Icon of the Mother of God "Like an eagle's wings".

I don’t know about you, but for me these words were incomprehensible :)

Psalm to David, 102.

1. Bless, O my soul, the Lord, and all my inner name is His holy name.

2. Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all His rewards,

3. He who cleanses all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases,

4. Who redeems your belly from destruction, who crowns you with mercy and bounties,

5. He who fulfills your desire in good things: your youth will be renewed like an eagle.

The psalm belongs to David.

The content of this psalm is laudatory; here the prophet David sets out his prayer of thanksgiving to God for the blessings received from Him and enumerates the blessings themselves.

1-2. Turning to his soul, in other words, to himself, the prophet David says: Praise, bless, my soul, the Lord, and "and all my inner" - all my mental strength glorify His holy name. Glorify, my soul, the Lord and do not forget all the blessings (“rewards”) of Him.

The prophet excites himself, and together each of us, to the glorification of God for His good deeds with all his being, with all his strength, i.e. with his heart (cf. Ps. 110, 1), lips (cf. Ps. 109:30) and deeds (cf. Matt. 5:16).

Glorify, my soul, the Lord, who forgives ("cleansing") all your sins and heals all your ailments (i.e. mental and bodily infirmities).

Delivering you or your life from corruption (“from decay”, Russian translation - from the grave) and surrounding (“crowning”) you with His graces and bounties, fulfilling your desires for good, or for good, so that, as it were, your youth will return to you, as with an eagle, the strength lost with the loss of old ones is renewed with the growth of new feathers.

6. Do alms Lord, and the fate of all offended.

7. The tale of His way to Moses, to the sons of Israel, His desires.

8. The Lord is generous and merciful, long-suffering and many-merciful.

9. Not completely angry, down to the age of enmity,

10. He did not give us food according to our iniquity, but gave us food according to our sin.

11. Like the height of heaven from the earth, the Lord has established His mercy on those who fear Him.

6-7. And the Lord does all this solely out of His immeasurable mercy, which He reveals especially to those who are offended:

The Lord creates His mercy and righteous judgment ("fate") for all the offended ("offended").

The Israelites were once such offended, and now the Lord showed (“said”) to Moses His ways, that is, the saving ways of His good providence for the Israeli people, and to all the Israelites (through Moses) He revealed His will (“His desires”), of course , in the commandments by which the life of the people was arranged.

8-9. Continuing the enumeration of the blessings of God, for which God should be glorified, the Psalmist says: The Lord is generous and merciful, long-suffering and many-merciful. He is not completely angry (“he will not be completely angry”) and he is not indignant forever (“he is at enmity forever”).

10-11. In general, the Lord is unspeakably merciful.

He dealt with us ("he did to us") not according to our iniquities and not according to our sins repaid us (but, of course, according to His mercy), for as the sky is high above the earth, so He set ("established there is") His mercy on those who fear Him, that is, God's mercy is unchangeable and immeasurable.

12. Eliko separates the east from the west; he removed our iniquity from us.

13. As the father has mercy on his sons, the Lord has mercy on those who fear Him.

14. As He knows our creation, I will remember, as the dust of Esma.

12-14. Such a great mercy of God to us is expressed, among other things, in the fact that: He removes our iniquities from us as far as far ("eliko") the east is from the west (which means that he completely cleanses us from sins). Just as a father has mercy (“as a father has mercy”) on his children, so the Lord has mercy on those who fear Him (cf.: v. 11), because He knows our creation, that is, how and from what we are created, remembers that we are dust , i.e. created from the dust of the earth. Otherwise, the Lord knows that people, as created from dust, are weak and weak, and after the fall of their progenitor, they are already too inclined to fall and sin (Job. 14:4; Ps. 50:7). Knowing this, the Lord condescends to their infirmities, as a father to his children, and forgives them their sins.

15. A man, like the grass of his days, like a green flower, tacos will bloom,

16. It is as if a spirit has passed through it, and it will not, and no one will know his place.

17. The mercy of the Lord from age to age on those who fear Him,

18. And His righteousness is upon the sons of sons, who keep His covenant, and remember His commandments to do.

15-16. Man, in fact, is extremely weak and weak: a man is like grass during the days of his life - like a flower of the field ("village"), so soon he fades: as soon as - "like a spirit pass through him" and he will no longer be, then he no longer knows ("who does not know") his place, that is, he leaves his place.

17-18. But if our life here ends with the separation of the soul from the body, then the mercy of God to us will not stop even after that. The mercy of the Lord to those who fear Him (cf. vv. 11 and 13) continues forever ("from age to age"). His righteous recompense for a virtuous life (“righteousness”) extends even to the grandchildren (“on the sons of sons”) of those who keep His covenant and (do not break) remember His commandments in order to fulfill them (cf.: Ex. 20, 6) .

19. The Lord has prepared His throne in heaven, and His kingdom possesses all.

20. Bless the Lord, all His angels, mighty in strength, who do His word, hear the voice of His words.

21. Bless the Lord, all His might, His servants, who do His will.

22. Bless the Lord, all His works, in every place of His dominion, bless the Lord, O my soul.

19. The mercies of God towards people do not stop with the end of earthly life, because the Lord has prepared for Himself a throne in heaven (i.e., in the spiritual world, where the souls of the dead move), and His kingdom, therefore, possesses everyone, so that both heaven and the earth (His footstool, Isaiah 66:1) is in His possession; living on the earth and departing from the earth - all are in His power and all can receive from His bounties.

20-22. In conclusion, the prophet David calls for the glorification of God angels (v. 20-21) and all creatures in general (v. 22) and, finally, encourages himself to do the same (v. 22).

Praise the Lord, all His Angels, strong enough in their strength to hear the voice of His words, that is, strong or able to listen and understand His will, and fulfill His command ("those who do His word"). Praise the Lord, all His forces, that is, all the powers of heaven or all the orders of the angels, His servants who do His will.

Having called the Angels to glorify God, the prophet encourages all the creatures of God to do the same: glorify the Lord, all and in every place of His dominion His creatures, that is, all the creations of God, not only dumb, but also inanimate objects (the whole universe is really glorifies God, testifying with his wise device about the highest perfections of the Creator (cf.: Ps. 18, 2).

The prophet calls all creatures to the glorification of God in order to thereby more strongly encourage people to glorify God. If the Creator is to be praised by dumb and unreasoning creatures, then shouldn’t the people who have received from Him incomparably greater and greatest blessings praise Him even more?

That is why, in conclusion, the prophet, turning to himself, says: Bless the Lord, O my soul. This is how the prophet David teaches us to glorify God for His good deeds!

The new people of the Gentiles are taught by this psalm to hymn God, the great benefactor. These blessings are the blotting out of sin and the glory of the resurrection.

He excites himself to hymn, in the blessing of God offering himself the best remedy to your salvation. And the fact that God is ready to have mercy on people, delivering them from corruption and granting them the kingdom of heaven, glorifies His righteousness at the judgment. Therefore, the proposed chant is appropriate for everyone.

And all[n] inner[n] my[n] name is His holy.

The word “inner” makes it clear that we must call upon God with all our heart, with all our strength and with all our thoughts.

. Bless the Lord, my soul.

He continues to persuade himself to hymns, knowing that he is obliged to repay these for the great blessings of God; for whoever remembers the good deeds of God will not cease to hymn it.

And do not forget all His rewards,

because for the great sins committed by us, He repaid us with goodness, mercy, bounty. And we must not forget this.

. Cleansing all your iniquity.

These are the recompenses of God to us: first, God established the cleansing of our sins; secondly, he healed our infirmities; thirdly, he delivered our life from decay, having blotted out sin; fourthly, having shown His characteristic philanthropy and mercy and generosity, He crowned us with the gift of sonship; fifthly, He filled us with spiritual blessings, giving us Himself - the true bread of life.

. Your youth will be renewed like an eagle,

because God renews our youth with re-existence, like an eagle's. By this David points us to the gift of the resurrection. He likened those who are renewed to an eagle, since the eagle is more pompous and regal than all birds, and alone can, without closing his eyes, look at the sunshine.

. Do alms Lord and fate to all offended.

This Lord, who by His mercy has given us all that is now numbered, is the same One Who of old judged the righteous judgment, delivered the children of Israel from Egypt, gave to Moses and all the people the knowledge of His commandments.

. The Lord is generous and merciful.

For this was the cause of such a beneficence of God both of old and now, as Moses also says: "The Lord ... is long-suffering, and many-merciful, and true ... show mercy to thousands"(). Therefore, His powers, called "ways" (), and virtues with which to rule everything, "skaz... Moiseovi" ().

. Not completely angry.

Although he was angry for the crime, and condemned our race to death: however, he does not extend his anger to the end; because in the last times He shone forth "to sweep away corruption" ().

. Yako Toy knows our creation.

For He has mercifulness as His own creation and the work of His hands.

. The mercy of the Lord is from time immemorial.

It is like this: "do mercy in thousands" afraid of Me ().

. And His righteousness is upon the sons of sons, who keep His covenant.

For, like a saint, he rests in the Saints, that is, in the powers of the angels.

. The Lord has prepared His throne in heaven.

Although it rests in the spirits above, yet the earthly things are not far from His kingdom, because, as God, He rules over everything.

And His kingdom possesses all.

It's been said "possesses everything" and not "reigns over all," because not all are worthy of His kingdom. Therefore, the Savior promised the kingdom of heaven to those who prosper in the gospel life, and the Lord reigns over the worthy.

. Bless the Lord, all His angels.

He teaches by this that the people who approach the faith, as devoting themselves to songwriting, will be in the same dignity with the angels. For if the office of angels is to praise and glorify God; and the soul is commanded to do the same, that is, always glorify; it is clear that she is worthy of the same dignity. For those who have one occupation have the same dignity.

. Bless the Lord with all His might.

Not only angels are called to praise, but also every other heavenly rank that exists, whether it is thrones, or rulers, or authorities, or dominions. All these ranks he signified to us with the word: "powers".

First of all, of course, it would be necessary to explain why I was going to write something at all, what I can say interesting things to you, the reader. I have an answer to this question - I want to tell you about a miracle.

Talking to people about your faith (and according to your kind professional activity I have to - thank God - do this often), over and over again I came across a completely natural question: “Well, okay, you speak fluently about the experience of other people, but you yourself - what did you see? Was there any miracle in your life? The question, indeed, is quite natural: the most interesting thing for a normal person is not some abstract ideas, but a live interlocutor.

For the time being, this question didn’t just baffle me, but somehow “knocked me out of the rhythm”: you can talk smoothly and easily about an outsider, but it’s always very difficult about yourself. In order to talk about oneself, one must remove one's life from oneself, make it a narration—this, in the first place, was a purely technical difficulty. But, besides, in essence - in my life, indeed, there were no miracles at all that could be told about to a shocked crowd - there was not what is usually called a miracle.

Another thing is that if you look soberly, thoughtfully, then my whole life is wonderful, and there were countless incidents in it that were imperceptible to the prying eye, which spoke so much to the heart. But it’s useless to talk about this, it’s your heart that they can say something, but for an outsider’s eye, as already mentioned, they mean nothing at all. Here, even a person himself sometimes cannot immediately discern a miracle in his life - the question is, after all, - but does the heart want to listen, does it want to receive these news from above. I cannot say that, for example, I was completely deaf to them, but for the time being they had little effect on my life.

And yet I found the answer to this provocative question: “Has there been anything in your life?” - "Yes!" I answer now. In addition to the intimate experience of the heart, which an outsider can perceive as the fruit of a dream, there was such a miracle in my life that I can present to the public, because it is tangible, obvious and incomprehensible, because it is easily verified if anyone wants to take an interest in my life. those who knew me.

This miracle was exactly found: after it happened, I did not forget about it, it was with me, and I understood its miraculousness, but somehow it never occurred to me that it could be an answer to skeptical questions about a miracle. For all its crushing miraculousness, it is quiet, informal, modest and… “non-classical”. It lay in my life right in plain sight, but did not scream about itself, and then - I kind of saw it again. I saw that it was possible to show it to others: “Do you want to see a miracle? “So here you are, look, and if this is not a miracle, then what other miracle do you need!”

I must apologize: it is impossible to speak of this miracle without some preface. Moreover, this preface could, of course, be shorter, but I will allow myself to start calmly and from afar. I would like to try to find out myself how I became a believer. I still can't explain this to myself. Perhaps this circumstance will at least partly excuse the length of my preface.

I was born and raised in a good Soviet family - quite well off, but without luxury, quite educated and intelligent, but simple in everyday life. And completely irreligious. About God, about the Church, about priests, about prayer, I didn’t hear anything at all at home - neither good nor bad. Except as an ordinary saying. I myself was not specifically interested in these issues. Since I read a lot and very haphazardly, and ancient history was interesting to me, like any child, probably, then I was curious, among other things, about myths Ancient Greece, and about "Christian mythology". Kosidovsky’s “Bible tales” did not fascinate me much, but the tales of exploits, intrigues and adventures Greek gods I loved. By the way, such a difference in perception is not at all accidental, it is very revealing: despite the intensified attempts to present the Bible as a collection of myths, the “biblical tales” did not resemble myths in any way, they were not myths at all, these were stories about extraordinary events, about how people live, keeping in touch with God, but in these stories there was no fabulousness, they were not of mythological interest. Despite the miracles that happened to biblical characters from time to time, the biblical narrative was too ... realistic or something. That is, it was clear to my “atheistic” mind that the described miracles were fiction, but in these fictions there was no flight of fantasy, there was no emancipation and freedom of mythological creativity in them. And in general: the uniqueness of God - this alone is already boring, or, rather, it is not fairy-tale serious - this is no longer a myth, but a religion.

But that's the thing the ancient Greeks! A lot of gods, who either turn into something or someone, then fight, then reconcile. And there is also a complex hierarchy between them, their intricate family ties, and also any small mythical riffraff - nymphs, satyrs, centaurs - and people-heroes are almost like gods, and gods are almost like people, and also various fabulous monsters - the Minotaur, Medusa Gorgon, Cyclopes - this is a whole world created according to separate laws, and it was so interesting to consider it!

These studies were mainly related to summer vacation at grandparents. My father's parents were rural teachers. Grandfather Vasya - the Kingdom of heaven to him! - a former history teacher, for one or two summers he talked vividly with me about the ancient Greeks and their myths, and although, apparently, he did not approve of the religious bias, outwardly he almost never expressed this disapproval. Except one case. Together with my cousin, rummaging through the far corners of the storerooms, we once found an old book with Slavic letters on the cover: "The Holy Gospel." This discovery aroused obvious displeasure, the book was taken away and carried away somewhere. As I understand it, she remained from her grandmother's mother, Baba Poli (Pelagia Fedorovna - the Kingdom of Heaven to her!), Who last years of her long life, when I already found her, she lived blind, but while she could still go out on her own, she constantly went to church and sang in the church choir.

Now, looking from the then unpredictable future at myself then, looking around in life and dreaming about the future, I can say that I have always been a believer, despite the fact that all of the above occupied a very insignificant place in my life. I was a believer insofar as it is natural for a person to be a believer and it is unnatural to be an atheist. For example, I could not fully comprehend - how is it: "There is no God"? That is, I reasoned, if He were, it would mean this and that, “there is God”, this is when there is “He Who” - looks, sees, rules, thinks, loves, helps, punishes, the One Who cares about everything that happens. Of course, I could not imagine God—I clearly knew and felt that God was inconceivable, but I could imagine the presence of God in the world, the world ruled by God, the entry of God into human life. So there is none of that! I struggled to imagine such a picture. It became empty, dark and cold, “but it’s true!”

I was very interested, but very disappointed, in anti-religious literature. I was interested, apparently, because I hoped to find in it a solution to these difficulties of mine. And upset by boorish vulgarity. This literature was able to inspire me with only one thought: there is no God, because He was invented, and the fact that He was invented is certain, because He does not exist and cannot exist.

The child is so arranged that he believes what he is told, and even if he cannot understand the meaning of what is being said, he still repeats what he heard. I repeated: "There is no God." And what is something?! Anti-religious literature could not offer me anything great and bright. I was in complete agreement with my origin from the monkey, especially since I always liked monkeys, I knew by heart the names of all the transitional links from the monkey to me. But it's one thing to climb apple trees in a large grandmother's garden overgrown with grass, depicting these same monkeys in the process of their transformation into humans, and another thing real life. As an excuse to play, monkeys are very attractive, but how is life to live?!

It’s not that I was tormented by these questions, but I always knew that I didn’t have an answer to them. And smart books didn't help me find it. Games in monkey anthropogenesis took place together with another cousin in the garden of another grandmother, my mother's mother - God rest the soul of Your servant Elena! Here, too, I have not heard anything about religion. And again, there was one find. This brother, inventive for all sorts of inventions and pranks, found at my grandmother’s “Orthodox Church Calendar” hidden somewhere, which we dragged into the garden and there, climbing a tree, began to leaf through merrily. I remember the pages of the calendar indicating the memory of saints, holidays, readings, sheets with small photographs of bishops, colored icons. An angry grandmother came running and took away the calendar from us, scolding us, as always, for climbing trees. And, as I again understand, she was dissatisfied, first of all, with the fact that some of her secrets became the property of stupid boys.

Of all the atheistic propaganda, only one poem by Robert Rozhdestvensky touched my heart. I can't help but quote the main passage that I remember (as far as I remember, of course):

The bells rang: Everything in this world is perishable!

They demanded: “Do not blaspheme, change your mind, renounce!”

But the artist drove the whole army of colors on the offensive,

And on the canvas, as if on a tambourine, the brush thumped menacingly.

Hit! - And the friable nun looks around in confusion ...

Hit! - And panic breaks into the most holy celebration,

Glasses are ringing in the cathedral... Blow! - And it's deadly.

For the Lord God and for his relatives.

And the room moved apart, and the stretchers disappeared -

The majestic Aphrodite swam in a careless pose ...

And the models were cold, the models shuddered quietly,

The models were alive and really wanted warmth.

They dressed slowly, walked to the door and stubbornly

Shoulder did not fall into thin capes ...

And they prayed for a long time in the church, and they were very afraid of God,

And they were already immortal, and God had nothing to do with it.

This poem touched something in me, it sounded some greatness and depth. But now it is obvious: just what I liked about him was not atheistic. That is, in general, this poem can hardly be called atheistic, and it ended up in an anti-religious collection due to a misunderstanding. It really said something important and bright to the heart, but this is only poetry! Poetry is good and bright, but it is not true! And the bells do not know how to talk, and the paints applied to the canvas do not represent armies, and no one is afraid of brush strokes, no one hears them. And how can a room move apart, where will the stretchers disappear? - All this is nothing more than a poetic myth, essentially no different from the Greek myths about the same Aphrodite, which emerges from all this sublime confusion. And why is it precisely the creation of a mythological image that is opposed to God in all this phantasmagoria? Is there anything real that can't be countered?

And yet - wait! - if “this is fatal”, then it means that God exists, only the artist kills Him, if He does not exist, then why all this pathos? If there are only stupid people who believe in fairy tales, then what is your heroism?! To prove to a child the absence of Baba Yaga may be the right thing to do, but it is hardly worthy of sparkling eyes and admiring applause. And then - the most important thing! - okay, in the poem, the artist is no longer an artist, but a heroic commander, and the room parted, and Aphrodite swam, and even - here it is, here it is! - stupid models, praying in church and fearing God, have already become immortal without any of His participation, but then in a poem, but in life, but in reality - how?

But in fact, the models are highly developed monkeys, and the artist is also a monkey, only even more highly developed, and even the “loose nun” is also a monkey, albeit an underdeveloped, backward monkey. And all this "immortality" is poetic - with a pitchfork on the water. They all ate, got sick and rotted for a long time, and we all eat, we will get sick of our age and rot too. This is the "truth of life". But here’s the paradox: you realized this “truth”, explained it to yourself, agreed with it, and she ... It’s not that it’s “rude and pockmarked”, - that’s why it’s “truth”; it’s not that she’s shameless and cynical, but what she’s ashamed of, she’s “the truth.” It’s really stupid to be offended by the truth, you never know what you would like, you never know what dreams will fly into your head, but there is real truth and real life, and that’s how it is.

But the trouble is that this “truth” does not inspire, “neither to work, nor to a feat, nor for a few lines,” as Grebenshchikov later sang. This “truth” cannot breathe life into a person! Religious "deception", myth and fairy tale - this straightens a person's shoulders, this breathes life into him. For some reason, stupid believers who have invented a fairy tale about God for themselves can joyfully sing to their “invented” God: “You make me real!”, And for those who are faithful to the “real truth”, this “truth” for some reason does not moves, if they sing anything, it is also “about mythology”, but never about this “truth”. Retarded believers live, of course, in an illusion, but how interestingly they live!

Atheistic propaganda managed to get into the head that religion is bad, that religion "leads" away from life, that it forms a passive, slavish consciousness, and I seemed to agree with this, but ... But anyway, these are somehow very attractive obscurantists live there, they have holiness, and villainy, and tears of tenderness, and the burning of heretics, and majestic temples, and some kind of hermits in the forest, monasteries, anathemas, kneeling, vows - THEY LIVE! That is, we, of course, live, and we understand life much more correctly, but their majestic delusion stomps and rushes through life, we, with our scant truth, are neither a candle to God, nor a poker to hell. As the same Robert Rozhdestvensky wrote:

We - and did not try,

We - and not trying -

We are mammals

And mammals.

This is the paradox - everything that is real and worthwhile in life is all deceit and dope, but what is not deceit and not dope, which is the "truth of life", purified to the utmost clarity - you can’t live with it like that. I want to. Everything that somehow awakens to life is all fantasy and illusion; and what is not an illusion or a fantasy does not awaken to anything. Even if this “truth” plunges a person into despair, it does not plunge into despair, it does not plunge anyone anywhere and does not lead to anything.

Yes, how is it?! Looking at life "correctly", bringing this "correctness" to its logical end, it is impossible to have an incentive to live. Incentives to study and work still with grief in half could be found, but life in general, as such, how is it? We did not know the goals higher than the construction of communism, and the senselessness and worthlessness of this goal in the face of human life and death in the universe was much more obvious for a child than for adult critics of communism, who emphasize its utopianism and economic failure.

Well, let's say that highly developed monkeys even build such a society so that you can not work, but somehow, effortlessly produce everything you need, and at the same time have everything you want - so what?! For this, the monkeys didn’t need to develop anywhere, they are undeveloped in the wild, they don’t work at all, and have everything they want. That is, labor turned a well-fed and happy monkey into an insatiable and unhappy person, there is no turning back, and material production must be further developed in order to overcome labor, turn it into some kind of “free practical activity” and regain the lost monkey happiness. This ideal does not warm! But, for example, "May there always be sun, may there always be sky, may there always be mother, may there always be me," - this warms the heart, but this is already religious mythology!

This is how I explain it now, but then, of course, these words did not exist, and could not exist. But what I felt, perhaps, can be expressed in this way. I repeat once again that reflections on this topic did not take up much space in my life, my interests were very broad and unsystematic, I did not think about religious issues often and hardly for a long time. There were countless other topics. Only one thing bothered me: these were the most important questions, but I could not understand them, I could not feel solid ground for my thoughts. “Religion is an invention, and atheism is the only true perception of the world,” I used to say (and most often with a light heart), but, understanding the meaning of each individual word, I could not understand in myself what it was. it means that religion is not right, but atheism is right. That is, I understood the logical meaning of this phrase, but this meaning did not reach my heart.

Or maybe so. I had a “scientific picture of the world”, quite logical and clear, and there was also the real world, obvious and weighty, they needed to be coordinated. Some scientific truths, although with difficulty, I could feel and experience: for example, the fact that it is not the Sun that revolves around the Earth and sets on the horizon, but, on the contrary, I, sitting on a chair, turn slowly with the Earth and turn away from the Sun; or the fact that somewhere on the other side of the Earth the ocean is splashing, and that the world has neither top nor bottom, but just me and the ocean are attracted to the center of a huge planet - this I could realize and feel. And some other scientific truths were unrepresentable simply because they belonged to a realm of reality that is inaccessible to perception: something from quantum mechanics or the theory of relativity. Yes, and here, although it is impossible to imagine, it was quite possible to feel the weight and meaning of these truths. But the fact that there is no God (after all, I also considered this to be something like scientific truth, part of the scientific picture of the world), for some reason it always sounded aloof. That is, yes, this is true, but how is this known, how is this fact of absence proven? Surely, he is proved by the fact that Balda hit the ass with clicks, or by the fact that real priests(as it was claimed) fat and greedy?

However, I am now saying all this, trying to articulate my then subconscious sensations and intuitions. And then - from early childhood and until almost entering adulthood - I honestly and sincerely considered myself an atheist. Not some "militant atheist", but simply an A-Theist, a non-religious person, a sober Soviet boy (teenager, young man, young man). And he treated believers as it should be, that is, without enmity, but with apprehension, without fear and even with interest, but somehow slightly shying away, this is how they treat the easily mad: the disease is interesting and even attracts, but you move away from a sick person , and not because he could harm you, but precisely because he is "out of his mind." However, I almost did not see believers, they were not in my little world.

Something like a prayer, like any child, was, of course, familiar to me: “Oh, if only it had passed!”, “Let everything work out!” - a person often instinctively turns to Someone, Unknown-Who - upstairs. Sometimes such prayer was even conscious. One such incident is well remembered. My dad and I went to the forest to pick mushrooms on bicycles and got lost. The bicycle is a very unique mode of transport. If we were on foot, then, moving slowly, we could not go too far, and the signs of the road would be better remembered. If we were driving a car, we would not depend on our own muscular strength and, having traveled along the road long enough, we would have left somewhere. And we were on bicycles, and therefore, having missed the necessary turnaround on our way back, we managed to go quite far before it was discovered. We turned around and drove back, but at the same time we finally got bogged down in a web of forest roads and paths. Although cycling is, of course, much easier than walking, we were quite tired after several hours and many kilometers, wound up in search of mushrooms. And the day was already in full swing towards evening, and it was noticeably dark in the forest. And in this situation, without looking around and just mechanically pedaling, wheel after wheel after my father, I began to read “Our Father” to myself. I can’t say how I knew the words of this prayer, apparently, I once memorized it just out of interest, which, with my good memory, was not difficult. We very soon left on a familiar road. It is difficult for me to say how I assessed what happened then. This did not convince me of the idea that God exists, but, on the other hand, I did not regard my prayer as absurd stupidity and shameful weakness: I did the right thing, it was necessary to do so, but whether there is a God is unknown, most likely, no, maybe there is “something like that”, it is not known what, well, okay. The incident happened and passed, life goes on.

I tell all this in such detail because I myself cannot understand how I became a believer. There was no such moment in my life about which one could say: “And then I believed!”, Or anything like that. The fact that I am a believer now is a fact, but at the same time something incomprehensible to me. My faith is already something familiar to me, but still it is a miracle - where did it come from in me, when it happened, how could it happen that in my soul the words “Everyone knows there is no God” were replaced by “I believe, Lord, I confess…”? I am trying to explain this to myself, and I hope that, perhaps, these efforts of mine will help someone understand their soul.

So, I was an atheist and a materialist, or at least sincerely considered myself as such. And when, having completed two courses at the Civil Engineering Institute, having served two years in the army, I felt an inner need to go to study at the Faculty of Philosophy, I came there as a convinced Marxist. It was 1988, in the perspective of “glasnost”, the processes of rethinking Soviet philosophical scholasticism were already beginning, however, the official line pursued by the faculty, and met with understanding from the majority of students of the philosophical faculty, was to recognize the need for “cleansing from distortions” and “ creative renewal" of the "great heritage".

However, it was possible to study the history of philosophy or modern Western philosophy, and, in addition, these years became the time of the return of Russian religious thought of the 19th-20th centuries. Some of my classmates, as well as older comrades, escaped from Marxist boredom into the study of "modern bourgeois philosophy" (all the more so since the possibilities for obtaining primary sources have increased here too). There was also a party of "zealots of Russian philosophy" (as Professor B.V. Emelyanov called the circle gathered around him). I belonged to the "Marxists". This was partly due to my instinctive distaste for fashion, my unwillingness to run in the crowd for the latest innovations. There are also disadvantages in such a position: a stubborn unwillingness to quickly read a book that everyone reads is also a dependence on fashion only with a minus sign. However, it would be more correct to define my position as conservatism: I was not against the new, especially since the horizons of this new, which opened then, were breathtaking in a good way, but I did not believe that the new is always better than the old, just because it is new.

After studying for two years, at the beginning of the third year I was baptized. It is difficult to say what prompted me to take this step. That is, too much moved me, and therefore it is difficult to list everything, and each of these reasons separately looks faded. I'll try to talk about the most notable ones. If we divide roughly and conditionally, there were reasons of a "theoretical" plan, but there were "practically vital". The "theoretical" premises were simply that, as it turned out, religious faith is not a product of backwardness and ignorance. I've guessed this before, but it's one thing to speculatively assume it, and quite another to see it clearly. To the credit of our teachers, they, even being mostly atheists, spoke about religious faith as a full-fledged opponent in the ideological dialogue. That is, even assuming that religion is wrong, they did not smash it with the idiotic arguments of propaganda literature, but recognized its right to speak. Yes, and how not to admit when almost all the philosophers we studied were not just believers, but this faith played an important role in the construction of philosophical systems.

That is, the "theoretical" preparation for baptism consisted in liberation from ideological clichés hardened since childhood. These ideologemes were then collapsing very quickly among many people in our country (the year of my baptism was 1990), but this destruction in itself, of course, could not give rise to faith.

The “practical” and indeed important reasons for my baptism are harder to tell. It is them that I myself cannot fully understand. But such an incident immediately preceded baptism. After another student "holiday", accompanied by heavy drinking, I was told about what I did and how I behaved the day before. I had absolutely no recollection of what had happened, but there was "material evidence", and from my past drunken experiences I knew something about myself. But this time everything went beyond what I could imagine about myself. Loud words are inappropriate here: “I was horrified”, “I was shocked”, “I was shocked”, “I could not believe” - all this is not true. From acute emotions - only shame. It was not an emotional upheaval, it was something outwardly calmer, but much deeper. You can say this: I realized that a beast is sitting inside me, and this beast is not someone else, IT IS ME. That is, at the bottom, in the roots of my soul, I myself am such that I am disgusting to myself. Six months earlier, in the spring of 1990, I wrote a poem in which similar sentiments already sound:

I will wash and dry myself,

But the soul cannot be washed away like the body.

I'm sick of my friends

And my life is exhausted.

And, as if in a painful delirium,

With cold disgust I see:

I am a stranger to everyone I go to

And everything that was, I hate.

For everything that is still in fate

I had, for everything that I did in my life,

I'm disgusting to myself

Soul and body.

It wasn't some kind of lingering mental depression at all, no. It could be called a spiritual crisis, and even that is too strong a word. However, this was probably a spiritual crisis, not visible from the outside, not visible even to myself, a fracture in the depths of the spirit, only occasionally felt on the surface of spiritual life.

In a word, by the fall of 1990, I realized clearly that I NEED to be baptized. I still did not understand very clearly why I needed this, but that I had to take this step was obvious. I felt the same when I entered the Faculty of Philosophy: this is MY path, it is still not clear where it will lead me, and other paths are also attractive, but this one is mine, and I have to go there in order to come to myself, to find myself.

My baptism was also connected with a kind of instinctive repentance: after the incident mentioned above, which revealed to me the rottenness of my "underground", I put on a thread around my neck with one of the "material evidence" of my disgrace and wore it for a week, without taking it off, for a reminder, but took it off going to be baptized. In the summer of that year, my father, having visited the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, bought some souvenirs, including crosses. One gave me. I changed the symbol of the ugliness that lived in me to the symbol of salvation from this ugliness. This "symbolism" of gestures may seem pretentious, but I acted without any exaltation and quite sincerely. It seems pretentious now, when I tell all this, when the then gestures and feelings are clothed in words. All those words that I could now say in explanation of my gestures and feelings will be lies, because then I did not have these words. But in these gestures and feelings themselves, there was a meaning, and it was exactly the same as I am now saying, only without these words. Gestures and feelings were more real than the words expressing their meaning, and at the same time they were still blind without these words. This is how blind puppies find their mother's nipples by scent, by instinct. And these are, again, my beautiful words today, which didn’t exist then and couldn’t exist – it’s possible to reason from the outside, from a time distance, but the puppy itself, crawling to the nipple, has neither words nor reasoning. My baptism was just such an instinctive movement, the significance of which is not so much realized as it is lived and breathes from within.

Outwardly, baptism almost did not change my life in any way (although the "underground" no longer crawled out in such ugly forms). I didn’t notice any changes in myself, but by the end of my studies at the Faculty of Philosophy, I was already, one might say, a believer – that is, one can say so now, but then I didn’t call myself a believer yet. Let's put it this way: I became open to faith, there were no internal obstacles to believing.

And the final and conscious acquisition of faith happened like this. In the early autumn of 1993, having already graduated from the university, but not yet enrolled in graduate school, I went to the Ascension Church (it takes place in Yekaterinburg) and bought a small icon of the Savior and a small prayer book-brochure. The prayer book was, indeed, small, approximately 10x15, and, as it turned out later, abbreviated (both in the morning and in the evening prayers three prayers were published), the cover depicted Ven. Seraphim of Sarov praying on a stone. I hung the icon in the dorm room where my wife and I lived, and the next morning, alone, I read morning prayers. What a reading it was! I stumbled over every word, I didn’t understand half of the words, I didn’t know what to do when it says “Glory:” or “And now:”, “Glory, and now” read these three words directly literally. But what happened next can only be summed up in one word: miracle. This is not the miracle I wanted to talk about. This miracle is unlikely to shock and reason with any of the skeptics, but it shocked me.

All day after that I was in an amazing state, the world blossomed around me, and the world blossomed inside me. I walked the earth, there were no hallucinations, but my soul flew and sang. Here it was hardly possible to act purely psychological mechanisms, my prayer was too unintelligible and inconspicuous to cause a psychological upsurge, and even such strength. And one more thing - although the feeling of flight and illumination of existence lasted only one day, but the direct consequences of this day affected for a very long time. For eight months after that, I prayed every day, morning and evening, reading the whole rule in full. This period ended when my newborn son and I went to my mother-in-law for the summer, and returned from there to Tyumen to my parents. There have been ups and downs in spiritual life, but there has never been such a long period of prayer. For eight months I had enough warmth from this first prayer experience. It would have lasted longer, if not for some external circumstances ...

It is to this period of my life, to the time of churching, that the miracle that I am going to tell about belongs. My churching went, perhaps, somewhat "non-standard": as already mentioned, I prayed in the morning and in the evening, but at the same time I did not go to church, and, of course, I did not fast. There was one feeble attempt to start fasting when Advent arrived. I decided that for starters, you can limit yourself to at least the rejection of meat. I loved dairy products very much, and it was scary for me to part with them for a long time. My “fasting” lasted exactly one meal: at breakfast I heroically refused a cutlet, but then my wife told me not to fool myself and people, and what kind of nonsense I came up with, they say, “if you really want to fast then fast for real.” For dinner, I already ate goulash calmly and did not invent stupid things.

And closer to spring, in the month of March, a thought suddenly came to me - why don't I go to church? After all, I am Orthodox, I believe "in the One God the Father ..." and further in the text, and "in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church" as well. And now I have been praying for the sixth month, and during this time I have not bothered to go to church. And next Sunday I went to the temple. The gospel reading that day was the parable of the prodigal son. Coming to church for the first time in my life as a consciously believing Christian, I heard precisely these gospel words. This is another miracle, which, of course, can be told, but it will not say anything to a skeptical mind. It said a lot to my believing heart.

Anyone who is familiar with church life understands that this was the second preparatory week for Great Lent, that a week later Cheese Week began, Maslenitsa, and after it the great post. This time I decided to fast for real. I am infinitely grateful to my wife, who kept me from hypocritical fasting during the Christmas fast, otherwise I could get stuck for a long time at the stage when people come up with various excuses for themselves and say: “Now the fast is coming, so I try to eat less meat.”

Finally, I came close to the miracle that I wanted to talk about. The thing is, I smoked. I lit a cigarette for the first time before the army in the first year of the construction institute. This period was short-lived, about six months, and the intensity of smoking was small, but still, efforts had to be made to quit. The first year in the army I did not smoke, and from the second year I began to smoke, and now, unlike entertainment in civilian life, for real. At the time of the events I am writing about, I had been a smoker for seven years. These were difficult years, at one time tobacco was in short supply, and it had to be smoked in all forms: filtered and unfiltered cigarettes, cigarettes, cigars, pipes, hand-rolled cigarette tobacco, tobacco, cigarette butts collected from ashtrays. Only, perhaps, the hookah passed by. I tried to quit countless times, but these attempts did not last longer than three to five days. It seems that five days was my record. I am a weak person, malleable both to persuasion from the outside and to prompting from the inside. In addition, as my father deduced on the basis of not only his own experience, it is very easy to quit smoking for the first time, just quit and forget. And a dangerous illusion is created in a person that if something happens, he can just as easily do it another time. But the second time it is already terribly difficult to quit, this passion holds tenaciously and almost does not weaken with time. My father, who went through the first easy time and smoked again, then quit heavily and not on the first try, and only recently admitted that, having quit, he was tormented by the desire to smoke for another twenty years before letting go a little. But my father is just an internally strong person and his willpower was enough for these twenty years. I had enough for five days maximum.

At the end of winter, I had another attempt to quit smoking, I didn’t last long, as always, I bought one cigarette piece, then a couple more, then another and another, and by March I already went on my usual diet: a pack a day or less, depending on the circumstances . And here comes the post. I don't remember deciding to quit smoking. There was no such decision, it was just somehow implied for me that since fasting, then smoking should be stopped. And I didn’t give myself a word, I didn’t promise, but fasting began and I stopped smoking. And during the seven weeks of Great Lent I did not smoke and did not suffer from it at all. And the fast ended, the Easter celebrations passed, but I still did not smoke, I had no desire.

At the end of May, my friend had a birthday, we sat, drank, and I smoked a cigarette ... Complete disgust and no pleasure, and after that I did not smoke. In the summer, at the dacha with my parents, we grilled kebabs, sat, drank, I secretly smoked a cigarette ... No pleasure, complete disgust, and after that I did not smoke. Such cases, provoked by the use of alcohol, are infrequent, but recur from time to time, but I did not break down and did not start smoking. There was one time when during the night - from midnight to morning - I smoked at least half a pack, but this did not lead to a breakdown. In recent years, I no longer allow myself to do such stupid things,0 and this does not require any serious efforts from me at all.

What this means, I hope everyone understands, although it is inexplicable: the passion for smoking was simply cleaned out of my soul. When a smoker quits smoking, even one cigarette smoked has fatal consequences for him, and he inevitably breaks back. Passion must be crushed without giving it the slightest concession, since even the slightest concession immediately destroys everything you have achieved. I was simply completely healed of passion, as if it was not in my life, that is, the memory of it, of course, remained, but inside me it is not there, there is not a trace of it. Of course, if I set a goal, I can start smoking now, but for this I will need to reverse that natural aversion to tobacco smoke, which is present in a person who has never smoked at all. And I acquired this state not as a result of a long struggle, but at once and for nothing. It took no effort on my part to stop smoking, and the original natural aversion to tobacco manifested itself in me immediately, a little over two months after this cessation. “Like a hand removed,” they say in such cases. And I want to say the words that are sung at every liturgy: “Your youth will be renewed like an eagle! The Lord is generous and merciful, long-suffering and many-merciful! Not completely angry, below e forever at enmity! Not according to our iniquity created us to eat, below e repay us according to our sin! Eliko separates the east from the west, a Lil is our iniquities from us!”

The Lord renewed my youth, and renewed me in everything. He gave me eagle wings: “Young men also grow weary and weaken, and young men fall, but those who hope in the Lord will be renewed in strength: they will lift up their wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not get tired” (Is. 40, 30- 31).

High-ranking haters of the sacred Russian Autocracy persecuted the "monarchic" icons of the Most Holy Theotokos that they did not like. Today, among Russian Orthodox Christians, the icons "Like an eagle's wings" and "Autocratic" have become widespread. In spite of negative attitude some church hierarchs to these "monarchical" images of the Mother of God, they, nevertheless, are loved by ordinary Orthodox people and have been carried by processions for more than one thousand kilometers. Thanks to the prayerful work of the "little flock" of faithful admirers of the Holy Autocracy, the new life these amazing age-old icons, about which they say with reverence: "royal" ...

"Genya was given two wings..."

Strong feelings awaken in the soul when you look at these "monarchical" images of the Most Pure Mother of God, seated on the sovereign Russian double-headed eagle. Seeing the rapid spiritual, moral and sovereign degradation of modern Russian society, any Orthodox with tears prays to the Most Holy Theotokos for the Orthodox Tsar: “You have spread your cover over Holy Russia. Thou hast preserved the power of the Kingdom of Russia. O Mistress of the Most Blessed Mother of God, pray to Your Son Christ our God, may He grant us forgiveness for the sin of perjury and the coming Orthodox Tsar, power and blessing!.."

The list of all miracles from these icons begins in 2003, when numerous signs and healings began to be recorded in pilgrimages and religious processions. For example, one of the icons "Autocratic" began to stream myrrh on August 1, 2003 at a prayer service to St. Seraphim of Sarov in the Nizhny Novgorod diocese. Myrrh-streaming was repeated in Diveevo, at the grave of Hieromonk Vladimir (Shikin), during a memorial service on August 12, 2003, on the birthday of the martyr Tsarevich Alexei, and also at an Orthodox exhibition in Moscow in the summer of 2003.

Myrrh streamed the image of the Royal Reliquary Cross, presented to the royal couple of the Romanovs by the princes Shakhovsky. A postcard with the image of the Cross was attached to the icon "Autocratic" and streamed myrrh during a trip to the village of Verzilovo, to the local church of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

Currently, data is being collected on the icon "Like an eagle's wings." One of the copies of this icon began its journey from Moscow on March 5, 2004 through the diocese of Vladimir to Nizhny Novgorod. During the consecration of the icon in one of the monasteries, after the words of the priest: "Cover us with your wings," she began to smell strongly. At that time, the miraculous icon of the Mother of God "Feodorovskaya" was also located in the temple. On Easter 2004, the icon passed with a procession through Nizhny Novgorod. During the procession to Diveevo, carrying the holy image along the groove of the Mother of God, the worshipers saw that the icon began to stream myrrh.

When on July 17, 2004, the icon was carried in the Royal procession through Moscow, it performed miracles, sheltered from persecutors, admonished and enlightened. On September 21, 2004, on the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, the image was very fragrant, and then, in the evening, at the procession, it streamed myrrh. This went on for several days. Myrrh expired from the womb of the Mother of God towards the scepter, in an arc down to the left - that is, contrary to all known laws of physics. In this miraculous appearance, believers saw an indication from above that the future Russian Anointed of God, the Orthodox Tsar, had already been crowned in spirit by the Mother of God. Is this not similar to the fifth verse of the 12th chapter of the Apocalypse: "And she gave birth to a male child, who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and His throne"?

One of the first cases of myrrh-streaming occurred during a pilgrimage to the village of Lokot, Bryansk region, to the miraculous image of the Mother of God "Tenderness". Servant of God Yulia from Moscow discovered two types of outflow of an oily liquid on the paper icon "Like an eagle's wings". The front side was completely covered with the world, and on the back there was, so to speak, "selective" myrrh-streaming. The fact is that on the other side was printed the text of the hymn-prayer, popular among the Orthodox, "Save, Lady, Holy Russia, save!". Miro spoke only in words: "Save, Lady, Holy Russia", "trials", "from famine", "flood", "sword", "fire", "heresies", "civil strife" and "enemies". All this happened in 2004 on the feast of the Entry into the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos.

On that pilgrimage to Lokot, Yulia was accompanied by her friend Natasha. It turned out that Natasha's icon also began to stream myrrh. Already in Moscow, when the abundant ointment was collected with cotton wool and collected in a bottle, the "dried" icon was again covered with fragrant "dew" and remains so to this day. And recently, during the International pedestrian procession "Moscow - Minsk - Kyiv", Yulia with a prayer in her heart turned to the very first myrrh-streaming image of Nicholas II: "Father Tsar, you loved the icons of the Mother of God" Autocratic "and" Like an eagle's wings "...", and at that moment a strong fragrant stream was doused over the speaker...

One servant of God was the appearance of Tsar Nicholas II, holding in his hands the icon "Like an eagle's wings." It was similar to the testament of the Tsar-Great Martyr to us sinners. Without a doubt, this icon is Imperial, for the Church, leaving for the desert, both external and internal. Another servant of God from the icon had a voice: "Whoever has My icon in the house - I will help to be saved." For those who wish to understand more deeply the meaning of the appearance of the icon, we refer to the book by S. Fomin "And two wings will be given to a woman."

Metropolitan Juvenaly against the Queen of Heaven

Now about the history of these images of the Mother of God "Autocratic" and "Like an eagle's wings." Until 1917, they stayed in a church located on the territory of the Shakhovsky princes' estate (now the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the village of Verzilovo, Stupino District, Moscow Region). strengthening of autocracy.

It is known for certain that Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Fedorovna visited the Shakhovsky estate and, in memory of their visit, presented them with a lampada with an enamel inscription: "In honor of the coronation of Nicholas and Alexandra. 1896." This lamp was in front of the icon "Like an eagle's wings." Due to the special veneration of the monarch, the temple was considered Royal. Before the revolution, people came here to offer fervent prayers to the Lord for the well-being of the Royal House of the Romanovs. In our time, when parishioners in this church were anointed for spiritual strengthening with oil from this precious lamp, cases of healing were recorded ...

As if in anticipation of the coming tragedy Russian people the icon painter depicts on the icon of the Mother of God "Autocratic", as well as on the icon "Reigning", almost similar plots. The Queen of Heaven is depicted in royal purple with a crown on her head, with a scepter in her hand. Only the Tsar's throne is the Double-Headed Eagle - a symbol of the Autocracy of the Russian Empire, passed to us from Byzantium.

The infant Jesus Christ sits on the left hand of the Mother of God and blesses with both hands. Next to the throne (from left to right) are the saints: the great Equal-to-the-Apostles King Constantine, First Martyr Thekla of Iconium, Reverend Sergius Radonezhsky, Rev. Varlaam Khutynsky. The royal eagle stands on the "Stone of Faith", he is also Christ ("the stone that the builders rejected, the same became the head of the corner" Mk. 12:10).

The Mother of God affirms the Tsar's Throne, thus showing that true Orthodoxy is possible only under autocratic power. The Mother of God has a belt in the form of a cross - this is an indication that we should also be crucified for the Tsar-Father. The rainbow above is the multitude of the world, the reconciliation of God with man. Despite the fact that the icon is painted in a realistic manner, it still seems that it is necessary to consider what is depicted on it through an understanding of the symbols.

Fortunately, all the dramas and tragedies of the 20th century did not touch these two relics, and they are well preserved to this day. Previously, in the temple above the icon of the Mother of God "Autocratic" there were portraits of the great martyr Tsar Nicholas II and the great martyr Tsaritsa Alexandra. But then - by order of the dean - they were removed and the Crucifix was installed in this place.

Unfortunately, we have to talk about all relatively calm times for icons in the past tense. In the spring of 2004, despite the growing reverence among the people, by order of Metropolitan Yuvenaly (Poyarkov), the icons were removed along with the royal lamp, and a new rector was appointed to the church. All this caused bewildered questions from believers - after all, the trampling of holy images did not occur in the 30s of the "godless" five-year plan, but already in 2004, i.e. four years after the official canonization of the Royal Martyrs in the host of New Martyrs and Confessors who shone forth in the Russian land! Yes, and on the orders of a high-ranking hierarch of the Moscow Patriarchate! The question involuntarily begs: if Metropolitan Yuvenaly does not like the images of saints officially glorified by our Church, then whom does he serve?..

In the summer of 2003, photocopies were made by admirers of icons, after which they began to be distributed among believers, and the royal church in Verzilovo became even more popular. Everyone wanted to see the original icons and venerate them. But, alas, the iconoclasts of the 21st century are becoming more active, and meanwhile many prophecies directly point to the appearance in Russia of an Orthodox future Tsar.

There are many indications that this fateful act for Russia is God's Will. Suffice it to recall the prophecies of St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. John of Shanghai (Maximovich), monk Abel, blessed. Pelagia of Ryazan, Theophan of Poltava and others, as well as the appearance of the icons of the Mother of God "Czestochowa", "Peschanskaya", "Resurrecting Russia", "Grieving for the Russian State", the myrrh-streaming icon of the Tsar-Great Martyr Nicholas II, the icons of the Holy Royal Martyrs, the prophecy of the elder Nicholas of Pskovoezersky (Guryanov) about the coming Tsar, the myrrh-streaming icons of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, the elder Grigory Rasputin.

Indications of the appearance of the Orthodox Tsar continue to this day: the appearance on the domed fresco of the image of the Virgin and Child on September 16, 2001 in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior, which is located in the village of Spas-Ugol. It is interesting that after the icons "Autocratic" and "Like an eagle's wings" were brought into the altar of one of the temples, a rainbow was revealed in the sky, and an image of the Royal Crown miraculously formed from feather clouds.

On the icon "Like an Eagle's Wings", the Mother of God crowns a two-headed eagle, in Her hand She holds a lily of paradise, symbolizing the good news of the coming Orthodox Tsar. The spiritual meaning of the icon becomes clear through the interpretation of the Apocalypse by Hierodeacon Abel and Father Andrei Gorbunov in the book "Will we find God and ourselves?" If we talk about the spiritual meaning of the icon “Like an eagle’s wings”, then it is revealed in the 12th chapter of the Revelation of John the Theologian (verse 14): “And two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman (Given the Autocratic Kingdom of Russia), so that she would fly into the desert to her place (original Svyatorussky lands) from the face of the serpent, and there she ate for a period of time, times and half a time.

Chapter 12, verse 5: "And she gave birth to a male baby (Russian Orthodox Tsar), who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God and His throne (anointed to the Kingdom)."

The scepter and Orb in the paws of the Double-headed eagle, as well as the royal crowns on its heads, indicate that we are talking about the Tsar from the Romanov family. Rainbow over the whole image, turning into Earth, may mean that it will be the Victorious King, and after the cleansing of the earth, peace and prosperity will come ...

"The Reverends will still say their weighty word..."

Without particularly going into the history of icons, the current iconoclasts are trying to impose a discussion about the alleged non-canonicity of the plots of the two "newly painted" icons "Autocratic" and "Like an eagle's wings." Meanwhile, with full confidence it should be stated that this is not a random combination. The position of the Mother of God against the background of an eagle is deeply symbolic, primarily because this is exactly what is said about the church of the last times in Holy Scripture. Here it should be noted that in the Orthodox world there are other similar subjects. For example, the icons "Cover us with shelter to Thy wings", "Azovskaya" and others are known. Take, for example, Kostomarov's "Collection of Icons", which contains unique information about icons, where the image of the Virgin is also presented against the background of an eagle.

Let's dwell on one of them - "Azov", a very similar plan with "Like an eagle's wings." How important this image of the Mother of God is for believers is described in the collection “And Two Wings Will Be Given to the Wife” by S. Fomin: “Thanks to the reproductions published more than once over the past ten years (including color and large format), we have the opportunity to make more or a less accurate description of the Azov Icon of the Mother of God, now stored in the State Historical Museum named after Emperor Alexander III in Moscow, but, unfortunately, difficult to access for believers ...

V. Borin, who studied the Azov Icon of the Mother of God even before the revolution, writes: “... I believe that the icon was painted a little later than the capture of Azov by Shein with the participation of Peter I, that is, after 1696 [...] Examining the icon, I find there are up to three entries on it; from under them it is clear that the original image of the Mother of God was “waist-length”, and not “full-length”, from this we can conclude that this icon of the Azov Mother of God was returned when political interest in Azov returned. in the second half of the 18th century [...] the image, presumably, remains without any change, so that the icon in the form in which we find it dates back to the end of the 18th century, to the time of Empress Catherine II (1763-1796). Moreover, it can be said in the affirmative that both the image and the icon stored in Historical Museum, are the only copies left from the end of the 17th century".

The last remarks about the updates to the icon are very interesting. They are in accordance with a number of other, already contemporary circumstances. In this regard, the recent “emergence” of this unique icon after more than two centuries of its oblivion is memorable. Today, the image is known to many, thanks to spontaneously (but, of course, not without the Providence of God!) Numerous reproductions of it appeared. Some details of the icon are being clarified, which we understand today despite the meaning put into it by the customers and even, perhaps, by the iconographer himself.

For example, the reification in colors of the image of the Wife, hiding in the desert at the end of time. According to Russian theological tradition, these words of the Apocalypse reveal the spiritual meaning of existence Russian Empire and the symbolism of its coat of arms - the double-headed eagle. Compare this with the also expressive verbal image of our country, written by the spiritual writer S. A. Nilus: "a desert of forests and steppes of Great Russia." Looking at the forthcoming Reverend Fathers of the Kiev Caves, how can one not recall the words spoken in 1977 by the elder Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Tyapochkin, d. 1982) regarding the disruptions that await our Fatherland and have already happened in our memory: “The Slavic peoples have a common destiny, and still have their say Reverend Fathers Kiev-Pechersk - they, together with a host of new martyrs of Russia, will beg for a new Union of three fraternal peoples "...

All these intriguing moments from the past, present and future (we hope it will give us hope) will eventually reveal the symbolism of these Mother of God icons, where the sovereign Russian is taken as one of the main characters double-headed eagle. And then, on the day determined by the Lord, "Autocratic", "Like an eagle's wings", "Azov" and other icons of the Mother of God will find the days of their celebration, and the Orthodox of the last times - these miraculous images of the Mother of God, as one more indisputable evidence of the miraculous Intercession Holy Mother of God over Russia. This and wake up!

Irina Davydova

Prayer before the icon "Autocratic"

O Most Holy Lady Theotokos! Thou art above all the Angel and Archangel, and the most honest of all creatures, helper of the offended, hopeless hope, poor intercessor, sad consolation, hungry nurse, naked robe, sick healing, sinful salvation, Christians of all help and intercession. Oh, all-merciful Lady, Virgin Mother of God, by Thy mercy save and have mercy on our Blessed Sovereign (his name, You, Lord, weigh) and the entire Reigning House. Save, Madam, and have mercy on Your servant, the Most Holy Governing Synod, and His Grace Metropolitans, Archbishops and Bishops, and the entire priestly and monastic rank, and the Governing Synclit of the Blessed, and military leaders, city governors and the Christ-loving army, and well-wishers, and all Orthodox Christians with a robe Protect with your honesty: and beseech, Madam, from you, without a seed, incarnated Christ our God, may he gird us with His power from above, against our invisible and visible enemies. O All-Merciful Lady Mother of God! Raise us up from the depths of sin, and deliver us from famine, destruction, from cowardice and flood, from fire and sword, from the invasion of foreigners and internecine warfare, from vain death, and from the attack of the enemy, and from corrupting winds, and from deadly ulcers, and from all evil. Give, Madam, peace and health to Your servants, to all Orthodox Christian, and enlighten them with the mind and eyes of the heart, even to salvation: and make Thy sinful servants of the kingdom of Thy Son, Christ our God: as His power is blessed and glorified, with His Father without beginning, and with the Most Holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and forever and ever. Amen.

In the tsomu rotsі Mgarsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky monastery svjat yuviley - the twenty river of the renaissance of the monastery. For the past 58 years, the holy place was in a state of desolation and suffocation. Here the military part was displaced, then we stored it, the pioneer tabir ... Without a doubt, it was a long time for the faithful people. Ale to everyone to come to the end, skinned and wine. On May 15, 1993, the first Liturgy was celebrated in the monastery; On February 13, 1994, the first vows were taken in Chance. Monastir rozpochav new life. We suggest your respect for a short excursus to history, a chronicle of the coming of that hour: the turning of the monastery by the power of the Orthodox Church.

After that, as in 1935 the roci of us Chentsi were driven out, the Mharsky Monastery was closed. Already on the cob of the 30s on the territory of the monastery, patronage for children "of the enemies of the people" was spread. Since 1937, a disciplinary battalion has been known here, since 1946 - a military warehouse, and in 1985 - a pioneer tabir.

“It turned out so that the history of the monastery for the Radyansk period developed into a dramatic one, which, paradoxically (and maybe logically), ended with a revival. Importantly, rightly so, but even in the Radyansk state, in the її "kerіvnu that direct" force - the CPRS began to penetrate new, fresh winds. Even in 1977, a group of enthusiasts-Kraeznavtsiv destroyed the letter about the designation of the 1000th anniversary of Luben, from the right they won official recognition, they began to arrest the authorities. “I myself was the other secretary of the Lubny local party,” wrote L. M. Didenko, at that time the head of the Lubny district for the sake of people’s deputies, “and without intermediary taking part as a planned one, so in the organization he works, zokrema in the highest share of the monastery” .

You should think about depriving yourself of some historical and architectural memory, having sorted out the order of the tourist complex. church-state organization.

In 1987, the restoration began. They organized a dilnitsa of Chernigiv restoration workshops at the Poltava city, as if the creative weekly work of Y.O. Years of work became Lubny. For the help of the Kiev "Ukrproektrestavratsiya" local projects were prepared - first for conservation, then - for restoration. They created a wind tunnel, paved the road, installed a water pipeline and electricity. As soon as the city saw the area of ​​capital life management, then practically all the kolgospi district, a number of municipal enterprises (Komsomolets plant, repair and mechanical workshops, furniture combine and other.) were provided with materials.

The right side was destroyed. Now the memory of the architecture - the ensemble of the Mharsky Monastery - has been handed over to the peaceful ruler. The black community can develop, working for the benefit not only of the Lubents, but of the Ukrainians of Ukraine.

Believing and inspiring unbelievable people, the hromada dyachs took the initiative and took an active part in the faithful monastery. It’s not surprising, they took away the Party’s navits.

In such a manner, like the efforts of the religious community of the 80s, yak was formed from the meshchantsiv of the village of Mhar and the sudan forces, with the help of the mistress of the city, the skete church of St. Years ago, at the beginning of the 1990s, the boulder was consecrated in honor of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos.

SHEET-ZVERNENNYA
Virishuvati the share of the Mgarsky monastery

They are restoring the life of the Lubensky Mgarsky Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, founded in 1619 ... But for now, we can go about the monastery as a national monument to architecture. Equal documents do not discuss food about yoga cult recognition.

It is true, as early as 1988, when the 1000th anniversary of Christianity was celebrated in Russia, in roses with the Bishop of Poltava, Savoy, the head of the bishop of the city of Poltava For the sake of the people's deputies, V. M. Kanup, having hailed the transfer of the monastery to the Church ...

On the eve of the hour of consecration in the lime 1990 to the fate of the Mound of Sorrow - a place near the Mharsky monastery ... - the secretary of the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Bishop Jonathan, in an interview with the drive of the future monastery, saying: "I swear by yoga ...".

So we, both believing, and unbelieving, invoking the secular and church authorities, not being able to, we can safely proceed to the rose of the sore and actual nourishment, about the last material possibilities and about the spirituality of our people.

K. Ilyushchenko, intercessor of the head of the church for the sake of the Holy Trinity Church.
O. Razina, warden of the Mother of God Church.
T. Tishina, Senior Secretary of the Ukrainian Association for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture.
N. Garbuz, doctor of the Central District Hospital.
A. Efremova, vikladach of a child music school, self-made composer.
V. Malik, writer, laureate of the Republican Literary Prize named after. Lesi Ukrainians.
B. Vantsak, Merited Journalist of the Ukrainian RSR.

Lipen born in 1991

Vikonkom regional for the sake of people's deputies. Editorial office of the newspaper "Chervona Lubenshchina".

Vikonkom Lubenskoy Miskoy For the sake of people's deputies, let me remind you that from the other side there is no ban on the transfer of the Mharsky monastery to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church ...

Head of Viskonkom I. S. Kolomyets
Serpen born in 1991

Kyiv, Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Filaret

Your Bliss!

At the end of 1991, a sheet was sent to you, as well as a Lubensk newspaper with a leaflet... It’s a pity, until this hour, they didn’t win you at the same time ... tse nasampered believers in the Lubensky district, they don’t know why there is no evidence.

Head looked through the newspaper lists
"Lubenschina" Zhovten 1991
B. Wantsak

Viddіl listіv of the newspaper "Lubenschyna"

Shanovnі practitioners of the editors!

I salute you with gratitude for your pikluvannya about the share of our holy churches and monasteries.

Today, yakuvati God, in Ukraine there are few monasteries - our Church is already 32.

For the rebirth of the glorious Mgarsky monastery, we can also give material support, so that a decision will be made about its transfer to the Church.

With that in mind, that the information about the decree of the Mharsk monastery can be looked at at the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the presence of the archbishop of Poltava and Kremenchuk Savi...

With respect, Filaret, Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine.
Leaf fall 1991

Poltava, Diocesan Administration, Archbishop Savi

Your Eminence!

We send you a newspaper with a new publication about the share of the Mgarsky monastery, in which the opinion of the Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine Filaret was brought.

It’s a great pity, You won’t honor us, and also - tens of thousands of Lubents, readers of newspapers, your opinions. It’s impossible not to call out zdivuvannya and induce anxiety ...

With respect, head of the leafy
Breast 1991
B. Wantsak

New history of the old monastery

“May 8, 1993. His Eminence Archbishop of Poltava and Kremenchuk Theodosius, first of all appointments in the post-revolutionary period Philip (Osadchenko). From that moment a new history of activity of the old monastery began. Bagato had a chance to survive youma for 375 years. Dvichi, in the ХVІІІІІІІІІІІ centuries and XVIII centuries, the cathedral was built and rebuilt. The monastery got away with the Poles, and with the Radyansk vlad. Whom there was not only a bulo - autocephalous, and military, and pioneers ... She came holy and on the spot, God has chosen the world!

The axis is less than deyakі urivochki zі schodennik ієromonakh Іlarion:

“05/15/93. Serve the first liturgy on the day of commemoration of St. Athanasius, Patriarch of Tsargorod, Lubensky the Wonderworker, that prayer service of the Saint. The spring smell of freshly cut grass, diffusing from the smell of incense, creates an over-the-top aroma, and in the hearts of people, as if they came to this holy place, hope is instilled.

Until 20 breasts, Divine services are held in the skete, fingers ringing in the cold.

12/20/93. The first service in the Teploiy church, Nareshti launched a scorch, near the church and the refectory it was life-givingly warm.

02/02/94. I rang the bell more firmly.

02/13/94. First tonsured in chenci.

02/15/94. First communion of the first monks ... "

An hour has passed since the first service in the cathedral, and skils have already been experienced, skils of praise, joy, confusion (or even tears) ... drive. You need operational solutions, to be brought to the heads of the collective hospitals, and (at that time) the representative of the President in the district. It’s important for the monastery, if it weren’t for the help of people, for those who are so understanding, like spirituality, faith, conscience - not an empty sound, it would be more important.

Through difficulties, power is transferred to the monastery. And if they took it with ease, the least opposite was strangled by terror. Representatives of the Radian power did not stand on ceremony neither with people, nor with saints. The cathedral of the monastery was redecorated, the crypts were desecrated and defiled. Dosi on the temple frescoes, yakі vtsіli, zayut follow the cult. The new government wanted to destroy the very faith, the very Church of Christ. However, the servants forgot what Christ said about the Church: We know for sure that God's judgment will be rendered to the murderers according to their deeds. The Orthodox Church has for a long time stood up to the violence of the Holy Spirit, by the strength of faith that hopes in God.

At the everyday life of the pike, the great miracle is a great - vidrodzhennya of holy dodge, that, hto, they stand Bila Jerel Tsoogo Vidrodzhennya, the usvidovychi is great, I will have a dedication on them by the Lord, I don’t have a blessing. on our richly suffering land.

It is gratifying to note that among people who have been given power, even those who need the Church’s wisdom, you can see that, without being in spiritual crises, it is impossible to get out of the economic crisis and the political one, which forcibly destroys specialness over the spirit, and then, what is formed by itself s tsikh specialities. For the sake of justice, the following year 1988 was predicted, when the 1000th anniversary of Luben was born. For the purpose of declaring the date, a bunch of kraeznavtsy clamored a lot, then power, enthusiasm was shown by the population of the Lubenshchyna. Zapyaki Rosuminnyu was the bug -member of the MICKOMA KOSKAYANA, Yaki Todіvavov A. M. Sobol, commanded by the Kyivsky Vіskovoy district, it was on the Viewer of the monastica of the Monastori Pognii Tsivayrey Vlazhynikov. The same was done by the restoration team. A wise person, for happiness for the monastery, appeared a large representative of the President of Ukraine in the district, and now the head of the district for the sake of people's deputies L. M. Didenko. I will greatly help in the transfer of monastic disputes, the organization of various labor collectives for the patronage of material assistance, I will highly appreciate all the brothers and pray for the new one.

That monastery can’t improve its life only by donating money, especially to them, if there is a sharp fall in the life of the population. Let the state in the monastery be small, it helps to survive, to survive itself, for in the hour of economic ruin in the state, food is not about living, but about living.

Be like the state of the state, vimaging the fast turbot, ale, like the wisdom of the people: "Prayer and work must be grinded." God is merciful and gives His grace and strength and patience. Chentsi and novices, who revive the Holy Abode to life, live unquenchable faith at the Promise of God, great hope for the power of the Holy Spirit and all-powerful Love, commanded to us by our Lord Jesus Christ.

An artistic craft develops in the monastery - cere variously crafted from wood, like, for example, candlesticks with images of the monastery cathedral, a cross with roses "yattyam that іn. Mustache vikonano talanovito, with artistic relish.

Repairs to the cathedral are being carried out, not far from that hour, if a prayer and a prayer sound at a new one, and a life is filled with wine, and in the sacraments of Divine services, the Grace of the Holy Spirit rises to a new one. The brethren believe that the relics of Kharkiv, the relics of St. Athanasius, Patriarch of Tsargorod, the Wonderworker of Lubny, will be turned into the rebirth of the cathedral.

There are few chants left in the monastery, but those who are the backbone of brotherhood are the ones who were the first to come here and, after pumping the abomination of desolation, began to work. It was necessary to put the territory in order, repair the housing fund, plant a city and grow a lot more. Buli and so, whom they asked to drink. Ale for the quiet, who lost, the monastery became a native house.

A monastery is called a spiritual liquor among the people, and now people who are suffering from tension come to know peace in prayer, in the sermon of a priest, or else just in a kind word of speech.

The Mgarsky Savior-Transfiguration Monastery is reborn and already bearing spiritual fruit, as if with God's help, we will be able to multiply and remind life with a great zmist, and today a prayer will be offered to the Lord for our native Vitchizna: “Save, Lord, your blessing, people , giving victory to Orthodox Christians against the opposition, and keeping Your residence by Your Cross. Amen,” wrote the monk of the monastery, Archimandrite Philip, the ninth holy archimandrite of the monastery, Metropolitan of Poltava and Mirgorodsky, writing at the 94th. A lot of water has grown in an hour, a lot of things have been crushed. Today, the monastery of the earth, the creation of a state, a pastry and a bakery, a deli and a dairy shop, are engaged in vicarious activities. The number of chants grew, the brotherhood took shape. The liturgical services are relentlessly performed.

« Your youth will be renewed like an eagle”, - king David was savaged by the Holy Spirit to the soul. The Mgarsky monastery was renewed, and with it the new church liturgical life. Believing people began to flock to him, so that, taking a part in the Holy Sacraments of the Church, inspiring their souls. Like a enemy to the human race, not trying to destroy the Orthodox Church, you can’t heal the wines, for the Lord has declared to his faithful children: “ ... and lo, I am with you all the days until the end of time. Amen».

I would like to cheer for us, who have worked and worked for the sake of the monastery’s remembrance, welcome this anniversary and help my health, "I am that spirit at the practice. So high, the Lord does not deprive us of His mercy.

Prepared by ієrodiyakon Daniel (Korcheviy)
behind the archival materials of the monastery
Mgarsky monastir