General Polyanovskii, “New Israel”

The following is a short chapter from Establishment of Unity by Archbishop John (Shahovskoy).

He had been taken as a seven year old boy, from a Jewish family of the Chernigov province, into the Cantonists[1] during the time of Nikolai Pavlovich [Nicholas I]. When he was a colonel at General Headquarters and a talented astronomer, he visited his poor Jewish family in Chernigov province. It is hard to imagine what that meeting was like. What he said and what they said to him, I do not know. He was already a convinced and profound Orthodox idealist and had his own believing family. It is only known that he displayed a love that would be understandable to his old Jewish family.

Forcefully taken and sent to an elementary school somewhere in Kazan, the poor Jewish boy felt all the bitterness of being abandonded by people but all the sweetness of being protected by angels. Basically, when he was still a child, against his will he was “tonsured” into a new life and, of course, his second and real tonsure in his elderly years separated him from his previous life than that first stern hand of Nikolai’s Chernigov province official.

The boy’s businesslike, sharp mind quickly and obediently adapted to his new situation. Not receiving baptism conscientiously, he quickly filled up his consciousness with those grains of revelation which fell to him from the catechists table at his first school. It was not hard for him to study. What was hard was for him to tolerate the low level of morality of his classmates and even of the teachers. With a broken heart and pain he would remember that first period of his introduction into the Orthodox world.

Then there was secondary school. As a talented student he was sent on for further studies. After graduating from the military academy as an officer with great capabilities, the young man was sent to the Academy of General Headquarters to the land-surveying department. He left as one of the few military astronomers, worked in Pulkovo, went on assignments throughout Russia, occupied an important post in Siberia, and went up in the ranks and in his own self knowledge.

He got attached to the Church passionately with all his bright Jewish personality. At the time when I knew him, he looked very much like an Old Testament patriarch. He had a large, pinkish-white, cultured face and a very pure, childlike, wise, and calm eyes.

When he lived in St. Petersburg, he became friends with the well-known (in church circles) Fr. Sergei Slepyan, an English Jew, full of love for Christ, who converted to Orthodoxy and became a priest in Russia. These two Jew-Christians who had solid social standing in Russia, dreamed about a time when the creative Word of God would call into existence an Orthodox Jewish Church. It would probably be more universal than local. The New Israel would surely blend with the already existing Apostolic New Israel, that is, Christianity, the Kingdom of God’s children, among whom there is neither Greek nor Jew.

“I am New Israel,” would Mikhail Pavlovich joyfully and triumphantly tell me. I often visited him. It would happen that I would come and, standing in the yard in front of the door, would see him from behind slowly praying. He especially liked to pray with the Psalms; it was obvious that he felt, as no one else, their essence and was experiencing exactly what King David had experienced. “O God, be attentive unto helping me; O Lord, make haste to help me,” [Psalm 69:1] he repeated with joy and self-denial.

I loved him very much. In him I saw a living personification of the promise of God given to the Jewish people. By the beginning of our acquaintanceship, he walked with two canes but rather briskly. Using them like oars, he walked and the only thing that was hard for him was to stop when he needed to on the street. His life was getting close to 90.

St. Gerasimus of Palestine [of the Jordan] had a special meaning for him. He communicated with saints as with real people. His life consisted of prayer and recording the barometric pressure and temperature. His hand wrote it as if by itself, though he had no use for it now, and he could not refuse it.

Mikhail Pavlovich’s hair was uncut; white and silky, the locks fell right on his silver general’s shoulder straps. At all times did he come to communion in his uniform.

His lunch was delivered from the local Russian refugee organization. I mention this detail as it is connected with one of Mikhail Pavlovich’s qualities (the best quality in a general), that is, humility. In regard to this service, he happened to grumble at the director’s wife, and that little sin immediately became an obstacle to his unceasing prayer. And Mikhail Pavlovich decided to pull this sin out with its roots. The next Sunday, at the door of the church, he, before all the people, in full general’s uniform, he dropped to his knees before that elderly lady and asked for forgiveness. Some of those who themselves did not yet completely know why they went to church smiled. And particularly due to the inevitability of such smiles was Mikhail Pavlovich’s humility revealed.

He died because his time had come. After his final communion on the Dormition of the Mother of God, I visited him. He lay in bed and sang in an old, shaky voice, “In giving birth thou didst preserve thy virginity; in thy dormition thou didst not forsake the world, O Theotokos.” The long awaited was coming; he was going to his God. He was returning to his Heavenly Father carrying the cup of his life, filled to the brim.

1. For more information on Cantonists, see Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantonist

On St. Nikolaj (Velimirovic)

The following translation is an excerpt from the chapter “White Church” (a village in Serbia) from the book Establishment of Unity by Archbishop John (Shahovskoy).

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God … But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” (1 Cor. 2:14-15) I met and learned from such spiritual pastors. Such was the meeting with an apostle of the Church of our days, the Right Reverend Nikolaj (Velimirovich) of Ochrid (subsequently Zica).

In 1928, I visited the small ancient town of Ochrid, which lies between mountains on the amazingly blue Lake Ochrid. In a fatherly manner, I was received by Vladyka Nikolaj in his large but simple archpastoral home. I remember that I went with him on a trip beyond the mountain to a monastery’s feast day on a carriage harnessed to a pair of horses.

I saw how the whole population of the town, half of which were Muslim, greeted him on the streets. In those years, Kemal Ataturk took the fez off of men in Turkey but the citizens of Yugoslavia were not connected to such an order of the Turkish dictator and continued to wear their dark-red fezzes. And when Vladyka Nikolaj went by them they smiled widely and greeted him touching their hand to their forehead and chest. It was a Muslim gesture but the smile was Christian. Here was ecumenism before “ecumenism”.[1] Every person believing in God manifested the inherent humanity in themselves, the sign of closeness of God. And what Vladyka Nikolaj had told me became clear: Muslims (Serbs who were made Turks long ago) also go on pilgrimages to the grave of St. Naum, which is in an Orthodox monastery on the lake near the border of Albania. They pray there about their simple needs and instances of healing occur. Such religious co-existence of Muslims and Christians was something new for me and later I never saw it in any Christian or Muslim country.

The apostle of this mixed population of south Serbia (where so much Christian and Muslim blood had been shed over the centuries), Vladyka Nikolaj said, “These simple believing Muslim-Serbs are similar to the Orthodox living near them.” I was convinced of this by an Athonite monk who was traveling the country to collect funds for a monastery. He sometimes noticed more sympathy among the Muslim towns of Serbia than among the Christian towns.

I saw how Vladyka Nikolaj behaved himself among his Orthodox people at the feast of the monastery on Lake Ochrid. There was simplicity and piety in the people and in the bishop himself. There was not a shade of familiarity, abstractness, or artificiality of word or gesture. The people surrounded their father. There was spirituality in that feast and no ceremonialism or fanfare. This was the spirit of the Early Church, and I was reminded of the images of Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, and Athanasius of Alexandria. Those surrounding the Right Reverend Nikolaj on the shore were not waiting a tender smile or tales but only something beneficial for the soul.

Bishop Nikolaj became the religious leader of Serbia. Being a great writer, thinker, and poet, he corroborated with secular papers in Belgrade, teaching among the people. (I remember his simple and pointed articles in the paper Politica: “Войниче, не псуй,” that is, “Soldier, don’t swear,” a very relevant article for not only a soldier.) His “Missionary Letters” comforted the people and taught faith with their concise literary form and poignant religious thought. None of the “usual” words were here, everything was new and unexpected and interesting for the people.

A friendship with Right Reverend Nikolaj was maintained until his repose. After being freed from a German concentration camp, together with Patriarch Gabriel, after the war he did not return to his homeland but went to England where he strove to influence Churchill and the politics of England in relation to Serbia. England, however, made a stake on Tito. Vladyka Nikolaj moved to the United States and after a short time settled in our St. Tikhon Monastery in Pennsylvania.

We occasionally met. In the beginning of 1947, when I was the dean of Holy Virgin Mary Church in Los Angeles, he visited me and I found out from him about the preparation for my becoming a bishop. “Do not refuse!,” he said in a firm, fatherly way. I recorded a touching, religious song. In Serbia, it was made the anthem of the “Bogomoltsev” [Pilgrims] Serbian Orthodox movement:

Помози нам, Вишни Боже,

Без Тебе ништо не може,

Ни орати, ни спевати,

Ни за правду воевати…[2]

The image of Right Reverend Nikolaj also helped my ministry. This was the way of apostolic ministry in our day. From the very beginning, my pastoral ministry was combined, as was his, with writing. A stranger to convention and superficiality, I also strove for simplicity, fresh humane words, and sincerity of faith. And, like him, I wanted to mobilize and turn secular literature to service of the Word. Even now I believe that secular culture and literature are really given to humanity in order to help promote Divine Truth. Vladyka Nikolaj one day said to me, “When I was a young man and returned to Serbia from Western Europe and St. Petersburg with various diplomas, I began to learn faith from my parents.”

1. Meaning: “Here was ecumenism before there even was such a thing.”
2. Help us, God above,
Without Thee nothing can we do
Neither plow nor sing
Nor fight for truth…
[verses rhyme in Serbian...]

Letter Eleven of Fr. Clement Sederholm to His Father

Please forgive the close to four month absence, it seems a four + month old doesn’t leave much spare time for translation. But we’ll continue in the series of Fr. Clement’s letters; however, I don’t know when the next installation will turn out to be.

Christ is Risen! In Truth He is Risen! I heartily wish you, most dear father,  kind mother, and all of you to happily and merrily meet the feast.

I had already decided to finish my letter which I had began to you but I received your kind lines from the fourth of April. You write that if I find something in your letters which would be awkward to answer then to leave it without an answer. On the contrary, recently our correspondence has become especially interesting and I have many subjects in mind about which I would like to know your opinion. But I only would like that in your letters you would not so much busy yourself with arguments against false views but would rather speak positively about views which, according to you, are true. The negation of falsehood is unsatisfactory and does not provide a positive truth. This time I would like to know your opinion about “heresy” and “heretics.” But I repeat, tell me your positive view and not that, for example, which you can say against the view of, in this case, the Roman church. That the Roman church is in many ways mistaken is well known and we warrant you [Protestants] the fact that you protest against Roman abuses. But it is very far from protest against untruth to positive truth. Besides Roman errors regarding heresy (which we also do not accept) there is a correct view for which I find an explanation in the New Testament, which you also consider the foundation for true Christian teaching. The apostle says, there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. (1 Cor. 11:19); but it is clear that it is not heretics who are approved Christians and due to human weakness and corruption they must be considered in society predators and so forth. But in spite of this those people continue to go their own way, that is, into prison, into Siberia, etc. But the main question is what is heresy and who, in essence, are heretics? This is what I would like to know your opinion about. The Apostle Peter says, there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies (2 Peter 2:1). The principal place about which I would like that you expressed your opinion is the following (Titus 3:10-11) A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. Who, in essence, according to your opinion, are these self-condemned people, and what are the indications, on the foundation of the Gospel, of true Christians, from whom these people separate themselves? You talk about your heartfelt wish to convey to a dear to you soul all that stirs your soul. For my part, I would accept your communications with much interest and, if you like, I would also like to hear your opinion about many other interesting subjects.

April 14, 18[6]4

Seventh Sunday Matins Gospel

As you have seen, I did not manage to complete the last few weeks Matin’s Gospels, so hopefully the next time around I’ll get them finished. For now, here is the current reading.

Have You Thanked Your Babushka Today?

By Initiative of the Syktyvkar Eparchy in the Republic of Komi Will be Celebrated the Day of Orthodox Grandmothers

Your Typical Russian Orthodox Babushka

The press secretary of the Syktyvkar and Vorkuta Eparchy, Igumen Philip (Filatov) announced that on July 24, believers of the eparchy will for the first time celebrate the day of Orthodox grandmothers. According to him, it will be celebrated on the day of Holy Equal to the Apostles Princess Olga (in baptism Elena) the grandmother of the Holy Prince Vladimir, the baptiser of Rus’. Princess Olga has a particular place in the assembly of saints of the Orthodox Church. The uniting of Rus’ to the family of Christian nations and peoples was in many ways a result of the upbringing that she gave to her grandson. Fr. Philip remarked, “Presently Mother’s Day, the Day of Love, Family, and Fidelity, and Father’s Day are celebrated in Komi. It will be just to also remember about the older generation, i.e., grandmothers. Specifically our grandmothers carried the Holy Orthodox Faith through the difficult time for the Church of the Soviet period. Moreso, our Church also now in many ways stands upon their prayers. Upon the older generation partially lies the responsibility for the moral and spiritual upbringing of grandchildren. We hope that the celebration of grandmothers will become annual and have already appealed with a request to support our initiative to the minister of education of the Republic of Komi”.

“On the morning of July 24, in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Syktyvkara the Divine Liturgy will be celebrated. On the square in front of the cathedral will be served a moleben, after which believers will proceed into the White Hall of the house of the bishop. Students of the city’s orphanages, summer workshops, and Orthodox children’s camps and Orthodox grandmothers with their grandchildren are invited to the celebration. At the bishop’s house will be tea and a musical concert,” recounted Fr. Philip. (Source)

Letter Ten of Fr. Clement Sederholm to His Father

In your last letter you asked me how I, without an alphabet [the basics?], want to make a grammatical, historical exegesis in order to penetrate into the meaning of Scripture. Academic exegesis is, all the same, an invention of the mind, and the mind did not come from exegesis, therefore, even though it helps many, it is not such an urgent necessity. By the way, if there will be the possibility, I will try to acquire exegesis. Many have the correct understanding even without exegesis, and many others are mistaken in their exegesis as a few Swiss pastors, who consider it unnecessary to believe in the Holy Trinity, in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Name in which they were baptized. By the way, if you re-read my last letter you would see that I only asked what can be done without exegesis. I openly admit to you that in your letter I did not find any answer to my questions. So, for example, I asked you to explain the Apostolic words (Jude 1:19) that people, having separated themselves from the unity of faith, are natural [1 Cor. 2:14] and do not have the Spirit. You pass over that place in silence and say only that a Christian must strive for unity. Why does not the Apostle not say that about those who do not strive for unity, but only about those who separate themselves from it? You have not explained this. In place of this you object to opinions which I never said and against trends which our Church never had. For example, you speak about those who say that they already perfectly attained to the truth of everything holy and about those who want to cover up human errors in the Church with divine rules. What gave you cause for this I do not know. About the first, I never spoke and never even thought. The second has a bit of truth in relationship to the Roman church, against which you justly object to in many things, but that does not concern our Church, which you very often do not separate from the Roman Church. That which concerns the Church itself, I find contradictions in you. At first you, as it were, agree that it is from God, but then, as it were, reject its divine beginning and relate it to an institution. Well, no. The Church is the pillar and ground of truth [I Tim. 3:15], and the Lord said, I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it [Matt. 16:18]. What kind of comparison can be made here with an institution? I don’t understand.

Well, I wrote to you what came to mind and what was passed to the pen.

January 25, 1864

The Patriarch and the President

I just have to say that I think Patriarch Kirill is a much better spontaneous speaker. (note: If you turn it up loud enough you can probably hear the simultaneous English translation. Also look out for the patriarchs few replies in English.)

more about "The Patriarch and the President", posted with vodpod

Fourth Gospel Reading from Matins

Just completed the Gospel reading for today’s (meaning Sunday’s) Matins.

Letter Nine of Fr. Clement Sederholm to His Father

In my last letter I asked you the question: do you think that the Gospel or something else is the foundation and characteristic of Christian truth? You answered that from this you see how far we still stand apart from one another, and say that I am lacking much before we come to general agreement concerning divine things. I asked you that question particularly because I know that I lack much and wanted to bring into clarity that interesting subject. But as you explain that it is better to leave it and find a different subject for discussion I searched and, it seems to me, found such a subject about which I would like to know your opinion, particularly:

The apostle says, One Lord, one faith. Endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in a bond of peace (Eph. 4:5, 3). And in another place, you are of one spirit, have the same love, be of one accord, of one mind (Phil. 2:2), that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God (Rom. 15:6), and so forth. How then now, besides the Eastern Church, there is the Roman Church and, yet more, Protestant, which in England has split into more than seventy sects, and in Germany are so many theological parties? And among all those societies there is not a bond of peace, nor unity of spirit, and they are not of one spirit and not of one thought. How can that be conformed to the above-mentioned words of the New Testament? And the Apostle Jude says that people, having separated themselves from the unity of faith [Jude 1:19] (Luther translates it: who spread sects; the Slavonic translation is more understandable and closer to the original), and so people, which have separated themselves from the unity of faith, do not have the Spirit. I very much would like to know your opinion about that.

December 24, 1863

Updated Text

Just letting the four of you who downloaded the communion prayers file know that, after noticing and correcting a few minor errors, I have uploaded a new file. You can download it here.

Third Gospel Reading from Matins

For those of you on the other side of the globe I have, just in time, finished a Church Slavonic interlinear text of the third Gospel reading for Matins (to be read today at vigil or in the morning). You can download the pdf here.

Church Slavonic

At long last I have finally completed to completion the first text to be added to a new section of this weblog dedicated to the advancement of the knowledge of Church Slavonic. The first text is a collection (in parallel) of prayers in preparation for Holy Communion according to a booklet published by Jordanville. I will be adding more texts as they are completed and will announce their publication on this forum. Some texts will be in parallel, as this first, and some will be in interlinear edition. As I have stated on the new page, I am no expert in Church Slavonic and compiling these texts is also a learning experience for me, so any mistakes should be brought to my attention. If you had not guessed already, click Church Slavonic Resources at the top of the page to be transported.

Icons for the Blind

An Iconostasis for Blind and Poor-sighted Children to be Unveiled in Lipetsk

Healing of the Blind Man

A house-church with a special, three-dimensional wood iconostasis will be opened for the next school year in the Lipetsk specialized (correctional) general education boarding-school of the III-IV type for blind and poor-sighted children reports Blagovest-info with reference to the information agency Lipetsk Regional News. “The uniqueness of the iconostasis is in the fact that the icons will be adapted for the students of the school-they will be crafted in 3-D so that the students can by touch distinguish the images of the saints and the inscriptions in Braille, understandible to poor-sighted and blind people,” said Vice-Principal Elena Demekhova. Bishop Nikon of the Lipetsk and Eletsk Diocese gave a blessing for the church to be named in honor of Great-Martyr Panteleimon (patron of health services). “Work on the erecting of the church will be carried out through the course of the year on the schools funds, and woodwork will be done by teachers of the school Nikolai Neklyaev and Alexander Belyaev. The priciple material for the iconostasis is linden,” explained the vice-principal.

Demekhova remarked that this is not the first time that the school has worked with the diocese, as, by the children’s request are meetings with clerics and a choir for church singing has been formed. “Currently the correctional school has 333 students,” she added. The director of the school, Igor Batishchev, has been named a National Teacher of the Russian Federation. A few years ago the department for religious education and catechism of the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese organized a program for the spiritual nourishment of the blind. Icon carver Roman Baturin became the director of the program.

At one time Roman Baturin was the only craftsman in Russia producing icons for the blind. These icons differ from typical icons in that they are created in the form of a bas-relief. The blind can “see” such icons with their hands. In order to give the effect of ancientness, he soaks the wood in tea, coffee, and iodine. About two years ago [sic] the successful artist rejected earthly goods and began to lead an ascetic type of life. Having left his prestigious work, he returned to Nizhny Novgorod and began to carve 3D icons on wood for the blind. His acquaintanceship with Irina Sumarokova, chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod society for the blind and author of the international project for the blind The World on the Tips of the Fingers. In 2000, the work of Roman Baturin was blessed by Nikolai (Kutepov, +2002), metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas. At the begginning of 2006, a icon workshop was opened in Nizhny Novgorod for the creation of relief icons for blind people. (Russkaya Liniya)

The layman’s kamilavka…

…maybe, if we began to measure our progress and awarded belts in the Church, things would change… (Source)

Letter Seven of Fr. Clement Sederholm to His Father

You think, dearest father, that I should in my letters, and in the exchange of our thoughts, not only to work to please you but to look for my own benefit and to check my one-sided view. It seems to me that I am not holding to a one-sided but to a general view. Besides, I am ready to accept truth not only from you but from anyone, because, according to the teaching of God-inspired men, the one who accepts truth accepts God Himself. But if in your letters something is not clear to me or not convincing, then I tell you directly. For example, you write that it is subject to investigation whether a man, according to faith, can go through fire and water without harm. I won’t begin to point out examples from Church history-maybe they will not convince you. It is better for us to take them from scripture: do we not see that the three youths thrown into the furnace (Dan. 3:25), according to their faith, remained unharmed? The fire did not have any power over their bodies and even their hair remained unharmed. Until the time that the Holy Apostle Peter had firm faith, he walked on water; but as soon as faith became weak he began to sink. You write that by that fact we do not gain anything. With this we have already gained that this example, taken from the Gospel (which is for you, of course, quite convincing) demonstrates how much higher faith is than reason, because reason does not give people such power and certitude, which would preserve them unharmed in fire and water.

You find that in the book of St. Dorotheus little is said about the striving for union with the Lord. But what would you say about a sick person, who, laying on his bed, with all his heart desired to be healthy, but did not take any of the prescribed medicines because they seemed to him insufficient? If a man takes medicine at the appointed time then he, without any substantial, visible striving, will recover. And by the very fact that he takes medicine, he proves his desire to be healthy. So also in the book of St. Dorotheus is the practical striving towards the health of the soul. The one who carries out what is written in the book will receive health from the Lord and unites with Him.

This book contains a practical explanation of the evangelical commandments, and the one who desires to make use of the prescribed means by that fact proves his striving for health and in time will receive it. To you many of his instructions seem of little importance, but those trifles prove the greatness and purity of soul. For example, it cannot be said that a dress is clean when it is bespattered and think that it is a trifle. Sometimes it is by those small things that a man feels offended or not. By the way, today, in stead of ordinary pride, they have found a sort of noble pride. (The father of pride is satan. What kind of nobility can there be here?) But pride, whatever kind it may be, is pride nonetheless. In the Gospel it is said, whoever hits you on the cheek, turn to him the other [Matt. 5:39], while, according to the rules of noble pride, a duel is called for such a thing. Therefore, all that gives the soul true direction and leads it to the fulfilling of the evangelical commandments are is not a trifle but, on the contrary, extremely important.

As far as Russian kind-heartedness and Polish baseness, only one thing can be said: where the Gospel of Christ acts there is love and kind-heartedness, but where the nation has been for many centuries under the influence of fanaticism there is hatred and baseness.

August 13, 1863

New Idea for Church Discipline

Another selection from the reminiscences of Archbishop John (Shahovskoy).

My pastorship was dynamic: I loved people and was not afraid of them. Here is a small example to help understand what I mean. I remember a characteristic incident from the beginning of my pastoral path. I noticed also in White Church [Serbia] a habit familiar to me of the Russian intelligentsia and noble (at least in the past) people to be late to church. I am not talking about being a little late but arriving at the Gospel, or even the Symbol of Faith, after which starts the Eucharistic Canon-the most important part of the liturgy. The late ones in my parish were for the most part elderly former governors, vice-governors, generals, and colonels. This tardiness disturbed prayer and drew away attention from it. At the time of “holy things are for the holy” people walked around the church, placed candles, distracted the people praying, and picked out a place… I decided to make use of the forgotten experience of the early Church and stationed two young people in sticharions before the doors of the church, giving them instructions to close the doors after the Creed and not let anyone in the church.

The effect of this measure was quickly shown: beyond the doors of the church accumulated a multitude of former dignitaries having come, as usual, very late and were not allowed into the church. Of course, at first many were quite offended for this but, using this pretext, I explained from the ambon that I was not the one who offended them but they offended the Church and the ones praying there with their extreme lateness to the service; and they offended their own selves. Everything was cleared up to the benefit of all. The congregation understood and accepted my instruction.

A Striking Symbol

I’ve been reading this book, which is a compilation of autobiographical writings of Archbishop John (Shahovskoy) of San Francisco, and came across the following little-known (so I asked two people who should have known and they didn’t…) story.

I particularly closely knew Olga Alexandrovna [Romanova]. Of her remembrances, the biggest impression was made on me by her story of the hard conditions for the royal children in the family of Alexander III. The children of the emperor of all Russia were strictly raised, in a certain domestic asceticism and (strange to say) quite often went hungry. This is how Olga Alexandrovna explained it to me. Sitting at the table at the last places, the children were brought food after everyone, and they did not manage to eat all that they had taken when the plates were removed. Besides that, they were not allowed to eat anything between the common meals. The children suffered from the desire to eat but were not able to eat anything. The grand duchess retold how one day her brother Nicky, the future emperor Nicholas II, ate the contents of his baptismal cross. All the children of the imperial family were given a cross upon baptism, in which was a piece of the Cross of Christ, embedded in mastic (a glue like substance). Well, wanting to appease his hunger, the little boy Nicky, not understanding, of course, what he was doing, opened his cross and ate its contents with the piece of the Life-creating Cross. There is a striking symbol in that story.

Letter Six of Fr. Clement Sederholm to His Father

Thank you, dearest father, for your kind letter of June 8. You write that since Pascha you have not been in the condition to write anything, and that you must postpone all your speculative problems. If you cannot write anything philosophical, then maybe it would be seemly, according to your circumstances and current mood, to write something in a religious and evangelical spirit. Some people who have this philosophic thinking spread it so far out that it deviates from the Gospel or incorrectly interprets it, which, of course, you disapprove.

I read the 95th number of the Moscow Register, and many others here read it with pleasure and brought it to me. Concerning the current danger to our fatherland, we are not at all indifferent; but we see in it not as much Polish intrigues as [Roman] Catholic hostility to “Eastern heresy,” as they call the Eastern Church.

Educated Poles, living in Russia, are almost impossible to distinguish from other educated people. They often forget even their language so it is hard to recognize a Pole in them. Catholics, however, with their Roman Catholic particularities, one can recognize anywhere. Their principal distinctive characteristic, as you know, is hatred of everything non-Catholic. If you sent me the book by Gaze[?] written against the Roman Catholic Church, I would read it with pleasure and return it, and, if you like, would inform you of the impressions it made on me.

In your letter of May 14 you write that you cannot agree that faith is higher than reason and that both of them are from God. Without a doubt reason is also from God, but as in faith so in reason there are well-known degrees. Firstly, there is fleshly reason (Rom. 8:5), which concerns itself with the material life and is directed only to the perfection of it. It makes various discoveries and invents, for example, rail roads, etc. It goes no further. Secondly, there is reason of a natural man (1 Cor. 2:14), which concerns itself with a pious, moral life and works itself up to acquire virtues. This degree of reason leads to faith; that is, the one who is reasonable understands what he must believe in and without a doubt accepts the Gospel of Christ.

From faith in God we proceed, as you correctly remarked, to life in God, and that is the true Christian teaching, when we, with firmness and without relaxation, strive towards a Christian life.

So, the one who believes and lives according to the teaching of Christ, by his many efforts, reaches the degree of a spiritual person. Then, as a natural man looks after himself and does not ignore the material life, with its cares and benefits, a spiritual man lives only in faith and according to faith, does not care for his body, places all his sorrows on the Lord, without fear dwells in deserts, and is not afraid of wild animals because he knows that they are creations of the common Creator: Upon the asp and basilisk shalt thou tread, and thou shalt trample upon the lion and dragon (Ps. 90:13) and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them (Mark 16:18). Spiritual reason, that is, reason of a spiritual man, illumined through faith, through the fulfilling of Christ’s commandments, and through the particular grace of those revelations of the Lord, understands and comprehends much of what not only the fleshly but also the natural man cannot understand or comprehend. And as every man, with his ordinary human reason, can comprehend much, much more so can the spiritual man look upon everything correctly, judge, and comprehend all; but he himself cannot be judged or comprehended by anyone (1 Cor. 2:15). Therefore, if reason in its intermediate degree, that is, when it concerns itself with the soul and leads us only to faith, and in its highest degree of growth through faith receives all its strength and illumination, then how can reason be placed higher than faith? This is just as if a public school was placed higher than a gymnasium, or even a university.

“The desire,” you say, “to give yourself an account as to how, what and why is probably from God.” Of course it is so. But the unmistakable way to that lies through faith and through life corresponding to the commandments of Christ. And the one who seeks another way and prematurely wants to learn the how and why is like a man who, not having gone to secondary school and not having studied, wants to comprehend mathematics or metaphysics with all their nuances. Such a man will never learn anything nor will comprehend anything. In exactly the same way that man will never reach his goal who, by his ordinary reason, wants to comprehend all that is comprehended by faith and, not only by faith, but also by the fulfilling of Christ’s commandments and the grace of God. Without a doubt, faith is subtler and more piercing than reason and gives man a higher and subtler understanding. Reason arises doubts and fear; faith gives hope. In the Christian Church there have been examples that, through faith, people did not burn in fire or did not drown in water. With only his own reason man cannot do that. The Lord said that signs will follow them that believe (Mark 16:17).

From all my heart I wish you all the best from God, Who abundantly can send us all that we ask of Him.

June 29, 1863

The Latest from Ambigu-dox Yushchenko

There is no forgiveness, and there will be none.

The last I checked such a precept was not in the Orthodox catechism.

Also see here.

Patriarch Kirill’s Speech at Students’ Forum Faith and Works, IV

The final part of the speech, continued from part III.

And now the last thing which I would like to say. As a human civilization we have truly entered into a very difficult period, a period of a crisis existence. It is a big mistake to think that somewhere some kind of mortgage problems are the reason for the failure of the world’s economics. That view of the current crisis is too primitive.

I try to ask about the origin of this crisis when I talk with people who are competent in that, such as politicians and economists. I have yet to been given one clear and convincing answer where this misfortune came from. How did it happen that money disappeared? Where did the falling off of production come from? Well, it would be understandable if the falling off of production were caused by oversaturation, but there is no trace of oversaturation. Classical Marxist economics said that a crisis results from overproduction. Well, maybe, somewhere something extra has been produced but we have not seen or felt such a thing.

There are some hidden, not yet evident to me reasons for the world’s economic crisis. As I always tend to theological introspection, I’ve tried to apply my religious views and my understanding of the world and man to what is happening today. Such an answer is what appears to me: the world today is not only shaken by an economical crisis. We’ve already talked about ecological problems, and the World Russian People’s Council, in the frame of which our gathering today is arranged, is concerned about this problem. It’s completely obvious that we are going through an ecological crisis. We’ve already talked about the culture of post-modernism. For is not everything that is happening in this sphere a cultural crisis? Besides, isn’t there a crisis of national identity? Not long ago at all in this country every, no matter where you looked, there was a crisis, in economy, in culture, in education, and in sports. But if now there is a system crisis, not only here but in the whole world, then, perhaps, there is a common foundation of that crisis? My answer is this. There is a first cause: this is a crisis of the human person, a crisis of moral feeling, and a crisis of a loss of values.

For if moral values are lost, if moral feeling is eclipsed, then why not criminalize economics and not only locally. Why not criminalize it globally? Why not print as many papers of a certain color, which we all know well [meaning dollars], so that it would provoke colossal processes of inflation and, of course, would become one of the reasons of an economic crisis? If morality is taken out of economics then why not do such things and, all the more, if you have a printing press in your own hands? Why not sell those very papers? Money is an equivalent of work and, until recently, only human efforts were called a product, as well as, as the engineers say, the outcome of such efforts, i.e., goods and real valuables. But in the last ten years a majority of the capital was based on a speculative foundation, because money, loans, and all that which the modern financial market is made of began to be sold. People began to get rich quick only playing with currency exchange rates or on the stock market, buying or selling shares. They practically received billions out of thin air; but this is impossible! Money is an equivalent of real labor and real valuables. If there aren’t, however, valuables, how can an economy exist? Only those people and those systems can act such who completely separate economic activity from morality.

It is the very same in the sphere of politics. We lost a lot, including during the 90s, when one thing was declared and something else was done. This is a very painful period in the history of our country. Thank God that this page has been turned and now we should value and preserve that which we have. The Church, being outside of politics and not giving any preference to one or another political power, underlines that today’s policy of the country agrees with our national interests. And God forbid that speculation on economic problems, which currently appeared in our society from outside and not by our own fault, would return us again to the reality of the 90s, when we easily could have lost Russia. We all must be very vigilant, and it’s important to have theological introspection and the voice of conscience also must work well to be able to distinguish truth from lie and good from bad.

I’m deeply convinced, and as patriarch I speak not only about Russia but of historical Rus, of Holy Rus, that if all our people, the people of historical Russia can unite the heavenly and earthly, the Divine and human, faith and knowledge, and morality and the manifestation of the human person in society, we will be very strong, we will be stronger than any crisis. But if we again are seduced by the next “isms,” by other pseudo-phylosophies, which in the informational flow that inundates us as the sign of post-modern reality, then perhaps the country will not withstand that this time.

We live at a responsible time. We have no right for mistakes, and here is why. This morning I served liturgy at Butovo where were killed more than 20 thousand people, many of them priests, monks, nuns, and believers. That is our Russian Golgotha, the Golgotha of our country, because not only were there Russians and Orthodox. It may seem that we can’t learn anything from this tragedy. But, there is something very important: the tragedy of the 20th century gave us unique experience of life without God. Nowhere in the world was undertaken such a radical attempt to construct human happiness without God, and this ended up either at such places as Butovo or with the creation of a superstate, which in an instant collapsed without even a shot being fired. We have experience which no one else has and therefore we don’t have the right for mistakes.

If, setting off with that historical experience, we will act uniting the spiritual and material, then truly we will construct a most prosperous society, which would become an example for many.

Thank you for your attention.