The life and teachings of the Right Reverend Theophan of Vyshensky the recluse

Remember your teachers, who spoke the word of God to you, and as you look to the end of your life, imitate their faith (Heb. 13:7). The late saint - Rev. Theophan the Recluse belongs precisely to those few of our spiritual mentors, of whom the Apostle commands to keep a grateful memory; for all his life he preached the word of God to us and his life itself represents the greatest example for imitation. At present, there is an external reason for this commemoration, since January 6 next, 1904, will mark ten years since the blessed death of the Saint. It is customary for us to celebrate historical commemorations and anniversaries of outstanding public figures with special, often solemn gatherings in their memory. The latter have very important moral and social significance. Of course, it is not the celebrants themselves who need such holidays, for they already stand before the face of God in the totality of their affairs, their lives, and need only the prayers of the Church. But these holidays are extremely necessary for the society itself and the people from which the honored figures came. Then it solemnly testifies that it remembers and knows how to appreciate the significance of the spiritual blessings bequeathed to it by great people. What is especially dear here is that the entire mass of ordinary - average and small people, breaking away from the narrow interests of everyday life and throwing off the yoke of everyday worries, at least for a few hours becomes better, coming into contact with the ideas of a great man and experiencing the most sublime, ennobling moments of life. In the memory of a dear person, society recalls its history, the growth of its inner life, involuntarily compares and verifies the present with the experiences of the past, and can also find indications for a better future. And for the deceased Saint Theophan, the time of the first historical commemoration is coming, when at meetings in his memory the most important information about his personality and activities will be reproduced and presented to public attention. Ten years is too short a period for a complete picture of the life and public service of such a major historical figure as the Reverend. Feofan, but quite sufficient to note the general character and direction, to explain the most important and more significant moments of its development and manifestation. At present, much has already been done for the immortality of the name of the Saint. His works have been published and ten books of letters, especially important for characterizing his personality, have been printed. Experts are now widely enjoying the abundant fruits of the Saint’s life deeds. Thus, a modern exegete of the word of God cannot do without his truly classic interpretative works; for a theology teacher it became a reference book - “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching”; the ascetic has indispensable guidance in his numerous ascetic creations, etc. But the public Christian mass, the so-called general public, Rev. Feofan is too little known. For her, he should be especially dear, as a great and most authoritative teacher of spiritual life and morality, which is his most important historical service to Russian Orthodox society. It is essential for the latter to become familiar with the personality and activities of Rev. Feofan as a teacher of Christian life. But what is the most convenient way to do this? Of course, the best way to get to know a writer is through his writings. No one and nothing can give a more complete and correct idea of ​​him than he himself. This must be said especially in relation to such a deeply sincere and convinced writer as Rev. Feofan. Every line of his creations is evidence of his personality. But there is some important difficulty here. The entire mass of the saint's literary works, even some moralizing works, are inaccessible to the majority of the public, both for material reasons and for the difficulty of compiling a complete collection of them. The small books and brochures published recently from his writings - on prayer, on churches, on repentance and communion, etc., provide only fragmentary information on some individual issues and are far from sufficient to clarify the general idea of ​​​​his activities as a teacher of Christian life. It seems to us that significant extracts from the works of Rev. Theophan on the most important issues of Christian morality, set out in connection with the main events of his life and collected in one book, would, under current conditions, be more suitable than others and, at first, a sufficient means of satisfying the said need of our society to become acquainted with their author. This is how the idea of ​​the proposed publication arose and this is its essential task. It is a weak, feasible tribute to our deepest reverence for the memory of the great Christian teacher and ascetic. If anyone who has looked through this book has the desire to become more closely and thoroughly acquainted with the remarkable personality and rich spiritual treasury of the saint’s works, then we will consider ourselves completely morally satisfied and the goal achieved. In conclusion, we consider it necessary to make the following two reservations. Firstly, the teaching of Rev. Theophan's book on the most important subjects of Christian life is presented in the book, mostly literally, in order to preserve and give the reader a true understanding of the depth of the content and the artistic simplicity of its external expression. The saint was such a unique and original thinker, and his speech itself was so characteristic and original that his teaching is extremely difficult to convey in someone else’s words; no reproduction can give a real idea of ​​what is being reproduced. Secondly, all factual information about the life of the ascetic was carefully verified by us under direct observation and according to the instructions of the person who stood closest and knew him best than others. We are talking about the then (and current) rector of the Vyshenskaya monastery, the venerable Fr. Archimandrite Arcadia, this is currently the only witness to the desert exploits of the deceased ruler, to whom the latter, during his 28-year stay on Above, more than once retold the most important events of his life. The venerable elder was so attentive to our work that he did not refuse to provide a lot of information about the life of the saint that had not yet been published, as well as to review and make some corrections in the already published material, for which we consider it our duty to bring him deep gratitude.