Venerable Savva the Sanctified born in the 5th century, in Cappadocia into the pious Christian family of John and Sophia. His father was a military leader. Having left for Alexandria on business, he took his wife with him, and left his five-year-old son in the care of his uncle. When the boy was eight years old, he entered the nearby monastery of St. Flavian. The gifted child soon learned to read and studied well Holy Bible. In vain did the parents persuade Saint Sava to return to the world and marry.

At the age of 17, he took monastic vows and was so successful in fasting and prayer that he was awarded the gift of miracles. After spending ten years in the Flavian monastery, the monk went to Jerusalem, and from there to the monastery of St. Euthymius the Great. But (January 20) he sent Saint Sava to Abba Theoktistus, the abbot of a nearby monastery with strict cenobitic rules. The Monk Savva remained in that monastery as a novice until he was 30 years old. After the death of Elder Theoktistus, his successor blessed the Monk Savva to seclude himself in a cave: only on Saturday the saint left the seclusion and came to the monastery, participated in the Divine service and ate food. After some time, the monk was allowed not to leave the seclusion at all, and Saint Sava labored in the cave for 5 years.

The Monk Euthymius closely followed the life of the young monk and, seeing how he had grown spiritually, began to take him with him to the Ruv desert (near the Dead Sea). They left on January 14 and stayed there until the Week of Vai. The Monk Euthymius called Saint Sava a youth-elder and carefully raised him in the highest monastic virtues.

When the Monk Euthymius departed to the Lord († 473), Saint Sava left the Lavra and settled in a cave near the monastery († 475; Comm. March 4). A few years later to Saint Savva Disciples began to gather - everyone who wanted a monastic life. This is how the Great Lavra arose. According to instructions from above (through a pillar of fire), the monks built a church in the cave.

The Monk Savva founded several more monasteries. Many miracles were revealed through the prayers of the Monk Sava: a spring gushed out in the Lavra, heavy rain fell during a drought, healings of the sick and demon-possessed took place. The Monk Savva wrote the first charter of church services, the so-called “Jerusalem”, accepted by all Palestinian monasteries. The saint peacefully reposed before God in 532.

*Published in Russian:

Monastic rules taught by Saint Sava to his successor Abba Meletius / Trans. and note A. Dmitrievsky // Travel in the East and its scientific results. Kyiv, 1890. P. 171-193.*

Providence soon brought him together with the Monk Euthymius the Great, but he sent Saint Sava to Abba Theoktistus, abbot of the nearby Mucellik monastery with a strict cenobitic charter. The Monk Savva remained in that monastery as a novice for 17 years, until he was 30 years old.

After the death of Elder Theoktistus, his successor blessed the Monk Savva to seclude himself in a cave: only on Saturday the saint left the seclusion and came to the monastery, participated in the Divine service and ate food. After some time, the monk was allowed not to leave the seclusion at all, and Saint Sava labored in the cave for 5 years.

At the end of his life, he was sent by Saint Peter of Jerusalem to Emperor Justinian, so that the king would erect a hospital and complete the construction of the New Church in Jerusalem. The emperor agreed and generously presented Saint Sava with funds for the improvement of the Lavra.

Compiled the "Liturgical Charter" (Typik), also known as the Jerusalem Rule.

The life of Saint Sava is described by his contemporary Cyril of Scythopolis.

In his year he is imperishable

Saint Sava was raised in the monastery, tempered by hermitism, but ultimately chose for himself and his students an intermediate type of feat - the Lavriot life. Monks who lived at some distance from each other and, accordingly, labored separately, gathered in laurels. What united them all was the personality of the abbot, as a rule, a spiritually experienced elder. And, we can say that before St. Savva this association was somewhat conditional, but it was this ascetic who introduced into the life of the Lavra a core that it was already sorely lacking at that moment - a fairly detailed general charter.

PRAYER BOOK AND BUILDER

The life and works of St. Savva the Sanctified date back to the time of mature monasticism in the East. The basic forms of monastic life have already taken shape, and the attitude of society and the Church towards monasticism as a spiritual phenomenon has been determined. The ascetics only had to choose a suitable feat and work. But, more often than not, this happened spontaneously, that is, the creative Providence of the Lord was disguised as a series of accidents. This is exactly what happened at first with the Monk Savva.

Non-random accidents

At first glance, it seems that the Monk Savva, like the Monk Paul of Thebes, became monks by chance - the Monk Paul was forced to a solitary life by the husband of his sister, and the youth, almost a baby, Savva, was forced by the wife of his uncle, who was entrusted with the upbringing of his son, who had gone to military service of the boy's father. The uncle's wife had an evil temper, and the boy initially ran away to another relative, and when they all began to quarrel over the rights to custody of the child, the latter removed the subject of the quarrel from the house - that is, himself. And she went secretly to the nearby monastery of St. Flavian. The child was seven or eight years old. Whether he came across this place by chance, or whether some bright impressions were already burning in his soul about it - history is silent. Purely in retrospect, the author of his life, Saint Cyril of Scythopolis, rightly believes that he was chosen for monastic feat from his mother’s womb. But then it may not have been so obvious; and, just as the young man Paul had to make an effort, retiring into the desert so that he would not be found, so the youth Savva tried very hard to please God - the Owner of the monastery, so as not to end up behind its walls and not fall into the whirlpool again family quarrels for the parental estate. Here the boy honestly earned his piece of bread, with which no one reproached him. It seems that the brethren knew nothing about the substantial estate and loved it just like that - according to the Commandments of God and because the hungry, serious kid who trampled the coveted apple in the fight against the lust of gluttony, of course, could not help but touch that part of the monks who seriously struggled with passions . “After this incident (with the apple), he received strength from above,” notes St. Cyril, “and surrendered to abstinence; because it curbs evil thoughts and drives away the heaviness of sleep. While abstaining, he also worked physically.”

His purity and zeal could not help but attract the grace of God, as evidenced by an event that happened to him in adolescence: “The monastery baker in the winter, when there was no sun, spread out wet clothes in warm oven so that it would dry there, I forgot about it. Every other day, some of the brothers, among whom was young Savva, by order of the abbot, worked in the bakery. When they lit the oven, then the baker remembered the clothes. No one dared to enter the furnace, since it was large and was already burning hot. Young Savva, crossing himself with deep faith, jumped into the oven, and taking his clothes, came out of it unharmed.”

By the age of 17, the Monk Savva had completely decided on his future plans for life - the world did not attract him at all, but he apparently already considered the monastery as a transitional stage to desert life and hoped, after visiting the Holy City of Jerusalem, to settle in the nearby desert. The abbot did not approve of this plan, and the saint complied, but at this time the Lord considered it necessary to directly intervene in the fate of the young man. The abbot had a certain revelation, and secretly from the brethren he released the saint.

In Jerusalem, a certain elder accepted him into the monastery of St. Passarion the Great.

Under the wing of Saint Euthymius

Soon the young monk became interested in the exploits of St. Euthymius the Great, and with the blessing of the abbot, he decided to turn to him and asked to become a disciple. Saint Euthymius refused him, at first glance, for a purely external reason - the applicant for the fasting life was young and did not have a beard. But perhaps it was also that the young monk did not yet have the measure needed for desert-dwelling work, and the Elder sent him back to the hostel for 10 years - to his friend Theoktistus. Savva’s beard hardly grew for a whole decade! But when he became the rector of the monastery, he did not accept beardless people under any circumstances. In adulthood, he himself almost lost his beard (according to another version of his life, he remained completely beardless, having fallen into a burning pit, possibly of volcanic origin).

10 years after being installed in the monastery of St. Theoktistus, where he worked extremely diligently, the zealous ascetic asked the abbot for a blessing to labor in the desert. The abbot addressed this to Saint Euthymius, and he did not interfere. The novice hermit spent the next five years like this: “on Sunday evening he left the kenobia with as many palm branches as was enough to work for a week, remained in the cave for five days without taking any food, on Saturday morning he returned to the cenovia and brought take with you five days’ worth of handicrafts—fifty finished baskets.” The Great Euthymius soon after this began to take him with him into the great desert. Saint Euthymius himself went every Lent to remote deserted places in order to intensify his hermitic exploits, which were already considerable, and, of course, invited reliable, spiritually and physically hardened people to be his companions.

The desert was waterless, the Elder serenely walked ahead, and thirty-five-year-old Savva was exhausted from thirst, but did not show it, purposefully following Avva. He eventually lost consciousness. The Monk Euthymius brought water out of the ground through prayer, gave the disciple a drink, and for his patience he received from the Lord the gift of enduring thirst without harm.

It should be noted that the saint’s biographer clearly built a series of his special feats, each of which elevated the desert worker to a new spiritual level. All this was accomplished at the limit of strength, and the grace of God subsequently took the ascetic beyond the limits of human capabilities.

From strength to strength

Apparently, after the death of Euthymius the Great, the demons raised an intense battle against Saint Sava; he did not even have the strength to stand, and he prayed while lying down. They appeared before his eyes in the form of snakes and scorpions, then in the form of a huge, terrible lion. To the latter the ascetic said: “If you have received power over me, why are you delaying? If you have not received it, then why are you laboring in vain? You cannot distract me from God, for He himself taught me courage with these words: you will step on the asp and the basilisk; You will trample upon the lion and the dragon.” After this, the lion became invisible, and the spiritual hero received from the Lord power over wild animals. Many years later, he met an ordinary lion in a cave, not an infernal lion, but also very frightening in appearance. Leo made two attempts to pull the prayer book out of his abode by the hem of his robe. This did not make any impression on the saint; he then had nowhere to go, and he calmly said to the terrible beast: “There is enough room in the cave for both of us, but since I am honored by the Image of God, it is better for you to give it up to me.” And the lion left.

Another time, when the saint was attacked by a formidable robber, quite real, not mystical, the saint only prayed and did not try to defend himself physically, and the earth swallowed up the insolent man, and the hermit received from the Lord the gift of not being afraid of bandits, that is, not just courage, and courage multiplied by perfect trust in the mercy of God. By the way, the robbers, whom he even lifted into his cave on a rope (he was not so afraid), seeing his non-covetousness, repented and changed their lifestyle.

“In 473, Saint Sava left his cave and the city of Theoktistus, since the lifestyle of the Konoviatians had changed for the worse, and headed to that part of the Jordanian desert where Saint Gerasim, the resident and patron of the Jordanian desert, sowed the seeds of piety. The monastery of St. Gerasim was in the same relationship to the Lavra of Euthymius as the monastery of blessed Theoktistus - preparing celiotes for it.

Having 70 hermits under his leadership, Saint Gerasim set up a monastic cell among the hermit cells, making sure that those who joined his community lived first in the monastic community and performed monastic duties in it, and later, when they got used to long labors and achieved perfection, he placed them in the so-called cells. Savva the Sanctified was accepted by Saint Gerasim into the ranks of the Keliots and, living in the desert surrounding the monastery, he freely practiced various ascetic deeds. In addition to the Lavra of St. Gerasim, in the Jordanian desert there were many other monasteries and hermit cells, the external and internal structure of which the Monk Savva studied for four years.”

“The desert has flourished like a creen...”

Finally, the Lord, through His angel, showed the ascetic the place where the lavra should be created. Moreover, he was asked to populate the desert like a city, that is, the laurel was clearly not planned in Heaven alone. And it seems that the saint had a choice: “If you want,” said the messenger of God. The work ahead was considerable and quite alien to his inclinations - he loved peace and solitude and did not at all see himself as a mentor to monks. However, Savva was a perfect novice - he immediately responded to the call of the Lord and settled in the indicated place. For five years he prayed alone, then hermit brothers began to come. “Sava gave everyone who came to him a decent place, on which there was a small cave and a cell.”

About the first seventy Lavriots, Saint Cyril of Scythopolis enthusiastically writes: “all were divinely inspired, all Christ-bearers. If anyone calls them the face of angels, or a people of ascetics, or a city of pious people, or a new face of the seventy apostles, he will not be mistaken in this name.”

For this wonderful brethren, the monk brought water out of the ground and built two churches for them, according to a miraculous order from above. The first seventy hermits had already labored in the desert and were spiritually experienced people. All of them, or almost all of them, subsequently became abbots of monasteries or famous anchorites. But there were also newcomers. It was they who did not like the harsh life of the Lavra; the monastic restrictions caused protest, and they began to rebel against the abbot. Taking advantage of the fact that a new patriarch had ascended to the Jerusalem see, they decided to ask for another abbot for the Lavra. Their first demarche ended with the ordination of Saint Sava as a presbyter and the confirmation of his authority by patriarchal authority. A little later, the ascetic realized that in the Lavra - a purely hermit monastery - it was not worth mixing novice novices and mature fighters against the spirits of evil, so he began to send the former to his friend from the monastery of St. Theoktistus - St. Theodosius the Great. First of all, beardless zealots of fasting ended up there, but, apparently, not only them. “The great Abba Theodosius, receiving his brother sent by Sava, tried in every possible way to improve him out of respect for the one who sent him. For Sava and Theodosius were unanimous and of the same mind, they breathed more of each other than of air, so that the inhabitants of Jerusalem, seeing their unanimity and agreement in relation to God, called them a new apostolic duo, similar to the duo of Peter and John. Therefore, Archbishop Sallust, shortly before his death in Christ, at the request of the entire monastic class, made them both archimandrites and chiefs of monks.”

“Both Sava and Theodosius strove for the same goal as Euthymius: they wanted to communicate the correct course to the development of the life of Palestinian monasticism; to develop for the latter a form of life that would most contribute to the implementation of ascetic ideals. But the activities of each of them have their own characteristics, depending on which side monastic life they paid attention - Keliotic or Cenovic, and which of them was more consistent with their personal inclinations and aspirations.

Savva the Sanctified appears in the history of Palestinian monasticism, like his mentor Euthymius, as the organizer and distributor of laurels and a supporter of Keliot life, which is why he was appointed by the Patriarch of Jerusalem as the head of all Palestinian laurels and cells. But it would be a mistake to conclude from this that the cinematic life, with its advantages created by Euthymius, did not meet with sympathy in the person of Saint Sava. The organization of the monasteries, the revelation of the correct relationship between the laurel and the monastery occupied Savva the Consecrated no less than the organization of the laurel, and if he is not considered, like Theodosius, to be a monastery of the monasteries, then it is obvious that he himself did not rule the monastery, but the monastery in which he lived.

The Monk Savva himself only built three laurels - the great, the new and the heptaste - the seven-oral one, as well as four cenobias - the castellius, the cave laurels, the zannova and the scholaria. In addition, many monasteries were built and equipped by his disciples.

The saint was extremely concerned not only about the construction of the temple - subsequently cells were created (perhaps in order to have a place to spend the night and pray in solitude on Saturday and Sunday, when all the hermits gathered for Divine services), and outbuildings. Due to the considerable influx of pilgrims, hospice houses were built. A separate tower was built for women who were not allowed into the territory of the monastery. Material improvement especially advanced when the saint’s mother, Sophia, already a widow, settled next to the monastery and bequeathed her money to the monastery.

The new works of the ascetic, especially on the creation of the Castellian cinnovia, caused the next wave of discontent among the same individuals, who by that time had acquired another two dozen like-minded people. Avva tried to call them to order in a kind way - all his efforts ran into a wall of anger. When he realized that she was invincible, he went away from them into the desert (503). The attackers did not calm down and reported to the patriarch that Savva had been eaten by a lion and a new abbot was needed. The Patriarch, himself a disciple of Euthymius the Great, did not believe them, waited until the monk appeared in Jerusalem and returned him to the Lavra. At this point, the dissatisfied fled themselves, having first destroyed the tallest structure in the monastery - the tower, which Saint Sava ordered to be built from the very beginning.

After this, the rioters found a place for a new - their own - monastery. Naturally, incited by the spirits of darkness, they very quickly quarreled and began to be in need. The saint, knowing about their difficulties, personally supplied them with food, building materials and everything necessary for a normal life. In the end, he appointed them an abbot, who, without indulging their weaknesses, managed, through the prayers of the Monk Sava, to find a common language with them.

Community Service

For his monasteries in 524, the great organizer created a charter, which was called the Jerusalem or Palestine.

Later it was introduced into cenobitic monasteries throughout Palestine, from where it spread throughout the Orthodox East. Judging by the “Tradition”, printed as a preface to the current Typikon, the Rule was accepted by Saint Sava from the Monk Euthymius the Great († 473), his teacher.

But the monk improved his charter with some monastic rules of Pachomius the Great and Basil the Great. The original copy of the Jerusalem Charter, according to Simeon of Thessalonica, burned in 614 when Jerusalem was captured Persian king Khosrow, however, copies remained.

The Rule of St. Sava largely regulated the order of Divine services, although it also prescribed the monastic traditions of the Palestinian monasteries of the 6th century, that is, in the classical era of their history. This charter affects not only the everyday aspects of the life of the Lavra, but is also imbued with the spirit of ancient traditions and instructions of St. Sava.

The monk was an outstanding ascetic of his time, but his asceticism in his young years was limited by mentors in the monastery, and in his later years it was subordinated to the revelation of the Spirit. Those who communicated with him understood this.

“Sava was very abstinent, so that on all fasting days he remained without food, and even often fasted for whole weeks. However, if I ever took someone over for a treat, or if I myself came to someone for lunch, then I ate twice in one day. And, although he ate more than usual, his stomach never hurt. One day he dined with two bishops. The first, the archbishop, seated him near him, placed bread and other food in front of him; also the second, Anthony, Bishop of Ascalon, sitting on the right side of the saint, encouraged him to eat. The divine elder unfeignedly and with great simplicity tried everything offered to him. But while the two bishops, having seated him between them, carefully encouraged him to eat, he still said: “Leave me, leave me, fathers, I will eat as much as I need.” At the same time, the great Abba Theodosius jokingly remarked: “Sava is very hungry; it’s hard to satiate him.” - To which the archbishop replied: “Listen, fathers, we all cannot bear either fasting or satiety; and this man of God knows how to live in poverty, and knows how to live in abundance.” Amazing words - indeed, in the monk, guided by the Spirit of God, there was a certain reasonable measure at work that allowed him to find unconditionally correct decisions in any situation, both in private and in public life. Therefore, they turned to him not only to resolve purely monastic problems. Ava's moral authority at that time was very high. The Patriarch of Jerusalem contacted him for advice during a troubled time of Origenist disputes among the monastics. And if Saint Sava disagreed gently with the monks who hated him, he was merciless towards the Origenists as heretics.

When the Monophysit Emperor Anastasius displaced the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the threat of the next hierarch falling away to Monophysitism loomed, Saints Sava and Theodosius and their monks intervened. They came to Jerusalem and quickly brought order to the Church. The emperor had to justify himself to them in writing.

Twice the monk traveled to Constantinople as part of a government delegation on delicate diplomatic missions. Emperors Anastasius and Justinian singled him out among the members of the delegation, talked with him personally for a long time and richly gifted him when they parted. With this money, Avva launched large-scale construction of monasteries, temples, hospice houses and other charitable institutions.

Already during his lifetime, the monk performed many miracles - he healed, cast out demons, and begged for rain during a drought. Many fascinating lines in the book of St. Cyril of Scythopolis are devoted to these miracles.

The monk reposed on December 5, 532, in the ninety-fourth year of his life. But, as his life writer rightly said: “This saint did not die, but slept, because he led his life blamelessly, and because Scripture says: “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will touch them” (Wisdom 3:1 ) Indeed, his body has been preserved intact and incorruptible in the tomb to this day.”

In the seventh century, a tomb was built over the incorruptible relics of the saint. In 1256, the relics of the Monk Sava were taken to Venice and placed in the church of San Antonio. As the monks of the Lavra say, according to the special triple appearance of Saint Abba to the Pope in the sixties of the last century, on November 12, 1965, the relics were returned to the Lavra of Savva the Consecrated. The monastic cross of St. Sava remained in Venice.

In Moscow, on the Lublin Field, a piece of the saint’s relics is kept in a temple of amazing beauty, the only one in Russia dedicated to the great ascetic.

References:

1.St. Cyril of Scythopolis “The Life of our Venerable Father Savva the Sanctified” Palestinian Patericon, issue 1 Edition of the IOPS. St. Petersburg 1895 // Publication on the official portal of the Jerusalem branch of the IOPS http://jerusalem-ippo.org/palomniku/sz/jd/sava/a/as/

2. Reverend Savva of the Consecrations http://poliske.church.ua/?p=1133

3. Hieromonk Theodosius of Oltarzhevsky Palestinian monasticism from the 4th to the 6th centuries. Savva Consecrated Orthodox Palestinian collection. 44th issue. T. XV. B. 2. Publication of the IOPS. St. Petersburg. 1896 // Publication on the official portal of the Jerusalem branch of the IOPS http://jerusalem-ippo.org/palomniku/sz/jd/sava/a/as/

4. Saint Demetrius Rostov Life and the exploits of our venerable father Savva the Sanctified

https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Dmitrij_Rostovskij/zhitija-svjatykh/1074

In 439. Already at the age of eight, he, realizing the vanity of this world and filled with fiery love for God, entered the nearby Flavian monastery. Despite all the efforts of his family to bring the boy back, he remained adamant in his decision and quickly took up all monastic obediences, especially abstinence and reading the Psalter by heart.

One day, while working in the garden, he felt a desire to eat an apple, however, as soon as he picked the fruit from the branch, he overcame the temptation of gluttony in his soul by force, saying to himself: “The fruit was good to look at and pleasant to the taste, which brought me death through Adam, who desired that which deceived his carnal eyes, and was more concerned about the pleasure of his belly than about spiritual bliss. Are we really going to fall into spiritual slumber and numbness and move away from blessed abstinence?” Immediately throwing the apple on the ground and trampling it with his feet, he won victory over lust and never tasted more apples in his entire life. The boy had so much selflessness and spiritual maturity that he indulged in fasting and vigil along with the most experienced ascetics and surpassed all his brothers in humility, obedience and self-control.

After spending ten years in this monastery, Saint Sava, with the blessing of the abbot, went to Jerusalem (456). Having found there the Venerable Euthymius the Great, famous for his holy life, Savva with tears begged the elder to take him as his disciple. However, he first sent the young man to the monastery of St. Theoktistus, since it was not in his custom to accept beardless youths among the harsh desert dwellers. Under the leadership of Saint Theoktistus, Savva, demonstrating an example of renunciation of his own will and humility, tirelessly served the brethren all day long, spending the nights in prayers and chants. Soon the young man achieved such perfection in virtues that the Monk Euthymius himself called him “an old man.”

After the death of Saint Theoktistus in 469, Savva received permission to retire to a cave located at some distance from the monastery. There he spent five days a week in constant prayer, without any food, occupying his hands with weaving palm leaves, and on Saturdays and Sundays he came to the monastery to participate in the liturgy and share meals. From the celebration of the Feast of Epiphany until Palm Sunday The Monk Euthymius used to take him with him to the Ruva desert, where, undistracted by anyone, he practiced the highest virtues and communion with God. Thus Saint Sava grew to the level of the greatest ascetics of the faith, and after the death of Saint Euthymius he finally retired into the deserted desert for single combat with Satan himself and his servants. His only weapons were the sign of the Cross of the Lord and the invocation of the holy name of Jesus.

After spending four years in hermitage, Saint Sava was led by an angel to a cave located at the very edge of a cliff on the left bank of the Kidron. Here the monk spent the next five years in contemplation and prayer. Only after this did the Lord let His tested warrior know that the time had come to pass on the experience of ascetic life to his disciples.

The saint arranged a separate cell for each novice who came to him in one of the many surrounding caves and taught the novices all the wisdom of desert life. After the number of his disciples very soon reached 70, through the prayer of the saint, a source of living water gushed out from a cleft at the foot of his cave to console and strengthen the brethren. The monks gathered together to perform common services in a spacious cave that looked like a temple. Saint Sava found this cave, guided by the sign of a pillar of fire.

The number of inhabitants of the monastery founded by the monk continuously increased, reaching 150 people. Many pilgrims flocked to the monastery all the time to receive saving instruction and blessings and to bring gifts and donations, thanks to which the monks could supply themselves with everything they needed, without being distracted by the worries of the vain world. Despite the reverend's humble refusal to accept the priesthood, he was nevertheless ordained a presbyter at the age of 53 in order to be able to properly lead his disciples.

The large number of novices did not, however, prevent Saint Sava from continuing to cherish his love of solitude. Every year, following the example of his spiritual father, the Monk Euthymius, he went far into the desert during Great Lent. During one such stay in deserted places, the monk settled on a hill called Castellius, where demons lived. Having cleansed this place with prayers, he founded a new communal monastery there for monks already experienced in the ascetic life (492). For those who had only recently left the world, Saint Sava built a third monastery north of the monastery, so that they could learn the ascetic life and read the Psalter by heart (493).

The monk allowed only experienced monks to work in solitude, who had acquired the skill of discerning and preserving thoughts, heartfelt humility and complete renunciation of their own will. He first sent young monks for obedience to the monastery of Saint Theodosius.

At a time when numerous Palestinian monasticism was embarrassed by the Monophysite heresy, contrary to the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon, Patriarch Sallust of Jerusalem appointed Saint Theodosius and Saint Sava as archimandrites and exarchs of all monasteries that were under the jurisdiction of the holy city (494): Theodosius was entrusted with the cenobitic, and Sava with the hermitage monasticism, as well as monks who lived in cells in the laurels.

An implacable enemy of the servants of hell, Saint Sava was always meek and condescending towards people. Thus, when twice, in 490 and 503, part of his brethren rebelled against the abbot, he himself voluntarily left his post, without trying to defend with words or impose his power by force, and only at the insistence of the patriarch again took the reins of government. Having learned that 60 monks who had left under his authority for an abandoned monastery, the so-called New Lavra (507), were in extreme need, the monk asked the patriarch for a certain amount of gold, which he himself delivered to them and even helped the disobedient ones build a church and organize new monastery with his own abbot.

Having achieved blissful dispassion and unwavering presence of God in his soul, Saint Sava tamed wild animals, healed the sick, and with prayers called down blessed rain on an area tormented by drought and famine. The monk continued the work of planting new monasteries in the deserted desert, so that, in addition to the position of head of hermits, he had the duties of confessor of seven monastic communities. Saint Sava wisely led the legions of the humble army of Christ, caring with all his might for the unity in the faith of his flock.

In 512, he, along with other monks, was sent to Constantinople to Emperor Anastasius, who was favorable towards the Monophysites, in order to support Orthodox faith, and also achieve some tax benefits for the Jerusalem Church. At first the imperial guards did not want to let the poor and humble hermit in shabby clothes into the palace, mistaking him for a beggar. The Monk Savva made such a strong impression on the emperor that during the saint’s long stay in the capital, he willingly called him to himself, enjoying the wisdom of the saint’s speeches.

Upon returning to Palestine, Savva had to enter into a stubborn struggle with the heretical Patriarch of Antioch Sevirus. Having managed to again lure the emperor into the net of false teachings, Sevier achieved in 516 the removal of Saint Elijah from the See of Jerusalem. Then, at the call of Saints Sava and Theodosius, more than 6 thousand monks gathered together in order to encourage his successor, Patriarch John, to continue defending the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon. Hearing about this, the emperor was ready to use force. Then Saint Sava sent him a bold petition on behalf of all the monks of the Holy Land.

However, in the same year 518, Anastasius died, and the new ruler Justin I, by the grace of God, confirmed his commitment to Orthodoxy and ordered that the Council of Chalcedon be included in the holy diptychs. Saint Sava was then sent to Scythopolis and Caesarea to tell the faithful the good news of the victory.

In 531, during the bloody uprising of the Samaritans, Saint Sava again went to Constantinople to the blessed emperor Justinian in order to enlist his help and protection. For his part, he prophetically predicted to the ruler the upcoming reconquest of Rome and Africa, as well as the future glorious victory over Monophysitism, Nestorianism and Origenism - events that were destined to glorify the reign of Justinian.

Greeted with joy in Jerusalem, the tireless servant of the Lord founded the monastery of Jeremiah there, and then finally retired to the Great Lavra. Having reached the age of 94, Saint Sava fell ill and rested peacefully in the Lord on December 5, 532, leaving Saint Meliton (Melita) as his successor.

The incorrupt relics of the saint were placed in his monastery in front of a huge gathering of monks and laity. During the Crusades they were transported to Venice; again returned to the monastery of St. Sava in our time, October 26, 1965.

The Lavra of St. Sava, which later became a cenobitic monastery, played an outstanding role in the history of Egyptian and Palestinian monasticism. Many saints shone in it: John of Damascus, Cosmas of Maium, Stefan Savvait, Andrei of Crete and others. It was here that the Typikon was formed and adopted in its final form, according to which services are still performed in Orthodox Church, and a significant part of the existing church hymns was written.

Venerable Savva the Sanctified born in the 5th century, in Cappadocia into the pious Christian family of John and Sophia. His father was a military leader. Having left for Alexandria on business, he took his wife with him, and left his five-year-old son in the care of his uncle. When the boy was eight years old, he entered the nearby monastery of St. Flavian. The gifted child soon learned to read and studied the Holy Scriptures well. In vain did the parents persuade Saint Sava to return to the world and marry.

At the age of 17, he took monastic vows and was so successful in fasting and prayer that he was awarded the gift of miracles. After spending ten years in the Flavian monastery, the monk went to Jerusalem, and from there to the monastery of St. Euthymius the Great. But (January 20) he sent Saint Sava to Abba Theoktistus, the abbot of a nearby monastery with strict cenobitic rules. The Monk Savva remained in that monastery as a novice until he was 30 years old. After the death of Elder Theoktistus, his successor blessed the Monk Savva to seclude himself in a cave: only on Saturday the saint left the seclusion and came to the monastery, participated in the Divine service and ate food. After some time, the monk was allowed not to leave the seclusion at all, and Saint Sava labored in the cave for 5 years.

The Monk Euthymius closely followed the life of the young monk and, seeing how he had grown spiritually, began to take him with him to the Ruv desert (near the Dead Sea). They left on January 14 and stayed there until the Week of Vai. The Monk Euthymius called Saint Sava a youth-elder and carefully raised him in the highest monastic virtues.

When the Monk Euthymius departed to the Lord († 473), Saint Sava left the Lavra and settled in a cave near the monastery († 475; Comm. March 4). A few years later, disciples began to gather to the Monk Savva - everyone who wanted a monastic life. This is how the Great Lavra arose. According to instructions from above (through a pillar of fire), the monks built a church in the cave.

The Monk Savva founded several more monasteries. Many miracles were revealed through the prayers of the Monk Sava: a spring gushed out in the Lavra, heavy rain fell during a drought, healings of the sick and demon-possessed took place. The Monk Savva wrote the first charter of church services, the so-called “Jerusalem”, accepted by all Palestinian monasteries. The saint peacefully reposed before God in 532.

*Published in Russian:

Monastic rules taught by Saint Sava to his successor Abba Meletius / Trans. and note A. Dmitrievsky // Travel in the East and its scientific results. Kyiv, 1890. pp. 171–193.*