18th Week after Pentecost (Hebrew reading of the 11th, Matthew, week due to the Ascension Apostasy).
Troparion and Kontakion of the Nativity Holy Mother of God (see September 8/21) Troparion of St. Silouan of Athos, tone 2: Seraphim’s love for the Lord, an ardent zealot/ and Jeremiah, for a people weeping,/ a zealous imitator,/ all-blessed father Silvana,/ you, to the call of the Lord of Hosts, heed,/ serpent sin you wisely vomited out the ram/ and you retreated to Mount Athos from the vanity of the world, / where in labors and prayers with tears / the grace of the Holy Spirit was abundantly acquired, / our hearts were inflamed / and tenderly cry out to you to strengthen: / My Lord, my life and joy Holy one, // save the world and us from all evil ones. Kontakion of St. Silouan of Athos, tone 2: Confessor of humility of mind/ and kindness warmed by the Holy Spirit,/ beloved of God Silvana,/ the Russian Church rejoices in your struggle,/ the foreigners of Mount Athos and all Christian people, / rejoicing, rush to God with filial love. / Pray for Him, equal to the angel Knower of God, // how can we be saved by imitating you in the burning of love. Troparion and Kontakion of St. Sergius and Herman of Valaam(see June 28 / July 11)
The revelation given to us by the Lord and Savior truly turned human history upside down. Every religion that existed before Christianity assumed that a person is saved by scrupulous fulfillment of external instructions. Thus, religion turned into a kind of magic: it seemed to people that it was enough to perform one or another sacred action in order to automatically receive salvation. In this approach, the most important thing was lost - the internal content of religion, that is, faith. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His coming into the world, renewed the very concept of religious life. He taught us that true faith is where a person feels God's presence in his life. Prayer is where there is sincere confidence that God hears. A religious way of life is where a person’s life is organized in accordance with faith. We are saved by faith, which attracts the power of Divine grace to us.
When Semyon Antonov, the son of a Tambov peasant, born five years after the abolition of serfdom, was four years old, his father let a book carrier spend the night. He turned out to be an intelligent and progressive man, and without wasting any time, he began to carry out his educational mission, explaining to the dark masters that Christ is not God, and there is no God at all. From that day on, the words of an adult scribe: “Where is God?” They did not give the boy peace, forcing him to repeat: “When I grow up big, I will go look for God.”
But we didn't have to go far. Nearby in the village of Seleznevo lived the recluse John, who was considered a saint during his lifetime, and when he died, they began to go to his grave to bow and pray. But if there is a holy person - and not some ancient one, from a book, but here, next door - then God is with us and there is no need to look for Him all over the earth, Semyon decided at the age of 19 and immediately, with youthful maximalism, decided to go to the monastery.
His father, a very pious but wise man, dissuaded him. The son was an ordinary peasant guy - strong, handsome, hard-working, looked at girls, fought with fists. And my father reasoned: first serve the required six years of military service, and then, if you don’t change your mind...
Semyon served in St. Petersburg, in a sapper battalion, but the temptations of the capital could no longer dissuade him from thinking about the monastery. Having been demobilized, he went to Father John of Kronstadt, and he blessed him to go to Athos. After staying at home for a week, he quickly got ready and in the fall of 1892 entered the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on the Holy Mountain as a novice, and four years later he took monastic vows with the name Silouan.
His duties were the most prosaic: at first he was a worker at a mill, then a housekeeper, then he was in charge of workshops, a food warehouse, and in his declining years, a trading store.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian monastery on Mount Athos, experiencing the peak of its popularity, generally became overly interested in farming. The future famous missionary Archimandrite Spiridon (Kislyakov) wrote about this with bitterness: “Another scandal: farmsteads located in big cities, where monks simply die. The third scandal, the most serious: money, money, always money! How many times have I tried to have a cordial conversation with several brothers, but I always had to give in to them, because they lost their temper. There I did not meet great saints! If I became close to several ascetics, I quickly became disappointed in them, since with all their spiritual exploits they lacked the moral side of the soul. , and this was noticed especially in their relations with their neighbors."
Surprisingly, they bypassed Father Silouan, who, as a housekeeper, was in the thick of these temptations. In the fact that instead of being a hermit, he was forced to be in public all his life, he saw a special asceticism, a gift from God - his goal was to learn to pray constantly, in any conditions, while doing any business. And love everyone.
Once, already in old age, when one ascetic hermit began to convince him that “God will punish all the atheists, and they will burn in hell,” Silouan asked him: “Well, please tell me if they put you in heaven, and From there you will see someone burning in hellfire, will you be at peace?” “What can you do, it’s your own fault,” said the monk. And the elder with a sorrowful face replied: “Love cannot bear this... We need to pray for everyone.”
He was a simple man, poorly educated: his entire education was two classes at a parochial school. True, he loved to read and regularly used the many thousands of books in the monastery library. He never found a mentor in his spiritual exercises, as required by the ascetic guidance of the ancient ascetics, but he himself, on own experience I went through this school, although all the great Christian ascetics and mystics warn that this is impossible alone. But, apparently, Elder Silouan lived his life in some other reality, and he, in his simplicity, was given what was unthinkable for others.
For dozens of years, he prayed at night with tears for “all Adam” - all humanity emanating from pain, barely emerging from one world massacre and already preparing for a new one. Great compassion for self-tormenting people who “are looking for their freedom” forced him to cry out: “Oh, peoples of the whole earth, I fall on my knees before you and beg with tears: come to Christ...”. “Praying for people means shedding blood,” he said. And he lived with the suffering of the whole world, forgetting himself.
These prayerful outpourings of the elder, recorded in writing, became known only after his death. During his life, as an experienced ascetic, he tried not to reveal himself in any way, although everyone, from ordinary workers to hierarchs, felt the special grace emanating from him.
Athonite monasticism, in its sober distrust of man, adheres to the rule: “Do not please anyone before the end.” Only after the death of the elder in 1938 they started talking about him: “Now we see that Elder Silouan has reached the measure of the holy fathers.” And after the publication of the book by Schema-Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakhorov) “Elder Silouan. Life and Teachings,” the question of canonization was raised in the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which took place in 1987.
The name of St. Silouan of Athos was included in the Russian month book Orthodox Church in 1992 with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II.
Fast of Gedaliah
Among the Jews, this is a day of mourning and fasting in memory of the murder of Gedaliah ben Ahikam, the last governor of Judah, appointed by the Babylonians after the destruction of the First Temple of Jerusalem.
The sixth century BC was a difficult period in the history of the Kingdom of Judah. The small country was located between two powerful powers - Babylon and Egypt. The rulers of Judea tried to maneuver between them, trying to find a more advantageous ally and patron. Eventually in 605 BC. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated the Egyptians and conquered Judea.
For many years, the Jews put up with their servitude, but in 598 BC. Judea again took the side of Egypt. In response, the Babylonian king captured the Judah king Jehoiachin and the entire national elite, including courtiers, military men, gunsmiths, etc. Total number the number of prisoners was ten thousand. Over those who remained in their homeland, Nebuchadnezzar appointed King Tsidkiyahu as viceroy. But in 591, Tzidkiyahu led another uprising against Babylon, hoping for the support of Egypt, and in 588 Nebuchadnezzar again set out on a campaign against Judea.
After two years of siege, Jerusalem fell. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city, the First Temple, and executed the sons of King Zedekiah, ending the 400-year reign of the Davidic dynasty. He killed or captured most of the members royal family and the nobility of the country. The elite of Jewish society, including the leading clerics, civilians and military, were taken as captives to Babylon. Many were killed.
However, Nebuchadnezzar did not want to turn Judea into a complete desert. People of the lower classes were allowed to remain in Judea to farm. Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, a wise and just man, a friend of the prophet Jeremiah, as the ruler of Judea.
Many Jews who fled to safety in neighboring countries during the war began to return to the country. The governor called on the people to remain loyal to Babylon and promised peace and security. We can say that this promise was fulfilled - the Babylonian garrison stationed in the country did not insult the Jews, and even protected them from hostile neighbors.
Among the refugees who joined Gedaliah was Ishmael, one of the princes of the line of David, who apparently believed that he would be a much better ruler for Judah and that Judah needed to navigate its foreign policy to Egypt, not to Babylon. Therefore, he found an ally in the king of the state of Ammon, who watched with concern the growth of the new Jewish colony. And, waiting for a favorable opportunity, he killed Gedaliah, many of his prominent associates, and also destroyed the small Babylonian garrison located in the city of Mizpah, the governor’s headquarters.
Gedaliah was warned about the plot, but rejected the proposal of his companions to secretly kill their enemies. He himself was killed during a massacre at a holiday feast on the second day of Rosh Hashanah.
As punishment for the murder of Gedaliah, Nebuchadnezzar liquidated the kingdom of Judah, turning it into a Babylonian province, and took into captivity more than 9 thousand inhabitants of the country. As a result, the Jewish people lost their state and national independence for a long time. The Jews had only one option left - to flee to Egypt. But even there the hand of Babylon reached them: a few years later, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt, destroyed it and most of the Jewish refugees died.
In memory of the murder of Gedaliah and the tragedy that then happened to the Jewish people shortly after the destruction of the First Temple, this fast, called the fast of Gedaliah, was established. And since it is impossible to fast on the holiday on which the day of his death fell, the mourning fast was moved to the next day (and if it falls on Saturday, then to Sunday). This fast is mentioned in the Bible (Zech. 8:19) as “the fast of the seventh (month).”
Today the Orthodox church holidays, saints of God: Venerable Theodora. Reverends Sergius and Herman. Reverend Silouan.
Today is September 24 (September 11, old style) Orthodox, church holidays, the feast of the holy saints of God:
* Venerable Theodora of Alexandria (c. 474-491). *** Venerable Sergius and Herman, Valaam wonderworkers (transfer of relics). * St. Silouan of Athos (1938).
Martyrs Demetrius, Evanthia his wife, and Demetrius their son (I); Diodora, Didymus and Diamid in Laodicea of Syria; Ii (c. 362-364); Roman and Isidore; Leo. Saint Zeno, Bishop of Naples. Venerable Euphrosynus the Cook (IX). Hieromartyrs Nicholas (Podyakov) and Victor presbyters, Moscow (1918); Karp (Elba) Archpriest (1937); Nicholas the Deacon (1942). Icon of the Mother of God of Kaplunovskaya (1689).
Feast of the Orthodox Saints of God
Venerable Theodora
The Monk Theodora lived in Alexandria in the 5th century. Having a kind man as her husband, she lived happily. But it happened that a certain rich man fell in love with her and tried in every possible way to persuade her to cheat on her husband. St. Theodora was afraid of offending God with this betrayal and struggled with temptation for a long time. Finally, through the mediation of one woman, the rich man achieved his goal. Then Theodora’s conscience began to torment her: she was ashamed to look at her husband, relatives and friends. Arriving at the monastery to her friend the abbess, she confessed her sin and asked whether she could hope for God’s mercy and salvation? The abbess reassured Theodora, saying: “Great is your sin, but great is God’s mercy, and there is no sin that exceeds it. Repent and you will be saved.” Then Theodora decided to retire to a monastery, but, fearing that her husband would find her in convent, cut her hair, put on a man's dress and, with the name Theodora, came to a monastery in Egypt. The abbot did not want to accept her, seeing her youth; but St. Theodora tearfully begged him and promised to fulfill all monastic obediences. St. spent eight years. Theodora in the monastery in great labors, fasting, contemplation and prayer. One day, the daughter of a hotel keeper in Alexandria, where St. Theodora stopped on business at the monastery, seduced by the beauty of the young monk, and inclined him to sin. Having received a refusal, and after that giving birth to an illegitimate child, she slandered the saint in sin. The abbot and the brethren were angry with her and kicked her out of the monastery. But St. Theodora, not wanting to reveal her secret, took the child and settled in a hut not far from the monastery. Out of pity, the shepherds gave her milk to feed the child. How many different ridicules she had to endure! In addition, she endured both heat and cold. Finally, she was again accepted into the monastery, where, after living for two years, she died. Then they learned that she was a woman, and God revealed to the abbot about her holiness. The abbot told the brethren about this, and then everyone who insulted the saint was horrified and bitterly repented that they had gravely sinned against her. God was pleased to bring the saint's husband. Theodora to the monastery on the day of her death, and he left the world and took monastic vows.
Venerable Silouan
The Monk Silouan (in the world Semyon Ivanovich Antonov) was born in 1866 in the village of Shovskoye, Tambov province, into a peasant family. The monk belonged to that rare family of ascetics who, at the beginning of their journey, receive that measure of grace that is usually given to the perfect, and are especially acutely aware of its inevitable diminishment. At the age of 19, he experienced his first blessed visit, and when young life began to drown out the memory of him, the call was repeated by the Mother of God Herself. Then he developed a desire for monastic life. At the end of his military service, Semyon stayed at home for only one week and left for Athos, where in the fall of 1892 he entered the Russian Panteleimon Monastery. His first obedience was to work at a mill.
The age-old way of life at Athos introduced him to the path of spiritual achievement; he soon received from the Most Holy Theotokos the great and rare gift of “self-propelled” prayer. At the same time, the inexperienced monk was subjected to numerous demonic attacks. After six months of fighting with them, when Brother Simeon was exhausted, felt complete abandonment, and his soul was seized by mortal melancholy, the young novice had a vision of Jesus Christ himself. When the effect of grace began to weaken, Simeon was overcome by “longing for the Lord.” In order for Christ to abide in him, he had to cleanse himself of passions by a “reasonable feat.” Tonsured into the mantle in 1896, Father Silouan, carrying out monastic obediences, in the depths of his heart learned “smart sobriety” - the struggle with thoughts, carried out the feat of cutting off his will and surrendering himself to the will of God. He slept sitting, one or two hours a day for 15-20 minutes, devoting the night to the Jesus Prayer, and spent fifteen years in constant struggle. One night, when, despite all efforts, it was not possible to pray purely, the Monk Silouan was seized by a painful languor: how many years of effort are the utmost for a person, and the desired Lord is still hiding! Father Silouan said in his heart: “Lord! ...What should I do to pray to You with a pure mind? ...So that my soul may be humbled?” And there was an answer in his heart from God: Keep your mind in hell, and do not despair.
Revelation of the Lord to Saint Silouan in short form contained centuries of experience of Christian asceticism. Condemning himself to hell, recognizing himself as worthy of punishment, but not losing hope in the Merciful Lord, placing his strength and hope in Him Alone, the ascetic gains the ability to resist his own passions and attacks from the outside. From that time on, the Monk Silouan was finally established on the path of salvation. But it was only fifteen years later that he achieved dispassion. The Lord, known to him in the first revelation, was now constantly with him. Tonsured into the schema in 1911, the Monk Silouan bore the obedience of the monastery steward. At the same time, he wrote his notes, published in 1952 by his student Schema-Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov). Many monastics call them the New Philokalia.
The Monk Silouan died without interrupting his prayer, having been ill for just over a week before his death. There are known cases of numerous healings performed by the head of the monk, which is kept in the Panteleimon Monastery on Athos. (1938).
Reverends Sergius and Herman
Saints Sergius and Herman are called Valaam wonderworkers because they were the founders of monastic life on the Valaam island of Lake Ladoga. Who they were by origin is unknown. Some think that Sergius was a disciple of St. Andrew the First-Called, who visited the island and blessed it with a cross made of stone, and Germanus was a disciple of Sergius. Others think that they were contemporaries of Prince Vladimir the Great and at that time founded their monastery; but it is most likely that Saints Sergius and Herman labored in the middle of the 14th century. In this century, the Swedes, having established themselves in southwestern Karelia, forced Orthodox Karelians to convert to Catholicism. At this time, elders Sergius and German settled in the country of the Karelians to support Orthodoxy with their teaching and life and founded a monastery on Valaam. They had to endure a lot of sorrows, especially from King Magnus of Sweden, a zealot of Catholicism, who forced them to convert to the Catholic faith with fire and sword. From the very beginning, the brotherhood of monks on Valaam was crowded, the rules were sociable and strict. The death of the Valaam saints dates back to 1353, and the discovery of their relics to 1400. Their relics rest hidden in the cathedral monastery church.
Today is an Orthodox church holiday:
Tomorrow:
Holidays expected:
10.03.2020
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11.03.2020
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12.03.2020
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13.03.2020
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24 September(September 11old style)
Transfer of the relics of Saints Sergius and Herman, Valaam wonderworkers.
The Monks Sergius and Herman of Valaam settled on Valaam Island in 1329. The brotherhood they gathered became a beacon of Orthodoxy in this region. The Karelians began to again trust Christianity, the authority of which was undermined in the 13th century by the Swedes, who spread Catholicism with the sword. The Monks Sergius and Herman reposed in about 1353.
Kaplunovskaya Icon of the Mother of God (1689).
The Kaplunovskaya Icon of the Mother of God, after a miraculous appearance in a dream to the priest John, on September 11, 1689, was purchased by him from a Moscow icon painter who was passing through the settlement of Kaplunovka. One day, in the third week of Great Lent, the icon was illuminated with an extraordinary light and was transferred to the local Kaplunovsky church.
The image of this icon is similar to the image of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
The miraculous icon of the Mother of God Kaplunovskaya was on the battlefield near Poltava in 1709. Russian soldiers more than once turned to the miraculous image in prayer. The celebration of the Mother of God in honor of the Kaplunovskaya icon was established in 1766.
Venerable Theodora of Alexandria (474-491).
The Monk Theodora of Alexandria and her husband lived in Alexandria. Love and harmony reigned in their family, and this was hateful to the enemy of salvation. Prompted by the devil, one rich man was seduced by the beauty of young Theodora and began by all means to persuade her to commit adultery, but for a long time he had no success. Then he bribed a female procurer, who misled the gullible Theodora, saying that God does not blame a sin committed at night. Theodora cheated on her husband, but soon came to her senses and, realizing the heinousness of the fall, began to hate herself, mercilessly hitting herself in the face and tearing out the hair on her head. Her conscience did not give her peace, and Theodora went to her friend the abbess and told about the crime she had committed.
The abbess, seeing the despair of the young woman, aroused in her faith in Divine forgiveness and reminded her of the Gospel parable about the sinner. who washed the feet of Christ with tears and received forgiveness of her sins from Him. In the hope of God’s mercy, Theodora said: “I believe in my God and from now on I will not commit such a sin, and I will try to make amends for what I have done.” At that very moment, the Monk Theodora decided to go to a monastery in order to purify herself through ascetic deeds and prayer. She secretly left the family and, disguised as men's suit, went to the monastery, because she was afraid that her husband would find her in the nunnery. The abbot of the monastery did not even bless to let her into the courtyard, testing the firmness of the stranger.
The Monk Theodora stayed overnight at the gate. In the morning, she fell at the feet of the abbot, called herself Theodore from Alexandria and asked to be left in the monastery for repentance and monastic deeds. Seeing the newcomer’s sincere intention, the abbot agreed.
Even experienced monks were amazed at the all-night kneeling prayers, humility, patience and selflessness of Theodore. The saint labored in the monastery for eight years. Her body, once defiled by adultery, became a visible vessel of God's grace and a receptacle for the Holy Spirit. One day the saint was sent to Alexandria to buy bread. Blessing her on the way, the abbot ordered, in case of delay on the way, to stop at the neighboring Enat monastery. At that time, the daughter of the abbot lived in the hotel of the Enat Monastery, who came to visit her father. Seduced by the beauty of the young monk, she began to persuade the Monk Theodora to the sin of fornication, not knowing that in front of her was a woman. Hearing the refusal, she committed a sin with another guest and conceived. The venerable woman, having bought bread, returned to her monastery. After some time, the father of the shameless girl, noticing the crime committed, began to ask his daughter who seduced her. The girl pointed to Theodore the monk.
The father immediately informed the abbot of the monastery in which the Monk Theodora labored.
The abbot called Theodore and told him about the accusation. The monk firmly answered: “God is my witness, I didn’t do it,” and the abbot, knowing the purity and holiness of Theodore’s life, did not believe the slander. When the fornicator gave birth, the Jenat monks brought the baby to the monastery where the ascetic lived and began to reproach the monks for their unclean life. This time the abbot believed the slander and was angry with the innocent Theodore. The baby was handed over to the saint and she was kicked out of the monastery with dishonor.
Theodora humbly submitted to the new test, seeing in it redemption for her previous sin. She settled with her child in a hut not far from the monastery. Out of pity, the shepherds gave milk for the baby, and the saint herself ate only wild herbs. For seven years, enduring hardships, the holy ascetic was in exile.
Finally, at the request of the monks, the abbot allowed her to return to the monastery with the baby, where she lived in seclusion for two years, teaching the child the fear of God. The abbot of the monastery received a revelation from God that the sin of the monk Theodore was forgiven. The grace of God rested on the monk Theodora, and soon all the monks witnessed the sign accomplished by the prayers of the ascetic.
One day, during a drought, all the water sources in that area dried up. The abbot told the brethren that only Theodore could avert disaster. Calling the saint, the abbot ordered her to bring water from a dry well. With the blessing of the abbot, the Monk Theodora brought water, after which the water in the well no longer dried up. The humble Theodora said that the miracle happened through the prayer and faith of their abbot.
Before her death, the Monk Theodora shut herself up in a cell with the youth and bequeathed to him to love God, obey the abbot and brethren, remain silent, be kind and meek, avoid foul language and idle talk, love non-covetousness, and remember their wandering life. After that, she stood in prayer and asked the Lord for the forgiveness of her sins for the last time. The boy also prayed with her. Soon the words of prayer froze on the lips of the ascetic, and she calmly departed to the Upper World († c. 474-491). The Lord revealed to the abbot about the spiritual perfection of the monk Theodore and his innermost secret. The abbot, in order to remove the slander from the deceased, in the presence of the abbot and the brethren of the Jenat monastery, spoke about the vision and, for confirmation, opened the saint’s chest. The Enat abbot and the brethren shuddered with horror for their great sin and, falling to the holy body, with tears asked for forgiveness from the Monk Theodora. The news of the holy ascetic reached the husband of the Venerable Theodora. He took monastic vows in the monastery where his wife was being saved. The youth, raised by the saint, also followed in the footsteps of his adoptive mother. Subsequently he became the abbot of this monastery.
Sschmchch. Nicholas and Victor presbyters(1918).
Sschmch. Karpa Presbyter (1937).
St. Silouan of Athos(1938).
Sschmch. Nicholas the Deacon (1942).
Mchch. Demetrius, Evanthia his wife, and Dimitrian their son(I) .
Mchch. Diodorus and Didymus, Syrian.
Mts. Iya (Evdokia) and 9 thousand with her in Persia
(362-364).
St. Euphrosyne the cook(IX) .
Kaplunovskaya Icon of the Mother of God (1689).
Mchch. Serapion, Cronidas and Leontius, of Alexandria.
St. Paphnutia, confessor, bishop. in Thebaid of Egypt.
Prpmts. Theodora of Vastia, Peloponnese.
St. Elijah of the Cave of Calabria(960).
Glorification of the blessed Ksenia, Petersburg.
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Calendar Orthodox holidays will tell you the exact and correct date when the Beheading of St. John the Baptist will take place, what date will be the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord. What church holiday is celebrated on September 11, 21 and 27 in 2018, what date will be the day of fasting and strict fasting, date.
What church holidays await Orthodox Christians in September 2018 and the days of remembrance of saints. On what days is fasting meant and how many Orthodox holidays are there in September 2018.
Church holidays September 24, 2018
Fedorina's evenings
On this day the memory of St. Theodora of Alexandria, who lived at the end of the 5th century, is celebrated. According to legend, Theodora was in love and harmony with her husband, but one rich townsman, seduced by her beauty, began to seduce the young woman. He bribed a bawd, who deceived Theodora, saying that a sin committed at night is not imputed to a person. The woman obeyed and cheated on her husband, but soon realized the disgusting nature of adultery.
Theodora hated her body and subjected herself to all kinds of torture. A familiar abbess, seeing the suffering of a sinner, reminded her of the story of Mary Magdalene, who washed the feet of Christ with her tears. This prompted Theodora to go to a monastery - and secretly from everyone. But she understood that her husband would find her in the nunnery, so she changed into a man’s dress and entered a monastery with the name Theodore. Later, after Theodora’s death, her husband, having learned about his wife’s feat, took monastic vows in the same monastery.
In Rus', the third meeting of autumn was celebrated on Fedora (Theodora). “Every summer ends, autumn begins,” people said. At this time it was raining with might and main, and the slush began to fall. That’s why they joked about the saint: “Fedora, wet your tail.” They remembered another Fedora day - a winter one: “Two Fedoras a year. The autumn Fedora tucks the hem, and the winter Fedora covers the snout with a scarf.”
The peasants summed up their autumn labors: they removed the last onions from the beds and took the hives with bees to the omshanik. “Reverend Fedora - amen to every deed,” our ancestors said. On this day we also went to the field to watch the winter crops grow. If strong and dense shoots were already visible from underground, this promised good harvest for next year.
It was the custom for Fedora to collect gifts from the entire village for the priest of the nearest church. The lay people helped Mother make provisions for the winter and clean the house and yard. This custom was called “Osenschina”.
Cabbage evenings began with Fedora. For two weeks, girls and women chopped cabbage, fermented it for the winter, told stories, joked and laughed. Such gatherings were also called skit parties - this word has survived to this day. On such evenings, cabbage dishes were served on the table - cabbage rolls, pies, cabbage soup.
The men brewed beer. Korchazhnaya, which was kept in large clay pots, was considered the most delicious. They said about this drink like this: “Beer is not drunk - it is sinful. Beer is drunk - worse than that. And if there’s no beer, it’ll make you sicker than anything else.”
Transfer of the relics of St. Sergius and Herman, Valaam wonderworkers
Reverends Sergius and Herman of Valaam are the founders of Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery. Quite a bit of information about their lives has survived to this day. Tradition says that the saints were born in Greece, and in the 10th century they came for missionary purposes to Russian lands. Many other clergy from Greece arrived with them. The goal of the arrivals was to spread Christianity among the Karelians who lived in the Novgorod lands.
The Valaam wonderworkers in those days founded the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery. In northern Rus' it later became the largest spiritual center. Enemies attacked the monastery more than once; for this reason, the library did not preserve the ancient chronicles about the life of the Monks Herman and Sergius. Only the old synodik remains, where the names of the Valaam wonderworkers are recorded in the list of abbots of the monastery.
In 1163, during the invasion of the Swedes, the relics of Saints Sergius and Herman were discovered and transferred to Novgorod. From that very day the veneration of the Valaam wonderworkers began as locally revered saints. People created icons with their image, and in the literature there are numerous references to these missionaries.
In the 17th century, the Swedes captured the Valaam Islands and lived there for some time. According to legend, the colonists intended to violate the relics of the miracle workers, however, for such thoughts they were struck by an unknown disease. The invaders were seriously frightened and decided to erect a chapel over the relics of the saints. After some time, the relics of the miracle workers were buried in the monastery under cover.
In 1819, a decree of the Holy Synod was issued on the all-Russian veneration of the holy Valaam wonderworkers.
Saints Herman and Sergius are known as miracle workers. Those who turned their prayers to the saints were healed, and real miracles happened to them. A book has been preserved about such miracles.
A monk from the Valaam monastery said that, being a layman, he was saved from imminent death by holy wonderworkers. One winter he and his companions had the opportunity to walk on ice. Suddenly the ice began to crack and people began to drown. The monk turned his prayers and supplications to the Monks Herman and Sergius and cried out for help. Miraculously, the young man managed to get ashore, and after this incident he took monastic vows at the Valaam Monastery.
The monks, who did not believe that the relics of the saints were kept in the monastery, saw the saints in a dream. And to some monks, Herman and Sergius appeared in the form of two elders, thereby confirming that they had not left the monastery.
Nowadays, believers continue to pray to the Venerable Valaam Wonderworkers and give their children their names. Miracles are still performed through prayers to these saints. Until now, Herman and Sergius defend their monastery from enemy attacks.
Venerable Silouan of Athos
September 24 is the Day of St. Silouan of Athos. The day of a person who became a saint already in the 20th century. He labored as a monk in the monastery of St. Panteleimon on Mount Athos
This is a holiday not only for the Russian Church, but also for the Patriarchate of Constantinople, where, in fact, the saint was the first to be canonized in 1988, just half a century after his blessed dormition. In Russia, his memory began to be revered three years later. However, the texts of the service of St. Silouan were included in all editions of the “Monthly Menaions,” containing the rites of the saints’ feasts for each day of the year.
What is the seemingly ordinary Athonite monk known for? First of all, by the fact that, in fact, with his whole life he opened a new page in Orthodoxy, showing it from that side that previously had to be sought for a long time under the cover of formally pious teachings and instructions that bear little resemblance to true love and joy in the Lord .
The future ascetic was born in 1866 into the family of a wealthy peasant in the Tambov province. The life of the young man Simeon bore little resemblance to the textbook Lives with the constant phrase “he shunned children’s games and worldly vanity.” However, the guy wasn’t some kind of villain either. Handsome, slender, loved by girls, he did no harm to anyone. The Monk Silouan remembered one of them, who almost became his wife, with warmth throughout his life, often telling the visitors who visited him for spiritual advice: “You will be like my bride.”
However, even then the future monk enjoyed the strict patronage of the Mother of God. So, one day, walking home from the field, he saw a mad dog running towards him. I just had time to say the words of the prayer - and she ran past. And then it turned out that the animal, running into the village, bit many people...
However, pretty soon young Simeon felt a craving for monastic life. However, he listened to his father - and first entered the military service. And while undergoing it in St. Petersburg, he received a blessing for tonsure from the famous shepherd, St. John of Kronstadt, who received it in 1892 in the Russian Panteleimon Monastery of Athos. He underwent various obediences there for 46 years and died peacefully.
That, it would seem, is all. But meager lines short biography are not able to convey everything that is not without reason called “invisible warfare”, not inferior in intensity to the great battles of real warriors. Soon after taking monastic vows, the new monk Silouan encountered what in spiritual language is called “spiritual cooling.” When, despite faith, ascetic deeds, fasting, prayers, the main thing is not felt in the soul - the love of God.
However, the reason for this is usually, formally, some sin on the part of the monk himself - for example, a quarrel with his brother. But then this state takes on the character of a spiritual feat, when someone who has dedicated his life to God proves to both Him and himself that his love for the Creator is completely selfless, and does not come from the desire to receive some benefits, even spiritual ones. This, in fact, is the state of the “son of God” - in contrast to the “slave” who works out of fear of punishment, or the “mercenary” who labors in anticipation of a reward.
By and large, such “coolings” happen in the life of every truly believer. Fortunately, their intensity and duration do not reach those of the great Fathers. For example, Venerable Seraphim Sarovsky prayed on the stone for 1000 days and nights, asking God to return to him the lost feeling of His Love. For the Monk Silouan, this period lasted for 20 years. Terrible years, when even incessant prayer gave almost no consolation, and evil spirits, mocking the sufferer, stood between him and the icons. And then the Lord one day appeared to the monk in a vision and said about his main task for this time: “Keep your mind in hell - and not despair.”
The latter, by the grace of God, even though it was not realized in temptation, Saint Silouan succeeded. He emerged from the trials as hardened as gold in a furnace. But he is by no means a cruel rigorist who sees only sin around him, but rather the surrounding “unity of the world, the flesh and the devil,” aimed only at destroying more souls.
Having felt hell on earth, the ascetic was no longer afraid of the “torment of hell in a sensual form” invented by perverted minds, in which, if not the Lord himself, then his angels appear as nightmarish sadists who receive satisfaction from the punishment of sinners. In essence, he was almost the first to formulate main meaning a monastic feat, which in the presentation of all sorts of “soul-saving” books is usually presented exclusively as a person’s attempt with the last of his strength to achieve an almost unattainable salvation through painful torture of the flesh, which is supposedly the only thing that can somehow satisfy a vengeful God.
The Monk Silouan characterized his colleagues in this way: “A monk is one who understood all the pain of this world, accepted this pain as his own, and devoted his whole life to prayer for the whole world.” However, in response to the thirst for compassionate love, the Lord revealed to the saint another truth, which, however, was described by the righteous “in the third person”, in the expressions “I know such a monk...”
Nevertheless, God, in a mystical vision, asked the monk who was frantically praying “for the life of the world”:
Why are you praying so frantically?
Well, the world lies in evil, how many people can die forever.
Do not be afraid, I will save everyone who at least once turns to Me with such a request.
But why then all our monastic exploits and works?
I will simply save those - and you will be My friends...
The love exuded by the monk worked real miracles. Thus, the Monk Silouan told his disciples about one young man, a schoolboy, who came to the Holy Mountain “to seek God.” He did not tell the abbot that he did not believe in God, but only about his desire to stay for several months in the monastery for the sake of rest and spiritual benefit. The abbot handed him over to one confessor for his care. The young man immediately told the priest during confession that he did not believe in God and came to the Holy Mountain in search of God. The confessor got angry and started shouting at young man, how scary it is not to believe in God the Creator and that atheists have no place in a monastery. The young man prepared to leave the monastery.
But then Father Silouan met him and began to talk to him. The young man told him about his torment and what brought him to the Holy Mountain. Father Silouan answered him very kindly: “It’s not scary. This usually happens with young people. This happened to me too. In my youth, I hesitated and doubted, but God’s love enlightened my mind and softened my heart. God knows you, sees you and loves you immensely. Over time you will feel it. That’s how it happened with me.” After this conversation, the young man’s faith in God began to grow stronger, and he remained in the monastery.
In general, the righteous man can be considered one of the “pillars” of “positive missionary” in the best patristic traditions. For example, in a conversation with one Orthodox missionary-archimandrite, Saint Silouan heard the following description of his missionary methodology in communicating with Catholics.
“I tell them that your faith is fornication, everything is wrong with you, everything is wrong, and there is no salvation for you unless you repent.
The elder listened to this and asked:
Tell me, do they believe in the Divinity of Jesus Christ, that He is the True God?
This is what they believe.
A Mother of God do they honor?
They honor, but teach about Her incorrectly.
And do they venerate saints?
Yes, they are revered, but since they fell away from the Church, what kind of saints can they have?
Do they hold services in churches, do they read the Word of God?
Yes, they have churches and services, but you should look at what kind of services these are after ours, how cold and soulless!
So, Father Archimandrite, their soul knows that they are doing good, that they believe in Jesus Christ, that they honor the Mother of God and the saints, that they call on them in prayers, so that if you tell them that their faith is “fornication,” they won't listen to you.
But if you tell the people that they are doing well, that they believe in God, go to church for worship, that they read the Word of God and so on, but in this and that they have a mistake and it needs to be corrected, and then everything everything will be fine, and the Lord will rejoice over them, and so we will all be saved by the grace of God...”
Needless to say, a similar approach, a la the mentioned Father Archimandrite, is almost universally used to this day. And then for some reason many Orthodox believers are surprised: “Why is it that our work of converting those who have gone to sects and other denominations is not working?”
It is not surprising that it was Saint Silouan who gave the remarkable definition of the term “Orthodoxy.” While today many not only laymen, but even monks see the meaning of their “Orthodoxy” in the “struggle against the INN”, glorification of the “blessed Tsar Ivan the Terrible”, renunciation of the Church in protest against the condemnation of Pussy Riot, etc. ., the monk said this: “To be Orthodox in the full sense of the word means to see God as He is, and to worship Him worthy of His holiness.” Which, of course, is much more complicated than the passionate worship of actual “idols” instead of God-Love.
So, if your soul is heavy, you don’t feel God’s love - every believer should read at least selected quotes from the works of St. Silouan of Athos, who became the spiritual mentor of such great lights of Orthodoxy, such as, for example, Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, whose books are also imbued with the same spirit love and compassion for sinners. In the meantime, let us turn to the righteous man with a prayer: “Reverend Father Silouan, pray to God for us!”