Глава пятая. Иеромонах Филарет 1809–1811

During Lent of 1809, Russia resumed the war with Sweden. General Bagration made an ice campaign of the seventeen thousandth Russian corps to the Åland Islands, in some ways comparable to Suvorov’s crossing of the Alps. Soon Russian troops found themselves near Stockholm, and Barclay de Tolly's division captured the Swedish city of Umeå, after which the Swedes capitulated. With such joyful events, the Orthodox Russian people celebrated Easter on March 28. And on this day Hierodeacon Philaret became a hieromonk. Hieromonk is the second most important monastic rank. Those initiated into it can perform the sacraments, including the main sacrament of the Eucharist and the liturgy - the fundamental worship of the Christian church. The only one of the seven sacraments that he cannot perform is the sacrament of the priesthood. So, on March 28, 1809, during the Easter liturgy, after the singing of the “Cherubim” and the transfer of the Holy Gifts from the altar to the throne, two deacons brought Philaret to the Royal Doors. - Take them! - exclaimed the first deacon, addressing the people. - Command! - exclaimed the second deacon, addressing the clergy. - Command, Most Reverend Bishop! - exclaimed the first deacon, addressing Metropolitan Ambrose. Philaret entered the altar, where he was led three times around the throne, the corners of which he kissed, and also kissed the hand of Ambrose, who was sitting on a high place. At this time, the clergy sang three hymns: “O holy martyr, who suffered well and was crowned...”, “Glory to Thee, Christ God, praise of the apostles...” and “Isaiah, rejoice...”. At the end of the ritual of walking, Ambrose stood at the right corner of the throne, and Philaret knelt before him. The Metropolitan, having made the sign of the cross over the head of the newly ordained one, laid his hand and the edge of the omophorion on him. A secret prayer flowed from Ambrose’s lips: – Divine grace, always healing the weak and replenishing the impoverished, will guarantee the most reverent Ambrose to Philaret, let us pray for him, that the grace of the All-Holy Spirit may come to him. After reading the prayers of ordination, Ambrose presented Philaret with priestly vestments: an epitrachelion, a belt and a phelonion, and also a Missal, exclaiming “axios” - “worthy” when handing over each of these accessories. Finally, as a sign that the ordination had taken place, Ambrose kissed Philaret three times and the liturgy continued. After the consecration of the Holy Gifts, the Metropolitan gave the new hieromonk a piece of the Body of Christ: - Accept this pledge and keep it even until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, for you will need an account of it. Taking the particle in his hands, Filaret stood behind the throne and read the fiftieth psalm. Before the cry of “Holy to holies!” he returned this deposit to the metropolitan and, following the abbot, before others, he received Holy Communion. Thus, according to the rule established from the end of the 17th century, Philaret’s ordination as a hieromonk took place. Extraordinary abilities helped his further advancement. On August 9, he became the rector of the school. Archimandrite Evgraf did not give up his efforts, wanting to transfer Filaret to the academy. Alas, consumption inexorably consumed this wonderful man, and in November Evgraf passed away. He didn’t even serve as rector for a year. Another Krylov-Platonov, Archimandrite Sergius, became the new rector. On February 8, 1810, Hieromonk Philaret received the position of teacher of church history at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy with the rank of Bachelor of Theological Sciences. The new rector settled him next to his cell, put his library at his disposal, invited him to dinner, and loved to talk with him. In a word, life brought joy. On March 25, an important event took place in the life of Hieromonk Philaret - he preached a sermon for the first time in the Northern capital. It was Lent, and the Feast of the Annunciation had arrived. He already knew very well how Russians lived in St. Petersburg, how few of them were true believers who observed church decrees. Fasting was already considered something primitive and savage. If something like religiosity was preserved, it was in a certain form close to Protestant. Go to the church of God for a holiday, listen to a sermon, think a little about sins, sigh lightly about this and that, maybe even cry a little and think: “How good I am for not forgetting God!” This is exactly what the young preacher wanted to talk about, addressing the capital’s aristocrats, merchants, and townspeople who had gathered to listen to the holiday sermon. And he boldly denounced: - Let us imagine, for example, that Christ would suddenly appear in this church, just as he once did in Jerusalem, and, finding here, as there, zealous servants of the Divine selling and buying, selling Pharisaic piety and buying the glory, selling their pomp and buying the wonder of the frivolous, selling deceptive beauty to the eyes and buying deception of the heart, sacrificing to God a few solemn minutes and those who want to pay with them for a whole vicious life - I would immediately, forever cast them out from here, so that they do not make houses of prayer a house of vile purchase, and, as unworthy, I would cut them off from the community of true believers! It was a challenge. If any of the important people in the church had become indignant, the young preacher could have been pushed aside for a long time and no longer given the right to give sermons. But something opposite happened. Accustomed to the fact that the capital's clergy tried not to reproach representatives of high society too much, the listeners were suddenly moved. They were pierced by the power of faith emanating from this short, thin monk. The reproof touched hearts, caused repentance, and many then approached Filaret and thanked him for his fiery sermon. And the news spread throughout St. Petersburg: a new preacher had appeared in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra! Soon the first battle for the purity of Orthodoxy broke out within the walls of the academy. Archbishop Theophylact, as already said, enjoyed the patronage of Speransky, and he welcomed the Freemasons. In 1810, a prominent German freemason and at the same time a Protestant priest, Ignatius Fessler, flew into the academy. He was given oriental languages ​​and philosophy to read. A Protestant in an Orthodox theological school - many considered this unusual and even attractive; students initially gravitated towards Fessler. But very soon it became clear that he was preaching very dubious mystical ideas, close to pantheism, and even even atheism. An anti-Orthodox conspiracy was almost formed within the walls of the academy. The German teacher Otto Smogliano preached Protestantism, and the French teacher de Boe preached Catholicism. In June, Speransky himself joined Fessler’s Masonic lodge. But this did not frighten the Orthodox people. In the summer, Hieromonk Philaret, Rector Sergius and Metropolitan Ambrose rebelled. As a result, they managed to get Fessler, de Boe, and Smoliano fired. Fessler was sent to the Saratov province, where from now on he was only allowed to engage in lawmaking. His courses were transferred to Filaret, and foreign languages ​​were now taught by Russian teachers. This was a blow to Theophylact, about whom Filaret later wrote: “What damage would have been for the entire Church if such a person had been the first metropolitan!” And from Filaret’s later memoirs: “Fessler’s influence on his students was extensive. I remember one student left the academy without faith in the Redeemer as God. At the end of the course, I did not advise him to go to the clergy, and he actually went to the secular; has now died. This was a man who was not crazy, but proud! Fessler was expelled after he submitted a note on the antiquities of the Eastern Church, where, among other things, he included the expression that our worship is composed of two elements: lyrical and dramatic. This summary, written in Latin, was entrusted by the rector Sergius (I then lived under his chambers, and he, by his grace, fed me) to translate to me, then an inspector. Subsequently, with the misfortune that befell Speransky at that time (which was the reason for calling Fessler), they found a notebook in his hand by Fessler: de transitu orientalismi in occidentalismum, where he proves that Jesus Christ is nothing more than the greatest philosopher. Even in the preface to the sermon he preached when he was already a superintendent, he revealed the idea that he never changed his way of thinking about Jesus Christ. This is the kind of person they hired for the academy.” The bustling life of St. Petersburg still remained alien to Filaret. His soul communicated with angels, but here on earth he had to observe something that caused ONLY pity - how do people live?! “I’m not quite used to life here and I’m unlikely to ever get used to it anymore,” he wrote on January 5, 1811 to priest Grigory Ponomarev. “Imagine a place where there are more tongues than souls, where hope is mostly in the front, and fear is everywhere, where there are many obedient servants, and to be a well-wisher is considered discourteous, where luxury demands too much, and nature denies almost everything - you will agree that in such an element only those who were born in it or for it can breathe freely.” On Easter, April 2, 1811, Filaret expected success in the eyes of Chief Prosecutor Golitsyn. It should be admitted that, for all his frivolity, Prince Alexander Nikolaevich was able to change for the better and gradually moved from the belief that a person should only catch the pleasures of life to faith in God, which was facilitated by reading the Bible. After all, he, the chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, had to open this eternal Book. And he was imbued with it. The Easter sermon of Hieromonk Philaret, read in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, similar to a poem, touched the heart of Prince Golitsyn, he shed tears and, calling Drozdov to him, congratulated him, and at the same time expressed the wish that he would be more often given the opportunity to read sermons before high-ranking assemblies. Meanwhile, in that Easter sermon, Filaret did not spare pseudo-Christians: – Well, if some of us limit Easter week to days of joy, without thinking about constantly drawing closer to Christ? If they are drunk with the fatness of the house of God, but do not want to taste even a drop of the bitter cup of Jesus? If, instead of vigil over themselves, on holy days they indulge in pagan carelessness, sitting down to eat and drink, rising up to play? If, amidst the triumph of spiritual freedom, one flesh works; celebrating the new Easter, they remain the old people; rejoice in the resurrection, but remain dead to God? - What kind of holiday will it be? Ah, such a holiday is a body without a soul; and for such Christians it is scary, but it must be said that for such Christians there is no resurrection of Christ. How many years have passed, but these words still ring true for us today! Let's take a sober look at how both in Europe and in our Russia Christmas and Easter are celebrated - in most cases, exactly as Filaret describes: a holiday of the body, not the soul! There is a lot of external, a lot of unnecessary, magnificent bodily fun. And there are few who come to these holidays spiritually cleansed, having taken another step towards the Kingdom of Heaven. Why, in most European countries these holidays have become only a “good and cheerful tradition”, having lost their original Christian content. Philaret’s next famous sermon was read by him on Trinity Day, May 13, 1811, in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and he dedicated it to the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. This grace fills a person with true wisdom, and not that which teaches people “to be inventive in methods and dexterous in cases of gaining temporary benefits and to increase their dignity not so much in themselves as in the opinion of others, but a wisdom that spiritually strives for everything, in order to turn everything into a means to the one eternal good of the soul.” He again spoke about the false values ​​of this age and the true values ​​of eternity. In a sermon on June 10 of the same year, Hieromonk Philaret spoke passionately about sin, about how they stopped being afraid of it, about how “the sinful illness of one can become an infection for many,” and how from this common sin the death of an entire people is born. Exactly a year remained before Napoleon's invasion. Seeing the sea of ​​sin spreading across Rus', seers like Philaret foresaw God's imminent punishment. And they burned the hearts of the listeners, calling them to come to their senses, to reject a sinful life and thereby avert the Lord’s punishment. The gift of preaching is a rare gift. And the fame of talented preachers quickly spreads. Take today as an example. We recently had a great patriarch. Alexy II radiated the radiance of true faith and love for people, a radiance from which hearts lit up with reciprocal faith and love. Such saints appear once every hundred years. But the current Patriarch Kirill undoubtedly has a magnificent gift for preaching. And he came not so much to caress and warm, but to appeal to conscience, to expose sins, to awaken souls to salvation. There are not many preachers like this. Just recently, the incomparable sermons of Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) were heard. I would also name Father Alexei Kozlivskov, who serves in the Moscow Epiphany Cathedral. A few more people. They are all visible and known. It was exactly the same at the beginning of the 19th century. Hieromonk Philaret, having read only a few magnificent sermons, became famous, and on June 30 he was “most mercifully awarded, for his distinction in preaching the Word of God,” with a pectoral cross with precious stones. And eight days later, on the feast of the appearance of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, Hieromonk Philaret disappeared, for from now on Archimandrite Philaret appeared in the world.