January 11 (December 29) The Church celebrates the feast of St. Mark the Undertaker.

Saint Mark labored in the 11th – 12th centuries. in the Kiev-Pechersk monastery. He lived in a cave and was engaged in digging graves.

Cave graves then were small holes in the wall of the cave. The bodies of the deceased monks were laid in such depressions on both sides of the cave corridor. In order to dig up the grave, it was necessary to work hard - to make a gap of the required size, to remove the earth from the cave. For many years, Mark carried this obedience for the sake of the fraternity.

For a particularly strict ascetic life, the Monk Mark received from God an amazing gift - power over death. The Kiev Pechersk Patericon contains several stories testifying to this.

So, once the reverend was digging another grave and due to fatigue did not manage to expand it to the required size. Just on that day, one of the brothers rested. The monks came to bury him and did not find another grave other than unfinished. Having barely placed the dead man in a narrow hole, the monks began to murmur against Mark, because on the dead it was impossible to straighten clothes, or to pour oil on him. Then the reverend commanded the dead man: “Brother, the grave is small - you yourself are sprinkled. Take the oil and take it upon yourself. ” The dead obediently got up, took the oil, poured himself crosswise on his chest and face, straightened his clothes, lay down - and rested again. All those around were amazed.

Another time, one brother also died, but there was no finished grave. A monk came to Mark and asked where to bury the repentant. Mark replied: "Go, tell the dead brother that the sinful Mark asks to wait until tomorrow, until I prepare his place." The monk obeyed the reverend and went to the temple, where they were just performing a memorial service for the deceased. Standing opposite the dead man, he said: "Brother Mark asks to wait until tomorrow until he prepares you a place." What horror shook everyone when the dead man opened his eyes! He lay with his eyes open and breathing, not getting up and not saying anything.

The next day, the monk again went to Mark to ask about the grave. “Yes, the place is ready. Tell your brother that he can die now, ”said Mark. The monk went to the quickened one and conveyed the words of the ascetic. As soon as he had finished speaking, the animated one again lost his spirit.

Another story. There were two monk brothers in the monastery, since childhood very loving each other. They managed to persuade Mark to dig a common grave for them to lie there after death together.

Once Theophilus, the elder brother, left the monastery. The youngest at this time fell ill and died suddenly. Theophilus, returning, mourned a lot. Crying, he came to the cave to see where the deceased was put. Finding that his brother was in the top place, Theophilus indignantly rebuked Mark: “I’m older than him, and you put him in my place!” The cave apologized to Theophilos and said to the deceased: “Brother! Rise and lie down in a lower place. ” In front of everyone's eyes, the dead man got up and lay down where he was told.

Then Theophilus fell before Mark and exclaimed: “I have sinned by disturbing my brother. I ask: they told him to lie down again in his place. ” The saint answered: “You should have taken advantage of your seniority, and now you would have been put here. But you are not yet ready to appear before the Lord. Go take care of your soul, and soon you will lie in this cave. “To raise the dead is the work of God, but I am a sinful man.”

Theophilus sobbed back into his cell. He handed out everything to the last shirt and began to expect death. No one could stop him crying, and no one could convince him to eat something tasty and sweet. The monk starved himself, prayed and cried, awaiting death. He so exhausted his body that his bones could be counted. He was blinded by constant crying.

Once the reverend called Theophilus and told him: "Pray for me, I am dying." He was shocked. “Either take me with you, or give me sight,” he asked. But Mark revealed to him that blindness was allowed by God for the sake of his spiritual prosperity, and it was not good for him to see clearly. However, the Undertaker also predicted the blind man: "Three days before your death, you will see." That day Mark died.

Separation from the old man became for Feofil a source of even greater sorrows and tears. When he cried, he set before himself a vessel in which tears dripped. Over the years of crying, he filled the vessel to the very edge. Once, during a prayer, an angel appeared to him, saying: “You pray well, but why do you boast of tears?” After these words, the angel showed Theophilos a larger vessel, full of moisture. It turned out that there were tears shed by Theophilus, but not falling into the vessel. They either fell to the ground, or were wiped with a hand, but the guardian angel collected every tear of penance without losing a single one.

After the angelic vision, Theophilus received his sight and three days later departed to the Lord. Both Theophilus and his brother were placed next to the Monk Mark.

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The power over death, which the Monk Mark had, certainly amazes us. But no matter how amazing this gift may be, it represents the realization of the opportunity that Christ has given us all. Namely.

Indeed, often our sins are born in an intuitive desire to overcome death.

The apostle Paul wrote that Christ came “... to deliver those who from the fear of death through their whole lives were subject to slavery” (Heb. 2, 15). Here the apostle notices an important thing: death is not only a consequence of the sin of the first person, but also the cause of sin - if we talk about our life.

Indeed, often our sins are born in an intuitive desire to overcome death. In fornication and gluttony, covetousness and love of money, pride and vanity, we subconsciously rebel against death and, as it were, try to strengthen our existence in false ways.

We try to overcome death by finding life, but we are mistaken because we are looking for life not in God, but in sin. The muddy sweetness of sin gives us an imaginary experience of the brightness of being. And after sin, we inevitably understand that we are now even more dead.

“Since people, waiting for their death, were immeasurably enslaved by sins - the fear of death, appearing formidable for them and giving rise to the idea that after death they would not exist, brought them into perfect slavery to sin,” the St. said about this. John Chrysostom.

“Mortality is a kind of disease that engenders fear, which in turn serves as the cause of the struggle for existence. In this struggle, everyone strives to emerge victorious at the expense of his neighbor: this is the essence of sin, which is the opposite of love, that is, bestowal on all neighbors, ”wrote prot. John Meyendorf.

It turns out an interesting picture. The result of original sin is hereditary mortality, but it, in turn, will also give birth to sin. Sin and death mutually give birth to each other! It turns out a vicious circle in which man was hopelessly until the coming of Christ. But the death and resurrection of the Savior broke this circle and gave man the opportunity to get out of the "system" - to live outside of slavery to sin and mortality.

Rev. Mark is a radical case of such a "logout". In general, holiness is always a desperate breakthrough into heaven, a literal fulfillment of the words of the apostle: “If any of you thinks to be wise in this age, then be mad to be wise” (1 Cor. 3, 18). And to everyone who has left the “system”, God gives qualities that are the novelty of this person, his belonging to another world, to the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Lord gave the Rev. Mark the visible and explicit authority over mankind's worst enemy - death. Christ can give such gifts because He conquered death and is able to give His victory. Just as in ancient times, kings brought their young children to tied and defeated enemies, and the children stepped foot on the enemy neutralized by the pope. The victory of the father belonged to them too - the pope gave it to them.

Also, Christ gives us His victory over death. Without Him, we are helpless children. With Him are the victors of the devil, sin, and death. And as far as we reveal ourselves to Christ, as far as we give Him a place in our heart, as far as we allow Him to act in our lives, we will be able to perceive His victory, His strength and His gracious gifts.

Rev. Mark is one of those who dared to leave the "system" of sin. All the fathers lying in relics in the Lavra caves are new people in whom Christ has invested some new quality of His Kingdom of Heaven. And they are able to teach us, the inhabitants of the 21st century, this novelty.

That's why we go there, in the twilight of Kiev caves, to the relics of the saints - to breathe the air of new life, to join the Kingdom of God, to gain strength in order to get out of the "system" and us. We go there to learn how to conquer death, not by the falsehood of sin, but by true life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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May Saint Mark pray to Christ on the day of his repose so that we will find genuine life where it really is - in God.

Pray for us, Father Marco! So that we get everything that God wants from us.