9 - May

by Dimitri Rostovsky, Vladimir Djambov (Translation)

Blessed Constantine, the youngest of the sons of Leo, already in his infancy showed something marvelous. When his mother, by birth, gave him the nurse to feed him, he did not want to eat someone else's milk, but only his mother’s milk. Obviously, the pious industry should not have been fed other people's milk. With the birth of Constantine, good parents made a promise to live like a brother and sister, as they did 14 years before their death. Before the death of her husband, Mary cried, saying:
- I don’t grieve about anything as much as about Constantine: how will he settle in life?
“Believe me, wife,” answered Leo, “I hope in God that the Lord God will make him such a father and builder, that he will suit all Christians.”
And so it happened.

Studying the books diligently, Konstantin saw how insignificant his knowledge was due to the lack of a good teacher, which made him very discouraged. In their city there lived one person (a wanderer) who knew grammar. Konstantin went to him, begged him, and, prostrating himself before him, said:
“Do a good deed for me: teach me grammar.”
The wanderer answered him:
“Boy, don't ask me.” I made a promise not to teach anyone else.
Again, Konstantin with tears began to say to him:
“Take the part from my father’s house that belongs to me, just teach me.”
But this did not convince this man. Then Konstantin went home and began to earnestly pray that the Lord would fulfill the desire of his heart and find a teacher for him. The Lord soon fulfilled his desire.

In Constantinople Constantine lived either at the bolyarina in the house, or in the royal chambers. In 3 months, he learned grammar, then studied Homer 3101 and geometry, dialectics and philosophy, studied with Leo and Photius 3102 . In addition to these sciences, he studied rhetoric, arithmetic, astronomy, musical art and, in general, all other Hellenic sciences. He knew well not only the Greek language, but also others: Latin, Syrian and some foreign. With his mind and diligence, he surprised his teachers, for which he later received the name of a philosopher-sage. But he was wise not only in science, but also in life, he tried to be humble, talked with those from whom he wanted to receive instruction, and evaded those who could seduce evil. In a word, he tried to change the earthly to the heavenly and live with God.
Logofet, seeing the good life of Konstantin and his successes in the sciences, made him the manager of his house, and also allowed him to enter the royal chambers without a report. Once logoget asked Constantine:
“Tell me, philosopher, what is called philosophy?”
“Philosophy,” replied Konstantin, “is the understanding of divine and human affairs, which teaches man through virtue, as far as possible, to approach God, who created man in His own image and likeness.

678 pages, Paperback

Published March 11, 2020

About the author

Dimitri Rostovsky (secular name: Danylo Tuptalo) - Saint, writer, theologian, and churchman. He studied at the Kyivan Mohyla Academy in 1662–5 and entered Saint Cyril's Monastery in Kyiv in 1668. In 1675 he was ordained a hieromonk by Archbishop Lazar Baranovych. During the next 30 years he was hegumen of several Ukrainian monasteries (the Hustynia Trinity Monastery, Trinity–Saint Elijah's Monastery, the Yeletskyi Dormition Monastery, Saint Nicholas's Monastery in Baturyn, the Novodvirske Monastery in Volhynia, the Kyivan Cave Monastery) and Belarusian monasteries (Vilnius and Slutsk). In 1701 Tsar Peter I summoned him to Moscow, where he was consecrated metropolitan on 23 March 1701. He was assigned to the Tobolsk see but did not assume the post because of ill health. Instead, in 1702 he was sent to Rostov. Tuptalo was associated with a group of Ukrainian hierarchs in the Russian church, led by Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky, who fought against the Old Believers and other sects that had left the church over reforms introduced under Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich. This group, however, did not accept the more radical changes favored by Peter, especially the subordination of the church to the state.

Tuptalo's first published work was Runo oroshennoie (The Bedewed Fleece, 1680; 7 edns by 1702), a collection of stories about miracles attributed to the icon of the Mother of God at the Chernihiv Trinity–Saint Elijah's Monastery. His most important work is his menaion for daily reading, a major collection of the lives of saints. It was first published by the Kyivan Cave Monastery in 1689–1705; at least 10 more editions followed in the 18th century. This collection is the best example of Ukrainian hagiography of the 17th and 18th centuries; it contains the lives of many early Ukrainian saints, based on various manuscripts and on adaptations from Greek and Latin sources. Tuptalo was a well-known orator, and a collection of his sermons (some of which criticized the reforms of Peter I), edited by A. Titov, appeared in 1909. He also wrote polemical attacks (see Polemical literature) on the schism (Rozysk o raskolnicheskoi brynskoi vere [An Examination of the Schismatic Brynian Sect, 1709]), theological treatises (Zertsalo pravoslavnogo ispovedaniia [The Mirror of the Orthodox Faith, 1805]), and historical studies (Letopis’ izhe vo sviatykh ... ot nachala mirobytiia do Rozhdestva Khristova [The Chronicle of Saints ... from the Beginning of Life on Earth to the Birth of Christ, 1784]). His literary works—including the spiritual dramas Komediia na den’ Rozhdestva Khristova (A Comedy on the Day of Christ's Birth) and Uspenie Bohorodytsi (The Dormition of the Mother of God)—were baroque in style and influenced by Western writing. The language Tuptalo used in his theological works was Old Church Slavonic, but it contained many Ukrainianisms. His sermons and menaion, which were intended for a popular audience, were close to the vernacular; posthumous editions of the menaion, however, were Russified by order of the Holy Synod.