Read all the saints of the Orthodox Church. Lives of the Saints. Old Testament forefathers. Video of the lives of the saints

Why read the lives of saints? What is the benefit of this for a believer? Can an ordinary mortal, or even more so a terrible criminal, achieve holiness? In this article we will give answers to these and other interesting questions and point out at least five reasons to be interested in the biographies of the righteous.

The main reasons to read biographies of the righteous

Surely at least once in your life you have encountered people whom you aspired to be like. You liked their thoughts, words, actions, behavior. Perhaps you learned some important lessons from their life experiences.

These people could be your contemporaries and even acquaintances or relatives. Perhaps they lived many centuries before you and you read about their biography in a book. But the main thing is that these people changed you or your attitude towards certain issues.

Many such people who influence our lives can be found among the saints. They inspire us, motivate us, help us answer difficult questions and get to the root of our sins. We invite you to familiarize yourself with five arguments in favor of reading the lives of saints. The only caution is to read trusted sources and wisely inherit those righteous people whose lifestyle suits you most. If you are a worldly person, then the experience of hesychast monks - no matter how attractive it may seem - who lived in solitude and complete silence, is unlikely to be useful to you.

1. Motivation for sinners, or becoming saints

Today, many people rally around charismatic, motivating personalities. On the one hand, they are the same as us, but on the other, they are completely different. They not only have certain talents, but also regularly work to improve them.

Saints constantly work on themselves, step by step rising higher and higher on the spiritual ladder. At the start, they are people just like us, with sinful weaknesses. Moreover, some even managed to fall into the most difficult situations. They worked hard to get up.

Remember the classic examples - the lives of the saints Apostle Paul (formerly the persecutor of Christians Saul), Mary of Egypt (harlot), Cyprian of Carthage (the most powerful sorcerer).

But sincere repentance, the sculptor of our spiritual life, works miracles. It turns an ugly piece of marble into a beautiful figure.

What does a sculptor's work look like? First, the master makes only a general outline, and then cuts off everything unnecessary. One wrong step and the sculpture will no longer be as intended. It’s the same with a person: take a step to the left and you’ve already lost your way. But it's never too late to go back. With scratches or scars on half the face, but to return. Just as the father accepted the prodigal son, so the Heavenly Father is ready to accept each of us in response to sincere repentance.

2. The Lives of the Saints are the Revealed Gospel

The biography of the righteous helps us see how we can fulfill the commandments of Christ and live according to the Gospel. Seraphim of Sarov said: “Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.” The example of one sincere Christian influences the life and behavior of others more than thousands of words and dozens of moral conversations.

3. Lives of saints - tips for spiritual life

For example, the Monk Paisius the Holy Mountain gives advice to those suffering from gluttony. Some of them will be useful to many people, but not all of them are recommendations. Therefore, be careful and compare your experience with the spiritual level and living conditions of the monk. If Elder Paisios ate only cabbage for 18 years, this does not mean that you can perform the same feat without harm to your health. As priest Alexy Esipov advises, learn to read between the lines.

Pay attention to what general example given to Christians by certain righteous people.

The life of the Great Martyr Catherine describes how she came to Christ and conveys the experience of sincere prayer.

Job Pochaevsky shows by his example how to stand firmly in faith and not succumb to the sinful spirit of the times.

Nicholas the Wonderworker gives us a lesson in mercy and helping those in need.

There are many such examples. And each of them is valuable in its own way.

4. By reading the lives of saints, we gain more helpers in spiritual life

How to contact a saint you know nothing about? Almost the same as talking to a stranger on the street. But when you start talking with this passer-by, learn about his life, become imbued with his problems and concerns, and rejoice at his success, then your communication will reach a completely different level.

So it is with the saints. The more we know about them, the more familiar they seem to us. We begin to contact them and receive answers to our requests.

5. The Lives of Saints Expand Our Worldview

The canonized righteous man is a real person, not a fictional character. He lived in a certain era with its own morals and tendencies. When we come into contact with the life of this person, we get a taste of the time in which he lived.

If this is a biography of the Great Martyr Panteleimon or the Great Martyr Barbara, then we will learn about terrible trials for Christians in a pagan country.

When we read information about Sergius of Radonezh, we always talk about the Battle of Kulikovo.

The life of Ambrose Optinsky is intertwined with facts from the biography of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.

If we read about the new Russian martyrs, we remember the bloody terror and the Soviet regime.

Together with the biography of John of Shanghai, we will learn about foreign policy relations, the disasters of emigrants, and the Russian Orthodox Church abroad.

The lives of the saints are a story told through the prism of the biography of one person.

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Preface

In the publication offered to the reader, the lives of the saints are presented in chronological order. The first volume tells about the Old Testament righteous men and prophets, subsequent volumes will reveal the history of the New Testament Church right up to the ascetics of our time.

As a rule, collections of the lives of saints are built according to the calendar principle. In such publications, the biographies of ascetics are given in the sequence in which the memory of saints is celebrated in the Orthodox liturgical circle. This presentation has a deep meaning, for the church’s memory of a particular moment in sacred history is not a story about the long 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 should not be ignored 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 a temporal perspective, God's plan for humanity is revealed, that is, “childhood” (“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 dead(Matthew 18, I). These are people who lived in hope, these are the souls by which the world, doomed to submission to vanity, was held together (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, closeness to destruction. This is largely due to the fact that the word “dilapidated” itself has become unambiguous in our eyes, having lost the diversity of its originally inherent meanings. Its related Latin word “vetus” speaks of antiquity and old age. These two dimensions define a space of holiness before Christ unknown to us: exemplary, “paradigmatic,” immutability, determined by antiquity and originality, and youth – beautiful, inexperienced and transitory, which became 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 about holiness in general. It is also no coincidence that many of the actions of the ancient righteous people have to be specially explained, and we have no right to repeat them. We cannot imitate the actions of the saints, which are entirely related to the customs of spiritually immature, young humanity - their polygamy and sometimes attitude towards children (see: Gen. 25, 6). We cannot follow their boldness, similar to the power of blooming youth, and together with Moses ask for the appearance of the face of God (see: Exodus 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 weakness, from which all the tension of waiting for the Redeemer is formed - the strength of endless hope from the multiplication of insurmountable weakness.

The Old Testament saints provide us with an example of faithfulness to the promise. They can be called genuine Christians in the sense that their entire lives were filled with the expectation of Christ. Among the harsh laws of the Old Testament, which protected from sin human nature that was not yet perfect, not perfected by Christ, 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, 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 man. 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 a father feel as he led the most dear person in his life to the slaughter? But this did not happen right away: day succeeded day, and the morning brought the righteous not the joy of a new light, but a painful 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 scare me and visions scare me (cf. Job 7:13-14). Three days of travel, when fatigue brought closer not rest, but an inevitable outcome. Three days of painful thought - and at any moment Abraham could refuse. Three days of travel - behind a brief biblical remark lies the power of faith and the severity of the suffering of the righteous.

Aaron, brother of Moses. His name is lost among the many biblical righteous people known to us, obscured by the image of his illustrious brother, with whom not a single Old Testament prophet can be compared (see: Deut. 34:10). We are hardly able to say much about him, and this applies not only to us, but also to the people of Old Testament antiquity: Aaron himself, in the eyes of the people, always retreated before Moses, and the people themselves did not treat him with the love and respect with which they treated their teacher . To remain in the shadow of a great brother, to humbly carry out one’s service, although great, is not so noticeable to others, to serve a righteous man without envying his glory - isn’t this a Christian feat, revealed already in Old Testament?

From childhood, this righteous man learned humility. His younger brother, saved from death, was taken to the palace of the pharaoh and received a royal education, surrounded by all the honors of the Egyptian court. When Moses is called by God to serve, Aaron must retell his words to the people; Scripture itself says that Moses was like a god for Aaron and Aaron was a prophet for Moses (see: Ex. 7: 1). But we can imagine what enormous advantages an older brother must have had in biblical times. And here is a complete renunciation of all advantages, complete submission younger brother for the sake of God's will.

His submission to the will of the Lord was so great that even sorrow for his beloved sons receded before her. When the fire of God burned Aaron's two sons for carelessness in worship, Aaron accepts the instruction and humbly agrees with everything; he was even forbidden to mourn 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 man. And we see Job alone, abandoned by his people (after all, Tradition says that Job was a king): we are afraid of losing one friend - can we imagine what it’s like 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 his homeland gains strength in his suffering; he knows its meaning, reaching eternity. Job suffered more than any martyr, but he was not given the opportunity to understand the meaning of his own suffering. This is his greatest sorrow, this is his unbearable cry, which Scripture does not hide from us, does not soften, does not smooth out, does not bury it under the reasoning of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, which, at first glance, are completely pious. The answer is given only at the end, and this is the answer of Job’s humility, which bows before the incomprehensibility of God’s destinies. And only Job could appreciate the sweetness of this humility. This endless sweetness is contained in one phrase, which for us has become a prerequisite for true theology: I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; now my eyes see You; so I renounce and repent in dust and ashes(Job 42:5-6).

Thus, in every story told by Scripture, there are hidden many details that testify to the depth of suffering and the height of hope of the ancient righteous.

The Old Testament has become distant to us with its ritual instructions, which have lost 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 with the beauty of inspired prayer, the power of immutable hope and unwavering striving for God - despite all the falls to which even the righteous have been subjected, despite the inclination to sin of a person who has not yet been healed by Christ. The light of the Old Testament is light from the depth(Ps. 129:1).

The blessed spiritual experience of one of the most famous Old Testament saints - the king and prophet David - has become for us an enduring example of all spiritual experience. These are the psalms wonderful prayers David, in every word of which the fathers of the New Testament Church found the light of Christ. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria has an amazing idea: if the Psalter reveals the most perfect human feelings, and the most perfect Man is Christ, then the Psalter is the perfect image of Christ before His incarnation. This image is revealed in the spiritual experience of the Church.

The Apostle Paul says that we are joint heirs with the Old Testament saints, and they achieved perfection not without us(Heb. I, 39-40). This is the great mystery of God’s economy, and this reveals our mysterious kinship with the ancient righteous. The Church preserves their experience as an ancient treasure, and invites us to join the sacred traditions telling about the lives 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 out according to the guidance of the Four Menaions” by St. Demetrius of Rostov, will serve the Church in its holy work of teaching and will reveal to the reader the majestic and arduous path of the saints to Christ, saved by Christ .

Maxim Kalinin

Lives of the Saints. Old Testament forefathers

Sunday of the Holy Fathers happens within the dates from December 11 to December 17. 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 people 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 planting Paradise, God the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, in His Divine Council of Rivers: Let us create man in our image and likeness; may he possess the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the wild animals, and the livestock, and all the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created 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 a disembodied Spirit, and He created the human soul disembodied, similar to Himself, free, rational, immortal, participating in eternity, and united it with flesh, as Saint Damascus says to God: “You gave me a soul by Divine and life-giving inspiration, from the earth I gave you a body.” having created" (Funeral chants). The Holy Fathers make a distinction between the image and likeness of God in the human soul. Saint Basil the Great in his 10th Sixth Day conversation, Chrysostom in his interpretation of the book of Genesis in his 9th conversation, and Jerome in his interpretation of the prophecy of Ezekiel, chapter 28, establish the following difference: image God's soul receives from God at the time of her creation, and the likeness of God is created in her in baptism.

The image is in the mind, and the likeness is in the will; the image is in freedom, autocracy, and the likeness is in virtues.

God called the name of the first man Adam(Genesis 5:2).

Adam is translated from Hebrew as an earthen or red man, 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 “microcosmos,” 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 called as follows: “anatoli” - east; “disis” – west; “Arktos” – north or midnight; “mesimvria” – noon (south). Take the first letters from these Greek names and it will be “Adam”. And just as in the name of Adam the four-pointed world was depicted, which Adam was to populate with the human race, so in the same name the four-pointed cross of Christ was depicted, through which the new Adam - Christ our God - was subsequently to save the human race, inhabited at the four ends, from death and hell universe.

The day on which God created Adam, as already mentioned, was the sixth day, which we call Friday. On the same day that God created animals and cattle, He also created man, who has common feelings with animals. Man with all creation - visible and invisible, material, I say, and spiritual - has something in common. He has commonality with insensible things in being, with beasts, livestock and every living creature - in feeling, and with Angels in reason. And the Lord God took the created man and brought him into a beautiful Paradise, filled with indescribable blessings and sweets, with four rivers purest waters irrigated; in the midst of it was a tree of life, and whoever ate its fruit never died. There was also another tree there, called the tree of understanding or the knowledge of good and evil; it was the tree of death. God, having commanded Adam to eat the fruit of every tree, commanded him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: On the same day, if you take it down, - he said, - you will die by death(Gen. 2:17). The tree of life is attention to yourself, for you will not destroy your 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 one's neighbor; condemnation entails the punishment of eternal death in hell: Judge for 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 associated with a person’s moral choice, and not with some special property of its fruits, has become widespread in patristic interpretations. Having fulfilled God's commandment not to eat from the tree, a person would experience goodness; Having broken 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 of His earthly creation and subjected everything to his power - all the sheep and oxen, and the 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 all the cattle and all the birds and the meek and submissive beast, for at that time the wolf was still like a lamb, and the hawk like a hen in its disposition, one not harming the other. And Adam gave them all names such as were appropriate and characteristic of each animal, coordinating the name of each animal with its true nature and disposition that subsequently emerged. For Adam was very wise from God and had the mind of an angel. The wise and most kind Creator, having created Adam as such, wanted to give him a concubine and loving companionship, so that he would have someone with whom to enjoy such great blessings, and said: It is not good for man to be alone; let us create a helper for him(Genesis 2:18).

And God brought Adam into a deep sleep, so that in his spirit he could see what was happening and understand the upcoming sacrament of marriage, and especially the union of Christ Himself with the Church; for the mystery of the incarnation of Christ was revealed to him (I speak in agreement with theologians), since the knowledge of the Holy Trinity was given to him, and he knew about the former angelic fall and about the impending reproduction of the human race from it, and also through God's revelation then he comprehended many others sacraments, except for his fall, which by the destinies of God was hidden from him. During such a wonderful dream or, better yet, delight 3
In the Septuagint, Adam's dream is designated by the word §ta aig-"frenzy, delight." – Ed.

The Lord took one of Adam’s ribs and created him a wife to help him, whom Adam, waking up from sleep, recognized and said: Behold, bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh(Genesis 2:23). Both in the creation of Adam from the earth, and in the creation of Eve from a rib, there was a prototype of Christ’s incarnation from the Most Pure Virgin, which St. Chrysostom perfectly explains, saying the following: “As Adam, in addition to his wife, produced a wife, so the Virgin without a husband gave birth to a Husband, giving for Eve husbands duty; Adam remained intact after the removal of his fleshly rib, and the Virgin remained incorrupt after the Child came 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 piercing of His rib on the Cross. Augustine says the following about this: “Adam sleeps so that Eve may be created; Christ dies, let there be a Church. When Adam slept, Eve was created from a rib; When Christ died, the ribs were pierced with a spear so that the sacraments by which the Church would be structured would flow out.”

Adam and Eve were both created by God in ordinary human stature, as John of Damascus testifies to this, saying: “God created man who was gentle, righteous, virtuous, carefree, sorrowless, sanctified by all virtue, adorned with all blessings, like a kind of second world, small in the great, another angel, a joint worshiper, bowing to God together with the Angels, an overseer of a visible creation, thinking about mysteries, a king existing on earth, earthly and heavenly, temporary and immortal, visible and thinking, average majesty (in height) and humility, and also spiritual and carnal" (John of Damascus. An accurate exposition of the Orthodox faith. Book 2, ch. XII).

Having thus created on the sixth day a husband and wife to stay in Paradise, entrusting them with dominion over all earthly creation, commanding them to enjoy all the sweets of Paradise, except for the fruits of the reserved tree, and blessing their marriage, which then had to be a carnal union, for he said: Grow and multiply(Gen. 1:28), the Lord God rested from all His works on the seventh day. But He did not rest as if weary, for God is Spirit, and how can He be tired? He rested in order to provide 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 the day of the week (Sunday) was sanctified for this purpose, for the sake of what was on this day Resurrection of Christ.

God rested from work in order not to produce new creatures more perfect than those created, for there was no need for more, since every creature, above and below, was created. But God Himself did not rest, and does not rest, and will not rest, supporting and governing all creation, which is why Christ said in the Gospel: My Father is working hitherto, and I am working(John 5:17). God acts, directing the heavenly currents, arranging beneficial changes of times, establishing the earth, which is not based on anything, motionless and producing from it rivers and sweet water springs for watering every living creature. God acts for the benefit of all not only verbal, but also dumb animals, providing for, preserving, feeding and multiplying them. God acts, preserving the life and existence of every person, faithful and unfaithful, righteous and sinful. About Him, - as the Apostle says, - we live and move and we are(Acts 17, 28). And if the Lord God were to withdraw His all-powerful hand from all His creation and from us, then we would immediately perish, and all creation would be destroyed. Yet the Lord does this, without troubling himself at all, as one of the theologians (Augustine) says: “When he rests he does, and when he does he rests.”

The Sabbath day, or the day of God’s rest from work, foreshadowed that coming Saturday, on which our Lord Christ rested in the Tomb after the labors of His free suffering for us and the accomplishment of our salvation on the Cross.

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 within themselves carnal lust, which is the beginning of shame and about which they knew nothing then, and this is their very dispassion and innocence were like a beautiful robe for them. And what clothes could be more beautiful for them than their pure, virgin, immaculate flesh, delighting in heavenly bliss, nourished by heavenly food and overshadowed by the grace of God?

The devil was jealous of their blissful stay in Paradise and, in the form of a serpent, deceived them so that they would eat the fruit from the forbidden tree; and Eve tasted it first, and then Adam, and both sinned gravely, breaking 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 a god(Gen. 3:5) and lied, being father of lies(cf. John 8:44). Not only did they not receive deity, but they also destroyed what they had, for they both lost the ineffable gifts of God. Is it only that the devil turned out to be telling the truth when he said: You will be the leader of good and evil(Genesis 3:5). Indeed, it was only at that time that our ancestors realized how good Paradise and staying 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 his possession, but at the time when he destroys it. Both of them also knew evil, which they had not known before. For they knew nakedness, hunger, winter, heat, labor, sickness, passions, weakness, death and hell; They learned all this when they transgressed the commandment of God.

When their eyes were opened to see and know their nakedness, they immediately began to be ashamed of each other. At the same hour in which they ate the forbidden fruit, carnal lust was immediately born in them from eating this food; Both of them felt passionate lust in their members, and shame and fear seized them, and they began to cover the shame of their bodies with fig tree leaves. Having 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 did not keep, and hid from His face, being overwhelmed by both shame and great awe.

God, calling them with His voice and presenting them before His face, after testing them in sin, pronounced His righteous judgment on them, so that they would be expelled from Paradise and feed from the labor of their hands and the sweat of their brow: to Eve, so that she would give birth to children in illness; Adam, so that he would cultivate the land that produces thorns and thistles, and for both of them, so that after much suffering in this life they would die and turn their bodies into the ground, and with their souls go down into the prisons of hell.

Only God comforted them greatly in that he revealed to them at the same time about the upcoming Redemption of their human race through the incarnation of Christ after a certain time. For the Lord, speaking to the serpent about the woman that her Seed would erase his head, predicted to Adam and Eve that from their seed would be born the Most Pure Virgin, the bearer of their punishment, and from the Virgin would be born Christ, who with His blood would redeem them and the entire human race from slavery He will lead the enemy out of the bonds of hell and again make him worthy of Paradise and the Heavenly Villages, while he will trample the head of the devil and completely erase him.

And God expelled Adam and Eve from Paradise and settled him directly opposite Paradise, so that he could cultivate the land from which he was taken. He appointed Cherubim with weapons to guard Paradise, so that no man, beast or devil would enter it.

We begin to count the years of the world's existence from the time of Adam's expulsion from Paradise, for how long the time lasted during which Adam enjoyed the blessings of Paradise is completely unknown to us. The time at which he began to suffer after his exile became known to us, and from here the years got their beginning - when the human race saw evil. Truly, Adam knew good and evil at a time when he was deprived of goodness and fell into unexpected disasters that he had never experienced before. For, being at first in Paradise, he was like a son in his father’s house, without sorrow and labor, being satisfied with a ready and rich meal; outside Paradise, as if expelled from his fatherland, he began to eat bread in the sweat of his brow with tears and sighs. His assistant Eve, the mother of all living, also began to give birth to children in illness.

It is most likely that after being expelled from Paradise, our first parents, if not immediately, then not for 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 marriage, and partly because that their natural lust and desire for carnal intercourse intensified after the former grace of God was taken away from them for breaking the commandment. In addition, seeing only themselves in this world and knowing, however, that they were created and destined by God in order to give birth and multiply the human race, they wanted to see fruit similar to themselves and the multiplication of humanity as soon as possible, and therefore they soon came to know themselves carnally and began to give birth.

When Adam was expelled from Paradise, at first he was not far from Paradise; constantly looking at him with his assistant, he cried incessantly, sighing heavily from the depths of his heart at the memory of the ineffable blessings of heaven, which he lost and fell into such great suffering for the sake of a small taste of the forbidden 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: both of them were filled with the fear of the Lord and love and had hope for their deliverance, given to them in revelation.

God was pleased with their repentance, incessant tears and fasting, with which they humbled their souls for the intemperance they committed in Paradise. And the Lord looked upon them mercifully, listening to their prayers, made out of contrition of heart, and prepared forgiveness for them from Himself, freeing them from sinful guilt, which is clearly seen from the words of the Book of Wisdom: Siya(wisdom of God) preserved the primordial father of the world, the one created, and delivered him from his sin, and gave him every kind of strength to maintain(Wis. 10, 1-2).

Our ancestors Adam and Eve, not despairing of God’s mercy, but trusting in His compassion for mankind, in their repentance began to invent ways of serving God; they began to bow to the east, where Paradise was planted, and to pray to their Creator, and also to offer sacrifices to God: either from the flocks of sheep, which, according to God, was a prototype of the sacrifice of the Son of God, who was to be slain like a lamb for deliverance human race; or they brought from the harvest of the field, which was a foreshadowing of the Sacrament in new grace, when the Son of God, under the guise of bread, was offered as an auspicious Sacrifice to God His Father for the remission of human sins.

Doing this themselves, they taught their children to honor God and make sacrifices to Him and told them with tears about the blessings of heaven, rousing them to achieve the salvation promised to them by God and instructing them to live a life pleasing to God.

After six hundred years from the creation of the world, when the forefather Adam pleased God with true and deep repentance, he received (according to the testimony of George 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 the incarnation was revealed, 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 uprising, and about many other mysteries of God, and also about many things that were to happen later, such as the corruption of the sons of God of the Seth tribe, the flood, the future Judgment and the general resurrection of all. And Adam was filled with the great prophetic gift, and he began to predict the future, leading 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. Links are given by edition: Georgius Cedrenus / Ed. Immanuel Bekkerus. T. 1. Bonnae, 1838). This opinion of George Kedrin raises doubts from the point of view of the theological and liturgical Tradition of the Church. The liturgical poetry of the Church emphasizes the fact that the Incarnation is a sacrament “hidden from the ages” and “unknown to the Angel” (Theotokion on “God the Lord” in the 4th tone). St. John Chrysostom said that the Angels fully realized the God-manhood of Christ only during the Ascension. The statement that all the secrets of the Divine Redemption were revealed to Adam contradicts the idea of ​​​​the gradual communication of Divine revelation to humanity. The mystery of salvation could be revealed in full only by Christ. – Ed.

The holy forefather Adam, who set the first example of both fall and repentance and with tearful sobbing, who pleased God with many deeds and labors, when he reached the age of 930, by God's revelation, he knew his approaching death. Calling his assistant Eve, his sons and daughters, and also calling his grandchildren and great-grandsons, 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 blessing to everyone, he died the death to which he was condemned by God for breaking the commandment. His death befell him on Friday (according to the testimony of Saint Irenaeus), on which he had previously transgressed the commandment of God in Paradise, and at the same sixth hour of the day in which he ate the commanded food given to him from the hands of the Evines. Leaving behind many sons and daughters, Adam did good to the entire human race all the days of his life.

How many children Adam fathered, historians say differently about this. Georgiy Kedrin writes that Adam left behind 33 sons and 27 daughters; Cyrus Dorotheus of Monemvasia also claims the same thing. The holy martyr Methodius, Bishop of Tire, during the reign of Diocletian in Chalcis (not in Chalcedon, but in Chalcis, for one is the city of Chalcedon, and the other is the city of Chalcis, which see in Onomasticon), a Greek city that suffered for Christ, in the Roman The Martyrology ("Martyr's Word"), under the 18th day of the month of September, the revered one (not found in our Saints), tells that Adam had one hundred sons and the same number of daughters, born along with the sons, for twins were born, male and female 5
Georgy Kedrin. Synopsis. 18, 9-10. – Ed.

The entire human tribe mourned Adam, and they buried him (according to the testimony of Egyptipus) in a marble tomb in Hebron, where the Field of Damascus is, and the Mamre oak tree later 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 time of the sons of the Hittites. So, Adam, created from the earth, returned to the earth again, according to the word of the Lord.

Others wrote that Adam was buried where Golgotha ​​is, near Jerusalem; but it is appropriate to know that the head of Adam was brought there after the flood. There is a probable account of James of Ephesus, who was the teacher of St. Ephraim. He says that Noah, entering the ship before the flood, took the honest relics of Adam from the tomb and carried them with him into the ship, hoping through his prayers to be saved during the flood. After the flood, he divided the relics between his three sons: to the eldest son Shem he gave the most honorable part - the forehead of Adam - and indicated that he would live in that part of the earth where Jerusalem would later be created. Hereby, according to the vision of God and according to the prophetic gift given to him from God, he gave burial to the forehead of Adam in a high place, not far from the place where Jerusalem was to arise. Having poured a great grave over his forehead, he called it the “place of the forehead” from Adam’s forehead, buried where our Lord Christ was subsequently crucified by His will.

After the death of the forefather Adam, the forefather Eve still survived; Having lived ten years after Adam, she died in 940 from the beginning of the world and was buried next to her husband, from whose rib she was created.

Among Orthodox people there is such a tradition: whoever prays to St. Dmitry of Rostov, all the saints offer prayer for him, for he worked for many years on the description of their lives and compiled a multi-volume work - “The Book of the Lives of the Saints”, another name: the Fourth Menaion.

Many generations of the Russian people were brought up on this book. Until now, the works of St. Demetrius are republished and read with interest by his contemporaries.

A.S. Pushkin called this book “eternally alive,” “an inexhaustible treasury for an inspired artist.”

Saint Demetrius, the future saint of Rostov, was born in 1651 in the village of Makarov, several miles from Kyiv. He received his education at the Kiev-Mohyla College, and then at the Kirillov Monastery. At the age of 23 (he took monastic vows at 18), the future saint became a famous preacher. In 1684, the Cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra blessed him to compile the lives of the saints. To write the book, Saint Demetrius used the first collection of Lives, which was compiled by Saint Macarius (mid-16th century). From the first centuries, Christians recorded events from the lives of holy ascetics. These stories began to be collected in collections, where they were arranged according to the days of their church veneration.

A collection of the lives of Saint Macarius was sent to Saint Demetrius from Moscow by Patriarch Joachim. The first book of Lives was completed four years later - in 1688 (September and November). In 1695, the second book was written (December, February) and five years later the third (March, May). Saint Demetrius completed his work in the Spaso-Jacob Monastery of Rostov the Great.

Lives of the saints are also called Chetii-menaia - books for reading (not liturgical), where the lives of the saints are presented sequentially for every day and month of the whole year (“menaia” in Greek means “lasting month”). The Lives of Saints of St. Dmitry of Rostov, in addition to the biographies themselves, included descriptions of holidays and instructive words on the events of the saint’s life.

The saint's main hagiographical work was published in 1711-1718. In 1745 Holy Synod instructed Kiev-Pechersk Archimandrite Timofey Shcherbatsky to correct and supplement the books of St. Dmitry.

Subsequently, Archimandrite Joseph Mitkevich and Hierodeacon Nikodim also worked on this. The collected lives of the holy saints of God were republished in 1759. For the work done, Saint Dmitry began to be called the “Russian Chrysostom.” Saint Dmitry, until his death, continued to collect new materials on the lives of the saints.

Secular readers viewed the collection of lives and how historical source(for example, V. Tatishchev, A. Schlozer, N. Karamzin used them in their books).

In 1900, “The Lives of the Saints” began to be published in Russian. These books are printed according to the 1904 edition of the Moscow Synodal Printing House.

BUY:

Month January

Memory January 1

Word on the Circumcision of Christ

Our Lord Jesus Christ, after eight days from birth, deigned to receive circumcision. On the one hand, He accepted it in order to fulfill the law: “I came not to destroy the law,” He said, “but to fulfill it”(Matthew 5:17); for He obeyed the law in order to free from it those who were in slavish subjection to it, as the apostle says: “God sent his Son, subjected to the law, to redeem those under the law.”(Gal.4:5). On the other hand, He accepted circumcision in order to show that He really took on human flesh, and so that heretical lips would be stopped, saying that Christ did not take on true human flesh, but was only born ghostly. So He was circumcised so that His humanity would be evident. For if He had not put on our flesh, how could a ghost and not the flesh be circumcised? Saint Ephraim the Syrian says: “If Christ was not flesh, then whom did Joseph circumcise? But since He was truly flesh, He was circumcised as a man, and the baby was truly stained with His blood, like the son of man; He was sick and cried in pain, as befits someone with human nature.” But, in addition, He accepted fleshly circumcision in order to establish spiritual circumcision for us; for, having finished the old law that concerned the flesh, He laid the foundation for a new, spiritual one. And just as the carnal man of the Old Testament circumcised his sensual flesh, so the new spiritual person must cut off spiritual passions: rage, anger, envy, pride, unclean desires and other sins and sinful lusts. He was circumcised on the eighth day because He foreshadowed to us with His blood the future life, which is usually called by the teachers of the Church the eighth day or age. Thus, the writer of the canon on the circumcision of the Lord, Saint Stephen, says: “he depicts life in the future unceasing osmago age, in the future the Lord was circumcised in the flesh.” And Saint Gregory of Nyssa says this: “According to the law, circumcision was to be performed on the eighth day, and the eighth number predicted the eighth future century. It is also appropriate to know that circumcision in the Old Testament was established in the image of baptism and cleansing of ancestral sin, although that sin was not completely cleansed by circumcision, which could not have happened until Christ voluntarily shed His most pure blood for us in His suffering. Circumcision was only a prototype of true cleansing, and not the true cleansing that our Lord accomplished, taking sin from the environment and nailing it to the cross, and instead of the Old Testament circumcision, establishing a new grace-filled baptism with water and the Spirit. Circumcision in those days was, as it were, an execution for the ancestral sin and a sign that the circumcised baby was conceived in iniquity, as David says, and his mother gave birth to him in sin (Ps. 50:7), which is why the ulcer remained on the adolescent body. Our Lord was sinless; for although He was like us in everything, He had no sin on Himself. Just as the copper serpent, built in the desert by Moses, was similar in appearance to a serpent, but did not have snake venom in it (Num. 21:9), so Christ was a true man, but not involved in human sin, and was born supernaturally , from a pure and unmarried Mother. He, as a sinless one and Himself the former Lawgiver, would not need to undergo that painful legal circumcision; but since He came to take upon Himself the sins of the whole world and God, as the Apostle says, made Him who knew no sin to be a sacrifice for sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), He, being without sin, undergoes circumcision as if He were a sinner. . And in circumcision the Master showed us greater humility than in His birth. For at His birth He took upon Himself the form of man, according to the words of the Apostle: "having been made in the likeness of men, and becoming in appearance like a man"(Phil.2:7); in circumcision He took upon Himself the image of a sinner, as a sinner enduring the pain due for sin. And what He was not guilty of, for that He suffered as if innocent, as if repeating with David: “What I did not take away, I must give back” (Ps. 68:5), that is, for that sin in which I was not involved, I accept the disease of circumcision. By the circumcision He received, He began His suffering for us and the partaking of that cup, which He had to drink to the end, when, hanging on the cross, He said: "It is finished"(John 19:30)! He is now shedding drops of blood from foreskin, and then it will subsequently flow out in streams from His entire body. He begins to endure in infancy and becomes accustomed to suffering, so that, having become a perfect man, he will be able to endure more severe suffering, for one should be accustomed to feats of courage from youth. Human life, full of work, is like a day, for which morning is birth, and evening is death. So, in the morning, from the swaddling clothes, Christ, the adored man, goes out to his work, to his labors - He is in labor from His very youth and to his work until the evening (Ps. 103:23), that evening when the sun darkens and There will be darkness throughout the whole earth until the ninth hour. And He will say to the Jews: “My Father works until now, and I work”(John 5:17). What is the Lord doing for us? – Our salvation: "bringing salvation into the midst of the earth"(Ps. 73:12). And in order to do this work completely perfectly, He sets about it in the morning, from youth, beginning to endure bodily illness, and at the same time being heartily sick for us, as for His children, until He Himself, Christ, is depicted in us. In the morning He begins to sow with His blood in order to gather the beautiful fruit of our redemption by evening. The adored Child was given the name Jesus at circumcision, which was brought from heaven by the Archangel Gabriel at the time when he announced His conception to the Most Pure Virgin Mary, before He was conceived in the womb, i.e., before the Most Holy Virgin accepted the words of the evangelist before she said: “behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word!”(Luke 1:38). For, at these words of Her, the Word of God immediately became flesh, dwelling in Her most pure and most holy womb. So, the most holy name Jesus, named by the angel before conception, was given at the circumcision of Christ the Lord, which served as a notification of our salvation; for the name Jesus means salvation, as the same angel explained when he appeared to Joseph in a dream and said: “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”(Matt. 1:21). And the holy Apostle Peter testifies to the name of Jesus with these words: "there is no other name under heaven, given to people by which we must be saved"(Acts 4:12). This saving name Jesus, before all ages, in the Trinity Council, was prepared, written and until now was kept for our deliverance, but now, like priceless pearls, it was brought from the heavenly treasury for the redemption of the human race and was revealed to all by Joseph. In this name the truth and wisdom of God are revealed (Ps. 50:8). This name, like the sun, illuminated the world with its radiance, according to the words of the prophet: “But for you who revere My name, the Sun of righteousness will rise.”(Malach.4:2). Like fragrant myrrh, it filled the universe with its aroma: spilled myrrh - it is said in Scripture - from the fragrance of your ointments (Song. 1: 2), not the remaining myrrh into a vessel - His name, but poured out. For as long as the myrrh is kept in the vessel, so long will its incense be kept inside; when it spills, it immediately fills the air with a fragrance. The power of the name of Jesus was unknown while it was hidden in the Eternal Council, as if in a vessel. But as soon as that name was poured out from heaven to earth, then immediately, like fragrant ointment, when the blood of an infant was poured out during the circumcision, it filled the universe with the aroma of grace, and all nations now confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The power of the name of Jesus has now been revealed, for that wondrous name Jesus amazed the angels, rejoiced the people, frightened the demons, for the demons believe and tremble (James 2:19); from that very name hell shakes, the underworld shakes, the prince of darkness disappears, idols fall, the darkness of idolatry is dispersed and, in its place, the light of piety shines and enlightens every person who comes into the world (John 1:9). In this name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth (Phil. 2:10). This is the name of Jesus strong weapon against enemies, as St. John Climacus says: “In the name of Jesus, always defeat the warriors, for you will not find stronger weapons than this, neither in heaven nor on earth. How sweet to the heart that loves Christ Jesus is this most precious name Jesus! How pleasant it is to him who has it! For Jesus is all love, all sweetness. How kind is this holy name of Jesus to the servant and prisoner of Jesus, taken captive by His love! Jesus is in the mind, Jesus is on the lips, Jesus is where people believe with the heart for righteousness, Jesus is where they confess with the mouth for salvation (Rom. 10:10). Whether you are walking, sitting still, or working, Jesus is always before your eyes. For I determined,” said the apostle, “to know nothing among you except Jesus (1 Cor. 2:2). For Jesus, for those who cling to Him, is enlightenment of the mind, beauty of the soul, health of the body, joy to the heart, a helper in sorrows, joy in sorrows, a cure in illness, consolation in all troubles, and hope of salvation for those who He loves Him, He Himself is the reward and recompense.”

Once upon a time, according to the legend of Jerome, the inscrutable name of God was inscribed on a golden tablet, which the great high priest wore on his forehead; now the divine name Jesus is inscribed with His true blood, shed at His circumcision. It is no longer inscribed on material gold, but on spiritual gold, that is, on the heart and on the lips of Jesus’ servants, as it was inscribed in the one about which Christ said: “for he is my chosen vessel to proclaim my name”(Acts 9:15). The sweetest Jesus wants His name to be carried in a vessel like the sweetest drink, for He is truly sweet to all who partake of Him with love, to whom the psalmist addresses himself with these words: “Taste and see how good the Lord is”(Ps.33:9)! Having tasted Him, the prophet cries out: “I will love You, O Lord, my strength”(Ps. 17:2)! Having tasted Him, the holy Apostle Peter said: “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; Who should we go to? You have the words of eternal life"(Matt. 19:27; John 6:68). This sweetness for the holy sufferers so delighted their grave torments that they were not afraid of even the most terrible death. Whoever, they cried, will separate us from the love of God: tribulation, or danger, or sword, neither death nor life, for love is strong as death (Rom. 8:35, 38; Song 8:6). In what vessel does the indescribable sweetness – the name of Jesus – love to be carried? Of course, in gold, which was tested in the crucible of troubles and misfortunes, which is decorated, as if with precious stones, with wounds taken for Jesus and says: “For I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus on my body.”(Gal.6:17). That sweetness requires such a vessel; in such a vessel the name of Jesus desires to be borne. It is not in vain that Jesus, taking the name at the time of circumcision, sheds blood; by this He seems to be saying that a vessel that bears His name must be stained with blood. For when the Lord took for Himself a chosen vessel for glorifying His name - the Apostle Paul, He immediately added: “And I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”(Acts 9:16). Look at My bloody, wounded vessel - this is how the name of Jesus is outlined in the redness of the blood, the sicknesses, the sufferings of those who stand to the blood, struggling against sin (Heb. 12:14).

So, let us kiss you with love, O sweetest name of Jesus! We worship with zeal your most holy name, O sweet and all-generous Jesus! We praise Your highest name, Jesus the Savior, we fall down to Your blood shed at circumcision, gentle Child and perfect Lord! We beg with this Your abundant goodness, for the sake of Your most holy name and for the sake of Your most precious blood shed for us, and also for the sake of Your Immaculate Mother, who incorruptibly gave birth to You, pour out Your rich mercy on us! Delight our hearts, O Jesus, with You! Protect and protect us, Jesus, everywhere in Your name! Signify and seal us, Your servants, Jesus, with that name, so that we may be accepted into Your future Kingdom, and there, together with the angels, glorify and sing, Jesus, Your most honorable and magnificent name forever. Amen.

Troparion, tone 1:

On the fiery throne in the highest, sitting with the Father without beginning, and Your divine Spirit, You deigned to be born on earth, from a young woman, Your unmarried Mother Jesus: for this reason You were circumcised as a man of old age. Glory to Your all-good advice: glory to Your discernment: glory to Your condescension, O One who loves mankind.

Kontakion, tone 3:

The Lord endures circumcision of all and circumcises human sins as if it were good: He gives salvation to the world today. Both the Creator hierarch and the luminous divine secret place of Christ, Basil, rejoice in the highest.

The Life of Our Holy Father Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea

The great saint of God and God-wise teacher of the Church, Basil, was born of noble and pious parents in the Cappadocian city of Caesarea, around 330, during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great. His father’s name was also Vasily, and his mother’s name was Emmelia. The first seeds of piety were sown in his soul by his pious grandmother, Macrina, who in her youth was honored to hear instructions from the lips of St. Gregory the Wonderworker - and by his mother, the pious Emmelia. Vasily’s father instructed him not only in the Christian faith, but also taught him secular sciences, which were well known to him, since he himself taught rhetoric, that is, oratory, and philosophy. When Vasily was about 14 years old, his father died, and the orphaned Vasily spent two or three years with his grandmother Macrina, not far from Neokesarea, near the Iris River, in a country house that his grandmother owned and which was later converted into a monastery. From here Vasily often went to Caesarea to visit his mother, who lived with her other children in this city, where she was from.

After the death of Macrina, Vasily, in the 17th year of his life, again settled in Caesarea to study various sciences in the local schools. Thanks to his special sharpness of mind, Vasily soon equaled his teachers in knowledge and, seeking new knowledge, went to Constantinople, where at that time the young sophist Livanius was famous for his eloquence. But even here Vasily did not stay long and went to Athens - the city that was the mother of all Hellenic wisdom. In Athens, he began to listen to the lessons of one glorious pagan teacher, named Evvula, while visiting the schools of two other famous Athenian teachers, Iberius and Proaresia. At this time, Vasily was already twenty-six years old and he showed extreme zeal in his studies, but at the same time he deserved universal approval for the purity of his life. He knew only two roads in Athens - one leading to the church, and the other to the school. In Athens, Basil became friends with another glorious saint, Gregory the Theologian, who was also studying at Athens schools at that time. Vasily and Gregory, being similar to each other in their good behavior, meekness and chastity, loved each other as much as if they had one soul - and they subsequently preserved this mutual love forever. Vasily was so passionate about science that he often even forgot, while sitting at his books, about the need to eat. He studied grammar, rhetoric, astronomy, philosophy, physics, medicine and natural sciences. But all these secular, earthly sciences could not satiate his mind, which was looking for higher, heavenly illumination, and after staying in Athens for about five years, Vasily felt that worldly science could not give him firm support in the matter of Christian improvement. Therefore, he decided to go to those countries where Christian ascetics lived, and where he could become fully acquainted with true Christian science.

So, while Gregory the Theologian remained in Athens, having already become a teacher of rhetoric, Vasily went to Egypt, where monastic life flourished. Here, with a certain Archimandrite Porfiry, he found a large collection of theological works, in the study of which he spent a whole year, practicing at the same time in fasting feats. In Egypt, Vasily observed the lives of famous contemporary ascetics - Pachomius, who lived in Thebaid, Macarius the Elder and Macarius of Alexandria, Paphnutius, Paul and others. From Egypt, Vasily went to Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia to explore the holy places and get acquainted with the life of the ascetics there. But on the way to Palestine, he stopped in Athens and here had an interview with his former mentor Eubulus, and also argued about the true faith with other Greek philosophers.

Wanting to convert his teacher to the true faith and thereby pay him for the good that he himself received from him, Vasily began to look for him throughout the city. For a long time he did not find him, but finally he met him outside the city walls while Evvul was talking with other philosophers about some important subject. Having listened to the argument and without yet revealing his name, Vasily entered into the conversation, immediately resolving the difficult question, and then, for his part, asked new question to your teacher. When the listeners were perplexed as to who could answer and object to the famous Evvul in this way, the latter said:

- This is either some god, or Vasily.

Having recognized Vasily, Evvul dismissed his friends and students, and he himself brought Vasily to himself, and they spent three whole days in conversation, almost without eating food. By the way, Evvul asked Vasily what, in his opinion, is the essential merit of philosophy.

“The essence of philosophy,” answered Vasily, “is that it gives a person remembrance of death.”

At the same time, he pointed out to Evvul the fragility of the world and all its pleasures, which at first seem really sweet, but then later become extremely bitter for those who have become too attached to them.

“Along with these joys,” said Vasily, “there are consolations of a different kind, of heavenly origin.” You cannot use both at the same time - "No one can serve two masters"(Matthew 6:24) - but we still, as far as possible for people attached to the things of this world, crush the bread of true knowledge and we bring the one who, even through his own fault, has lost the robe of virtue, under the roof of good deeds, pitying him, How we pity a naked man on the street.

Following this, Vasily began to talk to Evvul about the power of repentance, describing the images he once saw of virtue and vice, which alternately attract a person to themselves, and the image of repentance, next to which, like his daughters, stand various virtues.

“But we have no reason, Evvul,” added Vasily, “to resort to such artificial means of persuasion.” We possess the truth itself, which can be comprehended by anyone who sincerely strives for it. Namely, we believe that we will all one day be resurrected - some to eternal life, and others to eternal torment and shame. The prophets clearly tell us about this: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and David and the divine Apostle Paul, as well as the Lord Himself, who calls us to repentance, Who found the lost sheep, and Who, embracing the prodigal son returning with repentance, kisses him with love, and adorns him with bright clothes and a ring and makes a feast for him (Luke, ch. 15). He gives equal reward to those who came at the eleventh hour, as well as to those who endured the burden of the day and the heat. He gives to us who repent and are born of water and the Spirit, as it is written: eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and what has not entered into the heart of man is what God has prepared for those who love Him.

When Basil conveyed to Evvul a brief history of the economy of our salvation, starting with the fall of Adam and ending with the teaching of Christ the Redeemer, Evvul exclaimed:

- Oh, Vasily revealed by heaven, through you I believe in the One God, the Father Almighty, Creator of all things, and I hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century, amen. And here is the proof of my faith in God: I will spend the rest of my life with you, and now I wish you to be born of water and the Spirit.

Then Vasily said:

- Blessed is our God from now on and forever, Who illuminated your mind with the light of truth, Eubulus, and led you from extreme error to the knowledge of His love. If you want, as you said, to live with me, then I will explain to you how we can take care of our salvation by getting rid of the snares of this life. Let's sell all our property and distribute the money to the poor, and we ourselves will go to the holy city to see the miracles there; there we will be even more strengthened in faith.

Having thus distributed all their property to the needy and bought themselves the white clothes that those receiving baptism were required to have, they went to Jerusalem and along the way they converted many to the true faith.

“You would have lent me a lot, Vasily,” he concluded, “if you had not refused to present your teaching for the benefit of the students who are with me.”

Soon the disciples of Livaniya gathered, and Vasily began to teach them so that they would acquire spiritual purity, bodily dispassion, modest gait, quiet speech, modest speech, moderation in food and drink, silence in front of elders, attentiveness to the words of the wise, obedience to superiors, unfeigned love for equal to themselves and to their inferiors, so that they distance themselves from the evil, passionate and attached to carnal pleasures, so that they speak less and listen and delve more deeply, are not reckless in speech, are not verbose, do not laugh impudently at others, are adorned with modesty, do not enter into in a conversation with immoral women, they would lower their eyes, and turn their souls to grief, avoid disputes, would not seek the teaching rank, and would regard the honors of this world as nothing. If anyone does anything to benefit others, let him expect reward from God and eternal reward from Jesus Christ our Lord. This is what Basil said to the disciples of Libanius, and they listened to him with great surprise, and after this he, together with Evvul, set off on the road again.

When they came to Jerusalem and walked around all the holy places with faith and love, praying there to the One Creator of all, God, they appeared to the bishop of that city, Maximus, and asked him to baptize them in the Jordan. The bishop, seeing their great faith, fulfilled their request: taking his clergy, he went with Basil and Evvul to the Jordan. When they stopped on the shore, Vasily fell to the ground and with tears prayed to God to show him some sign to strengthen his faith. Then, standing up with trepidation, he took off his clothes, and with them “put aside the old man’s former way of life”, and, entering the water, prayed. When the saint approached to baptize him, suddenly a fiery lightning fell on them and a dove that emerged from that lightning plunged into the Jordan and, stirring up the water, flew into the sky. Those standing on the shore, seeing this, trembled and glorified God. Having received baptism, Vasily came out of the water and the bishop, marveling at his love for God, clothed him in clothes Christ's resurrection while performing a prayer. He baptized Evvul and then anointed both with myrrh and communed the Divine Gifts.

Returning to the holy city, Basil and Evvul stayed there for one year. Then they went to Antioch, where Basil was made a deacon by Archbishop Meletius, then he was engaged in explaining the Scriptures. A little time later, he left with Evvul to his homeland, Cappadocia. As they approached the city of Caesarea, the Archbishop of Caesarea, Leontius, was announced in a dream of their arrival and told that Basil would eventually be the archbishop of this city. Therefore, the archbishop, calling his archdeacon and several honorary clergy, sent them to the eastern gate of the city, ordering them to bring to him with honor the two strangers whom they would meet there. They went and, meeting Basil and Evvul, when they entered the city, they took them to the archbishop; when he saw them, he was surprised, for it was them he had seen in his dream, and he glorified God. Having asked them where they were coming from and what they were called, and having learned their names, he ordered them to be taken to a meal and treated to food, and he himself, having called his clergy and honorable citizens, told them everything that had been told to him in a vision from God about Vasily . Then the clergy unanimously said:

- Since God has shown you an heir to your throne for your virtuous life, then do with him as you please; for truly the person whom the will of God directly indicates is worthy of all respect.

After this, the Archbishop called Vasily and Evvul to him and began to talk with them about Scripture, wanting to find out how much they understood it. Hearing their speeches, he marveled at the depth of their wisdom and, leaving them with him, treated them with special respect. Vasily, while staying in Caesarea, led the same life that he learned from many ascetics when he traveled through Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia and looked closely at the ascetic fathers who lived in those countries. So, imitating their life, he was a good monk and the Archbishop of Caesarea, Eusebius, made him presbyter and leader of the monks in Caesarea. Having accepted the rank of presbyter, Saint Basil devoted all his time to the labors of this ministry, so much so that he even refused to correspond with his former friends. Caring for the monks he had gathered, preaching the word of God, and other pastoral concerns did not allow him to be distracted by extraneous activities. At the same time, in his new field, he soon acquired such respect for himself that the archbishop himself, who was not yet quite experienced in church affairs, did not enjoy, since he was elected to the throne of Caesarea from among the catechumens. But barely a year of his presbytery had passed when Bishop Eusebius, out of human weakness, began to envy and be hostile to Basil. Saint Basil, having learned about this and not wanting to be the subject of envy, went into the Ionian desert. In the Ionian desert, Vasily retired to the Iris River - to the area in which his mother Emmelia and his sister Macrina had retired before him - and which belonged to them. Macrina built a monastery here. Close to him, at the sole high mountain, covered with dense forest and irrigated by cold and clear waters, Vasily settled. The desert was so pleasant to Vasily with its imperturbable silence that he intended to end his days here. Here he imitated the exploits of those great men whom he saw in Syria and Egypt. He labored in extreme deprivation, having only clothes to cover himself - a sorrel and a mantle; He also wore a hair shirt, but only at night, so that it would not be visible; He ate bread and water, seasoning this meager food with salt and roots. From strict abstinence he became very pale and skinny, and became extremely exhausted. He never went to the bathhouse or lit a fire. But Vasily did not live for himself alone: ​​he gathered monks into a hostel; with his letters he attracted his friend Gregory to his desert.

In their solitude, Vasily and Gregory did everything together; prayed together; both abandoned the reading of worldly books, on which they had previously spent a lot of time, and began to devote themselves exclusively to the Holy Scriptures. Wanting to study it better, they read the works of the church fathers and writers who preceded them, especially Origen. Here Vasily and Gregory, guided by the Holy Spirit, wrote the regulations for the monastic community, by which the monks of the Eastern Church for the most part are still guided today.

In relation to physical life, Vasily and Gregory found pleasure in patience; They worked with their own hands, carrying firewood, cutting stones, planting and watering trees, carrying manure, carrying heavy loads, so that calluses remained on their hands for a long time. Their dwelling had neither roof nor gate; there was never any fire or smoke there. The bread they ate was so dry and poorly baked that it could hardly be chewed with the teeth.

The time came, however, when both Basil and Gregory had to leave the desert, since their services were needed for the Church, which at that time was outraged by heretics. Gregory, to help the Orthodox, was taken to Nazianza by his father, Gregory, a man already old and therefore not having the strength to fight the heretics with firmness; Basil was persuaded to return to himself by Eusebius, the Archbishop of Caesarea, who reconciled with him in a letter and asked him to help the Church, which the Arians had taken up arms against. Blessed Basil, seeing such a need for the Church and preferring it to the benefits of the desert life, left solitude and came to Caesarea, where he worked hard, protecting the Orthodox faith from heresy with words and writings. When Archbishop Eusebius reposed, having given up his spirit to God in the arms of Basil, Vasily was elevated to the archbishop's throne and consecrated by a council of bishops. Among those bishops was the elderly Gregory, the father of Gregory of Nazianzus. Being weak and burdened by old age, he ordered to be escorted to Caesarea in order to convince Basil to accept the archbishopric and prevent the installation of any of the Arians on the throne.

Heretics, called Docetes, taught that God could not take upon Himself weak human flesh, and that it only seemed to people that Christ suffered and died.

The Old Testament primarily contained decrees concerning the external behavior of man.

Service to the Circumcision of the Lord, canon, on the 4th ode. – Saint Stephen Savvait – 8th century hymn writer. His memory is October 28th.

Number seven in Holy Scripture means completeness. Therefore, in order to designate the entire duration of life of this world, the holy fathers used the expression seven centuries or days, and the eighth century or day, naturally, should have designated the future life.

Col. 2:14. Sin from the environment, that is, sin stood as an obstacle, a partition, separating a person from God. But then sin was nailed to the cross, that is, it lost all power and could no longer prevent a person from entering into communion with God.

Gal. 4:19. If depicted, the image of Christ is clearly imprinted on us, so that we will be fully worthy of the name Christians.

The gold tablet, attached to the main bandage of the high priest, had the name of God (Jehovah) inscribed on it.

Cappadocia, a province of the Roman Empire, was located in the east of Asia Minor and was famous during the time of Basil the Great for the education of its inhabitants. At the end of the 11th century, Cappadocia fell under the rule of the Turks and still belongs to them. Caesarea is the main city of Cappadocia; The Church of Caesarea has long been famous for the education of its archpastors. St. Gregory the Theologian, who laid the foundation for his education here, calls Caesarea the capital of enlightenment.

Vasily's father, also named Vasily, known for his charity, was married to a noble and rich girl Emmelia. From this marriage five daughters and five sons were born. The eldest daughter, Macrina, after the untimely death of her fiancé, remained faithful to this blessed union, devoting herself to chastity (her memory is July 19); Vasily's other sisters got married. Of the five brothers, one died in early childhood; three were bishops and canonized; the fifth died while hunting. Of the survivors, the eldest son was Vasily, followed by Gregory, later Bishop of Nyssa (his memory is January 10), and Peter, first a simple ascetic, then Bishop of Sebaste (his memory is January 9). – Vasily’s father, probably, shortly before his death, took the rank of priest, as can be concluded from the fact that Gregory the Theologian calls the mother of Vasily the Great the wife of a priest.

Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop of Neocaesarea (north of Caesarea Cappadocia), composed a creed and a canonical epistle, and in addition wrote several other works. He died in 270, his memory is on November 17.

Neokesarea - present-day Nixar - is the capital of Pontus Polemonia, famous for its beauty, in the north of Asia Minor; It is especially known for the church council that took place there (in 315). Iris is a river in Pontus, originating in Antitaurus.

Sophists are scholars who devoted themselves primarily to the study and teaching of eloquence. – Livanius and subsequently, when Vasily was already a bishop, maintained written relations with him.

Athens is the main city of Greece, which has long attracted the flower of the Greek mind and talent. Famous philosophers once lived here - Socrates and Plato, as well as the poets Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and others. - By Hellenic wisdom we mean pagan learning, pagan education.

Proeresius, the most famous teacher of philosophy at that time, was a Christian, as can be seen from the fact that he closed his school when the Emperor Julian forbade Christians to teach philosophy. Nothing is known about what religion Iberius adhered to.

Gregory (Nazianzen) was subsequently for some time the Patriarch of Constantinople and is known for his lofty creations, for which he received the nickname of the Theologian. He knew Basil back in Caesarea, but only became close friends with him in Athens. His memory is January 25.

Egypt has long been a place where Christian ascetic life was especially developed. Likewise, there were a great many Christian scholars, of whom the most famous were Origen and Clement of Alexandria.

That is, the time has not yet come to replace philosophy and pagan religion Christian faith. Livanius died a pagan (about 391, in Antioch).

Ancient Christians accepted St. very late. baptism - partly out of humility, partly in the consideration that, having been baptized shortly before death, they will receive forgiveness of all their sins in baptism.

Basil the Great owns many works. Like all the actions of St. Vasily was distinguished by extraordinary greatness and importance, and all his works are imprinted with the same character of Christian heights and greatness. In his works he is a preacher, a dogmatist-polemicist, an interpreter of Holy Scripture, a teacher of morality and piety, and, finally, an organizer church service . Of his conversations, in terms of strength and animation, they are considered the best: against moneylenders, against drunkenness and luxury, about glory, about hunger. In his letters to St. Vasily vividly depicts the events of his time; Many of the letters contain excellent instructions about love, meekness, forgiveness of offenses, about raising children, against the stinginess and pride of the rich, against vain oaths, or with spiritual advice for monks. As a dogmatist and polemicist, he appears before us in his three books written against the Arian false teacher Eunomius, in an essay against Savelius and Anomeev about the deity of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, Basil the Great wrote a special book about the Holy Spirit against Aetius, of which Eunomius was also a champion. Dogmatic writings also include some conversations and letters of St. Vasily. As an interpreter of Holy Scripture, St. gained special fame for himself. Vasily had nine conversations at the “Six Days”, where he showed himself to be an expert not only in the Word of God, but also in philosophy and natural science. His conversations on the psalms and 16 chapters of the book of the prophet are also known. Isaiah. Conversations on both the Sixth Day and the Psalms were spoken in the church and therefore, along with explanations, contain exhortations, consolations and teachings. He touched on the teachings of piety in his famous “instruction to young men how to use pagan writers,” and in two books on asceticism. The canonical works include the letters of Basil the Great to some bishops. – Gregory the Theologian speaks about the dignity of the works of Basil the Great: “Everywhere there is one and the greatest pleasure - the writings and creations of Vasily. After him, writers do not need any other wealth than his writings. Instead of all, he alone became enough for students to get an education.” “Whoever wants to be an excellent civil speaker,” says the learned Patriarch Photius, “does not need either Demosthenes or Plato, if only he has taken Basil as a model and studies the words. In all his words, St. Vasily is excellent. He especially speaks pure, elegant, majestic language; in the order of thoughts he takes first place. He combines persuasiveness with pleasantness and clarity.” Saint Gregory the Theologian says this about the knowledge and writings of Saint Basil: “Who more than Basil was enlightened by the light of knowledge, saw into the depths of the Spirit, and with God explored everything that is known about God? In Basil, beauty was virtue, greatness was Theology, procession was the unceasing striving and ascent to God, power was the sowing and distribution of the word. And therefore I can say without becoming rigid: their voice went throughout the whole earth, and to the ends of the universe their words, and to the ends of the universes his words, that St. Paul said about the apostles (Rom. 10:18) ... - When I have his Sixth Day in my hands and pronounce it orally: then I talk with the Creator, I comprehend the laws of creation and I marvel at the Creator more than before - having only sight as my mentor. When I have before me his accusatory words against false teachers: then I see the fire of Sodom, with which the wicked and lawless tongues are incinerated. When I read the words about the Spirit: then I find the God Whom I have again and feel within myself the boldness to speak the truth, ascending through the degrees of His Theology and contemplation. When I read his other interpretations, which he makes clear even for people with limited vision: then I am convinced not to stop at one letter, and to look not only at the surface, but to stretch further, from one depth to enter a new one, calling upon the abyss of the abyss and acquiring light with light, until I will reach the highest meaning. When I become occupied with his praises to the ascetics, then I forget the body, talk with those being praised, and become excited for the feat. When I read his moral and active words: then I am cleansed in soul and body, I become a temple pleasing to God, an organ into which the Spirit strikes the hymn of God’s glory and God’s power, and through this I am transformed, I come into good order, from one person I become another, I am changed Divine change" (Funeral homily of Gregory the Theologian to St. Basil).

Eusebius was taken to the bishopric, at the request of the people, directly from the civil service and therefore could not have much authority as a theologian and teacher of the faith.

One of his most important activities at this time was preaching the word of God. He often preached not only every day, but twice a day, morning and evening. Sometimes after preaching in one church, he would come to preach in another. In his teachings, Vasily vividly and convincingly revealed to the mind and heart the beauty of Christian virtues and exposed the vileness of vices; He offered incentives to strive for the first to move away from the last and showed everyone the path to achieving perfection, since he himself was an experienced ascetic. His very interpretations are aimed, first of all, at the spiritual edification of his listeners. Whether he explains the history of the creation of the world, he sets himself the goal, firstly, to show that “the world is a school of the knowledge of God” (conversation 1 on the Sixth Day), and thereby arouse in his listeners reverence for the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, revealed in His creations, small and great, beautiful, varied, countless. Secondly, he wants to show how nature always teaches a person good moral living. The lifestyle, properties, habits of four-legged animals, birds, fish, reptiles, everything - even the former one-day-old - gives him the opportunity to learn edifying lessons for the master of the earth - man. Whether he explains the book of Psalms, which, in his words, combines everything that is useful in others: prophecies, history, and edification, he mainly applies the sayings of the Psalmist to the life and activity of a Christian.

Pontus is a region in Asia Minor, along the southern coast of the Black Sea, not far from Neokesarea. The Pontic Desert was barren, and its climate was far from favorable for health. The hut in which Vasily lived here had neither strong doors, nor a real hearth, nor a roof. During the meal, however, some hot food was served, but, according to Gregory the Theologian, with such bread, on the pieces of which, due to its extreme callousness, the teeth first slipped and then got stuck in them. In addition to general prayers, reading St. Scriptures, scientific works of Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian and other local monks here themselves were engaged in carrying firewood, cutting stones, caring for garden vegetables, and they themselves carried a huge cart with manure.

These rules served and serve as a guide for the life of monks throughout the East and, in particular, for our Russian monks. In his rules, Vasily gives preference to communal life over hermitic and solitary life, since, living together with others, the monk has more opportunities to serve the cause of Christian love. Vasily establishes for the monks the obligation of unquestioning obedience to the abbot, orders them to be hospitable towards strangers, although he forbids serving them special dishes. Fasting, prayer and constant work - this is what monks should do, according to the rules of Vasily, and, however, they should not forget about the needs of the unfortunate and sick people around them who need care.

The Arian heretics taught that Christ was a created being, not eternally existing and not of the same nature as God the Father. This heresy received its name from the presbyter of the Alexandrian Church, Arius, who began to preach these thoughts in the year 319.

In the publication offered to the reader, the lives of the saints are presented in chronological order. The first volume tells about the Old Testament righteous men and prophets, subsequent volumes will reveal the history of the New Testament Church right up to the ascetics of our time.

As a rule, collections of the lives of saints are built according to the calendar principle. In such publications, the biographies of ascetics are given in the sequence in which the memory of saints is celebrated in the Orthodox liturgical circle. This presentation has a deep meaning, for the church’s memory of a particular moment in sacred history is not a story about the long 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 should not be ignored 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 a temporal perspective, God's plan for humanity is revealed, that is, “childhood” (“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 dead(Matthew 18, I). These are people who lived in hope, these are the souls by which the world, doomed to submission to vanity, was held together (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, closeness to destruction. This is largely due to the fact that the word “dilapidated” itself has become unambiguous in our eyes, having lost the diversity of its originally inherent meanings. Its related Latin word “vetus” speaks of antiquity and old age. These two dimensions define a space of holiness before Christ unknown to us: exemplary, “paradigmatic,” immutability, determined by antiquity and originality, and youth – beautiful, inexperienced and transitory, which became 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 about holiness in general. It is also no coincidence that many of the actions of the ancient righteous people have to be specially explained, and we have no right to repeat them. We cannot imitate the actions of the saints, which are entirely related to the customs of spiritually immature, young humanity - their polygamy and sometimes attitude towards children (see: Gen.

25, 6). We cannot follow their boldness, similar to the power of blooming youth, and together with Moses ask for the appearance of the face of God (see: Exodus 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 weakness, from which all the tension of waiting for the Redeemer is formed - the strength of endless hope from the multiplication of insurmountable weakness.

The Old Testament saints provide us with an example of faithfulness to the promise. They can be called genuine Christians in the sense that their entire lives were filled with the expectation of Christ. Among the harsh laws of the Old Testament, which protected from sin human nature that was not yet perfect, not perfected by Christ, 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, 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 man. 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 a father feel as he led the most dear person in his life to the slaughter? But this did not happen right away: day succeeded day, and the morning brought the righteous not the joy of a new light, but a painful 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 scare me and visions scare me (cf. Job 7:13-14). Three days of travel, when fatigue brought closer not rest, but an inevitable outcome. Three days of painful thought - and at any moment Abraham could refuse. Three days of travel - behind a brief biblical remark lies the power of faith and the severity of the suffering of the righteous.

Aaron, brother of Moses. His name is lost among the many biblical righteous people known to us, obscured by the image of his illustrious brother, with whom not a single Old Testament prophet can be compared (see: Deut. 34:10). We are hardly able to say much about him, and this applies not only to us, but also to the people of Old Testament antiquity: Aaron himself, in the eyes of the people, always retreated before Moses, and the people themselves did not treat him with the love and respect with which they treated their teacher . To remain in the shadow of a great brother, to humbly carry out one’s service, although great, is not so noticeable to others, to serve a righteous man 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 for Aaron and Aaron was a prophet for Moses (see: Ex. 7: 1). But we can imagine what enormous advantages an older brother must have had in biblical times. And here is a complete renunciation of all advantages, complete submission to the younger brother for the sake of the will of God.

His submission to the will of the Lord was so great that even sorrow for his beloved sons receded before her. When the fire of God burned Aaron's two sons for carelessness in worship, Aaron accepts the instruction and humbly agrees with everything; he was even forbidden to mourn 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 man. And we see Job alone, abandoned by his people (after all, Tradition says that Job was a king): we are afraid of losing one friend - can we imagine what it’s like 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 his homeland gains strength in his suffering; he knows its meaning, reaching eternity. Job suffered more than any martyr, but he was not given the opportunity to understand the meaning of his own suffering. This is his greatest sorrow, this is his unbearable cry, which Scripture does not hide from us, does not soften, does not smooth out, does not bury it under the reasoning of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, which, at first glance, are completely pious. The answer is given only at the end, and this is the answer of Job’s humility, which bows before the incomprehensibility of God’s destinies. And only Job could appreciate the sweetness of this humility. This endless sweetness is contained in one phrase, which for us has become a prerequisite for true theology: I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; now my eyes see You; so I renounce and repent in dust and ashes(Job 42:5-6).

Thus, in every story told by Scripture, there are hidden many details that testify to the depth of suffering and the height of hope of the ancient righteous.

The Old Testament has become distant to us with its ritual instructions, which have lost 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 with the beauty of inspired prayer, the power of immutable hope and unwavering striving for God - despite all the falls to which even the righteous have been subjected, despite the inclination to sin of a person who has not yet been healed by Christ. The light of the Old Testament is light from the depth(Ps. 129:1).

The blessed spiritual experience of one of the most famous Old Testament saints - the king and prophet David - has become for us an enduring example of all spiritual experience. These are the psalms, the wondrous prayers of David, in every word of which the fathers of the New Testament Church found the light of Christ. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria has an amazing idea: if the Psalter reveals the most perfect human feelings, and the most perfect Man is Christ, then the Psalter is the perfect image of Christ before His incarnation. This image is revealed in the spiritual experience of the Church.

The Apostle Paul says that we are joint heirs with the Old Testament saints, and they achieved perfection not without us(Heb. I, 39-40). This is the great mystery of God’s economy, and this reveals our mysterious kinship with the ancient righteous. The Church preserves their experience as an ancient treasure, and invites us to join the sacred traditions telling about the lives 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 out according to the guidance of the Four Menaions” by St. Demetrius of Rostov, will serve the Church in its holy work of teaching and will reveal to the reader the majestic and arduous path of the saints to Christ, saved by Christ .

Maxim Kalinin

Lives of the Saints. Old Testament forefathers

Sunday of the Holy Fathers happens within the dates from December 11 to December 17. 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 people 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 planting Paradise, God the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, in His Divine Council of Rivers: Let us create man in our image and likeness; may he possess the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the wild animals, and the livestock, and all the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created 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 a disembodied Spirit, and He created the human soul disembodied, similar to Himself, free, rational, immortal, participating in eternity, and united it with flesh, as Saint Damascus says to God: “You gave me a soul by Divine and life-giving inspiration, from the earth I gave you a body.” having created" (Funeral chants). The Holy Fathers make a distinction between the image and likeness of God in the human soul. Saint Basil the Great in his 10th Sixth Day conversation, Chrysostom in his interpretation of the book of Genesis in his 9th conversation, and Jerome in his interpretation of the prophecy of Ezekiel, chapter 28, establish the following difference: the soul receives the image of God from God at the time of its creation, and the likeness of God is created in her in baptism.

The image is in the mind, and the likeness is in the will; the image is in freedom, autocracy, and the likeness is in virtues.

God called the name of the first man Adam(Genesis 5:2).

Adam is translated from Hebrew as an earthen or red man, since he was created from red earth. 1
This etymology is based on the consonance of the words ’?d?m – “man”,’ad?m – “red”,’?d?m? – “earth” and d?m – “blood”. – Ed.

This name is also interpreted as “microcosmos,” 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 called as follows: “anatoli” - east; “disis” – west; “Arktos” – north or midnight; “mesimvria” – noon (south). Take the first letters from these Greek names and it will be “Adam”. And just as in the name of Adam the four-pointed world was depicted, which Adam was to populate with the human race, so in the same name the four-pointed cross of Christ was depicted, through which the new Adam - Christ our God - was subsequently to save the human race, inhabited at the four ends, from death and hell universe.

The day on which God created Adam, as already mentioned, was the sixth day, which we call Friday. On the same day that God created animals and cattle, He also created man, who has common feelings with animals. Man with all creation - visible and invisible, material, I say, and spiritual - has something in common. He has commonality with insensible things in being, with beasts, livestock and every living creature - in feeling, and with Angels in reason. And the Lord God took the created man and brought him into a beautiful Paradise, filled with indescribable blessings and sweets, irrigated by four rivers of the purest waters; in the midst of it was a tree of life, and whoever ate its fruit never died. There was also another tree there, called the tree of understanding or the knowledge of good and evil; it was the tree of death. God, having commanded Adam to eat the fruit of every tree, commanded him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: On the same day, if you take it down, - he said, - you will die by death(Gen. 2:17). The tree of life is attention to yourself, for you will not destroy your 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 one's neighbor; condemnation entails the punishment of eternal death in hell: Judge for 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 associated with a person’s moral choice, and not with some special property of its fruits, has become widespread in patristic interpretations. Having fulfilled God's commandment not to eat from the tree, a person would experience goodness; Having broken 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 of His earthly creation and subjected everything to his power - all the sheep and oxen, and the 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 all the cattle and all the birds and the meek and submissive beast, for at that time the wolf was still like a lamb, and the hawk like a hen in its disposition, one not harming the other. And Adam gave them all names such as were appropriate and characteristic of each animal, coordinating the name of each animal with its true nature and disposition that subsequently emerged. For Adam was very wise from God and had the mind of an angel. The wise and most kind Creator, having created Adam as such, wanted to give him a concubine and loving companionship, so that he would have someone with whom to enjoy such great blessings, and said: It is not good for man to be alone; let us create a helper for him(Genesis 2:18).

And God brought Adam into a deep sleep, so that in his spirit he could see what was happening and understand the upcoming sacrament of marriage, and especially the union of Christ Himself with the Church; for the mystery of the incarnation of Christ was revealed to him (I speak in agreement with theologians), since the knowledge of the Holy Trinity was given to him, and he knew about the former angelic fall and about the impending reproduction of the human race from it, and also through God's revelation then he comprehended many others sacraments, except for his fall, which by the destinies of God was hidden from him. During such a wonderful dream or, better yet, delight 3
In the Septuagint, Adam's dream is designated by the word §ta aig-"frenzy, delight." – Ed.

The Lord took one of Adam’s ribs and created him a wife to help him, whom Adam, waking up from sleep, recognized and said: Behold, bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh(Genesis 2:23). Both in the creation of Adam from the earth, and in the creation of Eve from a rib, there was a prototype of Christ’s incarnation from the Most Pure Virgin, which St. Chrysostom perfectly explains, saying the following: “As Adam, in addition to his wife, produced a wife, so the Virgin without a husband gave birth to a Husband, giving for Eve husbands duty; Adam remained intact after the removal of his fleshly rib, and the Virgin remained incorrupt after the Child came 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 piercing of His rib on the Cross. Augustine says the following about this: “Adam sleeps so that Eve may be created; Christ dies, let there be a Church. When Adam slept, Eve was created from a rib; When Christ died, the ribs were pierced with a spear so that the sacraments by which the Church would be structured would flow out.”

Adam and Eve were both created by God in ordinary human stature, as John of Damascus testifies to this, saying: “God created man who was gentle, righteous, virtuous, carefree, sorrowless, sanctified by all virtue, adorned with all blessings, like a kind of second world, small in the great, another angel, a joint worshiper, bowing to God together with the Angels, an overseer of a visible creation, thinking about mysteries, a king existing on earth, earthly and heavenly, temporary and immortal, visible and thinking, average majesty (in height) and humility, and also spiritual and carnal" (John of Damascus. An accurate exposition of the Orthodox faith. Book 2, ch. XII).

Having thus created on the sixth day a husband and wife to stay in Paradise, entrusting them with dominion over all earthly creation, commanding them to enjoy all the sweets of Paradise, except for the fruits of the reserved tree, and blessing their marriage, which then had to be a carnal union, for he said: Grow and multiply(Gen. 1:28), the Lord God rested from all His works on the seventh day. But He did not rest as if weary, for God is Spirit, and how can He be tired? He rested in order to provide 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 the day of the week (Sunday) was sanctified for this purpose, for the sake of what was on this day Resurrection of Christ.

God rested from work in order not to produce new creatures more perfect than those created, for there was no need for more, since every creature, above and below, was created. But God Himself did not rest, and does not rest, and will not rest, supporting and governing all creation, which is why Christ said in the Gospel: My Father is working hitherto, and I am working(John 5:17). God acts, directing the heavenly currents, arranging beneficial changes of times, establishing the earth, which is not based on anything, motionless and producing from it rivers and sweet water springs for watering every living creature. God acts for the benefit of all not only verbal, but also dumb animals, providing for, preserving, feeding and multiplying them. God acts, preserving the life and existence of every person, faithful and unfaithful, righteous and sinful. About Him, - as the Apostle says, - we live and move and we are(Acts 17, 28). And if the Lord God were to withdraw His all-powerful hand from all His creation and from us, then we would immediately perish, and all creation would be destroyed. Yet the Lord does this, without troubling himself at all, as one of the theologians (Augustine) says: “When he rests he does, and when he does he rests.”

The Sabbath day, or the day of God’s rest from work, foreshadowed that coming Saturday, on which our Lord Christ rested in the Tomb after the labors of His free suffering for us and the accomplishment of our salvation on the Cross.

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 within themselves carnal lust, which is the beginning of shame and about which they knew nothing then, and this is their very dispassion and innocence were like a beautiful robe for them. And what clothes could be more beautiful for them than their pure, virgin, immaculate flesh, delighting in heavenly bliss, nourished by heavenly food and overshadowed by the grace of God?

The devil was jealous of their blissful stay in Paradise and, in the form of a serpent, deceived them so that they would eat the fruit from the forbidden tree; and Eve tasted it first, and then Adam, and both sinned gravely, breaking 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 a god(Gen. 3:5) and lied, being father of lies(cf. John 8:44). Not only did they not receive deity, but they also destroyed what they had, for they both lost the ineffable gifts of God. Is it only that the devil turned out to be telling the truth when he said: You will be the leader of good and evil(Genesis 3:5). Indeed, it was only at that time that our ancestors realized how good Paradise and staying 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 his possession, but at the time when he destroys it. Both of them also knew evil, which they had not known before. For they knew nakedness, hunger, winter, heat, labor, sickness, passions, weakness, death and hell; They learned all this when they transgressed the commandment of God.

When their eyes were opened to see and know their nakedness, they immediately began to be ashamed of each other. At the same hour in which they ate the forbidden fruit, carnal lust was immediately born in them from eating this food; Both of them felt passionate lust in their members, and shame and fear seized them, and they began to cover the shame of their bodies with fig tree leaves. Having 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 did not keep, and hid from His face, being overwhelmed by both shame and great awe.