Saints fevronia and peter feast day. The story of a difficult life and great love of Peter and Fevronia. Saints Peter and Fevronia: what is known about them

Probably, each of us heard the names of Peter and Fevronia, Murom miracle workers, who, with their history eternal love became a symbol of married life . They were able to embody in her the ideals of Christian virtues: meekness, humility, love and fidelity.

Murom has been keeping a legend about the life and death of the miracle workers Peter and Fevronia for several centuries. They spent their entire lives on Murom land. And they are stored there now.

The history of their unusual life, over time, was embellished with fabulous events, and the names became a symbol of marital devotion and true love.

The legend of Peter and Fevronia was immortalized in the sixteenth century by the monk Erasmus, known in worldly life under the name Yermolai the Sinful. He created a wonderful story dedicated to true eternal love, forgiveness, wisdom and true faith in God.

After the church made a decision to canonize the princes, Metropolitan Macarius ordered to perpetuate their names on paper. As a result, "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia" was written.

This happened in 1547, when the holy spouses of Murom were canonized at a church council.

Peter was little brother Blessed Pavel, who reigned at that time in Murom. Once a misfortune befell their family: the prodigal serpent, turning into Paul, got into the habit of going to the prince's wife. And this obsession lasted a long time.

The poor woman could not resist the power of the demon and succumbed to him. Then she told the prince about the meetings with the snake. Paul ordered his wife to ask the devil's messenger the secret of his death. It turned out that the demon would die from the shoulder of Peter and Agrikov's sword.

Paul shared with his brother the secret of the serpent, after which Peter thought about how he could destroy the adversary. And only one thing stopped him: he did not know what kind of sword he was talking about.

Peter always liked to walk alone in churches. And then one day, he decided to go to a church, located outside the city, in a convent. During the prayer, a youth appeared to him and offered to show Agrikov's sword. The prince, wanting to kill the snake, replied that he wanted to know where the sword was kept and followed him. The lad led the prince to the altar and pointed to a crack in the wall where the weapon lay.

Delighted, Peter took the sword, and then went to his brother to tell him about the miracle that happened to him. From that day on, he waited for the right moment to pay off the serpent.

One day, Peter went into the bedchamber of Paul's wife and found there a snake that had taken on the guise of his brother. Convinced that it was not Paul, Peter plunged his sword into him. The serpent died in its true form, but its blood got on Peter's body and clothes. Since then, the prince began to get sick, and his body was covered with wounds and ulcers. He tried to be healed by various doctors in his land, but none of them could save the prince from his illness.

Life of Saint Fevronia

Peter resigned himself to his illness, leaving his fate in the hands of the Almighty. The Lord, loving his servant, sent him to the lands of Ryazan.

One day, the boy of the prince ended up in the village of Laskovo. He approached one of the houses, but no one came out to meet him. He went into the house, but again did not see the owners. Going further into the upper room, the youth was struck by an unusual sight: a girl was working on a canvas, and a hare was jumping in front of her.

Seeing the young man who entered, she complained that it was bad if there were no ears in the house, but eyes in the room. The lad, did not understand the mysterious speeches of the girl, and asked her about the owner of the house. Her answer struck him even more, she said that mother and father had gone to weep on the loan, and her brother had gone to look into the eyes of death. The young man again did not understand the words of the girl and told her about it, asking her to explain the cryptic speeches.

Surprised that he could not understand simple words, the girl explained to him that if she had a dog, he would have heard that someone was coming and warned about it, because the dog is the ears of the house. Eyes, she named the child, who could see the guest and also warn the girl. The father and mother, as it turned out, went to the funeral to mourn the deceased, so that when they die, they would come to mourn them. Here is and there is weep on loan. And the brother, being a tree climber, went to collect honey. He will have to climb tall trees and look under his feet so as not to fall. So it turns out that he looks death in the face.

The lad marveled at the girl's wisdom and asked her name. "Fevronya," the girl replied.

The young man told her about the misfortune that befell Prince Peter, saying that the Lord sent him to these lands to seek healing. So he came by order of the prince to find out about the local doctors in order to find someone who would undertake to cure the prince.

After listening to the boy, the girl ordered the prince to be brought to her, warning that he could be cured only if he was true to his words and kind in heart.

Acquaintance of the Saints

Peter could no longer walk on his own. Therefore, when they brought him to the house, he asked the servant to find out who would take up the treatment. Whoever heals him, he promised to reward generously.

Fevronia said that she herself wanted to treat him, and she did not need a reward. But if he wants to be healed, then he must marry her, otherwise she will not help him. The prince decided to deceive Fevronia, promising to marry, and after the cure, to abandon his promise.

The girl took the leaven from the bread, breathed on it and gave it to the prince, ordering him to go to the bathhouse, and then smear all the ulcers with this mixture, and leave one.

The prince decided to test the girl's wisdom. He handed her a small bundle of linen, ordering him to weave a handkerchief and a shirt while he was in the bath. The servant gave the girl this bundle along with the princely order.

Fevronia asked the servant to bring a small log, after which she chopped off a piece of wood from it and handed it over to the prince. Together with a chip, she gave Peter an order to make a loom and all the equipment out of this piece of wood so that she could weave clothes for him on this loom. And you need to do it for the time that she will fight flax.

The servant gave the prince a piece of logs, passing on the girl's answer. Peter sent the servant back to the girl, saying that it was impossible to make a loom out of a piece of wood. After listening to the prince’s answer, Fevronia answered: “But how can you make clothes for a man from a small amount of flax in such a short time?”

The servant conveyed the girl's answer to the prince, while Peter was surprised at her wisdom.

Listen to the akathist to Peter and Fevronia

Miraculous healing of Peter

The prince did everything as the girl ordered him to do: first he washed himself, then smeared all the scabs except one with leaven from bread. After leaving the bath, he no longer felt pain, and his skin was free from scabs.

The wise Fevronia, who followed the experience of her ancestors, did not accidentally appoint him such a treatment. The Savior also, healing the sick, healing bodily wounds, healed the soul at the same time. So the girl, knowing that diseases are given by the Almighty as a punishment for some sins, prescribed a treatment for the body, actually healing the soul of the prince. And since Fevronia foresaw that Peter would deceive her, driven by her pride, she ordered him to leave one ulcer.

The prince was amazed at such a quick healing and, in gratitude, sent rich gifts to the girl. Peter refused to take a commoner as his wife, as pride and princely origin prevented him. Fevronia did not take anything from the gifts.

Peter returned to Murom recovered, and only one scab remained on his body, reminding him of a recent illness. But as soon as he returned to his patrimony, the disease again overtook him: from the scab remaining on the body, new ulcers began. And after a while, the prince again became covered with ulcers and scabs.

Re-healing and marriage

And again Peter had to return to the girl for healing. Approaching her house, he sent a servant to her with words of forgiveness and a prayer for healing. Fevronia, without malice and resentment, simply replied that the prince could be healed only if he became her husband. Peter decided to take her as his wife and promised this time sincerely.

Then Fevronia, like the first time, prescribed the prince exactly the same treatment. Now, having recovered, the prince immediately married the girl, making Fevronia a princess.

Returning to Murom, they lived happily and honestly, following the word of God in everything.

After Paul died, Peter took his place, leading Moore. All the boyars loved and respected Peter, but their arrogant wives did not accept Fevronia. They did not want to be ruled by an ordinary peasant woman, and therefore they persuaded their husbands to do dishonest deeds.

At the slander of their wives, the boyars slandered Fevronia, trying to discredit her, and even revolted, suggesting that the girl leave the city, taking everything she wanted. But Fevronia wanted to take only her lover, which greatly pleased the boyars, since each of them aimed at the place of Peter.

marital fidelity

Saint Peter did not violate God's commandments and part with his wife. Then he decided to leave the principality and all the treasures and go with her into voluntary exile.

Peter and Fevronia went down the river on two ships.

One young man, who was with his wife in the same ship with the princess, admired Fevronia. The girl immediately understood what he was dreaming of and asked him to pour water into a ladle and drink water, first from one, then from the other side of the ship.

The man complied with her request, and Fevronia asked if the water from the two buckets was different. The man replied that one water is no different from another. To which Fevronia said that the female nature is also no different and conquered him because he dreams of her, forgetting his own wife. The accused man understood everything and repented in his soul.

When evening came, they went ashore. Peter was very worried about what would happen to them now. Fevronia, as best she could, consoled her husband, talking about the mercy of God, forcing him to believe in a happy outcome.

At this very time, the cook broke down a couple of small trees in order to use them to cook food. When dinner was over, Fevronia blessed these branches, wishing that by morning they would turn into mature trees. This is exactly what happened in the morning. She wanted her husband to strengthen his faith by seeing this miracle.

The next day, ambassadors arrived from Murom to persuade the princes to return. It turned out that after their departure, the boyars could not share power, shed a lot of blood, and now they want to live in peace again.

Lives of the Righteous Spouses

The holy spouses, without any malice or resentment, accepted the invitation to return and ruled Murom for a long time and honestly, following the laws of God in everything and doing good deeds. They helped all people in need, treating their subjects with care, as gentle parents treat their children.

Regardless of their position, they treated everyone with the same love, suppressed all malice and cruelty, did not strive for worldly wealth and rejoiced in the love of God. And people loved them, because they did not refuse help to anyone, fed the hungry and clothed the naked, healed from diseases and set the lost on the true path.

Blissful demise

When the couple grew old, they simultaneously became monks, choosing the names David and Euphrosyne. They begged God for mercy to appear before him together, and the people were ordered to bury them in a common coffin, separated by a thin wall.

On the day when the Lord decided to call David to Himself, the pious Euphrosyne embroidered images of the saints in the air in order to donate her needlework to the church of the Most Holy Theotokos.

David sent a messenger to her with the news that his hour had come and promised to wait for her in order to go to the Almighty together. Euphrosyne asked to give her time so that she could finish the work for the holy temple.

The prince sent a messenger a second time to say that he could not wait for her for long.

When for the third time David sent a message to his beloved wife, that he was already dying, Euphrosyne left the unfinished work, wrapped the needle with thread and stuck it into the air. And she sent the news to her blessed husband that she would die with him.

The couple prayed and went to God. This happened on June 25 according to the old calendar (or July 8 according to the new style).

Love is stronger than death

After the spouses died, people decided that since they had taken a haircut at the end of their lives, it would be wrong to bury them together. It was decided to bury Peter in Murom, while Fevronia was laid to rest in a convent located outside the city.

They made two coffins for them and left them overnight for funerals in different churches. The coffin, carved from a stone slab, made at their request during the life of the spouses, remained empty.

But when they came to the temples the next morning, people found that the tombs were empty. The bodies of Peter and Fevronia were found in the coffin, which they had prepared in advance.

Unreasonable people, not understanding the miracle that had happened, again tried to separate them, but the next morning Peter and Fevronia were together.

After the miracle happened again, no one tried to bury them separately. The princes were buried in a single coffin, near the church of the Holy Mother of God.

Since then, people who need healing have been constantly coming there. And if they seek help with faith in their hearts, the saints give them health and family well-being. And the story of the eternal love of Peter and Fevronia of Murom is passed down from generation to generation.

Initially, the tomb of the saints was located in the Mother of God-Nativity Cathedral in the city of Murom. Then, when the communists came to power, they gave the remains of the princes to the local museum. The cathedral church was destroyed in the 1930s.

But already at the end of the eighties, the shrine was returned to the Church.

In 1989, the relics were returned to the Church. And since 1993, the reliquary with the relics of Saints Peter and Fevronia has been in the Trinity Cathedral of the Murom Holy Trinity Monastery.

Day 8 July - Feast of Peter and Fevronia

The memory of the noble princes Peter and Fevronia is celebrated on June 25 (July 8, according to a new style). Every summer on this date (July 8), believers celebrate an amazing holiday dedicated to boundless love and eternal devotion.

In 2008 Day of Family, Love and Fidelity officially established as a national holiday. Orthodox Temples on this day hold a service dedicated to the holy spouses and once again remind all believers of their life, which is an eternal example of fidelity and love for all families.

That is why this holiday is also called the Day of Peter and Fevronia of Murom.

Learn more about the Holy Trinity Monastery, where miraculous relics pious princes Peter and Fevronia, you can find out.

And one more amazing holiday is celebrated on Murom land. On August 23, 2004, the Day of Charity and Mercy was held for the first time. It took place with the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II in the Murom Diocesan Monastery (Murom, Vladimir Region).

In 1604 (400 years ago) the holy righteous Juliana Lazarevskaya (Osoryina), who became famous for her amazing mercy and ascetic life in the world, died. And ten years later, it was on this day, August 10/23, 1614, that the relics of the saint were uncovered. In the same year, Righteous Juliana was canonized as a saint.

Therefore, it is no coincidence that the choice of the day for the establishment of a new public and church holiday for our country fell on August 23 - the day of finding the relics of St. Righteous Juliana. Find out more about these attractions!

Petr Muromsky, in monasticism David (+ 1228), holy noble prince. Commemorated on June 25, in the Cathedrals of Vladimir and Ryazan saints.

Fevronia of Murom, in monasticism Euphrosyne (+ 1228), holy noble princess. Commemorated on June 25, in the Cathedrals of Vladimir and Ryazan saints.

Blessed Prince Peter was the second son of Prince Yury Vladimirovich of Murom. He ascended the throne of Murom in 1203. A few years earlier, Saint Peter fell ill with leprosy, from which no one could cure him. In a sleepy vision, it was revealed to the prince that the pious maiden Fevronia, a peasant woman of the village of Laskovo, Ryazan province, could heal him. Saint Peter sent his people to that village.

When the prince saw Saint Fevronia, he loved her so much for her piety, wisdom and kindness that he vowed to marry her after the healing. Saint Fevronia healed the prince and married him. The holy spouses carried love for each other through all trials. The proud boyars did not want to have a princess from a simple title and demanded that the prince let her go. Saint Peter refused, and the couple were expelled. They sailed on a boat along the Oka from their hometown. Saint Fevronia supported and consoled Saint Peter. But soon the wrath of God overtook the city of Murom, and the people demanded that the prince return with Saint Fevronia.

The holy spouses became famous for their piety and mercy.

They died on the same day and hour on June 25, 1228, having previously taken monastic vows with the names David and Euphrosyne. The bodies of the saints were laid in one tomb.

The glorification of the holy couple followed at the Moscow Council in 1547. Now the relics of the holy spouses are in the Murom Holy Trinity Novodevichy Monastery.

You can get acquainted with the history of the life and love of Saints Peter and Fevronia by reading The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom. This is a literary adaptation of a legend beloved by the Russian people, made by order of Metropolitan Macarius by the writer and publicist Yermolai-Erasmus for the Moscow church cathedral of 1547. It was at this council that the holy spouses of Murom were canonized.

"The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom", which tells about the life of Prince Peter and his wife, Princess Fevronia, has become a hymn to marital love and fidelity. The Russian people were very fond of reading the story of the Murom holy miracle workers - the popularity of Yermolai-Erasmus' work is evidenced by hundreds of copies of this work in the 16th-17th centuries. But this love story is also interesting to our contemporaries, especially now, when in Russia the Day of Peter and Fevronia of Murom (July 8) has been celebrated since 2008 as the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity.

Below is the modern Russian version of The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom (in the original, the story was written in Old Russian).

YERMOLAY-ERAZM

THE STORY ABOUT PETER AND FEVRONIA OF MUROMSK

The story of the life of the new Muromckyx of the Holy Miracle Workers, the Blessed, and the Monk, and the worthy praise of Prince Peter, who was named in the in nature of David, and his wife, the faithful, and the reverend, and the worthy praise of the Princess Fevronia, named with Efrosinia, blessed, father

There is a city in Russian land called Murom. It was once ruled by a noble prince named Pavel. The devil, from time immemorial hating the human race, made the winged serpent fly to the wife of that prince for fornication. And with his magic before her, he appeared in the form of the prince himself. This obsession continued for a long time. The wife, however, did not hide this and told the prince, her husband, about everything that had happened to her. The evil serpent took possession of her by force.

The prince began to think about what to do with the snake, but was at a loss. And now he says to his wife: “I’m thinking about it, wife, but I can’t think of how to defeat this villain? Don't know how to kill him? When he starts talking to you, ask him, seducing him, about this: does this villain himself know what death should happen to him? If you find out about this and tell us, then you will be freed not only in this life from the stinking breath and hissing of it and all this shamelessness, which is even shameful to talk about, but also in the future life you will propitiate the unfeigned judge, Christ. The wife firmly imprinted the words of her husband in her heart and she decided: “I will definitely do this.”

And then one day, when this evil serpent came to her, she, firmly keeping the words of her husband in her heart, turns to this villain with flattering speeches, talking about this and that, and in the end with reverence, praising him, asks: “There are many things do you know, but do you know about your death - what it will be and from what? He, the evil deceiver, was deceived by a pardonable deceit faithful wife, for, neglecting the fact that he reveals the secret to her, he said: "Death is destined for me from Peter's shoulder and from Agrikov's sword." The wife, having heard these words, remembered them firmly in her heart, and when this villain left, she told the prince, her husband, about what the serpent had said to her. The prince, hearing this, was perplexed - what does it mean: death from Peter's shoulder and from Agrikov's sword?

And the prince had a brother named Peter. Once Paul called him to him and began to tell him about the words of the serpent, which he said to his wife. Prince Peter, having heard from his brother that the serpent named the one from whose hand he was to die, by his name, began to think without hesitation and doubt how to kill the serpent. Only one thing confused him - he did not know anything about Agrik's sword.

It was Peter's custom to walk alone in the churches. And outside the city stood in a convent the Church of the Exaltation of the Honest and life-giving cross. He came to her alone to pray. And then a youth appeared to him, saying: “Prince! Would you like me to show you Agric's sword?" He, trying to fulfill his plan, answered: “Yes, I will see where he is!” The boy said, "Follow me." And he showed the prince a gap in the altar wall between the plates, and in it lies a sword. Then the noble prince Peter took that sword, went to his brother and told him about everything. And from that day he began to look for a suitable opportunity to kill the snake.

Every day Peter went to his brother and his daughter-in-law to bow to them. Once he happened to come to his brother’s chambers, and immediately he went from him to his daughter-in-law into other chambers and saw that his brother was sitting with her. And going back from her, he met one of his brother’s servants and said to him: “I went out from my brother to my daughter-in-law, and my brother remained in his chambers, and I, not stopping anywhere, quickly came to the chambers of my daughter-in-law and I do not understand how my brother found himself before me in the chambers of my daughter-in-law? The same man said to him: “Sir, after your departure, your brother did not go anywhere from his chambers!” Then Peter understood that these were the machinations of the crafty serpent. And he came to his brother and said to him: “When did you come here? After all, when I left you from these chambers and, not stopping anywhere, came to the chambers of your wife, I saw you sitting with her and was very surprised how you came before me. And now you came here again, without stopping anywhere, but you, I don’t understand how, got ahead of me and ended up here before me? Paul answered: “After you left, I didn’t go anywhere from these chambers, brother, and I wasn’t with my wife.” Then Prince Peter said: “This, brother, is the machinations of the crafty serpent - you appear to me, so that I would not dare to kill him, thinking that it was you - my brother. Now, brother, don’t go anywhere from here, but I’ll go there to fight with the snake, I hope that with God’s help this crafty snake will be killed.

And, taking a sword called Agrikov, he came to the chambers of his daughter-in-law and saw a serpent in the form of his brother, but, firmly convinced that it was not his brother, but an insidious serpent, struck him with a sword. The serpent, turning into its natural form, trembled and died, splashing the blessed Prince Peter with its blood. Peter, from that harmful blood, became covered with scabs, and ulcers appeared on his body, and a serious illness seized him. And he tried many doctors in his dominions to find healing, but none cured him.

Peter heard that there were many doctors in the Ryazan land, and ordered to be taken there - due to a serious illness, he himself could not sit on a horse. And when they brought him to the Ryazan land, he sent all his close associates to look for doctors.

One of the princely youths wandered into a village called Laskovo. He came to the gate of a house and saw no one. And he went into the house, but no one came out to meet him. Then he entered the upper room and saw an amazing sight: a girl was sitting alone at a loom and weaving a canvas, and a hare was galloping in front of her.

And the girl said: “It’s bad when the house is without ears, and the upper room is without eyes!” The young man, not understanding these words, asked the girl: “Where is the owner of this house?” To this she replied: “My father and mother went on loan to weep, but my brother went through the feet of death to look into the eyes.”

The young man did not understand the words of the girl, he was amazed at seeing and hearing such miracles, and asked the girl: “I went in to you and saw that you were weaving, and in front of you a hare jumped, and I heard some strange speeches from your lips and I can't understand what you are saying. At first you said: it's bad when the house is without ears, and the upper room without eyes. About her father and mother she said that they went on loan to cry, about her brother she said - "looks through the legs of death into the eyes." And I didn’t understand a single word of yours!”

She said to him: “And you can’t understand this! You came into this house, and entered my chamber, and found me in an untidy state. If there was a dog in our house, he would have sensed that you were approaching the house, and would have barked at you: these are the ears of the house. And if there were a child in my upper room, then, seeing that you were going to the upper room, he would tell me about it: these are the eyes of the house. And what I told you about my father and mother and about my brother, that my father and mother went on loan to cry - they went to the funeral and mourn the dead there. And when death comes for them, others will mourn for them: this is mourning on loan. I told you so about my brother because my father and brother are tree climbers, they collect honey from trees in the forest. And today my brother went to beekeeper, and when he climbs up a tree, he will look through his legs at the ground, so as not to fall from a height. If someone breaks, he will part with his life. That's why I said that he went through the legs of death to look into the eyes.

The young man said to her: “I see, girl, that you are wise. Tell me your name." She replied: "My name is Fevronia." And that young man said to her: “I am a servant of the Murom prince Peter. My prince is seriously ill, with ulcers. He was covered with scabs from the blood of an evil flying snake, which he killed with his own hand. In his principality, he sought healing from many doctors, but no one could cure him. Therefore, he ordered to bring himself here, because he had heard that there were many doctors here. But we don’t know their names or where they live, so we ask about them.” To this she replied: "If someone demanded your prince for himself, he could cure him." The young man said: “What are you talking about - who can demand my prince for himself! If anyone cures him, the prince will richly reward him. But tell me the name of the doctor who he is and where his house is. She answered: “Bring your prince here. If he is sincere and humble in his words, he will be healthy!”

The young man quickly returned to his prince and told him in detail about everything he had seen and heard. Blessed Prince Peter commanded: "Take me to where this girl is." And they brought him to the house where the girl lived. And he sent one of his servants to ask: “Tell me, girl, who wants to cure me? May he heal and receive a rich reward." She answered bluntly: “I want to cure him, but I don’t demand any reward from him. Here is my word to him: if I do not become his wife, then it is not fitting for me to treat him. And the man returned and told his prince what the girl had said to him.

Prince Peter, however, treated her words with disdain and thought: “Well, how is it possible for the prince to take the daughter of a poison dart frog as his wife!” And he sent to her, saying: “Tell her - let her heal as best she can. If she cures me, I will take her as my wife.” They came to her and conveyed these words. She, taking a small bowl, scooped up bread leaven with it, breathed on it and said: “Let them heat a bath for your prince, and let him anoint his whole body with it, where there are scabs and ulcers. And let him leave one scab unanointed. And it will be healthy!

And they brought this ointment to the prince, and he ordered to heat the bathhouse. He wanted to test the girl in answers - is she as wise as he heard about her speeches from his youth. He sent to her with one of his servants a small bunch of flax, saying this: “This girl wants to become my wife for the sake of her wisdom. If she is so wise, let this linen make me a shirt, and clothes, and a scarf for the time that I will be in the bath. The servant brought a bunch of flax to Fevronia and, handing it to her, handed over the prince's order. She said to the servant: "Climb on our stove and, having removed the log, bring it here." He, having listened to her, brought a log. Then she, having measured with a span, said: "Cut off this from the log." He chopped off. She tells him: “Take this stump of logs, go and give it to your prince from me and tell him: while I comb this bunch of flax, let your prince make a weaving mill from this stump and all the other tackle on which he will weave canvas for him. The servant brought a stump of logs to his prince and conveyed the words of the girl. The prince says: “Go tell the girl that it is impossible to make what she asks from such a small chock in such a short time!” The servant came and gave her the prince's words. The girl answered this: “Is it really possible for an adult man to make a shirt, a dress, and a scarf from one bunch of linen in the short time that he takes to bathe?” The servant left and conveyed these words to the prince. The prince marveled at her answer.

Then Prince Peter went to the bath to wash and, as the girl punished, he anointed his ulcers and scabs with ointment. And he left one scab unanointed, as the girl ordered. And when he came out of the bath, he no longer felt any illness. The next morning, he looks - his whole body is healthy and clean, only one scab remains, which he did not anoint, as the girl punished. And he marveled at such a quick healing. But he did not want to take her as a wife because of her origin, but sent her gifts. She didn't accept it.

Prince Peter went to his patrimony, the city of Murom, recovered. Only one scab remained on him, which was not anointed at the command of the girl. And from that scab new scabs went all over his body from the day he went to his patrimony. And again he was covered with scabs and ulcers, as in the first time.

And again the prince returned for a tried and tested treatment to the girl. And when he came to her house, he sent to her in shame, asking for healing. She, not in the least angry, said: “If she becomes my husband, she will be healed.” He gave her a firm word that he would take her as his wife. And she again, as before, determined the same treatment for him, about which I wrote earlier. He quickly healed himself and took her as his wife. In this way, Fevronia became a princess.

And they arrived in their patrimony, the city of Murom, and began to live piously, in no way violating God's commandments.

After a short time, Prince Pavel died. Right-believing Prince Peter, after his brother, became autocrat in his city.

The boyars, at the instigation of their wives, did not love Princess Fevronia, because she became a princess not by her origin, but God glorified her for the sake of her good life.

One day, one of her attendants came to the noble prince Peter and said to her: “Every time,” he said, “after finishing the meal, he leaves the table out of order: before getting up, he collects crumbs in his hand, as if hungry !" And so the noble prince Peter, wanting to test her, ordered that she dine with him at the same table. And when dinner was over, she, according to her custom, collected the crumbs in her hand. Then Prince Peter took Fevronia by the hand and, opening it, saw fragrant incense and incense. And from that day on, he never experienced it again.

A considerable time passed, and then one day the boyars came to the prince in anger and said: “Prince, we are all ready to faithfully serve you and have you as autocrat, but we do not want Princess Fevronia to command our wives. If you want to remain an autocrat, let you have another princess. Fevronia, taking wealth as much as she wants, let her go wherever she wants! Blessed Peter, in whose habit it was not to be angry at anything, meekly answered: “Tell Fevronia about this, let's hear what she has to say.”

Furious boyars, having lost their shame, decided to arrange a feast. They began to feast, and when they got drunk, they began to conduct their shameless speeches, like barking dogs, denying God's gift to Saint Fevronia to heal, with which God awarded her even after death. And they say: “Madam Princess Fevronia! The whole city and the boyars are asking you: give us whom we will ask you! She answered: “Take whoever you ask!” They, as with one mouth, said: “We, madam, all want Prince Peter to rule over us, but our wives do not want you to rule over them. Having taken as much wealth as you need, go wherever you wish!” Then she said: “I promised you that whatever you ask, you will receive. Now I tell you: promise to give me whom I ask of you.” They, the villains, rejoiced, not knowing what awaited them, and swore: "Whatever you name, you will immediately receive without question." Then she says: “I don’t ask for anything else, only my wife, Prince Peter!” They answered: “If he wants to, we won’t say a word to you.” The enemy clouded their minds - everyone thought that if there was no Prince Peter, they would have to install another autocrat: but in their hearts each of the boyars hoped to become an autocrat.

Blessed Prince Peter did not want to violate God's commandments for the sake of reigning in this life, he lived according to God's commandments, observing them, as the God-voiced Matthew prophesies in his Gospel. For it is said that if a man drives away his wife, who is not accused of adultery, and marries another, he himself commits adultery. This blessed prince acted according to the Gospel: he neglected his reign, so as not to violate the commandments of God.

These wicked boyars prepared ships for them on the river - a river called Oka flows under this city. And so they sailed down the river in ships. In the same ship with Fevronia, a certain man was sailing, whose wife was on the same ship. And this man, tempted by the crafty demon, looked at the saint with thought. She, immediately guessing his evil thoughts, rebuked him, saying to him: "Draw water from this river from this side of this ship." He drew. And she ordered him to drink. He drank. Then she said again: "Now draw water from the other side of this ship." He drew. And she ordered him to drink again. He drank. Then she asked: “Is the water the same or is one sweeter than the other?” He answered: "The same, lady, water." After that, she said: “So the nature of women is the same. Why are you, forgetting about your wife, thinking about someone else? And this man, realizing that she had the gift of clairvoyance, did not dare to indulge in such thoughts anymore.

When evening came, they landed on the shore and began to settle down for the night. Blessed Prince Peter thought: “What will happen now, since I voluntarily gave up the reign?” The marvelous Fevronia tells him: “Do not grieve, prince, the merciful God, the creator and protector of all, will not leave us in trouble!”

Meanwhile, food was being prepared for Prince Peter on the shore for dinner. And his cook chopped down small trees to hang pots on them. And when dinner was over, the holy princess Fevronia, walking along the shore and seeing these stumps, blessed them, saying: “May they be big trees with branches and foliage in the morning.” And so it was: we got up in the morning and found large trees with branches and foliage instead of stumps.

And when people were about to load their belongings from the shore onto ships, nobles from the city of Murom came, saying: “Our Lord Prince! From all the nobles and from the inhabitants of the whole city we came to you, do not leave us, your orphans, return to your reign. After all, many nobles died in the city from the sword. Each of them wanted to dominate, and in a strife they killed each other. And all the survivors, together with all the people, pray to you: our lord prince, although we angered and offended you by not wanting Princess Fevronia to command our wives, but now with all our household members we are your servants and want you to be, and we love you, and we pray that you do not leave us, your slaves!

Blessed Prince Peter and Blessed Princess Fevronia returned to their city. And they ruled in that city, observing all the commandments and instructions of the Lord impeccably, praying unceasingly and doing alms to all the people who were under their rule, like a child-loving father and mother. They had equal love for everyone, they did not like cruelty and money-grubbing, they did not spare perishable wealth, but they were rich in God's wealth. And they were true shepherds for their city, and not as hirelings. And they ruled their city with justice and meekness, and not with rage. Wanderers were received, the hungry were fed, the naked were clothed, the poor were delivered from misfortunes.

When the time came for their pious repose, they besought God that they might die at the same time. And they bequeathed that they both be put in one tomb, and ordered to make two coffins from one stone, having a thin partition between them. At one time they took monasticism and put on monastic clothes. And in the monastic order, the blessed Prince Peter David was named, and the Monk Fevronia, in the monastic order, was named Euphrosyne.

At the time when the venerable and blessed Fevronia, named Euphrosyne, was embroidering the faces of saints in the air for the cathedral church of the Most Pure Theotokos, the venerable and blessed Prince Peter, named David, sent to her to say: “O sister Euphrosyne! The time of death has come, but I am waiting for you to go to God together.” She answered: “Wait, sir, until I breathe air into the holy church.” He sent for the second time to say: "I can't wait for you for long." And for the third time he sent to say: “I’m already dying and I can’t wait any longer!” At that time, she was finishing embroidering that holy air: only one saint had not yet finished the mantle, but had already embroidered her face; and stopped, and stuck her needle into the air, and wound around it the thread with which she was embroidering. And she sent to tell the blessed Peter, named David, that he was dying with him. And having prayed, they both gave their souls into the hands of God on the twenty-fifth day of the month of June.

After their repose, people decided to bury the body of Blessed Prince Peter in the city, at the cathedral church of the Most Pure Mother of God, while Fevronia was buried in a suburban convent, at the Church of the Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross, saying that since they became monks, they cannot be put in one coffin . And they made separate coffins for them, in which they laid their bodies: the body of St. Peter, named David, was placed in his coffin and placed until morning in the city church of the Holy Mother of God, and the body of St. Fevronia, named Euphrosyne, was placed in her coffin and placed in a country church Exaltation of the honest and life-giving cross. Their common coffin, which they themselves ordered to be carved out of one stone, remained empty in the same city cathedral church of the Most Pure Mother of God. But the next day, in the morning, people saw that the separate coffins in which they had placed them were empty, and their holy bodies were found in the city cathedral church of the Most Pure Mother of God in their common coffin, which they ordered to be made for themselves during their lifetime. Unreasonable people, both during their lifetime and after the honest death of Peter and Fevronia, tried to separate them: they again transferred them to separate coffins and again separated them. And again in the morning the saints found themselves in a single tomb. And after that, they no longer dared to touch their holy bodies and buried them near the city cathedral church of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God, as they themselves commanded - in a single coffin, which God granted for enlightenment and for the salvation of that city: those who fall with faith to the cancer with their relics generously receive healing.

Let us, according to our strength, give praise to them.

Rejoice, Peter, for the power was given to you from God to kill the flying ferocious serpent! Rejoice, Fevronia, for the wisdom of holy men was in your female head! Rejoice, Peter, for, bearing scabs and ulcers on his body, he courageously endured all the torments! Rejoice, Fevronia, for already in girlhood she possessed the gift given to you by God to heal ailments! Rejoice, glorified Peter, for, for the sake of God's commandment not to leave his wife, he voluntarily renounced power! Rejoice, marvelous Fevronia, for with your blessing in one night small trees grew large, covered with branches and leaves! Rejoice, honest leaders, for in your reign with humility, in prayers, doing alms, without ascending, you lived; for this, Christ overshadowed you with his grace, so that even after death your bodies lie inseparably in the same tomb, and in spirit you stand before the lord Christ! Rejoice, venerable and blessed ones, for even after death you invisibly heal those who come to you with faith!

We implore you, O blessed spouses, to pray for us, who honor your memory with faith!

Remember also me, a sinner, who wrote everything that I heard about you, not knowing whether others who knew more than me wrote about you or not. Although I am a sinner and an ignoramus, but trusting in God's grace and his bounty and hoping for your prayers to Christ, I worked on my work. Wishing to give you praise on earth, he has not yet touched real praise. I wanted to weave commendable wreaths for you for the sake of your meek reign and righteous life after your death, but I haven’t really touched this yet. For you are glorified and crowned in heaven with true incorruptible wreaths by the common ruler of all, Christ. All glory, honor and worship is due to him, together with his Father without beginning and with the most holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen.

Akathist to the Holy Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia, Wonderworkers of Murom

Kondak 1

Elected wonderworkers and greats of the Lord, the city of Murom intercessor and dream of the souls of our prayers, the holy faithful Prince Peter and Princess Fevronie! Bringing praiseworthy singing to you, we pray earnestly: as if you have boldness in the Lord, free us from all troubles by your intercession, and make us heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, let us call you joyfully:

Ikos 1

The angels of the earth and the people of heaven truly appear, blessed Peter and Fevronia, from your youth clear conscience those who have wealth and goodness in piety and purity, who have lived together, but who left us your charitable life as an example of imitation, it’s miraculous and illuminates your miracles, we call you laudatory voices:
Rejoice, having loved Christ from your youth and worked for Him from the bottom of your heart; Rejoice, guardians of chastity and guardians of spiritual and bodily purity. Rejoice, having prepared your souls and bodies on earth in the habitation of the Holy Spirit; rejoice, full of divine wisdom and reason. Rejoice, for you are in the flesh, as if you are fleshless, together you are mortified; rejoice, for you are worthy of equal angelic honor. Rejoice, as from the earth to Heaven, and there with the Angels of the Trinity ahead; rejoice, as with incorporeal faces you sing the thrice-holy song to her. Rejoice, glorification in Heaven and on earth from the Lord; Rejoice, having found an eternal all-bright resting place. Rejoice, rich treasure of the city of Murom; Rejoice, sources of inexhaustible miracles.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kondak 2

Seeing Prince Peter in his relapsing illness, a sign of God's wrath, for not fulfilling his vow, take the wise Fevronia as your wife, trying to fulfill this and marrying her legally. Both and in marriage, chaste and pleasing to God, blessed, having one thought in two bodies, hedgehog to please God; the same now you will sing to Him from the Angels the song: Alleluia.

Ikos 2

With a God-enlightened mind from above gifted, Saints Peter and Fevronia, love and mercy for the poor and the orphans, the offended and helpless intercessors quickly and with many other virtues adorn your earthly reign. For this reason, we cry out to you:
Rejoice, blessed and trebleblessed, having lived in the love of God and preserved pious faith; Rejoice, full of mercy and compassion. Rejoice, helpless speedy helpers; Rejoice, consolers of sad blessings. Rejoice, feeders of orphans and widows; Rejoice, representatives of those who are in trouble. Rejoice, healers of diseases of the soul and body; Rejoice, joyful visitors of mournful hearts. Rejoice, for you showed your love for God, showing your love for your neighbors; Rejoice, your earthly reign is righteous and pleasing to God. Rejoice, praise of the Orthodox princes and affirmation of the city of Murom; Rejoice, intercession of all the Russian land.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kondak 3

By the power of the grace of God we strengthen, blessed Prince Peter, you wished you more to leave the city of your fatherland and the reign of Murom, rather than marry the wise Fevronia at the insistence of your proud boyars. For this sake, God glorify and create you, but with the same bolyars, returned together with your wife, you have established yourself on the throne of the reign of Murom, but you show us an example of keeping the law of God by your feat, but imitating you in the holiness of keeping the marriage union, we sing to the ascetic Christ: Alleluia .

Ikos 3

Having care for his people, Blessed Peter and Fevronius, vigilantly strive for their good, planting piety, eradicating wickedness and appeasing enmity. The same and the Lord, seeing such feats of yours, bless the land of Murom with fruitfulness and the world is deep for the reign of your gift, urging your people to gratefully sing to you:
Rejoice, saints of God, partakers of the life of the great saints; Rejoice, rulers of kindness, people of Murom who guided you to salvation. Rejoice, guardians of Christian piety; Rejoice, discord, strife and all wickedness eradicators. Rejoice, spouses of Christians to the pious life of a mentor; Rejoice, chastity and continence of conjugal image of beauty. Rejoice, zealots of righteous judgment; Rejoice, zealots of non-profit and unselfishness. Rejoice, acquirers of virtues of the holy kings Constantine and Helena; Rejoice, Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and Blessed Princess Olga, worthy successor. Rejoice, honorable duality and good combination, unfadingly shining with rays of miracles; Rejoice, luminary of your homeland.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kondak 4

A storm of sorrows and misfortunes, erected by the malice of this world, do not weaken your strong love even for God, Peter and Fevronius of blessedness, but rather teach you to skilfully reflect the kindled arrows of the temptations of the devil: for you, having put on the armor of the faith of Christ, in the world, deep down the many-troubled abyss of life the sea, and reach the quiet harbor of salvation, bring us to it with your prayers, and together with you we sing to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 4

Hearing near and far your pious life, Blessed Peter and Fevronia, glorifying the philanthropic God, who gave you a fortress for all good deeds, like bright rays, shine in your fatherland, even now your names are honest, and your deeds are sung by these praises:
Rejoice, most luminous pair, united by God; rejoice, with the light of your pious life, as the luminaries of God's light, shining. Rejoice, having acquired the Kingdom of Heaven with alms and prayers; Rejoice, having improved eternal bliss with humility and fasting. Rejoice, for there is a lot of your reward in Heaven; rejoice, for your joy is eternal in the light of the saints. Rejoice, servant of Christ's love; Rejoice, friends of the saints of all. Rejoice, stars of uncharmableness, who faithfully show the path of a God-pleasing marital life; Rejoice, dew-bearing clouds that drive away the heat of passions and wickedness. Rejoice, givers of God's mercies and bounties to us; Rejoice, inalienable decoration of your Fatherland.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kondak 5

The God-enlightened lamps of piety and the miraculous wonderworkers Peter and Fevronius, having loved God with all your soul, keep all His commandments; the same and Christ, like the sun and the moon of the brightest, showing you, blessedness, many miracles dawn illuminating the region of Murom and the whole country of Russia, glorifying the incorruption of your holy and multi-healing relics, falling down to them, according to your property, we bless you and take out gratefully sing to the marvelous in His saints God: Alleluia.

Ikos 5

Seeing your righteous life and your generosity, the people of Muromstia glorify you, their merciful rulers, Blessed Peter and Fevronius, but you love true humility and human praise, do not be hurt by pride, and thereby show us the image of the highest humility, teaching him, with love crying out to you such:
Rejoice, thou who didst countenance the glory of man; Rejoice, thou who diligently loved the humility of Christ. Rejoice, faithful executors of the commandments of the Lord; Rejoice, true followers of the teachings of the Gospel. Rejoice, servant of the Most High God, having done His will; Rejoice, having kept the faith of Christ to the end. Rejoice, teachers of piety, Christ-named people; Rejoice, those who want to live pleasingly God-wisdom mentor. Rejoice, with your prayers saving us from all troubles; Rejoice, fulfilling all our good petitions. Rejoice, in the sickness of the afflicted, the grace of the healer; Rejoice, patron of the mercy of the country of Murom.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kondak 6

Preachers of the Orthodox faith and zealots of piety, not only in a word, but with all their lives quickly in the city of Murom, praised by Peter and Fevronie; In the same way, the Holy Church worthily honors your deeds and labors, laboring in the image for the glory of God the Most High, silently singing to Him: Alleluia.

Ikos 6

Shine in the city of Murom with the light of your virtuous life, like the stars of God's light, Blessed Peter and Fevronius, and your memory in it with praises to this day, as if after your death you do not stop illuminating us, performing many miracles and those bright dawn of immortality to us from your relics resplendent, let us bless you with chintz praises:
Rejoice, guardians of the order and statutes of the Holy Church; rejoice, reverent worshipers of the servants of the altar of the Lord. Rejoice, zealots of good customs and traditions of the patristic; Rejoice, eradicators of evil customs and superstitions of pagans. Rejoice, judgments are impartial to your people who did it; rejoice, uniting your judgments with mercy. Rejoice, meek and gentle followers of Christ; Rejoice, overcoming evil with good. Rejoice, incorruptible fragrant flowers; Rejoice, flickering rays of immortality. Rejoice, shining on the earth with the majesty of miracles; Rejoice, in Heaven with the Angels of God glorifying.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kondak 7

Although the Lord of mankind reveals in your life, Peter and Fevronius, the image of edification not only by worldly people, but also by the face of a monastic, inspire you in old age to leave the glory of the reign of the earth, and take on the image of a monastic, in it work well with fasting, vigil and prayer, singing unceasingly to the Triune God the angelic song: Alleluia.

Ikos 7

Accept the new grace of God in monastic vows, reverend, adorn your equal-angelic life with new ascetic labors, and thus bring the fruit of spiritual perfection to Christ, and receive the vengeance of the saints worthy of Him. Remembering, therefore, such your zeal for spiritual exploits, we glorify you with these worthy praises:
Rejoice, as for love for the sake of the Lord, reigning and leaving glory to this world; rejoice, for you diligently perceive the monastic life equal to the angels. Rejoice, perfect patience of the ascetic; Rejoice, free poverty blissful money-grubbers. Rejoice, before your death, all the passions that mortified by abstinence; rejoice, having taken the holy schema into the armor of salvation. Rejoice, having exchanged the princely purple for the monastic sackcloth; Rejoice, with fasting, vigil and unceasing prayers to God good pleasing. Rejoice, seekers of God-loving solitude; Rejoice, lovers of saving silence. Rejoice, irrigated with prayerful tears; Rejoice, in the assembly of the saints in Heaven of glorification.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kondak 8

A strange and wondrous miracle, when you, blessed Peter, at the end of your belly, petitions for the sake of your wife, Saint Fevronia, slowed down with your outcome, until she had died the church veil, sewn together with you and together with you to the end of death; and so inseparable in life, inseparable and in death appear, and in one day and hour you will betray your holy souls in the hands of God, calling everlastingly alive and dead to the possessing God: Alleluia.

Ikos 8

All the wonders and glorifications of the marvelous in His saints of God, when your holy body, laid in different tombs, miraculously found lying in a common tomb, prepare yourself, reverend, in the cathedral church of the city of Murom, where you still rest inseparably, wonderworkers of saints, inexhaustible exuding healing to all who, with faith, come running to you and call:
Rejoice, faithfully preserving the union of your love to the grave and beyond the grave; rejoice, not only in life, but also after death, about the Lord united. Rejoice, in a pious matrimonial life imitating strong helpers to you; Rejoice, with the warmth of your love and warming us. Rejoice, having passed by temporary death to eternal life; Rejoice, from the Lord incorruptibility and miracles of glorification. Rejoice, for your memory is with praises and sleep with the saints; rejoice, for your names are honest and blessed in your homeland. Rejoice, fertile fertilizer of the Russian country; Rejoice, the city of Murom is an indestructible fence. Rejoice, O representatives of heaven who love and honor you; Rejoice, you who ever ask the Lord for the gifts of His goodness.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kondak 9

All the Angels and holy faces rejoice with great joy, when your holy souls have reached the eternal in the abode of the paradise village, and the Creator of Angels and the Most Holy Saints King of Glory Christ, crowning you with immortality and granting you the grace to pray to Him with many boldness for all those who seek your intercession, do not deprive us sinners of it, too, Peter and Fevronie, who are worthy of praise, humbly singing the song of praise to God who glorified you: Alleluia.

Ikos 9

Vetiystvo human does not suffice for a worthy glorification of your wondrous life, holy miracle workers Peter and Fevronie; who will confess all your prayers and fasting, your illnesses and labors; who will count all your tears and sighs even to God. Both of us, striving for you with love, dare to sing to you this small and simple praise:
Rejoice, vessels of the grace of the Holy Spirit chosen; Rejoice, intercessors of eternal joy to us. Rejoice, affirmation of God-fearing spouses in piety; Rejoice, violators of marital chastity and consent are a formidable denunciation. Rejoice, wrath of God, righteously moved against us, quenching your prayers; Rejoice, for the peace of the whole world, unceasingly supplicating the Lord. Rejoice, strongmen against visible and invisible enemies and supporters to us; Rejoice, angelic people. Rejoice, co-heirs of the reverend and righteous; Rejoice, faithful servants of the Most Holy Trinity. Rejoice, blessed inhabitants of the city of Heavenly Jerusalem; rejoice, triumphant with the saints in the tabernacles of paradise.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kondak 10

Eternal salvation, having inherited the blessings of Peter and Fevronius, with your souls in the abode of the heavens, you abide inseparably in Bose, but with your holy relics in the temple of God you rest imperishably together, and exude abundant healings, but gracefully illuminate your miracles, we laudatoryly cry out to the Supreme Creator of miracles to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 10

The wall of intercession, your auspicious prayers to God, have found, the holy miracle workers Peter and Fevronius, thanksgiving to the Heavenly Father, we diligently send up thanks for all His good deeds, which you all of us abundantly show, but to you, our intercessors, we bring singing:
Rejoice, heir of the all-bright Kingdom of Christ; Rejoice, angelic faces of the interlocutor. Rejoice, contemplating God in unapproachable glory; Rejoice, Trissian Goddess of the Mystery. Rejoice, eternally reigning with the saints in Heaven; rejoice, from the heights of the mountains to the earthly, mercifully penetrating. Rejoice, bring forth the fragrance of heavenly vegetation; Rejoice, cypress miraculous paradise of Jesus. Rejoice, givers of non-envy of unrequited healing; Rejoice, doers of praiseworthy many miracles. Rejoice, you who exude many blessings to us; rejoice, by the grace of your compassion embracing all.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kondak 11

We bring prayer singing to you, saints of God Peter and Fevronia, and with love we fall down to the race of saints and your multi-healing relics, glorifying your God-pleasing life and many deeds. We pray to you fervently, holy wonderworkers, help us to imitate your virtue, so that we may sing to our Creator: Alleluia.

Ikos 11

The cathedral church of the city of Murom is filled with heavenly light, when, by the grace of God, your holy relics, Peter and Fevronie, are whole and fragrant found in it, and from the bowels of the earth, like a precious treasure, they were worn out, where they still rest, healing inexhaustible exuding sick and sick. For this reason, we cry out to you in song:
Rejoice, imperishable gold found in the bowels of the earth; Rejoice, shining beads and graciously enlightening people. Rejoice, praise to the Holy Orthodox Church; Rejoice, heresies and schisms of denunciation. Rejoice, shine of the mind, shimmering with the dawn of the Holy Spirit; Rejoice, full of the fragrance of Christ's peace. Rejoice, clothed in a robe of grace-filled incorruption; Rejoice, girded with the power of many miracles. Rejoice, for your honest clinic of cancer is a human ailment; rejoice, for everyone who comes with faith accepts healing gifts from her. Rejoice, illuminating the darkness of our souls with the lightness of your miracles; Rejoice, incorruptibility of your holy relics showing us the dawn of the common resurrection of all.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kondak 12

Grace from above has been bestowed upon you, knowing, holy miracle workers Peter and Fevronie, with reverence and love we bow to your incorruptible and multi-healing power and from them we accept healing in sickness, consolation in sorrows, grace-filled help in troubles; we also glorify you according to your property, heavenly representatives and intercessors of ours, singing praises and thanksgiving to you, the Sovereign God who does good to us: Alleluia.

Ikos 12

Singing many and glorious your miracles, the great saints of God Peter and Fevronia, we bless you, as healers, comforters and helpers from the Lord granted to us, and prayerfully celebrate your holy memory, from the love of the heart singing to you thanksgiving and laudatory:
Rejoice, incorruptible repose in the fragrance of the shrine; Rejoice, with faith coming to the race of your relics gracefully sanctifying. Rejoice, those who call upon prayerfully honest names of your speedy hearers; Rejoice, trust in you, according to God, who lay marvelous helpers. Rejoice, propitiators of the King of Heaven know; Rejoice, strong defenders of ours from invisible enemies. Rejoice, intercessor of salvation to all of us; Rejoice, persistent keepers of the city of Murom. Rejoice, wonderful kindness of Russian princes; Rejoice, patrons of your God-given fatherland. Rejoice, healers of our grace-filled bodies; Rejoice, for our souls are zealous for the Lord of prayer.
Rejoice, holy and glorious wonderworkers Peter and Fevronia.

Kondak 13

About the holiness and glorification of the miracle workers, the good faith of Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia! Graciously accept this praiseworthy singing from us unworthy in tenderness brought to you, and by your intercession from the Lord, ask us for confirmation in faith and good deeds, and deliverance from all sorrows and illnesses, temporary and eternal, may we together with you and all the saints in the Kingdom of Heaven sing To the Most Holy Trinity, an eternally laudatory song: Alleluia.

(This kontakion is read three times, then ikos 1 and kontakion 1)

Prayer

About the greatness of the servant of God and the wonderworkers of the future, the faithfulness of Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia, the city of Murom, intercessors and guardians, and for all of us, zeal for the Lord of prayer! We resort to you and pray to you with strong hope: bring your holy prayers for us sinners to the Lord God and ask us from His goodness all that is beneficial to our souls and our bodies: faith in the right, good hope, unfeigned love, unshakable piety, prosperity in good deeds, peace of peace, fruitfulness of the earth, well-being of the air, health and eternal salvation for souls and bodies. Intercede from the King of Heaven to the power of Russia for peace, silence and prosperity, and for all of us a prosperous life and a good Christian death. Protect your fatherland, the city of Murom, and all the cities of Russia from all evil and all the faithful people who come to you and worship with might, overshadow the grace-filled action of your favorable prayers, and fulfill all their petitions for the good. Hey, miracle workers of the saints! Do not despise our prayers, offered up to you with tenderness, but wake up intercessors to the Lord for us and make us worthy of your holy help to receive eternal salvation and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, let us glorify the inexpressible love of mankind of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the Trinity worshiping God, till the end of time. Amen.

Prince Pavel ruled in the city of Murom. The devil sent a flying serpent to his wife for fornication. He appeared to her in his own form, and to other people he seemed to be Prince Paul. The princess confessed everything to her husband, but he did not know what to do. He told his wife to ask the serpent what death could come from. The serpent told the princess that his death would be "from Peter's shoulder, from Agrikov's sword."

The prince had a brother named Peter. He began to think about how to kill the serpent, but did not know where to get Agric's sword. Once, in the church of the Vozdvizhensky Monastery, a child showed him Agrikov's sword, which lay in a gap between the stones of the altar wall. The prince took the sword.

One day Peter came to his brother. He was at home, in his room. Then Peter went to his daughter-in-law and saw that his brother was already sitting with her. Paul explained that the serpent could take on his form. Then Peter ordered his brother not to go anywhere, took Agrikov's sword, went to his daughter-in-law and killed the serpent. The serpent appeared in his nature and, dying, splashed Peter with blood.

Peter's body was covered with ulcers, he became seriously ill, and no one could cure him. The patient was brought to the Ryazan land and began to look for doctors there. His servant came to Laskovo. Entering a house, he saw a girl weaving cloth. It was Fevronia, the daughter of a poison dart frog who extracts honey. The young man, seeing the wisdom of the girl, told her about the misfortune that befell his master.

Fevronia replied that she knew a doctor who could cure the prince, and offered to bring Peter to her house. When this was done, Fevronia volunteered to take on the treatment herself if Peter took her as his wife. The prince did not take her words seriously, for he did not consider it possible to marry the daughter of a poison dart frog, but promised to do so in case of healing.

She gave him a vessel of her bread leaven and told him to go to the bathhouse, to anoint all the ulcers with the leaven, except for one. Peter, wanting to test her wisdom, sent her a bunch of linen and ordered her to weave a shirt, ports and a towel from it while he was in the bath. In response, Fevronia sent him a stump of logs so that the prince would make a loom out of it during this time. Peter told her that it was impossible. And Fevronia replied that it was also impossible to fulfill his command. Peter marveled at her wisdom.

The next morning he woke up healthy - there was only one ulcer on his body - but he did not fulfill his promise to marry Fevronia, but sent her gifts. She did not accept them. The prince left for the city of Murom, but his ulcers multiplied and he was forced to return to Fevronia in shame. The girl healed the prince, and he took her as his wife.

Paul died, and Peter began to rule Murom. The boyars did not like Princess Fevronia because of her origin and slandered Petra about her. One person said, for example, that Fevronia, getting up from the table, collects crumbs in her hand, as if hungry. The prince ordered his wife to dine with him. After dinner, the princess collected crumbs from the table. Peter opened her hand and saw incense in it.

Then the boyars directly told the prince that they did not want to see Fevronia as a princess: let him take whatever wealth he wants and leave Murom. They repeated the same thing at the feast of Fevronia herself. She agreed, but wanted to take only her husband with her. The prince followed God's commandments and therefore did not part with his wife, although he had to give up the principality in the process. And the boyars were pleased with this decision, because each of them wanted to be a ruler himself.

Peter and Fevronia sailed away from the city along the Oka. On the ship where Fevronia was, there was another man with his wife. He looked at Fevronia with a certain thought. And she told him to draw water on the right and on the left side of the boat and drink it. And then she asked which water tastes better. Hearing that she was the same, Fevronia explained: the nature of a woman is the same, so there is nothing to think about someone else's wife.

Food was prepared on the shore, and the cook cut down small trees to hang boilers on them. And Fevronia blessed these trees, and in the morning they became large trees. Peter and Fevronia were going to move on. But then nobles from Murom came and began to ask the prince and princess to return to rule the city.

Peter and Fevronia, returning, ruled meekly and fairly.

The couple begged God to die at the same time. They wanted to be buried together and ordered two coffins to be carved in one stone, which had only a partition between them. At the same time, the prince and princess became monks. Peter received the name David in monasticism, and Fevronia became Euphrosyne.

Euphrosyne embroidered the air for the church. And David sent a letter to her: he was waiting for her to die together. The nun asked him to wait while she finished embroidering the air. In the second letter, David wrote that he could not wait long, and in the third - that he could not wait any longer. Then Euphrosinia, having finished embroidering the face of the last saint, but without finishing the clothes, sent to tell David that she was ready for death. And after praying, they both died on June 25th.

Their bodies were laid in different places: David - at the cathedral church of the Virgin, and Euphrosyne - in the Vozdvizhensky Convent. And their common coffin, which they themselves ordered to carve out, was placed in the church of the Virgin.

The next morning, their separate tombs were empty, and the bodies of the saints rested "in a single tomb." People reburied them as before. And the next morning they were again found in a common coffin. Then people no longer dared to touch the bodies of the saints and, having fulfilled their will, they buried them together, in the cathedral church of the Nativity of the Virgin. Those who come to their relics in faith receive healing.

This article is called Trials for Peter and Fevronia, since these saints had the burden of carrying their love through humiliation and hardship for it itself.

Small Ascension on Nikitskaya

In Moscow, on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord (“Small Ascension”), which is opposite the conservatory, there is a chapel of Russian saints. These saints are glorified by the Church not as saints, although they accepted the schema at the end of their lives, not as martyrs and confessors, although they were expelled from their city. Fasting and prayer were part of their family life, they were subjected to humiliation and danger for being faithful to each other.

Saints Peter and Fevronia gave an example of an ideal Christian family. It is for this that they were awarded church veneration, which is why their life for more than eight centuries has been an example of the proper attitude of spouses to church marriage and to each other. We would like to turn to the experience of the life of these people in this article.

We learn the circumstances of their life from the "Tale of Peter and Fevronia", written in the first half of the 16th century. Its author was Yermolai, a priest of one of the Kremlin cathedrals (Erasmus in monasticism), who was part of the circle of church writers and hagiographers that formed around St. Macarius of Moscow.

More than 300 years passed from the time of the repose of the saints to the time of the writing of the Tale (1), and although it can be assumed that the local tradition began immediately after their common death (which, probably, was especially facilitated by a miracle that happened shortly after it), oral tradition does not preserved many facts of their lives.

Yermolai-Erasmus faced the task of recreating the appearance of these people, hidden both by the veil of time and the secret of holiness, which protects every righteous man from immodest glances. Such a reconstruction should be not only reliable, but also accessible. Therefore, Yermolai-Erasmus, in order to make his narrative colorful and entertaining, in order to captivate the reader with it, supplemented it with folklore material.

The result was not so much a “biography” of the saints(2), but rather a work that, along with a few facts from the life of Peter and Fevronia, teaches the doctrine of Christian marriage, and at the same time fascinating and accessible - thanks to the attraction of folklore motifs - to the reader of the 16th century. (3 )

It is precisely as a story about how a Christian family is born, what stages in its development it goes through, what its purpose is, what trials fall to the lot of spouses and what a crown is in store for those who worthily strive in this field, we suggest reading this “Tale” again.

Source: photosight.ru

background

The joint life of two people cannot begin suddenly, “by magic”. A long, difficult path must be traveled before a person who up to that time - no matter what circumstances and faces surround him - is ultimately alone in the world and in the face of God (4), could approach another unique personality and give her will: to unite with her into one mind, into one heart, “into one flesh,” that is, to create a family. One of the most important stages of this path is the meeting of two people who are destined to become husband and wife by the unknown Divine Providence about them.

However, Yermolai-Erasmus begins his "Tale" not with a description of the meeting of Peter and Fevronia. He precedes it with a story about Peter's serpent fighting.

Prince Pavel lived in Murom, and it happened to him. A certain snake began to fly to his wife in order to persuade her to fornication, and for all those around him he acted in the guise of legal spouse. The woman, by cunning, learned the secret of the serpent: he can die only "from Peter's shoulder, from Agrikov's sword."

Paul really had a younger brother Peter, who from his youth was distinguished by piety, had "the custom of going to churches in solitude." In one temple, a certain youth appeared to him and pointed out Agrikov's sword, which was kept in the altar wall. Then Peter understood that it was he who should kill the snake.

Peter had to endure a difficult test, because the serpent was in his guise sibling. And although Peter had just seen Prince Paul in his chambers, after a short time, he saw in the chambers of his daughter-in-law someone who was like Paul, like two drops of water. Because of this resemblance, it was not easy for him to raise his sword against a werewolf. However, Peter mustered all his courage and slew the wicked serpent (5).

There is no doubt about the source of this story: it was the motif of the fight between the knight and the monster, so common in fairy tale. We do not know how this episode of the Tale relates to real events the life of the historical prince Peter and his older brother Paul. Most likely, such a correlation was not intended by the author. Oral tradition, apparently, did not convey to Yermolai-Erasmus information about Peter's youth.

He decided to make up for the lack of this information by attracting a folklore motif, which the reader had to comprehend allegorically (6). With this understanding, this story can serve as an image of what path Prince Peter had to go through before meeting with Fevronia and what caused this meeting.

Without going into details, we note that in Chapter I of the “Tale” “attention is focused on the psychological experiences and doubts of Prince Peter, who must decide to kill the snake that has the appearance of his brother” (7). He double-checks his guess that someone he saw in the daughter-in-law's room in the guise of a brother is actually a snake.

These doubts are not accidental: Prince Peter is aware of the degree of responsibility that lies with him. Only he can kill the snake that threatens his brother's family, but at the same time, showing excessive zeal, he can also become a fratricide.

In fact, this is an image of the life path of a person who is endowed with power, in this case a prince, responsible for his subjects. But not only the prince. At the same time, this is an image of a masculine vocation in general: every man on his life path takes responsibility for others, that responsibility when the life of another depends on his determination and courage.

But while Peter is alone, the burden of such responsibility turns out to be fatal for him. It’s not that he didn’t cope with his task, on the contrary: the serpent was defeated, but before his death he splashed Peter with his poisonous blood, and Peter falls ill. The illness of Prince Peter, that is, in the language of allegories: a certain inferiority of his nature in general, is the plot of the Tale of Peter and Fevronia. Moreover, Peter's illness is so serious, the inferiority of his nature is so significant that if it is not corrected, life itself is impossible for Prince Peter. His courage, his determination, all others human qualities they didn't leave him, but he is "crippled" and cannot use them.

It can only be healed by a connection with another person.

The weak Peter goes in search of healing.

Meeting-Recognition

The search for healing comes down for the prince, according to Yermolai-Erasmus, to the search for a healer, that is, a person who would help him heal. At the same time, the search is a conscious action aimed at getting rid of the inferiority of one's nature. Only the Creator can correct such inferiority, and thus the search for a healer for Peter is a search for the Will of God about oneself.

It is this search that leads him to a meeting with the maiden Fevronia, who turns out to be able to heal Peter. It is noteworthy that the prince meets her when the illness led him to complete exhaustion: by that time he was already so weak that he could neither walk on his own nor sit on a horse. His spiritual strength was also already running out. So the Lord reveals to us His Will about us only when we have reached the greatest tension in our questioning, and our whole being has already become thinner in order to receive His Will into ourselves.

Ermolai-Erasmus describes this meeting in this way. One of the servants of Prince Peter met an unusual maiden in the village of Laskovo: the daughter of a beekeeper, a “tree climber”, was modestly weaving a linen in her house, and a hare was galloping in front of her. But even more he was struck by her wise speeches. Fevronia appears here in a halo of folklore images: the author uses in his "Tale" a fairy tale story about a girl-seventh girl (that is, doing seven things at the same time), whose mind makes the prince marry her.

It turned out that she also knows how to heal the prince:

“Yes, bring your prince semo. If he is soft-hearted and humble in his answers, let him be healthy!”, - says Fevronia. The prince, through his youths, asks her: “Take me, girl, who is there to heal me? May he heal me and take a lot of possessions. She did not hesitate to say: “I am, although I heal, but I do not demand the estate from him. Imam’s word to him is this: if I don’t have an imam to be his spouse, you don’t need me to heal him ”(8).

The condition for the prince's healing is marriage to Fevronia. And in the language of allegory, this marriage is itself a medicine that makes up for the lack of Peter's nature. Thus, the words of Fevronia contain an answer to Peter's question about what the Lord's plan for him is. But Peter did not yet recognize her answer as the Will of God about himself: “What a prince I am, a tree climber, to give myself a wife!” (9), he mentally exclaims.

The plot of the "Tale" develops according to the laws of the fairy tale about the wise maiden, but at the same time the author reveals the laws of development human relations. After the meeting of two people, there comes a period during which they get to know each other. What happens in life for a long time consists of many stages; Yermolai-Erasmus condenses it into one episode: the episode of the trial of Fevronia by Peter.

The prince sets an impossible task for Fevronia: while he is bathing in a bath, she must weave so much linen from a bundle of flax that is enough for his clothes, and then sew it. This is not a test of needlework skills, but of Fevronia's wisdom. Peter precedes his task with the words: “This maiden wants me to be a spouse for wisdom’s sake.”

He doubts whether she really has spiritual vision, vision of the heart, or her speech is just a ploy, explained by the desire not to miss a brilliant game. In other words, Peter tests the mind of Fevronia, the mind that, according to the patristic understanding, is the focus of the human personality. He wants to know not her words, not the skills that were given by her upbringing, but Fevronia herself in the depths of her heart.

And this is what Fevronia answers to the servant who gave her the task of the prince:

““Climb up on our stove and, take off the logs from the ridges, take down the semo.” He, having listened to her, took down the log. She, having measured the span, said: "Cut this off from this log." He's the cut-off. She also said: “Take this duck of this log, and go and give it to your prince from me, and give it to him: at what hour I will comb it, and let your prince prepare the camp and the whole structure for me in this duck, with which his cloth will be sewn”<…>The prince said: “Shit of the maiden, as it is impossible to eat in such a small tree and create a building in such a small time!”<…>The maiden denied: “Is it possible to eat, for a man of a man’s age I’ll hang flax in a small time, in the nude he will stay in baths, create a srachitsa, and ports, and an ubrusets?” The servant, however, told the prince. The prince marveled at her answer” (10).

Peter is not just surprised at how successfully Fevronia got out of a difficult situation. He is surprised like a person who has opened the secret inner appearance of another. Without knowledge of a person, without revealing to us the secret of his being, those relations between us and him are impossible, which in the future can become family relations. But in itself, this knowledge does not mean that we are ready to accept this particular person as our integral part, as our destiny.

With honor, Fevronia, who came out of the test, heals the prince. But he is not going to marry and goes to Murom. And here it turns out that his illness is not limited to aggravation of the skin, that its causes are much deeper. On the way home, he again becomes covered with scabs. A certain inferiority of his nature is now revealed to Peter himself. You can cure her only by connecting with the girl whose words so struck the prince. Peter returns to the village of Laskovo and agrees to marry Fevronia. Only now he is completely healed. Together with the young princess, Peter returns to Murom.

In the future, Yermolai-Erasmus no longer resorts to borrowings from folklore in his “Tale”. We can assume that he uses the Murom oral tradition, which has preserved real facts from the life of the saints, which now has as its center the fulfillment of Christ's commandments, which Ermolai-Erasmus emphasizes:

“I have come to my fatherland, city of Murom, and lively in all piety, leaving nothing from God’s commandments” (11).

What is the fulfillment of the commandments in relation to each other, becomes the subject of further narration.

Tests

"The Life of Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom in the Paintings of Alexander Prostev"

The period of recognition, when two people walked towards each other, no matter how beautiful it may be in itself, is still only a prelude to family life.

From the moment of marriage, a fundamentally different life begins for these two, full of their joys, but also special, previously unknown to young people.

It is on the trials that befell Peter and Fevronia that Yermolai-Erasmus focuses his attention. He does this because in such situations the path of following the commandments of God is most clearly revealed.

The first test that Peter and Fevronia are subjected to (like all young families) is ordeal of everyday life, namely, the difference in habits and everyday skills that each of them received in the process of education and accumulated during their independent life.

Meeting and getting to know each other cannot reveal this difference in small things that exists between young people; only living together can reveal and eventually smooth it out; moreover, the environment of the young can both facilitate and complicate the process of getting used to each other and erasing this difference. It is the second option that we observe in the life of Peter and Fevronia.

We find them at a time when Peter began to reign in Murom after the death of his brother Paul. And then the difference in origin and upbringing that existed between him and Fevronia becomes the reason for the next incident.

“Once upon a time, someone from those who were coming to her came to the noble prince Petrovi to navadit on the nude, as if “from every one,” he says, “he comes from his table without rank: whenever she gets up, she takes her crumbs in her hand, as if smooth!”. The noble prince Peter, although he tempted me, commanded him to dine with him at the same table. And as if the dinner was over, she, as if she had a custom, took the crumbs from the table in her hand. I took Prince Peter by the hand and, reconnaissance, saw a good-smelling Lebanon and incense. And from that I will leave the days to that not to tempt” (12).

Peter, albeit gently, wants to reproach and wean his wife from her habit. With his gesture, he seems to want to say: “Look! What are you doing this for? It's just crumbs!" And then what was just crumbs turns out to be incense.

Peter's gesture, in which one can catch a hint of exaltation over his wife and, perhaps, a lesson already prepared, turns out to be meaningless: the “custom” of the wife, even though it does not correspond to the habits of the spouse and even contradicts court etiquette (this “rite” is only a human institution), is holy and should be received by the husband with reverence, or corrected with patience and without exaltation over her. Moreover, he should not accept someone's slander on his spouse. Every third person for a husband and wife is a stranger.

Peter "from that day" ceased to "tempt" Fevronia, to check whether her behavior corresponds to a certain order adopted in his house. In their relationship, love and mutual patience became the main thing, and not the desire to subordinate the other to their own habits.

But trials do not only occur within the family, they often come from outside as well. Such an ordeal befell the family of Prince Peter. Many years later, when peace and love were already regular guests in his house, nat Murom raised a persecution of her princess.

“And after a lot of time, coming to him with fury, his boyars, roaring: “We want everything, prince, to serve you righteously and have you as an autocrat, but we don’t want Princess Fevronia to rule over our wives. If you want to be an autocrat, let there be a princess. Fevronia, take wealth enough for yourself, go away, but he wants it! Blessed Peter, as if it were his custom, having no rage about anything, answered with humility: “Yes, she speaks to Fevronia, and as if she speaks, then we hear” (13).

The reason for the request of the boyars is the envy of their wives, which Yermolai-Erasmus explains in two ways. On the one hand, they envy the fact that the peasant woman has become a princess, on the other hand, they see the obvious favor of God to the wife of their prince:

“The princesses of his Fevronia, his boyars, do not love their wives for the sake of their own, as if the princess were not the fatherland for the sake of her, but glorifying God for the sake of her life” (14).

The boyars not only demand the expulsion of Fevronia, from their very first words they think of the spouses separately: “We want Peter to stay, but Fevronia left; take yourself another wife, is it all the same to you!”. From the very beginning, they seem not to take into account that their prince and princess are husband and wife, that they are one, that people cannot separate them; from the very beginning they neglect marriage as a sacrament, as a divine institution.

We may be surprised: why does Peter send the boyars to Fevronia, why does he not immediately refuse them? Peter's answer testifies to one of the most important features of Christian marriage, namely, that each spouse has authority over the other. Moreover, this power extends to the most intimate aspects of the personality of another. The boyars put the question this way: either you, Peter, are an autocrat, or you are the husband of Fevronia. Peter is a prince, an autocrat by vocation.

He, according to the testimony of the boyars themselves, has all the necessary qualities in order to be the head of the city, for sure, he also has a personal inclination for this. Moreover, he was placed in this place by God's Providence. But it is precisely in the question of whether he should be a prince, that is, whether he should follow his - natural and Divine - vocation, he turns to his wife for advice. She has to share with him all the hardships of his path, so she has the right to give consent to the path of her husband or close this path for him (15).

And so the boyars arrange a feast, hoping to get Fevronia's consent to leave the city when her mind, perhaps, will be clouded with wine.

“They are furious, filled with indifference, inventing, let them establish a feast. And I will create. And when you had fun, you began to stretch out your cold-hearted voices, like a psy barking, taking away from the holy gift of God, God shared it with her even after death was inseparable” (16).

With the last words, Yermolai-Erasmus reveals the essence of what is happening. The boyars do not just mean political gain and indulge the vanity of their wives, but gradually encroach on something more: they dare to separate husband and wife, take away God's gift from Fevronia, God gave it to her.

These words can be repeated over and over again, reminding everyone living in marriage of the preciousness of the gift that he possesses.

Fevronia knows its value. She is not indignant at the demand of the boyars: reigning is a temporary value. She does not want wealth, because she wants only one treasure: “I ask for nothing else,” says Fevronia, “only the wife of my Prince Peter!” (17).

Peter also knew the value of what he possessed. In addition, higher than his vocation, higher than power, honors, habitual comfort was for him the commandment of Christ:

“Blessed Prince Peter, do not love temporary autocracy, except for God’s commandments, but according to His commandment, walking holding on to these, as the godly Matthew in his gospel broadcasts a speech, as if he would let his wife, the development of the adulterous word, and marry another, commit adultery. Create this blessed prince according to Euangellia: his own obsession, as if he were able to do it, so that he does not destroy the commandments of God ”(18).

Together with Fevronia, Peter leaves the city.

The Dignity of Christian Marriage

"The Life of Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom in the Paintings of Alexander Prostev"

Expelled from their city, Peter and Fevronia, on the ships given to them by the boyars who expelled them, are sailing along the Oka River. At this, apparently, the most difficult time for their family, Fevronia again shows her wisdom, high moral sense and wonderful endurance. Her wisdom is revealed in the next episode.

On the ship, on which Peter and Fevronia are sailing into the unknown, there was a man with his wife. He saw Fevronia and looked at her with carnal thoughts.

She enlightened his thoughts and asked him to scoop and drink water from one side of the vessel, and then from the other. After he obeyed, Fevronia asked: “What do you think, does the water taste the same?”

“He said: “There is only one, mistress, water.” Paki she reche sitsa: “And there is one woman's nature. Why, leaving your wife, think of someone else! Same person<…>afraid to think of such a thing” (19).

Let's read the words of Fevronia. At first glance, they are very simple and accessible: “From the point of view of their nature,” she seems to say, “all women are the same, and if you think to find something new with someone else's wife, then you are mistaken. Wouldn't it be better for you to remain faithful to yours!

But we can make the second sentence from Fevronia's phrase - “It's almost ugly, leaving your wife, thinking of someone else!” - read and with an emphasis not on your own word, but on the word wife. Then this unsophisticated statement will reveal to us the depth of the Christian teaching about marriage.

With such a reading, it will become clear to us that the wife is given to her husband not for the sake of satisfying his natural desire, but her calling is incomparably greater. The personality of a wife is not limited to her physicality. Her soul and her spirit also enter into a relationship with the corresponding aspects of her husband's personality. B, for they have common spiritual aspirations - to Christ, into one soul, for they must have common vital interests, into one body (20).

Only such a connection gives a full-fledged Christian family. Such a union makes the mutual love of the spouses the way that leads them to the transfiguration by Christ's grace, to salvation. And then the words of Fevronia can be paraphrased as follows: “Think about what your wife is for you, think about her dignity before God! It is connected not only to your body, but to your spirit and soul. Do not covet someone else's wife, because if you violate your fidelity, you will destroy this mysterious unity! And it is unique and more precious than any other vocations, unities and desires.”

It is noteworthy that Yermolai-Erasmus compositionally places the episode that reveals the doctrine of Christian marriage precisely after the narration of the exile of Peter and Fevronia, thereby, as it were, additionally convincing the reader that the choice made by the saints was true and the only possible one for a Christian, thereby also once confirming the immutable value of Christian marriage.

On the same day, in the evening, when the exiles were preparing for an overnight stay on the banks of the Oka, the following conversation took place between the spouses.

“Blessed Prince Peter began to think: “What will it be like, having persecuted him by the will of autocracy?” The marvelous Fevronia said to him: “Do not grieve, prince, merciful God, Creator and Providence of everything, will not leave us in the lower world!” (21).

Peter began to be tormented by doubts about whether he had done the right thing by leaving Murom, without resisting the boyars, without insisting on his own. Apparently, the thought that he arbitrarily laid down the responsibility for his city, for his people, which the Lord had placed on him, was especially hard for him. Perhaps this was mixed with a secret thought that now poverty and the difficult life of a wanderer await him. And at this moment the word of the spouse turns out to be healing for him, dispelling both dark thoughts (22).

Fevronia tells her husband about God, about His mercy and Providence, calling to seek His Will, reminding that the Creator, who called him to the princely service, can show him a new path or return him to the former one. She comforts him, explaining that God, who united them into husband and wife, will not allow the destruction of their union, will give them what they need for life.

In one phrase of Fevronia, all her courage, all her fidelity to her vocation is manifested. If the vocation of a man is to take on and bear responsibility for others, then the vocation of a woman is in another; it is called upon to preserve the unity, integrity, and spirit of the family in any circumstances. In confirmation of the encouraging words of Fevronia, the following happens that same night.

“On that breeze, to the blessed prince Peter, for his supper, eat the food. And more<= посече>the cook of his trees are small, on them the cauldrons hang. In the evening, the holy princess Fevronia, walking along the shore and seeing the trees of thy, bless, reksha: “May this tree be great on the morning, having branches and leaves.” Hedgehog and byst. When you get up in the morning, you have found a great tree, rich in branches and leaves” (23).

If the family has not broken up, if the spouses courageously hold on to each other, for mutual love, then the lost well-being will sprout, like a young tree that has grown overnight, will return to its former self and grow thanks to the love and care of the wife.

In the morning, the truth of Fevronia's words was confirmed in another way.

Before the wanderers had time to leave their place of lodging, a nobleman rode up from Murom with the news that after the expulsion of the prince, civil strife began in the city, and many boyars were killed: The survivors and all the people tearfully asked the prince to return back: “Now, with all my houses, I work for Esma, and we want, and we love, and we pray that she will not leave us, her servant!” (24).

Let us pay attention to the fact that in their speech the boyars use the forms of the dual number: slave, let it not leave us ... Now they think of the spouses only together, as a single whole, and agree to be slaves of both of them: both Peter and Fevronia.

The prince and princess return to Murom. And this is how Yermolai-Erasmus describes their further reign.

“Behu reigns in that city, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord’s vice, in unceasing prayers and alms and to all people under their power, like a loving father and mother. Besta for all love is equal to property, not loving pride, neither robbery, nor wealth of perishable, sparing, but richer in God. Besta bo to his city is a true shepherd, and not like a hireling. Bo your city with truth and meekness, and not ruling with fury. Accepting the strange, nourishing the greedy, clothing the naked, delivering the poor from misfortune” (25).

This is the ideal of Christian government. For all their subjects, they were like father and mother, and not like lords. Thus, they realized the image of earthly life, which a century before them was formulated by St. Simeon the New Theologian: “God created a father and a son for being in the world. Without violence and poverty, no one would be a slave, nor a hireling” (26).

They succeeded because the grace-filled love that they acquired in their marriage began to abound and poured out on everyone around them, the border of their family, as it were, expanded and included many, many. But even then the family itself, mutual love for each other remained an unconditional value for Peter and Fevronia.

We will see confirmation of this in the final episode of the Tale.

We do not know anything about whether the holy spouses had children. Perhaps the oral tradition simply did not convey information about this to Yermolai-Erasmus. And yet it is noteworthy that he himself did not use any folklore image, did not begin to fantasize about this topic, does not touch it with a single word at all. For him and his story about Christian marriage, this circumstance from the life of his heroes does not matter. They achieved holiness not by having many children, but by mutual love and keeping the sanctity of marriage. That is the meaning and purpose of it.

Epilogue

Tons - Death - Posthumous miracle

Years have passed. When Peter and Fevronia grew old, and “when a pious repose was in time for her,” they begged God to die in one hour. They could not even live a short time without each other.

"The Life of Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom in the Paintings of Alexander Prostev"

In anticipation of death, according to the customs of that time, they simultaneously took the tonsure. Peter in monasticism was named David, Fevronia - Euphrosyne. Monasticism for them is a way to get away from princely concerns, devote more time to prayer and thus adequately prepare for death.

Marriage vows, even after being tonsured, retain their power for them, because they also fulfill their last promise to each other - to die at the same time. Here is the touching description of their death, which gives Yermolai-Erasmus.

“At the same time, the Monk and Blessed Fevronia<…>to the temple of the Most Pure Cathedral Church with his hands shiyashe the air, on it are the white faces of the saints. The Monk and Blessed Prince Peter<…>sending a verb to her: “O sister Euphrosyne! I want to move away from the body already, but I’m waiting for you, as if we’ll walk away.” She denied: “Wait, sir, as if I were breathing air into the holy church.” He sent a second message to her, saying: “I will wait a little longer for you.” And as if she sent a third, saying: “I already want to repose and do not wait for you!”.

And she was already finishing her work, she only had to embroider the robes of one saint, whose face was already completed.

“And stop, and watch your needle in the air, and turn it with a thread, with it shiyashe. And having sent to the blessed Peter, named David, about the repose of the bath. And, having prayed, the holy soul will betray<двойственное число - А. Б.>in the hands of God” (27).

Before being tonsured, Saints Peter and Fevronia bequeathed to be buried together, in one coffin, which, during their lifetime, was carved out of stone for them. But the spouses were buried separately, “more roaringly, as if in a similar image it is objectionable to put the saints in a single coffin” (28).

"The Life of Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom in the Paintings of Alexander Prostev"

Then a miracle happened that glorified Saints Peter and Fevronia. The next morning people found both separate coffins empty. The holy bodies of Peter and Fevronia lay in the city in the cathedral church of the Most Pure Theotokos, in one tomb, which they themselves ordered to create. Thus the Lord glorified not only His saints, but also once again sealed the holiness and dignity of marriage, the vows of which in this case turned out to be no lower than monastic ones.

* * *

Thus ended the earthly life of Saints Peter and Fevronia. After their death, their veneration gradually spread beyond the borders of the Murom land, and by the 16th century, it probably embraced the majority of the inhabitants of the Muscovite state.

In 1547, through the labors of St. Macarius of Moscow, they were included in the Russian Orthodox Church to the saints. St. Macarius deserves special mention in connection with our saints, since through his efforts people were glorified who attained righteousness precisely through life in a Christian marriage.

The effectiveness of prayer to these saints, which has been done by the Church for 450 years (the anniversary of their glorification was celebrated last year), convinces us of the authenticity of the appearance of Peter and Fevronia, which was recreated by Yermolai-Erasmus in his Tale. They truly became patrons of Christian marriage.

It is they who should pray for the sending of peace into the family, for the strengthening of marital ties, for the achievement of family happiness.

The author of the Tale prefaces his narrative with a preface in which he briefly reminds the reader of the Orthodox teaching about the Trinity, about the creation of the world, about the economy of salvation. He completes his opening speech a reminder of the calling of a Christian.

Thus, Saints Peter and Fevronia are included in the majestic picture of the history of the world understood in a Christian way, they are placed on a par with the apostles and martyrs and other great saints. And they were honored with such glorification “for the sake of courage and humility”, shown by them in keeping the commandments of God regarding marriage. In this way they fulfilled their calling as Christians. This means that each of those who strive in Christian marriage and follow their example can be placed in this line and can acquire the crown that was awarded to Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom.

Footnotes

1Prince of Murom Peter Yuryevich (David in tonsure), according to chronicles, died in 1228, therefore, the joint life of Peter and his wife Fevronia falls on the end of the 12th-beginning of the 13th centuries.

2“The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” noticeably differs from the generally recognized examples of hagiographic literature in the Makaryev era. This led to the fact that already in the XVI century. it has been revised several times. See Dmitrieva R.P. Ermolai-Erasmus - the author of the Tale of Peter and Fevronia // The Tale of Peter and Fevronia / Preparation of texts and research by R.P. Dmitrieva. L., 1979. - C. 117; Dmitrieva R.P. Secondary editions of the Tale of Peter and Fevronia // Ibid. - Ss. 119–146.

3The latter were included in the literary tradition, in which the parable genre was very developed, suggesting an allegorical reading of its plot. It is possible that the Old Russian reader, exceptionally sensitive to the influx genre, also perceived the folklore images of our "Tale" as allegories and comprehended them in accordance with the main theme of this work.

4 Unity in marriage was established by God Himself, therefore it is also carried out in a non-church marriage - the more serious the consequences are caused by the desecration of the sacrament of marriage, conscious or unconscious.

5 The Tale from the Lives of the Saints of the New Miracle Worker of Murom, the Blessed and Reverend and Worthy of Praise Prince Peter, named in the monastic rank of David, and his wife, the faithful and reverend and glorious Princess Fevronia, named in the monastic rank of Euphrosyne // The Tale of Peter and Fevronia. - Ss. 211–213 (hereinafter: The Tale). For all references to this monument, we use the text of its first edition, defined in the edition of R. P. Dmitrieva as the author's. See The Tale of Peter and Fevronia. - Ss. 209–223.

6Although the motif of snake-fighting in the “Tale” is correlated with folklore, the very fact of demonic werewolves is known to Orthodox asceticism. In particular, a case from the life of Archbishop Theodore (Pozdeevsky; †1937), similar to that described above, was recorded by priest Sergius Sidorov (†1937). Vladyka Theodore, in the last year of his rectorship at the Moscow Theological Academy, took care of a mentally ill woman. When one day he did not allow her to leave Sergiev Posad, “she asked me why I did not let her go to the station, and assured me that I had been to her in the morning and persuaded her to leave Sergiev. I then took her words for nonsense obviously sick<…>The next morning, having put part of the relics of St. Sergius into the panagia, I went to the sick<…>She was sitting on the bed, and my double sat opposite her and urged her to leave Sergiev immediately. I, amazed, stopped at the threshold. The doppelgänger turned to me and, pointing at me to the girl, said: "Don't believe this, it's the devil." “You are lying,” I said, and touched him with my panagia. My double disappeared immediately and no longer disturbed the girl, who had completely recovered from the mental illness that had tormented her since the age of seven” (Priest Sergei Sidorov. Notes / Publication by V. S. Bobrinskaya // Chrysostom. No. 2. - Ps. 306–307; indicated by M. S. Pershin). It is noteworthy that this event immediately preceded the persecution of Vladyka Theodore in the liberal press and the subsequent removal of him from the post of rector of the Academy.

7Dmitrieva R.P. Secondary editions ... - S. 138.

8A story. - S. 215.

10 Story. - S. 216.

11 Story. - S. 217.

13A story. - S. 218.

14A story. - S. 217.

15It is known that one bishop, who ordained secret priests during the years of persecution, before consecrating one of them, asked him to ask his wife if she agreed with her husband's decision.

16 Story. - S. 218.

18 Story. - Ss. 218–219.

19A story. - S. 219.

20 cm more Professor, Archpriest Gleb Kaleda. Home church. M., 1997. - Ss. 14–19, 182–183, etc.

21 Story. - S. 219.

22We note that in this case, as in the case of a person who has accepted a carnal mind, Fevronia, in all likelihood, displays such insight, which the Holy Fathers called "natural insight." It - in contrast to "gracious insight" - can be possessed by any person, well knowing people and by the expression of the eyes or facial expressions, able to guess the state of the soul of a person.

23A story. - Ss. 219–220.

24A story. - S. 220.

26Reverend Simeon the New Theologian. Creations. T. 1. St. Petersburg, 1892. - Ss. 217, 316.

27 Story. - Ss. 220–221.

28A story. - S. 221.

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When they ask how the theme of love was treated in ancient Russia, they immediately recall the story of Peter and Fevronia, the story of two saints, now the patrons of the family, love and fidelity. In the history itself, as it has come down to us since the time of Yermolai-Erasmus, there is no word "love". And in general, to us, accustomed to tearful Hollywood plots, the geometry of the relationship of the characters and their "love-story" would now seem very unusual.

What intrigues does the devil build for the heroes of the story?

According to the story, Prince Peter saves his brother Paul from the devil's misfortune: a snake began to fly to his wife "for fornication". Peter manages to slay the serpent with his sword. But snake blood gets on his skin, and he becomes covered with ulcers. The serpent "wounds" the prince, and not only from the side of his body, in addition to ulcers and scabs, "there is a very serious illness" - some other, second illness, for which a special doctor is needed, and not those to which he turned in Murom. Fevronia is the very doctor who can help. On the other hand, how can a girl who is far from healing help? We do not know anything about her medical affiliation. In addition, how can they meet: he - the Murom prince and she - the daughter of a beekeeper from the Ryazan land? Is it not then that physical and mental suffering is sent to Peter so that he begins to look for his "chosen" doctor, so that the meeting of two opposites becomes possible?

What do the riddles of Fevronia mean?

The prince is brought to the Ryazan land. The lad, trying to find a doctor, enters one of the houses and sees a wonderful picture: a girl is sitting at a loom, and a hare is jumping in front of her. Seeing the guest, she exclaimed: “It is not good for the house to be without ears, and the upper room without eyes!” The young man did not understand anything from her words and arrogantly asked if there was a man in the house. To which the girl answers him: “My father and mother went on loan to cry, but my brother went through the legs of death to look into the eyes.” Again the lad lost to the girl in wisdom, but changed his arrogance to surprise. For the mind, which has not yet grown up to such things, Fevronia explains: the lad came into the house, went into the upper room and found the girl in an untidy state, and if there was a dog in the house (“ears” of the house), then he would bark. And if there was a child in the room (the “eyes” of the house), then he would inform her about the approach of the guest. As for the father and mother, they went to the funeral to mourn the dead. When death comes for them, others will mourn for them: this is weeping on loan. Her brother was a beekeeper - when he climbs up a tree, he will look through his legs at the ground so as not to fall from a height. As you can see, the girl has some kind of special mind. And not only. The hare that galloped nearby is an ancient symbol of Christianity, sometimes depicted on icons. Fevronia, therefore, is sensitive to the voice of the Almighty.

Why is Fevronia treating Peter?

It is often said that Prince Peter promised to marry Fevronia if she healed him. It is enough to look into the story to understand that everything was not so. Fevronia, not yet seeing the prince in person, tells his servants: “If I don’t have an imam to be his wife, don’t need me to heal him.” (“If I do not become his wife, then it is not fitting for me to treat him.”) The words of a wise girl are not an ultimatum to the prince and not a payment for healing. She says them to herself: if she can become the wife of the prince, then she should heal him. Fevronia is not going to save the prince, but her soul mate (unless, of course, the prince agrees to become her). In fact, the girl's words are a classic Christian idea that the wife should be saved by the husband, and the husband by the wife. But the prince believes that the beekeeper's daughter is not a match for him and decides to deceive her. Fevronia seems to know that this will happen. She gives the prince leaven, miraculously relieving ulcers. Proud Peter, after being healed, does not keep his promise to marry and decides to pay off with gifts. Soon the old misfortune returns ... When the prince comes to Fevronia for the second time, she says in a completely different way: "If there is a spouse, let him be healed." Now the prince is placed in more stringent conditions: since some kind of force again sends illness to him, then it's time for him to think about his arrogance. In order for the disease to recede, one must become humble and keep the promise.

That is how, not at the first attempt and overcoming himself, Peter takes the path of salvation, where he will still meet many trials and, together with his betrothed Fevronia, will find the glory of a saint for himself. The Tale of Peter and Fevronia is hardly a love story in our current romantic sense. Rather, it is a parable of worldly salvation. You can only be saved together - and for this you need to make a sacrifice. So the heroes of the story find themselves together not thanks to, but in spite of: Fevronia needs to show sacrificial love, save her neighbor, and Peter needs to become humble and accept the salvation of a meek girl, who is clearly inferior to him in origin. Isn't this the ancient worldly wisdom of the beloved?