Among the many Moscow shrines, the Church of Demetrius of Rostov in Ochakovo is distinguished by the fact that it was built and consecrated in honor of the first saint, canonized during the synodal period, that is, in the years when Peter I abolished the patriarchate, and the supreme church authority passed to the Holy Synod. The founder of the Rostov grammar school, this saint of God, went down in history as an outstanding teacher and enlightener.
Childhood and youth of the future saint
Dimitry of Rostov was born in December 1651, in the small Ukrainian village of Makarovka, near Kiev. At holy baptism, he was given the name Daniel. The boy's parents, not distinguished by either nobility or wealth, were people respected for their piety and kindness. Having received a home education, the young man enters the Brotherhood School, opened at the Kiev Epiphany Church. It exists to this day, but has already been transformed into the Theological Academy.
Possessing extraordinary abilities and perseverance, Daniel, with his successes in studies, soon stood out from the total mass of students, and was duly noted by teachers. However, he gained the greatest fame in those years with his exceptional piety and deep religiosity. Nevertheless, such a successful study soon had to be abandoned.
The beginning of the monastic path
The future saint Dimitry of Rostov was still an eighteen-year-old boy, when during a bloody war between Russia and the Dnieper Cossacks, the allied Poland temporarily captured Kiev, and the Brotherhood School was closed. Having lost his beloved mentors, Daniel continues to independently comprehend science and after three years, under the influence of patristic literature, he accepts monastic tonsure with the name Dimitri. This important event in his life happened in the Kirillov Monastery, which was cited by his elderly father at that time.
In this monastery, the future saint began the path to his glorification. The life of Dimitry of Rostov, composed many years after his blessed death, likens his young years of youth to such pillars of the church as Vasily the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. The beginning of his high spiritual exploits was markedly worthy by the Kiev Metropolitan Joseph, and soon the young monk became a hierodeacon, and after six years he was ordained a hieromonk.
The fight against Latin heresy
Since that time, the future hierarch Dimitry of Rostov begins his preaching work in the diocese, where he was sent by the Archbishop of Chernigov Lazar (Baranovich). This was a very important and responsible obedience, since in those years the influence of Latin preachers, who tried to turn the population away from true Orthodoxy, was significantly intensified. Competitive discussions with them required an energetic and comprehensively educated priest. This is precisely the candidacy that the archbishop in the person of the young hieromonk found.
In this field, Dimitry of Rostov worked together with many prominent theologians of that time, filling up the lack of knowledge gained from them, as circumstances prevented him from graduating from the Brotherhood School. For two years he has been a preacher at the Chernigov chair, and all this time has served Orthodoxy not only with wise words addressed to the flock, but also as a personal example of a godly life.
St. Demetrius of Rostov - an outstanding preacher
The good fame of an outstanding preacher spread all over Little Russia and Lithuania. Many monasteries invited him to visit them and pronounce before the brethren, and, most importantly, in front of crowds of pilgrims, the words of the Divine Doctrine, so necessary for everyone, that turn wavering hearts to true faith. As the Life of Dmitry Rostovsky testifies, during this period he makes many trips, visiting various cloisters.
By this time, his fame as a preacher had reached such proportions that the well-known Vitia was insistently demanded not only by the rectors of Kiev and Chernigov monasteries, but also personally by the hetman of Little Russia Samoilovich, who offered him at his residence in Baturin a regular place as a preacher, promising considerable material benefits.
The period of service in the monasteries of Slutsk and Baturin
For a whole year, the place of his stay becomes the Transfiguration Monastery of Slutsk, where the famous preacher is invited by Bishop Theodosius. Here, preaching the Word of God and wandering around the neighborhood, St. Demetrius of Rostov begins to try his hand at a new field for him - literary. The monument of those times was the fruit of his work - a description of the wonders of the Ilyinsky icon “Irrigated Fleece”.
However, the monastic duty of obedience demanded that he return to his abbot in the Cyril Monastery, but something else happened. By the time he was ready to leave the hospitable shelter of the Slutsk monastery, Kiev and the whole of Zadniprovsk Ukraine were under the threat of the Turkish invasion, and Baturin remained the only relatively safe place, where Dimitri Rostovsky was forced to go.
Universal Recognition and Proposals of Mother Superior
Getman Samoilovich himself came from a clergyman, and therefore he reacted with special warmth and sympathy to his guest. He suggested hieromonk Demetrius to settle near Baturin in the Nikolaevsky monastery, which at that time was led by the famous theologian scholar Theodosius Gurevich. Communicating with this man enriched Demetrius of Rostov with new knowledge, so necessary for him in the fight against Latin heresy.
Over time, when the military danger passed, the future saint again began to receive messages from various monasteries, but now these were offers of the Mother Superior, that is, the leadership of the holy monasteries. Such an honor testified to his highest authority among the clergy. After some hesitation, the future Metropolitan Dimitry of Rostov agreed to head the Maksakov monastery, located not far from the city of Borzna.
Scientific activity of the future saint
But for a long time he didn’t have hegumen. The very next year, hetman Samoilovich, not wanting to part with his beloved preacher for a long time, proceeded to him a post in the Baturinsky monastery, where the place of the abbot had just been vacated. Arriving at the monastery intended for him, Dimitri nonetheless refused the position of hegumen offered to him and devoted himself entirely to scientific work.
The most important event in his life happened during this period. The newly appointed rector of the Pechersk Lavra, Archimandrite Varlaam, invited him to move to him, under the arches of the most ancient Kiev monastery, and continue scientific work there. Having accepted the abbot’s offer, Saint Demetrius of Rostov proceeded to the fulfillment of the main work of his life — the compilation of the lives of the saints canonized by the Universal Church. With this work, stretching over two decades, he rendered invaluable service to Russian Orthodoxy.
Transition to the Moscow Metropolis
When in 1686 Demetrius was already working on the fourth book of the lives of saints, a significant event took place in the life of the Orthodox Church: the Kiev metropolis, which was previously subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople, became subordinate to Moscow. Since that time, the scientific research of St. Demetrius has been under the control of Patriarch Hadrian. Having appreciated the scientist’s work, he elevates him to the rank of archimandrite and appoints rector first of the Eletsky Assumption Monastery, and then the Preobrazhensky Monastery in Novgorod-Siversky.
In 1700, Tsar Peter I, who abolished the patriarchate after the death of the last Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, appoints Archimandrite Dimitry to the liberated Tobolsk chair by his decree. In this regard, in the same year he was elevated to the rank of bishop. However, his health did not allow him to go to the regions with a cold northern climate, and a year later the sovereign assigned him to the Rostov Metropolitanate.
Rostov department and concern for the education of the people
Throughout his stay at this department, Metropolitan Demetrius tirelessly cared for the education of the population, waged a struggle against drunkenness, ignorance and dark prejudice. He showed particular zeal in eradicating the Old Believers and the Latin heresy. Here he founded the Slavic-Greek school, in which, along with the usual disciplines of that time, classical languages were taught - Latin and Greek.
Escape from earthly life and canonization
The blessed death of the saint came on October 28, 1709. According to his last will, he was buried in the Trinity Cathedral of the Yakovlevsky Monastery. However, contrary to the order of the Monastic order, a wooden loghouse was installed instead of a stone crypt. This deviation from the prescription had in the future the most unexpected consequences. In 1752, the tombstone was repaired and the fragile wooden deck was accidentally damaged. When it was opened, they found inside the coffin with relics that remained incorrupt during all the past years.
This was the reason for the beginning of the process of glorification in the face of the saints Metropolitan Demetrius. Official canonization took place in 1757. The relics of Dimitri of Rostov became the object of worship of a large number of pilgrims who arrived in Rostov from all over Russia. In the following years, several hundred cases of healing were granted through prayers at his grave. In accordance with church tradition, akathist Dimitry of Rostov was composed as the newly glorified saint of God.
Church of Demetrius of Rostov - a monument to the saint of God
On the day of finding the relics of the saint, September 21, and on the day of the blessed death, October 28, his memory is celebrated. At the end of the 18th century, his life was compiled, which became an example of the ministry of the Church for many generations of monks and laity. Today, one of the monuments to the saint of God, who worked so hard to establish true faith in Russia, is the Church of Dimitry of Rostov in Ochakovo.