Many people in the world name their children not after their close relatives, but after other people. Some of them give the name of a saint born on the same day. In the USA, for example, the name Tiffany is very popular. But not many of them know who this name is associated with. People say that Tiffany is "pretty" and associate this idea with the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's." But this name has deeper roots.
Tiffany is a very old name. It originated in France and is pronounced Tiefen in French. But the British have their own cunning associations with this pronunciation, associated with the legend. Lord Bertrand du Guesclin had a cunning wife, Tiphaine. She was considered a witch or fairy. But even more ancient roots of the origin of this name date back to Ancient Greece.
“Theophany” is the appearance or manifestation of God. For example, God appeared to Abraham in the form of a burning bush and so on. In the Eastern Church, the name Teofaniya (Feofaniya) is usually given to girls born on the feast of Epiphany. On this day, Jesus revealed Himself as God and man before the Magi. He appeared before all the pagans. Today, the relics of the Byzantine Empress Saint Theophany (Tiffany) are kept in the Church of the Patriarch of Constantinople.
So who is Saint Theophania (Tiffany)?
Feofania was born into a royal family. Her father and mother, despite their noble blood, were very pious. For a long time they were childless, but they always prayed that the Mother of God would give them a child. Their prayers were eventually heard by the Mother of God, and the couple had a holy girl.
They named her Feofaniya (Tiffany). She became the fruit of Constantine and Anna. From childhood, the girl made progress in her studies and was very virtuous. The parents spared nothing for Feofania. They gave her a good upbringing. This greatly pleased Vasily the Macedonian and his wife, Evdokia. The king chose her as a wife for his son Leo, who later became ruler Leo VI the Wise. Bridal viewings took place in the large hall. A dozen and a half contenders for the bride of the imperial son awaited their fate and hoped to charm the emperor. Only Feofania stood in a corner of the Magnavra Palace. The young people got married in the winter of 881–882. Leo married according to the will of his father.
Meaning in Orthodoxy
Theophan the Recluse spent 22 years in solitude, but did not stop communicating with believers. Every day he received 20-40 letters. His correspondence comprised 10 volumes.
The cultural heritage left by the saint is of great importance:
- works on Christian morality;
- instructions for pastors;
- interpretation of Holy Scripture with detailed comments;
- translations of early Christian theologians.
The works are written in simple language understandable to the reader. Theophan the Recluse is penned by a translation from the Greek collected works of famous Christian thinkers called “Philokalia”. Theophan the Recluse entered the history of Orthodoxy as a spiritual ascetic writer of the 19th century and an ascetic of piety.
Holy Queen Feofania
But Blessed Theophania did not enjoy power. Her soul was turned away from worldly vanity and pleasures. She spent the whole day reading prayers. The queen sang psalms and spiritual songs. She has been pleasing to God all her life. Her food consisted of simple bread, vegetables and herbs. Feofaniya never ate meat, she ate only lean food. Under her outfits there was a rough hair shirt that scratched her delicate body.
Instead of soft feather beds, her bed was made of rough matting, covered with sharp fragments of bones and animal teeth. She distributed her precious jewelry to the suffering, sick and poor. Feofania helped widows and orphans. The Saint communicated with the servants on equal terms, without emphasizing her position in any way. They were all her brothers and sisters in Christ. In her entire life, Feofania never said a single bad word to anyone and never offended anyone. She became seriously ill, but did not complain and did not ask God for relief from her suffering. She died quietly in 892 while still young, leaving the kingdom of earth and gaining the kingdom of Heaven.
How can you tell a person's life on just a few sheets of paper? How to describe the war and death of beloved sisters, what words are needed (and are there any?) when the soul rejoices, uniting with Christ? How to describe dreams and feelings, joy and sadness? It is not yet 40 days since we, as a whole church, escorted our sister in Christ Praskova Ilyinichna Shepeleva on the “path of the whole earth.” Nun Feofania was very friendly with her, a couple of days before Praskovya Ilyinichna was taken to the hospital, they all got together for her birthday. “Girls 80+,” as father Alexy Batanogov, smiling, calls this company, sang songs and remembered their youth. Praskovya was the first to leave this company.
“When we celebrated her funeral, my candle quickly burned out, very quickly,” said nun Feofania, somewhat saddened, at the funeral meal.
“This is because of your fervent prayer, mother,” we objected to her. “She just smiled and added: I’ll leave soon, I feel it, but there will be no memory of me left.” Write about my life?!
“I took monastic vows in 1959 at the Pochaev Lavra, which is now on the territory of independent Ukraine; now I can’t get there. But for me this is one of the best places on earth. We were tonsured together with my friend, she is now nun Athanasia, and I received a name in honor of Queen Feofaniya, just on December 29, her feast day. I remember this day well, how we waited for it, how we prepared, how we worried. I remember everything, every second. And then, after we became nuns, we prayed all night in the Lavra. How the Lord arranged my life!
Valentina Vasilyevna Nekislaya (that was the name of nun Feofaniya in the world, before her tonsure) was born in the small town of Osipovichi, in the Mogilev region in 1936. What is surprising in these days, when women set the tone for everything, in her family her father had a stronger faith. He used to reproach my mother when she went to church for the Liturgy after having breakfast. He said that you need to go to church without eating bread or water, even if you don’t take communion. Mother Olga and her three daughters, the eldest Nadezhda, the middle Valentina and the youngest Veronica, learned the rule for the rest of their lives. They even wanted to put the parents in prison because they themselves went to church and took their children.
“I’ve been herding goats since the first grade, my younger sister helped. At first we only had our own four goats, then the neighbors asked us to look after their animals, and at some point our herd grew to 70 animals. We met a wolf three times. One day he dragged the goat away. And another time my sister had lunch and dozed off on a stump, and then a wolf came out into the clearing. The goats rather hid behind Veronica. Things in the forest were dense. The wolf looks at her, and she looks at him. He turned and left. She no longer grazed in the forest, only in the clearing, and only we walked with her. And the third time the young wolf grabbed the goat by the throat. We started screaming, trampling with our feet, we were scared ourselves, but the gray one let her go. We tied a scarf around the goat’s neck and gave it to the owners. The Lord controls everything.
I really loved to sing and dance, and then one day, it was around Easter, we decided to go to a club to dance. Then they did everything on purpose to prevent people from going to church. I promised my mother that I would dance a little and come to the All-Night Vigil. I kept my promise and came to our church. And everything is as cut off. I was no longer interested in any dancing. They wanted to put mom and dad in prison, they even came from Minsk, they thought that we were being forced to pray to God, but no one forced us, we wanted to do it ourselves. I always wore a cross and never took it off.
And when I came to church, the choir began to sing “Cherubimskaya”, and I suddenly felt so bad - the devil doesn’t sleep. Look, what did you think, go to church, and not to dance, apparently, he didn’t want to let me go. But the priest came out of the altar and began reading the Gospel above me. Feel better. I sang all my life - in the choir. The most amazing thing is that I had a good voice and hearing, but I had no musical education. How my sister and I entered the church, bowed three times to the ground at each icon, and bowed again three times when we left. I had the fear of God, but the Jesus Prayer flowed like a stream.
When the war began, dad wanted to transport us from Belarus to Ukraine, to the Odessa region, where he was from, but we only managed to go halfway, we stopped at the Vesely farm, my mother and sisters and I spent all the years of the war there, in labor and in prayer.
Pope Vasily went to the front in the first days of the war. For four years he beat the fascists: from the first day to the last. He returned alive and well, only his palm was slightly damaged, and even then only slightly. He said that their battalion was going into battle, the Germans were fierce, our losses were colossal, and it was as if he was invisible to death, she passed him by. The Lord protected the father and the Mother of God. Sometimes I woke up at night, and my mother stood on her knees in tears in front of the Images, asking for help from the saints. And we prayed, but what kind of prayer is a child’s? The Lord hears her immediately.
The only time it was scary was when the Germans set the hut on fire, but our men quickly put it out. The Lord was merciful: I did not see the horrors of war, I did not starve.
I wasn’t a very good student, I had a hard time with math, I could solve the simplest examples, but what was more difficult, my friends helped me solve them, and sometimes I just copied from them. But she wrote beautifully, her handwriting was good. I only finished five classes, then I transferred to evening school. And there was no time for studying anymore, the suitors went and wrote letters to me. But the boy I liked didn’t pay attention to me. At first I wanted to marry an officer; I liked men in uniform. And then, when I got to Kyiv, I saw the seminarians, I decided that I would go to the seminary. But this is only at the beginning. I went into the monastery, saw the monastic vestments, saw the sisters and understood: I want to come here, to the monastery, I want to be a nun.
But one day I almost got married. The seminarian looked after me, his name was Stefan, he was from the city of Rovno. He loved me very much, we even submitted an application... But I wasn’t in the mood for marriage, I understood that this was not my path.
I went to Kuksha of Odessa for advice; he is now glorified among the saints with the rank of venerable confessor. I lived with him for three days, went to liturgy every day, then to the sea, as he blessed, and the priest prayed, apparently, for me. And then one day he gave me communion and said: “You will be a mother, you will be.” And then he raised his hands, and I heard the most desired words: “You will be the Bride of Christ.” Now I’m telling you this and crying... This is such happiness. The monk gave me a rosary and taught me to pray with it. I sleep at night, and I myself pull the rosary and repeat the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Could I really do this myself? It was the priest who prayed for me.
And when my seminarian Stefan found out that we weren’t getting married, he fell ill and lay in bed for three days. Later I came to the Lavra, saw him with a girl, and when he saw me in the crowd, he immediately ran up to me. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I just wanted to be with the Lord. And then he married that girl Vera and had children. His brother John became Bishop Irenaeus.
From 1958 to 1962 I lived in the Pochaev Lavra, where we looked after pilgrims. I’ve been on my feet all day, but I’m not tired, I haven’t missed a single midnight vigil that started around 5 am. The monastery is both sweet and difficult. Every evening I read an akathist at the relics of Job Pochaevsky, kissed his arms and legs, and put a cap on his head. And then one day I saw a dream that Job Pochaevsky rose from the shrine, crossed me and said: “I am praying for you there.”
And at the beginning of 1961, the persecution of the Church began, we were given 24 hours to leave the monastery. They offered me three options: get married - the policeman there kept trying to look after me, leave Pochaev, and the third option - prison.
When I lived in the Lavra, I baptized a little girl there, Alexandra. We became very good friends with her mother Olympiada, they are Muscovites. So I remembered about them and decided to go to the capital. That's how I ended up in Moscow. And my sister is buried in Pochaev, she died there: she hit her head and developed a tumor... My mother came to us, but my daughter could not leave.
At first I went to the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Veshnyaki, then I served there for 8 years. She herself sang, and directed, and the psalm-reader, and the guide, I know the service well. Father Pavel Maksimov, the rector, taught me everything. Father said about me: “You are like a candle on a candlestick.” I wanted to go to the monastery in Pyukhtitsy and live there. They took me to Elder Valentina, but she did not give her blessing to go to the monastery, I don’t know why... There is a lot of sorrow there. So she said: “The abbess does as she wants, but I don’t accept you into the monastery.” It was a blessing from the Lord for me to be saved in the world. So I remained a nun in the world.
I gave 40 years to the All Saints Church near the Sokol metro station; it is one of the few that never closed, even in socialist times. There, too, I sang in the choir, cleaned candlesticks, in general, I did everything that needed to be done. For 16 years out of 40 she still served in the Intercession Church, which was assigned to All Saints.
Do you know how you got a job? I came to, they tell me that there are jobs for workers in the workshop, but I have to go every day, and I don’t have time - I need to go to church. I ask, is there a way to work a day and rest for three days? They answer: yes, but as a watchman. So I worked in security for 15 years. I stand for a day and run to the temple to sing.
For 4 years she sang in the choir at the Spassky Church. When I saw him for the first time, it was, of course, a terrible sight. There is no floor, the walls are black, there is no normal road. And now it’s so snow-white and warm. But there weren’t services here every day; I went to the Church of All Who Sorrow, Joy of All Who Sorrow on Ordynka. I went to the All-Night Vigil on Saturdays at the Epiphany Cathedral in Yelokhov. They sang so wonderfully there, I could never stand without tears.
There, at the entrance, there is a full-length icon of the holy healers Cosmas and Damian, and my teeth hurt so badly that the pain reached my heart. I bought a candle, went up to this icon and began to pray. You need to pray so that you hear yourself, and the saints hear you. But how do we sometimes pray? We don’t hear ourselves, and we don’t remember what we just read. I leaned one cheek against Cosma, and the other against Damian. And the pain gradually began to subside and completely subsided. And I haven’t gone to the dentist for 15 years...
I’ve been to Jerusalem three times, thank you, kind people helped. She prayed in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. I visited all the holy places, but I realized that no matter where we pray, the Lord hears us everywhere! You just need to pray, and that’s hard. Oh, how the evil one fights against us. I heard from the fathers that from 4 to 5 in the morning the prayer is “golden”, and from 5 to 6 - “silver”. But getting up at night is very difficult. The eyelids cannot be lifted, the eyes are stuck together. But I get up and pray. The Lord strengthens. I read a chapter from the Gospel and the Apostle, an epistle, an akathist to the Dormition of the Mother of God.
And sometimes I’m lying at night, and suddenly I feel that someone is jumping on the bed. But I don’t have a cat... The evil one has come... and begins to choke me, I can’t say a word. I begin to pray silently, and use my rosary to drive away uninvited guests. I'm already used to it.
Sometimes I dream about my older sister; she seemed to go to church and take communion when I asked her to get ready, but her faith was weak. She’s already died and I can see her by the throat, she’s standing in the water, and I’m on the shore, I can’t help her. Horrible dream…
But my mother had the death of a righteous woman; she was in church until her last day, singing in the choir. She was returning home after the All-Night Vigil. She sang the service and got hit by a train, she was 82 years old...
Now I’m praying for all my relatives, I’m the only one left in Moscow, only my sister’s daughter lives in Osipovichi, and that’s all my relatives. But I have the Lord. I had a long life, but I understood one thing, but the most important thing: I must pray and hope in the Mother of God and in the Lord. He will manage everything and never leave!
Where can you find relics
The remains of St. Theophan were discovered under Soviet rule. The discovery took place in 1973, when there was a psychiatric hospital on the territory of the Vyshensky Monastery. The relics were transferred to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
After the canonization, the monastery in Vyshe was closed, and the remains were transferred to the nearby village of Emmanuilovka, to the Church of Sergius of Radonezh. After the restoration of the monastery, the relics were solemnly transferred to the Assumption Church. Currently, you can venerate the relics of St. Theophan the Recluse in the Kazan Church of the Vyshensky Monastery.
