The life of our reverend father Polycarp, archimandrite of the Caves

Blessed and praiseworthy Polycarp <unk> Manyfruitful <unk> was full of his good works and abundant in the fruit that the Heavenly Maker said of him:

He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit.

This blessed one laid waste to the passing glory and image of this world and, taking the holy angelic form of a pagan in a monastery famous for caves, like grain on the tilled earth, he put to death his body with every fasting deed, always being in God in spirit.

But if you do this, you will show that you have come to repentance by putting on the fruit of the Spirit, namely, sincere love for God, sincere brotherly love, a clear conscience, peace, patience, long-suffering, kindness, and compassion.

to be poor, to be unshakable in the faith, to be true in the promises, to be meek in temperance, to abstain from food and drink, from luxuries and pleasures, and from all the lusts of the flesh.

All these fruits God caused to grow in the blessed Polycarp, and planted by St. Simon, bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal.

He was appointed the first bishop of the diocese of Vladimir, which was separated from Rostov in 1214. Simon died in 1226 after a twelve-year reign.

Polycarp, also a priest of the Cave Monastery, from where he was twice elevated to the position of abbot and twice returned from there to the Cave Monastery; later he was abbot of the Cave Monastery.

From the letters of the latter to Aquinas, the archimandrite of the cave, which contain a number of tales about the cave miracle workers and the miracles that took place in the monastery itself during the construction of its great church, the famous cave paterick was composed (the father, the father's book,

I mean,

The latter was his blood relative and did not want Polycarp to depart from him in spirit, but, like a good root, tried to grow a good branch.

Therefore, when Simon himself was appointed from the cave holy monastery to the throne of the bishopric of Vladimir and Suzdal, he took the blessed Polycarp with him; there he encouraged Polycarp to a virtuous life and for this he conducted with him soulful conversations about what he read or heard in the Bible.

Witness accounts of the former holy cave nuns, of their hard labor, and how they pleased God so much that even here they shone with the miraculous decay of their bodies as a token of their receiving an incorruptible crown in heaven.

And Polycarp, having sown the seeds of his father's doctrine in the soil of his heart, not only was he rich in virtue, but he desired to sow the same fruitfulness in all the Orthodox.

Therefore, having heard from the blessed bishop Simon of the godly exploits of the venerable cave fathers, he endeavored to write all this for the benefit of others who would be saved; thus, while living with that blessed bishop, he related the wonderful lives of many saints in his letter to the blessed Aquinas,

Archimandrite of the Caves; these life-shapes are placed in the second part of the Kiev-Cave Patric.

Afterwards, blessed Polycarp, though he parted body with his father and mentor Simon, returned from his episcopate again to the cave monastery, but with his virtue he did not distance himself from that holy man: he rooted well in his heart his former teachings and tried to preserve and

I'm going to grow them.

And St. Simon, for his part, never ceased to teach him here with his written message, full of divinely inspired instructions and descriptions of the virtuous life of the cave saints.

With this message always before his eyes, the blessed Polycarp wrote down all the paternal words on the tablets of his heart, read them with his mind and put them into practice.

When the blessed Aquinas, archimandrite of the cave, who had shepherded Christ's flock with care and godliness, attained to a great old age, and after long labours retired to the Lord for eternal rest, there was not in the chosen number of holy brethren another elder and more experienced in pagan exploits,

I'm sure you'll be fine, except Polycarp.

Therefore, the whole regiment of good soldiers of Christ unanimously and unanimously elected themselves as leaders and mentors of this blessed, as worthy and able to manage the feeding of the holy great laurel of the Most Holy Mother of God and the venerable fathers our Anton and Theodosius of the caves; it was under the great prince of Kiev

He was the son of the great prince Rostislav Mstislav.

(one week); the second time grand prince in 1158 <unk> 1167 g.] , with metropolitan John, the fourth metropolitan of this name [John IV, metropolitan of Kiev 1164 <unk> 1166 g.] and the third field metropolitan of Clim, consecrated by the head of St. Clement [Usually in the pre-Mongol period the Kiev metropolitan was elected

and was consecrated in Constantinople, and only two cases are known when the metropolitans were not Greeks, but natural Russians, elected and consecrated in Russia itself.

In 1051, Metropolitan Ilarion was appointed as such; in 1147, Metropolitan Klim or Klient.

At a council of bishops called for the election and consecration of the metropolitan in 1147, Bishop Chernygovsky, among other things, justifying the appointment of a Russian metropolitan, in addition to the Patriarch of Constantinople, said: "I know that the bishops, constituting the cathedral, have the right to appoint a metropolitan, <unk> to that

We have the head of St. Clement; as the Greeks put the patriarchs by the hand of St. John, so we will put the metropolitan".

Taking over the leadership of the great cave laurel [Blessed Polycarp was elected and consecrated archimandrite of the Kiev Cave Monastery in 1164], the blessed Polycarp diligently tried to preserve all the monastic statutes laid down by the monk Theodosius [See.

He was a skilled leader in the work of salvation; indeed, this was what the miraculous laurel demanded and was famous for.

Many of the noble and possessive princes took advantage of his advice and strived for a virtuous life, so that they left their glorious thrones out of a desire to live with him, a vivid example of which is the well-remembered Kiev prince Rostislav Mstislavich.

This Christ-loving man, always imitating the life of the blessed Polycarp, had this good custom: by a great fast, every Saturday and Sunday, he invited twelve cave monks and the thirteenth archimandrite Polycarp to his dinner, and, having fed them, he did not let them go.

I'm not going to do it with empty hands.

And he himself, every Sunday, he shared the divine mysteries, praying with tears, sighing and groaning, so that no one who saw him in such a state could hold back his tears.

When the great holy fast ended, on Lazarus's Sabbath, the Christ-loving prince called all the grotto's blessed elders, who shone with fasting prowess, treated them all warmly, gave alms and dismissed them with honor.

In the same way, he invited and entertained the brothers and other monasteries, but especially the cave brothers, because he loved the virtuous life of all of them and especially their blessed mentor Polycarp, who imitated the original cave teachers Antony and Theodosius.

But Polycarp said to him, "God has commanded you, O godly prince, to lead a different life, to govern, to judge justly, and to keep the kiss of the cross strictly".

"Holy Father, the prince of this world cannot be without sin, and I am already weary of it and tired of its daily cares, so I would like to serve God even a little in my old age and imitate those princes and kings who walked the narrow and difficult way and reached the kingdom of heaven.

And Polycarp said unto him, Christ-loving prince, if thou wilt this with all thy heart, let it be done.

Although the prince did not have time to carry out this intention, it is clear from what follows that it was a truly ardent desire of his heart, and was born under the influence of the good example of St. Polycarp.

When the prince fell seriously ill in Smolensk and ordered to be taken to Kiev, his sister Rogneda, seeing that his brother was so weak, begged him: Stay here in Smolensk, and here we will put you in our church.

Please do not do this, but even if I am very weak, let me still be taken to Kiev; if God takes me on my way, let them lay my body in the monastery of St. Fyodor, built by my father; if God delivers me from this disease, I promise to cut myself as a monk in the holy cave

The monastery of the blessed Polycarp.

When his illness grew worse and he was near death, he said to his spiritual father, Simeon the priest: "You will answer to God for not letting me shave at that holy man in the Cave Monastery: I so desired it, and may the Lord forgive me the sin that I did not keep my vow".

So he passed away blessed.

The beginning and cause of such a virtuous life of the remarkable prince was none other than the example of the ascetic life and the inspired conversation of our reverend father Polycarp, who was in his principality a worthy chief of the holy miraculous Cave Lavra; attracting not only the brothers, but also

And He guided the pious people to repentance and salvation.

He lived a long life and in his old age passed away to the Lord in 6690 from the creation of the world, and from the birth of Christ in 1182, on July 24, the feast of the holy passions, the Russian princes Boris and Gleb.

After his death, the monastery was in great difficulty: the brothers could not choose a new abbot.

Though many of the blessed elders were worthy of this rank, none would accept it by their humility and vow of silence: they thought it better to be obedient and to be alone, lest their treasure of virtue, which they had worked hard to acquire, should be wasted in the cares and sorrows which

They're usually inseparable from the top.

The brothers mourned bitterly, for such a large flock could not be without a shepherd for even an hour.

On Tuesday the bell was rung; all the brethren gathered in the church and began to pray for their need to the Most Holy Mother of God and to the holy fathers Antony and Theodosius, calling for the help of the martyr <unk> the newly appointed blessed Polycarp and asking him to beg God to appoint an abbot in their place, and through that

to see whether he was pleasing to the Lord or not.

A miracle occurred: as if with one mouth, many immediately said: <unk> Let us go to the pious priest Vasiliy on the Szczechkowice [Church in Kiev], let him be our abbot and govern the nuns of the cave monastery.

We all, brothers of the cave monastery, bow to you and we want you to be our fathers and abbot! The priest Vasily was very surprised, bowed to them in turn and said: "Holy fathers! I thought only of the monasticism, where I am not worthy to be abbot.

When he had kept on insisting for some time, the brothers invited him into the monastery.

On Friday, the most exalted Kievan Metropolitan Nicéphore [Nicéphore II, mentioned in the Chronicle from 1182 to 1197] and the god-loving bishops: Lavrentius of Turin and Nicholas of Polotsk, and all the most venerable hierarchs arrived to cut the hair of this chosen by God: the most exalted Metropolitan Nicéphore cut his hair.

I did it myself.

Thus he became the chief and good shepherd of the monks of the holy cave monastery after his prayers, he was for all an example of virtue, to the glory and honor of the heavenly Teacher and Chief shepherd, the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, to him be the eternal Father and to the Most Holy, the Merciful and

to him who gives life, now and forevermore. Amen.

Amen. ________________________________ On the same day the memory of the holy passions of the Russian princes Boris (Roman) and Gleb (David).