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Rev. John of the Old Cave He is called the Old Caveman because he was a monk and priest in the Lavra of St. Khariton, first built in a cave; This monastery was also called old, because it was built before other Palestinian monasteries. He labored in the 8th century. St. Tryphon, Patriarch of Constantinople From among the monks of the capital's monastery, he was elevated to the patriarchate by Emperor Roman in 928, and in 931 he was deposed by him in order to deliver the throne to the twenty-year-old Theophylact, his son. Tryphon, with a kind heart, returned to his monastery and died there two years and five months later. But after his death, his body was brought to the St. Sophia Church and solemnly buried with the other patriarchs. Venerable Simeon Bosogo, abbot of the Philotheus monastery, new wonderworker Rev. Simeon, the son of a priest, accepted monasticism in his youth, achieved the rank of hierodeacon and, prompted by his love for silence and solitude, retired to the confines of Mount Olympia, to a monastery near Kissara, where he devoted himself to severe monastic deeds. From here he moved to Athos and joined the brotherhood of the Lavra of St. Afanasia. By the will of the abbot, who soon distinguished him as the most zealous among all ascetics, Simeon was ordained a priest. From the Lavra he moved to the Philotheevsky monastery, where he amazed the brethren with his strict life and aroused such reverence for himself that by common requests, although against his will, he was convinced to accept the title of abbot. Then, aware of his sacred duty to serve as a model for those led by him, Simeon also “raised the measure of fasting, prayer and other God-pleasing deeds,” and, most importantly, he was lazy and constantly instructing the monks with saving exhortations. But since, under the conditions of the depravity of human nature, in the midst of the greatest heights of life, people are also subject to the greatest temptations, then among the monks, although they voluntarily chose a truly high role model, irritation arose against the strict ascetic. Simeon, seeing the hostility towards himself, endured, prayed, tried to overcome enmity with love, but could not disarm those who were angry against him with anything and therefore left. He arrived at Mount Flamuria, adjacent to Zagora. Here, sheltered under an apple tree, barefoot, barely covered with shabby clothes, doing without fire and almost without food, resting for the shortest time on the bare ground, Simeon spent his life - as if ethereal, completely devoted to exploits and the highest spiritual struggle. He glorified the Creator with the incomprehensible greatness of such a life, and it could serve as a measure of the abundance of God’s grace that is poured into a soul that is able and worthy to accommodate it. After three years of such a supernatural life, Simeon saw people again. They found him and, attracted by his height, wished to live with him. It was difficult for the ascetic who had completely separated himself from the world to agree to this, but, full of love, he yielded to the desires of the people, and thus seven people settled with him. Having lived until now like a bird of heaven, not knowing either sowing or harvest, Simeon now took care of the crops in order to feed those who came to him. After seven years, he built a small church here in the name of the Holy Trinity. Among those who continued to come to Simeon, eager to devote themselves to the service of God under his holy leadership, there were priests and deacons who helped him in priestly service, and thus the monastery was established. Then Simeon decided to work in a different field; he wished to devote himself to Apostolic activity and, leaving the monastery he had established well, made a journey with the aim of establishing Christians in the faith. He visited Epirus, Thessaly, Athens and other places. This journey was very necessary, since most of the inhabitants of these areas, due to the impoverishment of enlightenment, were extremely rude. The Word of God, spread by Simeon and accompanied by miracles, had a saving effect. The success of his preaching meanwhile aroused the indignation of the Turks... They reported him to the mayor Liang, slandering him, among other things, that he was preaching condemnation of the Mohammedan teaching. Without any trial, Simeon was sentenced to death. They have already begun to build a fire to burn the Christian preacher... Brought in chains to the place of execution, Simeon himself began to pick up and throw wood into the fire... - But this fire is being prepared for you! - the man holding him by the chain told him, - after all, it is you who will be burned at the stake by order of the mayor... - Well! burn me, if it is the will of God! - answered the ascetic, - for my part I am glad to die... Amazed by these words, one Arab and several women ran to the mayor’s mother and asked her to convince her son not to put the saint to death. The good woman, fearing that her son would destroy an innocent man, began to beg him not to take such a sin upon his soul. She begged him to find out the truth, to personally interrogate the convict. Her words had an effect on those around her son. “Our lady, your mother, effendi, speaks well!” they said and also began to convince Ayan not to order the execution of a person before the trial and decision determined by law... A kind word spoken from a sincere soul can do so much!.. Even embittered people involuntarily succumb to it and, under its influence, retreat before the injustice that they were already ready to commit. Ayan ordered to call Simeon to him. Struck by the sight of the barefoot and almost naked Christian preacher, the mayor involuntarily felt reverence for him and, turning to him affectionately, said: I have been informed that you are trying to turn us away from our faith, that you are teaching us not to believe in the teachings of Mohammed: tell me, is this true? “I’m not a Mohammedan, but I teach Christians to act as the Gospel commands us,” answered Simeon. – What does your Gospel teach? – Ayan asked. – The Gospel teaches not to steal, not to fulfill the unclean desires of the flesh, not to covet anything that belongs to others, to love one another, to give royal taxes to whomever should be given, to hold firmly one’s faith, to honor Sundays and holidays, because Sunday is the day when our Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected... Not finding anything worthy of death in the righteous man, the mayor released him, and Simeon began to preach the word of God with even greater boldness. After some time, he visited his monastery on Mount Flamuria and, having arranged affairs there, arrived in Constantinople, where he was warmly received by the patriarch. And here his eloquent words were not poured out in vain. Many, touched by him, hastened to confess their sins to him, corrected their lives, became attached to him with all their souls, followed him everywhere, and wanted to surrender themselves into complete obedience to the saint. He sent others who wished to lead a monastic life to his monastic community. And, having worked so hard for the last time of his life in Constantinople, Simeon died peacefully here and was buried with honor by the patriarch himself - in Chalki, in the Church of the Mother of God. – Two years after his death, the monks of the Flamurian monastery who were temporarily in the capital, having asked permission from the local authorities, transferred Simeon’s remains to their monastery. During this transfer, many miraculous healings from various diseases took place, and since then the fame of the miraculous power of the relics of the righteous man has spread to all the places where he walked and taught the people. Many made various donations to the benefit of the monastery, in memory of its founder and general teacher, and thus an income was provided that supports the existence of the monastery to this day. Holy Martyr Agafangel of Esphigmena Originally from Aena, a city in the Thracian region, Agafangel, in the world - Athanasius, received a Christian upbringing in the home of strictly Orthodox parents. After their death, he entered the naval service; here I had the opportunity to become close in my service with the Turks, who certainly wanted to convert an intelligent and very capable Christian young man to Islamism. Not hoping to achieve this by the good will of Athanasius, they one day unexpectedly attacked him, inflicted a wound on him and threatened him with death if he did not renounce the faith of Christ... Not at all prepared for such violence, the young man was confused and in the hope that he would not hesitate to hide from the Turks and renounce the promise he had made under the knife, he agreed to call himself a Mohammedan. This happened in Smyrna. - Athanasius, however, did not manage to quickly escape from the surveillance of the Turks, who were vigilantly watching him, and only after quite a long time could he leave Smyrna and, tormented by remorse, went to seek refuge on Mount Athos. Here he visited many monasteries and monasteries, confessed to many spiritual fathers; finally, on the advice of one of them, he came to the Esphigmen monastery, where Abbot Euthymius confessed him, recognized everything that had happened to him, blessed his intention to atone for his grave sin and, sheltering him with himself, assigned him obedience, which Athanasius began to undergo with the greatest zeal. He would not have retreated, it seemed, from any difficult feats, because he considered the most difficult of them insufficient to atone for his unfortunate apostasy. To reconcile with his conscience, only one thing could be satisfactory for him, this is martyrdom... And so, Athanasius completely devoted himself to thinking about him and praying that the Lord would give him the strength to make amends for his temporary renunciation of Him. Among the ascetic preparations for this great undertaking, Athanasius - on the 4th Sunday of Great Lent - was called to the liturgy, invested with monasticism with the name Agafangel and awarded the sacrament of St. life-giving Mysteries. “From that time,” says Hierokyrix Herman 247 about him, “his face shone with some kind of Divine light of grace, the joy of his spirit was inexpressible, his mind was constantly directed to heaven, the Divine fire was kindled in his heart, and with great zeal he began to engage in greater and greater feats; Finally, with all my heart I wished to die for Christ.” Seeing in Agafangel an irresistible desire for martyrdom, judging him sufficiently prepared for the feat and, most importantly, enlightened by the vision in a dream of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, who promised success in the work of the repentant young man, the abbot blessed Agathangel to prepare for the journey - to Smyrna, where he was to confess his return to the faith of Christ - before those who contributed to his violent renunciation... The young man was eager to set off, but he still had to wait for the ship. Finally, the opportunity presented itself to sail to Smyrna, where the fiery aspiration of the heart, languishing in boundless repentance, was to be realized. “On Fomino Resurrection in the evening we entered the Smyrna pier,” his companion German continues his story about Agafangel, “some of the brothers of our monastery, who were then living in Smyrna for monastic needs, having learned about our arrival, met and received us with great joy. We settled in the house of the epitrop of our monastery, who, having learned about the young man’s intentions, rejoiced that he was honored to receive a martyr into his house, and his caresses fell upon us abundantly. We now began making final preparations for our goal. On Thursday morning, when there is a meeting at the Ottoman court, we clothed Agafangel in Turkish clothes, and I allowed him to go with God's mercy... “Appearing at the court, to the question: what does he need? Agafangel told the story of his forced adoption of Islamism, expressed his voluntary, sincere renunciation of this false teaching and the flattering admonitions of the judge, who hoped to bring some sense to the young man, whose words he found insane and... whose renunciation he could not allow in any way, Agafangel answered: “I abhor your admonitions, your promises, and you yourself. I love only my Christ, I seek my Christ, I desire to enjoy my Christ”... And to further attempts to convince him, he invariably answered the same... Then the judge began to threaten him with a painful death: – “I am ready to endure everything for my Christ! I accept all types of torment with the greatest joy! I just ask you not to delay in carrying out your words...” answered Agathangel.” “Oh, blessed language,” says Herman, conveying these words of the young man, “I will say with the Great Basil: blessed is the language that has sounded in our times such a confession, with which the air defiled by our sins has been purified! O mind Divine and firm, which the faces of the angels praised! O glorious soul, whom the Lord of glory has glorified with heavenly glory!” The torture began. The confessor was bound, imprisoned, shackled with a heavy chain, and his legs were driven into a tree. The servants, executors of cruel orders, also added their cruel treatment: leading the martyr to prison, they pulled the chain in all directions with such force that it seemed to many that the sufferer’s head would be separated from his body, but the young man endured everything with patience and his soul rejoiced... God brought such that Agathangel found two innocent Christian prisoners in prison. One of them, Nikolai, a man of a purely Christian mood, later conveyed everything that he saw and heard from the martyr, and also his letter to Herman. To meet Christians at such a moment and in such a place was a great consolation for the young man who had given himself up to suffering; They consoled him all night, encouraging him with the examples of other martyrs. The next day, Agathangel in chains was again presented to the court. Subject to various trials, he endured everything with unshakable courage and was again taken to prison. Nikolai rejoiced, seeing the confessor’s undisturbed firmness; however, at the same time he conveyed to him that, it seems, someone - Athanasius the Chios, who was then in great power, was interceding for his release... But this news only frightened Agathangel, and he immediately wrote a letter to Athanasius, in which he conjured him in the name of God not to intercede for him, but to let the judges do what they want; “Instead of vain intercession,” he wrote, “let Christians better prayerfully intercede before God to strengthen me in the feat of martyrdom.” The Christians who were in Smyrna at that time learned about this letter with tears; it brought to their memory the letter that St. wrote to the Roman Christians. Ignatius the God-Bearer, who convinced them not to resort to any intercession for him, but to allow the wicked to throw him to be devoured by wild beasts... And indeed, that night all the Christians fervently prayed for a new martyr. And he himself was preparing for a terrible test. In the middle of the night, having lost himself in a light sleep, he suddenly stood up and said to his comrades in prison: Rejoice with me, my brothers! Today before 5 o'clock I will be beheaded. And after the burning impatience to unite with Christ, he often asked: what time is it? and every time he answered joyfully he said: three more hours! two more hours! “About four o’clock they came to take him.” There are no words to express his joy at this, - Nikolai testifies, - having said goodbye to his friends, he quickly rushed to the doors of the dungeon and, in chains, was again presented for trial. His hardness remained unchanged. Seeing no way to turn the Christian away from his faith, the judges sentenced him to death. The news of this quickly spread everywhere, and a countless multitude of people of all nations, of every age, sex and condition gathered at the place of execution. Everyone's gaze was fixed on the angel-like face of the martyr. He, deep in prayer, seemed not to see what was happening around him. He did not pay any attention to the speeches of those who were still trying to sway him at that moment. Bowing his head, he finally calmly said to the executioners: “Why aren’t you doing your job?” Then the main one ordered a blow, and the young man’s head almost instantly separated from the body. It was April 19, 1819. The man killed for Christ was 19 years old. The death of the new martyr made a strong impression on all Christians. With one accord they glorified the name of the Lord, wondrous in His saints. “Inveterate and irreconcilable enemies were reconciled; generous alms were distributed; the dishonest houses were disgusted; those who had not seen their confessor for many years now ran to him with warm tears of repentance; the most freethinkers and atheists were touched, and even the Mohammedan people treated the martyr with reverence.” On the third day after the execution, a rumor spread that the remains of the martyr would be thrown into the sea. Therefore, all the ships that were in the harbour, even the consular ones of all Christian nations, were located in a chain along the entire side of the sea lying towards the city, and some of them even armed themselves just in case. But the city rumors did not come true. Instead, late that same day, late in the evening, Ottoman guards took the remains of Agafangel from the place of execution and took them to the house of the city ruler, who handed them over to Christians for money. The Christians received them with indescribable joy and triumph and reverently transferred them to the church of St. George. With general tears and tenderness, having performed the martyrdom, the hierarchs themselves laid the remains of the martyr in the magnificent tomb of St. Dima, who suffered 408 years before this event. After this burial was completed, the bishop of Smyrna personally wrote a detailed message about the martyr to the ecumenical patriarch; the patriarch sent a copy of this letter to Athos. In 1844, at the request of the abbot and the brethren of the Esphigmen monastery and with the consent of the bishop and honorary citizens of Smyrna, part of the remains of the new martyr Agafangel was transferred to the monastery where he labored in preparation for martyrdom; the other parts of the remains (in the form of bones) are kept in the receptacle of the Church of the Great Martyr George. One of the best contemporary theologians of Agafangel. He died only in 1851, leaving behind many wonderful works of his pen. The memory of Herman on Mount Athos is still very fresh. Muravyov wrote about him in detail in his “Letters from the East,” part VI, pp. 219–221. Evidence of their authenticity is kept in the monastery acts.