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Holy Prophet Jonah, who lived in the 1st half of the 9th century BC. left behind a book consisting of four chapters, which describes the event that served as a foreshadowing of the three-day stay in the tomb and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as there are indications of this in the book of the New Testament: - when the scribes and Pharisees, having entered into a conversation with Jesus, expressed to Him their desire to see a sign from Him, He answered them: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except a sign Jonah of the prophet. For just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. - The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented because of Jonah’s preaching, and here they are greater than Jonah...” (Matthew 12:39–41). It is known about this “sign of the prophet Jonah” that when God intended to convert the Israelites who had fallen into wickedness to repentance - by the example of what the pagan Assyrian people had done to them, then “the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amathi: Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it; for his evil deeds have come before Me.” But, loving his fatherland and hesitating, he averted the death of the people hostile to the Israelites, Jonah, instead of fulfilling what was commanded to him from the Lord, “rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and came to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; paid the fare for the carriage and entered it to sail with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” Meanwhile, during the voyage, a strong storm arose that threatened to sink the ship. The shipbuilder and the pagan travelers, frightened by the danger, decided to make a propitiatory sacrifice to the god of the seas, throwing into the sea a man who had attracted the punishment of the gods... Lots were cast to find out the culprit among those on the ship. The lot fell on Jonah. When the shipmen asked what he had done to anger his God, Jonah did not hide from them, but revealed to them that he had angered his Lord by not fulfilling His command, but “he fled from the presence of the Lord,” and asked that they take him and throw him into the sea, promising that the sea would calm down then, because “for his sake this great storm has befallen everyone.” And indeed, when the shipmen, seeing that the storm did not subside, decided to throw Jonah into the sea, the raging of the sea suddenly stopped. Meanwhile, “the Lord commanded the great whale to swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the whale, and said: I cried to the Lord in my affliction, and He heard me; from the belly of hell I cried, and You heard my voice. You cast me into the depths, into the heart of the sea, and the streams surrounded me; all Your waters and Your waves passed over me. And I said: I am cut off from Thy eyes; however, I will again see Your holy church... The waters have embraced me up to my soul, the abyss has closed me in; My head is entwined with sea grass. I descended to the base of the mountains; the earth has blocked me forever with its barriers; but You, Lord my God, will bring my soul out of hell. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer reached You, to Your holy church. Those who worship vain and false gods have abandoned their Merciful One. And with a voice of praise I will offer You a sacrifice; I will fulfill what I promised: salvation is with the Lord!” And the Lord responded to the truly miraculous faith and repentance of the lofty soul with a truly miraculous salvation of those who called to Him: the prophet Jonah was thrown ashore from the belly of the sea beast. And obeying a new inspiration from above, “Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, and began to walk around the city, as far as he could go in one day, and preached, saying: forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed... And the Ninevites believed God,” and were afraid of His wrath, and everyone, starting with the king, began fasting and repentance - with the faith that “the Lord will have mercy and turn away His burning anger from them, and that they will not will die." “And God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way; God regretted the calamity which He said He would bring upon them, but He did not bring it.” Meanwhile, Jonah, leaving the city, “sat down near the eastern side of it, and made himself a booth there, and sat under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city.” Without waiting, however, for the fulfillment of the divine punishment proclaimed by him at the inspiration of God, Jonah became upset and prayerfully cried out to the Lord: “Isn’t this what I said, O Lord, when I was still in my country? That’s why I ran to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a good and merciful God, long-suffering and abundantly merciful, and you regret the disaster...” And Jonah even wanted to die from strong grief that what he had proclaimed did not come true... Then the Lord wanted to show His servant admonition, the memory of which can serve as admonition from generation to generation at all times. One night the Lord grew a broad-leaved plant over Jonah’s hut, “and it rose over Jonah, so that there would be a shadow over his head, and to save him from his grief; Jonah was very happy about this plant. And God arranged it so that the next day, at dawn, the worm undermined the plant, and it died out. When the sun rose, God brought a sultry east wind, and the sun began to scorch Jonah’s head, so that he was exhausted, and asked for death, and said: it is better for me to die than to live... And God said to Jonah: are you really so upset about the plant? He said: he was very upset, even to the point of death. “Then the Lord said: you regret the plant that you did not work on, and which you did not grow, which grew in one night, and disappeared in the same night.” Should I not feel sorry for Nineveh, a great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left, and a multitude of cattle? St. martyr Phocas, Bishop of Sinope Foca, a native of the city of Sinope, who was appointed bishop for his virtuous life, converted many people from pagan error and led them to the knowledge of the true God. During the reign of Trajan, he was captured by the city governor Africanus, forced to renounce Christ, and after much torment, shut up in a hot bath, he died. His body was buried with honor by the faithful, and in 404 it was transferred to Constantinople and placed in the church named after him. Holy Martyr Phocas the heli-grader Foka lived in the city of Sinop, located on the southern coast of the Black Sea. He was a poor man who supported himself by selling fruits from his small garden, and at the same time, moderating his needs to the extreme, found the opportunity to feed the beggars who gathered to him; He also loved to provide hospitality to strangers. In general, he led a life pleasing to God, the example of which had such a beneficial effect on others that even the pagans respected him. Under his influence, they often abandoned their pagan errors and accepted the Christian faith. Meanwhile, since the persecution of Christians was still ongoing at that time, the governor of the region, having learned about the successful dissemination of Christian teaching by Phocas, ordered him to be taken and killed; Foka himself accidentally met those sent by the ruler looking for him and, without first telling them his name, he accepted them into his house, warmly treated them and invited them to rest for the night under his roof. Meanwhile, he went into the garden at night, prepared a coffin and a place for burial there, and, having made an order that all his property be distributed to the poor upon his death, in the morning he announced to his guests that he was the one they were looking for, and asked them to carry out the task for which they were sent... Those who took advantage of the cordial hospitality of such a kind host were embarrassed and did not want to kill Phokas. They definitely wanted to save him and, for the sake of this, hide from the ruler that they had found Phokas. But Foka himself resolutely opposed this. “You will not repay me for my hospitality in anything so joyful as if you free me from the bonds of the flesh and lead me to the desired Christ...” he objected to his guests and, having convinced them, calmly bowed his head under the sword... After that he was buried in a grave he had prepared for himself in his garden. This was around 320 - A church was subsequently built on this site over the relics of St. Phocas, glorified by miracles. A reliable description of the martyrdom of Saint Phocas was compiled by the ancient writer Asterius of Amasia (who died c. 410), to whose metropolitanate Sinop was also subordinated, and according to whose testimony the memory of St. Phocas was especially revered by sailors who resorted with faith to the patronage of St. Phocas, the heli-grader, and among whom the custom was even long preserved so that during the voyage part food from the sailors' meal was set aside and sold to one of the crew, and the money collected in this way was distributed at the end of the voyage in the name of Saint Phocas - to orphans and the poor. The name of Saint Phocas was named on many ships - in songs that were usually sung by the shipbuilders, putting them into a laudatory mode in honor of the holy wonderworker. Saint Peter, who was formerly the chief tax collector In the countries of Africa, returned by Emperor Justinian from the Vandals in 534 AD, during the reign of this sovereign there was a certain Peter, a very unmerciful man, who was the chief tax collector, who never had mercy on the poor, did not remember death, did not go to the churches of God and did not listen to those asking for alms from him. God, a good lover of mankind, who does not want the death of sinners, who provides for the salvation of all and who, by the paths only known to Him, guides everyone to salvation, showed mercy to Peter according to his goodness and directed him on the path of salvation in this way. At one time, the poor and wretched, sitting on the street, began to praise the houses of the merciful and pray to God for them, and reproached the unmerciful; The speech also touched upon Peter that he was not at all merciful. And they asked each other: Has anyone ever received alms from his house? And when everyone said that no one had received it, one poor man stood up and said: “What will you give me if I now go and beg for alms from him?” And they made a condition among themselves. The beggar went and stood at the gate of Petrov's house. When Peter left the house, accompanying the burden of bread on a donkey to the ruler of the region, the beggar bowed to him and began to ask for alms, shouting diligently and loudly. Peter, not having a stone at hand, grabbed the bread, threw it at the beggar and struck him in the face, and then continued on his way. And the beggar, having caught the bread, returned to his squad and said that he had received bread from the hands of Peter himself, and glorified God for the fact that Peter, the tax collector, had shown mercy. Two days later, the tax collector fell ill and was close to death. And so, he sees in a vision that he is standing at a certain court, giving an account, and that his deeds are relying on scales. On one side of the scales stood vile and stinking murins, and on the other - bright and handsome men. The Murins, having collected all the evil deeds of Petrov, which he had sinned from his youth, placed them on their side of the scales; and the luminous men, not finding any of Petrov’s good deeds to put on the other side of the scales, stood in confusion and said to each other in bewilderment: “So, we have nothing to put here.” Then one of them said: “there really is nothing except one bread, which they gave to Christ two days before, and that involuntarily.” They put that bread on the scales, and immediately their side pulled the first. Then those good men said to Peter: “Go, poor Peter, and add more to this bread, so that the dark murins do not take you and drag you into eternal torment.” Having come to his senses, Peter thought about what he had seen, and realized that it was not a ghost, not an ordinary dream, because he saw all his sins committed from his youth, which he had already forgotten, on the scales. And, surprised, he said to himself: if one piece of bread, thrown by me in the face of a beggar, helped so much that the demons did not take me, then how much more generous alms, given with meekness and zeal, help those who give to the poor from their property. And from that time on he became merciful to everyone, even to the point of not sparing himself. Once, on his way to his place of service, he met a naked man who had lost everything in a shipwreck and now asked to be given clothes to cover his nakedness. Peter, having taken off his outer clothing, good and expensive, gave it away, but he, ashamed to wear such expensive clothes, gave it to a certain merchant to sell. On the way back, Peter accidentally saw those clothes put up for sale and was greatly saddened. And, having come to his house, because of grief he could not taste food, but shut himself up in his cage, cried and sobbed, saying: “God did not accept my alms, I turned out to be unworthy for the poor to remember me.” Thus mourning and sighing, he fell asleep a little. And then he sees a certain handsome and luminous man, who has a cross on his head and is clothed in the clothes that he gave to the poor, and hears his voice addressed to him: “Why are you grieving and crying, brother Peter!” And Peter answered: “How can I not cry, Master, when what I gave to the poor from what You give me, they again sell in the marketplace?” Then the one who appeared said to him: “Do you recognize this garment that is on Me?” Peter answered: “Truly, Master, I know that this is the one that I gave to the naked one.” And the one who appeared said to him: “Don’t grieve! From the time you gave it to the beggar, I accepted it and wear it, as you see, and I praise your good intention, because you clothed Me, who suffered from the cold.” Rising from sleep, the tax collector was surprised, blessed the poor and said to himself: if the poor take the place of Christ, then, in trusting in God, I will not die as long as I am one of them. And he immediately distributed all his property to the poor and gave free rein to his slaves, except for one, to whom he said: “I want to trust you with a secret, but you listen to me and keep it; If you do not listen to me and do not keep my word, then know that I will sell you to the pagans.” The slave promised to strictly observe the master's command. And Peter said to him: “Let us go to the holy city (Jerusalem) to worship the life-giving tomb of Christ; there, sell me to one of the Christians and give the price for me to the poor, and you yourself will be free.” The slave, having heard about his master’s strange intention, did not want to listen to him and said: “I am obliged to go with you to the holy city, as your slave, but to sell you, my master, no! It won’t happen, I’ll never do it.” Then Peter said to him: “If you do not sell me, then I will sell you to the pagans.” And they went to Jerusalem. And having bowed to the holy places, he said again to the slave: “Sell me; otherwise I will sell you to the barbarians into grave bondage.” The slave, seeing his master's unchanging intention, listened to him against his own desire, and offered to buy a good slave from him to a certain silversmith he knew, a God-fearing man named Zoil. He refused, saying that he was impoverished and had nothing to give for him. And the servant of Peter, the tax collector, said to him: “Borrow money from someone and buy my servant; because he is very good, and for his sake God will bless you.” Zoilus, believing his words, took thirty pieces of gold from a certain friend of his and bought Peter, not knowing that Peter was the master of the one who had now sold him. And the slave who sold immediately went to Constantinople, without telling anyone what he had done, and distributed the price received for the master to the poor; and Peter worked for Zoilus, doing things that he was not used to before, now serving in the kitchen, now clearing the house from the goy, now digging the soil in the vineyard, and with other work, exhausting his body and humbled his soul. Zoilus, seeing that his house was being blessed by God for the sake of Peter, as the house of the Pentefriev had once been for the sake of Joseph, and that his property had increased, he loved Peter and felt shame, looking at his excessive humility. And one day he said to him: “Brother Peter! I want to free you now and have you instead of my brother.” But he did not want to be free and wanted to serve him like a slave. And one could often see how other slaves scolded him, sometimes beat him and inflicted various insults; but he endured everything in silence. And one night Peter sees in a dream a luminous man who once appeared to him in Africa in his clothes; Now He held thirty pieces of gold in His hand and said to him: “Do not grieve, brother Peter, because I accepted the price for you; Be patient until you are recognized.” After some time, some sellers of silver items arrived from Africa to Palestine to worship the holy places, and Zoil, the master of Petra, invited them to his house for dinner. During dinner, the guests took a closer look at Peter, began to recognize him and said to each other: how similar the man is to Peter, the tax collector! And Peter tried to cover his face so as not to be recognized from them. But they recognized him well and said to Zoilus: “Mr. Zoilus, we want to tell you something so that you know that among the servants in your house you have a great man. For truly this man is Peter, who was a noble dignitary in Africa and who set many of his slaves free. But when we get up, let’s take him with us, because the ruler of the region greatly grieves and grieves for him.” And Peter, standing outside and hearing this, put the dish he was carrying on the ground and hurried to the gate to escape from there. The gatekeeper was dumb and deaf from birth, and only through anointings he understood what was required of him. God's servant Peter, hastening to go out, said to the dumb man: “I say to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, quickly open the door.” The mute answered: “I’ll open it right away, sir!” And immediately it opened for him, and he went out. The dumb man, having come to his master, began to speak in front of everyone, and everyone was amazed that he began to speak. They looked for Peter and did not find him. And the one who was dumb said: “See that he does not hide. And he is a great servant of God! Because when he came to the gate and said to me: in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I say to you - open! Then I saw a flame emanating from his mouth, which touched my lips, and I spoke.” Then everyone began to grieve and cry that they had not known such an ascetic, and they glorified God, who has many of His servants hidden from the rumor of man. Petrov, avoiding human glory, hid in places unknown to anyone, until his very presentation to God, to whom be glory forever, amen. † Repose of the Venerable Cozma the Hermit The Monk Kozma the Bulgarian 308 came from a family of boyars of the Bulgarian kings. As noble people of Bulgaria of that time certainly studied the Greek language: Kozma also knew both Bulgarian and Greek in his youth. His parents were preparing a bride for him; but he, ardently desiring a virgin and desert life, secretly left them for Athos. Warmly received in the Zograf monastery, which was still called Bulgarian in the 12th century charters, 309 Blessed Kozma remained in this monastery for his exploits. Obedient to the will of his elders, he diligently carried out the tasks assigned to him and, clothed in monasticism, was an ecclesiarch. - Heartfelt simplicity was the hallmark of his soul, and this simplicity early opened his spiritual gaze. On the feast of the Annunciation, according to Athonite custom, Kozma was in Vatopedi at the church festival. “To his amazement, he sees, the wife of royal majesty rules in the church and then at the meal. How is this possible? The confused Kozma thinks, “Is there a wife on Mount Athos?... “Why are you so sad?” the elder asks the returning Kozma. Kozma told what he saw in Vatopedi. “What kind of wife was she?” asked the old man. “Unprecedented beauty, unprecedented glory,” says Kozma. “And you didn’t guess who She is? This is the Queen of Athos, the Most Holy Theotokos, “She deigns to rule over us here,” answered the elder. Hearing this, Kozma enthusiastically thanked the Heavenly Queen for deigning to reveal herself to him, simple Kozma. After some time, he was ordained as a hierodeacon and then as a hieromonk. The zealous ascetic, once left alone in the church, prayed to the Mother of God to guide him on the path of salvation. “My Son and My God!” he hears a voice, “Teach your servant how to be saved.” “Let him leave the monastery in silence,” says another voice. 310 Having learned this will of God about himself, Kozma, with the blessing of the abbot, retired to the neighboring desert and carved out a cave for himself in the rock, to the west of Zograf. Only God knows how Kozma labored there. But the actions of asceticism were also revealed to people. Once two hieromonks came to Kozma from Hilandar to see how the hermit lived. Kozma received them warmly, talked to them spiritually, and upon parting he remarked: “break the pumpkin with wine that you hid on the road, there is a snake in it and it has released its poison into the wine.” The Hilardarians were amazed that Kozma knew about the hidden pumpkin, and they were even more amazed when, having broken the pumpkin, they saw that there was definitely a snake in it. They thanked God for saving their lives from death through His beloved servant. Highlight in the monk another experience of more extensive insight. On Maundy Thursday he sends his disciple to say in Hilandar: “let the brethren pray for the departed abbot; he fights in the air spaces with evil spirits.” The brethren, having heard about this, said: “We saw the abbot at Matins, and after Matins he went to prepare for the liturgy - the elder - in dreams, although he pretends to be a saint.” But when they arrived at the abbot’s cell, they saw that the abbot had definitely died suddenly. To the northwest of Esphigmen there is Mount Samari. 311 – Monk Damian retired there. The elder gave him a commandment - never stay overnight in someone else's cell. Due to a special need, Damian went to a neighboring brother and, since he had gone away somewhere for that time, he waited until the evening for his return. Finally, the brother appears and Damian, having completed the task for which he came, hurried to return to his cell. In vain his friend begged him to stay with him for the night and pointed out to him the danger of traveling at night, moreover, traveling in the rain. Damian, faithful to the commandment, left. On the way, did he really lose his way in the dark and didn’t know where he was going or where to go? "God! Save me,” he cried out to God, and then he found himself near his cell. Amazed by what happened to him, Damian immediately goes to Reverend Kozma and tells about what happened. “Keep, brother, the commandment of the elder, and God will save you from death,” said the Monk Kozma. One day the Monk Kozma became very ill and he wanted to eat fish. He who fed Elijah also sends the hermit Kozma the necessary food. Suddenly, a desert eagle descends to Kozma’s cell and lays down a fish. Kozma thanked the Lord and ordered the fish to be cooked. But when the fish was served, a secret voice told him: “Save half for the guest.” The next day, the neighboring hermit Christopher comes. Kozma kindly receives him: “Welcome, dear guest,” says Kozma, “I have a treat ready for you,” and serves the fish. Then Christopher with a smile says that yesterday he washed the fish he caught, and an eagle descended and carried it away and now brought it to you, loving you. Both joyfully thanked God. The dying days were very difficult for the Monk Kozma. But he was informed by the Lord about the feat awaiting him. Christopher comes to Kozma’s cell and hears that Kozma is talking to someone. Entering the cell and not seeing anyone, Kozma asks: “Who was he talking to?” After some reflection, the monk, out of spiritual friendship for Christopher, reveals to him about the wondrous visit. “Christ visited me,” he says in humble simplicity, “and announced that, according to the secret discretion of salvation, Satan would attack me with a horde and torment my flesh; this is a sign of my imminent transition to that life; Now leave me, brother, and come see me on such and such a day.” Christopher left sadly. When the appointed day arrived, Christopher came to Kozma and found him half dead. "What's wrong with you?" asked Christopher. “Yesterday evening Satan attacked me with a horde,” said the monk, “and, roaring with anger, shouted at his own people: lazy people! Fools! They couldn’t cope with one thing. He beat me with furious anger, and you see how he mutilated my body.” The monk did not suffer for long. On the third day after the satanic beatings, he received Holy Communion and, with prayer on his lips, peacefully surrendered his soul to the Lord, September 22, 1323 312 Life of Rev. Cosmas from Νεον εκλογιον in the Athos Patericon 1, 258–268. Slavs Zograf's manuscripts - in Grigorovich, pp. 62–73. In the Fan, pp. 327–340. Zografsky Apostle, written “in memory and eternal rest by his parent” under Ts. Alexander 1359 - in the report. acad. X. 158. 159. See also Oct. 10 o'clock Note from a fan of St. Mountains, page 324. Samari is a saddle, and this is the appearance of the mountain. Therefore, this mountain has nothing in common with the river. Samara of the Russian south, as others thought on the contrary. Feedback from a fan of St. Mountains, p. 300. Letters of the Svyatogorets 2, 166–169.