On many icons, especially Greek ones, St. Luke is depicted with surgical instruments in his hands.

In 2000, at the anniversary Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, the name of a man who is known as an outstanding scientist and world-famous surgeon, professor of medicine, spiritual writer, theologian, thinker, confessor, author of 55 scientific works was included in the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia for church-wide veneration. and 12 volumes of sermons. His scientific works on purulent surgery remain reference books for surgeons to this day.

Having the talent of an artist, he could lead a bohemian lifestyle, getting his hands dirty only with paints, but he became a “peasant doctor,” a priest, and a victim of political repression. He could exhibit his paintings in the best halls of the world, but he consciously chose the path of service ordinary people, a path full of suffering, blood, sweat and pus. This path brought him not wealth and honors, but arrests, hard labor and exile, the farthest of which was 200 kilometers from the Arctic Circle. But even during the exiles he did not leave scientific activity and managed to develop new method treatment of purulent wounds, which helped save thousands of lives during the Great Patriotic War.

Stalin Prize for children

After serving 11 years in Stalin's camps, the archbishop-surgeon was awarded the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War" Patriotic War", the highest church award - the right to wear a diamond cross on the hood - and the Stalin Prize of the first degree in medicine.

In 1946, having become the Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea and receiving this high state award, he donated 130 thousand of the 200 thousand rubles of the prize to help children who suffered during the war.

At the beginning of the war, Bishop Luke sent a telegram to M.I. Kalinin with a request to interrupt his next exile and send him to work in a hospital at the front or in the rear: “As a specialist in purulent surgery, I can help soldiers... At the end of the war, I am ready to return to exile.”

The answer came immediately. At the end of July, he was transferred to my native Krasnoyarsk, appointed consultant to all hospitals in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and chief surgeon of evacuation hospital No. 1515. Thanks to his brilliant operations, thousands of soldiers and officers returned to duty.

After 10-11 hours in the operating room, he went home and prayed, because in the city with a population of many thousands there was not a single functioning temple.

The bishop lived in a damp, cold room and was constantly hungry, because... The professors began to be fed in the hospital kitchen only in the spring of 1942, and he had no time to stock up on cards. Fortunately, the nurses secretly left him porridge.

Colleagues recalled that they looked at him as if he were God: “He taught us a lot. No one except him could operate on osteomyelitis. But there were tons of purulent ones! He taught both during operations and in his excellent lectures.”

Saint Luke Voino-Yasenetsky: “The wounded saluted me... with their feet”

The visiting inspector of all evacuation hospitals, Professor N.N. Priorov noted that nowhere had he seen such brilliant results in the treatment of infectious joint wounds as with Vladyka Luka. He was awarded a certificate and gratitude from the Military Council of the Siberian Military District. “I have great honor,” he wrote at the time, “when I enter large meetings of employees or commanders, everyone stands up.”

“The wounded officers and soldiers loved me very much,” wrote the professor, who had bright and joyful memories of those war years. “When I walked around the wards in the morning, the wounded greeted me joyfully. Some of them... invariably saluted me with their feet raised high.”

In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the surgeon saint was in exile twice - in the early 1920s and at the turn of 1930-1940. From Krasnoyarsk, the bishop wrote to his son: “I fell in love with suffering, which so amazingly cleanses the soul.” As a native of Krasnoyarsk, I was proud to learn from the book by V.A. Lisichkin “The Military Path of St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky)”, that it was in my hometown that Bishop Luke became Archbishop of Krasnoyarsk and a permanent member of the Holy Synod.

On March 5, 1943, he writes a very bright letter to his son: “The Lord sent me unspeakable joy. After 16 years of painful longing for the church and silence, the Lord opened my lips again. A small church was opened in Nikolaevka, a suburb of Krasnoyarsk, and I was appointed Archbishop of Krasnoyarsk...” “The Holy Synod under the Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan Sergius, equated my treatment of the wounded with valiant episcopal service and elevated me to the rank of archbishop.” I think this is a unique case in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church.

When he left the Krasnoyarsk department, my mother was 5 years old, but my grandmother, who worked as a postman in Krasnoyarsk, could not help but hear about the bishop-surgeon, exiled to the Krasnoyarsk Territory (to the village Big Murtagh). I was born in Krasnoyarsk after the death of St. Luke. Leaving my hometown after graduating from school, I had no idea about God or whether at that time at least one temple was open. I only remember the chapel towering over the city, which can be seen on ten-ruble banknotes.

I am glad that on November 15, 2002, my fellow countrymen installed in the center of Krasnoyarsk bronze monument, depicting Archbishop Luke with his hands folded in prayer. This is the third monument after Tambov and Simferopol. But only Krasnoyarsk residents or guests of the city can come to him. But residents of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Khakassia come to another “Saint Luke” - a “health train” with a temple car for medical and spiritual help.

How people are waiting for this clinic on wheels, proudly bearing the name of one of the most outstanding figures of Russian medicine and Russian Orthodox Church! Churches, whose representatives the Soviet government destroyed for decades, shooting, exiling to camps, and imprisoning them. But not all the inhabitants of Stalin’s camps were later awarded by the same government with the highest state awards.

Saint Luke Voino-Yasenetsky. Artist in Anatomy and Surgery

I first learned about St. Luke during pilgrimage trip in Crimea, already an adult. Later I read that St. Luke, through whose prayers people sick with a variety of diseases, including cancer, still receive healing, was born on April 27 (May 9, new style) 1877 in Kerch in the large family of the pharmacist Felix Stanislavovich, who came from from an ancient Russian noble family. At baptism, the baby was named Valentin (which means “strong, strong”) in honor of the holy martyr Valentin of Interam, who received the gift of healing from the Lord and then became a priest. Like his heavenly patron, he became both a doctor and a clergyman.

Archbishop of Tambov Luke, Tambov, 1944

And the future saint was named Luke during monastic tonsure in honor of the holy Apostle Luke, a doctor and icon painter.

During his 84-year life, this amazing man saved a huge number of hopeless patients, and he remembered many of them by sight and name. The Bishop also taught his students this kind of “human surgery.” “For a surgeon there should be no “case,” he said, “but only a living suffering person.” For the sake of this suffering man, Valentin Feliksovich sacrificed his youthful dream of becoming an artist.

After graduating from a gymnasium and an art school in Kyiv, during the entrance exams to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, he suddenly decided that he did not have the right to do what he liked, “but he was obliged to do what was useful for suffering people,” i.e. medicine, because It was the Russian hinterland that needed medical help.

However, he nevertheless became an artist - “an artist in anatomy and surgery,” as he called himself. Having overcome his aversion to natural sciences, Valentin graduated from the Faculty of Medicine with flying colors and received a diploma with honors. But he preferred the position of a simple zemstvo doctor to a career as a scientist - a “peasant” doctor. Sometimes, without tools at hand, he used a penknife, a quill pen, plumber's pliers, and instead of thread, a woman's hair.

Valentin Feliksovich Voino-Yasenetsky was widowed in 1919, having lost his beloved wife and mother of four children. In February 1921, during a terrible time of repression, when thousands of laymen and priests who rejected renovationism were in prisons, exiles and camps, the surgeon Valentin Feliksovich became a priest. Now he operated and lectured to students in a cassock and with a cross on his chest. Before the operation, he prayed to the Mother of God, blessed the patient and placed an iodine cross on his body. When an icon was once taken out of the operating room, the surgeon did not begin operations until the high authorities’ wife fell ill and the icon was returned to its place. He always spoke openly about his faith: “Wherever they send me, God is everywhere.” “I consider it my main duty to preach about Christ everywhere and everywhere,” he remained faithful to this principle until the end of his days.

In his autobiography, the surgeon saint wrote: “Nothing could compare in its enormous power of impression with that passage in the Gospel in which Jesus, pointing to the fields of ripened wheat to the disciples, said to them: The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; So, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest (Matthew 9: 37-38). My heart literally trembled... “Oh God! Do you really have few workers?!” Later, many years later, when the Lord called me to be a worker in His field, I was sure that this Gospel text was God’s first call to serve Him.”

Saint Luke Voino-Yasenetsky: “In serving God all my joy”

“I have truly and deeply renounced the world and my medical fame, which, of course, could have been very great, which is now worth nothing to me. And in serving God all my joy, my whole life, for my faith is deep. However, I do not intend to leave medical and scientific work,” wrote Valentin Feliksovich to his son Mikhail. And again: “Oh, if you only knew how stupid and limited atheism is, how alive and real is the communication with God of those who love Him...”

In 1923, the famous surgeon took secret monastic vows and was elevated to the rank of bishop. He voluntarily and openly chose the path of the cross of martyrdom, suffering and heroism, the path of “a lamb among wolves,” which he never regretted.

One day, the head of the Cheka, Peters, asked the professor: “Tell me, priest and professor Yasenetsky-Voino, how do you pray at night and slaughter people during the day?” “I cut people to save them, but in the name of what do you cut people, citizen public prosecutor?” the doctor answered. “How do you believe in God, priest and professor Yasenetsky-Voino? Have you seen your God?

“I really didn’t see God... But I operated a lot on the brain and, when I opened the skull, I never saw the mind there either. And I didn’t find any conscience there either. Does this mean that they don’t exist?”

Amid the laughter of the entire audience, “The Doctors’ Plot” failed miserably.

Vladyka Luka was not broken by numerous arrests, nor by years of prisons and Stalinist camps, nor by a 13-day “conveyor belt” interrogation when he was not allowed to sleep, nor by slander and expulsion. How many people have broken down in such conditions! But he did not sign anything and did not renounce the priesthood. Walk this way thorny path According to him, he was helped by the almost real feeling that he was supported and strengthened by “Jesus Christ Himself.”

Using the biography of St. Luke of Voino-Yasenetsky, you can study the history and geography of Russia. He survived the revolution, the Russo-Japanese War, the Civil War, two world wars, the Great Patriotic War, persecution of the Church, years of camps and exile.

Here are just some of the places where he happened to live: Kerch, Chisinau, Kyiv, Chita, Simbirsk, Kursk, Saratov, Vladimir, Oryol, Chernigov provinces, Moscow, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Turkestan, Tashkent, Andijan, Samarkand, Pejikent, Arkhangelsk, Krasnoyarsk , Yeniseisk, Bolshaya Murta, Turukhansk, Plakhino, Tambov, Tobolsk, Tyumen, Crimea...

IN different years the bishop was Bishop of Tashkent and Turkestan (01/25/1925 - September 1927), Bishop of Yeletsk, vicar of the Oryol diocese (10/5/1927 - 11/11/1927), Archbishop of Krasnoyarsk and Yenisei (12/27/1942 - 02/7/1944), cop Tambovsky and Michurinsky ( 02/07/1944 – 04/05/1946), Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea (04/5/1946 – 06/11/1961).

In the Tambov diocese, Bishop Luka simultaneously served in the church and worked as a surgeon in 150 hospitals for two years. Thanks to his brilliant operations, thousands of soldiers and officers returned to duty.

In 1946, the bishop was appointed Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea. Here he completes work on the theological work “Spirit, Soul and Body,” which also focuses on the doctrine Holy Scripture about the heart as an organ of knowledge of God. When Archbishop Luke became completely blind in 1958, he wrote to his daughter: “I refused the operation and humbly accepted God’s will for me to be blind until my death. I will continue my episcopal service until the end.”

On June 11, 1961, on the Day of All Saints, who shone in the Russian land, 84-year-old Archbishop Luke reposed in the Lord. For three days, an inexhaustible stream of people came to say goodbye to their beloved archpastor. Many sick people at the grave of St. Luke received healing.

Under the new dictatorship of Chekism with Chekist V. Putin at its head, the country announced the restoration of reverence for the Soviet era and bloody Bolshevism. Monuments to the executioners who committed the genocide of the Russian people are not only not being removed, but have recently begun to be restored. The latest illustration of this is the grand opening of the monument to Dzerzhinsky in Tyumen, which was accompanied by a false campaign on television to justify this beast. There were many similar animals in the church. But unlike direct murderers, the task of the church security officers (and many of them had and continue to have a rank and rank in the KGB) was the ideological indoctrination of the population in the spirit of Bolshevism, propaganda abroad about the absence of persecution of faith in the USSR, as well as direct cooperation with punitive authorities, surrender of unwanted opposition clergy. The main one of these new Judas, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), in 1927, having entered into an agreement with the Bolsheviks, staged a revolution in the Church, against the will of the First Hierarch of the Russian Church, Metropolitan. Peter and the episcopate, announced cooperation with the atheists and the unity of their “joys and sorrows” with the joys and sorrows of the Church. So all the martyrs for the faith who languished in prisons and exile were declared by him to be “political criminals,” and the persecution of the Church in the USSR “non-existent” and “an invention of liars.” The Bolsheviks gave complete freedom of action to the supporters of Metropolitan. Sergius to the “Sergians” and made them the official Soviet church, while the Russian Church that disagreed with him was automatically declared “counter-revolutionaries” subject to execution. So the Church was forced to go into the catacombs and was partially preserved in foreign dioceses. The official Soviet Church from the pulpit blessed all the atrocities of the Bolsheviks, so that, along with them, it was stained with the blood of all the innocently murdered Orthodox martyrs.

The Catacomb Russian Church gave birth to countless saints, almost all of whom remain unknown and silent today. These are Theodosius of the Caucasus, Ksenia Rybinskaya, Theoktista of Voronezh, Seraphim of Kharkov, Matrona Anemnyasevskaya and many other real miracle workers whose lives there was no one to write... Some of them have now been appropriated and glorified by the Soviet Moscow Patriarchate, but their glory and exploits are not advertised by it. In contrast to them, apostates and security officers in robes invent and widely glorify their “saints” who fought against the True Church all their lives. One of these was “Archbishop of the Crimea” Luka (Voino-Yasenetsky), blasphemously called a “confessor.” Being by nature a skilled surgeon and speaker, but lacking a spiritual core, he was one of those who fell spiritually during the persecution and used his talents to serve the persecutors and Bolshevism. In 1937, he was arrested as one of the “leaders” of a “counter-revolutionary church-monarchist organization.” But he did not become a confessor, like others, but followed the path of compromise and justification before Bolshevism. The case was transferred for investigation to Moscow and in the end it culminated in the fact that all participants and witnesses were shot, only Bishop Luka received 5 years of exile (and not imprisonment) in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, which at that time was equal to a full pardon and was awarded only who repented before the Soviet authorities and testified against their brethren.

In 1943, Bishop Luka was among the first to be called to a “church” council convened by Stalin, the purpose of which was to create a modern “Russian Orthodox Church” from the Sergian faithful to Bolshevism, instead of the old “Russian” one, in order to stupefy the people who did not want to follow the Soviet leaders. Only “verified” faithful servants of Bolshevism and renovationists were allowed to attend the cathedral.

By the way, the “conciliar” decisions said: “Deeply touched by the sympathetic attitude of our national Leader, Head of the Soviet Government J.V. STALIN to the needs of the Russian Orthodox Church and to the humble labors of us, its humble servants, we bring to the Government our all-conciliar sincere gratitude, and the joyful assurance that, encouraged by this sympathy, we Let’s increase our share of work in the national feat for the salvation of the homeland.”(Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate No. 01, 1943).

From this time on, Luke’s “archpastoral” career began in the ranks of the Soviet clergy.

All his subsequent articles and sermons, published in the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, were filled with Bolshevik lies and propaganda and were intended primarily for foreign countries:

“In the Great Revolution, in socialism and communism,” wrote Luke, “the peoples of the USSR learned new principles of morality based on duty to the homeland and the state, on camaraderie in work and life, in mutual respect... The destruction of economic foundations accomplished by the revolution is immeasurably great social evil and individual evil"(Mark Popovsky. Life and hagiography of St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky). St. Petersburg, 2003).

“Having overthrown the power of the tsar, landowners and capitalists, the peoples of the USSR, as a result of colossal peaceful comradely labor, created new world on foundations of social truth and universal equality unprecedented in history... Evil, vile partitions were erected under tsarism between nationalities and classes. For the oppressors, “Sart”, “Kyrgyz” and every “foreigner” were a lower being... Before the Russian worker, peasant, soldier of the Red Army, who built the first perfect state in history... the whole world has already bowed with deep respect. No one dares to mock the “foreigners” anymore, because the liberated Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Azerbaijanis, having gained access to higher education and government, have already shown all the wealth of their spiritual powers in the field of science, political activity, art, poetry and music, showed unparalleled courage and heroism in defending their socialist Motherland... And all the best representatives of humanity, all those who hunger and thirst for truth, are now reflecting on the great social truth realized in the Soviet state, universal equality and the destruction of national and class partitions, they are amazed at the valor of our Red Army"(ZhMP No. 09, 1944).

“What is our true attitude towards our Government, towards our new state system? First of all, we, the Russian clergy, live in complete peace with our Government, and it is impossible for us to bless priests to participate in counter-revolutionary or terrorist gangs, as was the case in Zagreb. We have no reasons for hostility against the Government, for it has granted complete freedom to the Church and does not interfere in its internal affairs.”(ZhMP No. 01, 1948).

Supported by such preaching, leaders of the Soviet church traveled around the world after the war and promoted emigration: “the motherland is waiting for you with open arms,” “there is no more persecution of faith.” Many Russian emigrants believed the false propaganda, went to the USSR, and all of them faced, at best, 10 years in the camps, from which few returned to freedom, and a lifelong label: Article 58 - counter-revolutionary activity.

Since the late 40s, Bolshevism has organized abroad new uniform propaganda under the guise of the “struggle for peace.” The Soviet church again began to play a key role in this movement, declaring that the “Bolshevik world” is the peace of Christ preached in the Gospel.

“The Apostle Paul exclaimed: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of peace!” And his disciples in America, France and England are ready to break the legs of those who preach the gospel of peace. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you,” said our Lord Jesus Christ in His farewell conversation with the disciples. In the US, this might be classified as “dangerous thoughts.” Luka wrote in his articles (ZhMP No. 11, 1950).

The Catacomb Saint Barnabas (Belyaev) rightly called this teaching a “new heresy”, and Luke’s articles “overflowing with expressions from communist newspapers.”

As a skillful and emotional Soviet agitator, Luka (Voino-Yasenetsky) did not skimp on epithets, defending the Stalinist cannibal Vyshinsky, or denouncing the right-wing Greek Orthodox and Spanish governments, where, as a result of bloody civil wars, the people defended their right to live without the atheist communists. Luke calls this “the horrors of fascism,” “incitement to war.” Regardless of the fact that civil war It was the atheist communists who started the fire there.

Luke personally idolized the fierce atheist Stalin. The winner of the Stalin Prize in surgery himself, he placed a portrait of this monster next to the icon of the Virgin Mary. There is evidence that suggests even worse:

“In 1941 in Krasnoyarsk, entering the room of a consultant surgeon, Dr. V.A. Kluge noticed on the wall, next to the image Mother of God, a small portrait of Lenin. This strange proximity forced Kluge to ask Luke a reasonable question:

– Do you think Lenin is a genius?

“Yes,” Voino answered.

– But Lenin denied religion. How do you combine these facts?

“They, the Bolsheviks, even he, were not able to understand the meaning of religion. So a colorblind person does not distinguish colors. They should be pitied for this...

Soon, however, the portrait of the color-blind Lenin disappeared from the wall. But an employee of hospital No. 1515, K.N. Popova (Spiridovich), saw two portraits of Stalin in the surgeon’s room...”(Mark Popovsky. Life and hagiography of St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) St. Petersburg. 2003).

And this was at a time when Stalin was still continuing the mass executions of the clergy and the closure of churches throughout the country.

Naturally, this was the attitude towards Stalin not only of Luke alone, but of the entire Stalinist church. This is what was written in 1949 in a greeting message to Stalin from “the clergy and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church” signed by the “patriarch” and all the bishops, including Luka:

“DEAR AND DEAR JOSEPH VISSARIONOVICH!

On the day of your seventieth birthday, when the nation-wide feeling of love and gratitude to you - the Leader, Teacher and Friend of the working people has reached special strength and upsurge, we, church people, feel a moral need to add our voice to the powerful chorus of congratulations and express to you those thoughts and wishes that constitute a particularly precious part of our spiritual heritage...

Like all the interests of workers in general, the needs of the Russian believers who make up the Russian Orthodox Church are also close to you. Witnessing your attitude to these needs, we first of all pay tribute with a feeling of deep satisfaction to the rights and responsibilities of citizens of the Soviet State, enshrined in the Stalinist Constitution. Among these rights, we, church people, especially cherish the unfettered freedom and opportunity to profess our Orthodox faith, as well as the complete civil equality of our Orthodox clergy. Thanks to the Stalinist Constitution, the church people of our country can not only freely implement their church ideals, but also take part in public and state life...

And now, feeling at every step of our church and civil life the good results of your wise state leadership, we cannot hide our feelings, and on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church we bring you, dear Joseph Vissarionovich, on the day of your seventieth birthday, deep gratitude and warmly welcoming you On this significant day for all of us who love you, we pray for the strengthening of your strength and send you prayerful wishes for many years of life for the joy and happiness of our great Motherland, blessing your feat of serving it and being inspired by this feat of yours.”(ZhMP No. 12, 1949).

Can the people who wrote such messages be called Christians? Luke of Crimea was not a Christian confessor, much less a “saint.” While the true saints in the USSR were persecuted by the Soviet regime, languished in camps and prisons, and the common people on collective farms worked from dawn to dawn for empty unpaid sticks in the statements, the Soviet higher clergy blessed all the atrocities of Bolshevism and were equated for this to the party nomenklatura of the USSR, for which they received all types of food and material benefits, from food with delicacies and a personal car, to sanatorium treatment.

As a true communist in a cassock, Luke mercilessly waged war on the True Church, slandering and blaspheming it for its hostility to Bolshevism. On the occasion of the awarding of the Soviet “patriarch” with another Bolshevik award, he wrote:

“A little more than six years have passed since the first award His Holiness Patriarch Alexy with the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and again the Government awarded him the same order. For what? For his patriotic activities... Those archpastors and shepherds who left their homeland and their flocks during the years of greatest turmoil and suffering were deprived of patriotism, and caused church schisms in Sremski Karlovci, in Paris and Munich, in North America... Let us wish the Great Lord and Father our Alexy to firmly hold in his hands the helm of the rule of the Church, not paying attention to the evil hissing of foreign schismatics who call themselves “true Orthodox”"(ZhMP No. 12, 1952).

Luke kept silent about those True Orthodox archpastors and shepherds who, while staying in the catacombs and prisons of the USSR, did not recognize the Soviet “patriarch”. Otherwise, he should have recognized the persecution of the Church in the USSR. The same bishops who, by the will of God, found themselves abroad with white armies to care for millions of white emigrants, could not be accused of “not patriotism”, because they remained with their flock, which they could not abandon. Foreign bishops have always been an integral part of the Russian Church, and in 1927 they did not recognize the Soviet course of Metropolitan. Sergius and the Soviet Church he then created. They were monarchists and Christianly understood the meaning of serving their Fatherland, as St. John of Shanghai said:

“May the Lord bless the sword that punishes the atheists and executioners of the Russian people, and may the Most Holy Theotokos protect our Motherland from any attack on the Orthodox Faith, its integrity and its property.”(Standart. 1941. No. 30-31. p. 8.).

IN Last year our people finally began to look at the devilish essence of the ministers of the Soviet church. In such a stalemate situation for the KGB authorities, a command came from above: to launch an all-Russian campaign to praise the “saint” Bolshevik Luke to raise the authority of the Soviet church. In advance, the Sofrino MP factory launched a mass production of icons of the famous “saint” 17 years ago. Already in December, entire boxes of Luke’s icons appeared at icon dealers, which was surprising, because these icons had never been produced before. Afterwards, TV channels of the Moscow Patriarchate showed programs about the “holy” life of Luke. On January 24, a Talk Show on Channel One “Let Them Talk” was dedicated to him. This Show featured vulgar women with half-exposed breasts, without crosses on their necks, who received “healings” through Luke’s prayers. According to the principle: she prayed and after a while conceived a child, or recovered from an illness. But such “help over time” is not miracles. Miracles are a visible miracle, when a born deformed person or a cripple, or a bedridden patient becomes healthy in an instant or begins to dramatically and visibly recover.

But this cannot be explained to ordinary people, practical materialists, or even worse, to Soviet people. They are driven by a thirst for material miracles and help, rather than true faith and salvation, so that the next day the common people went en masse to Soviet churches and immediately demanded the icons of Luke, which had been sent out in advance to huge quantities by parish.

One is only surprised how easily in our time people believe new fictitious “saints” and “miracle workers”: from the Matrona of Moscow, the “youth” Slavik, Rasputin and Ivan the Terrible to the local charming “elders”, for example Georgy Timashevsky, who was also known as a “healer” ", through the fault of which, perhaps, more than a dozen people died. And it’s good if these miracles are simply an invention of seduced “admirers” who want to believe in a miracle, and not real miracles performed by demons according to the Bolshevik faith of the questioners or according to the demonic merits of the “miracle workers”, because in this case, these miracles will return as greater evil. The history of the church knows quite a few cases of ascetics who were deceived by the devil and who performed miracles during their lifetime. For example, Saint Nikita of Novgorod, who was seduced by a demon who appeared in the form of an angel, and received from the devil the “gift” of prophecy and teaching, so that he predicted the future and knew the entire Old Testament by heart, was at first recognized as a righteous man and a miracle worker. But the Kiev-Pechersk elders discovered the delusion and begged Nikita from God, and then in humility he achieved holiness. In our recent times, when there are almost no true shepherds left, we need to approach all new teachers and “miracle workers” even more cautiously, and in repentance pray to God to guide us on the true path.

. In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee, whose name is Nazareth,

. to the virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, from the house of David: and the name of the virgin was Mary.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee called Nazareth,

to a virgin betrothed to a husband named Joseph, from the house of David; the name of the Virgin is Mary.

In the sixth month- that is, after the conception of a son, the Forerunner of Christ Elizabeth (v. 36). Angel Gabriel - the same one of the Angels who announced the conception of the Forerunner (v. 19). To the city of Galilee, called Nazareth. Nazareth was a small city in one of the parts of the Holy Land or Palestine called Galilee. (See 2:4). Its population was poor and did not have good morals, so it became a proverb: Can anything good come from Nazareth?(). But how often human judgments are wrong and sinful! In this, according to people, despicable Nazareth lived the Virgin, chosen to be the Mother of the Lord; the Savior of men Himself was raised in it and remained until the age of thirty. To Virgo etc. St. the Virgin Mary was the daughter of pious Jewish parents, Joachim and Anna, of whom the first came from the royal tribe, from the tribe of Judah, and the second from the priestly tribe of Levi. She was born to them in their old age. Praying for the gift of a child, St. Joachim and Anna made a vow, if it was born to them, to dedicate it to God, that is, as was the custom then, to give it to the temple to live there until adulthood. Mary was born and brought into the temple as a three-year-old girl. Here she lived for 12 years in the company of wives and virgins who dedicated themselves to serving God. At the end of her time in the temple, according to custom, she was supposed to enter into marriage; since in Old Testament times all Jewish maidens, prompted by the hope of the birth of the Savior, considered it their greatest misfortune to remain maidens forever. But St. The Virgin Mary, in her deep humility, did not allow herself to even think about such a hope, but, loving God with all her soul, she took a vow of perpetual virginity. She revealed her intention to the high priest and priests; and those, having heard about Her vow, were in difficulty: what to do with Her? Then, through prayer, God revealed to them that they should find a worthy person who, under the guise of marriage, would be the guardian of Her virginity. 12 wifeless men from the family of David were chosen, among whom was the righteous Joseph, an eighty-year-old old man. It was to him that St. became engaged. Mary so that he would be both the guardian of Her virginity and Her patron and helper. Elder Joseph, like Mary, came from the family of David () and, according to the testimony of the Evangelists. Matthew, was a righteous man (1:19). But this royal descendant was in a poor state and earned his livelihood through the labors of woodworking. For some reason, he did not live in his home city of Bethlehem, where David was born, but in poor Nazareth, and Mary therefore moved to this city, leaving Jerusalem. Living in Nazareth Holy Virgin She succeeded more and more in the deeds of piety, which she had learned to do in church - she remained in solitude and practiced contemplation of God, prayer, and reading the Holy Scriptures. books and handicraft works. Evidence of deep knowledge of St. books that Rev. had. Theotokos, serves the song that She sang during her meeting with the righteous. Elizabeth and which, in Her honor, is sung by St. (). This song is all imbued with the spirit of the Holy One. books and consists of various sayings of the Holy. Scriptures (Philar. Metropolitan). “Marriage, so revered in the Old Testament, writes the same saint, could only give birth to humans. Virginity alone was worthy of giving birth to the God-man. Therefore, following her betrothal to Joseph, Mary becomes betrothed to the Holy Spirit in order to be the Matter of the Lord. The Annunciation followed the betrothal.”

. And an angel came to her and said: Rejoice, full of grace: The Lord is with you: blessed are you among women.

The angel, entering to Her, said: Rejoice, full of grace! The Lord is with You; Blessed are You among women.

One day, as legend testifies, Rev. Maria read the book of the prophet. Isaiah and, dwelling on his words: behold, a virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and they will call his name Immanuel(7:14), she prayed to God to send down the Redeemer of the world announced by the prophets. At these moments the Archangel appears to Her and, as if answering Her desire and prayer, pronounces Her a joyful greeting: “ Rejoice, "Blessed" etc. Rejoice, this is a common greeting, the same as “hello.” Gracious, This is already a special greeting. It expressed God's special favor towards St. Virgo, because blessed means especially blessed by God, endowed with special divine gifts and thus superior to other ordinary people. The Lord is with you, This is also one of the usual greetings. Blessed are You among women(between wives). This is again a special greeting. To be blessed among wives means to be the first, best and happiest among them. With the spoken words of St. The Archangel seemed to say so to the Rev. Theotokos: “You have adorned yourself with all the virtues, all the spiritual perfections, and for this you have become worthy of the special mercy and love of God. The Lord, close to all people who fulfill St. His will, especially draws near to You with His ineffable grace. He, the source of every blessing, blesses You above all the wives in the world, which is why people will bless You, glorify and please You above all women” (Philar.).

. She saw that she was embarrassed about his words and thought about what this kiss would be like. She, seeing him, was embarrassed by his words and wondered what kind of greeting this would be.

Rev. The Mother of God was embarrassed by the words of the Angel (/confused about his words). This confusion is understandable due to the sudden appearance of a heavenly messenger to Her and the extraordinary greetings from him. Zechariah was also confused when an Angel appeared to him in the temple, announcing the birth of his son, the Forerunner of Christ (vv. 11-12). The appearance of angels also awed others in the Old Testament. righteous (6:22–23; 13:22). Zechariah was overcome by fear and mistrust; and Rev. The Mother of God was embarrassed not by the appearance of the Angel to Her, but by his greeting, and wondered what this greeting would mean (what will it be like to kiss e ); since until now no one, and especially none of the earth-born, have heard such a greeting from heaven. Saint Philaret depicts the state of the Most Holy One in this way. The Mother of God at this time: “Will I accept an unusual greeting? thought the Most Rev. Virgo. I am afraid that this will not be counted against me as exaltation. Will I reject it? I am afraid that with my unbelief I will offend not only God’s Messenger, but also the Sender. But I wait in silence for God to reveal. So She did not accept the high greeting, and thereby preserved her humility, but she did not reject it, and thereby preserved her faith.” The circumstance is that Rev. The Mother of God was not afraid of the appearance of the Angel, which is explained by the fact that, as legend says, St. An angel appeared to Her more than once when She lived at the temple, and She thus became accustomed to the appearances and conversations of Angels.

. And the angel said to her: Do not be afraid, Mariam: for you have found grace from God.

. And you conceived in your womb, and gave birth to a Son, and called his name Jesus.

And the Angel said to Her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for You have found favor with God; and behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus.

Don't be afraid, that is, do not be embarrassed, for in a state of embarrassment the Holy Virgin could not properly listen to the Archangel’s gospel. Found more ecu grace from God(explanation of the word “grace” read in article 28). And that's it(Here) you will conceive in the womb etc. Here the Angel speaks in the words of Isaiah’s prophecy about the birth of the Messiah from a virgin (6:14), which, of course, the Most Holy One knew. Maria. Tradition says that an angel appeared to St. The Virgin Mary precisely at the time when She, reading the book of the prophet. Isaiah, focused her thoughts on this prophecy (See v. 28). Jesus. This name is quite common among Jews and means “God the Savior” or simply “Savior.” To save people from eternal destruction for sins that began in the human race with the fall of the first people in paradise, according to the wise divine plans, the Son of God, the second, had to come down from heaven to earth, become incarnate and, having taken upon himself the sins of the human race, suffer for them. face of the Most Rev. Trinity. And this incarnate Son of God at birth was called Jesus the Savior. Regarding the name Jesus, our so-called Old Believers, or schismatics, who in the 17th century arbitrarily separated from the true Church because of some church rituals, fall into error and argue a lot. They teach you what to write and say not Jesus, A Jesus. But it is Jesus - the Greek word or Yeshua, shortened from Yehoshua, the word is Hebrew - and means Savior, not Jesus; there is no such word in Greek. If written in some ancient books Jesus, so it is written in abbreviation, as they often wrote in ancient times.

. He will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David:

. and he will reign in the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.

And the Angel announced about the Forerunner that he would great(great, v. 15), but great before the Lord and not absolutely great or the greatest of all. What will be great, the Archangel says further: Son of the Most High, i.e. God the Father, who is superior to every creature of heaven and earth, like His Only Begotten Son incarnate () will be called. And the Lord will give Him the throne of His father David. And he will reign in the house of Jacob(above Jacob's house) forever. David is called the father of I. Christ, because He comes from David both through His Mother, the Holy Virgin Mary, and through His named father Joseph (Read explanation, art. 27 and). The origin of the Messiah, the eternal King from the line of David, was predicted to David by God (IIsal. 131:11). Above Jacob's house. Here we mean mainly the Jewish people, who descended from the 12 sons of Patriarch Jacob, but we also mean all other peoples who believe in the Messiah. It is said here only about reigning over the Jewish people because in the flesh he came from this people, and because the salvation of the whole world had to come from the Jews, as the people chosen for this purpose (). “Hearing about the throne of David, the blessed one writes. Theophylact, do not think about the sensual kingdom, but think about the divine, through which He will reign over all nations through divine preaching;” why did the Angel say: His kingdom will not exist end. The earthly kingdom of David was only the image and shadow of the spiritual kingdom of Christ.

. Mary’s speech to the angel: How will this be, even though I don’t know my husband?

. And the angel answered and said: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you: and in the same way the holy thing to be born will be called the Son of God:

Mary said to the Angel: How will this be when I don’t know my husband?

The angel answered Her: The Holy Spirit will come upon You, and the power of the Most High will overshadow You; therefore the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

What will it be like etc. This is a question - not of doubt and unbelief, as in Zechariah (vv. 18-20), but of natural bewilderment: Most Rev. The Virgin believed the words of the Angel, as the Holy Spirit Himself testified through the mouth of the righteous Elizabeth (1:45), and therefore does not demand a sign from him, just as the priest Zechariah demanded when the birth of his son was announced to him. But unchanging love for the purity of virginity prompts Her to ask the Angel: how can a Son be born from Her when She is a virgin? She made a vow to maintain virginity, and meanwhile the Angel says that She will have a Son. “Virgin Mary, writes the blessed one. Theophylact said this not because she didn’t seem to believe it, but because She, as wise and reasonable, wanted to know the image of the present event: for nothing like this had happened before, and there will be nothing like it after. Zechariah is rightly condemned; he had many examples, since many barren children gave birth, but the Virgin did not have a single example.” How did She think that the vow of virginity would be preserved and a Son would be born? The Holy Spirit will come upon you(You), etc., that is, conception and birth will not take place in a natural way, from a husband, but supernaturally, incomprehensibly, through the influx of the Holy Spirit, through the overshadowing of the power of the Most High, and therefore the one born will not be like ordinary children who, when conceived and being born in sins, with birth they bring curse into the world; but it will be holy, not involved in any sin. Since Christ had to offer Himself as a sacrifice to the justice of God for the sins of men, He Himself should not have had any sin, even original sin, from which no person is free. That is why he was conceived in the Virgin who was prepurified for this purpose by a special action of God, and at birth itself is called Holy, Son of God(Mich.). Son of God, i.e., according to His humanity, born of the Virgin, the Son of God, born before the age of God the Father, will be the Only Begotten Son of God, which is why the Holy Virgin Mary is called the Mother of God, the Mother of God. There were such false teachers who said that in Jesus Christ only the two natures Divine and human were morally united, and therefore the Holy Virgin Mary was called not the Mother of God, but the Mother of Christ; on the 3rd Omni. the council condemned them.

. and behold, Elizabeth is your little daughter, and she conceived a son in her old age: and this sixth month is called the month of barrenness:

. For God will not fail every verb. Behold your relative Elizabeth, who is called barren, and she conceived a son in her old age, and she is already in her sixth month,

for with God no word will be powerless.

For greater assurance, the Archangel points to the Most Holy. to the Virgin for an event, although still unknown to Her, but of the truth of which She can verify; This same instruction partly resolved Her bewilderment about the possibility of Her conceiving a baby: Elizabeth, according to natural laws, could no longer conceive, and yet she conceived by the will and power of God; because, as they say in church. songs, “wherever God wills, the order of nature is overcome,” that is, the laws of nature change (Mic.). According to legend recorded by St. Cyril of Alexandria, Elizabeth and Maria were the daughters of two sisters, of whom Anna, the mother of the Most Rev. The Mother of God was married to Joachim, from the tribe of Judah, and the second, the mother of Elizabeth, to a priest. Thus, Mary and Elizabeth were cousins.

. The speech of Maryam: behold the servant of the Lord: be unto me according to thy word. And the angel left her.

Then Mary said: Behold, the Servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word. And the Angel departed from Her.

Behold the servant of the Lord etc. “What a height of faith, a depth of humility and devotion to the will of God in this answer to Mary! exclaims one of the saints (Metropolitan Phil.). If righteous Sarah accepted the foreshadowing of the birth of Isaac from her, unusual, but not supernatural, with confusion; if with such a foreshadowing about the Forerunner of the Lord, righteous. Zechariah did not believe and demanded a sign: how much higher than the most righteous is the Most Holy One. Virgin Mary, when does she accept the announcement of the supernatural, incomprehensible birth of Christ, the Savior from Her, without confusion, without distrust?” “Eve believed the serpent, Mary believed Gabriel; What she lost by faith, she gained by faith,” notes Tertullian. “At the moment of faith, the influx and overshadowing of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit and the ineffable and incomprehensible mystery of the conception of the Messiah Jesus took place” (Mic.). “In the days of creation, when God spoke His living and powerful yes it will be, the word of the Creator produced creatures in the world; but on this day, unprecedented in the existence of the world, when the Divine. Mariam expressed her meek and obedient wake up the word of the creature brought down the Creator into the world - the Divinity descended in all its fullness into the sphere of corrupted humanity, united with it in the closest way, partook of its flesh and blood, so that in this way all sinful humanity on the shoulders of Divine power could be replenished and lifted higher than from where it fell - into heavenly eternal kingdom of God. That's why the Annunciation is called our salvation is the main thing"(Right. Interview. 1884, part 1). – The question arises: why was the decree about the incarnation of the Son of God not fulfilled for so long, over so many centuries, while it was decreed and proclaimed in the first days of the world? Saint Philaret answers this question like this: “The reason for slowness is not in God; a free creature lacks readiness to accept God’s action, when its will lacks correspondence to the will of God. It is especially difficult to establish this readiness in a fallen and destroyed creature, which needs to be restored and recreated... Also, Providence sought in the human race and prepared a blessed one in women, who could, with Her purity, attract, accept, contain and hold the Divinity, without being scorched by His fire ... And humanity, having gone through a long series of purification and sanctification in the host of the patriarchs and all the saints of the Old Testament, finally appeared in Mary at that degree of purity and perfection at which She could become the receptacle of God - the Word. The Holy Spirit pre-purified the God-chosen Youth and raised Her to purity worthy of direct contact with the purity of the Divine.

Zach. 4th. Travel of Rev. Theotokos to Elizabeth.

Read on the day of the Annunciation and on the feasts of the Theotokos, at Matins.

. And Mary arose in the days of Thou, and went into the heavenly place with diligence, to the city of Judah:

. and Zechariah went into the house and kissed Elizabeth. And Mary arose in those days, and went with haste into the hill country, to the city of Judah, and she entered into the house of Zechariah, and greeted Elizabeth.

In the days of thy(this), i.e. after the Most Rev. The Mother of God received the Arkhangelsk news of the birth of the Savior of the world from Her and at the same time learned that Her relative Elizabeth would soon be a mother. Walk with care(went hastily) to Elizabeth. Rev. The Mother of God wanted to quickly convey Her secret and joy to Elizabeth, as Her closest and eldest relative, and also wanted to share with her her joy on the occasion of the imminent birth of her son: such a desire usually happens very strongly in circumstances and not so great importance. St. Mary could reveal her secret and joy to Joseph, as the person closest to Her, but she was afraid, so as not to embarrass him (Prof. Theologian). In the mountain(to the mountainous country), to the city of Judah. It is believed that this was Hebron, the famous priestly city, located in the mountainous country of Judea, not far from Bethlehem, or located near it, the small city of the Levites Jutta (v. 24). After the division of the Jewish kingdom into Judah and Israel under Solomon's son Rehoboam, one part of the mountain range that cuts through the middle and southern part of Palestine remained in the kingdom of Judah, and the other passed into the Israeli kingdom, and began to be called, the first - Mount Judah or the mountainous country of Judah, and the second - the mountain of Israel or the mountainous country of Israel. (Mich.).

. And when Elizabeth heard Mary’s kiss, the baby leapt in her womb: and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

Jump up(played up) baby in her womb. This extraordinary movement of the baby in the womb testified to the close spiritual relationships in which the babies who will be born will have to be (Mic.). Filled with the Holy Spirit Elizabeth– from Him she learned the secret of the Holy Virgin’s conception of the baby Savior (v. 43). The Holy Spirit labored and the baby, the future Forerunner of the Messiah, was in the womb of Elizabeth.

. and cried with a great voice and said: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb: and she cried with a loud voice and said: Blessed are You among women, and blessed is the fruit of Your womb!

Out of an excess of feelings, Elizabeth, at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, greets Mary with a special greeting, not as her relative, Whom she loved, but as the Mother of the Lord. Blessed are You among women. This is a repetition of the Angelic greeting (read article 28), with which Elizabeth delivers the Most Holy. The virgin is above all wives. Blessed is the fruit of Your womb, i.e., the baby conceived and about to be born from the Virgin is the Savior. “Not to mention the fact that the mere repetition of the Angel’s greeting is in itself amazing, which, of course, Mary could not help but notice, writes one of the interpreters of the Gospel (Prof. Theologian); but even more surprising is the second greeting: blessed is the fruit of your womb, with which Elizabeth, so to speak, hastens to confirm the gospel of the Angel and at the same time makes it clear that the secret announced to Mary and hitherto unknown to anyone is already known to her.” “Elizabeth’s prophetic words were not her words, but those of a baby, and the mother’s lips only served him, just as Mary’s lips served Him who was in Her womb, the Son of God” (Theoph.). From all this, St. Mary became even more confident in the truth of the words spoken to her by the Archangel, and understood that everything that happened to Her and Elizabeth was done according to the will of God.

. and where do I get this from, so that the Mother of my Lord may come to me?

. Behold, as the voice of your kiss came into my ears, the baby leaped with joy in my womb.

. And blessed is she who believed, for the things spoken to her by the Lord will be accomplished.

And where does it come from for me that the Mother of my Lord came to me?

And blessed is she who believed, because what was spoken to her by the Lord will be fulfilled.

Where do I get this from? i.e. where did I get such happiness, for what merits did he honor me that she came to me Ma T u(Mother) My Lord? Righteous Elizabeth directly calls the Holy Virgin the Mother of the Lord: this was revealed to her by the Holy Spirit when he filled her and told her the secret of Mary. Blessed is she who believes- and because she believed, - not like Zechariah, her husband, Elizabeth - and because everything that was foretold to St. Mary by the Archangel about Her Son would be fulfilled (there will be fulfillment of what was spoken to Her by the Lord). Here, of course, we mean not only the promise of the conception and birth of Jesus Christ, but also what was announced by the Angel about His eternal kingdom (vv. 31–33).

. And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord,

. and my spirit rejoiced in my God our Savior:

. as I look upon the humility of my servant: behold, from now on all my fathers will bring me joy: And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoiced in God my Savior,

that He looked upon the humility of His Servant, for from now on all generations will please Me;

And Mariam's speech(Maria said) etc. Impressed happy events as with the Most Holy One. The Virgin, and so with Her relative Elizabeth, after a divinely inspired greeting to Her from this latter, from Her soul a wonderful, prophetic song poured out to the glory of God and the future Savior of the world. In Her song, the Holy Virgin glorifies those especially revealed in the redemption of the world: 1) the mercy of God (48 v.), 2) omnipotence (49–51), 3) holiness (49–51), 4) truth (52–53) and 5) especially the faithfulness of Jehovah God to His covenant (54–55). This song is used almost every day in our Orthodox Church during the morning service. Magnifies- glorifies and glorifies God for the salvation He reveals to the world. Look upon the humility of His servant. What is meant here is mainly the then ignorantity and humiliation of the family of David, from which the Most Holy One came. Theotokos, also the moral humility of Herself. From legend, the case of Her humility at the very time of the Arkhangelsk gospel to Her is unknown. Before the gospel, while reading the book of the prophet Isaiah, stopping at his words about the birth of the Savior from the Virgin, Mary thought thus: “how happy I would be if the Lord deigned me to be the servant of this Virgin!” From now on they will please Me(Me) Sun u give birth, that is, they will bless and glorify all nations, all people who believe in Her son, the Redeemer of the world.

. For the mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name:

. and his mercy shall extend unto generations of generations of them that fear him:

that the Mighty One has done great things for Me, and holy is His name; and His mercy throughout all generations is upon those who fear Him;

Make me great, O Mighty One, i.e. The Almighty has honored Me with the great honor of being the Matter of His only begotten Son - the Savior of the world. Holy is His name, i.e. Holy is God: the name of God is often used instead of what is Himself - God. When God approaches Himself, Most Rev. The Mother of God especially felt and understood His holiness. In the prophetic inspiration of St. Virgo speaks of events that have yet to happen as if they have already happened: create(51 st.), waste(52 art.), overthrow(Article 52), etc. His mercy, - God's mercy towards sinful people, during childbirth– from generation to generation, from fathers to children, from ancestors to descendants, forever. (TO) those who fear Him, that is, to pious, virtuous people: the fear of God is fear, fear, lest one offend God by breaking His commandments.

. create power with your muscle: squander their hearts with proud thoughts:

He showed the strength of His arm; He scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

Create power with Your arm(showed the strength of His arm). Muscle, this is a sign of power. The word muscle is called God's omnipotence. In these and His further words, Rev. The Mother of God depicts the great revolution foreseen by Her, which the Lord will accomplish through the establishment of the kingdom of Her son, the Messiah. Spend your proud thoughts(dispelled the arrogant in thoughts) their hearts. Haughty, or proud, is unhumble, thinking a lot about himself and arrogant in himself, elevating himself to the mind of God. By arrogant here we mean the pagans, and the words waste(scattered), etc. mean that the Savior appeared not among the proud pagans, but among the poor, humiliated Jewish people, and from this people the salvation of the world came (Mic.).

. cast down the mighty from the throne, and exalt the humble:

. Fill those who are hungry with blessings, and those who are rich let go of their vanity.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the humble;

He filled the hungry with good things, and sent away the rich with nothing;

Bring down the mighty(strong) from the throne To dethrone means to refute and destroy. The image is taken from the overthrow of the kings. These words mean that in the kingdom of Christ everything proud and arrogant will be overthrown, and humble people will be exalted - apparently humiliated, but through this humility and humiliation they have acquired high moral dignity. Hungry(hungry) fulfill the blessings. Here we mean those who are hungry for spiritual blessings, the same as among the Evangelists. Matthew (5:6), hungering for truth, that is, those striving for justification before God, wanting to be satisfied with the blessings of the kingdom of the Messiah. Those who are rich, let go of their vanities(he sent away the rich with nothing), that is, those who in their pride considered themselves rich in spiritual perfections and had no greed for the spiritual benefits of the kingdom of the Messiah were left with nothing. Here we mean those who do not want to accept the faith of Christ, such as, for example, the Pharisees, who considered themselves righteous and were proud of their righteousness (read about them in the explanation of 7th article 3rd chapter).

. Israel will receive its message, remember mercy,

. like a verb to our fathers, Abraham and his seed forever.

He received His servant Israel, remembering mercy,

as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever.

Perceived(received) - again accepted into His fatherly love, sending the Redeemer of the world. Israel, i.e. the Jewish people (v. 16), humiliated and, as it were, godforsaken(of course, the time from the Babylonian captivity, when the Jews did not have the prophets and revelations of God). Otroka, - the same as a slave, Yours. Under this name the Jewish people were often depicted as prophets (and others). The name of this people as a youth expresses their humble and humiliated state. But this humility and humiliation is now lifted up and glorified by the appearance of the Messiah among him; this is what the words mean: He received Israel His servant. Remember(remembering) favors, like a verb(As said) to our father etc. Mercy or mercy, these are promises based on mercy for the human race about its redemption, which promises were given fathers or the forefathers of the Jewish people in the person of Adam(), then repeated with particular clarity Abraham(12:3ff.) and his seed, - to his descendants through the prophets. Remembering, that is, brought to fulfillment over time, during which these promises remained unfulfilled, as if forgotten due to the lapse of time. Until a century. These mercies - redemption and salvation - shown to the people of Israel, and through them to all people, will continue forever (Mic.).

56 . So Mariam stayed with her for three months and returned to her home.

Mary stayed with her for about three months and returned to her home.

Three months(about three months). In all likelihood, St. Mary did not wait for the birth of the Forerunner, but, avoiding the gaze of the curious, hastened to return back before the approaching birth of John. to your house, that is, to the house of His betrothed Joseph in Nazareth (vv. 26–27.).

Zach. 4th. The Nativity of the Forerunner and his youth

. The time was fulfilled for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.

. And hearing the living and living creatures around her, how the Lord magnified his mercy with her: and he rejoiced with her.

The time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.

And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had magnified His mercy over her, and they rejoiced with her.

“When the never-setting Sun, Christ our Savior, deigned to shine upon the world and, bowing the heavens, entered the holiest of heaven itself, the virgin’s womb, it was necessary for the virgin to appear before Him from the barren old woman,” St. To John the Forerunner, so that he could foretell the coming of the Lord to people, this is how the synaxarion, June 24, tells about the birth of the Forerunner. And so, when the time of Elizabeth’s pregnancy was fulfilled, she gave birth to a son in her old age, just as Sarah once gave birth to Isaac. So the miracle preceded the miracle: before the Most Rev. The Virgin Mary gave birth to Christ, the elderly Elizabeth gave birth to the Forerunner of Christ, so that those who saw an extraordinary birth from a barren old woman according to the laws of nature would then believe in a supernatural birth from a husbandless Virgin; for the almighty power of God, which resolved the infertility of Elder Elizabeth, of course, could also create Matter for the incorruptible maiden Mary, for all nature is obedient to the Creator. “Since infertility was considered among the Jews as a punishment for the sins of spouses and was a subject not only of regret, but also of reproach from others; That resolution of infertility, especially of such persons from whom, apparently, childbearing could not be expected, was not only a source of joy for those giving birth themselves, but also changed the view of others on them. This was the case with Elizabeth’s permission. The parents themselves, who had endured the ordeal of childlessness for so long, rejoiced here with great joy. When the news spread throughout the surrounding area, where the elders Zechariah and Elizabeth lived, about the extraordinary resolution of the infertility, it amazed everyone who knew the elder Elizabeth, neighbors and relatives)(Yuzhiki) her: all of them now rejoiced her happiness, and, accustomed to seeing God’s blessing in ordinary childbearing, in this unexpected birth of a barren and elderly woman, you recognized the special mercy of the Lord towards the one who gave birth. Then the words of the Archangel to Zechariah were fulfilled: and you will have joy and gladness, and many births your son will rejoice(14th century).

. And it came to pass on that day that he came to circumcise the boy, and he was born in the name of his father, Zechariah.

. And his mother answered his saying: no, but let him be called John. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the baby and wanted to name him, after his father’s name, Zechariah.

To this his mother said: no, but call him John.

Circumcision was a sign of the covenant between God and the Jewish people, a sign of the election and sanctification of this people into a special people belonging to God (and gave), so the word “uncircumcised” meant unclean, unsanctified and not belonging to the society of the faithful Israelites. The law of circumcision began with Abraham, the first patriarch of the Jewish people, and was repeated to all this people through Moses (Virgins 12:3). The spiritual meaning of circumcision was as follows: in its previous state it meant uncleanness and corruption human nature, and with its completion - correction and sanctification through the Messiah who was to be born - internal circumcision, that is, the mortification of the carnal, sinful and; the birth of a spiritual, holy man (Zap. on the book of Gen.). In the new covenant, circumcision is replaced by baptism. Circumcision was performed in the home of the parents and by experienced persons appointed by the head of the priests. It took place on the 8th day after birth, and at the same time the baby was named (). This day usually served as a family holiday, to which neighbors and relatives were invited. Such a family holiday took place in the house of Zechariah on the 8th day after the birth of his son. Naritsakhu e(wanted to name it) his father's name. Usually the father gave the name, probably following the example of the ancient forefathers (ch.), but in the present case, with Zechariah being mute, bewilderment arose: what to name the newborn? According to ancient custom, children were named after their father or one of their closest relatives (), and therefore they wanted to name their son Zakhariin after the father himself. When Elizabeth heard about this, who knew either by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Theoph.), or by the preliminary written explanation of Zechariah, what the name of her baby should be, she said: no, let him be called John(no, but call him John).

. And deciding to her, as if there is no one in your kinship who is called by that name.

And they asked his father by signs what he would like to call him.

He demanded a tablet and wrote: John is his name. And everyone was surprised.

And immediately his mouth and his tongue were loosened, and he began to speak, blessing God.

And ask for a lady(demanded a tablet). In ancient times, when there was no paper yet, they wrote on specially prepared tablets, papyrus leaves, parchment (animal skin), etc. Writing tablets were made small, thin and covered with a layer of wax or mastic, and they wrote on them with a small pointed stick . Wonderful(surprised) all- and the fact that Zechariah wrote the same name for his newborn son that Elizabeth wanted to give, and the fact that both of them give the name contrary to generally accepted custom. Glagolashe(began to speak) bless God. Of course, the first subject of speech when Zechariah’s mouth was opened was the glorification of God the Benefactor.

. And beware of all the fears of those who live around them: and in all the land of the Jews we will tell them all these words.

. And he who had heard everything put it in his heart, saying: what will this child do? And the hand of the Lord would be with him.

And there was fear on all those living around them; and they told about all this throughout the entire hill country of Judea.

All who heard it laid it on their hearts and said: What will happen to this child? And the hand of the Lord was with him.

It is clear that all the miraculous circumstances that accompanied the birth of a son to elderly parents Zechariah and Elizabeth must have had this effect on the people! Throughout(nagornaya) land of Judea(Read explanation, article 39). Put it down(put) in your heart, that is, they thought about it, tried to understand: that as a teenager(baby) will there be siv? There is no doubt that the miraculous circumstances that accompanied the birth of John foreshadowed his extraordinary destiny, and, of course, caused similar reasoning about him in everyone who heard about these circumstances. And the hand of the Lord(was) c him. This figurative expression means that divine favor and help were visible over John, as the Forerunner of Christ, from his very birth (Mic.).

. And Zechariah his father was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, the verb:

And Zechariah his father was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying:

Having spoken about the impression made on the people by the extraordinary birth of the Forerunner, the evangelist sets out the speech that, filled with the Holy Spirit, the father of the Forerunner Zacharias delivered. His speech has as its content a prophecy - about the coming Messiah and about His Forerunner, the newborn son John. In prophetic inspiration, Zechariah, like St. The Virgin Mary, who delivered Her speech when meeting with Elizabeth (v. 46ff.), sees the Messiah, as if he had already come and accomplished the great work of redemption of mankind, and blesses Him for this great mercy. In this Messiah, Zechariah sees such a Person, through whom the Lord, faithful to His promises, proclaimed by the mouth of all the Old Testament prophets, finally deigned to deliver His people from the enemies who oppressed them. The blessed kingdom of the Messiah will consist in the fact that the Jewish people, freed by Him from enslavement to enemies, illuminated by the new light of the knowledge of God, will fearlessly, in holiness and truth, serve their Lord.

. Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and brought deliverance to His people: blessed is the Lord of Israel, that He has visited His people and brought deliverance to them,

Visit(visited) His people, that is, he came to console him, to help him, sending the Savior, His incarnate Son. Create deliverance i.e., the redemption of humanity from sin, curse, - evil on earth as punishment for sins, - and from death, - eternal death, torment in hell, in afterlife. The image is taken from the custom of ransoming (redeeming) prisoners from enemies for a certain reward or price. Under the image of the ransom of captives, the work of saving people, accomplished by the Redeemer of the world, I. Christ, is also represented. All people, since the fall of their ancestors in paradise, became captives of the devil and sin and were subject to damnation and death in hell, and at the same time they themselves did not have the opportunity to justify themselves before the justice of God - that is, how to make a ransom. This ransom could only be made by the One, as the sinless, incarnate Son of God. The price of this ransom was His suffering on the cross, who was innocent and therefore not subject to suffering and death, but who accepted them for the sins of others. Through this ransom, a person is freed from sin and its consequences, but he must only assimilate these merits of the suffering on the cross and the death of Christ the Savior through his faith in Him and life according to this faith. That is why Christ is called the Redeemer or Savior. “How in Adam we fell under sin, curse and death,” we read in the Catechism (4th term); This is how we get rid of sin, curse and death in Jesus Christ. His free suffering and death on the cross for us, being of infinite value and dignity, like the death of a sinless and God-man, is perfect satisfaction to the justice of God, who condemned us to death for sin, and immeasurable merit, which acquired Him the right, without insulting justice, to grant us sinners forgiveness sins and grace for victory over sin and death."

. and raised up the horn of salvation for us in the house of David his message:

. Like the words of the mouth of the saints who are his prophet from the beginning of time, and raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David,

as He declared through the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been from the ages,

Horn of salvation- a saving horn that can save. The image is taken from the horn that was on the altar in the Old Testament Jewish temple, which usually served as a salvation for a criminal. It was so among the Jews that when a criminal ran to the altar and grabbed the horn, this freed him from punishment for his crimes (etc.). Likewise, he who runs to the Lord Savior with faith and repentance receives forgiveness of sins and is no longer subject to deserved punishment. In the house of David his servant. This means that the Savior will come from the line of David. David is called a child or servant because he was a faithful servant of God (v. 54). From time immemorial i.e. from ancient times, from ancient times ().

. salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all those who hate us:

. show mercy to our fathers and remember your holy covenant,

that will save us from our enemies and from the hand of all those who hate us;

He will show mercy to our fathers and remember His holy covenant,

Salvation from the enemy. Here we mainly mean spiritual enemies, such as: the evil spirit, sin, passions, from which Jesus Christ came to deliver believers; but of course there are also external enemies. Create(create) mercy from the fathers(by fathers) ours. This means that the appearance of the Messiah will bring joy and salvation not only to His contemporaries and subsequent generations, but also to his ancestors: 1) by blessing the children, he also blesses the fathers, giving them the joy of seeing in their offspring the fulfillment of their hopes and hopes by which they themselves lived ( Mich.). 2) The Savior, having completed the work of redemption, with His resurrection brought from hell the souls of the forefathers who lived by faith in Him and expected salvation from Him. Mentioned(will remember) His holy covenant. A covenant is a condition or agreement between God and people, according to which it is promised to benefit a person, under the condition that the person fulfills His will or law. This covenant began in paradise, when God promised a Savior to sinners (); then it was concluded with Abraham, the patriarch of God's chosen Jewish people (17:4ff.); finally, concluded with all these people at Mount Sinai (ch.). The covenant is called saints, because he is a divine covenant.

. the oath that we swear to our father Abraham, swear to us,

. without fear, delivered from the hand of our enemy,

. serve him in honor and righteousness before him all the days of our lives.

the oath which He swore to Abraham our father to give us,

fearlessly, after being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

to serve Him in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives.

Of course, the following oath of God to Abraham at the sacrifice of Isaac: I swear by me, since you did not withhold your only son for Me, I will bless you in blessing, and in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed.(), i.e., that the Savior will come from the descendants of Abraham. swore - to further assure a person of the immutability of His word and swore by Himself, because He had nothing else and no one to swear by (). Without fear(fearlessly). What is meant here is not the fear of God, which usually serves as the basis of piety (read article 50), but fearlessness of enemies visible and invisible (from the hand of our enemy we are delivered- upon deliverance. Slich. Art. 71). The visible enemies are the enemies of the Jews and the enemies of the kingdom of the Messiah. We serve Him - of course service through religion. In holiness that is, in righteousness in relation to God, and truth– in fairness towards people (Feof). All belly days(life) ours, that is, until the end of the age, since the kingdom of Christ is eternal.

. And you, O youth, are called a prophet of the highest: You will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,

And you, little child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,

Here St. Zechariah prophesies about his son, the Forerunner of the Messiah. He expresses his prophecy in the words of the Archangel's gospel about him and in the words of the prophets Isaiah and Malachi (v. 37...). Be named, that is, you will (v. 32). Prophet of the Most High, that is, you will be a special messenger of God, so that, by Divine inspiration, you will proclaim the will of God to people. Preideshi(Read explanation, article 17). Before the face of the Lord, that is, before the Lord, the incarnate I. Christ. Prepare(cook) ways. appears as a king, the leader of his people (like troops), upon his return to his homeland from captivity. It was the custom among the eastern peoples, when an army led by a king was on a campaign, to send messengers ahead to announce their approach, prepare what they needed, remove obstacles on the road, level the roads, etc. Christ is the Liberator of mankind from the captivity of sin, curses and death. John His Forerunner is the messenger who prepared the Jews to receive the Messiah.

according to the gracious mercy of our God, by whom the East visited us from above,

From his son, the Forerunner of Christ, St. Zechariah again turns to Christ Himself. East over, this is what Zechariah calls Christ the Savior. It borrows its name from the east of the sun. Just as the sun illuminates the earth, so Christ had to enlighten humanity with His holy teaching and atoning sacrifice.

. enlighten the darkness and the shadow of death that sits, direct our feet on the path of peace.

to enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet on the path of peace.

Sitting in the darkness and shadow of death. Under darkness of course, spiritual ignorance and blindness, that is, ignorance of God, His commandments and one’s responsibilities, as well as life in sin. Just like in the dark we see nothing and don’t know where to go; Thus, those who do not know God do not see the truth, and therefore seem to be in the dark. In the shadow of death. This is an intensified image of the same spiritual ignorance and blindness. Death here is understood as spiritual sense, that is, in the sense of ignorance and alienation from God: since spiritual life consists of knowledge of God and unity with Him. Christ, through His teaching and His atoning sacrifice, had to enlighten people who were in such darkness and the shadow of death. Guide our feet on the path(peace) peaceful. People are presented as travelers caught on the way by a dark night, who have lost their way, whose steps are erroneous because of the darkness, and who are waiting for dawn and the sun to find the right path and with firm steps head towards their goal. Thus, all of humanity before Christ remained in the darkness of spiritual ignorance and delusion. Only the Jewish people had a light - the law and the prophets, like twinkling stars on a dark night. But before the coming of Christ, this light almost went out, and these stars almost dimmed - it was a dark, impenetrable night. The rising sun - Christ illuminated and dispersed this darkness and showed humanity the correct, peaceful and unhindered path to their eternal goal - to moral perfection, salvation and eternal life(Mich.). Thus, Zechariah predicts that his son is destined by the Lord to prepare the way for the Messiah who is soon to come, that is, to show the Jewish people who have long and eagerly awaited Him that their salvation depends solely on the Messiah, to convince these people that the salvation they desire lies in not in delivering him from political slavery to the foreigners who are now oppressing him, but in cleansing his soul from sins - grave and eternal slavery - that this deliverance will be granted to the Jews not because of any of their merits and not because they are the seed of Abraham, but solely by the ineffable mercy of God through the incarnation of His Only Begotten Son, Who, like the East from above, will shed His saving light not only on the Jews, but also on the pagans who are in darkness and the shadow of death, that is, at the extreme degree of unbelief and wickedness, ending eternal destruction (Vishn. Pr.).

. The child grew stronger and stronger in spirit: and he was in the deserts until the day of his appearance to Israel.

The child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his appearance to Israel.

Stretching(increased) – refers to bodily age; fastening(fortified) in spirit- to spiritual life. Be(was) in the deserts, - called Judean, near Hebron. This was the name of an area several miles west of the Dead Sea, crossed by mountains and several small rivers. Word desert does not mean an area completely devoid of inhabitants, but an area sparsely inhabited. There were villages in the Judean desert (Mic.). – To this day they still point out a cave several miles from Bethlehem in the wilderness where John lived. – At what age did the Forerunner of Christ settle in the desert? Tradition says the following about this: rumors about the miraculous events surrounding the conception and birth of the Forerunner reached the suspicious king of the Jews, Herod, and so, when the wise men were looking for the newborn Savior, then Herod thought: will this baby be the king of the Jews? and ordered the soldiers who were beating the infants in Bethlehem to kill John as well. Elizabeth, having heard about Herod's order, withdrew with the baby into the desert. But the killers also penetrated into the desert. Elizabeth, seeing the murderers, ran up to one sheer rock and with faith in God’s help exclaimed: “Mountain of God, accept mother and son!” And the rock miraculously opened and, receiving Elizabeth and the baby, closed again. Then Elizabeth settled in one of the mountain caves, below which a source of water flowed, and at the top grew a date tree with fruits. Here she soon died, and the Lord commanded the Angel to feed and protect the orphan baby. There is no doubt that when John grew up, from time to time he appeared in cities and villages. His father Zechariah was killed by Herod when he demanded from him an indication of where his wife and baby had disappeared. (Read article 23 chapter). "Life of St. John in desert solitude, before his call to public service, writes Archpriest Vishnyakov, was shrouded in mystery. Only a few indications of this can be found in the Word of God and the writings of the Fathers.” “Don’t ask me,” says St. Chrysostom, like April. During winter and during the heat of the sun, John lived in the desert, especially at an immature age, and with a weak, not yet strengthened body. How could his child’s body endure such a change in air despite the many hardships of desert life?... John lived in the desert as in heaven. The forerunner of the One who had to stop everything ancient, such as work, curse, sadness and sweat, had to himself have some signs of such a gift and be above the ancient condemnation, which he was. For he did not till the land, nor cut the reins, nor eat bread by the sweat of his brow; but he had a table ready, found clothes rather than food, and cared even less about housing than about clothes. He, wearing flesh, led some kind of angelic life.”

There is a strange rumor going around Russia that in Soviet times there already lived a surgeon-priest.
He will place the patient on the operating table, read a prayer over him, add iodine, and place a cross “in the place where he needs to cut. And after that he takes up the scalpel.
And that surgeon’s operations were excellent: the blind regained their sight, the doomed rose to their feet. Either science helped him, or God... “Doubtful,” some say. “That’s how it was,” others say.
Some say: “The party committee would never tolerate a clergyman in the operating room.” And others answered them: “The party committee is powerless, because the surgeon is not just a surgeon, but a professor, and not just a priest-father, but a full bishop.”
“Professor-bishop? This doesn’t happen,” say experienced people. “It happens,” people no less experienced answer them. “This professor-bishop also wore general’s shoulder straps, and in the last war he managed all the hospitals in Siberia.”
(from the book by Mark Popovsky "The Life and Vitae of St. Luke of Voino-Yasenetsky, Archbishop and Surgeon")

Archbishop Luke, in peace Valentin Feliksovich Voino-Yasenetsky, was born in Kerch on April 27, 1877 in the family of a pharmacist. His father was a Catholic, his mother an Orthodox. According to the laws of the Russian Empire, children in such families had to be raised in Orthodox faith. He was the third of five children.
In Kyiv, where the family subsequently moved, Valentin graduated from high school and drawing school. He was going to enter the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, but after thinking about choosing a path in life, he decided that he was obliged to do only what was “useful for suffering people,” and chose medicine instead of painting. However, at the Faculty of Medicine of the Kyiv University of St. Vladimir, all the vacancies were filled, and Valentin enters the law faculty. For some time, the attraction to painting takes over again, he goes to Munich and enters the private school of Professor Knirr, but after three weeks, feeling homesick, he returns to Kyiv, where he continues his studies in drawing and painting. Finally Valentin gets his way an ardent desire “to be useful to the peasants, who are so poorly provided with medical care,” and enters the medical faculty of Kyiv University of St. Vladimir. He studies brilliantly. “In the third year,” he writes in “Memoirs,” “an interesting evolution of my abilities took place: the ability to draw very subtly and the love of form turned into a love of anatomy...”

In 1903, Valentin Feliksovich graduated from the university. Despite the persuasion of his friends to take up science, he announced his desire all his life to be a “peasant”, zemstvo doctor, to help poor people.
The Russo-Japanese War began. Valentin Feliksovich was offered service in the Red Cross detachment in the Far East. There he headed the department of surgery at the Kyiv Red Cross Hospital of Chita, where he met sister of mercy Anna Lanskaya and married her. The young couple did not live long in Chita.
From 1905 to 1917 V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky works in urban and rural hospitals in the Simbirsk, Kursk and Saratov provinces, as well as in Ukraine and Pereslavl-Zalessky. In 1908, he came to Moscow and became an external student at the surgical clinic of Professor P.I. Dyakonova.
In 1916 V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky defended his doctoral dissertation "Regional anesthesia", about which his opponent, the famous surgeon Martynov, said: "We are accustomed to the fact that doctoral dissertations usually written on a given topic, with the aim of obtaining senior appointments, and their scientific value is low. But when I read your book, I got the impression of the singing of a bird that cannot help but sing, and I highly appreciated it." The University of Warsaw awarded Valentin Feliksowicz the Chojnacki Prize for the best essay paving new paths in medicine.
From 1917 to 1923, he worked as a surgeon at the Novo-Gorod hospital in Tashkent, teaching at a medical school, which was later transformed into a medical faculty.
In 1919, Valentin Feliksovich's wife died of tuberculosis, leaving four children: Mikhail, Elena, Alexei and Valentin.
In the fall of 1920, V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky is invited to head the department of operative surgery and topographic anatomy of the State Turkestan University opened in Tashkent.
At this time, he actively participates in church life, attending meetings of the Tashkent church brotherhood. In 1920, at one of the church congresses, he was instructed to make a report on the current situation in the Tashkent diocese. The report was highly appreciated by Bishop Innocent of Tashkent. “Doctor, you need to be a priest,” he said to Voino-Yasenetsky. “I had no thoughts about the priesthood,” recalled Vladyka Luke, “but I accepted the words of His Grace Innocent as God’s call through the bishop’s lips, and without thinking for a minute: “Okay, Vladyka! I will be a priest if it pleases God!”
In 1921, Valentin Feliksovich was ordained a deacon, and a week later, on the day of the Presentation of the Lord, His Grace Innocent performed his ordination as a priest. Father Valentin was assigned to the Tashkent cathedral, with the responsibility of preaching assigned to him. In the priesthood, Voino-Yasenetsky does not stop operating and reading legations. In October 1922, he actively participated in the first scientific congress of doctors of Turkestan.
The wave of renovationism of 1923 reached Tashkent. Bishop Innocent left the city without transferring the see to anyone. Then Father Valentin, together with Archpriest Mikhail Andreev, took over the management of the diocese, united all the remaining faithful priests and church elders and organized a congress with the permission of the GPU.
In 1923, Father Valentin accepts monastic tonsure. His Grace Andrei, Bishop of Ukhtomsky, intended to give Father Valentin the name healer Panteleimon, but, having attended the liturgy performed by the man being tonsured, and having listened to his sermon, he settled on the name apostle, evangelist, doctor and artist St. Bows.
On May 30 of the same year, Hieromonk Luke was secretly consecrated bishop in the Church of St. Nicholas Peace of the Lycian city of Penjikent by Bishop Daniel of Volkhov and Bishop Vasily of Suzdal. The exiled priest Valentin Svendidky was present at the consecration. His Eminence Luke was appointed Bishop of Turkestan.

On June 10, 1923, Bishop Luka was arrested as a supporter of Patriarch Tikhon. He was charged with an absurd charge: relations with the Orenburg counter-revolutionary Cossacks and connections with the British. In the prison of the Tashkent GPU, Vladyka Luka completed his, which later became famous, work “Essays on Purulent Surgery.” In August he was sent to the Moscow GPU.

In Moscow, Vladyka received permission to live in a private apartment. He served liturgy with Patriarch Tikhon in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Kadashi. His Holiness confirmed the right of Bishop Luke of Turkestan to continue practicing surgery. In Moscow, Vladyka was again arrested and placed in Butyrskaya and then in Taganskaya prison, where Vladyka suffered from a severe flu. By December, the East Siberian stage was formed, and Bishop Luka, together with Archpriest Mikhail Andreev were sent into exile on the Yenisei. The path lay through Tyumen, Omsk, Novonikolaevsk (present-day Novosibirsk), Krasnoyarsk. The prisoners were transported in Stolypin carriages, and they had to travel the last part of the journey to Yeniseisk - 400 kilometers - in the bitter cold of January on a sleigh. In Yeniseisk all the remaining belonged to the “living church members,” and the bishop served in the apartment. He was allowed to operate.

At the beginning of 1924, according to the testimony of a resident of Yeniseisk, Vladyka Luka transplanted calf kidneys into a dying man, after which the patient felt better. But officially the first such operation is considered to be carried out by Dr. I.I. Voronoi in 1934 transplanted a pig kidney into a woman suffering from uremia.
In March 1924, Bishop Luka was arrested and sent under escort to the Yenisei region, to the village of Khaya on the Chuna River. In June he returns to Yeniseisk again, but is soon followed by deportation to Turukhansk, where Vladyka serves, preaches and operates. In January 1925, he was sent to Plakhino, a remote place on the Yenisei beyond the Arctic Circle, and in April he was transferred again to Turukhansk.
At the end of his exile, Vladyka returns to Tashkent, settles in a house on Uchitelskaya Street and serves in the church St. Sergius Radonezh.
On May 6, 1930, Vladyka was arrested in connection with the death of Ivan Petrovich Mikhailovsky, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in the Department of Physiology, who shot himself while insane. On May 15, 1931, after a year in prison, the sentence was passed (without trial): exile for three years in Arkhangelsk.
In 1931-1933, Vladyka Luka lived in Arkhangelsk, treating patients on an outpatient basis. Vera Mikhailovna Valneva, with whom he lived, treated patients with homemade ointments from the soil - cataplasms. Vladyka became interested in the new method of treatment, and he applied it in the hospital, where he got Vera Mikhailovna to work. And in subsequent years he conducted numerous studies in this area.
In November 1933, Metropolitan Sergius invited His Eminence Luke to occupy the vacant episcopal see. However, the Vladyka did not accept the offer.
After spending a short time in Crimea, Vladyka returned to Arkhangelsk, where he received patients, but did not operate.
In the spring of 1934, Vladika Luka visited Tashkent, then moved to Andijan, operated and lectured. Here he falls ill with papatachi fever, which threatens loss of vision; after an unsuccessful operation, he becomes blind in one eye. In the same year, it was finally possible to publish “Essays on Purulent Surgery.” He performs church services and heads the department of the Tashkent Institute of Emergency Care.
December 13, 1937 - new arrest. In prison, Vladyka is interrogated by conveyor belt (13 days without sleep), with the requirement to sign protocols. He goes on a hunger strike (18 days) and does not sign protocols.

A new deportation to Siberia follows. From 1937 to 1941, Vladyka lived in the village of Bolshaya Murta, Krasnoyarsk region.
The Great Patriotic War began. In September 1941, Vladyka was taken to Krasnoyarsk to work at the local evacuation center - a health care facility from dozens of hospitals designed to treat the wounded. In 1943, His Eminence Luke became Archbishop of Krasnoyarsk. A year later he was transferred to Tambov as Archbishop of Tambov and Michurinsky. He is there
continues medical work: he has 150 hospitals under his care. In 1945, the pastoral and medical activities of Vladyka were noted: he was awarded the right to wear a diamond cross on his hood and was awarded a medal.

"For valiant labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." In February 1946, Archbishop Luka of Tambov and Michurin became a laureate of the Stalin Prize, 1st degree, for the scientific development of new surgical methods for the treatment of purulent diseases and wounds, set out in scientific works
"Essays on purulent surgery" and "Late resections for infected gunshot wounds of joints."
In 1945-1947, he completed work on the essay “Spirit, Soul and Body,” which he began in the early 20s.
On May 26, 1946, His Grace Luke, despite the protests of the Tambov flock, was transferred to Simferopol and appointed Archbishop of Crimea and Simferopol. The years 1946-1961 were entirely devoted to archpastoral service. The eye disease progressed, and in 1958 the
complete blindness.

However, as Archpriest Evgeniy Vorshevsky recalls, even such an illness did not prevent Vladyka from performing Divine services.

Archbishop Luke entered the church without outside help, venerated the icons, read liturgical prayers and the Gospel by heart, anointed them with oil, and delivered heartfelt sermons. The blind archpastor also continued to rule the Simferopol diocese for three years and sometimes receive patients, astonishing local doctors with unmistakable diagnoses.
In 1996, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate decided to canonize His Eminence Archbishop Luke as a locally revered saint, as a Saint and confessor of the faith. On March 18, 1996, the discovery of the holy remains of Archbishop Luke took place, which on March 20 were transferred to the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Simferopol. Here on May 25, the solemn act of canonizing His Eminence Luke as a locally revered saint took place. From now on, every morning, at 7 o’clock, an akathist to the Saint is performed at his shrine in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Simferopol.