Киево-Печерский патерик

This happened during the reign of Svyatopolk in Kiev, during the times of civil strife. One man came from Smolensk before Abbot John, wanting to become a monk. The abbot tonsured him as a monk and named him Prokhor. The monk limited himself so much in everything that he did not even eat bread. He collected loboda, rubbed it with his own hands, made bread and lived from it. I prepared loboda for the whole year. Seeing his patience and restraint, God turned bitterness into sweetness, sadness into joy. And they called him Labodnik.

A great famine came . One person, following the example of Prokhor, collected loboda, made bread, but could not eat it because of its bitterness. Blessed Prokhor took on even more work - he collected the potion, ground it, made loaves, and distributed it to people. And this bread was sweet, as if with honey. If anyone took the monk’s bread secretly, without blessing, then it was bitter.

One ​​of the brothers who stole the bread went to the abbot to repent. He did not believe that this could be so, he ordered the second brother to go to Prokhor, ask for one loaf of bread, and steal the second. That brother brought loaves. And indeed: the sweet was blessed, and the bitter was stolen, which was impossible to eat.

After such a miracle, the fame of the monk Prokhor spread everywhere. And then Svyatopolk and David quarreled, and merchants from Galich and Przemysl were not allowed in. There was no salt throughout the Russian land. The robberies began.

Prokhor already had his own cell. He secretly collected the ashes from everyone and distributed them to people. The ashes turned into pure salt. Everyone took as much as they needed. This caused envy among the salt merchants. They complained to the prince. Svyatopolk decided to get rich and ordered to take all the salt from Prokhor. When they brought it, it turned out that it was ordinary ashes. The prince ordered to keep it for 3 days and throw it away. The monk told the laymen who came to him for salt that he had been robbed. Let them wait until the prince throws out the ashes, collect them and it will be salt. And so it happened. The prince, having learned about Prokhor's deeds, was ashamed, repented and began to respect him. Prokhor told the prince that when, by the will of God, he leaves the world earlier, then let Svyatopolk personally, without malice, bury him. Then the prince will have success in everything. One day Prokhor fell ill, and his last hour had come. He informed the prince, who was at war at the time. Svyatopolk disbanded his troops, came to the monastery and did everything as he promised. From that time on, I honored holy people and had good luck in everything.