Primate and miracle worker of Rostov. Leonid (Polyakov), Met.

He was baptized in infancy (“consecrated from swaddling clothes, from young nails”), then, according to the order of Prince Vladimir or Yaroslav, he was taken “into book learning” (“Russian books have been a storyteller from his youth”), with the aim of raising him to the spiritual dignity over time (“for God was first chosen from youth, father, the shepherd of the sheep of the word, the saints will perceive the face of you”).

Thanks to school education and book learning, St. From a young age, Leonty felt attracted to monastic life and was sent or voluntarily went to Constantinople for further study, where, one must think, he was tonsured a monk. Upon his return from Constantinople, he came to the Caves monastery to the Monk Anthony, which was not earlier than 1032, from where the persons who were at the head of the then government were called to the Rostov cathedra as a Russian educated monk, and ordained bishop, "as the first patriarch "from the monks of the Caves, before 1051, when he was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Kiev, the second altar and tonsure of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery - Hilarion.

Rostov Bishop

Simultaneously with the "punishment" of the clergy, St. Leonty labored in preaching Christian truths to the Rostov inhabitants - pagans from the populous Meri tribe, but his open preaching met first with dull resistance, and then with their open rebellion: several times with dishonor they drove him away from themselves and, finally, completely expelled him from the city. Then he settled outside the city near a small stream Brutovshtitsa, where he built a small wooden church in the name of St. Archangel Michael. Struggling here in fasting and prayers, he sowed the seeds of the Christian faith in the hearts of the youths of Rostov, whom for this purpose he called to himself and fed with wheat boiled with honey. In the course of time, Saint Leonty again settled in the city and zealously preached the word of God and baptized many youths and adults.

The success of the missionary work of St. Leonty hardened the hearts of the Rostov residents of the pagan faith, and they decided to kill him. Once, with weapons in their hands, they approached the cathedral church and demanded that the saint come out to them. “The priests and deacons of the cathedral were frightened and began to beg their archpastor not to go out and secretly hide from the idolaters who were ready to kill him.” But he, having put on the episcopal vestments, together with the priests and deacons, who, at his command, dressed in sacred clothes, left the temple to the people. Struck by the courage of the saint and the light of heaven emanating from his face, the pagans fell to the ground, others became blind, others came into bodily relaxation and, like the dead, lay on the ground at the feet of the saint. Having prayed to the Lord, he raised them up and healed them; on his exhortation, they accepted his faith and were baptized, and from that time the church in Rostov began to grow. “Then the darkness of idols began to depart, and the light of pious faith shone,” says the ancient commendation Saint Leonty.

Death, relics

Information about the death of St. Leonty is contradictory: according to one - he died in the world, according to others - he was killed by a mob of pagans; some attribute his death to 1070, others believe that he was killed in 1073. E. Golubinsky says that he died around 1077. In any case, all the lists of the life indicated by Metropolitan Macarius are in accordance with the first and second editions of the Epistle of St. Simon, tell about the peaceful death of St. Leontius. And Bishop John of Rostov in his canon to the saint glorifies St. Leonty, as blessed and reverend, but not as a martyr. And in the service to this saint, composed simultaneously with the canon and, most likely, by the same Bishop John, it is very clearly said about his peaceful death: at the “Lord I have cried” at the Great Vespers).

On the other hand, Bishop Simon of Vladimir and Suzdal writes the following about Leonty: “Leonty, Bishop of Rostov, a great saint, whom God glorified with incorruption, he was the primate; after many torments, he was killed by infidels.

The holy body of St. Leonty Equal-to-the-Apostles was buried in the Dormition Cathedral Church in Rostov, and was found incorruptible in 1162 when digging ditches under the walls of the stone cathedral church newly laid by Grand Duke Andrei Bogolyubsky on the site of the oak cathedral Cathedral of the Assumption Church that burned down in 1160, and then laid in the sent by the same prince in a stone coffin arranged in honor of him in a small chapel on the south side of the altar of the cathedral church. Rostov Bishop John established the celebration of the saint on the day of finding his relics - May 23. But the vaults of the cathedral church, erected by little-skilled architects, soon collapsed and the relics of St. Leonty were transferred to the church of John the Theologian (which from that time replaced the Rostov cathedral church) and remained there until 1231; in the same year, on February 25, they were again transferred to the newly rebuilt church in the name of the Assumption of the Mother of God and placed in the chapel dedicated to the name of the saint. In 1609, the Poles and Lithuanians, who devastated Rostov, stole the golden shrine of the saint and his precious icon, and since then the relics of St. Leonty rest under a bushel, and in the place of their rest there is a shrine with his tomb icon. In 1800, by the zeal of Rostov citizens of cancer, a silver canopy was arranged for the saint, recently decorated with an elegant gilded bronze canopy. During the last restoration of the Rostov Assumption Cathedral in 1884, “the Lord deigned to partly open the place of the underground rest of the Rostov miracle worker: under the floor (in the dungeon) of the current chapel in the name of St. Leonty, an ancient chapel was opened in honor of this saint, in which on the south side there is a niche decorated with ancient frescoes depicting Saint Leonty, the repose and finding of his relics; next to the wall image of St. Leonty, almost flush with the brick floor of the chapel, right under the now existing silver shrine of St. Leonty, a tomb immured with white stone was opened, in which, it is believed, the honest relics of St. Leonty".

Among Russian peasants, this saint was called Borage, since the day of his memory was considered the time suitable for planting cucumbers.

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Notes

Literature

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Melnik A. G. On the reflection of the life of Leonty of Rostov in the icon of this saint from the collection of the Yaroslavl Art Museum // . - Yaroslavl, 2009. - S. 99-105. - ISBN 978-5-91637-004-1.
Nikolsky A.// Russian biographical dictionary: in 25 volumes. - St. Petersburg. -M., 1896-1918.
Trubacheva M. S.// "Uvarov Readings - III. Russian Orthodox monastery as a phenomenon of culture: history and modernity” / Proceedings of the scientific conference dedicated to the 900th anniversary of the Murom Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery. - Murom, 2001. - S. 82-86.
Filippovsky G. Yu.// Dictionary of scribes and bookishness of Ancient Russia. XI - the first half of the XIV century. L., 1987, p. 159-161
Filippovsky G. Yu. On the origin of the early short edition of the Life of St. Leonty of Rostov // Ancient Russia. Medieval Questions. 2007. No. 3 (29). pp. 115-116.

An excerpt characterizing Leonty Rostovsky

Old Gavrilo brought wine.
- Shouldn't we send for Alfons Karlych now? Boris said. He will drink with you, but I can't.
- Go-go! Well, what is this nonsense? Rostov said with a contemptuous smile.
“He is a very, very good, honest and pleasant person,” said Boris.
Rostov once again looked intently into Boris's eyes and sighed. Berg returned, and over a bottle of wine, the conversation between the three officers brightened up. The guards told Rostov about their campaign, about how they were honored in Russia, Poland and abroad. They told about the words and deeds of their commander, the Grand Duke, anecdotes about his kindness and temper. Berg, as usual, was silent when the matter did not concern him personally, but on the occasion of anecdotes about the irascibility of the Grand Duke, he told with pleasure how in Galicia he managed to talk with the Grand Duke when he went around the regiments and was angry for the wrong movement. With a pleasant smile on his face, he told how Grand Duke, very angry, drove up to him and shouted: “Arnauts!” (Arnauts - was the favorite saying of the Tsarevich when he was angry) and demanded a company commander.
“Believe me, count, I was not afraid of anything, because I knew that I was right. You know, Count, without boasting, I can say that I know the orders for the regiment by heart and I also know the charter, like our Father in heaven. Therefore, count, there are no omissions in my company. Here is my conscience and calm. I came. (Berg half stood up and imagined how he appeared with his hand to the visor. Indeed, it was difficult to portray in a face more respectful and self-satisfied.) Already he pushed me, as they say, push, push; pushed not on the stomach, but on death, as they say; and "Arnauts", and devils, and to Siberia, - said Berg, smiling shrewdly. - I know that I'm right, and therefore I am silent: isn't it, Count? "What, are you dumb, or what?" he screamed. I keep silent. What do you think, Count? The next day it was not even in the order: that's what it means not to get lost. So, count, - said Berg, lighting his pipe and blowing rings.
"Yes, that's nice," said Rostov, smiling.
But Boris, noticing that Rostov was going to laugh at Berg, artfully dismissed the conversation. He asked Rostov to tell how and where he received the wound. Rostov was pleased, and he began to tell, during the story he became more and more animated. He told them his Shengraben affair in exactly the same way as those who took part in them usually tell about the battles, that is, the way they would like it to be, the way they heard from other storytellers, the way it was more beautiful to tell, but not at all. the way it was. Rostov was a truthful young man; he would never deliberately tell a lie. He began to tell with the intention of telling everything exactly as it happened, but imperceptibly, involuntarily and inevitably for himself, he turned into a lie. If he had told the truth to these listeners, who, like himself, had already heard stories of attacks many times and formed a definite idea of what an attack was, and expected exactly the same story, or they would not believe him, or, even worse, they would think that Rostov himself was to blame for the fact that what happened to him did not happen to him, which usually happens to the narrators of cavalry attacks. He could not tell them so simply that they all went at a trot, he fell off his horse, lost his arm and ran with all his might into the forest from the Frenchman. In addition, in order to tell everything as it happened, one had to make an effort on oneself to tell only what happened. Telling the truth is very difficult; and young people are rarely capable of it. They were waiting for a story about how he was on fire all over, not remembering himself, like a storm, he flew on a square; how he cut into him, chopped right and left; how the saber tasted the meat, and how he fell exhausted, and the like. And he told them all this.
In the middle of his story, while he was saying: "You cannot imagine what a strange feeling of fury you experience during an attack," Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, whom Boris was waiting for, entered the room. Prince Andrei, who loved patronizing relations with young people, flattered by the fact that they turned to him for protection, and well disposed towards Boris, who knew how to please him the day before, wanted to fulfill the desire of the young man. Sent with papers from Kutuzov to the Tsarevich, he went to young man hoping to find him alone. Entering the room and seeing an army hussar telling military adventures (the sort of people whom Prince Andrei could not stand), he smiled affectionately at Boris, frowned, narrowed his eyes at Rostov, and bowing slightly, wearily and lazily sat down on the sofa. He hated to be in bad company. Rostov flared up, realizing this. But it was all the same to him: it was a stranger. But, looking at Boris, he saw that he, too, seemed ashamed of the army hussar. Despite the unpleasant mocking tone of Prince Andrei, despite the general contempt that, from his army combat point of view, Rostov had for all these staff adjutants, to whom the newcomer was obviously included, Rostov felt embarrassed, blushed and fell silent. Boris asked what was the news at the headquarters, and what, without indiscretion, was heard about our assumptions?
“Probably, they will go ahead,” Bolkonsky answered, apparently not wanting to talk more in front of strangers.
Berg took the opportunity to ask with particular courtesy whether they would now issue, as was heard, double the fodder allowance to army company commanders? To this, Prince Andrei replied with a smile that he could not judge such important state orders, and Berg laughed joyfully.
“About your case,” Prince Andrei turned again to Boris, “we will talk later, and he looked back at Rostov. - You come to me after the show, we will do everything that will be possible.
And, glancing around the room, he turned to Rostov, whom he did not deign to notice the position of childish irresistible embarrassment, turning into bitterness, and said:
- You seem to be talking about the Shengraben case? You were there?
“I was there,” Rostov said with anger, as if by this he wanted to offend the adjutant.
Bolkonsky noticed the state of the hussar, and it seemed funny to him. He smiled slightly contemptuously.
- Yes! Lots of stories about this stuff!
“Yes, stories,” Rostov spoke loudly, looking at Boris and then Bolkonsky with furious eyes, “yes, there are many stories, but our stories are the stories of those who were in the very fire of the enemy, our stories have weight, and not stories of those staff thugs who receive awards without doing anything.
“Which do you suppose I belong to?” - calmly and especially pleasantly smiling, said Prince Andrei.
A strange feeling of anger and at the same time respect for the calmness of this figure was united at that time in the soul of Rostov.
“I’m not talking about you,” he said, “I don’t know you and, I confess, I don’t want to know. I'm talking about staff in general.
“And I’ll tell you what,” Prince Andrei interrupted him with calm authority in his voice. - You want to insult me, and I am ready to agree with you that this is very easy to do if you do not have sufficient respect for yourself; but you will agree that both the time and place are very badly chosen for this. One of these days we will all have to be in a big, more serious duel, and besides, Drubetskaya, who says that he is your old friend, is not in the least to blame for the fact that my physiognomy had the misfortune not to please you. However,” he said, getting up, “you know my name and you know where to find me; but do not forget,” he added, “that I do not consider myself or you offended at all, and my advice, as a man older than you, is to leave this matter without consequences. So on Friday, after the show, I'm waiting for you, Drubetskoy; goodbye, ”concluded Prince Andrei and went out, bowing to both.
Rostov remembered what he had to answer only when he had already left. And he was even more angry because he forgot to say it. Rostov immediately ordered his horse to be brought in and, after taking a dry farewell to Boris, rode off to his place. Should he go to the head quarters tomorrow and call in this fractious adjutant, or, in fact, leave the matter as it is? was a question that tormented him all the way. Now he thought with malice about how pleased he would be to see the fright of this small, weak and proud little man under his pistol, then he felt with surprise that of all the people he knew, he would not have wanted so much to have his friend like this adjutant he hated.

On the next day of Boris' meeting with Rostov, there was a review of the Austrian and Russian troops, both fresh, who had come from Russia, and those who had returned from the campaign with Kutuzov. Both emperors, the Russian with the heir to the Tsarevich and the Austrian with the Archduke, made this review of the allied 80,000th army.
From early morning, smartly cleaned and cleaned troops began to move, lining up on the field in front of the fortress. Then thousands of feet and bayonets with fluttering banners moved, and at the command of the officers they stopped, turned around and formed up at intervals, bypassing other similar masses of infantry in different uniforms; then with measured stomp and rattling sounded elegant cavalry in blue, red, green embroidered uniforms with embroidered musicians in front, on black, red, gray horses; then, stretching out with its copper sound of trembling on carriages, cleaned, shiny cannons and with its own smell of overcoats, artillery crawled between the infantry and cavalry and was placed in designated places. Not only generals in full dress uniform, with impossibly thick and thin waist and reddened, propped up collars, necks, in scarves and all orders; not only pomaded, well-dressed officers, but every soldier, with a fresh, washed and shaved face and cleaned up to the last possible shine with ammunition, each horse, groomed so that, like satin, its wool shone on it and hair to hair lay wetted mane, - everyone felt that something serious, significant and solemn was happening. Each general and soldier felt their insignificance, conscious of being a grain of sand in this sea of people, and together they felt their power, conscious of being part of this huge whole.
Intense chores and efforts began from early in the morning, and at 10 o'clock everything came into the required order. Rows lined up on the vast field. The whole army was stretched out in three lines. Cavalry in front, artillery in back, infantry in back.
Between each row of troops there was, as it were, a street. Three parts of this army sharply separated from one another: the combat Kutuzovskaya (in which the Pavlogradites stood on the right flank in the front line), army and guard regiments that had come from Russia, and the Austrian army. But all stood under one line, under one command and in the same order.
As the wind swept through the leaves, an excited whisper: “They are coming! they're going!" Frightened voices were heard, and a wave of fuss over the last preparations ran through all the troops.
Ahead of Olmutz appeared a moving group. And at the same time, although the day was calm, a light stream of wind ran through the army and slightly shook the weather vanes of the lance and the unfurled banners that were rattled on their shafts. It seemed that the army itself, with this slight movement, expressed its joy at the approach of sovereigns. One voice was heard: "Attention!" Then, like roosters at dawn, the voices repeated in different directions. And everything went quiet.
In the dead silence only the sound of horses could be heard. It was the suite of emperors. The sovereigns drove up to the flank and the sounds of the trumpeters of the first cavalry regiment were heard, playing a general march. It seemed that it was not the trumpeters who played it, but the army itself, rejoicing at the approach of the sovereign, naturally made these sounds. Because of these sounds, one young, gentle voice of Emperor Alexander was clearly heard. He said hello, and the first regiment barked: Hurrah! so deafening, long, joyful that the people themselves were horrified by the number and strength of the bulk that they made up.
Rostov, standing in the forefront of the Kutuzov army, to which the sovereign approached the first, experienced the same feeling that every person in this army experienced - a feeling of self-forgetfulness, a proud consciousness of power and a passionate attraction to the one who was the cause of this triumph.
He felt that it depended on one word of this man that this whole mass (and he, associated with it, an insignificant grain of sand) would go into fire and into water, to crime, to death or to the greatest heroism, and therefore he could not help but tremble and freeze at the sight of that approaching word.
– Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! - thundered from all sides, and one regiment after another received the sovereign with the sounds of a general march; then Hurrah! ... general march and again Urra! and hooray!! which, growing stronger and stronger, merged into a deafening rumble.
Until the sovereign arrived, each regiment, in its silence and immobility, seemed like a lifeless body; as soon as the sovereign was compared with him, the regiment revived and thundered, joining the roar of the entire line that the sovereign had already passed. At the terrible, deafening sound of these voices, in the midst of the masses of the army, motionless, as if petrified in their quadrangles, carelessly, but symmetrically and, most importantly, hundreds of horsemen of the retinue moved freely and in front of them were two people - emperors. The restrained passionate attention of all this mass of people was undividedly focused on them.
Handsome, young Emperor Alexander, in a horse guards uniform, in a three-cornered hat, put on from the field, with his pleasant face and sonorous, soft voice attracted all the power of attention.
Rostov stood not far from the trumpeters and from afar with his keen eyes recognized the sovereign and followed his approach. When the sovereign approached at a distance of 20 steps and Nicholas clearly, to every detail, examined the beautiful, young and happy face of the emperor, he experienced a feeling of tenderness and delight, the like of which he had not experienced before. Everything - every feature, every movement - seemed to him charming in the sovereign.

Celebrations are coming in our city - on June 5, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of St. Leonty, Bishop of Rostov, as well as all the saints of the Rostov-Yaroslavl land. Before the events of 1917 Leontief Day, which fell on May 23 according to the old style (modern June 5), was one of the most solemn of the year in Rostov. It was celebrated as the day of the city.

In the newest period, since 1964, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy (Simansky) and the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on the day of St. Leonty of Rostov, the celebration of the Cathedral of Rostov and Yaroslavl saints was established. Instead of a fair and festivities, Vladyka established the citywide religious procession, which has been going from the Kremlin to the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery for more than a year. Passing along the main street of Rostov to the monastery, in which the relics of three Rostov saints rest at once, the procession prayerfully sanctifies the city and reminds its inhabitants of the saints of God, whose intercession it stands.

Saint Leonty is the enlightener and patron of our land. He is one of the most revered Russian saints. Unfortunately, information about him is scarce and contradictory, like about most of the saints who lived in such a distant era. More than two hundred lists with his life have been preserved, which indicates the great popularity and veneration of the saint. These lists have been preserved in two main editions, but the information in them differs too much.

The first and oldest of the surviving editions is believed to have been created in the 60s of the XII century - during the reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky in Rostov. According to this life, Leonty was born in Constantinople (Constantinople), the capital of the Byzantine Empire, was an educated person for his time and, for his great virtues, was appointed bishop of Rostov. It is known that Andrey Bogolyubsky aspired to church independence of Rostov from Kiev. By the desire to emphasize the fact that Rostov was introduced to Christianity directly from Byzantium, and not from Kiev, some researchers explain the creation of just such a version of the life of Leontius.

Another edition is based on the information of Bishop Simon of Vladimir. He was tonsured the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra - the oldest Russian monastery. Having become the first bishop of the Vladimir-Suzdal land in 1215, he writes letters in which he talks about the great ascetics of the Pechersk Lavra he loved. In one of these epistles, included in the Pechersk Patericon, he says: “From the Pechersk Monastery, many have been appointed bishops ... The first is Leonty of Rostov, the great saint, whom God glorified with incorruption. This was the first throne, whom the infidels tortured and beaten a lot. This information refers to the 20s of the XIII century. From this report, historians conclude that Saint Leonty was a Russian, asceticized in the Lavra during the lifetime of its founder Anthony of the Caves, was tonsured here, and was the first of the Caves monks to be elected to episcopal service. This happened no later than 1051, because in that year he was honored with the episcopal rank and the second of the tonsures of Anthony - Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kiev.

To reconcile the two versions, the well-known historian of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov), admits that Leonty could be a Greek who came to Russia, lived in Kiev, took tonsure here, and then was appointed bishop in Rostov, former center vast area at the time.

It is generally accepted that the first bishop of Rostov was Fedor, a Greek by birth, who arrived at the cathedra in 991. It was under him that the first wooden building of the Assumption Cathedral was built. Unable to endure the stubbornness and enmity of the local population, Fedor, as well as Hilarion, who came after him, also a Greek, left the city, after which there was no bishop here for some time. The next bishop in Rostov was Saint Leonty. He was the first to establish Christianity in this region and had the results of his labors. It must be said that in Lately historians are more inclined to believe that the Rostov diocese was formed in the late 60s or in the 70s of the 11th century under Saint Leonty, and he was its first bishop.

About the preaching of Christianity among the pagans in the life of Leonty it is said as follows: “The saint preached the doctrine and taught in the church. He urged people affectionately, like babies, to abandon idol obsession and believe, worship the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The old men, stagnant in their unbelief, did not heed his teachings. Then the blessed one left the old and began to teach the young.”

Being expelled from the city by the inhabitants, unlike his predecessors, Leonty did not leave them, but settled outside the city, on the banks of the Brutovshchina stream, at its confluence with Lake Nero. Here he built a hut for himself, and later a wooden one. Temple in honor of the Archangel Michael. He invited children to his place, treated them, studied with them and in such a relaxed atmosphere talked about Christ.

The fact that the exiled bishop attracted children to him caused parental anger. “And the pagans rushed to his holy head, thinking of driving him out and killing him,” - to drive him out of their borders in general. But then a miracle happened. Seeing the angry crowd approaching the temple, the bishop told the ministers who were with him to put on priestly robes. Dressed up myself. With a cross in his hands, he went out to meet angry people. We do not know what they saw, but what they saw made them fall to the ground in fear: "And when they saw him, they all fell dead." After this incident, the inhabitants believed in Christ and themselves asked Leontius to baptize them. Thus, among the stubborn pagans, the first Christians appeared. And although it was very far from the widespread conversion of the Rostovites, a start was made.

After this, the Life reports that, having performed many other miracles worthy of memory, the saint soon departed in peace to the Lord. But even here the testimony of the Life is contradicted by the testimony of Paterik. Bishop Simon reports on the saint's martyrdom: "The unbelievers, having tormented him much, killed him." It is believed that St. Leonty died during the so-called uprising of the Magi, which engulfed North-Eastern Russia around 1075-76 (in the annals, he is told under the year 1071).

The relics of St. Leonty, as well as his successor, St. Isaiah, were discovered in 1164 under Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, during the construction of a new Assumption Cathedral in Rostov to replace the burned-out wooden one. When digging a ditch, they found a coffin covered with two boards. In it lay the incorruptible relics of the holy ascetic. They let Prince Andrei know, who was then in Vladimir. The prince, thanking the Lord for the discovery of such a treasure in his land, sent a stone coffin to Rostov, in which the body of the saint was laid. Over time, as a sign of special popular veneration, the relics of the saint were placed in a golden shrine, which was plundered and desecrated during the invasion of the city by the Poles in 1608. It is believed that it was after this incident that, in order to avoid further abuse of the shrine, the relics of Leonty were buried in the ground, and therefore they are now under a bushel in the Assumption Cathedral in Rostov.

Saint Leonty of Rostov is prayed for the gift of wisdom and patience.

We invite Rostov residents to take part in celebrations in honor of St. Leonty and all the patron saints of the city. The festive divine service, led by Bishop Kirill, will begin on June 5 at 9:00 am in the Assumption Cathedral. At the end of it - a religious procession, in which parishioners of all Rostov churches will take part. A meal will be offered to all participants in the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery.

Maria RUBTSOVA, assistant for scientific work of the abbot of the Spaso-Yakovlevsky Dimitriev Monastery.

Graduated from the parochial school
1899-1909 - clerk in the Tarnograd court
On January 1, 1910, he entered the Yablochinsky St. Onufrievsky first-class non-communal monastery, located two versts from the village of Yablochna, Belsky district, Sedlec province.
1911 - took tonsure with the name Leonty in honor of Leonty, Saint of Rostov
In 1914, the 2nd Patriotic War began, and the brethren of the Yablochinsky Monastery, due to the proximity of the front line, were evacuated deep into Russia. Father Leonty was assigned to the Moscow Epiphany Monastery.
1916 - during his stay in Moscow he graduated from the Theological School and was ordained a hierodeacon, and then a hieromonk.
1919 - graduated from the Theological Seminary
1922 - Patriarch Tikhon appointed St. Leonty vicar of the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimevsky monastery with elevation to the rank of archimandrite.
When Father Leonty arrived at the monastery, he discovered that life in it had fallen into a complete disorder: divine services were not performed in due order, neglected economic affairs required an urgent solution, many of the brethren sympathized with the renovationist schism that tormented the Church in those years and was supported by the authorities. The new governor set about restoring order, but faced the hostile attitude of the brethren. Father Leonty was vilified in every possible way, called names, and slandered. Some of the monks even raised their hand against their abbot, severely beating him and trying to force him to leave the monastery. But ordinary people - pilgrims and residents of Suzdal fell in love with Father Leonty for his meekness, kindness and sincere faith. Father Leonty remained faithful to Patriarch Tikhon.
During his service in Suzdal, the saint, despite difficult conditions, attracted many people to the Church. His name became widely known among believers. And in 1930 Father Leonty was arrested. He angered the local authorities by obstructing anti-religious propaganda with daily worship and his sermons. The reason for the arrest was the love of Father Leonty for bell ringing. Later, he recalled it like this: “... ringing was then prohibited. And I ... so wanted to glorify the Lord with a ringing. Climb up the bell tower and let's call. I called for a long time. I go down from the bell tower, and they already meet me with handcuffs. Conclusion Father Leonty was serving in the Komi ASSR. He worked as a paramedic at a road construction site.
1933 The saint returns from the camp and begins to serve in the village of Borodino, Gavrilovo-Posadsky district, Ivanovo region. But his stay in a new place was short-lived - on October 19, 1935, he was again arrested.
Saint Leonty said: “When I was walking down the street in Moscow, a blessed one was sitting there, he predicted to me: “The time will come, they will lead you along the street and drive you with rifle butts.” It came true in Gavrilov Posad. The meager property of Father Leonty was confiscated and loaded onto a cart. He himself, with his hands tied, was tied to this cart by the neck, like a dumb animal. Under the mockery and ridicule of the Soviet people, the saint in this form was sent to the district department of the N.K.V.D. During the interrogations, Saint Leonty pleaded not guilty to the crimes brought against him, and was sentenced to imprisonment in a forced labor camp for a period of three years. By that time, the saint had been diagnosed with heart disease, but the commission found him fit for physical labor. Conclusion St. Leonty served in the Karaganda camps, working as a stove-maker at the medical unit.
In the winter of 1935, a whole group of prisoners was gathered on the platform of the railway station in the city of Ivanovo, among them there were many priests; all were shaved and shorn. Despite this, the fathers recognized each other and right here on the platform, they sang loudly, at the top of their voices, the prayer “To the King of Heaven.” They sang so inspirationally and beautifully that the people around cried. The guards rudely stopped singing, and as punishment, the wagons with prisoners were driven to a dead end. There was a severe frost, from which many exiles died in a few days. Only in one carriage, in which Saint Leontius was, did everyone survive. He called on all the prisoners to bow to the ground with the Jesus Prayer at night, and therefore none of them froze.
In the camp of St. Leontius, as a priest, they tried to "re-educate". One Easter night, the guards demanded that the saint renounce God. He refused to do so. Then the communists tied him to a rope and lowered him headlong into the lavatory. After a while, they lift him up and shout: “Do you renounce?”, And he told them - “Christ is risen, guys.” So long they published over him, but they could not force him to renounce God.
The saint once said: “...often we were not allowed to sleep for whole nights. As soon as you lie down, you shout: "Get up, line up on the street," - and it's cold and raining outside. They begin to torment: "lie down, get up, lie down, get up," - and you fall right into the mud, into a puddle. They will command a retreat, as soon as you start to warm up and again shout: "Rise, line up." And this procedure until the morning, and in the morning for hard work.
When people complained about sorrows to Saint Leonty, he said: “These are not sorrows, but we used to eat in prison, and they would take us out, put us in a row and say: “Now we will shoot.” They’ll take aim, scare them, and then drive them back to the barracks.”
At the end of 1938, he was released and returned to Suzdal, where he lived in a house on Lenin Street, 139. As far as is known, he did not serve in churches, but often walked around the villages of the Suzdal and Gavrilovo-Posad districts, making rites. Sometimes he came to the village of Nerl in the Teikovsky district, where he performed divine services at the home of his spiritual children.
After the end of the Great Patriotic War Saint Leonty was asked to return to the service, and he agreed.
On June 23, 1947, Bishop Mikhail of Ivanovo and Kineshma handed over to Father Leonty a decree on his appointment as rector of the church Life-Giving Trinity the village of Vorontsovo. On May 2, 1950, at 11 o'clock, after the Liturgy, the priest was arrested for the third time. Three days before his arrest, he suddenly began distributing to his spiritual children and his parishioners all his property, including cell icons. Father Leonty distributed money in cash and sent it by postal order. During interrogations, he said: “... in my sermons during divine services, I called on believers who attend the temple of God to faithfully believe in God, fulfill all the commandments, and regularly attend the temple.” One of the witnesses in the case testified during interrogation: “Stasevich himself ... serves according to the monastery charter, tries to keep the faith pure and instill it through church services and sermons. He always demands the fulfillment of all spiritual commandments.”
The indictment read: "... The accused Stasevich during the years 47-50, conducting divine services in the church, in his sermons spread anti-Soviet fabrications about the allegedly approaching "Last Judgment" and the "End of the World", interpreting religious scriptures in an anti-Soviet spirit" (spelling preserved original). The investigator requested that Father Leonty and his three spiritual daughters be sentenced to 10 years in the camps.
A special meeting under the Minister of State Security S.S.S.R. this petition was granted in respect of the 66-year-old Father Leonty. His spiritual children, as people from the worker-peasant environment, received 8 years in the camps. Father Leonty was sent to the Ozerny camp in Komi A.S.S.R.
In the camp, the saint, who was in advanced years, had a hard time, but the prisoners, seeing the holiness of his life and the strength of faith, respected the elder. The saint was placed in a cell with a recidivist thief; entering the cell, he bowed to the ground, and when the authorities came with an inspection, they saw that the thief was on his knees and weeping, and the saint was comforting him. The prisoners willingly shared food and warm clothes with the saint, and when the authorities offended him, the prisoners threatened to start a riot in the camp.
The miracle of exorcism. The head of the camp's daughter became seriously ill. The families of the officers apparently lived in the camp, in the wilderness, and the camp doctor could not even determine what kind of disease it was. Saint Leonty saw the girl and said that she was possessed by a demon. Desperate parents turned to him for help. Saint Leonty began to pray fervently for this girl, and the demon came out of her. In gratitude for this, the head of the camp gave him some relaxations in the regime and the opportunity to serve the Liturgy on Easter.
Soon Saint Leontius was released under an amnesty.

Upon the saint's return from prison, the new rector of the village of Vorontsovo greeted him extremely unkindly and even threatened to arrange another arrest for him.
And the saint again had to look for another place of service. For about a month he lived in Ivanovo, and on July 20, 1955, he was appointed by Archbishop Venedikt as rector of the church of Michael the Archangel in the village of Mikhailovsky Seredsky (now Furmanovsky) district.
In 1960, Father Leonty was awarded the right to serve the Divine Liturgy with the Royal Doors open until the Cherubim Hymn. In the summer of 1962, two local priests, for selfish purposes, slandered the saint, accusing him of a careless attitude towards shrines. Vladyka, not understanding the essence of the matter, banned Father Leonty from serving for a month. The saint wept a lot about this: “I am crying and weeping,” he said. “The awl in the bag will not hide, everything will come out, everyone will fly away.”
And so it happened. The priest, who slandered Father Leonty, did not stay long at the parish and was forced to leave it because of the parishioners' dislike for him. A year later, Vladyka Hilarion was transferred to a distant diocese. He had to leave Ivanovo by plane. Indeed, "everyone flew away." Saint Leontius was already 78 years old.
In 1963, the new Bishop of the Ivanovo diocese, Leonid (Lobachev), having familiarized himself with the situation in the diocese, returned the saint to his former place of service, to the village of Mikhailovskoye.

Rev. Confessor Leonty (Stasevich)

By Easter 1969, Father Leonty was awarded a second pectoral cross with decorations by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I
Saint Leonty celebrated the last Liturgy on February 7, 1972.
Died February 9, 1972 Buried at a common rural cemetery, not far from the village of Mikhailovskoye. Numerous miracles are performed at the tomb of the saint
Canonized in 1999 as a locally venerated saint of the Ivanovo diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.
August 2000 - canonized as the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia at the Jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church for general church veneration.

Reverend Father Leontie, pray to God for us!

Mid 11th century. More than half a century has passed since Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich was baptized. In Kiev and Novgorod there are majestic churches in the name of Sophia - the Wisdom of God. In the caves on the banks of the Dnieper, a monastic brotherhood is working under the guidance of St. Anthony. Along the ancient route from the Varangians to the Greeks, centers of Christian enlightenment are lit like signal fires. But this light almost does not penetrate through the dense Debryansk forest - to where Central Russia is today, to the banks of the Volga and Oka.

Live here different nations. Finnish tribes Merya, Muroma and the whole. Baltic tribe golyad. Slavs - Vyatichi. And they all remain pagans. The first Christian missionary in this land of forests, rivers and lakes was Saint Leonty, who in 1051 was appointed bishop to the city of Rostov.

Little is known about Leonty's early life. It is known that he was a native of Constantinople and a scholar. Prior to his appointment, he was a monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery. The Rostov see, where he went, was founded under Prince Vladimir, but the faith of Christ encountered strong resistance from paganism here. None of the predecessors of Leontius could not stay in the city.

In order to preach the Gospel to the pagans, Saint Leonty learned the Meryan language, which was spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of Rostov. In their native language, he urged them to abandon idolatry and worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But at first his work failed.

The Rostovites, and especially the representatives of the older generations, were not going to abandon the old religion. Leonty was expelled from the city, and he settled nearby, on the banks of a stream that flows into Lake Nero. Here the exiled bishop erected a wooden church in the name of the Archangel Michael and humbly prepared to continue his ministry.

In this situation, it was impossible to believe in the success of the future sermon, but Leonty believed.

Deacon: Holy Master, have pity on yourself! You have already suffered from these Rostovites. They survived the two lords Fedor and Hilarion from the city, and they will survive you. Let's go to Kiev. If you bow to Prince Izyaslav and the Metropolitan, they will give you another pulpit, closer and better than this one.

Leonty: No, I will stay here, where my lot fell to serve God.

Deacon: So all the senior and respected people of the city are against you! They won't let you serve!

Leonty: And what did the Lord say in the Gospel? “No one pours young wine into old wineskins: otherwise the young wine will break the wineskins, and the wine will flow out, and the wineskins will be lost; but young wine must be poured into new wineskins.” Young wine is the Word of God. Shabby bellows are people who are stagnant in old habits and delusions. New furs are young people who are ready to learn everything new. I will contact them now.

In his new residence outside the city limits, the saint began to gather Rostov youth and preached to them the Word of God. So Orthodoxy gradually took root in the North-East of Russia.

However, the calm times of the young Rostov church were still very far away. Paganism was not going to give up. From the annals it is known that in 1071 an uprising broke out in those places, caused by famine and crop failure. The uprising was led by pagan sorcerers from Yaroslavl, who considered noble women to be the culprits of the famine, who allegedly hid all the food with the help of witchcraft. Many innocent wives and girls were killed during this "witch hunt". Christians were also attacked.

The life of St. Leonty tells how he was the only one to remain calm in the face of a crowd of armed pagans, ready to tear apart the few Orthodox. “Don't be afraid, children, they can't do anything to us without God's command,” Leonty reassured his flock. Instead of running away, he blessed the priests to put on their clothes, pick up crosses and icons, and go out to meet the rioters. Then the Lord performed a miracle. The attackers were hit by an invisible force, fell to the ground, or were blinded. After that, Leonty healed them, led them to faith.

The creation of church life in a pagan land became the work of the whole life of St. Leonty, on which he labored until last days. Even dying in 1077, the saint did not stop thinking and praying about the future of his flock. When, a century later, during the construction of a new cathedral, the tomb with the relics of the saint was opened, Leonty held a scroll in his hand. On the scroll were written the names of each of the many priests and deacons he had ordained for the opening parishes. So strong was his paternal love.

The labors of St. Leontius gave abundant sprouts. Rostov the Great became one of the main centers of Orthodoxy in Russia. Our most revered Saint Sergius of Radonezh is also a native of the Rostov land, who lived three hundred years after Leontius. The interfluve of the Volga and Oka turned from a pagan outskirts into the center of Orthodox Russia.

Today, the complex of the Rostov Kremlin, the Dormition Cathedral of Rostov Veliky, where the relics of St. Leonty lie under a bushel, are an architectural image of Holy Russia. Hundreds of pilgrims and tourists come here every day to join this heritage.

The Saints Orthodox Church to St. Leontius - these are mainly saints Kievan Rus. Leonty of Rostov is the first Christian saint of the land that we now call Russia. It was Leonty who put the beginning of Orthodoxy on the lands of the Rostov-Suzdal land, and this blessed Meryan land gave many saints in subsequent centuries ...

The Chronicle of the Rostov Bishops says that Saint Leonty of Rostov, who was one of the first Rostov bishops, arrived in Rostov around 1051. In Rostov land, inhabited at that time by the Chud tribes, the Merei and Veps, who had not yet known Russian baptism, Saint Leonty met fierce resistance from the pagans, who expelled his two predecessors, Bishops Theodore and Hilarion. Prince Boris Vladimirovich, who helped the saints a lot in spreading Christianity among the Finns, was killed back in 1015, and when he arrived at his Rostov cathedra, Saint Leonty turned out to be a lonely fighter. He settled at the cathedral church and, first of all, took up the enlightenment of the clergy. His messages to them have been preserved.

Despite the constant danger, St. Leonty zealously converted the Meryan population to Christ.

Once he was beaten by pagans and expelled from the city, but he did not leave the spiritual flock entrusted to him and settled near Rostov, near the Brutovshchina stream, where he built a small church of the Archangel Michael. Children began to come to the saint local residents attracted by his spiritual goodness. He attracted them to himself, treating them with kutya, that is, boiled wheat with honey, and at the same time taught them the principles of the Christian faith and then baptized them. Soon, the adult population also reached out to the blessed archpastor and also received holy Baptism.

According to some sources, Leonty, in addition to Greek knew the Meryan language well and translated Christian texts into it.

But the hostility of the local population to the educator grew. In 1073, he was killed by pagans at the direction of the Arbui (Magi).

The body of the saint was buried in Rostov the Great in the church Holy Mother of God. During a fire in 1160, the temple burned down, and, by order of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, in 1162 a stone cathedral was laid on the site of the former one. On May 23, 1164, while digging ditches, incorrupt relics were found, they were transferred to a stone coffin and placed in the church of St. John the Theologian.

In 1170, when the construction of a stone church in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos was completed, the coffin was transferred to this temple. When, in the Time of Troubles, Lithuania stole the tomb of the saint (1609), they managed to put his relics under a bushel in the same church, near the southern wall, a chapel in his name.

During the restoration of the Rostov Assumption Cathedral in 1884, under the floor (in the dungeon) of the current chapel in the name of St. Leonty, an ancient chapel was opened in honor of this saint, in which on the south side there is a niche decorated with ancient frescoes depicting Saint Leonty, the repose and finding of his relics; next to the wall image of St. Leonty, almost flush with the brick floor of the chapel, right under the now existing silver shrine of St. Leonty, a tomb immured with white stone was opened, in which, it is believed, the honest relics of St. Leonty.

Saint Leonty stands among the first successors of the apostolic service of the Russian Church, following the saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga and the Great Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir.

His memory is celebrated on May 23 on the day of the uncovering of the relics and on the same day, together with the Cathedral of the Rostov-Yaroslavl Saints, on the 2nd Week of Great Lent, together with the Cathedral of St. Fathers of the Kiev Caves and All Saints.

Miracles of Leontius

Many miracles are described in the ancient handwritten lives of St. Leontius. Here are the most important ones:

1) Soon after the opening of the relics, on the feast of St. Leontius, the cathedral sacristan, having opened the church for matins, found all the candles lit and saw the saint rise from the tomb and pray with his hands raised to heaven.

2) One of the clergy extinguished the candle at the tomb of the saint, for which he was punished with relaxation of the whole body, deafness and dumbness, but was subsequently healed at the shrine of St. Leontius.

3) Prince Ivan Alexandrovich of Rostov (died in 1400) was healed three times through the intercession of St. Leontius: twice in infancy from an eye disease and the third time, already married, from a “fire bug”.

4) Under Grand Duke John and under Archbishop Tryphon (1462 - 1477), "scab" raged, from which the sick rotted and died: at the shrine of St. Leontius, many of them received healing.

5) Under the same Archbishop Zacharias, a servant of the prince; argued with the clergy about a piece of land. “The custom has long been with the former bishops, as if there was always a controversial word about the land with someone, then a priest with a Leonty cross is sent to the Rostov Kremlin to delimit.” So they did now. he was a stolen plot, when he began to shout that that earth was standing above him in a cloud and falling asleep to his eyes.The miracle worker, blinded in repentance, was led to cancer, and when the archbishop served a prayer service to Saint Leonty, Zacharias became healthy.

The only one in the whole world cast in gold, the shrine of the saint was stolen by Lithuania in 1609, and since that time the relics of the great saint have rested under a bushel in the southern limit of the Rostov Assumption Cathedral. In the same cathedral there is a small icon of the Savior on Ubrus, a very ancient Byzantine painting. folk tradition reveres her cell of St. Leonty.

Leonty Rostovsky is one of the most revered in Russia. It is no coincidence that on the day of memory of Leonty of Rostov, since 1964, the church honors all Rostov and Yaroslavl saints.