Tikhvin
Icon of the Mother of God (1383).
Monk David of Soluneia (Thessalonika, + c. 540).
Saint Dionysii, Archbishop of Suzdal' (+ 1385).
Uncovering of Relics of Monk Tikhon of Lukhovsk and Kostroma (1569).
Monk John, Bishop of the Goths (VIII). Monk Anthyonos.
Saint Pherapont.
Martyred Brothers John and Paul, and Gallicanus,
of Rome (IV).
Nyametsk
(1399), Sedmiezerna (XVII) and Lydda
(Roman) Icons of the Mother of God.
The
Tikhvon Icon of the Mother of God, according to tradition,
is one of the icons written by the holy Disciple and Evangelist
Luke. In the V Century it was transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople,
where the Blachernae church was built for it. In the year 1383,
70 years before the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, the
icon disappeared from the church, and re-appeared amidst a radiant
light over the waters of Lake Ladoga. Miraculously taken from
place to place, it then remained near the city of Tikhvin. At
the place of the appearance of the icon was built a wooden church
in honour of the Uspenie-Dormition of the Mother of God. Through
the zeal of GreatPrince Vasilii Ivanovich (1505-1533), in place
of the wooden church was built a stone church. In 1560 by order
of tsar Ivan the Terrible a men's monastery was established nearby
the church, and enclosed by a stone wall. During the years 1613-1614
the Swedish army, having seized Novgorod, more than once tried
to destroy the monastery, but by the intercession of the Mother
of God the monastery was saved. Thus, one time, in sight of the
nearby Swedish army, the monks decided to flee from the monastery
taking with them the wonderworking icon, but they were not able
to remove it from its place. This miracle halted the dispirited,
and they remained at the monastery, hoping on the intercession
of the Mother of God. The insignificant number of defenders of
the monastery successfully repulsed the numerically greater enemy.
The invading Swedes them encountered a numerous Russian army,
coming from Moscow, like some heavenly host, and they turned to
flight. Imperial emissaries arrived at the monastery after the
miraculous victory over the Swedes. Taking along a copy of the
wonderworking icon, they set off to the village of Stolbovo, 50
versts from Tikhvin, where on 10 February 1617 peace was concluded
with the Swedes. The primary pledge of peace from the Russian
side was on the transferred copy of the wonderworking icon. Afterwards
this copy was taken to Moscow and placed in the Uspensk cathedral,
and then at the request of the people of Novgorod, involved then
in war with the Swedes, it was sent off to Novgorod and placed
in the Sophia cathedral. The All-Russian feast of the Tikhvin
Icon of the Mother of God, glorified by innumerable miracles,
was established by the Church in memory of its miraculous appearance
and the vanquishing of enemies through the intercession of the
Mother of God.
The
Monk David of Soluneia (Thessalonika) pursued asceticism at
the monastery of the holy Martyrs Theodore and Mercurios. Afterwards,
having settled near the city of Soluneia, he built himself an
hut under an almond tree and lived in it for 70 years, being in
constant prayer, keeping strict fast, and enduring heat and cold.
The Monk David received from God the gift of wonderworking, and
he healed many from sickness. The holy ascetic gave spiritual
counsel to all who came to him. Having attained to passionlessness,
he was like an angel in the flesh, and without harm he was able
to take into his hands the hot coals for the incensing. The monk
died in about the year 540.
Saint
Dionysii, Archbishop of Suzdal', in the world David, was tonsured
at the Kievo-Pechersk monastery, from whence with a local blessing
of an icon of the Mother of God from the founders Monks Antonii
and Theodosii, he arrived at the Volga. Saint Dionysii dug out
a cave not far from Nizhni-Novgorod and asceticised in total solitude.
Brethren constantly thronged to the holy ascetic and in about
the year 1335 he founded a monastery in honour of the Ascension-Voznesenie
of the Lord. Among his students of Saint Dionysii were the Monks
Evphymii of Suzdal' (Comm.
1 April) and Makarii of Zheltovodsk and Unzhensk (Comm.
25 July). In the year 1352 the holy elder sent twelve men
from his brethren to "the upper cities and countryside, whom
there God would bless" for the spiritual enlightening of
the people and the organising of new monasteries. The monastery
of Saint Dionysii exerted a deep charitable influence on the inhabitants
of Nizhni-Novgorod. In the year 1371 the saint tonsured into monasticism
the forty year old widow of prince Andrei Konstantinovich, an
instance of which he accepted into monasticism "dignitaries:
women, and widowers, and maidens".
In
the year 1374 Saint Dionysii was deemed worthy of the dignity
of bishop, and his years of service as bishop occurred during
a remarkable period -- Russia was rising to cast off the Mongol-Tatar
Yoke. On 31 March 1375 the Tatar military-chief, having been shown
to the bishop's court by the enslaved inhabitants of Nizhni-Novgorod,
shot off an arrow from his bow at Saint Dionysii. But the Lord
preserved his chosen one, and the arrow struck only the bishop's
mantle. In 1377, through the blessing and possibly the editorship
of Saint Dionysii, there was compiled the Lavrentian Chronicle
by the Monk Lavrentii, inspiring Russia in the struggle for freedom.
In
1379, preserving the integrity of the primal-bishop's cathedra,
Sainted Dionysii was one of the bishops gathered in Moscow by
order of the prince, and he came out against the election as metropolitan
of the prince's protegee, the ill reputed archimandrite Mityaya.
In
the same year of 1379 Saint Dionysii journeyed to Constantinople
with a protest against the choice of Mityaya on grounds of his
complicity with the heretical Strigolniki. The saint made a strong
impression upon the Greeks by his sublime spiritual frame of mind
and his profound knowledge of Holy Scripture. Patriarch Nilos,
having termed the saint "a warrior of God and a spiritual
man", wrote that he himself viewed him "at fasting and
charity, and vigil, and prayers, and tears, and every other virtue".
From Constantinople Saint Dionysii sent off to a Sobor-Council
at Suzdal' two copies of the Hodegetria Icon of the Mother of
God. In 1382 the sainted-bishop received from the patriarch the
title of archbishop. Returning to Russia, the saint travelled
to Pskov and Novgorod to struggle against the heresy of the Strigolniki.
He visited Constantinople a second time in 1383 for discussion
with the patriarch on questions about the governance of the Russian
metropolitanate. In the year 1384 Saint Dionysii was made by patriarch
Nilos "metropolitan for Russia". But upon his return
to Kiev the saint was arrested on orders of the Kiev prince Vladimir
Ol'gerdovich and subjected to imprisonment, where he died on 15
October 1385. The burial of the saint was in "the Kiev Cave
of Great Antonii". The commemoration of Saint Dionysii on
26 June is celebrated because of his name in common with the Monk
David of Soluneia, this being the name he carried in the world.
In the Synodikon of the 1552 Nizhni-Novgorod Pechersk monastery,
Saint Dionysii is called a "wonderworking monk".
The
Monk John, Gothic Bishop: Under 19
May is the account about him.
The
Holy Martyred Brothers John and Paul, and Gallicanus were
illustrious Romans. Gallicanus had twice been chosen consul of
Rome. The holy martyrs suffered under Julian the Apostate (361-363).
The
Nyametsk Icon of the Mother of God was given as a gift by
the Greek emperor Andronikes Paleologos to the Moldavian ruler
Alexander the Voevoda, and then placed into the Moldavian Nyametsk
Ascension monastery.
At
this place afterwards, under the guidance of the Mother of God,
were glorified many an ascetic of the Russian Church, under the
lead of the great starets-elder, the schema-archimandrite Paisii
Velichkovsky (1722-1794).
The
Sedmiezerna (Smolensk) Icon of the Mother of God: Accounts
about the icon are located under 13
October and 28
July.
The
Lydda Icon of the Mother of God: The account is located under
12
March.