The Orthodox Word No. 63

THE ORTHODOX WORD

A Bimonthly Periodical OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF SAINT HERMAN OF ALASKA

 

Established with the blessing of His Eminence the late John (Maximovitch), Archbishop of Western America and San Francisco, Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia PLATINA, CALIFORNIA 96076

1975, Vol. 11, no. 4 (63)
July - August

CONTENTS

135 Our Living Links with the Holy Fathers: Archbishop Andrew of New-Diveyevo

138 The Restoration of the Orthodox Way of Life by Archbishop Andrew of New-Diveyevo

144 Holy Women of the Northern Thebaid (Part 3)

150 18th Century Monasticism: The Unbroken Continuity of the Orthodox Monastic Tradition

160 The Typicon of the Orthodox Church's Divine Services Chapter Seven: The Polyeleos

163 The Life and Ascetic Labors of Elder Paisius Velichkovsky. Part Fourteen: The Monastery of Niamets

COVER: A sketch made in 1925 during a visit to Elder Nectarius of Optina (lower left) by Father Adrian Rymarenko, later Archbishop Andrew of New- Diveyevo (upper left), whose wife and little son Seraphim, godchild of the Elder, receive the Elder's blessing, while Hieromonk Nikon stands by (right), who later, upon the forced closure and licuidation of the great Optina Monas- tery, received a martyr's crown. This and the illustrations on pp. 141 and 142, courtesy of Archbishop Andrew.

MICROFILM copies of all back issues and of individual articles are available from Xerox University Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI., 48106.

Convright 1975 by The Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood.

Published bimonthly by The Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood. Second- class postage paid at Platina, California. Yearly subscription $5, two vears $9, three vears $12. Office of Publication: Beegum Gorge Road, Platina, California, All incpiries should be directed to:

THE ORTHODOX WORD, PLATINA, CALIFORNIA, 96076, U.S.A.


 

OUR LIVING LINKS WITH THE HOLY FATHERS

ARCHBISHOP ANDREW of New-Diveyevo

IN RECENT YEARS Archbishop Andrew, founder of New-Diveyevo Convent in Spring Valley, New York, where the memory of St. Seraphim is sacredly kept, has deservedly been given much honor, especially in 1971 on the 50th anniversary of his ordination as priest, and in 1973 on his 80th birthday, when he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop. Many come to him just to receive his blessing, knowing of him as a kind of "last Russian Orthodox Elder," and hoping to obtain through him some contact with the genuine tradition of Orthodox spirituality which is fast dying out today. And to be sure, he is a living link with the Holy Fathers in a literal sense, for he was a disciple of the last two Optina Elders, Anatole and Nectarius, and it was under his epitrachelion that the last Elder, Nectarius, died in 1928. But it is not for this that he is most important to us today; it is rather for his teaching, received from these holy Elders, on how to survive as an Orthodox Christian in the anti-Christian 20th century.

This teaching, while solidly Patristic, is not a teaching from books, but from life. The four excerpts from his writings that are presented below tell the main events of his life, which is one of great trials and sufferings, taking place in conditions of revolution, anarchy, arrests, catacomb services, exile, bombings, evacuations. But in these sufferings alone — as helpful as they are to spiritual life — is not to be found the key to his teaching; others have suffered similar trials fruitlessly. In every place where historical circumstances have driven him — Kiev, Berlin, Wendlingen, New York State — a close-knit Orthodox community has formed around him; and this is closer to a key to understanding his teaching. Such communities, rare today among Orthodox Christians, do not arise spontaneously, but only in especially favorable circumstances, if there is present a conscious Orthodox philosophy of life. This conscious Patristic philosophy is what, most of all, we can learn from Archbishop Andrew. Let us try to set down here the main points of this philosophy — which, of course, is not a "systematic" philosophy based on abstractions, but a living philosophy derived from Orthodox spiritual experience.

First, Orthodoxy is not merely a ritual, or belief, or pattern of behavior, or anything else that a man may possess, thinking that he is thereby a Christian, and still be spiritually dead; it is rather an ELEMENTAL REALITY OR POWER (стихія in Russian) which transforms a man and gives him the strength to live in the most difficult and tormenting conditions, and prepares him to depart with peace into eternal life.

Second, the essence of the true Orthodox life is GODLINESS or piety (благочестіе), which is, in the definition of Elder Nectarius, based on the etymology of the word, "holding what is God's in honor." This is deeper than mere right doctrine; it is the entrance of God into every aspect of life, life lived in trembling and fear of God.

Third, such an attitude produces the Orthodox WAY OF LIFE (бытъ) which is not merely the outward customs or behavior that characterize Orthodox Christians, but the whole of the conscious spiritual struggle of the man for whom the Church and its laws are the center of everything he does and thinks. The shared, conscious experience of this way of life, centered on the daily Divine services, produces the genuine Orthodox community, with its feeling of lightness, joy, and inward quietness. Non-Orthodox people, and even many not fully conscious Orthodox Christians, are scarcely able to imagine what this experience of community might be, and would be inclined to dismiss it as something "subjective"; but no one who has wholeheartedly participated in the life of a true Orthodox community, monastic or lay, will ever doubt the reality of this Orthodox feeling. When Archbishop Andrew tells of his lifelong — and successful — search to find and even create the lost "quietness" of his Orthodox childhood, he expresses the desire of everyone who has drunk deeply of Holy Orthodoxy to find the place, create the conditions, and acquire the state of soul wherein to live the full and authentic Orthodox life, one in mind and soul with other similar strugglers. Even if this ideal is seldom attained in practice, it still remains the Orthodox ideal.

Fourth, without a constant and conscious spiritual struggle even the best Orthodox life or community can become a "hothouse," an artificial Orthodox atmosphere in which the outward manifestations of Orthodox life are merely "enjoyed" or taken for granted while the soul remains unchanged, being relaxed and comfortable instead of tense in the struggle for salvation. How often a community, when it becomes prosperous and renowned, loses the precious fervor and oneness of soul of its early days of hard struggles! There is no "formula" for the truly God-pleasing Orthodox life; anything outward can become a counterfeit; everything depends on the state of the soul, which must be trembling before God, having the law of God before it in every area of life, every moment keeping what is God's in honor, in the first place in life.

Fifth, the greatest danger to the Orthodox way of life in modern times is what Archbishop Andrew calls "humanism" — a general term encompassing the whole vast intellectual (and now also political) movement which has as its ultimate aim to destroy true Christianity and replace it with a this-worldly, rationalistic philosophy in which man, in effect, becomes a god unto himself. The manifestations of humanism are many, from the Renaissance in the West and the heresy of the Judaizers in Russia in the 15th century and before, through the brazen atheism and Revolution of the 18th century, to Communism and every other philosophy in our own day which places the ultimate value in this world and leads men away from God. Humanism takes possession of men in various ways, not usually by a conscious intellectual conversion to it, but more often by laxness and unawareness in spiritual life. The Orthodox answer to this danger — whose ultimate end is the reign of Antichrist — is a CONSCIOUS ORTHODOX PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE.

This teaching is profound, and few perhaps are they who are capable of following it to its end. Archbishop Andrew, much ailing in body, is in the sunset of his age; this living link with a time and a tradition much richer than our own will not long be with us. But his teaching must not die with him. By God's Providence, the celebrated writer Solzhenitsyn came this year to New-Diveyevo, and Archbishop Andrew took advantage of this opportunity to communicate this teaching, even if in the briefest form, to him, a typical example of the awakening — but still unformed — religious consciousness in Russia today. But this teaching is not only for Russians, who either have known Orthodoxy thoroughly incarnated in life, or else (like Solzhenitsyn) are drawn by their blood with longing for something their ancestors had; it is the teaching of life for all conscious Orthodox Christians.

Let those who deeply love and treasure Orthodoxy now take this teaching and — even as Archbishop Andrew did with the teaching of his beloved St. Tikhon — live by it, and thereby regain and restore even in our barbarous and anti-Christian times, the ORTHODOX WAY OF LIFE.


THE RESTORATION OF THE ORTHODOX WAY OF LIFE
by Archbishop Andrew

I. THE BATTLE TO PRESERVE THE ORTHODOX WAY OF LIFE1

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1 Excerpts from the Address of Archbishop Andrew on the day of his ordination as Bishop; Orthodox Russia, 1968, no. 5, pp. 6ff.


I GREW UP in a pious family... I was surrounded by that Orthodox way of life which for generations had been created by Holy Russia. In our family, life proceeded according to the church calendar, according to the yearly church cycle. Feast days were as it were the signposts of life. At home there were constant Divine services, and not only molebens, but all-night vigils also.

A strong impression was made on me by the early-morning Divine services, to which our mother took us and to which we went no matter what the weather, fall and winter. After these Divine services one always felt a kind of extraordinary inspiration, a kind of quiet joy.

Our family was wealthy... And the religious outlook with which our life was penetrated was naturally reflected in deeds also: we participated in the building of churches, set out tables with food for poor people, sent donations to prisons, hospitals, work-houses.

Of course, there were also sorrows, and illnesses, and deaths. But they also were accepted in the light of Christ. The awareness that "Christ is risen, and the life of man will be in the Resurrection of Christ" helped us to bear our misfortunes and reverses. Everything was experienced lightly and joyfully, without the strains so characteristic of many people.

This feeling of joy, this Christian way of life, were characteristic not only of our family, but also of the society which surrounded us.

After the Revolution of 1905, in place of the hopes and agitations there came disillusionment and desolation. People became as it were closed in on themselves. They were occupied with empty things, with little egoistic interests, visits, concerts, the theater. In human relations dryness and officialness reigned.

And I [attending the St. Petersburg Polytechnical Institute], coming up against this cold alienation, this desolation, for the first time experienced a feeling close, if not to despair, then to despondency, and my soul cried out: "I cannot." Why did my soul cry out? Why did this cry burst out — "I cannot"?

I felt that I could not live as people around me were living. I felt that I was lacking that life, that ORTHODOX WAY OF LIFE, which had surrounded me in my childhood and youth, that lightness of heart which I felt. I had the impression that I had been deprived of the air which I had breathed.

I had to have life. And I began to seek...

[The lectures on Dostoyevsky of a certain professor] revealed sides of life which I had somehow not recognized earlier... I became acquainted with a Christian student group. But this group did not satisfy me. It was inter-confessional. But I, raised from childhood in the conditions of the Orthodox way of life, needed precisely the confessional way; I needed the Sacraments, the feeling of sanctification, prayer.

All this was given to me by Archpriest John Egorov... He became the leader of a group of students who had left the Christian student group. I spent five years in his "school," where there were 25 of us students, and for me there was opened up the elemental reality of the life of Christ's Church, by which Holy Russia had lived. I understood that the Divine services are not merely a ritual, but that in them are revealed the dogmas of faith. They are the foundation of man's reception of Divinity.

Then, the examination and study of the works of the Fathers of the Church and the Patristic writings revealed to me the paths of life.

When I had gone through the whole course taught by Fr. John, I had literally come back to life. I sensed the elemental power of Orthodoxy, I sensed that air of life which it gave. I understood in what this life consisted. I came to know that freedom of conscience which we receive through the Sacrament of Repentance.

After this preparation I came, in fact, upon an Elder — Fr. Nectarius, disciple of the great Elder Ambrose of Optina... Elder Nectarius showed me my path, the path of pastoral service, and prepared me for it with the help of his disciple, Fr. Vincent. He taught me that the confession of faith must be in godliness. The Divine must enter into every side of our life, personal, family, and public. And so in 1921 my pastoral activity began in my native Romny...

I was soon deprived of my flock and sent to Kiev under surveillance. There it was very difficult for me at first, but then I became close to a group of outstanding Kiev pastor-ascetics, who became my instructors and friends. Their activity and battle for human souls took place during the frightful time of the revelling of the atheists, against a background of demonic carnivals, in the heat of persecutions against the Church and believers, of massive arrests and executions. And all of them gave up their lives for what was already in my heart — for the quiet which I had experienced in childhood, for inward life, for strengthening oneself in faith, for the Orthodox way of life, for Holy Russia.

God had mercy on me then and delivered me from prison. On my shoulders lay the heavy responsibility to continue the work of the martyred ascetics...

The Germans came to Kiev... Churches were opened. The Lord helped us to re-establish the Protection Hospital Convent, in the church of which I became priest. Again one had to help people, feed them. We managed to re-establish the hospital, a home for the crippled and aged. But the famine was not only bodily, but spiritual as well. People who had been starved for the Church, for the Orthodox way of life, streamed into the churches. One had to quench their hunger. Then, after two years under the German occupation, we had to throw everything over and be evacuated. The Soviets came.

Together with a group of people close to me, I ended up in Berlin. I was assigned as chief priest of the Berlin cathedral. For the course of nearly two years, under ceaseless bombings, Divine services were celebrated every day in the cathedral. The Lord helped us to preserve the Divine gift of the Eucharist of Christ so as to strengthen and confirm in faith the souls of our Russian people who had fled from Communism or had been brought by force to Germany. The church was constantly filled with Russian youth, who for the most part knew neither their homeland nor God nor the Orthodox way of life, but now instinctively were drawn to the Church, to Christ. One had to help them, caress them, teach them, instruct them.

But the war was approaching its end. Again one had to be evacuated — this time to Wuertemberg, to the small town of Wendlingen. There, in the difficult period which set after the capitulation of Germany, being in constant fear of repatriation, our small group, under my guidance, erected a church and immediately instituted the great Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist. And we began again to create a quiet order of life, to create the Orthodox way of life. The Divine services were celebrated daily, life proceeded in godliness from Sunday to Sunday, from feast to feast. All around there blustered passions, animosity, an animal-like battle for survival. Many began to look on us as naive people who were not living in accordance with the times. But we lived, lived in God. Little by little the attitude towards us changed. Pilgrimages began. People who had gone to the depths of despair found peace of soul and a quiet joy with us and went away enlightened and calmed.

And then a new move — to America. And again one had to begin everything from the beginning. In the autumn of 1949 Archbishop Vitaly [of Jordanville] and Archbishop Nikon entrusted to me the establishment of a women's monastery wherein to gather together nuns scattered in various countries of the Diaspora, and to establish for them the quietness of Christ and the Orthodox way of life. This assignment seemed beyond our powers... But the idea of establishing here, in America, a little corner of the Orthodox way of life, saturated in that elemental power of spirit by which I had lived and breathed since childhood, took hold of me, and I agreed, trusting in the help of God. And the Lord did not abandon us.

Nuns were gathered together. About a thousand D.P.'s were brought over from Europe, of whom a significant number settled around the monastery and formed, so to speak, a large Orthodox family... Most important, the Lord helped to create in New-Diveyevo that which had filled my soul from childhood. In the conditions of emigration, when the Russian people, confused in the midst of foreign conditions of life and non-Orthodoxy, were caught in the whirlpool of fate, the Lord helped us to establish in New-Diveyevo the Orthodox way of life, a church atmosphere of the quietness of Christ and of godliness; to establish Holy Russia in a foreign land.

But it is not yet enough to establish a monastic life; one must preserve it. For there is always the danger that life can be converted into a hothouse, a greenhouse, where it will be supported by artificial warmth, and as soon as the source of warmth ceases to operate, life will perish.

Therefore, there must be a constant source of life. Just as the earth and its vital juices constantly nourish vegetation, so our life also must be ceaselessly nourished by that elemental power which the Church of Christ gives, which is incarnated in the Orthodox way of life, in the Divine services, in fastings, in prayers, in vigils, in all that which embodies our Holy Russia. This is the elemental power which places in the mouth of the man who is leaving his earthly existence the last words, "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit," and gives him the possibility to depart into eternal existence with the name of Christ.

II. HUMANISM VERSUS TRUE CHRISTIANITY1

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1 Translated from the article "Orthodoxy, Bolshevism, and Our Emigration," in Orthodox Russia, 1969, no. 18, pp. 3ff.


IN AMERICA there is no Stalin, no Communism, no persecutions against the Church. Therefore, emigrants who do not know actual spiritual life might think that Orthodox life in America should be an ideal of Orthodox life and that one should live just as the old Russian emigrants live here. But have our Russian emigrants found here what is the true ideal of the Christian — godliness, the acquirement of peace of heart through repentance? Have they found that elemental reality which the Church should be and with which a man departs into eternal life — sanctity, purity, sobriety?

Alas, it seems to me that the life not only of non-Orthodox Americans, but of Orthodox Russians as well proceeds not according to the laws of the Church, but according to the principles of humanism. Very many of those who consider themselves Orthodox are actually Christians only in form, but they live according to their own understanding, complying only with the commands of their flesh. American life, with its satiety and comfort, acts extraordinarily in favor of the acceptance of humanism. And therefore it is not astonishing that laymen often make demands to their pastors to go "in step with the times," and the pastors often fulfill these demands...

But the religious-moral foundations do not change; why, then, should priests change? Against contemporary man the same temptations, the same passions and seductions battle that tempted men a thousand years ago. Sin remains sin forever, and not a jot or tittle of the law of Christ changes: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all else will be added unto you."

The most important thing is to create a pure heart and keep it that way. Here there can be no talk of reforms. The Lord Himself has already given us everything needful in His Church.

But here the question arises: how can we apply to ourselves this wealth given by the Lord? Let us turn to the history of the Church at the time when humanism was striving to supplant true Christianity and replace it with an outward, false Christianity [the 18th century]. Then it was that the Lord raised up a hierarch who gave us for our life the method of true Christianity. In the True Christianity of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk you will find everything needful for the inward life of man. St. Tikhon speaks of the Word of God, which must be incarnated in life, of spiritual wisdom, of the human heart, of sin, of repentance, of Christian good deeds, of the Holy Church, of the duties of a Christian.

In our emigrant epoch humanism manifests itself with fearful power. Our church life proceeds for the most part outwardly; inward life is being forgotten. The slogan of humanism in our times is again: "Appear to be a Christian, but live according to the laws of the flesh," and involuntarily we ask ourselves the same tormenting question, which stands always before us: What should we do? The work of St. Tikhon, On True Christianity, is the answer to this question.

This work of St. Tikhon became the foundation of my whole pastoral life. In 1921, in blessing me for pastoral work, Optina Elder Anatole told me: "Take the True Christianity of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and live by its directions."

III. GODLINESS: TO KEEP WHAT IS GOD'S IN HONOR1

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1 From a sermon delivered at a priests' conference at Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, New York, in 1966. Orthodox Russia, 1966, no. 19, page 8.


WHAT TO DO? With such a question I appealed in 1921 to an Optina Elder... After going through the frightful revolutionary years of 1917, 1918, and 1919, when everything was collapsing and being destroyed, I came to a state which was simply pathological: why fight when everything is coming to an end? My outlook was transmitted to my close ones. The Revolution, the chaos as it were confirmed my words for those around me.

I became a priest, but the condition of my soul remained the same. And thus it was that I went to Optina to the Elder with the question: What to do?

The most important thing the Elder [Nectarius] told me was this:

"The Church of Christ goes as it were on a railroad track. The path of the rails is known, it is defined, but you and I must pay attention to what happens in the coach which is on the rails. In the coach occurs the personal life of a man. A man goes in and goes out of the coach, and there will be an end to the rails, but the end of each person is separate: one leaves the coach earlier, another later, and here it is that Christian godliness is necessary.

"The dogmas of faith, faith itself is revealed to us, and none of us doubts it; but the confession of faith must be in godliness. 'No one is good save God alone' — this is to hold what is God's in honor. It is the Divine that must be our concern; it must enter into all sides of our life, personal, family, public. Godliness is disclosed to us by the daily Divine services. At the daily Midnight Service is read the 17th Kathisma, which is a disclosure of God's Righteousness by the Prophet David to his son Solomon. And the Church offers the 17th Kathisma in order to reveal our inward being. One of the methods for godliness is given by the Holy Church in a spiritual exercise which trains our mind to the remembrance of the Name of God — 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.' Monastics are given a prayer-rope, but for a priest in the world the prayerful remembrance of his spiritual children can serve for training in the remembrance of the Name of God."

And so: What to do? The Elder said: "Live in such a way that what is God's will be in honor; and the first, the chief thing is your mind, which must be in God."

IV. EXHORTATION TO SOLZHENITSYN

"For a hundred years Noah called people to him, but only the dumb animals came."
— Elder Nectarius of Optina

On July 22, 1975, the Russian writer A. I. Solzhenitsyn visited Archbishop Andrew in New-Diveyevo Convent and talked with him for more than an hour. Archbishop Andrew greeted Solzhenitsyn, who was then already known world-wide for his flaming anti-Communist talks, with the following brief address:1

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1 Translated from Novoye Russkoye Slovo, July 24, 1975, page 2.


DEAR, deeply-respected Alexander Isaevich:

I have thought much, and am thinking much, about you; and involuntarily, while thinking of you, there arise before me two places in Sacred Scripture. One is from the Old Testament: the image of righteous Noah. It was revealed to him by God that there would be a world-wide flood which would destroy all those who remained in ungodliness. But for the salvation of those who would remain in godliness, those who still preserved all that is God's in honor, God commanded Noah to build an ark. And Noah began to build an ark, and at the same time to call the people to repentance...

But the sky was clear, not a cloud; the whole of nature, as if indifferent to the sins of men, remained solemnly quiet. Men heard Noah, but shrugged their shoulders and went away. The building of the ark was finished, but only the family of Noah entered it. They entered the ark, not yet to escape the flood, but to escape the ungodliness which was everywhere... And finally the rain came; the water began to rise and inundate everything. Now the frightened people hastened to the ark, but the doors closed by themselves, and no one else was able to enter...

Thinking of you, I involuntarily presented to myself this magnificent figure of Noah calling the people. Thus you also, my dear one, are calling people from the ungodliness of Communism! They hear you, they applaud you. They heard Noah also and, it may be, expressed their enthusiasm. Yes, they heard... but they did not obey, and perished!

Noah called men from something, from ungodliness. But he also called them to something: to godliness, and to a concrete godliness: to the godliness which was in the ark! And here I recall another place in the Sacred Scripture, the Epistle of the Apostle Peter: This they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth made of the water and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men (II Peter 3:5-7).

If all this is to be destroyed thus, then what a holy life and godliness must we have! This is what the New Testament Ark is: godliness, preserving what is God's in honor!

In your recent address you said that you were born a slave. That means that you were born after the Revolution. But I saw everything that happened before the Revolution and what prepared it — it was ungodliness in all forms, and chiefly the violation of family life and the corruption of youth... With grief I see that the same thing is happening here also, and indeed in the whole world. And it seems to me that your mission also is — to call people from ungodliness to godliness!

And the source of godliness is Christ!

 
ARCHBISHOP ANDREW (THEN PROTOPRESBYTER ADRIAN) IN 1961

 
Elder Nectarius of Optina as he is fondly remembered

 
Fr. Adrian when a young priest

 
The last Optina Elder Nectarius, after his blessed repose, which occurred under the epitrachelion of Fr. Adrian (later Archbishop Andrew), according to the Elder's desire and prophecy


 

Part 3

HOLY WOMEN
of the Northern Thebaid

ANASTASIA OF PADAN
CONTINUATION

THUS, BY HER voluntary sufferings and by enduring many misfortunes, Blessed Anastasia strove to please God. The Lord did not leave her without consolation, but the evil one also began to attack her.

Once she saw a black servant of the prince of the air. He was sitting and writing in a book and spoke of the necessity of destroying all the monasteries. With hatred, he threw himself on the desert-dweller Anastasia when she began to defend the monasteries and speak about their prayer for the world. “And they would even pray for you,” she said. But this only evoked a new and frightful explosion of anger; however, an invisible power saved her from the fierceness of the enemy. Then Anastasia saw choirs of monastic virgins and women walking and mightily singing a sacred song and bearing lamps in their hands. Anastasia with her thin voice began to sing with them and to follow after them. And with this she woke up.

Another time when Anastasia in exhaustion from a difficult infirmity was lying down and reading the Philokalia, she fell asleep and saw coming towards her a legion of demons from which she was preserved by the Saviour, Who has commanded us to cleanse the heart and strengthen it by imperturbable prayer, something which is not given to a man immediately and without difficulty. Another time she saw in unutterable beauty the Mother of God as She is depicted on the icon “Joy of All Who Sorrow,” after which vision she immediately felt herself healed from her severe disease.

The enemy strove, in his attempts to upset the desert-dweller, to strike also in visions during sleep, assuming the appearance of an angel of light. But Anastasia felt always at the beginning of such dreams an oppression of spirit, and she would wake up and begin fervently to pray, and the temptation would pass without harm to her.


Once Mother Anastasia was very sick, as is related by a certain nun who lived alone half a mile from her and would go to her and serve her. She was grieved that it was so far to go, but Anastasia saw this and strengthened her by her prayers and with the assertion that this labor was pleasing to God. Once this nun saw in a dream that someone had given her shoes all made out of wonderful, unearthly flowers. She looked inside them and there were wondrous flowers, and they were fragrant. “These shoes are for you, for your labor and serving of Mother Anastasia,” a voice said to her. She awoke with joy and continued to serve her Eldress without grief until the end of her life. The Eldress herself, a constant doer of the Prayer of Jesus, taught her fellow-strugglers also this spiritual art. The nun Eudocia could not grow used to this and was not convinced in the power of this prayer. And then she saw a dream: there was an immense number of people, and among them the demons were walking and attracting them to evil things. The unarmed people immediately went and fulfilled the orders of the enemy. The demons came up also to her. She began to do the Jesus Prayer, and saw a sword next to her, which was formed entirely out of the Name of Jesus, long and flaming. Wherever she turned the sword, the demons fled. She woke up and became a fervent doer of the prayer.

Anastasia’s food was poor. They cooked only cabbage soup, or soup made of potato greens. When the nuns were working at handiwork in the cells one would read while the others would listen while working. The daily reading was the Lives of Saints. All the places which were not understandable, the Eldress herself would explain, and spoke so from the heart, that almost all the sisters would weep.

When a sufficiently large sisterhood had been formed around Mother Anastasia, she finally built a monastery. But the Eldress to the end remained faithful to her love of the desert. The renewal of the ancient monastery of Padan as a women’s monastery was the work of another person, whom Mother Anastasia blessed to act in her name and under her personal supervision.

After some period of sickness, Blessed Anastasia quietly passed away on July 11, 1901. Her grave, after the reliquary of St. Cornelius itself, was the dearest treasure of the convent.


DO NOT OPEN your heart to another without need; out of a thousand you may find only one who would keep your secret. Strive by every means to keep the treasure of your spiritual gifts. Otherwise you will lose it and not find it again.” Such was the counsel of St. Seraphim of Sarov to his “orphans,” based on the patristic teaching to gather spiritual treasure in silence. And precisely such was the spiritual fervor of holy women in Russia: concealed humility, the hiding from the human eye. This is so evident from the great Lives which have come down to us: for example, the above-mentioned co-struggler of Anastasia, Maria of Olonets; the virgins of St. Seraphim: ANASTASIA LOGACHEV (†1815); Neonilla (1875); Pelagia (1884); “Pasha” of Sarov (1915); and, especially inspiring, as revealed in her own autobiography, Abbess Thais of Leushi (1915), who with the help of St. John of Kronstadt revived the great monastery of St. Therapontes of Belozersk, whose Abbess, Seraphima, met a martyr’s death at the hands of Communists.

One of such silent ones, literally hidden from the world, a contemporary of St. Dorothy, who blossomed in the uttermost North of the Russian Thebaid, was the RIGHTEOUS PARASCEVA OF PINEGA.


PARASCEVA OF PINEGA

THE PINEGA is a dreamy river, not broad like the Dvina, of which it is a tributary, but like a placid pond, and its many reeds and lilies are still and unmoved upon the surface of the stream. The river is so narrow, one could often throw a stone across it, and on each bank is forest, forest, and again forest, forest without end. This is the land of tundra, the most dangerous region in Europe,” as it was described by Stephen Graham at the turn of this century in his travel journal of the Russian North, Undiscovered Russia.

In this land, in the village of Verkola near Kevrola, a boy Artemius was born in 1532 to pious parents Cosmas and Apollinaria. He was God-fearing and unusually meek and holy. At the age of twelve, when ploughing with his father in the field, he was struck dead by thunder, which the simple villagers took as a sign that God was angry with him, and they left him unburied in the forest. One can well imagine how the village opinion affected his already God-fearing and extremely pious family. In this atmosphere of awe and silent trembling before God grew up St. Artemius’ sister, Parasceva, who matured into sanctity without knowing it. Shunned by the world, but surrounded by God’s beauty of the flowering northern spring and preserved by the snow-swept winter, she herself became a saint and a wonderworker, for, like her brother, she was a chosen vessel of God. When after 32 years the body of her holy brother was discovered incorrupt, and he worked many miracles and was esteemed by all, so that even a whole monastery was established over his relics, Parasceva was already formed spiritually, and to avoid the pitfalls of pride, she withdrew to silence and oblivion. Thus we do not even know whether she entered a convent or when she died. We only know that she died a righteous virgin.1

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1 On her (in Russian) see the monthly Strannik, 1878, no. 12; for the Life of St. Artemius see The Orthodox Word, March-April, 1974.


In 1610 the relics of St. Artemius were examined by Metropolitan Macarius of Novgorod, his Life was written and a Service was composed to him. The same year a coffin with the fragrant relics of a virgin was discovered in the Pirimin church of St. George, and a certain man was granted a vision: a fair virgin appeared to him, informing that her name was Parasceva, that sick people should come to this church and pray to St. George and the newly-revealed Wonderworker Parasceva, and that help would be granted, which indeed began to happen abundantly. Later a special chapel was built to treasure her relics, an old icon of her was placed there, and her memory was celebrated on October 28. Such is the power of sanctity hidden in God.

 
ST. EUPHROSYNE of Polotsk
ST. SOLOM;;;; of Suzdal
ST. FEBRON;; of Murom
16th century icons

 
Interior of the refectory, with Russian stove at left

 
SPRINGTIME IN THE NORTHERN BIRCH-GROVE SKETE

A nun stoops in Jesus Prayer on the steps of a typical skete chapel, beholding the rushing torrent of the awakening spring, a prefiguration of our future resurrection.

A painting by E. E. Volkov from RUSSIAN PILGRIM, 1913.


 

18th Century Monasticism

THE UNBROKEN CONTINUITY OF THE ORTHODOX MONASTIC TRADITION

THE GREAT monastic movement which began with St. Sergius, the great Abba of the Northern Thebaid, came to an end with the conclusion of the 17th century. New historical conditions — chiefly the Old Believer schism and the Westernizing reforms of Peter I — made no longer possible that harmony between the ascetic fervor of the best sons and daughters of Russia, and the profound piety of the believing Russian people, which led to the creation of innumerable new monasteries and convents under the inspiration of the Byzantine monastic ideal. We have seen, indeed, that the end of the period of the Northern Thebaid is one of decline — but it is a decline only by comparison with the astonishing monastic blossoming of the 14th to 16th centuries; by comparison with almost any other Orthodox land or period, the 17th century Russian monastic movement would have to be called a flourishing one that produced at least 45 canonized Saints1 (and many were never canonized owing to 18th-century conditions) and a large number of new monasteries.

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1 The Golden Chain of Sanctity in Russia, by Rev. Nicholas Smirnov, Buenos Aires, 1958, gives the complete list of just the officially canonized Saints, together with dates.


At the end of the 18th century, a new great epoch of monasticism began with the great Elder Paisius Velichkovsky, the Abba of a new monastic movement whose current has not entirely died out even in our own times. That must be the subject of another book.

What, then, of the 18th century itself? Was the true monastic tradition dead in Russia? Did Peter and Catherine actually destroy monasticism, as has sometimes been said? The answers to these questions will do much to illuminate not only the continuity of the monastic tradition in Russia, but also the condition of Orthodox monasticism in the 19th century, and even today.

Some of the decrees of Peter I regarding monasticism,1 to be sure, were directed against abuses in an institution which at that time had become very large and, in places where the monastic rule and spirit were not carefully preserved, there were unquestionably disorders which needed regulation. But several of the decrees were directed against the free existence of monasteries, and they smothered the very spirit of monasticism. Thus, in 1703 Peter forbade the building of new monasteries; a decree of 1724 turned monasteries into refuges for sick soldiers; and in 1734 it was forbidden to tonsure anyone except widowed priests and retired soldiers. Finally, under Catherine, in 1764, the Government appropriated monastic property altogether and assigned a monetary salary to the monastic clergy; of the 953 monasteries then existing, 568 were closed entirely and 160 more were left totally without income; and "quotas" were established of the number of monks allowed in each monastery. It can be imagined what a blow these reforms gave to Russian monasticism: what room was there for desert-loving fervor in State-supported and supervised institutions whose abbots were often transferred and too often had the function of administrators rather than spiritual fathers?

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1 Information in this paragraph is taken from Hieromonk Clement Sederholm, "On Desert-dwelling in the Forests of Roslavl," an appendix to the Biography of Elder Moses of Optina, Moscow, 1882, pp. 233-250.


But the aims of the Westernizing rules were not achieved: the monastic spirit, still very much alive in all classes of Russian society, was not snuffed out. Desert-loving monks and nuns simply went again to the desert, whether in Russia or outside her borders, avoiding the "established" monasteries; new communities were established, despite the laws; and there rose up a number of powerful monastic leaders, new Abbas of Holy Russia, who were not afraid to defy the authorities in order to preserve the free monastic spirit, and who sometimes endured a trial hitherto unknown in the history of Russian monasticism, revealing the extent of the disharmony between the monastic ideal and the corrupted leading society: they were placed in prison.

Here it will be possible to mention only very briefly some representatives of the genuine Orthodox monastic tradition in 18th-century Russia — enough to show that the monastic "revival" of Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky was not at all something imported from abroad, but something which had deep roots in Russia itself and only awaited more favorable conditions to burst forth into the glorious flowering of 19th-century Orthodox monasticism.

BLESSED JOB (Joshua in Schema) OF SOLOVKI (†1720, March 9), the first monastic victim of the reforms of Peter I, humbled himself to such a degree that he was vouchsafed to converse with the Most Holy Mother of God. She blessed him to found the Golgotha Skete and prophesied concerning the millions who would find martyrdom on his Golgotha hill in Soviet times.

BLESSED JOHN OF SAROV (†1737, July 4), founder of the great 18th-century monastic center of Sarov, lived at first in caves, fought the schism of the Old Believers, and was finally placed in prison, where he had a righteous death, leaving behind a whole host of disciples and successors: the BLESSED DEMETRIUS, EPHRAIM, PACHOMIUS, JOACHIM, JOSEPH, MARK, and the great ST. SERAPHIM.

ABBESS ALEXANDRA OF DIVEYEVO (†1789, June 13) founded her convent under the close spiritual direction of the Sarov Elders, especially St. Seraphim, and nurtured a real Lavra of 3000 righteous nuns and fools for Christ; the Convent continued to exist until the Soviets closed it in 1927.

BLESSED NAZARIUS OF VALAAM (†1809, Feb. 23 and Oct. 14) was the refounder of the great Lavra on Lake Ladoga, using the Typicon in which he had been trained in his native Sarov, leaving behind him a great tradition and holy disciples: BLESSED PATERMUTHIUS, INNOCENT, BARLAAM, ABEL THE PROPHET, CYRIACUS, EUTHYMIUS, and ST. HERMAN OF ALASKA.

BLESSED THEODORE OF SANAXAR (†1791, Feb. 19), the great aristocrat-coenobiarch of the 18th century, the outspoken protege of Empress Catherine II, was a desert-dweller of the renowned Roslavl Forests and Sarov who finally suffered persecution and banishment. He left many disciples: BLESSED MACARIUS OF PESNOSHA, THEOPHANES OF NEW LAKE, IGNATIUS, and others.

BLESSED BASIL OF MERLOPOLYANI (†1767), the Elder of Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky, living outside of Russia, in Moldavia, wrote important introductions to Patristic works on the Prayer of Jesus.

SCHEMA-ABBESS MARTHA (Protasieva) OF ARZAMAS (†1813, April 30) was the disciple of Blessed Theodore of Sanaxar and later of Paisius Velichkovsky, who wrote to her his famous instruction for women monastics.

BLESSED PAISIUS VELICHKOVSKY (†1794, Nov. 15) was the inspirer of the great monastic-patristic movement of 19th-century Russia. His innumerable disciples in Russia begin with ELDER CLEOPHAS (†1778, March 9), the two ELDERS ATHANASIUS, PAUL, THEOPHANES OF SOLOVKI, and many others.

BLESSED NICETAS of the Roslavl Forests (†1793, March 29) was worthy to behold the appearance of the Most Holy Theotokos and even to sing with Her. Together with him there was a whole multitude of desert-dwellers in the Briansk Forests throughout the 18th century: BLESSED SERAPION (†1721), IOASAPH (†1730), BARNABAS (†1775), the great ALEXIS OF KONEVITS (1812), and innumerable others.

BLESSED THEODOSIUS of the Sophroniev Monastery (†1802, Jan. 12) was a fellow struggler of Blessed Paisius and Elder of the great PHILARET, founder of the Glinsk Hermitage.

BLESSED DOSITHEUS OF THE KIEV-CAVES (†1776, Sept. 25) was a recluse who transmitted the Paisian tradition in the south of Russia and blessed St. Seraphim to go to Sarov; in reality she was a woman, and was known to the Empress Elizabeth.

BLESSED DOSITHEA OF MOSCOW (†1810) was a royal recluse who spread the Paisian tradition in the north.

ST. TIKHON OF ZADONSK (†1783, Aug. 13) was the great 18th-century enlightener raised up by God against the masonic pseudo-enlightenment of that time. His writings are for laymen as well as monastics, but he was first of all a great monastic force who inspired a host of followers: the BLESSED METROPHANES, AGAPITUS, NICANDER, COSMAS, MELANIA, MATRONA, THAIS, and many others, his influence extending as far as the Kozha Lake Monastery in the Arctic tundra.

METROPOLITAN PHILOTHEUS OF SIBERIA (†1727, May 31) was a great monastic Father in Siberia, where a whole monastic movement was begun by him and other 18th-century Siberian hierarchs: STS. JOHN (†1715, June 10) and PAUL (†1768, Nov. 4) OF TOBOLSK, STS. INNOCENT (†1731, Nov. 27) and SOPHRONIUS (†1771, June 3) OF IRKUTSK, the righteous GERASIMUS and SYNESIUS OF IRKUTSK, and many others.

The new monastic movement which sprouted from the fertile Orthodox soil of 18th-century Russia under the favorable conditions given by the truly Orthodox Tsars of the 19th century, was to rival the epoch of the Northern Thebaid itself. But now there was to be a subtle difference in tone, one not affecting the essence of Orthodox spirituality or monastic life, but one that reflected the changed historical circumstances of the whole Orthodox world: the new monastic revival is no longer dependent on Byzantium. There are no more pilgrimages to the East in search of the Orthodox monastic tradition; or, to be more precise: the few pilgrimages thus undertaken, such as that of Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky to Mount Athos, meet with failure. The Orthodox monastic tradition is more alive in Russia than in Greece, and it is the Russians themselves who, in the 19th century, are responsible for a great monastic flowering on Mt. Athos, led by great Elders such as Jerome and Arsenius, who had their spiritual roots firmly in Russian soil. Even the great Greek Fathers of the Patristic revival of this time, Sts. Macarius of Corinth and Nicodemus the Hagiorite, are not monastic founders as were Blessed Paisius and his disciples, but only transmitters of the Patristic doctrine and its texts.

What all this means is one thing: Orthodox monastic Russia, in the epoch of the Northern Thebaid, had come of age. Just as once Byzantium itself had humbly absorbed the spirituality and tradition of Palestine and Egypt and had transmitted it to other peoples, so now Russia had thoroughly absorbed the Orthodox tradition of Byzantium and made it her own. There is no longer any need to travel outside of Russia to find it. Whether one says "Byzantium" (the earlier phase) or "Holy Russia" (the later phase), the same thing is meant: the tradition of unadulterated Orthodoxy.

The monastic movement of Blessed Paisius completed the monastic foundation which the monks of the Northern Thebaid had begun, by providing Slavonic and then Russian translations of almost all the monastic works of the Holy Fathers which had been written in or translated into Greek. The Northern Thebaid itself richly provided new sources of monastic literature in the numerous Lives of its Saints and in the spiritual writings of its great Holy Father, St. Nilus of Sora; then, in the 18th century, the golden age of Slavonic and Russian Patristic literature begins with the writings of Blessed Basil of Merlopolyani, St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, Blessed Paisius himself, and many others. The great Greek and Near-Eastern Patristic epoch had already produced the basic texts of Orthodox spirituality and monasticism, but the final Patristic flowering in Russia — where the purity of Orthodox tradition was sealed by the sanctity of the wonderworking Elders — was to provide the connecting link between the Patristic tradition and the Orthodox faithful of today, some of whom have seen the last great Orthodox Elders of the golden chain of Orthodox spirituality which has come down unbroken from the Egyptian desert to us. The spiritual strength of Orthodoxy today, whether Russian or non-Russian, rests directly upon the Saints of the Northern Thebaid, who have bequeathed to the Orthodox faithful their experience of communion with God and the example of their God-pleasing lives.

How can we make use of this holy inheritance in our own lives today? We must not deceive ourselves: the life of the desert-dwellers of the Northern Thebaid is far beyond us in our time of unparalleled spiritual emptiness. In any epoch the monastic life is limited by the kind of life which is being led in the world. At a time when daily Orthodox life in Russia was both extremely difficult and very sober, monasticism could flourish; but in our time when ordinary life has become abnormally "comfortable" and the world-view of even the best religious and intellectual leaders is shockingly frivolous, what more is to be expected than that luke-warm "spirituality with comfort" with which bold voices from inside Soviet Russia even now are reproaching the free West? The situation within enslaved Russia is spiritually much more favorable, because on the foundation of the suffering and hardship which are the daily lot of most people there, something spiritual can come out. From many signs it is evident that a religious awakening is beginning now in Russia, whose result cannot yet be foreseen, but which may well result in the re-establishment of some of the monastic centers mentioned in this book.

And yet, the situation of enslaved Russia and the free West is not as different as it might seem. Everywhere today the disease of disbelief has entered deeply into the minds, and most of all the hearts, of men. Our Orthodoxy, even when it is outwardly still correct, is the poorest, the feeblest Christianity there has ever been. The God-bearing Elders who, comparatively speaking, abounded even in the periods of spiritual decline in earlier centuries, are now conspicuous by their total absence, and the conditions of contemporary life are scarcely likely to give birth to anything but counterfeits.

And still the voice of the Northern Thebaid calls us — not, it may be, to go to the desert (although some fortunate few may be able to do even that, for the forests are still on God's earth) — but at least to keep alive the fragrance of the desert in our hearts: to dwell in mind and heart with these angel-like men and women and have them as our truest friends, conversing with them in prayer; to be always aloof from the attachments and passions of this life, even when they center about some institution or leader of the church organization; to be first of all a citizen of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the City on high towards which all our Christian labors are directed, and only secondarily a member of this world below which perishes. He who has once sensed this fragrance of the desert, with its exhilarating freedom in Christ and its sober constancy in struggle, will never be satisfied with anything in this world, but can only cry out with the Apostle and Theologian: Come, Lord Jesus. Even so, Surely I come quickly (Apocalypse 22:20). Amen.

 
SAINT TIKHON OF ZADONSK
1724-1783 (August 13)
A HOLY FATHER OF THE LATTER TIMES SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTOR OF MONKS AND LAYMEN

 
Abbot Ephraim of Sarov, Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky, Father Pachomius of Sarov

 
Sarov Monastery in the 18th Century

 
THE HOLY ABBESS ALEXANDRA OF ST. SERAPHIM'S DIVEYEVO CONVENT
+1789, June 13

The original portrait of an outstanding female ascetic of the 18th century. Her humility was such that when abbess she would go in disguise into the fields to help peasants harvest their crops. She had great veneration for Elder Nazarius of Valaam and Sarov, and even during his lifetime she would turn to his portrait and ask his blessing for every major undertaking. She was granted many visions, and was declared by St. Seraphim himself to be a saint.

 
SAINT PAUL OF TOBOLSK 1705-1768 (November 4)

A monk of the Kiev Caves and a protector of monks as abbot of Yuriev Monastery in Novgorod, he supported the monastic ideal to the end, even to the extent of defying Empress Catherine the Great. Even when crushed outwardly, he remained unconquerable.

 
Metropolitan Philotheus of Tobolsk, Theodore in Schema, 1650-1727


The TYPICON of the Orthodox Church’s Divine Services

CHAPTER SEVEN
THE POLYELEOS

THE MOST SOLEMN and triumphant moment of the feast-day Vigil is the POLYELEOS, immediately followed by the MAGNIFICATION. The name Polyeleos in Greek signifies “much mercy” and is derived from the frequent repetition of the word “mercy” in Psalm 135, which together with Psalm 134 makes up the text of the Polyeleos. According to another derivation from Greek, the word can also mean “much oil,” referring to the many lights which are burned at this point of the service; oil being a symbol of God’s mercy, the two meanings are closely related. The Polyeleos is sung at the Matins of feasts of Polyeleos or Vigil rank, and also at the Sunday Matins from September 22 to Cheese-fare Sunday (except for the period of December 20 to January 14, when there are already several great feasts with Polyeleos), replacing on these fall and winter Sundays the 17th Kathisma, which is appointed to be sung at this point of the service on the other Sundays of the year. In parish practice the Polyeleos is commonly sung on almost all Sundays of the year, and in any case the 17th Kathisma is rarely if ever sung; this is unfortunate, because the alternation between these two magnificent psalmic hymns lends much more interest and meaning to the services. About this more will be said in a later chapter on the Sunday Vigil.

The Polyeleos occurs at the end of the long opening part of Matins during which almost everything is read and very little sung, and the church (if the Matins is served during the night or early morning hours) is in near darkness. The Six Psalms which begin Matins at a feast-day Vigil are read in the middle of the church, followed by the singing of “God is the Lord” and the troparion of the feast. Then the two kathismata of Matins are read, each followed by the singing of several sessional hymns and the readings from the Holy Fathers (a part of the service which is preserved today only in a few monasteries; a later chapter will discuss this).

Then comes the solemn moment of the Polyeleos, which is actually equivalent to a third reading from the Psalter, although its method of execution makes it quite distinct from the first two readings, which are done in the ordinary “recitative” of church reading. The method of execution of the Polyeleos is not indicated in the Typicon or Church service books, but has been transmitted in the Church’s musical tradition. According to this tradition, each verse of the two Psalms of the Polyeleos is followed by the refrain “Alleluia,” sung either once or three times. The singing is antiphonal, exactly like “Blessed is the Man.” The melody to which the Psalms are sung is not in any of the Eight Tones, but is an independent melody distinguished by special solemnness and grandeur.

Psalms 134 and 135, which are appointed to be sung in their entirety at the Polyeleos (although in parish churches usually only two or three verses from each Psalm are sung) are a hymn of glorification of God the Creator, Who has chosen Israel as His people, and of gratitude for His mercy shown to Israel throughout its history. Both Psalms are filled with immense joy and thanksgiving, and the second Psalm especially, with its repetition of “For His mercy endureth forever” after every verse, resounds with an especially triumphant air. According to St. Simeon of Thessalonica, the two Psalms of the Polyeleos are “a triumphant hymn declaring the wondrous deeds of God, and especially the going over of our souls out of the Egypt of sin and the wandering (in the desert) to faith in Christ, our deliverance from Pharaoh and the Egyptians, that is, the devil and demons, and the deliverance of the Church from Diocletian, Maximian, and the Apostate from God (Julian) and other impious despots, as from Amalek, Sion, Og and the like — and after trials and labors, the settling in the promised land and the heavenly inheritance through Jesus.”

At this triumphant moment of the Vigil, the Typicon calls for the offering of incense, which accompanies the more solemn points of the Divine services, “and the Superior distributes candles to the concelebrants and to the people standing in the holy temple” (Typicon, Chapter 2). In actual parish practice today candles are held by all the people only at a few Vigils, in particular those of Palm Sunday, Passion Week, and Pascha, while at most Vigils only the priest (or deacon) holds a candle; at this time also the chandelier and other lights are lit, making this the brightest as well as the most solemn part of the Vigil. The lights are lit and the priest (if one is present) comes out of the Altar at the beginning of the Polyeleos, but the censing is done only at the beginning of the last part of the Polyeleos, where the glorification of the feast or saint reaches its highest point: the MAGNIFICATION (see next chapter).

Several melodies for the Polyeleos are in common use in the Russian Church. The melody given below, used comparatively rarely (so rarely, indeed, that the notes for it are not to be found in any of the usual collections of church music), is perhaps the most triumphant one of all. In those places where it is used, it is usually reserved for the most solemn feasts. When Archbishop John Maximovitch was Archbishop of San Francisco, it was used especially on one occasion every year: the feast of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, the patron of his orphanage in Shanghai and San Francisco, when his spiritual children would gather around him in the small orphanage church to celebrate an especially triumphant — and long — Vigil, including the singing of all verses of the Polyeleos Psalms. It was the melody introduced by the Glinsk Hermitage in central Russia, glorious for its great ascetics in the 19th century, when together with Optina and Valaam it was a leading center for the transmission of the monastic tradition of Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky. According to one account, this melody was derived from Greek chant by way of the St. Panteleimon Russian Monastery on Mount Athos. Only one verse is given here from each Psalm; all the other verses in each Psalm are sung exactly like the model given here.

THE POLYELEOS

 

Next: The Magnification.


The Life and Ascetic Labors of Our Father, Elder Paisius, Archimandrite of the Holy Moldavian Monasteries of Niamets and Sekoul. Part Fourteen

THE MONASTERY OF NIAMETS

70A. Further Labors in the Translation of the Patristic Texts1

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1 This entire section, except as noted, is from Chetverikov, vol. 1, pp. 123-129.


ELDER PAISIUS would become so engrossed in his work of translation that he would fail to hear the monastery semantron calling to the church services, and would notice nothing around him, and be unable even to answer those who asked him questions. His cell-attendant would allow no one to see him at such times. And when there was some absolutely necessary matter, the cell-attendant would have to repeat his words to the Elder many times before receiving a reply from him. Compelled to answer, the Elder would scarcely be able to take his attention away from his books. He himself acknowledged: "For me there is no more difficult labor than when I have to give a reply to some question when I am occupied with translation. When I take my attention away from the books, I become all covered with sweat."

In 1787 Elder Paisius completed one of his most important works: the translation from Greek of the Ascetic Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian. In 1770-71, as noted above,1 he had already made a translation of this work, based on the incomplete Greek printed text of 1768 and on a Slavonic manuscript. Now, however, he was able to make use of a better Greek manuscript and had also become much more fluent in the ancient Greek language. In the preface to this new translation of St. Isaac, Blessed Paisius himself writes of his labors:

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1 See Section 50A, The Orthodox Word, September—October, 1973, pp. 190-192.


"In 1786 there was brought to me from the Holy Mountain of Athos a manuscript Greek text of St. Isaac, and those who brought me the book fervently entreated me to undertake its translation. The brethren of the monastery likewise tried to persuade me to do this. I, however, acknowledging my old age and extreme weakness, and likewise the considerable size of the book and the difficulty of the matter and the fact that the hour of my end was unknown, put off the fulfillment of this request. But on the other hand, perceiving the Providence of God which had enabled me to behold the manuscript Greek text of St. Isaac, which had been brought to me expressly for translation; and likewise keeping in mind my advancement in the knowledge of the Greek language and the fact that I had the indispensable aids for translation; further, feeling the desire which had been born in my soul to undertake the translation of St. Isaac; and finally, taking into consideration the request of the brethren—I began in the same year, during the Fast of the Nativity of Christ, a new translation of the book of St. Isaac the Syrian.

"As the foundation of this translation I placed the printed Greek text which I had received, while still in Dragomirna, from Nicephorus Theotoki in Constantinople; and I used the manuscript text as an aid. And, in fact, I received great help from the latter, and without it, for all my striving, with only the printed text my translation would have been insufficient, because in many places certain words which are in the Slavonic text are also to be found in the Greek manuscript, but are missing in the printed Greek text; from this one may understand that those who of old labored at the Slavonic translation had at their disposal the same manuscript Greek text. And thus, while translating this book from the printed Greek text, at the same time I carefully, word for word, followed the Greek manuscript and the Slavonic texts, both the ancient one and the one I had corrected in Dragomirna, analyzing carefully the nouns and verbs, as much as possible in compliance with the characteristics of both languages, Greek and Slavonic. This whole labor I accomplished with great spiritual joy, disdaining my weakness and pains, and thus I finished my translation in 1787."

In Niamets the Elder gathered around him a numerous group of helpers and specially prepared them for the work of translation. He taught them the Greek language, and to improve their knowledge in it he sent them to the theological academy in Bucharest. Some of his helpers, under his direct supervision, translated the Patristic books, while others copied them. The work was done either in the cells, or in a common building, or in the cell of the Elder himself. There was a great demand for manuscripts, not only from the brethren of Niamets, but also from other monasteries and individuals. There was much work for the copyists, the names of some forty of whom have come down to us. Nearly 300 of the manuscripts which remained in the library of the monastery of Niamets in 1905 were from the time of Blessed Paisius, and 44 of these were in the handwriting of the Elder himself.

A mere listing of the manuscripts from the hand of Blessed Paisius will give us an excellent indication of at least some of the Patristic texts which he regarded as most valuable, for his intention in preserving them was always the spiritual benefit of Orthodox Christians.

1. A Discourse of St. Anthony the Great.

2. Theological writings of St. John Damascene.

3-5. St. Basil the Great: On the Monastic Vows; On Fasting; Against Eunomius.

6. Selections made by Elder Paisius concerning the Procession of the Holy Spirit, from the works of Gennadius Scholarius, Patriarch Dositheus of Jerusalem, St. Mark of Ephesus, St. Athanasius the Great, St. John Damascene, Patriarch Eulogius of Alexandria, the Confession of Justinian, and Patriarch Ephraim of Antioch.

7. Selections made by Elder Paisius from the works of St. John Chrysostom, John Damascene, Philotheus, Patriarch Sophronius, Evagrius, Patriarch Germanus of Constantinople, Sts. Isaiah the Recluse, Gregory Palamas, and Maximus the Confessor.

8. Homilies of St. Gregory the Sinaite.

 9-10. Homilies of St. Gregory Palamas.

11. St. Diadochus of Photice: Chapters on Active Life.

12. St. Dionysius and other Fathers on Mental Prayer.

13. Instructions of St. Abba Dorotheus.

14. The Life of St. Gregory the Sinaite by St. Callistus, Patriarch of Constantinople.

15. The Canons of the Holy Apostles and Fathers, according to the Commentary of Alexis Aristenos the Deacon of Constantinople.

16. Ascetic Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian.

17. Homilies of Joseph Bryennios, with the Epistle of Pope John of Rome to St. Photius, Archbishop of Constantinople.

18. Callistus Kataphigiotes: On Divine Union and the Noetic Life.

19. Canons for the Twelve Great Feasts: the old and a new translation.

20. The Ladder of St. John Climacus.

21. Homilies of St. Macarius of Egypt.

22. St. Mark the Ascetic: Moral-Ascetic Homilies.

23. St. Mark of Ephesus: Homily on the Procession of the Holy Spirit, Against the Latins.

24. Homilies of St. Nicetas Stethatos.

25. Works of St. Peter Damascene.

26. Replies by the Orthodox to the Violence of the Catholics (Concerning the Unia), translated from a Greek book printed in Halki in 1775.

27. The "Paradise" of Patriarch Callistus of Constantinople and Ignatius Ksanthopoulos.

28. Selections made by Elder Paisius on Baptism, from St. Dionysius the Areopagite, St. Maximus the Confessor, the Apostolic Canons, the Syntagma of Matthew Blastares, the Canons of the Ecumenical Councils, St. John Chrysostom, and Theophylactus, Archbishop of Bulgaria.

29. An Anthology: Sts. Dionysius the Areopagite, John Chrysostom, and Theodore the Studite on Communion; an Epistle of St. Dionysius the Areopagite; Theodore of Cyrus on the Seventy Weeks.

30. An Anthology: Accusatory Words against the heresy of Barlaam and Akindynus; Selected Homilies of Simeon the Magistrate and Logothete, Sts. Basil the Great and Theodore the Studite on Contrite Prayer.

31. An Anthology: Synodicon for the Sunday of Orthodoxy; On the Seven Ecumenical Councils; Homily of Germanus the Patriarch on the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos; Homilies of St. John Damascene on the Transfiguration, the Burial of the Saviour, the Dormition of the Theotokos, the Annunciation, the Nativity of the Theotokos; Epiphanius of Cyprus: Laudation of the Most Holy Theotokos.

32. St. Hesychius, Presbyter of Jerusalem, On Prayer; and St. Anthony the Great, Moral Discourses.

33. Light in the Darkness: for Latins being converted to Orthodoxy.

 34-36. Homilies of St. Simeon the New Theologian.

37. Simeon of Thessalonica: Homily on Priesthood.

38. Suffering of the Holy Martyr Anastasius the New, who suffered in the city of Helvin.

39. The Tacticon of Nikon of Black Mountain (Antioch).

40. St. Philotheus of Sinai: Chapters on Sobriety.

41. Centuries of Abba Thalassius, together with St. Philemon the Recluse on Silence.

42. Blessed Theodoret: Commentary on the Song of Songs.

43. Homilies of Theodore of Edessa.

44. Catechesis of St. Theodore the Studite.

A large part of the manuscripts are anthologies consisting of selections from Patristic books on dogmatic, liturgical, moral-ascetic, or canonical questions. Elder Paisius himself loved to compile such anthologies and encouraged his disciples to compile them also. He regarded it as insufficient to limit oneself to the reading of Patristic books, for with this the reader does not always follow the meaning of the book with proper heedfulness. So as better to bind one's attention to the content of the book being read, it is essential to follow the text word for word, and this is best done by copying out the book. The very slowness of this work gives one an opportunity more perfectly and more precisely to penetrate to the meaning of the text, which thus becomes closer to the soul of the reader and is impressed more deeply upon it. The copying of the whole book is not always possible or necessary; often it is sufficient to copy out just the more important or interesting places so as later to have these close at hand and have the opportunity to re-read them and share them with others. In reading what various Holy Fathers wrote on the same subject, by copying out selections from them one may gain a clearer and many-sided view of the subject. Many such anthologies were made by the disciples of Elder Paisius.

Blessed Paisius also prepared many manuscripts for a Rumanian edition of the Lives of the Saints (Synaxaria), a work which was completed by his disciples after his death, between 1807 and 1815.1

___
1 Information in this paragraph is given in C. Papoulides in "Le Starets Paissij Velitchkovskij" (in French), in Theologia, no. 39 (1968), pp. 231-240.


Next: The Letters of Elder Paisius from Niamets.

 
A Niamets manuscript from the time of Elder Paisius

 
The Niamets Monastery library, with manuscripts of Elder Paisius


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