The Life of Our Venerable Father Pimen the Much-Sick

Pimen the Much-Sick, Pechersk
(+ c. 1110), venerable. Commemorated on August 7, in the Cathedral of the Reverend Fathers of the Kiev-Pechersk Near Caves and in the Cathedral of all the Reverend Fathers of the Kiev-Pechersk.

This Russian ascetic was born and raised sick. For a long time he asked his parents to take him to the Kiev Pechersk Monastery. When they brought their son to the famous monastery, they began to ask in prayers for his recovery. But the sufferer himself, realizing the high value of suffering, asked the Lord to continue the illness, as well as to tonsure him into monasticism. And so the Angels in the form of monks performed the rite of tonsure on him. Some of the brethren heard the sounds of singing and, coming to the Monk Pimen, found him dressed in monastic robes. He held a burning candle in his hand, and his tonsured hair ended up in the shrine of St. Theodosius.

The Monk Pimen spent many years in serious illness, so that those who served him were burdened and often left him without bread and water, but he endured everything with joy. Taking pity on the brethren, the Monk Pimen healed one equally paralytic brother, taking from him his word to serve the sick until his death. Once a brother became lazy in his ministry, and the same illness befell him. The Monk Pimen healed him again with the teaching that the sick and those who serve the sick receive equal rewards.

The Monk Pimen spent twenty years in severe suffering. Three days before his death, as the Angel had previously predicted, he became healthy. In the church, the monk said goodbye to all the brethren and received Holy Communion. Then, bowing to the coffin of Abba Anthony, the Monk Pimen indicated the place for his burial and himself carried the previously prepared coffin to it. He pointed there to the monks buried opposite each other and predicted that the brethren would find the one buried in the schema without her, since the monk led a life unworthy of her; the same monk who was buried without a schema put on it after death, since he longed for this during his lifetime and was worthy. After the death of the saint, the brethren were convinced of the insight of his words. On the day of the repose of the Monk Pimen, three pillars of fire appeared over the table, moving to the top of the church. A similar event is described in the chronicle on February 11, 1110, which is why the day of the death of the Monk Pimen is supposed to be February 11, 1110.

The relics of St. Pimen rest in the Anthony Cave.

Venerable Pimen of Pechersk, the Many-Sick

The Life of St. Pimen of Pechersk, the Many-Sick

The Monk Pimen the Many-Sick (11th century) reached the Kingdom of Heaven through a serious illness.
This Russian ascetic was born and raised sick. For a long time he asked his parents to take him to the Kiev Pechersk Monastery. When they brought their son to the famous monastery, they began to ask in prayers for his recovery. But the sufferer himself, realizing the high value of suffering, asked the Lord to continue the illness, as well as to tonsure him into monasticism. And so the Angels in the form of monks performed the rite of tonsure on him. Some of the brethren heard the sounds of singing and, coming to the Monk Pimen, found him dressed in monastic robes. He held a burning candle in his hand, and his tonsured hair ended up in the shrine of St. Theodosius. The Monk Pimen spent many years in serious illness, so that those who served him were burdened and often left him without bread and water, but he endured everything with joy. Taking pity on the brethren, the Monk Pimen healed one equally paralytic brother, taking from him his word to serve the sick until his death. Once a brother became lazy in his ministry, and the same illness befell him. The Monk Pimen healed him again with the teaching that the sick and those who serve the sick receive equal rewards. The Monk Pimen spent twenty years in severe suffering. Three days before his death, as the Angel had previously predicted, he became healthy. In the church, the monk said goodbye to all the brethren and received Holy Communion. Then, bowing to the coffin of Abba Anthony, the Monk Pimen indicated the place for his burial and himself carried the previously prepared coffin to it. He pointed there to the monks buried opposite each other and predicted that the brethren would find the one buried in the schema without her, since the monk led a life unworthy of her; the same monk who was buried without a schema put on it after death, since he longed for this during his lifetime and was worthy. After the death of the saint, the brethren were convinced of the insight of his words. On the day of the repose of the Monk Pimen, three pillars of fire appeared over the table, moving to the top of the church. A similar event is described in the chronicle on February 11, 1110 (see August 5 commemoration of St. Theoktistus of Chernigov), which is why the day of the death of the Monk Pimen is supposed to be February 11, 1110. The relics of St. Pimen rest in the Anthony Cave.

The second memory of the saint is celebrated on September 28 with the Council of the Venerables of the Near Caves.

See also: “ The Life of our Venerable Father Pimen the Much-Sick” as presented Demetrius of Rostov.

Prayers

Troparion, tone 5

Imitating the God-bearing Anthony with humility, / imitating Job’s patience, / not healing from an illness, but more than the extension of that / you desired for yourself, patient Pimen, / lest you become healthy / and be torn away from this place by your parents, / lose the cohabitation of the saints and their rank , / all the more hope from the Angel themselves that you were tonsured, / with them pray to Christ God / for our souls to be saved.

Kontakion, tone 6

Having given thanks to the one who endured a long illness, / come, having come together, let us praise the long-suffering Pimen, / who is sometimes despised for the stench of illness, / this fragrance now releases / with faith to the race of his relics who come / and will drive away the stench of passions from the crying ones: / come, Pimen , to us, and the enemy will have no time to attack us.

Memory 20 August

Blessed Pimen was born sick, sick and grew up, but this physical illness did not allow mental illness to develop in him. He was clean from every vice and from his mother’s womb he did not know any nasty sin. He often asked his parents to send him to a monastery to take monastic vows, but they, as loving parents, wanting to have him as an heir after their death, prevented him.

One day the blessed one was extremely exhausted, and they did not think that he would live. Then, forced by necessity, his parents brought him to the Pechersk Monastery, asking the reverend fathers living there to pray for their son, so that he would be healed of his illness. Those venerable fathers, having labored a lot in prayers, did nothing to alleviate the sick man, because he himself did not ask the Lord for health, but rather for the intensification of the illness, so that, if he recovered, he would not be taken away by his parents from the monastery and would not be deprived of what he desired.

Since his father and mother, without leaving his side, did not allow him to get his hair cut, the blessed one was very sad. And he began to diligently pray to God to fulfill his desire, in what ways He Himself knows. And so, one night, when his parents and servants were sleeping, bright Angels came to him, some in the form of beautiful young men, others in the form of an abbot and brethren, carrying candles in their hands, also the Gospel, a hair shirt, a mantle, a doll and everything. , what is needed for tonsure, and they said to him: “Do you want us to tonsure you?” The blessed one joyfully answered: “Yes, I want, the Lord sent you; I ask you to fulfill my heart’s desire.” They began to propose questions, and everything in order, as written in the regulations for monastic tonsure. And so they tonsured him into the great angelic image, dressed him in a mantle and a cape, and named him Pimen. Having given him, according to custom, a burning candle, they said: “For forty days and nights, let this candle not go out.” They predicted that he would constantly suffer from illness and that gaining health would be a sign of death. Having completed everything, they gave him a kiss and went to church, taking his hair in a towel, which they laid on the tomb of the Monk Theodosius.

The brethren, who were nearby in their cells, hearing the singing, woke up others around them, thinking that the abbot and some monks were tonsuring a sick man, or that he had already died. And all together, having come to the cell where the blessed one lay, they found everyone there sleeping, his father and mother and the slaves whom they had awakened, and everyone was filled with a fragrance. They saw the sick man full of joy and joy and dressed in monastic clothes. The brethren asked him: “Who tonsured you, and what kind of singing did we hear here that your parents who were here did not hear?” The patient answered: “I think that the abbot and the brethren came and tonsured me and named me Pimen. They sang with the singing and voices that you heard, and they gave me this candle that you see, saying that it will burn for forty days and nights. And with my hair, taking it in a towel, they went to church.” Hearing this, the brethren now went to the church and found it locked. They woke up the sextons and asked them: “Did anyone enter the church after evening prayer?” They were told: “No one entered, since the keys were hidden with the ecclesiarch.” The ecclesiarch was also awakened and, taking the keys, because he had not given them to anyone and did not enter the temple with that host, they entered the church and found hair lying in a towel on the tomb of the Monk Theodosius, and then they informed the abbot about everything.

The abbot, greatly surprised, began to search in every possible way to find out who tonsured Blessed Pimen, but he could not find it. Only it became clear to everyone that this was the work of the Highest Providence from God, through His holy Angels. The abbot and the brethren discussed in detail about the miracle that had occurred, whether it would be imputed to the blessed one as tonsure according to the charter; and since they had sufficient evidence, they no longer tonsured him, but said: “The rank bestowed by God and the given name is sufficient for you, brother Pimen. But tell us,” the abbot asked him, who came with the books of tonsure, “what were those who tonsured you and did they omit anything written in these books?” Blessed Pimen said to the abbot: “Why are you tempting me, father? You yourself, having come here with all the brethren, did to me everything that is written in these books. In addition, you also told me that I would have to suffer in illness all my life, and when my death comes, then health will be given to me, so that I can carry my deathbed with my own hands. But pray for me, holy father, that the Lord will grant me patience.” Hearing this, they left him.

Blessed Pimen, according to the prediction of those who tonsured him, lay for many years in a very serious and repulsive illness, so that the servants abhorred him and often left him in hunger and thirst for two or three days, but he joyfully endured everything and thanked God for All.

It happened one day that another patient like him was brought to the Pechersk Monastery and tonsured. The brethren, appointed to serve the sick, took him and brought him to blessed Pimen, so that they could serve both of them together and equally. But, careless about this service, they forgot about both, so that the sick were exhausted from lack of water. Then Blessed Pimen said to another patient: “Brother, since the servants abhor us because of the stench that comes from us, then, if the Lord raised you up, would you want to work in this service?” The sick man promised the blessed one: “Until my death, I would serve the sick with zeal.” Blessed Pimen said to him: “Behold, the Lord takes away your illness from you, and now, being healthy, fulfill your vow by serving me and those like me; but on those who are negligent about this service, the Lord will bring a severe illness so that through this punishment they will be saved.” And then the sick man suddenly stood up and began to serve him, and on those careless people who did not want to serve the sick, according to the word of the blessed one, the disease fell on all of them.

The brother, who had been healed of his illness, served him a little, but he, tired of the stench, turned away from Pimen and left him hungry and thirsty, while he himself went and lay down in another cell. And suddenly a fever flared up in him and, not being able to get up for three days, he could not stand the thirst and began to cry out: “Have mercy on me for the sake of the Lord, I am dying without water.” Hearing these cries, the brethren, who were in another cell, came to him and, seeing that he was suffering from a serious illness, informed the Monk Pimen about this with the words: “The brother who serves you is dying.” Blessed Pimen said: “Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap (Gal. 6:7)”: he left me in hunger and thirst and experienced the same thing himself, lying to God and despising my badness. But since we are taught not to repay evil for evil, go tell him: Pimen is calling you - get up and come to him.” When the messengers told him this, then the sick man suddenly became healthy and, getting up, came to the blessed one himself, and no one led him. The blessed one instructed him a lot, saying: “You of little faith, you are healthy now, sin no more. Don’t you know that the sick person and those who serve him will have an equal reward, the patience of the poor will not disappear without a trace, but whoever has sorrow and hardship here, where the illness is to a small degree, will have joy and gladness where there is no illness, no sorrow, no sighing, but life is endless. And that’s why, brother, I endure the disease. God, who through me healed you from your illness, can raise me up from this bed and heal my weakness, but I don’t want this. For “...he who endures to the end (said the Lord) will be saved” (Matthew 10:22). It is better for me to rot everything in this life, so that in that life my flesh may be without corruption, and here to endure the stench, so that there I may be filled with an indescribable fragrance. It’s good, brother, to stand in the church, in a bright, clean, holy place, where it is pleasing and favorable to sing a song to God with the visibly present angelic powers, for the church is called earthly heaven, and those standing in it think that they are standing in heaven. What is this dark and stinking upper room like? Is it not before judgment there is judgment, and before endless torment there is torment? And whoever endures here with thanksgiving righteously says: “I trusted firmly in the Lord, and He heard me” (Ps. 39:2). Comforting such people, the Apostle said: “If you endure punishment, then God deals with you as with sons... But if you remain without punishment... then you are illegitimate children, and not sons” (Heb. 12: 7-8). After all, the Lord himself exhorts us, brother, saying: “With your patience save your souls” (Luke 21:19).” The brother, instructed by such wise admonitions of the blessed one, served him relentlessly from then on.

The valiant sufferer and true imitator of righteous Job, Saint Pimen, incessantly thanking God, lay in suffering for twenty years.

The time has come for his death. And there was a sign in the Pechersk Monastery: three pillars of fire appeared at night over the meal, rising to the top of the church. The Lord knows what that sign predicted, but it was true that He, “Who makes His angels spirits and His servants a blazing fire” (Ps. 103:4), had already sent His Angels for the soul of the Much-Sick Pimen, as for Lazarus (Luke 16:22), for on that day the much-sick man suddenly became healthy and said that, as those who tonsured him had predicted, his outcome was drawing near. Getting up, he walked around all the cells, bowing to everyone and asking for forgiveness.

He said to the sick brothers: “My brothers and friends, get up and see me out.” And suddenly, according to his word, the illness left them, and they, having recovered, followed him. And he, entering the church, received communion of the Divine Mysteries and then, taking the funeral bed, carried it to a cave in which he had never been and which he had never seen since his birth. Having entered the cave, he bowed to the tomb of the Monk Anthony and showed the place where he wanted to be laid.

Then he revealed a wonderful secret, pointing to the coffins of the brothers lying nearby. “Here,” he said, “you placed two brothers this year - one without a schema, and the other with a schema. Whichever you put without a schema, you will find in the schema; for he wanted to take monastic vows many times, but did not take care of it; however, he showed deeds worthy of this image, and therefore, after his death, the Lord gave him the schema. The other brother whom you placed in the schema, you will find without the schema. During his life, he did not want it and did not show worthy deeds, but he said this: “If you see me leaving this life and already dying, then tonsure me into the schema.” He did not remember what was said: “The dead will not praise you, O Lord, nor all those who go down to the grave, but we (the living) will bless the Lord...” (Ps. 113:25-26). And therefore, the schematic grace was taken away from him and given to the one who showed worthy deeds, “... for to everyone who has, more will be given and he will have abundance, but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away” (Matthew 25:29). The third brother was laid here many years ago, and he has completely decayed, but his schema remains incorrupt. It is reserved for reproof and condemnation of him, for he did deeds unworthy of the schematic image. Because he spent his entire life in laziness and sinful deeds, not remembering the One who said: “To whom much is given, much will be required of him” (Luke 12:48). And if the prayer of St. Anthony and Theodosius does not deliver him, he will not escape the judgment of the terrible Judge. For schema tonsure does not bring any benefit to people who do not have works that relieve them from torment.”

Having revealed this secret, our reverend father Pimen said to the brethren: “Here came those who tonsured me, wanting to take me.” And after these words he lay down and fell asleep in the Lord. The brethren, with great honor, laid it in a cave in the place shown to them.

Having dug up the coffins, the secret of which the monk had told, the brothers actually found three coffins. Two of them belonged to recently deceased people. Having opened the shrines, the brothers were amazed at the accuracy of the saint’s words. The brother clothed with the schema found himself without it and, on the contrary, buried without the schema, was clothed in the robes of the great angelic order. The third, who had died long ago, was found completely decayed, but his schema alone was intact. And they marveled greatly at the ineffable judgment of God, that he rewarded everyone according to his deeds.

The printed Church Slavonic “Paterikon” dates the death of Saint Pimen to 1139, but Archbishop Filaret (Gumilevsky) considered this date to be incorrect.

The relics of the ascetic rest in the Near Caves. On the map of 1638, “St. Pimin the Wonderworker” is mentioned.

A separate service to the monk is held on August 20 (7th according to the Old Style).