Память преподобного Григория Печерского

Just as Neokesarea is proud of Saint Gregory the Wonderworker, so the great holy Lavra of the Pechersk is called the venerable monk named after this saint. When God showed His greatness in His saints, Anthony and Theodosius, who became famous for various miracles, at the same time He chose the Monk Gregory for the work of miracles, whom he called to His holy Lavra. So, this blessed one, at a time when the Monk Anthony was spending a solitary life in a cave, came to the Monk Theodosius, who was in charge of the monastery, and, having accepted the monastic image from him, was confirmed in non-covetousness, purity, humility, obedience and other virtues, and mainly practiced prayer. Having accomplished many feats in a short time, he was awarded the gift of miracles and, first of all, received from God power over demons, who, seeing the saint from afar, exclaimed: - Oh Gregory! You will drive us out with your prayer. Gregory, indeed, had the custom of reading incantatory prayers after every service. The defeated enemy, being driven out from everywhere, began, however, to plot against the saint, wanting to put an obstacle to his exploits in virtue. Not having the strength to do this himself, he allowed evil people to rob the saint, who, however, had no property except books containing prayers and chants. So, one night thieves came to Gregory’s cell and, hiding, waited for the time when the elder would go to church at matins in order to take all his property. The blessed one found out about their arrival because he did not sleep whole nights, praying to God in the middle of his cell. He began to pray for them with these words: - God! Send sleep to Your servants, who have become weary in vain, pleasing the enemy. God heard the elder’s prayer, and the thieves slept for five days and five nights, until the blessed one, in the presence of many brothers, woke them up, addressing them with these words: - How long will you watch in vain, wanting to rob me? Go home quickly! They, having woken up, could not move from their place, because they had lost their strength, having not eaten anything for such a long time. Then the blessed one offered them something to eat and, having fed them, sent them away. Having learned about this, the ruler of the city ordered these people to be punished, but Gregory, saddened that because of him they were given over to be tortured, went to the ruler, presented him with several of his books and freed the thieves. He sold the other books and distributed the money he received to the poor, saying: - Lest anyone else get into trouble by being tempted by the desire to rob me! So, let the commandment of the Lord be fulfilled, who said: “Sell your possessions and give alms. Prepare for yourselves sheaths that do not wear out, a never-failing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and where no moth destroys” (Luke 12:33). Those thieves, because of the miracle that happened over them, returned to their previous affairs, but repented and, coming to the same Pechersk monastery, began to work for the brethren. But the enemy did not abandon his evil intentions. Since the Monk Gregory had his own small garden, where he sowed vegetables and planted fruit trees, the enemy once taught other thieves to break into this garden and collect vegetables in their bags. But when they took on the sacks and wanted to leave, they could not do so and stood in one place for two whole days and two nights, under the weight of the sacks. Then they started yelling: - Holy Father Gregory! Let us go; we will repent of our sin and will not do this again. Hearing their screams, the monks appeared and grabbed them, but they could not bring them from that place. Then they asked the thieves: “We’ve been standing here for two days and two nights.” “But we passed here so many times and, however, did not notice you.” “And we, if we saw you walking past us, would begin with tears to ask you for intercession with the elder; Only when we were completely exhausted did we start screaming. Beg the holy wonderworker for us to let us go. Gregory came at this time and told them: - Since you spent your whole life in idleness, stealing other people’s property, and you yourself did not want to work, then from now on you will stand the rest of the days of your life in this very place. They tearfully begged the elder to let them go and promised not to steal anymore. The elder took pity on them and said: “I will let you go if you promise to work and feed others with the labor of your hands.” When the thieves swore that they would not disobey him, Gregory told them: - Blessed be God, who strengthens you! From now on, you will work for the holy brethren and from your labors provide them with what they need. After these words, he released them. The thieves, in order to atone for the evil they committed in that small garden, began to work diligently in the gardens of the Pechersk Monastery and died their days doing this work. The cunning tempter, however, tried for the third time to harm the saint with such a cunning trick. One day, three petitioners appeared to Gregory, who disguised themselves as needing help, wanting to test the saint. Two of them, pointing to the third, told the following lies: - Father! This friend of ours is condemned to death. We ask you to give him something so that he can pay a ransom for himself and get rid of death. The blessed one, seeing that this invention would turn out to be true, shed tears of grief and said: “Woe to this man, for the day of his destruction has come!” “If you, father, give me something, he won’t die.” They said this, wanting to lure something out of him and divide it among themselves. The miracle worker, being perspicacious, said: - Even if I give, he will still die! However, tell me: what kind of death should he die? “He will be hanged on a tree,” answered the deceivers. “You said the truth,” the seer remarked to this, “tomorrow this will happen.” With these words, he went down into the cave, where he hid from prying eyes and worldly vanity and where he usually performed his prayers. Having taken out the books that remained with him from there, he gave them to those who came and said: - Take this, and if you don’t need it, return it to me. They took the books and left and began to laugh, saying: “We’ll sell this and split what we get.” Seeing the fruit trees that belonged to the saint, they said: “This night we will come here again and pick these fruits.” When night fell, the three thieves came again; At this time, Gregory was praying in his cave, and they blocked the door to the cave where the elder was praying from the outside. One of them, who was said to be condemned to hang, climbed a tree and began to pick apples. At this time, the branch he was holding on to broke off, and he fell, and the other two thieves guarding him ran away in fear. The fallen man was hanging on another branch at that time, and in such a way that he soon suffocated, since there was no one to free him. Gregory, being locked up, could not be with the brethren in the church at Matins; Therefore, the brethren, leaving the church, went to see why the saint, contrary to his custom, did not come to Matins. Then they saw a dead man hanging on a tree and were horrified. They immediately found Gregory locked in a cave, who, coming out of the cave, ordered to take down the hanging man. Then, seeing his accomplices, who came along with others and looked at the dead man, he said to them: – See how your vile lie has become the truth, for “God is not mocked” (Gal. 6:7). If you had not locked me up, I would have come and helped him, but since the enemy taught you to keep “vain and false things,” that is why you “forsaken your Merciful.” 317 The impudent scoffers, seeing that the blessed one’s words had come true, fell at his feet, begging for forgiveness. Gregory sentenced them to work at the Pechersk Monastery, so that from that time on they would eat their own bread, working in the sweat of their brow, and have the opportunity to feed their own and other people with the labor of their hands. So they ended their lives, working with their children in the Pechersk Monastery for the slaves of the Most Holy Theotokos and the disciples of our venerable fathers Anthony and Theodosius. But it’s time to talk about the saint’s painful death. One day an unclean animal fell into the monastery vessel, and the monk, in order to cleanse it from defilement, went down to the Dnieper to draw water. At this time, Prince Rostislav Vsevolodovich 318 arrived there to pray in the monastery and receive a blessing for the battle against the Polovtsians 319, where he was going with his brother Vladimir Monomakh 320. Rostislav's servants, encouraged by their ancient enemy, began to laugh at the elder and annoy him with indecent speeches. The elder, seeing with his prophetic spirit that they were threatened with death, said: - Oh children! You should ask with tenderness in your soul everyone’s prayers for yourself, but you are doing evil that is disgusting to God. Weep over your destruction and repent of your sins, so that you may have some consolation on the terrible day of the last judgment. For it has already been decided about you in God’s court that you will drown along with your prince. Prince Rostislav, having heard these words of the monk, did not believe them and, believing that he was only threatening and not prophesying, said to him with anger: - Do you foretell death from water for me, when I know how to swim well? No, you yourself will die such a death! And immediately, forgetting the fear of God, he ordered to tie the old man’s hands and feet, put a stone around his neck and throw him into the water. This is how the holy elder was drowned! The brothers searched for him for two days, but could not find him. When later, on the third day, they came to his cell, wanting to take some things left after the saint, they unexpectedly found him dead in his cell with his hands and feet tied and with a stone around his neck. His clothes were still wet, his face was light, and his whole body seemed alive. The brethren marveled at who and how the elder could have been brought here, because the cell was locked, but then, giving praise to God, they carried out those miraculous relics of the saint with honor and placed them in a cave, where they remain incorruptible to this day. Rostislav, not considering what he had committed as a sin, inflamed with rage, did not even want to enter the monastery, contrary to his promise, in order to receive a blessing - and God’s blessing moved away from him. Only Vladimir Monomakh visited the monastery to ask for prayers and blessings. When the Russian princes were at Tripoli 321 and crossed the Stugna River 322, they sent their regiments against the Polovtsians. Their regiments could not resist and fled; Prince Vladimir also fled and crossed safely again across the Stugna River, through the prayers and blessings of the Pechersk saints, and Rostislav with his entire army drowned in the river, and so the saint’s prophecy was fulfilled: “with what measure the evil murderer measured, they will measure it to him” 323. The gentle Gregory the Wonderworker found the source of life and, tasting from the stream of eternal sweetness along the waters “that are above the heavens” (Ps. 149:4), he praises the name of the Lord, to Whom belongs glory and honor, ever and ever. Amen. Irmosy on Vel. Saturday, hymn 6, Wed. (John 2:9). Rostislav Vsevolodovich, son of Vsevolod Yaroslavich and grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, reigned in Pereyaslav, a city located south of Kyiv, on the Alta and Trubezh rivers. Currently, Pereyaslav is a district town in the Poltava province. The Polovtsy are a nomadic people of Turkic origin who lived in the southern Russian steppes from the second half of the 9th century and carried out constant devastating attacks on Rus' before the Tatar invasion. They carried out their attacks quickly and suddenly. To fight the Polovtsians, the Russian princes built border fortifications and undertook campaigns deep into the Polovtsian land. One of these campaigns, which is mentioned here, was undertaken by the Grand Duke of Kyiv Svyatopolk Izyaslavich (from 1093 to 1113) in the first year of his great reign. Vladimir Monomakh was one of the most remarkable Russian princes in the pre-Mongol period. When his father, Vsevolod, died, he, despite the love of the people of Kiev for him, did not take the grand princely throne of Kyiv, but called his cousin Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, to whom he ceded the great reign, as the eldest in the family. At this time he reigned in Chernigov and, moreover, owned the Smolensk principality. After the death of Svyatopolk, he took the Kiev grand-ducal throne, where he reigned until his death (1113–1125). Currently a town in the Kiev province. Stugna is the right tributary of the Dnieper, flowing through Vasilkovsky district, Kyiv province. In the past, this tributary was a fairly significant river. (Matthew 7:2) - there this place reads like this: “For with the judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." You might be interested in: