Marian movement in Russia
Orthodox Church of
Mother of God Derzhavnaya
Marian movement in Russia
JOHN
BOGOMIL
Milestones in life
John Bogomil (Bereslavsky Veniamin Iakovlevich) is a spiritual leader with a didactic and prophetic charisma, the head of the Council of Bishops of the Orthodox Church of the Mother of God Derzhavnaya (from 1996 to 2009). The follower of the patristic tradition of unacquisitive, ascetic Orthodoxy and spirit-carrying Christianity, Blessed John professes a spiritual way to holiness based on dedication to the Protection and Immaculate Heart of Virgin Mary, and on the practice of “internal prayer” of the holy fathers. Both in his personal life, and in his theological and ecclesiastical experience Archbishop John reveals the spirituality of the third millennium.
Veniamin Iakovlevich Bereslavskii was born in September 25th,
1946 in Moscow, to the family of Soviet workers. He spent his childhood in a
communal apartment at Domnikovskaya st., 3/15, in the house that before the
Russian revolution of 1917 hosted a small hotel for petty merchants and visiting
folk. He studied and graduated from the secondary school in Moscow.
His father, Yakov Bereslavskii (born in 1906), was a
mining engineer, who earned his degree from the Moscow Mining Institute. Before
the Great Patriotic War, Yakov worked as a head of office of auxiliary
enterprises in the ‘Tsentrenergostroy’ company. In 1939, he was arrested and
spent three months in the famous Butyrka prison in Moscow, where he was
subjected to violent and humiliating interrogations. He did not, however, break
down morally, and was soon released under amnesty (when Beria succeeded Yezhov
as a head of NKVD), much thanks to the prayers of the catacomb elder Seraphim,
whom he met in the same cell. When Yakov returned, his wife did not recognize
the gray-haired, exhausted man.
In July 1941, Yakov was mobilized in the Infantry Regiment
of the Moscow militia for war against the Nazi Germany. He was fighting as a
chief of staff for communication, and as the war ended, he was awarded both
military and commemorative service medals. In the post-war period, for his
dedicated state service and significant achievements in national economy
(e.g. inventions in the area of transport communications), Yakov had been repeatedly
awarded the VDNKh bronze medals. Yakov also occupied the position of an
assistant professor and a lecturer at the Mining Institute, and published a
textbook.
In March 1973, Yakov Bereslavskii was awarded the title of the Honored Geologist of the RSFSR. He retired in 1973 as a Chief Geologist of the ‘Glavstroyprom’ company, and died in 1974. In his memoirs, Blessed John writes about his father: “I owe my wonderful childhood completely to the moral purity of my father. I looked at the Soviet life through his immaculate eyes and did not see anything wrong in the realities of the-then time. My father was wholeheartedly committed to his ideal of the Ultimate Truth, and it is from him that I inherited the most precious thing a father can pass to his son – the unsullied conscience.” (Blessed John, "My Mysterious Father." 2011, p.14)
* * *
The maternal grandmother, Anna, was a deeply religious
person, to whom Veniamin is particularly indebted for his passionate love for
prayer and a profound reverence for the mystery of priesthood. Similar to his
father, who displayed the warmest fatherly love and never raised his voice at
his son, Anna adored Veniamin. The paternal grandmother Bronislawа Tovarovskaya, partly of Polish
and partly of Swedish origin and the granddaughter of the Swedish aristocrat
(the family never revealed her origins in fear of persecution by the Soviet
authorities), was a person of an incredibly kind heart, who made her house into a shelter for the poor
and the homeless. Veniamin grew up in the atmosphere of transcendent kindness,
which he perceived to be a standard, regular feature of life.
During his school years, Veniamin was a successful pupil; for few
years he had been the class’ chairman. Being fond of music since his early
childhood, in 1962 he entered the specialized
Ippolitov-Ivanov Academy of Music in Moscow (now the
Ippolitov-Ivanov
State Music and Pedagogical
Institute). He attended the class of one of the best students of Heinrich
Neuhaus. Having recognized
in
Veniamin a future outstanding musician, she
accorded much attention to
the talented pupil during the lessons.
Veniamin graduated from the Academy in 1966, with the
diploma of musical school teacher (music theory and piano play).
In his youth, having become
fond of Russian poetry,
especially of Vladimir Mayakovsky, Aleksandr Blok, Osip Mandelstam, Anna
Akhmatova, Veniamin enthusiastically engaged with the poetry writing. He,
however, published only very little of his own poems, since he did not wish to
be identified with the-then literary world, even notwithstanding positive
comments that he received from the chief editor of the one of central literary
magazines of the Soviet Union. Veniamin maintained close relations with Andrei
Voznesensky and met with Bella Akhmadulina, who once asked John
to read the burial service
after the end of her earthly
life.
During his last years in the Musical Academy,
Veniamin
worked as a
teacher of musical literature
at the Moscow school (Nro 414), and after that he lectured musical theory in the
Evening school of musical education (Nro 34). In 1968, he entered the evening
department of the Maurice Thorez State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign
Languages in Moscow (he later enrolled there as a full-time student). At that
time, he studied for a degree and maintained a job simultaneously, and this
intense life regime further manifested as a creative and spiritual urge, as an
active search for the ultimate meaning and purpose of life.
After graduating from the Institute in 1970, Veniamin
enrolled as a lecturer to the Department of English at the Moscow State
University. In the meantime, he hold a series of jobs, teaching English and
sociology both at the Institute of Sociology, and at the Faculty of Mechanics
and Mathematics at the Moscow State University. The students liked their
intelligent and witty lecturer, who above all assisted them with their English
during his spare time. However, Veniamin did not stay at the University for long
due to his highly critical attitude to the Soviet system, which quite soon
became known to the leadership of the University. At that time, he became
profoundly interested in the classical Western sociology and philosophy,
including Plato, Kant, Hegel, and also Z. Freud, E. Fromm, and existentialists.
He became also inspired by the Russian religious philosophers of late XIXth-early
XXth century – Nikolay Berdyaev, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Vasily Rozanov – most of
their writings were dedicated to the Holy Russia, the historical paths and fates
of Christianity, and to the idea of the universal Church. Over years, in his own
works, Veniamin continued and developed their philosophical legacy and some of
their theological ideas.
In 1973, Veniamin married Tamara Bodrova. The wife hold a
university degree, worked in the State Film Fund, and gave English lessons. In
1974, the eldest daughter was born, and in 1980 – the youngest one. Both
daughters received university degrees, and nowadays reside and work in Moscow.
Overall, until the late 1980s, Veniamin spent most of his time in Moscow studying philosophy of religion, history of world religions, and modern and ancient languages (such as Hebrew). With time, his studies had taken an ever-stronger religious bent, as he became fascinated by the mystics of East and West Churches, including Gregory Palamas, Heinrich Suso, Meister Eckhart, and Jacob Boehme. Veniamin lived and wrote in an atmosphere of inner freedom, outside of the strict rules and norms of the-then Soviet society, which at that time was almost an act of heroism.
The patristic tradition of
ascetic Orthodoxy. Revelation of the Blessed Virgin
Veniamin came to faith in the late 1970s. Meeting Maria
Orlovskaja, a nun, had a profound impact on his view and the spiritual growth.
Maria became his godmother, when he was baptized in 1980 in the Orthodox Church
in the small village nearby the Mozhaisk town (Moscow region). Veniamin started
making pilgrimages to the spiritual centers in Russia, collected and studied
scriptures of the holy fathers. In a constant search for instruction from the
elders with the gift of the Holy Spirit, he visited temples and monasteries and
met with the devotees of the Catacomb Church. Yet, it were the spiritual
disciples of the monastic elder Amphilochius of Pochaev (canonized by the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 2002) – Maria Orlovskaya and particularly the Saint
Evfrosinia of Pochayev – who revealed to him the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Veniamin discovered the beauty of the authentic Orthodox Christianity of the
Holy Spirit, with its ascetic tradition and its fiery faith.
“Evfrosinia was a lively embodiment of a completely
transfigured orthodoxy, the orthodoxy that I was so passionately looking for,
and which God had predestined me to. And I clung tight to her heart, and drank
from it as from the source…” (From father John’s memories).
The
instructions given to him by both Maria and Evfrosinia,
and
practicing asceticism in the tradition of patristic orthodoxy, endowed Veniamin
with the spiritual seals of the persecuted True Orthodox Church-Martyr, the
heir of both Saint Patriarch Tikhon and especially of the elder Serafim of
Solovki (Romanov), who was spiritually transformed and commemorated through his
sufferings in the Gulag prison camp.
In 1982, Veniamin published his first book from the series
“The Penitential fire”. The work was dedicated to the spiritual paths and
monastic life in the contemporary world (the great elders (e.g. Anthony the
Great) had predicted that monastic practices in the world would be common during
the ‘end-times’). This was soon followed by “The Blessed Solitude”, “The
Consolation of Peace”, “The Holy Crucified, Holy Mother-of-God’s” (since the
Christian literature in the Soviet period was regarded as anti-Soviet and
legally prohibited, the books were reproduced by Veniamin’s adherents on a
typewriter, copied and distributed
among
friends and acquaintances. After publishing his books in
samizdat, Veniamin was spotted by KGB as a potential dissident, but the Divine
Providence accompanied him, and perestroika and further collapse of the Soviet
system saved him from the imminent arrest). Summarizing the spiritual experience
of the past, the books are oriented towards the future and call for the
proactive and devoted faith. The followers and disciples started to gather
around Veniamin.
In November 1984, the Immaculate Virgin Mary revealed
Herself for the first time to Veniamin. She spoke to him through the
miracle-working icon of the Hodegetria in Smolensk. The Revelation, which
continues to this day, has put the beginning to the all-Russian revelation of
the Mother of God. The tradition of the God-bearing elders instructed and
directed by the Blessed Virgin Herself, by Her Supreme Wisdom, towards the
Heavenly Kingdom – has been revived.
“My mercy, and My grace is with the Orthodox Church. The
Orthodoxy is My favorite home ... The Council of the Russian Church is great and
glorious in the Heaven … For many times already I have taken part in Russia’s
fate, I have saved it ... And now you will be saved through my intercession.”
(Revelation of Smolensk, 1984)
Preparing Veniamin for great mission, the Virgin told him:
“I raise you as the God’s chosen vessel. Go and reveal My love to the humanity”.
Since then, She is constantly with Her chosen one. Blessed
John has proclaimed the coming age of the Mother of God, has revealed the
mystical practice of reverence of the Virgin hidden in the archetypes of world
religions and traditions, and Her participation both in the fate of Russia and
of the whole world. The event in Smolensk thus marked the beginning of the great
universal revelation of the Mother of God both to Russia, and to the whole of
the humanity.
Ordination to the priesthood
In October 1985, the Synod of the Catacomb Church (the True Orthodox Church that separated from the official Russian Orthodox Church after the notorious ‘declaration of loyalty’ to the Soviet regime by metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky)); the legitimate heir of Patriarch Tikhon and his spiritual successor, Serafim of Solovki), metropolitans Gennadii (Sekatch), Theodosius (Gumennikov) and Gregorii ordained Veniamin Bereslavskii as a priest-monk. Veniamin received the new name Ioann in honor of Saint John the Baptist. Having inherited full canonical and apostolic succession from the heads of the True Orthodox Church, Ioann and his companions received a blessing to preach on behalf of the Church and to establish the New Holy Russia. In December 1990, by blessing of Locum Tenens of the head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Ioann (Bodnarchuk; the Gulag’s former prisoner), Ioann Bereslavskii was ordained as a bishop of the Russian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (and in April 1992 as an archbishop). The spiritual hierarchy of the Church was established, and the Church community was officially registered (in 1992, as the “Church of the Transfiguring Mother of God”). The underground catacomb period of the Marian branch of Orthodoxy thus came to its end and a new, post-catacomb Church of the Mother of God started its spiritual ministry in Russia. Representing an independent branch of modern Orthodoxy, the Church inherits the light and the blessing of the Russian Church-Martyr, the great spiritual seals of its fathers – the hierarchy of Solovki elders, and testifies to the power of Crucified Love, and the glory of Holy Cross shining at the Second Solovki Golgotha.
The universal message of repentance and transformation
under the veil of the Blessed Virgin
In the beginning of 1991, the crucial year for Russia, Mother of God told to
father John: “I am sorry to say, but Russia is doomed. Nothing will change in
this country. The thrones that I promised to bestow upon Russia, will be
distributed among other countries. There are tribulations to come, and little
time is left...”
In face of impending disasters (described in the
Apocalypse and in the forecasts of elders and visionaries),
the Virgin gave a series of revelations to father John calling upon
Russia to convert and to dedicate itself fully to the Immaculate Heart of the
Mother of God.
“I am the only One who can save the doomed Russia. The Devil has already three
times asked the Lord to sign the death verdict for Russia, but the Son of God
appealed to Me to obtain My blessing. And insofar as My blessing is with Russia,
this country will not perish.
What is
the Lord’s wish concerning Russia? Pay attention to the following:
1.
Active faith
2. Worship as a lifestyle
3. To recognize the Queen of Heaven as one’s native Mother
4. The Unity transcending temples and religions, consecrating airs, lands,
and houses, and permeating body, hearts and minds ...
I am the Mother of Humanity of the New Earth and the New Heaven. I wish the
light of faith in Christ and in the Holy Trinity that I profess would now
illuminate the whole universe, the worlds both visible and invisible. You must
become my devoted intermediaries and missionaries. Do not restrict your
missionary activities to Russia. Russia is just a starting ground for a far
greater movement: with its origins in traditional Christianity, this movement
should turn into a universal religion of the Mother of God who adopts the whole
mankind as Her own children.
I promise the blessing of peace
and joy, light and bliss to all coming under my aegis and swearing an oath of
allegiance to Me. In this case, the humanity will escape wars, temptations, and
death…
I do not wish to adopt you against
your will – it is your inner man who should give his free consent for being
adopted by Me. Everyone should swear an oath to me – parliaments and
politicians, prime ministers and poets, intellectuals and workers, rich and
poor, sinners and saints. None will escape My promise of salvation and the
forgiveness of sins.
I am your last hope, the only hope that you have if you wish to become a New
Russia” (Revelation of 01.04.1991).
… “I am the Only One who can help you,” – said the Immaculate in Fatima, shortly
after she revealed Herself as Russia’s Spiritual Queen through the
wonder-working icon “Reigning” (in March 1917, on Tsar Nicholas’ abdication
day). “I am your last hope” – She repeated in 73 years, as Her motherly heart
anticipated the looming tragedy and the new Gulag ...
After the fall of communism, looking for ways to overcoming crisis and spiritual stagnation of the country, father John established the movement “New Holy Russia”. Gathering under a single roof Russian intellectuals, priests, philosophers, and all the righteous souls, the movement had contributed to the peaceful development of Russia in the early 1990s. Thus, it published a series of articles in major newspapers with an appeal for Russia to turn to the genuine spiritual values and ideals (e.g.: “Repentance as a key to Russia’s Salvation”, “Faith and Idolatry”, “The Righteous Will Save Russia”, “The Lessons of Holiness”, and others).
Already before the notorious events of August 1991, in an attempt to prevent possible bloodshed and violence and to find peaceful ways for the resolution of the conflict, father John had met with the key figures in Russian political and military circles, including Marshal Dmitry Yazov, the USSR’s Minister of Defense. Messages from the Mother of God were delivered by father John to Yazov during the meeting, including Her wish for Yazov to abstain from opening fire on Russian people during the conflict! At that moment, a pillar of fiery grace descended upon Yazov, strengthening and encouraging him.
In June 1991, the first all-Russian Marian council was held in Moscow. On behalf
of all Russians, the Council proclaimed the renunciation of the spirit of
communism and the red dragon (Apoc., 12). Pursuant to the Fatima prophecy,
Russia was dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin. By
revelation from above,
father John
performed the mystical coronation of the Mother-of-God as a Queen of New Holy
Russia. At that moment, the great grace of the Holy Spirit descended upon the
visitors of the council.
By recognizing the Blessed Virgin as its mighty patroness, Russia has escaped
many potential evils and cleansing disasters. The Virgin’s invincible protection
that laid upon Russia
both in August 1991 and in October 1993 saved the country
from the new Gulag. The Lord now put the country-martyr under the protection and
responsibility of the Virgin, under Her holy patronage and care.
At a crucial moment, when taking a final decision to storm the White House (the
House of the government in Moscow), Marshal Yazov was honored by the visit of
the Blessed Virgin. The Lady was accompanied by a priest in a white apparel, in
whom Yazov recognized father John. Yazov recollected one of the Mother of God’s
messages – that She takes Russia under Her full protection – and ultimately
renounced his earlier decision to storm the White House! The carefully prepared
coup
d’etat thus came to an unexpectedly
sudden end. Yazov locked the office door, turned off all phones, commanded not
to bother him, and fell asleep. Bereft of military support and declared outlaws
by President Yeltsin, the putschists did not dare to shed blood, and went back
down. Thus, the red dragon was defeated by the Immaculate Virgin in the sky over
the White House, the event predicted in the John’s Book of Apocalypse (ch. 12).
Within three days, the spirit of Gulag was banned, and the specter of a bloody
spirit that took away the lives of millions people was banished from Russia.
In 1992, when meeting Naina Yeltsina, Russia’s first lady, father John passed to her the Mother of God’s appeal for the spiritual cleansing of society from the spirit of communism and its consequences. The message contained a warning about the possible bloodshed if the Virgin’s call for repentance would be left unheard. Unfortunately, the message was ignored; instead, in the beginning of the 1990s, Russian mass media launched a campaign of slander against father John as a messenger of the Virgin. The events of October 1993 (the constitutional crisis that resulted in 187 people killed and 437 wounded) fully confirmed the correctness of Blessed John’s earlier predictions.
Slanderous rumors were spread in the Russian mass media according to which father John allegedly spent “6 years in prison for murder”, used drugs, smoked, and had “Yankelman” as his previous surname (an appellation to the traditional Russian anti-Semitism), “renounce mothers”, etc. The results of tests and official documents presented by the Church, including a certificate of good conduct, had never been taken into account by the media and by the adherents of the official Church, with their inner motives obviously not being the search for truth, but the boycott of the profit, of his school and his works. The facts that during his alleged ‘imprisonment’, Veniamin Bereslavskii in reality lived in a small Moscow apartment near Savelovsky railway station, where he wrote his books, poems, and held regular meetings with his friends and devotees, and the fact that his original family name was Bereslavskii, were ignored.
Following precepts of the saints, Father John never applied to the court in
search for protection of his good name, but entrusted himself fully to the
Providence. The campaigns of slander made the persecuted Martyrs even closer to
his heart, revealed the mystery of joy in sorrow, and inspired stronger love to
the Cross! Subjected to the continuous harassment and slander, he courageously
and uncompromisingly, step by step, was building a new vision of
the
various challenges of spiritual life, the view satisfying even the highest moral
standards, and called for the restoration of personal, national and
ecclesiastical conscience, unsullied by the sin and compromises with the rex
mundi, the spirit of the world.
During the constitutional crisis of October 1993, when the future of the country
was once again at stake, Father John rendered his warm spiritual support to the
democratic forces in the country. In support of his vision of the events, he
took part in numerous conferences and meetings, and gave several radio and TV
talks. In his discussions with the leading figures in the Russian mass media,
the victory of democracy over communism in Russia was presented as a spiritual
victory of the Mother of God over the Red Dragon. In 2001, father John once
again made wide presence in the media when he commented on the events of
September 11th (e.g. at the 1st Russian TV channel): the
American tragedy was, according to him, a call for the humanity to repent, and a
revelation of the Christ as the God’s Lamb (Revelation 7:14).
There is an everlasting conflict between the old and new worldviews. At all times, the established traditions tend to clash with the lively personality and originality of the founders of new spiritual ways. As a spiritual trailblazer, but at the same time the devoted disciple of the tradition of the holy Orthodox fathers, father John has managed to combine fiery spirituality with its passionate love for Christ and Cross and renunciation of the ‘institutional’ Church – with the allegiance to the ideals of the narrow path. As a perfect instrument of the God's will, father John has opened the spiritual heaven as the ultimate reality of life (according to researchers, his Church has made ‘transcendent power a lived reality’. One among contemporary thinkers and philosophers, father John has deeply analyzed and described the crisis of the institutional Church in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The institutionalization of the Church, according to him, has acted as the major reason behind the spiritual dilapidation of the modern society. The profound repentance for the compromises with the spirit of the world is the only way, he maintains, to return to the original faith and spirituality of the saints and to overcome the existing crises.
As part of attempts to return to the original spirituality of holy fathers and
to spread the message of the Virgin, in the period between 1991-2007 Archbishop
John blessed and organized in total 25 All-Russian councils, which were attended
by tens of thousands of Russians. The first council (the so-called All-Russian
Penitential council) was held in St. Petersburg. Three congresses were dedicated
to the Holy Virgin and Her great sacrifices and intercession in the twentieth
century, resulting in crowning Her as Russia’s spiritual monarch. Two councils
were partly devoted to the unity of saints of all world religions. At the XXth
council, Russia has entered into a covenant with God for a thousand years. The
XXIst council
(held in 2001; attended by over 5000 people) proclaimed the
advent of the Divine Civilization III.
During the
opening ceremony, Blessed John announced the coming of the “Church-Martyr of the
Gulag, the Church of the Transformed Orthodoxy that “will
bring salvation to the humanity of the third millennium!..”
International recognition
The intense search for inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue urged father John to establish connections with the major representatives of world religions. In May 1992, at an invitation of Dr. John Rossner, the founder-president of the International Institute of Integral Human Sciences (NGO affiliated with the UN), he participated in the international inter-faith congress of non-traditional religions in Montreal, Canada. After the congress, the Church of the Mother of God was accepted as a full-fledged member of the International Concil of Community Churches (I.C.C.C.)
Thus, the Marian branch of Christian Orthodoxy received an official recognition from the international religious society and became an equal partner of other inter-faith associations.
After the congress in Montreal, father John travelled to
the Marian community in Lavenir (Canada) to meet its spiritual patron, the
visionary and stigmatist Mary Daniel. In Canada, father John also had a
discussion with Fred Schubert, the spiritual child of Catherine Doherty (the
Russian baroness in exile, the founder of the Christian charity movement, and an
author of the famous treatise “Desert” about the worship of God in the modern
world).
In 1993, Father John visited Japan. The Community in Hiroshima gladly met the
Russian mystic and prophet, and in his person, the Community’s mentor together
with her spiritual children, found their father. The participation in the
Conference of the Orthodox and Catholic Bishops of Japan in 1994, and further in
Moscow, in 1995, have become other landmark events in his international mission.
In spring 2003, he organized an ecumenical worship service with the
participation of both Greek and Roman Catholic priests (Croatia, Krizevci
(Zagreb district)). The event became a significant contribution to strengthening
of inter-religious peace in the region and was widely covered by the local
media.
As part of his spiritual ministry in the name of the Immaculate Lady and the
Church, Blessed John has also organized numerous theological discussions,
symposiums, and conferences. His pastoral and socio-educational activities
finally gained international recognition. In 1994, in “recognition of his
exceptional contribution to work in the name of humanity, and to the promotion
of understanding and peace among peoples”, father John was appointed as a
special consultant of the International Association “Educators for World Peace”,
a non-profitable NGO affiliated with the UN.
The Association’s President
Dr. Charles Mercieca (Professor of History and Philosophy of the University of
Alabama, USA, and a prominent figure in the international Marian movement)
became father John’s faithful friend, and dedicated a series of articles to the
spiritual service of Blessed John and to the Russian Church of Our Lady.
According to Dr. Charles Mercieca, “The Church of the Mother of God has taken
the lead in delivering the messages of the Immaculate – the accurate, rapid and
fruitful service, that it performs with all its forces and all its heart ... The
Church of Our Lady has also taken over the responsibility to courageously and
relentlessly spread the previous revelations of the Mother of God, including
those of Lourdes, Fatima and
Medjugorje … The key mission of the Church is to help people to accept Mary as
their Mother, with due reverence, awe and respect ... at the present stage of
its history, the world is in a desperate need of such a Church ...”
In 1995, father John organized the ecumenical council in Moscow. Attended both
the renown Marian visionaries – Maria Daniel, Emil Fifield, and Andrew Wingate,
and also by many Catholic bishops and priests, the council united the righteous
Christian leaders in the spirit of love and worship of the Mother of God.
In June 1997, Archbishop John was awarded with the honorary diploma from the
international organization “Legion of Mary” (Legion of Mary) as a “man whose
whole life is a lively monument to the service of love and peace”.
In 1998, in recognition of his special achievements, father John’s name was
included by the International Bibliographic Centre (Cambridge, England) into the
13th edition of the encyclopedia “Who's Who among Intellectuals”.
With a peacekeeping mission, Blessed John visited many countries in Europe,
and also Northern America and Asia. As part of these trips, he held numerous
conferences and meetings, revealing to the audience the great experience of
Christian ascetic tradition and the secrets of the past civilizations. He met in
person with the patriarch of Zen Buddhism Dr. Kyungbo-Seo Bo, the Sikh leader
Bhai Manjit Singh, the Sufi leader Shaykh Nazim, and leaders of other spiritual
schools.
His international visits to Canada,
Spain, Japan, Croatia, Poland and Germany received wide coverage from the local
media. In May 2001, in recognition of Blessed John’s international mission, the
International association of Educators for World Peace awarded him a honorary
diploma of Albert Einstein. In 2002, during his missionary trip to the United
States, father John was awarded the certificate of honorary citizenship of the
city of Huntsville, Alabama, in recognition of his achievements in strengthening
of the spiritual peace and cooperation among churches.
According to Dr. Charles Mercieca, “his ecumenical dialogue both with other
branches of Christianity, and also with other religions such as Islam and
Buddhism is especially noteworthy. His knowledge of the most complex
theological, philosophical and social issues is unsurpassed… The greatest
spiritual gift of him is his ability to find positive and constructive side in
nearly all phenomena of the modern world.”
Wherever the messenger of Our Lady travels, She is
continuously with him, revealing unceasingly Her Divine Wisdom and spiritual
truths. Already in early revelations, the Mother of God told Her messenger that
Her Word would be miraculously accepted by people of all confessions, as a
secret doctrine lying at the basis of their native religions. As
She has repeatedly emphasized in
Her messages, “I am the Mother of Supreme Wisdom who has inspired all the great
spiritual masters of mankind”. This secret of the Mother of God is believed by
blessed John to lead in the future to the unification of the righteous of all
nations in the true worship of One God, the Father of Pure Love.
Spiritual work and revelation of the Word. A short review
…a poet and a man who reveals the New Heaven and New
Earth to humanity
Yevgeny Rein, Russian writer and poet
Blessed John is an author of numerous books, collections
of articles and sermons, studies on the philosophy of religion, and theological
studies. His works contain prophetic and evangelic insights, and his collections
of prayers, hymns and services (comprising both traditional Orthodox prayers and
musical prayers of his own composition), have made a considerable contribution
to the liturgical life of the Church. In his books, Blessed John presents
Christianity as a way of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God, as a spiritual ladder
towards perfection. Spiritual ascent, according to him, suggests combination of
“inner praying” practices (the Hesychast tradition) with the practical service
and love for one’s neighbour, man, who is made in Christ’s image and likeness.
With their lively, vivid language, the books of Blessed John reveal authentic
Christianity as the Heaven’s life-giving gift that opens the inherent meaning of
life and leads to the ultimate unification with God, the Father of Pure Love.
This is a precious gift, a gift of sacrificial love, which is the only one that
is able to miraculously overcome all existing inter-faith differences and to
unite humanity as one spiritual body. Many of father John’s books have been
reprinted countless times, having served as a strong stimulus for many to carry
their own earthly crosses with dignity and to overcome the temporary
difficulties and sorrows of the earthly life.
Blessed John began his literary activities in
the mid-1970s, even before his
conversion to Orthodoxy. At that time, works with spiritual and religious
content stood little chances for the official publication. In the end of the
1970s, as he converted to faith, his manuscripts were edited and published in
samizdat under the pseudonym Veniamin Yakovlev. The literature of that period is
mainly dedicated to spiritual life and living as a monastic in the world.
Repentance is a key theme running through his early books
from the series “The Penitential Fire” (the first book from this series was
published in 1982 under the pseudonym Veniamin Yakovlev). He no longer
considered his literarary activities as a means of self-expression, but first
and foremost as a spiritual service and carrying the God’s Cross.
The essential feature of his early novels is the
existential longing of the holy soul, which, being attracted to the earthly
lights, ultimately
ended in a snare: “What am I doing here? Why am I here? And is there a way
out of this nightmare? ... The world without God, the colourless world of
Brezhnev’s stagnation, the prison for the spirit, and the main character in this
world is like an alien, who has accidentally got to the wrong planet and is
doomed for excruciating and endless torture – what for, for what purpose,– God
knows only ... the suffering of the soul, invisible to others...”
Uncovering to the reader his painful searches for the
supreme truth and suffering from the falsity around, the author reveals with
utmost sincerity the deep inner crisis that he experienced, the crises that
inevitably accompanies all serious spiritual quests, similar to the one that
Pascal has been through... Father John’s early books call for the profound
contemplation about the meaning and purpose of human existence, about the
secrets of Deity, the soul, etc. His powerful and sincere early books are a
prayer of the longing soul, the endless appeal to the unknown God: “Oh, reveal
Yourself to me! Oh, put an end to the madness of our life by revealing Your
exceeding heavenly truth!”
In the 1990s, with the advent of democratic freedoms, some
of his earlier works were reprinted, including “The Chronicles of the Santa Yoho
Prison” (“The Diaries of Truce”, 1976, published in 2005); “At the Gates of
Faith” (1978, published in 2004). The handwritten version of the “Holy Friday”
(1980) was revised and the preface to its first printed version was written; the
book was published in the early 1990s. Since 1984, the Word of Revelation from
the Mother of God is being published (until the present day).
… From the preface to one of his books of that period:
“Virgin, I want to be Your faithful. Instruct and teach me in the school of Your
wisdom – by griefs and crosses. Whatever will be given to me by You – I accept
with reverence and humility. Lead me Yourself, the Queen of Lights Hodegetria,
because I have no other hope than you, You are the one I trust in, You are the
repose of my heart ...”
“… I am reading the Lives of the Saints – the martyrs
Faith, Hope, Love, and their mother Sofia, the Wise. It's great. Is there any
other real faith aside from the one that was professed by the martyrs? And is
there any other hope – not the cheap public hope of the masses, but the martyr’s
one, earned by blood of one’s heart? And is there another love, aside from the
spiritual one, earned by the martyrdom and suffering? And the Wisdom – the pain
of the naked beating heart ... the martyrs are we all in the eyes of the Most
High, and God is infinitely sorry for all us ...”
In 1991, with the support of like-minded people, the
Social and Educational Foundation (with the publishing house as part of its
structure) of the Mother of God’s Church was established (the Foundation first
became known as the “Mother of God Center”; and in 1993 it was renamed into the
“New Holy Russia”, which ceased its operation in 1999). The Foundation published
the book of Revelation of the Holy Virgin about Her apparitions around the
world, the books from the series “The Penitential Fire”, the collections of
articles about the contemporary spiritual life and the life of monastics of the
True Orthodox Church during the
persecution period. Since the late 1990s, father John’s books have been edited
and published by the Church of the Mother of God.
The early perestroika period was marked by upsurge of
publications dealing with the pressing problems of Russia’s development,
including the causes and consequences of the October Revolution, the emergence
of the Gulag, and so on. The Spetskhran libraries had opened their gates to the
visitors, and both private memoirs and publications of the Russian emigre, as
well as books of ‘ideologically dangerous’ and ‘banned’ Soviet authors, now
poured to the literary market. The KGB archives were in part declassified, and
personal files were subjected to revision with a view to rehabilitating victims
of political repressions. For the first time, Russian readers acquainted
themselves with the spiritual heritage of the Russian thinkers and philosophers
who were deported by the Soviet authorities abroad. The society was searching an
answer to the thorny question: how could it happen that in a country with a
strong Orthodox tradition and rich spirituality, with a population of about 170
million people, a small group of militant atheists unleashed violent terror
against their own people and the churches? Where was the God during the terrible
catastrophes of the twentieth century that swept away lives of millions of
innocent souls? Why the spiritual leaders of the world were unable to withstand
the onslaught of the revolutionaries and militant atheists? Why, ultimately, in
Nietzsche’s words, the “God was dead”..? In a search for an answer to these
uneasy questions and wishing to restore their lost faith, many people at that
time fell into despair and turned for support to various occult sects and
movements. The publications attacking Christianity mushroomed...
In his works, Archbishop John provided a response to these
thorny questions. Most importantly, and contrary to the wide-spread depictions
(e.g. those of
Aleksandr Solženitsyn), the Gulag was portrayed in his books not as a catastrophic event, but as
a site of Faith, as a victory of Holiness and Crucified Love over evil and
death. Glorifying the deeds of the New Martyrs and Confessors, he presented
Russia as a place of potential future transformation. Thanks to their suffering,
Russia has become a chest of hidden spiritual treasures that in the future will
open itself to the world and will become an object of reverence of many nations.
A great future was predicted by Blessed John for Russia, which from now on had
been taken under the protection of the Virgin, its eternal Patron. Among his
books of that period are “Russia will Saved by the Righteous Ones. The
Collection of Intimate Conversations” (1991), “Armageddon over Russia” (1991),
“The Chronicle of the Battle with the Red Dragon. August 19-21st,
1991” (1991), “History of the CPSU “(1991), “New Media” (1991), “The Lessons of
Holiness. Articles about the New Pedagogy”, “New Era”, “Bathing in the White
Font”, “The Voice of Crying in the Desert”, “The Mysterious Schema-Metropolitan.
The Biography of the Head of the True Orthodox Church Schema-Metropolitan
Gennadii (1889-1987)” (1991), “St. Innocentii of Balta”(1875-1917),
“Non-canonized Saints of the True Holy Orthodoxy” (1992), “The Church in the
Catacombs”, “Solovki. The New Martyrs of the Twentieth Century. Angelic
Revelation”, and others.
As Blessed John told prophetically, “One needs to
understand the phenomenon of the glorious hierarchy of the Solovki brotherhood:
they will become a source of the miraculous resurrection of Russia … the period
of dishonor is coming to its end. Our church will be purified … When the Lord
will reveal Himself as He truly is, the genuine Orthodoxy … will revive.” And
like elder Seraphim Vyritskii, they will repeat: “I have been everywhere in the
world, I have travelled to many countries, but believe me, my children, there is
no faith better than Orthodoxy. Our faith is the only true faith. Hold to it
unswervingly and never betray it...”
Pavel Gurevich,
PhD, Professor, Head of the Department of Anthropology of the Moscow
Institute of Philosophy:
“The Archbishop’s inspirational book is more of a
theological, rather than philosophical nature. Yet, by its very structure and
content, it is profoundly involved with the contemporary civilizational debate.
Many philosophers optimistically depict the forthcoming future as the future of
computer technologies. Others prophesy the death of the mankind. But father
John’s prediction is quite different ... as he prophesies about a fundamentally
different [Divine] civilization to come, the “civilization that has had no
precedents in human history.” But what are the grounds for these optimistic
statements in the world that is so badly corrupted by evil, depravity, and
lust…?
The contemporary reader with his skeptical and rationally
oriented mind, accustomed to scientific method, remains suspicious of the
greatest divine gift – the revelation. The mystical revelation is of quite
different nature, as it is oriented primarily towards the human Spirit. The man
turns to mystics when going through loneliness, angst and fear of death, and
mental stress. The mystical experience opens the way for much more profound,
intimate communication with God, the source of genuine knowledge, and gives hope
for a miracle ...” In this regard, as father John says: “... the dilapidated
Russia, after the “debris of autocracy” and the Soviet terror of 74 years, has
been elected as a country of forthcoming Divine Civilization”. Indeed,
incomprehensible are God’s ways!..
The anthropocentric world, when a Man illegitimately
occupies the God’s place, is a way to nowhere. Becoming “god” from the vantage
point of adherents of anthropocentric tradition implies obtaining the keys to
absolute power (technological manipulation with the human mind), finding access
to the elixir of immortality (the eternal life), and obtaining a Gnostic
Knowledge (the esoteric knowledge inaccessible to profanes). The forthcoming
civilization of the saints will be a civilization of completely different
values, with the Divine having primacy over the human (a civilization of deified
humanity, or the humanity in full communion with the Lord). The way to this
civilization is through crucifying itself, accepting the sorrows in the name of
Divine Love, so that to be ultimately crowned with the Holiness and
Deification”.
In words of Archbishop, “the time is coming when God will
manifest Himself in full power. The time when the saints will descend from the
heaven, and establish the throne of His glory. The time when the devil will be
defeated and the Glory of the Woman clothed in the sun, and Her power will
radiate to all worlds.” (“The Way of Theoanthropos”. Review of the book “Divine
Civilization III”).
One of father John’s central books is dedicated to the
apparitions of the Virgin Mary. The book contains the historical review of the
Mother of God’s revelations to the mystics and the saints, and theological
commentaries on the great phenomena of the Blessed Virgin, the messenger of the
kingdom’s gospel of the kingdom throughout the XIX-XX centuries
(“White Gospel”, Second edition (1995)). Among
the books from this series are “Holy Virgin in Heroldsbach”, “The God elects
Mary”, “The Mother of God from the Ist to the XXth century” (2003; second
edition –in 2006). “My Holy Mother”, “The Myrrh of Her Maternal Love”, “Queen of
Heavenly Love” reflect upon the mission of the Blessed Virgin.
The books dealing with the spiritual ways and Christian
teaching about the God and the management are “Russia in the Cloud of Heavenly Love”, “The Queen of Heavenly Love”,
“Christianity as Dialogue of Love”, “Meeting the Bridegroom” (2006), “The Gates
of Love”, “Christianity as Zen” (1997), “The Gates to the Kingdom”, “Man, His
Origin and Creation Anew, or Divine Anthropology”, “Father of Pure Love”, “Solo
Sofia. The Wedding Feast of Wisdom”, “The Light-carrying Christianity”, “Temple
of Peace in the Holy Russia”, “The Church of Light”, “The Martyrdom of Love”,
“The Heart’s Talk”, “A Drop of Honey from the One’s Neighbour’s Heart”, “Night
on the Mountain”, the books from the series “The Penitential Fire” (e.g. Vol.
IV. “The Fathers’ Way; Vol. VII. The Breath of a Lively Faith”; Vol.
XIII. Notes of a Monastic in the
World”). The collections of articles and theological works on this theme include
“The Sovereign Catechism”, “Theology of the Immaculate Heart”, and others.
“The Waters of Gospel”, “The Betrothal to Christ”, “The
Gospel Larger than Life”, “Behold, I Come Quickly”, “The New Name of the Lord”,
“The Ordinances of Golgotha. Sermons and Articles”, “700 Original Gospels”
(2012) are dedicated to the authentic image of Christ, purified from the
distortions of institutional faith, while “The Gate of Love”, “Sin, Repentance,
and Confession: the Tradition of Slavic Theogamites”, “Man in the bosom of the
Most High” discover the mysteries of the pastoral care and spiritual
shepherding.
The “Heavenly Beauty of the Family. Conversations,
preaching on the idea of a Christian family” (2nd edition, 2006) reveals the
treasure of a pious family.
The sacraments of prayerful contemplation and of inner
spiritual practices is revealed in the collections of prayers and
contemplative books: “Steps of the Ladder”, “The
Ladder”, “Bright Psalter”,
“Liturgical song” (books 1-9); “Prayer book”, “Blessed prayers”, “Morning
Prayers. Biblical meditation”, “Prayers to the Immaculate Heart”, “The Mother of
God has Come”, “My Heart is Ready...”, “The Way of the Cross”, “Liturgy of St.
John Chrysostom”, “Divine Liturgy”, “The Immaculate’s Protection over the Holy
Russia”, “Acathistus to the Mother of God Reigning”, “My Blessed Queen”,
“Morning and Evening Prayers”, “Bright Psalter. The Translation of the Book of
Psalms to Russian”, “Prayers of Urban Orphans (after St. Ephrem the Syrian)”,
“The Well of Penitential Tears (after St. Andrew of Crete’s canon)”, “Vigil.
Liturgy”, “Hail, Mother of Heroes of the Slavic Yard. Hymns”, “The Small Crown
(morning prayers after St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort)”, “Before and after
the Psalms”, “Let God Arise!”, “The Hours of Psalter”, “The Steps of the Ladder.
N 1 Joyful ordinances”, “The Steps of the ladder. N 2. Sorrowful ordinances”,
“The Steps of the Ladder. N 3. Glorious sacraments”, “The Cell Rule”, and
others.
After a visit to Solovki in summer 2001, Solovki become a
principal theme in Blessed John’s works for many years. In 1712, the Holy Mother of God revealed Herself to the
Schema-monk Jesus (who was in exile in one of the Solovetsky Archipelago’s
islands), informing him that Solovki in the future would become the Second
Golgotha of Her Divine Son, and will be engulfed in rivers of blood. The
prophecy of Blessed Virgin fulfilled during the years of Stalin's terror.
The Russian Golgotha of the twentieth century is covered
in details in the six-volume spiritual and historical essays of father John. The
Second Solovki Golgotha is presented as a spiritual symbol of sufferings that
all innocent souls have gone through during the two millennia of Christian
history, as their collective sacrifice with the Christ the Lamb for the sins of
humanity. Far away from being an allegory, or a metaphor, according to the
author, Solovki is revealed for the first time as a historical and spiritual
reality with a huge significance for the future of both Russia and for the whole
world.
The images of saints, purified from institutional myths
are depicted in: “Saints Descending from the Sky”, “Living the Life”, Vol. 1, 2;
“School of Mary Magdalene”, “Holy Evfrosinia Myrrh-Streaming”, “Apostle of Fiery
Christianity”, “Elder Gregory, The Hyperborean Bodhisattva” (2010), “The Myrrh-Streaming Relics”, “Saints of the XXIst
Century”, and others.
The transfiguration of the Orthodox Church, which was
predicted by st. Seraphim of Sarov in XIXth century, has been addressed by
father John both
as
the Church doctrine and as a way of practical spirituality in the series of
books “Seraphim of Sarov, the Sun of the Russian Land”, “I Believe in the
Triumph of Holy Orthodoxy. Articles, Sermons, Letters” (1996), “Christianity is
Transfiguring. Articles and sermons” (1996), “The Home Waiting for Us. Articles,
Sermons” (1997), “Orthodoxy of the Holy Spirit”, and others.
The “Church of Love”, “For the Ascetics of Love” (2006)
rehabilitate and glorify the medieval Church of Love, which was slandered and
persecuted by the Roman inquisition, and also reveal the phenomenon of the
Cathars, the ‘good people’.
Contributions to periodicals “Armageddon over Russia”
(1991), “Russia Disenchanted” (1991), “History of the CPSU” (1991), “New
Media” (1991), “The Time of
Nationwide Repentance” (1999), “The American Shock. 11.09.2001” present the
events of the post-communist Russia from the spiritual point of view.
During the 1990s, a series of the Mother of God’s own
periodicals (consisting mainly of Blessed John’s articles) were also published,
inter alia, newspapers: “The Knight of
Faith”, “Mercy of the Mother of God”, “Oasis of Peace”, “Russia of the New
Millennium”, and others.
* * *
Andrei Tutunov, Russia’s Honored Artist, the
member-correspondent of the Russian Academy of Arts: “A vast literary legacy of
father John is a chest of spiritual treasures intended for the modern society.
His books embrace the
rich
legacy of the church
experience, and are a synthesis of the mystical revelations of the Mother of
God’s Word. They are a spiritual balm for the troubled souls” (Preface to the
book “Anthem to the New Church”, 2003).
In his own research, father John attaches great importance
to the linguistic authenticity of the sacred texts, and makes wide use of a
comparative historical analysis. His research spans various themes, ranging from
canonical Biblical texts to the Apocryphal Gospels (“Apocalypse as the Marriage
Supper of the Lamb: Comments on the Prophetic Book of the New Testament”
(1995)), and from ancient Jewish texts to the books of Western and Eastern
mystics and hesychasts. He comments profoundly on both the David’s book of
Psalms (“God’s Mysterious Dwelling. The Spiritual Interpretation of the Psalms.”
Vol 1, 2.), and on the Sufi spirituality and Zen Buddhism. Never confining
himself to a single denomination, religious or cultural tradition, in his books,
father John reveals spirituality as the ascent to the spiritual ideals common to
the whole of the humanity. Yet, despite the variety of topics covered, all of
his works are united by a single underlying theme: they are about the authentic
image of Good, Loving God and His dialogue with His fallen yet dearly beloved
son, the Man. His most recent books devoted to the Divine Marriage (the
so-called ‘Theogamic Marriage’) and to the pristine Divine Love Minne constitute
the culmination of his spiritual research. Attaining Minne, the spiritual
wedding with the Deity, is, according to the author, is the only and ultimate
purpose of every man’s life.
In words of the Russian writer, journalist and human
rights activist
Zoya
Krahmalnikova
(1929-2009), “… it is difficult to identify
precisely the genre of father John’s book “Seraphim, the Mysterious Patriarch of
Solovki” – it is obviously not St. Serafim’s biography. It is more to that:
throughout the text, as if reading the book of life – the Gospel, Archbishop
John walks hand in hand with his hero. It is a record of a lengthy nightmare, a
depiction of so unreal yet trivially cruel reality, the description of a long
series of misdeeds, villainies and torments, as if one, when seeing a heavy and
suffocating dream, would have the only wish – to wake up, and yet would not be
able to ... And … in the midst of nightmare … the Sky that opens so suddenly and
unexpectedly … (Krahmalnikova, Z. “Is it
Possible to Escape from the Apocalyptic Slavery?”. In:
Culture, N 44 (7252), 23-29.11.2000, p. 4)
Blessed John has reconsidered and renewed the liturgical
service of the Church. Having made the liturgy more accessible and
understandable for the ordinary people, without, however, diminishing its depth
and beauty, he has revealed with even greater force its mystical depths: “Voice
of Lord in the Liturgy” (commentary on the Gospel and Apostolic Letters), “Fiery
Eucharist: The New Word about the Traditional Sacrament”, and others. The
vocal-instrumental
side of Father John’s liturgical service involves a rich
variety of forms of prayer, including the ‘modes’ singing (in Russian,
the
so-called ‘lady’, or ‘glasy’,
an updated version of the ancient ‘Octoechos’ (eight-voice/-mode system). The
visible liturgical aspects of his service are also very special and are
distinguished by the rhythmic bodily
movements expressing the heart’s language, as well as the priests’ specific
apparels, banners, and icons.
Zoya Krahmalnikova commenting on the worship of the Church of Our Lady: “It was a fiery liturgy: the entire huge hall seemed to have lived a common life, and each of us, astonished by Christ’s love to us and by our love for Him and for each other, was unified as a single Church, as the one body of Christ, as predicted by … apostle Paul: ‘you are the body of Christ’ (1 Cor. 12: 27). It was a triumph of the wounded body of Christ, the victory of His mercy and His Love.” (Krahmalnikova, Z. “Beauty of the Cross”. In: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 19.08.2000).
Spiritual poetry and music
Yevgeny Rein,
famous Russian writer and poet: “… these unusual poems are in
fact a new gospel, the Gospel of the Poet. The poetic system of Blessed John is
expressive yet clear and easy to comprehend... His poetic language is a kind of
sermon, it penetrates to the profundities … it is, above all – convincing ...
The thematic diversity of his poetry is also remarkable as it embracing vast
horizons of modern world, spanning the religious,
inter alia, Christian issues, and
numerous aspects of life of our modern civilization. In his poetry, Blessed
Father John has commented about even the recent Libyan war … As a poet, Blessed
father John is never withdrawn or distanced, he is always either hot, or cold,
as he seems to live up to that [i.e. of Revelation 3:16] covenant of the
Apocalypse...
Here is a book of Blessed John, a poet and a man who opens
for the humanity a New Heaven and a New Earth. He has put all the gifts and the
truths of his heart into his poetic word, pronounced it in modern plastic and
clear language, pronounced it with a strength and critical appeal, both to his
followers and to all those whose soul and spirit are in need of poetic speech.”
(Preface to the book “The Chronicler of the Future”, 2011)
* * *
Russian poet and writer
Vladimir
Aleynikov, one of the oldest members of the PEN
International:
“… sincerity and impulsiveness, a constant and pressing
urge to speak truth to people, at whatever costs … Spiritual authority, the
growing awareness of his mission, the right for speech, the right for the utmost
frank and open – and therefore unique
– dialogue with his readers and listeners ...
The poetry embracing all means of expression – from
simple, even folksy, somewhat rude words – to the most refined, most accurate
and clear expressions, which make it possible to reach even the highest peaks of
spiritual wisdom … the celestial,
transcendent language of unearthly dimensions …
And the music that penetrates every text and every phrase,
every moment and every day ... Music as a sphere of
spirituality,
music as a core, music as the quintessence of
speech, and it is because of music that absolutely all components of speech are
in perfect harmony with each other, everything is at its correct place,
everything is balanced, with no trace of disharmony … And the creator of this
poetry has a feeling of harmony … This is a new poetry. Or … a “super-poetry”
(Introduction to the poetry collection “The Prisoner’s Commandments”, 2009)
* * *
In recent years, music has occupied central place in the
spiritual ministry of Blessed John. Through performing Beethoven, Mozart, Bach,
Tchaikovsky and Chopin, father John has discovered anew the spiritual depths and
potential of the musical language, the language far exceeding the limits of
human speech. As a musician, elder, and mystic, he attaches foremost importance
to Music and a Medium of the Divine Spirit and to playing music as a means of
uncovering the humanity’s spiritual archetype. The latter, according to blessed
John, is at the core of every great musical composition, that genuine ‘heavenly’
source from which each and every great composer ultimately derives his
inspiration. The ‘spiritual’ or ‘Minne-oriented’ way of performance stands in
stark contrast with the classical musical school with its heavy emphasis on the
“instrumental” or “technically” perfect play. While not negating the aesthetic
value of playing a musical instrument, in his own piano play father John strives
at touching the depth of the listeners’ souls and at moulding their hearts as
his primary objective.
Archbishop John: “When I first discovered music, I
realized that it is the only way to express something that cannot be expressed
by other means, to express something absolutely ineffable. Minne, the Supreme
Love, can be expressed only through the language of music … in order to express
Minne adequately, one certainly requires music … so one needs to fall in love
with Minne, and to fall in love with the music, just to ultimately become an
instrument of heavenly love. Ultimately, there are four “loves”: love for God,
Love for Man, Love for Minne, and Love for Music. This is fullness!
As Christ is a model for His disciples, the minor Christs,
Mozart (as Tchaikovsky put it once, ‘a musical Christ’) – is a model for all
composers. Mozart was unsurpassed, both Beethoven and Wagner adored Him ... The
mystery of Mozart was that he was unsurpassed not only in music, but also in
spirituality. He was a colossal figure in spirituality, a spiritual absolute.
Mozart, in other words, stands out as an incredible synthesis of both musical
genius and spiritual maestro ...
The true genius in art, as opposed to talent can be
described as a combination of both artistic talent and the gifts of
spirituality. This kind of artist in fact is the only one who is able to create
true masterpieces. Other composers and musicians, even when gifted musically, if
they do not set for themselves higher spiritual standards, and do not strive for
the knowledge of the God, remain toothless in their attempt to break through the
shell of philistinism and this fallen mundane order. They
are inept at an open battle
with the rex mundi, the prince of this world. Ultimately, they are unable
to enter into the sphere of Elizium, the Hyperborean spheres of ineffable
blisses of pure love which is not of this world”.
* * *
Vsevolod Zaderatsky, Doctor of Arts, musicologist, professor at the
Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation:
“When I met him,
I was amazed at his
knowledge of music, totally
professional. And by his understanding and interpretation of music a spiritual
mystery of the human mind, which obviously stems from his knowledge of something
that he himself feels as a divine revelation.
His love for Beethoven, who was a divinely inspired
person, explains much in his personality, for he himself possesses an equal
musical gift. Even though this gift manifests in him in an entirely different
form, it is nonetheless noticeable, and can be felt both in his books and in its
overall life. He praises Beethoven as a man with a talent equal to his own, as a
man of the same stellar level, of the same innate incomprehensibility and
inaccessibility – in other words, I felt that he knows Beethoven.
* * *
Evgenii Levashev, Ph.D,
professor of the Moscow State Conservatory: “There is one feature in Your
performance that has for several years remained an attractive yet unachievable
ideal for me. I have dreamed about presenting a lecture to the students of the
Moscow Conservatory during which I would play music only, without uttering a
single word, but it would be completely understandable for the students. In this
regard, your
play of
[Beethoven’s] 6th symphony
appears as a perfect model for this kind of a lecture.”
About blessed John’s book “The Hyperborean Slavic-Theogamic
Lady” (2012): “… let me tell about the phenomenal value and unique artistic
power of this work both in Russian and in the international spiritual poetry …
this kind of poetry is a truly new word in art, and, moreover, a revelation of a
new era in it … The ‘lady’, which is a unique combination of both poetry and
music … open up an entirely new epoch in the church music. His
[father John’s] concept of the musical
drama makes it possible not only to reflect the heavenly prototypes in the
earthly singing, but also, by means of artistic talent, to break through to the
heavenly mystical realities” (“The Hyperborean Slavic-Theogamic Modes” (2012),
pp. 17-18).
(c) All rights reserved. Centralized religious organization Orthodox Church of Mother of God Derzhavnaya, Moscow, 1999-2021. Official website 18+
(c) Fr. Iliya (Popov).
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