Терния на первых порах пастырства, притеснения от настоятеля, консисторские следствия и недоверие со стороны высшей духовной власти

“Dear Father! You have been a priest for a long time, but you appeared openly to people not so long ago”? – O. John: “That was the time of temptation. Is it possible to go into battle without preparing yourself and without being tempted?” (Conversations between Father Archpriest I. Sergiev and Abbess Taisia, St. Petersburg, 1909, 11 countries). SO, after completing the course at the Academy, Fr. John becomes a priest. With what thoughts and feelings did he assume this great dignity? Did he look at this great service with indifference or did his heart burn with the awareness of the height of the pastoral service? Did he give ardent vows, shamelessly, until his last days, to always serve Christ or, perhaps, did he not think about anything? There is no need to hide the fact that some, when accepting holy orders, do not think much about anything. Their soul is not filled with feelings of ardent zeal for serving Christ even “to death.” Their gaze does not extend to the distant future, when their faith will be subject to all kinds of temptations and tests. Even during ordination, in these rare moments of spiritual upsurge of all forces, the great idea of ​​pastoral service is not always clear in their minds. Fr. did not approach this ministry with such thoughts and feelings. John. He looked upon the pastoral ministry as the highest ministry on earth, superior to all other ministries. His lofty thoughts about shepherding remained thoughts that were not dispelled by any adversity until the end of his earthly life until recently. His soul burned with the same zeal that it was filled with during the great moments of his ordination as a priest. He managed to retain this great gift in himself until the grave. What wonderful lines about shepherding we find in the Diary, although some parts of it were written completely in our day. “The priest is the angel of the Lord Almighty,” he writes here. He, as an apocalyptic angel, was given a lot of incense, so that he could burn incense before the throne of God and before the faces of the Lord and the saints and bring prayers to God for all people. His clothes during worship depict him as an angel: for the phelonion depicts the incorruptible robe and wings of the angel of God. And indeed, a priest must be like an angel: soar above the earthly, be above worldly passions; to continually proclaim the greatness and glory of God in the Church of God to His people; to proclaim His will, to be the keeper and herald of the eternal commandments of God; must be distinguished by courage and fearlessness; to be above all partiality and untruth; must become like the angels in his constant abstinence, purity, vigilance for the pledge entrusted to him from the Lord - for the immortal souls of men.” “The precedence of a deacon in the priesthood signifies the importance of the priestly office, as the office of Christ and the apostle; Angels served Christ, a deacon served the priest.” The height of pastoral service will be even clearer for each of us if we, even if briefly, pay attention to the sacred rites of the priest. Father John writes: “I stand before the throne of God Almighty, Who has entrusted to my prayer and the representation of the kings and kingdoms of the universe, the entire universe, especially the kingdom of Russia and the Tsar of Russia, with His House, his chamber and army, the entire Church, the entire hierarchy, the bishopric, the presbyters, the deacons in Christ, all the clergy and people, every city and country, and those living in them by faith; I stand before the throne of the Almighty, in whose power are heaven and earth, all the elements, light, air, fire, water, earth and all the fruits of the earth, land and sea, all animals of earth and water, and Who gave me the right to intercede before Him for the goodness of the air and for deliverance from earthquakes, fire, swords, invasions of foreigners and civil strife, from all disasters that befall people for their sins. I stand at the very Source of life of all creatures, at the very Source of grace, purification and salvation. I stand before the most unapproachable, all-good, all-wise and all-powerful Power, before which all living things bow – in heaven and earth. What should I be like, placed at such a height, at such a shrine, at such greatness, at such a useless Power, at such Magnificence? Truly I depict the mystery of Christ, the Cherubim: my service is high, but I am a sinner, passionate, weak. Lord, grant me Yourself for this service. Great and exalted is the rank of the priest: he stands daily before the throne of God on earth, like angels in heaven; brings a grateful sacrifice to God for all the saints, intercedes for the whole world, for all the living and the dead in the faith and hope of the resurrection, performs the heavenly sacraments, constantly talks with God as a confidant: glorifies, thanks, begs Him, brings him repentance of himself and the faithful, preaches His word, converts the erring, admonishes, convinces, consoles, punishes spiritually. A priest must not only be holy, but especially holy, as a man of God, as one who constantly converses with God. The priest is the mouth of all, the mind and heart of all people standing and praying in the church; he expresses their praise, thanksgiving, and petitions. What should these lips, this heart, this mind be like?..” The position of the priest is high, but his responsibilities are also great. Father John writes: “A priest must not only be holy, but especially holy, as a man of God, as one who constantly converses with God.” And this is quite fair. “What kind of pure heart, alien to any worldly passion, should a priest have in order to be the receptacle and bearer of Divine love, holy love, fiery for all humanity, beloved and saved by God in Christ Jesus the Lord, - in order to offer God a bloodless sacrifice for the whole world, for the Church of heaven, earthly and underworld, or for the tribe of heavenly, earthly and underworld, - so that sincerely from with a pure heart to offer thanksgiving to God on behalf of the Church for the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, evangelists, hierarchs, saints and righteous people.” “What dispassion is required from a priest! Serving as a connecting link connecting the earthly with the heavenly, he must be a heavenly man himself, only touching the earth with his body, but with his whole heart and soul, extending into heaven and remaining in heaven.” “During the Liturgy, the priest must be completely enveloped in love for God and his neighbors, redeemed and co-redeemed by the blood of Christ, and there should never be any anger or bitterness in him towards anyone, or addiction to anything earthly, whether for food, clothing, decoration, an official distinction, or becoming a person of some kind, he must always be heavenly, God’s, holy, and so be it.” “During the Divine service, the priest must be aware of his high, heavenly dignity, as a servant of God, and as a performer of the heavenly Mysteries, and not to servile before people for the sake of vain glory or worldly benefits, not to be afraid of the human face, of this grass, which is green today and withers tomorrow.” And a shepherd should not live for himself, but for his neighbors, for his flock. “A priest, first of all and most of all, needs to acquire the love of the Gospel. He needs her every minute, every moment: he needs it when he prays during a solemn service in church, when he prays at home or in the houses of parishioners, when he performs the sacraments of faith, when he is in ordinary daily relations - everyday, family, comradely, or in relations with parishioners, with superiors or subordinates, with pupils and those who have completed their education, with children and adults, with old and young. But he especially needs love during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, which is the whole sacrament of endless love for the human race.” “The priest must constantly have the Spirit of Christ within himself and love his flock and, in general, all people through the womb of Christ (Phil. 1:8)... The priest’s view of people must always be the view of Christ, holy, loving, meek, gentle, patient, comprehensive, deep.” “A shepherd must be sorrowful for the whole world. The whole world is always on his lips, all people of all ranks and conditions. He prays for the well-being of the whole world... A shepherd must always be devoted to the common cause, the good, not only think about himself, not please himself, much less his passions. Regarding himself, his desires should be the most limited. He is everything to everyone." “The priest is the bearer of the spirit of universal love, the spirit of holiness, meekness, patience, the representative of truth and steadfastness, the firmness of the Church, its immutability.” In general, “a priest must be a doctor of people spiritually and physically, a comforter for the sad and mourning, an intercessor for the innocently persecuted, especially widows and orphans, and a helper for everyone. Oh, how a priest must be high in spirit and passionately loving in heart! He must be an earthly angel, a worthy bearer of the title of Christ, the title of shepherd, priest, father, judge, intercessor, peacemaker, doctor, writer." Contemplating the entire ministry of the priest - his service to God and people - Fr. John says: “Oh, Priest! You must always be great, high and exalted in your soul because of the greatness of your rank, because of the greatness of your work that you are assigned to do... Look with whom you are in constant communion in prayer: with the Mother of God, with all the saints, with God Himself, with the whole church on earth. You must be a great man, oh. a priest, and not a small one, an exalted one, and not a low one. You serve immortality and incorruptibility; despise what is mortal and perishable. You serve the heavenly, despise the earthly. You serve truth and holiness - put aside sin, hate it with all your soul, reject it.” So, according to Fr. John, shepherd - “earthly angel, bearer of universal love, the mouth of all, comforter, doctor, mourner, intercessor, helper, father, judge, peacemaker, writer, prayer book.” This is the view of Fr. John for pastoral ministry. From this it is not difficult to understand how from the very first days he began to relate to his pastoral responsibilities after becoming a shepherd. From the first days of his high service to the Church, he made it a rule for himself to be as sincere as possible about his work, pastoration and priestly service, to strictly monitor himself and his inner life. As a result, as defined in Kronstadt (1855), the still young priest had a lot of things to do. A wonderful phenomenon... Most priests are looking for work, activities, and do not know how to kill time from one service to another. Sometimes they will call you to see a sick person or a woman in labor, and then again there is nothing to do. Some are trying to get more lessons. But even so, there is still enough free time even for cards, receiving guests, acquaintances, etc. Others try to kill their free time in all sorts of memberships, committees, commissions, meetings. Many of the young pastors become real officials, bureaucrats. U o. John immediately had no time to have lunch, or to rest, or to spend an hour or two with his family. No one knew him in Kronstadt, which he had never been to. And he’s only recently been a priest there, but he has so much work to do that you can’t do it from morning to evening. Fr. never complained. John did not complain about his fate, about the abundance of work, about the lack of leisure. I never took credit for doing anything good or good. I never listed my merits anywhere. This is quite remarkable. How different he is in this case from many of his brothers. In 1886 Fr. John was presented with the Ostromir Gospel and an address in which, of course, he was praised. Replying to this address, dear Father Fr. John said: – If you want to honor in me the grace of God and the power of Christ, which in my weaknesses is perfected to the glory of God, then with reverent joy I accept this honor, not attributing it to myself, but to Christ... If you want to praise me personally, my energy or self-sacrifice, then I do not accept the honor, for in everything our righteousness before God is like a ruble, castaway, worthless rags, and I will say, as instructed by the Lord: I am an indecent slave, for I did only what anyone should have done in my place, given the good disposition of the Russian people towards me. Yes, beloved brothers and sisters, I do not accept praise for myself: for to You, the only Lord, praise and glory are due for everything. But since you, my friends, honoring me now, honor in my person virtue, of which there is only a weak embryo in me, and those who praise virtue are themselves involved in it, then may the Lord God honor you and confirm you and me in everything good, honest, praiseworthy, and give me also courage and strength to tirelessly serve both Him, the Lord our God, and His people, wherever they live: in Kronstadt or St. Petersburg, in Crimea or Pyatigorsk, in the center or on the outskirts of Russia - to serve with all possible help, because they are all our brothers, all members of one body.” Every Sunday or holiday Fr. John always delivered a sermon in church. He preached constantly because he looked highly at the work of church teaching, at the work of the “ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Often at Fr. John's sermon was preceded by a prayer to God to grant him the word. “I thank the Lord,” he writes in his “Diary,” “who gave me the word and the subject of the word to the people before general confession in the evening, at 8 o’clock, and in the afternoon after the presanctified liturgy, after reading the prayers before confession. I prayed to the Lord and gave me a word useful for the thousands of souls gathered.” How many modern preachers turn to God in prayer before composing their sermon? How many of them thank God for the successful sermon they have written and delivered? How many people look at preaching this way? Having arrived at his destination, unknown to any of the Kronstadt residents, Father John immediately attracted general attention with his strange, in the opinion of many, behavior. Those around him, accustomed to seeing in every priest a person burdened with certain urgent responsibilities, in other words, a person serving his official duty, to their surprise, they did not encounter anything forced and insincere, anything material in the young priest. To their eyes they saw a man inflamed with spiritual jealousy, concentrated, withdrawing into himself and despising external impressions. He often aroused surprise, and sometimes the ridicule of non-believers, when, with his arms crossed on his chest, he walked through the city with his eyes intently directed forward, in which his innermost thought shone. Some even considered him to be an abnormal person, rumors about which, of course, could not help but reach him; but these rumors did not bring confusion into his bright, pure soul, because he determined his external way of life with the following words, which he noted in the margins of the Gospel: “For the sake of Christ, the fools for the sake of their strange behavior and attitude towards their neighbors became the laughing stock of the whole world, but their deeds were such that the world was unworthy of them.” From the first days of serving the Church, Father John’s attitude towards his duties and towards his neighbors became such that one could only be amazed at how deeply, how subtly and with what heartfelt attraction he understood the height of his calling. He realized how great this calling was, what a terrible responsibility he bore before the Lord, not only for himself, but also for his entire flock. Realizing this, he made the basis of his ministry complete self-denial in moral terms, and in relation to his neighbors he set it as the basis of evangelical love, that is, one that is acquired not by external qualities, but by deeds, according to the instructions of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, what a presbyter should be: be an image with the right word, life, love, spirit, faith, purity ( 1 Timothy 4:12). Through internal self-examination, he was imbued with the spirit that a shepherd, first of all, must earn the love of his flock, that only her heartfelt attitude towards the shepherd can serve as lasting support and consolation in the difficult task of the priesthood, and therefore in his heart he outlined a plan for his spiritual activity - the most highly moral one: to keep in a clear conscience the gifts of the Holy Spirit, imparted through the ordination of the archpastor; to perform Divine services as daily as possible, to offer a bloodless sacrifice and, through mysterious union with the Lord, strengthened in spirit, to bring prayers for the believers to the King of all and, finally, after the shepherd has passed through the earthly path, to appear at the Last Judgment of the Almighty and give an account of not only his own deeds, but also the deeds of the flock, whose rank entrusted him to instruct and lead in the matter of salvation. To better describe Father John’s view of the duties of a priest, I will quote the words he said in his autobiography: “From the very first days of my high service to the Church, I set myself a rule: to be as sincere as possible about my work, to shepherding and priestly service, to strictly monitor myself, my inner life. To this end, I, first of all, began to read the sacred scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, extracting from them what was edifying for myself, as a person, a priest and a member of society. Then I began to keep a diary in which I recorded my struggle with thoughts and passions, my repentant feelings, my secret prayers to the Lord, my grateful feelings for deliverance from temptations, sorrows and misfortunes, and constant help. I made it my duty to teach the flock on every Sunday and holiday, delivering sermons either composed by myself or printed by Metropolitan Gregory.” And indeed, without deviating one iota from his word in the matter of pastoral service, having at first quite a bit of free time, he began to carefully and attentively read the books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. How carefully this reading was, how deeply he understood the Holy Scriptures, is best evidenced by the notes he made in the margins of these books, such as: “Is it easy to have perfect love?” “Love is God himself” “Consider yourself worse than everyone else if you want to be perfect.” “Priest of God! Believe with all your heart, always believe in the grace given to you from God to pray for the people of God: may this great gift of God, with which you can save many souls, not be in vain in you; The Lord soon hears your heartfelt prayer for people and conveniently bows to the mercy of people, like the prayer of Moses, Aaron, Samuel, and the apostles. Atone for every prayer occasion - in church, when you perform a Divine service or sacrament, at home when performing sacraments, prayers and prayer services, everywhere and at all times, remember the salvation of the people of God and you will gain for yourself the great grace of God.” “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him. – It is tactile, and experience confirms this. Blessed is the person who, with faith, receives Holy Communion, is filled with life. Tain, with heartfelt repentance for sins. – This truth is tangible, it is clear from the contrary. When, without sincere repentance for sins and with doubt, you approach St. More often than not, then Satan enters you and remains in you, killing your soul, and this can be extremely noticeable.” “It is good for me to pray for people when I receive communion worthily: then the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, my God is in me, and I have great boldness before him. “Then the king is in me, as in a monastery: ask for whatever you want.” We will come to him and make an abode with him. Whatever you want, ask, and it will be done for you.” “I am weakness, poverty. God is my strength. This conviction is my highest wisdom, which makes me blessed.” “Where I am, my servant will be with me on my throne; We will be caught up in the clouds... we will be with the Lord - this is our hope! “The Lord, as a knower of the heart, knowing our stinginess and petty selfish calculation in the case when we have to show hospitality and mercy to people from whom we do not expect to receive the same, promised to reward on the day of judgment not only for the fact that we fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, visited the sick and those in prison, but promised a reward even for the cup of cold water given a Christian or - in His name - an infidel. Whoever gives one of these little ones a cup of cold water to drink, amen I say to you: he will not lose his reward (Mark 10:42). Oh, the compassion of Christ! Who after this will not be ashamed of his cruelty of heart and shameful stinginess! Such notes appear against almost every verse, emphasizing places that have special leadership significance in the matter of spiritual improvement. As for the diary he started, it has now reached too twenty, quite significant in volume, notebooks. Thus, in the very first stages of his ministry, Father John had a lot to do, and the desire to kill time idly, of course, was out of the question. Step by step, slowly, he acquired knowledge, which, in his opinion, academic education had given him little of, acquired strength of spirit and faith, in a word, step by step, he improved morally. In addition, he made it a strict duty to perform the Divine Liturgy daily; to put it differently, he was daily mysteriously united with the Lord through heartfelt repentance and communion of the Holy Sacraments; and thus, day after day, he led, although unnoticed, strange to others, but useful, vigorous, spiritual activity, without thinking about rest. Such self-sacrifice for the benefit of the cause never left him, despite the severity of the surrounding situation, which was expressed in incomprehensibly hostile relations on the part of the intelligentsia, who did not understand the height of his service, and often reached the point of open mockery of the person of the venerable shepherd on the part of some. It was necessary to see with what meekness, with what gentleness the Saint of God, Father John, constantly endured all ridicule and enmity in order to judge his spiritual merits. His only weapon against such adversity was his continuous appeal to God, who gave him the strength to fight temptations. At first, the ministry of the venerable shepherd was not easy, as we saw above: the struggle with the hardness of the hearts of those around him, the struggle with those who did not understand him and, especially difficult in the life of every true servant of Christ, the struggle with that invisible enemy, about which the Supreme Apostle speaks in one of his epistles, accompanied him everywhere and constantly. About this constant spiritual struggle with invisible enemies - the spirits of malice and all kinds of untruth - that accompanied him all his life - in the preface to excerpts from his “Diary”, published in the “Russian Pilgrim”, Fr. John says the following: “My power is made perfect in weakness, says the Lord; and where sin has multiplied, there grace abounds, says the great Apostle. This power and this grace of the Lord, even in me, weak and sinful, abounded in all the days of my life, from early youth to the present day, and manifested themselves tangibly in the wonderful illumination of my soul with the light of repentance and prayer, in tenderness of the heart and pure, hot, life-giving and sweet tears that cleansed the filth of the heart. I always tried to perform home and public worship with a clear and deep understanding of its meaning, with a strong and ardent feeling, with peace in my soul. But there are strong enemies of prayer: these are, firstly, our worldly passions, and the principalities and powers of darkness, the spirits of wickedness in high places, about which the Apostle speaks in his epistle: our struggle is not with flesh and blood, but with the principalities and powers of darkness, with the spirits of wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12). With these all-evil enemies of prayer and all truth, I had to wage an unequal, persistent and cruel struggle to the death and to the death from the very beginning of my priestly service, because the priest, by his very rank and title, is God's warrior, equipped with the full armor of God for a constant, invisible battle with the invisible legions of evil spirits, attacking sooner and later the armorer of Christ's faith with flaming arrows his malice, with the subtlety, cunning, speed and strength of his centuries-old fallen spiritual strong nature. But since the priest is also a fallen man, sinful, multi-passionate, easily vulnerable from different sides of his inner life, and this is his weak side or weak sides when waging a spiritual struggle with the rulers of the darkness of this age, then from the very beginning of my priestly service I had to pray intensely to the Lord of hosts, as now, I pray, that He, the All-Good One, will teach my hands to fight and my fingers to fight, invisible, persistent, fierce abuse. And I was not left helpless in this saving battle: I raised my eyes, full of tears, to heaven, from where help always came to me, and comes, although often not soon, due to my former inexperience in temptations in prayer. With constant internal temptations, I had to constantly turn my spiritual eye inward in order to see attacks from invisible enemies, and thus, I accustomed myself to almost unceasing spiritual contemplation and secret prayer, and constant gratitude to the Lord for the help sent down to me in spiritual war; for with the help of God I always, in the end, emerged victorious from it, although at the beginning of my ministry I was often defeated by the cunning and cunning of ethereal enemies. Given this nature of my inner life, the Lord often granted me wonderful inner insights and bright thoughts regarding prayer in general and various subjects of faith and Christian life.” In one of his teachings to his flock about spiritual warfare, he says the following: “Real life is war, and we are all warriors, and each of us, in our own place and in our own circle, with the help of the Lord, can be a winner. First, let's talk about the need to conquer yourself or go against yourself. In the present half of the nineteenth century, such a word may seem completely untimely, behind the times, inconsistent with the view of most people, because the favorite expression of modern people, justified by deeds, is this: do not deny yourself anything, if you can, live for your own pleasure; life is short, hurry up to enjoy; Today we are alive, tomorrow we will die, and that’s the end of us. But the preacher of the word of truth must not pander to the spirit of the age, or conform to the views of men; he must speak the pure truth of God, go against the wrong direction of the spirit of the times, correct the false opinions and directions of people. So, in the name of eternal truth, we affirm that every person, especially a Christian, must conquer himself. If anyone wants to follow Me, says the Savior, let him deny himself. (Mark 8:34). A Christian needs to conquer his passions and lusts; overcome addiction to this temporary age and its benefits: wealth, luxury, amusements, carnality; it is necessary to defeat everyday pride, vanity - this painful dream of souls who are not aware of their misfortune and wretchedness. However, not only does a Christian need to conquer himself or his passions, but he must also conquer the world, he must go against the ungodly rules and customs of the world, against its spirit and direction, which is always opposite to the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the Gospel; one does not need to be guided by these rules oneself and follow these customs as far as possible, without allowing others in one’s circle, in which one has the right, power and strength, to follow them. Finally, each of us is obliged to wage war with the principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world, with the spirits of wickedness in high places and defeat them. These invisible, all-evil opponents and enemies of God and ours, having no opportunity to cause harm to Almighty God, by God's permission, slander God to people in every possible way, instilling in them blasphemy against Him, murmuring, insolence against Him, opposition to His commandments, teaching them all uncleanness. They know, the vile ones, that man is God’s loving creation, created in the image of God, and they think to bring grief to God by disfiguring His creation, distorting the image of God in it, arming man against God, alienating his heart from God, chaining him to materiality, to earthliness, and desecrating him with all kinds of passions. Thus, we must all conquer ourselves, the world and the devil, and, having conquered, wait for the crown of victory in the next century, or, if we are constantly defeated through negligence, spiritual inaction and cowardice and addiction to earthly things, we must go into eternal captivity.” Having deeply understood his calling, having understood with all his heart the love of the Gospel and laying the foundation of his ministry on it, he, so to speak, embodied in himself the ideal of a true shepherd and, as a faithful servant of the Lord, endowed by Him with the gift of prayer and healing, he first united a close circle in Kronstadt, and subsequently all believers everywhere with himself, as if into one whole; and thereby proved the power of God, which is manifested even in our unbelieving age on the elect. He was hostile towards Fr. John and his closest superior - the rector of the cathedral. The abbot did not like what Fr. John strives to serve the Liturgy every day, and he began to hinder him in this, took the antimension to his apartment and did many other troubles... Father John more than once had to be under various consistory consequences. Either he was accused of indecent behavior during Divine services (this is an exemplary shepherd! Here it is, our spiritual limited bureaucracy!), then he was accused of unauthorized absences, etc., etc., and you never know what other slander was leveled against him! For the majority of educated people, alien to the apostolic commandment about the need to be able to distinguish people by their spirit and choosing an easier way of knowledge, which is almost always erroneous in appearance and in first impressions, dear shepherd of the Russian people, Fr. John was always a riddle and some kind of secret. Therefore, in his toiling life, he was twice subjected to severe persecution, at the beginning of his activity, due to the envy of those around him, and at the end of his life, due to the malice of the enemies of Orthodoxy. The aristocracy and intelligentsia expected to see in him a majestic, graceful shepherd, impressing with the intonation of his voice, his piercing gaze and the mystery of his sayings. But his small, thin figure, the speed of his movements, and the characteristic features of a rural priest made an unfavorable impression on many. The first fifteen years of service and asceticism of Fr. John in Kronstadt was aroused not only by the fears of the highest hierarchs and guardians in the Orthodox department for the fate of this extraordinary shepherd, but also, for completely different reasons, by the great spiritual figures who lived at that time, such as, for example, the reclusive Bishop Theophan. Several times the strict Metropolitan Isidore interrogated Fr. John, forced him to serve with him and found out what was special about him, even sectarian, as the closest clergy assured and reported. K.P. Pobedonostsev called him to him and said: “Well, you pray there, receive the sick, they say you work miracles; many started like you, but will you end up with something?” “Don’t worry,” answered the wondrous priest in his holy simplicity, “take the trouble to wait for the end!” His Grace Theophan considered it necessary to treat Fr. John in writing, with a word of love and instruction, and express that he has taken up such an ascetic life in the world, among all everyday temptations and adversities, which must inevitably lead him to a terrible fall or end in nothing; that no one since the adoption of Christianity, not only in Russia, but also in the East, has decided on such a path, being not a monk, but a priest, living outside the fence and walls of the monastery, and this will certainly give rise to the greatest temptation among the clergy and the people. He was hostile to the great righteous man Fr. John and the Kronstadt police chief Golovachev, who several years ago was put on trial for extortion and bribery. Knowing Golovachev’s hostile actions against Fr. John, the prosecutor's office called Fr. John as a witness. The courthouse was crowded with the public on the day of the interrogation of Fr. John. Golovachev and his defenders were very worried. But then the interrogation began. To the general surprise and disappointment of many, Fr. John spoke only about Golovachev’s good deeds, and in each indictment he found something humane and useful... - The witness turned to Fr. Ioannou, the prosecutor, - you must tell the whole truth in court, without hiding anything. Eyes o. John lit up with that fire that more than once made many tremble. He did not allow the prosecutor to finish the sentence he had begun and said in a firm and decisive voice: – I speak according to the priesthood. Everyone present held their breath. The prosecutor refused to question him, the defense also, and Fr. John left the courtroom. The dear priest was kept in the corridors for an hour and a half by a crowd of people, asking for blessings. The words: “I speak according to the priesthood” remained in everyone’s memory for a long time. Against Fr. John spoke out both in society and in the press. Here and there, monstrous, undeserved accusations were brought against him. Thus, in 1883-84, when the fame of his life, works of mercy and prayer penetrated the capital, one of the small newspapers, Minute, which no longer exists, surprisingly sharply rebelled against the venerable shepherd. This newspaper accused Fr. Joanna, the founder of some unprecedented sect, was accused of allegedly careless attitude towards her duties, of perverting the Holy Scriptures. Moreover, she sought to prove that the venerable shepherd was destroying family ties and boasting of his good deeds. To top it all off, The Minute called for public attention and the adoption of any measures against Fr. John. Some even spread some meaningless prayer, attributing it to Fr. John. In 1889, Dr. Popov also expressed an extremely unfavorable opinion about Fr. John. He spoke of him as a fanatic, infecting everyone around him with his fanaticism. And the next day, one publicist, inflating this review, without hesitation called all the admirers Fr. John's insane asylum is free. But oh. John was not embarrassed by this slander. In moments of persecution brought against him, he brought to mind the words of the Savior: “a servant cannot be greater than his master” (John 15:20), and consoled himself with the following thoughts. “As they persecuted the Lord of the harvest, so will His true followers be persecuted at all times.” But the Lord consoled all his faithful disciples in advance with delight and the promise of the greatest reward in heaven - the eternal kingdom of heaven; and He Himself endured the most severe torment and death, leaving us all with an example of courage and patience during persecution for the sake of the truth. “It is blessed to drive away righteousness for the sake of: for these are the kingdom of heaven... Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is abundant in heaven.” He seemed to say this: do not be discouraged and do not despair, My faithful followers, who proclaim the truth to people in word and deed, and with irresistible firmness, who stand for My truth, for My commandments, to the point of exile and death. I will be your support, your strength, your consolation, your inner bliss in all your sufferings, misfortunes and sorrows, in all tortures and torments for My name. “As My sufferings abound in you, so will My consolation abound in you” (2 Cor. 1:5). The exiles and martyrs, even during their earthly life, despite all the persecutions and sorrows, deprivations, torments, triumphed over their persecutors; they rejoiced and had fun, going to fierce torment, as if they were going to take the kingdom; had a royal spirit, royal greatness, invincible patience, and with their faith and their patience they put to shame all their tormentors - kings and hegemons, and after death they inherited the kingdom of heaven and now reign with Christ, according to His word: “To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also conquered and sat with My Father on His throne” ( Rev.3:21). This is how the word of the immortal King Christ, His all-effective grace, strengthened them; This is how strikingly the power of Christ was manifested in these weak vessels! We consider it necessary to provide here the following service (formular) list of Fr. John. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 12, 1855 by His Grace Christopher, Bishop of Revel. In 1856, he received, given to priests in memory of the war of 1854–56, a dark bronze pectoral cross on the Vladimir ribbon, and a light bronze medal on the St. Andrew's ribbon. In 1857, 1860 and 1865, by appointment of the diocesan authorities, he conducted catechetical conversations in the cathedral. From 1857 to 1862 he was a teacher of law at the Kronstadt district school and a Lancaster class, and with the founding of the Kronstadt classical gymnasium in 1862, he became a teacher of law there, remaining in that position for 23 years. In 1864 he served as a deputy for the Kronstadt deanery. In 1875 he was elevated to the rank of archpriest. In 1876, the cleric of the cathedral, Archpriest M. Veselovsky, became a monk, and Father John was appointed in his place. With the retirement of the cathedral's rector, Archpriest P. V. Trachevsky, in 1894, the deceased shepherd assumed the duties of rector. All awards, both spiritual and secular, were received by Father John “for his excellent and diligent service and the performance of his duties.” So, he was awarded: a legguard (1860), a purple-velvet skufia (1861), a purple-velvet kamilavka (1866), a gold pectoral issued by the Holy Synod, a cross (1870); for diligent service to the Church of God in 1895 he was awarded the highest archpriestly award “club”; from the Bulgarian Prince Ferdinand he received a diamond cross on a gold chain, and finally, in 1899, “for over 40 years of diligent service in the clergy” he was made a mitered archpriest. He received the blessings of the Holy Synod, included in his service record, twice - in 1870 and 1889. Father John had the following orders: St. Anna 3rd and 2nd Art. (1878 and 1883), St. Vladimir 4 and 3 tbsp. (1887 and 1891), and St. Anna 1 tbsp. (1896), Bulgarian order 2nd class. with a star and cross (1899). In addition to the dark bronze and gold crosses from the Holy Synod, Fr. John received the same, with precious decorations, from His Majesty's Cabinet (1894), from Kronstadt admirers (1880), from St. Petersburg admirers (1880) and from St. Petersburg merchants and other capital admirers (1884). For his extensive charity, Father John had the badges of the following societies: the Imperial Russian Society for Water Rescue: silver (1891), gold (1893), the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society for wearing around the neck (1893), the Society for the Restoration of Orthodoxy in the Caucasus, the badge of St. Nina 3rd degree. (1891), the same 2 tbsp. (1893), Kholmsky Orthodox Holy Mother of God Brotherhood gold badge 1st century. All Kronstadt charitable societies had the highly respected pastor as their honorary member. Father John was also an honorary and full member of many charitable institutions and brotherhoods in both capitals and other cities of Russia, for which he had diplomas. In 1895, by the will of Their Imperial Majesties, Father John was appointed a member of the committee for the establishment of Houses of Diligence in Russia. In 1894, he traveled to Livadia, where he often visited the sick Tsar-Peacemaker and was present at the last minutes of His life. By the will of the Sovereign Emperor, he took part in all the sad ceremonies of transporting the body of the late Sovereign Emperor from Livadia to St. Petersburg, transferring it from the Nikolaevsky station to the Peter and Paul Cathedral and the funeral service and burial in this cathedral. On November 14, 1894, by the Highest will, he was present at the marriage of Their Imperial Majesties, in the large church of the Winter Palace, for which he received a gold pectoral cross with precious decorations from His Majesty’s Cabinet. On November 14, 1895, he was present at the sacrament of baptism of the first-born daughter of Their Imperial Majesties, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, in the Church of the Winter Palace, for which he was honored to receive a portrait with the Royal Personal Signature. On May 14, 1896, by the will of His Majesty, he was sent to Moscow to attend the Holy Coronation and Anointing of Their Imperial Majesties and had the good fortune to be a participant on that day in the concelebration of the Divine Liturgy in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral, for which he was most mercifully ranked in the Imperial Order of St. Anna 1st degree. On October 28, 1899, at the request of the Bulgarian prince, His Highness Ferdinand, he celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Savior in Moscow, for which he was honored to receive, at the end of the liturgy, from His Highness’s own hands the Bulgarian Order of the 2nd Art. with a star and a cross and a diamond cross on a gold chain. In 1904, he was present at the christening of His Imperial Highness, Heir Tsarevich Alexy Nikolaevich, and received a cross decorated with precious stones from His Majesty's Cabinet. In 1907 he was appointed a member of the Holy Synod. Reading this track record of the great prayer book of the Russian land leads to very instructive reflections. We see how long Fr. John has to live in the modest, unknown lot of a “junior” priest at the Kronstadt St. Andrew’s Cathedral, as he is kept in a “black body” for decades, and, to put it simply, in Russian, they do not give him a chance... In fact, on about. John is entrusted with one obedience after another, forced to perform one or another duty, but rewards and encouragements are given to him sparingly, rarely, rewards are almost insignificant, if we take into account his exemplary, pastoral zeal, which, of course, deserved much more. After 5 years of hard work, he receives only a legguard (1860), a kamilavka is given to him only 10 years after his ordination, a pectoral cross after 15, and he is elevated to the rank of archpriest only 20 years after accepting the priesthood!.. This is explained, first of all, by the great humility of the wondrous shepherd of the Russian land. He did not belong to that type of clergy that is often found, especially in our time, and which we call seekers, walking through aristocratic salons and drawing rooms and there begging for assistance for some reward or promotion. And from these salons, under “special patronage,” come requests for awards and incentives for people who are not always worthy: either they will “recommend” Grigory Petrov, or they will nominate Georgy Gapon, and then, when the qualities of these Gapons are revealed, how much trouble, labor and fuss there is to somehow get rid of these scoundrels!.. The great shepherd of the Russian land did not know any salons or living rooms, and he had no time to go there, he was always busy with his pastoral work, prayer, preaching, and walking through the attics and wretched Kronstadt shacks. He expected a reward for himself only from the heavenly Shepherd of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and such people sometimes cannot expect a reward from people at all. True, since 1894, after the attention of Sovereign Emperor Alexander III to Fr. John, he achieved all-Russian fame, and awards then began to be given to him quickly, but - the first decades of his pastoral service!?.. He entered the Kronstadt Cathedral in 1855, and was made rector of the cathedral in 1894, i.e., he was not rector for exactly 40 years. An exemplary shepherd, an all-Russian man of prayer, a great wonderworker, a universal luminary, quite worthy to occupy the chair of the All-Russian Patriarch (as M. Menshikov wrote in New Times), for 40 years he had to not have the title of rector at the modest, provincial Kronstadt Cathedral!.. Gold and precious stones lie deep in the earth, and on the surface only rubbish and husks are usually visible. The envy of others towards Fr. John, and on the other hand, his own humility, the desire not to show off himself, his removal from aristocratic salons and diligent visits to the shacks of the poor - all this, apparently, was a strong obstacle to the glorification of Fr. John, but where “God wills, the order of nature is overcome”... Over Fr. John fulfilled in its entirety the word written in the lives of the saints of God, who acquired high through humility and rich through poverty - “as much as the saint of God humbles himself, so much the more does God glorify him.” We will talk about this in more detail in the next chapter.