Житие святого отца нашего Тихона чудотворца, епископа Амафунтского

Saint Tikhon was born on the island of Cyprus in the city of Amafunta 4019 from pious Christian parents. From a very young age, raised by his parents in Christian piety, he was taught by them to read sacred books, for which he was accepted into the church clergy and awarded the position of church reader. For the purity of his life, he was then made a deacon by Saint Memnon, Bishop of Amathunta. When Bishop Memnon died, then, according to the common desire of the Amathuntian Christians, Saint Tikhon was elected in his place and ordained by Saint Epiphanius, Archbishop of Cyprus 4020. At that time, there were still many pagans on the island of Cyprus who adhered to ancient idolatry. Saint Tikhon of Christ took on great work, turning the inhabitants of Amathuntus away from pagan errors and leading them to the knowledge of Christ God; in this great work the Lord assisted him, for, having plucked the great verbal flock from the power of the devil, the saint brought him into the fence of the Orthodox Catholic Church, turning the goats into the sheep of Christ. Saint Tikhon also destroyed the idols around Amafunt, and the churches of these idols, like demonic dwellings, he uprooted and destroyed. Having piously ruled the flock entrusted to him by the Lord, Saint Tikhon died in old age. For his many miracles, which he performed not only during his life, but also after his death, Saint Tikhon was called the “Wonder Worker.” Of the many miracles of Saint Tikhon, only two cases of his miraculous power have survived to this day. The first miracle performed by Saint Tikhon in his adolescence was the following. Saint Tikhon's father, who supported his family by baking and selling bread, sent his son to sell the bread. Saint Tikhon distributed bread to the poor for free. His father, having learned about this, was saddened and, angry with his son, began to scold him for this. The pious youth said to his father: “Why are you sad, father, as if you have lost something?” I lent the loaves to God, and the holy books say: “he who gives to God will receive a hundredfold.” “If you don’t believe what is said there, then let’s go to the granary and there you will see for yourself how God repays the debt to His creditors.” Having said this, he went with his father to the granary, and when they wanted to open the door, they saw that the room, which was empty, was all filled with clean wheat. Seeing such a miracle, the father of Saint Tikhon was greatly amazed and, falling on his knees, worshiped God, giving Him thanks; from that time on, he stopped being angry with his son and did not prevent him from distributing bread to the poor as much as he wanted. Another miracle performed by Saint Tikhon was the following: In one vineyard, gardeners, cutting off the dry branches of the grapes, threw them away as unfit. Saint Tikhon, having collected these branches, planted them in his garden. While planting, he prayed to the Lord that He would give the grape branches the following four properties: first, that the dry branches would take root in the ground, take root and grow; secondly, so that the vine branches abound in berries; thirdly, so that the berries are sweet and healthy; fourthly, so that its grapes ripen and ripen faster than others. When the next morning Saint Tikhon went out into the garden, he saw that his prayer had been heard: the dry branches began to grow in the ground and sprouted buds; and when they began to grow that same summer, they turned out to be quite unusually and unnaturally very fertile, and even at a time when the fruits were ripening in other vineyards, the berries in the vineyards of St. Tikhon were quite ripe, pleasant to the taste and very beneficial for health. These grapes not only possessed such miraculous power during the life of Saint Tikhon, but also after his death they were fertile and every year their fruits ripened earlier than in other vineyards, so that on June 16 - the day of memory of Saint Tikhon - the sacrament of the Eucharist was celebrated at the liturgy using the wine pressed from these grapes. Already from these two miracles one can see that Saint Tikhon was a miracle worker and a great saint of God. The service of Saint Tikhon also tells that he prophetically foresaw and announced to others about the time of his death 4022. For such holiness of this wonderworker Tikhon, may glory be to our God, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen 4023. Desert dweller, and in the body an Angel and a miracle worker appeared, O God-bearing Father Tikhon: by fasting, vigil, and prayer, I received heavenly gifts, healing the sick, and the souls of those who flow to you by faith. Glory to him who gave you strength, glory to him who crowned you, glory to him who heals you all. Having remained in holy, God-loving fasting, You received the Comforter's power from on high, to overthrow the idol of delusion, to save people, to drive away demons, to heal ailments: for this sake we honor you as God's friend, Blessed Tikhon. Amafunt is now the city of Limisso on the island of Cyprus. Saint Epiphanius, archbishop of the island of Cyprus, died in 403 AD; this saint shone with the power of God-wise teaching and the gift of miracles and prophecy. – His memory is May 12 Detailed information (as St. Demetrius of Rostov writes) about the life and miracles of St. Tikhon has not survived to us, because due to the many Mohammedan invasions and the passage of time, just as many churches were empty, so the church records in them perished. Song 7, v. 2 and song 8, v. 1. Saint Tikhon lived during the reign of the Greek Emperor Arcadius (395–408) and his son Theodosius. You might be interested in: