Biographies of Saints. Collection - the lives of the saints, written by the saints. The Lives of the Saints is an Open Gospel
This page contains the lives of the saints, worshiped by the Orthodox Church. In the monuments of the original Christian antiquity, until the middle of the 4th century. and even before the 5th century, both Eastern and Western Christians have the word Saint- Greek. ἅγιος, lat. sanctus - according to Martigny ("Dictionnaire des antiquites"), it has not yet been assimilated by the so-called canonized saints, that is, neither the apostles, nor the martyrs, nor generally the persons who later became, under the name saints, the subject of special veneration of the church, and when they were mentioned they were called simply by name, for example, Paul (without adding "apostle" or "saint").
The Roman calendar, published by Bucher, and then by Rüinard with his "Acta Sinsera", brings the list of persons especially honored in the church up to the 4th century. inclusive (up to Pope Liberia), and never once gives them the name sanctus. Only in the calendars of the Carthaginian church, in the III-V centuries, when the dead, especially revered by the church, are remembered, the word sanctus is often found.
The first calendar in which the word sanctus is constantly encountered with the name of one or another especially revered church person is the calendar of Polemia ("Acta Sanctorum"; vol. 1). In a less distant era, this word is sometimes found in mosaics when depicting the apostles, but it is not yet present when depicting St. John the Baptist even in 451, and it is found with the name of the Baptist not earlier than in 472, in the image of St. Agathias in Suburra, in Rome.
According to Ciampi's research, it is also found in the depiction of Kozma and Damian in 531. The words sanctus and sanctissimus on marble burials, undoubtedly ancient, have, according to Martigny, the meaning carissimus. The reason why Christians of ancient times avoided the epithets: Sanctus, Sanctissimus, is, according to some scholars, that the word Sanctus was often used in undeniably pagan inscriptions, which Christians did not want to imitate. On epigraphic documents of the 5th century. occurs at names, at some distance, one letter S, which can be mistaken for the initial letter of the word Sanctus, but also for the beginning. the letter of the word Spectabilis. Instead of the name “ Saint"(Lat. Sanctus) or together with him often stood, at the name of a person revered by the church, another name - dominus, domina.
Martigny is inclined to think that the words dominus and domina in ancient times specifically meant "martyr and martyr." From the stories about the burial of deceased Christians, it is clear that those who ordered the burial proclaimed: ad sanctos! ad sanctos! (or ad martyres, ad martyres), that is, they were ordered to carry the deceased to a specially Christian cemetery. In addition to denoting personal holiness or high piety of a person, the word sanctus, (agioV;), as once in paganism, was also applied in Christianity to denote that a particular person or place is dedicated to some kind of sacred service. Christians in sogrog in the ancient church (for example, in the epistles of the apostle Paul) were called saints... In the Gospel, holiness and sanctification are presented everywhere as a property of Christianity, in all its manifestations: hallowed be thy name (Matthew VI, 9), holy father, sanctify them in thy truth (John XVII, II, 17).
Honoring and invoking saints
The Orthodox Church venerates the righteous not as gods, but as faithful servants, saints and friends of God; praises their exploits and deeds performed by them with the help of the grace of God and for the glory of God, so that all the honor given saints, refers to the majesty of God, whom they delighted on earth with their lives; honor the saints with annual memories of them, nationwide festivities, building in the name of their temples)
Holy Scripture emphatically prohibits the rendering of divine worship and service to anyone other than the one true God (II. VI, 13; Isles. XLII, 8; Matt. IV, 10; 1 Tim. 1, 17), but it does not at all prohibit giving proper reverence (doulexa) to the faithful servants of God, and, moreover, so that all honor relates to Him alone, as “wondrous in saints their own ”(Psalm LXVII, 36).
King David cried out: "Thy friends were very honorable to me, O God" (Psalm CXXXVIII, 17); the sons of the prophetic solemnly “bowed down to the earth to the faithful servant and friend” of God - Elisha (2 Kings II, 15). In the New Testament, Jesus Christ himself, confirming the law: "Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him alone" (Matt. IV, 10), told his disciples: "You are my friends, if you do what I command you" (John. Xv.14), and testified before them: “Whoever receives you receives me; but whoever receives Me, receives him who sent Me "(Matt. X, 40), showing that the honor given to His faithful servants and friends applies to Himself, also in Revelation through the mouth of John the Theologian:" To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on the throne Mine, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne "(Apoc. III, 21). The Apostle Paul also says:" Remember your instructors who preached the word of God to you, and, looking at the end of their life, imitate their faith "(Heb. XIII, 7).
About saints
Having arisen in the Christian Church at its very first stages. existence, belief in godliness and salvation worthy honoring saints expressed in the establishment in memory of the martyrs and other saints of special holidays, following the example of Sundays and other holidays, with the performance of the corresponding prayers and liturgy (testimonies of Tertullian and St. Cyprian; Decree of the Apostle.kn. VI, ch. 30; pr. VIII, ch. . 33). Since the IV century. everywhere, openly and solemnly, the celebration of the saints takes place, legalized by two local councils of the same century: the Gangres and Laodicean ones. At the same time, the very doctrine of the veneration of saints is being developed and determined (Ephraim the Syrian, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom). This was facilitated by the emergence of various heretical false teachings.
There were, for example, heretics who not only honored the Mother of God with her proper veneration, as the holiest of all saints, but also paid her divine honors, worshiped and served her on an equal basis with God. This caused St. Epiphany both to denounce those who are in error, and to clarify the true church teaching about the veneration of saints. At the beginning of the 5th century, heretics appeared who began to reproach the church for allegedly allowing divine honoring of the saints with the same worship and service, and this restores ancient pagan idolatry and subverts faith in the true God, who alone needs to be worshiped and served. The Spaniard Vigilantius became the head of this line of false teachers, which consisted mainly of Eunomians and Manichees. Blessed were opposed to him. Jerome and Augustine.
The belief in the obligation and salvation of the honoring of the saints was invariably preserved in the church in the following centuries; This is confirmed by the testimonies of both individual pastors of the church (Salvian, Cyril of Alexandria, Gregory the Great, John of Damascus) and entire cathedrals - the local Carthaginian (419−426) and especially the seventh ecumenical (Nicene II). The opponents of this doctrine in the Middle Ages are the Albigensians, Pavlikians, Bogomils, Waldensians and Wicklephites, in recent centuries - generally Protestants.
Honoring the saints as faithful servants, saints and friends of God, the church, at the same time, invites them in prayers, not as any gods who can help us with their own strength, but as our representatives before God, a single source and dispenser of all gifts and mercies. creatures (James 1:17) and our intercessors, who have the power of intercession from Christ, who is "one (is)" in the proper sense and an independent "mediator between God and men, who gave Himself for the redemption of all" (1 Tim. II, 5 −6)
The beginning of the prayer invocation saints can be seen even in the Old Testament Church: King David cried out to God: "Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers" (1 Chronicles XXIX, 18). The Apostle James teaches believers the commandment to pray for one another and to this he adds: "The fervent prayer of the righteous can do much" (So V, 16). The Apostle Peter promised the believers not to interrupt their care for them after his death (2 Peter 1:15). The Apostle John testified that the saints raise their prayers in heaven before the Lamb of God, remembering in them and about their members in the militant church (see Apocalypse V, 8; VIII, 3-4).
Based on the Holy. Scriptures and together priest. tradition, the church has always taught to call the saints, with full confidence in their intercession for us before God. This doctrine and belief of the church is contained in all the most ancient liturgies, for example, the Apostle James and the Jerusalem church, which appeared in the 4th century. and the rites of the liturgy of St. Basil the Great and John Chrysostom clearly prove that the invocation of the saints at this time was a universal phenomenon. At the seventh ecumenical council, the fathers, discussing the veneration and vocation of saints, among other things, decided: “who does not confess that all are saints…. honored in the sight of God…. and does not ask for their prayers, as those who, according to church tradition, have boldness to intercede for Peace, is anathema. "
The doctrine of the calling of saints has survived and is still preserved in the Christian societies that separated from ancient times from the universal church, such as the Nestorian, Abyssinian, Coptic and Armenian. The opponents of this doctrine were the rationalistic and mystical sects that separated from the Western Church in the Middle Ages. Luther rejected the veneration and invocation of saints mainly on the basis that he saw in them a kind of mediator between God and believers, which medium was excluded by his personal, direct faith. It seemed to him that even glorified saints by their own means would alienate believers from Christ, just as here on earth members of the church hierarchy alienate them from Him. Therefore, he insisted on the idea that the veneration of the saints is a humiliation of the merits of Jesus Christ, as the only intercessor between God and people. saints, in Luther's opinion, are only wonderful historical figures who need to be remembered with reverence, spoken with respect, but who cannot be addressed with prayer.
Saints in Orthodoxy
Saints placed in heaven according to the faces of holiness (the Last Judgment icon, Poland, 17th century) At all times, Orthodox teaching has combined two fundamental features of spiritual life, firstly, this is a constant striving for holiness, for a sinless life: " Everyone who is born of God does not commit sin ... he cannot sin, because he is born of God "(1 John 3: 9), on the other hand, this is the awareness of his sinfulness and trust only in the mercy of God in the work of his salvation: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5: 3), "I came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matt. 9, 13).
This combination is expressed, for example, in the words of the Apostle Paul "To me, the least of all saints, this grace has been given ..." (Eph. 3: 8) - a phrase that combines the awareness of the calling of all believers in Christ to holiness and the time of the humiliation of the Supreme Apostle himself, found, for example, in 1 Cor. 15: 8-9: "... and last of all he appeared to me also, as to some monster. For I am the least of the Apostles, and I am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I was persecuting the church of God." One way or another, the striving for holiness is a natural striving for every Orthodox Christian. It was revealed to the Apostle John the Theologian that "lukewarm" Christians would be cast out of the mouth of God (Rev. 3: 15-16)
The Apostle Paul in his epistles calls all members of the Church saints, including addressing them "called saints" (Cor., 1, 2; Rom. 1,7) or simply "saints" (Ephesians 1,1; Phil. 1,1 ; Col. 1: 1) and the Apostle Peter says to Christians: "you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy people, people taken as an inheritance" (1 Pet. 2, 9). At the same time, holiness in Orthodoxy is not a status, but, as it were, a state of the human spirit: "The Kingdom of God will not come in a perceptible way, and they will not say: behold, it is here, or: behold, there. For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17, 20-21), "be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).
On the whole, however, holiness in Orthodoxy has synonymous analogs, the words communion with God and the vision of God. They are based on the Orthodox teaching that the Saints in the Kingdom of Heaven are constantly in communion with God himself and are illustrated, for example, with the following words from Scripture:
"And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as one would speak to his friend" (Ex. 33, 11)
"One thing I asked of the Lord, that I only seek, so that I may abide in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, behold the beauty of the Lord and visit His [holy] temple" (Ps. 26: 4)
"Philip said to Him: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us" (John 14, 8)
"He who has My commandments and keeps them, he loves Me; but he who loves Me, the same will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21)
"But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you; and on that day you will not ask Me anything" (John 16: 22-23)
"our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ" (1 John 1, 3)
During the rite of the Orthodox funeral service, the Church (according to ancient custom) repeatedly asks God to rank the deceased as a saint: "With the saints, rest in Christ the soul of your deceased servant!" The same words are sung during the glorification of the saint before the singing of magnificence as a new saint.
In Orthodoxy, according to the face of holiness, the following saints are distinguished:
Apostles - disciples of Christ
saints - holy bishops (bishops)
saints - fasting, hermits, etc., as a rule, monks
blessed - for Christ's sake fools
martyrs
passion-bearers (victims of wicked fellow believers)
new martyrs (who suffered for their faith during the years of persecution of religion in the 20th century)
hieromartyrs
monastic martyrs
reverend confessors
confessors
Equal to the Apostles (Baptists), etc.
holy righteous
from the Old Testament:
The Most Holy Theotokos occupies a special place among the Orthodox saints!
Holiness is a state experienced by the believer according to the word of the Apostle James "Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you" (James 4, 8). But it also says "You are the light of the world. The city that stands on the top of the mountain cannot hide" (Matthew 5:14). Thus, on the one hand, the Lord Himself is the only one who knows his saints in the heart. But He Himself glorifies His saints with miracles: the gift of tongues (in the first centuries), prophecies, healings, miracles during life, imperishable relics, healings through the prayers of the saint.
Miracles are not a prerequisite for veneration, according to the words of the Apostle Paul about the supreme gift: "Love never ceases, although prophecies will cease, and tongues will cease, and knowledge will be abolished" (1 Cor. 13: 8) -, but they are, as it were, an indication of Lord to honor his faithful servant. For example, as described immediately after the glorification of St. Jonah of Moscow about the healing of one woman:
Brought to the temple, she prayed fervently before the miraculous icons of Vladimir and Velikogoretskaya, but did not receive what she wanted; Then she fell to the tomb of the miracle worker Peter and grieved much that her labor was in vain; then she heard a mysterious voice: "Go to the tomb of Jonah, the miracle worker." “I don’t know, Lord, where he is” - the blind woman humbly answered, and when they brought her to an honest cancer, she began to touch her hands with a warm prayer for enlightenment, but as soon as she clung to the relics to venerate, she felt a kind of warm breath from her lips holy hierarchs, right into her eyes, and at the same moment she received her sight.
Orthodox churches recognize as saints, as a rule, only Orthodox or Christians who lived before the division of the churches. However, there are exceptions, for example, in 1981, the ROCOR Cathedral canonized all the servants of the royal family who died with them in the Ipatiev House, including Catholics and Protestants.
Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna, member of the Holy Synod, chairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints of the Russian Orthodox Church:
The main criteria for the canonization of church-wide and locally revered ascetics of faith in the Russian Orthodox Church are a righteous life, an impeccable Orthodox faith, popular veneration, miracles, and, if any, incorruptible relics.
It is impossible to single out more "authoritative" and less "authoritative" saints, but in the Russian Orthodox tradition, especially among the laity, the most revered saints are John the Baptist, Nicholas the Wonderworker (Nikolai the Ugodnik), Sergius of Radonezh, Seraphim of Sarov, Alexander Nevsky, Prince Vladimir and also locally revered saints.
Lives of the saints
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Foreword
In the edition offered to the reader, the lives of the saints are presented in chronological order. The first volume tells about the Old Testament righteous men and prophets, the subsequent volumes reveal the history of the New Testament Church up to the ascetics of our time.
As a rule, the meetings of the lives of the saints are organized according to the calendar principle. In such editions, the biographies of the ascetics are given in the sequence in which the memory of the saints is performed in the Orthodox liturgical circle. Such an exposition has a deep meaning, for the church remembrance of this or that moment of sacred history is not a story about a long past, but a living experience of participation in an event. From year to year we honor the memory of the saints on the same days, return to the same stories and lives, for this experience of communion is inexhaustible and eternal.
However, the temporal sequence of sacred history should not be overlooked by a Christian. Christianity is a religion that recognizes the value of history, its purposefulness, professing its deep meaning and the action of the Providence of God in it. In a time perspective, God's plan for humanity is revealed, that "child-breeding" ("pedagogy"), thanks to which the possibility of salvation is open to everyone. It is this attitude to history that determines the logic of the publication offered to the reader.
On the second Sunday before the feast of the Nativity of Christ, in the week of the holy forefathers, the Holy Church prayerfully remembers those who “prepared the way for the Lord” (cf. Isaiah 40: 3) in His earthly ministry, who preserved the true faith in the darkness of human ignorance, preserved as a precious gift to Christ who came save the lost(Matthew 18, I). These are people who lived in hope, these are the souls that held the world doomed to obedience to vanity (see: Rom. 8, 20) - the righteous of the Old Testament.
The word "Old Testament" has in our minds a significant echo of the concept of "old [man]" (cf. Rom. 6, 6) and is associated with impermanence, the proximity to destruction. This is largely due to the fact that the very word "old" in our eyes has become unambiguous, having lost the variety of originally inherent meanings. A related Latin word "vetus" speaks of antiquity and old age. These two dimensions define the space of holiness before Christ that we have not learned: exemplary, “paradigmatic”, immutability, determined by antiquity and primordiality, and youth - beautiful, inexperienced and transient, which has become old age in the face of the New Testament. Both dimensions exist simultaneously, and it is no coincidence that the hymn of the Apostle Paul, dedicated to the Old Testament ascetics (see: Heb. 11: 4-40), we read on the day of All Saints, speaking of holiness in general. It is no coincidence that many of the actions of the ancient righteous have to be specially explained, and we have no right to repeat them. We cannot imitate the actions of the saints, which are wholly connected with the customs of spiritually immature, young mankind - their polygamy and sometimes their attitude towards children (see: Gen. 25, 6). We cannot follow their boldness, similar to the power of blossoming youth, and together with Moses ask for the appearance of the face of God (see: Exodus 33, 18), about which St. Athanasius the Great also warned in his preface to the psalms.
In the "antiquity" and "old age" of the Old Testament - its strength and its own weakness, from which all the tension of the expectation of the Redeemer is formed - the strength of endless hope from the multiplication of an irresistible weakness.
Old Testament saints provide us with an example of faithfulness to the promise. They can be called true Christians in the sense that their whole life was filled with the expectation of Christ. Among the harsh laws of the Old Testament, which protected from sin the human nature that was not yet perfect, not perfect by Christ, we gain insight into the coming spirituality of the New Testament. Among the brief notes of the Old Testament, we find light of deep, intense spiritual experiences.
We know the righteous Abraham, to whom the Lord, in order to show the world the fullness of his faith, commanded to sacrifice his son. Scripture says that Abraham unquestioningly decided to fulfill the commandment, but is silent about the experiences of the righteous. However, the narrative does not miss one detail, insignificant at first glance: it was three days' journey to Mount Moriah (see: Gen. 22, 3-4). What should a father feel, leading to the slaughter of the most dear person in his life? But this did not happen right away: day followed day, and morning brought the righteous man not the joy of a new light, but a heavy reminder that a terrible sacrifice lay ahead. And could a dream bring peace to Abraham? Rather, Job's words can describe his condition: When I think: my bed will comfort me, my bed will take away my sorrow, dreams frighten me and visions frighten me (cf. Job 7, 13-14). Three days of travel, when fatigue brought closer not rest, but an inevitable outcome. Three days of painful meditation - and at any moment Abraham could refuse. Three days' journey - behind a short biblical remark hides the power of faith and the severity of the suffering of the righteous.
Aaron, brother of Moses. His name is lost among the many known to us biblical righteous, obscured by the image of his glorified brother, with whom no Old Testament prophet can be compared (see: Deut. 34, 10). We are hardly able to say much about him, and this applies not only to us, but also to the people of Old Testament antiquity: in the eyes of the people, Aaron himself always receded before Moses, and the people themselves did not treat him with love and respect, with which they addressed their teacher ... To remain in the shadow of a great brother, to humbly carry out our ministry, although great, but not so noticeable to others, to serve the righteous without envying his glory - is this not a Christian feat already revealed in the Old Testament?
From childhood, this righteous man learned humility. His younger brother, saved from death, was taken to the palace of the pharaoh and received a royal education, surrounded by all the honors of the Egyptian court. When Moses is called by God to serve, Aaron must retell his words to the people; Scripture itself says that Moses was like a god for Aaron and Aaron - a prophet for Moses (see: Ex. 7, 1). But we can guess what tremendous advantages an older brother should have had in Bible times. And here - a complete rejection of all advantages, complete submission to the younger brother for the sake of the will of God.
His obedience to the will of the Lord was so great that even the grief for his beloved sons receded before her. When the fire of God scorched the two sons of Aaron for carelessness in worship, Aaron accepts instruction and humbly agrees with everything; he was even forbidden to mourn for his sons (Lev. 10: 1-7). Scripture brings to us only one small detail, from which the heart is filled with emotion and sorrow: Aaron was silent(Lev. 10.3).
We have heard about Job, endowed with all the blessings of the earth. Can we appreciate the fullness of his suffering? Fortunately, we do not know from experience what leprosy is, but in the eyes of superstitious pagans it meant much more than just a disease: leprosy was considered a sign that God had abandoned man. And we see Job alone, abandoned by his people (after all, Tradition says that Job was a king): we are afraid to lose one friend - can we imagine what it means to lose a people?
But the worst thing is that Job did not understand why he was suffering. A person who suffers for Christ or even for the Motherland gains strength in his suffering; he knows its meaning reaching eternity. Job suffered more than any martyr, but he was not given to understand the meaning of his own suffering. This is his greatest sorrow, about this his intolerable cry, which the Scripture does not hide from us, does not soften, does not smooth out, does not bury under the reasoning of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, who, at first glance, are quite pious. The answer is given only at the end, and this is the answer of Job's humility, who bows before the incomprehensibility of God's destinies. And only Job could appreciate the sweetness of this humility. This endless sweetness is contained in one phrase, which for us has become a prerequisite for true theology: I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; now my eyes see you; so I renounce and repent in ashes and ashes(Job 42: 5-6).
Thus, in every story told by Scripture, many details are hidden, testifying to the depth of suffering and the height of the hope of the ancient righteous.
The Old Testament has become distant to us for its ritual prescriptions, which have lost their force in the Church of Christ; he frightens us with the severity of punishments and the severity of prohibitions. But he is also infinitely close to us by the beauty of inspired prayer, by the power of immutable hope and unswerving striving for God - in spite of all the falls that even the righteous have suffered, in spite of the admiration for sin of a person who has not yet been healed by Christ. Old Testament light is light from the depth(Psalm 129: 1).
The blessed spiritual experience of one of the most famous Old Testament saints, the king and prophet David, has become for us an enduring example of all spiritual experience. These are psalms, the wondrous prayers of David, in every word of which the Fathers of the New Testament Church received the light of Christ. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria has an amazing idea: if the Psalter reveals the most perfect human feelings, and the most perfect Man is Christ, then the Psalter is the perfect image of Christ before His incarnation. This image is revealed in the spiritual experience of the Church.
The Apostle Paul says that we are joint heirs with the Old Testament saints, and they have not reached perfection without us(Heb. I, 39-40). This is the great mystery of God's economy, and this reveals our mysterious kinship with the ancient righteous. The Church preserves their experience as an ancient treasure, and invites us to join the sacred traditions that tell about the life of the Old Testament saints. We hope that the proposed book, compiled on the basis of the "Cell Chronicler" and "Lives of the Saints, set forth according to the leadership of the Chetykh-Menya" of St. Demetrius of Rostov, will serve the Church in her holy work of teaching and will reveal to the reader the majestic and arduous path of the saints to Christ, saved by Christ. ...
Maxim Kalinin
Lives of the Saints. Old Testament forefathers
The week of the saints forefathers happens in the range of numbers from 11 to 17 December. All the ancestors of the people of God are remembered - the patriarchs who lived before the law given in Sinai and under the law, from Adam to Joseph the Betrothed. Together with them, the prophets who preached Christ are remembered, all the Old Testament righteous, justified by faith in the coming Messiah, and the pious youths.
ADAM and EVE
After the dispensation and putting in order of all the visible above and below the creation and planting of Paradise, God is Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, in His Divine council of rivers: Let us make man in Our image and after our likeness; may he possess the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and beasts, and cattle, and all the earth, and all the reptiles that creep on the earth. And God create man(Genesis 1, 26-27).
The image of God and likeness is not created in the human body, but in the soul, for God does not have a body. God is an incorporeal Spirit, and He created the human soul incorporeal, similar to Himself, free, reasonable, immortal, participates in eternity and united it with the flesh, as Saint Damascene says to God: “You gave me a soul with Divine and life-giving inspiration, from the earth my body creating ”(funeral chants). The Holy Fathers make a distinction between the image and likeness of God in the human soul. Saint Basil the Great in his 10th six-day conversation, Chrysostom in his interpretation of the book of Genesis in the 9th conversation and Jerome in his interpretation of the prophecy of Ezekiel, chapter 28, establish the following difference: the image of God the soul receives from God during its creation, and the likeness of God in her is created in baptism.
The image is in the mind, and the likeness is in the will; image in freedom, autocracy, similarity in virtues.
God called the name of the first man Adam(Genesis 5, 2).
From the Hebrew language, Adam is translated - an earthen man or a red man, since from the red earth he was created 1
This etymology is based on the consonance of the words ’ādām -“ man ”,’ adōm - “red”, ’ădāmā -“ earth ”and dām -“ blood ”. - Ed.
This name is also interpreted as "microcosm", that is, the small world, because it received its name from the four ends of the great world: from the east, west, north and noon (south). In Greek, these four ends of the universe are named as follows: "anatoli" - east; "Disis" - west; "Arktos" - north or midnight; "Mesimvria" - noon (south). Remove the first letters from these Greek names, and there will be "Adam". And just as the four-pointed world was depicted in the name of Adam, which Adam was to populate with the human race, so in the same name the four-pointed cross of Christ was also represented, through which the new Adam - Christ our God - was later to deliver the human race, inhabited in four ends, from death and hell. the universe.
The day on which God created Adam, as already mentioned, was the sixth day, which we call Friday. On the same day when God created animals and animals, He also created man, who has in common with animals in feelings. Man with all creation - visible and invisible, material, I say, and spiritual - has something in common. He has something in common with insensible things in being, with animals, cattle and all animals - in feeling, with Angels in the mind. And the Lord God took the created man and brought him into a beautiful Paradise, full of inexpressible blessings and sweets, irrigated with four rivers of the purest waters; in the midst of it was the tree of life, and the one who eats the fruit of it never died. There was also another tree, called the tree of understanding or knowledge of good and evil; it was the tree of death. God, commanding Adam to eat the fruits of every tree, commanded not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: On the same day, if you take it down, - he said, - die by death(Genesis 2.17). The tree of life is attention to yourself, for you will not destroy salvation, you will not lose eternal life when you are attentive to yourself. And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is curiosity, examining the deeds of others, followed by the condemnation of one's neighbor; condemnation entails the punishment of eternal death in hell: Judge your brother the Antichrist is(James 4: 11-12; 1 John 3:15; Rom. 14:10) 2
This interesting interpretation cannot be applied to the biblical story itself, if only because Adam and Eve were the only people on earth. But the very idea that the tree of knowledge is associated with the moral choice of a person, and not with some special property of its fruits, became widespread in patristic interpretations. Having fulfilled the commandment of God not to eat of the tree, man would experience goodness; breaking the commandment, Adam and Eve experienced experience of evil and its consequences. - Ed.
Holy forefather ADAM and holy foremother EVE
God made Adam king and ruler over all His creation and subordinated everything to him - all sheep and oxen, and flocks, and birds of the air, and fish of the sea, so that he would have all of them. And he brought to him every cattle and every bird and beast, meek and submissive, for then the wolf was still like a lamb, and the hawk was like a chicken according to his own disposition, one without harming the other. And Adam gave them all the names that were appropriate and characteristic of each animal, coordinating the name of each animal with its true nature and the disposition that subsequently emerged. For Adam was very wise by God and had an angelic mind. The wise and gracious Creator, having created Adam as such, wanted to give him a concubine and a loving friendship, so that he would have someone with whom to enjoy in such great blessings, and said: It's not good for a single person to be, let's create an assistant for him(Genesis 2:18).
And God brought Adam into a deep sleep so that he could see with his spirit what was happening and understand the forthcoming sacrament of marriage, and especially the union of Christ Himself with the Church; for the mystery of the incarnation of Christ was revealed to him (I speak in accordance with the theologians), since the knowledge of the Holy Trinity was given to him, and he knew about the former angelic fall and the forthcoming reproduction of the human race from him, and also through God's revelation he then comprehended many others sacraments, except for his fall, which by the fate of God was hidden from him. During such a wonderful dream or, better, delight 3
In the Septuagint, Adam's dream is denoted by the word §ta aig -"Frenzy, delight." - Ed.
The Lord took one of Adam's ribs and created for him an assistant wife, whom Adam, awakening from sleep, recognized and said: Behold the bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh(Genesis 2:23). Both in the creation of Adam from the earth, and in the creation of Eve from the rib was the prototype of Christ's incarnation from the Most Pure Virgin, which Saint Chrysostom perfectly explains, saying the following: “As Adam besides his wife made a wife, so the Virgin without a husband gave birth to a Husband, for Eve giving duty to husbands; Adam remained intact after the removal of the fleshly rib, and the Virgin remained incorrupt after the birth of Her Child ”(Word for the Nativity of Christ). In the same creation of Eve from the rib of Adam was the prototype of the Church of Christ, which was to arise from the perforation of His rib on the Cross. Augustine says the following about this: “Adam sleeps, so that Eve may be created; Christ dies, may there be a Church. When Adam slept, Eve was created from the rib; when Christ died, the ribs are pierced with a spear, so that the sacraments that will build the Church will flow out. "
Adam and Eve were both created by God in ordinary human growth, as John Damascene testifies to this, saying: “God created a man who is not malignant, righteous, virtuous, carefree, unrepentant, sanctified by every virtue, adorned with all the blessings, like some second world, small in the great, another angel, a joint worshiper, together with the Angels bowing to God, the overseer of the visible creature, speculating about secrets, the king existing on earth, earthly and heavenly, temporary and immortal, visible and intellectual, middle majesty (in height) and humility, and also spiritual and carnal " (John of Damascus. An accurate exposition of the Orthodox faith. Book. 2, ch. XII).
Having thus created on the sixth day a husband and a wife to stay in Paradise, entrusting them with dominion over all creatures, commanding them to use all heavenly sweets, except the fruits from the sacred tree, and blessing their marriage, which then had to be a fleshly union, for he said: Grow and multiply(Gen. 1: 28), the Lord God rested from all His works on the seventh day. But He did not rest as weary, for God is a Spirit, and how can He be tired? He rested in order to provide peace to people from their external affairs and worries on the seventh day, which in the Old Testament was Saturday (which means rest), and in the new grace for this a weekly day (Sunday) was consecrated, for the sake of the former on that day Resurrection of Christ.
God rested from works in order not to produce new creatures, more perfect than those created, for there was no more need, since every creature, upper and lower, was created. But God Himself did not rest, and does not rest, and will not rest, supporting and controlling all creation, which is why Christ also said in the Gospel: My Father still does, and I do(John 5.17). God acts, directing the heavenly currents, arranging the beneficial changes of times, affirming the earth, which is not based on anything, motionless and producing from it rivers and sweet water sources for watering all living creatures. God acts for the benefit of all not only verbal, but also dumb animals, providing, preserving, nourishing and multiplying them. God acts, preserving the life and being of every person, faithful and unfaithful, righteous and sinful. About Him, - as the Apostle says - we live and move and we are(Acts 17:28). And if the Lord God had taken His omnipotent hand away from all His creation and from us, then we would immediately perish, and all creation would have been destroyed. Yet the Lord does this, not at all bothering, as one of the theologians (Augustine) says: "He makes rest, and he rests when doing."
The Sabbath day or the day of God's rest from works typified that upcoming Saturday, on which our Lord Christ rested in the Tomb after the labors of His free suffering for us and the fulfillment of our salvation on the Cross.
But Adam and his wife were both naked in Paradise and were not ashamed (as now little babies are not ashamed), for they did not yet feel in themselves carnal lust, which is the beginning of shame and about which they did not know anything at that time, and this is their very dispassion and innocence were like a beautiful dress for them. And what clothes could be more beautiful for them than their pure, virgin, immaculate flesh itself, delighted with heavenly bliss, with food from heaven and overshadowed by the grace of God?
The devil envied their such blessed stay in Paradise and deceived them in the form of a serpent so that they might partake of the fruit from the sacred tree; and Eve ate first, and then Adam, and both sinned grossly, transgressing the commandment of God. Immediately they, having angered their Creator God, lost the grace of God, knew their nakedness and understood the enemy's deception, for [the devil] said to them: You will be like a bosie(Gen. 3, 5) and lied, being father of lies(cf .: John 8:44). They not only did not receive the deity, but also destroyed what they had, for they both lost the ineffable gifts of God. Is it only in this that the devil turned out to be, as it were, telling the truth when he said: You will lead the good and the evil(Genesis 3, 5). Indeed, it was only at that time that our ancestors knew how good Paradise and being in it were, when they became unworthy of it and were expelled from it. Truly, good is not so well known that it is good when a person has it with him, but at the time when he will destroy it. They both knew evil, which they did not know before. For they have known nakedness, hunger, winter, heat, labor, sickness, passions, weakness, death and hell; they learned all this when they transgressed the commandment of God.
When their eyes were opened to see and know their nakedness, they immediately began to be ashamed of each other. At the same hour in which they ate the sacred fruit, immediately from the eaten of this food, fleshly lust was born in them; both of them felt passionate lust in their limbs, and shame and fear seized them, and they began to cover the shame of their bodies with the leaves of a fig tree. Hearing the Lord God walking in Paradise at noon, they hid from Him under a tree, for they no longer dared to appear before the face of their Creator, whose commands they had not kept, and hid from His face, being seized with both shame and great trembling.
God, calling them with His voice and presenting them before His face, after being tested in sin, pronounced His righteous judgment on them, so that they would be expelled from Paradise and feed on the labor of their hands and the sweat of their face: to Eve, so that she would bear children in sickness; To Adam, so that he would till the land that gives birth to thorns and thistles, both of them, so that after long suffering in this life they would die and turn their bodies into the earth, and go down in souls into the dungeons of hell.
Only God consoled them greatly, that he revealed to them at the same time about the forthcoming atonement of their human race through the incarnation of Christ. For the Lord, speaking to the serpent about the woman that her Seed would erase his head, foretold to Adam and Eve that from their seed the Most Pure Virgin would be born, the consumer of their punishment, and from the Virgin Christ would be born, Who by His blood would redeem them and the entire human race from slavery he will lead the enemy out of the bondage of hell and again vouch for Paradise and the Heavenly villages, but he will trample the head of the devil and erase it completely.
And God drove Adam and Eve out of Paradise and placed him directly opposite Paradise, so that he could cultivate the land from which he was taken. He appointed a Cherubim with weapons to guard Paradise, so that no man, beast or devil could enter it.
We begin to count the years of the universe since the expulsion of Adam from Paradise, for how long the time during which Adam enjoyed heavenly blessings lasted, we do not know at all. But it became known to us that time in which he began to suffer after his exile, and from here the years got their beginning - when the human race saw evil. Indeed, Adam knew good and evil at the time when he lost his good, fell into unexpected calamities that he had not experienced before. For, staying at first in Paradise, he was like a son in his father's house, without sorrow and labor, being satiated with a prepared and rich meal; outside of Paradise, as if expelled from the fatherland, he began in the sweat of his brow to eat bread with tears and sighing. His assistant, Eva, the mother of all living, also began to give birth to children in illness.
Most likely, after the expulsion from Paradise, our ancestors, if not immediately, then not for a long time, got to know each other fleshly and began to give birth to children: this partly because both of them were created at a perfect age, capable of marriage, and partly because that in them their natural lust and desire for fleshly confusion intensified after the former grace of God was taken away from them for the transgression of the commandment. In addition, seeing in this world only themselves and knowing, however, that they were created and intended by God in order to give birth and multiply the human race, they wanted as soon as possible to see a fruit similar to themselves and the multiplication of mankind, and therefore they soon knew themselves fleshly and began to give birth.
When Adam was expelled from Paradise, he was at first close to Paradise; constantly gazing at him with his assistant, he incessantly wept, sighing heavily from the depths of his heart at the recollection of the ineffable heavenly blessings, which he had lost and fell into such great malice for the sake of a little taste of the reserved fruit.
Although our first parents Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord God and lost their former grace, they did not lose faith in God: both of them were filled with the fear of the Lord and love and had the hope of their deliverance, given to them in revelation.
God pleased their repentance, incessant tears and fasting, with which they humbled their souls for the intemperance they had done in Paradise. And the Lord looked upon them mercifully, listening to their prayers from the contrition of the heart, and prepared for them forgiveness from Himself, freeing them from sinful guilt, which is clearly seen from the words of the Book of Wisdom: This(the wisdom of God) preserve the primordial father to the world and bring him out of his sin, give him strength to support every(Wis 10: 1-2).
Our forefathers Adam and Eve, not despairing of God's mercy, but relying on His benevolence for mankind, began in their repentance to invent ways of serving God; They began to bow to the east, where Paradise had been planted, and pray to their Creator, and also to offer sacrifices to God: either from the flocks of sheep, which, according to God's view, was a prototype of the sacrifice of the Son of God, who was to be slain like a lamb for deliverance the human race; or they brought from the field harvest, which was an omen of the Sacrament in new grace, when the Son of God, under the guise of bread, had to be offered as a favorable Sacrifice to His Father God for the remission of human sins.
Doing so themselves, they taught their children to honor God and offer sacrifices to Him and told them with tears about the blessings of heaven, exciting them to achieve the salvation promised to them from God and instructing them to live a godly life.
After six hundred years from the creation of the world, when the forefather Adam pleased God with true and deep repentance, he was (according to the testimony of George Kedrin) by God's will from the Archangel Uriel, the prince and guardian of repentant people and interceding for them before God, the well-known revelation about the incarnation of God from the Most Pure, Unmanly and Ever Virgin Virgin. If it was revealed about the incarnation, then other secrets of our salvation were revealed to him, that is, about the free suffering and death of Christ, about the descent into hell and the liberation of the righteous from there, about His three-day stay in the Sepulcher and uprising, and about many other God's mysteries. and also about those who later had many things, such as the corruption of the sons of God of Seth's tribe, about the flood, about the future Judgment and about the general resurrection of all. And Adam was filled with a great prophetic gift, and he began to predict the future, raising sinners to the path of repentance, and comforting the righteous with the hope of salvation 4
Wed: Georgy Kedrin. Synopsis. 17, 18 - 18, 7 (in references to Kedrin's Chronicle, the first digit indicates the page number of the critical edition, the second indicates the line number. References are given by edition: Georgius Cedrenus / Ed. Immanuel Bekkerus. T. 1. Bonnae, 1838). This opinion of George Kedrin raises doubts from the point of view of the theological and liturgical Tradition of the Church. The liturgical poetry of the Church emphasizes the fact that the Incarnation is a sacrament “hidden from time immemorial” and “unknown by the Angel” (theotokos to “God the Lord” of the 4th voice). St. John Chrysostom said that the Angels fully realized the God-manhood of Christ only during the ascension. The assertion that all the mysteries of the Divine Atonement were revealed to Adam contradicts the idea of a gradual communication of Divine revelation to humanity. The mystery of salvation could only be fully revealed by Christ. - Ed.
The holy forefather Adam, who set the first example of both fall and repentance and tearful sobbing, who pleased God with many feats and labors, when he reached 930 years old, by God's revelation knew his approaching end. Calling his helper Eve, his sons and daughters, as well as calling his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, he instructed them to live virtuously, doing the will of the Lord and trying in every possible way to please Him. As the first prophet on earth, he announced the future to them. After teaching everyone peace and blessing, he died a death, to which he was condemned by God for breaking the commandment. Death overtook him on Friday (according to the testimony of Saint Irenaeus), on which he had previously transgressed the commandment of God in Paradise, and at the same sixth hour of the day, at which he ate the commanded food given to him from the hands of Eve. Leaving behind many sons and daughters, Adam benefited all the days of his life to the entire human race.
How many children Adam gave birth to, historians say differently about this. George Kedrin writes that Adam left behind 33 sons and 27 daughters; the same is affirmed by Cyrus Dorotheos of Monemvasia. But the Holy Martyr Methodius, Bishop of Tire, during the reign of Diocletian in Chalcis (not in Chalcedon, but in Chalcis, for the other is the city of Chalcedon, and the other is the city of Chalcis, about which you can see in Onomasticon), a Greek city that suffered for Christ, in Roman Martyrology ("Martyr") on the 18th of September, revered (not found in our Saints), narrates that Adam had one hundred sons and the same number of daughters, born with sons, for twins were born, male and female 5
Georgy Kedrin. Synopsis. 18, 9-10. - Ed.
The whole human tribe mourned Adam, and they buried him (according to Yegisippus) in a marble tomb in Hebron, where the Damascus field is, where the Mamre oak later grew. There was also that double cave, which Abraham later acquired for the burial of Sarah and himself, having bought it from Ephron with the sons of the Hittites. So, Adam, created from the earth, returned to the earth again, according to the word of the Lord.
Others wrote that Adam was buried where Golgotha was, near Jerusalem; but it is fitting to know that the head of Adam was brought there after the flood. There is a probable account of James of Ephesus, who was the teacher of Saint Ephraim. He says that Noah, entering the ship before the flood, took from the grave the honest relics of Adam and carried them with him into the ship, hoping to be saved by his prayers during the flood. After the flood, he divided the relics between his three sons: he gave the eldest son Shem the most honest part - the Adam's forehead - and indicated that he would live in that part of the earth where Jerusalem would later be created. Shem, in accordance with the sight of God and according to the prophetic gift given to him from God, buried the forehead of the Adams on a high place, not far from the place where Jerusalem was to arise. Having poured a great grave over his forehead, he called it "the frontal place" from the forehead of Adam, buried there, where our Lord Christ was subsequently crucified by His will.
After the death of the forefather Adam, the foremother Eve was still alive; having lived ten years after Adam, she died in 940 from the beginning of the world and was buried near her husband, from whose rib she was created.
The history of the formation of Orthodoxy in Russia is inextricably linked with a number of personalities who dedicated their lives to the true worship of God with the fulfillment of all divine laws. Strictly following the prescriptions of the confession, these people have earned Divine Grace and the title of Orthodox saints for their selfless service to the Most High and intercession for the entire human race before him.
The list of godly personalities who have become famous for righteous deeds or suffered for the faith of Christ is truly inexhaustible. Nowadays, it is also replenished with new names of pious Christians, canonized by the church. The attainment of holiness by ascetics of spiritual perfection can be called a great work, coupled with the severity of overcoming base feelings and vicious desires. The creation of a divine image in oneself requires tremendous efforts and painstaking work, and the feat of Orthodox saints awakens admiration in the souls of true believers.
On the icons depicting the righteous, their head is crowned with a halo. It symbolizes the Grace of God, enlightening the face of a person who has become a saint. This is a divine gift that warms the soul with the warmth of spirituality, delights the heart with divine radiance.
With prayers in churches and prayer chants, the clergy, together with the believers, glorify the image of the earthly life of the righteous according to their rank or title. Taking into account the feats accomplished during life or the reasons for leaving the world, on the pages of the Orthodox calendar compiled by the Russian Orthodox Church, lists of pious persons by rank are presented.
- Prophets. This is the name of the Old Testament saints, endowed with the gift of foreseeing future events. The Almighty chose the prophets, they were called to prepare the people for the adoption of Christianity.
- The best followers of the Lord are called apostles. Of these, 12 saints are called confidants, the ranks of the disciples of the Heavenly King number 70 righteous.
- The forefathers include the pious men mentioned in the Old Testament, who were distantly related to our Savior.
- The righteous men or women who have taken monastic dignity (monasticism) are called reverends.
- The status of great martyrs or martyrs is endowed with those who please God who have passed away as a martyr's death for the faith of Christ. The ministers of the church are classified as holy martyrs, sufferers in monasticism - holy martyrs.
- Among the Blessed are the pious who have become insane for Christ's sake, as well as travelers without a permanent home. For their obedience, such people were gifted with God's mercy.
- Enlighteners (Equal to the Apostles) are called the righteous, whose deeds contributed to the conversion of peoples to the Christian faith.
- Passion-bearers or confessors are called pious believers who were persecuted and imprisoned for their adherence to the Savior. In the world, such Christians died in grievous torment.
Prayers to the saints are associated not only with the veneration of the companions of God, but with the appeal to them for their own help. It is forbidden according to the Holy Scriptures to show divine honors and worship anyone other than the true and only God.
List of the most revered saints of the Orthodox Church by year of their life
- The First-Called Apostle is one of the 12 disciples of Christ, chosen by him to preach the Gospel. The disciple of John the Baptist received the status of the First-Called because he was the first to respond to the call of Jesus, and also to call Christ the Savior. According to legend, he was crucified in about 67 on a special form of the cross, later named Andreevsky. December 13 is the day of veneration by the Orthodox Church.
- Saint Spyridon of Trimifuntsky (207-348) became famous as a miracle worker. The life of Spyridon, elected bishop of the city of Trimifunt (Cyprus), passed in humility and calls for repentance. The saint became famous for many miracles, including the revival of the dead. The adherent of strict observance of the words of the Gospel passed away while reading a prayer. The faithful keep the icon of the miracle worker at home to gain the grace of God, and on December 25 they honor his memory.
- Of the female images, the Blessed Matrona (1881-1952) is considered the most revered in Russia. The Orthodox saint was chosen by the Almighty for good deeds even before her birth. The hard life of the righteous woman was permeated with patience and humility, miracles of healing, documented in writing. Believers kiss the relics of the Passion-bearer, preserved within the walls of the Intercession Church, for healing and salvation. Day of veneration by the church - March 8.
- The most famous of the righteous is the Pleasant (270-345 g) in the list of great saints is listed as Nicholas of Mirliki. As a bishop, a native of Lycia (Roman province), he devoted his whole life to Christianity, pacified the hostile, defended the innocent condemned, worked miracles of salvation. Believers turn to the icon of Nicholas the Pleasant for spiritual and physical healing, patronage for travelers. The church honors the memory of the miracle worker with prayers on December 19 in the new (Gregorian) style.
Prayer to Nikolai the Pleasant for help:
After the desired is realized, it is important to offer a prayer of thanks to the saint:
Touching the myrrh-streaming relics of the Miracle-Worker, kept in the Catholic monastery of the city of Bari (Italy), blesses the believers with healing. You can turn to prayer to Nikolai the Pleasant anywhere.
The emphasis of Orthodox teaching is based on the spiritual principle of purposeful movement towards the attainment of holiness throughout a sinless life. An important advantage of holiness according to Orthodox teaching is in constant communion with God of the apostles who are in the Kingdom of Heaven.
List of saints of Russian Orthodoxy, canonized in the 19th century
| Naming a saint (worldly name) | Holiness status | Brief information about the canon | Day of Remembrance | Years of life |
| Sarovsky (Prokhor Moshnin) | Reverend | The great ascetic and miracle worker predicted that his death "will be opened by fire" | January 2 | 1754-1833 |
| Petersburg (Ksenia Petrova) | Blessed righteous woman | A wandering nun of a noble family who became a holy fool for Christ's sake | February 6 | 1730-1806 (approximate date) |
| Ambrose Optinsky (Grenkov) | Reverend | The great deeds of the Optina elder are associated with the blessing of the flock for godly deeds, the guardianship of the convent | October 23 | 1812-1891 |
| Filaret (Drozdov) | Saint | Thanks to the Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, Christians of Russia heed the Holy Scriptures in Russian | 19 november | 1783-1867 |
| Feofan Vyshensky (Govorov) | Saint | Theologian distinguished himself in the field of preaching, voluntarily chose seclusion for the translation of ascetic books | 18 january | 1815-1894 |
| Diveevskaya (Pelageya Serebrennikova) | Blessed | The nun became Christ for the sake of the holy fool according to the will of Seraphim of Sarov. For the feat of foolishness she was persecuted, beaten, chained | 12th of February | 1809-1884 |
The act of canonizing righteous Christians can be both church-wide and local. The basis is holiness during life, the performance of miracles (intravital or posthumous), imperishable relics. The result of the church's recognition of the saint is expressed by an appeal to the flock to honor the righteous with prayers during public services, and not by commemoration. The ancient Christian church did not carry out the canonization procedure.
List of pious righteous people who received the rite of holiness in the 20th century
| The name of the great Christian | Holiness status | Brief information about the canon | Day of Remembrance | Years of life |
| Kronstadt (John Sergiev) | Righteous | In addition to preaching and spiritual writing, Father John healed the hopelessly sick, was a great seer | 20th of December | 1829-1909 |
| Nikolay (Ioann Kasatkin) | Equal to the Apostles | Bishop of Japan for half a century was engaged in missionary work in Japan, spiritually supporting Russian prisoners | February 3rd | 1836-1912 |
| (Epiphany) | Hieromartyr | The activities of the Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia were associated with spiritual enlightenment to strengthen Orthodoxy in the Caucasus. He was martyred during the persecution of the church | The 25th of January | 1848-1918 |
| Royal persons | Passion-bearers | Members of the royal family, headed by Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich, who were martyred during a revolutionary coup | 4th of July | Canonization was confirmed by Russia in 2000 |
| (Vasily Belavin) | Saint | The life of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia was associated with the glorification of the faces of the saints. The Confessor Missionary in America, Opposed the Persecution of the Orthodox Church | March, 25 | 1865-1925 |
| Siluan (Simeon Antonov) | Reverend | Departing from the monastic path, he served in the army, where he supported his comrades with wise advice. After taking the tonsure, he retired to the monastery to gain an ascetic experience in fasting and prayer. | 11 September | 1866-1938 |
In Orthodox literature, there is a special genre that describes the life and exploits of people who have lived in holiness. The lives of the saints are not secular chronicles, but life stories written in accordance with church canons and rules. The first records of the events in the lives of the holy ascetics were kept at the dawn of Christianity, then they were formed into calendar collections, lists of days of veneration of the blessed memory of the saints.
According to the instruction of the Apostle Paul, the preachers of the word of God should be remembered and their faith should be imitated. Regardless of the departure of the holy righteous to another world, who are venerated by the holy church.
For high morality and holiness, throughout the history of Orthodox Russia, people with a pure heart and a radiant soul were gifted with God's grace. They received the heavenly gift of holiness for their righteous deeds, their help to people living on earth is invaluable. Therefore, even in the most hopeless situation, go to church, turn to the holy saints with prayer, and you will receive help if your prayer is sincere.
Month january
Commemoration January 1
Word on the Circumcision of Christ
Our Lord Jesus Christ, after eight days from birth, deigned to accept circumcision. On the one hand, He accepted it in order to fulfill the law: "I came not to break the law," He said, "but to fulfill"(Matthew 5:17); for He obeyed the law in order to deliver from it those who were in slavery submission to it, as the apostle says: "God sent His Son, obeyed the law to redeem those under the law"(Gal. 4: 5). On the other hand, He accepted circumcision in order to show that He really took on human flesh, and so that heretical lips would be blocked, saying that Christ did not take on the true human flesh, but was born only in a ghostly way. So He was circumcised so that His humanity could be revealed. For if He had not put on our flesh, how could the ghost and not the flesh have been circumcised? Saint Ephraim the Syrian says: “If Christ was not flesh, then whom did Joseph circumcise? But as He was truly flesh, so He was circumcised as a man, and the baby was really stained with His own blood, like the son of man; He was sick and cried in pain, as befits a human being. " But, in addition, He received carnal circumcision in order to establish spiritual circumcision for us; for having finished the old law that touched the flesh, He laid the foundation for the new, spiritual. And as the Old Testament fleshly man cut off his sensual flesh, so the new spiritual man must cut off spiritual passions: rage, anger, envy, pride, impure desires and other sins and sinful desires. He was circumcised on the eighth day because He foretold us with His blood His future life, which is usually called the eighth day or age by the teachers of the Church. Thus, the writer of the canon for the circumcision of the Lord, Saint Stephen, says: "The future incessant osmago of the century depicts life, in the nude Vladyka was circumcised in the flesh." And St. Gregory of Nyssa says: “Circumcision, according to the law, was to be performed on the eighth day, and the eighth foreshadowed the eighth century to come. It is also fitting to know that circumcision in the Old Testament was established in the form of baptism and the cleansing of ancestral sin, although that sin was not completely cleansed by circumcision, which could not have been until Christ voluntarily shed His pure blood for us in the sufferings. Circumcision was only a prototype of true cleansing, and not the truest cleansing that our Lord accomplished, taking sin from the environment and nailing it to the cross, and instead of the Old Testament circumcision, establishing a new baptism of grace with water and the Spirit. Circumcision in those days was like an execution for ancestral sin and a sign that the circumcised baby was conceived in lawlessness, as David says, and his mother gave birth to him in sin (Psalm 50: 7), which is why the ulcer remained on the adolescent body. Our Lord was sinless; for although He was in every way likened to us, He had no sin on Himself. Just as the brazen serpent, built in the desert by Moses, looked like a serpent, but did not have a snake venom in itself (Num. 21: 9), so Christ was a true man, but not involved in human sin, and was born supernaturally , from a pure and unmarried Mother. He, as sinless and the former Lawgiver Himself, would not need to endure that painful legal circumcision; but since He came to take upon Himself the sins of the whole world and God, as the Apostle says, He who knew no sin He made for us a sacrifice for sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), He, being without sin, undergoes circumcision, like a sinner ... And in circumcision, the Lord showed us greater humility than in His birth. For in His birth He took on Himself the image of a man, according to the word of the Apostle: "Having become like men and in appearance becoming like a man"(Phil. 2: 7); in circumcision, however, He took upon Himself the image of a sinner, as a sinner enduring the pain of sin. And for what he was not guilty, for that he suffered as an innocent, as if repeating with David: “what I did not take away, I must give it” (Ps. 68: 5), that is, for the sin to which I have no part, accept the disease of circumcision. By circumcision, accepted by Him, He foreordained His suffering for us and eating the cup that He had to drink to the end, when, hanging on the cross, he said: "It is done"(John 19:30)! He is now pouring out drops of blood from the foreskin, and then it will subsequently flow in streams from all of His body. He begins to endure in infancy and is accustomed to suffering, so that, having become a perfect husband, he will be able to endure more severe suffering, for one should be accustomed to the exploits of courage from youth. Human life, full of toil, is like a day for which morning is birth and evening is death. So, in the morning, out of the shroud, Christ, the adored man, goes out to his work, to work - He has been in work from His very youth and to work until the evening (Psalm 103: 23), that evening when the sun is darkened and until the whole earth will be dark until the ninth hour. And He will say to the Jews: "My Father still does, and I do"(John 5:17). What is the Lord doing for us? - Our salvation: "Organizer of salvation in the midst of the earth"(Psalm 73:12). And in order to make this work completely perfect, He is taken for it in the morning, from youth, beginning to endure a bodily illness, and together and heartfelt sickness for us, as for His children, until He Himself is portrayed in us - Christ. In the morning He begins to sow with His blood, so that by the evening He may harvest the beautiful fruit of our redemption. The adored Infant was named during circumcision the name Jesus, which was brought from heaven by the Archangel Gabriel at the time when he announced the conception of His Most Pure Virgin Mary, before He was conceived in the womb, that is, before the Most Holy Virgin accepted the words of the Evangelist before she said: “Behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word! "(Luke 1:38). For, with these words of Her, the Word of God immediately became flesh, dwelling in Her most pure and most holy womb. So, the most holy name Jesus, called by the angel before conception, was given during circumcision to Christ the Lord, which served as a notification of our salvation; for the name Jesus means - salvation, as the same angel explained, appearing in a dream to Joseph and saying: "You will call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins"(Matthew 1:21). And the holy Apostle Peter testifies about the name of Jesus with these words: “There is no other name under the sky, given to people that we ought to be saved "(Acts 4:12). This salutary name Jesus, before all ages, in the Trinity Council, was prepared, written, and until now has been preserved for our deliverance, but now, like a priceless pearl, it was brought from the heavenly treasury for the redemption of the human race and was revealed to all Joseph. The truth and wisdom of God are revealed in this name (Psalm 50: 8). This name, like the sun, illuminated the world with its radiance, according to the words of the prophet: "And for you, who revere my name, the Sun of righteousness will rise"(Malach. 4: 2). Like a fragrant ointment, it filled the universe with its scent: the spilled ointment - it is said in the Scripture - from the incense of your ointments (Cantos 1: 2), not the ointment left in the vessel - His name, but poured out. For as long as the myrrh is kept in the vessel, as long as its aroma is kept inside; when it is poured out, it immediately fills the air with a fragrance. The power of the name of Jesus was unknown while it was hiding in the Eternal Council, as if in a vessel. But as soon as that name poured out from heaven to earth, then immediately, like fragrant myrrh, when it was poured out during the circumcision of infant blood, filled the universe with the fragrance of grace, and all nations now confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is to the glory of God the Father. The power of the name of Jesus is now revealed, for that wondrous name Jesus astonished the angels, delighted people, frightened the demons, for the demons also believe and tremble (James 2:19); from the very name hell is shaken, the underworld is shaking, the prince of darkness disappears, idols fall, the darkness of idolatry is dispersed and, in its place, the light of piety shines forth and enlightens every person who comes into the world (John 1: 9). This name is above every name, so that every knee of heavenly, earthly and hells may bow before the name of Jesus (Phil. 2:10). This name of Jesus is a powerful weapon against enemies, as St. John of the Ladder says: “In the name of Jesus, always strike down the warriors, for you will not find stronger than this weapon either in heaven or on earth. How sweet to the heart that loves Christ Jesus is this most precious name Jesus! How pleasant it is to the one who has it! For Jesus is all love, all sweetness. How sweet is this holy name Jesus to the servant and prisoner of Jesus, taken captive by His love! Jesus is in the mind, Jesus is on the lips, Jesus is where the heart is believed to righteousness, Jesus is where the mouth is confessed to salvation (Rom. 10:10). Whether you are walking, sitting still, or working, Jesus is always in front of your eyes. For I judged, - said the apostle, - to be ignorant of anything with you except Jesus (1 Cor. 2: 2). For Jesus for the one who clings to Him is enlightenment of the mind, beauty of the soul, health for the body, joy to the heart, helper in sorrows, joy in sorrows, healing in sickness, joy in all troubles, and hope for salvation and for the one who He loves Him, He Himself is a reward and a reward ”.
Once, according to the legend of Jerome, the inscrutable name of God was inscribed on a golden tablet, which the great high priest wore on his forehead; now the divine name Jesus is inscribed with His true blood, poured out at His circumcision. It is traced not on material gold, but on spiritual gold, that is, on the heart and on the lips of Jesus' servants, as it was inscribed in the one about which Christ said: "For he is my chosen vessel to declare my name"(Acts 9:15). The sweetest Jesus wants His name as the sweetest drink to be carried in a vessel, for He is truly sweet to all who eat Him with love, to which the psalmist addresses with these words: "Taste and you will see how good the Lord is"(Psalm 33: 9)! Having tasted Him, the prophet cries out: "I will love you, Lord, my fortress"(Ps.17: 2)! Having tasted Him, the holy Apostle Peter says: “Behold, we left everything and followed You; Who should we go to? You have the verbs of eternal life "(Matthew 19:27; John 6:68). With this sweetness for the holy sufferers, their grievous torments were so delighted that they did not fear even the most terrible death. Whoever, they cried, will separate us from the love of God: sorrow, or danger, or sword, neither death, nor life, for love is strong as death (Rom. 8:35, 38; Can. 8: 6). In what vessel is the inexpressible sweetness - the name of Jesus loves to be worn? Of course, in gold, which is tested in the crucible of misfortunes and misfortunes, which is adorned, as it were precious stones, with wounds mistaken for Jesus and says: "For I bear the plagues of the Lord Jesus on my body"(Gal. 6:17). Such a vessel requires that sweetness, in such a name Jesus wants to be worn. It is not in vain that Jesus, taking the name at the time of circumcision, sheds blood; by this, He seems to be saying that the vessel that has His name in it must be stained with blood. For when the Lord took for Himself a chosen vessel for the glorification of His name - the Apostle Paul, He immediately added: "And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."(Acts 9:16). Look at My bloodied, ulcerated vessel - this is how the name of Jesus is inscribed with the redness of the blood, with the diseases and sufferings of those who stand to the point of blood, struggling against sin (Hebrews 12:14).
So, let us kiss you with love, O sweetest Jesus name! We worship with zeal your most holy name, O sweet and all-generous Jesus! We praise Your highest name, Savior Jesus, we fall to the blood that was shed by Your circumcision, gentle Child and perfect Lord! With this we implore Thy abundant goodness, for the sake of Thy holy name and for the sake of Thy most precious blood poured out for us, and for the sake of Thy Immaculate Mother, who gave birth to Thee incorruptibly - pour out Thy rich mercy on us! Delight, Jesus, our heart with You! Protect and protect us, Jesus, everywhere in Your name! Designate and seal us, Thy servants, Jesus, with that name, so that we can be accepted into Thy future Kingdom, and there, together with the angels, we glorify and sing, Jesus, Thy most glorious and glorious name of Thy forever. Amen.
Troparion, voice 1:
On a fire-glowing throne in the highest, sit with the Father without beginning, and with Your divine Spirit, you were delighted to be born on earth, from a young woman, Your Mother Jesus, who is not skilled at all: for this sake, you were circumcised as a modern man. Glory to Thy all-good advice: glory to Thy look: glory to Thy descent, Alone, loving mankind.
Kontakion, voice 3:
The Lord endures circumcision of all and human sins, as if he cuts off good things: he gives salvation to the world today. The hierarch of the Creator and the luminous divine mystery of Christ Vasily rejoice in the highest.
Life of our holy father Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea
The great saint of God and God-wise teacher of the Church, Basil was born of noble and pious parents in the Cappadocian city of Caesarea, around 330, during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great. His father was also called Vasily, and his mother was Emmelia. The first seeds of piety were sown in his soul by his pious grandmother, Macrino, who in her youth was honored to hear instructions from the lips of St. Gregory the Wonderworker - and by his mother, pious Emmelia. Vasily's father instructed him not only in the Christian faith, but also taught secular sciences, which he knew well, since he himself taught rhetoric, that is, oratory, and philosophy. When Vasily was about 14 years old, his father died, and the orphaned Vasily spent two or three years with his grandmother Macrino, not far from Neocaesarea, near the Iris River, in country house, which was owned by his grandmother and which was later converted to a monastery. From here Basil often went to Caesarea to visit his mother, who lived with her other children in this city, where she was from.
After the death of Macrina, Vasily, at the age of 17, settled again in Caesarea to study various sciences in the local schools. Thanks to his special acuity of mind, Vasily soon caught up with his teachers in knowledge and, in search of new knowledge, went to Constantinople, where at that time the young sophist Lebanon was famous for his eloquence. But even here Vasily did not stay long and went to Athens - the city that was the mother of all Hellenic wisdom. In Athens, he began to listen to the lessons of a glorious pagan teacher named Eubula, while attending the schools of two other glorious Athenian teachers, Iberia and Proaresius. Vasily at this time was already twenty-six years old and he showed extraordinary zeal in pursuing the sciences, but at the same time deserved universal approval for the purity of his life. He knew only two roads in Athens - one leading to the church, and the other to the school. In Athens, Basil made friends with another glorious saint - Gregory the Theologian, who was also studying at that time in the Athenian schools. Vasily and Gregory, being similar to each other in their good manners, meekness and chastity, loved each other so much, as if they had one soul, and they subsequently preserved this mutual love forever. Vasily was so fascinated by the sciences that he often even forgot, sitting at books, about the need to eat. He studied grammar, rhetoric, astronomy, philosophy, physics, medicine, and natural sciences. But all these secular, earthly sciences could not saturate his mind, which was looking for a higher, heavenly illumination, and after staying in Athens for about five years, Vasily felt that worldly science could not give him a solid support in the matter of Christian improvement. Therefore, he decided to go to those countries where Christian ascetics lived, and where he could fully familiarize himself with true Christian science.
So, while Gregory the Theologian remained in Athens, having already become a teacher of rhetoric himself, Basil went to Egypt, where monastic life flourished. Here, with a certain Archimandrite Porfiry, he found a large collection of theological works, in the study of which he spent a whole year practicing at the same time in the ascetic deeds. In Egypt, Basil watched the life of the famous ascetics of his day - Pachomius, who lived in Thebaid, Macarius the Elder and Macarius of Alexandria, Pafnutius, Paul and others. From Egypt, Basil went to Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia to survey the holy places and get acquainted with the life of the ascetics there. But on the way to Palestine, he went to Athens and here he had an interview with his former mentor Eubulus, and also argued about the true faith with other Greek philosophers.
Wanting to convert his teacher to the true faith and thereby pay him for the good that he himself received from him, Vasily began to look for him throughout the city. For a long time he did not find him, but finally outside the city walls he met him while Eubul was talking with other philosophers about some important subject. Listening to the dispute and not yet revealing his name, Vasily entered the conversation, immediately resolving the difficult question, and then, for his part, asked a new question to his teacher. When the listeners were perplexed as to who could answer and argue with the famous Eubul, the latter said:
- This is either some god, or Vasily.
Having recognized Vasily, Eubulus dismissed his friends and disciples, and he himself brought Vasily to his place, and they spent three whole days in conversation, almost not eating food. By the way, Eubulus asked Vasily what, in his opinion, is the essential merit of philosophy.
- The essence of philosophy, - answered Vasily, - is that it gives a person the remembrance of death.
At the same time, he pointed out to Eubula the fragility of the world and all its joys, which at first seem really sweet, but then later become extremely bitter for someone who had too much time to become attached to them.
- Along with these joys, - said Vasily, - there are consolations of a different kind, of heavenly origin. You cannot use both at the same time - "No one can serve two masters"(Matthew 6:24), - but we still, as far as possible for people attached to the mundane, we crush the bread of true knowledge and the one who, even through his own fault, has lost the garment of virtue, we bring under the roof of good deeds, pitying him, How sorry we are on the street for a naked man.
Following this, Basil began to talk to Eubul about the power of repentance, describing the images of virtue and vice he had once seen, which alternately attract a person to himself, and the image of repentance, around which, like his daughter, various virtues stand.
- But we have nothing, Evvul, - added Vasily, - to resort to such artificial means of persuasion. We own the truth itself, which anyone who sincerely strives for it can grasp. Namely, we believe that we will all be resurrected one day, some for eternal life, and others for eternal torment and shame. The prophets tell us clearly about this: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and David and the divine Apostle Paul, as well as the Lord Himself calling us to repentance, Who found the lost sheep, and Who, embracing the prodigal son with repentance, embracing him with love, kisses him decorates him with a light garment and with a ring and makes a feast for him (Luke, ch. 15). He gives equal reward to those who came at the eleventh hour, as well as to those who endured the burden of the day and the heat. He gives us to those who repent and who are born by the water and the Spirit, as it is written: the eyes did not see, the ear did not hear, and that did not come to the heart of man that God prepared for those who love Him.
When Basil gave Eubulus a brief history of the economy of our salvation, beginning with the fall of Adam and ending with the teaching of Christ the Redeemer, Eubulus exclaimed:
- Oh, Vasily revealed by heaven, through you I believe in the One God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of all, and the tea of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the century to come, amen. And here's a proof of my faith in God for you: I will spend the rest of my life with you, and now I wish to be born of water and the Spirit.
Then Vasily said:
- Blessed is our God, from now on and to the eternity, Who illuminated your mind with the light of truth, Eubulus and led you from extreme delusion into the knowledge of His love. If you want - as you said - to live with me, then I will explain to you how we can take care of our salvation, getting rid of the snares of local life. We will sell our entire estate and distribute the money to the poor, and we ourselves will go to the holy city to see the miracles there; there we will be strengthened even more in faith.
Having thus given out to the needy all their possessions and having bought themselves white clothes, which were required for those receiving baptism, they went to Jerusalem and on the way converted many to the true faith.
“You would lend me a lot, Vasily,” he concluded, “if you didn’t refuse to present your teaching for the benefit of the students who are with me.
Soon the disciples of Livonia gathered, and Vasily began to teach them so that they would acquire spiritual purity, bodily dispassion, a modest gait, a quiet speech, a humble word, moderation in food and drink, silence with the elders, attentiveness to the words of the wise, obedience to superiors, unhypocritical love for equal to themselves and to the inferior, so that they move away from the evil, passionate and attached to carnal pleasures, so that they speak less and listen more and penetrate, not be reckless in their words, not have many words, not laugh insolently at others, be adorned with bashfulness, not enter in conversation with immoral women, they lowered their eyes, and would turn their souls to grief, avoid disputes, would not seek the dignity of a teacher, and impute the honors of this world to nothing. If anyone does something for the benefit of others, then let him expect a reward from God and eternal reward from Jesus Christ our Lord. So Vasily spoke to the disciples of Lebanon, and they listened to him with great amazement, and after that he, together with Eubulus, set off on the road again.
When they came to Jerusalem and walked around with faith and love all the holy places, having prayed there to the One Creator of all God, they appeared to the bishop of that city, Maxim, and asked him to baptize them in Jordan. The bishop, seeing their great faith, fulfilled their request: taking his clerics, he went with Basil and Eubulus to Jordan. When they stopped on the shore, Basil fell to the ground and with tears prayed to God that He would show him some sign to strengthen his faith. Then, getting up with trepidation, he took off his clothes, and with them "Put aside the old way of life of the old man", and entering the water, he prayed. When the saint approached to baptize him, suddenly a fiery lightning fell on them, and the dove that emerged from that lightning plunged into Jordan and, stirring up the water, flew into heaven. Those who stood on the shore, seeing this, trembled and glorified God. Having been baptized, Vasily came out of the water and the bishop, marveling at his love for God, clothed him in the garment of Christ's resurrection, making a prayer with this. He also baptized Eubul and then anointed both of them with myrrh and communion of the Divine Gifts.
Returning to the holy city, Basil and Eubulus stayed there for one year. Then they went to Antioch, where Basil was made deacon by Archbishop Meletius, then he was engaged in the explication of Scripture. A short time later, he left with Eubulus to his homeland, Cappadocia. As they approached the city of Caesarea, the archbishop of Caesarea, Leontius, was announced in a dream about their arrival and it was said that Basil would eventually be the archbishop of this city. Therefore, the archbishop, summoning his archdeacon and several honorary clergy, sent them to the eastern gate of the city, commanding them to bring to him with honor two pilgrims whom they would meet there. They went and, meeting Basil and Eubulus, when they entered the city, took them to the archbishop; he, seeing them, was surprised, for it was them that he saw in a dream - and glorified God. Asking them about where they are coming from and what they are called, and having learned their names, he ordered them to be taken to a meal and treated, while he himself, having summoned his clergy and honorary citizens, told them everything that was told to him in a vision from God about Basil ... Then the clergyman unanimously said:
- Since for your virtuous life God has shown you the heir to your throne, then do with him as you please; for truly worthy of all respect is that person who is directly indicated by the will of God.
The archbishop then summoned Basil and Eubul to him and began to talk with them about the Scriptures, wishing to find out how much they understood it. Hearing their speech, he marveled at the depth of their wisdom and, leaving them with him, treated them with special respect. Basil, while staying in Caesarea, led the same life that he learned from many ascetics when he traveled through Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia and looked closely at the ascetic fathers who lived in those countries. So, imitating their life, he was a good monk and archbishop of Caesarea, Eusebius, made him presbyter and leader of the monks in Caesarea. Having assumed the dignity of presbyter, Saint Basil devoted all his time to the labors of this ministry, so that he even refused to correspond with his former friends. Caring for the monks gathered by him, preaching the word of God, and other pastoral concerns did not allow him to be distracted by extraneous pursuits. At the same time, in his new career, he soon acquired such respect for himself, which the archbishop himself did not enjoy, not yet quite experienced in church affairs, since he was elected to the Caesarea throne from the catechumens. But barely a year of his priesthood had passed when Bishop Eusebius, out of human weakness, began to envy and ill-will to Basil. Saint Basil, learning about this and not wishing to be the object of envy, went to the Ionian desert. In the Ionian Desert, Basil retired to the Iris River - to the area in which his mother Emmelia and his sister Macrina had retired before him - and which belonged to them. Macrina established a monastery here. Near it, at the foot of a high mountain covered with dense forest and irrigated with cold and clear waters, Vasily settled. The desert was so pleasant to Vasily with its imperturbable silence that he intended to end his days here. Here he imitated the exploits of those great men whom he saw in Syria and Egypt. He asceticised in extreme hardship, having only one garment to cover himself — a shit and a mantle; wore a hair shirt, but only at night so that it would not be visible; ate bread and water, seasoning this meager food with salt and roots. From strict abstinence, he became very pale and thin, and became extremely exhausted. He never went to the bathhouse and did not light a fire. But Vasily did not live for himself alone: he gathered the monks into a hostel; with his letters, he drew his friend Gregory to himself into the desert.
In their seclusion, Vasily and Gregory did everything together; prayed together; both gave up reading worldly books, for which they had previously spent a lot of time, and became solely concerned with the Holy Scriptures. Wanting to study him better, they read the works of the Church Fathers and writers who preceded them in time, especially Origen. Here Basil and Gregory, guided by the Holy Spirit, wrote the statutes of monastic community, by which the monks of the Eastern Church are for the most part guided today.
In relation to bodily life, Vasily and Gregory took pleasure in patience; they worked with their own hands, carrying firewood, cutting stones, planting and watering trees, dragging manure, carrying weights, so that calluses on their hands remained for a long time. Their dwelling had neither a roof nor a gate; there was never any fire or smoke there. The bread they ate was so dry and poorly baked that it could hardly be chewed with your teeth.
The time came, however, when both Basil and Gregory had to leave the wilderness, since their services were needed for the Church, which at that time was outraged by heretics. Gregory was taken to help the Orthodox by his father, Gregory, who was already old and therefore did not have the strength to fight the heretics with firmness; Basil was persuaded to return to his place by Eusebius, the archbishop of Caesarea, who reconciled with him in a letter and asked him to help the Church, against which the Arians took up arms. Blessed Basil, seeing such a need of the Church and preferring it to the benefits of living in a wilderness, left his solitude and came to Caesarea, where he labored a lot, protecting the Orthodox faith from heresy with words and writings. When Archbishop Eusebius reposed, surrendering his spirit to God in the arms of Basil, then Basil was elevated to the archbishop's throne and consecrated by a council of bishops. Among those bishops was the elderly Gregory, the father of Gregory Nazianzin. Weak and troubled by old age, he gave orders to escort him to Caesarea in order to persuade Basil to accept the archbishopric and prevent the enthronement of any of the Arians.
The heretics, called the Docetites, taught that God could not take upon Himself the weak human flesh, and that it only seemed to people that Christ suffered and died.
The Old Testament predominantly contained decrees concerning the external good conduct of man.
Service to the Circumcision of the Lord, canon, on the 4th canto. - Saint Stephen Savvait - a hymnist of the 8th century. His memory is October 28th.
The number seven in Scripture means completeness. Therefore, in order to designate the entire longevity of the life of this world, the holy fathers used the expression seven centuries or days, and the eighth century or day, naturally, should have already denoted the future life.
Qty. 2:14. Sin from the environment, that is, sin stood as an obstacle, a partition, fencing a person off from God. But then sin was nailed to the cross, that is, it lost all power and could no longer prevent a person from entering into communion with God.
Gal. 4:19. It will appear - the image of Christ is clearly imprinted in us, so that we will be fully worthy of the name of Christians.
A golden plaque, attached to the main armband of the high priest, bore the mark of the name of God (Jehovah).
Cappadocia - a province of the Roman Empire, was located in the east of Asia Minor and was known at the time of Basil the Great for the education of its inhabitants. At the end of the 11th century, Cappadocia fell under the rule of the Turks and still belongs to them. Caesarea - main city Cappadocia; The Caesarean Church has long been famous for the education of its archpastors. St. Gregory the Theologian, who laid the foundation for his education here, calls Caesarea the capital of enlightenment.
Vasily's father, also named Vasily, known for his charity, was married to a noble and wealthy girl Emmelia. From this marriage were born five daughters and five sons. The eldest daughter, Macrina, after the untimely death of her fiancé, remained faithful to this prosperous union, devoting herself to chastity (her memory is July 19); Vasily's other sisters got married. Of the five brothers, one died in early childhood; three were bishops and canonized; the fifth was killed while hunting. Of the survivors, the eldest son was Vasily, followed by Gregory, later Bishop of Nyssa (Comm. 10 January), and Peter, first a simple ascetic, then Bishop of Sevastia (Comm. 9 January). - Father Basil, probably, shortly before his death, was ordained a priest, as can be inferred from the fact that Gregory the Theologian calls the mother of Basil the Great the wife of a priest.
Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop of Neocaesarea (north of Caesarea in Cappadocia) compiled the Creed and the Canonical Epistle, and also wrote several other works. He died in 270, his memory is November 17.
Neocaesarea - today's Nixar - the capital of Pontus Polemoniaca, famous for its beauty, in the north of Asia Minor; especially known for the church cathedral that took place there (in 315). Iris - a river in Pontus, originates at Antitaurus.
Sophists are scholars who have devoted themselves primarily to the study and teaching of eloquence. - Lebanon and later, when Basil was already a bishop, maintained written relations with him.
Athens is the main city of Greece, which has long attracted the flower of the Greek mind and talent. Famous philosophers - Socrates and Plato, as well as the poets Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and others - once lived here. - By Hellenic wisdom, we mean pagan scholarship, pagan education.
Proaresius, the most famous teacher of philosophy at the time, was a Christian, as can be seen from the fact that he closed his school when the Emperor Julian forbade Christians to teach philosophy. About what religion Iberius adhered, nothing is known.
Gregory (Nazianzen) was later for some time the Patriarch of Constantinople and is known for his high creations, for which he received the nickname the Theologian. He knew Basil back in Caesarea, but only became close friends with him in Athens. His memory is January 25.
Egypt has long served as a place where the Christian ascetic life was especially developed. Likewise, there were a great many Christian scholars, of whom Origen and Clement of Alexandria were the most famous.
... Homer is the greatest Greek poet who lived in the 9th century. to R. Chr .; wrote the famous poems: "Iliad" and "Odyssey".That is, the time has not yet come to replace philosophy and pagan religion with Christian faith. Lebanon died as a pagan (about 391, in Antioch).
The ancient Christians very late received St. baptism - partly out of humility, partly in the consideration that, having been baptized shortly before death, they will receive in baptism the forgiveness of all their sins.
Basil the Great owns many works. Like all the actions of St. Basil was distinguished by extraordinary grandeur and importance, and all his works are captured by the same character of the height and grandeur of the Christian. In his creations, he is both a preacher, and a dogmatist-polemic, and an interpreter of Holy Scripture, and a teacher of morality and piety, and, finally, an organizer of church worship. Of his conversations, in strength and animation, they are considered the best: against usurers, against drunkenness and luxury, about fame, about hunger. In his letters to St. Vasily vividly depicts the events of his time; many of the letters contain excellent instructions on love, meekness, forgiveness of offenses, on raising children, against the avarice and pride of the rich against a vain oath, or with spiritual advice for monks. As a dogmatist and polemicist, he appears before us in his three books, written against the Arian false teacher Eunomius, in an essay against Savely and Anomees about the deity of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, Basil the Great wrote a special book about the Holy Spirit against Aetius, of which Eunomius was also a champion. Some of the conversations and letters of St. Vasily. As an interpreter of Holy Scripture, St. Vasily in nine talks on "Six Days", where he showed himself to be an expert not only in the Word of God, but also in philosophy and natural science. Also known are his talks on the psalms and on the 16 chapters of the book of prop. Isaiah. Conversations both on Six Days and on the Psalms were spoken in the temple and therefore, along with explanations, contain exhortations, consolations and teachings. He dealt with the doctrine of piety in his famous "instruction to young men how to use pagan writers", and in two books on asceticism. The epistles of Basil the Great to some bishops belong to canonical writings. - Gregory the Theologian speaks about the dignity of the works of Basil the Great: “Everywhere one and the greatest delight is the writings and creations of Vasiliev. After him, writers need no other wealth than his writings. Instead of all - he alone became sufficient for students for education. " “Whoever wants to be an excellent civil speaker,” says the learned Patriarch Photius, “does not need either Demosthenes or Plato, if only he has taken for himself and is studying the words of Basil. In all his words, St. Vasily is excellent. He especially speaks a language that is pure, graceful, majestic; in the order of thoughts behind him first place. He combines persuasiveness with pleasantness and clarity. " Saint Gregory the Theologian says this about the knowledge and writings of Saint Basil: “Who more than Basil was enlightened by the light of knowledge, received his sight into the depths of the Spirit, and with God investigated everything that is known about God? In Basil, virtue was beauty, greatness was theology, a procession was an incessant striving and ascent to God, and by force was the sowing and distribution of words. And therefore I can say without hesitation: their voice went through all the earth, and to the ends of the universe their words, and to the ends of the universes his verbs, that St. Paul spoke about the apostles (Romans 10, 18) ... - When I have the Six Days in my hands and say it orally: then I converse with the Creator, comprehend the laws of creation and marvel at the Creator more than before - having my mentor with one sight. When I have before me his words of accusation against false teachers: then I see the fire of Sodom, with which wicked and lawless tongues are reduced to ashes. When I read the words about the Spirit: then I find God, Whom I have, and I feel the boldness in myself to broadcast the truth, ascending according to the degrees of his Theology and contemplation. When I read his other interpretations, which he understands for people with little vision: then I am convinced not to dwell on one letter, and to look not at the surface only, but to extend further, from one depth to enter a new one, invoking the abyss through the abyss and acquiring light with light until reach higher meaning... When I engage in his praises to the ascetics, then I forget the body, talk with those who are praised, and become excited to a heroic deed. When I read his moral and active words: then I am cleansed in my soul and body, I become a temple pleasing to God, an organ into which the Spirit strikes with the songwriter of God's glory and God's power, and through this I am transformed, I come to prosperity, from one person I become another, I change Divine change ”(the funeral oration of Gregory the Theologian to St. Basil).
Eusebius was taken to the throne of the bishop, at the request of the people, directly from the civil service, and therefore could not have special authority as a theologian and teacher of faith.
One of his most important occupations at this time was the preaching of the word of God. Often he preached not only daily, but twice a day, morning and evening. Sometimes after preaching in one church, he would come to preach in another. In his teachings, Vasily vividly and convincingly for the mind and heart revealed the beauty of Christian virtues and exposed the vileness of vices; He offered motives to strive for the first to retire from the latter and showed everyone the ways to achieve perfection, since he himself was an experienced ascetic. His very interpretations are aimed primarily at the spiritual edification of his listeners. Whether he explains the history of the creation of the world, he sets himself the goal, firstly, to show that “the world is a school of theology of God” (1st Conversation on Six Days), and through this to awaken in his listeners reverence for the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, revealed in His creations, small and great, beautiful, varied, countless. Secondly, he wants to show how nature always teaches a person a good moral life. The way of life, properties, habits of four-legged animals, birds, reptile fish, everything, even the former one-day, gives him an opportunity to draw edifying lessons for the lord of the earth - man. Does he explain the book of Psalms, which, in his words, combines everything that is useful in others: prophecy, history, and edification - he mainly applies the sayings of the Psalmist to life, to the activity of a Christian.
Pontus is a region in Asia Minor, along the southern coast of the Black Sea, not far from Neoquesarea. The Pontic Desert was barren, and its climate was far from favorable to health. The hut where Vasily lived here had neither strong doors, nor a real hearth, nor a roof. At the meal, however, some kind of hot food was served, but, according to Gregory the Theologian, with such bread, on the pieces of which, from its extreme callousness, the teeth first slipped, and then got stuck in them. In addition to general prayers, the reading of St. Scriptures, scientific works Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian and other local monks were here themselves carrying firewood, cutting stones, caring for garden vegetables, and they themselves drove a huge cart with manure.
These rules served and serve as a guide for the life of monks throughout the East and, in particular, for our Russian monks. In his rules, Vasily gives priority to a cohabiting life over a hermit and solitary life, since, living together with others, a monk has more opportunities to serve the cause of Christian love. Basil establishes for the monks the obligation of unquestioning obedience to the abbot, prescribes to be hospitable towards strangers, although he forbids serving them special dishes. Fasting, prayer and constant work - this is what monks should do, according to Basil's rules, and, however, they should not forget about the needs of the unfortunate and sick people around them who need care.
The Arians heretics taught that Christ was a created being, not eternally existing and not of the same nature with God the Father. This heresy got its name from the presbyter of the Alexandrian church Arius, who began to preach these thoughts in 319.
Among Orthodox people there is such a tradition: whoever prays to St. Dmitry of Rostov, all the saints offer a prayer for him, for he worked for many years to describe their lives and compiled a multivolume work - "The Book of the Lives of the Saints", another name: Chetya Menaia.
Many generations of the Russian people were brought up on this book. Until now, the works of St. Dmitry are being republished and read with interest by his contemporaries.
A.S. Pushkin called this book "eternally alive", "an inexhaustible treasure for an inspired artist."
Saint Demetrius, the future Saint of Rostov, was born in 1651 in the village of Makarov, a few miles from Kiev. He received his education at the Kiev-Mohyla College, and then at the St. Cyril Monastery. At the age of 23 (he took monastic vows at the age of 18), the future saint becomes a famous preacher. In 1684, the Cathedral of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra blessed him to compile the lives of the saints. To write the book, Saint Demetrius used the first collection of Lives, which was compiled by Saint Macarius (mid-16th century). From the first centuries, Christians recorded events from the lives of holy ascetics. These stories began to be collected in collections, where they were located according to the days of their church veneration.
The collection of the lives of Saint Macarius was sent to Saint Demetrius from Moscow by Patriarch Joachim. The first book of Lives was completed four years later - in 1688 (September and November). In 1695, the second book was written (December, February) and five years later - the third (March, May). St Demetrius was finishing his work at the Monastery of the Savior and Jacob in Rostov the Great.
The Lives of the Saints are also called Chetya-Menaion in another way - books for reading (not liturgical), where the lives of the saints are set out sequentially for every day and month of the whole year (“Menaion” in Greek means “lasting month”). The Lives of the Saints of St. Dmitry of Rostov, in addition to the biographies themselves, included descriptions of the holidays and instructive words about the events in the life of the saint.
The main hagiographic work of the saint was published in 1711-1718. In 1745, the Holy Synod instructed the Kiev-Pechersk Archimandrite Timothy Shtcherbatsky to correct and supplement the books of St. Dmitry.
Subsequently, Archimandrite Joseph Mitkevich and Hierodeacon Nikodim also worked on this. The collection of the lives of the saints of God were republished in 1759. For the work done, Saint Dmitry began to be called the "Russian Chrysostom." Until his death, Saint Dmitry continued to collect new materials on the lives of the saints.
Secular readers considered the collection of Lives as a historical source (for example, V. Tatishchev, A. Schlötser, N. Karamzin used them in their books).
In 1900, the Lives of the Saints began to be published in Russian. These books are printed according to the 1904 edition of the Moscow Synodal Printing House.
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VIDEO LIVES OF THE SAINTS |
1. Angel between the brethren (Rev. Job of Pochaev) |
