Кронштадтский светильник

“Why are you tired of seeing the desert?” "Repent!" Once upon a time, at the dawn of Christianity, the voice of a preacher was heard in the barren desert of Jordan. “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). This is how the great preacher, “Day of the Sun” - the Forerunner of Christ, John, began his sermon. And the centuries-old silence of the deserted desert, which was heard only by the roar of animals, was broken. The voice of the prophet swept through the cities and villages, and the people, wandering in darkness, without a shepherd, rushed in crowds to John into the desert. The proud Pharisees, the rich Sadducees, the despised publican, soldiers and others rush into the desert, confess their sins and are baptized in the Jordan. How much has awakened here! All the secrets of hearts were revealed: Then the publican turned pale and prayed, Then the soldier humbled himself in his armor. And tears flowed down my cheeks, In the Jordanian bathing waves. The preacher’s fiery, burning, like the heat of the desert, menacing speech, his extraordinary appearance and clothes, his dark sun-scorched face, and penetrating eyes amazed the people. “What should we do?” they asked the wondrous prophet... Isn’t he the Christ? others asked... The Forerunner preached much good news to the people, teaching them (Luke 3:10–18). The prophetic words of Isaiah were fulfilled: “Rejoice, thirsty desert, let the desert rejoice and let it bloom like a tree. And the desert of Jordan will prosper and rejoice... just as there is water in the desert and wilderness in a thirsty land” (Is. 35:1-6). And now the quoted words of Isaiah the prophet are being asked to be spoken. And now, 30 miles from the glorious Petrograd, in the previously unknown and seemingly deserted Kronstadt, “water has broken through,” the voice of the preacher of repentance and shepherd of Christ, Fr. John. “Repent, repent” and now I seem to hear his sharp, loud voice in St. Andrew’s Cathedral in front of a crowd of 5,000, calling the people to repentance. “Repent, the kingdom of Christ and Christ are with us. He is present invisibly with believers and visibly in the Most Pure and Life-Giving Mysteries... Come to Him, all you who labor and are burdened.”... This ringing, encouraging voice, like a fresh breeze from the sea, is not a menacing voice, but a loving one, suffering for the brethren, the voice of the shepherd calls and gathers the people to him. Who knows closely about. John, the following pictures are well known to him. Gray October day. The gray sky, completely covered with clouds in the morning, the gray color of the water of the bay, which the Kronstadt steamer furrows and foams with its wheels. The ship is crowded with passengers. These are pilgrims traveling to Kronstadt to visit Fr. John of Kronstadt. Here is the dark face of a Terek Cossack, here is a typical Belarusian with sluggish, hesitant movements, here is the intelligent, expressive face of a resident of central Russia, next to him is a typical Siberian, etc. Conversations among pilgrims focus either on the personality of Fr. John, or the details of the journey to him are conveyed. “I’m in my eighties,” a little old woman with a dark, wrinkled face tells those around her. – For the seventh time, the Lord brings the Kronstadt priest to visit. It was really difficult to go to him today, I’m old, but I got nothing. - Is it really possible, grandma, that we all walk? – More on foot. I'm coming from Perm itself. It happened that good people would give me, the old woman, a lift along the way, but mostly on foot. I don’t like these current cast iron cars, and I don’t have the money to ride them. So you go on foot. - And it’s okay, isn’t it scary on the road? - It’s okay, dear man. You are afraid of everything: both the fierce beast and the evil person. Yes, thank God, the Lord preserved. Now I’ll get to Kronstadt just in time for my father’s name day... “...They gave me away in marriage,” a young female voice is heard from another group of pilgrims, “I was very young, I was stupid, I didn’t understand anything in life.” And my husband is quiet and affectionate, he loved me just the same. And he seemed disgusting to me. “I’ll run away, I think, or worse, I’ll kill him, otherwise I’ll commit suicide. No matter what day comes, this is all I think about, I just can’t find a place for myself, I’m dry all over, and these bad thoughts are driving me crazy. It seems unpleasant to me to live in this world. So they advised me to go to the Kronstadt priest. I didn't want to go at first. Which I don't think will make any sense. However, they persuaded me to go. I lived in Kronstadt for three days, but I still couldn’t get to my father, but I finally got there. I felt scared when I saw him, I just don’t dare raise my eyes and I’m trembling inside. And he stands in front of me, such a gentle face, kind, kind eyes. “Well,” he says, “tell me what you have.” I told him everything, everything that was in my soul, I just don’t know how I had the courage. He consoled me. He spoke to me for a long time. He spoke, and his words seemed to dig into my soul, and I felt that it was becoming easier and easier for me... I returned home completely different, as if I had been reborn, and since then my husband and I have had peace and harmony. And now every year we go to Fr. We go to John. My husband was there last month, and now here I am going. A tall, thin young man stands apart from the others, leaning against the side. His pale face is framed by dark, newly emerging vegetation, his thoughtful eyes are directed into the distance towards the shore of the bay, barely visible in the fog. The splashes of the waves splashing at the bow of the steamer fly into his face, but the young man does not pay attention to this, his thoughts are apparently far from everything around him, and some mysterious light sometimes shines in his thoughtful eyes. He also goes to Fr. John, drawn by some special desire. His fellow pilgrims tried to speak to him, but either he got away with silence, or reluctantly answered with monosyllables. The wind intensified, the ship began to rock slightly, bursts of waves flew onto the deck and splashed the passengers sitting on it, in some places women's squeals were heard... Part of the audience hurried to go to the lower cabin, but a group of pilgrims in the bow did not disperse, surrounding some wanderer in semi-monastic attire, talking about his wanderings. – Today I visited the holy saints in Kyiv, the Lord granted me the gift of Solovki, I visited Valaam, and now I am returning from the saint of Sarov Seraphim. Now I’m going to Kronstadt. I walk as long as my legs carry me, so that the Lord tolerates sins. But let's go to the cabin for the elite who are not here. Two nuns... A group of merchants talking about some incident during the service of Fr. John on Sennaya. Professor of Chemistry at the Mining Institute, a prominent scientist, known even abroad. “There is fatigue on his forehead” - not physical fatigue, but spiritual fatigue, the kind that is born from doubts about the previous foundations of life - the fatigue has broken. A group of academy students. Several apparently high-society ladies. English dialect. Not far from them are merchants. Not far from this lady sat a famous rich merchant. And he went to Fr. John. Wealth made him a little prince. Hundreds of people bowed before him, praised him in speeches and newspapers, and fulfilled his every slightest desire. His power and influence seemed to know no bounds. He was accepted everywhere. There was not a single pleasure that was inaccessible to him. He knows no end to his possessions. I've experienced everything in my life. This is the new Solomon, the Solomon of the late 19th century. And what did he come to with his experience? “I have a lot of money,” he said, a lot of forests, land, meadows and all sorts of possessions, I don’t want to look at anything now. It’s hard for me... Day and night, some kind of melancholy gnaws at me. I don’t know what to do now or where to go. I'm lost and I don't know any way out. Lost in broad daylight... Yes, in broad daylight, he repeated. And this is not said by a madman, but by a person who is in full consciousness and health. I was told that they help a lot of people there. So I’m going to him, won’t he help me too? What draws people to Kronstadt, deserted for believers? “What does such a large, triumphant assembly mean?” Fr. asks himself. John in his teaching. “What moved your hearts and feet to this city, which is no different from others in any way?.. Many, many of you, like simple, humble pilgrims, did not even think that you were walking and moving along the waves to a fortified, military city. What do you care about our formidable fortresses and ships with cannons? All of you are simple, good Christians and peaceful citizens, and you did not come to see the fortifications, but precisely to this church of the first-called Apostle - to pray fervently with us, and to congratulate someone on the day of the Angel... I know that you, dear fathers, brothers and sisters, for my sake, an unworthy shepherd and co-shepherd, have gathered here to honor in my person the servant of Christ and your able-bodied companion of prayer, the performer of the saving Mysteries of Christ and a companion to your salvation and Christian, God-pleasing life”... (Education 1898, p. 60). So, the people go to Kronstadt to see the priest, receive his blessing, be strengthened by his prayer in a weak and sorrowful life, and ask for advice and instructions. Here, in a sense, there is more than the Jordan: there they were washed in the image of future baptism, and here, washed with tears of repentance, they are baptized in the Holy Spirit, reborn, strengthened in spiritual life, united with Christ in the Most Pure Mysteries. Humble look about. John, his open, peaceful face, gentle, blue eyes, strong words that touch the strings of the heart and evoke tears of contrition - the grace of God acting through him, attracts the people to him, touches and amazes the people. To the question: “what should we do,” here they receive an answer from the Word of God, from the experience of an ascetic shepherd, they receive in the sacraments and his prayer grace-filled power to fight sin, they see in him a living example of a true Christian shepherd. Foreigners and foreigners, and they know about. John. In his person the truth of the entire believing Orthodox Church is realized and triumphant: “come and see,” one can say to anyone who asks about the truth, look at the service of a faithful follower of Christ, a son of the Orthodox Church, a worthy shepherd and say: where do these unusual manifestations of the power of God come from: “from heaven, or from man,” and is not the truth of the Gospel being realized in his unusual service? One day some barefoot, wretched wanderer comes to Kronstadt; while talking with others, suddenly in the middle of the conversation he stood up and hastily, as if responding to some call, went straight to meet Fr. John. They met as if they were familiar faces and had known each other for a long time, although they had not met before. To this wanderer Fr. John said, “The Lord opened the hearts of the people to me and gave me the book of afflictions.” Yes, truly the Lord reveals Fr. John the hearts of the people, and these people, obedient to the call of the shepherd, leave the “pastures of sin” and become workers in the vineyard of Christ. In Kronstadt, everyone knows the story of one “reborn” admirer, Fr. John. We will not mention his last name. His name is Peter Ivanovich. “About 10 years ago, Pyotr Ivanovich held a prominent position in the service, wore a shiny uniform and lived as befits a V-class person receiving 6,000 rubles. annual content. P.I. was completely indifferent to religion: it wasn’t that he was an atheist, but simply avoided questions of faith in silence, finding that it was possible to live a century anyway, but “I’ll die, I’ll think about it”... For those around him, he was a dry and almost evil person, he did not provide help or kindness to anyone, and if he had to punish, there was no mercy or compassion - no, no! “I’ll put you in a coffin alive,” he said himself. Whether P.I.’s “character” was so severe or his upbringing and service hardened him, but he was a flint person, and he did not enjoy the love of those around him. In 1882, P.I.’s wife suddenly died - the only creature he loved dearly. Before his death, when the doctors refused to treat the patient, P.I. sent for Fr. John. “Let him pray, he’s dying anyway, but if he recovers, I’ll believe!” Father John answered the messenger: - I have nothing to do with you! And he didn’t go... The patient died... P.I. fell into despair... He was already sitting with a revolver in his hand when lightning seemed to strike him in the head: “But Fr. John didn’t go: he says to you, I have nothing to do... Why didn’t he go? What is this o. John?!.. I went to Wino, and there the dying child recovered.” Pyotr Ivanovich became lost in thought and sat motionless for more than an hour. When he woke up, a clear and definite plan of action had matured in his brain... The next day he went to Fr. John and asked for confession. Here, so to speak, all his painful soul poured out. “With the death of my wife,” Pyotr Ivanovich later said, “a kind of abyss, an abyss, a gloomy emptiness opened up before me... I felt the coldness of death and the powerlessness of all our knowledge, of which humanity is proud, the vanity of all worries and troubles... If a person with all his science is so powerless and insignificant before nature, if all existence, the whole purpose of life is only limited to the hour of death, only for this we live so that at the first chance we turn into rotting dust, then is it worth it? live What do we live for? No, this can't be! Secret and denial are not synonymous. If we do not know nature, even germ cells, and cannot understand our existence, as Professor Tarkhanov puts it, then it does not follow from this that all the mysterious spiritual invisible does not exist.” “Father John did not give P.I. absolution and limited himself only to prayer. For the first time in his life, P.I. experienced some incomprehensible feeling, unknown to him before, but a good, beneficial feeling. From the first words of prayer, he forgot everything earthly that had previously exclusively occupied his thoughts; A new beautiful world opened up before his spiritual eyes. And strangely, in this world he is not a stranger and there is a place for him there! “I would like to stay there forever, never to be separated from this world, but the prayer was over, and the priest invited me to pray... Almost with horror, I asked: can I really never come again?” But the priest looked at me meekly and said tenderly: “You can come every day.” Pyotr Ivanovich really began to walk every day and sometimes caught the priest from morning to evening to pray together for a few minutes. A week or a week and a half later he received holy communion. The first result of his “new” life was a completely different attitude towards all people, starting with servants, soldiers and other commoners. He had a passionate desire to help, to serve everyone, to bring pleasure to his face, a smile, to give everyone something pleasant. “So I would hug and kiss everyone without exception or exception”... P.I.'s stern character was transformed to such an extent that he lost all ability to get angry; on the contrary, no matter what trouble they caused him, he pitied only the offender and tried with all his might to convince him that he should not have acted that way. When he heard about enemies or someone being offended, he was terribly worried and took all measures to somehow alleviate the unpleasant consequences. It goes without saying that he spent all his free time reading the Bible and praying. Much has also changed in P.I.’s home life. He quit smoking, completely stopped drinking, simplified the table to a minimum, removed all luxury items, and after retiring, he devoted himself entirely to raising his children: a son and two daughters. P.I.’s main enemy for his “rebirth” became his own brother, who called him a “fool.” - He buried his wife and threw himself into hypocrisy. This only shows your cowardice or, even worse, dementia... You’ve gone a little crazy,” said P.I. his brother. - Tell me, who did I harm with my “foolishness”? I am absolutely happy: the children, I believe, will not lose from the fact that I devote more time and attention to them... To those around me, you yourself know that I have brought significant benefit to many, and not harm. “But you’ve become intolerant in polite society; you lost your career, you lead such a lifestyle that you have no one... - Wait. I lost my career - that’s true, but tell me honestly - did the service lose it because I retired? After all, no? You know this well yourself. I needed the service, not the service! Then, regarding the fact that our acquaintances are not allowed to get drunk or screw around with me, then you must agree that for the sake of such stupidity I am not obliged to renounce my views, beliefs and ruin my own life. And without me, all our friends will find somewhere to get drunk. The hut in which Fr. was born. John. Interior view of the hut where Fr. was born. John. - Why are you tormenting yourself? “I swear to you by the memory of my wife that I have never been as happy as I am now.” Nothing can give me such pleasure as the chapter of the Bible I read... I am completely happy in my “foolishness”, and it does no harm to anyone, but rather benefit; Why shouldn’t I “play the fool”?.. You say that you would shoot yourself if you lost your position, but I can easily lose everything, because what I couldn’t live without now, that is, faith and prayer, no one can take away from me. You, therefore, depend on thousands of accidents, but I depend on no one. You should be afraid of everything: illness, depreciation, disfavor of your “society”, death of loved ones, etc., but I have nothing, because my “foolishness” replaces and absorbs everything for me. You cannot live without your current situation, so how many people and cases can sentence you to death?! You tremble at the thought of the coffin plaque, because you are not sure of what will happen next, but I wait for this moment with joyful trepidation, although life gives me many joys. Which of us is happier? – These arguments remind me of the delirium of patients in a mental hospital. Have you noticed that idiots always laugh? They are probably in the same joyful mood as yours. – Sophistry and paradox are not evidence. You know that the insane and idiots suffer terribly physically, but I am so healthy that you yourself envy my health. Insane people lose their minds and cannot think logically, but yesterday I wrote three memos for you, and no one found them to be the delirium of a madman. Why are you needlessly insulting me? Pyotr Ivanovich has been living with his “new views” for seven years now. He receives communion every month from Fr. John, attends church every holiday and lives a quiet, happy life. All those who consider him a “holy fool” do not hesitate to turn to him for help and take advantage of both his studies, experience, and money. There is no refusal for anyone: P.I. has no higher pleasure than helping his enemy. And this is not the only case. The peasant writer V.I. Savikhin told another writer about the miracles that Fr. John over the souls of those who come to him. It is difficult to convey in words (he said) the change that occurs in the villagers who visited Fr. John. Where previously there was a hubbub of fighting and quarrels, it was replaced by friendly, solemn relations: women come together, remember the high moods they experienced in Kronstadt, read or listen to books given to them, collect eggs, linens and money among themselves to distribute to the poor. The charming and beneficial influence of the good shepherd is noticeable not only among ordinary people... Dozens of intelligent people have changed under the influence of the word of Fr. John. Hundreds of developed, educated people report with delight about their impressions, about their conversations with Fr. Sergiev. “Those who labor and are burdened” go to this spiritual light, to this representative of heavenly truth on earth - they go to him with their grief and need, with their incessant anger and with insane doubt. And the speech of the good shepherd, full of Christian love, consoles the sad, gives strength for struggle, inspires patience, softens anger, and brings peace to the restless soul. O. John is the guardian angel of the Russian land. She needs him, she needs him especially now, she needs him through his prayer, through his pastoral work, but most of all because he exists. He brings new life into the world just by living. Father John is strong because he lives with Christ and in Christ. Fr. John can say together with the apostle. Paul that now “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” “Christ lives,” not as an abstract principle, not as a sum of known rules, not as a simple, historical memory, but as a living person, as the God-man (John 14:21–23; Rev. 3:20). Father John seemed to have lost his individual existence, his soul. His soul seemed to be immersed in the spirit of Christ and ceased to exist separately. From that time on, his life became not his life, but life in Christ, as he himself calls it. He began to look at everything differently. The whole world of visible and invisible phenomena for him fell apart into two worlds: the world of Christ and the world of Antichrist, the world of good and evil. There was not a single moment in his life when he could serve anyone other than Christ. His whole life passes in the face of God. Every desire, every thought, every movement, oh. John tries to illuminate with heavenly light, Everything is for God and in God, nothing without God and not for God. “Always walk,” says Fr. John, in the living consciousness and feeling of the presence of God and the Mother of God and, as it were, in view of all Heaven, all the holy angels, holy people who look at us from heaven, at all our entrances and exits, at all our thoughts, intentions, enterprises and are incorruptible witnesses of our life.” For Fr. John, the kingdom of God is not somewhere indiscernibly distant from him, but here on earth. “The Savior is with us invisibly and is always ready to save us quickly, according to our faith and the calling of our holy, wonderful and saving name. For it is said: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” And in another place he writes: “Have we not a Savior? Isn't He closer to us than sin, isn't He kind? Is he dozing or sleeping? Is he not constantly watching over us, having mercy on us, interceding, enlightening, delivering us from all sin, from all sorrow, anger, need, oppression and evil circumstances, when we resort to Him with faith? But we are of little faith, unfaithful, and do not know how to call on Him diligently, with faith, with repentance. That’s why we are in poverty, we are in poverty often and we die terribly, like flies, like worms, like pigs in water.” St. John says even more: “The Lord is so constantly close to us that he is closer than the air around us, closer than our clothes, closer, finally, to our body itself. He is in our soul." This is why the world needs Fr. John, as a man, reflects, although weakly, in a human way, the Non-Evening Light - the Lord Jesus. One foreign writer, describing the appearance of Fr. Ioanna admires his expressive, Northern Russian eyes. They clearly tell everyone that, despite the amazing external modesty, in the person of Fr. John we are not dealing with an ordinary nature, that his eyes, in the words of Spinoza, “look at people and things not to ridicule, not to mourn, not to despise, but to understand.” This writer just did not know how to express what he really saw: these are the eyes of a man who had just peered into the Face of Christ and carried away in his eyes the memory of what prayer and worship had revealed to him. Word and will Fr. John are strong precisely because they are borrowed from Christ. He lives by the air of the Gospel, by God's grace. O. John arrives on a ship to Kronstadt. The house where Fr. lives. John. Talking about the sick, about the misfortunes of people, conveying the events of Christian history, John takes listeners to those times and events and makes them feel the impression of the immediate proximity of these events. The manifestations of Fr. act on the viewer with even greater force. John's feelings of reverence and outbursts of love for humanity. In this case, his influence on people is great and beneficial. Even cold people involuntarily succumb to it. Being a lively, fascinating and charming example of extraordinary humanity and sublime feelings, Fr. John thereby became the greatest moral value for society. We can more clearly imagine the meaning of this value if we remember Carlyle’s words that reverence must be learned and that he, Carlyle, having learned this high feeling in childhood, is happy that he can experience this feeling with new strength every time before the greatness of moral ideals. In the soul o. John, along with other feelings, the feeling of reverence never fades; it is so vivid and intense in him that in his presence the range of people’s moral life immediately increases. Everything about this person bears a special imprint. All manifestations of his feelings are distinguished by extraordinary depth and completeness, exceeding ordinary limits. His insight and subtlety with which he recognizes the mental state of a person is absolutely exceptional. Yes, all life is about. John - there is life in Christ, on its banner you can inscribe the words of the Psalmist, which were written by Fr. John in a letter to one shepherd: “What do I have in heaven and what do I want from You on earth? My heart and my flesh are gone, God of my heart and my portion, God forever (Ps. 73:25-26); “Everything is to please You, both in thought and in action.” Everything is Lord for me. He is my faith, my hope, my love, my strength, my strength, my peace, my joy, my wealth, my food, my clothing, my life, in a word, everything that is mine. So, man, everything is the Lord for you, and you be everything for the Lord” (vol. 4 p. 307). No, Fr. John's personal life; she is completely devoted to serving God and the people. His love, to the point where his soul is ready for his friends, is manifested in all his service. How much selfless love for the brethren is actually needed in order to constantly cry out for them - to pray to God, to devote one’s life to them to the point of self-forgetfulness, to suffer from their illnesses, to bear their infirmities, in a word, how much determination and heroism is needed in order to bear such a great service?! “Ah, with what labor, sweat and tears we achieve the approach of our heart to God,” he says in one place (4 v. 22). My God, how difficult it is to confess properly! How many obstacles there are from the enemy! How gravely you sin before God by confessing improperly... Pray for the salvation of others as you would for your own” (5 vol. p. 154; vol. 4, 45). Do not spare yourself for heartfelt prayer even when you have spent the whole day in labor - it is God’s work. Do not place your flesh above God, and neglect bodily rest for Him (4 vol. 21 pp.). The shepherd, in the opinion of Fr. John, is an earthly angel, a friend of humanity, the organ of the Comforter of the Spirit, a bearer of the love of the Gospel, a mourner for the whole world, the mouth of all, a comforter of the sad and mourning, an intercessor of the persecuted, a spiritual and physical doctor, a father, a man of prayer. But to be a doctor, you yourself need to be free from passions: “doctor, heal yourself” (Luke 4:23). To be a sad person and a bearer of the love of the Gospel, you need to warm it up in yourself: as much goodness, light and love are brought into life as we have them in ourselves - only a pure and abundant source can exude and drink abundantly with clean water. U o. John's words are the same as deeds: he teaches and speaks and prays from his own experience. And is it easy, one might ask, for him to realize the high Christ-like title in his life? Is it easy to carry out the laborious “till blood” and selfless to the point of self-forgetfulness feat of the Good Shepherd? O. John in the early years of his life Love inspires all the activities of Fr. John. This love is reflected in his appearance, in his bright eyes, on his face and in his entire manner. When the whole person, says I. Climacus, is, as it were, dissolved by God’s love, then his appearance in the body, as if in a mirror, shows the lordship of the soul. So glorified is this God-seer Moses (verse 30). The poet paints one chosen one with these features: And here in the crowd, noisy idly, A handsome husband approaches; Posture, gait and movements, Full of fire and inspiration; Irresistible breathes power; There is no participation in earthly pleasures, And looks to the future. That husband is not like mortals, The seal of the chosen one is on him, He is as bright as the archangel of God... “A virtuous person involuntarily attracts the attention of everyone. Why? Because the fragrance involuntarily forces you to pay attention to yourself and breathe it in. Look at the very appearance of the virtuous man, at his face. What kind of face is this? This is an angelic face. Meekness and humility flow through him and involuntarily captivate everyone with their beauty. Pay attention to his speech; it gives off even more fragrance; here you seem to be face to face with his soul - and you melt from his sweet conversation. These words about. John (4 vol. p. 32) are applicable to himself. In love and selfless, truly pastoral deed, Fr. John there is an explanation of all his great, powerful and glorious ministry. “Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles.” (Matthew 8:16). Strength and consolation in his difficult pastoral service, Fr. John finds it in his very ministry: in the grace of God, working in him and through him. Just as a book scroll, on which it was written: sobbing and pity and grief, eaten, at the command of God, by the prophet, turned out to be in his mouth, like honey, sweet (Ezek. 2:3), so for Fr. John's "book of sorrows" serves as a source of consolation and joy. There is no reward for good deeds Love and sorrow are the same thing But whoever grieved with this sorrow, That's why she's worth more than all the blessings... Sending his apostles to preach, to difficult service, where persecution and disaster awaited them, Christ the Savior pointed out to them two sources of their strength and consolation. They must have consolation first of all in Himself; Having Him in memory and imagining His cross, the disciples can easily endure disasters “Blessed are you if you do” (John 14:17). The very fulfillment of Christ’s commandments, their compliance with the spiritual side of man, gives heartfelt joy to their performer. The second type of consolation for the disciples of Christ, as the fruit of their labors, is indicated in the zeal, love and services of those very persons with whom the disciples come into contact. O. John Sergiev and his sisters. “Receive you, that is, the one whom I send,” says Christ, “receive Me,” and “receive Me,” accept Him who sent Me.” (Matthew 10:40). And what can compare with the joy of accepting Christ and His Father? And is this little consolation for the disciples of Christ when they are received as Christ’s ambassadors and are rendered services as Christ? And St. Apostle Paul, mentioning his such consolation, says that he was received as an Angel and they were ready to give him their eyes (Gal.4:14-15). Fr. is not deprived of these two kinds of consolations. John. About the consolation of the Lord during the feat of Fr. John says, for example, the following: “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). How sweet it is to work for the Lord with a sincere heart! What peace, what sweetness, lightness, spaciousness in the soul during heartfelt prayer, reading the word of God, doing good deeds! How much spiritual incorruptible sweetness, peace and bliss is found in fulfilling the will of God, good, holy, wise, incorruptible, eternal, blessed! So much so that because of this bliss, wise Christians and Christian women joyfully endured all kinds of torment, exhaustion of the flesh, day-night prayerful standing, all sorts of ridicule, grief and bitterness, and persecution from people and from demons, and all sorts of other misfortunes, and were not deceived in their hope - they received eternal blessings and eternal bliss” (Christian Philosophy, p. 206, 188). It is not difficult, says one writer, the most difficult procession through the desert of life to the promised heavenly land, when the bitter waters of Marrah are sweetened by the immersion of the healing tree of the Cross (Letters on the ordination of priesthood, p. 219). Standing at the source of grace, drawing living water from this well for others, Fr. John himself drinks it copiously. “Do not think,” he says, that our faith is not life-giving for us shepherds, that we serve God hypocritically. No: we are the first to benefit most from God’s mercies and we know from experience that for us the Lord with His sacraments, that His Most Pure Mother and His Saints... we have often, often experienced their life-giving power, the heavenly gifts of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit... We say this sincerely, with the consciousness of all the truth and our strengths” (vol. 4 pp. 8, 9) From this inexhaustible source of grace he draws strength for himself. “I am filled with weaknesses, and I know my weaknesses, but the power of God is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). What angelic, all-encompassing mind will consider all the secret gifts of God to my soul, the gracious gifts of mercy, purification, sanctification, peace, tenderness, freedom and spiritual spaciousness, joy in the Holy Spirit, boldness and strength and manifold help, of which I have been invisibly vouchsafed throughout all the days of my priesthood.” Glory to our Savior God! He sees that I am truthfully giving Him glory. Only by Him and in His name am I glorious, and without Him I am dishonored; He is strong only through Him, and without Him he is weak; with Him holy, without Him full of sins; with Him I am bold, without Him I am faint-hearted; with Him he is meek and humble, without Him he is irritable and not good. Exalt the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together” (Ps. 33:4: Vol. 3rd p. 358). Without the grace of God such a great laborious prayerful pastoral feat as the feat of Fr. John. “As the sufferings of Christ abound in us,” says the Apostle, “in proportion as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, our consolation abounds through Christ” (2 Cor. 1:5). As the Lord labors, he sweetens the bitter cup of the shepherd. The Lord does not abandon those who work for Him and who stand before Him for a long time; they measure in every measure, He also measures, and, according to the abundance of the true words of their prayer, sends into their soul an abundance of spiritual light, spiritual warmth, peace and joy” (vol. 4 p. 168). The more about. John works and exhausts himself, the more he gains strength and strength. Father John receives assurance of the power of his prayer. “To me, called by the Lord to broad prayer service to people, Fr. John, I had to personally witness many miraculous healings of believers from a wide variety of illnesses, quick or even instant healing of the lame, blind, deaf, and those afflicted with various long-term ailments. I testify to this by God, I am not lying. (Education 1898, 95 pages). “No matter how many times I prayed with faith, God always listened to me and fulfilled my prayers” (5 volume p. 321.) “The priest, he gives advice, needs to experience for himself the power of faith, and the sweetness of prayer, and the remission of sins and when it is unsuccessful, and spiritual sorrows when they befall, and gracious consolations, so that in prayer to God for believers he says this: grant them the same good as you always grant it to me, unworthy to ask for everything from my own experience... Be known, he prays himself, and by other people Yours, just as you appeared to me, Lover of mankind, so that they may know You, the Father of all” (4 vol., pp. 76, 234). O. Ioann Sergiev in the early years of his life. Fr. receives abundant consolation. John, from those who receive him, from the most numerous people, who bring their sorrow to him, also gives him consolation. His pastoral love and prayer, which embraces everyone, closely unite him and make him related to everyone. “What a wonderful,” he says, “the unifying power of church prayer for everyone, connecting all souls! So, by the grace of God, I pray especially sincerely during the Liturgy for everyone, for the entire consecrated council of brethren, for the Tsar, the Queen and the entire reigning house, for the Chamber, all the army and all classes - and the Lord brought everyone closer to me in spirit, made everyone akin to me - adults and children, the entire class of student youth. Everyone, excluding non-believers, is spiritually disposed towards me, loves, honors me, an insignificant sinful person (Chronicle phil. 126 pp.). My God, he says in another place, how the love and sincere sympathy of our neighbor for us delights our heart! Who can describe this bliss of a heart imbued with a feeling of love for me from others and my love for others? It's indescribable... Oh, what sweetness You have hidden, Master, our boundless Love, in the spiritual conversation, warmed by love, between the spiritual father and his spiritual children, what bliss! And how can I not strive on earth with all my might for such bliss?” (5 volumes 145 and 146 pages). People's love is the answer and reward for his life's feat. This is how he himself speaks about the people’s love for him: “Thy Name has glorified me everywhere, O Lord: both at the throne of kings, and among all the important and powerful of this world, and among the rich and the poor, educated and simple people; everywhere it has brought and constantly brings joy, peace, deliverance, salvation, health, consolation, relief, victory over the machinations of the enemy. How wonderful is Your Name, O Lord! How wonderfully, sovereignly, imperiously, powerfully everyone is attracted to me, the poor one, by Your grace, which lives and abides in me through frequent communion of Your Holy Mysteries, Your most pure Body and Blood!” O. Ioann Sergiev in the printing house "God! I thank You for the miracles of the Holy Mysteries that occur in me and in the Russian people every day: You draw me and them to You with a wonderful, omnipotent, invincible power, all of Orthodox Russia is drawn to You! Draw, draw, draw to the Word of God, our Creator, our Savior, our Savior, draw everyone and everything to you” (Truth about God, world and man, p. 80). “Thank God! I myself see the fruits of my pastoral labors. In St. Andrew's Cathedral, and it is large, there are up to five thousand people, and all this multitude listens to me as one person, no noise, no jostling, everyone's eyes are fixed on me. When I leave the church, people lovingly surround me, all with shining faces, everyone is visible in a gracious and joyful mood. All these are the fruits of my prayer and preaching. Forgive me, venerable shepherds, that I say this about myself, God forbid that I say this for self-praise. God forbid! No, it’s not me who does all this, but the grace of God resting on me, the priest. Oh, brethren, we have been given much grace from the Lord God, and if we preserve this gift of God, then we are invincible...” (Speech from Nizhny Novgorod Pastor.) That the people love their shepherd is the truth in plain sight. In his dying minutes, Tsar-Peacemaker Alexander III, October 20, 1894, considered it necessary to say to Fr. John: “The people love you.” And the humble shepherd, realizing the importance of the moment, meekly answered: “Yes, Your Majesty, your people love me.” “He knows who you are and what you are,” added the Emperor. This love irresistibly attracts a crowd of thousands to Kronstadt. Days – October 19 – Day of the Angel Fr. John, the anniversary of his priesthood - twenty-five years, thirty-five years, forty years, forty-five years, are celebrated with rare, amazing solemnity. We can say that these days are the triumph of all Orthodox Rus'. Love knows no boundaries and spares nothing for the loved one: and is it possible to count all the manifestations of the deep love of the people for Fr. John? Love made him a kind of martyr; he has to hide and run from the people. Sometimes this love for him is revealed passionately, painfully: it is known that Fr.’s fingers were bitten twice. John with the intention of biting off completely as a keepsake or as a shrine; they tore parts of his clothes and the like. Various material gifts are constantly brought to him, large donations are made, millions of rubles, one might say, pass through his hands. Out of love for him, they are ready to follow him everywhere. One memory of the name of Fr. John evokes joyful tears of tenderness in people who have not seen him. And how much holy joy, delight, happy tears are in his presence?! “You are our red sun, you are our dear father, dear father, dear golden one,” and other similar heartfelt exclamations are heard in the crowd of people addressed to their beloved shepherd. Out of love for him, the true shepherd, as a living bearer of holiness and truth, at his call, as we said, many change their lives for the better; Having seen him, many vowed to reform and corrected their sinful lives. “This is no more joy,” says the Apostle John the Theologian, “that my children may hear them walk in the truth” (3 John 1:4). For the sorrowful it shines with a ray of hope... Oh, our good shepherd, comforter in sorrows! Be a Guardian Angel for your dear homeland For many years! And inspire us With sin and temptation to a difficult battle, Saying a holy prayer before the throne, Great ascetic of Christ's love! Despite his 70 years, Fr. John looks like a man no more than 30 years old. He is constantly kind, fresh, tireless. He reinforces his strength by sleeping with a possible influx of fresh air, with the windows open in the adjacent room, even in winter. The extreme exertion of strength that his mission requires not only does not have a harmful effect on his health, but apparently only strengthens and tempers him for new exploits. There is no doubt that Fr. John has a special ability to read in souls and even gain insight into the realm of another life. One of my good friends, in the presence of Fr. Ioanna thought about her mother’s fate after death and then asked about Ioanna. How does he think about it, oh. John didn't answer. He was apparently praying. Several minutes passed like this... “She has been pardoned,” John suddenly said, unexpectedly for the questioner. She didn’t even immediately understand who he was talking about, because she decided that the priest had not heard the question. I believe that he could not say this without identification, the questioner said. Of course it is. There were other cases of the same kind which I am not allowed to publish. But of course, under such conditions, he must heal people and the world. In this desire, the people are looking to see this exceptional, true person, to see and learn. It is not the crowd that is looking for him, says Prof. Sikorsky, but people of all education and all ages. You will see the educated man and the laborer, the teacher, the professor and the student, you will see adults and children, gentlemen and their servants, humble workers and fallen women; you will see sick, corrupt and criminal people. You will meet here different religions, different nationalities. Leads everyone to Fr. John has the same feeling. It forces people who arrived in carriages to get out of the carriage and stand next to an ordinary, gray man; it lifts the fallen woman out of the mud and makes her human. In the presence of Fr. John, the conscience of the most evil, savage person awakens, and in all corrupt people the best ideal sides of their character are illuminated and revived. He saves by calling us to another world with his appearance. His works are recorded not in books, not on canvas, but in millions of hearts; written down and sealed so firmly, in a way that what we see, hear, and read is not always imprinted in our minds. By word, deed, example, and most of all by his personality, he educates society. He teaches life science. Apparently there is no such science. Of course not! Knowing how to live is not a science, but a philosophy. The ancient Greek thinkers were right when they argued that living life is a great art and that only a wise man can carry out this task correctly. And oh. John knows how. And this is more than any other thing he does. Its great significance does not lie in them. He is great because he has brought the heavens closer to us, In days of doubt, lies and sacrilege, When the crazy world is bathed in blood, He preaches brotherhood to heterogeneous people, And his speech is full of Gospel love. Not inclined to vain and unnecessary debates, He comes - a disciple of the Crucified Christ To all the broken, grieving and sick To all those who weaken under the weight of the Cross, And penetrating deep with an inquisitive eye Grieves with the sad, rushes to help the sick And it shines like a beacon in this dead night!