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When Peter and Fevronia of Murom died. Peter and Fevronia return to Murom. Troparion and Kontakion to Saints Peter and Fevronia

This is a story of loyalty, devotion and true love, ready to make sacrifices for the sake of the most beloved and important person.

Spouses Peter and Fevronia reigned in Murom at the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries, they lived happily and died on the same day. Prince Peter was the second son of Prince Yury Vladimirovich of Murom. Prince Peter took the throne of Murom in 1203. A few years earlier, he had fallen ill. He suffered from leprosy. The whole body of the prince was covered with ulcers. Many healers tried to heal him, but no one could heal Peter from a serious illness. Enduring torment with humility, the prince surrendered to God in everything.

Vision of Peter

In a sleepy vision, it was revealed to the prince that the pious maiden Fevronia, a peasant woman of the village of Laskovaya in the Ryazan land, could heal him. Saint Peter sent his people to that village. Fevronia, as a payment for treatment, wished that the prince would marry her after the healing. Peter promised to marry, but in his heart he was cunning, since Fevronia was a commoner: "Well, how is it possible - the prince should take the daughter of a poison dart frog as his wife!" Fevronia healed the prince, but since the beekeeper's daughter saw the cunning and pride of Peter, she ordered him to leave one scab unoiled as evidence of sin. Soon, from this scab, the whole disease resumed, and the prince again returned to Fevronia in shame. Fevronia again cured Peter, and even then he married her.
Together with the young princess, Peter returns to Murom. Prince Peter fell in love with Fevronia for her piety, wisdom and kindness. The holy spouses carried love for each other through all trials. After the death of his brother, Peter became autocrat in the city. The boyars respected their prince, but the arrogant boyar wives disliked Fevronia and, not wanting to have a peasant woman as their ruler, taught their husbands unkind things. The proud boyars demanded that the prince let his wife go. Saint Peter refused, and the couple were expelled. They sailed on a boat along the Oka from their hometown. Saint Fevronia supported and consoled Saint Peter. But soon the wrath of God overtook the city of Murom, and the people demanded that the prince return with Saint Fevronia. Ambassadors arrived from Murom, begging Peter to return to reign. The boyars quarreled over power, shed blood, and now they were again looking for peace and tranquility. Peter and Fevronia with humility returned to their city and ruled happily ever after, observing all the commandments and instructions of the Lord impeccably, praying unceasingly and doing alms to all the people who were under their rule, like a child-loving father and mother.

Peter and Fevronia return to Murom

The holy spouses became famous for their piety and mercy. Whether they had children - oral tradition did not convey information about this. They achieved holiness not by having many children, but by mutual love and keeping the sanctity of marriage. This is the meaning and purpose of it.

When old age came, they became monks with the names David and Euphrosyne and begged God to die at the same time. They bequeathed to bury themselves together in a specially prepared coffin with a thin partition in the middle. Marriage vows, even after being tonsured, retain their power for them, because they also fulfill their last promise to each other - to die at the same time.

The Tale of Peter and Fevronia

There are two beautiful legends about the origin of the name. The first legend is connected with pagan beliefs: as if there was a temple here pagan god Peremil, from where the mountains got the name Peremilovskie. “He lives only in the mouths of the people. It was the god of love, harmony and friendship, and was probably identified with the Slavic god Lel. The second version of the name is associated with legends about Petre and Fevronia, which tells how young spouses are expelled from Murom, and they are forced to live on the banks of the Oka. When Peter and Fevronia returned from exile to Murom, before getting into the boat and sailing back, Fevronia went to the foot of the mountains and said: “Be you from now on and until the age of“ sweet mountains ”for giving us shelter and refuge." At the foot of the mountains flows a river, which the holy princess gave the name Muromka. Local historian A.A. Yepanchin, in his research, cites the following legend: Saint Fevronia, just walking in the mountains, exclaimed: “What lovely mountains!” Since then, they have been called "Peremilovy Gory"8. The very place of residence of the saints on the banks of the Oka bears the name of Peremilova Hermitage.

The exact position of the Peremilova Desert and the Muromka River is indicated on the maps of the Murom district of the 1890s. Yepanchin gives a detailed description of the legendary story about the arrival of Peter and Fevronia on the Oka hills. “The village of Kornilovka now stands on the Muromka River. Trinity-Peremilova-Pustyn-pogost is also quite a historical monument. After it fell into disrepair, the parish church remained in its place. The memory of the desert is preserved in the name of the local pier - "Monastyrek". After the revolution, the church was closed, now the graveyard is called “Sudostroy”. It is noted that a stump from a flourishing tree was located opposite the place where the bell tower was, on the western edge of the churchyard, and in 1987 was littered with cobblestones. Currently, there is a recreation center with the same name "Peremilovy Gory", where couples often come to join the history and be inspired by the patron saints of Love, Family and Loyalty, as well as simply relax and admire the magnificence of the local nature.

The Peremilovskaya Upland is quite densely populated. It is interesting to note that many settlements have survived from the 18th century to the present. Some have changed or modified their name. The largest rivers in the Peremilov mountains are Muromka, Kutra, Kuzoma, Reut.

About the diverse vegetation in the Peremilov mountains, N.G. writes in his description of the Murom district. Dobrynkin. But he singles out one plant in particular: “Oskor (speck) - grows only in the foothills of the Peremilovsky mountains, mainly near the village of Spas-Sedchino, where there are many of them even in gardens. The trees preserved there have reached a considerable height and thickness, and by their immensity they constitute a remarkable rarity of the region.

Life history of St. miracle workers, the faithful and reverend spouses Peter and Fevronia, existed for many centuries in the traditions of the Murom land, where they lived and where their honest relics were preserved. Over time, the true events acquired fabulous features, merging in the people's memory with the legends and parables of this region. Now researchers are arguing about which of the historical figures the life is written about: some are inclined to believe that they were Prince David and his wife Euphrosyne, in monasticism Peter and Fevronia, who died in 1228, others see in them the spouses Peter and Euphrosyne, who reigned in Murom in XIV century Sts. blg. Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia, wonderworkers of Murom († 1228) - "the kind and most pure pair." In the lives of these saints one cannot find either the exploits of monastic self-denial, or martyrdom for the faith of Christ. They pleased God with good deeds, piety and mercy towards the poor, they showed the truth of chaste love among themselves and towards their neighbors; and the Church glorified them as a model of Christian marriage. In Murom, in the Holy Trinity Convent, there is a shrine with the relics of the Murom saints Peter and Fevronia.

Pilgrims constantly come here to venerate the relics of the most famous Russian holy couple, patrons of the family and marriage.

Recorded a story about blgv. Peter and Fevronia in the 16th century. priest Yermolai the Sinful (monastic Erasmus), a talented writer, widely known in the era of Ivan the Terrible. Having preserved folklore features in his life, he created an amazingly poetic story about wisdom and love - the gifts of the Holy Spirit with a pure heart and humble in God.

Rev. Peter was the younger brother of the blgv who reigned in the city of Murom. Paul. Once a misfortune happened in Paul's family - at the instigation of the devil, a kite began to fly to his wife. The woeful woman, yielding to demonic power, told her husband about everything. The prince ordered his wife to find out from the villain the secret of his death. It turned out that the death of the adversary "is destined from Peter's shoulder and Agrikov's sword." Upon learning of this, Peter immediately decided to kill the rapist, relying on God's help. Soon, during a prayer in the temple, it was revealed where Agrikov's sword was kept, and, having tracked down the snake, Peter struck it. But before his death, the snake splashed the victor with poisonous blood, and the prince's body was covered with scabs and ulcers.

No one could heal Peter from a serious illness. Enduring torment with humility, the prince surrendered to God in everything. And the Lord, taking care of His servant, sent him to the Ryazan land. One of the young men sent in search of a doctor accidentally went into the house, where he found a lonely girl named Fevronia, the daughter of a poison dart frog, who had the gift of clairvoyance and healing, at work. After all the questions, Fevronia punished the servant: "Bring your prince here. If he is sincere and humble in his words, he will be healthy!"

The prince, who himself could no longer walk, was brought to the house, and he sent to ask who wants to cure him. And he promised that, if he cured him, a great reward. “I want to cure him,” Fevronia replied bluntly, “but I don’t demand any reward from him. Here’s my word to him: if I don’t become his wife, then it’s not fitting for me to treat him.” Peter promised to marry, but in his heart he was cunning: the pride of the princely family prevented him from agreeing to such a marriage. Fevronia scooped up bread leaven, blew on it and ordered the prince to take a bath and grease all the scabs except one.

The blessed maiden had the wisdom of the Holy Fathers and prescribed such treatment not by chance. Just as the Lord and Savior, healing lepers, the blind and the paralyzed, healed the soul through bodily ailments, so Fevronia, knowing that diseases are allowed by God as a test and for sins, prescribed a cure for the flesh, implying a spiritual meaning. Bath, according to St. Scripture, the image of baptism and the cleansing of sins (Eph. 5:26), while the Lord Himself likened the Kingdom of Heaven to leaven, which souls, whitened by the bath of baptism, inherit (Luke 13:21). Since Fevronia saw the cunning and pride of Peter, she ordered him to leave one scab unoiled as evidence of sin. Soon, from this scab, the whole disease resumed, and the prince returned to Fevronia. The second time he kept his word. "And they arrived in their fiefdom, the city of Murom, and began to live piously, in no way transgressing God's commandments."

After the death of his brother, Peter became autocrat in the city. The boyars respected their prince, but the arrogant boyar wives disliked Fevronia, not wanting to have a peasant woman as their ruler, taught their husbands unkind things. The boyars tried to raise all sorts of slanders against the princess, and once they rebelled and, having lost their shame, offered Fevronia, taking whatever she wanted, to leave the city. The princess wanted nothing but her husband. The boyars rejoiced, because each secretly aimed at the prince's place, and they told their prince about everything. Blessed Peter, having learned that they wanted to separate him from his beloved wife, chose to voluntarily give up power and wealth and go into exile with her.

The couple sailed down the river in two boats. A certain man, sailing with his family along with Fevronia, stared at the princess. The holy wife immediately guessed his thought and gently reproached: "Draw water from one and the other side of the boat," the princess asked. "Is the water the same or is one sweeter than the other?" “The same,” he answered. “So the nature of a woman is the same,” said Fevronia. “Why, having forgotten your wife, are you thinking about someone else?” The accused was embarrassed and repented in his soul.

In the evening they moored to the shore and began to settle down for the night. "What will happen to us now?" - Peter thought sadly, and Fevronia, a wise and kind wife, affectionately consoled him: "Do not grieve, prince, the merciful God, the Creator and Protector of all, will not leave us in trouble!" At this time, the cook began to prepare supper and, in order to hang the cauldrons, he cut down two small trees. When the meal was over, the princess blessed these stumps with the words: "May they be big trees in the morning." And so it happened. By this miracle, she wanted to strengthen her husband, foreseeing their fate. After all, if “there is hope for a tree that, even if it is cut down, it will come to life again” (Job 14:7), then a person who hopes and trusts in the Lord will have a blessing both in this life and in the next.

Before they had time to wake up, ambassadors arrived from Murom, begging Peter to return to reign. The boyars quarreled over power, shed blood, and now they were again looking for peace and tranquility. Blzh. Peter and Fevronia with humility returned to their city and ruled happily ever after, doing alms with prayer in their hearts.

In Murom, the reign of Prince Peter was truthful, but without harsh severity, gracious, but without weakness. The intelligent and pious princess helped her husband with advice and charity. Both lived according to the commandments of the Lord, loved everyone, but did not love either pride or unrighteous self-interest; rested wanderers, alleviated the fate of the unfortunate, honored the monastic and priestly rank, protecting him from needs.

They died on the same day and hour, each in his cell. People considered it impious to bury monks in one coffin and dared to violate the will of the deceased. Twice their bodies were carried to different temples, but twice they miraculously ended up nearby. So they buried the holy spouses together near the cathedral church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, and every believer found generous healing here.

“Having carried love for each other through their whole lives, they agreed to die on the same day and hour. When Peter felt that he was dying, he sent a novice to a neighboring monastery to his wife. At this time, Fevronia embroidered the air with gold embroidery (the cover of the communion bowl). "Let her wait, I need to finish…", - Fevronia asked to convey. After a while, a novice came running again with the message that her husband was dying. And again Fevronia asked him to wait ... And when the third time the messenger said that the prince was leaving, Fevronia did the last stitch, stuck a needle in the sewing and "calmed down forever". They put them in coffins for the funeral service, and in the morning they found the bodies in a common coffin, which the spouses bequeathed to make before their death. The bodies were transferred to different coffins according to monastic canons, but Peter and Fevronia again ended up together. This happened three times. They buried the spouses together."

Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom. Life icon. Icon, 1618. From the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in Murom

At the Moscow Cathedral of 1547, it was necessary to glorify them locally. Subsequently (probably from 1552) this celebration became widespread.

Today, the holy relics of the saints rest in the Holy Trinity Novodevichy Convent in Murom and perform miracles for the glory of God to those who turn to them with faith. In their lives, they were a model of Christian marriage, ready for all hardships for the gospel commandment of an indestructible union. And now, with their prayers, they bring down a heavenly blessing on those entering into marriage.

I, female; unfold Fevronya, and; simple. to Khavroniya, and Khavronya, and. Derivatives: Fevronyushka; Fevronya; Feva; Fesh; Khavronyushka; Khavrokha; Khavrosh; Howrah (Howrah); Khorya. Name days: July 8, Oct 10, Nov 10 Dictionary of personal names. Fevronia See Khavronya ... Dictionary of personal names

Saint, wife of Prince David of Murom, in monasticism Peter. Information about Fevronia came to us of a later origin, in all likelihood of the 16th century, which appeared, as one might suppose, simultaneously with the canonization of the Murom miracle workers. ... ... Biographical Dictionary

Exist., number of synonyms: 2 name (1104) fevronia (2) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

Fevronia, 1670 73 igum. Arkhangelsk. Nikol. Mon., Nizhny Novgorod Bishop Russian Biographical Dictionary in 25 volumes. Ed. under the supervision of the chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Society A. A. Polovtsev. St. Petersburg: Type. I. N. Skorokhodova ...

Fevronia, 1766 72 igum. Trinity Penza Mon. Russian Biographical Dictionary in 25 volumes. Ed. under the supervision of the chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Society A. A. Polovtsev. St. Petersburg: Type. I. N. Skorokhodova, 1896 1918 ... Big biographical encyclopedia

Fevronia, 1838 54 igum. Assumption Mon. in Staraya Ladoga, St. Petersburg. Bishop Russian Biographical Dictionary in 25 volumes. Ed. under the supervision of the chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Society A. A. Polovtsev. St. Petersburg: Type. I. N. Skorokhodova ... Big biographical encyclopedia

PETER AND FEVRONIA are heroes of the ancient Russian "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom", which took shape from the second half of the 15th century. based on oral legends and traditions. The narrative finally took shape in connection with the canonization of P. and F. (1547) in the middle of the 16th century ... ... literary heroes

Princess. So, according to some news, the wife of Mikhail (Mikhalka) Yuryevich, briefly the Grand Duke of Vladimir, was called; she was allegedly the daughter of a Novgorodian Mikhalkovich and had been married since 1155. According to other news, Mikhail's wife ... ... Big biographical encyclopedia

- (in the world Euphrosyne) saint, wife of Prince David of Murom, in monasticism Peter, also canonized. Information about it has come down to us of a later origin, in all likelihood the 16th century, which appeared, as one might suppose, at the same time ... ... Big biographical encyclopedia

Igum. Arkhangelsk. Nikol. Mon., Nizhny Novgorod ep. (Polovtsov) ... Big biographical encyclopedia

Igum. Voznesensk. mon. in the city of Mtsensk, orlov. ep. (Polovtsov) ... Big biographical encyclopedia

Books

Peter and Fevronia: The legend of the holy spouses and that love is stronger than death, Trostnikova E .. The holy spouses Peter and Fevronia of Murom are widely revered in Russia as patrons of the family and marriage, the day of their memory has become an official holiday of love and fidelity. An ancient legend about them in ...
Peter and Fevronia. Legends about the holy spouses and that love is stronger than death, Elena Trosnikova. The holy spouses Peter and Fevronia of Murom are widely revered in Russia as patrons of the family and marriage, the day of their memory has become an official holiday of love and fidelity. An ancient legend about them in ...

Except for the traditions of the Murom land, the poetic story of Yermolai the Sinful tells about the life of the Monks Peter and Fevronia. It was written at the request of Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow and timed to coincide with the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, where the spouses were ranked among the host of saints.

According to legend, the dying snake-tempter splashed the blood of the younger brother of the prince of Murom - Peter. From which his whole body was covered with non-healing wounds that no doctor could cure. The young prince was healed by the daughter of a honey collector named Fevronia, who prepared a healing ointment for him. According to the conditions of the girl, Peter had to marry her after his recovery, but he decided to pay off with rich gifts. But Fevronia did not accept them. After some time, the disease returned to the prince. He was forced to turn to the girl again for help, and this time he kept his word to her.

Soon Paul died, and princely power passed to Peter. The boyars were dissatisfied with the low origin of the princess. They suggested that she take everything she wants and leave the city. Fevronia took only her husband. After they left the city, bloodshed began. Residents of the city begged the spouses to return back.

The princely couple ruled Murom fairly: the spouses decorated churches, reconciled the warring, helped the needy, were faithful and devoted to each other: Peter did not leave Fevronia for the sake of people's slanders and complaints, and she, in turn, did not leave him in difficult times. They lived to a ripe old age. At the end of their lives, they took tonsure and were ordered to bury them together. Peter and Fevronia died on the same day and hour. But the last covenant of the spouses was not fulfilled: they were placed in separate coffins and carried to different temples. However, the deceased were soon found together. People tried several times to separate the bodies of Peter and Fevronia, but they still ended up nearby.

Although the life of the righteous is written on the basis of legends, there are chronicles (for example, Voskresenskaya and others) confirming the fact that Murom ruled in 1203 as a prince, who was cured by a girl from a simple class, who later became his wife. Fevronia (Euphrosyne) helped Peter (David) with practical advice, and also did charity work. They reigned for 25 years, they had two sons and a grandson. According to chronicles, the eldest son Yuri and grandson Oleg died during the battle with the Volga-Kama Bulgars, and the youngest son Svyatoslav died a few days before the death of his parents.

The veneration of Peter and Fevronia began long before their canonization. Even in the 15th century, services were held for these saints. In 1446, the Murom spouses became the patrons of the Russian tsars.

For the first time, as an ideal married couple, Peter and Fevronia are mentioned in the message of Metropolitan Macarius to Tsar Ivan IV. Ivan the Terrible also revered the saints as assistants in military affairs.

Over the centuries, many eminent persons have come to venerate the relics of Murom miracle workers: Tsarina Irina Godunova, Peter I, Catherine II, Nicholas I, Alexander II and many others. And to this day, thousands of people come to Murom to bow to the holy relics of the spouses. And the clergy keep a special book in which they record the miracles that happen to believers after prayers to Peter and Fevronia.

When did Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom live? Why are they so revered in Russia and why are they considered protectors of married couples? Life of Saints Peter and Fevronia: we tell the most important thing.

When Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom Lived

Saints Peter and Fevronia lived in the XII-XIII centuries. Russia at that time was not a single Empire, but was fragmented into many principalities. Each principality lived by its own interests, traditions, charter.

All this could be called a country conditionally, since the princes often fought among themselves. In fact, the principalities were united only by the fact that they were all Slavic, and all were under the wing of the Russian Orthodox Church. (Sometimes additional unity between the principalities could be created by the fact that they were ruled by close relatives (brothers, fathers and children), but more often it did not, and brother often rebelled against brother).

At the same time, such a phenomenon as locally revered saints was widespread. These are ascetics who were well known and revered in a separate principality, but about whom the neighbors knew nothing. Peter and Fevronia were just like that for the Murom land. They were canonized by the Church only in the 16th century - when Russia by that time had already finally become a full-fledged single strong kingdom: with a single law, a single ruler and a single saint.

Saints Peter and Fevronia: what is known about them?

Almost nothing - and precisely because of the fragmentation of the country. The Murom principality belonged to the province - the annals in it, unlike Novgorod or Kyiv, were almost not kept or not preserved. The inhabitants of Murom knew well what was happening to them, and the memory of important events was passed from mouth to mouth and from generation to generation, but nothing left the lands.

However, the fact that Peter and Fevronia were canonized suggests that the Church had enough evidence of their spiritual feat - even if only rare traditions have survived to our time. (But in fact, there is only one “Legend of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”, which is also not fully proven who exactly wrote it).

Life of Peter and Fevronia briefly

In general, everything that is known about the life of Peter and Fevronia of Murom can be summarized in a few theses:

Saint Peter was from a princely family. (Researchers still do not know exactly which prince of Murom they are talking about, because Peter is the name that the saint received during his monastic tonsure, shortly before his death. But what was his name "in the world"?)
One day, Peter became very (perhaps fatally) ill. Doctors shrugged their shoulders. He was cured by a simple believing girl from the village, but on the promise that he, the prince, would take her as his wife.
Peter married her only "from the second time." At first he refused this promise and tried to simply give Fevronia a gift, but soon he fell ill again with the same disease and they got married only after that.
Peter and Fevronia lived in peace and respect for each other, lived according to the Commandments, and tried to rule Murom according to the laws of Love and truth.
At the same time, all the boyars, and especially their wives, were embarrassed that Princess Fevronia had a simple origin. How can you obey her?
The discontent was so strong that at some point Peter and Fevronia had to go into exile, having gone through many hardships. However, they were soon asked to return, because Murom was mired in strife without them.
Shortly before his death, Peter and Fevronia went to the monastery.
They died on the same day.
Despite the fact that the spouses were buried separately, the next night the bodies of the spouses turned out to be in one coffin - which they made for themselves shortly before their death.

Love of Peter and Fevronia

This is their way of life. If in general terms, then these facts do not say anything about holiness, because apart from the incorruptible relics, no other evidence of the miraculous effect of Grace on them has been preserved. They are not known to heal anyone; references to some external supernatural events, apart from their joint repose in the same coffin, also did not survive.

However, the canonization of saints in the Church is not only a tribute to the ascetic and his miracles, but a great collection of inspiring examples of how one can come to holiness in various life, social and historical circumstances.

Saints Peter and Fevronia are an example of how one can acquire the Grace of the Holy Spirit through marriage, as well as evidence that holiness is possible not only among the poor and wretched, monks or wanderers, but even among rulers. The ways of the Lord are inscrutable, and life in Christ is possible everywhere, and not only in a monastery or a desert, since holiness is built not by external circumstances, but by the inner structure of a person.

So, what can the life of Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom inspire?

Very much!

"Lessons" of Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom

The responsibility of a man for a given word

Someone says that all this is not very similar to the Orthodox life: Fevronia married Peter "by force and with conditions" - through his illness.

However, this story is not about the "ultimatum", but about the "man's word" and the responsibility of a man to a girl - their relationship has not reached any extent.

He promised to marry - marry, otherwise do not promise.

You are courting a girl - do not deceive her with your courtship, do not pass off frivolity as love.

And in general, bear responsibility for every act in a relationship, like a man, and let this principle become not a cage for you, but the core and foundation for gaining strong, real, love.

Because it is responsibility that distinguishes a man from a boy, and where there is a man, there will always be a woman's love for him.

"Sickness for Good"

The story of Peter's illness provides another parting word. Behind every event in our life lies the Providence of God for us - even if it is a serious illness or other sorrow.

After all, if we judge: if Peter had not fallen ill, would he have met the peasant woman Fevronia? Probably not. And even if he had met, would their marriage have become possible, even if it didn’t happen right away even under the conditions of “healing”? It is clear that it is impossible.

And if Peter Fevronia had not been found, would he have been able to go his way to holiness? Hardly…

What a good lesson this is for us: do not despair and accept difficulties and sorrows with peace! Because in them - if you look - all the care of the Lord about eternal life for us.

Let it be difficult for the human mind to understand and hard to believe ...

The sanctity of trust between spouses. Miracle of St. Fevronia with crumbs

Tradition says that the boyars always suspected Fevronia of witchcraft. First, she was able to heal Peter when no one else could. Secondly, they did not understand many of her habits. For example, the boyars drew Peter's attention to the fact that his wife was collecting crumbs from the table in her palm. Fevronia simply treated all food with trepidation, as a gift from God, but the people around thought out who knows what ...

Once Peter heeded the suspicion of the boyars and asked Fevronia to open her hand. The princess obeyed, but in her hand, instead of crumbs, there was blessed incense. After that, Peter never "checked" his wife and did not listen to any talk about her.

This lesson goes deeper than just a story about suspicion. It is about total trust, which is established between spouses by the Grace of the Holy Spirit. Trust, which is built not only on respect for each other, but also on trust in the Providence of God, which can be expressed not only in the correct decisions of the spouse (or wife), but also in their mistakes.

After all, if you look at the essence of things, then marriage is the service to God through a person nearby. And love in a Christian family is not only the direction of feelings from one person to another (from wife to husband and vice versa), but Love itself, which is established in the heart with Christ, and which graces everything around.

“Acquire a peaceful spirit and thousands around you will be saved,” said the monk. Thousands around, but first of all - your "second half"!

Christ sanctified marriage by visiting marriage in Cana of Galilee, establishing for centuries that marriage for God's sake is the same full-fledged path to the acquisition of Grace and holiness as virginity (which later in Christianity acquired the form of monasticism).

Icon of marriage in Cana of Galilee

That is why any marriage is holy and any divorce is a "tragedy in heaven." And that is why Peter at some point refused to divorce his peasant wife, although the boyars begged him to do so.

Devotion. Exile of Peter and Fevronia

After the rebellious boyars expelled Peter and Fevronia from the city, the couple lived for some time almost in an open field in tents. A period that shows that marriage is not only words and feelings, but also deeds. In this case, from the side of the wife, who, for the sake of her husband, went with him from the palace to the hut. And not only accompanied him, but supported him during the hours when he was discouraged.

Women's support keeps the marriage and strengthens the man. Who knows how everything would have turned out if the obstinate wife had been in exile in the place of Fevronia. Would Peter have saved his health and life by the time the boyars came to bow to him and did not ask them to return?

Saint Fevronia and the boatman

One day the boatman who was transporting Fevronia thought of her with lust. The saint understood this and asked the man to draw water first from one side of the boat, then from the other, and try the water from there and from there. The water tasted the same. “So the essence of women is the same everywhere,” Fevronia explained to the boatman.

How many marriages would be saved if husbands did not look at other women.

Moreover, they didn’t even begin to simply look and evaluate, therefore any action and any sin begins with a thought, which gradually becomes stronger in a person and takes root in him.

Peter and Fevronia died on the same day

This is not even a lesson, but a beautiful story. Peter several times sent a messenger to Fevronia with the message: “I am dying,” and each time she answered: “Wait, don’t die, I need to sew a cover for the temple.” And only for the third time she put aside her sewing, leaving it unfinished - in order to move from the earthly world to the eternal world together with her husband ...

You don’t need to take death in one for a miracle or some kind of mystical event - very often spouses who have lived together for a whole life then die one after the other, because the life of the other in marriage is also your life and with the life of the other and part of you leaves .

The simultaneous death of Peter and Fevronia is, rather, a symbol of their marital service, which also found expression in such a beautiful, memorable way.

At first they were buried separately, but later they were surprised to find them in one coffin - which they ordered for themselves shortly before their death. And now this is already a miracle - the seal of the Lord on their lives, which added this wonderful married couple to the host of Russian saints: Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom!

Saints Peter and Fevronia: Days of Remembrance

The Russian Orthodox Church has established two days of their memory:

July 8 is the day of Peter and Fevronia. In the state, it is celebrated as the Day of the Family.
and September 19 - the day of the return in 1992 of the holy relics of the Church, after they had been in the Soviet museum for 70 years.