The Saints- these are Christians who most fully realized in their lives the commandments of Christ about love for God and neighbor. Among the saints were the Apostles of Christ and Equal-to-the-Apostles preachers of the Word of God, reverend monks, righteous laity and priests, holy bishops, martyrs and confessors, passion-bearers and unmercenaries.
Holiness- a distinctive property of Man, created in the image and likeness of God. Saints glorified by the Church and revered by the people of God do not have a spiritual hierarchy. The establishment of ecclesiastical veneration for the ascetics of faith and piety usually follows the veneration of the people. In the church tradition, the procedure for glorifying the deceased ascetic in the face of saints was formed gradually. In the ancient Christian Church, there was no canonization, that is, the establishment of the veneration of a saint; it arose later as a reaction to manifestations of false piety by those who deviated into heresy.
It should be noted that the act of canonization does not determine the heavenly glory of the saints, it includes them in a clear annual liturgical circle and thus calls on everyone to honor the saints in the form of public worship. The liturgical difference between canonized saints and non-canonized saints and, in general, from the deceased is that prayers are served to the saints, not requiems. The unity of the Church of heaven and earth takes place in prayer, the secret of eternal life is hidden in this unity. The intercession and help of the saints is evidence that Christ is the Way and the Truth.
The history of the compilation of hagiographic texts.
The apostle Paul also said: “Remember your leaders who preached to you the word of God, and, considering the end of their lives, imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7). According to this commandment, the Holy Church has always carefully preserved the memory of its saints: the apostles, martyrs, prophets, saints, saints and righteous, their names are included in the Church Diptych for eternal commemoration.
The first Christians recorded events from the life of the first holy ascetics. Then these narratives began to be collected into collections compiled according to the calendar, that is, according to the days of veneration of the memory of the saints. Acts of martyrdom, patericons, lemonaria, synaxari, prologues, Chet'i Menaion - the first texts that tell us about the Christian feat of the saints of God. St. Demetrius of Rostov worked for many years on the collection of the lives of the saints; they were written at the end of the 17th century, published from 1711 to 1718. It is also worth remembering: the Great Menaion of the Holy Metropolitan of Moscow Macarius, the collection of which he gave 12 years. The well-known Nestor the Chronicler, Epiphanius the Wise, Pachomius Logothete dedicated their verbal gift to the glorification of the saints of God.
What is another name for lives?
Lives of the Saints in another name Cheti-Minei - books for reading, where the lives are set out according to the calendar for each month of each year ("Mineia" in Greek - "lasting month"). IN Lives of the Saints St. Demetrius of Rostov, in addition to biographies, included descriptions of feasts and instructive words on events in the life of one or another saint. In the future, some more church authors worked on the collection of Lives of the Saints, supplementing and correcting the work of St. Demetrius. In modern Russian, the Menaion was published only in 1900. There are also contemporary selected lives of saints, including locally venerated ones; also - detailed lives of the saints of God, who labored in famous monasteries. We offer for reading the lives of the most famous and revered saints of the entire Orthodox Church.
How to read lives.
Lives were favorite reading in Russia. Modern man, for the most part, knows little about the saints; at best, the bearer of a certain name knows that it is in the calendar; has (sometimes) an idea of the place where the saint lived. But the concepts of asceticism, the rank of holiness, glorification and reverence are unknown to the majority. It can be said that a literate and even educated person has not only forgotten how to read spiritual books, but does not read them at all. They seek to turn church tradition into a monument of writing and cultural heritage. For a long time, with the light hand of atheist researchers, the living word that nourished Christians has been reckoned by science to the corpus of Byzantine or Old Russian literature. Historical and philological commentaries on the lives are full of remarks about the insufficiency of facts and about myth-creating tendentiousness. Literature and historicism are expected from hagiographic works, losing sight of the fact that their main content is the mystery of the saints. But the value of collecting and presenting information about the saints is not in literary and stylistic achievements, but in pointing the way to holiness.
the lives of the saints, both short and lengthy - a monument to spiritual life and for this alone - instructive reading. In our country of universal literacy, when books of a different kind are preferred, even when reading hagiographical literature, they see only the reported fact behind the letter, but they are not imbued with the blessed spirit of asceticism. Lives were and remain a life-giving source, rich reading for everyone and everyone, and not a frozen monument of church literature. In them, before the reader's gaze, examples of truly great piety pass in a row: a selfless feat for the sake of the Lord; examples of humility and obedience, patience in the misfortunes of life, deep contrition in sins and sincere repentance. Having fallen to the spiritual source of life, not as to church literature, but as to patristic tradition, everyone learns strengthening faith, is comforted in sorrows, rejoices and finds the path to salvation.
Current page: 1 (total book has 28 pages) [accessible reading excerpt: 19 pages]
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 and prophets, the subsequent volumes will reveal the history of the New Testament Church up to the ascetics of our time.
As a rule, collections of the lives of the saints are built according to the calendar principle. In such editions, the biographies of the ascetics are given in the order in which the memory of the saints is celebrated in the Orthodox liturgical circle. Such a presentation has a deep meaning, for the church's remembrance of this or that moment of sacred history is not a story about the past, but a living experience of participation in the event. From year to year we honor the memory of the saints on the same days, we return to the same stories and lives, for this experience of participation is inexhaustible and eternal.
However, the temporal sequence of sacred history must not be left unattended by the Christian. Christianity is a religion that recognizes the value of history, its purposefulness, professing its deep meaning and the action of God's Providence in it. In the temporal perspective, God's plan for humanity is revealed, that "children's guidance" ("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, the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers, the Holy Church prayerfully remembers those who “prepared the way for the Lord” (cf. Is. 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(Mt. 18, I). These are people who lived in hope, these are the souls by which the world, doomed to submission to vanity, was kept (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, proximity to destruction. This is largely due to the fact that the very word "old" in our eyes has become unambiguous, having lost the diversity of its original meanings. The related Latin word "vetus" speaks of antiquity and old age. These two dimensions set the space of holiness before Christ unknown to us: exemplary, “paradigmatic”, immutability, determined by antiquity and originality, 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 we read the hymn of the Apostle Paul dedicated to the Old Testament ascetics (see Heb. 11:4-40) on All Saints' Day, 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, wholly connected with the customs of spiritually immature, young humanity, their polygamy and sometimes their attitude towards children (see: Gen. 25, 6). Nor can we follow their boldness, like the strength of blossoming youth, and together with Moses ask for the appearance of the face of God (see Ex. 33:18), which St. Athanasius the Great warned about in his preface to the psalms.
In the "antiquity" and "old age" of the Old Testament - its strength and its own weakness, which make up all the tension of waiting for the Redeemer - the strength of infinite hope from the multiplication of insurmountable weakness.
The Old Testament saints give us 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 human nature that was not yet perfect, not perfected by Christ, from sin, we gain insights into the coming spirituality of the New Testament. Among the brief remarks of the Old Testament, we find the 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). How should the father feel, leading to the slaughter of the dearest person in his life? But this did not happen immediately: day followed day, and the morning brought the righteous not the joy of a new light, but a heavy reminder that a terrible sacrifice lay ahead. And could sleep bring peace to Abraham? Rather, his condition can be described by the words of Job: 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 not rest, but the inevitable outcome. Three days of tormenting thought - and at any moment Abraham could refuse. Three days of travel - behind a brief biblical remark lies the strength of faith and the severity of the suffering of the righteous.
Aaron, brother of Moses. His name is lost among the many biblical righteous known to us, obscured by the image of his illustrious 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 the Old Testament antiquity: Aaron himself, in the eyes of the people, always retreated before Moses, and the people themselves did not treat him with love and respect, with which they addressed their teacher . To abide in the shadow of a great brother, to humbly carry out one’s service, although great, but not so noticeable to others, to serve the righteous without envying his glory—isn’t this 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 to Aaron, and Aaron was a prophet to Moses (see Ex. 7:1). Yet we can imagine what great advantages an older brother must have had in biblical times. And here - a complete renunciation 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 sorrow 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 conveys to us only one small detail, from which the heart is filled with tenderness 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 a person. 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 unable to understand the meaning of his own suffering. This is his greatest grief, this is his unbearable cry, which Scripture does not hide from us, does not soften, does not smooth, does not bury under the arguments 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 the humility of Job, who bows before the incomprehensibility of God's judgments. And only Job could appreciate the sweetness of this humility. This infinite sweetness was contained in one phrase, which for us became the prerequisite for genuine theology: I have heard about You by ear; now my eyes see you; so I repent and repent in dust and ashes(Job 42:5-6).
So, in every story told by Scripture, many details are hidden, testifying to the depth of suffering and the height of hope of the ancient righteous.
The Old Testament has become far away from us with 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, the power of immutable hope and unswerving striving for God - despite all the falls that even the righteous were subjected to, despite the inclination to sin of a person who has not yet been healed by Christ. The light of the Old Testament is the light from the depth(Ps. 129:1).
The grace-filled spiritual experience of one of the most famous Old Testament saints, the king and prophet David, has become for us an enduring model of any spiritual experience. These are psalms, the wondrous prayers of David, in every word of which the fathers of the Church of the New Testament found the light of Christ. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria has an amazing idea: if the Psalter shows 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 co-heirs of the Old Testament saints, and they did not reach perfection without us(Heb. I, 39-40). This is the great mystery of God's economy, and this reveals our mysterious relationship with the ancient righteous. The Church preserves their experience as an ancient treasure, and invites us to partake of 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 “The Lives of the Saints, set forth according to the guidance of the Chetikh-Menaias” by St. Demetrius of Rostov, will serve the Church in her holy work of teaching and reveal to the reader the majestic and laborious path of the saints to Christ, saved by Christ .
Maxim Kalinin
Lives of the Saints. Old Testament forefathers
Sunday of the Holy Forefathers happens within the 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, all the Old Testament righteous who were justified by faith in the coming Messiah, and the pious youths are remembered.
ADAM and EVE
After arranging and putting in order all the visible creation above and below and the planting of Paradise, God the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, in His Divine council of rivers: Let us make man in Our image and likeness; let him possess the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the wild beasts, and the cattle, and all the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God made man(Gen. 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, participating in eternity, and united it with the flesh, as Saint Damascene says to God: having created” (Funeral songs). The Holy Fathers make a distinction between the image and likeness of God in the human soul. St. Basil the Great in the conversation of the 10th of the Six Days, Chrysostom in the interpretation of the book of Genesis in the conversation of the 9th and Jerome in the interpretation of the prophecy of Ezekiel, chapter 28, establish the following difference: the soul receives the image of God 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, likeness in virtues.
And God called the name of the first man Adam(Gen. 5:2).
From the Hebrew language, Adam is translated - a man of earth or red, since he was created from red earth. 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 a “microcosm”, that is, a small world, for 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 referred to as follows: "Anatoli" - east; "disis" - west; "arktos" - north or midnight; "mesimvria" - noon (south). Take away the first letters from these Greek names, and it will be "Adam". And just as the four-pointed world was depicted in the name of Adam, which Adam was to inhabit by the human race, so the four-pointed cross of Christ was also represented in the same name, through which the new Adam - Christ our God - was subsequently to deliver the human race, inhabited at four ends, from death and hell. universe.
The day on which God created Adam, as already mentioned, was the sixth, which we call Friday. On the same day that God created the beasts and cattle, He also created man, who shares feelings with animals. Man with all creation - visible and invisible, material, I say, and spiritual - has something in common. With insensible things he has in common in being, with beasts, cattle and every animal - in feeling, with angels in mind. And the Lord God took the created man and brought him into Paradise, beautiful, filled with indescribable blessings and sweets, irrigated with four rivers of the purest waters; in the midst of it was the tree of life, and he who eats the fruit of it never dies. There was also another tree, called the tree of understanding, or the knowledge of good and evil; it was the tree of death. God, commanding Adam to eat the fruit of every tree, commanded not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: On the same day, take it down, - he said, - die the death(Gen. 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 condemnation of the 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 narrative itself, if only because Adam and Eve were the only people on earth. But the very idea that the tree of knowledge is connected with a person's moral choice, and not with some special property of its fruits, has become widespread in patristic interpretations. Having fulfilled the commandment of God not to eat from the tree, a person would know good by experience; by breaking the commandment, Adam and Eve experienced evil and its consequences. - Ed.
Holy forefather ADAM and holy foremother EVE
God made Adam king and ruler over all His creatures, and subjected everything to his power - all the sheep and oxen, and livestock, and the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, so that he would possess them all. And he brought to him every livestock and every bird and beast, meek and submissive, for then the wolf was still like a lamb, and the hawk like a hen, in its own way, without harming one another. And Adam gave them all names such as were appropriate and proper for each animal, coordinating the name of each animal with its true nature and the character that would subsequently arise. For Adam was very wise of God and had the mind of an angel. The wise and good Creator, having created Adam as such, wanted to give him a concubine and loving companionship, so that he would have with whom to enjoy such great blessings, and said: It is not good for man alone, let us make him a helper(Gen. 2:18).
And God brought upon Adam a deep sleep, so that he could see with his spirit what was happening and understand the forthcoming sacrament of matrimony, and especially the union of Christ Himself with the Church; for the mystery of the incarnation of Christ was revealed to him (I speak according to the theologians), since the knowledge of the Holy Trinity was given to him, and he knew about the former angelic fall and about the forthcoming reproduction of the human race from him, and also through God's revelation 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 a helper wife, whom Adam, waking up from his sleep, recognized and said: This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh(Gen. 2:23). Both in the creation of Adam from the earth, and in the creation of Eve from the rib, there was a prototype of Christ's incarnation from the Most Pure Virgin, which St. Chrysostom beautifully explains, saying the following: husbands duty; Adam remained whole after the removal of the fleshly rib, and the Virgin also remained incorruptible after the birth of the Child from Her ”(Word for the Nativity of Christ). In the same creation of Eve from Adam's rib, there was a prototype of the Church of Christ, which was to arise from the perforation of His rib on the Cross. About this Augustine says the following: “Adam sleeps so that Eve can be created; Christ dies, let there be a Church. When Adam slept, Eve was created from a rib; when Christ died, the ribs are pierced with a spear, so that the mysteries by which the Church will be organized will flow out.
Adam and Eve were both created by God in ordinary human growth, as John of Damascus testifies to this, saying: “God created a gentle, righteous, virtuous, carefree, sorrowless man, sanctified with every virtue, adorned with all blessings, like some kind of second world, small in the great, another angel, a joint worshiper, bowing to God together with the Angels, the overseer of a visible creature, thinking about secrets, the king of those existing on earth, earthly and heavenly, temporary and immortal, visible and mental, middle majesty (in growth) and humility, and also spiritual and carnal" (John of Damascus. Exact presentation of the Orthodox faith. Book. 2, ch. XII).
Having thus created on the sixth day a husband and wife to stay in Paradise, handing over to them dominion over all creatures of the earth, commanding them to use all the sweets of paradise, except for the fruits from the reserved tree, and blessing their marriage, which then had to be a union of the flesh, 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 one weary, for God is a Spirit, and how can He be weary? He rested in order to give rest to people from their external affairs and worries on the seventh day, which in the Old Testament was the Sabbath (which means rest), and in the new grace a weekly day (Sunday) was consecrated for this, for the sake of what was on this day Resurrection of Christ.
God rested from works in order not to produce new creations, more perfect than those created, for there was no need for more, since every creature was created, above and below. But God Himself did not rest, and does not rest, and will not rest, containing and governing all creation, which is why Christ in the Gospel said: My Father is doing hitherto, and I am doing(John 5:17). God acts, guiding the heavenly currents, arranging beneficial changes of times, establishing the immovable earth on nothing, and producing from it rivers and sweet water springs for the drink of every living creature. God acts for the benefit of all not only verbal, but also dumb animals, providing for, 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(Acts 17:28). And if the Lord God took away His almighty hand from all His creation and from us, then we would immediately perish, and the whole creation would be destroyed. Nevertheless, the Lord does this, without bothering at all, as one of the theologians (Augustine) says: “When he rests, he does, and while he rests.”
The Sabbath day, or the day of God's rest from works, foreshadowed that coming Sabbath 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 (just as small babies are not ashamed today), for they did not yet feel in themselves carnal lust, which is the beginning of shame and about which they then knew nothing, and this is their very thing. dispassion and innocence were like a beautiful garment to them. And what clothes could be more beautiful for them than their pure, virginal, undefiled flesh itself, delighted with heavenly bliss, nourished by heavenly food and overshadowed by the grace of God?
The devil envied such a blessed stay in Paradise and in the form of a serpent deceived them so that they would eat from the fruit from the reserved tree; and Eve tasted first, and then Adam, and both sinned grievously, transgressing the commandment of God. Immediately, having angered their Creator God, they lost the grace of God, recognized their nakedness and understood the enemy's deception, for [the devil] said to them: You will be like Bosi(Gen. 3:5) and lied, being the father of lies(cf. John 8:44). Not only did they not receive a deity, but they also destroyed what they had, for they both lost the inexpressible gifts of God. Unless in this the devil turned out to be, as it were, telling the truth when he said: You will be the leader of good and evil(Gen. 3, 5). Indeed, at that time our first parents only 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 in himself, but at the time when he destroys it. Both of them also knew evil, which they did not know before. For they have known nakedness, famine, winter, heat, labor, sickness, passions, sickness, death, and hell; they knew 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. In the same hour in which they ate the forbidden fruit, immediately from this food they ate, carnal lust was born in them; both of them felt passionate desire in their limbs, and shame and fear seized them, and they began to cover the shame of their bodies with fig leaves. And when they heard 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 commandments they had not kept, and hid from His face, being seized both by 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: Eve, so that she would give birth to children in illnesses; Adam, so that he cultivates the land that gives birth to thorns and thistles, and to both, so that after long sufferings in this life they die and turn their bodies into the earth, and descend into hellish dungeons in their souls.
Only in that God consoled them greatly, that he revealed to them at the same time about the coming, after a certain time, the Redemption of their human race through the incarnation of Christ. For the Lord, speaking to the serpent about the woman, that her Seed would wipe out his head, predicted to Adam and Eve that the Most Pure Virgin, the consumer of their punishment, would be born from their seed, and Christ would be born from the Virgin, Who would redeem them and the whole human race from slavery with His blood. He will bring the enemy out of hellish bonds and again vouchsafe Paradise and 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 settled him directly opposite Paradise, so that he would cultivate the land from which he was taken. He assigned Cherubim with weapons to guard Paradise, so that no man, beast or devil would enter it.
We begin to count the years of the universe from the time of Adam's expulsion from Paradise, because we do not know at all how long the time during which Adam enjoyed the blessings of Paradise lasted. The time became known to us at which he began to suffer after the exile, and from here the summers got their beginning - when the human race saw evil. Truly, Adam knew good and evil at the time when he lost good, fell into unexpected disasters that he had not experienced before. For, being at first in Paradise, he was like a son in his father's house, without sorrow and labor, being saturated with a ready and rich meal; outside of Paradise, as if expelled from the fatherland, he began to eat bread with tears and sighs in the sweat of his face. His assistant Eve, the mother of all living, began to give birth to children in illnesses.
Most likely, after the expulsion from Paradise, our forefathers, if not immediately, then not in a long time, knew each other carnally and began to give birth to children: this is partly because both of them were created at a perfect age, capable of matrimony, and partly because that natural lust and desire for carnal confusion increased in them 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 wished to see as soon as possible a similar fruit and reproduction of mankind, and therefore they soon came to know themselves carnally. and started giving birth.
When Adam was expelled from Paradise, at first he was not far from Paradise; looking constantly at him with his helper, he wept unceasingly, sighing heavily from the depths of his heart at the memory of the inexpressible heavenly blessings that he had lost and fell into such great suffering for the sake of a small tasting of the reserved fruit.
Although our first parents Adam and Eve sinned before the Lord God and lost their former grace, they did not lose faith in God: they were both filled with the fear of the Lord and love and had the hope of their deliverance given to them in revelation.
God was pleased with their repentance, incessant tears and fasting, with which they humbled their souls for their intemperance in Paradise. And the Lord looked down on them mercifully, listening to their prayers, made out of contrition of 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: Siya(wisdom of God) preserve the original father of the world, and bring him out of his sin, and give him strength to contain all kinds(Win. 10, 1-2).
Our forefathers Adam and Eve, not despairing of the mercy of God, but trusting in His philanthropic kindness, began in their repentance to invent ways of serving God; they began to bow to the east, where Paradise was planted, and pray to their Creator, and also offer sacrifices to God: or from the flocks of sheep, which, according to God, was a type of the sacrifice of the Son of God, who was to be slain like a lamb for deliverance. the human race; or they offered from the harvest of the field, which was a foreshadowing of the Sacrament in the new grace, when the Son of God, under the guise of bread, had to be offered as a favorable Sacrifice to God the Father for the remission of human sins.
By doing so themselves, they taught their children to honor God and offer sacrifices to Him and told them with weeping about the blessings of Paradise, exciting them to achieve the salvation promised to them from God and instructing them in 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 Georgy Kedrin) by God's will from the Archangel Uriel, the prince and guardian of repentant people and intercessor for them before God, a well-known revelation about the incarnation of God from the Most Pure, Unmarried and Ever-Virgin Virgin. If it was revealed about the incarnation, then other mysteries 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 Tomb and the resurrection, and about many other God's mysteries, and also about many things that later had to be, like the corruption of the sons of God of the Sethian tribe, the flood, the future Judgment, and 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 - the line number. References are given by edition: Georgius Cedrenus / Ed. Immanuel Beckerus. 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 the ages” and “unknown by an angel” (Theotokion on “God is the Lord” of the 4th tone). 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 Divine Redemption were revealed to Adam contradicts the idea of a gradual communication of Divine revelation to mankind. The mystery of salvation could only be fully revealed by Christ. - Ed.
The holy forefather Adam, who set the first example of both falling and repentance and tearful sobbing, pleasing God with many deeds and labors, when he reached the age of 930, by God's revelation knew his approaching death. Calling his helper Eve, 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. Having then taught peace and blessings to all, he died the death to which he was condemned by God for the transgression of the commandment. His death befell him on Friday (according to the testimony of St. Irenaeus), on which he had previously transgressed the commandment of God in Paradise, and on the same sixth hour of the day on which he ate the commanded food given to him from the hands of Evin. Leaving behind him many sons and daughters, Adam did good in all the days of his life to the entire human race.
How many children were born to Adam, historians speak differently about this. George Kedrin writes that Adam left behind 33 sons and 27 daughters; Cyrus Dorotheus of Monemvasia also affirms the same. The Holy Martyr Methodius, Bishop of Tyre, during the reign of Diocletian in Chalcis (not in Chalcedon, but in Chalcis, for the city of Chalcedon is different, and the city of Chalcis is different, see about it in the Onomasticon), the Greek city that suffered for Christ, in the Roman Martyrology ("Martyr") on the 18th of the month of September, revered (not found in our Saints), tells that Adam had one hundred sons and the same number of daughters born together with his 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 Egisippus) in a marble tomb in Hebron, where the Damascus field, and then the Mamre oak also grew there. There was also that double cave, which Abraham later acquired for the burial of Sarah and himself, having bought it from Ephron during the sons of the Hittites. So, Adam, created from the earth, again returned to the earth, according to the word of the Lord.
Others wrote that Adam was buried where Golgotha is, 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 Saint Ephraim's teacher. He says that Noah, entering the ship before the flood, took the honest relics of Adam from the tomb and carried them with him to 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 - Adam's forehead - and indicated that he would live in that part of the earth where Jerusalem would later be created. By this, according to God's care and according to the prophetic gift given to him by God, he buried Adam's forehead in a high place, not far from the place where Jerusalem was supposed to arise. Having poured a great grave over his forehead, he called it a “place of the forehead” from the forehead of Adam, buried where later, by His will, our Lord Christ was crucified.
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 existence of the world and was buried near her husband, from whose rib she was created.
ABOUT LIFE GENRE
The problem to which this article is devoted was born relatively recently. Over the past decade, when hundreds of saints were canonized, for the most part those whose feat graced the 20th century, there was an urgent need to write their lives. Here the problem arose: in what genre, in what manner should one tell about those people whose lives are still kept in the memory of eyewitnesses and are sometimes even surrounded by conflicting memories?
So, the danger or problem in writing the lives is in "embellishing the lives of the saints", "in multiplication or understatement." What is meant? It seems that, first of all, this refers to the introduction by the author of this or that life of his own subjective assessments of the actions of the ascetic. I will give an example from the book "The New Martyrs of the St. Petersburg Diocese": about the participants of the "Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood", which operated in the city on the Neva for more than a decade, it is said that they were "romantics"
This is nothing but the author's interpretation. The materials of the investigation on the named brotherhood testify that the people who were part of it, despite the fact that they lived under the constant threat of arrest and physical violence, continued to serve the common cause. This is not romanticism, but courage. Although our last phrase is also evaluative. But, if it were part of the life, it would have to be designated as an answer to the question: "what is the instructive meaning of the feat of this saint." This is how the lives that were included in the corpus of the "Cheti-Minei" were traditionally compiled. The author-compiler (first of all, we mean St. Dmitry of Rostov) remembered that the lives are part of the Church Tradition. Therefore, they must be theologically verified, since they have a doctrinal meaning. Therefore, sometimes fascinating interesting details were removed from the lives. The inclusion of any episode from the available biographies of the saint in his life was considered in the light of the question: what does this act or this word teach. Semitones, nuances, things that could confuse ordinary believing people, things that can be called "little things in life" that are not important for eternity, were removed from the lives.
In general, in ancient times, the reading of the lives of the saints was treated with almost the same reverence as the reading of the Holy Scriptures. There was even a special prayer that was said before the reading of the life: “Tell me Thy secret and obscure wisdom, I trust in Thee, O God, that You enlighten our mind and thought with the light of Thy mind, not only written in honor, but I also create, but not in I will read sin to myself the teachings and lives of the saints, but for the renewal and enlightenment and salvation of my soul and for leading me into eternal life.
Every compiler of the lives of the saints of our time should remember this prayer - one cannot chase after the amount of material, one must weigh each testimony before letting it out to the people. A sad example is the four-volume book dedicated to Elder Sampson (Sivers), published by his spiritual children more than a decade ago. Then, when the books, in which materials about the elder were collected with the fullest possible completeness, went out of print, we were very happy: finally, what had been “walking in Samizdat” for many years became “public”. But it soon became clear that this edition caused serious damage to the memory of the elder. Elementary editorial work was not carried out. And so the book is full of contradictions. Elder Samson, which is typical of every elder, delivered or wrote his teachings, addressing a specific person, taking into account the level of his consciousness and everyday circumstances. Therefore, on the same issue (the most striking example in the legacy of the elder is statements about raising children), he could give completely different advice. There could have been errors in quoting and gaps in memory regarding some ancient events in the oral speech of the elder. Before publishing all the surviving texts, they had to be verified and systematized. And now, “thanks to” an ill-conceived publication, some church people have established a wary attitude towards the personality of Elder Sampson, the confirmation of which they found in archival documents.
The author of these lines remembers a significant dispute around the biography of the New Martyrs of Optina - Hieromonk Vasily, monks Trofim and Ferapont. N.A. Pavlova, a Moscow journalist who settled almost from the very beginning of the revival of the monastery in the village near Optina Hermitage, collected a lot of materials from local residents, pilgrims, laborers, monks of the monastery about the brothers killed in 1993. Moreover, in these memoirs, the collector tried to preserve the linguistic features of the narrators (including village grandmothers with their folk dialect and former bohemian people with their "party language"). The memoirs were accompanied by a rather lengthy author's text - Nina Alexandrovna's reflections on the fate of the new generation, on the "new history" of the resurgent Optina, there were many author's verbal portraits and the author's assessment of the described and published material. The monastery did not approve of such work. And they asked to rewrite everything "according to the canon." N.A. Pavlova could not do this. Another person used its materials and, with the blessing of Optina Pustyn, published a series of books. It is no coincidence that they remained nameless, because they are really compiled according to the canon, without unnecessary details, without emotional assessments, strictly and dryly. But, when N.A. Pavlova’s “Red Easter” saw the light of day, it turned out that the narration of just such a genre was especially in demand by readers - in a short time the book, which was published in 20 thousand copies, was reprinted three times. In praise of N.A. Pavlova, let us say that she edited her work for five years, listening to the wishes of spiritually authoritative people, and therefore there is almost no unnecessarily author's point of view in the final version. There are also no some that lead to details and conjectures (the original version of "Red Easter" was twice the size of the published book). And there is a lively, heartfelt story that really touched the souls of many people.
The example of N.A. Pavlova is worthy of imitation - she "did not look for her own", but tried, given to her really bright writing talent, to use for the glory of God, humbly agreeing with the strict editorial correction.
But among the compilers of lives there are those who are clearly "looking for their own". The saddest example is associated with the name of the old woman Pelagia of Ryazan. Ten years ago, the "Eternal Life" newspaper published "the prophecies of the blessed Pelageya", which confused many believers, provided with her life, in copies they were persistently distributed among the believers. And so far this distribution work has not subsided. The main motive of these prophecies is the sinfulness of the modern priesthood. I do not want to retell the details of this obviously anti-church propaganda. Three years ago, with the blessing of Metropolitan Simon of Ryazan and Kasimov, the book "Biography of Blessed Pelageya Zakharovskaya" was published. From her we learn that she was a true servant of God, and among her spiritual children there were many priests, those whom she herself inspired to this, difficult for those times, choice of life path. And none of the admirers of the blessed one testifies that the main thing in her feat was the denunciation of the vices of the priesthood.
Even if the blessed one said something on this subject, the people should not be embarrassed. When solving such issues, the work of not just a literary, but a theological editor is necessary, although again the author's position is of great importance. For example, the author of the life of St. Seraphim of Vyritsky - V.P. Filimonov did not include in the story about the Reverend Elder the story of the bitter fate of his son. And the compilers of the life of St. rights. John of Odessa tell in detail what sorrows the saint endured from his children. In the life of St. rights. John of Kronstadt says nothing about the complexities of his relationship with the Petrograd priesthood. And in the life of schmch. Seraphim (Chichagov) tells about the opposition of the Synod in the canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov. In various "excerpts from the life" of St. Nicholas of Japan tells about his mission in different ways. Some speak of her unclouded success, while others, relying on the authentic diaries of the Saint, draw attention to the difficulties of his feat in the "Land of the Rising Sun".
In the author's books about recently departed ascetics, those who knew them personally, all the more find "author's arbitrariness." Thus, the book about the schema nun Anthony (Kaveshnikova), which captivated many, caused a claim among those who knew her personally (unlike the author-compiler of the Life), that the image of the mother was rendered implausibly. The book about Elder Macarius "Given by God" aroused among people who do not like the escalation of mysticism the suspicion of the lack of spiritual sobriety of its author. The real embarrassment was produced by the book of schemamon. Nikolai (Groyan) about the ever-remembered elder Nikolai Zalitsky. First of all, the persistent statement about the secret scheming and episcopacy of the priest. Examples can be multiplied.
There is probably only one way out so far. If the author allows himself to make some kind of individual selection of facts when writing the life of an ascetic (when there are many sources), he is obliged to put his name before the text. Thus, he will be responsible for the interpretation. And we have such hagiographic authors (following the example of Nilus, Poselyanin, Shmelev and Zaitsev), these are A. Ilyinskaya, A. Strizhev, N. Konyaev, V. Voskoboynikov, V. Krupin. In their lives there is only their characteristic, unique writing style. I must say that it is not always possible to agree with him, sometimes such lives resemble works of art with the main character and other characters. And you can define their essence with the words: "the image of the saint, created by the writer N".
Recently, one person "from the writing brethren" told me an instructive story about how he compiled the life of an ascetic elder revered in Ukraine. In the monastery where the ascetic labored, he was provided with a mass of already collected archival materials and eyewitness recollections, and he enthusiastically set about studying them and compiling his life. Over the summer, he wrote a whole book in which, in his opinion, he only recounted the materials provided to him. In the autumn, after the father rector and the brethren of the monastery got acquainted with the manuscript, an unexpected verdict came from them: everything needs to be rewritten, because the life is written in a condemning tone. "The elder was loving, all-forgiving, and you denounce his persecutors. This is not his spirit." Thank God, the compiler of the above-mentioned life found the courage to get down to work again and began to remove from it his "author's style", in which there was an exaltation of the old man by exposing his enemies. But not every writer has the patience and humility to "step on the throat of his own song." Thus, in the lives of the already glorified saints, evidence of ill-conceivedness, inaccuracy of the position of their authors appears.
So, in the "hagiographical genre" at present there is a great variety, in addition to the "varieties of hagiography" already mentioned by us. There are lives written for different children's ages (from kindergarten to high school students); publications of handwritten editions of the same life with abundant commentary; scientific studies in which the life of a saint is included in the "context of time"; ideological program lives, in which the ascetic is declared the banner of some social movement, most often of a nationalist persuasion (this has more to do with Catholic saints).
Let's go back to where we started this article. Thus, it turns out that not every life can be included in the Church Tradition. There are lives that can be called "the fruit of individual creativity." We have historical examples of reinterpretation of the feat of our saints by L. Tolstoy, D. Merezhkovsky, L. Andreev and D. Andreev, N. Roerich and occultists of various persuasions. And now the lives of Orthodox saints can appear in the series "Great Soothsayers" or "Great Healers", in which paganism is mixed with Christianity, although the mixture is not directly stated. Therefore, every time you get another book with materials from the biographies of modern ascetics, you need to read it with reasoning, asking for the opinions of spiritually authoritative people.
In pre-revolutionary times, in our theological schools, a question was discussed, which again comes "on the agenda" - the need to introduce a new subject called "Hagiology" or "the doctrine of Orthodox holiness" into the curriculum. Our time urgently demands a theological substantiation of the Orthodox doctrine of holiness. And not only at the level of teaching in special theological educational institutions, but also at the general church level. If this work is done by learned theologians, then it will be easier for the editors who are preparing this or that life of the saint for publication.
We also recall the decision of the Holy Synod of December 26, 2002 "On streamlining in the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church the practice related to the canonization of saints", which states "that when preparing materials for the canonization of saints, one should take into account:
1. Materials for the canonization of an ascetic must be carefully prepared and considered by the Diocesan Commission for the Canonization of Saints, which was decided by the Council of Bishops in 1992 (see Act on Canonization .., paragraph 11: "To form commissions for canonization in all dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church saints to collect and study materials for the canonization of ascetics of faith and piety, especially martyrs and confessors of the 20th century, within each diocese").
2. It is unacceptable to publish unverified materials related to the life, deeds and sufferings of clerics and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church. Such evidence must be verified locally with the blessing of the Ruling Bishop. The ruling bishop can give a blessing for the publication of such materials only after personally familiarizing himself with their content.
We also recall that in the decision of the Council of Bishops in 2000. there is a definition: "Together with the glorification by name of the ascetics, whose feat has already been studied. The Council of Bishops glorified all the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia of the 20th century who suffered for Christ, still unknown to people, but led by God."
Such a glorification of the whole assembly for Christ of the martyred New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia of the 20th century, named and unnamed, did not leave outside the ecclesiastical veneration before God of all the saints of this period.
ABOUT THE LANGUAGE OF LIVES
Reading hagiographic literature has always been a favorite in Russia. People are accustomed to trusting the Lives as an indisputable source, and only in the last century the question of the authorship of the Lives arose. We thought about the fact that the information that is given in the life and how it is presented depends largely on the author-compiler. Surely, those who read the entire Menaion noticed that among the many lives, sometimes for some reason very similar to each other, there are real pearls of hagiographic literature that stand out among the general mass. Usually these are the lives written by the direct disciples of the saints or, in extreme cases, the disciples of the disciples (such, for example, are the lives of St. Alexander of Svir and St. Sergius of Radonezh).
In order to see how stories about the same saint told by different authors can differ, it is sometimes enough to compare different editions of the same text. Particularly characteristic in this sense are the lives composed for the great Stoglavy Cathedral of 1547 - they were all written on the basis of a certain church-political concept. It was important to approve the succession from Byzantium and the idea of "Moscow - the Third Rome". It is this era - the beginning of the 16th century - that gives us a curious phenomenon: the image of a saint was considered by the author depending on what ideal of asceticism he professed - Josephite or non-possessive. If the life was written by a defender of the idea of a symphony between the state and monasteries, the idea of the enlightenment and state-forming relations of the monastery to the world, then these virtues were also boasted of by the saint. If a life was written by a non-possessor, then he first of all affirmed in the image of a saint his love in solitude, flight from the world, the path of personal innermost asceticism. Often the compilers of the lives allowed themselves and lengthy author's digressions-teachings of a general plan.
When writing a life, the literary tastes of its compiler also mean a lot, in other words, the language that was spoken and written at that time is important. Our time has given rise to a very special type of life - a dry archival story, on the basis of which the reader himself can create the image of an ascetic. Or - this is especially interesting - a type of life appeared, made up of the memories of various people, while maintaining the unique conversational style of each of them (stories are most often recorded in oral retelling). The most interesting, in my opinion, are the lives written by Bp. Varnava (Belyaev) and nun Maria (Skobtsova) - they combine high artistic style with liveliness of presentation and appeal to the modern reader and his problems. It is written about the ancient saints as if they were our contemporaries - because the temptations and exploits that fell to them are shown as eternal.
Several versions of the lives exist according to the Optina Elders. In my opinion, the most valuable and interesting remains what the disciples collected during the life of the ascetics. There are several options for the lives of bliss. Matrons. About St. rights. John of Kronstadt now, thank God, a lot of literature is coming out. Even the scientific Chronicle of his life began to be compiled. All this is very joyful. This means that we are growing, that we are getting the opportunity to recognize the saints not only in the established "face of the saints", but on the way to it. We can see the most important thing - the real path to holiness, and in the case of the saints of the last times - in very close and understandable circumstances to us.
The variety of hagiographic literature forces us to be legible, collected, not to skim through habitual stereotyped phrases, but to read into unique, dissimilar texts. This is very good - our time does not allow us to make our faith a habit, a form in which it is convenient to live. Our time is constantly demanding to keep content in a changing world. And at the same time, we seem to be returning to the situation of the “golden age” of Christian writing, when various hagiographic genres existed and descendants had the opportunity to read the original “Acts of Martyrdom”, and not just retellings of them by one or another author.
We have not touched in this article on yet another "hagiographic genre" - stories, novels and short stories written by modern writers based on the biographies of saints. This is a special topic and quite painful. In my opinion, we have very few successful experiences in this genre. You need to be S. Nilus or E. Poselyanin in order to be able to tell about the saint in such a way that bad taste does not break through or, even worse, your own passion does not obscure the bright images of our saints. And this often happens when some kind of direct speech is put into the mouths of the saints.
But it's good that lives are now being published for different ages, for different levels of people's perception. There are, for example, numerous children's versions of the lives of St. Seraphim of Sarov or St. Sergius of Radonezh. There are traditional lives in the style of "weaving words", and there are scientific texts, when the image of a saint is inscribed in the context of his era - so that everyone can choose what is closer and more necessary to him. Let's repeat once again, if only there were no "gag" in these publications, unnecessary author's digressions and bad obsession.
It would seem a strange question, but not an idle one. After all, modern man tends to see "myths and legends" in everything. And he can perceive Life in this way. Our ancestors defined the purpose of reading hagiographical literature as follows: "Saints of life - the fear of God is instilled in the soul, the evil are left, the good are accepted: those lives are sighted, they come to the sense of their deeds, they think of leaving the evil; the light is the saints lives and enlightenment to our souls ". These are the words of one of the ancient writers of the Lives (after all, they were copied by hand and it was very hard work).
In one old handwritten collection we find a prayer appeal - a request for a correct understanding of the lives: "Tell me Thy secret and obscure wisdom, I trust in Thee, O God, but Thou enlighten my mind and thought with the light of Thy mind, not only written honor, but also create I may not read the teachings and lives of the saints as a sin to myself, but for renewal and enlightenment and for the salvation of my soul and for leading me to eternal life.
It is a custom among church people to wake up from sleep (and in extreme cases the night before) among the usual prayer rule to address prayer appeals to the saint whose memory is indicated in the church calendar. The author of these lines has to admit that now it is rarely possible to do this (you justify yourself with lack of time, but this is probably not the point). And there were times when it was even possible to read the entire life of the holy day - and now these times are remembered as the most blessed ones. And, perhaps, this reading has remained the main baggage of Christian wisdom to this day, and not all kinds of learned books, of which a lot has been read. In the lives of the saints, one can find grounds for solving various difficulties that are encountered in life. And, if the samples of deeds and words of the saints are stored in the memory, then with the help of God, they sometimes come to mind at the right moment and keep from recklessness, and sometimes just from stupidity.
Even the Lord in his earthly life often used examples from the lives of the Old Testament righteous. So to solve the questions of the Pharisees: is it possible to grind the ears of the hungry on Saturday and eat? Our Savior pointed to the example of David, who ate the showbread - and the Pharisees had to be silent.
And in our time, when we are told: "Your Church is graceless. You have no continuity," we can answer: "Look how many saints we have. The 20th century gave more of them than the entire history of Christianity in Russia. It means that those who who denounced “historical Christianity.” The accusers almost all disappeared abroad, and those whom they denounced testified to the faith with the blood of martyrs.
And from my meager experience I can say that this reading sometimes really produces a prayerful effect: you read the life and involuntarily imbued with the spirit of this saint. The same thing happens when you have to retell lives in lectures, in programs or in articles - you involuntarily imbue with reverence for the saint. I remember how many years ago I came to Optina with a question to Elder Elijah: "They ask me to give lectures about the elders, but I'm afraid. I'm so bad." The father replied: “Always think that you are bad, but your work is good. People need to talk about the saints, And let the one who speaks or writes about the saints himself be unworthy, but the words of the saints and their lives do not fade from this.” These lectures had to be read more than once - and this turned out to be a source of consolation, because it was always remembered: "You are bad, but your work is good."
HOW DO CATHOLICS UNDERSTAND HOLINESS?
Much has been written about the difference between the Orthodox and Catholic ideals of holiness. But, as you know, even the most complex dogmatic problems are most easily understood with the help of specific examples. And now - the clearest example of our time, revered during her lifetime in the West as our saint contemporary - Mother Teresa. We know a lot about her work. Almost all of her exploits were widely covered in various media. Which in itself is also precisely a manifestation of Western "testimony" or missionary work. At the same time, an Orthodox nun lived with Mother Teresa - Elder Gabriel. She also worked with lepers in India. She also traveled all over the world, helping people bear their physical ailments (she was a doctor), she was undoubtedly a missionary. But they did not write about her in the newspapers, did not interview her, did not film her in a group of politicians or higher hierarchs - all this is alien to Orthodox asceticism. They learned about Mother Gabrielia only after her death, when the students collected her statements and published a book. Now it has been translated from Greek and published in Russian. In fact, the teachings of Mother Gabrielia cannot even be called teachings - these are conversations, a simple conversation with loved ones. Talking to them, she simply shares her memories of what she had to see and experience during her travels. And, if you look at the thematic index at the end of the book, you will be surprised to notice that mother does not speak at all about striving for holiness, does not speak about self-examination.
In order to understand how the Catholic ideal differs from the Orthodox, it is enough to open the last book of Mother Teresa "There is no more that love ...". All of it is permeated with a conscious desire for holiness. The book has a chapter on holiness, and it gives an example of a characteristic Catholic prayer: “He is the God who loves us, the One who created us. Turning to Him, we can ask Him: “My Father, help me! I want to be holy, I want to be kind, I want to love!" Holiness is not a luxury reserved for some elite; it is not reserved for a select few. We are all called to it, you and I and everyone else." I said that this is a characteristic Catholic prayer, because the petition for holiness is also found in the biographies of ancient and new Catholic saints, according to the testimony of Western people I personally know, and is common for ordinary Catholics. Mother Teresa states in the same book: "To say, 'I want to be holy,' is to take the path of God, the path of salvation."
An Orthodox ascetic would reply to this: "To say, 'I want to become a saint,' means embarking on the path of delusion, self-deception, and self-admiration." Thus, while performing even great deeds of mercy, one can live constantly inwardly pleasing oneself with one's holiness.
But we, Orthodox neophytes, often without realizing it ourselves, embark on the same path. In a "heart-to-heart talk" with one woman, I heard: "I constantly think about what God intended me to be. What I should be. And every day I note what I did against that holy image." "We shouldn't rate ourselves on the scale of holiness," I told her. And she was very surprised: "But isn't this what the Fathers teach us?" - "No, they teach us to look not ahead at our holiness, but always look at our real sinfulness."
From the lives of Orthodox saints, we know that none of them thought that he was holy, did not even assume in himself any beginnings of holiness. And from century to century the teaching was repeated: "It is not a great thing to see an angel, a great thing is to see your sins, like the sand of the sea."
biographies of canonized (recognized by the church as saints) persons; represent one of the sources. J. s. originated as a religion. literary propaganda genre (hagiography) in the 2nd-3rd centuries. during the struggle of Christianity against the officers. tongue religion. Initial type J. s. - "martyria" (from lat. martirium - martyrdom), i.e., descriptions of the martyrdoms of historical or mythical persons who suffered for their loyalty to Christianity. After the transformation of Christianity into dominions. Zh.'s religion took on the character of the biographies of the church. figures (and "ascetics" in general), allegedly distinguished by asceticism and performing miracles; sometimes J. s. concerned the life of secular rulers (Constantine the Great and others), very rarely - nat. heroes (for example, Joan of Arc, etc.). The nucleus of J. s. sometimes written on the basis of stories and reminiscences, usually overgrown with fantastic, but edifying. details (for example, the Life of George the Victorious). Originally a simple syllable J. s. with the inclusion of quotations from the Holy Scriptures, prayers, teachings, is replaced by stereotyped verbosity. Most Zh. anonymous, but the authors are also known - hagiographers who specialized in compiling them (Ignatius Deacon, Simeon Metafrast, Nikita Paphlagon, Theodore Daphnopat - in Byzantium; in Russia - Nestor, Pachomius Logofet). There are numerous collections of Zh. with: minology, patericons, synaxariums, Cheti-Minei. J. s. rich in household material; sometimes they reflect the moods and aspirations of the Nars. masses, political struggle, but most of the texts require a very critical. relations (legendary, miracles, late recording, text alterations, tendentiousness, etc.). J. s. published as dominions. church, and heretics (Nestorians, Monophysites, schismatics). There are hagiographies in Greek, Latin, other Russian, Syrian, Arabic, Georgian, Armenian, and Coptic. In the West (in Belgium), starting from the 17th century. up to present. time, J. s. published by the Bollandists and their successors. The first experiments in Russian hagiographies belong to the middle. 11th c. Byzantine served as a model for them. Zh. with., especially their short form, the so-called. Prologue. But already early Russian. J. s. differ from the Byzantine ones in greater simplicity and historicity. In the manner of J. s. chronicle biographies of Olga, Vladimir, Boris and Gleb were written. They contain information about the feats of arms of the princes, give a sharp, politically biased picture of the events of their time, and often add nar. legends and song-epic. element. In the life of Theodosius of the Caves (12th century) there is information supplementing the annals about the political. wrestling in Kyiv in con. 11th century, information about the source. geography, x-ve and life of the Caves monastery. To the genre of Zh. can also be attributed to legends of the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon. Some of them contain valuable additions to the annalistic news about the famine and salt speculation in Kyiv during the reign of Svyatopolk and the uprising of 1113. On the basis of the Kiev tradition in the 12-13 centuries. the hagiography of the North-East develops. Russia. The life of Leonty of Rostov (2nd half of the 12th century) received the greatest distribution. Political the trend of this life reflects the desire of Andrei Bogolyubsky to the church. independence. Valuable monuments of Russian. hagiographies are the life of Cyril of Turov - unity. a well-known biography of the famous writer and preacher, Alexander Nevsky, Abraham of Smolensk (beginning of the 13th century), etc. From the end. 14th c. in the spirit of the dominant ideology, a new type of Zh. lit-re 15-16 centuries. Its creators - Metropolitan Cyprian, Epiphanius the Wise, Pachomius Logofet - under the influence of the South Slavs. lit-ry brought to J. with. edify. "red verbalization", in which already meager facts were drowned. The canonization of the saints at the councils of 1547–49 and the compilation of Great Reading Menaia gave impetus to the further development of hagiography, although the processing of earlier Zh. in "Menaias" etched into them many. elements of history. A valuable source for the history of monastic colonization and class. struggle of the peasants is the life of Simon Volomsky (the founder of the monastery in the region of Ustyug the Great, killed by the peasants in 1641). Colorful stories about heroes. voyages of the Pomeranians in the White and Barents Seas, shipbuilding, and hunting contain sowing. Russian J. s. 16th-17th centuries (Zosimas and Savatia, Anthony of Siysk and others). Lives of Yuliania Lazareva, the leaders of the Old Believers Avvakum and Epiphanius, and other similar monuments of the 17th century. are not Zh. V. O. Klyuchevsky, A. Kadlubovsky, I. Yakhontov and others, who were looking for in Zh. first of all, the reliable facts of the biographies of the holy ascetics, recognized them as sources of little value, since they were written on the basis of oral traditions, which later found a letter for themselves. exposition. Owls. researchers (D. S. Likhachev, I. U. Budovnits, L. V. Cherepnin, Ya. S. Lurie, etc.), transferring ch. attention in studying Zh. with biographical elements on the East. background, discovered in them important information about the history of agriculture, builds. technology, about life and customs, the history of monastic colonization and class. struggle of the peasants. They showed that often through the ideal image of the "ascetic" in life, despite the efforts of the authors, a feudal predator peeps through; J. s. are full of references to the peasants, "breathing with murder" on the "ascetics" who penetrated their lands, about the "sorrows and dirty tricks" inflicted on them by the peasants, about the beating "without mercy." Source: Acta sanctorum..., Antverpiae-Brux., 1643-; Analecta Bollandiana, v. 1-60, P.-Brux., 1882-1962; Patrologiae cursus completus... accurante J. P. Migne, series (Latina) prima, t. 1-221, P., 1844-64; ditto, series graeca, t. 1-161, (P.), 1857-66. Lit .: Klyuchevsky V. O., Dr. Rus. J. s. as ist. source, M., 1871; Yakhontov I., Zh. sowing Russian ascetics of the Pomeranian region as ist. source, Kaz., 1881; Kadlubovsky A., Essays on the history of other Russian. literature Zh. S., Warsaw, 1902; Loparev H., Greek. J. s. VIII - IX centuries, P., 1914; Bezobrazov P., Byzantine legends, part 1, Yuryev, 1917; Rudakov A.P., Essays on Byzantine culture according to Greek hagiography, M., 1917; Likhachev D.S., A man in the literature of other Russia, M.-L., 1958; Lurie Ya. S., Ideological. wrestling in Russian journalism of the late XV - early. XVI centuries., M.-L., 1960; Budovnits I. U., From the history of monastic land ownership in the XIV - XVI centuries, in the book: Yearbook on agrarian. history of East. Europe, 1960, K., 1962; Ranovich A. B., How Zh. S. was created, M., 1961; Bibl.: Bibliotheca hagiographica graeca, Brux., 1909; Potthast A., Bibliotheca historica medii aevi, Graz, 1954. M. Ya. Syuzyumov. Sverdlovsk, D. X. Kazachkova. Leningrad.
