About the establishment of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Kiev Cave Monastery

The memory of August 14 No one should doubt that in the great and first in Russia lavra [Lavra <unk> from the Greek part of the city, alley <unk> is actually a series of celli, located around the abbot's residence in the form of alleys in the city and surrounded by a fence or wall.

The Laurians lived a life of hermitage and wandered in their cells, gathering together for worship on the first and last days of the week, and remaining silent on the other days; life in the laurels was much more difficult than in other monasteries.

Today the name of the Lavra is used only in the sense of an honorific title.] of the most holy Anton and Theodosius of the Caves, the beautiful, majestic stone church of the Most Holy Mother of God was created, decorated and consecrated by the will and craftsmanship of the Lord and the prayerful intercession of His Pure Mother.

From here he was taken by the Grand Duke Vsevolod Yuryovich to the monastery of the Christmas Monastery he founded in Vladimir; then Simon was appointed the first bishop of the Vladimir Diocese, separated from the Rostov Diocese in 1214. Simon died in 1226 after a twelve-year reign.

From the letters of Bishop Simon of Vladimir to Polycarp, also a barber and later an abbot of the cave monastery, and from the letters of Polycarp to Aquininus, the cave archimandrite, which contain a number of tales about the cave miracle workers and the miracles of those who were in the monastery itself when building its great church, and the famous Cave Paterick was composed.] we will say first of all about the very beginning of its construction, accompanied by miracles.

In the land of the Varangians there was a prince African, brother of the blind Yakun, the same one who, fighting with his regiment for Yaroslav with his angry brother Mstislav, refused to wear woven gold clothing.

Shimon came to Russia to the good-hearted prince Yaroslav, who received him and surrounded him with honor; he made him the oldest boyar of his son Vsevolod, and indeed Vsevolod Shimon used a very great power.

In the Principality of Izyaslav Yaroslavovich in Kiev, the nomadic Polovtsians [Polovtsi or Kumani <unk> a Turkic nomadic tribe who lived in the X-XIII centuries in the south of Russia and raided the border cities and villages of the Russian land] attacked the Russian land; against them three princes <unk> Yaroslavs: Izyaslav, Sviatoslav and Vsevolod, who was accompanied by Shimon. They all came to the monk Anton, asking his prayers and blessings on the battle.

And the old man opened his mouth, and spoke plainly, and foretold their doom. And Simon fell down at the feet of the old man, and prayed that the Lord would save him from this calamity. And the priest said unto him, My son, many of you shall fall by the sword, and some shall be drowned, wounded, and put to death in the water, while they flee from the enemy.

When he looked up to the sky, he saw a great church, as he had seen before on the sea, and remembered the words of the Savior, once spoken to him [Explanation of these words see below]; Simon then cried out:

And by the prayers of thy holy mother, and of the saints Antony and Theodosius, deliver me, O Lord, from this bitter death. And suddenly a power snatched him out of the midst of the dead, and he was instantly healed of his wounds, and was made whole again.

<unk> My African father made a large, about ten cubits, cross with the image of Christ on it; revering the image of the Lord, he placed on his waist a gold belt weighing about 50 hryvnias, and on his head a crown; and when my uncle Yakun drove me out of my area, I took the belt and crown and heard a voice from the image of Spasov speaking to me:

"Never, man, put this crown on your head, but carry it to the place prepared for it, where the saint will build the church of my mother; and give it into his hands to hang on my altar.

He was so frightened that his hands fell to the ground as though he were dead. Then he got up and went aboard the ship. As the storm raged on, we had lost all hope of being saved.

"Lord forgive me, for I am dying now for this belt which I have taken from Your righteous image, "and suddenly I saw the church on top and thought, "What church is this?"

And the church that shall be built in the name of the holy Mother of God shall be as great and high as thou seest; and the measure thereof shall be of the golden girdle, twenty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in length, and fifty cubits in height; and thou shalt be laid in the church. And the sea became still: and we all glorified God, and rejoiced exceedingly, knowing that we were delivered from the agony of death.

And when Simon had told all these things, he said unto St. Anthony, Behold, father, I knew not where the church which thou didst show me should be, till I heard from thee that I should be laid here in the church which should be built. And he took the golden girdle, and gave it to St. Anthony, and said, Behold the measure of the foundation of that church. And giving him the crown, he said, This crown shall be hung upon the holy altar. And the old man blessed God, and answered,

"My son, from now on you shall not be called Simon, but Simon". St. Anthony called the blessed Theodosius and said, "Behold, Simon will build the church". And then he gave him a holy belt and a crown.

"Father, I ask one thing of you". "What can you ask", answered St. Theodosius, "my son, a noble man, for our humiliation?" "A very great and exceeding gift I ask of you", answered Simon. "You know, my son", replied St. Theodosius, "our poverty, "we often have no bread to eat for the day; what I have, I do not know".

If thou wilt, grant me according to the grace of the Lord, who hath called thee holy; for when I took the crown from Christ's head, the Lord said unto me, Take the crown to the place prepared for it, and give it into the hands of the saint, who shall build the church of my mother.

And he said unto me, Simon, I will not be able to do as thou wilt; but if thou wilt see me in my death, and the church which I think to be established here, and which holdeth fast the statutes thereof, thou shalt know that I have boldness to God: and now I know whether my prayer shall be heard.

And Simon answered and said, Let the Lord himself testify of thy righteousness; for I have heard of thee from the pure mouth of his holy face; therefore I beseech thee, pray for me, a sinner, and for my son George, and for all my kindred.

<unk> Father, I will not leave here until you confirm your words in writing. <unk> Forced by the love of Simon, the holy Theodosius wrote the following: <unk> In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, by the prayers of the most holy Lady of our Goddess and the Virgin Mary and the holy powers of the incorporeal... <unk> and other words of the final prayer, ending: <unk> May you be forgiven in this age and in the one to come, when the just Judge comes to judge the living and the dead.

From that time on, the prayers for the dead were imposed, as was the will of Simon the First. In the same prayer, Saint Theodosius wrote to Simon and said:

"Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom, to reward every man according to his deeds. Then, Lord, grant that your servants Simon and George may stand at your right hand in your glory and hear your joyful voice. Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world".

The monk Theodosius, raising his hands, said: <unk> May the Lord bless you from Zion and see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life, until the last of your generation (cf. Ps. 127:6). Simon accepted the prayer and blessing of the saint as a precious pearl, with which he did not want to part and went to the coffin, which later happened.

Until then he had been a Varangian <unk> a Latin, and from this, taught by the monk Theodosius, he left, by the grace of God, the Latin errors and sincerely converted to the Orthodox faith; with him, his entire family, which numbered up to three thousand people, <unk> among them were also the hierarchs.

<unk> After a long time, when the cave church was already built, it was, according to the revelation from above and according to the prophecy of St. Anthony, the first Simon was laid.

The narrative of the glorious Simon and the former revelations of God to him clearly shows that the image of the holy cave church before it was built on earth was foreshadowed in heaven, so that here the words of the psalmist were fulfilled: The Most High Himself founded it (cf. Ps. 86:5).

Several years had passed since Simon had given St. Anthony a belt and a crown, and one day four church masters, stone church builders and very wealthy men, came from Constantinople to see St. Anthony and Theodosius.

And the builders said unto him, It is a strange thing, that thou knowest the time of thy death, and yet canst not show the place of the church, whereas thou hast given us so much gold. And they called the brethren together, and said unto the Greeks, Tell us plainly what thou hast said.

One day, while we were sleeping in our houses, early in the morning, just as the sun was rising, a group of good-looking young men came to each of us and said, "The Queen is inviting you to the Vlahern [the place in the castle]".

We took our friends and relatives with us, and all of us came to Vlahern at the same time, and after talking, we found out that we were called to the Empress by the same messengers and words.

And she said, Behold, Antony and Theodosius are here, and I also send them. And what have we asked of thee, O Mistress, that thou shouldest give us gold for three years? say to them only, that we may have food and all that we need, and thou knowest what thou wilt give us. And Antony said, The queen said, He will only bless your work, and he is departing into eternal rest.

1073 A.D. Theodosius laid the foundation of a great stone church, which he did not finish at his death.]; take as much gold as you can, and go, and no one can reward you as I do: I will give you what no eye has seen... no ear has heard, and it has not come into the heart of man (1 Cor 2:9).

And when I myself came to see the church in which I wanted to live, she gave us the relics of the holy martyrs: Artemis, Polyuctus, Leontius, Achaia, Arephas, James, Theodorus, saying to put them on the foundation of the church.

We went out and saw a church in the air. When we returned, we bowed down again to the Empress, asking what would be the name of the church? "I want to give it my name", she said. We did not dare ask her her name, but the Queen herself said: "The church will be in the name of the Mother of God and gave us this holy icon from her hands".

But the Greeks said with an oath, We have taken the gold of the queen from your hands, and brought you with them to the ship, and after a month's journey we have set out ourselves.

<unk> Christ has bestowed upon you a great grace, for you are the executors of His will; those who called you were those virtuous young men <unk> bright angels, and the Queen of Vlachern is the Most Holy Our Lady and the Virgin Mary; and the soldiers standing around Her were incorporeal angelic forces; and your acceptance of the gold from our hands is precisely the miracle of God, which the Lord has been pleased to accomplish over His servants, in ways that only He knows.

Blessed is your arrival, and you have a good companion, this holy icon of the Mother of God, who will give you, as promised, that which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and that which has not entered into the heart of man, which no one can give but the Mother of God and her Son, the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

His girdle and crown were brought here from the land of Varangian; the breadth, length and height of that most glorious church were indicated by a voice coming from the majestic glory of heaven, addressed to Simon the Barbary, who brought us the girdle and crown. The Greeks fearfully bowed to the saint, asking as before: "Where is the place to build the church?"

And behold, by the inspiration of God, a great multitude of people were gathered together to seek a place where to build a church, though no one called them; some pointed to one place, others to another, but found no place.

And when he heard it, he turned back from his horse, and came near to the people, and the prince, as it were moved by God, pointed out to them a place in his field, where he had ordered to build a church.

And in the morning, when the dew was all over the earth, they found the dew in the place where the church now stands. And after praying the other night, St. Anthony said, "Lord, let the dew be all over the earth, and let the dew be in the holy place". And in the morning they saw the dew in the holy place while the earth was dry (cf. Judges 6:37-40)

On the third day they prayed in this place; St. Anthony blessed it; the breadth and length of the place were measured by the golden belt of Christ, brought by Simon from the land of Varangian, and guided by that measure which was pointed out to Simon by a voice from heaven when he was on the sea.

Hear me, O LORD, hear me with fire, and let all the people know that thou art but a small thing. And behold, fire came down from heaven, and burned up the stubble and the thorns, and consumed the dew, and made a hollow in the midst of the mound.

Thus, by the grace of God, and by the earnest prayers of the faithful, led by St. Anthony, the place which God had chosen became known; and the grace of God, by the prayer of St. Theodosius, as his life relates, had foretold this place, either by a vision of fire, inclining here from the former church, or by a vision of angels bearing the holy icon.

After the miraculous indication of the place, the monks Antony and Theodosius laid the foundation stone of the stone church in the name of the Holy Mother of God; this was in 6581 from the creation of the world and in 1073 from the R.H. under the god-loving bishop Michael, <unk> the metropolitan George was then in Greece, <unk> in the days of the good-hearted prince Sviatoslav Yaroslavovich [Sviatoslav Yaroslavovich <unk> great prince of Kiev 1073-1075 g.].

The latter with his own hands began to dig a moat for the foundation of the church and gave 100 hryvnias of gold to the monk Feodosia for more successful construction.

Monk Theodosius took great care of the building of the church, but he too soon, in the second year after the death of the monk Antony, when the foundation was already finished, became the eternal monastery.

The Blessed Stephen was a witness to the glorious miracles just described: he saw how they came from the City with the icon of the Mother of God of the master, and heard their story about hiring them as Queen in Vlahern.

And the faithful prince Vladimir Monomakh, <unk> then still a boy, <unk> saw how fire fell from heaven and burned the pit, where the foundation of the church was measured with a golden belt.

Therefore, the Christ-loving prince Vladimir took the size shown by God himself of the cave church and in his principality in the city of Rostov, built exactly the same church in height, length and width; at the same time, on a special charter he described all the holidays established in the cave church for the leadership of his church.

Vladimir's son, Prince George, having heard from his father about the miraculous events at the construction of the cave church, also built in his principality, in the city of Suzdal, a church of the same size.

"Show us", they said, "who hired us for the iconography, "we want to negotiate with them, in the presence of many witnesses we agreed with them to decorate with iconography a small church, and this temple is very large; otherwise take your gold, and we will return to Constantinople. " These words made the abbot puzzled, and he said to the iconoclasts: "What were the agreements with you?

And the iconoclasts told him their appearance, and their names: one was called Antony, and the other Theodosius. And the abbot said, O my children, we cannot present them to you; for ten years they have departed from the Lord, where they have been praying for us continually, guarding this church, and caring for their monastery and its inhabitants.

And when we had consulted with them before them, and had taken their gold out of their hand, thou wouldest not show them to us; but if they have surrendered, show us their likeness, that they also may see whether they are true. Then the abbot set up before them all the image of the saints Antony and Theodosius.

And the merchants gave the mosaic which they had brought for sale, and afterwards the holy altar was adorned with it. Then the iconoclasts began to repent of their sin, and related the following: When we sailed to Kiev, we saw this great church on the mountain, and asked: What church is this?

When we got up early in the morning and learned that we were approaching Tripoli, the ship was caught by the current and we had to wait a day and see what would become of it.

The next night, we had a vision, and we saw this church, and there was a miraculous icon of the Mother of God, and she said to us,

If you will not obey me and flee back, I will cast you all and your boat near my church, and know that you will not leave there, but that you will be cut down in my monastery, and there you will die.

And when we had risen up in the morning, we sought to flee again; but the boat, though we did all that we could to keep up the current, went up; and so we gave up our purpose, and by the will of God, the boat itself soon came to rest near the monastery.

Then the iconoclasts began to decorate the church, in which the Lord helped them with his signs.

When the icon painters decorated the altar with mosaics, the image of the Blessed Mother of God was depicted on the altar itself; at that time all the icon painters were present, among us <unk> and the monk Alipius [Her memory is commemorated by the Orthodox Russian Church on August 17], who studied with them and helped them; God was pleased to make them witnesses of such a strange and terrible miracle.

When they saw the image, it suddenly shone brighter than the sun, so that the iconoclasts were unable to look at it and fell down in terror. After a little while, they wanted to look again at the miraculous image, and suddenly a white dove flew out of the mouth of the Mother of God.

Then, in full view of all, the dove flew out of the Savior's mouth again and floated through the whole church: he flew up to the images of the saints, sitting one on his hands and the other on his head; then, having flown down, he sat behind the local miraculous icon of the Most Holy Mother of God. Those present in the church wanted to take the dove: they put a ladder, but they did not find the dove behind the icon or behind the veil; they looked throughout the curtain and did not see where the dove had hidden.

And all stood watching the appearance of the icon at the altar, and behold, again before their eyes a dove flew from the mouth of the Mother of God and rose up to the figure of the Savior.

And when they saw that it was so, they fell down and worshipped the Lord, and praised Him that He had opened their eyes to the work of the Holy Spirit that dwelt in the church of the cave.

Having lived in a godlike pagan form, they ended their days in the same cave monastery; likewise the masters and builders; all of them are laid to rest in the prison in the cave of St. Anthony, where their bodies lie intact to this day.

Thus was fulfilled the prophecy which the blessed icon painters heard from the most venerable icon of the Virgin Mary, when the cave church appeared to them while they were trying to return to the Castle; she told them: you will not come out of there, but, having cut your hair, you will die there.

In Kiev lived two noble men, <unk> friends of each other, <unk> John and Sergius: one day, when they came to the cave church, they saw that from the miraculous icon of the Mother of God came a light exceeding that of the sun, and before her they confirmed their spiritual brotherhood by oath.

After many years, John fell mortally ill, leaving behind his five-year-old son Zacharias: calling the cavern's abbot, blessed Nikon, he, in his presence, distributed his estate to the poor, and handed over his son's share <unk> a thousand hryvnia of silver and a hundred hryvnia of gold to Sergius; he also entrusted his son to him, as his friend and faithful brother, bequeathing that Sergius would give his son silver and gold when he grew up.

And when Zacharias was fifteen years old, when he would have taken the silver and gold of Sergius, and the devil tempted him, to destroy him, he said unto the young man,

"Your father has given all his name to God, and from him you ask for silver and gold. He owes you, and perhaps he will have mercy on you. But I owe nothing to your father or to you, because your father in his folly has distributed all his possessions to the poor and left you without any means. "When the young man heard this, he began to mourn his poverty. Then he sent to Sergius to ask, "Give me even half of my inheritance, leaving the other half, equal, to yourself".

But Sergius spoke harshly against him and against his father. Zacharias then asked for a third part, or even a tenth part. Seeing that nothing could be given, he said to Sergius: If you have taken nothing, come and swear to me before the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Mother of God of the cave church, before which you made a brotherly alliance with my father.

Sergius, without being ashamed, went into the church and stood before the icon of the Blessed Mother of God and swore that he had not taken a thousand guineas of silver or a hundred guineas of gold.

"Most holy Antony and Theodosius, protect me from the merciless angel who seeks to destroy me. Pray to the Most Holy Mother of God that she may drive away from me the many demons to whom I am devoted. Let them take away the silver and gold sealed and hidden in my cage.

And they sent and found the sealed vessel, and there were in it two thousand talents of silver and two hundred talents of gold, and the Lord was gracious unto him.

On this silver and gold was erected a church on top of the cave church in honor of St. John the Forerunner to commemorate the boiler boy John and his son Zechariah, who owned the silver and gold.

In the first year of the tenure of the Blessed John, the cathedral was consecrated, with miraculously constructed and decorated cave church, which, by the grace of God, was accompanied by miracles.

<unk> When preparations were made for the consecration of the church, they saw that there was no stone plank for the holy throne; and in spite of all their efforts, they could not find a master who could make it; so they were forced to replace the stone plank with a wooden one.

However, Metropolitan John did not want a wooden plank to be placed on the holy throne in such a large church; this caused the abbot and the brothers great sadness, as the consecration of the church had to be postponed for some time.

On August 13, the nuns, as was the custom, went to the church to perform the evening service and suddenly saw that at the altar barrier there was a stone board and pillars for the arrangement of the holy throne; this was now reported to the metropolitan; the latter praised God and ordered to perform the evening service for the consecration.

They searched long and diligently where and by whom, by water or by land, the tablet was brought, and how it was brought into the church, which was not opened; but all efforts were in vain.

Then they sent to the place where such things were made, three shekels of silver to pay the master for the stone table he had made; but such a master, though they sought him everywhere, was not found; for the stone table on the table in his mother's house was given by the Creator and Designer of all good; it was on it that he desired all the days to be a burnt offering for the whole world. But this is not the end of miracles.

The next morning, after miraculously obtaining the mentioned tablet, Metropolitan John was very sad that the time had come to consecrate the cave church, and there was not a single bishop with him, because their cathedrals were at a long distance from Kiev, and suddenly there were God-loving bishops: John of Chernihiv, Isaiah of Rostov, Antony of Yuryev, Luke of Belgorod, although no one called them; thus the desire of the metropolitan to consecrate the church

And with the bishops, it has been fulfilled.

The bishops answered: "You, Lord, have sent to us young men who have informed us that the cave church will be consecrated on August 14 and that we should be ready to perform the liturgy with you; and here we are, as you say.

I was sick, and that night a black man came to me, saying, "Tomorrow the cave church is consecrated, you must be there; as soon as I heard, I was healed, and here I am, at your command".

O most holy Mother of God, as you gathered the apostles from the ends of the universe for the greater glory of your burial, so now for the sanctification of your church you have gathered our ministers and governors, bless us in this work and for the glory of your Son and your help to us.

When they had gone around the church three times during the consecration, and when they came near the doors of the church and began to sing, "Take the door of your prince", no one in the church answered, "Who is this king of glory?" for no one was left in the church.

But after a long silence, suddenly there came from within the church a singing like that of an angel: "Who is this king of glory?" They began to inquire who these singers were, where they came from, and how they had entered the church, when the doors were shut, but they found no one in the church.

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"

In 1089, in the days of the pious prince of Kiev, Vsevolod Yaroslavovich, with the miraculous assistance, by the prayers of the Most Holy Mother and the venerable fathers, our Anton and Feodosius, the Lord himself.

It is indeed full of miracles, my brother, the story of the cave church, which the Lord showed in a vision before its creation and to which from the land of Varangian sent from His honest image a crown and a song, and in the land of the Greek likeness of the church showed the Most Holy Mother of God herself, glorifying her icon and the power of the holy martyrs.

In the history of its creation, which is divided into three parts, <unk> the history of the construction of the church building, its decoration and consecration, the action of the Holy Trinity was manifested. God the Father himself, the Ancient of Days, appointed the place where the church should be built, a dry land, which is a sign of old age or old age; the Son, "will come down like dew on the river", sent down the dew, and the Holy Spirit, who came down in flaming tongues, sent down fire from heaven.

Also, when decorating the church, the Father, who created man in his image, depicted the image of the Most Holy Mother of God in mosaic on the altar without the hand of man <unk> the icon painter, the Son <unk> the sun of truth filled the church with radiance, the Holy Spirit, who appeared in the form of a dove, showed a vision of a dove that flew from the mouth of the image.

Finally, during the consecration, the Father, who once gave the law on stone tablets, gave the stone for the holy throne, the Son, the archpriest seated above the heavens, miraculously gathered the archpriests, the Holy Spirit <unk> tongue that broadcast to all the earth, <unk> from the midst of the church, when there were no people there, gave the answer.

And if God, who is worshipped in the Trinity, with such miraculous signs, has been pleased to build a most glorious cave church in the name of His beloved Queen of Heaven, then, of course, He is lovingly here; with Him is His Queen standing at His right hand, the Protector and refuge of all Christians, the Most Holy Virgin, as She promised in Verna, saying to the masters: <unk> I myself will come to see the church and I want to live in it.

And the saints of God, whose power is as an immovable foundation upon the walls of the church, dwell in the church of the cave. What shall we say of it? It is indeed holy and marvelous, and like heaven. Therefore we must give thanks and praise to the departed faithful princes, Christ-loving boyars, honest nuns, and all the Orthodox, who have been zealous for the holy church of the cave.

By the prayers of our holy fathers, Antony and Theodosius, may Christ, the head of his church, grant goodness and mercy to them as well as to us, the children of the Orthodox Church; to Christ be honor and glory with his eternal Father and the holy and good and life-giving Spirit now and forever and ever. Amen.