[Readingsandsaints] Readings and Saints

[Daily Orthodox Readings and Saints]

Scripture Readings and Saints for Wed Sep 19 2007

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------ READINGS FOR TODAY ----------------------------
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Ephesians 3:8-21
8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was
given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ,
9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which
from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all
things through Jesus Christ;
10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made
known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly
places,
11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ
Jesus our Lord,
12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith
in Him.
13 Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for
you, which is your glory.
14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ,
15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to
be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being
rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and
length and depth and height-
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be
filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that
we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.
Scripture Reading 1 of 2


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Luke 4:1-15
1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the
Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate
nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
3 And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this
stone to become bread."
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word of God.' "
5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the
kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and
their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to
whomever I wish.
7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan! For it is
written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall
serve.' "
9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the
temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself
down from here.
10 For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you, To
keep you,'
11 and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your
foot against a stone.' "
12 And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall
not tempt the LORD your God.' "
13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him
until an opportune time.
14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news
of Him went out through all the surrounding region.
15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
Scripture Reading 2 of 2



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Afterfeast of the Elevation of the Cross
>From September 15 until the Leavetaking, we sing "O come, let us
worship and fall down before Christ. O son of God crucified in the
flesh, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia" at weekday Liturgies
following the Little Entrance.
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Martyr Trophimus of Synnada
The Holy Martyrs Trophimus, Sabbatius and Dorymedon suffered for
Christ during the reign of the Roman emperor Probus (276-282). A pagan
festival was being celebrated in the city of Antioch. Sacrificial
offerings were brought, the wine was poured, and vile acts were
performed. The Christians Trophimus and Sabbatius arrived in the city
just as the festival was taking place, and were saddened by this loud
and indecent spectacle. They prayed that the Lord would guide the
errant on the way of salvation. As they said this, the idolaters
noticed their presence. Seeing that the strangers did not worship the
idols, they arrested them and took them to the governor.
At their interrogation, the saints firmly confessed their faith. When
they were told to renounce Christ, they resolutely refused to do so.
St Sabbatius died under the fierce torment. St Trophimus was sent to
the city of Synnada in Phrygia for even more terrible tortures.
For three days St Trophimus walked shod in iron sandals with sharp
nails, driven on by a cavalry guard. The governor of Frigius,
Dionysius, infamous as a torturer and executioner, used all manner of
tortures to break the will of the brave Christian. St Trophimus merely
repeated the words of Scripture: "many afflictions has the righteous
one, but from them all will the Lord deliver him" (Ps 33/34:20).
The senator Dorymedon, a secret Christian, visited St Trophimus in
prison, washing and binding his wounds. When the pagans learned that
the senator would not participate in the festival of Castor and
Pollux, they asked the reason for his refusal. He said that he was a
Christian, and would not attend a festival in honor of the demons. He
and St Trophimus were thrown to the wild beasts to be eaten by them,
but the martyrs remained unharmed. Then they were beheaded with the
sword.
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Martyr Sabbatius of Synnada
The Holy Martyrs Sabbatius, Trophimus, and Dorymedon suffered for
Christ during the reign of the Roman emperor Probus (276-282). A pagan
festival was being celebrated in the city of Antioch. Sacrificial
offerings were brought, the wine was poured, and vile acts were
performed. The Christians Trophimus and Sabbatius arrived in the city
just as the festival was taking place, and were saddened by this loud
and indecent spectacle. They prayed that the Lord would guide the
errant on the way of salvation. As they said this, the idolaters
noticed their presence. Seeing that the strangers did not worship the
idols, they arrested them and took them to the governor.
At their interrogation, the saints firmly confessed their faith. When
they were told to renounce Christ, they resolutely refused to do so.
St Sabbatius died under the fierce torment.
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Martyr Dorymedon of Synnada
The Holy Martyrs Dorymedon, Trophimus, and Sabbatius suffered for
Christ during the reign of the Roman emperor Probus (276-282).
The senator Dorymedon, a secret Christian, visited St Trophimus in
prison, washing and binding his wounds. When the pagans learned that
the senator would not participate in the festival of Castor and
Pollux, they asked the reason for his refusal. He said that he was a
Christian, and would not attend a festival in honor of the demons. He
and St Trophimus were thrown to the wild beasts to be eaten by them,
but the martyrs remained unharmed. Then they were beheaded with the
sword.
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St Theodore the Prince of Smolensk and Yaroslav
The holy right-believing Prince Theodore of Smolensk and Yaroslavl,
nicknamed the "Black" [i.e. "dark" or "swarthy"], was born at a
terrible time for Rus: the Mongol invasion of 1237-1239. At Baptism he
was named for the holy Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates (February 8),
who was particularly esteemed by the Russian warrior-princes.
Prince Theodore was famed for his military exploits. The child
Theodore was not in the city when, through the prayers of the Most
Holy Theotokos, the holy Martyr Mercurius (November 24) delivered
Smolensk from being captured by Batu In the year 1239. They had taken
him away and hidden him in a safe place during the warfare. In 1240
his father, Prince Rostislav died. He was a great-grandson of the holy
Prince Rostislav of Smolensk and Kiev (March 14).
His elder brothers as heirs divided their father's lands among
themselves, allotting to the child Theodore the small holding of
Mozhaisk. Here he spent his childhood, and here he studied Holy
Scripture, the church services and military science.
In the year 1260, Prince Theodore was married to Maria Vasilievna,
daughter of holy Prince Basil of Yaroslavl (July 3), and Theodore
became Prince of Yaroslavl. They had a son named Michael, but St
Theodore was soon widowed. He spent much of his time on military
campaigns, and his son was raised by his mother-in-law, Princess
Xenia.
In 1277, the allied forces of the Russian princes, in union with the
Tatar forces, took part in a campaign in the Osetian land and in the
taking of "its famed city Tetyakov." In this war the allied forces won
a complete victory. From the time of St Alexander Nevsky (November
23), the khans of the Golden Horde, seeing the uncrushable spiritual
and the military strength of Orthodox Russia, were compelled to change
their attitude. They began to draw the Russian princes into alliances,
and the khans turned to them for military assistance.
The Russian Church made use of these providentially improved relations
for the Christian enlightenment of the foreigners. Already in 1261,
through the efforts of St Alexander Nevsky and Metropolitan Cyril III
at Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, a diocese of the Russian
Orthodox Church was established. In the year 1276, a Constantinople
Council presided over by Patriarch John Bekkos (1275-1282) replied to
questions of the Russian Bishop Theognostus of Sarai concerning the
order for baptizing Tatars, and also for receiving Monophysite and
Nestorian Christians among them into Orthodoxy.
During these years Prince Theodore was at the Horde. Having
distinguished himself by military exploits on the Osetian campaign, he
won the favorable attention of Khan Mengu-Temir, who regarded the
Orthodox Church with respect, and who as Khan issued the first decree
exempting the church from taxes for Metropolitan Cyril.
The Chronicles say: "The emperor Mengu-Temir and his empress were fond
of Prince Theodore Rostislavich, and did not want to permit him return
back to Rus because of his bravery and the comeliness of his face."
St Theodore spent three years at the Horde. Finally, "the emperor sent
him off with great honor," and the prince arrived in Yaroslavl. His
wife Maria had already died, and in the city Princess Xenia ruled with
her grandson Michael. The people of Yaroslavl would not receive the
prince returning from the Horde, "not allowing him to enter the city
but saying to him, 'this is Princess Xenia's city, and Michael is our
prince.'"
St Theodore had to return to the Horde. The empress, wife of khan
Mengu-Temir, "had a great fondness for him and wished for him to marry
her own daughter." Such a marriage had tremendous significance for
Rus. For a long time the Khan would not agree to it, regarding the
Russian princes as mere vassals or subjects.
To give his daughter in marriage to a Russian prince meant to
acknowledge him as an equal. More importantly, it meant that the khan
would acknowledge the primacy of Orthodoxy, since before the wedding,
the Tatar princess had to accept holy Baptism. The khan went along
with this, since an alliance with Russia was very important for him,
"and he ordered his daughter to be given to Prince Theodore, and for
her to be baptized first, and he commanded that the Orthodox Faith not
be insulted." Thus St Theodore was married to the daughter of the
mighty khan, and was baptized with the name Anna. "The emperor held
him in great esteem and commanded that he be seated opposite himself,
he built him a palace, and gave him princes and nobles in retinue."
There at the Golden Horde St Theodore's sons, Prince David and Prince
Constantine were also born. The tremendous influence which St Theodore
gained at the Horde, he used to the glory of the Russian Land and the
Russian Church. Orthodoxy gained strength among the Tatars, and the
Horde began to adopt Russian customs, morals and piety. Russian
merchants, architects, and skilled craftsmen carried Russian culture
to the shores of the Don, the Volga, the Urals and even into Mongolia
itself.
>From this period archeologists find Orthodox icons, and crosses and
lampadas, throughout all the former territories of the Golden Horde,
since included as part of Russia. So began a great missionary movement
of the Russian Church towards the East, and the enlightening of all
the tribes with the light of the Gospel truth all the way to the Great
Ocean (i.e. the Pacific). Russian Orthodox princes and their retinues,
participating as allies in the Mongol campaigns, learned of and became
familiar with the boundless expanses of Asia, Siberia and the Far
East. In the year 1330, more than thirty years after the death of St
Theodore, Chinese chronicles mention Russians in Peking.
St Theodore lived in Sarai until 1290, when "news reached him from
Rus, from the city of Yaroslavl, that his first son, Prince Michael,
had died." Having given the prince rich gifts and a large retinue, the
khan sent him back to Rus. Again he became the prince at Yaroslavl. St
Theodore began zealously to concern himself with strengthening and
building up his city and principality. He had a special love for the
monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
His fame resounded throughout Rus, and all the princes sought
friendship and alliances with him. But most of all, he was fond of the
son of St Alexander Nevsky, Andrew Alexandrovich, supporting him in
all undertakings. When Prince Andrew became Great Prince of Vladimir,
he went with him on military campaigns. He was gladdened by the
victories, and he grieved over his defeat. In 1296, a bloody
fratricidal war was just breaking out between two groups of princes:
on the one side was St Theodore and Great Prince Andrew, and on the
other side, St Michael of Tver (November 22) and St Daniel of Moscow
(March 4). But with the help of God the bloodshed was successfully
averted.
At a meeting of the princes (in 1296) Bishop Simeon of Vladimir and
Bishop Ishmael of Sarai managed to bring peace to both sides. This
fact, that holy Prince Theodore and Bishop Ishmael participated in the
meeting, shows that St Theodore used all his diplomatic talents and
influence at the Horde to establish peace in the Russian Land.
St Theodore the Black's ties to his Smolensk origins were not
sundered, though it would have been difficult for him to be Prince of
Smolensk. Thus, in the year 1297, St Theodore went on a campaign to
Smolensk to reclaim his lawful rights to the Smolensk principality,
which had been usurped by his nephews. But he did not take the city
and become the Prince of Smolensk again.
Soon after this campaign the holy warrior-prince became ill. On
September 18, 1299 the saint gave orders that he be carried to the
Savior-Transfiguration monastery, and there he received monastic
tonsure. Towards the end of the ritual, St Theodore asked that the
service be interrupted. With the blessing of the igumen, and to grant
the wish of the dying prince, they carried him into the monastery
courtyard, where a throng of the Yaroslavl people had already
gathered. "And the prince repented before all the people, if he had
sinned against anyone or held ill-feelings against anyone. He blessed
all those who had sinned against him or borne him enmity, and begged
their pardon. He accepted his responsibility for all his deeds before
God and man." Only after this did the humble warrior achieve his
desire to finish his unusual and much-troubled life's path by
accepting the angelic schema.
All night the igumen and the brethren prayed over the holy prince. At
the second hour of the night they began to ring the bell for Matins.
St Theodore lay silently upon his monk's cot and received the Holy
Mysteries of Christ. When the monks began the third "Glory" of the
Psalter, he made the Sign of the Cross and gave up his soul to the
Lord. His appearance at the grave was extraordinary: "Wondrous indeed
was the appearance of the blessed one. He lay upon the cot not as one
dead, but as one alive. His face shone like as the rays of the sun,
adorned by his venerable grey hair, bearing witness to his purity of
soul and his benevolence."
After him, his son St David (+ 1321) ruled at Yaroslavl. The second of
his sons, Constantine, had evidently died earlier. The Church
veneration of Prince Theodore in the Yaroslavl region began soon after
his death. During the years 1322-1327, Bishop Prochorus of Rostov
commissioned the famous Theodorov Gospel, adorned with miniatures, in
memory of St Theodore. Previously, Bishop Prochorus had been igumen of
the Savior-Transfiguration monastery at Yaroslavl. Actually, he knew
the holy prince personally, and witnessed his tonsure and public
repentance before the people. Historians think that the fine
miniatures sewn into this precious manuscript had come from an earlier
Gospel owned by St Theodore himself, and which he had brought with him
to Yaroslavl as a blessing from his native Smolensk.
On March 5, 1463, at Yaroslavl the relics of holy Prince Theodore and
his sons, David and Constantine were uncovered. The chronicler, an
eyewitness to the event, recorded under that year: "At the city of
Yaroslavl in the monastery of the Holy Savior they unearthed three
Great Princes: Prince Theodore Rostislavich and his sons David and
Constantine, and brought them above the ground. Great Prince Theodore
was a man of great stature, and they placed his sons David and
Constantine beside him. Their stature was less than his. They had lain
in a single grave." The physical appearance of the holy prince so
impressed the eyewitnesses and those present at the uncovering of the
relics, that an account of this was entered into the Prologue (lives
of saints) in St Theodore's Life, and also into the text of the Manual
for Iconographers.
The Life of the holy Prince Theodore the Black was written shortly
after the uncovering of the relics, by the hieromonk Anthony of the
Yaroslav Savior monastery, with the blessing of the Metropolitan
Philip of Moscow and All Rus. Another version of the Life was written
by Andrew Yuriev at the St Cyril of White Lake monastery. A third and
more detailed Life of St Theodore was included in the "Book of Ranks
of Imperial Geneology," compiled under Tsar Ivan the Terrible and
Metropolitan Macarius.
The Russian people composed spiritual songs about Prince Theodore,
which they sang over the centuries in "their destitute wanderings."
The verses glorify the saint's piety and discernment, beneficence and
kind-heartedness, and his concern for building and adorning churches.
The complexity of historical destinies, the roughness of the era, the
multitude of enemies (not personal, but enemies of Russia and the
Church), reveal to us the great exploits of the saintly builders of
the Russian Land.
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St David of Smolensk and Yaroslav
Saint David and his brother St Constantine were sons of the holy
right-believing Prince Theodore of Smolensk and Yaroslavl. They were
born at the Golden Horde. St David ruled at Yaroslavl after his
father. The second son, Constantine, had evidently died earlier.
The relics of Sts Theodore, Constantine and David were uncovered on
March 5, 1463.
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St Constantine of Smolensk and Yaroslav
Saint Constantine and his brother St David were sons of the holy
right-believing Prince Theodore of Smolensk and Yaroslavl. They were
born at the Golden Horde. St David ruled at Yaroslavl after his
father. The second son, Constantine, had evidently died earlier.
The relics of Sts Theodore, Constantine and David were uncovered on
March 5, 1463.
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Martyr Zosimas the Hermit of Cilicia
The Martyr Zosimas the Desert Dweller lived during the fourth century.
Once, while hunting, Dometian, the governor of Sicily, saw the Elder
calmly and amiably conversing with the beasts around him.
Seeing the hunters, the beasts fled. They then interrogated the Elder,
asking who he was and why he lived in the wilderness. The Elder
answered that he was a Christian called Zosimas, and that he could not
live in the city with the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
he lived alone among the wild animals.
Then Dometian said threateningly: "If you worship the Nazarene, I
shall subject you to fierce tortures at Nazareth, and you will
renounce Christ."
When asked what kind of magic he used to tame wild beasts, St Zosimas
replied, "I am a Christian." At Nazareth the tortures began. They tied
the Elder head downwards, with a large stone around his neck, and they
began to lacerate his body with iron hooks.
The torturers taunted the sufferer: "If the beasts do listen to you,
tell one of them to come here, and then we will believe in your God."
The holy martyr turned to God in prayer, and suddenly a huge lion came
forth.
Everyone fled in terror, and the lion went up to the Elder, and began
to lift the stone around the martyr's neck with its paw in order to
ease the suffering of the saint. The governor implored the martyr to
keep the lion calm, and he gave orders to untie the saint, and to
bring him to the emperor, but St Zosimas was already dead, having
given up his pure soul to God.
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St Theodore of Tarsus the Archbishop of Canterbury
Saint Theodore was the eighth Archbishop of Canterbury (668-690), and
one of England's great saints. He was a Greek from Tarsus, the home of
St Paul. He was a highly-educated monk living in Rome who was quickly
advanced through all the clerical ranks and consecrated as Archbishop
of Canterbury at the age of sixty-five. St Adrian (January 9), an
African who was the abbot of a monastery near Naples, was sent to
assist St Theodore.
St Theodore arrived in Kent in 669, when he was almost seventy. In
spite of his age, he was quite energetic, traveling throughout England
founding churches and consecrating bishops to fill those Sees which
were left vacant by an outbreak of plague. He also created new Sees
and established a school in Canterbury where Greek was taught.
In Northumbria, St Theodore settled a dispute involving episcopal
succession. St Wilfrid (October 12) had been elected Bishop of
Lindisfarne (the See was later transferred to York), and he traveled
to Gaul to be consecrated by a Roman bishop, because he would not
accept consecration from a Celtic bishop. In the meantime, St Chad, or
Ceadda (March 2), had been elected and uncanonically consecrated
because Wilfrid remained in Gaul for three years. Although StTheodore
deposed St Chad, he recognized his worthiness to be a bishop. He
regularized the consecration, then sent St Chad to be Bishop of
Mercia. St Wilfred was restored to his See.
St Theodore summoned a council of the entire English Church at
Hertford in 672. Not only was this the first church council in
England, it was the first assembly of any kind attended by
representatives from all over the country. In 679 he convened another
synod at Hatfield to maintain the purity of Orthodox doctrine and to
condemn the heresy of Monothelitism.
St Theodore fell asleep in the Lord in 690, and his body remained
incorrupt for a long time. Under his leadership, the English Church
became united in a way that the various tribal kingdoms did not. The
diocesean structures which he established continue to serve as the
basis for church administration in England. He was respected for his
administrative skills, and also for his moral and canonical decisions.
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Right-believing Great Prince Igor of Kiev and Chernigov
The Holy Prince Igor of Chernigov: The mid-twelfth century was a
grievous time of incessant internecine strife over the Kiev
principality between two princely factions: the Olegovichi and the
Mstislavichi. They were all close relatives, they were all
great-grandsons of Yaroslav the Wise. The Mstislavichi were called
after their father, St Mstislav the Great (April 15), son of Vladimir
Monomakh (from whence their other name: "Monomashichi"). The
Olegovichi were called after the name of Oleg Sviatoslavich (+ 1115),
known as "Gorislavich" because of his bitter ["gore"] fate. Oleg
Gorislavich was the son of the Kievan prince Sviatoslav (+ 1076), who
participated in the Transfer of the Relics of the holy Passion-Bearers
Boris and Gleb in the year 1072 (May 2). Sviatoslav was the owner of
two of the most remarkable theological collections of this time -- the
"Sviatoslav Izbornik [selections from the holy Fathers] of 1073" and
the "Izbornik of 1076."
In certain old Mesyateslovs [Menaia], Prince Sviatoslav himself was
esteemed as a saint of God, but particularly famed were his two
grandsons: St Nicholas Sviatosha (October 14), and Nicholas's first
cousin, the holy Martyr Prince Igor Olegovich, the son of Oleg
Gorislavich.
St Nicholas Sviatosha and St Igor Olegovich represent two different
paths of Christian sanctity in ancient Rus. St Nicholas forsook the
world and his princely duties to become a simple monk. He died in
peace, after nearly forty years at the monastery. St Igor, involved in
the struggle for the Kiev principality by God's will, would blot out
the sin of princely strife by his own martyrdom.
In the year 1138 the Great-principality of Kiev was assumed by Igor's
elder brother, Vsevolod Olegovich (great-grandfather of St Michael of
Chernigov). Although his rule lasted only a few years and was filled
with constant wars, Prince Vsevolod considered Kiev as his own
dominion to bequeath [a view partly in conflict with the complex
"appanage" system, rotating princes on the basis of seniority], and he
decided to bequeath it as an inheritance to his brother Igor. For this
he cited the example of Prince Vladimir Monomakh and said, almost as
if intentionally provoking the Monomashichei: "Vladimir appointed
Mstislav, his son, to follow after him in Kiev, and Mstislav
designated his brother Yaropolk. 'And herewith I declare that if God
should take me, I give Kiev over to my brother Igor.'"
The haughty words of Vsevolod, whom the Kievans did not love, became a
pretext for inciting enmity against his brother Igor and all the
Olegovichi. "We do not want him to inherit," resolved the Kievan
council. The ill-will and arrogance of the prince provoked the
ill-will and arrogance of the Kievans. St Igor, dragged into the very
center of events against his will, became an innocent victim of the
growing hatred.
On August 1, 1146 Prince Vsevolod died, and the Kievans kissed the
cross, accepting Igor as their new prince. Igor kissed the cross and
promised he would rule the people of Kiev justly and defend them. But
the Kievan nobles violated their oath of fidelity when they kissed the
cross, and immediately invited the Mstislavichi to Kiev with their
forces. Beneath Kiev a battle raged between the forces of Prince Igor
and those of Izyaslav Mstislavich. Once again breaking their oath, the
Kievan forces went to Izyaslav's side during the battle. For four days
Igor Olegovich hid himself in the marshes about Kiev. Then they took
him captive, and took him to Kiev and put him in the "blockhouse."
This was on August 13. His princely rule lasted only two weeks.
In order to free a prisoner from the "blockhouse," a dank log house
without windows or doors, it was necessary to "chop" him out of there.
The much-suffering Igor fell grievously ill, and they thought that he
would die. Under these conditions the enemies of the prince decided
"to chop him out" of prison and have him tonsured a schemamonk at the
Theodorov monastery. With the help of God, the prince recovered his
health. As a monk at the monastery, he spent his time weeping and
praying.
The struggle for Kiev continued. Incited by pride and blind hatred,
neither side wanted to give in. Determined to wipe out the line of the
Olegovichi, and all its princes, the Kievan council in the following
year decided to kill the prince-monk.
The Metropolitan and the clergy tried to reason with them and stop
them. The prince ruling at Kiev, Izyaslav Mstislavich, and in
particular his brother Vladimir, tried to avert this senseless
bloodshed, and to save the holy martyr, but they themselves were in
danger from the vicious mob.
The mob rushed into church during the Holy Liturgy and seized Igor,
who was praying before the icon of the Mother of God, and they dragged
him out to kill him. Prince Vladimir halted the mob at the gates of
the monastery. Igor said to him: "Brother, will you forsake me?"
Vladimir jumped down from his horse, wanting to help, and covered him
with his princely cloak while saying to the Kievan people: "Brethren,
do not commit murder!" According to the Chronicle, "Vladimir led Igor
to his mother's palace, and they rushed at Vladimir."
Vladimir succeeded in pushing Igor into the palace and locking the
gates. But the people broke down the gates, and seeing Igor "in the
lofts," they dragged the holy martyr down and murdered him on the
stairway. The vicious mob was so intense, that they subjected the dead
body of the sufferer to further beatings and abuse. Then they dragged
him by his feet to the Desyatina (Tithe) church. They threw him on a
cart, and then "hung him up in the marketplace."
Thus did the holy martyr surrender his soul to the Lord, "and he put
off the perishable robe of mankind, and was clothed in the
imperishable and much-suffering robe of Christ." When on the evening
of the same day the body of St Igor was transferred to the church of
St Michael, "God manifested a great sign, and the candles around him
lit by themselves." On the second morning the holy sufferer was buried
in the monastery of St Simeon, on the outskirts of Kiev.
In the year 1150, Prince Sviatoslav Olegovich of Chernigov transferred
the relics of his brother, St Igor, to Chernigov and put them in the
cathedral of the Savior. The wonderworking Igorov icon of the Mother
of God, before which the martyr prayed before his murder, is in the
Dormition church of the Kiev Caves Lavra (the icon is commemorated on
June 5).
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