An unpublished article by Bishop Nikodim (Kazantsev) about Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow

On November 27, at 9 o’clock and 10 minutes in the evening, the High Hierarch of the Kazan Church, Archbishop Nikanor (in the world Nikifor Timofeevich Kamensky), reposed in the Lord. The age of life in Bose of the deceased bishop is still relatively unextended - 63 years. His energetic activity, which was expressed with particular intensity last summer, during the Congress of Missionaries that was held in Kazan, and his somewhat strengthened, shaky health after a trip to the waters of the Caucasus - all this, according to human calculations, put off the thought of the sad denouement for which the late Bishop was constantly preparing, and therefore this death was a complete surprise not only for people far from him, but also for those close to him. The death of Archbishop Nikanor of Kazan is a heavy loss for the Russian Church, for theological science, for the Kazan clergy and especially for its orphans and widows. This loss is also very sensitive for the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. His Eminence Nikanor is the son of a deacon of the Astrakhan diocese, Chernoyarsk district, village of Solodnikov. He was born in 1847, therefore, death befell him in the 63rd year, still in the prime of his physical and spiritual strength. Early on, Vladyka learned the difficult fate of orphanhood, having lost his breadwinner-father while still a small child. Together with his most worthy and pious mother Paraskeva Nikitichna, who died at a ripe old age, only about five or six years ago, he experienced severe oppressive poverty and many deprivations. And if the good members of the local clergy, colleagues of the father of the deceased bishop, of whom the grandfather of the writer of these lines, a psalm-reader, was especially close to the orphaned family, and the responsive parishioners of the village of Solodnikov had not come to the rescue and taken part in the life of the distressed unfortunate family, then it can be positively stated that our Russian Church would not have had to see such a bright lamp in the host of its hierarchs. Need and severe poverty prevented the gifted young man Nikifor Kamensky from preparing well for theological school, which he considered “extremely necessary” for every young man. Always remembering these first years of his early youth, as the most difficult for success in science, the late Bishop, already at the time of his maturity, frankly said: “I know from experience that not everyone develops the abilities necessary for good teaching in the same way” (“Arkhangelsk Diocesan Gazette” for 1893, p. 275). In these ways - a rare case in the history of spiritual education - in order to come to the aid of the poorly prepared children of our rural clergy in order for them to successfully complete a course of study in theological schools, the Bishop subsequently established a scholarship at the Astrakhan Theological School for interest from 2000 rubles. ser. for a poor student regardless of his academic performance. Vladyka graduated from the seminary with outstanding success, among the first, with the title of student, but, as the poorest student, he immediately entered the parish in the village of Berezhnovka, Tsarevsky district, having married the well-bred daughter of the honored city archpriest N. Malinovsky. The life of a rural rural priest, Fr. Nikifor Kamensky did not use it for long, however. Elena Nikanorovna, wife of Fr. Nikifor, being of very fragile health by nature, died two years later, leaving her first-born baby in the arms of the young priest. In terrible grief, Fr. Nikifor Kamensky leaves the village of Berezhnovka and, having handed over his only child to his old mother, goes to Kazan to enroll as a student at the Theological Academy. Upon completion of the course, he receives a position as a teacher of the law at the Kazan Teachers' Seminary and, under the guidance of the ever-memorable educator of foreigners N.I. Ilminsky, cultivates in himself an ardent zeal for the cause of spiritual and moral enlightenment of foreigners, which later very noticeably distinguished him everywhere in various places of his hierarchal service among our other archpastors. The energetic Fr. spends his leisure time in this seminary. N.T. Kamensky devoted himself to scientific theological research, the fruit of which was his master’s thesis, published in 1870, entitled: “The Image of the Messiah according to the Psalter.” The extraordinary merits of this dissertation served, among other things, as the basis for the Council of the Kazan Theological Academy to choose Fr. Kamensky as a desirable candidate to fill the then vacant department of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. And only the election of Fr. N.T. Kamensky to the position of rector of the Kazan Theological Seminary prevented the implementation of this intention of the Academy Council and distracted him from his academic professorial career. After accepting monasticism in 1889 with the name Nikanor, the energetic rector of the seminary, the young archimandrite in 1891 was elevated to the rank of Bishop of Cheboksary, vicar of the Kazan diocese, subordinate to him for the management of local monasteries - Spaso-Preobrazhensky, Feodorovsky and Kizichesky. In 1893, the bishop left Kazan for an independent See of Arkhangelsk after a 23-year continuous stay in his native and dear Kazan. From this time on, an anxious and restless life began for the ruler, to which he himself was least inclined and which undermined his naturally strong health. Returning again to Kazan, to the place of his eternal rest, the bishop expressed himself about this difficult time as follows: “My health is spread throughout Holy Rus', from the Arctic Ocean and Solovki to the sources of the Oka and Dnieper, from the Ural and Carpathian mountains.” From June 8, 1893 to March 5, 1896, i.e. for about three years, Archbishop Nikanor occupied the see of the Arkhangelsk diocese, almost the same amount of time, until January 2, 1899, he ruled the Smolensk diocese, until April 1902 he was a hierarch in Orel, for a year and a half, until November 26, 1903, he served as bishop in the new Yekaterinburg diocese, then two incomplete years, until December 1905 g., served in Grodno and, having been elevated to the rank of Archbishop of Warsaw and Privislinsky, he ruled this small but responsible diocese until 1908, when, finally, he was given control of the dear Kazan diocese, which was always presented to his mind and heart as “desired for life and peace.” And despite the outwardly alarming life of the late bishop, we must give him complete justice, he managed to leave a very noticeable mark on all the places of his short-term ministry. Remembering the apostolic covenants of his great language teacher N.I. Ilminsky, Archbishop Nikanor at the Arkhangelsk see, “in the name of the light of faith and science,” traveled to the most remote points of his vast diocese, visiting the Murmansk coast, the Kholmogory region, Pomeranian cities, and even made his way to the borders of Norway. With the word of sermon, the bishop went to the Korels and Lapps, to the Samoyeds and Zyryans, and with his personal example and ardent conviction he also won over the shepherds under his command, opening for this purpose even a Missionary Committee in the diocese and forming a translation commission under it. At the Yekaterinburg See, the tireless bishop, in order to develop a mission among the nomadic Voguls inhabiting the northern outskirts of this diocese, with the help of natural Vogul, undertook the personal work of compiling the Vogul alphabet and the Russian-Vogul dictionary. In the rank of Archbishop of Kazan, Vladyka devoted a lot of time to the beloved brainchild of the late N.I. Ilminsky - the baptized Tatar school, and at the same time he extended his protective attention to the other numerous foreigners inhabiting this region. Ten boys from Cheremis studied at the two-year school of the Sedmiozernaya Hermitage, which, at the request of the Bishop, was obliged to educate them in the Orthodox faith and piety. At the direction of the bishop, a school was also opened for children of foreigners at the Zilantov Monastery. Nine Chermis boys were raised at the expense of the bishop's house. Three schools of the Brotherhood of St. Guria - Tatar, Cheremis and Chuvash - were maintained at the expense of the ruler. At the Cheremis school in the Tsar-Kokshay forests in the village of Baimurzin, a church was built and very sparsely furnished in the name of St. Apostle Nikanor (whose name the Bishop bore) at the expense of the Bishop. “We saw pagan fathers,” said the excited Bishop Vicar Andrei, Bishop of Mamadysh, at the tomb of Archbishop Nikanor, “fathers who gave their children to the deceased saint for upbringing and teaching. These children are now newly baptized Christians... These are the children who lived with their enlightener-archpastor under the same roof and were the first to bitterly mourn his death, not knowing who would now take them into his love, who would take care of them.” Having experienced poverty and oppressive poverty in his youth, the deceased archpastor could not be indifferent to the grief, poverty and misery of those close to him, especially the clergy subordinate to him, and therefore managed to create a number of charitable philanthropic institutions in all places of his ministry. Inspiring the subordinate clergy to “try in every possible way to reduce the suffering of poverty, for which purpose to provide assistance to the poor in every possible way,” Archbishop. Nikanor, both in deed and in life, tried to set a living example in himself. In Arkhangelsk, he established a charity home for the elderly from the poor clergy, created the same house in Smolensk, significantly expanded the almshouse in Orel, and donated 600 rubles. to establish a shelter for the poor of the clergy in the city of Yelets, Oryol diocese, he insisted on opening an almshouse for the clergy in Yekaterinburg, making at the same time his donation of 2,000 rubles. and thereby linking his name with this almshouse forever. In addition, the bishop opened emerital cash offices for the clergy in the Smolensk, Yekaterinburg and Kazan dioceses, introduced a plate collection in churches from Lazarus Saturday to Thursday of Holy Week in the dioceses of Smolensk, Oryol and Yekaterinburg for the distribution of benefits and for the organization of free breaking of fasts for their poorest inhabitants and established scholarships for poor pupils in Theological academies, seminaries and schools for men and women. In gratitude to the peasants for the support provided to his poor mother, in his native village of Solodniki, Astrakhan diocese, the bishop erected a church on the grave of his father and set up a two-class parochial school 1 with it, beautifully furnishing it and ensuring its existence forever with monetary contributions. During the Bishop’s stay in Kazan alone, he donated up to 47 1/2 thousand rubles at different times for charitable purposes. The capital remaining after the death of the ruler, a very significant amount, is intended partly now, and partly after the death of his only sick son, also for charitable purposes in favor of the clergy. Archbishop Nikanor of Kazan, with his tireless ebullient diocesan and pedagogical activities, found both time and leisure for scientific studies, a love for which he acquired while still on the academic bench. The fruit of these, one might say, continuous studies are, in addition to the above-mentioned master's thesis, numerous interpretative works on all the conciliar epistles and the epistles of the Apostle Paul. “An exegetical-critical study of the message of St. Apostle Paul to the Hebrews” earned its author the highest academic degree of Doctor of Theology, awarded to him in 1905 by the Council of the Kazan Theological Academy. “Orthodox Christian Moral Theology” (Part 1), “A Consistent Explanation of Christian Orthodox Worship,” numerous articles on Christian morality and works related to the better organization of [teaching] the Law of God and the Catechism in our educational institutions under the pen of the late Bishop are a valuable contribution to our poor pedagogical literature. But the late archpastor was also a great amateur archaeologist, and therefore his amazingly fruitful literary activity was directed primarily in this direction. In Arkhangelsk, Vladyka was engaged in the restoration of the Archangel Michael Monastery and the description of the parishes and churches of the diocese, as well as the publication of ancient monastic synodics, published on the pages of our historical and archaeological magazines. In Smolensk, Archbishop. Nikanor founded an ecclesiastical archaeological museum, giving it premises within the walls of the bishop's house, and formed an ecclesiastical archaeological society. The valuable archaeological objects collected in the museum in significant quantities were subject, as is known, to plunder after his removal to another diocese, and for a long time served as the subject of speculation both in the administrative spheres and in our timely press... At his own initiative, here in Smolensk, a historical and statistical description of the diocese was undertaken. In Orel in 1900 in the chambers of the bishop's house, the Bishop opened the Church Historical Museum, happily placed under the supervision of the now venerable scientist, professor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy I. E. Evseev, who managed in a short time to collect quite valuable archaeological treasures in it and form a committee from the most noble city clergy to compile the “History of the Oryol Diocese from Ancient Times,” printed under by the editors of the Most Reverend, on the pages of the local Diocesan Gazette. The same church-archaeological committee for the collection and study of church antiquities, at the initiative and efforts of the deceased bishop, was later created in Grodno. The Kazan Church Historical and Archaeological Society, founded by the late Kazan Bishop Dimitri (Sambikin), welcomed the archbishop. Nikanor is an ardent patron and champion. “Church Historical and Archaeological Society,” say the publishers of the “Kazan Collection of Articles,” Archbishop. Nikanor, - was aware of the Eminence Nikanor as a zealot and patron of church-historical and archaeological trends in theological science and church-social activities, as the founder of church-archaeological committees in Smolensk and Grodno and church-historical museums in Orel and Warsaw. Being himself an active worker in these institutions, supporting them with material resources, and with his church-historical and archaeological works, and in general putting a lot of effort into strengthening and developing them, His Eminence Nikanor, by the power of his initiative and organizational talent, grouped and rallied around himself workers in activities of this kind, who, in the absence of personal initiative, would not be able to apply their strength to the work, remaining, as it were, in the desert of loneliness" (Kazan Collection of Articles. Preface. pp. I-II). The late Bishop himself, with special love, studied the past destinies of two dear dioceses to him - Astrakhan and Kazan. The history of the Astrakhan diocese, including here individual, sometimes very extensive biographical sketches of Bishops Athanasius (Drozdov), Khrisanf (Retivtsev), Evgeniy (Shereshilov) and others, essays on the mission among the Kalmyks, a description of the Assumption and Trinity Cathedrals, the Cyril Chapel, etc. - all these are undoubted witnesses of his grateful memory to the native diocese that raised him. The history of the Kazan Theological Seminary, essays on the beliefs of the Chuvash, Mordovians and others, descriptions of the monasteries of the Kazan diocese, biographies of the Kazan saints and other articles on the antiquities of the Kazan diocese, collected and published by the Bishop shortly before his death in one book entitled “Kazan Collection of Articles” (1909) - this is again irrefutable proof of how tender, ardent He also had feelings for this diocese, to which he gave the best years of his life, and where he prematurely found his eternal rest. Archbishop Nikanor was considered a prolific writer-preacher and had extraordinary oratorical talent. A monument to this type of his literary work remains several volumes of his words and speeches, with which he accompanied almost all of his services. With a sermon, he even performed his last dying service on November 21, the day of the church holiday at the local district women's Theological School. Possessing an oratorical talent, the bishop very willingly gave his reports, theological readings and speeches, and in the public readings and interviews he opened in various dioceses. These speeches of his always had considerable success among the audience, and some, such as, for example, at the Missionary Congresses - Oryol and Kazan - even served as the subject of lively discussions in the press and in society. In his diocesan activities, Archbishop. Nikanor, as can be seen in part from the above, entered into the most lively direct relations with the clergy he ruled and everywhere enjoyed universal love and respect on their part for his always helpful courtesy, rare accessibility, lack of arrogance and pride, and fatherly attitude towards him. This simplicity of dealing with people of different social status and accessibility was appreciated in the late Bishop even by the Old Believers with whom he had to meet in his life. “If the relations of the representatives of your Church gradually moved to such a loving basis,” one of the prominent Ekaterinburg Old Believers Grigory Grachev wrote to the Bishop in 1903, “especially gentlemen missionaries... how could the picture of relations immediately change” (“Ekaterinburg Diocesan Gazette” for 1903, p. 751). But what attracted the hearts of the clergy and ordinary people to the late ruler and created an atmosphere of sympathy and respect favorable for him here, then, to deep regret, was interpreted differently (and often in an unfavorable direction) by people of a different circle, brought up in different conditions, concepts and views. Simplicity, combined with frankness and a certain ardor of the southern temperament, easily flammable and capable of outbursts of passion, was blamed on the deceased ruler and sometimes served as a source of great grief for him. Here, by the way, partly lies the reason for the frequent career changes that threw him from side to side throughout Great Rus'... A monument to the pastoral zeal of the late Bishop is also his constant desire to instill education among the people in the spirit of the Orthodox faith and concern for the development and maintenance of parochial schools in all places of his ministry. The school in the village of Solodniki on the grave of the bishop’s father is an venerable example for everyone to whom the late archpastor turned with the conviction to donate to the cause of public education. The name of the late Archpastor Nikanor of Kazan is close and dear to the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society due to the living connection that the Bishop maintained with the Society throughout his life, showing direct active participation in its activities at all places of his ministry. Having made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Egypt and Rome in 1888, during the summer months, the late Bishop took from this trip a ardent love for Palestine and indelible sympathy throughout his life for the activities of Russian people there - “Palestinian lovers” - for the benefit and glory of Russia and the Russian Orthodox people. “The work accomplished by the Russian people through the Palestine Society,” said the Bishop in his inspired, heartfelt speech in 1896, at the annual meeting of the Smolensk department of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, “is unprecedented in the thousand-year history of Russia. Previously, the Russian people brought the light of Christ among their foreigners, the Finnish and partly Mongolian tribes, to people immersed in primitive darkness. In Palestine, the Russian people are active on ancient Christian soil and act together with the cultivating forces of Europe. The educational influence of Europeans on Palestine has been carried out systematically for centuries. From here, entire crusades were launched, which, however, spoiled the work of the West in the East, so that even the usual missionaries of the West could not erase the evil that the crusaders committed by destroying Orthodoxy, and not merging with it, for strength does not lie in destruction, but in truth. The truth is in Orthodoxy, the bearer of which is the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, like Holy Rus', uniting in its boundless breadth of love the modern owners of Palestine, and deeply appreciating and restoring all the heritage of Orthodoxy in Palestine in all centuries, and especially appreciating everything that is precious for all Christians. For all this, every Orthodox Russian person must wholeheartedly join the Orthodox Imperial Palestine Society, as a holy, highest and dear cause. Not to give it due attention means to be criminally indifferent to the most sacred thing on earth, to one’s national aspirations, to one’s great educational calling in a world in which, according to the inner strength of Orthodoxy, there is no equal country and people. Russian people, represented by members of the Palestine Society and their trusted ones, go to the long-suffering Holy Land not with weapons in their hands, but with only good intentions to serve for the good The Holy Land, and they put indestructible fences around the precious remnants of holy antiquity in general and Orthodoxy in particular. And since, despite the modesty of their undertakings, they accomplish a world work, the whole world looks at them, and at the same time, forty centuries, they expect true appreciation and due respect from them. Here, one might say, the first gigantic step of the great Russian people is being taken towards a world-historical cause, quite worthy of such a multimillion-dollar state as Orthodox Russia. Holy Rus' goes to the Holy Land to support the Holy of Holies. What could be higher and nobler than this?! Therefore, is it possible not to take part in the holy work of the Orthodox Imperial Palestine Society, or, having accepted, to doubt the strength and fruitfulness of its undertakings, which are obvious to everyone - in the form of huge buildings, thorough scientific works and an innumerable number of cases of help to pious wanderers, diligently praying for Rus' before the Holy Sepulcher... Since the Russian people have already begun a holy work in the Holy Land, and, moreover, under the Crowned patronage of the Supreme Leader of the Russian land, we must necessarily support it in every possible way. This is required by our honor, the dignity of Russia, the greatness of the Monarch and His closest highest representative, and most importantly, this is required by our holy Orthodox faith and, at the head of the people, God Himself!” 2 With such awareness of the importance and greatness of the cause of the Palestine Society, Archbishop. Nikanor, while still the rector of the Theological Seminary in Kazan, in the rank of archpriest, upon his return from the East, opens a series of moral and edifying readings in the Vladimir Reading Room, sharing with his listeners the impressions he gained from traveling through the East and West and in every possible way, with all the strength of his enthusiastic spirit, promoting the fruitful activities of the Society among the local population. These readings were conducted by Fr. Archpriest N.T. Kamensky with the entrance fee, which was transferred to them entirely in favor of the named reading room. With his installation in an independent cathedra in Arkhangelsk, the late Bishop became a silent herald of the Holy Land and in the far North among the flock under his command. His readings: “Constantinople” and “Athos”, publicly delivered in the main hall of the Arkhangelsk City Duma, the first on October 24, 1893, and the second the next year in the same place and on the same day, with a huge crowd of the public, were an outstanding success. The bishop’s second reading was especially lively and interesting - about Athos, where he, following the example of the 17th century writer. Dr. John Komnenos, known in his translation of the miracle elder Euthymius, contrasted Athos and its nature with Solovki and Arkhangelsk and their nature and conditions of life and life. “There,” the ruler soared, comparing the nature and life of the happy south with the cold, gloomy north, “in the azure sky, choirs of all kinds of birds forever soar and sing, and the earth, as usual, annually lives, blooms and matures in the endless diversity of its above-ground creatures. And the warm waters of the distant south do not raise the waves so much, and their blow is not as strong as here, where it cuts either like hardened steel, or like full-mighty cast iron, before which our fragile boats of the Pomors not only tremble like tender birds, but the mighty ocean giants-steamers also groan terribly, sadly, restlessly. Yes, there is a lot of interest for a northerner in a conversation about the glorious Mount Athos, located in the far south of Europe, almost directly opposite our Arkhangelsk region” 3. From Athos, which was mainly discussed in the conversation, the speaker’s winged thought flies away to his beloved Holy Land, and the living memories of the indelibly strong impressions experienced here involuntarily captivate numerous listeners, who listened with bated breath and in mute silence to his figurative, inspired speech. “The nature of Athos has many similarities with another sacred country - with the Holy Land, with Jerusalem and its environs, but with the deep difference that there is a silent, dead silence, because everything there is dead (the Bishop was in Jerusalem at the end of July and in the first half of August. - A.D.): there are no forests, no grass, no living creatures; there, apparently, a curse hangs over everything, and the bare skeletons of the mountains, scorched by the hot sun, are terrible. And here everything lives, blooms, smells fragrant and visibly breathes, but does not dare to disturb the general harmony of peace and grace that reigns in an invisible, but obvious way for all its good inhabitants living on Mount Athos by faith” 4. In Smolensk, in the House of the Nobles, in May 1898, the Bishop pronounces his public reading: “Bethlehem, the Oak of Mamre and the Mountain,” putting at the head of it the motto of the Society: “I will not be silent for the sake of Zion and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest.” “This is what I have to say,” the bishop-lecturer said here to me, not for the first time leading conversations about different places of the Holy Land. “And how can one calm down when there is a need for conversations of this kind, and the grateful feeling of a pilgrim requires memories of something that, although it happened a long time ago, about ten years ago, still lives in memory and is worthy of being entered into the writing tablets, which are now so rich in all kinds of memories of various kinds of circumstances of the past days” 5. Here in Smolensk, on April 28, 1896, the bishop spoke the inspired word “On Assistance to the Orthodox in the Holy Land” at the annual meeting of the Society’s Department 6 . From this word we have cited above a significant excerpt to characterize the Bishop’s views on the goals and objectives of the Society and its works for the sake of the Holy Land. In 1899, already in the new diocese, in Orel, Archbishop. Nikanor opens a department of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and in the hall of the local nobility on April 28, 1902, at the annual meeting of the Department, gives a public reading entitled: “Travel to Italy.” All these public readings about the Holy Land, about Athos and about the journey through Italy, Archbishop. Nikanor collected them into one whole and published them in a special book entitled “Memories of the Holy Land and Athos” in the first edition (1898) and “Memories of the Holy Places of the East” (and West) in the second - 1906. Both publications were undertaken with funds from the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and transferred by the author to its full ownership. Archbishop Nikanor in Yekaterinburg, Orel, Warsaw and Kazan contributed to the dissemination of this book among his flocks. Peace to your ashes, tireless hardworker and enthusiastic admirer of the Holy Land! May the righteous Lord open the gates of heavenly Zion to your kind, loving soul, since all your life you have silently and loudly sung a song of praise about earthly Jerusalem. A sad but significant coincidence. On December 31 of last year, for an unknown reason, this school burned to the ground. The church and outbuildings of the school remained undamaged. Nikanor (Kamensky), bishop. Memories of the Holy Land and Athos. St. Petersburg, 1898. pp. 4–7. Nikanor (Kamensky), bishop. Memories of the Holy Land and Athos. P. 56. You might be interested in: