Abraham of Rostov

ON BL. ABRAHAM OF ROSTOV, ABBOT,

AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Abraham, abbot of Rostov. (B.)

BY J. M.

§ I. Whether Bl. Abraham of Rostov is inscribed in the illustrated Ephemerides. The situation and inhabitants of Rostov; their heathen errors. They are brought over to the Christian faith. The series of the first bishops and princes of Rostov.

When Papebroch, intent on illustrating the Graeco-Muscovite Ephemerides, had come to the 25th day of October, Bl. Abraham of Rostov, at the 29th day of October, he hesitated, since he read the name of Abraham the monk, almost unknown to all the other calendars on that day. Thinking him a saint proper to the Russian Church, he continued the work until at the 29th day of the same month he found another Abraham, adorned with the episcopal pallium; whom he judged to be the most celebrated hermit venerated by the Greeks on this very day, but by the Latins on the 16th day of March. He thought that the episcopal ornament had been attributed to the holy man by the painter's error. But Assemani judges that the same Abraham was depicted twice by a less skilled Muscovite painter Kalendaria eccles. univ., vol. V, pp. 319 and 324.. Further, when the Acts of the 25th day of October were already to be set out, on better consideration of the matter it at once seemed that a more diligent inquiry would have to be made into the histories of the Abrahams inscribed in the Russian ecclesiastical calendars, and the whole business referred to the 29th day Acta SS., vol. XI of October, p. 391, E. F.. It fell to Henri Matagne, of pious memory, to treat it, who, what he had accomplished for another Abraham in a very obscure matter Acta SS., vol. XII of October, p. 759., would have accomplished no less happily for the one of Rostov also, and would easily have untied all the knots in which the history of this monk is entangled, had he not been prevented from carrying it out by a too early death. Which misfortune is the more to be lamented because the distinguished man had already girded himself for the work proposed to him, and indeed so vigorously and with such success that, being learned in the Slavonic tongue, he was able to approach the Slavonic sources themselves. To this testify his autograph excerpts, which I had under my eyes as I wrote, and in which I found some things very much to my purpose and therefore by no means to be passed over here. I mean the commentary with which he was going to illustrate the Acts of Bl. Abraham of Rostov, but of which only the first beginnings, with great sagacity and learning to be sure,

he left sketched out.

[2] some think that he is commemorated in the illustrated ephemerides; Now at the very outset he brings forward the difficulty proposed by Papebroch and not solved by his successors, to which he replies in these words: "I do not at all doubt," he says, "that on the 25th day in the Graeco-Muscovite Ephemerides that Abraham, uncle of Mary, is praised, and on the 29th day Abraham, archimandrite of Rostov." And why he thinks so he adds: "Indeed," he says, "the Papebrochian Ephemerides show us the popular Calendar of the Russians and the names of the saints who were adorned with special cult at the beginning of the seventeenth century. They do not deny the saints of Rostov their place; for on the 14th day of the month of May Isidore the salos, or fool for Christ, on the 15th, 23rd and 28th days the bishops Isaiah, Leontius and Ignatius, and finally on the 27th day of November Bishop James, are represented there. Was it not then consistent to inscribe also the name of Abraham of Rostov, certainly second to none in fame? For he was said to have brought many inhabitants of Rostov to Christ, as the tradition of the people and of old books reports. Leontius was proclaimed the apostle of the Slavs, but Abraham the apostle of the foreigners of Finnic stock. Moreover the monastery of the Epiphany, in which the relics of Abraham were set forth for public veneration, was held to be older and more illustrious than the others See below, no. 32.. Since, then, no Abraham can be found who, besides Abraham the hermit, uncle of Mary, and Abraham of Rostov, is inscribed in the popular Calendar of the Russians of the seventeenth century at the 29th day of October, it seems more probable that the Greek Abraham was moved from his place and the seat left to his more recent and better-known namesake. This interpretation has a single difficulty. For Abraham is painted adorned with the episcopal pallium, who was never a bishop. But who in a popular picture would not readily recognize the painter's carelessness?" Thus far our Matagne.

[3] which however is not certain. For my part I most willingly confess that there is an error in the aforesaid picture. I would not, however, blame the painter as though he had acted carelessly. For he could not have been so ignorant or inattentive as to make a bishop of the monk of Rostov, whom we have just read was certainly second to none in fame, and to present him with a pallium in place of a cowl. That the author of the Graeco-Muscovite Ephemerides was the hieromonk Pamvo Berynda, protosyncellus of Jerusalem, a man well known for cultivating Slavonic letters, I have declared more fully elsewhere Annus ecclesiast., at 23 January, in Act. SS., vol. XI of October, p. 40.. Since, then, the picture both represents a bishop and the inscription placed above bears the name of Abraham, one may doubt the genuineness of the inscription itself. What if in place of Abraham we should read Arsenius, archbishop of Serbia, who died in the year 1266 and was numbered in the list of the Russian saints by the council of Moscow of the year 1549? The memory of Arsenius indeed is usually recalled in the calendars of the Russians at the 28th day of October, but sometimes also at the 29th of October. Indeed on this last day he is commemorated both in the glossed Manual of the icon-painters of the sixteenth century, published in the year 1873 by the distinguished Filimonov, and in the illustrated Manual of the sixteenth–seventeenth century, which from Count Stroganov is commonly called the Stroganov Manual, and was printed at Moscow in the year 1869. In this Arsenius is depicted, by manifest error, clad in a mantle, although the title placed above expressly warns that the Serbian prelate is to be painted adorned in episcopal vesture woven with crosses. Similarly, in the illustrated Calendar with which the Moscow Menologion of the year 1837 is furnished, the painter added to Abraham a certain bishop, his name being left unmentioned, but whom it is clear enough to be Arsenius. For the rest, I would not put too much faith in sources of this kind, nor add more than due weight to arguments drawn from them. For whatever authority they have they draw from the liturgical books, for instance synaxaria, menologia, menaia, typika, gospel books and others; for from these have been taken all the things to be found in the Manuals of the icon-painters or in the illustrated Calendars which concern hagiological matters. Yet the glossed and illustrated Manuals of the painters and other writings of this kind are not to be despised; for they carefully preserve ancient traditions, and often bring no mean light into obscure discussions. Further, it is entirely established from other sources that Bl. Abraham the archimandrite was honoured with the cult of the saints at Rostov. Which place, since the blessed man spent a great part of his life there, seems to need explaining first.

[4] Rostov, whose origins are obscure, At the beginning of the Acts of Bl. Abraham these things are read: "There existed then at Rostov the error of idolatry. For not all the citizens had yet received baptism, but those dwelling in the Chud quarter adored the stone idol Veles." Where three things occur to be cleared up: the situation of Rostov, the origin of the Chuds, and their religion before the Christian dogmas were admitted. Among the most ancient cities of Russia is numbered Rostov, surnamed the Great, founded by the Slavs of Novgorod. For its Slavonic origin is betrayed by its name, which some Sreznevsky, Lectures on the ancient chronicles, p. 33. would have derived from the proper name Rost, so that it signifies the city of Rost, no less than Rostislav indicates the city of Rostislav; and they add that there are other cities drawing their name from the same Slavonic word, among them Rostock in the territory of Mecklenburg, formerly occupied by the Baltic Slavs; likewise the city of Rostovets and the village of Rostovka in the province of Kiev, as also the district of Rostovtsy in the Moscow territory Korsakov, Meria and the principality of Rostov, p. 61, note 109.. That the founder of Rostov was a certain Rossus, some writers of the seventeenth century dreamed, caring not for the chronological and philological art but especially for the likeness of words; whereby it came about that they said the Muscovites sprang from Mosoch, of whom in Genesis, and indeed the Slovenes and Russians from Japheth, and Rurik from Caesar Augustus. When Rostov was founded the annals are silent. An older chronographer mentions Rostov in describing the annals of the ninth century. "In the year 864," he says, "his brothers Sineus and Truvor having died, Rurik held the dominion alone; and he began to distribute cities to his nobles," that is, to govern, "to one Polotsk, to another Rostov, to another Beloozero" Collect. annal., vol. I, p. 9.. Hence it is plain that already in the year 864 Rostov was a Russian city; for Rurik was prince of the Russians.

[5] it was inhabited by the pagan Merians, Rostov is situated on lake Nero, which the river Kotorosl joins with the Volga, from which it is about 55 kilometres distant. This lake, now commonly called the lake of Rostov, extends eight kilometres in breadth and twelve in length. Rostov was indeed founded because Schnitzler, l'Empire de Russie, vol. I, p. 345. it was the custom of the Slav colonists to place new stations at the mouths of rivers, in order to make their territory safer. Wherefore it came about that Novgorod was built at the mouth of the Volkhov, old Ladoga at the mouth of the Sheksna; as also probably at the mouth of the Kotorosl and the Volga a station which thereafter grew into the city of Yaroslavl. Today indeed Yaroslavl is pre-eminent over the other cities of its province; but in the eleventh century and the following ones Rostov so excelled the other cities of its territory that whatever laws it had established in its popular assembly were accepted by the other cities without contradiction. The district of Rostov was inhabited for the most part by the Merians, a barbarous nation of Finnic, or, as it is now the custom to say, Turanian stock, which occupied the most vast tracts of Russia towards the north and east, but was divided into various tribes. Very many of these, even in the eleventh century, occupied in the city itself a whole quarter, called after their name the Chud quarter, on the testimony of the biographer of Bl. Abraham. And today the descendants of the Chuds, mixed with the Slavs, live in the same place, keeping their customs. The Merians are divided into the Western, or the Fenni or Chuds properly so called, of whom Tacitus De moribus Germanorum, ch. XLVI. and Ptolemy [Geograph., book III, ch. 5. Compare the Novgorod chronicle; Zabelin, History of the life of the Russians, Moscow 1876, vol. I, p. 184.] speak, and the Eastern, whom Herodotus mentions Book IV, ch. 109., excellently illustrated by Zabelin [Hist. of the life of the Russians, vol. I, p. 232. Compare Korsakov, op. cit., pp. 30 and 182; Jordanes, De Getarum sive Gothorum origine, ch. 23; Collect. annal., vol. I, pp. 2 and 5.]. The present-day Votyaks or Otyaks are said to have formerly inhabited the region of Rostov, and to have migrated thence to the river Kama so as not to be compelled to receive baptism, perhaps from the hands of Bl. Abraham. The chief part of the Merians inhabited the region comprised between the rivers Volga, Oka and Klyazma. And although the name of the Merians is no longer mentioned in the chronicles from the eleventh century, yet many traces of them can still be discerned in the manners, usages, way of life and popular festivals of the Russians inhabiting the provinces of Yaroslavl, Kostroma and Vladimir, and in part also that of Moscow. But enough of these. If anyone desires more, let him consult the writers on these matters [Count Uvarov, Les Mériens, études sur les peuples primitifs de Russie, trans. by Fr. Malaqué, St. Petersburg, 1875; Korsakov, Meria and the principality of Rostov, Kazan, 1872; E. Barsov, Geography of the primary chronicle, Warsaw, 1873.].

[6] and, although they seem never to have had idols, Nor can we fail to add a few things about the rites of the Merians and about the idol Veles, which is mentioned in the Acts of Bl. Abraham. Probably the religion of the Merians differed little from the religion of the neighbouring peoples of the same family, for instance the Cheremis, the Mordvins and the Votyaks, still surviving, who seem to have had neither idols nor temples. It appears that the Merians adored good and evil gods, and the elements of nature, rocks Compare Zabelin, op. cit., Moscow 1879, vol. II, p. 272., groves, lakes, and offered them sacrifices. The petty priests of this people, indeed, in the very age of Bl. Abraham, were nothing but magi [Compare Collect. annal., vol. I, pp. 64 and 75; ibid., Voskresensk Chronicle, VII, p. 338.]. But the fact that in the Acts of Bl. Abraham and in the older Lives of other saints mention is made of idols, as though the Merians had had images of gods, is not to be taken literally, but rather attributed to the author, accustomed to write in the Christian manner. Nor does it stand in the way any more that there is talk there of divine worship shown to the god Veles. For by this word, besides the fact that it does not occur in all the codices, an idol is by no means signified, although it is called by this name by some. Further, the distinguished Sreznevsky shows that Veles is a solar divinity and god of cattle, differing only in name from the god who is called Khors-Dazhbog [In the periodical of the ministry of public education, vol. XLI, p. 50 f. Compare Zabelin, op. cit., vol. II, p. 293; ibid., note 164, pp. 512 and 520; Soloviev, History of Russia, second edition, vol. I, note 79. Castrén, Bulletin de l'Acad. de S. Petersb., 1847, vol. IV, nos. 74 and 75, p. 22.]. On the error of those who think that the cult of Veles and the cult of St. Blaise the martyr are related, G. Krek, professor of Slavonic letters, has written excellently [Archiv der slavischen Philologie, vol. I, p. 134 f.; the same,

Einleitung in die slavische Litteraturgeschichte, vol. I, p. 106. Compare Kostomarov, in Vestnik Evropy, 1873, Feb., pp. 585, 586, note; Veselovsky, Skazanija o Solomone i Kitovrase, 1872, p. XIV. Pogodin, Drevniaja Russk. istorija do Mongol. perioda, vol. II, p. 687.].

[7] was brought over to the Christian religion only in the eleventh century. Let us now explain, as far as is necessary, the beginnings of the Christian religion among the Russians. That it was received by the grand duchess Olga and her family no prudent man will deny. Few Russians, however, imitated the examples of their princes [Compare the Graeco-Slavonic ecclesiastical Year, at the 12th day of July, in Act. SS., vol. XI of Oct.; Soloviev, History of Russia, vol. I, p. 149, second edition; Golubinsky, On the conversion of Russia under Vladimir, in the periodical of the ministry of public instruction, 1877, month of March, p. 157.]. The matter succeeded better when in the year 988 Duke Vladimir, laying aside the errors of the heathen, publicly professed the faith of Christ and proposed it to the whole people of Kiev to be embraced [Life of the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb, ed. by the distinguished Sreznevsky, St. Petersburg, 1860, p. 6.]. Although not the whole nation of the Russians then became Christian, the part living towards the south and west, and chiefly that consisting of peoples Slavonic in origin, did so. But into eastern Russia and towards the north, which region peoples of foreign, Finnic stock inhabited, the Christian religion was brought in only in the reign of Yaroslav, son of St. Vladimir, who held the kingdom from the year 1015 to the year 1054. And since Rostov was the chief city of this region, it seems we must say that the light of the Gospel first shone there. And although it lay in the midst of the lands of foreigners, many Russians by nation, or rather Slavs, inhabited it. For it was a colony of Novgorod, which men Russian by nation governed. For their sake an episcopal see was erected at Rostov, no less than in our age at Tashkent in Central Asia. I am not unaware that in the Chronicle of Nikon, or the patriarchal chronicle [Collect. Annal. Russ., vol. I, p. 63 f. Compare the Book of Degrees of genealogy, pp. 144, 145 and 153.], it is narrated that the Christian religion was introduced at Rostov already at the end of the tenth century; but these things are passed over both in the Life of SS. Boris and Gleb, and in the Passion of the same holy martyrs composed by the monk Jacob, and in the older Annals (which are undeservedly attributed to Nestor, monk of Kiev), in which Vladimir is said to have been baptized with his family and the whole nation, without mention being made of the Finnic nation Op. cit., vol. I, p. 52.. To this is added that the Chronicle of Nikon was compiled so carelessly that its author several times asserts that bishops were sent into Russia by Photius of Constantinople in the years 990, 991 and 992, although it is known to all that this wicked man died at the end of the ninth century. We pass over the opinions of the archimandrite Gizel, author of the Synopsis Synopsis, edition of 1680, fol. 78, since they are extremely inept. This, however, is established, that about the end of the eleventh century there existed in Russia these dioceses: of Kiev, Chernigov, Belgorod, Turov, Pereyaslavl, Vladimir in Volhynia, Tmutorakan, Polotsk, Yuriev, Novgorod and Rostov; where it must be noted that Rostov alone belongs to eastern Russia, all the others lying either to the south or to the west, namely in the Russia which is called Slavonic. Whence it is clear that eastern Russia, which from the foreigners then inhabiting it you might call Chudian, for a great part still sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, except the city of Rostov, the head of the whole region of the same name. That, then, at the end of the eleventh century no other episcopal see is found in those parts besides that of Rostov can be an argument that the Christian faith penetrated into them later, probably after the death of Vladimir; but by no means in the year 990 or 992, as the more recent chronographers think, whose opinions in our age are patronized by Macarius, now metropolitan of Moscow.

[8] The princes and earlier bishops of Rostov. In the Acts of Bl. Abraham some prelates and dukes of Rostov are mentioned. Wherefore, so that the times may be more easily noted, we shall set side by side a list both of the princes in whose dominion Rostov lay in that age, and of the earlier bishops of the same region; neither, however, do we propose as complete in every number.

PRINCES OF THE REGION OF ROSTOV.

In the year 862 Rurik, leader of the Northmen, arrives, at the call of the Slovenes, the Krivichi and the Merians.

In the year 864 the same Rurik set over Rostov, which was the chief seat of the Merians, a nobleman as his vicar.

In the year 879 Oleg rules the Russians.

In the year 912 Oleg dies. Then the annals are silent about Rostov until the year 988.

In the year 988 the grand duke Vladimir is baptized. He commits Rostov to be governed to his son Yaroslav, and shortly afterwards to his son Boris. Thus it began to have its own princes.

In the year 1015 the grand duke Vladimir dies. In the same year his sons SS. Boris and Gleb are killed Acta SS., vol. II of Sept., p. 633. Ibid., vol. XI, p. 184..

In the year 1016 Yaroslav succeeds his father St. Vladimir.

In the year 1054 Iziaslav succeeds his father Yaroslav. Under his reign and that of his successor Rostov is governed by the dukes of Novgorod.

In the year 1073 Sviatoslav, also a son of Yaroslav, takes the place of Iziaslav.

In the year 1076 Vsevolod, duke of Pereyaslavl, the fifth son of Yaroslav, succeeds Sviatoslav; he occupies Rostov.

In the year 1093 Sviatoslav son of Iziaslav, his nephew, succeeded Vsevolod.

In the year 1112 Vladimir, son of Vsevolod, called Monomakh, succeeds his father. Under him Vladimir on the Klyazma is founded.

In the year 1125 Vladimir Monomakh dies. He, especially from the year 1079, in which Rostov had been solemnly assigned to his house, had taken special care of this city; and since he himself could not remain in it, he had administered it through his sons, Mstislav in the year 1095, and then Iziaslav.

BISHOPS OF ROSTOV.

CHRONOLOGY ACCORDING TO AMBROSE.

In the year 992 Theodore the Greek, who in the same year returns to his homeland History of the Russian hierarchy, vol. I, p. 114..

Hilarion the Greek, who likewise returns to his homeland.

Leontius, who dies in the year 993.

In the year 1077 Isaiah is created bishop and dies in the year 1089.

CHRONOLOGY ACCORDING TO PHILARET.

In the year 990 Theodore is created bishop [Lives of the Russian Saints, at the 28th day of June, p. 39; compare Chron. Nikon., vol. I, p. 105.].

In the year 992 Theodore withdraws to Suzdal.

In the year 1023 Theodore dies at Suzdal.

Hilarion Orthodox Colloquy, year 1858, p. 302; compare Macarius, vol. I, note 25.

Leontius, who was not bishop of Rostov before the year 1051.

In the year 1070 or 1073 Leontius died, and not in the year 1077 (as I myself had said elsewhere) [Annus eccles., p. 138; Philaret, Hist. Eccles. Russ., part I, p. 21, and Lives of the Russian Saints, at the 23rd day of May, p. 164; Klyuchevsky, Lives of the Saints, p. 37; Sergius the archimandrite, Kalend. Orient., vol. II, p. 288. Compare Macarius, Hist. Eccles. Russ., vol. I, p. 16; Golubinsky, op. cit., p. 37.].

Isaiah 1077 – 1089.

CHRONOLOGY ACCORDING TO STROEV.

Leontius at the end of the eleventh century Stroev, Series of the bishops and abbots of Russia, p. 328..

Isaiah at the beginning of the twelfth century.

It must be observed concerning the catalogue of Ambrose, in which after Isaiah are placed as doubtful the bishops Hilarion II, Theognostus I, Theodore II, and as the certain successor of Isaiah, in the time of Vladimir Monomakh, Ephraim, that this order is indeed approved by learned Russians, but the chronology made less of.

§ II. Summary of the deeds of Bl. Abraham. The Acts. Their age, credibility and various classes.

The monastic life and apostolate of Bl. Abraham. Before we define the age of Bl. Abraham and set out his deeds, both his life must be outlined and the writings from which he becomes known to us must be weighed. Abraham, called Abercius before he took up the monastic life, is said to have been born of religious parents, who taught him letters and piety. But aspiring to a more perfect life, he left his father's house and, by God's inspiration, having become a monk, came to Rostov; in whose neighbourhood he set up a cell for himself by lake Nero, spending his life in fasts and prayers. At Rostov at that time there still lived many worshippers of idols, adoring in the Chud quarter a stone idol called Veles. Affected with the greatest grief, the most pious Abraham lamented this impiety, and earnestly besought God that the work of the evil spirit might be dissolved, judging that it could not be done without divine help. One day, then, while he was anxiously turning the matter over with himself, sitting near the idol, he saw a certain old man, a stranger, approaching him, and asks whence he had come. Being asked in turn by him why he grieved, "I pray God earnestly," he said, "that this idol may be destroyed, and my prayers have not been accepted by him." — "If you wish to obtain your wish," replied the old man, "go into the east, seek out the house of John the Theologian, and pray to him before his image." And seeing Abraham saddened at having to undertake a great journey, he at once added: "The Lord will shorten your journey." — Following the advice, Abraham commits himself to the journey, and had already crossed the river Ishnia, near Rostov, when there met him a certain old man of venerable appearance and serene countenance. Who, having learned the cause of the journey, said: "Take this staff, go to the idol and strike it, saying: In the name of Jesus Christ, John the Theologian commands you to fall." Having said this, he was withdrawn from his eyes. Abraham carried out the commands of the Apostle and shattered the idol. On the spot where St. John had appeared to him, he built a church sacred to him. This ancient wooden church of St. John the Evangelist can still be seen on the bank of the Ishnia. Likewise, where the idol had stood, Bl. Abraham built a church of the Epiphany of the Lord, and added a monastery to it; which the worshippers of idols several times tried to destroy by fire, but in vain, until at length, overcome by the patience and admonitions of Bl. Abraham, they received baptism and gave their names to the Christian religion.

[10] In the reign of Vladimir he is created archimandrite. He placed his chief care in teaching boys letters, and tonsured the baptized as monks. As the number of monks grew, he enlarged the former church and furnished it with books, icons and other furniture. To the brethren he showed himself a pattern of all virtues: labouring with them, whether in the bakery or in the kitchen, cutting wood or washing the brethren's hair-shirts, never reckoning himself better than the other monks. Wherefore the bishop of the place, with the assent of Prince Vladimir, created him archimandrite. Nor did the servant of God Abraham for that reason escape the persecution of wicked men. For, falsely accused of having converted to the uses of the monastery a huge treasure found by him, he is seized and carried off to Vladimir on the Klyazma to be judged by the prince. But Vladimir, having learned the innocence of the most gentle man, began to treat him with much greater veneration and affection. At length, having reached an advanced old age, he fell asleep in the peace of Christ, and was buried by his disciples in the monastery founded by him. Here you have the summary of the deeds of Bl. Abraham, as they are narrated in the older writings.

It must not, however, be passed over that the name of the grand prince Vladimir is missing in several codices of the best note. Likewise it is not mentioned in the printed Prologue and Menologion of Demetrius of Rostov. But it is read in the Great Menologion of Macarius, metropolitan of Moscow, and in the ecclesiastical Office, for which it probably served as model, as will be said below. But under the name of Vladimir come two princes, of whom one lived in the tenth century, the other in the twelfth. Hence it comes about that this mention is of great moment for defining the age of Bl. Abraham.

[11] The Lives of Bl. Abraham are divided into three classes, The Lives of Abraham, of which some are manuscript and others printed, must be reduced altogether to three classes. To the first class belong those whose narrative, compressed in brief, has been inserted into the Prologue or Synaxarion and the Menologion. Of the second class there are only four, and those more lengthy. The third class finally shows only one copy, namely in the codex of the Rule of the monastery of Valaam. In the Lives of the first class there is silence about the deeds of Bl. Abraham before his coming to the city of Rostov; it seems older, and the plainness of its language commends it. In the Lives of the second class it is read that Bl. Abraham was born at Chukhloma, on the borders of Galich, visited Novgorod as a young man, from there went to the monastery of Valaam, and, having received the monastic habit there, returned to Rostov; these deeds are set out more fully and in more elegant language. The biographer of the third class not only reports that the blessed monk was a native of Chukhloma, but also that he had heathen parents. He adds that, when he had recovered his health, he first went to Novgorod, then to Valaam, and there gave his name to the Christian religion and put on the monastic habit, and at length returned to Rostov. This is an amplification of the other Lives, or rather the opening, and that contracted, of a more lengthy Life, now lost. By what deeds he was afterwards illustrious is narrated in almost the same way in all the codices. That the first Life was written in the fourteenth century, the second in the sixteenth, the third in the eighteenth, seems to be the opinion to hold, as we shall presently declare.

[12] which are of doubtful credibility But in order that it may be well known how great is the authority of these Lives, you must carefully notice that no writer besides the biographers, not only contemporary but not even older than the sixteenth century, has mentioned blessed Abraham. Whatever, therefore, we know about him has been received from his Lives. Of these writings there seems to have been a single source; for they agree with one another through almost the whole course of his life, if you except the places which the holy abbot inhabited and the princes with whom he had dealings. It is to be lamented, however, that the Acts to be published below were written not by a contemporary but by a more recent writer, who used oral tradition alone as his guide. Hence he took fictions for truths, uncertainties for certainties. And I give the same warning about the Acts of the holy bishops of Rostov, Leontius, Isaiah, Ignatius, of whom there will often be talk. These documents, therefore, offer us, in illustrating the deeds of Bl. Abraham, only lesser usefulness, and avail only for proposing things by probable conjecture. No better is the third Life of Bl. Abraham, whose author, not distinguishing Abercius of Chukhloma [Compare Philaret, Hist. eccles. Russ., p. 118; Klyuchevsky, op. cit., p. 276; Macarius, Hist. eccles. Russ., vol. IV, p. 193.], who flourished in the fourteenth century, from Abraham of Rostov, narrates that this blessed man was baptized in the Valaam monastery of the most holy Trinity; but since this monastery was not founded before the fourteenth century [Ambrose, Hist. hier. russ., vol. III, p. 485; Philaret, Lives of the Russian Saints, at the 28th day of June, p. 127 f.], and its church is sacred to the Saviour Transfigured, and not to the Most Holy Trinity, we make less of this narration as fabulous, as Andrei Muraviev himself confesses, who had once thought it true [Lives of the Saints of the Russian church, at the 29th day of Oct., p. 424, edition of 1859. Pilgrimage to the holy places of Russia, St. Petersburg, 1840, pp. 78 and 135.].

[13] and none of which was written before the fourteenth century. Now of the time at which the Acts of Bl. Abraham were written. Philaret contends Lives of the Russian Saints, at the 29th day of Oct., p. 291. that the oldest Life, namely of the first class, is not later than the fourteenth century; Klyuchevsky Klyuchevsky, op. cit., p. 35. that it does not go beyond the fifteenth century. But it seems rather to be referred to the end of the fourteenth century; which is suggested both by the mention of the grand duke of Vladimir, in whose dominion Rostov then was, and of the lesser princes with whom he would hunt daily; and by the mention of several monasteries of Rostov; and by the very confusion and variety in the names of the princes and prelates, which is so great that it indicates an age far distant from the events, and indeed the fourteenth century drawing to its end. Indeed I think that the two parts of which the most ancient Life consists were composed by different writers and at a different time; not only because to the reader they appear set side by side rather than closely connected, but chiefly because in the former things are said to have happened in the time of St. Boris and the bishops Theodore and Hilarion; in the other, however, at the time when Vladimir on the Klyazma existed and Rostov had several monasteries. Moreover, the former part rests on a certain historical foundation, whereas the latter seems entirely destitute of it Ibid., pp. 30, 31 and 381.. The Acts of the second class are later in age. For scarcely, indeed scarcely at all, could it have been said by a writer of the fourteenth century that Bl. Abraham was born at Chukhloma of pious parents and was instructed by them in the learning of letters. Those Acts are commonly thought to have been written in the sixteenth century. That the third Life was not composed before the year 1706 is the opinion of Philaret Lives of the Russian Saints, loc. cit., note 214., archbishop of Chernigov, because in it are read certain things taken from the Menologion of Demetrius and from the Psalter augmented with offices.

[14] The first class of codices is to be preferred Among these classes of Lives which we have gone through, the first class of codices excels the others both in number and in antiquity, although not a few errors have crept in through the negligence of copyists. To this class belongs first the codex of the Rumiantsev museum, marked no. 434, which Kostomarov made public, and which we shall set before the eyes of readers below in full, rendered into Latin; then the codex of the cathedral church of Moscow, or the Great Menologion of Archbishop Macarius, in the month of October; likewise the codex of the synodal library no. 556, written in the fifteenth–sixteenth century, as also another of the sixteenth century, marked no. 555. To these add the codex of the library of Volokolamsk, written in the year 1549, three of Undolsky's marked nos. 574, 1300 and 1298, of which the last is of the seventeenth century; and as many codices of the public library of St. Petersburg, of which one is of the middle of the sixteenth century. Here also belong both the Solovetsky codex of the year 1634, marked no. 818, and the Milyutin Menologion written from the year 1646 to 1654 and preserved in the synodal library of Moscow. To these Macarius, the present archbishop of Moscow, adds two codices of his own library (nos. 39 and 65), and two others from the library of the ecclesiastical Academy of St. Petersburg (no. 270) and of St. Sophia at Novgorod (no. 503). The same Life reduced to a compendium is had in the codex of the Rumiantsev Museum no. 397, of the sixteenth century. All these Lives scarcely differ from the Life printed in the Prologue or Synaxarion and in the Menologion of Demetrius of Rostov; in which, however, no mention is made of the bishops Theodore and Hilarion, nor of Boris and Vladimir, although it occurs in most of the manuscript codices.

[15] to the second and third. Of the second class the codices are few; of which we give one in excerpts, according to the edition made by Nikolai Kostomarov, the codex of the Rumiantsev museum written in the year 1706 and marked no. 156. Another is of the library of the ecclesiastical academy of St. Petersburg, on the testimony of Macarius Hist. eccles. russ., vol. I, p. 201, note 27.; likewise two codices of the sixteenth to seventeenth century, one in the monastery of Sergius (no. 657), the other in Undolsky's possession (no. 586). Their title is: "Compendium of the Life written by his disciples" (that is, of Bl. Abraham's). Those authors are called disciples of Bl. Abraham not as though they had lived under his discipline, but, as Vasily Klyuchevsky rightly notes Op. cit., p. 26, note 2., because the work was composed in the monastery of the same saint; namely, probably about the time of the council of Moscow of the year 1549, in which the cult of the new wonder-workers, among them Bl. Abraham of Rostov, was approved. The codex of the third class, preserved in the library of the ecclesiastical academy of St. Petersburg under no. 285, contains only the abbreviated beginning of a more lengthy life, now lost, and in the rest scarcely differs from the codices of either of the other classes. This fragment of the more lengthy Life, inserted in full in the manuscript constitutions of the monastery of Valaam and in the great historical work of Macarius, we have said to be of no credibility.

§ III. At what time Bl. Abraham lived. Various opinions. On Vladimir on the Klyazma.

On the age of Bl. Abraham, which is a difficult subject, In what age Bl. Abraham lived, not all relate in the same way. For Macarius contends that he lived in the first decade of the propagation of the Christian religion in Russia, that is, about the year 1000, long before the times of Leontius and Isaiah; on the other hand Philaret affirms that he was a contemporary of Vladimir Monomakh, who reigned from the year 1112 to the year 1125. Taking up the same opinion, Klyuchevsky thinks that the blessed man preached the gospel at Rostov between the years 1073 and 1077. To these learned men, with whom several others hold almost the same opinion, the biographers of Bl. Abraham were of no great use, since even to the older of them not ancient documents but only oral tradition was available; which among the Russians, since now the Catholic church, now the schismatic church has held the first place there, is to be made less of than in those regions from which the Catholic religion was never forced into exile. Now that older writer indicates by no sign under what bishops, under what princes Bl. Abraham flourished at Rostov. The more recent writers, indeed, report, some that he was appointed archimandrite there by Theodore, others by Hilarion, bishops of Rostov. He is also said to have lived under Prince Vladimir, when the town of Vladimir on the Klyazma had already been founded. But since two princes called Vladimir governed the region of Rostov, the time at which he presided over the monastery there is not easily determined. Wherefore the several opinions must be carefully weighed.

[17] and concerning which there is nothing certain in the liturgical books, Formerly it was a fairly common opinion that Bl. Abraham was a contemporary of St. Vladimir, who died in the year 1015. From what source it flowed there is no leisure to divine. This, however, is established, that the year of the death of Bl. Abraham is noted in a certain manuscript codex of the monastery founded by him at Rostov; where, on the testimony of Ambrose Histor. hierarch. russ., vol. III, p. 64., these things are read: "In the same year 6518, that is, the year from the birth of Christ

1010, on the 29th day of October, his holy remains (Bl. Abraham's) were laid up near the altar on the right side, and they were found incorrupt in the days of the grand duke of Vladimir Vsevolod, son of George, and grandson of Monomakh." The same occurs in the calendars of the Psalter with acoluthiae, so called on account of the offices (in the Greek word ακολουθίαι) which are usually added at the end of the psalter, together with a synaxarion containing very brief notices of the saints. But what Ambrose reports Ibid., that in some psalter or other the finding of the body of Bl. Abraham is commemorated at the same year and day, is too absurd to be refuted. But neither can the other statement stand, by which, namely, the death of Bl. Abraham is referred to the year 1010. And first, indeed, psalters augmented with calendars are not of such authority as to claim complete credence for themselves; especially in historical and chronological matters they must be used with caution, as the archimandrite Sergius has demonstrated at length Op. cit., vol. I, p. 176.. Moreover, not all copies are furnished with those notices; indeed it is not known when their use became established in the church of the Russians. Certainly they are not older than the seventeenth century; for the very first edition of the year 1625 (we treat here only of printed books) and another of the year 1627 entirely lack a calendar. It is, however, already found in the Kiev edition of the year 1671, and is said to be very like the synaxarion printed at Moscow in the year 1646 Ibid., vol. I, p. 175.. It must also be noted that in the aforesaid edition of the year 1671, which served as model for the others, a double chronology is used. For there the years of the creation are reckoned now from the year 5508, now from the year 5500; which year is held very solemn by the schismatic Russians, commonly called Raskolniki, as all know. But in this place it matters little whether it is the year 1018 or the year 1010; for from either reckoning it would equally follow that Bl. Abraham was already a Christian when Vladimir received holy baptism, which surely no one will concede.

[18] there are three opinions, of which the first Judging these absurdities an error of the copyist, Macarius, archbishop of Moscow, thinks that for the year 6518 the year 6553, or the year of Christ 1045, should be substituted. But not even in this way is all difficulty removed, unless it is proved that Bl. Abraham really flourished in the time of St. Vladimir and of Yaroslav his son (prince from the year 1015 to 1054). That this is probable Macarius defends Op. cit., vol. I, p. 157 and note 331. with the learning in which he excels, and leaves no stone unturned to make it plain that Bl. Abraham, in the time of St. Vladimir, after the city of Vladimir had been founded, illuminated Rostov with the Christian light. This opinion indeed agrees to some extent with the ancient Life of the holy man, in which he is said to have lived both under Vladimir and his son Boris, who died in the year 1015, and under Bishop Theodore or Hilarion, or under both. But these things lack a solid foundation. For these names of bishops and princes do not occur in all the codices, and surely the most ancient biographer of the fourteenth century does not seem to have known of the association of SS. Theodore, Hilarion and Boris with Bl. Abraham, since he is silent about it; the biographers who first mention it long afterwards neglect to state from what sources they drew it.

[19] does not explain the origins of Vladimir on the Klyazma. Add that in the same Life there is talk of Vladimir on the Klyazma, which city Philaret rightly maintains was founded at the beginning of the twelfth century. But Macarius disagrees, judging that it was not founded by Vladimir Monomakh; because when in the year 1176 a dispute arose between the people of Vladimir and those of Rostov about the pre-eminence of the two cities, the inhabitants of Vladimir on the Klyazma chiefly objected that their town had been built by Vladimir the Great Coll. annall. Russ., vol. I, p. 160.; which argument, Macarius adds, since it must confirm the antiquity of the city, is none if it concerns not Vladimir I but Vladimir II, who had died only about fifty years before. We cannot but confess that Macarius's refutation is altogether defective; for, besides the fact that Vladimir on the Klyazma could have been ancient in comparison with several other cities of that region, it is not reckoned among the cities taken by Oleg I [Pogodin, Disquisitions concerning Russian history, vol. IV, p. 279; Philaret, Lives of the Russian Saints, at the 29th day of Oct., p. 294; Barsov, Geography of the primary Chronicle, p. 4, note 147.], nor does any writer before the twelfth century mention it [Compare Coll. annal. Russ., vol. I, p. 52; Karamzin, Hist. imp. Ross., vol. I, p. 220 and note 466.]. To which add that in the synodal Chronicle of the fifteenth century its beginnings are referred to the year 1116 Ibid., vol. II, note 238., or also that only writers of doubtful credibility support Macarius [Philaret, Hist. Eccles. Russ., part I, p. 17, no. 42; compare Collect. annal. Russ., vol. IX, p. 64, edition of 1862; Dmitrevsky, On the beginnings of Vladimir on the Klyazma, p. 38, St. Petersburg edition 1802; Tatishchev, History of Russia, book III, p. 76; Müller, in the preface to the Book of Degrees of genealogy, p. 5.]. Finally it is known that both Vladimir I and Vladimir II, or Monomakh, were honoured with the name of Great Karamzin, hist. imp. Rossiaci, vol. III, note 37, p. 25..

[20] The second is nearer to credibility than the first The patrons of the second opinion, Philaret [Lives of the Russian Saints, at the 29th day of Oct., vol. III, p. 291 f.; Hist. of the Russian Church, part I, p. 21. Compare Vershinsky, Calendar of the Eastern Church, pp. 172, 330 and 377.], archbishop of Chernigov, Kazansky Hist. of monasticism in Russia, p. 170., Klyuchevsky Older Lives of the Russian Saints, p. 37., Korsakov Meria and the duchy of Rostov, p. 92., the archimandrite Sergius Op. cit., vol. II, p. 288., M. Tolstoy Op. cit., p. 61 f., etc., tie the deeds of Bl. Abraham to the end of the eleventh century and the beginning of the twelfth; so that the blessed man lived among the pagans of Rostov in the year 1073 and following, and died in the year 1117. So Philaret [Lives of the Russian Saints, vol. III, p. 61 f., p. 295, and in the chronological appendix, p. 2; vol. II, p. 104.], relying chiefly on the fact that, as we have seen, Vladimir on the Klyazma, founded only in the twelfth century, is mentioned in the ancient Life. But this argument does not entirely convince, since the name of Vladimir was probably interpolated into the most ancient Acts by a more recent scribe. Philaret seeks a second proof from the title of archimandrite, which is given to Bl. Abraham in the earlier Life and was unknown to the Russians before the twelfth century. Klyuchevsky, who agrees with Philaret, rightly and deservedly cares little that Bl. Abraham is represented by his biographers as a contemporary of the holy bishops Theodore or Hilarion; for, as I said before, these and other names seem to have been added afterwards to the older Life by a light hand. From the various Acts of the saints of Rostov, which he brought to the balance with the greatest zeal, he gathers Lives of the Russian Saints, p. 37. first that Bl. Abraham won many people of Rostov for Christ; then that St. Leontius, bishop there, suffered martyrdom in the year 1073, when most of the inhabitants of Rostov were devoted to the cult of false gods, or also that in the year 1077, when St. Isaiah was created successor of St. Leontius, the greater part of the citizens had already given their names to the true religion; the reason for which change is plainly given if it be said that Bl. Abraham explained the Christian dogmas to the people of Rostov between the years 1073 and 1077. Klyuchevsky judges that this dating agrees best with the Lives of the people of Rostov, and confirms his opinion by the fact that in a certain manuscript eulogy Bl. Abraham is called "imitator of Leontius". But who will add his vote to Klyuchevsky without any doubt? Golubinsky thinks almost the same Loc. cit., p. 40., suspecting that Bl. Abraham applied his labour to making Christ known at Rostov from the year 1077 to the year 1089; but since this opinion has no other ground than conjecture, it is not to be adhered to.

[21] and than the third. The third opinion is championed by Karamzin [History of the Russian empire, vol. I, note 468; compare p. 182; Zabelin, history of the life of the Russians, vol. II, p. 272.], namely that Bl. Abraham lived at the end of the twelfth century, in the time of Andrei Bogolyubsky; but Philaret rightly notes Hist. Eccles. Russ., part I, p. 22, note 55. that from what has been said this is less credible. Now if anyone should ask which of the three opinions set out is the sounder, I would answer that none is most certain; but we judge that the learned Russians who, relying on a popular tradition, uncertain to be sure, tie the year of death of blessed Abraham to the beginning of the twelfth century, have come nearer to the truth. Nor do we think that more needs to be set out on this difficult subject.

§ IV. The antiquity of the cult of Bl. Abraham. The council of Moscow of the year 1549. The ecclesiastical Office of Bl. Abraham. The monastery in which his relics are preserved. Present-day veneration.

Bl. Abraham, whose cult is ancient, is commemorated That Bl. Abraham was honoured from of old with an ecclesiastical cult, uninterrupted among the people of Rostov, is entirely established. But beware of seeking indications of the cult in the older calendars of the Slavs; for they are Hellenizing, if they are not rather to be called Greek, enriched with a few of the more illustrious Slav saints; the truth of which the Ecclesiastical Year demonstrates on every page. Now in the more recent Calendars the name of Abraham of Rostov occurs everywhere, especially since the council of Moscow, held in the year 1549, solemnly pronounced his cult to be entirely ancient, no less than the cult of SS. Olga, the princes Vladimir, Boris and Gleb, Antony and Theodosius of Kiev, or also of the prelates of Rostov Leontius, Isaiah and Ignatius. Of this splendid document we shall speak afterwards, as also of other ecclesiastical monuments in which clear signs of the ancient cult shown to Bl. Abraham are presented. Meanwhile the more readily available liturgical books in which the name of Bl. Abraham is inscribed must be weighed. The first is the miscellaneous codex no. 367, of the fifteenth century, preserved in the celebrated monastery of the Holy Trinity near Moscow, and it contains a proper office of Bl. Abraham. That this was also in use from the year 1210, in which the body of the blessed man was found, we can suspect by conjecture; for in circumstances of this kind the deeds of the saints are usually declared to the faithful both in some writing and in sacred hymns to be publicly sung. Certainly the things narrated in his Life agree wonderfully, as will be shown afterwards, with the encomia of the Office.

[23] in the liturgical books of the sixteenth century From the year 1549, in which the man of God was advanced to new honours in the council of Moscow, his name became more illustrious, and was beyond doubt inscribed in the Typikon, which, in the manner of a directory, is used for ordering the ecclesiastical offices. Thence

his memory easily passed into the other liturgical books, mostly furnished with synaxaria, into the Menologia of the saints and the Prologues, in which, with no interruption admitted, he is always venerated. To these hagiological books add some others of a more remote age, arranged in chronological order. For there are the Typikon (in Slavonic Ustav) compiled in the year 1522, in which is found a Calendar showing all those whom the Russians venerated as saints before the sixteenth century, and so also Bl. Abraham. This codex is preserved in the Rumiantsev museum, shelf 446. Codex no. 396 of the same museum contains the Offices of all the saints of Russia whose cult the council of Moscow of the year 1549 pronounced legitimate. There (fol. 47) Bl. Abraham is called archimandrite and new wonder-worker of Rostov, no less than in the Life (fol. 338). A description of both codices was given by Vostokov. Then there occurs the Manual or Rule of the icon-painters, commonly called the Podlinnik, which the above-praised Filimonov published. — The archimandrite Sergius cites the same in his excellent work, and indicates two other manuscript codices of the same century in these words: "Menaion 16th c. Belozersk; Menaion of the year 1558. Office." I would wish the author himself to explain this rather obscure annotation; which I indeed attempted in vain, even using the little index of abbreviations which is attached at the beginning of the volume. Of little or no use to me was the description of the codices of the monastery of Beloozero, now of the ecclesiastical Academy of St. Petersburg, compiled by the librarian Rodossky; since it takes its beginning from the codices of the seventeenth century. — Among the codices described by Undolsky is found the Trephologion no. 101, containing a canon in honour of Bl. Abraham Edition made at Moscow in the year 1870 by the Public and Rumiantsev Museum.. Codex 42, written partly in the sixteenth century and partly in the following century, shows two other canons.

[24] and of the seventeenth century. To the seventeenth century belong the Typikon first printed at Moscow in the year 1610 Sergius in Kalend. Orient., part II, p. 288., then the Synaxarion inserted in the psalter with acoluthiae, as it is called, and published at Moscow in the year 1625 Op. cit., ibid., finally the Moscow Calendar of the year 1639 Op. cit., ibid.. Where there are eulogies of Bl. Abraham at the 29th day of October. But that his memory is recalled also on the 28th and 29th days of September is reported by the same archimandrite Sergius Op. cit., ibid.. At the former day it is marked in a manuscript calendar of the seventeenth century of the library called typographical, no. 382; at the 29th of September, indeed, in a manuscript calendar of the same age preserved in the public library of St. Petersburg, shelf 81. I omit, so as not to digress further, the liturgical books later than the seventeenth century. One thing I shall add: that in many books of that kind, at the 29th day of October, the death of Bl. Abraham is openly announced, as though he had died on this day. In some the year of his death is added, which the writers everywhere affirm to have been 1010, following the lead of the synaxarist of the Psalter. From what and what kind of source he received it is not the place here to inquire. Let it suffice to note that the year 1010 is read in the Psalter with acoluthiae (Slëdovannaïa psaltir) printed at Moscow in the year 1860 according to the Moscow edition of the year 1649; likewise in the Calendar of the saints published at Moscow in the year 1818, and also in the manuscript Life of Bl. Abraham according to the second recension.

[25] He was advanced with great honours in the council of Moscow. And these things would perhaps suffice to establish the antiquity and continuity of the cult, did not the council of Moscow already mentioned claim a place for itself; narrating whose Acts, the weighty anonymous writer of the Life of the metropolitan Jonas has these words [Klyuchevsky, Old Russian Lives of the Saints, Moscow 1870, p. 461 in the appendix.]: "As formerly in the land of the Russians many servants of God had become illustrious for miracles, among whom the grand duchess Olga, who, wise in divine things, showed the others of the Russian nation the way to God; then her grandson the grand duke Vladimir, equal of the apostles, who, having received baptism with the name of Basil, illuminated the whole land of Russia with holy baptism, together with his most noble sons, Boris and Gleb, martyrs of Christ; likewise the offspring of the same stock, Michael, grand duke of Chernigov, also a martyr of Christ, and one of the magnates who suffered with him, Theodore; likewise Theodore, duke of Yaroslavl, with his sons David and Constantine, who served God in justice and truth; similarly also the holy prelates and wonder-workers Peter and Alexius, metropolitans of Russia, and also the wonder-workers and prelates of Rostov Leontius, Isaiah and Ignatius; and of the monastic order the venerable and God-bearing wonder-workers Antony and Theodosius of the Caves, Nicetas of Pereyaslavl, Barlaam of Novgorod, Sergius of Radonezh, Cyril of Beloozero, Demetrius of Priluki and ABRAHAM OF ROSTOV; the memory of all of whom the church of God established to be celebrated FROM FORMER TIMES, namely when each had become renowned in glory; so too it willed the newest wonder-workers to be associated in like honour with the former saints, etc." Thus far that writer, whose work was first printed by Klyuchevsky according to a Slavonic copy. Accordingly he shows a list of pious men whom the church of Moscow venerated of old as saints; the series of whom Abraham of Rostov closes, after the prelates and princes and also other monks, not because he was among the living after them, but because the first place is to be granted to bishops and princes, and perhaps because in the sixteenth century other monks were more illustrious in the fame of holiness. These things being so, the cult of Bl. Abraham must be thought very ancient. Indeed it appears that the cult began about the year 1210, in which the body is said to have been found. But even if it had spread through the whole church of the Russians only after the council of Moscow of the year 1549, it would nevertheless be entirely legitimate; for in the year 1549 Bl. Abraham already had a place among the saints from former times (provided it is a question of times in which the Russian Church was catholic), and therefore he was honoured with ecclesiastical cult at least a hundred years before the Urbanian decree of the year 1634. Wherefore he is rightly and deservedly reckoned in the Bollandist Acta Sanctorum. If the reader desires more about the mode of canonization used in Russia, let him consult the book of the archimandrite Sergius already mentioned, where he will find the matter treated expressly Kalendar. Orientale, vol. I, p. 313 f..

[26] His present-day Office At the present time, in the Office of the Russian Church, Bl. Abraham is proclaimed not only an outstanding pattern of all virtues, especially the monastic ones, but is also named wonder-worker of Rostov, bestower of healings and other graces, fellow-citizen of the angels and their imitator in this life, finally partaker of the heavenly glory and assiduous intercessor for men with God. "Come, orthodox lovers of festive solemnities" (so runs the conclusion of the Office), "come, most pious companies of monks, come rejoicing, let us celebrate the memory of our father; for today God-bearing Abraham exults with the angelic powers, standing at the throne of the king of all things, Christ God, and prays for our souls." But besides the praises of Bl. Abraham, the Office contains a compendium of almost his whole life. Wherefore we describe that Office approved by the Russian Church and published at Moscow in the year 1843. As it now stands, it was written by an uncertain author, of the sixteenth century, as I think; but that it already existed before is established from manuscript codices of the fifteenth century Klyuchevsky, op. cit., p. 26.. This summary of the whole Life, which, as usual, the kontakion and ikos present, we now report, translated by us from the Slavonic tongue into Latin:

it shows the summary of his deeds. Kontakion. "Taking up the yoke of Christ, and with his cross laid on your shoulders, you followed him, Abraham. And planted in the house of the Lord, you flourished like the lily, and multiplied your sons like the cedar in Lebanon, O man of spiritual desires! And with the staff graciously bestowed on you by the beloved disciple John the Theologian, you shattered the idol Veles and reduced it to dust. On which account you suffered many vexations from it, and, entering upon a long journey amid privations and insults, and set before the ruler of the region, you obtained great honours from him, and became illustrious with great miracles in the whole world" Menaion of Oct., fol. 243..

Ikos. "Abraham, wise in divine things and blameless of life, what tongue of man could worthily tell your praises? Nevertheless we shall sing your passion and deeds, crying out: Rejoice, Abraham, heavenly man and earthly angel; rejoice, dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit; rejoice, you who from infancy acknowledged the Most Holy Trinity; rejoice, pillar of chastity, tamer of the insidious demon; rejoice, imitator of Christ from your tender years; rejoice, shining lamp, who brought crowds of monks to Christ; rejoice, you who, having destroyed the idol, raised up the church of Christ; rejoice, you who changed worshippers of idols into adorers of the Most Holy Trinity; rejoice, praise of the city of Rostov, because you first established a monastery there, in which you planted many monks like the vineyard of Christ, and taught them to sing the praises of the Most Holy Trinity" Loc. cit., fol. 243 verso..

[28] Bl. Abraham wrestles with the false deity, Having said these things, the author passes to the several parts of the Office, to be set out by us, though with the order changed; he begins from the infancy and monastic life of Bl. Abraham:

"From your swaddling-clothes you were offered to God; for love of whom you abandoned everything and shattered the idol Veles, and, having built cells, gathered very many monks to praise the Trinity" Ibid., fol. 240.. And elsewhere: "We venerate you as the teacher of very many monks, father Abraham."

At Little Vespers: "Captured by desire for God, you followed Christ the Lord, taking up the cross, and mortified all human wisdom" Loc. cit., f. 238 verso..

At the Glory: "Truly you were a partaker of the divine life, since you wasted your body with fasts and vigils, being made a pattern of monks. And although human tongue is silent about it, yet the miracles proclaim it; and the city of Rostov is glorified in you, crying out: I have an inexhaustible treasure" Ibid..

The struggle of Abraham with the worshippers of idols the hymnographer recalls again and again:

At Great Vespers, at the Glory: "Today, gathering together, let us praise our father, who destroyed the malign idol Veles, and renewed the city of Rostov with the bath of the Holy Spirit, still now illustrious for miracles…" Ibid., fol. 241 verso..

At Matins, at the polyeleos: "You became an emulator of the Apostles, venerable one, and therefore merited to converse with the Theologian; from whom you also received a staff to shatter Veles, and, having destroyed his wiles, you brought the followers of idols to the faith of Christ, … and multiplied them like the cedar of Lebanon by your prayers, bearing fruit a hundredfold" Ibid., fol. 241..

"Out of the night of idolatry you drew very many men, and illuminated them with spiritual grace by immersion" (f. 242 verso).

"The imprudent rejected your teaching and went to Veles, an image deaf, dumb and destitute of sense; which when you shattered with the staff of the Theologian, you brought them to the knowledge of God" (fol. 243).

Similarly: "O illustrious miracle! … the city of Rostov rejoices to have his relics … The fragrant cypress of Rostov flowers … Wonderful are your mysteries, Christ Lord, who gave us such a lamp; Abraham I mean, who destroyed Veles and a church sacred to your name

he erected, in which your name is glorified; and we, your faithful, are strengthened …" (fol. 239 verso).

"There appeared to you the θεολογώτατος disciple, beloved by Christ for his virginity, and he gave you a staff with which you pierced the demon and made him vanish …" (fol. 244).

"You suffered persecutions from the worshippers of idols with joy, hoping for the recompense which God has prepared for those who love him; wherefore also, putting off the old man and destroying the old idol, you illuminated the city of Rostov with the grace of baptism, and there, shining like the sun with your miracles, you keep the Russian land safe from dangers and from the invasion of barbarians" (fol. 244 verso).

There are added also the words which Bl. Abraham is said to have used:

"He admonished the idolaters, saying: 'Hard is patience, but joyful the recompense; the sorrows are manifold, but they bring forth a sweet paradise.' They therefore, having abandoned the most impious Veles, took refuge with you" (fol. 245).

The crafty machinations and vengeance of the devil we learn from the following hymns. "You understood that the demon had entered your wash-basin to commit some foul thing against you; therefore, covering the little vessel with the cross, you set him on fire …" (fol. 242 verso).

"With the life-giving cross you burned the enemy, and, having shut him up in the wash-basin, you went to labour for the brethren, to be for them a pattern of humility" (fol. 244 verso).

"The most wretched demon, rejected by you, wished to lay snares for you, and, taking the appearance of a soldier, he appeared before the pious prince Vladimir, then reigning, and moved him to anger against you; but you both repulsed the tempter and confirmed the prince in the true faith, yourself obtaining greater praise" (fol. 243).

[30] His posthumous glory. Finally the posthumous glory of the holy monk is sketched:

Troparion: "Shining with the brightness of your life even after death, you pour out remedies on all who approach your reliquary with confidence" (fol. 239 verso).

"Rejoice, O luminous torch, who brought crowds of monks to Christ. Rejoice, light and strength of Rostov, purification of souls labouring under sins … In your memory we, standing around your holy reliquary, venerable even to the angels, kiss it lovingly …" (fol. 239).

"Emulator of the heavenly orders, and living their life, you yourself seemed like an angel clothed in a mortal body; wherefore you received from Christ the Lord the gift of miracles, bestowing abundant remedies upon us …" (fol. 340 verso).

The same sentiments of outstanding piety are shown more briefly in a eulogy inserted in the Great Menologion of Macarius; whence the distinguished Bychkov with great kindness deigned to draw it out for my benefit.

"With what canticles of prayer shall I praise you, O venerable one? Blessing your memory we celebrate it, and we offer you crowns of praises, saying: Rejoice, venerable Abraham, who have obtained the crown of God almighty; rejoice, holy head, teacher and pattern of monks; rejoice, father, through whom, freed from darkness, we have beheld the light. Rejoice, tree of the venerable paradise, which put forth for us innumerable branches, monks, I mean; whence even now these are satisfied with spiritual teachings, receiving remission of sins. Rejoice, workman of the faith of Christ; rejoice, overthrower of the idol, who turned the hearts of the unbelievers by holy baptism, as earth by the ploughshare, ploughing them through, and sowed in them the teaching of the sacred books and of the divine words, which was to produce sheaves of saving penance; for there are those who already in the heavenly kingdom feed on food that never fails, of which may we too become partakers, repenting of our sins, by the prayers of blessed Abraham, beloved of Christ, through Jesus Christ our Lord" Menolog. Macarii, at 29 Oct., p. 2031..

[31] The author of the Office unknown. The author of the Office also speaks of himself several times, without, however, anything being drawable about his family or condition. Yet I suspect that he was a monk, or even the same as Gregory of Suzdal. He flourished about the middle of the sixteenth century [Sergius, in Kalend. orientali, vol. I, p. 312. Klyuchevsky, Older Lives of the Russian Saints, p. 286. Philaret, Survey of ecclesiastical literature, no. 118.] in the Suzdal monastery of St. Euthymius, and wrote some Offices proper to the Church of Suzdal, and another common to all the new wonder-workers, as they are called, as many as the Russian Church glories to have brought forth. They are sixty in number altogether, among them also our Bl. Abraham. This Office was printed at Grodno in the year 1786; but whether it was to be sung in the churches is not entirely clear. It was indeed to be sung on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Elijah the prophet Sergius the archimandrite, in the work cited, p. 312., which is customarily kept on the 20th of July by the Greeks as well as the Latins. Whatever may be the case with this conjecture of mine, the author of the Office adduced above speaks of himself thus:

"Acknowledging my unworthiness, I have approached with fear to praise you; but you, holy and most praiseworthy father Abraham, receive this praise offered to you with faith, like the mite of the widow of the Gospel" (fol. 242 verso).

"Lead me out of the night of my passions, holy one, and grant light to my understanding, by which I, unworthy, may be able to offer this slender garland of an untaught mind in praise of your solemnity, illustrious for miracles, O Christ-bearing Abraham" (fol. 243).

"I offer you a canticle, divine father Abraham, by which I proclaim your deeds and miracles and exalt your greatness, saying: Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord" (fol. 244).

From what we have discussed so far about the Office of Bl. Abraham, it becomes clear that between it and the Life there is some true relationship. The author of the Office seems to have had before his eyes the Life which is read in the Great Menologion of Macarius; for this many times shows the name of the grand duke Vladimir, of whom mention is made also in the Office; but it is not mentioned in the Menologion of Demetrius of Rostov, in the Prologue, and in the Life to be given below.

[32] In the monastery of Bl. Abraham Bl. Abraham could not but be venerated especially by the monks, since he himself was the founder of a celebrated monastery. That the monastic life advanced in Russia equally together with the Christian faith is manifest enough. For as soon as the Russians, having received baptism, gave their names to the Christian religion, monasteries were founded among them, as Hilarion, metropolitan of Kiev (1051–1054), narrates. Indeed popular tradition itself holds that the metropolitan Michael, a contemporary of St. Vladimir, first of all founded a monastery on the summit of the Kiev hill. But the founder of Russian monasticism was Antony, who died in the year 1074, as also of the cenobitic life there Theodosius, hegumen of the monastery of the Caves, who died in the year 1073. Kiev went before the other cities of southern and western Russia by its example. There in the eleventh century the monastic life had struck its roots deep, and spread its branches so far that in the twelfth century the monasteries were most prosperous. After them came Bl. Abraham, who near Rostov, by lake Nero, established a monastery, still existing today and appearing on the left to travellers coming from Yaroslavl, or from the north, to Rostov and just about to enter it. In its middle, as is customary among the Orientals, stands the principal or major church, sacred to the Epiphany of Our Lord, in memory of the victory won over the false deity Veles, which once stood in this same place. The present building was constructed by order of Ivan IV in the year 1553, and, to use the words of a contemporary chronographer, "adorned like a bride," and enriched by him with icons; among which three are worthy of mention: the Face of the Saviour or Veronica, the Hodegetria or Guide, and the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, made according to the norm of Byzantine art, and therefore distinguished by the name of Korsun, or Chersonese, icons.

[33] his relics are preserved. Let us now explain the cult of Bl. Abraham in the monastery of Rostov. Besides the high altar, there are in the church the chapels of St. Abraham and of St. John the Evangelist. Two other small buildings, of the Presentation of the Blessed Mary in the temple and of St. Nicholas of Myra, much more recent, are placed in the monastery. The remains of Bl. Abraham lie now in an uncovered reliquary of gold and silver, placed between the high altar and the chapel of Bl. Abraham himself. Previously they rested in the church of the monastery built by the blessed monk himself, where in the year 1210, in the reign of Vsevolod III, great-grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, they were found entire, when they were raised, as is said, from the earth. In the Psalter with acoluthiae the body is said to have been found in the year 1010. But in the manuscript notices of the monastery of Rostov we read that the body was laid in the tomb in the year 1010 and found untouched in the time of the grand duke Vsevolod III Ambrose, Hist. hier. Russ., vol. III, p. 64.. By a slip of the pen, indeed, the year 1110 was written in place of the year 1210 in a writing of the monastery of the Epiphany, since this solemnity is said there to have been performed under the reign of Vsevolod III, who held the reins of government from the year 1176 to the year 1212. Next to the reliquary is kept under a glass cover a little cap which Bl. Abraham is said to have worn. At the head of the holy monk, on the opposite side, is represented John the apostle, handing Bl. Abraham the staff to shatter Veles. This certainly is not older than the sixteenth century, since Ivan IV took away in the year 1552 the staff which is said to have been given by St. John himself. It is now kept at Moscow. The staff which the image of the Epiphany monastery holds today is furnished with a bronze cross, which many think Bl. Abraham used. But anyone will easily find that it is not so ancient, on inspecting the form of the letters shown by the Slavonic inscriptions cut on it. It is pleasing to add that the images of St. John the Evangelist and of Bl. Abraham are not painted but carved, and fixed to columns; which practice, although it does not entirely conflict with the rites of the Greeks and Russians, yet agrees less with them. How few statues of Christ and of the Saints are known among the Russians was much discussed in the Preliminary Commentary to the Life of St. Theodosia Acta SS., vol. VII of May, p. 64..

[34] The present-day cult of Bl. Abraham. For the rest, in the other churches of Rostov these fewer traces of the cult of Bl. Abraham survive. On the 29th day of October, indeed, every year a very ancient image of the Blessed Virgin Mary is carried with solemn pomp from the cathedral church of the Assumption into the monastery of the Epiphany; which the citizens of Rostov think was painted by Alypius, monk of the Kiev Caves Compare the Eccles. Year at the 17th day of August., in the eleventh century, and brought from Kiev by Vladimir Monomakh. Likewise in the parish church of the Ascension Bl. Abraham is seen painted together with other saints of Rostov in a large image drawn three centuries ago Mich. Tolstoy, in op. cit., p. 76.. Similarly on the outer wall of the church of St. John the Evangelist is seen an image, as they think, of St. John holding out to Bl. Abraham the staff with which to shatter the image of Veles. This church, built of wood after the Russian custom by Bl. Abraham, as they say, by the river Ishnia Loc. cit., pp. 64 and 66., is five kilometres distant from Rostov.

[35] The Acts presently to be published. Now the Acts of Bl. Abraham themselves must be brought forward. These in many places differ little from the life both of St. Abercius of Hierapolis and of St. John of Novgorod. But also among

the Latins and the Greeks it has happened that the deeds of one saint were ascribed to another saint. But of this matter more at length below, where St. Saturninus of Cagliari will be treated. At present the left-hand page shows the Life of the first class, or of the fourteenth century; opposite are placed the Acts of the second class: namely, we have excerpted from the Rumiantsev codex no. 156 those things which differ from the earlier Life. Those, however, which are of less moment the reader will find among the Annotata, as also the various readings of the most ancient writing. C. A. signifies the codex published by the Archaeographical Commission and collated by the distinguished Bychkov with three other codices of the public library of St. Petersburg; R the codices of the Rumiantsev museum.

MEMORIAL OF OUR VENERABLE FATHER ABRAHAM, ARCHIMANDRITE OF THE EPIPHANY MONASTERY OF ROSTOV

From the codex of the Rumiantsev Museum no. 434, of the seventeenth century, collated with Rum. codex no. 156 and with the edition of the Archaeographical Commission and three other codices of the public library of St. Petersburg.

Abraham, abbot of Rostov. (B.)

FROM PRINTED SOURCES.

The venerable Abraham, illustrious for holiness and miracles, Our venerable Father Abraham was the son of pious parents ^a Our venerable Father Abraham, a native of the city of Chukhloma [α, on the borders of Galich, was the son of pious parents, instructed by them in the reading of books, and taught piety.]. Having left his father's house and the crowds of men, and having taken up the cross of Christ, he followed him. From his tender years he had offered himself to God; and having taken up the monastic life, and having become a pure dwelling of the Holy Spirit, he subjected the flesh to reason, and commanded the lust of the senses, breaking himself with a harder kind of life and with labours. After he had been appointed leader of monks, and had lived an angelic life, and had washed away the stains of the soul with very many tears, he was enriched with the grace of miracles, curing even incurable diseases [He went out to visit the dwellings of the saints in the venerable and wonderful monasteries, mindful of the Lord saying: It is good to grieve one's parents and not the Lord; for he created you and saved you, but they have often destroyed and delivered to punishments those whom they had loved. Accordingly, after he had gone round and surveyed a good many places, he came to the illustrious city named Novgorod the Great; and he saw that all the saving places, famous for miracles, there too were filled with men living at God's bidding; nevertheless he preferred to withdraw from the society of men and to remain in solitude, mindful of the illustrious saying of the prophet: Flee men, that you may be saved. — Wherefore he set out for the great lake Ladoga and went to the monastery of Valaam which is situated there; and seeing that the place was remote from the city and little frequented by inhabitants, he resolved to settle there, and obtained his wish. Further, when he had seen that the community of the brethren was well ordered, he began to ask the head of the monastery that he would deign to clothe him also in the angelic habit. The hegumen, after a spiritual probation had first been made, when he had become assured that the petitioner was a pure vessel of God, ordered him to be tonsured, and, having conferred on him the angelic habit, joined him to the other brethren. The venerable man rejoiced that he was now a monk; and desiring to become a chaste mansion of the Holy Spirit, he strove to make the flesh obedient to reason, taming the lusts both of the soul and of the body, and pursuing a stricter life and adding labours to labours; and thus he became a perfect monk, proved in every kind of office, even the hardest. He remained there very many years, and bore many labours both for his own salvation and for that of the other brethren. These, when they saw him labouring so vigorously and proved in all things, at once began to venerate him the more and to treat him with honour, so that some even called him shepherd. Taking this ill, in order to flee all honour, he left the community and withdrew into unknown regions. Doubtless, God so disposing, he came near Rostov, and having built a small hut by the lake, dwelt there. Soon the neighbours began to come to him more frequently; indeed the more prudent and more pious of them desired to live with him in the same house. The venerable man willingly received anyone, instructing them with the words of divine scripture and with saving admonitions, and also taking anxious care of all; without, however, wishing to be over them. Having undertaken greater combats, he emulated the life of the angels; wherefore he was enriched with the gift of miracles, so that he drove away from the sick any diseases whatever, however incurable. He himself, however, was the more pricked with compunction by it, and by the force of tears washed away the stains of the soul.].

[2] when he has tried in vain to shatter the idol, he meets an old man, There existed then (at Rostov) ^b the error of idolatry; for not (all) ^c the citizens had yet received baptism, but ^d the inhabitants of the Chud quarter adored a stone idol ^e; their hearts, namely, had been blinded by an evil demon dwelling ^f there, who mocked even Christians with phantasms, and by most wicked fraud was such a terror that no one dared to pass along that road. Seeing these things, then, the venerable Abraham prayed to God, saying: "Lord God most high, look down from above on your servant and grant me the power and grace of your Holy Spirit, that I may be able to destroy this most deceitful idol ^g." — But the matter did not succeed for the blessed man. For that demon by his magic prevented him from passing near it. Wherefore Abraham was distressed in a doubtful mind; and when one day he sat sad, he saw an old man of venerable face coming towards him. The blessed man runs to meet him. Then, greeting one another and wishing each other well, they sat down together ^h. Then blessed Abraham began to address the old man thus: "Whence do you come, man, and from what region are you, man of God?" — The old man answered him: "I, father, am a native of Constantinople, and a stranger in your land, a foreign one to me; but tell me, father, why you sit so sad near this terrifying idol Veles?" Abraham answered the old man: "I strive indeed and humbly pray my Lord that I may be able to destroy this dreadful idol Veles; but I can accomplish nothing; God has not heard my prayers, and therefore I was sitting sad." The old man said to Abraham: "If you wish, father, to obtain your wish, go to Constantinople, seek in the city the sacred building of John the Theologian, and, having entered his church, pray before his image; you will not go out from there disappointed in hope, but the matter will succeed for you as you wish ⁱ." When Abraham grieved at the length of the way, "The Lord God," said the old man, "will shortly contract your journey ^j."

[3] nay, St. John, from whom he receives a staff, and shatters the idol. Blessed Abraham, then, full of the Holy Spirit, having received the old man's blessing, entered upon the journey ^k, unmindful of the length of the way; and he had already crossed the river Ishnia ^l when he met an august man of venerable face, bald on the crown and on the forehead, conspicuous for a long and rounded beard, and very striking to behold, carrying a staff in his hand. At his feet blessed Abraham threw himself and did him reverence. That august man said to him: "Where are you going, old man?" Abraham answered: "I am going to seek the church of John the Theologian ^m." Again that august man said to him: "Take, old man, this staff, and, having returned home, go to the idol Veles; strike it in the name of John the Theologian, and the worthless thing will be ground to dust." Having said this, the old man at once vanished. — Abraham knew that he was John the Theologian, and, affected at once with fear and joy, retracing his way, impeded by nothing, he went up to the idol and shattered it with the staff in the name of John the apostle [And at once the execrable idol Veles was dissolved into dust; and the holy Abraham the Wonder-worker glorified God who had given him the victory over the enemy, and together with him the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian, who had been his helper against the demon and its operations; and he announced all these things to the bishop then living, Theodore, and having received his blessing, he built a church sacred to the name of St. John the Theologian in the place where the apostle had met him.]. On the spot where he had met St. John, he at once built a church sacred to his name, surviving still today ⁿ. Afterwards, having received the bishop's blessing ^o, he built a small church under the title of the Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the very spot where previously the image of the false deity Veles had stood [p].

[4] He founds a monastery, over which he presides, He also built cells and gathered monks, whose government he took up, having made a religious community with them [But Bishop Theodore … succumbed … to the fury … In his place … at Rostov … Bishop Hilarion. He was the first of all to be sent, together with St. Boris the martyr, by Prince Vladimir, who baptized the whole land of the Russians. But the people dwelling round about, partly from ill will, partly from the custom of inveterate unbelief, rose up against the saint; or rather Satan himself, who was formerly adored by that people and worked in it; he then, mightily trampled by the saint, brought it about that he suffered much evil from the unbelievers.]. He suffered very many evils from the heathen, who at first indeed busied themselves to destroy the sanctuary and burn the monastery; which, however, God prevented, moved by the prayers and patience of the blessed man. A little later he brought them all to adore Christ. After the little ones as well as those older in age had been cleansed in the waters of baptism, they began to attend the divine praises, and women as well as boys to frequent the night offices of the church. Their minds the venerable man delighted, as with sweetest honey, both with the reading of books and with spiritual admonitions. Whence many young men, having left their parents, came to him, and, having become monks, were tonsured by him without any hesitation. All of these, like trees planted by the waters in a vineyard, he watered with waters, namely with the teaching of the divine words. And as the monks multiplied, he built [q] a great church, which, holding it as the bride of Christ, he took care to adorn with most beautiful icons and sacred books. He also brought it about that the ecclesiastical chant in this sacred building should be fuller.

[5] and which is made an archimandrite's monastery. Further, the dukes of Rostov began to have great confidence both in the monastery and in its father Abraham and the other monks, and for their support gave many possessions, bestowing even villages for their use. The venerable bishop [r], then, seeing the monastery grow and abound in necessary things, took counsel with the dukes [s] about making the monastery an archimandrite's monastery. He therefore consecrated the venerable Abraham and appointed him archimandrite. He then began to apply himself still more to virtue, adding labours to labours, giving himself to prayer and fasting, made a pattern to all … not flattering the magnates out of vain glory, nor despising the poor., having attained great humility and sincere love towards all who approached him, whether the highest or the lowest.

[6] The devil, tormented by the works of the blessed man. But the devil, the old hater of good, armed himself against the venerable man, causing him trouble day and night; but he by no means terrified the saint with his mockeries, since he by the grace of Christ and

the sign of the cross was fortified all round. Once, when the saint according to his custom was celebrating the sacred mysteries in the church of God, and, the customary prayers before holy communion having been sung, wished to wash his hands, the devil entered the wash-basin to keep him from the water. The venerable man understood that the malign spirit was lurking in the vessel; upon which he placed the venerable cross; and the vessel, fortified also on all sides with the sign of the cross, he left covered for several days. The demon indeed was burned in the vessel by the power of the cross, yet he could not get out of it. Further, the princes were accustomed to ride over the fields daily for the sake of hunting; whence, returning to the city, they would enter the church of the monastery to pray; and the saint would bless them. So the princes came again into the cell of the venerable man to receive a blessing. It happened, however, that at that time the venerable man was washing hair-shirts for the brethren in the bakehouse. For the man of God was accustomed to labour daily for the brethren, now cutting wood in the kitchen, now washing the brethren's hair-shirts, now carrying water into the kitchen or the bakehouse. Learning of the princes' arrival, the venerable man went to his cell to bless them. But before he got there the princes were already there, awaiting his coming, and, seeing the vessel on which the cross stood, they hesitated, perplexed. One of them, however, rashly took the cross to sign himself with it, and at once the demon went out of the vessel like black and fetid smoke, so that he terrified all who stood by [t]. And meeting the venerable man as he went to his cell, the evil spirit began to pursue him with threats, saying: "As you, wretch, were the cause of my being tormented by the power of the invisible God and burned by the force of the cross, so I too will bring hindrances upon you, and lay exquisite snares for you, and soon, being about to have mastery over you, I will afflict you with blows and insults before all; moreover I will see to it that you are tortured, and will cause you to be carried about seated on a piebald she-ass without a saddle, shod with red women's sandals; and I will repay you with many other evils for those which I have received from you." The venerable man fortified himself with the sign of the cross, and at once the demon vanished. And when the princes asked about what had happened and about the evil-smelling smoke which had come out of the vessel, the venerable man answered nothing; and with an auspicious prayer and pious admonitions [The venerable man therefore set before them spiritual teaching from the sacred scriptures, admonishing them that in the midst of the honours of princes they should be humble, and should exercise mercy towards their servants and subjects, avoiding all pride, as the Lord says: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." And again: "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Someone said: "Blessed is the city which is ruled by a pious king, and the ship steered by a skilled helmsman"; for by impiety a city is plundered, and a ship governed by an unskilled man perishes; when the soul loves human glory, which is vanity, it is turned away from God and despises its inferiors; from this insolent wantonness is born. But true charity leads to the light and to the knowledge of God, as the apostle says: "Charity covers a multitude of sins." These and other like things he said, and having admonished them thus he dismissed them in peace.] he dismissed them in peace.

[7] he accuses him falsely of a crime before the grand duke, Shortly afterwards the demon transformed himself into a soldier, and, going to the grand duke of Vladimir, began to accuse the venerable man gravely, saying: "Lord king, I have to bring before you a certain great secret, and worthy of your lordship. There is in your dominion, king, in the city of Rostov, a certain monk Abraham; he, being a magician, feigns holiness with an empty image of virtue, and deceives the people with an appearance of humility. He has found a great buried treasure, namely a bronze vessel full of riches, truly worthy of your lordship; now what gold there is in that furniture, the girdles and chains, is beyond estimation, and the silver and other precious things are beyond all valuation. With the help of this treasure he has both founded a monastery and built a great church, without the matter being made known to your lordship." Hearing these things the duke was vehemently incensed against the holy man; and having summoned a certain most cruel soldier to seize him, he said: "Where you find the old man, do not say one word to him, but in whatever dress you find him, in such lead him away, to be set before me" [All these things that wicked calumniating soldier, or rather the treacherous devil, had advised to be done.]; as that wicked soldier, or masked demon, had advised. While therefore the venerable man, after the common psalmody, was standing in his cell and praying privately to God, clad only in a hair-shirt and barefoot, at that very time that cruel soldier came upon him, who neither permitted him to speak to him, nor to put on his clothes, nor to put on shoes, but pitilessly seized him and led him away; so had Satan blinded his heart. Seeing such enmity of the foe against him, the blessed man was by no means afraid; indeed he gave thanks to God for the calamity that was falling upon him. The soldier who had seized him, after he had lifted him onto his horse, hastened towards Vladimir; on the other bank of the lake, meeting a certain peasant who was riding on a piebald she-ass and carrying in his hand red women's sandals, he placed the blessed man on that same she-ass, put the red sandals on him, and soon set him before the grand duke, clad only in a hair-shirt. The duke ordered the accusing soldier to stand opposite. He again charged the venerable man with the finding of the treasure, using the same lies which we have related before. But the blessed man, raising his hands to heaven, commanded the malign spirit, saying: "I command you in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ to tell me who you are, who have contrived such calumnies against me." He answered trembling: "I am the demon Zetheus, from the beginning hating the good of men [v], but most of all monks who fear God. Know, monk, that the things which I said against you were said that you might pay the penalty for the cruelty with which you tormented me in your poor vessel." Having said this, he at once vanished from the eyes of all.

[8] who shows Bl. Abraham every kind of service. The duke knew that they had been diabolical frauds; and seeing the venerable man standing before him in such disgrace that he could not be looked upon with equanimity, he was seized with fear, both he and all who stood by [x] him. The duke [y] therefore began to ask the old man to grant him pardon for his sin, and said in tears: "By my fault it has happened, father, that you were brought by force; I have afflicted you too much; forgive, father, those things in which I have injured you. Surely our enemy blinded my heart, and made me angry with you, and led me into this sin." The old man said to him: "May the Lord forgive you, O king autocrat! Truly this is the work of the old enemy, at which therefore do not wonder; for from the beginning he [z] wrestles with men, but most of all with those who fear God, preparing snares for them" [aa]. Seeing the venerable man [But turning to the old man he said: "What shall I render to you, father?" The old man said: "Good king, we have left all things and followed Christ; we wish therefore to receive nothing, rejoicing only in the hope of things to come. If it pleases you to give anything, let it be given for the church of God. But together with benevolence it befits you to have right judgement; for this is why it has been given to you to rule men according to God. Righteous is the Lord in his ways; wherefore it has been said: 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' Let calumnies not be quickly accepted, and let the one accused in judgement not be fiercely assailed. For the divine apostle says: 'Let mercy exalt judgement.' Likewise with the other virtues, lest, pursuing vain things here, we neglect the things to come." The duke was delighted to hear blessed Abraham, and honoured him with special regard, and gave him many possessions for adorning the church and building the monastery, namely houses and villages and many fisheries, etc. [β]] so humble in mind, and speaking so calmly, as if he had suffered nothing evil, the duke [bb] began to revere his holiness more, and to treat him with great regard. Indeed he gave not a few houses and villas to the monastery, and made it his own, and set it over all the other monasteries which existed at Rostov; moreover he offered many servants to the church of the Holy Epiphany, and gave letters of donation, which survive to this day.

He sent the venerable man back, then, with signal honour to the monastery [The brethren heard of the arrival of their father Abraham, archimandrite and wonder-worker, and how God had been glorified by him and the demon confounded, and moreover how he had gladdened the grand duke and been loaded with gifts by him; and at once they ran to meet him rejoicing. He, having given thanks to God and blessed the brethren, returned to his cell, and, adding labours to labours, showed himself a pattern of virtues to all.]. And when the venerable man had lived there in great humility [cc], adding labours to labours, he departed in great peace to the Lord, whom he had loved from a boy. The circumstances of the death and burial of the blessed man the biographer passes over.

ANNOTATA.

α. Chukhloma I judge to have been written by a more recent interpolator rather than by a contemporary witness relating true things. Where on earth Abraham was born, there is nothing from which we can conjecture. But the time at which the blessed man was brought into the light can be fixed by probable conjecture about the year 1050. For he seems to have died in the year 1117, having attained great old age. Wherefore those are not to be followed who propose the year 970 or even 940, inscribed in the Psalter with acoluthiae and in the full Calendar, or who think that the blessed man died in the year of the Lord 1010.

p. Veles is missing in C. A.

q. C. A. adds: Accepit benedictionem episcopi Hilarionis.

r. C. A. and R. no. 156: Episcopus Hilarion.

s. The same: consilium iniit Hilarion cum magno duce Vladimiro et cum principe Boriso.

t. R. no. 156 adds: atra sua visione.

v. C. A. and R. no. 156: bonum generis humani. In C. A. the demon is called Zepheog.

x. C. A.: magno duci Vladimiro.

y. C. A.: dux magnus Vladimirus.

z. R. no. 156 has satanas in place of ille.

aa. The same adds: mos, so that the sense is: laying snares according to custom.

β. A similar clause is had by a codex of the public library of St. Petersburg, as the most distinguished Bychkov, keeper of its manuscript codices, testified to me in writing.

bb. C. A.: dux magnus Vladimirus.

cc. C. A., in place of in magna humilitate, has: in profunda senectute; moreover a puero is missing. The Prologue and the Menologion which follows it, after the words vixisset ibidem, add sat annorum (in Slavonic: lieta dovolna).