The life of our reverend Father Alipius of the Caves
Our venerable Father Alipius of Caesarea was an imitator of St. Luke the Evangelist [St. Luke <unk> Apostle of the 70th, writer of the third Gospel and the book of Acts of the Apostles, companion and collaborator of St. Paul the Apostle.
He was a painter, according to Philostorgius and Nicéphore Callist, who painted an icon of the Mother of God. He died at the age of 80 in Thebes of Boeotia. His relics were moved to Constantinople in 360.
He served the Lord, who created us in his own image and likeness (Gen. 1:26), like Luke, namely: he not only miraculously portrayed the faces of the saints on icons, but also embodied their virtues in his heart; besides, he was a wonderful doctor; his pious life
It appears to us like this:
In the principality of the good-hearted prince of Kiev, Vsevolod Yaroslavovich [Vsevolod Yaroslavovich was prince for the first time from 1075 to 1076 (six months) and for the second time from 1078 <unk>.
St. Antony's feast is celebrated by the Church on July 10, and the feast of St. Antony is celebrated by the Church on July 10.
Feodosia <unk> 3 May], who had miraculously appeared in Constantinople in the tenth year of their reign, <unk> arrived to decorate the holy cave church Greek icon painters; these were the icon painters and was given the blessed Alipius by his parents to teach painting art.
St. Alipius was an eyewitness to the marvelous miracle recounted in the tale of the cave church, namely: when the iconoclasts were decorating the altar with painting, the icon of the Blessed Mother of God was depicted in it itself: at the same time, the icon shone and shone brighter than the sun: then from the mouth of the Blessed Mother
A dove flew out of the church, which, after flying for a long time (through the church), flew into the mouth of the Savior, depicted on the icon, located in the upper part of the church.
At that time this blessed Alipius was studying, helping his teachers; and he also painted beautifully in his soul, for the grace of the Holy Spirit dwelt in that cave church.
When the aforementioned iconoclasts had finished their work and decorated the holy church with icons, Alipius was also decorated by the reverend abbot Nikon with a miraculous image of the holy angelic rank.
And Saint Alipius began to learn the art of depicting the virtues of the saints in his soul, having already learned the art of depicting their faces materially (on icons).
St. Alipius was so skilled in his work that, by the grace of God, he reproduced the most spiritual image of virtue by the visible image on the icon; for he was trained in the art of icon painting not for the sake of acquiring wealth, but for the sake of acquiring virtue; he worked constantly, painting icons for
Give generously to the saints and to those in need.
Blessed Alipius asked anyone who saw decaying icons in a church to report it to him; then he decorated those churches with his art, without demanding any remuneration.
If the saint was free from such work, then he practiced the art of icon painting for himself and painted the icons, which he gave to those from whom he borrowed the gold and silver needed to decorate the icons.
The saint did this in order not to spend time in idleness; he was like the ancient holy fathers, who were always engaged in handicrafts, and the supreme Apostle Paul [see his life below June 29].
(Acts 20:34) What a blessing that will be!
If, however, it happened that Saint Alipius earned any amount of money by his handiwork, he divided it into three parts: the first part he spent on the renewal of icons, the second on charity to the poor and the third he gave to the needs of the monastery.
This the saint did year by year, giving himself no rest day or night; for he exercised himself by night in prayer and supplication, and by day with great humility, industriousness, purity, patience, fasting, love, godliness, he worked with his hands.
He never missed a prayer meeting, at least for his studies.
When the abbot noticed such great virtues and iconic art in the monk, so that he was worthy, wearing the angelic image of the pagan rank, to represent himself as an imitator of the Son of God Jesus Christ, <unk> Jericho on the rank of Melchizedek [Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God mentioned in
The book of Genesis (14:18).
The Genesis account of Melchizedek says nothing about his origin or the end of his life, which, along with Abraham's blessing, makes Melchizedek, according to the apostle Paul (Heb. 6:20) a type of Jesus Christ, the eternal High Priest and King.
The prophet David pointed to the prophetic significance of the Melchizedek priesthood when he said of God's Son: "You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek".
The apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews (see chapter 7), elevated him to the rank of hierarch.
Then the saint was set up as a lamp on the candlestick (Matthew 5:15), or rather as a model to be imitated on a high place, shining with the sheer beauty of the virtues of the heathen and the jericho; and he was a holy model not simple, for he worked miracles; of his many miracles we will recall here
Some of them.
One of the wealthy citizens of Kiev suffered from leprosy; he sought help from many doctors, magicians and pagans, but not only did he not get relief from his illness, but he fell into a worse condition.
Then one of the patient's friends advised him to go to the cave monastery to ask prayers from the holy fathers; he agreed, but with displeasure.
When the patient was brought to the cave monastery, the abbot ordered him to drink water from the monk's well, and also ordered him to wash his face with the same water.
Immediately, the man's body became so full of pus as a punishment for his disbelief that everyone turned away from him, unable to smell the stench coming from his body.
Then the leper returned to his house, weeping and angry, and did not come out of his house for many days because of the stench that came out of him, saying to his friends: "They cover my face with shame.
I became a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to the sons of my mother". (Ps. 68:8-9), because I did not show faith to the holy fathers Antony and Theodosius; and every day I expected my death.
But when the man came to himself, he decided to confess all his sins, so he went again to the cave monastery to monk Alipius and confessed his sins to him.
<unk> You did well, my son, in coming to confess your transgressions to God in the face of my own unworthiness, as the prophet testifies about himself when he cries out to Jehovah: "I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to Jehovah,' and you yourself pardoned the error of my sin". - Ps. 31:5.
Then St. Alipius taught him a long time with soul-saving speeches, then, taking icon paint, he decorated his face, anointing the pustules; after this St. Alipius led the sick man to the church, communion him with the Divine Mysteries and ordered him to wash with the water with which they usually washed.
and the leprosy left the man, and he was healed as before.
In this miracle, our reverend Alipius showed himself to be an imitator of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself; for just as Christ, when healing a leper, commanded him to appear to the hierarch and to offer a gift for his cleansing (Matt. 8:4), so this reverend ordered the leper to appear to him as
and brought it to the temple to offer the sacrifices, as the prophet had said: "What shall I repay the Lord for all his benefits to me?
(Psalm 115:3-4) The gift is also mentioned here, for the great-grandson of this leper, in gratitude for his cleansing, fastened the golden ark above the holy throne in the cave church.
Moreover, St. Alipius was an imitator of Christ, who healed a blind man; for just as Christ, when healing a blind man, first anointed his eyes with brush, and then commanded him to wash in the pool of Siloam (which means "sent") (John 9:6-7), so this saint, who was first healed by Jesus, was also an imitator of Christ.
He anointed the man with the holy anointing oil, and commanded him to wash his feet, as the priests and prophets used to do. So the man was healed, and all the people who brought him were amazed.
I can't believe you're cured so fast.
But Saint Alpius said to them, "Brothers!
(Matthew 6:24); for this man was originally enslaved to a demon because of his sins; therefore, when he came to God, but by counsel of the enemy, he despaired of his salvation and did not believe in the Lord, who alone could
He was healed of leprosy because of his lack of faith. For the Lord said, "Keep on asking", not just "ask", but "with faith", and "it will be given". - Matt. 7:7.
But when he repented a second time in my presence, "God, who is rich in mercy", healed him (Ephesians 2:4).
When the people heard this, they worshipped the saint and went on their way back with the healed man, praising God and the venerable fathers Antony and Theodosius, as well as their disciple, the venerable father of our Alipius; and they spoke of this saint Alipius that he had appeared to them as the new Elisha [Elisha <unk> prophet of Israel]
His memory is celebrated on St.
And he healed him of the leprosy, as Elisha had healed Naaman the Syrian of the leprosy.
This man built a church and wished to have seven large icons to decorate the church; this man gave the silver along with the boards intended for drawing icons to two monks of the cave monastery, who were known to him, asking them to consult with holy Alipius regarding the writing of icons.
But the monks did not say anything to Alipius, but took the silver for themselves. After a while, the man sent to the monks to ask if his icons were written or not.
Then, when they were ashamed, the two monks sent again to tell the man (slandering the saint) that Alipius demanded as much silver as he had received.
And the monks said unto him, He hath taken all the silver that was sent three times, and the icons will not write.
Then the Christ-loving husband arrived at the cave monastery with his wife, went to the abbot Nikon and told him about the cause of the grief caused to him (allegedly) by Alipius.
And why, my brother, hast thou so offended our son, who begged thee to make images, and hast given thee the money that thou desiredst? And thou hast taken so much silver, and promised to make images, and hast not made them, though thou didst make images at other times, and without charge.
And the blessed Alipius answered and said, "Honest father, you know that I have never been lazy in this matter, but now I do not understand what you are talking about". Then the abbot said to him again, "You have taken three times the price for writing seven icons, but you have not written them yet".
Immediately, desiring to accuse the saint, he ordered to bring boards for the writing of icons (the boards had been seen the day before in one of the monastery buildings, and they had nothing on them).
The silver to the saint, so that these monks can expose Alipius.
And they that were there were amazed, and great fear fell upon them; and they fell down trembling, and worshipped the image that was made not by man's hand, the image of the Lord, the image of the most holy Goddess.
and other images of the saints of God.
Then came the two monks who had slandered Alipius, and knowing nothing of the miracle, they disputed with the saint, saying, Behold, thou hast taken the three-fold price, and the icons wilt thou not write.
These icons, inscribed by God himself, testify to the innocence of Alipius, and the monks, seeing the icons, were terrified at the miracle, and were immediately accused by the abbot of stealing and lying, and were expelled from the monastery and stripped of all their possessions.
But these monks did not cease from their wickedness, and they began to spread throughout the city blasphemy against St. Alipius, saying that they had written the icons themselves. And our chief, they said, not wanting to pay us for our labor, to keep us from our work, lied about the icons, saying that they were
Written by God himself, who desired to justify Alipius.
After hearing these words, many citizens came from the city to the monastery to see the icons and worship them.
However, despite the fact that many of the citizens believed those monks who slandered St. Alipius, <unk> God, who glorifies his saints, as He Himself says in the holy Gospel: "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden" (Matthew 5:14); and also: "When they light a candle, they do not put it under a basket, but on a stand".
(Matthew 5:15), <unk> God did not conceal the virtuous deeds of this righteous man; for even Prince Vladimir Monomakh [Vladimir Monomakh prince from 1114 onwards] did not conceal the virtuous deeds of this righteous man.
1125] the news of this miracle, which God had wrought for the sake of St. Alipius, reached her; and this miracle was proved as follows:
By the will of God, a fire broke out in Kiev, burning almost the entire Podol [Part of the city] in Kiev; in this part of the city there was also a church with the aforementioned icons, which also burned; however, after the fire they found all those icons completely intact.
When the prince heard of this, he came personally to the place of the fire, wishing to see the miracle that had taken place there.
Then Prince Vladimir Monomakh eagerly glorified the Creator of all things, Boa, who had performed such great miracles for the virtues of St. Alipius.
Then, taking one of those icons, <unk> the icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, he ordered to send it to the city of Rostov, to the stone church that was there, built by himself.
Later the icon was placed in a wooden church; but this church, too, after some time burned down in a fire; the icon remained intact again, so that there was not even a small scratch on it after the fire.
All this was a sure testimony to the virtuous life of our reverend Alipius, for whose sake the icon was inscribed.
Let us now turn to the miracle of the saint's death, to see how wonderfully this man, a skilled icon-maker, passed from this temporal life to eternal life.
A pious man asked our reverend Father Alipius to paint an icon of the Most Holy Mother of God; in this dream he asked the saint to paint this icon on the day of the Feast of the Assumption.
But the monk soon fell ill, and was near death, and the icon was not written, and the man was greatly grieved, and troubled the saint.
"Chido, don't bother me, but leave all your sorrow to the Lord, and he will do as he pleases. The icon will be in its place on his feast". The man believed the words of the saint and went home rejoicing.
And when he came again to Alipius on the eve of the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and saw that the icon was not inscribed, and that he was getting worse and worse, he rebuked him, saying:
Why didst thou not tell me of thy grievous sickness? then would I have given the icon to another sculptor, who would have written it to me, that the feast might be honourable and solemn; but now thou bringest me great shame.
O my child, did I do this out of laziness? But God can write in one word the image of his mother. Behold, I myself am going out of this world, as the Lord has revealed it to me, but I do not want to leave you in sorrow.
Immediately after his departure, a bright young man came to see the reverend Alipius and began to paint an icon for his husband.
Alipius thought that the man was angry with him and sent a new icon painter, and at first he took the young man for a man; but the speed and elegance of his work showed that he was something of an angel; for he painted a very beautiful icon for three hours, then resting on the icon of gold, then scraping
And he painted on the stone, and he painted on the stone, and he said to the priest,
And the priest said unto him, Thou hast done very well; for God hath made thee to write the image with such brightness. And it came to pass, when evening was come, that both he and the image were made invisible.
Meanwhile, the owner of the icon could not sleep all night because of grief, thinking that the icon would not be ready for the feast; therefore, he considered himself unworthy of such divine mercy and called himself a great sinner.
So he got up early the next morning and went to the church to confess his sins to the Lord, but as soon as he opened the doors of the temple, he saw the icon standing there.
He immediately fell to the ground in fear, thinking that it was a ghost. Then, rising a little from the ground and looking intently at the icon, he realized that it was his icon.
Then he was greatly afraid, and remembered the words of St. Alipius, who said to him that the icon would be ready for his feast; and he went and woke all his household.
His household rushed to the temple with candles and incense, and when they saw the icon shining like the sun, they all fell to the ground and worshiped the icon.
And when the holy man had gone to the abbot, and told him of the miracle that had happened to the idol, and when they had gone to the holy altar, and had found him departing from this world, the abbot asked him, Father, by whom and how was the idol of this man inscribed?
Alipius told them what he had seen and said: "An angel has written to Icon and he is coming here intending to take my soul".
Having said this, the blessed one gave up his spirit in the hands of the Lord on the seventeenth day of the month of August [the end of St. Alipius followed in 1114]. The brethren, covering his body with veils, carried him to the church; then, after the customary funeral chant, they laid the body of the saint in the cave of St. Anthony.
This is how this holy, miraculous icon painter adorned heaven and earth; having lived on earth in a body, he ascended to heaven with a virtuous soul, in praise of the Chief of the icon painters, God the Father, who said: "Let us make man in our image [and] after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26), as well as in "his image and likeness".
(Heb. 1:3), of God the Son, who took the form of man" (Phil. 2:7); along with the holy spirit descending from heaven in the form of a dove (Matt. 3:16) and the appearance of tongues of fire (Acts 2:3).
All these, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, who are in one being, let us praise with the holy Father our Alipius and be glorified forever and ever.