THE ORTHODOX WORD
A Bimonthly Periodical
Established with the blessing of His Eminence the late John (Maximovitch), Archbishop of Western America and San Francisco, Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
Edited by the Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, California
1970, Vol. 6, nos. 4 & 5 (33 & 34)
DOUBLE ISSUE
JULY-OCTOBER
CONTENTS
168 A Second "Pascha in the Midst of Summer": The Services for the Canonization of St. Herman in San Francisco
185 Saint Herman, Guardian Angel of the Russian Church Abroad
196 Saint Herman in America Today
201 A Treasury of Saint Herman's Spirituality
205 Whither, Metropolia?
213 A Final Appeal of Metropolitan Philaret to the Sobor of Bishops, Clergy and Laymen of the American Metropolia
COVER: Procession during the moleben at the Canonization of St. Herman of Alaska in San Francisco. Page 183: Icon of Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston.
Copyright 1970 by Orthodox Christian Books & Icons.
Published bimonthly by Orthodox Christian Books & Icons Second-class postage paid at Redding, California.
Yearly subscription $5, two years $9, three years $12; individual copies 90 cents
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THE ORTHODOX WORD, PLATINA, CALIFORNIA
It is I who am ringing the Paschal bells.
ST. HERMAN
WHEN, AMIDST the gloomy storms of the cold islands of Alaska, the humble Priest-monk Gerasim, persecuted for standing in the truth of Holy Orthodoxy, left everything and fled for defense to the earthly remains of the "Lowly Herman" on Spruce Island – then, as a sign of God's favor toward his exploit of resoluteness, St. Herman appeared to him in sleep amidst a Paschal fragrance of sanctity to the ringing of joyous bells, and pronounced these words: "It is I who am ringing the Paschal bells," and added: "Have no fear!"
This was in the summer, in the month of August in the year 1935.
The mystery of these words of Pascha in the midst of summer has only now begun to be revealed.
Canonization of St. Herman...
A Second "Pascha in the Midst of Summer"
THE SERVICES FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SAINT HERMAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
THE GREAT PASCHAL SAINT, Seraphim of Sarov, who greeted everyone in every season with the Easter greeting, "Christ is risen!" and sang Paschal hymns on the night of his repose in mid-winter, prophesied the glorious feast of his own canonization when he said: "My Joy, what joy there will be when they will sing Pascha in the midst of summer." And the thousands who attended his canonization on July 19 | August 1, 1903, from Tsar Nicholas II on down, testified to the extraordinary Paschal elevation of this mid-summer solemnity. And St. Seraphim prophesied yet more: that shortly after this joyous feast there would come a long time of troubles, when the whole of Russia would be deluged with blood and the Russian people would undergo the most terrible sufferings, when many Russians would be scattered throughout the face of the earth. But in the end all this would serve for the great joy of Russia and for a great triumph of Orthodoxy known throughout the world.
The history of Russia's suffering and martyrdom, beginning in 1904-05 (so soon after St. Seraphim's canonization), and especially from 1917 to the present, is known, in its general features, to all. And now, in the midst of this prophesied time of troubles and banishment, the Orthodox Russian faithful-together with Orthodox of other nations whom God's Providence has drawn into union with them in confessing true Orthodoxy has known for the second time such a "Pascha in the midst of summer" at the canonization of the contemporary of St. Seraphim, St. Herman of Alaska, in San Francisco on July 27 August 9 of this year, just 67 years and eight days after the canonization of St. Seraphim. About this there had been no clear prophecy, and none of the faithful had come prepared to experience such a miraculous event as this. But already after the services of Saturday night, and certainly after the Sunday services, there was only one way in which those present could describe what they had felt: "It was like having Pascha all over again!"
The interior of the San Francisco Cathedral during the Divine Liturgy on the day of St. Herman's Canonization, showing the frescoes painted by Archimandrite Cyprian and his students
Father Gerasim in front of his Spruce Island cell
Metropolitan Gabriel
Abbot Nazarius
A SECOND "PASCHA IN THE MIDST OF SUMMER"
I. THE EVE OF THE CANONIZATION
For a month before the canonization itself, memorial services were celebrated for the repose of the ever-memorable Elder Herman in all churches of the San Francisco Archdiocese after every service – whether in the full form of panikhida or the short form of litia.
By the evening services of Friday, July 25 August 7, many guests had already arrived from afar for the canonization in San Francisco: Bishop Laurus of Manhattan, Secretary of the Synod; Hegoumen Vladimir of Holy Trinity Monastery at Jordanville; Archimandrite Cyprian, who with a number of seminarians from Holy Trinity Seminary had already been in San Francisco for some time finishing the frescoes in the Cathedral dome: Archimandrite Panteleimon and Schema-monk Ephraim of Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston; from the newly-formed parish of St. Herman in San Diego, Father Michael Lightfoot and Monk Sergius with a number of parishioners; from Alaska, Fr. Elias Armistead, founder of the new St. Herman's Home for Aleut and Eskimo children; and other guests from many states and from abroad. Early the next day Archbishop Vitaly of Montreal arrived, representing also his Monastery and two sketes in Canada; and later in the day, from Seattle, Father Neketas Palassis of the missionary parish of St. Nectarios came with a number of his parishioners, as did Fr. Andrew Nakonetchny with members of the Russian parish in Seattle. All the clergy of the San Fran cisco Archdiocese attended the services of Saturday and Sunday, as did Abbess Ariadna and sisters from the local Convent of the Vladimir Mother of God.
Beginning at 6 p.m. in the New Cathedral Archbishop Anthony and Bishop Laurus celebrated a Parastas (requiem Vigil), and on the next day a requiem Liturgy, at which Archbishop Vitaly also served. At the end of the Liturgy Archbishop Anthony, greeting both his own flock and those who had come for the solemnities, delivered a moving sermon on those who were being commemorated on this day as being especially close to Father Herman. Vladika gave special attention to the pious parents of the Elder, whose names have not come down to us. He spoke of the importance of the parental blessing and of its grace-giving influence. He named those nearest to Father Herman, such as Abbot Nazarius, his spiritual father; Metropolitan Gabriel, who blessed the sending of the first American Orthodox Mission; the members of this Mission, his friends, the local inhabitants, the clergy in some way connected with him; and those who have venerated Father Herman, beginning with Abbot Damaskin of Valaam, who gave the original impulse that has led, one hundred years later, to the canonization, and concluding with a touching tribute to the radiant figure of Archimandrite Gerasim of Spruce Island, the humble guardian of the Saint's relics, who reposed less than a year before the canonization and now is united with his beloved St. Herman.
Here Vladika Anthony informed the faithful also of a great joy that has come to this God-preserved city and this Cathedral: a particle of the relics (a tooth) of St. Herman which had been given years before by Father Gerasim to Holy Trinity Monastery and had now been brought by Hegoumen Vladimir. And through Bishop Andrei, as if representing at these solemnities St. Seraphim's Novo-Diveyevo Convent in New York State, there had been brought a piece of the wooden coffin in which the relics of St. Herman had lain for many years. Both of these holy objects had been put in a small silver reliquary and placed on the Saint's Icon, which was to be unveiled at the All-night Vigil on this day.
Concluding his sermon, Vladika told how he had shortly before this had the great good fortune to fly to Alaska in order to venerate the relics of St. Herman and beg the Saint's blessing for the celebration of his canonization. Vladika had gone to Kodiak as a simple pilgrim, without informing the local Metropolia authorities of his intention, and had served at the Saint's relics a private panikhida, singing to himself, begging the Saint's prayers for himself and his flock. With a feeling of great joy and peace he had left the Saint's shrine, bearing this joy to his flock, who now eagerly listened and attended to his appeal to prepare spiritually to greet the newly-revealed Saint.
At this the panikhida began, at which for the last time before the canonization were commemorated all the reposed who were close to or who had venerated Father Herman. The panikhida was sung solemnly yet festively, and these beloved names resounded, first from the deacons, then from the pastors and archpastors-hundreds of names, beginning with Abbot Nazarius and ending with the names of the recently deceased who had experienced the Saint's miraculous help. The morning's memorial services ended in a common anticipation of the evening's revelation of a new Saint of God.
II. THE OLD CATHEDRAL
Archbishop Tikhon, who spent thirty years in the See of San Francisco, a great ascetic of the spirit, was the first Chairman of the Committee for the Canonization of Father Herman. Being himself the spiritual son of the as yet uncanonized disciple of Optina Monastery, the holy Gabriel of the Pskov – St. Eleazar Monastery, Vladika Tikhon naturally took very much to heart the matter of St. Herman's canonization. How many prayers he offered in this "Old Cathedral" of the Joy of All Who Sorrow, hallowed by years of prayer, so that the event that is now upon us might come to pass! And although he did not live to see this event on earth, still, in the world above he was rejoicing and taking part in spirit.
That day the solemn Divine Liturgy was celebrated early, in order that at its conclusion all present could go to the depot to meet Metropolitan Philaret. Bishop Nektary, Vicar of the San Francisco Archdiocese, was chief celebrant – he who had been for many years the cell-attendant of Vladika Tikhon. He began his sermon by depicting a touching image given him by his spiritual father, the great Elder Nektary of Optina Monastery: "When I was in Optina with Elder Nektary, the Elder, in giving me as a cell rule of prayer the 'Optina Five-hundred' by prayer rope, said: 'Just think, what a great thing is prayer to the saints! When you merely say, "All saints, pray to God for me," at that moment in the Kingdom of Heaven all, all, all the saints who are at God's Throne bow low simultaneously before the Lord and all together cry out: Lord, have mercy."
III. THE FINAL PANIKHIDA
At six in the evening, with the New Cathedral overflowing with the faithful, the final panikhida for Father Herman was served. Metropolitan Philaret was met by four Archpastors and a great multitude of clergy, who were already shining in white vestments. Archbishop Anthony greeted the Chief Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, making a comparison between his arrival in San Francisco and those triumphant arrivals of great hierarchs in the cities of Holy Russia for the glorification of God's saints.
At the panikhida none of those close to Father Herman was mentioned any longer, and only the Blessed Herman himself was commemorated, who in a short time, in the words of Elder Nektary of Optina, would be acknowledged by all as having a place in that choir of saints before God's Throne who hear our earthly petitions and cry out to God, Lord, have mercy.
The panikhida proceeded solemnly in the midst of a sea of lighted candles held by the faithful. The entire church was set out in white Paschal array; and even as the evening light was waning and the service for the reposed was proceeding, one already began to sense beforehand the great effusion of light that was about to burst out.
IV. GREAT VESPERS
The All-night Vigil began after the panikhida at seven o'clock. From the Altar there arose from a mighty choir of nearly a hundred voices of clergy and servers the opening chant of the Vigil: "O come, let us bow down..." Then, from the heights of the Cathedral came the thunderous singing of the prefatory psalm, "Bless the Lord, O my soul." "Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly" was sung antiphonally by the Cathedral choir and by the choir of seminarians on the cliros below. On "Lord, I have cried," after the choir's singing of the Sunday stichera in Tone 7, on the cliros was heard the first sticheron to St. Herman, in the joyous and exalted Tone 3:
Leap up, ye waters of Valaam, be jubilant, ye islands of Alaska, sing, ye peoples of the New World, let heaven and earth rejoice; for he who conversed with angels is glorified, and to the ends of the universe the right faith is proclaimed, and we shall sing out in a great voice to Christ our God: By the prayers of our Father Herman, O Lord, save our souls.
And indeed, in defiance of space and time, at that moment wondrous Valaam, now prostrate under the Soviet heel, and rejoicing Alaska, and Orthodox believers in America and throughout the world who confess the one true Faith, and the whole choir of Valaam ascetics – became fused as it were into one body and implored God, for the sake of the prayers of the Godpleasing Herman, to send down His grace to aid them in their earthly pilgrimage. And the Lord, by the prayers of meek Herman, did indeed send down then on earth His mysterious grace, which was clearly felt by all present. The final three stichera to St. Herman, and then the "Glory," were sung in English on the cliros with yet greater animation than before. From the viewpoint of church singing – not to mention iconography and the whole atmosphere of church services – no better place, outside of the monasteries, could have been chosen for these solemnities; for the San Francisco Cathedral offers a model and example of feast day hymnody, where the appointed stichera are executed with solemnity and completeness and in the full Orthodox tradition -with two choirs singing antiphonally, the clergy led in their singing phrase by phrase (when appointed) by the canonarch, and the beautiful tradition of "Special Melodies" (ancient variations on the Eight Tones) executed properly. And thus, for a few hours at least, in the midst of a godless land and time, the faithful were exalted and transported into the realm of the most solemn Orthodox worship – that same realm into which the emissaries of St. Vladimir were transported in Constantinople and that inspired the Baptism of Russia; only here, by God's Providence, there was no need to travel to a foreign capital, for the numerous American converts who attended the services received in the heart of their own land and to a large extent in their own language, the same message and the same tradition which Holy Russia, having received it from abroad, was now freely bestowing abroad. This realm of the fullness of Divine worship, which is so seldom encountered today outside of a few monasteries, could exert a powerful and sound influence on the integration of Orthodox believers today into the Church's deepest life.
The Procession, with covered Icon, at the Litia
The Cathedral of the Mother of God, The Jay of All Who Sorrow, showing the Sepulchre of Archbp. John Maximovitch
The clergy coming out of the Altar for the Litia procession
The singing of stichera on the Aposticha, led by the Canonarch (right)
V. THE LITIA
After the Old Testament readings and while the stichera on the Litia were being sung, the clergy came out of the Altar to begin the procession around the outside of the church. The two eldest Protopresbyters carried the Icon, veiled by a white covering. At the first ektenia, at the end of the list of saints was added for the first time, "And the holy and God-bearing Herman, Wonderworker of Alaska." At midway the procession entered the Sepulchre of Archbishop John Maximovitch, which is located directly under the Altar of the Cathedral, where a blaze of lighted candles at the Hierarch's tomb greeted the words of the sticheron: "When the departure of the Saint was near at hand, while by his bed candles burned and the Acts of the Apostles were read, St. Herman shone wondrously... He reposed in the fragrance of his ascetic deeds... Now living eternally, he prayeth ever to the Lord of glory for us."
Having gone around the Cathedral and placed the Icon, still covered, on an analogion in the center of the church, the clergy, at the conclusion of the stichera on the Aposticha, sang the Theotokion, led by the canonarch and again one felt a breath of that monastic antiquity that had nourished the monks of Valaam and St. Herman... After the blessing of the breads, grain, wine, and oil, the Cathedral choir sang, to Znamenie chant, the troparion to the Saint. Then all lights were turned off, and in darkness the second half of the solemn Vigil began with the reading of the Six Psalms of Matins.
VI. THE POLYELEOS
After the readings from the Psalter, still in half-darkness, Vladika Anthony came out of the Altar and, after slowly going over with his glance the throng of some 1500 who were in attendance, delivered the following flaming sermon:
It is said in the Church's song of praise concerning the Apostle John the Theologian that he, being full of love, was also full of theology. Similarly St. Herman, a man of great heart, full in his own measure of love for God and his neighbor, became filled with grace in order to transmit it to men. And grace is the power of God, the help of God, the caress of God.
In his life there is something in common with St. Seraphim of Sarov. In all likelihood it was in the same decade in which Prokhor Moshnin, the future most glorious Seraphim, came to the Sarov Hermitage, that the youth, the future St. Herman, entered the Trinity-St. Sergius Hermitage near St. Petersburgh. But we do not know his worldly name; neither do we know who his parents were, whom without name we commemorated at the panikhida this morning.
Like the chosen beloved one of the Mother of God Seraphim, the young Herman, too, received healing from Her. Suffering from a malignant abscess under the beard, not wishing to have recourse to earthly treatment, he wrapped a wet towel around his neck, with which he had wiped the icon of the Mother of God, and fell asleep – and awoke healed.
Soon Herman was already on the wondrous island of Valaam. In all likelihood he received at his tonsure the name of one of the founders of Valaam Monastery (Sts. Sergius and Herman). At that time this monastery, after its devastation, was being reestablished by the renowned Abbot Nazarius. This ascetic was an elder contemporary of St. Seraphim. In Sarov he began, to Sarov he returned, and there he reposed. He is known also for his participation in the publication of the Slavonic Philokalia, in which those seeking a deepened spiritual life began to be brought up. Abbot Nazarius became the preceptor of Herman, who began already on Valaam his ascetic labor of anchoretism. It was also Abbot Nazarius who sent Herman on holy obedience as a member of the special mission for preaching the Gospel to the pagans in distant America.
St. John of Kronstadt, who at first wished to preach to the pagans, by inspiration from above remained for his great service in Russia; while Monk Herman, who had sought solitude on Valaam, out of obedience, complying with his Abbot's instruction, for the Lord's sake, went off to a distant land to the pagans.
The Russian Spiritual Mission at Kodiak was composed of monks (six from Valaam Monastery, two from the Monastery of Konevits). The head of the Mission, Archimandrite Ioasaph, was called back to be consecrated Bishop, but on his return trip, already as a hierarch, he drowned together with all who were with him on the ship. Hieromonk Juvenal, a zealous preacher, was killed by pagans. Some died, others returned home. The Elder Herman, remaining in a foreign land, outlived them all and left behind him a profound and brilliant trace.
The missionaries were to enlighten the native Aleuts; but our fellow – countrymen, who had come earlier from Russia, themselves were in need of Christian enlightenment. That was the stern epoch of serfdom in Russia and slavery in America, and the attitude of the administration of the colonies and of our pioneers toward the natives was also quite harsh; but the Monk Herman, full of love for neighbor, wished to be a nurse for these poor, in the majority kind-hearted, hungry, and patient Aleuts and other local tribes. Of this his own letters speak. And in truth he was, in his own words, a nurse, and more – a father of the local inhabitants, as likewise of the Russians, who were far from their homeland in difficult conditions of life.
A strict ascetic, poorly dressed, having a board instead of blankets for covering, Herman out of humility determinedly refused the priestly rank. From the island of Kodiak he went to settle on Spruce Island, his "New Valaam." And there he died, but, even while living on Spruce Island, he did not leave Kodiak. At the time of a frightful epidemic of plague he fearlessly gave himself over to serving the sick, who were suffering terribly. The Elder loved children and founded a school and orphanage; he had no pedagogical preparation, but there was room for much in his heart. Children and adults responded to love with love. But he who looked after people with such concern desired solitude, as a true converser with angels.
As a lover of the spiritual world, the Saint foresaw that people at first would forget him, but, by God's grace, would then remember him. And people did remember and began to write down concerning the ascetic labor of the Elder Herman, and of how God had granted him to halt a flood, to stop a fire, to predict the future, to heal the sick. And there were healings both in the time of the Elder's earthly life and after his repose.
As in every feature of St. Seraphim, who greeted everyone with the Paschal greeting, so in the features and especially in the repose of St. Herman there was manifested something Paschal.
You all know how in the night of the Resurrection before the Matins the book of the Acts of the Apostles is read, and how then everyone lights candles, and the procession goes forth... Elder Herman, sensing the approach of death, commanded candles to be lit and the Acts to be read, but having been mysteriously informed, he bade the candles be extinguished. In a week again at Herman's command candles were lit, his disciple read the book of the Acts, and the Elder reposed in the fragrance of sanctity.
And now we have come to the moment long postponed, but now already upon us, of the Saint's glorification. By this there opens for us a new window into the Kingdom of Heaven, through which we breathe in the air of eternity.
I ask you all now to light candles to greet the Church's great triumph. Let us pray to St. Herman, who is being glorified by God, and he will pray for us, for the Russian people, and for America, which became the place of his ascetic labor and his repose.
May this night of glorification become bright and grace-giving. Amen.
In an instant the throng of faithful appeared with lighted candles in their hands. As once a handful of Aleut orphans with lighted candles had beheld the mystery of St. Herman's departure to heaven, in the midst of a heavenly fragrance and enveloped by the light of Mt. Tabor, so now like new orphans the faithful children of the Russian Church Abroad were counted worthy to behold the mystery of the Saint's glorification. The Royal Doors were opened, the Cathedral became radiant with light. "The Metropolitan," Archimandrite Cyprian describes this moment, "and his hierarch concelebrants emerged from the Altar to the singing by the augmented choir of "Praise ye the name of the Lord," followed by Protopresbyters, Archimandrites, Archpriests, Hegoumens, Priests, Deacons, Subdeacons, and a multitude of servers of all ages. Surrounding them were the faithful with lighted candles, up to the very ambo. In the center, on an analogion adorned with flowers amidst a multitude of burning candles, veiled by a white covering and bound with a ribbon, was the image of St. Herman with a particle of his relics and coffin, toward which the attention of all was directed. After the final Alleluia of the Polyeleos the Metropolitan descended from the Kathedra and, making a wide sign of the Cross on himself, untied the ribbon and took off the covering. At this moment there resounded, there thundered forth from the clergy "We glorify thee, our holy Father Herman..." A repeated Magnification resounded from above, as if from the very dome, wherein is depicted the Lord God of Sabaoth upon the Cherubim and Seraphim. And then from the cliros a loud "We glorify" in English. And while this chant resounded back and forth, four deacons censed the Saint's Icon, filling the church with fragrant incense" which had been brought by Archimandrite Panteleimon, who at this time was anointing the Icon with aromatic oil, in the tradition of the Holy Mount of Athos.
And in the midst of this blinding light, the candles, the clouds of in a frame, precisely in a window, against a background of blazing incense gold, was revealed the face of a simple monk, yet a dweller of heaven, a converser with angels! And in truth, from this time forth there has been opened for America and the whole contemporary world a window into the Kingdom of Heaven, through which, through the "frame" of authentic Orthodoxy, if one only strive to the utmost, one may breath in the atmosphere of eternity, which is a foretaste of eternal Pascha.
"Here is a mystery," exclaimed Fr. Elias Armistead, "which it is not given to all to understand. For what took place in San Francisco was more invisible than visible. It was a meeting with, a communing with Father Herman... When our holy Father Herman was manifested in his Icon, what a sense of apparition there was to all present! I thought of the true spiritual meaning – that he was calling us to follow him, as fellow ascetics, fellow strugglers, as confessors and defenders of the Faith. And not only of the Faith, but also of Father Herman's Aleuts...
The unveiling and the first veneration of the Icon and holy relics of St. Herman by Metropolitan Philaret
We glorify thee, our boly Father Herman, and we honor thy holy memory, instructor of monks and converser with angels.
Anointment of the icon by Fr. Panteleimon during the "Magnification"
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pg. 183 was Blank. It looked like something had been removed from the page. There were marks on it-like white-out or glue residueat some point
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During the remainder of the Vigil service, the singing was taken up in turn by the choir of clergy, the Cathedral choir, and the choir of young voices on the cliros. All the faithful venerated the Icon and relics of the Saint and received anointment with oil by Metropolitan Philaret, and each was given icon reproductions of the Saint. The service continued until midnight. "The solemnities," writes a pilgrim from Los Angeles, O. Makovskaya, "had an unparalleled spiritual power, and it seemed as though heaven had come down to earth and at this moment all the angels rejoiced in heaven and men were glad." After the Vigil the lights shone long in the Cathedral. At three in the morning Archimandrite Panteleimon finished hearing confessions.
"I heard many say, 'Just like Pascha!"" exclaimed Archimandrite Cyprian; "and, indeed, externally everything reminded one of Pascha: the white vestments of the clergy, the white coverings on the analogia, the multitude of candles, and the radiant faces of the faithful. But the Paschal joy belongs fully only to Christ's Resurrection; here, however, there was a bright reflection of this – unexpected and exceptional which made the seven-hour service pass unnoticed even for children and the elderly and infirm."
One pilgrim to the festivities wrote thus of her own experience during this night: "St. Herman helps me all the time in my requests. As a matter of fact, I even came to the Canonization quite unexpectedly and with his help. I was working even on Saturdays as a summer substitute, and there was no possibility at all for me to come to San Francisco. But when I began to read of the approaching Canonization, I would look at the icon of St. Herman and ask, how can such a solemnity pass and I not be able to attend? I put off reading about it so as not to become upset. But just before the Canonization a fellow worker offended me at work and gave me an occasion to leave for several days. I got packed an hour and a half before the flight of the airplane that brought me just in time for the Canonization Vigil service. I was rushing and had no ticket yet, but everything arranged itself; and it even happened that when I had just entered the Cathedral two ladies offered me lodging for the night, seeing that I was a visitor. And so St. Herman and Vladika John fulfilled my great desire and arranged everything. And when I returned to New York I was offered a better job... The solemnities of the Canonization left an immense impression on me. There was something extraordinary about the Vigil service, to which I barely managed to fly in time. The marvellous Cathedral, and Vladika's Sepulchre there and the whole time it seemed that Vladika John was celebrating St. Herman's Canonization with us, and that the time when the Saint had lived and labored alone in Alaska and the time now had somehow fused, and one felt that he was with us and was; praying for us now and especially during the days of his holy Canonization. And Vladika John was with us, and our righteous St. John of Kronstadt, and the Martyr-Tsar and all the Russian saints. And in an instant the Church Abroad seemed to me not at all a little solitary group, but something immense and triumphant." (L. Miroshnikova, New York City.)
VII. THE EARLY LITURGY
"Yet brighter, more radiant and more triumphant were the services on Sunday," notes Archmandrite Cyprian. "For our zeal toward the memory of His Saint, the Lord richly rewarded us sinful people who filled the church on the day of his Canonization. The Grace of the Holy Spirit warmed our cold hearts..."
The early Liturgy was celebrated in the left Altar of the Cathedral, dedicated to the righteous St. John of Kronstadt, above which the wall is adorned with a fresco depicting St. Herman as one of a row of five monastic Fathers of the Russian Church, representing the three historical periods of the flowering of Northern monasticism: from the first period, Sts. Sergius and Herman of Valaam and St. Anthony the Roman; from the second period, St. Sergius of Radonezh; and from the third period, which was inspired by the great Elder Paissy Velichkovsky, St. Herman of Alaska, who came to America in the year of Elder Paissy's repose, and himself forty years later reposed on the same day as Elder Paissy – November 15.
The Divine Liturgy, which began at 7 a.m., was celebrated by Archpriest Nicholas Dombrovsky, and the Brotherhood of St. Herman sang on the cliros. There were many communicants. After the Liturgy Fr. Nicholas gave a sermon which clearly and simply expressed the feelings of all:
I greet you all, dear brethren and sisters, on the bright, all-joyous, and exceptional triumph of the glorification – canonization – of our God-bearing Saint Herman, Wonderworker of Alaska.
Once the contemporary of St. Herman, our dearly-beloved St. Seraphim of Sarov, the joy of the Russian land and of all Orthodox peoples, who reposed some four years before the Wonderworker who is now being glorified, foretelling his own glorification said that a time would come when in Russia Pascha would be sung in the midst of summer. And, indeed, the prophecy of St. Seraphim came to pass. All of God-bearing Russia, the whole Russian people in 1903, on July 19th, at exceptional solemnities with a large gathering of people at Sarov, glorified its "Joy" – the ascetic of Sarov who in everyone he met saw also "my Joy." The triumph of the glorification of St. Seraphim was indeed a Pascha in the midst of summer in the Russian land.
And now, 67 years later, here in this noble and blessed land of America, in our city of San Francisco, we exiles frm the land of our Fathers have also been granted God's great mercy to celebrate another Pascha in the midst of summer – the triumph of the glorification of the first Orthodox Saint of the Western Hemisphere, the Alaskan missionary of many years, the humble ascetic and Wonderworker, the Elder Herman.
Was it not, in fact, Paschal feelings that filled our hearts yesterday evening, when during the polyeleos at the All-night Vigil, just as at Pascha, hierarchs, priests and the entire church with lighted candles in their hands sang the first Magnification to St. Herman? Just as at Pascha with bated, joyous breath we ever all await the first sounds that break the night's silence with the incomparable words: "Christ is risen from the dead," so yesterday also, after the magnificent "Praise ye the name of the Lord," there came a joyous silence, filled wth the sweetest feelings, which also was broken by the sudden universal, loud and triumphant "We glorify thee, our holy Father Herman" at the moment when our First Hierarch took off the covering from the Icon of the Saint. This touching moment was the beginning of our turning in prayer to the newly-glorified Saint of God. The whole church with one mouth and one heart in the hearing of all confessed its profound faith in the mediation and prayer of the new intercessor before God's Throne. From this time forth a new candle of prayer burns before our Heavenly Father on behalf of the earthly Church.
Of course, this does not mean that St. Herman became a saint only today. No! The Saint's whole life was God-pleasing. Of this we have the testimony of his Life, published by Valaam Monastery in the last century. There the miracles of the Saint are described, which he performed both while he was alive and after his repose. And this is the best testimony that before the face of God he was already a saint during his own lifetime. He was always revered as such by those who knew him and heard of him.
Icon of St. Herman with relics carried out in procession during moleben
The shroud covering St. Herman's reliquary from Spruce Island Hermitage
During the Pontifical Liturgy at the canonization
The carrying of the Icon and relics around the Cathedral
Then why is it, if this is so, that his glorification was not in the last century, or in the good and peaceful years of the present century, but only in our time, in this year of 1970? There can be only one answer to this: such is the will of God, such is the Providence of God, Who orders all things on the earth. Just as the seed thrown by a husbandman into the earth sprouts concealed in it and ripens in diverse times, bringing forth fruit a hundredfold, so also the faith and sanctity of St. Herman, sowed by the Lord Himself... ripened by God's Providence in the hearts of the faithful precisely here, in this New World, where once God's Saint labored in asceticism, lived and was a missionary.
From this time forth before God and before the entire Christian world we bear witness in the hearing of all that we believe in the prayers of St. Herman for us, who have devoutly chosen him and with contrite heart beg the Lord to accept him as our new intercessor before the Throne of God.
Let us all then give thanks to the Lord God that He has enabled us to be participants of this bright solemnity in our Cathedral Church. Such solemnities do not often occur. In the 200-year Synodal period of our Russian Orthodox Church, up to the reign of the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II, there were only five canonizations in all. Only in the reign of the last Tsar, before the terrible trials and shocks which have come upon the Russian people and the Orthodox Russian Church, were there more.
For the half-century of the existence of the free Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, this is only the second canonization, and we shall hardly live to see the next one. The first to be canonized, six years ago, was the Pastor of all Russia, Father John of Kronstadt; and now the missionary to the Aleuts, the Elder Monk Herman.
And so, with all our soul giving thanks to God for having granted us the joy of experiencing twice in a short time these Paschal feelings, this time once again in the midst of summer, at the glorification of His Godpleasing saints, let us cry out from the depths of our soul to the newly-glorified Wonderworker of Alaska: Our Holy Father Herman, pray to God for us. Amen.
VIII. THE PONTIFICAL DIVINE LITURGY
Archimandrite Cyprian continues: "The sanctity, depth, and spiritual essence of this church event were revealed in all their power for everyone on the very day of Canonization, beginning at the moment when in the morning the blessing of water was performed in the narthex by Mitred Archpriest Elias Wen, surrounded by a group of the faithful. A certain unexpected, completely new feeling entered into the heart and did not leave for a single minute dur – the course of the whole Liturgy and then the whole day." Into the water before the blessing there was poured some water from the spring of St. Herman which had been brought from Spruce Island. Fr. Elias abundantly and enthusiastically sprinkled the whole church and its three Altars with the blessed water.
At 9:30 the Metropolitan arrived, being met by five deacons, some 32 priests, and the four hierarchs. At the Small Entrance the Icon of the Saint was brought up to the Royal Doors of the Iconostasis, where it was received by two Archimandrites and borne around the Altar Table. On the Altar Table during the Liturgy there was another icon of the Saint, from Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston (see reproduction on page 183), and in the Sepulchre of Archbishop John there was yet another icon, the Brotherhood icon of St. Herman, which had been uncovered during the Magnification the night before. The Divine Liturgy was celebrated with great solemnity, during which an unending procession of the faithful came to venerate the Icon of the newly-revealed Saint. Holy Communion was given to the many communicants out of two Chalices. At the conclusion of the Liturgy Metropolitan Philaret delivered the following sermon.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Wondrous is God in His saints, the God of Israel!
Every Orthodox Christian knows that our Holy Bible ends with the sacred book which is called in Greek Apocalypsis, and is the Revelation of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian.
In this book of Revelation the great prophet and seer of mysteries, the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, in majestic visions, symbols, and images, as it were brings before us the whole history of the Church of Christ and the history of the human race right up to its last moment, up to Christ's Last Judgement. And there where there is described that which occurs in the heavenly world above at the Lord's Throne, the Apocalypse constantly speaks of how the saints pray before the Throne of God for the human race, pray for the whole world.
Let us direct our attention to that place in the holy book where it is related how there stood before the Lord's Throne an angel of God who had a golden censer, and he was given an abundance of fragrant incense, so that together with the prayers of the saints he might offer this incense on the golden altar which was before the Lord's Throne.
And the fragrant smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel.
Thus do the saints offer up prayers for us sinners before the Throne of God. Therefore never be downcast in spirit if it seems to you that you are alone; remember that on earth people may abandon you, but we are always under this covering of prayer of our elder brethren, God's saints, who always pray for us their younger brethren and never cease to pray.
And in hope of this covering of their prayer, the Church constantly calls on us to pray to them – sometimes to a single saint, sometimes to all saints. And this choir, immeasurably immense, of those righteous who have pleased God intercedes before God for the human race and for the whole world.
And now we all, by God's mercy, are present at a spiritual triumph, when to this assembly of God's saints, our intercessors and protectors, yet another glorious name is joined – our holy and God-bearing Father Herman, Wonderworker of Alaska, ascetic of the far North. Our Church celebrates his glorification.
It must be realized that by this glorification the Church does not make him who has pleased God a saint. He is glorified by God, he is a saint in God, he is attested of God as righteous, for his holy and devout life, attested by the gifts of God's grace, attested by righteousness and sanctity.
And the Church does not make him a saint by her glorification, but only humbly and at the same time joyfully points out to her spiritual children the new intercessor, to whom they may now appeal, begging his protection of prayer and his aid in all circumstances when this is needful.
Not so long ago, only six years past, the Church Outside of Russia, Russia Abroad, and likewise captive, suffering Russia, celebrated the glorification of the great universal lamp, Father John of Kronstadt; this is the one saint who has already been glorified among us abroad in these evil years.
And now next to him there is placed another great God-pleasing saint, likewise an intercessor who prays for us in these grievous times, our holy Father Herman.
Both by birth and upbringing, in his life and in his death, he belongs entirely to the Russian people and to the Russian Church. He is a Russian saint; he is flesh and blood and spirit of the spirit of his native people, his native land.
And now it is him whom the Church triumphantly glorifies.
Rejoice, O Russia in captivity, suffering Russia! You now have a new intercesssor, a new protector. And pray to God, that by his prayers He may give you deliverance from that oppression of godlessness under which you are suffocating.
And you, Russia Abroad, likewise rejoice and be glad, dispersed over the vast stretches outside of Russia, one might say, over the whole terrestrial globe! You, too, now have an intercessor and protector. His prayer, even here, while he was still alive, worked miracles. All the more now, standing before the dreadful Throne of the Lord of Glory, our holy Father Herman is powerful to obtain for us all that is needful to us from God's goodness both for temporal and for eternal life. Let only our own faith not grow weak – Let us only never doubt that this prayerful protection and intercession is truly a gift of God's mercy to us.
Let us then keep festival, let us rejoice in the goodness of the Lord, Who is wondrous in His saints. It is by His grace, His power, that our Godpleasing saints have been glorified – both the saints of old and those more recent, both Father John of Kronstadt and Father Herman of Alaska.
They loved God to such an extent that for them to live meant to serve God; they were entirely in God.
Was it not out of love for God that St. Herman left his homeland? Out of obedience, as a true monk and ascetic, he went far away, not forgetting his homeland and its holy places, and gave himself there completely over to the service of God and his neighbor, and the Lord glorified His faithful slave and laborer by grace and miracles.
"Glory be to God for everything!" St. John Chrysostom once said in antiquity. And so now we all, receiving these gifts of God's goodness, should say with our whole soul: "Glory be to God for everything!" Amen.
IX. THE MOLEBEN AND PROCESSION
The moleben – the first service of prayer to the newly-glorified Saint, culminating in the solemn moment when all went to their knees and Metr. Philaret read for the first time, in absolute silence, the Prayer to St. Herman began with a church procession. While the choir slowly sang "O Heavenly King" and called upon the Holy Spirit to descend and dwell in the faithful, the procession began to move out the front doors, and in the sun-drenched summer air were seen, first the lantern and Cross, then the church banners and icons; and, escorted by four brilliant gold fans, the Saint's Icon with relics was borne in a special frame by the twelve eldest presbyters. Behind the Icon came the hierarchs with servers, then monks, nuns, and the rest of the faithful. The number of the faithful who were present was even greater than the night before, and those who could not find their way into the church stood in the street outside.
To the censing of the deacons and the singing by all the people of "Holy Father Herman, pray to God for us," the procession – which instantly attracted all the attention of busy Geary Boulevard began to descend in order to make the circuit of the church, passing again at midway the Sepulchre of Archbishop John. At the four sides of the Cathedral ektenias were pronounced by the deacons and holy water was sprinkled in all directions.
Hierarchs following the icon with relics in procession. Bottom: Bishops Laurus and Nektary; middle: Archbishops Vitaly and Anthony (with the Cross); above them: Metropolitan Philaret with some of the servers, followed by monks, nuns, and the people
The Brotherhood Icon of St. Herman
The Trapeza. The hierarchs are (l-r): Bp. Nektary. Archbp. Anthony, Metropolitan Philaret, Archbp. Vitaly, Bp. Laurus.
The day's services in the Cathedral were concluded with the "Many Years" sung for the assembled hierarchs and faithful, for the Brotherhood of St. Herman, and for the two Archimandrites Panteleimon whose namesday this was: the founders of Holy Trinity Monastery at Jordanville and Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston. And to one's astonishment one realized that all the major Orthodox monasteries and convents in America were represented at these solemnities, that it was to all the Orthodox monks and nuns of the American land that the faithful were singing "Many Years" and "Save, O Christ God," and that this feast of Canonization was above all a monastic feast which even as St. Herman himself points the way for a future of a genuine American Orthodoxy. More than one heart on this memorable day was fired anew with ascetic and monastic resolve.
X. THE TRAPEZA AND THE RITE OF THE PANAGIA
In Orthodox monasteries the daily meals-trapeza – are considered to be a continuation of the Divine services, where silence is preserved and all listen to the reading of the Lives of Saints or ascetic counsels, in order that even here the need of the body may not take precedence over the nourishment of the soul. Even so, at the conclusion of the Canonization services the monastic meaning of the solemnities was kept uppermost as the procession with the Panagia – the "Most Holy," as the Mother of God is called in Greek – was formed. Just as in great monasteries on feast days, all gathered in the center of the church and, led by seminarians in their black cassocks, and followed by the clergy and the Chief Hierarch in his Mantle and a Deacon bearing a large prosphora (blessed bread) with the image of the Theotokos stamped upon it, the procession made its way, to the singing of the troparion to St. Herman, to the church refectory under the Cathedral. There, the prayer before eating having been sung, all sat down and one brother, receiving first the blessing of the Chief Hierarch, went to an analogion at the front of the refectory and began to read for the first time the "Life of our Holy and God-bearing Saint Herman of Alaska." And wondrous Valaam Monastery, the Kodiak Mission in Alaska, Spruce Island, the martyrdom of the Aleut Peter, and the miracles of St. Herman appeared before the mental eyes of those present, who had come as pilgrims to the Saint to take part in the last chapter of his Life: his Canonization.
At the conclusion of the reading and the trapeza, before the Brotherhood icon of St. Herman, the Rite of the Panagia was celebrated by the Chief Hierarch and the Deacon, and the blessed bread was divided and distributed to the faithful, who thus might well have felt themselves to be present at the trapeza of some great Lavra, within whose enclosure the vanity and noise of this world were for a time forgotten. The day's solemnities ended only at four o'clock, shortly before the beginning of the evening service, which marked the commencement of a second day of celebration.
XI. THE SECOND DAY OF THE FEAST
Having acknowledged St. Herman's sanctity before the world, a number of the hierarchs, clergy, and people gathered anew in the Cathedral to celebrate the second day of the Canonization. At six o'clock there began the solemn Vigil in honor of the Smolensk Mother of God: the Hodigitria, which means "Guide" in Greek. This touching title for an Icon of the Mother of God has a great significance today: for She is in truth the "Guide" of the Orthodox Diaspora, which had just given glory to its new patron. One may all the more see God's Providence in this "coincidence," in that this same day is also the anniversary of the repose of Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky, founder and first Chief Hierarch of the free and independent Russian Church Abroad, which is now celebrating the 50th anniversary of its existence. The assembled hierarchs, after the Vigil, served a panikhida for the great hierarch, and thus he too participated in the glorification of St. Herman.
The next morning the Pontifical Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Archbishops Anthony and Vitaly to strict monastic singing on the cliros, followed by a moleben to the Mother of God and St. Herman. And with this the feast would have ended; but by God's mercy there was yet another, most moving, service of prayer: a panikhida for Archbishop John in his Sepulchre, where for the first time from the lists of the reposed that are constantly commemorated there the name of "Monk Herman" was struck off. The wondrous Paschal mood of all continued and was felt there, even at the singing of a panikhida. Hegoumen Vladimir served, and everyone sang; at the end the monks from Holy Transfiguration Monastery sang, very movingly, to Greek chant. A powerful impression was left: the low-ceilinged underground Sepulchre, completely covered with frescoes of saints, their golden halos glowing from the multitude of candles and lamps, and in the center, covered by his episcopal Mantle, the tomb of the righteous Hierarch, before which the faithful had gathered as if at the tomb of a martyr in the Catacombs...
"Holiness attracts holiness," Archimandrite Panteleimon had told a group the night before; "we come to San Francisco as pilgrims." And in truth, this city with its reputation of moral lawlessness above all other cities in this now pagan land – is at the same time, to those with eyes to see, a place of Orthodox pilgrimage. For the sake of its righteous and holy hierarchs – Apollinary, Tikhon, John, and, from even before the great Earthquake of 1906, Nestor and Tikhon – the Lord has made its Cathedral a new holy place of America, adding gift upon gift to its spiritual treasury. Some of the pilgrims came not only to participate in the glorification of St. Herman, but as well to fulfill promises made to Archbishop John by coming to his Sepulchre. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance (St. Matt. 13:12).
At the end of the panikhida for Archbishop John, Archimandrite Panteleimon, summing up in a single phrase the feeling of everyone, and indeed of the whole celebration, loudly exclaimed: "Christ is risen!" And the Sepulchre resounded with the joyful Paschal response from the lips of all: "In truth He is risen!"
And thus the feast came to an end.
XII. A SECOND "PASCHA IN THE MIDST OF SUMMER"
A pilgrim to the Canonization of St. Herman from Canada writes:
"We have been to the Holy Land for Pascha. Only one event of the Holy Week in Jerusalem seems to equal, perhaps excel, the wonder of St. Herman's glorification – the miracle of the Holy Fire. There we were conscious of participating in such a miracle that the soul can never be the same as before; there the victory of Christ God and the promise of the victory to mankind were sealed with the unburning flame which we beheld in our own hands. We experienced a similar wonder at the glorification of Father Herman. Was this event not an icon of the Holy Fire? For us it was – the deification of mankind proven in the person of this little monk. If, as St. Gregory Palamas says, we know God by His energies, we knew Him there in San Francisco in the same way that we knew Him there in the Holy Sepulchre with the unburning flame...
"And there was present, not seen with the eyes, but seen with the heart, a precious bent little figure – homely, perhaps, but beautiful beyond compare; there was the little Vladika, in the cliros, in the sanctuary, on the ambo-there was John of Shanghai, everyone's Vladika!
"The services in the crypt of Archbishop John were especially prayerprovoking, and when at last Father Panteleimon exclaimed "Christ is risen" there in the crypt, the prayer turned into tears of joy.
"We discussed the whole event with others who had been in San Francisco, and we all agreed on this point – the glorification of St. Herman was the highlight of our lives – all the Paschas combined-the promise of man's deification through Christ fulfilled." (Lev Puhalo.)
St. Seraphim's canonization occurred when Holy Russia was in its glory, yet on the eve of the time of troubles and banishment which he had prophesied. To us today the future is veiled. One can only wonder whether this second "Pascha in the midst of summer" – which comes at one of the lowest periods of Christian history, when the satanic power that enslaved Russia and persecuted and banished its faithful seems on the verge of achieving universal power – does not come on the eve of even such evil times for America and the rest of the free world, where alone today the Orthodox Faith may still be openly confessed. We do not know.
Yet one thing is certain: In these perilous and uncertain times, when whole Local Orthodox Churches are leading themselves and others entirely outside of the saving Church of Christ, God has sent a great consolation and succor to His small flock of faithful Orthodox Christians in the Canonization of St. Herman. This resplendent feast came as a revelation to the faithful, and yet also as something mysterious, not fully revealed. The full manifestation of this Paschal mystery, of which we have glimpsed a wondrous fragment, is perhaps still before us. Perhaps we shall not truly see its meaning and experience another such consolation until the present satanic cycle of revolution and iniquity has run its course, and a godless and enslaved world will see, on the eve of the fearful reign of Antichrist, a final Paschal revelation from Holy Russia, as has been prophesied. For in truth, Christ is risen, and the time is at hand when all those faithful to the end will arise with Him into the blessedness of eternal Pascha! Amen.
NEW ICONS OF SAINT HERMAN
By M. E. von Reutlingen
Icon by the Brotherhood of St. Seraphim in London
By Valentin Tsevtshinsky, France
By Fr. Theodore Koufos
SAINT HERMAN'S CHILDREN
Liza (Elizabeth Baumann) see p. 192
Andrew see opposite
Children greeting St. Seraphim at Pascha (By Archimandrite Cyprian)
Saint Herman Guardian Angel OF THE RUSSIAN CHURCH ABROAD
O most glorious wonder! a new land is sanctified, for the Wonderworker Herman, raised unto the heights, is manifest today. Wondrous is God in His saints, God is with us, know ye, O nations! Learn of Orthodoxy from Herman; by whose prayers, O Christ our God, save our souls.
(From the Service to St. Herman: Sticheron on Lauds, Tone 8, to the Special Melody "O most glorious wonder!")
ON THE EVE of the Jubilee Year of the 50th anniversary of the free Russian Church Abroad, there has occurred, as if by itself, the lightbearing glorification of the first Saint of the American land, who lived like an angel here, where now, under his protection, the center of the Russian Church Abroad is preserved.
But in order that the nations, among whom the sons of the Russian Church have been providentially dispersed over the whole face of the earth, may understand that God is with us as is the truth of Orthodoxy, St. Her man, being even to this day a zealous apostle of true Orthodoxy, has shown at the time of his canonization that he is indeed the Guardian Angel of the Church Abroad, and has gone over the entire earth "ringing the Paschal bell."
Here the reader will find set forth a number of communications, from almost every corner of the earth, relating how the orphans of Russia Abroad -and not only those of Russian blood-have greeted their new Guardian Angel sent by God, before the trials that are coming upon true Orthodox Christians. Lord, give Thy blessing!
Let us begin with a sermon delivered on the day of canonization by a zealous young priest in New Jersey.
By God's mercy we are now commemorating an historic event – the numbering among the saints of our God-bearing Father, St. Herman of Alaska. A canonization opens up for us the path to a broad communion in prayer to ask in the Church's prayers for the intercession of a saint before the Throne of the Almighty.
In this superb moment of prayer and contemplation, the image of the newly-revealed Saint presents itself to us as a burning church candle. For in a melting candle we see a remembrance of the brevity of earthly life, of which the holy Elder constantly reminded people. Too, like drops of melting wax the Saint's soul was cleansed by tears of repentance, by means of which his heart, too, was cleansed of earthly passions. And the light given off by a candle represents the Saint's spiritual burning, for the fire of Divine love burned inextinguishably in his soul, which was warmed by intense prayer and vigil. And it is just such a spiritual attitude that must be kindled in our hearts, an attitude that is reflected in the new Service to St. Herman.
In truth, brethren, this is a marvellous wonder: in our age of apostasy a new star is kindled in the spiritual firmament. By this, hope enters our hearts for our own personal progress in the spiritual life. We have grown used to the thought that saints lived some time long ago, that the Holy Church glorified them at that time, when the whole world itself was closer to Christ, but now there is no hope at all for this... But behold how we, as it were, hear the call of Mother Church: Rejoice, brethren, and be not sad! For out of your midst the Lord has revealed the great righteous one, our holy Father John of Kronstadt, and now the Lord reveals here, on the blessed American land that has given refuge to us wanderers, the first American Orthodox Saint of God, the holy and God-bearing Elder of Alaska, Herman. What joy, what a revelation of God's mercy!
We are called now to preserve the truth entrusted by God's Providence to the Russian Church Abroad. Despite all our difficulties and ailments, let us always remember that we are the one true Church that has not come to terms with Antichrist. In this we have everything! Let us close our ranks in even greater fellow-feeling, let us tear our glance away from worldly vanity, and let us keep vigil and be sober, remembering the Apostle's testament, that "we wrestle against spirits of evil in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having overcome all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Eph. 6: 12-18).
Holy Father Herman, pray to God for us! Amen.
Rev. Valery Lukianov
HOLY LAND
JERUSALEM: Holy Ascension Convent on the Mount of Olives.
Today, on the day of canonization of our Holy and God-bearing Father Herman, Wonderworker of Alaska, I wish to inform you how we celebrated this. On July 22, at trapeza in the Gethsemene Convent after the services of the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal to the Apostles, I asked the Head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem, Archimandrite Anthony (Grabbe), who had just returned from New York, whether he had brought an icon of St. Herman of Alaska. He replied: "No, I didn't bring one; I thought that you already had one. I brought only the Service to him." Abbess Barbara of Gethsemene said: "We will paint one." This was on Tuesday, and on Thursday at the Mount of Olives I told Archimandrite Dimitry: "I want to order from our icon-painter an icon of St. Herman for Sunday." He said: "She won't be able to finish it; she won't even have time to prepare the board." Then I began to rummage in our file of English magazines: the Orthodox Chronicle of the St. Seraphim Brotherhood in London, and The Orthodox Word and I found an Orthodox Word that opened up to a marvellous little icon in delightful colors, and everything was all right.
Today at the moleben we prayed in front of this icon, which has been placed in a frame. Archimandrite Anthony read the Epistle of Metropolitan Philaret on the canonization of our Holy and God-bearing Father Herman of Alaska. He brought out the icon and placed it on an analogion. Together with him served Archimandrite Dimitry, Archpriest Arkady, Hegoumens Modest and Mefody, and Deacon George. During the whole Liturgy commemorating St. Panteleimon the Healer we felt a breath of grace in expectation of the moleben; I will even say that for the whole day the evident presence of the newly-glorified Saint of the Russian Church Abroad – a Saint for America did not leave us.
September 15-28, 1970
When the fortieth day came of the joining to the choir of saints of St. Herman, we placed an analogion with his icon in the center of the church and celebrated the rite of the giving-away of this feast, just as we do for the great Feasts: the priest censed all around while the troparion was sung, read the prayer to him, and after everyone had venerated the icon, took it to the Altar, held it on high and blessed everyone with it, and told us that we should continue to appeal in prayer to the new Saint of the Russian Church. Now this icon is on the wall at the end of a row of other saints.
Abbess Tamara and Sisters
U.S.A.
LAKEWOOD, N. J.: Church of St. Alexander Nevsky.
We celebrated the feast of canonization with great exaltation. Preparations for the solemnity began on the day when I gave a lecture on the life and miracles of the Saint. The lecture was given in church and attracted quite a few listeners, even from neighboring parishes. This lecture was concluded by the singing by all present of Eternal Memory (three times). From that moment after each Liturgy a litia was served for the repose of the Elder's soul. On the table of remembrance of the dead an icon lamp burned before the Saint's image at all times.
The All-night Vigil on the eve of the feast was preceded by the final litia, and on the very day of canonization, at the end of the Liturgy, the whole choir took its place in the midst of the faithful. I called on the whole church to sing the moleben together, which was done with great elevation and animation, so that it was difficult to refrain from tears. Glory be to God for everything!
Rev. Valery Lukianov
SEA CLIFF, LONG ISLAND: Parish of the Kazan Mother of God.
I was glad to hear of the great solemnity in San Francisco in connection with the canonization of St. Herman in truth a consolation to the suffering and sorrowing souls of the faithful. With us everything, of course, was more modest, but the moleben proceeded with great spiritual elevation, and without a doubt the Saint entered into our life of prayer. I gave a sermon before the moleben and I easily and joyfully recalled everything bound up with the name of St. Herman.
May God's mercy be ever with you.
Archpriest Alexy Ionov
ST. SERAPHIM'S NOVO-DIVEYEVO CONVENT, Spring Valley, N.Y.
Yesterday was the solemnity of the canonization of the great Elder of Valaam. Although we did not have such a solemnity, nonetheless our service was quite special. Being all my life in close contact with Valaam, and having received monastic tonsure from a Valaam elder, I felt the spirit of Valaam, a breath of grace, and could not refrain from tears...
May the Lord and the Protection of the Queen of Heaven, together with the praying host of the blessed Valaam ascetics, preserve you.
Sinful Nun Maria S.
EUROPE
FRANCE: Convent of the Mother of God of Lesna
On July 27 our service was according to the Oktoechos, the Sunday service, together with the service to the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon; but at the polyeleos we brought out the icon of St. Herman. The moleben (after the Liturgy) was to the Lesna Mother of God, our Patroness, and to St. Herman.
I don't know what the response of our aged Valaam monks in Finland was to the canonization of St. Herman. It is sad to think about! To think about ancient, holy Valaam occupied by atheists, and everything defiled! For how long, O Lord, will this be? Or is the end of everything at hand? Forgive me and pray for me.
Hieromonk Nikander
Monk of Valaam
FRANCE, CANNES:
Church of the Archangel Michael.
Already in January, 1970, our parish bulletin contained a notice concerning the designation of a new canonization of a saint for the coming year; his Life and icon were given, and it was advised that his name be written, while he was yet uncanonized, in books of remembrance for the departed.
In our Diocese and in Cannes the first services were deliberately held not on the day of St. Panteleimon the Healer (July 27), but a week later; in Cannes we have a chapel to the Healer and did not wish to join the two services together. For the day of canonization an icon was painted by the iconographer Valentin Tsevtshinsky, a teacher in our parish icon-painting school. At the All-night Vigil the icon stood on the Altar-table and at the polyeleos I brought out the icon, followed by the deacon with censer and candles, and likewise by several candle-bearers, and having placed it on the ambo while the deacon censed it, blessed the faithful with it in the form of a cross, and then placed the icon on an analogion in the center of the church and began the censing and the singing of the Magnification. Mounted iconreproductions were sold to those who wished them. On Sunday the sermon consisted of the life of St. Herman and his significance. And then a moleben, at which all could give their lists of names for remembrance. Both at the All-night Vigil and at the Liturgy and moleben there were many faithful present. Now at every Dismissal and at prayers where the saints are named we unfailingly commemorate, after the Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt, the newly-glorified St. Herman of Alaska.
One important and active Evlogian told me: "You must accept the autocephaly of the American Metropolia if you venerate St. Herman!" He thought that it was the Metropolia that was canonizing him, and not the Church Abroad! According to my information the canonization passed in the Paris Exarchate absolutely unnoticed.
Before the day of canonization, through our Archbishop Anthony of Geneva, all the parishes of our Diocese received reproductions of the Saint's icon in Greek style (with blue eyes), together with the text of the troparion and kontakion. Therefore this day was commemorated in all the parishes of our Diocese. We also have charge of the Toulon parish; there on this day this same icon was brought out and all venerated it.
By the prayers of St. Herman, O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us! Amen.
Priest Igor Doulgov
FRANCE, BORDEAUX: Community of St. Herman of Alaska.
Several months ago there was founded in Bordeaux, with the blessing of Vladika Anthony, Archbishop of Geneva and Western Europe, the "Church Community of our Venerable Father Herman of Alaska," since our church in Bordeaux was taken by force by the equivalent of the American Metropolia in Europe, the anti-canonical and modernist jurisdiction of the "Archbishop of France" (Archbishop George of the Rue Daru in Paris). Several of the faithful of Bordeaux have, however, remained with the Russian Synod Abroad. We have no church, but we publish a small bulletin, Tres sainte Orthodoxie. There is also a French icon of St. Herman. Pray much for us to our common patron St. Herman of Alaska, the symbol of our attachment to the purity of the Orthodox Faith and to the Russian Synod Abroad.
The glorification of a new saint is always the source of abundant blessings. Moreover, St. Herman of Alaska is for us a striking example of what the Orthodox Faith can be when it is fully lived.
Russian, like the great majority of our parishioners who, with the exile, have rekindled the torch of the true Faith in this land of France, St. Herman was also a great missionary in the American land. One of the first fruits of his admirable apostolate was the formation of native Orthodox communities, several of whose members confessed the true Faith even unto martyrdom. Missionaries we also wish to be, and this possibility is offered to us only by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, which has received as its mission, in the blessed words of Metropolitan Anastassy of blessed memory, "to sow the light of Orthodoxy over the entire earth."
And this is why we have taken as our patron saint our venerable Father Herman of Alaska.
Jean Besse
SPAIN, MADRID: Spanish Orthodox Mission.
We are a group of Spanish people who recently have embraced Holy Orthodoxy under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and we have started a Mission in Madrid. We celebrate the Divine Liturgy in Spanish (also in Church Slavonic and Greek when the occasion arises), using our own service books, translated into Spanish by ourselves. We have also many friends who are interested in our Faith. Our Mission has been started by an Orthodox Spanish priest, Father Jaime de Reval. He is a former Episcopalian Minister in Barcelona, fully beloved by the parish he was leading. Converted to Holy Orthodoxy through his studies on the Fathers and the history of the Church, he was received and ordained a priest by the Blessed Archbishop John Maximovitch. He spent some years in France, and later he was transferred to Geneva, where he remained under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Anthony.
We have a lot of problems; most important, we have no suitable place to worship, and we celebrate the Divine Liturgy (every Sunday, anyway) in the small house where Fr. De Reval is presently living...
In our chapel we have a large icon of St. Herman, which is illuminated at all times by a lamp... I am now working on the translation of the Saint's office into Spanish, in order to celebrate it on his feast day.
You have no idea how much we are suffering here due to the pressures of the Greek Church (Athenagoras) in Madrid, which is doing its best to stop our activities. The Spanish people in general do not have any idea about the Orthodox Church except the one given to them by Athenagoras.
May the Lord and His All-Holy Mother, as well as our Fathers among the Saints Osius of Cordoba and Isidorus of Sevilla, Princes of the Ecumenical Councils, bless you.
In Christ, your fully devoted
Jose Guillermo Oncins Hevia
Spanish Orthodox Mission
of the Dormition of the Theotokos
Aug. 26-Sept. 9, 1970
ENGLAND, LONDON: Convent of the Annunciation.
Because of various circumstances our canonization moleben to Saint Herman took place on the Sunday after the Feast of the Dormition, August 17/30, 1970. Archpriest George Cheremetieff gave a sermon at the end of the Liturgy on the life of the Saint, which moved everyone, and then there was a moleben before his icon. All the faithful prayed fervently and with great feeling. Our students were in church, too, having returned from their vacations abroad. It was a comfort for the soul: yet another intercessor in heaven will pray for our world which is sinking in evil. Glory be to God, we have both the icon and the Service to St. Herman.
Devoted in Christ, Sinful Abbess Elizabeth
SOUTH AMERICA
ARGENTINA, BUENOS AIRES.
In Argentina the day of canonization was transferred to a week later, and the moleben had to be celebrated not on the 9th, but on the 16th, of August. In his sermon our priest read, with particular feeling, the description of one miracle by the prayers of St. Herman which occurred to the wife of a lighthouse-keeper in Alaska, Naumova, who was healed by earth from the grave of the holy Elder.
A MIRACULOUS HEALING ON THE DAY OF CANONIZATION
On this very day, August 16 by the new calendar, in the house of Alexander and Maria Baumann, there were guests, and their daughter, 12 year old Elizabeth (Liza), became sick just at the most inopportune time. By five in the afternoon pains appeared in her stomach, and they increased with every hour. The poor mother was torn between the guests and her sick daughter. No medicines did any good. Finally, at eight in the evening, Liza said in tears that she had no more strength to endure it – and generally she is a patient child. At such an hour on Sunday it is difficult to find a doctor, and besides, there were guests...
The mother remembered that she had earth from the grave of St. Herman, sent to her by a friend, and because of the canonization this earth was lying on a table nearby. She prayed fervently to St. Herman and said to her Liza: "Pray hard to St. Herman and put the envelope with earth on the sore place." The girl barely managed to place the envelope with earth on the sore place and turn over on her side, when in an instant she fell sound asleep! To be sure, around 2:30 in the morning the pains returned and again began to increase. The father wasn't home, and without him they didn't want to do anything; and while they waited for him the girl again became unable to endure the pain, and the mother in despair again hastened for help to St. Herman. This time she poured two or three pinches of earth into holy water, following the example of Naumova, and praying fervently gave it to Liza to drink. In about ten minutes the pain completely passed and the girl became well.
The next day they called a doctor all the same, more in order to find out what kind of pains these had been. He diagnosed an attack of appendicitus, but reassured them that the appendix was now in such a condition that there was no danger and one could forget about it.
M. Hoerschelmann
CHILE: Holy Dormition Convent and St. John of Kronstadt Orphanage.
On the day of St. Herman's canonization our Vladika, Archbishop Leonty, had been forbidden by his doctor not only to serve, but even to walk around his room. But Vladika didn't listen to any of the doctor's warnings and went with us on Saturday night to the All-night Vigil, which was celebrated very festively. The icon which had been sent us was brought out in the evening and the Magnification triumphantly sung. Later Vladika told me that it makes no difference what the doctors say, but one has to serve! "St. Herman will help us." Vladika prayed for the health of Archimandrite Veniamin and the many Russian parishioners who couldn't be in church because of the Hong Kong Flu.
On the next day, Sunday, there was a solemn Liturgy and there were many people. Vladika couldn't give a sermon, since even his responses during the Liturgy were scarcely audible. And a moleben was served. This day passed for us very warmly and prayerfully, all the more in that it was bound up with the heavenly Healer St. Panteleimon. In the Orphanage we have 28 girls, and about a hundred children in school; all of them know about St. Herman, because they were told to pray to him.
Now we are in very tense times in Chile. God knows what will happen! Holy Father Herman, pray to God for us!
Mother Iuliania
Another incident, also in South America, occurred a week before the canonization of St. Herman.
ST. HERMAN – SPEEDY HELPER
A young man was given the Life of St. Herman to read by his mother. who reminded him while doing so that at the canonization of a saint miracles by his prayers increase. Many sorrows had fallen to the lot of this family of late; and the last blow was the serious illness of the father, the family's solel provider. The young man, his son, had recently married and was expecting an addition to his family, so that he was in no condition to support his par ents and his brother and sister of school age. There was no way out; help was needed, something had to be done but how, what?
At this point the young man just at the right time received an icon of St. Herman. This was on Thursday, July 30. At night he prayed long and fervently before the image of St. Herman, begging him to help his father to find a different kind of work when he recovered so that he could quit his present difficult work, and in general to help in the hopeless situation of his family.
On Saturday early in the morning a friend and co-worker called him excitedly on the telephone: "Do you remember how three of us bought a lottery ticket recently?" "Oh, yes, that's right; I forgot all about it and don't even know the number." "Well, now know that we won three million pesos, one million apiece – 800,000 to take home." And the average income of a worker is from fifty to seventy thousand a month!
Here there was intertwined yet a second miracle, not of a material nature. The young wife, who is self-indulgent, not only obediently agreed to give almost all the money to her father in law, but herself offered to do this, and in addition joyfully bought gifts for his whole family.
This money made it possible to pay off debts and borrowed money, and for the father thus not to work beyond his strength as before. It doesn't need to be said that the whole family revived and warmly thanks God and His wondrous Saint for such evident and speedy help.
M. V. Ioasafov
AUSTRALIA
SYDNEY: Archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand.
On the day of canonization of St. Herman, His Eminence Archbishop Savva, despite his ill health, served after the Divine Liturgy a moleben to St. Herman in the Cathedral Church in Croydon (Sydney). In Brisbane and Melbourne the Most Reverend Vicars of the Archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand, Bishops Constantine and Theodosius, likewise served molebens to St. Herman on that day in the cathedral churches of those cities, and by special order of the Archbishop, in all other churches of the Archdiocese molebens were served by the reverend clergy with a large attendance of the faithful. Before the molebens there were delivered sermons on the canonization of St. Herman and on his life.
The Church Sisterhood at the Cathedral Church in Croydon, with the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Savva, decided to consider their heav enly patron from this time forth to be St. Herman, Wonderworker of Alaska.
In Croydon, besides a general library, there is a Theological Library, in which all materials concerning the life and canonization of St. Herman will be collected.
Secretary of the Archdiocesan Administration
Priest Victor Bulakhov
A long time ago we heard of the proposed canonization of the Alaskan Missionary, Monk Herman; and then we received an Ukase from the Archdiocesan Administration concerning the order of Divine services during the canonization – but we had no icon. What to do? Then one of the nuns, who had come to us with the blessing of the late Vladika John of Shanghai, cut a portrait of the Elder out of a magazine, made a halo, and a frame of appropriate size was found. We gave it to Batushka in the Altar, he blessed it, and at the time of the All-night Vigil, during the singing of "Praise ye the name of the Lord," he brought it, covered, out of the Altar and placed it on an analogion. Then Batushka took the covering off the icon and began to sing the Magnification, and then on the cliros we too sang: We glorify thee, our holy Father Herman, and we honor thy holy memory, instructor of monks and converser with angels.
In the book, Ascetics of the 19th and 20th Centuries (by Poselyanin), there is a description of the ascetic labors of Father Herman, which is most interesting reading. How modest and humble he was, refusing even advancement in the Church's ranks – he was offered to be hieromonk and even archimandrite, and he refused out of humility. Quietly, unnoticed, at a distance from his fellow-countrymen, he gave himself over to serving the unfortunate, outcast Aleuts. My soul trembled over his ascetic labors when I read it at trapeza to the sisters. We have fifteen nuns in all; our convent is still quite young.
Abbess Elena and Sisters
ST. HERMAN – GUARDIAN OF CHILDREN
FAIRFIELD, N.S.W.
Joy came to our house just in time, when we were all very upset over my grandson Andrusha (Andrew). In general he hasn't been very enthusiastic about going to school, and lately every morning I've taken him in tears; he wept and said that he was very frightened in school, so frightened that he was ready to run away from school.
One day I saw a dream: Some monk came into our house, went to the corner where the icons are, and sang the Paschal canon, and then turning to me said loudly: "Christ is risen!" I answered him: "In truth He is risen!" and led my grandson by the hand and made him say "Christ is risen" to the monk. Andrusha said it and the monk answered "In truth He is risen," and stroked him on the head. And I woke up and thought all the while: why does he greet us like that when it isn't Pascha, and why does he not give a blessing? And what kind of saint or batushka is he? Thus I thought for the whole day after waking up.
That same day, having taken Andrusha at 9:30 to school and given him over to the teacher, I went to the bank and on other errands for the children – while Andrusha ran away from school. And the school isn't very close to us, and more important, the streets are dangerous; and he never goes anywhere alone. Of course there was panic at school. His father was called away from work. We phoned and looked everywhere and were terribly worried. But, glory be to God, his father found him after a great deal of searching in all directions around the school. Andrusha, his head hanging down, was walking with his suitcase, This event distressed us all very much – and not only us, but all our friends too, for he is a modest child. We asked him, but he only wept and said: "I don't know why I'm frightened. I just took my suitcase and left. I wasn't running away, and I knew that I would be punished for it..."
And then, just at this time, what joy!... All this day I had been thinking: who could it be that I saw in my dream? And going out to look at the mailbox, I found in it a letter from Abbess Ariadna with a little icon of St. Herman, and I received the answer to the question that had been troubling me. It was St. Herman I had seen in my dream, just as on the icon I received from Abbess Ariadna. With the icon there was a leaflet (see pp. 200-204): on the first page Spruce Island, and inside it told about the miraculous feast of the American native hunters on one small fish, and about how the Aleuts who came to Spruce Island had heard the singing of a choir of angels when the Saint was praying in the chapel. Of course, Andrusha and I with great joy kissed the little icon, gently poured water over it out of a teaspoon into a dish, and Andrew drank this holy water
Glory be to God, from that time on he has gone to school quietly, and not once has he remembered his fear... Together, he and I morning and evening pray in front of the little icon, and he always has to ask to be blessed with the icon and kiss it, and then he peacefully goes to school. Now, glory be to God, he goes happily.
Antonina A. Vajin
CANADA
EDMONTON:
Cathedral Church of St. Vladimir.
Unfortunately I could not come to San Francisco for the canonization of St. Herman, since I was occupied with Diocesan matters. But on the day of canonization, even though I was in Edmonton, spiritually I felt exceptionally well. In our church I delivered a sermon and read the Saint's Life. In all churches of the Diocese molebens were served to St. Herman.
At the moleben in the Cathedral there was in attendance a very religious man who lives here; and when he saw the icon of the Saint, he immediately recognized in it the monk who had appeared to him during sleep on April 12 | 25, 1966. It was St. Herman that he had seen then, but until the day of canonization he did not know who it was. This was soon after Pascha, on the Monday of the Week of the Myrrh-bearing Women.
He says that the Saint was short in stature, in his Mantle and with a klobuk on his head. He was very likeable. The man met him at the door, and when he asked the Saint what he wanted, he felt within himself a feeling of special reverence, as if before someone worthy.
St. Herman asked him if he would like to go to the drawing up of the Testament of Metropolitan Anastassy, for there were going to be several bishops there. But at that time Metropolitan Anastassy had already reposed. This man asked the monk how far it was and how long it would take to go there. To this St. Herman replied: "Twenty minutes," and, uncertain, he added, vacillating, "and another five minutes." At St. Herman's question whether he would like to go to the drawing up of the Testament of Metropolitan Anastassy, he saw and felt great meekness and humility in the face and in the voice of the Saint. And the dream ended.
With my blessing and love in Christ,
Bishop Savva
There would be no point in attempting to interpret this dream, yet one cannot but be struck by the mention of Metropolitan Anastassy (whose name in Greek means "Resurrection"), Chief Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad from 1935 to 1964, from the lips of St. Herman, in a dream revealed on the day of his canonization. It should be noted also, that a document bearing the title of the "Testament of Metropolitan Anastassy" does indeed exist, having been written by the great hierarch himself in anticipation of his approaching repose, and setting forth for his brother bishops his deepest feelings and wishes concerning the future of the Russian Church Abroad and the eventual restoration of peace to the much-troubled Russian Orthodox Church. For the "drawing up" of this Testament in acti.e., its execution"several bishops" must indeed be present at the much-desired Council that will one day bring peace to Russian Orthodoxy.
Perhaps St. Herman, the Guardian Angel of the Russian Church Outside of Russia, chose in advance this means to draw the attention of the Orthodox faithful to this document in the year of his canonization. The "Testament of Metropolitan Anastassy" concludes as follows:
"As my testament to my dear brethren, my co-pastors and concelebrants in Christ, I desire them to stand on the rock of Holy and saving Orthodoxy, to cherish the Apostolic traditions, to preserve brotherly unity, peace and love among themselves, and to show to him whom God wll indicate to steer after me the ship of the Church Abroad the same trust and the obedience of mutual love that they have always shown to my humility.
"May the 34th Apostolic Canon serve as the cornerstone of their mutual relations, for in it is profoundly and clearly expressed the spirit of the Church's governance by means of mutual counsel.
"As for the Moscow Patriarchate and her hierarchs, inasmuch as they are in an intimate, active and well-wishing union with the Soviet power which openly confesses its complete godlessness and strives to implant atheism in the entire Russian people, with them the Church Abroad, preserving its purity, must not have any communion whatever, whether canonically, in prayer, or even in ordinary everyday contact, at the same time giving each of them over to the final judgement of the Sobor of the future free Russian Church.
"Glory be to our God unto the ages of ages!"
Humble Metropolitan Anastassy
SAINT HERMAN IN AMERICA TODAY
The canonization of St. Herman has come at a time when the free world has literally entered upon an age of satanism. Into the contemporary maelstrom of witchcraft and black magic the devil strives to draw even the last Orthodox Christians, using a seductive path of "renewal" and "making the Church relevant."
The following shocking incident reveals St. Herman as an intercessor and deliverer of the Orthodox faithful – and especially his beloved children-from an evident manifestation of satanic powers masquerading as the most up-to-date "Orthodoxy."
Transcribed from an oral communication, this testimony is a cry from the very soul of Orthodoxy in America today.
IN AUGUST OF THIS YEAR, 1970, the Syrian Antiochian Archdiocese held its annual Convention in Chicago, and customarily my wife and I attend. This year my wife, my daughter and I attended.
Upon arriving in Chicago, on the 19th of August, and looking over the brochure with the list of events, we noticed that an event had been rather as a second thought-added to the agenda, which called for what was then described as a "Vigil." The "Vigil" would be for the young people who would attend the Convention, to be held in a room that was set aside as a chapel, where Divine Liturgy would be celebrated every morning and Vespers in the evening. But the "Vigil" was designed to gather together all the young people at midnight for a prayer service. Lest there be confusion, let me say that the Vigil that we know as an office of the Church was not the "Vigil" I am referring to. It was simply a name attached to a gathering for a prayer service, a "spiritual expression," so to speak.
The first "Vigil" was held on August 19th, Wednesday evening, at midnight, and we did not attend this. However, the next day we heard very many comments concerning the "Vigil." As a matter of fact there was an open discussion at one of the planned programs that was moderated by Mother Alexandra and a Dr. Ofiesh,and during that open discussion the subject of the "Vigil" the night before came up, and it was there that we had principally heard of the effects of the "Vigil" and the response and the attitude of the young people who attended-which was quite enthusiastic, to say the least.
My wife and I decided that that night, which would be Thursday, the 20th of August, we would attend and see for ourselves what the "Vigil" had done the night before, what effect it had on the young people, and so on.
I cannot tell you the feeling that came over us upon entering the chapel and upon having the "Vigil" service start, conducted by a Father Gregory Ofiesh of San Francisco. He led the prayer service, and the principal participants were all young people. They had arranged the seating in a theaterform, in a circular form, the focal point being a podium on which there was a young lady – I don't know her name; I know that her father is a priest of our Diocese, one I'm not familiar with. And this young lady, wearing casual sport clothes, as most of the young people did, and guitar in hand, provided the musical background for the service. In the congregation were many, many young people, some adults, and, scattered here and there, other members of the clergy.
The service started with a rather dramatic and emotional prayer by Father Gregory. It was followed by a song – as I recall, it was "Blowing in the wind," played on the guitar by the young lady with responses by the young people in the congregation. That was followed by another "dramatic" prayer and I say this not in the sense of piety and devotion, but in the sense of emotionalism – a very dramatic, pleading type of prayer for brotherhood, peace, understanding, etc., etc. That was followed by another song, the name of which escapes me, but it did have a certain primitive rhythm to it, in which the young people were caught up in a response of swaying and clapping to a particular cadence.
This, in the meantime, began to have a very, very dramatic and – to say the least – depressing effect upon me. My wife, nudging me, gives me a peculiar look, as if to say: What's going on here, this is a Holy Roller kind of gathering, a soul-saving Baptist conglomeration of people, rather than an Orthodox-conducted service: and God knows we don't have to borrow anything from anybody! But this whole thing began to take on an increased tempo, and as the tempo increased with the drama of the prayers and the increased cadence of the music, we could see the young people being caught up in an emotional, stimulating type of situation; we began to see restraints loosening and being given away. The inhibitions were drained slowly, but effectively.
Finally, the young lady began to say: "Now, those of us who were here last night know the movement of the spirit that dwelt among us, and how the spirit affected us, and how we were moved and carried away by the spirit. Who here tonight feels the movement of the spirit?" – things of this nature. She began to cry out and exhort from the young people. And then pretty soon one young person would raise his hand and stand up and give testimony: "I felt the spirit. I never liked church. This is something new to me. I can't help but feeling in love with everybody and I never had this kind of feeling before," etc., etc. And then she would ask again: "Who else feels the spirit moving among us," and another young lady gets up and says: "I feel the spirit moving among us, and it makes me feel wonderful, and at peace with everybody," etc.
My wife by this time is on the verge of trembling. I felt such a depressing feeling... The entire chapel had no light except vigil candles, and I felt as though the candles were slowly being extinguished. I felt a stifling, choking kind of feeling. Perhaps it was nothing more than a feeling of total, desperate frustration to see what our young people were being led into, and what's worse, being led into by our own clergy. I felt such a desperate sense of frustration that I didn't know what to do. I felt as though I should scream at the top of my lungs to stop this nonsense, this fiasco, this which is so completely foreign, and different, and alien to Orthodoxy and to what Orthodoxy truly is that I didn't know, truly, what to do.
Fortunately, there was a beautiful icon of St. Herman present in the chapel, and knowing that those who are about to be or have recently been canonized are closest to people, closest to God, can move us as effective intercessors – I immediately implored him to please intercede with Christ our God to stop this nonsense, to do something about it. Our children were being led astray with authority – something had to be done. And my pleading with him was earnest and fervent, and at the very instant of my "Amen," at that very moment I opened my eyes and one of the priests stood up and gave a speech – he rather just simply interrupted rather than asked for the floor. His name was Father Audi. He made the statement that he had had to address the opening clergy meeting of the Convention, and there was a particular page in his speech that he had deliberately left out for some reason; he felt that it was not opportune to give that particular part of his speech to the clergy, and he didn't know why. And he said: Now I know why: that section of my speech has been reserved for now. And he talked about how he had made his decision to be in the priesthood, and he talked about the movement of the Spirit, and how it had affected him, and how the saints had labored a lifetime in search of the Spirit; some men never did find it, upon some the Spirit never came. Israel, he said, wandered for forty years in search of the Spirit, and how can you young people in the matter of one or two hours, with the strumming of a guitar, expect to truly have the Spirit come upon you in this manner. This is not Orthodoxy. This is something that is dark and evil.
I wish I had a copy of what he had to say, because in effect he really did-by the intercession, I believe truly and fervently, of St. Herman with Christ our God – this brave priest pulled the rug out from under this whole terrible dark deed.
Upon leaving the chapel, we encountered several people. One woman said: "I was choking in there. I couldn't breathe. I even found myself unable to pray. There was something dark and ominous in that chapel. I don't know what it was, but thank God for that priest who got up and put a stop to this."
Now, this can't hold much weight in talking to somebody who is not of an Orthodox mentality. I don't feel that it's important, I don't feel that it's even necessary, for me to make an apology for this. There is nobody who can convince me otherwise than that the intercession of St. Herman was effective and immediate at that moment.
It was a feeling, it was as though one's mind, mentality, his entire soul was being closeted, being stifled, being overwhelmed. And suddenly, instantly, the door was opened, the light had shone, the darkness had been dispelled.
I have mentioned this event to one or two other clergymen, and it was very well received; there is no question in their minds but that an intercession of St. Herman had taken place.
Ted Khoury Youngstown, Ohio
A Treasury of Saint Herman's Spirituality
SEDALION, TONE 3
To the Special Melody: At the beauty of Thy virginity
On a fragile vessel, O Saint, thou didst cross the sed's stormy depths, coming even to a distant land, where Spruce Island was to thee a spiritual vessel, on which by the word of the Good Tidings and by deeds of piety thou didst attain to heaven's harbor, rejoicing in the Lord..
From the Service to St. Herman
X
CONVERSER WITH ANGELS
AT THE END OF THE 1930's and the beginning of the 1940's, when the Russian Orthodox Church in America was under the Synod Abroad, I spent more than three years as a pastor in Alaska, where right and left I heard a great number of stories about Father Herman, the Wonderworker of Alaska. People told of his ascetic life, of his miracles, many cases of miraculous help from the water of his spring, from placing earth from his grave on diseased places, cases of sight restored to the blind, of the healing of every kind of cripple, and so on. Of course, one doesn't remember everything. It was a long time ago, and for some reason I didn't write anything down then. I remember very well that a great deal was said. I myself spoke with those who had received miraculous help by the prayers of God's Saint.
While I was serving in Kodiak as a priest, the Aleuts there also told me much about Father Herman, and of this the following two incidents stand out sharply in my mind; as I recall, I've never come across them anywhere in print, but they seem nonetheless quite authentic.
The Aleuts related that when Father Herman was still alive and lived on Spruce Island, the local inhabitants used to go to the Elder for some reason or other. And more than once it happened thus: They approached the chapel where he celebrated Divine services, and they heard superb choral singing, a multitude of voices singing. They wondered where the people had come from. And all this time the singing was clearly audible, and such harmonious, sweet singing... They opened the door into the little chapel, and there Father Herman stood alone reading, chanting halfaloud, celebrating the Lord's service. And of course he was alone and there was no one there with him. Father Herman was not a priest, and he could only read and sing as on the cliros. And such a thing was noticed more than once. It was Angels of God who sang with him praise to the Lord.
In the biography of Father Herman there occurs this incident. The Elder was asked: "How do you live alone in the forest, Father Herman? Don't you become bored?" He replied: "No! I am not alone there! God is there, as God is everywhere. Holy Angels are there. And can one become bored with them? With whom is converse better and more pleasant, with men or with Angels? Of course, with Angels!"
Archpriest Prokopy Povarnitsyn
XI
A MIRACULOUS FEAST
He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat... And they did all eat, and were filled.
St. Mark 6: 37, 42
THE ALEUTS TOLD ME also the following incident, which took place on Spruce Island not long before Father Herman's death. Two American natives came to the Elder on the island, either hunters or fishermen. In any case, they came to look at the Elder, because much was said about him even during his lifetime. They were very hungry and, having greeted the Elder, asked him to feed them. The Elder readily agreed, but told them that they would have to wait a little, to which they agreed. Father Herman went to the little canal not far from his cell, which flowed into the creek, and that into the ocean. The Elder went down to the water and caught a little fish with his hands. He brought it to his cell and began to prepare it. The natives, seeing that one such little fish would hardly satisfy their hunger, called the Elder's attention to this. But the Elder only replied that they should not worry. And what happened? When the meal was ready and the Elder served it to them, he not only fed them until they were full, but there was a great deal left over from this little fish. Astonished and miraculously fed, they left and told many people of this. And this story came down to me.
Everything set down here I personally, being for three years in Alaska, heard from the local Aleut inhabitants.
Archpriest Prokopy Povarnitsyn
June 16, 1967
St. Tikhon of Kaluga
San Francisco, California
XII
FRIEND AND COUNSELLOR OF AUTHORITIES
A Letter of St. Herman to Baranoff, Head of the Russian Colonies
Your Lordship, Alexander Andreevich:
MAY THE FATHER of bountifulness and God Almighty, Who preserves the universe, preserve also your life and prosperity; to Him Alone should we give glory and thanksgiving forever.
Your terrible mischance forcibly awakens us to the thought of the misfortunes and dangers that surround us, from which God's Providence preserves us. How convincingly we are compelled to acknowledge our own infirmity and weakness and seek the Father's protection and almighty defense; to this we are brought by the Wisdom and Word of God, Who came down by the will of the Heavenly Father, under the veil of flesh like ours, woven by the power of God of the Most Pure Virgin for our salvation. He was a Man and deigned to teach us to pray that we be not led into temptation. And thus we are reminded from what Father we have our existence, and how we should seek our heavenly fatherland and our eternal inheritance.
In this letter I deem it needful to report to you the following: Your first letter, earlier, came with honey; and now I have received one with nuts, and likewise garlic and onion bulbs. I offer you my thanks. But the letter of request enclosed therein, for all my love toward orphans, obligates me beyond my powers. This is, of course, a deed of virtue, and with all my heart I would wish to be of service. But a characteristic tendency toward unconcernedness and a natural inclination to solitude constitute a great obstacle to this, inasmuch as one who desires to be instructed in anything by immaterial things must absolutely flee this world of cares. Therefore it is quite impossible for me to fulfill that obligation, even though I should wish to.
Now I have the honor to report to you: We in Kodiak are peaceful and prospering. All are alive and well. Likewise in your house, Antipater Alexandrovich (Baranoff's son) is studying with the boys, but all of them have not been gathered together yet.
The "Neva" did not forget to bid farewell to us, but against its will the unfavorable weather compelled it to come back to us to spend the winter. And Leonty Andreanovich (Hagemeister, Captain of the "Neva"), as a sign of his love toward these regions, and to his unforgettable remembrance, had Christofor's son Dimitry baptized – he was born October 26th – and was godparent together with Irene Alexandrovna (Baranoff's daughter) on November 8th.
A Kiltis man from the Mednov region was baptized on your namesday; you were made his godfather, and your name was given to him. I congratulate you on your new son I beg you to take care of him and hold him dear and to be a loving father and benefactor to him and the inhabitants, one and all, of that region.
From Okhotsk we have had no ships and no news at all. Perhaps they are spending the winter in Unalaska? We don't know. And indeed, in spite of all my innate curiosity, I greatly cherish the quietness of the present time, when on holy days we gather somewhere and enjoy each other's company in peace and comfort, or leaf through some literature in our archives. And the time flies by, and it remains only to leave time to inspect the storerooms wherein our provisions for eternity are stored up, so that, the time having passed, we may not go hungry when the time of rejoicing shall come.
In the meantime, we have been occupied with various opinions regarding your circumstances. We heard rather bad rumors, and the whole summer, until we received reliable information, we were alarmed with uncertainties and gloom. Diverse rumors forced us to expect some sudden danger for ourselves as well. But thanks be to God! From the "Neva" we heard the news first about you, and then about the Albion voyagers. I am sorry about the failure of the settlement. Ivan Alexandrovich had inspired in us not a little love toward those places.
For the rest, I wish a joyous success to your good intentions. May your labors be seeds of heavenly fruits of patience unto eternity! May they be crowned by a crown of immortality! The which with all fervency I wish to Your Lordship.
1809
Lowly Herman
I beg you not to be alarmed, but I have a small request. Christofor's mother must be in Sitka. She was married to Lisovsky, but we have heard that the husband has died. If she has not married again, could you be so kind as to send her back to Kodiak to her son?
Whither, Metropolia?
WHILE THE CANONIZATION services were proceeding in San Francisco and faithful of the Russian Church Abroad throughout the world were rejoicing in the newly-glorified Saint, independent services were being held in Kodiak before the relics of St. Herman by the American Metropolia, presided over by Metropolitan Ireney. The reasons for the seperate services are already known to readers of The Orthodox Word. Since the canonicity and status within Orthodoxy of the Metropolia are now doubly dubious, may may well wonder what validity its sacramental acts possess; but in view of the compassionate and far-sighted decision of the Synod of Bishops to celebrate the canonization on the same day as the Metropolia, this question becomes academic. Thus, by the Church's economy the natives of Alaska, who may never have heard of the Russian Church Outside of Russia, need not have doubted that the Church did indeed on July 27 August 9 number St. Herman in its catalogue of saints.
This being so, it would have been desirable to refrain from further comment on the the Metropolia's preparations for the canonization – had not the Metropolia itself, in the person especially of the hierarch most directly involved with the canonization, used these preparations to defile the very memory of St. Herman with false, irreverent, and sacrilegious statements that were repeated in American newspapers across the country. To be silent in the face of this would be a sin against the truth and against the holy name of St. Herman. And in order to place these incredible statements in their proper context it will be necessary to quote leading representatives of the Metropolia in order to determine what they regarded as the significance of their canonization.
By all reports, those present in Kodiak experienced very exalted religious feelings: these were "days of light and joy," "a miracle of God's mercy" (Fr. Alexander Schmemann, Novoye Russkoye Slovo, Aug. 26). One must believe that the impression created by the services in Kodiak was a profound one, that very deep feelings were touched. But beyond this, what? Even the sermon delivered at the Sunday Liturgy by Bishop Dimitry of Berkeley, and ostensibly devoted to the "meaning of the canonization" (text in The Orthodox Church, Aug.-Sept.), is strangely lacking both in definite content and in inspired tone, offering as its most tangible consolation the fact that "society has taken an interest in this canonization and respects us for our seriousness," and coming to the conclusions that St. Herman "was truly interested in America and its evangelization" and that "holiness is a definite possibility." Such bland statements surely must have little power to inspire the faithful if it is actually true, as Bishop Dimitry says, that "saints have come to mean very little to the average Orthodox Christian in our country."
But does the Metropolia really have no more distinctive idea about St. Herman than this? Let us turn, for a definite answer to this question, to the American press, which represents that "society" that "has taken an interest in this canonization." What did the representatives of the Metropolia inform it that led it to take the canonization so "seriously"?
It must be said, to begin with. that the Metropolia took great pains to see that news of the canonization was accompanied by news of its own recent "autocephaly." The New York Times (Aug. 10) reported that "the canonization was the first important act of the Orthodox Church in America," and Time Magazine (Aug. 24) noted that "now the canonization gives it international dignity." Thus St. Herman, lamentably, is made to use the term of the official Metropolia booklet on the canonization (p. 16) – the "patron" of the autocephaly, i.e., of the concordat with Moscow; and in fact Bishop Theodosius of Sitka, in exchange for the "Tomos" of autocephaly which he received in Moscow, presented to the authorities of the Patriarchate an icon of St. Herman – a painful, but significant, exchange.
What kind of picture did the Metropolia present to the press of St. Herman himself? In magazines and newspapers throughout the country one identical theme was stated and repeated again and again. In the words of Bp. Theodosius of Sitka: "Long before concern for minority groups was fashionable, St. Herman of Spruce Island demonstrated time and again his willingness to place himself in opposition to the civil authorities of the time, to oppose the policies of his own people and his own government." The Metropolia's official booklet, "St. Herman of Alaska," expresses the same idea: "In a time when we are deeply concerned for civil rights, for the freedom of the individual, for the respect and dignity of all people... we should always remember that Father Herman first championed all these causes within the context of the Christian Faith. He was a contemporary American" (p. 16). In another statement Bp. Theodosius goes yet further: "He was a real conscientious objector, a pacifist. He fought the civil authorities of his time when he didn't agree with them; and in that sense he is absolutely contemporary with what is happening among young people today" (New York Times, Aug. 10).
In the face of these statements we can no longer doubt that the Metropolia does, after all, have a distinctive (and entirely imaginary!) idea of St. Herman-not, as the Orthodox Church until now has thought, as a shining example of the monastic, ascetic, other-worldly Orthodox ideal, but as an activist of "civil rights" and the "social gospel," and even as something more incredible; for Bp. Theodosius, in a statement distributed by the Associated Press and printed in the New York Times and other newspapers throughout the country on August 10, allowed himself to say: "In modern terms you might call him a hippie." In newspapers such as the Monterey (Calif.) Peninsula Herald this statement of Bishop Theodosius' inspired a full-page headline: RUSSIAN CHURCH CANONIZES U.S. 'HIPPIE' MONK.
This cruel sacrilege a sin against the holy things which the Orthodox Church today above all is called upon to defend and revere before the unbelieving world-came, needless to say, as a great shock and source of pain to those who deeply love and revere St. Herman. The Soviet Government itself could not have thought up a better way of slandering and discrediting an Orthodox saint. One cannt believe that such sacrilege was conscious; it can only be the result of that unbelievable ignorance on which the Soviets evidently calculated when they offered the Metropolia its "autocephaly," an ignorance that cannot distinguish between the monastic outlook and the civil rights movement, between an Orthodox saint and the representatives of the "hippie" cult of drugs and increasingly open forms of satanism. Other statements of a political nature by the same Bp. Theodosius, that "as Americans we have to reassess our ideas of life in the Soviet Union," that in the USSR people "don't like a lot of things about the government but neither do Americans" (Juneau Southeast Alaska Empire, July 2) only serve to reinforce this impression of abysmal ignorance and reveal the "autocephaly" as an important tool for Moscow in politically "neutralizing" public opinion in the West.
Another form of this ignorance is revealed in the Metropolia's "Service" to St. Herman, which was specially composed for the canonization, approved by the Metropolia's "Liturgical Commission," and published with the blessing of the Chairman of that Commission, Archbishop Kiprian of Philadelphia. Quite apart from the content and style of this Service, where tastes may differ, its very structure and several key features reveal the feeblest awareness of what an Orthodox service to a saint – and in particular the triumphant service to the first Orthodox saint of a new land – should be.
1. One is puzzled at the outset to find that the Metropolia's "Liturgical Commission" seems to be uncertain as to whether this is a service with polyeleos, as befits a major saint, or a simple service without polyeleos, such as is appointed in the Menaion for less well known saints. All the Theotokia following stichera and the troparion in a service to St. Herman should, of course, be those of the Sunday or Resurrection service; but in the Metropolia's Service a choice is given of as many as four different Theotokia in each instance, as if the form for the "Common" of monk-saints had been literally copied out. One wonders why such superfluous alternatives are given, and, again, why they are sometimes given and sometimes not given. The Service as a whole is so inconsistent that, as written, it is not possible to serve it properly in any case. This is even more true of the Slavonic Service, translated from the English original, where several essential Theotokia are simply omitted. It is evident that the Metropolia's Service is the work of a "Liturgical Commission" that is decidedly not well grounded in the church services; one wonders, in fact, if – and how – its members ever serve Vespers and Matins at all.
2. In several places there is a conflict between the English and Sla vonic versions as to the tone in which various stichera are to be sung, and in some cases there is no indication of tone at all. One can only suppose that this has become a secondary question for the Metropolia, and that she has given up singing many of these – but one would think that the form of the traditional services, if nothing else, would be carefully preserved. And one looks in vain, of course, for any trace of the marvellous ancient Russian (and Greek, Romanian, etc.) tradition of podobni or "special melodies" or variations on the eight tones; although these are sung today in comparatively few places, every Slavonic service book appoints their frequent use, and one would expect that at least this form would be preserved in the first composed English service (as it was in the recent translation in Europe of the Festal Menaion). Here as elsewhere the Metropolia's Service proves to be, not a model for an Orthodox future based on the best Greek and Slavic usage, but simply an expression of the Metropolia's own lax practice and unconscious reformism.
3. The traditional "Magnification" (Megalynarion) to the Saint, whose wording is always the same, is here replaced by a senseless conglomeration consisting of the first half of the traditional "Magnification" and an apparently "newly-composed" second half which begins "you are the defender of the defenceless"! The reason for this childish innovation is doubtless to be found in a dissatisfaction with the traditional ending of the "Magnification": instructor of monks and converser with angels. Possessing no understanding of the monastic-ascetic life and its central place in the authentic Orthodox outlook, the Metropolia (for which "monk" evidently means "hippie") chooses to de-emphasize or eliminate the monastic element and substitute for it something more comprehensible for the "contemporary American." "Defender of the defenceless" can be interpreted in the Metropolia's "civil rights" image of St. Herman. But thus the Metropolia faithful is deprived of yet one more opportunity of entering into the Church's authentic spirit.
4. The Canon introduces the totally unheard-of novelty of ending each troparion with verses from the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit," etc. One is at a loss to find any explanation for this, unless it be that at this point the "Liturgical Commission" ran out of inspiration (the troparia themselves are very brief and almost empty of content) and simply added the Beatitudes to fill up space.
These criticisms are made not with the aim of mockery or belittlement, but simply to point out the vast discrepancy between the Metropolia's highsounding words and its very mediocre acts, between the crowd-pleasing, sensational publicity in which it is now basking, and its incompetent, indifferent, and senselessly reformist approach to the basic treasures of Orthodox life and worship. The Metropolia now loudly proclaims itself to be "the Orthodox Church in America," a mature and "autocephalous" Church that is, in Metropolitan Ireney's words to the 14th All-American Sobor, "the inheritor of all the gifts, all the riches, all the traditions of Universal Orthodoxy." One oberver in Kodiak boasted that the ceremonies there were "as it were a display of the youthful powers of Orthodoxy – of young and energetic priests, of the Orthodoxy of the future in America" (Russian Life, Aug. 15); and Bishop Dimitry stated in Kodiak that this canonization "must be the very source of inspiration that will set the direction of our Orthodox Church in America for her future." These are exalted words, but they are a facade behind which there is nothing whatever. One must distinguish between the impressive external aspect of Orthodox services which the Metropolia still remembers and, in some measure, preserves, and the internal aspect of content, understanding, and faithfulness to the tradition and spirit of Orthodoxy. In this light the Metropolia's high claims are an evident fraud, and it becomes the obligation of anyone to whom Orthodoxy and its future in America are dear, to point out this fraud. In what "direction," indeed, must the Metropolia be going if its first English service, on so solemn an occasion, is a work of extreme liturgical illiteracy, the aim of which is to glorify a "hippie" agitator? The answer is clear: in the direction of conformity to mindless contemporary fads, of senseless innovation, and of abandonment – out of ignorance and indifference of the whole wealth of Orthodox tradition; in the direction of "Eastern-rite Protestantism."
Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, in his enthusiastic article describing his and others' feelings at the Kodiak ceremonies, summed them up in these words: "Time is not felt, and the heart acknowledges that the whole substance of faith was once and for all expressed by the Apostle who said to Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration: Lord, it is good for us to be here..." (Novoye Russkoye Slovo, Aug. 26; The Orthodox Church, Aug.-Sept.) But Fr. Schmemann has strangely-yet symptomatically – missed the point of this Gospel event, for St. Luke relates that the Apostle Peter spoke these words not knowing what he said (St. Luke 9:33); because, as St. Ephraim the Syrian adds in his commentary on the passage, "Simon was still looking upon Jesus from the human point of view" – and then the cloud overshadowed them and the Father's voice was heard, and there was no more such talk.
And indeed, the "whole substance of faith" is not at all the exalted. feelings the Orthodox heart experiences at such great festivals one assumes in all sincerity that Fr. Schmemann and others did indeed experience them for these are a decidedly secondary aspect of the path to salvation and offer in themselves no infallible indication of the rightness of one's faith. Faith without works is dead (St. James 2:26). We have already seen some of the Metropolia's "works": its "Service" to St. Herman and its sensational press re leases. Another yet more basic "work" may be seen in the writings of the same Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, who is one of the architects of the "Orthodoxy of the future" of which the Metropolia now boasts itself to be the guardian. In his book, Liturgical Theology, where he prepares the foundation of a future "liturgical reform," Fr. Schmemann complains about the "literal inundation of worship by the monthly calendar of saints' days" (p. 141). But this is the same Fr. Schmemann who now feels in his heart "the whole substance of faith" when he experiences the maximum degree of that very "inundation" – the services to the newly-glorified Saint Herman! What is the meaning of such a glaring self-contradiction?
It becomes evident that Fr. Schmemann, like the Metropolia, has come to a crucial crossroads of his Orthodoxy, which is itself rooted in an internal discord. His heart – if he has accurately described his feelings at Kodiak – is still Orthodox; but with his mind he is leading the "reform" of the Metropolia and of Orthodoxy that will precisely make it impossible for future generations to feel what he felt, for they will no longer be Orthodox at all.
One can only conclude – from the words of the Metropolia's own representatives – that the Metropolia literally did not know what it was doing in Kodiak: that it attempted to canonize a Saint without understanding what he represents or how the Church properly praises Her saints; that it enjoyed the exhilarating atmosphere of the Church's services without being aware that its own theologians (who were present!) are working to destroy this atmosphere for future generations; that, finally, anything at all Orthodox that its members may have felt in Kodiak is the result of a spiritual capital of which the Metropolia is now manifestly, and totally, bankrupt.
Fr. Schmemann and the Metropolia enjoyed at Kodiak a free spiritual banquet which was the result of generations and centuries of the labors, the sweat, and the blood of others whose conception of Orthodoxy would not today allow them to sit at the same table with the leaders of the Metropolia. And because it was not their labor that went into it, because these leaders are themselves of a completely different mind about Orthodoxy, this feast cannot be the foundation of their future; it can only be an example-perhaps the last major one of what the Metropolia has rejected, alike by its reform consciousness, by its unprincipled concordat with Moscow, and by its definitive and callous rejection of the Russian Church Outside of Russia, which even by the admission of the Metropolia's theologians has better than any other "jurisdiction" preserved traditional Orthodoxy.
Its own ignorance has blinded the Metropolia to the enormity of the evil it has perpetrated in the name of Orthodoxy. And so now it is in vain that it attempts to use its canonization of St. Herman to bring about "peace" and "reconciliation" with everyone. "In this light, in this joy," Fr. Alexander Schmemann concludes his article, "all our quarrels, accusations and judge. ments seem so trifling, human, and sinful... There at the tomb of St. Hermany in the shining of his humility, it was given us to see that reality which alone really gives life to the Church..." One can only point out once more that "that reality which alone gives life to the Church" is not seen only at moments of great religious fervor, but must accompany one's every word and deed as well. And in our day of widespread betrayal of Orthodoxy, witness is given to this reality not only in glorifying St. Herman, but alike in rejecting the shameful concordat with Moscow, which many of the Metropolia's own former faithful have bravely done.
Let the last word to the Metropolia in connection with St. Herman come from Alaska, from Archimandrite Gerasim of Spruce Island, who for thirty years stood guard over the relics of St. Herman and never ceased to accusefor those who would listen – the "Platonites," "Leontyites," and other perpetrators of schism from the one Russian Church Abroad. Now the Metropolia imagines itself to be "reconciled" even with him, and as a token of this it invites to his Spruce Island Hermitage, where his body is buried, two Soviet hierarchs – Juvenaly in June, and Nikodim himself just after the canonization – so that they who (as Fr. Gerasim wrote about "Patriarch Alexy and his loyal friends") "intercede for the godless power and against our faithful confessors" might trample upon his memory. Fr. Gerasim stands to accuse them and all their fellow betrayers of Orthodoxy in the words which he applied to the "Platonites, Evlogians, and their followers": "In the deeds of the Church of Christ there must not be any lie, for Christ founded His Church on the rock of Truth."
Even so we know full well that St. Herman cannot be the "patron" of the impious "autocephaly," and that his heavenly help is with those who stand firmly and uncompromisingly in the Truth.
A FINAL APPEAL OF METROPOLITAN PHILARET
To the Sobor of Bishops, Clergy and Laymen of the American Metropolia, meeting at St. Tikhon's Monastery, South Canaan, Pennsylvania, October 19-22, 1970
A YEAR AGO the news of the negotiations between the Moscow Patriarchate and the American Metropolia concerning the declaration of the latter's autocephaly evoked a general consternation. We at that time, out of an obligation of brotherly love, warned the hierarchy of the Metropolia of the serious consequences of this act (Letter of Archbishop Nikon to Metropolitan Ireney of Nov. 26 Dec. 9, 1969). We set forth its inevitable consequences in resolutions of the Synod of Bishops (decree of Dec. 1831, 1969, and the Epistle of the same date), and in a series of statements in the public press. The essence of our statements can be concisely expressed in the words of St. James: Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, or a grapevine figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh (James 3: 12).
It is impossible for the Moscow Patriarchate, which is under the complete control of the atheist Soviet regime which has set for itself the goal of destroying religion, to undertake anything for the overall benefit of the Church. It should likewise be remembered that the Moscow Patriarchate cannot do anything abroad without the direct order of this regime.
Moreover, the idea of presenting autocephaly to the American Metropolia in exchange for her recognition of the Moscow Patriarchate originated from no one else but Metropolitan Nikodim, who is known to the entire world as a man who is bound in the closest fashion to the Soviet regime. The testimony of numerous persons who have fled from the USSR clearly establishes the strict control exercised by Moscow in all matters related in one way or another to affairs abroad. The Church in this connection is by no means an exception. Despite this, the leaders of the Metropolia have naively accepted the proposal of Metropolitan Nikodim as some kind of benefaction, as a glass of fresh and sweet water coming from the bitter, salty fount of the enslaved Moscow Patriarchate.
It is not our intention to inflict upon you any hurt, but we wish to give you a brotherly warning of the danger now threatening you and of the fact that from the proposed agreement the benefit will accrue only to Moscow.
The Synod of Bishops has never forgotten that until quite recently you acknowledged yourself as belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.
This was especially clearly formulated in the Temporary Statute of the Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which was accepted by all of us. We grieved when this unity was disrupted when, under the influence of temporary political attitudes, the All-American Sobor in Cleveland in 1946 decreed the termination of all subordination to the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad. We never accepted this decision as having canonical force, because it had the approval neither of the whole hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, nor even of the majority of the bishops of the North American Metropolitan District. The late Metropolitan Leonty, who was then Archbishop of Chicago, wrote at that time to Metropolitan Anastassy that the decision of the Cleveland Sobor had been evoked by the pro-Moscow attitude which had suddenly seized the majority of its members, an attitude which he himself did not share. By its unjustified action, the Cleveland Sobor introduced once again division into the Orthodox Church in America and left the Metropolia again without any canonical foundation.
With respect to the proposed agreement with the Moscow Patriarchate we would like to point out that it could be reached only after the Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate lifted its interdict from the hierarchy of the American Metropolia, testifying that it had until then been regarded as a schismatic society. The Patriarchate removed its interdict first, on April 3, 1970, from the hierarchy of the Japanese Orthodox Church, and only after that, on April 9, from the rest of the hierarchy of the American Metropolia.
The leaders of the Metropolia, by recognizing the present Moscow Patriarchate as the lawful ecclesiastical authority of the Russian Church, and the Metropolia as a part of the latter, and by receiving autocephaly from this authority after the interdict had been removed from the Metropolia's hierarchy, placed in question the validity of all the sacramental actions of their Church during the period of the interdict, that is, from December 12, 1947, to April 9, 1970.
It is said that the Metropolia did not acknowledge this interdict upon itself, acknowledging it as invalid. However, the validity of an interdict depends upon the canonical capacity of the hierarchy by which the interdict was imposed, and not upon its acceptance by the interdicted hierarchy. Thus the Metropolia, by acknowledging the present Moscow Patriarchate as the lawful supreme authority of the Russian Church, has itself acknowledged the invalidity of its own sacramental actions during the course of 23 years. Such are the logical consequences of the agreement now presented to you.
It appears that the leaders of the Metropolia were lured by the Moscow Patriarchate's promises of a prompt canonical recognition of your new "autocephalous" Church and by a promised prompt removal of its own parallel jurisdiction, but now it is clearly apparent how naive it was to believe in the fulfillment of such promises.
For what do we see now? Instead of a general recognition of the new autocephalous Church, we have the epistles of the Patriarch of Constantinople of January 8 and June 24, 1970, proclaiming the act of the Moscow Patriarchate unilateral, anti-canonical and invalid. We know the unfavorable opinion of yet another Eastern Patriarch, and the declaration of the Serbian Bishops of February 10, 1970, which calls the autocephaly a "false step." As early as February they warned the Metropolia that it will be unable to obtain a general recognition, and they called the hope to obtain it "naive."
We also see that the new Church, which calls itself "autocephalous," does not possess even the principal characteristic of an autocephalous Church a territory of its own which is recognized as undisputed and subordinated to its jurisdiction. And how can the Metropolia possess this when the very Church that granted it autocephaly did not, in spite of your hopes, abolish its own organization in America, but on the contrary retained in the same territory a great number of parishes headed by their own bishop and did not even oblige these parishes to commemorate the hierarchy of the new, supposedly "autocephalous," Church? In Canada the "Tomos" granted by Moscow even allows the number of such parishes to increase. At the same time there also continue to exist parallel parishes of the more numerous Greek Archdiocese as well as the parishes of other Orthodox Churches.
If the members of the Metropolia hope that the autocephaly will protect its inner freedom, they are deeply mistaken, because freedom is often lost not by force of clauses in a treaty, but as a consequence of everyday contact. You have now bound yourselves to the Moscow Patriarchate by the strongest bonds; for what will you be left with if the only Church that recognizes your autocephaly and has undertaken to obtain recognition for you from other Churches, will renounce you? You will inevitably become more and more bound to the Patriarchate, and the influence of Moscow will more and more insinuate itself into your lifethe influence not of the authentic Russian Church, but of the atheist regime which stands behind the ecclesiastical facade of the Moscow Patriarchate. It is a secret to no one that the Moscow Patriarchate, in spite of the warning of the Apostle, has been unequally yoked together with unbelievers (II Cor. 6:14). The leaders of the Patriarchate, beginning with Metropolitan, later Patriarch, Sergius in 1927, have ignored this warning and strive by their politics to unite light with darkness, the service of God with submission to Belial. Thus they have made their own hierarchy an instrument of the internal and external politics of the atheist Communist Party, spreading its influence in the religious life of the whole world.
Now your leaders are trying to make their closeness to the Moscow Patriarchate as little noticeable as possible, but there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither is anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad (St. Mark 4:22). If they did not wish it widely known that Metropolitan Nikodim travelled to Alaska as an honored guest of the Metropolia, if Metropolitan Ireney's Secretary, who accompanied him, wrote for Novoye Russkoye Slovo a long article describing this journey without even mentioning the name of the person whom he accompanied, nevertheless this became known to us. If the newspapers were not notified that the Resident in America of the Moscow Patriarchate, Bishop Makary of Umansk, had been invited to the Convention of the Federated Russian Orthodox Clubs, this became known from a letter to the editor of Novoye Russkoye Slovo written by an indignant witness of his serving and of his deceitful sermon on "peace" in the manner customary for Soviet representatives.
Moscow well knows how to draw people into the sphere of its influence by means of a carefully-worked-out tactic of visits, threats, and gifts. The gradual growth of its influence may be largely unseen and many of you will not notice it. You will only wonder how you have unexpectedly become the collaborators of Moscow in its international ecclesiastical politics, and only then will some of you understand why Metropolitan Nikodim so unexpectedly undertook to set straight your canonical position and grant you autocephaly.
In your hearts you must know that the Moscow Patriarchate in its present form is not an authentic representative of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The voice of the Patriarchate cannot be the voice of the Russian Church inasmuch as it is bound by its subordination to the atheist Soviet regime. The acts of the Patriarchate will not be binding upon the Russian Church in the future, when God will grant it freedom. As you know, the authentic Russian Orthodox hierarchy today is either in prisons or in the catacombs, and its voice is not heard, except as we speak for it. Thus, as the only free part of the Russian Church, the duty is incumbent upon us to defend the rights of the true Russian Church in Russia and throughout the world. It is in this ca pacity, as representatives of the interests of the authentic Russian Churcht throughout the world, that we acknowledge and declare that the autocephaly granted to you by Moscow is unlawful and invalid. And we call upon you to renounce this act which, as indicated above, is not recognized as valid by any other responsible representative of Orthodox Christians.
Therefore we now for the last time address you all, Bishops, Pastors, and Laity: Cast aside every other consideration. Think how important a powerful free voice of the representatives of the authentic Russian Church now is. Return to unity in freedom before it is too late.
Until now the responsibility for everything that has been done with respect to the autocephaly rested on the hierarchy of the American Metropolia. Now the day has come when the whole clergy and laity in casting their votes will have to take upon themselves responsibility before God and before men for the act of autocephaly and the rejection of unity with the free representatives of the true Russian Church.
When we see our neighbor at the edge of a precipice, our duty of love forces us to call him and make an attempt to stop him. And so we now make our last attempt, praying God that He may enlighten your mind and will, so that you might reject the deceit of Moscow and decide to go on the path of truth and goodness.
Metropolitan Philaret
Chairman of the Synod of Bishops Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
THE RESPONSE OF THE METROPOLIA
On October 20, the day of the opening of the Metropolia's Sobor, an official delegation from the Russian Church Abroad, consisting of Bishop Laurus (Secretary of the Synod) and Protopresbyter George Grabbe (Director of Foreign and Public Relations) travelled to St. Tikhon's Monastery for the purpose of presenting Metropolitan Philaret's Appeal to the delegates of the 14th All-American Sobor of the Metropolia. They were able only to catch a glimpse of Metropolitan Ireney from a distance, being met by Archbishop John Shahovskoy, Bishop Dimitry of Washington (formerly Berkeley), and Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann. The Synodal delegation requested permission to read this document to the assembled delegates, but this request was refused, and the delegation therefore gave the document to the above-mentioned representatives of the Metropolia and requested that it at least be conveyed to the delegates during the course of the Sobor.
The text of the "Final Appeal," however, was not read to the delegates, and it was not even mentioned until the Sobor's final session. Then, as described in NOVOYE RUSSKOYE SLOVO, "The vice-chairman of the Sobor, Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, informed the delegates of the visit of Bishop Laurus of Manhattan and Protopresbyter George Grabbe, who expressed the wish to address the Sobor and read the declaration of the Synod concerning the autocephaly. This request was denied on the ground that the Synod does not acknowledge the legality of the Orthodox Church in America and, consequently, there is no reason for the representatives of the Synod to address a Sobor the legality of which they dispute. The report of Protopresbyter Schmemann was noted without debate."
Actually, according to press reports, the delegates at the Sobor did not vote on the question of autocephaly, this apparently being accepted as a question already decided without the faithful, but only on the question of changing the name of the Metropolia to "The Orthodox Church in America." The vote on this proposal was 301 in favor, 7 against, with 2 abstentions. The Metropolia's official publication in English, THE ORTHODOX CHURCH (November), hastened to announce that by this vote the delegates had "confirmed" the autocephaly; but since the autocephaly itself was proclaimed by Metropolitan Ireney at the first session of the Sobor, before the delegates voted on anything, the latter of course did not "confirm" anything at all, but merely expressed their passive acceptance of the "coup" of their leaders.
One can only marvel at the extreme care which has been shown by the leadership of the Metropolia to keep its faithful, and even the delegates of its Sobor, in absolute ignorance of the extremely important and most brotherly appeals of the Synod of Bishops, appeals which contain facts of which the majority of members of the Metropolia are doubtless unaware. The reason for this extreme care is not far to seek: those who become fully aware of the issues involved in the "autocephaly' have no choice, for the sake of conscience, but to leave the Metropolia. The following document is the latest of many signs of awakened conscience from within the Metropolia.
LETTER OF ST. SERAPHIM PARISH, NEW YORK CITY, TO METROPOLITAN IRENEY (ROSSIYA, NOV. 6, 1970)
Your Beatitude:
Our parish has manifested great patience in waiting for a whole year until the eyes of those people who are responsible for the fate of the Metropolia should be opened, and the Orthodox Church in America at the last minute would escape its moral catastrophe.
Having heard today the reports of our delegates to the 14th All-American Church Sobor, we have come to the decision that in our Christian conscience we do not consider it possible for us to remain any longer under Your hierarchical omophorion, for the following reasons:
1. Those who enter into negotiations with hierarchs under the Soviets, who are deprived of every freedom (as are all citizens of the Soviet Union), must deceitfully give the impression that they are speaking with an Orthodox hierarchy, when in actual fact through the medium of this hierarchy they are speaking with the God-fighting Soviet regime. Intercourse of the Orthodox Church from the free world with this regime, on whose conscience lie many more than fifteen million human lives, among whom is an immense number of Orthodox bishops and priests, a sea of blood, grief and tears – we consider a morally criminal act.
2. You not only did not ask our opinion in connection with the autocephaly You have received, but when at our general parish assembly on September 13 of this year we for the first time made a consideration of this question, You condemned this consideration of ours as "clearly unecclesiastical conduct." We accept such an attitude on Your part as a violation not only of our civil rights, but of our ecclesiastical duty as well.
3. Our delegates to the Sobor did not encounter sympathy toward our desire to remain on the basis of the pre-autocephaly Metropolia, and they have informed us of the acceptance by the Sobor of radical changes in the canonical and juridical foundations of the Metropolia, of a real alteration of her Statute, of the renunciation of the Russian name, and much else that is for us inadmissable.
We are not the judges of Your acts, but we cannot act against the judgement of our conscience.
For the reasons set forth above we beg Your Beatitude to be informed that as of November 1, 1970, our parish no longer belongs in Your jurisdiction.
As commissioned by the general assembly of the parish, November 1, 1970.
Archpriest Alexander Kiselev
Chairman of the General Assembly
O.L. Novosiltsev, Secretary
On November 8th the entry of the St. Seraphim parish into the Russian Church Abroad was solemnized by a Pontifical Divine Liturgy celebrated by Metropolitan Philaret. Earlier in New York State Archpriest Alexy lonov with his Sea Cliff, Long Island, parish and the Tolstoy Farm parish had left the Metropolia to join the Synod, and in Binghamton a new Synod parish was formed of ex-Metropolia parishioners. Now the St. Seraphim parish, in an advertisement in NOVOYE RUSSKOYE SLOVO (Nov. 19) has invited all Metropolia members in the New York area who share its views to join its Synodal parish. Thus in New York State alone, despite the Metropolia's loud proc. lamations of "overwhelming approval" for its autocephaly, the movement of protest against it has taken on substantial proportions.
The address of Metropolitan Ireney to the 14th All-American Sobor may be supposed to sum up the Metropolia's official attitude to those who insist on remaining faithful to the conscience of Russian Orthodoxy. Thosa who oppose the autocephaly, he says, are "people ready to spread any slander and lie in order to sow discord and mistrust," people "imprisoned by human and political passions and blinded by hate, (who) find it possible to blas. pheme the work of God."
One can only beg our Lord to save us from a "work of God" (!) that has already cost the Metropolia at least seven parishes, wholly or in large part, a number of priests – besides those others who have "retired" early or who remain in the Metropolia with uneasy consciences – and uncounted bundreds if not thousands of laymen from among those spiritually most conterned and aware (about all of which not one word will be found in the Metropolia press!); a "work" that has led to the suicidal acknowledgement that for at least 23 years the Metropolia possessed no sacraments and had no priests; a "work" that is no more than a shameful beginning to a future – purged of the Metropolia's most Orthodox members and of its last vestige of Orthodox conscience – of most dubious "Orthodoxy." Truly, "they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" (St. Matt. 15: 14).
STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP. MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION
(Act of October 23, 1962; Section 4369, Title 39, United States Code)
1 Date of filing October 15, 1970
2 Title of publication The Orthodox Word
3 Frequency of issue Bimonthly
4 Location of known office of publication Platina, California 96076
5 Location of the headquarters or general business offices of the publishers Same as above
6 Names and addresses of publisher, editor, and managing editor Publisher Orthodox Christian Books & Icons, Platina, Calif. 96076
Editors Eugene Rose and Gleb Podmoshensky, both of Platina, Calif. 96076
Managing Editor'Eugene Rose, address same as above
7 Owner Orthodox Christian Books Icons, Platina, Calif. 96076 (Eugene Rose and Gleb Podmoshensky, address same as above)
8 Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities None
9 For completion by nonprofit organizations authorized to mail at special rates Not applicable
10 Extent and nature of circulation
Avg. no. each issue last 12 mos. Actual no. last issue
A Total no. copies printed (Net Press Run) 1885 1925
B Paid circulation
Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors and counter sales
Mail subscriptions
63
1257
60
1359
C Total paid circulation
1320
1419
D Free distribution (including samples) by mail, carrier or other means
218
85
E Total distribution (sum of C and D)
1538
1504
F Office use, left-over, unaccounted, spoiled after printing
347
421
G Total (sum of E and F)
1885
1925
I certify that the statements made by me above are correct and complete. Eugene Rose
The Orthodox Word No. 33-34
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