Then the brother, who had grumbled against the blessed one, fell down at his feet, saying: "I have sinned, father, in moving my brother from his place. I pray you to order him to lie there again." The blessed one said to him: "The Lord Himself, destroying the enmity between us, which arose because of your murmuring, did this, so that in your enmity you would not have a grudge against me; The body of this dead man showed that his love for you is alive and after death, submitted to your seniority, rising from the top of the common grave prepared for you. Raising the dead is God's work. But I am a sinful man, and now, when there is no need, I can no longer say of my own accord to this dead man: "Get up and lie down again in the upper place," for if you order him to do so, he will not listen to you. But know also that you should not have left the monastery in order to inherit your seniority, and at that hour you would have been laid here. But since you are not ready for the end, go and think about the salvation of your soul, and in a few days you yourself will be brought here."

Hearing these words, Theophilus was very saddened and terrified, thinking that he would immediately fall down and die; he did not hope to reach the monastery. Barely remembering himself, he came to his cell and wept inconsolably. Then he gave away all that he had, kept for himself only a cassock and a mantle, and every day awaited the hour of death. No one could calm him in his bitter weeping, but those who wanted to console him made him weep even more. They could not force him to partake of sweet dishes, but his tears were his bread day and night. When the day came, he said to himself, "I do not know whether I shall reach the evening," and when night came, he again darkened the light of his eyes with tears, saying, "Who knows whether I will live to see the morning? For many, having risen in the morning from sleep, did not reach the evening and no other sleep but death, and many, having fallen asleep, did not rise from their beds. But in order that the Lord, in His immeasurable mercies, would give him time for repentance, he always prayed to Him, abiding in fasting and weeping. Leading such a life for many years, Theophilus thinned his flesh to such an extent that it was possible to count his joints, and from much weeping he lost his sight.

Our venerable father Mark, when he learned the hour of his departure to God, summoned Theophilus and said to him: "Forgive me, brother, that I have grieved you for many years, and pray to God for me, for I am already departing from this world. If I receive boldness, I will not forget to pray for you, that the Lord would vouchsafe us both to see His most radiant face, and to see each other there, and to be there in the place of our venerable fathers Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves."

Theophilus answered him with tears: "Why, father, do you leave me? Take me with you, or give me an epiphany here. I know that when you raised my dead brother, and I fell down before you in the cave, I had to die for my sins. But the Lord, for the sake of your holy prayers, spared me, waiting for my repentance. And now you can give me what I ask of you, either to depart with you to God, or to regain my sight."

The Monk Mark said to him: "Do not grieve, brother, that for the Lord's sake you have become blind with your bodily eyes, for with your spiritual eyes you have seen to true reason. I wished to be the fault of your blindness; I have prophesied death for you, wishing to benefit your soul and to humble your carnal arrogance, for God will not despise the heart of the contrite and humble (Psalm 50:19), and not of the heart that boasts of seniority. Therefore, you do not need to see this short-lived light; ask the Lord that you may see His glory in the everlasting light; Do not desire death: it will come, even if you did not want it. Behold, it will be a sign of thy departure: three days before thy death thou shalt see, and so thou shalt depart to the Lord, and there thou shalt see an endless light and ineffable glory." Abandoning this true prophecy of his about the death of Theophilus, our venerable father Mark himself ended his temporal life on earth in the Lord, and began in heaven, as the ruler of the dead and a prophet, with the author of the resurrection Jesus Himself and with all the holy prophets, eternal life.

His miraculous relics are placed in the cave where he himself dug himself a coffin, and give inexhaustible healing to all who come with faith to his honorable shrine. There lie the chains which the monk wore upon himself, and the copper cross, from which he drank water. With his lips he so sanctified it that it became miraculous. Whoever comes with faith and after fasting and drinks water from that precious cross, receives sooner than from any medical waters, a true supernatural healing for his ailments.

Blessed Theophilus, having received a new wound in his heart, began to weep fervently, weeping over the bitter separation from his father and mentor, the Monk Mark, and his own end, which he awaited every day, remembering the prophecy of that departed cave-dweller. He shed fountains of tears, and they multiplied even more.

Blessed Theophilus had a custom: when he prayed and tears came upon him, then he held up a vessel and wept over it, and over many years he filled it with tears. Having received sight in his eyes, according to the promise of the Monk Mark, he understood that his end was near. And he began to pray diligently to God, that his tears might be pleasing, and lifting up his hands to Him, he spoke thus:

"O Lord Jesus Christ, my God, O Lord Jesus Christ, who does not desire the death of sinners, but awaits their conversion, knowing our weakness, O Most Holy King, the Good Comforter, the health of the sick, the salvation of sinners, the strengthener of the faint, the raiser of those who fall, I beseech Thee in this hour, surprise me unworthy of Thy mercy, accept the outpouring of my bitter tears, and pour out upon me the inexhaustible abyss of Thy kindness, that I may not be tempted by the toll-houses of the air, and that I may not be in the power of the prince of darkness, for the prayers of Thy great saints, our venerable fathers Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves, and of all the saints who have pleased Thee from all eternity."

Когда блаженный Феофил произнес это, в образе прекрасного юноши предстал пред ним Господень ангел, говоря: "Хорошо молишься ты, Феофил, но что хвалишься тщетой слез, собранных в сосуд?" И он показал ему свой сосуд, больший того, полный благоухания, как от многоценного мира, и сказал: "Это твои слезы, которые в молитве к Богу ты пролил от сердца и отер рукой или полотенцем, или одеждой, или которые из глаз твоих упали на землю; все эти слезы я собрал в этот сосуд и сохранил по повелению Владыки моего и Творца. И теперь я послан поведать тебе радость, чтоб с весельем отошел ты к Тому, Кто сказал: "Блажени плачущии, яко тии утешатся" (Мф. 5:4). Сказав так и оставив свой сосуд, он стал невидим.

Блаженный же Феофил, призвав игумена, рассказал ему о явлении и словах ангела, показал и два сосуда, наполненные слезами  один свой, другой же ангельский, благоухающий сильнее ароматов, и просил по кончине своей вылить его на тело.

Итак, на третий день по прозрении своем, он отошел ко Господу, чтобы зреть Трисиятельное Божество.

Честное же тело его с честью положили в пещере с любимым его братом, блаженным Иоанном, близ преподобного Марка, и помазали его из ангельского сосуда, так что вся пещера наполнилась благоуханием, потом же вылили на него и другой сосуд слез, чтобы тот, кто сеял на земле слезами, пожал на небе радостью (Пс. 125:5). И эту радость получил он ходатайством преподобного наставника своего Марка пещерника, чудотворной благодатью Бога всякого утешения (2 Кор. 1:3), Которому, в Троице хвалимому, подобает слава ныне и присно, и во веки веков. Аминь.

Житие преподобных отцов наших Феодора и Василия