1 of the 4 great hermits of Bulgaria

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Rev. Joachim of Osogovo

 

Rev. Joachim of Osogovo

 

The Monk Joachim was one of the four great Bulgarian hermits, who by his deeds aroused hundreds and thousands among the Bulgarians to Christian asceticism. The first was St. John of Rila; feats of reverend Joachim were performed in the last half of the 11th century.

Feeling an irresistible desire to labor in seclusion, Joachim prayed to the Lord to show him a secluded place. After praying in the small church of St. New Hradec, he sat down on the church porch.

 

The kind and wealthy boyar of that place entered into a conversation with him, and when Joachim said that he would like to work alone, but did not know a convenient place, the boyar showed him the most convenient place. - Under the wing of the Osogovo mountain, - said the boyar, - at the river. The miserable place in the Babin Dol area is a deep cave, protected by rocks - here is a place for you - save yourself there in the Lord. The monk thanked God for the opened place, close to his desires, and asked the boyar from time to time to remember his poverty with his mercy.

 

Settling in a cave, he labored here for a long time in fasting and kneeling prayers, unknown to anyone. Already before his death, by the providence of God, two hunters attacked him. “You are somehow sad,” the elder told them when they met. - On this mountain, - they answered, - we always had a happy catch, but this time we wandered for several days and did not catch anything. “Children!” answered the elder, “the day is drawing near in the evening; rest with me this night, and tomorrow morning go this way and from the top of the mountain go to your house.

 

In the morning the hunters met the happiest catch on the top of the mountain. One of them came to the elder to thank him for his advice. “God's blessing be with you,” said the elder. Since that time, contentment appeared in the hunters' house. After a short time, the hunters came to visit the old man, but they already found him dead. Grateful, they brought candles to the grave of the reverend until their death. His death followed, as he revealed in his afterlife appearance, "before the great darkness before eight years."

 

A lot of time has passed since then; with imperial Manuel (1143 - 1179) God was pleased to glorify His servant. The priest of the village of Osmidola in the country of Ovchepolskoe Theodore, having become a widow, decided to leave the world and, hearing about the place of exploits of the blessed. Joachim, went to the Osogovo mountain with the determination to become an ascetic in the same place where Joachim spent his equal-angelic life. The Rev. appears to him in a dream and asks: “Where are you going?” Theodore spoke of his desire. The Rev. protected him with the sign of the cross and, taking out a vessel, wiped his head, face and hands with water. “Go, child, in peace,” added the Reverend.

 

Waking up, Theodore washed his face with tears for joy. Having accepted monasticism with the name of Theophan, he built a temple on the site of the deeds of the Rev., found his coffin and, by the repeated appearance of the saint, opened his relics for general edification. Miracles were performed with the relics.

 

Monastery of Joachim of Osogovo, Macedonia

(May the Lord save you, for the photo, http://macedonia-rulit.livejournal.com/)

 

 

In the Serbian synaxar of the XIII century under August 16: "our venerable father Joachim of Osogovo". According to the Serbian chronicle, the pious king Milyutin built a temple to "Holy Father Joachim."

John Chrysostom’s Tale on How Michael Vanquished Satanael – a Bogomil text?

Georgi Minczew (Łódź)

John Chrysostom’s
Tale on How Michael Vanquished Satanael –
a Bogomil text?1

Abstract. The study is an attempt at a comparative analysis of two pseudo-canonical texts: the Slavic Homily of John Chrysostom on How Michael Vanquished Satanael (in two versions) and the Greek Λόγος τοῠ ἀρχηστρατήγου Μιχαήλ, ὃταν ἐπῆρεν τήν στολήν (BHG 1288n). Both texts, very close to each other in terms of the plot, relate an ancient angelomachia between a heavenly emissary and a demiurge expelled from the angelic hierarchy. When examined against the background of dualistic heterodox doctrines on the one hand, and compared to other medieval cultural texts (be they liturgical, iconographical or folkloric) on the other, these works enable insight into how heterodox and pseudo-canonical texts functioned and were disseminated in the medieval Byzantine-Slavic cultural sphere.

The Slavic Homily… is not genetically related to its Greek counterpart, which is only preserved in a Latin, 16th century copy. Rather, it was composed before the 13th century on the basis of another, non-extant model with a content similar to the pseudo-canonical Greek Homily… It is probable to a certain degree that the emergence of the Slavic work is connected with the growing interest in the cult of Archangel Michael in the First Bulgarian Empire, especially in the Diocese of Ohrid.

Certain Gnostic ideas related to dualistic cosmology, as well as cosmogony, angelology and anthropology spread from the Judeo-Christian world to Byzantine literature and culture. Having undergone a number of transformations in the neo-Manichean communities of the Byzantine Empire and Bulgaria, they formed the basis for medieval dualistic cosmogony, as well as angelology and anthropology. Circulated both orally and in written form, beliefs concerning the invisible God, Archangel Michael as a ‘second God’ and the soul’s journey to Paradise became so widespread that they are not only found in heretic texts, but also cited almost verbatim in anti-heretic treatises.

The content and later textual modifications of the Slavic Homily… cast a doubt on the hypothesis concerning its Bogomil origin. Furthermore, it cannot be determined to what extent works such as the Homily… were made use of by (moderate?) Bogomil communities. Even before the 14th century, the text underwent the processes of liturgization and folklorization, as proven by the presence of liturgical quotations (absent from the Greek text), the visualization of the story in sacred space as well as the aetiological legends about Archangel Michael’s fight against the Devil.

The existence of ancient Gnostic ideas in the beliefs propagated by neo-Manichean Balkan heretic teachings, as well as their widespread presence in “high” and “low” texts originating in medieval communities call for a more cautious evaluation of the mutual antagonisms between them. This raises the problem of a wider look at medieval culture, in fact a syncretic phenomenon, where the distinction between the canonical, the pseudo-canonical, the heretic and the folkloric is not always clear-cut.

NEIGHBOUR-STER vs SINNER-STER

THE ART OF READING...

NEIGHBOUR-STER          vs        SINNER-STER

Свт. Тихон Задонский       vs        Станислав Сенькин

Святитель                           vs       Писатель 

/ Ortorussia/

БЛИЖНИЙ СУТЬ –

Свт. Тихон Задонский

ГРЕШНИК СУТЬ –

/ Кто есть грешник для нео-новозаветника? /

Грехом в Ветхом завете называлось преступление закона. Грех предусматривал санкции. По сути ВЗ это древний УК, регулирующий жизнь народа. А грешник это преступник. Христианство изменило понятие греха. Прародитель человечества Адам – грешник и его грех на всех нас. Раз грех является преступлением, он предусматривает санкции. Это болезни и скорби, а в конечном итоге смерть. Христос берет на себя ответственность за человечество и оправдывает Адама.

Новый завет – новое понятие греха – сознательное стремление к злу. Преступление и грех начинают жить своими жизнями. Преступление закона теперь может стать добродетелью, как в случае с мучениками, не желающими воздавать божеские почести императору. У новой системы ценностей появился свой гарант – Христос и школа, дисциплина – церковь.

Считаю, что как школа добродетели и дисциплина, пусть даже с суровым средневековым душком, церковь оказала неоценимую услугу цивилизации. Но цивилизация окрепла и вышла за рамки этой дисциплины. Сейчас обращение к средневековому мышлению дает обратный результат. Вместо ожидаемых перемен личности, эта личность делает шаг назад в средневековье, где все от митрополитов до последнего крестьянина были в той или иной степени грубыми варварами.

Книги о перемене личности к благу – покаянии – писались для средневековых грубых людей и содержат весьма грубую рецептуру. Однако церковь объявляет их "святыми", а писателей – "святыми отцами", которые де не чета современным людям, что является очевидным, хоть и невольным подлогом.

Неофиту в церкви предлагается сначала приобрести православный взгляд на вещи. Он начинает читать утренние и вечерние молитвы в рамках церковной дисциплины. Там звучит одно и то же в разных выражениях и с различными оттенками: я козёл, я козёл, я козёл, но ты меня спаси! Смысл этого самокозления прост – Бог царь, а повинную голову меч не сечёт. Итог этого самопрограммирования плачевен. Через месяцок другой появляется безумный неофит "грешник", вперемешку с самокозлением сыпящий на окружающих громы и молнии в духе пророка Исайи.

Учение церкви сегодня не актуально, что значит не спасительно, поскольку наши иерархи с завидным упорством отказываются загружать последние цивилизационные обновления, боясь "бесовских" вирусов.

И "грешники" в этой системе жертвы, а о бенефициарах уже много сказано.

Станислав Сенькин ( stas_senkin)

Dionysius the Areopagite Letter to a Priest

LETTER VI.
To Sopatros [72] — Priest.

Do not imagine this a victory, holy Sopatros, to have denounced [73] a devotion, or an opinion, which apparently is not good. For neither—even if you should have convicted it accurately — are the (teachings) of Sopatros consequently good. For it is possible, both that you and others, whilst occupied in many things that are false and apparent, should overlook the true, which is One and hidden. For neither, if anything is not red, is it therefore white, nor if something is not a horse, is it necessarily a man. But thus will you do, if you follow my advice, you will cease indeed to speak against others, but will so speak on behalf of truth, that every thing said is altogether unquestionable. 

Dionysius the Areopagite,

Works (1897)

72 Acts xx. 4 [And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.];
Rom. xvi. 21 [Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you.].

73 Tit. iii. 9 [But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.].