Memorial Day of St. John the Long-Suffering, Pechersk

For Orthodox parishioners, this day is a significant date and is considered a great holiday according to the church calendar It is always celebrated on July 31 (18th according to the old style), since it was on this date that the saint accepted death, becoming a spiritual associate of God On this day, a festive church service is held with hymns in which Saint John himself and the entire family of the Pecherskys are glorified A decree on this was adopted back in the 17th century by Metropolitan Peter of Kyiv and a prayer canon was created by Hieromonk Meletius Sirig He was a monk and became a righteous man after a long imprisonment He chose this path on his own in order to get rid of the carnal lust that had overwhelmed his thoughts since adolescence Not wanting to succumb to this sin, at first Saint John tormented himself with hunger, thirst and body constriction, but this did not help him Then the monk went to the burial place of Saint Anthony and began to call upon his relics After a long prayer, John heard a voice that told him the way to get rid of temptations After this, the future righteous man adopted an ascetic lifestyle by renouncing all human goods and settled in the Near Cave After 30 years of seclusion, carnal passion was finally defeated, and this was not easy for him Many times the monk almost succumbed to the idea of ​​quitting his seclusion and returning to worldly life The temptation was so great that he had to take extreme measures, burying himself in a hole up to his shoulders and spending the entire fast there The great spirit and strong character of this man helped him endure this feat stoically and not succumb to fear of the snake that appeared This mythical animal, spewing flames and sparks, tried to swallow the saint for many days The struggle continued until the Resurrection of Christ, and only an appeal to God in prayer helped save him from this beast struck by lightning After this, the voice of the Savior told the monk that he could finally get rid of passions by reading a prayer to Saint Moses and applying his relics to his body Having listened to God and done everything as he was told, healing came to him and the understanding that the desire for carnal pleasures would never again cloud his mind Having accepted the Divine gift, the monk began to help other people, overcome sinful desires and accept morality Realizing that he would soon die, the righteous man returned to the place of his imprisonment and left the mortal world, looking to the east, having previously buried himself in the same hole again This happened around 1160 They say that the relics are still in this cave, remaining buried There are documents written by Archdeacon Paul of Aleppo and engineer Boplan testifying to this Many travelers visit the caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, which is located in the Kyiv region, wanting to personally see the last refuge of the righteous man and pray to his great relics Many more monks were buried in these caves, nicknamed Anthony's in honor of St Anthony of Pechersk