Prot. Dimitri Smirnov: Actually, to be honest, there is “let him praise the Lord,” but the meaning does not change because of our Lord - our God. “Every breath” means every creation of God. All the creatures of God that breathe are birds, and amphibians, and animals, and plants, because everything that God created, He created for His glory. God for us, His creatures, is absolutely invisible and incomprehensible, which is expressed in these words: "God is nowhere in sight of God" (John 1:18)... But we can observe the greatness of God in His creation. We see the titmouse, its beauty - and we praise God. And the tit, chirping, praises God. And so is every living being. A beautiful shell glorifies its Creator, because the mollusk does not have a developed brain, he could not create such a structure himself. This is the Lord. Or build a hive - an insect, a bee, cannot create it, God created it. And the bee hive with its most intelligent design praises God. All fish and all animals praise God. Every breath glorifies the Lord by its existence. And God pleases that a person who is given the great gift of reason, word, marriage, the ability to know God, through religion, which God also gave to man, through shame and conscience, glorify God. This is a call to all creation. But, of course, not only creatures who are living beings are praising God. They praise God and the mountains, as it is said, and the rivers and the seas. So everything that God created praises Him. The universe especially praises God. Everyone who looks at the sky can feel it, seeing its bottomless magnitude and absolutely divine beauty - especially in our nature and the strip, this is the August night, which reveals to us the greatness of God the Creator. I remember me, a small child of about five years old, the sight of the sky brought me to such a state that I still remember this event when I paid attention to it. Since then I have been under this impression, and when I find myself in front of a clear sky dotted with stars, I remember this childhood impression, and it continues to affect me. Volcanoes also praise God, now Etna is erupting. What energetic power is concentrated inside our planet, and how the Lord arranged that the earth's crust retains this power in itself, and only at certain points shows us what is inside - such temperatures that we can only reproduce for some seconds with our help technology. And for God this is not something transcendental. Real plasma is very close, and the Lord keeps us safe.
Prot. Alexander Berezovsky: And the highest creation of God - man - falls out of this common orchestra.
Prot. Dimitri Smirnov:
Yes, man has a way to go. He must use the precious gift of freedom in order to glorify God with his life. So that people see the good deeds of a person and glorify the Heavenly Father.
...........................................
Answer: father Dimitry Smirnov
Let every breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord from heaven
praise Him in the highest.
A song to God befits you.
Praise Him, all His angels,
praise Him with all His might.
A song to God befits you.
Psalm 148
Praise the Lord from heaven
praise Him in the highest.
Praise Him, all His angels,
praise Him, all His might.
Praise Him, sun and moon,
praise Him, all stars and light.
Praise Him Heaven is heaven and water is even higher than heaven.
Let the name of the Lord be praised:
like that speech, and was, that commanded, and was created.
Put me in the age and in the age of the age, give the command, and it will not pass by.
Praise the Lord from the earth, the serpent and all the deep:
fire, hail, snow, golot, a stormy spirit that does His word,
mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars,
beast and all cattle, gadi and birds are birds.
The king of the zemstvo and all the people, the princes and all the judges of the zemstvo,
let them praise the name of the Lord, as if they had lifted up the name of the One, His confession on earth and in heaven.
And the horn of His people will lift up, a song to all His venerable ones, the sons of Israel, the people who draw near to Him.
Psalm 149
Alleluia. Sing to the Lord a new song: his praise in the church of the holy ones.
Let Israel rejoice in him that made him, and the sons of Zion rejoice in their kings.
Let them praise his name in the face, in the tympanum and psalms, and sing to him.
For the Lord delights in his people, and exalts the meek for salvation.
They will praise veneration in glory and rejoice on their couches.
The offerings of God are in their throats, and swords are both sharp in their hands:
create vengeance in the town, conviction of people:
bind their kings with fetters, and their glorious hand fetters with iron:
create in them judgment is written. This glory will be to all his reverend.
Psalm 150
Alleluia. Praise God in his saints, praise him in the confirmation of his strength:
praise him for his strength (strength), praise him for the multitude of his majesty:
...
Every breath praise the Lord.
praise him in the heights.
You befitting song to God.
praise Him with all his power.
You befitting song to God.
Psalm 148
Praise the Lord from the heavens,
praise him in the heights.
Praise Him, all ye his angels,
Praise Him, all His power.
Praise him, sun and moon;
Praise Him, all stars and light.
Praise him ye heavens of heavens, and water, which is shed above the heavens.
Praise the name of the Lord:
Thou That reche, and things were made, That led, and will create.
I have set up in the age and for ever and ever, put the command, and not mimoidet.
Praise the Lord from the earth, and all Zmiev abyss:
fire, hail, snow, Golota, the spirit of Buren, the creative word of His,
mountains and all ye hills, tree prolific, all ye cedar,
Beasts and all ye cattle, Gadi and feathered fowls.
Tsarie Zemst and all ye that ye people, all ye princes, and Judge Zemst, young men and maidens, old men with yunotami,
praise the name of the Lord, for they lifted up the name of Him edinago, confessing Him on earth and in heaven.
And exalt the horn of his people, the song of all His saints, the children of Israel, lyudem approaching Him.
Psalm 149
Alleluia. O sing unto the Lord pesn nova: praise him in the church prpdbnyh.
Yes Israel rejoice about sotvorshem it, and the sons of Zion rejoice about their kings.
Yes, praise his name in litse in timpane and psaltery let them sing to him.
Thou art the LORD taketh pleasure in his people both, and he will exalt the meek in spasenie.
Praising prpdbnii in slave and rejoice upon their beds.
Sheaf of God in the roof of their mouth, and swords are sharp a win in their hands:
sotvoriti vengeance in yazytseh, conviction of people both:
svyazati shackles of their kings, and their Glorious hand shackles zheleznymi:
sotvoriti in their written judgment. And this is the glory of the Rev. vsem it.
Psalm 150
Alleluia. Praise God in his saints, praise him in the authorized strength of his:
praise him in the power (in power) him, praise him on the set of his Majesty.
The Church remembers the commandment given by God to man: "Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the beasts, and over the birds of the air, and over all cattle ..." (Gen. 1:28). Many Orthodox monasteries breed animals and birds, which serve not only to decorate the monastery, but also to comfort people. Deacon Fyodor Kotrelev gives details.
Novosibirsk: deer, peacock, squirrels ...
A sika deer, squirrels, a peacock, crayfish and fish live in the Novosibirsk monastery in the name of the holy martyr Eugene. As the abbot of the monastery, Hegumen Philip (Novikov), told the "NS", the living corner began with one squirrel, which was presented to him at the Novosibirsk Zoo when he brought orphans there from an orphanage on an excursion. A small house was built for the squirrel in the courtyard of the temple. Then one of the parishioners donated two more squirrels to the temple. The squirrel cage stands in the most prominent place of the churchyard, arousing constant interest among the parishioners and visitors of the monastery.
Seeing the popularity of the "living corner", rabbits and pigeons were brought in the monastery, a small pool was dug, where fish and crayfish live in summer. And at the end of last year, the monastery zoo was replenished with a sika deer. The deer brought from Altai was presented to the monastery by the Archbishop of Novosibirsk and Berdsk Tikhon. “At first we were very worried: after all, it's one thing to look after small animals, and another thing to take care of a deer. How to feed him, how to keep him - no one had any idea, - says the abbot of the monastery, Abbot Philip. “I had to send one of the novices to specially learn from specialists.” The deer was named Yasha - that was the decision of the Sunday school students. Yasha lives in an aviary specially built for him. The aviary is small, but, according to Father Philip, "if the aviary is made larger, he can run away, jump over the fence and run away." In the "living corner" of the monastery there are several more rabbits, budgerigars, pigeons and a peacock. According to the abbot, the presence of animals at the temple can play a missionary role: “Sometimes, after all, a person cannot immediately come to the temple. But then he comes here to the territory, sees how beautiful everything is here - squirrels, deer. And people think: how wonderful everything is, so why not go to the temple? "
They also live in Russian monasteries and ostriches (St. Nicholas Monastery in Kolomna). Photo by ITAR-TASS / Vladimir Smirnov
In the Introductory Vladyka Womans Monaco of the Underwater Serpykhova, they breed pawlins. This tradition has been going on for more than 300 years: at the end of the 17th century, the Vvedensky Monastery was presented with "... a nest of cranes, a peacock and a pava." Peacocks were bred not only as decorative birds, but also as an ancient Christian symbol of immortality. Breeding peacocks in the monastery turned out to be so successful that when at the end of the 18th century the question of the coat of arms of Serpukhov was being decided, it was decided to place an image of a peacock on it. Interestingly, even the Soviet version of the Serpukhov coat of arms contained a peacock - along with a tractor gear and an atomic ring. With the revival of the monastery, the pawnship returned. Now the monastery has a dozen peacocks.
Trinity-Sergius Lavra: cats are safe
Photo by Evgeny Poznyak
In late October last year, the online animal protection community was shocked by terrible news. According to one of the LiveJournal users, 30 cats living on the territory of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra were taken out of the city in sealed bags and allegedly thrown into a reservoir next to the landfill. Information began to rapidly acquire new "facts". It was as if the cats were with kittens, and activists of the "Cat and Dog" community, who urgently arrived at the site of the "tragedy", managed to save ten animals. Someone even reported that the kittens were gouged out (but later this information was denied on the same forum). Needless to say, all the messages literally blazed with righteous anger against the monastic brethren, but the speakers did not provide any facts confirming the killing of cats. What actually happened? As the "NS" was informed in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, a large number of stray cats accumulate on the territory during the year. Some animals are thrown up, others come on their own, they breed, and their numbers grow steadily in the absence of dogs. In addition, the compassionate people in the Lavra feed the animals, and the cats live quite well here. However, there is no veterinary clinic on the territory of the Lavra, and such an accumulation of homeless animals is unsafe. To protect the brethren and visitors of the monastery from possible diseases that can be spread by cats, every year at the end of October, homeless cats are collected and taken to the wasteland, beyond the territory of Sergiev Posad. There the animals are released (some of them, by the way, return to the Lavra again), and there can be no question of killing cats. Unfortunately, the monastery does not yet have any other means of solving the urgent problem of homeless animals.
Monastery of cats in Cyprus
Ten kilometers from the Cypriot city of Limassol is the nunnery of St. Nicholas Koshatnik. By tradition, several dozen cats live within its walls. According to legend, in 327 AD Cyprus was visited by St. Queen Elena. Upon learning that an unprecedented number of snakes had bred on the island, which suffered from a terrible drought in those years, she ordered about a thousand cats to be brought here. A few years later, the snakes were finished. Not far from the place where Elena went ashore, the monastery of St. Nicholas was founded, which became a refuge for the cats brought to the island. The Venetian monk, who visited the island in 1484, recounted in his notes that the cats ran to dinner at the sound of the monastery bell. When they were full, they again began their direct duties - hunting for snakes. Sources say that when the adjacent lands were donated to the monastery in the 16th century, a condition was set: the brothers must take care of at least a hundred cats, providing them with food twice a day. After the capture of Cyprus by the Turks in the 16th century, the monastery fell into disrepair and was revived only in the 80s of the 20th century - already as a woman's. The nuns revived the tradition of keeping cats. Now the monastery has five nuns and about 70 cats. Each day of the nuns begins at about three in the morning: first they prepare food for the cats, then they go to the temple for services. After the service - breakfast, feeding the cats, cleaning the yard and other obediences. In addition to caring for cats, Orthodox nuns are engaged in icon painting.
Photo by Ekaterina Stepanova
The sixth day of the marathon.
Yesterday I came across a phrase that one often hears: “out of happiness few people come to church”. Yes, perhaps statistics speaks of this: most people come to church because they are faced with some problems, illnesses, life is pressing so that there is no longer enough strength to straighten their shoulders on their own. And then someone from their acquaintances or an angel over their shoulder advises them - "go to the temple, it will become easier." Why, I myself often had to say this phrase to people with whom the Lord brought me together. And how else to comfort a person in his hopeless situation for human strength. But it turns out that we perceive God as a cure for our problems. Unfortunately, one really often has to deal with such a feeling of God and the Church. But I do not want to believe that among the people who came to the Temple are the majority of those who came from grief. There is a poll at the end of the post, if it's not difficult - choose an answer option or write your own in the comments. And by tradition, I will tell you about myself, since this is my diary :)
I cannot say that I came to the temple from some special happiness, but there was definitely no grief in my life at that moment. I have always lived with a sense of the presence of God. For me, His existence was not in doubt. After all, my whole life has talked about the fact that He is, He is near, He loves. There was simply no temple in the city where I was born. It is a small town built after the war. The temple, of course, was not included in the town planning plans in those years. Of course, we were taken to neighboring old villages for open airs, to Irkutsk to theaters and museums. And there, naturally, we were brought to the temples. We, junior schoolchildren, bought candles in a crowd, because "it is necessary", and as best we could - lit them in front of the icons. And then, at one point, my candle fell. I would not have noticed this, because already had time to turn away. But this was noticed by the grandmothers sitting on a bench nearby ... “Oh, a bad sign! The Lord does not accept! " - I heard a hiss behind my back. Then I somehow had enough reason not to pay attention to it, raise the candle and put it so that it would not fall any more. But the next time, when they tried to take us into the temple, I could not enter there. "If the Lord does not accept me, why should I disturb Him."
Unfortunately, there was no one to explain to me that this stupid, hostile and false idea was then there. Therefore, I lived with her for almost twenty years, without crossing the threshold of the temples. During this time I moved to St. Petersburg, where the first years I actually had no time to think about my soul - I had to survive in a strange city. But then life began to improve, a stable job, stable housing, real friends appeared, and I already had time to enjoy the temptations of this world to the point of nausea. And then it became very perceptible that something, or rather Someone, was missing in my life. I began to think more and more about God, to read something. The profession, moreover, obliged him to know at least the slightest degree of the basic Biblical subjects and church art, which also reminded of Him all the time. And my excuse that there was no temple nearby - no longer worked. But I still couldn't get in there. "After all, He does not accept, I do not want to impose." But just looking at my life, at some point I realized that all this is nonsense. How could I have survived alone in a strange city without His help and care? All my life He was always there, from how many troubles He saved me, how much joy He gave! How can you then seriously think that "He does not accept." All the falsity of this thought suddenly reached me and I wanted to immediately run to Him! ..
It turned out to be difficult. Because the demon that sat in me and persistently whispered this thought to me was stronger than me for a very long time. It took me several more years to fight him independently and to no avail. By that time, I already knew that I wanted to be baptized and go only to the temple in my Alma Mater - the Academy of Arts, but I could not open the door to it. Until Solovki happened in my life ... The trip there was somehow formed by itself, I chose it unconsciously, most of all I was attracted by the fact that this is an island, and that the story there is connected with the terrible 1920-30s , and then I just started to deal with this period. Only when I came home, with a voucher in my arms and brochures about Solovki issued in addition, it dawned on me where I was going. If I cannot enter the church, then it makes no sense for me to even leave the boat there - there is all the Holy Land! I realized that for that short termthat stayed with me before the trip, this problem needs to be solved. And then I turned to the Lord for help. Going to the temple, I prayed as best I could in my own words, but with all the strength that I had. It didn't work out the first time either, but "he" had to give up. Then, after the trip, during the announcement, I felt how this demon flew out of me like a cork from a bottle and flew away writhing somewhere in the direction of the porch. Therefore, when it was necessary to blow and spit on him three times, I did it so realistically and with all my heart that even the priest later said “well, well, I see that you are very serious” :)
Well, how could it be otherwise? I've been waiting for this for so long! Opportunities to finally cling to Him and truly thank for all that He has done for me! From the very first services in the temple, I fell in love with the words of the praising psalms “Praise the Lord from heaven! Praise Him in the highest! let every breath praise the Lord! " And they became the motto of my whole life. And then, after baptism, I had difficulties, sorrows, and illnesses, and I think there will be many more things. Life has not become even and smooth. But I did not go to Him for this and never expected a cloudless life from life with God, therefore, Glory to God for everything! And first of all, for this World and our life in it, even if it is not always the way we want it.
All the best to you! Peace, Love and Beauty!
Icons with this name appeared inXVII century. Their other name is "Praise the Lord from Heaven." They depicted everything that the psalmist says in Psalm 148:
Praise the Lord from heaven; praise Him in the highest.
Praise Him, all His angels, praise Him, all His might.
Praise Him, sun and moon: Praise Him, all stars and light.
And the icon painter painted heaven, sun and moon, angels and cherubs.
Praise Him from the ground,< … > mountains and all hills, trees are fruitful< … >
The kings of the zemstvo and all people, < … > youths and virgins, elders with youths.
And hills with trees, hosts of saints and even animals were depicted, because the Psalm also says:
Serpent and all the abyss< … > beast< … > and birds birds< … >
Let the name of the Lord be praised.
Thus, a whole cosmos appeared on the icon, rejoicing in the Lord. In the twentieth century, sister John (Yulia Nikolaevna Reitlinger, spiritual daughter of Father Sergiy Bulgakov) painted several icons with the same name and meaning, but simpler in form and more modern in detail. At the same time, she used the brightest, purest and most joyful colors. This color is not typical for icons.XVII century, but corresponds to the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Psalm. I really liked this approach with my teacher Irina Vasilievna Vatagina. We thought that the laudatory lines of Psalm 148 fit many iconographic subjects. For example, they could be written on the icon of the Nativity of Christ, where angels, people, sheep, and an ox with a donkey came to worship the Divine Infant. The same words could be on the frescoes depicting Adam giving names to the animals, which one by one decorously approach him. Of course, the text of the Psalm corresponds to miniatures from the medieval lists of the Psalter, where the prophet David is depicted singing surrounded by various animals that listen to him attentively. There are many such plots.
So the idea was born to write an icon called a line from the Psalm and combining several plots that relate to the relationship between man and "every creature."
The Lord conceives the world to be beautiful and harmonious. In this world of God everyone rejoices: angels, people and animals. Praise is the highest form of joy, a manifestation of delight and love. It can be unconscious, and it is not always expressed in words. The harmony and beauty felt in nature are also the Glorification of the Lord. Throughout the history of mankind, as in the life of every person, there are moments when this harmony comes, and the world becomes the way the Lord intended it. Then the Creator's plan is manifested in the relationship between man and animals. This is what the icon "Let every breath praise the Lord" is dedicated to. Different brands tell about such manifestations of Divine Providence in the lives of saints, when people and animals revealed amazing abilities, embodying in their relationships the prototype of the life of the Future Age, when “the wolf will live next to the lamb,< … > and the calf, and the young lion, and the ox will be together, and the little child will lead them.< … > And they will not do evil< … > for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waves fill the sea ”(Isa. 11: 6-9).
In the middle icons depicts the Nativity of Christ. The traditional composition is somewhat complicated. Next to the Holy Family, angels, magi and shepherds, there are many different animals on the icon that rejoice at the Nativity of the Savior: an elephant trumpets, dolphins jump, a monkey throws a coconut, a crane dances, a whale fires a fountain ... There are many legends about how various animals and even the plants glorified the born Christ and came to worship him. Some plots (for example, about dragons meekly bowing to the Infant God, or lions showing the way) relate to the story of the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt, but the icons often combine events separated in time. The main idea and the main compositional principle of the Christmas icon are preserved. Around the Infant Christ, angels, people, animals, and the whole earth and "every creature" are united by common joy.
Gloria
And peace on earth
Goodwill in men.
A Christmas Carol is a response to the Psalmist's call: “Praise the Lord from heaven< … > Let every breath praise the Lord, ”and Christmas itself is the answer to the expectations of the whole world, in Christmas the Prophecies begin to be fulfilled, and all creation rejoices in this. When the All-Night Vigil is served in the church, at the end of Matins, Psalm 148 is almost closed, the priest's exclamation “Glory to Thee who showed us the Light” and the Great Doxology, in which the Christmas song is echoed with praise. All these prayers are about the same thing, they have a common joy. So the icon of the Nativity becomes part of the icon "Let every breath praise the Lord." They also share a common joy.
True, dragons, unicorns, snakes with human heads and other creatures that are mentioned in legends and depicted on iconsXVII century, on our icon is not. They would look archaic. Our ancestors drew them not for "fabulousness", but because this is how they imagined the animal world of distant lands. The ancient zoological reference book was called a bestiary. There, for example, they depicted an elephant with eyes on its ears. But in fact, a crocodile and a giraffe are no less amazing than a dragon or a unicorn. And the fact that the elephant has no eyes on its ears does not prevent him from praising the Lord!
At the top icons - three hallmarks, they all tell about the events of the Old Testament.
The first mark - Adam in Paradise gives names to animals. The giving of a name is a symbolic event, it is associated with the acquisition of individuality. On the icon, nameless animals are painted the same, gray, and those to whom Adam has already given a name acquire their unique coloring. Adam places his hand on the head of the beast like a priest or a king. The king is not the one who owns his subjects as things, uses them and torments them. A king is one who is ready to take responsibility for others, who can protect, guide, teach. Man was supposed to become a king, but he remains a cruel and oppressive child.
On the second mark (it is located exactly in the middle of the top row) the prophet David is depicted playing the psalms, surrounded by various animals that listen to his singing and music. A frog sits on the back of a hippopotamus. I drew it in order to remember the frogs that once croaked in the swampy places around the Chesme Church, but it turned out that there is also a legend about how the frog talked to King David. St. David was proud to glorify the Lord in the Psalm, and the frog told him that she and her sisters praised the Lord every day, over and over again. Indeed, their song is hard not to hear!
On the third mark Noah, descending from the ark to solid ground, thanks the Lord for the salvation of not only the human race, but also "every creature." The fact that the ark has become a saving home for both people and animals shows the connection between their destinies. Here, of course, more different married couples could be depicted, but there is not much space on the icon. We limited ourselves to domestic animals, ducks and a couple of conventional exotic birds.
Further around the centerpiece icons are locatedthree pairs of stamps (one left and one right). If we call them in order from top to bottom, then they will be:
Fourth and fifth;
Sixth and seventh;
Eighth and ninth.
Each pair of plots is united by a common theme.Fourth and fifth mark united by the theme of the wonderful ministry of animals to the saints. The fourth depicts St. the prophet Elijah and the ravens bringing him bread, on the fifth - St. Ellius and the crocodile carrying the monk across the river on his back. Once upon a time, the Lord helped our ancestors to tame dogs, horses and other animals to serve people. Over the centuries, pets have been willing to live with people, obey human will, and help in work. But maybe, if people were better, then all animals and birds, and not only domestic ones, would begin to serve them, as they served saints?
Sixth and seventh hallmarks united by the theme of the wonderful worship of the saints, which was shown to them by animals, while other people behaved much worse than animals. Onsixth stigma depicts the martyr Neophytos, who is tortured to renounce his faith. In the fourth century AD, despotic rulers perceived the confessors of the Faith of Christ as a threat to their power. The kings called themselves equal to the gods, erected statues for themselves or those deities whom they considered their personal patrons. They did not want to know any arc of faith, and Christians were brutally killed, for example, given to be eaten by wild animals. It was in such dire circumstances that miracles happened, and many people became Christians, seeing the fearlessness of the saints and the wonderful meekness of predators. The hungry lion did not touch the martyr Neophytos. On the contrary, the lion recognized the saint and behaved like a dog that met its owner. Once upon a time St. The neophyte went to live in the desert, and the lion gave him his cave, and now the beast was delighted to meet. St. Neophytos forbade the lion to touch anyone, even his tormentors, and ordered him to go into the desert, into that very cave. The branding shows the lion running away.
On the seventh mark depicts St. great martyr and healer Panteleimon. He, too, was given to be torn apart by wild animals, but the predators began to caress the saint like cats. Many people who saw this miracle believed in Christ and immediately began to loudly confess their faith. Then the torturers killed these people and animals. The dead were left to lie at the site of the massacre. In an amazing way, the bodies of people and animals lay as if alive, they even felt a fragrance. This happens with the bodies of saints, they are transformed and become incorruptible, but in this case the Lord performed such a miracle over animals, equating them to people. Of course, the whole story could not be depicted on the icon, but part of it is told in the inscription on the stamp.
Eighth and ninth hallmarks dedicated to the Miraculous Patronage that the saints showed to animals. Hieromartyr Blasius was a shepherd in his adolescence, then he became a priest, and during the persecution he lived in the wilderness among wild animals. He was the shepherd for everyone: for people, for sheep, and even for predators. Everyone loved and obeyed him, and he was ready to help everyone.
Saint Modestus was bishop in Jerusalem. Among his flock were many poor people, they plowed the land and instead of horses harnessed oxen. When the animals got sick, it was a real disaster. Then epidemics happened quite often, and for many, life collapsed. Saint Modestus prayed so much for the salvation of sick oxen that even dead animals were healed. So both the oxen and their masters were saved.
The Holy Martyrs Florus and Laurus in their earthly life were not associated with animals. They were masons, they boldly confessed their faith and were tortured for it. And many years later, several miracles happened near the place where they were buried. A spring with healing water appeared there. They began to water the horses from it. Among them were sick and weak animals, and they all recovered. People are used to considering Saints Florus and Laurus as the patrons of horses. Once a poor shepherd missed a whole herd of horses, something frightened the animals, and they rode off into the mountains. The shepherd remembered Saints Florus and Laurus and began to ask them for help. And we didn't even have to look for the horses, they returned on their own. This is what the icon is dedicated to, which is called "The Miracle of Florus and Lavra". There is also an amazing legend about how the saints appeared to a peasant to intercede for a horse, which he mistreated.
To all these saints, the Lord granted special Grace to help not only people, but also animals. Many icons have survived, which depict the patron saints of domestic animals next to their wards - colorful horses, cows, and sheep. This means that our ancestors often turned to them and knew that the Lord and His saints were ready to help everyone.
Bottom row of stamps united by the theme of wonderful friendship.
Saint Simeon the Stylite healed a snake, which got a chip in the eye. The grateful serpent did not want to leave. He liked to be near the saint. He behaved peacefully and meekly. But people were scared anyway, and the snake still had to change its place of residence.
The Holy Martyr Mamant lived in the wilderness, surrounded by a variety of animals. Predators came to caress him, wild goats let themselves be milked, and no one offended anyone. When the soldiers came to take the saint to prison, they were frightened at the sight of such a sight and did not know what to do. St. Mamant treated them to cheese made from the milk of wild goats, calmed them down and promised that he would come to the prison himself. And so he did - he came astride a lion. True, this is not the moment that is depicted on the icon. This is because meek lions are on other brands. And here it was important to show that predators and goats peacefully gathered around the saint, without offending either each other or people. So, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, in the next century everyone will live.
The Monk Gerasim also lived in the wilderness, and he healed a lion, whose paw ached. This is one of the most wonderful stories of friendship between man and the beast, because the lion, whom the monk healed, changed not temporarily, but forever. He remained to live near Saint Gerasimus and serve him. At first, the lion grazed the monastic donkey, but one day he lost it. The monks, and even Saint Gerasimus, thought that the lion ate him. The lion had to carry water instead of a donkey, and he meekly did this work until he saw a lost donkey among the camels of a caravan passing by. Then the happy lion seized the donkey by the bridle and brought him back to the monastery. Everyone realized that they had blamed the lion in vain, and saw how reasonable and obedient he was. It was then that the lion was given a new name - Jordan. Usually new names are given to monks in a monastery as a sign of the beginning of their new life, but Jordan also lived a new life, although he was a lion. This amazing lion lived in the monastery until the death of the Monk Gerasim. When the saint died, the lion also died at his grave.
And a bear came to visit the Monk Seraphim. The monk said that by this friendship with the beast, the Lord comforts and pleases him. Apparently, the bear also thought so, because he often came and ate bread from the hands of the Monk Seraphim, although the bear avoided all other people, remaining an ordinary wild beast. He became special only around Saint Seraphim of Sarov.
Finally, the last stigma depicts a fragment from the prophecy of Isaiah. Lion next to the lamb; a child who “is not harmed by the serpent,” and a golden background over all as a sign of divine grace present in everything. The Prophecy also names other animals with their cubs: a bear and a cow will graze together, and their children will also graze together, and a human child will "lead them." A separate icon could be written on this topic, but on ours it is just some reference to the image of a transformed reality, in which a lion and a giraffe, a wolf and a hare, a swan and a snake will peacefully and joyfully coexist. In ordinary life, they are at enmity, and a person is at enmity with everyone, but the Lord planned otherwise, and one day everything will become according to His word.
Thus, our icon in the stamps tells how throughout the entire history of the world, from its creation (the first stamp where Adam names the beasts) and until the end of this world and the beginning of the life of the next century (the last stamp illustrating the prophecy of Isaiah), man and animals exist together, and in the center is depicted the event that sometimes allows them to show amazing love for each other - the Nativity of Christ, in which we see the beginning of a new creation, the dawn of that world in which God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15, 28).