Saint Nouveau Martyr Wladimir de Kiev et autres Vies de Saints.

25 janvier – 7 février 2012
Cycle mobile (Pascalion): Mardi de la Trente-Quatrième Semaine
Lecture de l’Epître
2Pierre II : 9-22
2.9 le Seigneur sait délivrer de l'épreuve les hommes pieux, et réserver les injustes pour êtres
punis au jour du jugement,
2.10 ceux surtout qui vont après la chair dans un désir d'impureté et qui méprisent l'autorité.
Audacieux et arrogants, ils ne craignent pas d'injurier les gloires, 2.11tandis que les anges,
supérieurs en force et en puissance, ne portent pas contre elles de jugement injurieux devant le
Seigneur. 2.12 Mais eux, semblables à des brutes qui s'abandonnent à leurs penchants naturels
et qui sont nées pour êtres prises et détruites, ils parlent d'une manière injurieuse de ce qu'ils
ignorent, et ils périront par leur propre corruption, 2.13 recevant ainsi le salaire de leur iniquité.
Ils trouvent leurs délices à se livrer au plaisir en plein jour; hommes tarés et souillés, ils se
délectent dans leurs tromperies, en faisant bonne chère avec vous. 2.14 Ils ont les yeux pleins
d'adultère et insatiables de péché; ils amorcent les âmes mal affermies; ils ont le coeur exercé
à la cupidité; ce sont des enfants de malédiction.2.15 Après avoir quitté le droit chemin, ils se
sont égarés en suivant la voie de Balaam, fils de Bosor, qui aima le salaire de
l'iniquité, 2.16 mais qui fut repris pour sa transgression: une ânesse muette, faisant entendre une
voix d'homme, arrêta la démence du prophète. 2.17 Ces gens-là sont des fontaines sans eau, des
nuées que chasse un tourbillon: l'obscurité des ténèbres leur est réservée. 2.18 Avec des
discours enflés de vanité, ils amorcent par les convoitises de la chair, par les dissolutions,
ceux qui viennent à peine d'échapper aux hommes qui vivent dans l'égarement; 2.19 ils leur
promettent la liberté, quand ils sont eux-mêmes esclaves de la corruption, car chacun est
esclave de ce qui a triomphé de lui. 2.20 En effet, si, après s'être retirés des souillures du
monde, par la connaissance du Seigneur et Sauveur Jésus Christ, ils s'y engagent de nouveau
et sont vaincus, leur dernière condition est pire que la première. 2.21 Car mieux valait pour eux
n'avoir pas connu la voie de la justice, que de se détourner, après l'avoir connue, du saint
commandement qui leur avait été donné. 2.22 Il leur est arrivé ce que dit un proverbe vrai: Le
chien est retourné à ce qu'il avait vomi, et la truie lavée s'est vautrée dans le bourbier.
Lecture de l’Evangile
Marc XIII : 14-23
13.14 Lorsque vous verrez l'abomination de la désolation établie là où elle ne doit pas être, -que
celui qui lit fasse attention, -alors, que ceux qui seront en Judée fuient dans les
montagnes; 13.15 que celui qui sera sur le toit ne descende pas et n'entre pas pour prendre
quelque chose dans sa maison; 13.16 et que celui qui sera dans les champs ne retourne pas en
arrière pour prendre son manteau. 13.17Malheur aux femmes qui seront enceintes et à celles qui
allaiteront en ces jours-là!13.18 Priez pour que ces choses n'arrivent pas en hiver. 13.19 Car la
détresse, en ces jours, sera telle qu'il n'y en a point eu de semblable depuis le commencement
du monde que Dieu a créé jusqu'à présent, et qu'il n'y en aura jamais. 13.20 Et, si le Seigneur
n'avait abrégé ces jours, personne ne serait sauvé; mais il les a abrégés, à cause des élus qu'il a
choisis. 13.21 Si quelqu'un vous dit alors: "Le Christ est ici", ou: "Il est là", ne le croyez
pas. 13.22 Car il s'élèvera de faux Christs et de faux prophètes; ils feront des prodiges et des
miracles pour séduire les élus, s'il était possible. 13.23 Soyez sur vos gardes: je vous ai tout
annoncé d'avance.
Cycle fixe : Commémorations
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SAINT EOCHOD L'APÔTRE DES PICTES DU GALLOWAY (+597)
Il fut l’un des douze compagnons de Saint Columba. Saint Eochod fut choisit par Columba
pour évangéliser le Nord de la Grande-Bretagne. On l'appelle l'Apôtre des Pictes du
Galloway.
Tropaire de Saint Eochod ton 6
Les Pictes du Galloway t'honorent comme leur Apôtre,/
Ô Juste Hiérarque Eochod,/
Car à la demande de Notre Père Columba/
Tu leur ouvrit l'Evangile du Salut./
C'est pourquoi, Ô Saint, n'arrête pas tes Pieuses Oeuvres,/
priant afin que nous soyons sauvés.
SAINT PUBLIUS DE SYRIE (+380)
Publius était sénateur. Reconnaissant la Lumière du Christ, il quitta ses honneurs mondains,
distribua ses biens aux pauvres et se dévoua à la vie d'Ascète à proximité de la ville de
Zeguma, sur l'Euphrate. Il fonda deux communautés monastiques et s'endormit en 380.
ou
The Monk Poplios of Syria was born in the city of Zeugma on the Euphrates and had the rank
of senator. Renouncing the world, he gave off his possessions, took monastic vows and
asceticised in a cave on a mountain in the Syrian wilderness, where he founded two
monasteries: one for Greeks, and another for Syrians. He died in the year 380. Of his disciples
who imitated Saint Poplios – Saints Theoteknos, Theodotos and Athonios were in particular
glorified by sanctity of life. Saint Poplios in guiding the monastery for over 40 years was
eventually granted the dignity of archimandrite, but being elevated in rank he changed neither
his garb nor his manner of life, remaining instead a strict ascetic.
SAINT ASCÈTE MARES (OU MARIS) LE MÉLODE, EN SYRIE (+430)
Mares se distinguait par sa beauté physique et une voix splendide. Il se retira du monde et
vécut dans une hutte trente-sept ans durant, jeûnant et lavant son coeur des pensées impures.
Agé de quatre-vingt-dix ans, Mares remit son âme au Seigneur en l'an 430.
ou
The Monk Maros – the Singer asceticised for 37 years in the village of Omir, not far from the
city Kyr' in Syria, dwelling in a crude hut. He ate rough food, and wore clothes from the hide
of wild goats. For his handsome face, his delicate and pleasing voice, he was called a singer.
The monk died peacefully at age 60, in about the year 430.
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SAINTE MARTYRE FELICITÉ ET SES 7 FILS : JANNUARIUS, FELIX, PHILIP,
SYLVANUS, ALEXANDER, VITALIUS ET MARCIAL (+164)
Chrétienne, Félicité fut condamnée à mort avec ses sept fils en 164 durant le règne d'Antonin.
Elle implora Dieu de ne pas être tuée avant ses fils afin qu'elle puisse les encourager à
supporter la torture et la mort et ainsi qu'ils ne renient pas le Christ. Grâce à la Providence
Divine, c'est ce qui se produit. Avec joie, cette magnifique mère accompagna ses fils, un par
un jusqu'à avoir été témoin du martyre de tous les sept. Ensuite elle-même, en rendant Grâces
à Dieu, reçut la Couronne du martyre. Elle et ses fils souffrirent à Rome où leurs Précieuses
Reliques reposent.
ou
The Holy Martyress Felicita with her Seven Sons: Jannuarius, Felix, Philip, Sylvanus,
Alexander, Vitalius and Marcial. Saint Felicita was born of a rich Roman family. Pagan
priests made reports of denunciation against her for insulting the gods through spreading the
Christian faith. Saint Felicita gave off all her possessions, and together with her sons openly
confessed faith in Christ. They were all handed over to torture. Saint Felicita, seeing the
suffering of her sons, besought God, that they would stand firm and enter the Heavenly
Kingdom before her. All the sons died as Martyrs before the eyes of their mother. After them,
Saint Felicita herself underwent a Martyr's death. The holy family suffered at Rome in about
the year 164. Sainted Gregory Dialogus gave a laudatory sermon for the Martyress Felicita in
a third talk, preached in a church named for her.
SAINT HIÉROMARTYR PRIX (OU PRICT, PRAEJECTUS) L'EVÊQUE DE CLERMONT
AVEC SES DEUX COMPAGNONS SAINTS MARTYRS AMARIN ET ELIDE (+ 676)
Saint Prix quand on est en Ile de France, Saint Preils quand on est en Saintonge et Saint Priest
dans la région lyonnaise, également Saint Projectus (ou Saint Projet) en Charente. Evêque de
Clermont en Auvergne, il fonda plusieurs monastères et un hôpital. Comme il avait
excommunié le comte d'Auvergne pour un rapt qu'il avait commis, le comte porta d'affreuses
calomnies contre le Prélat auprès du Roi qui convoqua l'Evêque. La vérité éclata et le
ravisseur eut la tête tranchée. Comme Saint Prix revenait dans son diocèse, il fut arrêté au
village de Volvic par une bande de vauriens à la solde de la famille du décapité. Ils tuèrent
Marin (ou Amarin) qui accompagnait l'Evêque croyant qu'il s'agissait de lui. Au moment où
ils s'éloignaient, Saint Prix leur signala l'erreur. Ils l'abattirent à son tour.
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SAINTE DWYNWEN (OU DONWEN, DONWENNA, DUNWEN, DWYN), VIERGE DE
LLANDWYN AU PAYS DE GALLES (+460)
Galloise de la famille de Saint Brychan de Brecknock, Dwynwen a forgé la maxime "rien ne
gagne les coeurs mieux que la gaieté." Elle s'installa sur l'Île d'Anglesey où les noms de
Llanddwyn et Porthdwyn rappellent sa mémoire.
Son église était le lieu de destination des malades et en particulier des jeunes hommes et
jeunes filles parce qu'elle est la Sainte Protectrice des amoureux au Pays de Galles. On
expliquerait la raison de sa protection par la "Légende Dorée." Maelon souhaitait épouser
Dwynwen mais elle le repoussa et pria pour en être délivré. Elle rêva qu'elle recevait une
boisson qui la guérissait mais la boisson transforma Maelon en bloc de glace. Alors elle fit
trois requêtes : que Maelon soit décongelé et que tous les véritables amoureux puissent soit
réussir dans leur quête amoureuse soit en être guéris et enfin qu'elle ne souhaite jamais se
marier. En conséquence de quoi, elle devint Moniale.
ou
Elle fut une des vingt-quatre filles d'un Saint Roi gallois du cinquième siècle, Brychan
Brycheiniog de Brechon. La belle et vertueuse Sainte Dwynwen tomba amoureuse d'un Prince
gallois, Maelon Dafodrill qui voulut l'épouser mais leur mariage n'eut pas lieu. On a donné
diverses raisons pour cela. Certains pensent que Brychan l'avait déjà promise à un autre
prince.
D'autres qu'elle aurait réalisé qu'elle voulait mener la vie monastique. Sainte Dwynwen se
distançant de Maelon, ce dernier devint fort amer envers elle et même insupportable. Voyant
son désespoir, Sainte Dwynwen s'enfuit dans les bois et pria Dieu avec ferveur pour l'aider et
finir sa misère. Elle s'endormit et rêva qu'on lui administrait une boisson douce qui la sauva
aussitôt des attentions de Maelon et la libérait de son coeur brisé. La même boisson fut
donnée à Maelon mais elle le transforma en statue de glace. Alors elle pria Dieu à nouveau et
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elle reçut trois voeux à exaucer. Le premier qu'elle fit fut que Maelon fut libéré de la glace; le
deuxième qu'elle ne veuille plus jamais se marier et le troisième fut que Dieu réponde à toutes
ses requêtes qu'elle Lui adresserait en faveur des amoureux afin qu'ils réussissent à trouver le
bonheur à travers l'accomplissement de leur amour ou être guéris de leur passion. Une de ses
maximes était "Rien ne conquiert les coeurs autant que la gaieté."
Dieu exauça tous ses souhaits. Elle Lui voua toute sa vie et fonda un couvent sur ce qui est à
présent l'Île Llanddwyn, juste en face de l'Île d'Anglesey (Yns Mon). Sa Source Sainte, une
fontaine d'eau fraîche appelée Ffynnon Dwynwen, devint un lieu de pèlerinage. Avec le
temps, elle fut aussi invoquée pour guérir les malades et les animaux en détresse, une tradition
qui a survécut jusqu'à nos jours.
Les ruines de la chapelle de Llanddwyn, une église Tudor du seizième siècle bâtie sur le site
d'un ancien prieuré, peuvent encore y être vues de même qu'une Croix latine dédiée à Sainte
Dwynwen à Llanddwyn. En outre, son nom est rappelé dans celui de la ville de Porthddwyn et
on trouve une église qui lui est dédiée en Cornouailles brittoniques.
SAINT EVÊQUE BRETANNION (OU BETRANES) DE TOMI EN PETITE SCYTHIE
(AUJOURD'HUI CONSTANTA EN ROUMANIE) (+ 380)
Evêque en Asie Mineure qui, devant son peuple rassemblé dans sa cathédrale, sut tenir tête à
l'empereur en confessant la Foi de Nicée sur la Divinité du Verbe Incarné.
ou
Saint Betranes was bishop of Lesser Skythia, where the mouth of the Dunaj (Danube) flows
into Thrace. His diocesan cathedral was situated in the city of Toma (Kiustendji). He was
Skythian.
The Church historian Sozomenes gives an account about Saint Betranes. When the emperor
Valens (364-378) stayed in Toma, he began in church to urge the Saint to enter into
communion with Arian heretics. Saint Betranes boldly answered, that he adhered to the
teaching of the holy Nicean fathers and, in order to avoid bantering, he went off to another of
the city churches. And all the people followed after him. There remained in the deserted
church only the emperor with his retinue. For such audacity the emperor condemned the Saint
to exile, but he feared the grumbling of the crowd and let him go free. The Skyths loved their
archpastor and they cared about him as a good and saintly man.
Another historian, Theodorit, writes about the sainted-bishop: "And Betranes, radiant with
every virtue and archpastoral power, governing the cities of all the Skythians, was enflamed
with zeal of spirit and denounced the heretics for their dogmatic deficiency and their
iniquitous attitude towards the Saints. He said with the Divine-inspiration of David: "I shall
speak Thy testimonies before the king and not be shy" (Ps. 18:46).
Saint Betranes died, probably soon after the denunciation of emperor Valens. His
commemoration in the "Acts of the Saints" indicates 25 January. At the II OEcumenical
Council in 381 it mentions already the successor to Saint Betranes, – the Toma bishop
Gerontios, and after him the cathedra was occupied by Saint Theotimos.
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SAINT ARCHEVÊQUE MOÏSE DE NOVGOROD (+1362)
Sainted Moses (Moisei), Archbishop of Novgorod (1325-1330, 1352-1359), in the world
Mitrophan, was born at Novgorod. In his youth he secretly left his parental home and entered
the Tver Christ-Child monastery, where he took monastic vows. His parents found him, and at
their insistence he transferred to the Kolmov monastery near Novgorod. At this monastery he
was ordained to the dignity of priestmonk, and later at Yur'ev monastery he was elevated to
archimandrite. After the death of the Archbishop David, Sainted Peter (+ 1326, Comm. 21
December) consecrated him in 1325 to the dignity of Archbishop of Novgorod. But Saint
Moses did not guide the Novgorod flock for long. The quarrels and contentious factions, the
conflagrations and other misfortunes weighed heavily on his soul, which sought for monastic
solitude. In 1330 the Saint withdrew to the Kolmov monastery for tranquillity. But here also
he did not long remain. Having searched out a desolate spot at Derevyanitsa, he built there a
stone church of the Resurrection of Christ. At this place the monk spent more than twenty
years at monastic deeds. Having yielded to the requests of the Novgorod people to be their
spiritual head, he returned anew to his flock. The ancient chronicler describes Saint Moses
thus: "He shepherded his flock like a good pastor; he defended the downtrodden, and
protected destitute widows; having gathered a company of copyists, on his account many a
book was written, and he confirmed many things in piety by his guidances."
In the year 1354 the Constantinople Patriarch Philotheos (1354-1355, 1362-1376) in token of
deep respect for Saint Moses gave permission for him to make use of an ancient prerogative
of Novgorod hierarchs – to wear the Polystaurion garb ("Krestchataya Riza," meaning "of
many crosses"), which also he sent him. He likewise permitted Saint Moses to deal directly
without intermediaries with the Constantinople Patriarch. Archbishop Moses continued for
seven years the second time around as hierarch, a period marked by the building of many
churches in Novgorod and its surroundings. In 1352 a stone church in honour of the
Dormition (Uspenie) of the MostHoly Mother of God was built by the Saint at Volotova; in
1355 a monastery was built in a locality named Skovorodka, with a stone church in honour of
the holy Archistrategos of God Michael; in 1357 also churches were built at three
monasteries: at Radogovitsa near the Volotovsk Dormition church, and at the Spirit (Dukhov)
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monastery and at a women's monastery – churches in the name of Saint John the Theologian
(the first and third of these monasteries were founded by Saint Moses).
In 1359, feeling weak and sick, the Saint withdrew into the Skovorodsk monastery founded
by him in the name of the holy Archistrategos of God Michael. Saint Moses asceticised here
until his death on 25 January 1362. He was buried at the cathedral church.
The archbishop of Novgorod Sergei, in 1484, having come to this cathedra from Moscow,
gave orders to a priest to open up the grave of Saint Moses. "I dare not, Vladyka, to be so bold
as to open up the relics of the sainted hierarch. It is thy task as hierarch to open the grave of
an hierarch," – answered the priest. "Look what is on this corpse!" – said the infuriated
archbishop, but he was soon punished. Having gone insane, he was not able to govern the
cathedra and did not become well, until he took the schema at the Khutynsk monastery (+
1504 at Trinity Sergeev monastery).
The establishing of a feastday to Sainted Moses on 19 April is connected with a proper
opening of his undecayed relics in 1686.
SAINT ABBÉ POPPON DE STAVELOT (+ 1048) ET SA MÈRE SAINTE ADELWISE
Poppon naquit en Flandre en 978. Cinq semaines après sa naissance, son père périt dans une
bataille à Hasbains en Brabant. Sainte Adelwise, sa mère, eût bien voulu se consacrer au
Seigneur mais elle dut tout d'abord s'occuper de l'éducation de son enfant. Celui-ci, devenu
grand, embrassa la carrière des armes; il y conserva les sentiments de piété que sa mère lui
avait inculqués. D'ailleurs, il ne tarda pas à se dégoûter de cette vie au milieu de compagnons
plus ou moins vicieux. Après avoir quitté l'armée, il entreprit en esprit de pénitence le
pèlerinage de Jérusalem, visita les Lieux Saints, d'où il rapporta de Précieuses Reliques.
Au retour, il passa par Rome où il visita le tombeau des Saints Apôtres. Rentré en Flandre, il
dédaigna les belles propositions du Comte Baudouin, renonça au monde, animé par l'exemple
et les exhortations du Bienheureux Eilbert, son ami. Il alla au Monastère de Saint-Thierry de
Reims où il reçut l'Habit, étudia les Saintes Ecritures et les constitutions monastiques, fit
profession. Chargé du service des pauvres à l'hôpital du monastère, il y trouva un jour un
malheureux couvert de lèpre, lui témoigna une particulière affection, lui donna pour le
réchauffer, sa propre couverture. Le lendemain, le même lépreux se présenta à son bienfaiteur
complètement guéri. Poppon, tout interdit à la vue de ce Miacle, supplia le lépreux de n'en
rien dire.
L'Abbé Richard de Saint-Vanne à Verdun, l'un des grands réformateurs monastiques de son
temps, rencontra Poppon vers 1008 et découvrit en lui, vu sa capacité et sa vertu, le Moine le
mieux doué pour l'assister dans son oeuvre de réforme. Il obtint non sans peine la faveur de le
posséder dans son abbaye. A la même époque, la Pieuse Adelwise suivit les conseils de son
fils et prit le voile à Verdun et obtenu de vivre en Recluse près de l'église de Saint-Vanne.
Poppon reçut bientôt de son nouvel Abbé la mission d'aller rétablir la discipline dans l'Abbaye
de Saint-Vaast d'Arras et d'en relever le temporel comme procureur. Pendant le temps de sa
gestion, il fit un voyage à la cour de l'Empereur Henri et obtint du Prince l'abolition des
spectacles où des hommes luttaient contre des ours. Le temporel de Saint-Vaast rétabli,
Poppon rentra à Saint-Vanne; pour mettre à l'épreuve son obéissance et son humilité, l'Abbé
Richard lui confia les plus bas offices de sa maison, il l'établit ensuite procureur et l'envoya,
en qualité de prévôt, restaurer l'Abbaye de Vasloges. Poppon y obtint le même succès qu'à
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Saint-Vaast et donna au monastère le nom de Beaulieu qui lui est resté.
Au cours d'un second voyage à la cour de l'Empereur Henri, Poppon s'était arrêté un moment
pour prendre quelque nourriture; il vit tout à coup un loup qui s'enfonçait dans les halliers,
emportant un berger. Interrompant son repas, il envoya ses compagnons à la poursuite du
loup; ceux-ci lui rapportèrent le berger sans vie et Poppon, par ses prières, le ressuscita. C'est
en souvenir de ce Miracle que la ville de Stavelot a mis un loup dans ses armes.
L'Empereur Henri, conquis par les vertus de Poppon, usa de toute son influence pour le faire
nommer Abbé de Stavelot au diocèse de Liège. Richard qui prétextait les besoins de ses
monastères, fit opposition mais l'intervention des Evêques Héribert de Cologne et Walbodon
de Liège donna gain de cause à l'Empereur. Avec Stavelot, Poppon dut encore se charger de
l'Abbaye de Malmédy, une double fondation de Saint Remacle. En 1022, l'Abbaye de Saint-
Maximin de Trèves étant venue à vaquer, Henri voulut encore que Poppon en prît le
gouvernement. C'étaient trois abbayes à réformer et dans cette entreprise, les travaux, les
obstacles, les persécutions ne manquèrent pas à Poppon; Dieu le soutint d'une façon
miraculeuse, lui et les Moines ses auxiliaires. Un jour, à Stavelot, des assassins entrèrent dans
le choeur de l'église l'épée à la main mais des boucliers invisibles protégèrent les Moines. A
Saint-Maximin, ce furent les maléfices et le poison que l'on tenta Poppon n'en ressentit aucun
dommage.
Un différend qui aurait pu s'aggraver et troubler le monde s'éleva entre Conrad, successeur de
l'Empereur Henri et Henri Ier le Roi de France, successeur de Robert; Poppon, honoré de la
confiance des deux Princes, réussit à les réconcilier. Il fut question d'élever Poppon sur le
siège de Strasbourg et l'opinion générale applaudissait à ce dessein de Conrad. Par un excès
d'humilité, Poppon recourut à un procédé mensonger pour motiver son refus; il alla jusqu'à
faire croire à l'Empereur que sa naissance avait été entachée d'un caractère déshonorant qui
constituait un empêchement canonique à sa promotion. Conrad reconnut mais trop tard, la
fausseté de cette allégation et il en fit à Poppon de justes reproches. Cependant, il le chargea
de réformer encore plusieurs monastères. Le Comte Baudouin de Flandre, de son côté, réussit
à faire nommer Poppon Abbé de Saint-Vaast d'Arras. Poppon y fut reçu avec des
démonstrations de joie; il n'y séjourna pas longtemps, il fit nommer à sa place l'Abbé
Emmelin et se rendit au Monastère de Marchiennes pour y opérer la réforme.
Là, les fatigues, les austérités, le grand âge, occasionnèrent pour Poppon une maladie qui fit
craindre pour ses jours. Lui-même, conscient du danger, pria Everhelm l'Abbé de Hautmont,
de lui administrer les derniers Mystères. Il voulut qu'on étendît à terre son cilice et s'y
prosterna; il récita lui-même les prières des agonisants, auxquelles les assistants répondirent.
Après diverses recommandations à ses Moines, il ajouta "Seigneur, si je suis véritablement
converti, donne-m'en une marque sensible; appelle-moi à toi le jour de la conversion de Saint
Paul dont on commence la Vigile." Il fut exaucé et s'endormit le 25 janvier 1048, à l'âge de
soixante-dix ans.
Le biographe de Poppon a consacré tout un chapitre à Adelwise, mère de notre Saint. Chez
cette Sainte veuve et son fils, on trouve les mêmes dispositions à l'égard de la vie monastique:
par l'éducation qu'elle lui donna, elle contribua à le détacher de la vie militaire pour se
consacrer à Dieu; Poppon, de son côté, orienta l'âme de sa mère vers la vie de Recluse à
laquelle l'avaient préparée ses fréquentes visites au tombeau de Saint Cyrice et les apparitions
de ce Saint comme aussi celles de Saint Amand d'Utrecht. On croit qu'elle s'endormit vers l'an
mille.
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Tropaire de Saint Poppon et Sainte Adelwise ton 6
Vraiment ces Miracles sont étonnants:
Un enfant mort est ressuscité,
Un lépreux est purifié,
Par tes prières et tes supplications.
Aussi, aujourd'hui, nous te prions,
Vénérable Père Poppon :
Avec ta Sainte Mère Adelwise,
Intercède pour nous auprès du Père.
SAINT EVÊQUE GABRIEL DE IMERETI (+1896)
Bishop Gabriel (Kikodze) was born November 15, 1825, in the village of Bachvi, in the
western Georgian district of Ozurgeti in Guria. His father was the priest Maxime Kikodze.
From 1840 to 1845 Gabriel (Gerasime in the world) studied in Tbilisi and at the theological
seminaries in Pskov and St. Petersburg. In 1849 he graduated from the St. Petersburg
Theological Academy with a master’s degree, and in the same year he was married and
returned to Georgia. Upon his return he was appointed dean of Tbilisi Seminary. In 1854 St.
Gabriel was ordained a deacon, and later a priest.
In 1856 a terrible grief befell St. Gabriel: his wife and five children died during an epidemic
that swept through the capital. After this tragedy St. Gabriel received a blessing from the
exarch Isidore to be tonsured a monk at Davit-Gareji Monastery, and in 1858 he was
enthroned as abbot of this monastery. In the same year he was consecrated bishop of Gori,
and then on July 2, 1860, he was transferred to the Imereti region. He shepherded the flock of
this diocese to the end of his life. In 1869 the Abkhazeti diocese was also brought under his
10
leadership. St. Gabriel strove tirelessly to strengthen the faith of his flock, and to this end he
traveled constantly throughout the villages, preaching and helping those in need. In the end it
was his own character and example that proved to have the most powerful influence on his
spiritual children.
There existed no differentiation among petitioners in the eyes of Bishop Gabriel: old or
young, prince or pauper, relative, acquaintance or stranger—all were equal to him and equally
deserving of his help, support, and protection. He would not tolerate lawlessness or
immorality.
The simplicity of his character was evident even in his clothing, his dwelling, and the food he
ate. It was not unusual for visitors, seeing the elder clad in a shabby monk’s robe, to take him
for a servant. Bishop Gabriel was a merciful almsgiver and generously distributed aid to the
widows and orphans in his community.
He sympathized deeply with the struggles of simple people and sought to establish a system
of universal primary education. He offered his help to many young people by providing them
with shelter and by often funding their studies. He would host dinners for the youth, leading
long discussions to instill in them virtuous thoughts and to cultivate a love of humility in their
young souls. Bishop Gabriel lived by the axiom: “Nothing is my own; all belongs to God.”
We know from Bishop Gabriel’s diaries the number of beggars he buried, the naked he
clothed, the people for whom he paved the way to survival, the students for whom he created
an opportunity for study, and the sick for whom he purchased medicine. Often in the winter
St. Gabriel would anonymously send firewood and money to families that were suffering
from hunger and cold.
Despite all of this, Bishop Gabriel would receive letters accusing him of unrighteousness,
injustice, immorality, ambition, and the selling of Church property without permission.
Bishop Gabriel’s strong nationalist sentiments (especially those pertaining to the Georgian
language) often caused conflicts with the Russian exarch Evsevi. For this reason Bishop
Gabriel became entangled in the politics of Georgian-Russian relations and he was held in
high suspicion by officials of the Russian rule in Georgia. Bishop Gabriel began to be
regarded as “untrustworthy” by his own government, and the officials assigned spies to watch
over his every action.
In 1885 Bishop Gabriel’s secretary, the publicist Evstati Mchedlidze (Bosleveli), was killed.
The bishop himself began to receive threatening letters, and he decided to leave Georgia. “My
spiritual weakness was such that I became frightened,” he wrote in his memoirs. “It was not
only for myself that I was afraid, seeing how I had already grown old and had little time
remaining in the world.
Rather, if they had killed me, a great disgrace would have fallen on the nation that had
devoted itself so faithfully to its shepherd.”
But Bishop Gabriel never left Georgia. In his last years he began to suffer severe inner
torment, and he often saw terrible visions—the enemy of mankind launched a final campaign
to spiritually defeat the already physically weakened elder. Bishop Gabriel ceaselessly
repeated the prayer “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
11
Breathing his last, he prayed, “Remember me, O Lord, when Thou comest in Thy Kingdom!”
Bishop Gabriel reposed in Kutaisi on January 25, 1896. The winter was unusually harsh in
western Georgia that year. The roads were covered with snow, and it was impossible to
translate his holy relics from Kutaisi to nearby Gelati. The people waited for more agreeable
weather, and until it arrived Bishop Gabriel’s relics remained at the City Cathedral in Kutaisi
(this cathedral was destroyed during the Communist period).
For forty-six days all of Georgia mourned Bishop Gabriel’s passing, and during that time his
body showed no signs of decay. In accordance with his will, the hierarch’s personal
possessions were distributed to widows, orphans, and the poor. His parting address, in which
he remitted the sins of all his flock and asked for the forgiveness of his own sins, was
published as a final, enduring testament to his great faith.
SAINT NÉO- HIÉROMARTYR ET CONFESSEUR VLADIMIR LE MÉTROPOLITE DE
KIEV ET GALLICE, PROTOMARTYR DU JOUG COMMUNISTE (+ 1918)
Le Saint Métropolite Vladimir de Kiev fut le premier Evêque à être torturé et massacré par les
communistes à l'époque du coup d'état bolchevik en Russie.
12
Basil Nikephorovich Bogoyavlensky naquit de Parents Pieux dans la province de Tambov le
1er janvier 1848. Prêtre, son père fut assassiné par la suite. Le jeune Basile obtint le diplôme
de l'Académie de Théologie de Kiev en 1874 et enseigna sept ans durant au séminaire de
Tambov avant d'être ordonné à la Sainte Prêtrise. Son épouse s'endormit en 1886 et leur
unique enfant s'endormit peu après. Le veuf en deuil entra au Monastère Kozlov à Tambov et
y reçut le nom de Vladimir. En 1888, il fut consacré Evêque de Staraya Rus et servit comme
Evêque vicaire de l'éparchie de Novgorod. En 1891, il fut nommé à l'éparchie de Samara. En
ces jours, le peuple de son éparchie souffrait d'une épidémie de choléra et de mauvaises
récoltes. L'Evêque Vladimir se dévoua entièrement à prendre soin des malades et des
souffrants, en inspirant d'autres à suivre son exemple.
En 1892, il devint Archevêque de Kartalin et Kahetin puis en 1898, il fut choisi Métropolite
de Moscou et Kolomna. Il servit quinze ans dans cette position. Le Métropolite Vladimir fut
remarquable par sa compassion envers les pauvres, les veuves et les orphelins. Il tenta aussi
d'aider les alcooliques et tous ceux qui avaient abandonné l'Eglise. Le Métropolite s'intéressa
aussi à l'éducation des enfants à l'école, en particulier de ceux qui étudiaient dans les écoles
théologiques.
En 1912 et après la Naissance au Ciel du Métropolite Antoine, il fut nommé Métropolite de
Petrograd, administrant cette éparchie jusqu'en 1915. Désapprouvant Raspoutine, le
Métropolite Vladimir perdit les faveurs du Tsar et fut transféré à Kiev.
Le "Congrès Ukrainien" lança un appel pour l'autonomie de l'Ukraine et pour la création d'une
Eglise ukrainienne indépendante de l'Eglise de Russie. Le Métropolite Vladimir en souffrit
beaucoup, avertissant qu'une telle division dans l'Eglise permettrait à ses ennemis d'être
victorieux. Cependant, à la fin de 1917, une Autorité ukrainienne fut formée et aussi une
administration ("rada") d'église ukrainienne séparée et dirigée par l'archevêque à la retraite
Alexis Dorodnitzin.
Ce groupe non-canonique interdit la commémoration du Patriarche Tykhon durant les services
ecclésiaux et il demanda que le Métropolite Vladimir quitte Kiev. En janvier 1918, la guerre
civile atteignit Kiev et les deux forces rivalisèrent pour le contrôle de la ville. Nombre
d'églises et de monastères furent endommagés par les canonnades. Les bolcheviks
s'emparèrent de la Laure des Cavernes de Kiev le 23 janvier et les soldats pénétrèrent dans les
églises. Les Moines furent traînés dans la cour, dévêtus et battus. Le 25 janvier à 18h30, cinq
soldats et un marin armés vinrent chercher le Métropolite Vladimir. Agé de soixante-dix ans,
le Hiérarque fut torturé et on tenta de l'étrangler dans sa chambre avec la chaîne de sa Croix
pectorale pour lui soutirer de l'argent.
Lorsqu'ils ressortirent, le serviteur de la cellule du Métropolite approcha et demanda une
bénédiction. Le marin le repoussa et lui dit : "Assez de courbettes devant ces buveurs de sang.
Ca suffit." Après l'avoir béni et embrassé, le Métropolite lui dit : "Au revoir, Philippe." Puis il
marcha calmement avec ses bourreaux comme s'il était en chemin pour aller célébrer la
Divine Liturgie.
Le Métropolite Vladimir fut amené du monastère jusqu'au lieu d'exécution. Comme ils
sortaient de la voiture, le Saint Martyr demanda : "Vous avez l'intention de me fusiller ici?"
"Pourquoi pas?" fut leur réponse.
13
Après avoir brièvement prié et demandé pardon pour ses péchés, le Métropolite Vladimir
bénit ses exécuteurs, en disant : "Puisse Dieu vous pardonner." Ensuite, on entendit plusieurs
coups de feu.
Le matin, quelques femmes vinrent aux portes de la Laure et dirent aux Moines où ils
pourraient trouver le corps du Métropolite. Il gisait sur son dos avec un impact de balle près
de son oeil droit et un près de sa clavicule droite. On voyait aussi plusieurs lacérations et
entailles sur le corps dont une très profonde blessure au thorax. Le Hiéromartyr fut emmené à
la Laure dans l'église Saint-Michel où il avait passé ses derniers jours en prière.
A Moscou, le Concile de l'Eglise de Russie était en session lorsque leur parvint la nouvelle de
la Naissance au Ciel du Métropolite Vladimir. Le Patriarche Thikhon et son clergé célébrèrent
une Panikhida à la mémoire du Néo-Martyr Vladimir. Une commission fut établie pour
investiguer les circonstances du meurtre du Métropolite Vladimir mais elle ne fut pas à même
d'accomplir sa tâche, à cause du coup d'état des bolcheviks.
Le Concile décida que le 25 janvier, jour de sa Naissance Céleste, serait dédié comme journée
annuelle de commémoration de tous les Martyrs et Confesseurs de Russie tués par les
soviétiques. Si le 25 janvier ne tombe pas un dimanche, on choisit alors le dimanche le plus
proche du 25 janvier.
ou
SAINT NEO-HIEROMARTYR VLADIMIR, METROPOLITE DE KIEV (+ 1918)
Metropolitan Vladimir, in the world Basil Nikiforovich Bogoyavlensky, was born on January
1, 1848 in the village of Malaya Morshka in the Morshansky uyezd of Tambov province. His
father nicephorus, was a priest who later himself suffered a Martyr's death. He received his
primary education in the theological schools of Tambov diocese.
Unpretentiousness which bordered on timidity, complemented by eagerness and diligence in
schoolwork, were the most distinctive characteristics of the child and future metropolitan. In a
book dedicated to the memory of the late Metropolitan Anthony Vadkovsky, who was
formerly from the same district as Metropolitan Vladimir, there appears the following story
about an incident in the latter's childhood. Once Basil Bogoyavlensky's father went with him
to the home of Alexander Vasilyevich Vadkovsky, the future Metropolitan Anthony. When he
saw A.V. Vadkovsky's older brothers, who were theologians, Basil Bogoyavlensky was so
frightened by these important persons that he ran into the barn and hid under a carriage, where
they had great difficulty finding him.
Basil continued his education at the Kiev Theological Academy, from where he graduated
with the degree of candidate of theology in 1874 as a member of the twenty-seventh
graduating class of students in the Department of Church Practices. He was among the top
graduates in his class. Several professors of the Department of Church Practices even
suggested that he stay at the Academy to prepare for a professorial post.
While he was still a student at the Academy, Basil ventured into the field of literature as a
writer and translator. By his efforts G. Hageman's work on logic was translated from German
and published in Kiev in 1874.
14
On leaving the Academy, Basil became a teacher of homiletics, liturgics and pastoral theology
at the Tambov theological seminary. A year later, he was appointed to teach Holy Scripture in
the seminary. He also taught German at the seminary and gave lessons in geography in the
girls' high school in the diocese and later in the local girls' gymnasium.
After seven years of work in education, Basil decided to dedicate himself to serving the
Church as a priest. On January 13, 1882 he was ordained a priest for the Pokrov cathedral in
Kozlov, Tambov diocese, and soon thereafter became a parish priest in that city. Fr. Basil
invested a great deal of time and effort into preaching the word of God in the city of Kozlov.
In 1883 he became superior of the Trinity church in Kozlov and the dean of the churches of
Kozlov.
On February 8, 1886, after the deaths of his wife and only child, Fr. Basil was tonsured into
the mantia with the name Vladimir, and the next day was raised to the rank of archimandrite,
being appointed superior of the Holy Trinity monastery in Kozlov.
On October 6, 1886, he was transferred to Novgorod and appointed superior of the St.
Anthony monastery in Novgorod.
On June 3 or 13, 1888, Archimandrite Vladimir was consecrated Bishop of Stara Russa, a
vicariate of the Novgorod diocese.
Both in Kozlov and in Novgorod Bishop Vladimir, in addition to carrying out his duties as
vicar bishop under the current Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Novgorod, Isidore, laboured
much over the preaching of the word of God and thus brought great benefits to the people. He
frequently and zealously instructed the people, for he gave this priority. His sermons attracted
his listeners' attention by their unusual simplicity, sincerity and candour. At this time he also
began trying to organize all the preaching in Novgorod and in his diocese by gathering
together all of the parish clergy. He was particularly interested in instituting informal
dialogues between priests and lay people in addition to the sermons delivered during services.
This practice was initiated, and Bishop Vladimir attached very great significance to it. He was
always fondly remembered in Novgorod, and he similarly cherished pleasant memories of his
service in Novgorod to the end of his days.
On January 19, 1891, Bishop Vladimir was appointed Bishop of Samara and Stavropol. His
rather brief term of service in Samara (less than two years) constitutes a special chapter in the
life of the Martyr-metropolitan. It coincided with a famine in Samara, which was followed by
a cholera epidemic. During these terrible calamities that befell the Samara region, Bishop
Vladimir put exceptional energy into developing various means of helping the people.
Through the work of a special committee which he established, he organized widespread
assistance for the hungry, cooperated with the parish relief organization, and recommended
that arrangements be made for partially and fully subsidized dining halls and tea rooms to
feed the hungry. In all of this he not only acted as an organizer and leader of the clergy, but
was also actively involved in the work. In his sermons and printed appeals he prompted the
clergy and the local populace to assist their unfortunate brothers who were suffering from the
famine.
Bishop Vladimir showed the same energy and initiative during the cholera epidemic. In his
sermons and various publication, he tried to communicate to the people a healthy, proper
attitude toward the epidemic and suggested effective ways of fighting against it. He organized
15
and served at gatherings for the purpose of praying for deliverance from this terrible
misfortune. He also conducted funeral services at the cemeteries for those who had died
during the epidemic, and fearlessly appeared among the worshippers in places where the
threat of cholera was greatest. His personal example inspired other priests to forget their own
troubles and alleviate the sufferings of others.
These actions evoked sympathy for the young hierarch among the people. Thus, when on
October 19, 1892 Bishop Vladimir was appointed Exarch of Georgia and elevated to the rank
of Archbishop of Kartelia and Kakhetia, the people of Samara unanimously expressed their
regret that Bishop Vladimir would have to leave Samara. His very appointment to such a
responsible post in the Church administration reflected favourably on his work in Samara,
where he had distinguished himself among the bishops of Russia.
Archbishop Vladimir served as Exarch of Georgia for a little more than five years. There he
devoted special attention to the spiritual enlightenment of the ethnically heterogeneous
Orthodox peoples of the Caucasus. In order to accomplish his goals, he supported increased
dissemination of Christian teachings, in addition to building new churches and parish schools.
Meanwhile, he persistently encouraged the clergy of the Georgian exarchate not only by his
words but also by his example.
In 1897 he was appointed honorary member of the Kazan Theological Academy.
On February 21, 1898 Archbishop Vladimir was appointed Metropolitan of Moscow and
Kolomna, and on March 28 of the same year took over the administration of the Moscow
diocese. The new metropolitan was immediately faced with great difficulties. Moscow was
accustomed to having in this post archpastors who had great authority, as a result either of
their scholarship (such as Metropolitans Plato Levshin, Philaret Drozdov and Macarius
Bulgakov), or of their record of service in an academy (such as Metropolitans Joannichius
Rudnev and Sergius Lyapidevsky), or who were famous for having performed some
exceptional service (like, for example, Innocent Veniaminov, the apostle of Alaska). The new
metropolitan did not enjoy such fame among the Orthodox, despite his meritorious service in
Samara and Georgia. He was also comparatively young when he was appointed metropolitan,
for he had just turned fifty.
In his leadership of the clergy in the capital, Metropolitan Vladimir maintained his usual
principles. He was simple in his manner of address, yet firm and insistent when giving orders
and instructions. He wanted very much to bring the clergy of the capital close to the people
and for them to conduct services and deliver sermons as frequently as they could. In order to
invigorate and strengthen the Muscovite clergy, Metropolitan Vladimir began making new
posts in the capital's parishes and appointing new priests.
At first this, in conjunction with certain of the metropolitan's personal traits, served to upset
the Muscovite clergy and even the lay population of the capital. With time, however, the
Muscovite flock came to understand how kind the meteropolitan was, and how full of the best
of intentions for the people. Moscow gradually accepted Metropolitan Vladimir's personality
and methods. Unfortunately the events of 1905 impaired the good spiritual relationship which
had been established between the archpastor and his flock in Moscow. Only his tenacity and
strength of purpose combined with unusual patience made it possible for him not only to
survive the lamentable events of the 1905 revolution, but even to restore a normal relationship
with his flock. He spent the last few years of his service in Moscow in such relative calm that
16
he subsequently remembered them with satisfaction as the best years of his archpastoral
service.
During this time, Metropolitan Vladimir signed the decrees of the Holy Synod on the
uncovering of the relics of Saints Seraphim of Sarov, Pitirim of Tambov and Joasaph of
Belgorod. Being the spiritual father of the future Martyr, the Great-Princess Elizabeth
Fyodorovna, he helped her to found the Martha-Mary convent in Moscow. In 1912 he
founded the journal The Voice of the Church.
Metropolitan Vladimir was particularly interested in strengthening the Church's role in
education. For example, he was inspired with a desire to communicate genuine Christian
morals and teachings to the workers, who were being led astray by socialist propaganda. From
time to time he even attended Moscow workers' meetings and presented the Christian
teachings, explanations and solutions to the social questions which most interested and
troubled the working class. In order to promote among the workers and people in general a
Christian understanding of the social aspect of government, the metropolitan published his
own sermons and speeches, and also translated the best works of foreign literature which dealt
with socialism.
The metropolitan was instrumental in establishing in Moscow the so-called "Diocese House,"
which subsequently acquired his name. This building became the centre not only of the
diocesan administration, but also of spiritual enlightenment. Sermons were always given at
the daily services in its church, and lectures on theology were read in the main hall, as well as
special lectures for factory workers and speeches on theological science and religious
philosophy.
As time went on and the presiding member of the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Anthony of St.
Petersburg, became chronically ill, Metropolitan Vladimir had to devote much of his energy
and attention to the highest administration of the Russian Church. And when, on November 2,
1912, Metropolitan Anthony reposed in the Lord, Metropolitan Vladimir was transferred to
St. Petersburg and assumed the title and rights of the presiding member of the Holy Synod.
This took place on November 23, 1912, and shortly thereafter Metropolitan Vladimir took
over the administration of the capital's diocese.
His three years' service as Metropolitan of Petrograd undoubtedly constituted a most difficult
period in his service to the Church. Serving as the capital's hierarch was in itself exceedingly
difficult, but for Metropolitan Vladimir it was complicated by the particular problems caused
by the unusual events of the time. Above all, he endured repeated and cruel attacks, both at
open meetings and in the press. To some it seemed that he paid too much attention to the
political aspects of his high rank, but according to others he was not sufficiently bold and
decisive in his censure of the irregularities and abuses which took place in the Russian Church
and society at that time.
Once, in a private audience with Tsar Nicholas II, he expressed his opinion on the disastrous
influence exerted by Rasputin. For his open non-acceptance of Rasputin he was punished by
being transferred to Kiev, where he was appointed to replace Metropolitan Flavian
(Gorodetsky), who reposed on November 4, 1915. Metropolitan Vladimir was appointed to
serve in Kiev on November 23, 1915, but he retained the title and rights of the presiding
member of the Holy Synod. On December 22, he arrived in Kiev and officially took over the
administration of the diocese. He thus became the first hierarch in the history of the Russian
17
Church to occupy all three of the leading sees of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev - he was
truly the metropolitan "of all Russia."
At first the Kievan flock genuinely sympathized with its new hierarch. He was esteemed as a
victim of persecution. But they did not see the heaviness of spirit and exhaustion that was
reflected in the metropolitan's speech, work and gestures...
After Theophany, 1916, Metropolitan Vladimir hurried to Petrograd to take part in a meeting
of the Holy Synod. He ended up spending most of his service as Metropolitan of Kiev in
Petrograd, and he was in Petrograd at the time of the revolution of February, 1917.
The fall of the Tsar elicited surprisingly little reaction in view of the enormous, indeed
apocalyptic significance of the event. This was owing, not so much to the fact that many
members of the Church welcomed the revolution (although this was true), as to the fact that a
revolution was taking place within the Church herself, and this drew the attention of the
leaders of the Church away from political events.
The revolution consisted in the fact that all over the country the elective principle with the
participation of laymen was taking the place of the system of "episcopal autocracy" which had
prevailed thereto. In almost all dioceses Diocesan Congresses restricted the power of the
bishops with special "diocesan councils" or committees composed of clergy and laity elected
by the Congresses. The application of the elective principle to almost all ecclesiastical posts,
from parish offices to episcopal sees, resulted in the removal of several bishops from their
sees and the election of new ones in their stead. Thus the staunchly monarchist Archbishop
Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of Kharkov was forced to retire before by the revolutionaries being
reinstated at the demand of the church people. And among other changes Archbishop Tykhon
(Bellavin) of Lithuania was elected metropolitan of Moscow, Archbishop Benjamin
(Kazansky) - metropolitan of Petrograd and Archbishop Sergius (Stragorodsky) -
metropolitan of Vladimir.
These changes were in fact sometimes beneficial to the Church. Thus Rasputin's nominees,
such as Metropolitan Pitirim of Petrograd, were removed. Nevertheless, the winter session of
the Holy Synod, presided over by the Metropolitan Vladimir refused to sanction the results of
the elections, because the hierarchs recognized, correctly, that whatever the immediate good
results, the spirit behind these changes was the spirit of the revolution. This led the new
procurator of the Holy Synod appointed by the Provisional Government, Prince V.N. Lvov, to
petition for the early disbanding of the Synod and the appointment of a new Synod for the
summer session. Only two members of the old Synod - Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky)
of Vladimir and the Exarch of Georgia, Metropolitan Platon - agreed to serve in the new
Synod; and ten years later Sergius became the main architect of the Sovietization of the
Russian Church, while Platon became the architect of the schism of the American
Metropolia...
On March 24, 1917, after leaving the Synod, Metropolitan Vladimir returned to Kiev, where
his prolonged absence had created problems among his flock. However, when the Local
Council of the Russian Church opened its proceedings in Moscow in August, 1917,
Metropolitan Vladimir, being Honorary President of the Council and President of the section
on ecclesiastical discipline, was obliged to move to Moscow. On November 21 / December 4,
1917, he led the triumphant rite of the enthronment of his Holiness Patriarch Tykhon in the
Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
18
Then, with a heavy heart full of forebodings about the future, he returned again to his flock in
Kiev. Already in March, on his first return to Kiev after the February revolution, he had had
to hold back the waves of incipient revolution there. For an "Executive Committee of clergy
and laymen" was organized in Kiev at this time, and a "Commissar for ecclesiastical affairs"
was appointed. The longsuffering Orthodox city of Kiev, which had witnessed in the many
centuries of its history all manner of hideous events and changes, was shocked at the spectacle
of an Orthodox parish priest in the role of a revolutionary commissar, "a policeman in a
riassa" as he was called. According to the brochure A True Account of the Church Advisory
Council to the Metropolitan of Kiev (Kiev, 1917), he is described as "at all times of the day
and even sometimes at night, always with his briefcase in his hand or under his arm, racing
about in an automobile with representatives of the executive committee, either to oversee the
searching of monasteries in order to discover counter-revolutionary or pogromist literature, or
seizing confidential documents at the Church Consistory..." (p. 30).
In a dialogue with representatives of the executive committee, Metropolitan Vladimir stated
candidly that "the Executive Committee of clergy and laymen is an illegitimate institution
which is trying gradually to expand its power and to usurp prerogatives which do not belong
to it."
However, in spite of this his opinion of the new organ of the Kievan Church which had been
formed as a result of the revolution, Metropolitan Vladimir did not refuse in principle to work
with its members to lead the Church in a new direction. He gave his blessing for "the
Executive Committee of clergy and laymen" to convene, in Kiev on April 12, 1917, a
"Congress of the clergy and laymen of the Kievan diocese," which was for reasons that
remain unclear transformed into "the Ukrainian congress of the clergy and laymen of the
Kievan diocese."
Metropolitan Vladimir had a negative opinion of this congress. During it bishops were
publicly insulted in a manner unheard of in the Orthodox Christian world; clerics in
attendance branded them as "parasites." Metropolitan Vladimir likewise had a negative
opinion of the resolutions which this congress passed, among which was the declaration that
"the autonomous Ukraine must have a Ukrainian church which is independent of the Synod."
He also opposed the formation by this congress of a so-called advisory committee to the
Metropolitan of Kiev.
This is how the members of this committee characterized the metropolitan's attitude towards
them in their account of a meeting which took place on July 1, 1917: "At this meeting, in the
presence of three vicar bishops, the metropolitan expressed what can only be called a hostile
attitude toward the Church Committee in such clear and candid terms that all of its members
wished to leave the metropolitan's inhospitable chambers. One of the committee members
(Archpriest E.A. Kapralov) suggested that they do so and that it be recorded in the minutes
that the metropolitan's attitude precluded any possibility of cooperative and fruitful labour."
The metropolitan's feelings were best expressed in an "archpastoral address" which he
published in early August, 1917, on the eve of the convocation of an extraordinary congress
of the Kievan diocese: "The great misfortune of our times is that people consider it to be a
virtue to have a liberal attitude toward matters of faith and morality. Many consider it their
duty to implant such a liberal attitude toward faith and morality in the souls of the Russian
people... To justify themselves, they present arguments that seem to merit our attention. They
say: every man can judge religious matters from his own point of view and freely express his
19
convictions, whatever they may be, according to his conscience, and he must respect the
religious convictions of others. No one will object to freedom of religion and of the
conscience. One must not, however, forget that Christian faith is not a human invention, but
rather the word of God, and it cannot be changed to suit people's concepts. If people's
convictions stand in opposition to the Divine truth, is it reasonable to recognize these
convictions, to consider them correct and to guide one's life by them? We must, of course, be
tolerant of those who do not agree with us, and bear with even those who have clearly gone
astray, but we must turn away from their errors, and prove that they are unfounded. The
pastors of the Christian Church and all sincere followers of Christ's teachings should consider
this their duty...
"Our local and rapidly growing sorrows add to the misfortune experienced by the whole of the
Russian land. I am speaking about a tendency which has surfaced in southern Russia and
which threatens to destroy the peace and unity of the Church. It is terrible for us even to hear
people talk about separating the churches of southern Russia from the one Orthodox Church
of Russia. After their long cooperation, can there be any grounds for such aims? What is their
origin? Did not the preachers who spread Orthodoxy throughout Russia come from Kiev?
Among the God-pleasing brethren of the Kiev-Caves Lavra do we not see men who came
from all corners of Holy Russia? Is it not true that the Orthodox of southern Russia have
laboured in all parts of Russia, serving the Church and as scholars in various fields? And
conversely, is it not true that the Orthodox of northern Russia have laboured for salvation in
various professions in southern Russia? Did they not erect the one great Russian Orthodox
Church together? Could the Orthodox of southern Russia possibly reproach the Orthodox of
northern Russia for falling away from the faith in some way or for distorting the teachings of
faith and morality? Certainly not. Based on my personal experience I can testify that in all the
dioceses where God has allowed me to serve, the Orthodox teachings of faith and morality are
kept pure and unchanged, and there is everywhere unity in the Church's teachings and
liturgical practices. Why should there be any separation? Where will it lead? Indeed, only the
enemies both without and within will have cause to rejoice. Our love for our native soil
should not suppress and stifle our love for the whole of Russia and for the one Russian
Orthodox Church."
The metropolitan concluded by appealing to the clergy and laymen to "take every possible
measure to promote unity among themselves and with the whole of the Russian Orthodox
Church," and to "devote serious thought and proper preparation to the upcoming congress,
thoroughly to discuss the issues presented there, and pass resolutions which are correct, legal,
beneficial and which merit implementation."
However, the congress, which took place on August 8 and 9, 1917, took an entirely different
direction. On August 9, the metropolitan was so offended by the proceedings of the congress
that he fell seriously ill and had to leave the meeting immediately. In a defiant public
statement, the delegates interpreted the metropolitan's departure as escapism and an
expression of his lack of respect for the meeting.
In October, 1917, the Provisional Government fell. The Ukrainian government wished to use
the change to turn their autonomous status into one of full independence. And the same
tendencies were strongly present in the Church.
A special committee in charge of convening a Council of the Orthodox clergy and lay people
of the Ukraine was organized in Kiev in mid-November of 1917 according to a resolution
20
passed at the third Cossack military assembly. Archbishop Alexis Dorodnitsyn (formerly of
Vladimir), who was in retirement in the Kiev Caves Lavra, stood at the head of this
committee. This committee was joined by representatives from among the clergy of Kiev
(Fathers Lipkovsky, Tarnavsky, Filipenko and others), who played active roles in the abovementioned
organizations, such as the Executive Committee, Church Advisory Council to the
Metropolitan of Kiev etc.
At a meeting on November 23, this committee "discussed the present position of the Orthodox
Church in the Ukraine now that the Ukrainian government is being separated from the
government of Russia, and took into account the pronouncement of the Russian Patriarch,
who might extend his authority to include the Ukrainian Church as well." Thye passed a
whole series of resolutions, which amounted to sweeping changes in the status and
administration of the Church in the Ukraine. The organizational committee was renamed "the
provisional Ukrainian Orthodox Church Council," and an executive committee established to
convene a provisional Ukrainian Orthodox Church Council was proclaimed "the provisional
government of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church." It was also decided that this new
ecclesiastical government should appoint commissars to all the dioceses of the Ukraine. The
priest Fr. Pashchevsky was appointed commissar of the Kievan diocese. And the chairman of
the Council, Archbishop Alexis, was forbidden to go to Moscow, where he had been
summoned to become the abbot of a monastery by Patriarch Tykhon.
On November 24, a general meeting of the Orthodox parish councils of Kiev was convened at
which these moves towards Ukrainian ecclesiastical autocephaly were condemned and the
fear was expressed that an autocephalous Church might join the uniates and come under the
Pope.
A few days later the metropolitan arrived in Kiev. On December 4 a meeting convened by the
Union of Orthodox Parish Councils was held under the presidency of the metropolitan and
attended by Metropolitan Platon of Georgia. In the days that followed several attempts were
made by the autocephalists to remove Metropolitan Vladimir and his vicar bishops from Kiev.
At one point, sharply reversing course, they offered him the post of Patriarch of the Ukrainian
Church, while at the same time demanding one hundred thousand rubles from the coffers of
the metropolia. It was only with difficulty that the unwanted night visitors were removed.
At the end of the month another delegation came to the metropolitan and demanded that he
leave Kiev. He replied with emotion: "I am not afraid of anyone or anything. I am at all times
prepared to give my life for Christ's Church and for the Orthodox faith, to prevent its enemies
from mocking it. I will suffer to the very end in order to preserve Orthodoxy in the very place
where it first took root in Russia."
And then, going up to one member of the delegation and pointing at his heart, he said: "Do
you know that the first revolutionary was the devil, and you are making a revolution in the
Church of Christ?"
Then he wept bitterly.
The metropolitan considered the convening of an All-Ukrainian Council untimely and useless
in view of the development of the revolution and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks.
Nevertheless, he was forced to prepare for the opening of a new Council, and opened its first
session on January 7, 1918 with a moleben on Sophia square and a welcoming speech to the
21
delegates. The metropolitan was unanimously elected to the chairmanship of the Council, and
attended every single meeting until the civil war broke out in Kiev.
Artillery shells began to fall on the Kiev Caves Lavra on January 15 and continued for several
days. However, the metropolitan continued with his religious duties, displaying great calm,
and on January 23 celebrated his last Divine Liturgy with the brotherhood of the Lavra. On
the evening of January 23 the Bolsheviks broke into the Lavra, committing unparalleled acts
of sacrilege and looting, mocking and whipping the monks and killing the officers and other
military personnel who were there. In spite of all the commotion, the metropolitan served an
akathist to the Dormition of the Mother of God in the great church of the Lavra, which proved
to be his last service on earth. Then he and Bishop Theodore of Priluki moved to the altar of
the lower church, which was dedicated to St. Michael, first metropolitan of Kiev.
The night of January 25 was full of alarm. Four armed men and a woman, dressed as a Red
Cross nurse, broke into the quarters of the superior, made a thorough search and took
everything of value. In the middle of the night, three of them went out "for reconnaissance"
and robbed the treasurer and the provost. Later, three armed Reds searched the metropolitan's
rooms and, being unable to find any valuables carried away a golden medal from the safe.
At half past six in the evening, the doorbell rang loudly three times. Five men, dressed in
soldiers' uniforms and led by a sailor, entered the house and asked for "Vladimir, the
Metropolitan." They were directed downstairs to the cell of the archpastor. The metropolitan
came out to meet them, and was taken into the bedroom where they remained for twenty
minutes behind locked doors. There Metropolitan Vladimir was tortured and choked with the
chain of his cross, insulted and ordered to give them money. Later, the attendants found on the
floor of the room pieces of a broken chain, a silk cord, a tiny case with holy relics and a small
icon which the metropolitan always wore around his neck.
When the metropolitan came out twenty minutes later, surrounded by his torturers, he was
wearing his cassock, a panagia and a white klobuk on his head. On the front steps he was
approached by his old cell-attendant, Philip, who asked for a blessing. The sailor pushed him
aside, shouting:
"Stop showing respect to these bloodsuckers. Enough of that!"
The metropolitan went up to Philip, blessed and kissed him, and, shaking his hand, said:
"Goodbye, Philip."
Then he wiped away his tears. Philip later reported that when they parted the metropolitan
was calm and solemn, as if leaving for church to celebrate the Holy Liturgy.
This old, humble and innocent servant of God went to his death without any sign of weakness
or fear. As he was led out of the monastery he crossed himself and softly chanted a prayer.
An eyewitness relates that Metropolitan Vladimir was driven from the gates of the monastery
to the place of execution. On his way from the car to a small clearing by the fortified wall, he
asked:
"Is it here that you want to shoot me?"
22
One of the murderers answered:
"Why not? Do you expect us to stand on ceremony with you?"
When the metropolitan asked for permission to pray before he was shot, the reply was:
"Be quick about it!"
Lifting his arms to heaven, Metropolitan Vladimir prayed aloud:
"O Lord, forgive my sins, voluntary and involuntary, and accept my spirit in peace."
Then he blessed the murderers with both hands and said:
"My God bless and forgive you."
In the silent night four shots were heard, then two more, then more...
"They are shooting the metropolitan," said one of the monks at the Lavra.
"There are too many shots for one murder," replied another.
At the sound of the shots, some fifteen sailors with revolvers and lanterns ran into the yard of
the monastery. One of them asked:
"Did they take the metropolitan away?"
"They led him out of the gates," replied the monks timidly.
The sailors ran out, and in about twenty minutes returned.
"Yes, we have found him," they said, "and we'll take every one of you out in the same
way."
There is another account of the metropolitan's death. Archimandrite Nicanor Troitsky recalls
that when he was a boy his mother hurried with him to the Lavra, where a ring of soldiers
were holding a crowd back from the scene of the execution. He recalls that the metropolitan
was given a series of questions, and each time he gave an (unsatisfactory) answer a bayonet
was thrust into his body until he became a fountain of blood. After the execution the crowd
burst through the cordon of soldiers. Then Fr. Nicanor's mother told him to put his fingers into
the blood of the martyred metropolitan, make the sign of the cross with them on his forehead,
and remember that he had witnessed the death of a true Martyr, to whose confession he must
remain faithful for the rest of his life...
The silence was not broken again that night. The monastery slept, and no one seemed to
realize that only a thousand feet from the northern gates of the Lavra, in a pool of blood, lay
the shattered body of the holy metropolitan.
At sunrise, some women pilgrims appeared at the Lavra gates, and the monks learned from
them where the mutilated body of the metropolitan was to be found. The brotherhood decided
23
to bring the body into the monastery, for which permission from the communist authorities
was obtained. At nine o'clock, Archimandrite Anthimus, accompanied by four medical
orderlies, went to the scene of the murder.
The metropolitan was lying on his back covered with an overcoat. Missing were his panagia,
his klobuk and cross, galoshes, boots, socks, gold watch and chain. The autopsy showed that
he had been shot with exploding bullets and stabbed in several places with cold, sharp
weapons. His hands were frozen in the position of blessing.
After serving a litiya at the spot where the metropolitan had died, they laid the body on the
stretcher and, at about eleven o'clock in the morning, they brought it into the church of St.
Michael, where the murdered metropolitan had spent the last few hours of his life. As
Archimandrite Anthimus was lifting the body, he was surrounded by about ten armed men
who started to mock and insult the remains.
"You want to bury him! But he deserves to be thrown into the ditch! You intend to make holy
relics of him, that's why you are picking him up!" they shouted.
As the mournful procession was making its way to the Lavra, pious women who were passing
by wept and prayed, saying:
"The sufferer and holy Martyr, may God's Kingdom be his!"
"A heavenly kingdom! His place is in hell, at the very bottom of it," replied the fanatics.
After the metropolitan's body had been photographed and dressed in the proper vestments, the
deputy abbot of the Lavra, Archimandrite Clement, and the senior brethren of the monastery
served a panikhida. On January 27, Metropolitan Platon of Tbilisi, who was representing the
Russian Patriarchate at the Ukrainian Council, served a panikhida for the metropolitan in
Kiev. On January 29, the body was transferred to the Great Church of the Kiev Caves Lavra,
and after the burial service it was buried in the church of the Elevation of the Cross in the
Near Caves.
On February 15/28, 1918, a session of the Russian Church Council meeting in Moscow was
dedicated to the memory of the murdered metropolitan.
Metropolitan Vladimir was the hierarch who bore the brunt of the first revolutionary assault
on the Russian Church. It was therefore fitting that he should become her first hierarchical
new Martyr. And on April 5/18 the Russian Council decreed that the Sunday nearest the date
of his martyrdom, January 25 / February 7, should become the date of the annual
commemoration of all the holy new Martyrs and confessors of Russia.
(Sources: Archimandrite Nicanor Troitsky; Archpriest Theodore Titov, A Wreath on the
Grave of the Most Reverend Metropolitan Vladimir, 1918, translated into English by
Antonina Janda, published by the St. John of Kronstadt Press, Liberty, TN, 1987; M.E.
Gubonin, Akty Svyateishago Patriarkha Tykhona, St. Tykhon's Theological Institute, 1994,
pp. 852-853; Protopriest Michael Polsky, The New Martyrs of Russia, Montreal: Monastery
Press, 1972, chapter 1; B. Bakulin, "Nyesvoyevremennye vospominaniya," in Bessmertny,
A.R. and Filatov, S.B. Religiya i demokratiya, Moscow: Progress, 1993, pp. 149-163; Bishop
Gregory Grabbe, Russkaya Tserkov' pered litsom gospodstvuyushchago zla, Jordanville,
24
N.Y.: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1991; Archbishop Leontius (Philippovich), "Ukrainskiye
shovinisty i samsvyaty," Russkij Pastyr, II-III, 1995, pp. 154-159; Za Khrista Postradavshiye,
Moscow: St. Tykhon's Theological Institute, 1997, pp. 260-261)
SAINT NÉO-MARTYR AUXENCE L'ÉPIROTE, À CONSTANTINOPLE (+1720)
The holy New Martyr Auxentius was born in 1690 in the diocese of Vellas, part of the
Metropolitan district of Ioannina in Greece. When he was a young man, he moved to
Constantinople with his parents and became a furrier.
Later, he left his trade and went to work on the ships, leading a sinful life in pursuit of worldly
pleasures. His Moslem coworkers turned against him and accused him of denying Christ to
embrace Islam. Fearing that they would denounce him to the captain of the ship, Auxentius
jumped ship and returned to Constantinople.
Auxentius bought a small boat and earned his living with it. He began to regret his previous
25
conduct, and the desire for martyrdom grew within him. One day, a monk got into his boat in
order to cross the water. This was Father Gregory, a monk of Xeropotamou Monastery on Mt.
Athos.
He revealed to Father Gregory his desire to be a Martyr for Christ. The wise monk praised his
desire, but urged caution lest he should weaken under torture and deny Christ. He
recommended that Auxentius move to a quiet place and become a monk. Heeding Father
Gregory's advice, Auxentius continued to work with his boat for a time, giving most of his
money to the poor, and living as an ascetic.
Auxentius often prayed at the church of the Life-Giving Fountain, asking God to give him
strength to become a Martyr. Then he returned to his old ship, where his former shipmates
began to beat him. They dragged him before the kadi, stating that he had converted to Islam,
but then returned to Christianity.
Auxentius said, "I was, and am, an Orthodox Christian. I am prepared to suffer thousands of
tortures for the sake of Christ."
The furious Hagarenes began to beat Auxentius with an iron bar. He lost an eye and several
teeth as a result. He remained steadfast in confessing Christ, in spite of all the tortures that
were inflicted upon him, and absolutely refused to become a Moslem.
Father Gregory went to see Auxentius in prison, and was asked to bring him Holy
Communion on his next visit. The monk did this, also urging him to remain strong in the
Orthodox Faith.
The holy Martyr was brought before the vizier, who urged him to respect Islam as good and
true, instead of treating it with contempt. St Auxentius answered that he would never abandon
his faith. In fact, he even urged the vizier to become a Christian. This enraged the vizier, and
he sentenced Auxentius to death.
After praying for all Orthodox Christians, and for the whole world, St Auxentius was
beheaded on January 25, 1720 at 9:00 A.M. Two days later, a heavenly light was seen by
Christians and Moslems, shining on the body of the Martyr.
The sultan's tailor, an Orthodox Christian named Michael, went to the sultan and asked for the
body. Patriarch Jeremiah III accompanied the body to the Church of the Life-Giving Fountain
for the funeral and burial.
Two years later, when the Saint's relics were exhumed, a sweet fragrance came forth from
them.
SAINTS MARTYRS JUVENTUS ET MAXIMUS (+ 363)
Officiers de la garde de Julien l'Apostat, ils furent décapités pour avoir murmuré leur
désapprobation au sujet des lois iniques dirigées contre les Chrétiens.
SAINT ANATOLE I D'OPTINA (+ 1894)
26
SAINT DOSITHÉE DE TBILISI
Ste Médula et ses compagnons Martyrs par le feu-St Castin l'Evêque de Byzance (230-237)-St
Dimitrios le Skevophylaxe(gardien des vases et ornements sacrés) de la Grande Eglise
(VIIIème siècle?).-St Publius ascète en Syrie (vers 380)-St Apollos ascète en Egypte (IVème
siècle).-St Auxence, l'Epirote, fourreur puis marin, Martyr (Constantinople 1720).-St Moïse
l'Archevêque de Novgorod-St Alexandre Hotovitsky, prêtre en Amérique puis en Finlande
avant de rentrer en Russie, Martyr dans un camp de concentration du Goulag (Russie, vers
1937).-Ste Félicité, martyre à Rome avec ses sept fils Sts Janvier, Félix, Philippe, Silvain,
Alexandre, Vital et Martial (vers 164). -Sts Artème, enfant et ses compagnons Antimase,
Sabin, léodoce et Théogène, Martyrs en Campanie. -Ste Castule de Capoue en Campanie. -Sts
Fabien et Sabinien, Martyrs en Sicile. -St Sodon de Ravenne. -St Agilée, Martyr en Afrique. -
St Vetranion évêque de Tomis (aujourd'hui Constanta en Roumanie) qui confessa la foi
orthodoxe devant l'empereur arien Valens (380). -St Grégoire le Théologien l'Evêque de
Nazianze puis archevêque de Constantinople (379-381), participa au IIème Concile
oecuménique (390)-St Théodote, higoumène du monastère de St Publius (Syrie). -St Maris,
chantre, ascète en Syrie (vers 430). -Ste Dwyndwen, ascète galloise (vers 460). -St Liment,
confesseur à Tours (VIème siècle). -Sts Maur et Placide, disciples de St Benoît de Nursie
(Italie, VIème siècle). -St Prix l'Evêque de Clermont d'Auvergne, Martyr avec ses
compagnons Amarin l'Abbé dans les Vosges et Elide, assassinés par des puissants de la ville
de Clermont (674). -Ste Thorgyth, moniale en Angleterre (vers 700). -St Project, diacre et
Martyr à Casale en Italie (VIIIème siècle). -St Grégoire de Goloutvine (Russie XVème
siècle). -L'icône de la Mère de Dieu "dissipe ma peine" ("Outoli moïa Pietchali ") apportée à
Moscou par les Cosaques en 1640-St Anatale, ascète à Optino (Russie 1894). -St Vladimir
(Bogoiavlenski), métropolite de Kiev, Martyr (Ukraine 1918). -St Pierre l'Archevêque de
Voronège, Martyr (Russie 1929).
27
9 décembre – 25 janvier - 1 mai
ICÔNE DE LA MERE DE DIEU "JOIE INATTENDUE" (NECHAYANNAYA RADOST')
Cette Icône a été écrite d'après le récit (le début figure en bas de l'Icône) de Saint Dimitri
l'Evêque de Rostov. Un homme vivait dans le péché mais avait conservé sa ferveur envers la
Mère de Dieu et priait chaque jour devant Son Icône. Un jour qu'il priait selon son habitude, il
vit les Plaies de Notre Seigneur s'ouvrir et laisser couler du sang. Effrayé, il demanda à la
Mère de Dieu : "Qui donc cause cela?" Marie répondit : "Toi! Et tous ceux qui, par leurs
péchés, ne cessent de crucifier Mon Fils."
A cet instant l'homme prit conscience de ses fautes. Il resta longtemps en prière devant l'Icône
en implorant le Pardon du Sauveur. Finalement "La joie inattendue" de ce pardon et la
rémission de ses péchés lui fût accordée.
ou
28
The Icon of the Mother of God, named "Unexpected Joy" (Nechayannaya Radost'), is written
thus: in a room, upwards is an icon of the Mother of God, and beneathe it a youth kneeling at
prayer. The tradition about the healing of some youth from a bodily affliction through this
holy icon is recorded in the book of Saint Dimitrii of Rostov, "The Fleece of Prayer" ("Runo
Oroshennoe") [for the significance of the "Dew-Moistened Fleece" vide Judges 6: 36-40]. The
youth out of habit was praying before the image of the All-Pure Virgin and suddenly he saw,
that the image was alive, the wounds of the Lord Jesus exposed and bloody. In horror he
exclaimed: "O Lady, who is it that hath done this?" To this he Mother of God replied: "Thou
and other sinners by their sins do crucify My Son anew." Then only became apparent before
him the abyss of his sinfulness, and for a long time in tears he prayed to the Mother of God
and the Saviour for mercy. Finally, the unexpected joy of answer to his prayer and forgiveness
of sins was given him.
L'ICÔNE DE LA MÈRE DE DIEU "APAISE MON CHAGRIN"
25 septembre - 9 octobre – 25 janvier (translation)
L'Icône de la Très Sainte Mère de Dieu "Apaise mon chagrin" fut glorifiée à Moscou par
nombre de Miracles durant la seconde moitié du dix-huitième siècle, en particulier durant la
peste de 1771. L'Icône avait été apportée à Moscou par des Cosaques en 1640 durant le règne
du Tsar Michel (1613-1645) et placée dans l'église Saint-Nicolas dans le district moscovite de
Pupishevo.
29
Un jour, peut-être après un incendie et la reconstruction de l'église, l'Icône fut négligemment
abandonnée dans un clocher. Cependant, les Abondantes Miséricordes manifestées par la
Mère de Dieu ont conduit à un renouvellement de la vénération de cette Sainte Icône.
La Fête de cette Icône miraculeuse du 25 janvier fut établie en 1760 pour commémorer la
guérison d'une femme malade qui avait vu l'Icône en songe. Une voix lui avait demandé de se
rendre à l'église de Saint-Nicolas dans le district Pupishevo où elle trouverait cette Icône.
"Priez devant elle et vous en recevrez la guérison." Obéissante, elle se fit emmener à Moscou
où elle trouva l'Icône noircie par le temps et la poussière, abandonnée dans le clocher de
l'église. Lorsque la femme malade vit la face et l'inscription, elle s'écria : "C'est Elle!"
La femme qui auparavant s'était retrouvée paralysée, bras et jambes, sortit en marchant de
l'église après qu'un Moleben (Office d'Intercession) a été célébré devant l'Icône le 25 janvier.
Cette Icône fut mise en place d'honneur dans l'église et par la suite une chapelle fut bâtie en
son honneur. Les Offices et l'Acathiste en l'honneur de cette Icône datent de cette époque. On
trouve des copies de l'Icône de la Très Sainte Mère de Dieu "Apaise mon chagrin" dans les
églises de Moscou et d'autres villes.
ou
Today we commemorate a copy of the "Assuage My Sorrows" Icon (January 25) which is
treasured in the St Nicholas Odrino Monastery in the Orel Diocese, Karachev district.
Until 1784, this icon belonged to Count Nicholas Borisovitch Samoilov, who regarded it as a
holy icon. At first, it was at the Count's home in Moscow, where it was renowned for many
miraculous healings. Later, N.B. Samoilov moved it to his estate adjoining the St Nicholas
Odrino Monastery. He constructed, at his own expense, a heated chapel in honor of the
"Assuage My Sorrows" Icon as part of the St Nicholas katholikon (main church).The Count
later donated the icon to the monastery.
This wonderworking icon is celebrated locally twice a year: on January 25, and on October 9.
Many people visit the St Nicholas Odrino Monastery on both days.
Lecture de l’Epître
Heb VII : 26-VIII : 2
7.26 Il nous convenait, en effet, d'avoir un souverain sacrificateur comme lui, saint, innocent,
sans tache, séparé des pécheurs, et plus élevé que les cieux, 7.27 qui n'a pas besoin, comme les
souverains sacrificateurs, d'offrir chaque jour des sacrifices, d'abord pour ses propres péchés,
ensuite pour ceux du peuple, -car ceci, il l'a fait une fois pour toutes en s'offrant lui-même. 7.28
En effet, la loi établit souverains sacrificateurs des hommes sujets à la faiblesse; mais la
parole du serment qui a été fait après la loi établit le Fils, qui est parfait pour l'éternité.
8.1 Le point capital de ce qui vient d'être dit, c'est que nous avons un tel souverain sacrificateur,
qui s'est assis à la droite du trône de la majesté Divine dans les cieux, 8.2 comme ministre du
sanctuaire et du véritable tabernacle, qui a été dressé par le Seigneur et non par un homme.
Pour l’usage slave
1Cor XII : 7-11
12.7 Or, à chacun la manifestation de l'Esprit est donnée pour l'utilité commune. 12.8 En effet, à
l'un est donnée par l'Esprit une parole de sagesse; à un autre, une parole de connaissance,
selon le même Esprit; 12.9 à un autre, la foi, par le même Esprit; à un autre, le don des
30
guérisons, par le même Esprit; 12.10 à un autre, le don d'opérer des Miacles; à un autre, la
prophétie; à un autre, le discernement des esprits; à un autre, la diversité des langues; à un
autre, l'interprétation des langues. 12.11 Un seul et même Esprit opère toutes ces choses, les
distribuant à chacun en particulier comme il veut.
Lecture de l’Evangile
Jean X : 9-16
10.9 Je suis la porte. Si quelqu'un entre par moi, il sera sauvé; il entrera et il sortira, et il
trouvera des pâturages. 10.10 Le voleur ne vient que pour dérober, égorger et détruire; moi, je
suis venu afin que les brebis aient la vie, et qu'elles soient dans l'abondance. 10.11 Je suis le bon
berger. Le bon berger donne sa vie pour ses brebis. 10.12 Mais le mercenaire, qui n'est pas le
berger, et à qui n'appartiennent pas les brebis, voit venir le loup, abandonne les brebis, et
prend la fuite; et le loup les ravit et les disperse. 10.13 Le mercenaire s'enfuit, parce qu'il est
mercenaire, et qu'il ne se met point en peine des brebis. Je suis le bon berger. 10.14 Je connais
mes brebis, et elles me connaissent, 10.15 comme le Père me connaît et comme je connais le
Père; et je donne ma vie pour mes brebis. 10.16 J'ai encore d'autres brebis, qui ne sont pas de
cette bergerie; celles-là, il faut que je les amène; elles entendront ma voix, et il y aura un seul
troupeau, un seul berger.
RÉFLEXION - Ils se trompent eux-mêmes, ceux qui disent avec assurance qu'ils connaissent
suffisamment les hommes et qu'ils ne risquent pas de se faire tromper. Qui peut savoir quel
genre d'esprit se trouve en l'homme, si ce n'est Dieu qui connaît les secrets des coeurs? Même
les Grands Saints se sont trompés concernant des gens. Par exemple : longtemps durant, Saint
Basile considéra un certain hérétique hypocrite comme un Saint Homme et il le défendit face
à de nombreux opposants jusqu'à ce que pour finir, après avoir découvert la fausseté de
l'hérétique, Basile fut amèrement déçu.
Saint Grégoire le Théologien avait baptisé un philosophe du nom de Maxime et l'aimait
beaucoup, de sorte qu'il lui proposa de le loger et de partager sa table. Cependant, ce Maxime
était aussi dangereux et fiable qu'un serpent. Après un temps, par des intrigues et des
complots, Maxime parvint à se faire reconnaître comme patriarche par une partie des gens de
Constantinople à la place de Saint Grégoire. Lorsque cette tentation après une grande
confusion, fut éloignée, certains reprochèrent à Grégoire d'avoir gardé son plus grand ennemi
avec lui. Le Saint répondit : "Nous ne sommes pas à blâmer si nous ne parvenons pas à
discerner le mal en autrui. Dieu seul connaît les secrets intérieurs de l'homme. Et il nous est
commandé par la Loi (Divine) d'ouvrir nos coeurs avec un Amour paternel à tous ceux qui
viennent à nous."
Un homme bienveillant ne sait pas facilement comprendre la méchanceté d'un homme
malveillant.
Saint Nicolas Velimirovitch l'Evêque d'Ochrid, Serbie (+ 05 mars 1958), rescapé de Dachau puis des
persécutions communistes, auteur du Synaxaire "Prologue d'Ochrid."