Lives of all saints commemorated on March 14

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is dedicated to Saint John Klimakos, the author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent. In this book the Igoumen of Saint Katherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai bears witness to the great effort which is required for entry into God’s Kingdom (Matthew 10:12). The spiritual struggle of the Christian life is difficult since it is “not against flesh and blood, but against ... the rulers of the present darkness ... the hosts of wickedness in heavenly places ...” (Ephesians 6:12). Saint John encourages the faithful in their efforts for, as the Lord has said, only “he who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13).

Saint John was born around the year 525, the son of devout and wealthy parents. He received a very good education, but at the age of sixteen, he forsook the world and went to Mount Sinai, subjecting himself to the spiritual guidance of Elder Martyrios. When he was nineteen years of age,¹ his Elder reposed. Then Saint John entered the arena of hesychasm, visiting the monastic communities of Skḗtē and Tabénnisē in Egypt. For another forty years, he lived in a cell at Thora in the Sinai Desert, which was a two hour (5 mile) walk from the Monastery of Saint Katherine.

Aflame with indescribable longing for God, he ate everything that was permitted by the monastic Rule, but only in very small quantities, and not unto satiety. By so doing, he overcame the vice of pride; and by eating just a little food, he humbled the stomach, which always wants more. He raised his body from death and paralysis by the remembrance of death, and he overcame the tyranny of anger with the sword of obedience.

Who can describe the fountain of his tears, which is now to be seen in very few individuals? He slept only as much as was necessary to prevent his mind from being distracted. Before going to sleep he prayed a great deal, and he also wrote books. This was how he subdued despondency. His entire life was spent in unceasing prayer, and incomparable love for God.

After writing The Ladder at the request of Igoumen John of Raithu Monastery, and leading a God-pleasing life, Saint John fell asleep in the Lord when he was about seventy-five years old (ca. 603). He is also commemorated on March 30.

The inscription on his icon is from Step 7:2. It reads: "Compunction is a perrenial trial of the conscience, which brings about the cooling of the fire of the heart through mental confession. And confession is a forgetfulness of nature, since someone because of this forgot to eat his bread."²

¹ This was his monastic age. He was, in fact, thirty-five years old.
² Psalm 101:5 (Septuagint) "Him that speaks privily against his neighbor, him have I driven from me; he that is proud in look and insatiable in heart - with him I have not eaten."

Saint Benedict, founder of Western monasticism, was born in the Italian city of Nursia in the year 480. When he was fourteen years of age, the saint’s parents sent him to Rome to study. Unsettled by the immorality around him, he decided to devote himself to a different sort of life.

At first Saint Benedict settled near the church of the holy Apostle Peter in the village of Effedum, but news of his ascetic life compelled him to go farther into the mountains. There he encountered the hermit Romanus, who tonsured him into monasticism and directed him to live in a remote cave at Subiaco. From time to time, the hermit would bring him food.

For three years the saint waged a harsh struggle with temptations and conquered them. People soon began to gather to him, thirsting to live under his guidance. The number of disciples grew so much, that the saint divided them into twelve communities. Each community was comprised of twelve monks and was a separate skete. The saint gave each skete an igumen from among his experienced disciples, and only the novice monks remained with Saint Benedict for instruction.

The strict monastic Rule Saint Benedict established for the monks was not accepted by everyone, and more than once he was criticized and abused by dissenters.

Finally he settled in Campagna and on Mount Cassino he founded the Monte Cassino monastery, which for a long time was a center of theological education for the Western Church. The monastery possessed a remarkable library. Saint Benedict wrote his Rule, based on the experience of life of the Eastern desert-dwellers and the precepts of Saint John Cassian the Roman (February 29).

The Rule of Saint Benedict dominated Western monasticism for centuries (by the year 1595 it had appeared in more than 100 editions). The Rule prescribed the renunciation of personal possessions, as well as unconditional obedience, and constant work. It was considered the duty of older monks to teach the younger and to copy ancient manuscripts. This helped to preserve many memorable writings from the first centuries of Christianity.

Every new monk was required to live as a novice for a year, to learn the monastic Rule and to become acclimated to monastic life. Every deed required a blessing. The head of this cenobitic monastery is the igumen. He discerns, teaches, and explains. The igumen solicits the advice of the older, experienced brethren, but he makes the final decisions. Keeping the monastic Rule was strictly binding for everyone and was regarded as an important step on the way to perfection.

Saint Benedict was granted by the Lord the gift of foresight and wonderworking. He healed many by his prayers. The monk foretold the day of his death in 547. The main source for his Life is the second Dialogue of Saint Gregory.

Saint Benedict’s sister, Saint Scholastica (February 10), also became famous for her strict ascetic life and was numbered among the saints.

Saint Theognostus the Greek succeeded Saint Peter (August 25 and December 21) as Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, holding this office from 1327 until 1353. It was through his influence that the Grand Prince Simeon sent money to the Byzantine Emperor John Cantacuzene for repairs to the Great Church of Hagia Sophia.

Saint Rostislav-Michael, Great Prince of Kiev, was the son of the Kievan Great Prince Saint Mstislav the Great (June 14), and the brother of holy Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel (February 11, April 22, and November 27). He was one of the great civil and churchly figures of the mid-twelfth century.

His name is connected with the fortification and rise of Smolensk, and both the Smolensk principality and the Smolensk diocese.

Up until the twelfth century the Smolensk land was part of the Kievan realm. The beginning of its political separation took place in the year 1125, when holy Prince Mstislav the Great, gave Smolensk to his son Rostislav (in Baptism Michael) as an inheritance from his father, the Kievan Great Prince Vladimir Monomakh. Thanks to the work and efforts of Saint Rostislav, the Smolensk principality, which he ruled for more than forty years, expanded and was built up with cities and villages, adorned with churches and monasteries, and became influential in Russian affairs.

Saint Rostislav founded the cities of Rostislavl, Mstislavl, Krichev, Propoisk, and Vasiliev among others. He was the forefather of the Smolensk princely dynasty.

In 1136 Saint Rostislav succeeded in establishing a separate Smolensk diocese. Its first bishop was Manuel, installed between March-May of 1136 by Metropolitan Michael of Kiev. Prince Rostislav issued an edict in the city of Smolensk assuring Bishop Manuel that he would provide him with whatever he needed. On September 30, 1150 Saint Rostislav also ceded Cathedral Hill at Smolensk to the Smolensk diocese, where the Dormition cathedral and other diocesan buildings stood.

Contemporaries thought highly of the church construction of Prince Rostislav. Even the sources that are inclined to report nothing more about it note that “this prince built the church of the Theotokos at Smolensk.” The Dormition cathedral, originally built by his grandfather, Vladimir Monomakh, in the year 1101 was rebuilt and expanded under Prince Rostislav. The rebuilt cathedral was consecrated by Bishop Manuel on the Feast of the Dormition, August 15, 1150. Prince Rostislav was a “builder of the Church” in a far wider sense: he endowed the Smolensk Dormition church of the Mother of God, and transformed it from a city cathedral into the ecclesiastical center of the vast Smolensk diocese.

Holy Prince Rostislav was the builder of the Smolensk Kremlin, and of the Savior cathedral at the Smyadynsk Boris and Gleb monastery, founded on the place of the murder of holy Prince Gleb (September 5). Later his son David, possibly fulfilling the wishes of his father, transferred the old wooden coffins of Saints Boris and Gleb from Kievan Vyshgorod to Smyadyn.

In the decade of the fifties of the twelfth century, Saint Rostislav was drawn into a prolonged struggle for Kiev, which involved representatives of the two strongest princely lines: the Olgovichi and the Monomakhovichi.

On the Monomakhovichi side the major contender to be Great Prince was Rostislav’s uncle, Yurii Dolgoruky. Rostislav, as Prince of Smolensk, was one of the most powerful rulers of the Russian land and had a decisive voice in military and diplomatic negotiations.

For everyone involved in the dispute, Rostislav was both a dangerous opponent and a desired ally, and he was at the center of events. This had a providential significance, since Saint Rostislav distinguished himself by his wisdom regarding the civil realm, by his strict sense of justice and unconditional obedience to elders, and by his deep respect for the Church and its hierarchy. For several generations he was the bearer of the “Russkaya Pravda” (“Russian Truth”) and of Russian propriety.

After the death of his brother Izyaslav (November 13, 1154), Saint Rostislav became Great Prince of Kiev, but he ruled Kiev at the same time with his uncle Vyacheslav Vladimirovich. After the latter’s death, Rostislav returned to Smolensk, ceding the Kiev princedom to his other uncle, Yurii Dolgoruky, and he removed himself from the bloodshed of the princely disputes. He occupied Kiev a second time on April 12, 1159 and he then remained Great Prince until his death (+ 1167). More than once, he had to defend his paternal inheritance with sword in hand.

The years of Saint Rostislav’s rule occurred during one of the most complicated periods in the history of the Russian Church. The elder brother of Rostislav, Izyaslav Mstislavich, a proponent of the autocephaly of the Russian Church, favored the erudite Russian monk Clement Smolyatich for Metropolitan, and wanted him to be made Metropolitan by a council of Russian bishops, without seeking the usual approval from the Patriarch of Constantinople. This occurred in the year 1147.

The Russian hierarchy basically supported Metropolitan Clement and Prince Izyaslav in their struggle for ecclesiastical independence from Constantinople, but several bishops headed by Saint Niphon of Novgorod (April 8), did not recognize the autocephaly of the Russian metropolitanate and shunned communion with it, having transformed their dioceses into independent ecclesial districts, pending the resolution of this question. Bishop Manuel of Smolensk also followed this course. Saint Rostislav understood the danger which lay hidden beneath the idea of Russian autocephaly for these times, which threatened the break-up of Rus. The constant fighting over Kiev among the princes might also lead to a similar fight over the Kievan See among numerous contenders, put forth by one princely group or another.

The premonitions of Saint Rostislav were fully justified. Yurii Dolgoruky, who remained loyal to Constantinople, occupied Kiev in the year 1154. He immediately banished Metropolitan Clement and petitioned Constantinople for a new Metropolitan. This was to be Saint Constantine (June 5), but he arrived in Rus only in the year 1156, six months before the death of Yurii Dolgoruky (+ May 15, 1157). Six months later, when Saint Rostislav’s nephew Mstislav Izyaslavich entered the city on December 22, 1157, Saint Constanine was obliged to flee Kiev, while the deposed Clement Smolyatich returned as Metropolitan. Then a time of disorder began in Russia, for there were two Metropolitans.

All the hierarchy and the clergy came under interdict: the Greek Metropolitan suspended the Russian supporters of Clement, and Clement suspended all the supporters of Constantine. To halt the scandal, Saint Rostislav and Mstislav decided to remove both Metropolitans and petition the Patriarch of Constantinople to appoint a new archpastor for the Russian metropolitan See.

But this compromise did not end the matter. Arriving in Kiev in the autumn of 1161, Metropolitan Theodore died in spring of the following year. Following the example of Saint Andrew Bogoliubsky (July 4), who supported his own fellow ascetic Bishop Theodore to be Metropolitan, Saint Rostislav put forth his own candidate, who turned out to be the much-suffering Clement Smolyatich.

The fact that the Great Prince had changed his attitude toward Metropolitan Clement, shows the influence of the Kiev Caves monastery, and in particular of Archimandrite Polycarp. Archimandrite Polycarp, who followed the traditions of the Caves (in 1165 he became head of the monastery), was personally very close to Saint Rostislav.

Saint Rostislav had the pious custom of inviting the igumen and twelve monks to his own table on the Saturdays and Sundays of Great Lent, and he served them himself. The prince more than once expressed the wish to be tonsured a monk at the monastery of Saints Anthony and Theodosius, and he even gave orders to build a cell for him.

The monks of the Caves, a tremendous spiritual influence in ancient Rus, encouraged the prince to think about the independence of the Russian Church. Moreover, during those years in Rus, there was suspicion regarding the Orthodoxy of the bishops which came from among the Greeks, because of the notorious “Dispute about the Fasts” (the “Leontian Heresy”). Saint Rostislav’s pious intent to obtain the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople for Metropolitan Clement came to naught. The Greeks believed that appointing a Metropolitan to the Kiev cathedra was one of their most important prerogatives. This served not only the ecclesiastical, but also the political interests of the Byzantine Empire.

In 1165 a new Greek Metropolitan arrived at Kiev, John IV, and Saint Rostislav accepted him out of humility and churchly obedience. The new Metropolitan, like his predecessor, governed the Russian Church for less than a year (+ 1166). The See of Kiev was again left vacant, and the Great Prince was deprived of the fatherly counsel and spiritual wisdom of a Metropolitan. His sole spiritual solace was the igumen Polycarp and the holy Elders of the Kiev Caves monastery and the Theodorov monastery at Kiev, which had been founded under his father.

Returning from a campaign against Novgorod in the spring of 1167, Saint Rostislav fell ill. When he reached Smolensk, where his son Roman was prince, relatives urged him to remain at Smolensk. But the Great Prince gave orders to take him to Kiev. “If I die along the way,” he declared, “put me in my father’s monastery of Saint Theodore. If God should heal me, through the prayers of His All-Pure Mother and Saint Theodosius, I shall take vows at the monastery of the Caves.”

God did not fulfill Saint Rostislav’s last wish to end his life as a monk of the holy monastery. The holy prince died on the way to Kiev on March 14, 1167. (In other historical sources the year is given as 1168). His body, in accord with his last wishes, was brought to the Kiev Theodosiev monastery.

Saint Euschemon the Confessor, Bishop of Lampsacus, lived in Asia Minor on the coastal region of the Dardanelles peninsula, and was known for his virtuous and ascetic life. He suffered for the holy icons under the iconoclast emperor Theophilus (829-842), and having been imprisoned, he was sent into exile and died.

The Saint Theodore—Kostroma Icon of the Mother of God was painted by the Evangelist Luke, and it closely resembles the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.

The Icon received its name from the Great Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (+ 1246), the father of Saint Alexander Nevsky, and in Holy Baptism he was named Theodore in honor of Saint Theodore Stratelates (Stratēlátēs). According to Tradition, the Icon was found by his older brother, Saint George (February 4), in an old wooden chapel near the city of Gorodets. Later, the Saint Theodore—Kostroma Monastery was built on the site. Prince Yaroslav (Theodore) became Great Prince of Vladimir after his brother Saint George perished in battle with the Mongols at the Sit' River. In the year 1238, and he solemnly transferred his brother's relics from Rostov to the Dormition cathedral at Vladimir. Yaroslav (Theodore) gave the Icon which he inherited from his brother to his own son, Saint Alexander Nevsky, who married Princess Bryachislava of Polotsk in that same year.

Prince Yaroslav (Theodore) is renowned in Russian history. He continued with the glorious traditions of his uncle Saint Andrew Bogoliubsky (July 4), and of his father Vsevolod III Big-Nest; and he was connected to almost every significant event in the history of Rus' in the first half of the XIII century. The land was burnt and devastated by the Mongols in 1237-1238. He raised it up from the ashes, rebuilding and beautifying cities, monasteries, and churches. He also restored the cities of Kashin, Uglich, Yaroslavl’, Kostroma, and Gorodets, along the Volga.

Prince Yaroslav (Theodore) founded he church of Saint Theodore Stratelates at Kostroma and the Saint Theodore Monastery near Gorodets, in honor of his patron Saint. For eight years he ruled as Great Prince, but he had to guide the land on a most difficult path, maintaining a military-political balance with the Golden Horde to the east, while mounting an active opposition to Catholic Europe in the west. His closest companion was his son, Saint Alexander Nevsky, who also continued his father's policies.

The Dormition Cathedral was built in Kostroma specifically for the Saint Theodore—Kostroma Icon, with a chapel dedicated to Saint Theodore Stratelates.

Once, as the Tatars approached Kostroma, the Russian militia came out to meet them, carrying with them the Holy Icon of the Mother of God. When the armies stood facing each other, an unknown horseman raced between them. His crimson cloak fluttered in the wind, and his gilded shield shone like the sun. The Russians recognized the Holy Great Martyr Saint Theodore Stratelates, but the Tatars were stricken with terror, and they fled the battlefield. That is how Kostroma was saved.

Another version of this event says that when Khan Batoy of the Golden Horde approached the city of Gorodets, its inhabitants had no time to take their precious Icon with them. In 1239 the residents of Kostroma had seen the Icon being carried through the city by a luminous figure. a warrior whom they took to be Saint Theodore Stratelates.

The wonderworking Saint Theodore—Kostroma Icon of the Mother of God was always with Saint Alexander Nevsky, and he prayed before it. After Saint Alexander died on November 14, 1263 at the Monastery founded by his father, the Icon was taken by his younger brother Basil, as a remembrance of him.

Basil Yaroslavich was the youngest (eighth) son of Yaroslav Sevolodovich. In 1246 after the death of Prince Yaroslav (who was poisoned at Karakorum, the capital city of Mongolia) Basil became the Prince of the Kostroma appanage, the least important of his father’s domains, when he was just five years old, In the year 1272, Basil became Great Prince of Vladimir.

His four years as Great Prince (1272-1276) were filled with fratricidal quarrels. For several years Basil waged war against Novgorod with his unruly nephew Demetrios. After becoming the Great Prince, however, Basil did not travel to Vladimir, but remained under the protection of the wonderworking Icon at Kostroma, regarding this place as safer in case of further outbreaks of strife.

He also had occasion also to defend Rus' against foreign enemies. In 1272, during another Tatar incursion, the Russian army marched from Kostroma to engage them. Following the example of his grandfather, Saint Andrew Bogoliubsky (who took the wonderworking Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God with him on military campaigns), Prince Basil went into battle with the wonderworking Saint Theodore—Kostroma Icon. Bright rays emanated from the holy image and scorched the enemy. The Tatars were defeated and expelled from the land of Rus'.

The Chronicles record that Great Prince Basil had a special love for the Church and for the clergy. After the martyric death of Bishop Mētrophánēs of Vladimir during the siege of Vladimir by Tatars on February 4, 1238, the Vladimir diocese had remained widowed for many years. This saddened Prince Basil. With his participation, a large Church Council was held at Vladimir in 1274. The main reason for this was the episcopal consecration of Saint Serapion (+ July 12, 1275) as Bishop of Vladimir, chosen from the Igoumens of the Monastery of the Caves.

Metropolitan Cyril III († 1282) predided over a Council of Russian hierarchs. The content of the conciliar acts was very broad - it was the first Council in the Russian Church since the Mongol invasion. Many problems and troubles in Church life had accumulated. The Russian Church was just recovering from the disaster that had befallen it. One of its main tasks was to recover a Russian Church literature – the restoration of traditions, and the revival of the ancient Russian “princely structure.” Without books, the Church’s salvific activity would be almost impossible, because books were needed for the Divine Services, for preaching, for the cell Rule of the monks, and so that the faithful could read them at home. Through the efforts of Metropolitan Cyril, Russian Hierarchs, and monastic scribes, this task, the most important for the subsequent Christian enlightenment of Russia, was successfully accomplished. The Council approved a new edition of the Rudder, the canonical basis for Orthodox Church life.

In 1276, Prince Basil completed the course of his life. Most of the important events in his life occured with the blessing of the Saint Theodore Icon of the Mother of God. He died at Kostroma, and there he also found his final resting place. Since that time, the Holy Icon has been kept in the Kostroma cathedral of Saint Theodore Stratelates.

Renewed interest in the Saint Theodore—Kostroma Icon of the Mother of God and the spread of its veneration throughout Russia is connected with the events of the beginning of the XVII century, and the end of the Time of Troubles. In the year 1613, the wonderworking Saint Theodore Icon in the Kostroma cathedral was brought when Michael Romanov became the new Tsar.

This wonderworking Icon is associated with Michael Romanov's election as Tsar. In those significant days, when an All-Russian Council met at Hypatiev Monastery near Kostroma to elect a Tsar, and Michael took refuge there. An embassy was sent begging him to accept. Envoys brought the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God with them from Moscow, and from Kostroma they brought the Saint Theodore—Kostroma Icon of the Mother of God.

They went to see young Michael's mother, the nun Martha (+ 1645), and asked her to persuade her son to accept the throne. At first his mother refused, saying that Michael was too young. Then the Archbishop of Ryazan took the Saint Theodore Icon of the Mother of God in his hands and addressed Martha and Michael with these words: "Why did these Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos march with us on such a long journey? If you do not obey us, then for the sake of the Mother of God, bow down before her mercy, and do not anger the Lord God."

The Eldress Martha could not go against such words. She fell to her knees before the Saint Theodore Icon and said, "May your will be done, O Sovereign Lady. Into your hands I commend my son. Guide him on the true path, both for his benefit, and that of his country." Thus, the Saint Theodore—Kostroma Icon chose the first Romanov Tsar.

In remembrance of this historic event, March 14 was designated as the annual Feast Day of the Saint Theodore—Kostroma Icon of the Mother of God.

Numerous copies of the Saint Theodore—Kostroma Icon were made, and one of the first was commissioned and brought to Moscow by Tsar Michael’s mother, the nun Martha. From the second half of the XVII century, various copies of the Saint Theodore Icon were enlarged with scenes around the borders, depicting events from the history of the wonderworking Icon.

In the year 1670 Hierodeacon Longinus of the Kostroma-Hypatiev Monastery wrote a “Narrative concerning the Manifestations and Miracles of the Theodore Icon of the Mother of God at Kostroma.” Not all of the information contained in his article is the same as the foregoing, but sometimes a person's memory has its own chronology, and its own laws.

The Saint Theodore—Kostroma Icon is two-sided. On the reverse is an icon of the Holy Great Martyr Paraskevḗ (July 26) depicted in the splendid attire of a princess. It is believed that the image of Saint Paraskevḗ on the reverse of the Icon is connected with Saint Alexander Nevsky's wife. The original icon is kept in the Theophany-Saint Anastasia Convent in Kostroma.

At Tsarskoye Selo the "Sovereign's Saint Theodore Cathedral" was built (1909–1912) in remembrance of the appearance of the Saint Theodore Icon of the Mother of God, with a side chapel dedicated to Saint Alexei, the Metropolitan of Moscow, and a lower cave church in honor of Saint Seraphim of Sarov. By order of Tsar Nicholas II, work on the construction of this church was carried out with particular respect for ancient Russian art. This temple was built on the model of Moscow's Annunciation Cathedral, in its ancient form, and all the decoration in the church was designed in the old Russian style. In the upper church, the icons and utensils were new, but fashioned according to ancient examples; the cave church of Saint Seraphim of Sarov contained authentic antique icons and utensils. This was of great social and educational importance, and it testified to the special patronage which Tsar Nicholas II gave to Old Russian architecture and iconography.

The Saint Theodore Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is also commemorated on August 16.