Житие святого отца нашего Трифиллия, епископа Левкусийского

A native of Constantinople, Saint Triphyllius received his external education in Berita in 3881, and his teacher of piety was Saint Spyridon, Bishop of Trimifuntus. Saint Triphyllius was pre-elected and pre-ordained by the Lord Himself to be a bishop: not yet invested with this great title, he was revealed in a vision to King Constantius as already a bishop, as the life of Saint Spyridon reports as follows. After the death of Constantine the Great, power over the Greco-Roman state passed to his sons, and, after the partition, the eldest of them, named Constantius 3882, received control of the East. One day he had to visit Antioch 3883, and here he suddenly fell so seriously ill that the disease did not respond to the efforts of the doctors. Then, abandoning hope for the latter, the sick king turned with a prayer to God, who heals bodies and souls: he fervently asked Him for healing, and in a dream he sees an Angel who shows him a whole host of saints, and among them two who stood out from the ranks of the others, as if as their leaders and superiors: at the same time, the Angel told the king that they alone could give him deliverance from the disease. Having awakened and pondered the vision, the king did not recognize who exactly the bishops who appeared to him were: and indeed, how could he recognize those whose names and places of birth were unknown to him? Especially if we take into account that one of those shown to him in the episcopal rank was not yet a bishop and was only about to become one. The king was perplexed for a long time and finally came to such a good decision: having gathered bishops from all the surrounding cities, he tried to find among them the two who were shown to him in the vision and did not find them. Then the king called many bishops from more distant countries, but even among them the people he needed were not found. After this, he sent a decree to all regions of his empire, ordering the bishops who inhabited it to gather to him. Such a command, or better to say the king’s request, came to the Cyprus borders in 3884 to Spyridon of Trimifunt, to whom God revealed everything that happened to the king. Having gathered, Saint Spyridon went to the king, taking with him his disciple Triphyllius, with whom he was revealed to the king; in the vision, Saint Triphyllius - as already noted - was not yet a bishop. Having reached Antioch, the travelers went to the king. Saint Spyridon was poorly dressed, had a date staff in his hands, and on his head the simplest, almost beggarly, miter; On his chest hung an earthen vessel, in which, according to the custom of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, he carried oil from the Holy Cross. Therefore, when he entered the king’s chambers, one of the palace servants, mistaking the holy bishop for an ordinary beggar, not only laughed at him, not allowing him to go further, but even hit him on the cheek. Being gentle, Saint Spyridon, fulfilling the command of the Lord, offered the other cheek to the one who struck him. The latter, realizing that a bishop was standing before him, understood his sin and humbly asked for forgiveness, which he received. Saint Spyridon had just entered the king when he recognized him, remembering a vision that had happened to him: rising from his place, the king approached and bowed to the servant of God and asked the bishop with tears to pray to the Lord for healing from his illness. The saint of God touched the king's head, and the latter immediately became healthy, rejoicing in his healing, granted by the Lord through the prayers of the saint. The king showed great respect to the saint and spent that whole day with him in joy, treating his good doctor. Saint Triphyllius greatly marveled at the glory of the king - the beauty of the chambers, the majestic appearance of the seated king, before whom the nobles stood, the magnificent clothes of the servants and other rich and extraordinary everyday life of the palace. Noticing this, Saint Spyridon said to his disciple: “Why are you surprised, brother? Does royal pride and glory make the king righteous more than other Christians? Doesn't the king die the same as the last beggar and, like him, consign himself to the earth? Will he not, along with everyone else, appear before the impartial and terrible Judge? What is it that you consider temporary as eternal and insignificant, making it an object of wonder, while you should strive for the immaterial and eternal and love only the unshakable heavenly glory.” Then, after a little time, Saint Triphyllius was installed as bishop of the city of Leukusia on the island of Cyprus, but even as a bishop, he did not interrupt communication with his father and teacher, Saint Spyridon: Saint Triphyllius, for the sake of his spiritual benefit, often visited him, as can be seen from the following. One day Saint Spyridon walked from Trimifunt to the city of Kirina, and the holy Bishop Triphyllius accompanied him. When they, passing through Mount Pentidactyl, came to a place called Parimna - with the beauty of nature, this place abounded in gardens and vineyards - Saint Triphyllius, delighted with the nature that surrounded him, wanted to be the owner of some vineyard in Parimna, he pondered for a long time in his soul how to fulfill his desire. This was not hidden from the perspicacious eyes of Saint Spyridon: penetrating in spirit the thoughts of his student, he said: “Why, Triphyllius, do you constantly think about vain objects, wanting to get fields and vineyards, which in reality have no value and deceive human hearts with illusory value? We have an inalienable property in heaven - a church not made with hands; and seek it, in the meantime, enjoy in the thought of God the heavenly blessings that do not pass from one to another, but remain forever with the one who becomes their owner.” This kind of instruction brought great benefit to the soul of Saint Trifillius, so that later in his life he became, like the Apostle Paul, a chosen vessel of Christ, filled with innumerable Divine gifts. Greek historians, Nikephoros 3885 and Sozomen 3886, report, in addition, the following about both Saint Triphyllia and Saint Spyridon. Once, due to the needs of the church, a meeting of all the bishops of the island took place in Cyprus: Saint Spyridon and Saint Triphyllius were present at this meeting - a knowledgeable and bookish man, for in his youth he studied a lot in Berita: therefore, the fathers of the cathedral asked Saint Triphyllius to deliver a teaching to the people in the church. During the sermon, he had to cite the words of Christ addressed to the paralytic and recorded by the holy Evangelist Mark: “Arise, take up your bed” (Mark 2:11), and Saint Triphyllius changed the literal saying of the Gospel, calling the bed a bed: “Arise and take up your bed.” Saint Spyridon, unable to bear the change in Christ’s words, said to Trifillius: “Are you really better than the One who said “the bed” that you are ashamed of His word?” Following this, he left the church openly in front of everyone. And there was nothing reprehensible in this act of Saint Spyridon: being an unlearned man, with his denunciation he shamed Triphyllius, who was proud of his eloquence - he taught him humility and meekness. Saint Trifillius pleased God with his life, as evidenced by the liturgical hymns composed in his honor by the Church: they affirm that Saint Trifillius had a merciful soul, a pure thought, a kind heart and right faith, unfeigned love, outstanding feats of virginity, grace-filled and repentant tears and fasting that surprised the disembodied - that, bypassing the surrounding countries, he With the teachings of Christ, like the rays of the sun, he enlightened those darkened by sins. Having laid down his flock in love and truth, he departed from here, so that there, in heaven, in the host of hierarchs, he might stand before Christ, our Savior, to Him be glory forever. Amen 3887. By the grace of life, the purity of virginity, the reception of Triphyllie, the first throne appeared to Leukusia, and you appeared to them as a herald, and as a teacher of the wisdom of God. For this reason we joyfully cry out to you: Rejoice, adornment of the saints. Berit in ancient times was a Phoenician harbor, then passed into the hands of the Egyptians, and was taken from the Ptolemies by Antiochus III; in 140 BC it was destroyed by the Syrian Diotos Tryphon, but under the Roman emperor Augustus the city was restored again. Caesar Claudius beautified the city enormously, and Emperor Theodosius II made it a metropolis. Under subsequent emperors, Berit was famous for his school of rhetoric, politics, and mainly law. Now Berit is Beirut, the main city of the Turkish-Asian vilayet (government general) of Syria. Constantius, the son of Constantine the Great, after the death of his father, received control of the East, Asia and Egypt; in 351, having defeated the murderer of his brother Constance, Magnetius, he united the entire Roman Empire under his rule. He destroyed pagan temples or gave them to Christians for conversion to the church; Several times he issued a law, on pain of death, prohibiting pagan worship. But with his sympathy for the heresy of Arius, Constantius greatly increased the church strife of that time: he persecuted Orthodox bishops, demoted them from their cathedras and even imprisoned them; under him, the Arians occupied the highest places in the state. Constantius died in 361 during a campaign against his cousin Julian, who had been proclaimed emperor by the troops in Gaul, where he himself appointed him commander-in-chief. Gregory of Nazianzus reports that before his death, Constantius repented of his persecution of the Orthodox. Antioch, the oldest city in Syria, lies on the Orontes River between the mountain ranges of Lebanon and Taurus; founded 300 years BC. The island of Cyprus lies at the northeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of ancient Phenicia. Christianity was planted here by the holy Apostle Paul on his first evangelistic journey. Nikephoros Callistos, monk of the St. Sophia Monastery, died around 1350. Sozomen, church historian of the 5th century. While Bishop of Leukusia, Saint Triphyllius built a monastery at his mother’s expense; died a very old man around 370. In the Acts of the Local Council of Sardicia (347) there is his signature. Blessed Jerome, the father of the Western Church (d. 420), speaks of Saint Triphyllius: “Triphyllius, Bishop of Cyprus, the most eloquent in his age and the most glorious under Constantius. I read his interpretations of the Song of Songs, they say he composed many other things that have not come down to us.” St. Trifillius described the life of his teacher, St. Spyridon of Trimifuntsky. At the beginning of the 12th century, the relics of Saint Trifillius were seen on Fr. Cyprus, our Russian abbot Daniel, who traveled to holy places. You might be interested in: