Letters to Archbishop Leonid, Bishop of Dmitrov

The letters presented in this publication to St. Philaret of Moscow (Drozdov) are addressed to Bishop Leonid (Krasnopevkov) of Dmitrov, his vicar and spiritual student. The correspondence covers the period from 1861 to 1866 and totals about 340 letters. - pastoral guidance and consolation: advice on spiritual life, resolving confusion (for example, combining personal prayer with church rules) and support in grief; - theology and church life: criticism of the rationalistic approach to the Ten Commandments, practical aspects of church service, including issues of diocese management and interaction with government authorities (the example of religious processions during an epidemic); - socio-political context: controversy around the Polish question and proselytism after the 1863 uprising. The saint calls for spiritual sobriety, pointing out shortcomings within the Orthodox environment. Thus, in a letter dated July 3, 1863, St. Filaret points to the religious and moral aspect of the Polish uprising. He criticizes the actions of Polish Catholic organizations, which during the uprising used the material need of Orthodox families to convert children to Catholicism. The saint condemns both Poles (for “buying children”) and Orthodox mothers (for “selling faith”), as well as indirectly the Orthodox clergy and laity who did not prevent such cases. He appears here as a shepherd, concerned about preserving the faith and unity of the Church in conditions of conflict. Leonid (L.V. Krasnopevkov, 1817–1876), during the period of correspondence, Bishop of Dmitrov, vicar of the Moscow diocese (1859–1876), later Archbishop of Yaroslavl and Rostov. Metropolitan Philaret was directly involved in his fate: Krasnopevkov, after the death of his father, at the suggestion of the Moscow Metropolitan, moved from St. Petersburg to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra to continue his spiritual education. It seems that the questioner, without offering a question, could say: Do I dare to place next to the memory of the Lord’s death on the cross the memory of the death of my mother 1, when on this day the Church does not allow the commemoration of glorified saints? If he does not want to completely obey the rules of the Church, let them celebrate the requiem mass tomorrow before the liturgy, and not on Friday. May the Lord grant you strength and holy consolation in holy sorrow. If you turn and turn my gaze to the past, it will be true if I turn it to the merciful ways of God’s Providence. To go through a forty-year career is not my acquisition, but a gift of God’s mercy 3 . To survive, for example, several epidemics, 4 and especially the first one, which made it no less difficult with exaggerated fear as with its own strength, is also not my acquisition, but the mercy of God, which appeared at that time in a special way. They said that gatherings of people in churches and in religious processions were dangerous, and they presented as an example a city in which the churches were locked. I promised some precautions: and they gave me freedom of assembly in churches. And when, after religious processions were completed in the middle of the city and near all the churches, the sovereign emperor arrived the next day and, following, of course, the judgments of the doctors, asked me whether it was dangerous for me to gather masses of people and kneel in prayer on the damp ground, Providence gave me the opportunity to immediately answer: “Your Majesty, the Lord justified the church action, at least against this doubt; the number of people falling ill after religious processions is not more, but somewhat less, than in the days before the religious processions.” This further confirmed the freedom of church prayers. I won’t multiply examples. I won’t have enough time to tell you how many times and in many ways the Lord allowed difficulties in my career and mercifully resolved them. To him be confession and glory. Addressing my beloved brethren and co-servants in Christ and the good children of the Moscow Church, who at this time have significantly expressed their favor and goodwill to me, I accept this with consolation in the sense that I see in this not only a good-natured thought, but also zeal for the Holy Church, without which the thought of counting my years would not have occurred. I see with consolation that good-natured thought is free. She united many within herself, which reveals unity in the church spirit. […] God gives health so that a person can act, but also takes care of health so that he can ensure continued action; and sends illness so that a person can endure inaction in calm obedience to the will of God and thereby contribute to the restoration of health. Let it not be hard if the prayers need to be shortened. It is sufficient that the heart speaks 5 to the Lord. In any case, care for health should be entrusted to the mercy of God, but on our part we should not put off what can be useful to our health. We do not dare to demand miracles, surrendering ourselves to His care, but we humbly ask to bless the beneficial means that He placed in the forces of nature and which we use according to our ability and understanding. If God has given us strength for 70 years, we have no right to spend it in 7 years or less, which can happen if we completely give up caring about maintaining health or strengthening those who have wavered. Thank you for remembering my chronology, for which I must thank God with fear, and ask others for prayerful help. […] The Polish members of the humane institution are severely judged for buying future children from poor Orthodox mothers in order to raise those born in their Latin religion. How to judge mothers who sell their children and their faith? And if this trial begins, will it not affect Orthodox priests and Orthodox laymen who are not poor, who could have the best Polish love of humanity and piety and prevent the sale of Orthodox children and their faith? A great bitch in someone else's eye. God grant that a clean eye does not open a hole in our eye! May Saint Sergius again justify our faith. […] The logical and mathematical mind is dissatisfied that it was not he who built the Ten Commandments according to his own forms, and he “looking at the connection of the ten commandments of the law of God” decided to rebuild them according to his own forms, not noticing that he was not so much building as breaking. In its construction, the commandment “II. Know God rightly.” But this positive thought is contained in the first commandment. The second has its own thought, a negative one. "IV. Do it right." This is so vague that there is not even a hint of the true fourth commandment. "VI. Do no harm." The Holy Apostle does not understand the sixth commandment this way. He says that he who hates his brother is a murderer, although he does not harm the “body” of his brother. "VII. Do not harm the soul." Does breaking the seventh commandment really only harm the “soul” and not harm the “body”? "VIII. Don't harm the property." Gold does not feel any "harm" from being stolen. A thief does not harm the property, but the owner. The Catechism says more carefully: “Do not harm property,” that is, not the substance of the property, but the right of ownership over the property. “Contradictions and correspondences” between the commandments are drawn up forcefully and can hardly lead to conviction and benefit. For example: “the fourth corresponds to the eighth.” Fourth commandment: Remember the Sabbath day 6. Eighth: Don't steal 7. Is there any consistency here? Don't you need a lot of tension to find it? Is it necessary for the logical mind to take upon itself the claim to compile a system of commandments when God’s wisdom has already compiled it? The first and great commandment: love God 8; the second one is subsequent: love your neighbor 9. This is the true source of spiritual and moral life! Here is a pure stream of spiritual and moral life from this source! The Apostle adds: the fulfillment of... the law of every thing is 10. There should be no embarrassment in accepting what happens according to the will of God. Be calm. […] I deeply regret Vladimir Ivanovich 11. May his Guardian Angel inspire him that the destinies of the Lord are inscrutable, but always wise and good, and that in humble obedience to them one can always find reinforcement for enduring a sorrowful visit. […] I return the article “On the superiority of Christian moral teaching over others.” The thought of such a comparison, if processed clearly and accurately, can bear fruit. But the experience made does not seem satisfactory to me. Who is this for? Of course, for those tempted to doubt the divine dignity of Christianity. He who does not trust the Holy Scriptures and the Church will not trust some writer who defends Christianity, who tells from himself the opinions of peoples and philosophers. Where did he get this from? Did I understand and present it correctly? It is necessary not only to indicate where the information was taken from, but in the most important cases to provide accurate extracts. This is the only way to influence those who doubt. “Work worthy of more than one hand.” But if you undertake enormous labor with many hands, you will not increase, but decrease the benefit. How many people have the means to buy an expensive book, the time and the desire to read it? An essay of a small volume in this distracted age may not intimidate the reader with difficulty, but attract with thoroughness and attractiveness, and may find many readers. “Those who present one worse side in the concepts of pagan peoples sin.” Let's not argue against this. But the best and worst sides must be presented very carefully, so as not to show that the mind wandered in the darkness, and then the light shone, and continues this in Christianity. The path of clarification is better and will pave a reliable path for the matter. How the image of this age changes in various ways, pleasant for some and inconsistent with the desires and hopes of others! […] I am bothering you with a matter of philanthropy, perhaps with little hope of success: but in matters of philanthropy it is permissible to act with little hope of success and it is not a shame to be refused. […] We, the servants of the Church, according to ancient Tradition, have the right and duty to intercede for the unfortunate. […] Request from Baron M. L. Bode to perform a memorial service on the anniversary of his mother’s death. During Good Friday services. Reply to the congratulations of the Moscow clergy on the fortieth anniversary of service in the Moscow see (July 3, 1821). Cholera epidemics in Russia in 1831, 1847, 1853. Ref. 20, 8. – Approx. comp. Ref. 20, 10. – Approx. comp. See: Mk. 12, 30. – Approx. comp. See: Mk. 12, 31. – Approx. comp. Rome. 13, 10. – Approx. comp. The doctor who treated Bishop Leonid’s son died. – Approx. comp.