance the impression on the simple-minded readers of “Dream”, St. the city of Jerusalem, and the Temple of Jerusalem, and the Holy Sepulcher, and the seal of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. But the compiler of “The Dream” does not limit himself to this; it’s not enough for him, this is not enough, and he comes up with an idea to deceive the gullible readers of “The Dream” with the message that his illiterate concoction was allegedly read by the supreme apostles Peter and Paul, and for some reason also by Sts. Cosmas and Damian!.. All this is not even worth refuting; it’s so absurd... and, if you like, even funny, although it’s not appropriate to laugh, if you think about the corrupting influence this stupid and illiterate work has had and still has on so many generations in remote places. It would be quite appropriate to remind here the zealots of an easy and convenient method of salvation that we must arrange our salvation according to the word of God, according to the guidance of St. the Orthodox Church, which is the pillar and affirmation of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15), and following the example of holy men and women who pleased God and were glorified by Him for their righteous life, crowned with gifts of grace and bringing them eternal bliss in the kingdom of heaven.
There is no other truth than the one contained in St. The Orthodox Church of Christ does not exist anywhere else in the whole world, and it cannot be communicated to us by those wolves in sheep’s clothing, against which the Savior Himself warns us, saying: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15), like thieves and robbers, who, according to the word of Holy Scripture, do not enter the courtyard by the door. sheep's, but they climb elsewhere (John 10:1), there are many such wolves and thieves in the world; We Orthodox Christians should not pay attention and attach ourselves not only in spirit, but even in hearing, to the fables they have invented. These are not our words, but the apostolic instruction. This is what St. says. The Apostle Paul regarding this: If... an angel from heaven brings you more good news than what he preached to you, let him be accursed (Gal. 1:8).
Having placed above a refutation of the senseless and false legend known under the name “The Dream of the Mother of God,” we considered it appropriate to attach to our refutation a positive indication of one of the countless sources of actual grace-filled help received from the Mother of God through Her holy icons. For this, we have chosen the icon of the Mother of God, known under the name “Seeking the Lost,” and below we will report the signs of the gracious help of the Mother of God received through Her three miraculous icons of this name.
We lead those who thirst for spiritual light, consolation, healing and spiritual salvation not to a muddy and weedy well, as the promises of the “Dream of the Mother of God” seem to be, but truly to a life-giving source of healing, to the bright spiritual joy of the Holy Spirit.
There are four known miraculous icons of the Mother of God, called “Seeking the Lost.”
The first one glorified is in Moscow, in the Nativity of Christ Church, in Palashakh. It has been known since the end of the 18th century.
The second has been known since the beginning of the 19th century and is located in Tver, in the Resurrection or Three Confessions Church.
The third has been known since 1809, glorified by miracles in 1853 and is located in the church of the village of Nikolskogo-Bor, Tarussky district, Kaluga province.
The fourth was glorified by miracles in the sixties of the last century and is located in the Rakovsky convent of the Samara province and district.
Below we give descriptions of the gracious help of the Queen of Heaven through these holy icons of Her, which are worthily revered as miraculous.
In the church chronicle, at the request of the rector of the church, Fr. V. Nikolsky, a description of the following miracle was recorded by parishioner M.K. Yogil: “On January 4th of this year, 1892, our daughter, Tatyana, a girl in her fifth year, fell ill. When measuring the temperature it turned out to be 40 degrees. Doctor K-ov was invited, who on January 5 found that she had a strong predisposition to pneumonia. This is exactly what we, my wife and I, feared most, since with her extremely weak organization, she only suffered inflammation in the intestines in the summer of 1591. I was completely lost. They struck for Vespers. I went to my parish, the Nativity Church, in Palashakh. I didn’t really know why I was going. I felt that I was unable to pray. From the depths of my soul arose a feeling similar to a murmur. “On such a great day and such a misfortune!.. For what?..” - I thought. Entering the church, I stopped with the same unconsciousness in front of the icon “Seeking the Lost.” Her irresistibly attractive, meek face in one moment made me feel the entire abyss that was now opening between me and my despair and the expression on the face of the Mother of God, who seemed about to be ready to descend and alleviate my suffering, as soon as my heart asked with a tear of prayer for mercy, for mercy... And I began to pray... I did not hear the service, I did not see anyone, I saw only Her, and I prayed and prayed. I don’t remember what I prayed for. I felt like I was on fire. I felt how with every word of prayer my soul became warmer, my heart became lighter... When Vespers ended and I left the church, I felt with extreme amazement that the feeling of fear that had been overwhelming me had left me. I was already sure of something that was as good as the meek, full of love, expression on the face of the Mother of God, deeply imprinted in my soul... By the evening of that day, Tanya’s temperature dropped to 38 degrees, and the next day the girl was almost completely healthy and, if she remained in the crib, it was only because of the conviction of the doctor, who still doubted her recovery. Since then, I have been unable to pray without warm tears of tenderness and joy before the icon “Seeking the Lost” and could not refrain from reporting this significant event to the rector of the Nativity of Christ Church. Now I report this in writing, so that the mercy shown to us by the Mother of God will further strengthen in those who resort to Her the hope of Her quick and often undeserved help.”
There is a legend that one day a boy of seven years old disappeared from the house of a parishioner of the Church of the Resurrection, merchant Semyon Ivanovich Golenkin; They searched for him most carefully and could not find him anywhere for two weeks. The boy's parents, seeing that no natural remedies were helping, turned with fervent prayer to the Queen of Heaven; They fervently prayed before Her icon of the “Search for the Lost,” and the boy who had been missing for two weeks was found on the porch of the chapel in the name of the Mother of God “Seek for the Lost” safe and sound. And the boy’s parents and everyone who looked for him and took part in him, all attributed the finding of this boy to the miraculous help of the Queen of Heaven.
Constantly accompanying St. the icon in the summer, when it was carried around the surrounding villages, the monastery priest, during a prayer service in one house, involuntarily drew attention to the “mute” who stopped behind the saint with a “strong cry”. icons, lightly tugging the priest's vestments. At the same time, the “mute” pointed to the tongue and St. icon and gave the priest a coin. “I assumed,” says the priest, “that this is an ordinary mute.”
When we moved to the second, third and next house from St. icon, the mute followed St. with a loud cry. icon, prostrating himself before it during prayer services.
“On the way, I learned,” says the priest, “that this man had just gone mute.”
In the following days, this man constantly accompanied St. the icon and strangers should be brought in for sprinkling of the St. water and especially for receiving St. water from the cross onto a blue hand.
Everyone was amazed that the dumb man crossed himself with his left hand, and his right hand hung like a whip; at the same time, three fingers of the stiff right hand became numb, forming as if for the sign of the cross.
On holidays and Sundays, St. The icon was always in the church during church services.
“On November 22,” says the peasant of the village of Pereluba Pavel N-ch T. in his own written testimony, “Peter G. K-vy and I (numb for his blasphemous attitude towards the Holy Icon of the Mother of God, a peasant of the village of Alova, Alatyr district, Simbirsk province) went to the all-night vigil. Halfway through the service, Peter pulled me by the floor and we left the church. Peter burst into tears. I ask: what are you? He points to his ears. That means I’m deaf.”
On the advice of good people, he confessed and received Holy Communion. secret
“What was happening all this time in my soul, I cannot express in words,” Peter later declared to the priest, who recorded his “testimony” from Peter’s words.
“But everything that happened to me, I believed that all this happened by the action of God... I cried and with tears asked God to have mercy on me and made a promise before St. icon to serve for two years in the Rakovsky Monastery as a laborer without any remuneration. I wrote this promise on a note and asked the nun to put this note for St. icon."
Peter relentlessly walked for St. icon, having his residence with his well-wisher Pavel N-cha T-va. The whole family of this well-wisher was once struck by the fact that the “mute” Peter spoke quite clearly at night.
“Give me some water,” the whole family hears from the sleeping Peter. “Mass is coming: they are calling,” the family hears the next night from Peter, who remains mute for days.
Horror fell upon Paul when at night from sleeping Peter he heard, as it were, a judgment against his own unbelief and the unbelief of others. “Punish, Lord, the unbelievers! Mother! Master…” the sleeping Peter said clearly one night. “It was as if someone struck me in the chest with a dagger,” says Paul, “when I heard these words: I am a sinner and I am an unbeliever.” I cried all night. Petrov’s words were written down on paper, which he handed over to the priest in the morning and he said to all the people in the church: “I didn’t believe anything, but now I believe and will continue to believe”...
Soon Peter’s deafness stopped, and little by little his affected right hand began to move.
December 2nd St. icon from the village Pereluba proceeded to the village. Chernigovka, and Peter was taken on monastery horses to the monastery, where, according to his promise, he was to remain for two years, and Paul went there on foot.
The still “mute” Peter was introduced to the abbess of the monastery, who, after listening to the story of God’s punishment that befell a previously healthy man, ordered Peter to remain in the monastery, prudently entrusting the “mute” to the special supervision of a trustworthy elderly nun.
Peter was placed in the “people’s room”, built behind the wall of the monastery for the male workers of the monastery. Peter was entrusted with caring for the monastery horses. Since December 6, 1898, Peter has been living in the monastery; on weekdays, almost no one sees him, because he is busy with his business. On holidays, he comes to the church for services and always stands in the middle of the church, near the column, from where the face of the Most Pure Mother of God, whose image “Seeking the Lost” is established on the top of the altar of the main church, is especially clearly visible, and only at the end of the service he descends down a specially constructed device.
Peter attracts the general attention of the pilgrims. But on December 13, a new misfortune befell Peter: some force tied both his hands and made them motionless. The left hand hugged the right hand near the hand and froze; there was no way to separate them. “I fainted,” Peter later reported.
At the same time, on the night of December 13-14, the tongue of the silent Peter was loosened.
The unfortunate man did not know what to do now and how to feel: should he consider himself forgiven and pardoned or condemned?!
All those present were struck with greater horror than before. “What good is this armless man? What service does he do to the monastery? “Only an extra parasite, unhappy, requiring care,” this is how the abbess herself reflected, as she told us this remarkable incident in order.
“I had to assign one of the older nuns to care for the sick man, and I,” says the venerable abbess, “ordered that in the church, in the presence of the sick man himself and all the nuns, the prayer singing of the Mother of God with an akathist for the mercy of the unfortunate man should immediately be performed ... “We all prayed before the miraculous icon with tears,” the elder sisters of the monastery told us, invited by the mother abbess to tell us about what happened. During prayer services, the patient consciously and calmly prayed to God, making only bows and kneeling.
The rest of the time he suffered, fainting and experiencing convulsions. The sick person was sprinkled more than once by St. water and anointed the clasped hands of St. oil taken from the lamp, which burns unquenchably before the miraculous image of the “Seeking of the Lost.”
Then, for a whole week, daily prayer singing was performed before St. image of the return of health to Peter. All this time, the sick Peter enjoyed the care of the nun Paraskeva and his former benefactor Pavel N-cha T-va, who arrived at the monastery.
“I came to the monastery on December 16,” Pavel N-ch T-v testified. “I saw Peter and was happy: he became a speaker.” I asked him: “When did God give you permission to speak?” He told me: “From December 13 to 14.” Then Peter showed me his tied hands. I was horrified; I see that with his left hand he hugged his right hand; the hand froze. “It must be God’s will.”
The nun and Pavel N. listen carefully to the abrupt speeches given by the sleeping Peter; a drowsy state often attacked Peter.
This is what Paul heard. “I heard him (Peter) say: Kuzma Sergeevich! Now don’t force me to pray with a cross!”
Nun Paraskeva said: “After the all-night vigil, the sick Peter went to bed, and then suddenly got up, stood up and said: “Seek us who are perishing!” I was an unbeliever, a lawless person, a fornicator... Be executed on me! Father served a prayer service... I wanted to venerate the image; She was so beautiful, but I couldn’t, She scorched me”...
Another time, the nun heard Peter talking to himself in a dream: “Do you believe now? - I believe. Do you wish St. take communion? - Wish. You don’t believe that there is a miraculous icon in the monastery?.. Tomorrow you will say”... Indeed, Peter’s tongue was soon loosened.
Peter received healing in his hands on December 18 under the following circumstances, which were reported in writing by Peter's companion,
Pavel N-ch T-v, who remained at the Rakovsky Monastery during Peter’s illness.
“On December 18, I went to the all-night vigil. Peter came a little after me and stood in front of the icon of the Mother of God, and I stood behind him. I look at him: he stands and bows; he could not be baptized because his hands were still clasped. Peter walked up to the church column and pressed his head against it. I see that some change is happening to him. I was afraid that he would fall, which is why I went up to Peter and began to support him: he was shaking all over. I had to hold it like that for a long time. I thought to myself: “Again, some kind of God’s punishment will happen to him!” Peter shuddered strongly and retreated to his previous place. He turned his gaze to the revealed icon and looked at it for a long time. Then he suddenly turned and left the church. I immediately followed him out. Peter went into his room and lay down on the bed. He soon fell asleep with his face up; Ten minutes passed like this. Suddenly he raised both hands to his shoulders and squealed loudly, as if he was very frightened of something. Then he folded three fingers on his right hand to make the sign of the cross and lowered them to his forehead; I fell asleep like that... And at that time I was attacked by a strong horror, so I can’t even describe it,” notes an eyewitness to the incident. “After lying like this for some time,
Peter suddenly said to me: “Pavel Nikolaevich, give me money for a grateful prayer service”...
“Everyone who saw the miraculous events that happened over Peter was horrified,” says the mentioned eyewitness. “Everyone was very happy and even cried with joy,” Pavel Nikolaevich concludes his story.
The monastery is sacred about this amazing event. O. I. Voinov reported to his Eminence in February 1899 about the defeat of Peter by muteness and paralysis. Earlier, priest S. reported to His Eminence. Pereluba, Pravdin, with the appendix of Peter’s own manuscript, in which he described the grave punishment to which he was subjected for his unbelief.
His Eminence was pleased to instruct the local dean priest P. Vvedensky to “check the story of the miraculous healing.”
The dean checked the story, selecting written and detailed testimonies from all eyewitnesses of the incident, including a message about the miraculous healing signed by the healed person himself.
This description of the miracle was compiled by the undersigned, following the order of His Eminence, on the basis of written documents, as well as personally collected information during a trip to the Rakovsky monastery (June 14-15, 1899).
Archpriest I. Panormov