Georgian Orthodox Saint David. Venerable David of Thessalonica. Where is the miraculous image located?

WITH VYatoi David lived on the border V- VI centuries An earthly angel and a heavenly man, he early left his homeland, Mesopotamia, and all earthly attachments in order to take up his cross and follow the Lord. He became a monk in Thessalonica, in the monastery of Saints Theodore and Mercury, which is called Kukullata. The Monk David pacified the desires of the flesh through continuous ascetic labors. He followed the path of comprehension of virtue, relying on reflection on the Holy Scriptures and the lives of saints.

His particular admiration was aroused by the holy pillars Simeon the Old, Simeon the Divnogorets, Daniel, Patapius and others. Zealously wanting to imitate them, St. David began to live on an almond tree that grew on the right side of the church, building a new, unprecedented pillar on its branches. That's how he made himself as a spectacle for the world, for Angels and people (1 Cor 4:9). The ascetic patiently endured any weather: gusts of wind, the heat of the sun, torrents of rain, winter snow, and cold. He did not even have that strong support that the saints who labored on the pillar had. St. David had to hold on to his branch all the time - he became like a bird that day and night raises to the Lord the sweet sounds of continuous prayers and praises.

The disciples of the Monk David, pious and zealous in deeds of virtue, begged him to descend from the branch in order to instruct them in the fundamentals of monastic life. But the saint answered that he would come down from the tree no sooner than in three years, when he received a sign from the Lord. After this period, Rev. An angel appeared to David and announced that his heavenly life was pleasing to God, and now it was time to go down and retire to his cell in anticipation of another mission. The saint told his disciples about this vision, and they prepared a new home for him - a tiny hut. Then, in the presence of Metropolitan Dorotheos of Thessalonica and numerous priests, the Monk David came down from the tree. They served the Divine Liturgy, then the saint went into seclusion amid general spiritual rejoicing and chanting of thanksgiving.

St. David prayed unceasingly, without being distracted by anything, and gained even greater grace and mercy from God. One night, the soldiers who served on the city walls saw flames bursting out of the window of the saint’s cell. The next morning they came to him and were amazed to see that the cell was unharmed, and the man of God was alive and well. This miracle was repeated often, and the whole city could testify to it. One of the residents, Palladius, who was repeatedly present at the amazing phenomenon, said: “If the Lord gives such glory to His servants, then what has He prepared for them in the next century, when their faces will shine like the sun?” And he went to Egypt to become a monk.

The divine glory that St. David contemplated gave him the power to cast out demons. He also restored sight to the blind and healed every disease, calling on the name of Christ, so that the whole city revered him as their Guardian Angel.

At this time, the hordes of Slavs and Avars, who had already invaded and destroyed almost all of Macedonia, threatened the mountains. Sirmium, which was the residence of the prefect of Illyricum. Then the prefect wrote to Metropolitan Aristides of Thessaloniki, asking him to send some virtuous person with an embassy to Emperor Justinian to beg the latter to move the prefect’s residence to Thessalonica, surrounded by walls impenetrable to barbarians. The bishop gathered noble people and clergy, and they all exclaimed in one voice that only the holy hermit David could be their worthy representative before the emperor. The monk, citing his advanced age, at first refused, but then, remembering the visit of the Angel, he obeyed. He predicted that he would die on his return, several stages before his cell.

When the ascetic left his cell, the townspeople, seeing him, prostrated themselves on the ground: his hair and beard covered him from head to toe, and his face, similar to the face of the forefather Abraham, radiated a radiance of glory. Together with two disciples he sailedto Constantinople, but when they arrived, the emperor was not in the palace, and the empress Theodora received the saint. She asked him to pray for the salvation of the empire and the city. When Emperor Justinian returned and learned that a certain man of God was at court, he assembled the Senate to listen to his request. Then Rev. David took the hot coals with his bare hands, put incense on them and burned incense in front of the emperor and the entire senate for about an hour, and his hands were not burned at all. The emperor was amazed and graciously accepted the metropolitan’s petition brought by St. David. He agreed to move the residence of the prefect of Illyricum to Thessalonica (535) and sent the saint home with great honors.

When the ship approached the Solunsky lighthouse, from where the monastery of St. David, the saint announced to his disciples that his hour had come. Having exchanged the kiss of peace with them, he offered his last prayer to the Lord and betrayed his blessed soul to Him (540). Although a strong wind was blowing, the ship stopped. A fragrance spread everywhere and heavenly voices were heard. When the vision disappeared, the ship sailed again. The Metropolitan and all the residents of the city met the saint on the shore and, according to the last will of the ascetic, buried him in the monastery.

One hundred and fifty years later, the abbot of the monastery, wanting to take a piece of the saint’s relics, ordered his grave to be opened, but the stone lying on it broke into a thousand pieces. Thirty years later, the next abbot managed to lift the coffin and found the holy relics of St. David incorruptible. In 1222, during the time of Latin rule, the shrine was moved to the Italian city. Pavia and returned to Thessalonica in 1978. Over the centuries, from the relics of St. David, numerous miracles occur.

From the book “Synaxarion: Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church,” published by the Sretensky Monastery Publishing House.

Compiled by Hieromonk Macarius of Simonopetra,
adapted Russian translation - Sretensky Monastery Publishing House

David, in the world Daniel, was born in the early 50s. XV century and came, according to legend, from the family of princes Vyazemsky.

In the early 70s. entered the Borovsky Pafnutiev Monastery, where he took monastic vows with the name David from the founder of the monastery, St. Paphnutius, after whose death St. David entrusted himself to the leadership of St. Joseph (Sanin), the future founder of the Volotsk Monastery, also a tonsure of St. Paphnutius Borovsky. Among David's companions, St. Daniel of Pereyaslavl, the great icon painter Dionysius, hieromonk Macarius, future holy metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus'.

He lived as a hermit on the Lopasna River, 23 versts from Serpukhov. In 1515, on the right bank of the river, he built a church in the name of the Ascension and laid the foundation of the Davidic Hermitage.

The exact date of death of St. David is unknown. The documents mention September 19, 1528 and October 18, 1520. Numerous miracles at the tomb of the holy ascetic have been known to local residents since ancient times. Already in the monastery synod of 1608, David was called “venerable.”

The relics of the venerable elder, who died on October 18, 1520, rest in the cathedral stone church of the monastery, where the tomb of the venerable Moses Ugrin, the ascetic of Pechersk, is kept.

Saint David of Gareji, one of the most revered saints in Georgia, is becoming increasingly famous in Russia. However, many people still do not know about such a great holy father, who came to the Georgian lands from Syria and worked hard to educate Georgia. Saint David is especially close to Georgian women; for centuries the folk path to his holy source has not been overgrown. An ambulance in women's ailments and the giver of long-awaited children, Saint David became dear to many Russian families, saving women from terrible diseases and diagnoses and giving the long-awaited happiness of motherhood, contrary to all the doctors' predictions.

We talk about Saint David of Gareji, about the miraculous cases of his help, about the difficulties of childless families and about the great Orthodox country - Georgia - with Archpriest John Kaleda, rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Gryazekh, where prayer services to Saint David of Gareji are held every week and there is an icon with a particle his relics.

– Saint David of Gareji is very revered and loved in Georgia, but few people know about him in Russia. Father John, please tell us how you met this Georgian saint?

– I began my ministry at the Church of the Transfiguration in Tushino. This is the red temple at the exit from Moscow along the Volokolamsk highway. It was Father Fyodor Sokolov who received an appointment to this church and began calling friends and acquaintances: “I need people.” That's how I ended up in this temple. During the first months we tore down partitions, erected a temporary iconostasis, and put everything in order so that services could begin. Then from the first service I found myself at the altar, was an altar server, then a deacon, a priest. At first, for a long time I could not understand why such a little-known saint as David of Gareji had prayer services so often held in our church? The fact is that the first head of the temple was Oleg Vasilyevich Shvedov, a great admirer of Georgian saints. For many years he spent his holidays in Georgia with a camera, trying to penetrate inaccessible places, including restricted areas. By the way, in the area of ​​Garezhdi in Soviet times there was an artillery range (either until the end of the 80s, or until the beginning of the 90s), and the monastic cells were used as training purposes. It was Oleg Vasilyevich who brought the veneration of St. to the Tushino church. David as a helper in women's needs. That’s why they ordered prayer services to St. David, but it was absolutely incomprehensible to me - why and why. The temple was consecrated before the Transfiguration in the summer of 1990, and in 1994 I became a deacon, then in 1995 a priest. Only on July 28, 1996, I finally learned in detail about David of Gareji. Here is how it was. It was the day of the angel of Father Vladimir Sychev, the second priest of the temple. The festive table stood under the apple tree, and when almost everyone had left, Oleg Vasilyevich, father Vladimir and mother and several other people remained. Father Vladimir and mother began to remember their story, and mother only recently gave birth to her sixth child at the age of 43; naturally, she was kept in the hospital almost all the time. Still, the doctors feared for her. Father Vladimir regularly served prayers for David of Gareji and brought holy water from these prayers to her at the hospital. Mother Olga gave everyone in the ward this water, saying simply: “all women should drink this water.” And in her ward, women “ran” home much faster than in others. In their ward, the “bed turnover” (there is such a medical term) was much higher - women were more likely to go home. Here Oleg Vasilyevich also told how his confessor, Father Vyacheslav, as I then heard, had no children for 18 years. And one day Oleg Vasilyevich, from a trip to Georgia, brought him a bottle of water from the source of St. David in Tbilisi on Mount Mtatsminda and simply said that all Georgian women drink this water. Well, after 9 months Fr. Vyacheslav became a father. Then I learned a clarification of this story, that Fr. Vyacheslav not only had no children for 18 years, but after the birth of his eldest son, there were no children for 18 years. Then everything is the same: Oleg Vasilyevich brought some water, mother drank and that’s it. And then from Fr. Vyacheslav, I heard the continuation of this story: three years after the birth of her second mother, she came across a bottle with the remains of holy water in the closet. She remembered what kind of water it was, turned it over in her hands: there was no sediment, no smell, pour it out - her hand did not rise. She drank. Well, after 9 months Fr. Vyacheslav became a father for the third time.

Just at this time, Oleg Vasilyevich had just compiled and published the book “Reverend David of Gareji and his Holy Lavra.” He gave me one such book, and then I became interested in this saint, imbued with it. And before that, Oleg Vasilyevich published the book “God is Wonderful in His Saints” with a description of which saints to turn to in which cases, containing troparia and kontakia. It was in this book, on page 49, under the heading “On Women’s Diseases,” that St. David was written about. After this, having familiarized myself, I began to send women to St. David of Gareji.

Then, I remember, it was Wednesday, I served alone, and I got almost everything: the liturgy was served, there was a prayer service, there was a memorial service, there was a baptism and a wedding. The funeral service was not enough for “complete happiness.” At about an hour I leave the altar, one woman comes up to me and begins to thank me. At first I didn’t understand why, but then it dawned on me that two weeks ago I sent her to David of Gareji, and she had to have an operation. She was not my spiritual child, she was the child of Father Nikolai Sokolov, but at that moment he was not there, and so the woman came up to me. I advised her to buy a book about David of Gareji from the church store in order to know his life and pray to him personally. I clarified that we need to address the saint personally, and not abstractly; we need to address the saint as a person. I advised this woman to read the troparion and kontakion to Saint David from the book “God is Wonderful in His Saints” at home, to read the prayer at home every day, to order a prayer service and to drink holy water. She did that. And then, when she came to the hospital, it turned out that there was nothing to operate on.

And then I realized that she was not the first who approached me. But in the cases before this there were all sorts of inflammations, in general, little things, let’s say, and this woman was the first with such a serious diagnosis. And within six months, while I was serving in the church in Tushino, there were 5 more cases when someone did not make it to the hospital, did not make it to the operating table, because they were healed through prayers to the Monk David. Then, with even greater boldness, I began to send women to David of Gareji and told Oleg Vasilyevich that it was necessary to paint an icon of St. David, because women specially came to the Tushino temple to order a prayer service to Saint David, since in many churches they did not know about such a saint.

But to date, the icon has not appeared there. Six months later I was assigned to the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity on Gryazekh. Here, naturally, I also began to send women to David of Gareji, and quite quickly the consciousness appeared that it was necessary to paint an icon. They placed a mug in the church and ordered an icon. There was an interesting testimony: there was a mug, near the candle box - people with a bored look, and then the look fell on the mug, people read, and their hand reaches into their wallet. When the icon was painted, the funds raised were enough not only for the icon, but also for the first edition of small icons.

I came to the Trinity Church on Gryazekh on December 27, 1996, the icon of St. David was consecrated on February 8, 1998, and from February 16 we began to serve a weekly prayer service to St. David. We attach a piece of paper to each icon of the saint, on which there is a short life, troparion, kontakion and prayer to the saint, so that people pray at home and can tell others about the Monk David.

– Father, you have two icons of St. David in your church: a large one, which hangs in the church, and a small one, which is in the altar and is brought out for prayer services. Which one was so wonderfully written in 1998?

– The one that is brought out for prayer services, with a particle of the relics of St. David. But in general, today we already have three icons of St. David in our church. The latter was donated to the temple by the governor of the David-Gareji Lavra already this year, 2015.

– When did the large icon depicting scenes from the life of the saint appear?

– The big one appeared later, around 2004 or 2005.

– Was it also written by order using general funds raised?

- Yes. Although we did not purposefully place the mug, there were donations. When the first icon was painted, our icon painter was faced with a difficult task. I gave him a life, expressed my wishes that the Reverend David be depicted with a stone in his hand and that the holy spring be depicted on the icon. This is how the icon painter depicted the old man in view of Jerusalem, with a spring at his feet. So this mountain on the icon simultaneously represents two mountains: on the one hand, it is Mount Mtatsminda in Tbilisi, and on the other, the peak of grace in view of Jerusalem. Later, icons of this type began to appear “with a Georgian accent” - with a Georgian style of writing.

– Father John, since the veneration of David of Gareji began in this temple and prayers began to be served to him, have there been cases of healing and the gift of children? Have you ever had to baptize children who were born through prayers to Saint David?

– There are some little Davids who are already running around (laughs). There was such an interesting case. Somewhere in the summer of 1998, one woman came to the temple and “tortured” the guards: “Could you help, there is a temple somewhere that doesn’t even look like a temple, there is a rector with a Georgian surname who helps all women " Moreover, the watchman absolutely did not understand what she was talking about. But there were people nearby who immediately realized and said: “This is exactly where you came” (laughs).

One of the earliest miraculous cases is this: we published an edition of the icon-postcard of David of Gareji and the “Three Joys” - our main shrines. When we communicate with someone, we present these icons as a sign of attention. Well, naturally, when you give an icon of St. Nicholas, the healer Panteleimon or the Kazan icon, it is clear and understandable to everyone. And when you give the icon “Three Joys” or St. David of Gareji, then here, naturally, it is necessary to explain what kind of icon, what kind of saint, in what cases they turn to him. Our church was serviced by the same bank at that time, and Inna, our accountant, presented the bank employees with icons of St. David, telling about him. Then she found out that the bank operator servicing our temple, Elena, had no children for 11 years. Moreover, they performed some kind of operation on her four times, they examined her and her husband, but nothing worked. After this, Inna and another of our parishioners, who was also served at that bank, began to bring holy water to Elena from the prayer service to St. David. And then I come back from vacation, and our accounting department happily greets me and says: “We have ruined our relationship with the bank!” Moreover, they say one thing, but another is written on their faces. It turned out that our Inna once again came to the bank, and there the bank’s management greeted her with the question: “Who carried the water, and who will work now?” (laughs). Lenochka carried her, and then we baptized the born girl, Sonya.

There was another such case. After the prayer service, God’s servant Marina came up to me and said: “Father, can I venerate the icon? Can I drink this water? I’ve been bleeding for three years.” I say: “Well, if we take it strictly according to the canons, then it’s impossible, it’s not allowed. But, remembering the bleeding woman from the Gospel, who suffered from this illness for 12 years, I bless you. But only venerate the icon of David of Gareji and drink only the water of David of Gareji.” The next day her bleeding stopped. Here I must say that not all the problems went away immediately, but after about a month for sure.

– Father, do the parents of those children who were born through the prayers of Saint David come and tell you about this?

- Yes. For two years now, Deacon Alexey has been serving on the feast of David of Gareji, and his son David, who is now about 7 years old, comes with him. Doctors did not give Alexey any chance of having a child. And just this morning I was at the patronal feast in the Church of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos in Pereslavskaya Sloboda. And so Father Dmitry from the Church of All Who Sorrow Joy at the Moscow Regional Clinical Institute (MONIKI) said that they had such a case. One couple had no children for 18 years. After long prayers to David of Gareji, they now have three. Dad himself ran to the temple: “Father, do something, that’s enough!” (laughs). So there are always cases. But now, in a number of prayer books, a prayer to David of Gareji is given. There is a link on women’s forums; I recently went through all the links about David of Gareji that are on the Internet. Many testify that we must turn to Saint David.

– Tell me, is there a record of these miracles in your temple?

– Actually, we don’t have a magazine as such. But when someone comes and talks about their case, I ask them to describe it on paper. Now I am processing these recordings, transferring them to a computer, and editing them. This may be included in the book on St. David as an appendix.

– We said that Saint David is a quick helper in women’s ailments. Can men turn to him for problems with fertility?

- Of course they can. Moreover, we remember that essentially any saint can be addressed on any occasion. Why do we turn to the healer Panteleimon for help with illnesses? Because he helped with this during his lifetime. Why do we turn to Saint Alexei, Metropolitan of Moscow, for healing of eye diseases? Because during his lifetime he cured the khan’s wife Taidula from blindness. Or some saint had posthumous miracles of help. But in general, you can turn to any saint on any issue. True, there is casuistry. There is a known case of how one woman prayed to St. John the Baptist about purely marital problems. After much prayer, he appeared to her and said: “I am a virgin, I am a faster. I don’t know family life at all. At least turn to, well, the Apostle Peter!” After all, we know that the Apostle Peter was married, and the Gospel indicates that he had a mother-in-law. But this is already the realm of casuistry. If we, in Russia, mostly turn to David of Gareji as an assistant in women’s problems and childbearing, then in Georgia they turn to Saint David the way we turn to Saint Nicholas: there is no reason why they would not turn to him.

– Father, now there are problems with childbearing in many families, including Orthodox ones. What would you advise childless spouses: how to pray correctly for the gift of children, what means to resort to and, most importantly, how not to lose heart?

– First: we must remember that everything is sent to us from the Lord. Why the Lord gives to one and not to another is not for us to ask Him, not for us to demand an answer. We remember how many years Abraham and Sarah prayed! How many years did Joachim and Anna pray? How many years did Zechariah and Elizabeth pray? At the same time, it’s hard to say that they were punished for something by being childless.

It is also important to say that in all kinds of enemy actions, witchcraft, for example, everything is clear: the ritual has been carried out - there must be a result. We still pray, but no one can ever guarantee that we prayed, fasted, and there will be a result.

But let's start with the fact that we pray, and for many the issue of childbearing is resolved. We always try. My eldest daughter has not had children for more than 10 years. Do you think I don't pray for her? I don't think anyone thinks so. Do you think her husband, a priest, doesn’t pray about this? Also unlikely. But for some reason the Lord does not give children. This is His providence.

– How not to lose heart in such cases? How can you not grumble when you see other families who have children?

– I think that only prayer and surrendering oneself into the hands of God saves.

– And if a married couple wants to pray for the gift of a child, what is the best way to do it: every day or occasionally? Which saint is better to pray to?

– I believe that everyone who can should pray. Ask all the saints. Yes, here we cannot assume that if they turned to David of Gareji, and therefore turned to Joachim and Anna, then David would be offended (laughs). This only happens in our lives. But, of course, we should not pray occasionally. To date, there is no approved akathist to David of Gareji in Russian. You can pray to Saint Matrona of Moscow, Xenia of St. Petersburg, there are akathists for them. But not everyone is able to read akathists every day. But the troparion, kontakion and prayer every day are quite possible. Let’s say that reading an akathist to one of the saints 1-2 times a week is quite possible. Everyone can also drink water from the prayer service. But at the same time, we do not forget that, of course, the marriage must be registered. And then they come: “Father, pray for us, we don’t have children,” and you begin to find out that they are living in sin. Friends, do you want a priest to bless you for your sin? First of all, the marriage must be registered! Second: if we turn to the Lord, then there must be a married marriage. By the way, the mere wedding and observance of marital fasts very often in itself leads to the desired result!

And, of course, we must regularly confess and receive communion. Because we remember that our spiritual life is built around the Chalice, around Communion. Our home prayer is also important, it is important to participate in church prayer - Divine services, it is good to read akathists and canons, the Psalter, give notes, order prayer services, but without Communion it turns out that we are walking in a BIG circle around the Lord and trying to shout out: “Lord, help!”, but we don’t approach Him. Therefore, when something happens to us, including the problem of childbearing, the first thing we need to do is run to Communion, naturally after confession, and then everything else will be more effective.

– What determines whether the Lord will answer your prayer or not? You can often hear from people: “I’ve been praying for a long time, but God doesn’t hear me.” Is such a question even possible for a Christian?

– Of course, this formulation of the question is wrong. This is a lack of faith; we must remember Joachim and Anna, who until old age prayed for a child and received what they asked for.

– If we remember their example, the righteous Joachim and Anna made a vow to the Lord that they would dedicate their child to Him. Can modern spouses resort to this - make this or that vow to God?

– Firstly, the vow imposes very big obligations. Such a vow can only be made by a person who is truly a deeply religious believer. After all, it often happens that a person is more of a “parishioner” than a parishioner. He doesn’t deny God, he’ll go to church on holidays, light a candle and that’s all. What can he teach a child? How can he prepare a child so that he really wants to serve God?

– That is, given that there are few people with deep faith now, it is better not to resort to such methods?

- Yes. You can’t say, “Lord, give me a child, and I’ll dedicate him to You.” After all, if the Lord grants me the joy of fatherhood/motherhood, I must try to do everything so that the child is dedicated to God, that is, serves God. Here there must be hope in the will of God. Not as we want, but as His will.

– If the Lord does not give spouses children, should they think about adoption? After all, this is a very responsible step.

– Isn’t giving birth to your child a responsible step?

- Of course, responsible. But I mean the number of returns of adopted children.

– The return is due to an incorrect attitude towards the adopted child. Sometimes he is chosen as a purebred dog or as a thoroughbred stallion: so that he is not sick, he is handsome - according to the criteria. The most important thing is that he pleases me so that I feel comfortable. That's what people think. And you must take the child not for yourself, but in order to give yourself to him. And this is precisely what people very often are not capable of – “giving of themselves.” Yes, you took the child from the maternity hospital, but it turns out that this is not a doll that you put on the sofa, it sits. Just make sure he doesn’t get into anything, steal anything, or tear anything.

– Here, of course, the readiness of the parents themselves is important.

- Yes. Just like it happens with your own children. It turns out that many are absolutely not ready to become parents and do not want to. Because a child is the end of a woman’s career and other inconveniences. Or the husband comes home, the wife does not run to feed him or please him, but also demands that the father take care of the child a little. Why does a child scream at night and interfere with my life? By the way, this is sometimes the reason for divorces.

– Many parents, even when giving birth to their child, are not ready. How can young mothers and fathers learn to be parents and overcome their selfishness and irritation?

– We all must learn to love and ask the Lord for love. And love is, first of all, not about taking, but about giving! Without asking for anything in return! If there is a question about adopting a child, then I personally think that this question is very important. And the fact that we now have a lot of abandoned children who are being raised in state institutions, and many cases of adoption abroad is a shame for the nation. By the way, before there were no “orphanages”; it was believed that it was a shame for relatives and a shame for neighbors. If anything, relatives always took the child and raised and looked after them with their own children. When adopting, the question of choosing a child is completely irrelevant. You cannot study a child’s medical history like you would study a puppy’s passport. Probably the best thing to do is to volunteer at the “Children’s Home” and first learn to give a little of yourself to the children who are sick, unkempt, and educationally neglected there. By the way, many children from the “orphanage” are pedagogically neglected, but if you start working with them in time, these consequences are eliminated. But you need to take into your family a child whom your heart tells you. We have a family in the church with two adopted children, the oldest are 5-6 years old. Dad worked as a massage therapist, including working with children. I don’t know the details, but one day a boy came up to him and said: “Take me to your place.” That is, not for his own sake, but for his sake, this man took it. The second girl in this family appeared a few years later. She was about a year old, for some reason she was left without parents. This family was offered to take her - and they took her.

– That is, in some cases the Lord himself directs this or that family?

- Yes. And, naturally, the child fell on this family out of the blue, and a bunch of all sorts of problems immediately appeared, including in professional activities. And nothing. But this adoption was done precisely for the sake of the child.

– Father John, doctors often advise childless couples to resort to radical methods, for example, IVF. How do you feel about this, should spouses agree to this?

– This is all strictly individual. Everyone should resolve this issue with their confessors! As a general recommendation, I can give one thing: open the “Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church”, it says there that you cannot resort to IVF. And the reason is explained there - doctors receive several embryos, but at the end - only one, the rest are “wasted”, that is, in relation to the remaining embryos, the sin of infanticide is committed (like abortion). In the 15 years that have passed since the drawing up of the Concept, Medicine has moved forward, something has changed. But all this should be decided with a confessor purely individually, who specifically knows this particular family. The truth is that there is another point: the Lord Himself for some reason does not give it to us, but we insist. This is, first of all, a lack of trust in the will of God. Although I by no means want to say that in all cases it is necessary so categorically. Therefore, this question is directed specifically to the confessor.

– In one magazine, I once read about the miracle of David of Gareji: there was a childless couple, and they were advised to pray to Saint David. Through the prayers of St. David found out that her husband had a long-standing grudge against his father, who abandoned them in childhood. The husband went to confession, repented and forgave his father, after which a long-awaited child was born into the family. Could sin or a spiritual problem be the reason for not having children?

- Anything is possible. But it is absolutely unacceptable to immediately search for why I sinned so much. For example, let us remember the man born blind, when the apostles asked the Lord whether he had sinned and was now being punished or his parents. What was the answer? Neither he nor his parents. That is, it is impossible to say that the Lord punishes for something in this way. Or it could also be this: a person has found some reason and thinks: “I must be so unlucky that I stumbled and now I’m suffering so much.” Or “I’m good, but it’s her (the wife’s) fault. It's all because of you." This is also dangerous and absolutely unacceptable. Yes, often the reason is sins, but you can’t just dig around and look for the cause of childlessness. By the way, this approach is often found in prisons. “Yes, I’m generally a positive person in everything, but one day the evil one misled me (they grabbed me by the hand at that very moment), and now I’m suffering so cruelly.” Although yes, we must consider our spiritual life as a whole. By the way, speaking about prisoners - I remember, it was a long time ago, more than 15 years ago, I confessed to a prisoner. He was closer to 50, he himself graduated from some language university, was a translator, traveled abroad when practically no one went, and his income was significantly higher than the general average. Like many men, he had a passion for weapons, including knives. Moreover, he had permission, he carried bladed weapons from abroad, he had a whole collection at home. And then one day in a small apartment he was playing with a knife. Then his beloved wife jumped out from around the corner (from the kitchen) and ran into a knife, with the saddest result. It’s sad if you consider the concept that I just cited: it turns out - “this is how unfortunate I am, an accident happened, and now I suffer so much.” He says that all his wife’s relatives treated this as an accident, and not as a murder. I was not the first one to whom he confessed in prison. But he mentioned this in passing: about these parties of his and other affairs, that is, about the life that he led before, having a certain income and treating people with condescension. And restaurants, and girls, and so on. Here we must look for what is generally wrong in our lives. Not that he carelessly played with a knife and got hurt because of it. And what led to this is a past life, and not a final accident. We should treat this in the same way in all other cases. Consider our whole life as a whole and try to change and correct it, not that we have found something. In your example, the man could not forgive his father - so what, this is the only dark spot in his entire biography, and we can calm down on this? Perhaps this is also very important, but this does not mean that we can calm down. Why did the holy fathers consider themselves sinners, although from the point of view of the average person there are no saints? But they kept digging, finding and trying to get rid of it. It's the same with us.

– Father, let’s return to the Monk David. You were in Georgia, in the David-Gareji Lavra, where the relics of St. David rest. Tell us about this monastery and the famous source of the “Tears of David.”

– This should not be told, but shown! One of the ancient monasteries, founded in the second half of the 6th century by the Monk David of Gareji. By the end of the saint's life, about 2,000 monastic disciples had gathered around him, and his followers - the Venerables Dodo and Lucian - founded monasteries in the immediate vicinity during his lifetime. In the Gareji desert as a whole there were about 20 monasteries and many cells. The scale of this monastic country, the Georgian Thebaid, can be indicated by the following fact: in 1615, on Easter, on Easter night, all the monks from Gareja gathered in one monastery, because there was a patronal feast there - in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ - there were about 6,000 people gathered . By the way, that temple was half the size of a room, so it served as an altar. So then, that night, the Persian Shah Abass massacred all these gathered monks, 6000 people! This is simply a fact that shows the scale of these monasteries. Moreover, after the invasion of Shah Abass, monastic life in Gareji was restored only in three of the twenty monasteries. One of the three restored monasteries was the David-Gareji Lavra. During Soviet times, it was closed in 1923.

- How many inhabitants are there currently?

- Somewhere around ten. After the restoration of the Lavra, its first inhabitant was the then priest Irakli. Before that, for four years he was the caretaker of the museum-reserve in Gareji. He himself was an architect and archaeologist by training. Then he was ordained and became the first priest of this monastery. Then he took monastic vows, naturally, with the name of David. This is how he turned out to be both the first monk and the first governor of the monastery. Then, in my opinion, in 1992 he accepted episcopal consecration and is now the Metropolitan of Alaverdi . His residence - the ancient Alaverdi monastery - was founded by one of the associates of St. David of Gareji - St. Joseph of Alaverdi. They came together from Syria, Saint Joseph is also one of the Syrian fathers.

– Are the relics of St. David and St. Dodo in the Gareji Lavra?

- Yes, under cover. There is access to the tombs themselves. In 2000, the tomb of St. David of Gareji was opened, they made sure that the relics were in place, they were washed, then they took a small particle of the relics, and left everything as is. By the way, I have a unique photograph of the relics of St. David of Gareji, it was sent to me from Georgia for a book about Saint David.

– The relics of the saint are kept under wraps. They were not raised and found?

– There was no such tradition in Georgia. By the way, the tradition of acquiring relics at any cost is already the end of the 20th century. All the relics that are known in Rus' were basically never specifically found. There was no task to gain power. For example, the relics of St. Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow, were found during the reconstruction of the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, the relics of St. Sergius - during the construction of the Trinity Cathedral in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. That is, the tomb was not opened on purpose, and the relics were not found on purpose. But in Georgia very little of the relics themselves are known.

– Father John, tell us about the famous source “Tears of David”.

– There is a lot of confusion among women; they confuse two sources. There is a source in Tbilisi on Mount Mtatsminda, at the site of the exploits of St. David is the same healing spring that the monk left behind and, in fact, to which the women of Georgia resort. And the second source is the “Tears of David” source next to the Gareji Lavra. The title is very poetic. By the way, on women’s forums it is sometimes indicated that the source of the “Tears of David” is in Tbilisi. They are confused.

– The spring on Mount Mtatsminda appeared through the prayer of St. David. Isn’t that the source of “Tears of David”?

– He also appeared through the prayers of the Monk David, but if the source on Mount Mtatsminda was asked by the Monk David specifically for the healing of the suffering, then the source of the “tears of David” is, first of all, a vital necessity. After all, Gareji is a very dry area; precipitation occurs four times a year. By the way, I was lucky; I found it raining in Gareji. There is practically no water there, and the only source is “Tears of David”. It yields from 40 to 100 liters per day depending on the time of year. It can’t even be called a spring; it is located in a cave and water oozes through the rocks. Why is it called "tears"? Because drops of water stand out on the roof of the cave like tears. So they are collected in all sorts of gutters. Everything has been arranged there now. I was there in 2011, there were still gutters there. And my son was there last year and said that it was a little different there. From time immemorial, monks in Gareji also collected rainwater. To do this, gutters were cut down along the slopes of the ridge to collect the flowing water and reservoirs were made into which this water flowed. But now water is brought in by tankers.

– How to properly drink this water from the holy source - only on an empty stomach?

- Not important. There are different types of holy water; there is actually a consecrated source, often drawn from one or another saint or consecrated in honor of some saint. We drink this water, we wash ourselves with it, we bathe in it. We use it widely. Second: there is water that is blessed with a special rite at a prayer service - here the attitude towards it is different. For some reason we don’t boil it, we don’t cook soup with it. And third, a special rite is Epiphany water. If the water is especially blessed, then we drink it on an empty stomach. But you can drink water from the source throughout the day.

– In your temple you can buy a small bottle of water from the Georgian spring of St. David. But there is very little of it. Can it be diluted with other water?

“Our parishioners do this: they take water from the prayer service to St. David and little by little add water from the source to it.

– We touched a little on the topic of Georgian traditions of venerating relics. Are there any other Orthodox traditions in Georgia that differ from ours?

– If we return to the topic of relics, then first I would like to say that three saints were recently glorified: St. Gabriel (Urgebadze) and two elders from Brittany. Their relics were nevertheless found and, according to our tradition, they lie for worship. Now Georgia is adopting the Greek charter. There was a time when the Georgian Church was still part of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is a special question, a sore point, because the annexation of the Georgian Church to ours in the 19th century was by no means canonical. In 1811, the Georgian Catholicos-Patriarch was summoned to a meeting of the Synod in St. Petersburg and sent to one of the monasteries, without being allowed to return to his homeland, and the Exarch was sent to Georgia. This issue was perceived painfully there. Naturally, in the 19th century, Georgia lived according to the Russian charter, but now they are increasingly turning to Greek traditions and, basically, Matins are served in the morning before the Liturgy, and the All-Night Vigil is served quite rarely. If we often have Vespers and Matins served in the evening, even if it is not a major holiday, then they do not: Vespers is served in the evening, and Matins in the morning before the Liturgy.

– In Greece and some other Orthodox countries, a tradition has been established according to which women do not cover their heads in church.

– By the way, the Greek clergy regards this with great pain. In September I was in Greece, lived in the Greek Convent of the Archangel Michael, and there the priest lamented that in Greece they don’t wear headscarves. He said that it’s very nice when Russian women come with headscarves.

– Is there a rise in spiritual life in Georgia? Do you feel a craving for spiritual life among young people?

– Let’s start with the fact that there are a lot of young people in churches there. I think the percentage in relation to the population is much higher than ours. When a peaceful revolution was carried out under Saakashvili and parliament was elected, everyone was afraid that this would lead to bloody clashes with the authorities. Then the Patriarch imposed a week-long fast on his flock, and every day they walked through the cities with religious processions and sprinkled everyone with holy water. By the grace of God everything passed peacefully without any incident. In general, His Holiness Patriarch Elijah is an indisputable authority in Georgia. His Holiness made a very interesting move to increase the birth rate: he announced that every third child in the family was his godson.

- Did the people respond?

- So he baptized hundreds! Naturally, many priests took part in baptisms, but the Patriarch himself is the godparent. This remains true to this day. The number of families with at least three children has increased significantly.

– Do we have Eucharistic communion with the Georgian Church? Can our pilgrims receive communion there?

- Naturally. There are churches where services are conducted in Russian, for example, this is the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Tbilisi. Georgian priests serve there, but in Russian. Our pilgrims can come there for confession.

Brief life of St. David of Gareji

The Monk David of Gareji came to Georgia from Syria in the middle of the 6th century together with the Monk John of Zedazni, among his twelve disciples. At first, the holy Syrians settled on Mount Zedazeni, not far from Mtskheta. But after 3 years, Saint John sent his disciples to different parts of Georgia. The Monk David and his disciple Lucian settled in the vicinity of Tbilisi on Mount Mtatsminda (“Holy Mountain”).

Every Thursday, Saint David descended from the mountain to the city to instruct residents in the fundamentals of the Christian faith. At that time, fire worship was actively developing in Tbilisi, and the pagan priests strongly took up arms against the meek monk David, who tried to return the residents to the Orthodox faith. The priests persuaded one seduced pregnant maiden to accuse Saint David of her disgrace. Residents of the city summoned the saint to trial. The monk approached the girl and, touching her womb with his staff, asked: “Am I your father?” A voice came from the womb: “No,” and the true culprit of her fall was named. After this, in front of the amazed eyes of the people, the girl gave birth to a stone. In memory of such wondrous intercession of the Lord, Saint David asked God to grant a holy healing spring on that mountain, to which Georgian women still resort for help.

After this, Saint David and his disciple Lucian retired to the desert area of ​​Gareji. Here in the mountain they dug cells for themselves and began to live. Soon other monks began to gather around them. This is how the David-Gareji Lavra appeared over time.

Shortly before his death, St. David went to the Holy Land. When the saint had already reached Jerusalem and climbed the mountain from which the Holy City was visible, he told his disciples that he was not worthy to trample the ground on which Christ Himself walked. He dismissed his disciples, and with prayer he took three stones from the ground, put them in his bag and went back. At that moment, an Angel of God appeared to the Patriarch of Jerusalem and reported that God’s beloved monk David had taken all the grace of the Holy Sepulcher and ordered to equip a walker who would take two stones from David. The third stone was brought by the Monk David to Georgia, and it is still kept in Tbilisi. It is with this stone of grace in his hand that Saint David is depicted on the icon of the Russian letter.

In 604, Saint David, having received Holy Communion, died peacefully. His memory is celebrated on the first Thursday after the Ascension of the Lord.

Information sheet:

The Church of the Life-Giving Trinity on Gryazekh is located at:

G. Moscow, st. Pokrovka 13 (m. Kitay-Gorod)

Official website of the temple: http://www.triradosti.ru/

Every week on Mondays at 18:00 performed in the temple prayer service to Saint David of Gareji, during which an icon of the saint with a particle of his relics is taken out from the altar.

In the temple you can purchase holy water, blessed at the prayer service of St. David, as well as holy water from the Georgian source of the saint and holy oil. Another shrine of the temple is miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Three Joys”, in front of which Wednesday evenings is being done prayer service with akathist.

Venerable David of Serpukhov (+1520)

THE MEMORY IS CELEBRATED ON OCTOBER 18/31;
DAY OF DEATH SEPTEMBER 19 / OCTOBER 2;
DISCOVERY OF RECENTS MAY 24 / JUNE 6;
CATHEDRAL OF MOSCOW SAINTS

The Monk David, the founder and abbot of the Ascension Hermitage, on the Lopasna River, the Serpukhov miracle worker, came from an eminent and rich family. The time and place of his birth remained unknown, but folk tales say that the monk came from the family of princes of Vyazemsky and in the world bore the name Daniel. However, due to his extreme humility, he did not reveal his origin to strangers and walked the secret path of monastic deeds.

As a twenty-year-old youth, Daniel felt a calling to the ascetic life and came to the Borovsk monastery to the Monk Paphnutius. His monastery was a fruitful spiritual hotbed of monasticism and Christian enlightenment, associated with the pupils of St. Sergius of Radonezh; From it came many lamps of Russian monasticism. The Monk Paphnutius was tonsured and a disciple of the Monk Nikita, the third abbot of the Serpukhov Vysotsky Monastery. The Monk Nikita was a relative and disciple of the Monk Sergius of Radonezh, Abbot of the Russian Land. Thus, the Monk Paphnutius was the successor to the covenants of the Monk Sergius and an active representative of his monastic school. A feature of the direction of monasticism that Rev. Abba Sergius revived and abundantly propagated is the teaching of internal spiritual activity. It is clearly revealed in the works of Christian ascetics, and Sergiev’s followers not only studied it, but most importantly, they were guided by it in their works and monastic deeds.

Young Daniel entered the Borovsk monastery during the life of the Monk Paphnutius, who, like a great luminary, shone with the holiness of his life and spiritual gifts. The structure of his monastery was communal. The abbot set an example for the brethren in everything. They saw “labor and suffering, as well as deeds and fasting, and the thinness of the vestment, firm faith and love for God, and a well-known hope for the Most Pure Mother of God, who always had hope in the mind and food for the tongue. For this reason, for the grace of God, you were honored, who wanted to be despised and tell the secret thoughts of your heart to your brethren, and also heal illnesses, and all things that you received from the Lord God and the Most Pure Mother of God, and were truly far from the man of this age with all the customs. Byashe is generous and merciful when appropriate; it is cruel and vain when there is need,” wrote the Monk Joseph of Volotsky, who labored in the Borovsk monastery at the same time as the Monk David. The Monk Paphnutius inspired aversion to idle conversation, a love of reading sacred books, and zeal for work. The fame of his exploits and his wisdom in management attracted many students to him. Daniel became a diligent disciple of the Monk Paphnutius and with great zeal used his guidance in going through the monastic life. The pure soul of the young ascetic, like a sponge, absorbed the teachings of his spiritual father and was edified by the example of his holy life. Seeing the zeal and zeal of young Daniel, the Monk Paphnutius took monastic vows on him and named him David in honor of the Monk David of Thessalonica.

After the repose of St. Paphnutius, David found spiritual guidance in the person of another great luminary of Russian monasticism - St. Joseph of Volotsk.

After the relocation of the Monk Joseph to the Volokolamsk land to establish his monastery there, the spiritual connection between him and the Monk David was not interrupted until the death of the saint of the Volokolamsk land.

The Monk David labored in the Borovsk monastery for more than forty years, and spent some time in silent solitude, where the idea of ​​founding his own desert monastery matured in him. In 1515, he left this holy monastery and came to a desert area that belonged to Prince Vasily Semenovich Starodubsky, on the right bank of the Lopasnya River in the ancient Khutyn volost, which was located 23 versts from Serpukhov and 80 versts from Moscow. The saint came here with the icon of the Sign of the Mother of God, with two monks and two novices. On May 31, 1515, the Monk David laid the foundation for the desert that exists to this day and now bears his name.

Having settled here, he set up cells, erected the first wooden churches in honor of the Ascension of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ with chapels in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas. The Monk Joseph of Volotsk, shortly before his death, visited this new monastery, dined with the Monk David and the brethren and instructed them in the word of God.

For more than half a century, the Monk David labored as a monk, offering fervent prayers for the peace of the whole world, and was the spiritual father and mentor of the entire surrounding population, as well as their breadwinner. He worked a lot during the construction of the monastery. The brethren never saw him idle. With his own hands a dense linden grove was planted near the monastery.

On September 19, 1529, he betrayed his righteous soul to God. His venerable body was buried in the desert he founded, in the Church of the Sign of the Mother of God, built in his memory, since the icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos was the cell prayer image of the Monk David.

The veneration of St. David began immediately after his death. The Lord worked abundant miracles and helped those for whom the Monk David prayed, standing before the Throne of God. Already in the synod of 1602 he was called a monk, and in documents of 1657 he was also called a miracle worker. There are no records of miraculous manifestations of God's mercy through the prayers of the monk. But the fact that these phenomena occurred is evidenced by the stories of residents of surrounding villages.

The Serpukhov merchant Okorokova, who suffered from a very difficult and painful childbirth, the Monk David appeared in a dream and promised healing if she visited his monastery and served his funeral service for cancer. After the successful release of the burden, the grateful woman was in the desert and told those serving the requiem about the wondrous appearance of the monk to her.

At the end of the 1850s, when the elder of high spiritual life, Hierodeacon Benedict, was a candle-bearer in the David Hermitage, a peasant from Podolsk district came to the monastery and asked to serve a memorial service for the Monk David. The peasant who served the hieromonk told the following: “For about seven years I suffered from relaxation and without outside help I could neither move nor rise. Almost in reality, the Monk David, a tall, gray-haired old man, in a monastic robe with a staff in his hands, appeared to me and ordered me to go to David’s Hermitage and serve a memorial service for him, promising to heal me from my illness. “Father,” I say, “I would gladly go, but not only can I walk, I can’t even get up, and I don’t even know where this desert is.” The elder hit me on the legs with a staff, ordered me to go to Podolsk and became invisible.

Then, to great joy, I felt the opportunity to move my limbs, although I could not stand on my feet, and I decided to go as ordered, which I announced to my family. Despite the entreaties of his son and other relatives to postpone this intention, he began to get ready to set off. They quickly fitted him with crutches, although he could not use them due to the inability to stand on his feet. My son accompanied me to the village outskirts, the entire distance to which I crawled with great difficulty.

Then something happened, as if I was shot all over, and I felt that my strength was growing stronger, I tried to get to my feet and - a miracle! - with the help of crutches he stood up and walked, albeit barely, on his feet. The further I walked, the more my strength became stronger. Near Podolsk, kind people told us how to find the way to the desert. And so, with God’s help, through the prayers of Father St. David, I reached the desert, and no longer need crutches.”

The Monk David appeared to an elderly noblewoman from the Podolsk district and said: “Why don’t you come to me?” The one who appeared became invisible, and the girl wondered who it could be. Soon she had to be in Moscow and go to the Chapel of the Savior, which belonged to the David’s Hermitage. Having accidentally seen a printed image of the Monk David here, she recognized him as the one who had appeared and began to ask whose image this was? When she was told by the servants at the chapel that this was an image of the founder of the Davidic Hermitage, the Monk David, she told her about the appearance, learned about the road to the hermitage, and indeed soon arrived at the monastery and, having served a memorial service, told everyone about the appearance that had happened to her.

The name of St. David was surrounded by great veneration. Pilgrims flocked to his coffin in large numbers. And now you can see a great miracle performed through the prayers of the Monk David; this is the revival of the monastery in 1995, after the hard times of the Bolshevik turmoil, when the monastery was barbarically plundered and almost destroyed.

On May 24/June 6, 1997, the relics of St. David of Serpukhov were solemnly discovered at the monastery.

Reverend Father David, pray to God for us!

Troparion, tone 4:

By your humility you have ascended above the world, Reverend Father, / having defeated the evil enemy with virtues, / shining through the purity of your life, like the second sun, / leading many people to salvation. / Therefore pray to Christ God, O Reverend Father David, / to grant us peace and great mercy / / and salvation to our souls.

Kontakion, tone 3:

Today the memory of the Venerable David is committed, faithfully, / we praise his deeds according to his heritage, / through his intercession he heals the sick, / giving healing to bodies and salvation to souls / and prays to the All-Merciful Savior / / to grant us forgiveness of sins.