“How he reasoned with diverse Greeks and Philosophers at the ‘outer’ mountain” / From The Life of St. Anthony by St. Athanasius

Not only is the script for El Tonto Por Cristo drawn from the lives of holy fools but Josh David Jordan’s script also draws extensively from the Western and Eastern Christian monastic traditions. This short excerpt from The Life of St. Anthony, who is credited with beginning the ascetic, monastic tradition, sheds light on how foolishness in the face of every day reason was the ultimate tool when confronting an enchanted realm of unseen powers.

'Why, philosophers, did ye trouble yourselves so much to come to a foolish man?'
And when they said that he was not a foolish man …

“And Antony also was exceeding prudent, and the wonder was that although he had not learned letters, he was a ready-witted and sagacious man. At all events two Greek philosophers once came, thinking they could try their skill on Antony; and he was in the outer mountain, and having recognised who they were from their appearance, he came to them and said to them by means of an interpreter, 'Why, philosophers, did ye trouble yourselves so much to come to a foolish man?' And when they said that he was not a foolish man, but exceedingly prudent, he said to them, ' If you came to a foolish man, your labour is superfluous; but if you think me prudent become as I am, for we ought to imitate what is good. And if I had come to you I should have imitated you; but if you to me, become as I am, for I am a Christian.' But they departed with wonder, for they saw that even demons feared Antony. “

Life of Procopius of Ustyug, Christ for the Holy Fool

This is a telling of the life of Procopius of Ustyug who is cited as being the ‘first’ saint of the holy fool tradition. Rather than a tale of mere whimsy, the script for El Tonto Por Cristo is rooted in stories and traditions of saints, monks, and holy fools such as Procopius. Read more to get a sense of how strange an encounter with the numinous can be.

And the blessed one passed through many cities, and villages, and countries, and impenetrable forests, and swamps, and impenetrable swamps, and the saint endured all this with joy for the sake of Christ, wanting to find the previously lost heavenly fatherland. In the cities, he passed and the surrounding lands, blessed Procopius endured many insults and shame, and beatings and poke from unreasonable people. The saint appeared to them as a holy fool or insane and did not answer anything, but only said to himself: “Lord, have mercy!” and prayed for them: “Lord, do not make this a sin for them, for they do not know what they are doing!” He showed his great patience …

Since ancient times, Divine Scripture speaks of holy men, blessed and holy fools, worthy of eternal memory, for these saints lived on earth in the flesh in the flesh a God-pleasing and venerable life, blameless and honestly accomplished a feat in Christ, and for this reason they were likened to angels. And since they were in fasting, prayers and spiritual feat, they shone in this life like the stars of heaven and won a great victory over enemy power, they rejected the beauty of this vain world from themselves and did not put the glory of this charming light in anything, but always with their most pure souls longed for an endless age of the future life and delight with the Lord God and with his holy angels, with the prophets and apostles, and martyrs, which was prepared for them from the creation of the world. For the sake of this, brethren, it is good for us and useful for those holy men, blessed by Christ for the sake of the holy fools, their pure life and deeds and the glorious miracles that happen from them both listen and copy, for for this there is a great blessing and no small recompense from the Lord God. Listeners and knowledgeable interpreters know that what you are afraid of settles and takes root in our hearts better, and directs and encourages you to follow the life of these saints for good deeds. If their good deeds, worthy of remembering, are not described, then they will leave our memory and are doomed to oblivion.

In the present last generation of ours, who can praise the blessed saints, Christ for the sake of holy fools, to praise and tell about them?! God's angels marveled at their life and patience and praised them, for the names of those holy men and their virtues are written in heaven, how these saints, by the power of the Most Holy Spirit, took the cross of Christ on their shoulders and followed Him, and for this the Lord revealed to them doors of heavenly bliss, so that they may taste joy and enjoy eternal life. About these saints in his Teaching Basil

 The Great Bishop of Caesarea Cappadocia writes thus: “Brethren, be zealous for the people who live righteously on earth: consciously pay attention to the signs and names, their deeds and deeds, and inscribe them in your hearts.”

But I, thin, am not worthy of the life of those saints and blessed and could not achieve their perfection, but I hoped only in God, trusting in His help, as Christ truly said: “And you can do nothing without Me”2. If God helps us and inflames our zeal, supports us in our desire, then we can do good, because we do everything for God, and no one can do anything except Him. Therefore, I, thin, hoping for His righteous will and for His saint, the marvelous and blessed Procopius, Christ for the sake of the holy fool, for his prayers, dared to describe his life and his spiritual feat in God and remind the future generation of a small part of his miracles, may his memory, holy and glorious, and his marvelous miracle-working, and good deeds be unforgettable. He dared to state these few commandments of the Monk Procopius not on the tablets of the heart …

Come, brethren, to the Church of the Monk and Blessed Procopius of Ustyug, the new miracle worker, and let us all remember together, saying this: “Oh, the great miracle-working of the holy marvelous Procopius, the light of the brightest, who from childhood led a virtuous life in his unfaithful countries, being a Christian, wandering through the cities of Christ, enduring many sufferings, worked his miracles on the lands and rivers until his death. And where his long-suffering and patient body now rests, in that place, after his death by miracles, great praise is given to him, and unfailing grace comes constantly and still from his holy tomb to many people who come with faith. And all this is fitting for us to gather together and describe for the benefit of human souls. I have heard from people other divine manifestations he himself saw with his own eyes, how great miracles are performed by his prayers from his healing tomb. For the same, my beloved brethren, let us all diligently pray to the Lord and ask Him for His great and generous mercy to open our mouths for the utterance of the Word of praise to the blessed Procopius. Let us ask the Lord for mercy, and pray to him, and fall down, and weep to the Lord, and exclaim with David: “Lord, open my mouth, and my mouth will proclaim Your praise!” And how to cleanse, Lord, my Soul from my sins, heal the torments of my flesh and make my heart, O God, pure, so that I can praise the good mentor and teacher of the world, the venerable and blessed Procopius, Christ for the sake of the holy fool, the passion-bearer of Christ, and describe in detail his most pure life and his glorious miracles?

My soul trusts in the Lord God and in the reverend, thanks to his prayers we will pronounce the initial words of life. Blessed and eternally commemorated Procopius, as some of the inhabitants of Veliky Novgorod say about him from time immemorial, he was from Western countries, of the Latin language, from German lands. He was born and brought up in great wealth, but no one knows about the faith of his parents and relatives, only God knows this. When he reached the age of majority, a ship was equipped from his fatherland with property, and he departed from his home and native land. from German lands. He was born and brought up in great wealth, but no one knows about the faith of his parents and relatives, only God knows this. When he reached the age of majority, a ship was equipped from his fatherland with property, and he departed from his home and native land. from German lands. He was born and brought up in great wealth, but no one knows about the faith of his parents and relatives, only God knows this. When he reached the age of majority, a ship was equipped from his fatherland with property, and he departed from his home and native land.

And after a long journey, by God's will, he arrived on a ship loaded with very large wealth, to Veliky Novgorod with the rest of his Latin companions (according to merchant custom, they came here every year; Saint Procopius was also with them). And he sees in Veliky Novgorod the true Christian Orthodox faith, for it shines in the world like the sun, many beautiful churches, worship of holy icons, hears great ringing and holy singing and reading of holy books, many monasteries built near Novgorod and very abundant in a monastic order. And after what he saw, he understood, God's grace descended on him. And since then, with all his soul and heart, he aspired to the true faith of Christ and began to care for it and rejoice with his whole being day and night, how he could accomplish the true feat for God's sake.

Having loved the land of Novgorod and the Orthodox faith, he hated the faith of his father, in which he was brought up by his parents. Then he left his companions, hiding and hiding from them. Then he began to walk around the city and monasteries, looking for a teacher, a wise and reasonable, a true mentor in the faith of Christ. And he came to one of the monasteries, called “on Khutyn” (from Veliky Novgorod at a distance of seven fields). 4. Then our venerable father Varlaam was hegumen in it. And he entered that monastery and fell at the feet of the Monk Barlaam and began to pray tearfully to him to teach him the Lord's gospel word and His commandments, and the Orthodox undefiled faith of Christ. And he told about himself that he was a stranger from the Northern country of the Latin language, and about his great wealth, and about his heart's thought, about the Christian faith. Reverend Varlaam, seeing his emotion and hearing such words from him, he began to suspect in his heart and mind that Procopius was telling him a lie. The same one begged and fell to the Monk Varlaam with weeping and strong sobbing, so that the monk would teach and instruct him in the commandments of the Lord and direct him along the saving gospel path. And the Monk Varlaam with his wise eye examined his indomitable thought and firmness of heart in serving God, and realized in his soul that he had been chosen as a holy spiritual vessel. And Procopius was relentlessly near the Monk Barlaam. And then the Monk Varlaam opened his mouth, began to expound to him the Lord's Gospel word: “If anyone wants to follow Me, let him renounce himself and take up his cross, following Me every day. The one who wants to save his soul will destroy it with misfortunes and troubles and great patience, but the one who humbles his soul for me and the gospel will save it. And what is the use of a man if he saves wealth for himself and destroys his soul?!”5 When blessed Procopius heard these gospel words from the Monk Barlaam, as if from the mouth of God, he accepted them with his heart joyfully and firmly assimilated them with his mind. And then he took the property from his fellow travelers and left them. And he began to live permanently in the monastery of the Monk Varlaam, listening to God's words and enjoying the precepts of Christ day and night. The Monk Varlaam always taught him the path of salvation and saturated his soul, like honeycombs, with Divine teaching and holy books. And here he leaves the Latin sophistication and, at the command of the Reverend Father Varlaam, his teacher and mentor, begins fasting and great patience in God,

From that time on, he accepted the life of the foolish Christ for the sake of Christ, went into a riot, according to the apostle, who says: “Brethren, God chose the life of the simple-minded in this world in order to shame the power of the strong and rational of this world, and for this chose people who are obedient and poor in order to destroy wealthy people "6. Many people of Novgorod began to praise him for his life and stamina, saying that this man is great before God, for he came from the Northern country, from the German land with a ship with great wealth, and here he distributed all his property to the poor and orphans and in monastery for Christ's sake, he himself turned into a holy fool and put on torn and indecent clothes, becoming blessed for Christ's sake. Blessed Procopius always heard these words from people who turned to him and praised him greatly. But when the blessed one came to the Monk Varlaam, he passed on to him all the laudatory words spoken by people, and then said to the monk: “Father, I do not demand this at all and do not want to see and hear this perishable glory from people, for I want to enjoy the future eternal life and your great teaching and edification. And therefore, Father, I want to leave here and go on a journey to the Eastern countries, where the Lord commands me to be. The Monk Varlaam, hearing such words from Procopius, began to say to him: “Child Procopius, it is not fitting for you to leave the monastery for the world until people’s rumors about you cease, but stay here at least for one year in seclusion.” And the blessed Procopius answered him: “I, Holy Father, do not need this and do not want to stay here. Create a prayer for me, a sinner, to the Lord God and bless me for the journey. and then he said to the monk: “Father, I do not demand this at all and do not want to see and hear this corruptible glory from people, for I want to enjoy the future eternal life and your great teaching and edification. And therefore, Father, I want to leave here and go on a journey to the Eastern countries, where the Lord commands me to be. The Monk Varlaam, hearing such words from Procopius, began to say to him: “Child Procopius, it is not fitting for you to leave the monastery into the world until people’s rumors about you cease, but stay here at least for one year in seclusion.” And the blessed Procopius answered him: “I, Holy Father, do not need this and do not want to stay here. Create a prayer for me, a sinner, to the Lord God and bless me for the journey. and then he said to the monk: “Father, I do not demand this at all and do not want to see and hear this corruptible glory from people, for I want to enjoy the future eternal life and your great teaching and edification. And therefore, Father, I want to leave here and go on a journey to the Eastern countries, where the Lord commands me to be. The Monk Varlaam, hearing such words from Procopius, began to say to him: “Child Procopius, it is not fitting for you to leave the monastery into the world until people’s rumors about you cease, but stay here at least for one year in seclusion.” And the blessed Procopius answered him: “I, Holy Father, do not need this and do not want to stay here. Create a prayer for me, a sinner, to the Lord God and bless me for the journey. I do not demand this at all and I do not want to see and hear this perishable glory from people, for I want to enjoy the future eternal life and your great teaching and edification. And therefore, Father, I want to leave here and go on a journey to the Eastern countries, where the Lord commands me to be. The Monk Varlaam, hearing such words from Procopius, began to say to him: “Child Procopius, it is not fitting for you to leave the monastery into the world until people’s rumors about you cease, but stay here at least for one year in seclusion.” And the blessed Procopius answered him: “I, Holy Father, do not need this and do not want to stay here. Create a prayer for me, a sinner, to the Lord God and bless me for the journey. I do not demand this at all and I do not want to see and hear this perishable glory from people, for I want to enjoy the future eternal life and your great teaching and edification. And therefore, Father, I want to leave here and go on a journey to the Eastern countries, where the Lord commands me to be.

The Monk Varlaam, hearing such words from Procopius, began to say to him: “Child Procopius, it is not fitting for you to leave the monastery into the world until people’s rumors about you cease, but stay here at least for one year in seclusion.” And the blessed Procopius answered him: “I, Holy Father, do not need this and do not want to stay here. Create a prayer for me, a sinner, to the Lord God and bless me for the journey. depart from here and go on a journey to the Eastern countries, where the Lord commands me to be. The Monk Varlaam, hearing such words from Procopius, began to say to him: “Child Procopius, it is not fitting for you to leave the monastery into the world until people’s rumors about you cease, but stay here at least for one year in seclusion.” And the blessed Procopius answered him: “I, Holy Father, do not need this and do not want to stay here. Create a prayer for me, a sinner, to the Lord God and bless me for the journey. depart from here and go on a journey to the Eastern countries, where the Lord commands me to be. The Monk Varlaam, hearing such words from Procopius, began to say to him: “Child Procopius, it is not fitting for you to leave the monastery into the world until people’s rumors about you cease, but stay here at least for one year in seclusion.” And the blessed Procopius answered him: “I, Holy Father, do not need this and do not want to stay here. Create a prayer for me, a sinner, to the Lord God and bless me for the journey. but stay here at least for one year in seclusion. And the blessed Procopius answered him: “I, Holy Father, do not need this and do not want to stay here. Create a prayer for me, a sinner, to the Lord God and bless me for the journey. but stay here at least for one year in seclusion. And the blessed Procopius answered him: “I, Holy Father, do not need this and do not want to stay here. Create a prayer for me, a sinner, to the Lord God and bless me for the journey.

The Monk Varlaam, hearing such words from Procopius, understood that he was unshakable and adamant in thoughts of achievement. And the Monk Varlaam arose, and made a prayer for him, and blessed him for a journey to the eastern countries, where the Holy Spirit would show him to stay. And for a long time he instructed him on the path of salvation, and let him go to look for a worthy place where the Lord would command the repose of his body. And blessed Procopius, with the blessing of the Reverend Father Varlaam, set off from Veliky Novgorod on a journey to the eastern countries. And the blessed one passed through many cities, and villages, and countries, and impenetrable forests, and swamps, and impenetrable swamps, and the saint endured all this with joy for the sake of Christ, wanting to find the previously lost heavenly fatherland. In the cities, he passed and the surrounding lands, blessed Procopius endured many insults and shame, and beatings and poke from unreasonable people. The saint appeared to them as a holy fool or insane and did not answer anything, but only said to himself: “Lord, have mercy!” and prayed for them: “Lord, do not make this a sin for them, for they do not know what they are doing!” He showed his great patience: he froze from the winter frost, and in the summer he burned from the heat of the sun; during the day he walked like a holy fool, and at night he remained without sleep and prayed unceasingly to the Lord God, mourning his sins, and he said to himself, comforting his soul: “O Procopius, it is fitting for you, having endured many torments, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, for only those who make efforts reach him". And comforting himself with such merciful words, blessed Procopius moved from city to city, from country to country, and came to the worthy place that had been prepared for him.

And the blessed Procopius came to the great and glorious city of Ustyug and entered it. And rested after his journey to the city's upper end. old chapel. Then, getting up, he went around the city and saw the beauty of the church in the city, and wished blessed Procopius to live here. Then all the townspeople saw him and, imagining that he was a holy fool and a miserable mind, rewarded him with a hail of blows, pokes, insults, insults and wounded him. Blessed Procopius, as if in a strange body, accepted with gratitude and endured all these insults from them, foolish people, looking and trusting in the upcoming feat, in the head of faith and the doer, Jesus. And he did not want to cause any harm to the people who annoyed him, and only mentally prayed for them, saying: “Lord, King of Heaven, do not consider this a sin for them, for they do not realize what they are doing.”

When he prayed to the Lord God, he was invisible to people; God's help and grace was covered. The life of the blessed Procopius was like this. He did not put the glory of the world of the vain and mi-current in anything. During the day, he who was insulted and beaten by people was tormented by many insults, and at night he did not give himself any rest, but walked around the city and in all God's churches and prayed to the Lord with abundant tears, kneeling, asking God for help to the city and people. In the morning, again, all day long, blessed Procopius walked along the city streets, being in foolishness. When the saint wanted to find peace from many of his labors or to sleep a little, then he lay down on the street, in the garbage heap, or on a heap of garbage, or in a dilapidated uncovered chapel, not covering his naked body. And winter frost, and snow, and summer sun heat, and heat and rain—all this endured by the blessed Procopius with joy and gratitude for God's sake. And so his days passed life. And just as blessed Procopius loved God with all his soul and body, so God loved him and glorified him in the world from a young age, not only in our age, but also in the future kingdom, giving him His great grace a hundredfold. And blessed Procopius received from Him the gift of prophecy, as well as the gift of miraculous creation.

Then the blessed Procopius deigned to live on the porch at the cathedral apostolic church of the Most Holy Theotokos, Her honorable and glorious Assumption. The cathedral church then was wooden and very high. Here, at the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, blessed Procopius was constantly: in winter and summer, day and night, right there, without entering anyone’s house and without worrying about food and clothing, he took a little food from God-fearing parishioners and thus nourished his body ( and not every day). from the rich did not accept any food. Such was the life of this blessed one. We should recall the most important of the many miracles of the holy venerable and blessed Procopius; about some of them I have composed such a word.

Blessed Procopius foresaw the divine manifestation of a terrible miracle and an extraordinary spectacle and could, as it were, penetrate with a spiritual eye into the feelings of listening and speaking people. But we, brothers, are afraid to remember all this with trepidation. (The books of the whole world that are available in our times cannot contain God's righteous wrath.) But we, brothers, industriously, with God's help, will describe to the future generation this God's intimidation and some other glorified amazing miracles from the life of the blessed, always commemorated St. Procopius and we will pass it all on to the churches.

It was Sunday morning, after Matins, when the presbyters and deacons began to erect crosses in the holy catholic apostolic church of the Most Holy Theotokos, where many people had gathered. And when the priests and deacons began to sing prayers to the Lord God and the Most Pure Mother of God, blessed Procopius also came to the church to pray. And after the molieben, the saint began to speak thus in public to the entire holy cathedral and parishioners about the manifestation of God's grace that had been to him: “Brethren, repent of your many sins, and if you do not repent and do not leave behind your sins and do not beg forgiveness from the Lord for your lawless deeds God and His Most Pure Mother; if you are not cleansed by fasting, prayer and repentance, then you, for many sins and lawless unworthy deeds, and your whole city will be destroyed by fire and water. They heard everything said, but did not believe his words. The blessed one foretold them instead of a prophet the appearance of an angel and called everyone to repentance. They did not listen to him and did not heed his words, for all the inhabitants of the city had hardened hearts from the evil demonic obsession, and therefore they hardly heard with their ears and closed their eyes to their former unworthy deeds, saying: “Since this man is a holy fool, he will never say reasonable."

Blessed Procopius, seeing the disobedience of people, was saddened. After the liturgy, the saint went out onto the porch of the great cathedral church of the Most Holy Theotokos and began to weep and weep incessantly over the destruction of that city. Then many people came to the porch of the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, seeing him constantly crying all the days, asking: “Why are you, holy fool, incessantly crying with great weeping, what grief and sorrow is in your heart?” Blessed Procopius answered them: “My brothers, watch and pray to the Lord God and His Most Pure Mother of God, so that everyone does not soon fall into trouble.” But the parishioners thought he was mad and went to their homes.

On the third day of the same week, blessed Procopius left the porch of the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, went throughout the city of Ustyug and began to predict the appearance of God to the people with bitter tears and loud crying, so that they would pray to the Lord God and His Most Pure Mother of God, so that they would repent of their sins, so that The Lord God had mercy and turned away His wrath from them and would not have destroyed the city for iniquity, like Sodom and Gomorrah. They did not listen to this second prediction either, hurrying to their former dark deeds, like dogs to carrion. After that, the blessed one, as before, went to the church of the Most Pure Theotokos on the porch and began to pray to the Lord with tears for the city and the people living in it.

In the second week, at noon, a dark cloud suddenly came over the city of Ustyug, and it became dark as night. And the people of this city, seeing such an extraordinary, the greatest supernatural phenomenon, wondered what it could be. Then huge clouds appeared from all four sides, from which lightning flashed incessantly, and thunder was of such terrible power over the city of Ustyug that it was not audible what they were talking to each other. And the earth from this terrible storm shook and shook. When the fiery clouds collided together, intense heat emanated from flashes of lightning and from a terrible crackling of fire. The people, seeing this incomprehensible, unknown, terrible phenomenon, became agitated and very frightened: they understood their death and the death of the whole city.

 And then they remembered the prediction of blessed Procopius. All the people of the city quickly gathered in the holy cathedral apostolic church of the Most Holy Theotokos, men and women, rich and poor, slaves and free, even infants brought with them and ordered the priests and deacons, and the entire sacred cathedral of the church to sing prayers and read the canons to the Mother of God. And they themselves began to pray with abundant tears.

And then they stood before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos and, tenderly falling to Her with tears, they cried out: “O Most Holy Lady-Virgin, Lady of the Mother of God, You are higher than angels and archangels, the most honest of all creatures, save, Madam, with Your great mercy and have mercy on Your unworthy deliver the slaves, Madam, save us and the city from the earthquake that found it, fiery lightning, sudden death and all evil. Grant us, Madam, good health and complete peace. Give us Your blessing and grace and pray to Your Son, Christ our God, to deliver us from His miraculous punishment!” And the Monk Procopius with the people fell down before Her honest image and tearfully prayed to the Lord and the Most Pure Mother of God for the city of Ustyug and the people living in it with these words: “Save, Lord, and have mercy on Your sinful people and visit, Vladyka, this place and turn away Your righteous wrath. Vladyka, I beseech You, Lord, most holy King of Heaven, have mercy and have mercy, for for the sake of me, a strange stranger on this earth, this Your righteous anger was on the city and on these people. O Lord, for which he showed His edification to people with such anger!” And then the blessed Procopius began to pray to the image of the Most Holy Theotokos Hodegetria8 and Her Annunciation.

And when blessed Procopius finished his prayers to the Lord God and His Most Pure Mother, at the same hour a great and glorious miracle occurred from the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, her honorable and glorious Annunciation: all the people standing there and praying to her image saw how they sprinkled from the image, a fragrant spring of myrrh flowed over the earth and watered many people standing there, and many people took vessels and filled them with that myrrh. At the same time, everything changed in the air, and there was complete silence; there was no lightning or thunder, and the fiery clouds scattered in all directions. And they went to a deserted place, and there, in the desert, a lot of forest fell down and an innumerable hail of stones broke the forest and covered the gorge; some trees were uprooted, while others were half-down. (This desert is separated from Veliky Ustyug for twenty fields and on-called Kotovalska all, many stones attacked her land from that cloud; the fallen forest is still seen by many as an assurance and intimidation to the future generation.) And during this terrible shock, no one was killed either from people or from cattle, and many sick people were signified by the myrrh that flowed from the image of the Most Holy Theotokos and became healthy: lame they began to walk, the blind were granted insight, the demoniac and all other sick people were given health.

After that, great joy came to the city of Ustyug. People rejoiced heartily and for this miracle they gave praise to the Lord God and His Most Holy Mother of God, that the Lord had delivered them from sudden death. The Lord revealed His healing mercy and a glorious great miracle: He sent down on them, sinners, His righteous wrath, wishing to punish them with this punishment for sins, but through the prayers of Our Most Pure Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary and the Holy Monk and Blessed Christ for the sake of the holy fool Procopius, that God's anger turned and generosity, the Lord turned His righteous anger into mercy and produced from the image of His Most Holy Mother, from a dry tree, a great source of myrrh to assure future generations of true miracles and for the salvation of our souls ...

Glory to the Lord God, who showed us amazing, praiseworthy, inexpressible miracles for glorifying His saint and servant, blessed Procopius. Brothers, repay God, the creator of everything, for His unspeakable gifts, and most of all for giving us unworthy gifts, showing us such a great torch: I’m talking about the venerable blessed Procopius, who shone in the Russian land, in eastern countries, in the city of Veliky Ustyug , in the last years of our life, so his life and miracles took place before our eyes, when he was still alive.

At that time, in the eighth year after the arrival of blessed Procopius in Veliky Ustyug, a severe winter set in, and there were severe frosts and strong winds that brought huge snowdrifts. Then in the city of Ustyug all the houses were covered with snow. Any person, even warmly dressed, could not endure this severe frost and wind. Then, in the city, and in the villages, and on the roads, many people and livestock froze. And the poor of the city of Ustyug and the wanderers of Christ, for the sake of Christ, endured great torment, groaning and wailing from the depths of their souls, and weeping bitterly, constantly shaking, dying of hunger and freezing from the bitter cold. They were collected in the city, in the villages and at the crossroads and filled with them houses for the poor on the mountain, near the monastery of the holy prophet John the Baptist. The rest but the suffering ones suffocated and died under the snow.

Then, from this severe frost, the blessed Procopius, who lives on the porch of the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, began to die, because then the birds, having no food, died on the fly. The merciful Lord God, seeing His creation perishing from the bitter cold, and the zealous patience of His servant, the blessed Procopius, how he endured the bitter frost day and night with his naked body, having neither a home, nor warm clothes, nor a soft bed, nor bast mat to rest his body, and only one torn mantle was on his body, to cover the shameful beats. But nothing else was required of the saint from the people living in the world, who was constantly in the corner on the porch of the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos. And then the blessed Procopius wondered where he could go from this severe winter frost, which side of the city to walk on in order to warm himself by walking. But nothing came of this plan. The cold of winter stood for many days; none of the old people remembered such severe frosts and snowstorms: for two weeks the wind did not stop.

God's saint, blessed Procopius, descended from the porch and went to the coal yard behind the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos to the servant of God Simeon, the father of the great Stefan, Bishop of Perm, with an enlightened face and a sweet smile, for his face was illuminated by joy, like the sun with radiance. The servant of God Simeon, seeing the blessed Procopius come, was surprised, for he thought that Saint Procopius had died from a bitter frost, and pitied him with all his heart. The servant of God Simeon stood up and, embracing the blessed Procopius by the neck, kissed him with love; then they sat down and spent many hours in the zeal that befits a Christian. Then the blessed Procopius began to sincerely speak to the servant of God Simeon as follows: “Why, servant of God, are you complaining so bitterly about me? Leave, brother, tears, because I want to tell you something important. And the servant of God Simeon answered the saint: “Tell me, sir, quickly, what you want!" And the blessed Procopius said to him: "Brother Simeon, be merry and do not lose heart, first prepare a meal with food and drink so that we can eat."

Hearing these words, the servant of God Simeon joyfully ordered his youth to prepare food as soon as possible. And the blessed Procopius said to Simeon: “Most respected sir and brother, tell me the truth, why did you take pity on me, a stranger, thinking that I had already frozen and died from a severe frost? (My brethren, the poor and the wanderers, then it was not sweet for everyone but the Lord God preserves those who love him, is near and saves those who have fallen in spirit and humbled by His Most Holy Spirit.” Hearing these speeches from the blessed Procopius, the servant of God Simeon thought that the blessed one in these severe frosts had some kind of phenomenon from God, a miracle (by the grace bestowed on him by God). And Simeon began to ask the blessed Procopius about the winter frost and how he endured it: “I beg you, servant of God, the Monk Procopius, I conjure God, who created heaven and earth, tell me the whole truth about where the light of God was, in these severe frosts. Do not hide from me, a sinner, how your naked body could endure that fierce winter cold day and night: for a long time I see God's grace descended on you.

Hearing these words, blessed Procopius sighed from the depths of his soul and said: “Brother Simeon, how can you expect sensible speeches from me, because you see that I am a holy fool ... I am all day on the streets of the city, lying on garbage heaps and garbage heaps: deprived of God and in this deprivation of God sinful, my brother. Only your great love and mercy compel (against my will) to reveal my secret to you ... I, brother Simeon, as I saw the icy frost and a strong snowstorm, at first I could not endure the severe frost and already renounced life. You see me now naked and not dressed in warm clothes, barefoot and not having a warm corner where to lay my head. And at night I came down from the porch of the church of the Most Holy Theotokos and went to the poor, who live opposite the cathedral church in small chapels, wishing that my body would have a little rest from the winter cold. They are, when they heard about my arrival, they didn’t let me go inside, but went out with sticks and drove me away like a dog, disdaining me and shouting at me: “Go away, fool, get out of here!” I ran away from them and did not find a place where I could rest a little from the bitter winter cold. Not hoping to stay alive, he said to himself: “May the name of the Lord be blessed from now on and forever! If I die, for the Lord's sake, it will be better for me than a false, vain light.

Then I went into an empty chapel and in one of its corners I saw dogs lying and lay down next to them to keep warm from them. The dogs, seeing me, quickly jumped up and ran away from the chapel. And I said to myself that I am not only deprived of God and people, but that the dogs abhor me and run away. You see, sir and honest father Simeon, what a sinful person I am, that even beggars and dogs disdain and abhor me, oppose me and persecute me. What can I do?

And those beggars said to me: "Go and die, lying fool, for here because of you we will not be saved."

Then the thought of a saving path came to my mind. I came to the porch of the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos and sat there, writhing in the severe winter cold, weeping bitterly and praying to the Lord, constantly looking at the image of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother of God, and it already seemed to me that all my dirty, stinking and blue body freezes. And then I suddenly felt some warmth, opened my eyes and saw a beautiful young man standing next to me. His face shone like a sunbeam, and in his hands was a branch, sparkling crimson and white. The beautiful young man looked at me and said: “Procopius, where are you now?” And I told him: “I am sitting in darkness, bound in chains, in the canopy of death.” And the young man struck me with a colored branch in the face and said to me: “Procopius, take on an irresistible life in your body, cleansing and liberation from the painful severe winter frost. And at that time I felt the fragrance of flowers. And the good-looking young man, like a bright lightning, disappeared, became invisible. Since then I have come alive."

Blessed Procopius, having finished his soulful story to the servant of God Simeon, got up and went from his house to the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, returning to life on the porch, in his usual prayers, kneeling and spiritual miracles.

The servant of God Simeon marveled greatly at what the saints told him, glorified God that the Lord had shown him such a holy man, and did not tell anyone about the life of Saint Procopius and his great patience until he passed away. And after the repose of the saint, he described everything in order, what he saw and heard from the saint, for the benefit of the soul to our future generations.

And here, brethren, let us hear another wondrous tale of aged men about the second prophecy of blessed Procopius. This was also in the years when blessed Procopius was still alive. It happened that the daughter of a certain townsman Maria (three years old) was walking with her parents during Vespers past the Church of the Most Pure Mother of God of Her honest and glorious Assumption. Then a lot of people stood at the cathedral church, listening to the evening singing. At this time, blessed Procopius got up and went down from the church porch. As usual, the saint appeared to people as insane and foolish, but this time, contrary to custom, blessed Procopius bowed to that girl and said publicly -nee people that this is the virgin Mary, the future mother of the Great Father St. Stephen, archbishop and teacher of Perm. Then many people saw and heard this on the church porch, and they began to marvel at the words and prophecy of blessed Procopius: at that time there was not a single believer in Christ in the Permian land, for all those living there were darkened by satanic charm, worshiped blockheads and brought sacrifices to demons and idols.

Blessed Procopius had such a custom: in winter and summer he walked around the city in the same torn clothes that came down from his shoulders, in the only torn, shabby and unlined boots, and often throughout the night he walked through the holy churches of God, praying to the Lord. And he had nothing else, only he carried three pokers in his left hand.

Many people of the city of Veliky Ustyug marveled at the predictions and long-suffering of blessed Procopius. When the saint's pokers were placed straight, it meant that in the summer there would be a plentiful harvest of bread and an abundance of other earthly fruits, and when his pokers were not turned upside down, it meant that a grain crop failure and a scarcity of all kinds of other fruits were expected, and there was a great famine.

Blessed Procopius often came to the banks of the Sukhona River and sat on a stone, following with his eyes the people sailing in small boats across the Sukhona River, and the swimmers, and prayed for them to the Lord to give them a safe voyage. And he fell in love with this place and the stone on which he sat during his lifetime, and then he turned to people with a great request: “Place my bones in this place, and this stone, on which I now sit, on my grave. For this, God will give you goodness on the day of His righteous judgment, and you will receive a great reward from him. The blessed one got up from the stone and, according to his custom, went to the porch of the church of the Most Holy Theotokos for night prayer. And blessed Procopius lived at the church of the Most Holy Theotokos of her honorable and glorious Assumption for a long time.

A few days later, an angel of the Lord informed blessed Procopius of his repose, his release from bodily bonds, and his final ascent to the Lord God. After this, blessed Procopius left the church porch at night and came to the monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos of Her honest and glorious Entry and to the cathedral of God’s great archangel, the archangel Michael and other heavenly powers, and that very night he began to kneel at the holy monastery gates to pray to the Lord.

 … under such speeches: “Lord Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, Almighty, Creator of all visible and invisible creation! Now I, Your sinful and unworthy servant, I give my soul into Your hands. You, Lord, sowed in my heart the greatest love for the true faith and brought it out of the Latin unclean land and faith, out of my fatherland. You, Lord, chose me from Your servants, did not leave me to perish with the lawful in the darkness of my fatherland: took me away from the world of vain and greedy wealth. You, Lord, from a young age gave me patience in deeds and troubles; You, Lord, have given me a stay in foolishness and numerous wanderings naked, in order to be a reproach to people. You, Lord, gave me Your greatest manifestation over the city of Ustyug. You, Lord, have rewarded me with the gift of enduring the bitter winter frost. You, Lord, gave me life, bringing me out of decay, and made my body invulnerable to frost. You, Lord, do not turn away from me until my soul leaves the body. Fulfill, Vladyka, my request—to the end I wish to remain in the greatest goodness and serenely go through the beginnings and powers of the dark forces” p. He departed from the holy gates of the monastery to the end of the platform and then lay down, folding his arms crosswise on his body, and with those words he breathed his last into the hands of God in the year 1303, the month of July on the 8th day. And his holy immaculate soul was taken and joyfully carried by the holy angels to heaven to the throne of the Almighty. And his blessed, long-suffering body remained on earth. my request, I wish to remain in the greatest goodness to the end and to pass serenely through the beginnings and powers of the dark forces” p. He departed from the holy gates of the monastery to the end of the platform and then lay down, folding his arms crosswise on his body, and with those words he breathed his last into the hands of God in the year 1303, the month of July on the 8th day. And his holy immaculate soul was taken and joyfully carried by the holy angels to heaven to the throne of the Almighty. And his blessed, long-suffering body remained on earth. my request, I wish to remain in the greatest goodness to the end and to pass serenely through the beginnings and powers of the dark forces” p. He departed from the holy gates of the monastery to the end of the platform and then lay down, folding his arms crosswise on his body, and with those words he breathed his last into the hands of God in the year 1303, the month of July on the 8th day. And his holy immaculate soul was taken and joyfully carried by the holy angels to heaven to the throne of the Almighty. And his blessed, long-suffering body remained on earth. and with those words he breathed his last into the hands of God in the year 1303, the month of July on the 8th day. And his holy immaculate soul was taken and joyfully carried by the holy angels to heaven to the throne of the Almighty. And his blessed, long-suffering body remained on earth. and with those words he breathed his last into the hands of God in the year 1303, the month of July on the 8th day. And his holy immaculate soul was taken and joyfully carried by the holy angels to heaven to the throne of the Almighty. And his blessed, long-suffering body remained on earth.

That same night, the body of blessed Procopius lay, unprotected by any of the people, and became invisible. At that hour, a violent storm suddenly arose with heavy snow: during that night, snow attacked two spans in the city of Ustyug and in all villages near the city on all vegetable gardens and grain fields. When people got up in the morning and saw such a heavy snowfall with their own eyes, they were horrified and began to marvel at such a miracle of God. And when that snow melted, there was nothing left for vegetables or grain fields.

Then, for the first time, Blessed Procopius was not present at Matins in the Cathedral Church of the Most Holy Theotokos. After the singing of Matins, all the priests and deacons left the church and began to ask the townspeople about the holy fool of Christ for the sake of Procopius, why he was not at the morning singing: it had never happened before that he was not at the evening and morning singing and at the liturgy. But what happened to him, no one knew anything about him. Then they questioned everyone in all the holy churches of the city and incessantly

 they searched for him for three days, and on the fourth day they found his dead body, lying on the bare ground near the monastery of the Most Holy Lady of Her Honorable and Glorious Entry and the Holy Great Archangel of God Michael and other heavenly incorporeal forces, at the holy gate at the end of the platform. And then the priests and deacons saw over the body of the blessed blessed Procopius a huge snowdrift, about two fathoms high, caused by a snow storm. (The Lord surprisingly showed such a great miracle to all people in the city of Ustyug.) Then they took his holy, honest, long-suffering body, wrapped it up and laid it in a coffin. And they carried it on the heads of the whole sacred cathedral with psalmody and with many honors, with censers; many people followed them to the cathedral church of the Most Holy Theotokos. Having brought his body, they placed it in the cathedral church until all the people of the city gathered for burial.

When many people with their wives and children gathered in the holy catholic and apostolic church of the Most Holy Theotokos, the priests and deacons began to sing funeral songs over the body of blessed Procopius over the body of blessed Procopius. And many people standing here wept for him, remembering his former prophecies and the manifestation of God's wrath, a fiery cloud, and the deliverance of all by his prayers, and many other miracles were remembered. After the funeral service, he was buried with honors near the banks of the Sukhona River, near the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, where he sat on his stone during his lifetime.

A lot of time has passed since the repose and burial of blessed Procopius, and his life and deeds still remained without commemoration. The merciful and merciful Lord God, dwelling in heaven and observing the earth, wanted to glorify His saint in this place with his unspeakable miracles.

The year was 1458. A man came from the Moscow state, from the Russian state, to Veliky Ustyug in the guise of a beggar named John. And he heard from the townspeople about the life of the saint and about the prediction of the appearance of God and about the patience of the righteous Procopius, and he burned with a desire to write the image of the righteous Procopius and build a small chapel where he was buried. The painted image was also brought there and placed in the chapel for veneration by the parishioners. But the priests and deacons of the great cathedral church of the Most Holy Theotokos had a crafty plan: they did not want to see, listen and make a commemoration of the blessed Procopius. And John's husband was expelled from the newly built chapel, the chapel

ruined, broken and scattered, and the written image was carried out from there.

The year 1471 has come. By order of the noble and Christ-loving Grand Duke John Vasilyevich 12, autocrat of all Rus', military people were gathered from the city of Veliky Ustyug and from the whole district and sent to Nizhny Novgorod. Arriving there, they became an outpost, guarding the city from the infidel Kazan Tatars. And at that time in Nizhny Novgorod, for our sins, by God's great allowance of righteous anger, a very serious illness, stomach fever, attacked those servicemen of Ustyug. The good and all-merciful Lord God, by this miracle, first of all wanted to glorify His saint and our pilgrimage, blessed Procopius. And blessed Procopius began to appear in Nizhny Novgorod to many of those military people in the same image as the husband John of Moscow was written on the icon. And blessed Procopius said to them: “Make a vow to pray to the Lord God and the Most Pure Mother of God, so that you build a church in Veliky Ustyug in the name of the holy venerable Procopius, Christ for the sake of the holy fool, then soon get rid of the disease. And those military people, having risen in the morning, told each other their night vision. From them, many others also believed the appearance of the saint and made a vow, according to his prediction, that, having come to Veliky Ustyug, they would erect a church in the name of the holy blessed Procopius, Christ for the sake of the holy fool, over his relics, where he was buried. And they were soon healed of that disease and became healthy. And other of them, who turned out to be hard-hearted and did not want to make such a promise to the Lord God and his saint, the holy reverend Procopius, they all soon died of this disease. getting up in the morning, they told each other their night vision. From them, many others also believed the appearance of the saint and made a vow, according to his prediction, that, having come to Veliky Ustyug, they would erect a church in the name of the holy blessed Procopius, Christ for the sake of the holy fool, over his relics, where he was buried. And they were soon healed of that disease and became healthy. And other of them, who turned out to be hard-hearted and did not want to make such a promise to the Lord God and his saint, the holy reverend Procopius, they all soon died of this disease. getting up in the morning, they told each other their night vision. From them, many others also believed the appearance of the saint and made a vow, according to his prediction, that, having come to Veliky Ustyug, they would erect a church in the name of the holy blessed Procopius, Christ for the sake of the holy fool, over his relics, where he was buried. And they were soon healed of that disease and became healthy. And other of them, who turned out to be hard-hearted and did not want to make such a promise to the Lord God and his saint, the holy reverend Procopius, they all soon died of this disease. And they were soon healed of that disease and became healthy. And other of them, who turned out to be hard-hearted and did not want to make such a promise to the Lord God and his saint, the holy reverend Procopius, they all soon died of this disease. And they were soon healed of that disease and became healthy. And other of them, who turned out to be hard-hearted and did not want to make such a promise to the Lord God and his saint, the holy reverend Procopius, they all soon died of this disease.

After a while, by the command of the bless Governor and Grand Duke John Vasilyevich, autocrat of all Rus', all those military people were released from Nizhny Novgorod. And they went on their way in peace in the summer. And when they reached the Sukhona River, they remembered their promise to build a church dedicated to St. Procopius. They stopped in a certain village and felled many trees here, built many rafts and sailed on them and landed near the city of Ustyug.

Arriving at the holy catholic and apostolic church of the Most Holy Theotokos and praying, they began to tell the whole sacred cathedral, priests, deacons and other people, everything in detail about the appearance of blessed Procopius, who had been to them, about the promise to build a church and about recovery from illness, about all the miracles that had happened, as described above. Priests and deacons and other people, who heard these speeches of service people, gave praise to the Lord God and His saint, blessed Procopius, and then began the construction of a church in the name of the saint, where his honest and long-suffering body was buried. Until that time, the church was founded near the stone on which the blessed Procopius often sat during his lifetime. With God's help, this church was soon built; they also arranged the tomb, wrote an image and laid it on the tomb, covered with expensive covers and consecrated the church to the glory and praise of Christ, our God, and His saint, blessed Procopius. From that time until now, they began solemnly and with honors to celebrate the feast of the holy venerable and blessed Procopius on July 8.

At his tomb, those who came in faith had many healings and miracles.

(Translation by N. F. Drobenkova from: http://www.bibliotekar.ru/zhizneopisaniya/18.htm)