Hermogenes, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'

Patriarch Hermogenes (Hermogenes, in the world Ermolai; c. 1530 - February 17 (27), 1612) - the second (actually the third, counting Ignatius) Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' (1606 - 1612, in captivity from May 1 (11), 1611), famous church public figure of the Time of Troubles. Canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. Days of celebration of the Hieromartyr Hermogenes: February 17 (March 1) in a leap year or February 17 (March 2) in non-leap years - repose, as well as May 12 (25) - glorification as a saint.

Hieromartyr Hermogenes (1606 - 1612)

Shilov Viktor Viktorovich

The beginning of the way

Born around 1530. The origins of Hermogenes remain a matter of debate. There are opinions that he is from the Shuisky family, or from the Golitsyns, or of humble origin. Perhaps he came from the Don Cossacks. While still a teenager, he went to Kazan and entered the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, where his religious views were strengthened. The first reliable news about Hermogenes dates back to his service as a priest in Kazan in the late 1570s. In the 1580s he was a priest in Kazan at the Gostinodvor Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. According to contemporaries, the priest Ermolai was already “a man highly adorned with wisdom, graceful in book learning and renowned for purity of life”. In 1579, the miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God appeared. While still a priest, he, with the blessing of the then Kazan bishop Jeremiah, transferred the newly appeared icon from the place of discovery to the church where he served as a priest. In 1587, after the death of his wife, whose name history has not preserved, he became a monk at the Chudov Monastery in Moscow.

Exit of Patriarch Hermogenes.1881Repin Ilya Efimovich

Sketch of an unfinished painting

Metropolitan of Kazan

On May 13 (23), 1589, he was consecrated bishop and became the first Metropolitan of Kazan. On January 9 (19), 1591, Saint Hermogenes sent a letter to Patriarch Job, in which he reported that in Kazan there was no special commemoration of Orthodox soldiers who laid down their lives for the faith and Fatherland near Kazan, and asked to establish a specific day of remembrance of the soldiers. At the same time, he reported on three martyrs who suffered in Kazan for the faith of Christ, one of whom was Russian, named John, captured by the Tatars, and the other two, Stephen and Peter, converted Tatars.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Job 1589-1605

Shilov Viktor Viktorovich

The saint asked permission to include them in the synod, read on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, and to sing to them in eternal memory. In response, the Patriarch sent a decree dated February 25, which ordered “for all Orthodox soldiers killed near Kazan and within Kazan, a memorial service should be performed in Kazan and throughout the Kazan Metropolis on Saturday after the Intercession Holy Mother of God and include them in the large synodikon read on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.” It was ordered that the three Kazan martyrs be included in the same synodik, and the day of their memory was entrusted to determine the day of their memory to Saint Hermogenes. The saint announced a patriarchal decree for his diocese, adding that all churches and monasteries should serve liturgies and memorial services for the three Kazan martyrs and commemorate them at litias and at liturgies on January 24 in the middle of memory.

Vasnetsov V. M. “John of Kazan” (State Tretyakov Gallery)

Saint Hermogenes remained firm in matters of faith and was actively involved in the Christianization of the Tatars and other peoples of the former Kazan Khanate. The following measure was also practiced: newly baptized peoples were resettled in Russian settlements, isolated from communication with Muslims. In September 1592, he participated in the transfer of the relics of Kazan Archbishop German (Sadyrev-Polev) from Moscow to the Assumption Monastery in Sviyazhsk.

Saint Herman

Around 1594, a stone temple was built in Kazan on the site of the appearance of the Kazan Icon; then he compiled “The Tale and Miracles of the Most Pure Mother of God, the Honest and Glorious Appearance of Her Image, Like in Kazan”. In October 1595, he participated in the discovery of the relics of Saints Guria and Barsanuphius, found during the reconstruction of the cathedral in the Kazan Transfiguration Monastery, and compiled their first short life.

Metropolitan Hermogenes was well known in Moscow. He was present during the election of Boris Godunov to the kingdom; participated in a national prayer under Boris at the Novodevichy Convent. In 1595, he traveled to Uglich to discover the relics of the appanage Uglich prince Roman Vladimirovich. False Dmitry included him in the composition Boyar Duma as a famous and influential person. But there Hermogenes showed himself to be an opponent of False Dmitry: he opposed the election of Ignatius as patriarch and demanded Orthodox baptism Marina Mnishek. False Dmitry ordered his expulsion from the Duma and exile to Kazan. They did not have time to carry out the order due to the murder of False Dmitry.

Coronation of Boris Godunov.

Konstantin Makovsky “The Murder of False Dmitry”

Patriarchate

On July 3 (13), 1606 in Moscow, by the Council of Russian Hierarchs, Saint Hermogenes was installed as Patriarch of Moscow. He remained a supporter of Vasily Shuisky, supported him in suppressing the uprising of the southern cities, and desperately opposed his overthrow.

Hieromartyr Patriarch Hermogenes

Moskvitin Philip Alexandrovich

Vasily Ivanovich Surikov. Patriarch Hermogenes in prayer for the overthrow of the Tushino thief

He was an ardent opponent of the seven-boyar system, despite everything, he tried to organize the election of a new tsar from the Russian family (he was the first to offer this position to Mikhail Romanov). Reluctantly, he agreed to recognize Vladislav Sigismundovich as Russian Tsar, subject to his Orthodox baptism and the withdrawal of Polish troops from Russia. After the Poles refused to fulfill these conditions, he began to write appeals to the Russian people, calling them to fight.

Patriarch Hermogenes and the boyars, S. M. Seidenberg

Since December 1610, the Patriarch, while imprisoned, sent letters to cities calling for a fight against the Polish intervention. He blessed both militias called to liberate Moscow from the Poles. Letters sent by the Patriarch to cities and villages excited the Russian people to liberate Moscow from their enemies. Muscovites started an uprising, in response to which the Poles set the city on fire and took refuge in the Kremlin. Together with some traitors from the boyars, they forcibly removed the holy Patriarch Hermogenes from the Patriarchal throne and placed him in custody in the Chudov Monastery.

Patriarch Hermogenes in the dungeon of the Chudov Monastery, R. Matte

On Easter Monday 1611, the Russian militia approached Moscow and began a siege of the Kremlin that lasted several months. The Poles besieged in the Kremlin more than once sent envoys to the Patriarch demanding that he order the Russian militias to move away from the city, threatening him with the death penalty. The saint answered firmly:

“Why are you threatening me? I fear only God. If all of you, Lithuanian people, leave the Moscow state, I will bless the Russian militia to leave Moscow, but if you stay here, I will bless everyone to stand against you and die for the Orthodox Faith.”

Pavel Chistyakov - “Patriarch Hermogenes in prison refuses to sign the letter of the Poles”, 1860

Already from captivity, Hermogenes addressed his last message to the Russian people, blessing the liberation war against the conquerors.

A. Novoskoltsev. "The Death of Patriarch Hermogenes."

The state of the Russian Church; works of Hermogenes

Reviews from contemporaries testify to the Patriarch as a man of outstanding intellect and erudition: “The Sovereign is of great intellect and sense and wise in mind,” “wonderful of great and great reasoning,” “greatly adorned with wisdom and elegant in book teaching,” “every day practicing Divine words and all the books of the Old Law and the New Grace, and the church statutes and legal rules are completely exalted.” Saint Hermogenes worked a lot in monastery libraries, primarily in the rich library of the Moscow Chudov Monastery, where he copied the most valuable historical information from ancient manuscripts, which formed the basis for chronicle records. In the 17th century "Resurrection Chronicle“They call His Holiness Patriarch Hermogenes the chronicler. In the writings of the Primate of the Russian Church and his archpastoral letters there are constantly references to the Holy Scriptures and examples taken from history, which testifies to a deep knowledge of the Word of God and erudition in the church literature of that time. Church activity was characterized by an attentive and strict attitude to worship.

Under him, the following were published: the Gospel, Menaions for September (1607), October (1609), November (1610) and the first twenty days of December, and also the “Great Supreme Charter” was printed in 1610. The Patriarch carefully monitored the correctness of the texts. With his blessing, the service to the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (November 30 (December 13)) was translated from Greek into Russian and the celebration of memory was restored in the Assumption Cathedral. Under the supervision of the high priest, new presses were made for printing liturgical books and a new printing house was built, which was damaged during the fire of 1611, when Moscow was set on fire by the Poles.

Taking care of maintaining decorum, Hermogenes compiled “The message of punishment is to all people, especially to the priest and deacon about the correction of church singing.” "Message"convicts clergy of hazing church services: polyphony, and the laity - in an irreverent attitude towards worship.

St. Hermogenes Patriarch of Moscow

Among his works: The Legend of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and the service to this icon (1594), a letter to Patriarch Job containing information about the Kazan martyrs (1591), a collection that discusses issues of worship (1598), patriotic letters and appeals addressed to the Russian people (1606-1613). The Patriarch wrote to the rebels:

“I appeal to you, former Orthodox Christians, of every rank and age. You have fallen away from God, from truth and the Apostolic Church. I cry, have mercy on your souls. You have forgotten the vows of your Orthodox faith, in which you were born, baptized, raised, and grew up. Look how the Fatherland is plundered and ruined by strangers, how holy icons and churches are desecrated, how the blood of innocents is shed and cries out to God. Who are you taking up arms against? Isn’t it against God who created you, isn’t it against your brothers, isn’t it against your own Fatherland? I conjure you in the name of the Lord God, leave your undertaking while there is time so as not to perish. And we welcome you who repent.”

The Holy Patriarchs Hermogenes and Job perform the Rite of Penance in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin in 1607 (national repentance)

Honor and glorification

In 1652, his remains, by order of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, were transferred from the dilapidated tomb in the Chudov Monastery to the Great Assumption Cathedral. His relics in a wooden tomb upholstered in purple velvet were placed in the southwestern corner of the Assumption Cathedral, where they remain today.

Assumption Cathedral in the 19th century. Painting by Henry Charles Brewer

He was canonized on Sunday May 12 (25), 1913 (the year of the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, a few days before the arrival of the royal family in Moscow) as a martyr; Divine services in the Moscow Kremlin were led by Patriarch Gregory IV of Antioch; was present Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna. Emperor Nicholas II was returning from Berlin to Tsarskoe Selo that day and sent a telegram from Koshedar to the chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, Sabler: “I instruct you to convey to His Holiness Patriarch Gregory<…>, as well as to everyone who prayed for me and my family on the day of glorification of the Holy Martyr Hermogenes, my heartfelt gratitude. I sincerely regret that I could not be at the worship service.”

Cancer of Hermogenes, commissioned by Nicholas II

The first church in honor of the new saint was consecrated by Metropolitan Macarius (Nevsky) on May 13 (26), 1913 - built by the Russian Monarchical Assembly and the Russian Monarchical Union in the dungeon of the Chudov Monastery.

On May 11 and 12 (25), 1913, the solemn opening and transfer of the relics of the saint took place in the Moscow Kremlin into a new shrine, built by the support of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, which was placed under a gilded bronze tent made by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. The celebrations were led by Metropolitan Macarius (Nevsky) of Moscow, and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna and Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod V. K. Sabler were present.

Patriarch Hermogenes at the Monument “1000th Anniversary of Russia” in Veliky Novgorod

In 1916 in No. 9 "Theological Bulletin"(the press organ of the Moscow Theological Academy) a service and akathist to St. Hermogenes were published (the author, presumably, is Archpriest Ilia Gumilevsky).

On May 12 (25), 2013, in honor of the centenary of his canonization, a monument to Patriarch Hermogenes was unveiled in the Alexander Garden near the walls of the Moscow Kremlin. The monument was created by a team led by sculptor S. A. Shcherbakov and architect I. N. Voskresensky.

Monument to Patriarch Hermogenes in the Alexander Garden

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermogenes_(Patriarch_of Moscow)

From time immemorial, God-fearing simple peasant men, wealthy merchants, highly moral, virtuous women, and illustrious rulers became saints in Rus'. The Russian Orthodox people sacredly honor their divine patrons, rely on the protection of the heavenly righteous, seek and find support in them on their own path of spiritual development.

Brief biography of His Serene Lord

Christianity in Russia has many great holy defenders. Patriarch Hermogenes is undoubtedly one of the most significant personalities in the history of Russian Christianity. Much in the biography of this man remains unclear. Until now, historians are engaged in intense debate regarding the significant milestones of his life and fate.

The biography of Patriarch Hermogenes is full of guesswork. It is known for certain that he was born in Kazan and was named Ermolai. The exact date of his birth is unknown; historians place it at 1530. There is also no clear information about the social origin of the patriarch. According to one version, Hermogen belongs to the Rurikovich-Shuisky family, according to another, he comes from the Don Cossacks. Historians are more inclined to believe that the future Saint Hermogenes, Patriarch of Moscow, was still of humble origin, most likely he was a simple person “from the people.”

Hermogenes' first steps in Orthodoxy

Ermolai began his service in the Kazan Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery as an ordinary cleric. He became the parish priest of the Church of St. Nicholas of Kazan in 1579, took part in the ceremony of finding the face of the Kazan Mother of God and wrote “The Legend of the Appearance and Miracles of the Image of the Kazan Mother of God,” which was subsequently sent to Tsar Ivan the Terrible himself.

A few years later, Hermogenes accepted monasticism and soon became first abbot and then archimandrite of the Kazan Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery. Hermogenes' elevation to the rank of bishop and his appointment as Metropolitan of Kazan and Astrakhan took place in May 1589.

And even now, in the midst of a raging crowd, this elder tried to calm the people with the righteous word of God, to convince them “not to succumb to the devil’s temptation.” This time the coup was not successful, largely thanks to the wisdom and firmness of the word spoken by the patriarch. But still, about three hundred people treacherously managed to escape to the camp of the new impostor in Tushino.

A turning point in the Russian Troubles

Meanwhile, events began to occur in the state that contributed to changing the course of the Troubles. On one of the cold winter days of February 1609, Vasily Shuisky concludes an agreement with the Swedish ruler Charles IX. A detachment of Swedish soldiers was sent to Novgorod and placed under the command of the Tsar’s nephew, Voivode Skopin-Shuisky.

The Russian and Swedish military forces united in this way successfully attacked the army of the Tushino impostor and expelled them from the north-west of Russia. The signing of the treaty by Shuisky and Charles IX and the entry of the Swedish armed forces into Russian soil gave impetus to the start of open military offensives by the Polish king Sigismund against Russia. In the autumn of the same year, the Polish army approached Smolensk, counting on an easy capture of the city. But it was not there!

Smolensk courageously and valiantly, almost two many years, resisted the onslaught of the Poles. In the end, most of the Polish army relocated from near Tushin to besieged Smolensk, and at the end of the year the impostor himself fled from Tushin to Kaluga. In the early spring of 1610, the rebel camp was completely defeated and already on March 12, the capital's people enthusiastically greeted Skopin-Shuisky's army. Threat

The capture of Moscow by the troublemakers had passed, which, however, did not at all mean the end of the war with two aggressors at once - the impostor hiding in Kaluga and Sigismund, who was densely settled near Smolensk.

Shuisky's position at this time became somewhat stronger, when suddenly his nephew-hero Skopin-Shuisky suddenly died. His death leads to truly catastrophic events. The Russian army, advanced to Smolensk against the Poles, under the command of the sovereign's brother, was completely defeated near the village of Klushino. Hetman Zholkiewski, at the head of the Polish army, marched on Moscow and occupied Mozhaisk. The impostor, having gathered the remnants of the army, quickly moved towards the capital from the south.

Deposition of Tsar Vasily. Disgrace of the Patriarch

All these fatal events finally decided the fate of Vasily Shuisky. In the middle of the summer of 1610, rebels entered the Kremlin, captured the boyars, Patriarch Hermogenes, shouting about the deposition of the tsar, was forcibly removed from the Kremlin. The Lord of the Church was unsuccessful in calming down the raging crowd again; this time she did not hear him. The last king Belonging to the ancient family of Rurikovich, he was dethroned from the Russian throne, forcefully tonsured as a monk and “exiled” to the Tsar’s Square, located (before its destruction) in the eastern part of the Moscow Kremlin.

Hermogenes, Patriarch of Moscow, even now did not renounce serving God and Tsar Vasily, whom, despite everything, he considered the true anointed to the Russian throne. He did not recognize Shuisky’s tonsure as a monk due to the fact that an indispensable condition for taking tonsure is the pronunciation of the words of the vow out loud directly to those who become a monk.

In the case of Vasily’s tonsure, the words of renunciation from all worldly things were pronounced by Prince Tyufyakin, one of the rebels who forcibly overthrew the king from the throne. By the way, Patriarch Hermogenes later called Tyufyakin a monk. With the deposition of Shuisky, according to historians, the state-political activity of the Bishop ends and his earnest service to Orthodoxy begins.

The boyars completely seized power in the capital. The Patriarch falls into disgrace, the government, nicknamed the “Seven Boyars,” is deaf to all the demands, initiatives, advice and recommendations of Hermogenes. And yet, despite the suddenly deaf boyars, it was at this time that his calls sounded most loudly and firmly, which gave the strongest impetus to the awakening of Russia from the “devilish sleep.”

The fight for the Russian throne

After the deposition of Vasily, he stood before the boyars the most important question- who to make the new Tsar of Rus'. To resolve this issue, it was convened Zemsky Sobor, points of view on which the rulers were divided. Hermogenes persisted in the opinion of returning Vasily Shuisky to the throne, or, if this was impossible, by anointing one of the Golitsyn princes or the minor son of the Metropolitan of Rostov, Mikhail Romanov, to the throne.

According to the instructions of the patriarch in all Orthodox churches they say prayers to God for the election of Boyars, in turn they advocate for the election of the son of the Polish ruler Sigismund, Tsarevich Vladislav, to the Russian throne. The Poles seemed to them the least evil in comparison with the self-proclaimed False Dmitry II and his Tushino “army”. Only the Patriarch realized how disastrous for Russia the path chosen by the boyars would be.

The boyars, who did not listen to Hermogenes, began to negotiate with the Polish government. The result of these negotiations was the agreement of the Seven Boyars to be anointed to reign. And here the patriarch showed all the strength of his character. He put forward several strict conditions - Vladislav would not be able to become the Russian Tsar without accepting the Orthodox faith, the baptism of the prince must occur before his arrival in Moscow, Vladislav would only have to marry a Russian girl, and cease all relations with the Catholic Pope and Catholicism in all its manifestations. The ambassadors sent to the Poles with these demands returned without a clear answer, to which the patriarch said that if the prince refused to be baptized, there would be no further negotiations about anointing him on royal throne there will be no speech.

Betrayal of the Seven Boyars

Again, an embassy headed by Metropolitan Philaret and Prince Golitsyn is sent to Sigismund with a clear order from the Patriarch to urgently demand that Vladislav accept Orthodoxy. Hermogenes blessed the ambassadors, giving the order to stand firmly on this demand and not succumb to any tricks of the Polish king.

And then the Patriarch suffered a new blow. On September 21, at night, the boyars treacherously opened the capital gates to the Polish army led by Hetman Zholkiewski. The Bishop tried to be indignant at this action. But the boyars responded to all the indignation to the patriarch that the church had no business interfering in worldly affairs. Sigismund decided to take the Russian throne himself, in fact simply annexing Rus' to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A considerable number of boyars wished to swear allegiance to the Polish king. In its turn Russian ambassadors firmly carried out the orders of the patriarch, unwaveringly defending the state interests of the state of Russian and Orthodox Christianity.

One day, Vladyka Hermagen addressed the Russian people, exhorting the laity to oppose the election of the Polish ruler as Tsar of Rus'. The patriarch’s passionate speech, filled with righteousness, achieved its goal and found a response in the soul of the Russian people.

The boyars sent another letter agreeing to the accession of King Sigismund to the throne, but due to the absence of the signature of His Serene Patriarch, the Russian ambassadors said that from time immemorial on Russian soil any business, whether state or secular, began with advice Orthodox clergy. And since in these difficult times the Russian state is left without a tsar, then there is no one else to be the main arbiter except the patriarch and it is impossible to resolve any matter without his command. The angry Sigismund stopped all negotiations, the ambassadors returned to Moscow.

On a winter evening in 1610, False Dmitry II was brutally murdered, which caused real rejoicing among the Russian people. Calls for the expulsion of the Poles from Russian land began to be heard more and more often. Some testimonies from the Poles themselves about this time have survived to this day. They say that the Patriarch of Moscow secretly distributed orders throughout the cities, in which he calls on the people to unite and quickly move to the capital to defend the Christian Orthodox faith and expel foreign occupiers.

Monument to Patriarch Hermogenes on Red Square in Moscow:

Firmness of faith and feat of the Patriarch

And again a threat crept up on Patriarch Hermogenes. Traitors and Polish henchmen decided to separate the patriarch from the whole world in order to stop the delivery of the patriarch's appeals to the people.

On January 16, 1611, troops were brought into the patriarchal courtyard, the courtyard was plundered, and the Bishop himself was subjected to humiliation and ridicule. But despite the almost complete isolation, the calls of the Russian Hierarch Orthodox Church spread among the people. Cities of Russia have once again risen to defend the state. The people's militia rushed to the walls of the capital to liberate it from the Polish invaders. In February 1611, traitors deposed the Patriarch and imprisoned him in a dark dungeon at the Chudov Monastery, where they starved him and humiliated his dignity in every possible way.

Vladyka Hermogenes accepted martyrdom on January 17. Although historians have no clue on this issue consensus. According to some accounts, the Patriarch died of starvation; according to others, he was deliberately poisoned with carbon monoxide or brutally strangled.

Some time after the death of the elder, Moscow was freed from the presence of Poles in it, and on February 21, 1613 Russian throne occupied by Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, for whom Hermogenes undoubtedly prayed to the Lord God.

Initially, the patriarch was buried in the Chudov Monastery. Subsequently, it was decided to transfer the body of the Bishop to the Assumption Cathedral - the pantheon for the highest clergy of Moscow. At the same time, it turned out that the relics of the saint remained incorruptible, so the remains were not lowered into the ground. The canonization of the patriarch took place in 1913.

Among the holy defenders of our Fatherland, the Hieromartyr Patriarch Hermogenes stands on a par with the blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky and the Monk Sergius of Radonezh. The main feat of his life - firm opposition to the reign of a heterodox sovereign over Russia, an inspired preaching of the liberation of the country from foreign invaders - Patriarch Hermogen accomplished already in old age. He witnessed his words with martyrdom. This time is the most difficult in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was brought by circumstances almost to the edge of its existence, which is why it was nicknamed the Time of Troubles. In such times, the Lord found among His servants those who could strengthen the Orthodox Christian people, sending them hope and support in the person of the most zealous and devoted earthly servants to Him.

About the first half of the life of Saint Hermogenes, only fragmentary information has reached us. The year of his birth is determined on the basis of the testimony of the Poles, who claimed that in 1610 only the “octogenarian patriarch” opposed them. Therefore, this is 1530. There are suggestions that his homeland is Kazan. Its origin also remains a matter of debate. Some claim that he is from the family of princes Golitsyn, others from the Don Cossacks, others from the posad clergy. According to the testimony of the Patriarch himself, he was initially a priest in the city of Kazan at the Gostinodvorsky Church in the name of St. Nicholas.

It was to him, in 1579, then still presbyter Ermolai, that God destined to witness the miraculous appearance of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, and to be the first to “take from the earth” the priceless image, and then solemnly, with a procession of the cross, bring it into the temple. At this time, 50-year-old Hermogenes was a priest of the Gostinnodvorsky Church in Kazan. Later, when he was already the Kazan Metropolitan, the saint compiled a written “ The legend about the appearance of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and the miraculous healings that took place from it" He also composed stichera and canons for the service on the day of the appearance of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God; imbued with high religious inspiration, the troparion known to every Orthodox person “ Zealous Intercessor" also belongs to Saint Hermogenes.

Soon (apparently after the death of his wife) he became a monk and from 1582 was the archimandrite of the Transfiguration Monastery in Kazan. On May 13, 1589, he was consecrated bishop and became the first Metropolitan of Kazan.

It was a difficult task to strengthen Orthodoxy among a population that had been Muslim since ancient times, and Hermogenes, with his wise and virtuous mentoring, sought to prevent the weakening of faith in areas where, deep down, people still retained an inclination towards Islam. Mosques were placed almost next to the Kazan Monastery, and this increased the likelihood that newly converted Christians, communicating with their Muslim acquaintances and loved ones, could turn away from Christian faith, which extremely upset Saint Hermogenes. Saint Hermogen remained firm in matters of faith and was actively involved in the Christianization of the Tatars and other peoples of the former Kazan Khanate. The following measure was also practiced: newly baptized peoples were resettled in Russian settlements, isolated from communication with Muslims.

When the Kazan Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery was being rebuilt - this was in 1595, while digging ditches for the foundation of a new stone church building, coffins with the relics of the first Kazan saints - Guria and Barsanuphius - were found. Saint Hermogenes opened the coffins, and everyone saw that the remains of the saints turned out to be incorrupt. The remains were placed in arks by Hermogenes himself and presented for worship above ground. This event had an inspirational effect on the saint himself, on those present, and on the entire newly converted flock! At the same time, Metropolitan Ermogen composed a service for the discovery of the holy relics of the saints.

For his outstanding archpastoral qualities, Metropolitan Hermogen was elected to the primate see.

In it Time of Troubles The impostor False Dmitry was in power, posing as the miraculously saved youngest son of Ivan IV the Terrible, Tsarevich Dmitry. He swore allegiance to the Polish king Sigismund III and promised to introduce Catholicism in Russia. But on May 17, 1606, the boyar party of V. Shuisky raised an uprising in Moscow. False Dmitry was killed, his corpse lay on Red Square for several days, then it was burned, and his ashes were loaded into a cannon, firing in the direction from which he came. On May 25, 1606, Vasily Shuisky became king.

And already on July 3, 1606, under the new Tsar Vasily Shuisky, Metropolitan Ermogen was elevated by the Council of Saints to the Patriarchal throne in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral. Metropolitan Isidore presented the Patriarch with the staff of St. Peter, and the Tsar presented the new Patriarch with a panagia decorated precious stones, white hood and staff. According to the ancient rite, Patriarch Ermogen made a procession on a donkey ( Orthodox rite which took place in the Russian state on holiday Palm Sunday and symbolized the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem on a donkey)

Procession on a donkey

Elected to the patriarchate at the age of 70, at difficult times During the Time of Troubles, when Russia and the Russian Church were in extreme danger of enslavement and heterodox captivity, Saint Hermogen, in the words of Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov), “stood up more zealously, courageously and unwaveringly than anyone else for both.”

With special inspiration, His Holiness the Patriarch opposed the traitors and enemies of the Fatherland who wanted to introduce Uniateism and Catholicism in Russia and eradicate Orthodoxy, enslaving the Russian people.

The death of False Dmitry I was known reliably only to Moscow and the surrounding area. The Russian periphery did not have accurate information on this matter, and the desire to believe in a “legitimate”, “natural” tsar was very great. The chaos of turmoil continued. And in this chaos a new false savior appeared - False Dmitry II. Prince Grigory Shakhovskoy and a number of other boyars joined him. A rumor was spread that Dmitry was not killed in Moscow, but managed to escape (he “miraculously” escaped a second time). Surrounded by Polish troops, Zaporozhye and Don Cossacks, and many other wandering people, False Dmitry II appeared within Russia in August 1607, and on June 1, 1608 he came close to Moscow, setting up a camp in Tushino. Many boyars from Moscow began to run to the Tushinsky thief, as this impostor was called then.

Fearing neither the shameless impostor False Dmitry, nor the powerful Polish king Sigismund, Saint Hermogen, in the face of traitors and enemies of the Fatherland, became the spiritual head of the entire Russian land.

Camp of False Dmitry II in Tushino

When the impostor False Dmitry II approached Moscow and settled in Tushino, Patriarch Ermogen sent two messages to the rebellious traitors. In one of them he wrote:

« ...You have forgotten the vows of our Orthodox faith, in which we were born, baptized, raised and grown, you have broken the kiss of the cross and the oath to stand until death for the house of the Most Holy Theotokos and for Moscow State and fell to your falsely imaginary king... My soul hurts, my heart hurts, and all my insides are tormented, all my limbs tremble; I cry and cry out with sobs: have mercy, have mercy, brothers and children, your souls and your parents, departed and living... Look how our Fatherland is being plundered and ruined by strangers, how holy icons and churches are being desecrated, how the blood of innocents is being shed, crying out to God. Remember against whom you take up arms: is it not God who created you? not on your brothers? Are you ruining your Fatherland?... I conjure you in the Name of God, leave your undertaking while there is time, so as not to perish completely».

In another letter, the High Hierarch called: “ For God's sake, know yourself and convert, make your parents, your wives and children, and all of us happy; and we will pray to God for you...».

Soon, God's righteous judgment was carried out on the Tushinsky thief: he suffered the same sad and inglorious fate as his predecessor; he was killed by his own confidants on December 11, 1610. But Moscow continued to remain in danger, since there were Poles and traitorous boyars loyal to Sigismund III in it.

King Sigismund Korolevich Vladislav

We will not describe all the twists and turns of this difficult time; they are sufficiently described. Let's talk about the main thing. Tsar Vasily Shuisky aroused strong boyar opposition against himself. Having called upon the Swedish king Charles IX, against whom Sigismund III had already fought, for help against the Poles, Shuisky put Russia in a state of “official” war with Poland. The Poles began open intervention. A large army of Poles approached Moscow. The interventionists besieged the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, which they were never able to take during the 16-month siege.

S.D. Miloradovich. Defense of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra

Sigismund himself, who was besieging Smolensk, now demanded that his son, Prince Vladislav, be elevated to the Russian throne. Difficult negotiations took place with him, in which Metropolitan Philaret also participated - biological father future Tsar Mikhail Romanov. Patriarch Ermogen initially acted in favor of Shuisky. But when this tsar was finally overthrown in July 1610, the patriarch proposed 14-year-old Misha Romanov to the kingdom. However, the patriarch's voice was not heard then.

Ermogen had to give in to the boyar party that supported Vladislav under the pretext that Moscow did not have the strength to defend itself from Polish intervention. Reluctantly, the saint agreed to recognize Vladislav Sigismundovich as Russian Tsar, subject to his Orthodox baptism and the withdrawal of Polish troops from Russia. But the Moscow boyars, without reckoning with the patriarch, allowed the Poles into Moscow and sent a special embassy with a letter that Russia was surrendering itself “to the will” of the Polish king.

V. Chistyakov. The Patriarch refuses to sign the letter of the Poles

And then something happened that was the decisive moment of all events and brought the whole country out of the chaos of turmoil, from circumstances that seemed completely hopeless. The patriarch did not sign the above-mentioned letter of surrender of Russia. And when boyar Saltykov rushed at him with a dagger, he replied: “I’m not afraid of your knife! I am protected from it by the power of the cross of Christ.” As a result, there was no agreement with Sigismund and no capitulation to him. This is what one such protocol formality as a signature means at a decisive moment (in in this case- its absence!)

This gave spiritual and legal grounds to Russian cities to oppose the Poles in defense of their fatherland. Patriarch Hermogenes, through “fearless people,” sent messages to Russian cities and towns with calls not to obey the Poles and not to believe impostors. The inspired calls of the Patriarch were heard by the Russian people and stirred up the liberation movement.

The urban movement alarmed the Poles and their supporters. They demanded that Hermogenes write to all cities so that they would not go to liberate Moscow. With this, boyar Saltykov came to him again. “I will write,” answered Hermogenes, “... but only on the condition that you and all the traitors with you and the king’s people leave Moscow... I see the desecration of the true faith from heretics and from you, traitors, and the destruction of God’s holy churches and I can’t do it anymore.” hear Latin singing in Moscow."

Hermogenes was imprisoned in the Chudov Monastery and began to starve. Already from prison, the holy martyr Hermogenes addressed his last message to the Russian people, blessing the liberation war against the conquerors.

Patriarch Hermogenes in the dungeon of the Chudov Monastery (February 1612)

Meanwhile, people's militias reached Moscow. At the suggestion of Patriarch Hermogenes, the Kazan Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was brought from Kazan (most likely a copy of the original), which became the main shrine of the militia of Cosmas Minin Sukhorukov and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. Before her after strict fasting The almost desperate Russian army tearfully prayed, preparing for the final assault on Moscow. On October 22, 1612, the militia captured Kitai-Gorod, and on the 26th the Kremlin surrendered.

Patriarch Hermogenes did not live to see this have a bright day. He languished in severe captivity for more than nine months, and on January 17, 1612, he died a martyr in captivity in the Chudov Monastery.

There is a later legend that before his death, the patriarch sprouted oats in the dungeon and he was found dead kneeling among the green shoots.

A. Novoskoltsev. Death of Patriarch Hermogenes

The first to hastily enter the Assumption Cathedral in armor was his neighbor boyar, Prince Khvorostinin, who was in the militia, and excitedly asked: “Show me the grave of our father! Show me the grave of the leader of our glory!” And when they showed her to him, he fell to her and cried long and bitterly.

In 1652, the remains of the patriarch were transferred from the dilapidated tomb in the Chudov Monastery to the Great Assumption Cathedral, where they remain today. The glorification of the patriarch, which took place on May 12, 1913, coincided with the 300th anniversary of the death of the saint and the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov (a few days before the arrival of the royal family in Moscow).

Burial place of Patriarch Hermogenes in the Assumption Cathedral. Photo from 1913

Contemporaries testify to Patriarch Hermogenes as a man of outstanding intelligence and erudition: “The Sovereign is great in reason and sense and wise in mind,” “he is highly adorned with wisdom and elegant in book teaching,” he was called the adamant of faith.

Under him, the following were published: the Gospel, the Menaion of Menstruation, and the “Great Supreme Rule” was also printed. The Patriarch carefully monitored the correctness of the texts. With his blessing, the service to the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called was translated from Greek into Russian and the celebration of memory was restored in the Assumption Cathedral. Under the supervision of the high priest, new presses were made for printing liturgical books and a new printing house was built, which was damaged during the fire of Moscow in 1611.

Concerned about maintaining decorum, Saint Hermogen composed a “Message of discipline to all people, especially priests and deacons, on the correction of church singing.” The “Message” denounces the clergy for the unregulated performance of church services: polyphony, and the laity for their irreverent attitude towards divine services.

The name of the saint, hero, intercessor of the Russian Land, who for a long time He was almost “one warrior in the field”, held, by the will of God, the most difficult defense against encroachments on the honor, sovereignty and faith of Orthodox Rus', and will forever remain in memory as an example of unbending courage and fidelity to the oath given to God and his people.

Hermogenes or Hermogenes?

In all publications until the moment of glorification in 1913, the patriarch is referred to as Hermogenes. But after glorification he becomes Hermogenes. This decision was made by the Holy Synod, because His Holiness Patriarch Hermogenes himself signed the name Hermogenes.

And according to the American historian Gregory Freeze, the main reason is that Hermogenes was the name of the disgraced Bishop of Saratov, who actively opposed Chief Prosecutor Sabler and Grigory Rasputin. To avoid confusion and the name of the new saint not to be associated with the name of the disgraced bishop, the Synod restored the ancient spelling of the patriarch’s name - “Hermogenes”.

Troparion, tone 4
The day of a bright triumph has arrived, / the city of Moscow rejoices, / and with it Orthodox Rus' rejoices / with songs and spiritual songs: / today is a sacred triumph / in the manifestation of the honest and multi-healing relics / of the saint and wonderworker Hermogenes, / like the unsetting sun, rising with radiant rays, / dispelling the darkness of temptations and troubles / from those who cry out truly // save us, as our representative, the great Hermogenes.

Kontakion, tone 6
We exhaust you with prison and famine, / you remained faithful even to death, blessed Hermogenes, / driving away cowardice from the hearts of your people / and calling everyone to a common feat. / Likewise, you overthrew the wicked rebellion and you established our country, / let us all call to you: // Rejoice, intercessor of the Russian land.

Memorial Days: 12/25 May, 17 February/(1)2 March
Date of Birth: 1530
Date of death: 17 February 1612
Ordination date: May 13, 1589
Holy relics are located in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral
The Russian Orthodox Church glorified Patriarch Hermogenes as a hieromartyr on May 12, 1913. In 2013, Orthodox Christians celebrate the 100th anniversary of the canonization.

Sschmch. They pray to Hermogenes for the strengthening of faith in difficult life circumstances, for the healing of spiritual and moral ailments, and in serious illnesses.

Life of His Holiness Patriarch Hermogenes

Immortal in the grateful memory of posterity is the great name of His Holiness Hermogenes, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. But history, unfortunately, clearly and in detail remembers only the second half of the high priest’s life, which illuminated him with the glory of a martyr for the Orthodox faith and his fatherland. About the first half of the life of Saint Hermogenes, only a few, fragmentary and vague, news have reached us. Who was Saint Hermogenes by origin, how he grew up and was brought up, who planted them in his soul, which later bore “hundred-fold fruit” - the seeds of selfless love for the Orthodox Church and native land, - history does not give a direct answer to all these questions.

About the youth of His Holiness the Patriarch

Saint Hermogen was born around 1530, probably in places along the Volga or near the Don: a distant legend calls Kazan the birthplace of the patriarch; Polish news reports about his stay in his youth on the Don. The glorious high priest of the Russian land, in any case, was not of noble origin. On one of the icons in Vyatka there is a record that in 1607 Patriarch Ermogen blessed his son-in-law, a townsman in Vyatka, Korniliy Ryazantsev, with the icon. If Saint Hermogen had come, as some think, from the princely family of the Shuiskys or Golitsyns, then, of course, the husband of his close relative would not have been a townsman: Ancient Rus' strictly adhered to a custom that had not lost its significance, which required that father-in-law and son-in-law be at least approximately equal in social status. More likely than others is the opinion that Patriarch Ermogen “belonged to the number of the townsman tax people or to the townsman clergy.” This is evidenced by the fact that among the patriarch’s relatives there were people of clergy: one priest and five monks; and he himself was a priest before he was tonsured as a monk; Moreover, the entire life of Saint Hermogenes known to us, surrounded by the spirit of churchliness, leads us to assume that the future high priest grew up in a spiritual environment. Saint Hermogen probably studied in one of those theological schools that, by virtue of the resolution of the Council of the Hundred Heads (1551), were located at the houses of clergy or at monasteries. They think that the teacher of Saint Hermogen was Herman, later the (second) Archbishop of Kazan, a husband, according to contemporaries, “highly intelligent, a zealous researcher Holy Scripture" It is possible that it was Saint Herman, as a bookish man, who instilled in Saint Hermogenes the love for the word of God that distinguished him and for the writing of religious, moral and church-historical content that was circulating in Rus' at that time.

Finding of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God

The first definite news about Saint Hermogenes comes in 1579. At this time, 50-year-old Ermogen was, on his own instructions, a priest at the Gostinnodvorskaya Church in Kazan. Of course, Saint Hermogen could have taken this place earlier than the year mentioned: they think that it was Saint Hermogen who referred to “a certain visionary speech” (that is, a prediction) about the abbot of the Transfiguration Monastery, sent “to a cleric living in the world,” to the saints Barsanuphius, Bishop of Tver (1571-1576), who lived in retirement in the said monastery.

The end of the 70s of the 16th century was a difficult time for the religious and moral life of the Kazan region. In 1576, Saint Barsanuphius, the last of the great trinity of Kazan educators of the teachings of Christ, died. Burning with true missionary zeal, Saint Barsanuphius, an expert in foreign languages ​​and free doctor, was equally dear to both Russians and foreigners of the Kazan region. With his death, Christian Kazan felt as if orphaned, abandoned: it lived with memories of glorious educators, illuminated by the aura of apostolic greatness in the feat of enlightening foreigners. To top off the loss, in 1579, in June, a fire destroyed half of the Kremlin, most of Kazan Posad, everything shopping arcades, the Grand Duke's Palace and the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, in which were the graves of Saints Guria and Barsanuphius. In such a great disaster, the Mohammedans, who were generally unfriendly towards their recent victors, saw God’s wrath on the Orthodox, among other things, for the worship of icons. Remembering this time, Saint Hermogenes later wrote: “Then the true Orthodox faith was a proverb and a reproach; there was no healing source in Kazan at that time.”

But in these difficult days for the Orthodox Church in the newly conquered region, the Lord did not hesitate to provide gracious help and encouragement. The terrible fire of 1579 began with the house of the archer Daniil Onuchin. On the site of this house, where the cold church of the Kazan Convent is now located, on July 8, an icon of the Mother of God miraculously appeared. The news of the appearance of the “Diligent Intercessor” was greeted with reverent joy by the Christian population of Kazan: they realized that “the blessed icon - an inexhaustible source” - God gave to the Orthodox of the Kazan region, “let not the pagans say, where their God is, they believe in Ungozhe... . may their lips be stopped... and the Orthodox faith may be established.” All the people flocked to the place where the miraculous image appeared; here the governors and the clergy, led by Archbishop Jeremiah, gathered; Among the latter was the Nikolo-Gostinnodvorsky priest, the future Patriarch Ermogen. Everyone united before the icon of the Mother of God in a feeling of high religious tenderness, which evoked tears of praise and gratitude to the Lord God and the Most Pure One. This feeling also gripped the soul of Saint Hermogenes: although “he was stony-hearted, he still shed tears,” he says about himself, “and fell to the miraculous icon and to the Eternal Child Savior Christ.” With the blessing of the archbishop, Saint Hermogenes was honored to be the first to take the image of the Mother of God “from the tree,” which marked the location of the icon in the ground from which it was dug; then, showing the people the honest image as the victorious banner of Orthodoxy, Saint Hermogen carried it in solemn procession, with a huge crowd of worshipers, to the neighboring church of St. Nicholas of Tula. It was probably not without the participation of Saint Hermogenes that a brief account of the appearance of the icon of the Mother of God was compiled and sent to Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible. At the site of the appearance of the image, the king ordered the construction of a wooden temple in honor of the Mother of God, which marked the beginning of the first convent in Kazan. Subsequently, in 1594, already being Metropolitan of Kazan and Astrakhan, Saint Hermogen wrote a detailed “Tale of the appearance of the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in the city of Kazan”; He also composed stichera and canons for the service on the day of the appearance of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God; Warmed by a deep religious feeling and imbued with high religious inspiration, the troparion “The Zealous Intercessor”, known to every Orthodox person, also belongs to Saint Hermogenes. Since 1579, the thread of news about Saint Hermogenes until 1587 is broken. This year he takes monastic vows, as one must think, in Moscow, in the Chudov Monastery: the latter is called his “promise,” i.e., the place where he embarked on the path of monastic achievement, having given the initial vows of monasticism. At the same time, or soon after, Saint Hermogenes was elected abbot, and then elevated to the rank of archimandrite of the Kazan Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery. Saint Hermogen accepted this election with tenderness before the memory of the founder and first abbot of the monastery, Saint Barsanuphius. “And I, the indecent one,” he writes about himself, “happened in that holy monastery to be fifth after him (i.e., Barsanuphius), to stand in his place and hold his staff in my hand.”

After three years of ruling the monastery, which was spent mainly in the work of restoring the burnt-out (in 1579) monastery, Saint Hermogen in 1589 (May 13) was elevated to the Kazan See and began a series of Kazan and Astrakhan metropolitans. For seventeen years, Metropolitan Hermogenes held the staff of the Kazan High Hierarch with great dignity, ruling, like a true shepherd of Christ, the diocese, which embraced the vast eastern and southeastern region. The leadership of the diocese, in the southeastern regions of which church and civil life was just beginning, and in the northern regions it was difficult to strengthen among a diverse population of different faiths, required wise prudence from Saint Hermogenes. Time also called for careful vigilance. The years of the bishopric of Saint Hermogenes in Kazan marked the beginning of that “ruin” of the Russian state, which is known in the history of our homeland under the name of the “Time of Troubles” and which almost brought Orthodox Rus' to the brink of destruction. On May 15, 1591, in Uglich, Tsarevich Dimitri, the only brother of the childless Tsar Theodore, died at the hands of a hired killer. The mysterious death of the prince, which still remains a mystery, ending the Rurik dynasty, gave rise to dark rumors and different rumors among the people. The latter, of course, reached Kazan. A man of great statesmanship and completely devoted to the homeland, the Metropolitan was well aware of the danger the violent death of the prince could pose to Rus'. These assumptions were especially true in relation to the Kazan region with its foreign population, who had not yet forgotten their independent life, isolated from Rus'. In addition, among foreigners who converted to Orthodoxy, the spirit of living religious faith that was generated by the apostolic works of the first great enlighteners of Kazan began to gradually disappear. During this difficult time of emerging turmoil, Metropolitan Ermogen declared himself a zealot for Orthodoxy and nationality.

Metropolitan of the Kazan See

Upon entering the department, Metropolitan Ermogen called the newly baptized foreigners to cathedral church and taught them, instructing them in Christian life. But the missionary activity of the archpastor met with such cold and blind indifference among the Kazan governors that the saint was forced to write to the Tsar and Patriarch about the decline of the mission and the weakness of the newly baptized in the Orthodox faith. Many of the newly baptized Tatars and other foreigners, having only visibly accepted Christianity, remained Mohammedans in their souls. Living among the Tatars, Chuvash, Cheremis and Votyaks, the converts led the same way of life, not typical of Christians: they did not go to the temple of God, did not wear crosses, did not keep honest icons in their houses, did not call priests or spiritual fathers to their homes they didn’t have children, they didn’t baptize, they got married in the Tatar way, even after the wedding in the church they kept concubines in addition to their wives, they didn’t observe fasts, “and they kept many other customs shamelessly and didn’t get used to Christianity.” Observing the unbelief of the converts, the Tatars not only did not get baptized, but directly cursed Christianity; Not only that, many of the Russians, living with wealthy Mohammedans, fell away from Orthodoxy; others who served among those resettled after Livonian War In the Kazan region, Germans, voluntarily or for money, accepted either Catholicism or Protestantism, leaving the faith of their fathers. Saint Hermogen saw the reason for such sad phenomena, in addition to the neighboring communication of new Christians with infidels, in the absence of the required number of churches, while mosques were erected by the Tatars even near Kazan Posad - “just like shooting from a bow” - which had not happened before. In response to this report from Saint Hermogenes, a royal letter was received (dated July 18, 1593) addressed to the Kazan authorities about the eviction of the newly baptized to a new settlement in Kazan, allocating them with land from the palace lands closest to Kazan, with a ban on building mosques and with an order to destroy those built " by mistake” of secular authorities. For the future, the Tatars and Germans were forbidden to keep Russian people in their service.

For the same purposes of strengthening the principles of Orthodoxy in the consciousness of the flock and the spiritual unification of the metropolis with the indigenous Russian regions, Saint Hermogen brings out from oblivion the memory of the martyrs, fighters and workers for the Orthodox faith and the Russian land in the Kazan region. On January 9, 1592, Saint Hermogen wrote to Patriarch Job that in Kazan there is still no special commemoration of the Orthodox commanders and soldiers who died on the battlefield near Kazan and within the Kazan region, “on whose bones Christian and Russian Kazan stood.” The Metropolitan asked to establish a specific day for their commemoration, so that throughout the Kazan Metropolis they would sing requiems for them and serve mass. At the same time, Saint Hermogen wrote to the patriarch about those forgotten martyrs who accepted death in Kazan for confessing the name of Christ. The saint collected information about them by reading records that existed before him in Kazan, and by interviewing reliable persons; of these martyrs, one - John - was a Russian from Nizhny Novgorod, taken prisoner by the Tatars, and two - Stephen and Peter - were converted Tatars. Saint Hermogenes grieved that these martyrs were not included in the synod, which is read on the week of Orthodoxy, and they are not sung everlasting memory. Soon, Saint Hermogen received a letter of response from Patriarch Job. In it, the Patriarch blessed all Orthodox soldiers killed near Kazan and within its borders to perform a memorial service throughout the Kazan Metropolis on the first Saturday after the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos and to include them in the large synodikon read on the Sunday of Orthodoxy; The patriarch ordered the names of the three Kazan martyrs to be included in this synodik; The patriarch allowed the day of remembrance to be appointed by Metropolitan Hermogen himself. Announcing the patriarchal decree for the diocese, Saint Hermogen personally ordered that liturgies and memorial services for the Kazan martyrs in all churches be celebrated on January 24 - the day of John’s martyrdom.

In 1592, Metropolitan Ermogen took an active part in glorifying the memory of his teacher and educator of Kazan, Archbishop Herman of Kazan, who was taken by force (in 1566) to the Moscow metropolitan throne, then incurred the unjust wrath of Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible and, on his orders, was expelled from metropolitan chambers: Saint Herman died in Moscow on November 6, 1567 during a pestilence and was “buried in the rank of hierarchs” at the Church of Saint Nicholas the Wet. Residents of the city of Sviyazhsk, in which Saint Herman labored before his elevation to the priesthood and founded the glorious missionary activity of the Assumption Theotokos Monastery, asked Tsar Theodore Ioannovich and Patriarch Job to allow them to transfer the relics of the archpastor to their city. This petition to the authorities was strongly supported by Saint Hermogenes. Permission was given, and with the blessing of the patriarch, Metropolitan Hermogen met the relics of Saint Herman in Sviyazhsk, saw and touched them, and then “honestly” buried them in the Assumption Monastery. In 1595, during the reconstruction of the Kazan Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, while digging ditches to lay a new stone church, the tombs of the Kazan saints were discovered: Guria, the first Archbishop of Kazan, and Barsanuphius. Having arrived with the entire consecrated cathedral, Metropolitan Hermogenes opened first the tomb of Saint Gurias, and then Saint Barsanuphius: the bodies of the saints of God turned out to be incorruptible. Saint Hermogenes transferred the relics into arks and placed them above the ground for veneration. During the discovery of the relics of Saints Guria and Barsanuphius, Metropolitan Hermogenes found and then again interred the remains of the disciples of Saint Guria, the monks Jonah and Nektarios, in the world of boyars from the family of Zastolbsky. By order of the tsar and the blessing of the patriarch, Metropolitan Ermogen compiled the lives of Guria and Barsanuphius, the Kazan wonderworkers. It was probably at the same time that Saint Hermogen composed the service for the discovery of the relics. Drawing the attention of his flock to glorious faces and events from the recent past in the church life of the Kazan region for edification, Metropolitan Hermogen intensively built churches. In this way he satisfied the urgent need for churches, of which there were very few in the newly conquered region, and, moreover, he sought to show his flock in a visual, tangible way the power and greatness of Orthodoxy.

While in Moscow to be ordained a metropolitan, Saint Hermogen personally petitioned the pious Tsar Theodore Ioannovich to build a stone church at the site of the appearance of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and to decorate the honorable icon with dignity. Burning with the spirit of warm faith, the king went to meet the intercession. By his order, in 1594, on April 14, a “wonderful stone church” was founded in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos, with two chapels - the Dormition of the Mother of God and St. Alexander Nevsky. The temple was consecrated on October 27 of the following year (1595). The Tsar supplied the new temple of the Kazan monastery with everything necessary: ​​books, vestments, local icons; Among the latter, the image of “Deesis”, overlaid with silver, stood out. The most revealed icon of the Lady was richly decorated with gold, precious stones and large pearls from the royal treasures. From the royal treasury money, bread and “everything needed” were given to sixty nuns and elders of the monastery. With the assistance of Saint Hermogenes, by order of the king and the blessing of the patriarch, a majestic stone church was erected in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the Transfiguration Monastery. In 1601, Metropolitan Ermogen from the bishop's lands ceded to the city of Kazan to expand the settlement of Zabulachnaya Sloboda; He resettled the metropolitan people who were in it to the village of Kulmameteva, transforming the latter into the village of Arkhangelskoye. The saint built a temple here in the name of the Archangel Michael; Moreover, both the temple itself, and all its utensils and the entire church building, among other things, cells for the poor, were created at the expense of the metropolitan treasury. Saint Hermogen built a temple in the name of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica on the outskirts of the city, in Yagodnaya Sloboda. Main temple In honor of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary under Metropolitan Hermogenes, Kazan was enriched with icons of the Deesis, holidays and prophets; These icons were overlaid with silver in basma. The founding of the men's (now women's) Feodorovsky monastery in Kazan dates back to the time of St. Hermogen's administration of the Kazan metropolis.

On January 7, 1598, Tsar Feodor Ioannovich died, in whose person the last Rurikovich went to his grave. The throne of the Russian state was occupied (February 17) by Boris Feodorovich Godunov. With two archimandrites of the Kazan monasteries, Metropolitan Ermogen participated in the Moscow Council, which elected Boris Godunov to the throne; He also participated in the national prayer under the Novodevichy Convent, when the population of Moscow, led by the clergy, begged Boris, who had taken refuge behind the walls of the monastery with his widowed sister-queen, not to hesitate, but to accept his election to the throne. Very little news has been preserved about the activities of Metropolitan Hermogenes during the reign of Boris Godunov, mainly talking about the temple-building works of the Kazan High Hierarch.

Contents: ; ;
Venerable Elena Diveevskaya. At the age of 17, noblewoman Elena Vasilyevna Manturova, who aspired to a secular life, was miraculously turned to spiritual life through a vision of a terrible serpent about to devour her. She shouted: “Queen of Heaven, save me! I give you an oath - never to get married and go to a monastery!” The serpent immediately disappeared. After this incident, Elena Vasilievna changed, began to read spiritual books, and pray a lot. She longed to go to the monastery as soon as possible, fearing the wrath of the Queen of Heaven for not fulfilling the vow she had made. But only three years later, Rev. Seraphim blessed Elena Vasilievna to enter the Diveyevo Kazan community, testing her all this time. “The monastery is not your path,” Father said, “you will get married, and you will have a most pious groom...” Only later did Elena Vasilyevna understand what kind of groom Father Seraphim was talking about: he meant the Heavenly Bridegroom - the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
At first, Elena lived in a closet in the common sister’s cell, then in a small cell built by her brother, which she shared with her former servant Ustinia Andreeva, who was released, and after her death with novices Ksenia Vasilievna Putkova and Agafia Petrovna Volokova. With the blessing of St. Serafima E. performed a special daily prayer rule(akathist, Psalter, selected psalms and the rule from Matins), before lunch I constantly read the Jesus Prayer, and after - “Most Holy Theotokos, save us!” Along with the evening rule, I read the Jesus Prayer and the Holy Prayer 100 times. Mother of God. The elder commanded Elena to remain silent, answering briefly only when necessary. She spun flax and learned to weave. She ate baked potatoes and flat cakes, ate once a day on Wednesday and Friday, and slept on a stone bed covered with a rug. Being educated, Elena repeatedly carried out various assignments for St. Seraphim, concerning the acquisition of land for the construction of a cathedral and the consecration of churches, wrote letters to benefactors. Together with the sisters of the community, she dug a ditch for the Queen of Heaven.
In 1826, Rev. Seraphim intended to make Elena the head of the Kazan community instead of the ill Ksenia Mikhailovna Kocheulova. In 1827, Rev. Seraphim established the Mill girls' monastery in Diveyevo, to which he transferred 7 sisters from the previous community. He appointed Elena as the boss, but she humbly refused.
Father Seraphim ordered the sisters of the Mill Convent to bless and treat Elena Vasilyevna Manturova as their boss. Although Elena Vasilievna lived in the Kazan community until the end of her days, Father spoke about her to the mill sisters: “Your lady! Boss! But this embarrassed the young ascetic so much that she repeated: “I have always obeyed you in everything, but I can’t do this! Better order me to die at your feet...” Elena Vasilievna, along with other sisters, worked on obediences and, in addition, as a “verbal worker,” as Father put it, she carried out many difficult assignments. Unusually kind by nature, she helped the sisters a lot in secret. According to the commandment given to her by Father, she remained silent and constantly prayed.
In 1827-1830 With the funds from the sale of her estate with her brother, the Churches of the Nativity of Christ and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary were built at the Kazan Church for the sisters of 2 Diveyevo communities. From the time of the consecration of the temples attached to the Kazan Church (the Nativity of Christ and the Nativity of the Virgin Mary), Father Seraphim appointed Elena Vasilievna as a churchwoman and sacristan. For this she was tonsured into the ryasophore.
One day, her brother Mikhail, also a faithful disciple of the Monk, became seriously ill, and the Elder said to the nun Elena: “He needs to die, mother, but I still need him for our monastery. So here’s your obedience: die for Mikhail Vasilyevich!” “Bless me, Father,” she humbly replied. After this, Father Seraphim talked with her for a long time. “Father, I’m afraid of death,” admitted Elena Vasilievna. “Why should you and I be afraid of death, my joy! For you and me there will be only eternal joy." As soon as she stepped beyond the threshold of the priest’s cell, she immediately fell... The father brought her to her senses, but, returning home, she went to bed with the words: “Now I won’t get up again!”
She died at the age of 27, having spent only seven years in the Diveyevo monastery. Elena Vasilyevna was extremely beautiful and attractive in appearance, round-faced, with quick black eyes and black hair, and tall.
At that same hour, Father Seraphim, having foreseen in spirit, hastily and joyfully sent the sisters who worked for him in Sarov to Diveevo, saying: “Hurry, quickly come to the monastery, there your great mistress has gone to the Lord!”
All this happened on May 28/June 10, 1832, on the eve of the feast of Pentecost, and the next day, on Trinity itself, during the funeral Liturgy and the singing of the Cherubic Song, in front of everyone present in the church, the late Elena Vasilievna, as if alive, smiled joyfully three times his coffin.
She was buried next to the grave of the founder, Mother Alexandra, on the right side of the Kazan Church. Many lay people were going to be buried in this grave more than once, but Mother Alexandra, as if not wanting this, performed a miracle each time: the grave was filled with water and burial became impossible. Now that grave remained dry, and the coffin of the righteous woman and prayer book of the Seraphim Monastery was placed into it.
Of the images of Elena Vasilievna that remained in the monastery: the icon of the Yeletskaya Mother of God from 1773 in a silver and gilded robe, her parental blessing; icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God in foil; The icon of the Savior carrying the cross was made in wax with multi-colored beads by Elena Vasilievna herself. Their whereabouts are currently unknown.
Miracles and healings happened more than once at Elena Vasilievna’s grave. These incidents were recorded in the monastery before the dispersal, but they have not reached us. The sisters living in the monastery went every day to Elena Vasilievna’s grave to bow and pray: “Our Lady and Mother Elena, remember us at the Throne of God in the Kingdom of Heaven.” The sisters ask for her help in everyday affairs and receive what they ask for.
Veneration of St. Elena Diveevskaya's death began in Diveevo shortly after her death. Since the late 50s. XIX century The monastery recorded miracles and healings that took place at her grave (the records have not survived). After the closure of the Diveyevo Monastery in 1927 and the subsequent closure of the Kazan parish church in 1937, the graves near the temple were demolished. In July 1991, excavations were carried out, revealing the burial places of St. Alexandra, St. Martha, St. Helena and Motovilov. The grave mounds were restored and crosses were erected. At the end of September 2000, in connection with the preparation of the glorification of St. Alexandra, St. Martha and Helena excavations were carried out, during which the relics of the ascetics were discovered on September 27. On December 22, 2000, St. Elena, together with other ascetics, was canonized as locally venerated saints of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese.
The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2004 glorified it for church-wide veneration. The relics are located in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seraphim Monastery of Diveyevo.

Troparion, tone 1:

With the virtues of meekness, humility and abstinence, you shone forth, the mysterious head of the Mill Community in Diveyevo, our reverend mother Elena, even to death you remained in obedience to the Elder Seraphim and you were vouchsafed to behold the Lord, ask us also for boldness in Him Serve the One for the salvation of our souls.

Kontakion, tone 5:

Having lived a pious life as a monk and finished her path in her youth, having prepared herself with obedience, fasting and eternally inseparable prayer for the meeting of the Bridegroom, God-wise Elena, we pray to you: deliver us from troubles with your prayers, blessed one.

(www.diveevo.ru; pravenc.ru; www.st-nikolas.orthodoxy.ru; illustrations - www.diveevo.ru; www.nne.ru; www.ioannpredtecha.ru; www.nasledie-rus.ru; tikho .narod.ru).