The introductory article and translation of “The Life of Kirill Belozersky” are taken from the “Library of Literature of Ancient Rus'” (http://www.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=2070)

THE LIFE OF KIRILL BELOZERSKY

Preparation of the text by E. G. Vodolazkin, translation and comments by E. G. Vodolazkin and G. M. Prokhorov

INTRODUCTION

Kirill Belozersky is the founder of the monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the Belozersky land, which became famous as Kirillo-Belozersky.

In the world of Kozma, Kirill was born around 1337 in Moscow; his parents died when he still needed the care of his elders; before their death, they entrusted it to their “relative” Timofey Vasilyevich Velyaminov, the okolnik of the Moscow Grand Duke, one of the most noble and rich people in Moscow.

In the house of Timofey Velyaminov, Kozma grew up and eventually became the manager of his farm. Already a middle-aged man, at least thirty-three years old, he managed - against the will of his guardian - to fulfill his long-standing dream - to become a monk.

Kozma became the monk Kirill in the Moscow Simonov Monastery, whose abbot was the nephew of Sergius of Radonezh, Theodore, and was trained there in various services, starting with work in a bakery and cookery and ending with the leadership of the monastery. At the beginning of this path, in order to deliberately make his life more difficult, Kirill began to act like a fool, asking for punishment. He was noticed and correctly appreciated by Sergius of Radonezh; When he came to his nephew’s monastery, he had a long conversation with Kirill, who worked in the bakery.

In 1397, when Kirill was already sixty years old, he and his monk friend Ferapont, leaving the Simonov Monastery, went to the Belozersky lands and created their own monastery there in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God. Cyril’s monastery quickly underwent the usual evolution for that time: as people came to the hermit who wanted to follow his rules, the shelter of the silent man turned first into a monastery, and then into a monastic hostel, a cenovia. In the year of Cyril’s death (1427), the brethren of his hostel numbered fifty-three people.

Over thirty years of work in his monastery, Kirill managed to create from it one of the most powerful spiritual, book-cultural and economic centers of Great Rus'. Dmitry Donskoy's sons Vasily, Yuri and Andrey corresponded with Kirill; his messages in response to them have been preserved. Also preserved, in the original, is the Spiritual Letter, the will of Kirill Belozersky, where he asks Prince Andrei Dmitrievich to continue to provide patronage to the monastery even after his death, Kirill. (Three messages and the Spiritual Letter of Kirill Belozersky were published in volume 6 of this edition).

The Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery retained its significance as the largest spiritual, cultural, economic, and then also military center of Moscow Rus' until its very end, at least until the end of the 17th century.

The life of St. Kirill Belozersky is the most important source of our information about him. It was written at the beginning of the second half of the 15th century. Pachomius the Serb.

Pachomius the Serb was a native of Athos. In the thirties of the 15th century, still young (but not younger than thirty), with the rank of hieromonk, he arrived in Rus', first in Novgorod. Then, in the early forties, he moved to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and after that lived mainly there, although he returned to Novgorod several times. Both in Moscow and Novgorod he carried out literary orders from high authorities - archbishops and grand dukes. In total, he wrote ten or eleven lives in Rus' (Barlaam of Khutynsky, Sergius of Radonezh, Nikon of Radonezh, Metropolitan Alexei, Kirill of Belozersky, Mikhail of Chernigov and boyar Theodore, Savva of Vishersky, Novgorod archbishops Euthymius II, Moses and, possibly, John and Jonah, some of which more than one edition), a number of commendable words and legends (on the discovery of the relics of Metropolitan Alexei, on the transfer of the relics of Metropolitan Peter, on the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, on the Feast of the Sign of the Mother of God in Novgorod, Varlaam of Khutyn, Sergius of Radonezh, Clement of Rome, on the death of Batu), fourteen services and twenty-one canons (mostly for the same persons and holidays). Pachomius is one of the most prolific writers of Ancient Rus'. Moreover, this is a rare case in Ancient Rus' of a professional writer who worked to order and received good fees for his work (he writes about this himself with pride).

Compiling lives, words and services with canons to order, Pachomius had in mind mainly practical - church and service purposes. He had a good command of the style of Slavic liturgical literature and did not see anything reprehensible in borrowing from other people’s works (such as: Homily on the renovation of the temple of the Great Martyr George Arkady of Crete, Eulogy to Clement of Rome by Bishop Clement, the lives of Athanasius and Peter of Athos, the works of Gregory Tsamblak and Metropolitan Cyprian) , in repetitions of himself (in the introductions to a number of lives), in the creation of his own editions - through slight processing of the text (reducing some places and distributing others), mosaic connection and simply adding a preface and afterword to other people's works. But at the same time, he also used oral sources, and some of his lives - primarily the Life of Kirill Belozersky that interests us now - were created almost exclusively on the basis of the stories of eyewitness contemporaries he heard.

The prose works of Pachomius - and the Life of Cyril is no exception - are usually built according to a clear pattern: preface, main part and conclusion. The prefaces speak about the importance of glorifying holidays or saints, about the difficulty of this task for a person and about the circumstances that excuse the author in this overwhelming undertaking. In rhetorical introductions, digressions, praises, etc., the language of Pachomius is artificially complicated, florid and approaches the style of hymnographic literature - stichera, canons and akathists (with akathists, in particular, it is related to numerous khairetisms, i.e. appeals to glorified persons beginning with the word “rejoice”). The main part is divided into a number of episodes. In lives, the speech begins, as a rule, with the saint’s parents, is interrupted by conversations and reflections of the characters, instructive author’s remarks and exclamations of praise, sometimes quite lengthy, and ends with a chain of stories about miracles. In the narratives about events, Pachomius’s language is simple, clear and businesslike. Based on a large number of oral traditions and previous written works, sometimes documents, the lives of Pachomius the Serb are rich in historical, literary and historical material and are therefore interesting both for literary historians and for historians themselves.

At the end of 1461 - beginning of 1462, Pachomius the Serb once again left Novgorod for Moscow, from where he soon, on the instructions of Grand Duke Vasily II Vasilyevich (d. 1462) and Metropolitan Theodosius (1461-1464), went to Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery in order to collect materials there for the Life of the founder of this monastery, which was commissioned for him. The order was explained by the Grand Duke’s gratitude to the monastery for the support he received there in the forties, when he was deprived of his great reign by Dmitry Shemyaka and exiled to Vologda. Pachomius the Serb completed the Life of Cyril after March 1462 (the death of Grand Duke Vasily II Vasilyevich) and before May 13 of the same year (the ordination of Cyril's third successor, Abbot Tryphon, as Archbishop of Rostov), ​​perhaps upon his return to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. (For more information about Pachomius the Serb, see the article about him in the “Dictionary of Scribes and Books of Ancient Rus'. Second half of the XIV-XVI centuries. Part 2. L-Y”. L., 1989, pp. 167-177).

Apparently, under the pen of Pachomius himself, who acted for liturgical purposes, around 1464-1465. The second edition of the Life appeared, which was a mechanical abbreviation of the first. In addition, a short prologue Life of Cyril is known, compiled on the basis of the first, lengthy edition shortly after its appearance, but having some features of originality. In 1615, based on the Pachomius Life of St. Cyril, Joasaph created another edition of it.

The Life of Cyril Belozersky is one of the few stories about saints written by Pachomius for the first time, according to “savids,” and not by editing or adding to other people’s works. In this case, his only written source was Cyril’s Spiritual Letter, which he included in the Life with some omissions and amendments.

The author’s main informants in the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery were Cyril’s students: the then abbot of the monastery Cassian (1448-1465 and 1466-1470) and Martinian Belozersky. Pachomius notes Martinian as the one who told him most fully and coherently about his teacher. So the merits of the Life of Cyril, its content and entertainingness, are to a large extent the merit of Martinian, “who lived with Cyril from a young age and knew well about the saint.”

Consisting of more than forty stories, the Life of Cyril is the largest of Pachomius's works and - despite the inevitable stylization and typification of persons and events for this genre - the most saturated with specific historical information, circumstances and names. Here, in much more detail than in other lives, it is said about the youth of the saint, about the periods of his life, about the people around him - his relative-educator Timofey Vasilyevich, his wife Irina, Abbot Stefan of Makhrishchsky, Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, his nephew Theodore Simonovsky, Mikhail of Smolensk , Feraponte Belozersky and others.

It seems that Cyril's students, including Martinian, knew very little about the secular period of their teacher's life. Perhaps Kirill did not like to talk about his youth in his old age. But, perhaps, the hagiographer Pachomius was wary that specific details of the everyday-historical plan would damage the purity of the genre of hagiography, designed to narrate about the eternal, supernatural in human life, and not about the vicissitudes of his existence. Be that as it may, the Life turned out to have very little information about the first half of Cyril’s long life.

The text of the life of St. Kirill Belozersky is printed from the manuscript of the Russian National Library, Kirillo-Belozersky collection, No. 18/1095, 30-60s. XVI century, originating from the Kirillov Monastery. All corrections and additions (they are in italics) were made according to the text of the manuscript of the Russian State Library, MDA, No. 13 (208), XV V.

THE MONTH OF JUNE ON THE 9TH DAY. THE LIFE AND EXECUTIONS OF OUR REVEREND FATHER IGUMENE KIRILL, WHO ESTABLISHED ON BELOZERO THE GLORIOUS MONASTERY OF OUR MOST Pure LADY OF THE MOTHEROCY, OF HER GLORIOUS DORMSION, AND IN IT ESTABLISHED A HOSTEL, WRITTEN BY HIEROMONCH PACHOMIUS SO HOLY MOUNTAIN

Bless, father!

If those great holy divine men of life, who shone through fasting and exploits, who courageously won such a great victory over their enemies, rejected all the short-lived delightful beauty and vanity of this world, realizing that all this is temporary, disappearing without a trace - whether big or small, - and like a shadow and sleep that passes away or a morning flower that dries up and falls in the evening - if even the ancient writers had a hard time, it was difficult to write the lives of those saints and stories about them in detail because of the height of their life and love for God, now, in our current generation, who is able to tell the lives and duly glorify those whose lives the angels themselves, in surprise, praised, whose names are written in heaven, who by the power of the Holy Spirit, taking a cross on his shoulder, with his own feet, disgraced, trampled and consigned to final oblivion the many-witted and proud serpent and for this he was honored with the Kingdom of Heaven, to whom were the doors of heaven opened and who entered, rejoicing, into the joy of his Lord?

And it is not because they need our praise that we praise the saints, but because the praise of the saints usually ascends and ascends, as it should, to God Himself, for the Savior Himself said: “He who receives you accepts Me” and “He who listens to you He listens to me." This is not said about the apostles alone, but also about all the saints who served Him by faith.

That is why we also glorify the saints because we want to raise others to their great beauty and love for God. After all, those who listen to these praises and attentively, like those who listen to God, thanks to them become pleasing to God, so that from these stories themselves they receive abundant benefit and great profit, especially if they think: “Those people were the same as us and They had passions in common with other people, but their will was not the same as that of other people.” Instead of bodily rest, they preferred great labor and suffering, instead of sleep - standing all night, instead of fun - joyful crying, and instead of human conversations - constant conversation with God. And approaching Him day by day, as if along certain steps, they always said: “My heart is ready, God, my heart is ready!” For they did not turn their hearts to the words of wickedness, and the oil of sinners did not anoint their heads, but they imitated those ancient men who pleased God, who walked in sheepskins and goatskins, daily experiencing hardships, sorrow, suffering greatly, wandering in deserts, mountains and gorges , in the abysses of the earth serving the Lord and glorifying the Lord in our members. For this God glorified them, according to what is written: “I will glorify those who glorify Me.”

That is why, rightfully, the one now praised by us represents the all-luminous reason for the present word. And it’s time to lay the foundation - to start talking about this zealot, the praiseworthy Cyril.

Someone might think that since I am from another land, I don’t know well about the saint. Indeed, with my own eyes I did not see either this blessed man or what was happening around him, but even being far away, I heard about the saint - how many miracles God works for his sake - and was very surprised. And therefore, when I was ordered by the autocrat, Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich, and I was blessed by the Metropolitan of All Rus' Theodosius to go to the monastery of the saint and there to hear with my own ears about the past and ongoing miracles of the God-bearing father, I undertook great work, because the distance to that place very large. But with zeal and love for the saint, as if drawn by some long lasso, I walked the path and reached the monastery of the saint.

I saw there the abbot of that monastery, Kasyan, who was deservedly called hegumen, a man who had grown old over many years of fasting labors. And he began to persuade me even more to write something about the saint, for he had great faith in the holiness of Cyril, he himself saw the blessed one and reliably told me about many of his miracles. I found there many other of his students. Like truly unshakable pillars, they remain, having lived with the saint for many years, following their teacher in everything - as they were taught by him. And nothing was violated by them in the fatherly rules, but this is how they spent their lives by the grace of Christ in fasting, in prayer and in vigils, silent: what they saw the father doing, they themselves strove, while doing, to fulfill, so one can say : “They are a generation of those who seek the Lord and seek the face of the God of Jacob.” It is more necessary to say: “They are fruitful trees planted by the Lord our God.” It was enough to see their way of life to be convinced of their virtues even without descriptions.

And when I asked them about the saint, they began to tell me about his life and about the miracles that came from him: one - one thing, others - similar to that. And little by little, in separate stories, the deeds of the saint were told. I heard the most reliable thing from a witness of his life, from his disciple named Martinian, who was the abbot of the namesake monastery, called Sergeev, who lived with Saint Cyril from an early age and knew for certain about the saint. He told me about it in order, and I, listening to his story, was very surprised.

That is why, with desire and love for the saint, kindled more than fire, although I am rude and not trained in worldly wisdom, but, having received the command and having judged that it is not appropriate to talk about the miracles of the saint separately, I collected everything that I heard together and, asking for God’s help and Hoping for prayers to God, the holy and ever-memorable father, upon arrival to the true givers of truth living for God, stretched out his hand to the story, so that the righteous will not be kept silent and may not be consigned to the abyss of oblivion what happened many years ago, but may it be turned to the common benefit of all who want to listen as it will be now.

ABOUT THE BIRTH OF A SAINT

Our venerable father, Cyril, was born of pious Christian parents. They baptized him in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and gave him the name Kozma in holy baptism. Having grown stronger and having learned the Divine Scripture, the youth continued to grow in all reverence, purity and enlightened mind, and for this he was loved and revered by everyone. Then the time came, and his parents, leaving earthly things, went to the Lord, handing over this above-mentioned Kozma, their son, to their relative named Timothy. This Timofey was a detour to the Grand Duke Dmitry and at that time he was much superior to others in wealth and honor. As a relative, they handed over their son to him so that he would take care of him and take care of him. God, the father of the orphans and the consolation of the sorrowing, contemplating from above, saw what would happen to him later, and the virtue that he had in his heart.

The above-mentioned Kozma, about whom our word is, having experienced the departure of his parents to the Lord, plunged into deep thought, not knowing what to do. He wanted to put on monastic robes, but no one dared to ordain him because of that nobleman. And so he lived, diligently going to the Church of God, succeeding in fasting and prayer. The aforementioned Timothy, seeing that he was so successful in good things, began to love him even more for his characteristic virtue and therefore was very happy for him. When Kozma reached adulthood, he awarded him the right to sit next to him at a meal, and soon then made him treasurer of his estate.

Kozma held on to the same thoughts as before: how to become a monk, and this attraction and love for God seemed to kindle him with some kind of fire. And therefore he was in great sadness and, not daring to tell anyone his secret, he kept it in his mind and walked around the monasteries, looking for where he could obtain the monastic state he desired. But this was impossible because of the aforementioned nobleman. What could he do? Although he wore worldly clothes, all his deeds were monastic; I mean fasting, prayer, almsgiving and that he was the first to come to church and, finally and most importantly, bodily purity and goodness with which everyone will see the Lord. He remembered the word that said: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” That’s why even then, before he became a monk, in every way he was a monk. What happened next?

God, wanting to fulfill the will of Kozma, through His care helped him achieve what he had wanted for many years, in this way.

ABOUT THE TONURMENT OF A SAINT

It happened one day that Abbot Stefan of Makhrishchi, a man perfect in virtue, known to everyone for his life, came to Moscow. Having learned about his arrival, Kozma joyfully ran to him, for he had been expecting him for a long time. And he fell at his honest feet, shedding tears from his eyes, and told him what he was thinking about, and begged him to place the monastic image on him: “I have been waiting for you, sacred head, for a long time, and now God has vouchsafed me to see your honest holiness . I pray: for the sake of the Lord, do not reject me, a sinner and indecent, imitating your Master: He did not reject, but accepted sinners - both the tax collector and the fornicator. So you too accept me, a sinner, as He accepted them. “It depends on you,” he said, “and it is in the power of your holiness to do it, if only you want to.” He said this and much more and begged, and Abbot Stefan was touched by his words, seeing such zeal and crying, and understood from them that he would become a vessel of the Holy Spirit, which subsequently happened. This happened at God's discretion, or rather, it was the work of His providence.

So, Stefan commands him to stop shedding tears and says: “Stop it, child. As God wills, so it will be.” And he pondered how, in what way, to place the holy monastic image on him and make him a monk. “If,” he said, “we inform Timothy about this, he will not allow this to happen. Even if we beg him, he will not listen to us.” And Stefan came up with this: just like that, without taking tonsure, he should be dressed as a monk, which he did.

And he dressed him in monastic attire, and named him Cyril, and left the rest to God’s will. And having done this, the aforementioned Stephen went to that Timothy, when he was going to take a break from worldly worries at noon by sleeping. Stefan walked up to the door and knocked. Timothy was informed of Stephen's arrival. And he had great confidence in Abbot Stefan, and therefore, when Stefan entered, Timothy stood up and bowed to him, asking for a blessing. And when Abbot Stefan said: “Your pilgrim Kirill blesses you,” he asked, interested in the name: “Who is Kirill?” The abbot replied: “Kozma, your former servant. Now he wanted to become a monk, serve the Lord and pray for you.” When he heard this, he became angry and, filled with bitterness, expressed his annoyance to Stefan in certain words. Hegumen Stefan, standing there, said: “It is written to us by Christ the Savior: “Where they receive you and listen to you, remain there, and where they do not receive you and do not listen, go away from there and shake off their ashes that have stuck to your feet before them as a testimony to them.” ". And with these words, without adding anything more, he walked away.

The wife of that Timothy, named Irina, a pious and God-fearing woman, took Stephen’s, or rather Christ’s, words hard. And she began to reproach her husband for insulting such a person, especially remembering the words he had spoken. And her husband, who knew Stefan as a holy man, repented of the words spoken to him. So he soon sent for him to return. And when he came, Timothy asked him for forgiveness, and at the same time Stefan apologized to him. And after that, he allowed Kozma, named Kirill, to live according to his own will, as he wanted. With that, Stefan left, rejoicing that he had gained a brother.

Coming to Cyril, Stefan told him about everything that God had created for him. Having then been freed from everything, Cyril rejoiced, gave praise to the Lord and His Most Pure Mother of God and great gratitude for this to Stephen. And therefore, he divided everything he had and gave it to the poor, leaving nothing for himself for bodily needs. At the same time, he did not think about old age or about the long life ahead, but he freed himself from everything, retaining no obstacles or worries, following the One who said: “Do not worry about tomorrow.”

ABOUT THE ARRIVAL OF THE SAINT IN SIMONOVO

And when this happened, Abbot Stefan went to the monastery of the Dormition of the Most Pure One, called Simonov, taking Cyril with him. And there he handed him over to the hands of the archimandrite of that monastery, Theodore by name, a great man in virtue and intelligence. Theodore immediately gladly accepted him there and tonsured him for real and gave him the same name - Cyril.

There lived then in that monastery a certain Mikhail, who later became the Bishop of Smolensk, a man who led a great life in God - in prayer, in fasting, in vigils and in all kinds of abstinence. It was to him that Theodore entrusted Cyril as a student. Looking at him, Cyril began to imitate his virtuous life and obeyed him with all his soul. Diligently observing his angerless, labor-filled philosophical life passing through long prayers, seeing his immeasurable labors, he tried to do the same himself. And so he obeyed the elder in everything that fasting was considered a pleasure, and nakedness in winter - warm clothing, and he tormented his flesh with great abstinence in all things, in accordance with what was said: “Wearying the flesh, but enlightening the soul.” He slept very little, and only sitting. And he asked the elder to allow him to eat only once every two or three days, but the elder did not allow him, but commanded him to eat bread with his brothers, even if not to the point of satiety. When the elder read the Psalter at night, he commanded him to bow, and this often lasted until they began to beat the beater. In the cathedral, Kirill tried to be at the singing before everyone else.

They also say this: when Michael stood at night, performing his usual rule, Saint Cyril stood with him. And if Elder Michael happened to leave his cell, then Cyril saw the devil, taking on different guises in order to frighten the saint with all sorts of monstrous and terrible images. But when Jesus called, they disappeared without a trace. And sometimes Mikhail, being with him in the cell on the rule, heard some kind of roar from outside and a knock on the wall. However, with the power of the cross and prayer, all this disappeared.

Cyril stayed with that great ascetic for a considerable time, without any will of his own, in complete obedience without reasoning. Then, at the behest of Archimandrite Theodore, he went to the bakery and there he devoted himself even more to abstinence, carrying water, splitting firewood, carrying warm bread to the brothers and accepting warm prayers from them for this. And since he showed great diligence in the service, standing so much in prayer that he sometimes spent the whole night without sleep, and did this many times, everyone was surprised at him and praised him. He ate only so as not to fall from hunger and sometimes only so that his brothers would not know about his abstinence. And he did not drink anything else except water, and only when he was thirsty, and this lasted for a long time. He was an unmerciful enemy of his flesh, remembering the apostolic word: “When I am weak in body, then I am strong in spirit.”

When it happened from time to time that Saint Sergius came to the monastery of Our Lady Theotokos to visit his nephew, Archimandrite Theodore, and other brothers there, he first of all came to Saint Cyril’s bakery and spent a long time alone with him, talking about the benefits of the soul. One can say that both cultivated the spiritual furrow: one by sowing the seeds of virtue, the other by watering them with tears. “For having sowed in tears, they will reap with joy.” And while they were talking like this, for an hour or more, Archimandrite Theodore learned about the arrival of Blessed Sergius and immediately came to him with his brothers, and they kissed each other with love for Christ. And everyone was amazed then that, bypassing everyone, even Archimandrite Theodore himself, he came to that one Cyril. That’s why everyone, surprised, praised Kirill. And he, wanting to hide, succeeded in this in the same way as someone who would want to hide a lamp in a glass vessel in the darkness. And he spent a lot of time in the bakery.

Then they sent him to the magernitsa, that is, to the cookery; and there he abstained even more, always remembering the unquenchable fire, eternal torment and poisonous worms. And often, looking at the fire, he said to himself: “Be patient with this fire, Cyril, so that with the help of this fire you can escape the fire there.” And for this God gave him such tenderness that he could not even eat bread without tears, nor utter a word. Therefore, everyone who saw such his labors and humility revered him among themselves not as a man, but as an angel of God. He, wanting to hide from the audience the virtue that he had, decided to pretend to be a holy fool, so that they would not recognize him as the performer of feats.

To do this, he began to do something that caused ridicule and laughter, and the abbot, seeing this, imposed a ban on him, that is, penance, leaving him on bread and water for forty days or more. Cyril accepted this with joy and fasted diligently, and when the days of fasting established by his father passed, he again began to act like a fool in another way in order to accept an even greater prohibition from the abbot, which is what happened. It sometimes happened that the abbot ordered him to eat nothing but bread and water for six whole months. This blessed fool for Christ’s sake, accepting the ban, was very happy that he could fast freely, and those who saw him fasting would have to say: “He is fasting because of the ban, and not of his own will.” Just as a proud person rejoices in glory and honor, so a humble person rejoices in his dishonor and humiliation. And since, as already mentioned, he repeatedly acted in such a way as to receive a ban, the abbot realized that out of humility, pretending to be a holy fool, he was committing acts that caused laughter, and he did not impose any more bans on him. Everyone knew that for God’s sake he was doing this, wanting to hide his beloved philosophy of humility.

After this, he had a desire to leave the cookhouse for his cell - but not for the sake of peace, but in order to gain greater tenderness in the silence of the cell. He did not rely on his own will and did not say anything to the abbot, but placed everything on the Most Pure One, thinking: “Wouldn’t the Most Pure One herself want this, because she knows whether it will be for my benefit.” And soon after his prayer, the archimandrite decided to write a certain book and therefore ordered Blessed Cyril to move from the kitchen to the cell to write a book there. Hearing this, Cyril went to his cell, judging that the Most Pure One did not reject him, but accepted his petition.

And there he also labored in writings, prayers and nightly genuflections. But his tenderness there was not the same as it was in the cookhouse, and therefore he prayed to the Most Pure One to grant him the tenderness that he had before.

And soon the abbot again sends him to the kitchen to serve with the brothers. And Cyril was glad to hear this, and immediately went to the cookhouse and again began many feats and thus gained greater tenderness. And the saint spent nine years serving there in all kinds of abstinence and severe suffering, burning from the fire during the day and freezing from the cold at night. Not once in those years did a sheepskin cover his body, but he still tormented his body with suffering.

Subsequently, by order of the abbot, he was awarded the priesthood. And he served in his weeks, like other priests. And when he was free in turn, he again went to the cookhouse and worked there, as before. And he worked like this for a long time.

Then he began to remain silent in his cell. And when, by order of the Grand Duke and the blessing of the metropolitan and the entire church council, Archimandrite Theodore was elected to the Rostov archbishopric, Blessed Kirill was installed instead of Theodore as archimandrite. So from then on, he began to do even more work, adding hard work to hard work. “To whom,” he said, “a lot is given, more will be asked.” And again: “Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Since this was the case, the monastery was well managed. Cyril never exalted himself because of the height of his rank and did not change anything in his abstinence, but lived as before, guided in everything by his philosophy of humility. He had unfeigned love for everyone, great and small, and accepted everyone with equal joy: the old as brothers, and the young as children. That is why everyone praised and revered him.

Many princes and nobles from everywhere came to him, hoping to benefit, and thereby violated his silence, and therefore he decided to leave his leadership and remain silent in his cell, which he did, for he left the abbot and retired to his cell. The brethren asked him for a long time not to resign as abbot, but he did not listen to them and immediately entered the field of greater feat - he began to remain silent, not having any concern for the outside world.

Since this happened and since the monastery could not remain without a rector, they elevated to archimandrite, in the place of Blessed Kirill, a certain Sergius Azakov, who later became a bishop in Ryazan. But Kirill remained silent; but it was impossible to hide the city standing on the top of the mountain. No matter how much Cyril avoided human glory, God only glorified him even more. Therefore, people from different lands and cities came to him to benefit. For his word was “seasoned with salt,” and everyone listened to him with pleasure. And Archimandrite Sergius Azakov, who was placed in his place, seeing that many people from everywhere were coming to Blessed Kirill, and believing that he himself was being neglected, began to be very indignant at the blessed one. What was said by the wise was fulfilled: “Evil does not know how to prefer what is useful, and envy does not allow one to know the truth.”

And what did blessed Cyril then do when he learned about Sergius’s envy towards him? He was not offended, did not say anything contrary to him, did not get angry. He left from there to the old monastery of the Nativity of the Most Pure One and there continued to remain silent. He thought about going somewhere else to seclude himself from the world for the sake of silence. And for a long time he struggled with such a thought, constantly praying to God and His Most Pure Mother, saying: “Most Pure Mother of Christ my God! You know that from my youth I placed all my hope in God on you. Guide me in the way you know on the path on which I can be saved.” And so he prayed many times.

ABOUT THE APPEARANCE OF THE MOST Pure Mother of God, WHEN SHE APPEARED TO ST. CYRILL, COMMANDED HIM TO GO TO BELOZERO

It was the saint’s custom, late at night, after his great rule and praises, immediately afterwards, before getting a little sleep, to sing the Akathist to the Most Pure One. That's what he always did. And one night, late at night, when he was praying and, as usual, singing the Akathist to the Most Pure One in front of her image, it happened that, having reached the place in the ikos: “Seeing the wonderful Christmas, let us distance ourselves from the world and turn our thoughts to heaven,” he suddenly heard a voice saying: “Kirill, leave here and go to Beloozero, for I have prepared a place for you there where you can be saved.” And then, simultaneously with this voice, a bright light shone. Opening the window of his cell, Kirill saw a light pointing north, towards Beloozero. And with that voice, like a finger, he was shown the place where the monastery now stands. Saint Cyril was filled with great joy from this voice and vision. He understood from this voice and vision that the Most Pure One did not reject his petition, and all night he was surprised at the vision and voice that happened, and for him this night was not night, but like a bright day.

And after this, Ferapont, a monk of the same monastery as the saint, soon came from Beloozero. And Blessed Kirill began to ask him if there were places there, on Beloozero, where a monk could remain silent. Ferapont replied: “Of course there is; there are a lot of places for privacy there.” The blessed one did not tell him about the vision, but seemed to simply ask him. But then, after some time, having agreed, the two of them left the monastery where the saint lived.

So, with God's help, they set off and, after traveling for many days, came to Beloozero. They walked there a lot, but nowhere could the saint choose a place to live: he kept looking for that which was indicated to him, to which he had been called by the Most Pure One in the previous monastery.

ABOUT THE COMING OF THE SAINT TO BELOZERO

After visiting many places, they finally came to where the monastery now stands. And immediately the saint recognized the place previously indicated to him and loved it very much. And, having made a prayer, he said: “This is my peace forever and ever. I will settle here, because the Most Pure One chose this place. Blessed be the Lord God, now and forever, for having heard my prayer.” And then he erected a cross in that place and sang a canon of thanksgiving in praise of our Most Pure Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. Then Blessed Cyril revealed everything to his companion Ferapont - how the Most Pure One appeared to him in the old monastery and how he heard a voice addressed to him, commanding him to leave the old monastery and come to these places. “Which I accomplished,” he said, “with the help of the Most Pure Mother of God who instructs me.” Ferapont listened to this, and the two of them glorified God and His Most Pure Mother.

And they then began to dig a cell in the ground and first of all they installed a canopy. And they spent some time together on this matter. But their customs did not agree: Cyril wanted to live closely and harshly, Ferapont wanted to live spaciously and smoothly, and therefore they parted with each other: blessed Cyril remained in that place, and Ferapont left from there - not very far, about fifteen years or a little more, and, having found a suitable place there near a lake called Paskoe, he settled there and erected a church in the name of our Most Pure Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, in honor of her glorious Nativity. The brethren also gathered to him. And to this day there is a very beautiful monastery in that place with many brothers working for the Lord. That is why this monastery is still called Ferapontov.

The place where Saint Cyril settled was in a remote forest, in a thicket, and no one lived there. It was a small but very beautiful hill, surrounded on all sides, like a wall, by waters. They say that near the place where the Monastery of the Most Pure One is now located, there lived a certain farmer named Isaiah. And many years before the arrival of St. Cyril, a loud ringing was heard from that place. And before the arrival of the saint, not only ringing was heard from there, but it was as if singers were singing. And not only Isaiah heard these ringings and voices, but many who lived around that place. And that’s why, hearing the ringing, many came there to find out exactly where these ringing and singing were coming from. But they heard it with their ears, but could not see anything with their eyes, and they were only surprised and understood that this was not without reason.

The saint, as we said before, dug a cell in the ground and in it fought against the machinations of the invisible enemy. And two Christians came to him from the surrounding places: one named Auxentius, and nicknamed Raven, and the other Matthew, nicknamed Kukos, who later became the sexton of that monastery. When the saint was walking through the forest, and these two people were with him, the enemy who hated good, knowing that he would be expelled from there by the saint, took up arms against him for this, and fell into such a dream that the saint, from desire to sleep, could not stand and wanted to lie down for a while. And he said to the people who were with him: “Wait here until I get some sleep.” They did not leave him, saying: “Go to your cell and rest there.” But he, unable to fight, overcome by sleep, seeing a place suitable for rest, lay down there to sleep for a while. And as soon as he fell asleep, he suddenly heard a voice insistently saying: “Run, Kirill!” Waking up from an unusual voice, he jumped away from that place. And then, thanks to the enemy’s machinations, a large tree fell and hit right at the place where the saint had just been lying. Then the saint realized that this was a devilish trick, and as a conscientious and perfect ascetic, he sincerely prayed to the Lord and His Most Pure Mother to take away his sleep, which came true, for he began to remain without sleep day and night, so that by being awake he could finally defeat his opponents. The devil, seeing that his tricks yielded nothing, was disgraced by this, and walked away more defeated than victorious. This is about it like this.

After that, the saint cut down the forest, cleared the place and, having collected brushwood, decided to sow some herbs, for the place was meager and empty. And so he lit the brushwood, but since the devil did not stop fighting with the saint, a strong wind blew, and smoke and flames surrounded the saint on all sides, and because of the smoke he did not know where to run. And suddenly he saw a certain man in the guise of the aforementioned Matthew Kukos take him by the hand and say: “Follow me!” And then he came out safe and sound, saved with the help of our Lady Theotokos.

A little time passed, and two brothers from Simonov, loved by him, and most importantly, like-minded with him, appeared to the saint - one named Zebedee, the other Dionysius. Seeing them, the saint was very happy and received them with great love, and they began to live together. And, living with the saint, Zebedee and Dionysius tried to do everything they saw him do, to the best of their ability. Then, after them, many began to come to the saint from everywhere, some for the sake of benefit, others, wanting to live with him. They asked him to vouchsafe them a monastic image, and after many requests he accepted them and vouchsafed them an angelic image. And a certain Nathanael came to him, who later became the cellarer of that monastery, and some others from the brethren came to him.

ABOUT THE MAN WHO WANTED TO CAUSE EVIL TO A SAINT WITH FIRE

One man named Andrei lived near the saint’s monastery. He began to hate the saint for settling there. Taught by the devil, this Andrei decided to burn the saint. But when he came one night, great fear fell upon him, and from this fear he ran away. And another time, coming late at night and putting fire to the wall, he ran away so that it would not become known who the villain was. And having gone some distance, he stood, waiting for the cell with the saint to burn down. But there was nothing to see, for as soon as he left, the fire died out. He did this many times, but left without achieving his goal or, one might say, disgraced with the help of the Most Holy Theotokos. The fire, ashamed of the saint, quickly went out instead of burning. Seeing this, the aforementioned Andrei became afraid. Either fear attacked him, then the fire could not burn.

Finally he came to his senses and realized his sin. Appearing to the blessed one, he revealed his sin to him and, beginning to repent, told the saint how he wanted to burn him, how the fire died out and how fear attacked him when he wanted to do him harm. The saint, having advised that man not to listen to the advice of the evil one, let him go. He himself began to sing a canon of thanksgiving to the Mother of God, who covered him with her holy veil.

After a short time, that Andrei again came to the saint, and the saint honored him with a monastic image. So in the future he remained with Blessed Cyril in obedience - until he departed to the Lord. He himself, repenting, told all his brothers.

ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH OF OUR MOST Pure LADY OF OUR MOTHEROCY, HER GLORIOUS DORMSION

Since brothers were already living with the saint at that time, the need arose to erect a church where everyone could gather. And they asked the blessed one to build a church. But due to the fact that the place was far from human habitations, and there were no carpenters, it was difficult for the brethren to accomplish this. Saint Cyril, according to his original custom, relied on the will of the Most Pure One for everything he needed and never made a mistake when asking. And then he prayed to the Most Pure One, and, not being invited by anyone, the carpenters came. And thus the church was erected in the name of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and the ever-Virgin Mary, her glorious Assumption.

And a rumor spread among the inhabitants of those lands that a church had been erected in the monastery, which meant that the monastery would grow, and people were surprised and increasingly believed that Kirill had brought with him a great fortune, especially after hearing that he was the archimandrite of the Simonov monastery, where, they thought, he got his large fortune.

ABOUT THE BOYARIN THEODOR, WHO WANTED TO CAUSE EVIL TO THE SAINT

Thus, a certain boyar named Theodore, taught by the devil, thought that great wealth had appeared here with the saint, and therefore sent robbers at night so that they would come to him, take away his treasures and do him harm. But when the robbers went to the saint’s monastery and were already nearby, they saw many people around the blessed monastery: someone was shooting with a bow, someone was doing something else. And the robbers, looking at this, stopped at a distance and waited for them to go away so that they could attack the saint. But the robbers stood there for a long time, and they did not intend to leave the monastery. So the robbers left with nothing, having failed to cause any harm to the saint.

The next night the robbers they sent came again and again in the same way they saw some people in even greater numbers than the first time. These too, like some kind of warriors, were shooting. Therefore, the robbers were even more frightened and returned and told their boyar how they came to the saint the first and second time and how they saw many shooting soldiers.

Theodore, having heard this, was surprised and thought that one of the nobles had come to the saint to ask for prayer, and sent Blessed Cyril to the monastery, wanting to find out for sure who was in the monastery yesterday and the day before. And the messengers, having learned that there was no one in that monastery for more than a week, reported this to Theodore. Theodore, having heard this, came to his senses and repented of his sin. For he realized that the saint was a real man of God, that the Most Pure One was sheltering him from evil, and therefore he was afraid that he would receive great retribution from God for wanting to cause grief to such a person. Therefore, he quickly ran to the saint and, repenting with tears of his sins, told him about what had happened: how he sent robbers against him and what vision they saw the first and second time. Blessed Cyril, having consoled him so that he would not grieve because of this, said to him: “Believe me, child Theodore, that I have nothing else in this life except this robe that you see on me, and a few books.” .

Theodore was surprised by his simplicity and non-covetousness, and even more by God’s help to him. He returned to his home and said: “I thank you, Lord Lover of Mankind, for not letting the enemy catch me, a sinner, and not allowing me to cause grief to your saint!” And from then on this Theodore acquired great faith in the saint and revered him not as a man, but rather as an angel of God.

And therefore, when he was going to go to the saint for a blessing, especially when a holiday came, then he cast the net with the words: “God, in the name of your saint Cyril, give us a catch,” for without a doubt he believed in the saint. And he was never left without fish: first he caught one sturgeon, then two, and brought them to the blessed one. And this happened many times and he never came to the saint empty-handed.

So time passed, and the fame of blessed Cyril spread everywhere, and the name of Cyril, as something sanctifying, was on everyone’s lips, and virtue seemed to point to him with a finger, and some praised the humility of this man, others spoke of his abstinence and the benefits of his words, others told each other about his poverty and simplicity. That is why many, despising the worldly, became monks.

Then a certain Ignatius came, a perfect man and great in virtue, who had the rank of a silent man. He led such a harsh life like no one else, so that after Blessed Cyril he was an example for all the brethren. They say about him that with his great abstinence and kneeling, he spent thirty years without lying on his ribs, but thus, standing or slightly crouching, he got a little sleep. There is nothing to say about their beloved poverty and non-covetousness. Having lived in that rank for many years, he departed to the Lord.

And many people from everywhere came to Blessed Cyril, and in a short time the brethren increased greatly.

The blessed one established the rule: not to talk to anyone in church and not to leave the church before the end of the service, but for everyone, everyone to abide in the rites and hymns established for him. Also, when approaching the Gospel and when venerating the holy icons, they observed the order of precedence so that there would be no confusion among them. Blessed Kirill himself, standing in church, never leaned against the wall and never sat down prematurely, and his legs were like pillars. And they went out to the meal in order of seniority. At the meal, everyone sat in their own place, they were silent, and no one could be heard except one reader.

The brothers were always given three meals, except on fast days, when Hallelujah was sung. The blessed one himself ate two courses, and even then he was not satisfied. He had nothing else to drink except water. Rising after the meal, everyone went to their cells, thanking God in silence, without deviating from any conversations and without stopping at one of the other brothers on the way from the meal, unless out of great necessity.

One day it happened that one of the saint’s disciples, named Martinian, went after a meal to a certain brother for some reason. Seeing that he turned to another cell, the saint called him to him and asked: “Where are you going?” He replied: “I have business with a brother who lives there, and that’s why I wanted to go to him.” The saint, as if reproaching him, said to him: “Do you observe the monastic rite in this way? Can’t you first go to your cell and read the prescribed prayers there, and then, if you need to, go to your brother?” And he, smiling slightly, answered: “When I come to the cell, I can no longer leave there.” The saint said to him: “Always do this: first of all, go to your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.”

There was also a custom: if someone brought a letter or a gift to a brother, then the letter, without opening it, was brought to the saint, as well as the gift. In the same way, if someone wanted to send a letter from the monastery, no one dared to write or send it without a command from the father.

In the monastery and in the cells, Cyril commanded not to keep anything of our own and not to call anything ours, but to have everything, according to the Apostle, in common, so as not to become a slave to what we call ours. Silver or gold was not mentioned at all by the brethren outside the monastic xenodochy, that is, the treasury. The brothers received everything they needed from there. If someone was thirsty, he went to the refectory and there quenched his thirst with a blessing. There was never bread or water or anything like that in the cells; nothing could be seen there except icons. They had only one concern - to surpass each other in humility and love and to be the first in the church at the service. Likewise, when they went to work at the monastery, wherever they were, they went with the fear of God and worked not as for people, but for God or standing before God. They had no idle talk, no questions, no stories about worldly things, but each silently observed his own wisdom. If someone wanted to speak, then he did not speak anything other than from Scripture, for the benefit of the other brothers, especially those who did not know the Scripture.

There was also a great difference in the structure of their lives, for each of the brethren was given a way of life and a measure of rules by the blessed one himself. Those who knew how did something with their hands and took the products to the treasury. No one did anything for themselves without blessing. For, as we have already said, they received everything from the treasury - clothes, shoes, and other things necessary for the body. The saint himself was absolutely unable to see any beautiful clothes on himself and walked around in a torn and repeatedly sewn robe.

And he asked and ordered everyone not to have their own philosophies at all and to be ready for all obedience, so that in this way they would bear fruit to God, and not to their own will.

The blessed one also had this custom: after singing the morning hymn, and having fulfilled his usual rule, he would come to the kitchen to see what kind of treat the brothers would have. The blessed one asked the servant to prepare food for the brothers, trying his best. And sometimes he himself helped prepare food with his own hands and prepared all kinds of dishes for his brothers. He ordered that honey and other drinks containing hops should not be kept in the monastery under any circumstances. And so, with this prohibition, the blessed one cut off the head of the serpent of drunkenness and tore out its very root. He not only decreed that honey and other intoxicating drinks should not be kept in the monastery during his lifetime, but also commanded that they not be kept after his death.

And this is the gift of the blessed one that is worthy of surprise: never, while serving the Divine Liturgy or during reading, when others were reading or he himself was reading, especially during his cell rule, could he restrain himself from tears flowing from zeal. From this you can understand what zeal and faith he had in God.

It happened that when something was missing in the monastery, the brothers forced the saint to send to some Christ-lovers to ask them for the needs of the brethren. He did not allow this in any way, saying: “If God and the Most Pure One forget us in this place, then why are we needed in this life?” And at the same time he consoled the brethren and taught them not to ask for alms from worldly people.

The saint had one disciple, Anthony by name, great in life in God and having intelligence in matters both monastic and worldly. Blessed Cyril sent him once a year to buy what the brothers needed for their bodies - that is, clothes, shoes, oil, etc. And beyond this, he did not leave the monastery unless some kind of necessity arose. When one of the worldly people sent alms, they accepted what was sent from God, thanking God and His Most Pure Mother.

One day a princess came, the wife of the pious Prince Andrei, whose patrimony was that land, Agrippina by name. She was pious and very merciful and had faith in the monastic image, especially in Blessed Cyril, and wanted to treat the brethren to fish dishes. But the saint did not allow eating fish during Lent. The pious princess asked him to allow the brethren to eat fish. But he did not agree with her, saying: “If I do this, then I myself will be a violator of the monastery charter, according to what was said: “What I create, I myself destroy.” And then, as soon as I die, they will then begin to say that Cyril commanded me to eat fish during Lent.” The saint tried so hard to ensure that the monastic custom was not violated in any way, especially the one established by the holy fathers. And the princess, having treated the brethren to Lenten dishes, returned to her home, praising the saint’s firmness in his feat.

A certain brother named Theodore, while still living far from Cyril’s monastery, heard about the saint from many and came to the monastery and begged the saint to accept him to live with him. The saint accepted him and numbered him among the brothers, and he lived here with the brothers for some time. The devil, who hates good, put hatred of the saint into Theodore’s heart. And as much as before he believed the saint, so much later he began to hate him, so that he could no longer see him or hear his voice. Being overcome by this feeling, this brother comes to the above-mentioned elder Ignatius and tells him about his feeling of hatred that he felt for the saint, and says: “I want to leave the monastery.” The elder encouraged him with the words: “Be patient, brother, because what is happening to you is from the enemy.” The brother, having been consoled, listened to the elder and said: “Okay, I’ll wait one year, maybe the elder will change his mind towards me.”

After a year, the enemy did not stop inciting hatred of the saint in his brother. Unable to fight this feeling any longer, he comes to the saint to confess to him his secret thoughts and the hatred he feels for him. But when he came to the saint’s cell and saw him, he was ashamed of his holy beautiful gray hair and, out of shame, did not say anything of what he had come for. And he wanted to leave the saint’s cell, but the holy elder, having the gift of clairvoyance, realized that the brother had hidden his thoughts and did not tell the elder why he had come. And he held his brother back and began to tell him about all the hatred that he had for him, and with what thoughts he came to him. And the brother realized that nothing could be hidden from the saint. Filled with disgrace and shame, he asked for forgiveness for everything he had sinned against him in ignorance. The saint, comforting him, said: “Don’t be upset, brother Theodore! Everyone was wrong about me, only you were right and realized that I was a sinner. For who am I but a sinful and indecent man?”

Seeing the saint in such humility, the brother was even more distressed, repenting of the fact that he had felt against him in vain. The saint, seeing that his brother was repenting and contrite, released him, saying: “Go, brother, in peace to your cell. Such an attack will not come to you again.” From that time on, the brother came to his senses and repented of his sin and thereby gained great faith in the saint. This brother lived in that monastery for the remaining years of his life in all chastity, until he departed to the Lord.

Blessed Kirill also had such a great gift. When one of the wanderers came to this monastery, and many then from various lands and cities came to the saint, some wanting to see the saint and receive some benefit from him, others - to live with him, the saint, having the gift of providence, He looked at them with a sagacious glance when they were just entering the monastery, and informed the brothers who were nearby: “This brother will live with us, and this one will go away.” Both came true according to the prophecy of the saint.

The above-mentioned brother Zebedee once came to the saint for a blessing. The saint, opening the window of his cell, sees that Zebedee has a red face. And he asked him: “What, brother, happened to you?” He asked what they were talking about. And the saint said to him: “I see, brother, that your face is not fasting, but worldly, worse than that of those who overeat.” Feeling ashamed, Zebedee began to abstain so that the saint would no longer reproach him.

ABOUT THE RAGER

They brought to the saint one man named Theodore, who was seriously suffering from an unclean demon. And the saint began to pray to God and His Most Pure Mother for the grievously suffering Theodore. God and His Most Pure Immaculate Mother, ready to hear those praying, did not reject the prayers of their holy saint Cyril. And therefore, having received healing, this Theodore did not want to go out of the monastery anymore, so as not to suffer again from a fierce demon. And therefore he prayed to the saint to tonsure him as a monk. The saint, seeing his zeal, accepted him, clothed him in monastic robes, numbered him among the other brothers and gave him the name Theophan. He lived in the monastery of Blessed Cyril in chastity, obedience and all kinds of humility for more than ten years, until he departed to the Lord.

MIRACLE OF THE SAINT WITH CHURCH WINE

One day there was not enough wine for a church service, but the liturgy had to be served. Therefore, the priest came to the monk and reported that they had no wine. The saint called Ecclesiarch Niphon and asked him if they had wine. He answered him that there was no wine. The saint ordered him to bring a vessel that usually contained wine. And Niphon went for the vessel, as the saint commanded him, and found this vessel full of wine, and even overflowing, so that it was spilling out. Everyone was surprised by this, because they knew that there was no wine: there was only one vessel, and that one was dry. And everyone glorified God and His Most Pure Mother of God for this, and for a long time from then on, the wine in that vessel for the church service did not decrease, but rather increased until another wine was brought.

After several years there was considerable famine among the people. And because of great poverty and need, many of the poor came to the saint’s monastery. Due to the severity of the famine, the saint ordered that bread be given to those who asked in order to satisfy them. And so every day they distributed a lot of bread to the poor. And then there were no villages from which they could receive bread, and they only had a certain small amount of alms brought to them, which was enough for food only for the brothers. But when the people living around the monastery heard that everyone who came there was being fed because of hunger, they began to come in even greater numbers and get their fill there. But no matter how much food they took from there, it multiplied just as much again and even more. Seeing what was happening, the bakers said: “He who first multiplied the wine when it was gone, how much more can he multiply the bread.” And so many people fed on a small amount of food, and with the help of our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary and the prayers of St. Cyril, such abundance continued until the new harvest. The same brothers who took the flour with their own hands told the saint about the miracle that had taken place: “As much,” they said, “we took the flour, when we arrived, we found it increased again by the same amount, and it did not decrease in the torment.” And the saint gave thanks to God, who does wondrous and glorious deeds.

Subsequently, if there was ever a shortage of something in the monastery, the brothers did not dare to say anything about it to the saint, since everyone saw that he received everything he asked from God in abundance.

Once the cells in that monastery caught fire, but the brothers could not put them out, and the flames, increasing and rising higher, were ready to engulf everything. The saint, taking up the honorable cross, ran to where the cells were burning. And there was a certain layman who came from the city, who, seeing the saint hurrying with an honorable cross, seemed to laugh at him. He saw that the fire had engulfed everything insatiably, and he believed it was impossible to extinguish it. The saint, running and standing with an honorable cross against the flame, began to pray to God, and the fire immediately, as if ashamed of the saint’s prayer, went out. The mocking layman suffered God's wrath: all the members of his body weakened. Then the layman realized his sin - that he had suffered for blaspheming the saint, and he began to beg the saint with tears, asking him for forgiveness. And the saint prayed for him, marked him with an honorable cross and made him healthy again, and he, walking everywhere, talked about the miracles performed by the saint.

The glorious miracles of the saint became known not only in the vicinity of his monastery, but also far away - in foreign lands. Stories about them also reached Prince Mikhail Belevsky. And Prince Mikhail, having lived with his princess named Maria for eight years, had no children and, due to his childlessness, was in great sadness. Hearing about Saint Cyril that he receives from God everything he asks, he sent two of his boyars to go to the saint and ask him to pray to God for permission for their infertility. This was not hidden at all from the saint as a seer. As soon as the messengers arrived from Prince Michael, before they had time to give him the prince’s message, the blessed one told them: “Since, children, you have labored to go a long way, I believe in God and His Most Pure Mother that your labor will not be in vain. God will give your prince the fruit of childbearing.” They began to wonder how he knew why they had come, but they realized that he was a man of God, and conveyed a message from the prince to the saint. The saint ordered to give them a rest from the road.

That same night, Prince Michael saw in a dream a certain luminous old man, adorned with gray hair, holding three vessels in his hand and saying to him: “Accept what you asked of me.” That same night, an old man of the same appearance also appeared to Princess Maria and also gave her certain three vessels. Prince Mikhail woke up from his sleep and reflected on what he had dreamed, especially about the old man who had appeared to him. And he began to tell Princess Maria about his vision, and she, intercepting the story from his lips, said: “And the same old man appeared to me and also gave me three certain vessels and said: “Get what you asked of me.” Realizing that the visions of both coincided, they remembered the day on which they both saw it.

And after that, after three days, Blessed Kirill released the boyars sent by Prince Mikhail. And he ordered the cellarer to give them one and a half loaves of bread for the journey. In total, there were eight people who came from Prince Mikhail. And the saint said to them: “Go in peace to the prince who sent you and convey blessings and gratitude from us. And tell him this: what you asked for, God will give you. Don't be sad in future." They asked: “Father, order that they give us bread and fish for the journey, because we have a long way to go, and these places are deserted, and we will have nowhere to buy bread.” The saint answered them: “I sent a man to give you bread for the journey.” They said: “They gave us one and a half loaves of bread and several fish.” And the saint said: “Go in peace, and this will be enough for you, there will be plenty of it all the way to your home.” With that, they set off on the road, thinking about bread and where to buy it, for their journey was about twenty days or more. The bread they had, they thought, would be enough for them to eat only for one day.

Having reached the first refuge, they began to cook a small amount of fish given to them by the saint. And when they cooked it, they saw that there was a lot of fish. And having sat down to eat, they took half of that bread and began to eat, they ate and were filled and saw that half of the bread was still intact. Also, there was little fish cooked, but through the prayers of the saint it turned out to be much more. And then they understood the meaning of what the saint told them, and they no longer cared about food. And after many days, having walked all the way to their home, they ate only one half of the bread, and brought the other bread with them whole.

Having come to the prince, they conveyed to him the words of the saint, prophetically spoken to him about what they had come for: “We,” they said, “have not yet had time to convey your message to him, as the saint tells us: “Because, children, you have bothered to pass a long way, I believe in God and His Most Pure Mother, that God will give your prince the fruit of childbearing.” They also told about the miracle with bread: “He ordered us to give us one and a half pieces of bread for the journey and said: “This will be enough for you and there will be plenty of it all the way to your home.” And so, one half of the bread was enough for us for our entire journey, and we brought the second bread with us whole. He told us: “Go to your prince in peace and tell him: what you asked of God, God will give you. Do not be sad in future."

The prince and princess rejoiced with great joy and honored those who had come from the saint with gifts. And the prince ordered them to bring the bread that they had brought from the saint. And when it was brought, Prince Michael, standing up, accepted the bread brought from the saint with great faith, as some kind of shrine. And he ate it together with his princess and gave everyone in his house a taste of that bread. And those who were sick with a cold, that is, fever, or suffered from some other ailments, were all healed by the grace of Christ and with the help of our Lady Theotokos, with the assistance of the prayers of St. Cyril and by eating the bread brought from him.

The prince asked the messengers: “What day was it when you came to the saint?” They answered him, and he realized that this was the day on which they had dreams, and therefore everyone magnified and glorified God, who worked wondrous miracles through his holy saint Cyril. And after that day, two sons and one daughter were born to Prince Mikhail, according to how in a dream they saw that they received three vessels, meaning the birth of three children. Since then, Prince Mikhail gained great faith in the saint. And they sent a lot of alms with his princess Maria to the saint’s monastery, asking him to pray to God for them.

This was told by that Princess Maria herself to one of the trustworthy monks of that monastery, named Ignatius. And he told this to me, and I, having heard it from him as trustworthy, wrote it down - may the miracles of the saint not be forgotten.

MIRACLE WITH RULER Athanasius

A certain man named Afanasy was the ruler of a volost called Syama, and it happened that this Afanasy fell ill with a serious illness: all the members of his body relaxed, and he could not move at all. There was a certain man there, named Martin, and he began to tell Athanasius about Saint Cyril - what healings God grants for his sake to everyone who comes. “Listen to me,” he said, “who gives you good advice: if you can go to Blessed Cyril, in no case will you be deceived in your hope; if not, then at least go to him and ask him to pray for you. None of those for whom he prayed were disappointed.” Athanasius believed that Martin, for he had heard from other people about many miracles that God works through Saint Cyril.

Therefore, with hope and faith, he sends to the saint and asks him to pray for him. The saint prayed for him and sent him blessed water. And with the help of God and His Most Pure Mother, as soon as he tasted pure consecrated water brought from the saint and sprinkled it all over his body, he immediately received healing and became healthy through the prayers of St. Cyril.

MIRACLE OF ST. CYRILL

Let no one remain silent about this, created by this blessed father. One day the saint sent him to the lake to fish, and when the fishermen set sail and were already in the middle of the lake, a big storm began on the lake, and the waves rose and grew, threatening them with death. Unable to fight the waves, the fishermen could not swim to the shore and, already despairing of staying alive, saw death before them. A certain man, Florus by name, who was then standing on the shore of the lake and seeing the disaster and death of the fishermen, quickly ran to the saint and informed him of the trouble: “The fishermen,” he said, “are drowning in the lake!” The saint, having heard this, quickly stood up and, taking the cross in his hands, ran and came to the shore of the lake. And he made the sign of the cross with the brought cross, and immediately the lake stopped agitating and became completely quiet. And the fishermen escaped drowning and, landing on land, said to the saint: “A great misfortune would have befallen us if you had not forestalled it with your prayer to God.” That day the fishermen caught many fish, more than in previous days.

After this, a certain man was brought to the saint’s monastery, very seriously ill, and asked the saint to tonsure him as a monk. And he did not reject his holy request; he clothed him in a holy monastic image and named him Dalmatian. And, having been ill for several days, approaching the end, he asked for the holy mysteries of Christ. But the priest hesitated because of the sacred service. And when the priest came to administer the holy mysteries to him, he found his brother dead. Then the priest went and informed the monk that his brother had reposed before he had time to partake of the holy mysteries. The saint, having heard about this, was very saddened and, hastily closing the window of his cell, crying and turned to God in prayer.

Soon the brother who served the aforementioned Dalmatian came and, knocking on the window of the cell, informed Blessed Cyril that Dalmatian was alive and was again asking to receive the Holy Mysteries. And the saint, calling the priest, sent him to commune his brother with the holy mysteries. That priest did not want to argue with the saint, and although he saw that his brother had died, he went to him, carrying the holy secrets with him. And he found Dalmatus alive, sitting. That priest was in great surprise at this and gave glory to God. And Dalmatus, having received the holy mysteries and said goodbye to all his brothers, peacefully and quietly departed to the Lord.

ANOTHER MIRACLE

Princess Ivan of Kargolomsky, blind, who had not seen for a long time, came and asked the saint to pray for her. The saint prayed for her as best he could and sprinkled blessed water on her eyes. And immediately she regained her sight and, becoming healthy, as before, gave glory to God and His saint, Blessed Cyril.

ANOTHER MIRACLE

A certain boyar named Roman Alexandrovich, who lived far from the saint’s monastery, did not see the saint with his own eyes, but only heard about his great deeds. Having fallen ill with a serious illness and completely weakened, he began to pray to the Most Pure Mother of God to ease his illness. And, praying like this, he fell into a light sleep. And he saw in a dream how a certain luminous wife appeared to him, holding the hand of a certain holy old man, and said to him: “Send to him so that he will send you blessed water, and then you will recover. Kirill is the name of this person,” she added.

He woke up from sleep and told everyone about the phenomenon that had happened to him. Soon he then sends to the saint in the monastery and asks him to pray for him. And the saint prayed for him and sent him blessed water. And when the consecrated water was brought and that sick man accepted it and reverently drank it with deep faith, the disease immediately left him, and he became healthy with the help of the true God and His Most Pure Mother through the prayers of St. Cyril. And having recovered from his illness, he got up and went to the saint with his wife and children. And, having arrived at the saint’s monastery, he recognized the saint from that vision as having appeared to him in a dream and, falling at his feet, he bowed to him, calling him his deliverer from illness. And he began to tell him in detail how he prayed to the Most Pure One, and about the phenomenon that happened to him he told everything in order in front of all the brothers. And everyone unanimously praised and thanked God and His Most Pure Mother, who helps those who call on her everywhere.

Then this Roman asked the saint to bless the water so that he could plunge into it. The saint did not reject his request, he went to the river and blessed the water. And then there was severe frost, and therefore the aforementioned boyar did not dare to enter the water. The saint said: “Don’t be afraid, dare!” And as soon as he entered the water, the water became warm through the prayers of the saint. And, coming out of the water, the boyar told everyone about the miracle that had happened: “As soon as,” he said, “I entered the water, it seemed to me that I was standing in warm water!” From that time on, Roman gained great faith in the saint and, having given large alms to the monastery, then went to his home, giving thanks to God and His Most Pure Mother, who were doing extraordinary things through their saint.

ANOTHER MIRACLE

Another boyar, named Roman Ivanovich, having great faith in the Most Pure Mother of God and her saint, Blessed Kirill, gave the monastery fifty measures of grain every year, and sometimes more. And this aforementioned boyar wanted to transfer to the house of the Most Pure Cyril Monastery a certain village with everything in it. And he sent a letter to the saint to that village. The saint, having received the sent letter, began to think to himself: “If we begin to monitor and manage the villages, then we will have more care, breaking the silence of the brothers, and some of us will have to become village managers and contractors. So it is much better for us to live without villages, for the soul of one of the brethren is much better than any property.” This wise soul had such spiritual care for the brethren! And he sent this letter back to that boyar mentioned above, and wrote him another letter, where he said: “If you, man of God, want to transfer to the monastery, the house of the Most Pure Mother, a village for food for the brethren, then it is better to give the brothers fifty measures of grain, and if you want, then give us a hundred measures, and that will be enough for us. Own your villages yourself, for we don’t need them and the brothers are not useful.” And so the saint did not want to accept the village. And that boyar did as the elder said, and gave the monastery a hundred measures of grain, and sometimes more. After the repose of Blessed Cyril, that land was again given to the Most Pure Monastery, as it continues to be to this day, in memory of him.

MIRACLE WITH PRINCE PETER DMITRIEVICH AND HIS PRINCESS

May this miracle of Blessed Cyril, about which undeceitful lips spoke, not be hidden in silence.

There lived a pious Prince Peter, the son of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, and he had a princess named Euphrosyne. They lived in all piety and love, but they had no children for eleven years and six months, and therefore both of them were sad because of their infertility. They had great faith in the holy and already widely known blessed abbot Cyril. The pious Prince Peter Dmitrievich was thinking of sending to Saint Cyril so that he would pray to God and His Most Pure Mother for the resolution of their infertility and the granting of childbearing fruit to them. But while this and that, then in a certain year there was a great pestilence on people, and it was in the very fatherland of the pious Prince Peter, the city of Dmitrov. And therefore, having forgotten about their sadness due to infertility, they grieved more about themselves, seeing every day their fatherland, especially the city, reaped by a deadly sickle, and therefore they themselves, just like others, waited for death.

And because of this, because of the punishment of God that came upon them, they urgently sent a certain boyar named Kozma to Beloozero to Blessed Kirill, so that the saint would pray to God to deliver people from the punishment sent down, and especially pray for them. That Kozma set off and, having reached the monastery of the saint and seeing the venerable father Cyril, wanted to give him a message from the prince, but that blessed Cyril, having the gift of clairvoyance, himself found out about it. Having prayed for them as best he could with the brethren, he sends them consecrated water and prosphora and commands them, after fasting for several days, then together with the princess to drink the consecrated water and taste the prosphora, and having tasted it, to be sprinkled. Blessed Cyril predicted in his message that there would be mercy from God for people and that their infertility would be resolved, both of which subsequently came true through the prayers of St. Cyril.

When the aforementioned Kozma returned and brought prosphora and blessed water and conveyed the message, the pious Prince Peter was filled with joy and accepted it with great faith, and did everything that the saint commanded him. And, having fasted for several days with his princess and people - and at that time a life-giving cross was brought to him from the city of Vladimir to help against the devastating pestilence - then the pious Prince Peter went to the city of Dmitrov and performed a prayer service, walking around the city and sprinkling the city and people with water brought from the saint. And after this, with the onset of night, the pious Prince Peter fell into a light sleep. And he saw how a certain luminous old man appeared to him, holding two candles in his hands, and heard him say to him: “This is what you asked: God will give you a son.” The pious Prince Peter Dmitrievich woke up from his sleep and realized that in a vision he had seen the appearance of St. Cyril, and from this he was filled with great joy. At the same time, the pious princess Euphrosyne conceived a son. Soon, by the grace of Christ, the disease among people ceased.

Nine months after this, Timothy, the servant of the pious Prince Peter Dmitrievich, happened to come to the monastery of St. Cyril. Seeing him, blessed Kirill said: “Now it is fitting for you to rejoice, because your princess has given birth to a son, Prince Ivan.” Timothy was surprised at the words of Saint Cyril and remembered the day and hour when the saint said this, for it was then the memory of Saint Panteleimon. After this, after one week, a servant came from the prince to the saint to thank him for the fact that, through his prayers, God had given the prince a son. Then Timofey returns to the prince and retells to him the prophecy of St. Cyril - that on the very day when the princess gave birth to a son, Blessed Cyril found out about it on Beloozero and told everyone. From that year, the pious Prince Peter Dmitrievich gained great faith in Blessed Kirill and, together with his princess, expressed great gratitude to God, who works glorious miracles through his saint Kirill. Then the pious princess Euphrosyne gave birth to a daughter - because the saint appeared, holding two candles in his hand - to show that two children would be born.

ANOTHER MIRACLE

One day, with the onset of the feast of the Holy Epiphany, a certain man overcome by illness was brought to the monastery. They did not have time to arrive at the moment when the water was blessed so that he could plunge into the Jordan, but they arrived when the saint was already going to church to sing the Divine Liturgy. And that man, saddened, was in great sorrow because he did not make it in time. They reported this man to the blessed one, and the saint said: “Tell that man to enter the water without doubt. For I believe in God and His Most Pure Mother that he will recover.” That man believed the words of Saint Cyril and plunged into the Jordan three times, and from then on, by the grace of Christ and His Most Pure Mother and the prayers of Saint Cyril, he became healthy. And so he went home, rejoicing.

THE MIRACLE OF THE BLIND WOMAN

And after this, a blind woman was brought to Saint Cyril, who had not seen anything for three years. And they begged the saint to pray for her and anoint her eyes with blessed water. The saint wanted to check whether God had mercy on her. The saint said to her: “Do you see anything?” She replied: “I see the book you are holding in your hand,” for the saint was then holding a book in his hand. Then, after that, she said, “I see a lake and people walking.” And so gradually I began to see everything and became healthy through the prayers of St. Cyril. The saint, seeing that God had mercy on her and she received her sight, gave great gratitude to God and His Most Pure Mother.

Many other blind people were brought to the saint. The saint, taking only wine and water, anointed their eyes in the name of Christ, and they regained their sight and returned to their home, glorifying and thanking God and his saint Cyril, who performed such miracles.

ANOTHER MIRACLE OF THE SAINT

St. Cyril had a disciple, Herman. And, sending him to fish to feed his brothers, the saint told Herman what kind of fish he should catch, explaining: “Because, child, the brothers are asking for this or that fish.” And Herman went to fish, and with God’s help to Herman, thanks to the blessing of the saint, he caught the fish that the saint commanded him, and with nothing more than a fishing rod. And this turned out to be enough to feed the entire brethren. Back then they didn’t catch people with a seine, only when the feast of the Dormition of the Most Pure One came.

And this Herman, whom we mentioned above, lived for many years in that monastery in all kinds of obedience and chastity, so that many, seeing his immense humility and labors, were surprised and praised him. He spent his days in labor, fishing, and prayer never left his lips, but he spent his nights in vigils and kneeling, standing in church while singing, never leaning against the wall.

He had spiritual love for a certain Demetrius, a disciple of Christopher, who later became the abbot of that monastery. And that Demetrius led a great life according to God. And when Herman fell ill, his spiritual friend Demetrius often came to him, visiting him in illness. But the time came, and Herman peacefully departed to the Lord in that endless age. After Herman’s death, some time passed, and the aforementioned Demetrius happened to fall into a physical illness. And when he was so overcome by illness, the aforementioned Herman appeared to him and said: “Do not grieve, brother Demetrius! For on the second day, which is Monday, you will come to us.” Then that Demetrius was filled with great joy from visiting his beloved spiritual brother Herman. That Demetrius told the brothers who were there about the appearance of his spiritual brother Herman. And when that day, named by Herman, came, Demetrius with hope passed to the Lord, to the eternal abodes, leaving his work as a memory of his virtues.

The disciple of blessed Christopher, whom we mentioned just above, had a brother in the flesh named Sosipater. And this Sosipater happened to fall into a serious illness. His brother Christopher, seeing his brother exhausted, took pity on him and, going, told the Monk Cyril about his brother - that his brother was very sick and was about to die. The saint, smiling slightly, said: “Believe me, child Christopher, that not one of you will die before me. After my repose, many of you will go there with me,” which happened a short time later, exactly as the saint predicted. For at that time there was a strong pestilence in the vicinity of the monastery. But none of the brethren in the monastery was sick then. That brother Sosipater, although he had been ill for a long time, later recovered from his illness and became healthy.

MIRACLE OF THE SAINT

One man who lived in the vicinity of the saint’s monastery, named Paul, came and asked the saint for another person, saying: “He has a serious illness, but you pray for him so that his illness will leave.” The saint not only did not listen to this Paul, but even commanded not to bring that sick man to the monastery. And when the sick man lay outside the monastery, bloody foam flowed from his mouth and nostrils. Seeing this, another man, his relative, loved by the saint, for he often came to him, felt very sorry for this man. And he comes to the saint and tells him about that man, and at the same time asks him to pray for him. The monk answered: “Believe me, child, that this illness did not come to him by chance, but he suffers this way because he committed adultery. If he promises to get rid of sin, I believe God and His Most Pure Mother that he will be healed. If not, he will suffer even worse.” The man went and told Jacob - that was his name - what had been said to the saint. And the man immediately realized his sin and was even more frightened because he heard in the light about what happened in the dark. And when he made a promise, the saint, having compassion, went to the sick man. The man, with tears, began to pray to the saint and from the heart to confess his sins, which were not a secret to the blessed one anyway. Therefore the saint prayed for him. After this, the man recovered from his illness. The saint gave him penance for his sins. And the man gave something to the best of his ability as alms to the saint and the monastery. And the saint commanded the brothers, as much as they could, to pray for him, so that his sin would be forgiven. And that man went away healthy to his home, singing and praising God and His Most Pure Mother and giving great gratitude to Saint Cyril for the fact that thanks to him he received healing not only of physical illnesses, but also of spiritual ones.

Such gifts were given to the saint for his great zeal and love for God, since the Savior said: “Ask and you will receive,” and also: “Without Me you can do nothing.” For He spoke this not only to the disciples, but to all believers. Therefore, Blessed Kirill helped not by some kind of magic, but by calling on Christ and His Most Pure Mother. Cyril's only qualities were prayer and philanthropic condescension to human passions. “For freely,” it is said, “you have received, freely you also give.”

And when blessed Cyril saw that he was exhausted from old age, and various diseases often attacked him, not foreshadowing anything other than the coming of death, he decided to write his last message to the pious Prince Andrei Dmitrievich for the sake of greater affirmation of the common life. For he strongly desired and worried that nothing in the common life would be ruined - both during his life, but much more after his death. For it is said: “When a righteous man dies, he who cares must be left behind.” And he wrote a letter with the following content:

INSTRUCTION OF OUR REVEREND FATHER KIRILL TO THE BROTHERHOOD LIVING IN THE CONVENTION OF THE HOLY VIRGIN, HER GLORIOUS DURATION, IN OTHER WORDS, SPIRITUAL LITERATURE

“In the name of the Holy and Life-Giving Trinity, - the Father, I say, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, by which all things were created, and we too.

I, the sinful and humble abbot Kirill, see that old age has befallen me. I fell into frequent and various illnesses, to which I am still subject, humanely punished by God, as I see now, and I understand that they do not foreshadow anything else for me except death and the Last Judgment of the Savior in the next century. And that is why my heart was troubled because of the terrible outcome, and mortal fear fell upon me. Fear and trembling before the Last Judgment came to me, and the darkness of bewilderment covered me. And I don’t know what to do. But I will, as the prophet says, cast my sorrow on the Lord: let Him do with me as He wants, for He wants all people to be saved and come to the true mind.

With this last scripture I convey the monastery, my work and my brethren to the Lord God Almighty, and His Most Pure Mother, and my spiritual lord son, the pious Prince Andrei Dmitrievich, so that he cares and takes care of the monastery, the house of the Most Pure One.

I bless my spiritual son, Hieromonk Innocent, to take his place as abbot.

Therefore, Mr. Prince Andrey, for the sake of God and His Most Pure Mother, and for the sake of his salvation, and for me, his poor pilgrim, what kind of love have I had so far for the Most Pure Mother of God and for our poverty, during my life, the same after my life If only you had love and faith for the monastery of the Most Pure One and a kind attitude towards my son Innocent and all my brethren who, according to my tradition, will live and obey the abbot.

And whoever, according to my wretched way of life, does not want to live in that monastery and decides to ruin something from the cenobitic rank and disobey the abbot, I bless you, my master and my spiritual son, and with tears I pray: may you not allow this so be it, but drive those who grumble and schismatics, who do not want to obey the abbot and live according to my wretched way of life, away from the monastery, so that the rest of the brethren will have fear.

May the mercy of God and His Most Pure Mother always be with you, and with your pious princess and with your noble children.”

And therefore, the pious Prince Andrei took great care to ensure that not a single word spoken by Saint Cyril remained unfulfilled. For he had great faith and love for the house of the Most Pure Cyril Monastery. Not only did he donate large estates and lakes to that monastery, but, as far as possible, he tried to provide and decorate the Church of the Most Pure One with all sorts of valuables and beauties. And having copied many books, he put them into the church, and filled it with many other good things, so that many of his great gifts can still be seen there.

ABOUT THE DEATH OF SAINT CYRILL

And since, as we said before, blessed Cyril saw that he was weakened from old age, and the end was approaching, he convened all those who were then living in the monastery - and there were fifty-three of them then, who worked with him for the Lord as much as they had the strength - and in front of everyone, he entrusts one of his students, named Innocent, with the management of the monastery and calls him abbot, although he did not want this. And he calls God as a witness that nothing in the monastic order should be violated: as they saw him do, so he commanded them to do everything. He himself decided to indulge in his beloved wisdom of complete silence.

Since, due to great abstinence and standing, his legs could not serve him standing, he fulfilled his rule while sitting, and the prayer never left his lips, especially the Jesus prayer. Although he was weakening in physical strength, he did not abandon anything from the rules of his feat. Weakness did not allow him to go to church, as before, on his own feet, except for cases when he wanted to serve the Divine Liturgy. For he never stopped performing services on holidays, and his disciples supported his weak members with their hands and brought him to church. He remained in such illness, trying not to abandon anything from his rule, for a considerable time, and then his bodily strength left him, and he was ready to go to the Lord. And when the week of Pentecost arrived, in which the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles is celebrated, then, having performed the Divine Liturgy, he partook of the holy mysteries. The next morning on Monday of the same week, in memory of St. Cyril of Alexandria, the strong soul began to weaken in body. All the brothers of that monastery came to him and, seeing that he was weakening and about to depart to the Lord, they grieved, wept and, if it had been possible, from the great zeal and love that they had for him, they would have died with him.

Then some of his disciples said, crying: “Since you, father, are leaving us and going to the Lord, then when you are gone, this place will become impoverished, and many of us will move from this monastery.” The saint said to them: “Do not grieve about this; you will understand more about this: if I receive some boldness before God and His Most Pure Mother, and if my work turns out to be pleasing to God, then not only will this holy place not become scarce, but it will also spread more after my departure. Just have love for each other!”

Hearing this, the brothers could not hold back their sobs. The saint consoled them, saying: “Do not mourn on the day of my repose. The time has come for me to rest in the Lord. I hand you over to God and His Most Pure Mother. May He protect you from all the temptations of the evil one. And let this my son, Innocent, be your abbot instead of me, and treat him as you treat me, and he will fill what you lack.” This and much more, consoling them, he said, and at the same time he was so happy and joyful in his soul, like a man returning from distant foreign countries to his fatherland. And he did not have any sadness, but rather had fun, hoping for the future. He had only one concern and prayed: may nothing be violated from the rules of community life, and may no discord or quarrel arise among the brethren. He took care of the same things even when he was healthy.

And then, when the hour of his departure to the Lord approached, all the brothers came to him and kissed him with tears, asking for the last blessing. And he, like a child-loving father, kissed everyone, showed love to everyone, left everyone his last blessing and asked everyone for forgiveness. And at the very hour when the saint was supposed to free himself from union with the body, he partook of the most pure and life-giving mysteries of Christ our God and peacefully and quietly gave up his most pure, hard-working soul to the Lord with prayer on his lips. And immediately everyone felt a certain fragrance.

The brothers were not ready to do anything out of grief, seeing with pain that they had lost their father. They could not bear the loss of the doctor; they wept for the teacher taken from them; being left without a helmsman, they were at a loss; everything that hurt was with them. Then his face brightened and became much lighter than it was during life, and there was no blackness or darkness on his face, which usually happens to the dead.

Then they placed his sacred relics with honor on the bed and on their heads with appropriate honor and psalmody they brought him to the church, seeing him off as a father.

The above-mentioned servant of his, Auxentius, was then sick in the village with a fever and suffered seriously, and being in a frenzy of mind from that illness, he saw how blessed Cyril came to him, holding a cross in his hand, and another priest, Florus, a great life in God had. And Cyril then marked Auxentius with an honorable cross, and immediately, immediately he received healing and recovered. Waking up and finding himself healthy, the man joyfully ran to Blessed Cyril to tell him how with his appearance he received healing. He didn’t know that the saint had reposed. And when he came to the monastery and saw that the saint had already gone to the Lord and that the disciples were seeing him off with funeral singing, he ran up to his holy relics, kissed them with tears and at the same time told everyone about the miracle - how the saint appeared to him and his healing granted. Thanks to this, the brothers recovered a little from their sadness.

Having completed the funeral chanting with much honor, they very solemnly covered the long-suffering and hardworking body, the vessel of the Holy Spirit, with earth, in the year 6935 (1427), the month of June on the ninth day.

He shepherded the flock entrusted to him well, guiding them to the pastures of life. Such are the exploits of Blessed Cyril, such are his efforts, such are his miracles and gifts, such are his healings.

Blessed Cyril, when he came to that place, was sixty years old, lived in that place for thirty years, and all the years of his life were ninety.

A large number of other miracles occurred during the life of Blessed Cyril, but due to their multitude, and moreover because many years have passed since then, they remained unwritten. This is a record of only a small part, so that the stories about the saint are not completely forgotten.

When this happened, and the flock, having lost its God-bearing father, became orphaned, Innocent became the abbot of that monastery, as Blessed Cyril commanded during his lifetime. And he tried to do everything himself, as he saw his father do. It must be said about Abbot Innocent that it is not so simple, it was not by chance that Blessed Kirill entrusted him with the management of the monastery, but because he knew him as leading a great life from childhood. There is nothing to say about his bodily purity! He remained in obedience to Ignatius, a great man before God, for eleven years, having no will of his own.

After this, after only one year had passed after the repose of Blessed Cyril, when autumn came, the brethren of that monastery, as if in agreement with Blessed Cyril, departed this life to the Lord, numbering more than thirty brethren, according to the prophecy of Blessed Cyril, said to his disciple Christopher: “Believe me , child, that not one of you will leave this life before me. After my death, many of you will come after me,” and that came true. The last of all those brethren to go to the Lord was Abbot Innocent.

After the repose of Abbot Innocent, the aforementioned Christopher took his place as Abbot of that monastery. This Christopher wrote many books for the holy monastery with his own hand. And he was not at all elevated in thought because he had become the abbot of such a monastery, but still remained in decorum and humility, observing the wisdom of his life, trying not to leave anything that he saw Kirill doing unfulfilled in practice. He fell in love with the poverty of his clothes so much that among the elders it was impossible to recognize that he was an abbot.

And since, by God’s permission, internecine battles also broke out, hegumen Christopher, having ransomed many of the prisoners, returned them back to their places.

One day Prince Georgy Dmitrievich sent him to come to him and he would see him. “I must,” he said, “tell you spiritual words.” And he answered: “It has never happened that I left the monastery, and therefore I cannot disrupt the monastic order.” Prince George sent him a second and a third time, asking him to come, but he remained adamant. Seeing that he would not come, Prince George was surprised at his strength and therefore released all the prisoners he had taken captive and, in addition, gave large alms to the monastery.

And since from time immemorial it was customary for those who glorify God to glorify Him not only during life, but also after his repose, God does not stop glorifying His saint Cyril with miracles even after his repose, as was the case during his life.

THE MIRACLE OF OUR REVEREND FATHER KIRILL

They brought a certain man, Theodore by name, cruelly tormented by a demon, to the monastery of Blessed Cyril. This Theodore was a man of a certain ruler named Vasily, who, due to his many torments, constantly seeing at home how this Theodore was being crushed by a demon, sent him away from his home. And he suffered like this, tormented by a demon, for eleven years. And when they brought him to the tomb of Blessed Cyril, he immediately received healing and recovered with the help of our Lady Theotokos through the prayers of St. Cyril.

And that Theodore received from the abbot a commandment never to eat meat. But it happened that Theodore, together with other people, was mowing hay, and when everyone began to eat meat, that Theodore also began to eat meat, forgetting the commandment given to him never to eat meat. And when this happened, when he ate the meat, the demon attacked him again and began to torment him worse than before. But then he came to his senses and, realizing his sin, realized that he was enduring this by breaking the commandment given to him. And again he ran to the monastery of Blessed Cyril to the miraculous tomb and with tears asked for forgiveness, which he received by the grace of Christ and the prayers of St. Cyril. And after that, for many years he served in that monastery in every possible way, and I saw him there.

ANOTHER MIRACLE

This happened before the repose of Blessed Cyril. A certain boyar named Daniil Andreevich had great faith in the Most Pure Mother of God and in Blessed Kirill. This Daniel wanted to transfer the village to the monastery of the Most Pure One after his death. And a certain brother of that monastery, named Theodosius, came and told the saint: “Daniil Andreevich, upon his repose, will transfer the village to our monastery, and, if you want, let’s go and see what is in that village.” The saint did not want to accept the village and said: “I do not need villages during my lifetime. But after I leave you, do as you wish.” The brother, as if reproached by the saint, was offended by the blessed one because he did not listen to him and did not want to accept the village.

After the repose of Blessed Cyril, the above-mentioned brother of Theodosia saw from the miracles taking place at the tomb of the saint that even after his repose God glorified him so much. And it occurred to him that he had insulted Blessed Cyril by arguing with him over the village. And for many days he grieved over this and crushed himself with sadness. Some time later, when Theodosius was in troubled thoughts, Blessed Cyril appeared in a vision to one of his disciples, named Martinian, and said to him: “Tell brother Theodosius, don’t let him be sad and don’t bother me, because I don’t have any resentment towards him." The said Martinian related his vision to that aforementioned brother Theodosius. Theodosius seemed to have received forgiveness and was comforted and sent glory to God, who does glorious things through His holy saint Cyril. After this, they brought a certain noblewoman, Theodosia by name, tormented by a demon, to the blessed monastery, and asked Abbot Christopher to pray for her with the brethren. The abbot prayed as best he could, and in addition ordered the priest to read the Gospel over her head. And then little by little the demon came out of her, and she was freed from the unclean demon and returned to her home healthy, praising and thanking God, His Most Pure Mother and Saint Cyril.

Over time, Abbot Christopher passed away, holding the abbotship of that monastery for six years. He did not stop doing anything that he saw Blessed Kirill do. He did not enjoy any sweetness other than the brethren, nor did he allow himself to be possessed by any addiction, but so, in all possible abstinence and good confession, he gave up his spirit to the Lord. And in his place stood the abbot of that monastery named Tryphon, who, because of his virtue, later became the archbishop of the city of Rostov, a prudent man in both monastic and worldly affairs. And he tried in every possible way, as best he could, so that nothing in the general life and monastic custom would be ruined or damaged in any way. Since the brotherhood was considerable, and the church was small, and also dilapidated - Cyril himself erected it, Abbot Tryphon and the brethren thought about erecting another church instead of the larger one with the help of God and His Most Pure Mother, supported by the prayer of St. Cyril.

And then, by the way, a nobleman named Zacharias came to the monastery of the Most Pure Cyril’s Fence. And having seen their great life for God, he received great benefit and thought himself, if possible, to put on monastic robes in that monastery. But this did not happen. Then, as if taught by God, he gave a lot of silver to the abbot and the brethren to create a church. Having accepted this, the abbot hastened with the church construction that had been desired by him for so long, and by God’s haste a large church was founded. And since such a business began, many workers were needed, which were collected, and the business began to boil.

But there was a great famine among the people living in the vicinity of the monastery, and many, due to hunger, began to come to the monastery for bread. And all those who came, each of them, having had their fill, left. For they gave to everyone who asked, especially to the poorest. The cellarer of that monastery, seeing that many people had gathered to build the church, and in addition many others who, due to hunger, came to the monastery for bread, thought out of lack of faith that there might not be enough food for such a multitude. And therefore, from that time on, he began to give less bread to those coming to the monastery due to hunger. Then the flour in the flour mill decreased significantly and there was a shortage. And when they gave abundantly to all who asked, then it was again filled with flour. Having seen such a miracle, the bread workers of that monastery, who took flour with their own hands, saw that when they gave more to those who came because of hunger, then more flour became available and was in abundance, and when they stopped giving bread to the poor, then it began to flow beyond all measure. there will be a lack of flour,” they announced this to some of the great elders of that monastery. Having heard about this, they were surprised and reported this to the abbot. And the abbot commanded to give and feed everyone who asked. And when they began to do this, the flour multiplied and was in abundance. There were then about six hundred souls or more who ate bread in that monastery every day. And this is how it happened until the new bread.

Meanwhile, with God's help, the beautiful church was erected to the glory and praise of the true Mother of our God, in honor of her glorious Dormition. Then it was decorated with icons and other beauties befitting a church, as it is to this day. If not by word, then by her decoration she preaches more, showing her splendor to all who see. We can say: “Your holy churches are truly amazing.”

Then, after this, a refectory was set up, large and beautiful. At the same time, they tried to expand the monastery further. Previously, under Blessed Kirill, he occupied a small place, because there were few brethren then. When God wanted to glorify His saint with great gifts and miracles, then the brotherhood increased significantly. Because of this, more space was required for the monastery buildings, about which we can say: “The old was gone, and everything was new,” with the exception of the customs and regulations established by Blessed Cyril, the rules of common life, which to this day are preserved unshakably through prayers and strengthening the God-bearing father.

After some time, the son of a priest named Ivan, cruelly tormented by an evil demon, was bound hand and foot. And this Ivan was so furious and cruelly tormented that they blindfolded him in order to forcefully and laboriously bring him to the monastery. His eyes were bloody and frightened everyone, and he made obscene sounds: he either growled like an animal, or sang like a rooster, terribly and frighteningly. And therefore he presented an absurd and terrifying sight. He beat everyone, cursing everyone. But there is a lot to say: he even spoke blasphemy against God himself - it was not he himself who spoke, but the demon who lived in him spoke through his lips. The abbot and his brethren extended prayers to God and called upon Saint Cyril to pray for the suffering. Therefore, by the grace of Christ, with the help of our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary and the prayers of Blessed Kirill, the illness of that man gradually left, and he became meek and came to his senses and became healthy as before. And he went to his home, glorifying and thanking God and His saint Cyril.

ANOTHER MIRACLE OF THE SAINT

After this they brought in another man named Simeon. And he was tormented by a demon. Like the aforementioned Ivan, he was bound hand and foot with iron bonds. Already as a villain, they led him around and beat him to keep him quiet, but the more they beat him, the more furious he became. Then they tied him to the boundary, hoping for the help of St. Cyril. And he stayed there for a week, neither eating nor drinking, and thus tormented and suffering. Then, by the grace of Christ and the prayers of Blessed Kirill, the demon left him, and he became healthy and meaningful. He went home, rejoicing, and throughout his entire life the demon could not do any harm to him.

ANOTHER MIRACLE

A certain noblewoman, one of the glorious boyars, named Ksenia, came to bow to the tomb of Blessed Kirill. Many people came with her. And one of the women who served her, the nurse of her son, had one blind eye, and she did not see anything with that eye for six years, because, she says, she had a thorn all over her eye. Arriving at the monastery, a woman who had a blind eye, secretly from everyone, went to the tomb after matins, where the tomb of St. Cyril is located, and began to pray with tears. And after some time in prayer, she suddenly heard something like strong thunder coming from the tomb of Blessed Kirill, and it seemed to her that it passed through her ears and touched her blind eye. And out of fear and thunder she fell to the ground as if dead, and lay for a long time, shocked by what had happened. And with her hand she touched the blind eye, and, covering her good eye with her hand, checked whether she could see anything with the blind eye. And seeing herself that God had mercy on her through the prayers of St. Cyril, she was delighted. And since the saint’s glorious miracle was not hidden, but widely revealed, everyone gave praise to God and His Most Pure Mother. The noblewoman Ksenia, having fed the brethren and given a lot of alms, returned to her home, glorifying and praising God and blessed Cyril.

ANOTHER MIRACLE OF THE SAINT

They brought to the monastery a certain holy man named Constantine, who was very seriously ill. And there, weakening from illness and approaching death, he confessed his sins to the abbot, and the abbot then communed him with the holy mysteries. With the onset of night, one of the elders of that monastery saw a luminous man walking towards the cell where that Constantine lay. And a little behind him he saw some very strange-looking people walking behind the man who had passed in front. When they entered where the sick Konstantin lay, they began to argue with the man who had come before, saying: “You came without anything here. After all, he is ours and he obeyed us.” And the other said: “He came running to us.” And while they were arguing like this, that brother saw that the abbot of this monastery and the brethren had come and were arguing about Constantine. And then he sees that Blessed Cyril has come and says to the brethren: “Tell him that if he dies here and is buried, then he will be the Most Pure One and ours. If he leaves, then he is not ours.”

When the day came, the brother who had seen the vision told the abbot and the brethren about the vision he had seen. Everyone knew that that Constantine led an evil life. On the same day, Constantine reposed and was buried in that monastery. Then everyone who heard this story glorified God, His Most Pure Mother and St. Cyril.

ANOTHER MIRACLE

The son of a certain boyar Peter, named Vasily, found himself in the power of a demon and therefore went crazy. And in many monstrous and terrible visions, demons appeared to him and threatened him with death. He came to the monastery of Blessed Cyril and stayed at the saint’s tomb, and when night fell, he also went to the refectory, hoping there to receive some relief from his suffering. But there, too, he suffered many troubles from demons: in many different terrible visions they appeared to him. And suffering heavily from them, he sank as if into a light sleep and, as if alive, he saw blessed Cyril, who came in bright robes. And just by the sight of the saint, the demons immediately disappeared. Vasily got up after the vision and realized that he was healthy, as if he had not been sick at all, and was happy. And since then he became healthy and meaningful, as before. And he left from there to his home, expressing gratitude to God and His saint, Blessed Kirill.

ANOTHER MIRACLE OF ST. CYRILL

A certain prince named Davyd Semenovich fell into a serious illness and could not move at all, for all the members of his body were weakened. And, suffering so much and despairing of staying alive, he ordered himself to be carried to the monastery of the Most Pure One to pray there. And when they brought him close to the monastery - four people carried him on a bed, and they were in front of the gates of the monastery - he ordered to put himself there. And he began to pray with tears and after prayer he felt some relief from his illness. Standing on his own feet, supported by two people, he prayed while in church. Also, having come to the tomb of the God-bearing Father Cyril, he prayed for a long time with tears that the saint would ease his illness. And he stayed there in the monastery for a day, praying. And with the coming of night, as if going into a frenzy, he saw Blessed Cyril in the church with other priests in vestments, standing and holding a cross in his hands. “And when I saw the saint,” he said, “I began to pray to him in tears: ‘Deliver me from the illness that overcomes me!’” The saint marked him with an honest cross, which he held in his hand, and said: “Do not grieve anymore, for I will pray to God and His Most Pure Mother that you will recover. But do not forget your vow that you made." Waking up from the vision, Prince David felt that his illness had left him, and, having received relief, he rejoiced. The next morning he stood on his feet and went to church healthy thanks to the prayers and the appearance of Blessed Cyril.

And he began to tell everyone about the appearance of the saint and how he received healing with his appearance, presenting as evidence obvious to everyone the health that had returned to him thanks to the appearance of the saint. The abbot and the brethren, having heard about the visit of blessed Cyril to him, and even more so seeing him walking healthy, all glorified God, His Most Pure Mother and the wonderworker Cyril. Prince Davyd, having fed the brethren and given alms, went home healthy. After this healing, he gained great faith in the Monastery of the Most Pure One and in the wonderworker Cyril.

MIRACLE OF ST. CYRILL

After this it happened that the princess, the wife of the pious Prince Mikhail Andreevich, a relative of the Grand Duke, Elena by name, also pious, had pain in her legs. This illness lasted for a considerable time, and she suffered from the disease, and the pious Prince Mikhail decided to go to his fatherland, Beloozero, and there to venerate the Most Pure Mother of God and the miraculous tomb of Cyril. When this began to happen, and Prince Mikhail and the princess were going to Beloozero, and were still far away, at a great distance from the monastery, a certain elder in the monastery of St. Cyril saw a vision at night. Not entirely in a dream, but not even awake, he saw himself at the tomb of Blessed Cyril, which coffin suddenly opened by itself, and the saint came out of there as if alive. And, sitting on his tomb, the blessed one said to the elder, who was honored to see the vision: “Since, child, difficult guests must come in great sorrow, we need to pray for them, so that the Lord will deliver them from this misfortune: they are our breadwinners.” And having said this, the elder sat for a while and again lay down in his coffin, and the coffin closed on its own over him.

The old man woke up from the vision and, coming to his senses, was surprised. When morning came, he reported the vision to one spiritual brother, for he saw the saint not as simply as one sees in a dream, but as if alive and as if in reality. After five days had passed, the pious Princess Elena came, and after that the pious Prince Michael himself came to the Monastery of the Most Pure One and stayed at the wonderful tomb, praying for a long time.

ANOTHER MIRACLE OF ST. CYRILL

When this was happening, they brought in a certain man whose house was near the monastery. That man was cruelly tormented by a demon. Tied hand and foot with bonds and barely held by many people, he made strange and terrible sounds, like cattle, barked, rushed at people like a beast, and presented an unsightly sight to everyone. And since they beat him like a villain to keep him quiet, the more they beat him to keep him quiet, the more he, falling into a frenzy, screamed, crying out in an evil voice, so that everyone was seized with horror. Then, with God's help, he began to calm down, become meek, and soon stopped raging and became healthy and meaningful, as before.

Then they asked him why he screamed so much then, and he said: “Since you beat me to keep me quiet, they beat me even more, telling me to shout. But I didn’t know which of you to listen to, for both of them beat me mercilessly, and that’s why I screamed.” Seeing this miracle, everyone glorified God, His Most Pure Mother and Blessed Cyril, saying: “Truly God is wonderful in His saints!”

After this, soon the pious Princess Mikhailova Elena received relief from her illness and became healthy. Seeing this glorious miracle, the pious Prince Michael glorified God, His Most Pure Mother and the Reverend Father Cyril. And having generously treated the brethren and given large alms to the monastery, he left from there to his home.

But after some time, Prince Mikhail began to get sick. And, being ill - and, as we have already said, he had great faith in the Monastery of the Most Pure, the Monastery of St. Cyril - he sent a request to the abbot of that monastery, Cassian, in the name of him, so that he would pray for him. They sent him blessed water. The pious Prince Michael accepted with great faith the water brought from the monastery of Blessed Cyril, and by the grace of Christ and His Most Pure Mother, from just tasting that water he received healing and, having become healthy, thanked God and His saint Cyril.

And one day, when some time had passed, the princess of the pious Prince Michael, being idle and having a child in her womb, realized that before the day established by God, six weeks before birth, the child in her womb died. And when the time came for birth, the dead child could not leave the mother’s womb, and therefore the princess was in serious illness, not knowing what to do, and already despaired of staying alive and did not expect anything else but death. The pious Prince Mikhail, seeing that his wife was suffering so much, was overwhelmed with sadness, but could not do anything and only prayed to God. God wants all people to be saved and come to the true mind. It dawned on the mind of Prince Mikhail, and he remembered the blessed water brought from the monastery of Blessed Kirill, thanks to which God had mercy on him, and he ordered to bring the rest of this water. And he orders the princess to anoint her painful belly with blessed water. And when they did this, it suddenly seemed that the child was alive in the mother’s womb. And then a stillborn child was born, and the princess unexpectedly got rid of the disease and, instead of dying, was honored to live and became healthy, praising and blessing God. Likewise, the pious Prince Michael rejoiced over the health of his wife, seeing that God had mercy on her. Now seeing the one whom not long before he thought would move into the tomb, alive and well, he rejoiced, giving praise and majesty to God, the Most Pure Mother of God and the blessed Father Cyril with all his people.

Therefore, the pious Prince Mikhail acquired great faith in the Cyril Monastery of the Most Pure Mother of God and transferred many villages and lakes to that monastery. Not only then, but always, incessantly, he gave a lot of property, being likened in everything to his father, the noble Prince Andrei Dmitrievich, for that pious Prince Andrei gave and gave a lot to the monastery of the Most Pure Cyril Monastery. And if you undertake to look for it, then everywhere you will find his memorable donations, which are still known to everyone and remain in the eternal, endless memory of him to all generations.

MIRACLE OF ST. CYRILL

Let no one remain silent about the miracle of Blessed Cyril, which happened shortly before. The son of a certain merchant John named Ivan was envied by a demon, and he went crazy and made terrible and absurd sounds. And there’s not much to say: in general, he was devoid of any human meaning. His father John, when he saw that his son, by God’s permission and the slander of this successful demon, had changed good for worse, sent him to Beloozero to the monastery where blessed Cyril lies. And when he found himself there, he began to rage in the same way and say some absurd and vile words not only about people, but also about God Himself and His saints.

And while this was happening, he was often brought to the tomb of the Wonderworker, and he himself approached, and the abbot and the brethren prayed for him. And with difficulty, after many days, he was able to come to his senses, received healing and became healthy and meaningful, as before, by the grace of our true Lord Jesus Christ and the help of our Lady Theotokos and the prayers of Holy Father Cyril. And he went home healthy, giving thanks to God and the saint. Therefore, his father, his mother, and many other people, seeing him whom they had previously seen so suffering and losing his mind, and then healthy and thinking correctly, all unanimously glorified the greatness of God and the blessed Father Cyril.

Many other extraordinary miracles of Blessed Cyril happened and are happening to this day - not only while he was in this temporary life, but also after his death - some explicitly, others implicitly. God knows both of them, but they were not written down because of their multitude. Only this certain small part of the life of the blessed one was written down, so that everyone could see and believe that our Lord Jesus Christ glorifies those who glorify Him and makes those who want to hide their good deeds here known and glorified everywhere for their virtue. Blessed Cyril lived only in the desert, and the glory of his virtue flew everywhere, as if on light wings, for “it is impossible for a city standing on the top of a mountain to hide.”

Such was Cyril’s desire for correction, such was the blessed father’s rejection of the world and what was in the world. Such is the life of those who seek the God of Jacob, such is the feat of those wishing to be saved. For what is more honorable than what he acquired in this life? I will name first of all love for God, then physical purity with which everyone sees the Lord, poverty of clothing, immeasurable simplicity, unfeigned love for everyone, fasting, prayer, abstinence, vigil, faith without doubt, incessant tears, contrition of heart and humility, for the sake of which it is said: “God will not despise a contrite and humble heart.”

In addition to these, many other extraordinary miracles took place: casting out evil demons, deliverance from various ailments, blind eyes of sight; for those deprived of reason, the saint is a giver of common sense with God, a quiet exhorter of those who resist, a teacher of non-covetousness, a perfecter of common life. And he was in every possible way, according to the Apostle, so that he might gain everyone, may he save everyone, may he lead everyone to God, may he boldly say to his Master: “Here am I and the children whom You have given me.” For he, like a father, loved everyone, cared for everyone, took care of everything useful and pitied everyone as if he were his own members, bandaged everyone’s spiritual scabs, healed everyone’s bodily ailments, cleansed everyone from the pus of malice, applying a plaster of love to everyone’s wounds , anointing everyone with the oil of pardon. There was no mourner or insulted person then. If someone turned out to be cowardly or lazy, then he corrected him and set an example. To those who were angry with him in vain, he was friendly, and if someone argued with him, he, with long-suffering and silence, attracted him to love, and from this one could find out Whose disciple he was and Whom he imitated, it is clear that - He said: “Be merciful, as your heavenly Father is generous,” so that they understand on whom the eyes of the Lord look: “Only to the meek and humble and trembling at My words.” These are the Lord's words, not mine.

The worst of monks, not relying on my own reason or skill, I dared to do something beyond my strength - to write something about the blessed one, knowing my rudeness and foolishness. Only since I received a command from the Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich, the autocrat, and Theodosius, the Metropolitan of All Rus', and was forced by the rector of that monastery and all the brethren in Christ, and also by a strong desire and love for the saint, something, a little of it life, I wrote, without any wisdom of my own, but - as much as I heard from those who told me the truth, I wrote only as much as was necessary so that the life of such a great man would not be completely forgotten, and the miracles that God for his sake would not be drowned in the depths by negligence created and does not stop creating even to this day.

The miracles of the saints are similar to some water springs that come from the earth and water the earth: in the same way, the powers emanating from the holy bodies with God’s help heal the bodily ailments of people. The source, when flowing out, not only does not diminish, but the more one draws from it, the more arrives in it and replenishes its measure, and no decrease occurs in its flow. Likewise, the healings given to everyone by the saints never fail because the faithful are healed by them. But doctors often, when giving their medicinal drugs, demand in return something that is not there. The saint is not like that: he only requires faith, without which everything is useless, which is what we teach: “Your faith has saved you,” and also: “According to your faith it will be done for you.” For faith saves everyone and delivers everyone. Without faith, even great work is fruitless.

O all-honorable father, desert dweller on earth, heavenly citizen, cohabitant of the saints, brother of the righteous, high in humility, rich in poverty, feeder of the poor, merciful consolation of the sorrowing, guide of the blind, joy of the weeping, helper of the offended, doctor of the weak, refuge for the sin-burdened and quick intercessor of all, You know our weakness, you also know how the evil one attacks us. We need your help and intercession, we need your prayers and petitions to God. We fall down and pray to you, and we never cease to pray: pray for the preservation of your flock, which you have collected through many labors, for the people whom you have loved with all your heart, for whom you have worked a lot in this life to deliver them from the net of the catching demons who are looking for our destruction, and from wicked people. You know the machinations of the evil one against us, you know our laziness and despondency, you know how our nature easily slips and quickly rushes towards evil. Therefore, we pray to you: just as when you were with us in this life, you cared a lot about us, seeking what was useful for us, so now give everyone what they ask for salvation and eternal life. Help our pious princes to fight their enemies, so that we too can live a quiet and peaceful life in their silence. And save and keep all those who come to the most pure temple today and honor your glorious Dormition unharmed from all enemy attacks. Ease illnesses, calm the waves, stop sorrows and have mercy on us all. Come and become invisible among us and accept our prayers sent to God through you and convey them to the Creator and our God, so that we may receive forgiveness of our sins on the Day of Judgment and be granted eternal blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory, dominion, honor and worship with His beginningless Father and His Most Holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

More than a hundred years before the baptism of Rus', almost at the same time as the founding of the Russian state, a great thing happened in the history of the Christian church - for the first time the word of God was heard in churches in the Slavic language.

In the city of Thessaloniki (now Thessaloniki), in Macedonia, inhabited mostly by Slavs, lived a noble Greek dignitary named Leo. Of his seven sons, two, Methodius and Constantine (Cyril in monasticism), had the lot to accomplish a great feat for the benefit of the Slavs. The youngest of the brothers, Konstantin, already from childhood amazed everyone with his brilliant abilities and passion for learning. He received a good education at home, and then completed his education in Byzantium under the guidance of the best teachers. Here the passion for science developed in him with full force, and he assimilated all the bookish wisdom available to him... Fame, honors, riches - all sorts of worldly blessings awaited the gifted young man, but he did not succumb to any temptations - he preferred the modest title of priest and the position of librarian to all the temptations of the world at Church of Hagia Sophia, where he could continue his favorite activities - study the sacred books, delve into their spirit. His deep knowledge and abilities earned him the high academic title of philosopher.

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Brothers Cyril and Methodius. Ancient fresco in the Cathedral of St. Sofia, Ohrid (Bulgaria). OK. 1045

His elder brother, Methodius, first took a different path - he entered military service and for several years was the ruler of a region inhabited by Slavs; but worldly life did not satisfy him, and he became a monk at the monastery on Mount Olympus. The brothers did not have to calm down, however, one in peaceful book studies, and the other in a quiet monastic cell. Constantine more than once had to take part in disputes on issues of faith, defending it with the power of his mind and knowledge; then he and his brother, at the request of the king, had to go to the land Khazars, preach the faith of Christ and defend it against Jews and Muslims. Upon returning from there, Methodius baptized Bulgarian Prince Boris and Bulgarians.

Probably, even earlier than this, the brothers decided to translate sacred and liturgical books for the Macedonian Slavs into their language, with which they could have become quite comfortable since childhood, in their native city.

To do this, Konstantin compiled the Slavic alphabet (alphabet) - he took all 24 Greek letters, and since there are more sounds in the Slavic language than in Greek, he added the missing letters from the Armenian, Hebrew and other alphabets; I came up with some myself. All the letters in the first Slavic alphabet totaled 38. More important than the invention of the alphabet was the translation of the most important sacred and liturgical books: translating from such a language rich in words and phrases as Greek into the language of the completely uneducated Macedonian Slavs was a very difficult task. It was necessary to come up with suitable phrases, create new words in order to convey concepts new to the Slavs... All this required not only a thorough knowledge of the language, but also great talent.

The work of translation was not yet completed when, at the request of the Moravian prince Rostislav Constantine and Methodius were to go to Moravia. There and in neighboring Pannonia, Latin (Catholic) preachers from Southern Germany had already begun to spread Christian teaching, but things went very slowly, since the services were performed in Latin, which was completely incomprehensible to the people. Western clergy, subordinate to the Pope, held a strange prejudice: that worship can only be performed in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, because the inscription on the Cross of the Lord was in these three languages; the eastern clergy accepted the word of God in all languages. That is why the Moravian prince, caring about the true enlightenment of his people with the teachings of Christ, turned to the Byzantine emperor Mikhail with a request to send knowledgeable people to Moravia who would teach the people the faith in an understandable language.

The Tale of Bygone Years. Issue 6. Enlightenment of the Slavs. Cyril and Methodius. Video

The emperor entrusted this important matter to Constantine and Methodius. They arrived in Moravia and zealously set to work: they built churches, began to perform divine services in the Slavic language, started and taught searching. Christianity, not only in appearance, but in spirit, began to quickly spread among the people. This aroused strong enmity in the Latin clergy: slander, denunciations, complaints - everything was used in order to destroy the cause of the Slavic apostles. They were even forced to go to Rome to justify themselves to the pope himself. The Pope carefully examined the case, completely acquitted them and blessed their labors. Constantine, exhausted by work and struggle, no longer went to Moravia, but became a monk under the name of Cyril; he soon died (February 14, 868) and was buried in Rome.

All the thoughts, all the concerns of Saint Cyril before his death were about his great work.

“We, brother,” he said to Methodius, “drew the same furrow with you, and now I am falling, ending my days.” You love our native Olympus (monastery) too much, but for its sake, see, do not leave our service - with it you can quickly be saved.

The Pope elevated Methodius to the rank of Bishop of Moravia; but at that time severe unrest and strife began there. Prince Rostislav was expelled by his nephew Svyatopolkom.

The Latin clergy strained all its forces against Methodius; but despite everything - slander, insults and persecution - he continued his holy work, enlightening the Slavs with the faith of Christ in a language and alphabet they understood, with book teaching.

Around 871, he baptized Borivoj, Prince of the Czech Republic, and established Slavic worship here too.

After his death, the Latin clergy managed to oust Slavic worship from the Czech Republic and Moravia. The disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius were expelled from here, fled to Bulgaria and here they continued the holy feat of the first teachers of the Slavs - they translated church and instructive books from Greek, the works of the “church fathers”... The book wealth grew and grew and our ancestors inherited a great heritage.

The creators of the Slavic alphabet are Cyril and Methodius. Bulgarian icon 1848

Church Slavonic writing especially flourished in Bulgaria under the Tsar Simeone, at the beginning of the 10th century: many books were translated, not only necessary for worship, but also the works of various church writers and preachers.

At first, ready-made church books came to us from Bulgaria, and then, when literate people appeared among the Russians, the books began to be copied here, and then translated. Thus, along with Christianity, literacy appeared in Rus'.

The holy Equal-to-the-Apostles first teachers and Slavic educators, the brothers Cyril and Methodius, came from a noble and pious family that lived in the Greek city of Thessaloniki.

Saint Methodius was the eldest of seven brothers, Saint Constantine (Cyril was his monastic name) the youngest. While in military service, Saint Methodius ruled in one of the Slavic principalities subordinate to the Byzantine Empire, apparently in Bulgarian, which gave him the opportunity to learn the Slavic language. Having lived there for about 10 years, Saint Methodius then became a monk in one of the monasteries on Mount Olympus.

From an early age, Saint Constantine was distinguished by great abilities and studied together with the young Emperor Michael from the best teachers of Constantinople, including Photius, the future Patriarch of Constantinople. Saint Constantine perfectly comprehended all the sciences of his time and many languages; he especially diligently studied the works of Saint Gregory the Theologian, and for his intelligence and outstanding knowledge Saint Constantine received the nickname Philosopher (wise). At the end of his studies, Saint Constantine accepted the rank of priest and was appointed custodian of the Patriarchal Library at the Church of Saint Sophia, but soon left the capital and secretly entered a monastery. Found there and returned to Constantinople, he was appointed teacher of philosophy at the higher school of Constantinople. The wisdom and strength of faith of the still very young Constantine were so great that he managed to defeat the leader of the iconoclast heretics, Annius, in a debate. After this victory, Constantine was sent by the emperor to debate about the Holy Trinity with the Saracens (Muslims) and also won. Having returned, Saint Constantine retired to his brother, Saint Methodius on Olympus, spending time in unceasing prayer and reading the works of the holy fathers.

Soon the emperor summoned both holy brothers from the monastery and sent them to the Khazars to preach the gospel. On the way, they stopped for some time in the city of Korsun, preparing for the sermon. There the holy brothers miraculously found the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome (November 25). There, in Korsun, Saint Constantine found the Gospel and the Psalter, written in “Russian letters,” and a man speaking Russian, and began to learn from this man to read and speak his language. After this, the holy brothers went to the Khazars, where they won the debate with Jews and Muslims, preaching the Gospel teaching. On the way home, the brothers again visited Korsun and, taking the relics of Saint Clement there, returned to Constantinople. Saint Constantine remained in the capital, and Saint Methodius received the abbess in the small monastery of Polychron, not far from Mount Olympus, where he had previously labored.

Soon, ambassadors from the Moravian prince Rostislav, oppressed by the German bishops, came to the emperor with a request to send teachers to Moravia who could preach in the native language of the Slavs. The emperor called Saint Constantine and told him: “You need to go there, because no one will do this better than you.” Saint Constantine, with fasting and prayer, began a new feat. With the help of his brother Saint Methodius and the disciples Gorazd, Clement, Savva, Naum and Angelar, he compiled the Slavic alphabet and translated into Slavic the books without which the Divine service could not be performed: the Gospel, the Apostle, the Psalter and selected services. This was in 863.

After completing the translation, the holy brothers went to Moravia, where they were received with great honor, and began to teach Divine services in the Slavic language. This aroused the anger of the German bishops, who performed divine services in Latin in the Moravian churches, and they rebelled against the holy brothers, arguing that divine services could only be performed in one of three languages: Hebrew, Greek or Latin. Saint Constantine answered them: “You recognize only three languages ​​worthy of glorifying God in them. But David cries: Sing to the Lord, all the earth, praise the Lord, all nations, let every breath praise the Lord! And in the Holy Gospel it is said: Go and learn all languages...” The German bishops were disgraced, but became even more embittered and filed a complaint to Rome. The holy brothers were called to Rome to resolve this issue. Taking with them the relics of Saint Clement, Pope of Rome, Saints Constantine and Methodius went to Rome. Having learned that the holy brothers were carrying special holy relics, Pope Adrian and the clergy went out to meet them. The holy brothers were greeted with honor, the Pope approved worship in the Slavic language, and ordered the books translated by the brothers to be placed in Roman churches and the liturgy to be performed in the Slavic language.

While in Rome, Saint Constantine fell ill and, informed by the Lord in a miraculous vision of his approaching death, he took the schema with the name Cyril. 50 days after accepting the schema, on February 14, 869, Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril died at the age of 42. Going to God, Saint Cyril commanded his brother Saint Methodius to continue their common cause - the enlightenment of the Slavic peoples with the light of the true faith. Saint Methodius begged the Pope to allow his brother's body to be taken away for burial in his native land, but the Pope ordered the relics of Saint Cyril to be placed in the church of Saint Clement, where miracles began to be performed from them.

After the death of Saint Cyril, the pope, following the request of the Slavic prince Kocel, sent Saint Methodius to Pannonia, ordaining him archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia, to the ancient throne of Saint Andronicus the Apostle. In Pannonia, Saint Methodius, together with his disciples, continued to spread divine services, writing and books in the Slavic language. This again angered the German bishops. They achieved the arrest and trial of Saint Methodius, who was exiled to prison in Swabia, where he endured much suffering for two and a half years. Released by order of Pope John VIII and restored to his rights as an archbishop, Methodius continued preaching the gospel among the Slavs and baptized the Czech prince Borivoj and his wife Lyudmila (September 16), as well as one of the Polish princes. For the third time, German bishops launched a persecution against the saint for not accepting the Roman teaching about the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and from the Son. Saint Methodius was summoned to Rome, but justified himself before the pope, preserving the purity of the Orthodox teaching, and was again returned to the capital of Moravia - Velehrad.

Here, in the last years of his life, Saint Methodius, with the help of two disciple-priests, translated the entire Old Testament into Slavic, except for the Maccabean books, as well as the Nomocanon (Rules of the Holy Fathers) and the patristic books (Paterikon).

Anticipating the approach of his death, Saint Methodius pointed to one of his disciples, Gorazd, as a worthy successor. The saint predicted the day of his death and died on April 6, 885 at the age of about 60 years. The funeral service for the saint was performed in three languages ​​- Slavic, Greek and Latin; he was buried in the cathedral church of Velehrad.

Having served in the rank of governor for about 10 years and having experienced the vanity of everyday life, Methodius began to dispose his will to renounce everything earthly and direct his thoughts to the heavenly. Moreover, at this time, the iconoclast Tsar Theophilus initiated a persecution of holy icons. This persecution even more revealed the vanity of worldly life to Methodius, and he, leaving the voivodeship and all the pleasures of the world, became a monk on Mount Olympus, where with great obedience and humility he tried to fulfill his monastic vows, while studying the sacred books.

Blessed Constantine, the youngest of the sons of Leo, already in infancy showed something marvelous. When his mother, upon birth, gave him to a nurse so that she could feed him, he did not want to feed on someone else's milk, but only on his mother's milk. Obviously, a godly industry was not supposed to feed on other people's milk. With the birth of Konstantin, the good parents made a promise to live as brother and sister, as they lived for 14 years before their death. Before her husband's death, Mary cried, saying:

– I don’t grieve for anything as much as for Konstantin: how will he manage in life?

“Believe me, wife,” answered Leo, “I hope in God that the Lord God will make him such a father and builder that he will build all Christians.”

And so it happened.

When he was seven years old, Konstantin had a dream, which he told his parents.

“I dreamed,” said Konstantin, “that the governor gathered all the girls of the city and told me: choose one of them as your bride. I examined and chose the most beautiful of them, with a fair face and decorated with many golden things and expensive stones, named Sophia.”

The parents understood that the Lord was giving the maiden Sophia to the boy, i.e. the wisdom of God, rejoiced in spirit and diligently began to teach Constantine not only book reading, but also godly good behavior - spiritual wisdom.

“Son,” they said to Constantine in the words of Solomon, “ honor the Lord and be strong; keep the commandments and you will live; write the words of God on the tablet of your heart: “Say to wisdom: you are my sister! And call reason your native"(). Wisdom shines brighter than the sun, and if you have it as your assistant, it will save you from much evil.”

Parents sent Konstantin to book education. He was distinguished by a good memory and intelligence, so that he was better than all his peers in learning. The following incident happened to him:

As the son of wealthy parents, Konstantin once went falconry with his comrades. As soon as Konstantin released his falcon, a strong wind arose, which carried the falcon to an unknown location. Konstantin was so sad about the falcon that he did not eat anything for two days, not even bread. The humane Lord, not wanting the young man to be so sad about everyday things, caught him with this falcon, as Placis once did with a deer. Reflecting on the joys of this life, Saint Constantine said: “What is this life like, that joy certainly causes sadness. From now on I will take a different path, better than this one, so that I can avoid the vanity of life.” From that time on, he began to almost always be at home, trying with great diligence to study the sciences, especially the teachings of St. Gregory the Theologian.

Constantine had great love for this saint and knew much of his teaching by heart. Having drawn an image of the holy cross on the wall, under this cross he wrote praise to Saint Gregory in the following words: “O Saint of God, Gregory the Theologian! You were a man in body, but an angel appeared in life, for your lips, like the lips of the seraphim, glorified God with praises and enlightened the universe with your Orthodox teaching. I pray you, accept me, who falls towards you with faith and love, and be my teacher and enlightener.”

Diligently studying books, Constantine saw how insignificant his knowledge was due to the lack of a good teacher, which is why he fell into great despondency. In their city there lived one man (a wanderer) who knew grammar. Constantine went to him, begged him and, falling on his face before him, said:

- Do a good deed for me: teach me grammar.

The wanderer answered him:

- Boy, don’t ask me. I made a promise not to teach anyone anymore.

Again Konstantin began to tell him with tears:

“Take that part from my father’s house that belongs to me, just teach me.”

But this did not convince this man. Then Constantine went home and here he began to pray earnestly that the Lord would fulfill the desire of his heart and find a teacher for him. The Lord soon fulfilled his wish.

At this time, King Theophilus died in the Greek land, and his son Michael began to reign with his mother, the pious queen Theodora. This king remained a minor after his father, and three nobles were appointed as his tutor: the domestique Manuel, the patrician Theoktistus and the logothete Dromi, who was well acquainted with the parents of Methodius and Constantine. Logothetus, knowing about the successes and diligence of Constantine, sent for him so that he could study the sciences together with the young Tsar Michael, who would imitate the efforts of Constantine. The youth perked up and joyfully set out on the road, praying to God with the prayer of Solomon: “God of the fathers and Lord of mercy,” prayed Constantine, “who created man. Give me the wisdom that sits at Your throne and do not exclude me from among Your children, for I am Your servant and the son of Your servant. Grant that I may know everything that pleases You and work for Your name throughout my life.”

In Constantinople, Constantine lived either in the boyar’s house or in the royal palace. At 3 months he learned grammar, then studied Homer and geometry, dialectics and philosophy studied with Leo and Photius. In addition to these sciences, he studied rhetoric, arithmetic, astronomy, musical art, and in general all other Hellenic sciences. He knew well not only Greek, but also others: Latin, Syriac and some foreign ones. With his intelligence and diligence, he amazed his teachers, for which he later received the title of philosopher-sage. But he was wise not only in the sciences, but also in life, he tried to be humble, talked with those from whom he wanted to receive instruction, and avoided those who could seduce him into evil. In a word, he tried to change earthly things into heavenly things and live with God.

Logothetes, seeing the good life of Constantine and his successes in the sciences, made him manager of his house, and also allowed him to enter the royal chambers without report. One day the logothete asked Constantine:

– Tell me, philosopher, what is called philosophy?

“Philosophy,” answered Constantine, “is the understanding of divine and human affairs, which teaches a person through virtue, as far as possible, to approach God, who created man in His image and likeness.”

After this, the logothete loved Constantine even more and wanted to receive instruction in philosophy from him. Constantine, in a few words, outlined his philosophical teaching to him, for which the logothete showed him special respect and even offered him a lot of gold, but Constantine refused.

This nobleman had a goddaughter - a maiden of a rich and glorious family. Logothetes planned to marry Konstantin to her and persuaded him to do so.

“Your beauty and wisdom,” said the logothete, “involuntarily makes me love you.” I have a spiritual daughter, a beautiful, rich girl, of good and noble birth. If you want, take her as your wife. From the king you will receive great honor and a principality, and soon you will be appointed governor.

“This gift is great for those who wish,” answered Constantine, “but for me there is nothing more precious than teaching, through which I can acquire reason, true honor and wealth.”

After these words, the logothete went to the queen and said:

– The young philosopher does not like the vanity of this life. We will try to keep him near us, and for this we will persuade him to be ordained to the priesthood and to be the patriarchal librarian at the Church of St. Sophia. This is the only way to keep him.

So they did. Constantine became a priest and librarian at the Church of St. Sophia. But even in this rank, Konstantin was not with them for long. Without telling anyone, he went to the Golden Horn and hid there in a monastery. They searched for Konstantin for a long time and only found him 6 months later. They could not persuade him to take his previous position and only begged him to be a teacher of philosophy at the main Constantinople school.

“If the Lord had said: do not create any likeness,” the philosopher answered this, “then you would have spoken correctly; but the Lord said: everyone, i.e. except worthy.

The elder could not object to this and fell silent. Around this time, ambassadors came to Constantinople from the infidel Hagarenes or Saracens who owned Syria. These Saracens, even under the former king Theophilus, with God's remission for their sins, approached the Greek land and destroyed the beautiful city of Amoria. From that time on, they began to be proud of their strength before Christians and sent a letter to Constantinople with blasphemy against the Holy Trinity.

“How do you, Christians,” wrote the Saracens, “say that there is one God, but you divide Him into three: you confess the Father, the Son and the Spirit?” If you can prove this, then send to us such men who could talk with us about faith and convince us.

At this time, Blessed Constantine was 24 years old. The king and the patriarch convened a council, to which they called Constantine and told him:

– Do you hear, philosopher, what the bad Hagarians say about our faith? If you are a servant and disciple of the Holy Trinity, go and convict them. And God, the doer of every work, glorified in the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, gives you grace and strength in words, to reveal you as another David, with three stones defeating Goliath (), and then will safely return you back to us.

Hearing these words, the philosopher replied:

- I am glad to go for the Christian faith. What could be better for me: to die or to stay alive for the sake of the Holy Trinity?

They gave Constantine two deacs and sent them to the Saracens. They came straight to the capital of the Saracen principality - Samara, located near the Euphrates River, in which the Saracen prince Amirmushna lived. Here they saw strange and vile things that the Hagarites did to mock and ridicule the Christians living in those places. By order of the Saracen authorities, images of demons were inscribed on the outside of the doors where Christians lived. By this the Hagarians wanted to show that they abhor Christians as if they were demons. As soon as Constantine arrived to them, the Saracens, pointing to the demons, asked him:

– Can you, philosopher, understand what these images say?

“I see a demonic image,” answered the philosopher, “and I think that Christians live here.” Demons cannot live with Christians and run away from them (they are outside the doors). Where this image is not on the outside of the doors, there are obviously demons living inside the building.

The Saracens invited Constantine to the princely chamber for dinner. At dinner sat smart and bookish people who had studied geometry, astronomy and other sciences. They, tempting Constantine, asked him:

“You see, philosopher, a wonderful thing: the prophet Mohammed brought good teaching from God and converted many people. We all adhere equally firmly to his law and do not change anything. Among you, Christians who keep the law of Christ, one believes one way, the other another, and lives as he wants. There are many teachers among you who teach in different ways, and there are monks who wear black clothes and lead a special way of life. However, you are all called Christians.

“They asked me two questions,” answered Blessed Constantine, “about the Christian faith and about the Christian law, or: how Christians believe and how they fulfill their faith in life.” I will say first of all about faith. Our God is like the depths of the sea - of immeasurable breadth and depth, incomprehensible to the human mind and indescribable in human words, as the holy prophet Isaiah says about Him: “Who will explain His generation?”(); Based on this, our teacher the holy Apostle Paul cries out, saying: “Oh, the depth of wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! how incomprehensible are his destinies and unsearchable are his ways.”(). Many who want to seek God enter this abyss, and those of them who are strong in mind and have acquired the help of the Lord Himself sail safely on the sea of ​​God’s incomprehensibility; those who are weak in mind and due to their conceit, deprived of God’s help, want to swim across this abyss in leaky ships, drown, falling into heresies and delusions, or with difficulty remain in one place, worried about the unknown and doubts. Therefore, many (as you say) of Christians differ in faith. I said this about faith, but about works of faith I will say the following: The Law of Christ is not any other, but the one that God gave to Moses at Sinai (), not to kill, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to covet the things of others, etc. Our Lord said: “I came not to destroy the law... but to fulfill it”(). For a more perfect life and better pleasing to God, the Lord gave advice to lead a purer, virgin life and perform special deeds that lead to eternal life along a narrow and sad path. However, the Lord does not force one into this life, and this does not happen through violence. God created man between heaven and earth: man differs in reason and sense from the dumb, and in anger and lust he differs from the angels. Then God gave man free will, so that he would do what he wanted and whatever he would approach - with that he would have fellowship: either he would be a fellow angel, working for God, as his mind enlightened by faith teaches man, or he would have fellowship with senseless beasts , if without any abstinence he fulfills all carnal lusts. And since God created man with free will, He wants us to be saved not by violence, but by His own desire and says: “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”(); And: “Whoever can contain it, let him contain it”(). Some of the faithful Christians walk in this life in a more comfortable way, living according to the laws of nature chastely in an honest marriage, while others, more zealous and wanting to be more perfect, try to live like angels and follow the narrow path. Therefore, Christians lead different lives.

Your faith and law,” continued Konstantin, “have no inconvenience; They are not like a sea, but like a small stream, which everyone, great and small, can jump over without any difficulty. There is nothing divine or inspired in your faith and your law, but only human customs and carnal wisdom, which can be easily carried out. After all, your legislator Mohammed did not give you any difficult commandment: he did not even turn you away from anger and lawless lust, but allowed everything. Therefore, you all uniformly fulfill your law, as given according to your lusts. Our Savior Christ did not do this. He Himself, the Most Pure One and the source of all purity, desires that His servants should live holy, moving away from all lust, and the pure would join only the pure, since in His kingdom “Nothing unclean shall enter” ().

Then the Saracen sages asked Constantine:

– Why do you, Christians, divide the One God into three: you call it Father, Son and Spirit. If God can have a Son, then give Him a wife, so that there may be many gods?

“Do not blaspheme the Divine Trinity,” answered the Christian philosopher, “Which we learned to confess from the ancient prophets, whom you also recognize as holding the circumcision together with them.” They teach us that the Father, Son and Spirit are three hypostases, but their essence is one. A similarity to this can be seen in the sky. So in the sun, created by God in the image of the Holy Trinity, there are three things: a circle, a light ray and warmth. In the Holy Trinity, the solar circle is the likeness of God the Father. Just as a circle has neither beginning nor end, so God is beginningless and endless. Just as a light ray and solar warmth come from the solar circle, so the Son is born from God the Father and the Holy Spirit proceeds. Thus, the solar ray that enlightens the entire universe is the likeness of God the Son, born of the Father and revealed in this world, while the solar warmth emanating from the same solar circle along with the ray is the likeness of God the Holy Spirit, who, together with the begotten Son, is eternally comes from the Father, although in time it is sent to people by the Son! , such as was sent to the apostles in the form of tongues of fire. And just as the sun, consisting of three objects: a circle, a light ray and heat, is not divided into three suns, although each of these objects has its own characteristics, one is a circle, another is a ray, the third is heat, but not three suns, but one, so the Most Holy Trinity, although it has Three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is not divided by the Divinity into three gods, but there is One God. Do you remember what Scripture says about how God appeared to the forefather Abraham at the oak of Moor, from which you keep circumcision? God appeared to Abraham in Three Persons. "He lifted up his eyes(Abraham) and he looked, and behold three men stood opposite him. Seeing, he ran towards them from the entrance to the tent and bowed to the ground. And he said: Lord! If I have found favor in Your sight, do not pass by Your servant." ().

Please note: Abraham sees three men before him, but talks as if with one, saying: "God! If I have found favor in Your sight". Obviously the holy forefather confessed One God in Three Persons.

The Saracen sages, not knowing what to say regarding the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, remained silent, and then asked:

– How do you Christians say that God was born of a woman? Can God be born from a woman's womb?

“Not from a simple wife,” answered the philosopher, “but from the unmarried Most Pure Virgin, God the Son was born through the action of the Holy Spirit, Who in the Most Pure Virgin womb indescribably founded the flesh of Christ the God and arranged the supernatural incarnation and birth of the Word of the Father. Therefore, the Virgin, who conceived the Son from the Holy Spirit, both before birth, during birth and after birth, remained a pure Virgin, according to the will of God, to Whom every created being obeys, according to the words of the church song: “Wherever God wills, the order of nature is overcome” .

And that Christ was born from a pure Virgin by the Holy Spirit, your prophet Mohammed also testifies, writing the following: “The Holy Spirit was sent to the pure Virgin, so that by His will She would give birth to a Son.”

“We do not argue,” said the Saracens, “that Christ was born of a pure Virgin, but we do not call Him God.”

– If Christ were a simple man, and not God at the same time, then why should His conception have taken place from the Holy Spirit? A simple man will be born from a married woman, and not from an Unartificial Virgin, and is conceived by nature from a husband, and not by a special influx and action of the Holy Spirit.

After this the Saracens asked:

– If Christ is your God, then why don’t you do what He tells you? After all, it is written in the Gospel: pray for your enemies, do good to those who hate and oppress you, and turn your cheek to those who beat you. You are doing the wrong thing: you are sharpening your weapons against your opponents.

To this the philosopher responded like this:

– If in any law two commandments are written and given to people to fulfill, then which of the people will be the true executor of the law: the one who fulfills one commandment, or the one who fulfills two?

“Of course, the best performer will be the one,” answered the Saracens, “who fulfills the two commandments.”

“Christ our God,” said the philosopher, “commanded us to pray for those who offend us and do good to them, but He also said this: “Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”(). We endure insults if they are directed only against someone individually, but we intercede and even lay down our souls if they are directed at society, so that our brothers do not fall into captivity, where they could be seduced into ungodly and evil deeds.

Again the Saracens said:

– Your Christ gave tribute for Himself and for others (for the Apostle Peter). Why don’t you do this and don’t want to pay tribute? If you really stood up for each other, you would certainly pay tribute for your brothers to such a great and strong Ishmaelite people.

“If someone follows in the footsteps of his teacher and wants to always walk,” answered Constantine, “and someone else seduces him from this path, is such a person his friend or enemy?”

“Without a doubt, an enemy,” answered the Saracens.

“When Christ gave tribute,” Constantine then asked, “what kind of kingdom was it: Ishmaelite or Roman?”

“Roman,” answered the Saracens.

“That’s why we,” the philosopher answered, “following Christ, pay tribute to the king who lives in new Rome (Constantinople) and owns ancient Rome.” But you, when you seek tribute from us, lead astray from the path of Christ and become our enemies.

After this, they asked Konstantin many other questions from the sciences that they knew. Constantine answered all questions in such a way that the Saracens could not say anything. Then they asked him:

- Why do you know all this?

Then Konstantin made the following comparison:

“One man,” he said, “drew water from the sea and then carried it in a bag. Moving far from the sea, he pointed to a bag of water and said to everyone: “Do you see the water that no one except me has?” One seaside resident approached him and said: “Aren’t you ashamed to boast about some bag of water, of which we have a whole sea.” This is what you do when you ask questions from those sciences that you learned from us (the Greeks).

Then, like something marvelous, the Saracens showed Constantine a vineyard, once planted with diligence and growing well. Konstantin explained how this is done. Then the Saracens showed him all their wealth: palaces decorated with gold, silver and precious stones and said:

“Do you see, philosopher, what power and what wealth Omar, the ruler of the Saracens, has?

“There is nothing marvelous in this,” answered the philosopher. - For all this we should glorify God, who gave these riches for people to enjoy. All this belongs to God and no one else.

In the end, Saracens showed themselves for what they are. They gave Blessed Constantine poison in his drink. But the Lord, who promised all who work in His name, “If they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them”(), kept His servant safe and sound. The Saracens, seeing this miracle, sent Constantine along with others sent in their direction with honor and gifts from their prince.

In Constantinople, the king and patriarch met blessed Constantine with praise for the godly work that he performed. But Konstantin was not in Constantinople for long. Soon he went to a quiet and remote place, where he began to care only about his own salvation. He did not take any food with him, but in this case placed his hope in the Providence of God, which through Christ-loving people brought him food. Of the food he brought, Constantine did not leave anything for the next day, but, after the usual meal, he distributed everything else to the poor, trusting in God, who opens His generous hand and feeds all living things with His goodness.

One day, on the occasion of a big holiday, Constantine did not have any food, about which his servant began to greatly lament. Blessed Constantine told him:

“The One who once fed the Israelites in the desert for many years will not also feed us on this great day?” You must go and invite at least five beggars to dinner with us and we will wait for God’s mercy, because He will not leave us.

Indeed this is what happened. At lunchtime a man came and brought a lot of all kinds of food and ten gold coins. The blessed one took it and gave praise to God, his Nourisher.

From here Constantine went to Olympus, to his elder brother Methodius, with whom he began to live together, performing monastic feats in fasting, spending time in prayer or reading books.

At this time, ambassadors from the Kozars came to the Greek king Michael, with the following words:

– We first of all know One God, Who rules over everything, and we pray to Him, bowing to the east, but at the same time we also maintain some obscene customs.

The Jews are trying to get us to accept their faith and works, and many of us have already become Jews by faith. The Saracens, entering into an alliance with us and offering us gifts, force us to accept the Mohammedan faith and say that the faith of the Saracens is better than the faith of all other peoples. Therefore, from you, with whom we maintain old love and friendship, we wish to receive useful advice and ask you to send us some learned man and, if he exposes the Jews and Saracens, we will accept your faith.

Then Tsar Michael, on the advice of His Holiness Patriarch Ignatius, who was after Saint Methodius, decided to send Blessed Constantine, who was summoned from Mount Olympia, to the Kozars. Having conveyed the request to the Kozars, the king said to Constantine:

- Go, philosopher, to these people and, with the help of the Holy Trinity, preach to them the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity. No one can fulfill this assignment better than you.

“If you order, sir,” answered Constantine, “I will gladly go there on foot, barefoot and without everything that the Lord did not order His disciples to take when sending them to preach.”

“If you did this on your own,” answered the king, “then I would have nothing against it, but since you are leaving us, then go with honor and royal help.”

After this, Constantine persuaded his brother, Blessed Methodius, who knew the Slavic language, to go with him to apostolic service, to enlighten the infidels with the light of the Christian faith. Methodius agreed, and they set off together. Their path lay through the steppes, and in the steppes at that time lived the Ugrians, the current Hungarians or Magyars. These Ugrians were so terrible that they even bore little resemblance to people: they wore their clothes with the fur side up, did not sow grain and lived by robbery. When the holy brothers stopped here to pray, they were attacked by Ugrians, who howled like wolves, wanting to tear them to pieces. Constantine was not afraid, did not give up his prayer and, crying out to the Lord, often repeated: “Lord have mercy!”

At the end of the prayer, the Ugrians, seeing Constantine, according to divine vision, became meek and began to bow to him, Constantine told them a few instructive words, after which the Ugrians sent them on their way.

First of all, the holy brothers went to the Greek city of Kherson, adjacent to the Kozars, which stood on the seashore not far from (present-day) Sevastopol. Here they spent a lot of time studying Kozar and Greek. Constantine also translated eight parts of Jewish grammar here. They studied it in order to more successfully educate the Khazars and compete with the Jews, of whom there were many among the Khazars.

A Samaritan lived here, who went to Constantine and talked with him about faith. One day he brought Samaritan books and showed them to Constantine. Constantine begged them from a Samaritan and, shutting himself up in his room, began to fervently pray to God to help him study them. With God's help, Constantine quickly and well studied these books. Having learned about this, the Samaritan exclaimed: “Truly, whoever believes in Christ will soon receive the grace of the Holy Spirit.”

The Samaritan's son was immediately baptized; after him the Samaritan also accepted the faith of Christ.

In Kherson, Constantine managed to find the “Gospel and Psalter written in Russian,” as well as a person who spoke this language. Constantine, talking with him, learned this speech and, based on the conversations, divided the letters into vowels and consonants and, with the help of God, soon began to read and explain the books he found. Many, seeing such wisdom, marveled and praised God.

Here the holy brothers learned that the relics of the holy martyr Clement, Pope of Rome, were in the sea. They began to convince the Kherson bishop to open the holy relics. The following is told about these relics:

When Saint Clement was imprisoned from Rome to Kherson and converted many there to the Christian faith, then hegemon Aufidian, by order of King Trajan, ordered him to be drowned in the sea, tying a ship's anchor around his neck so that Christians could not find his body. The saint's faithful disciples stood on the shore and looked with sobs at the drowning of their teacher. Then the two most faithful disciples, Cornelius and Thebes, said to the Christians:

“Let us all pray with one accord that the Lord will reveal to us the body of the holy martyr.”

Through the prayer of Christians, the sea retreated back three miles. The people, like the Israelites of old in the Red Sea, walked along the dry bottom, and found a marble tomb made like a church, and there they saw the holy body lying and the anchor with which the saint was drowned. The Christians intended to take the holy body from there, but the above-mentioned disciples were honored to receive a revelation that the holy relics would be left inviolable, and that every year, in remembrance of the saint, the sea would recede back for seven days, making way for those wishing to venerate the holy relics. This continued for 700 years from the reign of Trajan to the reign of the Greek king Nicephorus. Due to the sins of people, the sea stopped receding back during the reign of Nicephorus, which brought great sorrow to Christians.

Saints Constantine and Methodius arrived in Kherson when more than 50 years had passed since the final hiding of the holy relics. George, the blessed bishop of Kherson, whom the holy brothers convinced to open the holy relics, first of all went to Constantinople to the king and the patriarch to get their permission for this discovery. Together with the bishop from Constantinople, the entire clergy of the Church of St. Sophia arrived for the opening of the holy relics. Then all together, as well as Saints Constantine and Methodius, accompanied by the people, went to the seashore, hoping to get what they wanted. But the sea did not recede. Then, after sunset, they boarded the ship and sailed out to sea. Suddenly at night, at midnight, a light shone from the sea and the honest head appeared, and then the whole body of Saint Clement became visible. The holy relics were placed in a ship and taken with great honor to the city and placed in the Apostolic Church. Saints Constantine and Methodius took part of the holy relics and carried them everywhere they went until they took this part to Rome.

From Kherson, Constantine and Methodius went to the Kozars, where they were honorably received by the Kozars Khagan, who was given a letter from the Greek king. Blessed Constantine had to conduct lengthy conversations with the Kozars, Jews and Saracens. Methodius took almost no part in these conversations, since he was less trained than Constantine: he, as a former governor, knew better how to deal with the people than how to conduct learned conversations. Therefore, Constantine, who from an early age was skilled in the sciences, knew the Holy Scriptures well and was a good preacher, ready to give an answer to any question, had to conduct conversations about faith alone; Methodius helped Constantine with his godly prayer.

The Kozars sent one crafty and cunning man to Constantine, who said to him:

“You Greeks have the bad custom of appointing instead of one king another, from a simple, non-royal family. So, after Nicephorus, they installed the boyar Mikhail Kuropalat as king and, leaving him, they elevated Leo the Armenian from a simple family to the throne, after whose death they installed Mikhail Travlus, originally from Amorium. This is not the case with us: all our kagans are from the kagan clan, and no one can reign among us unless he is from this clan.

To this Konstantin answered briefly:

“Did God act wrongly when He rejected King Saul, whom He disliked, and from among the shepherds of the flocks chose the man David after His heart?

Kozarin could not object to this and proposed another question:

“You pronounce moral teachings from the books that you hold in your hands, but we do not, but we pronounce all the wisdom from it, not being proud of our writings, as you do.” All wisdom seems to be within us.

“If you meet a naked man,” answered Constantine, “who will assure you that he has a lot of clothes and gold and estates, will you believe him, seeing him naked and having nothing in his hands?”

“No,” said Kozarin. “If I had anything, I wouldn’t go naked.”

“If you, as you boast, have absorbed all wisdom,” said Constantine to Kozarin, “then tell me: how many generations were there from Adam to Moses and where did which generation live on earth?”

Kozarin could not say anything. Konstantin continued:

- Therefore, I do not believe you that you have learned all wisdom and do not need books.

The holy brothers were invited to dinner with the kagan. Before sitting down at the table, the Kagan asked them:

“Tell me what kind of person you are, so we can know where to put you.”

“Our grandfather,” answered Constantine, “was of a great and glorious family and was close to the Tsar. But he did not know how to retain the great glory given to him, he was expelled from the Tsar and withdrew to a foreign country, where he gave birth to us. We are now looking for the ancient glory of our grandfather and do not want to have any other. Our grandfather was Adam.

“You speak decently and correctly, guest,” said the Kagan, after which he began to have special respect for Konstantin.

When they sat down at the table, the kagan took the cup and said:

– I drink in honor of the One God, who created all creation. Konstantin took the cup with the words:

– I drink to the glory of the One God and His Word, by Whom the heavens are established, and the Life-giving Spirit, Who sustains the existence of created creation.

“Here we are,” said the Kagan to Konstantin, “we contain the same teaching about God, the Creator of all creation, we only differ in that you glorify the Trinity, and we glorify the One God, as the Jewish books teach about this.”

“If you,” answered Constantine, “learned from Jewish books that there is one God, then from the same books you will learn the Holy Trinity.” Jewish books in their prophecies preach, in addition to the Father, the Word and the Spirit. So the king and prophet David says: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.”(). Here in this place the unity and trinity are quite clearly indicated: the Lord, His Word and the Spirit. The Lord is God the Father, the Word is God the Son, the Spirit of the mouth of the Lord is God the Holy Spirit. However, there are not three Lords, but One Lord with His Word and Spirit, and also not three gods in divinity, but One revered God. Pay attention also to this: which of the two would be the better admirer of your royal person, the one who would show only honor to you and despise your word and the spirit of your lips, or the one who would equally honor both you and your word , and the spirit of your lips?

“Without a doubt, the last,” answered the Kagan.

“Therefore,” the philosopher continued, “we, equally honoring the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are better and truer worshipers of God than you.” We learned such worship of God from the prophetic books. In addition to the above places, I will give others. Thus the holy prophet Isaiah speaks of God the Son in the following words: “Listen to Me, Jacob and Israel, My called: I am the same, I am the first and I am the last... and now the Lord God and his Spirit have sent Me.”(). Our ancient fathers explained this passage of Holy Scripture this way:

-Who is the one sent if not the Son? From whom is it sent if not from the Father and the Holy Father's Spirit?

There were many Jews at this dinner. Some of them said to Blessed Constantine:

“Tell us, Christian philosopher: how can the female sex contain in the womb God, whom not even angels can look upon?”

The philosopher, pointing his finger to the Kagan at the first adviser, said:

- If someone said that this first adviser cannot accept the kagan into his house and treat him when the last slave can do this, then what would we call him: crazy or reasonable?

“Even very mad,” answered the Jews.

Then the philosopher asked the following question:

– Which of all the creations visible in heaven is the most honest?

“Man is the most honest creation,” answered the Jews, “because he has a rational soul, created in the image of God.”

“Therefore, those are unreasonable,” answered the philosopher, “who recognize it as impossible for God to fit in a human womb, while they know that He fit into a thorn bush (bush) under Moses.” Is the bush, a soulless and insensitive creation, more honest than a sensual and rational creature with a god-like soul? In addition to the bush, God was contained in cloud, smoke and fire when he appeared to Job, Moses and Elijah. What is especially wonderful is that God entered into the most honest animate creature, wanting to appear on earth and live with people in order to save them from the mortal plague inflicted on the human race by the sin of Adam. From whom, if not from the Creator Himself, tell me, should the most honest creature, that is, the human race, expect healing and renewal? Was it not David who predicted: “He sent His word and healed them”(). Therefore, the Word of the Father, God the Son, came and healed human nature. How could the Word of the Father heal a person if he had not united with the person through incarnation and had not applied himself to the person like a healing plaster? Does a doctor, wanting to heal a wounded person, apply a plaster to a tree or a stone, and not to the patient? Therefore, God applied His Only Begotten Word, like a plaster, not to a tree, although He had previously appeared between the trees in a bush, not to a stone, although it was visible in the stone mountains of Sinai and Horeb by Moses and Elijah, but to a man overcome by sinful illness. The connection became inextricable, for the Lord deigned to dwell in a pure, virgin, and not just a woman’s womb, as Isaiah prophesied about this: “Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call his name Immanuel, which means: God is with us.”(). Here the prophet clearly says that God the Son will be born on earth from a pure and unmarried Virgin. And that it was possible for God to move into a virgin’s womb for the sake of our salvation, remember what is written in your books. Your Rabbi Achilla says:

- In the thunder of stone and in the voice of a trumpet, do not appear to us, O Lord, do not appear to us, O generous Lord, but dwell in our womb, take away our sins.

- If Moses prayed to God to move into our wombs, then why do you blame us, who confess that God moved into a woman’s womb, and not just a woman’s, but a virgin’s, pure, immaculate and unadulterated? He also dwells in our wombs when we, Christians, partake of the mystical sacrifice. As you can see, the ancient prayer of Moses, recorded in your books according to the testimony of Rabbi Achilles, has been fulfilled: God moved into our wombs, taking away our sins.

After lunch, everyone dispersed and set a day on which they would again talk about faith. On the appointed day, everyone gathered and, at the invitation of the Kagan, sat down in the designated places. Konstantin made the following preface to the conversation:

“Here I am the only foreigner among you, and we are all having a conversation about God, in whose hands everything is, including our hearts.” When we talk, let the one of you who is strong in words, if he understands, confirm our words, and if not, let him ask again and we will try to explain.

The Jews began the conversation with this question:

– Tell us: God first gave which law: the Mosaic one, or the one you, Christians, maintain?

“Isn’t that why,” answered Blessed Constantine, “you asked me what the first law is, so that you could then say that the first is the best?”

“Yes,” answered the Jews. – And therefore one should obey the first law, as the most basic and the best.

“If you want to fulfill only the first law, then refuse circumcision,” Constantine told the Jews.

- Why are you saying this? - asked the Jews.

“Tell me truly,” Constantine said to the Jews, “was the first law given in circumcision or in non-circumcision?”

“We think,” answered the Jews, “that it is in circumcision.”

“Didn’t God give the first law to Noah,” said Constantine? And this was before circumcision and after the commandment given in paradise after his fall. God commanded Noah that no human blood should be shed: “whoever sheds human blood, his blood will be shed”(), Then, speaking about eating herbal potions, animals, livestock, birds and fish, God said to Noah: “I establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you” ().

“But a covenant is not a law,” said the Jews. - God did not say to Noah: My law, but My covenant. We are talking about the law.

– Do you observe circumcision as a law or not? – asked Konstantin.

“We maintain it as the law,” answered the Jews.

“But circumcision,” continued Constantine, “God also did not call it a law, but only a covenant, when he said to Abraham: “You shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations... all your males will be circumcised... and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you... and My covenant will be upon your flesh for an everlasting covenant »(). Look,” said Constantine, “God never once called circumcision a law, but a covenant.” Will you therefore renounce circumcision as unlawful? If you keep the covenant of circumcision as a law, then you must keep the covenant given to Noah as a law and call it the first law, which God gave to the human race, expelled from paradise and preserved from the waters of the flood.

“No,” answered the Jews. – Only the law given to Moses is the law, and we fulfill it.

“If the covenant given to Noah,” said Constantine, “is not a law, but only a covenant, because God did not call it a law, but a covenant, then the law given to Moses is not a law, because God in the 11th chapter of the book of the prophet Jeremiah did not calls it a law, but a covenant: “Hear the words of this covenant... thus says the Lord God of Israel: Cursed is the man who does not listen to the words of this covenant, which I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.”(). If this covenant is a law for you, then the covenant given to Noah is also a law. And since this law was given before circumcision, you must observe it as the first and not listen to other laws that came after it, that is, Abraham and Moses. After all, you yourself said that the first law is the best and must be obeyed.

The Jews then evaded this question, began to talk about something else and said:

“Whoever kept the law of Moses pleased God.” Therefore, by observing it, we also hope to be pleasing to God. You adhere to the new law, which you yourself invented for yourself, and despise the old law.

“By adopting the new law,” answered the philosopher, “we acted well.” For even Abraham, if he had not accepted circumcision, but only fulfilled the covenant of Noah, would not have been called a friend of God. Also, Moses after Abraham, not content with the laws previously given to Noah and Abraham, wrote a new law. We follow their example. However, just as they, following each other, did not destroy the previous laws, Abraham did not reject Noah, and Moses both, but, filling in what was missing, they set forth in more extensive laws the more perfect will of God, so that the commandment of the Lord would be firm, so we do not deny the old covenant written on the Mosaic tablets, but we keep everything in order to know the One God, the Creator of all creation, and also: not to kill, not to steal, and other commandments. We only abstain from everything that is not written on the Tablets of Moses, for example: circumcision, sacrifices of dumb people and others like that. They were only a shadow and likeness of the new law that was to come, and therefore with its coming they had to be abandoned. What is the need to keep a shadow when we have the thing itself in our hands?

“If what you say about the Old Testament,” the Jews objected, “the institutions and covenants, except for the tablets of Moses, were only a shadow and likeness of your new Testament, then the ancient legislators would have known this and would have said about your new law, having to be in the future tense. After all, shadow and likeness must outline the thing that one expects to see with the eyes. The legislators did not expect your law, and therefore all the Old Testament institutions and covenants, like the Tablets of Moses, are not a shadow and a likeness, but the very truth (thing), which you, like what is written on the Tablets of Moses, must be kept as the truth.

Against this, the philosopher responded like this:

– If the ancient legislators who were in the Old Testament did not know that according to their law a new law would come, then I would ask you: when at first God gave Noah the covenant that we talked about earlier, did he then tell him what another would give? law after him to His saint Abraham? Of course not, but confirmed the first covenant to those existing for eternal generations. Did he also tell Abraham when he gave him the covenant that he would later give another law to Moses? He announced our new covenant in detail through His holy prophets. So listen to Jeremiah speaking: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not such a covenant as I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; They broke that covenant of mine, although I remained in covenant with them, says the Lord.”(). You see the well-known prophecy about our new covenant. Likewise, the prophet Isaiah predicted a new covenant on behalf of the Lord, saying: “But you do not remember the former things, and do not think about the ancient things. I am creating something new, and now it will appear.”(). So, the ancient legislators knew about the new grace law, waited for it and prophesied about it. Therefore, your Old Testament institutions and covenants are a shadow and likeness of our expected law, and not the truth itself, and therefore they must be discarded as unnecessary.

“Every Jew recognizes as true that there will be a new law,” said the Jews, “but the time has not yet come for the Anointed One to appear.”

“What are you still waiting for,” answered Konstantin. - Has not the power of your kingdom and reign, which, according to the prophecy of the forefather Jacob, should exist only until the coming of Christ the Messiah, ceased, has not Jerusalem been destroyed, has not the sacrifices been rejected, has not the glory of the Lord moved from you to the pagans, as he clearly predicted about this? The prophet Malachi said: “My favor is not with you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will not accept sacrifice from your hands. For from the east of the sun to the west my name will be great, and in every place they will offer incense to my name, a pure sacrifice; Great will my name be among the nations, says the Lord Almighty” ().

“We understand this passage in such a way,” the Jews answered, “that the pagans will be blessed through us, just as we, the seed of Abraham, are blessed; they will be circumcised in the city of Jerusalem.”

“Through Whom Abraham’s seed is blessed,” answered Constantine, “through Him we are, namely through the Messiah, who came from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesse and David.” After all, God said to Abraham: “In you all families of the earth will be blessed”(), and Isaac: “In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed”() and the same to Jacob (); David says: “The nations will be blessed in it; all nations please him"(). And that the Messiah had to come both for the sake of the tribe of Abraham and for the salvation of the pagans, Jacob once said about this, blessing Judah: “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet, until the Reconciler comes, and to him is the subjection of the nations.”(). And the prophet Zechariah, announcing to the daughter of Zion - Jerusalem, the coming of the meek King sitting on a donkey and a colt, says: “Then I will destroy the chariots of Ephraim and the horses of Jerusalem, and the sword of war will be broken, and He will proclaim peace to the nations.”(). You see that not only for the sake of you Jews, but also for the sake of the Gentiles, the Messiah had to come. It seems to me that He came more for the sake of the pagans than for your sake, for you did not accept Him, the pagans accepted Him, you killed Him, the pagans believed in Him, you rejected Him, but the pagans loved Him; That is why He rejected you, but He called the pagans and is glorified in them. And that the truly awaited Messiah has already come, you can be convinced of this through the holy prophet Daniel. The angel of the Lord Gabriel appeared to this prophet in Babylon in the first year of the reign of Darius, and from that time until the coming of the Messiah into the world he appointed 7 weeks. Each week contains 70 years, and all - 490 years. Your Talmud thinks so too. How long have these years passed? If you look, you will find out that more than 800 years have passed since the weeks spoken to Daniel () were fulfilled.

“I’ll also ask you,” said Constantine, “what kind of kingdom of iron do you think Daniel spoke about to Nebuchadnezzar when he explained to him the dream about the great idol?”

“The Iron Kingdom meant the Roman Kingdom,” answered the Jews.

“Who,” asked the philosopher, “means the stone that was torn from the mountain without human hands and crushed this idol?”

“The stone means the Messiah,” the Jews answered and added, “if, according to the legends of the prophets and other events, as you say, the Messiah has already come, then why does the Roman kingdom still have power?”

“No,” answered the philosopher, “it no longer holds power, but it has passed by, like other kingdoms.” Our kingdom is not Roman, but Christ’s, as the prophet said: “The God of Heaven will erect a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not be transferred to another people; it will crush and destroy all kingdoms, and itself will stand forever.”(). Is this not a Christian kingdom, so called by the name of Christ? The Romans served idols, and these Christians, partly consisting of this people, partly from other tribes and peoples, reign in the name of Christ, as the prophet Isaiah describes it, saying: “Leave your name for My chosen ones to be cursed; The Lord will kill you, and call his servants by a different name, by which whoever blesses himself on earth will swear by the true God.”(). Have not all the prophecies spoken about Christ been fulfilled? Isaiah predicted His birth from the Virgin, saying this: “Behold, the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name Immanuel.”(). And the holy prophet Micah says about the birth in Bethlehem: “And you, Bethlehem, house of Ephrath, are you small among the thousands of Judah? From you will come to me one who is to be ruler in Israel, and whose origin is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. Therefore He will leave them until the time when she who is about to give birth gives birth.” ().

“We,” said the Jews, “are the blessed descendants of Shem, who received a blessing from his father, Noah.” You didn't receive a blessing.

“Noah’s blessing of Shem has nothing to do with you,” said Constantine, “but only the glorification of God, for Noah said: "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem"(). Here the Lord God is blessed through the lips of Noah for the sake of the virtuous Shem and nothing more. And to Japheth, from whom we are descended, Noah said: “May God extend Japheth; and let him dwell in the villages of Shem"(). You yourself can see how Christianity is spreading by the grace of God and how you are losing importance more and more. Even where you once lived, there the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is now blessed and glorified by Christians.”

“Here you are,” said the Jews, “trusting in man, thinking to be blessed, while the books curse such people.”

To this, the philosopher asked the Jews the following question:

– Is David cursed or blessed?

“Very blessed,” answered the Jews.

“This means,” said Constantine, “we are also blessed, because we trust in the One in Whom he also trusted when he said in the psalm: "the man of my peace in whom I trusted"(). This man is Christ God. Whoever puts his trust in the common man, we consider him cursed.

After this, the Jews asked another question:

– Why do you Christians reject circumcision when Christ did not reject it, but fulfilled it according to the law?

The philosopher answered:

- Who first said to Abraham: there will be a sign between Me and you, He, having come, performed it (circumcision), which is why it was observed from that (Abraham) to this (Christ). Instead of circumcision, Christ instituted baptism.

Then the Jews said:

– Why did some please God by not receiving that sign (baptism), but Abraham’s (circumcision)?

“None of those,” answered the philosopher, “had two wives except Abraham.” And therefore God gave him circumcision in order to set a limit not to transgress further, but to live according to the first example of Adam’s life (to have one wife). And he gave Jacob similar instructions when he injured his leg, because he had two wives. When Jacob realized the guilt of why this was done to him, he then received the name “Israel,” that is, seeing with the mind of God. Abraham did not understand this.

“How do you,” the Jews asked a new question, “by bowing to idols, do you think that you are pleasing God?”

“First of all,” answered the philosopher, “learn to distinguish between names, what is an icon and what is an idol, and then you will see that you are incorrectly reproaching Christians. Lots of guidance is in your books about images. I will ask you about some: What - did Moses build the tabernacle according to the image that he saw on the mountain, or according to the image that was presented to his art, he built the tabernacle from trees, leather, wool and worthy cherubim? But since the first is true, shall we say that you do honor and bow to trees, leather and wool, and not to God, who gave Moses such an image (image) of the tabernacle in his time? I will say the same about the Temple of Solomon, in which there were many images of cherubs, angels and others. So we Christians, by honoring the rituals of those who pleased God, give honor to God.

“Why do you eat pork and hare,” said the Jews, “when it is disgusting to God?”

“The first covenant (Noah),” said the philosopher, “decreed: “Every moving thing that lives will be food for you; I give you everything like green herbs"(), because everything is pure to the pure, but the bad have an unclean conscience. God also says about everything created: “everything is very good”(). For your gluttony and for your edification, God took away the most insignificant things from you. And how harmful overeating is for you, it is written about this: "And Israel was satisfied and forsook God"(), or “The people sat down to eat and drink, and then got up to play” ().

The blessed philosopher Constantine had such conversations with the Jews about the Christian faith. These conversations took place every day in the presence of the Kagan himself and lasted for quite a long time. They were subsequently written down by Blessed Methodius and divided into eight parts, of which very little is given here.

Blessed Constantine had conversations not only with the Jews, but also with the Saracens, whom he also exposed with the help of our Lord, who promised to give His slaves “a mouth and wisdom that all who oppose will not be able to contradict or resist” ().

Hearing such sweet words befitting the faith of Christ, the Kagan and his main advisers said to Constantine:

– God sent you to us for our teaching. From Him you learned books, spoke everything correctly and fed us to the full with the honeyed words of the holy books. Although we are unlearned people (“unlearned children”), we nevertheless believe that this teaching is from God. If you want to finally calm our souls, then tell us not only from books, but also through comparisons (parables) about everything that we will ask you about faith.

After that, everyone went off to rest. The next day they gathered again and said to Constantine:

- Prove to us, most honest husband, by reasoning and comparisons, which faith is the best?

“One King,” answered the philosopher, “had a husband and wife in great honor.” When they sinned, He drove them out of the land where they lived (from paradise). They lived there for many years and gave birth to children in poverty. As they got ready, the children thought about how they could regain the dignity of their parents. One said one thing, the other said another, each gave advice that, in his opinion, should be followed. Which of these pieces of advice should I have followed? Isn't it the best? – finishing his comparison, said Konstantin.

- Why do you say that? - answered the Kozars. – Each of his advice is better than the other. Tell us so we can understand which of these pieces of advice is the best?

“Fire,” answered the philosopher, “purifies gold and silver, but man distinguishes lies from truth with his mind.” Tell me why the first fall occurred: was it not from the vision of a sweet fruit and the desire to be gods?

“Yes,” answered the Kozars.

The philosopher continued:

– If any patient would be harmed by honey or cold water, then which doctor will give the best advice; the one who says to whom honey is harmful - eat honey, and to whom cold water is harmful - drink cold water and stand naked in the cold, or the one who will give the medicine opposite to the harm: instead of honey - with caution, a bitter drink, instead of cold water - warm and warming?

“Of course,” they all said, “whoever gives the opposite medicine will give the best advice.” Likewise, sinful lust should be mortified with the sorrow of life, and pride with humility; in general, the opposite should be treated with the opposite. We notice that if a berry bush stands in the spring with prickly needles, then in the fall it produces good, sweet fruits.

“You said it well,” answered Konstantin. – And the law of Christ says that to live according to God means to lead a harsh life (to walk a narrow path), which in an eternal dwelling will increase the fruit a hundredfold.

After this, one of the main advisers of the Kagan, who knew well the wicked teachings of Mohammed, asked the philosopher:

- Tell me, guest, why don’t you honor Mohammed? After all, he highly praised Christ in his books and spoke about Him: from the Virgin, the sister of Moses, was born a great prophet, who raised the dead and healed every disease with great power.

“Let the Kagan himself judge us,” said the philosopher. - Tell me, if Mohammed is a prophet, will we believe Daniel, who said that with Christ all vision and prophecy will cease. How then can he be a prophet? Therefore, if we call Mohammed a prophet, it means we reject Daniel.

To this many of those present said:

– We know that Daniel prophesied by the Spirit of God, but we know about Mohammed that he is a liar and the destroyer of the salvation of many.

Then the first adviser to the kagan turned towards the Jews and said:

“With God’s help, the guest threw all Saracen pride to the ground, and threw yours out like filth.” Then he turned to everyone present and said:

- God gave power over all nations and perfect wisdom to the Christian king; Their faith is the best and without it it is impossible to achieve eternal life.

Everyone said:

After this, the philosopher, with tears in his eyes, turned to everyone and said:

- Brothers, fathers, friends and children! So, with God’s help, we explained and answered everything according to its merits. If even now any of you do not understand something, let him come and ask me about it. Whoever listens to this teaching, let him be baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, and whoever does not listen, I will have no sin in this, he will see his sin on the Day of Judgment, when the Judge, the Ancient of Days, will sit to judge all nations.

To this the Kozars and the Kagan replied:

“We are not enemies to ourselves, and so we decree: from now on, whoever wants and who can, after thinking it over, should proceed to baptism.” And whoever bows to the west (pagans), or performs Jewish prayers (Jews), or maintains the Saracen faith (Mohammedans), will suffer a quick death.

Having made this decision, everyone happily dispersed. Two hundred Kozars left idolatry and lawless cohabitation and accepted the Christian faith.

Having planted the Christian faith in the Kozarian kingdom, the venerable teachers Constantine and Methodius decided to return to their own direction. At the kozars they left the priests who had come with them from Kherson. The Kagan instructed the holy brothers to convey the following letter to the Greek king: “Lord! You sent to us such a man who announced to us the Christian faith and preached the Holy Trinity. Through him we learned that this faith is the true faith and commanded everyone who wished to accept holy baptism without restraint, hoping to receive it themselves. We are all friends and acquaintances of your Kingdom and are ready, if you want, to serve you.”

Seeing off the holy brothers, the kagan offered them many gifts, but they refused, saying: “Release with us all the Greek captives who are here - this will be the best gift for us.”

More than 200 prisoners gathered and they all happily set off. The travelers had to pass through deserted and waterless places. Everyone here was exhausted from thirst. Occasionally there were lakes, but it was impossible to drink from them, since there was a lot of salt in the water, which made it bitter, like bile. Everyone dispersed to look for good water, except for Konstantin, who was so weak that he could not go further. He turned to his brother Methodius with these words:

“I can’t stand the thirst anymore.” Draw up this water, for I believe that He who once changed bitter water for the Israelites into sweet water will also sweeten the bitterness of this water for us, who are exhausted from thirst.

When they scooped up the water and tasted it, it turned out to be sweet, like honey, and cold, like winter. With this water everyone quenched their thirst and glorified God.

Arriving in Kherson, the holy brothers visited the bishop. While having supper, Constantine said to the bishop: “Pray for me, Vladyka, and bless me, as a father blesses his child with the last blessing.”

Those who heard thought that Konstantin was getting ready to set off the next morning and asked him about it. He secretly told some that the bishop would leave the world in the morning and go to the Lord. And so it happened. In the morning the bishop died.

On the way to Constantinople we had to pass through the country where the Ful people lived. These people made sacrifices under a large oak tree, fused with cherry trees, which was called Alexander. Women were forbidden to approach this oak tree, as well as to participate in the sacrifices. Blessed Constantine went to this people, stood among them and said:

- The Hellenes did not escape eternal torment by worshiping heaven and earth - such great and good creations; Moreover, when you bow to the oak tree, an immeasurably worse creation, you will not escape the eternal fire.

“We,” answered the pagans, “not only began to do this now, but we adopted this custom from our fathers.” By making sacrifices before the oak tree, we receive what we ask for: rain and much more. And how can we give up this worship when none of us can do it? And if anyone dares, he will die without seeing any more rain.

The philosopher began to admonish them with these words:

– God speaks about you in the holy books, how can you reject Him? So the prophet Isaiah cries out from the face of the Lord, saying: “I will come to gather all nations, and they will see My glory. And I will put a sign on them, and I will send those who are saved from them to the nations: to Tarshish, to Pul and Ludah, to Tubala and Yavana, to the distant islands, which have not heard of Me and have not seen My glory; and they will proclaim my glory to the nations...” says the Lord: “I will send a multitude of fishermen and they will catch them on every mountain and on every hill and in the clefts of the rocks.” (; ).

“Listen, brothers,” continued Constantine, “to God, who created you.” This is the Gospel of the New Testament of God, according to which you must receive holy baptism.

With similar words, Blessed Constantine convinced the pagans to cut down and burn this oak tree. The elder of this people approached Constantine and kissed the Holy Gospel. Other pagans followed this example. Then the philosopher distributed white candles, and everyone, with lit candles and singing, went to the oak tree. Konstantin took an ax and hit the oak tree 33 times, and after that others chopped the oak tree down to the roots and burned it. That same night the Lord sent heavy rain. Everyone, rejoicing, praised God, who rejoices in the salvation of sinners. In Constantinople, Constantine and Methodius were received with great honor as apostles. They were offered the rank of bishop, but they did not want to accept it. Methodius became abbot of the Polychronian Monastery, and Constantine settled at the Church of the Holy Apostles. Soon both were called to new jobs.

Boris or Bogoris, the Bulgarian king, after the war with the Greeks, wished to accept the Christian faith. Boris's sister, who had been captured in Tsarrada several years earlier, returned to Bulgaria as a Christian and tried to convince her brother to accept the same faith. He did not agree for a long time; but famine and a deadly plague devastated his state. Then, on the advice of his sister, he turned with prayer to the Christian God and the disasters stopped. Boris sent to Constantinople to ask for mentors. Methodius took a trip to Bulgaria. He depicted the Last Judgment on the wall of the royal chamber and explained to the king the bliss of the righteous and the torment of sinners. The king, already prepared by the words and example of his sister and the miraculous cessation of disasters, accepted the Christian faith. This was in 860 or 861.

Before Constantine and Methodius had time to finish the work they had begun of baptizing the Bulgarian people, a new field opened up for their apostolic activity. The Moravian prince Rostislav, according to the teaching of God, held a council with his princes and with all the Moravian people to send ambassadors to the Greek king Michael with a request to send Christian teachers. At the council, it was decided to send ambassadors with the following words: “Our people have rejected paganism and maintain the Christian law. But we don’t have a teacher who could explain the faith of Christ to us in our language. Other countries (Slavic), seeing this, will want to follow us. In view of this, Vladyka, send to us such a bishop and teacher: from you the good law comes to all countries.”

Tsar Michael convened a council, to which the philosopher Constantine was invited. The king announced to him the desire of the Slavs and said:

– Philosopher, I know that you are unwell; but you need to go there, since no one can do this job better than you.

“Although I am physically unwell and sick,” answered the philosopher, “I will gladly go there if only they have letters in their language.”

“My grandfather, and my father, and many others,” answered the king, “they searched, but did not find them; how can I find them?

- How will I preach to them? - said the philosopher. “It’s like recording a conversation on the water.” Besides, if the Slavs misunderstand me, I could be branded a heretic.

To this the king, together with his uncle Varda, said to the philosopher:

“If you want, God will give you what you ask, for He gives to all who ask Him in faith and He opens it to those who ask.”

Constantine left the king and told all this to his brother Methodius and some of his disciples. According to his custom, Constantine first began with prayer, and then imposed a forty-day fast on himself. Soon God, listening to the prayers of His servants, fulfilled what Constantine asked. He invented the Slavic alphabet, containing 38 letters, and then began to translate the Greek sacred books into the Slavic language. Blessed Methodius and his disciples helped him in this. The translation of the sacred books began with the first chapter of the Gospel of John. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”- the first words translated into Slavic.

The holy brothers presented their translation for consideration by the tsar, the patriarch and the entire spiritual council. The king rejoiced and, together with the entire spiritual council, glorified God for the mercies shown.

After this, Constantine, together with his brother Methodius and his disciples, went to the Slavic lands. The king gave them a sufficient amount of all necessary things for the journey, and wrote the following message to Rostislav: “God, Who desires that everyone have true understanding and ascend to the highest dignity, having seen your faith and your diligence, wanted to fulfill your desire now in our age . He discovered the letters of your language, which until now were not known (“it was not known except in the first summer”), so that you too could be counted among the great nations who glorify God in their language. And so we send you the one to whom God revealed them (letters), an honest man, faithful, scientist and philosopher. Accept this gift, which is much more valuable than all gold and silver, precious stones and transitory wealth, and help him quickly complete his assignment. Seek God and common salvation with all your heart, and for this, do not be lazy to encourage everyone (your subjects) to care about their salvation and follow the true path. Then you, too, having labored to bring your people into the mind of God, will receive a reward for this both in this age and in the future for all souls who want to believe until death in Christ our God. With this you, like Grand Duke Constantine, will leave behind a true memory for subsequent generations.”

When Constantine and Methodius came to Moravia, they were greeted there with great honor. First of all, Rostislav gathered many youths and ordered them to learn the Slavic alphabet and newly translated books from the holy brothers. Then Rostislav, under the guidance of the holy brothers, began to build churches. A year later, the first church in the city of Olomouc was completed, then several more churches appeared in Moravia. Constantine consecrated these churches and served in them in Slavic.

While he was here, Constantine translated with his disciples all the church rites and taught them matins and the hours, mass and vespers, compline and the “secret service.” And according to the prophetic word the ears of the deaf were opened to hear the words of the book, and the tongue of the deaf became eloquent. God, rejoicing over the salvation of a single sinner, looked with joy at the correction of an entire people.

When the divine teaching began to spread among the Slavs and worship was performed in their language, then the first and malicious envious person, the devil, unable to bear this, entered his vessels and began to excite many, telling them: “God is not glorified by this. If it had pleased Him, could He not have made sure that from the very beginning, for His glorification, the preaching of the word of God was written down in the language of the people to whom it was preached? But God only chose three languages: Hebrew, Greek and Latin, in which it is proper to send glory to God.”

This is what the Latin and German bishops, priests and their disciples said. Constantine entered into a dispute with them, as David once did with foreigners, and with the words of the holy books he won and called them trilinguals, like Pilate, who wrote the title on the Cross of the Lord in three languages.

Not only this one, but also many other wickednesses were taught to the people by German and Latin priests. They said: “People live underground, all the reptiles are the creation of the devil; if anyone kills a snake, he will be forgiven nine sins for this; If anyone kills a person, let him drink from a wooden cup, but not touch a glass one.”

They did not forbid the people to offer pagan sacrifices or polygamy according to the old custom.

The holy brothers tried to eradicate these false teachings like weeds with verbal fire.

"Sacrifice to God", - they denounced the words of the prophet, - “Praise and give your prayers to the Most High” (). “Take care of your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth: if you hate her, let her go, says the Lord Almighty, and wickedness will cover your thoughts; therefore watch your spirit... and do not leave your wives. And now, if you hate, remember that The Lord was a witness between you and the wife of your youth... she is your friend and your lawful wife.”(). In the Gospel the Lord says: “You have heard that it was said to the ancients: You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you: everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (). “I say to you, whoever divorces his wife for reasons other than adultery and marries another commits adultery; and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” ()

Thus the holy brothers lived in Moravia for 40 months, moving from one place to another, everywhere teaching the people in the Slavic language. Presenting the Slavs with a priceless gift - the word of God in their native language, Constantine in the preface to the Holy Gospel tells them: “Hear, all Slavs, the word that strengthens hearts and minds.” By establishing schools for Slavic youths, they acquired many students who were ready to be good teachers and worthy clergy among their people. For this purpose, in order to ordain their disciples to the priesthood, the holy brothers decided to go to Rome. In addition, the then former Pope Nicholas, having learned about the successes of the preaching of Saints Constantine and Methodius, wanted to see them in Rome as angels of God.

On the way to Rome, Saints Constantine and Methodius entered Pannonia. There was Prince Kocel, the son of Pribina, who invited the holy brothers to the city of Blatno in order to learn the Slavic alphabet from them himself, and also so that they could teach it to those 50 students whom the prince had gathered from his people. At farewell, Kocel showed great honor to the holy preachers and offered them great gifts. But Constantine and Methodius, both from Rostislav the Moravian and from Kocel, did not want to take either gold, silver, or any other thing. They preached the gospel word without reward and only from both princes they begged freedom for 900 Greek captives.

In addition to Pannonia, Saints Constantine and Methodius also visited Venice. Here Latin and German priests and monks pounced on Constantine like crows on a falcon, preaching the trilingual heresy:

“Tell us, man,” they said to Constantine, “why did you translate the sacred books to the Slavs and teach them in this language, while no one did this before: neither the apostles, nor the Pope, nor Gregory the Theologian, nor Jerome, nor Augustine?” We know only three languages ​​in which it is appropriate to glorify God: Hebrew, Greek, Roman.

The philosopher answered them:

– Doesn’t the rain come from God equally for everyone, or the sun doesn’t shine for everyone, or doesn’t all creation breathe the same air? Aren’t you ashamed to think that except for three languages, all other tribes and languages ​​must be blind and deaf? Don’t you think, tell me, that God is not omnipotent, and therefore cannot do this, being envious that he does not want to do it? We know many peoples who have their own books and give glory to God, each in their own language. Of these, the following are known: Armenians, Persians, Abkhazians, Ivers (Georgians), Sugds, Goths, Obras, Turks, Kozars, Arabians, Egyptians, Syrians and many others.

If you do not want to agree with this, then the holy books will be your judge. For David cries: “Sing a new song to the Lord; sing to the Lord, all the earth!”(), and elsewhere: “Shout to the Lord, all the earth, sing and rejoice and sing.”(), and further: “Let all the earth worship You and sing praises to You, and sing praises to Your name”(), and further: “Praise ye Lord, all nations; praise ye, all nations... Every breath praiseth the Lord.”(). The Gospel says: “And to those who received Him, to those who believed on His name, He gave power to become children of God...” (). “I pray not only for them, but also for those who believe in Me through their word: that all may be one, as you are, Father in Me, and I in You.”(). The Gospel of Matthew says: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth; Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you: and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen"(). Evangelist Mark also says: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, and whoever does not believe will be condemned, and these signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak in new tongues.”(). Let us say in the words of Scripture and in relation to you (German and Latin priests): “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you close the Kingdom of Heaven to people; for you yourselves do not enter, and you do not allow those who want to enter.” (). “Woe to you lawyers, because you took the key of understanding; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who entered.”(). The Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians: “I wish that you all spoke in tongues; but it is better that you prophesy"(), or more: “and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” ().

With these and many other similar words Saint Constantine denounced the Latin and German priests.

From Venice, Constantine and Methodius went straight to Rome. While they were still in Venice, Pope Nicholas died and Adrian II was elected in his place. The new pope, having learned that Constantine and Methodius were in Venice, invited them to Rome. When the holy brothers approached Rome, the pope himself, with his clergy and citizens with lighted candles, came out to meet the holy preachers, because they were carrying the relics of St. Clement the Martyr and the Pope of Rome, discovered in Chersonesos. The Lord glorified the transfer of holy relics with many miracles. So one paralytic received healing and many other sick people were freed from their ailments.

The Pope accepted the Slavic books, consecrated them and placed them in the Church of the Holy Virgin Mary, called “Fatni” (nursery), and they began to conduct divine services using these books. After this, the pope ordered two bishops to initiate the Slavic disciples who arrived with Constantine and Methodius. The dedication of the disciples on the first day was performed in the Church of St. Peter the Apostle and the liturgy was sung in the Slavic language, on the next day in the Church of St. Petronilla and on the third day in the Church of St. Andrew the Apostle. Then they sang the all-night vigil in the Slavic language in the church of the great teacher of nations - the Apostle Paul, and in the morning they performed the liturgy over the holy tomb. In serving the two indicated bishops, Arseny, one of the seven bishops, and the librarian Anastasius assisted.

Constantine and Methodius and their disciples did not cease to give glory to God for everything, but the Romans did not cease to come to them, and especially to Constantine, and ask them about everything. Some came two or three times and received instruction. One day a Jew came to Constantine and said that Christ, about whom the prophets say that He would be born of a Virgin, had not yet come. Constantine counted for him how many generations there were from Adam to Christ, proved that Christ had already come and how many years had passed since then.

Soon after this, the previously weak Constantine, exhausted by labor and a long journey, fell seriously ill, and during his illness the Lord revealed to him about his death. Constantine, having learned of his death, began to sing the following church hymn:

– “For those who commanded me, let us enter into the courts of the Lord; my spirit is glad and my heart is glad.” .

Then he dressed himself in his best clothes, spent the whole day with joy and said:

- From now on, I am not a servant of anyone on earth, but only of God Almighty, and I was and am and will be forever, amen.

The next day, Constantine wished to accept the schema, and was named Cyril. His illness lasted 50 days.

Once, during his illness, Cyril turned to Methodius with the following words: “Here, brother,” he told him, “you and I were like a friendly pair of oxen cultivating the same field, and now I fall on the reins, having finished my day. I know that you have greatly loved Mount Olympus, but for the sake of the mountain do not think of leaving your teaching. With this feat you can better achieve salvation.”

When the time approached to accept repose and depart to another life, Saint Cyril raised his hands to God and prayed with tears: “Lord my God! You, who formed the ethereal angelic forces, stretched out the sky, founded the earth and brought everything on it from non-existence into existence, who always and in everything listens to those who do Your will, those who fear You and keep Your commandments: hear my prayer and preserve Your faithful flock, to shepherd which You have set me, a sinner and Your unworthy servant. Deliver this flock from all godlessness and wickedness and from every long-winded heretical tongue that speaks blasphemy against You. Destroy the trilingual heresy and grow Your Church in numbers. Unite everyone in unanimity and make everyone of the same mind about Your true faith and right confession. Breathe into their hearts the word of Your teaching, for this is Your gift. If You have vouchsafed me, unworthy, to preach the Gospel of Your Christ, trying to do good deeds and everything pleasing to You, then allow me to give You, as Yours, all that You have given me. Establish them with Your mighty right hand, cover them with Your covering, so that everyone may praise and glorify the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever, amen.”

Then, having kissed everyone, he said: “Blessed is our God, who did not give us as prey to our invisible enemies, but destroyed their snares and delivered us from corruption.”

Pope Adrian ordered all the Greeks who were in Rome, as well as the Romans, to be present at the burial and stand at the coffin of Cyril with lighted candles, and he ordered the farewell to be arranged in the same way as during the burial of the pope himself. Saint Methodius, having learned that they were going to bury the honorable body of Saint Cyril in Rome, came to the pope and told him:

“Our mother conjured us, saying that if one of us dies first, let the other take his brother to his monastery (on Olympus) and bury him there.

After this, the pope ordered to put Kirill’s honest body in a shrine, nail it with iron nails and prepare it for the journey. The holy relics remained in this position for seven days.

The Roman bishops said to the pope:

“Since God brought Cyril here, who walked through many lands, and took his soul here, it is necessary to bury him here as an honest man.

“If so,” said the pope, “I will change the Roman custom and bury Cyril for his holiness and love in my tomb, in the church of St. Peter the Apostle.”

Then Saint Methodius said:

- If you did not listen to me and did not give it to me, since you yourself would like to have it at home, then in that case put it in the church of St. Clement, with whom he arrived here.

The Pope ordered to do as Saint Methodius said. All the bishops, monks and people gathered again, and with honor they carried the holy relics to the church of St. Clement. Before lowering the coffin, the bishops said:

– Let’s open the shrine and see: has anything been taken from the holy relics?

But no matter how hard they tried, they could not, at the discretion of God, open the shrine, and then the holy relics were lowered to the right side of the altar in the church of St. Clement. Then many miracles began to happen here. Seeing this, the Romans began to glorify Saint Cyril more and more and, having painted his icon, began to light candles before it day and night, giving praise to God, who glorifies those who love Him.

After the death of Saint Cyril, ambassadors from Kocel, prince of Pannonia, came to the pope, asking him to release blessed Methodius to them. The Pope answered the ambassadors like this:

“I send him not only to you, but to all the Slavic peoples, as a teacher from God and from St. Peter, the first patron and keyholder of the heavenly kingdom.

Sending Saint Methodius to the Slavs, the pope handed him the following message to the Slavic princes: “Adrian, bishop and servant of God, to Rostislav, Svyatopolk and Kotsel: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”(). We learned with joy that the Lord raised up your hearts to seek Him and showed you that you should serve Him not only by faith, but also by good deeds: “faith without works is dead”(), Therefore, those who sin are those who think that they know God, but do not want to fulfill His law. Not only from this holy table did you ask for teachers, but also from the blessed Tsar Michael: you asked him to send the blessed philosopher Constantine and his brother to you. The holy brothers, when they learned that your country was under the jurisdiction of the apostolic see, did nothing contrary to the canon, but came to us and brought the relics of St. Clement. We, rejoicing, thought of sending our son Methodius, a man of perfect intellect and true believer, to your countries, ordaining him and his disciples to the priesthood. He can teach you as you ask, and translate the holy books into your language, and according to them perform the holy service (liturgy) and baptism and the entire church rite, which was started, with the help of God and for the sake of the prayers of St. Clement, the holy philosopher Konstantin. Also, if someone else is able to correctly and faithfully translate the holy books into your language, so that you can more easily understand the commandments of God, then let this work be holy and blessed by God, ours and the entire Catholic Church. Just keep the custom that at the liturgy the Apostle and the Gospel are first read in Roman, and then in Slavonic, so that the word of Scripture is fulfilled: "Praise the Lord, all nations"() and further: “They began to speak in other tongues...” the greatness of God, “as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance”(). If anyone dares to reproach these teachers and seduce you from the truth to fables or, corrupting you, blasphemes the books of your language, let him be excommunicated and presented to the court of the church and will not receive forgiveness until he corrects himself. For these are wolves, not sheep, and we must recognize them by their fruits and beware of them. But you, beloved children, listen to the teachings of God and do not refuse church teachings, and then you will be true worshipers of your heavenly Father with all the saints. Amen".

Kotzel received Methodius with great honor, but soon sent him back to the pope, and with them 20 men of noble family, asking the pope to consecrate Saint Methodius as a bishop in Pannonia, to the throne of Saint Andronicus, an apostle of the seventy. Dad did just that.

After this, the old enemy and opponent of the truth raised up the Moravian prince and the German and Latin bishops of this region against Methodius. Saint Methodius was called to a council, at which he was asked the following question:

– Why do you teach in our area?

“If I had known,” answered Saint Methodius, “that this was your region, then I would not have taught here, but this region belongs to the holy Apostle Peter.” If, for the sake of quarrels and covetousness, you do not act according to the rules, forbidding to preach the teachings of God, beware so that when you break through an iron mountain with your head bone, you do not break your own head.

“Speaking with anger,” the bishops answered, “you are bringing trouble upon yourself.”

“I am not ashamed to speak the truth before kings,” answered Saint Methodius. - You do whatever you want regarding me, do so. I am no better than those who endured many torments in this life for the truth.

Many speeches were made at this meeting, but his opponents could not say anything against Methodius. Then the prince said with mockery:

– Don’t bother my Methodius. He began to sweat, as if he were near a hot stove.

“Yes, sir,” answered Methodius. “Once we met a sweating philosopher and asked him: “Why are you sweating?” “I argued with rude servants,” answered the philosopher.

The bishops spoke a lot about Methodius. Finally they exiled him to Swabia, where they kept him in prison for two and a half years.

The news of the imprisonment of Saint Methodius reached the pope. Having learned about this, Pope John VIII, the successor of Adrian II, sent a curse on the German bishops and a ban on them performing the liturgy until Methodius was released. Then the bishops released Methodius, but said to Kotsel, the Pannonian prince: “If you take Methodius to you, do not consider us as well-wishers.”

However, these bishops themselves did not escape the judgment of God and the Apostle Peter. Four of them soon died.

In Moravia at this time there was a quarrel between the Slavs and the German priests. The Moravians realized that the German priests who lived with them were enemies of the Slavs and were trying to betray them to the Germans. They expelled them, and sent the following request to the pope: “As before our fathers received baptism from St. Peter, so now we have the archbishop and teacher Methodius.”

The pope immediately sent Saint Methodius to Moravia, where Prince Svyatopolk, now separated from the Germans, and the Moravians received him and entrusted to him all the churches and clergy in all the Slavic cities. In place of the expelled German priests, Saint Methodius installed Slavic priests. In view of the fact that Saint Methodius and the priests performed divine services and taught the people in the Slavic language, the teaching of God began to grow greatly. Many of the pagans renounced their errors and believed in the true God. At this time, the Moravian state was as strong as never before.

Saint Methodius possessed the gift of prophecy. Many of his prophecies came true; We will indicate some of them.

One pagan prince who lived along the Vistula River cursed Christians and caused them hardships. Saint Methodius sent to him to say: “It is better for you, son, to be baptized of your own free will and in your own land, than to be baptized involuntarily as a captive on a foreign land.”

This is what happened.

Once Svyatopolk fought with the pagans and the war dragged on. The day of remembrance of the Holy Apostle Peter was approaching, and Saint Methodius sent to say to Svyatopolk: “If you promise to be with me on Peter’s day with your troops, I believe that God will soon betray the pagans to you.”

And so it happened.

One rich man married his daughter-in-law. Saint Methodius taught and mentored him a lot, but could not convince them to divorce. Others, because of their wealth, flattered them. Then Methodius said to this rich man: “The time will come when the flatterers will not be able to help you and you will remember my words, but it will be too late.”

Suddenly, at God's discretion, these rich people were attacked by such a disease that they could not find a restful place for themselves. They died in this state.

The old enemy and envious man of the human race again raised up open and secret enemies against Methodius, as Dathan and Aviron once did against Moses (). At this time, heretics appeared who taught that the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Son. These heretics seduced the faithful from the true path, and about Saint Methodius, who denounced their wicked teaching, they said: “The Pope gave us power and ordered us to expel Methodius and his teaching.”

All the Moravians gathered and ordered to read in front of all the people the message by which Methodius was supposedly expelled. The people grieved a lot, deprived of such a shepherd and teacher, excluding those who are controlled by flattery, like the wind controls leaves. In the same message from the pope it was written: “Our brother, Methodius, is faithful and performs apostolic ministry. All Slavic countries are subordinate to him from the apostolic throne, and whomever he curses is cursed, and whomever he sanctifies will be holy."

After this, all Methodius’ enemies dispersed in shame. The malice of the enemies of Saint Methodius did not end there. Wanting to annoy the saint, they said that the Greek king was angry with him, and if Methodius had been under his authority, he would not have been alive. The merciful God, not wanting his servant to be blasphemed by this, put it in the heart of the king - for the heart of the king is always in the hands of God - to send the following message to Saint Methodius: “Honest Father, I greatly desire to see you. Do a good deed and take the trouble to come to us so that we can see you while you are alive and receive a blessing from you."

Saint Methodius went to Constantinople and was received here by the king and patriarch with great honor and joy. The king praised his teaching and, having kept two disciples of Saint Methodius, a priest and a deacon, with Slavic books, he sent Methodius himself back to Moravia with great gifts.

Saint Methodius had to endure a lot of troubles: in deserts - from robbers, in seas - from strong waves, in rivers - from sudden whirlpools, so that the apostolic word was fulfilled on him: “trouble in the rivers, trouble from robbers... trouble in the sea, trouble from the pagans; in labor and exhaustion, often in fasting, in hunger and thirst.”(). Then, leaving all worries and placing all sorrow on God, Saint Methodius, together with his two priest disciples, began to translate those books that he did not have time to translate with his brother, Blessed Constantine. Together with them, he managed to translate everything except the books of the Maccabees, and also translated the Nomocanon (the rules of the holy fathers) and the books of the fathers (Paterikon). Saint Methodius began his translation in the month of March, and completed it in October, on the 26th. Having completed the translation, Saint Methodius gave worthy praise and glory to God and Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki, on whose memory day he completed the translation and to whom, as a native of Thessalonica, he was especially reverent.

Around this time, the Hungarian king, who was in the Danube countries, wished to see Saint Methodius. Many urged Methodius, for fear of torment, not to go to this king, but Saint Methodius went. The Hungarian prince, as befits a king, met Methodius with honor, talked with him and sent him away with great gifts. Saying goodbye, the king said to the saint: “Remember me, honest father, always in your holy prayers.”

This is how Saint Methodius took care of his flock, looking for faithful followers of Christ in all countries and stopping long-winded lips. He, together with the apostle, could say: “I have completed my course, I have kept my faith, and now the crown of righteousness is laid up for me.” ().

When the time approached for Saint Methodius to receive peace from suffering and reward for his many labors, they began to ask him:

– Who, honest father and teacher, will you name from among your students as your successor?

Pointing to one of his disciples, Gorazd, the saint said:

“Here is a man of your land, a true believer and well versed in Latin books.” If it is the will of God and your love, I wish him to be my successor.

On Color Week, Saint Methodius came to church and could not serve due to weakness, but only prayed for the Greek king, the Slavic princes, the clergy and all the people and said:

- Watch me, children, until the third day.

And indeed, at dawn of the third day, Saint Methodius, with the words: “In Your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit,” fell asleep in the Lord in the priestly arms. It was April 6, 885.

The funeral service was performed in Latin, Greek and Slavic, and was held in the cathedral church in Velehrad. Countless people gathered for the burial. There were men and women, big and small, rich and poor, free and slaves, widows and orphans, strangers and natives, sick and healthy. Everyone saw off with tears such a good teacher and shepherd, who was everything to everyone, “that he may gain all things.”

You are a holy and honest leader! from above in your prayers remember us, who call you, and deliver from all the misfortunes of your disciples, spreading the teachings of Christ and denouncing heresies, so that, having fulfilled with dignity your calling in this life, your flock may stand with you at the right hand of Christ our God, having received from him eternal life. For to Him belongs glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.

Troparion, tone 4:

As the apostle of unanimity and the Slovenian countries, the teacher, Cyril and Methodius of God-wisdom, pray to the Lord of all, to establish all Slovenian languages ​​in Orthodoxy and unanimity, to pacify the world and save our souls.

Kontakion, tone 3:

We honor the sacred duo of our enlighteners, who, by translating the divine Scriptures, poured out the source of knowledge of God for us, from whom we draw endlessly even to this day; we bless you, Cyril and Methodius, who stand before the throne of the Most High and pray warmly for our souls.

It is unknown when the Slavs arrived in Europe. Around the 2nd century. according to R. X. The Slavs were known along the middle and lower reaches of the river. Danube. Here they had to endure a lot from the Volokhs, i.e. the Romans, during the time of Trajan, so that the Slavs were forced to leave their Danube homes. After this, the Slavs stopped in the Carpathian Mountains from the 2nd to the 7th centuries. From here, under the leadership of Prince Dulebov, the Slavs waged long wars with Byzantium and from here, as a result of the invasion of the Avars, they settled in different directions. There is a legend that Heraclius, king of the Greeks, in the 7th century. invited the Slavs to the Balkan Peninsula to fight the Avars. Other tribes of the same Slavic tribe, under the onslaught of the Avars, went up the tributaries of the Danube and began to live there under different names. Along the Morava River are the Moravians, to the west of them are the Czechs. To the north of the Czechs are the Serbs - Lusatians, to the east along the river. Vistula - Poles. Some of the Slavs from the Carpathians went to the east and northeast and took places along the river. Dnieper, Oka and all the way to Novgorod - these are the glades, Drevlyans, northerners, etc., who inhabited the Russian plain.

The Kozars, whom the Greeks called Khazars and the Romans Gazars, were known under the general name of Scythians. They spoke a Slavic or Russian language and lived near the Meotian or Dead (Azov) Lake, into which the Don River flows, separating (in ancient times) Europe from Asia. In this country, at first lived the tribe of the first son of Japheth Gamer, called the Gemers, in Greek the Chimers, and in Russian the Cymbrians, and from them the mouth of the Meotian Lake, flowing into the Pontus Euxine (Black Sea), was called the Chimerian Bosphorus, i.e. bottleneck in the Chimerian Sea. When the Cymbrians went to the midnight countries (to the north) and mixed with various peoples, called Lithuanians, Zhmudi, Goths, etc., then in their place near the Meotian Lake or the Cimmerian Bosphorus one of the Scythian tribes of Turkic origin began to live, called Alans (from Alans). mountains), which later received the name Kozary (from the Kozary River). This tribe multiplied greatly and began to live on both banks of the Don River: in Asia - to the Volga, which flows into the Caspian or Khvalynsk Sea, in Europe - to the Dnieper, which flows into the Black Sea, and even further - to Nannonia, but now called by other names: Avars, Huns, etc. The Kozars had rude morals and were ugly in appearance. They, like nomadic people, lived in tents, moving from place to place. They ate more vegetables and half-raw meat than bread; they were very brave in war and feared everyone. The ruler of the Kozars was called “Kagan” (khagan or hayan), like our king or prince. There are many indications from Greek and Roman chroniclers about the courage of this people. The Kozars caused much grief to Constantinople during the reign of Heraclius, during the patriarchate of Sergius, when they were miraculously defeated by the invincible power of the Most Pure Mother of God, Who protected Her city from the filthy Kozars and the Persians who united with them, as this event is described at length in the Synaxar, on the 5th Saturday of Lent. Long later, the Greek king Leo the Isaurian, wishing to live in peace with the Kozars, married his son Constantine (Copronimus) to the daughter of the Kagan of Kozars, who was named Irina after baptism. They had a son Leo, who was called Kazarin or Khazaris by his mother (this Leo had a wife Irina, who, after the death of her husband, restored Orthodoxy, rejecting the iconoclastic heresy at the VII Ecumenical Council). After this marriage, the Greeks began to live in peace with the Kozars, and the latter began to become acquainted with the Christian faith. Christianity began to spread among the Kozars mainly from the Khersonians (Kherson is a Greek colony) and especially after St. teachers Constantine and Methodius. For a long time, the Kozars took tribute from the Russian Slavs: from every house a squirrel skin and from every plow a shell. This tribute was stopped by Askold and Dir, who took it from the Kozars, northerners and Radimichi. Svyatoslav, the father of St., finally defeated the (European) kozars. Vladimir, who took their city of Belaya Vezha and imposed tribute on them, while the Asian Kozars (who lived between the Don and Volga) were conquered by the Polovtsians and Pechenegs.

So Borivoy, the prince of the Czechs, sent messengers to Svyatopolk to say that the Czech prince wanted to be baptized and was asking for priests. Svyatopolk said to the Czech messengers: “Ask Bishop Methodius; let him choose two or three priests and send them with you to your prince.” St. Methodius himself went to the Czech Republic and baptized Borivoy, his wife Lyudmila and their two sons. Saint Methodius remained in the Czech Republic for about a year and consecrated the first two Czech churches: one in the city of Litomysl, and the other in Levy Hradec. Then Methodius left several Slavic priests in the Czech Republic and returned to Moravia. St. Methodius sent priests to Poland, where they baptized the king and many Poles.

By this time circumstances had completely changed. German priests, many of whom were infected with this heresy, began to appear again in Moravia and win over Svyatopolk to their side. Svyatopolk, although he was baptized, did not live like a Christian: he drank a lot of wine, had many wives and could not control himself in anger. Methodius tried in every possible way to convince the prince to abandon his vices, denounced him in private and in front of everyone, but nothing helped. When the German priests began to visit Svyatopolk, they began to tell him about Methodius: “Why are you, prince, listening to this old man? you see, he is not like other people, he gives everything to everyone and lives like a beggar. You, prince, are the ruler of your land." With many similar flattering words, the German priests completely quarreled Svyatopolk with St. Methodius. Then they began to complain about Methodius to Pope John, accusing him of heresy, and mainly trying to eradicate Slavic worship. Pope John, wishing at this time to receive help against the Saracens from the German king, took the side of the German priests and sent a message to Moravia that prohibited Slavic service and only allowed preaching in the Slavic language. Methodius, having read this message, said: “What will happen now? People will come to church and stand there, not understanding anything. And the teachings of Christ will be forgotten and pagan customs will resurrect in Moravia. No, I will not serve in Latin, it will be harmful to people.” The German priests reported this to the pope, and the pope demanded Methodius to Rome. Saint Methodius arrived in Rome and the pope instituted a trial over him. At this time, the pope received help in the war with the Saracens from the Greek king Basil the Macedonian, and therefore took the side of Methodius. At this trial, St. Methodius was acquitted, restored as archbishop in the Slavic lands and received permission to perform divine services in the Slavic language. But, not wanting to offend Svyatopolk, the pope wrote him the following message: “If you, prince, do not like the Slavic mass, you can listen to the Latin mass in your palace, from German priests.” Together with Methodius, as his assistant, the Viking priest, a protege of the German king and a fierce enemy of the Slavs, went to Moravia. This Viking became the main enemy of Saint Methodius. The German priests began to tell Svyatopolk that Methodius did not bring a real letter, but there was another one, according to which Methodius should be expelled and Viking installed as archbishop. Then Saint Methodius wrote the following letter to Pope John: “Whom, father, have you installed as archbishop: me or Viking? “It was to this letter that dad sent the indicated message.

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Brief life of Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril, teacher of Slovenia

Memory 14 February s.s.

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine (Cyril) was born in the city of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki) in 827. The parent of Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril, a noble and rich nobleman named Leo, and his mother Mary lived piously, fulfilling the commandments of God. Constantine - a royal name - was the seventh son. When his mother, upon birth, gave him to a nurse so that she could feed him, he did not want to feed on someone else's milk, but only on his mother's milk...
The city of Thessaloniki was home to a large Slavic population, whose language was familiar to Saint Cyril from childhood. There are suggestions that Saint Cyril was a Slav and is called a Greek in sources due to his membership in the Greek Church. When he was seven years old, Konstantin had a dream and told it to his father and mother, in the following words: “The governor, the strategist of our city, gathered all the girls of the city and said to me: “Choose from among them whomever you want to help you and be your peer.” I looked around, looked at them all and noticed one, the most beautiful of all, with a luminous face, decorated with many golden monists and pearls and ornaments; her name was Sophia. I chose her." The parents realized that the Lord was giving the child the Virgin Sophia, i.e. Wisdom, they rejoiced in spirit and with diligence began to teach Constantine not only book reading, but also Godly good morals - spiritual wisdom. “Son,” they said to Constantine in the words of Solomon, “honor the Lord and be strong; keep the commandments and live; write the words of God on the tablet of your heart; Narts (call. - Ed.) Wisdom be your sister, but understanding (that is, close, dear) is known to you (Proverbs 7: 1-4). Wisdom shines brighter than the sun, and if you have it as your assistant, it will save you from much evil.”
It is known what successes this youth showed in the sciences, especially in the study of the works of St. Gregory the Theologian. He studied Homer, geometry, dialectics and philosophy under the guidance of the logothete drome Theoctistus and the future Patriarch Photius. Even in his youth, Saint Constantine was called the Philosopher. In addition, he studied rhetoric, arithmetic, astronomy, musical art and other secular sciences, and also knew Latin, Syriac and other languages.
Although Saint Constantine was brought up at the royal court, together with the young Emperor Michael, and could have taken a high position, he remembered his Girlfriend, and therefore refused a noble and beautiful bride.
When Saint Constantine was elevated to the priesthood, he was simultaneously appointed librarian at the Church of Hagia Sophia. It was from this chosen one of Sophia that Russian Orthodoxy received its beginning.
The apostolic mission among the Slavs was for St. Cyril the pinnacle of feat, for which he was prepared by the Providence of God and St. Sophia all his life. After accepting the priesthood, Saint Cyril, striving for solitude, did not remain in Constantinople for long: he secretly left and hid in one of the monasteries on the coast of the Golden Horn. Only six months later the emperor managed to find him and persuade him to become a philosophy teacher at the main school in Constantinople. Saint Cyril returned to Constantinople. From the time he entered preaching and public church service, his strict zeal for the establishment of Orthodoxy became apparent.
Saint Cyril’s first debate was with the leader of the heretical iconoclasts, Annius. The aged Annius was defeated and put to shame by the young philosopher Saint Cyril.
In 851, Saint Cyril, by order of the emperor, went to the Saracens to prove to them the truth of the Christian teaching about the Holy Trinity. This was the saint's first missionary journey, which he made at the age of 24.
Saint Cyril so skillfully defended the truth of the Orthodox faith and so exposed the falsity of the teachings of Muslims that the Saracen sages, not knowing what to answer him, tried to poison the saint. But the Lord kept His servant unharmed. Upon his return from the Saracens, Saint Cyril renounced the honorary position of teacher of philosophy and settled in a monastery on Olympus, where his elder brother Saint Methodius (815-885, Comm. April 6) labored. Saint Cyril spent several years in monastic deeds, prayer and reading the works of the holy fathers. On Olympus he began to study the Slavic language and became acquainted with Hebrew and Coptic writing.
In 858, ambassadors from the Khazars came to Constantinople with a request to send a learned man to them so that he would expose the lies of the Saracen and Jewish preachers who were trying to convert the Khazars to their faith. Emperor Michael III sent St. Cyril to the Khazars to preach the Gospel. His holy brother Methodius also went with him. Along the way, the holy brothers stopped for some time in the Crimea, in the Greek colony of Chersonesos. There Saint Cyril studied Jewish grammar. At the same time, Saint Cyril became acquainted with the Gospel and Psalter, written in Russian letters.
In Chersonesos, the holy brothers took part in the opening of the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome. Taking with them part of the holy relics, they continued their journey.