November 9 is the memorial day of St. Nestor.
The monk Nestor came to the Kiev-Pechersk monastery in the 11th century, took monastic vows and became a deacon. His life took place at a time when Rus' was torn by princely conflicts, the Polovtsians destroyed cities, burned temples and took people captive. In 1096 they looted the Pechersk monastery itself, which Nestor witnessed.
And during these tumultuous years for Ross, the monk worked to preserve its history. He wrote the lives of the holy princes Boris and Gleb, the monk Theodosius of Pechersk, and the work "The Story of Bygone Years" is associated with his name, thanks to which we received information about the first Russian princes, the baptism of Rus and the founding of our state.
But Nestor was not only a chronicler, but first of all a monk and ascetic. In 1091, he was the one entrusted with the task of finding the relics of Saint Theodosius of Pechersk. Together with his brother he worked all night in the cave and in the morning he discovered the remains of the saint. And later he himself described what happened, and left evidence of this event.
Nine hundred years later, we read about the first centuries of Ross, sometimes without thinking about whose work these historical records were preserved. The monk Nestor left to his descendants the history of Ross, in which, alongside princely wars and state affairs, stand the baptism of our people, the deeds of the martyrs and the life of the church.
Venerable Father Nestor, pray to God for us!