Епископ Василий (Родзянко). Слово о владыке Иоанне

There are so many saints still walking on the Russian land, and now there are martyrs who were not killed by their evil tormentors - they are still walking on the earth, and the light of martyrdom shines in their eyes. Sometimes this martyrdom is endless, not necessarily ending in a terrible murder, but rather a slow dying throughout life. These are the shepherds whom you meet now in Rus' in the Russian Church - in churches and outside churches, you see a priest who is rushing to the hospital with the Holy Gifts, in order to console the dying, in order to prepare him for the Kingdom of God. After all, what does it mean to prepare for the Kingdom of God? What a huge responsibility lies on this shepherd, this martyr, because every hour, every minute, every breath he gives to those who need him. This was the one whom I cannot forget, who gave me life, who snatched me from the horrors of this world and directed me along the path intended by Christ the Savior, according to His plan - despite all the unworthiness... Yes, I became acquainted with the administrative-command system very early in my life. Then I met her both during the war and after the war, with different ones - both Hitler’s and the opposite. But there was already, you know, a childhood vaccination. You know how vaccines were vaccinated - so I had a good vaccination... But nevertheless, all this could have ended very, very sadly if the Lord had not arranged it so that Father John would be in my way. This was when I was already placed in the gymnasium, in our high school in Belgrade. And since my parents remained in the village where my father ran a farm on an estate that the Serbian state had sequestered from a Hungarian tycoon who fled during the First World War, therefore I was placed in a boarding school, and we, unlike those who came, were called boarders in the gymnasium. But this boarding school was, of course, a difficult place for me, with this already established complex in my soul. And it was noticeable. Father John probably noticed this too. Because for the first time in my life I saw a person with kind, kind eyes, a big child. He was even younger than me from this point of view, a smaller child. And immediately a common childish language was established with him, although he was, of course, no longer just a child. He was the one about whom the Savior said: “Unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven” [Matt. 18:3]. “For of such is the kingdom of God” [Mk. 10:14]. And he took my whole life into his hands, from that first blissful holy moment until the very last, when after his death he suddenly came to me. I don’t know whether it was in a dream, or half asleep, or in reality, but I just remember how early in the morning - it was in London, I was already a priest, young even then - suddenly he ... someone hit me in the side, quite decisively. I woke up or jumped up - I don’t know. And I see: Vladyka is standing - then he was Vladyka John, looking at me with the same kind eyes, but sternly telling me: “Get up, go serve the Liturgy, right away!” I jumped up and went and served the Liturgy, alone, in my small house church of the Cross - the way he had served all his life. He served the Liturgy every day, always starting it alone. But always, almost always, someone came to this Liturgy of his. And if no one came, then, as he himself said, there were angels and there were saints. And in any case, the Liturgy has never been alone - it cannot be alone. The Liturgy was his life - he lived it, he lived in it. She was his cover. In general, our life went in such a way that we met when, so at the very beginning, he was waiting for some papers of his, when he was transferred from one place to another in Belgrade - and then, this was in childhood, when he gathered us around him, and there was something amazing about it. And then, when he told us, as children, everything he could: from the Holy Scriptures, Church tradition, the holy fathers - he spoke all this in such a childish language that we understood everything. And not only from the lives of saints, but sometimes simply from life. And it was always very interesting, although he was not a speaker, and he spoke indistinctly, and you had to listen carefully to understand what word came out of his mouth. But in general he was like that - completely special. There was something blessed about him - he really was a holy fool, a holy fool. But in a very good sense of the word - simple - simple, spontaneous. And if he says it, he will say it. And so we met when the Lord gave us to meet. Very soon he was made Bishop of Shanghai in the city of Shanghai. It was the Abroad, the Russian Church Abroad, which had its parishes, churches, and dioceses literally all over the world. After he got there, only rarely did letters come from him. When he found out that I was getting married, he wrote a very touching pastoral letter about what it was and what the path was. And our next meeting was after the war. I was, in general, in a Serbian parish, not a single parishioner of mine left anywhere, because this was their homeland, this was their village, they lived here. And for them, paradoxically, the arrival of the Soviet army - then it was still called the Red Army - was liberation, and indeed there was liberation from the Germans who conquered them, occupied them and committed incredible atrocities against them. Well, how could a shepherd leave such a flock? Of course, the conditions were different for the White Russian emigration and for these simple Serbian peasants. But if I was the shepherd of this flock, then I had to stay with it. And I remember reading the Gospel - exactly the place where it says: “But the hireling sees the wolf coming, and runs, and the wolf comes and scatters 3 sheep. But the good shepherd does not flee, but gives his life for his sheep” [Jn. 10:11–12]. This was a very pressing issue for me. I knew very well that the Serbian Church had already established Eucharistic communion, that is, communion in the liturgical service and in Communion, with the Russian Orthodox Church, and as soon as the final liberation came, full communion with the Moscow Patriarchate would be externally established. And my whole family and all this white emigration, as you know, was in the Russian Church Abroad. At the request of the Serbian Church, I was ordained a priest by Metropolitan Anastasius, the then head of the Russian Church Abroad. And although I immediately went to the Serbian parish, nevertheless, ordination is ordination, and I felt in this sense that I was mysteriously, in the very depths of the sacrament of the priesthood, connected with the Church, in which were my parents, my brothers, sisters and the whole family. And so there was, of course, a question for me - because I knew what the foreigners’ theory was in relation to the Moscow Patriarchate after Metropolitan Sergius’ Declaration of Loyalty to Soviet Power. This was all, of course, mainly political, but nevertheless there was something spiritual in it. And therefore, for me this question was very acute - I knew that by remaining with my flock, which was according to the direct covenant of Christ in the Gospel, I was thereby actually moving from communication with the Church Abroad to direct and immediate communication with the Russian Patriarchal Church, with the Moscow Patriarchate. And when I decided this question for myself, I realized that it was a fundamental question - that the Divine grace of the Eucharist, that is, Communion, is above church jurisdictions, that is, subordination to this or that Synod, Council or bishop. Having already taken this path, I did not leave it and never did, because the Church was higher for me than earthly paths. The divine nature of the Church, expressed in hierarchy and sacraments, was higher for me than the human nature of the Church, which can sometimes make mistakes. I thought that I would remain forever cut off from my parents and that I would be behind the “Iron Curtain” and would never meet them - and then I suddenly left for Paris, after I was released from a communist Yugoslav prison and, one might say, “advised”, in quotes, to leave Yugoslavia (this was after Tito had fallen out with Stalin), and in Paris itself I left the station - where? - to the Russian Church Abroad, and there they offered me to serve. And the first thing I said after the first meeting, the first mutual tears, I said openly and directly to Bishop John, was that I could not, in my conscience, throw stones, as many did abroad, at the Russian Orthodox Church, its Patriarch and its hierarchs. Do you know what he told me? He told me: “Every day at the proskomedia I remember Patriarch Alexy. He is the Patriarch. And our prayer still remains. Due to circumstances, we are cut off, but liturgically we are united. The Russian Church, like the entire Orthodox Church, is united Eucharistically, and we are with it and in it. But administratively, for the sake of our flock and for the sake of certain principles, we have to follow this path, but this in no way violates our mysterious unity of the entire Church. Therefore, being a Serbian cleric, you can serve wherever you want – in the canonical Churches, of course – and come and serve with me.” This is how the unforgettable Bishop John Maksimovich acted with me in his holiness, in his truly genuine blessed vision. We were returning back to Paris from London, where we had gone for the summer, for two months, to meet my sister, who lived in London at that time, and with many relatives and friends. And my mother, my late wife, fell ill. Something unclear happened, but she had terrible pain in her hip, she couldn’t step, she couldn’t move, and barely, barely, we brought her there to the school where we lived in Versailles, and immediately called a French doctor. And the French doctor examined her for a long time, shook his head, took me aside, and said: “You must get used to the idea that she will never be able to walk again. You will have to buy a special chair on wheels for her. And this is for the rest of my life. But we will still send her to the hospital for a final and complete check.” Well, can you imagine: after all the trials that we have already had, after my prison, after all the difficulties that were with my deceased, can you imagine this? Vladyka John was away at that time. He arrived, found out about it, immediately called me, said: “Don’t worry. I'll come tomorrow and give her communion. And then you can take her to the hospital.” He served the Liturgy alone, I was with her at that time. And after the Liturgy (it was a home school church), he came in full vestments with the Chalice. With the Chalice, from the Liturgy, he came just like that. And he stopped at the door and said: “Mary, get up! Go take communion." And she suddenly got up and walked. He asks: “Does it hurt?” - "No". - “Well, go and take communion.” - “Have you received communion? Now go back to bed.” She lay down. It was like a dream. He left to consume the Holy Gifts, back to church, I stayed with her. She tells me: “The pain is gone. I don’t feel anything.” But nevertheless, after lunch, an ambulance arrived and took her to the hospital. She stayed there for several days, and after a few days they returned her with a doctor’s note: “Why did you send her to us? She is completely healthy, she has nothing.” What it was, how it was - only God knows. I'm just saying what happened. After that, we stayed for some time with Bishop John there, in this school, with these kids, in this church. I served there with Vladyka, it was an unforgettable time. But at this time, when we went on a date with relatives in London, I also met there with another great fruit of the Church, let’s say, Serbian Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich. I could also talk a lot about him, but at the moment I’ll just say that we met with him, and he simply gave me obedience: come here to London, we need a Serbian priest, and you are one - even though you are Russian, you are also Serbian, you know Serbian, come. And we knew him from Yugoslavia, a long time ago. And so, I told this to Vladyka John - he greatly revered Vladyka Nicholas, knew him closely, he served in his diocese, in Yugoslavia. And Nicholas said about him, about Vladyka John: “Here is a living saint walking the earth.” Well, these two saints, so to speak, collaborated, met, and both decided that I should be in the London Serbian Church, and I moved there. And I remember how we left. Just as Vladyka John stood and saw us leaving in a taxi, and baptized us with both hands, without ceasing, until we disappeared at the end of the road, so I see him now, with his gentle smile, with his amazing look, so childish, loving, fatherly, and blessed us on a new path. After some time, suddenly there was a phone call, already in London. Vladika John calls: “I’m here in London, come serve with me!” And I immediately went. At that time he was the manager of all the Foreign parishes of Western Europe, including London, and at that time I met and became very friendly with my new confessor, Bishop Anthony of Sourozh, who is still in London 4. And he served constantly with him. And there, of course – it was the Patriarchal Church – they commemorated Patriarch Alexy. This did not in the least prevent Vladika John from inviting me and serving in the same London in the opposite, so to speak, Church. Both my friends and spiritual fathers did not interfere with this. And Vladika John even rejoiced at this, and Vladika Anthony too. So, through me, a sinner, at that moment there was complete peace and love between both Churches, which were officially at odds. This is how saints sometimes perform miracles of this kind. The next meeting took place right there, in this very apartment in London, when he appeared to me after death and returned me, in the full sense of the word, to the liturgical path. Because there were trials and temptations at that moment, and he knew why he needed to wake me up like that, one might say, even rudely, and poke me in the ribs, and say: “Go serve the Liturgy!” - and I went and served. Behold, “you will know them by their fruits” [Matt. 7, 16]. (“The Meaning of Life.” A series of conversations [on videotapes] about the Orthodox faith for family and school. Moscow Compound Publishing House Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersk monastery [1994.] Part 2. Conversation 6) I’m dispersing (ts.-slav.) – I’m frightening away, dispersing. “When at the All-Russian Local Council of 1971 in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra the question of excommunication of the Russian Church Abroad was raised, the then exarch of the Moscow Patriarchate in Western Europe, Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh (from London) boldly and decisively opposed this and made a passionate speech at the Council in defense of the Russian Church Abroad. He was supported in his speech by the delegate - layman from France N. V. Lossky... The Council did not excommunicate the Russian Church Abroad, but only decided to “study this issue”... In the same way, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad never “excommunicated” (did not declare “non-Orthodox” - on a par with Roman Catholics) the Orthodox Church in America... All decisions were only of an administrative nature. There are various theological opinions on this matter, but only opinions, and not canonical ecclesiological decisions of the entire Russian Church Abroad...” (Bishop Vasily (Rodzianko). Our relations with the Church Abroad. “Russian Life” (San Francisco), September 23, 1982. S. b. Quoted from: M. V. Nazarov. Mission of the Russian emigration. Volume 1. Stavropol, 1992; M., 1994. P. 178).