Dosithea of Kiev is an Orthodox saint who is revered by the Russian Orthodox Church in the ranks of saints. Nun Dosifeya labored in the 18th century in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra under the name monk Dosifeya.
“...Do not talk about food, housing and other unimportant things, but go through your life with fear and trembling. Take care of this fear like a bird of paradise so that it does not fly away. If it flies away, you won't catch it. And for this, close the doors of your cell, gather your thoughts and bind your feelings with attention. Joys are momentary, but virtue is immortal. If you have reason, choose any..."
Venerable Dosifei of Kyiv.
Her death occurred on September 25, 1776. Commemorated on June 23.
Dosithea of Kiev is a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose memory is celebrated on September 25. Photo: molitvoslov.today
Dosifeya was born in 1721 into a family of rich and noble Ryazan nobles
In the 15th century, on China Mountain, the monks of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra created a cave monastery, and then the Lavra monastery. Many great elders labored in this place, but the most famous was Dosifei. He became famous for his great exploits. But no one suspected that the Orthodox ascetic Daria was hiding under the name Dosifei for many years.
Daria was born in 1721 into a family of rich and noble Ryazan nobles, the Tyapkins. They traced their line back to the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo Vasily Vargas, who became the favorite okolnik of Dimitri Donskoy.
Daria's grandmother, in her old age, left the world for the women's Holy Ascension Monastery. While staying at the Ascension Monastery, she became a nun with the name Porfiria. When the girl was only 2 years old, her parents went with her to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. When they passed through Moscow, they visited their grandmother, nun Porfiria, who asked to leave her granddaughter with her in order to guide her through prayers to salvation.
Therefore, monastic life from early childhood left a big imprint on Daria’s consciousness. She influenced her future life. The girl prayed like an adult; she had no concessions. She defended long monastic services along with everyone else. Daria lived in the monastery for quite a long time, about 7 years.
Venerable Dosithea, prayer book and intercessor for the people of Kyiv
This amazing story took place in the Kyiv southern outskirts monastery, called, mysteriously to the modern ear, the Chinese Desert. Really, what is “China”? What is “China”? We only know a huge country with a population of two billion, which in the old days called itself the Celestial Empire. Someone, perhaps, will remember the ancient Kitay-Gorod, located in the center of Moscow and not so long ago discovered in fragments during excavations.
But Kiev also has its own China (either from the Turkic word “China” - fortification, fortress, or the town was fenced with “whales”, special fortifying poles). And, by the way, this is not only a historical place, but also a spiritual one, connected with the life of famous ascetics of Orthodoxy. In Kievan China, in caves, almost since pre-Kiev times, ascetics of the faith, monks, who sought special prayerful solitude, settled. The monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery also flocked here. A monastery was formed here. And in 1763-1768, the famous Ukrainian Baroque architect S. D. Kovnir built a stone Trinity Church in the monastery. Over time, cells, a bell tower and other structures that have not survived to this day were built here.
Kitaevskaya Pustyn today
The Kitaevsky caves received a rebirth, that is, they “appeared” and were studied since the middle of the 19th century.
* * *
The most famous of the elders who labored in Kitaev was the Monk Dosifei (from Greek “given by God”; in the Russian tradition, the name with the reverse order of components is better known - Theodosius, the Russian version - Fedosey), who became famous in the 18th century.
Saint Dosithea of Kyiv
Only after the death of the elder it was discovered that the Orthodox ascetic Daria had been hiding under the name of Dosifei for many years. One of the fateful roles of Elder Dositheus for the Russian world was that the elder, while still in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, blessed the young tradesman Prokhor Moshnin, who came on foot from Kursk for the Sarov feat, who later became the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov. This is how this fateful event is sung in the Akathist by St. Seraphim: “Having diligence for the struggle of monastic life, you came to the holy city of Kiev for the sake of worship for the sake of the venerable Pechersk, and from the mouth of the Venerable Dositheus, we received the command to rule our way into the Sarov desert, by faith from afar you kissed this holy place and there you settled in your godly life and died... Rejoice, Rev. Seraphim, the miracle worker of Sarov."
* * *
Daria was born in 1721 into a family of noble Ryazan nobles, the Tyapkins, who descended from the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo Vasily Vargos, the beloved okolnichy Dmitry Donskoy, the Grand Duke of Moscow. Daria had monastic heredity: her grandmother in her old age became a nun, Porfiria, in the convent of the Holy Ascension for women near the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin. Two-year-old Dasha’s parents brought her to Moscow to stay with her grandmother, and Porfiria felt in her God’s chosen one. Surprisingly, from the age of five, Daria kept strict fasts, eating only bread and water on Wednesdays and Fridays. Having learned to read and write early and accustomed to her grandmother’s evening readings of the Gospel, Daria, when she was nine years old when she was returned to her parents’ home, was unable to take to heart the laws of worldly life.
At the age of fifteen, the girl secretly went on foot to Moscow to visit her beloved grandmother. However, she was not accepted into the monastery without her parents’ blessing. Daria bought men's clothing, cut her hair short and, under the guise of a peasant boy, went to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
Who was the well-read girl’s spiritual example? The Venerable Youth Maria, who, dressed in men's clothing, settled with her father in a monastery under the name Marin, performing miracles of asceticism. And Rev. Euphrosyne, at the age of 16, also dressed in a man's dress and, under the name of the royal eunuch Izmaragda, came to the men's monastery forever - settling there for 38 years and only three days before her death, on her deathbed, revealing herself to her father who had arrived at the monastery.
Daria also had to hide her secret, constantly being among the brethren, working in the most difficult obediences. The Orthodox think correctly: it was possible for a girl to withstand the difficult male obedience for three years only with God’s help.
The girl's relatives did not give up hope of finding their daughter; Apparently, having found out from people, they arrived at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and there they suddenly recognized her in one of the novices. Having a strong determination, Daria that same night, without entering into a conversation with her relatives, left the great monastery in order to reach the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the cradle of Russian monasticism, in two months.
However, in Kyiv, Archimandrite Hilarion Negrembetsky refused to accept the passportless fugitive as one of the brethren, and reported this to Metropolitan Raphael Zaborovsky, who, having talked with the petitioner and marveled at his intelligence and erudition, nevertheless, also did not consider it possible to break the law.
In the Kitaevsky caves today
It was then that Daria-Dosifey came to the Kitaevskaya hermitage, where on the top of the mountain she dug a cave in the ground with her hands, and lived there for 17 years. They say that the ascetic ate moss, roots mined at night, as well as bread and water, which from time to time a monk brought her from the Chinese desert.
Such asceticism could not help but gain worldly fame. And from all over Rus', both old and young began to flock to the wise old man Dosifei. And, as they assured, no one had ever seen the face of Elder Dosifei. And the low voice, gait and emaciated tanned face made it impossible to recognize Dositheus as a female person.
The Tyapkin family did not give up hope, and Daria’s sister Agafya once came from afar to the perspicacious old man in China on the mountain to find out about the fate of the missing one. Through the narrow window of his earthen cell, Dositheus blessed his sister and partly reassured her that Daria was given over to the monastic spiritual life, and indicated not to look for her anymore.
They claim that the old man never left the cave and never let anyone in. He communicated with those who came for advice and blessings through a small window. An exception was made only for the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, who arrived in Kyiv to visit the shrines in 1744 along with the heir to the throne, Peter Fedorovich, and his bride Catherine, the future Empress. It was then that the monks urgently prepared a path and a staircase of wooden steps for the Empress so that the Empress could walk up China Mountain to Dosifei’s Cave.
Steps to Dosifeev Mountain in the Chinese Desert
The queen spent a long time making a penitential confession from the elder, receiving advice about the future of the throne. Elizaveta Petrovna immediately ordered the rite of tonsure of Dosifei to become a monastic monk (who did not have any monastic rank), and she herself was present at it. During tonsure, the name of the ascetic was preserved.
* * *
When hermitage was prohibited in the Russian Empire, the Monk Dosifei moved to the Far Caves of the Lavra and spiritually educated here the future famous Solovetsky ascetic Theophan, who, with the blessing of the ascetic, spent some time in Moldavia in obedience to the Venerable. Paisiy Velichkovsky, the founder of the famous Russian eldership of the 19th century. And before his death, the Monk Dosifei himself directed Theophan to go to Solovki.
There was also such a prophetic episode in the life of Dosifei. One day the elder sent Theophan to the sexton of the Great Church, that is, the Holy Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Lavra, and ordered him to bring cherubic incense. Having placed the incense in his window, Dositheus began handing out a piece of it to everyone who came for a blessing, saying: “Here, take it and have a good smoke in your yard... Soon there will be a terrible misfortune... People will fall on the road and die like flies... But don’t be discouraged... Don’t lose heart, children... But pray, pray...” This was a prediction of the pestilence that broke out in Little Russia in 1770. They say that those who were endowed with the incense of St. Dositheus remained unharmed.
Dosifei spent the last four years of his earthly life in the above-ground Kitaevsky monastery. There is a legend that during the last period of his stay in the Lavra, Dosifei was a doctor. Having refused the rank of hierodeacon, he began to act like a fool for the sake of Christ, running through the streets of Kyiv, therefore the Lavra authorities invited him to move again to the Kitaevskaya hermitage.
Autumn in the Kitaevskaya desert. Modern look
It is known that the day before his death the monk came out of seclusion and walked through the cells, tearfully, falling to his knees, saying goodbye to the brethren. Dosifei died, once again secluded in his cell, on September 25 (October 8, according to the New Style) 1776, at the 56th year of his life. The monks discovered: Dosifei and the dead remained kneeling in front of the lectern, with his right hand raised in the sign of the cross; They note that in exactly the same way, in 1833, the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov would also depart to the Lord. The death of the ascetic coincided with the memory of the repose of St. Sergius of Radonezh, which also attracts attention. And in the left hand of the deceased a note was found with strange words: “My body is prepared for the instructions of eternal life; I beg you, brothers, to give him a normal burial without touching him.” No one began to break the will, and the ascetic was buried with great glory in the monastery fence on the north side of the Holy Trinity Church. However, this wonderful story had its continuation: a few years later, Daria’s sister Agafya Tyapkina again came to Kitaev to visit the elder. Not finding him alive, she saw the portrait of the monk Dosifei, her sister, and fainted. The world learned the secret of the ascetic.
Entrance to the caves of the Chinese Desert
* * *
After the death of Dosifei, the glorious spiritual thread of Kitaev was not stopped. In the middle of the 19th century, in the Chinese hermitage, the holy holy hieroschemamonk Theophilus (who died in 1853), a widely known and deeply revered elder who had the gift of clairvoyance and miracles, labored for Christ’s sake. Vladimir Shepelev, the future Kiev-Pechersk ascetic, Reverend Alexy (died in 1917), often visited Blessed Theophilus in his childhood with his mother. The elder predicted asceticism for Volodya in the rank of hieromonk.
In the second half of the 19th century, his mother Maria and another holy fool of Kiev, the cassock monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Paisiy (who died in 1893), worked in the monastery and buried here. Before his transfer from the Lavra to Kitaevo, he also visited St. Theophilus more than once.
The holy fool John Bosy (Kovalevsky; died in 1855), a well-known ascetic of piety in his time in Kyiv, was buried in the desert. The relics of St. Dosifei remain hidden today. However, the grave is equipped, and in the kontakion of the Akathist it is sung: “Even if the time has come for you to find your honorable body, we truly know that you will remain with us in spirit.”
The symbolic tomb of Eldress Dosithea in the Kitaevskaya Hermitage
Let us recall that the brick-lined underground building for the temple was built in Kitaev only in the second half of the 19th century. According to legend, during construction work, an unknown monk approached the monks working on the mountain and said: “This is a good idea, pleasing to God, and there will indeed be a church, but it will not be built soon,” after which he became invisible. In fact, only a century and a half later, in our days, in the described underground chamber, the Temple was consecrated in the name of the Venerable Dosithea of Kiev-Kitaev.
In the underground cell of the Venerable nun Dosithea. Monk Leonty. Modern photo
Today, October 8, Orthodox Christians celebrate the Day of Remembrance of St. Dosithea of Kyiv. Spiritual verses composed by pilgrims are dedicated to her, the prayer book and helper of all those who suffer:
Mournfully I leaf through the book of my days in the late afternoon ringing silence. Most Holy Mother of Dosithea, remind the Lord of me. I reject the imperfect world - save me from its snares, reveal the meaning of life to me, offering to help me to reconcile with God... Most Holy Mother of Dosithea, entering the host of rains and bad weather, I sadly see off the flocks of birds, peering into the cloudy sky. ... Once again the golden foliage is spinning, blazing at the end of the day. Most Holy Mother Dosithea, if you want, beg me.
The help of great ascetics does not stop even after death. And Elder Dosithea, after her death, begs everyone who turns to her for help.
The sky over Kyiv China
https://odnarodyna.com.ua/articles/14/2120.html
Soon Daria was returned home to receive a secular upbringing and education
Seven years later, it was decided to send the girl back home to a secular upbringing, as was customary with a noble origin. But this new life did not seem very good to Daria; it was a useless burden for her.
The people around were perplexed how such a rich girl could live like a peasant woman, sleep on a board, and put hay under her head. But Daria was alien to the rich parental home, which was full of guests.
To give Daria a secular education, a French teacher was hired for the recluse.
But Daria decided to make her choice. One May day she asked to go into the forest with her sisters. For her, this was the only opportunity to leave home forever. Without regretting anything, she left her parents and people close to her.
At first she decided to go to the Ascension Monastery and return to her grandmother, but she realized that her parents would find her there and force her back. She cut her hair, bought men's clothes at the market, and began to look like a simple peasant boy. After that, she went to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The very long journey greatly changed her face; it became rough and dark from the scorching sun. That is why no one would be able to recognize her as a real noble girl.
Birth and youth
Daria was born into a family of Ryazan nobles, the Tyapkins, in 1721. When little Daria was two years old, her parents visited the holy places of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and, along the way, stopped at the Ascension Monastery with Elder Porfiria, the reverend’s grandmother, who had recently decided to devote the rest of her life to God. At Porfiria’s insistence, Daria stayed with her and remained within the blessed walls of the monastery until she was nine years old. Porfiria diligently raised her granddaughter, instilling in her Christian virtues: humility, non-covetousness, obedience, love for one's neighbor. As a result, when the parents took their daughter into the family, Dosithea, who by that time had tasted the joy of communicating with God in obedience and repentance, was unable to get along with the mores of noble life. The saint’s akathist says: “Rejoice, you who have known the sweetness of obedience before the temptations of this world” (Ikos 1). Truly, in terms of the purity of her thoughts and actions, Dosithea can be compared with the Great Martyr Barbara, who firmly preserved her convictions under the onslaught of the world. Daria was not at all happy about moving to her parents' house. Until the age of sixteen, she maintained an ascetic spirit in the family: she slept on a plank, was a stranger to the entertainment of her relatives and never went to balls and other social gatherings, did not eat the food offered to her, and ate much more modestly. In the end, under the threat of being given away in marriage, she had to run away from home, and at the age of sixteen she left her parents' home and went to Moscow in search of a monastery refuge.
Daria spent three years in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra
So 3 years passed. One day her mother arrived at the Lavra, having been looking for her for so long. She prayed for a very long time at the relics of the holy saints. During the service, she noticed a young novice, and her mother's heart guessed her beloved child!
She approached the monks and asked this young novice to come to her after the service at the hotel. But the future elder Dosifei did not wait for his exposure, and again set off on the road. Thus began her immense ascetic journey.
Daria returned to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, but after 2 months she stood in front of the abbot and said that from early childhood, he dreamed of becoming a monk. Dositheus of Kyiv was accepted into the ranks of the brethren.
He lived on the territory of the Kitaevsky desert. Orthodox ascetics settled there. So the recluse of Kiev turned into Elder Dosifei.
With his own hands he dug a cave for himself in the ground, and lived like that for 17 years. He ate only bread. Then many people learned about the perspicacious and wise old man. They often came to him for help.
Wandering
Arriving in Moscow and visiting places familiar from childhood, Daria realized that it would not be easy for her to hide from her parents’ searches. Then she buys men's clothing at the market and comes to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, introducing herself as the fugitive peasant Dosifei. The laws of those times could allow the abbot to accept such a young man into the brethren only with the permission of St. Synod or Emperor. Nevertheless, Dosifei was left on obedience. The ascetic’s stay in the monastery lasted three years, but Daria’s parents, who had searched her by that time, once stopped at the holy monastery, noticed Dosifei from afar and organized a meeting with him. Having identified his relatives waiting to meet him, Dosifey did not wait for the revelation and immediately headed to Kyiv. The Kiev Pechersk Lavra also did not accept Dosifei. Then the ascetic went to a suburb called Kitaevo and, having dug a cave in the mountain, following the example of the Venerable Father Anthony, began the work of salvation. Dositheus ate bread, water and pasture and never kept a fire in his cave cell. At the same time, the fame of the amazing ascetic began to spread throughout the area.
Empress Elizabeth herself came to Dositheus of Kyiv with her son
No one could see his face, since he constantly sat in the cave and did not allow anyone to come to him. He made an exception only when Empress Elizabeth herself arrived with her son.
Empress Elizabeth herself came to Dositheus of Kyiv with her son
One day, his sister came to him and tried to find out about the fate of her missing sister Daria. But the monk calmed her down and said that her sister had become a nun and was serving the Lord.
It is also worth saying that it was Dositheus who blessed Seraphim of Sarov to go to the Sarov hermitage.
When hermitage became prohibited in the Russian Empire, Elder Dosifei settled in the distant caves of the monastery, where he was assigned a cell attendant named Theophanes.
Theophan was also a famous saint of the Russian Orthodox Church after Dositheos
One day the Monk Dosifei sent his cell attendant to bring him some incense, after which he distributed a piece of it to everyone who came. He also said that “people will fall on the road and die like flies, but do not lose heart, but pray.” And indeed, at the end of the 1770s, a pestilence occurred in Ukraine.
Venerable Dosifei – life
Venerable Dosifei – life
Dositheus was a relative of a rich governor and lived in great bliss and luxury.
Baptized as a child, he had never heard the word of God. But one day he had to be in holy Jerusalem, and, walking through Gethsemane, he saw an image of the Last Judgment. Dosifei looked at him with attention and surprise, and suddenly the Mother of God appeared to him (and he thought she was an ordinary woman) and began to talk about the punishment for sins. The young man was amazed at this story, for he had previously known nothing about the Court, and exclaimed: “Mistress! What should I do to be saved? She answered him: “Fast, don’t eat meat, pray often and you will get rid of torment.” Having said this, she became invisible. And Dositheus was moved and from then on kept the commandments given to him by the Mother of God. The soldiers who were with Dositheus, seeing his well-behaved life, advised him to become a monk. And he, having not heard anything about monasticism, said to them: “Lead me where you know; I don't know where to go." And the soldiers took him to the monastery of Abba Serid.
In that monastery there were many great ascetics who remained in silence, of whom the most excellent were two elders - Barsanuphius and his disciple John the Prophet, so called for the gift of clairvoyance that he had from God. Saint Dorotheos also lived there, who devoted himself to complete obedience to the elders and talked with Barsanuphius through Abba Serida, and Abba was honored to serve John the Prophet.
The elders blessed the Monk Dorotheus to be the head of the monastery hospital and sent Dosifei to submit to him. When Dorotheus doubted that he could spiritually guide him, Barsanuphius blessed him through Abba Serida: “Accept this young man, for through you God will save him.”
Then Dorotheus joyfully accepted Dositheus and began to guide him in the Lord. The young monk quickly became accustomed to the monastic rules and began to live like all the reverent brethren. He did not perform any special external feats: he ate and slept no less than everyone else, and no one considered him to be someone great.
But great was the secret feat of the Monk Dosifei, for he completely cut off his will before his spiritual father and always obeyed him unquestioningly in everything. His heart was open to its last depths for Abba Dorotheus, and he was most afraid of doing anything of his own free will, and not on the advice of his father. He never took offense or grumbled at him, although Dorotheus could be strict. And in everything: both big and small, Dositheus showed equally great obedience to the Monk Abba Dorotheus. His prayer was incessant. Dositheus always said: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. Son of God, help me,” and so he constantly remembered God.
Soon the young monk fell ill with an incurable disease, but did not change his obedience and was ready to cut off his will before his father according to God until his death. When Dosifei’s suffering intensified and he could no longer walk on his own, he could not even pray, but only constantly remembered God, then he asked the great Barsanuphius: “Let me go from this life, I can’t stand it anymore.” But the elder answered him: “Be patient, child, for the mercy of God is near.”
A few days later, Dosifei again appealed to Barsanuphius: “My lord, I can no longer live.” Then the elder answered him: “Go, child, in peace, appear before the Holy Trinity and pray for us.”
Thus, thanks to great obedience and the complete cutting off of his will before the elders, Dositheus, having lived in the monastery for only five years, came to perfect measure and moved into the Heavenly Abodes.
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Before his death, the Monk Dosifei left the cave and said goodbye to everyone
Before her death, the nun Dosithea came out of her seclusion and went to her cells to say goodbye to her brethren. Before each monk, she fell to her knees and asked for forgiveness with tears. The monk Dositheus had one important matter before his death.
He said goodbye to his monastery, then shut himself up in his cell and began to spend his last hours in prayer. He died on September 25, 1776, when he was only 56 years old. The next morning, one novice knocked on the door, but no one answered. When they entered the cell, they were presented with an amazing picture - a lamp was quietly glowing, and Dosifei was kneeling in front of the icon, as if he was praying.
Dosithea died in her cell on September 25, 1776. Photo: ruskline.ru
His right hand was raised up in the sign of the cross, and in his left hand was clutched a note that was addressed to the brethren. It stated that no one should open his body, and that it was ready to go to eternal life. The elder's will was fulfilled exactly as he asked. No one even dared to wash his body.
His body was buried on the north side of Holy Trinity Church. A few years later, the sister came to the elder, but did not find him alive. She asked to look at his portrait, and immediately lost consciousness, as she recognized her own sister.
It was then that it became known that the great recluse of Kiev Dositheus was not a man, but a girl - the Venerable Dosithea.
Monasticism
Dosifei received monastic vows suddenly. In 1744, Empress Elizabeth visited Kyiv and, having learned about the ascetic, wished to visit him in person. She came to his cell, communicated with him, and upon learning that Dosifei had not yet been tonsured, she allowed acceptance into monasticism by her order and was personally present at the sacrament. Dosifei became a ryassophore monk of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
Subsequently, Dosithea, without abandoning her seclusion, took upon herself the feat of old age; there are legends that Christ did it for the sake of foolishness. Caring for those who resorted to her advice, she raised her cell attendant Theophan, who later became a Solovetsky ascetic, in the spirit of the highest virtue. Dosifei also blessed 22-year-old Prokhor Moshnin (Seraphim of Sarov) in 1776 for the feat of salvation in the Sarov monastery. The elder labored on Mount Kitaeva and in the monastery in the Far Caves.
Before his death, the elder came out of seclusion and tearfully asked everyone for forgiveness. Having lived 55 years from birth, Elder Dosifei reposed in prayer on September 25, 1776, the day of remembrance of Sergius of Radonezh.
Currently, another name is known: August Tarakanov
Currently, one more name is known - the nun Dosifeya from the Ivanovo Monastery. According to legend, her name was Augusta Tarakanova.
Very often, Augusta Tarakanova is confused with an impostor who pretended to be the daughter of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Many people know the painting “Princess Tarakanova in the Peter and Paul Fortress during the flood.” But very few people know that the heroine of this painting died two years before the flood depicted on it. They also said that the impostor herself, posing as the daughter of the empress, never called herself Tarakanova. This painting is simply a romantic invention of the artist.
Nun Dosifeya, elder of the Ivanovo Monastery (1746-1810). Photo: rusidea.org
Dosithea herself bore the difficult cross of the shutter. Dosifeya Tarakanova was tonsured into monasticism in the same name as Dosifeya of Kiev. It is possible to assume that it was Dosithea of Kiev who played a role in her fate, and she decided to take the same monastic vows.
A troparion and prayer were written for Dositheus of Kyiv, which can be read at home in front of her icon
A troparion and prayer were written for Dositheus of Kyiv, which can be read at home in front of her icon. You can address the saint in your simple words. The main thing is that your words come from the heart. Only the most sincere words will be heard.
Troparion of Venerable Dosithea of Kyiv, tone 4:
Even as a child you were betrothed to Christ by the Holy Spirit, and having hidden yourself from the world in likeness with courage, you accepted the seclusion of the cave more sweetly. Pray for us, glorious Dosithea, to your Bridegroom, that he may deliver us from the darkness of sin and save our souls.
Kontakion of Venerable Dosithea of Kyiv, tone 8:
Even if the time has not come for you to find your honorable body, we are truly aware of your presence in spirit with us. We hope for your prayers and cry out to you earnestly: Rejoice, our intercessor before God and the adornment of the Chinese monastery.
Prayer to Venerable Dosithea of Kyiv:
O beautiful bride of Christ, pure dove, gilded by the Holy Spirit, virginal praise and cave interlocutor of angels, hidden under the bushel of this world, but placed on the church candlestick by God himself, the Venerable Mother Dosithea!
Whatever we bring as a worthy gift to you besides our humble and sinful prayers, having received it, I will purify it with your holy prayers and bring it to your Bridegroom, Christ our God. We bless you, the decoration of the monastery of China, our intercessor and guardian of those wandering in the darkness of sin, like a guiding star showing the way to Christ.
You, like a brave warrior of Christ, entered into the fight against the spirit of malice, despising the weakness of women, and strengthened by courage from God, you preserved the color of virginity and the purity of your chastity, spending your life between men and Dositheus for the sake of hiding from the world.
Pray to God for us, O Reverend Mother, may the Lord not reprove us with his wrath, may he punish us with his anger for our many sins, but may he protect us with his mercy and grant us time for repentance and correction. O Venerable Dosithea!
All those who have gathered in this temple and lovingly honor your holy memory, by your intercession of autumn, and ask the King for strength, who stands with the angels, who is favorable to everyone in this temporary life, and moreover, help us to achieve the heavenly Kingdom with your warm prayers and intercession to our Lord To Jesus Christ, to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
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Prayers
Troparion, tone 4
You were betrothed to Christ as a child by the Holy Spirit, / and having hidden yourself from the world in the likeness of courage, / you accepted the seclusion of the cave more sweetly. O thy Bridegroom,/may he deliver us from the darkness of sin//and save our souls .
Kontakion, tone 8
Even if the time has not come for you to find your honorable body, / but we truly know your presence in spirit with us. / We hope for your prayers and cry out to you earnestly // Rejoice, intercessor for Sha before God and the monastery of China is a decoration.
