Lives of Orthodox contemporary saints. Who and how writes the lives of the saints

In the old days, reading the Lives of the Saints was one of the favorite activities of all sections of the Russian people. At the same time, the reader was interested not only in historical facts from the life of Christian ascetics, but also in a deep edifying and moral meaning. Today, the Lives of the Saints have receded into the background. Christians prefer to sit in Internet forums and social networks. However, is this normal? Journalists think about it Marina Voloskova, teacher Anna Kuznetsova and old believer writer Dmitry Urushev.

how created hagiographic literature

The study of Russian holiness in its history and its religious phenomenology has always been relevant. Today, the study of hagiographic literature is managed by a separate direction in philology, called hagiography . It should be noted that hagiographic literature for a medieval Russian was not just an actual type of reading, but a cultural and religious component of his life.

The Lives of the Saints are essentially biographies of clergy and secular persons glorified for veneration by the Christian Church or its individual communities. From the first days of its existence, the Christian Church carefully collected information about the life and work of its ascetics and communicated them to its children as an instructive example.

The Lives of the Saints constitute perhaps the most extensive section of Christian literature. They were the favorite reading of our ancestors. Many monks and even laymen were engaged in rewriting of lives, richer people ordered collections of lives for themselves. Since the 16th century, in connection with the growth of the Moscow national consciousness, collections of purely Russian hagiographies have appeared.

For example, Metropolitan Macarius under Tsar John IV, he created a whole staff of scribes and clerks who, for more than twenty years, accumulated ancient Russian writing into an extensive literary collection Great Fourth Menaion. In it, the Lives of the Saints took pride of place. In ancient times, in general, the reading of hagiographic literature was treated, one might say, with the same reverence as the reading of Holy Scripture.

Over the centuries of its existence, Russian hagiography has gone through different forms knew different styles. The lives of the first Russian saints are the works of " The Tale of Boris and Gleb", life Vladimir Svyatoslavich, Princess Olga, Theodosius of the Caves, Abbot of the Kiev Caves Monastery, and others. Among the best writers of Ancient Russia, who devoted their pen to the glorification of the saints, Nestor the Chronicler, Epiphanius the Wise and Pachomius Logofet stand out. The first in the time of the Lives of the Saints were the stories about the martyrs.

Even Saint Clement, Bishop of Rome, during the first persecution of Christianity, set up seven notaries in various districts of Rome to record daily what happened to Christians in places of execution, as well as in dungeons and courts. Despite the fact that the pagan government threatened the recorders with the death penalty, the records continued throughout the persecution of Christianity.

In the pre-Mongolian period in the Russian church there was full set menaias, prologues and synoxareas corresponding to the liturgical circle. Of great importance in Russian literature were patericons - special collections of the lives of saints.

Finally, the last common source for the memory of the saints of the Church is calendars and monastics. The origin of calendars dates back to the earliest times of the Church. From the testimony of Asterius of Amasia it can be seen that in the IV century. they were so full that they contained names for all the days of the year.

From the beginning of the 15th century, Epiphanius and the Serb Pachomius created a new school in northern Russia - a school of artificially decorated, extensive life. This is how a stable literary canon is created, a magnificent “weaving of words”, which Russian scribes strive to imitate until the end of the 17th century. In the era of Metropolitan Macarius, when many ancient unskillful hagiographic records were being rewritten, the works of Pachomius were entered into the Cheti-Minei intact. The vast majority of these hagiographic monuments are strictly dependent on their models.

There are lives that are almost entirely written off from the most ancient ones; others use the established literary etiquette, refraining from accurate biographical data. Hagiographers involuntarily do this, separated from the saint by a long period of time - sometimes centuries, when even folk tradition dries up. But here, too, the general law of hagiographic style, similar to the law of icon painting, operates. It requires the subordination of the particular to the general, the dissolution of the human face in the heavenly glorified face.

Valuable then, what modern?

At present, the classical hagiographic literature is fading into the background. In its place come news feeds social media, at best, reports from the printed church media. The question arises: have we chosen the right path of church informational life? Is it true that we only occasionally recall the deeds of glorified saints, but pay more attention to the events of the modern day - loud, and tomorrow already forgotten?

Christians are less and less interested not only in lives, but also in other ancient literary monuments. Moreover, in the Old Believers this problem is felt more acutely than even in the Russian Orthodox Church. On the shelves of the bookstores of the Moscow Patriarchate, there is a lot of hagiographic literature, just have time to buy and read it. Some Old Believers express the idea that everything can be bought there. Their bookshops are full of various church literature, biographies of Sergius of Radonezh, Stefan of Perm, Dionysius of Radonezh and many others.

But are we really so weak that we ourselves cannot (or do not want to) publish a collection of lives or publish it in the parish newspaper short review the life of this or that saint? Moreover, literary monuments published by non-Orthodox church publishing houses are full of inaccurate translations, and sometimes even deliberate historical or theological falsifications. So, for example, today it is not difficult to stumble upon the publication of Domostroy, where in the chapter on church customs all ancient customs are replaced by modern ones.

Now periodicals Old Believers are filled with news materials, but there is practically no educational information. And if there is none, then people will not have sufficient knowledge. And it is not surprising that many traditions are forgotten, once the most important names, symbols and images are erased from memory.

It is no coincidence that, for example, in the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church and other Old Believer agreements there is not a single church dedicated to holy noble princes Boris and Gleb. Although these princes were the most revered Russian saints before the church schism, today, apart from an entry in the calendar and a rare service (and even then, if the day of remembrance falls on Sunday), they are not revered in any way. What then to say about other, less well-known saints? They are completely forgotten.

Therefore, we must do everything possible for spiritual enlightenment. Hagiographic literature is a faithful assistant in this matter. Even a five-minute reading of the Life sets a person up for a good pastime, strengthens in faith.

By publishing, even if abbreviated, the Lives of the Saints, teachings, sermons, and possibly collections of church rules, apologetics, we will thereby help a person to learn more about his faith. This can save many believers from superstitions, false rumors and dubious customs, including those borrowed from non-Orthodox denominations, which are rapidly spreading and turning into a "new church tradition." Even if elderly, experienced people often become hostages of ideas received from dubious sources, then young people can become a victim of harmful information even faster.

Request for vintage literary works, including the Lives of the Saints, is available. For example, the parishioners of the Rzhev Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos have repeatedly expressed the opinion that they would like to see interesting hagiographic stories about local, Tver saints in the parish newspaper Pokrovsky Vestnik. Perhaps it is worth thinking about this and other Old Believer publications.

returning to Old Russian traditions enlightenment

Today, many Old Believer authors and journalists consider it important to publish hagiographic literature, to revive the reader's sense of reverence for the names of ancient ascetics. They raise the question of the need for more educational work within the Old Believers themselves.

Anna Kuznetsova - journalist, member joint venture Russia, teacher additional education in G. Rzhev

It is not only possible, but also necessary, to publish the lives of the saints, only in a convenient and not very expensive format. We also have saints canonized after the schism of the 17th century. And in the bulk, people remember only Archpriest Avvakum and the noblewoman Morozova, and therefore associate only them with the Old Faith.

And judging by the way our leading hagiographers are engaged in research on these issues about people who lived one and a half or two centuries ago, it turns out that we are “behind” by just two centuries. In this sense, there is no intelligible bookish church policy, therefore, apart from the archpriest and "those who suffered like him", we do not know anyone ...

Dmitry Alexandrovich Urushev - historian, member of the Union of Journalists of Russia

The Apostle Paul writes: “Remember your leaders, who have spoken the word of God to you, theirs, looking to the end of their residence, imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7).

Christians should honor their mentors - the saints of God, imitate their faith and life. Therefore, the Orthodox Church from ancient times established the veneration of saints, dedicating every day of the year to one or another righteous person - a martyr, ascetic, apostle, saint or prophet.

Just as a loving mother takes care of her children, so the Church took care of her children, for their benefit and edification, writing down the lives of the saints in the Prologue. This book consists of four volumes, one for each season. In the Prologue, short lives are arranged daily, in addition, one or more teachings of the holy fathers are given for each day. A more extensive collection of lives and teachings is called the Fourth Menaion and consists of twelve menaion - monthly volumes.

The cumbersome Cheti-Minei are rare and inaccessible books. And the compact Prologue, on the contrary, was very popular in Ancient Russia. It was often rewritten and reprinted many times. Earlier, the Old Believers read the Prologue with pleasure, receiving great benefit and correct instruction in a righteous life.

Reading the lives of God's saints and spiritual teachings, Christians of the past had before them the example of holy martyrs and ascetics, they were always ready to courageously stand for Orthodoxy and piety, they were ready to fearlessly confess their faith before the enemies of the Church, not fearing executions and tortures.

But the Prologue is written in Old Church Slavonic. And during the years of Soviet power among Christians, his knowledge has significantly decreased, and the very circle of reading Slavic books has narrowed exclusively to liturgical books. Now the sad fact noted by V.G. Belinsky in the middle of the 19th century: “Slavic and ancient books in general can be a subject of study, but by no means of enjoyment; they can only be dealt with by learned people, not society.”

What to do? Alas, we will have to set aside the Prologue, Chet'i-Minei and other soul-beneficial reading in the Old Slavonic language on the shelf. Let's be realistic, now only a few experts can penetrate this ancient source of wisdom and draw from it the water of life. The ordinary parishioner is deprived of this pleasure. But we cannot allow modernity to rob and impoverish him!

It is impossible to force all Christians to study the language of ancient Russian literature. Therefore, instead of Old Slavonic books, books in Russian should appear. Of course, creating a complete translation of the Prolog is a difficult and time-consuming task. Yes, probably unnecessary. After all, since the middle of the 17th century, since the time of the schism, new saints appeared in the Church, new teachings were written. But they are not reflected in the printed Prologue. We must work to create a new corpus of soulful reading for Christians.

It will no longer be the Prologue and not the Cheti-Minei. These will be new compositions, written simply and entertainingly, designed for the widest possible audience. Suppose it will be a selection of educational literature, including publicly available books on the Holy Scriptures, on church history, on Christian theology, on the lives of the saints, textbooks Orthodox worship and Old Church Slavonic.

It is these publications that should stand on bookshelf in the home of every old believer. For many, they will be the first rung on the ladder of God's wisdom. Then, by reading more difficult books, the Christian will be able to rise higher and grow spiritually. After all, what to hide, many Old Believers do not understand anything in their old faith.

I was unpleasantly surprised when I encountered such a phenomenon: a person lives Christian life, prays and fasts, regularly attends divine services, but knows nothing about the teachings of the Church and its history. Meanwhile, Soviet times, when it was enough for going to the temple that “my grandmother went there”, have gone into the irrevocable past. New times ask us new questions and require new answers about our faith.

What can we say when we don't know anything? Therefore, we must not forget that Christianity has always been based on books. Without them, our faith and history seem inexplicable.

ABOUT LIFE GENRE

The problem to which this article is devoted was born relatively recently. Over the past decade, when hundreds of saints were canonized, for the most part those whose feat graced the 20th century, there was an urgent need to write their lives. Here the problem arose: in what genre, in what manner should one tell about those people whose lives are still kept in the memory of eyewitnesses and are sometimes even surrounded by conflicting memories?

So, the danger or problem in writing the lives is in "embellishing the lives of the saints", "in multiplication or understatement." What is meant? It seems that, first of all, this refers to the introduction by the author of this or that life of his own subjective assessments of the actions of the ascetic. I will give an example from the book "The New Martyrs of the St. Petersburg Diocese": about the participants of the "Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood", which operated in the city on the Neva for more than a decade, it is said that they were "romantics"

This is nothing but the author's interpretation. The materials of the investigation on the named brotherhood testify that the people who were part of it, despite the fact that they lived under the constant threat of arrest and physical violence, continued to serve the common cause. This is not romanticism, but courage. Although our last phrase is also evaluative. But, if it were part of the life, it would have to be designated as an answer to the question: "what is the instructive meaning of the feat of this saint." This is how the lives that were included in the corpus of the "Cheti-Minei" were traditionally compiled. The author-compiler (first of all, we mean St. Dmitry of Rostov) remembered that the lives are part of the Church Tradition. Therefore, they must be theologically verified, since they have a doctrinal meaning. Therefore, sometimes fascinating interesting details were removed from the lives. The inclusion of any episode from the available biographies of the saint in his life was considered in the light of the question: what does this act or this word teach. Semitones, nuances, things that could confuse ordinary believing people, things that can be called "little things in life" that are not important for eternity, were removed from the lives.

In general, in ancient times, the reading of the lives of the saints was treated with almost the same reverence as the reading of the Holy Scriptures. There was even a special prayer that was said before the reading of the life: “Tell me Thy secret and obscure wisdom, I trust in Thee, O God, that You enlighten our mind and thought with the light of Thy mind, not only written in honor, but I also create, but not in I will read sin to myself the teachings and lives of the saints, but for the renewal and enlightenment and salvation of my soul and for leading me into eternal life.

Every compiler of the lives of the saints of our time should remember this prayer - one cannot chase after the amount of material, one must weigh each testimony before letting it out to the people. A sad example is the four-volume book dedicated to Elder Sampson (Sivers), published by his spiritual children more than a decade ago. Then, when the books, in which materials about the elder were collected with the fullest possible completeness, went out of print, we were very happy: finally, what had been “walking in Samizdat” for many years became “public”. But it soon became clear that this edition caused serious damage to the memory of the elder. Elementary editorial work was not carried out. And so the book is full of contradictions. Elder Samson, which is typical of every elder, delivered or wrote his teachings, addressing a specific person, taking into account the level of his consciousness and everyday circumstances. Therefore, on the same issue (the most striking example in the legacy of the elder - statements about the upbringing of children), he could give completely different tips. Could in oral speech the elder to meet both errors in quoting and gaps in memory regarding some ancient events. Before publishing all the surviving texts, they had to be verified and systematized. And now, "thanks to" an ill-conceived edition to the personality of Elder Sampson, some church people a wary attitude was established, confirmation of which they found in archival documents.

The author of these lines remembers a significant dispute around the biography of the New Martyrs of Optina - Hieromonk Vasily, monks Trofim and Ferapont. N.A. Pavlova, a Moscow journalist who settled almost from the very beginning of the revival of the monastery in the village near Optina Hermitage, collected a lot of materials from local residents, pilgrims, laborers, monks of the monastery about the brothers killed in 1993. Moreover, in these memoirs, the collector tried to preserve the linguistic features of the narrators (including village grandmothers with their folk dialect and former people bohemians with their "party language"). The memoirs were accompanied by a rather lengthy author's text - Nina Alexandrovna's reasoning about the fate of the new generation, about " new history"the resurgent Optina, there were many author's verbal portraits and the author's assessment of the described and published material. The monastery did not approve such work. And they asked to rewrite everything "according to the canon." N.A. Pavlova could not do this. Another person used her materials and according to blessing of Optina Pustyn published a series of books. It is no coincidence that they remained nameless, because they really were compiled according to the canon, without unnecessary details, without emotional assessments, strictly and dryly. But when N.A. it is precisely this genre that is especially in demand by readers - in a short time the book, which was published in 20,000 copies, was reprinted three times.In praise of N.A. there are almost none in the final version. asnoy" was twice as large as the published book). And there is a lively, heartfelt story that really touched the souls of many people.

The example of N.A. Pavlova is worthy of imitation - she "did not look for her own", but tried, given to her really bright writing talent, to use for the glory of God, humbly agreeing with the strict editorial correction.

But among the compilers of lives there are those who are clearly "looking for their own". The saddest example is associated with the name of the old woman Pelagia of Ryazan. Ten years ago, the "Eternal Life" newspaper published "the prophecies of the blessed Pelageya", which confused many believers, provided with her life, in copies they were persistently distributed among the believers. And so far this distribution work has not subsided. The main motive of these prophecies is the sinfulness of the modern priesthood. I do not want to retell the details of this obviously anti-church propaganda. Three years ago, with the blessing of Metropolitan Simon of Ryazan and Kasimov, the book "Biography of Blessed Pelageya Zakharovskaya" was published. From her we learn that she was a true servant of God, and among her spiritual children there were many priests, those whom she herself inspired to make this difficult choice at that time life path. And none of the admirers of the blessed one testifies that the main thing in her feat was the denunciation of the vices of the priesthood.

Even if the blessed one said something on this subject, the people should not be embarrassed. When solving such issues, the work of not just a literary, but a theological editor is necessary, although again the author's position is of great importance. For example, the author of the life of St. Seraphim of Vyritsky - V.P. Filimonov did not include in the story about the Reverend Elder the story of the bitter fate of his son. And the compilers of the life of St. rights. John of Odessa tell in detail what sorrows the saint endured from his children. In the life of St. rights. John of Kronstadt says nothing about the complexities of his relationship with the Petrograd priesthood. And in the life of schmch. Seraphim (Chichagov) tells about the opposition of the Synod in the canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov. In various "excerpts from the life" of St. Nicholas of Japan tells about his mission in different ways. Some speak of her unclouded success, while others, relying on the authentic diaries of the Saint, draw attention to the difficulties of his feat in the "Land of the Rising Sun".

In the author's books about recently departed ascetics, those who knew them personally, all the more find "author's arbitrariness." Thus, the book about the schema nun Anthony (Kaveshnikova), which captivated many, caused a claim among those who knew her personally (unlike the author-compiler of the Life), that the image of the mother was rendered implausibly. The book about Elder Macarius "Given by God" aroused among people who do not like the escalation of mysticism the suspicion of the lack of spiritual sobriety of its author. The real embarrassment was produced by the book of schemamon. Nikolai (Groyan) about the ever-remembered elder Nikolai Zalitsky. First of all, the persistent statement about the secret scheming and episcopacy of the priest. Examples can be multiplied.

There is probably only one way out so far. If the author allows himself to make some kind of individual selection of facts when writing the life of an ascetic (when there are many sources), he is obliged to put his name before the text. Thus, he will be responsible for the interpretation. And we have such hagiographic authors (following the example of Nilus, Poselyanin, Shmelev and Zaitsev), these are A. Ilyinskaya, A. Strizhev, N. Konyaev, V. Voskoboynikov, V. Krupin. In their lives there is only their characteristic, unique writing style. I must say that it is not always possible to agree with him, sometimes such lives resemble works of art with the main character and other characters. And you can define their essence with the words: "the image of the saint, created by the writer N".

Recently, one person "from the writing brethren" told me an instructive story about how he compiled the life of an ascetic elder revered in Ukraine. In the monastery where the ascetic labored, he was provided with a mass of already collected archival materials and eyewitness recollections, and he enthusiastically set about studying them and compiling his life. Over the summer, he wrote a whole book in which, in his opinion, he only recounted the materials provided to him. In the autumn, after the father rector and the brethren of the monastery got acquainted with the manuscript, an unexpected verdict came from them: everything needs to be rewritten, because the life is written in a condemning tone. "The elder was loving, all-forgiving, and you denounce his persecutors. This is not his spirit." Thank God, the compiler of the above-mentioned life found the courage to get down to work again and began to remove his "author's style" from it, in which there was an exaltation of the old man by exposing his enemies. But not every writer has the patience and humility to "step on the throat of his own song." Thus, in the lives of the already glorified saints, evidence of ill-conceivedness, inaccuracy of the position of their authors appears.

So, in the "hagiographical genre" at present there is a great variety, in addition to the "varieties of hagiography" already mentioned by us. There are lives written for different children's ages (from kindergarten to high school students); publications of handwritten editions of the same life with abundant commentary; Scientific research, in which the life of the saint is included in the "context of time"; ideological program lives, in which the ascetic is declared the banner of some social movement, most often of a nationalist persuasion (this is more related to Catholic saints).

Let's go back to where we started this article. Thus, it turns out that not every life can be included in the Church Tradition. There are lives that can be called "the fruit of individual creativity." We have historical examples of reinterpretation of the feat of our saints by L. Tolstoy, D. Merezhkovsky, L. Andreev and D. Andreev, N. Roerich and occultists of various persuasions. And now the lives of Orthodox saints can appear in the series "Great Soothsayers" or "Great Healers", in which paganism is mixed with Christianity, although the mixture is not directly stated. Therefore, every time you get another book with materials from the biographies of modern ascetics, you need to read it with reason, asking for the opinions of spiritually authoritative people.

In pre-revolutionary times, in our theological schools, the question was discussed, which again goes "on the agenda" - the need to introduce into training course a new subject called "Hagiology" or "the doctrine of Orthodox holiness." Our time urgently demands a theological substantiation of the Orthodox doctrine of holiness. And not only at the level of teaching in special spiritual educational institutions but also at the church level. If this work is done by learned theologians, then it will be easier for the editors who are preparing this or that life of the saint for publication.

We also recall the decision of the Holy Synod of December 26, 2002 "On streamlining in the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church the practice related to the canonization of saints", which states "that when preparing materials for the canonization of saints, one should take into account:
1. Materials for the canonization of an ascetic must be carefully prepared and considered by the Diocesan Commission for the Canonization of Saints, which was decided by the Council of Bishops in 1992 (see Act on Canonization .., paragraph 11: "To form commissions for canonization in all dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church saints to collect and study materials for the canonization of ascetics of faith and piety, especially martyrs and confessors of the 20th century, within each diocese").
2. It is unacceptable to publish unverified materials related to the life, deeds and sufferings of clerics and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church. Such evidence must be verified locally with the blessing of the Ruling Bishop. The ruling bishop can give a blessing for the publication of such materials only after personally familiarizing himself with their content.

We also recall that in the decision of the Council of Bishops in 2000. there is a definition: "Together with the glorification by name of the ascetics, whose feat has already been studied. The Council of Bishops glorified all the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia of the 20th century who suffered for Christ, still unknown to people, but led by God."

Such a glorification of the entire assembly for Christ of the martyred New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia of the 20th century, named and unnamed, did not leave outside the ecclesiastical veneration before God of all the saints of this period.

ABOUT THE LANGUAGE OF LIVES

Reading hagiographic literature has always been a favorite in Russia. People are accustomed to trusting the Lives as an indisputable source, and only in the last century the question of the authorship of the Lives arose. We thought about the fact that the information that is given in the life and how it is presented depends largely on the author-compiler. Surely, those who read the entire Menaion noticed that among the many lives, sometimes for some reason very similar to each other, there are real pearls of hagiographic literature that stand out among the general mass. Usually these are the lives written by the direct disciples of the saints or, in extreme cases, by the disciples of the disciples (such, for example, are the lives of St. Alexander of Svir and St. Sergius of Radonezh).

In order to see how stories about the same saint told by different authors can differ, it is sometimes enough to compare different editions of the same text. Particularly characteristic in this sense are the lives composed for the great Stoglavy Cathedral of 1547 - they were all written on the basis of a certain church-political concept. It was important to approve the succession from Byzantium and the idea of ​​"Moscow - the Third Rome". It is this era - the beginning of the 16th century - that gives us a curious phenomenon: the image of a saint was considered by the author depending on what ideal of asceticism he professed - Josephite or non-possessive. If the life was written by a defender of the idea of ​​a symphony between the state and monasteries, the idea of ​​the enlightenment and state-forming relations of the monastery to the world, then these virtues were also boasted of by the saint. If a life was written by a non-possessor, then he first of all affirmed in the image of a saint his love in solitude, flight from the world, the path of personal innermost asceticism. Often the compilers of the lives allowed themselves and lengthy author's digressions-teachings of a general plan.

When writing a life, the literary tastes of its compiler also mean a lot, in other words, the language that was spoken and written at that time is important. Our time has given rise to a very special type of life - a dry archival story, on the basis of which the reader himself can create the image of an ascetic. Or - this is especially interesting - a type of life appeared, made up of the memories of various people, while maintaining the unique conversational style of each of them (stories are most often recorded in oral retelling). The most interesting, in my opinion, are the lives written by Bp. Varnava (Belyaev) and nun Maria (Skobtsova) - they combine high artistic style with liveliness of presentation and appeal to the modern reader and his problems. It is written about the ancient saints as if they were our contemporaries - because the temptations and exploits that fell to them are shown as eternal.

Several versions of the lives exist according to the Optina Elders. In my opinion, the most valuable and interesting remains what the disciples collected during the life of the ascetics. There are several options for the lives of bliss. Matrons. About St. rights. John of Kronstadt now, thank God, a lot of literature is coming out. Even the scientific Chronicle of his life began to be compiled. All this is very joyful. This means that we are growing, that we are getting the opportunity to recognize the saints not only in the established "face of the saints", but on the way to it. We can see the most important thing - the real path to holiness, and in the case of the saints of the last times - in very close and understandable circumstances to us.

The diversity of hagiographic literature forces us to be legible, collected, not to skim through habitual stereotyped phrases, but to read into unique, dissimilar texts. This is very good - our time does not allow us to make our faith a habit, a form in which it is convenient to live. Our time is constantly demanding to keep content in a changing world. And at the same time, we seem to be returning to the situation of the “golden age” of Christian writing, when various hagiographic genres existed and descendants had the opportunity to read the original “Acts of Martyrdom”, and not just retellings of them by one or another author.

In this article, we have not touched on yet another "hagiographic genre" - stories, novels and short stories written by modern writers based on the biographies of saints. This is a special topic and quite painful. In my opinion, we have very few successful experiences in this genre. You need to be S. Nilus or E. Poselyanin in order to be able to tell about the saint in such a way that bad taste does not break through or, even worse, your own passion does not obscure the bright images of our saints. And this often happens when some kind of direct speech is put into the mouths of the saints.

But it's good that lives are now being published for different ages, for different levels of people's perception. There are, for example, numerous children's versions of the lives of St. Seraphim of Sarov or St. Sergius of Radonezh. There are traditional lives in the style of "weaving words", and there are scientific texts, when the image of the saint is inscribed in the context of his era, so that everyone can choose what is closer and more necessary to him. Let's repeat once again, if only there were no "gag" in these publications, unnecessary author's digressions and bad obsession.

It would seem a strange question, but not an idle one. After all, modern man tends to see "myths and legends" in everything. And he can perceive Life in this way. Our ancestors defined the purpose of reading hagiographical literature as follows: "Saints of life - the fear of God is instilled in the soul, the evil are left, the good are accepted: those lives are sighted, they come to the sense of their deeds, they think of leaving the evil; the light is the saints lives and enlightenment to our souls ". These are the words of one of the ancient writers of the Lives (after all, they were copied by hand and it was very hard work).

In one old handwritten collection we find a prayer appeal - a request for a correct understanding of the lives: "Tell me Thy secret and obscure wisdom, I trust in Thee, O God, but Thou enlighten my mind and thought with the light of Thy mind, not only written honor, but also create I may not read the teachings and lives of the saints as a sin to myself, but for renewal and enlightenment and for the salvation of my soul and for leading me to eternal life.

It is a custom among church people to wake up from sleep (and in extreme cases the night before) among the usual prayer rule to address prayer appeals to the saint whose memory is indicated in church calendar. The author of these lines has to admit that now it is rarely possible to do this (you justify yourself with lack of time, but this is probably not the point). And there were times when it was even possible to read the entire life of the holy day - and now these times are remembered as the most blessed ones. And, perhaps, this reading has remained the main baggage of Christian wisdom to this day, and not all kinds of learned books, of which a lot has been read. In the lives of the saints, one can find grounds for resolving various difficulties that are encountered in life. And, if the samples of deeds and words of the saints are stored in the memory, then with the help of God, they sometimes come to mind at the right moment and keep from recklessness, and sometimes just from stupidity.

Even the Lord in his earthly life often used examples from the lives of the Old Testament righteous. So to solve the questions of the Pharisees: is it possible to grind the ears of the hungry on Saturday and eat? Our Savior pointed to the example of David, who ate the showbread - and the Pharisees had to be silent.

And in our time, when we are told: "Your Church is graceless. You have no continuity," we can answer: "Look how many saints we have. The 20th century gave more of them than the entire history of Christianity in Russia. It means that those who who denounced “historical Christianity.” The accusers almost all disappeared abroad, and those whom they denounced testified to the faith with the blood of martyrs.

And from my meager experience I can say that this reading sometimes really produces a prayerful effect: you read the life and involuntarily imbued with the spirit of this saint. The same thing happens when you have to retell lives in lectures, in programs or in articles - you involuntarily imbue with reverence for the saint. I remember how many years ago I came to Optina with a question to Elder Elijah: "They ask me to give lectures about the elders, but I'm afraid. I'm so bad." The father replied: “So always think that you are bad, but your work is good. People need to talk about the saints, And let the one who speaks or writes about the saints himself is unworthy, but the words of the saints and their lives do not fade from this.” These lectures had to be read more than once - and this turned out to be a source of consolation, because it was always remembered: "You are bad, but your work is good."

HOW DO CATHOLICS UNDERSTAND HOLINESS?

Much has been written about the difference between the Orthodox and Catholic ideals of holiness. But, as you know, even the most complex dogmatic problems are most easily understood with the help of specific examples. And now - the clearest example of our time, revered during her lifetime in the West as our saint contemporary - Mother Teresa. We know a lot about her work. Almost all of her exploits were widely covered in various media. Which in itself is also precisely a manifestation of Western "testimony" or missionary work. At the same time, an Orthodox nun lived with Mother Teresa - Elder Gabriel. She also worked with lepers in India. She also traveled all over the world, helping people bear their physical ailments (she was a doctor), she was undoubtedly a missionary. But she was not written about in the newspapers, she was not interviewed, she was not filmed in a group of politicians or higher hierarchs- All this is alien to Orthodox asceticism. They learned about Mother Gabrielia only after her death, when the students collected her statements and published a book. Now it has been translated from Greek and published in Russian. The teachings of Mother Gabriel, in fact, cannot even be called teachings - these are conversations, a simple conversation with loved ones. Talking to them, she simply shares her memories of what she had to see and experience during her travels. And if you look at the thematic index at the end of the book, you will be surprised to notice that mother does not speak at all about striving for holiness, does not speak about self-examination.

In order to understand how the Catholic ideal differs from the Orthodox, it is enough to open the last book of Mother Teresa "There is no more that love ...". All of it is permeated with a conscious desire for holiness. The book has a chapter on holiness, and it gives an example of a characteristic Catholic prayer: “He is the God Who loves us, the One who created us. Turning to Him, we can ask Him: “My Father, help me! I want to be holy, I want to be kind, I want to love!" Holiness is not a luxury reserved for some elite; it is not reserved for a select few. We are all called to it, you, and I, and everyone else." I said that this is a characteristic Catholic prayer, because the petition for holiness is also found in the biographies of ancient and new Catholic saints, according to the testimony of Western people I personally know, and is common for ordinary Catholics. Mother Teresa states in the same book: "To say, 'I want to be holy,' is to take the path of God, the path of salvation."

An Orthodox ascetic would reply to this: "To say, 'I want to become a saint,' means embarking on the path of delusion, self-deception, and self-admiration." Thus, while performing even great deeds of mercy, one can live constantly inwardly pleasing oneself with one's holiness.

But we, Orthodox neophytes, often without realizing it ourselves, embark on the same path. In a "heart-to-heart talk" with one woman, I heard: "I constantly think about what God intended me to be. What I should be. And every day I note what I did against that holy image." "We shouldn't rate ourselves on the scale of holiness," I told her. And she was very surprised: "But isn't this what the Fathers teach us?" - "No, they teach us to look not ahead at our holiness, but always look at our real sinfulness."

From the lives of Orthodox saints, we know that none of them thought that he was holy, did not even assume in himself any beginnings of holiness. And from century to century the teaching was repeated: "It is not a great thing to see an angel, a great thing is to see your sins, like the sand of the sea."

READING THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS

Do not go into difficult reading, it is not useful at all. The most instructive reading is the Lives of the Saints; theoretical knowledge is not given here, but living examples of imitation of Christ the Savior are presented. Let the saints be your mentors, do not have other teachers so as not to be embarrassed in spirit, especially those who try to distract from the Orthodox Church, run away from such mentors.

For example, reading the Lives of the Saints. When we read them, even the life of St. vmchts. Catherine, then the Saint begins to pray for such a person before the throne of God, and the prayer of the saints, of course, is important. Maybe some soul was on the verge of perdition, but by reading the Lives of the saints, she attracted their prayer for herself and was saved. Get these books: they are not so expensive, others get more, and by reading them we gain great benefit.

Learning to deal with your passions is very important and even necessary. The best guide in this is for you to read the Lives of the Saints. The world has long since abandoned it, but do not be conformed to the world, and this reading will give you much comfort. In the Lives of the Saints you will find instructions on how to fight the spirit of malice and remain victorious. May the Lord help you.

I have always advised and advise you to read the Lives of the Saints, and you will find great consolation in this reading. Your sorrows will seem insignificant to you compared to those that the saints endured. Reading the Lives of the Saints, you will have a desire, if possible, to imitate them. You will want to pray and ask the Lord for help, and the Lord will help.

In the world, reading the Lives of the Saints, and especially in the Slavic language, has been completely abandoned; but do not conform to the customs of this age, but engage in this saving reading.

Monasticism... how many times have we talked about it, but I always advise, if you don't join a monastery yourself, then at least read the descriptions of the life of holy monks and reverends. They can teach us a lot.

The world of evil spirits is now looking at us and is already forging fetters, wanting to destroy the words of the sinful Barsanuphius, but do not be afraid! The Lord will save us from their evil power. Read the Holy Scriptures, the Gospel, the Epistles, as well as the Lives of the Saints. This reading is of great importance, but here's what's sad: The lives of the saints are printed, perhaps acquired by some, but the majority do not read them. In the meantime, what benefit can be derived from this reading! In it we will find answers to many of our questions, they will teach us how to get out of a difficult situation, how to resist when darkness envelops the soul from all sides, so that it seems as if God has abandoned us.

What empty little books are given to children to read and destroy young souls. Reading the Lives of the saints fills their pure souls with light. After all, the word "holy" comes from the word "light", since the saints pour the Light of Christ around them. Reading the Lives of the Saints, you will not get knowledge of physics, chemistry, but you will learn to go deep into yourself, how to know yourself. There are the most learned people who seem to be fully educated, but without faith, they do not know their soul at all.

I remember my childhood. We lived in the village. My parents were believers. On holidays, my father usually read aloud the life of some saint before dinner. I remember that I was not even 7 years old, but I listened with enthusiasm to my father. I used to put my hands in blond curls and I'm afraid to utter a word from what my father reads.

“Papa,” I tell him, “I want to be a saint. Only now it hurts to go into the furnace or into the cauldron with tin.

“You can become a saint in other ways.

“I don’t have time to talk to you,” the father answers and continues reading.

I remember how my soul lit up from this reading. I was still small then, and my soul was pure. Reading had great importance for my later life. Now, though unworthy, I am still a monk. Our family was Orthodox: we kept fasting and went to church. It is a pity that now all the ordinances of the Church are being violated, which is why children deteriorate so much and often grow up completely useless.

When I was already an officer, the writings of Shpilhagen were in vogue. Once I was persuaded to read From Darkness to Light. I started reading and was disappointed. Everything there is only darkness, the heroes and heroines are also filled with darkness; when the light appears, I thought, but I read, read, and did not read until the light, everything was only darkness. I left this book unread. One day I went into the batman's room to give him some instructions: I saw that he was sleeping, and on the table, next to him, was a little book about Philaret the Merciful. I became interested in her, woke up the batman so that he would open the doors if anyone came, and he took the little book and went out into the garden. From the very first pages I could not refrain from tears, and with great eagerness I read (I generally read soon) the whole story. I gave the book to the orderly. He smiles:

- Did you like the book?

- I liked it very much, - I answer, - I read it with pleasure.

— Shpilhagen? Well, did you like it?

“Wherever I like it, I read one page, didn’t understand anything, I read another, too, well, I quit.

- Yes, and I do not like it, yours is better.

So why are you reading?

“Yes,” my orderly concluded thoughtfully, “there is only emptiness there.

And he was right.

I have read many secular and books, and, for the most part, there is, indeed, one emptiness in them. True, sometimes something flashes, as if a distant lightning, and disappears, and again darkness. The current literature of all the Andreevs and Artsybashevs gives absolutely nothing useful and comforting to either the mind or the heart. It becomes terrible for the younger generation, which is brought up on such literary scum. Both poetry and art have a strong influence on the human soul and ennoble it. For example, a talentedly executed picture, especially if it has something lofty as a subject, even happens to regenerate a person's soul, of course, by the grace of God.

patristic creations

Ep. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) are necessary, they are, so to speak, the alphabet, syllables. The writings of Ep. Theophan Vyshensky - the essence is already grammar, they are deeper. Even the Successful read them with some difficulty...

Today, signing the book of one of my spiritual daughters, under the title "Invisible Scolding" and setting the date on January 6, I remembered that this is the day of the death of Bishop Theophan, who translated this book from Greek into Russian.

Bishop Feofan did not translate it verbatim, but conveyed the spirit of this book, like Zhukovsky, who, translating Schiller, was so imbued with the spirit of this poet that it was difficult to distinguish the translation from the original.

5th volume of Bishop's works. Ignatius, contains the teachings of Sts. fathers in relation to modern monasticism and teaches how to read the writings of Sts. fathers. Very deeply looked ep. Ignatius and even, perhaps, deeper in this regard, Bishop. Feofan. His word has a powerful effect on the soul, for it comes from experience...

"Father" ep. Ignatia (Bryanchaninova)

It's a good thing you did that you began to read this book. It is composed as follows: Ignatius wrote out what answered the exciting monastic questions. From this side, this work is irreplaceable. Many perplexities are immediately destroyed by some kind of statement. D.N.

Creations of St. Peter of Damascus

This book is deeper than Abba Dorotheus. Still, Abba Dorotheos is the ABC of monastic life, although reading it, you can discover everything new and new, and for everyone it is in accordance with his condition. It has a shore, and from the shore you can walk first knee-deep, then deeper and deeper. Another - immediately in depth.

This book contains incomprehensible mysterious places. There you will see how the saints began to know the meaning of visible nature. They do not care about the visible mechanism of things, but they understand their meaning. Just as we use watches, we don't care about the arrangement of the mechanism and their chemical composition. Or, we taste an apple, taste good and don't care what it is. chemical composition... Saints, indeed, begin to know the meaning of visible nature.

The description of the invisible world must be understood spiritually, not literally.

All this must be spiritually understood, this is only a hint at reality itself, and some, not understanding that everything is said here in a higher spiritual sense, are tempted. For example, there is a veil in heaven before the Throne of God, which was parted when the blessed Theodora approached her... Of course, this must be understood in a spiritual sense. Just as they say that the Jews had a veil over their eyes, this does not mean that there really was some kind of material veil over them. Or they also say about seraphim that they covered their faces with wings. What kind of wings do they have? This means that they cannot see all the glory of God...

WONDERS

Once, when I was six years old, there was such a case: we lived in a dacha on our estate near Orenburg. Our house stood in a huge garden - a park and was guarded by a watchman and dogs, so it was impossible for an outsider to get into the park unnoticed.

One day my father and I were walking in the park, and suddenly, out of nowhere, some old man appeared in front of us. Approaching my father, he said: “Remember, father, that this child will in due time carry souls from hell.”

A year before my admission to the Skete, on the second day of the Nativity of Christ, I was returning from an early Mass. It was still dark, and the city was just beginning to wake up. Suddenly, an old man came up to me, begging for alms. I realized that I had not taken my purse with me, and there were only twenty kopecks in my pocket. I gave them to the old man with the words: "I'm sorry, I'm no longer with me." He thanked me and gave me a prosphora. I took it, put it in my pocket, and only wanted to say something to the beggar, as he was already gone. In vain I looked everywhere, he disappeared without a trace. The next year, on this day, I was already in the Skete.

If you look at life carefully, then all of it is full of miracles, only we often do not notice and indifferently pass them by. May the Lord give us the mind to carefully spend the days of our lives, working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

The former hegumen of the Meshchovsky Monastery, Fr. Mark, who now lives in retirement in Optina Pustyn: - “I remember that it was, it seems, in 1867. I was very ill and did not expect that I would get up. At that time I lived in Optina. I see once, as if in a thin dream, as if I were standing in a clearing near Kozelsk, and in front of three Churches. The sun is rising. On the right and on the left side, some creatures are standing next to me. I notice that the sun that I see is an icon standing in the attic of the Ascension Church. To my question to the one who was standing near me on the left side, he answered: “I am George! The icon you see is the icon of the Mother of God of Akhtyrka.” When he woke up, he told Fr. Ambrose. Searches began in all the churches of the city of Kozelsk, but the icons of the Akhtyrskaya Mother of God were not found anywhere. They also searched in the Ascension Church. After a long and unsuccessful search, the priest of that Church, Fr. Demetrius opened this icon in the attic of the Church, lying in dust and debris. The holy icon was then solemnly brought to Optina, and I, kissing it after the prayer service, received relief from the illness and soon recovered completely.

Many were after this miracles from this icon with faith who came to her. Until now, St. This icon is located in the Ascension Church in Kozelsk and is revered by the inhabitants as miraculous.

When I returned from Manchuria railway, then at night I wanted to retire - whether I felt sad, or something else, I don’t remember. I went into the vestibule of the carriage, so to speak, I mean that small room, of which there are usually two in each carriage: in front and behind; there are 4 doors in them: one leads to the car, the other to the platform in the next car, and two to the right and left for passengers to exit. I went out and leaned on one door and thought: “Glory to Thee, Lord. I'm going again to dear Optina. And I wanted to go to the opposite side door, I was going and suddenly, as if by some force, I was pushed away. I stopped in the middle and, peering, I saw that the door was moved to the side (there are doors of such a device), which I did not notice in the dark, but wanted to lean on it. And what would happen... The Lord saved...

Holy fools, blissful

Skete cassock monk Fr. Athanasius told me about a certain servant of God Christ for the sake of foolishness, the following. His name was Sergei Nikolaevich. He acted as a fool in the city of Livny, Oryol Province. Came from peasants. He died at the age of 70. He always walked in rags and led a wandering life. Living in the world, oh One day Athanasius busied himself with piling up bread. The business was profitable. He somehow brings bread to Livny on Sunday morning and sells it to a merchant. Bargained and finished the job. At that time, Sergei Nikolaevich, who was with the merchant, came to them and at the words of Fr. Athanasius to say something to him, says: “It’s a sin to take a merchant’s hands!” He did not understand these words at the time. The Livny monks later explained their meaning - that is, that it is a sin to trade on holidays.

The same holy fool went to a Livny merchant and shat in his front corner. Soon after this, a great misfortune happened to the merchant - two peasants fell asleep in his well with a collapsed log house. The court ran over and the merchant had to fork out.

They also saw Sergei Nikolaevich, how once he crossed the river along its bottom, hiding under water. He also said to one girl, the daughter of a poor bourgeois widow in Livny: “You and I will die together!” And so it happened. When this girl died, the holy fool came to the widow, sat down on right side her coffin and died. They were buried together on the same day. They took them out at 8 o'clock in the morning from the city Church, and brought them to the cemetery in the evening. Panikhidas were served all the time on the way. There were many people, almost the entire city gathered to bury the righteous.

Today, January 22, 1896, Fr. Dimitri, an artist, a skete monk, who recently came to Shamordino living in the village of Khlopov, 30 versts from Shamordin, holy fool John. He came to the cell of the nun Olga, whose daughter is ill with consumption. He showed with signs that she needed to fight and prepare for death. Then he demanded the key to the locked box, and when it was unlocked at his request, he took out the icon lying there, a blessing of the sick woman from Fr. Ambrose. The image was placed on the goddess and ordered to warm before him an inextinguishable lamp. Then he left.

Blessed. Blessed Annushka

When I entered, she began to quickly undress, even began to take off her shirt, so that even her breasts became visible: I turned away. She says, "Give me that green coat." I gave her a caftan hanging on the wall. Putting it on, she began to say: “Do you see how beautiful I have become, do you see?” For me, it was completely incomprehensible ... And this meant that I had to renew my soul. Finally, I asked her: “How will it all end for me?” She took it and wrapped her head in a caftan and sat down like that. I left her while she was still in that state. I did not understand and asked about it. I was told it meant monasticism. And then I still did not think to go to the monastery. At first I was afraid to go to her, thinking that maybe this was the charm of demons. But spiritual people assured me that this was indeed a truly blissful soul. When I visited her, she had been lying on her bed of three pieces covered with felt for 40 years: she had paralysis of her legs.

She was an orphan, and some old woman followed her. Poor to the last degree, but all the furnishings of her little room were clean.

Blessed Ivanushka

His family considered him a fool, but the people respected and loved him. One day he ran to the hayfield. They ask him: “What do you need, Ivanushka?” And he immediately ran in the direction of the Zhizdra River. In this very place there was a steep drop and one of the deepest parts of the river. Look - it's gone. Everyone thought he drowned. What to do? And he, passing under the water to the other side, came out of the water, bowed to everyone and left. In the summer they let him go, and in the winter they tied him by the leg.

I was still in the military then, although not in uniform. I enter, and Ivanushka says:

- Father has come.

They tell him:

- This is not Father, - thinking that he was mistaken. And Ivanushka again:

- Father has come.

Then he ordered me to take a whip and whip the "kitten".

Do you see her running after you? Come on her so, well her, so.

I whipped through the air, I did not understand anything. He continued:

- Oh, she ran away. What? Oh, she's a kitten.

Then it was 3 o'clock in the afternoon, dawn began. I began to say goodbye to him. He turned to the window directly to Optina Pustyn at dawn, and began to look. I don't know what he saw, he didn't tell me, of course. But it was clear that he was seeing a wondrous vision. So I left him.

Holiness is purity of heart seeking uncreated divine energy manifesting in the gifts of the Holy Spirit as many colored rays in the solar spectrum. Pious ascetics are the link between the earthly world and the heavenly Kingdom. Penetrated by the light of divine grace, they, through contemplation of God and communion with God, come to know the highest spiritual mysteries. In earthly life, the saints, performing the feat of self-denial for the sake of the Lord, receive the highest grace of divine Revelation. According to biblical teaching, holiness is likening a person to God, who is the only bearer of all-perfect life and its unique source.

What is canonization

The ecclesiastical procedure for canonization of a righteous person is called canonization. She encourages believers to honor the recognized saint in public worship. As a rule, church recognition of piety is preceded by popular glory and veneration, but it was the act of canonization that made it possible to glorify the saints by creating icons, writing lives, compiling prayers and church services. The reason for official canonization can be the feat of the righteous, the incredible deeds he has done, his whole life or martyrdom. And after death, a person can be recognized as a saint because of the incorruptibility of his relics, or miracles of healing occurring at his remains.

In the event that a saint is venerated within the same church, city or monastery, they speak of diocesan, local canonization.

The official church also recognizes the existence of unknown saints, the confirmation of whose piety is not yet known to the entire Christian flock. They are called the revered dead righteous and they are served memorial services, while prayers are served to the canonized saints.

Already in the 11th century, a laudatory biography of princes Boris and Gleb appeared, where the unknown author of the life is Russian. The holy names are recognized by the church and added to the calendars. In the 12th and 13th centuries, along with the monastic desire to enlighten the northeast of Russia, the number of biographical works also grew. Russian authors wrote the lives of Russian saints for reading during the Divine Liturgy. The names, the list of which was recognized by the Church for glorification, have now received historical figure, and holy deeds and miracles were enshrined in a literary monument.

In the 15th century there was a change in the style of writing lives. The main attention the authors began to pay not to factual data, but to the skillful use of the artistic word, the beauty of the literary language, the ability to pick up a lot of impressive comparisons. Skillful scribes of that period became known. For example, Epiphanius the Wise, who wrote the vivid lives of Russian saints, whose names were most famous for the people - Stephen of Perm and Sergius of Radonezh.

Many lives are considered a source of information about important historical events. From the biography of Alexander Nevsky, you can learn about political relations with the Horde. The lives of Boris and Gleb tell of princely civil strife before the unification of Russia. The creation of a literary and ecclesiastical biographical work largely determined which names of Russian saints, their deeds and virtues would become most known to a wide circle of believers.

Lives of the Saints

Life ( bios(Greek), vita(lat.)) - biographies of saints. The life was created after the death of the saint, but not always after formal canonization. Life is characterized by strict content and structural restrictions (canon, literary etiquette), which greatly distinguishes them from secular biographies. The science of hagiography deals with the study of hagiographies.

More extensive is the literature of the "Lives of the Saints" of the second kind - the saints and others. The oldest collection of such tales is Dorotheus, ep. Tire (†362), - the legend of the 70 apostles. Of the others, the most remarkable are: "Lives of honest monks" by Patriarch Timothy of Alexandria († 385); then follow the collections of Palladius, Lausaik (“Historia Lausaica, s. paradisus de vitis patrum”; the original text is in the edition of Renat Lawrence, “Historia ch r istiana veterum Patrum”, as well as in “Opera Maursii”, Florence,, vol. VIII ; there is also a Russian translation, ); Theodoret of Kirrsky () - “Φιλόθεος ιστορία” (in the named edition of Renat, as well as in the complete works of Theodoret; in Russian translation - in “The Works of the Holy Fathers”, published by the Moscow Spiritual Academy and earlier separately); John Moscha (Λειμωνάριον, in Rosweig's Vitae patrum, Antv., vol. X; Russian ed. - "Lemonar, that is, a flower garden", M.,). In the West, the main writers of this kind in the patriotic period were Rufinus of Aquileia ("Vitae patrum s. historiae eremiticae"); John Cassian ("Collationes patrum in Scythia"); Gregory, Bishop Tursky († 594), who wrote a number of hagiographic works (“Gloria martyrum”, “Gloria confessorum”, “Vitae patrum”), Grigory Dvoeslov (“Dialogi” - Russian translation “Conversation about J. Italian Fathers” in “Orthodox Interlocutor ”; see the research on this by A. Ponomarev, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg) and others.

From the 9th century in the literature of the "Lives of the Saints" a new feature appeared - a tendentious (moralizing, partly political and social) direction, which adorned the story about the saint with fictions of fantasy. Among such hagiographers, the first place is occupied by Simeon Metaphrastus, a dignitary of the Byzantine court, who lived, one by one, in the 9th, according to others in the 10th or 12th century. He published in 681 "Lives of the Saints", which constitute the most common primary source for subsequent writers of this kind, not only in the East, but also in the West (Jacob Voraginsky, archbishop of Genoa, † - "Legenda aurea sanctorum", and Peter Natalibus, † - "Catalogus Sanctorum"). Subsequent editions take a more critical direction: Bonina Mombricia, Legendarium s. acta sanctorum" (); Aloysia Lippomana, ep. Veronsky, "Vitae sanctorum" (1551-1560); Lawrence Surius, Carthusian of Cologne, "Vitae sanctorum orientis et occidentis" (); George Vizell, "Hagiologium s. de sanctis ecclesiae"; Ambrose Flaccus, "Fastorum sanctorum libri XII"; Renata Lawrence de la Barre - "Historia christiana veterum patrum"; C. Baronia, "Annales ecclesiast."; Rosweida - "Vitae patrum"; Rader, "Viridarium sanctorum ex minaeis graccis" (). Finally, the famous Antwerp Jesuit Bolland comes forward with his activities; in the city he published the 1st volume of the Acta Sanctorum in Antwerp. For 130 years, the Bollandists published 49 volumes containing the Lives of the Saints from January 1 to October 7; two more volumes appeared by the year. In the city, the Bollandist Institute was closed.

Three years later, the enterprise was resumed again, and another new volume appeared in the city. During the conquest of Belgium by the French, the Bollandist monastery was sold, and they themselves moved to Westphalia with their collections, and after the Restoration they published six more volumes. The latter works are significantly inferior in dignity to the works of the first Bollandists, both in terms of the breadth of erudition and the lack of rigorous criticism. Müller's Martyrologium, mentioned above, is a good abridgement of the Bollandist edition and can serve as a reference book for it. A complete index to this edition was compiled by Potast ("Bibliotheca historia medii aevi", B.,). All the lives of the saints, known with separate titles, are numbered by Fabricius in the Bibliotheca Graeca, Gamb., 1705-1718; second edition Gamb., 1798-1809). Individuals in the West continued to publish the lives of the saints at the same time as the Bollandist corporation. Of these, the following deserve mention: Abbé Commanuel, "Nouvelles vies de saints pour tous le jours" (); Balier, "Vie des saints" (strictly critical work), Arnaud d'Andilly, "Les vies des pè res des déserts d'Orient" (). Among the newest Western editions of the Lives of the Saints, the compositions deserve attention. Stadler and Geim, written in dictionary form: "Heiligen Lexicon", (s.).

A lot of Zh. is found in collections of mixed content, such as prologues, synaksari, menaia, patericons. Prologue name. a book containing the lives of the saints, together with instructions regarding celebrations in their honor. The Greeks called these collections. synaxaries. The oldest of them is an anonymous synaxarion in hand. ep. Porfiry of the Assumption; then follows the synaxarion of Emperor Basil - referring to the X table.; the text of the first part of it was published in the city of Uggel in the VI volume of his "Italia sacra"; the second part was found later by the Bollandists (for its description, see Archbishop Sergius' Monthly Book, I, 216). Other ancient prologues: Petrov - in hand. ep. Porfiry - contains the memory of saints for all days of the year, except for 2-7 and 24-27 days of March; Cleromontansky (otherwise Sigmuntov), ​​almost similar to Petrov, contains the memory of saints for a whole year. Our Russian prologues are alterations of the synaxarion of Emperor Basil with some additions (see Prof. N.I. Petrova “On the origin and composition of the Slavic-Russian printed prologue”, Kyiv,). The Menaion are collections of lengthy tales about saints and feasts arranged by months. They are service and Menaion-Chetya: in the first they are important for the biographies of saints, the designation of the names of the authors above the hymns. The handwritten menaias contain more information about the saints than the printed ones (for more details on the meaning of these menaias, see Bishop Sergius' Monthly Books, I, 150).

These "monthly menaias", or service ones, were the first collections of "lives of the saints" that became known in Russia at the very time of its adoption of Christianity and the introduction of worship; they are followed by Greek prologues or synaxari. In the pre-Mongolian period, the Russian Church already had a full circle of menaias, prologues and synaxareas. Then patericons appeared in Russian literature - special collections of the lives of the saints. Translated patericons are known in the manuscripts: Sinai (“Limonar” by Mosch), alphabetic, skete (several types; see the description of the rkp. Undolsky and Tsarsky), Egyptian (Lavsaik Palladia). Based on the model of these eastern patericons in Russia, the “Paterik of Kiev-Pechersk” was compiled, the beginning of which was laid by Simon, ep. Vladimir, and the Kiev-Pechersk monk Polycarp. Finally, the last common source for the lives of the saints of the whole church is calendars and monastics. The beginnings of calendars date back to the earliest times of the church, as can be seen from the biographical information about St. Ignatius († 107), Polycarpe († 167), Cyprian († 258). From the testimony of Asterius of Amasia († 410) it can be seen that in the 4th c. they were so full that they contained names for all the days of the year. Monthly books in the Gospels and the Apostles are divided into three genera: eastern origin, ancient Italian and Sicilian and Slavic. Of the latter, the most ancient is under the Ostromir Gospel (XII century). They are followed by the months: Assemani with the Glagolitic Gospel, located in the Vatican library, and Savvin, ed. Sreznevsky in the city. This also includes brief notes about the saints under the church charters of Jerusalem, Studio and Constantinople. The saints are the same calendars, but the details of the story are close to the synaxaries and exist separately from the Gospels and charters.

Old Russian literature of the lives of the saints proper Russian begins with the biographies of individual saints. The model according to which the Russian “lives” were compiled was the Greek lives of the Metaphrast type, that is, they had the task of “praising” the saint, and the lack of information (for example, about the first years of the life of the saints) was made up for by commonplaces and rhetorical rantings. A number of miracles of the saint - necessary component G. In the story about the life itself and the exploits of the saints, there are often no features of individuality at all. Exceptions from the general character of the original Russian "lives" before the 15th century. constitute (according to Prof. Golubinsky) only the very first Zh., “St. Boris and Gleb" and "Theodosius of the Caves", compiled by Ven. Nestor, J. Leonty of Rostov (which Klyuchevsky refers to the time before the year) and J., who appeared in the Rostov region in the 12th and 13th centuries. , representing an artless simple story, while the equally ancient Zh. of the Smolensk region (“Zh. St. Abraham”, etc.) belong to the Byzantine type of biographies. In the XV century. a number of compilers Zh. begins mitrop. Cyprian, who wrote J. Metrop. Peter (in a new edition) and several Zh. Russian saints who were part of his “Book of Powers” ​​(if this book was really compiled by him).

The biography and activities of the second Russian hagiographer, Pachomiy Logofet, are introduced in detail by the study of prof. Klyuchevsky "Old Russian Lives of the Saints, as a historical source", M.,). He compiled J. and the service of St. Sergius, Zh. and the service of St. Nikon, J. St. Kirill Belozersky, word on the transfer of the relics of St. Peter and service to him; to him, according to Klyuchevsky, belong to J. St. Novgorod archbishops Moses and John; in total, he wrote 10 lives, 6 legends, 18 canons and 4 laudatory words to the saints. Pachomius enjoyed great fame among his contemporaries and posterity and was a model for other compilers of J. No less famous as the compiler of J. Epiphanius the Wise, who first lived in the same monastery with St. Stephen of Perm, and then in the monastery of Sergius, who wrote J. of both of these saints. He knew well the Holy Scriptures, Greek chronographs, palea, letvitsa, patericons. He has even more ornateness than Pachomius. The successors of these three writers introduce a new feature into their works - an autobiographical one, so that one can always recognize the author by the “lives” compiled by them. From urban centers, the work of Russian hagiography passes into the 16th century. in deserts and areas remote from cultural centers in the 16th century. The authors of these Zh. did not limit themselves to the facts of the life of the saint and panegyric to him, but tried to acquaint them with the church, social and state conditions, among which the saint's activity arose and developed. Zh. of this time are, therefore, valuable primary sources of the cultural and everyday history of Ancient Russia.

The author, who lived in Moscow Russia, can always be distinguished by the trend from the author of the Novgorod, Pskov and Rostov regions. A new era in the history of Russian Zh. is the activity of the All-Russian Metropolitan Macarius. His time was especially plentiful with new "lives" of Russian saints, which is explained, on the one hand, by the intensive activity of this metropolitan in canonizing saints, and on the other hand, by the "great Menaion-Fourths" compiled by him. These Menaia, which included almost all the Russian Zh. available by that time, are known in two editions: the Sophia (manuscript of the St. Petersburg spirit. Acd.) and the more complete - the Moscow Cathedral of the city. the works of I. I. Savvaitov and M. O. Koyalovich, to publish only a few volumes, embracing the months of September and October. A century later, Macarius, in 1627-1632, the Menaion-Cheti of the monk of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery German Tulupov appeared, and in 1646-1654. - Menaion-Cheti of the priest of Sergiev Posad John Milyutin.

These two collections differ from Makariyev in that they include almost exclusively Zh. and legends about Russian saints. Tulupov entered into his collection everything that he found on the part of Russian hagiography, in its entirety; Milyutin, using the works of Tulupov, reduced and altered the Zh., which he had at hand, omitting prefaces from them, as well as words of praise. What Macarius was for Northern Russia, Moscow, the Kiev-Pechersk archimandrites - Innokenty Gizel and Varlaam Yasinsky - wanted to be for Southern Russia, fulfilling the thought of the Kiev Metropolitan Peter Mohyla and partly using the materials he collected. But the political unrest of that time prevented this enterprise from being realized. Yasinsky, however, attracted to this case St. Demetrius, later the Metropolitan of Rostov, who, working for 20 years on the revision of Metaphrast, the great Fourth Menaion of Macarius and other benefits, compiled the Chetia Menaion, containing Zh. churches. Patriarch Joachim was distrustful of the work of Demetrius, noticing in it traces of the Catholic teaching on the virginity of the conception of the Mother of God; but the misunderstandings were cleared up, and Demetrius' work was finished.

For the first time, the Menaion of St. Demetrius in 1711-1718 In the city of Synod instructed the Kiev-Pechersk archim. Timothy Shcherbatsky, revision and correction of the work of Demetrius; after the death of Timothy, this assignment was completed by Archim. Joseph Mitkevich and Hierodeacon Nicodemus, and in a corrected form, the Menaion of the Saints were published in the city of Zh. Saints in the Menaion of Demetrius are arranged in calendar order: following the example of Macarius, there are also synaxari for the holidays, instructive words on the events of the life of the saint or the history of the holiday , belonging to the ancient church fathers, and partly compiled by Demetrius himself, historical discussions at the beginning of each quarter of the publication - about the primacy of the month of March in the year, about the indict, about the ancient Hellenic-Roman calendar. The sources used by the author are visible from the list of "teachers, writers, historians" attached before the first and second parts, and from quotes in individual cases (Metaphrastus is most common). Many articles are only a translation of the Greek Zh. or a repetition with correction of the Zh. language of Old Russian. There is also historical criticism in Chetya-Minei, but in general their significance is not scientific, but ecclesiastical: written in artistic Church Slavonic speech, they still constitute a favorite reading for pious people who are looking for in Zh. saints" of religious edification (for a more detailed assessment of the Menaia, see the work of V. Nechaev, corrected by A. V. Gorsky, - "St. Demetrius of Rostov", M., and I. A. Shlyapkin - "St. Demetrius", SPb.,). There are 156 of all individual Zh. ancient Russian saints, included and not included in the counted collections. Demetrius: "Selected Lives of the Saints, summarized according to the guide of the Menaion" (1860-68); A. N. Muravyov, “Lives of the Saints of the Russian Church, also Iberian and Slavic” (); Philaret, archbishop Chernigovsky, "Russian Saints"; "The Historical Dictionary of the Saints of the Russian Church" (1836-60); Protopopov, "Lives of the Saints" (M.,), etc.

More or less independent editions of the Lives of the Saints - Philaret, archbishop. Chernigovsky: a) "Historical Doctrine of the Church Fathers" (, new ed.), b) "Historical Review of Songsingers" (), c) "Saints of the South Slavs" () and d) "St. ascetics of the Eastern Church "(); "Athos Patericon" (1860-63); "High cover over Athos" (); "Ascetics of piety on Mount Sinai" (); I. Krylova, “The Lives of the Holy Apostles and the Legends of the Seventy Disciples of Christ” (M.,); Memorable stories about the life of St. blessed fathers "(translated from Greek,); archim. Ignatius, "Brief Biographies of Russian Saints" (); Iosseliani, "Lives of the Saints of the Georgian Church" (); M. Sabinina, "The Complete Biography of the Georgian Saints" (St. Petersburg, 1871-73).

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See what the "Lives of the Saints" are in other dictionaries:

Biographies of spiritual and secular persons, canonized christian church. In addition to biographical materials, the lives of the saints include prayers, teachings, etc. They are studied as historical, literary and linguistic sources. In the Roman Empire... encyclopedic Dictionary

Lives of the Saints- stories about saints revered by the church; the most common genre other rus. liters. Zh. S. differ from the biographies of their inherent religion. purpose contain a call to imitation and asceticism and reveal deities. force acting in the described ... ... Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary

Works containing biographies of representatives and guides of the Christian religious system, martyrs and confessors, ascetics, mainly from among the monks. The term "J. with." Bulgarian. Since Christianity was not homogeneous in composition ... Literary Encyclopedia

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