Materials for a Sermon on the Feast Day of Venerable Theodosius of Totma*
By Righteous Alexei Mechev
By Righteous Alexei Mechev
“Rejoice, for as a faithful servant you walked piously before the Lord all the days of your life.” (From the Akathist to Venerable Theodosius of Totma)**
At the glorification of a saint, they are invisibly present with us and instruct us. The Venerable one (Theodosius) seems, as it were, to say to all of us:
“You, dear ones, have gathered to honor my memory, and I have come to you. See, I was the same kind of man as you, yet throughout my earthly life I strove to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things were added to me. I also command all of you: seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
“The beginning of the darkening of the mind is first revealed in laziness toward divine service and prayer” (Isaac the Syrian).
“As great as you are, says Scripture, so humble yourself, and you will find grace with God. There are many who are exalted and glorious, but God is glorified through humility. Do not seek labor beyond measure for yourself, and do not attempt what is beyond your strength.”
- Religious and moral upbringing.
- The fear of God.
- Living in marriage, he sought God. He honestly fulfilled his duties.
- He did not rely on his own strength; he asked the Venerable Demetrius for help.
- Thinking humbly of himself, he treated others with respect. He constantly thought of God; even at the saltworks he thought of God: “God will be angered; God does not permit this,” and thus love for what is good is formed.
- Youth will come, it will blossom with trepidation, and then it will be beneficial …
Dear brethren, as we fall down in prayer before the relics of Venerable Theodosius, let us receive instruction from him — for our own way of life, for the upbringing of our children, and for guiding all whom we are able in the fear of God. Only He, drawn by the spirit of love, can order and pacify both our private and our common life, directing it toward goodness, toward earthly happiness and eternal blessedness.
Miracles of Venerable Theodosius:
- A monk named Var from the Totma Monastery lay bedridden for a long time; at the shrine of the Venerable one he felt himself healed.
- In 1658, when they went out to the Jordan (the water blessing), the floor caught fire. The floor and the grating burned.
- Emperor Peter I visited the monastery on July 17, 1693, and placed upon the icon of the Venerable one an amber icon of the Crucifixion of Christ with a gilded chain.
- After 228 years, the Ascension Church, built in 1757, subsided and cracked, and in 1795 it was dismantled. On August 16, 1796, while digging the foundation for a new church, on September 2 the coffin was found; the lid broke off, and they saw a schemamonk.
Notes:
* The sermon was delivered on January 28 (the feast day of Venerable Theodosius), before the Revolution. The year is unknown. It is published here for the first time on the basis of the “Plans of Sermons” from the archive of E. V. Apushkina.
Venerable Theodosius of Totma († January 28, 1568) was a native of Vologda. After the death of his wife, he entered the monastery founded by Venerable Demetrius of Priluki. Having conceived the idea of founding a monastery in Totma, a place that had become dear to him, he sought and received a blessing to establish the Savior–Sumorin Monastery (1554), where he spent the remainder of his days in ascetic struggles. He instructed the brotherhood above all by his own manner of life.
The first icon of Venerable Theodosius appeared as early as 1626, his liturgical service in 1729, and his incorrupt relics were discovered on September 2, 1796, when trenches were being dug in the monastery for the foundation of a new stone Ascension church. The servant of God was glorified (canonized) in 1798.
Both Fr. Alexei and and his son Fr. Sergius especially venerated this Saint, little known to the broader circle of the faithful, and a portion of his relics were kept in Fr. Alexei’s church. Fr. Sergius had a special closeness to this Venerable one. At his final meeting with one of his spiritual daughters, he said to her: “Until now you have asked me to pray for you, but now ask Venerable Theodosius. He was always quick to hear my requests. I believe that he will not abandon you either, my spiritual children, with his help” (Nadezhda, Issue 16, p. 98).
** The first Akathist to St. Theodosius was composed in 1802 by the Rzhev priest Father John Alekseev
, and another in 1833 by novice Grigory Patokov. However, both were
rejected by the Holy Synod. An anonymous Akathist of 1860 was approved
and sent to print the following year. However, the words cited are
missing from it.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
