Memorial Day of Saint Gury (Karpov), Archbishop of Tauride

Saint Gury of Tauride

On March 29, 2009, in the Cathedral of Peter and Paul in Simferopol, celebrations will be held on the occasion of the first celebration of the memory of St. Gury, Archbishop of Tauride, canonized as a locally venerated saint by the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church a year ago - on April 18, 2008.
Archbishop Gury - in the world Grigory Platonovich Karpov - was born in 1814 in Saratov into the family of a priest.

After graduating from the Saratov Theological Seminary in 1837, Grigory Karpov entered the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. On July 12, 1838, the academic student was tonsured a monk with the name Gury - in honor of St. Gury of Kazan, on August 4 he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on November 20, 1839 - a hieromonk.

After graduating from the academy, Hieromonk Gury was assigned to the Beijing Spiritual Mission. For ten years, from 1840 to 1850, Father Gury carried out apostolic labors in distant China. In 1851, he was returned to St. Petersburg, where he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and appointed caretaker of the St. Petersburg Alexander Nevsky Theological School. For his anti-sectarian work “On the Divine Establishment of the Episcopal Sanctity” (1855), Archimandrite Gury received a master’s degree in theology.

In 1856, Archimandrite Gury again went to China. Having lived there for 18 years, first as a member and then as head of the mission, he perfectly studied the Chinese language, spoke and wrote fluently in it, which allowed him to translate the New Testament, the Psalter, and a number of liturgical books into Chinese. His Equal-to-the-Apostles labors in China brought rich fruits to the Church: hundreds of Chinese accepted Orthodoxy. Later, in 1900, during the so-called “Boxer” uprising, on the night of June 23-24 (Gregorian calendar), the spiritual children of Father Guria - 222 people led by the Hieromartyr Mitrofan (a Chinese priest) - suffered martyrdom.

On May 11, 1866, Archimandrite Guria was consecrated as Bishop of Cheboksary, vicar of the Kazan diocese. Since November 28, 1867 he has been Bishop of Tauride; On April 12, 1881 he was elevated to the rank of archbishop.

His Grace Gury did a lot for the Tauride diocese: he found funds for the construction of a theological seminary, consistory, and a men's theological school; petitioned the Synod to issue funds for the reconstruction of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, donated funds for the development of monasteries, and founded the Tauride Bishop's House in Simferopol.

Vladyka Gury showed himself to be unusually economical and wise in management. He carried out extensive missionary activity and fought against various sects. For his work he was awarded many church and state awards. As a person, he had such qualities as kindness, selflessness, kindness towards people, and love of truth. He was distinguished by his special love for poverty and, through some clergy, often helped the poor. The archpastor also supported the poor clergy.

The blessed death of Archbishop Guria of Taurida followed on March 17, 1882. A few days before his repose, the bishop received a revelation from the Lord, in which the day of his death was predicted. His honorable body was buried in the crypt of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

The cathedral, where the remains of the bishop rested, did not survive the cataclysms of the godless 20th century. Just before its destruction in 1929, the remains of Archbishop Guria were transferred to the city cemetery near the Church of All Saints. Eyewitnesses to this event testified that 47 years after the burial, the saint’s body remained incorrupt, even his vestments were preserved, and blood flowed from the bishop’s hand, which was accidentally damaged when moving the coffin.

In addition to the numerous cases of clairvoyance that Bishop Gury displayed during his earthly life, several cases of miraculous appearances of the archpastor to different persons and healings received after prayerful appeals to him were also recorded.

So, during the Great Patriotic War, the bishop appeared in a dream to one pious nun and said that he would save his city from destruction. And indeed, although there were bloody battles in Crimea, Simferopol remained virtually untouched. During the Khrushchev persecution of the Church, Archbishop Gury appeared to the confessor of St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) - Archimandrite Tikhon (Boguslavets), about which St. Luke wrote in a letter to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow and All Rus'.

As the oldest clergy of the Crimean diocese testify, believers often turned to the Simferopol Cathedral with a request to indicate where the bishop was buried, since he appeared to them in a dream. After visiting the grave, these people came again, testifying to his gracious and quick help. At the request of believers, memorial services were held there, people took soil from the grave and received healings. Here are just a few examples of such miraculous healings.

In the 1970s, Evgenia Stadnik was brought to the grave of Bishop Guria by her mother. Evgenia suffered from severe pain in her arms and right leg. By applying earth from the grave to the sore spots, she was healed.

Lenochka Kiseleva fell ill with tuberculosis. Doctors said that on the eighteenth day the girl would die from lung collapse. The mother took her daughter to the saint’s tomb, prayed earnestly, and then poured earth into the girl’s stockings. Soon the girl fully recovered.

Elena Dergileva also testifies to the gracious help of the bishop: her husband suffered greatly from epileptic attacks; She faithfully took oil from the lamp burning on the grave of Bishop Guria, and during another painful attack she anointed her husband with it. The seizures did not recur again.

On April 18, 2008, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church decided to canonize St. Gury of Tauride as a locally revered saint. And in July, the relics of the saint were solemnly transferred from the cemetery near the Church of All Saints to the Church of the Three Saints. On August 23, 2008, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of Simferopol, where the relics of the saint are located, celebrations took place on the occasion of the canonization of Archbishop Gury, which was led by the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Vladimir.

A week before the transfer of the relics of Archbishop Guria, according to the testimony of an elderly resident of the village. Chistenkoe, Simferopol district, Raisa, another miraculous healing occurred: “I fervently prayed to the Lord to be present at the transfer, because I am 71 years old and not feeling very good. But the day before, July 3, I woke up with chest pain. Upon examination, she discovered a tumor the size of a two-kopeck coin. Nevertheless, on July 4, I went to the All Saints Church and, with faith and hope for healing, began to ask the saint for help. After the procession and memorial service in the All Saints Church, I returned home and, applying a little earth from the grave of Bishop Guria to the sore spot, fell asleep. By evening the pain dulled, and the next day it completely subsided. The tumor disappeared within a few days...”

Another testimony of miraculous healing from the relics of St. Gury of Tauride was received quite recently - on February 26, 2009. This is what 60-year-old resident of Simferopol Lyudmila Stepanovna Nazarova testifies: “I knew nothing about the life of St. Gury of Tauride, but at the beginning of January 2009 I decided to go to a prayer service with an akathist to the saint, which... is held in the Peter and Paul Cathedral on Wednesdays. When, according to custom, after the akathist there was anointing with oil from the lamp at the relics of the saint, I asked the saint of God to heal me from the bumps that had formed on my head (there were five of them) and with faith I anointed one of them with holy oil. When I washed my hair that evening, my daughter began to comb me and said that a hole had formed in one of these bumps, and something white was visible there. After some time, this white viscous substance came out, and the bump-like formation disappeared completely. So Saint Gury healed me. I thank the Lord and his great saint - St. Gury for the healing...”

The Monk Silouan of Athos said: “The saints live in another world and there, through the Holy Spirit, they see the glory of God, the beauty of His Face. But in the same Holy Spirit they see our life and deeds. They know our sorrows and hear our fervent prayers. Living on earth, they learned the love of God from the Holy Spirit, and whoever has love on earth passes with it into eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven, where love grows and will be perfect, and if here love cannot forget a brother, then even more so the saints do not forget about us and pray for us.”

The Church established the memory of St. Gury of Tauride to be celebrated on March 17/30. This year this will happen for the first time. In order to celebrate this celebration with special solemnity, with the blessing of the ruling bishop, Metropolitan Lazar of Simferopol and Crimea, it was moved in 2009 from Monday to the weekend - March 15/28–16/29. In the Peter and Paul Cathedral of Simferopol on March 15/28, Metropolitan Lazar will serve an all-night vigil with an akathist to St. Gury; March 16/29 – Divine Liturgy with the concelebration of the Crimean clergy.

Prayers

Troparion, tone 3

Lead by the Spirit of God, Holy Hierarch Father Guria, / the country of China with the light of the Gospel, enlightening, / heresies and schisms in the land of Taurides, kind to the conqueror. / Diligently plant the words of Christ in it body, / also for those who honor your multi-healing powers, / pray to Christ God / the mind of truth to us grant // great mercy to our souls.

Troparion, tone 4

Chinese lands to the enlightener / and the Word of God in it, a zealous planter, / Praise to the Russian Church / and the establishment of our lands, / teacher of martyrs / and a warm prayer book for your people to God e,/ to the holy hierarch Father Guria,/ pray to Christ God/ to grant peace to our Fatherland/ / and great mercy to our souls.

Kontakion, tone 8

Chosen miracle-working and devoted servant of God, / to our holy father Gurie, / praise to the Tauride Church / and joy to our land, / we will sing your song in prayer, / as you have great boldness towards the Master of heaven and earth, / from all passions, mental ailments and bodily freedoms,/ let us all call to you in tenderness:/ Rejoice, our holy father Guria, // praise and consolation to the Crimean lands!

In kontakion, same voice

God-wise teacher of meekness and humility, wondrous champion of mercy and non-covetousness, / the manifest light of Christ’s teaching to your faithful people, / do not forsake us, Holy Hierarch Father Guria, / / ​​love for those who extinguish your holy memory!

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