Lives of the Saints

Most of what has been written about St. Patriarch Tikhon [1] since his repose on the Feast of Annunciation in 1925, has centered on the short years of his patriarchate. Although this coincided with the most complex and difficult time in all of Russian Church history, all who take up the pen in his regard agree that he was the "right" man, chosen by God, for that critical hour.

The Saint's English language biographer Jane Swan, has written: "It is difficult to assess the greatness of Tikhon....His spiritual growth was far beyond that of the ordinary mortal." This finds agreement with the opinion of the Saint's contemporary, Prof. Pavel Zaichenko: "in speaking about Bishop Tikhon, I am seized with reverent trepidation This was a giant among Russian Orthodox hierarchs; he was truly worthy of the honor and respect of the entire Christian world.'

The key to St. Tikhon's greatness lies in his personality, his character. Prof. Zaichenko recalls: "By nature Bishop Tikhon was kind, responsive and unusually sensitive. In his character he was quiet, merciful, good-natured and always tried to preserve in himself serenity, a serenity which he transmitted to the souls of all those around him." Elsewhere it has been said that "he had a strong sense of duty and responsibility...moreover, he was possessed of an iron like self-possession and circumspection''

These were the qualities on which he built his fruitful activity as a missionary hierarch in North America. It was during these seven years, in the crucible of a pluralistic spiritual wilderness, that he refined and honed his insights into human nature and arch-pastorship. This period of Patriarch Tikhon's life and personal development has received little attention. Yet, his "years in America were not only extremely productive, as far as successful administration of his diocese was concerned, but for Tikhon personally, they were years of useful experience which served him well later on. Later in life, he mentioned the fact that his American sojourn not only widened his ecclesiastical horizon but also his political outlook...[since he] was thrust into a completely new environment including freedom of religion, no censorship, [and] the hurrying business-like American bustle...''

Indeed, his experience on this continent contributed no small measure towards the rational and balanced way he had of thinking, and of dealing with events that would have overwhelmed a lesser man. At the same time, it was precisely during his American sojourn--an elementary stage in American Orthodoxy - that a whole "tone" was set, and a direction given, to the Faith on this continent.

It was on September 14, 1898 that St. Tikhon was appointed Bishop of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska, with his cathedral in San Francisco. In 1901 the future Patriarch blessed the cornerstone for the new cathedral of St. Nicholas in New York. On the occasion of its consecration a year later, the future Patriarch expressed a feeling that became very familiar to the Orthodox in the following decades:

'The present day," he said, "is as joyous for us as was the day for Israel when, in the reign of Solomon, the temple of the Lord was erected in place of the tabernacle. Truly enough, until now in New York we had but a tabernacle. Like the tabernacle carted from one town to another, our Church also moved from one place to another. And like David, being sorry that he dwelt in a house of cedar while the ark of God dwelt within curtains, we also many a time were sorry that our church was small, poor, and uncomfortable. Today we put an end to regrets of this kind: the Lord took notice of our heartfelt longings that in this great city there should be erected a church answering to the greatness of the Orthodox Faith.''

As a true Christian missionary, however, it was not the building of temples that concerned Saint Tikhon primarily, but the building up of the Faith in temples not made with hands--human souls. To this end he made frequent tours of his vast diocese--Alaska, the U.S. and Canada, undaunted by the physical hardships which traveling often presented. Details have been preserved by those who shared in these trips.

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St. John of San Francisco and Shanghai



"This man, who appears weak is, in fact, a miracle of ascetic steadfastness and determination in our time of universal spiritual weakening." - Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky)

"If you desire to see a living Saint, go to Bitol to Father John." - Bishop Nicholas (Velimirovich)​

Saint John was born on the 4th of June 1896 on the country estate of his parents, descendants of nobility, Boris Ivanovich and Glaphira Mikhailovna Maximovitch in the little town of Adamovka in the Province of Kharkov. At Baptism he received his name in honour of Saint Michael the Archangel. His paternal ancestors were of Serbian extraction. One of his ancestors, Saint John, Metropolitan of Tobolsk, was an ascetic of holy life, a missionary, and a spiritual writer. Saint John of Tobolsk lived in the first half of the 18th century and was glorified in 1916. His glorification was the last celebrated during the reign of the Tsar Martyr Nicholas.

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His patience and humility were similar to the patience and humility of the great ascetics and desert dwellers. He relived the events of the Holy Gospel as if they were taking place before his eyes. He always knew the chapter where to find an event and, when needed, could always quote a given verse. He knew the character and details of every student, so that at any moment he could assess what a student knew or did not know. Saint John had a special gift of God: an unusually good memory. Consequently, such assessments of his students could be made without referring to any previous records or notes. Mutual love bound Saint John and the seminarians together. For them he was the incarnation of all of the Christian virtues. They did not see any shortcomings in him, not even in his speech (Saint John had a slight stammer). There was no problem, personal or social, which he could not solve quickly. There was not a question for which he could not find an answer. His answer was always concise, clear, complete and exhaustive because he was truly an educated man. His education, his "wisdom," was based on the most stable foundation, "the Fear of God." The Saint prayed zealously for his seminarians. Each night he would make his rounds, checking everyone; adjusting one's pillow, another's blanket. Upon leaving the room he blessed the slumberer with the sign of the cross.

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The miracle-working power and clairvoyance of Saint John were well known in Shanghai. Once, during Bright Week, Saint John came to the Jewish hospital to visit the Orthodox patients there. Passing through one ward, he stopped in front of a screen, concealing the bed upon which an elderly Jewish woman lay dying. Her family members were awaiting her death nearby. The Saint raised a cross above the screen and loudly proclaimed: "Christ is Risen!" upon which the dying woman regained consciousness and asked for water. The Saint approached the nurse and said, "The patient wants to drink." The medical staff were stunned by the change which had taken place in one who only moments earlier was dying. Soon the woman recovered and was discharged from the hospital. Such incidents were numerous.

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St. Peter the Aleut​

St. Peter the Aleut was a native of Kodiak Island, who became the third martyr for the Orthodox Faith in America. He was a fur-hunter, baptized into the Faith by Russian missionaries.

Spain was in possession of California in those days, and was deeply suspicious of Russian encroachment from the North. In 1815, the Spanish governor ordered an immediate halt to Russian trading and trapping in the region, and the arrest of nearly one hundred Russians and Aleuts who had not yet left the area.

The prisoners were treated as slaves, and some, notably Peter, were tortured in order to try to force them to accept the Roman Catholic faith, even though he confessed the Holy Orthodox Christian Faith. An eyewitness account stated that a Spanish priest ordered that Peter’s fingers be cut off, one joint at a time, eventually cutting his hands completely off, and then that he be disemboweled. Peter died of his torture, without ever renouncing the Orthodox Faith.

Holy St. Peter the Aleut, pray to God for us.

St. Peter the Aleut (with St. Juvenaly) is commemorated in the Synaxis of the First Martyrs of the American Land, Dec. 12 on the calendar of the ancient Church (December 25 on the New Style calendar).​

Thy martyr, O Lord, St. Peter the Aleut, through his suffering, an incorruptible crown did obtain from Thee, our God; for, rejoicing in Thy strength, he laid low his tormentors and did beat off impotent affronts of the demons also; at his intercessions save our souls.

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At the beginning of the schism of the occidental Church from the Christian ecumenical Church, one can observe a particular endeavor of the Slavs to accept the Christian Faith. Obviously the Lord called them to complete His Church and raised up for them great prophets of the Faith in the persons of the brothers Cyril and Methodius considered to be "equal to the Apostles."

Cyril (born Constantine) and Methodius were born in Macedonia in the town of Salonica. Methodius, upon finishing his education joined the armed forces and became administrator of a Slav province. Soon he decided to leave the worldly way of life and became a monk in a monastery on Mount Olympus. From childhood Constantine exhibited amazing talents and received a superb education at the palace with the young Emperor Michael 3rd, where they were taught by the famous Photius, who later became patriarch of Constantinople. Upon finishing his education, Constantine could have had great success in the world, but his heart blazed with love of God and worldly goods did not entice him. For a while he taught in the main academy in Constantinople his favorite subject - philosophy. However he soon left and joined his brother Methodius in the monastery. Here they both devoted themselves to fasting and prayer until such time when God's Thought called on them to preach to the Slav tribes.

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After Bulgaria and Serbia were enlightened, there came to Constantinople emissaries from the Moravian prince Rostislav with the following plea: "Our people profess the Christian Faith, but we have no teachers who could explain to us the Faith in our native language. Send such teachers to us." Both the Emperor and the patriach were gladdened and calling the holy brothers of Salonica asked to them to go to the Moravian people. In order to have great success with their preaching, they found it necessary to translate both the Holy and Liturgical books into the Slavonic language, since according to the words of Saint Cyril "to preach orally is the same as writing in the sand." Before translating, it was necessary to devise Slavonic letters and compile a Slavonic alphabet. Toward such a difficult undertaking, Saint Cyril prepared himself using the example set by the Apostles, by prayer and fasting for forty days. As soon as the alphabet was ready, Saint Cyril translated into Slavonic selections from the Gospel and Epistles. Some chroniclers state that the first words written in Slavonic were the words of the Evangelist John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

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Toward the end of his life, Father Augustine the Russian (+ 1965) lived alone in a hermitage dependent on the monastery of Philotheou (on Mount Athos). He had a great love for every person, and every time he met anyone -- whether monk or layman -- he would make a deep bow to him. "He carries the grace of Holy Baptism," he would say whenever someone asked why he did this.

He overflowed with charity even for animals. Little by little, he transformed the enclosure of his hermitage into a hospice for elderly and ailing animals: asses and mules that were blind, lame, moribund, sick, or otherwise useless. The lay workers would open his gate and let such animals in without even asking him. The good old man would then take loving care of them. He used to go and cut fresh grass and store it for winter's provisions, for his "disciples," as he used to call them. When the fathers of the monastery saw how weak he had become, they suggested that they take him to the monastery infirmary. Father Augustine answered, "I can't leave my mules!" Finally, he accepted.

At night, he had no need of a kerosene lamp. "God gives me another light," he used to say, "and I can see more clearly than during the day." In his simplicity, he believed that everyone could see, just like he could, the uncreated light of God. One day, the eve of the Annunciation (March 25) -- the patronal feast of the monastery -- monks and laymen were busy polishing the monastery's brass. Suddenly, Father Augustine appeared, and he was radiant, quite transformed with the divine presence.

"Bless me, holy fathers!" he said, making his usual prostration.

"Say, how are are, Father Augustine?"

"I want to confide a thought to you. You must tell me if I am experiencing an illusion. This night, all night, there was a lot of light. One could see clearly, just like daylight, from Caracallou to Stavronikita. I could pick out the least detail. Was this, maybe, an illusion?"

One of the lay workers, mocking the old man, replied, "But, dear father, it was a sputnik satellite. It fell from the sky into your cell and lit everything up."

Reassured, Father Augustine thanked him, and took his leave.

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When he was bedridden in the infirmary, he used often to shout, "The holy angels are coming, there! there! Don't you see them?" And he would wake up the elderly monks sleeping next to him and shake them. Then, a little later, "The saints are here! The All-Holy Mother of God!" And he would again awaken the other invalids. The infirmarian used to reprimand him severely, saying, "Won't you stop this? You're deluded. Who is someone like you that the saints should come visit you?" Every day it was like that. When Father Augustine finally passed away, his face suddenly lit up, blindingly, three times. The infirmarian then understood his error, and exclaimed, "Now I am sure that this one was a saint!"

from The Living Witness of the Holy Mountain

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The Holy Great Martyr Ignatius was named the 'God-Bearer' because he always carried the name of the living God in his heart and on his lips. Also, by tradition, he was thus named because he was held in the arms of God incarnate, Jesus Christ. On a day when the Lord was teaching His disciples humility, He took a child and set it among them, saying: 'Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:4). This child was Ignatius. He was later a disciple of St. John the Theologian, together with Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna. As bishop in Antioch, he governed the Church of God as a good shepherd, and was the first to introduce antiphonal singing into the Church, in which two choirs alternate. This way of singing was revealed to St. Ignatius from among the angels in heaven. When the Emperor Trajan passed through Antioch on his way to battle with the Persians, he heard about Ignatius, summoned him and urged him to offer sacrifice to idols, so that he could be made a senator. The Emperor's urgings and threats being in vain, holy Ignatius was put in irons and sent to Rome, escorted by ten bestial soldiers, to be thrown to the wild beasts. Ignatius rejoiced to be suffering for his Lord, and prayed to God that the wild beasts should be the tomb for his body, and that none should hinder his death. After a long and difficult journey from Asia through 'Thrace, Macedonia and Epirus, Ignatius reached Rome, where he was thrown to the lions in the circus. They tore him to pieces and devoured him, leaving only a few of the larger bones and his heart. This glorious lover of the Lord Christ suffered in the year 106 in Rome, in the time of the Emperor Trajan. He appeared many times from the other world and worked wonders, helping to this day all who call on him for help.

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Saint Basil was born in 1464 into a peasant family living in the village of Yelokhovoe near Moscow. When the he grew up, his parents sent him to learn shoemaking and before long his master understood that the apprentice was not an ordinary man. Once a merchant came to the shop to order a pair of high boots made for him so that he would not wear them out in a year. Basil said woefully, "We will make them, and you will not wear them out." Several days later the merchant died.

At the age of 16 Basil left his parents for Moscow, where he assumed the ascetic challenge of a fool-for-Christ-sake. Both in summer heat and winter frost he would walk around uncovered and barefooted. Once he overturned a tray of wheat loafs and spilled a jar of kvass. The vendors beat him, and he accepted the abuse with joy and thanked God for it. Later people learned that the loaves were baked with harmful ingredients in the flour and the drink was bad too. It was becoming clear to many people that the fool-for-Christ-sake was a man of God.

Allegorically and through signs, as well as straightforwardly, he foretold misfortunes as punishment for sins and well being as a reward for virtues. Sometimes he would visit taverns to save people from the doom of drunkenness, other times he would direct people to the way of righteousness, talking to them in the streets and plazas. He gave lessons of piety even to the tsar Ivan the Terrible. Once during the service in church, the tsar was pondering over a better way to ornament his palace on the Vorobiovy Mountains. After the service, Basil reprimanded the tsar for his thoughts wandering from the service to his palace. The tsar confessed the sin and began to respect the fool-for-Christ-sake even more.

Once a merchant started to build a church, but the dome kept collapsing. The fool-for- Christ-sake advised him to go to Kiev saying, "Find the wretched Ioann there. He will give you advice to help you complete the construction." The merchant went to Kiev and found Ioann, who was sitting in a hut and rocking an empty cradle. "Who are you rocking in the cradle?" asked the merchant. "My own mother," said Ioann, "I am trying to repay my eternal debt for her delivering me and bringing me up." The merchant remembered his own mother whom he had driven out of the home and understood why he could not finish building the church.

The fool-for-Christ-sake was happy to help those in need of alms, but he was shy to ask for it. Once he gave away the presents he received from the tsar to a foreign merchant who had been completely broke. He would find a grain of goodness even in the most dejected and sinful people, whom he would help with guidance and comfort. When he was passing by a house where excessive drinking and merry-making was going on, he would embrace the corners of the house and say, "Angels are standing outside this home and grieving over human sins."

People would sometimes deride and beat him up, but he would tolerate everything humbly. Basil spent his nights on a church porch in prayers and meditation. God glorified his righteous servant granting him the gift of discernment and wonderworking. Thus, through Basil's prayers before the Vladimirskaya Icon of Theotokos, Moscow and all of the Russian lands were saved from the invasion of the Crimean khan Makhmet-Guirey in 1521. Having burned the suburbs of Moscow the khan was scared by a vision of a great number of legions and retreated from the territory of the Russian State. In 1547 the fool-for-Christ-sake was crying inconsolably foreseeing the fire of Moscow which destroyed the city almost completely. Some time later at the reception in the palace of the tsar, the fool-for-Christ-sake three times poured some wine out of the window saying that he is putting out a fire in Novgorod. Indeed at that very time there happened a fire in Novgorod, but it did not spread to the entire city because, according to the Novgorod citizens, some unknown person was pouring water over the houses that had caught flames. On arriving to Moscow those Novgorod citizens recognized that person in the fool-for-Christ-sake.

Basil passed away at the age of 88 in 1552. The tsar Ivan the Terrible himself carried the body of the saint into the church to be buried there. Saint Basil was buried in Moscow in the church of the Protection of the Most Holly Theotokos that is usually referred to as the Cathedral of St. Basil, fool-for-Christ-sake. His relics are famous for having worked many wonders. The heavy fetters that he had been wearing over his body were kept at the Moscow Theological Academy.

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Grand Duchess Elizabeth​

One of the brightest stars in the celestial array of Russia's New Martyrs is holy Grand Duchess Elizabeth. A convert to Orthodoxy, she outshone many of those whose Faith she had so ardently embraced. She was like a sun whose penetrating rays warm hearts grown cold and renew the lost faith of a fallen and despairing humanity, as if to say that not all have succumbed to an egotistical self love, that there are still those servants of Love, whose example points the way to the true path, tom happiness both on this earth and for aIl eternity. She placed a law in her heart: that the strong bear the frailties of the weak. Love was the cornerstone of her life and all her activities. This love made easy for her what was difficult, it made serving her fellowman a plea sure, and through it the forgiveness of enemies was made possible. For the sake of this Love she sacrificed herself for others, thereby fulfilling that greatest of commandments according to the Apostle of love, that "we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (I John3:16).

There exists perhaps no more eloquent tribute to the holy Grand Duchess than the spiritual portrait so finely drawn by the late Metropolitan Anastassy:

"She was a rare combination of exalted Christian spirit, moral nobility, enlightened mind, gentle heart, and refined taste. She possessed an extremely delicate and multifaceted spiritual composition and her outward appearance reflected the beauty and greatness of her spirit. Upon her brow lay the seal of an inborn, elevated dignity which set her apart from those around her. Under the cover of modesty, she often strove - though in vain, to conceal herself from the gaze of others, but one could not mistake her for another. Wherever she appeared, one would always ask: "Who is she who looketh forth as the morning, clear as the sun" (Song of Solomon 6:10)? Wherever she would go she emanated the pure fragrance of the lily. Perhaps it was for this reason that she loved the color white - it was the reflection of her heart. All of her spiritual qualities were strictly balanced, one against another, never giving an impression of one-sidedness. Femininity was joined in her to a courageous character; her goodness never led to weakness and blind, unconditional trust of people. Even in her finest heartfelt inspirations she exhibited that gift of discernment which has always been so highly esteemed by Christian ascetics..."

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Ignoring the scandal caused by such a move, the Grand Duchess left the royal apartments and settled in a building which she had acquired at Ordinka. Here, with the counsel of the eiders of the Zosima Hermitage under whom she had placed herself in total obedience, she laid the foundation for a sisterhood which combined in itself the ascetic labors of the monastic life and works of charity. This quiet haven in the midst of a bustling city was named in honor of Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, whose two natures of service and prayer were so beautifully intertwined in the mission of the new community. "To be not of this world and at the same time to live and act in the world in order to transform it - this was the foundation upon which she desired to establish her convent."
The Grand Duchess was personally involved in all the plans for the buildings of the community, and they reflected her refined aesthetic sensibilities. The main church was built in the traditional Novgorod-Pskov style and painted by the well-known Russian artist Nesterov. The austere white walls were balanced with exquisite sculptured ornamentation. The architectural harmony of the buildings, the peaceful atmosphere, the beauty of the church services - all combined to lift the tired soul from its earthly cares and give it a glimpse of paradise. Even members of the unchurchly contemporary Russian society, whose spiritual re-education was of such concern to the Grand Duchess, were drawn to this unique community.

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Finally, however, the martyr's crown was brought within her reach. On Pascha, 1918, the Grand Duchess was suddenly arrested and taken first to Ekaterinburg and then to Alopaevsk where, with her ever-faithful companion Sister Barbara, she was imprisoned in one of the city schools. On the fateful night of July 5/18, together with other royal captives, she was taken in an automobile outside the city and buried alive in a mine shaft. Even here, in the bowels of the earth, she did not cease to manifest her sacrificing love. Excavations have shown that until the last moment she strove to serve the grand dukes who were severely injured by the fall.

At last her precious remains - which, according to eye-witnesses were found in the mine shaft completely untouched by corruption - were received with triumph in Jerusalem and laid to rest in a sepulchre of the church of St. Mary Magdalen, just over the hill from Bethany where the sisters, Sts. Martha and Mary, served and glorified the Lord.

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St. Gregory Palamas

Light of Orthodoxy, pillar and teacher of the Church, adornment of monastics, invincible champion of theologian, O Gregory, wonderworker, boast of Thessalonica, herald of grace: ever pray that our souls be saved​

Our holy Father Gregory was born in Constantinople in 1296 of aristocratic parents who had emigrated from Asia Minor in the face of the Turkish invasion, and were attached to the court of the pious Emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus (1282-1328). Despite his official duties, Gregory’s father led a life of fervent prayer. Sometimes as he sat in the Senate, he would be so deep in prayer as to be unaware of the Emperor addressing him. While Gregory was still young, his father died after being clothed in the monastic habit; and his mother for her part wanted to take the veil, but delayed doing so in order to take care of the education of her seven children. Gregory, the eldest, was instructed by the most highly reputed masters of secular learning and, after some years, was so proficient in philosophical reasoning that, on listening to him, his master could believe he was hearing Aristotle himself. Notwithstanding these intellectual successes, the young man’s real interest lay only with the things of God. He associated with monks of renown in the city and found a spiritual father in Theoleptus of Philadelphia, who instructed him in the way of holy sobriety and of prayer of the heart.

About the year 1316, Gregory decided to abandon the vanities of the world. His mother, two sisters, two brothers and a great many of his servants entered upon the monastic life with him. He and his two brothers went on foot to the holy Mountain of Athos, where they settled near the Monastery of Vatopedi under the direction of the Elder Nicodemus, who came from Mount Auxentius. Gregory made rapid progress in the holy activity of prayer, for he had put into practice since childhood the fundamental virtues of obedience, humility, meekness, fasting, vigil and the different kinds of renunciation that make the body subject to the spirit. Night and day he besought God ceaselessly with tears saying, “Lighten my darkness!” After some time, the Mother of God, in whom he had put his trust since his youth, sent Saint John the Theologian to him with the promise of her protection in this life and in the next.

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At that time, Barlaam, a monk from Calabria, won a great name for himself as a speculative thinker in Constantinople. He was particularly fond of expounding the mystical writings of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, which he interpreted in an entirely philosophical way, making knowledge of God the object of cold reason and not of experience. When this refined humanist learned of the methods of prayer of some simple monks of his acquaintance, who allowed a place to the sensory element in spiritual life, he was scandalized. He took occasion to calumniate then and to accuse them of heresy. The hesychast monks appealed to Gregory who then wrote several polemical treatises in which he answered the accusations of Barlaam by locating monastic spirituality in a dogmatic synthesis.



He showed that ascesis and prayer are the outcome of the whole mystery of Redemption, and are the way for each person to make the grace given at Baptism blossom within himself. He also defended the authenticity of the methods which the Hesychasts used to fix the intellect in the heart; for since the Incarnation we have to seek the grace of the Holy Spirit in our bodies, which are sanctified by the Sacraments and grafted by the Eucharist into the Body of Christ. This uncreated grace is the very glory of God which, as it sprang forth from the body of Christ on the day of the Transfiguration, overwhelmed the disciples (Matthew 17). Shining now in the heart purified from the passions, it truly unites us to God, illumines us, deifies us and gives us a pledge of that same glory which will shine on the bodies of the Saints after the general Resurrection. In thus affirming the full reality of deification, Gregory was far from denying the absolute transcendence and unknowableness of God in His essence. Following the ancient Fathers, but in a more precise manner, he made a distinction between God’s imparticipable essence and the eternal, creative and providential energies by which the Lord enables created beings to participate in His being, His life and His light—without, however, introducing any division into the unity of the divine Nature. God is not a philosophical concept for Saint Gregory: He is Love, He is Living Person and consuming fire, as Scripture teaches (Deuteronomy 4:24), Who does everything to make us godlike.

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During a voyage to Constantinople, he fell into the hands of some Turks, who held him for a year in Asia Minor (1354-55), but allowed him a measure of freedom. This, and his openness of spirit, enabled him to engage in amicable theological discussions with the Muslim doctors of religion and with the son of the Emir Orkhan. When he was set free, thanks to a ransom from Serbia, he returned to Thessalonica to take up his activity again as pastor and wonderworker. He suffered a long illness and, some time before his death, Saint John Chrysostom appeared to him with the invitation to join the choir of holy hierarchs immediately after his own feast. And, indeed, on November 14, 1359 the Saint gave up his soul to God. When he died, his countenance was radiant with a light like to that which shone on Saint Stephen (Acts 6:15). In this way God showed, through the person of his servant, the truth of his doctrine on the reality of deification by the uncreated light of the Holy Spirit. The veneration of Saint Gregory was approved by the Church in 1368. The Saint works many miracles even to the present day and, after Saint Demetrios, is regarded as the Protector of Thessalonica.

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The Wonder-Working Father John Sergiev is another of the great elders and saints who were a part of the spiritual revival started by St. Paisius Velichkovsky. Widely venerated as a saint even during his lifetime, and the only married parish priest in the Russian calendar of saints, Father John is known for his spiritual gifts of powerful prayer, healing, spiritual insight and great love for all people. He also reawakened the Russian Orthodox Church to the Apostolic tradition of receiving Holy Communion at every Divine Liturgy. This is why he is most commonly portrayed holding a Communion chalice, as he is in the Russian icon to the right.

Born to poor, devout parents in a small village in the far north of Russia, Father John experienced the power of prayer even as a child. While at the Theological Academy in St. Petersburg, he wanted to be a missionary monk to Siberia, but after a vision, he realized that God wanted him to be a missionary where he was. Thus he married and was ordained priest in 1855. He was assigned to the St. Andrew Cathedral on the Island of Kronstadt, in the bay near St. Petersburg. Kronstadt was filled with unspeakable squalor and misery, disease and starvation, crime and alcoholism. However, Father John remained there for 53 years as an urban missionary, putting into action Christ's command to love our neighbor, healing people's bodies and souls, and teaching children, whom he especially loved. As his reputation as a healer and miracle-worker spread, the many requests for his help that flowed in were accompanied by much money, which he used for extensive charitable works, including buildings a "House of Industry" that provided jobs, job-training, food, shelter and medical care for the poor.

Father John managed to perfect his holiness, not in a peaceful, remote monastery, but in a large, noisy, dirty, stressful, crime-ridden city, always surrounded by crowds of people everywhere, with little time to himself. He received his strength from the overwhelming awareness of the Presence of God, from reading the Bible, and from daily serving the Divine Liturgy and receiving Holy Communion. Every day his cathedral was packed with 5,000 people for Matins and Liturgy: it lasted from 4 am until noon, because he insisted that everyone present receive Holy Communion, and because there were so many requests for his prayers. After Liturgy, he healed and prayed for those who asked his help, treating rich and poor equally, and rarely returned home before midnight. Despite his demanding schedule, he managed to maintain a spiritual diary of simple and practical Bible-based meditations, published as My Life in Christ. He teaches that the weapons in spiritual warfare are the traditional Orthodox armor: prayer, repentance, fasting, reading the Bible, and at least weekly Confession and Holy Communion. Father John was a simple parish priest, who was endowed with an absolute faith in the power of prayer, a power that he used daily, and continues to use, to help people who request his aid.

Although venerated as a saint since before his repose, he was officially glorified/ canonized in 1988. St. John's relics (photo to the left) are located in the crypt of the John of Rila Women's Monastery, which he founded in northeastern St. Petersburg (photo to the right). Today, as even throughout the Communist era, flowers were regularly placed outside, by the street, on the window ledge closest to his burial site in the crypt on the other side of the wall

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Hiero-Martyr Alexander (Petrovsky),
Archbishop of Kharkov​

Aleksandr Feofanovich Petrovsky was born on 23 August 1851, in the city of Lutsk, in the province of Volynhia [the ancient Orthodox lands lying just east of the western borders of the Russian Empire – Tr. Note], the son of a deacon. After completing four years of the Theological Seminary of Volyn, he was admitted to the Faculty of Law of the University, where he excelled, attaining high academic distinctions and a splendid education as it is generally understood in the secular world. He lived with his mother, whom he loved deeply. Her death left him completely free of any obligations, and with some funds at his disposal. He succumbed to the pleasures of a life of dissipation and carousing, frequently returning to his home only at three or four in the morning. And then one night, after such revels, he came home and lay down in his bedroom. Only a curtain separated his room from that of his mother, which he had left as it had been during her lifetime. And here he sees: the cu rtain parts, his mother enters, and addresses him with the following words: "Enough of this, now; leave all this behind and go enter a monastery!"

This vision had such an effect on the young man, that he made an abrupt change in his ways, and soon thereafter, in 1900, was in fact tonsured at Moscow’s celebrated monastery of the Don Ikon of the Mother of God, and ordained a hieromonk. From 1903, he was the treasurer and household administrator of the residence of the Archbishop of Turkestan, a member of the Turkestan Council of Educators, of the Diocesan Court (Consistory), and of the Imperial Palestine Society.

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By nature, as a person he was very lively, affectionate and sociable, engaging and attentive to others. He also knew how to maintain his utter steadfastness to principle in all things without ever compromising his exemplary, perfect composure. As just one example, consider how he addressed his concerns over the routine, superficial habits he found ingrained in the Kharkov diocese. He was dissatisfied by what he found, being accustomed to beautifully elaborate services that he invariably led with insipiring and inspired solemnity, yet he chose not to confront anyone, nor to mandate changes. Instead, he decided to teach by example. One Easter, he allowed the services to go according to the established routine on the first and second day of Pascha. It was the custom in this diocese to omit the services prescribed for the third day, being as the new order of things meant everyone had to show up at work. Vladika appealed to his faithful and choir not to abandon the holy tradition established by the Church, of celebrating the Resurrection of the Lord with the required services for three full days: "Let us rejoice in the Lord!" And so, on the third day, once again the church was filled with worshippers. The Easter service began, but once again the choir began their routine, rushed, abbreviated version of the Paschal Matins and Hours, without repeating or including every prayer. Vladika turned to the faithful with his exhortation: "Everyone sing!" And everyone present began to chant the Paschal canon. At first, the choir was at a loss, but then quickly picked up the lead, taking the congregation through the full liturgy. The services that day were full of an uplifting, prayerful joy as never before. At their conclusion, Vladika publicly lavished praise and thanks on the choir, so that later the singers would be moved to comment (some of them having more than 30 years of experience) that they had never before experienced any bishop commenting with such touching warmth on their efforts.

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…One by one, the authorities began shutting down the churches in Kharkov. Finally, in all of Kharkov and its outlying districts, only a single church remained open, the parish of St. Nicholas on Kholodnaya Gora ("Cold Mountain"). It stood at the very edge of the city, and the faithful would converge upon it without any particular dread of consequences. Vladika came by cab, from the other end of town, a good 5 km away. Then the day came, when the local authorities decreed that Bishop Aleksandr must share the use of this church with another bishop, one of those who had accepted the so-called obnovlenchestvo edicts. [The obnovlenchestvo movement was an affliction which assailed the Russian Church in the years immediately following the Bolshevik Revolution, when the theomachist and militantly atheist authorities used terrifying threats and inducements to force radical changes in Church governance, nominally for the sake of modernization, but in fact with the sole purpose of eviscerating Orthodox Christianity by subverting its canonical foundations, as a prelude to driving it into extinction. These efforts came to nought, through God’s mercy and grace; however, for a time, the rancour, divisions and chaos inflicted by the obnovlentsy bishops and priests were indeed destructive. – Tr. Note.] The authorities dictated that the Orthodox Bishop, his clergy and his flock would be allowed to use this last available church only on alternate Sundays – the other Sundays, it was to be surrendered to the obnovlentsy for their services. The congregation was unanimous in its complete opposition to this demand. Finally, it was decided that one of the auxiliary chapels of the main church would be relinquished to the obnovlentsy, through the addition of a wall to separate the two congregations from each other. A fortnight later, the solid partition was in place, in spite of the violent objections of the local authorities. A mere 40 people at most chose to attend the services of the so-called Living Church [a term used by the obnovlentsy to differentiate themselves from the Orthodox – Tr. Note], having constituted themselves into a parish meant to supplant the true Orthodox, with the authorities providing handsome salary packages for the compliant clergy and full-time choir. Meanwhile, in the main church of St. Nicholas, there were so many worshippers that the Communion rite alone would last for several hours, and there would be a multitude of Baptisms to perform before every Vigil service (up to 120 on a single date). People travelled great distances to attend these services, standing patiently for the many hours of their long duration. Vladika would often exhort the people to sing, particularly during the Litany of Petitions. He would say: "Is that how you would be asking a mere mortal to grant you help, with such coldness? Is that how we make our pleas? Everyone, sing! ‘Grant it, O Lord!’" That would be when a multitude of thousands would begin to sing out to God, with one mouth and one mind and one heart, and such a force of prayer would pour forth as few today have even a capacity to comprehend. The gregarious, sociable personality, quick and lively character, and kind heart of the saint were joined to profound wisdom, a gift for easily resolving conflicts and overcoming difficulties, for reconciling and inspiring other human beings.

Inevitably, the fate shared by all who zealously defended the True Church befell Vladika Aleksandr as well. He saw this inevitability coming, and continuously exhorted his faithful to remain strong, never despairing in the face of adversity: "Whatever might come, stay strong, stay faithful and steadfast." To his closest friends, he confided that he was the last faithful bishop remaining in the south of Russia. On 20 June 1938, Archbishop Aleksandr was arrested by the UNKVD [one of the many acronyms used at various stages of the Soviet era by the internal state police assigned to persecute and destroy "enemies" of the totalitarian regime – Tr. Note], on charges of counter-revolutionary propaganda and agitation. On 17 July 1939, a military tribunal of the Kharkov Military District convicted him, sentencing him to 10 years of incarceration in the prison of Kholodnaya Gora. The day he was brought to that prison became a momentous event for its inmates. The tall, imposing, saintly presence of this venerable holy father created a great stir; he was met with reverence by all the prisoners. His stay, however, was destined to be brief: on 24 May 1940, aged 89, he left this life. How? God alone knows. Some of the prison staff said he was strangled. The documentary evidence is stark: the record indicates that in May of 1940, the Kharkov morgue received "from the NKVD facility for the terminally ill at Kachenevka, the corpse of an elderly male, with a numbered tag on the foot, and papers indicating the surname ‘Petrovsky,’ with instructions for interment." An individual working at the morgue, formerly a subdeacon of the Archbishop, together with a gatekeeper of his who subsequently became an ordained priest (archpriest Ioakim Orekhov), immediately recognized

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