In 1091, the relics of St. Theodosius were transferred to the Caves Church of the Assumption of the Virgin. Even before this event, 10 years after the death of the monk, his disciple Nestor wrote his detailed life, and thus the memory was left for imitation by believers in future centuries. The Monk Theodosius of the Caves is the founder of Russian asceticism. All Russian monks, in one way or another, oriented their spiritual life along the direction set by them.
Childhood of Theodosius
The presbyter at the birth of the boy prophetically gave him the name Theodosius, which means "Given to God." The holy land of Palestine, on which Jesus walked, when incarnated on earth, from early childhood attracted the youth Theodosius. In the end, the boy ran away, seduced by the tales of wanderers. The attempt was unsuccessful, as were those following it. In general, in the biography of the saint, we see a large volume that describes his childhood more than other saints.
The basis of the story of Theodosius's youth is a meek struggle with his mother for a spiritual calling, the tortures endured by him, three attemptsescape. They write about his childhood that the boy spent a lot of time in church, did not play street games with children, avoided children's companies. Theodosius of the Caves strove for the sciences and quickly learned grammar, surprising with reason and wisdom. The lad's love of books persisted throughout his life and manifested itself when he wrote books day and night in the monastery.
Thinness of Reese
Another interesting feature from Theodosius' childhood, which, given his religiosity, takes on a new meaning, was the wearing of bad, darned clothes. Parents gave him clean new clothes and asked him to wear them, but this is the only thing in which the lad did not obey them. Further, when on duty he had to wear bright and clean clothes, he wore them with a heavy heart, giving them away to the poor a few days later. He himself changed into old and patched clothes. "Thin robes" in general occupy not the last place in the life of the monk, showing his extraordinary humility from childhood. Theodosius of Kiev-Pechersk from childhood fell in love with the thinness of the vestment, made it a part of his life behavior and passed it on to all Russian asceticism.
When his father died, Theodosius chose for himself a new feat of humiliation and simplification: he went out into the field with the slaves and humbly worked with them, thus showing his ascetic ingenuity.
Image of Mother Theodosius
When Theodosius made his third escape, he ended up in Kyiv, in the cave of St. Anthony. The elder did not want to accept him as a student due to his youth, andTheodosius returned home. After that, there was a dramatic meeting with the mother, full of life's truth. The imperious despotism of maternal love does not cause severity in Theodosius, but uncertainty in his abilities and timidity. From the defeated in this struggle, he turns into a winner. As a result, he does not return to his mother, but she takes the tonsure in one of the Kyiv monasteries.
Monastic labors
Nestor, when he wrote the life of Theodosius of the Caves, liked to tell more than describe, therefore, little is written about Theodosius' personal exploits and his spiritual appearance and in different places in the narrative. Combining these scattered facts, one can form an idea of the ascetic life of St. Theodosius. The most severe feats of self-mortification of his body are written in the annals of the first years of his cave life. At night, struggling with carnal temptations, naked, the monk gives his body to mosquitoes and gadflies, while singing psalms. In the later life of Theodosius, one can see the desire to exhaust the body. Hiding his austerity, he wore a sackcloth, slept sitting on a chair, and prayed intensely at night. Comparatively small ascetic exercises Theodosius of the Caves made up for by the continuity of his labors. Strong and strong since childhood, he works both for himself and for others. Being in the monastery under Abbot Varlaam, he grinds grain at night for the entire monastery brethren. And even later, Theodosius, hegumen of the Kiev Caves, often took up the ax himself to chop wood or draw water from the well instead of sleeping or resting.
The spiritual life of Theodosius of the Caves
Many pages of the rather extensive life of the saint are devoted to his working and active life, balancing the exploits of the spiritual life. He devotes all his nights to prayer. Prayer is reserved exclusively for the time of Great Lent, which the monk spent alone in a cave. Nestor does not show any miraculous qualities of prayers or lofty contemplations. Prayer helped Theodosius gain complete fearlessness in front of dark forces and allowed him to help his students in getting rid of demonic night visions.
Theodosius, hegumen of Kiev-Pechersk
In the spiritual life of Theodosius there was one very important milestone for him - he put an end to the monastery in the caves, founded by Anthony. After hegumen Varlaam founded the first wooden church on the surface of the earth, Theodosius set up cells over the cave, which were left for Anthony and a few hermits. He belittles the silence and contemplation of a cramped cave for the sake of a working and fraternal life in order to build some kind of harmony. In this harmony, there are also personal notes of humility, meekness, and obedience. The Monk Theodosius of the Kiev Caves, as Nestor notes, for all his spiritual wisdom, was a simple mind. The "thin robes" that accompany him even during his abbess incur many ridicule.
There is a story about a princely servant who mistook the reverend for one of the poor and ordered him to change from the cart to the horse. Social humiliation and simplification was from childhood one of the features of his holiness. Placed at the head of the monastery,Theodosius did not change his temper. With his quietness and self-abasement, he teaches a lot in sermons, which are distinguished by their simplicity of form and content. Theodosius also tries to observe the monastic charter to the smallest detail in all its details and wants everything to be done according to order and with reverence. However, for all his exactingness, Theodosius did not like to resort to punishment. He was gentle even to those who, having run away, returned with repentance. The only certain image of severity was in relation to the economic affairs of the monastery.
St. Theodosius of the Caves
Nestor describes the stories of cellar Fyodor about how the holy abbot saved the monastery from various needs. These miracles, along with the gift of insight, are the only ones performed by Saint Theodosius of the Caves. Through all the miracles of the abbot passes the saint's prohibition to worry about tomorrow, his wasteful mercy. For example, the miraculous filling of the bins occurs in the order of natural regularity: while the monastic housekeeper despairs of what to cook dinner from or where to find wine for the liturgy, an unknown benefactor brings cartloads of wine and bread to the monastery. From the life of the saint, one gets the impression that the monastery exists only due to the inexhaustible flow of alms.
Saint Theodosius is very much concerned about statutory poverty - he takes away all the extra food and clothes from the cells and burns it all in the oven. He does the same with everything that is done without a blessing. The all-forgiving and kind abbot becomes severe in disobedience, whichstems from business accounting. It is noteworthy that even here he does not punish the guilty, but destroys only material goods, which, as he believed, absorbed the demonic principles of greed and self-will.
Mercy of Saint Theodosius
Remaining meek and merciful always and in everything, equally treating the robbers who came to rob his monastery, or sinful and weak monks, Saint Theodosius of the Caves not only did not isolate his monastery from the world, but also created the closest ties with worldly society. This is one of his testaments to Russian monasticism.
A house for the blind, lame and sick was built near the monastery with a church in the name of St. Stephen. A tenth of the entire income of the monastery went to the maintenance of this almshouse. On Saturdays, Theodosius sent a whole cartload of bread to the city for prisoners in prisons.
The Monk Theodosius was the spiritual father of numerous laity, including princes and boyars, who came to confess their sins. He initiated the tradition of choosing spiritual fathers among the monks. Since that time, the clergy began to exert even greater influence on the moral state of the people.
A quiet and meek mentor could be firm and relentless when it came to outrageous truth. One of Nestor's last stories tells about his intercession for an offended widow who came to him for help and, not recognizing him in shabby clothes, spoke about her misfortune.
Truthfulness of Saint Theodosius
Irreconcilability to untruth leads the abbot to clashes not only with judges, but also with princes. His spiritual confrontation with Prince Svyatoslav, depicted in his life, completes the spiritual portrait of Theodosius and is a symbol of the relationship of the Church to the state of Ancient Russia. When two brothers expel the elder from the throne of Kyiv, take possession of the city and invite Feofan to the feast, he refuses and denounces the brothers in the sins of murder and illegal possession of power, compares Prince Svyatoslav with Cain, and his brother with Abel. As a result, Prince Svyatoslav becomes angry. There are rumors about the exile of Theodosius.
Svyatoslav could not raise his hand to the righteous and, in the end, comes with humility to the monastery to Theodosius with an attempt to reconcile. Many times the righteous Theodosius unsuccessfully tried to beg Svyatoslav to reconcile with his brother, trying to reach the heart of the Kievan prince. In the monastery, he orders everyone to pray for the legitimate exiled prince, and only after long requests from the brethren does he agree to commemorate Svyatoslav in second place.
The life of St. Theodosius shows that the saint was ready to go into exile and death for the truth, obeyed the law of love and expediency in life. He considered it his duty to instruct the princes, and their duty to obey his teachings. But Theodosius appears in relation to the princes not as having power, but as the embodiment of the meek power of Christ. Prayer to Theodosius of the Caves calls for unshakable piety of souls and bodies, help and intercession, piety of the main persons of the country.
Such was Theodosius, living a holistic spiritual life, pouring out LightChrist from the depths of his soul, measuring the feats and virtue with the gospel measure. This is how he remained in the memory of Russian asceticism, such is the life of Theodosius of the Caves.
