The life of the Reverend Euphrosyne, the Polotsk Iumenian

In the city of Polotsk lived a prince, named Allslav [Allslav Briachislav, son of Briachislav Izyaslav, prince in Polotsk from 1044 to 1101], who had a son, George.

Before she became a pagan, Saint Euphrosyne was known as Predyslava. She was taught to read and write from an early age, and she studied the Holy Scriptures and other books of salvation. From the Holy Scriptures she learned the fear of God and the love of God, her Creator.

She was so beautiful that when she was twelve years old, many noble princes asked Father Euphrosyne to marry her to their sons.

But the virgin did not consent to be given in marriage to a mortal man, for she had given herself up to the immortal heavenly Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

However, Euphrosyne's father decided to give her in marriage to one of the princes, even against her will. When Euphrosyne learned of this, she secretly went to the women's monastery to the blessed bishop, Princess Romanesque, and began to earnestly ask her to cut her hair in the image of a pagan.

Blessed Romanus did not consent to this for a long time, partly because of Euphrosyne's youth, and partly because of fear of her father; therefore Romanus advised her to enter the worldly life, saying that she was still so young and so beautiful in face.

But seeing that Euphrosyne was determined to cut her hair to preserve her virginity and to gain the Kingdom of Heaven, and seeing also that Euphrosyne had a great heart love for the Lord Jesus Christ, Roman ordered the former priest of her monastery to cut her hair and dress her in an angelic robe.

The young princess was given the name Euphrosyne.

When the parents of the young girl heard about this, they were filled with great sorrow and immediately went to the monastery, and when they saw their daughter in a foreign form, they wept bitterly.

But Blessed Euphrosyne, not embarrassed by the tears of her parents, advised them not to weep but to rejoice that their daughter was betrothed to the Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly King.

In the monastery, Euphrosyne was in constant fasting and prayer, and along with the other nuns, she performed all the monastic duties, obeying everyone with great humility.

After some time, the Blessed Euphrosyne began to beg the bishop of Polotsk, Ili, to allow her to settle in the tent, arranged at the great throne church in honor of St. Sophia (doing so, blessed Euphrosyne imitated the ancient virgins of Jerusalem, among whom was the Most Holy Virgin).

The Virgin Mary; the virgins lived near the Church of Solomon, in special tents arranged at the wall of the church [A more detailed account of this can be read in the story of the Introduction to the temple of the Most Holy Mother of God, placed under the 21st of November.] .

The bishop, seeing the angelic life and the love of the seraphim for the holy God, did not hinder the good desire of her heart.

When she was free from prayer, she wrote books with her own hands and sold them; all the money she earned from this she gave to the poor.

The angel took her by the hand and led her out of the city to a place called the Well, where the Palace of Sophia was, and there was also a small wooden church dedicated to St. Saviour.

"It is good for you to be here, because God will use you to bring salvation to this place.

The vision was repeated a second and a third time, and the monk was astonished and amazed at what she had seen, and thanked God that he had given her such a vision.

And an angel appeared to the bishop in a vision and said, "Take the servant of God, Euphrosyne, to the Church of the Savior, which is at Selce, and place her near that church, that there may be a monastery of virgins consecrated to God, whom God wills to save through this blessed Euphrosyne".

And her prayer ascendeth unto God as sweet incense, and the Holy Ghost resteth upon her as upon the king's head; and her life is as the light of the sun in the sight of the angels of God.

When the bishop awoke from his sleep, he went to Saint Euphrosyne to tell her the will of God, and Euphrosyne told the bishop of his vision, and both of them gave thanks to God.

Then the bishop summoned Prince Boris, Euphrosyne's uncle, Prince George, her father, and many boyars and other honest men, and, recounting to them the vision, said:

"Now, in your presence, I give Euphrosyne a place in the church of St. Saviour at Selca, so that there may be a virginal monastery.

Afterwards, Saint Euphrosyne was settled at the church in honor of the Saviour and a monastery was built here for the virgins who wished to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in purity.

Seeing the godly life of blessed Euphrosyne and all the other virgins were encouraged to godly feats. After some time the monk sent to her father to say: "Let my sister Gradislav come to me, so that I can teach her the holy books.

St. Euphrosyne taught her to read books and, having taught her many soul-saving conversations, introduced her to Christ, as she had encouraged her to take the form of a pagan with the name of Eudokia.

Let your sister come to us. " Let her stay with me a little longer, " said Euphrosyne, " for she has not yet fully studied the Scriptures.

But Euphrosyne's parents soon learned of the shaving of their other daughter, and they came to the monastery filled with anger, and with bitterness of heart said to Blessed Euphrosyne, "O our daughter, what have you done to us?

Thou hast added sorrow to our old sorrow, and sorrow to our old sorrow. Was it not enough that thou hadst forsaken us, and that thou hadst taken away our dear children? Have we begotten thee for this, or have we brought thee up for this?

Did we give birth to you so that before your death you would be locked up like in a coffin, in these black robes, in a monastery and deprive us of the comforts we have been waiting for from you?

And Euphrosyne began to comfort her parents with her soul-saving talk, and they returned to their own house, and soothed the natural sorrow of their parents' hearts with spiritual joy.

Soon afterwards, Princess Zvenilava, her cousin, the daughter of her uncle Boris, came to see Euphrosyne, and brought her all her precious wedding garments and said to the Blessed:

"Mistress and sister, I have nothing to do with all the precious things of this world, but I give these wedding ornaments to the Church of the Saviour, and I desire to wed myself to the Lord and my God, and to bow my head under his good and light yoke.

And the holy Euphrosyne received her gladly, and at once commanded her to be shaved, and gave her the name Euphrasia. And the two nuns fasted and prayed all night, serving the Lord with one soul in reverence and truth.

Seeing that the number of the nuns in the monastery was increasing day by day, she wanted to build a stone church in the name of the Savior.

One night, before sunrise, a man named John, who had been a watchman at the temple, was in a deep sleep. He heard a voice say to him, "Stand up, John, and go to the temple of God".

"Lord, have you sent me to wake you up and quickly accept your case? " Euphrosyne knew that the voice was not from men, but from God.

And he said, I have not sent to wake thee up; yet hearken to the voice of him that calls thee to the work, and do according to all that he saith unto thee; for this is the work of God.

And it came to pass when the house of Jehovah was nearly finished, and the bricks were not sufficient for the house of Jehovah, that the priestess prayed unto God, saying,

And they said, We give thanks unto thee, Lord Jehovah, God of hosts, who hast given us much, and hast given us little, that we may build the house to thy holy name.

And it came to pass on the morrow, by the will of God, that they found a furnace full of burnt bricks, and they were cold, and they were very strong; and the bricks were made by an invisible hand, and in a very short time, in one night.

And all the people praised God, and the temple was finished; and the bishop and the clergy and the princes and all the people came to the dedication, and they celebrated the dedication of the temple with joy.

And Euphrosyne the monk, kneeling in the temple, prayed with tears to God, saying, Thou, O Lord, the Almighty, look upon this temple, which is built unto thy name, as thou didst look upon the temple of Solomon; and look upon the flock of the word, which is gathered in thy temple.

Be gracious unto us all, who serve thee in this holy house, and help us in all good works, that we may bear our yoke successfully, and follow thee, our Bridegroom.

Be thou our shepherd, our keeper, and our keeper, lest any of our sisters be taken away by the wolf that destroyeth the souls of men, the devil: be thou, O Lord, our armor and our strong defense, lest evil touch us, and wound come near to our flesh (Ps. 90:10); and destroy us not for our sins.

We trust in thee, for thou art a God of mercy and mercy to all who trust in thee, and we will praise thee continually until the end of our days.

Behold, I have gathered you to the name of Jehovah, as a bird gathereth her chicks under her wings; I have gathered you as the flock of God, into the pasture of God.

I want to encourage you and see the spiritual fruitage of your work.

Behold, I have sown the word of God in your hearts with great labour; but sometimes your heart's fields remain as unripe, unfruitful in virtue, and the time of harvest is at hand.

I am afraid, brothers, that you may be thrown into an unquenchable fire. Therefore, keep yourselves from the fire of hell.

Grow from the pure wheat of Christ, perfecting your labor with humility, purity, love, and prayer, and then prepare yourself a pleasing bread to God.

So did the holy Euphrosyne instruct the sisters of her monastery, taking care of them as a loving mother cares for her spiritual children. Through her counsel and prayers, all the nuns prospered in a virtuous life and prepared vessels worthy of the Holy Spirit's habitation.

In addition to the mentioned stone church, St. Euphrosyne built another stone church in honor and glory of the Most Holy Mother of God.

After decorating it with icons, she gave it to the nuns, for whom she built a monastery at this church.

It was captured by the Jesuits, from whose power it was liberated in 1820-The monastery contains a cross erected by St. Euphrosyne; the devotees are shown two cells, in which St. Euphrosyne stood. At the monastery there is a school for girls of religious rank.]

Euphrosyne wished to have in her monastery an icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, called "Oдигитрия" [Oдигитрия (path and way) from the Greek - guide.

In particular, the icon of the Mother of God Odigitrius, located in Constantinople, in the Vlachern temple, was named so because one day the Mother of God herself, appearing to two blind men, led them to the Vlachern temple to her icon and gave them sight in front of her.

The name <unk>Οδικητρία<unk> was also applied to the icons of the Mother of God that seafarers placed on the nose or stern of the ship.

The celebration of the icon of the Mother of God-Odigitria is held on January 21, July 28 and other days.] , is one of those icons that the holy Evangelist Luke wrote while he was still alive.

She knew that there were three icons painted by St. Luke, one in Jerusalem, one in Constantinople, and one in Ephesus.

After praying earnestly to God with tears, asking Him to grant her wish, she sent one of the servants of her monastery, named Michael, to Constantinople to the pious Emperor Manuel [Emperor Manuel Comnenus reigned from 1143 onward.

1180] and to the most holy patriarch Luke [Luke the Christ-bearer was patriarch from 1186 to 1169] with many gifts and asked them to send her one of the icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary, painted by the Evangelist Luke, and that one is in the city of Ephesus.

The king and the patriarch, seeing the great zeal of blessed Euphrosyne for God and for the Pure Mother of God, decided to fulfill her request and sent an envoy to Asia, who brought the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Mother of God from Ephesus to Constantinople.

After giving the icon to the servant of the monastery of Euphrosyneva, the king and the patriarch released him and gave him a certificate in which the servant of Christ was praised and given the patriarchal blessing.

After receiving the icon, Saint Euphrosyne was filled with great joy and thanked the Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Holy Mother.

She was the wife of the great prince Alexander Nevsky.] Meanwhile, her parents died. After spending a sufficient number of years in the heroic deeds of the heretics, Blessed Euphrosyne wished to see the holy places of the city of Jerusalem and worship the living coffin of Christ.

And when all those who were about her heard of her purpose, they were filled with great sorrow, and they came to her, and begged her with tears not to depart from them, nor from their own country.

And the blessed one comforted them all with tender words, as a mother comforts her own children; and her beloved brother Vyacheslav came to Euphrosyne with his wife and children, and bowed himself before her, and said with tears,

And he said, Lord, my sister, and my mother, why hast thou forsaken me, the light of my eyes, and the life of my soul? And she said, I will not leave thee, but I will pray for thee and for these saints.

When Blessed Euphrosyne had finished the spiritual conversation with her brother, she ordered him to leave his two daughters, Quirene and Olga, with his sister Euodia, for Blessed Euphrosyne had such a spiritual gift that she could immediately know if anyone she looked at had the spirit of virtue and could he

to be a vessel chosen for the Lord.

And when Vyacheslav had departed from Euphrosyne, the saint said to his daughters, "I want to betroth you to an immortal bridegroom, so that you may enter the kingdom of heaven".

When they heard what he said, they fell at his feet and said, "The Lord's will be done. May it be done as you have asked".

Euphrosyne, rejoicing in her spirit at the good intention of these young women, taught them with soul-saving conversations and nurtured in their hearts the love of Christ.

"I want to cut off your daughters, to be the brides of Christ". But Vyacheslav was angry with her words and said to her:

And he said, My lord, my mother, why hast thou dealt so wickedly with me? addest thou sorrow to my sorrow? wouldest thou that I should weep for thee, and that I should weep for my children, and that they should not be comforted?

And the wife of Vyacheslav, the mother of those young girls, grieved even more for her husband, and wept much and long.

However, Vyacheslav and his wife did not dare to contradict the words of Blessed Euphrosyne, as they accepted her words as if they were the words of Christ Himself, and knew that she was a true slave of Christ and a worthy container of the Holy Spirit.

Afterwards, Euphrosyne asked Dionysius, then bishop, to come to the monastery, to bring the young women into the church and to cut their hair; at the same time, Kyrenia was named Agaphia, and Olga Euphrosyne.

After some time the blessed Euphrosyne gave her abode to her sister Eudokia, and, having kissed all the sisters, praying to God and putting all her hope in Him, she went to Jerusalem; all of them accompanied Euphrosyne with bitter tears.

Taking with her another brother, David, and a relative, Eupraxia, Euphrosyne first arrived at Constantinople, where she was received with great honor by the king and patriarch, and then, after worshipping the holy churches and many relics of the saints, went to Jerusalem.

When she arrived in the city, she worshipped the life-giving tomb of Christ, then placed a golden incense at the tomb and brought many gifts to the church of Jerusalem and the patriarch.

Blessed Euphrosyne also visited other places of worship in the vicinity of Jerusalem; after worshipping the holy places with great devotion, Euphrosyne settled in a monastery called the Russian one and located at the church built in honor and glory of the Most Holy Mother of God.

Then she came again to the tomb of the Lord and began to pray here with tears and heartfelt repentance in these words: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, born of the Most Pure and Holy Virgin Mary, for our salvation, said: Ask and it will be given to you (Matt. 7:7).

I thank you for your mercy, that I, a sinner, have received from you what I asked for, for I have been able to see these holy places which you have sanctified with your pure feet, and to gaze upon your holy coffin, in which you laid your pure flesh, taking death for us.

O my Lord, I ask You for one more thing: grant me to die in this holy place. Do not despise my humble prayer, O my Creator. Accept my soul in this holy city and place me among those who please You in the bosom of Abraham.

And she went into the church, where she dwelt, and lay upon her bed, and prayed unto the Lord, saying,

"Blessed are you, Lord Jesus Christ, " he said". I thank you that you have listened to me, your servant, and have done for me as you wished.

And she sent Ephraim, David's brother, to the Jordan, and they brought her water out of the Jordan; and she drank, and was glad, and gave thanks with great joy. And she dipped her whole body in it, and lay on her bed,

Blessed be God, who enlightens and sanctifies every man who comes into the world.

While she was in bed, a holy angel appeared to her from God and told her that her death and rest were in store for her.

Then the saint sent to the laurel of St. Savva [St. Savva's Abbey was founded by St. Savva in the 6th century. This abbey is remarkable as the cradle of the Jerusalem charter, adopted later by all Palestinian monasteries.

The statute of Jerusalem was also adopted almost everywhere, and we, in Russia, from the XIV century.] to ask the archimandrite and his brother whether it was not possible to give her a place to be buried there.

There is a monastery of the Feodosii, built in honor of the Most Holy Mother of God, where many holy wives rest.

There rests the mother of Saint Sabbas, and the mother of Saint Theodosius, and the mother of the holy uncircumcised Theodosius, and many other honest wives; there ought to be buried the blessed Euphrosyne.

When the monk heard this, she thanked God that her body would be laid with the relics of the holy women, and immediately sent to the monastery of St. Theodosius with a request - to prepare a place for burial.

The monks of that monastery pointed to a place near the church yard and arranged a coffin for the burial of the saint.

When the time of her blessed death drew near, she called a priest, received from him the divine Mysteries of Christ, and in the midst of prayer delivered her holy soul into the hands of God on the twenty-third day of the month of May.

Her body was laid in the monastery of St. Theodosius, near the papyrus of the Church of the Holy Mother of God. [1] St. Euphrosyne's relics were later moved (some believe, in 1187) to Kiev, where they rest in the caves of St. Theodosius.

Then her brother David and her relative Eupraxia, returning to their homeland, to the city of Polotsk, brought the news of the blessed death and honorable burial of St. Euphrosyne.

Having mourned the passing of Blessed Euphrosyne, let us all resolve to remember her in the glory of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, all creatures praised and glorified, now and forever.

On the same day, the relics of St. Leontius, the bishop of Rostov, the miracle worker, are celebrated (in 1164).

I 'm going to have to get back to you .