THE ORTHODOX WORD
A BIMONTHLY PERIODICAL
1967 Vol. 3, No.3 (14)
June-July
Established with the blessing of His Eminence the late John (Maximovitch), Archbishop of Western America and San Francisco, Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
Editors: Eugene Rose, M.A., & Gleb Podmoshensky, B.Th.
Printed by the Father Herman Brotherhood. Text set in 10-point Garamont type, titles in 18-point Goudy Bold.
CONTENTS
73 The Life of St. John the Russian by Photios Kontoglou
87 The Miracles of Father Herman of Alaska
89 St. Mark of Ephesus and the False Union of Florence by Archimandrite Amvrossy Pogodin
103 Address of St. Mark of Ephesus on the Day of His Death
107 A Pilgrimage to the Orthodox Holy Places of America: The Seventh Pilgrimage
COVER: The chapel at Fort Ross, seen from the West; courtesy of Miss Ija Podmoschenskaja. Back cover: the Imperial eagle; courtesy of "Russian Life", San Francisco, California.
Copyright 1967 by Orthodox Christian Books & Icons.
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THE LIFE OF
ST. JOHN THE RUSSIAN
WHOSE VENERABLE RELICS ARE FOUND IN NEW PROCOPION ON THE ISLAND OF EUBOIA
IN GREECE, a land filled with the relics of a multitude of Saints, many of whom are incorrupt, such as St. Spyridon of Corfu, St. Gerasimos of Kephallonia, and St. Dionysios of Zacinthos, St. John the Russian along with St. Nectarios of Pentapolis has become the most widely loved of all the Saints.
Miracles beyond number flow from his relics and icons, and there is no Orthodox home which does not contain bis holy icon.
Two recent miracles of St. John were the miraculous healings of two severe cases of meningitis one a nineteen year old shepherd boy in southern Greece and the other a three year old boy in London.
He is especially venerated by travellers, and his icon is found in buses and other transport vehicles because of his miracle of transporting the pilaff from Procopion to Meсса.
The multitudes who visit his shrine are such that there is hourly bus service to the shrine from Athens. On his feast day thousands of pilgrims gather from all parts of Greece, some even coming bundreds of miles by foot.
BY PHOTIOS KONTOGLOU
Full of graces was the prisoner seen to be, Leading the ruler of darkness away captive.
LET US GIVE GLORY AND CHANT HYMNS, thanking the greatly-compassionate Lord because He deems us worthy in these evil times to see rising in the dark sky of unbelief the new luminaries of the spiritual firmament of our Orthodox Church. These luminaries cheer and gladden the faithful and put unbelievers to shame. And shut are the mouths of the ungodly who say (in order to find an excuse for their unbelief) that nowadays people no longer become saints, as though our Faith and Christ, its Head, of Whom the Apostle Paul says: "Christ – the same yesterday and today and unto the ages," had changed.
Besides the ancient saints, righteous ones, hierarchs and martyrs, a great and shining cloud of new saints, the majority of them martyrs, has appeared from the time of the taking of Constantinople by the Turks until today. By their martyrdom they strengthened the Faith and adorned with new and unfading crowns our venerable Orthodox Church, which alone stands unchanging and immovable from the time of the Apostles by whom she was founded. And this recalls the word of Haggai the Prophet, who said: "Great shall be the glory of this house (the Church); the last greater than the first" (Haggai 2:9).
One of those new saints is St. John the Russian, whose sacred tabernacle is the boast of the blessed island of Euboia, for here did this saint wish to rest and to sanctify the place even more, though it had been sanctified from before by the righteous David the Elder and many other saints.
The righteous John was born in a village of southern Russia, of parents pious and Orthodox, for the blessed race of the Russian has the same spiritual Mother as we--the Orthodox Church--and has given birth to many great saints. St. John came into this world around the year 1690, when Peter the Great was reigning in Russia. I surmise this from the fact that when John was a brave young lad he was a soldier in the war which that daring Tsar waged against Turkey in the year 1711. In that war, John, together with thousands of other Russians, was taken prisoner by Tatars. The Tatars sold him to a Moslem cavalry officer who was from Procopion in Asia Minor, which is near Caesarea of Cappadocia. The Agha took him to his village. At that time Turkey was filled with an innumerable multitude of Muscovite slaves who groaned under the harsh yoke of the Moslems, and the majority of them, in order to lighten the burden somewhat, denied the Faith of Christ and became Moslem, alas!
John, however, from childhood was nurtured "in instruction and admonition of the Lord," and he loved God and the religion of his fathers exceedingly. He was one of those young men whom the knowledge of God makes wise, as the wise Solomon declared saying, "The just man is wise even in his youth. For honorable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age" (Wisdom 4:8,9).
SAINT JOHN THE RUSSIAN, NEW MARTYR Reproduced from a Russian Lithograph of Fesenko, Odessa, 1897.
At left is the church in Procopion of Cappadocia, where the Saint's relics reposed until 1924.
Procession with the relics of St. John on his feast day.
The church of St John in New Procopion, on the feast day of the Saint.
Thus also the blessed John, having that knowledge which God gives to those who love Him, was patient in slavery and in the ill-treatment of his master and the insults and annoyances of the Moslems who called him kiafir, that is, unbeliever, thus showing their contempt and aversion Procopion was the army camp of the Christian-hating Jannissaries, and John was their abomination because to his master and to all who urged him to deny his Faith he answered with firm conviction that he preferred to die rather than fall into such a fearful sin. To the Agha he said, "If you leave me free in my religion, I will be very eager to carry out your commands. But if you force me to change my faith, know that I will rather surrender you my head than my Faith. A Christian I was born and a Christian shall I die."
God, seeing his faith and hearing his confession, softened the hard heart of his master and, with time, the Agha came to bear with him. The great humility and meekness which adorned John contributed to this also.
The blessed John, therefore, was left in peace without further promises and threats from his Moslem lord, who had him in his stable to care for his animals. In one corner of the stable he would lay down his tired body and rest, thanking God because he had been deemed worthy to have as a bed the manger in which our Lord Jesus Christ Himself had lain at His birth as Man. He was dedicated to his work, affectionately caring for the animals of his lord, and they, perceiving the love which the saint had for them, would look out for him when he was absent. When he petted them, they would look at him with love, and would whinny with joy as though they were talking with him.
As time passed, the Agha and his wife came to love him. They gave him as a dwelling place a small room near the hayloft. Yet John did not accept it, but continued sleeping in his beloved stable so that he might be able to bring his body into subjection by a life of privation and asceticism amid the smell of the animals and the stamping of their feet. At night, however, that stable would be filled with the prayers of the Saint, and the smell would become an odor of a spiritual fragrance. The blessed John made that stable into a hermitage. There he lived according to the rule of the Fathers, kneeling and praying for hours, taking a little rest by curling up on the hay without any covering except for an old coat. Many times he ate only a little bread and water, fasting most days and chanting with a quiet voice the psalms of David, which he knew in the Slavonic tongue: "He that dwelleth in the help of the Most High shall abide in the shelter of the God of the heavens. He shall say to the Lord: Thou art my helper, and my refuge is my God, and I will hope on Him. For He shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunter and from every cause of vexation (Ps. 90:1-3). They laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkness and shadow of death (Ps. 87:6). Unto the Lord in my affliction have I cried, and He heard me (Ps. 119:1). The Lord shall keep thy going out, from henceforth and forevermore (Ps. 120:8). Unto Thee have I lifted up my eyes, unto Thee Who dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hands of their master, so our eyes look unto the Lord our God, until He take pity on us" (Ps. 122:1,2).
He would even silently chant the psalms while he followed the horse of his master, according to the duty of a stable-boy, when his master was taking a ride in the country. With the blessing which the Saint brought to his house, the Turkish cavalry officer became rich and was one of the powerful men in Procopion.
The holy stable-boy – besides the prayers and fasting which he did day and night inside that stable, winter and summer, lying upon the dung like another Job – would go at night and keep vigils standing in the narthex of the chapel of St. George, which was built in the hollow of a rock near the house of his Turkish master. He would go there secretly at night, and every Saturday he would partake of the immaculate Mysteries. And the Lord, Who examineth the hearts and the reins, looked upon His faithful slave and caused his fellow slaves and other believers to cease from mocking and insulting him. And the Lord also gave many riches to John's master, who understood whence such blessing had come unto his house and proclaimed it to his fellow citizens.
When he had become wealthy, therefore, he decided to go to Mecca on a pilgrimage. One day he left Procopion and, after the many hardships which pilgrims suffered in those times, he arrived at the sacred city of the Moslems.
When some days had passed after his departure, his wife gave a banquet and invited the relatives and friends of her husband to rejoice and pray that he might return well from his journey. The blessed John served at the table. They also put a dish on the table which was a favorite of the Agha, one which is called pilaff, and is a very common food in the East. Then the mistress remembered her husband and said unto John, "How much pleasure your master would have, Guvan, if he were here now and ate this pilaff with us!" John then asked for a plate full of pilaff from his mistress, saying that he would send it to his master in Mecca. The guests, upon hearing these words, all laughed. But the mistress told the cook to give a plate of the food to John, thinking to herself that either he would eat it himself or would take it to some poor Christian family as was his custom. Taking it, the Saint went to the stable and there knelt and prayed from the depths of his heart unto God to send the food to his master in whatever manner He would dispense in His almightiness. With the simplicity which the blessed one had, he believed that the Lord would hearken to his prayer and that the food would go to Mecca supernaturally. He believed "without doubting," according to the word of the Lord that is, without having any hesitancy – that this supernatural thing could be done by God. As St. Isaac the Syrian, great among the ascetics, says, "These supernatural things will occur for those who are more simple in mind and more fervent in the hope" which they have unto God. And truly, the plate with the food disappeared from before his eyes. The blessed John then returned to the dining room and told the mistress of the house that he had sent it to his master.
But after some time his lord returned from Mecca and to the great amazement of his household, brought with him the copper plate which had held the food. Only the blessed John was not surprised. The Agha therefore said unto his household: "On that certain day (and this was the day of the banquet at which John had said that he sent the food to his master), at the time when I was returning from the Great Mosque to the house where I stayed, I found this plate full of pilaff on the table in a room which I have locked. I stood in doubt, pondering who could have brought that food. And above all, I could not understand how he had opened the door which I had locked well. Not knowing how to explain this strange thing, I examined the plate on which the pilaff was yet steaming. I saw with amazement that my name was engraved upon the copper plate, just as it was upon all the copper vessels of our house. In spite of all the confusion which I had from that unexplainable circumstance, I sat down and ate the pilaff with great relish. Behold the plate which I brought with me: it is truly ours. For the sake of Allah, I cannot understand how it came even unto Mecca and who brought it."
When the household of the cavalry officer heard this narration, they stood in amazement and marveled. But his wife told him how John had asked for the plate with the food saying that he would send it to Mecca, and that when they heard him say that he had sent it they had laughed. But behold now, what he had said was true.
This miracle was made known to the whole village and the surrounding area, and henceforth all considerd John as a man righteous and beloved unto God. They looked upon him with fear and reverence, and no one of them dared to bother him. His lord and his lord's wife cared for him all the more, and entreated him again to leave the stable and live in a dwelling which was near the stable. Yet he did not wish to change his dwelling place. He passed his life, therefore, living in the same manner as an ascetic, laboring as before in the care of the animals and performing with eagerness the commands of his master. The nights he passed with prayer and psalmody, and these things he did according to the word of the Lord Who says: "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's."
But after a few years, during which the blessed John lived with fasting, prayer, and sleeping on the ground, the end of his life approached. He became ill and lay upon the straw in that stable which he had sanctified with his supplications and the privation of his body for the sake of the name and the love of Christ, Who became man like unto us and was crucified for our love. Foreseeing his end, he called for a priest and asked to partake of the immaculate Mysteries. But because of the fanaticism of the Turks, the priest was afraid to bring the Holy Mysteries into the stable openly. However, he was made wise, according to divine enlightenment, and taking an apple he dug it out, lined the cavity with beeswax, and placed the divine Communion inside. Thus he went to the stable and gave Communion to the blessed John, who, upon receiving the immaculate Body and Blood of the Lord, surrendered his holy soul into the hands of God Whom he loved so much. This took place on the 27th of May, of the year 1730.
In this manner reposed St. John the Russian, the new Job, who passed his life upon a dungheap, the second Lazarus who endured the mockings of his fellow servants and whose wounds his master's dogs who also slept with him – licked.
At the time he reposed, I surmise that he must have been some forty years old. Because he was beloved by God, He took him near Him quickly so that he might not be tormented any more in this sinful world, and so that he might rejoice, being glad in the tents of the righteous where there is neither pain, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but the untroubled sound of those that keep festival and cry unceasingly, O Lord, glory to Thee.
Let us here recall the words of the prophet Solomon concerning the death of a righteous man: He pleased God, and was beloved of Him: so that living among sinners he was translated Yea, speedily was be taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. For the bewitching of wickedness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time: for his soul pleased the Lord; therefore basted He to take him away from among the wicked. This the people saw, and understood not, neither laid they up this in their minds, that His grace and mercy is with His saints, and that He hath respect unto His chosen" (Wisdom 4.10-14).
Yes. The world lives the carnal life seeking to please only its senses, eating, drinking, revelling and caring only for "the things of vanity and the much-afflicted flesh." The senses, together with tangible things and delights of this world, were fashioned by God and it is not sin for a man to rejoice in this world, yet he should not be consumed wholly by material things, but should take care also for the spiritual things, placing in his mind that in his temporary body there dwells an immortal soul which is as more honored and valued than the body as the body is more than its clothing, as the Lord said If a man truly believes this, he will take care for his salvation and he will be blessed in this world, having the joy of a pure conscience, and in the next (which is eternal and immortal) he shall rejoice in the bosom of Abraham. But if he does not believe in God and in His Word, he will be the most wretched and unhappy man in the world, even though he acquire many possessions and great glory and honor from men, according to the words which that all holy and unlying mouth said: For what will it profit a man if he win the whole world and lose his soul? Or, What can a man give in exchange for his soul?
Blessed therefore and thrice-blessed is the man who has put these words into the depths of his heart, keeping them as a treasure, and hearkens to them until his last breath and is conformed to them and walks in accordance with them throughout his life.
Blessed and thrice-blessed was also this holy John, whose memorial we celebrate today with great compunction and spiritual joy. He did not know many letters. The evils of the world he did not know. He lived far from the complex systems of demonic knowledge, being simple, poor in spirit, and for this reason full of faith. In his heart there dwelt the Holy Spirit. Within that disdained and tyrannized body, within that taciturn and ragged slave, there burned the mystical spark of faith.
But "the people saw, and understood not, neither laid they up this in their minds." For the carnal men around him who were inwardly dark like an extinguished lantern, saw the Saint but understood nothing because they saw him with bodily eyes, not having wretched as they were spiritual eyes that they might see the mystery of his life. And with the pride which men have they considered him insane for desiring to sleep with animals and having no association with other men, for fasting, for dressing in rags, for enduring abuses and insults without answering back, for not lifting his eyes to the face of a woman. Who of the clever of this world would have surmised that this "crazed one," this fool for Christ, was the most wise of the wise because he had "the foolishness in Christ" which makes manifest the revelation of great and terrible mysteries unto him who has it and grants unto him the great hope of immortality?
At this present hour in which we celebrate this feast to the memorial of the righteous John with psalms and hymns and spiritual odes and feel with assurance that the Saint is found in our midst, living and crying unto us the salutation: "Rejoice" – in the midst of glory and effulgence – at this moment, then, where are they who saddened and despised him? Where are the mighty of the earth? Where is the Ottoman lord of this unenslaved slave? Where the fearsome Janissaries and the Tatars who bound him and beat him and sold him as though he were an animal? Where are their pampered bodies?
O! They are dispelled as a morning mist, "their bones are scattered in hades," according to the Prophet-King David. The tombstone of forgetfulness has covered them.
And in Jerusalem on high, in the dwelling of the first-born where there are found the blessed souls of the Saints who lived in privation in this world so that they might pass through "the narrow and afflicted way that leadeth unto life," there rejoices also with the holy spirits the humble and ragged John whom we celebrate today, he who was a brother of the animals, the new Job, the second Lazarus.
There, in the other life, all they that grieved the righteous one and were given over to their passions shall sigh. Behold again what the Prophet Solomon says concerning the righteous man and his persecuters, when they open their eyes after death: "Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, and made no account of his labors. When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation, so far beyond all that they looked for: And they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves: This was he, whom we had sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach: we fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honor: now is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints! Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness hath not shined unto us, and the sun of righteousness rose not upon us. We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction: yea, we have gone through deserts, where there lay no way: but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it. What hath pride profited us? Or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a post that hasted by: and as a ship that passeth over the waves of the water, which when it is gone by, the trace thereof cannot be found, neither the pathway of the keel in the waves! Even so we in like manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end, and had our wickedness. For the hope of the ungodly is like dust that is blown away with the wind, like a thin froth that is driven away with the storm, like as the smoke which is dispersed here and there with a tempest, and passeth away as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day.'" (Wisdom 5:1-14)
Yes. These things shall the lawless say in the other world where the right-judging Lord shall judge men. But they shall receive no benefit from their change of heart after death, since in hades there is no repentance.
But St. John reposed in the Lord and received the recompense of the labors and toils which he endured for Christ, Whom he loved more than all corrupt and fleeting things. And now, wearing a crown in heaven, he rejoices with the choirs of the Saints and beholds in glory the Prizebestower, our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory and dominion and worship unto the unending ages. Amen.
SOME MIRACLES OF ST. JOHN
In the year 1832, during the time of civil war in the Ottoman Empire, Moslem troops plundered the city of Procopion and entered the Church of St. George where the relics of St. John were kept. They opened the reliquary of the Saint hoping to find gold. Not finding anything but the relics, they became angered and desired to burn them. They took them out into the court of the church and gathered dry grass, and having placed the relics upon it they set the grass afire. But the fire did not harm the body of the righteous one because the flames only licked at it. And at one moment the barbarians saw the Saint as though he were alive and rising in the midst of the fire. When the Turks saw this wonder, they fled, terrified, and narrated it to the other Moslems Out of their fear they left behind the gold and silver vessels and offerings which they had seized. The next day some elderly Christians went to the Church and placed the holy relics back into the reliquary.
Esset Agha, an old man who was a descendent of the Moslem cavalry officer who was the master of St. John, narrated with simplicity to the many Christians of Procopion the many and various benefactions of which his family had been deemed worthy by God through the prayers of the righteous John. He would speak with elderly sobriety and say: "My children would not live except for a short time, and would die while yet infants. They would not reach that which we call "childhood" so that we might rejoice in them. Their unfortunate mother, after she had lost hope in the wisdom of medicine, fled without my knowledge to the relics of the slave John, so that he might grant her a little child which would not die while yet young, so that we also might rejoice to see it as a young man or even a young girl. She offered beeswax and other gifts to the lamplighter so that he might entreat John for her, and she promised furthermore that if her supplication was heard and John granted her a child she would call it 'the child of John.' In truth the righteous John heard the supplication of my wife. God granted us a strong little boy whom we called, as you know, Kole Guvan Oglu (that is, "Son of the Slave John"), and he lives through the power of God and the prayers of John even until today, and he is studying in a school." The child was known to all, both at home and at school, by the name of Kole Guvan Oglu. And if anyone who did not know him would ask, "Who is Kole Guvan Oglu?" He immediately would answer with childish pride, striking his chest and saying with joy, "I am the Son of Kole Guvan."
In the year 1862, after the Liturgy had been celebrated in the Church of St. Basil, one pious woman told the others that she had dreamed of St. John: that he had gotten out of his reliquary and was holding with his two hands the roof of the school, which was ready to fall. The school was next to the temple of St. Basil. As soon as she finished speaking, a loud noise was heard. The people in the church ran out, terrified, and saw with amazement that the roof of the school had collapsed. They cried out, lamenting, because at that hour the children were in school. They ran, therefore, with cries of anguish and lifted the roof and – O the wonder! – there came out from under it the twenty children, totally unharmed. The children said that before the roof fell they heard a frightening creaking, as though it were a forewarning that the roof was about to fall, and they had time to jump underneath their desks. And when the roof fell, its beams came down upon the desks without striking even one of the children.
In the year 1834, the Christians of Procopion built a large and beautiful church in memory of St. Basil. In the yeat 1845, it was decided with one accord that they transfer the relics of St. John to this new church. But, strangely, the holy relics vanished together with the reliquary and were found again in the temple of St. George where they were formerly. In spite of this, the Christians again transferred them to the temple of St. Basil. Yet once again they were found in the Church of St. George. For a third time they took the reliquary to St. Basil's and made supplications and vigils, and thus the sacred relics remained in the Church of St. Basil by the condescension of St. John.
Certain Christians out of piety would secretly take pieces from the holy relics at the time when they were venerating them. But they would see the Saint in their dreams telling them angrily to put the piece of the relics which they had stolen back in its place. In the year 1881, the hieromonk Dionysios was sent from the Monastery of St. Panteleimon on Mount Athos with the request that the people of Procopion give him the right hand of the Saint. They decided to give it to him so that the name of St. John might become known to the ends of vast Russia (which in fact came to pass). In this case the Saint consented and did not show displeasure at all. The hieromonk Dionysios, together with certain foremost citizens of Procopion, carried his holy relics to the Holy Mountain, where the monks of St Panteleimon's welcomed them with joy and compunction. The people of Procopion were guests there for one month. When they were about to depart from the Holy Mountain for their country, the fathers of the Monastery gave them precious gifts for the church and financial aid so that they might build a small temple over the grave of the Saint. But instead of a small chapel there was built to the memory of the righteous John a great and most beautiful temple, the foundations of which were laid in the year 1886, and which was completed five years later. This temple also became the cathedral church of Procopion since the church of St George, which was in a cave, fell into ruin because the rock was full of fissures and one night there fell large stones which rolled down into the street of the marketplace as well as upon certain shops, without, however, anyone suffering injury.
In the year 1924, when the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey took place, the relics of St. John were transferred from Procopion of Cappodocia to Halkis, where they were temporarily placed in the temple of St. John the Forerunner in the cemetery. From there they were transferred to the newly-built village of New Procopion of Euboia and were placed in the village church, which was dedicated to Sts. Constantine and Helen. In the year 1930, from the gifts and alms of worshipers, there was built a majestic temple in a beautiful location in honor of the Russian Saint who came from the East.
THE MIRACLES OF FATHER HERMAN OF ALASKA
HEALING OF A CATARACT OF THE EYE
1949
WHEN I WAS a parish priest in Alaska, I was secretary on the committee that collected testimonies of the miracles of Blessed Father Herman; before my departure from Alaska all that I collected was submitted to the Office of the Alaskan Diocese. During the five years of my work I heard over a hundred testimonies of help from Father Herman, and I am deeply convinced that our Lord in His abodes has already long since admitted Father Herman to the host of His saints.
At one time the question of Father Herman's canonization was raised, but up to the present time this matter has not been affirmatively decided. Records of all that I heard, part of it verified by me personally, I did not keep, since I did not act on my own but as my office required, as secretary on the committee for the canonization of Father Herman.
Miami, Florida, February 19, 1964
———
As a basis for the canonization of Father Herman there is his miraculous help to many suffering people who turned to him in their misfortune. I would like to share one of his miracles which has not yet appeared in English.
On March 16th, 1952, two inhabitants of the village of Afognak (located on the island of the same name, 30 miles by sea from Kodiak), Sergei Shirotin, 56, and his wife Maria, 53, related the following to me:
In 1947 their daughter Zina was attending school near Sitka. At the beginning of the year her eyes became diseased; she had to discontinue all her activities, and she was confined to the hospital. Towards summer she became better, but since the doctors categorically forbade her to read, she was confined to the house. On her arrival here the disease again broke out in her eyes. At first a small spot appeared on her right eye, but it began quickly to grow and cause pain. They went to a doctor in Kodiak, who determined that the cataract was malignant and that the patient was threatened with loss of sight in the right eye. The medicine given by the doctor did not ease the pain at all, and the patient spent practically her whole time in a half-darkened room. The girl fell into despair and thought herself doomed...
Zinaida's parents, Sergei and Maria, remembered the testament of their own parents: to appeal in misfortune to the help of Blessed Herman; and so, on the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God they set out to do reverence to the Blessed one and, following the custom of all pilgrims, they brought back with them water from the spring of Father Herman. "If you believe," said Maria to her daughter, "Father Herman will help you." With these words she dipped a handkerchief in the water that had been brought back, and applied it to the eyes of the sick girl. The first touch of the handkerchief caused great pain, but after that the pain at once ceased; and after a month of washing the eyes with the water from the spring, the cataract disappeared completely and sight was restored. Since last year Zinaida Shirotina has been wearing glasses, but over the eye that was once diseased there is plain glass; a special lens was necessary only for the other eye.
Since everyone who participated in these events lives here and is in good health, I appealed to the doctor for an explanation, and he told me, word for word, the following: "You know, Father, that miracles occur in this world: I've been convinced of this more than once in my practice as a surgeon. So in the case of Zinaida Shirotina it was a clear miracle." The testimony of the doctor evoked in me a feeling of devout reverence for Blessed Herman, and I decided to communicate this to all Orthodox people, so that they might render thanks for us to the Lord our benefactor.
Archpriest Alexander Popov
ST. MARK OF EPHESUS
AND THE FALSE UNION OF FLORENCE
By ARCHIMANDRITE AMVROSSY POGODIN
M.Sc.Eccl., D. D.
The third of three installments
VI THE CONCLUSION OF THE UNION
TO THE OTHER afflictions which the Orthodox delegation suffered in Florence was added the death of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Patriarch was found dead in his room. On the table lay (supposedly) his testament, Extrema Sententia, consisting in all of some lines in which he declared that he accepted everything that the Church of Rome confesses. And then: "In like manner I acknowledge the Holy Father of Fathers, the Supreme Pontiff and Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Pope of Old Rome. Likewise, I acknowledge purgatory. In affirmation of this, I affix my signature."
There is no doubt whatever that Patriarch Joseph did not write this document. The German scholar Frommann, who made a detailed investigation of the "Testament" of Patriarch Joseph, says: "This document is so Latinized and corresponds so little to the opinion expressed by the Patriarch several days before, that its spuriousness is evident."a The "Testament" appears in the history of the Council of Florence quite late; contemporaries of the Council knew nothing of it.
And so the Greek delegation lost its Patriarch. Although the Patriarch was no pillar of Orthodoxy, and though one may reproach him in much, still one cannot deny that with his whole soul he grieved for Orthodoxy and never allowed himself or anyone else to injure St. Mark. Being already in deep old age,b he lacked the energy to defend the Church of which he was head, but history cannot reproach him for betraying the Church. Death spared him from the many and grievous humiliations which the Orthodox Church subsequently had to endure. And on the other hand the absence of his signature on the Act of Union later gave occasion for the defenders of Orthodoxy to contest the pretension of the Council of Florence to the significance and title of "Ecumenical Council," because the Act of every Ecumenical Council must be signed first of all by the Patriarchs.
After the death of the Patriarch, as Syropoulos informs us, Emperor John Paleologos took the direction of the Church into his own hands. This anticanonical situation, although often encountered in Byzantine history, as well in a positive as in a negative manifestation, was strictly condemned by St. Mark in one of his epistles, where he says: "Let no one dominate in our faith: neither emperor, nor hierarch, nor false council, nor anyone else, but only the one God, Who both Himself and through His Disciples has handed it down to us."c
Let us set forth in brief the further history of the negotiations between the Orthodox and the Latins or, to speak more truly, the history of the capitulation of the Orthodox. The Orthodox were obliged to accept the Latin teaching of the Filioque and acknowledge the Latin dogma of the Procession of the Holy Spirit, in the sense of His Existence, from the Two Hypostases. Then the Orthodox were obliged to declare that the Filioque, as an addition within the Symbol of Faith, had always been a canonical and blessed act. By this alone there were reduced to naught all the objections of the Greeks from the time of Patriarch Photios, as well as the works of St. Mark of Ephesus and the interdictions for changing the Symbol of Faith which had been made at the Third and Fourth Ecumenical Councils. One should also note that not all the Roman Popes had approved of the Filioque, and several had considered its introduction into the Symbol of Faith completely uncanonical. But now all this was forgotten. Everything was sacrificed to the demands of Pope Eugenius and his cardinals.
Further, it was demanded of the Orthodox to accept the Latin teaching concerning the consecration of the Holy Gifts and renounce their own as expressed in the performance of the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Church.d Besides, this was expressed by the Latins in disdainful declarations concerning the Liturgical practice of the Eastern Church.
Finally, the Orthodox were obliged to sign and acknowledge a confession of Papism, expressed thus: "We decree that the Holy Apostolic Throne and Roman Pontiff possess a primacy over the whole earth, and that this Roman Pontiff is the Successor of the blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and is the true Vicar of Christ, the Head of the whole Church, Pastor and Teacher of all Christians; and that our Lord Jesus Christ in the person of St. Peter has given him full authority to shepherd, direct, and rule the whole Church, as is likewise contained in the acts of the Ecumenical Councils and in the holy canons."e The Orthodox were likewise forced to acknowledge purgatory.
And so Orthodoxy was to cease to exist. Something even more painful was the fact that Orthodoxy had been sold, and not merely betrayed. For when a majority of the Orthodox delegates had found that the Vatican's demands were completely unacceptable, certain warm partisans of the Union had asked the Pope to inform them openly what advantages Byzantium would derive from the Union. The Pope grasped the "business" side of the question and offered the following: (1) The Vatican would provide the means to send the Greeks back to Constantinople. (2) 300 (!) soldiers would be maintained at Papal expense in Constantinople for the defense of the capital against the Turks (3) Two ships would be maintained on the Bosphorus for defense of the city. (4) A crusade would go through Constantinople. (5) The Pope would summon the Western sovereigns to the aid of Byzantium. The last two promises were purely theoretical. However, when the negotiations came to a dead end, and the Emperor himself was ready to break off further negotiations, the whole affair was settled by four metropolitans, partisans of the Union, and the affair was concluded with a lavish entertainment given by the Pope; theological disputes concerning the privileges of the See of Rome were conducted over wineglasses.
The end came at last. An Act of Union was drawn up in which the Orthodox renounced their Orthodoxy and accepted all the Latin formulas and innovations which had only just appeared in the bosom of the Latin Church, such as the teaching on purgatory. They accepted also an extreme form of Papism, by this act renouncing the ecclesiology that was the essence of the Orthodox Church. All the Orthodox delegates accepted and signed the Union, whether for themselves or, in the case of some, for the Eastern Patriarchs, by whom they had been entrusted to represent them. The signing, on July 5, 1439, was accompanied by a triumphant service, and after the solemn declaration of the Union, read in Latin and Greek, the Greek delegates kissed the Pope's knee.
Administratively speaking, the whole Orthodox Church signed: Emperor John, the metropolitans and representatives of the Eastern Patriarchs, the Metropolitan of Kiev Isidore, and the Russian Bishop Abraham. Only one hierarch did not sign. It would be superfluous to mention his name: St. Mark of Ephesus. But no one paid the least attention to him. What was one man, and he humiliated and fatally ill, in comparison with the all-powerful Vatican, headed by the mighty Pope Eugenius IV? What was this one Greek in comparison with the whole multitude of Greek dignitaries headed by Emperor John, and the Greek metropolitans? There is a Russian proverb: "One alone on the field is no warrior." However, in this one man was represented the whole might of the Orthodox Church. This one man represented in himself the whole Orthodox Church. He was a giant of giants, bearing in himself all the sanctity of Orthodoxy and all its might! And this is why, when Pope Eugenius was solemnly shown by his cardinals the Act of Union, signed by all the Greek delegates, he said, not finding on it the signature of St. Mark: "And so we have accomplished nothing." All the success of the Vatican was illusory and short-lived. The Pope attempted by every means to compel St. Mark to sign the Union, a fact that is attested both by Andrew of Rhodesf and Syropoulos.g The Pope demanded that St. Mark be deprived of his rank then and there for his refusal to sign the Act of Union. But Emperor John did not allow him to be harmed, because in the depths of his heart he respected St. Mark.
Syropoulos relates the final meeting of St Mark with the Pope. "The Pope asked of the Emperor that St. Mark appear before him. The Emperor, having summoned him beforehand, persuaded him, saying: 'When the Pope asks you to appear before him already two and three times, you must go to him; but have no fear, for I have spoken and requested and arranged with the Pope so that you will be given no offense or injury. And so, go and listen to everything he says, and reply openly in whatever manner will seem to you the most suitable.' And so Mark went to appear before the Pope, and finding him sitting informally in his own quarters with his cardinals and six bishops, he was uncertain in what fashion he should express respect to the Pope. Seeing that all who surrounded the Pope were sitting, he said: 'I have been suffering from a kidney ailment and severe gout and have not the strength to stand,' and proceeded to sit in his place. The Pope spoke long with Mark; his aim was to persuade him also to follow the decision of the Council and affirm the Union, and if he refused to do this, then he should know that he would be subject to the same interdictions which previous Ecumenical Councils laid upon the obstinate, who, deprived of every gift of the Church, were cast out as heretics. To the Pope's words Mark gave an extensive, commanding reply. Concerning the interdictions with which the Pope threatened him, he said: 'The Councils of the Church have condemned as rebels those who have transgressed against some dogma and have preached thus and fought for this, for which reason also they are called "heretics"; and from the beginning the Church has condemned the heresy itself, and only then has it condemned the leaders of the heresy and its defenders. But I have by no means preached my own teaching, nor have I introduced anything new in the Church, nor defended any foreign and false doctrine; but I have held only that teaching which the Church received in perfect form from our Saviour, and in which it has steadfastly remained to this day: the teaching which the Holy Church of Rome, before the schism that occurred between us, possessed no less than our Eastern Church; the teaching which, as holy, you formerly were wont to praise, and often at this very Council you mentioned with respect and honor, and which no one could reproach or dispute. And if I hold it and do not allow myself to depart from it, what Council will subject me to the interdiction to which heretics are subject? What sound and pious mind will act thus with me? For first of all one must condemn the teaching which I hold; but if you acknowledge it as pious and Orthodox, then why am I deserving of punishment?' Having said this and more of the like, and listened to the Pope, he returned to his quarters.'"h
VII AFTER THE COUNCIL
St. Mark returned to Constantinople with Emperor John on February 1, 1440. What a sorrowful return it was! No sooner had the Emperor managed to set foot on land than he was informed of the death of his beloved wife; after this the Emperor out of sorrow did not leave his quarters for three months. None of the hierarchs would agree to accept the post of Patriarch of Constantinople, knowing that this post would oblige one to proceed with the Union. The people who met them, as the Greek historian Doukas testifies, asked the Orthodox delegates who had signed the Union: "How did the Council go? Were we victorious?" To which the hierarchs replied: "No! We sold our faith, we bartered piety for impiety (i.e., Orthodox doctrine for heresy) and have become azymites." The people asked then: "Why did you sign?" "From fear of the Latins." "Did the Latins then beat you or put you in prison?" "No. But our right hand signed: let it be cut off! Our tongue confessed: let it be torn out!''i
A painful silence set in. Despite the Great Lent, the season most filled with prayer, churches were empty and there were no services: no one wished to serve with those who had signed the Union. In Constantinople revolution was ripening. St. Mark alone was pure in heart and had no reproach on his conscience. But he too suffered immeasurably. Around him united all the zealots for Orthodoxy, especially the monks of the Holy Mountain (Athos) and the ordinary village priests. The whole episcopate, the whole court – all was in the hands of the Uniates, in absolute submission to the representatives of the Vatican, who came often to inspect how the Union was being carried out among the people. The Church was in extreme danger; as St. Mark wrote: "the night of Union encompassed the Church.''j
St Mark became weak in body, but in spirit he burned, and because of this, as John Eugenikos writes, "by Divine Providence he miraculously escaped danger, and the radiant one radiantly returned and was preserved for the fatherland, being met by a universal enthusiasm and respect."k The Byzantine people did not accept the Union: while all the exhortations of the partisans of the Union were ignored, the flaming sermons of St. Mark found an enthusiastic response, as Professor Ostrogorsky notes.l Contemporaries of these events, passionate Uniates, note with indignation and perplexity St. Mark's activity for the harm of the Union. Thus Joseph, Bishop of Methonensis, writes: "Having returned to Constantinople, Ephesus disturbed and confused the Eastern Church by his writings and addresses directed against the decrees of the Council of Florence.'"m Andrew of Rhodes calls the letters of St. Mark, which he sent out for the strengthening of Orthodoxy, "most noxious" and "seductive."n And present-day Church historians, both Orthodox and Latin, acknowledge that the shattering of the Union of Florence was due to the writings and activity of St. Mark.°
St. Mark did not remain long in Constantinople, but soon, without informing the Emperor, left for Ephesus, his see, which it is possible he had not yet visited, since immediately after his consecration in Constantinople he had left for the Council in Italy.p Two reasons, it would appear, impelled St. Mark to leave Constantinople for Ephesus: pastoral concern for his flock, which found itself under the Turks in the most woeful circumstances; and the desire to urite spiritually around himself those who were zealous for Orthodoxy, in so far as in Constantinople he had actually been under house arrest. It would appear that it is precisely from Ephesus that St. Mark sent his letters, his confession of faith, and his account of his activity at the Council of Florence. All these documents are to be found in my book in Russian translation.
Concerning the activity of St. Mark in Ephesus, John Eugenikos writes briefly thus: "Actively travelling everywhere throughout the regions of the great Evangelist and Theologian John, and doing this over long periods and with labor and difficulty, being sick in body; visiting the suffering holy churches, and especially constructing the church of the metropoly with the adjoining buildings; ordaining priests; helping those suffering injustice, whether by reason of persecution, or of some trial from the side of the unrighteous; defending widows and orphans; shaming, interdicting, comforting, exhorting, appealing, strengthening: he was, according to the divine Apostle, everything for everyone."q John Eugenikos further relates that inasmuch as the Saint had sufficiently sacrificed himself for his flock, while his constant desire had been monastic solitude and reclusion, he finally desired to go to the Holy Mountain. But there was yet another reason, a more weighty one, about which John Eugenikos was silent for political reasons; St Mark himself relates this in one of his letters: he had no mandate from the authorities and for this reason his stay in Ephesus was as it were illegal, and he was compelled to leave his flock, this time forever.r
The ship on which St. Mark sailed to Athos put in at the island of Limnos, one of the few islands that still belonged to Byzantium. Here St. Mark was recognized by the police authorities and, by a directive which they already possessed from Emperor John Paleologos, was arrested and imprisoned. For the space of two years St Mark suffered in confinement. John Eugenikos thus informs us of this period in the Saint's life: "Here who would not deservedly marvel, or would not acknowledge the greatness of soul and enduring of misfortunes which he showed: suffering in the burning sun and struggling with privations of the most necessary things and tormented by diseases that came one upon the other, or enduring painful confinement while the fleet of the impious Moslems surrounded the island and inflicted destruction."s Once the island was threatened by imminent disaster from a Turkish fleet which surrounded the island. But the danger unexpectedly passed, and the saved inhabitants ascribed their salvation to the prayers of St. Mark, imprisoned in the fortress.t
St. Mark never complained about his miserable condition; only in one letter can we see how he suffered and how he was wanting in support from people. He writes thus to the Pro-hegumenos of Vatoped Monastery: "We have found great consolation from your brothers who are here, the most honorable ecclesiarch and the great economos and others, whom we have seen as inspired images of your love and piety; for they have shown us love and have calmed and strengthened us. May the Lord grant you a worthy reward for their labor and love!"u
Finding himself in such painful circumstances, St. Mark continued his battle for the Church, as he writes in one of his letters: "I have been arrested. But the word of God and the power of Truth cannot be bound, but all the stronger flow and prosper, and many of the brethren, encouraged by my exile, overthrow the reproaches of the lawless and the violators of the Orthodox Faith and the customs of the fatherland."v He knew that his confession was indispensable, because, as he wrote: "If there had been no persecution, the martyrs would not have shone, nor would the confessors have received the crown of victory from Christ and by their exploits strengthened and gladdened the Orthodox Church.''w In two years Emperor John ordered St. Mark released and allowed to go where he wished. This liberation occurred on the day when the Seven Martyr-youths of Ephesus are commemorated, and St. Mark dedicated to them a poem of thanksgiving.x St. Mark no longer had the physical strength for ascetic labors on the Holy Mountain; he had become quite feeble, and so he left for his home in Constantinople.
The last year and one-half or two years of his holy life St. Mark spent in painful circumstances of disease and persecution by the Uniate episcopate and Court. At this time he restored many to Orthodoxy by his personal influence.y Especially beneficial for the Church was the return of George Scholarios, who subsequently occupied the position of leader in the battle for Orthodoxy; after the fall of Constantinople he was elected Patriarch of Constantinople.
During this time, i.e., the last two years of St. Mark's life, much happened. The Eastern Patriarchs condemned the Council of Florence and named it "tyrannical and foul," and refused to recognize the Union. When Metropolitan Isidore, one of the most unprincipled betrayers of Orthodoxy, appeared in Moscow preceded by the Papal cross, he was arrested by the Grand Prince of Moscow Vassily Vassilievich, and subsequently he was helped to flee to Rome, where he received a cardinal's hat. A tradition is preserved that St Mark was much gladdened by the conduct of the Grand Prince of Moscow and set him up as an example to the Byzantine authorities."z
In Constantinople itself, however, the Union was being significantly strengthened. One may say that the Union not only became the State Church of Byzantium, but also gradually took possession, through the episcopate, of the whole of Church life. Only certain individuals, grouped around St. Mark, represented at that time the Orthodox Church. Permanent representatives of the Vatican, including Cardinal Isidore, saw to the official loyalty to the Union of the Byzantine Church and Court, placing in connection with this the fulfillment also of the Papal promises to Byzantium. The danger to the Church was immense, and St. Mark was aware of this. He was aware that before everything else should be placed the battle for Orthodoxy, for, as he said, "murdered souls which have been tempted concerning the sacrament of Faith."aa And he, the leader of the battle, marching at the head of the army, was scarcely able to walk, exhausted by disease and harrassed by the wiles of men. But the power of God is accomplished in weakness!
VIII THE DEATH OF ST. MARK
St. Mark died on June 23, 1444,bb at the age of 52. George Scholarios writes thus of St. Mark's death: "But our sorrow was increased yet more by the fact that he was taken away from our embrace before he had grown old in the virtues which he had acquired, before we could sufficiently enjoy his presence, in the full power of this passing life! No defect nor cunning had the power to shake his mind, nor to lead astray his soul, so strongly was it nourished and tempered by virtue! Even if the vault of heaven should fall, even then the righteousness of this man would not be shaken, his strength would not fail, his soul would not be moved, and his thought would not be impaired by such difficult trials."cc
He suffered terribly for fourteen days before his death. Of St. Mark's death itself there has been preserved the account of his brother, the Nomophilax John, who relates: "Thus, having lived with love of God and in everything excelled in his sojourn from his youth to the divine Skhema: in the most holy Skhema, in the degrees of priestly service, in the hierarchal dignity, in arguments concerning the Orthodox Faith and in devout and passionless confession, – having attained fifty-two years of bodily age, in the month of June on the twenty-third day he departed rejoicing to Him to Whom he wished, according to Paul, to be dissolved to be with Him, Whom he glorified by good works, Whom he theologized in Orthodox fashion, Whom he pleased his whole life long. He was sick for fourteen days, and the disease itself, as he himself said, had upon him the same effect as those iron instruments of torture applied by executioners to the holy martyrs, and which as it were girdled his ribs and internal organs, pressed upon them and remained attached in such a state and caused absolutely unbearable pain; so that it happened that what men could not do with his sacred martyr's body was fulfilled by disease, according to the unutterable judgement of Providence, in order that this Confessor of Truth and Martyr and Conqueror of all possible sufferings and Victor should appear before God after going through every misery, and that even to his last breath, as gold tried in the furnace, and in order that thanks to this he might receive yet greater honor and rewards eternally from the just judge.'"dd
Although his agony was painful in the extreme, death itself came easily, and the Saint joyfully gave to God his blessed and radiant spirit. John Eugenikos tells us this: "Long before his death he gave instructions and like a father gave commands to those present concerning the correction of the Church and our piety and open preservation of the true dogmas of the Church, and concerning turning away from innovation; and adding his final words: 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, into Thy hands I commit my spirit,' he thus departed to God."ee Before the end, on the very day of his death, St. Mark gave over to his former student and spiritual son the leadership of the Orthodox Church, although George Scholarios was at that time still a secular prince. St. Mark was buried in the Mangana Monastery in Constantinople. "Amidst a throng of people and guards with numerous marks of respect, there was placed in the sacred monastery of Mangana dedicated to the divine Martyr George, with honor, as a treasure, the sacred and greatly honored vessel of a sanctified soul and a temple to the glory of God, Who is glorified and wondrous in His Saints "ff
From the funeral address of George Scholarios we may see the depth of the sorrow that overcame Orthodox people with the loss of such a great pillar of the Church and such a good and noble man, such a meek and approachable and such a learned man, who, in the expression of John Eugenikos, drew all to himself as a magnet attracts iron.gg But the triumph of Orthodoxy was accomplished only after the death of St. Mark. The successor of Emperor John, his brother Constantine, openly announced his desire to preserve Orthodoxy in its purity.hh Not long before the Fall of Constantinople a Council was convoked at which the Union and its promoters were triumphantly condemned and the Union itself overthrown, and the memory of St. Mark honored by all. This Council was more nominal than actual, and was composed of a quite small number of participants; historically it did not present itself as much, but as an expression of the Orthodox Church it has a great significance as the triumphant conclusion of the battle that St. Mark waged, as a Council of the Orthodox Church, however small she may have been at that time.ii
IX COMMEMORATION AND MIRACLES OF ST. MARK
The solemn commemoration of St. Mark of Ephesus belonged at first to the family Eugenikos. Every year, probably on the day of the Saint's death, the Eugenikos family celebrated a "Service" (Akolouthia) and a synaxarion was read consisting of a short Life of the Saint. It should be noted that in Byzantium the Akolouthia was not necessarily connected with a canonization of the dead; it was simply a eulogy of the dead. Akolouthii were written by students to their teachers, to their benefactors and to people close to them, who were of righteous life. These Akolouthii were for domestic use, and they exist for many who were never canonized by the Church; there is one dedicated to Emperor Manuel II Paleologos that was probably written by St Mark himself.jj
And so the solemn commemoration of St. Mark of Ephesus was celebrated at first in the Eugenikos family circle. A wider glorification of St. Mark was aided by George Scholarios in his capacity of Patriarch of Constantinople Decades passed, and then centuries, and the memory of St. Mark ever more broadly became glorified among devout people, in holy monasteries and churches; and finally, nearly 300 years after the death of the Saint, in 1734, the Holy Synod of the Church of Constantinople, under the presidency of Patriarch Seraphim, brought out a decree of canonization of St. Mark of Ephesus. January 19 was instituted as the date of the Saint's commemorationkk As a result, to the two ancient services that already existed (translated in our book into Church Slavonic for use in Church services)ll were added six more services, but they are inferior to the ancient services to the Saint.
In the book of Doukake, Iaspis Tou Noetou Paradeisou for the month of January there is found the following miracle performed by St. Mark many years after his death. "A very honorable man named Demetrios Zourbaios had a sister who became grievously ill. Wherefore he called in all the doctors of Mesolongion and spent much money on them. They, however, brought no benefit to his sister, but rather she became worse. For three days she lost all speech and movement, being totally unconscious, so that even the doctors decided that she was going to die. Then he and the rest of her relatives began preparing the necessities for the funeral. But, most unexpectedly, they heard a voice and a great groan coming from her, and turning towards them she said, 'Why don't you change my clothes, since I have been drenched?' Her brother became overjoyed upon hearing her speak, and running to her he asked what was the matter and how she became so wet. She answered, 'A certain bishop came here, took me by my hand, and led me to a fountain and put me inside a cistern. After he had washed me, he said to me, "Return now; you no longer have any illness.'"' But her brother again asked her, 'Why didn't you ask him that granted you your health who he was?' And she said, 'I asked him, "Who are you, your holiness?" and he told me, "I am the Metropolitan of Ephesus, Mark Eugenikos.'"' And having said these things, she arose immediately from the bed without any remnant of illness. When they took her to change her clothes, they were all amazed O, the wonder! – seeing that not only were her clothes soaked, but even the bed and the other blankets upon which she had lain. After this miracle, the above mentioned woman made an icon of St. Mark for a memorial of the miracle, and having lived piously for fifteen more years, she departed to the Lord.mm
To this article is appended an extremely valuable document: the appeal of St. Mark to those present on the very day of his death, his special exhortation to George Scholarios, in which he begs him to take upon himself the leadership of the Orthodox Church, and the reply of George Scholarios to St. Mark.nn
We shall conclude our short sketch of the life and activity of St. Mark of Ephesus with the invocation with which the ancient biographer of the Saint ends his Synaxarion:
By the prayers of St. Mark, Christ our God, and all Thy holy Fathers, Teachers and Theologians, preserve Thy Church in Orthodox confession unto the ages!
REFERENCES
a After Hefele, Histoire des Conciles, vol. VII, pt. II, pp. 1015sq.
b See the address of St. Mark to Pope Eugenius, pt. I; in our book, p. 40.
c Epistle of St. Mark to the abbot of Vatoped Monastery, pt. 2; in our book, p. 354
d Although this was not included in the Act of Union itself, nonetheless the Orthodox were required to sign a special document concerning this St. Mark wrote a special tractate (Rus. tr. in our book, pp. 295-301), in which he demonstrates the correctness of the Orthodox tradition, founded on Apostolic and Patristic tradition.
e The Act of Union; Rus. tr. in our book, p. 306.
f The Testimony of Archbp. Andrew of Rhodes concerning St. Mark of Ephesus; Rus tr. of the Latin text in our book, pp 109-110.
g See the narrative included below from the book of Syropoulos, True History .., sec X, ch. 12, ed. Creighton, pp, 299-300; Rus. tr. in our book, pp 312-3.
h See preceding note.
i In our book, p. 300.
j Epistle of St. Mark to George Scholarios, pt. 2; Rus. tr. in our book, p. 341.
k From the Synaxarion to St. Mark, p. 322 in our book.
l Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State, Oxford, 1956, p. 500.
m Josephi Methonensis Episcopi Synaxarium Concil. Florentini. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, vol. 159, col. 1105.
n See note f.
o Vogt, Dictionnaire de la Theologie Catholique, vol. 6, p 37. Buzzone in Dizionario Ecclesiastico, 1955, p. 821. Meyer in Realencyclopaedie fuer Protestant. Theologie und Kirche, vol. 12, pp. 287-8. Pandelakis in Megale Ellenike Egkuklopaideia, Athens, vol. 11, p 105-6; etc.
p I maintain this opinion in my book, pp 28.9.
q Rus. tr. of the Synaxarion to St. Mark in our book, p. 325.
r Epistle of St. Mark to Hieromonk Theophanes on Euboia Island, pt. 1; Rus. tr. in our book, p 356.
s Rus. tr. in our book, p. 326.
t Ibid.
u Pt. 1; p. 354 in our book
v See note r
w Epistle of St Mark to the Ecumenical Patriarch; Rus. tr in our book, p 352
x Published by Papadopoulos-Kerameus in Anekdota Ellenika, Constantinople, 1884, pp. 102-3; later by Mgr. L. Petit in Revue de l'Orient chretien, Paris, 1923, pp. 414-5; Rus. tr. in our book, pp. 227 8.
y Of this the Great Orator Manuel testifies in his Synaxarion to Saint Mark; see in our book, p. 354.
z According to A. Norov, Journey to the Seven Churches Mentioned in the Apocalypse, St Petersburg, 1847, p. 286
aa Epistle of St Mark to George Scholarios, pt. 3; see our book, p. 341.
bb On the date of St Mark's death there have been many suppositions and much scholarly debate; we hold to the opinion of Mgr. L. Petit.
cc From the Funeral Oration of George Scholarios to St. Mark, pt. 10; Rus. tr. publ. by A. Norov in Unpublished Works of Mark of Ephesus and George Scholarios, Paris, 1859.
dd From our translation of the Synaxarion to St. Mark, p. 366.
ee Ibid.
ff From the Synaxarion of John Eugenikos.
gg From the Service to St Mark, Canon, Song 7.
hh Prof A. Kartashev, Outline of the History of the Russian Church, vol. 1, p. 360.
ii The question of the Council of Constantinople of 1450 has been a subject of scholarly debate.
jj See our essay (in Russian) in Orthodox Path for 1966: "From the Writings of the Most Pious Emperor Manuel I Paleologos," pp. 47ff.
kk Information on the canonization of St. Mark was taken from the essay of Papadopoulos-Kerameus, "Markos o Eugenikos os Pater Agios tes Orthodoxou Katholikes Ekklesias," in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1902, vol. 11, pp. 50-69.
ll Pp. 385-400 in our book; the Rev. Abbot Alypy of Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, N.Y., helped us in this translation.
mm K. Doukske, op. cit., Athens, 1889, pp. 397-429; Rus. tr. in our book, pp. 414-5. (The present translation is direct from the Greek, courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston, Mass.)
nn For manuscripts and editions of this document, see our book, p. 368, where will be found also the Russian translation from which the following English translation was taken.
ADDRESS
OF ST. MARK OF EPHESUS
ON THE DAY OF HIS DEATH1
___
1. See note nn on preceding page.
On the final day of his earthly life, the last thoughts of St. Mark were not for himself, but for Orthodoxy, to which he had devoted bis whole life. Appealing to his followers to stand firm in the battle for Orthodoxy, he turned especially to one man in whom he hoped to find a successor to himself as leader in this battle. This hope was richly fulfilled in the person of George Scholarios, who became an ardent champion of Orthodoxy and, as first Patriarch of Constantinople after the fall of Byzantium, was instrumental in freeing the Church from the yoke of the false Union. He was subsequently canonized under bis monastic name of Gennadios and is commemorated on August 31.
I WISH TO EXPRESS MY OPINION in more detail, especially now that my death is approaching, so as to be consistent with myself from beginning to end, and lest anyone should think that I have said one thing and concealed another in my thoughts, for which it would be just to shame me in this hour of my death.
Concerning the Patriarch I shall say this, lest it should perhaps occur to him to show me a certain respect at the burial of this my humble body, or to send to my grave any of his hierarchs or clergy or in general any of those in communion with him in order to take part in prayer or to join the priests invited to it from amongst us, thinking that at some time, or perhaps secretly, I had allowed communion with him. And lest my silence give occasion to those who do not know my views well and fully to suspect some kind of conciliation, I hereby state and testify before the many worthy men here present that I do not desire, in any manner and absolutely, and do not accept communion with him or with those who are with him, not in this life nor after my death, just as (I accept) neither the Union nor Latin dogmas, which he and his adherents have accepted, and for the enforcement of which he has occupied this presiding place, with the aim of overturning the true dogmas of the Church. I am absolutely convinced that the farther I stand from him and those like him, the nearer I am to God and all the saints; and to the degree that I separate myself from them am I in union with the Truth and with the Holy Fathers, the Theologians of the Church; and I am likewise convinced that those who count themselves with them stand far away from the Truth and from the blessed Teachers of the Church. And for this reason I say: just as in the course of my whole life I was separated from them, so at the time of my departure, yea and after my death, I turn away from intercourse and communion with them and vow and command that none (of them) shall approach either my burial or my grave, and likewise anyone else from our side, with the aim of attempting to join and concelebrate in our Divine services; for this would be to mix what cannot be mixed. But it befits them to be absolutely separated from us until such time as God shall grant correction and peace to His Church.
THEN, TURNING TO THE DIGNITARY SCHOLARIOS, HE SAID:
I speak now of the dignitary Scholarios, whom I knew from his early youth, to whom I am well-disposed, and for whom I have great love, as for my own son and friend... In my intercourse and conversation with him even to the present time, I have conceived a clear picture of his exceptional prudence and wisdom and power with words, and therefore I believe that he is the only one to be found at the present time who is able to extend a helping hand to the Orthodox Church, which is agitated by the attacks of those who would destroy the perfection of the dogmas, and likewise, with the help of God, to correct the Church and affirm Orthodoxy, if only he will not wish himself to retreat from the deed and hide his candlestick under a bushel. But I am thoroughly convinced that he will not act thus and, seeing the Church in distress from the waves and the Faith in dependence upon infirm man (I speak according to human standards), and knowing that it is possible for him to help her, he will not to such a degree disobey his conscience as not to haste with all speed and readiness to enter the battle; for being wise, he is not at all unaware that the destruction of the Orthodox Faith would be the general perdition.
It is true that in the past, considering that the battle which was being conducted by others, especially by me, was sufficient, he did not reveal himself as an open champion of the Truth, being compelled, it may be, by counsels or by individuals. But I too at an earlier time carried nothing or quite little into the battle, having sufficiency neither of strength nor of zeal; and now I have already become nothing: and is there anything less than nothing? And so if then he likewise supposed that we ourselves could set something right, and he considered it superfluous for himself to do what others could do, as well as what, with his completely insignificant help, would be harmful to others, as he often explained to me, asking pardon then at the present time, when I am departing from hence, I see no other equal to him who could take my place in the Church and the Faith and in the dogmas of Orthodoxy. Therefore I consider him worthy, being called or rather compelled by the times, to reveal the spark of piety hidden in him and fight for the Church and sound doctrine; so that what I could not accomplish, he might set right, with the help of God. For by the grace of God he can do this, with the mind he has been given and his power of words, if he will only desire to use these at the propitious time.
And he is equally obliged in his relation to God and Faith and Church to fight faithfully and purely for the Faith. And I myself lay upon him this battle, so that he would be defender of the Church and leader of sound teaching and champion of right doctrines and the Truth in my place, having support in God and in the Truth itself, about which the very battle is being waged; so that being a participant in this with the Holy Teachers and God-bearing Fathers, the great theologians, he would receive his reward from the Just Judge when He declares victorious all those who fought for Piety. But he himself must with all his strength exert zeal for the well-being of the right doctrines of the Church, as being obliged to give an answer for this on the Judgement Day to God and to me, who have intrusted this to him and have likewise reckoned upon bringing into the Good Land these words with over a hundredfold fruits to come from them. Let him answer me concerning this, so that departing the present life I might have perfect confidence, and that I might not die in sorrow, despairing over the correction of the Church.
THE REPLY OF LORD SCHOLARIOS:
I, your Holy Eminence, first of all thank your great holiness for the praises which you have spoken of me; for, having desired to show me favor, you have testified of me such great things as I do not possess, and I am convinced that this is not even near to me. But this proceeds from the height of goodness and virtue and wisdom of your great holiness, in which I myself, seeing it from the beginning, have not ceased to delight even to the present time, as is indeed owing in relation to your great holiness, as a father and teacher and preceptor; and being directed, as by a rule, by your perfect understanding of the dogmas and the justness of the judgements which you have accepted and with which I am in accord, and likewise rejecting without doubt what is not in accord with your judgement, I have never refused to fulfill my duty as a son and disciple in relation to your great holiness. You, your great holiness, are yourself a witness to this. You know that I have always acted thus toward you, and revealing the deeper feelings of my convictions, I have given you these vows.
Concerning the fact that earlier I did not step out openly into the battle which your great holiness was waging, but kept silent, no one knows better the reason for this than your great holiness, for I often confided my arguments to you and sincerely opened my heart concerning this and begged forgiveness, and I was not deprived of it. But now, with God's help, I have come to despise this, and have made myself a sincere and open defender of the Truth, in order fearlessly to proclaim the dogmas of my Fathers and the perfection of Orthodoxy, in accordance with the view of your greatest holiness. I say this not because I see you already taken from hence, for we have not abandoned our last hopes, but we hope in God that you will recover from your infirmity and will be with us and will labor together in this. If, however, by the judgements known to God, you will depart from hence to that place of rest which you have prepared for yourself, and if by reason also of our unworthiness you will go there where you are worthy to dwell, – then, affirming absolutely, I say to you before God and the Holy Angels who now stand invisibly before us, and before the many and worthy men here present, that in everything I shall be in place of you and in place of your tongue, and of that with which you burned and which you handed down with love, I myself, both defending and offering to all, will betray absolutely nothing, but will fight for it to the end, at the risk of blood and death. And although my experience and strength are small, I am nonetheless convinced that your great holiness will fill in my insufficiency with the God-pleasing prayers characteristic of you, both now when you are here with us, and when you shall have departed.
A PILGRIMAGE TO
THE ORTHODOX HOLY PLACES OF AMERICA
THE SEVENTH PILGRIMAGE
There where the Pacific splashes against the craggy granite cliffs, and the ocean fog creeps up the slopes of the coastal hills of northern Cali fornia there, quite apart from today's civilization, is the first still existent landmark of Orthodoxy in the United States outside of Alaska. It is located on the isolated Sonoma-Mendocino coast some eighty miles north of San Francisco on narrow, winding Route 1.
A redwood stockade, two large blockhouse towers with waving flags bearing the Imperial double headed eagle, other log houses, a roofed well, and a two-domed Orthodox church with large Russian crosses overlooking a rolling sheep pasture compose this fort-citadel that 13 breathes the spirit of the Russian north of olden times. It was built early in the nineteenth century and is known as Fort Ross.
Historically it is the last outpost of the gigantic achievement of the venturous Siberian pioneers (promyshlenniki). But to Orthodox Ame ricans it is the site of the labors of their predecessors in faith, who along with their pioneer achievements aided the cause of the spreading of Orthodoxy. In practice the Orthodox mission of the Fort developed little; and when the Fort was sold and abandoned the church became a place of absolute desolation. Gradually, however, it was restored and eventually became a State Historical Park visited not only by curious tourists but by pious pilgrims also...
FORT ROSS
IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Blessed art Thou, O Christ our God, Who didst make the fishermen wise by sending down upon them the Holy Spirit, And through them didst draw the world into Thy net.
Lover of men, glory to Thee.
—Pentecost Troparion, Tone 8
FORT ROSS was established in 1812 as the California headquar ters of the Russian-American Company of Alaska. The region of Russian occupation in northern California extended north ward for over 100 miles from Point Reyes to Cape Mendocino and nine miles inland. I. A. Kuskov, having made preliminary investigations confirming Rezanov's observations that the northern California coast was unoccupied and offered all the features of a successful outpost, early in 1812 started a new headquarters here near the Kashia Pomo Indian village of Mad-shui-min, on a coastal plateau some twenty miles north of the mouth of the Slavianka or Russian River.
On or about September 12 of that year the new settlement was dedicated and given the name "Ross." In 1814 construction was com pleted, there being a stockade with blockhouses and about forty ship deck cannons. The fort was to protect the valuable tanned pelts from theft by other groups who were less successful in hunting sea otters and fur seals. In 1815 the church was built in the name of the Most Holy Trinity. There was never great religious or missionary activity there, due to the absence of priests; but one of the greatest Orthodox missiona ries, Innokenty Veniaminov, the future Metropolitan of Moscow, served there, in 1836.
TODAY, AS THE ABOVE SKETCH attempts to convey, the Fort retains something of an unworldly air rather foreign to the intentions and achievements of its founders. The worldly aspect which concerned them is long dead, but the Orthodox Faith which they, in spite of themselves, were to bring "to the ends of the earth," to the New World and even to remote California, flourishes today. Every year on Memorial Day (The Russian Metropolia holds services on the Fourth of July.) Orthodox people flock to the church at Fort Ross and Divine Liturgy is celebrated by clergy from San Fran cisco. The late holy Archbishop John Maximovich always made it a point to officiate himself at this Liturgy during his episcopate in San Francisco. Then ardent prayers are offered for the deceased Orthodox who found their resting place on this islet of Orthodox Russia.
None of the original furnishings of the church (though they were never many) have been preserved, but today some old icons hang on the walls and are in the same spirit.
THE ABOVE IS A PIOUS ATTEMPT on behalf of an icon painter in a Greek monastery to present an icon of a martyr, who has not as yet been officially canonized. In the history of the Orthodox Church there have been local as well as general canon izations of saints. Veneration of a saint may be instituted by the whole Orthodox Church, by a single Orthodox Church, by one diocese, or even by one monastery. St. John the Russian, for example, has never been officially canonized by the whole Orthodox Church; his veneration was begun by the bishop of the diocese in which his relics were located and was subsequently accepted by the Greek and other Orthodox Churches.
Simeon A. Yanovsky, a devoted spiritual son of Father Herman, has left in his notes some remarkable information concerning the first native American martyr confessor of Orthodoxy, an Aleut named Peter. Yanovsky also informs something exceptionally valuable for us, because it is the testimony of a holy man how the Aleut Peter was pronounced a "Holy New Martyr" by the Blessed Father Herman him self, who was actually the first to pray to him. The Outline of the History of the American Orthodox Mission (Kodiak Mission, 1794-1837) and the Life of Father Herman (Both in Russian, Valaam Monastery publications, St. Petersburg, 1894.) relate:
THE MARTYRDOM OF THE ALEUT PETER
"The Russian-American Company founded Fort Ross, not far from San Francisco, in 1812. There climate and soil favored agriculture, stock raising, a vegetable garden, and the like; all this was to be of use to the Company. This required manual labor. Some Russians and Aleuts, coming from northern regions to work, were settled there. But the new colony of Russians, being situated at the border of California, which then belonged to Spain, aroused suspicion in the Spaniards concerning the aims of the Russian American Company. Fearing that the Russians meant to take possession of the town of San Francisco, the Spanish government began to demand that they abandon Fort Ross, and it began to cause various unpleasant incidents. Finally in 1815 the Spanish ar rested some twenty or thirty Russian Orthodox Aleuts. Some of those arrested were held in San Francisco, while others were deported to other places. They were forced to labor and were badly treated. It is unknown how fourteen Russian Orthodox Aleuts ended up in prison in San Francisco and for some reason fell into the hands of Jesuits (More likely Franciscans (trans. Note.). Here is how Yanovsky writes, relating this to Eather Herman in 1819 at St. Paul's Harbor on Kodiak Island:
"Once I told him how the Spaniards in California had taken captive fourteen of our Aleuts, and how the Jesuits had tortured one Aleut to death, trying to force them all to accept the Catholic faith, to which the Aleuts did by no means consent, answering: "We are Christians, we have been baptized," showing them the crosses on their necks. But the Jesuits retorted: "No, you are heretics and schismatics, and if you do not agree to accept the Catholic faith, we will torture you to death." And they left them in the prison until evening, two to a cell, to think it over. In the evening they came with lanterns and lighted candles and began again trying to persuade them to accept the Catholic faith. But the Aleuts, permeated with Divine grace, firmly and decisively answered that they were Christians and would not change their faith. Then these fanatics began to torture them: at first one, with the other as witness. At first they cut off one joint of his toes, one toe at a time, then the next joint; he endured everything and kept on saying: "I am a Christian, and I will not change my faith." Then they cut off one joint from each of his fingers, then the next joint; then they chopped off his hands, then his feet the blood flowed. But the martyr endured to the end and repeated unchangingly this one phrase. He died from loss of blood.
"The next day they wanted to torture others, but that same night an order came from Monterey that all the captive Russian Aleuts be sent at once under guard to Monterey; and so on the next day all, except 'the deceased, were sent off. This was told to me by an Aleut who was an eyewitness, a comrade of the martyred one; he later escaped captivity by fleeing Upon hearing this I reported it to the Central Administration in St. Petersburg.
"When I finished relating this to Father Herman, he asked me: "And what was the name of the martyred Aleut?" I answered, "Peter, but I don't remember his last name." Then he got up and stood before the icons, piously crossed himself and pronounced these words: "Holy New Martyr Peter, pray to God for us!"
With these words ends Yanovsky's account of this first Orthodox martyr-saint of the American land. A more detailed historical account of the innocent sufferings of Blessed Peter still awaits its investigator. As of now nothing more is known of him.
The people of San Francisco, as well as of all America, have no idea that there is someone who especially intercedes for them before the Throne of God. They do not know that the New Martyr Peter's humble, quietly-glowing witness of Christ's Truth still possesses a supernatural power to give heavenly peace to the hearts of men. But it is poured out only upon those who humbly fall down and pray with repentance... And a host of heavenly martyrs hears them....
Holy New Martyr Peter, pray to God for us!
RUSSIAN AMERICA, of which Fort Ross is only a small fragment, left for posterity until the end of times the way to the Truth – the saving enclosure of Holy Orthodoxy, the Church.
Next issue: A Pilgrimage to the Convent of the Vladimir Mother of God.
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The Orthodox Word No. 14
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