| St. Joseph Volotsky |
Joseph of Volotsky (Volokolamsky)
(1439 - 1515), abbot, venerable, miracle worker, church writer and publicist, head of the “Josephites” movement Commemorated on September 9 on the day of his death, October 18 on the day of the discovery of the relics, in the Cathedrals of Moscow and Tver saints
In the world, Ivan Sanin came from the family of a wealthy patrimonial owner, the owner of the village of Yazvische in the Volokolamsk principality. Elder brother Archbishop. Rostov Vassian (Sanin).
At the age of 20, he took monastic vows at the Borovsky Monastery; not wanting to put up with the decline of discipline in the monastic environment, he left the Borovsky monastery. Having visited several monasteries and not finding anywhere what, in his opinion, was the proper monastic way of life, in 1479 he asked the consent of Prince Boris Vasilyevich of Volokolamsk to establish a monastery in his domain, which later received the name Joseph-Volotsky. There the monk introduced rules of community life, distinguished by severe asceticism and detailed regulation of all aspects of monastic life.
Initially he was associated with the appanage princes of Volotsk, the brothers of Ivan III. Then he broke with the appanage-princely opposition and stood up in defense of the grand-ducal power - in 1507 the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery came under the patronage of the Great Moscow Prince Vasily III.
He waged an irreconcilable struggle against the heresy of the Judaizers, which had penetrated into high Russian society, incl. to the family of the Grand Duke. He advocated the elimination of disorder in monastic life and monastic life.
While maintaining a personally respectful attitude towards Saint Nile of Sor, he conducted polemics with him and his followers, representatives of the “non-acquisitive” movement.
At the Council in 1503, Joseph of Volotsky and the Josephites achieved the rejection of the project for the liquidation of monastic land ownership put forward by non-covetous people, and at the Council of 1504, a brutal reprisal against the Judaizers (Nil of Sorsky was against the persecution of heretics).
During this period, Joseph Volotsky came up with the theory of the divine origin of the grand ducal power, which contributed to the strengthening of the position of the grand duke and the transformation of his power into autocratic power.
In 1507, the Monk Joseph, pressed by his appanage prince Theodore Borisovich, addressed a complaint against him directly to the Moscow Metropolitan Saint Simon and Grand Duke Vasily Ioannovich, bypassing the Bishop of Novgorod. The Novgorod Archbishop Saint Serapion considered this arbitrariness and in April 1509 excommunicated Joseph from the Church. On this occasion, a Council met in the same year, which lifted the reprimand against Joseph.
Died on September 9, 1515.
On the way to achievements
Before his conversion to monasticism, the Monk Joseph of Volotsky was known in the world under the name John Sanin.
He was born on October 31, 1439, in the village of Yazvische, near Volok Lamsky (now the city of Volokolamsk). His father, being a hereditary patrimonial owner, owned this village.
At one time, John's great-grandfather, Alexander Sanya, came to Rus' from Lithuania (probably among the close associates of the Lithuanian prince Svidrigailo, but perhaps a little earlier). He was granted patrimony by the Prince of Moscow for his faithful service.
John's grandfather, Gregory, was a man of deep faith and ended his earthly life as a monk, in fact, like his wife.
John's father and mother, John and Marina, also chose the Christian path of salvation for themselves.
Little is known about the reliable details of the childhood and adolescence of Saint Joseph of Volotsk. It is reported that in infancy he was baptized and named John, in honor of the famous saint of God, John the Merciful.
When the future monk reached the age of seven, he was sent for training and spiritual education to the Volokolamsk monastery, to the pious elder Arseny Lezhenka. It is known that already at this age John showed an interest in book learning and obedience. According to legend, by the age of 9 he had become a fully prepared reader.
It is assumed that in his childhood Ivan became friends with the future okolnichy of the Grand Duke, Boris Kutuzov.
Literary activity
Hegumen Joseph was a talented church writer.
He is the author of the book “The Enlightener” and several messages. He took an active life position and participated in the discussion of issues of relationship between church and state that were relevant at that time. During the rebellion of the appanage princes Boris Volotsky and Andrei Uglitsky in 1480 against their brother Ivan III, he acted before Ivan as a mediator on behalf of his patron Boris. A denouncer of the heresy of the Judaizers, Joseph Volotsky called on the secular authorities to persecute and execute apostates from Orthodoxy and those heretics who “tempt” the Orthodox with heretical teachings:
If infidel heretics do not deceive any of the Orthodox, then we should not do harm to them and hate them, but when we see that infidels and heretics want to deceive the Orthodox, then it is appropriate not only to hate them or condemn them, but also to curse them and inflict wounds on them, thereby sanctifying your hand... Thus, it is absolutely clear and truly understandable to all people that it is appropriate for saints, and priests, and monks, and ordinary people - all Christians to condemn and curse heretics and apostates, and for kings, princes and worldly judges it is appropriate to send them to prison and subject to cruel executions.[7]
In the book “The Enlightener” and a number of messages, Joseph Volotsky, discussing with another ascetic, the spiritual leader of the “non-possessors” Nil Sorsky, proved the legality of monastic land ownership, defended the need to decorate churches with beautiful paintings, rich iconostases and images.
The authority of the Volotsk abbot, his writings, and the mission of his monastery created a special theological school, from which outstanding missionaries, publicists, preachers, and many church hierarchs emerged. In the second half of the 16th century, representatives of this school began to be called “Josephites.”
The demands for the execution of heretics and the enrichment of the church met with strong opposition among a number of secular and clergy. The monk and church writer Vassian Kosoy (Prince Vasily Patrikeev) in “The Answering Word” and “The Word on Heretics” criticized the Josephites from the position of mercy and non-covetousness, appealing to the commandments of the Gospel of love and poverty, and called Joseph himself “a teacher of lawlessness”, “a criminal” and “Antichrist”[8]. The Trans-Volga elders, who rejected monastic land ownership and did not share many of the ideas of the Josephites, at the council of 1503 made a statement that it was indecent for the church to own lands, and in the “Response of the Kirill Elders” they objected to Joseph Volotsky regarding the death of heretics: “impenitent and disobedient heretics are ordered to be kept in prison, and the Church of God accepts the heretics who have repented and cursed their error into open arms.”[9] At the same time, they referred to the commandment “Do not judge, lest you be judged” and to stories about Jesus’ forgiveness of sinners.
Monastic feat
Even in his youth, John decided to subordinate his life to serving God, and at the age of twenty, having carefully considered his choice, he took monastic vows.
It is reported that he initially entered the Tver Savvina monastery. However, finding that the discipline there did not correspond to his own ascetic expectations, and having encountered gross foul language there, he did not want to indulge the local order and, with the blessing of Elder Barsanuphius Neumoi, moved to the Borovsk monastery.
Here he was tonsured a monk and given a new name, Joseph, in honor of the famous ascetic Joseph the Beautiful. In this monastery, under the guidance of the Monk Paphnutius, he acquired the foundations of spiritual experience. Fulfilling his monastic obedience, Joseph meekly and humbly worked in a cookery, a bakery, a hospital, and as a chanter in the temple.
After John (Joseph) left worldly temptations and earthly vanities, his blood father fell ill. The illness constrained his strength so much that he could not turn around on his bed on his own. Feeling sincere filial love for his parent, Joseph asked the Monk Paphnutius for his blessing to take him under personal guardianship and settle him in his cell.
Elder Paphnutius heeded Joseph’s request, accepted the unfortunate man into the monastery and tonsured him as a monk. Joseph looked after his father for fifteen years, until his death.
Joseph's mother, having secured filial support, accepted monasticism in the Vlasievsky monastery of Volok Lamsky.
Joseph's brothers, Vassian and Akaki, and his nephews, Dositheus and Vassian, took monastic vows at the Paphnutian Borovsky monastery.
Prayers
Troparion, tone 5
As the fertilizer of the fasters and the beauty of the fathers, / the giver of mercy, the wisdom of the lamp, / all the faithful who have come together, / the meekness of the teacher, and the shamer of heresies, / the wise Joseph, the Russian star, / praying to the Lord / to have mercy on our souls
.
Kontakion, tone 8
Lives of unrest and worldly rebellion, and passionate leaping into nothingness, / you appeared as a desert citizen, / you were a mentor to many, the Reverend Joseph, / a colleague of monks, and a faithful prayer book, a guardian of purity. / Pray to Christ God that our souls may be saved
.
Serving as abbot
Before his departure to God, the Monk Paphnutius bequeathed that after his death his disciple, Joseph, would take over the abbess. And so it happened. This decision met both the will of the Grand Duke, John III, and the wishes of the brethren. It is believed that Joseph was elevated to priestly dignity by Saint Gerontius.
In 1479, due to a misunderstanding that arose between the new abbot and the Grand Duke, as well as due to the dissatisfaction of the monastery brethren with Joseph’s desire to introduce a strict communal rule, he was forced to leave the monastery.
It is alleged that seven pious elders expressed unanimity with the abbot, who supported his desire to secretly leave the monastery.
Leaving the brethren, the Monk Joseph took with him the elder Gerasim the Black. Staying in different monasteries, the wise abbot passed himself off as a simple novice, a student of Gerasim. On the whole, this looked plausible, although sometimes the features of a shepherd wise through ascetic experience emerged through Joseph’s student image.
He spent several months in the Kirillo-Belozersk monastery. There is reason to believe that it was during this period that he met Nil Sorsky, with whom he later had a long dispute.
It is known that after Joseph left the Borovsk monastery, the brethren turned to John III with a request to elect a new abbot for them, but he refused, explaining that their abbot was Joseph. It is alleged that Father Joseph returned to the monastery for some time, but in May 1479 he retired again.
Memory
Joseph Volotsky was canonized in 1579. The relics and chains of the saint rest in the Assumption Cathedral of the Joseph-Volotsk Monastery. On June 14, 2009, a bronze monument to St. Joseph was unveiled near the monastery.
On December 7, 2009, with the blessing of Patriarch Kirill, Joseph Volotsky was declared the patron of Orthodox entrepreneurship and economics.[10]
Founding of the monastery
In June of the same year, accompanied by several elders, he arrived in the city of Ruza. The Monk Joseph decided to found a hermitage in impenetrable forests near the estates of his own father.
The Volotsk prince, Boris, approved the idea and even allocated his hunter, who was well versed in the local places, to help the saint. Soon, on the banks of the Struzya River, in a quiet, secluded place, the foundation of the temple was laid. According to some evidence, Prince Boris of Volotsk and his entourage took part in this event.
In the fall, the prince, driven by the desire to help the monastery, granted it ownership of the villages of Spirovskaya, Yartsevskaya and Rugotinskaya, and a short time later - the village of Pokrovskoye. Often he delivered food products to the monastery. In May 1483, by princely order, the village of Otchishchevo was transferred to the monastery.
The prince's wife, wanting to make her contribution, granted the village of Uspenskoye to the monastery. After the death of Prince Boris, his heir, Fyodor Borisovich, picked up the good tradition and continued to support the monastery.
In the early days of the monastery’s existence, the brethren consisted of former inhabitants of the Paphnutian monastery, former Volotsk patrimonial monasteries, commoners and runaway slaves. Around the beginning of the 16th century, the brethren included former close associates of the prince.
The monastery had a strict charter that met the requirements of the spirit of the reverend abbot. The rules of the internal life of the monks were harsh, and not everyone who came was ready to stay here forever. In addition to general monastic work, the monastery was engaged in the copying of liturgical books and patristic works. The abbot himself often did this good deed at night.
Initially, all administrative power was mainly concentrated in the hands of Joseph. At the same time, he participated in the labors of his brothers, not shying away from even the most difficult work. Subsequently, the role of the elders in the monastery increased.
At the end of his earthly life, the Monk Joseph was very ill. He was tormented by terrible headaches, his eyesight was weakened, his body was withered. The leadership of the monastery during this period was transferred to the ascetic Daniel (in the future - Metropolitan of Moscow).
Feeling his imminent death, he put on the great schema, prayed unceasingly, and regularly received the Holy Mysteries of Christ. When his bodily strength left him so much that he could no longer stand or even sit during worship, he was given a secluded place in the temple (so as not to embarrass the pilgrims), where he was present lying down and where his disciples brought him.
On September 9, 1515, the saint rested peacefully in the Lord.
Scientific literature
Martyrs Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich Cherny and boyar Feodor of Chernigov Reverends Andronicus, Savva, Barsanuphia, Karp, Stefan, Helena and Euphrosyne of Moscow • Andrei Rublev • Daniil Cherny • Alexander Spassky • Bartholomew and Ignatius Simonovsky • Sergius, Nikon, Dionysius and Micah of Radonezh • Maxim the Greek • John Chrysostom • Anthony Chudovsky • Varlaam, Gideon , David and Vladimir Belopesotsky Serpukhovsky • Savva Storozhevsky • Methodius Peshnoshsky • Savva Stromyki • Roman Kirzhachsky • Iuliania and Eupraxia • Afanasy ML and Afanasy Stoons • Grigory Golotvinsky • Stefan Makhrishchsky • Ferapont and Kirill Belozersky • Gerasim Black • Kassian Bosoy • Iceoph TII , Adrian, Zosima and Levky of Volokolamsk • Vasily Sokolovsky • Zosima • Anthony of Optinsky • Pimen Ugreshsky Saints Peter, Theognostus, Alexy, Cyprian, Photius, Jonah of Kyiv and All Rus' • Philip I, Gerontius, Simon, Joasaph, Macarius I, Philip II, Job of Moscow and All Rus' • Philaret, Innocent, Macarius II Met. Moscow • Gennady and Serapion of Novgorod • Stefan of Perm • Theodore of Rostov Blessed Maxim of Moscow • St. Basil the Blessed • John of Moscow • John of Mozhaisk • Martha of Moscow other Daniil Moskovsky • Ivan Kalita • Alexander Peresvet • Andrey Oslyabya • Dmitry Donskoy • Tsarevich Dmitry • Fyodor Ioannovich • Vasily Pavlovo-Posadsky
