marioepol 1

Ignatius of Mariupol [1715-1786]... 

was born at the beginning of the 18th century... 

on the Greek island of Kythnos in the village of Thermia. 

He was the son of the well-known noble and devout Yezedinos family. 

As a young man he went to the Holy Mountain Athos, where a relative was a monk at the Monastery of Vatopedi. Because he loved the monastic state with his whole heart, he abandoned every worldly vanity and was tonsured a monk with the name of Ignatius. Later he was ordained priest.

Because of his virtue... 

he was invited to be the shepherd of a far-way flock, which was under the harsh yoke of the Tartars. 

In 1769, 54 years old, he was consecrated Bishop of Gothia and Kafa in the Crimea. 

He was known as a kind-hearted and indefatigable bishop, who won the love and respect of his downtrodden [vertrapte] flock. As a reward for his great service, the Patriarch of Constantinople gave him the title of Archbishop, and made him a member of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

His contemporaries considered him an honorable man... 

devout, moral and vigilant. 

He was of peaceful countenance and angelic temperament, experienced in matters of the Church, and had many natural talents and abilities. With these endowments, he was destined to become the new Moses to his enslaved flock. 

He undertook the onerous [zware,lastige,drukkende] and difficult task of organizing the exodus of the Orthodox from the Crimea, which was under the Turco-Tartar yoke, and leading them to the Christian region of the Sea of Azov, which was under Russian suzerainty. 

Having tearfully prayed for years to God concerning the harassment of his flock... 

he decided on withdrawal from the Crimea peninsula.

He was well aware of the immediate danger to the Orthodox Christians... 

in terms of their spiritual and physical elimination. 

He began secret talks with the Russian government...

and managed to complete a record of the Russian, Christian population of the Crimea.

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After the Divine Liturgy on April 23rd of 1778... 

in the cave church of the Skete of the Dormition of the Mother of God... 

he told the faithful to prepare to leave the land where they had been enslaved and humiliated for so many years. People he could trust told all the faithful on the peninsula the precise details of the departure. 

The Tartar authorities were caught completely by surprise, and so were unable to hinder the mass of people. The people had to leave their property, their houses and their land, their churches and the graves of their ancestors. The long and difficult march began in June 1778.

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They bore before them the Bakhchysarai icon of the Mother of God... 

which protected them. 

About 50,000 Greeks abandoned the Crimea.

For his courage, daring, bravery and achievement, the Empress Catherine awarded him a high honor: the adamantine pectoral icon of the Mother of God. 

[bron]