Tikhon of Zadonsk and “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching” by St. Theophan, the Recluse of Vyshensky

Annotation. The article examines the issue of the relationship between the works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching” by St. Theophan, the Recluse of Vyshensky. The first part of the article defines the meaning of the Outline of Christian Moral Teaching and describes the history of the publication. In the second part, having carried out a meaningful and comparative analysis of the works of the two saints, we come to the conclusion: the Vyshensky Recluse often turns to the legacy of the Zadonsk Wonderworker. This is due to both the special respect and the general principle of constructing their works. Saint Tikhon called this principle “the logic of Christian action,” and Saint Theophan called “moral Christian life.” However, it should be noted that Saint Theophan does not subordinate his presentation of thoughts to the texts of the Right Reverend Tikhon, but on the contrary, he subordinates the thoughts and positions of Saint Tikhon to his presentation. Abstract. The article deals with the issue of the relationship between the works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and “The Inscription of Christian Moral Teaching” by St. Theophan the Recluse Vyshensky. The first part of the article defines the meaning of the “Inscription of Christian morality” and describes the history of the publication. In the second part, after a meaningful and comparative analysis of the works of the two saints, we come to the conclusion: the Vyshensky Recluse often refers to the heritage of the Zadonsky Wonderworker. This is due to both special reverence and the general principle of labor. St. Tikhon called this principle “the logic of Christian action”, and St. Theophan called it “moral Christian life”. However, it should be noted that St. Theophan does not subordinate his exposition to the thought of Bishop Tikhon, but, on the contrary, subordinates the thoughts and positions of St. Tikhon to his exposition. Russian patrolology is a field of modern theological knowledge that is in a stage of active development. Researchers are faced with the tasks of a more detailed study of the life path, a meaningful analysis of the teachings of the fathers, searching for connections with the great fathers of the Church, as well as original thoughts and their special contribution to the treasury of Christian theology. An equally important task is the search for a common theological principle for the fathers of the Russian Church. This problem can be solved by comparing works and comparative analysis of thoughts and teachings. This article attempts to establish the relationship between the heritage of St. Tikhon (Sokolov) and the “Outline of Christian Moral Teaching” by St. Theophan (Govorov). 2021 marks 30 years since the second discovery of the relics of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. On January 28, 1919, the relics of the Right Reverend Bishop were desecrated by an autopsy and “examination.” Until 1988, they were in the anti-religious museums of Zadonsk, Yelets and Orel. The transfer of the relics of the Russian Orthodox Church from the storerooms of the Oryol Regional Museum of Local History took place on June 18, 1988, and on August 26, 1991, the relics of St. Tikhon returned to the restored Zadonsky Monastery. Also, 2021 marks the 130th anniversary of the glorification of St. Tikhon as a saint, in which His Grace Theophan, the Recluse of Vyshensky, took part. “Some invisible thread connected two saints - Tikhon of Zadonsk and Theophan the Recluse, who were separated in time by a whole century, but who were spiritually close to each other” [1]. In her report “Tikhon of Zadonsk and Theophan the Recluse,” Varvara Viktorovna Kashirina traced in detail the connection between the saints and Theophan’s special reverent respect for Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk. One of the main works of the legacy of the Right Reverend Theophan is deservedly considered “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching. General reasoning and provisions on moral Christian life" - a textbook on moral theology, compiled by St. Theophan the Recluse. After the blessed death of Saint Theophan, it was decided to depict three works on the tombstone: “The Philokalia,” “The Gospel Story,” and “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching.” The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching - “the main work of the saint, where his system is most fully presented - “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching” should be understood not only as a teaching about spirituality and morality in the proper sense, although it is devoted to the analysis of these phenomena, but as a teaching about the integral life of man, as a teaching about human life in general” [9]. The history of the creation of this work is surprising for patristic writing as a whole, but ordinary for Bishop Theophan. Vladyka is a master of the epistolary genre. We know that from his seclusion the saint sent dozens of letters a day. But long before this time he had extensive correspondence. And a large number of published works are collections of letters from St. Theophan. In correspondence with his spiritual children and acquaintances, he systematically expounded Christian teaching. Such a work is, for example, the book “What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it,” which sets out in detail the anthropological system of the Right Reverend Bishop as applied to Christian life. But “Outlines of Christian Moral Teaching” is a reissue of “Letters on Christian Life,” which were addressed to Princess Pelageya Sergeevna Lukomskaya and in which the Bishop sets out the course of his lectures on moral theology 1 . “Letters on Christian Life” underwent several reprints in the form of collections, and at the end of his life Saint Fofan decides to reissue the third and fourth parts as a separate book - “Inscriptions of Christian Moral Teaching.” As the bishop wrote: “And I’ll tell you about other news myself. I got excited about “Letters on the Christian Life.” The 3rd and 4th issues comprise “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching” [8, p. 219]. The uniqueness of this work also lies in the fact that the letters were written in the forties, i.e. at the very beginning of church activity, and were republished 50 years later without any special changes [7, p. 19]. At this time, the 3rd and 4th editions of Letters on the Christian Life have not been reprinted in their entirety in their original form. However, the publishing house "Rule of Faith" republished that part of these letters, which, in the opinion of St. Theophan, represents a "Little Experience in Psychology." Comparing the republished letters entitled “Incarnate Economy” and “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching,” one can note only a stylistic edit - what belongs to the epistolary genre - greetings, personal appeals - was revised or crossed out. And thoughts and their sequence are preserved. Here's an example: The uniqueness of this work, its systematic nature and relevance obliged us to turn to it. Upon closer examination, we find fundamentality behind the harmony of the structure. Theophan the Recluse confirms every aspect of his subject of discussion, which is moral Christian life, with the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers. Among the holy fathers we find Saints John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Saints John Climacus, Neil the Faster and other ascetics. In his work, the Right Reverend Bishop most often turns to St. Macarius of Egypt, the Great. We find 24 references to this father. The second most frequently mentioned is St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. We find 15 references to the Right Reverend Tikhon, most of which are lengthy quotations. It should be noted that at the time of writing the “Letters on Christian Life”, the 3rd and 4th parts of which became the “Inscription”, St. Tikhon was not yet canonized as a saint. All mentions of Tikhon of Zadonsk can be divided into two parts: 1. Quotes from the works of St. Tikhon (12); 2. Recommendations for reading the works of St. Tikhon (3). Of these 15 references, 12 refer to one work by the Right Reverend Tikhon - “On True Christianity.” We believe that since the work is compositionally built on the principle of Christian praxis [2] and has a harmonious and complete system, it was convenient for the Vyshensky Recluse to resort to this work. Comparing the structure of the two essays, we find identical sections: Similar similarities arise from one principle exposition, which according to St. Theophan is called “Moral Christian Life”, and by St. Tikhon “The Logic of Christian Action”. The general principle, identical sections, and frequent citations bring these two works closer to each other, however, it must be said that St. Theophan does not subordinate his presentation to the thoughts of the Right Reverend Tikhon, but, on the contrary, subordinates the thoughts and positions of St. Tikhon to his presentation. This follows from the way Saint Theophan quotes the essay “On True Christianity.” There are quotes that are almost word for word the same. However, more often the Recluse retells the text of St. Tikhon in a condensed version. In one quoted paragraph from the section “Faith,” Bishop Theophan expounds several paragraphs “about Faith” from the essay “On True Christianity.” Thus, the quoted text of the quotation for Theophan the Recluse does not indicate a literal quotation, as is customary now, but implies the transfer of thought. It should be noted that, turning to the legacy of St. Macarius of Egypt, the Vyshensky Recluse always accurately conveys the source. Despite this, all quotes from St. Tikhon have some lexical, stylistic and syntactic similarities. All but one. In the “Inscription” we read: “God’s threats for rejecting wisdom can rightly be attributed to the disobedient: you call and do not listen; The Right Reverend Tikhon says: “That is faith – silent submission to the speaking God (vol. 7).” Inquisitiveness is the ruin of faith. Whoever enters the realm of faith with a rebellious and wayward mind is a thief and a robber... Take off the weapon of your mind, as soldiers do when entering a church" [6, p. 454–456]. However, in the seventh volume of St. Tikhon we do not find such a definition. We don’t even find words like “silent” and “submissiveness” in Saint Tikhon. But we find a section: “about faith,” in which the saint writes: “Faith is something that we do not see or do not comprehend with our minds, but we believe that it is so... For the most well-known sign of unbelief is to ask about the mysteries of God: how can this be? Therefore, St. John Chrysostom teaches: "Where there is faith, there is no need for testing. Where it is not appropriate to test, what is the need for testing? Testing faith is ruinous. For the one who tests it will not gain." (Conversation 1 on the first Epistle to Timothy)” [4, p. 15–16]. The general theme is very close to the quote and train of thought of St. Theophan. Therefore, we assume that it is this passage that is “quoted” in the Outline of Christian Moral Teaching. Thus, Saint Tikhon was of great importance in the life of Saint Theophan the Recluse and his works. In “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching” we find many quotes, paraphrases, and references to St. Tikhon; we see a general principle, a coincidence of themes and individual points with his essay “On True Christianity.” However, the presentation of St. Theophan the Recluse has its own unique structure and consistency. 1. Kashirina V.V. Tikhon Zadonsky and Feofan the Recluse [Electronic resource]. URL: https://zadonsk-monastyr.ru/tihonzadonskij-i-feofan-zatvornik/ (date accessed 11/24/2022) 2. Melnikov E.A. Christian praxis as a fundamental principle of the composition of the work of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk “On True Christianity” // Christian Reading. – No. 3. – 2019. [Electronic resource] URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/hristianskiy-praksiskak-osnovopolagayuschiy-printsip-kompozitsii-sochineniyasvyatitelya-tihona-zadonskogo-ob-istinnom-hristianstve (accessed November 25, 2022). 3. Tikhon of Zadonsk, St. Complete collection of creations. Volume 3. About true Christianity. Book 1. M., 2017. 864 p. 4. Tikhon of Zadonsk, St. Complete collection of creations. Volume 4. About true Christianity. Book 2. M., 2017. 865 p. 5. Theophan the Recluse, St. Embodied housebuilding. Experience of Christian psychology in letters. M., 2008. 264 p. 6. Theophan the Recluse, St. Outline of Christian moral teaching. M., 2005. 563 p. 7. Theophan the Recluse, St. Creations. Collection of letters. Issue III and IV. M., 1994. 355 p. 8. Theophan the Recluse, St. Creations. Collection of letters. Issue VII and VIII. M., 1994. 432 p. 9 . Khokhlova A.B. “The outline of Christian moral teaching” as a doctrine of the holistic development of man // Feofanovsky readings. Issue 10. Volume 2 [Electronic resource] URL: https:// azbyka.ru/otechnik/Feofan_Zatvornik/feofanovskie-chtenijavypusk-10-tom-2/2_9 (access date 11/24/2022). 10. Salishchev D.S., priest. Notes of the lessons of St. Theophan the Recluse on moral theology (introductory article) // Proceedings on Russian patrolology. – 2022. – No. 1 (13). – P. 78–98. For the notes of these lectures and the introductory article to them, see: Salishchev D.S., priest. Notes of the lessons of St. Theophan the Recluse on moral theology (introductory article) // Proceedings on Russian patrolology. 2022. No. 1(13). pp. 78–98 [10].