In the collection of the Chernihiv Historical Museum. VV. Tarnovsky's book "The Lives of the Saints" by St. Dimitry Rostovsky is preserved (Кн. 4, months of June-August, Інв. № AK-463) issued in December 1796 year at the Printing House in Moscow.
There is a lot of evidence left in the preserved monuments of early Christian writing about the practice of reading the lives of saints at Christian meetings.. Initially, these were acts of martyrdom, who told of the exploits of the martyrs in the days of their memory. From the martyrdom acts of St. Ignatius the Godbearer[1] we will find out, that their compilers “noticed for themselves the day and the hour, in order to, gathering during his martyrdom, to have communion with the ascetic and valiant martyr of Christ ". So, reading at the service of legends about the martyrs was practiced at the beginning of the II century. З часом, when the number of acts of martyrdom increased, they began to be distributed according to the memory of the saints by the days of the year and became the basis for future collections of "Cheti-Minei[2].
Already in the XI century. "Chetyi-Minei" appeared in the Slavic language. The oldest hagiographic[3] Slavic monument, that has survived to this day is the Supraslsk manuscript (early. XI.), which is about 24 lives of saints and sermons for the month of March. In the XVI-XVII centuries. Makariyivska appear[4], Wonderful[5], Tulupovskaya[6] and Milutin[7] Minei.
The most popular and popular love was the work of St. Demetrius of Rostov - "Chety Minei" created by him in the late XVII - early XVIII centuries. He was born in 1651 in the town of Makariv near Kiev. His real name was Danylo Savych Tuptalo. He was educated at the Kyiv-Bratsk Collegium. He received a monastic vow in 1668 year in the Kirillov Monastery in Kiev. In 1675 year was ordained a priest. Archbishop Lazar Baranovych of Chernihiv, knowing about the abilities and spiritual gifts of the young hieromonk, called him to himself and appointed him a preacher at the Chernihiv Department.. Since then, his life has been closely connected with Chernihiv region.
While in Chernihiv with the blessing of Archbishop Lazar he wrote the book "Irrigated Fleece", which tells about the miracles of the Trinity-Elijah icon of the Mother of God. Later, at different times, Father Demetrius was abbot of Maksakovsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky, Baturyn St. Nicholas Krupitsky, Glukhivsky Petropavlovsky, Chernihiv Holy Dormition Yelets and Novgorod-Siversky Spaso-Preobrazhensky monasteries.
Do 1684 Archimandrite of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Varlaam (Yasinsky) (in the future Metropolitan of Kyiv) invites him to the Lavra with that, that he undertake to compile a corpus of the lives of the saints. The choice fell on him, because for such work it was necessary to find a highly educated person, spiritually and mentally prepared.
The desire to publish "Lives of Saints" was still in the metropolitan Petra Mogili (link to «Требник»), who worked tirelessly on it, that the flock entrusted to him may use the most important church books. It was he who began to work on the implementation of this idea. The Metropolitan asked the monks of Mount Athos to send to Kyiv the Lives of the Saints concluded by the Rev. Simeon Metaphrastus[8]. The saint received the books at the end of his life and therefore did not have time to translate them. The case initiated by them was not fully extended for various reasons, but the surviving various manuscript collections of the time, the Chetiy-Minei, testify to this, that the need for these books was.
The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra was a convenient place to work on the conclusion of the lives of saints, the monastery had a good library and its own printing house. Theological Cathedral of the Lavra, headed by Archimandrite Barlaam (Yasinsky) 6 May 1684 year determined the special obedience of the hieromonk Demetrius to write Minei. The compiler of the lives of the saints himself undertook this difficult task, realizing his pastoral duty to preach the word of God.. So in one of the letters he wrote: "To my dignity (it is not worthy) the word of God is to be preached, not only language, but also with the writing hand. That's my business, that's my title, then my position!».
In the first months, Father Demetrius was engaged in preparatory work. The question of choosing the source base for writing books was important. He used not only the famous Makariyevsky "Great Minei", sent to him from Moscow, works of the Reverend Simeon Metaphrastus, but also sought sources abroad. Authoritative scientific work of Bollanders was sent to the Lavra to work on compiling lives[9] "Saints»[10]. In addition, "Paterik Pechersky" was used, синаксарії[11] from various monasteries and many other sources. Saint Demetrius performed an incredibly large-scale textual painstaking work, since from the very beginning he set an important task in his works "not to lie to the saint".
The records of St. Demetrius contain the following information: "On July 2, 1688, the lives of the saints began to be published, the first part, three months of September, October, November ». Thus, four years of hard work culminated in the beginning of the process of publishing in the Lavra printing house the first of the four three-month parts of "Chety-Minei".
Active work on the second book (months of December, January, February) occurred in 1691–1692 and was completed at the beginning 1693 year. Hieromonk Dimitri worked on her in a quiet place, far from the noise in the cell of the monastery of St. Nicholas Krupitsky monastery. However, the book was published later, because after finishing it, he received new works by the Bollandists and decided to first make additions from new sources. He was already working on this in the Lavra, where his work was published in the beginning 1695 year.
Over the third part of "Chetyi-Minei" (months of March, April, May) Father Demetrius already in the rank of archimandrite worked to a greater extent in the Chernihiv Yelets Holy Dormition Monastery, the abbot of which he was appointed in 1697 year. At the personal request of Moscow Patriarch Hadrian, Archimandrite John of Chernihiv supported Archimandrite Demetrius in this important and difficult work. (Максимович). The third book, Lives of Saints, was published in January 1700 year in the Lavra printing house.
Next spring 1701 Archimandrite Demetrius was summoned to Moscow, where he was ordained a bishop and elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Tobolsk. After his election to the Siberian chair, the saint did not immediately go to a new place of service due to a bad road.. He remained in Moscow in the Chudovsky monastery. Even later, the metropolitan was unable to embark on a long journey due to illness. The saint was worried about that as well, that in distant Siberia he would not be able to complete his many years of work on the conclusion of the lives of the saints, since he will not have in the distant land the sources he needs for this. Given all this, as well as the saint's poor health, he was relieved of his authority in the Siberian diocese at the outset 1702 year was appointed to the Rostov department.
Despite constant worries related to the management of the diocese, the saint in Rostov worked selflessly day and night to complete the last three-month part of the "Chetya-Mineya", a matter of his whole life, which required special attention and concentration. The saint completed his work completely 9 February 1705 year and sent the manuscript to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, where the last fourth book of Minaea was published by the summer of the same year.
"Chetyi-Minei" by the tireless hagiographer Saint Dimitry of Rostov, on which he worked selflessly for twenty years, became one of the most popular works of the people, which has not lost its significance in our time. Since the XVIII century. and to this day the "Lives of the Saints" of St. Demetrius are constantly republished, and therefore in demand among the people.
At one time, a copy was actively used, stored in the Chernihiv Historical Museum. VV. Tarnovsky. This is the fourth part of "Lives of Saints" published in December 1796 year at the Printing House in Moscow. There are records in the book about that, that it was read by one or another person.
The book has custodians - an auxiliary technical element. This is the first word (or part thereof) next page, printed in the lower right corner of the previous page. The purpose of the custodian is to facilitate reading when moving from one page to another and correct selection of letters when binding a book.
Records are preserved on sheets 1–6: "This is the book of the suburb ... Єfim Ivanov, son of Kuznetsov to Panov Sveshnik".
Frame XVIII - beg. ХІХ ст. - boards covered with embossed leather. The copy is decorated with screensavers, initials and endings. The size of the book is 37.6x22.5 cm.
Researcher of the museum,
Candidate of Theology Miroslav May-Boroda
[1] The third bishop of Antioch,disciple of the Apostle John the Theologian. He died a martyr's death at the beginning of the second century.
[2] Collections, in which the lives of saints and instructive texts are set out on a calendar basis. From the Greek μηνιαῖος (minieos) - monthly, that is, reading for a certain month.
[3] Hagiography is a genre of church literature, devoted to describing the lives of saints. From Greek saint (agios) - holy, I am writing (graph) - writing.
[4] The first floor. XVI ст. Concluded by St. Macarius, archbishop of Novgorod (in the future by the Moscow metropolitan).
[5] The end of the XVI century. Created in the Chudovsky Monastery in Moscow.
[6] The first floor. XVIІ ст. Written by the hieromonk of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra Herman (Тулуповим).
[7] The first floor. XVIІ ст. Written by the priest John Milutin in Sergiev Posad.
[8] Name Metaphrastus (from Greek μεταφράζειν - to retell, translate)he received for the collection and editing of ancient texts about martyrs and the lives of saints.
[9] Catholic Congregation, which consists mainly of Jesuit scholars, is engaged in collecting and publishing the lives of saints . Named after one of the founders, Jean Bolland.
[10] Acts of the Saints.
[11] From the Greek σύναξις (synaxis) - meeting. Collection of information about the holiday or about the saint, whose memory is mentioned on one day or another at the service.
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