El este descris de un contemporan al său ca “un ascet tare,
cu o profundă cunoaştere a oamenilor şi a lumii in care trăieşte,un călugăr
evlavios şi un stareţ priceput”. Deşi ţăran din naştere, Pr. Cristodul avea o
dragoste puternică pentru cărţi. Era un autodidact care se folosise mult de
cărţile citite, dobândind o credinţă tare ca stânca şi o judecată sănătoasă.
Dragostea lui de invăţătură şi bunul-simţ sunt relevate intr-o copie extinsă a
planului său de construcţie a mănăstirilor din Patmos, in care a stabilit in
detaliu proceduri de copiere, ingrijire şi păstrarea cărţilor din biblioteci. Primele
cărţi au fost donate de el. Astăzi el este pomenit nu numai ca un cărturar şi
ctitor de mănăstiri, ci şi ca un “făcător de minuni”, ca mărturie a eficienţei
rugăciunilor sale.
In 1091, Părintele Cristodul a făcut o primă variantă a
planurilor de zidire a mănăstii Sfântului Ioan Teologul şi a zidurilor
exterioare, numite de el “fortăreaţa”. La intoarcerea de la Constantinopol, a
adus zidari şi alţi meşteri careau inceput lucrul. Mănăstirea pe care a desenat-o
el incă incoronează dealul dedeasupra
principalului port al insulei, fiind ridicată peste ruinele bisericii “Sf.Ioan”
din secolul IV şi ale templului Dianei.
In 1093,la numai doi
ani de la inceperea construcţiei, călugării au fost siliţi să fugă din faţa
piraţilor Emirului Dhaza, iar Părintele Cristodul s-a refugiat in insula Evia, unde
a răposat la 16 mai 1093.
Monahii s-au intors curând şi pe la anul 1100 mănăstirea
Sf.Ioan număra 100 de suflete. Până in secolul al XVII-lea Patmos a fost
călăuzită administrativ şi duhovniceşte de către mănăstire, care a avut grijă
atât de economia,cât şi de apărarea insulei. Iniţial, Părintele Cristodul
preconizase ca Patmos să fie o enclavă monastică, interzisă femeilor, şi cu
greu l-au convins meşterii să le aloce o bucată de pământ la capătul peninsulei,
unde să-şi intemeieze un sat şi să-şi aducă nevestele cât timp se construia
mănăstirea.
Inăuntrul bisericii mănăstirii este o capelă mică in nartex,
dedicată Sfântului Cristodul. Acolo se află sfintele sale moaşte, aduse inapoi
in Patmos după moartea sa. La inceput erau puse intr-un sarcofag de marmură, iar
acum se odihnesc intr-o raclă din lemn incrustată cu aur şi argint, aşezată deasupra
mormântului pentru inchinare.
In timpul domniei Impăratului Domition(81-96 AD), Sfântul
Ioan Teologul era exilat in insula Patmos pentru izgonirea şi prăbuşirea
idolilor din Efes şi in timpul şederii sale acolo a reuşit să convertească
aproape intreaga insulă la Hristos. In secolul al V-lea,când creştinismul a
devenit religie de stat, templul Dianei a fost dărâmat, in locul lui fiind
ridicată o minunată biserică dedicată Sfântului Ioan. Multe biserici au fost
apoi construite in intreaga insulă. Timp de 600 de ani după Hristos oraşele şi
comerţul insulei au prosperat, după care insula a fost prădată de piraţi arabi
şi dealţi invadatori. Frumoasa biserică a Sf. Ioan a fost distrusă, iar insula
Patmos a ajuns nelocuită.
Sfântul Cristodul din Patmos(+ 16 martie)
Din purtarea de grijă a lui Dumnezeu, insă, insula nu a
rămas părăsită, ci El a ales un stareţ din Asia Mică, numit Cristodul, ca să
fie unealta Sa pentru renaşterea insulei. Invazii otomane şi arabe repetate
deja il siliseră pe stareţ să plece in exil şi până la sfârşitul secolului al
XI-lea lăsase in urma sa multe mănăstiri şi biblioteci.
Născut in Bytinia, din Asia Mică, Cristodul, al cărui nume
de mirean fusese Ioan, trăise mai intâi ca pustnic pe Muntele Olimp, iar apoi
in deşertul Palestinei, pentru ca in cele dinurmă să se intoarcă in locurile natale ca stareţ al mănăstirii de pe
Muntele Lamos, lângă Caria. In anul 1085, călugării de la Muntele Lamos au
fugit din calea turcilor, iar stareţul s-a refugiat in insula Kos, nu departe
de insula Patmos, unde a intemeiat o mănăstire inchinată Maicii Domnului.
Stareţul Cristodul a făcut curând cunoştinţă cu Părintele
Arsenie un sihastru care era fiul şi moştenitorul unui proprietar de pământ. Arsenie
a devenit fiul duhovnicesc al stareţului şi impreună visau să reintemeieze
viaţa monahală in insula Patmos. Părintele Cristodul scria despre ucenicul său:
“A fost un om binevoitor şi evlavios, nobil din naştere şi autohton, respectat
de toţi locuitorii insulei, cu purtare blândă, cu un caracter integru, o morală
inaltă,un monah devotat, numit Arsenie, supranumit Skinouris, dăruit din toată inima
slujirii noastre.”
In anul 1088, după ce a intemeiat o altă mănăstire pe insula
Leros (inchinată Sfântului Ioan Teologul), Părintele Cristodul s-a prezentat la
curtea Impăratului Alexie I Comnenul in Bizanţ, in faţa căruia a desfăşurat
planul său de reinfiinţare a unor mănăsiri pe insula Patmos. Impăratul i-a implinit
cererea şi i-a dat stăpânire deplină a intregii insule, in schimbul unor
proprietăţi pe insulaKos din moştenirea
lui Arsenie. In luna august, in acelaşi an, Părintele Cristodula luat in
stăpânire insula Patmos.
The Theodore—Kostroma Icon of the Mother of God was painted
by the Evangelist Luke and resembles the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of
God.
This icon received its name from Great Prince Yaroslav
Vsevolodovich (+ 1246), the father of Saint Alexander Nevsky, and who in
holy Baptism was named Theodore in honor of Saint Theodore Stratelates
(February 8).
According to Tradition, the icon was found by his
elder brother, Saint George (February 4), in an old wooden chapel near
the city of Gorodets. Later, the Gorodetsk Theodorov monastery was built
on this spot. Prince Yaroslav-Theodore became the Great Prince of
Vladimir after his brother Saint George perished in battle with the
Mongols at the Sita River. In the year 1239, he solemnly transferred the
relics of his brother from Rostov to the Vladimir Dormition cathedral.
He gave the icon which he inherited from his brother to his own son,
Saint Alexander Nevsky.
Yaroslav-Theodore is renowned in Russian
history. He continued with the glorious traditions of his uncle Saint
Andrew Bogoliubsky (July 4), and of his father Vsevolod III Big-Nest,
and he was connected to almost all of the significant events in the
history of Rus in the first half of the thirteenth century.
Russia
was burned and torn apart by the Mongols in 1237-1238. He raised it up
from the ashes, rebuilt and embellished the cities, the holy monasteries
and the churches. He restored cities along the Volga devastated by the
enemy: Kashin, Uglich, Yaroslavl’, Kostroma, Gorodets.
He founded
he church of Theodore Stratelates at Kostroma and the Theodorov
monastery near Gorodets in honor of his patron saint. For eight years he
ruled as Great Prince, but he had to guide the land through a
singularly difficult path, maintaining a military-political balance with
the Golden Horde to the East, while mounting an active opposition to
Catholic Europe in the West. His closest companion was his son, Saint
Alexander Nevsky, who also continued his policies.
The
wonderworking Theodore Icon of the Mother of God was constantly with
Saint Alexander, and he prayed before it. After Saint Alexander Nevsky
died on November 14, 1263 at the monastery founded by his father, the
icon was taken by his younger brother Basil.
Basil Yaroslavich
was the youngest (eighth) son of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. In 1246 after
the death of his father (Prince Yaroslav was poisoned in the capital
city of Mongolia, Karakorum when he was only five years old) Basil
became prince of the Kostroma appanage-holding, the least important of
his father’s domains. In the year 1272, he became Great Prince of
Vladimir.
His four years as Great Prince (1272-1276) were filled
with fratricidal princely quarrels. For several years he waged war
against Novgorod with an unruly nephew Demetrius. In becoming Great
Prince, however, Basil did not journey to Vladimir, but remained under
the protection of the wonderworking icon at Kostroma, regarding this
place as safer in case of new outbreaks of strife.
He had
occasion also to defend Rus against external enemies. In 1272, during a
Tatar incursion, a Russian army came forth from Kostroma to engage them.
Following the example of his grandfather, Saint Andrew Bogoliubsky (who
took the wonderworking Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God with him on
military campaigns), Prince Basil went into battle with the
wonderworking Theodore Icon. A blinding light came forth from the holy
image, and the Tatars dispersed and fled from the Russian land.
The
Chronicles say that the Great Prince Basil had a special love for the
Church and the clergy. After the martyric death of Bishop Metrophanes of
Vladimir during the storming of Vladimir by Tatars on February 4, 1238,
the Vladimir diocese had remained widowed for many years. This grieved
Great Prince Basil. With his help, a large cathedral was constructed in
Vladimir in 1274. This was apparently in connection with the
consecration of Saint Serapion (July 12) as Bishop of Vladimir. He was
an igumen from the Monastery of the Caves.
Metropolitan Cyril III
(+ 1282) presided over a council of Russian hierarchs. This was the
first council in the Russian Church since the time of the Mongol
invasion. Many problems and disorders had arisen in Church life, but the
Russian Church was just barely beginning to recover from the woe that
had befallen it. One of its main tasks was to recover a Russian churchly
literacy, and the restoration of the tradition of the ancient Russian
“princely order.”
Without books the Church’s salvific activity
would be almost impossible. Books were needed for church services, and
for preaching, for the monastic cell rule, and for believers to read at
home. Through the efforts of Metropolitan Cyril and the Russian bishops
and monastic scholars, this important task was begun. The council
approved new editions of essential books which formed the canonical
basis of Orthodox church life.
In 1276, Prince Basil completed
his life’s journey. Most of the important events in his life occured
with the blessing of the Theodore Icon of the Mother of God. He died at
Kostroma, and there he also found his final resting place. Since that
time, the holy icon has been in the Kostroma cathedral of Saint Theodore
Stratelates.
Renewed interest in the Theodore Icon of the Mother
of God and the spread of its veneration throughout all Russia is
connected with events of the beginning of the seventeenth century, and
the end of the Time of Troubles. In the year 1613, the wonderworking
Theodore Icon from the Kostroma cathedral was used at the proclamation
of Michael Romanov as the new Tsar. In memory of this historic event,
March 14 was designated for the commemoration of the Theodore Icon of
the Mother of God.
Numerous copies were made from the Kostroma
Theodore Icon, and one of the first was commissioned and brought to
Moscow by Tsar Michael’s mother, the nun Martha. From the second half of
the seventeenth century, various copies of the Theodore Icon were
enlarged with scenes depicting events from the history of the
wonderworking icon.
In the year 1670 the hierodeacon Longinus
from the Kostroma Hypatiev monastery wrote the “Narrative concerning the
Manifestations and Miracles of the Theodore Icon of the Mother of God
in Kostroma.” Not all the things contained in it agree with things
previously stated.
The Theodore Icon is two-sided. On the reverse
side is the image of the holy Great Martyr Paraskeva, depicted in the
splendid attire of a princess. It is believed that the image of
Paraskeva on the reverse of the icon is connected with the wife of Saint
Alexander Nevsky.
The Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Saint Theodore is also commemorated on August 16.
Saint Rostislav-Michael, Great Prince of Kiev, was the son of
the Kievan Great Prince Saint Mstislav the Great (June 14), and the
brother of holy Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel (February 11, April 22, and
November 27). He was one of the great civil and churchly figures of the
mid-twelfth century.
His name is connected with the fortification and rise of Smolensk, and both the Smolensk principality and the Smolensk diocese.
Up
until the twelfth century the Smolensk land was part of the Kievan
realm. The beginning of its political separation took place in the year
1125, when holy Prince Mstislav the Great, gave Smolensk to his son
Rostislav (in Baptism Michael) as an inheritance from his father, the
Kievan Great Prince Vladimir Monomakh. Thanks to the work and efforts of
Saint Rostislav, the Smolensk principality, which he ruled for more
than forty years, expanded and was built up with cities and villages,
adorned with churches and monasteries, and became influential in Russian
affairs.
Saint Rostislav founded the cities of Rostislavl,
Mstislavl, Krichev, Propoisk, and Vasiliev among others. He was the
forefather of the Smolensk princely dynasty.
In 1136 Saint
Rostislav succeeded in establishing a separate Smolensk diocese. Its
first bishop was Manuel, installed between March-May of 1136 by
Metropolitan Michael of Kiev. Prince Rostislav issued an edict in the
city of Smolensk assuring Bishop Manuel that he would provide him with
whatever he needed. On September 30, 1150 Saint Rostislav also ceded
Cathedral Hill at Smolensk to the Smolensk diocese, where the Dormition
cathedral and other diocesan buildings stood.
Contemporaries
thought highly of the church construction of Prince Rostislav. Even the
sources that are inclined to report nothing more about it note that
“this prince built the church of the Theotokos at Smolensk.” The
Dormition cathedral, originally built by his grandfather, Vladimir
Monomakh, in the year 1101 was rebuilt and expanded under Prince
Rostislav. The rebuilt cathedral was consecrated by Bishop Manuel on the
Feast of the Dormition, August 15, 1150. Prince Rostislav was a
“builder of the Church” in a far wider sense: he endowed the Smolensk
Dormition church of the Mother of God, and transformed it from a city
cathedral into the ecclesiastical center of the vast Smolensk diocese.
Holy
Prince Rostislav was the builder of the Smolensk Kremlin, and of the
Savior cathedral at the Smyadynsk Boris and Gleb monastery, founded on
the place of the murder of holy Prince Gleb (September 5). Later his son
David, possibly fulfilling the wishes of his father, transferred the
old wooden coffins of Saints Boris and Gleb from Kievan Vyshgorod to
Smyadyn.
In the decade of the fifties of the twelfth century,
Saint Rostislav was drawn into a prolonged struggle for Kiev, which
involved representatives of the two strongest princely lines: the
Olgovichi and the Monomakhovichi.
On the Monomakhovichi side the
major contender to be Great Prince was Rostislav’s uncle, Yurii
Dolgoruky. Rostislav, as Prince of Smolensk, was one of the most
powerful rulers of the Russian land and had a decisive voice in military
and diplomatic negotiations.
For everyone involved in the
dispute, Rostislav was both a dangerous opponent and a desired ally, and
he was at the center of events. This had a providential significance,
since Saint Rostislav distinguished himself by his wisdom regarding the
civil realm, by his strict sense of justice and unconditional obedience
to elders, and by his deep respect for the Church and its hierarchy. For
several generations he was the bearer of the “Russkaya Pravda”
(“Russian Truth”) and of Russian propriety.
After the death of
his brother Izyaslav (November 13, 1154), Saint Rostislav became Great
Prince of Kiev, but he ruled Kiev at the same time with his uncle
Vyacheslav Vladimirovich. After the latter’s death, Rostislav returned
to Smolensk, ceding the Kiev princedom to his other uncle, Yurii
Dolgoruky, and he removed himself from the bloodshed of the princely
disputes. He occupied Kiev a second time on April 12, 1159 and he then
remained Great Prince until his death (+ 1167). More than once, he had
to defend his paternal inheritance with sword in hand.
The years
of Saint Rostislav’s rule occurred during one of the most complicated
periods in the history of the Russian Church. The elder brother of
Rostislav, Izyaslav Mstislavich, a proponent of the autocephaly of the
Russian Church, favored the erudite Russian monk Clement Smolyatich for
Metropolitan, and wanted him to be made Metropolitan by a council of
Russian bishops, without seeking the usual approval from the Patriarch
of Constantinople. This occurred in the year 1147.
The Russian
hierarchy basically supported Metropolitan Clement and Prince Izyaslav
in their struggle for ecclesiastical independence from Constantinople,
but several bishops headed by Saint Niphon of Novgorod (April 8), did
not recognize the autocephaly of the Russian metropolitanate and shunned
communion with it, having transformed their dioceses into independent
ecclesial districts, pending the resolution of this question. Bishop
Manuel of Smolensk also followed this course. Saint Rostislav understood
the danger which lay hidden beneath the idea of Russian autocephaly for
these times, which threatened the break-up of Rus. The constant
fighting over Kiev among the princes might also lead to a similar fight
over the Kievan See among numerous contenders, put forth by one princely
group or another.
The premonitions of Saint Rostislav were fully
justified. Yurii Dolgoruky, who remained loyal to Constantinople,
occupied Kiev in the year 1154. He immediately banished Metropolitan
Clement and petitioned Constantinople for a new Metropolitan. This was
to be Saint Constantine (June 5), but he arrived in Rus only in the year
1156, six months before the death of Yurii Dolgoruky (+ May 15, 1157).
Six months later, when Saint Rostislav’s nephew Mstislav Izyaslavich
entered the city on December 22, 1157, Saint Constanine was obliged to
flee Kiev, while the deposed Clement Smolyatich returned as
Metropolitan. Then a time of disorder began in Russia, for there were
two Metropolitans.
All the hierarchy and the clergy came under
interdict: the Greek Metropolitan suspended the Russian supporters of
Clement, and Clement suspended all the supporters of Constantine. To
halt the scandal, Saint Rostislav and Mstislav decided to remove both
Metropolitans and petition the Patriarch of Constantinople to appoint a
new archpastor for the Russian metropolitan See.
But this
compromise did not end the matter. Arriving in Kiev in the autumn of
1161, Metropolitan Theodore died in spring of the following year.
Following the example of Saint Andrew Bogoliubsky (July 4), who
supported his own fellow ascetic Bishop Theodore to be Metropolitan,
Saint Rostislav put forth his own candidate, who turned out to be the
much-suffering Clement Smolyatich.
The fact that the Great Prince
had changed his attitude toward Metropolitan Clement, shows the
influence of the Kiev Caves monastery, and in particular of
Archimandrite Polycarp. Archimandrite Polycarp, who followed the
traditions of the Caves (in 1165 he became head of the monastery), was
personally very close to Saint Rostislav.
Saint Rostislav had the
pious custom of inviting the igumen and twelve monks to his own table
on the Saturdays and Sundays of Great Lent, and he served them himself.
The prince more than once expressed the wish to be tonsured a monk at
the monastery of Saints Anthony and Theodosius, and he even gave orders
to build a cell for him.
The monks of the Caves, a tremendous
spiritual influence in ancient Rus, encouraged the prince to think about
the independence of the Russian Church. Moreover, during those years in
Rus, there was suspicion regarding the Orthodoxy of the bishops which
came from among the Greeks, because of the notorious “Dispute about the
Fasts” (the “Leontian Heresy”). Saint Rostislav’s pious intent to obtain
the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople for Metropolitan
Clement came to naught. The Greeks believed that appointing a
Metropolitan to the Kiev cathedra was one of their most important
prerogatives. This served not only the ecclesiastical, but also the
political interests of the Byzantine Empire.
In 1165 a new Greek
Metropolitan arrived at Kiev, John IV, and Saint Rostislav accepted him
out of humility and churchly obedience. The new Metropolitan, like his
predecessor, governed the Russian Church for less than a year (+ 1166).
The See of Kiev was again left vacant, and the Great Prince was deprived
of the fatherly counsel and spiritual wisdom of a Metropolitan. His
sole spiritual solace was the igumen Polycarp and the holy Elders of the
Kiev Caves monastery and the Theodorov monastery at Kiev, which had
been founded under his father.
Returning from a campaign against
Novgorod in the spring of 1167, Saint Rostislav fell ill. When he
reached Smolensk, where his son Roman was prince, relatives urged him to
remain at Smolensk. But the Great Prince gave orders to take him to
Kiev. “If I die along the way,” he declared, “put me in my father’s
monastery of Saint Theodore. If God should heal me, through the prayers
of His All-Pure Mother and Saint Theodosius, I shall take vows at the
monastery of the Caves.”
God did not fulfill Saint Rostislav’s
last wish to end his life as a monk of the holy monastery. The holy
prince died on the way to Kiev on March 14, 1167. (In other historical
sources the year is given as 1168). His body, in accord with his last
wishes, was brought to the Kiev Theodosiev monastery.
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