If on the first Sunday after Pentecost we glorify all the saints, then on the next Sunday we glorify all Russian saints. The Second Sunday after Pentecost is “Sunday of All Saints who shone in the Russian land” . The Church glorifies a host of righteous people and martyrs, both glorified and known only to God. This holiday of all Holy Rus' .

Many people remember that Rus' was once called nothing less than Holy. But few understand that the name of holiness was adopted by our homeland for the sake of that innumerable host of holy people who shone on this land. Rus' was called Holy , and the highest ideal for her has always been righteousness and holiness. Not all Christian nations have managed to preserve such an ideal. For example, peoples Western Europe, once Christian, have long lost this heavenly ideal and replaced it with an earthly, human one. Not holiness, but decency, honesty, good manners and similar human virtues have been the ideal for the West for many centuries. Of course, an honest, good, well-mannered person is also not bad, but the difference between such a person and a holy person is like the difference between earth and heaven...

The holiday appeared in the middle of the 16th century, under Metropolitan Macarius, but during the 200 years of synodal rule, when the Church had to live without a patriarch and without a Local Council, it was somehow surprisingly forgotten. Perhaps because when the Church, among other things, becomes a state department, the main ones in it are not saints at all. During the entire synodal period, only ten saints were canonized, most of them during the reign of last emperor. The celebration of the Council of All Saints who have shone in the Russian land was restored only in 1918, in the wake of great tragic upheavals.

The central point of the holiday is, of course, the glorification by the Church of the saints who have shone with their virtues in our Fatherland, and a prayerful appeal to them. The Saints of the Church are our helpers and representatives before God throughout our earthly life. , therefore, frequent appeal to them is a natural need of every Christian; Moreover, when turning to Russian saints, we have even greater boldness, since we believe that “our holy relatives” never forget their descendants, who celebrate “their bright holiday of love.”

In the twentieth century, during the times of atheistic madness, many thousands of saints and righteous people shone in Russia. Our land is truly sanctified by the prayers and lives of saints. It is watered with their tears of repentance, the sweat of exploits and the blood of testimonies.

The 20th century in Russia became unprecedented in the history of the Church in terms of the scale of persecution. In the Soviet Union, the Church was the only organization whose purpose diverged from the official state ideology. After all the goal of the Church at all times is the salvation of man for the Kingdom of God, and not the construction of this kingdom here on earth. Here on earth, the Church calls on man to remember that he contains within himself the image of God, divine dignity, and that man’s vocation is a vocation to holiness. But neither massacres clergy and believers, neither the mockery of shrines, nor the destruction of what constituted the centuries-old cultural heritage of the country can be explained by any political reasons other than the satanic nature of the government and its hatred of God, because hatred of the Church is a poorly disguised hatred of God. The state set a course for the complete destruction of the Church, and the “union of militant atheists” announced the beginning of a five-year plan for the destruction of religion.The Bible reveals to us the patterns between historical events and spiritual life, and even in the Old Testament, through the prophets, God tells his people that if people remain faithful to God, He will deliver them from troubles, and vice versa, forgetting God, the people will expose themselves to attack enemies. And even in a country that has rejected the biblical revelation, the biblical paradigm still operates. And in 1941, the moving holiday of all the Saints who shone in the Russian land fell on June 22 - the first day of the most terrible war in history. This war stopped the destruction of the Church. The Church has always shared the fate of the country and the people, and on the first day of the war, when the political leadership of the country was silent, the future patriarch, Metropolitan Sergius, having served a prayer service for the victory of Russian weapons, said in a sermon: “Let the storm come. We know that it will bring not only happiness, but also relief; it will purify the air and remove toxic fumes.”

Rus' has had a difficult path; throughout its history it has been forced to fight against numerous strong and merciless enemies, often threatening it with complete destruction. Neither the sea, nor the mountains, nor the desert protected it from these enemies - after all, Russia is located on a wide plain open on all sides. The hordes of Batu and Mamai came towards it from the east, and the Poles, Napoleon and Hitler from the west. From the north - Swedes, from the south - Turks. The climatic and natural conditions in which she lived were difficult: half of the territory of Russia is permafrost where farming is impossible. Its southern part, where agriculture was possible, was a territory completely open and not protected from military invasions and from attacks by steppe predators. Therefore, people in Russia have always lived relatively poorly. Even what they managed to accumulate was often destroyed, captured, burned to the ground by the next invasion or raid.

Yes, life in Russia was not cloudless and easy. But from a Christian point of view, this is exactly what the life of God’s people should be. Not a single Orthodox people lived a serene, safe and comfortable life. The reason for this is clear: man is weak, and if you give him all the comforts and luxurious life, then he easily forgets God, forgets everything heavenly and completely turns to the earth, drowning in the dust of the earth. That is why the Lord did not give His people such a life. The Monk Isaac of Syria says that “this is how the sons of God differ from others, that they live in sorrow, but the world rejoices in pleasure and peace. For God did not wish that His beloved should rest while they were in the body, but rather He willed that while they were in the world, they should remain in sorrow, in hardship, in labor, in poverty, in nakedness, in loneliness, need, illness, humiliation , in insults, in heartfelt contrition...” In this way the Lord leads all His true followers, just as He Himself, having become a man, walked in our world precisely this way - the path of the cross.

To understand why the Lord does not allow His people to become too rich and luxurious, we must also remember what kind of land we live on, remember that our land is not a place of entertainment and pleasure, but a place where we were expelled from Paradise, a place of our punishment and correction . We live in a corruptible, fallen and damaged world, in a world where death reigns, where everything is saturated with it, we live in a territory occupied by the devil and death, we live a short time which must be devoted to the struggle - the struggle to fulfill the commandments of God. On earth we live as if at war, as if at the front. Is it therefore possible for Christians to settle here with all the comforts and luxuries?

This does not mean, of course, that the people of God are doomed to complete poverty and ruin, to a life of ragamuffins, homeless people and street children; no, the Lord gives us everything necessary for earthly life, for, in His own words, He knows that we need this. But the Lord does not allow His people to become excessively rich and reach the point of excess and satiation, because then the people cease to be the people of God and cease to give birth to saints. The Lord wisely leads His people along the middle path, the path of moderate poverty. In this way, He led in Old Testament times the people of Israel, who never had even close to such earthly splendor and wealth, such a glorious earthly culture, such as, for example, Egypt, Greece or Rome. And by this same path He led all truly Christian, that is, Orthodox peoples during the New Testament. He led them this way because on this path God's people are most capable of producing saints and righteous people.

Russia, which never ceased to give birth to saints, followed this path. In the liturgical menia, the list of the names of Russian saints alone occupies about thirty pages, and, of course, incomparably more saints are not listed on this list, but their names are known only to the Lord God.

Our Russian saints are close to us not only in spirit, but also in blood - they are literally our relatives. They came from us, from our environment, were born with us, grew up in our families, villages, cities. Take, for example, the most recent saints - the new martyrs and confessors of Russia: after all, they lived quite recently, and most of them have still living relatives - children, grandchildren, nephews and others, more distant. It is probably rare in any other nation in our time to see relatives of saints in such numbers as here in Russia. And this also suggests that our Fatherland today, on the threshold of the 21st century, continues to remain, in spite of everything, an Orthodox country and the people of God.

Today, the Feast of All Saints, who have shone in the Russian land, in the Russian Church is one of the most solemn days of the entire church year.

The Second Sunday after Pentecost is " Sunday of All Saints, who shone in the Russian land“The Church glorifies a host of righteous people and martyrs, both glorified and known only to God. This is a holiday of all Holy Rus'.

Cathedral of all the saints in the Russian land who have shone forth - Feast of Holy Rus'

There were nowhere else as many saints as the people who lived on our land gave. The Gospel says: “The Sower went out to sow.” The Lord sowed the word of God in all nations, and each of them reacted to it in their own way. Holiness is a person’s response to the call of God.

God came to earth to call everyone. He said this: “Many are invited.” We live in an age when there is not a single person left on earth, with the exception of small children, who have not yet heard about Jesus Christ. The very sound of His name already gives rise to certain associations. In any case, everyone knows What This Man said about Himself that He was the Son of God, descended from Heaven. And everyone knows that He was born of the Virgin Mary, that He was crucified on the Cross...

But the reaction of a person’s heart to this event is completely different. Unfortunately, most people are practically not interested in this topic. They do not even give themselves the trouble to find out what Christ said while living on earth; what He did when He walked through Palestine two thousand years ago; How did it happen that, although everything showed that he was a good man, He was crucified. The life of Jesus Christ is of no interest to the majority of those living on earth - that is, although a call reaches their ears, people do not answer it. The Lord came to everyone.

Of course, He began with His chosen people, who even then knew the One God. But this people for the most part rejected Him, just as now our people for the most part have completely rejected Christ - and, by the way, for the same reason. This, apparently, is generally the lot of humanity - to reject God. But there were people who responded to this call. How did their response to God take place? In the example of the apostles, these first saints of the New Testament, we see how this happens.

The Gospel of Matthew tells how the Lord called the apostles Andrew, Peter, James and John. He approached the Sea of ​​Galilee, saw two brothers casting nets into the sea, and said to them: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. So are the sons of Zebedee.

Imagine a picture - fishermen catching fish. This is the source of their existence: from this fish they eat, from this fish they dress and maintain their homes. And so He calls them - they throw it all away, i.e. they leave completely and forever and follow Him. But James and John even left their father, and Peter left his wife at home and began to follow Christ. Few people can do such a thing - like this, for the sake of Christ, give up everything. Therefore, few people can be an apostle...

history of the holiday

The history of the holiday itself is edifying. Since the 16th century, our Church has celebrated the memory of “All Saints and New Wonderworkers of Russia.” The idea of ​​a cathedral celebration of Russian memory. Saints appeared in the middle. XVI century, after the glorification of the host of Russians. saints at the Moscow Councils of 1547 and 1549. The first service in honor of the “new Russian miracle workers” was composed by Gregory, a monk of the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery, and was intended to be sung on July 17 (according to Art. Art.), i.e. on the third day of memory of the Baptist of Rus' - St. Prince Vladimir; this day became the original date for the celebration of the Council of Russian Saints.

The traditional author of the service for this holiday is considered to be the monk Gregory from the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimievsky Monastery (he compiled its text, apparently, in the middle of the 16th century). There are two known editions of it entitled “Service to all Russian miracle workers” (Grodno and Suprasl, in the same year, 1786).

But in central Russia, for some reason, this holiday did not become widespread, was actually forgotten and was not included in the printed Monthly Books, and its text was not published. Obviously, the trials sent by God to the powerful country and the state Church seemed to many to be surmountable on their own. Only the disaster of 1917 forced us to seriously turn to help from Above.

It is significant that the initiator of the recreation of the holiday was the brilliant oriental historian prof. Petrograd University (now St. Petersburg State University) academician. Boris Aleksandrovich Turaev (†1920), employee of the Liturgical Department of the Holy Local Council of the Orthodox Russian Church in 1917-1918.

In his report, he especially noted the fact that “the service compiled in Great Russia found particular distribution on the periphery of the Russian Church, on its western outskirts and even beyond its borders at the time of the division of Russia, when the loss of national and political unity was especially acutely felt.<…>

In our sorrowful time, when united Rus' has become torn apart, when our sinful generation has trampled upon the fruits of the exploits of the Saints who worked in the caves of Kyiv, and in Moscow, and in the Thebaid of the North, and in Western Russia over the creation of a single Orthodox Russian Church - it would seem timely to restore this forgotten holiday, may it remind us and our rejected brethren from generation to generation of the United Orthodox Russian Church and may it be a small tribute to our sinful generation and a small atonement for our sin.”

The Holy Council, at a meeting on August 13/26, 1918, on the name day of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, heard the report of B. Turaev and, after discussing it, adopted the following resolution:
"1. The celebration of the day of remembrance of All Russian Saints, which existed in the Russian Church, is being restored.
2. This celebration takes place on the first Sunday of Peter’s Lent.”

The Council assumed that this holiday, which has special meaning for us, should become, as it were, a temple for all Orthodox churches in Rus'. Thus, it is no coincidence that this holiday was restored (and in fact reintroduced) at the beginning of the period of the most severe persecution of Christianity in its entire nineteen-century history.

It is characteristic that its content, as suggested by B. Turaev, has become more universal: it is no longer just a celebration of Russian saints, but a triumph of all Holy Rus', not triumphal, but repentant, forcing us to evaluate our past and draw lessons from it for the creation of the Church in new conditions.

The compilers of the texts of the service were B. Turaev himself, a member of the Council and an employee of its Liturgical Commission, and Hierarch. Athanasius (Sakharov) (later Bishop of Kovrov, +1962; now canonized as a confessor, memory October 15/28).

The initial version of the service was published as a separate brochure in the same 1918. Later the text was supplemented; Met. also took part in the work. Sergius (Stragorodsky) (the troparion belongs to him), priest. Sergiy Durylin and others.

The first church in honor of All Russian Saints was the house church of Petrograd University. Its rector from 1920 until its closure in 1924 was priest Vladimir Lozina-Lozinsky, shot in 1937.

After the cessation of direct persecution of the Church in the 40s of the 20th century. the text of the service was printed with censorship distortions that destroyed all references to the new martyrs (on instructions from the Soviet authorities, this “editing” was zealously carried out by LDA inspector Prof. L.N. Pariysky).

Only in 1995 was the separate book “Service to All Saints Who Shined in the Russian Land” published. Although this holiday actually continues the theme of the last celebration of the Colored Triodion (“All Saints”), they did not supplement this essentially Greek book. In 2002, the text of the service to All Russian Saints was included in the May Menaion (Part 3).

Faith and repentance are the foundations of spiritual life, who turned “primordial” pagan Rus' into holy Rus', and while we are still aware of our sinfulness and retain faith in the living, saving God, we have hope that the expression “ Holy Rus'"for our time is not a historical anachronism. The invincibility of the ideal of holiness and the sense of their own sinfulness among the Russian people made possible the conversion of the legendary Kudeyar-ataman and the real robber Opta - the founder of the Optina Hermitage.

There are much more unknown saints in Rus' than recognized and canonized ones. This also needs to be remembered. And when we see today that everyday life does not coincide with the popular print, we need to change the focus of vision - to notice innocence, sacrifice, selflessness and courage in everyday life. After all, Orthodoxy was not hidden in the clothes, nor in the length of the beard. It is in fulfilling the commandments, in the memory of God. It is in prayer, which cannot be extinguished, in the Liturgy, which will not cease to be served. In a word, happy holiday to you, beloved! You, holy people of God, who were raised on our lands for Paradise, pray to Christ to grant us the mind to distinguish the important from the unimportant, and the ability to extract the great from the insignificant. Then, according to the word of Jeremiah, we will be like the mouth of the Lord. Amen

Prayer to all Saints who have shone in the Russian land

About the all-blessing and divine wisdom of the saint of God, who sanctified the Russian Land with their deeds and left their bodies, like the seed of faith, in it, with their souls standing before the Throne of God and constantly praying for it!

Behold, now on the day of your common triumph, we, your lesser sinners, dare to bring you songs of praise. We magnify your great exploits, spiritual warriors of Christ, with patience and courage to the end of the enemy, who overthrew the enemy and delivered us from his deception and wiles.

We please your holy life, luminaries of the divine, shining with the light of faith and virtues and divinely illuminating our minds and hearts. We glorify your great miracles, blossoming regions, in our country to the north, flourishing beautifully and the aromas of talents and miracles fragrant everywhere.

We praise your God-imitating love, our intercessors and protectors, and, trusting in your help, we fall to you and cry out: our equal-to-the-apostles enlighteners! Encourage the people of the Russian Land to firmly maintain the Orthodox faith you have devoted, so that the saving seed that you have sown will not be dried up by the heat of unbelief, but watered by the rain of God’s haste, may it bear abundant fruit.

Saints of Christ! With your prayers, strengthen the Russian Church, destroy heresies, schisms and discord in it, gather the scattered sheep together and protect them from all wolves who enter the flock of Christ in the clothing of sheep.

Reverend fathers! Save us from the charms of this evil world, so that, having denied ourselves and taken up our cross, we may follow Christ, crucifying our flesh with passions and lusts, bearing each other’s burdens.

Blessed Prince! Look mercifully at your earthly fatherland and consume all the wickedness and temptations that now exist in it as the weapon of your prayers, so that, as in ancient times, so now and in the future, it will be glorified in Holy Rus' name of the Lord.

Passion-bearers of Russia of glory! Strengthen us in prayer even to the point of blood for the Orthodox faith and the customs of the fatherland, so that neither sorrow, nor cramped conditions, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor misfortune, nor sword will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is about Christ Jesus.

Blessedness, Christ for the sake of foolishness and righteousness! Confound the wisdom of this age, which ascends to the Mind of God. Help us, who have been strengthened by the saving violence of the Cross of Christ, to be unshakable by the temptations of worldly wisdom, to always think about things above, and not to think about earthly things.

God-wise women, who in a weak nature have demonstrated great feats! Pray so that the spirit of your love for the Lord and zeal for pleasing and for your own and your neighbor’s salvation do not become scarce in us.

All our holy relatives, who have shone forth from the ancient years and labored in the last days, manifested and unappeared, known and unknown! Remember our weakness and humiliation and with your prayers ask Christ our God, so that we, having sailed comfortably through the abyss of life and preserved the treasure of faith unharmed, will reach the haven of eternal salvation and in the blessed abodes of the heavenly Fatherland, together with you and with all the saints who have pleased Him from the ages let us be established, by the grace and love of mankind of our Savior Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, together with the Eternal Father and the Most Holy Spirit, befits unceasing praise and worship from all creatures forever and ever. Amen.

Glorification of Saints

We bless you, / our glorious wonderworkers, /
illuminating the Russian land with your virtues /
and the image of salvation / clearly shown to us.

Another magnification of saints

We magnify you, / all saints who have shone in the Russian lands, /
and we honor your holy memory, / you pray for us /
Christ our God.

Troparion, tone 8

Like the red fruit of Your saving sowing, the Russian land brings You, Lord, all the saints who shone in that one. With those prayers in the deep world, the Church and our country are preserved by the Mother of God, O Most Merciful One.

Kontakion, tone 3

Today the face of the saints who have pleased God in our land stands in the Church and invisibly prays to God for us. The angels praise him, and all the saints of the Church of Christ will celebrate him, for they all pray to the Eternal God for us.

We magnify You, Trinitarian Master, who has illuminated the Russian land with the Orthodox faith and the great host of our holy relatives who have been glorified in it!

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The Day of All Saints, who have shone in the Russian land, known and unknown, is a Russian holiday Orthodox Church

Today is the holiday of our local Russian Orthodox Church - the Day of All Saints, who have shone forth in the Russian land from time immemorial. This day, its hymns and readings, makes us think about the history of our Church, one of the sister Churches of Ecumenical Orthodoxy, about its destinies, current state and about each of us as members of her body. Are we her loving and faithful children - or just casual visitors to her temples? Today, turning to the experience of our near and distant ancestors, it is necessary to realize that it is not enough to be a believer - one must be a church member, that is, live a regular spiritual life, regularly participate in the Sacraments of the Church, in its prayers, live its joys and pains. By becoming a church member, we gain support, make our lives richer and more meaningful, and approach complete joy.

The most important question of our modern life is the question of the Church, of its unity, of its internal, parish life. “I believe... in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church", - this is how it is sung in Orthodox churches At every Liturgy, these words, rising from sleep, are pronounced by every Orthodox Christian, creating the morning prayer rule. Without this faith one cannot consider oneself Orthodox.

In the daily troparion today it is sung: “Like a red fruit (that is, beautiful) The Russian Land brings Your saving sowing to You, Lord, all the saints who have shone forth in that one. Those prayers in the world deep Church and protect our country through the Mother of God, O Great Merciful.”

In it we pray first of all for the Church, for its unity. We ask for prayers and help from all the saints who have shone in the Russian country. But it is impossible, while asking in prayer for the unity of the Church, to dismember it with your words and deeds.

There is no Christianity without the Church, there is only a certain semblance of it, just as there is no Church without a bishop - the bearer of a special gift of grace, successively and collectively transmitted to the elect since apostolic times. This church-wide consciousness has been preserved from the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles to this day. The selection and installation of bishops is the most important part of the activity of the holy Apostles; many of them were themselves bishops of individual cities and regions.

The disciple of the Apostle John the Theologian, the Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, about whom during his life they said that Jesus Christ took him in his arms as a baby (Matthew 18:2; Mark 9:36; Luke 9:47) wrote in his Epistle to the Philadelphians: “Try to have one Eucharist, for there is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ and one cup for the unity of His Blood, one altar.” He emphasized: “Without a bishop, do not do anything related to the Church. Only that Eucharist should be considered true, which is celebrated by the bishop or by those to whom he himself grants it,” that is, by the priest who has the grace for this, received in the sacrament of the priesthood.

Without a bishop there is no Church, therefore, with all the persecution of the Church - both in the first centuries, in the Roman Empire, and in the 20th century, in an atheistic state, the main blow was directed at the episcopate. Now, when there is no physical persecution, attempts are being made to undermine the trust in the bishop among the flock, using slander and lies. One should not be surprised by this, although, of course, not all church hierarchs are worthy of their rank, just as not all who enter the temple of God are worthy of the name of Christian.

According to the teaching of the Apostle Paul, the Church is the body of Christ, and we are all its members (see Col. 1:24; Eph. 5:30). The unity of the Church and the continuity of the grace of its priesthood from the Apostles is one of the cornerstones of the Orthodox faith. This is why our Orthodox Church is called Apostolic, Catholic, although it consists of separate local Churches that are in close Eucharistic communion with each other. This perception and understanding of the Church is empathized with, revealed, and explained throughout its history. This was taught by the Apostle Paul (I century), Saint John Chrysostom (IV-V centuries), Saint John of Damascus (VII-VIII centuries), Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria (XI century), Saint Theophan the Recluse (XIX century) , Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky) (XX century). The laymen of our Orthodox Church - Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov (1804-1860) and others - tried to reveal this same simple, revealed truth for the Russian intelligentsia, carried away by the rationalistic philosophy of the West.

In the Church, the faith received from Christ and the Apostles has remained the same for centuries. It is only sometimes explained in new images and concepts in connection with the demands of the church people or the doubts of this world. This faith was cherished like a shrine, like a jewel of the saints who shone in the Russian land, it was protected for a millennium Russian Orthodoxy. In an effort to preserve the purity of the Orthodox faith, we very clearly distinguish between revealed dogmas, historically established gracious canons and private theological opinions-theologumen.

Departure from church unity leads to sectarianism and heresies. Each new “teacher” preaches in his own way, and Christian teaching becomes something very vague, constantly changing at the request of the new teachers. This is clearly seen in the history of Protestantism and the Old Believers, in the example of the division of the newest religious movements into more and more warring sects and groups. The cause of schisms is human pride, although sometimes the reason may be the actions and deeds of persons who consider themselves to be in the Church.

“From the very beginning, Christians constituted the Church,” writes Hieromartyr Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky), “and we can consider faith in its salvific power and in the truth that Christianity is not separated from the Church as given by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself<…>Christ is not only a great teacher, He is the Savior of the world<…>We have not only teaching from Christ our Savior, but life.” Christianity is the joyful fullness of life in Christ. The fullness of this life is impossible without participation in church sacraments.

Our Russian new martyrs They suffered not only for the abstract Christian faith, but first of all for the Church of Christ. They did not want to exchange perfect joy for the illusory happiness of this world.

From the first days of the “great” revolution, it was the Orthodox Church that began to be persecuted and destroyed. Lenin wrote supportive letters to Muslims; until 1929 there was no persecution of Baptists. Through the state publishing house they published Buddhist apologetics, in particular, the work of Roerich’s wife. After 1929, however, they began to persecute “everyone and everyone” for all kinds of differences of opinion. These facts must be understood both historically and spiritually.

From whom should we take examples of our attitude towards the world and the Church, if not from our Russian saints and ascetics of faith and piety, martyrdom and confession?

To whom should we turn for prayerful help in years of turmoil, national disasters and temptations, if not to our holy compatriots? And we ask God: “Those prayers will deepen the Church and our country in peace.”

From whom should we learn faith, hope and love, patience and Christian courage, firmness in faith and prayer, fidelity to the Mother Church, if not from the saints of our land?

Many of them lived in ancient times: the Slovenian first teachers Cyril and Methodius, Saint Equal to the Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, Saints Anthony and Theodosius of Kiev-Pechersk, Sergius and Nikon of Radonezh. Others - just one hundred or two hundred years ago: Venerable Seraphim Sarovsky, Saints Innocent of Moscow, Theophan the Recluse. And some lived among our fathers and grandfathers. They prayed with them, talked with them, worked with them, they were taught by the saint righteous John Kronstadt, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, Metropolitan Martyrs Vladimir and Benjamin, lay martyrs Yuri and John and many others who have not yet been canonized. Among Russian saints there are people of all ranks and conditions, of different ages and gender, monks and princes, scientists and simpletons. From this host, everyone can choose examples to follow. Many articles and books have been written about Russian saints. Images of Russian holiness in last years attract the theological thought of the West. Moreover, we, who live on Russian soil, consecrated by their holy relics, the churches and monasteries they created, need to know and love everything that has shaped the spiritual world of Russian Orthodoxy for centuries. This is humility, love for God, unity with the Church, this is a Christian attitude towards the world: it should be, in the words of St. Maximus the Confessor, “not sensual, not insensitive, but sympathetic.” “Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved,” taught the holy Venerable Seraphim of Sarov. The spirit of peace and prayer gathered around the Monks Anthony and Theodosius a host of Kiev-Pechersk ascetics, who, scattering throughout Rus', headed many bishops' departments.

The same spirit has gathered around St. Sergius Radonezh host of disciples who created new monasteries throughout Russia. The monk gave impetus to the spiritual, cultural and state revival of Rus' - let us recall, for example, the monk Andrei the icon painter (Rublev) and the victory on the Kulikovo field.

The same spirit warmed the weak in the Martha and Mary community of the holy blessed princess-martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna.

Among the Russian saints there are the most different nationalities: Greeks, Tatars, Bulgarians, Georgians, Germans, Jews - all together in Christ, they all labored in our Church, on our land. Its high priests were Greeks, Russians, Bulgarians, and Mordvins. "There is neither Greek nor Jew<…>but Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11).

Our ancient Russian piety was associated mainly with monasteries: they were centers of spiritual and cultural life. WITH late XIX V. Spiritual centers began to appear in city parishes. This is St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt, where the all-Russian shepherd served - the holy righteous John of Kronstadt and the wonderworker of all Russia. Orthodox people came to him from all over Russia for prayerful help and advice. He said to Muscovites: “Why are you coming to me - you have a father, Valentin Amphiteatrov.” How many tears and prayers were shed at the Vagankovskoye cemetery at the grave of this rector of the Kremlin’s Archangel Cathedral! And the Optina elders sent pilgrims to Father Alexy Mechev in the Church of St. Nicholas on Maroseyka.

The entire history of the Church is a history of persecution and short periods a quiet life: the martyrdom of the first centuries, the persecution of Orthodoxy by Arian emperors and iconoclast emperors... There were oppressions of the Church by Russian tsars and emperors, and then the Russian Church put forward martyrs and confessors. We pray to the Holy Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus', the Wonderworker Philip, who was killed by Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and the Hieromartyr Patriarch Hermogenes. We honor the suffering of Metropolitan Arseny, walled up with his tongue torn out in a fortress* cell by order of Empress Catherine II. In the 17th century Russian autocrats did not allow Russians to be appointed bishops, fearing the unity of the people and the Church. Pushkin noted that Catherine, with her persecution of the Church, undermined the culture and morality of the Russian people. Later there was a period when, in the name of “Christian love,” criticism of Western confessions was limited, practically prohibited; For his holy word before the emperor, Metropolitan Vladimir was removed from St. Petersburg. Thus, under the faithful Tsar and Tsarina, the way of the cross of the Hieromartyr Vladimir began - and ended with torture and execution under the Bolsheviks. Despite the external splendor and external symphony, the life of the Church was difficult and complex - and there is no need to idealize it: the blasphemous orgies of Ivan the Terrible and Peter I, son-, husband- and patricides, adulterers succeeded each other on the Russian throne. Could they be spiritually rooting for the Orthodox Church! Both Lutherans and Masons were appointed Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod. The queens, raised in Protestantism, accepted Orthodoxy only for the sake of the crown. Western preachers penetrated Russia through court circles, and the imperial couple invited French “psychics” and dubious personalities from Siberia to the court. This is where it is, that “ecumenism” that supporters of the Romanov monarchy are supposedly fighting against.

After 1917, a heroic era began in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church - an era of mass martyrdom. The Russian Church, having withstood decades of persecution, has preserved the purity of Orthodoxy.

During the years of the revolution, many fled from Russia. When Bishop Alexy (Simansky), the future Patriarch, was begged by his father to flee to Finland, he said: “A shepherd does not run away from his flock. It is his duty to stay with her and accept all the hardships that befall her. I am a bishop and must remain with my flock, no matter what the risk may be for me personally.” This is what the future Patriarch Alexy I said.

The question was this: to flee the country from his flock, maintaining his visible purity, or to stay here and support the Orthodox faith among the people of his native country, being ready to pay for it with his blood. All five of my first confessors died “there” - some were shot, and some died from torture and disease. And how many acquaintances suffered and met death for the Christian faith. And the image of the young, cheerful beauty Nadya Bogoslovskaya, shot in the camp, her older brother, the talented engineer Mikhail, apparently executed, the stern appearance of the murdered Bishop Bartholomew [2] and many, many others, appears before my eyes.

Every Christian, layman or priest, and even more so a bishop, had to be ready to give up his personal career, to be ready to die for Christ and His Church.

And under these conditions, the shepherds had to remain among the Orthodox people, care for their flock and, if possible, lead those who did not have it and those who had lost it to the faith. Many in prison and in Stalin's camps found faith by communicating with priests and believing lay fellow inmates.

Clandestine churches and catacomb monasteries also arose; Liturgies were celebrated in camps on the chests of martyrs, and in communal apartments, and in caves in Central Asia, etc. And at many of them the name of the High Hierarch of the Moscow Patriarchate was commemorated. The monasteries of those years had a strict and very unique charter. Eucharistically, these churches and monasteries were connected both with Patriarch Alexy I and Pimen (and earlier, some - with Metropolitan Patriarch Sergius), and with those who disagreed with them, with the so-called non-commemorationists. New clergy were being trained under the most difficult semi-legal and illegal conditions. Particularly noteworthy in this field are the works of the future metropolitans Grigory (Chukov), Gury (Egorov) and the executed Archbishop Bartholomew (Remov).

If we canonize all our martyrs, then the host of saints in the Russian Church will be greater than in all other local Churches combined.

...They dug a ditch in Magadan, drove three hundred priests into it and buried them alive. The earth breathed with human lungs for three days. 40 priests were buried alive at the Smolensk cemetery in Leningrad. Thousands and thousands were shot, millions died in prisons and camps. When Metropolitan Vladimir was led to execution, he did not spew curses from his lips to the murderers, but sang chants of the rite of monastic burial.

These holy martyrs call us not to revenge and hatred, but to prayer, firmness in faith and love. The land of Russia is watered with their blood, and with their prayers the Russian Church is now rising. But let us ask ourselves: are we worthy of their blood? Are we worthy to be heirs of their memory? What do we ourselves want, what do we strive for? Our answer to this question lies in our future. Will we exchange our faith for the material wealth of the West and the spiritual false teachings of the East, or will we strengthen ourselves in Orthodoxy?

The past decades have been a glorious era in the history of the Russian Church.

In conditions of severe persecution and underground in circles and groups, they studied Holy Bible, history of the Church, liturgics; Theological works were written and circulated (usually anonymously) in manuscripts and typescripts.

When they began to talk about the need to go to the catacombs, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) replied: “You can’t take everyone to the catacombs. It is impossible to leave these little ones without churches and the Eucharist, the Russian Orthodox people - without the Christian Sacraments.”

Our hierarchs and priests were required to live according to the commandment of Christ: “Be wise as serpents and simple as doves” (Matthew 10:16), and in the words of the holy Apostle Paul: “Brothers! Do not be children in understanding; be children in evil, but mature in understanding” (1 Cor 14:20). Of course, there were cases of apostasy, but Judas was also among Christ’s disciples.

Just as false witnesses spoke out against Christ, slander has been used against the Church throughout its history, and it often originates in a parachurch environment that calls itself Orthodox, and is then happily picked up by secular publications. Renovationists slandered, “guardians of Orthodoxy” and pseudo-democrats slandered.

We do not condemn those who left Russia during the years civil war. For many, it was a matter of momentarily saving their lives from today’s or tomorrow’s execution. Many were deported by force.

The emigration of Orthodox Christians from Russia was of great church-wide significance .

It can only be compared with the flight of the followers of Christ from Jerusalem during the time of the Apostles. One led to the spread of Christianity among pagans, the second - Orthodoxy among non-Orthodox peoples. English-, French-, Spanish-speaking and other Orthodox parishes emerged. The heyday of the Russian Orthodox theology contributed to a direct meeting with the theological thought of the West. The foundations and beginnings of this flourishing lie in Russia both in ascetic, and in liturgical, and in theological terms: Rev. Seraphim of Sarov, Saints Theophan and Ignatius, St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Innocent and Nicholas, Sergius (Stragorodsky) with their explanation Orthodox teaching about salvation, Khomyakov and his friends, Fr. Pavel Florensky, Fr. Sergius Bulgakov and others. We are filled with gratitude to the St. Sergius Institute in Paris, created by Metropolitan Exarch Eulogius, and to the St. Vladimir Academy in New York. With their works they contribute to the revival of Orthodoxy in Russia. We did not lose Eucharistic communion with them, no matter under whose jurisdiction they were. There was and is no split. Only the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad caused and causes pain. Its origins began with politics: the white generals and the hierarchs who joined them set the task of restoring the Romanov family to the Russian throne, hence their friendship with “Memory”.

The enemies of Christ and the Church directly say: “We will not allow the unity of the Church,” this is from the guidelines of the former Council for Religious Affairs. Just as during the years of the revolution they supported the renovationists, so now they create and support any schisms. In some areas, Orthodox priests are not allowed to go to school, because they say that the Church is separated from the state, but Protestants are invited, since they are not the Church, but public organization. Former atheists very correctly assessed the difference between Orthodoxy and sectarians, heretics and schismatics, probably without themselves understanding the full depth of their conclusions. Just as the Bolsheviks previously seized churches from the Orthodox and handed them over (albeit temporarily) to the Renovationists, just as the German authorities previously took away churches from the communities of the Western European Exarchate and handed them over to the Karlovians, so now they are handing them over here and there to new schismatics (which is especially clearly evident in Ukraine) and provide cinemas and stadiums to dubious sects for dollars.

There is no need to be deceived by the West, especially America: many there are afraid of the unity of the Russian people. Back in the years of Khrushchev and Brezhnev, in response to the thesis that the national movements of the enslaved peoples of the East and West are a reserve of the world proletarian revolution, and in response to the decades-long military revolutionary intervention of the USSR in the countries of Africa, Asia and South America, anti-Russian propaganda was launched on on all continents, and above all in the “Soviet” republics.

Many in the West who do not want the revival of Russia understand that only Orthodoxy can unite the Russian people. Consequently, they will contribute to dividing the Russian Orthodox Church into many small sects and pseudo-church movements. This is one of the reasons for the anti-Orthodox and proselytizing activities of heterodox sects and foreign preachers. There are also sincere people among them, devoted to their confession, whose consciousness is clouded by religious pluralism: everyone is their own dad. We must respond to this with love and Orthodox preaching.

We live in difficult times: new sects are emerging, the likes of which have never existed before. "Bogorodichny" center cancels New Testament- The Testament of Christ, there is an offensive of non-Christian religions, Satanists are loudly declaring themselves.

They try to kill the feeling in us in a variety of ways, using cinema, television, radio, store windows, book stalls and the bustle of life. awe , for without reverence there is no Christian Orthodox faith, there is no Church. “You believe...,” writes the Apostle James, “you do well; and the demons believe and tremble” (James 2:19). The Apostle Paul warns: “Be careful, brethren, that no one leads you away through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the rudiments of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).

This seduction can be anthroposophy and theosophy, Eastern mysticism and Western occultism, the “Virgin” center and Western neo-Protestant sects. It can take the form of Christ-Vissarion, who appeared in Siberia, and the Mother of the World-Pantocrator, trying to unite occultism, mystical rationalism and the sensuality of East and West, North and South. The New Testament, the Testament of Christ, is being cancelled, they talk and write about the “third covenant,” the covenant of the Mother of God, through whom alone the Holy Spirit descends on people, or about the covenant that brings Christ-Vissarion into the world, which means “Giver of Life.”

Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, warned: “Take heed that you are not led astray (Luke 21:8); For many will come in My name and say, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many (Matthew 24:5). Then, if anyone tells you: behold, here is Christ, or there, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:23-24; Mark 13:22); Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in many places (Matthew 24:7); and because iniquity increases, the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12); I told you this so that you would not be tempted<…>When that time comes, remember that I told you about these things (John 16:1,4).”

During the years of persecution and schisms, we especially prayed for the unity of the Church to Saint Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus', the Wonderworker, whose relics now rest in the Epiphany Cathedral, for during his lifetime he was sick about the unity of Rus'. Standing at his shrine, we appeal to him: “Holy Father Alexis, help the primate of our Church to care for our church ship To His Holiness the Patriarch Alexy II, as in previous years, you helped Patriarch Alexy I.”

Historical merit His Holiness Alexy I is that he brought together the Russian Orthodox Church, which was suffering from splits and even schisms. Outside it and outside Eucharistic communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchs, only the Russian Church Abroad remained in two hundred parishes scattered throughout the world.

We pray to the holy Patriarch Tikhon: “By your presiding power towards the Lord, keep the Russian Church in silence, gather her scattered children into one flock, convert those who have apostatized from the right faith to repentance, save our country from internecine warfare, ask for the peace of God for the people.” To strengthen our faith, our hope in the Lord, his holy relics were miraculously revealed.

Let us remember our new Russian martyrs and confessors. When according to the former Soviet Union Atheism marched with drumbeats and fanfare, crushing temples and destroying the clergy and many lay believers as its power spread over the earth from Atlantic Ocean to the Quiet, from the Arctic to the Indian, they and the Russian Church were not tempted either by the sounds of trumpets, or by the roar of tambourines and kettledrums. “On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). And churches began to open, Sunday schools arose, priests came into classrooms and prison cells. But isn't it given to us the last word? Will we be silent in the fear of the Jews or will we speak when we can speak within the walls of houses and in the congregations of people? “Don’t be afraid, little flock! for it has been your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

Let us intensify our prayers to the Lord, so that He will help us preserve the purity of the Orthodox faith and reverence, and, like Hieromonk Parthenius of Kiev, we will ask: “Teach me, Lord, to arrange my affairs so that they will contribute to the glorification of Your holy name,” - Let us learn from Russian saints the love of God, the Church, people, and our fatherland. We will not be tempted by heresies and schisms, by the rich preachers of the West and Korea, we will not sell the faith of our ancestors for lentil stew. Let us preserve the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church as the greatest treasure. Let us not abandon our Mother, who kept her faith in pain and illness and took care of us.

Today, the face of the saints in our land who have pleased God stands in the Church and invisibly prays to God for us. The angels praise him and celebrate him in the holy Church of Christ, for they pray to the Eternal God for us.

O. Gleb considered the day of All Saints, who shone in the Russian land, his patronal holiday, since the altar of his home church (catacomb) was consecrated in honor of this day. - Ed.

Archbishop Bartholomew (Remov, *1888-†1935) - vicar of the Moscow diocese, the last (before closure) rector of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery. Shot on July 10, 1935 - Ed.

Like every Orthodox church, in our church to the right of the Royal Doors there is a temple icon. This is the image of “All the saints who have shone in the Russian Land.” The name of the holiday was recently changed to All Saints in the Land Russian shone,” but the inscription on the icon remained the same, this is allowed by tradition. Sacred meaning the icon has only the signature of the saint's name next to each image. The name of the event to which the icon is dedicated does not have to be formulated exactly according to the church calendar: the main thing is that it corresponds to the true meaning of what is depicted.

The temple icon of “All the Saints Who Shined in the Land of Russia” was painted in the tradition of the Moscow school of icon painting of the late 15th-16th centuries. The author of this wonderful image is the famous St. Petersburg icon painter Khristina Prokhorova. The customer of the icon and the donor is the non-profit partnership "Club of Orthodox Entrepreneurs" (director Alexander Ivanovich Ageev). The icon came to the temple on January 27, 2012, on the memorable Day of lifting the siege of Leningrad. The icon seems too big for our church. And this is no coincidence. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and by order of President V.V. Putin, a memorial temple should be built in Victory Park, which will adequately perpetuate the memory of the people burned and buried in it and will replace the current small temple-chapel.

The iconographic concept of the image of all Russian saints was developed by St. Afanasy Kovrovsky, who corrected and edited the text of the service “To all the saints in the Russian Land who have shone forth” by decision of the Local Council of 1917-1918. According to his description, two were originally written different icons, but only one, created by the nun Juliania (Sokolova), became the canonical model. The icon of Mother Juliana formed the basis of the iconography created in the Russian Church Abroad, where it was supplemented by the image of the holy royal passion-bearers and new martyrs of Russia. After the canonization of the holy new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000, the image of their cathedral was added to icons painted in Russia.

Next to the temple icon there are shrines that make our church a place of deep prayer for the Russian Land, which is so necessary for the Fatherland in these turbulent times. This is (for now only in the form of a reproduction) an image of St. blgv. book Alexander Nevsky, defender of the Russian Land, and the ark with the relics of the saints resting in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. The very first Russian saints, standing at the origins of our spiritual history, mystically came to the site of the new Russian Golgotha ​​of the 20th century. Here, among the thousands who were burned and buried in the park pond, lie the ashes of many innocently murdered passion-bearers. They are new branches of the tree of Russian holiness, which sent out its first shoots more than a thousand years ago in the caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

The icon of “All Saints who have shone forth in the Russian Land” is unusual. There are no other similar images depicting saints, where the earth would occupy the entire iconographic space, rising vertically upward. Usually saints are depicted standing on a conventional strip - ground - and their figures are surrounded on all sides by a gold or ocher background. This background symbolically indicates that God’s chosen ones appear only figuratively in our sinful world, but in reality they eternally reside in the Kingdom of Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, in Heavenly Jerusalem. The earth takes the place of a symbolic background only when the icon tells about God’s presence on earth: about His Nativity, Baptism, Second Coming for Last Judgment, - after all, where God is, there is Heaven. The icon of “All the Saints Who Shined in the Russian Land” with its unusual composition testifies: God is with us! Our land, inhabited by saints, ascends directly to the Divine Throne. The saints did not leave the Russian Land. With their presence, with their prayers, they fill it with the grace of the Holy Spirit, making it “Holy Russia,” which is alive and inseparable from the Holy Trinity. The icon of “All Saints who shone forth in the Russian Land” is an icon of our holy Russian Land.

The abundance of the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are poured out onto our land by the prayerful standing of Russian saints, is metaphorically represented in the icon as a stream deep river, which flows from the throne of the Most Holy Trinity. This metaphor is taken from the Gospel, where Jesus Christ several times compares the gifts of the Holy Spirit to living water: “ TOthen he thirsts, come to Me and drink"(John 7:37). In a conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, the Lord calls to Himself all those “thirst” for truth as a new, true source: “... any, drinking water this he will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life(John 4:10,13-14).

The Russian land, filled with the living water of grace, seems to bloom on the icon with hundreds of images of saints. “They are countless in the entire history of Rus',” said the Pskov-Pechersk Elder John (Krestyankin), “manifested and unmanifested, many holy men, wives, saints, miracle workers, princes, monks... They show different properties of Russian religiosity, but they are related “Their thing is that they are all filled with one spirit - the spirit of holy faith and church piety, the Spirit of Christ.” The images of saints are interconnected into groups that merge into a single stream. The symbolic river of Russian holiness in the icon flows upward, rising towards the river, symbolizing the descent of the Holy Spirit onto the Russian land. The stream of saints in the center of the icon is divided into two sleeves that go around the white walls of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Before his throne, overshadowed Vladimir icon Mother of God, Moscow saints are standing. First Peter and Alexy, followed by Theognostus, Jonah, Hermogenes, Philip, Job, Photius, Macarius... Next to them are the saints, the holy fools, the holy believers... The names of each are written in a halo around the face. The liturgical service of the Moscow saints at the main altar of the country reveals the main theme of the icon: the communion of the Russian land with God.

"Russian River" folk life“, giving birth to saints, flowed in a given direction, but sometimes quickly and fruitfully, sometimes slowly, sometimes so quietly that it was difficult to determine whether it was flowing forward or backward,” said John (Krestyankin). The Pskov-Pechersk elder divided the Russian religious history for seven periods from Saint Prince Vladimir to this day, comparing them with the Seven Sacraments. “The first period - Vladimir - corresponds to the Mystery of Holy Baptism. It is short, but unusually significant, due to a radical revolution in the life and consciousness of the people, due to the striving for a new goal. Birth of water and Spirit. Then the first saints appear - mentors of the true faith and our intercessors to the Master.” In the icon, Equal-to-the-Apostles Vladimir, together with his family - his holy grandmother, Princess Olga, his passion-bearing sons Boris and Gleb and other Kiev saints - is depicted at the very bottom in the center, as if inside the oldest Russian temple - the Kyiv Sophia. This place corresponds to the place of the symbolic root of the spiritual tree of Russian holiness. On both sides of him in the dark caves are the Kiev-Pechersk monks. In the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, the relics of the holy monks rest in two cave complexes - the Near and Far caves. On the left are the saints of the Near Caves, and in front of everyone is St. Anthony of Pechersk, founder of Russian hermit monasticism. On the right are the saints of the Far Caves. The first among them is St. Theodosius of Pechersk is the founder of Russian cenobitic monasticism. The saints of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, together with the Kyiv saints and Equal-to-the-Apostles Vladimir, represent the foundation of the symbolic temple of Russian holiness, mark the beginning of the house-building of the Holy Spirit on the Russian Land.

Above the Kyiv saints, exactly along the axis of the domes of the Kyiv Sophia and the Moscow Assumption Cathedral, the Tsar-Passion-Bearer Nicholas II is depicted on a dais, surrounded by his family. On both sides of royal martyrs there is a host of new martyrs: saints who gave their lives for their Christian beliefs during the years of godless persecution of the 20th century. Despite the fact that the holy new martyrs only recently entered the ranks of Russian saints, their place is at the bottom of the icon. With their blood they strengthen the foundation of the temple of Russian holiness.

It is no coincidence that the image of Nicholas II becomes the symbolic center of the holy new martyrs. He is not just a martyr - he is the murdered Anointed of God, and his royal throne, like the liturgical throne in the church, symbolizes the throne of the King of Kings and the Great Bishop Jesus Christ. The king is the image of Christ the Pantocrator, and his earthly kingdom is the image of the Kingdom of Heaven. " The king is similar in nature to all man, but in power he is similar to the Most High God“- wrote the great Russian elder, Rev. Joseph of Volotsky (†1515). Therefore, on the icon of Russian Holiness, Nicholas II is the only one standing on a dais, dressed in red and gold clothes, like the veils of the throne of the Assumption Cathedral above his head.

When St. Afanasy (Sakharov) developed the composition of the icon of the Council of Russian Saints, the royal family and the council of new martyrs were not included in the ranks of saints and the majority depicted on the icon had yet to ascend to their Golgotha. The Bishop did not know that four years later he himself would take the path of confession, and would celebrate the celebration of All Russian Saints according to the service he had corrected for the first time on November 10, 1922 in cell 172 of the Vladimir prison. On the icon painted by nun Juliania (Sokolova), which has become an iconographic model, a number of new martyrs are not yet present. He appeared later. On the icons painted after 2000 there is also an image of St. himself. Athanasius - he is depicted third in the second row to the left of the family of royal passion-bearers.

Saint Athanasius conceived a circular composition of the icon, where groups of saints were to be located in the direction of the sun, successively displaying the south, west, north and east of Russia. The circular composition of the icon, replenished with a new row, became more complex, but it retained the image of perfect unity, the symbol of which is the circle. We see how the branches of Russian holiness rise on both sides of the center: on the left are hosts of ascetics sanctifying the western borders of the Russian land, on the right are the eastern ones.

To the left of the cathedral of Kiev-Pechersk saints are depicted the saints of southern Rus', the Chernigov prince-martyrs Michael and Theodore, the Pereyaslav and Volyn miracle workers with the Monk Job of Pochaev. To the right of Moscow is the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra with St. Sergius of Radonezh and his closest disciples. Above are the saints who established Orthodoxy in Smolensk, Brest, Bialystok, and Lithuania. The Novgorod and Pskov dioceses became famous for the abundance of saints in the north-west of the Fatherland. The crown of the great Russian tree is formed by the Northern Thebaid, which is how the monasteries of the northern Russian lands are figuratively called. From left to right in the upper part of the icon are depicted Petrograd, Olonets, Belozersk, Arkhangelsk, Solovetsky, Vologda and Perm saints of God.

In the lower right corner, the branch of saints of the Russian Orthodox East begins to grow. At the very bottom we see an image of the saints of the ancient Churches of the Caucasus: Iberia, Georgia and Armenia. Above, a host of Tambov, Siberian and Kazan miracle workers stand in prayer to Christ. The Kazan revealed miraculous icon of the Mother of God overshadows the east of Holy Rus'. Above them are all the saints of Central Russian lands: saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl, Uglich and Suzdal, Murom and Kostroma, Tver and Ryazan, ancient Vladimir and Pereslavl Zalessky. “In Holy Rus' “there is no difference between Jew and Greek, because there is one Lord for all, rich for all who call on him” (Rom. 10: 12). Russians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Ukrainians, Moldovans, Germans, Karelians, Hungarians, Tatars, Aleuts, etc. - different peoples who lived on Russian soil and professed the Orthodox faith, regardless of nationality, entered Holy Rus' and sanctified it by his spiritual feat” (V. Lepakhin).

The Russian land, inhabited by saints, rises to the very clouds, to the Heavenly Jerusalem, where, sanctified by the golden light of Divine Glory, the Most Pure Mother of God and Saint John the Baptist, the holy archangels Michael and Gabriel, the apostles Bartholomew and Andrew, Saints Photius and the seven of Kherson stand before the Throne of the Holy Trinity. Hieromartyrs, Great Martyrs George and Demetrius of Thessalonica, Saint Nicholas of Myra and the Slovenian enlighteners Cyril and Methodius, as well as many other saints, one way or another historically connected with the Russian Church. They pray together with the saints of the Russian Land for everyone living on it, for everyone, righteous and sinner, believer and non-believer, for every person who walks on our consecrated blood of martyrs, prayed to the Lord and filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit of the Russian Land.

O.V. Gubareva.

Literature:
Archimandrite John (Peasant). Word for the Week of All saints in the earth The Russian ones beamed.
Gubareva O.V. Questions of the iconography of the holy royal martyrs. (To the All-Russian glorification of Emperor Nicholas II and His Family). St. Petersburg, 1999.
The life of Saint Athanasius, Bishop of Kovrov, confessor and hymn writer. M.: “Father's House”, 2000. P. 3-21.
Lepakhin V.V. The iconic image of holiness: spatial, temporal, religious and historiosophical categories of Holy Rus'. In 2 parts.
Chinyakova G.P. Holy Rus', preserve the Orthodox faith! "Danilovsky evangelist". Vol. 9, 1998. pp. 71-77.

Stichera at the Great Supper of the holiday “All Saints Who Have Shined in the Russian Land”

Author of the stichera: senior choir director of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and director of the joint choir of TSL and MDAiS, Honored Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy Archimandrite Matthew (Lev Vasilyevich Mormyl), (rested in the Lord on September 15, 2009)

Russian Land,
Holy city,
Decorate your home
There is something divine in him
Glorify the great host of saints.

Russian Church,
Show off, rejoice,
Behold your children
To the Throne of the Master
They stand in glory, rejoicing.

Cathedral of Russian Saints,
Polche Divine,
Pray to the Lord
About your earthly Fatherland
And about those who honor you with love.

New house of Euphraths,
The chosen one
Holy Rus', preserve the Orthodox Faith,
It contains a statement for you.

All Saints' Day

Every year the Russian Orthodox Church commemorates the “all-blessed and God-wise saints of God” - All the saints who shone with their lives and deeds in the Russian land and who constantly pray for her.
The celebration of the Council of All Saints who have shone in the Russian land, which appeared in the 50s. XVI century and forgotten during the synodal era, was restored in 1918, and from 1946 it began to be solemnly celebrated on the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost.

The central point of the holiday is, of course, the glorification by the Church of the saints who have shone with their virtues in our Fatherland, and a prayerful appeal to them.

The Saints of the Church are our helpers and representatives before God throughout our entire earthly life, therefore frequent appeal to them is a natural need of every Christian; Moreover, when turning to Russian saints, we have even greater boldness, since we believe that “our holy relatives” never forget their descendants, who celebrate “their bright holiday of love.”

However, “in Russian saints we honor not only the heavenly patrons of holy and sinful Russia: in them we seek revelation of our own spiritual path,” and, carefully peering at their exploits and “looking at the end of their lives,” we try, with God’s help, “to imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7), so that the Lord would continue to not forsake our land with His grace and would reveal His saints in the Russian Church until the end of the age.

The construction of the temple in Moscow Victory Park is due to the fact that, in fact, this park is a huge cemetery. IN Soviet time It was hidden for a long time that during the war there was a brick factory-crematorium there.

The architect of the temple is Sergei Vladimirovich Shusterman, this is his first such project. The general contractor was Zodchiy-Stroy LLC. By the grace of God, our temple was erected in record time: on January 11, 2010, the installation of a fence around the future construction site began, and on May 7, 2010, the temple was consecrated! The opening and consecration of the temple was timed to coincide with the celebration of the 65th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

The consecration of the temple was performed by His Eminence, His Eminence Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Vladimir. Concelebrating with him were Bishop Markell of Peterhof and the clergy of the St. Petersburg diocese with a large crowd of pilgrims. Immediately after the consecration, celebrations began in the temple.
daily regular morning and evening services - Divine Liturgies and evening services. Funeral services are held several times a day.

Every year the Russian Orthodox Church commemorates the “all-blessed and God-wise saints of God” - All the saints who shone with their lives and deeds in the Russian land and who constantly pray for her (May, part 3, 308-352).

The celebration of the Council of All Saints who have shone in the Russian land, which appeared in the 50s. XVI century and forgotten during the synodal era, was restored in 1918, and from 1946 it began to be solemnly celebrated on the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost.

The central point of the holiday is, of course, the glorification by the Church of the saints who have shone with their virtues in our Fatherland, and a prayerful appeal to them.

The Saints of the Church are our helpers and representatives before God throughout our entire earthly life, therefore frequent appeal to them is a natural need of every Christian; Moreover, turning to Russian saints, we have even greater boldness, since we believe that “our holy relatives” never forget their descendants, who celebrate “their bright holiday of love” (, 495-496).

However, “in Russian saints we honor not only the heavenly patrons of holy and sinful Russia: in them we look for revelations of our own spiritual path” (,), and, carefully peering at their exploits and “looking at the end of their lives,” we try, with with the help of God, “to imitate their faith” (), so that the Lord would continue to not abandon our land with His grace and would reveal His saints in the Russian Church until the end of the century.

From the emergence of Christianity to the priesthood of Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow (+1563)

The history of holiness in Rus' begins, undoubtedly, with the preaching of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (+ 62 or 70) 1 within the boundaries of our present Fatherland, in the future Azov-Black Sea Rus' (, 42; for more details see:, 133-142 and, vol. 1 , 11-54). The Apostle Andrew converted our direct ancestors, the Sarmatians and Tauro-Scythians (, 307; for more details, see:, vol. 1, 54-140), to Christianity, laying the foundation for the Churches, which did not cease to exist until the Baptism of Rus' (, 152). These Churches (Scythian, Kherson, Gothic, Sourozh and others), which were part of the Metropolis of Constantinople (and later the Patriarchate), and among other nations that adopted Christianity, had the Slavs in their midst (, vol. 1, 125-127) . The largest of these Churches, which by its historical continuity and spiritual influence appeared as the foremother of the Russian Church, was the Kherson Church.

The successor to the work of the Apostle Andrew in Chersonesos was the Hieromartyr Clement, an apostle from the 70s, a disciple of the Apostle Peter, the third Bishop of Rome. Having been exiled there in 94 by Emperor Trajan for converting many noble Romans to Christianity, Saint Clement “found about 2 thousand Christians among the many communities and churches of Crimea as spiritual heritage Apostle Andrew" (, 155-157; , 51). In Chersonesos, Saint Clement died as a martyr around 100 6 during the persecution of the same Trajan (, vol. 1, 110; , 51).

Veneration of the Hieromartyr Clement in Chersonesos in the 2nd-9th centuries. ( , 158) passed into the 10th century. and in Kievan Rus. His relics, miraculously surviving, were kept in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Chersonesus. In 886 they were transferred by Saint Cyril, the enlightener of the Slavs, to Rome; part of them remained in place and later, at the Baptism of Rus', was placed by Equal-to-the-Apostles Vladimir in the Church of the Tithes in Kiev, where the chapel of St. Clement soon appeared (, 155,158;, 51;, vol. 2, 50-51).

Of all the saints of the Kherson Church, those who arrived in Crimea in the 4th century deserve the greatest attention. for the establishment and spread of Christianity, bishops known as the “seven-numbered saints of Kherson”: Basil (+ 309), Ephraim (+ about 318), Eugene (+ 311), Elpidiy (+ 311), Agathodorus (+ 311), Epherius (+ ca. 324) and Capito (+ after 325). The Church celebrates their memory on one day - March 7. This is the first conciliar memory of the saints who shone in the lands of our Fatherland, and therefore the day of their memory can be considered a prototype of the general church memory of All Russian Saints, which appeared only in the 16th century.

Of the ecumenical saints, now especially revered by the Russian Church and associated by their exploits with the Kherson Church, the following should be mentioned:

Almost immediately after the Baptism of Rus', in 988, the newborn Church revealed to the entire Orthodox world its children, who became famous for their godly lives, as a kind of response to the preaching of the Gospel in Rus'. The first saints canonized by the Russian Church were the sons of Prince Vladimir - the passion-bearers Boris and Gleb, who suffered martyrdom from their brother Svyatopolk in 1015. National veneration of them, as if “anticipating church canonization,” began immediately after their murder (, 40). Already in 1020 they were found imperishable relics and transferred from Kyiv to Vyshgorod, where a temple was soon erected in their honor. After the construction of the temple, the head of the Russian Church at that time, the Greek Metropolitan John I, with a council of clergy in the presence of the Grand Duke (the son of Equal-to-the-Apostles Vladimir - Yaroslav) and in the presence of a large crowd, solemnly consecrated it on July 24, the day of the death of Borisov, and placed in it the relics of the newly-minted miracle workers and established to celebrate this day annually in memory of them together" (, book 2, 54-55). Around the same time, around 1020-1021, the same Metropolitan John I wrote a service to the martyrs Boris and Gleb, which became the first hymnographic creation of our Russian church writing (, book 2, 58, 67; , 40).

The second saint solemnly canonized by the Russian Church was the Monk Theodosius of Kiev-Pechersk, who died in 1074. Already in 1091, his relics were found and transferred to the Assumption Church of the Pechersk Monastery - local veneration of the saint began. And in 1108, at the request of the Grand Duke Svyatopolk, his church-wide glorification took place (, 53).

However, even before the church glorification of saints Boris, Gleb and Theodosius in Rus', the holy first martyrs of Russia Theodore the Varangian and his son John (+ 983), saint equal to the apostles, were especially revered Grand Duchess Olga (+ 969) and, a little later, the holy baptist of Rus' - Grand Duke Vladimir (+ 1015).

The early veneration of the holy martyrs Theodore and John is evidenced by the fact that the famous Church of the Tithes, founded in 989 and consecrated in 996, was erected by the holy Prince Vladimir precisely at the site of their murder (, book 2, 35; , 40). In 1007, the discovered relics of Princess Olga were solemnly placed in the Tithe Church. It is likely that from the same time it was established to celebrate her memory on July 11 - the day of her repose; later her canonization was carried out (, book 2, 52-53).

The veneration of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir on the day of his death, July 15, began undoubtedly in the first quarter of the 11th century, for the laudable “Word” of St. Hilarion in his honor, containing a number of prayerful addresses to Vladimir, “naturally suggests that his holiness was already recognized then Church" (, book 2, 55). Church-wide veneration of him, presumably, began soon after the Battle of the Neva, won over the Swedes on the day of memory of the holy prince (, 91). In the same XIII century, in some manuscripts, a service to Saint Vladimir is already found (, book 2, 58 and 440).

Subsequently, already in the XI-XII centuries. The Russian Church revealed so many saints to the world that, perhaps, by the middle of the 12th century. could celebrate their common memory. However, despite the subsequent increase in the veneration of saints in the 13th-15th centuries, until the beginning of the 16th century there could be no talk of such a holiday in the Russian Church for the following reasons:

1. Until the middle of the 15th century. The Russian Church was only one of the metropolises of the Church of Constantinople, which, naturally, made it difficult to resolve a number of local church issues, such as, for example, the glorification of this or that saint and the establishment of celebrations for him throughout the Russian Church. Moreover, the proposal for an annual celebration of the memory of All Russian Saints would hardly have found sympathy among the Greek metropolitans who led the Russian Church until the mid-13th century. Namely, the Kyiv Metropolitans had the right to solemnly establish new church holidays ( , 35).

2. The Mongol-Tatar yoke, which lasted in Rus' for about two and a half centuries, of course, set completely different tasks for our Church, far from the creative understanding by the Russian people of the foundations of national holiness.

3. In the Church of Constantinople itself, the holiday in honor of All Saints was established only at the end of the 9th century. and at the beginning of his appearance he was celebrated there with special solemnity. The Russian Church, which after Epiphany adopted all the main holidays of the Church of Constantinople, also celebrated celebrations in honor of All Saints, which was quite sufficient given the presence of a small number of its national saints: their memory could be celebrated on this very day.

Some changes, however, began to occur after the Russian Church became autocephalous in 1448. Of particular importance in historical process The establishment of the day of remembrance of All Russian Saints belongs to the primates of the Novgorod department of the Russian Church, many of whom were later glorified in the rank of saint.

Veliky Novgorod, already from the time of the establishment of the bishop's see there in 992, was known as the largest center of spiritual education in Rus'. Moreover, the main concern of the Novgorod rulers (especially starting from the 15th century) was the collection of ancient manuscripts, mainly of a liturgical nature, as well as the creation of new hymnographic monuments, dedicated first to the Novgorod saints, and later to many saints throughout the Russian land (, 31-33). Here, special mention should be made of Saint Euthymius (+ 1458), Saint Jonah (+ 1470) and Saint Gennady (+ 1505).

The first in 1439 established the celebration of the Novgorod saints, and a little later invited the famous spiritual writer of that time, the Athonite hieromonk Pachomius Serb (Logothetus), who worked there and under Saint Jonah, to Veliky Novgorod to compile services and lives of the newly canonized saint. And if the main concern of Saint Euthymius was the glorification of the saints of the Novgorod land, then his successor, Saint Jonah, already glorified the “Moscow, Kiev and eastern ascetics” and “under him, for the first time, a temple was built on Novgorod land in honor of St. Sergius, abbot of Radonezh” (, 91 -92).

Also, St. Gennady, thanks to whom the first Slavic handwritten Bible was collected, “was an admirer of Russian saints, for example, St. Alexis” and “with his blessing the lives of St. Savvatius of Solovetsky and Blessed Michael of Klopsky were written” (, 90-91).

However, the first official church establishment of the day of remembrance of All Russian Saints is associated with the name of another Novgorod saint - Macarius, in 1542-1563. head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

From the holiness of Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow (+1563) to the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church 1917-1918.

In 1528-1529 nephew of the Venerable Joseph of Volotsk, monk Dosifei Toporkov, working on the correction of the Sinai Patericon, in the afterword he composed, lamented that, although the Russian land has many holy men and women worthy of no less veneration and glorification than the eastern saints of the first centuries of Christianity, yet they “due to our negligence we are despised and not given over to scripture, even if we ourselves are our own” (, 74; , 275). Dosifei carried out his work with the blessing of the Novgorod Archbishop Macarius, whose name is mainly associated with the elimination of that “neglect” towards the memory of Russian saints, felt by many children of the Russian Church at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries.

The main merit of Saint Macarius was his many years of painstaking and tireless work in collecting and systematizing the entire hagiographic, hymnographic and homiletical heritage Orthodox Rus', known by that time. For more than 12 years, from 1529 to 1541, Saint Macarius and his assistants worked on compiling a twelve-volume collection, which went down in history under the name of the Great Macarius Four Menaions (, 87-88; , 275-279). This collection includes the lives of many Russian saints who were revered in different parts of our state, but who did not have church-wide glorification. The publication of a new collection, compiled according to the calendar principle and containing the biographies of many Russian ascetics of piety, undoubtedly accelerated the process of preparing the first glorification in the history of the Russian Church for the widespread veneration of a whole host of saints.

In 1547 and 1549, having already become the First Hierarch of the Russian Church, Saint Macarius convened Councils in Moscow, known as the Makariev Councils, at which only one issue was resolved: the glorification of Russian saints. Firstly, the question of the principle of canonization for the future was resolved: the establishment of the memory of universally revered saints was henceforth subject to the conciliar judgment of the entire Church (, 103). But the main act of the Councils was the solemn glorification of 30 (or 31) 18 new church-wide and 9 locally revered saints (, 50).

At the Council of 154719 the following were canonized:

1) Saint Jonah, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus' (+ 1461);
2) Saint John, Archbishop of Novgorod (+ 1186);
3) Venerable Macarius Kalyazinsky (+ 1483);
4) Venerable Paphnutius of Borovsky (+ 1477);
5) Righteous Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky (+ 1263);
6) Venerable Nikon of Radonezh (+ 1426);
7) Rev. Pavel Komelsky, Obnorsky (+ 1429);
8) Rev. Michael of Klopsky (+ 1456);
9) Rev. Savva of Storozhevsky (+ 1406);
10-11) Saints Zosima (+ 1478) and Savvaty (+ 1435) of Solovetsky;
12) Venerable Dionysius of Glushitsky (+ 1437);
13) Rev. Alexander of Svirsky (+ 1533).

The holiday was first set on July 17, as the closest day to the memory of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir (July 15). However, later the date of the celebration of the memory of All Russian Saints changed several times. It was performed both on the first Sunday after Elijah’s day, and on one of the weekdays before All Saints Sunday.

In the very near future after the Moscow Makariev Councils, “many lives of Russian saints, or their new editions, services, words of praise appeared in Russia; icons of Russian saints are being painted more intensively, churches are being built in their honor, discoveries of the relics of Russian saints are being made” (, 279- 289). Naturally, the establishment of a holiday in honor of all Russian saints required the writing of a service for this holiday. This difficult task was carried out by the monk of the Suzdal Spaso-Evthymius Monastery Gregory, who left to the Russian Church “a total of up to 14 hagiological works about individual saints, as well as consolidated works about all Russian saints” (, 50-51,54).

Very little historical information has been preserved about the personality of the Suzdal monk Gregory, and it is very divergent from each other. In modern church-scientific literature it is believed that he was born around 1500, began his hagiological activities in the Spaso-Evthymius Monastery around 1540, and in 1550 he wrote “Service to All Russian Saints” and “Eulogy” to them (, 54 ; , 297).

The service to the “new miracle workers” of Russia was “a new factor in Russian liturgical writing” and “the oldest protograph of all later editions up to the “Service to All Saints Who Have Shined in the Russian Land,” compiled at the Council of 1917-1918 and printed by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1946 with the necessary changes and additions" (, 228-229; 21, 54).

Lists of services and words of praise to All Russian Saints became widespread already in the 16th century. However, they were first published in printed form only in the first half of the 18th century. ( , 296). In general, after a great spiritual upsurge in Russian society caused by the Moscow Councils of 1547 and 1549, by the end of the 16th century. The holiday of All Russian Saints began to be forgotten and celebrated only in certain corners of Russia. This sad trend in the 17th century. began to intensify, and as a result, during the Synodal period, the veneration of the Feast of All Russian Saints in the Russian Church was finally consigned to oblivion and was preserved only by the Old Believers (, 50; , 296).

To clarify the reasons for such historical nonsense, a special historical and theological study is probably required.

Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church 1917-1918.

The events of the restoration of the celebration of the day of remembrance of All Russian Saints historically coincided with the restoration of the Patriarchate in the Russian Church.

In the pre-conciliar period, the Holy Synod had no intention of resuming the celebration, which appeared in the distant 16th century. On July 20, 1908, Nikolai Osipovich Gazukin, a peasant from the Sudogodsky district of the Vladimir province, sent to Holy Synod a petition to establish an annual celebration of “All Russian Saints, glorified from the beginning of Rus'” with a request to “honor this day with a specially composed church service.” The request was soon rejected by the synodal resolution on the grounds that the existing holiday of All Saints also includes the memory of Russian saints (, 427).

Nevertheless, at the Local Council of the Russian Church in 1917-1918. the holiday was restored. The merit of the restoration and subsequent veneration of the day of memory of All Russian Saints mainly belongs to the professor of Petrograd University Boris Aleksandrovich Turaev and the hieromonk of the Vladimir Nativity Monastery Afanasy (Sakharov).

Turaev’s report, approved by the department, on August 20, 1918 was considered by the Council, and finally, on August 26, on the name day of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, a historical resolution was adopted: “1. The celebration of the day of remembrance of All Russian Saints, which existed in the Russian Church, is being restored. 2. This celebration takes place on the first Sunday of Peter's Lent" (, 427-428; , 7).

The Council decided to print the corrected and expanded Service of Monk Gregory at the end of the Colored Triodion. However, B.A., who hastily took up this work. Turaev and Hieromonk Afanasy soon came to the conclusion that it was possible to borrow only the smallest part from the service of the monk Gregory, while everything else needed to be composed anew, “partly by composing completely new chants (this work was undertaken mainly by B.A. Turaev), partly choosing the most characteristic and best of the existing liturgical books, mainly from individual services to Russian saints (this work was done by Hieromonk Athanasius)" (, 7-8).

The initiators of restoring the memory of All Russian Saints really wanted to “carry out the service they had compiled through the Council,” which was about to close. Therefore, not yet fully prepared, on September 8, 1918, at the penultimate meeting of the liturgical department of the Local Council, the new service was reviewed, approved and transferred for subsequent approval to His Holiness the Patriarch and the Holy Synod (, 9). On November 18, after the closure of the Local Council, Patriarch Tikhon and the Holy Synod blessed the printing of the new Service under the supervision of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) of Vladimir and Shuisky, which was carried out until the end of 1918 in Moscow with great difficulties. Finally, on December 13 of the same year, a decree was sent to all diocesan bishops on the restoration of the day of remembrance of All Russian Saints, and on June 16, 1919, a printed text of the service was sent with instructions to perform it on the next Sunday upon receipt (, 428-429).

Unfortunately, due to the events of the 1917 revolution, the holiday restored by the Council was again almost quickly forgotten, as had happened before. This time it was mainly due to the persecution brought against the Russian Church in the 20th century. In addition, on July 23, 1920, B.A. died. Turaev, who really wanted to continue to work on adding and correcting the hastily compiled service (, 9), and Archimandrite Afanasy, in his humility, did not dare to take on such responsible work alone.

However, the restored holiday was not allowed by Divine Providence to be forgotten again. And the persecution brought against the Russian Church in an amazing way only helped its widespread spread.

From the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church 1917-1918. until now

Finally, there, in prison, on November 10, 1922, on the day of the repose of St. Demetrius of Rostov, the copyist of the lives of saints, the celebration of All Russian Saints was celebrated for the first time, not on Sunday and according to the corrected service (, 10).

On March 1, 1923, in the 121st solitary cell of the Tagansk prison, where Vladyka Afanasy was awaiting exile to the Zyryansk region, he consecrated a camp antimension in honor of All Russian Saints for his cell church (, 68 and 75; , 10).

The above events further strengthened Saint Athanasius in the idea that approved by the Council of 1917-1918. The service to All Russian Saints needs to be supplemented further, “and at the same time there appeared” the idea of ​​the desirability and necessity of establishing one more day for the general celebration of all Russian saints, in addition to that established by the Council" (, 10). And indeed: the holiday of All Russian Saints according to His significance for the Russian Church fully deserves that the service for him be as complete and festive as possible, which, according to the Church Charter, cannot be achieved if it is performed only once a year and only on Sunday - on the 2nd week after Pentecost In addition, on this day, in many places in Russia, celebrations are held in honor of local saints; the Russian monastery on Athos and its metochions celebrate on this day, together with the whole of Athos, the celebration of the All Saints of Athos; finally, on this same day the memory of the saints of the Bulgarian Church and Churches of the Czech lands and Slovakia, which puts in a difficult position those Orthodox Russian people who, by God's Providence, live in these Slavic countries and lead their church life in the bosom of fraternal Local Churches. According to the Charter, it is impossible to combine the celebration of All Russian Saints with the above-mentioned local celebrations, which cannot be postponed to another day. Therefore, “with urgent necessity, the question arises of establishing a second, immutable feast of All Russian Saints, when in all Russian churches” only one full festive service could be performed, unhampered by any other” (, 11 and 17).

The time for the second celebration of All Russian Saints was proposed by Saint Athanasius on July 29 - the day after the memory of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, the Baptist of Rus'. In this case, “the feast of our equal-to-the-apostle will be, as it were, a pre-feast of the feast of All Saints who flourished in that land into which he sowed the saving seeds of the Orthodox faith” (, 12). Saint Athanasius also proposed, on the day after the holiday, to remember “the many-named host, although not yet glorified for church celebration, but great and wondrous ascetics of piety and righteous people, as well as the builders of Holy Rus' and various church and government figures,” so that, thus, the second the celebration of All Russian Saints was solemnly celebrated throughout the Russian Church for three days (, 12).

Despite such grandiose plans of the saint-songmaker regarding the holiday he revered, until 1946 the Russian Church did not have the opportunity not only to celebrate the solemnity of its saints twice a year, but also could not honor this memory everywhere. The printed Patriarchal Service of 1918 “went through the hands of the participants of the Council... and did not receive wide distribution,” becoming in a short time a rarity, and “manuscript copies (from it) were in very few churches,” and the rest did not have it at all (, 86 ). It was only in 1946 that the “Service to All Saints Who Shined in the Russian Land,” published by the Moscow Patriarchate, was published, after which the widespread celebration of the memory of All Russian Saints began in our Church.

Nevertheless, after the holiday service was published, work on its correction and addition did not end. The author of most of the hymns, Saint Athanasius, continued to work on the service until his blessed death in 1962.

Today, the Feast of All Saints, who shone forth in the Russian land, in the Russian Church is one of the most solemn days of the entire church year. However, it seems that the holiday service could still be supplemented. Saint Athanasius at one time proposed to enrich it with three specially composed canons: “1) for a prayer service on the theme: by the miracle of God and the exploits of saints, Holy Rus' was built, 2) to the Mother of God for matins on the theme: the Protection of the Mother of God over the Russian Land and 3) a special canon for a memorial service according to the ascetics of piety, performed on the very holiday after Vespers, on the eve of their commemoration" (, 15).

The main unfulfilled desire of Saint Athanasius regarding the service of All Russian Saints still remains the absence in it of a special “Word of praise in memory of All Saints who shone in the Russian land.” In 1955, Bishop Afanasy wrote about this to his friend, Archimandrite Sergius (Golubtsov), a teacher at the Moscow Theological Academy: “... I have long come to the idea that... (in) our service it should be mandatory to read the “Word of Praise at the Council of All Russians” saints", in which all Russian saints would be remembered by name (with the exception of the Pechersk saints, of whom the more famous ones should be remembered). Moreover, the praise of each saint from one, two, no more than three phrases should be not so much the fruit of the oratorical talent of the compiler. These praises should be composed of the characteristics of our saints, selected from chronicle reviews about them, from ancient lives and other monuments. Praises should be compiled, as far as possible, from the exact expressions of the monuments. The “word of praise” should not be composed, but composed. Isn’t there Among the students of our academy is a talented and reverent preacher (and at the same time a historian), who would take the topic as a candidate’s essay: “A word of praise for the Council of all saints who have shone in the Russian land”? If it were possible to carry out my idea, I, for my part, would give some more advice and instructions" (, 50-51). Saint Athanasius considered it appropriate to read this “Word” into five sections (parts) at different places of service: before the Six Psalms, after the sedalna according to the 1st and 2nd verses, after the sedalna according to the polyeleos and according to the 3rd song of the canon (, 108, 110-111, 115, 124). According to the 6th song of the canon, the Bishop hoped to subsequently read the synaxarium during the service " about the establishment and significance of this holiday" (, 15 and 133). In the modern version of the service (see: May, part 3, 308-352; , 495-549) these readings are absent.

However, despite this, the service to All Russian Saints in its current state should be recognized as one of the most significant phenomena in the history of Russian church hymnography, because it has many obvious advantages. Firstly, in the service the feat of the Russian saints is revealed in all possible completeness and shown from various sides. Secondly, in its musical content (the use of all eight voices, many similar voices, including very rare ones, etc.) the service surpasses even many Twelfth holidays.

Thirdly, the liturgical innovations contained in the service do not seem somehow superfluous and far-fetched, but, on the contrary, give it a restrained flavor and internal integrity, without which the service would be clearly incomplete and would not seem as festive as it is now. Finally, each hymn of the service contains the main thing: sincere love and the genuine reverence of its authors for the saints glorified in it, and this is the main thing not only in hymnography, but in general in the service of the Church of Christ, without which human life loses all meaning.

One should also recall the wish of Saint Athanasius to celebrate the All Russian Saints at least twice a year, which he himself strictly did until the end of his life (, 137-138). Indeed, such a Feast fully deserves to be celebrated by the Russian Church not only on the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, but also on some specially chosen day. Here, too, in our opinion, it is worth taking advantage of the wishes of the saint-song-maker, and for the second time the celebration of All Russian Saints will reign for three days: July 15 (the day of remembrance of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir as a pre-celebration), July 16 (the holiday itself) and July 17 ( celebration of the holiday and commemoration of unglorified ascetics of piety and church and statesmen Russia). Moreover, on these days the Church does not celebrate the great saints, and the services of ordinary saints can be performed at Compline.

Notes:

1) Different sources offer different datings (cf., for example, 143 and vol. 1, 368).

2) In addition to the Apostle Andrew, the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus (in Armenia) and Simon the Zealot (in Georgia) preached in the territory of future Rus' (, 153-154).

3) The direct assistants of the Apostle Andrew were the apostles from the 70: Stachy, Amplius, Urvan, Narcissus, Apellius and Aristobulus (, 144).

4) O detailed history of these Churches, see, vol. 1, 107,112-113,122-123.

5) According to other sources, in 99 (, 157).

6) According to other sources, in 101-102. ( , 157).

8) More full list saints who labored or died on the territory of our future Fatherland, see:, 307-309 and, book. 1, 368-369.