Законоучительство и педагогическая деятельность о. Иоанна

CKOPO to the numerous concerns of dear Father Fr. Joanna was joined by a new one. Since 1857, he began giving lessons on the Law of God at the Kronstadt City School. In 1862, a classical gymnasium opened in Kronstadt. When Fr. John was offered a teaching position at this gymnasium, and he gladly accepted. This joy is explained by the following circumstance: Fr. With the opening of the gymnasium, John had the opportunity to lead children until adulthood, when a child is already becoming an adult, a future member of society. Father John loved flowers very much. It has long been an observation that whoever loves flowers also loves children. This observation is hardly accidental. Love for flowers, true love, caring, touching, necessary, almost prayerful, speaks of a heart with a highly developed attraction to the pure, untouched, innocent. Children in a family are like white lilies of the valley in nature. These are the remnants of a primeval paradise, the last traces of lost innocence, the pure and beautiful among the dirty and often ugly. But flowers are only a symbol of beauty. A child's soul is God's living beauty. How could the worthy God-bearer Fr. John doesn't like children?! To school o. John, in his own words, entered as a worker into the nursery of souls. We spontaneously began the chapter by comparing the love of children with the love of flowers. This is Fr.'s own comparison. John. “How pleasant it is for a gardener or houseplant lover to see that their plants are growing well, turning green and producing flowers or fruits and rewarding their labors. How they then redouble their zeal in courting them. And the soil under them is changed every year, if they are indoor plants, and they are watered thoroughly and on time, and dry twigs or yellowed leaves are torn off so that they do not take up space on the plant’s stem, and do not disfigure it with themselves, and do not draw its juices into themselves in vain. But it’s nice to look at these plants! What flowers, for example, the oleander, the rose - our Russian and Chinese - you look at, you can’t get enough of it and say: You are marvelous, our Creator, not only in man - in Your image and likeness, but also in soulless plants, and in tree flowers. However, why should we talk so much about plants and flowers? They are still wood, hay, no matter how good they are. But you, children, are our plants, or better yet, God’s priceless ones. You are our flowers. What is said about them must also be applied to you.” And how lovingly the “helikeeper” raised in Christ took care of his flowers of Christ. To educate souls - such was the task that the new teacher of the law set himself. His views on teaching at this time were quite definite. He stated more than once that the task of each teacher is to give his students a certain, non-disappearing, solid foundation on which he himself will subsequently build a solid edifice of a reasonable understanding of life. The proposed narrative about the teaching activities of Fr. John can also be read with some attention by modern teachers of the law. “The increase in strikes, as well as other sins and iniquities of modern student youth, is largely explained by the unsatisfactory teaching of law in our schools. Nowadays they want to intensively give religious education to pets at school. But the school did not give me a complete Christian worldview, writes one of the students of the secular school, did not give me a clear understanding of Christian life and a harmonious system of Christian morality... While taking a course at the gymnasium, I learned several stories from the life of the Old Testament patriarchs, without any explanation of the deep, inner meaning of their example for us, I learned several wonderful examples from the life of the prophets, and did not hear the slightest hint about the content of the most remarkable of the prophetic books - not a single word from these pages full of burning inspiration that these vessels of St. wrote. spirit: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Ezra, when the Spirit of God was in them. I learned about the miracles that accompanied the birth and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and did not receive a clear understanding of the enormous significance of the inexhaustible content of the conversation on the mount, the Savior in the Gospel of John and the apostolic epistles... Listening to theology lectures at the University, I became acquainted with the views of the enemies of Divine Revelation, and again did not acquire any positive knowledge. No, modern school does not provide knowledge of the will of the Living God, nor does it provide an understanding of how to live by faith and do good; does not answer either the fundamental world question of what truth is, or the vital question of life about how to live.” It is not the quantity, but the strength of what is learned that is important. O. John indicates where and how, by what means this strength is acquired. This means is to unite knowledge with the soul, to merge it with all its previous spiritual content so that knowledge dissolves and enters as a new, permanent quality of the spirit - to teach only what can be assimilated, processed by the soul, mind and heart, and not by memory. “The human soul is simple by nature,” he writes, “and it easily assimilates everything simple, turns it into its life and essence, and pushes away everything intricately woven from itself, as alien to its nature, as useless rubbish. We all learned. What remains in our soul from all the sciences? What is indelibly etched into your heart and memory? Aren't the truths taught with childish simplicity? Wasn’t everything that was taught artificially and lifelessly turned out to be rubbish? Isn't time wasted on lessons that are too wise? Yes, each of us has experienced this ourselves. This means that everyone should be all the more clearly convinced of the need for simple teaching, especially for small children... The strength lies not in teaching a lot, but in teaching a little, but what is essential for the student in his situation.” This view already guarantees that the new teacher's lessons will be pedagogically sound. But oh. John was not just a teacher; he was well aware of the difference between a teacher of the law and a teacher. Everything that is needed from a teacher is needed by a teacher of the law, but here a large, essential appendage is needed, much is needed that a teacher cannot do without. “The law of God is not the subject of teaching” - this is the main position of Fr. John. We do not know a teacher of the law who would be to the same extent as Fr. John, learned the holy rule given in the wonderful book “Learning and Teacher.” “You teach children the Law of God... Most of all, beware of making the Gospel a textbook; it's a sin. This means: in a child, to devalue a book for a person, which should be for him a treasure and a guide for his whole life. It must be terrible for the conscience to break the word of life into soulless pieces and turn them into painful questions for children. Starting to give speeches about the Gospel words to children and eliciting answers from them - this requires a soul that is sensitive to the sensations of the child’s soul - but when they get down to business with only the mechanics of program questions and put digital marks for answering questions that are sometimes awkward and incomprehensible to the child - causing excitement and tears - the examiners take a sin on their souls, and one can say about them: they do not know what they are doing with the child’s soul. There is some kind of hypocritical seduction in school affairs, when the Law of God and the inculcation of the principles of morality combined with it constitutes only one of the subjects of the curriculum. As if there is nothing more to desire and demand for a moral goal, than to have the cash of one or another digital mark for answers in a subject called the Law of God. There is a law teacher at school, there is a program, there is a score, an indicator of knowledge - and that’s all. The results of such a training exercise are truly monstrous. There are textbooks that indicate point by point what is required to save a person’s soul, and the examiner deducts a point for someone who cannot remember all the points... Where is the reason here? Where is the morality? Where, finally, and above all, is the faith about which we hypocritically care?” And oh. John taught the Law of God, the Gospel law, and not texts, although he valued the original Gospel text most of all; - in his lessons he studied the history of the Kingdom of God on earth, and not the history of the kings of Israel. He was called upon to enlighten the heart and, most of all, to ensure that, first of all, the Gospel was assimilated into the hearts of the disciples. “When educating youth, what should we strive for most? About gaining him the enlightened desires of his heart. Don’t you notice that our heart is the first agent in our life, and in almost all our knowledge, the vision of known truths (ideas) with the heart precedes mental knowledge. This happens with knowledge: the heart sees at once, inseparably, instantly; then this single act of vision of the heart is transferred to the mind and in the mind is decomposed into parts; are the departments: previous, subsequent; the vision of the heart in the mind receives its analysis. The idea belongs to the heart, not the mind, to the inner man, not to the outer. Therefore, it is a very important matter to have an enlightened search of the heart in all knowledge, but especially in the knowledge of the truths of faith and the rules of morality.” He talked about what he lived. The gospel is the living covenant of Christ. – Children cannot help but listen with holy attention to the words of Christ. Their soul is still too close, too akin to the “heavenly sounds” to be cold towards them. If children may not listen to the “Law of God,” it is only because it is taught in the same way as any subject, that is, with slight, restrained boredom or with cold conscientiousness. Such teaching kills the “Gospel”, makes students see in the words of this book “words that need to be learned,” and under these conditions, of course, the work is lost. Father John could not read like that. He conveyed the words of Christ, precisely as the testament of the teacher-God. His voice, his face—everything said how dear, how holy, how necessary these covenants are for life, and the children listened and “formed words in their hearts.” The great wonderworker Fr. John was not incapable - his conversations were remembered forever and were almost equally strong and weak. There were those who did not immediately know how to convey the content of the conversations about. John, but there were none who did not accept this content into their souls. All the attention of the dear father was directed not so much at making him remember, but at captivating the souls of children into obedience to the Christian precepts, filling them with those holy images with which his soul was full. This is what he tried to achieve by reading Scripture and the Bible. These readings, one student tells Fr. John, we were so interested and occupied that we usually asked for these books to take home with us. And oh. John always brought with him many separate lives in reserve, which were immediately snapped up. The boy carefully hid such a book in his backpack, and in the evening, having learned his lessons, he gathered his family and read it aloud to them. - Father! I read the life of St. Martyr Paraskeva, a day or two later the boy says: give me another book now. And they took it and read it not out of fear - but out of love for the priest and for what he taught. And as they read, they remade themselves, and their souls, indeed, were shaped like those of people strong in spirit and faith. “I,” writes the same witness, “are deeply convinced that many of the students contributed their good religiosity, instilled in them in the lessons of Fr. John, even home and, undoubtedly, had to influence their younger ones, at least their brothers or sisters. I personally, for example, could testify that my aunt, a Lutheran by birth, completely independently even from me, listening only constantly to my stories about the priest, his lessons and conversations, noticeably became more and more religious, and my little sisters and brother were subsequently raised by her completely differently than I was, seven or eight years ago: she taught them to pray at a very early age, constantly telling them about God and the need to fear Him.” All the more impactful, of course, were the conversations about. John on the disciples themselves. His sermons and edifications, marked precisely by the sincerity of his tone, some special cordiality, his direct spiritual unity with his listeners, “with his remarkably expressive, clear and alien to any dryness of reading, sank deeply into the souls of children and touched the same way as the crowds of people attracted to the great righteous man by the desire to receive blessings, edification or teaching from him.” Of course, the students took advantage of Fr. John and sometimes skimped: they did not teach lessons, but this suffered little. Everything was learned during the actual lessons; In addition, everyone prepared for the exam, and during the year, omissions were not frequent. “Father almost never - we read everything from the same V-na - did not give us bad grades, and even having a “three” according to the Law of God was considered a great shame and disgrace among us; nevertheless, those who did not know his lesson were afraid or, rather, somehow ashamed of him, despite the fact that not a single teacher could “get off” so easily, under the pretext of yesterday’s or today’s illness, and in general we have never heard of any disciplinary sanctions carried out on his initiative. But, I repeat, they were afraid of him in this case and tried to leave the lesson somehow rather than tell him straight to his face about their “good reasons” for not knowing the given lesson. One of my comrades at the final exam, thanks to various random obstacles to proper preparation, answered very poorly on his tickets; from. John nevertheless insisted that he be given a “four”, in view of his diligence and success during the gymnasium course. However, several years have already passed, and even now my comrade would hardly dare to appear before the eyes of his good defender; at least until his departure from Kronstadt, he avoided meeting with the priest, finding that he “positively dishonored the latter in front of all those present with his bad answer and did not justify his trust.” There were sins and failures in the children's lives. Father John watched these falls and came to help when it was needed. “I,” writes the already mentioned student, “entered the first grade of the gymnasium in 1887. Father John taught the Law of God in all eight grades. Thus, I immediately found myself from home to school, under his religious influence. It should be noted that at home, due to the special conditions of my upbringing, I grew up before entering the gymnasium with almost no understanding of the elementary foundations of the Orthodox faith: I did not go to church, I never read prayers, although I knew them while preparing for the entrance exam to the gymnasium, and finally, I did not have the simplest childhood fear of the name of God. And so, one incident in a lesson with Fr. John in the first grade immediately directed my childhood head towards knowledge, although still vague, of the name of God and the fear of Him. As I remember now, the priest comes into our class; We (up to 50 boys), as usual, approached his hand one after another and, having received a blessing from him, then stood up for prayer, after which the lesson began. As always, the priest first asked the lesson from some of those students who themselves volunteered to answer; then he began to call himself not according to the class magazine. The priest went straight to a famous student and asked his lesson. He finally approached my neighbor. When the latter began to answer, Fr. John, standing next to him at the desk, found himself with his back almost completely turned to me. Taking advantage of this, I engaged in chatter with my second neighbor and then, carried away, committed a prank that was grossly indecent and immoral, although, in truth, I was poorly aware of what I was doing. At this time I hear the priest’s voice: “Come here.” And... - Understanding very vaguely, however, the meaning of my prank, I am neither alive nor dead, get up from my seat and follow the priest past all the desks to the pulpit. Here he began to ask me in a quiet, gentle voice what I was doing and who taught me. I said that the street boys taught me this. Then the priest, looking at me with his long, inquisitive gaze, until tears finally involuntarily appeared in my eyes, asked something like this: - Aren’t you afraid of God?.. Aren’t you afraid that He will punish you for your pranks in the lessons of His law?.. Look, don’t play pranks anymore, otherwise He sees everything. I looked stubbornly down, remained silent, and finally began to sob, asking the priest for forgiveness. At this time the bell rang and the lesson had to end. Everyone stood up for prayer, and the priest ordered me to read first the Lord’s Prayer and the “Holy Trinity”, and then “We thank You, Creator” - (usually read by the person on duty in the class). After the prayer, he patted me on the head and, once again telling me never to be naughty again, blessed me and left the class, surrounded by all my comrades, who again approached him for a blessing. This incident, the witness concludes, immediately made me (and maybe not just me) a boy who began to believe in God with a childish mind and soul and fear His name. In general, I remember many examples of how, through short, usually, often strict, abrupt, but always sincere edification, Fr. John knew how to touch the most living chord in a spiritually undeveloped and often already spoiled young organism and heal the latter, healing one or another moral wound in it.” Apparently, the priest said what anyone in his place would have said, but this ordinary incident was remembered forever and more than remembered. What is it that brings about moral change here? Such a revolution was made by the voice of Fr. John; the pity that rang in his voice was reflected in his eyes and was transmitted to the children along with this affectionate touch of the “father’s” hand. There were cases when Fr. John was even strict: “In the fifth grade we had a certain M., a young man of about 16, extremely lazy and spoiled. We taught catechism. During one of the lessons, dedicated, regarding the first member of the Creed, to the definition of God as Spirit, suddenly in the middle of the lesson M. gets up from his seat and sharply declares to the priest that he refuses to recognize this definition. There was deathly silence in the class. - Atheist! Fanatic! - Fr. suddenly exclaimed. John, piercing M. with his sharp and persistent gaze: “Aren’t you afraid that the Lord will deprive you of your tongue for your foolishness?” Who gave birth to you? “Father and mother,” M answered in a dull voice. - And who produced the light itself? Who created everything visible and invisible? “Pray, children,” the priest then addressed the whole class, “pray with all zeal and faith!” At the end of the lesson, M. was called to the priest in the teachers' room. We don’t know what he and M. talked about face to face, but M. came out excited and forever new.” There were cases when the council of the gymnasium made a resolution to dismiss some intolerant student. Then Fr. John begged to give the “excluded slave” his bail. They gave it away, and you had to see with what anxious attention Fr. John for the soul entrusted to him. He watched him like a sick plant, watched every unhealthy movement, and nursed him back to health. For the most part, of course, the disease was not serious enough. It was a childish tenacity that did not want to break before an order, a shout, a threat, and easily bowed before a request, a gentle reproach, a prayer. There were, of course, cases of actual damage, from nature, from the bad influence of the environment, parents. There was more work here, but affection, which for these children is the same as the sun for a plant, forgiveness, enlightened the soul, which had not yet been completely broken, and saved it. After a few months, the former “intolerant student” became different, new. Fr. helped a lot. Confession to John. Here he talked with the child's soul at the moments when the child's soul was closest to God, at the moments of ascent, when a person sincerely desires to be freed from all dirt; O. At this time, John could observe where the danger was to the very roots of the soul and treated them, using the full power of his influence and prayer. As a result, he became a truly spiritual father to his children. And once connections were established in the gymnasium, they spread beyond its boundaries: the students of Fr. John studied with him outside of class. They loved his service. “I remember,” writes I-in, “with what readiness we visited especially the Duma church, and the church in the “House of Diligence,” where he served more often than in the cathedral; Often, however, some of us, going to the gymnasium in the morning, went into the cathedral, where Fr. After Matins, John prayed for those who came to him for advice or help, and we ourselves then witnessed how deep faith in the saving power of the priest’s prayers before the Lord not only lifted these people spiritually, but also healed their physical suffering.” Of course, the example of the extraordinary, holy life of the teacher of the law had an even greater effect on the children. “We had quite a few government boarders from other cities who, due to lack of funds, had to stay away from their relatives, within the walls of the gymnasium, even on major holidays. These poor people were usually helped out by the same priest, supplying them for the journey to their relatives and back. And which of us did not know the never-fading hand of the priest, which in his lifetime wiped away many tears for various poor and orphans?! Not yet having large funds at his disposal - in the first years of my stay at the gymnasium - he shared the last with all the poor people in Kronstadt; often deceived in people, he, apparently, never lost faith in them, but, on the contrary, in us, in his disciples, he lit a bright lamp of this very faith, showing us daily by his own example the duty and feasible opportunity of every Christian to follow the Gospel commandment to love one’s neighbor. Often one of us, during a lesson, asked the priest to tell us about who he visits in St. Petersburg, why they always invite him there, and the priest’s stories, accompanied by simple edifications about the necessity and power of prayer, not only interested us keenly, but deeply touched us, leaving good marks on our worldview. Every day we could observe a crowd of people in need of blessing, teaching, advice or help from our priest; he was called before our eyes both to the lordly mansion and to the wretched shack of the poor man, and we were always keenly touched by this mutual relationship between the good shepherd and his flock, for whom he remained and will remain forever the same mentor and spiritual father as he was for us. The matter of raising and educating children, according to Fr. John, the work is “great and difficult.” The service of a mentor is great and responsible. “Most respectable colleagues and good comrades! It is not superfluous for us now to remind ourselves that we are accomplices of God, co-workers with God; and these children are God’s field, God’s building, which we are building,” he says in one of his sermons before the beginning of the teaching. “By the grace given to me by God, I lay a foundation in the hearts of these youths, and you each build your own structures on it... So, each one, be careful how to build,” says the Apostle Paul. Whether anyone builds on this foundation with gold and silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, everyone’s work will be revealed at the second coming of Jesus Christ: for this terrible day will reveal everything, and the fire will test everyone’s work to see what it is: whether it is diligent, whether it is conscientious, whether it is useful. Whoever’s work that he built survives will receive a reward from the righteous Judge and Rewarder, but whoever’s work is burned up will suffer loss” (1 Cor. 3:9-15). This ministry is also responsible for other reasons: “Citizens entrust to our care and guidance what is most precious to them in life - their children, these are like their own hearts, and their eyes are directed with hope at us.” Clear for Fr. John and what needs to be taught mainly in school. Here is his wise word about this - a word that even today can be placed at the head of all education and training of youth. “What do we want to make of our young men? - asks Fr. John to his listeners. All-knowing or multi-knowing, learned men? And this is how the wise shepherd answers these questions: “This is not enough: you can know a lot, as they say, swallow science, be a very learned person and at the same time, alas, be a worthless person and a harmful member of society. Weren't the scientists, for example, the French communists who so vividly personified the hellish furies during the last war? Is it not on scientific soil that people are born with the spirit of denying everything holy, denying the Divinity itself, the divine Revelation, the miraculous, one word created world and all beings visible and invisible - miracles in general, and even the resurrection of the dead and eternal life? Is it not on scientific grounds that we encounter systematic debauchery, which proves that the blessing of the Church is unnecessary for cohabitation and hides behind the name of civil marriage? Is it not, for the most part, in the heads of scientists that there are false convictions that the church and worship, even the Gospel with its teaching, miracles and moral rules, exist only for the mob, but not at all for learned people, who supposedly have more important and more intelligent occupations? Woe to us if such scientists began to emerge from our educational institutions, with such false views and concepts about such important subjects. But, of course, by the grace of God, this will not happen to us: for in general, in educational institutions, the matter of education and upbringing has been put on the right and correct path. But what do we want to make of our young men? Members useful to society? Fine; but this is not enough: truly useful members of Christian society can only be those brought up in Christian rules and customs - Christians or good sons of the Orthodox Church. This means that we need to educate not only learned people and useful members of society, but also, what is most important and most necessary, good, God-fearing Christians. This is what we are trying to do. Let us instill in our pets that all scientific knowledge, without the science of subordination to authorities and established social laws and orders, will not bring them any benefit; that all sciences have as their center and initial principle God and His eternal wisdom, just as souls have as their prototype the Lord God, who created us in His image and likeness, that elemental knowledge concerning this world is needed only here on earth: with the destruction of the elements of the world, they will cease, and we will not need it outside our grave; that knowledge of the faith and commandments of God, avoidance of sin and a good life are necessary for every person both here and in the future life... Let us teach them so that they love the Lord and each other with all their souls and hearts and do not forget, as many now forget or reject, that beyond time there is eternity - beyond the visible world - the invisible and eternal world, the most beautiful here, and beyond death and the grave - immortal life, and after honest earthly labors, after a good Christian life - eternal peace and bliss in heaven Heavenly Father." According to Fr. John, the great work of educating youth can be successful only when everyone works in harmony and harmony in this great and God-given field. What should unite all students? “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. May the beginning and the end of all of us be the Lord Almighty, in whose right hand is everything that exists: all minds, well-intentioned research and discoveries of minds, from whom is all science and all good success in the sciences. In God we must all converge, like radii in the center, from God we will receive unity in views and directions, light, warmth and strength in our activities, and with this beautiful unity, with this lamp, with warmth and energy, teach different knowledge to children who are preparing themselves one day to take our places or others, in other areas. Unity in all matters and starting from one beginning means a lot, as well as returning to a single beginning. On the contrary, disagreement is more harmful to the cause than anything else. If one teacher says this, and another says the opposite about the same subject, then mental chaos, useless and harmful cleverness, and mutual questioning occur in the students’ heads; faith in all that is holy, in the very Revelation of God, in the Church and in its entire structure is destroyed in their hearts; there is demoralization in morals, and the work of the most brilliant education is often broken into pieces. Observation and experience confirm these words." Father John deeply believes that this will indeed be the case, that the upbringing of youth will go well, “if we all conduct our business with the thought of God, about the importance of the work of education, responsible before God, before society and before the Angels of these children, who always see the face of the Heavenly Father (Matthew 18:10); if, without relying on our own strengths, which are always weak and fragile, we will more often ask for blessings and help from above for our work.” Clear for Fr. John and the answer to another question, very important from a pedagogical point of view - how to teach. Here is also his very wise and thorough answer to this question. He says: “The main thing, gentlemen, teachers, is to make sure that teaching is as simple and uncomplicated as possible. The human soul is simple by nature and easily assimilates everything simple, turns it into its life and essence, and pushes everything intricately woven away from itself as alien to its nature, as useless rubbish. We all learned. What remains in our soul from all the sciences? What is indelibly etched in our hearts and memories? Aren't the truths taught with childish simplicity? Wasn’t everything that was taught artificially and lifelessly turned out to be rubbish? Isn't time wasted on lessons that are too wise? Yes, each of us has experienced this ourselves. This means that everyone should be all the more clearly convinced of the need for simple teaching, especially for small children... After all, the strength lies not in teaching a lot, but in teaching a little, but essentially necessary for the student in his situation. The scope of knowledge is limitless. But the area of ​​useful and essential knowledge is limited. From the variety, it is enough to select the most necessary and put it into a harmonious system, consistent with the number of other subjects that students will have to study and the amount of teaching. Otherwise, we will destroy each other’s works.” With great zeal and great joy, Fr. John took up the most sacred task of teaching the law in the gymnasium, the task of implementing Christian principles in the school, and the task of educating youth into wonderful citizens of heaven and earth. And among the gymnasium youth he quickly gained universal sympathy. And it was no wonder to win them to a man whose heart burned with pure, deep, constant love. And indeed, what depth of love is constantly heard in these appeals to your pets: - Hello, dear children! – Hello, dear, priceless children of the Heavenly Father! This same power of love was constantly heard in every single address of Fr. John to one or another of his pets or to all pets taken together. Just pay attention to the following lines. How inexpressibly simple and at the same time charmingly fascinating they are. “Here, dear ones, is the most pleasant, living, comforting word, not mine, but the Gospel. Remember it all and put it deep, deep in your heart. Remember how you loved children, and now the Lord Jesus Christ Himself loves them; how He strictly forbade His disciples so that they would not prevent them from coming to Him at all times, since God rests in their simple hearts; how he hugged them, laid His most pure hands on them and blessed them. Remember, I say, these dear words of the Gospel, be inspired and comforted by them; carry them in your hearts and do not be frivolous, inattentive and unbecoming, so as not to offend the Savior who dearly loves you. Study diligently the Law of God and all useful teaching. Do not omit going to the church of God on Sundays and other holidays, and let no one and nothing prevent you from doing this. In church, especially, God accepts our prayers. Pray with heartfelt attention at home and in the classroom. Prayer is a conversation between children and the Heavenly Father. Respect and love your bosses and mentors, who, after your parents, are your first well-wishers and benefactors, guiding you to all that is good and useful. Respect yourself and do not lead yourself to actions that humiliate and dishonor you. Remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is now always with you, invisibly, He Himself teaches you invisibly, internally, if only you are attentive. Treasure all science, love all science, because all science was revealed to people by the Lord God, the Source of reason and wisdom. Study willingly and diligently. When it is difficult or boring for you, boldly turn with faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, who loves you, and He will immediately help you. He especially loves to listen to children's fervent prayers, like the best Father. Love and take care of each other. In children's games, be modest, restrained, careful, otherwise you can cause bruises and injuries to each other. Here are a few words from me, your teacher of the law. Accept them with heartfelt love, as I said them with love for you, and may the Holy Spirit Himself guide you - through our weak guidance - to all that is good, useful and holy.” Or pay attention to the word o. John before the start of the teaching. How much sincerity, how much tenderness, how much touching love for pets is heard here. “Dear, priceless children of the heavenly Father,” this is how he begins this word: increase in wisdom and stature and in love with God and with people. Let us begin, with God's help, to teach and learn again. Comfort us with your behavior and successes. This will make us more jealous and zealous to work with you. How nice it is for a gardener or houseplant lover to see that their plants are growing well, turning green and producing flowers or fruits and rewarding their labors. How they then redouble their zeal in courting them. And the soil under them is changed every year, if they are indoor plants, and they are watered thoroughly and regularly, and dry twigs or yellowed leaves are torn off so that they do not take up space on the plant’s stem and do not disfigure it with themselves, and do not draw its juices into themselves in vain. But it’s nice to look at these plants! Some flowers, for example, in the oleander, in the rose - our Russian and Chinese - you look, you can’t get enough of it and say: You are marvelous, our Creator, not only in man - in Your image and likeness - but also in soulless plants, and in tree flowers. However, why should we talk so much about plants and flowers? They are still wood, hay - no matter how good they are. But you are our plants, or better yet, God’s priceless ones. You are our flowers. What is said about them must also be applied to you. We are gardeners, you are plants and flowers, and the gymnasium is a garden: teaching is watering, transferring from class to class is replanting, changing the soil, dry branches and yellowed leaves are students of bad behavior and unsuccessful in science, dry and barren, like dry branches, and sometimes yellow, like yellowed leaves, because they disfigure themselves with laziness, disobedience or rudeness." I saw Fr. John, that it is difficult at times for the children, and he hurried to them with a word of consolation. “Do not be discouraged by the monotony and, at times, difficulties of student life. The root of the teaching is bitter, but its fruits are sweet, says the Russian proverb. Then it will be pleasant for you to use the knowledge acquired at the institution and apply it to your business. Don't look at the fact that you still have a long time to study. Nothing gets done suddenly. However, time will soon pass. I studied for 17 years, and they passed like a dream. But I thank God that I studied for so long. I acquired knowledge at school, which now, by the grace of God, gives me spiritual light, peace and joy in life, which taught and are teaching me to love virtue and strive for it and avoid all sin. No wonder we all studied for a long time. We see and taste the fruits of long-term teaching. Study diligently, too, and live modestly and well, submissively submitting to the overseers, mentors and superiors placed over you. This is the will of God. Over time, you will actually learn that we taught you useful things, that we wished only the best for ourselves and for you.” Being a kind and religious person, Fr. John also had a special gift for teaching, which not all teachers have. He did not give bad grades, did not fail in exams, did not assign lessons, and during his lesson hours he only conducted conversations with his students about subjects of faith. I usually asked first those who themselves declared their desire to answer the lesson. These “challengers” usually tried to answer him with great zeal. For such answers, the priest gave the highest score of five plus, accompanied by merciful and dear words: - Thank you, good child! His lessons were usually looked forward to by his students as a rare holiday treat. Everyone listens to him with bated breath, watching every expression of his clear, blue eyes, in which there is so much light and sparkle that they seem to be looking around at everything around them. There isn't a single boy in the whole class who doesn't understand or doesn't listen to him. Ask anyone, suddenly interrupting the lesson, and he will repeat everything to you down to the smallest detail. It happened that the director drew attention to Fr. John on a obviously lazy or bad student, asking him to study especially with this boy. So what? Father John did not recognize this certified sloth in his class. He was diligent, smart, and understanding. About the punishment of students Fr. John didn't think. Punishments are completely unnecessary for him; He's doing just fine without them. Fervently loving their teacher of the law, the disciples considered it their greatest punishment if the priest was dissatisfied with anything. When this happened, they took every measure to bring a smile to his face. And children of primary schools saw in about. John a true father, kind and strict, exacting and affectionate. And for them, his lessons were more of a pleasure than a duty, work, unpleasant work. Everyone at school greeted him with joy. The entire gymnasium, without distinction of nationalities, came to him every day for blessing. Students came to him with children's requests and needs. It seems that not a single student was able to lie in front of him or lock himself in a lie. With what zeal they went to Fr. John to confess daily. How sincerely they revealed their whole soul to him. He had an irresistible influence on his students. There were cases when the pedagogical Council of the gymnasium, having lost hope of correcting some lazy student or naughty student, decided to dismiss him. Then Fr. John acted as his intercessor before his superiors, asked not to be subjected to cruel punishment, vouched for his correction and always managed to persuade the Council in favor of the guilty student. Having taken such a student on bail, so to speak, he himself began to correct him, guiding him on the path of truth. Several years passed, and the child, who showed almost no hope, became an efficient, honest and useful member of society. If anyone thinks that Fr. John indulged all the bad disciples, was such a kind (or rather, unkind), characterless teacher of the law, as many are, he will be cruelly mistaken. Father John forgave as long as it was possible to forgive. If the student’s further stay in the gymnasium was not only useless, but even harmful for others, then he firmly and decisively voted for their dismissal. “What to do with completely thin students? - he asks in one of his teachings. For the good of the entire garden, the entire institution, they must be plucked from a healthy body and thrown away, so that they do not infect others with their behavior, so that the entire garden consists of healthy, good-colored and fruitful plants, so that students of disapproving behavior do not disgrace the entire institution, and do not take up space in vain, and do not waste the juice of the institution, and do not eat or drink for nothing. It is worthy and righteous to eat. If anyone does not want to work, do not eat, says the Apostle (2 Thess. 3:10). Lessons - conversations about. John remained memorable for his listeners forever. – Lessons about. John were indelibly imprinted on our young brain,” the director of one gymnasium, who was among the first students of the Kronstadt teacher of the law, later said. Another student, Fr., says the same thing about these lessons. John. All his students will say no different. At public exams, students of Fr. John answered so beautifully that between them there was neither the first nor the last. Lessons about. John's books were fascinating and interesting not only for pure, innocent children, but also for adults. How much affection, cordiality, tender sympathy, living thought, living feeling was heard in his every word. Many of his speeches were written as if in fiery letters on the hearts of his young listeners. They not only subsequently lived by these lessons themselves, but also forced others to live by them. Here Fr. tells them. John about God's closeness to us. “There is nothing closer to us than God.” He is the God of hearts, and the heart, in turn, is closest to us. This is our being, our essence. How close your thought is to you, so close is faith to your heart, so close to God is to you. And the more alive and firm the thought of God, the more alive the faith and consciousness of one’s weakness, insignificance, and sense of need for God, the closer He is. Or as the air is close to the body and its entrails, so close is God to us. So he tells them about prayer. – Learn to pray, force yourself to pray. At first it will be difficult, but then the more you force yourself, the easier it will be. But first you always have to force yourself. What is prayer? – Prayer is a constant feeling of one’s spiritual poverty, weakness, contemplation in oneself, in people and in nature of the works of wisdom, and goodness, and the almighty glory of God. Prayer is a constant state of gratitude. Speaks about. John about the beginning of all our strife and displeasure and the means to avoid them. “Remind yourself more often that evil is in you, and not in people. With such a completely true conviction, you will protect yourself from many sins and passions. Our trouble is often that we attribute our evil to others.” Talks about enlightenment and the main principles in our lives. “What does scientific enlightenment mean without Christian love? Nothing. The wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. Humble yourself, arrogant mind, before the teaching of the Gospel and before the poverty of Christ, come down from your pedestal, become lower, go to these poor, whom Christ Himself was not ashamed to call His brethren, extend a helping hand to them. Don’t just collect for yourself, don’t just satisfy your own whims, but also be rich in God in good deeds, which will follow you even after death.” Does he talk about how he attracted the hearts of his listeners? John with stories from the life and work of great saints who glorified themselves in one or another field of life? How all this really was new, vital, exciting and exciting... About the merits of Fr. John, as a teacher of the law, was most eloquently testified by the fathers and mothers of the children he raised on the day of the 25th anniversary of his teaching activity. In the address presented to him that day, they said: “Highly venerable and respected shepherd and mentor John Ilyich! This marks 25 years of your new, especially important service to the state and society, and in particular to us, fathers and mothers, in our children, whom you, as a teacher of the law at the Kronstadt classical gymnasium, guided on the path of spiritual enlightenment. You didn’t teach the children dry scholasticism, you didn’t set out dead formulas—texts and sayings—for them, you didn’t demand from them lessons memorized only by memory; but on bright, receptive souls you sowed the seeds of the eternal and life-giving word of God. Many children have passed through your holy school. Many of your students stand at various degrees and titles in the service of the Tsar and the Fatherland; many of them are still growing up and preparing to enter the public field - and all of them, inspired by you and your holy communication with them, remember your love, instructions, your lessons - and all, blessing you, reverently remember those unforgettable hours that they spent with you. You yourself, without noticing it, with your fiery love for God and endless mercy for your brothers - people, lit the torch of true knowledge of God with your living word in your disciples; and with his holy example and mercy he filled their young hearts with the fear of God, faith, hope in God and love for Him and their brothers. Not by the measure only of talent and captivating speech, as a professor in the department, not by the measure of constant success in passing exams - we are talking about your scientific activity - but by those visible fruits of Christian life, morality, civic virtues, family relationships, which appeared in your students in numerous examples. May our, fathers and mothers, gratitude be like a peaceful prayer to God for you; May He pour out on you from His all-holy throne as much spiritual joy as you have given us consolation in our children, in their good behavior and successes.” Speaking about the service of Fr. John in the gymnasium, one cannot help but focus on the speech delivered by the Director of the gymnasium, Mr. Kozeko, in response to the farewell speech of Fr. John. The director said: “Dear Father John, our dearly beloved mentor in the Law of God and our spiritual father! Let me say a short word to you on behalf of myself, my colleagues and my pets. We are all saddened by the thought that you are leaving our gymnasium, parting with us. You know with what stubborn persistence I kept you in the gymnasium in recent years, but, in the end, I had to submit to your will, yield to your desire to leave the gymnasium, which was caused by your exceptional circumstances. Should I prove here that your word, your example have always been a life-giving light for us, which with such power awakened moral life and aroused impulses towards spiritual improvement? And this, you yourself know how precious it is for young students and how highly it should be appreciated by me. For twenty-six years you worked here in the gymnasium, for twenty-six years you sowed the seed of the word of God in this field, and, I dare say, in a grateful field. Therefore, we ask you, dear Fr. John, do not forget us in your prayers, may the Lord grant that our gymnasium will always succeed in the spirit of true Christian enlightenment, and now I ask for your blessing for the work ahead of us.” There is hardly anything that needs to be added to these words. They already speak very eloquently about the merits of Fr. John as a teacher of the law. We can say that Fr. John had a special grace-filled gift of some unearthly, angelic love for children. And in subsequent years, after finishing his teaching activity in Kronstadt, during his numerous trips around Russia, he treated children with love, blessed them, healed them from illnesses, edified them and gave instructions on how to raise children in a true Christian spirit. The teacher of the Epiphany Public School, Veliky Ustyug district, Vologda province, Vasily Kukashev, talks about the next healing from a severe illness through the prayer of Father John of his young daughter Nina, which took place in 1891, when Father John was in Veliky Ustyug, traveling to his homeland, in the village of Sura, Arkhangelsk province. Teacher Kukashev writes: “When Father John was in Veliky Ustyug in May of last year, traveling to his homeland, my daughter Nina was visiting her aunts Zdrogov in the city at that time. Shortly before the arrival of Father John, Nina became severely ill: she had a severe headache, she was burning all over, as if on fire, and she had changed terribly. All her relatives feared for her life. Her illness was so severe. Having heard that the venerable Father John of Kronstadt had arrived in Ustyug, one of Nina’s aunts, Lyubov N. Zdrogova, decided to take Nina to her dear priest for the blessing with the hope that the patient would recover after this. There were so many people on the ship where Father John was that there was no way to get closer to the respected shepherd with the sick woman. And only thanks to the kindness of the steamship servants we knew, we managed with difficulty to achieve our goal - to get closer to Father John. The venerable father caressed my child, blessed him and kissed him. Encouraged by the affectionate address of Father John, Nina, turning to him, said: “Father John, pray to God for me: I have a headache.” Then Father John kissed the child again and said: “Oh, my dear! What's your name? The child answered smartly: “My name is Nina.” “Nina, Nina! “Father John continued, “okay, I’ll pray to the Lord for you, and He will heal you.” And then he blessed her again. And what happened according to the stories of relatives and other eyewitnesses? My daughter, immediately after Father John’s blessing, felt so much better that she freely and cheerfully ran to her relatives’ apartment, whereas previously she could not walk and, as I said above, was brought to Father John. And to this day, my Nina, Mr. Kukashev writes further, is quite healthy; There are no signs of illness." There is a lot that is touching and touching in the description of the stay of dear priest Fr. John in Kyiv, but here we will convey one of the facts that happened in the infirmary of the Levashovsky boarding house. Among the patients Fr. John was shown a girl who suffered from severe typhus, and who had recently had a large abscess opened near her ear. “Fr. barely looked. John looked at the sick woman, his whole figure suddenly lit up with the fire of feeling. He quickly approached the patient, fell to the bed and, on his knees, pressed his face to the sufferer’s face, showering her with the most sincere caresses and kisses. Here the whole richly gifted soul of the great righteous man, Fr. John. Like the most loving mother, he caressed and consoled the sick woman: “Dear child, you are not in pain... you are my sufferer!” he said. There was complete silence, and the whole scene made the deepest impression. It was possible to remember the words spoken, but there is no means to convey the tone, shades of voice and all the modulations of the incomparable melody of feelings that poured out from the soul of the loving shepherd. “Everything was expressed here: the flame of a selfless, holy feeling, and boundless love, and soul-grabbing pity, and grief at the bedside of a sick person, and, finally, incomparable compassion with all the shades and sparks of a powerful feeling.” Light of Orthodoxy Fr. John deeply believed in the truth proclaimed by the word of God about God's punishment of children for the sins of their parents (Exodus 34:6–7). Once, in 1891, during his trip to the North, a peasant woman brought to Father John her son, 7 or 8 years old, completely insane, so that he could not put the sweet cracker given to him in his mouth, and with tears, on her knees, she begged him to pray and help her son. Father John, holding the child on his knees, hugged him with both hands and apparently prayed fervently with all his heart, pressing his head to his head, then suddenly released the child, and only said: mothers, you are mothers! It was necessary to see with what deep compassion and tender love for the unfortunate boy these words were spoken; the mother began to beg even more, but he again only repeated the words, shaking his head: mothers, you are mothers! It is clear that according to the impartial justice of God, even their children bear punishment for the sins of their parents. It happened once that one lady complained to the dear priest about the decline of her children in religious and moral terms. And the priest was angry with her. - “You,” he says, “when you gave birth to them, did you immediately start feeding them meat?” “No,” the lady answered, depending on age: “first, of course, milk, then porridge, and when their sense allowed them, she began to give meat.” “And the priest said, at first, of course, she gave her meat without bones, crumbled, and then she allowed her to handle the bones. Well, how did you teach them?” asks the father. “From the alphabet and everything is gradual,” answered the lady. “It led through the gymnasium, therefore, to the university,” said the priest. Did it lead to God?” “They taught prayers, then the law of God,” the lady answered him. “Tell me better: they didn’t teach, but hammered,” the priest corrected her. They learned spiritual science, he says, with the same feeling with which they learned arithmetic and everything else. Their teachers, he says, taught them everything they needed so that they could appear smart in the exams. Well, he asks, did you look after their hearts? Did she guide them in such a way that, in addition to human approval, they would also achieve God’s approval? “I didn’t find doors in their hearts, so get animals instead of people,” the priest told her. “You forgot,” you say, that the Lord set an example for the human race in the bird race. Birds will give birth to an egg first. If this egg does not spend the allotted time in the mother’s warmth, then it, he says, will remain only a soulless thing. So it is with people. A born child is like an egg: - with an embryo, speaks to life, but is soulless to prosperity in Christ. A child whose parents and neighbors have not warmed him to the root of his soul, to the roots of all his feelings, will remain dead in spirit to God and good deeds. From these guys, unwarmed by love and spiritual care, those very generations come into the world from which the prince of this world recruits his regiments against God and the Holy One. His church. Remember, the priest taught: “Christening with eggs reminds us that every Christian must be born twice: once in the flesh into material life, and another time in the spirit into Divine life.” Which, it seems, is simpler, but it’s this simplicity, he says, that people just can’t understand. That is why the eternal enemy devours us, like motionless and dumb eggs. Yes, that’s how he says, we devour each other too... Father John always instilled the need for children to frequently commune the Holy Mysteries. During one of his travels to the North, while celebrating the liturgy, he, having communed adults and children, in the sermon that followed, explaining the words of the Gospel: leave the children to come to Me (Matthew 18:26), he said the following: “When our Lord Jesus Christ walked the earth in the flesh, then parents and relatives brought children to Him so that He would touch them, and His disciples sometimes did not allow those who brought them. Seeing this, the Lord was indignant and said: leave the children to come to Me and do not hinder them, for to such is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:16). You see how pleasing children are to Him because of their innocence, simple-heartedness, kindness and obedience. The Lord sometimes set children as examples for adults and said: unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3); that is, if you do not become humble, simple, kind, obedient, and kind in the depths of your soul, then you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, I rejoice that during my service children are brought to the communion of the Holy Mysteries, for those who bring them fulfill the will and desire of the Savior Himself. So, fathers and mothers, continue to bring your children to communion! Through communion, your children are sanctified, enlightened by God’s light, drawn closer and appropriated to God, protected from sin, strengthened and made partakers of the kingdom of God.”