"Take them, but if you don't need them, give them back to me." They took the books and went out, and began to laugh, saying, "Let's sell them and divide what we get." Seeing the fruit trees of the saint, they said: "Let us come this night and gather these fruits." Night came, and these three thieves came. Gregory then prayed in a cave. They blocked the door of the cave from the outside, in which the elder prayed. And one of them, who called himself hanged, climbed up a tree and began to pluck apples; and the branch he was holding on to broke off, and he fell, and those who guarded him fled in fear. The one who fell, while flying down, was pinched by another branch and, having no help, suffocated. Gregory, being locked up, could not be with the brethren at matins in church. The brethren, leaving the church, went to see why he was gone, for it was unusual for him. They saw a dead man hanging on a tree and were afraid; then, having searched, they found Gregory locked in a cave. He came out and ordered to take off the hanging man. Seeing his companions, who had come with others to look at the dead man, he said to them: "See how your accursed lie has become true. God is not mocked (Gal. 6:7). If you had not shut me up, I would have come to help the unfortunate man so that he would not die. But since the enemy has accustomed you to deception and lies, you are now devoid of mercy." And the scoffers, seeing that the words of the blessed one had come true, fell down at his feet, asking forgiveness. Gregory condemned them to work at the Pechersk monastery, so that from that time on, working in the sweat of their brows, they would eat bread, and even feed others with their labors. And so they ended their lives with their children, working in the Pechersk monastery for the servants of the Most Holy Theotokos and the disciples of our venerable fathers Anthony and Theodosius.

But it is necessary to tell about the mortal suffering that the saint endured.

Once it happened that the monastery vessel was desecrated by the fact that an unclean animal got into it. In order to purify it, the blessed one went down to the Dnieper to draw water. Prince Rostislav Vsevolodovich was there at the same time. He was on his way to the Pechersk Monastery for prayer and blessing, as he was going with his brother Vladimir Monomakh on a campaign against the Polovtsians. And Rostislav's armor-bearers, seeing the elder, began to mock him and annoy him with shameful words at the instigation of the age-old enemy. The elder, understanding in a prophetic spirit that they were close to death, said: "O children! when you need to have peace of mind within you and ask for prayers from everyone, then you are doing evil that is displeasing to God. Weep over your perdition, repent of your sins in order to get relief on the terrible day. Judgment has already come upon you, and all of you and your prince will be flooded with water." Hearing this, Prince Rostislav accepted the words of the monk as reproaches, and not prophecy, he became very angry and said: "Do you predict death by water to me, when I know how to swim in it! And having no fear of God, he gave orders to bind the elder's hands and feet, to hang a stone around his neck and to throw it into the water; and so he was drowned. The brethren searched for him for two days and did not find him. On the third day they came to his cell, in order to take it, if there was anything useful after the saint; and the monk found himself dead in his cell, bound hand and foot, with a stone hanging around his neck; his clothes were still wet, his face was bright and his body was as if it were alive. The monks were amazed at how and by whom it was brought, since the cell was closed. And they gave praise to God, Who had wrought a wondrous miracle over His saint, and with reverence they carried out the miraculous relics and placed them in a cave, where they remain incorrupt to this day.

Rostislav, not feeling guilty of his sin and breathing rage, did not even enter the monastery, as promised, did not want to accept the blessing and departed. Only Vladimir Monomakh, his brother, visited the monastery, asking for prayers and blessings. At Trypillia, the princes crossed the Stugna River and entered into battle with their regiments with the Polovtsians and did not defeat them, but fled from the enemies. Then Vladimir, during his flight, for the sake of prayers and the blessing of the Pechersk saints, crossed the Stugna River. Rostislav with all his army drowned in it. And so the prediction of the saint came true; and the wicked murderer was measured by the same measure as he did. The gentle wonderworker Gregory found the fountain of life and, enjoying the flow of eternal sweetness, which is above the heavens, praises the name of the Lord, to Whom is due glory and praise, now and ever, and unto endless ages. Amen.

The Life of Our Venerable Father Moses Ugrin

(June 26)

For virginity, he accepted the sufferings in the Lyash land from a widow.

The unclean enemy especially raises up a battle against a person through impure fornication, so that a person darkened by this filth does not look to God in all his deeds, because only "the pure in heart shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). Having struggled in that battle more than others, having suffered much as a good soldier of Christ, until he had completely conquered the power of the unclean enemy, our blessed father Moses left us with his life an example of a lofty spiritual life. They write about him as follows.

It is known about this blessed Moses, that he was a native of Hungary, was close to the holy right-believing Russian prince, and the passion-bearer Boris, and served him with his brother, George, who was killed with Saint Boris. Then, at the Alta River, George wanted to shield his master from the murderers, but the soldiers of the godless Svyatopolk cut off George's head in order to take the golden grivna, which Saint Boris had put on him. Blessed Moses, the only one who escaped death, came to Kiev to Predislava, the sister of Yaroslav, where he hid from Svyatopolk, diligently prayed to God, until the pious prince Yaroslav came, attracted by pity for the murder of his brother, and defeated the godless Svyatopolk. When Svyatopolk, who had fled to the Lyash land, came again with Boleslav and expelled Yaroslav, and he himself sat down in Kiev, then Boleslav, returning to his land, took with him two of Yaroslav's sisters and many of his boyars into captivity; among them was the blessed Moses, bound hand and foot with heavy iron; He was strictly guarded, because he was strong in body and handsome in face.

This blessed one was seen in the land of Lyash by a certain noble woman, beautiful and young, possessing great wealth and importance; her husband, who went on a campaign with Boleslav, did not return, but was killed in battle. She, struck by the beauty of Moses, felt the lust of carnal lust for the monk. And she began to persuade him with words of flattery: "Why do you endure such torment, when you have a mind by which you can free yourself from these fetters and sufferings?" Moses answered her: "This was the will of God!" Understanding her vile lust, the blessed one said to her: "What husband, having listened to his wife, has done a good deed? The first-created Adam, obeying his wife, was expelled from paradise (Gen. 3:23); Samson (Judg. 16:21), surpassing all in strength and overcoming the soldiers, was betrayed by his wife to the foreigners. Solomon (1 Kings 11:33), who comprehended the depth of wisdom, submitted to his wife and worshipped idols. Herod (Matt. 14:10), who had won many victories and was enslaved by his wife, executed John the Baptist. How then shall I be free when I become a slave of my wife? I have not known women since my birth." And she said, "I will redeem you, and make you famous, and make you lord of all my house, and I will have you as my husband; Only you do my will, for I am sorry to see how madly your beauty is dying." Blessed Moses said to her: "Know that I will not fulfill your will; I do not want your power or wealth, for for all this is more precious to me than purity of soul and body. I do not want to ruin the labor of the five years in which the Lord has granted me to endure in these bonds, being innocent, such torments for which I hope to be delivered from eternal torments." Then the woman, seeing that she was deprived of such beauty, made another diabolical decision, reasoning thus: "If I ransom him, he will submit to me against my will." And she sent to the one who brought him into captivity, to take from her as much as she wanted, if only to give her Moses. And he, taking advantage of the opportunity to acquire wealth, took from her up to a thousand gold pieces and gave her Moses. The woman, having gained power over him, shamelessly dragged him to a vile deed. Having freed him from his bonds, she clothed him in costly garments and fed him with sweet foods, and, embracing him with unclean embraces, forced him to bodily lust. Blessed Moses, seeing her fury, was even more diligent in prayer and fasting, preferring for God to eat dry bread and water in purity than expensive dishes and wine in filth. And he took off his beautiful garments, as Joseph once did, and escaped sin, despising the blessings of this life. The woman, being put to shame, was filled with such rage that she thought to starve the blessed one to death, throwing him into prison. But God, Who gives food to every creature, Who once in the wilderness nourished Elijah, also Paul of Thebes and many of His other servants, who trusted in Him, did not abandon this blessed one. He bowed down to mercy one of the woman's servants, and he secretly gave him food. Others exhorted him: "Brother Moses, what prevents you from getting married? You are still young, and this widow has lived with her husband only one year, and is more beautiful than other women; it has innumerable wealth and great power in this Lyash land; if she had wanted to, the prince would not have neglected her; You are a prisoner and a slave, and you do not want to be her master! But if you say: "I cannot transgress the commandments of Christ," does not Christ say in the Gospel: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh" (Matt. 19:5). Likewise, the Apostle: "It is better to marry than to be inflamed" (1 Cor. 7:9). He also says of widows: "I want young widows to marry" (1 Tim. 5:14). But you, who are not bound by the monastic order, but are free from it, why do you subject yourself to evil and bitter torments, and so suffer? If you happen to die in this trouble, what praise will you have? Who abhorred women from the first righteous men, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob? No one, only today's black-robed people. Joseph first fled from the woman, but then he also took a wife, and you, if you come out alive from this woman, then we think so, you will seek a wife yourself, and who will not laugh at your madness? It is better for you to submit to this woman and be free and master of all her house." Blessed Moses answered them: "O my brethren and good friends, you advise me well; I understand that you are telling me words worse than the serpent's whispering said to Eve in paradise. You compel me to submit to this woman, but I do not ask your advice, even if I have to die in these bonds and in bitter agony; I believe that I will certainly receive God's mercy. And if many righteous men have been saved with their wives, I am the only sinner and cannot be saved with my wife. But if Joseph had listened to Pentephrius' wife earlier, he would not have reigned later, when he took a wife for himself in Egypt (Gen. 39 and 41). God, seeing his former patience, granted him the kingdom of Egypt, and therefore he is glorified in the generations for his chastity, although he had children. But I do not wish to rule over the kingdom of Egypt, and not to rule over the authorities, and to be great in this land of Lyash, and to become known far away in the Russian land, but I have despised all this for the sake of the highest Kingdom. Therefore, if I come out alive from the hands of this woman, I will never look for another wife, but, with God's help, I will become a black-robed man. For what Christ said in the Gospel: "Whosoever shall forsake houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life" (Matt. 19:29). Listen more to you or to Christ? The Apostle says: "He who is unmarried cares about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but he who is married cares about the things of the world, how to please his wife" (1 Cor. 7:32, 33). I ask you, for whom is it proper to work for the Lord or for a wife? I also know that he writes: "Servants, listen to your masters," but in good, and not in evil; so understand you, who hold me, that feminine beauty will never deceive me and will not tear me away from Christ's love."

Hearing of this, the woman took another evil thought into her heart: she gave orders to put the blessed one on a horse and with a multitude of servants to lead him through their cities and villages, saying: "All this is yours, if it pleases you. Dispose of everything as you wish." And she gave the order: "This is your master, and my husband. When you meet him, bow to him." The blessed one, laughing at the madness of the woman, said to her: "Thou labourest in vain, thou canst not deceive me with the perishable things of this world, nor steal my incorruptible riches; understand and do not labor in vain." The woman said to him furiously:

"Or don't you know that you have been sold to me? And who snatches thee from my hands; I will not let you go alive, but after many torments I will put you to death." The blessed one boldly answered her: "I fear no misfortune, for the Lord is with me, to Whom henceforth, according to His will, I desire to work the monastic life."

At this time, by the inspiration of God, there came to Blessed Moses from the Holy Mountain a certain black-robed man, with the rank of priest, and clothed him in the holy angelic monastic image; He taught him much about purity, so as not to yield to the enemy and not to be afraid of that vile woman, and then he left. Everywhere they searched for this black-robed man and did not find it. Then the woman, despairing of her hope, inflicted grievous wounds on the Monk Moses: stretching him out, she gave orders to beat him with a rod, so that the earth was soaked with his blood. The executioners said to him: "Submit to your mistress, do her will; but if you disobey, we will break your body into pieces. Do not think to avoid these torments, after which you will give up your soul with sorrow. Have mercy on yourself, throw off this monastic rag and put on the precious boyar's clothes, and you will be freed from the torments that await you." The holy Moses answered them: "Brethren, do not hesitate, do what you are commanded. And I cannot renounce monasticism and the love of God, and no languor, neither fire, nor sword, nor wounds can separate me from God and from this great angelic image. To this shameless and darkened woman, who has clearly shown her shamelessness, who has offended not only the fear of God, but also the shame of man, who shamelessly compels me to defile and adultery, I will not submit in any way and will not fulfill her accursed will."

The woman, anxious to avenge her disgrace, finally wrote the following letter to Prince Boleslav: "You yourself know that my husband was killed fighting with you, and you have given me the freedom to take as my husband whom I want. I fell in love with one of your captives, who is beautiful, and having ransomed him, I took him into my house. I paid a great deal of gold for him, and gave him all the silver and gold in my house, and all the power, if only he would be my husband. And all this he considered as nothing; I often tormented him with hunger and wounds, but I did nothing. It seemed not enough for him to be chained for five years by the one who had taken him prisoner, but now he spent the sixth year with me, and I tortured him much for his disobedience, which he himself had brought upon himself by his hardness of heart. And now he has been tonsured by a certain black-robed man. What do you order me to do with him?"