16-е число

Venerable Theodore the Sanctified, disciple of Pachomius the Great Theodore, called the Sanctified One because he alone in the entire monastery had the rank of priesthood, was the favorite student of the great teacher. From childhood, a calling was discovered in him to exclusively devote himself to God. Born into a rich and noble family (in the Latopol district, in the Upper Thebaid), he never tasted the joys - neither characteristic of the position of rich people, nor characteristic of childhood, loving games and fun. He was eleven or twelve years old when, one day, seeing preparations in the house for the feast of the Epiphany, unconsciously already aware of the bustle of earthly feasts, he hid in the most remote corner of the house and there, falling to the ground, cried out with tears: “My God! I don’t want anything on earth... I want only You, Your mercy!” And despite the fact that his mother persuaded him to be and have fun with everyone, he was left alone and spent the whole day in prayer... And the Lord poured out extraordinary spiritual gifts on such an extraordinary youth! Until the age of 14, Theodore lived in his parents' house, attended school, where he was distinguished by his behavior and successful studies; At the age of 14, with the consent of his parents, he retired to the hermits in the Latopol district; Having heard here about the ascetic Pachomius and about his new institution, the young man wished to live under the guidance of such a teacher. Seeing him, Pachomius saw in him “a vessel of election, full of the Spirit of God.” He accepted Theodore like a good father, and from the very beginning treated him as a son and as his beloved student. Soon, through his boundless zealous asceticism, Theodore lived up to the expectations of Pachomius. He was especially distinguished by his purity of heart, strict observance of silence and impeccable obedience. Having succeeded on the monastic path, he so completely renounced everything worldly that he did not even want to meet his mother, who came to the monastery to see her son. But this stern firmness of a sincere renouncer from the world could not turn into evil... on the contrary, it led to the fact that his mother, in order not to lose hope of seeing her son, decided to settle in a nunnery founded by St. Pachomius. - Theodore's brothers - Paphnutius and Macarius, following his example, also entered the Tavenna monastery. “Theodore,” says his biography, “although he was very young, but with fiery zeal he fed his soul with the pure and firm rules of St. Scriptures; From day to day he was strengthened by the grace of the Holy Spirit. He tried in everything to imitate his father, Saint Pachomius, and obeyed him as if he were God Himself. If it happened that the holy Abba reproached him, he never made excuses and accepted the reprimand with humble silence, although sometimes he was innocent. When, out of oblivion, Pachomius gave him contradictory orders, Theodore said in his heart: this is a man of God; being sometimes caught up outside of himself by the Spirit of God, he commands things contrary to my will in order to make me better, because I am so imperfect: therefore I must groan before God, so that He will give me a right heart and always ready to obey. the will of His saints" 275. To exercise such holy dispositions on the path of asceticism, Pachomius assigned various duties to Theodore, for example. comfort the grieving, give instructions to the inexperienced. Over time, he made him the housekeeper and chief of Tavenna; at the same time, Theodore maintained such humility, as if he had no power. – He had a true talent for encouraging the faint-hearted and consoling the mourning. He tried to awaken more hope in souls than to act out of fear. With great meekness he dealt with controversial matters, and the brethren loved him with all their souls and were comforted by him. Meanwhile, although St. Pachomius trusted Theodore so much, nevertheless he acted towards him with great severity in order to completely cleanse him of the sense of vanity and perfect humility in him, so that, says Bishop Ammon: “you don’t know what to be more surprised at, whether the jealousy and wisdom of the teacher, or the understanding of the student.” Two years before his death, Pachomius became seriously ill. Saddened by the fear of losing him, his disciples were already thinking about who would have to replace the leadership of their beloved father over them and, considering Theodore more capable than others, they asked him to promise them to take charge of the leadership of the brethren in the event of the death of Pachomius. Theodore refused for a long time, but, convinced by their requests, he promised to fulfill their desire. Meanwhile, Pachomius recovered and, having learned about Theodore’s consent to the requests of the brethren, he discerned with his experienced spiritual gaze a certain feeling of pride, which prompted Theodore to agree to replace him... He called Theodore and with him the other abbots and ordered each of them to say in his presence: of what bad feeling does he admit he is guilty? And first of all, he revealed himself to encourage them to sincerity by his example. Then he asked Theodore if he had anything to reproach himself with? Then Theodore humbly confessed to him: “For seven years now, you have been sharing with me the position of governing the brethren, and during all this time I never had the thought of succeeding you in management, but now this temptation has attacked me, and I feel that I am not fighting it as I should.”... “You speak the truth,” said Pachomius, “and I see that you have not yet reached the point of completely suppressing the evil inclinations of nature. You need to live in solitude and ask God for forgiveness.” And then Pachomius dismissed Theodore from governing the brethren and returned him to a state of simple Theodore left the meeting saddened, but saddened not because he had lost his power and distinction, but because he had allowed vanity to enter his heart and upset his father... He retired to his cell and there, in complete solitude, mourned his guilt... A guilt that would have been difficult for a person less perfect in humility to recognize in himself than Theodore was... and which only the reverend, wise to the point of perspicacity in his spiritual knowledge, could treat with such incomprehensible severity. Pachomius... Theodore thus spent two years in careful observation of himself and the exercise of his humility and reached the point that Pachomius recognized him as having “received from God the grace to succeed during this time in perfection seven times more than what he had before”... When soon after this Pachomius fell ill again, Theodore remained with him until the very moment of his death, and three times before his death Pachomius bequeathed to him “not to leave those of the brethren whom he sees careless in serving God.” After Petronius and Orsisius, Theodore succeeded his mentor in the management of the Tavenna monastery. He reposed on April 27, 368. - Many of his disciples also became famous for the holiness of their lives. Saint Nicholas the Mystic, Patriarch of Constantinople The title of Mystic (senior member of the privy council) indicates that he served at the (Greek) court; after that he became a monk and, for his strict life, was elevated to patriarch in 895. A steadfast guardian of the decrees of the Church, he was not afraid to openly denounce the improper entry into the 4th marriage of Emperor Leo with Zoe - in 901. He defrocked a presbyter who had committed an illegal marriage, and forbade the emperor from entering the church, for which he was deprived of his chair and imprisoned in a monastery. After the death of Leo (911) he was returned to the department and died in 930, managing church affairs until the end. He left behind various works (About them, see “Teachings on the Father’s Church.” Phil., Archbishop of Chernig., Part III, § 293). St. torment. Obedijesus, Abdelai and others, in Persia Under the terms of the peace concluded in June 363 between the Roman Empire and Persia, the latter acquired five provinces beyond the Tigris River, mostly inhabited by Christians, and therefore the Persian government was forced to give more freedom to Christians in the old regions. According to the Syrian news, the chair of Seleucia-Ctesiphon was occupied at this time by Tamuz, about whom, except for his name, no other information has been preserved. The peace of the church continued for about twelve years, when persecution resumed on the following occasion. Abdijesus, bishop of the region of Kaskar in Babylonia, probably the city of Bizetun, had a nephew as a deacon, whom he was defrocked for his depraved life. The former deacon, wanting to take revenge, went to Susa, where the king was then, and informed him that “in the province of Caskar there lives the head of Christians, named Abdijesu, and with him the priest Abdalaha. They have relations with Roman spies, inform them about the internal affairs of Persia and write to the emperor about everything that happens in the east. They despise your decrees, they ridicule your words and do not carry them out, they do not recognize the sun and moon, fire and water as gods and laugh at them.” The king immediately ordered Ardshir, the ruler of Adiabene, to seize the bishop and his presbyter and bring them to consciousness through torture. Why were Abdijesus and Abdelai brought to a certain populated place near the city of Beth Lapeta and interrogated. To the question “who are they,” they answered: “we are Christians,” and then to the speech that if they are Christians, then they are the enemies of the king, they said: “no, he is our enemy, because he hates the true God and kills His true admirers.” In response to the demand to speak more clearly, if they did not want to die a blasphemous death, they said: “We love the truth and do not allow ourselves to be deceived by lies; and you complete your trickery. Let every death befall us, whatever your greed may think of; we will gladly die for God’s sake.” Obedius completely rejected the further accusation of having relations with the Romans, and regarding the disrespect of the Persian gods, he expressed that this should not be discussed, since they are of a completely different faith. Then the executioners tied each of them with three ropes, so that one tightly clasped the ribs, the other the thighs, the third the shins, and under each rope they put wood, which they turned and gradually twisted it so that the bones and veins cracked. The hands were tied back. In continuation of these tortures, they were ordered to honor the sun, the god of the sovereign, and reveal the secrets of the emperor. And since the confessors of the faith remained unshakable, the torture was renewed seven times and finally the half-dead were carried to prison. And here no one was allowed near them and they were given bread and water only to support life; but for six whole days they could not eat rough food and were starving. Finally, one compassionate widow, despite the prohibition, brought down more suitable and strengthening food for them through the small window of the prison, with which they refreshed themselves, thanking God. Ardshir reported to the king about the situation of the prisoners, adding that, despite all kinds of torture, the accused did not confess to the crimes. The king, believing that this could be achieved in another way, called the accuser and asked him if there were any other suspicious Christians in Cascar? The traitor pointed him to Bishop Avda of Kaskar and the priests and deacons there. Then the king instructed him to bring them, giving for this purpose a detachment of soldiers (ten horsemen and twenty foot soldiers). Meanwhile, Avda, not at all foreseeing the trials that were preparing for him, left the city with his priests and deacons to correct church affairs outside of it. He was in a certain Christian village when soldiers sent there entered and captured both him and those accompanying him; all those captured were twenty-eight, including seven virgins who dedicated themselves to God. In chains they were brought to Leda, where the king was, who entrusted the dignitary, together with two magicians, with an investigation. The judges asked: “Why do you hold on to error, deceive the souls of ignorant people and bring corruption with your flattering teaching?” To this Avda answered: “We walk the straight path with complete confidence, and everyone who joins us acts wisely, does not walk in darkness and does not wander, because he walks in the light, listens to us in the wonderful hope of a future life and lags behind his error.” When the dignitary ordered them to bow to the sun, because otherwise he would deal with them on the basis of the powers given to him, then Abda said: “neither your king and his command, nor you and your power, nor scourging can separate us from the love and mercy of our God and from our true faith in Jesus Christ. We will never worship the creation, the sun, instead of its Creator, and we will not change the Most High and Holy King for any insignificant and godless king.” This decisive speech aroused the anger of the judge, and he ordered, throwing them to the ground, to give each of them a hundred blows with a whip. Then he said to the confessors: “How do you dare to humiliate Sapor, the king of kings, the one who, like God, rules over creatures?” Avda answered: “Sapor is nothing more than a man, and is subject to all human weaknesses and shortcomings; he eats and drinks like anyone else, dresses, works and gets tired, is joyful and sad, weak and sick, and finally must die. This dominion was given to him by the Most High God, so that he would rule the lands and peoples in His righteousness.” The magicians present became irritated and beat him in the face with their fists, reproaching him for defaming the sovereign. When the judges were convinced that all attempts to overcome the firmness of the prisoners were unsuccessful, they considered it best to notify the king about this and ask for his further orders. The king asked them: “How do you find these sorcerers? do they stick to their convictions, and what do they say?” The chairman replied that he did not dare repeat what they said. But at the insistence of the king, he reported everything that had happened and the fact that Avda did not consider him a deity, but an ordinary person. The king laughed and said that Avda is just reasonable, because the king is only a man. Not entirely satisfied with the reports, the king appointed a new dignitary to complete the trial, who, accompanied by the previous judges, arrived at the place and began interrogating the prisoners, saying: “Are you not obeying the king’s orders?” They answered: “We obey the commands of God, the Lord of all creatures, but we do not repent of the will of the lawless king.” Then he announced that he had the authority to spare them if they worshiped the sun, and otherwise he would order them to be executed. They listened to this calmly, and Avda immediately said on behalf of everyone that they did not want or expect mercy, since they could not obey this order. Then the shackles were removed from them and they were all executed. By this hour, two brothers, Bargadbesiav and Samuel, arrived from the retinue of Bishop Abda, who were not present when he was taken into custody because they had been sent by him before to collect alms and buy food supplies. When they learned about the fate of the bishop and others with him, they hurried to the place of execution, rushed to the body of the holy martyr, kissed him, sprinkled themselves with his blood and said to the executioners: “Kill us too, because for us death is more pleasant and dearer than a dishonest and dull life; and we despise and revile the king; and we are Christians, just like them.” The amazed judges did not dare to pronounce sentence on the new confessors themselves, because their names were not on the list of those condemned by the king, and they reported everything to the dar. The latter's decision was soon received, and on the same day, May 15, both confessors were executed. Having taken up the case of Abdas and his companions, the judges completely forgot about Abdijesus and Abdelai. The king was the first to remember them and ordered them to be beheaded. They were in such a pitiful condition that they themselves could not go to the place of execution; they were carried there on their shoulders. Their appearance was terrible. Only bones and skin were visible on them; hair fell out of the head, ribs and limbs were broken; it was barely possible to discern a human image in them. They couldn't stand straight. Once again they were asked to renounce their faith, and their refusal was followed by beheading on May 16th. There were then Roman Christian prisoners of war in the city; They secretly took the bodies of the martyrs and placed them in a secret place. So the men suffered, and the king ordered seven holy virgins to be taken to Bet-Lapet for execution. When they were led through the city, voices were heard from the crowd that innocent blood was being shed, but this did not stop the decision. At the place of execution they were asked if they would submit to the will of the king and marry? The virgins answered: “We have placed all our hopes in God, and we worship Him alone; We do not recognize any other gods. Do what you are instructed to do and do not delay! Because, you know, we will not obey the will of the lawless king, we will not bow to the sun, creation, and no one will convince us to marry.” Their beheading followed on May 22, and on the same night Christians secretly buried their bodies. Bishop Ammon, his disciple, writes about Theodore in his letter.