January 25 is the day of remembrance of the holy martyr Tatyana. We offer you to find out who Saint Tatyana is, how her life went, where temples and churches were built in her honor. Her name (in Church Slavonic Tatiana means "organizer") was given to her by her father in the hope that she would arrange her life in a new way, with Christ.
Childhood and youth of Saint Tatiana
Saint Tatiana grew up in a family of noble citizens of Rome. The parents of the future saint occupied a very high position in society, while they were secret Christians. The upbringing of the daughter was given special importance. From childhood, the future martyr well learned the ideals of Christian piety. Being faithful to Christ was a difficult and dangerous task that required a feat. The beginning of the II century from the Nativity of Christ is a time of persecution, the murder of believers. Thus, observing the life of believing Christians, the holy martyr Tatyana absorbed the idea of unrelenting faith as a child and asked God in childish prayers to give her the strength not to stray from the chosen path. The Lord granted her requests. Having become an adult, Tatiana rejected all joyssecure life, she decided to devote her talents to the church. Consciously, she refused marriage and chose the path of the "bride of Christ", that is, the path of virginity. So she adorned herself with the virtue of chastity.
Deaconess Tatian
The pastor of the church drew attention to the ardent faith and diligence of young Tatiana and offered her to serve as a deaconess. She accepted this honorary gift with joy and responsibility. As a deaconess, Saint Tatiana participated in divine services, her duties also included preparing people for the sacrament of Baptism, helping in this sacred rite. She tirelessly preached the word of God, worked as a missionary, visited the sick, in fact fulfilling Christ's commandment to love one's neighbor.
Martyr's Crown
In A. D. 222 Alexander Severus became the ruler of Rome, but his power was rather nominal. The real leadership was carried out by the ardent tormentor and opponent of Christians, the Roman mayor Ulpian. He persecuted believers and inflicted the most cruel reprisals on them. Of course, Tatiana's ardent faith and gracious service were noticed, and she was seized. The Holy Martyr Tatyana was taken to the place of sacrifice to the pagan idol Apollo, she was required to recognize him as a god and make a sacrifice. She began to pray, then there were tremors, as if from an earthquake, the statue of the idol scattered, many ministers died under the collapsed ceiling of the building.
What they saw caused fits of anger among the Roman guards, theythey began to beat the martyr, deprived her of her eyes, and inflicted other terrible torments. However, Saint Tatiana continued to pray. She asked God to enlighten her tormentors, to reveal the Truth to them. And the Lord heeded her prayer, the executioners saw angels coming to Saint Tatiana. Then they, and there were 8 of them, amazed by what they saw, threw themselves at the saint's feet, praying for the forgiveness of their sin, and confessed Christ as God. For this they were martyred.
Further torture of the saint
The next day, new tortures were invented for Tatiana. Her body was exposed, beaten and cut with razors. However, the tormentors quickly got tired, some even died themselves, as if someone took the blows away from the body of the martyr and directed them at them. At night, Saint Tatiana was thrown into prison, where she prayed until dawn.
When she appeared in court in the morning, she did not even show signs of the terrible torture she had been subjected to the day before. This time she was forced to make a sacrifice to the idol of the goddess Diana. And again the holy virgin prayed. What did the prayer bring to Saint Tatiana? The statue was reduced to ash by lightning.
In anger, the tormentors imprisoned her again. The next day, Tatiana was taken to the arena with a wild lion to be torn to pieces in front of the public. However, the lion did not harm the martyr in the least and even began to caress the saint and lick her feet. When one of the guards, suspecting that it was a tame animal, wanted to remove it from the arena, he tore it apart.
The torturers didn't know how else to torture the woman. HolyTatyana, whose icon is revered by the Orthodox throughout the world, was sentenced to death by beheading. At the same time, her father was also executed, who decided to follow the example of his daughter and open his faith. This event is dated January 12, A. D. 226
Temples consecrated in the name of the holy martyr Tatiana. Church of St. Tatiana at the State University. Lomonosov
One of the glorious churches of the Holy Martyr Tatiana is the church at Lomonosov Moscow State University. The history of its creation is very interesting and symbolic.
The initiators and ideologists of the opening of Moscow State University, the first university in Russia, were M. V. Lomonosov and Count I. I. Shuvalov. They petitioned the Empress for the establishment of a university. Empress Elizabeth granted the request by decree of January 25, 1755 (January 12, old style), on the day of memory of the martyr Tatiana. Naturally, this date became the birthday of the university. It is noteworthy that the name Tatiana is translated from Greek only as “founder”, “organizer”.
The Church of the Holy Martyr Tatyana was the place where many significant events for students were held, associated with famous artists. Marina Tsvetaeva received holy baptism in this church, funerals were performed for the great people of that time: N. V. Gogol, S. M. Solovyov, V. O. Klyuchevsky, A. A. Fet.
In Soviet times, the church housed a library and a student theater. In 1995, the authorities handed over the building of the temple to the Russian Orthodox Church. Today the entrance to the churchadorns a shining cross and the words: "The Light of Christ enlightens all." Since 2005, January 25 has been officially celebrated as Students' Day.
St. Tatiana Church at Omsk State University
Temples of Omsk are distinguished by a large number, one of them is St. Tatiana's Church. Only the first pages are being written in its history. In 2000, activists of the Omsk State University, mainly the Faculty of Theology, began to collect signatures from students and employees of the institution in support of the establishment of an Orthodox church.
It is worth noting that the church at Omsk State University was consecrated with the participation of the rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatyana at Moscow State University, Archpriest Maxim, who was in Omsk these days. The church of the Holy Martyr Tatyana at the university was created with great difficulty, not everyone liked its opening, there were even ardent opponents. However, in April 2001 the parish was officially registered. Later, the church managed to organize a church choir and a Sunday school.
But not only the temples of Omsk are famous for their consecration in honor of St. Tatyana. So, in Lugansk, since 1999, the construction of a church consecrated in honor of this martyr began. It should be noted that its construction took place with the money collected by the initiative students of the Lugansk National Institute, namely the Luhansk Region Union, consisting of volunteer detachments and the student parliament.
Church of St. Tatiana in Vladivostok
There is also a chapel consecrated in the name of the martyr Tatiana in Vladivostok. Until 2004, weddings, funerals andthe sacraments of baptism, and later liturgies began to be performed, for which they built a new room for the altar. The temple was included in a single university complex along with a memorial to the polytechnics who died during the Great Patriotic War and a bell tower. A particle of the relics of the martyr Tatiana was delivered to the chapel for the worship of believers, which remains there to this day.
Odessa St. Tatian Church
In 2000, the foundation of a church in honor of St. Tatiana was laid at the Law Academy in Odessa.
The consecration of the church and the first liturgy were performed for the students in 2006. By the way, the location of the St. Tatian Church is very good, because in its vicinity there is not one university, but a whole lot: the Institute of the Ground Forces, the Odessa Academy of Food Technologies, the Polytechnic Institute, as well as the hostel buildings and the building of the National University of Odessa. Mechnikov, Agrarian University. So the church can rightfully be called a student parish.
Honoring the Holy Martyr Tatyana
Saint Tatiana, whose icon is in every church, is revered by Christians around the world. However, it was for the Eastern Church that the martyr became so close and truly deserved popular veneration.
In Russia, St. Tatiana is considered the patroness of enlightenment, students, and education. Therefore, the day of her memory on January 25 is called Students' Day.
Many modern students consider the holy martyr Tatyana to be their heavenly patroness and helper. They pray to her the day beforeimportant events before exams. She is asked for help in mastering the sciences, protection from evil forces.
At about the same time, at the turn of the 1990s and 2000s, churches began to be built throughout Russia glorifying the holy martyr Tatiana, the patroness of enlightenment.
