Total 43 photos
This post will obviously be the beginning of a whole series of my posts about a very curious and interesting historical place. white city- Kulishkakh. I really like to walk here. This area of Old Moscow, despite some of today's "desert" and lack of large quantities randomly scurrying human masses, is the best suited for walking, thinking, trying to feel the spirit of Old Moscow, to see in its architectural structures a shaky image of the past of our capital, because it is here, as if, time stopped its inexorable run ... Quite a lot of interesting buildings and structures in Kulishki survived and I will try to tell about them all, if this, of course, is really possible)
The ancient Kulishki district was located at the confluence of the Moscow River and the Yauza on a high picturesque hill that was crossed by the Rachka River (hidden in a pipe in the 18th century) ... Among the variants of the meaning of the word Kulishki, one can find a swampy, swampy place and a forest after chopping ... At present, this is the Solyanka area with adjacent lanes to Yauzsky Boulevard and the Yauza embankment. In principle, these photos were taken immediately after the shooting, so we can, as it were, continue this walk right along the short Khitrovsky Lane and go out to the Church Three Ecumenical Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom.
In the 15th century, Vasily I built his summer palace here with a house church consecrated in the name of the Holy Prince Vladimir, now known as the "Temple of St. Vladimir in Old Gardens". On the slopes of the hill were laid out the famous princely gardens with luxurious fruit trees. Next to the gardens were located the sovereign's stables. In the horse yard, a wooden church was built in the name of the holy martyrs Florus and Laurus, who were revered by the people as patrons of horses. After construction next to the stables country house Moscow Metropolitan (in Trekhsvyatitelsky lane) to the Church of Flora and Lavra, they added a home metropolitan church in the name of the Three Ecumenical Hierarchs ...
In the 16th century, the Grand Duke's estate was moved to the village of Rubtsovo-Pokrovskoye, due to the fact that the southeastern part of the White City began to be actively populated. Churches, which were previously located in residences, became parish churches, graveyards were formed under them. The network of streets and lanes that developed at that time has been preserved to this day. The entire hill was named "Ivanovskaya Gorka" in honor of the monastery founded here in the name of the Nativity of John the Baptist.
In the photo below (on the left side of the frame), a part of Khitrovskaya Square is just visible. We are now in Khitrovsky Lane.
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Khitrovsky Lane, as I have already noted, is quite small. On the left is the building of the FSB polyclinic, and once it was an apartment building of the Church of the Three Saints on Kulishki. About him a little later.
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This is what it looked like around the end of the 19th century. On the left is the wing of the Lopukhin-Volkonsky-Kiryakov estate. As we can see, the apartment building of the church has not yet been built.
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Among the parishioners of the 17th century temple, master craftsmen, clerks of sovereign orders and representatives of the nobility - the Shuiskys, Akinfovs, Glebovs - are known.
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In 1670-1674. At the expense of wealthy parishioners, a new stone two-story church was built with an architectural technique rare for Moscow - placing a bell tower on the corner. On the lower floor there are warm aisles - Trekhsvyatitelsky from the south and Florolavrsky from the north. Above was a cold summer church in the name of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity.
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A high one-domed church crowned Ivanovskaya Gorka. Its facades were decorated with patterned platbands and portals, high porches rose to the upper floor, altars of warm aisles standing in a row ended with domes covered with plowshares.
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The aisle of Florus and Lavra was entirely located in the small northern apse, was isolated from other parts of the temple and had a separate entrance from the street. Here was the house temple of M.I. Glebov, who had a manor opposite the churchyard. His son and grandson L.M. and P.L. The Glebovs supported this temple and kept a special clergy for serving daily liturgies in it with the commemoration of their ancestors. The Glebovs lived in Maly Trekhsvyatitelsky Lane until the mid-1830s, continuing to take care of the chapel even after the abolition of the house church.
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White-stone slabs with inscriptions over burial places of the 17th - early 18th centuries have been preserved on the walls of the temple.
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Akinfovs, Vladykins, Payusovs, priest Philip are buried here...
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The photo below shows how the level of the pavement has risen ...
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In the second half of the 18th century, counts Tolstoy, count Osterman, princes Volkonsky, Melgunov, Lopukhin lived near the Church of the Three Hierarchs. At their expense, the church was rebuilt in the 1770s. The ancient hipped bell tower at the corner was dismantled and a new one was built from the west, the decoration of the facades of the 17th century was knocked down, and an additional row of windows was cut through in the quadrangle. The temple acquired a classical appearance. In 1771, the cholera year, the parish cemetery was abolished.
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The year 1812 brought many disasters to the inhabitants of Ivanovskaya Gorka. In the parish of the Church of the Three Hierarchs, 10 courtyards burned down. On the temple itself, only the roof was damaged, but it was plundered, the thrones were destroyed, the holy antimins were taken away. An antimension is a quadrangular fabric with a particle of the relics of a saint, unfolded on the throne or in the altar, it is a necessary accessory for performing the full liturgy and, at the same time, a church document allowing the celebration of it.
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The first to re-consecrate in 1813 was the chapel of the Three Hierarchs, but due to the small number of the parish, the church was assigned to the church of John the Baptist, which was preserved from the abolished Ivanovsky monastery. In the inventory of church property of 1813, a locally venerated shrine was mentioned - an icon Mother of God"Insight of the eyes".
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In 1815, the parishioners, whose estates survived, collected funds by subscription for the restoration of the Florolavrsky and Trinity side-altars, consecrated in 1817 and 1818. The church authorities returned independence to the temple. The building was rebuilt again, having received a new, this time, Empire decor of the facades, and its territory was surrounded by a fence on stone pillars.
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The famous Moscow architect F.K. Sokolov, who undoubtedly participated in the renovation of the building. The famous architect A.G. was also related to the Church of the Three Hierarchs. Grigoriev, who designed another chapel with her, which was never built. In the middle of the 19th century, the composition of the parish changed. The estates of the ruined nobles were acquired by merchants-industrialists. The Kiryakovs, Uskovs, Karzinkins, Morozovs, and Krestovnikovs settled here. Wealthy parishioners contributed to the prosperity of the temple. special role Andrey Sidorovich, Alexander Andreyevich and Andrey Aleksandrovich Karzinkins played in the life of the Three Hierarchs Parish, having been church elders for more than a hundred years. The church warden in those days financed all construction and repair work.
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In 1858, according to the project of the architect D.A. Koritsky, the upper tier of the bell tower was rebuilt, which has now become a tent. In 1884, the porch with a staircase to the upper church was moved from the north side to the south. At the same time, the Empire fence was dismantled and a new one was built, in artistically inferior to the old one (architect V.A. Gamburtsev).
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On the church ground stood a large stone house clerk, built in several stages from 1820 to 1896, as well as wooden house and a barn. The temple gave its name to two lanes - Big and Small Three Saints. Not only the mansions of the townspeople, but also the Myasnitskaya police station, as well as the infamous one, with its rooming houses and brothels, were adjacent to the church.
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The Church of the Three Hierarchs nourished everyone: both respectable merchants, and residents of the luxurious tenement houses of the Karzinkins, and policemen from the police station, and the “tricky” who lost their human appearance.
This is a cozy churchyard.
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The last priest of the Three Saints Church, Vasily Stepanovich Pyatikrestovsky, served here since 1893, was the confessor of the deanery, and was elevated to the rank of archpriest in 1910. It was a heavy duty to hand over the church to the representatives Soviet power who came to close it. After 1917, the Myasnitskaya police unit was transformed into a prison, next to it, a concentration camp was set up in the Ivanovsky Monastery.
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The building of the Temple of the Three Hierarchs with its thick walls was very suitable for the "jailers" as a warehouse and workshops. In 1927, the administration of the Myasnitskaya prison began to demand the closure of the church. Father Vasily Pyatikrestovsky and headman A. A. Karzinkin collected 4,000 signatures in defense of the church, but this did not help. Utensils and icons were taken out of the closed church, iconostases were dismantled. Whether especially valuable icons ended up in museums, whether anything went to other churches, remained unclear. This is how the locally venerated icon of the Mother of God "The Enlightenment of the Eyes" disappeared.
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The temple adapted for prison needs was decapitated, and the tent of the bell tower was also demolished. In the 1930s, the church territory came under the jurisdiction of the NKVD, which built a hospital here. The hospital also included a stone church house, built on the 4th floor.
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It was supposed to arrange a hostel for the staff in the temple building, and it was divided into many cells. However, other housing was found for doctors, and the church was turned into an ordinary communal apartment.
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1
"Decree No. 116
Priest Grigory Starovoitov,
rector of the Holy Trinity parish in the village of Karabashka.
(copy to ReverendIIcounty).
You are hereby notified that for violating canonical fidelity to the Mother Church, for vexing a bishop, as well as for violating marital fidelity and leaving your family, you, Priest Grigory Starovoitov, are prohibited from serving with deprivation of the right to wear a pectoral cross and priestly robes.
In view of your stubborn non-repentance, despite the numerous appeals of the church court and the archpastor, the case of depriving you of the priesthood will be referred to the Patriarchate. You will be notified of the results later."
The Metropolitan reread the decree slipped to him by the bowing secretary and signed it in his elegant handwriting.
The Metropolitan still had a lot to do, the prohibition of the scandalous priest, who did not want to pay the tripled diocesan fee and pay for the goods taken from the warehouse, was only one insignificant element of today's routine. Fool priest Grishka - he brought trouble on himself: he knows, after all: who pays - he lives. This is the law, and it has always been observed. And then every small fry will balk, show ambition, turn up his nose. But you can’t write in a decree: they were banned for refusing to pay a fee. Therefore, the family issue was successfully out of place.
“The priest had a dog, he loved her. She didn’t pay dues, he paid her…” the metropolitan purred under his breath, winking at the secretary. The secretary, hegumen Vasily, made an understanding face, smiled broadly, and, out of habit, bent low again. “You are our head waiter,” Vladyka thought once again, looking into the reflection of the glass of the large icon of the Savior at the massive figure of the gray-haired secretary, leaning over right hand(“or to the left? I’m always confused with the reflection”), you bow, you lick, you smile – and what the hell is inside you. You trust, you trust, and then such a head waiter will sit at this table instead of you ... Hmm.
- What do we have next? The Metropolitan leaned back in his comfortable chair.
Father Vasily put the decree in his daddy, from another he took out a bundle of papers:
- Vladychenko, again they sent from architecture: we need to approve a new solution to the project ...
The Metropolitan raised his eyebrows angrily:
- Again? How much can you squirm?! Should I call the governor again?!
The secretary spread his plump hands to the sides as doomed and repentant as possible. The project of the Temple-on-the-Mountain has not given rest to anyone for a year now: the place is the best, the most expensive, but only the House of Children's Art, which settled there back in Soviet time(and the dilapidated building itself was from the end of the 19th century), interfered with the solution of the problem.
Vladyka sighed and picked up the phone.
"Bring me some tea," he ordered dryly to the secretary.
2
“And do you have someone in mind?” the lord asked.
“Yes, yes,” the father secretary leaned over the sitting bishop and handed him daddy: “Here is his personal file.
- AND? He jabbed his finger in disgust at the folder. “I’m tired of him as a deacon in the cathedral, I can’t see his face: he’s a big-nosed devil. And when the blessing takes it, it looks like it will bite your hand or spit on your hand! I would generally kick him out of the gate! And all this talk about missing from the church mug - I remember correctly which way the wind is blowing?
The hieromonk rubbed his plump, chilly hands, smiled shyly, and bent over again:
“You remember everything correctly, Vladychenko. But now it's time to remove him from the cathedral, and Karabashka is a great place for just such a rascal. There he would hardly need a mug - such a hole: there are 300 inhabitants, there is no temple, it is necessary to build it. So let him - there is no one else, after all, Vladychenko.
And it’s true: it was still not good with people in the diocese, and those who were, looked mostly like granite stones: they clung to their seats so much that they could only be moved by propping them up with a pick. But no one wanted to move anyway: everyone unfastened, everyone brought envelopes - therefore, to send such a granite one to Karabashka means to risk not one, but many envelopes - they will get scared, they will start rubbing against each other, pointing at the archbishop with a finger, as has already happened in this diocese ... And even though this deacon was shit, but in 10 years this shit already stinks the whole cathedral to the top of the bell tower. It was time for him to set sail. Into the hole
The archbishop smirked at the thought. The secretary immediately hurried to smile:
- Yes, and his anamnesis is suitable: in which case, it will be possible to remind him ...
Vladyka chuckled, looking at his secretary, shook his head:
- A-we-nez! Words what scientists, blah, you know! Ah, monk! – and Vladyka lightly kicked the secretary in the side, he joyfully contorted, accepting the caress of the archpastor.
“All right,” the archbishop summed up, “write a decree on consecration, we’ll make candy out of shit.”
3
This kid has been spinning in the altar of the cathedral for a long time. As soon as the cathedral was transferred to the diocese, and he was appointed the ruling bishop, he spotted the kid. Tom was 13 years old when he called him to the altar: the boy was happy, quickly learned everything. Soon the bishop made him his subdeacon - at the age of 14, no joke. The black, skinny boy has now become an integral part of the service: where Vladyka is, there is also a young subdeacon. And not only worship services - the guy was here and there, helping in this and that.
Already at 18, the guy received the position of inspector of the Theological School, although he himself had just entered there. At 19, he was entrusted with conducting audits - and he did them perfectly: the fathers-rectors howled, growled, but much more money began to flow into the treasury of the diocese. The guy was useful, although too impudent, walked like a gogol, looked down even at the archpriests of the Soviet temper. He knew a lot, he saw a lot.
“Oh, a lot,” thought the bishop, and leaned back on the soft chair that the same young subdeacon had dragged from somewhere the other day: “Bless me, Vladyka! You have been donated to furniture factory!" The seat was pleasant, leather, Vladyka deliberately squirmed, arranging his tender buttocks more comfortably. Then he thought of something very personal, smiled thoughtfully, and stretched. There was a knock on the door.
— Enter! the bishop barked displeasedly, assuming a sternly imposing pose. “And it’s you.” He relaxed again. The hierodeacon entered the office, trotted to the table to kiss the "hand":
"Bless me, my lord," he bent low over soft hand chief, faithfully held her in his arms, kissed her with wet lips.
- Did you go to confession? asked the Bishop, discreetly wiping the back of his hand on his cassock.
- Dada, Vladychenko, and wrote a petition - as ordered.
- Good. Then both of you at once, so as not to get up twice and not go to bed three times,” the archpastor laughed.
The monk obsequiously bowed, smiling knowingly:
- So, after all ... celibate?
- Do you have something against it? Bishop raised one eyebrow.
“What are you, what are you, Vladyka! the monk was afraid. I was just asking for clarification...
“It’s not your business to clarify, your business is to follow and watch over personal affairs, and report on time.
- Of course of course! Bless! – and the monk again reached for the hand of the lord. He waved it off:
- Go and tell the guy to go to confession tonight, take his petition from him - you will bring it to me tomorrow.
The secretary left, Vladyka got up and wandered around the office back and forth. Outside the window it was white and clean: it had been snowing all day, and it is still falling. Whole beauty. Bare trees, covered only with virgin snow. And when the snow gets hot, it melts and the bare trees bloom...
Vladyka loved poetry.
The consecration of both henchmen was scheduled for the day of the three saints, February 12.
Drawing by Vyacheslav Polukhin
Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom
The history of the establishment of the holiday
Cathedral of Ecumenical Teachers and Hierarchs
Basil the Great,
Gregory the Theologian
and John Chrysostom
February 12 (January 30, O.S.) The Church celebrates
memory of the holy ecumenical teachers and saints
Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom
The establishment of the celebration of the three ecumenical teachers resolved a long dispute among the people of Constantinople about which of the three saints should be given preference. Each of the great saints seemed to his followers to be the greatest from which church strife arose among Christians: some called themselves Basilians, others - Gregorians, and still others - Johnites.
By the will of God, in 1084, three saints appeared to Metropolitan John of Evchait and, declaring that they were equal before God, ordered them to stop disputes and establish a common day for celebrating their memory. Vladyka John immediately reconciled the warring and established a new holiday at the end of January - the month in which the memory of each of the three saints is celebrated (January 1 - Basil the Great; January 25 - Gregory the Theologian and January 27 - John Chrysostom).
He also compiled canons, troparia and praises for the holiday.
The saints lived in the 4th-5th centuries - it was a time of clash between pagan and Christian traditions. There were already decrees on the closure of pagan temples and the prohibition of sacrifices, but immediately outside the fence Orthodox Church the old life began: pagan temples still operated, pagan teachers taught.
And in churches, the saints explained the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, fought heresies, preached self-denial and high morality; they were actively engaged in social activities, headed the episcopal departments of the Byzantine Empire.
They witnessed the decisive moment for the fate of Christianity in the 4th century, the moment of the clash of pagan and Christian traditions, and the onset of new era, which completed the spiritual quest of late antique society. Reborn in turmoil and struggles old world. Successive issuance of a number of decrees on religious tolerance (311, 325), the prohibition of sacrifices (341), the closure of pagan temples and the ban under pain death penalty and the confiscation of property to visit them (353) were powerless before the fact that immediately behind the church fence the former pagan life began, pagan temples still operated, pagan teachers taught. Paganism roamed the empire inertly, albeit like a living corpse, whose decay began when the supporting arm of the state (381) moved away from it. The pagan poet Pallas wrote: "If we are alive, then life itself is dead." It was an era of general ideological confusion and extremes, due to the search for a new spiritual ideal in the Eastern mystical cults of the Orphics, Mithraists, Chaldeans, Sibbilists, Gnostics, in pure speculative Neoplatonic philosophy, in the religion of hedonism - carnal pleasure without boundaries - everyone chose his own path. It was an era, in many ways similar to the modern one.
All three saints were brilliantly educated. Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, having mastered all the knowledge available in their native cities, completed their education in Athens, the center of classical education. Here the holy friends knew two roads: one led to the temple of God, the other to the school. This friendship lasted a lifetime. John Chrysostom studied with the best rhetorician of the Libanian era; he studied theology with Diodorus, later a famous bishop of Tarsus, and Bishop Meletius. To all three, words from the life of St. Vasily: he studied every science to such perfection, as if he had not studied anything else.
The life and works of the three saints help to understand how the ancient heritage interacted with the Christian faith in the minds of the intellectual elite of Roman society, how the foundations were laid for the unity of faith and reason, science, education, which did not contradict true piety. The saints did not deny secular culture, but called for studying it, “like bees that do not land on all flowers equally, and from those that are attacked, not everyone tries to carry away, but, having taken what is suitable for their work, the rest is left untouched” (Basil the Great. To young men. About how to use pagan writings).
From university to desert
Basil, returning to Caesarea, taught rhetoric for some time, but soon embarked on the path of an ascetic life. He undertook a journey to Egypt, Syria and Palestine, to the great Christian ascetics. Returning to Cappadocia, he decided to imitate them. Having distributed his property to the poor, Saint Basil gathered the monks around him into a hostel and, with his letters, attracted his friend Gregory the Theologian to the desert. They lived in strict abstinence, working hard and diligently studying the Holy Scriptures according to the guidelines of the most ancient interpreters. Basil the Great, at the request of the monks, compiled at that time a collection of teachings on monastic life.
John Chrysostom after Baptism began to indulge in ascetic deeds, first at home, and then in the desert. After the death of his mother, he accepted monasticism, which he called "true philosophy." For two years the saint observed complete silence, being in a solitary cave. During the four years spent in the desert, he wrote the works “Against those who are armed against those who seek monasticism” and “Comparison of the power, wealth and advantages of the king with the true and Christian wisdom of monastic life.”
From the desert to serve the world
All three saints were ordained first as readers, then as deacons and presbyters. Basil the Great left the desert in the days when the false teaching of Arius spread in order to fight this heresy.
Gregory the Theologian was summoned from the wilderness by his father, who was already a bishop and, needing an assistant, ordained him a presbyter. Meanwhile, his friend, Basil the Great, had already reached the high rank of archbishop. Gregory evaded the bishopric, but after some time, by agreement of his father and Basil the Great, he was nevertheless ordained.
Saint John Chrysostom received the rank of presbyter in 386. He was given the responsibility of preaching the Word of God. For twelve years, the saint preached in the temple with a confluence of people. For a rare gift of a divinely inspired word, he received from the flock the name Chrysostom. In the year 397, after the death of Archbishop Nectarios, Saint John Chrysostom was appointed to the See of Constantinople.
From the Royal City - into exile
The licentiousness of the capital's customs, especially of the imperial court, found in the person of John Chrysostom an impartial accuser. Empress Eudoxia held her anger at the archpastor. For the first time, a council of hierarchs, also justly denounced by John, deposed him and sentenced him to execution, which was replaced by exile. The queen called him back, terrified by the earthquake.
The link did not change the saint. When a silver statue of the empress was erected at the hippodrome, John delivered a famous sermon that began with the words: “Again Herodias is raging, again indignant, dancing again, again demanding the head of John on a platter.” A council met again in the capital, which accused John of taking the pulpit without permission after being condemned. Two months later, on June 10, 404, John went into exile. Upon his removal from the capital, the fire turned the Senate building to ashes, followed by devastating barbarian raids, and in October 404 Eudoxia died. Even the pagans saw in these events Heaven's punishment for the unjust condemnation of the saint of God. John was sent to Kukuz, in Lesser Armenia. From here he carried on an extensive correspondence with friends. The enemies did not forget him and insisted on exile in the remote Pitius, on the Caucasian coast of the Black Sea. But John died on the way there in Komana on September 14, 407, with the words on his lips: "Glory to God for everything." The literary heritage of Chrysostom has been almost completely preserved; it includes tracts, letters, and sermons.
Three saints - Basil the Great,
Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom
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Cathedral of the Three Great Ecumenical Teachers Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian During the reign of the faithful and Christ-loving Tsar Alexei Komnenos, who accepted royal power after Nicephorus Botaniatus, there was a great controversy in Constantinople about these three saints between the most skillful teachers of wisdom in eloquence. Some ranked Basil the Great above other saints, calling him the most sublime oracle, since he excelled everyone in word and deeds, and they saw in him a husband, not much inferior to angels, of a firm disposition, not easily forgiving sins and alien to everything earthly; below him was the divine John Chrysostom, as having different from specified qualities: he was disposed to pardon sinners and soon admitted them to repentance. Others, on the contrary, exalted the divine Chrysostom as a most philanthropic man, understanding the weakness of human nature, and as an eloquent orator who instructed everyone to repentance with his many melodic speeches; therefore they revered him above Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian. Others, finally, stood for St. Gregory the Theologian, arguing that he was persuasive in speech, skillful interpretation Holy Scripture and by the elegance of the construction of speech, he surpassed all the most glorious representatives of Hellenic wisdom, both previously living and contemporary to him. Thus, some elevated the glory of St. Gregory, while others humiliated his importance. From this came discord among many, and some were called Johnites, others Basilians, and others Gregorians. These names were disputed by men most skillful in eloquence and wisdom. |
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Known as great theologians and fathers of the Church. Every saint is an example of life in Christ, an example for all believers. Without a doubt, a lot can be said about the lives of the three great hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, but I would like to focus on one point: to look more closely at the lives of the families in which Saints Basil, Gregory and John were born and brought up. What do we know about them?
Most importantly, the family of each of the great saints is, in the full sense of the word, a holy family. Many members of these families are glorified by the Church. In the family of St. Basil the Great, these are his mother, the Monk Emilia (Comm. 1/14 January), sisters: the Monk Macrina (Comm. 19 July / 1 August) and Blessed Theosevia (Feozva), deaconess (Comm. 10/23 January), brothers: saints Gregory of Nyssa (Comm. 10/23 January) and Peter of Sebaste (Comm. 9/22 January). St. Gregory of Nyssa writes: “The property of my father’s parents was taken away for the confession of Christ, and our grandfather on the maternal side was executed as a result of imperial anger, and everything that he had passed to other owners.” The mother of Father Basil the Great was Saint Macrina the Elder (Comm. 30 May / 12 June). Her spiritual mentor was St. Gregory of Neocaesarea, also known as St. Gregory the Wonderworker. Saint Macrina took an active part in the upbringing of the future saint, as he himself writes about this: “I am talking about the famous Macrina, from whom I learned the sayings of the most blessed Gregory, which were preserved before her through the succession of memory, and which she herself observed in me from childhood. imprinted, forming me with the dogmas of piety.
St. Gregory the Theologian praises the ancestors of St. Basil in this way: and as they went the whole path of piety, then this time delivered a beautiful crown to their feat ... Their heart was ready to joyfully endure everything for which Christ crowns those who imitated His own feat for us ... ". Thus, the parents of St. Basil - Basil the Elder and Emilia - were descendants of martyrs and confessors for the faith of Christ. It must also be said that St. Emilia initially prepared herself for the feat of virginity, but, as her son St. Gregory of Nyssa writes, “because she was an orphan, and at the time of her youth she blossomed with such bodily beauty that the rumor about her prompted many to seek her hands, and there was even a threat that if she did not marry someone of her own free will, she would suffer some undesirable insult, then that those who were distraught by her beauty were already ready to decide on abduction. Therefore, Saint Emilia married Basil, who had the reputation of an educated and pious person. So the parents of St. Basil were united above all by their love for Christ. St. Gregory the Theologian praises this truly Christian marriage union: distinctive features, such as: feeding the poor, hospitality, purification of the soul through abstinence, dedication to God of part of their property ... It had other good qualities, which were enough to fill the ears of many.
St. Basil and his brothers and sisters were brought up in such a family. Parents who chose the path of Christian virtue, imitating their parents in this - who testified their faith by martyrdom and confession, raised children who showed in their lives all the diversity of Christian feat.
Much less is known about the family of the third great saint and teacher of the Church, John Chrysostom, than about the families of Saints Basil and Gregory. His parents were called Sekund and Anfisa (Anfusa), they were of noble birth. While still a child, Saint John lost his father, so his mother took care of his upbringing, completely devoting herself to caring for her son and eldest daughter, whose name has not been preserved. In his essay “On the Priesthood,” St. John quotes the mother’s words, describing all the hardships of her life: “My son, I was able to enjoy cohabitation with your virtuous father for a short time; it was so pleasing to God. it, which soon followed the illnesses of your birth, brought you orphanhood, and me premature widowhood and the sorrows of widowhood, which only those who have experienced them can know well. No words can describe the storm and the excitement that a girl is subjected to when she recently left her father’s house, still inexperienced in business and suddenly stricken with unbearable grief and forced to take on cares that exceed both her age and her nature. For more than 20 years, the mother of the saint lived as a widow, which became her Christian achievement. Saint John wrote about it this way: “When I was still young, I remember how my teacher (and he was the most superstitious of all people) was surprised at my mother in front of many people. Wanting to know, as usual, from those around him who I was, and hearing from someone that I was the son of a widow, he asked me about the age of my mother and about the time of her widowhood. And when I said that she was forty years old and that twenty years had already passed since she lost my father, he was amazed, exclaimed loudly and, turning to those present, said: “Ah! what kind of women do Christians have!” This state (of widowhood) enjoys such astonishment and such praise, not only among us, but also among outsiders (pagans)!” . From such a courageous and patient mother St. John received his upbringing, and he himself showed a lot of courage and patience in his pastoral service, being at the metropolitan cathedra. Although the parents of St. John are not glorified as saints, one cannot fail to name the holy family in which the greatest church preacher and pastor was born and raised.
Raising children in the Christian faith is greatest feat and the duty of every believing family. And the best education personal example Christian life passed down from parents to children, from generation to generation. We see this in the family of St. Basil the Great. An example of the deed of a Christian wife who converts an unbelieving husband to Christ is shown to us by the family of St. Gregory the Theologian in the person of his mother and elder sister. Fortitude, courage and patience in sorrows and difficulties are shown by the mother of St. John Chrysostom. Therefore, the feast of the three great saints can also be considered the feast of their families, who raised children and became pillars of the Church of Christ.
Saints lived in the IV-V centuries - it was a time of clash of pagan and Christian traditions. There were already decrees on the closure of pagan temples and the prohibition of sacrifices, but immediately outside the fence of the Orthodox Church, the old life began: pagan temples still operated, pagan teachers taught.
And in churches, the saints explained the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, fought heresies, preached self-denial and high morality; they were actively engaged in social activities, headed the episcopal departments of the Byzantine Empire.
They witnessed the decisive moment for the fate of Christianity in the 4th century, the moment of the clash of pagan and Christian traditions, and the advent of a new era that completed the spiritual quest of late antique society. The old world was reborn in turmoil and struggles. The successive issuance of a number of decrees on religious tolerance (311, 325), the prohibition of sacrifices (341), the closure of pagan temples and the ban on pain of death and confiscation of property to visit them (353) were powerless before the fact that immediately but behind the church fence, the former pagan life began, pagan temples still operated, and pagan teachers taught. Paganism roamed the empire inertly, albeit like a living corpse, whose decay began when the supporting arm of the state (381) moved away from it. The pagan poet Pallas wrote: "If we are alive, then life itself is dead." It was an era of general ideological confusion and extremes, due to the search for a new spiritual ideal in the Eastern mystical cults of the Orphics, Mithraists, Chaldeans, Sibbilists, Gnostics, in pure speculative Neoplatonic philosophy, in the religion of hedonism - carnal pleasure without boundaries - everyone chose his own path. It was an era, in many ways similar to the modern one.
All three saints were brilliantly educated. Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, having mastered all the knowledge available in their native cities, completed their education in Athens, the center of classical education. Here the holy friends knew two roads: one led to the temple of God, the other to the school. This friendship lasted a lifetime. John Chrysostom studied with the best rhetorician of the Libanian era; he studied theology with Diodorus, later a famous bishop of Tarsus, and Bishop Meletius. To all three, words from the life of St. Vasily: he studied every science to such perfection, as if he had not studied anything else.
The life and works of the three saints help to understand how the ancient heritage interacted with the Christian faith in the minds of the intellectual elite of Roman society, how the foundations were laid for the unity of faith and reason, science, education, which did not contradict true piety. The saints did not deny secular culture, but called for studying it, “like bees that do not land on all flowers equally, and from those that are attacked, not everyone tries to carry away, but, having taken what is suitable for their work, the rest is left untouched” (Basil the Great. To young men. About how to use pagan writings).
From university to desert
Basil, returning to Caesarea, taught rhetoric for some time, but soon embarked on the path of an ascetic life. He undertook a journey to Egypt, Syria and Palestine, to the great Christian ascetics. Returning to Cappadocia, he decided to imitate them. Having distributed his property to the poor, Saint Basil gathered the monks around him into a hostel and, with his letters, attracted his friend Gregory the Theologian to the desert. They lived in strict abstinence, working hard and diligently studying the Holy Scriptures according to the guidelines of the most ancient interpreters. Basil the Great, at the request of the monks, compiled at that time a collection of teachings on monastic life.
John Chrysostom after Baptism began to indulge in ascetic deeds, first at home, and then in the desert. After the death of his mother, he accepted monasticism, which he called "true philosophy." For two years the saint observed complete silence, being in a solitary cave. During the four years spent in the desert, he wrote the works “Against those who are armed against those who seek monasticism” and “Comparison of the power, wealth and advantages of the king with the true and Christian wisdom of monastic life.”
From the desert to serve the world
All three saints were ordained first as readers, then as deacons and presbyters. Basil the Great left the desert in the days when the false teaching of Arius spread in order to fight this heresy.
Gregory the Theologian was summoned from the wilderness by his father, who was already a bishop and, needing an assistant, ordained him a presbyter. Meanwhile, his friend, Basil the Great, had already reached the high rank of archbishop. Gregory evaded the bishopric, but after some time, by agreement of his father and Basil the Great, he was nevertheless ordained.
Saint John Chrysostom received the rank of presbyter in 386. He was given the responsibility of preaching the Word of God. For twelve years, the saint preached in the temple with a confluence of people. For a rare gift of a divinely inspired word, he received from the flock the name Chrysostom. In the year 397, after the death of Archbishop Nectarios, Saint John Chrysostom was appointed to the See of Constantinople.
From the Royal City - into exile
The licentiousness of the capital's customs, especially of the imperial court, found in the person of John Chrysostom an impartial accuser. Empress Eudoxia held her anger at the archpastor. For the first time, a council of hierarchs, also justly denounced by John, deposed him and sentenced him to execution, which was replaced by exile. The queen called him back, terrified by the earthquake.
The link did not change the saint. When a silver statue of the empress was erected at the hippodrome, John delivered a famous sermon that began with the words: “Again Herodias is raging, again indignant, dancing again, again demanding the head of John on a platter.” A council met again in the capital, which accused John of taking the pulpit without permission after being condemned. Two months later, on June 10, 404, John went into exile. Upon his removal from the capital, the fire turned the Senate building to ashes, followed by devastating barbarian raids, and in October 404 Eudoxia died. Even the pagans saw in these events Heaven's punishment for the unjust condemnation of the saint of God. John was sent to Kukuz, in Lesser Armenia. From here he carried on an extensive correspondence with friends. The enemies did not forget him and insisted on exile in the remote Pitius, on the Caucasian coast of the Black Sea. But John died on the way there in Komana on September 14, 407, with the words on his lips: "Glory to God for everything." The literary heritage of Chrysostom has been almost completely preserved; it includes tracts, letters, and sermons.
During the reign of the faithful and Christ-loving Tsar Alexei Komnenos, who assumed the royal power after Nicephorus Botaniatus, there was a great dispute in Constantinople about these three saints between the most skillful teachers of wisdom in eloquence.
Some ranked Basil the Great above other saints, calling him the most sublime oracle, since he excelled everyone in word and deeds, and they saw in him a husband, not much inferior to angels, of a firm disposition, not easily forgiving sins and alien to everything earthly; below him was the divine John Chrysostom, as having qualities other than those indicated: he was disposed to pardon sinners and soon admitted them to repentance.
Others, on the contrary, exalted the divine Chrysostom as a most philanthropic man, understanding the weakness of human nature, and as an eloquent orator who instructed everyone to repentance with his many melodic speeches; therefore they revered him above Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian. Others, finally, stood up for Saint Gregory the Theologian, arguing that he surpassed all the most glorious representatives of Hellenic wisdom, both those who lived earlier and those who were contemporary to him, by his persuasive speech, skillful interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, and grace in the construction of his speech. Thus, some elevated the glory of St. Gregory, while others humiliated his importance. From this came discord among many, and some were called Johnites, others Basilians, and others Gregorians. These names were disputed by men most skillful in eloquence and wisdom.
Some time after these disputes arose, these great saints appeared, first each separately, and then all three together, - moreover, not in a dream, but in reality - to John, Bishop of Euchait, a most learned man, very well versed in Hellenic wisdom ( as his writings testify to this), and also famous for his virtuous life. They said to him with one mouth:
We are equal with God, as you see; we have neither separation nor any opposition to each other. Each of us separately, in due time, excited by the Divine Spirit, wrote the appropriate teachings for the salvation of people. What we have learned secretly, we have clearly passed on to people. There is no first or second between us. If you refer to one, then both agree on the same. Therefore, order those who quarrel about us to stop arguing, for both during life and after death, we have the concern to bring the ends of the universe to peace and unanimity. In view of this, unite in one day the memory of us and, as befits you, compose a festive service for us, and tell the others that we have equal dignity with God. But we, who keep the memory of us, will be helpers for salvation, since we hope that we have some merit with God.
Having said this to the bishop, they began to ascend to heaven, shining with inexpressible light and calling each other by name. Blessed Bishop John immediately, by his efforts, restored peace between the enemies, since he was a great man in virtue and famous in wisdom. He established the feast of the three saints, as the saints commanded him, and bequeathed to the churches to celebrate it with due solemnity. This clearly revealed the wisdom of this great man, since he saw that in the month of January the memory of all three saints is celebrated, namely: on the first day - Basil the Great, on the twenty-fifth - the divine Gregory, and on the twenty-seventh - St. Chrysostom, - then he united them on the thirtieth day of the same month, crowning the celebration of their memory with canons, troparia and praises, as befitted.
It is necessary to add the following about them. Saint Basil the Great surpassed in book wisdom not only the teachers of his time, but also the most ancient ones: he not only went through the entire science of eloquence to the last word, but also studied philosophy well, and also comprehended the science that teaches true Christian activity. Then, leading a virtuous life, full of non-possessiveness and chastity, and ascending with his mind to the vision of God, he was elevated to the bishop's throne, having been forty years old from birth, and for eight too years he was the primate of the church.
St. Gregory the Theologian was so great that if it were possible to create a human image and a pillar, made up of parts from all the virtues, then he would be like the great Gregory. Having shone with his holy life, he reached such a height in the field of theology that he defeated everyone with his wisdom, both in verbal disputes and in the interpretation of the dogmas of faith. That is why he was called a theologian. He was a saint in Constantinople for twelve years, affirming Orthodoxy. After living for a short time on the patriarchal throne (as it is written about in his life), he left the throne due to old age and, having sixty, went to mountain monasteries.
Of the divine Chrysostom, it can rightly be said that he surpassed all the Hellenic sages with reason, persuasiveness of speech and elegance of speech; Divine Scripture he explained and interpreted inimitably; likewise, in a virtuous life and vision of God, he far surpassed all. He was a source of mercy and love, filled with the zeal of a teacher. Altogether he lived for sixty years; was a pastor of Christ's Church for six years. Through the prayers of these three saints, may Christ our God put down heretical strife, and may He preserve us in peace and unanimity, and may He vouchsafe us His Heavenly Kingdom, for blessed be He forever. Amen.