Icon of St. Catherine the Great Martyr. The life of the saint, reverence and prayer

About how the holy Great Martyr Catherine glorified the Lord with her earthly life and a glorious death, we learn from a very limited number of sources that have come down to us. These are the records of her servant and stenographer Athanasius, Byzantine writer and religious figure Simeon Metaphrast and, finally, three works whose authorship is not established. However, her example of serving God is so bright and edifying that she occupies one of the main places in the congregation of Orthodox saints.

Young Dorothea

The future Great Martyr Catherine was born in the largest Egyptian city of Alexandria in 287 and before her conversion to the faith of Christ bore the pagan name of Dorothea. Her parents were wealthy people and were able to provide their daughter a happy and carefree childhood. When it was time to start studying, the best teachers of the city were invited to the house for her. The girl, distinguished by an inquisitive and sharp mind, quickly acquired knowledge.

In those years, the famous Alexandria library that was subsequently destroyed was destroyed, and collected in its stores the creations of many outstanding thinkers of the past. There, the young girl became more frequent. In this temple of wisdom she got acquainted with the writings of ancient poets and philosophers, having studied in advance the languages on which they were written. Here, she comprehended the secrets of oratorical art, dialectics and the secrets of medicine, revealed to her in the writings of Hippocrates, Asclepius and Galen.

The stubborn bride

The icon of St. Catherine the Great Martyr, so familiar to most believers, presents us the image of a young and beautiful girl. It is this, according to the information about it, that was the future saint. Adding to the external appeal of a living mind and a rare for those times education, it is easy to understand what success it enjoyed in the best suitors of Egypt.

Catherine's parents, using favorable circumstances, tried to give the daughter in marriage and find her the most brilliant party. However, the girl was intractable and set the condition that the person to whom she would agree to give her hand and heart should not yield to her in beauty, or in education, or in nobility or wealth. In those days, the word "mesalliance" was not yet in use - an unequal marriage, but even then the beautiful and wealthy brides knew their worth.

Visiting the desert-dweller

Icon of the Great Martyr Catherine, whose photo is placed at the beginning of the article and which is represented in most Orthodox churches, shows us her already accepted true faith, but this was preceded by an important event that became a turning point in the life of the girl. The fact is that Catherine's mother secretly confessed the crucified and risen Christ. Her spiritual father was a Syrian monk, hiding from a vain world in a remote cave. The secret Christian brought his daughter to him.

Often there is an icon of St. Catherine the Great Martyr, where she is depicted on the background of a river, beyond which lies a ridge of lifeless hills. Obviously, it was they who chose the place of their stay as a Syrian hermit who opened the young virgin faith in Christ. He told her that there was a young man in everything that surpassed her, and, saying goodbye, gave the icon of the Virgin with the Infant in his arms, teaching in prayer to ask the Queen of Heaven to show her this Youth - Her Son.

Acquiring the Christian Faith

The life of the Great Martyr Catherine testifies that the same night in the dream vision the Virgin appeared to the Virgin, but the Eternal Infant did not wish to look at her until the virgin had washed the water of holy baptism. Waking up in tears, Catherine again went to the cavernous cave where the wise old man, instructing her in the foundations of the Christian faith, performed over her the great mystery that bound her forever with the Son of God.

Happy, she returned home and, tired of the long journey, forgot a light sleep. As soon as the girls closed, the Queen of Heaven appeared again before her, but this time Her Son, with a caress in his eyes, handed the maiden a wedding ring - a sign that from now on He had become her heavenly Bridegroom. Waking up, Catherine found on her finger a wonderful gift from Jesus.

In anticipation of a pagan holiday

In those early years, Egypt was part of the eastern part of the Roman state and was under the jurisdiction of the emperor. Periodically, in the largest city of Alexandria, pagan celebrations were organized, to which the ruler of the empire himself arrived. One such holiday was expected soon after the events described above.

The icon of Catherine the Great Martyr often represents her holding flowers or a palm branch. This is not accidental. Both are symbolic of peace and love, inalienable from the Savior's teaching. The young Christian woman wanted to bring them to the wallowed in pagan delusions. She came to the festival with one purpose - to convince the emperor of the fallacy of his views and to show him the light of truth.

Controversy with the emperor

A young and beautiful girl immediately attracted the attention of the Roman ruler, and when she turned to him with philosophical speeches, so unusual for women's lips, he was confused and did not find anything to object to. To help himself the emperor called a whole crowd of court wise men, who, after entering into a polemic with the girl, were defeated by the indisputability of her arguments. It is not for nothing that the icon of Catherine the Great Martyr often represents a saint with an unfolded scroll in her hands, thereby underscoring her profound learning.

The sages, not justified the emperor's hopes, were immediately sent to the fire. Before they died, they publicly announced that, convinced by the eloquence of Catherine, they themselves want to accept Christianity and die for the sake of true faith and the one who brought it to people. Ancient authors who told the world about these events, reported that when the flame of the fires died down, the remains of the executed were not touched by fire.

Undaunted in torment

The most common icon of St. The Great Martyr Catherine in her composition includes the image of the cogwheel, which became the instrument of torture, with the help of which the pagan emperor tried to force her to renounce her convictions. He had to resort to this remedy when he could not achieve what he desired by promises of wealth and honor, flattery, or intimidation.

Counting on the fact that the torments of hunger will make the girl to be more accommodating, the emperor threw her into a dungeon and ordered him not to give food. But the Lord did not abandon the saint, and for twelve days the dove brought food to the young prisoner, supporting the body forces in it and strengthening the spirit. Further in the life of the saint it is narrated that the wheel itself, which the icon of Catherine the Great Martyr represents as a testimony to her fearlessness, was swept away by an unknown force, hardly condemned to the torment brought to him.

Without a shadow of fear came the saint to the scaffold, on which, at the behest of the emperor, the executioner had to truncate its head. When the execution was completed, it was blood, not milk, that flowed from the opened wound. All present witnessed the angels of God picking up a lifeless body and carrying it to the top of Sinai.

Wonderful acquisition of relics and creation of hymnography

Three hundred years later the monks near the monastery had a vision, obedience to which they ascended to the top of the mountain and found the incorrupt relics of the saint - its head and right hand, identified by the monks according to the ring that was preserved on it. A priceless relic was transferred to the monastery. Today, the holy relics rest in marble cancer, installed in the main temple of the monastery built on Sinai, bearing its name. The icon of Catherine the Great Martyr located there is equipped with a relic, in which her finger is kept.

The hymnography of St. Catherine originates in the IX century. During this period the Monk Theophanes of Nicaea and his closest associate Vavil dedicated to her a whole series of hymns created by them. It is believed that the troparion to the holy martyr Catherine was also written at that time. To Russia, who accepted baptism and became a number of Christian nations, they, like many other church texts, were translated from Greek. Obviously, at the same time Kontakion was written to St. Catherine the Great Martyr, in which she is called the all-round, re-enacted serpent and tamed the mind of the rhetoricians.

The Adoration of the Holy Great Martyr in Russia

For a long time, Russia has established its veneration. Rarely will you find a temple in which, among other images, the icon of the Great Martyr Catherine is not represented. In Moscow, this image can be seen in the main cathedral of the country - the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. There in 2010 brought from Egypt relics holy for universal worship. Many believers, among other images that make up the home iconostasis, have an icon of Catherine the Great Martyr.

What helps this saint? It is considered that since in her earthly life she was distinguished by an unusual mind and education, then, being in the mountain world, the great martyr can patronize all students, regardless of the level of education, as well as people engaged in mental work. Another vocation of the saint is to help lonely girls, since she herself ended her life without getting married.