There are many icons in Christianity, but each of them has its own special meaning. The icon of Simeon of Verkhoturye is no exception. This is an image that is very important for our culture and for the memory of this saint.
This image helps people change their lives for the better, because the icon is full of positivity and true love Lord, because Saint Simeon had difficult life, which he decided to knit with God.
History and description of the icon
Naturally, the icon is connected with the one depicted on it. Simeon Verkhotursky received this name because he lived in Verkhotursky district - in Siberia. It was a rather unfavorable place to live, but not because most of people remained devoted to the pagan gods. The problem was the climate and the callousness of the people. They were tough times, although political passions almost did not reach those edges.
No one knows about the origin of Saint Simeon, however, as Orthodox sources say, this man was very kind and was engaged in tailoring. It was good job in those days, and even in such parts, however, the man tried by any means to avoid receiving money. He was only happy with hospitality and food. The best payment for him was quite ordinary - the kindness and light of the soul of good people.
The time came when the temple of God was built in those parts. He prayed there day and night, spending all his time in solitude and peace. He died young, but no one knows why. He was buried and his righteous deeds were forgotten. In the place where Simeon of Verkhoturye was buried, half a century later his coffin miraculously rose from the ground. People coming to this place were healed of illnesses, received blessings, and felt the special energy emanating from the relics. No one remembered the name of the buried man, until one day the Metropolitan of the temple heard a voice during dreams, telling him about those relics that grant people salvation from illnesses. This is how people learned about Saint Simeon.
In those parts they also began to paint icons on which Simeon of Verkhoturye was depicted in full height or waist-deep, holding a holy scripture in his hand, or sitting by the water and fishing. According to sources, he really liked to fish in solitude and silence.
How does the icon of Simeon of Verkhoturye help?
This image helps people find comfort, peace, and heal the soul from wounds. Very often this icon is taken on trips, because Simeon did not have a home. He traveled and helped people. This is an excellent Orthodox amulet against any trouble on the road.
Celebration day icon
December 31 is the day of remembrance and veneration of the Siberian saint. On this day you need to be kind to everyone who asks you for help. Try to open your soul on such holidays. This saint taught us that in order to live a bright and bright life, we do not need to chase material wealth. It's enough just to help people.
Prayer before the icon
“Saint Simeon, drive out of us obscenity, anger and duplicity. Open our hearts so that we can let God into it and faith in the Holy Trinity. Help us to find love and loyalty to our Jesus Christ. Pray to God for us sinners, so that He will not turn away from us and remain with us forever and ever and let us into His Kingdom.”
Read this prayer whenever you lack love and light in your heart. You can feel the lack of goodness in your soul whenever sorrow fills it. This is the clearest evidence that you need to give up something that is displeasing to God.
This icon should be at home, because it can be taken with you as protection from troubles in long journey, in a trip . The icon will also be an excellent gift for your friends and family. Good luck and don't forget to press the buttons and
30.12.2017 05:14
Matrona of Moscow is one of the saints beloved and revered by Orthodox believers. Since birth she...
Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye was born in early XVII century in the European part of Russia in a family of pious nobles. Obeying Divine guidance, he left honors and earthly wealth and retired beyond the Urals. In Siberia righteous Simeon lived as a simple wanderer, hiding his origin. Most often he visited the village of Merkushinskoye, located near the town of Verkhoturye, where he prayed in a wooden church.
With the gospel of the Triune God, oh eternal life In the Kingdom of Heaven, righteous Simeon walked around the surrounding villages. He did not shy away from the Voguls of other faiths, the indigenous inhabitants of this region, who loved the saint for his pure life. With the help of God's grace, righteous Simeon awakened in the hearts of the Voguls the desire for a virtuous life. In the virgin Siberian taiga he indulged in the thought of God, seeing in every living creature the ineffable Wisdom of “He who created all things.”
The ascetic never remained idle. He knew how to sew fur coats well and, going around the villages, worked in the houses of peasants, without accepting any remuneration for his work. To avoid praise for his work, righteous Simeon left it unfinished and left his customers. For this he had to endure insults and even beatings, but he accepted them with humility and prayed for his offenders. Thus he achieved perfect humility and non-covetousness.
Saint Simeon prayed a lot for the newly enlightened inhabitants of Siberia to be strengthened in their faith. The ascetic combined his prayer with the feat of kneeling on a stone in the dense taiga. Ten miles from Merkushin, on the banks of the Tura River, the ascetic had a secluded place where he fished. But even here he showed abstinence: he caught exactly as much fish as he needed for daily food.
The blessed death of the holy man followed amid great feats of fasting and prayer. He died in 1642 and was buried in the Merkushinsky churchyard, near the Church of the Archangel Michael.
The Lord glorified His saint, who left everything earthly for the sake of serving Him alone. In 1692, 50 years after the death of the saint, residents of the village of Merkushinskoye miraculously found the revealed incorruptible body of a righteous man, whose name they had forgotten. Soon, numerous healings began to take place from the relics that appeared. A paralyzed man was healed, and other healings followed. Metropolitan Ignatius of Siberia (Rimsky-Korsakov, 1692-1700) sent people to examine the facts. One of them, Hierodeacon Nikifor Amvrosiev, prayed to God on the way and imperceptibly fell into a light slumber. Suddenly he saw in front of him a man in white clothes, middle-aged, his hair was light brown. He looked with a kind glance at Nikifor and at the latter’s question: “Who are you?” - the one who appeared answered: “I am Simeon Merkushinsky,” and became invisible.
In the “Iconographic Original” under April 16 it is written: “Holy and righteous Simeon of Merkushinsky and Verkhoturye, who is also a new miracle worker in Siberia; the likeness of Rus, brad and hair on the head like Kozma the Unmercenary; the vestments on him are simple, Russian.”
Metropolitan Ignatius, having become convinced of the incorruption of the relics of Saint Simeon, exclaimed: “I also testify that truly these are the relics of a righteous and virtuous person: in everything they are similar to the relics of the ancient saints. This righteous man is like Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow, or Sergius of Radonezh, for he was honored by God with incorruptibility, like these lamps of the Orthodox faith.”
And now, through the prayers of Saint Simeon of Verkhoturye, the Lord reveals gracious help, comfort, strengthening, admonition, healing of souls and bodies and deliverance from evil and unclean spirits. Through the prayers of the saint, distressed travelers receive deliverance from death. Siberians especially often turn to the Verkhoturye miracle worker with prayers for eye diseases and all kinds of paralysis.
On September 12, 1704, with the blessing of Metropolitan Philotheus of Tobolsk, the holy relics of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye were transferred from the church in honor of the Archangel Michael to the Verkhoturye Monastery in the name of St. Nicholas. On this day, the Church celebrates the second memory of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye (the first - December 18).
There was nothing miraculous in the saint’s godly life, simple and ordinary. And yet more than one miracle is associated with the name of the saint. And his help is always quick to those who come to him in prayer.
When people believed in their 15 minutes of fame that Andy Warhol told them about, they stopped looking at the sky and started looking at the screens, hoping to see themselves there. As soon as a modern person wakes up, he hurries to write in social networks: “I woke up!”, “Here I am drinking coffee, but now I’m rushing to work!”, “Look how dirty my car is!” “And this is me in the temple! Look, I’m confessing!”, “Oh, you haven’t seen my cats yet!”...
Modern man fears oblivion, just as his pious ancestor once feared hell. Spiritual life, on the contrary, does not tolerate prying eyes and is always hidden. All the saints ran like fire from publicity and revelations about their inner lives. Enlightened by God, they knew from experience that life for show makes spiritual achievements impossible and mortally harmful to the soul, poisoning it with pride and vanity. As they used to say: “As soon as I opened my mouth, a jackdaw flew in!” The saints considered it better for themselves to be known as ignoramuses and eccentrics than to be glorified among people. On Mount Athos there is still a tradition when monks, about whom good deeds those around you recognize you and repent for these deeds, as if you had committed a sin. For they dedicated their lives and deeds to Christ, who said: “When you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that people may glorify them. Truly I tell you, they are already receiving their reward. When you give alms, let left hand yours doesn't know what the right one is doing. So that your alms may be in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly” (Matthew 6: 2-4).
Almost nothing is known about the life of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye. Temptation for skeptics and madness for cynics is broken by thousands of thousands of believers filled with prayers and sighs - holy righteous Simeon is known for his immediate help and intercession for every asking soul. We don’t know what his parents’ names were or where he studied, but we know for sure that St. O If you pray to him from your heart, you will be heard...
There are many monasteries and churches dedicated to the righteous man throughout Russia, one of them is in the village of Obukhovskoye Sverdlovsk region. I came here on December 31st - on the patronal holiday. In Obukhovo the temple is small, ancient, made of dark red brick, at the back of a large beautiful store. Ten years ago there was a music school there. When the building was returned to the Church, many lamented: what a disgrace - the music school was closed! And the fact that there was a piano in the altar is normal, the kids don’t smoke or drink beer there, they play music! And try to explain to people that the only purpose of the temple is to offer prayer to God. A pool is for swimming in, a club is for dancing, a stadium is for running or playing football. And the temple is the House of God in the most literal and only sense of the word. Here people meet God and He meets them, and here it is revealed on earth.
The temple in Obukhovsky seems to be copied from the appearance of its heavenly patron: humble modesty on the outside, but fiery faith on the inside
And now here everything was in its rightful place: when I entered, the priest in the altar was performing the Terrible Sacrifice, so that the people standing in the temple, having partaken of wine and bread, would unite with Christ and inherit eternal life. The temple is simple, poor, the dove above the gate is cut out of paper, and instead of gold there is simple shiny foil. But icons Holy Mother of God and the Savior - large gilded and beautiful, and the icon of the holy righteous Simeon self made icon painter. The temple seems to be copied from the appearance of its heavenly patron: on the outside there is a worn sheepskin coat and humble modesty, but on the inside there is a living fiery faith that opens the heavens.
Despite the day off, there were few people in the church - about twenty people, two priests and one singer in the choir. This is not the 80% who call themselves Orthodox in surveys. These are simple, shy, taciturn people who preferred quiet prayer in the temple to God and the righteous Simeon to the New Year's rush around hypermarkets, cutting up bowls of Olivier and installing monkeys on holiday avatars. with grandchildren by the hand, young guys with backpacks on their shoulders, a bearded Cossack in military uniform, tied with belts and wearing tarpaulin boots, a familiar teacher and father with two teenage children - a boy and a girl: they came together, but stood separately - the father near the Crucifixion, and the children opposite the gate, the boy on the right, and the girl on the left. They listened attentively to the priest and reverently crossed themselves at every exclamation, as if they were afraid to spill water. When the Chalice was brought out, everyone knelt down, and even the old woman with the stick, throwing it away from her, threw herself on the floor with the words: “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief!”
The saint they came to pray to was as simple as they were: quiet, humble and unnoticeable. Everything that is known today about his earthly life will fit in a few sentences.
Where he came from and how he ended up in the remote Ural region in the village of Merkushino, no one really knows. Although, according to the recollections of old-timers, his habits revealed him as a noble man, who, for some unknown reason, abandoned his position in society and settled in a remote region. He did tailoring, but for the work he took not money, but the most simple products, which could be found in any peasant family. He lived alone in a small hut on the edge of the forest, preferring fishing and the forest to people. While doing needlework, his favorite pastime was retelling stories from the New and Old Testament, which he knew by heart, and families gathered to listen to them. Sometimes, without finishing his work, he would unexpectedly leave, for which he was later scolded for his negligence. He lived quietly and died quietly, presumably at the age of 35. People buried him on the outskirts of the village cemetery and soon forgot.
After 50 years, a coffin appeared from the ground, in which they found the incorruptible fragrant remains of an unknown righteous man
But the least among people, even by the standards of a remote village, turned out to be great before God, Who was pleased to glorify His righteous man. After 50 years, a coffin emerged from the ground, in which they found the incorruptible, fragrant remains of an unknown righteous man. Locals They took this as a sign of the holiness of the deceased. After a short time, miracles began to occur from the relics. But when the miracles were reported to the Tobolsk Metropolitan, he did not believe it and sent confidants. When the messengers confirmed the authenticity of everything that was said, he again did not believe it. And only a sudden eye disease, in which he saw God’s punishment for his unbelief, brought him to his senses.
After hot repentance prayer The Metropolitan went to Merkushino and saw the coffin “very intact and strong, as if new,” in which lay fragrant remains. As the chronicle tells, having venerated the relics, the Right Reverend Ignatius exclaimed before the assembled people: “I also testify that these are truly the relics of a righteous and virtuous man: in everything they are similar to the relics of the ancient saints. This righteous man is like Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow, or, for he was granted incorruptibility by God, like these lamps of the Orthodox faith!”
On the way back, he began to pray to the Lord to reveal to him the name of the unknown saint. And having dozed off, he saw “a multitude of people, a competition of those who were doing, to seek the name of that righteous man,” and a voice reached the bishop: “His name is Simeon!” Stopping at the St. Nicholas Monastery, he told about his vision to Archimandrite Sergius of the Tobolsk Znamensky Monastery, Abbot Isaac of the Dalmatov Monastery and Archimandrite Alexander. The abbots unanimously decided that the dream was a revelation from God. The name of the saint was revealed to two more in a dream - the priest of the church in Merkushino, Ioann Andreev, and the novice of Abbot Isaac, Hierodeacon Vasilid. After this, there were no more doubts about the name of the righteous man...
When the holy fool was tired, he shouted: “Brother Simeon, let’s rest!” And then the coffin became too heavy to lift
On September 12, 1704, with the blessing of St. Philotheus (Leshchinsky), Metropolitan of Siberia and Tobolsk, the incorruptible relics of the holy righteous Simeon were transferred from Merkushino to the Nikolaevsky Monastery in Verkhoturye, which today is known to everyone Orthodox world. They were carried with prayers and chants in a carved coffin lined with swan's down. Among the multitude of people, following the religious procession, the holy fool Cosmas, who had been sick in his legs since birth, crawled on his knees, loudly praising the saint. When the holy fool was exhausted, he shouted, turning to Saint Simeon: “Brother Simeon, let’s rest!” And then the coffin filled with unprecedented strength, and a dozen strong men they could not move him from his place. Blessed Kosma rested, came to his senses, and the coffin easily continued to move on. At all the stopping places of the two saints, believers subsequently erected chapels and temples.
In 1716, the monastery church burned to the ground, but the shrine with the relics of the righteous Simeon miraculously turned out to be untouched by the fire. After the restoration of the temple in 1838, they were installed in the chapel of Anna the Prophetess, which in 1863 was renamed in the name of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye.
Miracles and healings from the relics of the holy righteous Simeon, which occurred in huge numbers, attracted numerous pilgrims from all over Russia to the monastery, the number of whom already exceeded 600,000 people a year by the beginning of the 20th century. To accommodate great amount believers, in 1913, the second largest in Russia after the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Exaltation of the Cross Cathedral, designed for 10 thousand people, was built in the St. Nicholas Monastery. A carved silver frame decorated with stones was donated for the reliquary containing the relics of the holy righteous Simeon. Made according to the sketch of the “royal place” (prayer throne under the canopy) of Tsar Ivan the Terrible from the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, it was solemnly installed on the birthday of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on May 25, 1914. Just think about this: Tsar Ivan the Terrible and a rootless poor man under one shadow! It’s as if the Heavenly Church revealed the glory of its righteous man to the world and showed the height of his unknown feat before earthly kings!
After the October Revolution in 1920, during the anti-religious campaign, the shrine with the relics was sealed, the monks were dispersed and repressed, and a children's colony was set up in the monastery. Despite this, people continued to travel to Verkhoturye and venerate the righteous man. In 1929, the Soviet authorities took the relics of the holy righteous Simeon to the Tagil Museum for anti-religious work. Later they were hidden for 50 years in the storeroom of the Yekaterinburg Museum of Local Lore.
Russian Orthodox Church the holy relics of the Verkhoturye righteous man were returned only in 1989. On September 25, 1992, they were solemnly transferred to their rightful place in the Verkhoturye Nikolaevsky Monastery in the restored and newly consecrated Transfiguration Cathedral. Today anyone can access them.
My veneration of the holy righteous Simeon began with one story, when I worked as the editor of the newspaper at the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company "Region-Tyumen". Offer new job found me in Yekaterinburg, and when I arrived in Tyumen, I urgently needed to look for housing. One of his believing friends gave advice: “Today is the day of remembrance of St. Simeon (it was September 25). Go to the Church and ask him. He will definitely help." Since I had nowhere to go, I went to evening service to the Znamensky Cathedral. People around are praying, smiling - everyone is having a holiday. But I have nowhere to sleep, and tomorrow I need to submit it for printing new number newspapers. So as not to embarrass anyone with my sour face, I stood in the corner with my back to the column. At the end of the service I accidentally turn around - behind me is a fresco of the holy righteous Simeon. I took a kiss and went to spend the night in the rest room on Train Station. Before I could leave the temple fence, the bell rang. An old friend, an employee of one institute, called: “I heard you need housing? Write down the address. This is our departmental hotel, it is in the city center, fifteen minutes from the television center. I made an agreement with the commandant. Go there right away and get the keys to the room.”
In the Church of the Holy Righteous Simeon in Obukhov at the end of that festive service, despite the 25-degree frost, we went in a religious procession. They glorified the holy righteous Simeon, sang praises to the Lord and sprinkled themselves with holy water.
The grandmothers laughed and asked for more. I looked at the happy, bright faces and thought that for people like them, hidden behind the poverty, modesty and simplicity of saints invisible to the world, the Lord would still tolerate us and everything would be fine in this country!
Most people love to travel, visit interesting places, see something unusual, meet new people. For the sake of fresh impressions, some travel great distances and climb to corners of the planet where humans rarely set foot.
But no matter how much a person chases impressions, sooner or later everything becomes boring, joy becomes less and less each time and, in the end, the moment comes when this amazing and diverse world seems boring, gray and uninteresting.
However, those who, having fallen in love with the road, have chosen the purpose of their trips to places where they can rest their souls - holy places, have a completely different view of the surrounding reality. These wise travelers never become satiated, because it is impossible to be satiated with grace.
I decided to follow their reasonable example and give my soul the only food it needed, to drink from the pure source of my father’s faith: to go to a wondrous, holy place. After praying, I went to visit the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye.
“His name was Senka”
This was a very long time ago - in the 16th century. Settled in the Siberian village of Merkushino in Verkhoturye district a strange man. His manners betrayed his noble origin, but he lived like a peasant: he ate simple food, slept, like all villagers, on the floor, and earned his own food by his labor. He didn’t have his own corner, but he knew the craft - he sewed fur coats. According to the tradition of that time, whoever he sheathed lived in his hut and ate what they gave him. For the Siberian side, tailoring is a profitable business, but this eccentric often, without finishing the work for some owners, moved on to stay with others.
Then it was wild, semi-pagan, people’s morals were simple. Oh, and Simeon got a lot of trouble from his angry owners! And they beat him and scolded him, and didn’t give him any money for his work. After all, most people thought that he was motivated by greed: in another house they promised more - so he left. Who could have imagined that the tailor does this precisely in order to avoid earthly reward for his work and to become even more humble? Simeon silently endured insults and beatings, without grumbling, without offense.
He didn’t look at the local girls: even though he was young for years, he didn’t start a family. However, he often talked with children, told them about Christ, instructed them in the true faith, and pure souls with childish simplicity absorbed the words of the righteous man.
When the wooden Archangel Michael Church was built in the village, Simeon began to spend many hours there, in the house of God. Simeon was often seen on the banks of the Tura River, where he sat for a long time with a fishing rod. And no one could even imagine, looking at the lonely figure of Simeon, that his heart was constantly talking with his beloved Lord...
He died young, having lived just over thirty years. Local residents buried him and forgot that he was like that. And fifty years later, the earth itself suddenly brought a coffin from its depths to the surface. Through the cracks of the plank lid, the villagers saw the incorruptible relics of the righteous man...
They rushed to remember who he was, what his name was - no one knows. This man led too secret a life. The whole world began to pray that the Lord, who had revealed the new saint to His people, would also reveal his name. After some time, Metropolitan Ignatius of Tobolsk, who was examining the newly revealed relics, heard a voice in a dream: “His name was Senka.” Glorified in Heaven, Simeon was finally glorified on earth.
Countless miracles and healings from the relics of the holy righteous Simeon occurred, both in those distant times and in our days. A remote Siberian village was flooded with pilgrims, and from that time to the present day, pilgrimage to these places has not stopped: believers go and go to the saint - some for help in everyday needs, some for healing, some for consolation in sorrows, and some, like me, wanting to touch the shrine with my soul and find peace.
Blessed Merkushino
The road along the Tura River is majestically beautiful: green meadows, hills, vast valleys and the dark greenery of impenetrable forests... But then, after the next bend of the blue ribbon, a sight appears that will take your breath away: gilded crosses burn brighter than the sun against the azure autumn sky domes of Merkushin churches. On the spot where the incorruptible relics were found, the St. Simeon Church rises, and next to it, connected to it by a bright gallery, is the temple in honor of the Archangel Michael. In the middle of the last century, this historical temple complex was destroyed, but in the 90s it was restored in all its former grandeur.
The largest temple - in honor of the Archangel Michael - is so spacious, and its vaults are so high that it seems as if it is woven from light. The dome goes far up, so that when you look up, you even feel dizzy. But the most amazing impression is made by the Divine services that take place within these walls: the extraordinary acoustics of the church gives the voices of the singers special sound. It is difficult to understand where the sound is born, because it fills the entire space, reaches the very dome and pours from somewhere in the sky.
In the ground floor of the Church of the Archangel Michael there is a temple-baptistery - of extraordinary beauty! Daylight does not penetrate there, so there is always twilight. The gilded iconostasis flickers mysteriously in the glow of the lamps. Impressive size The baptismal font is lined with mosaic patterns in the Byzantine style.
The throne of this temple is consecrated in honor of the holy martyr Constantine, who was shot in Merkushino during the times of the atheistic regime. It is surprising that the relics of this new martyr lay in the same firebox Siberian land even longer than the relics of the righteous Simeon - eighty years - but upon discovery they also turned out to be incorruptible. Even the clothes of the murdered priest were untouched by time; his body did not become numb and bent. Truly blessed is the land of Merkushino, which at all times shows the world the holy saints of God!
No matter how many times I’ve been here, I can never stop admiring these places; my eyes desire, but can never hold, the grandeur of the temple complex in its pristine beauty; my heart aches when I look at the touchingly beautiful nature of these places.
First of all, I go to bow to the tomb of the holy righteous Simeon, drink water from healing spring, beating in the place where his coffin appeared on the surface of the earth. The Simeon Temple was built directly above the source. There are places from which you don’t want to leave, one of them is the tomb of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye: under the gentle gaze of the saint looking at you from the icon, you feel good and cozy, like at home. Now the tomb of the righteous Simeon is a small room lined with marble slabs with a spring in the middle, it is located directly under the altar of the Simeon Temple. Time moves here completely imperceptibly, and sometimes it seems as if it stops altogether, freezes and turns into eternity.
The relics themselves are not in the tomb. They are in the St. Nicholas Monastery, where they were solemnly transferred almost immediately after their discovery - in 1704. Having admired the places dear to my heart, I said goodbye to Merkushino and set off on a further journey to venerate the relics of the righteous. After all, if you didn’t see the owner, then how can you consider that you were visiting.
I had to make several stops along the way. The first is in the place of solitary prayers of the righteous Simeon, it is very close, ten kilometers from Merkushino. A stone has been preserved here, sitting on which the saint prayed and fished. In the 19th century, on this deserted shore there was a chapel in honor of the saint, which Soviet years dismantled, now in its place is a worship cross, and next to it is a wooden church in honor of All Siberian Saints, in which Divine services are regularly held. When I visit this place, for some reason it always seems as if the saint is still here invisibly. I would like, like him, to sit on a stone near the river and sit motionless for a long, long time, thinking about and thanking the Creator for His incomprehensible mercy towards us, people. It arises in the soul living faith that through the prayers of His saint, God hears you and forgives you everything.
My next stop is connected with the name of another saint - Blessed Cosmas of Verkhoturye.
The Path of Blessed Cosmas
Soon after the relics of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye were found, they decided to transfer them to Verkhoturye, in monastery, in order to facilitate access to them for numerous pilgrims. In a carved coffin lined with swan's down, the relics of the righteous man were carried from Merkushino to the St. Nicholas Verkhoturye Monastery with solemn chants and prayers.
Following the procession of the Cross, the holy fool Kosma crawled on his knees; he was crippled and could not move otherwise. When Kosma was exhausted, he turned to Saint Simeon as if he were alive, with in simple words: “Brother, Simeone, let’s rest!” After this, no one could move the coffin with the relics, the procession stopped, and blessed Cosmas (also now glorified among the saints) rested, glorifying God and thanking his brother in Christ - Simeon. Later, at the sites of these stops, believers erected temples and chapels.
The road winds left and right, leaving forests and hills behind. But then, around the next turn, two suns shone in the sky again - it sparkles so brightly, reflecting sunlight, Cross of Christ on the onion head of a white stone church. This showed Svyato-Kosminskaya in all its glory men's deserts. In the 19th century, in memory of the next stop procession, who carried the relics of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye, a church was built here.
Now there is a whole monastery on this place. The brethren live there according to the strict Athos charter, according to which passage into the desert territory is prohibited for worldly persons. Sometimes the brothers take into the archondarik (guest room) a reliquary with a particle of the relics of the blessed Cosmas himself. As soon as you cross the threshold of the archondarik, you feel an extraordinary spiritual joy, which intensifies when you come into contact with the shrine itself - the relics of Saint Cosmas. Who knows, maybe the blessed one consoles in this way those who follow his path and blesses them on their further journey? I would like to believe that this is so. Moreover, this joy does not leave the inspired soul for a long time.
Unfortunately, other shrines on the path of blessed Cosmas have not survived: they were destroyed in the last century, their restoration is slow.
Guardian of the Ural land
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do will he do also, and greater works than these will he do” (John 14:12).
These gospel words are the first to come to mind when you think about the numerous miracles and healings that occurred and continue to occur at the shrine containing the relics of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye. How many blind, lame, and crippled people the Lord helped during His earthly life! Miracles continue to this day. Now they are created in the name of Jesus Christ and His holy saints.
Simeon's days. Photo: Sisters.ru
Believers come to Verkhoturye from everywhere: some to ask for healing, some with gratitude for the help received. There are many known cases where healing occurred at a distance: a person with faith anointed the sore spot with oil from the relics of St. Simeon and received a complete recovery. Some then go to Verkhoturye to thank the Siberian miracle worker for his mercy.
But there are also many who go to their beloved saint simply to see him again, to pray, to stand in reverent silence under the huge arches of the majestic Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Cross, in which the relics rest. Usually believers stand for a long time - no one wants to leave...
Holy righteous Simeon reposed in the Lord more than three hundred years ago, but he did not leave Ural land, she was entrusted to him for safekeeping, as a faithful servant of Christ, until the Lord of the house comes.
Instead of a conclusion
People can wander around the world for a long time, doing different things important matters, to strive for something, to look for something... But you just have to get into Holy place, as the soul is visited by the feeling that everything around is “vanity of vanities.” The soul freezes and, clinging to the shrine, meekly but firmly proclaims: “I found what I was looking for, I don’t need anything else.” And she will not let you go from here for a long time and then she will always ask you to go back to the place where she touched her. My soul fell in love with Verkhoturye and all those places that are associated with the name of the great saint of the Siberian land - the righteous Simeon. Come here too, and who knows, maybe this is where Heaven will become closer to you...
Simeon († 1642) was a nobleman, but hid his origins and led the humble life of a poor man. He walked around the villages and sewed sheepskin coats and other items for free. outerwear, mainly for the poor. At the same time, he deliberately did not finish sewing something - either sleeves or a collar, for which he suffered reproaches from customers. The ascetic traveled a lot.
But most often he lived in the graveyard of the village of Merkushinskoye near the town of Verkhoturye ( Perm region). Saint Simeon loved the Ural nature and, joyfully contemplating its majestic beauty, raised his mental gaze to the Creator of the world. In his free time from work, the saint loved to fish in the quiet of solitude, for this reminded him of the disciples of Christ, whose work he continued, instructing local residents in the true faith.
His conversations were the fertile seed from which abundant fruits of the spirit gradually grew in the Urals and Siberia, where the monk is especially revered.
Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye reposed in 1642 when he was only 35 years old. He was buried in the Merkushinsky graveyard at the Church of the Archangel Michael. On September 12, 1704, with the blessing of Metropolitan Philotheus of Tobolsk, the holy relics of Righteous Simeon were transferred from the Church of the Archangel Michael to the Verkhoturye Monastery in the name of St. Nicholas.
Righteous Simeon performed many miracles after his death. He often appeared to the sick in their dreams and healed them, admonishing those who had fallen into the vice of drunkenness. The peculiarity of the saint’s appearances is that along with the healing of bodily infirmities, he also taught instructions for the soul.
One miracle of the righteous Simeon is especially remarkable, who quickly punishes people who are ill with unbelief, but quickly helps them if they have repented and turned with all their hearts in prayer to his intercession. One woman, Ksenia Feodorova - this was at the beginning of the 19th century in Verkhoturye - went up to the St. Nicholas Church, where the relics of the righteous rested, but she did this not out of a sincere disposition of her heart, but rather out of curiosity. At that time, there was one noble woman in the temple, at whose request the holy relics of the righteous Simeon were completely revealed. The enemy of the human race always tries to catch the weak and wavering in his insidious nets; This ancient envier of people put doubt in Ksenia’s heart. At the sight of the naked relics, she not only did not pay worthy veneration to them, but even became disgusted with them and carelessly left the temple. Before she had time to walk even one mile from the city (she wanted to return to her place of residence), a terrible whirlwind suddenly arose.
The wind raised a huge column of dust and fine sand, and all this dust fell on Ksenia and completely clogged her eyes. She could not see the light because of the sand, she began to rub her eyes - but it was all in vain. She screamed to her companions, but they did not hear her because of the whistle of the wind. Then she realized that the Lord had punished her for doubting. She began to call on the name of the righteous Simeon, and he immediately helped her: one companion approached her. Ksenia asked her to take her to the relics of the saint of God Simeon. On the way, she prayed all the time and asked the Lord to forgive her sin.
Arriving at the temple with the firm hope of relief, Ksenia was not deceived in her expectations. As soon as she venerated the holy relics, she immediately received her sight. Righteous Simeon delivered her from her illness and at the same time from her disastrous doubt. It means so much to “make the prayer of the righteous make haste” (Jas. 5 :16).
After the examination of the relics of the righteous Simeon once again in 1825, more new miracles followed, of which one is noteworthy, which happened in 1828. In the fall of this year in October, one of those who worked at the Kynovsky plant, Agapius Rachev, needed to go to the house located behind the factory pond . At this time, due to heavy rains, the floodgates on the dam were opened, and several boards were thrown for pedestrians. Rachev crossed safely. But he stayed in the house until evening, so he had to return at dusk. Having reached the dam, he began to choose a place to cross. Misled by the strong noise and deafening roar of the water falling down, he moved away from the place where the crossing was, and, thinking of quickly passing the dam, he quickened his pace and suddenly fell into one of the most dangerous places in front of the dam, where there was more than three fathoms of depth.
It is known that when the sluices are open, water presses against the passages with terrible force. Near one such passage, Rachev fell into the water. The danger was great; it seemed that nothing could save the fallen man. The uncontrollable pressure of the water carried him into the passage - he faced certain death. Finding himself in such a desperate situation, Agapius began to call upon St. for help. Nicholas and righteous Simeon, and his prayer was heard. Suddenly, without knowing how, he felt that one of the beams that supported the bridge was in his hands. Encouraged, he loudly began to call for help, but no one came.
He screamed for a long time, and finally began to lose his strength. The beam he was holding onto was thick, and it was slimy. His hands began to go numb from the cold water. A few more minutes - and he had to release the beam and plunge into the water. Then he again began to pray internally and made a promise to go to Verkhoturye to venerate the holy relics of the righteous Simeon. The saint of God, the intercessor of those in troubles and sorrows, the helper of all who call on him, immediately provided Agapius with his wonderful help. Suddenly people came running and they pulled out the drowning man. Everyone was greatly surprised when Agapius told how he was saved from certain death by the patronage of the righteous Simeon.
Six years later, precisely in 1834, this glorious saint of God miraculously healed the son of the same Agapius, Matthew Rachev, from a serious illness. Appearing to the sick man during a period of oblivion, righteous Simeon reminded Matthew that he had an unfulfilled promise - to go to worship at the Verkhoturye Monastery, after which the sick man soon recovered and fulfilled his promise.
Simeon of Verkhoturye (Merkushinsky) acquired his holiness in the world through prayers, hermitage, wandering, labors and helping people.
Now, through the prayers of Saint Simeon of Verkhoturye, the Lord reveals gracious help, consolation, strengthening, admonition, healing of souls and bodies, as well as deliverance from evil and unclean spirits. Through the prayers of the saint, distressed travelers receive deliverance from all hardships and even death.
Intercession is given to all who call upon him with faith, salvation from fire, healing to the sick, hearing to the deaf, permission of the mouth to the dumb, liberation to the captives. They especially often turn to the Verkhoturye Wonderworker with prayers. for eye diseases and all kinds of paralysis(this was one of the first miracles from his relics). And to this day various miracles continue to flow from the relics of this glorious saint of God through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Him be glory, praise and thanksgiving forever. Amen.
Troparion for the transfer of the relics of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye
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Today the glorious country of Siberia rejoices, / has found your holy relics within itself. / Bishops, priests and the whole host of people / spiritually rejoicing, we cry out to you: O God-Wise Simeon! / Deliver us, who come running to you, from all troubles, / asking for submission to everyone at every request, / and to deliver this country and the city from the fiery incineration and the filthy invasion and internecine warfare and from all evil. / In the same way, we all now honor the honorable and multi-healing relics of your offering to the new healer, and we cry: / glory to Him who gives to you all healing!
Troparion to the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye
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Fleeing the worldly rebellion, / you turned all your desire to God, / and in a vision of the sunrise you found grief, / not at all deviating into the deceit of the heart, / but having purified your soul and body, / you accepted good to sharpen the goals of the faithful and the unfaithful who flock to you, righteous Simeone. Moreover, according to the gift given to you, / ask Christ God for healing for us, / who are sick with spiritual passions, / / and pray to save our souls.
Kontakion for the transfer of the relics of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye
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Today has come the all-honorable memory of the new healer, the righteous Simeon, / and people are summoned to the most honorable temple of the Holy Hierarch Nicholas, / where pious multitudes have joyfully gathered, / cheerfully celebrating the presentation of the honorable and multi-healing relics of your feast. / For you appeared to our city, and to all Siberia free medicine, / giving healing to those who come to you with faith, O all-blessed Simeon! / But as you have boldness towards the Lord Christ, / pray to Him to save the city and the people praying to you, / moreover, be an intercessor to the Lord in the days of the onslaught of sorrow as your servant, / Yes, we call to you: Rejoice, praise to the Siberian country and affirmation to our city.
Kontakion to the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye, tone 2
You rejected the vanity of the world, and inherited the blessings of eternal life, having loved kindness and purity of soul and body. You have gained what you loved, for the tomb and incorruption of your relics, and especially the grace of miracles, testify to this. Sharpen the goals of all those who flock to you and are unenlightened, blessed Simeon, wonder-working wonder.
Prayer to the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye
Oh, holy and righteous Simeon, with your pure soul in the heavenly abodes in the face of the saints, rest on earth with your incorruptible body, according to the grace given to you from the Lord, pray for us. Mercifully look upon us, many sinners, even if we are unworthy, but with faith and hope in your holy and wholesome power flowing, and ask us from God for forgiveness of our sins, in which we fall in multitudes all the days of our life.
And just as before, to those who suffered from green illnesses, they were able to heal their eyes, to those who were near death, healing from severe ailments, and to others, you bestowed many other glorious benefits: deliver us from mental and physical ailments and from all sorrow and sorrow , and all that is good for our present life and for eternal salvation Ask for what is beneficial to us from the Lord, so that through your intercession and prayers we have acquired everything useful to us, even if we are unworthy, praising you with gratitude, let us glorify God, wondrous in His saints, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The memory of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye is also celebrated on December 18/31, the day of glorification (1694).
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