The name of the saint and wonderworker Mitrofan of Voronezh is known throughout Russia and beyond. In September (4 - according to the old and 17 - according to the new style), the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the second acquisition and transfer of the relics of the saint. Mitrofan of Voronezh, whose prayer and testament is the bright message of the pastor to his beloved flock, became famous for his piety and pastoral virtue.
Annually, a requiem is celebrated for the saint and for his parents: Priest Vasily and mother Mary. In the Annunciation Cathedral of the city of Voronezh lie its imperishable relics - this is a place of pilgrimage for believers. During his lifetime, the miracle worker bequeathed that memorial services should be performed about him and for this purpose built the limit of Archangel Michael - his patron saint.
Prayer to Saint Mitrofan of Voronezh
The future saint was born on November 8, 1623 in the family of a hereditary priest. Little is known about the parents of Mitrofan (in the world of Michael). He himself writes in his will that his parents were pious people and raised him in a deep faith.
Mitrofan Voronezhsky lived half his life like his father: he married, served as a parish priest in the village of Sidorovskoye, Vladimir Region, raised his son John.
For his coming, the priest was a pious and selfless pastor, he was ready to lay down his soul for each of his spiritual children. And letters to his son are eyewitnesses of the tender care and love of Father Michael. Until today, prayer to Mitrofan Voronezh for a son helps believers to save their sons from enemy hands.
Monastic life
But God's providence led him in a different way. Widowed early (he was then forty years old), Priest Michael decides to devote the rest of his life to serving God and leaves for the monastery. He settles in the Zolotnikovsky desert, where he is tonsured into monasticism with the name Mitrofan. The saint enjoys a secluded and quiet place and he vows to live the rest of his life in this desert and to be buried there.
But, again by the will of God, three years later, at the request of the brotherhood of the neighboring Yakhroma monastery, he was elected abbot. Mitrofan Voronezh (whose prayer and request to remain in the desert was not granted) is forced to break his vow and leaves the monastery, which he regrets for the rest of his life.
In the Yakhroma monastery, St. Voronezh had to serve ten years. This amazing person is fully committed to caring for the spiritual life of the brethren and for the prosperity of the monastery. Not without his assistance, many benefactors allocated funds for the construction of an extensive temple in honor of the All-Merciful Savior, His Miraculous Image.
Patriarch Joachim (1674-1690) himself learns about the merits of the saint and the miracle worker and elevates him to the rank of archimandrite in the Makariev-Unzhensky monastery. There, by the cares of Mitrofan of Voronezh, the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is erected with its bell tower and refectory.
Initiation to Bishops
The end of the seventeenth century was crowned with an Old Believer schism. It was a difficult and troubled time for Orthodoxy; Saint Metrophane of Voronezh felt it especially sharply. His prayer for the fatherland during this period was especially fiery. To educate the people, it was decided to open new dioceses, including the Voronezh one. For this purpose, the saint is summoned to Moscow and consecrated to the Bishop of Voronezh.
Upon arrival, the shepherd first writes and sends messages to the priests of his diocese. The document has survived to the present day. Addressing priests, Father Mitrofan quotes the Gospel, where the Lord three times bequeathed to the Apostle Peter to feed his flock. By this, the saint shows that there are three types of pastoral service - this is the word of doctrine, prayer and the help of the Holy Mysteries and a way of life.
As elsewhere, Mitrofan Voronezh begins his activity with the construction of a cathedral in honor of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where he then attaches chapels in the name of Archangel Michael and Nikolai Ugodnik.
Within twenty years, the saint increased the number of churches in the diocese from 182 to 239, built two monasteries: Ascension Korotoyak and Trinity Bityugovsky.
Prayer to Mitrofan Voronezh for employment, health and other needs
Arriving in Voronezh with sixteen bishops, the saint of God understands that at 58 he will have to work hard. Voronezh region was recently populated, the city itself did not count even a hundred years from its foundation, and lived in the district mostly involuntary, which the emperor drove to protect the region from the attack of the Crimean Tatars. The fugitives who left their native places due to difficult living conditions, and immigrants from the Dnieper, who fled from Polish oppression, also settled here.
These people did not care about morality, many bore pagan names and lived according to pagan rites. They did not attend the service, they drank, the family union was defiled by vices. During the liturgy they could sort things out with each other and swear loudly. Under the guise of "state troops" gangs of robbers scouring poor people scoured everywhere.
Construction of churches and the prayer of the saint
The bishop’s court was in such a state of neglect that the saint, together with his people, had to live in the inn for the first time. The saint of God himself was completely unpretentious in everyday life, but the poverty of the diocese doomed all the other inhabitants of the bishop's house to the need, moreover, poverty did not allow him to give out generous mercy, conduct liturgy and other services in the richly decorated church.
Thanks to his holy prayers, the Voronezh region finally began to be transformed, and not only externally. The consciousness of people gradually changed and during the life of the saint, many received healing and comfort from the priest.
Prayer to Mitrofan Voronezh about the life structure of children, about getting health, about finding employment, and so on, both then and now helps believers. The miracle worker considered prayer to be the main virtue of a Christian, since, in his opinion, it is a guide to the Kingdom of God. The saint himself loved to pray for everyone he knew, writing down their names in the synod for health and peace. Especially he revered the soldiers who fell for the fatherland. The elder was convinced that if the soul is righteous, then it will be attained for the most part in the kingdom of heaven, and if it is sinful, then His mercy.
Peter the First
The saint well understood the significance and all the undertakings of the sovereign for the fatherland and the people. In his sermons, the saint of God called on the flock to help the tsar in building a fleet in Voronezh, as many considered it a vain effort. He personally helped Peter the Great in every possible way, giving all the funds for state needs, realizing that they are for the good of the homeland.
Along with this, the saint sacredly monitored the purity of Orthodoxy and was not afraid to enter into conflict with the tsar when he considered it necessary. In the life of the saint of God this incident is described. The tsar, having arrived in Voronezh, wished to see the saint in his palace, he immediately went on foot to meet. But, stepping into the territory of the palace and seeing pagan statues, Mitrofan Voronezh (whose prayer could resurrect the dead) turned back and left without saying a word, not obeying the royal order. Having learned the reason for the disobedience of the saint, Peter the Great was angry and ordered to tell him that by disobeying him he could put himself to death. But Mitrofan Voronezh remained firm in his convictions. In the evening, the king heard the gospel of the Vespers and was surprised, since on the eve there was no church holiday. To the question of Peter, why they were calling to the service, the saint replied that before his death he had decided to prepare and by means of a collective prayer to ask the Lord for forgiveness for his sins.
The conflict was settled, Peter the Great ordered to remove all the statues of the pagan gods. Only after that did the saint enter his palace.
Lord’s death
In 1702, Vladyka became seriously ill, and in August of this year he was tonsured into a schema with the name Makarii, in honor of Makarii Unzhinsky, the founder of the monastery, where Mitrofan Voronezhsky was abbot. The illness was to death, he understood this and wrote in his will that he had neither gold nor money to leave for his own commemoration and “recollections of my sinful soul”. All the funds that he had, he spent on the poor, on the arrangement of the temple, on state needs.
On November 23, 1703, the saint passed away. During his burial, Tsar Peter the Great himself was present, who personally carried the tomb of the lord. After the funeral, the king said that he did not have such a holy elder. The saint and wonderworker Mitrofan of Voronezh was buried in the Annunciation Cathedral of Voronezh.
Miracles and help emanating from the relics of the saint
The relics of the saint were incorruptible, and, according to many, miracles came from them. In 1832, the saint was elevated to the face of the Saints. To his relics there is always a line of pilgrims. Many believers ask that the prayer to Mitrofan of Voronezh for work, for healing from serious illnesses, for getting rid of poverty, be read next to his imperishable remains. And their request does not go unnoticed - the old man stands before God and asks for everyone who calls to him with help.