Из воспоминаний протоиерея Павла Левитского

Father John died at the age of seventy-nine. The age is very advanced, indicated by Moses, the man of God: The days of our years are seventy years, and if we can, eighty years (Ps. 89:10), but for Father John it seems small. Whoever saw his beautiful, youthful face, his youthful mobility and his amazing, vigorous activity nine years before his death, could not even think that the priest was already a short-lived resident on this earth. On the contrary, all admirers of Father John wanted to think that he would not live a century. A serious illness brought Father John to an early grave. According to the data I have, kindly communicated to me by the current rector of the Kronstadt St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Archpriest P. I. Vinogradov in a letter dated December 22, 1911, “dear father began to fall ill on March 18, 1902, in 1904 his illness intensified so much that on November 25 of this year, Father John, due to weakness, could no longer serve in the cathedral, and so the illness it, now weakening, now strengthening, continued until February 1905, when the priest was again able to serve.” At the beginning of January 1905, Father John’s illness became so severe that he wished to receive unction and expressed his desire in a letter to his father, the keymaster of the cathedral, Archpriest A.P. Popov, dated January 2: “Your Reverence! Most venerable brother, Father Alexander Petrovich. It occurred to me to accept the Holy Sacrament of Anointing according to the rite of the Holy Church, which I ask the cathedral brethren to perform tomorrow, after the late Liturgy, taking with them the lunch Gifts in the chalice from the church. At the same time, my humble request to all the brethren is to perform the Holy Sacrament, saying everything out loud so that I can hear, feel and pray with you.” According to the priest’s request, he was unctioned on January 3 after the late Liturgy. To perform the unction, three priests were appointed from the clergy of St. Andrew's Cathedral, namely: Archpriest L.P. Popov, priests P.I. Vinogradov and N.V. Petrovsky, then the confessor of Father John of the church at the Kronstadt military prison, Archpriest Theodore Brilliantov, and the church at the “House of Diligence”, priest Andrei Shildsky. Finally, at the request of Archpriest Pyotr Petrovich Preobrazhensky and priest Nikolai Nikolaevich Vertogradsky, who was serving at the cemetery church in Kronstadt at that time, the cathedral priest P. I. Vinogradov petitioned Father John so that they would be allowed to participate in the unction, to which Father John expressed his consent. Thus, seven priests led by Archpriest P. P. Preobrazhensky unctioned the priest. The unction took place in the office. There were few worshipers here, living in the same yard with the priest and Abbess Angelina from the Ioannovsky Monastery with the leading sisters. All the people, with tears and prayer, stood like a wall on Mikhailovskaya Street in front of the windows of Father John’s apartment. At the end of the unction, the priest was tired and asked to cut it short. An hour or two after the unction, my wife and I came to say goodbye to Father John: he was lying on the bed in a cassock with his eyes closed and seemed to be suffering greatly. In the midst of deep silence, everyone took turns approaching him, bowed and kissed his hand, saying goodbye to him, perhaps forever, because there was almost no hope for recovery for human reasons. But what is impossible with man is possible with God, the One Physician of souls and bodies, Who raised His sick servant Archpriest John from his sick bed and extended his life for another four years. On February 27, Forgiveness Sunday, the priest served the first Liturgy after his illness, then served the entire Lent and Easter - all four years until his death. What kind of illness did Father John have and what was its cause? The serious and unexpected illness of Father John then gave rise to many rumors in Kronstadt and Petrograd. Their essence boils down to the following. On the day of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, November 24, 1904, Father John returned from Petrograd in the evening and, without stopping home, went straight to the Kronstadt merchant Y. K. M-vu, whose wife was the birthday girl on that day. The terrible, completely sick appearance of the priest, who had been in blooming health the day before, amazed and frightened everyone. Father John did not say anything about what happened to him, but he was so weak that with difficulty, accompanied by Y. K. M-va, he reached home and went to bed completely sick. It turns out that on this day Father John in Petrograd was allegedly invited to serve a prayer service in an apartment on Nikolaevskaya Street. The apartment belonged to Pashkov sectarians. The latter, when Father John came to them, pushed out or did not even let the person who brought the priest into the room, locked the doors and began to torture the priest: they threw him on the floor, trampled on him, filled his nose with snuff, inserted cigarettes into his mouth, crushed and pressed him so as to damage the internal vital organs in the abdomen and thereby cause him hourly suffering and hasten his death. Father John endured everything in silence. Tormenting him to death, apparently, was not part of the plans of the villains: they were either afraid of responsibility before the law for a flagrant crime, or they calmed themselves with the thought that the priest was no longer dangerous to them and that his death was a matter of the near future. How to feel about this story? Now, when ten years have passed since the described illness of Father John, it is difficult to restore the truth, especially since the priest is no longer alive. Wanting to be an impartial narrator, I will give some considerations: a) seemingly confirming the plausibility of these rumors about the cause of the priest’s illness and b) denying the possibility of the reported incident. a) That the incident of torture of Father John took place and was the cause of his serious illness in November 1904, this is confirmed by: 1) the amazing coincidence of information coming from different sources about the intensification of the priest’s illness by November 25, 1904, on which day, due to weakness, he could no longer serve in the cathedral, the reason for the weakness was that the priest had suffered the day before; 2) characteristic signs of the disease: as if everything was crushed inside and torn off, something was damaged in the gastric region, why the priest ate almost nothing after the illness, a complete loss of strength, indicating mechanical damage inflicted on the priest from the outside; 3) the prevalence and persistence of stories about this incident to this day among people who knew Father John closely. So, at two solemn rather crowded meetings of admirers of Father John in 1911 and 1914 here in the capital, I read out the above story about the cause of the priest’s illness, and none of those present objected to me a word or said: “Father, you are telling a lie” or “nothing like that happened,” and meanwhile at the meetings there were many people who knew Father John closely from Kronstadt and Petrograd and treasured, like a shrine, all the details of his life. On the contrary, during my message I heard repeated sincere exclamations from the listeners: “That’s right, father!”, and after the message, talking with them, I was convinced that the story I conveyed was known to them even in great detail and that it refers to the second case of fanaticism committed against Father John, and that ... the first case, an earlier one, took place in Vyatka, where the father was “bruised” by fanatics. 4) Just as there is no smoke without fire, such rumors would not have appeared if there had not been the fact itself. 5) With the permission of God, Satan, this “insidious old man,” as St. Barsanuphius the Great calls him, taught by thousands of years of experience in the fight against Christian ascetics, raises against them either his dark demonic hordes, as, for example, against St. Sergius, the Wonderworker of Radonezh, at the very beginning of his desert feat, or evil people, as against St. Seraphim of Sarov The miracle worker, whom the villains attacked in the forest, was thrown to the ground, hit on the head with a butt, which caused blood to gushing from the sufferer’s mouth and ears, and as he lay unconscious, they dragged him to the vestibule of his cell, continuing to furiously beat him with a butt, with wood, with his own hands and feet. The doctors who witnessed the elder after this torture found that “his head was broken, his ribs were broken, his chest was trampled and his whole body was covered in various places with mortal wounds.” They were surprised how the old man could survive after such beatings. Doesn’t this torment of the Venerable Father Seraphim by evil people remind us of the same torment of Father Father John? b) The authenticity of the incident on November 24, 1904 is contradicted by the fact that the story about it does not come from Father John himself, but from other persons who were not eyewitnesses. Considering this circumstance and wanting to find out the truth about the cause of Father John’s illness, I wrote a letter to the doctor A.V. K, who was well known to me from Kronstadt, who then treated Father John and then provided medical assistance to the priest until his death. While serving here in Petrograd in the Naval Corps, Alexey Vasilyevich very kindly told me on December 12, 1914 by telephone some information and, among other things, that then, during his illness, he asked Father John: “How reliable are the rumors circulating in Kronstadt that you, father, were crushed?” and that Father John answered him: “My friend! Everything they say is nonsense: no one has ever touched me. There was a case: one woman bit my finger, and that’s all.” According to Alexei Vasilyevich, Father John’s illness, explained by his old age, required long time and rest for treatment, which he did not have, and besides, he did not like to be treated. Arriving from Petrograd late at night, tired, exhausted by both illness and the day's labors, the priest wanted to rest for an hour or two - he got up at about four o'clock, and meanwhile he immediately needed medical help, which only through painful means would bring some relief to the sufferer. His illness intensified and was complicated by others, finding favorable soil in his naturally fragile senile body. Celebrities of the medical world invited to the patient, life surgeon N.A. Velyaminov and professor of the Military Medical Academy S.P. Fedorov, found it necessary to perform the operation, but postponed it for fear that Father John, due to his almost eighty years of age, would not survive the operation, would die during it, and responsibility for the unfavorable outcome and inevitable criticism would fall on them; and the priest himself, apparently, was against the operation, surrendering himself to the will of God. He died of senile infirmity on December 20, 1908. The brief statement from a representative of the medical world about the progress of the priest’s illness deserves full attention for its calm, business-like nature. The testimony of Father John given here is also very valuable, that “no one ever touched him” and that the rumors about some kind of attack on him that were circulating in Kronstadt are unreliable. But another assumption is possible: maybe Father John did not want to talk about the attack on him by fanatics? Perhaps, having endured everything from them according to the commandment of the Lord: do not resist evil (Matthew 5:39) and having forgiven them with all his heart as his personal offenders, he protected his lips with silence in order to give them the opportunity to escape punishment from human justice? After all, one word, one slightest complaint from Father John was enough then for their atrocity to be immediately exposed, the perpetrators were found and punished, but Father John did not utter a single word and left vengeance to the Lord God, doing what the Venerable Father Seraphim of Sarov did with the peasants who attacked him. The difference is that the Monk Seraphim, having arrived at the monastery, could not hide from the brethren his beaten face, blood-stained hair on his head and beard, blood-caked ears and several knocked out teeth, crumpled and bloody clothes and, out of duty of monastic obedience, told the abbot and confessor about everything that had happened, but Father John did not say anything and even denied the attack itself, for those who were throwing themselves In his eyes, there were no external injuries on his body, like the Monk Seraphim, but the Elder of God remained silent about internal, more significant injuries, known only to him alone. In addition to the above case, if only it took place in the life of Father John, when explaining his illness in 1904–1908, one must keep in mind that Father John did not take care of himself: living for others, he did not have time to think about his health and could not maintain it with a correct lifestyle, for example, to be at home at the appointed time, have dinner, study or rest. For almost the whole day, the priest was outside his home, in different houses, where he had to receive refreshments so as not to offend the owners. No weather stopped him from traveling to Petrograd - neither winter snowstorms and cold, nor storms at sea in spring and autumn. On the road - on his ship, in a carriage or in a carriage - the priest fell asleep for a short time, and even then not always, and this was his only rest. Fifty years of such an unparalleled life for others took with them both the strength and health of Father John. But others, for whom he lived and for whom he begged the Lord for health and all kinds of mercies, admirers of the priest, did not always treat him delicately and carefully, without noticing it themselves. Their love for their dear priest manifested itself with such uncontrollable elemental force that measures were required both in church and on the street to protect him; without them, one could fear that the people, in their uncontrollable spontaneous impulse, could crush, crush, knock down and trample their dear priest. Rising from his sick bed in February 1905, the priest did not stop getting sick until his death. He served every day, but only in Kronstadt, from where he rarely left. Under the influence, on the one hand, of rumors that the priest did not serve due to illness and did not give communion to visitors, and on the other hand, the liberation press, which poured streams of mud on the impeccable name of the Kronstadt shepherd, fewer priests who wanted to serve with him and lay pilgrims began to come to Kronstadt, the influx of donations in the name of Father John decreased, which is why his charity decreased, and reports of healings appeared less often in the press according to his prayers. His ill-wishers explained this decrease in the vigorous activity of the priest by the fact that he had outlived his time and outlived his glory and that his bright star had dimmed and set. In fact, his bodily church, thinned by ailments, refused to serve the great spirit, and Father John never sought his own glory, but sought the glory of God. Particular rejoicing and gloating in the camp of Father John’s enemies was caused by his departure from Kronstadt on October 27, 1905, the day of the Kronstadt riots. But the rejoicing was completely in vain and the accusation that Father John showed a lack of courage, got scared and fled from Kronstadt in a moment of general danger was unfounded: the circumstances and time of Father John’s departure from Kronstadt testify that his behavior was completely impeccable and excluded any complaints. At that time I was still living in Kronstadt and I can confirm that the worst night was from October 26th to 27th and that on the early morning of the 27th decisive measures had already been taken to stop the unrest and all danger to civilians had passed. Meanwhile, Father John spent the night from the 26th to the 27th in Kronstadt, aware of what was happening around him, as can be seen from the following. On the evening of the 26th, some of the naval officers visited Father John, asked him for blessings and prayers and, which is easily acceptable, told the priest their fears about the near future. Later, Father John had my relatives, to whom he said: “It seems that they are shooting at us!” - and consoled them, being in his usual cheerful mood. Returning from Father John along Nikolaevsky Prospekt at eleven o’clock in the evening, they heard gunfire and the buzzing of bullets in the direction of the Gostiny Dvor. This was the beginning of the riots. Having taken possession of the guns, the sailors left the crews and first of all broke the buffet of the naval meeting and destroyed its contents, then opened indiscriminate shooting in the streets. Later at night, the rioters wanted to go to us, to the civil prison, to free the prisoners, who, apparently, expected this, but, confusing the civil prison with the military one, they lost their way and came to a completely different part of the city, on the northern boulevard to the military prison, where they were captured. Thanks to such a happy accident and the location of our prison on the outskirts of the city, we spent the night calmly and only in the morning we learned what danger - being under fire - threatened us. When at about five o'clock in the morning the clergy of St. Andrew's Cathedral went to matins, the shots still continued; Therefore, we walked with caution. One of the psalm-readers said that he saw the dead lying on the street. Before matins, between four and five o'clock, Father John, accompanied by the keymaster of the cathedral, Father A.P. Popov, came on foot to the commandant of the fortress, General Timofey Mikhailovich Belyaev (it was impossible to drive through the streets in a carriage), and asked him to allow the service of a prayer service in St. Andrew's Cathedral regarding the events he was experiencing, for which he received permission. From the commandant, Father John went to the cathedral, where, according to his custom, he served both Matins and the Liturgy. Even at night, the commandant of the fortress ordered cannons and machine guns to be placed at Northern Boulevard and directed along Nikolaevsky and Mikhailovsky Avenues, so that, if necessary, they could clear the streets with longitudinal fire, but there was no need for this. By the measures taken in the morning, order in the city was finally restored, and peaceful inhabitants, including, of course, Father John, could calmly remain in it without fearing for their lives. After serving the Liturgy, Father John at about nine o'clock in the morning went to Pesochnaya Street, in the area of ​​​​the Marine Epiphany Church. I mention this detail because it refutes the rumor circulating in Kronstadt that even before Matins, the priest was either forcibly or by deception, sleepy, put into a carriage and taken to the steamship pier to proceed to Petrograd. Nothing of the kind happened, and at twelve o’clock in the afternoon Father John arrived at the pier in an ordinary cab and then left Kronstadt by steamer, through Sestroretsk, to Petrograd. Thus, as a good shepherd of the flock of Christ, Father John stood on Divine watch during the hours of greatest danger from the invasion of predatory wolves, namely in the evening, when he calmed those who came to him, at night, when he fervently prayed to the Lord, without closing his eyes, and in the early morning, when, under gunfire, he walked on foot to the commandant of the fortress and from him to the cathedral; Before the priest had time to finish the Liturgy and leave the cathedral, help and deliverance appeared. Having fulfilled his pastoral duty in Kronstadt, Father John, who had not left the city for six days before, went to where his presence was more necessary. Without him, at about one o'clock in the afternoon in St. Andrew's Cathedral, the cathedral clergy, led by Archpriest A.P. Popov, served a prayer service for those who were looking for reinforcement in prayer. On October 28th I moved to Petrograd. I had to leave Kronstadt, where the first years of my priesthood passed happily in prayerful communication with Father John. On the evening of November 12, on the eve of departure, I came to the priest to say goodbye. I will never forget the touching cordiality with which I was received by everyone in Father John’s family, starting with his wife, Mother Elizaveta Konstantinovna, at that time already a venerable old woman, distinguished by meekness and humility. To explain the touching reception that is natural when saying goodbye to someone leaving, I can point out that my mother’s great-nephew, a wonderful boy I. Sh., studied at the Real School, who became very attached to me and was very sorry for my leaving. He constantly visited his “grandfather and grandmother,” as he called Father John and his deeply respected mother Elizaveta Konstantinovna, told them about the lessons of the Law of God, about me and how on the morning of November 12 the students said goodbye to me and at parting they brought me an icon, and at the same time he spoke a speech of his own composition. Mother Elizaveta Konstantinovna very much loved and spoiled her little grandson, a nice and capable second-grader realist, and she transferred her love to me, his law teacher. I was led into the dining room - a small room with two windows, between which there was a table, and above it in the wall hung a full-length portrait of Father John, painted in paint, which remains in this place to this day. On the right side of the table by the window in a leather chair sat the wife of Father John, and her granddaughter was also there. After some time, Father John came out of the office: he was wearing a light quilted silk cassock. A stream of cold air rushed in with him from the open door of the office. The whole figure of Father John breathed freshness and heavenly purity: he appeared like a bright Angel from the Heavenly World, in the radiance of unearthly beauty, and brought with him joy and happiness. Father recognized me and called me by name. Having greeted me affectionately, he sat me down next to me, began asking about my new service and remembered that he had been to the Mariinsky Institute at the invitation of the head of the institute. Like a hospitable host, Father John himself poured me a glass of tea and put sugar in it, then poured me a glass of fine wine and treated me to the favorite food of the inhabitants of the Arkhangelsk province - cod cutlets. Mother also took part in the conversation and refreshments. After tea, I asked Father John to sign a large photographic portrait of him that I had bought. Father immediately wrote on it: “To the venerable brother and colleague, Father Law Teacher of the Mariinsky Institute, Priest... as a sign of fraternal prayerful communication. The rector of the Kronstadt Cathedral, Archpriest John Sergiev. November 12, 1905.” Then the priest went into his office and brought out two books of his sermons and gave them to me as a souvenir. These were: the third volume of his works (first edition, St. Petersburg, 1892) and the words spoken by him in 1903 (first edition, Kronstadt 1904). When we said goodbye, Father John made me incredibly happy by expressing his full consent to the fulfillment of my request of a private, family nature. Those short minutes that I had to spend in the family of Father John were the happiest in my life. Father John himself, his clear radiant eyes, the light of which was impossible to bear, his voice and address; Mother Elizaveta Konstantinovna in a black silk dress and with a black lace headdress, lovingly and attentively listening to every word of her husband, with whom her whole life passed; finally, the entire decor of the dining room with the stamp of prosperity in everything, but without luxury, vividly appears before my eyes. It was as if I had seen them yesterday, and not ten years ago. Mother Elizaveta Konstantinovna tenderly said goodbye to me and has already said goodbye forever. I no longer had to see her alive, but saw her dead, participating in the service of the funeral Liturgy, in the funeral service and burial of her body in the fence of the Kronstadt St. Andrew's Cathedral and in prayerful remembrance of her on the fortieth day after her death, which to some extent thanked her for her greetings and hospitality. Eternal memory to her! On November 13, the directors of the Prison Committee presented me with a holy icon and address as a farewell gift. These signs of attention are very dear to me, by the way, because they are connected with the name of Father John: on the address, the first handwritten signature belongs to him, as the director of the Prison Committee, just as on the back of the holy icon the name of Father John is the first among the directors of the Committee who honored me with such a high honor. On November 18, according to his promise, Father John came to me for the christening of my daughter and was her successor. The rite of baptism was supposed to be performed in my former prison apartment, where the priest arrived at about one o'clock in the afternoon with his psalm-reader I.P. Kiselyov. The priest even brought a gold cross for his goddaughter. He pronounced and performed all the words and actions prescribed for the recipient earnestly, with deep reverence, standing near the holy font next to the recipient. The moment was especially touching when Father John, having received the baby from the holy font and holding him in his arms with tenderness and love, preceded by the priest, walked around the font and sang along with everyone: “Be baptized into Christ.”... The singing was animated and beautiful, for experts in this matter had gathered; Father’s voice seemed to cover everyone. In his voice, as in his whole being, one could feel the living joy that the child, born into the world, became a child of God, having been baptized and clothed in Christ. At the end of the baptism, the priest himself took the baby to the mother, congratulated her, then drank tea and shared the meal with everyone. I am telling you about this incident because it gives me the right to crown the reverend face of Father John with another wonderful, fragrant flower: love for my fellow shepherds, the readiness to bring them joy and to rejoice with those who rejoice. With the move to Petrograd, I lost the opportunity to often see Father John and receive him in my house; I saw him only in St. Andrew's Cathedral, when I came to Kronstadt to serve with the priest, but I never met him in Petrograd and never bothered him with requests to visit me here, as happened before in Kronstadt. With each visit to the priest, he noticed that his health was getting worse and worse: his rosy complexion gave way to dark and sickly, long church services were completely beyond his strength, he served quickly and gave communion to a few. Alarming news about the deterioration of his health, especially in the last year of his life, reached Petrograd, but he did not want to believe them; on the contrary, I wanted to reassure myself with the thought that the disease was not yet so dangerous and that the priest would live. The last time I had to serve with him was after Easter 1908, before he left for the Vaulovsky monastery, where Father John lived from May to August. According to Mother Eupraxia, the abbess of this monastery, Father John was very fond of the picturesque Vaulovsky monastery and came here to rest in the summer. He told about himself that he knew how to mow and reap, which he learned in his homeland in his youth, and that even as a child he did not like to sit idle. At the request of Mother Eupraxia - to bless the reapers before sending them off to the harvest for the first time - Father John blessed the sickles and himself distributed them to everyone, and, handing the sickle, he gave instructions to each individual. The sisters attribute to the prayers of the priest that they now have good water to drink: having learned from the sisters that the skete at first needed good water, Father John prayed to God and indicated the place where it was necessary to dig the ground: they began to dig and discovered a source of good drinking water. Living in Vaulovo in the summer of 1908, the priest suffered seriously from an intensified illness: he spent entire nights without sleep, sitting in a chair, because he could not lie down. Once, Mother Eupraxia told me, I came to the priest and saw him sitting in his chair with his eyes closed and saying a mental prayer. It’s hard for him, but there’s no murmur or groan. I felt sorry for him to the point of tears, but how can I help and console him? I think: I’ll pray for him. I read in my mind the troparion to the Dormition of the Mother of God, I have an icon of this holiday in my corner, and I see that the priest turned his face to this icon and bowed. I begin to read: “The zealous Intercessor...” Father bows to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. Apparently, dear father read in my soul. Upon returning from Vaulov to Kronstadt, Father John lived only four months amid severe suffering. The news of his death on the morning of December 20, which spread like lightning that same day in the capital, prompted me and my family to leave for Kronstadt early in the morning of the 21st. I no longer saw the removal of Father John’s body from the apartment to St. Andrew’s Cathedral, but participated in the service of requiem and parastasis, which was performed with all solemnity and splendor by His Grace Kirill, Bishop of Gdov. All night long, without interruption, requiem services were served at the coffin by the Kronstadt and visiting clergy. Throughout the night, a continuous stream of spiritual children and parishioners said goodbye to the deceased. The whole of Kronstadt, young and old, visited the expensive coffin. Everyone wanted to venerate the priest’s emaciated right hand with a small wooden cross in it for the last time. The Liturgy at seven o'clock in the morning was celebrated by His Eminence Kirill with a host of clergy. The Lord destined me to take part both in the service of the Liturgy and in seeing off the body of the deceased to the capital. It was especially touching that the deceased was given military honors. With a procession of the cross, to the sad ringing of bells, to the majestic sounds of “How Glorious,” the clergy, military and secular authorities and countless people saw off the humble servant of the Church and together the valiant servant of the Tsar and the Fatherland. The path on foot from the Kronstadt Gate to Oranienbaum was not easy, for it lay on fragile and smooth ice, like a mirror, covered in places with water, with a fresh wind from the sea. The oak coffin with the body of the deceased was transported in the city on a funeral chariot, and across the ice - on drogs mounted on runners. When we approached Oranienbaum, it was already starting to get dark. The local clergy, led by His Grace Kirill, met the funeral procession on the seashore. All of Oranienbaum gathered at the station. The troops standing in the square in front of the station paid military honors to the deceased. The coffin was carried into the funeral carriage, a litany was served, and the train departed for the capital along the route along which Father John had so often passed alive. On the same train were His Grace Bishop Kirill, the clergy who escorted the coffin from Kronstadt, and the relatives of the deceased. I do not describe the meeting and seeing off the coffin in Petrograd: for I was not an eyewitness and did not participate in them, tired both by the long service the day before and on that day, and by the especially unusual journey across the ice from Kronstadt to Oranienbaum.