September 17 is Memorial Day. Orthodox church holidays of September
* Prophet and Seer of God Moses (1531 BC). * Hieromartyr Babyla, Bishop of Great Antioch, and with him the martyrs of three youths: Urvan, Prilydian, Eppolonius and their mother Christodoula (c. 251). * St. Joasaph, Bishop of Belgorod (discovery of relics, 1911). * Second discovery of the relics of St. Mitrofan, Bishop of Voronezh (1989).
Martyrs Hermione (c. 117) and Saint Eutyche, daughters of the Apostle Philip the Deacon; Babyli of Nicomedia and with him the youths Ammanius, Donatus and others 82 (c. 305-311); Theodora, Miana, Juliana and Kiona (c. 305-311); Theotima and Theodula. Venerable Petronius (c. 349); Simeon of Gareji. Venerable Martyr Parthenius, Abbot of Kiziltash (1867). St. Alexander. Hieromartyrs Paul (Vasilievsky), John (Vasilievsky), Nikolai (Lebedev), Nikolai (Sretensky), Mikhail (Bogorodsky) presbyters and Holy Martyr Stefan (Kuskov) hieromonk, Tver (1937); Hieromartyrs John (Romashkin), Nikolai (Khvoshchev), Alexander (Nikolsky), Peter (Lebedinsky) presbyters and martyrs Vasily (Yezhov), Peter (Lonskov), Stefan (Mityushkin) and Alexander (Blokhin) of Nizhny Novgorod (1937). Cathedral of Voronezh Saints. Icon of the Mother of God called “The Burning Bush” (1680).
Moses - the greatest prophet of the Old Testament
The Holy Prophet Moses is called the Seer of God, because he was honored to see God on Mount Sinai as far as it is possible for a person to see. Moses led the Jews out of Egypt and thereby delivered them from the slavery of Pharaoh; he received 10 commandments for them from God Himself on Mount Sinai and, at the inspiration of God, wrote the laws. Thus, Moses was the image of Jesus Christ, the Savior of people from slavery to the devil and the New Testament Lawgiver. Moses foresaw the coming of the Savior (Deut. 18:18), which is why he is called a prophet. The life and work of Moses is described in the Bible. He was born at a time when Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, issued a decree to throw every newborn Jewish male child into the Nile River, but by God's Providence he was saved and raised at the royal court. Having reached age, he preferred to suffer with the people of God - his compatriots, than to rule over the pagans. One day, interceding for a Jew who was being offended by an Egyptian, he killed the Egyptian and was forced to flee to another land, Arabia. There he lived for 40 years with his father-in-law, the priest Jethro, and tended his flocks. Here the Lord, appearing to Moses in a burning but not burned thorn bush, sent him to free the Jews from slavery in Egypt, leading them out of there. With the help of God, Moses led the Jews across the Red Sea. After receiving the tablets with the Ten Commandments, according to God’s instructions, he built God’s first temple, the tabernacle. Once, when the Lord was very angry with the people who had sinned in the absence of Moses, he prayed for the people in these words: “Lord, if You do not forgive their sin, then blot me out of Your book, in which You have written those destined for eternal bliss.” . Moses brought the Jews to the Promised Land, but God did not judge him to lead him into the land itself, because, to the temptation of others, he did not accurately fulfill the command of God: when bringing water out of a stone, instead of bringing it out with a word, he hit the stone with an iron and also expressed at the same time doubt with the words: “Listen, rebellious ones, should we bring water for you from this rock?” Moses died on Mount Nabab, on the border of the Promised Land, just looking at it from there. He died at the age of 120 around 1531 BC. The place of his grave remained unknown so that Jews prone to polytheism could not worship him as God. Moses is credited with authoring the first five sacred books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Hieromartyr Babyla
The Hieromartyr Babyla was a bishop in Antioch during the time of persecution. Emperor Decius, having organized a holiday in honor of idols and sacrificed the Persian prince who was his hostage, wanted to enter the Christian temple in order to desecrate it. At this time St. Vavila served in the temple and did not allow the king to go there. The king was afraid to insist, because there were many Christians in the temple. The next day he ordered the temple to be burned and St. Vavilu. “Do you know what evil you have done and what punishment you deserve for insulting the king?” - said the king to Babyla. Vavila answered: “I did not offend the king, but only restrained the one who wanted to desecrate the shrine of God! The Heavenly King himself commanded me to protect the flock given to me from wolves.” “You will receive forgiveness if you worship our gods,” the king continued. - “I am ready to accept execution, but I will not retreat from God. I would like to lead you out of the darkness and deliver you from the Gehenna that you are preparing for yourself and to which you are calling others.” Having heard about the taking of Babyla to trial, three more brothers, his disciples, came to the court: Urvan, Prilydian and Eppolonius, the youths. “Whose children are these?” - asked the king. “Mine in spirit,” answered Vavila. "Do you have a mother?" - asked the king of the youths. “Yes,” they answered, “but we love Vavila more than our mother, because he cares about the salvation of our souls.” They found their mother, Christodoulou. She said that the youths were her children, but she gave them to Babyla so that he would lead them to the Kingdom of Heaven. The king ordered the mother to be beaten, but he began to gently persuade the children, then beat them for disobedience, and then, together with Vavila, tied them to a tree and burned them with fire. “What good is it that you give yourself and your children to death? said the king to Babyla. “You would make sure that they do not die in the bloom of their youth.” The holy martyr answered: “You, king, should be concerned about the benefit of your state and fight the enemies of your people, but you are persecuting and tormenting us, innocent of anything.” The king became angry and ordered the heads of all four martyrs to be cut off. This was in 251. In the 4th century, by order of Julian the Apostate, the relics of the holy martyrs were removed from Daphne, where they rested. During the departure of the relics, lightning fell on the temple of the idol of Apollo and turned it to ashes.
Martyr Babylon of Nicomedia
The martyr Babyla of Nicomedia suffered under Tsar Maximian, and 84 youths suffered along with him. During the persecution, he hid in a hidden place and here he taught small children not to worship idols, but to worship Christ. The pagans reported this to the king, and the king demanded the martyr along with his children. At the trial of St. Babyla called the pagan gods demons; the king was angry and ordered to subject him to severe torture. The king talked kindly with the children and asked them various questions; but they didn’t answer him, they just looked at each other. Then he separated the older children and told them: “You are smarter than others, listen to me and worship our gods.” “We will never bow to soulless idols,” all the children answered. The king ordered them all to be killed with a sword, starting with the teacher. Of the children, the names of Ammonius and Donatus are known.
Martyr Hermione
Martyr Hermione was the daughter of St. Philip the Deacon (November 14). Knowing the art of medicine, she treated Christians free of charge. King Trajan, having learned about her, wanted to distract her from Christ with persuasion and promises; but the saint remained firm, and Trajan ordered her to be brutally beaten, and then released her. Then Saint Hermione opened a hospital and treated all the sick who came, instilling faith in Christ in the unbelievers. When, with the death of Trajan, Hadrian ascended the throne, he, too, demanded Hermonia to himself and, for the faith of Christ, ordered her to be thrown into boiling pitch with sulfur and tin. But she, being in the cauldron, did not feel pain and said to the tormentor: “Tsar, believe me, just as you, sitting on the throne, do not feel the fire, so do I.” Then Hermione asked to be taken to the temple. Adrian rejoiced, thinking that the holy martyr wanted to worship idols. But as soon as she entered the temple and prayed, all the idols fell. Then St. Hermione sent to tell Hadrian to hurry to the aid of his gods, because they lay defeated and cannot get up. The king was angry with St. martyr and cut off her head. This was in 117 in the city of Ephesus.
Celebration of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Burning Bush”
The celebration of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Burning Bush” was established in the 17th century. The icon is located in Moscow, in the Neopalimovskaya Church. Under Tsar Feodor Alekseevich, it was located at the Faceted Royal Chamber. The royal groom Koloshin especially revered this icon. One day he was tried on some important matter, and he, not hoping to be justified, prayed even more fervently in front of the icon, asking the Most Holy Theotokos for intercession. And his prayer was heard. The Tsar saw the icon in a dream, and the Most Holy Theotokos declared Koloshin innocent. The Tsar freed Koloshin from trial, and in gratitude to the Mother of God, he asked the Tsar for permission to build a temple in the name of the Burning Bush Icon and transferred the icon itself there. Then the celebration of this icon was established on Easter Sunday - on the day of the transfer of the icon and the consecration of the temple.
Once, during a big fire in Moscow, the icon was carried around the houses of the Neopalimovskaya Church parish, and all the houses survived. The icon of the Burning Bush is written as follows: an octagonal star is represented, consisting of two sharp quadrangles, one of which is red, reminiscent of the fire that declared the bush (thorn bush) seen by Moses, the other is green, indicating the natural color of the bush, which it retained, being engulfed in flames. In the middle of the star is the Blessed Virgin Mary; in the corners are a man, a lion, a calf and an eagle - symbols of the four evangelists.
Saint Joasaph
Saint Joasaph (in the world Joachim Andreevich Gorlenko) came from a noble noble family. He was born in 1705 on the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.
As a child, the saint's father had a vision of the Ever-Virgin, next to whom Joachim prayed, overshadowed by the bishop's mantle.
Having not received a blessing from his parents to become a monk, the young man secretly entered the Kiev-Mezhigorsky Monastery as a novice, where he was tonsured into a ryassophore with the name Hilarion. In 1727, in the Kiev-Brotherly Monastery, he was tonsured into a mantle with the name Joasaph. The young monk served as a teacher at the Kyiv Theological Academy, a priest at St. Sophia Cathedral, and a member of the consistory.
In 1737, Hieromonk Joasaph was appointed abbot of the Transfiguration Mgarsk monastery near Luben, and then archimandrite of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Abbot Joasaph, not relying on the help of mercenaries, did not disdain the hardest and most menial work, and did not disdain asking for mercy. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, surprised by the dignity of the monk-petitioner, granted him a very large sum of money.
In 1748, Archimandrite Joasaph was called to episcopal service by the Bishop of Belgorod and Oboyan. In this post he became known for his severity.
The bishop fought especially strictly against the habit of disdaining the shrine. One day, Bishop Joasaph saw in a dream an icon of the Mother of God lying among the garbage. The Most Holy Virgin, grieving, complained to Her saint: “Look what the servants of this temple have done to My icon! This image of Mine is destined to be a source of grace for all this world and the whole country, but they have cast it into rubbish!” It was just like this, thrown into the rubbish, that Bishop Joasaph found this icon in the city of Izyum near the local church. Another time, during a trip around the diocese, stopping for the night at the parish priest’s house, the bishop found spare Holy Gifts among papers and garbage on a shelf with pots, for which he subjected the priest to severe punishment.
One 130-year-old priest repented to Saint Joasaph that in ancient times, frightened by the order of a landowner who was late for mass, he was forced to resume the interrupted liturgy without changing the throne. Not listening to the menacing voice commanding him not to perform an illegal service, the frightened priest cursed the guardian angel of the temple himself. At the insistence of Saint Joasaph, the devout elder performed the liturgy on the site of that long-destroyed temple, after which he died, reconciled with God.
The saint died on December 10, 1754 and was buried in a stone crypt, built at his insistence in Belgorod and consecrated in memory of the Last Judgment, in anticipation of which blessed Joasaph constantly lived.
The saint was canonized in 1911. In 1991, the relics of the saint, which were considered lost, were miraculously rediscovered, and on the day of his memory they were transferred to the Transfiguration Cathedral in the city of Belgorod, where they rest to this day.
The saint's memory is also remembered on December 10, the day of his blessed death.
The life of the prophet Moses, who united the Jewish people and received the ten main commandments from the Lord, is described in the Pentateuch (Old Testament). Most researchers are inclined to believe that Moses lived in the 13th century BC. He came from the tribe of Levi, his father’s name was Abraham, and his mother’s name was Jochebed. The Book of Exodus says that the Jewish people were enslaved by one of the Egyptian pharaohs (the Bible does not name him; in the thirteenth century BC there were three rulers in Egypt - Setnakht, Merneptah and Ramesses II). Jewish families had many children and Pharaoh, fearing that sooner or later such a large people would leave his power, ordered all born boys to be drowned in the Nile. Moses' mother, in an attempt to save her son, placed the baby in a basket made of reeds and coated with pitch. She carefully lowered the basket into the water near the shore. This reed boat really saved the prophet from death - Moses did not drown and after some time was found by one of the daughters of Pharaoh. She, of course, realized that it was a Jewish baby, but she took pity on him and ordered him to find a nurse. The Lord wanted Moses to return to his mother - the child was given to Jochebed.
When Moses grew up, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him. He received a good education and lived in luxury. However, the prophet already knew about his origin and could not calmly watch the suffering of his people. And one day, seeing how the overseer mocked the Jews, he could not contain his anger and killed the cruel Egyptian. His life was again in danger - the pharaoh found out about this crime. Moses, fleeing execution, left Egypt and found refuge in the land of Midian, with a priest named Jethro. After some time, Moses married Jethro's daughter.
One day Moses was tending a flock at the foot of Mount Sinai (Horeb). Suddenly he saw a burning bush bush. Coming closer, the prophet realized that he was seeing a miracle - not a single leaf on the bush was burned. Here, at the burning bush, Moses heard the voice of God. The Lord commanded him to save the Jewish people from slavery and lead them out of Egypt. God gave Moses the gift of performing miracles so that the Jews would not doubt his words.
Moses went to the ruler of Egypt along with his brother, Aaron. They asked to release the Jews into the desert, just for three days, to make a sacrifice and receive forgiveness of sins. Pharaoh's refusal angered the Lord and terrible troubles befell Egypt. Ten Egyptian plagues horrified the Egyptian king and Moses was able to freely lead his people out of the country. But lust for power and greed are more powerful than fear - Pharaoh decided to send an army to return the Jews to Egypt. The soldiers overtook God's chosen people on the shores of the Black Sea. The water parted for Moses and the Jews crossed the sea, and the soldiers pursuing them drowned in the seething waves. Three months later the Jews approached Sinai. Moses climbed the mountain and spent forty days on its top. The Lord handed him stone tablets. The Ten Commandments were carved on them, which are now known to all mankind. But during the prophet’s absence, the Jews created an idol for themselves in the form of a golden calf and began to worship it. Moses, seeing this, became enraged and broke first the tablets, and then the calf. The Prophet again ascended the sacred mountain. When, another forty days later, Moses came down to the people, his face was hidden under a veil. The face of the prophet emitted light of such power that one could go blind just by looking at it. And Moses led the Jews further. It took the children of Israel forty years to cross the desert of Shur and come to the promised land.
Moses fulfilled his destiny - he united the Jewish people, saved them from slavery, gave them laws and brought them to the sacred land. But the Old Testament elder himself could not set foot on this land - he died shortly before the end of the exodus. He was one hundred and twenty years old.
PRAYER FIRST
Pray to God for me, holy servant of God Moses, as I diligently resort to you, a quick helper and prayer book for my soul.
Troparion of the Prophet Moses
The memory of Your prophet Moses, O Lord, is celebrated, / so we pray to You // save our souls.
Troparion of the Prophet Moses the Seer of God
You have risen to the heights of virtues, the prophet Moses:/ and for this reason you have been honored to see the glory of God,/ you have received the tablets of the gracious law,/ and you have carried the marks of grace within yourself,/ and you have been an honest praise of the prophets,/ and piety is a great sacrament.
Kontakion of the Prophet Moses
The prophetic face with Moses and Aaron/ is rejoicing today with joy,/ for the end of their prophecy has been fulfilled on us:/ today the Cross shines, with which you saved us;// through those prayers, O Christ God, have mercy on us.
Holy Prophet Moses the Seer of God, pray to the Lord for us!
Moses is the greatest Old Testament prophet, the founder of Judaism, who led the Jews from Egypt, where they were in slavery, accepted the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai and united the Israeli tribes into a single people.
In Christianity, Moses is considered one of the most important prototypes of Christ: just as through Moses the Old Testament was revealed to the world, so through Christ the New Testament was revealed.
The name "Moses" (in Hebrew Mosheʹ) is believed to be of Egyptian origin and means "child". According to other instructions - “recovered or rescued from the water” (this name was given to him by the Egyptian princess who found him on the river bank).
The four books of the Pentateuch (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), which make up the epic of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt, are dedicated to his life and work.
Birth of Moses
According to the biblical account, Moses was born in Egypt into a Jewish family during the time when the Jews were enslaved by the Egyptians, around 1570 BC (other estimates around 1250 BC). Moses' parents belonged to the tribe of Levi 1 (Ex. 2:1). His older sister was Miriam and his older brother was Aaron (the first of the Jewish high priests, the ancestor of the priestly caste).
1 Levi- the third son of Jacob (Israel) from his wife Leah (Gen. 29:34). The descendants of the tribe of Levi are the Levites, who were responsible for the priesthood. Since of all the tribes of Israel the Levites were the only tribe not endowed with land, they were dependent on their fellows.
As you know, the Israelis moved to Egypt during the lifetime of Jacob-Israel 2 (XVII century BC), fleeing famine. They lived in the eastern Egyptian region of Goshen, bordering the Sinai Peninsula and watered by a tributary of the Nile River. Here they had extensive pastures for their herds and could roam freely around the country.
2 JacoborYakov (Israel)- the third of the biblical patriarchs, the youngest of the twin sons of the patriarch Isaac and Rebekah. From his sons came the 12 tribes of the people of Israel. In rabbinic literature, Jacob is seen as a symbol of the Jewish people.
Over time, the Israelites multiplied more and more, and the more they multiplied, the more hostile the Egyptians were towards them. Eventually there were so many Jews that it began to inspire fear in the new pharaoh. He told his people: “The Israeli tribe is multiplying and can become stronger than us. If we have a war with another state, the Israelis can unite with our enemies.” To prevent the Israelite tribe from strengthening, it was decided to turn it into slavery. The pharaohs and their officials began to oppress the Israelites as strangers, and then began to treat them as a conquered tribe, like masters and slaves. The Egyptians began to force the Israelites to do the most difficult work for the benefit of the state: they were forced to dig the ground, build cities, palaces and monuments for kings, and prepare clay and bricks for these buildings. Special guards were appointed who strictly monitored the execution of all these forced labors.
But no matter how the Israelites were oppressed, they still continued to multiply. Then Pharaoh gave the order that all newborn Israeli boys should be drowned in the river, and only girls should be left alive. This order was carried out with merciless severity. The people of Israel were in danger of complete extermination.
During this time of trouble, a son was born to Amram and Jochebed, from the tribe of Levi. He was so beautiful that light emanated from him. The father of the holy prophet Amram had a vision that spoke of the great mission of this baby and of God's favor towards him. Moses' mother Jochebed managed to hide the baby in her home for three months. However, no longer able to hide him, she left the baby in a tarred reed basket in the thickets on the banks of the Nile.
Moses being lowered by his mother onto the waters of the Nile. A.V. Tyranov. 1839-42
At this time, Pharaoh's daughter went to the river to swim, accompanied by her servants. Seeing a basket among the reeds, she ordered it to be opened. A tiny boy lay in the basket and cried. Pharaoh's daughter said, "This must be one of the Hebrew children." She took pity on the crying baby and, on the advice of Moses’ sister Miriam, who approached her and was watching what was happening from afar, agreed to call the Israeli nurse. Miriam brought her mother Jochebed. Thus, Moses was given to his mother, who nursed him. When the boy grew up, he was brought to Pharaoh's daughter, and she raised him as her son (Ex. 2:10). Pharaoh's daughter gave him the name Moses, which means "taken out of the water."
There are suggestions that this good princess was Hatshepsut, daughter of Thothmes I, later the famous and only female pharaoh in the history of Egypt.
The childhood and youth of Moses. Flight into the desert.
Moses spent the first 40 years of his life in Egypt, raised in the palace as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Here he received an excellent education and was initiated into “all the wisdom of Egypt,” that is, into all the secrets of the religious and political worldview of Egypt. Tradition says that he served as commander of the Egyptian army and helped the pharaoh defeat the Ethiopians who attacked him.
Although Moses grew up free, he never forgot his Jewish roots. One day he wanted to see how his fellow tribesmen lived. Seeing an Egyptian overseer beating one of the Israelite slaves, Moses stood up for the defenseless and, in a fit of rage, accidentally killed the overseer. Pharaoh found out about this and wanted to punish Moses. The only way to escape was to escape. And Moses fled from Egypt to the Sinai desert, which is near the Red Sea, between Egypt and Canaan. He settled in the land of Midian (Ex. 2:15), located on the Sinai Peninsula, with the priest Jethro (another name is Raguel), where he became a shepherd. Moses soon married Jethro's daughter, Zipporah, and became a member of this peaceful shepherd family. So another 40 years passed.
Calling of Moses
One day Moses was tending a flock and went far into the desert. He approached Mount Horeb (Sinai), and here a wondrous vision appeared to him. He saw a thick thorn bush, which was engulfed in a bright flame and was burning, but still did not burn out.
The thorn bush or “Burning Bush” is a prototype of God-manhood and the Mother of God and symbolizes the contact of God with a created being
God said He chose Moses to save the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. Moses had to go to Pharaoh and demand that he release the Jews. As a sign that the time has come for a new, more complete Revelation, He proclaims His Name to Moses: "I Am Who I Am"(Ex.3:14) . He sends Moses to demand, on behalf of the God of Israel, to release the people from the “house of slavery.” But Moses is aware of his weakness: he is not ready for a feat, he is deprived of the gift of speech, he is sure that neither Pharaoh nor the people will believe him. Only after persistent repetition of the call and signs does he agree. God said that Moses in Egypt had a brother Aaron, who, if necessary, would speak in his place, and God himself would teach both what to do. To convince unbelievers, God gives Moses the ability to perform miracles. Immediately, by His order, Moses threw his rod (shepherd's stick) to the ground - and suddenly this rod turned into a snake. Moses caught the snake by the tail - and again there was a stick in his hand. Another miracle: when Moses put his hand in his bosom and took it out, it became white with leprosy like snow, when he put his hand in his bosom again and took it out, it became healthy. “If they don’t believe this miracle,- said the Lord, - then take water from the river and pour it on the dry land, and the water will become blood on the dry land.”
Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh
Obeying God, Moses set out on the road. On the way, he met his brother Aaron, whom God ordered to go out into the desert to meet Moses, and they came together to Egypt. Moses was already 80 years old, no one remembered him. The daughter of the former pharaoh, the adoptive mother of Moses, also died long ago.
First of all, Moses and Aaron came to the people of Israel. Aaron told his fellow tribesmen that God would lead the Jews out of slavery and give them a land flowing with milk and honey. However, they did not immediately believe him. They were afraid of Pharaoh's revenge, they were afraid of the path through the waterless desert. Moses performed several miracles, and the people of Israel believed in him and that the hour of liberation from slavery had come. Nevertheless, the murmur against the prophet, which began even before the exodus, then flared up repeatedly. Like Adam, who was free to submit to or reject the higher Will, the newly created people of God experienced temptations and failures.
After this, Moses and Aron appeared to Pharaoh and declared to him the will of the God of Israel, so that he would release the Jews into the desert to serve this God: “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let My people go, that they may celebrate a feast for Me in the wilderness.” But Pharaoh answered angrily: “Who is the Lord that I should listen to him? I don’t know the Lord and I won’t let the Israelites go.”(Ex.5:1-2)
Then Moses announced to Pharaoh that if he did not release the Israelites, then God would send various “plagues” (misfortunes, disasters) to Egypt. The king did not listen - and the threats of the messenger of God came true.
Ten Plagues and the Establishment of Easter
Pharaoh's refusal to fulfill God's command entails 10 "plagues of Egypt", a series of terrible natural disasters:
However, the executions only embitter the pharaoh even more.
Then the angry Moses came to Pharaoh for the last time and warned: “This is what the Lord says: At midnight I will pass through the middle of Egypt. And every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh...to the firstborn of the slave girl...and all the firstborn of livestock.” This was the last and most severe 10th plague (Exodus 11:1-10 – Exodus 12:1-36).
Then Moses warned the Jews to slaughter a one-year-old lamb in each family and anoint the doorposts and lintel with its blood: by this blood God will distinguish the homes of the Jews and will not touch them. The lamb was to be roasted over a fire and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Jews must be ready to hit the road immediately.
At night, Egypt suffered a terrible disaster. “And Pharaoh arose by night, he and all his servants, and all Egypt; and there was a great cry in the land of Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not a dead man.”
The shocked Pharaoh immediately summoned Moses and Aaron and ordered them, along with all their people, to go into the desert and perform worship so that God would take pity on the Egyptians.
Since then, Jews every year on the 14th day of the month of Nissan (the day falling on the full moon of the vernal equinox) Easter holiday. The word "passover" means "to pass by," because the angel who struck the firstborn passed by Jewish houses.
From now on, Easter will mark the liberation of the People of God and their unity in a sacred meal - a prototype of the Eucharistic Meal.
Exodus. Crossing the Red Sea.
That same night, the entire Israeli people left Egypt forever. The Bible indicates the number of those who left was “600 thousand Jews” (not counting women, children and livestock). The Jews did not leave empty-handed: before fleeing, Moses ordered them to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver items, as well as rich clothes. They also took with them the mummy of Joseph, which Moses searched for for three days while his fellow tribesmen collected property from the Egyptians. God himself led them, being in a pillar of cloud during the day and in a pillar of fire at night, so the fugitives walked day and night until they reached the seashore.
Meanwhile, Pharaoh realized that the Jews had deceived him and rushed after them. Six hundred war chariots and selected Egyptian cavalry quickly overtook the fugitives. There seemed to be no escape. Jews - men, women, children, old people - crowded on the seashore, preparing for inevitable death. Only Moses was calm. At the command of God, he extended his hand to the sea, struck the water with his staff, and the sea parted, clearing the way. The Israelites walked along the bottom of the sea, and the waters of the sea stood like a wall to their right and left.
Seeing this, the Egyptians chased the Jews along the bottom of the sea. Pharaoh's chariots were already in the middle of the sea when the bottom suddenly became so viscous that they could hardly move. Meanwhile, the Israelis made it to the opposite bank. The Egyptian warriors realized that things were bad and decided to turn back, but it was too late: Moses again extended his hand to the sea, and it closed over Pharaoh’s army...
The crossing of the Red (now Red) Sea, accomplished in the face of imminent mortal danger, becomes the culmination of a saving miracle. The waters separated the rescued from the “house of slavery.” Therefore, the transition became a prototype of the sacrament of baptism. A new passage through water is also a path to freedom, but to freedom in Christ. On the seashore, Moses and all the people, including his sister Miriam, solemnly sang a song of thanksgiving to God. “I sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; he threw his horse and rider into the sea..." This solemn song of the Israelis to the Lord underlies the first of the nine sacred songs that make up the canon of songs sung daily by the Orthodox Church in worship.
According to biblical tradition, the Israelites lived in Egypt for 430 years. And the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt took place, according to Egyptologists, around 1250 BC. However, according to the traditional point of view, the Exodus occurred in the 15th century. BC e., 480 years (~5 centuries) before the construction of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem began (1 Kings 6:1). There are a significant number of alternative theories of the chronology of the Exodus, consistent to varying degrees with both religious and modern archaeological perspectives.
Miracles of Moses
The road to the Promised Land ran through the harsh and vast Arabian Desert. At first they walked for 3 days through the desert of Sur and found no water except bitter water (Merrah) (Ex. 15:22-26), but God sweetened this water by commanding Moses to throw a piece of some special tree into the water.
Soon, having reached the Sin desert, the people began to grumble from hunger, remembering Egypt, when they “sat by the cauldrons of meat and ate bread to their fill!” And God heard them and sent them from heaven manna from heaven(Ex. 16).
One morning, when they woke up, they saw that the entire desert was covered with something white, like frost. We began to look: the white coating turned out to be small grains, similar to hail or grass seeds. In response to the surprised exclamations, Moses said: “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.” Adults and children rushed to gather manna and bake bread. From then on, every morning for 40 years they found manna from heaven and ate it.
Manna from heaven
The collection of manna took place in the morning, since by noon it melted under the rays of the sun. “The manna was like coriander seed, the appearance of bdellium.”(Num. 11:7). According to Talmudic literature, when eating manna, young men felt the taste of bread, old people - the taste of honey, children - the taste of oil.
In Rephidim, Moses, at the command of God, brought water out of the rock of Mount Horeb, striking it with his rod.
Here the Jews were attacked by a wild tribe of Amalekites, but were defeated by the prayer of Moses, who during the battle prayed on the mountain, raising his hands to God (Ex. 17).
Sinai Covenant and 10 Commandments
In the 3rd month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites approached Mount Sinai and camped opposite the mountain. Moses first ascended the mountain, and God warned him that he would appear before the people on the third day.
And then this day came. The phenomenon in Sinai was accompanied by terrible phenomena: clouds, smoke, lightning, thunder, flames, earthquakes, and the sound of a trumpet. This communication lasted 40 days, and God gave Moses two tablets - stone tables on which the Law was written.
1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; Let you have no other gods before Me.
2. Do not make for yourself an idol or any image of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water below the earth; You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I am the Lord your God. God is jealous, punishing the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing mercy to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who takes His name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; six days thou shalt work, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor yours, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor the stranger who is in your gates; For in six days the Lord created heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them, and rested on the seventh day; Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.
5. Honor your father and your mother, (so that it may go well with you and) so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
6. Don't kill.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor (any of his livestock), nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
The law that was given to ancient Israel by God had several purposes. First, he asserted public order and justice. Secondly, he singled out the Jewish people as a special religious community professing monotheism. Thirdly, he had to make an internal change in a person, morally improve a person, bring a person closer to God through instilling in a person the love of God. Finally, the law of the Old Testament prepared humanity for the adoption of the Christian faith in the future.
The Decalogue (ten commandments) formed the basis of the moral code of all cultural humanity.
In addition to the Ten Commandments, God dictated laws to Moses that outlined how the people of Israel should live. Thus the Children of Israel became a people - Jews.
The Wrath of Moses. Establishment of the tabernacle of the covenant.
Moses ascended Mount Sinai twice, remaining there for 40 days. During his first absence the people sinned terribly. The wait seemed too long to them and they demanded that Aaron make them a god who led them out of Egypt. Frightened by their unbridledness, he collected gold earrings and made a golden calf, in front of which the Jews began to serve and have fun.
Coming down from the mountain, Moses in anger broke the Tablets and destroyed the calf.
Moses breaks the tablets of the Law
Moses severely punished the people for their apostasy, killing about 3 thousand people, but asked God not to punish them. God had mercy and showed him His glory, showing him a chasm in which he could see God from behind, because it is impossible for man to see His face.
After that, again for 40 days, he returned to the mountain and prayed to God for the forgiveness of the people. Here, on the mountain, he received instructions about the construction of the Tabernacle, the laws of worship and the establishment of the priesthood. It is believed that the book of Exodus lists the commandments on the first broken tablets, and Deuteronomy lists what was written the second time. From there he returned with God's face illuminated by the light and was forced to hide his face under a veil so that the people would not go blind.
Six months later, the Tabernacle was built and consecrated - a large, richly decorated tent. Inside the tabernacle stood the Ark of the Covenant - a wooden chest lined with gold with images of cherubim on top. In the ark lay the tablets of the covenant brought by Moses, a golden container with manna, and Aaron’s rod that flourished.
Tabernacle
To prevent disputes about who should have the right of the priesthood, God commanded that a staff be taken from each of the twelve leaders of the tribes of Israel and placed in the tabernacle, promising that the staff of the one He had chosen would blossom. The next day Moses found that Aaron's rod had produced flowers and brought almonds. Then Moses laid Aaron's rod before the ark of the covenant for safekeeping, as a testimony to future generations of the Divine election of Aaron and his descendants to the priesthood.
Moses' brother, Aaron, was ordained high priest, and other members of the tribe of Levi were ordained priests and "Levites" (in our opinion, deacons). From this time on, the Jews began to perform regular religious services and animal sacrifices.
End of wandering. Death of Moses.
For another 40 years Moses led his people to the promised land - Canaan. At the end of the journey, the people again began to be faint-hearted and grumble. As punishment, God sent poisonous snakes, and when they repented, he commanded Moses to erect a copper image of a serpent on a pole so that everyone who looked at it with faith would remain unharmed. The serpent lifted up in the desert, as St. Gregory of Nyssa - is the sign of the sacrament of the cross.
Despite great difficulties, the prophet Moses remained a faithful servant of the Lord God until the end of his life. He led, taught and mentored his people. He arranged their future, but did not enter the Promised Land because of the lack of faith shown by him and his brother Aaron at the waters of Meribah in Kadesh. Moses struck the rock twice with his rod, and water flowed from the stone, although once was enough - and God became angry and declared that neither he nor his brother Aaron would enter the Promised Land.
By nature, Moses was impatient and prone to anger, but through Divine education he became so humble that he became “the meekest of all people on earth.” In all his deeds and thoughts, he was guided by faith in the Almighty. In a sense, the fate of Moses is similar to the fate of the Old Testament itself, which through the desert of paganism brought the people of Israel to the New Testament and froze on its threshold. Moses died at the end of forty years of wandering on the top of Mount Nebo, from which he could see the promised land from afar - Palestine. God told him: “This is the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not enter it.”
He was 120 years old, but neither his vision was dull nor his strength exhausted. He spent 40 years in the palace of the Egyptian pharaoh, another 40 with flocks of sheep in the land of Midian, and the last 40 wandering at the head of the Israeli people in the Sinai desert. The Israelites commemorated the death of Moses with 30 days of mourning. His grave was hidden by God so that the Israeli people, who were inclined at that time towards paganism, would not make a cult out of it.
After Moses, the Jewish people, spiritually renewed in the desert, were led by his disciple Joshua who led the Jews to the Promised Land. For forty years of wandering, not a single person remained alive who came out of Egypt with Moses, and who doubted God and worshiped the golden calf at Horeb. In this way, a truly new people was created, living according to the law given by God at Sinai.
Moses was also the first inspired writer. According to legend, he is the author of the books of the Bible - the Pentateuch as part of the Old Testament. Psalm 89, “The Prayer of Moses, the Man of God,” is also attributed to Moses.
Svetlana Finogenova
* Prophet and Seer of God Moses (1531 BC). * Hieromartyr Babyla, Bishop of Great Antioch, and with him the martyrs of three youths: Urvan, Prilydian, Eppolonius and their mother Christodoula (c. 251). * St. Joasaph, Bishop of Belgorod (discovery of relics, 1911). * Second discovery of the relics of St. Mitrofan, Bishop of Voronezh (1989).
Martyrs Hermione (c. 117) and Saint Eutyche, daughters of the Apostle Philip the Deacon; Babyli of Nicomedia and with him the youths Ammanius, Donatus and others 82 (c. 305-311); Theodora, Miana, Juliana and Kiona (c. 305-311); Theotima and Theodula. Venerable Petronius (c. 349); Simeon of Gareji. Venerable Martyr Parthenius, Abbot of Kiziltash (1867). St. Alexander. Hieromartyrs Paul (Vasilievsky), John (Vasilievsky), Nikolai (Lebedev), Nikolai (Sretensky), Mikhail (Bogorodsky) presbyters and Holy Martyr Stefan (Kuskov) hieromonk, Tver (1937); Hieromartyrs John (Romashkin), Nikolai (Khvoshchev), Alexander (Nikolsky), Peter (Lebedinsky) presbyters and martyrs Vasily (Yezhov), Peter (Lonskov), Stefan (Mityushkin) and Alexander (Blokhin) of Nizhny Novgorod (1937). Cathedral of Voronezh Saints. Icon of the Mother of God called “The Burning Bush” (1680).
Moses - the greatest prophet of the Old Testament
The Holy Prophet Moses is called the Seer of God, because he was honored to see God on Mount Sinai as far as it is possible for a person to see. Moses led the Jews out of Egypt and thereby delivered them from the slavery of Pharaoh; he received 10 commandments for them from God Himself on Mount Sinai and, at the inspiration of God, wrote the laws. Thus, Moses was the image of Jesus Christ, the Savior of people from slavery to the devil and the New Testament Lawgiver. Moses foresaw the coming of the Savior (Deut. 18:18), which is why he is called a prophet. The life and work of Moses is described in the Bible. He was born at a time when Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, issued a decree to throw every newborn Jewish male child into the Nile River, but by God's Providence he was saved and raised at the royal court. Having reached age, he preferred to suffer with the people of God - his compatriots, than to rule over the pagans. One day, interceding for a Jew who was being offended by an Egyptian, he killed the Egyptian and was forced to flee to another land, Arabia. There he lived for 40 years with his father-in-law, the priest Jethro, and tended his flocks. Here the Lord, appearing to Moses in a burning but not burned thorn bush, sent him to free the Jews from slavery in Egypt, leading them out of there. With the help of God, Moses led the Jews across the Red Sea. After receiving the tablets with the Ten Commandments, according to God’s instructions, he built God’s first temple, the tabernacle. Once, when the Lord was very angry with the people who had sinned in the absence of Moses, he prayed for the people in these words: “Lord, if You do not forgive their sin, then blot me out of Your book, in which You have written those destined for eternal bliss.” . Moses brought the Jews to the Promised Land, but God did not judge him to lead him into the land itself, because, to the temptation of others, he did not accurately fulfill the command of God: when bringing water out of a stone, instead of bringing it out with a word, he hit the stone with an iron and also expressed at the same time doubt with the words: “Listen, rebellious ones, should we bring water for you from this rock?” Moses died on Mount Nabab, on the border of the Promised Land, just looking at it from there. He died at the age of 120 around 1531 BC. The place of his grave remained unknown so that Jews prone to polytheism could not worship him as God. Moses is credited with authoring the first five sacred books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Hieromartyr Babyla
The Hieromartyr Babyla was a bishop in Antioch during the time of persecution. Emperor Decius, having organized a holiday in honor of idols and sacrificed the Persian prince who was his hostage, wanted to enter the Christian temple in order to desecrate it. At this time St. Vavila served in the temple and did not allow the king to go there. The king was afraid to insist, because there were many Christians in the temple. The next day he ordered the temple to be burned and St. Vavilu. “Do you know what evil you have done and what punishment you deserve for insulting the king?” - said the king to Babyla. Vavila answered: “I did not offend the king, but only restrained the one who wanted to desecrate the shrine of God! The Heavenly King himself commanded me to protect the flock given to me from wolves.” “You will receive forgiveness if you worship our gods,” the king continued. - “I am ready to accept execution, but I will not retreat from God. I would like to lead you out of the darkness and deliver you from the Gehenna that you are preparing for yourself and to which you are calling others.” Having heard about the taking of Babyla to trial, three more brothers, his disciples, came to the court: Urvan, Prilydian and Eppolonius, the youths. “Whose children are these?” - asked the king. “Mine in spirit,” answered Vavila. "Do you have a mother?" - asked the king of the youths. “Yes,” they answered, “but we love Vavila more than our mother, because he cares about the salvation of our souls.” They found their mother, Christodoulou. She said that the youths were her children, but she gave them to Babyla so that he would lead them to the Kingdom of Heaven. The king ordered the mother to be beaten, but he began to gently persuade the children, then beat them for disobedience, and then, together with Vavila, tied them to a tree and burned them with fire. “What good is it that you give yourself and your children to death? said the king to Babyla. “You would make sure that they do not die in the bloom of their youth.” The holy martyr answered: “You, king, should be concerned about the benefit of your state and fight the enemies of your people, but you are persecuting and tormenting us, innocent of anything.” The king became angry and ordered the heads of all four martyrs to be cut off. This was in 251. In the 4th century, by order of Julian the Apostate, the relics of the holy martyrs were removed from Daphne, where they rested. During the departure of the relics, lightning fell on the temple of the idol of Apollo and turned it to ashes.
Martyr Babylon of Nicomedia
The martyr Babyla of Nicomedia suffered under Tsar Maximian, and 84 youths suffered along with him. During the persecution, he hid in a hidden place and here he taught small children not to worship idols, but to worship Christ. The pagans reported this to the king, and the king demanded the martyr along with his children. At the trial of St. Babyla called the pagan gods demons; the king was angry and ordered to subject him to severe torture. The king talked kindly with the children and asked them various questions; but they didn’t answer him, they just looked at each other. Then he separated the older children and told them: “You are smarter than others, listen to me and worship our gods.” “We will never bow to soulless idols,” all the children answered. The king ordered them all to be killed with a sword, starting with the teacher. Of the children, the names of Ammonius and Donatus are known.
Martyr Hermione
Martyr Hermione was the daughter of St. Philip the Deacon (November 14). Knowing the art of medicine, she treated Christians free of charge. King Trajan, having learned about her, wanted to distract her from Christ with persuasion and promises; but the saint remained firm, and Trajan ordered her to be brutally beaten, and then released her. Then Saint Hermione opened a hospital and treated all the sick who came, instilling faith in Christ in the unbelievers. When, with the death of Trajan, Hadrian ascended the throne, he, too, demanded Hermonia to himself and, for the faith of Christ, ordered her to be thrown into boiling pitch with sulfur and tin. But she, being in the cauldron, did not feel pain and said to the tormentor: “Tsar, believe me, just as you, sitting on the throne, do not feel the fire, so do I.” Then Hermione asked to be taken to the temple. Adrian rejoiced, thinking that the holy martyr wanted to worship idols. But as soon as she entered the temple and prayed, all the idols fell. Then St. Hermione sent to tell Hadrian to hurry to the aid of his gods, because they lay defeated and cannot get up. The king was angry with St. martyr and cut off her head. This was in 117 in the city of Ephesus.
Celebration of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Burning Bush”
The celebration of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Burning Bush” was established in the 17th century. The icon is located in Moscow, in the Neopalimovskaya Church. Under Tsar Feodor Alekseevich, it was located at the Faceted Royal Chamber. The royal groom Koloshin especially revered this icon. One day he was tried on some important matter, and he, not hoping to be justified, prayed even more fervently in front of the icon, asking the Most Holy Theotokos for intercession. And his prayer was heard. The Tsar saw the icon in a dream, and the Most Holy Theotokos declared Koloshin innocent. The Tsar freed Koloshin from trial, and in gratitude to the Mother of God, he asked the Tsar for permission to build a temple in the name of the Burning Bush Icon and transferred the icon itself there. Then the celebration of this icon was established on Easter Sunday - on the day of the transfer of the icon and the consecration of the temple.
Once, during a big fire in Moscow, the icon was carried around the houses of the Neopalimovskaya Church parish, and all the houses survived. The icon of the Burning Bush is written as follows: an octagonal star is represented, consisting of two sharp quadrangles, one of which is red, reminiscent of the fire that declared the bush (thorn bush) seen by Moses, the other is green, indicating the natural color of the bush, which it retained, being engulfed in flames. In the middle of the star is the Blessed Virgin Mary; in the corners are a man, a lion, a calf and an eagle - symbols of the four evangelists.
Saint Joasaph
Saint Joasaph (in the world Joachim Andreevich Gorlenko) came from a noble noble family. He was born in 1705 on the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.
As a child, the saint's father had a vision of the Ever-Virgin, next to whom Joachim prayed, overshadowed by the bishop's mantle.
Having not received a blessing from his parents to become a monk, the young man secretly entered the Kiev-Mezhigorsky Monastery as a novice, where he was tonsured into a ryassophore with the name Hilarion. In 1727, in the Kiev-Brotherly Monastery, he was tonsured into a mantle with the name Joasaph. The young monk served as a teacher at the Kyiv Theological Academy, a priest at St. Sophia Cathedral, and a member of the consistory.
In 1737, Hieromonk Joasaph was appointed abbot of the Transfiguration Mgarsk monastery near Luben, and then archimandrite of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Abbot Joasaph, not relying on the help of mercenaries, did not disdain the hardest and most menial work, and did not disdain asking for mercy. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, surprised by the dignity of the monk-petitioner, granted him a very large sum of money.
In 1748, Archimandrite Joasaph was called to episcopal service by the Bishop of Belgorod and Oboyan. In this post he became known for his severity.
The bishop fought especially strictly against the habit of disdaining the shrine. One day, Bishop Joasaph saw in a dream an icon of the Mother of God lying among the garbage. The Most Holy Virgin, grieving, complained to Her saint: “Look what the servants of this temple have done to My icon! This image of Mine is destined to be a source of grace for all this world and the whole country, but they have cast it into rubbish!” It was just like this, thrown into the rubbish, that Bishop Joasaph found this icon in the city of Izyum near the local church. Another time, during a trip around the diocese, stopping for the night at the parish priest’s house, the bishop found spare Holy Gifts among papers and garbage on a shelf with pots, for which he subjected the priest to severe punishment.
One 130-year-old priest repented to Saint Joasaph that in ancient times, frightened by the order of a landowner who was late for mass, he was forced to resume the interrupted liturgy without changing the throne. Not listening to the menacing voice commanding him not to perform an illegal service, the frightened priest cursed the guardian angel of the temple himself. At the insistence of Saint Joasaph, the devout elder performed the liturgy on the site of that long-destroyed temple, after which he died, reconciled with God.
The saint died on December 10, 1754 and was buried in a stone crypt, built at his insistence in Belgorod and consecrated in memory of the Last Judgment, in anticipation of which blessed Joasaph constantly lived.
The saint was canonized in 1911. In 1991, the relics of the saint, which were considered lost, were miraculously rediscovered, and on the day of his memory they were transferred to the Transfiguration Cathedral in the city of Belgorod, where they rest to this day.
The saint's memory is also remembered on December 10, the day of his blessed death.
September 17(September 4 according to the “old style” - the church Julian calendar). 15th Sunday after Pentecost(that is, the fifteenth Sunday day, since it is Sunday that is called “week” in Church Slavonic, after the feast of the Holy Trinity, Pentecost). No post. Today the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Cathedral of Voronezh Saints And Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Kazakhstan, as well as the memory of more than three dozen well-known saints of God and one of the greatest shrines - icon of the Mother of God, called the "Burning Bush". Next we will briefly talk about them.
Cathedral of Voronezh Saints And Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Kazakhstan. Two cathedral holidays of the Russian Orthodox Church, established in different years in honor of saints, in the first case - those who performed their spiritual deeds in the Voronezh land (as well as its holy natives), and in the second - those who suffered during the Soviet atheistic persecution in the lands of modern Kazakhstan.
Holy Prophet God-Seer Moses. One of the greatest Old Testament saints, prophet and legislator of the people of Israel, who is testified to by several biblical books: Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Prophet Moses was born in Egypt around 1570 BC and was raised by Pharaoh's daughter. God revealed to the prophet Moses many secrets of existence, including the creation of the world and man. It was to this saint that God gave the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai.
The Prophet Moses went to the Lord at the age of 120 (in memory of this, Jews traditionally wish each other to live to be 120 years old).
Hieromartyr Babyla, Bishop of Antioch, and with him three youths Urvan, Prilydian, Eppolonius and their mother Christodoula. These Antiochian saints accepted the crown of martyrdom for Christ and His Church during the reign of the pagan Roman emperor Decius ( 249-251 from the Nativity of Christ).
One day Saint Babyla was performing the Divine Liturgy, and Emperor Decius wanted to go into a Christian church and desecrate the shrine. The Bishop of Babyla forcibly blocked the path of the wicked man, and he, offended, was forced to leave, seeing a large crowd of Christians.
Subsequently, Emperor Decius took revenge on Saint Babyla and many of his spiritual children, including the youths Urvan, Prilydian, Eppolonius and their mother Christodoula. After long torture, during which they showed their steadfastness in faith, they were all executed in 251 from the Nativity of Christ.
Venerable Martyr Parthenius, Abbot of Kiziltash. Saint of the 19th century, famous for many virtues and, especially, martyrdom. IN September 1867 he was brutally killed by Crimean Tatar robbers.
The famous writer and traveler Evgeniy Markov left memories of the abbot of Parthenia in his “Essays on Crimea”:
“He was the first to work from dawn to dusk... In Kiziltash cinnovia, before Parfeniy’s father, there was only a cave with a healing spring and two or three wicker huts. Parfeniy got everything else. He cut roads, broke stone, sawed boards, burned lime and bricks, grafted cuttings onto forest pear trees, planted vineyards, dug wells. From a cave in the rock a whole monastery became with two hotels, a church with cells and various services. The steep forest turned into a garden, into a vegetable garden, into vineyards, into a grain field, a mill clattered on high mountains, a herd of horses and cattle appeared, pilgrims poured into the Kiziltash cinnamon region..."
Discovery of the relics of St. Joasaph, Bishop of Belgorod. One of the most revered saints XVIIIcentury, one of the most difficult and controversial eras in the history of the Russian Church. A skillful preacher and ascetic prayer book, but at the same time a persecutor of Russian Old Believers, an authoritative archpastor, whom Empress Elizabeth treated with respect, and at the same time, a disinterested person who sometimes gave away his last savings to those in need.
Saint Joasaph was born in 1705 in the family of Cossack colonel Andrei Gorlenko. His grandfather and father were close to Hetman Mazepa, after whose betrayal they fled to the Ottoman Empire, but subsequently returned to their homeland. During his years of study at the Kyiv Academy, the future saint was ordained to the priesthood. IN 1744 By order of Empress Elizabeth, he was appointed vicar of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and 4 years later he was ordained bishop of Belgorod.
The years of Bishop Joasaph's holy service were short-lived, but extremely active. He built new churches, visited the parishes of his diocese, served and preached tirelessly. All this weakened his strength, and the saint died on 50th year earthly life.
2 years after the burial of the bishop, it was discovered that the body of the saint remained incorrupt. And a century and a half later, a number of petitions were submitted to the Holy Synod to glorify Bishop Joasaph as a saint. A commission was formed that prepared a Synodal report to the emperor with a proposal to canonize the saint, at which December 10, 1910 Nicholas II wrote: “I accept the proposals of the Holy Synod with sincere tenderness and full sympathy.”
Since then, the veneration of Saint Joasaph has spread widely in the Russian Church. However, over the course of many decades, its relics were lost. And only in 1991 were discovered in the storerooms of the Leningrad Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism. And since then they have rested in the Transfiguration Cathedral, the main temple of the Belgorod land, to whose service the Bishop devoted his last years.
The second discovery (1964) and transfer of the relics (1989) of St. Mitrofan, Bishop of Voronezh. A talented preacher and ascetic prayer book, but at the same time, like St. Joasaph of Belogorodsky, a persecutor of Old Believers. Authoritative archpastor second halfXVIIcentury, revered by the king himself, and at the same time - unmercenary, at the end of his life he almost completely renounced the world.
Until the age of forty, the future saint lived in the world: he was married, had a son, John, and served as a parish priest in the village of Sidorovskoye near the city of Shuya. Having been widowed, priest Mikhail took monastic vows with the name Mitrofan in the Zolotnikovskaya Hermitage.
IN 70s of the 17th century the future bishop was actively involved in the cause of church reform, begun two decades earlier by Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Hegumen Mitrofan traveled around villages, identified Old Believers and destroyed ancient liturgical books.
But to combat the schism, he used not so much executions and torture as enlightenment in the Western Russian spirit. By organizing rural schools in which literacy was taught by immigrants from Little Russia, who, unlike the Great Russians, had no sympathy for the Old Believers.
At the Moscow Cathedral 1681-1682 To combat the schism and improve Christian education, it was decided to increase the number of dioceses. Hegumen Mitrofan was summoned to the capital and April 2, 1682 ordained Bishop of Voronezh.
Saint Mitrophan was close to the young Tsar Peter I, blessed his reforms aimed at strengthening the state, but condemned Westernizing influences, and especially neo-pagan manifestations.
Thus, the saint refused to visit the Tsar’s Voronezh palace because of the pagan statues that were in it. When the angry Peter began to threaten him with death, the saint began to prepare for it, preferring to die rather than approve pagan rituals unacceptable for an Orthodox person. This put Peter to shame, he removed the statues, and peace with the ruler was restored.
Saint Mitrofan remained at the Voronezh See for 20 years until his death, which followed in 1703.
Transfer of the relics of the faithful Prince Peter, in monasticism David, and Princess Fevronia, in monasticism Euphrosyne, Murom miracle workers (1992). Russian saints of the beginning of the 13th century from the Nativity of Christ.
“Live happily ever after and die on the same day.” Since ancient times, this principle has been considered the ideal of family life. But few people know that these are words from the life of the faithful Peter and Fevronia of Murom. Saints who have been revered for centuries as the patrons of family and marriage.
The story of the miraculous healing of Prince Peter by the peasant girl Fevronia from a terrible illness and their subsequent love is interesting and instructive. The young healer not only cured the prince of a physical illness, but with her sacrificial love and loyalty was able to completely transform this previously proud and wayward ruler. However, not only their married life, but also their death itself became a miracle, testifying to the indestructibility of true love.
So, in the Lives of these saints there are these words:
“When old age came, they took monasticism... They bequeathed to bury themselves together in a specially prepared coffin... They died on the same day and hour. People considered it impious to bury monks in the same coffin. Twice their bodies were carried to different temples, but twice they miraculously found themselves nearby...”
Since 2008, the day of Peter and Fevronia of Murom has been celebrated as an official all-Russian holiday Family, love and fidelity. For centuries, at the beginning of July, thousands of pilgrims flocked to the relics of saints in the Holy Trinity Monastery in the city of Murom. And now this holiday has also received secular significance
Martyr Hermione. This saint of the apostolic age - Iand startedIIcenturies from the Nativity of Christ - was the daughter of the Apostle Philip from the age of 70. The Martyr Hermione mastered the art of medicine and helped many people with her skill and prayer, which led many to Christ. For this approx. 117 from the Nativity of Christ she received the crown of martyrdom from the pagans.
Martyrs Theodore, Mian, Julian and Kion of Candaulus (Nicomedia). Holy sufferers for Christ and His Church, who accepted terrible torment and crowns of martyrdom during the time of anti-Christian persecution of the pagan emperor Maximian, who reigned in the Roman Empire in 305-311 from the Nativity of Christ.
Martyrs of Babylon of Nicomedia and with him 84 of his pupils. These saints also suffered for professing the Christian faith in Nicomedia (Nicomedia), only a little earlier, under the Roman Emperor Maximian, who ruled in 284-305 from the Nativity of Christ. It is known that when Elder Vavila went with his disciples to execution, he glorified the Lord with the words of Holy Scripture: “Behold, I and the children whom God has given me to eat!”
Hieromartyr Peter (Zimonjic), Metropolitan of Dabro-Bosnia. One of the saints of the Serbian Orthodox Church who received martyr's crowns during the Second World War. IN 1941 75-year-old Bishop Peter was arrested by the Gestapo and went missing. There are different versions of the death of the saint, but it is indisputable that this good archpastor accepted martyrdom, remaining faithful to Orthodoxy.
Hieromartyrs Gregory (Lebedev), Bishop of Shlisselburg, Pavel Vasilievsky, John Vasilevsky, Nikolai Lebedev, Nikolai Sretensky, John Romashkin, Nikolai Khvoshchev, Alexander Nikolsky, Peter Lebedinsky, Ilya Izmailov, Mikhail Bogorodsky, presbyters, Venerable Martyr Stefan (Kuskov), hieromonk, martyrs Vasily Yezhov, Pyotr Lonskov, Stefan Mityushkin and Alexander Blokhin (1937), martyr Elena Chernova (1943). Orthodox clergy and laity who accepted the crown of martyrdom on this day in different years of the era of Soviet atheistic persecution (the majority in the bloody 1937, known as the time of the so-called Great Terror) and glorified as saints in the thousands of new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church.
Icon of the Mother of God, called the "Burning Bush". Burning bush. The most important Christian symbol that came from the Old Testament, when God appeared to Moses, calling from a burning but unburnt bush. Even in early Christianity, this image was associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Immaculate Conception of Christ.
Later, this same image became one of the main ones in the Orthodox hesychast tradition, where the Burning Bush signified the transformation of man by uncreated divine energy. And the most famous among Orthodox peoples, and especially in Rus', was the image of the Mother of God “The Burning Bush”.
One of the most ancient icons of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Burning Bush, was brought to Moscow by Palestinian monks in 1390 from the Nativity of Christ. According to legend, it was written on the stone of the very rock where God appeared to Moses.
It is with this image that the revival of hesychast traditions in post-war Romania is associated. Thus, even during the war years, Russian monks brought this holy image to the Romanian lands. In his honor, an underground movement of Orthodox traditionalist intellectuals, the Burning Bush, arose, which was crushed by the atheists in the 1960s.
In Russia, still in 19th century A folk tradition of special veneration of this image has developed. It became customary to pray to the Mother of God before him to protect his house from fire. So, in 1822 Arsons have become more frequent in the city of Slavyansk. It was revealed to one pious parishioner in a dream: if they paint an icon of the “Burning Bush” and perform a prayer service in front of it, the fires will stop. The image was painted, after which the arsonist was immediately discovered.
Since then, new churches dedicated to the image of the Most Holy Theotokos “Burning Bush” have often been erected at fire stations. And today, at the All-Russian Research Institute of Fire Defense, there is a temple of this icon of the Mother of God, and at the Moscow Fire Service Administration there is a chapel.
But when praying before the image of the “Burning Bush,” we, Orthodox Christians, must not forget about its original deepest theological meaning.
Congratulations to all Orthodox Christians on the day of this great shrine and to all today's saints! Through their prayers, Lord, save and have mercy on us all! We are happy to congratulate those who received names in their honor through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism or monastic tonsure! As they used to say in Rus' in the old days: “To the Guardian Angels - a golden crown, and to you - good health!”
