Житие святого отца нашего Германа архиепископа Константинопольского

Saint Herman was born in the city of Constantinople. His father Justin, a venerable patrician, was one of the leading senators, surpassing others in glory and honor; out of envy, Constantine Pogonatus took his life 3146 when he ascended the Greek throne. After the murder of this noble senator, Constantine ordered his son, then still a youth, Blessed Herman, to be castrated and given to the church clergy. He did this so that Herman, having matured and achieved a well-known rank and senatorial title in the world, could not take any revenge on the house of Pogonat for the murder of his father. Enrolled in this way in the spiritual rank, blessed Herman lived like an Angel of God: far from addiction to the world and worldly vanity, he turned his whole mind to God, always having the praise of the Lord on his lips, diligently studying Divine books day and night. From here he learned the depth of wisdom and drew the vital water of inspired teachings, with which he watered the Church of Christ in the rank of shepherd and teacher. When Saint Germanus reached adulthood, then, as a man shining like a lamp with his virtuous life, he was first ordained bishop of the city of Cyzicus 3147. Here he fought the Monothelite heresy 3148 together with His Holiness Patriarch Cyrus 3149, with whom he was expelled by the unfaithful king Philip 3150. After the death of the persecutor, who soon died ingloriously and after the death of Patriarch Cyrus, who died in exile, after the deposition of the pseudo-patriarch, the heretic John, during the reign of Artemy, named Anastasius the Second, to the joy of the people, Saint Herman was elevated to the Constantinople throne. He was a worthy man, moreover, filled with God's grace, which was revealed in the fact that he foresaw the future and prophetically predicted about it. So, when he solemnly entered the Church of St. Sophia for the first time of his ministry, one pregnant woman named Anna approached him, surrounded by people who wanted to see the newly elected patriarch, and said: - Bless, father, what was conceived in my womb. The Patriarch looked at her and, foreseeing the future with his inner eyes, said: – May the Lord bless you with the prayers of the holy protomartyr. With these words, he predicted that a male child would be born, the same name as the holy first martyr Stephen. At the same time, he confirmed his prophecy miraculously. When Herman spoke, a fiery flame emanated from his mouth along with his words, which the woman saw, which she subsequently assured everyone with an oath, which prompted her to firmly believe in the prophecy of the saint. And indeed, Anna gave birth to a male child, whom she named Stefan according to the prophecy of His Holiness Patriarch Herman. This Stefan, having matured, put on the monastic image and piously labored on Mount Auxentius, and subsequently appeared as a confessor for the name of Christ, suffering as a martyr for the holy icons from the evil king Constantine Copronymus 3151. About this Copronymus, the son of the Greek emperor Leo the Isaurian 3152, there was also a prophecy of Saint Herman that he would be a fierce persecutor and tormentor of the faithful. During his baptism, which was performed by His Holiness Patriarch Herman, Constantine desecrated the holy font with natural pus. Then Saint Herman said about the person being baptized: – This child, when he matures, will bring great evil to Christians and the entire Church: he will desecrate the church’s shrine with heresy and shed a lot of blood of the faithful servants of Christ. Constantine was subsequently nicknamed Copronymus, which means “dung” 3153. The prophecy of Saint Herman came true exactly: Copronymus tortured many for worshiping honest icons, among whom was the aforementioned Stephen. The iconoclastic heresy began during the reign of Leo the Isaurian, father of Copronymus. Leo the Isaurian, mired in this heresy, tried to strengthen and spread it as much as possible among his people. He sent out an evil command to all the provinces of his state that holy icons should be thrown out of churches everywhere, trampled underfoot and burned, for he considered holy icons to be idols, and those who worshiped them to be idolaters. The holy Patriarch Herman courageously resisted the heretic king. He repeatedly sent prudent and honest men from the clergy to the king, and he himself came and persuaded him to abandon his evil intent; but the exhortations of Saint Herman had no success. One day the patriarch said to the king: “I heard the prophecy of one holy man that someday there will be a persecution of holy icons from evil believers, but let it not happen during your reign. “At what time and in whose reign will it come,” the emperor asked carefully. “The king, named Conon,” said Saint Herman, “will initiate persecution against the holy icons.” “My name is Konon,” answered Leo the Isaurian. - It was given to me at baptism, Leo - but I was nicknamed later. Therefore, the prophecy must be fully fulfilled during the days of my reign.” “No, sir,” Saint Herman objected to the king, “let this not happen, let such evil not be committed during your reign, for whoever wants to produce this evil is the Antichrist, the enemy of the Divine Incarnation.” Remember at the same time, king, that before ascending the royal throne you swore an oath to observe the immaculately holy faith, without destroying anything from the traditions of the holy Apostles and God-inspired fathers and without introducing anything new that is contrary to the Christian faith. The Tsar, hearing such words from the Holy Patriarch, either felt shame or became enraged, trying to find such an accusation against the Patriarch in order to remove him from the throne not as a confessor of the truth, but as a seditious person. He found an accomplice to his evil intention in the person of one presbyter Anastasius, a student of Herman. The tsar promised this Anastasius, similar in character to Judas, the patriarchal throne after the expulsion of Herman, and he, in turn, promised to help the tsar in establishing heresy and destroying holy icons. Therefore, Anastasius became an ardent enemy of Saint Herman, trying, even before the expulsion of Saint Herman, to seize the patriarchal throne. Saint Herman, foreseeing in spirit his evil intention and his future fate, predicted Anastasius about his fate under the following circumstances. One day Patriarch Herman entered the royal chamber. Anastasy, who was proudly following him, stepped on the hem of his robe from behind. “Don’t rush,” Herman then said to Anastasia, “the time will come when you, surrounded by a crowd of people, will be led to Dippin with shouts” 3154. However, at that time, neither Anastasius nor the others who heard paid attention to these words of Saint Herman and remembered later, when what was said came true, which will be discussed below. Saint Herman, as a good warrior of Christ, fearlessly and courageously fought against heretics with the sword of the word of God. He sent one of the best church ministers to the king with these words: “It is not proper for you, king, to rise up in an unruly manner before God, your Creator, who gave you life and kingship, and you do not have the right, as they say, to move the motionless; It is not proper for you to transgress the limits established in ancient times by the holy fathers. After all, in human form, received by God as the Word from the Most Pure and Most Holy Virgin, the service of demons was destroyed and idolatry was destroyed. The depiction with paints on the board of the likeness of the human image of Christ and the ineffable One who gave birth to Him, as well as the image of the holy saints of God, were given to us to venerate already 725 years ago, when our Lord appeared on earth in the form of a man. After the Ascension of the Lord, the wife, who was healed from bleeding by touching the hem of her robe (Mark 5:25–34), made an image of the Savior in gratitude for this. But even before this, the Lord Himself depicted His Divine Face on an ubrus (shawl) and sent it to Edes to Abgar. The Holy Evangelist Luke painted the image of the Most Pure Virgin Mary. Therefore, the Divine Councils, which took place at different times and in different places, commanded not to destroy, but to venerate holy icons. So, know the king, if you help establish this iconoclastic dogma, I will be the first to go against it. I am ready to shed blood for the image of my Christ, Who shed His blood to renew the fallen image of my soul. It is clear that the dishonor inflicted on the image of Christ also applies to the Prototype, that is, to Christ Himself, as well as the honor offered before the image. Therefore, it is fitting for us, the faithful servants of Christ, to die for the veneration of our Lord. At another time, Saint Herman himself spoke to the king like this: - If I am Jonah, throw me into the sea, for without an Ecumenical Council I have no right to legitimize anything new regarding religious doctrine. When the holy patriarch saw that he could do nothing to turn the king away from heresy, then he placed his omophorion in the Divine altar, on the holy throne, and left his rank. The king, greatly angry with Saint Herman for his daring words, sent armed soldiers as if to battle, who subjected the saint to beatings and dishonorably expelled him from the patriarchal house. Saint Herman then retired to a monastery, where he spent the remaining days of his life among the monks in silence, and rested in peace in the Lord. He was patriarch for 14 years and 6 months 3155. After the expulsion of His Holiness Patriarch Herman, in his place the king elevated the above-mentioned Bishop Anastasius 3156, who, together with the king, threw out holy icons from churches and affirmed the iconoclastic heresy. The prophecy of St. Herman concerning him was fulfilled in the following way. When the evil Leo the Isaurian died, his son Constantine Copronymus took over his kingdom, who was overthrown from the throne by Artavasdes, Leo's son-in-law. Patriarch Anastasius helped Artavasd in this, and he also crowned Artavasd and his son Nicephorus to the kingdom. After 3 years, Copronymus gathered a large army and took Constantinople. Constantine blinded his son-in-law Artavasd and his sons, his nephews, and killed many nobles who were adherents of Artavasd. Constantine ordered Patriarch Anastasius to be naked and beaten in front of all the people in a place called “dippin”, and then, having been placed on a donkey with his face backwards, he was led around the city with abuse. Thus the prophecy of Saint Herman was fulfilled, who predicted to Anastasia that he would be led to the Dippin in front of a large crowd of people. The wicked king Copronymus even wanted to depose Anastasius from the patriarchal throne, but not finding anyone else more zealous in desecrating holy icons besides Anastasius, he left the latter on the patriarchal throne, where he remained like an abomination of desolation in a holy place (Matt. 24:15) for 24 years. At the end of his life, he suffered from a disease called “cordaspos”, so that his godless lips, blaspheming holy icons and his teacher, were for him a nasty passage through which natural pus emanated. Anastasy died from this disease. So, Anastasius died a terrible death, and Saint Herman, together with the holy hierarchs, inherited a blessed life in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Constantine Pogonatus reigned from 668 to 686. Cyzicus is a city in the Asia Minor region of Phrygia. Monothelitism or the one-will heresy arose at the beginning of the 7th century under the influence of the desire of the Byzantine rulers to reconcile with Christianity the widespread Monophysite heresy, which taught about one Divine nature in the Lord Jesus Christ, since the discord between the Orthodox and Monophysites was not only a church disaster, but also a state disaster. Monophysite bishops, mainly Cyrus, bishop of Phasis in Colchis, gave the emperor Heraclius (611 - 641) the idea that a union between them and the Orthodox could take place if the Orthodox Church recognized in Christ Jesus a single will, a single action. In 633, through the efforts of the emperor and Cyrus, appointed Patriarch of Alexandria, it was possible to arrange unity between the Egyptian Monothelites and the Orthodox; Almost all eastern and Greek bishops, with Patriarch Sergius of Constantinople at their head, joined this unity. The beloved disciple of the Alexandrian Patriarch John the Merciful, the monk Sophronius, openly opposed such an illegal agreement, proving that the doctrine of one-will is also Monophysitism or the recognition in Christ Jesus of only one (Divine) nature, for if there is one nature, then, naturally, there is one will. Having become Patriarch of Jerusalem in 634, he defended Orthodoxy with even greater zeal: he convened a council in Jerusalem, at which he condemned monothelitism. Wanting to put an end to the strife, Emperor Heraclius in 638 issued, compiled by Patriarch Sergius, a “statement of faith” (ektesis), which contained the Orthodox teaching about two natures in Christ Jesus and forbade talking about His will, although at the same time it was added that the Orthodox faith requires recognition of one will. After the publication of the “statement of faith,” the Constantinople monk Maximus the Confessor (commemorated on January 21, who successfully acted against the Monothelites in northern Africa and Rome) became an ardent defender of Orthodoxy. The successor of Heraclius, Constance II, wishing to destroy the ektesis that had further aroused discord, in 648 issued a “typos” - a model of faith, where it was forbidden to talk about either one or two wills, forcing one to believe according to the former five Ecumenical Councils. But the "tipos" did not end the controversy. Finally, Emperor Constantine Pogonatus convened the sixth (Trullian) Ecumenical Council in Constantinople, at which monothelitism was condemned as a heresy and it was determined that in Christ Jesus one must confess two actions, two wills, and the human one submits in everything to the will of the Divine, without being destroyed through this. – The remains of the Monothelites have survived to this day in the form of the Maronites. They first took refuge (from 680) on the Lebanese mountains; During the Crusades (1182), the teaching of the Monothelites penetrated into the West, into Europe, but thanks to the activities of the popes it did not find many followers, although it existed until 1736, when the Jewish Monothelites joined the Catholic Church. In the East in Syria it still exists. St. Cyrus occupied the patriarchal throne in Constantinople from 705 to 711; mind. in 714 in exile. Philip Bardin, Byzantine emperor (711–715). Constantine Copronymus reigned from 741 to 776. Leo the Isaurian reigned from 716 to 741. Kopronym from the Greek “kopros” - manure, feces. Dippin in Constantinople was the name of a popular place where various spectacles were usually held. St. Herman died in 740, at the age of 96, and was buried in the Chora Monastery, on the northern side of Constantinople. St. Herman is known as a church writer; his writings are famous throughout the entire universe; 7 Sun testifies to him. sob., who included it in the diptychs of saints. Essay by St. Herman are diverse in their composition. After him there remained: an explanation of the most difficult passages of St. Scriptures, an essay on righteous reward beyond the grave; at 7 Sun. personal His three epistles on the veneration of icons were read, and “quite a lot” remained from him, as the ancient biography of St. Herman, - edifying words for the pious,” - words on the Entry into the Church of the Mother of God, on Her Dormition, on the Annunciation, on the Renewal of the Church and the position of the belt of the Most Holy Theotokos. The work on heresies since the time of the Apostles and on church councils during the reign of Leo the Iconoclast is important for its wealth of historical information. St. left a lot. Herman of works related to Divine services; Of these, the explanation of the liturgy is especially important; other works of this kind are hymns composed by the patriarch to praise the saints and glorify the wonderful works of grace. Anastasius occupied the patriarchal throne from 730 to 753. 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