The Monk Pherapont of Mozhaisk, Luzhetsk (Uncovering of Relics, 1514):
Commemorated on December 27, May 27
The Monk Pherapont
(Therapont) of Mozhaisk (Belozersk), Wonderworker of Luzhetsk, in the world
Theodore (Feodor), was born in the year 1337 at Volokolamsk into a family of
the nobility, the Poskochini. From his childhood years he was raised in deep
faith and piety, which in graced form was reflected throughout all his
subsequent years of life as an holy ascetic. At age forty without preliminaries
he was tonsured a monk by the hegumen of the Moscow Simonov monastery, the Monk
Theodore (Feodor), a nephew of the Monk Sergei (afterwards Archbishop of
Rostov, Comm. 28 November). As a monk in this monastery Pherapont became close
with the Monk Kirill (Cyril) of Belozersk (Comm. 9 June). Together they passed
through their ascetic deeds of salvation in fasting and prayers, and they
hearkened to the spiritual guidances of the Monk Sergei of Radonezh (Comm. 25
September and 5 July), who visited the monastery to instruct the brethren. In
fulfilling an obedience, the Monk Pherapont set off to the North, to the
Belozersk frontier, on monastery matters. The harsh northern land caught the
attention of the ascetic, and he decided to remain there for his ascetic
efforts. After his return with the Monk Kirill – to whom the Mother of God had
appeared also ordering him to go to the North, the Monk Pherapont received the
blessing of the hegumen and set off to Beloozero (WhiteLake). For a certain
while the ascetics lived together in a cell that they had built, but later and
by mutual consent, the Monk Pherapont transferred over to a new place for his
ascetic deeds, 15 versts distant from Kirill, betwixt two lakes: Borodava and
Pava. Having cleared a not overly large plot for a garden and building a cell
in the deep forest at a water channel, the Monk Pherapont continued his ascetic
efforts as an hermit and in silence. At first he endured much deprivation and
tribulation in his solitude, and more than once he was set upon by robbers,
attempting to chase away or even kill the ascetic. But with time monks began to
gather to the saint, and the wilderness place was gradually transformed into a
monastery, afterwards called the Pherapontov. In the year 1398 the Monk
Pherapont built a wooden church in honour of the Nativity of the Most Holy
Mother of God, and the monastery was gradually set in order: the monks toiled
together with their saintly guide over the construction of cells, the copying
of books, and the adornment of the church.* (* At the end of the XV Century on
the place of the former wooden church there was built a stone cathedral, in
honour of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God, painted in the years
1500-1501 by the reknown Russian iconographer Dionysii and his sons, Vladimir
and Theodosii. The frescoes are devoted to the Praise of the Most Holy Mother of
God. The unique frescoes (wall-paintings) of the Pherapontov monastery have
been preserved up to the present time and are an outstanding memorial of
Russian churchly art and painting, of world significance).
At the monastery was
introduced a common-life monastic rule, strictly observed by the monks. The
Monk Pherapont out of humility declined to head the monastery, and instead
entrusted the position of hegumen to one of his disciples. The holy ascetic,
endowed himself with the gift of counsel, resorted for spiritual guidance just
as before to his friend, the Monk Kirill of Belozersk. News about the ascetic
deeds of the saint of God spread far beyond the bounds of the Belozersk
frontier.
At the beginning of
the XV Century, the lands, on which were situated the Kirillov and Pherapontov
monasteries, were part of the appanage-holdings of the Mozhaisk prince Andrei
Dimitrievich (1382-1432), son of GreatPrince Dimitrii Ioannovich Donskoy (1363‑1389).
And in the year 1408 prince Andrei Dimitrievich, having learned of the high
level of spiritual life of the Belozersk ascetic, turned then to the monastic
starets-elder Pherapont with a request to establish a monastery in the city of
Mozhaisk. It was difficult for the monk to leave his own monastery, at which he
had asceticised for more than ten years. The Monk Pherapont was met at Mozhaisk
with great honour. Soon, not far from Mozhaisk, in the locality of Lushko on an
hilly part of the right bank of the Moscow River, the Monk Pherapont founded
his second monastery. Its chief temple was in honour of the Nativity of the
Most Holy Mother of God, in memory of the Belozersk monastery. Prince Andrei
Dimitrievich, deeply esteeming the saint for his true humility, provided
generous help in the construction and establishing of the monastery. With the
blessing of Sainted Photii, Metropolitan of Moscow (+ 1431, Comm. 2 July and 27
May), – the monastery was to be headed by an archimandrite, and the Monk
Pherapont was elevated to the dignity of archimandrite.
At this new monastery
Saint Pherapont dwelt for 18 years, reposing to God at an advanced age, on 27
May 1426. His body was buried at the north wall of the cathedral of the
Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God. At the place of burial was afterwards
built a church in honour of the Monk John of the Ladder (Comm. 30 March), and
renamed in 1730 for the Monk Pherapont. Veneration of the saint began soon
after his death. In 1514 the incorrupt relics of the holy ascetic were
uncovered, and glorified by numerous miracles. After the Moscow Sobor-Council
of 1547 there occurred the canonisation of the Monk Pherapont of Mozhaisk,
Luzhetsk Wonderworker – resulting from the hegumen of the Pherapontov
monastery having brought to metropolitan Makarii (1543-1564) a Life and Account
of the sanctity of the saint of God. Set amidst the numerous disciples and
conversers of the Monk Sergei of Radonezh, the Russian Church venerates the
memory of the Monk Pherapont, who in following the counsel of his great teacher
and guide, combined the ascetic feats of silence and solitude with that of
active service to neighbour and the spiritual enlightening of his Fatherland.
The memory of the
Monk Pherapont is celebrated twice: 27 May (Repose 1426), and 27 December
(Uncovering of Relics 1514).
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
