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Holy 42 Martyrs of Amoria: Theodore, Craterus, Constantine and others These were Greek soldiers captured by the Mohammedans in the city of Amoria, in Phrygia, in 838. After the city was captured, all residents and ordinary soldiers were beaten, and the generals and officers were sent to Baghdad, where they were forced to convert to Mohammedanism for seven whole years, tortured by imprisonment, hunger and scourging. Finally they were all beheaded and thrown into the Euphrates River in 845. Celebration of the Czestochowa Icon of Our Lady According to legend, this icon was painted by the Evangelist Luke in Jerusalem. It was brought to Constantinople by Queen Helena when she went to Jerusalem to venerate St. places and found the cross of Christ in 326 on March 6th. This holy icon was brought from Constantinople to Russia by the Russian Grand Duke - the founder of Lvov (Lemberg) Lev, who with great honor conveyed it to his fatherland and placed it in the Belz Castle under the supervision of the Orthodox clergy. Here she shone with many miracles. Subsequently, after the conquest of southwestern Russia by Polish arms, this miraculous icon went to the then ruler of the Kingdom of Poland, Vladislav, Prince of Opolsky. Tatars, Having invaded Russia, they besieged Belz Castle. Vladislav ordered this shrine to be taken out of the church and placed on the city wall. The Tatars who shot at the castle also hit the miraculous image with an arrow. Blood flowed from the ulcer and is still visible on the icon. At the same time, a certain harmful darkness descended on them, from which the Tatars began to die in extraordinary numbers. This prompted them to abandon the siege of the castle and retire to their own areas. After the departure of the Tatars, Vladislav, in a sleepy vision, heard a voice commanding him to transfer the miraculous image from the castle to Jasna Gora Czestochowa. On Yasnaya Gora (otherwise called the Mountain of Vision), which received its name from the miracles of the Mother of God, having built a monastery, Vladislav in 1352 transferred this miraculous icon to it, giving it to the Western monks of the Order of Pauline for safekeeping. A few years later, this monastery was attacked by the Hussites, who, having deprived it of all its treasures, wanted to steal this image of the Mother of God. He had already been taken out of the church and placed in a cart prepared for him; but an invisible force held the horses, so that they could not move. This circumstance infuriated the Hussites, and one of them, grabbing the image of the Mother of God, threw it to the ground in a rage, the other struck him in the face with a sword. But the daring at the same time experienced the punishment of God. In 1813, after the capture of the Czestochowa fortress by Russian troops, the abbot and brethren of the Lavra presented a copy of the Czestochowa icon to General Saken. Emperor Alexander I decorated this list with a rich robe with precious stones and placed it in the Kazan St. Petersburg Cathedral, in the southern side aisle, where an unquenchable lamp burns in front of it. St. Reverend Martyr. Konon and his son Konon The pious resident of Iconium, Konon, having lost his wife, devoted himself to raising his orphaned son and, when he was seven years old, settled with him in a neighboring monastery, where Christians who dedicated themselves to God lived. With his pious life, Konon was honored with help from above - to enlighten the dark pagans with the Christian faith. Having learned about this influence of Conon on the people, the regional commander Domitian deliberately came to Iconium to prevent the spread of Christian teaching. Konon was called to trial and, for resisting offering sacrifices to idols, was tortured. Having learned that Konon had a son, a young man of 17 years old, Domitian hoped to persuade him to renounce the Christian faith, but having met in the young Konon (who was already a deacon) an unshakably courageous confessor of the truth of Christ, he ordered, after many cruel torments, to cut off the heads of both father and son. - “We thank You, Lord, for making us worthy to suffer for Your name!” - the martyrs exclaimed, joyfully accepting the death sentence, - “we pray to You, give peace to Your Church, overthrow the power of idols, strengthen and multiply those who believe in You, accept us to Yourself and give rest to our souls!” . This was during the reign of Aurelian, in 275. The city of Acerra in Italy (in Campania) boasts of possessing the relics of these martyrs, which were transferred here unknown when. The story of their suffering is taken from the proconsular acts. Transfer of the relics of St. much Abraham of Bulgaria His memory is April 1st. – Russian merchants from Murom, who witnessed the martyrdom of St. Abraham, buried his body in Bolgari (1229), and in 1230 the relics of the saint were transferred to Vladimir and placed in the Princess Monastery (which is now the Dormition maiden monastery). Grand Duke Georgy Vsevolodovich greeted the holy relics with honor - with the clergy and with the entire city, and until 1712 they rested in the chapel of the Mother of God in a stone coffin, in the same year, on May 11, they were transferred to a wooden shrine and transferred to the main Church of the Assumption. In 1805, the relics of the martyr were transferred from a wooden shrine to a new silver one. It is remarkable that Saint Abraham is considered the patron saint of children, and parents who have sick children bring them to the shrine of St. martyr and pray for their recovery. “Rejoice, healing of sick children!” it is said in the akathist to Saint Abraham (ikos 6), and in the prayer to him: “We believe, O glorious Wonderworker, that you, by the power of the Almighty Jesus Christ through your holy relics... mercifully helped weak babies!” Memory of blessed Job, in the schema of Jesus “The death of His saints is honorable before the Lord!” (Ps. 115:6). - In old age, blessed Job died quietly and peacefully, saying before his death, as if already penetrating with his spiritual gaze the bliss that awaited him in the higher world: “Blessed is the God of our fathers! If so, then I am not afraid, but I depart from the world in joy!” In this death is a reflection of the entire life of the blessed one. Both were majestically simple in their height. In the world - priest John, he was not only at the height of his calling, but also fulfilled the monastic prayer rule and, while still in the world, was already like a monk. He fasted strictly, retired to his room, where he often prayed on his knees all night until dawn, usually crying out with tears: have mercy on me, Lord! have mercy on me, Lord! etc. – His private relationships with people were absolutely exceptional. He lovingly received everyone who came to him and talked with everyone with full participation, applying his conversation to the position, rank and condition of everyone. He himself loved to visit his friends and acquaintances, sometimes unexpectedly appearing somewhere in a house - uninvited - and always with some beneficent purpose. Therefore, everyone joyfully accepted him and listened to his teachings. If he accidentally offended someone, he immediately asked for forgiveness from the offended person. Sometimes Fr. came. John went to the house of ordinary people as a private person, in the clothes of a layman, and, talking in this way with the poor, he more easily learned about their domestic needs and provided them with all possible help, while paying the main attention to their thoughts and feelings, which he did not leave without consolation and guidance. “His house was always open to the poor; Having seated them to a meal, he himself sat among them and, like a good father, talked joyfully with them and, dismissing them, endowed them with what he could. Whether anyone was exposed to ruin from a fire, from a crop failure, everyone knew that the compassionate Fr. John will find the help they need. – Enjoying respect from high-ranking officials, he successfully interceded with them on behalf of the offended and innocently suffering. The good shepherd was burdened by human glory, but his virtuous life could not hide from it. Tsar Peter I, having heard about him, called him for priestly service in the court church and wished to have him as his confessor and a member of the reigning house. Using his influence at court, Fr. John rejoiced that this provided him with even more means to be useful to those in need and an intercessor for the oppressed. “He especially had compassion for those imprisoned for crimes and debts. He visited them with participation and, at the same time examining their conscience, exerted a beneficial influence on criminals, and helped those held for debt to pay off the debt. But the more luminous the activity of the true Christian shepherd became, the more human slander sought to darken it. Even his visits to dungeons were subject to gossip, and then he decided to stop visiting dungeons for a while, without however stopping his benevolence through trusted persons. In general, apart from church services, Fr. John decided not to leave the house and devote the rest of his days to the thought of God. Those who needed his help or advice turned to him in writing, and he did not hesitate to respond to any appeal. Thus, among constant, God-pleasing labors, Righteous John reached old age. Then, unexpectedly, the hour of testing came for him. In 1701, following a false denunciation in relations with the famous fanatic Grigory Talitsky, the royal confessor was exiled to the Solovetsky Monastery, where he was tonsured on April 3 with the name of Job and given obedience to an experienced elder... After many trials, Elder Job was released from obedience and retired into silence in his cell; here he constantly prayed the Jesus Prayer, read St. Gospels, Apostles, Psalms, lives of Saints Savvaty and Zosima and handicrafts. He took little food from the brotherly meal, and did not prepare anything special for himself. Again the glory of his holy life reached Peter the Great and, having confirmed the slander against him, the king again wanted to bring him closer to himself, but Job asked to be allowed to stay in the monastery. After this, wanting even greater silence, he moved to live in the Anzersky monastery. Here, with new zeal, he devoted himself to monastic exploits and soon, after the death of the Anzersky builder, he was appointed rector of this monastery. In his new field of service, Hieromonk Job multiplied his labors and exploits. Under him, the brotherhood began to multiply and soon reached the number of 30. All in general, and especially the new monks, Fr. Job taught humble obedience to God and superiors, considering obedience to be the first virtue, without which there can be no salvation; he also made sure that they were constantly at work; He visited the sick, served them himself, washing and bandaging their wounds with his own hands, and often healed their ailments with his prayer. In 1710, for his strict ascetic life, he was awarded tonsure into the schema with the name of Jesus, the Israeli leader. Hieroschemamonk Jesus often retired to deserted places for the sake of silence, and also often went to desert dwellers for spiritual conversation. One day, while staying in a cell provided to him by a desert dweller, Paisius, who lived near the mountain, he called. Golgotha, he read psalms and prayed for a long time at night. When, tired, he dozed off, he saw in a dream - among the extraordinary light that illuminated the cell, the Mother of God and the Monk Eleazar of Anzer; The Mother of God told him that on Mount Golgotha ​​the Church of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ would be built, and a monastery would be established, and monks would gather to glorify the name of God... Feeling the joy of this dream, accepting it as a blessing from God, Elder Job from that moment undertook the establishment of a new monastery on Calvary Mountain. He moved to live on Mount Golgotha ​​and soon, with the help of his disciples, founded the Golgotha-Crucified Monastery on Anzersky Island. Soon the brethren gathered here up to 20 people; each of them had to arrange a cell for himself; the hermits lived in secluded places under the leadership of the schema-monk Jesus and came to the monastery every Sunday to attend the Divine service and to confess to the elder. All these ascetics lived here in spiritual exploits and in physical labor. Elder Jesus himself, as an example to others, often chopped wood, carried water up the mountain for the cook, and dissolved dough for bread in the bakery. – In his cell, in his free time, he was constantly engaged in needlework; He used the money earned from his work for the church, for the needs of the brethren and for alms. So the years passed, and the old man began to feel the approach of death. He then concentrated all his concern on preparing for the afterlife; His humble soul aroused itself to repentance: “My soul, my soul, arise! write off what? the end is approaching, and the imash will be embarrassed”... All his life, he who pleased God trembled, as if he had not pleased... Meanwhile, the Lord, who had previously honored him with special revelations, did not now hide from him the time of his death. Long before his death, he told the brethren that his death would follow on Sunday before sunrise. And so it came true. And in his dying moments, he was completely filled with extraordinary joy, which proved that he was ready to move into eternity... And eternity came for him. Having lived on earth like an angel, he fearlessly departed to continue his angelic life in the face of the One who lives in the unapproachable light...